Oak Ridge Today

Photo: Czech ambassador tours ORNL

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Czech Ambassador Tours ORNL

Tim Powers, right, ORNL research reactors division director, shows Petr Gandalovič, Ambassador of The Czech Republic, a fuel assembly mock-up during a tour of the High Flux Isotope Reactor. (Photo by Jason Richards)

 

Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Friday hosted a visit by Petr Gandalovič, ambassador of The Czech Republic.

The ambassador toured ORNL’s High Flux Isotope Reactor and facilities for advanced reactor materials development and testing. He met with ORNL Director Thom Mason and held discussions with lab staff on topics including fluoride salt-cooled high-temperature reactors and the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors.

Congressional staffer, Marshall Space Flight Center win Corridor Champion Award

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Helen Hardin Corridor Champion

Longtime Tennessee Congressional staffer Helen Hardin, right, received the Corridor Champion Award at last week’s Tennessee Valley Corridor Summit in Chattanooga. Also pictured are Gerald Boyd, chair of the TVC board, center, and U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, a Tennessee Republican whose district includes Oak Ridge. (Submitted photos)

 

CHATTANOOGA—Longtime Tennessee congressional staffer Helen Hardin and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center received the top awards given by the Tennessee Valley Corridor during the organization’s annual national summit held last week on the campus of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Hardin is senior policy advisory for Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, a Tennessee Republican, and she has been involved in the TVC’s activities since the first Summit was held in Oak Ridge in 1995. Todd May, manager for NASA’s space launch system program, accepted the award on behalf of MSFC.

The Corridor Champion Award recognizes individuals and organizations that provide leadership to enhance the TVC’s national visibility, high-tech economic development, and collaborative efforts within the region.

Past Corridor Champion Award winners include Fleischmann, U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, former Federal Co-Chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission Anne Pope, the Tennessee Valley Authority, University of Tennessee, and the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

TORCH’s kickball fundraiser to kick off in Oak Ridge

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Torch Logo

TORCH’s “Kickin It for Homes” kickball fundraiser is an opportunity for the community to relive the fun of a favorite childhood sports. At the same time, every game played is a “hand-up” for the homeless, a press release said.

Participants are needed to play in the tournament, which is set for June 28 at Carl Yearwood Park located on Laboratory Road in Oak Ridge. The event will start at 9 a.m., and end when a winner emerges. The cost per eight-person team is $160. There is no cost to come out and cheer on the teams.

Teams can register by printing out a form from the website www.oakridgetorch.org and send or drop the form at the office. There is a box at the door if the office is closed. Teams can also register and pay directly online.

Trinity Outreach Center of Hope (TORCH) is located at 320 Robertsville Road in Oak Ridge. Families, church groups, work mates, and friends are encouraged to join in the fun, the press release said. [Read more…]

New traffic signal at North Illinois, Ivanhoe Road

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Kroger Marketplace Storefront

The storefront of the Kroger Marketplace, under construction at Oak Ridge Turnpike and Illinois Avenue. The new store is expected to open June 29.

A new traffic signal will be activated at the intersection of North Illinois Avenue (State Route 62) and Ivanhoe Road on Friday, June 20.

It’s part of the new Kroger Marketplace shopping center, the Westcott Center, at the intersection of Oak Ridge Turnpike and Illinois Avenue.

The signal will operate in flashing mode several days before it’s activated, a city press release said. Activation of the signal could be delayed due to bad weather. [Read more…]

Honors: Girl Scouts awarded grants

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Joyce Maienschein and Miriam Ryburne

Ambassador Girl Scout Miriam Ryburne, pictured with Joyce Maienschein, has been awarded a Joyce Maienschein Leadership Grant of financial support for the service project she created to help needy children in the USA and in Indonesia. (Submitted photo)

 

The Girl Scout Council of the Southern Appalachians has announced recent recipients of Leadership Grants to provide financial support for community service projects. The grant winners, middle- and high-school-age Girl Scouts, have each created and are leading a different community project.

Miriam Ryburne, daughter of Oak Ridgers Nan Shugart and Mark Cantley, organized and taught a team of people to make hand-knitted items for an all-girls orphanage in Indonesia, as well as for six other organizations, including the Florence Crittenden Agency and East Tennessee Children’s Hospital.

Allison Campbell, of Knoxville, is upgrading the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital doctors’ waiting room, designing and printing activity books for the children, and gathering immediate needs for patients.

Sierra Turner of Chattanooga is collecting CD players and CDs for cancer patients at Children’s Hospital at Erlanger. [Read more…]

Labor Secretary announces proposal to raise minimum wage for federal contract workers

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Proposed rule would raise the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour for covered workers

WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez on Thursday announced a proposed rule raising the minimum wage for workers on federal service and construction contracts to $10.10 per hour. The proposed rule implements Executive Order 13658, which was announced by President Barack Obama on Feb. 12.

“A core American value is that hard work should be rewarded with fair pay,” Perez said in a press release. “And as the president said in his State of the Union address, if you cook our troops’ meals or wash their dishes, you shouldn’t have to live in poverty.

“Raising the minimum wage for workers on federal contracts will provide a much needed boost to many who are working hard, but still struggle to get by, and it will also benefit taxpayers with improved employee retention and productivity. Today the department took an important step toward making the promise of the executive order a reality for thousands of workers.” [Read more…]

WYSH: Storm damage follow-up; EF0 tornado confirmed in Kingston

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Mike Marsh Home Storm Damage

One of several pictures showing the storm damage Tuesday to the home of Mike and Wanda Marsh on Timbercrest Drive in Oak Ridge. (Photo courtesy Mike Marsh)

 

Information from WYSH Radio

The National Weather Service has confirmed the powerful storms that rolled through the area on Tuesday included an embedded tornado in Kingston.

Officials with the NWS office in Morristown assessed the damage and said an EF-0 tornado touched down along 3rd Street in Kingston. The winds of an EF-0 tornado are around 65-85 miles per hour.

The NWS said the widespread damage throughout East Tennessee was almost entirely from straight-line winds and down-bursts. Kingston is the only site suspected of sustaining tornado damage.

The Weather Service says straight-line winds estimated at 80 mph packed a destructive punch in Clinton, which appeared to bear the brunt of the damage from Tuesday’s severe weather. [Read more…]

CHS soccer appeals TSSAA penalties after May fight

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Information from WYSH Radio

Clinton High School athletic director Dan Jenkins was in Murfreesboro on Wednesday to appeal the penalties handed down against the Dragons soccer team after a brawl during the closing minutes of a district tournament quarterfinal game at Central last month.

The appeal was made to the TSSAA Board of Control, and a decision is expected to be handed down by the end of the week.

The school was fined $3,250, and the soccer team was placed on two years of regular probation and two years of restrictive probation, which will keep them out of the postseason for the next two seasons. [Read more…]

Support local media, subscribe to Oak Ridge Today

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Oak Ridge Today

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Community Orchestra performs at Secret City Festival on Saturday

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Oak Ridge Community Orchestra at the Secret City Festival

The Oak Ridge Community Orchestra performs at the 2013 Secret City Festival. (Submitted photo)

 

Submitted

While you attend the Secret City Festival in Oak Ridge on Saturday morning, stop by the pavilion and listen to the Oak Ridge Community Orchestra from 11:15 to 11:45 am. It’s free entertainment.

You will enjoy the program of popular renditions: music from the movies with highlights from “Jurassic Park” and “The Lord of the Rings (The Fellowship of the Rings),” jazz from the big band era in A Salute to the Big Bands, and favorite Broadway hits in Curtain Up!

A Salute to the Big Bands includes memorable melodies such as “April in Paris,” “I’m Getting Sentimental Over You,” “Pennsylvania Six-Five-Thousand,” “Serenade in Blue,” and “Sing, Sing, Sing.”

Curtain Up features the famous Broadway tunes “Don’t Rain On My Parade,” “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” “If He Walked Into My Life,” “One,” “The Phantom Of The Opera,” and that rousing chorus, “There’s No Business Like Show Business.” [Read more…]

Proton Power named Roane County’s 2014 Industry of the Year

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Industry of the Year: Proton Power

Proton Power was named 2014 Industry of the Year in Roane County. From left to right are Roane County Industrial Board Chair Tommy Thompson, Proton Power Human Resources Manager Sean Hensley, and Wade Creswell, president and CEO of The Roane Alliance. (Photos courtesy of The Roane Alliance)

 

Submitted

HARRIMAN—The annual Roane County Industry Appreciation Breakfast was held at the end of May at Roane State Community College. The Roane County Industrial Board announced this year’s Industry of the Year and Roane Beautification Awards.

The event was sponsored by the Harriman Utility Board and Rockwood Electric Utility.

Thom Mason, director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, was the guest speaker, speaking about how the lab wants to be used as a resource to businesses and industry in the state—and especially to Roane County. More than 95 percent of the lab is in Roane County. According to Mason, more than $450 million in products and services were spent by the lab last year, with around 40 percent of that being spent in the state, and much of that from local business and industry.

Mason spoke about specific examples of how ORNL was working with local businesses to help them grow and develop. He encouraged industries in attendance to reach out to them for their help with any challenges they may have.

“ORNL is a research and technology facility,” Mason said. “If we can help business and industry expand and ultimately grow jobs, then we have done our job.”

Proton Power was named 2014 Roane County Industry of the Year, and Volkswagen received the 2014 Roane Beautification Award. [Read more…]

American Legion has fundraiser, flag disposal ceremony on Saturday

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Submitted

The commander of Clinton American Legion Post 172 would like to invite everyone to an open house fundraiser and flag disposal ceremony on Saturday, June 14.

The open house fundraiser will run from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m., with the flag disposal ceremony at 12 p.m. at the American Legion Post home at 436 Spring Street in Clinton. The fundraiser is to help the American Legion Post raise funds to help the veterans of Clinton and Anderson County, and the flag ceremony is designed to ensure the proper disposal of all worn U.S. flags in accordance with the U.S. flag code.

Anyone interested in attending these events is welcome. Anyone having old, worn U.S., state, or any other type of flag that needs to be disposed, can drop them off at the office of the director of Anderson County Veteran Services in Room 114 of the Anderson County Courthouse, or bring it to the ceremony on Saturday, June 14.