Author: Scott D. Yost

It’s beginning to look a little like Christmas and it’s also beginning to look like there’s something big in the works for Guilford County’s economic development prospects. 

A local sailor is making big waves in Pearl Harbor.Mike Bencini, who is serving in the Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific and is the son of former High Point Mayor Bill Bencini, has been promoted to commander.

Guilford County might be lacking in some areas, but, at the Thursday night, Oct. 17 meeting of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, it became crystal clear that the county was overflowing with at least one thing: high quality public health nurses.

When you have a perfectly nice municipal waste landfill, one thing you don’t want is a public road running right through the middle of it – and that’s the situation that High Point is now remedying at the Kersey Valley Landfill. To that end, the city is closing Kersey Valley Road between Cashatt Road and Kivett Drive and rerouting traffic around that landfill in eastern High Point.

The Greensboro Aquatic Center (GAC) has been bringing in a lot of visitors for swimming meets and other events recently, and now the GAC is gearing up to host another major event.

One of Greensboro’s best known auto dealerships is throwing itself a public birthday party on Friday, Oct. 18 at noon to celebrate turning 50 years old. The festivities will take place at the Green Ford dealership at 3800 W. Wendover Ave.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners may have taken much of the summer off, but the commissioners are now working up a storm and this week the board called a special work session for Thursday afternoon, Oct. 17.

“It’s official. Guilford County Commissioner Carlvena Foster – who’ll be the candidate running against incumbent High Point Mayor Jay Wagner next month.

Former Guilford County Human Resources Director Karen Fishel has now branched far outside of HR work in an effort to provide hope and inspiration to people all around the world.

Guilford County announced the grand opening and ribbon cutting for Company Mill Preserve, a greatly anticipated and highly scenic area 240-acre area in Pleasant Garden right next to Hagan-Stone Park will be Friday, Oct. 18 at 10 a.m.

Starting on Sunday, Oct. 27, United Airlines will introduce a new aircraft to Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTIA): the “Bombardier CRJ 550,” one that airport officials are calling “revolutionary” since the aircraft offers more legroom, storage and amenities than any other regional aircraft flying today.

Say Yes Guilford may not be as extensive a program as was hoped for five years ago when there was a giant amount of fanfare around it – however, Say Yes is still quietly providing college funds to many Guilford County Schools graduates – and, on Friday, Oct. 11, Say Yes sent out notice that registration is now open for students in their senior year of high school. 

A new study has found that Greensboro is one of the best cities in the country in a category that’s not often studied: work/life balance.

The GreenHill art gallery in downtown Greensboro is gearing up for its “Collector’s Choice Fundraiser” – the event that will kick off this year’s “Winter Show” and the one that the gallery is describing as “the greatest party of the year.”

On Wednesday, Oct. 9, Old Dominion Freight Line was named the Overall Winner of the Mastio Quality Award for national “less-than-truckload carriers” (LTL) for the tenth year in a row.

And so it begins.That is, on Thursday morning, Oct. 10, Guilford County government, Cone Health and Sandhills Center Inc. put shovels in the ground in the first step of what many consider to be the most important project Guilford County has undertaken in decades – the creation of a brand new state of the art, best practices, mental health center that’s meant to establish a totally new paradigm of mental health care delivery in the county.

The International Civil Rights Center and Museum is having a packed second half of October with several high profile events that will no doubt catch the interest of many in the community.

On Tuesday, Oct. 8, City of High Point residents took a big step in selecting their next mayor – they voted in the primary election that was meant to whittle the number of candidates down to two in for the election next month.

It was a great thing for the Beverly Hillbillies when they saw some bubbling crude, black gold, shooting up into the air out of their land; however, it’s not such a great thing when Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTIA) sees a geyser of black sewage shooting up into the air next to a runway.

High Point has lost one of its best-known and highly regarded leaders.

Over and over again, economic development officials, area elected leaders and others say that one of the prime ways to draw new business to the area is through better workforce development – especially in the realm of advanced manufacturing. 

The long and amazingly drawn out case of former Summerfield Town Councilmember Todd Rotruck – who was ousted from that seat after a successful challenge to his residency in Summerfield – is now, after nearly two years, a thing of the past.

High Point University has a lot of new buildings on campus – and now it has a brand new chairman of the board.

Filling patrol officer and jail guard positions in the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department has been a priority in 2019 – however, no matter what the department tries, nothing seems to be working.

Russia isn’t just known for taking over defenseless countries and meddling in the election affairs of others – it’s also known as a place where they really know their ballet.

On Friday, Oct. 4, the NC Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) announced that two health providers have applied to the state to change services in Guilford County – and one of those changes calls for a new breast imaging center.

A recent nationwide study found that Greensboro was just a ho-hum place for singles to live – not great, not terrible – and now a brand new study from Caring.com has found that Greensboro is also a pretty ho-hum place for seniors to live as well.

On Thursday, Oct. 3, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners voted to approve something that all of the commissioners thought was utterly ridiculous.

At 4 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 3 the Guilford County Board of Commissioners went into a closed session with officials from the Guilford County Schools to discuss the best way to spend $10 million that’s been set aside for enhancing security at a time when school shooters and other threats abound.

It’s good to be a Guilford County director.

Guilford County commissioners, like other politicians, don’t always like the press they get – but they rarely get a chance to get back at reporters.

It’s official! The best chefs and bartenders in the state of North Carolina are now known. 

Guilford County is about to buy two houses that flood badly just about any time it rains – but county emergency officials say they consider those houses a good buy anyway.

Guilford County and Cone Health are finally ready to start the construction phase of a new mental health facility that will be the focal point of a brand new mental health services effort meant to completely transform the way those services are delivered in Guilford County,

On Thursday afternoon, Oct. 3, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners is holding a rare meeting away from prying eyes – a closed session to discuss the allocation of money in ways meant to make county schools safer from shooters and other potential threats.

$425,000.That may be the amount that Guilford County taxpayers have to shell out for legal fees in the highly publicized City of Greensboro redistricting case four years ago that Guilford County actually had nothing to do with.

On Wednesday, Oct. 2, the North Carolina PTA is promoting National Walk to School Day across the state – and Sternberger Elementary at 518 N. Holden Road in Greensboro is one of six schools in North Carolina that will be a focal point for promoting the practice of walking to school.

News that two female jail guards at the Guilford County jail in High Point are under investigation for having sex with inmates in the jail drew quite a reaction from county officials and county residents this weekend.

The Guilford County Planning Board is conducting a public hearing early next month to determine if it should allow land near the intersection of Harvey Road and Riverdale Road – on the north side of Business Loop I-85 – to be used for office and light industrial uses such as equipment rental, warehousing and a variety of other potential purposes.

The extremely talented Vincent Van Gogh died a poor man, but ArtsGreensboro, the arts council that supports artistic endeavors in Greensboro and the surrounding area, is trying to see that some artists In central North Carolina have the funds they need to advance their art.

Several sources within Guilford County Government informed the Rhino Times that two female detention officers at Guilford County’s jail in High Point are under investigation for engaging in sex with male inmates in the jail.

The Guilford County Health Department has joined a multistate investigation of the health risks now associated with e-cigarette use – better known as vaping. The department is helping support the collection of data pertaining to a rash of vaping-associated illnesses across the country and is also doing whatever it can to dissuade the practice.

On Thursday, Sept. 26, the Piedmont Triad Airport Authority showed that it’s interested in more than just planes and aviation megasites. The group showed that it also has a strong interest in ending local hunger, and presented a check for $122,617 to a collective of area hunger charities.

Guilford County Commissioner Carolyn Coleman publicly came to the defense of former Guilford County Animal Shelter staff who pled guilty to animal cruelty charges for their actions while running the Guilford County Animal Shelter and the Davidson County Animal Shelter years ago.

If you’ve gotten your fill of watching football in recent weeks, you now have a radically different way to be entertained: On Sunday, Sept. 29, from noon to 4 p.m., the 29th annual NC Paramedic Competition will take place Sunday at the Joseph S. Koury Convention Center in Greensboro.

Asheboro is only a 30-minute drive from Greensboro if you speed a little, and next month a good number of area residents may be making that trip.

The disease that shot into the national spotlight in 1976 when it mysteriously infected 182 people at an American Legion Convention in Philadelphia – resulting in 29 deaths – is now being investigated by the NC Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) after an outbreak in Fletcher, NC, in people who attended the NC Mountain State Fair in early September.

Three Guilford County commissioners – Democrats Skip Alston, Carolyn Coleman and Carlvena Foster – are pushing hard for Guilford County to do something some other local governments across the country have done: Raise the pay of all employees to a minimum of $15 an hour.

The Greensboro Arm Wrestling League – also known as GRAWL – announced this week that, on Saturday, Oct. 12, it will hold the event “GRAWL Brawl XII: Country Queens” Gibbs Hundred Brewing at 504 State Street in Greensboro in order to raise money for She ROCKS the Triad – a local nonprofit that works to fight ovarian cancer.

When the Guilford County Board of Commissioners voted on Thursday, Sept. 19, to give $50,000 to Downtown Greensboro Inc. (DGI) to help fund a strategic study, supporters of downtown Greensboro were cheering, but, behind the scenes, many supporters of downtown High Point were grumbling.