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LeMond Composites strikes agreement to accelerate commercialization of low-cost carbon fiber

Posted at 11:30 am July 14, 2017
By David Cusick Leave a Comment

lemond-composites-greg-lemond-2-oct-12-2016-web

Greg LeMond, three-time Tour de France champion, celebrated the announcement of LeMond Composites, a new company he co-founded, during a ceremony on Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 12, 2016, at Heritage Center in west Oak Ridge. The company is expected to make composite bicycles and carbon fiber, and invest $125 million and create 242 new jobs. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

LeMond Composites of Oak Ridge has entered into a global, exclusive 20-year licensing agreement with Deakin University in Australia to commercialize their patent pending manufacturing process to increase production of high performance, low-cost carbon fiber, a press release said.

The licensed process will enable LeMond Composites to commercialize carbon fiber production faster than anyone else currently in the marketplace, the press release said.

“This means LeMond will deliver more of its low-cost carbon fiber faster to industries that benefit from using lighter, stronger materials, like those addressing global energy and transportation challenges,” the press release said.

“Deakin University’s process oxidizes carbon fiber faster, with lower capital and energy costs and greater output of carbon fiber over a shorter period,” said Nicolas Wegener, chief operating officer of LeMond, who negotiated the $44 million dollar deal. “The process requires 75 percent less energy and also reduces the amount of process equipment by 75 percent. These factors make the production of low-cost carbon fiber scalable at a velocity that can keep up with the market demand.” [Read more…]

After crash, search, man sentenced on gun charge, woman indicted on drug charges

Posted at 2:54 pm July 13, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Car Crash at Hilltop and West Outer Drive

Police said the driver of this silver Infiniti fled on foot after a three-car crash at North Illinois Avenue and West Outer Drive on Monday night, Sept. 21, 2015, just a few hours after a shooting was reported a short distance away on Wakefield Road. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

A man was sentenced on a federal gun charge in September and a woman was indicted on state drug charges in June after a three-car crash reported after a shooting in 2015 led authorities to track a driver to a home in north Oak Ridge, where officers allegedly found 49 grams of suspected heroin and other drugs.

Larry Dewayne Williams of Oak Ridge pleaded guilty to a federal charge of being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition in U.S. District Court in Knoxville on September 26. He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Pamela L. Reeves to the minimum seven years in prison, or 84 months.

In June, Chelsey Reign Lively, identified as Williams’ girlfriend in court documents, was indicted on state drug charges of selling, delivering, or possessing heroin for sale; selling, delivering, or possessing for sale more than 14.175 grams of marijuana; and selling, delivering, or possessing ethylone for sale. The Anderson County Grand Jury indicted Lively on June 6, and she was arraigned in Anderson County Criminal Court in Clinton on June 30.

The circumstances of the shooting, reported on Wakefield Road at about 8:30 p.m. Monday, September 21, 2015, remain unclear. No injuries were reported, although three bullets were reported to have hit one home. It’s not clear who the shooter was or if there was more than one person involved. There appeared to be a significant number of rounds fired. Investigating that night, Oak Ridge Police Department Detective Kevin Craig documented 21 casings.

About two hours after that shooting was reported, Oak Ridge Police Department Officer James Elkins tried to stop a silver Infiniti sedan that was reported to be involved in the shooting, according to court documents. But the silver Infiniti fled, ran a red light, and caused a three-car crash at West Outer Drive and North Illinois Avenue in north Oak Ridge, the court documents said. The Infiniti rolled onto its side and burst into flames, and Williams, identified as the driver, climbed out of the car and ran into the woods, according to his plea agreement. [Read more…]

President’s budget would close NOAA lab that has Oak Ridge division

Posted at 12:43 pm July 12, 2017
By John Huotari 4 Comments

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division on South Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge is pictured above on Tuesday, July 11, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Note: This story was last updated at 9:20 a.m. July 13.

The Trump administration’s budget request for the next fiscal year would close a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration air research laboratory that has a division in Oak Ridge, according to budget documents posted online.

The budget request for fiscal year 2018, which starts October 1, would close NOAA’s Air Resources Laboratory, or ARL, which has headquarters in College Park, Maryland. The Air Resources Laboratory has satellite campuses in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Idaho Falls, Idaho; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Mercury, Nevada. Those satellite campuses would also close, according to the documents, which were posted by the NOAA Budget Office.

The Oak Ridge campus is on South Illinois Avenue, in a historic building that was once an emergency hospital and then a health department. It now houses the Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division, or ATDD. The Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division is one of several field divisions of the Air Resources Laboratory. The ARL in turn is part of NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research.

There are 33 employees at the Oak Ridge campus, including NOAA and ORAU workers. The primary focus of the ATDD is to maintain NOAA’s Climate Reference Network, a network of weather stations across the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, to monitor climate change.

The Oak Ridge division also works with other NOAA groups that study the formation of tornadoes, using unmanned aerial vehicles to understand tornado formation. It also works with the Air Resources Laboratory headquarters on air quality modeling and forecasting.

The NOAA budget request, which has not been approved by Congress, proposes zeroing out funding and employment at the Air Resources Laboratory, cutting base funding from about $4.7 million and 34 full-time equivalents (FTE) to $0 and zero FTE. President Donald Trump submitted his administration’s budget request to Congress on Tuesday, May 23. [Read more…]

PetSmart opened Monday; grand opening scheduled for Saturday

Posted at 9:34 am July 10, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The new PetSmart store at Main Street Oak Ridge is scheduled to open Monday, July 10, 2017, with a grand opening scheduled for Saturday, July 15. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The new PetSmart store at Main Street Oak Ridge is scheduled to open today (Monday, July 10), and a grand opening is scheduled for Saturday.

The grand opening is scheduled for 8:45 a.m. Saturday, July 15. Pets are allowed.

It’s the fourth of eight new stores to open at Main Street Oak Ridge since mid-June. Main Street Oak Ridge is the 58-acre project to redevelop the former Oak Ridge Mall. Besides PetSmart, other stores that have opened at Main Street Oak Ridge are rue21, maurices, and Dick’s Sporting Goods. [Read more…]

maurices open at Main Street Oak Ridge

Posted at 10:43 pm July 7, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

maurices at Main Street Oak Ridge is pictured above in June 2017. (Photo by City of Oak Ridge)

There was a ribbon-cutting ceremony for maurices, a women’s clothing store, at Main Street Oak Ridge on Friday, June 23. Here are a few photos and a video by the City of Oak Ridge.

The maurices store is one of eight new stores opening at Main Street Oak Ridge, the 58-acre project to redevelop the former Oak Ridge Mall. The other seven stores are Dick’s Sporting Goods, Electronic Express, PetSmart, Rack Room Shoes, rue21, T.J. Maxx, and Ulta.

Oak Ridge Today has previously reported on the grand openings for Dick’s Sporting Goods and rue21. [Read more…]

NNSA: Y-12 funding would be up 25 percent under president’s budget request

Posted at 11:51 am July 6, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge is pictured above in June 2012. (Photo courtesy NNSA)

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

Funding for the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge would be up about 25 percent under the budget request submitted to Congress in May, according to the National Nuclear Security Administration.

The total funding for Y-12 would be $1.64 billion, the NNSA said. That’s an increase of 25.4 percent over fiscal year 2016.

The budget request for fiscal year 2018, which starts October 1, was submitted by President Donald Trump to Congress on Tuesday, May 23. The NNSA request of $13.9 billion would increase funding by 7.8 percent compared to fiscal year 2017, Administrator Frank G. Klotz said during a teleconference with reporters on May 23.

Trump’s budget request has not yet been approved by Congress, where there has been bipartisan opposition, particularly to the proposed cuts. In Oak Ridge, sites and programs that could be cut include Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which would have a funding reduction of $206 million over two years, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, or EERE.

But Y-12, a National Nuclear Security Administration site, could benefit if the president’s budget request were approved by Congress. A House spending bill introduced last week for federal energy and water departments appears to include proposed spending levels for the NNSA, a semi-autonomous agency within DOE, that are similar to what the Trump administration has proposed. [Read more…]

Reader photos: July 4 fireworks in Oak Ridge

Posted at 8:11 pm July 5, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Fireworks at Alvin K. Bissell Park in Oak Ridge on July 4, 2017. (Photo by D. Ray Smith)

Several readers submitted photos from the fireworks show in Alvin K. Bissell Park in Oak Ridge on Tuesday, July 4, 2017. Here are photos by D. Ray Smith, Donna King, and Liz Bartlett.

Fireworks at Alvin K. Bissell Park in Oak Ridge on July 4, 2017. (Photo by D. Ray Smith)

[Read more…]

Reminder: Oak Ridge has fireworks tonight in A.K. Bissell Park

Posted at 11:43 am July 4, 2017
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge

A reminder: The City of Oak Ridge is once again sponsoring a fireworks show to celebrate Independence Day. The display will be held in Alvin K. Bissell Park on Tuesday, July 4, and it is scheduled to begin at dark, around 9:45 p.m.

The Oak Ridge Community Band, now in its 73rd year, will perform prior to the fireworks. The concert is free, but donations are accepted by the band to help cover the cost of equipment and other expenses. The music is expected to begin at 7:30 p.m.

Anyone planning to attend is advised to bring a lawn chair or blanket for outdoor seating. A safety zone will be established by the Oak Ridge Fire Department. Please sit only in the designated areas.

What: Independence Day Concert and Fireworks Display [Read more…]

Applewood Apartments: Case that once called for $400,000 fine has been dismissed

Posted at 10:53 am July 3, 2017
By John Huotari 4 Comments

The rear of the Applewood Apartments building at 186 Hillside Road is picture above on Saturday, July 1, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Note: This story was last updated at 12:25 p.m.

CLINTON—A court has dismissed a case that once called for a $400,000 fine against the owner of three now-vacant Applewood Apartments buildings on Hillside Road in Oak Ridge.

Charges against the original defendant, former Applewood Apartments manager Tammy Sandlin, have been dismissed, and she is the only properly named defendant in the complaint, Anderson County Circuit Court Judge Don R. Elledge said in a dismissal order filed Wednesday, June 21.

The Tennessee Court of Appeals had issued an opinion on October 15, 2015, that vacated, or voided, the $406,520 judgement against Applewood Apartments owner Joseph J. Levitt Jr. because he had not been effectively added as a defendant in the city’s lawsuit, Elledge said.

At that time, the Court of Appeals remanded the case, or sent it back to, Anderson County Circuit Court in Clinton for further proceedings, “including the filing and serving of an amended complaint or city warrant against Mr. Levitt,” Elledge said in his order to dismiss.

The Court of Appeals decision essentially said that Levitt has to be given a chance to defend himself, Elledge said during a motion hearing in Circuit Court on Friday, June 9. A jury trial had been scheduled for March 9, 2018. The City of Oak Ridge is the plaintiff.

But no amended complaint has been filed by the city since the Court of Appeals decision almost two years ago, and Levitt has never been served with an amended complaint, Elledge said during the June 9 motion hearing. [Read more…]

Dick’s Sporting Goods now open in Oak Ridge

Posted at 3:54 pm June 28, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Dick’s Sporting Goods is now open at Main Street Oak Ridge, and the new store had a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, June 27, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Dick’s Sporting Goods is now open at Main Street Oak Ridge, and the new store had a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday. A grand opening featuring former University of Tennessee football player Derek Barnett is scheduled for this weekend.

The store, roughly in the area where Sears used to be between Walmart and the U.S. Post Office on South Tulane Avenue, is 35,000 square foot. It sells equipment for team sports, footwear, apparel, hunting and fishing gear, and bicycles and fitness equipment, said Brian Johnson, community marketing manager for Dick’s Sporting Goods.

The store offers top national brands and in-store services such as a glove steamer, a gate analysis for runners and walkers, an archery lane to test bows, and bow stringing, Johnson said.

There are about 62 employees, both full-time and part-time, Johnson said.

He said many Oak Ridge customers shopped at Dick’s Sporting Goods in West Knoxville.

“Now they’ve got it here,” Johnson said. “Oak Ridge is a thriving market. Oak Ridge is an outdoor community.” [Read more…]

Feinstein: President’s budget request could lead to 1,600 layoffs at ORNL

Posted at 9:56 pm June 27, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Photo by ORNL

Note: This story was updated at 12:20 p.m. June 28.

U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein on Wednesday said the president’s budget request for the next fiscal year could lead to a 33 percent workforce reduction at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. About 1,600 of the lab’s roughly 4,800 employees could be laid off, the senator’s office said.

Feinstein, a Democrat from California, and other members of the Senate Energy and Water Development Subcommittee, including Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, a Republican who is chair of the subcommittee, had a budget hearing with new Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Wednesday afternoon, June 21.

Across the U.S. Department of Energy, a workforce of 29,000 employees could be reduced by 23 percent at labs such as ORNL that are managed for DOE and not for the National Nuclear Security Administration, Feinstein said. (The NNSA is a semi-autonomous agency within DOE.) That would be a reduction of 6,700 employees at the non-NNSA, non-weapons labs, the senator said.

“Every non-NNSA lab would see drastic employment cuts under this proposed budget,” said Feinstein, the ranking Democratic member of the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee. “We must change this budget.”

The potential layoffs at DOE labs would be the result of a budget request submitted by President Donald Trump to Congress on Tuesday, May 23. But the president’s budget request has not yet been approved by Congress, and it has run into bipartisan opposition. Some legislators have declared the budget request “dead on arrival,” and others have said they won’t even review some proposed cuts such as a 30 percent funding reduction for the State Department. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Today has taken few days off for brief vacation

Posted at 8:13 am June 26, 2017
By John Huotari 3 Comments

Oak Ridge Today has taken a few days off in order to attend a family reunion, and for the most part, we haven’t been able to post stories for the past few days.

We resume our regular posting today (Monday, June 26).

The family reunion was in West Yellowstone, Montana.

It’s the first vacation we’ve had since we started more than five years ago.

We will try to provide more information later. Thank you for your support and for reading Oak Ridge Today.

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