Oak Ridge Today

Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers could open in Oak Ridge early next year

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A Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers could open in Oak Ridge early next year at the intersection of South Illinois Avenue and South Tulane Avenue, the company said Thursday, May 25, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

A Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers could open in Oak Ridge early next year at the intersection of South Illinois Avenue and South Tulane Avenue, the company said Thursday, May 25, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

A Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers could open in Oak Ridge early next year, the company said Thursday.

“We are currently working on securing a space in a multi-tenant building on the northeast corner of Tulane and Illinois, in front of Wal-Mart,” said Bob Rasberry, area franchise owner. “We hope to open early next year.”

It would be part of Main Street Oak Ridge, the 58-acre project to redevelop the former Oak Ridge Mall.

The Freddy’s restaurant would be on a redeveloped parcel at the busy intersection of South Illinois Avenue and South Tulane Avenue, near Taco Bell, which is being rebuilt, and the Golden Oak restaurant.

It would be within walking distance of eight new stores expected to open soon at Main Street Oak Ridge: Dick’s Sporting Goods, Electronic Express, Maurice’s, PetSmart, Rack Room Shoes, Rue 21, T.J. Maxx, and Ulta. It would be down the street from another new restaurant on South Illinois Avenue, Panda Express. [Read more…]

City manager will present budget to City Council on Tuesday

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Mark Watson

Mark Watson

Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson will present the proposed budget for the next fiscal year during a special meeting on Tuesday.

The special meeting of the Oak Ridge City Council is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 30, in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Courtroom at 200 South Tulane Avenue.

The details of the budget haven’t been released yet.

The Oak Ridge Board of Education has adopted a budget that will ask the Oak Ridge City Council for more money for a 2.5 percent salary increase for teachers and staff members, but it’s not clear yet if city officials will approve that request. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge girls finish ninth in state 4×800 meter relay

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Oak Ridge junior Genevieve Schwartz competed in the 4x800 meter relay at MTSU in Murfreesboro on Thursday, May 25, 2017, when the girls finished ninth out of 16 teams. Schwartz also competed in the 3,200 meter run, where she finished 15th. (Photo by Kindell Moore)

Oak Ridge junior Genevieve Schwartz competed as part of the 4×800 meter relay at MTSU in Murfreesboro on Thursday, May 25, 2017, when the girls finished ninth out of 16 teams. Schwartz also competed in the 3,200 meter run, where she finished 15th. (Photo by Kindell Moore)

 

MURFREESBORO—The Oak Ridge girls 4×800 meter relay team finished ninth in the state track meet in Murfreesboro on Thursday.

The team includes senior Abbey Greenhalgh, junior Genevieve Schwartz, and freshmen Rebecca Joyal and Muskaan Vohra.

The team finished ninth in a field of 16 teams with a time of 10:02.58.

The top three teams in the girls’ 4×800-meter relay were West (of Knoxville), Brentwood (of the Nashville area), and Hardin Valley Academy. West finished first with a time of 9:30.90.

The 2017 TSSAA Girls’ Track State Championships were at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro on Thursday.

In a second event, another Oak Ridge girls team finished 12th in the 4×200 meter relay. That team includes senior Breanne Young, junior Desiree Bates, sophomore Makiya Garrett, and junior Shatyrah Copeland. Their time was 1:47.72. The first-place team, Whitehaven, had a time of 1:41.44. [Read more…]

Bishop of Anderson County wins state championship in pole vault

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Anderson County sophomore Brittany Bishop won the state championship in the girls' pole vault at MTSU in Murfreesboro on Wednesday, May 24, 2017. (Photo courtesy Gary Terry)

Anderson County sophomore Brittany Bishop won the state championship in the girls’ pole vault at MTSU in Murfreesboro on Wednesday, May 24, 2017. (Photo courtesy Gary Terry)

 

Note: This story was updated at 11 a.m.

Anderson County sophomore Brittany Bishop won the state championship in the girls’ pole vault on Wednesday.

Bishop cleared 12 feet at the 2017 TSSAA Girls’ Track State Championships at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro.

She had been the second-seeded pole vaulter, behind senior Taylor Pickett of Brentwood.

Pickett finished second on Wednesday. She also cleared 12 feet.

Bishop had a miss at 11-06, but then she and Pickett both cleared 12 feet. But Bishop did it first. Pickett missed it on her first of three tries.

Bishop and Pickett were the final two jumpers starting at about 11 feet.

Anderson County Coach Al Rodd said Bishop has led pole vaulters for much of the year, but Pickett had recently passed her, clearing 12-02 and 12-04. Bishop had cleared 12 feet at the Dale Legg Invitational earlier this year. [Read more…]

Citing federal law, readers ask whether DOE can close AMSE, move its missions

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The American Museum of Science and Energy is pictured above on South Tulane Avenue in Oak Ridge on Monday, Jan. 2, 2017. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 9:20 a.m. May 25.

Citing a section of federal law, readers have asked whether the U.S. Department of Energy can legally stop operating the American Museum of Science and Energy on South Tulane Avenue and move its public education and outreach missions over to renovated space at Main Street Oak Ridge.

On Wednesday, federal officials said the law does not affect the current plan. That plan includes transferring the AMSE property to the City of Oak Ridge and then to a private developer, and moving DOE’s public outreach and education missions from the museum property to Main Street Oak Ridge.

At issue is an appendix in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2001, which is also known as Public Law 106-554 and approved on December 21, 2000.

In that law, there are sections related to AMSE in Appendix D, Title IV, Sections 401-404 (a bit before the halfway point of the document if you’re looking for them in the PDF).

Among other things, the sections say that AMSE—The Museum—is designated as the “American Museum of Science of Energy,” and it “shall be the official museum of science and energy of the United States.”

Also, the sections say the term “Museum” means the museum operated by the Secretary of Energy and located at 300 South Tulane Avenue in Oak Ridge. That’s where AMSE is now. [Read more…]

Two protesters questioned, released at Y-12’s east gate

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Two women protesting the U.S. Department of Energy and trying to inform the public of the effects of global warming were questioned and released at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge on Monday morning, authorities said.

New Energy Secretary Rick Perry was at Y-12 for a tour on Monday morning, but it’s not clear if the two women were there because of Perry.

The Oak Ridge Police Department responded to a call of two protesters trespassing at Y-12’s east gate at 301 Bear Creek Road at about 10:13 a.m. Monday. Perry was reported to have left the nuclear weapons plant by then. [Read more…]

Funding for ORNL could be cut $185 million under president’s budget

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory Sign

Photo by ORNL

 

Funding for Oak Ridge National Laboratory could be cut by $185 million under the budget request released by President Donald Trump on Tuesday.

If Trump’s budget request is enacted, the lab’s funding would drop from about $1.247 billion in Fiscal Year 2017, which ends September 30, to roughly $1.062 billion in Fiscal Year 2018. That would be a decrease of roughly 15 percent.

The reduction would be even greater when compared to the $1.27 billion allocated to ORNL in Fiscal Year 2016, according to preliminary laboratory tables posted by the U.S. Department of Energy. In that case, it would be about a $206 million decrease over two years.

But it’s not clear that the president’s budget request will pass or even be considered in Congress. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, including Senator John Cornyn, the second-ranking Republican in the GOP-controlled Senate, have declared the Fiscal Year 2018 presidential budget request that was released Tuesday “dead on arrival,” according to NBC News. Lawmakers have said that the cuts are too steep and the accounting is too unrealistic, the network reported.

Under the president’s budget request, overall spending for DOE would drop by $1.6 billion from $29.6 billion in Fiscal Year 2016 to $28 billion in Fiscal Year 2018.

Funding for DOE’s Office of Science would decrease to $4.5 billion, or $874 million below the Fiscal Year 2016 level. ORNL is an Office of Science lab. [Read more…]

President’s budget request includes money for two UPF buildings at Y-12

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The sign at the Scarboro Road entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above on December 16, 2014. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 1:45 p.m.

The budget request released Tuesday by President Donald Trump includes money to start construction of two buildings at the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.

Budget highlights for the National Nuclear Security Administration, or NNSA, were released early Tuesday afternoon. Y-12 is an NNSA site.

The budget request would allow the NNSA to start construction of the Main Process Building and the Salvage and Accountability Building at the Uranium Processing Facility, the NNSA said in a press release.

The NNSA, a semi-autonomous U.S. Department of Energy agency, will have a conference call with reporters at 3 p.m. today (Tuesday, May 23) to provide more information.

There has been much attention focused on the potential cuts in the preliminary budget blueprint released in March and the more detailed budget request released Tuesday, including a proposal to reduce spending for DOE’s Office of Science by $900 million. Oak Ridge National Laboratory is an Office of Science lab.

But in Oak Ridge, it has seemed possible that NNSA work and environmental management (federal cleanup) programs could benefit under the presidential budget proposals. [Read more…]

School board adopts budget asking city for more money for salary increase

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Oak Ridge Schools School Administration Building

This is a cropped version of a photo by Julio Culiat.

 

The Oak Ridge Board of Education on Monday adopted a budget that will ask the Oak Ridge City Council for more money for a 2.5 percent salary increase for teachers and staff members.

The total amount needed to fund the 2.5 percent salary increase is $855,810, after about $98,000 worth of budget adjustments.

Most of the money for the salary increase could be available if the City of Oak Ridge agrees to continue putting into the budget $538,046 worth of funding that was given to the school system last year on a one-time basis to help pay for a digital device initiative that includes convertible laptops for students, among other expenses. In other words, the school board will ask the city to make that $538,046 a recurring source of funding, as opposed to non-recurring (one-time) money.

The school board will then ask for an additional $317,764 on top of the $538,046, or $855,810 total.

The budget passed on a second and final reading on Monday in a 5-0 voice vote with no opposition. [Read more…]

He once called for eliminating DOE. Now Secretary Perry pledges to be an advocate.

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Energy Secretary Rick Perry drives a 3D printed personal utility vehicle at Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Manufacturing Demonstration Facility on Hardin Valley Road on Monday, May 22, 2017. His passenger is Craig Blue, director of energy efficiency and renewable energy programs at ORNL. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Energy Secretary Rick Perry drives a 3D-printed utility vehicle, or PUV, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility in Hardin Valley on Monday, May 22, 2017. His passenger is Craig Blue, director of energy efficiency and renewable energy programs at ORNL. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 8:30 a.m. May 24.

HARDIN VALLEY—He once called for eliminating the U.S. Department of Energy, but after touring federal sites in Oak Ridge and Hardin Valley on Monday, new Energy Secretary Rick Perry pledged to be an advocate for at least some programs.

Perry, a former Texas governor who was confirmed as energy secretary on March 2, was asked about his comments calling for the elimination of three federal departments, including DOE, during the 2012 presidential campaign. His call to eliminate the three departments probably received more attention than it might have otherwise because, in a moment that received a lot of attention, Perry couldn’t recall the name of the Department of Energy during a November 2011 debate. Some believe that moment helped sink his presidential campaign.

Earlier this year, Perry told U.S. senators during his confirmation hearing that he regretted his earlier call to eliminate DOE. After being briefed on many vital functions of DOE, he no longer believed that it should be eliminated, Perry told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, according to The New York Times.

During a stop in Hardin Valley on Monday afternoon, Perry acknowledged he’s learned a lot since the 2012 campaign, including in his visit to Oak Ridge and at DOE headquarters in Washington, D.C., and in trips to Idaho National Laboratory and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in southeast New Mexico.

He suggested he might not be the only one unaware of some of the innovations that have roots in or are developed in places like Oak Ridge, innovations like gene therapy, supercomputing, and 3D printing. The American public may also not be aware of how that “cutting-edge” technology can be used to create jobs and wealth, Perry said.

“Those are things I readily admit I didn’t know five years ago,” Perry said after operating a 3D-printed excavator and test-driving a printed utility vehicle—and learning about other innovations such as supercomputers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and composite work at its Manufacturing Demonstration Facility in Hardin Valley on Monday afternoon. “There are a lot of things that have surprised me.” [Read more…]

County takes action on General Sessions Court, Senior Center

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Anderson County could renovate the former Oak Ridge Senior Center, which was once housed in this part of a building owned by Anderson County on Emory Valley Road, and use the space for Anderson County General Sessions Court, Division II. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Anderson County could renovate the former Oak Ridge Senior Center, which was once housed in this part of a building owned by Anderson County on Emory Valley Road, and use the space for Anderson County General Sessions Court, Division II. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

CLINTON—Anderson County officials are taking steps to move the General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge from a privately owned building to a county-owned building and to move the county’s Senior Center into a larger space in Clinton.

Both projects have been discussed at the most recent meetings of the Anderson County Commission in Clinton.

Last Monday, May 15, Anderson County Commission approved about $1.4 million in borrowing through capital outlay notes that can be used for capital projects, including the General Sessions Court and Senior Center. The funding will include $500,000 for renovation work for the Anderson County General Sessions Court, Division II, and $600,000 to purchase the new Senior Center building, Anderson County Commissioner Robert McKamey said. The money is being borrowed at a 2.35 percent interest rate for 12 years. The $1.4 million also includes $300,000 for capital projects, which could include roofs on a few buildings.

The county will repay the capital outlay notes from the general fund, McKamey said.

The bids on the renovation work for Anderson County General Sessions Court, Division II, in Oak Ridge, had come in higher than expected in April. The low bid of about $530,000 from Preen Construction of Knoxville was announced during County Commission’s April 17 meeting.

Officials had previously said the renovations could cost about $300,000, citing an estimate from Michael Brady Inc., a Knoxville architectural firm. [Read more…]

Responding to disturbance near DOE landfill, police allegedly find drugs, stolen gun in vehicle

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Daniel Ray Price

Daniel Ray Price

 

Note This story was updated at 11:50 a.m. Nov. 1.

Oak Ridge police allegedly found marijuana, Xanax, drug paraphernalia, and a stolen pistol in a vehicle after responding to a report of a disturbance near the U.S. Department of Energy landfill on Bear Creek Road near the Y-12 National Security Complex on Sunday, May 14, court records said.

Oak Ridge Police Department K-9 Officer Christopher Wallace said a search of the vehicle with the help of a drug-detecting canine officer found 18.4 ounces of marijuana, along with 97 Xanax (alprazolam) tablets; drug paraphernalia that included rolling papers, a grinder, digital scales, glass marijuana pipe, glass meth/crack cocaine pipe, and a snort straw; an SCCY Industries 9mm CPX2 semi automatic pistol; and a North American Arms (N.A.A.) .22LR mini revolver pistol that the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office had reported as stolen.

Charged after the search was Daniel Ray Price, 35, of Coster Lane in Knoxville. Price said all the items belonged to him, Wallace said in affidavits filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]