A bit of news you’ll find in the pages of Worcester Magazine tomorrow:
- Move that bus: We still think “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’s” Ty Pennington is one of the most annoyingly energetic personalities on TV, but just for Sunday, we’ll forgive him. On Sunday at 8 pm, a two-hour edition of the hit ABC show will air, featuring a Manchester, NH home makeover (or a complete tear down/rebuild, as the case usually is).And the source of all the furnishings? Worcester’s own Rotman’s Furniture and Carpet.
- Still beating: Local film producer Andrea Ajemian wants to make sure you don’t think her movie “We Got the Beat” has disappeared. The teen comedy about the world’s first 1980′s boy band has been delayed a bit since initially ramping up in 2006, but Ajemian, who has several other Worcester-based projects underway (including the popular “Worcester Love”) has taken an important step forward towards production. Ajemian recently signed on local persona Barbara Guertin as a producing partner, (she’s a hell of a lot cleaner financially than former Exec Producer Lou Pearlman, who has been indicted on massive fraud charges), and the pair has planned an information session/cocktail party for qualified investors on January 31st. (More information on that event and what “qualified” will mean here). Ajemian says that she is looking to secure $2,000,000 in funding to start shooting by July 1st, and that she is planning on taking advantage of the new 25% Massachusetts tax credit for movies shot in state.
- In the army now: Army recruiting is suffering nationwide, with the National Priorities Project releasing a report that says Pentagon benchmarks for educated recruits were missed, and wealthier neighborhoods underrepresented. No surprise there. Locally though, it looks like overall recruitment numbers have suffered. In 2007, the Army recruited 127 total recruits in Worcester County: 98 active-duty recruits and 29 reserve. Both are at or near four year lows; the previous combined low total was in 2006 when 133 recruits were reported. In fact, the numbers have fallen each year since 2004, when 204 active and reserve recruits came from Worcester County. Unlike past years, the race of Worcester County recruits matched the demographics of the region; 91.83% of recruits were white, 7.14% Hispanic, and 4.08% Black. In the general population, 91% identified themselves as white, 7.9% as Hispanic, and 3.7% as black in 2006. Statewide, there were 1004 recruits in 2007; 89.39% White, 11.11% Hispanic, and 7.89% Black.
