The half-hour July 4 show in Oak Ridge features many colorful fireworks at A.K. Bissell Park. (Photo by Charles Samuels)
Thousands of people watch the annual fireworks show in Oak Ridge. (Photo by John Norris)
Thousands of people turned out Wednesday in Oak Ridge and Kingston to enjoy Independence Day celebrations and July 4 fireworks.
Here is a compilation of reader-submitted photos and a few taken by Oak Ridge Today.
Former Tennessee legislator Jim Hackworth, a Clinton Democrat, left, and Ryan Mackay, Tennessee Democratic Party deputy field director, question whether Rep. John Ragan, an Oak Ridge Republican, is following state law for campaign websites and literature.
Former Tennessee legislator Jim Hackworth this week accused his campaign opponent, Rep. John Ragan, of violating state ethics and finance laws, but Ragan said Hackworth was engaging in “desperate attacks.”
On Monday, Hackworth said Ragan’s campaign website violated state ethics and finance laws because it included his official office phone number and state e-mail address. By Tuesday morning, Ragan had removed that contact information, although he said including it was not illegal and he had removed it as a courtesy to Hackworth, a constituent.
That didn’t seem to satisfy Hackworth.
Researchers at the BioEnergy Science Center analyze bacteria that could aid in the production of next-generation biofuels. (Photo submitted by ORNL)
Submitted by ORNL
The identification of key proteins in a group of heat-loving bacteria by researchers at the Department of Energy’s BioEnergy Science Center could help light a fire under next-generation biofuel production.
Scientists have long been on the hunt for cost-effective ways to break down complex plant material such as switchgrass in order to access sugars that are fermented to make biofuels. Conventional processes involve the addition of commercially produced enzymes to break down the cellulose.
This image is a famous Ed Westcott photo of the July 6, 1944 Troop Train Wreck at High Cliff near Jellico. This is one of the stories that will be discussed.
Author Allen R. Coggins will discuss Tennessee tragedies in the last 250 years during a July 12 Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association meeting. The public is invited, and the meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the Midtown Community Center.
Coggins is the author of Place Names of the Smokies and has recently published Tennessee Tragedies: Grim Reapings of Our Past, which is the first compilation of historical disasters for any state, according to a press release.
From left to right are UCOR’s Bob Smith, Leo Sain, Cathy Hickey, Veronica O’Hearn, and Ken Rueter with University of Tennessee assistant professor Jason Hayward in Hayward’s lab. (Photo submitted by UT)
UCOR, a federal cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge, is donating $250,000 to set up an engineering faculty fellowship at the University of Tennessee.
The first award recipient is Jason Hayward, an assistant professor in UT’s Department of Nuclear Engineering, a university press release said.
Leo Sain, UCOR’s president and project manager, announced the fellowship on Friday, June 29, at the East Tennessee Economic Council meeting in Oak Ridge.
Oak Ridge’s annual fireworks show will start at 10 p.m. today at A.K. Bissell Park.
Radio host Jack Ryan from Merle 96.7 will broadcast live in the park at 6 p.m. and will play patriotic music during the fireworks.
The Oak Ridge Community Band will also play its annual Fourth of July concert in the Civic Center pavilion at 7:30 p.m.
The Family Friendly Knoxville website has posted information on other Independence Day events in the Knoxville area, including Kingston’s Smokin’ the Water and the Museum of Appalachia’s July 4 celebration and anvil shoot.
Amateur photographer R.E. McLaren will be teaching a free photography workshop at 9 a.m. Saturday at the University of Tennessee Arboretum Visitor’s Center.
McLaren has been an amateur photographer for many years and has a special interest in wildlife and landscapes, according to a press release.
Future automotive batteries could cost less and pack more power because of a new manufacturing research and development facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The $3 million U.S. Department of Energy facility is located off Hardin Valley Road at the National Transportation Research Center.
A North Carolina man who graduated from Clinton High School in 1987 died Sunday in an airplane crash in South Dakota.
Lt. Col. Paul Mikeal of Mooresville, N.C., was killed while fighting massive wildfires when an Air National Guard C-130 crashed in the mountains of South Dakota, WYSH Radio in Clinton reported.
A photo gallery posted on The Atlantic magazine website is generating interest in historical Oak Ridge photos.
The pictures, most of them by photographer Ed Westcott, capture life in Oak Ridge and its federal plants between 1942 and 1966.
The U. S. Department of Energy’s warning sirens in Oak Ridge will not be tested this Wednesday due to the July 4 holiday.
The sirens are typically tested between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. the first Wednesday of each month. They are intended to give immediate notification of an emergency to people who are within about two miles of DOE’s Oak Ridge Reservation.
Mark Watson
Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson has asked the city to reimburse him for tuition and textbooks as he pursues a doctorate at the University of Tennessee.
In exchange, Watson would have to earn at least a “B” average and continue working for the city for three years after he finishes his classwork. If he leaves before then, he would have to repay the city.
Watson is studying political science, with a concentration in public administration.
