The former Paragon Athletic Club on Emory Valley Road has been demolished. This picture was taken on Sunday, July 19, 2015. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Note: This story was updated at 7:52 p.m.
The former Paragon Athletic Club on Emory Valley Road has been demolished.
The building, which hadn’t been used for years, has been knocked to the ground, although debris remains at the site.
The former fitness center is near the former Food Lion grocery store in east Oak Ridge. [Read more…]
Three people were taken to the hospital after a two-vehicle crash on Oak Ridge Turnpike at Athens Road on Sunday afternoon, July 19, 2015, authorities said.
Three people were taken to the hospital after a two-vehicle crash on Oak Ridge Turnpike at Athens Road on Sunday afternoon, authorities said.
Two of the three were taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville and the other was taken to Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge, authorities said.
The crash, which briefly closed the eastbound lanes of the Turnpike, was reported in east Oak Ridge at about 4:09 p.m. Sunday. It occurred on the stretch of the Turnpike that runs between Milt Dickens Park on the north side of the four-lane roadway and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Scientific and Technical Information on the south. [Read more…]
Jeff Nichols, associate director for computing and computational sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in front of Titan, which was the world’s fastest supercomputer in November 2012 but is now ranked No. 2. (Photos courtesy of ORNL/File photo October 2013)
For the fifth consecutive time, Tianhe-2, a supercomputer developed by China’s National University of Defense Technology, has retained its position as the world’s number one system, according to the 45th edition of the twice-yearly TOP500 list of the world’s most powerful supercomputers. Tianhe-2, which means Milky Way-2, led the list with a performance of 33.86 petaflop/s (or quadrillions of calculations per second) on the Linpack benchmark.
At number two was Titan, a Cray XK7 system installed at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Titan, the top system in the United States and one of the most energy-efficient systems on the list, achieved 17.59 petaflop/s on the Linpack benchmark.
The only new entry in the Top 10 supercomputers on the latest list is at number seven—Shaheen II is a Cray XC40 system installed at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, or KAUST, in Saudi Arabia. Shaheen II achieved 5.536 petaflop/s on the Linpack benchmark, making it the highest-ranked Middle East system in the 22-year history of the list and the first to crack the Top 10. [Read more…]
The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department sent deputies to provide security at the National Guard Armory in Clinton and to the area around the Tennessee Valley Authority facilities at Norris Dam and Bull Run Fossil Plant in Claxton after officials learned of the fatal shootings at military centers in Chattanooga on Thursday.
Additional deputies were also sent to the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton and to county government buildings, Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Mark Lucas said.
He said the Tennessee Highway Patrol notified the ACSD on Thursday morning, July 16, about the unfolding events in Chattanooga.
“We informed all of our local police departments of this information,” Lucas said. “Our dispatch was also in contact with the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency State Emergency Operations Center in Nashville.” [Read more…]
Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch, center, throws out the opening pitch at the NABF World Series baseball tournament in Oak Ridge on Thursday, July 16, 2015. (Photo by Greta Ownby)
Note: This story was updated at 1:19 a.m. July 17.
The NABF World Series baseball tournament started in Oak Ridge on Thursday. Oak Ridge is one of the communities in the area hosting games between teams from the United States and Canada.
Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch tossed the first pitch to open the series in Oak Ridge.
The Oak Ridge baseball fields are being used from Thursday, July 16, through Sunday, July 19, for the NABF World Series baseball games. Knoxville is also hosting games.
The Oak Ridge High School Summer Team plays in Oak Ridge at 12:30 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. Saturday. [Read more…]
This image of Pluto, taken by New Horizons after a 9.5-year journey, is our highest-resolution photo of the dwarf planet since its discovery by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930. (Photo courtesy of NASA via DOE)
By Matt Dozier
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft just accomplished one of the most exciting feats in the history of space exploration. After a 9.5-year, 3-billion-mile journey, the mission’s historic flyby of Pluto has provided us with our first-ever closeup views of the frozen world at the edge of the solar system. It’s a remarkable achievement, one that wouldn’t have been possible without careful planning, ingenuity—and a little help from the U.S. Department of Energy.
In 2006, when NASA engineers were designing New Horizons, they knew that it would need a long-lasting, compact and incredibly reliable power source to survive the cold, dark reaches of outer space.
Solar power was out of the question. The spacecraft’s itinerary would take it billions of miles from the center of the solar system into the realm of Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. That far out, the Sun shines with just a tiny fraction of the intensity we see here on Earth—scarcely brighter than the stars in the night sky. Other options like batteries or fuel cells wouldn’t last long enough. [Read more…]
Jason Mumpower
Note: This story was last updated at 5 p.m.
Roane County properties showed an overall 3.47 percent drop in assessed values in the five-year reappraisal process taken over by state officials this year, and the tax-neutral property tax rate in the City of Oak Ridge has been calculated at $2.52, the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office announced Thursday.
The tax-neutral rate is up from the current $2.39 per $100 of assessed value, a 13-cent increase.
Separately, the Oak Ridge City Council has been asked to consider a tax rate increase of up to eight cents, with a one-cent increase requested by the municipal staff and a seven-cent increase requested by the Oak Ridge Board of Education. The one-cent increase would help maintain city services and allow for a 2 percent pay raise for city employees, and the seven-cent increase would help cover a deficit and add money for salaries and staff, including a 3 percent pay raise.
Any tax increase, if approved by city officials, would be in addition to the tax-neutral rate calculated by the state. Each additional cent on the property tax rate generates about another $90,000 in revenue. A one-cent increase would cost the owner of a $145,000 house another $3.63 per year. An eight-cent increase could cost that homeowner another $29 per year. [Read more…]
In the foreground: Predatory Photuris sp. which is recognizable by the red on the pronotum (head shield), larger size, and stripes on the wings. The firefly in the background is the Photuris frontalis (a.k.a. snappy sync). (Photo by TWRA)
By Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
Paul Shaw, a TWRA fisheries creel agent, has taken an interest in fireflies this summer, which has led to an amazing discovery.
Intrigued by the synchronous fireflies at Elkmont in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and learning that Lynn Faust, the premiere synchronous firefly researcher in the GSMNP had them on her property near his own, Shaw set out on a mission to find other populations in east Tennessee.
His initial search in early June produced a healthy but isolated population on his densely forested property, which lies about a mile north of the Oak Ridge Wildlife Management Area.
During the next few weeks, Shaw—along with ORWMA Manager Jim Evans, former TWRA employee Wade Gefellars, and several others—formed a group called the “Firefly Team” that began visiting sites around ORWMA with hopes of discovering other synchronous fireflies. Their research areas consisted of about 30 sites, which were not arbitrary, random locations but were carefully calculated by biological factors similar to those at Elkmont. [Read more…]
The Other One Diner Deli and Dive, a family-owned restaurant, is in Grove Center in Oak Ridge.
Note: This story was updated at 11:20 p.m.
Part of the roof collapsed into the kitchen at The Other One on Tuesday, and the restaurant is temporarily closed while repairs are made. But a food truck will offer a limited menu outside on Thursday.
The popular mom-and-pop burger and sandwich shop at Grove Center is owned and operated by Amanda Caldwell and Jimmy Long.
Early Wednesday afternoon, Caldwell said The Other One, which has been open for five years, could be closed for up to one week.
She said a section of the original roof estimated to be about two feet by three feet collapsed at about 5:50 p.m. Tuesday after a day of heavy rain and thunderstorms. No one was hurt, although two employees were in the kitchen at the time and the restaurant had to close, Caldwell said. [Read more…]
Pre-demolition work at the Oak Ridge City Center, the former Oak Ridge Mall, was scheduled to start late last week or early this week, and environmental remediation trucks were on the 60-acre site on Monday, July 13, 2015. The trucks above are from Environmental Abatement Inc., a structural, demolition, and environmental contractor. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Pre-demolition work at the Oak Ridge City Center, the former Oak Ridge Mall, was scheduled to start late last week or early this week, and environmental remediation trucks have been at the 60-acre site this week, starting Monday.
Plans call for redeveloping the former mall as Main Street Oak Ridge, a mixed-use project that would include retailers, restaurants, residential units, and a hotel. The existing space between the two remaining anchors, Belk and JCPenney, would be demolished, although those two stores would remain.
The trucks that have been at the mall site this week are from Environmental Abatement Inc., a structural, demolition, and environmental contractor. There has also been an asbestos waste container at the site.
A project representative said that Crosland Southeast, the company that has proposed the $80 million project, is working on pre-demolition activities and reviewing bids. The pre-demolition work includes asbestos abatement, and earlier this month, the representative said that the company hopes that that work will take place within a month. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge Fire Department Deputy Chief Josh Waldo fights a fire at 120 Graceland on April 3, 2014. (Photo by Tom Scott)
Josh Waldo, deputy chief of the Oak Ridge Fire Department, has accepted a job as chief of the Bozeman Fire Department in Montana.
Waldo’s first day on the new job will be August 24. His last day in Oak Ridge hasn’t been determined, but it could be in mid-August.
Bozeman has about 40,000 people, which is a little larger than Oak Ridge, but its fire department is smaller. The Bozeman Fire Department has three fire stations and roughly 50 personnel, including chiefs and inspectors, Waldo said Tuesday. That compares to four fire stations and about 70 personnel in Oak Ridge.
Waldo, 34, has been deputy fire chief in Oak Ridge for about 16 months. He was promoted from assistant chief to deputy chief in March 2014. He was promoted to assistant chief about 2.5 years earlier, in November 2011. [Read more…]
A picture from a previous Criterium race in Oak Ridge. (Submitted photo)
A bicycle racing event in Oak Ridge on July 25 and 26 will feature three types of races, a Family Wellness Festival, and a Kids Bike Rodeo.
It’s the URS-CH2M Oak Ridge LLC (UCOR) Oak Ridge Velo Classic.
Three types of races that include 13 categories of competitors will be offered. The road races and time trials will be staged from the parking area of the East Tennessee Technology Park beginning at 9 a.m., Saturday, July 25, and the criterium races will be held at the Horizon Center beginning at 8:30 a.m., Sunday, July 26. This year’s criterium races—which are very much like “NASCAR on bikes”—have been designated the state championships by the Tennessee Bicycle Racing Association.
The race promoters expect almost 400 competitors for the two-day event. The Comfort Inn is the official race hotel and is offering special rates to out-of-town competitors. Early race packet pickup will be held at a reception on Friday evening, July 24, poolside at the Comfort Inn. [Read more…]
