Oak Ridge Today

Tennessee housing agency to announce blight elimination partnership with Oak Ridge

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THDA Perrey and Gooch June 8 2016

The Tennessee Housing Development Agency awarded the City of Oak Ridge a $500,000 grant on Wednesday, June 9, 2016, that will be used to renovate more than 60 single-family homes. Pictured above are THDA Executive Director Ralph M. Perrey, left, and Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch. THDA and Perrey will be back on Monday, July 11, to announce a partnership with the City of Oak Ridge to support the implementation of THDA’s Hardest Hit Fund Blight Elimination Program, or BEP. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The Tennessee Housing Development Agency will announce a partnership with the City of Oak Ridge to support the implementation of THDA’s Hardest Hit Fund Blight Elimination Program, or BEP, on Monday.

The announcement will be made by THDA Executive Director Ralph Perrey at 1:30 p.m. Monday, July 11. The announcement will be made in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Courtroom, which is located at 200 South Tulane Avenue in Oak Ridge.

The Hardest Hit Fund Blight Elimination Program assists with the removal of blighted properties in targeted areas within Tennessee, a media advisory said. THDA works in partnership with approved program partners to strategically target residential single-family properties for demolition, site improvement, and acceptable reuse, the advisory said. [Read more…]

Beat the heat with Dine & Donate on Monday, July 11

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ADFAC Jamie LaRose at Chick-fil-A

ADFAC Development Director Jamie LaRose is already getting in the “spirit” for Monday’s Dine and Donate/Spirit Night at Chick-Fil-A from 5-8 p.m. ADFAC will receive 15 percent of all the receipts that are donated into containers at the registers. (Photo courtesy ADFAC)

 

On Monday, July 11, five local restaurants will donate a portion of their sales to support Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties, or ADFAC.

“Dine & Donate Mondays are always an easy way to treat loved ones to a special meal that also gives back to the community,” a press release said. “It’s also a great way to relax indoors and beat the heat!”

In Clinton, you can dine at the following participating July 11 restaurants:

  • Hoskins
  • Riverview Grill

In Oak Ridge, these July 11 restaurants are participating: [Read more…]

Woman arrested for role in alleged armed robbery that injured two

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Larissa Cate Little

Larissa Cate Little

A Knoxville woman has been charged with especially aggravated robbery for her role in an alleged armed robbery of cash and prescription medications on Jonathan Lane in May that sent two people to the hospital with serious injuries or broken bones that required medical treatment and hospital stays, authorities said.

Larissa Cate Little, 27, of Dude Lane in Knoxville, was arrested Thursday by the Oak Ridge Police Department. She remained jailed in the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton early Friday afternoon. Her bond on the especially aggravated robbery charge has been set at $100,000.

An arrest warrant said Little allegedly brought two male defendants who are not identified in the warrant to a Jonathan Lane home with the intent to commit an armed robbery at about 3:15 p.m. May 21. Little knew that the two Jonathan Lane victims, a male and female, would open the door for her because they knew her, said the warrant, filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge.

Little got the victims to open the door, then her two male co-defendants entered the home, striking the male victim in the face with what he believed to be a firearm, ORPD Detective William Weaver said. [Read more…]

ORNL researchers use 3-D printer to print table with bamboo fiber

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ORNL bamboo tablecloth

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers used a 3-D printer to print a table that was manufactured using 10 percent bamboo fiber. (Photo by ORNL)

 

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are using bamboo fiber in 3-D printing experiments, and they’ve printed a table that contains 10 percent bamboo fiber composite.

The goal is to determine whether bio-based feedstock materials from living (or once-living) organisms are feasible in what is known as additive manufacturing.

Officials say 3-D printing is used to manufacture items a layer at a time using such materials as carbon, glass, or bamboo fiber. [Read more…]

New 200-petaflop supercomputer to succeed Titan at ORNL

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Summit Supercomputer Cabinets Graphic

This a graphical representation of the Summit computer cabinets. It is not a photograph of the final design. (Image courtesy ORNL/November 2014)

 

A new 200-petaflop supercomputer will succeed Titan at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and it could be available to scientists and researchers in 2018, a spokesperson said this week.

The new IBM supercomputer, named Summit, could about double the computing power of what is now the world’s fastest machine, a Chinese system named Sunway TaihuLight, according to a seminannual list of the world’s top supercomputers released in June.

Sunway TaihuLight is capable of 93 petaflops, according to the list, the TOP500 list. A petaflop is one quadrillion calculations per second. That’s 1,000 trillion calculations per second.

Summit, which is expected to start operating at ORNL early in 2018, is one of three supercomputers that the U.S. Department of Energy expects to exceed 100 petaflops at three U.S. Department of Energy laboratories in 2018. The three planned systems are:

  • the 200-petaflop Summit at ORNL, which is expected to be available to users in early 2018;
  • a 150-petaflop machine known as Sierra at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory near San Francisco in mid-2018; and
  • a 180-petaflop supercomputer called Aurora at Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago in late 2018.

[Read more…]

State grant of more than $900,000 to be used for Turnpike sidewalks

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Oak-Ridge-Turnpike-Sidewalks-July-6-2016 600

A state grant of more than $900,000 will be used to complete sidewalks along the south side of Oak Ridge Turnpike from Illinois Avenue to Fairbanks Road, including along this stretch of roadway between Lafayette Drive and Division Road, pictured on Wednesday, July 6, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 8:45 a.m. July 7.

Oak Ridge has received a state transportation grant of more than $900,000, and it will be used to complete sidewalks along the south side of Oak Ridge Turnpike between Illinois Avenue and Fairbanks Road, officials said Wednesday.

The $927,021.40 Multimodal Access Grant is from the Tennessee Department of Transportation.

It’s one of 14 grants worth a total of about $10.3 million awarded this year, according to information from TDOT. Other cities receiving grants in the Knoxville area were Lenoir City—$899,394.30 for an SR2/Broadway Multimodal Access Project—and Gatlinburg—$396,036 for US 321 Safety Upgrades and Trolley Stop.

In Oak Ridge, the grant will be used to help build a continuous sidewalk on the south side of the Turnpike from Illinois to Fairbanks.

The current standard requires sidewalks in front of new buildings when they face the Turnpike. So, there are short stretches of new sidewalks in front of The Donut Palace and Zaxby’s restaurant, both relatively new businesses, interspersed with sections of no sidewalks in front of Martin Funeral Home and First Presbyterian Church between Lafayette Drive and Division Road. [Read more…]

Column: Oak Ridge Elks celebrate 70 years, $1 million in charitable donations

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By John Calvert

Oak Ridge Lodge Number 1684 of the Benevolent and Protective Order for Elks, or BPOE, is celebrating its 70th birthday this week. The lodge was formally chartered on July 11, 1946.

Many people have probably passed by the local lodge located at the corner of Emory Valley Road and Briarcliff Avenue many times and wondered: Who are the Elks and what do they do?

Oak Ridge Lodge 1684 is one of the nearly 2,000 BPOE lodges located across the country that have a combined membership of nearly 800,000 members. The Elks organization was founded in New York City on February 16, 1868, under the name “Jolly Corks” by 15 actors, entertainers, and others associated with the theater. In ensuing years, membership expanded to other professions.

The Order spends more than $80,000,000 every year for benevolent, educational, and patriotic community-minded programs. These may be in such fields as benefiting physically handicapped children, sponsoring Elks National Foundation scholarships, scouting, athletic teams, veterans’ works, a national “Hoop Shoot” free-throw contest involving more than three million children, physical and occupational therapy programs, and patriotic programs. For many years the Elks were second only to the federal government in the dollar amount of college scholarships awarded annually. [Read more…]

Altrusa donates books, toys for distribution in Children’s Waiting Areas at MMC

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Members of Altrusa International of Oak Ridge visited Methodist Medical Center to assemble special activity bags to be distributed to children waiting for loved ones who are patients at Methodist. The women pose with the variety of books and toys they included in each bag. (Submitted photo)

Members of Altrusa International of Oak Ridge visited Methodist Medical Center to assemble special activity bags to be distributed to children waiting for loved ones who are patients at Methodist. The women pose with the variety of books and toys they included in each bag. (Submitted photo)

 

Altrusa International of Oak Ridge recently assembled and donated bags filled with books and toys for distribution to kids who are visiting Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge. The bags’ contents were all donated from businesses and individuals throughout the community. Methodist’s Volunteer Services will oversee the distribution through the hospital’s special Children’s Waiting Areas.

“These bags will make wonderful gifts for our patient families who utilize the Children’s Waiting Areas,” said Lois Ward, director of Volunteer Services at Methodist.

“Waiting while a loved one—especially a parent or grandparent—is in surgery or intensive care can be an emotional time for anyone, but for children it can be especially difficult,” Ward said. “Having a good book to read or a new toy to play with is a great way to help take some of the worry out of their wait.” [Read more…]

New principal named at Oak Ridge Preschool, administrative assistants at Linden, Glenwood

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Lisa Downard

Lisa Downard

Oak Ridge Schools have announced a new principal at the Preschool and new administrative assistants at Linden and Glenwood elementary schools.

Lisa Downard will be the new principal of Oak Ridge Schools Preschool. Downard has a bachelor’s degree in special education and a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. She earned her Ed.S. in instructional leadership from Lincoln Memorial University in 2014, a press release said. Downard was the assistant principal at Linden Elementary School for six years.

Heather Jenkins has been selected to become the new administrative assistant at Linden Elementary School. Jenkins has a bachelor’s degree from Tennessee Tech in elementary education and an master’s degree from Tennessee Tech in instructional leadership. Jenkins has taught at Linden for 11 years. [Read more…]

Free community trainings offered by United Way this summer

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United Way of Anderson County

As part of United Way of Anderson County’s new initiative to strengthen community leadership and facilitate partnerships, the organization is offering community trainings this summer. These trainings are free to attend and open to the community.

Robert’s Rules of Order: July 26, 3-5 p.m. Published in 1876, Robert’s Rules of Order codified parliamentary law and is now used as a manual for conducting meetings and managing group decisions. The training is perfect for agency leaders, business executives, volunteers, and board or committee members who want to learn how to conduct and contribute to productive meetings. Judy Poulson, long-time member of the Knoxville League of Women Voters, will lead the workshop. Poulson has extensive experience in parliamentary procedure, having served as editor, secretary, treasurer, and president of the League over the course of her membership. This training will be interactive, and manuals will be available for purchase. [Read more…]

Presentation on Manhattan Project National Historic Park on Thursday, July 14

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Niki Nicholas

Niki Nicholas

November 2015 marked the official beginning of the Manhattan Project National Historic Park, which has sites in three locations, including Oak Ridge.

On July 14, Niki Nicholas, who has been designated as the current manager of the Oak Ridge unit (in addition to her duties as superintendent of the Obed Wild and Scenic River and Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area), will be the featured speaker at the Midtown Community Center in Oak Ridge.

The presentation, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 7 p.m. Nicholas will address the new park and other topics, a press release said. [Read more…]

Duhamel one of three male athletes of year for Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame

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Tennessee School for Deaf Duhamel Run at State Track Meet May 27 2016 Moore

Gashaw Duhamel, who ran cross country for Oak Ridge High School in the fall and track for Tennessee School for the Deaf this spring, has been named one of three male athletes of the year by the Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame. Duhamel, left, an Oak Ridge resident and senior at Tennessee School for the Deaf, finished second in the Class A-AA 3,200-meter run in the state track and field meet in Murfreesboro on Friday, May 27, 2016. (File photo by Kindell Moore)

 

Gashaw Duhamel, who ran cross country for Oak Ridge High School in the fall and track for Tennessee School for the Deaf this spring, has been named one of three male athletes of the year by the Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame.

Duhamel, a high school senior and Oak Ridge resident, was selected based on his track accomplishments, said Jimmy Hyams, sports director at WNML Radio Knoxville.

Also selected were Sevier County pitcher Zach Linginfelter and Fulton High School football/basketball player Kentell Williams, who made All-State twice in two sports, Hyams said.

Duhamel finished second on May 27 in the boys’ state championship 3,200-meter run in Class A-AA in the state track and field championship meet in Murfreesboro. Before that, he finished second in the Class A-AA East Section Finals on May 19 at Christian Academy of Knoxville. [Read more…]