Oak Ridge Today

Oak Ridge Christmas Tree Lighting this evening

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A previous Oak Ridge Christmas tree lighting in 2016 in Alvin K. Bissell Park. (File photo by City of Oak Ridge)

The City of Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department will have its annual Community Christmas Tree Lighting on Thursday, December 2, starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Pavilion in A.K. Bissell Park. The tree, a Norway Spruce, was presented by the Oak Ridge Woman’s Club to the city and has become part of a growing community tradition, a press release said.

The event will kick off at the outdoor A.K. Bissell Park Pavilion with seasonal music and the Park Board Awards ceremony. There will also be light refreshments provided by Y-12 Federal Credit Union and the Park Board, the press release said.

Following the program, participants will proceed to the Secret City Commemorative Walk on the east side of the Oak Ridge Public Library parking area for a brief ceremony ending with the tree lighting.

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Children’s Museum Gala features beach theme ‘Surf’s Up!’

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Matt Sieger, enjoying his DJ hobby here, will bring 1960s surf rock to the Children’s Museum Gala on Friday, Dec. 3, 2021. (Submitted photo)

 

“Surf’s Up!” at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge, where the 20th annual Gala will feature a beach-themed evening with dinner and entertainment and an oceanographer from 6-9:30 p.m. on Friday, December 3.

The event will have a little STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) mixed in with entertainment by area youth, dinner from Calhoun’s, a costume contest, and auctions. Leslie England, TNBank senior vice president of retail banking and a rock singer with the band Jada Blade, will emcee the event.

The School of Rock’s house band will entertain with beach tunes as guests arrive for the Gala. The Knoxville school offers performance-based music lessons for youth to age 18, and its musicians have performed live at such venues as Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza, as well as local venues including the Tennessee and Bijou Theatres. The band at the Gala will feature youth on guitar, bass, keyboard, drums, and vocals.

The Oak Ridge High School Choral Ensemble will bring back memories with a medley of Beach Boys tunes, including “Surfin’ USA,” “Little Old Lady from Pasadena,” “Kokomo,” “Surf City,” and “Don’t Worry Baby.” [Read more…]

Learn technical details of RamSat in Zoom session

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RamSat, just prior to handoff to NASA

You can learn more this evening about the technical details of the cube satellite built by students at Robertsville Middle School with help from mentors.

The Zoom session is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, November 17, during an ORION community meeting.

The title of the talk is “RamSat Technical Details.” The talk will be given by a panel of three technical experts from Oak Ridge—Peter Thornton, David Andrews, and Ian Goethert—and moderated by Rob Scott and David Fields, a press release said. The talk is open to the public. If you are interested in joining this talk, follow this link: [Read more…]

Pelizzari joins DA’s office

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Attorney and prosecutor Brandon Pelizzari, left, is pictured with Seventh Judicial District Attorney General Dave Clark. (Submitted photo)

Attorney and prosecutor Brandon Pelizzari will join the Seventh Judicial District Attorney General’s Office in Clinton on December 1. He will be an assistant district attorney general.

“Brandon is an experienced attorney and prosecutor,” District Attorney General Dave Clark said in a press release. “I am thrilled to add his experience and talent to the office.”

Pelizzari joins the Clinton office after having been a prosecutor of driving under the influence violations in the Eighth Judicial District, mostly assigned to Campbell County, for the past several years, the press release said.

“In addition to his professional skill, Brandon brings familiarity with our community,” Clark said. “As a native Anderson Countian who lives in our community, he will literally be coming home.”

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Ten ORNL scientists among world’s most highly cited researchers

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Submitted photo)

Ten scientists from Oak Ridge National Laboratory are among the world’s most highly cited researchers, according to a bibliometric analysis conducted by the scientific publication analytics firm Clarivate. 
 
The annual list identifies researchers who demonstrated significant influence in their field through the publication of multiple highly cited papers during the last decade. These researchers authored publications that rank in the top 1% by citations for field and publication year in the Web of Science citation index. 
 
“Researchers at ORNL are leading the advancement of scientific knowledge in multiple fields,” ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia said in a press release. “This recognition demonstrates that the laboratory and our scientists are engaged in cutting-edge research and development to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges.” 
 
The ORNL scientists listed are:

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Medicaid expansion forum, part 2, is Tuesday

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The second part of a forum about Medicaid expansion will be online at lunchtime Tuesday, featuring two legislators who have supported Medicaid expansion.

The legislators are Tennessee Senator Richard Briggs, a physician, and Representative Gloria Johnson, a retired educator.

The virtual forum is scheduled to start at noon Tuesday, November 16. You can register at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting (learn more here).

Here is the Tuesday agenda:

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Free community Thanksgiving Dinner on Nov. 25

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Everyone is invited to a free community Thanksgiving Dinner on Thursday, November 25, a press release said.

“This year, however, our program has been modified out of consideration for social distancing as follows,” the press release said:

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Mercury cleanup: COLEX equipment deactivated at Y-12

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Oak Ridge workers remove mercury and mercury-contaminated solids from process pipes in the column exchange, or COLEX, equipment at the Alpha-4 facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex. (Submitted photo)

Crews are nearly finished deactivating the second of three collections of old, mercury-contaminated equipment around the Alpha-4 facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex at Oak Ridge, a press release said.

The project addresses potential environmental risks and moves the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management a step closer to preparing one of Y-12’s largest high-risk contaminated facilities for demolition, the press release said.

The column exchange, or COLEX, structures are connected to the four-story 500,000-square-foot Alpha-4 building, which was used for uranium separation from 1944 to 1945. Workers finished installing the COLEX equipment in 1955 for lithium separation, a process that required large amounts of mercury. A significant amount of the mercury was lost into the equipment, buildings, and surrounding soils, and its cleanup is one of EM’s top priorities.

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Oak Ridge Senior Center to honor veterans

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The Oak Ridge Senior Center will honor veterans with a drop-in recognition from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, November 11.

All veterans who preregister by Tuesday, November 9, will receive a special goodie bag, a press release said.

“Please call the Senior Center to register so staff can have an accurate head count of veterans attending,” the release said.

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Small business of month: Acato Information Management

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Acato Information Management, located at 173 Mitchell Road, is the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business of the Month for November 2021. (Submitted photo)

 

Acato Information Management, located at 173 Mitchell Road, is the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business of the Month for November 2021, a press release said. The award is sponsored by Enrichment Federal Credit Union.

“Service, integrity, and joy—those are the core values of Acato Information Management,” the press release said. “Owner Cathy Toth says those values drive everything they do.”

Launched in 2010, Acato is a software company focused on software quality. The company provides software testing for clients and government contractors.

“Traditional software testing revolves around executing tasks and resolving defects,” Toth said. “The value we bring is figuring out how well you know if you got what you wanted and then how you will confirm that you got what you wanted. It’s that analysis and then building tests to do that is really where we bring more value to the client.” [Read more…]

First Presbyterian offers free meals, groceries Nov. 11

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First Presbyterian Church will provide a free meal and bag of groceries to food-insecure guests who drive by the church between 5:30 and 6 p.m. on Thursday, November 11.

The church’s monthly “Welcome Table” community meal program plans to supply each guest with a meal consisting of a soup, chips, fruit, and brownies, a press release said. In addition, a bag of groceries will be delivered to each car.

Guests should drive through the church parking lot to the sanctuary building at 1051 Oak Ridge Turnpike at the intersection of the Turnpike and Lafayette Drive to collect the foods donated by church members or paid for by the congregation’s hunger fund, the press release said. Church volunteers wearing masks will deliver the hot meal and groceries to guests in their cars.

AT&T Foundation donates $10,000 for Roane State scholarships

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Representatives from AT&T Tennessee present Roane State Foundation with a $10,000 check that will help provide scholarships for minority and underserved Roane State students. Pictured left to right are Linda Brown, Roane State Foundation Coordinator; Alan Hill, AT&T Regional Director; Sen. Ken Yager; Tiffany Eskridge, Roane State Foundation Board Member; Pam Rudnitzki, Roane State Foundation Scholarship Specialist; Rep. Kent Calfee; Roane State President Chris Whaley; and Scott Niermann, Executive Director of Roane State Foundation. (Submitted photo)

The AT&T Foundation has donated $10,000 to Roane State Foundation to provide “last dollar” scholarships for minority and underserved students, a press release said.

“We are grateful to AT&T and its continued support of public higher education and our students, who will benefit greatly from the company’s generosity,” said Chris Whaley, president of Roane State Community College. “Our students have many financial needs aside from the cost of tuition and this support will help them on their path to higher education.”

The donation is part of the AT&T Foundation’s $130,000 gift to the Foundation for the College System of Tennessee, the press release said. Funding has been divided equally among Tennessee’s 13 community colleges to support students across the state.

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