Oak Ridge Today

Progress PAC endorses Agle, Fillauer

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Keys Fillauer

Keys Fillauer

The Progress PAC political action committee has endorsed the two incumbents running for Oak Ridge Board of Education: Angi Agle and Keys Fillauer.

“PAC board members feel these candidates best support the business community’s commitment toward exceptional schools and have expressed a willingness to partner with the Oak Ridge City Council on educational issues,” a press release said.

The Progress PAC endorsements for Oak Ridge City Council candidates will be announced later, said PAC Chairman Steve Whitson, an Oak Ridge resident.

“There are 10 candidates running for seven combined City Council and School Board seats, so decisions to endorse candidates are not made without lots of thought and discussion,” Whitson said in the press release. [Read more…]

Soccer: Lady Wildcats beat Central Tuesday, play Powell for district championship Friday

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Oak Ridge senior Leah Scudder (22) scored after a breakaway and beating two defenders in the 27th minute of a 1-0 win over Central in a District 3-AAA semifinal game at home on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Oak Ridge beat Central 1-0 in a girls’ soccer district semifinal game on Tuesday and will play at Powell for the district championship on Friday.

The Lady Wildcats (10-6-1, 3-1 District 3-AAA) outshot the Lady Bobcats 38-5 at Oak Ridge High School in the district tournament semifinal game on Tuesday.

The shots-to-goal ratio should be closer to 10:1 or better, Oak Ridge Coach Jeff Trombly said.

“We’ve got to finish a lot better than that,” he said. “We had plenty of chances. We made it too close.”

Central came into the game undefeated, with a 16-0 overall record and a 6-0 district record. But the Lady Bobcats hadn’t played the top two seeds in the tournament, Powell and Oak Ridge. (Other district teams that did not play Powell or Oak Ridge and instead took 3-0 forfeits were Campbell County, Clinton, and Gibbs.)

Trombly said Oak Ridge needs a crowd to travel to Powell on Friday. [Read more…]

Meet the candidates at Civic Center on Thursday

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You can meet candidates for the Oak Ridge City Council, Oak Ridge Board of Education, and Oak Ridge candidates for Anderson County Charter Commission at the Oak Ridge Civic Center on Thursday.

You talk directly to the candidates at the meeting, which is scheduled from 7-8:30 p.m. Thursday, October 13, in the Oak Ridge Civic Center gym.

It’s a free community event hosted by DFET (Democracy for East Tennessee), a community organization that hosts this nonpartisan event every two years, a press release said. [Read more…]

Online voter information site available for November elections

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VOTE411.org, an online voter information guide for November 2016 elections, is now available to all citizens of Oak Ridge. Sponsored locally by the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge, VOTE411 began in 2006 at the national League level. Nearly 300 local leagues are now participating, a press release said.

The site allows users to compare candidates for office in their district, select their choices, and create a ballot summary that they can print out, take with them to the polling place, or share.

After accessing www.VOTE411.org, a user is prompted to enter his or her address, which is used to identify one’s voting district from federal and state geographic information system (GIS) data. The races provided should be identical to those on the ballot for that voting district. The address information and candidate selections provided by users will not be collected or retained. [Read more…]

Last Applewood Apartments tenant moves out Friday

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The last tenant of the Applewood Apartments on Hillside Road and Hunter Circle moved out Friday, Oct. 7, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 8:55 a.m. Oct. 12.

The last tenant of the Applewood Apartments was moving out Friday when Oak Ridge Today stopped by for an update.

Tenants had been told in early August that the apartments would close September 30.

On Monday, property owner Joe Levitt said he decided in the last 90-120 days to shut down the 13 apartment buildings on Hillside Road and Hunter Circle and board them up. He said it was his understanding that the last tenant was moving out this past Friday.

Levitt said he is 85 and has had health problems, and he’s trying to clean up his estate. Most of his estate will probably go to the University of Tennessee and nonprofit organizations, Levitt said.

“I’ve outlived all the people I need to take care of,” he said. [Read more…]

Access Oak Ridge initiative grows to include grades 9, 10; device pickup next Monday, Tuesday

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Every ninth-grade and 10th-grade student at Oak Ridge High School should have a new digital device, a convertible laptop, as of Wednesday, October 19. It’s a continuation of Oak Ridge Schools’ digital initiative, Access Oak Ridge.

“Through our Access Oak Ridge digital one-to-one initiative, our vision is to empower all Oak Ridge students with equitable access to digital learning opportunities; to innovate, design, collaborate, and ultimately succeed in local and global communities of the future,” a press release said.

Here are the instructions for ninth- and 10th-graders and their parents/guardians to follow to receive their school-issued devices, according to the press release:

At your preferred arrival time on your grade-level designated day, come to the Wildcat Arena parking lot (on the Providence Road side of the building, across from the city outdoor pool.) Enter the building through the Wildcat Arena entrance. [Read more…]

ORNL, UT celebrating Bioenergy Day with free event for elementary, middle school students

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee are celebrating Bioenergy Day 2016 with a free event designed to engage elementary kids and middle schools, inviting them to investigate the world of bioenergy.

Participants include Creative Discovery Museum of Chattanooga, Genera Energy, UT Ag Extension, and UT Forest Service, along with ORNL Manufacturing (3D printing) and ORNL Transportation. [Read more…]

Help local families through Dine & Donate on Monday

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What do we “Seay” here? Grandchildren of committee chair Cande Seay enjoying their choice of sandwiches at Which Wich in Oak Ridge! (Photo by ADFAC)

 

On Monday, October 10, six local restaurants will donate a portion of their sales to support Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties, or ADFAC. The event, Dine & Donate, happens on the second Monday of each month.

“Dine & Donate is a very important fundraiser for ADFAC,” said Cande Seay, Dine & Donate chair. “It always gladdens my heart to see friends and family dine out on second Mondays—enjoying meals together and helping ADFAC!”

Participating restaurants on Monday, October 10, are: [Read more…]

Report: Medical isotope company plans to build manufacturing facility in Oak Ridge

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A building at the entrance of Heritage Center is pictured above. (Photo by CROET)

Note: This story was updated at 8:45 a.m. Oct. 10.

A Florida newspaper reported on Wednesday that a medical isotope company will build a manufacturing facility in Oak Ridge, rather than relocating to a city in north Florida.

Coquí RadioPharmaceutical had planned to build a $250 million manufacturing facility in Alachua, which is near Gainesville, with 164 jobs paying an average of $75,000, the Gainesville Sun reported.

But the company announced Wednesday that it will instead build its facility in Oak Ridge, lured by a gift of 170 acres from the U.S. Department of Energy and the opportunity to work with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a DOE lab, the newspaper said.

On Saturday, Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson said he is aware of the company, and it is working with the state of Tennessee. [Read more…]

Cross country: Oak Ridge boys, girls finish first in Cherokee Invitational

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The Oak Ridge Wildcats boys’ cross country team finished first in the Cherokee Invitational in Knoxville on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016. (Photo by Nichole Zawisza)

 

The Oak Ridge boys’ and girls’ cross country teams finished first in the Cherokee Invitational in Knoxville on Saturday. Senior Jake Etheridge was the top overall runner in the boys’ 5k, or 5,000-meter race. Junior Genevieve Schwartz finished second overall in the girls’ race, and senior Abbey Greenhalgh was third.

The Oak Ridge boys had seven of the top 14 runners, and the girls had six of the top 13.

The first-place finish for the boys on Saturday came one week after they finished first in the Wendy’s Invitational in Charlotte, North Carolina, where Etheridge was also the top overall runner.

Oak Ridge Coach Allen Etheridge said Saturday’s race on Cherokee Boulevard in Knoxville is a hard race that was run during Fall Break, when the team is out of the normal school rhythm. The team has to run to “get its work in,” but is never “super satisfied,” Etheridge said. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge plays in District 3-AAA girls’ soccer semifinal game on Tuesday

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The Oak Ridge Lady Wildcats soccer team will play in a District 3-AAA semifinal tournament game at home on Tuesday.

Oak Ridge (10-6-1, 3-1), the number two seed, will play Central (16-0-1, 6-0), the number three seed, at Oak Ridge High School at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Central (16-0-1, 6-0) beat Gibbs 1-0 on Saturday to advance to the seminal game against Oak Ridge. Gibbs was the number six seed.

Oak Ridge and Central did not play during the regular season. [Read more…]

Today: Oak Ridge Wind Ensemble begins new concert season with Music of Europe Concert

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The Oak Ridge Community Band performs in last year’s Spring Concert at the Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center. (Submitted photo)

 

With the arrival of fall, the Oak Ridge Community Band becomes the Oak Ridge Wind Ensemble and begins its series of six indoor concerts.

The first performance of this series will be at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at the Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center, and it will feature the best of musical selections from various countries of Europe including the Greek “Never on Sunday,” “Amparito Roca Spanish March,” “Tales from Vienna,” “Russian Sailors Dance,” and several others.

Jim Dodson, art teacher at Jefferson Middle School, will be special guest narrator for Sunday’s concert program. [Read more…]