Author: Scott D. Yost

Former High Point Economic Development Corp. Presidents Loren Hill and Sandy Dunbeck have – both separately and as a team – overseen economic development in that city for about a quarter of a century.

One of the nice things about being a Guilford County commissioner is that you sit on the board that has the ultimate say in how the county is run and that picks how the county uses hundreds of millions of dollars each year in the annual budget.

The Joint Capital /Facilities Committee – a combined body of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners and the Guilford County Board of Education – has scheduled a special meeting for Wednesday, Jan. 24 at 3 p.m.

What do you do when the federal government has given you millions and millions of dollars, but you have to spend it by a certain deadline or give it back – and you can’t meet that deadline?

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners likes to use the board’s annual retreat each year to make a point and highlight a location.  

It’s not very hard to find a good job in the current bustling economy.

Right after the biotech company ProKidney announced last summer that it was building a $458 million facility in Greensboro and hiring over 300 workers, the company’s stock was flying pretty high.

In 2008, the phrase “Food Stamps” was changed to “SNAP” –  which stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – but, whatever you call the food benefits from social services, they’ll continue to be worth twice as much as cold hard cash when used at the High Point Farmer’s Market throughout 2024.

If someone were to guess the favorite TV show of 2023 for North Carolinians, they would probably still guess “The Andy Griffith Show,” even though it stopped filming new episodes in the last century.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners has called a special work session for Thursday, Jan. 18, where the board will consider whether the county should create a Legal Support Center that would help people who are attempting “Pro se” legal work – that is, those handling their own civil matters in the Guilford County court system. 

Structures related to law enforcement have faced increased threats in recent years across the country and that’s one reason that the Guilford County jail in downtown Greensboro is adding a new line of protection, putting in concrete barriers to keep threats to the jail and the people inside at a distance.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) is working to improve behavioral health for youth across the state, and is using a historic investment of funds from the NC General Assembly “to ensure everyone receives the care they need when and where they need it.”

Over the last three years, voters in Guilford County have approved $2 billion in school bond money, and, on Thursday, Jan. 18, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners is scheduled to pass a motion that will allow county finance staff to raise $180 million of those funds for school construction and repair.

The High Point Public Library’s Borrow an Experience Program just celebrated its first anniversary and it’s now trying to do more in the second year of the successful initiative.

High Point University (HPU) students, faculty and staff celebrated the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the same way it does each year – with a day of service that HPU describes as “A Day On, Not Off.”

A decade and a half ago, when the Guilford County commissioners set aside more than $100 million – after a bond referendum – to build a giant new jail in downtown Greensboro, there was virtual panic in the county that Guilford County would see a tremendous growth in jail population over the next few years.  

A problem in the Guilford County Detention Center in downtown Greensboro is proving difficult to deal with, and the Guilford County Purchasing Department is soliciting outside help for a second time in a new attempt address the issue.

Being a law enforcement officer is hard job, but someone has to do it.   And those who do that job appreciated it very much when they get help from state lawmakers in their efforts to fight crime and keep state residents safe. 

There have been a number of studies in recent years that show North Carolina drivers aren’t the best.

the Guilford County Homelessness Taskforce and the Guilford County Board of Commissioners are already months behind a self-stated goal that Chairman of the Board of Commissioners Skip Alston announced in early 2023. That goal was to have every homeless person off the streets of Guilford County by the time it turned cold in the winter of 2023.

Even as late as a few years ago, if you wanted to get a public record from Guilford County government, you called down to the Guilford County Clerk to the Board’s office and told them what you wanted. 

High Point University (HPU) is one of just 40 colleges and universities in the United States to be honored with the “2024 Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement” – an elective and voluntary designation that highlights “an institution’s commitment to community engagement.” 

Everyone knows that, with the low unemployment rate these days, it’s hard to find good help – and local governments in Guilford County are no exception.

If you plan on having children and working while you raise them, you might want to consider moving to Connecticut.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS)  will host a live “Cafecito and tele-town hall” in Spanish on Thursday, Jan. 11, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. to explain Medicaid expansion – including which qualified immigration statuses are eligible for health care coverage and how to apply. 

This weekend there will be a whole lot of celebrations of the life and lessons of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. going on, and High Point is one city that’s certainly packing in quite a bit of those from Friday, Jan. 12 through Monday, Jan. 15. 

Newly compiled data by the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners shows that the money coming in from occupancy taxes is on the rise in recent years.

If one of your resolutions for 2024 was to be a more caring and more helpful member of society in the New Year, there’s one way you can do so right off the bat.

On Monday, Jan. 8, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) announced that the department is now enrolling pharmacists as Medicaid providers and paying for contraceptive counseling services provided in pharmacies.  

It’s too bad that sometimes when the government builds new roads or widens existing ones that some landowners loose some or all of their land to that effort whether they wanted to sell the property to the government or not.

Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTIA) announced this week that it will be hosting a TSA PreCheck enrollment event together with IDEMIA – an authorized TSA PreCheck enrollment provider.

Everyone who follows the Guilford County Tax Department to any extent knows the department does their main job very well. 

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) is hosting a live fireside chat and tele-town hall on Wednesday, Jan. 10, from 6 to 7 p.m., to discuss Medicaid expansion across North Carolina.

There certainly are a lot of threats in the world to keep track of these days, but at least some of them can be tested for. 

High Point University (HPU) is known for bringing in some big names that students can learn from in a very direct way, and, this week, the school announced the latest name on that list: Google Global Transformation and Operations Executive Teena Piccione. 

This week, Guilford  County government is scheduled to enter into an interlocal agreement that’s intended to make parks in Oak Ridge safer and bring more peace of mind to residents.

Anyone who’s gone into Harris Teeter in the last two years knows that the price of just about everything has been going up – and that may soon also be true of the amount cities and towns in Guilford County pay the Guilford County Tax Department for the service of collecting their property taxes.

Guilford County property owners who are late payers but not delinquent payers, have just paid their property taxes to the county– so, it would be nice if they could put property taxes out of their minds for a little while.

Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston certainly has his critics, but there is undeniably a benefit to having a commissioner on the board who’s served across four decades.

In 2024, the Guilford County commissioners are all about addressing the problem of homelessness as well as those issues that constitute the root causes of homelessness – such as drug abuse.

Everyone knows that Guilford County and other counties in the state and across the country are having trouble finding people willing to take jail guard jobs, but these days it’s also hard to fill other positions that meet needs in a jail. 

No one knows what the future will bring. However, even though 2024 hasn’t arrived, the Guilford County commissioners and other top county officials have drawn a pretty good picture of what will be in store for county residents in the New Year. 

For most people, Christmas is a time of happiness and joy, however, this year, due to the sudden and unexpected death of his mother, Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston spent the holidays grieving. 

Guilford County government, under the leadership of Guilford County Manager Mike Halford and Chairman of the Board of Commissioners Skip Alston, accomplished a great deal in Guilford County in 2023.

The annual drive through the High Point University (HPU) campus to see the spectacular Christmas sights and hear the holiday sounds was as popular as ever.

When people talk about helping the animals at the Guilford County animal shelter, they’re often talking about adopting the dogs and cats, but there are a lot of other important ways people can help out – ways that don’t require quite the full-time commitment being a loving pet owner does.

It wasn’t that many years ago that Guilford County economic development officials were gung ho on seeking a “higher use” for the county’s large open spaces – particularly on the 806 acres in eastern Guilford County and western Alamance County that once constituted the Guilford County Prison Farm. 

Guilford County Register of Deeds Jeff Thigpen is known for pushing – in a very good way – the boundaries of what a county deeds office should do. 

Santa Claus makes his naughty list long before Dec. 25, but Guilford County Tax Director Ben...

Guilford County Commissioner Carlvena Foster had a lot of praise for the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department at the Board of Commissioners meeting held just a few days before Christmas.