About 500 people attended a rally at the Greenfield town common on May 25. They were protesting cuts in school funding. Julie Carew was at the rally. She runs a group called Strings for Kids, which is a partnership between the Greenfield public schools and Artspace Community Arts Center in Greenfield. Carew told the Valley Post, "I was at both city council meetings... This is a slap in the face from the mayor who was 'virtually' in attendance at both meetings where it was made crystal clear that the numbers the councilors were trying to meet were counting on that $365,000 from the mayor....

More than 100 people attended an abortion rights rally in Greenfield on May 13. The number one cause of climate change is overpopulation. Susan Triolo told the Valley Post that information about abortion rights will soon be at www.indivisible.org. Triolo was one of the organizers of the Greenfield rally. From the north Greenfield exit to the southern Brattleboro exit on Interstate 91 takes 15 minutes by car, according to Google Maps. Amtrak and Greyhound run between Greenfield and Brattleboro.

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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.

About 40 teachers marched in Greenfield on December 21. They were calling on the school board to negotiate a fair union contract. On December 22 the teachers posted a photo of their march at:

www.facebook.com/massteacher

The average worker in the USA who belongs to a union makes $191 more per week than the average non-union worker. Reducing inequality is good for democracy since billionaires buy politicians.

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About 50 people attended a rally in Greenfield on September 7. They were calling on the mayor and city council to fire the police chief. Rachel Gordon organized the rally. On September 8 she told the Valley Post that the people at the rally were “very energized. I’m really happy with how it went. We protested in front of city hall for a while and then moved to the Main Street/ Federal Street intersection for a while. A lot of cars honked at us in support.”

About 85 people attended an abortion rights rally in Bellows Falls, Vermont. Bellows Falls is on the Connecticut river, and is in the same county as Brattleboro. Leslie Goldman is a member of the Vermont legislature. She told the Valley Post she was at the rally. Jeanette Staley was one of the event organizers. She told the Valley Post that Goldman “spoke eloquently at the rally.” The rally was on August 19.

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In Springfield about 20 people attended a rally on July 11. Charles Stokes lives in Springfield. He moved there 50 years ago from New Jersey. He is 60 years old. He was at the rally. “The mayor and city council need to make it easy for people to access health care, including addiction and mental health care,” Stokes told the Valley Post in a voice phone interview on July 13. “Community gardens too.” These things would reduce violent crime, and the number of people in prison, Stokes said.

On April 2 about 30 people were at a rally in Montague, Massachusetts. Montague borders Greenfield. The goal was to get politicians to “stop the massive destruction of fish and related river life by the Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage Station,” on the Connecticut river near the Vermont – Massachusetts border. An April 4 mass email from the Wendell State Forest Alliance reported on the rally.

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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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