The Oak Ridge Fire Department will unveil a new Safe Haven Baby Box on Wednesday, June 12. It will be a place where mothers can safely and anonymously drop off their newborn babies during a crisis, a media advisory said.
The baby box has been installed in honor of Baby Wyatt, a newborn whose body was found wrapped in an oversized T-shirt along the banks of Melton Hill Lake on March 26, 2020, the advisory said. His identity remains unknown.
[Read more…]The Clinch River Chapter of Trout Unlimited will have a Kids Fish Free Day on the Clinch River in Norris on Saturday, June 8.
It’s open to all children ages 3-16, and admission is free, a press release said. Registration is necessary so that organizers can plan for food. Visit the Chapter’s website http://crctu.org/ and scroll down on the home page to the KFFD registration form.
Children will be fishing, tying flies, riding in boats, eating hot dogs, and signing up for door prizes from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 8. The event will be at the Miller Island boat access on the Clinch River in Norris. [Read more…]
Crews are expected to finish remediating soil, reversing or stopping environmental damage at the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge this year, and federal cleanup managers are shifting their focus to groundwater. It’s the final phase of cleanup at the former uranium enrichment site.
Now also referred to as Heritage Center and East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP), the K-25 site produced fuel for nuclear weapons and reactors starting in the top-secret Manhattan Project during World War II and continuing through the Cold War. The site has been shut down for almost four decades, and a massive cleanup project has been under way for many years.
The groundwater work can begin with the recent signing of two records of decision between the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. That’s according to “EM Update,” an electronic newsletter published by DOE’s Office of Environmental Management.
[Read more…]
From “EM Update” newsletter
Long vacant parking lots at the former K-25 site at Oak Ridge were full again on a recent Saturday afternoon as retired employees gathered for a first-ever reunion.
“There are some folks here that I have not seen since I retired,” said Bob Merriman, who began working at the K-25 site in 1963. “It’s amazing to be able to visit with them and to see them still doing well.”
What started as a plan to host a small picnic quickly turned into much more.
“I said we’ll have it down here at Turtle Park in Oak Ridge, but I think I’m going to open it up to all K-25 workers,” said Pam Toon, an event organizer who started work at the site in 1987. “When I did, massive amounts of people signed up.”
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Submitted
Drones, a manufacturing simulator lab, and hands on meteorology are among the classroom projects that United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR) will fund through its 2024 mini-grants. UCOR awarded $45,000 in mini-grants to fund 41 projects for East Tennessee K-12 teachers in 29 schools. The grants support projects in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), as well as related classes.
With this year’s awards, UCOR has given a total of $395,000 to fund STEM and STEM-related projects since 2012.
“STEM education is an important part of both our community outreach and our workforce development program. It’s exciting to read the grant proposals and see all of the projects teachers are doing to expose students to future STEM careers,” said UCOR Community and Education Outreach Coordinator Shannon Potter.
This year’s mini-grants went to elementary, middle, junior high, and high schools and included projects such as:
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Workers have finished cleaning up after demolishing the Low Intensity Test Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The work was done by cleanup contractor UCOR for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management.
Workers finished the tearing down the Low Intensity Test Reactor and disposing rubble and debris last fall, achieving a federal environmental management priority that year, according to the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management.
“However, the reactor vessel remained on the building’s footprint until it could be shipped for final disposition offsite,” DOE said in its “EM Update” newsletter.
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Oak Ridge Playhouse is closing out its 81st season of shows with an exciting revamp of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s beloved masterpiece, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” a press release said.
It’s one of the most enduring musicals of all time, and the Oak Ridge Playhouse will offer seven performances between Friday, May 10, and Sunday, May 19.
“From dreams to destiny, this is the extraordinary story of Joseph,” the press release said. “Witness his meteoric rise from favored son to betrayed brother, from prisoner to right-hand man. Blessed with prophetic dreams and one very colorful garment, experience Joseph’s dazzling journey like you’ve never seen before.
[Read more…]Victory and pollinator gardens at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge will be open to the public on Saturday, June 1, the Manhattan Project National Historical Park said.
The gardens will be open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 1 for the Seeds of Victory Program, the park said in a newsletter.
[Read more…]
The summertime tennis court dances organized by the Manhattan Project National Historical Park start in two weeks.
The first dance of this summer is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 16, on the Jackson Square Tennis Courts. They continue monthly on the third Thursday.
“The park recreates the open air tennis court dances held during the Manhattan Project to entertain the
75,000 war workers and their families contained within America’s Secret City (Oak Ridge),” a newsletter said. “The dances are an all-ages event, and all are encouraged to participate. Featuring swing music
from the 1940s, you might get bit by the jitterbug out on the court.”
Oak Ridge Schools will not allow teachers and other staff members to carry guns in buildings, Superintendent Bruce Borchers said Wednesday. Borchers made the announcement in a notice sent to school families.
His announcement came the day after the Tennessee House of Representatives passed legislation to allow some trained teachers and school staff to carry handguns. Republicans approved the bill in a 68-28 vote despite pleas from Democrats, students, and gun-reform advocates, The Tennessean reported.
“Yesterday, Tennessee lawmakers passed a bill that would allow teachers and other staff members to carry concealed handguns on school campuses should a school district decide to allow it,” Borchers said. “If Governor (Bill) Lee signs the legislation allowing concealed firearms in schools into law, Oak Ridge Schools will not allow teachers or school staff to carry firearms in our buildings. The safety of our students and staff is our top priority, and it is our core belief that our ongoing safety initiatives have a greater positive impact on our overall safety than arming staff would.”
[Read more…]The League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge will host a Brown Bag Lunch with the Legislators on Friday.
The session is scheduled to start at 12 p.m. Friday, April 26, in the Social Room of the Oak Ridge Civic Center at 1401 Oak Ridge Turnpike.
Tennessee Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally, Senator Ken Yager, and representatives John Ragan and Monty Fritts have been invited to bring those who attend up to date on what’s happening in the Tennessee General Assembly, a press release said.
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Oak Ridge City Manager Randy Hemann has selected Tom Pessemier as his next deputy city manager.
Pessemier is scheduled to begin Monday, May 6.
He has 16 years of municipal government and finance experience, serving in various roles including city manager, assistant city manager, public works director, community development director, and city engineer, a press release said.
He most recently served three years as city manager and public works director in Independence, Oregon. Before that, he was assistant city manager of Sherwood, Oregon, for six years, the press release said.
[Read more…]