Eesha Williams's Blog, page 150
June 23, 2013
Sierra Leone All Stars Concert Is August 18
The Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars will perform a concert in Northampton on August 18. The show at the Iron Horse Music Hall will start at 7 p.m. The band performed an outstanding public concert at the same venue last summer. The night club appeared to be almost sold out and most of the people at the concert danced. Also last year, the All Stars released an excellent album, Radio Salone. Most of the songs on the album are Afro-Pop or “high life” style. Some are reggae.
June 22, 2013
Photo: Transportation Alternatives
This photo shows people on bicycles, on foot, and in a hybrid car, waiting for an Amtrak train to leave the Brattleboro station. The train stopped for less than five minutes. The photo was taken on June 22. Next year, Amtrak will travel much faster between Brattleboro and Springfield than it does now. It will stop in Greenfield and Northampton. To enlarge the photo, click on it, then scroll down and click "see full size image." photo by Eesha Williams
Local Immigrant News
On June 24 at 10 a.m. in Springfield, immigrant rights activists will rally at the office of congressman Richard Neal. The event is being organized by the Massachusetts chapter of a group called Not One More Deportation, which is an affiliate of www.ndlon.org. For more information contact Bliss Requa-Trautz at bliss.requatrautz@gmail.com or by phone at (774) 722-1511.
June 15, 2013
750 at Tuesday Morning Hearing on $11 Minimum Wage
Supporting a bill that would raise the state’s minimum wage to $11 an hour, about 750 people packed a 10 a.m. public hearing at the Massachusetts statehouse on Tuesday, June 11. The vast majority of the people who spoke at the hearing supported the bill.
Among the bill's sponsors are representatives Peter Kocot of Northampton, Cheryl Coakley-Rivera and Benjamin Swan of Springfield, and Ellen Story of Amherst.
The bill is at:
https://malegislature.gov/Bills/188/House/H1701
750 at Tuesday Morning Hearing on $11 Minumum Wage
Supporting a bill that would raise the state’s minimum wage to $11 an hour, about 750 people packed a 10 a.m. public hearing at the Massachusetts statehouse on Tuesday, June 11. The vast majority of the people who spoke at the hearing supported the bill.
Among the bill's sponsors are representatives Peter Kocot of Northampton, Cheryl Coakley-Rivera and Benjamin Swan of Springfield, and Ellen Story of Amherst.
The bill is at:
https://malegislature.gov/Bills/188/House/H1701
June 8, 2013
Nuke Near LA Closes Forever
The last time that a nuclear power plant was ordered and built in the United States was in 1973. There are 61 nuclear power plants in the nation. On June 7, the owner of the San Onofre nuclear power plant said it will close the plant permanently. San Onofre is about 60 miles from downtown Los Angeles. “This nation does not need nuclear power,” Shaun Burnie told the Los Angeles Times. He works for Friends of the Earth www.foe.org which for decades fought to close San Onofre.
June 2, 2013
Kayak, Canoe Protest at Valley Nuke Is August 10
On August 10, activists in kayaks and canoes will protest near the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, which is on the Connecticut river. The public is invited to join the protest. Vermont Yankee is three miles from Massachusetts.
The event is being organized by the same group that organized a protest against Vermont Yankee in Brattleboro last year that drew 1,500 people, 137 of whom were arrested for non-violent civil disobedience. The group’s web site is www.SAGEalliance.net. More informati...
May 25, 2013
413 Acres Saved
Activists have saved 413 acres of farmland and forestland near Brattleboro from being turned into parking lots, strip malls, McMansion vacation houses, or other forms of so-called “development.” In Hinsdale, New Hampshire, 244 acres of forestland were saved by the Monadnock Conservancy www.MonadnockConservancy.org. The land is home to bobcats, black bears, and other animals.
In Dummerston, Vermont, a 169 acre farm was recently saved by the Vermont Land Trust www.vlt.org. The group is looking...
Wal-Mart Rallies Near Springfield May 28, June 6, June 8
Wal-Mart is owned by the richest family in the world, the billionaire Waltons. The Walton family pays workers at Wal-Mart factories among the lowest wages in the world. Wal-Mart workers in the U.S. make barely above minimum wage. A series of three rallies at a Wal-Mart in Chicopee, Massachusetts, near Springfield, are set for May 28, June 6, and June 8. The rallies are being organized by the western Massachusetts chapter of Jobs With Justice, which has a web site at www.jwj.org.
