The 2,500 or so grad student employees at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst do more teaching and research than the 1,000 or so professors there. The grad students are paid about $12,000 per year for 20 hours a week of work. The professors make around $100,000 per year for 40 hours of work per week.

UMass Amherst is one of the biggest employers in the Valley. The wages it pays its workers affect the region's economy, and influence wages other local employers pay, according to UMass Amherst economist and labor studies professor Stephanie Luce.

There have been numerous reports of bears in people's yard in Dummerston, Vermont over the past few weeks. Dummerston borders Brattleboro. The state police shot a bear in East Dummerston on May 3. To avoid attracting bears, take down your bird feeders, put the feed inside, have your grill and all other possible food sources and garbage under cover so bears can't get at it.

On May 19 more than 100 people attended a meeting with bear expert Ben Kilham at the Dummerston School. The event was hosted by the Dummerston Conservation Commission and the Bonnyvale Environmental Education Center.

On May 13 in Brattleboro, students at the Austine School for the Deaf (ASD) were joined by students from half a dozen other local schools as they made a giant peace sign that was clearly visible from Interstate 91. Austine teacher Brittainy Brougham helped the students plan the action. photo by ASD.

photo by Eesha Williams

Sheila Linton of Brattleboro spoke at a "Healthcare Is a Human Right" rally at the Vermont statehouse on May 1. The event was organized by the Vermont Workers Center. The U.S. is the only rich nation that does not provide universal health care. More information on the rally is at www.workerscenter.org photos by Eesha Williams

Claire Chang lives in Gill, Mass., less than 10 miles from the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. On April 29 at the Vermont state capitol, Chang and her partner held a sign reading "No Radiation Without Representation." They were joined by hundreds of activists, and their dog. photo by Eesha Williams

(Click on the "nuclear power" tag, above, for details on the upcoming vote by the Vermont legislature. The vote will decide whether Yankee will close in 2012, or run until 2032, as owner Entergy Corp. of Louisiana wants.)

A major goal of Greenfield Mayor Christine Forgey has been to build a Wal-Mart or a similar “big box” store on an area of open land that’s too far from downtown to easily reach on foot. On April 21, in a primary election, Forgey was voted out of office. In June, voters will choose from two candidates for mayor.

“I was glad the mayor was voted out,” said John Ward, co-owner of the Solar Store www.GreenfieldSolarStore.com on Fiske Avenue in downtown Greenfield. “Open space doesn’t have to be paved just because it’s open space.”

photos by Eesha Williams

A volunteer-run citizen's group is organizing an April 29 march on the Vermont statehouse to call for the closing of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. “We need to show Vermont legislators that the citizens of Vermont want Entergy Corporation held accountable for decommissioning, and we want the dirty, dangerous, unreliable, and costly Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant shut down,” said event organizer Debra Stoleroff, of the Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance (http://www.vyda.org/).

Although southern Vermont has a vibrant music scene, by percentage it can be somewhat limited to similar Eurocentric genres: folk, roots rock, hard rock. And, of course, there are classic evenings of contra and New England fiddlers. It is rare that down-home, messy, slinky soul music finds its way to this trickle of the Appalachian Range. Though Vermont is statistically both the second least populous and second least ethnically diverse state in the union, musical energy does not have to suffer proportionately.