Oak Ridge Today

Former candidate for governor sworn in as TVA board member

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Michael McWherter

Michael McWherter, former Democratic candidate for governor, was sworn in as a Tennessee Valley Authority board member on Thursday in Nashville. (Photo courtesy of TVA)

A former Democratic candidate for governor became the newest member of the Tennessee Valley Authority board of directors on Thursday.

Michael McWherter, of Jackson, Tenn., took the oath of office Thursday in a ceremony in Nashville. His term will expire on May 18, 2016.

McWherter was confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate on Jan. 1, and he was sworn in by U.S. District Judge Todd J. Campbell of the Middle District of Tennessee during a ceremony at the Estes Kefauver Federal Building and Courthouse.

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Comptroller releases report on methamphetamine production in Tennessee

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Methamphetamine production continues in small laboratories in Tennessee and elsewhere around the country in spite of new laws regulating and tracking the sale of pharmacy products used to manufacture the illegal drug.

That is one of the findings of a report released today by the Comptroller’s Offices of Research and Education Accountability about attempts to control access to legal products sold at pharmacies which are later used to create methamphetamine.

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Four ORPD sergeants ask court to order salary increase

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Four veteran Oak Ridge Police Department sergeants, including one who has retired, have asked an Anderson County court to order that their pay be increased to $61,000 per year so they will earn as much as two less-experienced sergeants.

The four sergeants have requested that the pay increase be effective starting Jan. 8, 2012, when they filed a grievance.

They also want the court to overturn or modify a Sept. 7 order from the Oak Ridge Personnel Advisory Board that dismissed their grievance and found no violation of the city’s personnel ordinance.

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Anderson County Courthouse phone system working again

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The phone system at the Anderson County Courthouse began working again at about 2:25 p.m. today.

The system had been down earlier today due to a reported cut in a fiber optic cable between Knoxville and Chattanooga.

Most Internet connections had also been down, said Leean Tupper, assistant to Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank.

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Telephones, Internet down at Anderson, Clinton government offices

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A reported cut in a fiber optic cable between Knoxville and Chattanooga has knocked out telephone service and most Internet connections at the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton.

Workers are unable to call from the building, and residents are unable to call in, said Leean Tupper, administrative assistant to Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank.

“We apologize, but we’re waiting on our phone provider to fix the problem,” Tupper said early Wednesday afternoon.

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House also passes ‘fiscal cliff’ deal, but Tennessee representatives oppose it

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U.S. Representative Chuck Fleischmann

Chuck Fleischmann

Less than 24 hours after the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly approved it, the U.S. House passed legislation late Tuesday night to avoid the so-called “fiscal cliff,” but seven Tennessee Republicans and one Democrat opposed it.

The bill, which now goes to President Barack Obama for his signature, averts income tax increases for most Americans and temporarily delays large across-the-board spending cuts to defense and domestic programs.

However, the Associated Press reported most Americans will still end up paying more federal taxes in 2013 because the legislation did not renew a temporary 2 percent cut in the payroll tax. That reduction was worth about $1,000 to a worker making $50,000 a year.

U.S. senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, both Tennessee Republicans, voted for the bill in the Senate, where it passed 89-8 early Tuesday morning. Alexander and Corker said the legislation, reached after weeks of negotiations between the White House and Congress, “rescues” 99 percent of Americans from a tax rate increase.

But all seven Tennessee Republicans in the U.S. House, including Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, voted against it. The vote in the House was 257-167.

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Alexander, Corker vote for ‘fiscal cliff’ deal

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U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander

Lamar Alexander

U.S. Senator Bob Corker

Bob Corker

U.S. senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker voted in favor of a “fiscal cliff” deal early Tuesday morning that would allow tax rates to rise only for wealthy Americans while temporarily suspending sweeping federal spending cuts.

The deal was approved 89-8 in the U.S. Senate but still has to be passed by the House. Approval there is not guaranteed.

The agreement would raise tax rates for individuals who earn more than $400,000 and couples with incomes of more than $450,000. It would also extend unemployment insurance for another year and temporarily delay $110 billion in across-the-board spending cuts to military and domestic programs.

Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, released a statement after the 1:39 a.m. vote early Tuesday, New Year’s Day. The vote could help the nation avert the so-called “fiscal cliff,” a package of automatic across-the-board spending cuts and tax increases scheduled to start going into effect this month.

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Readers ask: What’s happening at the former Chevrolet dealership?

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R&R Enterprises and Chevrolet Dealership Site

Readers have inquired about the work at this 13-acre site at Oak Ridge Turnpike and California Avenue, and a property owner said the land is being used to store materials for city sewer work required under a federal mandate.

Several readers have noticed what appears to be construction work at a former Chevrolet dealership on Oak Ridge Turnpike and asked what  is happening there.

On Friday, Rick Chinn, partner in R&R Enterprises, which owns the 13-acre lot, said it is being used to store materials for city sewer work required under a federal mandate.

The land, which is east of Oak Ridge Veterinary Hospital and across from California Avenue, will also be used for operations during the sewer system project.

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Y-12 security breach top story of 2012 on Oak Ridge Today

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Transform Now Plowshares

The three anti-nuclear weapons activists pictured above allegedly cut through fences and vandalized a high-security building at the Y-12 National Security Complex in July and now face federal charges of property destruction, property depredation, and injuring national defense premises. From left to right the three are Michael R. Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed. (Submitted photo)

Four of the Top 5 stories on Oak Ridge Today in 2012 were related to the July 28 security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

Of those four, the most viewed—and also our most viewed story of the year—was the one we wrote the day of the intrusion: Y-12 protesters enter high-security area, spray paint, splash blood. That’s when three anti-nuclear weapons activists allegedly hiked over Pine Ridge, cut through fences, and splashed human blood and spray-painted slogans on the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, where bomb-grade uranium is stored.

Other stories related to the security breach that ended up in the Top 5 were:

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Corker, Alexander propose dollar-for-dollar spending, debt limit plan

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Tennessee senators Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander have introduced a plan to reduce the growth in federal entitlement spending by almost $1 trillion in exchange for increasing the nation’s debt limit by $1 trillion, possibly this spring.

The Dollar for Dollar Act of 2012 would reduce the growth in spending on Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, according to a statement posted on Corker’s website. Most of the spending reductions—$689 billion—would come from Medicare reform.

Corker and Alexander seemed confident that Congress and the White House would reach a deal in the so-called “fiscal cliff” negotiations, a high-stakes debate that has dragged on for weeks over how to avoid automatic spending cuts and tax increases starting Jan. 1.

“When the dust settles, federal income taxes will not increase for almost all Americans next year,” Corker and Alexander said.

The two Republicans said their dollar-for-dollar plan “focused on helping Americans avoid falling off the fiscal cliff no one wants to talk about, the looming bankruptcy of Medicare.”

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Officials from Oak Ridge area attend DOE intergovernmental meeting

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State and local officials from Oak Ridge and Anderson and Roane counties recently attended the U.S. Department of Energy’s Annual Intergovernmental Conference in New Orleans. Participants met with federal, state, and local leaders from DOE sites across the nation, including top managers overseeing DOE’s Environmental Management, or EM, program.

Two senior DOE officials were keynote speakers at the conference. David Huizenga, senior advisor for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, provided an update on the EM program, which is responsible for environmental restoration, waste management, and long-term stewardship at DOE sites across the complex.

Neile Miller, recently named acting administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration and acting undersecretary for nuclear security, addressed the relationship between NNSA and EM, and how the programs work together at sites with multiple missions like Oak Ridge.

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Oak Ridge recycles Christmas trees in January

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Oak Ridge is sponsoring a Christmas tree recycling event on Saturday, Jan. 5, and Saturday, Jan. 12.

Trees can be dropped off between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. at the parking lot at Big Turtle Park off Monterey Road.

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