Oak Ridge Today

Mayors, sheriffs also had fraudulent liens filed against them, indictment says

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More public officials, including at least two county mayors and two sheriffs, have been the victims of the allegedly fraudulent liens that led to the indictment announced by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation in Nashville on Thursday, after arrests in East Tennessee on Wednesday.

Information about the liens is contained in the 302-count indictment filed in Davidson County on January 20. That indictment came after a one-year investigation by state and federal authorities into fraudulent liens filed by East Tennessee residents. The TBI said 11 people were indicted, and 10 had been arrested as of Thursday afternoon. Seven of those arrested were from Anderson County.

Among the officials that have confirmed that they they were the victims of liens alleged to be fraudulent are Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett and Roane County Executive Ron Woody, and Anderson County Sheriff Paul White and Roane County Sheriff Jack Stockton.

Oak Ridge Today has already reported on some of the police officers and law enforcement officials and agencies in Oak Ridge and Anderson County that have been named in the $137 million worth of liens filed by Lee Harold Cromwell, who was one of the 10 people arrested Wednesday.

Other victims named in the 302-count indictment that haven’t previously been identified: Don A. Layton, Daryl R. Fansler, Jimmy Jones, Ronald Nathan Murch, and Steve R. Queener. [Read more…]

Knoxville company building $12 million plant in Hardin Valley

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peter-hedger-magnum-venus-products

Pictured above is Peter Hedger, chief executive officer of Magnum Venus Products, which is building a $12 million plant in Hardin Valley. (Submitted photo)

 

A Knoxville manufacturing company announced Thursday that it will build a $12 million plant in Hardin Valley that will create about 70 new jobs during the next five years.

The new Magnum Venus Products, or MVP, plant will be in the Hardin Business Park off Hardin Valley Road in west Knox County. Among other things, MVP makes high-tech pumps and works in the composites industry.

Construction of the new 80,000-square-foot plant will occur in two phases. The first 40,000-square-foot expansion phase will be completed next year, a press release said. The second phase of the expansion will add another 40,000 square feet.

Magnum Venus Products plans to occupy the new facility in the second half of 2017. [Read more…]

ORNL manufacturing facility part of national effort to make innovations

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Penny Pritzker Tours ORNL Manufacturing Demonstration Facility

U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, second from left, tours Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility in Hardin Valley on Thursday. Also pictured from left are IACMI CEO Craig Blue; Mark Johnson, director of DOE’s office of advanced manufacturing; Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero; and ORNL Director Thom Mason. They are standing next to a Shelby Cobra sports car that was 3D-printed at the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

HARDIN VALLEY—The Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is part of a national effort to keep the United States on the cutting edge of research and manufacturing, a federal official said Thursday.

One-third of economic growth comes from innovations, and the United States must continue making new developments, said Penny Pritzker, U.S. commerce secretary.

“Research and manufacturing is not nice to have,” Pritzker said. “It’s a need to have.”

Pritzker toured the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility on Cherahala Boulevard in Hardin Valley on Thursday. It’s part of the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation in Knoxville, which was announced by President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden during a trip to East Tennessee in January. [Read more…]

Commerce secretary to tour UT partner IACMI, ORNL manufacturing facility

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Penny Pritzker

Penny Pritzker

KNOXVILLE—On Thursday, August 27, Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and Department of Energy Assistant Secretary David Danielson will visit the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation in Knoxville.

The visit is part of a two-day tour of the institutes make up the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation. Governor Bill Haslam, U.S. Representative Chuck Fleischmann, Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero, and Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett will join Pritzker for portions of the day’s activities.

The group will tour the U.S. Department of Energy’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility and National Transportation Research Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The University of Tennessee in Knoxville is a key strategic partner of IACMI and led the proposal efforts with ORNL.

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden announced the new institute in January during a visit to East Tennessee. The White House initiative aims to strengthen the global competitiveness of America’s manufacturing sector and the workforce. The NNMI now has six institutes, and three more are being formed. [Read more…]