Oak Ridge Today

Anderson County adopts local zoning regulations for pain clinics

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Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank signs the resolution adopted by County Commission that regulates zoning for local pain clinics. (Submitted photo)

 

CLINTON—Following months of work that began in March 2015, two public hearings, and two separate reviews by County Commission, Anderson County has adopted new local zoning regulations for pain clinics in an effort to prevent or reduce prescription drug abuse in the county, a press release said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drug overdoses now account for more deaths in the U.S. nationally than motor vehicle accidents, with 52 percent of those deaths attributed to prescription medication.

In Tennessee, drug overdose deaths increased 7.7 percent from 2013 to 2014 (1,187 deaths in 2013 to 1,269 deaths in 2014). This is higher than the statistically significant national average change of +6.5 percent, according to the CDC.  The Tennessee drug overdose deaths in 2014 are almost equivalent to two full Tennessee Greyhound bus crashes per month without survivors, the press release said. [Read more…]

Wildcats escape with 72-68 win at Karns

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Oak Ridge junior Tee Higgins (5) scored a game-high 18 points during a 72-68 win at Karns on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

KARNS—Karns threatened to tie the game in the final minute and possibly upset the fourth-ranked Wildcats, but Oak Ridge escaped with a 72-68 win over the Beavers on Tuesday.

Oak Ridge led by as many as 16 points with more than six minutes left in the fourth quarter, but Karns whittled the lead down to two points, 70-68, with 1:04 remaining. Quincey Sibley of Karns, who finished with 11 points total, scored 10 of them in that 20-6 run, which lasted five minutes.

After a timeout with 45.7 seconds left, Oak Ridge (18-1, 6-0 District 3-AAA) had the ball with the two-point lead. But the Wildcats turned it over with 35.9 remaining.

That gave the Beavers, who were most productive in their 23-point fourth quarter, a chance to tie the game and possibly even take the lead. [Read more…]

Lady Wildcats hold Karns scoreless in third quarter of 60-26 win

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Oak Ridge sophomore post Mykia Dowdell (34), shown here in a Dec. 30 game against Upperman, scored a game-high 18 points for the Lady Wildcats during a 60-26 win at Karns on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2015. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

KARNS—The Lady Wildcats held Karns scoreless in the third quarter of a 60-26 win over the Lady Beavers on Tuesday.

The game was closer at the end of the first quarter, which ended with Oak Ridge ahead 16-10. But the Lady Wildcats went on a 19-4 run in the second quarter, and the game was a blowout by midway through the third quarter.

Oak Ridge Coach Paige Green said the Lady Wildcats emphasized defense in the second half. They shut out the Lady Beavers in the third quarter and held Karns to 12 points in the fourth.

Sophomore post Mykia Dowdell, who already had 10 points early in the game, led Oak Ridge (12-3, 6-0 District 3-AAA) with 18 points. Freshman point guard Jada Guinn had 12.

Trinity Fisher of Karns scored 10 for the Lady Beavers (3-12, 2-5). [Read more…]

ORHS senior a national winner of Aspirations in Computing Award

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Melissa Yuan

Melissa Yuan

Oak Ridge High School senior Melissa Yuan was chosen as a national winner for the 2016 Aspirations in Computing Award from NCWIT, or National Center for Women and IT.

Yuan was among 35 girls chosen from more than 3,100 applicants nationwide, Oak Ridge Schools said in a press release. She is only the third girl from Tennessee to ever win this award. The second was Patricia Edou from ORHS in 2015.

Yuan will receive an all-expenses paid trip, provided by Bank of America, to the National Award weekend, which includes the Award ceremony and showcase, March 4-6, 2016 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Charlotte, North Carolina. She will also receive $1,000 and a new laptop.

Yuan is a senior at Oak Ridge High School who is passionate about research and music. [Read more…]

ORNL plays role as four new elements added to periodic table, filling seventh row

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Periodic Table of Elements

Periodic Table of Elements (Image by Los Alamos National Laboratory)

 

Note: This story was updated at 10:56 p.m. Jan. 6.

Four new elements have been added to the periodic table, filling the seventh row, or period, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory played a role in discovering two of them.

The discovery and assignment of elements with atomic numbers 113, 115, 117, and 118 was announced on December 30 by the International Association of Pure and Applied Chemistry. The discoveries have been officially verified.

ORNL participated in the discovery of elements 115 and 117 in a collaboration between the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.

The discoverers, who also include researchers in Japan, will now be invited to suggest permanent names and symbols.

For now, the elements are known as: [Read more…]

Protomet needs land for expansion, could add 100 jobs, invest $15-$20 million

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Protomet Expansion Groundbreaking

Protomet breaks ground on a $6.25 million expansion in the Bethel Valley Industrial Park in June 2013. Pictured above from left are Operations Director Andrew Jenkins and Engineering Director Matt Reid of Protomet; LeRoy Thompson, Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development regional director; Protomet President Jeff Bohanan; Sherry Browder, Oak Ridge Economic Partnership chair; former Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan; and David Wilson, Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board chair. (File photo from June 2013 by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 6:30 p.m.

An Oak Ridge company that is considered a success story and has already expanded once in the past few years is considering expanding again, possibly investing $15-$20 million and adding 100 jobs, officials said Monday.

But Protomet, the company, is landlocked at its eight-acre site at Bethel Valley Industrial Park, so the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board will ask the U.S. Department of Energy to consider transferring or leasing up to 40 acres west of the park that could be used for the expansion.

Protomet broke ground on a $6.25 million expansion of its manufacturing facility in June 2013, allowing the company to more than double its space, consolidate operations with a Blount County facility, and expand production.

The expanded facility was expected to have more than 40,000 square feet and bring more than 30 jobs to Oak Ridge. It was the second multi-million dollar investment at the company’s Oak Ridge site. [Read more…]

School board to consider extending superintendent’s contract to 2020

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Bruce Borchers

Bruce Borchers

The Oak Ridge Board of Education will consider extending Superintendent Bruce Borchers’ contract through 2020 during a Monday evening meeting.

If approved, the contract extension would take effect June 18, 2016, and continue through June 17, 2020.

Borchers was hired in April 2013, and he started two months later, on June 18. He was previously superintendent of the Rockwood School District in Eureka, Missouri. [Read more…]

Traffic light study under way, new plans could be implemented this year

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TDOT Commissioner John Schroer and Mayor Pro Tem Jane Miller

TDOT Commissioner John Schroer presents a signal optimization grant check to former Oak Ridge Mayor Pro Tem Jane Miller. (File photo from September 2014 courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

 

A traffic light timing study is under way, and new plans could be implemented early this year, city officials said in December.

Oak Ridge Today asked about the signal timing project during a December interview with Oak Ridge Electric Director Jack Suggs and Jon van Eek, power utilization program supervisor in the Oak Ridge Electric Department. That interview focused on radar-based traffic detectors at six intersections in Oak Ridge.

The City of Oak Ridge announced in September 2014 that it had been awarded a Tennessee Department of Transportation grant for $237,500 for a signal timing optimization project.

Suggs and van Eek said the timing study is under way, and they hope to have new plans implemented after January 1, 2016. The plan is to move the maximum number of cars in all directions and to move the maximum number of vehicles, Suggs said. [Read more…]

UCOR donates to United Way, Boys & Girls Club

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UCOR executives Harold Conner, left, and Ken Rueter, center, present a check to United Way of Anderson County representatives Gene Patterson, Naomi Asher, and Jim Dodson. (Submitted photo)

 

UCOR, the federal government’s cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge, recently donated about $30,000 to United Way of Anderson County and Boys and Girls Club of the Clinch Valley.

A $27,209 donation to United Way of Anderson County represented about one-quarter of the more than $100,000 raised in the company’s 2015 United Way Campaign.

UCOR donated $4,000 to the Boys and Girls Club of the Clinch Valley. The club serves an active membership of more than 750 youth from six to 17 years of age through extended services and programs. The contribution is in keeping with UCOR’s commitment to supporting local children’s advocacy programs, a press release said. [Read more…]

Two adults escape, no injuries in Saturday morning fire in Marlow

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Two people escaped and no one was injured in a fire in a single-wide mobile home on Farmers Hollow Road in Marlow on Saturday morning, Jan. 2, 2016, authorities said. (Photo by Tom Scott)

 

Two adults escaped and no one was injured in a Saturday morning fire in a large single-wide mobile home in Marlow, authorities said.

Two adults were in the home when the fire was reported at about 9:40 a.m. Saturday at 238 Farmers Hollow Road, but they escaped before firefighters arrived, said Stephanie Fox, assistant chief of the Marlow Volunteer Fire Department.

A man who lives there said a wall behind a wood-burning stove was on fire when he woke up, and he helped his mother out of the home, Fox said.

But neither was injured, and no one was taken to the hospital, Fox said. [Read more…]

Demolition could start this year on K-27, last of five gaseous diffusion buildings

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The interior of the K-27 Building, which once enriched uranium through a process called gaseous diffusion, is pictured above on March 30, 2015. (DOE photo by Lynn Freeny)

 

Information from Oak Ridge Today and the January 2016 issue of “Advocate,” a publication of the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board

Demolition work could start early this year on the K-27 Building, the last of five gaseous diffusion buildings at the former K-25 site, now known as East Tennessee Technology Park or Heritage Center. The giant buildings were once used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants, starting during World War II and continuing through the Cold War.

Deactivation work continues at the K-27 Building, preparing it for demolition. At the beginning of December, deactivation of the building was more than 96 percent complete. Workers continue to remove transite paneling on the building, but that job is 80 percent complete.

Sue Cange, manager of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, has previously said that demolition work could start on the building in early 2016 and be complete by the end of the year.

Demolition work on the former K-31 Building, the fourth of the five buildings to be demolished, was completed in June. [Read more…]

DOE awards contract to demolish electrical switchyard at ETTP

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K-27-ETTP-Switchyard-Oct-20-2015

The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded a $2.1 million fixed-price contract to a small business based in Michigan, CTI and Associates, to perform asset recovery and demolition work at the old electrical switchyard at ETTP. (DOE photo by Lynn Freeny)

 

The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded a $2.1 million fixed-price contract to a small business based in Michigan, CTI and Associates, to perform asset recovery and demolition work at the old electrical switchyard at East Tennessee Technology Park.

The scope of the work includes removal and recycling of electrical equipment. The switchyard is adjacent to the K-27 Building in west Oak Ridge.

Copper, aluminum, and steel from the yard can be recovered for recycling. CTI has engaged an Alabama subcontractor, TCI, that specializes in electrical recycling. [Read more…]