Roy Herron, chairman of the Tennessee Democratic Party, will be guest speaker at a Thursday meeting of the Anderson County Democratic Party.
It’s the party’s annual chili supper and potluck, and it starts at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Claxton Elementary School Cafeteria. [Read more…]
Bill Haslam
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam on Wednesday said he will not expand TennCare rolls under the Affordable Care Act.
Instead, the governor said, he wants to use federal dollars as part of a plan to purchase private health insurance for Tennesseans who would not otherwise have access to coverage.
In a Wednesday press release, Haslam called his plan “real health care reform.” [Read more…]
A tax break recommended by an Oak Ridge board on Monday could help a parts manufacturer more than double the size of its plant and add 20-30 workers, an executive said.
The Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board endorsed the five-year, 100 percent property tax break for Protomet—which makes marine, automotive, and homeland security equipment—in a special meeting Monday.
But Oak Ridge City Council member Anne Garcia Garland suggested there could be some opposition later. She said residents want to know why Protomet, which has become successful with the help of one tax abatement, should receive another. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Fire Department responds to a chimney fire on Palmer Road on Sunday afternoon. (Photos by Tom Scott)
Firefighters used pressurized water cans and ladders to extinguish a chimney fire on Palmer Road on Sunday afternoon.
Firefighters also used a pole to remove creosote in the chimney during the 2:30 p.m. fire, an Oak Ridge Fire Department report said.
Firefighters put out a fire in the fireplace and carried the contents outside, where they extinguished them, the report said. [Read more…]
Gary R. Lownsdale of Plasan Carbon Composites, right, talks to Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, center, near a Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 hood at the Carbon Fiber Technology Facility on Tuesday as federal, University of Tennessee, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory officials listen.
A unique manufacturing plant in west Oak Ridge that started operating about six weeks ago can make 25 tons of carbon fiber each year. It’s material that could be used for prototype parts in products ranging from cars and airplanes to wind turbine blades and natural gas tanks.
The $35 million Carbon Fiber Technology Facility at Horizon Center Business Park is designed to “scale up” laboratory research on low-cost carbon fiber, make enough material to help industrial partners build prototype carbon-fiber composite parts, and develop a skilled manufacturing workforce.
Carbon fiber is strong and lightweight, but it is also expensive and that has limited its use.
Officials hope to use the 42,000-square-foot Carbon Fiber Technology Facility to change that. They want to make producing carbon fiber as cost-efficient as manufacturing steel or aluminum. [Read more…]
Flanked by local, state, and federal law enforcement officers, U.S. Attorney William C. Killian, center, announces that 42 people, including many Anderson County residents, have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges related to manufacturing and distributing methamphetamine.
CLINTON—In an unprecedented case, 42 people, including many Anderson County residents, have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges they conspired to make 50 grams or more of methamphetamine.
U.S. Attorney William C. Killian announced the charges during a Tuesday afternoon press conference at the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton.
Other charges listed in a 17-count indictment filed March 19 in U.S. District Court in Knoxville include possessing the equipment, chemicals, products, and materials used to make meth; maintaining homes used to manufacture the illegal stimulant, including one residence within 1,000 feet of Claxton Elementary School; and federal firearms violations. [Read more…]
Officials from the U.S. Department of Energy and Oak Ridge National Laboratory will celebrate a unique carbon fiber facility on Tuesday morning.
DOE will also announce a new U.S. manufacturing initiative during the ceremony at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Carbon Fiber Technology Facility at Horizon Center Business Park in west Oak Ridge. [Read more…]
Earlier scenarios had called for possible furloughs at the Y-12 National Security Complex in response to automatic federal budget cuts that went into effect March 1—the so-called sequester—but plant officials said they no longer expect the temporary layoffs.
However, B&W Y-12, the plant’s managing and operating contractor, said it is implementing spending reductions, including in summer intern and educational assistance programs. The company is deferring employee award benefits for services, performance, and special recognition; and suspending upgrades to personal computers, wireless projects, and the information technology infrastructure. In addition, some discretionary travel, professional development training, and materials and supplies purchases will be significantly reduced, B&W Y-12 said in a statement. [Read more…]
Information from WYSH Radio
An Andersonville man died early Sunday morning when his motorcycle ran off the side of a wet roadway near Lake City.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol said the accident occurred shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday on Offutt Spur Road when 43-year-old Harold B. Hensley Jr. had been headed west on Offutt Spur. [Read more…]
National Strategic Protective Services LLC announced Monday morning that it now provides guard services at U.S. Department of Energy sites in Oak Ridge.
NSPS won the protective force services work under a five-year, $182 million contract announced in January. The company will guard the East Tennessee Technology Park, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Joe L. Evins Federal Building, and part of the Oak Ridge Reservation. [Read more…]
A change in Tennessee law now requires students to turn five years old on or before Aug. 31, 2013, to enroll in kindergarten this fall, but Oak Ridge Schools is taking applications for early enrollment.
The applications will be accepted through Friday, March 29. This will be the beginning of a two-part registration process that will be completed just prior to school starting for the 2013–2014 school year, a press release said. [Read more…]
Friday was the last day for many employees at security company WSI Oak Ridge, which lost its contracts to protect federal facilities after the July 28 security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex.
After 13 years of protecting federal facilities, WSI Oak Ridge has left the Secret City.
Friday was the last day for many employees at WSI, and the contract ended Sunday, spokeswoman Courtney Henry said.
Formerly known as Wackenhut Services Inc., the company once provided up to 1,000 security police officers and support staff at federal facilities that included East Tennessee Technology Park, the Joe L. Evins Federal Building, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Y-12 National Security Complex.
But WSI lost its contract to guard Y-12, a National Nuclear Security Administration site, after the July 28 security breach, and it did not win a separate contract to protect local U.S. Department of Energy sites, including ETTP, ORNL, the Federal Building, and the rest of the Oak Ridge Reservation. That contract was awarded to National Strategic Protective Services LLC, or NSPS. [Read more…]
