Oak Ridge Today

JCPenney in Oak Ridge to stay open as 33 stores close across US

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JCPenney at Oak Ridge Mall

JCPenney at the Oak Ridge Mall will stay open as the company closes 33 stores across the United States.

The JCPenney in Oak Ridge will stay open as the retailer closes 33 underperforming stores across the United States.

The list of closures announced Wednesday includes only one Tennessee store, the JCPenney at Northgate Mall in Chattanooga.

The JCPenney in Oak Ridge is at the city’s mostly empty mall, where a $85 million redevelopment has been proposed. Crosland Southeast, the North Carolina company that has had a purchase contract on the mall since January 2013, has said the renovated 59-acre site could open in  2016 and include a mix of retail and office space, a hotel, and up to 50 multi-family residential units, as well as a few restaurants. Belk and JCPenney are expected to stay. [Read more…]

Federal agents investigate DOE subcontractor based in Oliver Springs

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Federal Agents at TOPS in Oliver Springs

On Thursday, federal agents investigate the Oliver Springs offices of TOPS, a U.S. Department of Energy subcontractor.

Note: This story was updated at 9:45 a.m. Jan. 17.

OLIVER SPRINGS—A federal subcontractor that works at U.S. Department of Energy sites in Oak Ridge is under investigation by several federal agencies, including the FBI, IRS, and DOE Office of Inspector General.

Federal agents were at the Oliver Springs headquarters of the contractor, TOPS, on Thursday, but officials would not comment on the investigation. The office is on Winter Gap Road, next to Highway 62 just north of downtown Oliver Springs.

Dennis Holenstein at the IRS’ Nashville Field Office confirmed that agents from IRS Criminal Investigations were assisting with the investigation, but he referred a reporter to the DOE Office of Inspector General. The IG, in turn, referred calls to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Tennessee. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said its policy is to neither comment on, nor confirm or deny, the existence or status of a pending investigation.

[Read more…]

K-25 workers also shelter in place during police search

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K-25 Aerial

Now demolished, the former K-25 Building at the East Tennessee Technology Park in west Oak Ridge is pictured above. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Department of Energy)

Workers at the East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site, were asked to shelter in place for about 30 minutes early Thursday afternoon as police officers searched for an armed person who had been reported to be traveling from the Clinton area to west Oak Ridge.

It was the same search that led to a brief lockdown at Jefferson Middle School at about 1 p.m. Thursday, said Mike Koentop, U.S. Department of Energy spokesman in the Oak Ridge Office.

“It was not related at all to any DOE activity,” Koentop said. “Steps were taken as a precaution.” [Read more…]

JMS briefly locked down as police search area for person with handgun

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Jefferson Middle School

Jefferson Middle School

Jefferson Middle School was briefly locked down early Thursday afternoon as police searched for a person armed with a handgun at a nearby business.

The Oak Ridge Police Department began searching for the person at about 12:30 p.m. Thursday after receiving information that the individual, who is not identified in a press release, had just left the Clinton area and might be on the way to the west end of Oak Ridge.

“Oak Ridge police personnel from the Patrol, Criminal Investigations, and Administration divisions immediately deployed throughout the city to locate the individual, and at approximately 12:52 p.m., information was received that the individual may have been in a vehicle in the Home Depot parking lot in Oak Ridge,” an ORPD press release said. “Oak Ridge police unmarked units identified a vehicle matching the description of the individual’s vehicle in the parking lot and requested the Jefferson Middle School initiate a lockdown, as it was nearby. [Read more…]

Man allegedly fires handgun at renters, surrenders after eight-hour standoff

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Gregory Allen Denton

Gregory Allen Denton

The Anderson County man who surrendered as officers prepared to use tear gas after an eight-hour standoff that started on Batley Road early Wednesday morning had fired a handgun at his renters, the Sheriff’s Department said.

Gregory Allen Denton, 50, of Batley Road, had allegedly assaulted Benjamin Emory, 47, inside the home and then fired a shot at him, Anderson County Sheriff Paul White said in a press release. Denton is also accused of shooting at Emory’s girlfriend, Angela Badgett, 45, as she fled from the home. Neither Emory or Badgett were shot.

Deputies responded to the shots-fired call near Oliver Springs at about 3 a.m. Wednesday. When they arrived, they found Emory injured from the assault on the rear porch and took him to safety. Emory was treated by Anderson County Emergency Medical Services, White said. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Today adds 2014 Election section

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It’s shaping up to be a big election year, and Oak Ridge Today has added a special 2014 Election section to help you keep up with the candidates and issues. You can access that section by clicking on the 2014 Election button in the navigation bar near the top of the website.

As of Friday, there were already more than three dozen candidates for various state and county offices in Anderson County. [Read more…]

Inadequate shielding exposed workers to excess radiation at MMC imaging center, lawsuits allege

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Methodist Medical Center

Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge

Methodist Medical Center says it will ‘vigorously’ refute allegations

Note: This story was last updated at 3:38 p.m.

Five lawsuits filed in Anderson County on Monday allege that X-ray and radiologic technologists, including two who were pregnant, were exposed to excess radiation for several years at Methodist Medical Center because some walls in and around a radiology imaging center in the new emergency department were built without the required lead shielding, elevating the workers’ risk of health problems, including cancer.

The five lawsuits allege the walls in the emergency department, which opened in February 2006 as part of a hospital remodel, did not have the required protective radiological shielding because of building, design, and inspection errors.

Lead-lined walls are required in radiological areas to limit radiation exposure under local and federal regulations and construction and health standards, the lawsuits say.

But the defendants—Covenant Health of Knoxville, Rentenbach Engineering Co. of Knoxville, and TEG Architects LLC of Jeffersonville, Ind.—failed to have qualified personnel survey or check the installation and construction parameters, or conduct proper barrier determinations for lead barrier thickness, to ensure that the walls in the radiological areas would adequately reduce scatter and leakage radiation, the lawsuits say. The defendants also failed to have qualified personnel certify that the MMC in-department imaging center and nearby areas were built in compliance with all applicable regulations and guidelines so that the plaintiffs “would only be exposed to levels of radiation that were as low as reasonably achievable, all before allowing work to be done at that facility.” [Read more…]

Snow possible Wednesday morning; winter weather advisory in East Tennessee

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Snow is possible Wednesday morning as a cold front moves through East Tennessee.

Light snow accumulations are possible in the valley, with several inches possible in the mountains, according to the National Weather Service in Morristown.

Forecasters said the winter storm is moving into the area from the plains late tonight, and rain is expected to change to snow within the first few hours. By rush hour Wednesday morning, much of the area will be receiving light to moderate snow, the Weather Service said.

“The system will slowly exit the area to the east, with snows lingering in the mountains into Wednesday night,” the NWS said. [Read more…]

New SRO approved at Oak Ridge Schools, could start Monday

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Oak Ridge City Council

The Oak Ridge City Council voted 5-1 on Monday to approve a move that allows another school resource officer, or SRO, to be added to Oak Ridge Schools.

Note: This story was updated at 9:45 a.m. Jan. 14.

The Oak Ridge City Council approved a move on Monday that will add a second school resource officer in the city’s schools, and the new SRO could start Monday.

The new SRO is Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Michael Swigert. The current SRO is Officer Sherrill Selby.

It’s not as big a step as some officials had proposed during the past few years. There have been various proposals to have a total of three SROs, including one at each of the city’s two middle schools, or even more, perhaps one SRO at each school. The discussions seemed to gain urgency after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in December 2012, but funding has been an obstacle. [Read more…]

Corker calls for continued commitment to nuclear modernization

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U.S. Senator Bob Corker

Bob Corker

U.S. Sen. Bob Corker has called on the Obama administration to maintain its commitment to nuclear modernization in next year’s budget and include the necessary funding in the fiscal year that starts in October.

Corker, a Tennessee Republican, made the request after Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel expressed support for resources to modernize the nation’s nuclear arsenal.

Corker is the ranking member of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee.

In a press release, he said President Barack Obama agreed to provide the “full and necessary funding to upgrade and modernize the United States’ aging nuclear arsenal” during the Senate debate in 2010 over the New START Treaty with Russia. [Read more…]

Weston Wamp will oppose Fleischmann again in U.S. House race

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Weston Wamp

Weston Wamp

Weston Wamp announced on Monday that he will oppose U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann again.

Wamp, the son of former Congressman Zach Wamp, is a Chattanooga Republican who ran against Fleischmann in the 2012 election. Fleischmann is now in his second term, and he represents Tennessee’s Third District, which includes Oak Ridge.

Fleischmann replaced Zach Wamp, Weston’s father, in 2010, when Zach Wamp unsuccessfully ran for Tennessee governor.

In a campaign announcement, Weston Wamp took aim at federal legislators in general and Fleischmann in particular. [Read more…]

Oliver Springs man dies in Pellissippi Parkway crash

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A 73-year-old Oliver Springs man died in a Sunday morning crash on Pellissippi Parkway, authorities said.

The collision that killed Eddy Palmer involved three vehicles and two separate crashes between Topside Road and Alcoa Highway in the eastbound lanes of Pellissippi Parkway, the Alcoa Police Department said.

The first two-vehicle crash occurred at about 8:12 a.m. Sunday when James Green, 28, of Knoxville, was momentarily blinded by the sun, causing the eastbound 1992 Honda Accord he was driving to rear-end a 2006 Ford Ranger pickup truck driven by Palmer, who lived on Joel Road in Oliver Springs, the police department said. There were no injuries in the initial crash. [Read more…]