The first Breakfast with the Legislators this year is scheduled for Monday morning, February 28.
The breakfast will be virtual, and it scheduled from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. It has been organized by the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge.
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Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Sharon Lee will discuss the compelling stories of five American soldiers captured and held as prisoners of war by the Germans during World War II during a lunchtime meeting next week, a press release said.
The Lunch with the League is scheduled from 12-1 p.m. Tuesday, February 15. The meeting will be virtual, meaning it will be online, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The lunch is hosted by the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge, and the public is welcome to attend the virtual meeting.
“Personal history led Justice Lee to her interest in World War II, specifically POWs, and how their experiences shaped their lives after release,” the press release said. “Justice Lee’s father was a World War II POW. Although Justice Lee describes her family as being very patriotic and her father faithfully flying an American flag, their family did not talk about her father’s wartime experiences when she was growing up. Her interest in World War II POWs was sparked by ‘Soldiers and Slaves,’ a book shared with her by then Chancellor Arnold Goldin from Memphis, which later led her to research and prepare a presentation entitled ‘American Heroes With Common Bonds.'”
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Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers will present his State of the Schools at Lunch with the League on Tuesday, February 1.
During the annual talks, Borchers gives an overview of what is happening in Oak Ridge Schools.
“Between the unusual events at the high school in December and groundbreaking of the state-of-the-art Ben Martin Track, Dr. Borchers will undoubtedly have much to share,” a press release said.
Lunch with the League is organized by League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge.
Borchers started his education career as an elementary physical education teacher in the Sioux City (Iowa) Community School District. He also worked as an interim assistant principal and guidance counselor in Iowa City, Iowa; as assistant principal and principal in Mankato, Minnesota; and as associate superintendent of secondary schools for the Anoka-Hennepin (Minnesota) School District. Prior to joining the Oak Ridge Schools, Borchers was the superintendent of the Rockwood School District from 2010 to 2013.
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Knoxville reporter Jesse Fox Mayshark will discuss redistricting during a virtual meeting on Tuesday, January 18.
The talk, sponsored by League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge, will be about redistricting transparency and engagement, a press release said. The community is invited to participate in the Lunch with the League talk, which is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. January 18.
“In an effort to keep everyone safe during this time of pandemic, the gathering will again be virtual,” the press release said. “Those who desire to gain access to the meeting may do so by following the instructions provided at the close of this article.”
Here is more information from the press release:
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Investigative reporter Jamie Satterfield will discuss the impact of the coal ash spill in Kingston and the coal ash stored in Claxton during an online meeting in January.
The presentation by Satterfield, who worked for the Knoxville News Sentinel, will be hosted by the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge. The Lunch with the League is scheduled from 12-1 p.m. Tuesday, January 4.
“In an effort to keep everyone safe during this time of pandemic, the gathering will again be virtual,” a press release said. “Those who desire to gain access to the meeting may do so by following the instructions provided at the close of this article.”
The press release said a retaining wall of a dyke at the Kingston coal plant failed on Monday, December 22, 2008. It became the largest coal ash spill in United States history.
[Read more…]A social studies teacher at Oak Ridge High School will discuss the Harvard Law School case method and its teaching benefits during an online meeting at noon Tuesday, October 5.
Teacher Richard Alexander “Alex” Shaffer will be the speaker at the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge meeting. Shaffer has completed the training for and is teaching a course using the Harvard Case Method of teaching history, a press release said.
“The case method is proving to be effective in teaching high school students critical thinking skills, just what our future leaders will need,” the press release said.
The public is invited. The meeting is virtual in order to keep people safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. You don’t have to be a League member. For instruction on linking to the live presentation, contact [email protected].
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The history of the death penalty in Tennessee will be discussed in a lunchtime meeting today (Tuesday, May 4).
The meeting is hosted by the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge. It will be virtual (online). The speaker will be University of Tennessee Lecturer Hemant Sharma.
Along with John M. Scheb, head of the Political Science Department at the University of Tennessee/Knoxville, and others, Sharma authored the 2013 study “Race and the Death Penalty: An Empirical Assessment of First Degree Murder Convictions in Tennessee after Gregg v. Georgia,†a press release said. Published in the Tennessee Journal of Race, Gender and Social Justice, the study analyzed 1,068 first-degree murder convictions in the state following the 1976 Supreme Court decision that ended the four-year court moratorium on the death penalty across the nation.
[Read more…]The final Breakfast with the Legislators of this year is on Monday. The meeting will be virtual, meaning you can access it online.
The meeting is scheduled from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. Monday, April 26. It is sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge.
Tennessee senators Randy McNally and Ken Yager and representatives John Ragan and Kent Calfee have been invited to share an update about the current session of the Tennessee General Assembly, a press release said.
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Political redistricting will be discussed at Lunch with the League in Oak Ridge on Tuesday, April 20.
The virtual meeting is scheduled to start at noon April 20. It is hosted by the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge.
The featured speaker will be Debby Gould, first vice president of the League of Women Voters of Tennessee.
She will “share information on the League’s efforts to facilitate fair and equitable redistricting in our state and nation through its People Powered Fair Maps national redistricting program, which aims to create fair political maps nationwide in all 50 states and the District of Columbia,” a press release said.
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The death penalty in America will be discussed during a Lunch with the League meeting at noon today (Tuesday, April 6).
The virtual meeting is hosted by the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge. It will feature Marshall Jensen, a federal public defender for the Middle District of Tennessee. His talk is titled “‘Spaces of Sorrow Only God Can Touch’: The Death Penalty in Modern America.”
“Most people think that those on death row must be the worst of the worst,†Jensen said in a press release. “But when we examine who ends up on death row in America, what they share is they almost uniformly tend to be poor, mentally ill, intellectually disabled, or suffer from some form of organic brain damage.â€
Having served as a federal public defender for the Middle District of Tennessee in the Capital Habeas Unit since January 2020, Jensen represents people sentenced to death in their final, federal appeals before execution, the press release said. Prior to this work, he served as an assistant public defender at the Knox County Public Defender’s Community Law Office, where he represented indigent individuals in Knox County criminal courts.
[Read more…]The Oak Ridge League of Women Voters will have its second Breakfast with the Legislators of the year on Monday.
The breakfast is scheduled from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. Monday, March 22. The meeting will be virtual, and it’s open to the public.
Tennessee senators Randy McNally and Ken Yager and representatives John Ragan and Kent Calfee have been invited to share an update about the current session of the Tennessee General Assembly, a press release said.
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Wayne Blasius, community development director for the City of Oak Ridge, will discuss the current status of Downtown Oak Ridge during a lunchtime meeting on Tuesday.
The meeting will be hosted by the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge, and it will be online. League members and nonmembers receiving this announcement will receive the zoom link before March 2, a press release said.
For instructions on how to access the presentation on Tuesday, send an email to [email protected]. A couple of days following the presentation, you may view the recorded session on the League’s website at https://my.lwv.org/tennessee/oak-ridge.
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