Resurfacing work on Emory Valley Road is expected to start on Monday, November 3, officials said.
The work will be done by Rogers Group Inc., working under contract for the Tennessee Department of Transportation.
The portion of Emory Valley Road to be resurfaced will begin west of Davidson Lane and proceeds west about 1.3 miles to Lafayette Drive, a city press release said. [Read more…]
Kelli Kent, Emma Berry, Reagan Wolfe, Noah Carter, Jake Wade, Sarah Thomas, Hope Hicks, and Courtney Sharp dance as Snow White helps the seven side effects to #ChooseNotToUse tobacco products. (Submitted photo)
The Anderson County Health Department and community partners Allies for Substance Abuse Prevention (ASAP) of Anderson County, Anderson County Schools, Clinton City Schools, and Oak Ridge City Schools have made great strides in tobacco prevention since nearly $65,000 was awarded to Anderson County earlier this year.
At the Tobacco Initiative Reception held on Wednesday, October 22, those strides were recognized. Art Miller, director of the Anderson County Health Department, said “this is the first time tobacco settlement funds are being used to fund tobacco prevention.”
More than 40 attendees watched as the ASAP Youth Coalition demonstrated why they “Choose Not To Use” tobacco through a special presentation of a skit they wrote and produced titled “Snow White and the Seven Side Effects.” During the skit, the dangers of tobacco use—such as cigarettes being the leading cause of house fires with more than 7,600 each year in the U.S. and losing teeth after the use of chewing tobacco—were highlighted. [Read more…]
Image courtesy National Weather Service in Morristown.
A winter storm warning is in effect in the mountains of East Tennessee, southwest Virginia, and western North Carolina from Friday to Saturday night, and up to 15 inches of snow is possible at elevations above 5,000 feet, forecasters said.
Snowfall of between four to eight inches is expected for locations above 2,500 feet, including Interstate 40 in North Carolina and I-26 in Unicoi County, according to the National Weather Service in Morristown. Up to 12-15 inches of snow is possible on the highest peaks above 5,000 feet, including U.S. Highway 441 in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. [Read more…]
Pedro Otaduy
Pedro Otaduy, a retired nuclear and power engineer, is running for Oak Ridge City Council in the November 4 municipal election.
In a press release, Otaduy said he agrees with the current mayor, Tom Beehan, who is not seeking re-election, that “it is time for new leadership to take a fresh look at moving Oak Ridge forward.”
“I am a candidate because I care and feel strongly about the need for change in this city,” Otaduy said. “Fresh looks though, are not enough: Actions and new ideas are needed. Looking without a vision does not help either.”
Otaduy said he is a proud Oak Ridger, born a Basque with the gene of independence. [Read more…]
The attorneys at Mostoller, Stulberg, Whitfield, and Allen in Oak Ridge are pictured above. (Submitted photo)
Two middle‐aged women graduated from the University of Tennessee Law School in October 1974. Since no one would hire them, Ann Mostoller and Dorothy Stulberg formed a partnership and set up their own law practice as Mostoller and Stulberg. They were surprised when the local Bank of Oak Ridge was willing to lend them $2,000 as start‐up money without requiring their husbands’ signatures. The women rented space in the Cappiello Building on Tulsa Avenue and began to practice law. In their case, they were truly “practicing.”
Some local folks were willing to trust them with their wills and other legal matters. The new attorneys served low‐income clients by offering divorces at fees based on incomes. The partners accepted appointments to criminal cases. Although women in law was an anomaly at that time, several male attorneys in the area were willing to assist them, for which the women were extremely grateful.
After about a year, the women were appointed to serve as public defenders in Anderson County. During this one-year appointment, the new attorneys became experienced with criminal jury trials. Although they did not continue to practice criminal law, the appointment provided good experience and good exposure both for the attorneys and the public.
During the first few years of practice, the women represented Vickie Cape in her challenge to the half‐court basketball rules then followed in Tennessee. Federal Judge Robert Taylor ruled in favor of Vickie, but the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) appealed the decision, and the case was reversed in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. However, the next year, TSSAA changed the rules, and women have continued to play full-court basketball ever since. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Board of Education will consider three options for the Oak Ridge Schools Preschool on New York Avenue during a Monday night meeting. The building—which has lead paint that needs to be repaired, replaced, and painted, among other things—has to be renovated or vacated for the Head Start program to receive funding in the 2015-2016 school year.
It’s 70 years old and in need of repairs. Federal officials want it renovated or vacated by next year in order for the school system to continue to receive Head Start funding.
So, on Monday, the Oak Ridge Board of Education will consider what to do about the Oak Ridge Preschool, a building on New York Avenue that’s been on the repair wish list for years.
The school board will consider three options:
There is one option that is not on the table, school officials said Thursday.
“We have no intention…of shutting down the Preschool in any form or fashion,” said Chris Marczak, Oak Ridge Schools assistant superintendent. [Read more…]
To celebrate Halloween, the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge will host a Not-So-Scary Spooktacular Event from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday, October 31. Young visitors are invited to create their own trick-or-treat bags before visiting the exhibits. Activities are free with admission.
Among events at the museum will be:
‘We are this close to ending polio’
Rotary International, which includes some 1.3 million members in 33,000 clubs in more than 200 countries around the world, celebrated October 24 as World Polio Day.
Since 1985, Rotary has led the battle against polio, as worldwide cases plummeted from 350,000 per year to several hundred—a 99 percent reduction.
“This is a source of pride to Rotarians everywhere,” says District Governor Jerry Wear of Rotary District 6780, which includes East Tennessee. “In our relentless fundraising efforts and our participation in inoculation days around the world, Rotarians are committed to carrying this important mission to completion.”
Today, polio is endemic in only three countries—Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan. When India came off that list in 2012, it was an important step toward eradicating a human disease from the earth for only the second time in history. (The first disease so eradicated was smallpox.) [Read more…]
Frank Klotz
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The National Nuclear Security Administration said last week that it had reached the halfway point in the production phase of the W76-1 warhead Life Extension Program, or LEP. An event held at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas, underscored NNSA’s commitment to meeting the U.S. Navy’s requirements for the W76-1.
Gen. Frank G. Klotz, U.S. Department of Energy under secretary for nuclear security and NNSA administrator, was on hand to personally thank the men and women of Pantex who helped achieve the production milestone.
“The W76-1 Life Extension Program is one of several steps we must take as a nation to ensure that America’s smaller nuclear arsenal remains safe, secure, and effective,” Klotz said. “The highly skilled Pantex team will continue to play an indispensable role in protecting the security of the United States, as well as our allies and partners, for many years to come. For that reason, it’s imperative that we continue to invest in the people and in the infrastructure needed to carry out that important, enduring task.” [Read more…]
Jessica Fain
As Roane State Community College educators Jessica Fain and Bruce Cantrell pursue a world record for longest time spent living underwater, Fain has already made her mark.
Cantrell, a biology professor, and Fain, an adjunct professor, are living and working in an underwater habitat—Jules’ Undersea Lodge on Key Largo in the Florida Keys—for 73 days.
Cantrell, an expert in the history of underwater habitats, noted that Fain has set the record for a female living underwater. The previous mark was 14 days, set in 1970 by renowned scientist Sylvia Earle and her team during their stay in the Tektite habitat. The Tektite program was the first nationally sponsored effort to place scientists in the sea to live.
As of Saturday, October 18, Fain and Cantrell had lived continuously underwater for 15 days. [Read more…]
Mike Paulus, director of Technology Transfer, says initiatives like SPARK! have been effective at connecting entrepreneurs, investors, and industry experts with ORNL technologies and capabilities. (Submitted photo)
New methods are improving connections between private businesses and technology from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, with 101 licenses and options executed during the last three years.
Mike Paulus, director of Technology Transfer, attributes the growth in large part to the Technology Innovation Program, Bridging the Gap, and SPARK! These programs helped the lab double the number of licenses for the fiscal years 2012-2014 compared to 2009-2011, and Paulus expects a new initiative, the Invention to Innovation Webinar Series, to help maintain the upward trend.
“We have a talented staff that has worked very hard to identify, develop, and market high-potential technologies that provide the best opportunities to licensees,” Paulus said. “Our two-pronged approach focuses on increasing the overall deal volume while at the same time concentrating on our most promising technologies.” [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Cedar Barren will undergo its annual fall cleanup at 9 a.m. Saturday, November 8. The main cleanup activity consists of exotic invasive plant removal.
Located next to Jefferson Middle School in Oak Ridge, the area is one of only a few cedar barrens in East Tennessee.
The barren is subject to invasion by Chinese lespedeza, leatherleaf viburnum, Chinese privet, autumn olive, mimosa, Nepal grass, multiflora rose, and woody plants. These plants, if allowed to mature, will shade out or overgrow the system’s unique prairie grasses. [Read more…]
