Fulin’s Asian Cuisine in Oak Ridge has closed.
The restaurant cited the pandemic in a Facebook post announcing its closing on Wednesday. That post and the restaurant’s page appear to have been removed since then, or they are no longer visible to the public.
[Read more…]Note: This story was last updated at 7:30 p.m.
Three Oak Ridge police officers reportedly shot at a man and he was struck and killed Saturday night after he allegedly charged at the officers with two knives, according to state officials.
The shooting was reported on Briar Road just before 9:30 p.m. Saturday, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
The man who allegedly had two knives and was shot and killed was Fred John Henry Arcera, 41.
The Oak Ridge Police Department had responded to a report of individual needing help.
“At some point during their interaction, Arcera reportedly came at the officers with the weapons, resulting in three officers firing shots, striking him,” the TBI said. “He was pronounced dead at the scene. No officers were injured during the incident.”
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Note: This story was updated at 12 p.m. Aug. 16.
Oak Ridge crews repaired a water main break at the corner of Rutgers Avenue and Oak Ridge Turnpike, the city said last week.
Just before 5 p.m. Thursday, the city said Oak Ridge Public Works crews were shutting valves to isolate the break. Crews could be repairing the main for the next several hours, the city said. Water was cut off for the Jimmy Johns and Home Federal Bank on the Oak Ridge Turnpike.
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Oak Ridge Fire Chief Darryl Kerley is leaving the Oak Ridge Fire Department on Friday, August 21, and he will become a full-time fire service instructor and coordinator for the State of Tennessee, a press release said.
Kerley has 43 years of active fire service with four different fire departments, the press release said. He was fire chief of three of those departments for 22 years.
Besides serving his last day as fire chief in Oak Ridge on Friday, August 21, Kerley will mark another milestone that day: It will be the last day of his six-year appointment to the Tennessee Commission on Firefighter Standards and Education.
“Serving as fire chief for the important and historical City of Oak Ridge and being appointed to the Fire Commission by Governor Bill Haslam have been the highlights of my professional career,” Kerley said in the press release. “It truly has been an honor and privilege to serve as fire chief of such a great city and to be part of the development of the national park at the K-25 site and the K-25 History Center. This is one of the finest fire departments I’ve ever been associated with and has some of the best-trained people in the State of Tennessee.”
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Note: This story contains graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.
The 36-year-old woman found dead in an Oak Ridge home early Thursday had been lured there with the promise of a place to stay, according to arrest warrants.
But once at the home on East Fairview Road, she became the victim of a series of gruesome crimes, including murder, according to the warrants, which were filed by Oak Ridge Police Department Sergeant Marvell Moore.
The woman was held against her will, tortured, and raped before she was killed, the warrants said.
She was chained to a bed and shackled with a dog collar, said the warrants, which were filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge. She was struck on the head and an arm with a baseball bat so she wouldn’t resist or try to escape the attacks, and her arms were bound with zip ties, the warrants said.
Once she was incapacitated, the two defendants in the case, Sean Finnegan, 52, and Rebecca Dishman, 22, both of Oak Ridge, repeatedly raped her before strangling her, causing her to die, the warrants said.
[Read more…]The City of Oak Ridge has a mask policy for municipal employees.
Here is what the city said last month:
Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson issued an administrative memo on June 29. It detailed a policy that requires city employees to wear masks or other face coverings when close to the public.
Inside of all municipal buildings, employees should conduct temperature checks and health questioning before they admit any resident to city-secured work areas. City employees will also be required to wear masks inside of any buildings when performing official city duties and interacting with the general public.
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No one was injured, but a home was destroyed by a fire in Oak Ridge last week.
The fire was reported in the 100 block of East Pasadena Road early Monday, July 27, the Oak Ridge Fire Department said.
Firefighters responded to a report of a structure fire at the home around 3:16 a.m. last Monday. When they arrived, fire crews found that 25 percent of home was on fire, with flames coming through the roof in the back corner.
Three engines, a tower truck, rescue truck, and battalion chief fought the fire for approximately 20 minutes before gaining control, the ORFD said. The Oak Ridge Electric Department responded to disconnect the power at the pole, and the Oak Ridge Police Department provided security.
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Note: This story was last updated at 7:15 p.m.
The Briceville zip code had the highest rate of COVID-19 cases in Anderson County, calculated compared to population, according to maps posted by the Tennessee Department of Health on Wednesday. The Briceville zip code is 37710.
The Oak Ridge and Elza (37830), Clinton and Marlow (37716), and Rocky Top (37769) zip codes had lower case rates than the Briceville zip code.
Still lower were the Oliver Springs and Coalfield (37840), Powell and Claxton (37849), Heiskell (37754), Norris (37705), and Norris and Andersonville (37705) zip codes.
On July 7, Bill Christian, spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Health, said there wasn’t one large cluster of cases that explained the increase in cases in Anderson County. Oak Ridge Today asked about that after the number of new cases started to increase in the county starting around July 2.
“Like much of East Tennessee, Anderson County is experiencing an increase in community transmission,” Christian said at the time.
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Note: This story was updated at 7:30 p.m.
Anderson County reported 39 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, another record. And Roane County reported 33 new cases, also a record.
Oak Ridge is in Anderson and Roane counties. Most of the city’s residents live in Anderson County, but the west side of the city and some large federal sites are in Roane County.
Anderson County now has 374 COVID-19 cases, with 171 active cases, and Roane County has 189, with 111 active.
The total number of COVID-19 cases in Anderson County has more than tripled since early July, and the number of active cases has more than quintupled. The number of hospitalizations has more than doubled this month.
The last record of new daily COVID-19 cases in Anderson County was Tuesday, when 27 new cases were reported. Before that, the previous high was 23 new cases on July 8.
[Read more…]The second session of the Tennessee Valley Corridor Virtual Summit Series this afternoon (Thursday, July 23) will focus on Oak Ridge and Huntsville, and science and technology in the corridor.
Most of the TVC’s annual $75 billion in federal investments are made in the historic communities of Huntsville and Oak Ridge, a summit advisory said.
You can learn more about the federal missions based in the two cities and how they impact the nation and world during today’s session, the advisory said.
[Read more…]The City of Oak Ridge does not have the authority to require face masks to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, officials said Wednesday.
The number of COVID-19 cases in Anderson County, which includes Oak Ridge, has increased significantly this month. The county had 178 total cases on Thursday—a 70 percent increase since July 2—and the number of active cases more than doubled in eight days.
As the number of cases has surged in the region, people have set up social media groups where members have reported on mask use at local businesses and offices and called for mandatory masks, including in Oak Ridge and its schools.
On Wednesday, the city said it is prohibited from enacting or enforcing a mask requirement because of a Tennessee attorney general opinion issued in April and an executive order from Tennessee Governor Bill Lee in May. (The attorney general’s opinion is Opinion Number 20-07, and the executive order is Executive Order Number 38.)
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The former American Museum of Science and Energy building is being demolished, and apartments are planned on the site.
The apartment project is expected to include seven three-story buildings with 226 apartment units on 10 acres.
Now called Main Street Lofts, the $32 million apartment project has included an agreement to reduce property taxes and the transfer of what had been federal property from the U.S. Department of Energy to the city and then to TN Oak Ridge Illinois, a company affiliated with RealtyLink, the developer of Main Street Oak Ridge.
The apartments are being built as RealtyLink, a South Carolina company, plans to build more new stores across South Tulane Avenue at Main Street Oak Ridge, the redevelopment of the former Oak Ridge Mall.
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