A Clinton man collapsed while walking in shallow water at a Florida beach on Tuesday, and he died in a hospital later, the Panama City News Herald reported.
The Bay County Sheriff’s Office identified the man as Ronald Anderson, 68, of Clinton, the newspaper said.
A 27-year-old Bradyville man has been charged with child abuse and aggravated assault after his girlfriend said he kicked and hit her six-year-old son in an Oak Ridge apartment and threatened her with a knife.
The woman said she found her son on the floor crying in the food department at the Oak Ridge Walmart early Saturday morning, according to Anderson County court records. She alleged that red marks she found on the back of her son’s neck were made by her boyfriend, Clayton K. Williams.
There were actually two stars at Roane State Community College on Wednesday.
One was U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis. She was there to celebrate the recent announcement of a $12.5 million grant to a group led by Roane State that will use the money to train students for health care careers and help them graduate.
The other star was Sunbright resident Loretta Starnes. She was once a pregnant teenage high school dropout who became a Roane State graduate and won a top student honor—the 2012 Roane State President’s Award.
President Obama recently signed a six-month federal spending measure with money for more work on the American Centrifuge research, development, and demonstration program, including in Oak Ridge, a USEC press release said.
The funding is part of the government’s $280 million, or 80 percent, share of the $350 million cost-share program with USEC Inc. It’s meant to prove America’s next generation of uranium enrichment technology and help national security and nuclear nonproliferation, the press release said.
UCOR announced that 21 staff support subcontractors were laid off Monday, and more subcontractor and trade jobs could be cut later this week.
“This is to restructure the workforce to meet our changing needs as work is completed, and also to stay within expected funding for Fiscal Year 2013,” the company said in a statement. “No UCOR employees are being affected.”
UCOR is the U.S. Department of Energy’s cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge.
Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson, left, talks to Kay Brookshire and Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan.
Note: This story was updated at 9:50 a.m. Oct. 4.
With a boom in economic activity that includes billions of dollars worth of projects, Oak Ridge City Manager Mark S. Watson offered a dose of optimism about the city’s economic future on Tuesday, and he suggested commercial developments won’t be held up by the owners of the “inactive” Oak Ridge Mall or property owners who set sale prices too high.
Five retailers that might have wanted to locate at the mall are now talking to the developers of a $30 million Kroger Marketplace shopping center planned at the busy intersection of Oak Ridge Turnpike and Illinois Avenue, Watson said. He said the city and commercial developers are “going right on around” the privately owned, mostly empty mall, where redevelopment plans have languished for years.
“They’re starting to lose customers,” Watson said during an hour-long lunchtime speech to the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge. “They’re going to be left holding the bag if they don’t start moving—and moving quickly.”
U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis will tour the Oak Ridge campus of Roane State Community College on Wednesday to highlight federal investments in health care job training.
The tour comes about two weeks after the U.S. Department of Labor announced that a consortium led by Roane State had received a $12.5 million grant to offer more training for health care careers and help students finish their degrees. The Sept. 19 announcement included a total of 54 grants helping nearly 300 schools across the country.
The Wednesday tour starts at 11 a.m., and it will be followed by remarks by Solis and a press conference.
Eight state and federal legislative candidates have been invited to take part in a Thursday evening forum at Oak Ridge High School.
The candidates could include the three running for the U.S. House of Representatives in Tennessee’s 3rd District: Republican Chuck Fleischmann, who is the incumbent; Democrat Mary M. Headrick, a physician; and Independent Matthew Deniston, a U.S. Army veteran. The district includes Oak Ridge.
They could also include the two candidates for Tennessee House of Representatives in the 33rd District: Republican John D. Ragan, the incumbent, and Democrat Jim Hackworth, who is trying to take back his old seat. The district includes much of Anderson County.
Also invited are candidates for the Tennessee House of Representatives in the 32rd District: Republican Kent Calfee, a former Roane County commissioner; Democrat Jack W. McNew; and Independent Allen R. Cole. The district includes Roane County and part of Loudon County.
An Oak Ridge utility customer helped expose a scam designed to steal money from residents, city officials said in a Tuesday press release.
The customer reported that she received a phone call from someone pretending to to be from the City of Oak Ridge Utility Business Office. The customer was told her account was more than 30 days past due, and she needed to pay at least $50 to someone who would stop by her house.
If she did not make the payment, the customer was told, her power would be disconnected.
Chalk art from last year’s Street Painting Festival at Roane State Community College in Oak Ridge. (Submitted photo)
Hey artists, it’s time to “talk the talk, then chalk the walk.”
And for you folks who care about educating our future workforce and growing the local economy, it’s time to write checks for chalk art to help make our workforce smart.
Artists and sponsors are needed for the 13th annual Oak Ridge Street Painting Festival, which will be held the weekend of Oct. 6-7 at the Oak Ridge campus of Roane State Community College on Briarcliff Road.
The Rotary Club of Oak Ridge, which organizes and sponsors the annual festival, urges artists of all ages and abilities to paint Roane State sidewalks for free with chalks of many colors. The club suggests that artists invite their artistic friends to join in the fun.
Every sponsor of a sidewalk square for an artist to chalk will contribute to scholarships for Roane State students. Each painted square is valued at $100.
An all-day seminar Wednesday will provide tips and techniques to those writing proposals for government contracts.
The seminar runs from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at The Foundry, located at 747 World’s Fair Park Drive in Knoxville. The featured speaker is Kirste L. Webb, owner of PQC Solutions.
AARP Driver Safety Classes are being offered in Oak Ridge this week and again later this month.
The classes this week are from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday at the Oak Ridge Senior Center at 728 Emory Valley Road.
The classes later this month are from noon to 4 p.m. Oct. 24 and 25 in the Cheyenne Conference Room at 984 Oak Ridge Turnpike.
