E-mail from State Representative Jim Hackworth’s office urged me to read the proposals that Governor Bredesen presented to the General Assembly yesterday (here’s the press release) and give him my views. Education is not one of the topics I typically contact my legislators about, but the governor’s proposal to transform the state’s education system has [...]
Posts under ‘In the News’
Better news for animal welfare
Good news from Kristin Olsen of the Humane Society of Anderson County:
Due to the overwhelming response and concern for continuing our neuter/spay program, we have met and revamped our program to help those in need.
We will continue to offer financial assistance to Anderson County residents. Requests will be made in person on the last [...]
Much good news in my e-mail inbox
Two bits of good news in a row: (1) The Oak Ridge Revitalization Effort now owns the Alexander Inn and (2) an additional trail segment has opened on the Black Oak Ridge Conservation Easement in westernmost Oak Ridge. Hurray for the people whose volunteer efforts are making good things happen!
On the Alexander Inn, Kate Groover [...]
Big bucks?
Wow… Frank Munger’s blog post “Who’s making the big bucks in Oak Ridge?” is attracting a lot of attention today among staff at ORNL. I have a hunch that the information that the top managers of certain local government contractors are receiving annual compensation on the order of half a million dollars or more is [...]
Solar workshop on Saturday, November 14
“Solar 101”: Solar Basics for the Oak Ridge Homeowner will be held Saturday, November 14th, 2009, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm, in the Oak Ridge Public Library Auditorium. Sponsored by the Oak Ridge Environmental Quality Advisory Board and the City of Knoxville’s Solar America Cities Program, this workshop will provide an overview of the solar [...]
DOE radwaste to Tennessee landfills – next chapter
It turns out that DOE’s conference call (see previous post) was not really an “initial public outreach activity” (other than the fact that it was their first public outreach on this topic), but rather was a belated damage-control job: the Department wanted to see whether it would be a bad idea to follow through [...]
DOE radwaste to Tennessee landfills?
I don’t know whether to castigate DOE for thinking of this in the first place, or congratulate them for having the good sense to drop the idea — I’m talking about the idea of sending radioactively contaminated soil from New York state to the Chestnut Ridge landfill in Anderson County, documented in Saturday’s News Sentinel. [...]
Referendum on guns in city parks?
Thursday’s Oak Ridge Observer reported that Alex Moseley is circulating a petition to force a referendum on the matter of whether handgun carry permit holders should be allowed to carry guns in Oak Ridge city parks. The strange thing about this news is that there is no provision in the city charter — and apparently [...]
Oak Ridge and the downside of derivatives trading
After headlines earlier this year about Tennessee local governments suffering losses after getting involved in interest rate swaps for their municipal bonds (see New York Times on April 8 and April 10, the Associated Press on April 8, and the Memphis Commercial Appeal and Chattanooga Times-Free Press on April 10 ) people are talking about [...]
Phew!
Phew! This year’s Secret City Festival was a big success but it’s a relief that it’s over, and a relief that we made it through last evening’s marathon City Council meeting.
We had a long agenda and a long meeting. Kudos to John Huotari for quickly spinning out reports on two of the major business items [...]