Oak Ridge Today

Local food, music served at ‘Taste of Oak Ridge’ on Sept. 28

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Red Shoes and Rosin

Female string trio Red Shoes and Rosin is one of the music groups scheduled to appear at the Taste of Oak Ridge on Sept. 28. (Submitted photo)

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The flavors from some of Oak Ridge’s best restaurants and the sounds of local musicians will fill Jackson Square for the fifth annual “Taste of Oak Ridge” on Saturday, Sept. 28. The highly anticipated event will start at 4:30 p.m. and continue to 10 p.m.

While area restaurants will be able to showcase some of their finest food in small portions or ” tastes,” the community-focused event will raise money to benefit the Free Medical Clinic of Oak Ridge. The “tastes” from each vendor will cost $1 or $2 per item. Tickets will be available for purchase. Attendees can buy as many tickets as they want for $1 each. In addition, beer and wine will be available for purchase. [Read more…]

Three businesses avoid beer permit suspensions, five more have hearings

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Three Oak Ridge businesses have avoided short suspensions of their beer permits, but five more have hearings in the next two months.

The Oak Ridge Beer Permit Board had imposed the suspensions against the three businesses in three separate meetings during the past three months. Two were punished for selling beer to a minor and one over concerns that included questions about whether it was serving its customers too much alcohol.

But all three businesses have complied with the Beer Board’s orders, so they were able to avoid the suspensions, Oak Ridge Senior Staff Attorney Tammy Dunn said last week. [Read more…]

Anderson County Commission to elect chair, vice chair Monday

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Chuck Fritts

Chuck Fritts

Robert McKamey

Robert McKamey

The Anderson County Commission is scheduled to elect a chair and vice chair during a Monday evening meeting.

Commissioner Chuck Fritts, one of two commissioners representing Claxton and Bull Run, is the current chair, and he is seeking appointment to a third one-year term.

But Commissioner Robert McKamey—one of two commissioners representing Clinton High, Marlow, Norwood, and Dutch Valley—is also seeking the chairmanship. [Read more…]

Learn more about Roane State’s AMTEC job training this week

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Anyone interested in Roane State Community College’s nationally recognized Advanced Materials Training and Education Center—a no-cost, high-tech job training program for those who are unemployed or underemployed—is invited to meetings this week at the college’s Oak Ridge campus and Loudon County campus.

The meeting at the Oak Ridge campus will be held Tuesday, Sept. 17, at 6 p.m. in the back room inside Anderson’s Grille. The meeting at the Loudon County Campus will be held Thursday, Sept. 19, at 6 p.m. in Room 209. [Read more…]

Attorney to discuss impact of new laws on long-term health care

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Mary Lyn Goodman

Mary Lyn Goodman

A Legal Aid attorney will discuss new laws affecting long-term health care during Lunch with the League on Tuesday.

Mary Lyn Goodman, an attorney with Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands, will be the guest speaker. The talk begins at noon in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church at 1500 Oak Ridge Turnpike. [Read more…]

Proton Therapy medical director featured at county chamber lunch

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Marcio Fagundes

Marcio Fagundes

A radiation oncologist and medical director for the Provision Center for Proton Therapy will be the featured speaker at a quarterly networking luncheon for the Anderson County Chamber of Commerce next week.

The speaker will be Dr. Marcio Fagundes.

The chamber is having the luncheon in partnership with Junior Achievement of East Tennessee. It’s scheduled from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Friday, Sept. 20, at the Hollingsworth Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, (Junior Achievement BizTown), at 2135 N. Charles Seivers Blvd. in Clinton. [Read more…]

Intersections, roads in central Oak Ridge closed during Neon Vibe 5K next weekend

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Neon Vibe Course Map

The race course for the Neon Vibe 5K on Sept. 21 is pictured above. (Submitted image)

Intersections and roads in central Oak Ridge will be closed for a few hours next weekend for the first Neon Vibe 5K race in Tennessee.

The race starts at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 21, near the pavilion inside Alvin K. Bissell Park. The course includes ORAU Way, Robertsville and Providence roads, North and South Tulane avenues, and Badger Avenue.

The Oak Ridge Police Department will start closing major intersections and side roads at 7 p.m., a press release said. The entire race course will be closed to all traffic by 7:30 p.m. [Read more…]

See the local revenue numbers at center of school funding dispute

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Oak Ridge Schools Maintenance of Effort 2014

The maintenance of effort spreadsheet pictured above is used to determine whether local revenues for Oak Ridge Schools are the same from year to year. This spreadsheet, which includes some budget adjustments, shows a $250,000 shortfall. (Image courtesy Oak Ridge Schools/Karen Gagliano)

Note: This story was updated at 11:35 a.m.

It might be difficult to understand the concerns about Oak Ridge Schools’ funding and the state maintenance of effort test without seeing the local revenue numbers.

So, Oak Ridge Today has posted a copy of a maintenance of effort spreadsheet provided by Karen Gagliano, Oak Ridge Schools business and support services director. This spreadsheet includes budget adjustments that helped reduce the local revenue shortfall from the original $393,000 to a smaller $250,000.

Oak Ridge education officials have asked the city to cover that smaller shortfall to avoid a loss in state funding of $1.87 million per month and avert a school shutdown on Oct. 1. It’s the equivalent of a 2.5-cent property tax rate increase, although it’s too late for a tax increase this year. [Read more…]

Council agrees to special meeting on school shortfall but wants documentation

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Mark Watson

Mark Watson

The Oak Ridge City Council has agreed to meet in a special session next week to try to resolve a $250,000 school funding shortfall that education officials claim could lead to a loss of millions of dollars in state funding and a temporary school shutdown if it’s not resolved by Oct. 1.

But Council members want documentation to accompany the request, Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson told Superintendent Bruce Borchers in a Sept. 11 letter. It should include an explanation of why the money is needed, information on decisions made by the Oak Ridge Board of Education to close schools on Oct. 1 if the funding is not obtained, and copies of any formal notice from the Tennessee education commissioner that he has agreed to withhold all of the state funding for Oak Ridge Schools starting in October, the city manager said. [Read more…]

UT Arboretum Society has two wildflower walks Saturday

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The University of Tennessee Arboretum Society has two wildflower walks on Saturday, one at 10 a.m. and the other at 2 p.m.

Due to the popularity of the walks in past years, the Arboretum Society will offer a morning walk with Kris Light and an afternoon walk with Charlie Samuels, a press release said. The walks are free and open to the public, but participants must call ahead to register for one of the walks. The phone number is (865) 483-3571. [Read more…]

ORNL’s Stuart Daw elected chemical engineering fellow

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Stuart Daw

Stuart Daw

C. Stuart Daw of Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been elected fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

He was selected by AIChE for his numerous outstanding contributions to the chemical engineering profession.

Daw, a UT-Battelle Corporate Fellow, works in the U.S. Department of Energy lab’s Energy and Transportation Science Division. He lives in Knoxville.

ORNL: Toxic methylmercury-producing microbes more widespread than realized

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Microbes that live in rice paddies, northern peat bogs, and other previously unexpected environments are among the bacteria that can generate highly toxic methylmercury, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center have learned.

This finding, published in Environmental Science and Technology, explains why deadly methylated mercury is produced in areas where the neurotoxin’s presence has puzzled researchers for decades. Methylmercury—the most dangerous form of mercury—damages the brain and immune system and is especially harmful to developing embryos. Certain bacteria transform inorganic mercury into toxic methylmercury. [Read more…]