Author: Scott D. Yost

The High Point area has had a great record over the past decade of attracting new business and seeing existing businesses expand, and – while COVID-19 has thrown a wet blanket on much economic activity – there are still some new projects coming through the pipeline.

Summer camps for kids might be full of perils these days.

Everyone these days knows that you should wash your hands regularly with hand sanitizers – and you also probably know you shouldn’t drink those same hand sanitizers.

Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Jeff Phillips is leaving the board at the end of this year after serving for eight years.

There’s no better time than a deadly pandemic to get away to nature, and the Guilford County Parks Department has made that experience at Hagan-Stone Park Campground, at 5920 Hagan-Stone Park Road in Pleasant Garden, more enjoyable with a number of upgrades.

July might mean fireworks and cookouts to some – or it least it used to mean that. However, to the staff at the Guilford County Tax Department, it means something else entirely.

If you’re looking to travel out of the country and you need a passport, good luck with that.

In a war against a virus, more good information is one weapon to use against the invisible enemy, and on Tuesday, July 7, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) issued a new statewide standing order for COVID-19 diagnostic testing, and the state’s health director also issued a temporary order regarding the reporting of the results of those tests.

Everyone loves a parade, and, on Wednesday, July 8, the High Point Parks and Recreation’s Special Populations staff will treat participants of that program to a drive-by parade – a new method of virus-safe celebration that’s become very popular during the 2020 pandemic.

The High Point furniture market has changed plans several times this year, but right now it’s still a go for the dates of Tuesday, Oct. 13 to Wednesday, Oct. 21.

During the pandemic, local and state social services agencies have allowed automatic recertifications of Food and Nutrition Services benefits for those already receiving the benefits.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners is holding a public hearing at the board’s Thursday, July 16 meeting to get input on whether the county should approve $75 million in tax-exempt bonds to be issued by a public finance authority for the benefit of the Masonic and Eastern Star Home of North Carolina, Inc. – a nonprofit corporation that runs a retirement community in Greensboro.

The year 2020 has been completely uneventful and has given people nothing to stress out about.

If you think you have a hard job, just be glad you don’t work for the Guilford County Board of Elections Department in 2020, which is currently facing an impressive number of challenges due to last minute changes in North Carolina election law, countless procedural precautions due to the pandemic, a coming election that will no doubt see a large turnout, and a great deal of uncertainty as to how many people will vote by mail.

Guilford County government has announced that it will no longer allow reporters into sites where its coronavirus testing is taking place.

On Friday, July 3, many people were taking it easy as part of the Fourth of July holiday, however, some staff at the NC Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) were hard at work adding up numbers and sending the latest unpleasant COVID-19 findings out to the public.

On Tuesday, June 30, the High Point Rockers baseball team put out some sad news. There will be no 2020 season for the team that just played its inaugural season last year.

Testing, testing, testing.
That seems to be the new mantra everywhere when it comes to fighting the coronavirus – the disease that’s proven to be very recalcitrant even in the summer heat.

Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTIA) – like airports across the country and the world – has been dealt a gigantic blow by the COVID-19 pandemic.

A new website launched by the Piedmont Triad Regional Council (PTRC) is meant to help promote economic growth in the region by emphasizing this area’s amenities and by advertising available job openings.

One of the few sports people can enjoy playing – and even watching on TV these days – is golf, but a confirmed coronavirus case in High Point has shut down Blair Park Golf Course, which will now be closed until Friday, July 3.

The Guilford County Board of Elections has scheduled a special meeting for Tuesday, July 7 at 2 p.m. to discuss a topic that’s on a lot of people’s minds, and one that often proves to be contentious: the early voting schedule and related preparations for the election.

They say that knowledge is power and state leaders are hoping that, in the ongoing fight against COVID-19, more data and more knowledge will help communities across the state prevent the spread of the deadly disease.

Everyone knows it’s not all about what you know – it’s about who you know. And that’s the reason that local economic development officials and real estate developers are tickled pink that a Greensboro woman – who they’re very familiar with – has been promoted to one of the most important economic development positions in the state.

Not all news is terrible virus news and awful job loss numbers. Most of it these days sure is – however, amid the host of warnings, dire predictions and protective instructions being put out by local governments lately, on Friday, June 26 the City of High Point announced that a new bookmobile is arriving at the High Point Public Library.

Since the pandemic hit, there’s been a whole lot of grant money being made available at the federal, state and local level.

You’d think that there would be no better time than an economy-crippling pandemic to give away federal money to local businesses.

The Guilford County Sheriff’s Department has reported a new death in the county’s High Point jail.

On Wednesday June 24, protesters held a demonstration outside the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department’s administrative offices in the Otto Zenke building in downtown Greensboro.

Since you can’t spend early July watching fireworks in a crowd this year, you can watch an online Guilford County Planning Board meeting – meetings which sometimes create some fireworks of their own if the zoning issues turn out to be controversial enough.

The Guilford County Sheriff’s Department has reported the death of an inmate in the Guilford County Detention Center in Greensboro.

You may have been told in your concealed carry class that you couldn’t wear a mask while carrying a gun in North Carolina, but that was before the pandemic.

The United Way of Greater Greensboro’s annual “MeaningFULL meals” program is taking on a new meaning this year since the local economy has been ransacked by the coronavirus pandemic.

A recent report from county staff to the Guilford County Board of Commissioners shows that a lot of businesses have been taking advantage of the county’s program to give grants of up to $10,000 to small businesses within the county.

These days, apparently, you aren’t even safe from thieves and assailants in the morning hours when you’re just making a trip to a grocery store in Forest Oaks.

The entire nation has been having a serious conversation about race and civil rights in recent weeks, and, at the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Thursday, June 18 meeting, the board acknowledged that discussion in several ways – including a move at the very beginning of the meeting.

Many, many things have been shut down in recent months thanks to the pandemic, and one area of activity that’s been hit hard – an area that’s vital to Guilford County – is economic development.

Brevity may be the soul of wit, but it’s also unquestionably the thing that county commissioners seek when they’re forced to hold a meeting at 5:30 p.m. on a Friday.

If all the news about the coronavirus and the state of unrest have you tense, one way you might relax and get your mind off of things is by taking a stroll through a new farmers’ market and buying some fresh and healthy food that might just help boost your immune system.

The Apple Store at the Friendly Center in Greensboro is open for business.

For years, the Guilford County Planning Department and the Guilford County Board of Commissioners have been discussing changes to area building ordinances, and now the county has partnered with Stewart, Inc. – an engineering and design firm based out of Raleigh – to hold a “Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) Virtual Public Interest Presentation.”

Signs of normal, pre-pandemic life are slowly but surely coming back to Greensboro – even if that pandemic is still not contained – and one sign of normalcy that has delighted area basketball lovers is that the locks on public basketball nets around the city have been removed and now those courts are apparently open for use again.

This year is different than past years in a whole lot of respects, and, even halfway into the year, the unforgettable 2020 is still changing things up.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners hasn’t raised property taxes since 2012, so it was no surprise that the board adopted a hold-the-tax-rate-steady budget at its Thursday, June 18 meeting.

Democratic County Commissioner Skip Alston is continuing his crusade to promote social distancing and that’s exactly what he did at the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Thursday, June 18 meeting after county staff had set up the meeting the way it has for decades – with all the commissioners seated behind the dais and less than six feet from each other.

In the movie Brewster’s Millions, Montgomery Brewster, played by Richard Pryor, must spend $30 million in 30 days while following a set of guidelines and, if he can’t do it, he stands to lose a $300 million inheritance.  

There hasn’t been a lot of inflation in the US over the last year, but the price of at least one thing has certainly been going up – the price of a diversity study meant to assess and increase Guilford County’s dealings with minority and women owned businesses.

Guilford County government spends nearly half of its budget each year on school capital projects and school operations, and one Guilford County commissioner is now proposing that the county explore a bold way to reduce one of those costs – by moving Guilford County Schools facilities construction and maintenance operations under the county’s facilities department.  

The High Point City Council was split last month on whether or not to accept the resignation of former High Point City Manager Greg Demko; however, on Monday, June 15, the council was completely united – 9 to 0 to be exact – in offering a contract to Interim City Manager Randy McCaslin to fill that job – for the time being.

Well, one thing that’s certainly true about COVID-19 is that it loosens government purse strings – it makes local, state and federal governments a lot more likely to send money into the economy.