The city-wide brush pickup program for Oak Ridge begins Monday, April 29. City collection efforts will follow the accompanying schedule as closely as possible. The schedule is a general guide and can vary considerably due to weather conditions and/or the amount of participation by residents.
The city asks residents to follow a few guidelines: [Read more…]
Pictured above are the three anti-nuclear weapons protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex on July 28. From left, they are Michael Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed.
Note: This story was last updated at 9:47 a.m. April 29.
Federal prosecutors have asked the U.S. District Court in Knoxville to dismiss one of the charges against the three anti-nuclear weapons activists accused of breaking into the Y-12 National Security Complex in July and splashing blood and spray-painting slogans on a uranium storage building.
A motion filed on Thursday said the United States has determined that it is unable to establish jurisdiction for that charge, one of three faced by the defendants: Greg Boertje-Obed, Megan Rice, and Michael Walli. That charge alleges that the trio destroyed and injured, and attempted to destroy and injure, Y-12 property. [Read more…]
A federal judge will not limit the time used to examine prospective jurors during jury selection on May 6 in the trial against three anti-nuclear weapons activists accused of breaking into the Y-12 National Security Complex last summer and vandalizing a uranium storage building.
As previously reported, attorneys for the defendants—Greg Boertje-Obed, Megan Rice, and Michael Walli—had asked for six hours for jury selection because of the publicity the unprecedented security breach has generated. [Read more…]
Local and state officials joined business executives and German officials at a Thursday ribbon-cutting ceremony for a 50 kilowatt photovoltaic solar array at Heritage Center.
Note: This story was updated at 9:25 a.m. April 29.
A Tennessee solar company and the German Energy Agency, or dena, celebrated their first U.S. solar project Thursday, a 50 kilowatt photovoltaic solar array at Heritage Center in west Oak Ridge.
The array includes seven ground-mounted trackers that are 20 feet high. They each include 28-30 solar panels. The trackers adjust themselves to capture the most sunlight, using two sensors each to adjust from east to west and tilting up and down.
It’s a public-private partnership involving dena and Vis Solis LLC of Franklin, Tenn., a subsidiary of Vis Solis GmbH in Breesen, Germany. Also involved is German manufacturer DEGERenergie.
It’s a $250,000 to $300,000 investment, said Carlos Mayer, Vis Solis chief executive officer. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Public Works Department will be doing routine flushing of the water system starting April 29 and continuing through about June 1.
The flushing will be performed between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Residents in the areas being flushed may not want to wash laundry during those hours since the flushing may cause temporary discoloration of the water during the process. [Read more…]
Chuck Fleischmann
A U.S. House of Representatives committee on Wednesday unanimously approved legislation to establish a Manhattan Project National Historical Park that would include sites in Oak Ridge and Hanford, Wash., and Los Alamos, N.M.
The Manhattan Project was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons during World War II.
The legislation stalled in the last session of Congress, but it has been reintroduced this session. [Read more…]
Lamar Alexander
Bob Corker
U.S. senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker announced their support this week for federal legislation that would allow states to collect sales taxes on items bought online and through catalogs.
“Currently, remote businesses do not have to collect sales taxes in the states they sell into, while brick-and-mortar businesses do, creating a price disadvantage,” said Alexander, a Tennessee Republican.
He said the Marketplace Fairness Act would grant states the option to require that remote businesses, such as those selling online or through catalogs, collect sales taxes on purchases within states’ borders. The U.S. Senate voted 74-20 on Monday to begin debating the legislation. [Read more…]
Mark Watson
The budget proposed by Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson on Monday would not raise property taxes, but it would slash funding for the Chamber of Commerce, and Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The ORCVB funding could be cut from $410,000 to $300,000, Watson told City Council members during a Monday night work session. The city needs “more heads in beds,” more people staying here and more events, Watson said.
The chamber’s contract with the city is now worth about $260,000. The city could instead use $125,000 for funding of services and projects—sending city officials on recruiting trips, for example—and spend $55,000 on memberships in organizations such as the Roane Alliance and Anderson County Economic Development Association. [Read more…]
Ramsey Clark
Note: This story was updated at 3:54 p.m.
KNOXVILLE—A former U.S. attorney general who said he has been involved in many cases that address the legality and wisdom of the nation’s nuclear arms policy on Tuesday said he supported the mission of the three protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex in July, splashing blood and spray-painting slogans on a building that stores most of the country’s bomb-grade uranium.
“I agree absolutely with their purpose, which is to eliminate nuclear weapons,” said Ramsey Clark, who was U.S. attorney general from 1967-1969.
The three protesters—Greg Boertje-Obed, Megan Rice, and Michael Walli—face a May 7 trial in U.S. District Court in Knoxville. Clark could testify for them. [Read more…]
Pictured above are the three anti-nuclear weapons protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex on July 28. From left, they are Michael Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed.
There could be 70 potential jurors during jury selection for the May 7 trial against three protesters accused of breaking into Y-12 National Security Complex last summer, so supporters and reporters might not be allowed in the courtroom.
One defense attorney said there would be a problem fitting everyone into even the largest courtroom in U.S. District Court in Knoxville, but another said jury selection is part of the trial and should be open to the public.
U.S. District Judge Amul R. Thapar said federal officials may try to set up a closed-circuit television system for jury selection, which could last several hours. [Read more…]
Watts Bar Nuclear Plant
A Tennessee Valley Authority spokesman declined to speculate on a motive for a Sunday morning shooting at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant in Rhea County, but he said the suspect could be a male wearing a dark-colored sweatshirt with a hood.
Other than that, officials have little information on the suspect, who appears to have fled in a small boat, TVA spokesman Jim Hopson said Monday.
“It was difficult to provide any kind of description,” he said.
The unidentified man was spotted by a nuclear security officer at about 2 a.m. Sunday. The guard was on a routine patrol in a pickup truck on the perimeter of the 1,700-acre plant. As the officer came around a curve, the truck’s headlights illuminated a person on the shore of the Tennessee River, on the eastern side of the plant and near its southern boundary. [Read more…]
Pictured above are the three anti-nuclear weapons protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex on July 28. From left, they are Michael Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed.
A federal judge will allow a former U.S. attorney general and civil rights sit-in participant to testify at a Tuesday motions hearing for the three anti-nuclear weapons activists who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex in July.
The two witnesses are former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark and civil rights sit-in participant Robert Booker.
The three anti-nuclear weapons activists are accused of cutting through three fences in the high-security Protected Area at Y-12 on July 28 and splashing human blood and spray-painting messages on the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, where most of the nation’s bomb-grade uranium is stored. [Read more…]
