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Oak Ridge Community Band has Back to School concert Sunday

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Oak Ridge Community Band (Submitted photo)

 

The Oak Ridge Community Band will have a Back to School concert in Alvin K. Bissell Park on Sunday evening.

Oak Ridge schools started a new school year this week.

Sunday evening will feature casual, relaxing music performed by the Oak Ridge Community Band, a press release said. The concert is free, and it will start at 7 p.m. It is a great opportunity for family and friends to enjoy an entertaining program of music featuring popular selections that children and students know and love but that also appeal to listeners of all ages, the press release said.

Sunday evening’s performance directed by conductor Shaun Salem is focusing on familiar and well-liked numbers including “Young Person’s Guide to John Williams” with “Raiders March,” “Prologue from Hook,” “Theme from E.T.,” “Hedwig’s Theme,” and Disney movie favorites “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “The Incredibles.”

Other compositions on Sunday’s program will be band director Shaun Salem’s mysterious “Ghost Ship” and John Powell’s “How to Train Your Dragon” featuring “This is Berk,” “Move Ahead,” and “Coming Back Around.” The band will also perform Rossano Galante’s “Mt. Everest” and Percy Grainger’s “Children’s March: Over the Hills and Far Away.” [Read more…]

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Heat index in Kingston could hit 105 on Friday

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Image courtesy National Weather Service in Morristown

The heat index in the region is forecast to be in the high 90s or 100 degrees Fahrenheit on Thursday and as high as 105 degrees in Kingston on Friday, according to the National Weather Service in Morristown.

The high in Oak Ridge is forecast at 97 degrees on Thursday. The heat index is forecast to be a bit higher than that in the region. It is forecast at 99 degrees in Knoxville on Thursday and 100 in Kingston. The heat index includes the effect of humidity and measures how hot it will feel.

The forecast calls for an even higher heat index on Friday. Kingston is forecast to have a heat index of 105 on Friday, Knoxville will feel like 102 degrees, and Chattanooga could have a heat index of 106, the NWS said.

“Looks like a few more hot days ahead with heat indices exceeding the century mark in the southern valley,” the Weather Service said in a social media post. “As of now, Friday looks warmest, however there will be a front in the area during the afternoon, which could alter things.”

[Read more…]
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COVID case, positivity rates rising as school resumes

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A daily snapshot of COVID-19 cases in Anderson County on Tuesday, July 27, 2021, includes, among other information, the daily number of new cases and the daily positivity rate. (Graphic by Tennessee Department of Health)

Note: This story was updated at 12:15 p.m. July 28.

The COVID-19 case and positivity rates are rising in Anderson County as school resumes in Oak Ridge. More than 100 new COVID-19 cases, four hospitalizations, and three deaths have been reported since mid-July. The positivity rate, a measure of how many COVID-19 tests are positive each day, is about 10 percent, which exceeds World Health Organization guidelines.

Cases in Tennessee have surged from a low of a few hundred new cases per day about a month ago to roughly 2,100 new cases on Tuesday. Current hospitalizations across the state have climbed from a low of a few hundred to 762. Fifty-one hospitalizations were reported Tuesday.

In the past two weeks, the rate of new COVID-19 cases per day in Anderson County has steadily climbed from a low of about one new case per day in Anderson County to 7.6 new cases per day. The county reported 112 new cases of COVID-19 between Monday, July 12, and Tuesday, July 27, according to data from the Tennessee Department of Health. (See also here and here.)

There were 74 new cases of COVID-19 reported in the week between Tuesday, July 20, and Monday, July 26. That’s an average of about 10.6 new cases per day. The one-week average of 10.6 new cases per day was higher than the 14-day case average of 7.6 reported by the state.

Two new deaths due to COVID-19 were reported in Anderson County on Monday, although that doesn’t necessarily mean the deaths occurred Monday because the state reporting can lag a few days behind when the deaths occurred.

Also in the last two weeks, the positivity rate has climbed from about 2.3 percent on Monday, July 12, to 9.3 percent on Tuesday, July 27. The WHO has recommended a positivity rate below 5 percent.

[Read more…]

Heat wave forecast again this week

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Image courtesy National Weather Service in Morristown

Another heat wave is expected to build in the region this week, forecasters said.

Scattered showers and storms were expected early this week, and the heat wave is forecast to build into the Tennessee Valley and southern Appalachians by mid-week, according to the National Weather Service in Morristown.

Above-normal temperatures can be expected from Wednesday to Friday, with temperatures climbing into the middle 90s or possibly upper 90s across parts of the Tennessee Valley, the NWS said.

[Read more…]

ORPD: Two arrested after crashing stolen truck

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Two people were arrested after allegedly crashing a stolen pickup truck in Oak Ridge and trying to run from police Monday afternoon, officers said.

The Oak Ridge Police Department tried to stop the pickup truck on South Illinois Avenue at Tulsa Road at about 1 p.m. Monday, a press release said.

“The driver of the pickup truck began to flee, and officers discontinued the attempted traffic stop,” the press release said.

The pickup truck continued driving at a high rate of speed and crashed into a vehicle at the intersection of South Illinois Avenue at South Rutgers Avenue, the press release said. One tire blew out, and the pickup truck continued driving on the remaining three tires toward Edgemoor Road, the release said.

[Read more…]

Beauty of Giving: Free haircuts offered

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The Atomic City Sportsmen Club and Oak Valley Baptist Church have invited students to kick off the new school year with a fresh free haircut and style during the annual Beauty of Giving event today (Sunday, July 25).

Participating barber and beauty shops will open at 2 p.m. and provide haircuts and styles to children on a first-come basis, a press release said. Participating shops include High Maintenance, The Pro’s 2, Fade to Black, and Fresh Master Cuts in Oak Ridge.

An event advertisement said the event, Beauty of Giving, is from 2 to 7:30 p.m.

[Read more…]

High temperatures expected due to heat wave

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Image courtesy National Weather Service in Morristown

High temperatures are expected across the Tennessee Valley and the southern Appalachian Mountains as a heat wave expands across much of the country, according to the National Weather Service in Morristown. With humidity, heat indices in the region could exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

The heat wave is forecast for the rest of July and into early August.

“Above-normal temperatures are likely over the Tennessee Valley and southern Appalachians,” the NWS said. “Temperatures will climb into the middle and upper 90s across parts of the Tennessee Valley for the end of July and early August along with muggy conditions.”

[Read more…]

Half of power outages this year caused by falling trees, tree limbs

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A fallen tree on Wiltshire Drive caused widespread power outages on Thursday, May 27, 2021. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

Half of the power outages in Oak Ridge this year have been caused by falling trees and tree limbs, Electric Director Ardo Ba told City Council on Tuesday.

Since January, vegetation has accounted for about 50 percent of power outages, Ba said.

Animals such as squirrels and snakes have caused about 13 percent of the power outages in the past six to seven months, and equipment failures, traffic crashes, and other causes have accounted for roughly 37 percent of the outages, Ba said.

Ba provided some details about significant power outages this year. The largest outage occurred on July 8 on Tuskegee Drive near a city fire station, when a transmission line switch caught fire. More than 8,400 people power.

The next largest outage was caused by a tree falling on a transmission line on Wiltshire Drive on May 27. The 150-foot tree that fell on the transmission line had been well outside the right-of-way, Ba said. That line provided a main feed to two substations, and more than 7,200 customers lost power when the tree fell on the transmission line.

[Read more…]

Blackwell to oversee courthouse security

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Anderson County Sheriff’s Office Corporal Marty Blackwell, left, is pictured above receiving his new rank with Anderson County General Sessions Court Judge Don Layton. (Submitted photo)

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department has promoted Marty Blackwell to the rank of corporal, and he will oversee courthouse security, a press release said.

Blackwell has been in law enforcement for 33 years, the press release said. He most recently served as court officer for General Sessions Judge Don A. Layton.

[Read more…]

Smoke from wildfires in West, Canada causes haze in Oak Ridge

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Haze obscures the mountains north of Oak Ridge in this view from Pine Ridge on Wednesday evening, July 21, 2021. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Smoke from enormous wildfires in the western United States and Canada is causing haze in Oak Ridge and across the eastern United States, and affecting air quality in many regions.

This map shows the locations of fires in the northwest United States and Canada, the smoke plume spreading across North America, and air quality indices. (Map by AirNow.gov via National Weather Service in Morristown)

On Thursday, CBS News reported that there are wildfires burning in 13 states, and 83 large fires have burned close to 1.3 million acres. The largest fire, the Bootleg Fire in Oregon, was burning more than 476 square miles, an area about the size of Los Angeles and three times the size of Detroit.

Smoke from the wildfires is blowing into Canada and then south around the Great Lakes and east to the East Coast, according to a map posted by AirNow.gov and shared by the National Weather Service in Morristown.

[Read more…]

COVID-19 case rate rising quickly, positivity spikes

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A daily snapshot of COVID-19 cases in Anderson County on Wednesday, July 21, 2021, includes, among other information, the daily number of new cases and the daily positivity rate. (Graphic by Tennessee Department of Health)

The COVID-19 case rate in Anderson County remains low, but it is rising quickly–and the positivity rate has spiked over 20 percent, according to information published by the Tennessee Department of Health. There has been another death due to COVID-19 in Anderson County.

In late June and early July, the number of new cases of COVID-19 per day in the county had dropped to an average of roughly one new case per day. That was the lowest level observed in a year or more, since the first peak in July 2020.

In the past week or so, though, the new case average has climbed past two, then three, and now four new cases per day.

During the past 14 days, Anderson County has averaged 4.4 new cases per day, according to the Tennessee Department of Health. That was up from 0.8 new cases per day in the previous two weeks.

The positivity rate, which measures how many patients test positive out of those tested each day, has climbed even quicker. It had been in a low range of around 2 percent to 3 percent, lower than the World Health Organization guideline of 5 percent. But Tennessee Department of Health data shows the positivity rate has spiked past 20 percent, which is high, and the seven-day average has climbed quickly to 10.2 percent in about a week or so. The number of tests per day remains fairly low, however, and it’s not clear what part the low test rate might play in the high positivity rate. When the case count was higher, Anderson County was testing several hundred people per day.

[Read more…]

Police asking for information about arson on Waddell Circle

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Image by Oak Ridge Police Department

The Oak Ridge Police Department is asking for tips about an arson on Waddell Circle on Sunday, July 11.

The Oak Ridge Fire Department had responded to a residential fire in a quadplex that evening. (That was the same evening widespread power outages and partial power outages were reported in Oak Ridge.)

The fire on Waddell Circle was later determined to be set intentionally, and ORPD investigators responded to the fire.

[Read more…]

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