Author: Scott D. Yost

A long-planned redevelopment project in downtown High Point has officially moved forward with the sale of a prominent Main Street building that city leaders hope will help bring new life to the area.

Downtown High Point has announced that Showplace West at One Plaza Center, located at 101 S. Main St., has been sold to developers Randy Cosby and Andrew Hampton of LBD Investments.

The building, which dates back to the 1970s and has recently been renamed “Elwood on Main,” is set to be transformed into 143 market-rate apartment units along with two commercial spaces….

Guilford County government has been holding mental health resource days for years but right now – with a bad economy, intense political division and rhetoric as elections approach, a war raging in the Middle East and it costing you $60 to fill up your car rather than $40 – well, let’s just say it’s a really good time to hold one now that it’s 2026.

Guilford County officials are once again stepping into that space with their annual Mental Health Resource Fair, which this year will be held on Saturday, May 2, from noon to 4 p.m. at 925 Third St. in Greensboro….

If you were unlucky enough to attempt to navigate down East Cornwallis Drive last week to get to Golden Gate Shopping Center, you likely encountered a whole lot of road work that forced you to take a strange path to your destination – and the city has announced that, this week, there will be a lot more of that type of work going on, so you might want to allow some extra time to get where you’re going.

Drivers in Greensboro can expect to see a lot of lane closures and detours across a long list of city streets this week as the City of Greensboro continues its annual paving program…

Every few years in Guilford County, like clockwork, the reassessment notices go out — and a lot of property owners have the same reaction: There’s no way my property is worth that.

What follows is a quiet but very real surge in activity that most people don’t see – appeals filed, evidence gathered, hearings scheduled, and homeowners and business owners trying to make their case that the county got it wrong.

And here’s the thing: sometimes they do….

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners is set to approve a series of purchases for the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office at its Thursday, April 16 meeting.

Much of the funding will come from federal forfeiture funds – a pool of money that law enforcement agencies build over time through seized assets tied to criminal activity…

If you live near the county line in southern Guilford County, history suggests you might want to pay close attention to what the Guilford County Board of Commissioners hears next week.

At a special work session scheduled for Thursday, April 16, county staff will brief commissioners on a proposal to formally settle the boundary line between Guilford County and Randolph County – a process that, on paper, sounds straightforward but, in reality, has a long track record of turning into something much more complicated…

Sometimes the people who are supposed to be keeping contraband out are the very ones bringing it in.

On Thursday, April 9, the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office announced that a narcotics investigation by the Guilford County Narcotics Task Force resulted in the arrest of a detention officer who had been working inside the High Point jail.

According to the Sheriff’s Office, 31-year-old Christopher Aleman – who had been employed as a Guilford County Sheriff’s Office Detention Services Officer for about nine months – was taken into custody following the investigation….

It’s that time of year again: Spring cleaning time.

The weather warms up, the windows get opened – and, suddenly, all that stuff that’s been sitting in the garage, attic, or closet since 2012 starts looking a lot less necessary.

Fortunately, Guilford County residents will have not one but two opportunities over the next couple of weekends to get rid of hard-to-dispose-of items the right way….

On Wednesday, April 8, the Guilford County Sheriff’s office put out notice that it doesn’t want the case of the death of a 16-year-old boy to go cold.   The office sent out a press release calling for anyone in the public who has information on the case to come forward.

The Sheriff’s Office previously reported that on October 21, 2024, at about 6 a.m., Guilford County deputies responded to 4925 Harvest Road in McLeansville  following a 911 call reporting an “unknown problem, man down.”…

The Greensboro City Council meeting on Tuesday, April 7, turned into a pointed public airing of frustration over the city’s decision to hire a new police chief – with speakers from the floor questioning everything from transparency to leadership philosophy, and city leaders pushing back that the process was both legal and deliberate.

By the time public comment wrapped up, it was clear that the hiring of Kamran Afzal – announced just days earlier – had struck a nerve not just in the council chamber but across the broader Greensboro community, including on social media and in local media coverage.

Sometimes it really does help to come to the Guilford County Board of Commissioners meeting and make your case as a speaker from the floor.

Years ago, the late Marie Stanley came time and time again and asked the board to give the health department funding for a mobile medical van after she became convinced that her husband’s death could have been prevented by a service such as that. For years she showed up and spoke, and then, finally, one year, when the late former Guilford County Commissioner Bob Landreth was chairman, the mobile medical unit was funded in the county’s budget…

The City of Greensboro is rolling out a new optional insurance-style program for homeowners that promises protection from one of the more unpleasant surprises a property owner can face – a broken water or sewer line.

On the surface, it sounds like a helpful offering. However, like many programs that arrive in the mailbox with official-looking branding, it also raises a good question: Is this something homeowners actually need – or just something they’ll feel like they need?

The city recently announced its partnership with Service Line Warranties of America, a private company that sells repair plans for underground water and sewer lines and certain interior plumbing issues…

While responding to an emergency call, a Guilford County EMS ambulance was involved in a two-vehicle accident in the 2600 block of Gate City Boulevard in Greensboro at 1:26 p.m. on Saturday, April 4.

The ambulance had two providers seated in the front cab, both wearing seatbelts. At the time of the incident, the ambulance was responding to an emergency call and operating with lights and sirens…

There was a large audience in the commissioners meeting room on the second floor of the Old Guilford County Court House at the board’s Thursday, April 2 meeting, and on this night it was raised voices and more than a few angry taxpayers that set the tone from the start.

Guilford County residents lined up to speak their minds from the floor about the 2026 countywide property revaluation – and what many fear will follow because of it: a major tax increase.

What became clear very early on was that this wasn’t going to be a routine public comment session. Instead, it was something closer to a pressure release valve….

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners is set to consider a change this week that could quietly reshape how future housing developments are built – and how easy it is to find a parking space once they are.

At its Thursday, April 2 meeting, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners will hold a legislative hearing on a proposed amendment to the county’s Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) that would reduce minimum parking requirements for multi-family housing and townhomes.
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After a national search, the City of Greensboro has its next police chief – and he’s bringing with him decades of experience, a track record of reducing violent crime and a philosophy that leans heavily on community trust…

Greensboro City Manager Trey Davis announced this week that Kamran Afzal will take over as Greensboro’s new police chief, replacing John Thompson, who retired earlier this year. Afzal is scheduled to begin the job on May 13, 2026…

The current Guilford County Board of Commissioners – which features a teacher, two former Guilford County Board of Education members, a school volunteer and a chairman who loves the schools so much they should just get a room – has been very good to the school system in recent years, and school officials are hoping that generous nature continues when the commissioners adopt a fiscal 2026-2027 budget in June…

If your tap water starts smelling a little off in early April, don’t panic – and definitely don’t stop drinking it.

The City of Greensboro is once again wrapping up its annual Temporary Free-Chlorine Conversion Program – a routine maintenance effort that can leave some residents noticing slight changes in taste or odor. The program officially ends Monday, April 6, when the city switches back to its normal disinfectant system using chloramines….

Guilford County has tapped one of its own to help lead its emergency medical system, promoting longtime employee Jeff Hutchens to deputy director of Emergency Services following what officials described as a nationwide search.

According to Guilford County Emergency Services, Hutchens will oversee operations of the county’s EMS system in his new role, which he is scheduled to begin on Sunday, April 5….

The City of Greensboro has announced a slate of service changes and facility closures for Friday, April 3, as city offices shut down in observance of Good Friday and Spring Break.

As is often the case with city holidays, the biggest impact for many residents will be changes to their trash and recycling pickup. No garbage, recycling, bulk trash, yard waste or appliance collections will take place on Friday, April 3. Instead, those Friday collections will move up a day to Thursday, April 2, while Thursday’s collections will be picked up even earlier, on Wednesday, April 1….

Spring planting season is just about here, and Guilford County’s annual plant sale at the Guilford County Farm is set to begin on Wednesday, April 1.

According to Guilford County officials, the sale will start at 9 a.m. that day and continue through Saturday, May 30 – or until all the plants are sold.

The plants for sale are grown by Guilford County Parks staff in the greenhouse at the Guilford County Farm, located at 7315 Howerton Rd. in Gibsonville…

Greensboro police say they’ve made an arrest in connection with the city’s third homicide of 2026 – but, as is often the case early in an investigation, many key questions remain unanswered.

According to the Greensboro Police Department, officers were called to the 3300 block of North O’Henry Boulevard on Sunday afternoon, March 23, after reports that a person had been shot…

As Guilford County property owners brace for potentially higher tax bills following the latest countywide revaluation, most of the public conversation has been focused on one question: How much of that increased tax base value will local governments actually nab and spend?

However, while that debate has taken center stage, a second, much less discussed story has been unfolding at the same time – the projects on the table that will mean local government spending for decades to come…

There’s an old saying: “Georgia drivers, no survivors.”

Greensboro drivers aren’t quite that bad but the city certainly has some terrible drivers who frequently create dangerous conditions. Many Greensboro drivers don’t know that there is a lever on their steering wheel that alerts others of their intention to turn; a lot don’t know that it’s not a great idea to crank up the high beams at night and blind the drivers coming at them; and many have no idea what to do when two cars arrive simultaneously at a four-way stop.  If three Greensboro drivers ever arrived at a four-way stop simultaneously, they would all have to turn off their cars, get out and discuss it for a while and perhaps draw straws to see who should go through the intersection first…

More than two years after a 5-month-old child died in Brown Summit, the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office has made an arrest and filed murder charges in the case.

According to Guilford County Sheriff Danny Rogers, deputies were first called to a home on Hickory Court on the night of Dec. 8, 2023, for a reported cardiac arrest involving an infant.

When deputies arrived, Guilford County Emergency Services personnel were already on the scene performing life-saving efforts on the child. The infant was taken to a local hospital but was later pronounced dead…

There’s a growing concern in Guilford County that doesn’t fit neatly into partisan politics, easy solutions or even clear definitions – and that’s exactly why local officials say it’s time to slow down, collect some real data and then figure out what’s actually going on.

At the center of that current effort is Guilford County Register of Deeds Jeff Thigpen and his office, which is working with other county staff, planners and outside researchers to understand better how many homes in the county are being bought and owned by corporations – and what impact that might be having on local communities….

Guilford County health officials are warning residents about a potential measles exposure after a confirmed case passed through Greensboro earlier this month.

According to Guilford County Division of Public Health, an out-of-state individual who tested positive for measles visited a Wendy’s at 2221 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive on Friday, March 13, between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. Anyone who was at that location during that time may have been exposed…

Two-third bonds are confusing, and many people don’t fully understand these special types of after-the-fact bonds. However, local government leaders across the state – not just in Guilford County – understand that financial vehicle very well, because it can be a useful tool when officials need to find money for projects that might not win voter approval.

All of this is why voters who approve large bond referendums need to understand exactly what they’re voting on…

There’s been a lot of talk on social media lately claiming that Guilford County is planning to take money away from school bond funding to pay for new county buildings and a massive, consultant-recommended, countywide renovation and capital project.

If county staff and commissioners move forward with the project – or even major parts of it – the county will need to take on more debt. However, that debt would be on top of, rather than in place of, the more than $3 billion in school bond debt the county is already taking on to fund school projects….

The City of Greensboro is touting what it calls a major year for economic development, and on paper, the numbers are truly eye-catching.

According to the city’s just released 2025 “Year in Review” from its Economic Development Office, Greensboro saw more than $4.74 billion in capital investment tied to projects announced or advanced during the year…

Guilford County’s long-anticipated 2026 revaluation continues to unfold – and now the focus is shifting from homeowners to business owners.

As of noon on Tuesday, March 17, the county hadn’t yet released updated tax values for commercial, or business, properties. However, Guilford County Tax Director Ben Chavis told the Rhino Times on Tuesday morning that those values are expected to go live later today….

The tax values for Guilford County properties came out about a month ago, and while many homeowners were stunned by the Tax Department’s new appraisals – in some cases jumping as much as two-and-a-half times higher than in the 2022 revaluation – the early appeal process appears to be moving along relatively smoothly.

So far, as of Tuesday, March 17, there have been just under 5,000 residential property owners who’ve called or written in to challenge their values….

A multi-agency law enforcement effort resulted in the arrest of a 22-year-old man wanted for a lengthy list of criminal charges after authorities located him at a residence in neighboring Forsyth County.

According to a press release issued Monday, March 16 by the Greensboro Police Department, officers with the department’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Team worked alongside agents from the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation’s Criminal…

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners is expected to lend its formal support this week to a regional water planning effort that local leaders say will be critical to managing the Piedmont Triad’s rapid growth in the coming decades.

At their Thursday, March 19 meeting, the commissioners are scheduled to adopt a resolution backing a newly completed Master Planning Study by the Piedmont Triad Regional Water Authority (PTRWA)…

Downtown Greensboro, Inc. (DGI) President and CEO Zack Matheny announced this week that he will step down from his position after leading the downtown development organization for just over a decade.

Matheny has served as the head of DGI since 2015 – during a period when that nonprofit group expanded its programs and increased its role in organizing major downtown events and initiatives….

The Trump administration thinks that “green” is a four-letter word; however, for the City of Greensboro and one department in particular, nothing could be further from the truth.

According to a newly released annual report from the city’s Office of Sustainability and Resilience, Greensboro officials spent much of 2025 pushing forward with…

Guilford County residents will have an unusual chance this weekend to take care of several chores at once – recycling hard-to-dispose-of items, safely getting rid of old medications, shredding personal documents and even donating food – all at a single community event.

Guilford County Environmental Services, the Town of Pleasant Garden…

Everything old is new again.

The City of Greensboro is reminding residents of that fact with a series of history-focused events taking place this month that celebrate everything from the Revolutionary War to the city’s own museum history….

If you want to understand what Greensboro firefighters actually do in a year, the numbers tell the story pretty well.

In fiscal 2024–2025, the Greensboro Fire Department responded to 41,313 incidents, saved more than $221 million in property and answered nearly 25,000 medical calls. Firefighters also tested more than 15,000 fire hydrants, educated over 25,000 children and installed hundreds of smoke alarms across the city…

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners has been spending money like crazy in recent years, but the good news is that they are not running out largely due to the big rise in tax bills property owners saw after the 2022 revaluation, when the board decided to keep the tax rate the same even though that meant people’s tax bills would go up 25, 30, or 35 percent or so….

The City of Asheboro has announced that Thomas D. Carruthers will become the city’s new city attorney beginning April 6 – bringing more than two decades of legal experience to the growing Randolph County city. That experience includes years advising municipalities across North Carolina and previously serving as city attorney for Greensboro….

What began as one of the closest elections in North Carolina political history has now shifted slightly – though the outcome still isn’t officially final.

In addition to being one of the closest races in history, it’s also one of the most important.

After provisional ballots were reviewed and counted on Friday, March 6, Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page (pictured above with Guilford County Sheriff Danny Rogers)…

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners took a break from budgets, tax debates and policy discussions on Thursday night, March 5, to recognize one of the state’s most successful high school athletic programs – the Grimsley High School football team.

The meeting at the Old Guilford County Court House included a special presentation honoring…

The meeting room in the Old Guilford County Court House was packed on Thursday night, March 5, as Guilford County residents turned out in very large numbers to deliver a blunt message to county leaders – don’t turn soaring property values into soaring tax bills.

The crowd began gathering well before the meeting of the Guilford County Board of…

In a remarkable exchange on Capitol Hill this week, North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis delivered a blistering critique of Kristi Noem during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on Tuesday, March 3.

The hearing, which stretched for hours and focused largely on immigration enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security’s recent controversies, became notable when Tillis – a Republican – unloaded some of the harshest criticism of the day on a member of his own party’s administration…

Never think that your single vote doesn’t matter.

In the Republican primary for North Carolina Senate District 26 this week, longtime Senate leader Phil Berger trails Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page by just two votes – an almost unbelievably narrow margin that could ultimately be decided by a handful of ballots once the official canvass and any recount are completed…

Guilford County commissioners are set to vote  to approve, on Thursday, March 5, a budget amendment that would add $250,000 to the county’s Juvenile Detention budget and authorize payments to the State of North Carolina for housing certain Guilford County juveniles in state-run detention facilities….