I lived in Oak Ridge for several years. It is a government town with jobs dominated by federal employers. As such, it is a liberal cesspool in otherwise conservative East Tennessee.
Yep and KNS has been a Liberal Agenda Newpaper ever since Frank Cagle left as editor. If it's Liberal Agenda KNS/knoxnews.com will back it. Last year they ran several days of news about an area gay high schooler getting a school yearbook story on his lifestyle. This was done without other parents knowledge. The parents who shelled out big bucks for the book and it became agenda driven. I would have demanded a full refund myself.
The city of Oak Ridge is indeed majority Liberal but Anderson County is for the most part Conservative.