Wildflower fans will enjoy a guided, curated hike on Haw Ridge this Saturday, April 29, at 10 am. There will likely be sightings of inconspicuous orchid, Wister’s coralroot, and other spring wildflowers, a press release said.
“Some of these flowers are growing on a small cedar barren,” said botanist and hike leader Larry Pounds. “We’ll walk a loop of less than two miles. The trail is rough in places.” [Read more…]
Several organizations and volunteers will be cleaning up a section of Ernie’s Creek in Oak Ridge on Saturday.
The cleanup is hosted by the National Ecological Observatory Network (Domain 07 Appalachians and Cumberland Plateau), in partnership with Oak Ridge Healthy Waters and the Adopt-A-Stream program.
“The event aims to provide an opportunity for our office and the greater community of Oak Ridge to work together to reduce the impacts of accumulated garbage in a local creek,” a press release said. “Work gloves, safety vests, trash bags, etc. will be provided along with extra water for hydration.”
[Read more…]
ORNL Federal Credit Union has announced the lineup for its annual Summer Sessions concert series in Oak Ridge and Kingston. This year’s free concert series will again feature bluegrass and Americana bands from throughout the region, a press release said.
Summer Sessions is open to the public and will kick off in May and continue through August. Concerts will be held at the pavilion in Alvin K. Bissell Park in Oak Ridge and at The Amphitheater at Fort Southwest Point in Kingston.
Here is the lineup:
[Read more…]The League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge will host Breakfast with the Legislators on Monday, April 24.
The breakfast is scheduled from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. in the Social Room of the Oak Ridge Civic Center at 1403 Oak Ridge Turnpike.
Senators Randy McNally and Ken Yager and representatives John Ragan and Monty Fritts have been invited to provide updates about what’s happening in the Tennessee General Assembly, which is the state legislature. Members of the audience may ask questions and give opinions, a press release said. A light continental breakfast is provided at no charge. The public is encouraged to attend.
[Read more…]
Barry Stephenson, left, Michele Sanders and Beth Shea stand on steps leading to the World of Trains exhibit in the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge. A ramp funded by Materials and Chemistry Laboratory Inc. will be built here later this year. (Submitted photo)
Submitted
Barry Stephenson believes the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge is one of the city’s treasures.
The laboratory he leads, employee-owned Materials & Chemistry Laboratory Inc. (MCLinc), wants to make sure this treasure continues to serve children and families well. MCLinc recently made a $50,000 contribution to fund the final ramp needed to make the interior of the historic Children’s Museum building accessible for strollers and those with disabilities.
The ramp will meet standards of the Americans for Disabilities Act, which describes what is needed for a building to be physically accessible to persons with disabilities. The ramp will connect the Selma Shapiro Wing of the Museum to the next level housing the World of Trains exhibit. [Read more…]
ORNL Federal Credit Union President and Chief Executive Officer Colin Anderson plans to retire September 30. Anderson has been president and CEO since July 2015, and he has informed the ORNL FCU Board of Directors and employees of his intention to retire.
The board has hired D. Hilton Associates of The Woodlands, Texas, to lead the executive search efforts, a press release said.
“The credit union consulting firm is an industry leader in executive search recruitment,” the press release said. “Anderson will work with D. Hilton and the ORNL FCU Board on a smooth transition of leadership.”
[Read more…]Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers will speak about the “State of Oak Ridge Schools” at Lunch with the League on Tuesday, April 18.
The program is open to the community and will be held from 12-1 p.m. at Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike in Oak Ridge. A meet and greet will begin at 11:30 a.m. [Read more…]
Ken Tarcza
Ken Tarcza has joined Oak Ridge Associated Universities as chief of staff.
Tarcza comes to ORAU after an impressive military and federal career, a press release said.
A graduate of West Point, Tarcza spent his military career serving in numerous roles, including assistant professor of mechanical engineering at West Point; commander of the Defense Contract Management Agency’s Southern Europe office in Wiesbaden, Germany; and chief of staff for the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.
After retiring from the military in 2015, he went on to be a supervisory physical scientist for the U.S. Army Research Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Ground before being named manager for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office and Office of Science Integrated Support Center/Consolidated Service Center in 2016. There, Tarcza and his organization helped enable more than $10 billion of annual program activity, the press release said. [Read more…]
Mary Ann and Sam Venable
Sam and Mary Ann Venable will bring humor and conversation as celebrity guest bartenders at a Pint Night raising funds for journalism and communications scholarships on Thursday, April 13, at Scruffy City Hall.
The Venables will help the nonprofit Front Page Foundation raise money for scholarships from 5-8 p.m. April 13 at the bar and restaurant at 32 Market Square in Knoxville. Scott and Bernadette West, Scruffy City Hall’s owners, will donate a portion of drink proceeds to the Foundation, which hosts Pint Nights periodically with celebrity guest bartenders.
Sam Venable, columnist specializing in humor for the Knoxville News Sentinel, has written for the newspaper since 1970. A graduate of the University of Tennessee with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he is the author of 14 books, most recently “The Joke’s on YOU! All I Did Was Empty My Files.” [Read more…]
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has awarded Geiger Brothers a $9.9 million contract to build the K-25 Viewing Platform at the East Tennessee Technology Park in Oak Ridge. The Viewing Platform will help commemorate what was once the world’s largest building and part of the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons during World War II. The site enriched uranium for nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants through the Cold War.
The K-25 Viewing Platform will be next to the K-25 History Center, which opened about three years ago. It will give visitors a complete view of the former building’s massive 44-acre footprint.
While the K-25 History Center focuses on the men and women who built and operated the Oak Ridge Diffusion Plant during the Manhattan Project and Cold War, this facility will help visitors understand the scope and magnitude of the former K-25 Building, a press release said.
The U-shaped K-25 Building was a mile long. It was demolished in 2013.
Construction on the Viewing Platform is scheduled to begin in May 2023, and it is expected to be complete in late 2024, the press release said.
[Read more…]
Mark Watson
Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson will present “State of the City” during at Lunch with the League on Tuesday.
Watson, who is retiring in May, will be the featured speaker at noon Tuesday, April 4, in the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church. It’s hosted by the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge.
Watson has served as Oak Ridge city manager since August 2010. He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in public administration and city management from the University of Kansas. In 2019, he received his doctorate degree from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville in public administration and American government. [Read more…]
Mickey Wade has been named associate laboratory director for the Fusion and Fission Energy and Science Directorate at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, effective April 1.
“To reach the nation’s clean energy goals, we must develop and deploy nuclear energy technologies,” interim ORNL Director Jeff Smith said in a press release. “Given his experience in industry and the national lab system, Mickey is the perfect choice to ensure ORNL is applying its leading expertise and capabilities to help the United States reach net zero.”
In his new role, Wade will oversee the directorate’s facilities, capabilities, and scientists and engineers who are tackling such challenges as extending operations of the current U.S. nuclear reactor fleet, investigating economical and flexible advanced reactor systems, and making fusion energy a viable power source, the press release said.
[Read more…]