The U.S. Department of Energy has approved a five-year extension of UT-Battelle’s contract to manage and operate Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The five-year extension took effect Wednesday, April 1, ORNL said in a response to questions.
The value of the extension wasn’t immediately available.
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Note: This story was updated at 2:35 p.m.
A home in east Oak Ridge that was built before World War II is for sale. It’s one of the few structures that was built before the war and remains in the city today.
The Luther Brannon House is at 151 Oak Ridge Turnpike, just west of Melton Lake Drive and next to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Scientific and Technical Information. It’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and it was the first home in Oak Ridge to be privately owned.
The single-story stone bungalow was built by Owen Hackworth in 1941 and soon acquired by the federal government as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project during World War II. Hackworth was a longtime resident of the Clinch River Valley.
Don Raby provided Oak Ridge Today with early photographs of the home after a fire damaged the house in 2014. It’s not clear how extensive the damage was or if repairs have been made.
Raby has collected photographs of the original structures that were here before the Manhattan Project, when the “secret city” that is now Oak Ridge helped build the world’s first atomic bombs. The 59,000-acre military reservation, which replaced several rural communities, was known first as Kingston Demolition Range and then as Clinton Engineer Works.
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The Waffle House in Oak Ridge is not among the chain’s restaurants that are closing, but the Oak Ridge location is open for take-out orders only.
Some locations are closing as sales plummet as COVID-19 spreads and government officials sometimes prohibit certain activities such as dining in restaurants. Most of Waffle House’s closures are in the Midwest and Gulf Coast regions, CNN reported Wednesday.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Waffle House said that 365 restaurants would close and 1,627 would remain open.
But by Thursday, the number of closures had been revised up to 429, with 1,563 restaurants remaining open. About 22 percent of the chain’s restaurants are closing.
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Covenant Health and other Knoxville-area hospitals will temporarily stop non-essential adult procedures starting Monday, March 23.
Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge is part of Covenant Health.
In Knoxville, East Tennessee Children’s Hospital will limit certain non-essential pediatric procedures.
“Ultimately, hospitals will rely on providers to use clinical judgement and standards of care in determining when to complete a procedure,” area hospitals said in a press release Friday.
[Read more…]An order from Tennessee Governor Bill Lee on Sunday prohibits eating inside restaurants and requires gyms and fitness centers to temporarily close.
The executive order is in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The order, Executive Order 17, said restaurants, bars, and similar businesses that serve food and drinks must sell food only through drive-throughs or take-outs, or by delivery.
Businesses may sell alcohol by take-out or delivery when customers buy food. But the alcohol must be in closed containers and served only to customers who are 21 years old or older.
The measures are meant to help families, businesses, and the food supply chain. Lee’s office said.
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Belk, JCPenney, and several new stores at Main Street Oak Ridge are closed. So is Cinemark Tinseltown Theater. Dick’s Sporting Goods is open for curbside pickup only.
The new stores that are closed include Burkes Outlet, maurices, Rack Room Shoes, T.J.Maxx, and Ulta Beauty.
Electronic Express, PetSmart, and Rue21 were open at last check this weekend, but they have modified hours. (Note: The response to COVID-19 changes rapidly, meaning store operations could change quickly.)
JCPenney said it plans to reopen on April 2. JCPenney said it temporarily closed for the health and safety of customers and employees. The store said it continues to offer service online at jcp.com and through its mobile application.
Cinemark Tinseltown said it is closed until further notice to comply with a local government ordinance. It’s not clear what ordinance that is. You can reach Cinemark by calling (800) 246-3627.
[Read more…]The Winter Farmers’ Market will be open on Saturday, but it will be outside because of concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Winter Farmers’ Market is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, March 28. It will be outside the gymnasium at St. Mary’s School at 323 Vermont Avenue in Oak Ridge.
Vendors will be placed at least 10 feet apart, a press release said.
Customers who are seniors or immune-compromised may order ahead of time for curbside pickup, the press release said. Information on how to do that is listed on the market’s website at www.GrowOakRidge.org.
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Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge is asking you to call ahead if you have symptoms of COVID-19: fever, coughing, or breathing problems.
That’s consistent with recommendations from the Tennessee Department of Health, which asks you to call your health care provider first if you have COVID-19 symptoms.
MMC said you should call (865) 835-3408 before you go to the hospital’s emergency room, and you will be given an explanation of what you should do before you visit.
When you arrive at MMC’s Emergency Department, you will be met outside for a quick assessment, the hospital said. Once assessed, you may be given a mask and asked to wear it before entering the facility. You will be escorted inside by a team member.
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Note: This story was updated at 10:45 a.m. March 20.
Many restaurants in Oak Ridge are changing hours or the types of services they offer to help try to prevent the potential spread of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the new coronavirus.
Explore Oak Ridge, which helps promote tourism, is tracking some of the changes at restaurants and businesses.
Many restaurants are offering carry-out or curbside service or delivery service. Some are still offering dine-in service. Some are closing earlier than normal.
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The Nine Lakes Wine Festival is being postponed until September. The festival had been scheduled for early June.
The postponement is due to the recent recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reduce large gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Fourth Annual Nine Lakes Wine Festival is now scheduled for September 11-12 at Melton Lake Park. All previously purchased tickets, vendor booths, and sponsorship arrangements will be honored, a notice said.
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Big Ed’s Pizza, Oak Ridge’s most well-known restaurant, announced Tuesday that it is temporarily closing.
The temporary closure will allow managers to time they need to evaluate how to safely and effectively fulfill curbside/to-go/carryout orders, said the restaurant, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary.
“Once we feel we have the best protocols in place and feel that we can safely operate, we will do so,” Big Ed’s said in a social media post.
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Note: This story was last updated at 7:30 a.m. March 16.
The Kroger and Walmart stores in Oak Ridge are limiting their hours. It’s part of a trend of stores changing their hours across the country as people concerned about COVID-19 flock to stock up on supplies.
The stores said the limited hours will help them clean and stock shelves.
Normally open 24 hours, the Kroger store in Oak Ridge will be closed from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. “until further notice.”
The Walmart store, which is also normally open 24 hours, said it will be open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. each day starting Sunday, March 15.
As concerns about COVID-19 spread across the country, people have been flocking to grocery stores, loading grocery carts with supplies. Among the items that appear to be in high demand include beef and bread, flour and pasta, rice and beans, sauces and ramen, canned fruits and frozen vegetables, sodas and water, cleaning supplies and wipes, and toilet paper and paper towels.
That’s sometimes left empty shelves for other shoppers. Sometimes those items are restocked, but sometimes the shelves quickly empty again.
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