Oak Ridge Today

Slides: See more information on the Oak Ridge Airport project

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Oak Ridge Airport Funding Sources March 15 2017

A Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority committee on Wednesday approved a layout plan for the proposed Oak Ridge Airport. The plan will now be sent to the Federal Aviation Administration for review and approval.

As reported in a Wednesday story, there are additional steps and approvals required. But if all goes well, construction on the airport could start in late 2018 or early 2019, officials said Wednesday.

Slides included in this story include more information about the proposed airport. We encourage you to read the earlier story as well.

The airport could cost an estimated $35 million to $40 million, officials said Wednesday. It would be funded with a mix of federal funding, state aeronautical commission funding, and local funding from the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority, or MKAA. [Read more…]

Basketball photos: Wildcats at Class AAA boys’ quarterfinal

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OakRidge senior Tyshawn Young (4) led the Wildcats with 18 points and nine rebounds during a 53-45 win over Brentwood in a Class AAA boys' state quarterfinal game at Murphy Center in Murfreesboro on Wednesday, March 15, 2017. Young was 6-of-6 from the free throw line. (Photo by Luther Simmons)

Oak Ridge senior Tyshawn Young (4) led the Wildcats with 18 points and nine rebounds during a 53-45 win over Brentwood in a Class AAA boys’ state quarterfinal game at Murphy Center in Murfreesboro on Wednesday, March 15, 2017. Young was 6-of-6 from the free throw line. (Photo by Luther Simmons)

 

MURFREESBORO—Oak Ridge beat Brentwood 53-45 in a state quarterfinal basketball game on Wednesday to advance to a semifinal game against Memphis East on Friday. Here are photos by Luther Simmons. [Read more…]

Construction on Oak Ridge Airport could start late next year, early 2019

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Image via Billy Stair presentation at Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority General Aviation Committee meeting on Wednesday, March 15, 2017.

Image via Billy Stair presentation at Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority General Aviation Committee meeting on Wednesday, March 15, 2017.

 

Note: This story was last updated at 2 a.m.

There are additional steps and approvals required, but if all goes well, construction on the Oak Ridge Airport on the west end of town could start in late 2018 or early 2019, officials said Wednesday.

The airport could still cost an estimated $35 million to $40 million, officials said. It would be funded with a mix of federal funding, state aeronautical commission funding, and local funding from the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority, or MKAA.

On Wednesday, the MKAA General Aviation Committee approved an airport layout plan during a meeting at McGhee Tyson Airport in Alcoa. The plan will now be sent to the Federal Aviation Administration for review and approval.

“It’s a very important step for us,” said Bill Marrison, president of the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge leads Brentwood 20-19 at halftime of state quarterfinal

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Oak Ridge Basketball Camp Logo

Oak Ridge led Brentwood 20-19 at halftime of a Class AAA boys’ state quarterfinal game in Murfreesboro.

The Wildcats were led in the first half by senior Tyshawn Young with 10 points and six rebounds.

The Bruins were led by senior Kellen King with eight points.

The game remained close in the start of the second half, with the Wildcats ahead 35-32 with 2:09 remaining in the third quarter. [Read more…]

Council postpones vote on preschool site until after Scarboro meeting

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The new preschool could be located at Elm Grove Park in east Oak Ridge or Scarboro Park in central Oak Ridge, pictured above on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017, and the city's school board expects to recommend one of the two sites on Monday, Feb. 27, a school official said Friday. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The new preschool could be located at Scarboro Park in central Oak Ridge, pictured above on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The Oak Ridge City Council has postponed a vote on selecting a site for the new Oak Ridge Preschool until after a meeting in Scarboro next week.

The Oak Ridge Board of Education unanimously selected Scarboro Park, off Carver Avenue in central Oak Ridge, as the site for the new preschool in February.

The Council was expected to vote on that site on Monday.

But after hearing from a few people who had questions about the proposed site, Council agreed in a 4-3 vote to defer its site selection until after a March 23 meeting in Scarboro. Council could now vote during a special meeting on March 27.

Besides Scarboro Park, officials had previously looked at two other options. One, Elm Grove Park in east Oak Ridge, had been identified as the preferred site after a preschool report was published in October 2015. But there has been opposition, including a petition drive, to building the new preschool there. [Read more…]

Update on Oak Ridge Airport to be given Wednesday

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Oak Ridge Airport Development Plan

The Heritage Center airport development plan is pictured above. (Cropped file image from DOE Draft Environmental Assessment in 2015)

 

A Wednesday afternoon meeting will focus on the proposed Oak Ridge Airport, and a project update will be given. The meeting will start at 4 p.m. Wednesday at McGhee Tyson Airport in Alcoa. It’s open to the public.

It’s a meeting of the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority General Aviation Committee. The Committee will meet at 510 Center-Airfield Maintenance Operations Center Training Room at 2055 Airfield Service Drive at the airport in Alcoa.

Agenda items include: [Read more…]

Unknown suspect with knife robs Staybridge Suites

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An unknown suspect armed with a knife robbed the Staybridge Suites on South Illinois Avenue on Sunday night, authorities said.

The robbery was reported at the hotel at about 10:42 p.m. Sunday, according to an Oak Ridge Police Department summary.

The suspect took $100 from the business and placed a victim in “fear of imminent bodily harm,” the summary said.

Police have not yet made an arrest in the alleged robbery.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

ORHS Orchestra wins top national orchestra award for second straight year

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Oak Ridge High School Orchestra pictured at Universal Studios on Day 3 of Festival Disney on Saturday, March 11, 2017. (Photo courtesy ORHS Orchestra)

The Oak Ridge High School Orchestra is pictured at Universal Studios on Day 3 of Festival Disney on Saturday, March 11, 2017. (Photo courtesy ORHS Orchestra)

 

Oak Ridge High School Orchestra has won a top national orchestra award for the second year in a row, officials said.

The ORHS won Best 10-12th Grade Orchestra, Gold Orchestra Award, Outstanding Soloist, Best 9th Grade Orchestra, with Superior and Excellent Awards at the Festival Disney competition in Orlando, Florida, this past weekend, Director Doug Phillips said.

The ORHS Orchestra also won Best High School Orchestra one year ago, in a competition in New York City last March. The orchestra earned 11 total awards during that trip.

“It’s official: ORHS 10-12 orchestra back-to-back national champs!” ORHS Orchestra posted on Twitter after this year’s awards were announced in Orlando on Saturday, March 11.

Festival Disney is endorsed by the National Association for Music Education and also the Grammys, Phillips said. [Read more…]

Wildcats open baseball season at home today

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The 2017 Oak Ridge Wildcats baseball team is pictured above. (Photo courtesy ORHS Baseball)

The 2017 Oak Ridge Wildcats baseball team is pictured above. (Photo courtesy ORHS Baseball)

 

The Oak Ridge Wildcats open the regular baseball season at home today (Monday, March 13) against Gatlinburg Pittman. The game has been moved up one hour to 4:30 p.m. to try to avoid incoming rain.

The Oak Ridge Baseball Complex Fields are off Wilberforce Avenue, which is off East Tulsa Road and behind the Hobby Lobby shopping center in central Oak Ridge.

See the varsity season schedule below: [Read more…]

THP: Man, 25, charged with DUI after pedestrian killed on Clinton Highway

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Isaac Alexander Irwin

Isaac Alexander Irwin

 

Note: This story was last updated at 11 a.m. March 13.

A 25-year-old Clinton man has been charged with driving under the influence, driving while license revoked or suspended, and hit and run of a person after a 35-year-old Jacksboro woman, a pedestrian, was killed on Clinton Highway early Sunday, authorities said.

The car-pedestrian crash was reported at about 12:58 a.m. Sunday at the intersection of Clinton Highway and West Wolf Valley Road in Claxton, the Tennessee Highway Patrol said in a fatal crash report.

Isaac A. Irwin, 25, of Reynolds Avenue in Clinton, was driving south on Clinton Highway in a 2006 Pontiac four-door sedan when he struck a pedestrian, Jade T. Richardson, 35, of Jacksboro, in one of the lanes, the THP report said.

Irwin was not injured and he left the crash, but he was located later, the THP said. [Read more…]

Two people have minor injuries after two fires this month

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A fire was reported in a storage room at Tennessee Tool and Engineering (TTE Casting Technologies Inc.) in Bethel Valley Industrial Park in south Oak Ridge at about 3:40 p.m. Thursday, March 9, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

A fire was reported in a storage room at Tennessee Tool and Engineering (TTE Casting Technologies Inc.) in Bethel Valley Industrial Park in south Oak Ridge at about 3:40 p.m. Thursday, March 9, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Two people were injured in fires in Oak Ridge this month, although the injuries were reported to be minor.

The first fire was reported at 515 Utica Circle in central Oak Ridge at about 3:33 p.m. Friday, March 3. One adult was taken by an ambulance to Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge, said Sergeant Jeremy Huddleston of the Oak Ridge Police Department. The fire was extinguished by the Oak Ridge Fire Department.

ORFD Battalion Chief Eric Rackard said a stove eye that had been left on in the second-floor apartment started a fire in grease in a pan. The resident tried to bring the pan outside to throw it outside, but the grease was burning too much for the resident to be able to handle the pan properly, Rackard said.

The fire burned the resident’s arm, Rackard said. The injuries were described as minor. The fire was deemed to be accidental.

The second fire was reported at Tennessee Tool and Engineering (TTE Casting Technologies Inc.) in Bethel Valley Industrial Park in south Oak Ridge at about 3:40 p.m. Thursday. That fire started in a storage room, Oak Ridge Fire Chief Darryl Kerley said. [Read more…]

Planning Commission to consider new assisted living facility, medical office building

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A preliminary master plan for the planned unit development known as Azalea Place is shown above. See a larger version of this plan by clicking on the link included in the story below.

A preliminary master plan for the planned unit development known as Azalea Place is shown above. See a larger version of this plan by clicking on the link included in the story below.

 

The Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission on Thursday will consider a rezoning and abandoning part of West Madison Lane for a proposed assisted living facility, medical office building, and senior living homes.

The development, called Azalea Place, would be on 5.62 acres north of Methodist Medical Center and west of Michigan Avenue. It’s been proposed by Oak Ridge Senior Living LLC of Oak Ridge.

A preliminary master plan for the planned unit development, or PUD, shows a three-story, 60-bed assisted living facility of 40,000 square feet. The medical office building would be one story and 4,000 square feet. The plan also shows eight attached 1,000-square-feet senior living units with two-car garages. There would be open space, a turnaround, and a parcel that could be used for an office building. [Read more…]