Environmental activists in Northampton had a major victory April 10 when the city bought 229 acres of forestland and wetlands to protect them from development. The USA is losing 6,000 acres of open space to development every day. The Northampton land is on Sylvester Road. It will have hiking trails that will be open to the public.

On April 5, about 100 people marched in Amherst to abolish the UMass police. In Holyoke, about 45 people attended a rally for high quality, affordable housing. More information on those two events is below.

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On April 15 at 9 a.m., there will be a climate rally two miles from Brattleboro in Dummerston, Vermont. The public is invited to attend. The world's leading scientists say climate change is a major threat to earth's ability to support human life.

In Keene, New Hampshire about 45 people attended a climate rally, Karen Seaver told the Valley Post. “It was cool to see it happen on just a few days' notice,” she said. Seaver was at the rally. She is a professor at Keene State College and she works at the Harris Center for Conservation Education. The rally was organized by a group that has a web site at https://ThirdAct.org. The rally was on March 21.

About 150 people attended a climate rally in Northampton on March 21. The rally was outside Chase bank's new location in the middle of downtown. Chase supports climate change by loaning money to oil companies. The rally was organized by a group that has a web site at http://ClimateActionNowMA.org. The March 22 edition of the Gazette had no coverage of the rally. The number one cause of climate change is overpopulation.

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About 300 people were at a labor rally at UMass Amherst on March 6. “UMass Amherst is trying to privatize 100 jobs to evade oversight and regulations, undermine union contracts, and end benefits and pensions,” organizers said. The organizers have a web page at www.facebook.com/psumta/

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In Springfield on March 5, about 25 people were at a rally calling on politicians to cancel all student debt. The organizers have a web site at https://wmalf.org.

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About 350 workers in Springfield, Massachusetts had a major victory when they voted to approve a new union contract. “I feel great,” Iris Rivera-Medina told the Valley Post in a voice phone interview on February 9. “We fought hard. Everyone is happy with the contract.” She has worked making breakfast and lunch for children at the public schools in Springfield for seven years. Rivera-Medina works for Sodexo corporation. “We won a raise of $3.50 an hour over the three year contract. New hires make $15.92 an hour now. People who have worked here for a long time make more.”

In Ashfield, Massachusetts, 150 acres of open space has been permanently protected from development. Ashfield is near Northampton and Greenfield. “The plan is for the Franklin Land Trust to embark upon an eco-restoration project to transform Edge Hill (golf course) into high-quality wetland and shrub-land habitat for species such as bobolinks,” Sebastian LaMontagne told the Valley Post. He works for Franklin Land Trust, which saved the land. “Otters are frequently seen playing in a small pond on the property.

In Springfield, a police detective is being paid $70,000 a year by taxpayers, despite allegations that he beat people up without a good reason. Gregg Bigda has been on desk duty, or outright suspended, for 14 months. Among the alleged victims of his brutality were Latino teenagers and Bigda's former girlfriend. City taxpayers paid $500,000 in legal settlements to people in cases related to Bigda.

Despite snow falling, six African American people attended an outdoor rally in Springfield on January 12. A white man who allegedly killed a black woman in the city is free. “If a black man had killed a white woman, first degree murder, he would not be free,” Charles Stokes told the Valley Post in a voice phone interview on January 13. He was at the rally with the victim's family. Police say Frederick Pinney killed TayClair Moore in 2014. In 2021 he was released from prison.

On December 15, Naia Tenerowicz told the Valley Post that at least 24 people spoke against a proposed fossil fuel pipeline in Springfield at a public hearing the day before. The hearing was held by state regulators. Tenerowicz is a spokesperson for the two groups that organized a May 31, 2022 rally in Springfield to stop the pipeline. The two groups were the Longmeadow Pipeline Awareness Group, and the Springfield Climate Justice Coalition. The pipeline would go about six miles from Springfield to Longmeadow, Massachusetts. The pipeline would cost around $65 million.