Opinion

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Editorial: Singular Skip

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 03:00:00 -0500

He’s known throughout Guilford County by a single name: Skip.

Few local elected officials reach that level of celebrity, but there’s nothing ordinary about Melvin “Skip” Alston.

Editorial: Noise about noise

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 03:00:00 -0500

Downtown Greensboro has become a victim of its own success.

More nightlife means more noise. And more residents mean more people who don’t want to hear that noise — at least at certain hours.

Editorial: Touch all bases

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 03:00:00 -0500

Greensboro is enough of a baseball city, thanks to the popular Grasshoppers, to know that scoring runs requires touching all the bases.

What other kind of city is Greensboro? No matter what it wants to make itself, success also requires touching all the bases.

Editorial: A hand at home

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 03:00:00 -0500

Americans whose homes are financially under water need help. Some will get it through a multistate agreement with five large mortgage lenders. For others, though, things could get worse before they get better.

Editorial: Pay it back now

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:00:00 -0500

John Edwards isn’t running for president. But his presidential campaign organization is still running through money, despite an unpaid debt of $2 million owed to taxpayers.

Editorial: From Hong Kong, without incentives

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 03:00:00 -0500

A formidable company with a growing presence in Greensboro, LF USA, officially celebrated its arrival this week with a brightly colored procession of dancers dressed as lions throwing lettuce.

The ceremony was rooted in a Chinese tradition that signifies money and power. LF USA’s parent company, Li & Fung Ltd., based in Hong Kong, appears to have plenty of both.

Editorial: Freedom to speak

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 03:00:00 -0500

Guilford County commissioners don’t have to back away from a video ban during the public comment period of their meetings. They just need to make it fair and consistent.

Editorial: Dust and promise

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:00:00 -0500

In a casual display of brute force, a big, yellow-and-black excavator recently tore an old, metal-and-brick building to shreds.

Like the clenched fingers of a giant's hand, the machine's jagged claw would grab wood beams, steel girders and fat chunks of concrete with an effortless flick of its boom, then gently stack them into neat piles for recycling.

Editorial: Strong medicine

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 03:00:00 -0500

Greensboro’s economy isn’t in robust health, but maybe it’s taking the right medicine.

That seems to be the diagnosis of the 2012 State of the City Report produced for the Greensboro Partnership by Keith G. Debbage, a professor of urban geography at UNCG.

Hagan on the job

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 03:00:00 -0500

While Democratic politicians across North Carolina are declaring themselves in or out of the race for governor, Sen. Kay Hagan said Friday she never gave it a thought. She’s focused on doing the job she’s got.

Editorial: Abominable snow job

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 03:00:00 -0500

The Greensboro and state branches of the NAACP filed a lawsuit Thursday in U.S. District Court against a mangled Guilford County redistricting law that tramples the basic rights of tens of thousands of local voters. Good for them.

Editorial: Trust the people

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 03:00:00 -0500

Few people in Greensboro knew last year that City Manager Rashad Young was being recruited to Alexandria, Va., until the deal was just about done.

And the public in Greensboro might not know who will replace Young until the new manager is introduced in May or June.

Editorial: No time to waste

"Jonah Goldberg" — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 03:00:00 -0500

Jesse Jackson is right.

Editorial: Proactive policing

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 03:00:00 -0500

Suspected racial profiling by police is such a big concern in Fayetteville that its City Council voted recently to put a moratorium on “consent searches” while the issue is studied.

Nothing like that is happening in Greensboro. Instead, police have launched an initiative to address concerns before fears fly away from facts.

First Person: Remembering Bill Snider

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 03:00:00 -0500

Like a lot of people, I attended the funeral on Monday of Bill Snider, 91, the former Greensboro Record and Daily News editor and editorial page editor who was a friend, a mentor, a scholar and a consummate journalist.

It was neither a surprise nor an accident that many who were there shared Bill’s moderate-to-progressive politics. And just as many probably didn’t.

Editorial: Lifetime in prison is no life of leisure

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:00:00 -0500

Danny Hembree is no "gentleman of leisure." He's a convicted murderer sentenced to death, and he will never draw another breath as a free man.

Hembree used that term in an insulting, infuriating letter he sent to the Gaston Gazette.

Short Stack: Food for thought, quick and over easy

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 03:00:00 -0500

Saving Summit

It was good to see Summit House possibly stirring back to life last week after being buried unwisely in July by legislative budget cuts.

Law enforcement officials, clergy, elected officials, business leaders and community volunteers met to consider ways to reopen the facility and restore a successful investment in safer streets and stronger families.

Editorial: Trader Joe’s ... here?

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 03:00:00 -0500

Trader Joe’s.

Plans for a new shopping center in west Greensboro boast the additional cachet of those two words.

The wildly popular specialty grocery chain, which specializes in organic and gourmet foods (Belgian butter waffle cookies, anyone?) may come to Greensboro as an anchor tenant in the new $18 million center at West Friendly Avenue and Hobbs Road.

Editorial: Only downtown

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 03:00:00 -0500

To see what downtown Greensboro boosters have in mind for an entertainment venue, it's only necessary to look about 55 miles east. The Durham Performing Arts Center, or DPAC, has been a hit.

Editorial: On the way out

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 03:00:00 -0500

Gov. Bev Perdue faced a very tough fight to win re-election this year. So she won’t try.

Editorial: Keeping principals

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 03:00:00 -0500

If it were an ad in the personals, it might sound something like this:

“School seeks committed relationship with principal.

“Must be a strong leader with vision, patience and the ability to foster teamwork and high standards.

“Above all, must be willing to stay put for a while.

Editorial: Closing the door

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 03:00:00 -0500

City Councilwoman Trudy Wade stood at the short end of an 8-1 vote last week. One of her colleagues even suggested she ought to give up her seat because of her opinion.

But she wasn't wrong.

Wade defended an exceptional policy designed to prevent closed-door meetings.

Editorial: County won't take license plate role

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 03:00:00 -0500

Guilford County won't be running a license plate office anytime soon. Commissioners emphatically rejected that idea last week.

Editorial: Ross’ high-wire act

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 03:00:00 -0500

Tom Ross’ job title officially reads, “president of the University of North Carolina.”

But these days he might feel more like a juggler riding a unicycle on a tightrope. While wearing a blindfold. In a stiff wind.

Editorial: Audit adversaries

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 03:00:00 -0500

With all the sparring between Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue and Republican legislative leaders, few people may have noticed a quiet but bitter exchange between lesser-known officials.