A local woman was among a group of 51 people arrested in Washington, DC for non-violent civil disobedience. "Our demands to Nancy Pelosi were sign on to the Green New Deal and sign a 'no fossil fuel money' pledge," Keene resident Katie Carbonara told the Valley Post in a phone interview. "It went really well."

Pelosi is the Democrats' top leader in Congress. The Green New Deal says:

(1) 100% of national power generation from renewable sources;

(2) Building a national, energy-efficient, “smart” grid;

(3) Upgrading every residential and industrial building for state-of-the-art energy efficiency, comfort and safety;

(4) Decarbonizing the manufacturing, agricultural and other industries;

(5) Decarbonizing, repairing and improving transportation and other infrastructure;

(6) Funding massive investment in the drawdown and capture of greenhouse gases;

(7) Making “green” technology, industry, expertise, products and services a major export of the United States, with the aim of becoming the undisputed international leader in helping other countries transition to completely carbon neutral economies and bringing about a global Green New Deal.

The arrests happened on November 13.

In other news from the Valley, 200 or so workers in Springfield will vote in the next two weeks on whether to form a union. They are security guards at the MGM casino. The pro-union workers have a web site at www.leosu.org.

Workers who join a union in the USA make an average of 27 percent higher wages. That's according to www.bls.gov.

Non-union workers can be fired at any time for no reason. Most union contracts say that workers can only be fired for a good reason. If the boss and the worker disagree, a neutral third party decides.

Millions of workers in the USA are union members, including all the workers at UPS and Stop & Shop.

The middle class in the USA is disappearing. There are more rich people and more poor people than there have been since the 1920s. This allows billionaires more influence over politicians. Unions are one way to expand the middle class and increase democracy.