Easthampton, Massachusetts is expected to pass a fee on vacant commercial buildings in the coming weeks. Easthampton borders Holyoke. Brattleboro will likely pass a fee on vacant commercial buildings within a few months, town manager Yoshi Manale told the Valley Post.

The Brattleboro Home Depot and its vast parking lot have been vacant for 14 years. In 2019 Home Depot spokeswoman Margaret Watters Smith told the Valley Post her company would like to find someone to rent the building and parking lot. Years before that, another Home Depot spokeswoman told the Valley Post the same thing.

On February 22 the owner of the Brattleboro Reformer daily newspaper published in the Reformer an opinion article written by him. “War is the Answer” was the headline. The long article elaborated on why the multi-millionaire businessman feels Russia invading Ukraine is a good thing for the U.S. economy.

A dozen people attended a Greenfield rally February 14. They were calling on Biden and congress to do more to help poor people in Afghanistan. It was very cold in Greenfield that day, Patricia Hynes told the Valley Post. She was at the rally and she's on the board of a group that has a web site at www.traprock.org.

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The leader of a group in Springfield that has organized well-attended Black Lives Matter rallies told the Valley Post she questions a February 8 Associated Press article headlined, “Study Finds No Evidence Of Racial Disparity In Massachusetts Traffic Stops.” On February 9, Tanisha Arena told the Valley Post, “They conducted this (study) during 2020 when the world was shut down. Does that impact this data in any way? ... I find it hard to believe that there was no disparity in Hadley (near Northampton).

About 300 people marched in Amherst on February 2. The goal was justice for UMass workers. Umass professor Eve Weinbaum told the Valley Post the event went well. The group that organized the march has a web page at:

www.facebook.com/UMass-Amherst-Unions-United-1993735444211406

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Thondup Tsering works at Umass Amherst. He told the Valley Post he's planning to attend a march in Boston on February 6 to protect the people of Tibet from attacks by the government of China. March organizers have a web page at:

www.facebook.com/tab.boston

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In the middle of a major snow storm about 25 people attended a rally in Northampton on Martin Luther King day. The goal was to get congress to pass voting rights bills. Congressman Jim McGovern and Northampton city councilor Garrick Perry were at the rally, Debby Pastrich-Klemer told the Valley Post. She is a leader in the Northampton Democratic party.

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Green Mountain National Forest is near Brattleboro. Activists who have a web page at

www.facebook.com/xRebellionVT

are organizing a January 29 march in Burlington to stop logging in the forest.

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About 40 people attended a rally in Greenfield on January 8. The goal was to close the Guantanamo Bay prison. Paki Wieland was at the Greenfield event. She works for a group that has a web site at www.CodePink.org. She told the Valley Post that about 40 people were at the rally. The group that organized the event has a web site at http://WitnessAgainstTorture.com.

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On January 6 in Northampton about 175 people attended a rally to demand Congress pass three voting rights bills. “People were somber and serious but also hopeful. It was uplifting. So many people care about getting these voting rights bills passed,” organizer Larry Pareles told the Valley Post in a voice phone interview. He said people should go to www.IndivisibleNorthampton.org for more information. The below photo shows the rally. It was taken by Pareles. To enlarge the photo click on it, then scroll down and click "see full size image."

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About 100 people attended a rally to demand politicians provide good quality homes for homeless people. The rally was in Montague, Massachusetts, which borders Greenfield. It was on December 24. Cate Woolner organized the rally. In her speech at the rally she said, “Welcome and thank you for choosing to spend some of your Christmas Eve here, shining a light on the fact that on any given night, not just Christmas Eve, there are 30 – 40 community members sleeping in cars and tents, couch surfing from friend to friend or in the hospital or other facility with no where to go upon discharge.

In Brattleboro and Northampton about 45 people attended abortion rights rallies. The Brattleboro rally was on December 1. About 10 people were there, organizer Tracy Donahue told the Valley Post. “It was cold but we were happy we gathered together because we were all angry about the U.S. supreme court deliberations,” she said.