🗞️ Homeschool and private school enrollment climbs in Forsyth

🗞️ Water conservation ask does not cover most businesses (for now)

🗞️ Eating for Education: dine out, give back to local schools

🗞️ Kernersville police shoot and wound a driver

🌞 Hot with afternoon storms | High: 96°F | Low: 72°F

Back to the heavy heat, with a heat index in the upper 90s and a good chance of showers and thunderstorms after midday. Stay hydrated, and keep an eye out for a rumble or two this afternoon.

More Forsyth County families are choosing homeschools and private schools, even as the public school district keeps shrinking. New figures from the state's Division of Non-Public Schools put local homeschool enrollment at about 5,989 students, a 3.8% jump from the year before. That actually bucks the statewide trend, where homeschooling dipped from roughly 165,000 to about 153,000.

Private schools grew too, reaching 6,249 students in Forsyth for 2025-26, up 2.7%, part of a statewide 6% jump fueled by the fast growth of taxpayer-funded Opportunity Scholarship vouchers. Meanwhile, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools enrolled about 49,000 students last year and expects to lose another 1,551 in the coming year, mirroring a decline in public districts across the country. Three more private schools in the area have registered to accept vouchers for 2026-27.

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When Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Utilities asked customers this week to voluntarily cut back on water, it left out some of the biggest users. Car washes, hospitals, manufacturing plants and other commercial operations are not being asked to restrict how much they use at this stage. The region just came through its second-driest spring since 1895, and the county has entered conservation stage 1.

If conditions keep drying out, the next steps are mandatory stages before an emergency stage 3, which would push homes and businesses to cut use by up to 25%. Even then, officials note, car washes are exempt because they recycle water. For now the utility is simply urging residents to use water wisely, avoid waste, and, for hotels, to ask multi-night guests to reuse towels. Officials say the drinking water supply remains strong, but they are watching reservoir and river levels closely.

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Here is an easy way to help local classrooms: just go out to eat. Through the Eating for Education initiative, participating Kernersville restaurants donate 10% of their proceeds to a Kernersville Chamber of Commerce program that funds grants for local education projects. The first round was Wednesday, and two more dates are coming up on Aug. 12 and Sept. 9.

A long list of local spots is taking part this year, including Blue Skies Creamery, East Coast Wings & Grill, Fitz on Main, Fresh Monkee, Gypsy Road Brewing Company, OutWest Steakhouse, Sixty-Six Grill and Taphouse and Smitty's Grille, with Captain Tom's Seafood and Chicken Salad Chick joining in August and September and Sammy's Sliders in September. Mark the dates, grab a meal, and a slice of the bill goes straight back to Kernersville kids.

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Two Kernersville police officers shot and wounded a driver late Tuesday after, police say, she pointed a handgun at them during a traffic stop. According to the department, an officer spotted a blue Honda Accord speeding and weaving on South Main Street around 11:15 p.m. and tried to pull it over near Old Winston Road, suspecting an impaired driver. The car stopped, but police say the driver, identified as Destiny Sanyee Fewell, 29, of Winston-Salem, refused to roll down her window or get out.

After a second officer arrived and the driver continued to resist, police say the officers broke the driver's side window and Fewell pointed a handgun at them, prompting both officers to fire. She was struck once in the shoulder, and officers gave first aid and called EMS; police described the injury as not life-threatening. Fewell was treated at a hospital and now faces charges including two counts of attempted first-degree murder and resisting an officer. The State Bureau of Investigation is reviewing the shooting, standard practice in such cases, and the department is conducting its own internal review; the encounter was captured on officers' body cameras. The charges are allegations, and the case is pending.

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