Everyone is invited to a free community Thanksgiving Dinner in Oak Ridge on Thursday, November 28, a press release said.
The dinner is scheduled from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Thanksgiving at the Historic Grove Theater, which is located at 123 Randolph Road in Oak Ridge. Reservations are not required.
“The grassroots annual tradition continues!” a press release said. “Everyone should have someone to give thanks with on Thanksgiving!”
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Note: This story was updated at 12:30 p.m.
The Freels Bend Cabin, Oak Ridge’s oldest structure, was recognized with a historical sign in October.
The historical sign by the Tennessee Historical Commission said the Freels Bend Cabin, next to Melton Hill Lake east of Clark Center Park in south Oak Ridge, is the only Oak Ridge home that is still standing that was built in the 1800s.
It was one of the earliest cabins built in Anderson County. It’s on the National Historic Register.
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President Donald J. Trump formally nominated Dan Brouillette to serve as the next energy secretary on Thursday.
Brouillette, a former Ford executive, is currently deputy secretary in the U.S. Department of Energy. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, he would replace Rick Perry, who is resigning as energy secretary.
“I am honored to be nominated by President Trump to serve as the U.S. secretary of energy, and grateful to Secretary Perry for asking me to join him at the Department of Energy over two years ago,” Brouillette said in a DOE press release on Thursday. “If confirmed, I will further Secretary Perry’s legacy of promoting energy independence, innovation, and security for the American people.”
Brouillette has visited DOE sites in Oak Ridge as deputy secretary, while Perry has visited as energy secretary, including to announce Frontier, a new supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in May.
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Workers are making significant progress removing asbestos and other hazardous waste from the Biology Complex at the Y-12 National Security Complex in a deactivation project that’s more than 60 percent complete, the U.S. Department of Energy said this week.
The work prepares the Biology Complex for demolition, possibly next year. The Biology Complex was originally built to recover uranium from process streams. It was later used for DOE’s research on the genetic effects of radiation from the late 1940s. When they operated, the facilities once had more people with doctorates than anywhere in the world, according to DOE.
Asbestos abatement teams from UCOR are working inside the six-story 9207 Facility and the three-story 9210 Facility. The first building is 256,600 square feet, and the second is 64,700 square feet.
“This project paves the way for EM (Environmental Management) to begin demolishing remaining buildings that comprise the Biology Complex next year,” the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management said in an “EM Update” newsletter on Tuesday.
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The Oak Ridge High School Softball team prepares for the 2018 Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce Christmas Parade. This year’s parade will be held on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2019. (Submitted photo)
The annual Christmas Parade organized by the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce will be Saturday, December 14.
This year’s theme is “Christmas Around the World.” The parade promises to provide spectators with plenty of music, lights, and beautiful floats, a press release said.
The sponsor of this year’s parade is The Cowperwood Company. There is no cost to participate.
The Chamber will be accepting entries online through Monday, December 9. Register by visiting the Chamber’s website at www.oakridgechamber.org. [Read more…]
ASAP of Anderson, a nonprofit organization that works to prevent substance abuse in Anderson County, has moved into a new office in Clinton that was provided by county school officials.
ASAP dedicated the new space with a ribbon-cutting and open house on October 24.
ASAP, which celebrated 10 years of prevention last year, started out in a small space at the Child Advocacy Center of Anderson County, but its operations quickly grew. The organization next occupied space within District Attorney General Dave Clark’s office in Clinton, and the ASAP staff eventually landed, in 2011, on the fourth floor of the Robert Jolley Building on Main Street in Clinton. That space was provided by the Anderson County schools director at the time, Larry Foster.
In August, ASAP moved into a building not far from their original offices. The big difference? A space all their own, a press release said. A space where they can host their own coalition meetings, community trainings such as responsible alcohol sales classes and opioid overdose trainings, and host meetings for other community agencies.
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By Bob Fowler, Roane State staff writer
An eight-foot-tall telescope with an 18-inch diameter lens has been donated for use at Roane State Community College’s Tamke-Allan Observatory, and it offers the clearest views yet of the universe’s distant reaches.
Like the two powerful telescopes already in place at the observatory, the latest telescope is a donation, this time from former long-time Alaska resident and avid amateur astronomer John Jaruzel, who now calls Oak Ridge home.
“It is by far the most powerful telescope (at Tamke-Allan) in terms of collecting light,” said David Fields, director of the observatory. “This scope will enable the viewer to see extremely dim stars and objects,” he said.
“This is a wonderful thing to be able to offer the students views of such distant celestial objects,” Fields said of the gift. “It’s inspiring.”
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A Roane State Community College art professor’s whimsical creations—including grinning skulls and mystical creatures on ceramic mugs and bowls, and a brightly painted ceramic wheel—are showcased in a page ad in “Ceramics Monthly,” the nation’s foremost magazine devoted to clay artistry, a press release said.
Bryan Wilkerson’s handiwork, including his painting of a pottery wheel, are featured in the ad taken by AMACO Brent, also known as the American Art and Clay Company, in celebration of the company’s 50th year in business.
[Read more…]Cannabis in Tennessee will be discussed at “Lunch with the League” in Oak Ridge on Tuesday.
The speaker will be Patricia K. Freeland, professor and associate head of the Department of Political Science at the University of Tennessee, a press release said.
The meeting will be held from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church, which is located at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.
A long-time educator, Freeland has had an extensive and interesting career in all aspects of public administration and public policy, the press release said. She has written numerous books and articles on public administration, food policy, technology policy (drones), religion, and politics.
[Read more…]By Bob Fowler, Roane State staff writer
It’s new at Roane State: a winter term with numerous online classes that can help boost grade point averages or enable students to finish college faster.
Classes ranging from American Government to Microbiology will be offered during the four-week program, a press release said. College officials touting the offering describe it as a way to “Succeed Ahead of Schedule.”
Registration for the innovative program is from November 11 through December 5, and the classes will run from December 16 through January 16, with two days off for both the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.
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The largest and most visible buildings remaining at the East Tennessee Technology Park are being removed.
Demolition is under way on the Centrifuge Complex, according to the “EM Update” newsletter published last week by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management.
The demolition work is part of the project to finish cleanup at ETTP, the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge, by the end of 2020. One of the three main sites in Oak Ridge, K-25 was built as part of the Manhattan Project, the top-secret federal program to build atomic weapons during World War II. The site continued to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons and commercial nuclear power plants through the Cold War. Its operations ended in the mid-1980s, and the site is now being converted into a private industrial park.
The Centrifuge Complex has more than 235,000 square feet, and sections of it reach heights of 180 feet. It was built in stages to develop and test centrifuge uranium enrichment technology, the “EM Update” said. The last of these facilities ceased operation in the mid-1980s.
[Read more…]The Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education will host a virtual career fair on Wednesday, November 13, from noon to 3 p.m. Eastern time.
During this time, college students and recent graduates seeking STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) research, internship, and fellowship opportunities can interact with U.S. Department of Energy scientists, researchers, recruiters, and staff. They can explore virtual booths representing more than 25 programs in energy-related research, policy, and technology from national laboratories, field offices, and research facilities across the nation, a press release said.
“The ORISE Virtual Career Fair experience is a great opportunity for university-level students and post graduates to investigate research opportunities available at facilities across the DOE complex,” said ORISE Workforce Development Associate Director Craig Layman. “There will be representatives from many DOE program offices, including fusion energy, nuclear security, fossil energy, intelligence and counterintelligence, environmental management, energy efficiency and renewable energy, and more.” [Read more…]
