Oak Ridge Today

Anderson County officials discuss budget Monday evening

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Terry Frank

Terry Frank

Spending requests have exceeded expected revenues by more than $4 million, mostly because of a proposal to hire more jailers, and Anderson County officials will discuss the budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1 during a Monday evening workshop.

Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank and Budget Director Chris Phillips have said they plan to present a balanced budget that does not raise taxes but still provides core services.

County officials have said projected revenues are down slightly, or about 98 percent of what they are in the current fiscal year. There has been a slight increase in property assessments, but sales and business tax revenues are projected to be down. [Read more…]

Man accused of strangling girlfriend at hotel

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

A 49-year-old transient was charged with aggravated assault on Wednesday after he allegedly strangled his girlfriend, an Oak Ridge woman, at Days Inn on South Illinois Avenue, authorities said.

Darryel McDonald also allegedly pushed the victim down in the hotel parking lot as she attempted to run from him to the Days Inn office for help, according to an affidavit filed in Anderson County General Sessions Court. [Read more…]

Second week of brush pickup starts Monday

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The city’s annual brush pickup program started Monday, April 29.

The second week starts this Monday, and here is the schedule: [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Chorus ends season Saturday with concert at First Baptist

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

The Oak Ridge Chorus ends its season Saturday with a concert at First Baptist Church.

The Oak Ridge Chorus ends its season Saturday with a concert at First Baptist Church.

The Oak Ridge Chorus ends its season on Saturday.

Conductor Dan Allcott will introduce Seth Maples, the new Oak Ridge Chorus Director. Maples will sing a solo as well as share the conductor duties with Allcott.

The Chorus will sing Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel’s “Scarborough Fair,” Franz Joseph’s Schubert’s “To Music,” Johannes Brahm’s “Four Gypsy Songs,” Morten Lauridsen’s “Sure on this Shining Night,” and Charles Bryan’s selections from the opera “Singin’ Billy.” [Read more…]

Clinton has antique, emergency preparedness fairs this weekend

Posted at
By 1 Comment

Information from WYSH Radio

It will be a busy weekend in Clinton.

Today and Saturday, the 9th annual Clinch River Spring Antique Fair will take over historic downtown Clinton. The Fair kicks off with a party from 6 to 9 p.m. tonight featuring food and live music by West Wind, plus many of the shops will stay open late. [Read more…]

Cleanup work shifts to mercury as new Y-12 water treatment plant announced

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Y-12 Water Treatment Plant Announcement

State and federal officials announce a plant to treat mercury-contaminated water at the Y-12 National Security Complex. Pictured from left are Mark Whitney, Robert Martineau, Lamar Alexander, Dave Huizenga, and Stan Meiburg.

Cleanup work in Oak Ridge could shift from radiological contamination to mercury contamination, and a new $120 million water treatment plant at the Y-12 National Security Complex will help reduce mercury as workers tear down four contaminated buildings that were used to make nuclear weapons in the 1950s and 1960s, officials announced Friday.

“This water treatment plant is a major step in addressing one of the biggest problems we have from the Cold War era—mercury once used to make nuclear weapons getting into our waterways,” said U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican. He said mercury contamination can cause brain and nervous system damage in people who eat contaminated fish.

Alexander was at Y-12 on Friday along with other federal and state officials to help announce the new water treatment plant, which will be at the head of East Fork Poplar Creek on the south side of Y-12’s main production area. The plant would be connected to a Y-12 storm water system, and it could begin operating in 2019. It would be able to treat 1,500 gallons of mercury-contaminated water per minute. [Read more…]

Belk gives free mammograms in Oak Ridge on Friday, Saturday

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Free mammogram screenings are available at the Belk store in Oak Ridge today and Saturday.

They are offered by the BelkGives on the Go Mobile Mammography Center, a 39-foot-long screening center on wheels, a press release said. Women age 40 and over with no breast concerns, who have not had a mammogram in the last 12 months, and who have a primary care physician are eligible by calling (855) 655-BMMC (2662) to schedule an appointment. [Read more…]

Judge says prosecution against Y-12 protesters not selective, vindictive

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed claims by three anti-nuclear weapons activists who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex in July that a so-called sabotage charge filed against them in December was the result of vindictive and selective prosecution.

The defendants had asked the U.S. District Court in Knoxville to dismiss that charge, which carries a potential prison sentence of up to 20 years. They alleged government prosecutors sought the new charge because they had earlier refused to plead guilty to less serious charges. [Read more…]

Proactive policing, officer visibility, Neighborhood Watch help reduce crime, chief says

Posted at
By 5 Comments

James T. Akagi

James T. Akagi

The number of reported crimes has dropped significantly in each of the past two years in Oak Ridge, and that’s good news for the community, economic development, and police officer morale, officials said Wednesday.

Reported crimes were down 9 percent in Oak Ridge in 2011, and 11.5 percent in 2012, according to Tennessee Bureau of Investigation statistics.

“That indicates to me that isn’t a blip,” Oak Ridge Police Chief Jim Akagi said. “It’s not a one-year blip.” [Read more…]

ORNL analysis predicts extreme weather losses could double by 2050

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

By Katie Elyce Freeman

U.S. economic losses from extreme weather could at least double by 2050, according to an Oak Ridge National Laboratory analysis published this month in the online edition of the journal Global Environmental Change.

“A side effect of America’s growth has been the tendency to put more people, infrastructure and assets in harm’s way, and when a storm comes through, that increased exposure drives up economic losses,” said author Benjamin Preston, deputy director of ORNL’s Climate Change Science Institute, who studied historical data from more than 3,000 U.S. counties and used predictive modeling in the assessment. Preston works in impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability science, a field devoted to analyzing the effects of climate change on people, governments and industries. [Read more…]

Sound Company performs greatest hits of past decade this weekend

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Sound Company Children's Choir of Oak Ridge

The Sound Company Children’s Choir of Oak Ridge will perform their greatest hits of the last 10 years during a performance this weekend. (Submitted photos)

Sound Company Children’s Choir of Oak Ridge will celebrate their 10th anniversary by performing their greatest hits from the past decade this weekend.

There will be three performances, one at 9:30 a.m. Friday, a second at 7 p.m., and a third at 3 p.m. Saturday. All shows will be performed at the Historic Grove Theater at High Places Church.

Organizers have invited all Sound Company alumni to attend and sing a few songs with current Sound Company performers. Here are some of the songs to be performed during this anniversary show: [Read more…]

UCOR makes second $20,000 donation to Emory Valley Center

Posted at
By 1 Comment

UCOR Donates to Emory Valley Center

Pictured above from left are Gene Caldwell, Jennifer Enderson, Leo Sain, and Dottie Thompson. (Submitted photo)

UCOR, the federal cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge, recently donated a second installment pledge of $20,000 to the Emory Valley Center, a press release said.

In 2010, UCOR pledged to Emory Valley Center fundraising co-chairs Gene Caldwell and Dottie Thompson that it would donate $100,000 during the next five years to help build a new center.

“We believe in the importance of the work done to help so many people at Emory Valley Center,” UCOR President Leo Sain said in the press release. [Read more…]