Hundreds of children hunt about 15,000 eggs during the annual Egg Hunt at Alvin K. Bissell Park in Oak Ridge on Saturday.
Hundreds of children hunted about 15,000 eggs during the annual Egg Hunt at Alvin K. Bissell Park in Oak Ridge on Saturday. Here are a half-dozen pictures.
Demolition work at the K-25 Building in west Oak Ridge is complete, and cleanup work is expected to be complete this summer. Pictured above is the former south end of the east wing. (Photo by John Huotari)
Demolition of the K-25 Building in west Oak Ridge has been completed. Now, the U.S. Department of Energy looks toward the future and preserving the footprint of the Manhattan Project building.
The building was about 44 acres “under roof,” according to Susan Cange, deputy manager of DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management. K-25 was built to enrich uranium for atomic bombs during World War II.
“There was a lot of discussion over the years about whether we could retain a portion of the building as a part of historic preservation,” Cange said. “From a safety and security perspective, it really wasn’t a viable alternative.”
In 2012, Cange and others signed a Memorandum of Agreement, and they envisioned completion of a preservation project within five to seven years. They also agreed to retain the footprint of the building and dedicate it in some way to allow visitors to see the enormity of the former mile-long, U-shaped building. [Read more…]
A city board on Thursday declared this home at 117 Wade Lane to be unfit for human habitation and ordered it demolished within 90 days.
Note: This story was updated at 11:40 p.m.
From the outside, the homes look they’re in decent shape and not the worst in the neighborhood.
But inside and underneath, problems range from collapsing floors and settling foundations to leaking roofs and tens of thousands worth of mold damage.
On Thursday, a city board declared the five vacant homes to be unfit for human habitation, and members ordered them demolished within 90 days. The city could use federal money from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to buy and demolish the homes. [Read more…]
Hardin Valley won the trophy in the Battle of the Solway Bridge with Oak Ridge on Tuesday, but Oak Ridge Coach Allen Etheridge is already planning a victory next year.
Oak Ridge coach vows victory next year; Tuesday’s results posted below
Hardin Valley Academy won the trophy at the first Battle of the Solway Bridge track meet in Oak Ridge on Tuesday, but Wildcats Coach Allen Etheridge is already planning a victory at the second annual event.
“We’re planning two victory laps at HVA next year!” Etheridge joked in a Wednesday morning e-mail.
The Battle of the Solway Bridge at Ben Martin Track on Tuesday pitted two track powers against each other one-on-one.
“We will line up our best people in our best events against theirs,” Etheridge said before the meet. On Tuesday, Etheridge said dual meets like the Battle of the Solway Bridge are unusual. Most track meets feature five to 25 teams and sometimes more. [Read more…]
Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank, center, gives an opening statement during a Tuesday night candidate forum for Republican Party candidates. Also pictured are Anderson County Commissioner Zach Bates, left, who is challenging Frank in the May 6 GOP primary, and Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Randy Myers, one of two Republican candidates for sheriff.
Note: This story was last updated at 11:45 a.m.
The starkest differences between any candidates at a Tuesday night Republican Party forum might have emerged in the race for Anderson County chancellor, where candidates Michael Farley and Nicki Cantrell clashed on questions of trial experience and whether the Chancery Court should ever be used to hear criminal cases.
In the race for sheriff, Republican candidates Anthony Lay and Randy Myers agreed on one key question: No federal inmates should be housed at the Anderson County jail.
In the race for mayor, Terry Frank, the incumbent, said she had presided over one of the few—and possibly the only—tax cut in Anderson County history, while her opponent, Commissioner Zach Bates, said the county’s biggest economic challenge is “retail leakage.” [Read more…]
The Scarboro Road entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex is pictured above.
A security improvement project at the Y-12 National Security Complex was completed ahead of schedule and about $20 million under budget, federal officials announced Monday.
The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Security Improvement Project upgraded security at Y-12 by replacing existing alarm stations and access control systems with Argus, a comprehensive security system developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a press release said. The SIP came in about $20 million under the original $72 million budget.
“Maintaining a safe and secure deterrent is one of NNSA’s most important responsibilities,” said NNSA Acting Chief of Defense Nuclear Security Michael Lempke. “SIP is a continuation of NNSA’s goal to use the best, most modern security technology to keep the nation’s nuclear weapons and material secure.” [Read more…]
Pictured above, the Oak Ridge City Council on Monday will consider removing housing board member Joe Lee, not pictured, because of a critical e-mail he wrote after a 4-3 vote on the controversial traffic camera contract in March.
Note: This story was last updated at 2:30 p.m.
An Oak Ridge official wants the City Council to consider removing Joseph Lee from a city housing board because of his criticism—she called it contempt—for the council members who voted against renewing the controversial traffic camera contract in March.
The City Council will consider removing Lee, who serves on the Oak Ridge Board of Building and Housing Code Appeals, during a Monday, April 14, meeting.
“I was not at all surprised by the 4-3 vote,” Lee wrote in a March 28 e-mail to Council member Anne Garcia Garland, who made the request to consider removing him on Monday. “After all, it was not about safety or the money, it is about the votes. Take the fact that your entire campaign to be elected to city council and combine that with the nut jobs that you are aligned with and cater to, it has been obvious for a very long time that we were never going to hear the end of your whining until you got another shot at this issue. [Read more…]
The Anderson County Courthouse on Main Street in Clinton is pictured above.
There are six candidates running for Anderson County Commission in District 7 in Oak Ridge in August, and a Democrat has joined the race for Tennessee House of Representatives in the 33rd District.
Meanwhile, an Independent, Bradley S. Rickett, has joined the race for Anderson County mayor, competing against Democrat Jim Hackworth and the winner of the May 6 Republican primary, either the incumbent, Terry Frank, or her challenger, Commissioner Zach Bates.
Fourteen of the 16 Anderson County commissioners are seeking re-election to a four-year term. But Bates, from District 4 in the Lake City area, is not. And neither is Commissioner John Shuey. Shuey is one of two commissioners in District 7, which includes the Glenwood, Highland View, and Pine Valley precincts in Oak Ridge.
District 7 is the most competitive in terms of number of candidates. In addition to the incumbent, Jerry Creasey, other candidates include Jimmy Bouchard, Michael Marsh, Denny Phillips, Kevin Rice, and Theresa Scott.
District 3—which includes Andersonville, Fairview, Glen Alpine, and Norris—has five candidates, including the two incumbents, Steve Emert and Dusty Irwin. The other three candidates are Josh Anderson, David Farmer, and Philip Warfield. [Read more…]
A lightning strike may have caused a house fire on Graceland Road on Thursday morning. (Photos by Tom Scott)
A Thursday morning fire possibly started by a lightning strike likely destroyed a home in west Oak Ridge and caused a few hundred thousand dollars in damage, authorities said.
The residents of the home at 118 Graceland Road knew their home had been hit by lightning at about 4:30 a.m. Thursday, Oak Ridge Fire Department Chief Darryl Kerley said. They heard the strike and found siding blown off the side of their house. They used a ladder to climb on the roof and check the home. Then, they re-checked it later before the man who lived there went to work.
But at about 7:45 a.m. Thursday, neighbor Chris Wetherall reported the roof of the house was on fire. The female resident, Yvonne McClellan, remained asleep inside, Kerley said.
Wetherall went to the burning home and banged on the door until McClellan woke up and answered the door, Kerley said. Wetherall moved a pickup truck out of the home’s garage and turned off the power. He took McClellan next door to his house, where she was evaluated by the fire department and Anderson County Emergency Medical Services. [Read more…]
Several hundred students from five regional middle schools, including Jefferson and Robertsville, competed in the Ben Martin Middle School Invitational track meet in Oak Ridge on Thursday.
Several hundred students from five middle schools competed in the first-ever Ben Martin Middle School Invitational track meet in Oak Ridge on Thursday.
The meet was named after Ben Martin, a legendary Sports Hall of Fame coach who won seven state championships as track coach at Oak Ridge High School. Thursday’s meet was at Ben Martin Track at the high school.
Martin was the first ORHS track and football coach, and he won championships in both sports and began the entire athletic program at the high school, ORHS Cross Country Coach Allen Etheridge said.
“I talked with longtime Oak Ridge coach Winston Russell today, who told me that he remembered coach Martin as the guy who was always there, the guy who would coach anyone at any time,” Etheridge said Monday. “(Martin) was an assistant football coach and was head basketball coach.”
Athletes from Cherokee, Jefferson, Karns, Rhea County, and Robertsville middle schools competed in Thursday’s meet, which included events ranging from relays and hurdles to long jumps and high jumps. [Read more…]
David Koeberlein, director of advanced engineering for Cummins and principal investigator on the SuperTruck project, says the prototype tractor-trailer uses exhaust heat that would otherwise be wasted to help power the crankshaft. (All photos courtesy ORNL/Genevieve Martin unless indicated otherwise)
Note: This story was last updated at 2 p.m.
Tractor-trailer prototype uses probe developed by ORNL for better gas mileage, cleaner exhaust
It’s a sleek, aerodynamic freight-hauling machine. With its wide tires, rounded edges, and body parts that hug the ground, this million-dollar prototype looks like it could be at home on a race track.
It’s already achieved celebrity status, serving as the backdrop for President Barack Obama during a February speech on greenhouse gas emissions and fuel efficiency standards.
But the SuperTruck is more likely to end up hauling meat and potatoes from Boise to Boston.
The fuel-efficient SuperTruck, the result of a four-year collaboration between the trucking industry and the federal government, made a pit stop at Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Tuesday.
Still, researchers have reason to celebrate. On Tuesday, they said the high-tech tractor-trailer has increased fuel efficiency by 75 percent. Fully loaded, the SuperTruck can drive 10.7 miles on a gallon of gas. That compares to an industry average of 5.8 to 6.5 miles per gallon.
“This is a really big deal,” said Claus Daniel, deputy director of sustainable transportation projects at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where the SuperTruck made a pit stop on Tuesday.
It’s the result of a collaboration between the trucking industry and the U.S. Department of Energy. It’s not clear how soon the new technologies tested in the Cummins/Peterbilt tractor-trailer, which was built in Denton, Texas, will show up on the nation’s highways. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge High School’s “Wildbot” #4265 was among the winners at the Smoky Mountains Regional Robotics Challenge held this past weekend, and the team will now go to St. Louis for the World Championship. (Photo by D. Ray Smith)
By Mike Wehrenberg
The Smoky Mountains Regional High School Robotics Competition had an extremely successful event this past weekend, and Oak Ridge High School was one of the three regional winners. Collierville High School outside Memphis won the Rookie All Star award.
Both of these Tennessee high schools will receive an invitation to the world championships at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, where the Rams football team plays. About 50,000 people will be in attendance at the end of April for that competition.
This was our fourth year of competition at the Knoxville Convention Center in a game called Aerial Assist. Thirty-five teams from Tennessee competed, along with 14 teams from the surrounding states of Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. It was a fantastic, “graciously professional,” and exciting event, with all the teams representing themselves, their STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) programs, and their ability to set and achieve goals in an powerful and emotional way.
Other Tennessee news of note: [Read more…]
