Ernest Moniz
He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in a 97-0 vote on May 16, and on Monday, Ernest Moniz will visit Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the first time as energy secretary.
Moniz will meet with the media at the Spallation Neutron Source.
A former under secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy, Moniz was sworn in as the nation’s 13th Secretary of Energy on May 21. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge High School graduation ceremony is at 7 p.m. today at Blankenship Field. (File photo)
The Oak Ridge High School graduation ceremony is at 7 p.m. today at Blankenship Field.
If the ceremony is rained out tonight, it will be held at 7 p.m. Friday at Blankenship Field.
Check the ORHS website for more information.
Pictured above is the proposed Uranium Processing Facility at Y-12 National Security Complex, with the administrative area in the front and the fortified section of the building in the rear. (Submitted image)
There are some “world-class engineering problems” to work through, but site preparation work has started on the giant new Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex, a project official said Thursday.
“We’re finally starting to make some traction,” UPF Federal Project Director John Eschenberg told several hundred people at the two-day Tennessee Valley Corridor National Summit at Y-12’s New Hope Center.
Eschenberg said the site prep work could last 18 months, and it will include work on power distribution and underground water lines as well as moving a section of Bear Creek Road to the north. Three contracts have already been awarded to East Tennessee small businesses. [Read more…]
Eric Cantor
Note: This story was updated at 12:35 p.m.
In his first visit to Oak Ridge, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor paid tribute to the national security and science work that has occurred here dating back to World War II, called for a continued emphasis on research and discovery, and touched on political topics including the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline, unemployment, and the nation’s social safety net.
A Virginia Republican, Cantor said the U.S. House of Representatives last week passed the Northern Route Approval Act, allowing the Keystone XL pipeline to be completed. The bill declares that a presidential permit is not required to approve the section of the pipeline from Alberta to Nebraska, which crosses a national border. [Read more…]
Information from WYSH Radio
The driver of an Anderson County school bus that crashed last week has been suspended until further notice after the in-bus camera recording shows that she was not forced off the road by an oncoming car veering into her lane as she had originally told investigators.
Last Tuesday, the bus carrying 43 children overturned in a grassy field off of Johnson Gap Road. Immediately after the crash, driver Tammy Moore told investigators that she had swerved to avoid an oncoming car that had veered into her lane, causing the tires on the right side of the bus to leave the roadway. The bus traveled about 200 more feet before rolling onto its side. [Read more…]
Information from WYSH Radio
A 19-year-old Knoxville woman was killed in a single-vehicle accident early Tuesday morning in Anderson County, and now the driver of the car she was riding in is facing charges.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol reported that Justin Seeber, 23, of Clinton had been driving a 2006 Jaguar XT3 sedan north on Highway 25W shortly before 1 a.m. Tuesday with three passengers when the accident occurred. The THP report indicates that Seeber’s car veered off the roadway and hit a ditch before re-entering the road and coming to rest. [Read more…]
A hay bailer was destroyed in a fire on Wednesday afternoon on Oliver Springs Highway near Batley Road. (Photo by Adam Daugherty)
A hay bailer was destroyed in a Wednesday afternoon fire on Oliver Springs Highway near Batley Road.
Hay that had been cut in the field did not burn in the 1:20 p.m. fire.
Volunteer fire departments from Marlow and Oliver Springs responded. [Read more…]
Lamar Alexander
It’s been five years since U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander called for a new Manhattan Project for energy independence, and during a Wednesday update, the senator said four “grand principles” should guide America’s energy policy.
The senator said his principles—which include research and development, free market forces, and cheaper, clean energy—would “end an obsession with taxpayer subsidies and strategies for expensive energy.” They would instead focus on “doubling research and allowing marketplace solutions to create an abundance of clean, cheap, reliable energy,” Alexander said during a Wednesday afternoon speech at the Tennessee Valley Corridor Summit in Oak Ridge.
The senator called for doubling research funding and ending long-term subsidies for “big oil” and “big wind.” [Read more…]
KNOXVILLE—Most people have experienced a long wait to see a doctor. Technology being developed through a new collaboration between the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Y-12 National Security Complex, and Stanley Healthcare aims to cut down on wait times.
The three entities are developing an intelligent interactive dashboard that crunches data in real time to help managers determine how best to administer flow.
An official signing of a cooperative research and development agreement was signed during the Tennessee Valley Corridor’s National Technology Summit on Wednesday evening at the Y-12 National Security Complex’s New Hope Center in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge City Council will consider the municipal budget, which is not expected to raise property taxes, during a second and final reading Tuesday evening.
The Oak Ridge City Council has approved a budget that does not raise the property tax rate in the fiscal year that starts July 1.
The budget provides $50,000 more for the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce than Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson had requested, and it gives city employees a 1 percent pay raise.
Council members deferred a request from the Oak Ridge Board of Education to match $50,000 in spending for one of two new school resource officers at Jefferson and Robertsville middle schools. City officials estimated the cost per SRO is about double the school system’s request, or more than $100,000 per year per officer, when the cost of a police car is included. [Read more…]
Plans call for converting the Alexander Inn, formerly known as The Guest House, into an assisted living center.
The first estate sale at the Alexander Inn was very popular, and now the East Tennessee Preservation Alliance plans to have a second.
It will be this Saturday, and the ETPA said it’s the second and final estate “tag” sale.
The sale will from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday. ETPA is holding it in conjunction with Knox Heritage’s Salvage Room. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge Associated Universities has awarded competitive research grants totaling $150,000 to 30 junior faculty from ORAU member institutions. The annual grants are made through the Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Awards program that provides funds to enrich the research and professional growth of young faculty.
The recipients, each of whom is in the first two years of a tenure track position, will receive $5,000 in “seed money” for the 2013-2014 academic year to enhance their research during the early stages of their career. Each recipient’s institution also matches the ORAU award with an additional $5,000, making the total prize worth $10,000 for each winner. Winners may use the grants to purchase equipment, continue research, or travel to professional meetings and conferences. [Read more…]
