On November 19 about 40 people were at a rally in Northfield, Massachusetts. Northfield borders Gill, which 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.

The below photo of people singing at the rally is by Elizabeth Wood. To enlarge the photo, click on it, then scroll down and click "see full size image."

The rally organizers have a web site at https://ctriverdefenders.org.

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More than 100 people attended a rally for gun control January 10. It was organized by a Brattleboro-based group and was at the Vermont statehouse in Montpelier. On January 11 in Westfield, Massachusetts, dozens of nurses and their supporters attended a rally for justice. Westfield is near Springfield. The nurses work at Noble Hospital. They are demanding fair wages and benefits, and a limit on how many patients each nurse is responsible for. The nurses have a web site at www.MassNurses.org.

Thanks to hundreds of people in the Pioneer Valley and Keene who attended marches and rallies, a proposed fracked gas pipeline will not be built. The Texas corporation that wanted to build the pipeline through the Valley and near Keene made the announcement April 20.

Rock and roll musician Garland Jeffreys will perform a public concert at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton on June 6. His recent albums have received positive reviews from the New Yorker magazine and NPR's "Fresh Air with Terry Gross." You can hear free samples of his music at:

www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-k...

Northampton, Amherst, and the other towns in Hampshire county received a failing grade for air quality in a new report by the American Lung Association, a group run by doctors. “That means elderly people and people with asthma are at an increased risk of dying,” Casey Harvell told the Valley Post. She works in the Association's office in Waltham, Massachusetts. “It’s bad for the general public too.”

In Holyoke, about two dozen activists attended a rally to close a coal power plant in the city August 15. “Coal smokestacks mean pollution for our children and our seniors,” said Carmen Concepcion, a retired nurse, at the rally. Also at the rally, Virgenmina Perez said, "My grandson suffers from asthma, and it was for him and all the other children that I joined this
campaign to retire the coal plant."

Activist Jose Bou said, "How can we have a healthy economy if we don't have healthy children, seniors and families?

These photos show people swimming in a local river on May 27. With temperatures in the 80s and sunny skies, the water was cool and refreshing. These photos were taken from the same spot on the West river in Dummerston, Vermont, near Brattleboro. The Connecticut river is also safe for swimming, according to the New Hampshire health department, which tests the water. To enlarge a photo, click on it, then scroll down and click "see full-size image." photos by Eesha Williams

This photo was taken on May 10 from an apartment in downtown Brattleboro. It shows the Connecticut River, and train tracks that Amtrak uses for service from Brattleboro to Springfield, New York City, and other locations.