Forbes magazine ranks the Knoxville Metropolitan Area (which includes Oak Ridge) #6 in its list of the best “mid-size” metro areas for jobs (and we’re number 33 overall among the 398 U.S. metro areas), with healthy job growth. Interestingly, Knoxville seems to be bucking the trends described in the Forbes article, which says that that [...]
Posts under ‘The Big Picture’
Sizing up the competition
Folks around Oak Ridge are enthusiastic about the prospects for small modular reactors (SMRs) at the southwestern Oak Ridge location known as the “breeder site”, but we need to be aware that there are other project sponsors and communities aiming for financial assistance and quick regulatory review as the first SMRs. A New York Times [...]
HB 0368/SB 0893 is harmful to the interests of Oak Ridge and Tennessee
My email to State Senators Randy McNally and Ken Yager:
As a scientist and an elected official in the city of Oak Ridge, which trades on its scientific reputation, I urge you both to vote against SB 0893, the “critical thinking” bill.
Professional science teachers and the scientific community as a whole correctly interpret this as [...]
Are state and local budget-cutting slowing economic recovery?
This thought-provoking analysis by Nobel economist Paul Krugman probably has implications for the decisions that Oak Ridge needs to be making on various aspects of the city budget. He says that state and local budget cuts are “exerting a powerful drag on the economy as a whole.” He compares government spending during the Obama-era economic expansion [...]
Some thoughts about school standardized testing
With school starting up for the year, everywhere I turn somebody is talking about standardized testing in schools. Oak Ridge schools are making TCAP test scores count for a fraction of kids’ grades (not the school board’s idea — it’s a state mandate!), Tennessee is requesting a waiver from the No Child Left Behind requirements, [...]
More on Census data
Census data have been slow trickling in. I posted earlier about Oak Ridge’s total population and housing occupancy data, which were the only statistics available. I’m very curious to see the neighborhood-by-neighborhood breakdowns (they are available to computer techies, but haven’t been output in a user-friendly form yet). However, there’s information on ethnicity.
Oak Ridge’s minority [...]
Loss of DOE cleanup funding averted?
I’m tickled about the news that the big cuts in DOE’s 2011 Environmental Management (i.e., environmental cleanup) budget for Oak Ridge that were rumored to be in the proposed budget have been averted. Frank Munger’s blog tells about Representative Lincoln Davis’ role in restoring funds to the yet-to-be-announced budget. Three cheers for Lincoln Davis!
Cleanup budgets [...]
Whither retail Part 2 – the 3/50 Project
The 3/50 Project is giving us all a simple recipe for preserving and promoting commercial activity in our communities: pick 3 independently owned local businesses that you would miss if they disappeared, and spend $50 each month at those businesses ($50 divided among all three). The basic idea is to commit a total of $50 [...]
Election results are in… (November 2008 edition)
The election returns are in, and I’m elated by the election of Barack Obama. He will be inheriting a country that has serious problems, but between his pragmatism and his amazing ability to inspire people, I am hopeful that he will provide the leadership America needs.
The Oak Ridge City Charter Commission election results are also [...]