The Tennessee Small Business Development Center at Roane State Community College is offering a free training session on “How to do business with the government” on August 11 from 9 a.m. to noon.
The workshop will be at the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce, 1400 Oak Ridge Turnpike.
To register, call (865) 483-2668 or email jbangs@tsbdc.org.
TVA’s Norris Dam was named to the National Register of Historic Places—just in time for the 80th anniversary of the day the dam began operations. TVA celebrated July 28-30, 2016. Norris is the first TVA-built dam to achieve this honor, which was presented to TVA historian Pat Ezzell, left, by U. S. Representative Chuck Fleischmann at a special dinner held at the dam on Thursday, July 28, 2016. (Photo by Tennessee Valley Authority)
By Tennessee Valley Authority
One of East Tennessee’s most iconic energy sources, and a popular tourist and recreation destination, is officially now a protected American historic resource.
The National Park Service has added majestic Norris Dam, which extends 1,860 feet across the Clinch River in East Tennessee, to the National Register of Historic Places.
U.S. Representative Chuck Fleischmann presented TVA Historian Pat Ezzell the plaque that will be prominently displayed at Norris Dam. Fleischmann bestowed the plaque at a July 28 dinner that celebrated the 80th anniversary of initial operation of TVA’s first hydro project.
Norris Dam is the first TVA dam to receive recognition on the National Registry. It and the nearby town of Norris both are named for George Norris, the Nebraska senator who authored the TVA Act. He also is known as the father of the Tennessee Valley Authority. [Read more…]
Oliver Springs has received a $100,000 state grant for development of the Carmichael Ballfield, officials said Monday. It’s a Local Parks and Recreation grant.
Farragut received a $500,000 Parks and Recreation grant for renovation of an athletic field, restroom, and construction of parking.
And Norris Dam State Park received an $84,000 Recreational Trails Program grant. It will be used to buy trail cutting equipment for building and maintaining hiking and biking trails, and trail-dedicated hand tools; develop three new trails that will link existing trails to increase trail capacity and link users to the campgrounds; and repair existing trails and train new volunteers.
The grants were announced by Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam and Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation Commissioner Bob Martineau on Monday. They are worth more than $17 million total, and they will help fund parks and recreation projects in Tennessee communities, a press release said. [Read more…]
Randy Boyd
Randy Boyd, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, will be in Oak Ridge on Tuesday to make an announcement concerning the state’s Tourism Enhancement Grant program, a tourism official said.
Boyd will be at Calhoun’s Event Center on Melton Lake Peninsula at 4 p.m. Tuesday, said Stephanie Wells, executive director of the Anderson County Tourism Council. [Read more…]
An alleged hit-and-run crash on East Tennessee Avenue injured two women on Monday afternoon, authorities said.
The crash was reported at about 1:30 p.m. Monday, the Oak Ridge Police Department said.
The women were struck by a vehicle on East Tennessee Avenue near Town Road as several pedestrians were crossing the road from Gallo Loco restaurant, which is on the south side of East Tennessee, to the north side of the road, the ORPD said.
Officers said a black truck had stopped for the pedestrians while they crossed the street. A beige Toyota Corolla, which was traveling behind the black truck, drove onto the sidewalk, passing the black truck, and struck two women, a press release said. The Toyota Corolla then allegedly fled the scene. [Read more…]
Team Trump will officially open the doors of a local headquarters for signs, shirts, bumper stickers, pins, and other campaign materials as part of Team Trump’s “Make America Great Again” effort, a press release said.
Working with County Trump Co-Chair Travis Hill, plans are to officially open the headquarters on August 13, the press release said.
“The support we’ve been receiving has been overwhelming,” Hill said in the release. “We don’t have enough yard signs and stickers to meet the need, and the goal is to fully stock the headquarters to allow Anderson County and surrounding county citizens to show their support for Trump.” [Read more…]
The Tennessee Valley Authority will move forward with a plan to permanently and safely store coal ash and other coal combustion residuals on TVA property at 10 locations across the service area, including the Bull Run Fossil Plant in Claxton, officials said Friday.
The decision follows a year-long review of the potential environmental impacts detailed in an environmental impact statement, which addressed comments from 10 public open houses and additional opportunities for public input, a press release said.
See the final environmental impact statements, including for Bull Run Fossil Plant, here.
The EIS looked at two options for the future storage of coal combustion residuals, or CCR: closure-in-place and closure-by-removal. The preferred option for the 10 impoundments is closure-in-place, the press release said. [Read more…]
A new ORNL-developed method pinpoints electrical service areas across the southern United States most vulnerable to climate change and predicted population growth, which could inform decision makers about future substation needs. (Photo by ORNL)
Climate and energy scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a new method to pinpoint which electrical service areas will be most vulnerable as populations grow and temperatures rise.
“For the first time, we were able to apply data at a high enough resolution to be relevant,” said ORNL’s Melissa Allen, co-author of “Impacts of Climate Change on Sub-regional Electricity Demand and Distribution in the Southern United States,” published in Nature Energy.
Allen and her team developed new algorithms that combine ORNL’s unique infrastructure and population datasets with high-resolution climate simulations run on the lab’s Titan supercomputer. The integrated approach identifies substations at the neighborhood level and determines their ability to handle additional demand based on predicted changes in climate and population.
The new, high-resolution capability can explore the interconnections in complex systems such as critical infrastructure and weather and determine potential pathways to adapt to future global change, a press release said. [Read more…]
GemTech Nuclear Security Solutions has been awarded the professional and technical services contract with Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC, or CNS, at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, a press release said.
GemTech Nuclear Security Solutions, or GemTech NSS, is a joint venture formed by four Oak Ridge-based small businesses: GEM Technologies Inc., CS Engineering, Strata-G LLC, and Spectra Tech Inc., and supported by team subcontractors Navarro Research and Engineering, ABS Consulting, Tetra Tech, Enercon, and Paschal Solutions.
“We are thrilled with the announcement,” said Michael Evans, president and chief executive officer of GEM Technologies Inc., managing partner of GemTech NSS. “GEM has been supporting Y-12 for more than 20 years and Pantex for the past two years. We are committed to providing reliable, safe, secure, quality, cost-effective solutions, and we look forward to partnering with CNS for the next five years to support their mission requirements.” [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Public Works Department has rescheduled a planned road closure from Monday, August 1, to Tuesday, August 2.
Crews will now close both lanes of Pennsylvania Avenue from East Pasadena Road to North Tulane Avenue and a small section of East Pasadena at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday. At least one lane will reopen by 2 p.m. so school bus routes can run as scheduled. This will also lessen the impact on student pick-up and drop-off traffic.
The closure is necessary for the Oak Ridge Electric Department to replace a utility pole on the island at the junction of North Tulane, Pennsylvania, and Providence Road. [Read more…]
A Harriman man died in a single-vehicle crash on Highway 61 in Roane County on Friday, authorities said.
Martin J. Palenski, 37, was not wearing a seat belt, and he was ejected when the car he was driving rolled after hitting an embankment at about 12:36 p.m. Friday, the Tennessee Highway Patrol said.
The THP said Palenski was driving a 2002 Ford Taurus west on Highway 61. While going around a righthand curve, the Taurus went off the left side of the road, a crash report said. Palenski overcorrected and hit an embankment on the right side of the road, the THP said. The Taurus then rolled, and Palenski was ejected, the THP said. [Read more…]
