Suspicious package causes traffic in
Westwood
A suspicious duffel bag left near the corner of Lindbrook Drive
and Gayley Avenue caused the evacuation Thursday of several
structures, including UCLA’s Kinross Building, and backed up
afternoon traffic in Westwood.
The Los Angeles Police Department received a phone call at about
1:30 p.m. from pedestrians who had seen an unattended black duffel
bag that was open at the Westwood intersection, said LAPD Spokesman
Rudy Villarreal.
Police evacuated nearby buildings and called in the bomb squad
to investigate the duffel bag. Police found that the bag did not
contain any dangerous contents, said Nancy Greenstein, director of
police community services for University police.
The Westwood area usually receives a few alerts regarding
suspicious packages or objects every year, Greenstein said.
Police rerouted traffic down side streets along Gayley Avenue
and Lindbrook Drive. Traffic on Gayley Avenue was still backed up
from Wilshire Boulevard north almost to the residence halls at
about 4 p.m.
“This is strictly precautionary,” Villarreal
said.
The traffic aggravated commuters in Westwood who suddenly found
themselves slowed to a crawl. Jonathan Hsiung, a second-year
molecular, cell and developmental biology student who had left Lot
7 to drive to his apartment in Venice, found himself stopped
outside of Whole Foods on Gayley Avenue 20 minutes later.
“These bomb threats are kind of annoying. It’s
already high traffic as it is,” he said.
Hsiung, who works at the Wilshire Center, also noted the
prevalence of suspicious package threats near the Wilshire
Boulevard Federal Building.
“It’s always around there,” he said.
UCLA student to assume position on regents’
board
Having completed his last regents meeting Thursday, Student
Regent Matt Murray will go back to being a regular student.
He will be replaced by the current student regent designate,
Jodi Anderson, a doctoral student in the school of education at
UCLA.
“I wouldn’t say that serving on this board is fun,
but it is incredibly rewarding,” Murray said, adding that he
was both relieved and sad to be finished with his term.
Murray served for two years, first as a student regent designate
and then as the student regent for 2003-2004.
Regent Ward Connerly, who said he has worked with 11 student
regents, praised Murray as one of the best.
“Matt (Murray) … was not a student regent, he was a
regent,” Connerly said. “He did his homework, he was
thoughtful, he was forceful in his presentation, and above all he
was civil. He was a gentleman.”
Anderson said she feels much more prepared to be a full regent
than she did at the beginning of the year.
“Especially with the fee increases, we have to think about
how we will continue to maintain affordability,” she
said.
Missing lab data poses no threat to
security
LOS ALAMOS, N.M. “”mdash; Classified information was discovered
missing at Los Alamos National Laboratory this week, but a lab
spokesman said the data would not jeopardize national security,
even if it fell into the wrong hands.
The information, which was on a data storage device, was still
unaccounted for Thursday, said lab spokesman Kevin Roark. A federal
review team is set to investigate.
“˜”˜This in our view is not a major event, and
it’s certainly not a breach of security,” Roark
said. He said lab employees conducting an inventory of classified
information could not locate the device.
“˜”˜It’s our strong belief (it) was either
destroyed or (reused), but the proper paperwork wasn’t done
to track its destruction or reuse,” Roark said.
The lab said in a statement that the storage device was slated
for destruction in March as part of an effort to reduce what the
lab called “classified removable electronic media.”
“˜”˜The lab can spin it however they
want,” said Danielle Brian, executive director of the
Project on Government Oversight, a Washington-based watchdog group
that has uncovered Los Alamos issues before.
“˜”˜Classified data is missing once again from Los
Alamos.”
The lab, operated by the University of California under contract
with the Energy Department, has suffered a string of embarrassing
management failures in recent years. These include reports of
financial abuse by employees, two misplaced computer hard drives
with secret nuclear-related material, and the firing of two lab
investigators who raised concerns about management.
Late last year, Los Alamos management halted operations at its
Nuclear Nonproliferation Division after an inventory found that
nine floppy disks and a large-capacity storage disk believed to
contain some classified information were missing.
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said then that misplaced
classified information at the lab was the type of management
failure that prompted the department to seek bids for a new
contractor to run the lab when the university’s contract
expires in September 2005.
Compiled from Bruin reports and wire services.
New regent leaders assume posts:
The regents announced a new chair and vice chair of their board
at their bimonthly meeting in San Francisco.
Gerald Parsky will replace John Moores as chairman, and Richard
Blum will replace Peter Preuss as vice chair.
Though the regents are a nonpartisan body, as partners in
leading the board, Parsky and Blum will represent a broad political
coalition.
Parsky, of Aurora Capital Group, is currently the chairman of
Bush’s campaign office and was a member of Reagan’s
council on productivity.
Blum, chairman of Blum Capital Partners, is married to Dianne
Feinstein and is co-chairman of the World Conference on Religion
and Peace.
Compiled from Bruin reports and wire services.