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.”
“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 [...]
The Winston-Salem Journal notes in this big lead editorial that ‘Winston-Salem’seconomic development minds’ make up the task force that will hopefully land a new tenant for the soon-to-be abandoned Dell plant. A commenter notes with irony that they are the same economic development minds who brought Dell here in [...]
JLF president John Hood warned us. The spin surrounding Mike Easley’s testimony before the State Board of Elections has started with calls for tighter campaign finance limits and —you guessed it —- coercive taxpayer-funded campaigns:
“Unless and until we start thinking about systemic ways to changes, bigger-picture ways to [...]
Anyone besides me (and probably Triad Watch) find it interesting that one of Greensboro’s largest developers and the lawyer representing Greensboro’s largest developers endorse incumbent Yvonne Johnson for mayor?
Anyone else out there who thinks developers are evil should be aware of this and keep it in mind this [...]
Anyone who’s been living in Greensboro for a while can’t help but chuckle at the thought of City Manager Rashad Young —barely two weeks on the job —– showing displeasure with coliseum director Matt Brown’s new amphitheater without vetting it through his office or discussing it with the City [...]
N&R editor John Robinson noted yesterday that Mark Binker is in analysis mode when covering the Easley hearings. Binker did a pretty good job, taking special note of the former guv’s yarn-spinning skills:
At other times, Easley fell back on his penchant for telling stories to answer questions. For [...]
Carolina Journal’s David Bass live blogs Mike Easley’s testimony before the State Board of Elections. Subject matter includes Easley’s supposedly tight billfold, Christmas ornaments, free flights and suing newspapers.
Fascinating. I keep harkening back to my conversation telling a liberal friend that a vote for Easley would do absolutely nothing [...]
I noted with interest John Hammer’s assessment of at-large incumbent Sandra Anderson Groat’s term as Greensboro’s mayor pro tem:
Groat is very nice but she doesn’t seem to realize that she is a part of the problem. She is talking about the need to solve problems that she could have [...]
Greensboro institution Ham’s has filed for bankruptcy.
No real surprise because Ham’s has —- putting it frankly —– sucked for several years now. I used to live right across the street from the original Ham’s and the convenience made it easy to keep giving them second, third and fourth chances, [...]
The Winston-Salem Journal reports that Hanesbrands Inc. will close its Weeks hosiery plant, effectively ending its manufacturing presence in Forsyth County.
I’m not being flip here —especially when 240 workers are involved —- but it will be interesting to see if Mayor Allen Joines starts another task force in an [...]
A Civitas poll says that Gov. Bev Perdue is less popular than Mike Easley:
“Despite all the controversy surrounding the former governor, the voters of North Carolina are more upset about the current economic conditions and the loss of jobs in the state – issues they lay at the foot [...]
Don’t know if you’re in front of the tube right now, but CSPAN’s Washington Journal is discussing Harry Reid’s proposed public option-opt out health care plan.
“Larry” from Chapel Hill called in and said that any legislation should include a federal “greed czar” to oversee the insurance companies.
I guess [...]
Locker Room’s all over the State Board of Elections hearing to investigate allegations of campaign-finance violations by former Gov. Mike Easley. Much of it would be laughable if it weren’t so blatantly corrupt. Check out testimony from Robert Bleeker, the car dealer who hooked Easley up with an SUV:
“Mr. [...]
Why is it be absolutely no surprise that Oak Ridge Elementary is now deemed safe without finding the cause of the illness that afflicted students and teachers? How can anyone be sure that the more than $400,000 in mitigation work actually fixed the problem?
I’m just asking, and also noting [...]
Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines has received a letter from Dell VP Kip Thompson confirming the amounts owed to each entity to be repaid by the computer company. Yippee.
I’m not sure taxpayers should be comforted when Joines says the payback —– down to about $9 million after the city pays [...]
The N&R reports it’s “unclear” whether Guilford County Medical Examiner Gordon Arnold deleted references to alcoholism and suicide in Courtland Smith’s autopsy report, but the N&O reports “changes to the autopsy report appear to bear the initials J.B.; North Carolina’s Chief Medical Examiner is Dr. John Butts.”
I don’t [...]
Interesting referendum on the ballot down in Thomasville. If approved, it would allow the terms of office for all members of council to be four years for each of the seven seats. The new terms would be phased in, with the top four vote-getters in the 2011 election receiving [...]
Baltimore-based Ameritox has announced it’s opening a laboratory in Greensboro that will employ 220 people.
Here’s the best part: Ameritox chose Greensboro without accepting economic incentives:
“I think they had an opportunity to come to the board, but I guess they didn’t want to take on the responsibility that incentives could [...]
I just watched a replay of last night’s Greensboro City Council meeting. Something really strange as the council engaged in yet another confusing discussion about what to do with the White Street landfill. The N&R didn’t touch it, but the Rhino will probably have it in tomorrow’s edition.
During the ’speakers [...]
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Elaine Marshall fires a shot at incumbent Republican Richard Burr, saying Burr voted against protecting rape victims serving as contractors in Iraq.
The issue is whether or not victims of sexual assault working for Defense Department contractors should have their cases heard by the panel established [...]
Or does it? The civil rights group Fairness Alamance presents a draft resolution to county commissioners calling for stronger oversight of the federal 287(g) program run by Sheriff Terry Johnson.
I couldn’t help but notice that Commission Chairwoman Linda Massey seemed to take Fainress spokesman David Blair’s resolution with a [...]
I’m seeing a lot of talk among Greensboro City Council candidates —– namely Robbie Perkins, Nancy Vaughan and Sandra Anderson Groat —- about a “regional alternative” to the White Street landfill for Greensboro’s waste disposal.
I thought current —-soon to be former—- council member Mike Barber explained very well [...]
Roch Smith makes an online query about Agenda item 13 set for tomorrow night’s Greensboro City Council meeting:
Resolution authorizing the use and appropriation of $1,564,000 of voter approved Economic Development Bond Funds on an Economic Development Incentive Grant to Piedmont Triad Airport Authority. (roll call vote) (Attachment #13 to [...]
Interesting how this N&R article on Greensboro City Council candidates’ ideas on job creation seems to contradict yesterday’s lead editorial saying we should re-elect Mayor Yvonne Johnson because Greensboro has shown signs of economic progress during her tenure, considering the fact that the article states that every City [...]
Unilin Flooring hopes to take advantage of a clause in an incentives deal that allows the company to opt out of minimum job creation:
Kristine Lauten, Unilin Flooring director of manufacturing finance, sent notification last month to the Davidson County Board of Commissioners, the city of Thomasville and the Davidson [...]
Chapel Hill attorney and Winston-Salem native Kenneth Lewis enters the U.S. Senate race.
During his announcement at the family farm in Person County, Lewis criticized incumbent Sen. Richard Burr as “someone tied to insurance interests and who voted against providing money needed to stimulate the economic recovery.”
Lewis will face —-at [...]
In today’s lead editorial, the N&RE endorses incumbent Yvonne Johnson for mayor in the upcoming Greensboro municipal election. Guarino analyzes the endorsement graph by graph. I’ll add my two cents, for what it’s worth.
I really have no idea where the N&R gets the notion that Mayor Johnson has [...]
In the effort of being fair and balanced, I’ll give Yes!Weekly’s Jordan Green credit for doing his homework and concluding that District 4 Greensboro City Council candidate and at-large incumbent Mary Rakestraw is not associated with local whack job E.H. Hennis, has Rakestraw’s opponent Joel Landau recently claimed. [...]
I initially thought the N&R had scooped (with a little help from this letter to the editor) the High Point Enterprise on the uncertain fate of senior citizens after High Point University buys the government-funded Wesleyan Court apartments.
But a search of the Enterprise’s archives show they first [...]
WSJS reports that no charges will be filed against 80-year-old Charles Haithcock in the death of 19-year-old Michael Lamont Medley. Greensboro police say Medley was armed as he was trying to break into Haithcock’s Walnut Street apartment.
The N&R’s Doug Clark laments the destructive path the late Mr. Medley [...]
The Winston-Salem Journal interviews NAACP’s John Payton:
Q: Before President Obama’s election, people talked about America entering a post-racial period. Has it?
A: The answer to that is no. The Voting Rights Act may be why we don’t see disparities in voting. The election of Barack Obama and the appointment of [...]
It looks like —with his Lexus running around the corner and all —- Michael Lamont Medley has staked out the Walnut Street apartment and thought 80-year-old Charles Haithcock was in there all by himself, practically helpless.
[...]Anti-bullying song written by Smith High School students will be featured on a CD produced by N.C. Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Listen here. It’s a hoot.
[...]On the subject of air quality, remember the problems at Oak Ridge Elementary that were allegedly making students and employees sick, prompting GCS to shut the school down?
Now some Oak Ridge parents —– evidently tired of shuttling their kids to different temporary locations —– have circulated a petition [...]
UNCG professor Anna Marshall-Baker on the university system’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2050:
“Carbon neutrality is huge,” said Anna Marshall-Baker , an interior design professor who helped start a sustainability committee at UNCG in 2006. “It’s just unrealistic to think we can continue to do business the way we’ve [...]
Remember that’s how Guilford County Board of Education member Amos Quick characterized discipline problems in schools. Now there’s another fight “believed to involve as many as 10 students” at Northeastern High School, weeks after a 220-pound 14-year-old sent a school resource officer to the operating room after throwing [...]
Gosh, I don’t think MSNBC —- playing along with the Rev. Al Sharpton —- wants Rush Limbaugh to own an NFL team, even one as horrible as the Rams.
Winston-Salem State alum Stephen A. Smith — who appears later in the video —thinks otherwise.
Winston-Salem Police Sgt. Mickey Hutchens died after he was shot responding to what is being described as a domestic disturbance at the Bojangles on Peters Creek Parkway. Hutchens, along with Officer Daniel Clark, pursued Monte Denard Evans and a shootout ensued, whereupon both Hutchens and Clark were shot, [...]
