In Springfield on July 31 there was march to call on the commissioner of the city's police department to resign. About 50 people were at the march, Juanita Batchelor told the Valley Post. She runs a group that has a web site at https://SpringfieldJustice.org. Members of the Massachusetts Senior Action Council (www.MassSeniorAction.org) marched. A photo of some of the marchers is below. To enlarge the photo, click on it, then scroll down and click “see full size image.” photo by Massachusetts Senior Action Council

A secret footbridge in downtown Springfield takes pedestrians to a beautiful park on the banks of the Connecticut river. The below photos were taken on July 15. To enlarge a photo, click on it, then scroll down and click “see full-size image.” photos by Eesha Williams

The maps that are located all over downtown don't show the bridge. In the below photo of one of the maps, the bridge would be directly below the "you are here" icon.

Seven-hundred nurses are on strike in Worcester, Massachusetts. The nurses are asking the public to join them on the picket line. On July 13, the Valley Post travelled to Worcester and spoke with two of the nurses on the picket line at 123 Summer Street. Debbie Morgan has been a "same day surgery" nurse at Saint Vincent hospital for 35 years. In one of the below photos, she is holding a sign reading, "128 days out (on strike). 35 years of dedicated service." Morgan said, "Last year during Covid was a tough time. Same day surgery is not fighting for more staff.

On June 8 in Springfield there will be a rally in support of raising taxes on rich people and giving the money to public schools and publicly-run buses and passenger trains. On average, even electric cars are worse for the environment than buses and trains, on a per-traveler basis. The rally will be outside city hall at 6 p.m. Details are at:

https://actionnetwork.org/events/springfield-for-the-fair-share-amendment

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On May 18 in Brattleboro about 50 people attended a rally to call on local, state, and federal politicians to do more to address the series of racist murders and assaults against Asian Americans that have occurred around the USA in the past few months. Emma Allen grew up in the Brattleboro area and is now a student at the University of Vermont. She told the crowd gathered at Plaza park, “This month, we celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage....

On April 17 in Brattleboro there was a climate march. About 40 people walked 1.7 miles, then carpooled, rode bicycles, or walked back to the start. “Grownups need to use less fossil fuel and more alternative energy, and adults need to vote for leaders who will help fight climate change,” Grace Rosa, age 9, said in her speech at the rally in a grassy park at the Amtrak station on the bank of the Connecticut river, immediately after the march. Rosa lives with her parents in Dummerston, which borders Brattleboro.

Two years ago, 17 people were arrested for non-violent civil disobedience at Wendell, Massachusetts state forest near Greenfield. The goal was to stop logging of 80 acres of 110 year old oak trees on publicly owned land. The USA is losing 6,000 acres of open space to development every day. Stopping logging on publicly owned land forces logging companies to buy their own land. If the loggers want to grow new trees after logging, the land can't be paved.

On April 17 in Brattleboro there will be a march calling on local, state, and federal politicians to do more to address climate change. Marches are a big part of the reason Vermont Yankee closed, the civil rights movement had the successes it did, apartheid ended, women won the right to vote, and the labor movement built the middle class.

In recent years, 9 million people a year have died of starvation. Droughts, floods, and unseasonable heat and cold -- all caused by climate change -- make it harder for farmers to grow food.

About 160 people marched in South Hadley, Massachusetts on March 8. They were protesting a decision by Mount Holyoke College, which has $789 million in its endowment, to close a child care center. South Hadley borders Holyoke. “This impacts women most,” Andrea Fernandes told the Valley Post in a voice phone interview on March 10. She is one of the march organizers.

The group that organized the march has a web page at:

www.facebook.com/groups/268773044614053

Eighty or so people marched in Northampton to protest nuclear weapons. The January 22 march was organized by several groups, one of which has a web site at www.TheResistanceCenter.org. After the march there was a rally.

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