Activists are fighting for equality. In Keene, workers organized a union. In Northampton, workers are forming a union, and a grassroots group that last year made the Massachusetts minimum wage the nation's highest is now working to raise taxes on the rich.

On July 18, near Keene, there will be a march for campaign finance reform. The march starts at 9:30 a.m. Members of Congress take millions of dollars from rich people to pay for TV commercials for the politicians' election campaigns. Most of these rich “donors” want something in return. If they have employees they often want to prevent increases in the minimum wage (the richest family in the world, the Waltons, own Wal-Mart).

In Vernon, Vermont, a nuclear waste dump sits three miles from Massachusetts and a stone's throw from New Hampshire. An accident at the facility could kill thousands of people and leave an area the size of New England permanently uninhabitable. The dump is owned and operated by the Louisiana-based Entergy Corporation.

Vermont Yankee will lay off hundreds of high wage workers in the coming months. But reducing the workweek from 40 to 32 hours and subsidizing local apparel and shoe factories would create more jobs than the nuclear reactor ever did. Vermont Yankee is near Brattleboro, Greenfield, and Keene.

In a victory of people power over corporate power, the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor closed permanently on December 29. The facility is three miles from Massachusetts and a stone's throw from New Hampshire. It's owned by Entergy Corporation of Louisiana.

The closure came after years of protests by thousands of people in the Valley. Hundreds were arrested for non-violent civil disobedience. Thousands attended marches and rallies, spoke out at public hearings, and went door-to-door to educate their neighbors about the dangers of nuclear power.

Brattleboro is in Windham county, where a state senate seat is up for grabs. No Republicans are running, so whoever wins the August 26 Democratic primary will almost certainly win the general election in November. Four candidates are running for two spots. One of the candidates, senator Jeanette White, is running for re-election. Her voting record has won praise from www.vpirg.org and the Vermont AFL-CIO.

The owner of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant wants to end the system of sirens, free “tone alert radios” for people within 10 miles of the reactor, and automated phone calls in case of a nuclear emergency. Vermont Yankee is three miles from Massachusetts and a stone's throw from New Hampshire. Thanks to a protest movement in the Brattleboro area that saw thousands march and hundreds arrested for non-violent, civil disobedience, the 42-year-old reactor will close permanently in December. It's owned by Entergy Corporation of Louisiana.

In the United States, the average woman who works full-time earns 77 percent as much money as the average man who works full-time. To address that problem, a group of women in Keene recently presented mayor Kendall Lane with a petition signed by 65 people. “We want him to designate April 8 as Equal Pay Day in Keene,” Dawn Andonellis told the Valley Post. She is a spokesperson for the Keene chapter of the American Association of University Women www.aauw.org.

April 8 symbolizes how far into 2013 women had to work to earn what men earned in 2012.

On April 1 at 5:30 p.m., there will be a protest at the gates of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. The public is invited. Vermont Yankee is three miles from Massachusetts and a stone's throw from New Hampshire. The protest organizers' main goal is to close the reactor immediately and permanently. Other goals relate to how and when the site will be cleaned up after the reactor is closed. Vermont Yankee is currently scheduled to close permanently late this year or early next year.

The Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant may be more dangerous when it closes later this year than it is now, an expert told the Valley Post this week. Vermont Yankee is so dangerous that no insurance company will cover it. The facility gets its insurance from the federal government. A major accident or act of sabotage at Vermont Yankee would cause thousands of “prompt fatalities,” and leave an area the size of New England uninhabitable for generations, according to a report by the federal government.

Vermont Yankee is three miles from Massachusetts and a stone's throw from New Hampshire.