Author: Scott D. Yost

A lot of college students across the country famously spend their summers partying and taking it easy.

Anyone who’s been following economic development in the US lately knows that the state of North Carolina has been golden in that regard.

The kids may be off right now for summer vacation.

It’s not much of a surprise, but after biotech company ProKidney got approved for the inceptives packages it sought from Guilford County government and others, the company that’s attempting to battle kidney disease with new methods and medications has closed on the purchase of a large new facility in Greensboro.

If you live in Guilford County and have some hazardous waste to get rid of, well now’s your chance – as long as you live within the High Point city limits and can prove it.

High Point’s sixth-annual Summer Trash Smash – a community event meant to help spruce up the city – will take place on Saturday, Aug. 5, from 9 a.m. to noon, all across High Point.

The City of High Point’s Parks and Recreation Department is attempting to “develop a vision” for the city’s new Center for Active Adults, which is meant for city residents over 50 years of age. 

The mayor’s race for the Town of Summerfield got a whole lot more interesting on the morning of Friday, July 21 just before the noon close of filing for the 2023 election. 

It’s good for fathers and sons to do things together and share common interests, but when those activities involve allegedly trafficking in drugs and shooting at law enforcement officers, that’s not exactly wholesome.

On Friday, July 21, right after the noon filing deadline for Guilford County municipal elections, Guilford County Elections Director Charlie Collicutt said that a relatively laid-back filing period turned into a very active time that transformed some otherwise uncontested races into contested ones and gave voters more choices in other ones.

The reason people describe running for office as “tossing your hat in the ring” is because of the sport of boxing.

It seems as though every week there’s something exciting going on at Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTIA) and this coming week is no exception.  

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) puts out a lot of press releases every month, but, on Wednesday, July 19, the department sent out a particularly unusual one.

The City of High Point Human Relations Division, together with Brothers and Sisters in Christ of High Point (BASIC), the High Point Public Library and the High Point Farmers Market, are gearing up to put on the city’s big summer party.

The International Civil Rights Center and Museum has big plans when it comes to marking the 63rd Anniversary of the successful conclusion of the Greensboro civil rights sit-ins that took place in downtown Greensboro in 1960.

At high noon on Tuesday, July 18, the Guilford County Board of Elections got a major makeover.

There’s a saying in Georgia about the state of driving in Georgia that goes, “Georgia drivers, no survivors.” But a new national study has found that Greensboro might need to find a catchy phrase like that to describe drivers in this city. 

People say that the wheels of justice turn slowly, but the wheels of justice have nothing, in terms of slowness, on the elevators in the two Guilford County courthouses. 

Veterans from across central North Carolina are encouraged to attend a major event that can help them out: the 2023 Veterans Benefit Live/VA in My Town event.

The time from early July to mid-August is called the Dog Days of Summer, and people can use that fact to remember that dogs and other pets need special treatment at this time of year. 

There’s been a great deal of economic development in High Point in recent years and, though the city has been known largely for furniture in the past, a lot of that new development is unrelated to furniture. 

Many Guilford County residents are taking it easy at the beach in mid-July, but the same is not true for Guilford County Tax Department employees who are busy putting property owners on notice that they’ll own property taxes once again this year.

Guilford County Tax Department employees are very good at what they do.

Is your house or apartment in danger of flooding? 

On Thursday, July 13, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) put out a press release revealing something fishy about the fish caught in the lower Cape Fear River – namely, that they aren’t safe to eat due to the level of contaminants in the water.

Guilford County Sheriff Danny Rogers has been waiting a long, long time to see his Sheriff’s Department get a shiny new headquarters, and it became clear at the Guilford County Board of Commissioners meeting on Thursday, July 13 that he and his administrative staff will have to wait a lot longer. 

Local and state government officials, along with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, are working together to try and reverse a very disturbing trend in the state.

The City of High Point’s Parks and Recreation Department is launching a new study to help develop a vision for a new Center for Active Adults, which would serve people 50 years of age and up.

When Guilford County contracted with Samet Corp. to conduct the demolition of the old county jail in downtown Greensboro and the construction of a new Guilford County Sheriff’s Department administrative building in its place, the whole thing ended as a giant $20 million trainwreck, one of the biggest debacles in the history of Guilford County government.

For years, former Guilford County Health Director Merle Green fought against tobacco use in county buildings and promoted educational programs meant to keep county staff and county residents from smoking.

Guilford County government is letting the City of Greensboro rent Sternberger Park for at least one more year – though the county isn’t exactly raking in a lot of dough on that rental contract.

Record keeping in the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department is pretty important because you don’t want to, say, let inmates out early by mistake, keep them longer than you’re supposed to, or confuse two similar looking inmates who have the same snake tattoo on their necks. 

Guilford County government just got its own dedicated Parks Department a couple of years ago and the people in the department have been very busy bees ever since – upgrading parks, pools, trails and more. 

On Wednesday, July 12, conservative Republican long-time Oak Ridge Town Councilmember George McClellan plans to file to run for another term on the town council. 

The High Point Public Library – in partnership with the High Point Historical Society – is hosting Independent Publisher Book Award and Pinnacle Book Award winner Libby McNamee on Wednesday, July 19 at 2 p.m. at the High Point Museum for an afternoon of reading and discussion, followed by a book signing.

The United Way of Greater Greensboro is calling on area residents to mobilize throughout July and support the group’s annual MeaningFULL Meals program, which partners with The Volunteer Center of the Triad and BackPack Beginnings.

At a work session last October, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners made plans to give $500,000 to a nonprofit organization – Shift_ed – to improve education in the county. 

When Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTIA) started buying up land and began building a giant empty 1000-acre aviation megasite with a taxiway bridge over a highway, there were a lot of skeptics who thought it might turn out poorly like some other megasite projects across the state have famously done. 

Guilford County Government is allocating $390,000 to One Step Further.

The late teens and early 20s can be key times for determining whether young men and women get on the right life path and, to help see that happen, the NC Department of Public Safety is giving Guilford County government $198,300 to help fund a transitional housing program for youths ages 18 to 21.

For the last several years, the Guilford County Division of Public Health and the Guilford County Board of Commissioners have been pouring a great deal of effort into helping expectant mothers and their families do what it takes to give birth to healthy newborns and give the infants a good start on life.

A housefire in December of 2022 that killed three small children being overseen by the Guilford County Division of Social Services led to a state investigation of Guilford County Child Protective Services and other Child Welfare Services.  

Well, it certainly was interesting the way in which the Guilford County Board of Commissioners decided to fund non-profits in the new 2023-2024 fiscal budget that just went into effect.

Time flies if you’re having fun and also if you are a political candidate because it’s already time to file to run if you are seeking an elected office in some municipalities in Guilford County this year. 

Whether you still call it the “food stamps” program or call it by its more modern name – “Food and Nutrition Services” (FNS) – state social services officials declared on Thursday, July 6, that the program is changing.

This year 112 nonprofit organizations applied to Guilford County for a total of about $10 million in the 2023-2024 fiscal year budget and the county decided to fund nearly half of those to the tune of $1,885,000. 

Family Destination Guide conducted a national survey of 3,000 families to find out which “affordable destinations” they would most like to visit this summer.

Guilford County officials are asking county residents what they want from Guilford County government so that, in the coming years, that government can meet the needs of the people it serves. 

A Guilford County department and a large county division have begun working closely together to improve the lives of the county residents who are helped by those two services. 

For the first two decades of this century, Guilford County let some very prime real estate – a group of offices on the first floor of the Old Guilford County Court House in downtown Greensboro – go completely unused.