Mark Watson
Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson is being considered for a job in Texas, three council members confirmed Thursday evening.
Watson is a finalist for a city manager position, and a decision could be made in January, Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan said.
The mayor said he hopes Watson, who started here in August 2010, stays in Oak Ridge.
“Mark Watson has been an outstanding city manager,” Beehan said. “He was a great hire.” [Read more…]
Information from WYSH Radio
The fired, now former chief of staff for U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander has been released from jail, pending his trial on child pornography charges.
On Monday, a federal judge allowed Ryan Loskarn, 35, to be released and live with his parents in Maryland while he’s awaiting trial on charges of possessing and attempting to distribute child pornography. In appealing for his release, Loskarn’s lawyers argued that he had no prior convictions or arrests. The judge ruled that Loskarn must stay inside his parents’ home and be electronically monitored. Additionally, he is prohibited from having any access to the Internet. [Read more…]
Holly M. Kirby
NASHVILLE—Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam has appointed Holly M. Kirby of Memphis to the Tennessee Supreme Court. Kirby will succeed Janice M. Holder, who is retiring June 28.
Kirby, a lifelong Tennessean, has served as a member of the Tennessee Court of Appeals, Western Section, since 1995. She was the first woman to serve on that court and has written more than 1,000 opinions on appeals from trial courts across the state.
“We are fortunate to have someone with Judge Kirby’s depth of experience to serve on the Tennessee Supreme Court,” Haslam said. “Her impressive record of service will benefit Tennesseans in this position, and I am pleased to announce her appointment.”
Kirby’s opinions have covered a range of civil law, including business and commercial litigation, employment law, tort law and family law. Prior to her appointment to the Tennessee Court of Appeals by Gov. Don Sundquist, Kirby was a partner at the Memphis law firm Burch, Porter and Johnson. [Read more…]
Bob Corker
Both U.S. senators from Tennessee have now said “no” to the two-year budget deal expected to be approved by Congress, an agreement that would avoid a second government shutdown in mid-January.
Sen. Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican, said he will vote against the budget deal because it “busts budget caps without making meaningful changes to mandatory programs.”
Earlier Wednesday, Sen. Lamar Alexander, who is also a Tennessee Republican, announced that he too would oppose the budget bill.
The legislation passed the Republican-controlled House of Representatives on Thursday in a 332-94 vote. U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, a Tennessee Republican whose district includes Oak Ridge, supported it. [Read more…]
Lamar Alexander
U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander said he will oppose a two-year budget agreement that cleared a key Senate hurdle on Tuesday and is expected to keep the government open through 2015.
The bill passed the Republican-controlled House of Representatives on Thursday in a 332-94 vote. It’s now being considered in the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats, and could win congressional approval this week.
“I will vote against the budget agreement because it avoids the federal government’s most urgent need: reducing the growth of runaway entitlement spending,” said Alexander, a Tennessee Republican. “Instead, it spends savings that should be used to strengthen Medicare, pensions, and the air transportation system.”
Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, a Tennessee Republican whose district includes Oak Ridge, supported the legislation last week.
Passage of the bill is likely to offer relief to federal employees and government contractors in Oak Ridge—and to the businesses that support them. Many reported impacts during the last partial government shutdown in October. [Read more…]
An auto parts manufacturer in Clinton has announced a second major expansion, a $53.8 million investment expected to create 81 new jobs during the next two years.
The investment was announced Tuesday by Tennessee Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bill Hagerty and executives from Aisin Holdings of America Inc.
The company’s subsidiary in Clinton is called Aisin Automotive Casting Tennessee, and it’s located along Frank L. Diggs Drive south of State Route 61 and just west of Interstate 75. It’s the company’s second major business expansion since locating in Tennessee in 2004. [Read more…]
Lynn Byrge, back left, spokesman for a new political study group in Anderson County, watches above as Brad Heun, right, commander of Oak Ridge Veterans of Foreign Wars, and Leon Jaquet, director of Anderson County Veterans Office, raise the flag on a new flagpole at the General Sessions Courthouse in Oak Ridge in September.
A new community organization formed to study contentious political issues in Anderson County will be modeled after the PolitiFact fact-checking website, a spokesman said Monday.
The group of Anderson County residents is called Friends of Anderson County Taxpayers, or FACTs, spokesman Lynn Byrge said in a press release. The release said members are concerned about county spending, debt, and the threat of property tax increases.
The formation of the new group comes just before the start of what is expected to be a busy election year in Anderson County, with candidates already announcing they’re running for election or re-election on county commission and for various seats ranging from juvenile court judge to chancellor to sheriff.
Byrge, who helped lead the effort to install “In God We Trust” signs on the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton, said FACTs has already organized study groups around specific areas of concern, including county commission’s legislative process, the sheriff’s department’s burgeoning budget, the role of the county law director, and the responsibilities of the county mayor. [Read more…]
Conceptual drawing of an underground containment structure housing two B&W mPower reactor modules. (Image courtesy B&W)
The U.S. Department of Energy last week announced a second round of funding for small modular reactors.
The first award, announced earlier this year, provided support to Babcock and Wilcox Co. through a program that could result in small modular reactors at the former Clinch River Breeder Reactor site in west Oak Ridge. In November, B&W announced it had already invested more than $360 million in that project, and the North Carolina company was looking for investors and possibly majority owners.
DOE said the new award was given to Oregon-based NuScale Power LLC to support a new project to design, certify, and help commercialize innovative small modular reactors in the United States.
The department said the reactors could provide clean, safe, and cost-effective nuclear energy, and build on President Obama’s Climate Action Plan to “continue America’s leadership in clean energy innovation.” [Read more…]
A bipartisan budget bill being considered in Congress could avoid a second government shutdown and provide relief to federal employees and government contractors in Oak Ridge, including at the Y-12 National Security Complex, which was prepared to furlough up to 3,600 workers during the first shutdown in October.
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a budget bill that could avoid a second government shutdown in mid-January, a development that will likely offer some relief to federal employees and government contractors in Oak Ridge—and to the businesses that support them.
U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, a Tennessee Republican, said he supported the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 in the House on Thursday.
“Tonight, the House took a modest step toward reforming spending and setting our government on a more stable path,” said Fleischmann, a second-term congressman whose district includes Oak Ridge.
But the bill still has to pass the deeply divided Senate, which is preparing to take up the budget bill this week. The Washington Post reported that Democrats are still trying to come up with the 60 votes necessary to break a GOP-led filibuster in the Senate. [Read more…]
Four additional sites are declared “shovel ready”
NASHVILLE—The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development announced the next four Select Tennessee Certified Sites, and a site in Clinton is among those selected.
The four newest sites are:
Sherith and Colin Colverson were presented the 2013 Postma Young Professional Medals on Friday for their outstanding accomplishments at work and in the community, a press release said.
The Postma Medal was created by the East Tennessee Economic Council to honor the accomplishments of young professionals who have made an impact and fostered a community culture in the region. Former Oak Ridge National Laboratory director Herman Postma epitomized this spirit during his life, and his wife Pat continues the tradition of service today through her involvement in the Oak Ridge community, the press release said.
Pat Postma and Tim Myrick presented the awards to the Colversons at ETEC’s annual meeting on Friday at the DoubleTree Hotel. [Read more…]
The city’s beer board took no action against Lincoln’s Sports Grille on Monday, the board’s third show cause hearing of the year for the restaurant and bar on South Illinois Avenue.
The city’s beer board ended an unusual string of hearings for local restaurants and bars this year by taking no action in its last two meetings. Most of the hearings were called after establishments sold beer to a minor during a state sting in March, but a few were related to bar fights.
The final show cause hearing, held Monday, was called after a Nov. 2 fight at Lincoln’s Sports Grille on South Illinois Avenue. The fight started after a highly intoxicated North Carolina man who had refused to pay his bar bill “came after” a male acquaintance who volunteered to cover his tab, the restaurant manager and police officers said.
The previous two show cause hearings in November were for Aubrey’s and Ruby Tuesday, which both sold beer to a minor during a March 18 compliance check by the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission. The two restaurants were among seven establishments cited for selling alcohol to a minor after that sting. The other five were Applebee’s, Hacienda DeGollado, Hidalgo, Lincoln’s, and Moose Lodge No. 1316. [Read more…]
