Author: Scott D. Yost

Forty years ago, a massive downtown blaze pushed the Greensboro Fire Department to the limits – leaving behind one of the most significant firefighting chapters in the city’s modern history.

On April 13, 1985, a three-alarm fire tore through the 300 block of Davie Street in downtown Greensboro, consuming an entire city block and severely damaging several nearby buildings as well…

One of the youngest, most charismatic, and most well-liked county commissioners isn’t running for reelection to the Guilford County Board of Commissioners.  Many assumed Commissioner Frankie Jones would eventually end up as the next Skip Alston of the county – Alston has clearly been grooming him over the years to become a political leader; however, while Jones may run for higher political office at some point, he will not be a Guilford County commissioner after late 2026…

Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston is preparing to launch a new county initiative that would put county-operated vans on the road visiting homeless encampments, wooded areas and the scattered pockets of people living behind stores, hotels and industrial buildings from Greensboro to High Point.

The purpose is simple and direct:…

f you need a break from Christmas shopping this month, the Guilford County Soil and Water Conservation District would like to remind everyone that it’s also time to start thinking about trees, shrubs and even birdhouses.

The District has officially kicked off preorders…

The Guilford County Sheriff’s Office is closing out 2025 with a full slate of events, public outreach efforts and one much-anticipated milestone that’s been years in the making.

On Monday, Dec. 8, Guilford County Sheriff Danny Rogers will hold a news conference to discuss the long-awaited transition into the new Sheriff’s Office Administrative Building at 401 W. Sycamore St. in downtown Greensboro…

The Guilford County Sheriff’s Office announced on Sunday, Dec. 7 that a narcotics investigation ended with a major bust that turned up drugs, cash and guns at a north Greensboro address.

According to a press release from the Sheriff’s Office, on Thursday, Nov. 6, the Guilford County Narcotics Task Force executed a search warrant at 406 Fairmile Drive in Greensboro.  That is off of North Church Street, north of Woods of Terror…,

Guilford County is holding a public hearing on Thursday, Dec. 18 to take public input on whether or not the county should hand over about $200,000 of taxpayer money to a growing company; however, since the county has recently adopted the practice of refusing to inform county residents of what the company is ahead of time, it’s anybody’s guess whether the company coming here is a good thing or a bad thing…

The Mayor’s Committee for Persons with Disabilities is putting out the call for help as it prepares for one of Greensboro’s longest-running – and most heartwarming – holiday traditions.

The 40th-annual Shopper’s Day will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 11, at Four Seasons Town Centre, 410 Four Seasons Town Centre in Greensboro….

Guilford County commissioners spent a whole lot of time in their Thursday, Dec. 4 work session debating not only how to divide a proposed quarter-cent sales tax, but also how to present that tax to the public.

The board is preparing for a 2026 referendum on what’s formally known as an Article 46 sales tax, and county commissioners said the wording that voters see in the booth could make or break the measure’s chances….

In the past, the Rhino Times has always gotten a fairly humorous article out of a post-election analysis of the write-in votes for fictional characters such as Sherlock Holmes or Wonder Woman.  So, the Rhino was saddened this year when its request for the list of write-in votes returned only votes that were considered “legitimate.” …

In Washington, the hot button issues are the Epstein files, the military attacks on Venezuelan boats and using National Guard troops to police American cities.

 In Greensboro, the thing that really gets residents worked up is leaf and yard waste collection.  Well, this week, now that leaves are falling very freely from the trees, the city has issued a press release reminding people to dispose of leaves and other items in the very particular way city officials want it done….

Atlantic Coast Conference fans and officials are having a massive collective meltdown this week – not because of a scandal, not because of a blowout game and not because of a high-profile coaching change – instead, it’s because a 7-5 Duke football team somehow fell-ass backward into the ACC Championship Game, and a Duke win will almost certainly single-handedly knock the ACC out of the national playoffs….

On Sunday, December 7, the Greensboro Parks and Recreation Department will kick off a yearlong celebration at Gillespie Golf Course to honor the “Greensboro Six” – the six Black men whose actions on that date in 1955 helped force the integration of the then whites-only municipal course.

The event begins at 1:30 p.m. at Gillespie, 306 E. Florida St., with a ceremonial tee shot by six individuals to mark the 70th anniversary of what’s now recognized as one of Greensboro’s earliest and most consequential civil-rights moments…

On Thursday, Dec. 4, Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston will be voted into that role for another year.

When the board gathers for its annual “organizational meeting,” the Democratic-majority board will do what it’s done year after year – get behind Chairman Skip Alston and hand him another 12 months leading the county’s most powerful governing body.

Alston isn’t just chairman again – he’s running up the score….

It’s never happened before, but Guilford County has now taken the very odd step of holding an economic development incentives hearing without telling the public the name of the company before the hearing takes place.

That means that county residents have no idea whether they should or should not come out on a cold night, find parking near the Old Guilford County Court House…

It’s been a very long time coming and a twisty road to get to this point.

The Guilford County Sheriff’s Office is finally moving into its new administrative headquarters at 401 W. Sycamore St. in downtown Greensboro.

Guilford County Sheriff Danny Rogers announced this week that the transition is officially underway and also that – after decades of bouncing between…

At Thanksgiving this year, a lot of families may be arguing about politics – something High Point University polls about quite often – however, at this time of year the university conducts a poll on a thankfully lighter topic: pie preferences.

Pumpkin pie continues to rule the dessert table in North Carolina –and now across the entire country – according to the newest High Point University Poll….

On Monday, Nov. 10, the weather conditions were really bad, unseasonably so:  The temperature was below freezing in the morning and it was windy with gusts of wind up to 14 miles per hour. But that didn’t stop a charity golf tournament from going on and raising a whole lot of money for one of the county’s most recalcitrant problems…

There will be no garbage, recycling, bulk trash, yard waste or appliance collections on Thanksgiving Day. Instead, Thursday’s collections will take place one day early on Wednesday, November 26. Friday collections remain unchanged.

The White Street Landfill and the Solid Waste Transfer Station will be closed on November 27 and will resume normal hours the following day….

The Guilford County Sheriff’s Office has announced that a 47-year-old man was shot and killed early Sunday morning in Colfax, and a suspect was arrested a few hours later after a short vehicle pursuit.

According to information released by the Office, deputies were called to 8810 Boylston Road at about 7:49 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 23, for a report of a shooting. When they arrived, they found Derrick Lamont Leach, 47, dead from what the Sheriff’s Office described as an apparent gunshot wound….

The Guilford County Sheriff’s Office has charged a man in connection with a fatal overdose that happened a year and a half ago.

According to Sheriff Danny Rogers, detectives with the Major Crimes Investigative Unit arrested 31-year-old Dylan Wayne Brown on Monday, Nov. 24, following what the department described as an extensive investigation into the April 2024 death of 41-year-old Roger Lee Brown Jr…

In the middle of the night Friday – well, really the wee hours of the morning of Saturday, Nov. 22 – a flaw in Guilford County’s emergency warning system scared the bejesus out of just about every resident in the county.

One of those residents was the owner and editor of the Rhino Times who, due to the timing and the sudden blaring alert sound coming from every Apple device,..

About 20 years ago the Guilford County Board of Commissioners would sometimes actually reject incentives requests from companies – or at least they would argue about it and Chairman Skip Alston and the late Commissioner Carolyn Coleman would ask about minority representation of the company’s leadership… 

The 2026 election season in Guilford County officially gets underway at noon on Monday, Dec. 1, when the filing period for candidates opens at the Guilford County Board of Elections. Filing will remain open until noon on Friday, Dec. 19, and – given the political climate right now – this election cycle will no doubt be one of the most heated, unpredictable and closely watched in years…

On Thursday, Nov. 20, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners held a lengthy work session in the Carolyn Coleman conference room in the Old Guilford County Court House, where they were brought up to speed on one of the most critical long-term infrastructure challenges facing Guilford County – as well as the entire central North Carolina region: water…

A decade ago, High Point and Greensboro were still sniping at each other for jobs. Companies would fly in, meet in High Point and hear one set of population and wage numbers, then cross over to Greensboro and get an entirely different set. The two cities were competing against each other so often that they were sometimes the biggest obstacles to their own success…

At a recent Guilford County Board of Commissioners meeting, a speaker from the floor suggested that commissioners pocket roughly $50,000 a year for their service. Several commissioners quickly pointed out that the number was off the mark.

To clear up the confusion, the Rhino Times requested the official compensation details from Guilford County….

According to a Tuesday, Nov. 18 news release from Guilford County Sheriff’s Office, the Guilford County Narcotics Task Force wrapped up an investigation last month that led to a major drug seizure at a northeast Greensboro home.

On Tuesday, Oct. 7, officers executed a search warrant at 2706 Northampton Drive in Greensboro. That search turned up roughly 56 pounds of marijuana and $305,263 in US currency….

On Thursday, Nov. 20, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to hold a public hearing and then vote on whether to support an economic development proposal that would bring the headquarters of Eastern Air Express, LLC from Kansas City to Greensboro.

The item comes with a potential $500,000 state building reuse grant and the promise of dozens of high-paying aviation jobs at Piedmont Triad International Airport – which has been killing it lately when it comes to job creation…

With Immigration and Customs Enforcement – aka ICE – now conducting new enforcement actions in North Carolina, including a high-profile workplace raid in Charlotte this week, a natural question is whether the massive Toyota battery plant at the Greensboro–Alamance megasite could ever see something similar…

Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston said that he and other black leaders are very upset over how the replacement was chosen for resigning state Rep. Cecil Brockman – and Alston is warning that a majority-Black House district could end up with long-term white representation because of party rules and political ego…

If you’re a Guilford County WIC participant and you’ve been wondering whether the nutrition program is still running right now, the answer is yes – it’s open, operating and offering the full slate of services.

County officials announced on Thursday, Nov. 13, that the North Carolina Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children…

Greensboro is about to start the process of finding its next top cop.

Police Chief John Thompson, who’s been with the city for 23 years, plans to kick back and retire in February 2026.

With that announcement now public, the city has hired Developmental Associates – an executive search firm that’s worked with Greensboro government before – to run a national search for the most qualified candidates…

The holiday season brings out the best in people – and, unfortunately, it also sometimes brings out the worst, especially when it comes to scammers.

On Thursday, Nov. 14, the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office put out a warning to county residents urging them to be extra cautious over the next several weeks.

Tourism Spending In NC Climbs – Guilford County Shines  

The tourism industry in North Carolina is going swimmingly, and, as for Guilford County – well, it’s doing better than most of the state in that category.

North Carolina’s tourism economy kept humming along in 2024, with visitors spending a total of $36.7 billion across all 100 counties. That’s a 3.1 percent increase over the prior year and it’s another sign that the state’s hospitality and travel sector has settled into a steady post-pandemic rebound…

Guilford County taxpayers aren’t done voting on school debt.

As Elon Musk can tell you, $2 billion doesn’t go as far as it once did.

According to Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston, county voters could be looking at a $550 million school bond within the next few years –

After weeks of the longest US federal government shutdown in history, air travel was quickly becoming a nightmare and those with travel plans are relieved that it looks like the government is opening back up.  Now air‐traffic controllers can all come back to work and TSA agents will start getting much-needed paychecks again…

If you max out your credit card and you are trying to pay your way out of a giant mountain of debt, it’s probably not a good idea to make your monthly payment and then, as soon as it’s received, turn around and borrow back two-thirds of the money you just paid.  You know, it slows your debt reduction down to a trickle, means you’ll be in debt longer, and means you will be paying interest on more money for a longer period of time.

The City of Greensboro has announced the appointment of Tiffany Oliva as its new assistant city manager, effective Wednesday, Nov. 12.

City Manager Nathaniel “Trey” Davis made the appointment official late last week, describing Oliva as a strong leader with the rare blend of local and national perspective needed to guide Greensboro through its current growth phase.

High Point Regional Health is looking to expand its operations into Greensboro with plans to build a new freestanding emergency department that would operate under High Point Medical Center. The proposed facility would be called the High Point Medical Center Church Street Satellite Emergency Department, and it represents a significant new investment in area healthcare…

Greensboro will soon have a new mayor and a largely new City Council and those leaders will have some hard work ahead of them managing things like fast economic growth, the housing crunch, the homeless problem and many other issues.

It will be interesting to see how well they do; however, when it comes to addressing a lot of those challenges, there’s a long-term strategic plan in place to tackle them…

Late this week Judge Jack McConnell issued a ruling in a US District Court in Rhode Island that ordered the Trump Administration to fully fund the government’s SNAP program that provides funds for low-income families, households and individuals to buy food.  Guilford County leaders – who are trying to keep food on the table for poor county residents – may have been pleased with that order and breathed a sigh of relief; however, soon after, the Trump administration asked a federal appeals court for an emergency block on the order.  

In observance of Veterans Day, Greensboro city offices will be closed on Tuesday, Nov. 11, with a number of municipal services and facilities operating on a different schedule.

There will be no garbage, recycling, bulk trash, yard waste or appliance collections that day. Instead, Tuesday’s collections will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 12…

Greensboro voters turned out Tuesday, Nov. 4, in a key municipal election that will bring in a new mayor and shift the composition of the City Council after years of much of the same leadership.

With Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan stepping aside after more than a decade of running Greensboro City Council meetings, the mayor’s…

Guilford County is opening a new Primary Care Clinic in the middle of this month, and the Division of Public Health is celebrating with a public open house on Friday, Nov. 14.

The clinic, located at 1100 East Wendover Avenue in Greensboro, will officially open its doors with a day of free health tests and screenings from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m…

At the Thursday, Nov. 6 meeting, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners is set to approve several major moves to continue restoring the fire-damaged Katie S. Cashion Center at 201 S. Greene St. in downtown Greensboro.

A fire on July 6 of this year caused extensive damage to the county-owned building, which had been home to the Guilford County Family Justice Center, Human Resources Department, and Finance Department…

Last month, the Guilford County Sheriff’s Office deputies got hundreds of new Glocks for a quarter of a million dollars to shoot you with if they have to – and now they’re getting some new cars and other vehicles to chase you down in.

At the Thursday, Nov. 6 meeting of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, the board is expected to approve roughly $1.9 million for the Sheriff’s Office to buy and equip 29 new vehicles.

Recently, the Old Guilford County Court House in Downtown Greensboro served as the setting for a very animated and optimistic State of the County speech: Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston delivered the 2025 address before a crowded commissioners meeting room on Thursday, Oct. 30, where he blended storytelling and data with a series of slickly produced video segments showing a county on the rise.

In Guilford County, voters will show up – albeit a small percentage of them – at the polls to cast their votes on Election Day, which, this time around, falls on Tuesday, Nov. 4.

Across North Carolina, registered voters in 447 cities, towns and villages will vote in 88 counties, with the 12 remaining counties not having any race to decide. Voters will cast ballots for mayors, council members and, in some cases, boards of education or water and sewer district commissioners…

When Greensboro mayoral candidate Marikay Aubuzuaiter is asked about her priorities should the voters choose her, she isn’t slow to answer.

“Public safety has always been number one on my platform and I’ve never wavered,” she said. “I’ve always supported our Police Department, our Fire Department and Guilford Metro 911.”

However, she said the City of Greensboro has plenty of pots on the stove that need tending to…