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On Senate floor, Alexander honors nuclear workers, Bill Wilcox, Calutron Girls

Posted at 8:04 am October 31, 2013
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Lamar Alexander

Sen. Lamar Alexander spoke on the floor of the U.S. Senate on Wednesday in honor of nuclear weapons program workers. Among those he honored were Bill Wilcox and the Calutron Girls.

Wilcox was a Manhattan Project veteran, former technical director at the K-25 site and Y-12 National Security Complex, and Oak Ridge city historian.

Wednesday was the fifth annual National Day of Remembrance for nuclear weapons program workers. It had been recognized under a resolution that Alexander cosponsored earlier this year.

Here are the senator’s full remarks: [Read more…]

Free Medical Clinic has open house, ribbon cutting at new location

Posted at 7:45 am October 31, 2013
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

The Free Medical Clinic of Oak Ridge will have an open house and ribbon cutting celebration at its new location next week.

The clinic has moved to an expanded location at 116 East Division Road in Oak Ridge (immediately behind Zaxby’s restaurant).

The open house will be from 4:00 to 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 8. The ribbon cutting ceremony will take place at 4:30 p.m.

Before moving to the new location in mid-October, FMCOR was housed in the Trinity Center on Robertsville Road. The larger facility will help to meet the ever increasing requests for care, a press release said. Since opening in January 2010, more than 3,000 patients have been served in nearly 13,000 visits. [Read more…]

Anderson County will receive close to $30,000 in emergency food, shelter funding

Posted at 4:50 pm October 30, 2013
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Anderson County will receive $29,369 in federal funds to supplement emergency food and shelter programs in the county, a press release said.

The money has been awarded under the Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program.

A local board consisting of representatives from the United Way of Anderson County and other local nonprofit and governmental agencies will determine how the funds will be awarded to emergency food and shelter programs run by local service organizations in Anderson County. [Read more…]

Veterans Day Parade in Clinton on Monday, Nov. 11

Posted at 12:00 pm October 30, 2013
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

The 7th Annual Anderson County Veterans Day Parade will be held at 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 11, in downtown Clinton.

This year’s theme is “Showing Our County’s Veterans We Care.”

The parade will start on Market Street in Clinton and move toward Main Street, passing in front of the Anderson County Courthouse.

Immediately after the parade, there will be a ceremony celebrating veterans featuring a “mini-concert” by local favorites Russ and Becky Jeffers in the Ritz Theater. [Read more…]

Two taken to UT hospital after five-vehicle crash between Clinton, Oak Ridge

Posted at 11:18 am October 30, 2013
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

View Larger Map

Two people were taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center after a five-vehicle crash on State Highway 61 between Oak Ridge and Clinton on Tuesday afternoon, authorities said.

The collision occurred at about 3:30 p.m. on SR 61 near Old Tacora Road, in front of Gibbs Ferry Park. According to preliminary information, it appears an elderly female was traveling eastbound on Highway 61 when she drifted across the center line and into oncoming traffic, said Dalya Qualls, public information officer for the Tennessee Department of Safety. The woman attempted to swerve back into her lane when she struck a Chevrolet pickup truck, Qualls said. [Read more…]

Informational meeting Friday on changing Lake City’s name to Rocky Top

Posted at 10:30 am October 30, 2013
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Anyone interested in learning more about the proposal to change Lake City’s name to Rocky Top can attend an informational meeting and beans and corn bread social on Friday evening in Lake City.

The developers and partners of Rocky Top will be available to answer all questions concerning the project, locations, jobs, and the general impact on the community, said Stephanie Wells, executive director of the Anderson County Tourism Council.

The meeting starts at 6 p.m. Friday at Main Street Baptist Church, located at the corner of Fourth and Main Street in Lake City. [Read more…]

NNSA to decide on Y-12, Pantex contract in early November

Posted at 7:44 am October 30, 2013
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Y-12 National Security Complex Aerial View

The National Nuclear Security Administration will make a selection decision in early November on the consolidated contract to manage and operate the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, pictured above, and Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas.

The National Nuclear Security Administration will make a selection decision in early November on the consolidated contract to manage and operate the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge and Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, officials said.

The contract, which could be worth up to $22.8 billion over 10 years, was initially awarded in January, but it has been held up by bid protests. The NNSA is hoping to avoid a third round of protests and has asked the three bidding teams if they are willing to share confidential information to help avoid challenges “based on incomplete information and suspicions that are unfounded.”

In a statement this week, the NNSA, a separate agency within the U.S. Department of Energy, said its technical experts have finished evaluating the offers in response to corrective action taken in June, and federal officials will give each bidding team a debriefing. The three teams are Integrated Nuclear Production Solutions LLC of Oak Ridge; Nuclear Production Partners LLC, or NP2, of Lynchburg, Va.; and Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC, or CNS, of Reston, Va. [Read more…]

Budget cuts cause concern in research community, including at ORNL

Posted at 7:54 pm October 29, 2013
By John Huotari 11 Comments

Thom Mason

The budget deal that Congress approved earlier this month to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling kept in place automatic budget cuts known as sequestration.

But those across-the-board cuts are causing concern in the scientific community, including at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

In August, ORNL Director Thom Mason said the lab had been, up to that point, mostly immune from the cuts because of steps that UT-Battelle, the managing and operating contractor, had already taken to cut costs, including through workforce restructuring, reduced staff and overhead budgets, and benefit changes.

“We’ve just been doing everything we can to prepare for lean budgets,” Mason said. [Read more…]

Alexander calls for resignation of U.S. Health Secretary Sibelius

Posted at 12:47 pm October 29, 2013
By John Huotari 1 Comment

Lamar Alexander

Kathleen Sebelius

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius should be asked to resign because of the “disastrous rollout of Obamacare,” Sen. Lamar Alexander said Tuesday.

“No private sector chief executive officer would escape accountability after such a poor performance,” said Alexander, a Tennessee Republican.

The Affordable Care Act of 2010, commonly known as “Obamacare,” set up health care exchanges, and the new HealthCare.gov website that rolled out Oct. 1 was designed to allow people to sign up for them. But the site has been plagued by technical problems, although officials have said they would be fixed by the end of November.

Alexander expressed skepticism that the problems would be resolved that quickly. [Read more…]

Five confirmed bullying cases in Oak Ridge last year, state report says

Posted at 9:07 am October 29, 2013
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge Schools reported five confirmed cases of bullying in the 2012-2013 school year. The Oak Ridge Schools’ School Administration Building is pictured above.

There were five confirmed cases of bullying in Oak Ridge Schools last year, a number that is much lower than in many other school districts across the state and in some other nearby districts.

The numbers were reported in a new, first-of-its kind report that said there were 7,555 reported cases of bullying in Tennessee schools last year. Nearly 73 percent of them—or 5,478 cases—were confirmed after investigation.

The report said Oak Ridge Schools had 14 bullying cases reported in the 2012-2013 school year, but only five were confirmed after investigation. All five of those were related to sex or gender discrimination, the report said. [Read more…]

Nobel Laureate launches Wigner Distinguished Lecture Series at ORNL

Posted at 10:53 pm October 28, 2013
By Oak Ridge National Laboratory Leave a Comment

Albert Fert

Three more Nobel winners, former Intel chairman among nine confirmed speakers

Four Nobel Laureates are among nine lecturers who will be participating in the new Eugene P. Wigner Distinguished Lecture Series in Science, Technology, and Policy at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Albert Fert, recipient of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physics, opens the series on Nov. 4 at 10 a.m. in the Iran Thomas Auditorium at ORNL’s Spallation Neutron Source.

“The Wigner lectures aim to invigorate scientific discovery and technological innovation and to initiate productive scientific policy debate,” said Thom Mason, laboratory director. [Read more…]

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