Triad Today

Last month we weathered through some arctic temperatures, but for those of us taxpayers with an ounce of common sense, last month is also when hell froze over. That’s when a school district in Wisconsin was coerced into writing a former student a check for $800,000. Had the student been raped or assaulted on school […]

We’ve heard it all too many times before. A mentally disturbed loner buys an assault rifle, opens fire in a school, church, or nightclub, and kills dozens of people. The media interviews neighbors, fellow students or co-workers who suddenly recall incidents of sick, dangerous things the shooter did which they didn’t report. The FBI, local […]

In a newspaper ad, the Republican National Committee promised prosperity, and hinted at full employment if their candidate was elected. Their promise was, “a chicken in every pot, and a car in every garage.” But that ad wasn’t placed recently. It ran during the 1928 presidential campaign of Herbert Hoover. Hoover went on to win […]

Last year I angered a lot of my friends when I criticized politicians and the media for misstating and miscommunicating the nature of the so-called opioid epidemic. My concerns were two-fold. First was the tendency to lump legal analgesics with heroin when citing statistics. Second was an overreaction by Governor Cooper and others in handing […]

A few years ago I was speaking with a travel agent, and told her I wanted to fly out of PTI. “What’s PTI?”, she said. On another occasion I asked a flight attendant if we would make our connection to PTI in time. “What’s PTI?”, she responded. Clearly a lot of folks don’t know what […]

Every year about this time, thousands of girl scouts in our area hit the pavement to sell cookies. It’s their signature project. It’s what they’re known for. But selling cookies isn’t just about selling cookies. It’s about leadership, empowerment, and a tradition of service that dates back over a hundred years. In 1917, America was […]

In 1976 Toyota aired a TV ad campaign whose slogan was, “You asked for it, you got it. Toyota!” For the past year Piedmont business leaders, elected officials, and economic development specialists have “asked” Toyota/Mazda to bring their new manufacturing plant to our Megasite in Randolph County, but last week Toyota told us that we […]

Late last year Seattle-based Amazon.com announced plans to build a second headquarters in order to better serve its growing customer base in North America. Amazon says the new plant will cost $5 billion dollars to construct, and will eventually bring 50,000 jobs to the community that lands it. But not every community is in the […]

When I was a little boy, I dreamed of becoming a great athlete, a rugged cowboy, or a famous actor. None of those dreams came true for me, but all of them did for one little boy who grew up poor in war-torn Nazi Germany. His is a remarkable journey which even he is astonished […]

I don’t put much stock in top ten lists because they are generally subjective in nature. Even lists that are compiled from public polling can be skewed based on which public was polled. On the other hand, lists can serve as conversation starters, and anything that encourages constructive dialogue can’t be all bad. My list […]