July 12, 2009
Greensboro developer Roy Carroll won't be flying local elected officials to Washington on his private jet after all. The trip, planned for July 7, was scuttled by allegations that it posed a conflict of interest. Small wonder this trip was more than a pas...
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July 11, 2009
The last time voters in Guilford and Forsyth counties teamed up on a tax referendum, they said no -- emphatically. The experience offers useful lessons in case there's a next time. In 1998, voters in both counties overwhelmingly rejected a baseball stadiu...
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July 10, 2009
Given Cherry Hospital's abominable record on patient abuse, neglect and staff misbehavior, its new policy of punishing employees for speaking out defies explanation. Last month, new rules went into effect that discourage workers at the sprawling facility...
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In its annual rating of public access to elected bodies, a conservative, Raleigh-based think tank has given the governments in Greensboro and Guilford County a C and B, respectively. If that seems way too kind on both counts, that's because it is. Both bo...
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July 9, 2009
What legislators heard Monday about inefficiencies in the state's troubled mental health services program shouldn't have surprised them. And, although the report by the legislature's Program Evaluation Division cites some belated progress in providing non...
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Parents often explain orders to their children with, "Because I said so." That works until the kids are old enough to demand better reasoning. A preschooler might swallow a spoonful of terrible-tasting medicine "because I said so," but...
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July 8, 2009
Just last week, Craven Williams expressed confidence that storm-battered Greensboro College will weather this time of financial turmoil. Now it will have to do so with someone else at the helm. The Board of Trustees announced Williams' retirement Tuesday.
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The Atlantic Coast Conference isn't clear about its relationship with South Carolina, but it certainly likes its North Carolina hometown. That's good for Greensboro, which Monday was awarded another ACC championship event. The city will host the league's...
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July 7, 2009
Winning isn't everything, and it's not the only thing. It's more like nothing in the Guilford County school board's proposed new policy for coaches. Vince Lombardi might be appalled, and so might some coaches, boosters and sports fans who measure success...
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A hard lesson learned from the demise of the U.S. auto industry is that falling behind in technology can have dire consequences. High-tech companies like Greensboro's RF Micro Devices, which compete in an increasingly contentious global marketplace, wisel...
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July 5, 2009
Greensboro College President Craven Williams bristled last week that some of the coverage of his school's financial problems had been inaccurate and misleading. But the story's headline remained unmistakably clear: the venerable little school (enrollment......
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July 4, 2009
In what, infamously, was not one of its finer moments, the City Council in 2002 quashed plans to place a downtown ballpark at South Elm and Lee streets. The rest, as they say, is history. The ballpark became -- and remains -- a big hit in another location...
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July 3, 2009
The state legislature should be getting a message about charter schools by now: Lift the cap. North Carolina's statutory maximum of 100 charter schools could limit its chances of gaining federal funding through a program called Race to the Top that promot...
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The top giver to UNCG’s $115 million Students First Campaign won’t have a scholarship named in her or his honor.The donor of a $6 million gift was the famously anonymous benefactor who has given at least $70 million to colleges and universitie...
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July 2, 2009
Who should pay and how much for property insurance before the next monster storm hits the state? The General Assembly is struggling with that scenario and hasn't yet come up with an answer. But it is likely to seek out the safe high ground. And that raise...
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The Mary Easley story has not been good for N.C. State. Not only has the university lost a chancellor, provost and trustees chairman over Easley's hiring and promotion when she was first lady, it may be losing financial support from angry donors. "If...
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July 1, 2009
Among the big spenders in 2008 North Carolina political campaigns, none was more generous to state legislative candidates than Citizens for Higher Education. It gave $479,000 to contenders for House and Senate seats, watchdog group Democracy North Carolin...
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State laws can be enforced against national banks, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a case from New York on Monday. The outcome pleased N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper and should be good for consumers here. "It's critical that states have the right t...
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June 30, 2009
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford was unfaithful to his wife, but that's not why he should resign. He should resign because he was unfaithful to the people of South Carolina and to the responsibilities of his office. When Sanford stole away to spend five d...
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There may still be hidden worms in North Carolina's deal with Apple. Despite a deep budget hole that requires spending cuts and tax increases to fill, state legislators rushed to approve $46 million in tax breaks for the California-based computer company.
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June 28, 2009
Small wonder the City Council seems more eager these days to discuss a new swim center than an old landfill. Talking trash is neither as much fun nor as easy. But the question of where garbage goes and for how much is important, and will affect the lifest...
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June 27, 2009
In the early days of the original Jackson 5, squealing teenaged girls would gather at the old Greensboro Record Center on South Elm Street to buy the group’s latest 45 (remember those?) and gleefully agonize over who should be their favorite m...
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June 26, 2009
Mecklenburg County Manager Harry Jones noted one of his strengths at a forum on local government leadership in Greensboro Wednesday: “I’m not afraid to be fired.”Guilford County Board of Commissioners Chairman Skip Alston isn’t afr...
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Keeping the public health dangers of the H1N1 virus, known as swine flu, in perspective since it crossed the border from Mexico in the spring has been a challenge.When initial fears of a worldwide pandemic quietly subsided, complacency set in. But the dea...
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June 25, 2009
If the N.C. Department of Transportation doesn't already know how much Greensboro wants to see more progress on its Urban Loop, it will when it hears from City Councilman Robbie Perkins today. Perkins is carrying a $30 million offer from the city to his m...
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