ARCHIVES of 2024 editions
December 19, 2024
This week's headlines:
• Two Waddell Drive townhouse projects OK'd
• Town Council blasts handling of fiber-optic work
• Schools add four to roster of "Living Legends"
• Property-revaluation notices coming very soon
• Editorial comment on family Yuletide traditions
December 12, 2024
This week's headlines:
• Four miles of I-95 is "Carl Lamm Highway"
• School board defers calendar choice till February
• DA says policeman acted with "reasonable" force
• St. Paul's choir performed in NYC's Carnegie Hall
• By a single digit, SSS sent to higher athletics group
• Editorial comment on Johnston's well-heated schools
December 5, 2024
This week's headlines:
• Council OKs another Buffalo Road subdivision
• Plan for 18-lot project on Swift Creek Road rejected
• County Commissioners welcome two new members
• Remembering desegregation of Smithfield's library
Health Department re-accredited "with honors"
• Editorial comment on two boards' rezoning denials
November 21, 2024
This week's headlines:
• Town rejects 60-unit townhouse plan at Holt Lake,
approves apartments for site near Outlet Center
• "Modified" school-calendar plan rescinded
• Princeton official is new county commissioner
• Editorial comment on state's school-voucher funding
November 14, 2024
This week's headlines:
• Board picks plan to start schools in early August
• School board adopts redrawn attendance districts
• Johnston has cut teacher vacancy rate to 2%
• An abrupt change in principals at Smithfield-Selma
• Town Council approves 3% pay hikes, January raises too
• Councilmen angered by police arrest incident
Editorial comment on lacking government "transparency"
November 7, 2024
This week's headlines:
• Three school-board incumbents re-elected;
bond issues for schools and college approved
• October's rainfall was less than an inch
• County OKs six-month funding for DA positions
• Editorial comment on confidence in school administration
October 31, 2024
This week's headlines:
• Early voting ahead of 2020's record turnout
• Five have applied for county commissioner vacancy
• Smithfield's mural among first in statewide endeavor
• County's new sewage plant is in operation
• Johnston's jobless rate fell to 3.0% in September
• UNC Health Johnston gets more five-star ratings
• Thoughts on revisiting Smithfield High School's history
October 24, 2024
This week's headlines:
• 9-1-1 leaders, district attorney get state award
• Early voting sets opening-day record
• EPA chief makes campaign stop here
• My Kid's Club is a Boys & Girls Club again
• Spectacular homecoming at Smithfield-Selma High
• Editorial comment on renaming Smithfield's festival
October 17, 2024
This week's headlines:
• Early voting begins; some candidates share views
• Council favors apartments over more townhouses
• Street-resurfacing time in Smithfield
• Market Street sidewalk bricks to be replaced
• Behavioral Health expansion completed
• Editorial memories of Hurricane Hazel
October 10, 2024
This week's headlines:
• Commissioner Dickie Braswell convicted, ousted
• Helene relief drive filled 15 tractor-trailer trucks
• County's "rebranding" project produces new logo
• JCC's enrollment spike to require more county aid
• Smithfield names its new town clerk
• Editorial comment on Helene connections
October 3, 2024
This week's headlines:
• Johnstonians aid Western N.C. flood victims
• Three months of record rainfall here?
• 338 voters mistakenly got two absentee ballots
• Town to quiz Amazon about trucks using streets
• Neuse Little Theatre endures for half a century
• Editorial perspective on gasoline prices over 10 years
September 26, 2024
This week's headlines:
• Finally, General Election ballots are ready
• Candidates make pleas before the school board
• Lumos Fiber moving into local Internet market
• Johnston's retail sales up 7% in latest report
• JCC granted $150,000 to expand job training
• Editorial comment on region's new toll road
September 19, 2024
This week's headlines:
• Smithfield welcomes 10 new police officers
• Rest of town employees get 2% pay raises
• Town OKs another large Buffalo Road subdivision
• School calendar, attendance district proposals
• County, Selma OK incentives for another industry
• Editorial comment on back-to-back scares at SSS
September 12, 2024
This week's headlines:
• Academic progress historic, says superintendent;
goal of no more D-graded schools wasn't reached
• Town Clerk Parrish is Smithfield's new HR director
• All fire departments have first responders on duty
• Editorial comment on private-school vouchers
September 5, 2024
This week's headlines:
• JCCollege registers another enrollment record
• County grants JCC $386,000 for "urgent needs"
• Neuse Charter School's enrollment rises to 928
• 94 more townhouses approved for West Smithfield
• July and August brought a surplus of rainfall
• Jobless rate is up, yet record 109,661 employed
• Johnston has added 7,824 jobs post- COVID
August 15, 2024
This month's headlines:
• Groundbreaking for new Wilson's Mills High School
• No more multi-family housing in town's B-3 zones
• County collected 99.1% of past year's property taxes
• Johnston's farm income hit $257 million in 2022
• July & August rainfall well above normal
• Junior Women's League had record-setting year
• First local observance of U.S.A.'s 250th birthday
• Editorial comment on school-calendar fixes
July 18, 2024
This month's headlines:
• Town Council, with three members absent, OKs
"social district" allowing outdoor alcohol consumption
• Council approves Buffalo Road subdivision
after number of lots cut from 220 to 170
• Not the best time for a power outage!
• Oldhams – father & son – team up in dentistry
• Downtown Development names its new director
• County hires architect for new office complex
• UNC Health Johnston graded highly for stroke care
• Chamber of Commerce thanks Hank Daniels
June 27, 2024
This week's headlines:
• Novo Nordisk to add another 1,000 jobs
• Johnston's average weekly wage up to $1,054
• Retail sales up 10.9% in year's first-quarter report
• It's hot – and it's dry: an unpleasant convergence
• County eliminates garbage-decal requirement
June 20, 2024
This week's headlines:
• County budget adopted with 2-cent tax cut
and 17.5% more for public-school operations
• School board lists projects for proposed bond issue
• Town Council rejects "Buffalo Ridge" subdivision
• Council adopts rule requiring paved driveways
• Editorial comment on Smithfield growth issues
June 13, 2024
This week's headlines:
• Smithfield-Selma High School graduates 371
• Town receives federal grant for police body cams
• School leaders make their case for more county aid
• School board heads toward new attendance districts
• For 816 children, Read to Grow "Booked for Summer"
• Editorial comment on county school funding
June 6, 2024
This week's headlines:
• Smithfield Town Council adopts 2024-25 budget
• November's bond referendum for $150 million
• Leo Daughtry's novel rooted in his homeland
• May's 10.34 inches doubled 2024's rainfall
• SSS senior gets JoCo TEACH scholarship
• Editorial comment on "out of control" speeding
May 30, 2024
This week's headlines:
• Smithfield's estimated population rises to 12,468
• John Parrish receives Lifetime Achievement Award
• What's new in proposed Smithfield budget?
• Johnston's jobless rate down to 3.0% in April
• Walking trail at Smith-Collins Park gets a name
• Editorial comment on Memorial Day service
May 23, 2024
This week's headlines:
• Town bumps police pay by $10,000 to fill vacancies
• Town OKs 163-acre North Smithfield development
• County considering bond issue of $200-260 million
• Renfrow is "Communications Center Leader of Year"
• Editorial comment on Downtown "social district"
May 16, 2024
This week's headlines:
• No surprise: Brad Knott gets U.S. House nomination
• Wilson's Mills alumni request naming of new media center
• School board votes (sort of) to cull "gender identity"
• Dr. Bracy is regional "Superintendent of the Year"
• Chris Johnson on magazine's "Power 100" list (again)
• Editorial comment on children walking to school
May 9, 2024
This week's headlines:
• Ham & Yam '24: bigger layout = bigger turnout
• Kelly Daughtry withdraws from race for Congress
• Commissioners fill vacancy with GOP nominee
• Manufacturer with plans to hire 500 lured to Selma
• Town Council backtracks to OK 7-lot subdivision
• Hospital volunteers thanked for 23,500 service hours
• Editorial comment on funding for overdue street work
May 2, 2024
This week's headlines:
• Schools asking for $23.3 million more from county
• Johnston's jobless rate rose to 3.4% in March
• April showers few and far between: just 1.16"
• Golfer Neal Lancaster in JCPS Athletic Hall of Fame
• JCC gets $645,836 grant for cyber-security training
• Editorial comment on replacing Bradford pear trees
April 25, 2024
This week's headlines:
• Amazon doubling initial hiring goal
• JCATS is "Transit System of the Year"
• School leaders ask legislators to fund more staff
• JCCollege asks for $85-million county bond issue
• Once again SSS hosts Special Olympics
• Editorial comment on Cutter/Grifols 50th anniversary
April 18, 2024
This week's headlines:
• County thanks attorney for 50 years' service
• Partnership for Children asks county for $100,000
• Town seeks grant for North Smithfield fire station
• Town accepts state grants totaling $7.15 million
• First-year teacher at Smithfield Middle a winner
• Editorial comment on Public Library's Smithfield service
April 11, 2024
This week's headlines:
• Monday's eclipse of the sun barely noticed
• A fourth elementary school is going up on 1010
• School board cuts pre-K spaces as ESSER runs out
• Retail sales showed modest growth at year's end
Editorial comment on more dogs in South Smithfield
April 4, 2024
This week's headlines:
• Town agrees to hire SROs for Smithfield schools
• Plan for seven-lot subdivision off NC 210 shot down
• Downtown Development names interim director
• County plan calls for massive water & sewer works
• Judge removes defendants from Johnson's lawsuit
• Editorial comment on the "State" of ACC basketball
March 28, 2024
This week's headlines:
• A resurrection for Holy Week re-enactment
• Hospice House gains community's acceptance
• State funds Johnston's first Public Defender
• JCC awarded $500,000 to start Respiratory Therapy
• Second edition for Literary & Historical Journal
• Editorial comment on fixes for N.C. public schools
March 21, 2024
This week's headlines:
• Johnston population estimate climbs to 241,955
• Bilotts are Smithfield's "Main Street Champions"
• Town to join statewide health-insurance pool
• County's high-school dropout rate went up
• JCC offering truck-driving training in high schools
• Top names for Johnston's 2023 babies
• Editorial comment on where folks want to live
March 14, 2024
This week's headlines:
• County Commissioner Tony Braswell dies
• School board calls for $285-million bond issue
• "Condensed" school calendar adopted for 2024-25
• Town bracing for 6% rise in residential electric rate
• DECA members at SSS achieve state recognition
• Editorial comment on Primary Election results
March 7, 2024
This week's headlines:
• PRIMARY ELECTION RESULTS
• Ham & Yam Festival will include alcohol sales
• Newsweek ranks Smithfield's hospital 12th in N.C.
• County's Fire Marshal earns professional credential
• Editorial comment on public servant Will Rogers Crocker
February 29, 2024
This week's headlines:
• Congressional candidates file fund-raising reports
• Baseball's Amby Foote in coach's Hall of Fame:
Gary Ridout's interview on the Feature Page
• SSS staffer celebrated for "Leading with the Heart"
• Editorial comment on Black History Quiz Bowl
February 22, 2024
This week's headlines:
• County options site for "government complex"
• Register of Deeds saluted for "Thank A Vet" project
• Countywide fire-tax plan moves toward July 1 start
• Town earmarks state grant for costly police project
• Ava Gardner Museum has a new manager
• Editorial comment on county bond financing
February 15, 2024
This week's headlines:
• Wilson's Mills High School "Green Wave" will return
• Johnston considering "year-round schools"
• School-enrollment projected growth: 1.88% annually
• SSS girls winners at state swim meet
• HUD projects have transformed East Smithfield
February 8, 2024
This week's headlines:
• Neuse Charter asks county for $8 million
• New fire engine may cost town $889,788
• Audit shows town's fund balance still growing
• Concert series scheduled at new amphitheater
• Editorial comment on regional transportation
February 1, 2024
This week's headlines:
• Championship show horses bred and trained here
• Priorities in crafting Smithfield's next budget?
• Moratorium on additional townhouses here?
• Marcia Armstrong gets state Professionalism Award
• Editorial comment on people's attitudes about taxation
January 25, 2024
This week's headlines:
• Four SSS students killed in early-morning crash
• Smithfield-based KS Bank is 100 years old
• Police Department vacancies reduced to five
• Council tables rezoning for 222-lot subdivision
Editorial comment on reckless driving
January 18, 2024
This week's headlines:
• N.C. board upholds denial of candidate's challenge
• County funds replacement Broadband contractor
• County's new Public Safety Center in service
• ESSER paying for HVAC upgrades at schools
• Neuse River flooding less frequent past 2 years
• Editorial comment on Education Lottery's numbers
January 11, 2024
This week's headlines:
• Elections board rejects Ronald Johnson's challenge
• Long-standing CPA firm changes its name
• Another record set in student enrollment at JCC
• Chamber of Commerce names new officers
• Editorial comment on accessibility at meetings
January 4, 2024
This week's headlines:
• Smithfield repaves parts of 13 streets
• School-board candidate challenged delayed
• County OKs tax break for new Four Oaks industry
• County has new HR director & deputy attorney
• Soggy December pushed '23 rainfall to 53.26"
• Editorial comment on historic preservation projects
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