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Lavender Festival is Saturday in Jackson Square

Posted at 4:14 pm June 13, 2018
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Lavender Festival (Image Credit: Shawn Millsaps)

The Lavender Festival in Jackson Square on Saturday will celebrate health, herbs, crafts, local foods—and lavender. There will also be music, children’s activities, and a wine tasting. It’s the 20th year of the festival, which is the only Lavender Festival in Tennessee.

“The Lavender Festival is a perennial crowd favorite, full of tradition, fun, and always something new,” a press release said.

The 20th annual Lavender Festival is scheduled from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 16, in Historic Jackson Square in Oak Ridge.

The festival, which attracted about 8,000 people last year, is always free, with plenty of free parking available in surrounding city and business lots, and on side streets.

As is tradition, a bagpipe player will open the festival at 8 a.m., playing from upper Blankenship Field into Jackson Square. Also keeping with tradition, Alan McBride will follow with the hammered dulcimer in the bandstand. A complete music schedule is found below.

Informative presentations will be held in the lobby of Pinnacle Financial Partners, and they will include Thyroid Health & Tips for Optimal Brain function (10 a.m.), Home-Crafted Lavender Products (11:30 a.m.), and Turning Back the Bones of Time (1 p.m.).

Also returning for its third year is “A Taste of Tennessee Wines,” from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., benefitting the Free Medical Clinic of Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

ORNL again has world’s most powerful supercomputer

Posted at 9:03 pm June 8, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Pictured above being interviewed by a CNBC television crew before a ceremony on Friday afternoon, June 8, 2018, for the new Summit supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are Ginni Rometty, left, chairman, president, and chief executive officer of IBM; Rick Perry, second from right, U.S. Department of Energy secretary; and Jensen Huang, right, founder, president, and CEO of NVIDIA. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Note: This story was last updated at 6 p.m. June 9.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory again has the world’s most powerful supercomputer. It’s also the world’s smartest supercomputer, a machine that can learn—and run software that will write software.

The supercomputer, called Summit, is capable of 200 petaflops, or 200,000 trillion calculations per second. During a Friday afternoon ceremony, U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Summit can save 30 years worth of desktop data in one hour. It is millions times faster than a really good high-end desktop, said Ginni Rometty, IBM chair, president, and chief executive officer.

A water-cooled IBM system, Summit is presumed to have bumped China from the top spot, at least among open-science systems or supercomputers that aren’t classified. It has successfully run the world’s first exascale scientific calculation.

“We know we’re in competition, and it matters who gets there first,” Perry told several hundred people at the Friday afternoon ceremony at ORNL, a U.S. Department of Energy laboratory. “We reached a pinnacle today.”

Researchers at ORNL could find the cure for Alzheimer’s disease or cancer, Perry said. Winning the global supercomputing race could have benefits for all of humanity, said Jensen Huang, NVIDIA founder, president, and CEO. [Read more…]

Energy Secretary Perry to visit ORNL for supercomputing announcement

Posted at 11:58 pm June 7, 2018
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Rick Perry

U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry will visit Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Friday to make a supercomputing announcement, a media advisory said.

The advisory doesn’t provide any additional information about the announcement, which will be made at noon at ORNL.

Perry will tour ORNL, meet with employees, and deliver remarks at the supercomputing event. He will be joined by several elected officials from Tennessee, the media advisory said.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

Friends of Library has authors table, readings at Secret City Festival

Posted at 10:39 pm June 7, 2018
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Danita “Dee Dee” Ashley

The Friends of the Oak Ridge Public Library will participate in the Secret City Festival held at the Oak Ridge Civic Center on Friday and Saturday, June 8-9, by sponsoring local authors. The authors will be in the Club Room of the Oak Ridge Civic Center, autographing and selling their books at the following times:

Friday, June 8

10 a.m.-12 p.m.: Danita “Dee Dee” Ashley; Charles and Beverly Connor
12 p.m.-2 p.m. Connie Green; Carol Grametbauer
2 p.m.-4 p.m.: Wes Sims

Saturday, June 9

10 a.m.-12 p.m.: Carol Oen; Judy DiGregorio
12 p.m.-2 p.m.: Shirley Raines; Patricia Hope
2 p.m.-4 p.m.: Ray Smith

The featured local authors will read from their work at 15-minute intervals, and they include: [Read more…]

NRA Foundation awards grant to national champion Roane State Shooting Sports Team

Posted at 2:30 pm June 7, 2018
By Owen Driskill Leave a Comment

Roane State’s national championship Shooting Sports Team has been awarded a grant for supplies from the NRA Foundation. Shown after winning the national title last fall are, from left, Assistant Coach James Wattenbarger, Head Coach Kenneth Carey, Ty McCaskey, Nathan Wattenbarger, Andy Carey, Codey Dean, Assistant Coach Kevin Hembree, and Nathan Hembree. (Submitted photo)

The national champion Roane State Community College Shooting Sports Team has received a Friends of the NRA Foundation Grant for supplies valued at more than $4,400, a press release said.

“We greatly appreciate the foundation’s support for our athletes,” team coach Kenny Carey said.

Through the grant, the team will receive Winchester 12-guage shotgun shells, Winchester 20-gauge shotgun shells, and a promotional banner.

The Roane State Shooting Sports Team participates in trap, skeet, sporting clays, and five stand competitions. The team has received state and national recognition for its performance, including a first-place finish in the Scholastic Clay Target Program last fall. The competition included more than 200 athletes from 14 states and 21 colleges. [Read more…]

Tucker to be honored, money raised for journalism education at Front Page Follies

Posted at 12:22 pm June 7, 2018
By Kay Brookshire Leave a Comment

Anne McKinney, left, Myranda McGhee, Sharon Lord, and Adina Chumley rehearse for the 40th anniversary Front Page Follies on June 14, 2018, at the Bijou Theatre. (Submitted photo)

Maurice Hendricks, a baritone with the Knoxville Opera and the Marble City Opera, will solo the reprise of “Let My People Golf” in the 40th annual Front Page Follies, which roasts state and local newsmakers, on June 14 at the Bijou Theatre in Knoxville. The cast of local media folks and friends is ready to present the musical revue of the year’s news and newsmakers, a press release said.

Front Page Follies offers an evening of laughs as the Front Page Foundation, host of the show, raises funds for journalism and broadcast scholarships and media education programs for students. Lori Tucker, WATE-TV news anchor, will be the honoree at this year’s Follies.

Regarding his role in the performance next week, Hendricks said: “I got an email from a friend saying they were looking for someone to sing this song. I like being involved in all-around fun craziness as an artist, meeting and singing with new people, and networking. So I said, ‘yes, let’s do it!’”

Hendricks has won the Encouraging Award in national auditions for the New York Metropolitan Opera.

The song, “Let My People Golf,” skewers the attitudes that prevented then-University of Tennessee basketball coach Wade Huston, an African-American hired in 1989, from joining a local country club. “It’s interesting to see that situation was only in 1989, not in the ‘60s,” Hendricks said. “We’ve come a long way but still have a long way to go.” [Read more…]

Secret City Festival is this weekend

Posted at 10:22 am June 7, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Although numbers weren't immediately available, organizers said a record-setting crowd attended the Three Dog Night concert at the Secret City Festival on Saturday. (Photo by Jon Hetrick)

A record-setting crowd is pictured above at the Three Dog Night concert at the Secret City Festival in June 2015. (File photo courtesy Jon Hetrick)

The Secret City Festival on Friday and Saturday will feature music, food, children’s activities, historic exhibits, arts and crafts, technology, robotics, magic, a juggler, a K-9 search demonstration, wine tasting, tours of two federal sites, veterans parade, an attempt to set a world record in a basketball game, and headline concerts featuring Dennis DeYoung and the Music of Styx, and Little River Band.

There have been pre-festival events this week, including a Battle of the Bands tonight (Thursday, June 7), and a live radio broadcast featuring two bands on Monday, and a Children’s Movie Night on Wednesday.

At the Secret City Festival this weekend, a main stage concert on Friday night will feature Dennis DeYoung and the Music of Styx. The opening band is The Band Legacy. The show starts at 7 p.m.

The main stage concert on Saturday night will feature the Little River Band. The opening band is Janelle Arthur. The show starts at 7 p.m.

Tickets are available online or at Citizens First Bank at 1298 Oak Ridge Turnpike for $25. [Read more…]

USA Cycling selects Oak Ridge for individual time trial championships

Posted at 8:57 am June 7, 2018
By John Huotari 1 Comment

USA Cycling has selected Oak Ridge for one of three national championships in East Tennessee this month.

The USA Cycling Professional Road, Individual Time Trial (ITT), and Criterium National Championships will be in Knoxville and Oak Ridge from June 21-24.

The ITT National Championships will be on Melton Lake Drive on June 21, kicking off the championships, a press release said.

The City of Oak Ridge is hosting the ITT National Championships in partnership with Visit Knoxville, the press release said. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge man charged with attempted murder

Posted at 2:51 pm June 6, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

McKinley Earl McGee

An Oak Ridge man has ben charged with attempted murder after he allegedly stabbed a woman in the torso with a knife during a dispute over money in January, according to Anderson County court records.

McKinley Earl McGee, 49, was indicted by the Anderson County Grand Jury in Clinton on May 1. His charges include attempted second-degree murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and aggravated assault that resulted in serious bodily injury.

McGee has an arraignment scheduled for June 25 in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton.

The alleged stabbing occurred in an apartment on Utica Circle in Oak Ridge on January 12, according to affidavits filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court by Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Chris Wallace. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge recruiting members for four boards

Posted at 1:49 pm June 6, 2018
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

The City of Oak Ridge is recruiting members for four boards. The four boards are Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau, Environmental Quality Advisory Board, Trade Licensing Board, and Traffic Safety Advisory Board.

Applications from Oak Ridge residents are being accepted in the Oak Ridge City Clerk’s Office. The submission deadline is 5 p.m. Friday, June 29.

Here is more information about the boards and the vacancies: [Read more…]

Oak Ridge will try to set world record in ‘knockout’ basketball

Posted at 8:12 am June 6, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge will try to set a Guinness World Record on Saturday in a basketball game known as “knockout.”

The attempt to break the previous world record is part of the Secret City Festival this weekend.

The Dallas Mavericks set the record for the largest game of basketball knockout with 701 participants in Dallas, Texas, on October 4, 2015. The game lasted 27 rounds and more than three hours, according to Guinness World Records. Team owner Mark Cuban was there before the record-setting attempt to check out the court and the turnout, and he also motivated the basketball shooters.

Organizers of this year’s Secret City Festival in Oak Ridge want to do better than Cuban and the Mavericks. They need at least 702 shooters to set the new world record.

“Come and participate on June 9 and help Oak Ridge shatter that record!” Secret City Festival organizers said. “Since the Manhattan Project during World War II, Oak Ridge has been known as a technology giant, but ‘knockout’ allows the city to highlight a rich athletic history as well.” [Read more…]

Some roads, including part of Turnpike, to be closed for Veterans Parade on Saturday

Posted at 10:40 am June 5, 2018
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Some roads, including part of Oak Ridge Turnpike, will be closed for a Veterans Parade on Saturday morning. The parade is part of the Secret City Festival celebration this week.

The road closures were announced by the City of Oak Ridge and Oak Ridge Police Department.

The Veterans Parade route will run from the Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) parking lot off of Badger Avenue to ORAU Way. Participants will then make a right turn onto Oak Ridge Turnpike and end in the Oak Ridge Public Library parking lot. [Read more…]

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