Author: Scott D. Yost

An historic and well-known High Point hotel is getting a makeover that will also bring a new enclosed event venue to that city.

For the 48th year in a row, the city of High Point is putting on its very popular “Day in the Park Festival” – and the city has quite a party planned for the 2019 incarnation of the event.

The Guilford County Animal Shelter may be about to get an infusion of new employees that Guilford County Animal Services Director Jorge Ortega has been pleading for for a long time.

On Wednesday, Sept. 17, Fastenal Company announced big plans for a 756,000 square-foot facility at 4100 Beechwood Drive in High Point that the company purchased last year – and those plans are good news for the area.

If you complain that you never get invited to a party, today is your day.

Greensboro is just about in the dead center of the pack when it comes to the best and worst cities for being single, according to a new study.

At the rate at which High Point University (HPU) has been expanding and adding programs and services, it’s not surprising that more enhancements are on the way.  And at 4:45 p.m on Tuesday, Sept. 17, the university is planning to announce its “10-Year Growth Plan,” which is expected to contain a lot of exciting information regarding the university.

On Monday, Sept. 16, Guilford County took a big step in its plan to build a new Sheriff’s Department headquarters.

If there’s an elder person in your family who requires adult daycare services that they can’t afford, Guilford County wants to help out

Despite major efforts this year by the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department to attract patrol officers, detention officers and other employees, the numbers of vacancies in the department have continued to increase.

Democrats including Gov. Roy Cooper expressed extreme frustration, Wednesday, Sept. 11 after the NC House of Representatives voted to override Cooper’s veto and approve the 2019-2021 state budget while many Democratic representatives were absent. 

Well, High Point city leaders and other backers of building a new baseball stadium in High Point said the stadium would be “multiuse,” and, in an effort to help the stadium live up to that description, the city is holding a massive Halloween party there. 

The City of Greensboro is sometimes called the “Bull Riding Capital of the World.”

If you don’t see any women walking around Greensboro on Thursday, Sept. 12, there’s nothing to worry about – it’s just that a whole lot of them are taking part in a wide-ranging discussion at a big event at Greensboro College.

If you’re craving some of that old-time religion, now’s your chance.

Ox Bodies Inc., a subsidiary of Federal Signal Corporation, announced on Wednesday, Sept. 11 that the company will be opening an operation in High Point that will create at least 40 jobs and increase the tax base by a minimum of $2 million.

September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and, in recognition of that, the local nonprofit Mental Health Greensboro is offering free sessions of suicide prevention training.

The Guilford County Planning Board is about to decide the fate of property on the northwest side of McKnight Mill Road about 350 feet from the intersection of McKnight Mill and Hollywood Drive. Specifically, the Planning Board will hold a public hearing next week to hear input as to whether the county should rezone the property to allow a daycare to operate there.

This year, summer ends on Monday, Sept. 23 and a lot of area residents will be sad to see it go. But the city of Archdale is sending the season off in style with a major end-of- summer bash that will hopefully provide everyone some fun memories until Summer rolls around next year.

The business of buying new election machines sounds like a very boring affair – however, right now, in Guilford County and across the state of North Carolina, that ho-hum action has become quite exciting and has generated a flurry of activity.

The Guilford County Historic Preservation Commission has called a meeting for Tuesday, Sept 17 to hold an evidentiary hearing to help decide whether or not to recommend a “Landmark Designation” status for the Groom-Shevel Building at 532-536 S. Elm St. in downtown Greensboro.

First there was the “Rumble in the Jungle” and now, on Thursday, Sept. 19 there will be the “Showdown in Downtown.”

With budget constraints and teacher shortages, education advocates argue that music and arts programs in Guilford County schools lack the support needed for students.

There may be no such thing as a free lunch but there’s definitely such a thing as free help when it comes to getting your financial situation on track and moving toward home ownership.

North Carolina households that currently get Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) will receive their September 2019 benefits early so that they can purchase necessary food immediately following Hurricane Dorian.

Guilford County Commissioners were all extremely proud of one of their own at the board’s Thursday, Sept. 5 meeting.

After a long closed session of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners at the board’s Thursday, Sept. 5 meeting, the commissioners came out and took unified action.

Though Hurricane Dorian had just passed within a few hundred miles of Greensboro not long before, on Saturday, Sept. 7, the weather in Greensboro was working in complete cooperation with the organizers of the North Carolina Folk Festival, an event that completely and happily took over downtown Greensboro for the entire weekend.

There’s a lot of uncertainty whether or not Guilford County and about 20 other counties across the state will be required to purchase new types of voting machines this year, but a change is coming at some point – and Guilford County and some other counties are now in the process of selecting which machines they buy.

Summerfield Town Councilmember Todd Rotruck said this week that he is considering appealing a new decision by the NC Court of Appeals to the NC Supreme Court. Earlier this week, a three-judge panel of the appellate court ruled to uphold decisions by Guilford County Board of Elections and a Guilford County Superior Court that found Rotruck was not a resident of Summerfield when he ran for a seat on the Summerfield Town Council and won in 2017.

Based on the massive line of cars the last time that a free shredding event was held in the Greensboro Coliseum parking lot, free shredding events are one of the most popular events anyone can put on in Guilford County.

Guilford County has been one of the most active places in North Carolina when it comes to law enforcement combating drunk driving and now the county will receive a state grant to help continue those efforts.

On Tuesday, Sept. 3, the NC Department of Health and Human Services announced that it will extend open enrollment for Medicaid beneficiaries in Guilford County and 26 other counties and move to a statewide transition to managed care on February 1, 2020.

Former Summerfield Town Councilmember Todd Rotruck has lost his appeal to regain a seat on the Town Council that he was removed from two and half years ago.  

Max Benbassat, the former spokesman for the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department who resigned from that position earlier this summer, has used his time away from that job to finish a smartphone application – GateFrog – which is being released this month and is an app that Benbassat said will decrease headaches for flyers.

A major court ruling in Oklahoma against an opioid manufacturer has Guilford County officials optimistic that the county could see a good deal of money by winning a similar suit filed last year.

The triad gets a lot of major athletic competitions but not a lot of world championships. 

On Thursday, Aug. 29, the High Point Police Department released a statement regarding the alleged school shooter threat that made national news earlier this week.

The Guilford County Sheriff’s Department is trying to solve the mystery of the sudden disappearance of Samuel Juergen, a 15-year-old who went missing in a rural part of Guilford County near Summerfield. Juergon was last seen on Wednesday night, Aug. 28, when he was in the area of Lake Brandt Road and Scalesville Road.

A big name from NASCAR is turning in his fast car for a two-wheeled vehicle that travels at much, much slower speeds – and he and others are hoping that many in High Point and the surrounding area will do the same to support a good cause.

Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon and Bob Dylan have nothing on a group of local Greensboro musicians who have come together.

On Wednesday, Aug. 28, Koury Corp. President Steve Showfety got a huge honor: In front of about 1,000 people at the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce’s State of the Community Luncheon, Showfety was awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine – the highest honor that can be bestowed by North Carolina governors.

Moves this week by some state lawmakers are causing panic – or at least dread – in many counties across the state including Guilford County.

The United Way of Greater Greensboro is looking for more ways to help the community in its future efforts: The organization has just begun accepting “Letters of Interest” from both current and unaffiliated non-profit partners for the 2020-2022 grant process.

Greensboro Downtown Parks Inc. (GDPI) is doing what it can to keep area residents healthy, and it just got a $5,000 sponsorship to help in that effort in the coming months.

Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Alan Branson played the role of either comedian or devil’s advocate at a recent work session of the Guilford County Commissioners when Health Department officials were asking the board for tighter restrictions on tobacco use in county buildings.

Area officials have been placing a lot of hopes and dreams on the new 800-plus acre megasite at Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTIA), however now there’s a major snag, one that reared its truly ugly head at the Tuesday, Aug. 27 meeting of the Piedmont Triad Airport Authority, the board that runs PTIA.

Former Guilford County Sheriff’s Department Executive Administrative Assistant Catherine Netter, who drew a lot of attention earlier this summer with her theory that the game of Eight-ball is racist, is maintaining a relatively high-profile after stepping down from her former job at the Sheriff’s Department.

There were two high-profile deaths in Guilford County government this month within days of each other, and, at the Guilford County Board of Commissioners meeting following those deaths, every commissioner present spoke on the immense value of those former county officials and on the tremendous loss for everyone in the community. 

Guilford County Commissioner Jeff Phillips said recently that he wants more county involvement in Camp HOPE, which he said is an extremely important program that helps kids who’ve been affected by domestic violence.