English Bulldog Puppies for Sale in Greensboro, NC

Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance is coming back to North Carolina this week, this time to host a town hall in Greensboro.

Doors for the town hall at the Koury Convention Center will open at 4 p.m. on Thursday, with Vance slated to speak at 6 p.m. Topics will likely include the economy, illegal immigration and Hurricane Helene.

The remnants of Hurricane Helene, which began to be felt in North Carolina on the last Thursday of September, devastated the western part of the state, bringing historic flooding, destruction and death.

The Trump campaign has heavily politicized the ongoing recovery efforts. Most recently, former President Donald Trump, during a town hall meeting in Fayetteville on Friday night, said that the federal government’s response to the devastating storm had been “terrible.” The news release announcing Vance’s town hall said Vice President Kamala Harris “completely left North Carolinians behind in the wake of devastation post-Hurricane Helene.”

Many on social media platforms like X have also taken to criticizing the response despite federal responders working in the area alongside their local and state counterparts. Conspiracy theories have also spread on social media.

President Joe Biden surveyed the damage in North Carolina by air on Wednesday and pledged more resources. Harris visited Charlotte on Saturday, announcing Mecklenburg County would also be eligible for federal disaster aid.

The Trump campaign’s news release hones in on the fiscal impact of immigrants living in the United States without legal authorization, citing research by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a nonprofit, anti-immigration organization.

“While Kamala Harris continues to ignore these critical issues,” says the release, Trump “has a proven track record of putting North Carolinians first.”

“President Trump understands the importance of lowering taxes, securing the border and stopping the unchecked flow of illegal immigration that drains resources from American citizens. President Trump has always fought for the people, and he will continue to fight to restore economic stability, security, and prosperity in North Carolina,” says the release.

Vance’s visit to Greensboro is his fifth trip to North Carolina since becoming Trump’s running mate.

In mid-September, he held a rally in Raleigh. Before that, he was with Trump in Asheboro. He has also visited Greenville twice.

Trump, Harris and Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz have also visited the battleground state often this year.

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Professional hockey appears poised to make a return to Greensboro after a 20-year hiatus.

In announcing naming rights on Oct. 1 for what has been rebranded as First Horizon Coliseum, officials with Oak View Group, the new manager of the coliseum, said work was underway to bring another professional sports franchise to Greensboro. They signaled that an announcement would be coming this week, but Andrew Brown, director of marketing for First Horizon Coliseum, Greensboro Complex and Oak View Group, told TBJ on Sunday that the announcement is being postponed. The reason is logistical, he said, and the new timing is to be determined.

Triad Business Journal has confirmed through unnamed sources that the deal to be revealed is an East Coast Hockey League hockey team that would begin play in the 2025-26 season.

Brown told TBJ he was unable confirm any information about the deal, and Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan also declined to comment.

While details about the ownership group are not yet public, the return of professional hockey to Greensboro is something that coliseum officials have been battling for ever since the board of governors of the East Coast Hockey League in 2004 terminated the membership of the Greensboro Generals. The league at that time said the Generals had been unable to put together a suitable ownership group to operate the franchise for 2004-2005. Previously, in 2003, Greensboro businessmen Bill Black and the late Don Brady had taken over the franchise from attorney owner Art Donaldson and sought to raise $1.4 million from local investors to support the venture.

Greensboro has a lengthy and winding history with professional hockey, dating back to the Greensboro Generals minor league team that played from 1950s through the late 1970s in the Eastern Hockey League and Southern Hockey League.

Hockey resurfaced in the Greensboro Monarchs as an expansion franchise in the ECHL that played from 1989 to 1995. The ownership group opted to move up to the American Hockey League, essentially the equivalent of the AAA in baseball’s minor leagues, and became the Carolina Monarchs. That team lasted a couple of seasons before being displaced as the NHL’s Hartford Whalers became the Carolina Hurricanes, moving temporarily to Greensboro for two seasons as their arena was being built in Raleigh.

An ECHL team that adopted the earlier Greensboro Generals name played at the coliseum from 1999 to 2004.

Peter Sentner, a former employee for Triad Business Journal, played a season in the early 1990s for the Greensboro Monarchs, part of his four years as a professional hockey player after being drafted by the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings in 1989. While he didn't have direct knowledge of the current deal, he believes the return of an ECHL-level team to Greensboro makes sense for Greensboro and can be successful.

He recalled that during his time with the Monarchs, attendance averaged about 12,000 per night.

“The reason was that beers were $2, parking was $2 and tickets were like $7 to $10. The place was packed.”

It was also driven by the team’s success, saying the team was in first place that entire year and didn’t lose a home game in the regular season. The challenge, he recalled, was that when the team was elevated to the higher-level AHL, prices went up and the business model changed, a concern that was also expressed to TBJ by another source. Sentner remembered attendance falling off dramatically to a few thousand per game.

“So the mistake that they made was they didn’t have hockey fans; they had Monarchs fans,” Sentner said. Fans weren't necessarily steeped in hockey's various levels and structures, “but it was their home team. It’s what they and their group of friends did.”

He believes that an ECHL team could be successful again, likening it to the success that the Greensboro Grasshoppers, formerly the Greensboro Bats, had as they moved from the former stadium near N.C. A&T to the new downtown stadium, while keeping prices low.

If it’s quality entertainment, and “if it’s marketed right, it can be incredibly successful,” he said. “It’s price point, like everything else.”

As a player, he remembered his days in the ECHL being more lucrative than in higher levels, explaining that as an ECHL-level player back then, boarding was provided, and the team had arrangements with local restaurants to provide meals.

“We ate at JP Looneys. The whole crowd would go there,” he said. “The pay was like $500 to $750 a week, but I was making more. In the NHL, I had all the expense. It was a different model, but it was cost effective.”

He also remembered the Monarchs being especially active in engaging Greensboro, which he believed helped in building a fan base and attendance.

"We did a real good job in the community. We'd be in the schools, going out and and seeing kids," he said. "(The Monarchs) did a good job of marketing in the community."

The ECHL will expand to 29 teams for the 2024-2025 season, adding expansion teams in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, and Bloomington, Illinois.

Of the 32 teams in the NHL, the highest level of professional hockey, 29 have affiliations with an ECHL team. Only the Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets and Ottawa Senators have no affiliation. The Hurricanes have a "working agreement" with the new team in Bloomington, Illinois, but Bloomington is officially an affiliate of the New York Rangers.

NHL teams, whose top minor leaguers play in the American Hockey League, do at times lend players to ECHL teams with whom they have no affiliation for development and increased playing time.

Managing Editor Daniel Finnegan and Reporter Elizabeth 'Lilly' Egan contributed to this story.

Milton is forecast to make landfall in central west Florida before moving offshore & away from land

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GREENSBORO, N.C. — As of Monday, Milton has rapidly intensified into a upper-end Cat. 5 hurricane while moving east/northeast across the Gulf of Mexico. . There's an increasing risk of life-threatening storm surge and damaging winds for portions of the west coast of FL as early as Wednesday and Wednesday night.

While there is still uncertainty in the track, here is the latest on how Milton could impact the Triad and North Carolina as a whole.

GOOD NEWS: The majority of models keep Milton well to the south even as it cross through the west coast of the Florida Peninsula. This is due to high pressure (clockwise rotation) building into the southeastern US through the end of next week. Winds will push Milton to our south and keep it progressing off the coast and away from the United States in the latest track. While this is subject to change slightly, it likely won't deviate much from the current path.

While there is still uncertainty in the track of Hurricane Milton, it is unlikely that western and central portions of North Carolina will receive impacts from the storm. Milton will stay much too far to our south for the majority of our state to feel any impacts. We will stay mostly dry through the next 7 days.

Credit: WFMY

Hurricane Milton's track will take it offshore of the southeastern U.S., but it is possible the Carolina beaches could get some wind and a little rain from outer bands of the storm. However, the greater threat would be erosion from heavy surf and dangerous rip currents through next weekend.

Here's a current map of projected rainfall from Milton. A very small amount of rain could reach southeastern NC with rainfall amounts up to a tenth of an inch or so.

It is also possible that some gusty winds could reach the NC coastline, but the majority of winds (especially tropical storm or hurricane force) will stay to our south as Milton passes through Florida.

In the wake of Helene and the unnamed storm a few weeks ago, there are several parts of NC in need of time to rebuild and regrow. Fortunately, Milton will most likely not be a threat to much of NC at all. At best, the coastline could see a few isolated showers and winds from outermost bands. If the current track changes, please trust that your WFMY News 2 Weather Team will keep you updated with the latest information. Stay tuned.

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Eastern Randolph vs. SW Randolph is our GTCC Game of the Week

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It's Week 7 of the high school football season here in North Carolina, and there are dozens of area teams in action tonight. We'll have all the scores and highlights right here. Keep checking back for updates!

You can show your school pride by subscribing to our YouTube channel and watching all the Triad high school football highlights in our Friday Football Fever playlist.

Week 7 High School Football Games Featuring Triad High Schools

Eastern Randolph 49 SW Randolph 0 (F)

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Dudley 49 Smith 6 (F)

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Oak Grove 45 Asheboro 28 (F)

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Central Davidson 63 Ledford 41 (F)

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West Forsyth 40 Glenn 0 (F)

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Reidsville 66 McMichael 0 (F)

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Grimsley 48 Western Guilford 0 (F)

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NW Guilford 45 Page 12 (F)

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Northern Guilford 63 SW Guilford 0 (F)

Williams 39 Eastern Alamance 21 (F)

East Forsyth 35 Mount Tabor 28 (F)

Randleman 44 Wheatmore 0 (F)

Mount Airy 28 East Wilkes 13 (F)

Reagan 31 Davie County 14 (F)

NE Guilford 54 HP Central 0 (F)

Walkertown 23 Morehead 0 (F)

Eastern Guilford 41 Rockingham County 0 (F)

Reynolds 25 Parkland 3 (F)

West Davidson 14 Thomasville 0 (F)

SE Guilford 36 Ragsdale 35 (F)

West Stokes 30 North Forsyth 21 (F)

East Surry 61 Wilkes Central 14 (F)

Southern Guilford 26 Atkins 21 (F)

Providence Grove 42 Trinity 21 (F)

Starmount 65 North Stokes 0 (F)

Southern Alamance 23 Person 12 (F)

SE Alamance 56 Jordan-Matthews 0 (F)

Graham 20 Chatham Central 14 (F/OT)

North Davidson 35 Montgomery Central 10 (F)

Corvian Community 42 Bishop McGuinness 0 (F)

North Surry 52 North Wilkes 13 (F)

HP Christian 48 Asheville Christian Academy 7 (F)

Salisbury 64 South Davidson 0 (F)

Forbush 22 Elkin 21 (F)

North Rowan 60 East Davidson 6 (F)

North Moore 55 Bartlett Yancey 22 (F)

West Wilkes vs. Surry Central (7 pm) (A final score has not yet been reported for this game.)

Community School of Davidson 14 Carver 6 (F)

Mtn. Island Charter 40 WS Prep 8 (F)

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GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — A major development could be on the horizon for the currently vacant former American Hebrew Academy in Greensboro.

U.S. Rep. Kathy Manning (D-Greensboro) came to the FOX8 Studios on Friday and disclosed that the unused Greensboro Influx Care Facility could be used for victims of Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina.

“The federal government has a contract to use that influx care center,” Manning said. “It was a former boarding school, and it was to be used for unaccompanied minors, but thanks to the Biden administration’s new border policy, there’s been a drop in the number of unaccompanied minors coming here. That facility has not been used and it’s sitting and available, but it’s going to a variety of steps to make sure the facility can be used for people whose lives have been turned upside down, whose homes are no longer habitable because of Hurricane Helene.”

Manning says the federal government is currently reviewing its contract for that property to verify if the facility could be repurposed for storm victims or to see if that contract could be modified.

Other issues that still need to be figured out include determining who would bear the cost of running the facility and working with the Home Owner’s Association for the surrounding neighborhood.

Manning described the process as being “underway,” and the Department of Health and Human Services has been working on this “for several days now.”

The DHHS provided the following statement, “HHS will do all that we can to help support families impacted by Hurricane Helene. We are working closely with state and local health authorities, as well as with our partners across the federal government, to provide public health and medical support. We are currently working with officials to provide additional resources, within our legal authority. HHS will continue to use every lever we can to help families impacted.”

There was a bit of pushback in the past from residents when the facility was supposed to be used as a transitional facility for migrant children.

Many residents shared on and off camera that they think the unused facility would be great for housing western North Carolinians in need.

“Everybody’s always worried about the community and who’s coming into the community … A situation like this, I think people are extremely understanding and aware … It would probably be something more than just a housing option for the community. I think this area would chip in and do other stuff as well to make sure they fit in and felt comfortable,” said Fred Lewis, a resident.

Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan said she’s on board.

“We don’t really have a role in this except that we came up with the idea of let’s use it as a storm center … The government is really involved or the federal government working with their subcontractor and things like that. As far as what I think the City of Greensboro would do for these individuals, I think they would see an outpouring of support like they’ve never seen before,” Vaughan said.

Other city leaders are also on board.

“I think she is exactly right in exploring the opportunity for the Greensboro area to try to assist our fellow North Carolinians in need,” Greensboro City Councilmember At-Large Hugh Holston said.

If families were to stay there, the kids would need access to education.

Guilford County Schools says it would assist if families want to enroll their students. They have already started to share information with principals about the process. Typical paperwork needed for enrollment won’t be required.

Background

In June 2022, plans became official to transform the former American Hebrew Academy property, which closed in 2019, into a transitional facility for immigrant children under the management of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The site, now known as Greensboro Influx Care Facility, was planned to house unaccompanied immigrant children temporarily — about two or three weeks — while family members and sponsors were located. The facility was intended for children ages 13 through 17 and has a capacity of up to 800 beds.

The Greensboro ICF was designated operational starting March 15 but had its operational status changed on June 28 when the DHHS announced that operations were being “ramped down.” No children have been housed in the facility at any point, and the June status change led to a decrease in staffing.

“It will continue to have no children in care but must be ready to resume operations and accept children eight weeks after being notified by ORR,” HHS wrote in the document.

Mayor Nancy Vaughan shared more clarifying comments on Facebook, writing “Leadership for the Office of Refugee Resettlement with oversight for the Logistics at the Greensboro Children’s Center shared that as of Sunday, June 23, 2024, the facility ramped down its operations to ‘facility upkeep.’ This means the amount of people on site keeping the facility in a ready state will ebb and flow, but generally there will be fewer people. While the site will continue to have no children in care, it must be ready to accept children for care eight weeks after being notified by ORR of a need for capacity. We will continue to keep a pulse on operations and share anything of significance.”

The property on Hobbs Road is 100 gated acres that include 31 buildings of 412,712 square feet, an $18 million athletic center and natatorium, a variety of athletic fields and a 22-acre lake.