News-Record.com

Good morning and an especially warm welcome to all you local politics junkies, policy wonks and government gadflies. As the name implies, this blog is a descendant of the News & Record's venerable "Inside Scoop" government and politics column that runs every Saturday.

We designed this site for those whose thirst for government and political news just can't be slaked by the daily paper. For those unfamiliar with the format, blog entries are arranged in reverse chronological order, with the most recent entry appearing at the top of the page.

At least early on, our content is going to stay focused on the towns and county government inside Guilford County, but that mission may expand a bit as we hit our stride. Please be forewarned: we're here to supplement, not supplant, the daily report that arrives on your doorstep each morning.

Expect to see a healthy dose of the trademark "short but interesting" items that comprise the Saturday column. We'll also use this space to get you news from government meetings that we didn't have the time or space to get into our morning report. And we hope to bring you reports, analysis, memos and other material that we just can't include in the paper.

Scoop's online incarnation will have three primary authors, News & Record staff writers:

*Matt Williams, who covers Greensboro city government. Matt's stories have run the gamut from investigations of the Coliseum's finances to analysis of why businesses have shied away from East Greensboro. And he's even written a few stories about the rise of political blogs in Guilford County.

*High Point government reporter Sue Schultz. You'll recognize her byline from stories on the rebirth of the Macedonia community and the city's planned $73.65 million bond package.

*Mark Binker, who covers Guilford County government and politics. From ball parks to t-shirts, he has followed some of the Triad's most heated political battles.

As needed, we will host guest appearances from state government reporter Eric Dyer and other staffers.

At the bottom of each entry there will be an opportunity for you to join the discussion. Please use the comments feature to talk amongst yourselves or ask us questions. If all goes well, we'll have ourselves an online hangout for those who want to talk about the local political scene.

In fact, let's get started right now. I'll clam up and you can let us know straight away what you'd like to see here. Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for your input.