Author: Scott D. Yost

Spinning Dreams, a talent agency and production company based in Greensboro, announced this week that free movie screenings will be offered at its new theater at the Office Blue Event Center, 2 Centerview Drive in Greensboro.

The Guilford County Sheriff’s Department has been operating a plane – or, in sheriff’s speak, an “Air Support Unit” – for about a decade and a half and would like to continue doing so by buying a newer plane that’s estimated to cost $450,000.

Guilford County Sheriff Danny Rogers is reporting that, on Friday, Oct. 27 at about 7:15  a.m., detention officers at the jail in downtown Greensboro found a 34-year-old white female inmate – Jennifer Renee Todd – unresponsive inside her cell, and that attempts to save Todd’s life were unsuccessful.
According to a statement from the Sheriff’s Department, “Life-saving measures were immediately rendered by detention staff and the Detention Center’s medical staff. Guilford County Emergency Medical Services were contacted and quickly responded to the Detention Center at approximately 7:26 a.m. Shortly thereafter, Ms. Todd was transported via EMS to a local hospital.”
Todd reportedly died while at the unnamed hospital on Friday, about two and a half hours after being found unconscious in her cell.

Usually when the Guilford County Board of Commissioners passes a resolution asking community members to act in a certain way or recognize some cause or issue, the commissioners declare a day, a week or a month, for that purpose.

Guilford County Child Welfare Services and the Division of Social Services as a whole are still reeling from the giant scandal earlier this year that caused the State of North Carolina to intervene and demand a corrective course of action.

Guilford County Animal Services is accustomed to getting donations, but recently staff were extremely pleased when the department received an unrestricted donation of $107,166. 

The Guilford County Animal Services Department must have a lot of confidence in the family- and pet-friendly Halloween celebration it’s putting on this year because the press release announcing it states, in the title, that it is the “Best Halloween Event in the Triad.” 

In December of last year, three children being overseen by the Guilford County Division of Social Services died in a house fire, which resulted in an investigation by the state of the county’s Child Welfare Services. 

Do you have plans to partake in an upcoming project that could help conserve water or reduce pollution?

The word fundraiser contains the word “fun,” and ideally, that’s what occurs when events are meant to raise money for a good cause – the people promoting a good cause have fun doing so. 

City of High Point is about to host another Household Hazardous Waste disposal event for High Point residents at the Household Hazardous Waste Facility at 1401 E. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. on Saturday, Nov. 4, from 8 a.m. to  2 p.m.

If you’ve ever wanted a one stop shop for your dog Spot – or any other dog or cat you have – you are in luck.

Guilford County has been hosting a number of statewide government-related conferences lately.

The High Point Public Library, in these times of high prices, has been trying to throw people a bone and make certain otherwise pricey events more affordable or free for low-income families.

The Carolina Core soccer team in High Point – officially Carolina Core Football Club – doesn’t start playing games until 2024, but 2023 is the year that club owners have been methodically putting the team together.

After the Guilford County Board of Commissioners voted to pay $100,000 to buy the old, tornado-damaged Erwin Montessori school on East Bessemer Avenue in Greensboro, the Rhino Times asked the commissioners how they planned to use it.

It’s already late October believe it or not, and Christmas and New Year’s will be here before you know it.

As they say, when it rains it pours and, when it comes to economic development and business recruitment, Guilford County and the surrounding area have been going gangbusters.

A Rhino Times article that simply announced that the Greensboro Children’s Museum was holding a Halloween fundraising party for adults got hundreds of Facebook readers up in arms and was shared over 300 times by mostly angry Facebook users.

Just before the Saturday night, Oct. 21 college football game between the North Carolina Tarheels and the University of Virginia Cavaliers, many UNC students and fans were dreaming of a potential bid for the national championship in January.

In the past three years, voters in Guilford County have approved a total of $2 billion for new school construction and old school repair, and Guilford County Schools is indeed starting to spend that money.

Guilford County government has a whole lot of undeveloped parkland and open space in northern Guilford County that it wants to use for various recreational purposes for area citizens to enjoy, but on Tuesday, Oct. 24 the county put out word that it wants to lease out nearly 100 acres of that land.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners met with the Guilford County Board of Education on Monday, Oct. 23 to discuss the school systems’ current progress on construction and repair projects as well as the system’s need for funds. 

There will be a lot of Halloween parties and celebrations taking place across Guilford County over the next two weeks but there will be one very special event put on by High Point University (HPU) students – the Special Populations Halloween Dance and Trunk or Treat.

Guilford County Commissioner Pat Tillman joined the Marines five weeks after graduating from Appalachian State University, and now, years later, his concern for veterans and the military continues to show.

On Wednesday, Oct. 25 at 1 p.m., the Guilford County Family Justice Center (FJC) will celebrate the 5th anniversary of the opening of the center’s High Point location.

Guilford County Schools has just under $2 billion burning a hole in its pockets and, on Monday, Oct. 23, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners and Guilford County Board of Education will get together for a rare joint meeting and discuss the best way to spend that money – as well as how fast the money needs to be raised by issuing General Obligation bonds.

Anyone who wanted to see a repeat of the nearly year-long epic battle the Guilford County Board of Education engaged in before seating Republican Michael Logan in a vacant school board seat would have been disappointed when they watched the Guilford County Board of Commissioners casually and coolly seat new District 6 Commissioner Brandon Gray on Thursday. Oct. 19 in a split second on a unanimous vote with no discussion.

Usually, when the county buys a piece of property, the commissioners have a pretty good idea of how they plan to use it.

Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston had a lot of questions for county staff at the board’s afternoon work session on Thursday, Oct. 19 as to why it was taking so long to demolish the old jail in downtown Greensboro to make way for the Sheriff’s Department’s new headquarters. 

It will take a while to build, but residents of Northwest Guilford County and the surrounding area can start looking forward to a big new park.

On Thursday, Oct. 19, the High Point Rockers Baseball Team – along with the Atlantic League – announced the Rockers’ 2024 schedule. 

The tragic deaths of three children in a house fire in December of last year led to an investigation of the Guilford County Division of Social Services, and state officials found a host of problems and discovered that some employees weren’t doing the very basic things needed to keep kids being overseen by the county safe.

This month you can expect to see lots of ghosts and goblins running around at various events being held in High Point. 

It’s been a very long time since Piedmont Airlines flew a plane in or out of Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTIA), but, though the airline is gone, it is certainly not forgotten. 

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners has a whole lot of things on its plate right now and the board has decided to get together for an afternoon work session on Thursday, Oct. 19 to put a fork in some of those things.

At least in this century, every time a Guilford County commissioner has left the board – due to election loss, death, voluntarily stepping down or whatever – it has always happened with a great deal of fanfare, with the remaining commissioners speaking highly of the departing commissioner, even if they feuded with the person while serving together.

 When the Executive Committee of the Guilford County Democratic Party voted to nominate Brandon Gray as the replacement for former District 6 Commissioner James Upchurch, there were a lot of happy people, but few were as pleased as Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston, who played a huge part in the selection of Gray.

On Monday, Oct. 16, the Executive Committee of the Guilford County Democratic Party voted to nominate North Carolina Democratic Party Executive Committee Member Brandon Gray to fill the District 6 seat on the Guilford County Board of Commissioners – the seat vacated by the sudden departure of former Commissioner James Upchurch.

The Guilford County commissioners have hinted that they were going to do something to call attention to the 2022 Grimsley High School football team that lost in the state championship against New Bern High School, which later had its state title taken away for, among other things, using ineligible players. 

In recent years, Guilford County government has been putting a lot of emphasis on providing pregnant mothers with the resources and information they need to deliver healthy babies and keep them well after birth.

On Saturday morning, Oct. 14, the weather was gloomy for a benefit walk.

When it comes to implementing Medicaid expansion in Guilford County and across North Carolina, it’s been a case of “Hurry, hurry – wait!” as several delays and road blocks have arisen this year.

A decade or so ago, people were predicting the end of physical books, since reading on iPads and digital readers was becoming more popular. 

Guilford County has put a tremendous amount of effort in over the last year in an attempt to conduct more business with minority companies – and now the county is continuing to show support for minority vendors by hosting a Triad Black Farmer’s Market.

The tension level between Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston and County Manager Mike Halford rose to a high level at a recent work session of the board – so much so that it made county staff and other commissioners in the room noticeably uncomfortable.

Many kids at the age of 12 are still learning how to draw stick figures with a number 2 pencil, but one local talent – High Point’s Zoe Grace Kamiya – is about to become one of the youngest-ever High Point Furniture Market exhibitors, where an audience of influential home furnishings buyers from around the world will get a chance to view her work.

ProKidney, the biotech company that’s planning a $458 million facility in Greensboro, , may have a very bright future.

If you have any ideas at about changes and improvements that would be good for Guilford County’s parks – or things you don’t want to see happen to the parks in the future –  you’ll have plenty of chances to offer your input, starting on Saturday, Oct. 14.

A funny thing happened after the December 2022 gridiron battle over who would be state 4-A high school football champion.