Category: Worcester

Drew Wilson charges dropped and other items

Drew Wilson, Worcesterite and friend of this blog, was arrested September 1, 2008 in St. Paul in connection with the Republican National Convention. Yesterday, he and 6 others were the first RNC arrestees to get to the trial phase. The charges against him sounded pretty bogus, and sure enough they were dropped:

. . . Judge Michael Fetsch decided that no reasonable jury could find the defendants guilty even if all the testimony from police was accepted as true. The defendants did not have to present any defense and charges can not be re-filed in the future.

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Let’s celebrate by listening to Drew’s account of the arrest, from 508 #57: click here to download the mp3.

(Also: Very short Star-Tribune article.)

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Jan 10: Benefit concert for the Saints Francis & Therese Catholic Worker

“Keeping the House Warm”

A BENEFIT CONCERT

FOR SAINTS FRANCIS & THERESE CATHOLIC WORKER HOUSE OF WORCESTER

SATURDAY, January 10, 2009, 7 TO 9:30PM

ST. ROSE OF LIMA CHURCH

RT20 NORTHBORO, MA

FEATURING MUSIC BY

KEN STANLEY & FRAN REAGAN

AND

A TALK BY MEMBERS & FRIENDS OF THE CATHOLIC WORKER COMMUNITY OF WORCESTER

CONCERNING THEIR RECENT ARREST & TRIAL

For praying for an end of the war in Iraq

ADMISSION: FREE WILL OFFERING TO CONTINUE THEIR WORK FOR PEACE, JUSTICE AND SERVICE TO THE POOR.

CONTACT KEN @ 978-355-4445 – A WATER OF LIFE PRODUCTION

Worcester wins

“City Manager Announces City Council Meetings to Go On-Line”:

The City Manager has announced that City Council meetings will now be available on-line, greatly increasing citizen participation and government accountability.

Worcester Indymedia, with help from WCCA TV13, has been archiving these meetings for the past year, at a grand cost of $50.

This is amazing timing by the City, as I’ve done most of the archiving for Indymedia, and the project is set to end when I leave for DC next week.

Carl Malamud’s “Hack 3: Be Government” was a big inspiration:

Sometimes the best way to get government to do something is just do it yourself. That’s a strategy I previously used in posting data from the SEC on the Internet. I ran the database for a couple of years, then put a little sign up saying the service would terminate in 60 days. The SEC got it right away that free markets are based on information and started running the service. I tried the same trick on the Patent Office, but that is a much less clueful bunch when it comes to subversive goals like promoting the dissemination of knowledge, and I had to harass them for a few more years.

A couple more Worcester journalism notes

I’m preparing like mad to go to DC; still, these 2 Worcester stories, which broke on the blogs, seemed worth pointing out.

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The release of the heavily-redacted citizen complaint records against Officer Rojas has been an ongoing fiasco–even just counting the number of pages revealed there weren’t as many as claimed.

Now we know more about what sorts of things were redacted, as Kevin Ksen compares his virgin copy of his own complaint against the version the police released. The redactions are not at random, but they are bizarre–why is it important to black out any mention of the fence at the scene of the incident?

Graphic via Wordle.

Doug “Action Geek” Chapel’s comic strip leaves Worcester Magazine
It’s less surprising that Worcester Magazine cancelled Action Geek than that he stuck around for so long after the recent sale of the magazine; after all, they fired almost everyone else who was a contributor. If you’re interested in creating a brand-new feel for the magazine, getting rid of old features makes sense.

Action Geek, while a bit too grouchy for me lately, has remained one of the reasons I open the magazine. I’ll miss it. Speaking of “brand-new feel”, the only other change I’ve really noticed under the new management is the refashioning of the “one-on-one” interview to have less personality and fewer follow-up questions. So the magazine’s become less interesting in 2 ways, without adding anything new. Maybe they will surprise us.

Doug, meanwhile, is poised to lose both influence and $1,200 a year. If the 1,000 True Fans theory is legit, he should be able to make this up with a little more focus on his internet presence. Best wishes to him in whatever course he takes.

Related: Print continues its slide by almost any way you can measure.

508 #66: 2009 predictions

This is the final episode of 508, a show about Worcester. The panel is DeJongh Wells, Tracy Novick, and Scott Zoback.

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We talk about the ice storm, the response from the authorities, the reporting of WTAG, and Kate Toomey’s helpful Facebook updates with official info on the situation.

Jeff Barnard found that while the City Councilors want people to shovel their sidewalks, they’re doing a poor job with their own sidewalks.

The Snow Ghost Community Show also wraps up today. You can get a DVD set of all 24 episodes + extras with your $50 donation to WCCA TV13. Sets are available at WCCA (415 Main St.) and HBML (420 Pleasant St.).

Tracy talks about the tree loss at Cascading Waters and other Land Trust properties.

In honor of the absent Brendan Melican, we make bold predictions about what Mike will find when he returns to Worcester in May.

  • Wells: There will be movement on downtown redevelopment. Demolition will start in July or August.
  • Zoback: The various police scandals will be dragging on. Earliest beginning to a City Council/mayoral campaign in history, with record numbers of people tossing their hats into the ring. A newcomer will be the mayor.
  • Novick: Ditto on the elections; we’ll also see this with the School Board. As well, people will have their electricity back….
  • Benedetti: T&G offered up for sale. Jeff Barnard buys it with one day’s cabdriving tips.

We finish up by discussing our upcoming plans. For my part, I will spend the first part of 2009 on the 100 Days Campaign to Close Guantanamo.

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508 #65: AIDS prevention

508 is a show about Worcester. This week, Cha-Cha Connor talks with a guest about the politics of HIV/AIDS prevention in Worcester, especially as regards unprotected anal sex.

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mp3 link, other formats, feed, low-fi versions

To leave a voice message to be played on the show, call 508-471-3897.

To get an e-mail each week alerting you of the new episode of 508, join the e-mail list:

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Stone Soup celebrates second anniversary

One of my favorite things in Worcester, the Stone Soup community center at 4 King Street, celebrated its second anniversary last night.

It was more sedate than the first anniversary party, probably because it was at Centro Las Americas, a much larger venue than Stone Soup and more appropriate to the crowd size, and because there were a couple other big events tonight so people were in and out.

A highlight for me was the murga group La Clandestina:

George sings Happy Birthday, cracking up Nori and Aiden:

Dave Maciewski:

Happy birthday, Stone Soup! May this be the second of a hundred!

(These are just some videos from my camera. You can expect more footage in the future courtesy of youth videographer Sergio Castillo, who was on the scene. He e-mailed saying, “The deal is you have to let other people know about my website.” Here you go.)

Vegan cupcakes

508 #64: Fax machines

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel is Tina Zlody, Kevin Ksen, and Brendan Melican.

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Sunday, December 7, from noon-5pm at Worcester’s Union Station is the “stART in the Station” arts festival.

Seth Godin, from his “Holiday Shopping Guide”:

Buy handmade items from people you like.

stART can hook you up.

There was actually some news on the PILOT/BILOT front this week, with the pharmacy school making a small annual donation to the library.

Worcester will be remembering homeless residents who died in 2008 at this year’s “Longest Night” events, leading up to Dec 21. Watch this space for details.

Worcester has a contract with a new superintendant of schools. There have been delays in the release of the Mark Rojas records.

Mike continues his local journalism case studies. Kevin says the T&G has a new investigative team, or “I-Team”, with Jay Whearly as John “Hannibal” Smith.

The City Manager recognizes Colin Novick’s good work.

Dave Winer on the death of newspapers:

They see the cliff, they know they’re headed for it, but they don’t ask how to turn the car. They don’t really want to know. I think sometimes what they want is to be missed when they lie dead in a crumpled car at the bottom of the cliff. But we don’t want that to happen. Not because we love them, but because life without them is pretty hard to imagine.

mp3 link, other formats, feed, low-fi versions

To leave a voice message to be played on the show, call 508-471-3897.

To get an e-mail each week alerting you of the new episode of 508, join the e-mail list:

Email:

We won’t share this list with others.

508 #63: Friendly New Englanders

508 is a show about Worcester. This week Mike is in West Virginia, and Brendan Melican and Bruce Russell are in Worcester.

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Headline: Elk Collecting Deer Hides for Veterans

Mike is comparing blog coverage of Worcester news to the Telegram & Gazette; his first case study shows the blogs doing surprisingly well.

Headline: Fly Gets 40 Years in Prison

Are New Englanders friendly?

We listen to the City Manager talking about the challenges of snow removal, and look forward to having the same discussion this year.

Also: Bruce tells jokes.

mp3 link, other formats, feed, low-fi versions

To leave a voice message to be played on the show, call 508-471-3897.

To get an e-mail each week alerting you of the new episode of 508, join the e-mail list:

Email:

We won’t share this list with others.