May 12, 2010
Guilford County Commissioners Chairman Skip Alston gave a piece of his mind after last week's budget hearing. This is edited for length:
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May 5, 2010
So, now that Tuesday's primaries are in the books, what have we got? Just more Democrats and Republicans to battle it out in the general election. Same old same old. What North Carolina needs is a Charlie Crist. Crist is the Republican governor of Florida...
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April 28, 2010
The most interesting, least publicized race on next week's primary ballot matches a Court of Appeals incumbent against three challengers. Rick Elmore practiced law in Greensboro for 20 years before he was elected to the Court of Appeals as a Republican in...
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April 21, 2010
As Bill Craft was guiding me through the Guilford County Veterans' Memorial at Greensboro's Country Park, I managed to lose sight of our two companions, Bill Black and Al Lochra. No, there they were: up ahead, picking up sticks and leaves cluttering the P...
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April 14, 2010
A plucky band of public education advocates stood on the steps of the Old Guilford County Courthouse last Friday and called for more school funding. Good for them. And good luck.
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April 7, 2010
There aren't many sights more ridiculous than a young man whose pants are drooping down around his knees. The picture says "idiot." Some people say "there oughtta be a law."
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March 31, 2010
The infamous 287(g) program more often grabs illegal immigrants who commit traffic offenses than felonies, a new study by UNC-Chapel Hill researchers finds. That wasn't the original purpose, say Mai Thi Nguyen and Hannah Gill, who produced their report fo...
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March 24, 2010
Some marriages fall apart and some are driven apart. The difference may be the influence of a third person, who can pay a heavy price for the damage done. A Guilford County jury fixed that price at $9 million in a case the News & Record's Jennifer Fer...
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March 17, 2010
Obama administration officials say they've put the civil rights division of the Department of Justice "back in business." Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez used the phrase when he was in Greensboro for the opening of the International C...
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March 10, 2010
Come November, some High Point voters may see two candidates named Bruce Davis on their ballots. One would be the Bruce Davis, Democrat, running for re-election to the Guilford County Board of Commissioners in District 1. The other would be Bruce Davis, u...
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March 3, 2010
Can a white man commit a crime with "ethnic animosity" against another white man under state law? Yes, the N.C. Court of Appeals said in a groundbreaking ruling last month. In fact, it happened in Greensboro on July 1, 2008, when David John Brow...
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February 24, 2010
A lousy $10 million. That's what North Carolina learned last week it's getting in federal stimulus funds for the "critical" Yadkin River Bridge replacement on I-85.
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February 17, 2010
Watching video of the 15-year-old girl beaten down by a female attacker in Seattle while four uniformed security guards did nothing to help prompted a terrible thought: What if that happened at a Guilford County school?
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February 10, 2010
Back in 2007 ... John Edwards gets a call on his cell phone. The ring tone plays "I Feel Pretty." "Hello." "Hello, John. You're heading for disaster. I can help." "Who is this?" "Call me ... Nick Danger.
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February 3, 2010
The most interesting thing Gov. Bev Perdue said here Monday morning had nothing to do with the 50th anniversary of the Woolworth sit-ins or the opening of the International Civil Rights Center & Museum. We've all got to make sure government is "s...
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January 27, 2010
Austin Carty was once mistaken for a math genius, just one of the wrong turns on his search for truth. Carty's first professionally published book, "High Points and Lows: Life, Faith, and Figuring It All Out," was issued by Penguin Group this we...
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January 13, 2010
"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing" -- from "The Tragedy of Macbeth" by William...
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January 6, 2010
Gov. Bev Perdue's battle with the courts over early release of criminals sentenced to life in prison led me to question whether she respects the role of judges. They have to decide cases by what the law says, not what's politically popular. But she's been...
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December 30, 2009
The past year has been eventful in North Carolina. While some folks might wish it was all a bad dream, it brought its shining moments for others. Here, not ranked in order, are my top Tar Heel happenings for 2009: National championship for UNC-Chapel Hill...
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December 23, 2009
"It's the hap-happiest season of all." In some places more than others, perhaps. A survey of 1.3 million Americans led to an article in last week's journal Science in which researchers ranked 50 states and the District of Columbia by happiness...
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December 9, 2009
Who's the most popular, trusted, even beloved person in High Point?
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December 2, 2009
Taylor Bell wants to become a professional lobbyist after she graduates from East Carolina University with a political science degree in May. Why not? She's doing pretty well as an amateur. Two weeks ago, she walked into Sen. Kay Hagan's Washington...
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October 28, 2009
A few weeks from now: The governor calls a meeting of her top advisers -- in the Wake County jail. "I brought you a cake," one of them says, holding a bakery box. "Does it have a file under the icing?" "Governor, breaking out of...
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October 21, 2009
There's no place like the furniture market in High Point. And, if Dorothy from Kansas could visit, I'm sure she'd agree. Wait. She is visiting, sort of, in the "Trip to Ahhs" visual presentation by artist Mike Farrell on the top floor of...
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October 7, 2009
Why aren't there as many book clubs for men as for women? 1. Men don't read as much. 2. They do, but they don't care to talk about books. 3. Their wives don't believe they're really going to a book club meeting.
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