🗞️ Heads up: a water main break has closed part of West Mountain Street

🗞️ Good news for breakfast lovers: Neese's sausage is coming back to Food Lion

🗞️ Health officials are urging caution as West Nile virus turns up early

🗞️ The Moravian Children's Festival comes to Kernersville on August 16

⛈️ Warm, humid, storms | High: 86°F | Low: 70°F

The wet, muggy pattern hangs on. Expect scattered showers and thunderstorms through the day, and a few could be heavy enough to cause localized flooding. Keep the umbrella close, watch the radar, and never drive through a flooded road, turn around, don't drown.

A quick, practical one for your commute.

The town of Kernersville says a water main break in the 200 block of West Mountain Street has closed the road between Dobson Street and Hepler Street while crews make repairs. This is a separate, smaller issue from last week's big countywide break, and the good news is that there are no reported water outages in the immediate area right now.

That said, once repair work gets going, water service may be briefly affected for homes and businesses along West Mountain Street between Dobson and Nelson streets. Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Utilities is on scene, though there is not yet an estimated time for the fix.

The simple advice from the town: avoid the area if you can, take an alternate route, and use caution driving nearby. We will pass along word when the street reopens.

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If your skillet has felt a little empty lately, help is on the way.

Neese's Country Sausage, the beloved Greensboro brand that has been a Carolina breakfast staple since 1917, is returning to grocery shelves this month. The new family owner, Raleigh-based Jesse Jones, says all three classic varieties, regular, hot and sage, will be back in more than 500 Food Lion stores across North Carolina and Virginia, made with the same familiar recipes and wrapped in refreshed packaging that nods to the brand's heritage. It should reach all Food Lion locations by later this fall.

The sausage had been hard to find after production paused earlier this year during an ownership change and a federal food-safety review. Under the new owners, the company says it has invested in its production and food-safety processes to get things flowing again. It has been a bittersweet stretch for the brand, which also lost its longtime president, Thomas Neese Jr., in April at age 92.

For a lot of families around here, Neese's is Sunday-morning tradition in a wrapper, right alongside the liver mush and liver pudding. So keep an eye on the meat case at your Food Lion, a familiar favorite is on its way home.

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A timely reminder to armor up against mosquitoes.

State health officials say North Carolina has recorded its first West Nile virus illness of 2026, in a Gaston County resident, and a positive blood donor turned up in Mecklenburg County. Closer to home, the state lab found West Nile in mosquitoes collected in Forsyth County during July, earlier in the summer than usual. "This is the time of year when West Nile virus activity usually increases," said NCDHHS entomologist Michael Doyle, who urged everyone to guard against bites.

Here is the reassuring part: most people who get infected never feel a thing, and it does not spread person to person. About one in five develop a fever with headache and body aches, and roughly one in 150 get a serious illness, with older adults and those with weakened immune systems most at risk. There is no vaccine or cure, so prevention is the whole game.

The good news is the steps are easy. Wear an EPA-registered repellent, especially from dusk to dawn when these mosquitoes feed. And starve them of nurseries: after every rain, dump any standing water, flowerpot saucers, buckets, toys, tires, refresh birdbaths and pet bowls a couple of times a week, keep gutters clear, and make sure your window screens are in good shape. With all the rain we have had, a five-minute walk around the yard to tip out standing water is time well spent.

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Here is a sweet, free family afternoon to put on the calendar.

The Moravian Church Southern Province Children's Festival, now in its 13th year, lands in Kernersville this time around, from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday, August 16, at Kernersville Moravian Church, 504 S. Main Street. The festival rotates among churches by the order they were founded, and Kernersville Moravian dates back to 1867. Organizers expect about 150 children, plus a bunch of volunteers, from Moravian congregations stretching from Virginia to Florida. Admission is free and beverages are provided.

From 2 to 4 p.m., kids can rotate through hands-on stations: making Moravian stars, some of them wooden, shaping lovefeast buns, and even a Moravian band "petting zoo" where they can touch and try the instruments. Körner's Folly will have a booth sharing a bit of the town's history, too. There is a giving piece as well: the children will assemble shower kits for a local nonprofit called The Glowing, with a goal of 125 kits.

The afternoon wraps at 4 p.m. with a children's lovefeast, featuring Moravian cookies shaped like musical notes and juice boxes in place of the traditional buns and coffee. It is a warm, wholesome slice of our area's Moravian heritage, and a lovely thing to share with the little ones.

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