The citywide leaf pickup program will start in Oak Ridge on Monday, Nov. 25.
City collection efforts will follow the accompanying schedule as closely as possible. The proposed schedule is a general guide and can vary considerably from the actual schedule due to the amount of leaves and weather conditions, a press release said.
The city has a few program guidelines: [Read more…]
Teams take part in the annual Dragon Boat Festival in Taipei on May 28, 2009. (Photo credit Patrick Lin/AFP/Getty Images)
Three local Rotary clubs are launching the city’s first Dragon Boat Festival on May 17 at the Oak Ridge Marina and Pavilion in Melton Lake Park.
“The purpose of the festival is to provide a venue for dragon boat races, offer food and musical entertainment, and raise funds for a special project and nonprofit service organizations in the community,” said Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson, president of the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge.
The boat racing event, launched by OARS in the Water, will celebrate Oak Ridge’s waterfront and signature rowing venue. OARS stands for the Oak Ridge Association of Rotarians. The other two clubs are the Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary and Oak Ridge Sunset Rotary clubs. [Read more…]
Information from WYSH Radio
A fire heavily damaged a home on Forrest Avenue in Clinton on Sunday, but no serious injuries were reported.
The Clinton Fire Department responded to 409 Forrest Avenue shortly after 4 p.m. Sunday. When they arrived, they reported seeing heavy smoke billowing from all sides of the house.
Crews ventilated the structure and extinguished the fire, which is believed to have started in the laundry room. [Read more…]
Information from WYSH Radio
A custom-made bicycle that allows a legally blind man to get around town was stolen from outside an Oak Ridge bookstore last week, and police are investigating.
The theft occurred Thursday outside the Books-A-Million in Oak Ridge, and victim Tim Collins, who suffers from macular degeneration, said it is his only means of transportation.
Police were able to dust the man’s helmet and flag, which the thieves left behind, for fingerprints and their investigation is ongoing. The bike is valued at $1,800. [Read more…]
Doctoral candidate Jessica Bryant, left; Associate Professor Aimee Classen, middle; and University of Tennessee undergraduate student Kelsey Richesin use Li-Cor 6400, a machine that measure carbon flux from soil. (Photo courtesy UT)
KNOXVILLE—Carbon dioxide is key to life on Earth, but too much of the good thing can overheat the Earth’s surface and hurt the very things it supports. Thus, understanding how carbon cycles through the atmosphere is crucial to predicting its effects.
A University of Tennessee professor in Knoxville has received more than $880,000 from the U.S. Department of Energy to investigate often-overlooked carbon cycle players.
Aimee Classen, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, and her team, which includes Oak Ridge National Laboratory staff members, will examine factors that influence carbon cycling below the ground and are not included in today’s carbon-cycle models.
“We know that tiny things that live in soil, like fungi, can regulate carbon processes in forests. However, our current soil models don’t consider what role fungal and plant root activity may play in soil carbon dynamics. Our project aims to fill this knowledge gap,” Classen said. [Read more…]
The U.S. Department of Energy has announced 59 scientific projects that will share nearly six billion core hours on two of America’s fastest supercomputers, including the Titan supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, pictured above. (Photo courtesy of ORNL)
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science announced 59 projects, promising to accelerate scientific discovery and innovation, that will share nearly six billion core hours on two of America’s fastest supercomputers dedicated to open science. Their work will advance knowledge in critical areas from sustainable energy technologies to the environmental consequences of energy use.
The allocations come from the Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment, or INCITE, program. Through it, the world’s most advanced computational research projects from academia, government, and industry are given access to DOE’s leadership computing facilities at Oak Ridge and Argonne national laboratories. [Read more…]
Workers continue demolishing and hauling away debris at the K-25 Building. (Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Energy/UCOR)
Demolition of the last standing section of the K-25 Building at the East Tennessee Technology Park is more than 75 percent complete.
UCOR workers began tearing down the last six units in the east wing of the mile-long Manhattan Project-era gaseous diffusion building in September. The majority of those six units—4.5 of them—are already on the ground, and work is continuing at a steady pace, the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office reported in the December issue of Public Involvement News.
The entire project, including waste removal, should be completed next year, the Oak Ridge Office said.
The historic, U-shaped K-25 Building was erected to enrich uranium for atomic bombs during World War II, and it was once the world’s largest building under one roof. It once had 54 units. [Read more…]
Installation of the permanent electrical equipment at the 3026 facility has been completed, marking the final step of the stabilization activities at the building. (Photo courtesy DOE/UCOR)
UCOR has finished installing permanent electrical equipment at the 3026 hot cells facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
This action completes all scheduled tasks under the 3026 Hot Cells Transition and Stabilization Phase, the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office reported in the December issue of Public Involvement News.
UCOR took over the 3026 Hot Cells project at the request of DOE. The stabilization activities were con- ducted to help “downgrade” the facility from a Hazard Category 3 nuclear facility to a radiological facility, the Oak Ridge Office said. This downgrade, which has been approved by DOE, will make the facility less costly to maintain.
UCOR is DOE’s cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge.
Leslie Henderson
KINGSTON—Roane Alliance President and Chief Executive Officer Leslie Henderson has announced she will retire at the end of March.
She has been the president and CEO of The Roane Alliance, the county’s economic development organization, since Feb. 16, 2004. Henderson announced her retirement in a Tuesday letter to Sharon Templeton, Roane Alliance board chair.
“Although I struggled with this decision, I feel now that it is the right time to start on the next phase of my life and start working on some of that bucket list—travel, writing, project work, family time, and maybe even some business ventures of my own,” Henderson said in the letter.
“As for The Alliance, I think the time is also right, as the staff is not only one of the best I’ve ever worked with, but is also well-positioned to do great things for Roane County going forward. Each of them is very competent and capable,” Henderson said. “All I do is keep them focused and provide the tools they need. I could not be more proud of their successes.” [Read more…]
Business leaders and workers celebrate the opening of Secret City Pies in west Oak Ridge at a Tuesday ribbon-cutting ceremony.
A new pie store in west Oak Ridge has its roots in food cooked for an international drag racing team.
Terry Hope is a member of Al-Anabi, and the new business, Secret City Pies, grew out of the cooking that he does for the racing team, his wife Leisa said during a Tuesday morning ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Secret City Pies opened in August at 1990 C Oak Ridge Turnpike, next to United Grocery Outlet. It sells savory and sweet pies, some cookies and bread, and lunch boxes, sandwiches, and chili dogs, Leisa Hope said. [Read more…]
A small fire Monday morning caused minor damage to a section of the Anderson County jail that is being expanded. (Photo courtesy Larry Davidson/Anderson County Sheriff’s Department)
CLINTON—A small fire Monday morning caused minor damage to a section of the Anderson County jail that is being expanded.
A construction worker on the roof of the 212-bed expansion was welding with a torch at about 11:15 a.m. Monday when it set insulation on the outside of the building on fire, Anderson County officials said. The insulation was between vinyl siding and concrete block, said Larry Davidson, Anderson County Sheriff’s Department captain and acting chief jailer.
The fire was contained to the outside of the Anderson County Detention Facility, and no one was injured. There was no water or smoke damage, but the fire burned a small hole in the side of the building, Davidson said. [Read more…]
Gary J. Van Berkel
Gary J. Van Berkel of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Chemical Sciences Division has earned the ORNL Director’s Award for Outstanding Individual Accomplishment in Science and Technology.
Van Berkel was honored Friday night during the annual Awards Night event hosted by UT-Battelle, the management and operating contractor of ORNL. The award recognizes Van Berkel’s sustained leadership and innovation in the development of disruptive sampling systems for mass spectrometry, resulting in multiple commercial licenses and new product offerings. He was earlier named ORNL’s Inventor of the Year.
David Fowler
David Fowler of ORNL’s Energy and Environmental Sciences Directorate earned the Director’s Award for Outstanding Individual Accomplishment in Laboratory Operations. Fowler was honored for recent accomplishments that exceeded normal performance expectations and positively advanced ORNL’s mission. He also won the Excellence in Operations category.
Donald Cross of ORNL’s Computing and Computational Sciences Directorate earned the Director’s Award for Outstanding Individual Accomplishment in Community Engagement. Cross provided outstanding leadership and selfless dedication in community service through the mentoring of special needs children and adults in a wide variety of organizations. He also won the award for Exceptional Community Engagement by an Individual. [Read more…]
