On October 28, hundreds of people marched in Northampton to protest Smith college's decision to close a childcare center. Days later, the protesters won when the college said it will keep the childcare center open until at least the summer of 2029. One of the people who spoke at the rally after the march was Kaila Goldstein. She works at the childcare center.

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In Brattleboro, for about 20 years, the state has been promising to install a proper sidewalk with a curb alongside Route 5 between the West river and Friends of the Sun, a store that sells wood stoves. There is no alternate route for pedestrians and people on bicycles because of the intersection of the West river and the Connecticut river, and the lack of other bridges over the West river for miles. Many people walk and ride their bicycles along this 100 yard or so long stretch. A photo of this place is at:

https://valleypost.org/content/january

A more recent photo is available by email by contacting the Valley Post, which is currently having technical difficulties that prevent the Post from posting new photos. “It's a good photo of an awful situation,” Mike McGinn told the Valley Post in a video call on November 2, 2026. He spoke of the photo taken this fall. He runs a group that has a web page at:

www.facebook.com/americawalks

He said the solution is for people to organize and pressure the state legislature.

A spokesman for the Vermont group Local Motion said he believes the state will do the right thing this time, even though the state essentially lied to the dozens of people at the public hearing it held about this in Brattleboro about 20 years ago. Twenty or so years ago, the state said it would install this sidewalk “soon.”