Category: Harrisonburg Issues
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Local reports of child and domestic abuse during COVID lockdown mirror wider trends
For people whose homes aren’t safe places, COVID-19 and the subsequent stay-at-home orders represent a dangerous double bind: unsafe to leave, unsafe to stay. Over the past three months, local reports of domestic violence are on the rise. Meanwhile, child abuse or neglect reports have declined, leaving local responders bracing for a spike in cases that may have gone unnoticed during the spring.
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On and off campus, pressure mounts to rename several buildings at JMU
In a public ceremony in the fall of 1917, six buildings on Bluestone Hill — the center of campus for what was then the State Normal and Industrial School for Women — were renamed. And for the last 103 years, four of the six have borne the monikers of men who were slaveowners or confederates.
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Harrisonburg schools superintendent suggests revising relationship with police department
Harrisonburg City Public Schools will review — and potentially revise — the district’s relationship with the Harrisonburg Police Department, which has four school resource officers placed across the schools. Superintendent Michael Richards brought the item to the school board’s work session on Tuesday.
Plans for Elkton Black Lives Matter protest sparked controversy on social media and debate at Monday’s town council
After a closed-session discussion, the Elkton Town Council ultimately voted 5-1 Monday night to approve a permit that will allow a high school student-led Black Lives Matter protest on Wednesday. Plans for the event had touched off a social media-fueled controversy after a Facebook post calling for armed counter-protesters went viral over the past several days.
JMU students lead silent march to turn up volume on calls to end systemic racism and remove confederates’ names from buildings
In leading a protest march Friday that was both silent and loud, JMU students — joined by university employees and community members — called on the university to step up its response to systemic racism, starting with removing the names of confederate leaders from three of its buildings.
Data shows police use-of-force encounters are rare but disproportionately involve black people
Over the course of two years, 9,587 people were arrested in Harrisonburg, and during that time 86 encounters involved use of force— amounting to less than 1% of the arrest totals. But the confrontations in which an officer used force beyond handcuffing a person disproportionately involved black people, according to arrest and use-of-force data the Harrisonburg Police Department released Friday.
‘It’s like putting Band-Aids on a broken house’
Even after Harrisonburg’s police chief has spent much of the nearly two years in the job reviewing and implementing department policies, the efforts haven’t prevented black JMU students from fearing the police.
Facing $6m budget hit, city council makes cuts to education, public safety and public works
The city of Harrisonburg expects to take a hit of about $6 million in the next fiscal year that begins July 1, mostly in lost revenue from local taxes as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the Harrisonburg City Council unanimously approved an amended budget that reduces spending for schools, public safety and public works.
