Oak Ridge Today

Snow in Oak Ridge

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Many roads in Oak Ridge were covered by a wet, slushy snow on Sunday morning, Dec. 9, 2018, and some were slippery even when they appeared relatively clear. Pictured above is South Illinois Avenue. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Many roads in Oak Ridge were covered by a wet, slushy snow on Sunday morning, Dec. 9, 2018, and some were slippery even when they appeared relatively clear. Pictured above is South Illinois Avenue. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 1:15 p.m.

Many roads in Oak Ridge were covered by a wet, slushy snow on Sunday morning, and some were slippery even when they appeared relatively clear.

The Oak Ridge Police Department said there were slick spots coming into Oak Ridge from Solway.

Oak Ridge Today measured about 5/8 inch of snow on a sidewalk in one spot mid-morning Sunday.

Main roads such as Illinois Avenue and Oak Ridge Turnpike were mostly clear, with slush in some spots such as the median, while side streets remained snow-covered. [Read more…]

Planning Commission gives conditional approval to revised Main Street plan

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Most of Main Street Oak Ridge is pictured above in this proposed plan from November 2018.

Most of Main Street Oak Ridge is pictured above in this proposed plan from November 2018.

 

The Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission agreed, in a split vote Wednesday, to give conditional approval to a revised plan for the next phase of Main Street Oak Ridge.

The revised plan has been sent to Oak Ridge City Council, with the 10 conditions included, for its consideration on Monday night. Council has the final say and can accept or reject the Planning Commission’s recommendation, which was approved in a 5-4 vote, or make its own decision.

There has been some opposition to the revised plan because it would eliminate planned multi-family residential units from an area near JCPenney and close the access road from Rutgers Avenue to the roundabout at Main Street Oak Ridge. The mixed-use development that many in the community say they want could be included in a future phase along Wilson Street.

It’s not clear if the Oak Ridge City Council will agree with either the revised plan or the conditions attached to it by Planning Commission. Council members seemed split over the revised plan at a joint work session featuring the Planning Commission and City Council in November. Three of the seven Council members expressed concerns, and three seemed ready to proceed. [Read more…]

Limited amount of sod from Blankenship Field available Friday

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The high school football season is over, and renovation work started at Blankenship Field in November 2018. (Photo courtesy Oak Ridge Schools)

The high school football season is over, and renovation work started at Blankenship Field in November 2018. (Photo courtesy Oak Ridge Schools)

 

A limited amount of sod from Blankenship Field will be available to football fans during a groundbreaking ceremony on Friday afternoon.

Renovations have started at the field, which will be converted from grass to synthetic turf, possibly by the end of April.

The ceremonial groundbreaking will be hosted by the City of Oak Ridge and Oak Ridge Schools, and it is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. Friday, December 7.

“Football fans will be given the opportunity to take home a piece of sod from the field beginning at 3:30 p.m. Friday,” a press release said. A limited amount of sod will be available at no cost on a first-come, first-served basis. [Read more…]

Wednesday night: Planning Commission to consider revised Main Street plan

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A proposed revision to the master plan for Main Street Oak Ridge could close off the road at right above that connects the roundabout to Rutgers Avenue. A sidewalk could connect PetSmart, a new store at right, to JCPenney, in background, and four retail stores could be built along the sidewalk. The area is pictured above on Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

A proposed revision to the master plan for Main Street Oak Ridge could close off the road at right above that connects the roundabout to Rutgers Avenue. A sidewalk could connect PetSmart, a new store at right, to JCPenney, in background, and four retail stores could be built along the sidewalk. The area is pictured above on Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission will consider a potential revision to the plan for Main Street Oak Ridge during a special meeting this evening (Wednesday, December 5).

The meeting is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. in the Multipurpose Room at the Central Services Complex at 100 Woodbury Lane. [Read more…]

Basketball: Smith scores career-high 34 as Wildcats sweep Karns

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Oak Ridge senior Marcus Smith (2) scored a career-high 34 points during an 82-65 win over Karns at Wildcat Arena on Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Oak Ridge senior guard Marcus Smith (2) scored a career-high 34 points during an 82-65 win over Karns at Wildcat Arena on Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Oak Ridge senior guard Marcus Smith scored a career-high 34 points as the Wildcats and Lady Wildcats swept Karns at home on Tuesday.

Smith also had eight rebounds and five assists during the 82-65 win over the Beavers at Wildcat Arena.

“I was really proud of Marcus,” Oak Ridge Coach Aaron Green said.

Eleven of his points were from the free throw line, where Smith was 11-of-15.

Oak Ridge senior guard JaVonte Thomas scored 18 points for the Wildcats (6-1, 3-0 District 3-AAA) and pulled down 10 rebounds. Senior guard Joe Kesterson added 10 points, with nine of those on three-point shots. Junior guard Isaiah Johnson scored eight, and sophomore forward Jeremy Miller had six points and 10 rebounds. [Read more…]

DOE awards $91 million contract for Mercury Treatment Facility at Y-12

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The planned Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. (Image courtesy UCOR/U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management)

The planned Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. (Image courtesy UCOR/U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management)

 

The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded a $91 million contract to build the Mercury Treatment Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

It’s part of an effort to reduce the amount of mercury in East Fork Poplar Creek and allow the demolition of several large Y-12 buildings where mercury was used to help make nuclear weapons during the Cold War.

The contract, which could be in place for up to four years, was awarded to APTIM-North Wind Construction JV LLC, DOE said Tuesday. [Read more…]

Y-12 facilities could be crucial in plan to replace W78 warhead

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U.S. Air Force missile maintainers working on an intercontinental ballistic missile. (Source: U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Braydon Williams/GAO-19-84)

U.S. Air Force missile maintainers working on an intercontinental ballistic missile. (Source: U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Braydon Williams/GAO-19-84)

 

The National Nuclear Security Administration is preparing to restart a program to replace the W78 nuclear warhead, and new facilities at the Y-12 National Security Complex could be important to that project, a federal agency said Friday.

The W78 is one of two types of warheads on U.S. Air Force intercontinental ballistic missiles. The W87 is the other.

Critical components inside the W78 are aging, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which published a report about the warhead replacement program on Friday. Also, the military’s requirements for, among other things, the safety and security features of the warhead have changed since it entered the stockpile in 1979, the GAO said.

Besides being used by the Air Force, the replacement W78 warhead could be used in ballistic missiles launched from Navy submarines, although further studies are required, the GAO said.

The two Y-12 facilities that could affect the warhead replacement program are the Uranium Processing Facility, which is now under construction, and the Lithium Production Facility, which could have a new building through a project that is still in the planning stages. [Read more…]

Joe Gaddis inducted into Tennessee Football Coaches Hall of Fame

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Joe Gaddis

Joe Gaddis (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Oak Ridge football coach Joe Gaddis was inducted into the Tennessee Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame on Saturday.

It was the association’s fifth Hall of Fame class, and it includes a total of seven members. Besides Gaddis, the other six Hall of Fame football members in this year’s class were Bobby Alston, Jim Heinz, Hershel Moore, Bob Polston, and Dave Rider.

The seventh member recognized by the Tennessee Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame was the contributor of the year. This year’s inductee was former Chattanooga Times Free Press sports writer and Chattanooga area television personality Stump Martin.

The Hall of Fame induction ceremony took place on Saturday, December 1, at the Life Church in Cookeville. [Read more…]

Photos: Work begins on Blankenship Field

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The high school football season is over, and renovation work started at Blankenship Field in November 2018. (Photo courtesy Oak Ridge Schools)

The high school football season is over, and renovation work started at Blankenship Field in November 2018. (Photo courtesy Oak Ridge Schools)

 

The high school football season is over, and renovation work has started at Blankenship Field.

The City of Oak Ridge and Oak Ridge Schools have both posted photos of the start of the work.

On Wednesday, the City of Oak Ridge said maintenance crews from Oak Ridge Schools were doing preliminary work, including removing irrigation, fencing, and sod.

“Heavy machinery will arrive with the contractors soon,” the city said in a post published on Twitter. “We can’t wait to see the finished product next year!” [Read more…]

Basketball: Oak Ridge boys win at Campbell County

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JACKSBORO—The Oak Ridge boys basketball team picked up their second district win of the season in a 81-67 victory at Campbell County on Friday night.

The Cougars took an early lead, but the Wildcats led 22-12 by the end of the first quarter.

Oak Ridge (5-1, 2-0 District 3-AAA) outscored Campbell County 48-29 in the next two quarters to widen the lead to 70-44.

But the Cougars (0-7, 0-2) scored 23 points in the fourth quarter, compared to 11 for the Wildcats, to narrow the final score to 81-67. [Read more…]

CTF: 53 grams of suspected meth found in hotel room search

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Bobby M. Baucum

Bobby M. Baucum

 

About 53 grams of suspected crystal methamphetamine were found during a hotel room search in Clinton in October, authorities said.

Bobby M. Baucum, 47, of Knoxville, was arrested after the search, which was led by the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force of Anderson County, according to Anderson County court and jail records. Baucum was charged with possession of schedule II drugs (methamphetamine) for sale and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Baucum had been using a hotel room at the Red Roof Inn and Suites on Buffalo Road in Clinton, according to affidavits filed by Jonathan Wilson of the Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force. Officers, who had a search warrant, searched the room on October 3, the affidavits said.

The search of the hotel room found the roughly 53 grams of suspected meth and a digital scale and plastic bags, Wilson said in the affidavits. [Read more…]

(For members) NNSA modernizing weapons as U.S. nuclear stockpile shrinks

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Image from the Fiscal Year 2019 Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration, which was released in October 2018.

Image from the Fiscal Year 2019 Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration, which was released in October 2018.

 

Image from the Fiscal Year 2019 Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration, which was released in October 2018.

The U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile continues to shrink and it’s gotten older, but the National Nuclear Security Administration, which has a site in Oak Ridge, has four modernization programs under way. That’s the busiest the NNSA has been since the Cold War era, Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty said in a report to Congress in October.

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, which enriched uranium for the first atomic bomb used in wartime, has been involved in the work to modernize some weapons and dismantle others as the stockpile changes.

The rest of this story, which you will find only on Oak Ridge Today, includes more information about Y-12’s work on nuclear weapons and a series of nine questions and answers with Hans M. Kristensen, the director of the Nuclear Information Project at Federation of American Scientists. 

The rest of the story is available if you are a member: a subscriber, advertiser, or recent contributor to Oak Ridge Today. 

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