Mike Benedetti's blog

Congratulations to those Worcester activists who've been leading efforts to pressure the CDC into releasing its latest HIV/AIDS statistics. They believed the CDC was staying silent because the stats showed an increase in infections--and they do.

CNN:

There are more new cases of Americans infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, than previously believed, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Saturday.

About 56,000 people became infected with HIV in the past year, which translates to about 40 percent more cases than officials had estimated, said Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention.

Previous CDC estimates suggested about 40,000 new people were infected each year. But those estimates used "limited data and less precise methods," said the center, which is now using technology capable of determining when someone was infected.

Full story at Indymedia.

Summary:
1. Beaver Brook 9 Mann St
2. Crompton Park 40 Canton St
3. East Park 200 Shrewsbury St
4. Greenwood Park 20 Forsberg St
5. Holmes Field 221 Plantation St
6. Kendrick Field 7 Brooks St
7. South Worcester 53 Camp St
8. Tacoma Pool 485 Tacoma St
9. University Park 955 Main St

I bet this will be super-helpful. Link

by Mike Benedetti, Eileen Botti, Rachel Hamilton, Artur Janc, Cody Rank, Jaclyn Marie Kateri Snow Sargent, Allison Vasallo, and Drew Wilson

We challenge every self-proclaimed vegetarian and vegan in the city to hand out one (1) booklet about factory farming to a college student this semester.

Last semester, along with our friends, we handed out more than 1,000 booklets about the cruelties of modern animal agriculture to local students. It was time well-spent, both because of the many positive comments we received and because if only 1% of those students make a change in diet, thousands of animals will be spared needless suffering.

On one of our last days leafleting in 2007, a local vegan came to join us when we had only a single booklet left. We were surprised at what a positive experience it was to get a new person involved even in such a small way.

We'd like to see this positivity repeated hundreds of times in Spring 2008. If you'd like to leaflet with "Team Worcester," or just pick up a free Vegan Outreach booklet to hand out on your own, please contact us: info@vegworcester.com or 305-393-3250.

We wish you a happy and cruelty-free Spring!

Clive McFarlane has the story in the T&G.

Well, a $100 fine each for defacing public property and up to a $500 fine and five months in jail for disturbing the peace could have happened had the students taken their case to trial and lost.

So they put their youthful idealism aside and copped a plea — a three-month unsupervised, pretrial probation without any admission of wrongdoing.

If they pay their $21 per month probation fee and stay out of trouble, the case will go away.

Drew Wilson will open a vegan diner in Worcester, MA if we raise $19,900.

From the last City Council meeting:

12a. RESOLUTION

That the City Council of the City of Worcester hereby endorses to yearly recognize Abby Kelley Foster on the anniversary of her birth; January 15, 1811. (Toomey)

Mayor Lukes recognized Councilor Toomey who explained to City Council and the viewing public that the origin of the request came from a six year old student, Aisling Novick, who felt strongly that Abby Kelly Foster, considering her reform efforts for women's rights and abolition, should be recognized. Aisling was present and recognized by the Council and the Mayor who thanked Aisling for her advocacy, hard work and interest in civic affairs. Resolution adopted on a roll call vote of 11 Yeas and 0 Nays.

A campaign has begun to help people ask the T&G to stop throwing trash on their lawns.

The Pleasant Area Community Team has begun a “Stop Unwanted Trash” campaign "to end the Worcester Telegram & Gazette’s distribution of advertisement circulars on sidewalks and curbs across Worcester."

If you are tired of throwing these ads away, you can download a form, add your address, maybe have your neighbors add their addresses, and return it to the Neighborhood Network Center or directly to the Telegram & Gazette.

Or, you can e-mail your address to: netwkctr at verizon dot net

Much more information at Indymedia.

Even more photos.

Jeff "Wormtown Taxi" Barnard is also frustrated: ". . . I insisted that getting a 'free newspaper' carelessly tossed into my yard was nothing more than unlawful littering. Anybody else, I pointed out, would AT LEAST make an effort to ensure that the advertising material was either lodged inside my storm door."

In today's T&G:

WCCA-TV Channel 13, the city’s public access cable station, is providing video of City Council meetings on its Web site.

This is a little misleading. This is an Indymedia project facilitated by WCCA. Both partners have an important role.

Council meetings archive

Great news!