Oak Ridge Today

B&W Y-12 donates $25,000 to Secret City Festival

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B&W Y-12 Donates to Secret City Festival

B&W Y-12 General Manager Chuck Spencer, center, presents a $25,000 check to Oak Ridge officials for the Secret City Festival this month during a City Council meeting last week. (Submitted photo)

B&W Y-12 President and General Manager Chuck Spencer presented a check for $25,000 to Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan and Vice Mayor Jane Miller during a City Council meeting last week.

B&W Y-12 has been a premier sponsor of the Secret City Festival for the past eight years, a press release said.
 [Read more…]

Female pioneer in law enforcement dies after battle with cancer, sheriff says

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Peggy Murphy, a longtime deputy who was a pioneer in law enforcement, died Saturday after a long battle with cancer, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday. She was 68.

“Deputy Peggy Murphy was a veteran law enforcement officer,” Anderson County Sheriff Paul White said in a statement. “One of the female pioneers in law enforcement, she began her career with the Clinton Police Department in 1966. Peggy served with the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department from 1976 until 1986. She returned to the Sheriff’s Department in 2006 and served until her death. [Read more…]

Report: Teen driver didn’t see stop sign due to tree limbs before hitting bus

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Oak Ridge Preschool Bus Crash

No students were reported to be injured after a Monday afternoon collision between a school bus and a car in Woodland.

The 17-year-old driver who hit a school bus in Woodland on Monday afternoon said he did not see a stop sign at the intersection of Northwestern and West Gettysburg avenues due to tree limbs, and he failed to stop before colliding with the bus, authorities said.

The Clinton teenager estimated he was traveling at about 30 mph in a 1997 Volvo 960 sedan as he drove west on West Gettysburg Avenue just before the 2:16 p.m. crash, according to an Oak Ridge Police Department accident report.

The bus driver, Yvonnda Smith McNair, 60, of Oliver Springs, told ORPD Officer Leslie Miller that she was driving south on Northwestern Avenue when the Volvo failed to stop and hit the bus, owned by contractor First Student Inc. [Read more…]

City board will consider demolition or cleanup order for Price Florist

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Price Florist

A city board next week will consider issuing a demolition or cleanup order for Price Florist on Oak Ridge Turnpike.

A city board next week will consider issuing a demolition or cleanup order for Price Florist on Oak Ridge Turnpike.

The city staff has recommended that the structure, used for a longtime floral business, be declared unfit for human occupation or use and has requested a demolition or cleanup order within 60 days.

The city required an “emergency vacate” on May 1, according to an agenda for the Oak Ridge Board of Building and Housing Code Appeals. A notice dated May 1 and still posted on the building’s front door said the building is deemed unfit for human occupation or use. It is to remain conspicuously posted until the structure is repaired or demolished. [Read more…]

Woman found floating face down at Civic Center, taken to hospital

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Note: This story was last updated at 4 p.m.

A female believed to be in her 30s was taken to Methodist Medical Center on Monday afternoon after she was found floating face down in the fountain at the Oak Ridge Civic Center, city officials said.

The woman, who was not identified in a Tuesday statement, is currently receiving treatment at the hospital. She is believed to be in her mid-to-late 30s.

She was found in the 14-inch deep fountain at about 2:45 p.m. Monday by residents visiting the Civic Center, the statement said. Two people reported the incident to the staff at the Civic Center front counter, while a third tried to pull the woman out of the water, said Oak Ridge Electric Director Jack Suggs, who is acting city manager while Mark Watson attends an out-of-town meeting. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Schools names assistant superintendent

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Christopher J. Marczak

Christopher J. Marczak

A Nashville school official has been named assistant superintendent in Oak Ridge.

Christopher J. Marczak will become assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction for Oak Ridge Schools on July 1. He is currently employed as a network lead principal in the Metropolitan Nashville Public School system.

Marczak was selected from a field of 52 applicants following interviews with a system-wide committee, Oak Ridge Schools said in a Tuesday morning press release. [Read more…]

No children reported to be injured in school bus crash

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Oak Ridge Preschool Bus Crash

No students were reported to be injured after a Monday afternoon collision between a school bus and a car in Woodland.

No children appeared to be injured after a Monday afternoon collision between a school bus and car at the intersection of Northwestern and West Gettysburg avenues in the Woodland neighborhood, authorities said.

However, a bus assistant may have hurt her shoulder, and she went to the hospital to be checked out, Oak Ridge Interim Superintendent Bob Smallridge said.

The yellow school bus, Bus #596, which is operated by contractor First Student, was carrying about 18 children from Oak Ridge Preschool at about 2:16 p.m. Monday when it collided with a red Volvo four-door sedan. The students were headed home after school. None were taken away from the crash by ambulance, Oak Ridge Assistant Fire Chief Josh Waldo said. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Tool-Engineering highlighted in Tennessee Business Spotlight

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Terry Mullins, the chief executive officer of Oak Ridge Tool-Engineering, Inc., has a pretty simple business philosophy:

“We just go after where the money is,” Mullins said. “We’re able to pick and choose which markets are hot.”

While the philosophy may be simple, the services the company provides are anything but. Oak Ridge Tool-Engineering designs and builds equipment used on some of the world’s most complex machinery—everything from submarines to the International Space Station. [Read more…]

Energy secretary meets with lab directors, tours ORNL, Y-12

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Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz at ORNL

Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, second from right, toured Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Monday. Also pictured are ORNL Director Thom Mason, right; U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, left; and Deputy Secretary Daniel Poneman.

During a short trip to Oak Ridge this week, new Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz toured Oak Ridge National Laboratory, planned to visit the Y-12 National Security Complex, and met with lab directors from across the country. He also met with U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican.

Moniz was sworn in as the nation’s 13th Secretary of Energy on May 21, and during his visit to Oak Ridge, he said he is “looking at new ways of doing business” and considering organizational changes. He said his visit here gave him an overview of missions that includes cleanup work, clean energy, scientific research, and nuclear security.

“It’s a tremendous place to come to really get this broad panorama,” Moniz said. [Read more…]

Anderson budget: Funding for jailers, jail alternatives program obstacles to budget plan

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Information from WYSH Radio

Last week, the Anderson County Commission held a public hearing on the budget, and the biggest obstacles to having a fiscal plan in place for the new fiscal year are finding funding for the Sheriff’s Department to adequately staff the soon-to-be-completed jail expansion and what to do about the embattled alternatives to incarceration program.

The Sheriff’s Office has requested funding for 34 jailers but as it stands now, the budget contains money for 15 jailers. [Read more…]

Council rejects funding for sinkhole repairs, tax rate reduction; approves Habitat property transfer

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Oak Ridge High School Soccer Field Sinkhole

The Oak Ridge City Council on Tuesday rejected a request to reimburse the school system about $36,000 for repairs to this 13-foot sinkhole under the Oak Ridge High School soccer field.

The Oak Ridge City Council on Tuesday rejected a request to use red light camera money to reimburse the school system $36,000 for sinkhole repairs made in April at the Oak Ridge High School soccer field.

Council also agreed to transfer a small burned-out lot on Hillside Road to Habitat for Humanity of Anderson County and rejected a proposal to lower the property tax rate by one cent.

Asked about the sinkhole repair reimbursement on Tuesday, Oak Ridge Schools Interim Superintendent Bob Smallridge said the school system, which expects revenues to fall by about $1 million and is cutting 18 positions, has a tight budget. [Read more…]

Mars Curiosity Rover provides strong evidence for flowing water

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Mars Curiosity Rock Outcropping

Multiple outcroppings of rocks like this one (termed a pebble conglomerate) were observed along the first 275 meters traversed by the rover with the high-resolution Mastcam. (Submitted photo)

KNOXVILLE—Despite satellite images that show vast networks of channels, past Mars rover missions have shown limited evidence for flowing water on Mars.

Now, rocks analyzed by NASA’s Mars Curiosity Rover team, including Linda Kah, associate professor of earth and planetary sciences at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, provide solid evidence that Mars had rivers or streams. This suggests that the environment was drastically different than today’s cold and dry conditions, with the potential to support life.

A paper on the team’s findings is published in this week’s edition of Science magazine. [Read more…]