Oak Ridge Today

Attorney David Dunkirk to run for juvenile judge

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David Dunkirk

David Dunkirk

Longtime attorney David Dunkirk has announced he is seeking the office of Anderson County Juvenile Court judge.

Dunkirk has been practicing law since 1986 and is licensed in three states: Tennessee, California, and Washington.

“When young families and children come before the Juvenile Court, it’s usually because they’re in difficult circumstances,” Dunkirk said. “And I’ve found that this is when they most need good role models. I have done that as guardian ad litem, and if elected I believe I can also do that as juvenile judge.”

Guardians ad litem are appointed for children who have been removed or could potentially be removed from their families due to violations of the Tennessee Code. [Read more…]

Assistant DA running for general sessions judge

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Ryan Spitzer

Ryan Spitzer

Ryan Spitzer, an Anderson County assistant district attorney general, has announced that he will be a candidate for judge in General Sessions Court, Division I in Clinton. Spitzer, an attorney with more than a decade of legal experience in criminal and civil law, filed his petition to seek the judicial position last week with the Anderson County Election Commission.

After four years in private practice, Spitzer joined the staff of District Attorney General Dave Clark in 2007, a press release said. Serving as an assistant DA, he prosecutes those charged with crimes in the General Sessions, Juvenile and Criminal Courts of Anderson County.

“I have practiced in all of the criminal courts in Anderson County, and I have prosecuted the full range of cases, dealing with crime victims from every walk of life,” Spitzer said in the press release. “I have worked closely with our local law enforcement to make Anderson County safer for everyone.”

Spitzer, a Democrat, could oppose Republican Don Layton in the August general election. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Cedar Barren work day on Saturday

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Oak Ridge Cedar Barren

Submitted

There will be a work session to remove exotic invasive plants and learn about cedar barren ecology at a small unique area in the heart of Oak Ridge. The Oak Ridge Cedar Barren, a state natural area, will be the focus of the event on Saturday, March 1. The public is invited to attend.

Located next to Jefferson Middle School in Oak Ridge, this rare barren was spared from development in 1988 through efforts spearheaded by Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning, sponsor of this event, and was subsequently registered as a Tennessee Natural Area. Maintenance of the barren is a joint project of TCWP, the City of Oak Ridge, and the Tennessee Division of Natural Areas. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge library offers two dates to enroll in Affordable Care Act

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The Oak Ridge Public Library will offer two opportunities for the public to enroll in the Affordable Care Act on Saturday, Feb. 22, and Saturday, March 8, from 2-5:30 p.m.

These events will be held in the auditorium and manned by volunteers who will provide both ACA information and ACA enrollment assistance for those interested in signing up for health insurance under the new ACA Exchanges. Individual computer stations will be available, and volunteers will be on hand to assist as needed. In addition, a Spanish-language translator will also be available.

The official website for enrollment is www.healthcare.gov; this site also contains detailed information about the ACA, and its costs and benefits. [Read more…]

Anderson County Democrats have ‘Meet the Candidates’ on Feb. 27

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The Anderson County Democratic Party will host a potluck supper and “Meet the Candidates” evening at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 27, at 1660 Oak Ridge Turnpike, Oak Ridge.

County Democratic Party Chair Catherine Denenberg invites all Democrats to attend and meet candidates seeking office in this year’s elections, a press release said. The primary election date for county offices is May 6, and the general election is Aug. 7.

Those planning to attend should RSVP to Jean Hiser at 361hiser@comcast.net or (865) 272-3077.

City, schools could resolve high school debt, discuss Blankenship bleachers

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Oak Ridge High School

Municipal and school officials could resolve a long-running dispute over sales tax revenues and how they should be used to repay the debt on the $66 million renovation of the Oak Ridge High School, pictured above.

Oak Ridge municipal and school officials could resolve a long-running dispute over sales tax revenues and high school debt payments, and they will discuss a proposed resolution during a joint work session Friday.

The non-voting work session will include the Oak Ridge City Council and Board of Education. Also on the agenda is an update on the visitor bleachers at Blankenship Field, which are being demolished. It’s not clear yet how replacement bleachers will be funded.

The meeting starts at noon Friday in the Oak Ridge Municipal Building Training Room.

The sales tax dispute has centered on how to spend new revenues collected in Anderson County, but outside Oak Ridge, under a sales tax increase approved by county voters in a May 2006 referendum. School officials had argued they can keep that money, but municipal officials had said the revenues should be used for debt payments on the $66 million renovation of the Oak Ridge High School. [Read more…]

Environmentalists, others to challenge Fleischmann, Duncan on global warming

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Volunteers have organized two press conferences today (Thursday) to challenge Tennessee congressmen John Duncan and Chuck Fleischmann to accept and then work to stop human-caused climate change, a press release said.

The first press conference is at 11 a.m. Thursday at Duncan’s Knoxville office at the Howard H. Baker Jr. U.S. Courthouse. The second is at 2 p.m. in front of the Bull Run Fossil Plant in Claxton.

The press release said the press conferences will include prominent business people, clergy, a fossil fuel technologist, a child advocate, environmentalists, educators, and students. [Read more…]

County mayor names interim budget director

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Connie Aytes

Connie Aytes

CLINTON—Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank has named Connie Cook-Aytes as the county’s interim director of accounts and budgets.

Aytes will take the interim position effective Monday, Feb. 24, Frank said. Aytes was appointed after Budget Director Chris Phillips announced he is resigning to take a job as city recorder for Lake City.

Aytes has worked as the deputy director in the Anderson County Budget Office since May 2008. [Read more…]

U.S. attorney: Y-12 security compromises will be vigorously prosecuted

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Bill Killian

William C. “Bill” Killian

U.S. Attorney William C. “Bill” Killian commended the sentences given to the three Y-12 protesters on Tuesday, and he said he hoped it would send a strong message.

“The Y-12 National Security Complex plays a critical role in our country’s national defense,” Killian said in a Wednesday statement. “People cannot take the law into their own hands and unlawfully intrude upon sensitive government facilities. Those who violate the law and compromise the security of the Y-12 National Security Complex will be vigorously prosecuted.”

The three anti-nuclear weapons activists were convicted of sabotage in May 2013 for breaking into Y-12 on July 28, 2012, cutting through high-security fences, and splashing blood and spray-painting slogans on the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility. The fortress-like HEUMF stores most of the nation’s bomb-grade uranium. [Read more…]

Rep. Gloria Johnson to speak to Democratic Women’s Club Thursday

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Gloria Johnson

Gloria Johnson

Tennessee Rep. Gloria Johnson, a freshman legislator representing Knoxville House District 13, will report on the current legislative session in Nashville as guest speaker when the Anderson County Democratic Women’s Club meets at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 20.

The meeting will be held in the Club Room of the Clinton Community Center, 101 S. Hicks Street. Cost of the dinner is $10 per person. For reservations, e-mail Ann Mostoller at amostoller@msw-law.com or call Mary Matheny at (865) 483-8937.

Johnson, who is seeking re-election this year, supports empowering communities to strengthen neighborhood public schools, preparing youth to win good-paying jobs, and expanding Medicaid so every Tennessean can see a doctor if they get sick, a press release said. [Read more…]

ORNL’s CASL, Westinghouse simulate neutron behavior in nuclear reactor core

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AP1000 Pressurized Water Reactor

CASL is developing and applying new modeling and simulation technology (Virtual Environment for Reactor Applications Core Simulator or VERA-CS) to resolve and predict the detailed neutron distribution of the power-generation reactor core residing in reactor vessels. (Image courtesy of Westinghouse)

Test run signals emergence of the next generation in nuclear power reactor analysis tools

Scientists and engineers developing more accurate approaches to analyzing nuclear power reactors have successfully tested a new suite of computer codes that closely model “neutronics”—the behavior of neutrons in a reactor core.

Technical staff at Westinghouse Electric Company LLC, supported by the research team at the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors, or CASL, used the Virtual Environment for Reactor Applications core simulator (VERA-CS) to analyze its AP1000 advanced pressurized water reactor. The testing focused on modeling the startup conditions of the AP1000 plant design. [Read more…]

ORNL, Ohio company work together on new large-scale 3-D printing system

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ORNL and Cincinnati Inc. CRADA

From left are David Danielson, DOE assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy; Johnny Moore; DOE site office manager, Andy Jamison, Cincinnati Inc. CEO; and U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann. (ORNL photo/Jason Richards)

Technology seeks to provide new capabilities for auto, aerospace, other U.S. industries

Oak Ridge National Laboratory is partnering with Cincinnati Inc., a manufacturer of high quality machine tools located in Harrison, Ohio, to develop a large-scale polymer additive manufacturing (3-D printing) system.

The partnership aims to accelerate the commercialization of a new additive manufacturing machine that can print large polymer parts faster and more cheaply than current technologies. The partnership agreement supports the U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative to increase the efficiency of the U.S. manufacturing sector and ensure that innovative clean energy technologies continue to be developed in America.

ORNL is a DOE lab. [Read more…]