Freshly sworn in Tuesday night, the new City Council promptly made its first order of business a closer look on the true costs of the project.
Thus, after the outgoing council had voted 7-2 hours earlier to fill a funding shortfall for the center’s construction with hotel tax revenues, the incoming [...]
My wife and I saw the movie "Precious" Saturday night.
It is as powerful as advertised, a potent blend of horror and uplift.
Parts of the movie are hard to watch. Even though the reviews and stories forewarned us, the abuse of the title character by her mother and father, as early [...]
This week's column.
Even as Guilford County was debating, once again, the wisdom of police officers carrying stun guns on school grounds, four teens were being arrested in Wake County on Nov. 12 for a bringing a .22 caliber revolver and a butterfly knife onto the campus of Broughton High School.
The [...]
Oprah closes shop on her daytime show in 2011.
All the sobbing and whimpering you hear is from all of the local TV affiliates that carry the iconic show.
[...]Singer Clay Aiken of "American Idol" fame caused a bit of a stir recently when he voiced his displeasure with the new regime taking control of the Wake County Board of Education.
[...]How could this happen?
How could the projected cost of the city's planned swim center miss the mark so badly?
The project is $6 million short of the cheapest bid to build the facility, approved as part of a parks and recreation bond package in 2008.
This, even in a climate in which' [...]
I’m not convinced Virginia Foxx is as nutty as she sometimes sounds.
Describing the Democrats’ health care reform ideas as a bigger threat than terrorism the other day may have been by design.
[...]Vile-mouthed rapper Gucci Mane isn't coming to Greensboro tomorrow after all.
It's likely O.J. da Juice Man and seven other acts will fill the void with their own brand of diss-functional entertainment.
' [...]The news this week that auto-addicted Greensboro is among cities honored for its friendliness to bicyclists was greeted with disbelief, if not outright ridicule, by some folks.
"Does anyone else think this is hysterical?" one commenter to our news story said.
[...]Here’s the irony of the Balloon Boy fiasco:
The whole episode, which turned out to be a hoax, still delivered its desired result.
The gaping goobers who covered the story got big ratings.
[...]Here’s the irony of the Balloon Boy fiasco:
The whole episode, which apparently has turned out to be a hoax, still delivered its desired result: big ratings for the gaping goobers who covered it.
[...]This week's newspaper column.
If President Barack Obama comes to Greensboro next February for the opening of the downtown International Civil Rights Center and Museum, it would be a crowning achievement for the project, which has at times struggled mightily to keep hope alive over the years.
But as Eddie Bridges sees [...]
The man who has given a new meaning to the words “Rushing offense” may be out as an NFL owner.
After considerable blowback from some team owners, players and other critics, group bidding to buy the St. Louis Rams says it is prepared to do so without Limbaugh as one of [...]
It’s time again for endorsements.
We’ve had a steady stream of meetings with City Council candidates (and Natural Science Center boosters) over the past few days and almost always find them revealing.
Despite the welcome proliferation of candidate Web sites and blogs, there is no substitute for good, old-fashioned, face-to-face interviews.
A whopping 6 percent of registered voters turned out for Tuesday's city primary.
That means 94 percent of them stayed home.
What it seems to say beyond that is voters aren't energized about the issues or the candidates.
There was no lack of choices, with 28 people running in the primary, 32 in' [...]
The Natural Science Center bonds have taken a back seat thus far to the mayoral and City Council races.
But as the proponents of the center’s expansion gear up their campaign, expect the dialogue to warm up as well.
What we’re talking here is $20 million for an 26,000-square-foot aquarium, a second [...]
Just a friendly reminder: The books page returns tomorrow with some familar features and some new ones.
Then it will appear every other week, in addition to our round- the-clock books blog, Page Turners, which was created by bibliophiles in the newsroom.
We'd appreciate you letting us know what you think.
' [...]Some people wonder why the News & Record did not enable comments on Charles Davenport Jr.’s Sunday column.
Blogger Roch Smith Jr. suggests we are protecting Davenport from the wrath of those who disagree.
Not so.
[...]From birthers to the “Obama’s a secret Muslim terrorist conspiracists” to now this: The Subversive Propagandist Speech that Will Poison Our Children’s Minds and Lead Them Irredeemably Down the Path of Socialism.
The mounting furor over a planned speech today by the president of the United States seems hardly a cause [...]
Memo to Greensboro City Council:
Congratulations.
You have found a new city manager.
You have approved his hiring by a commanding 8-1 majority.
And if first impressions are any indication, Rashad Young is a very good choice to succeed Mitchell Johnson.
He is smart and personable and excellent on his feet.
And he is uncommonly experienced [...]
The hiring of a new city manager, predictably, has generated a lot of traffic among online commenters.
Just as predictably, a lot of it is mean-spirited and racially tinged.
Some of the same people who argue that they neither see race (they are colorblind nor consider something that should matter in [...]
I have seen “Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan” at least a hundred times.
I own three versions of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture”: a VHS tape, a DVD and special “Director’s Cut” DVD, even though it is arguably one of the worst Trek films ever made.
The State of Our Community luncheon debuted its panel discussion format today.
My humble verdict: It’s the right way to go, an improvement over the succession of prepared speeches in the past.
Except there were still prepared speeches.
The panelists were apprised of the questions ahead of [...]
The annual State of the Community luncheon tomorrow will unveil a new format.
Instead of the traditional speeches from business and elected leaders, this year we'll be treated a panel discussion including the school board chairman, the county commissioners chairman and the mayor.
It's a welcome new wrinkle that ought to add' [...]
The UNC system is moving ahead with its own version of health care reform.
And, apparently, its own public option.
Effective in 2010.
[...]Several years ago I had the opportunity to spend three hours with her, including lunch in the newly expanded and renovated Elliott Center.
I didn't know what to expect. She had impressed me as choosing her words so carefully that I wondered if I'd learn anything new about her that day. [...]
I am pleased to have the opportunity to team-teach a media seminar at N.C. A&T this semester with WFMY's Sandra Hughes.
She is as graceful and engaging in the classroom as she is on the air.
Sandra is down-to-earth, self-deprecating and very easy to work with.
(She also picked up the students' names twice' [...]
According to an e-mail I received today, I have won "US$2,950.000.00."
Good. I can retire now and lie all day on the beach.
[...]... until after the Wyndham.
Lord know we need every drop, given the area's recent return to drought status.
But the Wyndham's organizers have worked so hard, and were poised for success.
Now not only the heavy rain, but lightning has delayed tee times today.
Bummer.
There's always hope that the sun could be lurking.
But' [...]
Brett Favre has changed his mind. Again.
Read his lips: As of now, he is a Minnesota Viking, after deciding not to be a Viking.
Favre has retired and unretired so many times I've lost count.
I hope his heart is in this, or he and the Vikings are in for a painful' [...]
Judging from Amanda Lehmert's story, I don't see much chance of Greensboro citizens knowing the names of city manager finalists.
I hope I'm wrong. But I would be shocked (pleasantly so) if they do.
That's too bad. The public's feedback, and its confidence in whomever is hired, would be helpful, especially [...]
Beginning tomorrow, we'll solicit readers' thoughts on the "Best Book Ever" for the News & Record’s books page.
Yup, we're bringing it back once every two weeks as part of the Sunday Ideas section, effective Sept. 20.
The page will include reviews, author interviews, features and a variety of specialty columns.
Among other' [...]
Having seen Michael Vick's interview Sunday night on "60 Minutes," I can't say he convinced me of very much.
He certainly said the right things -- about remorse and sadness and not taking his natural talent for granted --but the answers seemed rote and unemotional.
I have to wonder whether these' [...]
Effective today, each letter posted online will be open to reader comments for 24 hours.
This will keep comments fresh and timely and will enable us to monitor the content of each comment thread more closely and effectively.
Another new practice: We will keep tabs on repeat offenders who violate our rules [...]
Michael Vick will become a Philadelphia Eagle.
Like anyone who commits a crime and does the time, he deserves a second shot.
What he condoned, took part in and lied about was heinous.
As a dog owner it's hard for me to imagine the kind of cruelty he did to animals in the [...]
Survey says a sizeable number of North Carolinians believe the president was not born in the United States.
Survey also says more Republicans believe the birther bluster than Democrats; only 24 percent believe President Obama is a U.S. citizen.
Of course, the survey also finds that some respondents don't consider Hawaii' [...]
The postponement of a night-out event last week at Hickory Trails Apartments underscores the gravity of the situation there.
That an event repudiating violence, and with a show in force and concern from police and city leaders was pushed back at least partly out of fear of more violence -- makes [...]
South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, a conservative Republican who is no fan of the president's policies, especially health care, had it right:
“I may have disagreements with [the president] on issues," he told the Huffington Post.. "But he is my president, he deserves our respect, and we need to forget that [...]
As I write these words it is still several hours before President Obama, Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Cambridge, Mass., police Sgt. James Crowley sit down for beers on the grounds of the White House.
Rarely has a gathering of three guys for brewskies at a backyard picnic table [...]
Trudy Wade was still upset Friday that the City Council voted Tuesday to close the search process for a new city manager without letting her know it was going to vote on that issue -- and without allowing her the time to get to the meeting to participate in that [...]
The City Council is not especially known for agreeing on issues or making quick decisions.
But it appears the council couldn’t vote fast enough Tuesday to close the search process for a new city manager.
The 6-0 vote did not include all council members.
One who wasn’t there for the vote, Trudy Wade, [...]
As a long-time Trekkie, no way would I pass up the chance to blog about a Star Fleet Academy — in Greensboro.
You heard it right.
When he wasn’t busy fighting for video poker in North Carolina, state Rep. Earl Jones was pushing a bill for such an enterprise (sorry about that).
Here's' [...]
Update: Club Rain has had its permanent liquor license denied by the N.C. ABC Commission, reports Ryan Seals.
The fatal shooting near Club Rain isn’t the only morning-after headache facing downtown boosters.
The 31-year-old man from Kinston was found dead early last Monday morning near the hip-hop night spot. The [...]
I'm looking forward to an interview with developer Roy Carroll later this week.
We'll discuss his concerns about a design guide for downtown, his support for new school headquarters on South Elm and Lee and the progress on his new center-city tower, Center Pointe.
I'll also ask him a question that's gnawed' [...]
Mary Easley definitely did not put in long hours while working at N.C. State, concludes a News & Observer analysis of State Highway Patrol security detail logs.
The former first lady "was on campus about 143 workdays last year," the N&O reports.
"About 60 percent of the time -- 85 days -- [...]
Halloween will be extra scary for some area college football fans this season.
N.C. A&T, N.C. Central and Winston-Salem State all have scheduled their homecoming games on the same date, Oct. 31, at nearly the same time.
A&T plays Bethune-Cookman at 1:30 p.m.
NCCU plays Central State of Ohio at 1:30 p.m.
WSSU plays [...]
My office window overlooks East Market Street.
So I get to see my share of car crashes.
Sometimes I merely hear them ... screeching tires, then the sickening thud of sheet metal on sheet metal.
Today, as I left the office for my afternoon walk, I heard an even worse sound in the [...]
Some readers took issue with Signe Waller Foxworth's piece last Sunday about a local currency initiative.
One called the notion "socialism."
But however you feel about local currency, it is perfectly legal, and it is being tried in a number of cities.
Two callers said we should [...]
The HBO documentary “Prom Night in Mississippi,” is at once a heartwarming and disquieting look at the state of race relations in “post-racial America.”
The film, which was screened at the Sundance Film Festival and premiered on HBO Monday night, involves an attempt by actor Morgan Freeman (who played God, no [...]
They call it clotheslining in football, when someone uses a rigid, outstretched arm to tackle an opponent by striking him in the neck or chest.
It is dirty and illegal.
And it hurts like hell.
Just ask Pricey Harrison, who received such a blow, figuratively speaking, when attempting to push an innocent piece [...]
It was somehow fitting that Walter Cronkite would breathe his last as America revisited the 1969 moon landing.
For all of Cronkite's gifts and contributions, I remember him most for his coverage of the space program, culminating in those fuzzy, surreal images of man's first steps on the lunar surface.
Cronkite managed [...]
Despite innumerable visits to Chicago, we never got to the top of the 1,450-foot Sears Tower.
Four years ago, we got as far as the lobby, but the wait for the elevator trips was too long.
So we settled for the John Hancock tower instead.
Oh, we definitely plan to go back [...]
An update on candidate Ryan Shell. He has switched from District 2 to at-large.
He tells me that allows him to get citywide support, but he insists he hasn't changed his views on districts and race.
' [...]The filing for City Council candidates closes Friday.
But the field already is big enough and intriguing enough to guarantee several primaries and at least as many spirited races.
Among the hopeful trends is that most candidates actually appear serious about running.
Few appear to have filed because the courthouse happened to be [...]
Kathleen Parker in today's News & Record on Sotomayor:
"... When Sotomayor and I were girls, there were few girl-oriented books and fewer female professional role models. On my weekly visit to the public library, I checked out as many women's biographies as I could find, searching for someone with whom [...]
As Scoop reports, Mitchell Johnson has worked his last day as a city employee.
City work is all Johnson has known. He has worked for the city of Greensboro for 27-plus years of his professional career.
If you ask me, he was not a perfect city manager, but he was villified and [...]
We took a video tour of some of the newer facilities at fast-growing High Point University last week.
The new communications school was especially impressive, with its chandoliers, gaming technology and state-of-the-art video equipment and studios.
Then there are the fountains throughout the campus and the piped-in outdoor music.
Heck, when I went [...]
"Bruno" won the weekend box office race with an impressive take of more than $30 milllion.
It won't last.
The movie is lewd, crude, uneven, and worst of all, unfunny.
Further, it is pointless.
It has its moments. But the sharp comic social commentary of "Borat" is nowhere to be found in Sasha Baron' [...]
This week's column.
What is it they say about timing?
It was purely coincidental that Guilford College President Kent Chabotar was scheduled to visit the News & Record last week for a conversation with reporters and editorial writers.
That meeting had been set up weeks in advance.
No one could know that it would [...]
Greensboro College President Craven Williams could lead by the sheer force of his personality.
That was his gift and maybe, in the end, it was his undoing.
He was funny and charismatic and relentlessly upbeat. Why not dream big dreams at the little Methodist liberal arts school on the doorstep of downtown?
Williams [...]
This week's column.
Make no bones about it, I’m in the tank for downtown Greensboro.
Nowhere else is as fluid and funky and intrinsically unpredictable.
You don’t plan downtown. It happens.
What you see there is what you get, and from night to night you never quite know what that’ll be:
Former N.C. Supreme Court [...]
Far be it from me to meddle in someone else’s church affairs, but when Shiloh Baptist in Greensboro booted yet another pastor last week, you had to wonder why.
The church has seen four pastors in 10 years.
The latest Shiloh pastor to be shown the door by a sharply split congregation [...]
Mike Krzyzewski has ruled out a jump to the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers.
That's probably for the best.
Coach K managed pros on the Olympic team with aplomb, getting them to play hard and subjugate their egos for the good of the team.
I'm not sure he'd be up to doing that for [...]
Here’s another reason to appreciate the Greensboro Coliseum:
As we paid tribute to the late pop icon Michael Jackson last week, we couldn’t help noticing that he appeared with his brothers at the coliseum no less than six times, beginning on Dec. 28, 1970.
They also performed in Greensboro on Aug. 6, [...]
This week's column.
Following the recent rains in Winston-Salem, there wasn’t much joy in Mudville. Just mud.
The latest bad news: The owner of the city’s minor league team was strapped for cash and needed help from the city to complete a stalled new downtown baseball stadium.
That’s in addition to $12 million [...]
Don't expect Bill Burckley's disruptive behavior, which resulted in his arrest at Tuesday night's City Council meeting, to shorten his list of political clients.
People already know he can be caustic, unpredictable and insufferable.
But he is so good at the numbers that candidates of all political stripes use him.
And he is' [...]
In its continuing series on waste in state government (a very good series, by the way) the News & Observer of Raleigh this week cites Greensboro's ACC Hall of Champions among a list of legislators’ expensive "pet projects."
It even mentions the $23 million project in the same breath as the [...]
I look forward with mixed feelings to Nancy McLaughlin's closer examination in Sunday's News & Record of the continuing upheaval at Greensboro's Shiloh Baptist Church.
I have worshipped at Shiloh many times and have found the congregation warm and welcoming. Several very good friends are members there.
The church is proud and [...]
The e-mail below followed last week's column on the fate of A&T's Cosby Kids program.
From this professor's standpoint, maybe all isn't lost after all.
Dear Mr. Johnson,
I am writing to give you an update on the Cosby Kids project. Like many others in the NCAT community, I was very' [...]
I was sorry to hear that former school board member Pam Allen had died after a battle with cancer.
Whether you agreed or disagreed with her on issues and policies, there was no doubting her dedication and sincerity in her 10-year tenure as a board member.
Allen served on the board as [...]
I have been away for a little while.
So, it was especially sad to see that Billy Nutt had been replaced as CEO of Greensboro’s struggling United Guaranty Corp.
United Guaranty is a part of embattled insurance giant AIG, and we all know about its travails.
United lost $2.5 billion in 2008.
Nutt worked [...]
I have been away for a little while.
So, it was especially sad to see that Billy Nutt had been replaced as CEO of Greensboro’s struggling United Guaranty Corp.
United Guaranty is a part of embattled insurance giant AIG, and we all know about its travails.
United lost $2.5 billion in 2008.
Nutt worked [...]
I have been away for a little while.
So, it was especially sad to see that Billy Nutt had been replaced as CEO of Greensboro’s struggling United Guaranty Corp.
United Guaranty is a part of embattled insurance giant AIG, and we all know about its travails.
United lost $2.5 billion in 2008.
Nutt worked [...]
