Profile for Les Gura

Recent Content

• Brunstetter chosen as co-chairman of General Assembly's appropriations committee

  Sen. Pete Brunstetter, R-Forsyth, on Thursday was named as one of three co-chairmen of the Committee on Appropriations when the General Assembly convenes next month.

  12/17/2010 12:00 AM
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  School board considering changes to high school schedule that could lengthen day

  The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school system is considering changes to its high school schedule — driven partly by the possibility of reductions in state spending in the next budget — that could lengthen the high school day and force teachers to add an additional class.

  10/26/2010 2:42 PM

• Winston-Salem police investigating series of robberies; clerk forced to disrobe in latest incident

  Winston-Salem police are investigating a series of robberies late Sunday and early today, all of which involved a single armed suspect.

  08/02/2010 9:39 AM

• New testing fails to yield DNA evidence in Silk Plant Forest case

  New laboratory testing on clothing worn by Jill Marker the night she was assaulted in the Silk Plant Forest store did not reveal any male DNA, police Chief Scott Cunningham said today.

  07/21/2010 3:27 PM
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  What's Next?: Authorities review Silk reports.

  With the work of a citizens committee that studied how police investigated the 1995 Silk Plant Forest assault case complete -- many documents have been released the past two weeks -- one lingering question is what happens next.

  01/04/2010 12:00 AM

• 1st Silk Plant suspect asked for immunity for interview

  The original suspect in the 1995 assault at the Silk Plant Forest store told the citizens committee that studied the Winston-Salem Police Department's investigation of the case that he would be interviewed only if he were granted immunity.

  12/30/2009 12:00 AM

• Detective in Silk Plant Forest cases admits mistakes, but insists he arrested the right man

  The former police detective who headed the investigation of the 1995 assault at the Silk Plant Forest insisted during an interview with city officials and a citizens committee that he arrested the right man for the crime. But he also acknowledged that he failed to document many aspects of the case.

  12/24/2009 7:42 PM
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  Defense strategy flawed in Call case

  Forsyth County District Attorney Tom Keith is coming up on 20 years in office, and spent 20 years as a defense attorney before that. He said there are few cases in which there is no confession, no DNA evidence or no eyewitnesses.

  09/21/2009 12:00 AM
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  A death-row story - Ashe County man's case raises questions

  Now, when his appeals have run out, death-row prisoner Eric Call finally wants to tell what he says is the real story of the night of Aug. 24, 1995 -- the night that Macedonio Hernandez, a 24-year-old migrant farm worker, was bludgeoned to death in a field, his body hastily covered with cornstalks.

  09/20/2009 12:00 AM
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  Economy and election tie for top spot

  The economy played havoc with people's lives in 2008. And so, not surprisingly, the economy was a factor in several stories chosen by the newsroom staff of the Winston-Salem Journal as the top stories of the year. Staff members were asked to choose the top five stories from a list of nearly 40 contenders. The most frequently voted responses came to form the Top 10 stories in Northwest North Carolina for 2008.

  01/01/2009 12:00 AM
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  Darryl Hunt reflects on his life since he was released from prison

  From the time he was released on Dec. 24, 2003, Darryl Hunt was surrounded. Media. Family. Friends. Supporters. And history. Hunt served nearly 19 years in prison after being accused and twice convicted of one of Winston-Salem's most notorious crimes -- the 1984 rape and murder of newspaper copy editor Deborah Sykes. The case helped divide the city along racial lines, even though it turned out that the man who committed the crime, Williard Brown, was, like Hunt, black.

  12/21/2008 1:37 AM

• Man charged with robbery returned to Winston-Salem from South Carolina

  A Mooresville man wanted in connection with a robbery two weeks ago has been returned to Winston-Salem from Chester, S.C., and is being held on $430,000 bond.

  08/01/2008 10:46 AM

• The Week Ahead: Public-parking plan

  A proposal that would prohibit people from parking on front lawns will be considered by the Winston-Salem City Council tonight.

  07/07/2008 12:00 AM

• The Week Ahead: National tour targets cancer

  "Code 3 for a Cure'' is the name of a trip undertaken by a crew of West Coast firefighters who will spend tonight at the Bullard Fire Station on Marshall Street in downtown Winston-Salem.

  06/30/2008 12:00 AM

• The week ahead

  The Winston-Salem City Council is expected to vote tonight on the 2008-09 budget.

  06/16/2008 12:00 AM

• Cost of garbage collection

  The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners will decide tonight whether to raise rural garbage-collection fees in the face of rising diesel-fuel prices.

  06/09/2008 12:00 AM

• Showing positive change

  Art by students in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school system's alternative-education program will be on display from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Cat's Corner Cafe, at Fourth and Spruce streets in downtown Winston-Salem.

  06/02/2008 12:00 AM

• Showing positive change

  Art by students in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school system's alternative-education program will be on display from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Cat's Corner Cafe, at Fourth and Spruce streets in downtown Winston-Salem.

  06/02/2008 12:00 AM

• The Week Ahead

  The Triad Vietnam Veterans Association will present its 19th annual reading of the Honor Roll of Forsyth County during a Memorial Day service at 6 p.m. today in the Joel Coliseum's atrium.

  05/26/2008 12:00 AM

• The Week Ahead

  The Winston-Salem City Council will consider a new storm-water ordinance tonight that has been two years in the making.

  05/19/2008 12:00 AM