In Springfield, a police detective is being paid $70,000 a year by taxpayers, despite allegations that he beat people up without a good reason. Gregg Bigda has been on desk duty, or outright suspended, for 14 months. Among the alleged victims of his brutality were Latino teenagers and Bigda's former girlfriend. City taxpayers paid $500,000 in legal settlements to people in cases related to Bigda.

In Northampton, a democracy rally is set for January 6. Organizer Debby Pastrich-Klemer has organized many successful marches and rallies in the city. “Even though some of the most prominent election conspiracists lost their midterms, MAGA Republicans are already looking to 2024 for ways to overturn the will of voters,” she said. The January 6, 2023 rally in Northampton will start outside city hall at 4 p.m.

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In Northampton about 75 people attended a rally on October 22. The goal was to defend democracy in light of the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. capitol building by Trump supporters. "It went really well," Northampton organizer Debby Pastrich-Klemer told the Valley Post.

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About 160 people attended an abortion rights rally in Northampton on October 8. One of the speakers at the rally was state senator Jo Comerford. On October 11, she told the Valley Post, “It was one of the most inspiring rallies I've ever attended. I'm still energized.”

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On August 12 Maeg Yosef told the Valley Post the 80 or so workers at the Trader Joe's supermarket in Hadley, Massachusetts are deciding on “their bargaining priorities so we can make sure everyone’s voice is heard.” On July 28, the federal government announced the results of a union election at the store. The workers won. Hadley borders Northampton. Yosef is a leader in the union. She has worked at the store for nearly 20 years. The workers have a web site at https://traderjoesunited.org

About 800 people attended an abortion rights rally in Northampton on May 14, Debby Pastrich-Klemer told the Valley Post. The rally was organized by Pastrich-Klemer, Planned Parenthood, and the Valley Women’s March. The biggest cause of climate change is over-population. That's according to:

www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/population_and_sustainability/climate

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On April 22 a spokesperson for the union for Northampton public school teachers told the Valley Post that about 80 members of the union attended a rally outside Northampton city hall. The goal was fair wages for workers known as “educational support professionals.” The rally was on April 14. The union has a web site at www.nasemta.org.

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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In the middle of a major snow storm about 25 people attended a rally in Northampton on Martin Luther King day. The goal was to get congress to pass voting rights bills. Congressman Jim McGovern and Northampton city councilor Garrick Perry were at the rally, Debby Pastrich-Klemer told the Valley Post. She is a leader in the Northampton Democratic party.

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Green Mountain National Forest is near Brattleboro. Activists who have a web page at

www.facebook.com/xRebellionVT

are organizing a January 29 march in Burlington to stop logging in the forest.

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About 50 people marched in Northampton on December 4 to protest mass incarceration. No nation keeps such a high percentage of its people in prison as the USA. Europe's rate is a third of ours. "We took over Main street from Smith college to the post office and back. We got a ton of positive honking responses and handed out lots of fliers along the way,” Yoav Elinevsky told the Valley Post. Elinevsky lives in Amherst and is on the board of Massachusetts Peace Action. That's one of the groups that organized the march.

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