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(For members) Retiring Bull Run, Paradise could save millions, more than $1 billion in ‘lifetime costs’

Posted at 1:49 pm February 18, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The Tennessee Valley Authority's Bull Run Fossil Plant is pictured above in Claxton on Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The Tennessee Valley Authority’s Bull Run Fossil Plant is pictured above in Claxton on Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The Tennessee Valley Authority's Bull Run Fossil Plant is pictured above in Claxton on Monday, Aug. 27, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The coal-burning Bull Run Fossil Plant in Claxton and Paradise Fossil Plant Unit 3 in Kentucky are not economical to operate, and retiring them will offer a savings of about $320 million and avoid more than $1 billion in capital costs, the Tennessee Valley Authority said Thursday.

The TVA Board of Directors voted 6-1 to close Paradise Unit 3 and unanimously agreed to close Bull Run during a meeting in Chattanooga on Thursday. Paradise could close by December 2020, and Bull Run is expected to close by December 2023.

The Bull Run and Paradise closures will be the first 1,700 megawatts of coal plant retirements of the 2,600 megawatts that could be retired through 2033 under a 2015 integrated resource plan, TVA President and Chief Executive Officer Bill Johnson told the board.

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Note: Most news stories on Oak Ridge Today are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our advertisers, sponsors, and subscribers. Some are considered premium content. This story is premium content. Premium content can include in-depth, investigative, and exclusive stories.

Filed Under: Federal, Federal, Front Page News, Government, Premium Content, Slider Tagged With: Anderson County Commission, baseload generation, Bill Johnson, Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Bull Run Fossil Plant, carbon-free sources, coal, coal plant, coal plant retirement, coal-fired unit, energy efficiency, John Thomas, Kenny Allen, natural gas, natural gas combined-cycle plant, nuclear power, Oak Ridge City Council, Paradise Fossil Plant, Paradise Fossil Plant Unit 3, Paradise Unit 3, renewable energy, Ron Walter, Scott Turnbow, Tennessee Valley Authority, Tracy Wandell, TVA, USEC, Watts Bar Nuclear Plant

NOAA building in Oak Ridge closed due to government shutdown

Posted at 3:29 pm January 11, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The NOAA building on South Illinois Avenue, shown above on Friday, Jan. 11, 2019, has a sign posted on the front door announcing that it is closed due to the partial shutdown of the federal government. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The NOAA building on South Illinois Avenue, shown above on Friday, Jan. 11, 2019, has a sign posted on the front door announcing that it is closed due to the partial shutdown of the federal government. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration building in Oak Ridge is closed due to the partial shutdown of the federal government, which is now three weeks old and approaching a record length.

NOAA is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, which is one of nine cabinet-level departments affected by the partial government shutdown. The shutdown, which mostly hinges on a dispute between President Donald Trump and Democrats in Congress over whether to allocate $5.7 billion in funding for a wall on the border with Mexico, also affects the Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the federal judiciary, and other related government programs.

About 380,000 workers were to be sent home and not be paid for their time off during the shutdown, the New York Times reported. Another 420,000 deemed too essential to be furloughed are being forced to work without pay, the newspaper said. After past shutdowns, such workers have been reimbursed later.

It wasn’t immediately clear Friday afternoon how many NOAA workers in Oak Ridge, part of an air research laboratory that has a division here, have been furloughed and how many, if any, are being forced to work without pay. A sign posted on the front door announced that the building is closed due to the shutdown. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Federal, Federal, Front Page News, Government, Science, Slider, Top Stories Tagged With: Air Resources Laboratory, American Museum of Science and Energy, Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division, Children's Museum of Oak Ridge, Climate Reference Network, federal government, government shutdown, Kris Kirby, Manhattan Project National Historical Park, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Park Service, NOAA, ORAU, partial government shutdown, partial shutdown, U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Interior

GAO: DOE has more than 80 percent of U.S. government’s environmental liabilities

Posted at 9:18 pm September 3, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Workers clean 5,700 feet of piping on Alpha-4’s west side at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. (Photo by U.S. Department of Energy)

Workers clean 5,700 feet of piping on Alpha 4’s west side at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. Alpha 4 was built in 1944. It was used first for enriching uranium as part of the Manhattan Project and later for thermonuclear weapons production. It was shut down in 1987 and will be demolished. (Photo by U.S. Department of Energy)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 3:20 p.m. September 4.

The U.S. Department of Energy is responsible for more than 80 percent of the U.S. government’s estimated $450 billion in environmental liabilities, a federal agency said in a report published this year.

The agency, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, added the government’s environmental liabilities to a high-risk list of federal programs and operations in a report published in February.

Total environmental liabilities for the federal government are estimated at $447 billion. DOE is responsible for about $372 billion of them, or 83 percent, according to a fiscal year 2016 estimate, the GAO said.

Most of DOE’s environmental liability is related to nuclear waste cleanup, the GAO said. Fifty percent of it is at two cleanup sites: the Hanford Site in Washington state and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.

The GAO—an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress—said DOE’s total reported environmental liability has generally increased since 2000. It’s roughly doubled from a low of $176 billion in fiscal year 1997 to the higher estimate of $372 billion in fiscal year 2016.

“In the last six years alone, EM (environmental management) has spent $35 billion, primarily to treat and dispose of nuclear and hazardous waste and construct capital projects to treat the waste, while EM’s portion of the environmental liability has grown over this same time period by over $90 billion, from $163 billion to $257 billion,” the GAO said.

In the past few fiscal years, DOE environmental management has spent about $6 billion per year. The budget request submitted to Congress by President Donald Trump in May asked for $6.5 billion for the DOE Office of Environmental Management, the largest request in a decade.

Oak Ridge has a DOE environmental management program. It received more than $400 million in funding per fiscal year between 2013 and 2016. The Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management has major cleanup projects at the East Tennessee Technology Park (the former K-25 site), Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Y-12 National Security Complex. Cleanup work depends upon funding, but it could continue into the mid-2040s. Although they might be in various stages, projects that are under way now include finishing demolition work at ETTP by 2020, disposing of uranium-233 at ORNL, addressing high-risk excess facilities at ORNL and Y-12, building a Mercury Treatment Facility at Y-12, and shipping transuranic waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. [Read more…]

Filed Under: East Tennessee Technology Park, Federal, Federal, Front Page News, Government, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Office, Oak Ridge Reservation, Slider, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: 2016 Fire Department Instructors Conference, DOE, DOE's cleanup work, DOE's environmental liability, East Tennessee Technology Park, EM, environmental liabilities, environmental management, Environmental Protection Agency, federal government's cleanup obligations, federal government’s estimated environmental liability, federal government’s total estimated environmental liability, GAO, Hanford Site, K-25 site, Nevada National Security Site, nuclear waste cleanup, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, Savannah River Site, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Government Accountability Office, Y-12 National Security Complex

Oak Ridge celebrates new national park

Posted at 6:32 pm November 12, 2015
By John Huotari 6 Comments

National Park Celebration at Jackson Square on Nov. 12, 2015

The iconic “War Ends” photo is recreated in part on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2015, with a “Park Opens” photo that celebrates the new Manhattan Project National Historical Park, which includes Oak Ridge. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 8:20 a.m. Nov. 13.

Federal officials established the new national park that includes Oak Ridge on Tuesday. Oak Ridge residents celebrated on Thursday.

The new park, the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, commemorates the Manhattan Project. That was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons during World War II, before Germany could.

Oak Ridge was the main production site for the Manhattan Project, and uranium enriched at the Y-12 National Security Complex fueled the first atomic bomb used in wartime. It was dropped over Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, shortly before the war ended. [Read more…]

Filed Under: East Tennessee Technology Park, Federal, Federal, Front Page News, Government, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Slider, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: Alexander Guest House, Alexander Inn, atomic bombs, atomic weapons, Barclay Trimble, Beta 3, Building 9204-3, Building 9731, Colin Colverson, D. Ray Smith, Department of Interior, DOE, Ed Westcott, Graphite Reactor, Hanford, Jackson Square, Japan, K-25 Building, Los Alamos, Manhattan Project, Manhattan Project National Historical Park, National Park Service, NPS, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge High School, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Park Opens, Tracy Atkins, U.S. Department of Energy, War Ends, Warren Gooch, World War II, Y-12 National Security Complex

Manhattan Project Park formally established in DC ceremony

Posted at 11:20 am November 10, 2015
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Sally-Jewell-Ernest-Moniz-Manhattan-Project-National-Historical-Park-Nov-10-2015-1

Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz shortly after they signed a memorandum of agreement and created the 409th park in the National Park System, the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. The park was authorized by Congress in December 2014. The park will have three sites in Los Alamos, New Mexico; Hanford, Washington; and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The ceremony took place at the South Interior Building in Washington, D.C., on November 10, 2015. (NPS Photo by Anthony DeYoung.)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 9 a.m. Nov. 11.

After more than a decade of work, the U.S. Department of Energy and Department of Interior formally established the Manhattan Project National Historical Park on Tuesday. The new park, which includes Oak Ridge, commemorates one of the signature scientific achievements of the 20th century. It was formally established when Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz signed a memorandum of agreement, or MOA, in Washington, D.C.

The unique, three-site Manhattan Project National Historical Park includes Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Hanford, Washington; and Los Alamos, New Mexico. It’s the nation’s 409th park.

The Manhattan Project was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II—before Germany could. It was an unprecedented national program, a world-changing event that harnessed the atom, and the largest industrial project ever, employing 130,000 people at just the three park sites. Whole cities and gigantic industrial plants were built in just a few short years, and Oak Ridge quickly swelled to a population of 75,000. Plants like the B Reactor at Hanford, the world’s first large-scale plutonium production reactor, were built in 11 months, still considered a marvelous feat today. The Manhattan Project is credited with helping to end World War II through its creation of the two atomic bombs dropped over Japan in August 1945.

During Tuesday’s ceremony, officials said the Manhattan Project was a groundbreaking scientific and engineering achievement that helped end the war, ushered in the nuclear age and new discoveries, and determined how the Cold War would be fought. But it also raised important moral questions about the devastating consequences of nuclear weapons. Officials vowed to tell all sides of the story during the signing ceremony in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday morning.

“You can trust us with this story,” National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis said. “We will be fair to all.” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Federal, Federal, Front Page News, Government, Oak Ridge, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: Alexander Inn, atomic bombs, B Reactor, Beta 3, Building 9204-3, Building 9371, Cold War, D. Ray Smith, Department of the Interior, Ernest Moniz, Graphite Reactor, Hanford, Hiroshima, Jonathan B. Jarvis, K-25 Building, Lamar Alexander, Los Alamos, Manhattan Project, Manhattan Project National Historical Park, Maria Cantwell, Martin Heinrich, memorandum of agreement, MOA, Nagasaki, National Defense Authorization Act, National Park Service, NPS, nuclear weapons, Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Sally Jewell, Tom Beehan, Tom Udall, U.S. Department of Energy, Vic Knox, World War II, X-10, Y-12 National Security Complex

ORNL manufacturing facility part of national effort to make innovations

Posted at 2:48 am September 2, 2015
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Penny Pritzker Tours ORNL Manufacturing Demonstration Facility

U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, second from left, tours Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility in Hardin Valley on Thursday. Also pictured from left are IACMI CEO Craig Blue; Mark Johnson, director of DOE’s office of advanced manufacturing; Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero; and ORNL Director Thom Mason. They are standing next to a Shelby Cobra sports car that was 3D-printed at the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

HARDIN VALLEY—The Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is part of a national effort to keep the United States on the cutting edge of research and manufacturing, a federal official said Thursday.

One-third of economic growth comes from innovations, and the United States must continue making new developments, said Penny Pritzker, U.S. commerce secretary.

“Research and manufacturing is not nice to have,” Pritzker said. “It’s a need to have.”

Pritzker toured the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility on Cherahala Boulevard in Hardin Valley on Thursday. It’s part of the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation in Knoxville, which was announced by President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden during a trip to East Tennessee in January. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Federal, Federal, Front Page News, Government, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: "In It to Win It", Amy Elliott, Barack Obama, Bill Haslam, Chuck Fleischmann, Craig Blue, IACMI, Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation, Madeline Rogero, manufacturing, Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, Mark Johnson, MDF, National Network for Manufacturing Innovation, NNMI, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Penny Pritzker, polymer printer, research, Ryan Dehoff, Techmer, Thom Mason, Tim Burchett, University of Tennessee, UT

FBI releases composite sketches in kidnappings, extortions at Y-12 FCU, SmartBank

Posted at 12:35 pm August 26, 2015
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

FBI Press Conference Composite Sketches Extortion, Kidnapping

The Federal Bureau of Investigation in Knoxville on Wednesday released composite sketches of two subjects and one person of interest in alleged kidnappings and extortions involving Y-12 Federal Credit Union in Oak Ridge in April and SmartBank in Knoxville in July. Pictured above are FBI Knoxville Special Agent in Charge Edward Reinhold, center; Knox County Sheriff’s Office Major Michael MacLean, right; and Knoxville Police Department Deputy Chief Nate Allen. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 2 p.m.

KNOXVILLE—The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday released composite sketches on two subjects and one person of interest in alleged kidnappings and extortions involving Y-12 Federal Credit Union in Oak Ridge in April and SmartBank in Knoxville in July.

See descriptions of the three below.

Here is the FBI press release:

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Federal, Front Page News, Knox County, Knoxville, Oak Ridge, Police and Fire, Slider, U.S. Tagged With: composite sketches, extortion, FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation, kidnapping, Knox County Sheriff’s Office, Knoxville Police Department, Oak Ridge Police Department, reward, SmartBank, Y-12 Federal Credit Union

Despite lobbying, Manhattan Project park HQ proposed in Denver

Posted at 11:42 am July 28, 2015
By John Huotari 1 Comment

K-25 Building Aerial View

Now demolished, the former mile-long, U-shaped K-25 Building, pictured above, was once used to enrich uranium for atomic weapons and commercial nuclear power plants. Located in west Oak Ridge, the site could become part of a Manhattan Project National Historical Park. There is a separate effort to preserve the site’s history; that work could be incorporated into the new park. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Department of Energy)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 1:10 p.m. July 29.

Local officials had proposed locating it in Oak Ridge, but federal officials have proposed locating the headquarters for the new Manhattan Project National Historical Park in Denver.

The new park, which is still in the planning stages, would include three sites: Oak Ridge; Hanford, Washington; and Los Alamos, New Mexico.

A National Park Service release on Tuesday said there would be a site manager for each location who will coordinate with local U.S. Department of Energy staff, Tribes, community members, and area partners. The site managers will report to the Manhattan Project National Historical Park’s superintendent, who will be located at an NPS central office that has been proposed in Denver. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Federal, Federal, Front Page News, Government, Slider, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: Denver, DOE, Los Alamos, Manhattan Project, Manhattan Project National Historical Park, National Park Service, NPS, Oak Ridge, U.S. Department of Energy

U.S. House passes Manhattan Project park bill that includes Oak Ridge

Posted at 3:01 pm December 4, 2014
By John Huotari 2 Comments

U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander

Lamar Alexander

U.S. Representative Chuck Fleischmann

Chuck Fleischmann

Note: This story was last updated at 8:30 p.m.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill that would create a Manhattan Project National Historical Park that would include Oak Ridge, federal officials said Thursday afternoon.

Passage of the bill, pursued for years by historic preservationists, was announced by U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander and Representative Chuck Fleischmann, both Tennessee Republicans. It was an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, which passed in a 300-119 vote.

The bill would designate three sites that were part of the World War II-era Manhattan Project. Besides Oak Ridge, the sites include Los Alamos, New Mexico, and Hanford, Washington. The U.S. Senate is expected to pass the 2015 NDAA legislation without amendments before adjourning for the Christmas recess, perhaps as early as next week, according to the Atomic Heritage Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that has helped lead efforts to establish the park for more than a decade.

The Manhattan Project was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs. Oak Ridge sites that would be included in the park are the Beta-3 racetracks and Alpha Calutron magnets at Y-12 National Security Complex and the K-25 Building site at the East Tennessee Technology Park. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Federal, Federal, Government, Slider, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: AHF, Alpha Calutron magnets, atomic bomb, Atomic Heritage Foundation, B Reactor, Ben Ray Lujan, Beta-3 racetracks, Bob Corker, Chuck Fleischmann, Cindy Kelly, D. Ray Smith, Doc Hastings, DOE, Don Barger, East Tennessee Technology Park, Energy Communities Alliance, Gary Petersen, Hanford, Heather McClenahan, historic preservation, historic properties, Interior, Jeff Bingaman, K-25 Building, Lamar Alexander, Los Alamos, Los Alamos Historical Society, Manhattan Project, Manhattan Project National Historical Park, Maria Cantwell, Martin Heinrich, National Defense Authorization Act, national park, National Park Service, National Parks Conservation Association, National Trust for Historic Preservation, NDAA, NPCA, Oak Ridge, Patty Murray, Pete Domenici, Stephanie Toothman, Tom Udall, Tri-City Development Council, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. House, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, World War II, Y-12 National Security Complex

With deadline looming, supporters hopeful that Manhattan Project parks legislation will pass

Posted at 8:45 pm December 3, 2014
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Manhattan Project National Historical Park House Hearing

Pictured above at a June 28, 2012, U.S. House hearing on the Manhattan Project National Historical Park Act are, from front left, Cindy Kelly, Atomic Heritage Foundation president; Heather McClenahan, executive director of the Los Alamos Historical Society; and D. Ray Smith, Y-12 National Security Complex historian. Gary Petersen, Tri-City Development Council vice president, is pictured in the background. (Photo courtesy of Atomic Heritage Foundation.

An amendment introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday includes the creation of a long-sought-after Manhattan Project National Historical Park that would include Oak Ridge, and supporters are hopeful that the legislation, which has bipartisan support, will pass before the end of the legislative session.

The bill appears to have a “really good chance of moving forward,” said Kati Schmidt, spokesperson for the National Parks Conservation Association.

Besides Oak Ridge, the Manhattan Project National Historical Park would also include Los Alamos, New Mexico, and Hanford, Washington. Those three areas were among the sites involved in the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic bombs during World War II.

There is currently no national park commemorating the project, which is considered one of the most significant events of the 20th century. Historic preservationists, including in Oak Ridge and at the Atomic Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., have tried for years to change that. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Federal, Federal, Government, Slider, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: Abraham Lincoln, amendment, atomic bombs, Atomic Heritage Foundation, Building 9204-3, Cindy Kelly, Clark Bunting, Congress, D. Ray Smith, Gettysburg Address, Hanford, Harriet Tubman, Heather McClenahan, historic preservation, K-25 Building, Kati Schmidt, Lamar Alexander, legislation, Los Alamos, Los Alamos Historical Society, Manhattan Project, Manhattan Project National Historical Park, National Defense Authorization Act, National Parks Conservation Association, National Parks System, NPCA, Oak Ridge, Senate, Telling America's Stories, Tom Beehan, U.S. House of Representatives, World War II, Y-12 National Security Complex

Corker dampens presidential speculation, calls ISIS ‘demonic’

Posted at 12:30 pm August 26, 2014
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Senator Bob Corker at ETEC

U.S. Senator Bob Corker, right, downplayed speculation of a possible presidential run during a visit to Oak Ridge on Friday, but he also didn’t rule out a campaign. At center is Jim Haynes, president and chief executive officer of Consolidated Nuclear Security, the new managing and operating contractor at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

 

He’s been asked the question before, and on Friday, U.S. Senator Bob Corker answered it again: Are you considering running for president in 2016?

Corker didn’t say “no,” but he did dampen the discussion. The Tennessee Republican pointed out that if he were a candidate, he would likely be making trips to Iowa and New Hampshire, key early stops in presidential campaigns, rather than visiting Oak Ridge and East Tennessee.

Still, after a short speech to the East Tennessee Economic Council on Friday, Corker, a Tennessee Republican, said every senator involved in policy decisions and helping to solve the nation’s problems probably thinks about a presidential run “from time to time.”

Corker was the guest speaker at ETEC’s weekly Friday morning meeting. During his talk, he bemoaned the nation’s lack of vision, saying the chief executive needs to have one but President Obama doesn’t lead toward one.

“Without vision, people bicker,” Corker said. The question is: Who is going to create the national vision? the senator said. The nation may need three priorities, he said. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Federal, Federal, Government, Slider, Top Stories Tagged With: automotive industry, Bob Corker, Congress, East Tennessee Economic Council, entitlement reform, ETEC, highway trust fund, immigration, Iraq, ISIS, Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, president, President Obama, presidential campaign, presidential speculation, Republican, Senate, SL Tennessee, Southeast, Syria, tax reform, Tennessee, vision, Volkswagen

Alexander, Fleischmann finish first in primaries

Posted at 1:58 pm August 8, 2014
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Lamar Alexander and Johnny Alley

U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, left, a Tennessee Republican, campaigns at Dean’s Restaurant and Bakery in Oak Ridge on Wednesday, one day before he beat Tea Party challenger Joe Carr, a state representative from Middle Tennessee, in the seven-candidate GOP primary. Alexander is pictured above with Anderson County Property Assessor Johnny Alley.

 

U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander

Lamar Alexander

Ninth District judicial race close; Supreme Court justices retained

U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander finished far ahead of a Tea Party challenger in the Republican primary on Thursday, and Representative Chuck Fleischmann narrowly beat Weston Wamp, the son of former Congressman Zach Wamp, in the second battle between the two men.

Alexander’s top opponent in the seven-candidate GOP primary was State Representative Joe Carr of Middle Tennessee. Alexander, who lost in his home district of Blount County, had 329,929 votes, compared to 269,883 for Carr, according to unofficial results posted by the Tennessee Secretary of State.

George Flinn, a Memphis radiologist and radio station owner, finished a distant third, with 34,568 votes.

Alexander, a former Tennessee governor and University of Tennessee president, will face Democrat Gordon Ball in the November 4 general election. [Read more…]

Filed Under: 2014 Election, Federal, Federal, Government, Morgan County, Roane County, Slider, State, Top Stories Tagged With: Anderson County Election Commission, Bill Haslam, Caitlin Nolan, Charles Brown, Chuck Fleischmann, Cornelia Clark, Democrat, Dennis Powers, District 36, Fifth District, Gary Wade, George Flinn, GOP primary, Gordon Ball, governor, House District 33, Jason Zachary, Jim Tracy, Joe Carr, John J. Duncan Jr., John Ragan, Lamar Alexander, Mary Headrick, Mike Pemberton, Ninth Judicial District, November 4 general election, Randy McNally, Representative, Republican, retention election, Scott DesJarlais, Scotty Mayfield, Sharon Lee, Supreme Court justices, Tea Party, Tennessee Secretary of State, Tennessee Senate, Terry Adams, Third District, Tom McFarland, U.S. senator, Virgil Kidwell, Weston Wamp, Zach Wamp

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