More rehabilitation work of the city’s sewer collection pipes is scheduled to continue this week, starting Monday, January 12.
The work is being done by Hurst Excavating Morgan Contracting, and Portland Utilities Construction Company under contract with the City of Oak Ridge. It includes rehabilitating sewer collection pipes within city easements in yards and in roadways, a press release said. [Read more…]
President Barack Obama, front; U.S. senators Lamar Alexander, second, and Bob Corker, third; and Representative John J. Duncan Jr. arrive at McGhee Tyson Airport in Alcoa on Air Force One at about noon Friday. (Photo by Julio Culiat)
Before President Obama landed in East Tennessee on Friday, a spokesman explained the purpose of the trip to reporters. The 5.5-hour visit included stops at Pellissippi State Community College in Hardin Valley and manufacturer Techmer PM in Clinton. Senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker and Congressman John J. Duncan Jr. were guests, and so was Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam.
Eric Schultz, principal deputy press secretary, told reporters on Air Force One that President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill would unveil the president’s plan to make two years of community college free for all responsible students no matter their age during the East Tennessee trip. It was a preview of a “cornerstone” of the president’s State of the Union to Congress on January 20.
Separately, during a stop in Clinton, the president announced a manufacturing innovation hub that involves the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. [Read more…]
Air Force One is pictured at McGhee Tyson Airport in Alcoa on Friday. (Photos by Julio Culiat)
Air Force One landed at McGhee Tyson Airport in Alcoa at about noon Friday, carrying President Obama and three Republican legislators from Tennessee: senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker and Representative John Duncan. It left at about 5:30 p.m. Air Force Two, carrying Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill, followed.
The three visited Pellissippi State Community College in west Knox County and Techmer PM in Clinton to announce education and manufacturing proposals. It was the first visit by any president to Pellissippi State and Clinton, and it was Obama’s first visit to the Knoxville area.
Here are four pictures of Air Force One and President Obama by Julio Culiat. [Read more…]
President Obama is seen in the back of the presidential limousine. (Photo by John Westcott)
Many people took pictures and videos when President Obama’s motorcade passed through Oak Ridge, Clinton, and Anderson County on Friday afternoon.
Here are a few, including several by John Westcott and Betsy Prine.
The president traveled to East Tennessee—his first trip to the Knoxville area as president—to announce education and manufacturing proposals that will be presented in his State of the Union speech to Congress on January 20.
Announced at Pellissippi State Community College, the education proposal would provide two years of community college free to anyone who’s willing to work for it. [Read more…]
University of Tennessee engineering students Andrew Messing and Alex Roschli printed this Shelby Cobra at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility. The car was on stage during President Obama’s visit to Techmer PM in Clinton on Friday. (Photo courtesy UT)
CLINTON—President Obama took the stage at Techmer PM in Clinton on Friday to announce that the University of Tennessee in Knoxville will head a $259 million advanced manufacturing project and that Oak Ridge National Laboratory will play a key role. The president shared the spotlight with a shiny example of innovation, research, and collaboration between the two—a Shelby Cobra 3D printed car.
The car was highlighted during Obama’s visit as an example of the changing world of manufacturing. It was produced with major contributions from a pair of student interns from UT’s College of Engineering—Alex Roschli and Andrew Messing, a press release said.
Roschli and Messing, both seniors in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, are doing internships at ORNL, where the car was printed at the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility. [Read more…]
This is a screen shot from a White House video filmed during a September 23, 2011, event on No Child Left Behind. Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, center, introduces President Barack Obama, right.
Inspired by programs in Tennessee and Chicago, President Barack Obama has unveiled a proposal to make two years of community college free for anyone who’s willing to work for it, the White House said Thursday.
The White House said 57,000 students representing almost 90 percent of the state’s high school graduating class applied for the Tennessee scholarship program, which is called Tennessee Promise, in the first year. It provides two years of community or technical college to graduating high school seniors free of tuition and fees.
The federal program is called America’s College Promise, and it could benefit roughly nine million students each year, officials said. A full-time community college student could save an average of $3,800 in tuition per year.
The president is expected to announce the proposal in Knoxville on Friday, when he visits Pellissippi State Community College in Hardin Valley and manufacturer Techmer PM in Clinton. Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill will join Obama on the East Tennessee trip. [Read more…]
A project to improve the city’s sewer system will require a temporary closure on busy Rutgers Avenue in central Oak Ridge starting Sunday.
Rutgers Avenue connects South Illinois Avenue and Oak Ridge Turnpike, and it runs between the Woodland neighborhood and J.C. Penney and Walmart.
A city press release said a gravity sewer line running from east to west under the north end of Rutgers Avenue must be relocated as part of the rehabilitation work. [Read more…]
Bob Corker
U.S. Senator Bob Corker is the first Tennessee senator to serve as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, according to his office and committee records.
Corker was elected chairman by committee members, and his appointment was expected to be confirmed Thursday during a meeting of Senate Republicans, his office said Tuesday.
A Chattanooga Republican, Corker also will be serving on the Senate Banking Committee, the Budget Committee, and the Aging Committee.
See previous story here.
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden ride in the motorcade from the White House to the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C., on July 21, 2010, to sign the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. (Official White House photo by Pete Souza)
There will be some traffic delays in Anderson County on Friday because the presidential motorcade will be traveling through the county, including the cities of Oak Ridge and Clinton, authorities said.
But the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department said it cannot release the times, the motorcade route, or the duration of the traffic delays.
“We also cannot release any other information concerning this event,” the Sheriff’s Department said.
The City of Oak Ridge also announced Thursday that traffic in Oak Ridge could be disrupted during the Friday afternoon visit to west Knox County and Clinton by President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and Biden’s wife Jill. [Read more…]
President Barack Obama
Traffic in Oak Ridge could be disrupted during the Friday afternoon visit to west Knox County and Clinton by President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and Biden’s wife Jill.
The City of Oak Ridge sent out the traffic advisory on Thursday morning.
“The City of Oak Ridge is advising the public that traffic may be disrupted in Oak Ridge Friday afternoon due to the president’s visit to East Tennessee,” the advisory said. “Motorists should plan accordingly to arrive at their destinations on time. [Read more…]
Dan Pfeiffer
President Barack Obama will launch a new manufacturing innovation hub during his visit to Knoxville and Clinton on Friday, a presidential aide said Wednesday.
The manufacturing innovation hub will be a private-sector partnership that will attract more well-paying middle-class jobs in high-tech manufacturing to Tennessee, said Dan Pfeiffer, an assistant to the president and senior adviser.
During their Friday visit, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, along with his wife Jill Biden, will stop at Pellissippi State Community College in west Knox County and at manufacturer Techmer PM in the Eagle Bend Industrial Park in Clinton. [Read more…]
WYSH Radio/Oak Ridge Today
Clinton City Manager Roger Houck told WYSH Radio in Clinton on Wednesday morning that being chosen for a presidential visit is an honor for a city of Clinton’s size and worth the extra effort that local officials have been making this week.
Houck also talked about how the visit will give national attention to the city, its attractiveness for both companies and potential employees, and even more economic development.
Houck also said that the extra costs to the city associated with the visit, which will not be reimbursed by the White House, are unclear at this time but will be worked out during the next few weeks. [Read more…]
