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For members: Thousands of movies, games, ink cartridges seized from McGuire, Packard’s, indictment says

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Law enforcement officers who searched McGuire Used Books and Packard’s stores in Oak Ridge, Clinton, and Kingston more than two years ago seized thousands of movies, video games, and printer ink cartridges, and after the searches and seizures, an Oak Ridge man was charged with money laundering, organized retail crime, and theft, according to an indictment filed in Anderson County in June.

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Law enforcement officers who searched McGuire Used Books and Packard’s stores in Oak Ridge, Clinton, and Kingston more than two years ago seized thousands of movies, video games, and printer ink cartridges, and after the searches and seizures, an Oak Ridge man was charged with money laundering, organized retail crime, and theft, according to an indictment filed in Anderson County in June.

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For members: Police say they found parts matching defendant’s car at fatal hit-and-run

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Police officers investigating a hit-and-run collision that killed a pedestrian on Oak Ridge Turnpike on Tuesday morning said they found vehicle parts matching the defendant’s car at the crash site.

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Police officers investigating a hit-and-run collision that killed a pedestrian on Oak Ridge Turnpike on Tuesday morning said they found vehicle parts matching the defendant’s car at the crash site.

The rest of this story, which you will find only on Oak Ridge Today, is available if you are a member: an advertiser or subscriber to Oak Ridge Today.

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For members: RMS satellite scheduled to launch in September

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Peter Thornton, a researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, holds the cube satellite, or CubeSat, that will be completely built soon and was developed by Robertsville Middle School students with help from teachers and mentors. Named RamSat, the cube satellite is scheduled to launch from Virginia on a space station resupply mission on Sept. 7, 2020. Thornton is pictured above during a mentors meeting at RMS on Thursday, May 28. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The small cube satellite built by Robertsville Middle School students with help from teachers, mentors, and NASA is scheduled to launch on a resupply rocket to the International Space Station in September, and it could be deployed into orbit a few hundred miles above Earth in October.

Testing of the satellite and its components, including a battery test and vibration tests, was scheduled to start this week.

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For members: New stores planned at Main Street, but construction suspended

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A crew works in the area of the second phase of construction of Main Street Oak Ridge on Thursday, March 5, 2020. The construction work has since been suspended. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Four new stores are planned at Main Street Oak Ridge, but construction has been suspended for now.

The four new stores are Five Below, Home Goods, Old Navy, and Ross Dress for Less. The retailers have signed leases, and their stores could be ready to open as soon as the spring of 2021, said Neil Wilson, principal of the development company, TN Oak Ridge Rutgers LLC. The new stores would be between JCPenney and PetSmart. That includes some of the area where the roundabout used to be.

But construction of the building that would contain the new stores has been suspended.

“Retailers are postponing the opening of new stores and re-thinking the size and configuration of store footprints,” Wilson told Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson in an April 20 letter. “As a result, the retail developers are delaying the construction of the building to house those new stores.”

Wilson said TN Oak Ridge Rutgers LLC is trying hard to get the project back into its development timeline in 60 days. The storage facility, which has previously been considered by city officials, is part of the effort to get the project back on track, he said.

Wilson said retailers are suffering because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the estimated growth in global retail for 2020 will be cut in half from the levels that were forecast before COVID-19.

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The types of stores that will be hit the hardest are “short-term, fashion, furniture, and electronics retailers,” Wilson said. Customers will buy fewer of those discretionary items, choosing instead to stock up on food and household supplies.

But in the meantime, construction could proceed quickly on a three-story self-storage facility at Main Street Oak Ridge. It would be along Rutgers Avenue, behind Burkes Outlet, Electronic Express, and PetSmart. The self-storage market is doing well, Wilson said.

Some residents and city officials, including members of the Oak Ridge Municipal Planning Commission, have opposed the proposed self-storage facility or shown little interest in it.

But in a split vote Monday, the Oak Ridge City Council voted 4-3 to approve a zoning change that could allow it. The zoning ordinance amendment, which did not specifically approve the Main Street Oak Ridge project, is expected to be considered for final approval during another City Council meeting in June.

The rest of this story, which includes background information and information about the City Council vote, is available if you are a member: an advertiser, sponsor, or subscriber to Oak Ridge Today.

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For members: ORNL contract extension valued at up to $8 billion

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The five-year non-competitive contract extension at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has an estimated value of up to $8 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

The DOE Office of Science has explained why it did not have a full, open competition for the extension.

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For members: CNS violated nuclear safety requirements at Y-12, NNSA says

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Y-12 Building 9212

A low-level aerial shot of Building 9212 at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

 

A federal contractor violated nuclear safety requirements at the Y-12 National Security Complex, according to the National Nuclear Security Administration.

The violations are associated with the accumulations of uranium-235 in a glovebox, furnace, and casting line in Building 9212 at Y-12. The equipment is used to recover and process uranium-235, a fissile material that can be used in nuclear weapons and reactors.

The buildup of enriched uranium, discovered after hydraulic lines leaked in a glovebox, exceeded limits established by a safety program meant to help prevent a nuclear chain reaction.

An investigation of the uranium accumulations found weaknesses in five areas, according to the NNSA, which is part of the U.S. Department of Energy and overseas nuclear weapons work at sites like Y-12. Among the deficiencies were procedural compliances, evaluations of process changes, the analyses of causes, the establishment of roles and responsibilities, and the implementation of a program meant to prevent inadvertent accumulations.

“The National Nuclear Security Administration considers these deficiencies to be of high safety significance,” Administrator Lisa Gordon-Hagerty wrote in an April 6 letter. “Although there were no actual consequences to the public, workers, or the environment, these deficiencies eroded the barriers preventing a nuclear criticality and could, if left uncorrected, adversely impact nuclear and worker safety at the Y-12 National Security Complex.”

The letter was sent to Morgan Smith, president and chief executive officer of Consolidated Nuclear Security. CNS manages and operates Y-12, as well as the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, for the NNSA.

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For members: Layoffs announced at movie theater, car dealer

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Cinemark Tinseltown Theater is temporarily closed. The theater is pictured above on Friday, March 20, 2020. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Layoffs have been announced at an Oak Ridge movie theater and car dealership as well as at a fast food restaurant that could start renovations next month. Two Oak Ridge hotels have also announced layoffs.

The layoffs were announced as Tennessee reported that more than 300,000 unemployment claims were filed in the past four weeks. Parts of the economy have been shut down, and residents are required to stay at home unless they are conducting essential activities. Tennessee, along with the rest of the country and the world, is trying to slow the spread of COVID-19, a contagious respiratory illness that can be deadly.

Thirty-five workers were affected by layoffs at the movie theater, Cinemark Tinseltown USA, according to a notice posted by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development on Friday. The layoffs were effective March 26.

The theater, which is at Main Street Oak Ridge in the center of the city, has been temporarily closed.

The closure of Cinemark theaters across the United States is temporary and a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic, spokesperson Caitlin Piper said Saturday.

“The health and safety of our employees, guests, and communities is a top priority, and we look forward to once again hiring employees and welcoming moviegoers to experience the magic of cinematic storytelling on our big screens when it is safe to do so,” Piper said. “Again, these Cinemark theatre closures across the U.S. are temporary.”

[Read more…]

For members: Chinns part of apartment project on former AMSE site

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AMSE-Site-Feb-11-2020

The former American Museum of Science and Energy is pictured above on South Tulane Avenue on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Oak Ridge Mayor Pro Tem Rick Chinn and his brother Ryan are minority partners in the project to build apartments at the former American Museum of Science and Energy site.

Rick Chinn, a developer, said this month that the project will bring much-needed apartments to the city, allowing more people who work in Oak Ridge to live here. The apartments are being built as RealtyLink, a South Carolina developer, plans to build more new stores across South Tulane Avenue at Main Street Oak Ridge, the redevelopment of the former Oak Ridge Mall.

Now called Main Street Lofts, the apartment project has included an agreement to reduce property taxes and the transfer of what had been federal property from the U.S. Department of Energy to the city and then to a developer. It will include the demolition of the former AMSE building. It is expected to include seven three-story buildings with 226 apartment units on 10 acres.

Rick Chinn and his father, Richard Chinn, a member of the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board, have been abstaining from votes related to the apartment project for at least a year.

They have not been required to explain their abstentions, but Oak Ridge Today has asked Rick and Richard Chinn why they have been abstaining.

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For members: Mason found guilty of federal gun, drug charges

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Charles Mason Preliminary Hearing July 25 2019

KNOXVILLE—An Anderson County man who has been convicted of two homicides and has been charged in state court with the attempted murder of a deputy was found guilty in federal court on Friday of gun and drug crimes that have potential sentences of life in prison.

A 12-person jury deliberated for about two hours Friday morning before reaching a unanimous verdict on the four federal charges.

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For members: Man charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, heroin, meth

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Joshua Andrew Koch

 

A 42-year-old Anderson County man is facing federal charges of conspiring to distribute cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine after a search of a home in Claxton in July allegedly found about 230 grams of a white, crystal-like substance thought to be methamphetamine and roughly 69.5 grams of a brown powder substance suspected to be heroin, according to state and federal court records.

The defendant has also been charged with federal financial and firearms crimes, and he has seven co-defendants in the case, although the charges vary by defendant.

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For members: Man sentenced to 20 years for shooting that injured two

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Claxton-Shooting-Jan-13-2018

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department investigates a shooting at 3008 Clinton Highway, at the intersection of Clinton Highway and Lonesome Dove Road in Claxton, on Saturday evening, Jan. 13, 2018. Two people were reported to have non-life threatening injuries. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

CLINTON—An Oak Ridge man received a 20-year prison sentence when he pleaded guilty Tuesday to three counts of attempted first-degree murder after a shooting that injured two people during an argument in a Clinton Highway home about two years ago.

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For members: Man sentenced to more than 12 years on federal meth conspiracy charge

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Samuel McCoy Wade

 

An Oak Ridge man was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to a federal charge of conspiring to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine.

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