Author: John Hammer

The City of Greensboro announced new measures in response to the COVID-19 virus.

In the midst of meetings and events in the city, state and country being canceled, the Greensboro City Council held an emergency meeting at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, March 17, for no apparent reason.

The Greensboro City Council is holding an emergency meeting Tuesday, March 17 at 3 p.m. in the Council Chamber at city hall.

Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan has directed city staff that all city boards and commission meetings for the next 30 days are to be cancelled.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper’s office has announced that an executive order will be issued Tuesday, March 17, mandating that all bars and restaurants be closed for dine-in customers.

Sixth District Congressman Mark Walker spoke to a group of about 25 at the Republican Speakers Forum at Kickback Jack’s on New Garden Road on Monday, March 16.

The current default position on meetings is that they are cancelled, so it was somewhat surprising that the Greensboro Zoning Commission met on Monday, March 16, as scheduled.

The City of Greensboro has come out with a long list of changes that will take place starting Monday, March 16, in response to the COVID-19 virus.

A number of businesses are pitching in to do what they can to help people facing unexpected and unusual circumstances because of the COVID-19 virus.

Guilford County public schools and public schools all over the state will be closed for a minimum of two weeks beginning on Monday, March 16.

If you were planning on attending church on Sunday, March 15, you should check with your church before going, because if you attend a church where more than 100 people can attend services, it has likely been cancelled.

If you were due in court during the next 30 days, you got a reprieve.

The Greensboro City Council meeting scheduled for Tuesday, March 17 has been postponed to Tuesday, March 31 at 5:30 p.m. in the Council Chamber.

The long awaited, much anticipated grand opening of the Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts, and the myriad of events associated with it – including the ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday, March 20 – have been postponed due to the coronavirus.

Events are being canceled because of the coronavirus so quickly, it’s impossible to keep up.

Over a hundred people had already gathered in front of the Tanger Center for the Performing Arts marquee for the Downtown Tournament Town Watch Party around noon on Thursday, March 12, when the announcement was made that the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Men’s Basketball Tournament was cancelled.

The Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament has been cancelled and Florida State University, the winner of the regular season has been named the ACC champions.

The announcement that fans would not be allowed at the remainder of the Atlantic Coast Conference  (ACC) Men’s Basketball Tournament was naturally the hot topic at the Greensboro Coliseum on Wednesday night.

Three major college basketball tournaments in Greensboro in 2020 just became one and a half, at least as far as fans who planned to attend the games are concerned.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) announced this afternoon that it will not allow fans other than essential staff and limited family members at the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments because of the coronavirus.

The stock market has been on a wild ride with the coronavirus panic and gas prices causing the largest one day drop since 2008.

Making predictions about the November election this far out is fraught with peril, but here is one: North Carolina will elect its first African-American lieutenant governor in 2020.

The Carroll Companies announced it will begin building the hotel long planned for the corner of Bellemeade and North Eugene streets, across the street from the Slugger office building now under construction, by the end of 2020 with significant changes.

After he was sworn in, Greensboro Police Chief Brian James said that before making any major decisions on changes to the Police Department he wanted to hear from the people.

The Men’s Atlantic Coast Conference Basketball Tournament will be played at the Greensboro Coliseum from Tuesday, March 10 through Saturday, March 14, which means this week is a good week for drivers to avoid the Coliseum area if at all possible.

The annual reenactment of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse will be held on Saturday, March 14 and Sunday, March 15 at Greensboro Country Park.

On Monday, March, 2 the Greensboro City Council met in closed session to discuss an 11-year-old lawsuit that has cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees.

After squandering daylight since November, the US will stop its spendthrift ways regarding daylight and start saving daylight on Sunday, March 8 at 2 a.m.

The North Carolina State Board of Education approved a new charter school for Greensboro and four other charter schools across the state on Thursday, March 5.

The Tuesday, March 3 primary didn’t offer much more clarity at the top of the ticket in North Carolina than was already there.

A recent study by Volusion shows the Greensboro-High Point metro area ranks lowest of the large metro areas in the state in the percent of six figure jobs.

It seems most people, and more particularly most people in the media, don’t care much about the North Carolina auditor’s race.

The 2020 North Carolina primary election certainly proved that the top of the ticket drives voter turnout.

North Carolina Commissioner of Insurance Mike Causey from Guilford County easily won his Republican primary race against Ronald Pierce on Tuesday, March 3.

The primary is supposed to determine the candidates for the general election in November.

Mark Robinson of Greensboro won the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor on Tuesday night, March 3, which was an amazing victory.

The Guilford County Board of Elections office was slow to get results posted on Tuesday night, March 3, but it wasn’t because of any problems in Guilford County.

Kathy Manning easily won the March 3 Democratic primary for the newly drawn 6th Congressional District.

The first City Council meetings of the month, where the main purpose is to hear from the public, have calmed down quite a bit in 2020.

The Greensboro City Council is scheduled to pass the new comprehensive plan GSO2040 on April 21, with the new plan to go into effect at the beginning of the next fiscal year on July 1, 2020.

The five goals the Greensboro City Council approved at its retreat at the ACC Hall of Champions on Monday, Feb. 24 were supposed to be “measurable” and “achievable.”

Saturday, March 21, The Tanger Center for the Performing Arts will host 19-time Grammy Award winner Tony Bennett.

Leap Day, Saturday, Feb. 29, is the last day of early voting. 

Anthony Wayne (Tony) Street, who is running in the Republican primary for state auditor, according to records at the Brunswick County Clerk of Courts Office has been charged with misdemeanor stalking in 2017 and 2018, and with simple assault in 2012.

If your idea of a good time is to head to Harris Teeter at 2 a.m. and peruse the produce, you’ll have to find another late night activity.

North Carolina State Treasurer Dale Folwell spoke at the Annual Conference of the North Carolina Council for the Social Studies last week at the Koury Convention Center. Folwell had good news and bad news for the teachers in the audience.

The City Council approved five long term goals at its annual retreat on Monday, Feb. 24. Most of the goals it plans to accomplish by 2022, but what it didn’t discuss was how it was going to accomplish those goals or pay for them.

The Greensboro City Council is meeting next week on Monday, March 2 at 5:30 p.m. in the Council Chamber instead of Tuesday, March 3 because of the primary election on Tuesday.

The Greensboro Coliseum will host three major college basketball tournaments in March and you don’t have to go to the Greensboro Coliseum to participate in some of the activities.