Oak Ridge Today

Anderson Chamber hosts mayor, sheriff candidate debates Thursday

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Hallerin Hilton Hill

Hallerin Hilton Hill

The Anderson County Chamber of Commerce is hosting a debate for candidates for mayor and sheriff on Thursday evening in Clinton.

The 6 p.m. debate at The Ritz Theater will be moderated by Hallerin Hilton Hill of NewsTalk 98.7. The public is invited.

The candidates for mayor participating in the debate are the incumbent, Terry Frank, a Republican, and her two challengers: Jim Hackworth, a Democrat, and Bradley S. Rickett, an Independent.

The candidates for sheriff are incumbent Paul White, a Democrat, and his Republican challenger, Anthony Lay. [Read more…]

Commission candidate Mansfield to have two meet-and-greets this weekend

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Myra Mansfield

Myra Mansfield

Myra Mansfield, a candidate for Anderson County Commission, will host two meet-and-greets this weekend. Mansfield is a candidate for Anderson County Commission in the Eighth District, which serves the communities assigned to vote at Jefferson Middle School, Emory Valley Center, and Woodland Elementary.

On Friday evening, Mansfield will be available to meet the public from 4–6 p.m. at the Oak Ridge Corporate Center at 151 Lafayette Drive. A short program will be featured at 5:15 p.m. Please enter the Oak Ridge Corporate Center from Lafayette Drive between Emory Valley Road and Laboratory Road, a press release said.

On Saturday morning, Mansfield will be available to meet the public from 10 a.m.–noon at her canopy in the parking lot at 699 Emory Valley Road, which is the old Paragon Health Club next to the Food Lion building. [Read more…]

Stuart, Stribley receive DOE Small Business Program awards

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Cassandra McGee Stuart

Cassandra McGee Stuart

Two Oak Ridge National Laboratory staff members have received DOE Small Business Awards under the U.S. Department of Energy’s Secretarial Small Business Awards Program.

Cassandra McGee Stuart is the recipient of the Facility Management Contractor Small Business Program Manager of the Year award. McGee Stuart manages ORNL’s Small Business Programs, which identifies qualified firms to establish business relationships with UT-Battelle, which manages ORNL for DOE.


LeAnne Stribley

LeAnne Stribley

LeAnne Stribley, director of ORNL’s Acquisition Management Services, won the DOE Mentor award through her involvement in the ORNL Mentor Protégé Program. The mentor-protégé program guides small businesses in performing subcontracts at ORNL and helps the small businesses improve their company infrastructure through marketing plans, onsite training and business plans.

Stuart and Stribley are both Knoxville residents. The awards were for Fiscal Year 2013.

ORAU promotes Kistner to director of Office of Quality

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Kristy Kistner

Kristy Kistner

New director has more than 16 years of quality assurance and project management expertise

Oak Ridge Associated Universities has named Kristy Kistner director of its Office of Quality. In this position, Kistner will direct and coordinate the quality management system and quality assurance across ORAU, including responsibility for maintenance of ORAU’s ISO 9001 registration and compliance with the U.S. Department of Energy contractor assurance requirements.

Kistner has more than 10 years of quality assurance and project management experience at ORAU, a press release said. She had been serving as the project manager for the Office of Quality, where she was instrumental in ORAU attaining its ISO 9001 certification. She also managed quality management system initiatives, conducted quality assessments, led assessment teams, and ensured compliance with regulatory and contractual requirements relative to quality. [Read more…]

ORAU to donate $125,000 to Children’s Hospital expansion

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ORAU Check Presentation to East Tennessee Children's Hospital

ORAU President and CEO Andy Page, left, presents a $125,000 check to East Tennessee Children’s Hospital President and CEO Keith Goodwin in support of the hospital’s $75 million expansion project. (Photo courtesy ORAU)

 

Oak Ridge Associated Universities will donate $125,000 to East Tennessee Children’s Hospital during the next five years in support of the pediatric facility’s $75 million expansion project.

Children’s Hospital is undergoing a 268,000 square-foot expansion project for a new five-story building located at the corner of White Avenue and 21st Street near downtown Knoxville. The space will serve a 16-county service area by expanding services for children with chronic conditions, such as cystic fibrosis and other special needs, a press release said. The project is expected to be completed in the fall of 2017.

“As a federal contractor and nonprofit focused on strengthening America’s scientific research and education enterprise, ORAU has a strong history for cultivating the next generation of scientists and engineers,” said ORAU President and Chief Executive Officer Andy Page. “But all that effort would be for nothing if it weren’t for the health and vitality of our children. ORAU has decided to support Children’s in this effort not only because the future of our workforce depends on community assets like this, but also because it gives us the opportunity to invest in our employees’ children.

ORAU has approximately 1,000 employees in 14 locations across the nation with about 850 of those employees in East Tennessee.

League of Women Voters has Anderson, Roane candidate forums in July

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The League of Woman Voters of Oak Ridge will have three candidate forums in July, two for Anderson County candidates and one for Roane County candidates.

The first Anderson County candidate forum will be on Tuesday, July 15. It will feature candidates for Anderson County offices and judicial positions. The second forum will be on July 17, and it will feature Oak Ridge candidates for the Anderson County Commission and Anderson County School Board. Both forums will start at 7 p.m., and they will be held in the Oak Ridge High School Amphitheater. ORHS is located at 1450 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

The Roane County candidate forum will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 22, in the Roane State Community College City Room, A111. This forum will feature candidates for Roane County offices and judicial positions and candidates who would represent Oak Ridge districts on the Roane County Commission and School Board. RSCC is located at 701 Briarcliff Ave. in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Chamber has Q&A with mayor, sheriff candidates Thursday morning

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Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce

The Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce is pictured above.

Learn more about the three candidates for Anderson County mayor and two candidates for Anderson County sheriff on Thursday morning at the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce.

The first “Election Selection” event is 7:30 a.m. Thursday, July 10, in the Joyce Conference Room at the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce. It’s open to the public.

All five candidates for mayor and sheriff have confirmed their plans to attend, the Chamber said. Here are the candidates: [Read more…]

Goins departs Knox Central

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Jody Goins

Jody Goins

Information from WYSH Radio

Former Oak Ridge High School principal Jody Goins has resigned from the job that lured him away from the Atomic City after just one year to accept another job.

Goins, a Clinton High School graduate, was appointed principal at Knox Central High School last year. His resignation letter to the Knox County School Superintendent did not indicate where he is going.

When he was appointed principal at Oak Ridge in 2009, he was the youngest high school principal in the state. Prior to being named ORHS principal, he served as a social studies teacher, assistant basketball coach, and assistant principal beginning in 2004.

Oak Ridge police officer injured in two-car crash recovering at home

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Oak Ridge Police Officer Crash Response

Oak Ridge police officers, firefighters, and EMS workers remove an injured police officer from a police car after a two-vehicle collision on Sunday afternoon at the intersection of South Illinois and Rutgers avenues.

Information from WYSH Radio

Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Cassen Jackson-Garrison, who was injured in a two-vehicle collision on Sunday afternoon, is recovering at home.

He suffered a severe concussion in the Sunday afternoon accident and was released from the University of Tennessee Medical Center on Tuesday.

Jackson-Garrison turned on his emergency lights while responding to an emergency call and was trying to cross the intersection of Illinois and Rutgers avenues at around 2:15 p.m. Sunday when his patrol car was hit on the driver’s side by a car headed east on Illinois. Neither occupant of the other car—64-year-old Carolyn Cooper and 30-year-old Lindsay Cooper, both of Knoxville—were hurt in the accident, which is being investigated by the Tennessee Highway Patrol. [Read more…]

Knox man indicted on numerous charges in fatal wreck

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Kyle Houston Anthony

Kyle Houston Anthony

Information from WYSH Radio

A Knoxville man has been indicted by an Anderson County grand jury on several charges connected to a December 2013 accident on Lewallen Bridge that killed one person and injured four others.

Kyle Houston Anthony, 22, was indicted last week on charges of vehicular homicide by intoxication and recklessness, drunken driving, driving under the influence of marijuana, three counts of reckless aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, reckless driving, speeding, and tampering with evidence. He is free on $150,000 bond and will be arraigned Aug. 1 in Criminal Court.

The wreck killed 40-year-old Angela Duncan Richardson, who was ejected through the rear window of the 2012 Chevrolet pickup driven by Anthony. [Read more…]

UT among best, most interesting schools; ORNL collaboration cited

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory Sign

The University of Tennessee in Knoxville has been rated one of the “best and most interesting” schools in the 2015 edition of the “Fiske Guide to Colleges,” and UT’s collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory was recognized.

KNOXVILLE—The University of Tennessee in Knoxville has been rated one of the “best and most interesting” schools in the 2015 edition of the “Fiske Guide to Colleges,” which reviews higher education institutions in the U.S., Canada, and Great Britain.

UT is one of more than 300 universities to be included in the guide, which advises prospective students about academic quality, campus setting, financial aid, housing, and extracurricular activities. The publication was released this summer.

UT is recognized for its collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which “bolsters science and technology offerings, and involves more than 400 students and faculty in majors as diverse as English and physics.” The guide also praises the university’s strong programs in communications, psychology, business, architecture, accounting, and engineering. [Read more…]

President Obama nominates defense aide for DOE deputy secretary

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Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall

Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall (Photo courtesy Stanford University)

President Barack Obama on Tuesday nominated Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, a presidential aide and national security official, to become deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, she would replace Daniel Poneman, who is stepping down from the No. 2 job this fall after five years.

Sherwood-Randall currently serves as special assistant to the president and White House coordinator for defense policy, countering weapons of mass destruction, and arms control, a position she has held since 2013. She served as special assistant to the president and senior director for European affairs at the National Security Council from 2009 to 2013.

The New York Times reported that Sherwood-Randall, 54, would bring a background in nuclear weapons and nonproliferation strategy to the department, which has split responsibilities for energy strategy and the country’s weapons and counter-proliferation work. It would be her third job in the Obama administration.

Daniel B. Poneman

Daniel B. Poneman

The newspaper said Sherwood-Randall oversaw the effort to get chemical weapons out of Syria and the development of the administration’s policy for dealing with the nuclear arsenal.

Poneman has been U.S. deputy secretary of energy since May 2009, and he also served as chief operating officer under former Energy Secretary Steven Chu. Poneman has been focused on nuclear safety and proliferation, among other issues, the Times said. He briefly served as acting secretary in 2013 before the confirmation of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. [Read more…]