Oak Ridge Today

Jupiter Entertainment filming ‘Homicide Hunter’ at Grove Market

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Jupiter Entertainment was filming for the television show “Homicide Hunter” at Grove Market in Oak Ridge on Wednesday night.

The scene appeared to include police officers and a police car and an ambulance and emergency medical workers, and that prompted some Oak Ridge residents to wonder what was happening. There were also camera and sound crews, lights, and a photographer.

The filming was under way at about 11 p.m. Wednesday, and it wasn’t clear how long it might last.

The episode being filmed Wednesday night could reportedly air in late September or early October.

Jupiter Entertainment has filmed in Oak Ridge before, including at Dean’s Restaurant recently and at the former Oak Ridge Mall several years ago.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

Shen of ORHS participating in USA Biology Olympiad Finals

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Photo of Henry Shen courtesy of Oak Ridge High School teacher Sharon Thomas.

Henry Shen of Oak Ridge High School is among 20 students participating in the USA Biology Olympiad National Finals in California.

The Center for Excellence in Education announced Shen’s participation in the 17th Annual USA Biology Olympiad National Finals. The competition is hosted by the University of California San Diego on its campus.

“We look forward to hosting the USA Biology Olympiad finalists, and welcome the energy and drive that these stellar students bring to this national event anthedo campus,” said Kit Pogliano, ean of UC San Diego’s Division of Biological Sciences. “The biological research and teaching facilities at UC San Diego and our surrounding institutions provide an ideal location to host this program and to prepare biology superstars from around the country for the international competition.”

The finalists, including Shen, are participating from June 22 to July 6 at UC San Diego for 10 days of biology instruction that includes laboratory training and conceptual understanding, followed by two days of testing, a press release said.

[Read more…]

Butterfly Festival is Aug. 3

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The University of Tennessee Arboretum Society will have its fourth annual Butterfly Festival on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2019. Highlights will include a release of monarch butterflies, the UT Insect Zoo, speakers, and children’s activities. (Photo courtesy UT Arboretum Society)

The University of Tennessee Arboretum Society will have its fourth annual Butterfly Festival on Saturday, August 3. Highlights will include a release of monarch butterflies, the UT Insect Zoo, speakers, and children’s activities.

The festival is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. August 3 at the UT Arboretum Auditorium and its surrounding grounds at 901 South Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge.

The charge is $5 per carload, a press release said. This is a change from previous years. The gate will be open at 9:30 a.m. The event will take place rain or shine, the release said.

[Read more…]

Community Band has July 4 concert, followed by fireworks show

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The Oak Ridge Community Band performs at the July 4 concert in 2018. (Photo by Bill Dodge)

The Oak Ridge Community Band will have its annual Independence Day concert on Thursday, July 4, at Alvin K. Bissell Park. The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m., and it will mark the 75th anniversary of the Community Band’s first concert, which was held on July 4, 1944.

“Come early, bring chairs or blankets for outdoor seating, and enjoy the music and fireworks,” a press release said. Refreshments will be available for sale.

This is a free event, the press release said. However, donations are appreciated to help offset band expenses.

The Community Band’s July 4 performance is a family-friendly event, and it provides an excellent opportunity to relax and enjoy a fun evening of music and fireworks, the press release said. [Read more…]

World’s two fastest supercomputers at DOE labs

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The new Summit supercomputer, a 200-petaflop IBM system that is the world’s most powerful, is pictured above at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo courtesy Katie Bethea/ORNL)

The United States has the two fastest supercomputers in the world, and they are both at U.S. Department of Energy laboratories.

DOE and its National Nuclear Security Administration have two other supercomputers in the top 10.

“DOE’s national labs have some of the brightest minds in the world, which have made America a worldwide leader in high-performance computing hardware, software, and applications,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry said in a press release Monday. “We are well-positioned to maintain this leadership as we enter the era of exascale computing, which holds enormous promise for our country and will transform our leadership in science, our economy, and our nation’s security.”

As reported by Oak Ridge Today on Monday, the Summit supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is still the fastest supercomputer in the world.

[Read more…]

USA Cycling championships in Oak Ridge next week

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The USA Cycling National Pro Road, Crit, Time Trial, and Para-Cycling Championships will be held in Knoxville and Oak Ridge next week, from June 27-30.

In partnership with Visit Knoxville, the City of Oak Ridge will host the ITT National Championships for the second year in a row, a press release said.

“Watching the national championship events last summer during USA Cycling’s first visit to Oak Ridge was an incredible experience,” Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch said. “Obviously our community made an impact because these top-notch cycling teams are returning to our beautiful waterfront venue. We thank our residents and visitors for their patience with the traffic impacts and hope that everyone is able to come out and enjoy the time trials.”

Here is information about traffic impacts:

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Small reactors can be safely located on Clinch River site, NRC says

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Two or more small modular nuclear reactors could be built on a 935-acre area of the Clinch River Nuclear Site in west Oak Ridge, south of Heritage Center near Highway 58. (Image from the “Final Safety Evaluation Report for the Early Site Permit Application for the Clinch River Nuclear Site” published by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in June 2019.)

Two or more small nuclear reactors could be safely located on a site in west Oak Ridge, a federal agency said this month.

The reactors could be built on the Clinch River Nuclear Site. That’s a 935-acre site south of Heritage Center (the former K-25 site) in the Roane County portion of Oak Ridge. The plant would be off Bear Creek Road near Highway 58 on a peninsula surrounded by the Clinch River on the east, south, and west.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has completed a final safety evaluation report for an early site permit application for the site.

“The report concludes there are no safety aspects that would preclude issuing the permit for the site,” the NRC said in a press release Tuesday. The report, which is about 600 pages, had been expected this month.

The Tennessee Valley Authority applied for the early site permit in May 2016. The NRC’s final safety evaluation report for the site was published Friday, June 14.

[Read more…]

Atomic Rowing pair finishes 11th in USRowing Youth National Championships

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An Atomic Rowing team finished 11th in the USRowing Youth National Championships in Sarasota, Florida, from June 6-9, 2019. The women’s lightweight double consisted of Sara Kate White, a sophomore at Maryville High School, and Veda Seay, a senior at Oak Ridge High School. (Photo courtesy Rachel Seay)

An Atomic Rowing team finished 11th in the nation at youth championships in Florida this month.

The women’s lightweight double consisted of Veda Seay, a senior at Oak Ridge High School, and Sara Kate White, a sophomore at Maryville High School. They competed in the USRowing Youth National Championships in Sarasota, Florida, from June 6-9.

Seay and White had a fantastic weekend of racing, a press release said. Their boat placed 12th in time trials on Thursday, June 6, with a time of 7:29.200. Only the top nine teams advanced to semifinals, and the rest competed in a second-chance repechage.

Seay and White went on to win their repechage race on Friday, June 7, to advance to semifinals with a time of 7:47.576, beating a PNRA/Mercer team by about two seconds.

[Read more…]

Regions Bank robbed; ORPD searching for suspect

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Regions Bank in Oak Ridge was robbed on Wednesday, June 19, 2019, and the Oak Ridge Police Department is searching for a suspect.

Regions Bank in Oak Ridge was robbed on Wednesday, and the Oak Ridge Police Department is searching for a suspect.

The bank on Rutgers Avenue was robbed at about 1:34 p.m. Wednesday, the ORPD said. A white man handed a note to a teller stating it was a robbery, police said. The man fled on foot toward Vermont Avenue, according to the ORPD.

The man is described as having a slim build, and he was last seen wearing glasses and a green flannel shirt, blue ball cap (white tag right side), blue jeans, and dark running shoes. There is no vehicle description.

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ORNL’s Summit remains world’s most powerful supercomputer

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The Summit supercomputer, a 200-petaflop IBM system that is the world’s most powerful, is pictured above at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo courtesy Katie Bethea/ORNL)

The Summit supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory remains the world’s most powerful, according to a ranking list released Monday.

It’s the third time that Summit, a IBM-built supercomputer, has been number one on the semiannual TOP500 list of of the world’s most powerful supercomputers. Summit debuted at number one in June 2018. That was the first time since 2012 that the United States had the most powerful supercomputer in the world. Summit retained the top spot in November.

The Sierra supercomputer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California, remained at number two on the list released Monday, after climbing there from number three in November. The United States continues to have the top two systems in the world, a position that China held a year and a half ago.

Officials celebrated the launch of Summit in a ceremony attended by U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry on June 8, 2018. The supercomputer is capable of 200 petaflops, or 200,000 trillion calculations per second. That makes it about eight times more powerful than Titan, its predecessor, which was once the world’s fastest.

Summit delivered a record 148.6 petaflops on a benchmark test called High Performance Linpack, or HPL, a TOP500 press release said Monday. That was a slight improvement from six months ago, when Summit scored 143.5 petaflops. Summit debuted at 122.3 petaflops in June 2018.

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Roane State students serve, learn in Costa Rica and Panama

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Students in the World Cultures and Serving Learning class taught by Dave Rath and Cody Miller gather around the more than 500 pounds of school supplies, toiletries, and clothing collected for impoverished children in Costa Rica and Panama. From left: Gracie May, Chloe Pierce, Jason Wasilewski, Stephanie Anderson, Jan Joyal, Earl Davis, Lexie Perotti, Amber Meter, Lizet Palacios, Tamara Richardson, April Brannon, Apolonia Garcia, Alyssa McCullah, Jocelyn Middleton, Cody Miller, and kneeling, Dave Rath. (Photo by Roane State Community College)

By Bob Fowler, Roane State staff writer

Roane State faculty Dave Rath and Cody Miller faced an ironic dilemma.

They had more contributions for impoverished children in Costa Rica and Panama than they had space set aside to fly down to those Central American countries.

“We’ll find a way,” Rath vowed. “Before we leave your hard work in Tennessee, we’ll find a way,” he told their students.

Rath and Miller and 14 students in their World Cultures and Service Learning class recently packed up large cardboard boxes of shoes, toothbrushes, school supplies, and a myriad of other items to transport to remote areas of the two countries during the trip, May 8-17.

This year’s supply drive was the biggest yet, Rath said. [Read more…]

Roane State student artists display work, earn honors

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Pictured are three of the winners of Roane State’s annual Juried Student Art show. From left: Steve Williams, best of show; Talitha Chafin, second place; and Archie Clark, honorable mention. (Photo by Roane State Community College)

By Bob Fowler, Roane State staff writer

Paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures, and other mixed media work showcasing the artists’ talents, imaginations, and creative visions were on display during Roane State’s 2019 Annual Juried Student Art Exhibition.

Stunning black-and-white photos, a solargram revealing the sun’s path through the sky over the course of months, and a giant wire spider dangling from a wall were among those judged by an artist who has exhibited internationally.

The 31 selections were on display in April in the O’Brien Art Gallery, located on the college’s main campus in Roane County.

“This is a great opportunity for students to get practice with submitting and exhibiting in a juried exhibition that culminates with a celebration of their hard work over the past year,” Roane State Art Professor Stacy Jacobs said. [Read more…]