Oak Ridge Today

Cumberland Piano Trio to perform in Oak Ridge on Jan. 21

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The Cumberland Piano Trio is pictured above. (Submitted photo)

 

The Cumberland Piano Trio will perform in Oak Ridge on Saturday, January 21.

The concert is presented by the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association. It starts at 7 p.m. January 21 at the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church.

The Cumberland Piano Trio includes violinist Susan Eddlemon, cellist Dan Allcott, and pianist Emi Kagawa. It

The January 21 concert will feature Gabriel Faure’s “Piano Trio in D minor” and Johannes Brahms’ “Piano Trio No. 1 in B major.” [Read more…]

Crews working to restore power on west end

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A fallen tree or trees knocked down power lines along Louisiana Avenue on Tuesday night, Jan. 3, 2017, and crews were working to restore power in west Oak Ridge on the north side of Oak Ridge Turnpike, including the area around Louisiana Avenue and Robertsville Road. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 12:50 a.m.

Crews were working to restore power on the west end of Oak Ridge on Tuesday night, including in the area around Louisiana Avenue and Robertsville Road.

A fallen tree or trees knocked down power lines along Louisiana Avenue north of Robertsville Road, and crews were working to restore power on the north side of Oak Ridge Turnpike. [Read more…]

Three more organizations raise concerns about school vouchers, to be discussed at Tuesday forum

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Three more Oak Ridge organizations have raised concerns about school vouchers, or the use of public funds for private schools. Some officials expect the issue of vouchers to be raised in the upcoming state legislative session.

The Oak Ridge Board of Education unanimously approved a voucher-related resolution in November. The school board doesn’t think vouchers should be adopted until the state’s Basic Education Program is adequately funded, and until all schools are on the same playing field. That means they would take the same tests and the same students, regardless of disabilities, Oak Ridge Board of Education Member Angi Agle said.

Although it was amended slightly, the resolution approved by the Oak Ridge school board in November “strongly opposes” taking funds from public education in any community in the state without agreement from a local school board, without a legal guarantee that the schools receiving the funds will comply with the same curriculum and testing standards required of public schools, and until the state’s Basic Education Program, or BEP, is adequately funded by the Tennessee General Assembly.

The resolution says the Tennessee General Assembly, the state’s legislature, will consider legislation in 2017 that would use public funds to pay tuition costs for students to attend private, religious, and non-religious schools. [Read more…]

New Charter Commission meets Tuesday

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The new Anderson County Charter Commission will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Room 312 in the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton.

Agenda items include a consideration of rules, according to an agenda submitted by Charter Commission Chair V.L. Stonecipher.

The Charter Commission members are Stonecipher (District 1), Mark Alderson (District 2), Steve Emert (District 3), Tim Isbel (District 4), Jerry White (District 5), Steve Mead (District 6), David Stanley (District 7), and Bob Smallridge (District 8). [Read more…]

Lunch with the League: Making Sense of the Election

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Jon Shefner

Jon Shefner

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Since the presidential election, a variety of explanations have emerged for the victory of President-elect Donald Trump, a win that surprised many political analysts and pollsters. These explanations have addressed demographic, cultural, and political shifts.

Jon Shefner, head of the Sociology Department at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville will examine these explanations, offer his own analysis, and think about the way forward in this new political landscape at Lunch with the League on Tuesday, January 3. The lunch is from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church, located at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike. [Read more…]

ORNL researcher to discuss stream ecology research on Tuesday

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Natalie Griffiths

Natalie Griffiths (Submitted photo)

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researcher Natalie Griffiths will talk about stream ecology research she’s been involved in and the lessons to be learned from her research at the upcoming Emory River Watershed Association, or ERWA, Annual Meeting on Tuesday, January 3, at the Obed Wild and Scenic River Visitor Center.

The 6 p.m. meeting will also feature a report on the Crooked Fork project by Mike Sale. There is no charge for attending the meeting, and there will be a potluck supper. ERWA will provide sandwiches and beverages, plates, etc., a press release said. There will be a silent dessert auction. [Read more…]

Photos: American Museum of Science and Energy property, future Main Street home

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The U.S. Department of Energy and City of Oak Ridge had a signing ceremony Friday, Dec. 30, 2016, at Pollard Technology Conference Center for the transfer of the roughly 17-acre American Museum of Science and Energy site. Pictured above at center is U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch is at right, and U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, an Ooltewah Republican, is at left. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The U.S. Department of Energy and City of Oak Ridge had a signing ceremony Friday for the transfer of the roughly 17-acre American Museum of Science and Energy site. The property will be transferred from DOE to the city, and then to a company affiliated with RealtyLink, the developer of Main Street Oak Ridge at the former Oak Ridge Mall. Within about a year, AMSE will move to a two-story building that once housed a Sears store next to JCPenney at the former mall site. The AMSE site could be developed and the museum building demolished.

Here are photos from the Friday signing ceremony and of the AMSE property and the museum’s future home.

See a story from the signing ceremony here. [Read more…]

With transfer agreement signed, plans call for developing AMSE site, relocating museum, demolishing building

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The American Museum of Science and Energy is pictured above on South Tulane Avenue in Oak Ridge on Monday, Jan. 2, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 3.

With a property transfer agreement signed, new businesses could be built on the 17 acres that now house the American Museum of Science and Energy, the museum will be relocated, and the AMSE building could be demolished, officials and a business executive said Friday.

The changes are allowed under an agreement approved by federal officials, unanimously approved by the Oak Ridge City Council in December, and signed by U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch in a Friday morning ceremony at Oak Ridge Associated Universities.

The U.S. Department of Energy said the transfer of the museum property, owned by the federal government, will allow the City of Oak Ridge to “explore future innovative development and economic stimulus opportunities.”

“From the Manhattan Project of World War II to the cutting-edge materials research of today, Oak Ridge has long played a vital role in American science and security,” Moniz said. “This agreement will ensure that Oak Ridge’s history is preserved and shared while providing the city a new opportunity to create jobs and strengthen the local economy.”

When the transfer is completed, DOE public outreach and education missions that are now conducted at AMSE and focused on Oak Ridge history, science, and national security will continue in renovated space in a two-story building that once housed a Sears store next to JCPenney at the former Oak Ridge Mall. The former mall is being redeveloped as Main Street Oak Ridge.

DOE said the AMSE property transfer will save more than $2 million in deferred maintenance costs at the museum and greatly reduce operating expenses. [Read more…]

Learn more about Oak Ridge Panhellenic Alumnae Association

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Oak Ridge Panhellenic Alumnae Association is made up of a cross section of community-spirited women who meet monthly to exchange ideas, learn from programs presented, hold business meetings, and have fun. Oak Ridge Panhellenic is open to any woman who has been affiliated with a National Panhellenic Sorority. (Submitted photo)

 

Oak Ridge Panhellenic Alumnae Association is open to any woman who has been affiliated with a National Panhellenic Sorority.

The objectives of the Oak Ridge Panhellenic Alumnae Association are:

  • To promote interfraternity friendships and cooperation
  • To publicize the high ideals, purposes, and accomplishments of the fraternity system
  • To further interest in community service and philanthropic efforts

Oak Ridge Panhellenic is made up of a cross section of community-spirited women who meet monthly to exchange idea, learn from programs presented, hold business meetings, and have fun. Programs range from gardening ideas, overview of bee keeping, visiting resources in the community, and dining at local restaurants. There is a wide range of ages among its members. Many of the members are involved in activities within the community. [Read more…]

Former Oak Ridge Mayor Jerry Kuhaida dies at 74

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Jerry Kuhaida

Jerry Kuhaida

Former Oak Ridge Mayor Jerry Kuhaida died at home Monday after a hard-fought battle with Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia, according to his obituary. He was 74.

Kuhaida was elected to the Oak Ridge City Council twice, serving from 1991-1995 and from 1997-2003. He served one term as mayor.

Kuhaida continued his passion for community and local government development while serving as a consultant in Russia and working with the U.S. Agency for International Development/U.S. State Department, assisting the U.S. Army’s development efforts in Iraq, his obituary said.

Andrew “Jerry” Jerome Kuhaida Jr. was born on September 29, 1942, in Wheeling, West Virginia. He had bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geology and a doctorate in geography/geology, according to his obituary. He started his lengthy career in environmental restoration and hazardous waste remediation after returning to Oak Ridge in 1980, the obituary said. He served on several local boards and committees, including the Environmental Quality Advisory Board and the Scarboro Community Day Care Center Board. [Read more…]

‘Amazing’: Small pole keeps large tree from falling on house

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A small utility pole, pictured at center, kept a large oak tree from falling on a home on Manhattan Avenue, next to Woodland Elementary School, for a few hours on Thursday, Dec. 29, 2016. The tree was estimated to be about 75 years old and weigh roughly 10 tons. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 10 p.m. Dec. 30.

A small utility pole kept a large, leaning oak tree, estimated to weigh about 10 tons, from falling on a home on Manhattan Avenue, next to Woodland Elementary School, for several hours on Thursday morning.

Emergency workers were assessing how to remove the oak tree late Thursday morning. Barnhart Crane and Rigging was called to help find city workers and tree crews find a solution.

In the meantime, Manhattan Avenue was closed near Woodland Elementary School. [Read more…]

Grace Lutheran Writers putting together anthology; submit material by Dec. 31

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Grace Writers of Grace Lutheran Church in Oak Ridge is putting together an anthology to be published in spring 2017. If you would like to contribute an essay, poems, or a piece of fiction, please use the guidelines below and submit no later than midnight, December 31, 2016.

Please use a readable 11/12-point font such as Times New Roman or Arial and submit up to three poems or one essay or piece of short fiction. Work should be inspirational but need not be religious.

In addition: [Read more…]