The Anderson County Operations Committee will discuss the proposed U.S. Department of Energy landfill in a meeting this evening (Monday, January 14).
The meeting will start at 6 p.m. at the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton.
The proposed landfill is known as the Environmental Management Disposal Facility, or EMDF. It would be in Bear Creek Valley west of the Y-12 National Security Complex. [Read more…]
An image showing what the new Oak Ridge Preschool at Scarboro Park could look like. (Image courtesy City of Oak Ridge/Studio Four Design)
The City of Oak Ridge will hold ceremonial groundbreakings on Monday, January 14, to celebrate the start of two major projects: the new Oak Ridge Preschool with Scarboro Park improvements and the new Oak Ridge Senior Center. Construction activity is already under way at both locations.
Studio Four Design Inc. of Knoxville was chosen to design the both the Preschool and the Senior Center. At a special meeting on October 11, Oak Ridge City Council unanimously approved resolutions awarding construction contracts to Jenkins and Stiles LLC.
The new preschool will be a single-story facility of about 33,000 square feet located on Carver Avenue. The build site is inside Scarboro Park, a roughly 10-acre parcel. The project includes improvements to the adjacent park area such as lighted basketball/tennis courts, a baseball field, a public pavilion, green space, and a walking trail. [Read more…]
Information from WYSH Radio
The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department was called to a section of New River Highway in Briceville on Friday night after someone reported small brush fires along the side of the road.
A responding deputy located three small brush fires in the 6700 block of New River Highway, which he described as “moving uphill at a slow pace.” No structures, power poles, or any other property were threatened by the fires, which were extinguished by the Briceville Volunteer Fire Department. [Read more…]
Information from WYSH Radio
No people were injured, but a dog died in a Friday afternoon mobile home fire in Claxton.
The fire at the home on Dennis Lane was reported shortly before 5 p.m. Friday. When Claxton Volunteer Fire Department firefighters arrived, they reported that flames had engulfed about half of the structure.
Firefighters from not only Claxton, but also the Andersonville, Marlow, and Medford Volunteer Fire Departments—as well as crews from the Norris, Rocky Top, and Rural Metro fire departments—battled the blaze, which required additional water to be brought to the scene after the first tanker went dry. [Read more…]
Dine out on Monday, Jan. 14, 2019, to support ADFAC! Our featured restaurants this month are the five local Subway locations in Clinton, Oak Ridge (1968 Oak Ridge Turnpike), Rocky Top, and Oliver Springs (shown in photo). Additional participating restaurants are Burchfield’s, Dean’s, Gallo Loco, Hoskins, Mediterranean Delight, Razzleberry’s, and The Soup Kitchen. Dine & Donate is also supported by Leidos, State Farm – Randy McNally, and Oak Ridge Today. ADFAC exists to support and serve those in need by assisting them in becoming stable and self-sufficient. Please visit adfac.org for more information. (Submitted photo)
Dine out on Monday, January 14, to support ADFAC!
The featured restaurants this month are the five local Subway locations in Clinton, Oak Ridge (1968 Oak Ridge Turnpike), Rocky Top, and Oliver Springs.
Additional participating restaurants are Burchfield’s, Dean’s, Gallo Loco, Hoskins, Mediterranean Delight, Razzleberry’s, and The Soup Kitchen.
Dine & Donate is also supported by Leidos, State Farm – Randy McNally, and Oak Ridge Today.
ADFAC exists to support and serve those in need by assisting them in becoming stable and self-sufficient. Please visit adfac.org for more information.
An image published in October 2017 shows the K-25 History Center, Equipment Building, and Viewing Tower at East Tennessee Technology Park in west Oak Ridge. It wasn’t immediately clear Friday evening, Jan. 11, 2019, if the design has changed. (Image courtesy U.S. Department of Energy)
The design is complete and funding is available for the construction of an Equipment Building and Viewing Tower that will help commemorate the history of the K-25 Building, once the world’s largest building under one roof.
K-25 was built in Oak Ridge during World War II to help enrich uranium for the Manhattan Project. That was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons. During the war, Oak Ridge enriched the uranium for “Little Boy,” the first atomic bomb used in wartime. “Little Boy” was detonated over Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, shortly before the end of World War II.
After the war, the four-story, 44-acre K-25 Building and four other large buildings at the K-25 site continued to use a process known as gaseous diffusion to enrich uranium for atomic weapons and commercial nuclear power plants. Officials say the K-25 site, which is in west Oak Ridge, helped win the Cold War.
After decades of use, the K-25 site was shut down in the mid-1980s, and as part of a cleanup effort in recent years, the five large gaseous diffusion buildings have been demolished. But the history of the K-25 building and the site will live on in a History Center on the second floor of Oak Ridge Fire Station Number 4, which is next to K-25’s concrete slab, and at the Equipment Building and Viewing Tower, which will be just west of the History Center.
The History Center, Equipment Building, and Viewing Tower will be on the south side of the former K-25 Building. The site is now known as Heritage Center or East Tennessee Technology Park. [Read more…]
The partial government shutdown that started three weeks ago has affected the National Park Service in Oak Ridge. There are no National Park Service staff members or volunteers working at the Park Service desk at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge, as pictured above on Friday, Jan. 11, 2019. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
The partial government shutdown that started three weeks ago has affected the National Park Service in Oak Ridge.
There are no National Park Service staff members or volunteers working at the Park Service desk at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge.
The Park Service left maps and brochures for visitors to pick up at the museum, but there is no one there to give a certain type of stamp that visitors can use to log visits to national parks.
A sign on the National Park Service desk on Friday said “Closed until further notice,” with a simple sketch of a frowning face underneath it.
Oak Ridge is part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. Established about three years ago, the park commemorates the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II. Besides Oak Ridge, the park includes Hanford, Washington, and Los Alamos, New Mexico. [Read more…]
The NOAA building on South Illinois Avenue, shown above on Friday, Jan. 11, 2019, has a sign posted on the front door announcing that it is closed due to the partial shutdown of the federal government. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration building in Oak Ridge is closed due to the partial shutdown of the federal government, which is now three weeks old and approaching a record length.
NOAA is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, which is one of nine cabinet-level departments affected by the partial government shutdown. The shutdown, which mostly hinges on a dispute between President Donald Trump and Democrats in Congress over whether to allocate $5.7 billion in funding for a wall on the border with Mexico, also affects the Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the federal judiciary, and other related government programs.
About 380,000 workers were to be sent home and not be paid for their time off during the shutdown, the New York Times reported. Another 420,000 deemed too essential to be furloughed are being forced to work without pay, the newspaper said. After past shutdowns, such workers have been reimbursed later.
It wasn’t immediately clear Friday afternoon how many NOAA workers in Oak Ridge, part of an air research laboratory that has a division here, have been furloughed and how many, if any, are being forced to work without pay. A sign posted on the front door announced that the building is closed due to the shutdown. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge National Laboratory is adding a three-story office and laboratory building on its central campus.
It would be the first time a building of this size has been added at ORNL since the Chemical and Materials Science building (Building 4100) was completed in 2011, spokesperson Morgan McCorkle said in a response to questions Thursday.
She said the new building will be located in the central part of the main ORNL campus between buildings 3500 and 3525.
“The facility will offer state-of-the-art laboratory space and offices to support a range of research activities, including growing missions in computing and materials science and development,” McCorkle said. “The space can be adapted to serve the needs of changing scientific programs and priorities.” [Read more…]
Five Oak Ridge Police Department officers were injured in a fight with a defendant on Saturday, a man was held against his will by the defendant, and officers used a Taser on the defendant more than once, police said.
The 39-year-old defendant is now charged with five counts of aggravated assault on an officer and aggravated kidnapping, among other charges.
It’s not the first time the man has been accused of assaulting a police officer. In September, he pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer in a previous case.
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The Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission will hear a 2030 strategy for the Oak Ridge City Center in a meeting this evening (Thursday, January 10).
The presentation, titled “Oak Ridge City Center, a 2030 Strategy,” is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. at the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce. The presentation will be given by Phil Enquist of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill.
Also on the agenda for this evening are a review of the City Blueprint; a re-subdivision for Clark’s Preserve, a residential development; and master plan amendments for Clark’s Preserve and The Preserve at Clinch River.
James William Donald
Law enforcement officers found about 10 grams of suspected heroin in their second search of a home on West Outer Drive in less than two years.
The defendant, James William Donald, 71, told Seventh Judicial District Crime Task Force Agent Kenneth Woods that he would “take money from other individuals for the purchase of heroin as well as provide heroin to friends that would visit his residence,” according to arrest warrants filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court in Oak Ridge in December.
The home on West Outer Drive is within about 75 feet of the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge, according to the warrants.
The most recent search by the Crime Task Force occurred on Thursday, December 20. The CTF had a search warrant to seize all controlled substances, the warrants said. [Read more…]
