Oak Ridge Today

Y-12, Pantex receive six NNSA Sustainability Awards in 2014

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Y-12 National Security Complex

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge is pictured above. (File photo/B&W Y-12)

 

The National Nuclear Security Administration has awarded six 2014 Sustainability Awards for innovation and excellence to the Pantex Plant and the Y-12 National Security Complex, both operated and managed by Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC, or CNS, a press release said.

“The awards recognize exemplary individual and team performance in advancing sustainability objectives through innovative and effective programs and projects that increase energy, water and fleet efficiency, and reduce greenhouse gases, pollution, and waste,” the release said. [Read more…]

Thanks to your support, Oak Ridge Today traffic up 30-40 percent in 2014

Posted at
By 6 Comments

We hope everyone has enjoyed their holidays, and we also want to wish you a Happy New Year! We also want to share some good news: Thanks to your support, Oak Ridge Today continues to grow.

We checked our Google Analytics website statistics for 2014, and here’s what they show:

  • Oak Ridge Today had 435,187 users in 2014;
  • 927,739 sessions; and
  • 1.75 million page views.

[Read more…]

Afraid of heights? This work might not be for you

Posted at
By 4 Comments

Telecommunications Tower Work

A crew was working high above the ground at the top of a telecommunications tower on Tuskegee Drive, near East Tulsa Road, on Wednesday. A Barnhart crane was also at the site. Here are a few pictures. [Read more…]

Youth Board shopped for Christmas for children through Mission of Hope

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

YAB Christmas Shopping Mission of Hope

Pictured above from left to right in front are Marie Denorme and Hannah Oran; second row are Camille Martinez, Claire DiFazio, Ovi Kabir, Caroline Bradshaw, Elizabeth Bradshaw, Shichen Zhang, Lauren Collier, Riley Mosby, Catherine Humphries, and Candace Pang; and back are Julie Heten, Kolton Reedy, Peter Magill, Kevin Reedy, Curtis Rookard, Tyler Boullie, Wesley Robinson, Stella Powell, Mandy Pitz, Brent Robinson, Brandon Stanley, Lewis Wang, and Masa Kato. (Submitted photo)

 

The Oak Ridge Youth Advisory Board members recently voted to spend time and money Christmas shopping at Kmart for area children through Mission of Hope.

The board raises funds at various events throughout the year to make this possible, a press release said.

The board spent a total of $1,664.73 on gifts. [Read more…]

New Fit Club will have monthly hikes on Fridays

Posted at
By 2 Comments

Join the Friday Fit Club and hit the trail for a fun new experience, a press release said.

Covenant Health affiliates Methodist Medical Center and Roane Medical Center are joining together with the Anderson and Roane County Parks and Recreation Departments to create a Friday Fit Club, which will meet for monthly hikes.

If you enjoy hiking and are interested in participating in the Friday Fit Club, you are encouraged to attend a planning meeting on Friday, January 9, from 8:45-10 a.m. in the Ridge Conference Room at Methodist Medical Center, located at 990 Oak Ridge Turnpike in Oak Ridge.

Light refreshments will be served, and registration is required. Call (865) 835-4662 to register by January 6.

Rocky Top man dies after shooting described as accidental

Posted at
By 1 Comment

Anderson County Sheriff Patch

A Rocky Top man died in what was reported to be an accidental shooting on Dutch Valley Road in Anderson County on Tuesday night, authorities said.

Christopher Scott Cody Bunch, 23, was unresponsive and lying on the floor with a gunshot wound to the chest when Anderson County Sheriff’s Department deputies responded to a home on Dutch Valley Road at about 9:57 p.m. Tuesday, an incident report said. A neighbor who is certified in first aid and had been called over was sitting next to Bunch holding a towel on the wound, the report said.

Paramedics responded and tried to save Bunch, but he was pronounced dead just after 10 p.m., the report said.

Joseph Eric McClane, of Clinton, told Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Joshua A. Humphrey that he accidentally shot Bunch, his friend, the report said. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge man in critical condition after crash that killed son

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Alcoa Police Department Logo

An Oak Ridge man remained in critical condition at a Knoxville hospital on Tuesday after a Monday morning crash that killed his son, authorities said.

Joseph Eatherly, 61, of Oak Ridge, was taken by Rural/Metro Ambulance Service to the University of Tennessee Medical Center after the crash on southbound Alcoa Highway at Airport Hilton. The two-vehicle crash killed Eatherly’s son, Eric Eatherly, 35, of Hixson, the Alcoa Police Department said.

The APD said the accident occurred at 6:37 a.m. Monday when Joseph Eatherly tried to make a U-turn from the right-hand lane of Alcoa Highway. [Read more…]

Photos: Downtown Shopping Center

Posted at
By 4 Comments

Crowd Outside Walgreen Drugs on December 2, 1955

A crowd outside Walgreen Drugs at the former Downtown Shopping Center on December 2, 1955. (Photos courtesy Don Hunnicutt/Ed Westcott)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 8:20 a.m. Dec. 31.

After we learned that Guilford Glazer died last week, we asked Don Hunnicutt if he or Ed Westcott, the government’s official photographer in Oak Ridge during World War II, had any pictures of the former Downtown Shopping Center that we might use on Oak Ridge Today. Don sent five pictures Tuesday morning. (Thank you, Don and Ed!)

Glazer, who was born in Knoxville, died last week in Beverly Hills, California, at 93. His company built the former Downtown Shopping Center in Oak Ridge in the 1950s, and he still owns property in Oak Ridge and Knoxville. [Read more…]

More than 80,000 Tennesseans pick Health Insurance Marketplace plan in first month

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Logo

Federal officials announced Tuesday that 87,137 people in Tennessee selected plans through the Health Insurance Marketplace leading up to the December 15 deadline for coverage beginning January 1.

It was the first month of open enrollment this year.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said 83 percent of Tennesseans who selected a 2015 plan are getting financial assistance to lower monthly premiums. That compared to 75 percent who selected plans over a similar period last year.

Of the 87,137 Tennesseans who selected a plan, 51 percent re-enrolled in a Marketplace plan in 2015, and 49 percent signed up for the first time, HHS said in a press release. [Read more…]

East Tennessee man charged with rape, assault, false imprisonment

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Robert John Davis

Robert John Davis

An East Tennessee man is accused of raping his ex-girlfriend in a Claxton home, shoving her backward and causing her head to go through a sheetrock wall, pointing a pistol at her and himself, and threatening to burn down her house, authorities said.

Robert John Davis, 34, is accused of using the victim’s debit card without permission to withdraw $200, throwing objects and ransacking her house, and telling her she had to have sex with him if she wanted to have her car keys, according to warrants filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court.

Davis has been charged with rape, aggravated assault, domestic assault, false imprisonment, property theft, unauthorized use of an auto/joyriding, and violation of an order of protection, the warrants said. Davis, who has addresses listed in Powell and Greenback, remains jailed in the Anderson County Detention Facility in Clinton, and his bail has been set at $237,500, according to court records. [Read more…]

Lady Wildcats play William Blount Monday after defeating Loudon Saturday

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Courtney Ellison of Lady Wildcats

Lady Wildcat Courtney Ellison (10) was one of four players who scored in double digits against Loudon on Saturday. Ellison led all scorers with 12 points, and she made seven key free throws down the stretch. (Photos courtesy David Scott/Tom Scott)

 

By Coach David Scott

The Lady Wildcats defeated Loudon 55-50 on Saturday.

The Lady Wildcats (10-5, 5-1 in District 3-AAA) had four players in double figures. They were led by Courtney Ellison’s 12. Ellison made seven key free throws down the stretch. [Read more…]

Nevada, feds agree to discuss landfill concerns, including ORNL radioactive waste

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

ORNL CEUSP Waste Shipping

Workers train to remove a type of shipping cask that would be used to transport 403 canisters of uranium-tainted waste from Oak Ridge National Laboratory to Nevada National Security Site northwest of Las Vegas. (Photos courtesy U.S. Department of Energy/Office of Environmental Management)

 

A new group of state and federal workers that was announced Tuesday could discuss contentious waste-related issues that include concerns over shipping low-level radioactive waste from a World War II-era building in Oak Ridge to a federal landfill in Nevada.

The new group, which will include senior-level state and federal employees, was announced in a six-page agreement, a memorandum of understanding signed last week by Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval.

The talks started more than a year ago, after Sandoval sent a letter to Moniz expressing concerns over the proposed disposal of the radioactive waste at the Nevada National Security Site, a former nuclear weapons proving ground about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

CEUSP Canister

At left is an actual 24-inch steel canister. At right is a representation of the canister interior.

The waste contains radioisotopes of uranium from the Consolidated Edison Uranium Solidification Project. It originated from a 1960s research and development test of thorium and uranium reactor fuel in New York. It is stored at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Building 3019—the oldest continuously operating nuclear facility in the Department of Energy complex—in 403 ceramic-like uranium oxide monoliths. Each of the monoliths is bonded to the inside of a steel canister about 3.5 inches in diameter and about two feet long. [Read more…]