Blog - Randolph Record

19 Jul

Hospital funding becomes complex

Bob SuttonNewshospital funding, patient care, randolph hospital

ASHEBORO — The good news is that Randolph Hospital is operating and patient care is ongoing. But sorting out the financial picture under new ownership remains complex, a task that has been addressed in an ongoing manner by Randolph County commissioners. The State of North Carolina is a lender of a $12 million loan, though it’s up to commissioners to administer that grant. At last week’s monthly board meeting, chairman of the board of commissioners Darrell Frye said there’s still fact-finding taking place with the new owners. “So far, proper documentation requested has not been forthcoming. It’s too early to…

19 Jul

Randolph County residents take advantage of property tax discount

Bob SuttonNewsdiscount, property tax, randolph county

ASHEBORO — More than two-thirds of Randolph County property owners benefited from a discount for paying their tax bills early during the past fiscal year. That report from county tax collector Debra Hill came during the first July meeting of county commissioners. “Our citizens do take advantage of this 2 percent discount,” she said. Hill’s numbers show that 68.96 percent of taxpayers took advantage of the discounts. That resulted in a total savings of $1,460,236 for residents on those tax bills. For the fiscal year that just concluded, there were $738,748.83 in delinquent taxes. Hill said Randolph County’s 99.25-percent collection…

19 Jul

Digital ambassador will seek to close county’s digital divide

Randolph RecordNewsdigital ambassador, internet, N.C. Cooperative Extensions, randolph county digital ambassador

ASHEBORO — In the coming weeks, you may be hearing from or seeing Randolph County’s Digital Ambassador. The N.C. Cooperative Extension office in Randolph County recently received a grant from the BAND-NC program which will allow the Randolph County Digital Alliance to hire a Digital Ambassador. The Randolph County Digital Alliance is a group who is working to close the digital divide in Randolph County. BAND-NC is a grant program designed to increase the number of people with internet in their homes, with the goal of making the state “first in digital inclusion.” In February of this year, Randolph County…

13 Jul

AHS graduates head to college, work

Randolph RecordNewsEducation, schools

ASHEBORO — Asheboro High School celebrated 300 graduates in its class of 2021. Nearly one-third (91) of the graduates plan to join the workforce immediately. The class received over $10 million in scholarships and grants with 87 students headed to a four-year college or university and 113 off to community college. Seventeen students graduated with an associated degree in addition to a high school diploma.

12 Jul

Randolph Health Department ends regular COVID updates

Randolph RecordBusiness, NewsCOVID, Randolph Health Department

ASHEBORO — The county health department is ending its weekly COVID reports. According to the department, while COVID-19 is still present in the community, the case rate, percent positivity, etc. have leveled off the last few weeks. The weekly report evolved over time and included confirmed cases, deaths, and vaccinations.

12 Jul

Grizzly bear dies at NC Zoo

Randolph RecordEntertainment, Newsgrizzly bear, NC Zoo

ASHEBORO — The only grizzly bear at the N.C. Zoo died Friday. Tommo, a bear relocated from Yellowstone National Park, lived at the Zoo for 26 years. The zoo's staff made the decision to euthanize the 31-year old bear after his quality of life quickly declined. Tommo arrived at the Zoo in 1995 after being identified as a "nuisance bear" — a bear who has lost his fear of humans because they see people as suppliers of food. The grizzly bear habitat at the zoo will remain empty while the staff works with other agencies to offer a home for any…

11 Jul

Zoo announces red wolf pup names

Randolph RecordEntertainment, NewsAsheboro, NC Zoo

ASHEBORO — The N.C. Zoo announced the names of the six red wolf pups (four females, two males) born on the guest view habitat. The public was invited to vote in an online poll from a list of names provided by the Zoo’s red wolf keepers. The names are based on rivers in the Southeastern U.S. where red wolves used to range. The naming poll had over 6,500 responses. The chosen names are Eno, Harper, Pearl, Warrior, Fisher, Catawba.

11 Jul

THE WORD: Short and to the point

Randolph RecordEntertainmentBible, The Word

The King James Version of the Bible has over 780,000 words. With over 32,000 words, the Book of Jeremiah is the longest, followed by Genesis and Psalms, which also top 30,000 words each. Psalms has the most chapters. Overlooked sometimes are the shortest books of the Bible. There are five books with fewer than 500 words: Third John, Second John, Philemon, Obadiah, and Jude. Over the next five weeks, we will take a look at these succinct books, starting with Third John, which contains less than 300 words and has only 14 verses. The Third Epistle of John is the…

07 Jul

HILL: ‘Inflation is our friend!’

Frank HillOpinionsFrank Hill, opinion

Dan Aykroyd of “Saturday Night Live” had a memorable spoof of President Jimmy Carter’s anti-inflation speech in 1978, where he was ‘quoted’ as saying: “Inflation is our friend. In the year 2000, if current trends continue, the average blue-collar annual wage in this country will be $568,000. Think what this inflated world of the future will mean — most Americans will be millionaires. Everyone will feel like a bigshot. “Wouldn’t you like to own a $4,000 suit, and smoke a $75 cigar, drive a $600,000 car? I know I would!” That may have sounded funny in 1978 when inflation seemed…

07 Jul

Cooper sought eviction order approval after bypassing Council of State last year

A.P. DillonPolitics, StateReal Estate, Roy Cooper

RALEIGH — Faced with an expiring executive order related to restricting evictions, Gov. Roy Cooper sought Council of State concurrence last week. The request from Cooper for concurrence came on the one-year anniversary of the General Assembly passing legislation urging the governor to confer with the Council of State on emergency actions. On June 29, 2020, the legislature passed Senate Bill 105, titled “Clarify Emergency Powers.” Cooper promptly vetoed the measure three days later. As of June 30, Cooper has issued a total of 221 executive orders since taking office. Seventy-six, or almost 35%, of those orders are COVID-19 related.…