The Oak Ridge Fire Department extinguishes a car fire on Manhattan Avenue on Monday afternoon.
The Oak Ridge Fire Department extinguished a car fire on Manhattan Avenue during a busy Monday afternoon this week.
There were no reports of injuries in the car fire, which appeared to destroy the interior of the car.
Oak Ridge Today has requested more information from the Fire Department, and we will update this story with new information as it becomes available.
There was a fatal two-car crash on East Wolf Valley Road in Anderson County on Wednesday afternoon, authorities said.
The driver of one car died, and the other driver had minor injuries, Anderson County Chief Deputy Mark Lucas said.
The road was closed for about three hours while the Tennessee Highway Patrol investigated the crash.
Lucas said the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department assisted the Tennessee Highway Patrol at the crash site. Oak Ridge Today has requested additional information from the THP and will update this story as new information becomes available.
The Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau’s Welcome Center at the Midtown Community Center on Robertsville Road is pictured above.
The Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau’s board of directors will have a special meeting on Monday, July 28, to discuss their plan to fill the vacant director’s position at the ORCVB.
The meeting will be held at the Doubletree Hotel starting at noon Monday.
The former director, Katy Brown, has accepted a new marketing and promotions job in East Tennessee, and her last day as president of the Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau was July 11.
Foreground, from left, ORNL’s Ryan Dehoff shows 3-D printed parts to Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero, accompanied by ORNL Director Thom Mason and Craig Blue, director of ORNL’s advanced manufacturing program and the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility. (Photo by Jason Richards/ORNL)
Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero recently visited the U.S. Department of Energy’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Rogero had been invited to participate as a “Maker Mayor” at the June 18 White House Maker Faire. Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan also attended.
When Roger returned, she asked ORNL for more information on additive manufacturing, the lab said.
The tour of the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility gave Rogero an overview of the facility and the research underway there.
Marise Wilson, a student at Kenner Discovery Health Sciences Academy in Louisiana and Anna Keim, a student at Knoxville’s West High School, use a robot they created to place tennis balls into a container during a week-long Oak Ridge Robotics Camp presented by ORAU and held at its Center for Science Education. (Photo courtesy ORAU)
A recent week-long robotics camp at Oak Ridge Associated Universities was designed to help excite students about careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM.
The robotics camp was presented by ORAU and held at its Center for Science Education.
The free day camp allowed teams of middle school students to design, build, program, and test their own robots, a press release said. Students also spent the week competing in various engineering challenges and had the opportunity to speak with robotics engineering research scientists while touring Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s research facilities.
The camp was one of various ORAU-sponsored or administered programs designed to excited students about STEM subjects with the goal of inspiring them to pursue STEM careers, the release said.
Arlene Garrison
Arlene Garrison of Oak Ridge Associated Universities has been named a fellow of the American Chemical Society.
Garrison is vice president of university partnerships for ORAU. She was recognized for her outstanding achievements and contributions to science, the profession, and the society during her 35-year career, a press release said.
Garrison is responsible for enhancing ORAU’s scientific research opportunities and expanding partnerships with universities, national laboratories, and private industry, the press release said. [Read more…]
A symbol of the friendship between Oak Ridge and Japan, the 20-year-old Friendship Bell at Alvin K. Bissell Park has been closed since late last year while the city make repairs to the structure. The city plans to start dismantling the bell structure next week.
Beginning next week, the City of Oak Ridge will start dismantling the International Friendship Bell House located in Alvin K. Bissell Park.
Earlier this spring, the city commissioned a structural evaluation of the bell house to determine the extent of suspected water damage to the supporting beams. The evaluation determined the majority of the structure, which was holding the 8,000 pound Friendship Bell, was beyond repair.
The report recommended closing the International Friendship Bell House due to public safety concerns, a press release said. A construction fence was erected around the structure to block access to the bell. [Read more…]
The Uranium Processing Facility Project Office and Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC signed a partnering agreement to move forward on delivering the UPF mission. Shown in the photo are, front row, left to right: Bill Priest, CNS; John Eschenberg, UPO; Brian Reilly, CNS; and Dale Christenson, UPO; and back row, left to right: Joe Brown, CNS; Brant Morowski, CNS; Mike Pratt, CNS; Jim Sowers, CNS; Matt Crookshanks, CNS; John Clayton, UPO; Art Haugh, UPO; Laurie Folden, UPO; and Steve Wellbaum, UPO. (Submitted photo)
Officials from the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Uranium Processing Facility Project Office and Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC recently signed a partnering agreement to create a cohesive and effective team united in accomplishment of the Uranium Processing Facility mission.
“The UPF partnering agreement is an important step to ensure our team carries out its mission to deliver a new UPF, a key infrastructure investment for our country, with Building 9212 capabilities, for not more than $6.5 billion by 2025,” said UPF Federal Project Director John Eschenberg.
The agreement also emphasizes a collaborative approach to problem-solving and issue resolution focused on early identification and rapid communication. [Read more…]
Willow Brook Elementary School is pictured above in May 2012. (File photo)
Willow Brook Elementary School has announced a new breakfast and lunch program.
The school is implementing a new option available to select schools in Tennessee that participate in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs, an Oak Ridge Schools press release said. It is called the Community Eligibility Provision, or CEP, and it starts this school year. This is the same program that has allowed breakfast to be offered to all students at no cost.
In a CEP school, all students receive a nutritious breakfast and lunch at no cost, regardless of family income. Willow Brook is currently the only school in the Oak Ridge School District that meets the qualifications for the Community Eligibility Provision, the press release said. [Read more…]
Roane County candidates have been invited to an election forum in Oak Ridge tonight (Tuesday night).
Candidates who have been invited include those in contested races in Roane County for county executive, sheriff, circuit court clerk, circuit court judge, public defender, and Roane County School Board District 3/4, which includes Oak Ridge, have been invited to speak and answer questions.
Unopposed candidates for county attorney, county clerk, trustee, register of deeds, chancellor, criminal court judge, district attorney general, general sessions judges, and County Commission District 4 will be introduced.
The forum is sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge. It starts at 7 p.m. in the City Room (A-111) at Roane State Community College in Oak Ridge. The college is at 701 Briarcliff Avenue. [Read more…]
A hand-picked crew of nine inmates prepares peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches on white bread for lunch at the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton on Wednesday. Oak Ridge Today was allowed to take pictures of the kitchen, food storage area, and coolers and freezers, but not the inmates.
Note: This story was last updated at 1 a.m. July 25.
Sheriff: Despite campaign claims, jail menu conservative, with average meal $1.10
Challenger stands by his pie, ice cream claims
CLINTON—The menu at the Anderson County jail at lunchtime Wednesday was simple and spartan: A peanut butter and jelly sandwich and milk.
It doesn’t appear to be an unusual meal at the jail, at least not this week. In fact, the menu this week includes three similar lunches with 1/4 cup of peanut butter and jelly mix, two slices of bread, and 8 oz. of milk or chocolate milk.
Anthony Lay
Other meals on the menu—the jail can serve up to 8,000 per week—also call for small portions of meat and bread, fruits and vegetables, and beans and milk.
But Anthony Lay, a Republican candidate for Anderson County sheriff, has raised questions about what inmates are eating. He has suggested they’re eating luxuriously, enjoying pies, cobblers, cookies, and cake. Lay has said the jail appears to be operating a bakery, and taxpayers are footing the bill.
“Fresh baked (double chunk) cookies; cherry, blackberry, and blueberry cobbler; pumpkin and apple pie with Cool Whip—these are all delicious,” Lay said in a June 26 press release. “But at the end of the day, taxpayers foot the bill, and they don’t expect us to offer luxuries to folks who, let’s face it, are in jail for a reason.”
Paul White
Sheriff Paul White, a Democrat seeking his third term in the August 7 election, has dismissed Lay’s claims as inaccurate and misleading.
“The jail does not operate a bakery,” White said in a July 1 statement.
He said the jail menus are quite conservative. They include a cold sandwich for lunch. The average meal costs $1.10, White said. [Read more…]
Anthony Lay
Note: This story was last updated at 8:15 p.m. July 23.
A candidate for Anderson County sheriff suspended by the Tennessee Highway Patrol in May said he has been the target of political attacks.
THP Trooper Anthony Lay was suspended for five days in May for unsatisfactory job performance, a spokesperson said Monday. The suspension was based on several factors, including insubordination, neglect of duty, failure to perform the duties of his job, non-compliance with an internal database system, and having an unsecured patrol unit in a populated area, said Dalya Qualls, public information officer for the Tennessee Department of Safety.
The administrative review that led to Lay’s suspension was received in April 2014.
Lay said he had been off work for five months because of back surgery, and Anderson County District Attorney General Dave Clark reported that Lay had not turned in some requested case file documents. Lay said he did not receive the letter requesting the documents, and the request letters were apparently sent to a Knoxville office.
“I have received no documentation requests on it whatsoever,” Lay said. [Read more…]
