John Hammer

The City of Greensboro, the Audubon Society and some of the area’s partnering businesses are coming together for an interesting cause: To make it easier for birds to fly south for the winter. The joint effort, called the “Lights Out” program, is in effect twice each year. It takes place every spring – from March 15 to May 31 – and again each fall, when it runs from September 10 to November 30...

he Guilford County Parks Department plans on holding a grand opening ceremony and ribbon cutting for the Conner Nature Trail at Rich Fork Preserve in High Point. That’s a roughly half-mile expansion of the existing walking and biking trails on the property...

One of Greensboro’s and Guilford County’s toughest problems – homelessness – just got reshaped in a big way, and the Guilford County Board of Commissioners is rushing to find solutions in the wake of a decision by the downtown Greensboro Interactive Resource Center (IRC) that it could no longer operate in a 24/7 manner.

Ever since 2021, City of Greensboro leaders have been debating about turning the former Regency Inn in Greensboro into a place that provides affordable housing units, and, now, after four years and many twists and turns for the project, the city is demolishing the facility.

The day after Halloween, people began hearing Christmas songs all over the place and they will last until New Year’s Eve as it does each year.

A while back, the Rhino Times suggested in print that it was inadvisable for Donald Trump to continue using highly abusive language to refer to Kamala Harris, Chris Christie and many others – and, instead, advised that, during the campaign, Trump would have a better chance of winning by sticking to talking about the economy and other policy issues, rather than going on wild tangents and using abrasive language against everyone who disagrees with him.

Some people who grew up in North Carolina are old enough to remember when the state, like other states, had Election Day, rather than “Election Season.” However, in this century, it’s become clear that elections can get drawn out for very long periods of time and now that season in North Carolina runs from the start of Early Voting until the county election boards across the state certify their vote counts, and, finally, the State Board of Elections puts the stamp of approval on the outcome.

Wherever you go in Greensboro these days, there is a lot going on. Houses going up all around, way too many cars on the streets – streets which are sometimes closed due to a large number of road and water pipe projects constantly taking place. There’s also general construction all around and an influx of people coming to Greensboro and Guilford County for all the new job offerings. That kind of growth – in order not to turn disastrous – requires planning and efficient coordination by city leaders, community leaders, and churches and non-profits along with individual residents living in certain key communities. ...

Many readers are too young to remember it, but once upon a time, like in the 80s and the 90s, office Christmas parties were actually fun. You could drink to your heart’s content, make some off-color remarks during the Secret Santa game, and even use the event to chat up that saleswoman you’d had your eye on. Now, however, office Christmas parties are barely really parties: Cost cutting has reduced the treats, everyone is expected to be on their best behavior, and – no matter how much you don’t want to be there – you still have to show up or it’s considered a reason for a demerit....

January 2025 is the start of the new year, but it’s also ‘National Radon Action Month’ and, in observance of that month – and in order to raise awareness of the threat of radon in homes and buildings – the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is providing thousands of free radon test kits for state residents.