Northampton resident and state senator Joanne Comerford supports a Dark Skies bill that was approved by the state senate last month, her spokeswoman told the Valley Post on August 10. An Arizona-based group that has a web site at www.DarkSky.org says, “Since 1988, we’ve been advocating for more responsible outdoor lighting, raising awareness about light pollution, and protecting the night sky. DarkSky has protected 160,000 square kilometers of land and night sky.”
One goal is better stargazing.
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The Brattleboro town manager told the Valley Post on August 12 that the town may have its own employees collect trash, rather than the private company that does it now. Employees of the Brattleboro Department of Public Works now collect compost from homes town-wide. They are union members and have a web site at www.usw.org.
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In 2014, the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor closed permanently
because thousands of people marched in Brattleboro, and because
hundreds of people were arrested for nonviolent civil disobedience in Brattleboro and outside the reactor three miles from Massachusetts and a stone's throw from New Hampshire. Deb Katz was one of the main organizers of these protests. She lives in the Pioneer Valley and runs a group that has a web site at:
On August 7, Katz told the Valley Post, the Pioneer Valley's defunct Yankee Rowe nuclear reactor “released millions of gallons of radioactive waste into the Deerfield river over the life of the reactor. Vermont Yankee released millions of gallons of radioactive waste into the Connecticut river. These corporations used the rivers as a toilet for their toxic waste.”
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The Boston Globe daily newspaper covers news from all over New England. Its PR person, Adam Bagni, did not reply to the following email, which the Valley Post sent on August 7: “Is this info from Google AI correct? 'At its peak around 2002, the Boston Globe employed roughly 540 to 550 full-time journalists in its newsroom. Today, the paper has about 250 staff members working across its newsroom and editorial pages.'" Bagni did not reply to a voicemail left by the Valley Post on August 11.
Another daily newspaper in Boston is the Boston Herald. Its publisher is Kevin Corrado. He did not reply to this August 7 email: “Is this info from Google AI correct? At its peak around 2000, the Boston Herald employed about 120 journalists. Today, the Herald employs roughly 24 to 30 journalists.” Corrado did not reply to a voicemail left by the Valley Post on August 11.
In the Pioneer Valley and Brattleboro, several radio stations air the New York-based news program “Democracy Now!” According to www.DemocracyNow.org, “In 1996 Democracy Now! was launched on nine public radio stations. Today, the daily news hour airs on more than 1,500 public TV and radio stations around the world."
A group that for many years was based in Northampton but now appears to have moved to Washington, DC, employs 36 people and has a web page at:
www.freepress.net/issues/future-journalism/local-news-and-civic-media-po...
That web page says, “We’re working with lawmakers, journalists and community leaders to put local news back in the hands of the people by advancing policy change.”
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