Author: Scott D. Yost

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) announced recently an enhancement to an existing program that will mean additional food benefits for more than 600,000 kids in need during the COVID-19 crisis.

The Greensboro Chamber of Commerce has announced a new partnership that it believes will invigorate a local program meant to grow minority-owned businesses in the area.

When the Guilford County Board of Commissioners first began giving out grants to small area businesses hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic, county officials were alarmed at how few businesses were applying. However, in the end, those concerns proved unwarranted because, now, practically all of the $20 million allocated for that purpose has been claimed.

However, work sessions are very different in tone and atmosphere than the more formal, regular Thursday night meetings the commissioners hold on the first and third Thursday of most months. This year, for mid-October, the board has pulled a switcheroo: It canceled a planned Thursday, Oct. 15 regular evening meeting and added a 3 p.m. work session for that afternoon.

Earlier this summer, the Piedmont Triad Airport Authority, along with airport staff, began planning to hold a movie night in the airport’s parking area, and this week PTIA announced the name of the movie and the details. After considering many movies, staff selected “Up,” which will be shown on Saturday, Nov. 7 in the airport’s south long-term parking lot. Gates will open at 6:30 p.m. and the movie will start at approximately 7:30 p.m. Airport officials are encouraging everyone to arrive early for the event that will generate money for local charities.

The Carolinas Golf Association – an educational non-profit founded in 1909 to promote golf in the Carolinas – will hold the 25th North Carolina Four-Ball Championship at two area golf courses from Friday, Oct. 9 to Sunday, Oct. 11.

Tennessee-based Averitt Express freight company has opened a new service center in Kernersville. The facility features a 46,000-square-foot dock and 102 truck doors. It’s meant to handle the flow and distribution of freight in the region and outside of it. Averitt first opened a facility in the area in 1990. In the summer of 2018, the company purchased about 30 acres of land for this new center.

The coronavirus pandemic has in some cases brought families closer together. However, in a recent report to the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, Guilford County Family Justice Center Director Catherine Johnson told the board that the COVID-19 crisis has created a harrowing situation for victims of domestic violence and has led to a dramatic increase in those incidences and related crimes.

Guilford College has received $2.2 million in government funding — the single largest non-endowment grant ever awarded to the school. The money comes from the Strengthening Institutions Program of the US Department of Education. The money is meant to support a new curriculum called “Guilford Edge” and to help bring about more positive outcomes from college students in all walks of life, including those from marginalized communities.

Ever since the coronavirus slammed hard into the US in March, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners has had to constantly work out the kinks of conducting the county’s business virtually. While the county commissioners and county staff now have most of those details under control seven months into the pandemic, one commissioner – Carolyn Coleman – is still having a devil of a time getting the hang of the new virtual world.

Unlike some counties in the state, Guilford County residents have never voted to give themselves a sales tax increase; however, county and school system leaders are hoping that 2020 is the year that that finally happens, and, to that end, the forces behind the initiative have set up a new website that details the reasons many are hoping for the increase.

Recently, there was a changing of the guard in one of the most important positions held by a Guilford County commissioner. Commissioner Kay Cashion, after being the board’s point person on the Sandhills Center Board of Directors for eight years, has stepped down from that seat. She’s being replaced by Guilford County Commissioner Alan Perdue, the county’s former Emergency Services director.

Based on information the NC State Board of Elections provided on Thursday, Oct. 1, voting by absentee ballot is proving very, very popular among the state’s voters. With just under a month to go until the Tuesday, Nov. 3 election, the state reported that county boards of elections have approved the absentee ballots of about 300,000 voters.

Soul singer James Brown was once known as the hardest working man in show business, and, right now, the hardest working man in Guilford County is probably Guilford County Board of Elections Director Charlie Collicutt.

Just in time to provide some emotional support for a $300 million school bond referendum that’s on the Nov. 3 ballot, on Thursday, Oct. 1, the Guilford County Board of Education and the Guilford County Board of Commissioners released a joint public statement in support of better facilities for the county’s school system.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) announced on Thursday, Oct. 1 that it is partnering with United Providers of Health in an attempt to address the unmet health care needs of what the state categorizes as “historically marginalized communities.”

First Launch Capital Fund, a Greensboro-based venture capital fund formed two years ago to invest in Piedmont Triad region companies at the earliest stage of their development, has decided to put money into Soelect Inc., a company that makes solid-state battery components for electric vehicles, power tools and mobile devices.

Guilford County may have dodged a cyber-bullet this week. For months and months – years really – Guilford County has been planning to switch its financial reporting system over to a new system called “Munis” provided by Tyler Technologies.

On Wednesday, Oct. 14, the Guilford County Planning Board will hold a meeting to hear input on a planned major update to the county’s Land Development Ordinance – a move that’s expected to result in the adoption of a new Unified Development Ordinance (UDO).

The Guilford County Register of Deeds Office has been providing its essential services throughout the pandemic. However, these days, much, much more of that business is being conducted by mail, and the cost of postage spent by customers to get those documents has of course increased dramatically.

On Tuesday, Sept. 30, Guilford County announced to its citizens that most North Carolina families with children are now eligible for a $335 coronavirus relief payment.

One of the saddest elements of the coronavirus pandemic and the rules meant to prevent the spread of the disease has been an inability of some to visit friends and family members in nursing homes. On Monday, Sept 28, there was a ray of light in that regard as the state eased up on restrictions surrounding visitation, citing a stabilization in the spread of the virus.

Guilford County government has purchased a lot of things over the years – however, at least as far as the Rhino Times is aware, this is the first time the county has purchased a cattle squeeze chute. For the upcoming Thursday, Oct. 1 meeting, the Board of Commissioners’ agenda calls for the county to approve the purchase using $4,700 in grant money.

The State of North Carolina oversees a virus “COVID-19 NC Dashboard” on the web that includes daily stats on the number of positive cases, hospitalizations and other data related to the pandemic. On Friday, Sept. 25, the state announced that it was adding the results of a testing method that hasn’t been included in the statistics before. That measurement change increased both the number of positive cases and number of deaths the state is reporting.

Some citizens of the quaint town of Summerfield are wary of any development in that community. So a good number of them didn’t like the news one bit this week that Summerfield businessman, farmer and developer David Couch is planning to build a large residential development called Summerfield Farms Village.

A new report by Construction Coverage, a construction industry research and analytics firm, details the 10-year change in median home prices by cities across the United States. It found that the median price of a Greensboro home increased by 21 percent over the last decade.

Throughout the pandemic, the City of High Point has shown that it takes even a single case of COVID-19 at one of its government workplaces very seriously. On Friday, Sept. 25, the city demonstrated that caution again. After a city employee tested positive for COVID-19 at the Northpoint Customer Service branch office at 136 Northpoint Ave. in the building that also holds the High Point Parks and Recreation administrative operations, the city shut down the payment office.

In 2017, the North Carolina provided Guilford County with $3.6 million in state funds to study – and, potentially, plan and create – a water system that could have brought a new regional water infrastructure to Stokesdale, Oak Ridge and Summerfield.

There are a lot of endorsements being offered up now that election season is in full swing, and this week a group of elected officials on the Summerfield Town Council announced together that they were backing Republican Troy Lawson in his quest to become the next District 5 Guilford County commissioner. On Wednesday, Sept. 24, Summerfield Mayor BJ Barnes and other Town Council members sent out notice that they were behind Lawson. It’s not an official act by the Town Council, however, since Lawson’s endorsers constitute a majority on that board, they would have had a winning vote if they had done it as an official town act.

Apple once used the phrase, “There’s an app for that” in its iPhone advertisements and now that statement is true even for North Carolinians who want to know if they’ve been exposed to COVID-19. “SlowCOVIDNC,” the official exposure notification app of the state, alerts North Carolinians when they’ve been exposed to someone who’s tested positive for the virus who has also downloaded the app and placed that information in their phone.

After years of debate, the Town of Summerfield has officially decided to move forward with a new town hall. On Tuesday, Sept. 22, the Summerfield Town Council voted nearly unanimously to pay an architect to design the structure that’s expected to cost around $3.5 million.

The Guilford County Sheriff’s Department reported on Wednesday, Sept. 23, that there’s been a rash of residential burglaries in the rural southeastern section of the county. The public announcement was made largely as the result of house thefts and related crimes that occurred on Monday, Sept. 21 and Tuesday, Sept. 22.

Just about every day now, there’s an announcement from private industry or state, local or federal government that reveals changes meant to make the COVID-19 pandemic less onerous on people – and, on Wednesday, Sept. 23, the NC Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) announced a new change meant to provide some relief for those with developmental disabilities who can no longer physically attend schools or learning center programs, but who are attending schools virtually.

North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen is putting her upper arm where her mouth is:. She’s getting a flu shot this week at the Wake County Public Health Center with plenty of media around as one way to help convince North Carolinians to get a flu vaccination this year.

Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTIA) just released its passenger traffic numbers for August 2020, and that data shows that the airport is still struggling mightily when compared to the robust passenger numbers the airport was seeing at this time last year.

There’s one thing and one thing only that the citizens of Summerfield are talking about today. The sole topic of discussion is a proposed large residential development – Summerfield Farms Village – the plans for which were unveiled at a Tuesday, Sept. 22 Summerfield Town Council meeting. At that meeting, developer, farm-owner and businessman David Couch unveiled plans for the 450-lot residential development that would obtain water and sewer services from the City of Greensboro.

This week, a national network of trained volunteers is giving free presentations on rail safety as part of a public awareness campaign called, “See Tracks? Think Train!” The learning session provides tips and statistics to encourage safe behavior near the tracks. There will be other parts of the public awareness effort as well, including social media initiatives and ad spots carried in other media.

It looks like DC Blox, an information infrastructure technology company, is bringing a new $305 million data center to Guilford County.

There’s a $300 million school bond referendum on the ballot in Guilford County in November and there’s also a referendum to increase the sales tax in the county by a quarter of a cent – which is meant to help pay the cost of the school bond referendum should it pass.

Guilford County government has a new team of employees on the county’s payroll. People who work in the Guilford County Recovery Courts – a special part of the court system that helps defendants with substance abuse problems get off drugs rather than just tossing them in prison, and that helps people who commit crimes due to mental illness get the care they need – are now county employees.

This weekend, the International Civil Rights Center and Museum issued a public statement on the death of former US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She was known as a staunch protector of civil rights – something the museum also attempts to promote through its mission of preserving the past.

In the wake of the death of former US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday, Sept. 18, a lot of North Carolina political leaders – Republicans and Democrats alike – were praising Ginsburg and her life story. However, it’s interesting to remember that, at the beginning of her Supreme Court career, one famous North Carolina political leader – former Sen. Jesse Helms – was one of her biggest critics ideologically and one of only three Senate votes against her nomination.

On Wednesday, Sept. 16, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) announced that it received a good dose of funding from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that will enable the state to partner with Federally Qualified Health Centers to do things like inform people of cancer’s warning signs, and, most importantly, increase colorectal cancer screenings across the state.

Once or twice a month, the Guilford County Sherriff’s Department is so anxious to find someone that it turns to the public for help, and, on Thursday, Sept. 17, the department did just that in order to find a suspected thief who’s possibly armed and is on the run. Recently, he seems to have been in Greensboro, Stokesdale and Rockingham County and he’s presumably still in the central North Carolina area.

That doesn’t really flow well off the lips when put into song form, however, local officials are gearing up to mark what they consider to be an important milestone in county history, the Fifth Anniversary of GCEDA, an organization that attempts to overcome local turf battles and instead focus on providing a unified effort to bring in new business to the county.

Some people go through Constitution Day each year without even knowing that it is the day honoring the document that shaped our nation – however, this year, High Point can’t be accused of glossing over the day because the city is celebrating the occasion in style.

Greensboro, High Point and Guilford County as a whole are having to find some new blood to fill a couple of key economic development spots that have opened up in the county.

In recent years, the City of High Point has been doing everything it can to revitalize its once faltering downtown, and a new incentives package meant to bring jobs to one area of downtown is expected to continue that progress.

After quite a scare over the expected exit of poll workers this year, the Guilford County Board of Elections is now confident that it has enough help to carry out the 2020 election. However, some counties across the state are struggling to fill their positions in light of the fear over the coronavirus pandemic.

A lot of people have been wondering whether there will actually be a fall furniture market in High Point given the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. However, on Tuesday, Sept. 15, High Point Market Authority President and CEO Tom Conley said it’s currently full steam ahead.