Oak Ridge Today

Children’s Museum to host Celebration of the Young Child on Friday

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Doug Berky

Doug Berky will be the featured entertainer at Celebration of the Young Child at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge on Friday. (Submitted photo)

Doug Berky—a physical theater performer using comedy, mime, masks, juggling, and storytelling—will be the featured entertainer for the Celebration of the Young Child at 10 a.m. Friday at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge.

Young children and their families are invited to join in the celebration from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. A puppet show on safety, make-and-take crafts, a kids’ movement class, a Scholastic book fair, and health and nutrition activities will also be part of the celebration. Adele Roberts will lead storytelling and puppet fun, with stories based on her series of children’s books, which includes “The Adventures of Sammy the Skunk.” Children will make dinosaurs, sunflowers, and noodle necklaces to take home. [Read more…]

DOE Environmental Management has public meeting to discuss cleanup funding, strategy

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Mark Whitney

Mark Whitney

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, or EM, is holding a public meeting to discuss the program’s fiscal year 2015 budget and cleanup priorities. The workshop, featuring Oak Ridge’s senior EM leadership, is scheduled from 4-6 p.m. April 23 at Pollard Auditorium.

“As taxpayer stewards, I think these public meetings are a responsible practice that increase transparency and explain our decision process,” said Mark Whitney, Oak Ridge’s Environmental Management manager. “These meetings also provide a forum for residents and stakeholders to voice their opinions, suggestions, and concerns about our vision.” [Read more…]

UT Arboretum Society plant sale this weekend

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UT Arboretum Society Plant Sale

The University of Tennessee Arboretum Society plant sale is Saturday at the UT Arboretum on South Illinois Avenue, and there is a members-only plant sale Friday evening. (Submitted photo)

The University of Tennessee Arboretum Society will hold its annual spring plant sale on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the UT Arboretum on South Illinois Avenue. The “Members Only” sale will be on Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. Memberships may be purchased at that time.

The Society will be offering plants with colorful foliage or flowers. Selections will include crape myrtle, vitex, encore azalea, hardy gardenia, hydrangea, and loropetalum. [Read more…]

DOE Oak Ridge Nuclear Energy manager to retire

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J.T. Howell

J.T. Howell (Photo courtesy US DOE/Lynn Freeny)

J.T. Howell, manager of the Nuclear Energy Oak Ridge Site Office, will retire from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office on May 3 after 33 years of federal government service.

Howell has held his current position since 2011, responsible for advancing DOE’s nuclear energy programs in Oak Ridge; Portsmouth, Ohio; and Paducah, Ky. His responsibilities also include oversight of leases, agreements, and technology development and deployment between the DOE and the United States Enrichment Corporation to ensure a secure and viable domestic supply of enriched uranium for the United States defense purposes. [Read more…]

Sen. Corker also votes against Toomey-Manchin background checks

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U.S. Senator Bob Corker

Bob Corker

U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican, also voted Wednesday against the bipartisan Toomey-Manchin amendment to expand background checks for potential gun purchasers.

Like U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, Corker said he supported what is known as the Grassley amendment.

“Like most Americans, I want to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals and dangerous mentally ill people,” Corker said in a press release Wednesday evening. “Today, I supported the Grassley amendment to enhance mental health reporting requirements, which I believe is the central issue, and to improve the background check system in a way that is not an impediment to Second Amendment rights. [Read more…]

Y-12 protesters submit witness list, want extra time for jury questioning

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Y-12 Plowshares Protesters

Pictured above at U.S. District Court in Knoxville are the three anti-nuclear weapons protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex on July 28. From left, they are Michael Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed.

The three protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex in July want to call a retired bishop, a doctor, a former U.S. attorney general, a civil rights leader, and a retired military officer and diplomat as witnesses in a Tuesday hearing and May 7 trial in Knoxville.

The proposed witnesses include former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, civil rights sit-in participant Robert Booker, doctor Ira Helfand, retired Col. Mary Annette Wright, and retired U.S. Catholic Bishop Thomas Gumbleton.

The three protesters—Greg Boertje-Obed, Megan Rice, and Michael Walli—also want six hours, and not 1.5, to question prospective jurors for their May 7 trial in U.S. District Court. [Read more…]

Alexander votes against assault weapons ban, expanded background checks

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U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander

Lamar Alexander

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander on Wednesday joined senators opposing one amendment that would have expanded background checks for potential gun purchasers and another to ban assault weapons.

New gun-control measures are being considered four months after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Wednesday’s votes were considered major defeats for supporters of tougher gun laws.

A Tennessee Republican, Alexander said he instead supports a proposal offered by senators Chuck Grassley, a Iowa Republican, and Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican. He said the Grassley-Cruz amendment would strengthen federal prosecution under existing gun laws and clarify which records must be included in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. [Read more…]

NNSA: President’s budget request includes $326M for UPF at Y-12

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Uranium Processing Facility

The proposed Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above. (Submitted image)

President Barack Obama’s budget request for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1 includes $326 million for the Uranium Processing Facility project at the Y-12 National Security Complex, federal officials said this week.

The president’s proposed budget, which still has to be considered by Congress, was released last week. The National Nuclear Security Administration released details on Monday.

The NNSA has also posted highlights of the president’s budget request. [Read more…]

ORNL researchers elected American Physical Society fellows

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Xiaoguang Zhang and Eliot Specht

Xiaoguang Zhang and Eliot Specht have been named American Physical Society fellows. (Submitted photo)

Two researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory have been elected to fellowship in the American Physical Society.

Xiaoguang Zhang and Eliot Specht were named APS fellows in recognition of their outstanding contributions to physics.

APS fellowship is limited to no more than 0.5 percent per year of the society’s more than 50,000 members. [Read more…]

Omega Plastics to expand in Clinton; invest $8.2 million, add 80 jobs

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Omega Plastics will expand its corporate headquarters in Clinton, investing $8.2 million and adding 80 new positions in Anderson County, state officials and company executives announced Wednesday.

The expansion will add an extra 85,000 square feet, more than doubling the company’s current facility in the Carden Farm Industrial Park, a press release said. It said Omega Plastics is a world leader in “plastics extrusion molding solutions for prototype and low-volume production.”

The company supplies clients across the globe in medical, consumer packaging, automotive, and security and safety productions. [Read more…]

United Way will announce 2012 campaign results in annual meeting Thursday

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It’s been a challenging year, and the United Way of Anderson County is scaling back its annual meeting this year and reducing expenses.

The campaign results from 2012 will be announced at an annual meeting at 7:30 a.m. Thursday at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge, a UWAC member agency. The meeting is open to the public with advance reservation. It will include a brief networking and continental breakfast, followed by the annual business meeting and campaign recognition. [Read more…]

Flags lowered at Anderson County Courthouse

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The flags at the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton have been lowered to half-staff and will remain so through sunset Saturday in honor and memory of the victims of Monday’s bombings at the Boston Marathon, a press release said.

Anderson County Veterans Service Officer Leon Jaquet lowered the flags late Tuesday morning after receiving notification from the Office of President Barack Obama, who issued a presidential proclamation ordering the lowering of U.S. flags at all public buildings and grounds as a mark of respect for the victims.

“Such acts of evil are always difficult to understand,” Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank said. “My prayers are with the victims, their families and those who so bravely responded to help.”