Note: This story was last updated at 2:15 p.m.
The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the first-degree murder conviction of an Anderson County man convicted of killing his uncle and shoving his body into an apartment closet more than seven years ago.
A four-year-old child was accidentally shot in the face by a nine-year-old sibling on Offut Spur Road on Sunday night, law enforcement officers said.
The four-year-old did not have life-threatening injuries and, as of Monday, would not require surgery, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department said.
A University of Tennessee Lifestar helicopter landed at Lake City Middle School after the accidental shooting on Sunday and flew the child to the hospital.
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The Clinton Public Library will be closed November 11-16 for renovations.
The closing is the first phase of a three-part effort to replace all the flooring and some furniture within the library, a press release said.
Similar closings will occur in December and January.
[Read more…]A temporary road closure is planned along part of Nebraska Avenue on Halloween, Thursday, October 31, between 5 and 11 p.m.
A small portion of the 100 block of Nebraska Avenue between Newridge Road and Newhaven Road will be blocked to through traffic, a press release said. Residents will still be able to get to and from their homes during this time, the press release said.
The closure is necessary to create a safer environment for drivers and pedestrians expected to visit the annual “Halloween House” residential attraction, the press release said.
[Read more…]U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, on Friday called Energy Secretary Rick Perry, who is resigning later this year, a “very effective” energy secretary.
“Rick Perry has used his considerable executive and political skills to become a very effective energy secretary, solving some tough problems that saved taxpayers money and created more dollars that allowed record funding for national laboratories and supercomputing,” Alexander said in a brief statement. “He has served the country well.”
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The Oak Ridge Police Department, in partnership with East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, will conduct a free drive-through car seat check again on Wednesday.
There was a car seat check on Tuesday, October 22, and another on Wednesday, October 23, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Officers will be set up across the street from Oak Ridge Preschool, located at 304 New York Avenue, a press release said. Parents and caregivers are invited to stop by with no need to pre-register, the press release said.
[Read more…]Ann Coria has been appointed public defender in the Seventh Judicial District in Anderson County.
A Republican, Coria replaces Tom Marshall, a Democrat who was re-elected to a fourth eight-year term in 2014. Marshall, who had served as Anderson County public defender since 1989, retired at the end of September.
Coria, who has been an assistant public defender and worked in the office for about 20 years, applied for the position. After an interview process and background check, she was appointed district public defender by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee on Tuesday, October 15.
“I believe that I have the skills to run the office and the knowledge of what’s needed,” Coria said in a phone interview on Tuesday. “It is a unique set of skills.”
There will be a special election in 2020 to choose someone who will serve the last two years of Marshall’s eight-year term and a regular election for an eight-year term in 2022.
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The City of Oak Ridge closed on a $20.7 million federal loan on Thursday for a new water treatment plant in south Oak Ridge.
It’s a Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act, or WIFIA, loan. The funds provided by the federal loan program will be used to design and build the new water plant, which will replace an aging facility on Pine Ridge that has served the community since the 1940s.
The total cost for replacement of the water treatment plant is estimated to be $42.2 million, the city said in a press release on Friday. WIFIA will provide about 49 percent of that cost, with the city using the Tennessee State Revolving Fund Loan Program to cover the balance, the press release said.
“After three years of application and planning, the City of Oak Ridge has reached a significant milestone in the funding needed for a new replacement water plant,” Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson said in the press release. “WIFIA has helped Oak Ridge with a low-interest federal loan, allowing us to avoid potential failures in a system originally designed for a different Oak Ridge. The financial terms will allow Oak Ridge to afford these much-needed improvements to serve not only our residents, but the national security and U.S. Department of Energy facilities located here.”
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Oak Ridge won the District 3-AAA girls soccer championship with a 1-0 victory over Powell at Oak Ridge High School on Thursday.
It was the first time the Lady Wildcats have won the district championship since 2016. The Lady Panthers won the title in 2015—the first-ever district title for the Powell girls—and again in 2017 and 2018.
Seniors on this year’s Oak Ridge team were freshmen the last time the Lady Wildcats won the district title. Oak Ridge and Powell have played for the district championship five years in a row.
On Thursday, Oak Ridge senior Katie O’Brien scored the winning goal on a breakaway after a pass from junior Katelyn Mattus in the center of the field in the 53rd minute. O’Brien, who has committed to play soccer at Maryville College, got behind the Powell defense, came into the center, and shot the ball into the left side of the net, Oak Ridge Coach Tom Gorman said.
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U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry will resign sometime later this year.
The resignation was announced in a letter from Perry to President Donald Trump on Thursday. The U.S. Department of Energy provided a brief statement about Perry’s resignation in a press release on Thursday and included a copy of his resignation letter.
The Thursday letter didn’t give a specific date for Perry’s resignation, except to say that he plans to “resign at a date later this year.”
“The secretary is immensely grateful to President Trump and the American people for this opportunity to serve and looks forward to continuing to support the president’s agenda after he returns home to Texas later this year,” the DOE statement said.
During a visit to Oak Ridge National Laboratory in May, Perry dismissed a news story that he planned to leave DOE, and he suggested the story was the product of a “rumor factory.”
[Read more…]Note: This story was last updated at 4:50 p.m.
The Tennessee Valley Authority said Thursday that the material that caused concern in Claxton, near the Bull Run Fossil Plant, is consistent with surface soil.
The material had reportedly fallen on vehicles, houses, mailboxes, and driveways in Claxton near Bull Run, a coal-fired TVA power plant. That raised concerns that the material might be coming from Bull Run.
On Thursday, TVA said it collected 11 samples and received three samples from a home owner and sent them to an independent laboratory for testing. That was in response to the concerns about the airborne materials found on vehicles and property around Bull Run, TVA said.
“Results show the material is not coming from air emissions at Bull Run and is consistent with surface soil in the area,” TVA said. “TDEC (Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation) also sampled material at several locations, and their results affirm that the material is consistent with surface soil.”
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The City of Oak Ridge and its Community Development Department will present possibilities for the mixed-use redevelopment of the Wilson Street corridor at a public meeting on Wednesday, October 23.
The meeting will be held at the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce, located at 1400 Oak Ridge Turnpike, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., a press release said. The community is invited to view the presentation, which uses data compiled over several years of study and public engagement focused on the needs of Oak Ridge residents, business owners, and visitors, the release said.
The City of Oak Ridge secured grant funding for this project under an agreement with the State of Tennessee Department of Transportation and coordinated through the regional Transportation Planning Organization for the purposes of envisioning a new “Downtown Oak Ridge,” the press release said. The goal of the study is to explore what could be along the Wilson Street corridor, including multi-story, mixed-use development adjacent to the ongoing retail redevelopment of Main Street Oak Ridge.
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