Oak Ridge Today

Guest column: Serving the city helps achieve community goals

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Mark Watson

Mark Watson

By Mark S. Watson, Oak Ridge City Manager

The City of Oak Ridge is one that prides itself on the interest, knowledge, and involvement of its citizens in local government. Oak Ridgers are always willing to add a different perspective, technical information, and just darn good opinions on topics that affect them.

On January 12, 2015, the Oak Ridge City Council will appoint citizen volunteers to fill vacancies on boards and commissions that have occurred due to term expiration and attrition from the board membership.

Applications must be received in the City Clerk’s office by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, December 31.

Over the past years, the City Council has found it sometimes challenging to fill the vacancies of its various boards. People are busy, and getting busier! Some feel that many governmental matters require special knowledge. Others have not thought of providing their talents to shape their community. [Read more…]

No holiday garbage pickup on Christmas Day, New Year’s Day

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Waste Connections Inc. will not pick up trash or recyclables in Oak Ridge on Christmas Day, Thursday, December 25, or on New Year’s Day, Thursday January 1, 2015.

For both weeks, the regular Thursday routes will be picked up the following day on Friday, and the regular Friday routes will be picked up the following day on Saturday.

Please have all refuse and recyclables out by 7 a.m. for the Friday and Saturday routes. [Read more…]

Halsam names Candice McQueen education commissioner

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Candice McQueen

Candice McQueen

Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam announced Wednesday that Candice McQueen, a teacher and dean at Lipscomb University in Nashville, will be the next commissioner of the Department of Education.

McQueen, 40, now serves on Lipscomb University’s executive leadership team as senior vice president, and as dean, she oversees the College of Education as well as the 1,300 pre-k through 12th grade students in three schools at Lipscomb Academy, a press release said. She has led training, support, and professional development efforts for thousands of current and future classroom teachers, instructional coaches, and school leaders.

Before joining Lipscomb in 2001, McQueen was a teacher in elementary and middle schools.

“Lipscomb’s College of Education produces some of our state’s best teachers, and Candice gets a lot of credit for that,” Haslam said. “She has taught in a classroom, so she brings both the experience of being a teacher and of preparing teachers to teach. I am grateful for her willingness to serve in this role, and I know she’ll do a great job as we continue our efforts to provide a quality education for all Tennessee students.” [Read more…]

Executive session leads to Commission fireworks

Posted at
By 4 Comments

Information from WYSH Radio

There was some drama during Monday night’s meeting of the Anderson County Commission when commissioners voted to go into executive session with County Law Director Jay Yeager to discuss the mounting number of lawsuits against the county. Executive sessions are called for when commissioners want to go behind closed doors to discuss sensitive issues, mainly of a legal nature.

On Monday, County Mayor Terry Frank indicated that she wanted to stay for the executive session, claiming ex oficio status as a member of the Commission. Commission Chair Robert McKamey declined her request, citing her own repeated public statements that Yeager is not “her” attorney, that he does not represent her, and that she neither values nor wants his legal advice.

After commissioners declined her request, she and several private citizens left the meeting room while commissioners retired to executive session. We will bring you more information as it becomes available.

Lawsuit filed against AC Circuit Court Clerk, county

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Information from WYSH Radio

A former employee of the Anderson County Circuit Court Clerk’s Office has filed an age discrimination lawsuit in Circuit Court against Court Clerk William Jones and the county.

Helen Forrester, 69, was fired on September 10, 2014, and according to the lawsuit filed Monday, after 24 years in the office. Forrester’s lawsuit claims that she was fired so that Jones could replace her with someone younger despite her “good, if not excellent” work and job performance evaluations.

The lawsuit also states that Forrester believed that she had an “expressed and/or implied contract of continuous employment (with the county), and otherwise maintained the right not to have her employment terminated without cause.”

The lawsuit seeks $300,000 in compensatory damages from the county for her “injuries, including a loss of salary, future earnings, and humiliation and embarrassment” caused by the defendant, and $300,000 in treble damages against Jones for “interference with (Forrester’s) employment relationship with Anderson County government” as well as court costs and a jury trial.

ORNL’s Goyal elected fellow of National Academy of Inventors

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Amit Goyal

Amit Goyal

The National Academy of Inventors has elected Amit Goyal as a fellow. Goyal is a researcher at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The organization recognized Goyal for “having demonstrated a highly prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society.”

The National Academy of Inventors was founded in 2010 with goals that include celebrating and encouraging inventors, enhancing awareness of technology and innovation, and communicating the work of its members to benefit society.

Goyal, a member of ORNL’s Materials Science and Technology Division, is an international leader in the field of energy and electronic materials, particularly high-temperature superconducting materials. He has more than 80 issued patents. [Read more…]

ORNL’s James Hack elected fellow of American Meteorological Society

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

James Hack

James Hack

The American Meteorological Society has elected James Hack as a 2015 fellow.

Hack, who is the director of the National Center for Computational Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, was cited for his “outstanding contributions to advancing the atmospheric and related sciences, technologies, applications, and services for the benefit of society.”

Hack came to ORNL in 2007 after positions at IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. He also held adjunct faculty appointments at the University of Colorado at Boulder. [Read more…]

Y-12, UT sign agreement to continue, expand collaborative work

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Y-12 and UT MOU Signing

UT Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek, left, and CNS President and CEO Jim Haynes sign a Memorandum of Understanding to expand collaboration between the university and CNS. Joining them for the signing are Taylor Eighmy, UT Vice Chancellor for Research and Engagement, and Tom Berg, CNS Director of Technology Development and Technology Transfer, right. (Photo by Brett Pate)

 

Submitted

Partnership combines strengths to train future workforce, solve national challenges

A memorandum of understanding signed Thursday by Consolidated Nuclear Security and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville will expand collaborations while making the country safer and more secure. CNS and the university collaborate in areas ranging from joint research to analyzing business operations and pushing more technologies into the private sector.

The partnership between the university and the Y-12 National Security Complex, which began in 2011, combines the leading research talents of the university with Y-12’s successful track record in technology development and application that bolsters national security. Through CNS, the agreement now also incorporates the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas.

CNS manages and operates Y-12 and the Pantex Plant for the National Nuclear Security Administration. [Read more…]

Randy Boyd named state commissioner of economic, community development

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Photo courtesy UT Torchbearer

Photo courtesy UT Torchbearer

East Tennessee businessman Randy Body has been named commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, Governor Bill Haslam announced Thursday.

Boyd, 55, is chairman of Radio Systems Corporation, which he started in 1991. Radio Systems is headquartered in Knoxville and has more than 650 associates worldwide with offices in seven countries, a press release said.

Radio Systems is the company that donated $100,000 donation to the PetSafe Dog Park at Big Turtle Park in Oak Ridge.

The press release said Boyd is a successful entrepreneur who served as a full-time, unpaid special adviser to the governor for higher education in 2013, focusing on the “Drive to 55” initiative to bring the percentage of Tennesseans with college degrees or certificates from 32 percent up to 55 percent by the year 2025. Boyd’s work resulted in the Tennessee Promise, a program that provides two years of community college or a college of applied technology free of tuition and fees to graduating Tennessee high school seniors. [Read more…]

Former Wackenhut security officer indicted for theft of public funds

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

KNOXVILLE—A federal grand jury in Knoxville has indicted a former security officer at a federal site in Oak Ridge for allegedly stealing U.S. government property and money laundering, officials said Thursday.

Sarah Parker, 52, of Dandridge, Tennessee, was indicted Tuesday, U.S. Attorney William C. Killian said in a press release. Parker was employed as an officer for security contractor Wackenhut Services Inc. at the East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site in Oak Ridge.

She appeared in court on Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge C. Clifford Shirley Jr. and pleaded not guilty to the charges in the three-count indictment, Killian said. She was released pending trial, which has been set for February 17, 2015, in United States District Court in Knoxville. [Read more…]

BOE, City Council to tour possible new preschool building

Posted at
By 5 Comments

161 Mitchell Road

The Oak Ridge Board of Education and City Council will tour this building at 161 Mitchell Road on Thursday afternoon. It’s a possible new home for the Oak Ridge Preschool.

 

Note: This story was last updated at 8 p.m.

The Oak Ridge Board of Education and City Council will tour a building on Mitchell Road on Thursday afternoon that could be a new home for the Preschool.

Built as a temporary building, the current Preschool on New York Avenue is 70 years old and in need of repairs.

A new School Administration Building and Preschool has been on the city’s wish list for years. But now education officials say the Preschool has to be renovated or vacated by next year in order for the school system to continue to receive federal Head Start funding.

They’ve recommended a long-term lease for the Preschool, with an option to purchase. Oak Ridge Schools has also recommended buying the Chamber of Commerce building for a new School Administration Building and remodeling the G Building at Oak Ridge High School to accommodate administration support services, a “better defined” Alternative School program, and the ROTC program. [Read more…]

Roane State educators complete record-breaking 73-day underwater stay

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Bruce Cantrell and Jessica Fain Surface

Roane State professors Jessica Fain and Bruce Cantrell enjoy their first moments of sunlight after living underwater for 73 days. (Photos by Roane State Community College) 

 

KEY LARGO, Florida—After a record-breaking 73 days living underwater, two local college professors surfaced Monday and enjoyed the feel of sunlight for the first time in more than two months.

They also celebrated the end of their mission to educate the public about ocean conservation, to inspire young people’s interest in science, and to make history.

Biology professor Bruce Cantrell and adjunct professor Jessica Fain from Roane State Community College in East Tennessee spent the fall living and working in Jules’ Undersea Lodge, an underwater habitat on Key Largo in Florida. Their underwater stay lasted 73 days, two hours, and 34 minutes, breaking the world record for longest time spent living underwater.

The two educators submerged October 3 at 12:08 p.m. EDT and surfaced on Monday, December 15, at 1:42 p.m. EST.

“There is a sun,” Cantrell said with a laugh as he and Fain broke the surface of the water. [Read more…]