Author: Scott D. Yost

On Tuesday, Jan. 7, Guilford County Animal Services held a “Rescue Bowl” in an effort to ride some of the Super Bowl hype to get more animals adopted by loving families. 

Don Warn, who’s just been named Guilford County’s chief financial officer, is known for having a way with numbers – specifically budget numbers.  Warn brings more than a quarter century of experience in finance to Guilford County and he is going to need that expertise to oversee the financial operations of Guilford County government, which has been spending money like crazy in recent years.

Guilford County Commissioner Pat Tillman and the residents of North Carolina all experienced a big loss on Saturday, Feb. 4 – the passing of Jerry W. Tillman, a longtime public servant and former North Carolina senator.

Guilford County Tax Director Ben Chavis is asking Guilford County commissioners to attempt to convince state legislators to update a property tax collection statute that Chavis and others say is woefully outdated. State law provides property tax discounts for property owners who have very low incomes and are at least 65 years old or disabled.

On Friday, Feb. 3, the second day of the board’s annual retreat, the commissioners briefly discussed raising the discount rate for early property taxpayers from a half of a percent to 1 percent of their tax bill.

On Friday, Feb. 3, the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department reported that, on Thursday Feb. 2, at 1:45 p.m., Sheriff’s Department deputies arrested an armed man who was being served a search warrant.

North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kodi Kinsley — along with a variety of community partners from the North Carolina AIDS Action Network, Mecklenburg County Public Health and Livingstone College — will host a virtual town hall on Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 6 p.m. to discuss the importance of HIV/AIDS education and awareness, and to help reduce the stigma associated with the disease.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners voted, on Friday, Feb. 3, to approve a massive waterproofing plan meant to address some long-standing water problems that have plagued a number of county buildings and other structures.

On Friday, Feb. 3, on the second day of the two-day retreat, the board did something very specific – voted to demolish two houses in northeast Guilford County and dedicate that property to being open space in perpetuity. The two houses – at 6100 and 6102 Bellflower Road, north of Gibsonville, off NC 61

The upcoming Triad Has Talent! event at the High Point theater will turn the spotlight on the...

On Thursday, Feb. 2, the commissioners met at the Bur-Mil Club in Greensboro for the first day of the retreat where the commissioners and county department directors got to do a very deep dive into the question of what Guilford County should look like in the future.

One new shoplifting prevention method being employed at the Walgreens at 300 E. Cornwallis Dr. is causing some double takes for late-night shoppers who enter the store. As of Tuesday, Jan. 31, shoppers at night are greeted with a sign that states, “Attention. We will NOT be able to allow ANY large purses or bags in the store at this time.”  The sign also apologizes for the inconvenience.

In an effort to keep people with behavioral health care problems out of hospital emergency rooms and get them into treatment centers faster, this week state health officials announced that a new online bed registry program, BH SCAN, which is expected to help significantly.

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.