Author: Scott D. Yost

On Wednesday, Oct. 25 at 1 p.m., the Guilford County Family Justice Center (FJC) will celebrate the 5th anniversary of the opening of the center’s High Point location.

Guilford County Schools has just under $2 billion burning a hole in its pockets and, on Monday, Oct. 23, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners and Guilford County Board of Education will get together for a rare joint meeting and discuss the best way to spend that money – as well as how fast the money needs to be raised by issuing General Obligation bonds.

Anyone who wanted to see a repeat of the nearly year-long epic battle the Guilford County Board of Education engaged in before seating Republican Michael Logan in a vacant school board seat would have been disappointed when they watched the Guilford County Board of Commissioners casually and coolly seat new District 6 Commissioner Brandon Gray on Thursday. Oct. 19 in a split second on a unanimous vote with no discussion.

Usually, when the county buys a piece of property, the commissioners have a pretty good idea of how they plan to use it.

Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston had a lot of questions for county staff at the board’s afternoon work session on Thursday, Oct. 19 as to why it was taking so long to demolish the old jail in downtown Greensboro to make way for the Sheriff’s Department’s new headquarters. 

It will take a while to build, but residents of Northwest Guilford County and the surrounding area can start looking forward to a big new park.

On Thursday, Oct. 19, the High Point Rockers Baseball Team – along with the Atlantic League – announced the Rockers’ 2024 schedule. 

The tragic deaths of three children in a house fire in December of last year led to an investigation of the Guilford County Division of Social Services, and state officials found a host of problems and discovered that some employees weren’t doing the very basic things needed to keep kids being overseen by the county safe.

This month you can expect to see lots of ghosts and goblins running around at various events being held in High Point. 

It’s been a very long time since Piedmont Airlines flew a plane in or out of Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTIA), but, though the airline is gone, it is certainly not forgotten. 

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners has a whole lot of things on its plate right now and the board has decided to get together for an afternoon work session on Thursday, Oct. 19 to put a fork in some of those things.

At least in this century, every time a Guilford County commissioner has left the board – due to election loss, death, voluntarily stepping down or whatever – it has always happened with a great deal of fanfare, with the remaining commissioners speaking highly of the departing commissioner, even if they feuded with the person while serving together.

 When the Executive Committee of the Guilford County Democratic Party voted to nominate Brandon Gray as the replacement for former District 6 Commissioner James Upchurch, there were a lot of happy people, but few were as pleased as Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston, who played a huge part in the selection of Gray.

On Monday, Oct. 16, the Executive Committee of the Guilford County Democratic Party voted to nominate North Carolina Democratic Party Executive Committee Member Brandon Gray to fill the District 6 seat on the Guilford County Board of Commissioners – the seat vacated by the sudden departure of former Commissioner James Upchurch.

The Guilford County commissioners have hinted that they were going to do something to call attention to the 2022 Grimsley High School football team that lost in the state championship against New Bern High School, which later had its state title taken away for, among other things, using ineligible players. 

In recent years, Guilford County government has been putting a lot of emphasis on providing pregnant mothers with the resources and information they need to deliver healthy babies and keep them well after birth.

On Saturday morning, Oct. 14, the weather was gloomy for a benefit walk.

When it comes to implementing Medicaid expansion in Guilford County and across North Carolina, it’s been a case of “Hurry, hurry – wait!” as several delays and road blocks have arisen this year.

A decade or so ago, people were predicting the end of physical books, since reading on iPads and digital readers was becoming more popular. 

Guilford County has put a tremendous amount of effort in over the last year in an attempt to conduct more business with minority companies – and now the county is continuing to show support for minority vendors by hosting a Triad Black Farmer’s Market.

The tension level between Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston and County Manager Mike Halford rose to a high level at a recent work session of the board – so much so that it made county staff and other commissioners in the room noticeably uncomfortable.

Many kids at the age of 12 are still learning how to draw stick figures with a number 2 pencil, but one local talent – High Point’s Zoe Grace Kamiya – is about to become one of the youngest-ever High Point Furniture Market exhibitors, where an audience of influential home furnishings buyers from around the world will get a chance to view her work.

ProKidney, the biotech company that’s planning a $458 million facility in Greensboro, , may have a very bright future.

If you have any ideas at about changes and improvements that would be good for Guilford County’s parks – or things you don’t want to see happen to the parks in the future –  you’ll have plenty of chances to offer your input, starting on Saturday, Oct. 14.

A funny thing happened after the December 2022 gridiron battle over who would be state 4-A high school football champion.

If a woman wanted to vote in a bikini in Guilford County, or a man wanted to vote shirtless, no one would stop them – but it would be seen by many as a pretty bad clothing choice for Election Day. 

Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTIA) is trying to find a few good men and women who are willing to work for free. 

The Rhino Times would love to be able to report that soccer superstar extraordinaire Lionel Messi will be one of the two mystery players announced as new members of the Carolina Core Football Club.

If all this great weather and crisp fall air makes you happy, you’ll probably want to get out to the Bur-Mil Park Fall Fest at 5834 Bur-Mil Club Road on Saturday, Oct. 14 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Over the weekend, High Point Mayor Jay Wagner made a big announcement on his Facebook page.

Time flies when you’re having fun – and, also, when you’re learning things.

The elections that just started in Guilford County are the first ones in the history of the county where voters have to show an ID to vote.

Guilford County currently has a lot of things.  It has many great businesses, great weather, a pretty good flow of traffic most of the time, two world famous hamburger restaurants, some pickleball courts, and much, much more.  But there’s something it doesn’t have – a brand.

Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTIA) was extremely important to the community at the height of the pandemic, even though on the very worst passenger traffic day – in early 2020 – there were literally more people working in the airport terminal than there were passengers all day long.

North Carolina Democratic Party Executive Committee Member Brandon Gray will be the next District 6 representative on the Guilford County Board of Commissioners. 

These days, it’s hard to convince people to get vaccinated.

On Sunday, Oct. 1, the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department began a new phase of a program meant to help jail inmates with drug abuse problems. 

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) is hosting a live “fireside chat and tele-town hall” on Thursday, Oct. 5, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. that’s meant to relay how “aging adults” in the state, can support their health and access the care they need.

Usually, at the High Point Farmer’s Market, it’s the kumquats, onions, apples and lettuce that are in the spotlight.

The Thursday, Oct. 5 meeting of the Summerfield Town Council isn’t labeled as an “Emergency” meeting, but in a way it is. 

Guilford County Animal Services announced on Tuesday, Oct. 3 that the animal shelter is pausing its intake of cats and kittens for the remainder of the week after identifying likely cases of feline panleukopenia virus (FPV) in three stray cats brought to the shelter.

For the first time ever, Guilford County is conducting a public relations campaign to warn county residents about the threat of cybercrime.

Anyone who follows Guilford County politics in the slightest knows what happened when the Board of Education’s District 3 seat was vacated by current Guilford County Commissioner Pat Tillman. 

Guilford County Commissioner James Upchurch’s sudden resignation from the Guilford County Board of Commissioners to take a job in Georgia has created an interesting situation when it comes to filling the vacated District 6 seat. 

When Guilford County Commissioner James Upchurch announced on Monday, Oct. 2 that he was resigning from the Board of Commissioners, you might think that his exit was prepared for behind the scenes and well-coordinated.

Guilford County Commissioner James Upchurch dropped a bombshell on Guilford County residents and his fellow county commissioners when he announced on Monday, Oct. 2 that he was stepping down from his District 6 commissioners seat. 

Guilford County Commissioner James Upchurch has had an interesting and tumultuous three years on the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, so it’s only fitting that his service on the board end in a surprising way.  

There were a lot of people who were happy legislators in Washington, DC, were able to avoid a government shutdown at the last minute this weekend, and one of those was Guilford County Register of Deeds Jeff Thigpen – because his office handles passports and the deeds office was holding a large passport fair on the same weekend that the shutdown looked inevitable.

If someone told you they were giving you a million dollars, you would be elated but if they then added that you would get the money over a 20-year period you might be a little less delighted, but still pretty pleased. 

The NC General Assembly has passed, and the governor signed into law, a bill that will mean harsher penalties and certain jail time for drug dealers and others who supply drugs to people when that drug leads to their death.