Bruce Borchers
Superintendent Bruce Borchers will share his initial impressions of education in the Oak Ridge Schools and his priorities and goals during a Wednesday luncheon meeting of Altrusa International Club.
Borchers’ presentation is titled “Seeing Oak Ridge Schools through Fresh Eyes.”
The luncheon meeting will be at the DoubleTree Hotel on South Illinois Avenue. It starts at 11:45 a.m., and visitors with reservations are welcome to attend. [Read more…]
Janelle Arthur
American Idol finalist Janelle Arthur is expected to play in Oliver Springs at 1 p.m. today during the October Sky Festival.
Arthur had been part of the first-ever all-female Top 5 on the popular televised singing competition in April.
The 6th Annual October Sky Fall Festival started at 9 a.m. today (Saturday) and continues through 4 p.m.
It’s organized by the Oliver Springs Historical Society and the City of Oliver Springs. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department will host the 2013 Children’s Halloween Party on Thursday, Oct. 24, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the Oak Ridge Civic Center. Activities will be planned for every room in the Civic Center, and a hay ride will be offered in A.K. Bissell Park, weather permitting.
There will a scary room, games, prizes, food, crafts, face painting, and many other fun activities. Tickets must be purchased for each activity, and each ticket costs $0.25 each. All access armbands are available and cost $5 each. Armbands give unlimited access to all activities; however, this does not include sale items or food.
For more information call the Oak Ridge Civic Center at (865)425-3450. For more information about this and other events, visit the Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks website at www.orrecparks.org.
Cades Cove in Great Smoky Mountains National Park is pictured above in the fall of 2010.
Information from WYSH Radio
Great Smoky Mountains National Park officially reopened on Thursday, Oct. 17, under federal funding.
The park had been closed for the first two weeks of October during the peak fall tourist season due to a lapse in Congressional appropriations.
The park and its facilities had originally reopened to the public on Wednesday, Oct. 16, due to the donation of funds from the states of Tennessee and North Carolina, who worked in partnership with Blount and Sevier counties. Their funding would have allowed the park to stay open for five days. [Read more…]
Have you ever heard the term “flashover”? Do you know how fast fire spreads throughout your house? Do you have a home escape plan? For the answers to these questions, and more, watch this video from the Oak Ridge Fire Department.
The Fire Department demonstrates how a fire that starts in a trash can in the corner of a room can “flash over” at 1,150 degrees and engulf an entire room in flames in about three minutes.
ORFD Chief Darryl Kerley said the Fire Department would prefer that residents not try to fight fires themselves unless they’ve had training in using a fire extinguisher and have it immediately available. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Christmas Parade last year featured floats and more than 100 businesses, clubs, and community organizations. This year’s parade is Saturday, Dec. 14. (File photo by D. Ray Smith)
The Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce is busy preparing for its annual Christmas Parade to be held on Saturday, Dec. 14. This year’s theme is “Inside Santa’s Workshop” and promises to provide spectators with plenty of music, lights, and beautiful floats, a press release said. Businesses and community organizations have already begun registering for the parade.
The parade will begin at 6 p.m. and will begin at Corporate Center, on the corner of Lafayette and Laboratory Road. From there, the parade will travel down Lafayette to the Oak Ridge Turnpike. It will continue west on the Turnpike to Oak Ridge High School. The judge’s stand will be located in front of the Chamber. [Read more…]
Representatives of CH2M HILL with the winner of one of many door prizes given away by exhibitors at the Primetime networking event last fall. This fall’s event will be held Thursday, Oct. 24, at the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce. (File photo)
Submitted
Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce member businesses are preparing for the 2013 Primetime Tailgate Party, the Chamber’s premiere business showcase and networking event.
Participating businesses have been encouraged to come dressed in their favorite team colors and to decorate their display areas with a football tailgate theme. The event will be held on Thursday, Oct. 24, from 4:30-6:30 p.m. in the parking lot of the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce at 1400 Oak Ridge Turnpike.
Primetime is a business showcase opportunity for members of the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce. Anyone—Chamber member or not—is encouraged to attend, find out more about member businesses and organizations, and make new contacts. [Read more…]
Submitted
The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department will be holding a county-wide Neighborhood Watch meeting at the Clinton Middle School auditorium at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. The meeting will highlight the success of Neighborhood Watch and the dedicated volunteers who have contributed so much to reducing crime. A presentation will demonstrate how the department’s crime analysis and crime mapping aids citizens in keeping neighborhoods safe.
Neighborhood Watch is one of the oldest and most effective crime prevention programs in the country, bringing citizens together with law enforcement to deter crime and make communities safer. Throughout the county, there are some 30 Neighborhood Watch groups keeping a close eye on their community. [Read more…]
The U.S. Labor Department has recovered nearly $144,000 in back wages and penalties from Sitel Operating Corp. in Oak Ridge, federal officials said Thursday.
Sitel has agreed to pay 486 employees $68,901 in back wages after an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime and record-keeping provisions at the company’s facility in Oak Ridge, a press release said. Sitel also paid civil money penalties of $74,900, which were assessed for repeat violations of the FLSA, the release said.
It said investigators from the division’s Nashville District Office found that employees who worked on one client account, United Services Automobile Association, were not paid for time spent conducting required preparatory work before their shifts started. [Read more…]
Construction work has started at the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church between Oak Ridge Turnpike and the Joe L. Evins Federal Building.
Construction work has started at the site of a new home for the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church near the Joe L. Evins Federal Building.
Hickory Construction Inc., which has headquarters in Alcoa, announced on Thursday that it has broken ground at the 4.6-acre site. The building could be complete by next summer, a press release said.
Hickory will work with Johnson Architecture Inc. to create a larger church building that will give the congregation an extra 3,000 square feet, compared to the current building a few miles down Oak Ridge Turnpike, the press release said. The new church will feature an updated, modern appearance. [Read more…]
President Barack Obama meets with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and other members of the House Democratic leadership in the Oval Office on Oct. 15. (Official White House photo by Pete Souza)
The epic budget battle that resulted in the first U.S. government shutdown in 17 years and led the nation to the brink of default again ended late Wednesday.
President Barack Obama signed the legislation reopening the federal government and raising the debt ceiling early Thursday morning, a few hours after it passed the House and Senate, and federal workers were told to report to work Thursday, ending a 16-day shutdown.
“We’ll begin reopening our government immediately,” Obama said in remarks before the House passed the bill. “And we can begin to lift this cloud of uncertainty and unease from our businesses and from the American people.”
Officials at the U.S. Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration weren’t immediately available to comment early Thursday morning on the impact on federal facilities in Oak Ridge, where workers have been preparing for shutdowns and furloughs, including at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Y-12 National Security Complex.
Chuck Fleischmann
Senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, both Tennessee Republicans, voted for the last-minute, short-term agreement, which keeps the government open through Jan. 15 and raises the federal government’s debt ceiling through Feb. 7.
Tennessee’s two Democratic representatives also voted for it, while all seven Republican representatives—including East Tennessee congressmen Chuck Fleischmann, John J. Duncan Jr., and Scott DesJarlais—voted against it. [Read more…]
Lamar Alexander
Bob Corker
Tennessee’s two U.S. senators voted Wednesday to reopen the federal government and raise the nation’s debt limit, a deal likely to have a major impact in Oak Ridge, where federal facilities and contractors had been preparing for possible shutdowns and furloughs.
The last-minute agreement keeps the government open through Jan. 15 and raises the federal government’s debt ceiling through Feb. 7, avoiding a default for now. The bill was approved 81-18 in the U.S. Senate and 285-144 in the House of Representatives.
Senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, both Tennessee Republicans, voted for the legislation. A statement from Rep. Chuck Fleischmann’s office did not say whether the congressman voted for or against the bill.
President Barack Obama said he would sign the bill immediately and begin reopening the government immediately, ending the 16-day shutdown.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
