Oak Ridge Today

Clinton city manager: Presidential visit an honor, cost to city unknown

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City of Clinton, Tennessee

WYSH Radio/Oak Ridge Today

Clinton City Manager Roger Houck told WYSH Radio in Clinton on Wednesday morning that being chosen for a presidential visit is an honor for a city of Clinton’s size and worth the extra effort that local officials have been making this week.

Houck also talked about how the visit will give national attention to the city, its attractiveness for both companies and potential employees, and even more economic development.

Houck also said that the extra costs to the city associated with the visit, which will not be reimbursed by the White House, are unclear at this time but will be worked out during the next few weeks. [Read more…]

President Obama, VP Biden, wife coming to ET on Friday

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President Barack Obama

President Barack Obama

Information from WYSH Radio

President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and the vice president’s wife, Jill Biden, are coming to East Tennessee on Friday to announce a new higher education initiative.

The White House announced the Tennessee visit on Saturday as part of a week-long, cross-country tour to promote presidential policies on housing, economic development, and education.

Knoxville media reported that Obama and Biden will visit Pellissippi State Community College and then stop by Techmer PM, a Clinton company that makes additive and colorant systems for industries. [Read more…]

Top White House official confirmed as DOE deputy secretary

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Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall

Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall (Photo courtesy Stanford University)

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday, September 18, as the U.S. Department of Energy’s deputy secretary.

“Liz’s confirmation comes at a historic time in our nation’s energy evolution,” Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said. “She joins us with deep expertise in the department’s nuclear security mission, including both nuclear weapons and countering proliferation. Her extensive public service and recent responsibilities on the White House national security team position her to contribute to the department’s energy and security missions in a major way, both domestically and internationally. I thank the Senate for their attention to Liz’s nomination, and look forward to working closely with her as a key, trusted colleague.”

President Barack Obama nominated Sherwood-Randall in July.

As deputy secretary, Sherwood-Randall will support Moniz in the management and operation of the Department of Energy. [Read more…]

President Obama nominates defense aide for DOE deputy secretary

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Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall

Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall (Photo courtesy Stanford University)

President Barack Obama on Tuesday nominated Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, a presidential aide and national security official, to become deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, she would replace Daniel Poneman, who is stepping down from the No. 2 job this fall after five years.

Sherwood-Randall currently serves as special assistant to the president and White House coordinator for defense policy, countering weapons of mass destruction, and arms control, a position she has held since 2013. She served as special assistant to the president and senior director for European affairs at the National Security Council from 2009 to 2013.

The New York Times reported that Sherwood-Randall, 54, would bring a background in nuclear weapons and nonproliferation strategy to the department, which has split responsibilities for energy strategy and the country’s weapons and counter-proliferation work. It would be her third job in the Obama administration.

Daniel B. Poneman

Daniel B. Poneman

The newspaper said Sherwood-Randall oversaw the effort to get chemical weapons out of Syria and the development of the administration’s policy for dealing with the nuclear arsenal.

Poneman has been U.S. deputy secretary of energy since May 2009, and he also served as chief operating officer under former Energy Secretary Steven Chu. Poneman has been focused on nuclear safety and proliferation, among other issues, the Times said. He briefly served as acting secretary in 2013 before the confirmation of Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz. [Read more…]

Learn more about first-ever White House Maker Faire

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Tom Beehan

Tom Beehan

Madeline Rogero

Madeline Rogero

UT, Oak Ridge, Knoxville participating

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Mayors from the Manufacturing Alliance of Communities, including MAC Chair Dayne Walling, mayor of Flint, Mich.; founding MAC Chair Virg Bernero, mayor of Lansing, Mich.; and Mayor Kevin Smith of Anderson, Ind., will participate today with President Barack Obama in the first-ever Maker Faire to be held at the White House.

MAC mayors, who have been enthusiastic supporters of the Maker Movement to democratize access to high-tech tools for all innovators and makers in their communities, will join Obama and scores of entrepreneurs and industry leaders to highlight a “nationwide day of making” across the country. This event at the White House is intended to increase awareness of the great potential for boosting innovation and entrepreneurship in manufacturing, in the same way that the Internet and cloud computing lowered the barriers to entry for digital startups, creating the foundation for new products and processes that can help to revitalize American manufacturing.

Oak Ridge, Knoxville, and the University of Tennessee are participating. Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan and Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero have both been designated Maker Mayors. [Read more…]

UT College of Engineering also taking part in White House Maker Faire

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Submitted

KNOXVILLE—Responding to President Barack Obama’s call to empower America’s students and entrepreneurs to invent the future, the College of Engineering at the University of Tennessee is Knoxville is participating in today’s National Day of Making, held in conjunction with the first White House Maker Faire.

Referred to as the “maker movement,” there has been a surge of innovation in recent years as laser tools, 3-D printers, and software previously unavailable outside of laboratory settings have found their way into the hands of average citizens, who are leading the next wave of breakthroughs.

Geared toward inspiring what the White House calls a “renaissance in American manufacturing,” the fair is designed to highlight those Americans who have found new ways to embrace changing technology and techniques shaping modern economies, workforces, and education, with the Day of Making serving to kick off the effort. [Read more…]

Mayor Beehan represents Oak Ridge at White House Maker Faire

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Tom Beehan

Tom Beehan

Oak Ridge Mayor Tom Beehan is representing Oak Ridge at the White House Maker Faire today (Wednesday). It’s part of the Mayors’ Maker Challenge, which the Oak Ridge City Council approved at the June 2 Council meeting.

Here’s an e-mail about it from the White House:

Tune in to the White House Maker Faire!

We’ve got another big first happening at the White House (Wednesday, June 18) and our guests are making a lot of things besides history.

President Obama will celebrate innovators, entrepreneurs, and tinkerers of all ages from across the country at the first-ever White House Maker Faire. [Read more…]

UT part of $140 million White House advanced manufacturing initiative

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Suresh Babu

Suresh Babu

KNOXVILLE—The University of Tennessee in Knoxville will be part of a national effort, announced Tuesday by President Barack Obama, that could lead to more fuel-efficient cars and decreased costs for ships and aircraft.

Suresh Babu, UT-Oak Ridge National Laboratory Governor’s Chair for Advanced Manufacturing, and a team of faculty will help lead UT’s research effort in the $140 million Detroit-based institute, called the Lightweight and Modern Metals Manufacturing Innovation, or LM3I—one of two institutes announced Tuesday.

The U.S. Department of Defense-funded facility pairs together aluminum, titanium, and high-strength steel manufacturers with universities and laboratories pioneering new technology development and research for consumer products and defense capabilities. [Read more…]

ORNL receives GreenGov Presidential Award

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory Central Campus

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s central campus is pictured above. (Courtesy Oak Ridge National Laboratory/U.S. Dept. of Energy)

Oak Ridge National Laboratory received one of eight GreenGov Presidential Awards announced Tuesday.

The lab won in the Good Neighbor category for a project titled “ORNL Good, Green, Sustainable Neighbor,” a press release said.

The fourth annual awards were announced by the White House Council on Environmental Quality. They honor federal civilian and military personnel as well as agency teams, facilities, and programs that have taken innovative steps to reduce energy use and carbon pollution, curb waste, and save taxpayer money in federal agency operations, the release said.

At a White House ceremony in Washington, D.C., senior administration officials recognized the eight award winners for exemplifying President Barack Obama’s charge to “lead by example and demonstrating extraordinary achievement in the pursuit of the president’s 2009 executive order on federal leadership in environmental, energy, and economic performance,” the release said. [Read more…]

Shutdown ends: Oak Ridgers relieved, but frustrated with Congress

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Dean's Restaurant and Bakery

Dean Russell, co-owner of Dean’s Restaurant and Bakery in Jackson Square, has put up a sign expressing frustration with Congress over the government shutdown. Pictured above are restaurant servers Cassandra Prater, right, and Andy Tatum.

The end of the government shutdown last week brought relief to Oak Ridge, especially at the Y-12 National Security Complex, where up to about 3,600 workers were expected to be furloughed starting last Thursday unless a deal was reached.

Chuck Spencer, general manager of B&W Y-12, which manages and operates Y-12, told workers on Thursday that a shutdown to minimum staffing had been averted and the furloughs would no longer be necessary. There had been reports that only about 900 workers might have remained starting today.

Spencer said the nuclear weapons plant, which started an orderly shutdown two weeks ago on Monday, Oct. 7, will begin planning to resume normal operations.

Normal operations resumed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Thursday, Director Thom Mason said in a message to staff. ORNL had enough funding to continue operating through October and into November, but officials had started preparing for a possible temporary shutdown and unpaid furloughs in case the shutdown continued.

Oak Ridge residents remained frustrated even after Congress and the White House reached a last-minute, short-term spending agreement late Wednesday night that averted the shutdowns and furloughs, just hours before a deadline to raise the nation’s debt ceiling and after some local businesses had already reported that the shutdown had affected their operations. [Read more…]

President Truman’s grandson to discuss decision to bomb Japan in World War II

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Clifton Truman Daniel

Clifton Truman Daniel

In a speech later this month, the oldest grandson of former president Harry S. Truman will discuss his grandfather’s decision to use the world’s first atomic weapons at the end of World War II, a momentous decision that depended, at least in part, on work done in Oak Ridge.

Clifton Truman Daniel will also share insights about his grandfather’s life after Truman left the White House, and Daniel will discuss a family trip to Japan in 2012 for the 67th anniversary of the World War II bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.

Daniel will be in Oak Ridge on Thursday, March 28. His speech is hosted by the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association. It’s open to the public, and tickets are $20.

[Read more…]