Neill McNeill
FOX8 WGHP
Greensboro, NC, United States
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Past articles by Neill:
Triad advocate promotes hope despite much uncertainty
(WGHP) — Yahel Flores lives life on the extremes. His family and professional lives are great. He’s a die-hard Carolina Panthers fan. He’s got a 10-year-old son. He’s got a new office on the 8th floor of a downtown Winston-Salem skyscraper. But he also lives with an extreme uncertainty. He doesn’t know when or if […] → Read More
Greensboro violence interruptor sees a big change when it comes to people pulling triggers
GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — Ingram Bell is a local authority on changing lives for the better. But you could argue before she gets involved, many of these lives couldn’t get much worse. Name a homicide in Greensboro within the last several years, and she can probably tell you something about it. January 1, 2023: Natasha […] → Read More
Greensboro CEO’s company helps primary care physicians treat older patients more effectively in care, cost
GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — Talk about a revolution in Greensboro! No, I’m not talking about the 1781 Revolutionary War Battle in which Greensboro’s namesake fought in what is now a national park on the city’s northwest side. Nor am I talking about the Revolution Mill complex Moses and Ceasar Cone opened in 1898. It was […] → Read More
New Greensboro police chief ready to move forward without forgetting the past
GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — Just leave it to a 7-year-old to put things in perspective. John Thompson was just hours into a job that represented the pinnacle of his law enforcement career: chief of the Greensboro Police Department. He had just gotten into his department-owned Chevrolet Tahoe which his predecessor had driven. His daughter was […] → Read More
How a Greensboro man became a ‘giving’ authority in the battle for affordable housing
GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — Marcus Thomas is a “giving” authority. And he’s spreading his expertise across Greensboro. “Greensboro’s a giving city,” he told me recently. “We’ve seen Greensboro really come together and collaborate in great ways to make sure our city is taken care of.” He’s the senior program officer for grants and community impact […] → Read More
Well-known High Point community activist to retire after building nationally-recognized program
HIGH POINT, N.C. (WGHP) — “I’ve given my all to all of it. I’m worn down.” My challenge is I have neither the time nor the space to cover the “all of it” part in its entirety. That’s how complex Jim Summey’s life has been. And now that life is approaching a major milestone: retirement […] → Read More
New Guilford County superintendent comes full circle by leading school system where it all started for her
GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — She was a paleontologist in a dinosaur play. “We were on this very stage, in this very place,” Dr. Whitney Oakley told me as we walked near the front of the cafeteria/assembly room at the Doris Henderson Newcomers School in Greensboro. The performance she recalled happened many years ago. But […] → Read More
Toyota battery plant president plans to build on strong North Carolina ties
To watch more of Neill’s interview with Sean Suggs, president of Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina, watch this web extra. Here he discusses his family, how the job application process for the plant will run, how ready the community is for this facility and his book (yes, he is a published author!) Sean Suggs has […] → Read More
New non-profit executive director is High Point’s major cheerleader
HIGH POINT, N.C. (WGHP) — You could call Amber Williamson a professional cheerleader. She doesn’t cheer for a sports team. She cheers for the Piedmont-Triad’s third largest city. And she doesn’t yell, wear a uniform or wave pom-poms. She communicates through virtual and print media along with one-on-one meetings. “So I am High Point’s cheerleader,” […] → Read More
How a grandfather’s gift helped produce a national leader in the quick oil change business
(WGHP) — Talk about humble beginnings. C.W. Strickland was a chain-smoking, third-grade-educated tobacco sharecropper who could barely read or write. But a gifting decision he made in the early part of the last decade helped turn a fledgling idea into one of the nation’s more compelling business success stories. It was truly the gift that […] → Read More
New Greensboro assistant city manager has big responsibilities, vision
GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — I just don’t see Nasha McCray spending a lot of time sitting behind a desk even though that’s probably the way most people would envision her new job. She’s one of Greensboro’s new assistant city managers who oversees multiple community services departments including workforce development, Creative Greensboro, neighborhood development, libraries, museums, […] → Read More
New Greensboro military park superintendent has strong vision for park’s future
GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — There’s no doubt about it: Aaron LaRocca loves history. It started in childhood. He grew up in Arlington, Virginia and remembers, as a child, walking through all the museums in nearby Washington, DC. While majoring in American history at George Mason University in nearby Fairfax, Virginia, he started volunteering with the […] → Read More
Greensboro business incubator CEO has big plans, and history backs him up
GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — Sam Funchess knows his local history. Just ask him about three of North Carolina’s landmark buildings: The Dean Dome The old R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company headquarters (the one used as a model for what would become the Empire State Building) The Greensboro Coliseum He’ll tell you they have something in […] → Read More
Craft hard cider company executive is ‘bullish’ on company, home community
(WGHP) — John Clowney is a numbers guy. It’s the first thing you notice when you research his background—which is what I do before every extended interview. From Wake Forest University, he has a bachelor’s degree in analytical finance and a master’s in accountancy. He’s a certified, but not licensed, public accountant. That means he […] → Read More
NC aviation industry veteran taking training to new heights
(WGHP) — What is it that you need? It’s a simple question. But it’s one many believe was critical in Boom Supersonic’s decision to build a manufacturing operation in the Piedmont Triad and create more than 1,700 new jobs during the next 8 years. “Basically, what I told them was very simple: ‘what is it […] → Read More
NC agriculture commission predicts year for state farmers
(WGHP) — I’m convinced Steve Troxler will always be, deep down in his heart, a farmer. He was certainly that more than 35 years ago when I, as a young reporter in my first months working at WGHP, met him several times at his farm in the Browns Summit community in northeastern Guilford County. Back […] → Read More
High Point museum namesake pushes play, education, inspiration as building opens
HIGH POINT, N.C. (WGHP) — Elegant. After spending a couple of hours with her recently, I can think of no other word that more accurately describes Mariana Qubein. The dictionary defines the word this way: “pleasingly graceful and stylish in appearance or manner.” I would just replace the word “or” with the word “and” between […] → Read More
How a Greensboro woman went from dropout to executive
GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — Being a parent is not easy. I can only imagine what it was like to be Amanda Lefever’s parents. She was in her second year of a full-ride leadership scholarship at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, when she decided she wanted to become a business owner. “And so I dropped […] → Read More
‘Career fire’: Winston-Salem fire chief recounts what happened during fertilizer plant fire
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WGHP) — Winston-Salem Fire Chief Trey Mayo calls the Weaver Fertilizer Plant fire his “career fire.” Just about everyone can point to that one event: the most stressful, challenging, sleep-preventing, on-the-job happening unlike any other. For me, it was the interview I did with the husband of Sandy Bradshaw about a week after […] → Read More
New Greensboro city manager: Unconventional yet well-informed and determined
GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — On Feb. 1, 2022, Taiwo Jaiyeoba became the new city manager of Greensboro. Prior to this position, he was Charlotte’s assistant city manager and director of planning, design and development. The FOX8 web team featured an extended “print” interview with him in late December which you can read here. What you […] → Read More