…For your Thursday morning reading pleasure. I’m not judging, I’m just saying.
For starters, all’s good with the downtown taxpayer-financed baseball stadium. Hey, Greensboro residents, are you reminded of anyone when the Journal writes the Winston-Salem City Council “was disorganized and inconsistent in its handling of the deal, particularly in [...]
No doubt newcomer Danny Thompson will be a force on the Greensboro City Council, but holdover Dianne Bellamy-Small will have to be watched more closely than ever. In addition to initiating the petty squabble over Thompson’s aquatic center vote, she consistently tried to cut off debate as the [...]
Turns out when Davidson Superior Court Judge Kevin Bridges issued his ruling favoring opponents of annexation into the City of Lexington, he left a few issues unresolved.
Bridges resolved those issues with both sides yesterday, and now the city’s annexation plan is more than likely back on.
The way I [...]
There was a fair amount of speculation that newly-elected member Nancy Vaughan would be the swing vote as the Greensboro City Council reconsidered the proposed aquatic center at tonight’s meeting. Sure enough, Vaughan —drum roll please — was the difference in a tight 5-4 vote as the council re-confirmed [...]
The N&R’s Ed Hardin weighs in on Greensboro’s proposed aquatic center, which will get another going over at tonight’s City Council meeting. Hardin says “we” either do the swim center up right or “we” don’t do it at all. Read the column and decide for yourselves what Hardin thinks [...]
Doug Clark says the problem with convicted murderers being released isn’t lenient judges, “it’s that back in the more liberal 1970s, legislators carved huge loopholes in sentencing laws.”
Sounded so good in the ’70s, didn’t it? Today we have the Racial Justice Act, passed by a General Assembly [...]
…Might be FedEx:
FedEx Corp. has begun to draw economic incentives pledged 11 years ago after the company announced it would build its latest national cargo hub at Piedmont Triad International Airport.
FedEx, which opened its hub June 1, has received approximately $2 million in incentives so far, said Jim McCluskey, a [...]
Key point from Mark Binker’s write-up of the U.S. Senate race:
None seemed happy with the idea that Congressional Democrats could give up on the public option — a federally run health insurance plan that would be available to those who don’t have coverage. Creating such a publicly run player [...]
Progress on Winston-Salem’s taxpayer-funded downtown stadium pleases the citizen review committee. Construction work is about 90 percent complete and on pace to be finished two weeks before the Dash’s home opener.
Now, two things have to happen: the team needs to sell some tickets and — no kidding [...]
I’m a semi-regular shopper at Deep Roots Market and would definitely be a regular if they moved downtown. But as you can probably imagine —– I’m not down with using fed stimulus dollars. Hey, if the new Greensboro City Council wants to show us what they’re made of right [...]
Donna Martinez down at sister blog Right Angles passes along this clip from the ‘Tonight Show’ featuring William Shatner and Sarah Palin onstage together. It’s worth a watch, if you have nothing better to do on a cold Saturday morning.
[...]Last week it was Guilford County Schools reaching new heights of asininity. This week it’s —- drum roll please—— Ed Cone.
You’d think the blogfather would at least appreciate the fact that Guarino is making the classic liberal argument that the proposed aquatic center will transfer wealth from hard-working [...]
OK, that slug has a taint of adolescent humor, but unfortunately it’s true. The N&R reports:
A registered sex offender accused of being on Joyner Elementary School’s campus more than 30 times this year was caught after he exposed himself to a parent, police say.
Jerry Fitzgerald Dick, 45, of 1724-B [...]
The Winston-Salem Journal says legislative Republicans “have some ideas about state tax reform that warrant serious consideration.” The major reform is broadening of the sales-tax base to include services, which the Journal says should enable the state to reduce the sales tax rate.
Any real fan will tell you he’s thinking about football more often than not, with random thoughts ranging from the present —who’s going to make the the playoffs this season —- to the great stars of his childhood, like Raiders receiver Fred Biletnikoff. Nothing better to do and this [...]
As you can probably imagine, I don’t like the latest aquatic center idea being floated by some Greensboro City Council members.
The way I see it, even if the $6.8 million shortfall is voted down in a bond referendum, that still leaves Matt Brown, Robbie Perkins and Zack Matheny [...]
10-below wind chill in Minneapolis as the upper Midwest braces for an oncoming blizzard:
Howling winds are predicted to develop with the deepening storm Wednesday threatening blizzard conditions from Iowa to Minnesota, Wisconsin and northwest Illinois. Predictions of the storm’s strength are on track to rival central barometric pressures recorded [...]
With everything going on in Greensboro, it’s easy to forget that the Winston-Salem City Council has a new look, though pretty much in name only:
In some ways, the local election was influenced by the national election last year. The campaigns of new Democratic council members D.D. Adams, Derwin Montgomery [...]
Kinda lost in the ever-evolving developments surrounding the proposed aquatic center is the semi-related news that Greensboro’s Irwin Belk Track lost out to Myrtle Beach for the right to host the national youth track and field championship.
I know what Greensboro CVB president Henri Fourrier meant specifically when he [...]
That’s the first question. The next question would be who’s Cal Cunningham working for?
Locker Room answers the first question (look for the names Obama, Kerry, Edwards and—last but not least —Easley) while Elaine Marshall’s campaign answers question number two:
Marshall’s campaign consultant, Thomas Mills, called Cunningham “the hokey-pokey candidate.”
“First [...]
You expected anything else?
Let’s start with unsuccessful Greensboro City Council candidate Gary Nixon’s op-ed refuting the argument —- expressed in another LTE in today’s paper —– that the city needs to move on the proposed aquatic center quickly in order to take advantage of a favorable economic climate:
The [...]
The Racial Justice Act, which sounded so good in theory to many liberals, will soon be applied to real-life death penalty cases:
A judge is scheduled to hear motions Tuesday on three pending first-degree-murder cases that ask that the start of each trial be delayed until after a study [...]
Key point from yesterday’s Winston-Salem Journal article on Dell’s assertion that they can just slide on state tax credits:
Kenneth Lay, the state’s revenue secretary, said in an interview this week that, because Dell no longer meets the criteria used to determine the tax credits, the state can now require [...]
The N&O reports:
The fatal shooting of a UNC Chapel Hill fraternity president was justified, Randolph County District Attorney Garland Yates said today.
In a news release, Yates said the Archdale police officer who shot and killed Courtland Smith in the early hours of Aug. 23 did so because he believed [...]
….And that’s saying quite a bit about the gang down on Eugene Street.
The Guilford County Board of Education approved contract extensions for several top administrators, including chief financial officer Sharon Ozment and chief of operations Leo Bobadilla.
The vote wasn’t unanimous, however. Board member Darlene Garrett, frustrated by the [...]
This Lexington Dispatch editorial straddles the fence on the recent annexation ruling, yet offers up more reasons why the city should just give it up:
One thing the council members must consider in deciding their next course of action is money. The city has already spent tens of thousands of [...]
Eight Winston-Salem police officers are appealing the city’s plan to release their statements on the controversial Silk Plant Forest case. The statements would be released to a citizens review committee that has criticized the police investigation of the brutal assault of store manager Jill Marker, for which Kalvin Smith [...]
On the subject, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention The Pulpit Forum’s showing showing at last night’s Greensboro City Council meeting in what Guarino describes as “a clear attempt” to intimidate Mayor Bill Knight.
I’ll admit the new mayor looked a bit shaky as he conducted [...]
Davidson Superior Court Judge Kevin Bridges rules against the City of Lexington in a lawsuit filed against the city by residents opposing annexation:
In his ruling, Bridges said the city did not follow its policy on extending sewer service to residents who are annexed.
The city has to provide sewer service [...]
Mike Huckabee was on Hannity yesterday defending his decision to commute cop killer Maurice Clemmons’ sentence while Huckabee was governor of Arkansas. I think the mainstream media has calmed down and now realizes that Huckabee did not set Clemmons free, but commuted his sentence to 47 years, making [...]
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any stranger.
A few hours after the outgoing Greensboro City Council voted to approve funding for the proposed aquatic center, incoming council member Danny Thompson made a motion to rescind the vote. That set off considerable discussion, and in the end the council [...]
JLF’s Terry Stoops assigns each North Carolina school district a “parent-friendly grade” in a recent report available here. Unfortunately, Guilford County’s grade dropped from C to C-, while Forsyth’s grade dropped from D+ to D.
With the report in mind, it’s important to remember that we —the taxpayers —- [...]
Something’s definitely up with the corner of South Elm and Lee here in Greensboro. The N&R reported on Friday that the redevelopment commission had decided to “would seek out a master developer to oversee the redevelopment,” a decision that “effectively dashed the plans of a Tennessee-based developer and the [...]
Both the Winston-Salem Journal and the N&R profile Rep. Virginia Foxx, who’s ‘ruffling more than a few feathers’ these days.
Mark Binker’s balanced piece touches on liberal reaction to Foxx’s controversial comments:
What seems like a torrent of unfriendly attention over the past year doesn’t seem to faze Foxx much.
“First [...]
I’ve read this post several times and I really can’t tell if I’m pretty sure I’m starting to believe I’m almost positive the N&R’s Doug Clark is being sarcastic when he says Greensboro needs “a state-of-the-art, climate-controlled, domed football stadium added to its existing facilities — the Coliseum and [...]
Today is controversial Forsyth County District Attorney Tom Keith’s last day in the job. The Winston-Salem Journal editorializes on the controversy hanging over Keith’s retirement —his battle with District Court Judge Laurie Hutchins over a questionable reduced speeding ticket charge.
The Journal notes that Keith was also involved in [...]
I’ve been beating myself up lately for the initial confusion over additional funding for Greensboro’s new aquatic center, which the outgoing City Council will more than likely approve at a special meeting right before the new council is sworn in on Tuesday.
I don’t feel so bad now:
Just the [...]
NYT profile of professional golfer Ken Green, who lost his leg in an RV accident back in June. Green was the 1989 Greater Greensboro Open winner and his girlfriend Jeannie Hodgin, who was killed in the accident along with Green’s brother Billy, was a G’boro native:
Every morning in [...]
Since local blogger Roch 101 enjoys fact-checking N&R letters to the editor, he should have a field day with this howler from Siler City reader Sandi Campbell, which appears under the headline ‘Years of cutting taxes have hobbled California’:
California is a microcosm of what 30 years of relentless [...]
Maybe I’m missing something, but when talking about the third shooting victim in the past five weeks at the Landmark Inn on Elm-Eugene and I-40, Greensboro Police Chief Tim Bellamy sounded like he just doesn’t know what to do. I don’t discount the power of prayer, but hearing the [...]
Triad Watch breaks the story on the State Board of Elections’ audit of Sen. Phil Berger’s campaign finance reports; the N&R follows up.
[...]Appearing in today’s N&R, Thomas Friedman offers up his definition of ‘better citizens,’ which he said America desperately need right now:
The standard answer is that we need better leaders. The real answer is that we need better citizens. We need citizens who will convey to their leaders that they [...]
No doubt you’ve heard by now that controversial Forsyth County District Attorney Tom Keith is retiring next week. The Winston-Salem Journal bids him adieu, saying Keith “can be, by turns, charmingly open and frustratingly stubborn.” The Journal also believes Keith should have recognized that the Daryl Hunt case had [...]
Let’s just start with the notion that Greensboro planning director Dick Hails’ assertion that the city’s proposed 500-page land development ordinance is just a minor tweak to zoning regulations is crazy and go from there.
Interesting that concerns have been expressed that the “new rules would limit or eliminate new [...]
I can’t help but note how Leonard Pitts —-appearing in today’s N&R—- undercuts his own argument when defending a civilian trial for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (emphasis mine):
It’s worth remembering that even the architects of the greatest barbarism in history had their day in court. After burning away 11 million [...]
Ed Cone gives thanks for Sen. Kay Hagan, who (he says) “has done a good job so far.”
If you’d like to call Sen. Hagan and tell her what a good job she’s been doing, don’t bother. For some reason, her voicemail is full.
Update Speaking of Sen. Hagan, [...]
I give the N&R due credit for exposing ‘green energy’ for what it is with a couple of Sunday front pagers in the Sunday edition. No matter the utility —- solar, wind, chicken shit —–whatever—- green industry won’t make it without legislation and taxpayer subsidies while providing a [...]
Former Greensboro Police detective Scott “Scooter” Sanders will return to work as a patrol officer after being cleared of all allegations related to the controversy surrounding former chief David Wray.
The N&R reports that Sanders “was flanked by several, other white police officers who had been implicated in the probe.” [...]
Guilford County Sheriff B.J. Barnes at yesterday’s community meeting on Tasers in schools:
Barnes said he believes stun guns are safer than pepper spray. Stun guns disrupt the nervous system and cause muscles to contract. The 5-second, 50,000-volt shock causes a stunned person to “freeze up.â€
“Pepper spray has been attributed [...]
Please, somebody tell me what the kids did wrong here:
Officials at Reidsville Middle School suspended two students last week after their parents brought them fast food for lunch, violating a policy that prohibits outside food.
On Thursday, Charles Finney brought his daughter food from McDonald’s for lunch. That night, Brittney, [...]
Sen. Kay Hagan has said the whole time that she would only support a healthcare bill that didn’t increase the deficit and —ta-da!—– the Senate produces a bill that won’t increase the deficit. So naturally Hagan supports it.
If that’s true, Charles Krauthammer says he’ll eat his hat. At [...]
ACC officiating supervisor Doug Rhoads tells N.C. State coach Tom O’Brien that the refs blew a call on a key play during last Saturday’s game against Clemson:
According to a note released to the media by N.C. State, Rhoads said a play in the third quarter was a fumble that [...]
No news article, but the N&R editorialzes on the ’swim center shuffle’:
The city’s new aquatics center is still afloat, thanks to a 7-1 vote of confidence Tuesday night by the City Council.
Specifically the council voted to fill a $6 million funding shortfall with certificates of participation financed by hotel-occupancy [...]
More than 400 Dell employees worked their last shift yesterday.
But don’t worry, Winston-Salem has that prime driver of economic development —– the arts. I’m sure more than a few laid-off Dell employees can get jobs building those artistically creative bridges.
Once government funding comes through, that is.
[...]Guarino’s all over Greensboro City Council’s decision to borrow against future hotel tax revenues to pay for the shortfall in the swim center funding. The N&R surely will follow up; in fairness, the 7-1 vote —with Trudy Wade as the lone ‘nay’ —- took place late last night.
Guarino notes [...]
Interesting N&O article on Rene Dickerson, the artist who will unveil his portrait of the late Sen. Jesse Helms tonight:
In 2001, Washington Post columnist David Broder called Helms “the last prominent unabashed white racist politician in this country.”
“He was just from that era,” Dickerson, 58, said in an [...]
This should be a warning to any local government entity looking to invest taxpayers’ money in an entertainment venue. (Sorry Winston-Salem, too late for you.)
The Pontiac Silverdome —site of all those Thanksgiving Day football games —- has just been sold. The price: $583,000, after taxpayers spent $55 million [...]
Wanda Sykes —- intellectual heavyweight that she is —— disses Rep. Virginia Foxx’s comments about healthcare reform being more dangerous that terrorists.
Admittedly, Foxx’s comments are kind of forgotten now that terrorists are being put on trial in civilian court. Sen. Richard Burr speaks out:
Speaking of Burr, the Republican [...]
Pretty full agenda for tomorrow night’s Greensboro City Council meeting. It will be interesting to see if Mike Barber, in his last meeting as a council member, will go head to head with his buddy Robbie Perkins one last time.
I note that John Hammer plays up the Barber-Perkins [...]
I noted with interest a young UNCG student speaking in solidarity with the Neighbors of Northeast Greensboro against the reopening of the White Street landfill, noting how many ‘code red’ air quality days Greensboro had approached recently.
The young student might want to read the JLF vice president of research Roy [...]
This morning’s N&R editorializes on the joke e-mail about President Obama that a Greensboro city staff member inadvertently sent to members of local media (italics mine):
Truth be known, most employees with access to a computer probably have sent personal messages to co-workers and friends or surfed the Internet [...]
Meck Deck’s been all over the ‘crooked and corrupt’ SEC officiating that helped steer Alabama and Florida toward the conference championship game en route to a shot at the national title.
OK, I’m not much of a conspiracy theorist, but I watched with amazement as the replay booth overturned [...]
Guilford County Sheriff B.J. Barnes and Greensboro Police Chief Tim Bellamy send the message to GCS school board members that they have no have intention of disarming school resource officers.
I’m just asking, because I don’t know —- does anyone really think —- as board member Sandra Alexander does [...]
The Justice Department is expected to announce today that esteemed N.C. A&T grad Khalid Shaikh Mohammed will be tried in federal court in New York, while accused USS Cole bomber Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri will be tried before a military tribunal. It will be interesting to watch the administration explain [...]
But this time it’s up U.S. 220 in Rockingham County, where commissioners are debating $16 million for the McMichael Civic Center at Rockingham Community College:
The civic center is the priority project on RCC’s long-range facilities master plan, college President Robert Keys told the commissioners. It will include a 1,000-seat [...]
The N&R follows up:
The city has shaved about $3 million off the cost of a planned competitive swim center at the Greensboro Coliseum, but construction will still cost $6 million more than the city has to spend.
By the end of the week, the city staff will recommend ways to [...]
I just now watched part of the replay of last night’s Greensboro City Council meeting. Note the council signed off on $3.3 million to run water and sewer to sites near Piedmont Triad International Airport.
But a more interesting issue that the N&R didn’t mention —- hopefully they’ll follow [...]
I’ve often felt guilty for criticizing the apparent cluelessness of Guilford County Schools’ facilities staff, especially when dealing with school construction. So I felt somewhat relieved this morning when I read this morning that school board members —finally — are expressing frustration at the lack of details regarding construction [...]
So much for the spin that taxpayers will actually benefit after Dell repays city and county economic incentives used to lure the company to Forsyth County.
Give Forsyth commissioners credit for pondering a tax rebate, but the city’s media partner, the Winston-Salem Journal, pronounces any such rebate “negligible.” You [...]
I’m just looking for more information on the story only WSJS has reported so far —- that an envelope containing a suspicious white powder was sent to Rep. Virginia Foxx’s Clemmonsville office yesterday.
The suspicious substance turned out to be baby powder, but it was obviously meant to be a [...]
I read with interest N&R bleeding heart Lorraine Ahearn’s Sunday front-pager on the plight of Myanmar immigrants struggling to make a living by commuting 90 minutes to the Perdue Farms chicken plant in Rockingham.
Despite describing repeatedly the horrors the Twan Har family endured in their “impoverished and repressive” home [...]
For starters, Keith Brown informs us in this Guarino thread on possible landfill mischief at Tuesday’s lame-duck Greensboro City Council meeting that the city has officially issued a request for proposal for a “long-term solid waste management infrastructure system” at the White Street landfill. Stay tuned.
Keith also [...]
Interesting NYT article on Jeremy Tyler, the prep high school star who skipped his senior of high school to play professionally in Israel en route (hopefully) to a fat NBA contract.
So far, Tyler’s not doing so good:
His coach calls him lazy and out of shape. [...]
For some strange reason, I find it ironic that Rep. Pricey Harrsion wants the state attorney general to look into Blue Cross Blue Shield’s possible “taxpayer-abetted political activity.”
[...]Here’s the Thomas Sowell column that I couldn’t find online yesterday.
Sowell further makes the point that “it is politicians who have already made medical insurance so expensive that many people refuse to buy it.”
[...]On the subject of controversial public officials, Gerald Hege officially announces his 2010 run for Davidson County’s top law enforcement position.
WFMY’s report is below, while the N&R’s Doug Clark says Davidson residents can do better.
Update: I removed the WFMY video because the ad starts blaring when you access [...]
The Winston-Salem takes its shot at Rep. Virginia Foxx:
Foxx’s comment Monday about terrorists was so outrageous that it made national news. We doubt that many of the survivors of those killed on Sept. 11, 2001, see the Democrats’ health-care reform bill as more dangerous than a terrorist.
After Foxx makes [...]
I read with interest the N&R’s follow-up on Bill Knight’s victory over incumbent Yvonne Johnson in the Greensboro mayor’s race.
I don’t want to get caught up in any race issues — it’s just a fact of life that liberals are quick to bring it up when [...]
The Charlotte Observer rips Rep. Virginia Foxx for her House floor comment that “we have more to fear from the potential of that bill passing than we do from any terrorist.”
Personally, I can’t help but see the irony behind such a reaction from a liberal newspaper, considering the fact [...]
Good to see Winston-Salem voters showing a sense of humor in reaction to the sad state of city politics that allowed Mayor Allen Joines to run unopposed in Tuesday’s election.
The Winston-Salem Journal notes “there was obvious discontent with the status quo” as Joines had “988 random write-in votes [...]
Yes!Weekly’s Jordan Green writes up the debate surrounding the White Street landfill that certainly will continue after Greensboro’s newly-elected City Council is seated.
Green walks ground I had already covered, but identifies another company that perhaps will compete with Ulturnagen and Cisco for the city contract to produce alternative [...]
Appearing in today’s N&R, Thomas Sowell* expresses the very sentiment that gnaws at me about government-run healthcare:
What about insurance companies denying reimbursements for treatments? Does anyone think a government bureaucracy will not do that?
It seems to me a lot of people believe that everything will be fine once government gets [...]
Winston-Salem Journal reports:
Teresa Lewis had just celebrated winning the Mount Airy mayoral race Tuesday night when she got a call from the Surry County Board of Elections.
There was a problem with the results.
She drove to the Board of Elections office, where she was told the results from two precincts [...]
Meck Deck’s bonus 2010 prediction is the “state GOP is gonna rue the day it decided to stand by and watch Charlotte turn into a blue-vote generating machine.”
With that in mind, note that liberal groups are already setting their sites on Sen. Richard Burr, accusing him of siding [...]
*Note the expression on Greensboro Mayor Yvonne Johnson’s face as she watches her lead slip away during last night’s election results. She doesn’t look happy.
*The N&R editorializes on Greensboro’s ’stunning change. They also weigh in on the Natural Science Center’s ’solid reputation,’ which no doubt voters [...]
Guilford County Board of Election has 106 of 106 precincts reporting and Bill Knight has a 51 to 48 percent lead over incumbent Yvonne Johnson in the Greensboro mayor’s race.
Update: Natural Science Center bond passes 61-38. I can’t wait to see what they’re going to deliver for $20 million.
Two candidates are waging write-in campaigns in today’s Winston-Salem municipal election.
But —- as readers duly note —– neither is running against Mayor Allen Joines.
[...]I noted with interest that the Rhino supported the $20 million bond for Greensboro Natural Science Center:
To the best of our knowledge, The Rhino Times has never endorsed a bond, and as a rule we are opposed to increasing government spending. However, there are exceptions to every rule, and [...]
Lots of chatter out there about both major political parties meddling in Greensboro’s nonpartisan City Council race. Commander Hood weighs in generally on nonpartisan races in the video below.
I’ve always believed that the effort to remove partisanship from the political process to be liberal camouflage. They promote [...]
As the Greensboro City Council carries on its confusing discussion of whether to issue RFPs or RFQs for companies seeking to put the White Street landfill to good use, one company made an interesting presentation before the City Council:
Before the RFQ discussion, Bob Mays of Cico LLC, gave a [...]
