Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam has announced that Greg Adams, who has been an IBM executive and longtime employee, will join the governor’s senior team as chief operating officer, a press release said.
His job will be to work with state departments to ensure they’re operating in the most efficient and effective way possible. [Read more…]
Bill Haslam
Legislation changes the definition of “criminal gang offense”
MEMPHIS—Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam on Wednesday held a ceremonial bill signing in Memphis for legislation that rewrites and simplifies the criminal gang offense enhanced punishment law.
Gang-related crimes are of increasing concern across Tennessee, in the state’s rural and urban communities, and the bill, House Bill 196/Senate Bill 202, changes the definition of “criminal gang offense” from a vague and broad definition to a specific list of offenses that will make it easier for prosecutors to seek a greater sentence. [Read more…]
Volkswagen, Roane County, and Tennessee officials celebrate the opening of a $40 million parts distribution center in eastern Roane County on Tuesday.
ROANE COUNTY—A new $40 million Volkswagen distribution center in eastern Roane County will distribute domestic auto parts to a global market for the Passat, which is made in Chattanooga, the company said Tuesday.
The Southeast Regional Distribution Center started operating on a limited basis as a redistribution center in April. It serves five other depots in the United States, as well as warehouses in Canada, Mexico, and Germany.
Later, it will include a parts distribution center for 110 Volkswagen and Audi dealers in the Southeast. [Read more…]
The Select Tennessee Certified Site is pictured above at Horizon Center. (Submitted photo)
NASHVILLE—The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development announced on Tuesday the first six Select Tennessee Certified Sites.
As previously reported on Oak Ridge Today, one of the sites is at Horizon Center in west Oak Ridge.
The Select Tennessee program was launched in June 2012 with the goal of helping Tennessee communities prepare available sites for investment and expansion. The program sets a consistent and rigorous standard upon which companies can rely in making critical location decisions. [Read more…]
NASHVILLE – Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam last week announced that Deputy to the Governor Claude Ramsey will retire at the end of August to spend more time with his wife, children, and grandchildren in Chattanooga.
A press release said Ramsey, a former Hamilton County mayor, has been integral to Haslam on several key initiatives, including civil service reform, economic development efforts, workforce development training, and improved operation of state government. [Read more…]
Note: This story was updated at 1:51 p.m.
William E. Lantrip, longtime chancellor in Anderson County’s Seventh Judicial District, has announced he will not seek re-election in 2014.
“I have shared this decision with my fellow judges and members of the bar for some time and now believe it appropriate to make this decision known publicly,” Lantrip said in a Friday morning press release. “I have encouraged those interested in this office to consider pursuing election during next year’s election. I look forward to completing my service as I contemplate my retirement.” [Read more…]
The last of more than one million pounds of low-level radioactive waste at the former IMPACT Services site at Heritage Center in west Oak Ridge will be shipped out next Thursday.
Considered a success story, the one-year, $1.2 million state project to ship out more than one million pounds of low-level radioactive waste from the west Oak Ridge site of a company that declared bankruptcy about one year ago will end next week.
Already, about 1.1 million pounds of waste in about 1,200 containers have been shipped off the Heritage Center site, including to other processors and sites in Oak Ridge, Florida, and an EnergySolutions landfill in Clive, Utah, officials said during a Thursday morning tour.
A half-dozen shipments remain between now and Friday, June 28, said Judy Hardt, project manager for SAIC, which is performing the on-site work under a contract with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. [Read more…]
The Select Tennessee Certified Site at Horizon Center is pictured at center above. A 28-acre portion of the parcel at left has been identified as a primary data center site. (Submitted photo)
Tennessee officials have identified 110 cleared acres in Horizon Center as one of the first sites in the state to be named a certified site, meaning the property has met certain rigorous standards and is ready for development.
It’s now the second certified site in Horizon Center, a business park on State Route 95 in west Oak Ridge.
The 110-acre site has been designated as a Select Tennessee Certified Site by the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. [Read more…]
Gov. Bill Haslam announces that Oak Ridge has received $200,000 in Clean Tennessee Energy Grant funding for lighting at the Municipal Building and Civic Center.
Gov. Bill Haslam on Monday announced that Oak Ridge is receiving $200,000 in Clean Tennessee Energy Grant funding for lighting in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building and Civic Center Complex.
The money will be used to replace and retrofit existing fluorescent lighting fixtures to LED lighting, a press release said.
It’s the first of 19 grant awards that the governor will be making in the next few weeks, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation said in the press release. Funding for the projects comes from an April 2011 Clean Air Act settlement with the Tennessee Valley Authority. [Read more…]
Information from WYSH Radio
Several people, including two from Clinton, have applied to fill an anticipated 2014 vacancy on the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals. The opening is the result of an announcement by Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Joseph Tipton that he will not seek re-election in August 2014, creating a vacancy effective Sept. 1, 2014.
Because the statutory provisions for the Judicial Nominating Commission expire June 30, the commission will meet this month to select a slate of candidates for Gov. Bill Haslam to choose from. The Court of Criminal Appeals opening is for the Eastern Tennessee Grand Division. [Read more…]
Terry Mullins, the chief executive officer of Oak Ridge Tool-Engineering, Inc., has a pretty simple business philosophy:
“We just go after where the money is,” Mullins said. “We’re able to pick and choose which markets are hot.”
While the philosophy may be simple, the services the company provides are anything but. Oak Ridge Tool-Engineering designs and builds equipment used on some of the world’s most complex machinery—everything from submarines to the International Space Station. [Read more…]
Information from WYSH Radio
The commissioners of the Powell-Clinch Utility District scored a legal victory last week in their dispute with the state’s Utility Management Review Board when an appeals court overturned a lower court’s ruling that they could be held liable for, and removed from office, for acts that allegedly occurred before a change in state law in 2009.
The issue before the appeals court was to determine if the three commissioners—Charles Oldham, Jerry Shattuck, and Charles Taylor—could be removed from office based on a change in state law that went into effect in June of 2009 which added an amendment that “failing to fulfill the commissioner or commissioners’ fiduciary responsibility in the operation or oversight of the district” would be considered as one of the possible grounds for the removal of utility even if the alleged acts occurred before the amendment went into effect. [Read more…]
