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Improving diagnosis

Solstas Lab Partners offers the right services in a growing field — medical and diagnostic testing. That adds up to rapid expansion.

It’s happening in the right place, too. The company announced last week it will add 500 jobs over the next five years at its High Point location, where it already employs 720 full time and 140 part time. The new positions will pay an average of $45,560 annually.

Incentives from state and local governments totaling $1.45 million helped close this deal. But Solstas could have sought other bidders. Its decision to grow in Guilford County is another hopeful sign that the economic diagnosis looks more positive.

Easy call for judge

U.S. District Judge William L. Osteen Jr. ought to halt today’s opening of filing for Guilford County Board of Commissioners seats. Otherwise, what happens today is likely to be a false start.

The judge promised a decision on a request for a temporary restraining order before noon. Friday, he’ll consider granting a temporary injunction.

If he’s glanced at the redistricting map produced by the General Assembly, he surely recognized a very sloppy piece of work. It even leaves an entire district, populated by 43,000 residents, without a representative for the next two years. It’s Democracy 101 that Americans are entitled to elected representation.

Filing for commissioners’ seats should not begin until the faulty district plan is fixed.

Beastly

The heartbreaking images from yet another big puppy mill raid conjured the usual mixed feelings of anger and sadness.

Many of the dogs found last week at the Stokes County business, which marketed the dogs online, will require extensive medical treatment merely to survive; 129 were moved to the Guilford County Animal Shelter for medical care that could run as high as $20,000.

It may be hard to understand how people can be so cruel.

But it’s easy to help stem the problem by refusing to do business with such unscrupulous outfits.

And to press state lawmakers to, finally, pass stricter regulations for puppy breeders.

Higher (priced) education

As expected, the UNC Board of Governors on Friday approved tuition increases on state university system campuses that averaged 8.8 percent overall.

That includes a $423, or 7.5 percent, increase in tuition and fees for in-state undergraduates at UNCG, and an 8.4 percent, or $385, increase for in-state undergraduates at N.C. A&T.

Credit UNC President Tom Ross for slightly reducing the overall amounts his chancellors originally proposed.

Student protesters from across the state were not convinced, but Ross has tried gamely to balance the need to adequately fund UNC schools with the need to keep them affordable.

Longer term, the legislature will need to invest wisely in its well-regarded public universities.

The future of the state will depend in large measure on a quality higher education system that qualified students will be able to attend.

Green in Greensboro

A green building at UNCG has met the gold standard. The new School of Education building has won the second-highest ranking in sustainability standards set by the U.S. Green Building Council. Those honors are based on such features as the building’s miserly consumption of water, its recycling of most construction materials and its effective use of open space.

Another local building that soon could earn similar honors: the city’s new transit facility, whose energy-efficient design should save money, reduce waste, conserve resources and reduce greenhouse emissions. For instance, that building is lit with energy-saving LED panels and heats its water with sunlight.

The smart design trendsetter, of course, is a local landmark, the Proximity Hotel, which has earned highest honors for green design, platinum.

Flying colors for an aptly named city.