UVA’s emergency sirens haven’t worked since they were installed two years ago. #
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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“The university says they are currently being serviced and upgraded, but many students are left on edge.”
many students on edge cuz of this – um I call BS
I’m with perlogik. U.Va. has an extensive alert system via text message, email, and RSS that they test regularly. There’s no reason someone should be left on edge unless they haven’t signed up for the free service.
I’m on edge as I am married to an older guy who works at UVa and sometimes wanders around without a cellphone or laptop!! Imagine that. Also, I am a mom of a hokie who was there at the time of the attack and it is April- yep some of us are NOT happy that the damn sirens have never worked. What on earth are the university’s priorities?
Making money, usually. Read sometime what went on in the Va. Tech president’s office the day of the shooting. They spent a lot of time worrying about whether to postpone a big capital fundraising campaign. Meanwhile little was organized for the arriving parents, who came in a tsunami since the hospitals could not easily release info legally. In one case, an exasperated administrator asked a parent to ask his son over the phone how many other injured students he thought were at the hospital.
By the way, I think it’s wrong to suggest the campus should have been locked down after the first shooting. It’s much too large, the equivalent of locking down a good half of Charlottesville. (The VT central campus is twice the size of all of UVa.) As usual, people picked on the coulda-shoulda, in maximum security posturing, instead of the more disturbing and real issues. The attitude of the top administrators afterward is eye-opening.
FWIW, while the sirens don’t work, the loudspeakers for announcements do. Every time they test them, I hear the announcement come over the system. There’s a pretty strong stadium effect—it’s so echo-y that it’s tough to understand the words—but that does work.