Oak Ridge Today

July 4 plans announced for Clinton, Norris, Museum of Applachia

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Information from WYSH Radio

July 4 plans have been announced for Clinton, Norris, and the Museum of Appalachia.

Clinton—Clinton’s annual Independence Day fireworks show will be held at Lakefront Park again this year. Festivities get under way at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 4, with a host of activities for kids, live music, and more. Backyard Bouncers will have a 65-foot, three-lane “megawaterslide,” a bounce house, a two-lane slip and slide, a two-lane Bungee challenge, and an All-Stars basketball challenge. [Read more…]

ACSD probing Tuesday fire

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Information from WYSH Radio

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a fire that destroyed a mobile home on Old Lake City Highway as suspicious.

The Medford Volunteer Fire Department responded to the scene of the fire at around 10 p.m. Tuesday. [Read more…]

ORPD offers Junior Police Academy for students; register by July 5

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Oak Ridge Junior Police Academy

Oak Ridge Junior Police Academy students at the Law Enforcement Innovation Center in 2012. (Submitted photo)

The 2nd Annual Junior Police Academy will take place from Aug. 5-9. This is the last week before Oak Ridge Schools start the new school year.

Cadets will be given presentations by several Oak Ridge Police Department officers on topics that include K9 and SWAT operations, traffic stops and more. Cadets will also visit the prestigious Law Enforcement Innovation Center, Anderson County Detention Facility, and Anderson County Criminal Court, and they will be given a presentation by the Knox County Sheriff’s Office’s Aviation unit, who will fly in on a helicopter.

The academy meets from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. each day. Those who are eligible to attend are students entering high school this year or returning to high school, or those that graduated this May. Private school and home-schooled students are welcome as well. [Read more…]

State announces first Select Tennessee Certified Sites, including Horizon Center area

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Tennessee Certified Site at Horizon Center

The Select Tennessee Certified Site is pictured above at Horizon Center. (Submitted photo)

NASHVILLE—The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development announced on Tuesday the first six Select Tennessee Certified Sites.

As previously reported on Oak Ridge Today, one of the sites is at Horizon Center in west Oak Ridge.

The Select Tennessee program was launched in June 2012 with the goal of helping Tennessee communities prepare available sites for investment and expansion. The program sets a consistent and rigorous standard upon which companies can rely in making critical location decisions. [Read more…]

July 4 fireworks at A.K. Bissell Park

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July 4 Fireworks

The July 4 fireworks show in Oak Ridge starts at 10 p.m. at A.K. Bissell Park. (Photo by Charles Samuels)

Oak Ridge Fire Chief Darryl Kerley has announced that the fireworks display, sponsored by the City of Oak Ridge, will begin at 10 p.m. on Thursday, July 4. The display will be shot from A.K. Bissell Park.

The fireworks will be accompanied by music played live on-site by Merle 96.7 FM. Radio host Jack Ryan will be live from the park beginning at 6 p.m. and will conclude the live broadcast with a patriotic medley as the fireworks are shot. The countdown to the fireworks begins at 9:30 p.m. Listeners can tune their radios to 96.7 Merle FM and enjoy the show.

The Oak Ridge Community Band will perform its annual 4th of July concert at the A.K. Bissell Park Pavilion beginning at 7:30 p.m. [Read more…]

Clinton OKs no-tax-increase budget

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Information from WYSH Radio

On Monday, the Clinton City Council approved the city’s budget for Fiscal Year 2013-2014.

The budget is balanced with no property tax increase for city residents, leaving the tax rate at 76 cents per $100 of assessed value while providing 2 percent pay raises for city workers and taking into account projected increases of between 5 and 20 percent in employee-related and liability insurance. [Read more…]

Roane schools budget $1.5M out of balance

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Information from WYSH Radio

The Roane County school system is facing a $1.5 million budget shortfall and some are calling for a property tax increase to make up the deficit, while others are saying no tax increase is needed and that the schools need to live within their means. Among the options that have been floated include possibly closing Midway High School.

The Roane County Budget Committee has recommended a budget that includes no tax increase, but school leaders have asked for a 14-cent property tax rate increase. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Chamber will lay off some workers, Economic Partnership to become dormant

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Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce

The Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce will lay off some employees, and its support corporation, the Oak Ridge Economic Partnership, will become dormant.

Its funding has been cut, and the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce is laying off some employees, an official said Monday.

It will be a smaller organization, and the Chamber’s support corporation, the Oak Ridge Economic Partnership, will become dormant, its work absorbed by the Chamber, said Parker Hardy, president and chief executive officer of the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce.

Hardy declined to name the employees who will be laid off or say how many workers might be affected, although he said the information could be shared later. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge woman dies five days after Highway 62 crash

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A 19-year-old Oak Ridge woman died Saturday morning at a Knoxville hospital five days after she drove through a guard rail on state Highway 62 in Morgan County and hit a creek bed, authorities said.

Jaania X. Dickerson was driving north in a 2004 Chevrolet Malibu four-door sedan at about 12:43 p.m. Monday, June 17, when she went off the right side of the road, the Tennessee Highway Patrol said. She then over-corrected and ran through a guard rail on the left side of the road before landing in the creek bed. [Read more…]

Organizers could consider separate weekends for Secret City, Lavender festivals

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Crowd at Secret City Festival

Thousands of people enjoy the Secret City Festival each year, including the Friday and Saturday night concerts.

Most years, the Secret City and Lavender festivals fall on the same weekend in June.

This year, due to the way they’re scheduled, the two festivals landed on separate weekends. And that gave organizers an opportunity to see how the festivals would do on separate weekends.

[Read more…]

Deputy governor to retire in August

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NASHVILLE – Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam last week announced that Deputy to the Governor Claude Ramsey will retire at the end of August to spend more time with his wife, children, and grandchildren in Chattanooga.

A press release said Ramsey, a former Hamilton County mayor, has been integral to Haslam on several key initiatives, including civil service reform, economic development efforts, workforce development training, and improved operation of state government. [Read more…]

ORNL’s Flanagan elected fellow of American Nuclear Society

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George Flanagan

George Flanagan

George Flanagan of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been elected fellow of the American Nuclear Society.

The ANS recognized Flanagan’s leadership in the field of nuclear safety, especially in the area of liquid metal reactor safety, space reactor safety, and the safety of smaller research reactors and for the applications of probabilistic risk assessment to reactors. [Read more…]