Author: Scott D. Yost

Given the opioid abuse crisis in Guilford County, the county’s Division of Public Health has created a new position – drug and injury prevention manager – and has named long-time health educator Amanda Clark as the first person to fill the role.  In her new position, Clark will help develop and put into place Guilford County’s strategies meant to reduce opioid abuse in the county and also reduce opioid-related death.

April 1, roughly 55,000 children currently receiving NC Health Choice coverage will move to NC Medicaid and begin receiving additional physical and behavioral health services.

The Miriam P. Brenner Children’s Museum in downtown Greensboro will reopen this week on Wednesday, Feb. 1.

On Monday, Jan. 30, the International Civil Rights Center and Museum sent out an “URGENT” announcement to inform the public of a change of venue and start time for its inaugural “February One” Civil Rights 2023 Speaker Series.” 

On Wednesday, Jan. 25, NC State Treasurer Dale Folwell presented a check from the state’s NCCash Program to the executive committee of the NC Sheriff’s Association during a meeting of the committee in downtown Raleigh.

Seven years ago, Guilford County Register of Deeds Jeff Thigpen added passports to the long list of existing deeds office services, and now, in 2023, he’s kind of amazed at the immense popularity of the offering. On Friday, Jan. 27, the Register of Deeds Office took in 88 applications and Thigpen said, in recent months, the service has been in high demand and he’s been worried about the staff who handle passports being overcome with exhaustion.  In the past, much of the work has been handled by staff with other deeds duties, however, on Friday Thigpen said the office may need another position dedicated to the service. 

Golden Gate Shopping Center in Greensboro has gone through quite a few transitions in the 22 years of the current century. Coffee lovers will be glad to hear that, as part of the latest change, construction crews are now hard at work turning the center’s former Wells Fargo branch into the city’s next Starbucks coffee establishment.

On Friday, Jan. 27, the US Food and Drug Administration announced that its proposing a change to blood donor eligibility. The FDA is going to begin using “gender-inclusive, individual risk-based questions to reduce the risk of transfusion-transmitted HIV,” rather than relying on a person’s sexuality.

Every year, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires Continuum of Care organizations to count the number of homeless in the area served by that organization, and, this week, Guilford County conducted what’s known as a “Point-in-Time” (PIT) count.

The Carolinas’ first professional bull riding team has relocated to Greensboro and the Greensboro Coliseum – giving area residents a chance to see a lot more of the somewhat uncommon entertainment option for this part of the country.

The City of Greensboro often makes requests of Guilford County government for cooperation on a wide variety of issues. The latest such discussion – still in the very early stages – could lead to the city asking the county for help in implementing a prepared food tax. 

High Point will host its next Household Hazardous Waste disposal event at the Household Hazardous Waste Facility at 1401 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

On the evening of Wednesday, Jan. 25, the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department reported that, earlier in the day, there was a shooting incident in Jamestown that resulted in one death. Officers have arrested a suspect, whose name they did release Wednesday: Crystal Constance Bennett was charged with one count of first-degree murder.

Newly released passenger stats from the Piedmont Triad Airport Authority – the board that runs the airport – showed an unwelcome drop in passenger traffic for December 2022 when compared with December 2021.

On Tuesday, Jan. 24, the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce announced the winners of what the chamber calls “Leadership Greensboro’s highest awards.” 

On Tuesday, Jan. 24, the Rockers announced that manager Jamie Keefe and his coaching staff – the same one that led the Rockers to the Atlantic League’s South Division Championship in 2022 – is returning for the 2023 season.

On Monday, Jan. 23, the partners behind a new workforce development project invited members of the community to an afternoon reception that will serve as the kickoff event for the planned mixed-use space that’s meant to promote innovation in higher education among other things.

In four different decades of being a Guilford County commissioner, the highly opinionated and very talkative Skip Alston has never been at a loss for words. However, that all changed at the very end of a Thursday, Jan. 19 Board of Commissioners meeting when a tardy 100-year-old was responsible for Alston running completely out of things to say.

The intersection where three major roads come together – Cornwallis, Battleground, and Lawndale – was thrust into chaos sometime early on Jan. 20 when a hit-and-run driver crashed into a power pole and then fled the scene in his or her car. 

in two of the last three years, the commissioners have chosen to have the retreat at the Bur-Mil Park Event Center at 5834 Bur-Mil Club Road in Greensboro – so it was surprising to some when, this week, the commissioner’s announced that the 2023 retreat will be held at Bur-Mil once again. 

Guilford County has just hired three new public relations employees, which, in one fell swoop, quadruples the size of the department that does things like inform the community of county services and events, helps county administrators communicate with county staff and attempts to get people to view the county and its government in a positive light.

At a Thursday, Jan.19 meeting of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, the board voted to declare the former Guilford County Animal Shelter on West Wendover property surplus and authorized county staff to begin taking the steps necessary to demolish the structures and put the property up for sale.

The Greensboro Batting Center has ended up with an agreement to purchase the Old Monticello Community Center at 5009-A NC 150 East in Brown Summit.  The overgrown land and the dilapidated gym that sits on it have been owned by Guilford County for decades.

This month, Guilford County Manager Mike Halford is spending $21,051 from his contingency fund to provide county aid for the Food Pantry of the Triad and also to support Combat Female Veterans Families United.

Each year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day there is a big parade down Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.  Both the street named after King and the parade celebrating his life are largely the work of one man from Durham – Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston.

A lot of people in Guilford County spent time on Martin Luther King Jr. Day honoring the iconic civil right leader in various ways, and students at High Point University (HPU) did something special as well in honor of the January 16 holiday – they gave back to the community. HPU students engaged in several service projects as part of the university’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.

There’s been a good amount of controversy among small town residents in Guilford County as to whether their towns should use American Rescue Plan (ARP) money for water projects. However, this week, at the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Thursday, Jan. 19 meeting, the commissioners plan to make a number of those plans official. 

Eastern Triad Workforce Initiative hosts its first-ever Employer Breakfast Summit at Grandover Resort on Tuesday, March 21.

Guilford County Animal Services has now completely moved all the animals from the old Guilford County Animal Shelter at 4525 West Wendover Ave. just south of I-40 to the new shelter at 980 Guilford College Road in Greensboro.  The likely sale of that property will be the subject of discussion at the work session of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, which will be held on Thursday, Jan. 19 at 4 p.m. in the Carolyn Coleman Conference Room on the first floor of the Old County Courthouse in downtown Greensboro.

Well-Spring Retirement Community is making a $25,000 donation to the Guilford County social services department to support an initiative meant to help the county qualify as an American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) Age-Friendly/Livable Community.

For years, Guilford County has charged the Marshals $73 a day to hold their inmates – but now that price is going up to $95 a day.  That’s a hefty 30 percent increase.

The Guilford County Division of Public Health is making a large purchase that should help provide better air in specific sections of school buildings across the county. The plan calls for the purchase of more than 250 Fellowes Air Purifiers and an estimated year’s supply of air filters.

Now, the two boards are much more like two peas in a pod than ever before – and there were some fascinating cross currents evident when the Board of Commissioners met with school board members in a Thursday, January 5 work session.

Next month – February – is Black History Month, and while the International Civil Rights Center and Museum in Downtown Greensboro will be celebrating all month long, there’s one event closely associated with the month that is being moved until summer for the second year in a row.

 On Thursday, Jan. 12, the State of North Carolina announced in a press release that extra benefits in the state’s Food and Nutrition Services program (once known as the “food stamp program”) will end in March. 

Winter Warmth Giveaway, which will take place from noon to 2 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 15 where Gate City 180 staff will be handing out sleeping bags to people who are experiencing hardship

Guilford County government for years has had a dismal record when it comes to employing minority firms for county construction contracts and other contracts for various needed goods and services. But that’s clearly going to change in a big way in 2023.

No one quite understood what was going on Thursday, Jan. 5 when the Guilford County Board of Commissioners held its first meeting of the New Year.  Chairman of the Board of Commissioners Skip Alston was in his usual seat in the middle of the dais, and, at other meetings, Alston would have begun running the meeting. However, at this first meeting of 2023, with no explanation given to anyone, Vice Chair Carlvena Foster began playing the role of chair with the usual very vocal Alston sitting quietly at her side. 

Reverend Robert J. Williams Jr. will receive the Human Relations Humanitarian Award for the good work he’s done in the community.

Beginning this month, the High Point Public Library will offer a monthly “sensory story time” that will be filled with crafts, songs, stories and other activities “designed to support neurodivergent patrons better.”

Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston, who’s also a co-chairman of the Guilford County Homelessness Task Force, said this week that the county is looking at buildings to purchase and transform into a new long-term substance abuse treatment center and mental health care facility.

Governor Roy Cooper recently proclaimed January 2023 as National Radon Action Month, which will be used to teach people about the dangers of radon and the ways they can reduce their risk of lung cancer from radon.

Recently, when Guilford County Schools’ officials updated the Guilford County Board of Commissioners on projects being funded by the county school bond ballot referendums of 2020 and 2022, school system leaders let the commissioners know that those projects – like most construction projects these days – will be coming in way over budget. 

during a presentation that Guilford County Facilities and Property Management Director Eric Hilton made to the Guilford County Board of Commissioners in a Thursday, Jan. 5 work session. Large projects in the Piedmont are consuming labor and materials, Hilton stated in his presentation. He then provided some rough estimates of the demands those projects have placed on the local workforce.

The Guilford County Sherriff’s Department has been asking for a new administrative headquarters for about a decade and a half – and has been promised that one was in the works for about five years now. 

On Monday night, Jan. 9, the Georgia Bulldogs and Texas Christian University (TCU) will battle it out to determine the 2023 national college football champions.

On Thursday, Jan. 5, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, out of the blue, made the stunning move of creating five new county positions to fill with employees dedicated solely to getting more minority businesses participating in contracts with Guilford County and providing goods and services to the county.

The High Point parks and rec department has scheduled a public drop-in meeting for Monday, Jan. 9 to help with the development of a master plan for improvements and enhancements to the park. The community is invited to come by High Point Parks and Recreation’s Administration offices at 136 Northpoint Ave. in High Point, any time between 4 and  7 p.m. on January 9 to meet with city staff and representatives of Withers-Ravenel, the consulting firm that’s leading the planning process.  It will be a good chance for consultants and city staff to find out what improvements local residents would like to see at the park.

A Ragsdale student attempted to bring a loaded handgun into Ragsdale High School.  Fortunately, school staff and the security officer – with the help of a metal detector – discovered the weapon and prevented the student from entering. 

In March 2019, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners approved the “$12 million” project. According to information provided by the facilities department staff to the Guilford County Board of Commissioners this week, the project is now estimated to cost $23.9 million.