The face of metro Detroit's private law community is overwhelmingly white despite being one of the nation's most ethnically diverse regions. A December study by the National Association for Law Placement places metro Detroit law firms well below the national average in diversity, but local lawyers say it's a struggle to find and retain minority attorneys. Of the eight metro Detroit firms and 1,110 lawyers in the December study, only 7.1 percent were a minority, compared to the national average of 13.4 percent. Metro Detroit falls behind many cities with similar demographics in the category of employing minority lawyers, such as Washington, D.C., at 14.5 percent; Houston at 14.6 percent; Atlanta at 11.8 percent and Baltimore at 7.3 percent. Wayne State University Law School's fall 2013 law doctorate class was 16.7 percent minorities, down from 17.7 percent in fall 2012. Minorities represented 28.3 percent of the law student population at Thomas M. Cooley Law School and 21 percent at Michigan State University, according to the site. The graduating class of 2014 at the University of Michigan Law School contains 24 percent minority students, up from 21 percent in 2013. The minority makeup for the 2015 graduating class is 27 percent. At the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, the minority population was 14.6 percent in October 2013, down from 18.2 percent in 2012.

On Jan. 22 WDET-FM introduced its first Book Club. The station's staff members selected five books around the theme of "Detroit through the Decades" and are asking listeners to vote for the one to be read. Two of the books are Wayne State University Press titles. Voting will close on Feb. 4 and the chosen book will be announced Feb. 5.

Conway A. Jeffress, president of Schoolcraft College, has been so busy getting the school's new building ready for its Bachelor's and Master's degree partnership program with Wayne State University and the University of Toledo that he didn't have time to think about a name for it. That's why it came as a surprise for him when the Board of Trustees unanimously voted Wednesday to name the new building, the former American Community Mutual Insurance building at Seven Mile and Haggerty roads, after him, calling it The Jeffress Center. The 110,000-square-foot American Community Mutual Insurance building was purchased by Schoolcraft for $3.4 million. Last May, the Schoolcraft Board of Trustees approved issuing $18 million in bonds for several improvements, including renovating the building, to get ready for the university partnership. Most of UT's and WSU's classes will be held there.

"The Affordable Care Act" conversation has taken many forms in the media. Lee Wilkins, chair of the Department of Communication at Wayne State University, spoke with Craig Fahle about its coverage and how media-makers are likely to handle it in the future.

Getting older is usually associated with losing brain power - but a new study says that may not be the case. The study, out of Germany, argues that older brains may just take longer to process ever-increasing amounts of knowledge, and that's been mistaken for declining capacity. Think about your brain like a brand new computer … It's really fast, right? But as your hard drive accumulates more files, your P.C. starts to slow down. Wayne State University Gerontology researcher Peter Lichtenberg says it's a valid analogy. "If you've acquired information about 6,000 birthdays over your lifetime and you're having a little bit of trouble remembering whose is which, and you only get maybe 75 percent accuracy," said Lichtenberg, "is that really worse than somebody who's acquired maybe 100 birthdays and gets 90 percent accuracy because there's less?" Lichtenberg agrees with the study's authors who say, most standard cognitive testing methods are flawed, which can confuse increased knowledge with declining capacity. The study has been published in the journal Topics in Cognitive Science.

A story examining the possibility of a successful bike sharing system in Detroit highlights results from a recent Wayne State University Office of Economic Development feasibility study. For a first phase, the study recommends 35 stations and 350 bikes with most located in Midtown and Downtown and at least two stations each in Mexicantown, Corktown, Woodbridge, New Center and Lafayette Park. The cost is estimated at $7.5 million over five years -- including capital, launch, administration and operating costs -- which would be paid for by a combination of user fees, sponsorship and private funding. WSU is now looking for funding from grants and potential sponsors with the hopes of a 2015 launch.

This was supposed to be a rebuilding season for Wayne State women's basketball, which lost six seniors from a team that went 22-9 last season. Coach Carrie Lohr had four freshmen to mix in with four NCAA Division I transfers and five returning players. "We're certainly ahead more than I had anticipated when we started the season," Lohr said. "Some (transfers) have court experience, some don't, but they're a lot like your freshmen. They're learning an entirely new system, from study table to expectations on and off the floor." This squad has a chance to be better than the one last year that won the first NCAA Division II tournament game in school history and reached the NCAA regional championship game for the first time in program history. The Warriors, ranked No. 21 in this week's USA TODAY Division II coaches poll, will get a better idea of how good they are this week when they host two of the best teams in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The Warriors (12-2, 9-1 GLIAC) host Michigan Tech (12-2, 10-0) at 5:30 p.m. Thursday and Northern Michigan (11-3, 8-2) at 1 p.m. Saturday.

In his first wide-ranging interview since the Board of Governors appointed him WSU's 12th president in June, Dr. M. Roy Wilson recently summarized his goals, and the challenges facing the university in this front page Detroit News story. Less than six months after taking office, Wilson is pushing an ambitious agenda to bolster the school's investment in students and faculty, lure high-profile researchers and secure more state funding. He wants to transform Wayne State University into the premier urban research institution in the country, with the renaissance of Midtown and Detroit as the backdrop. Among Wilson's strategies is lobbying lawmakers who historically have not been friendly to WSU, hoping to persuade them to put measures in place that could help shore up Wayne State's funding. He's also immersed in efforts to launch one of WSU's largest fundraising campaigns this year to help it surpass other prestigious urban research institutions, such as Temple University in Philadelphia and the University of Illinois-Chicago. "There's a tremendous amount of potential here at Wayne State, particularly with the revitalization of Midtown and the revitalization of downtown," Wilson said. "A strong Detroit is important for Michigan, and Wayne State is important for a strong Detroit. But I do worry that unless we can get some more state funding for higher ed - and for Wayne State specifically - that opportunity will be lost in terms of realizing (the university's) full potential."

Michigan's three largest universities contributed $16.6 billion to the state's economy but the number of start-up companies cultivated by the University Research Corridor (URC) is not keeping pace with its seven national peers, according to a report being released today. The economic footprint of the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University is up 30 percent since 2007, the year of the first assessment of the URC, formed to collaborate on research, take inventions from labs to marketplace, and attract new jobs. The annual report also shows that the URC has generated more than 66,000 direct and indirect jobs across the state, and $6 billion in wages of staff and alumni that added $449 million to state tax revenues. This year's report, prepared by East Lansing-based Anderson Economic Group, included a new ranking known as Innovation Power Ranking, which evaluates research and development spending, research commercialization and talent production. The URC ranked second when compared with the seven other major university research clusters it measures itself against, such as North Carolina's Research Triangle Park, California's Innovation Hubs and Massachusetts' Route 128 Corridor.

With the city going through the largest municipal bankruptcy in the country's history, DeShawn Singleton said it lifted his spirits today to see Detroiters out helping with its slow revival. Singleton, a 22-year-old sociology senior at Wayne State University, was among about 150 college students, residents and volunteers who went door-to-door at various abandoned homes along Hoover near Osborn High School cleaning up debris, trimming bushes and covering doors and windows with plywood. The goal was to make the street - where many children walk to school - less hazardous for the foot commutes. It was the second of three days of the AmeriCorps Urban Safety Project's Day of Service initiative, which organizers say honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy of service. "We're doing this in his name and what he stood for - standing up and making a change, and not being OK with what's going on," said project organizer Zach Fairchild of AmeriCorps' Urban Safety Project in the Center for Urban Studies at Wayne State University. Khatja McKay, a psychology student at Wayne State, said she was inspired by the residents out helping, especially the younger ones, some just 9 or 10 years old.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes showed once again Thursday that he is willing to forge his own path when it comes to Detroit's bankruptcy, even when the city officials think they have a deal. Rhodes surprised those involved in Detroit's bankruptcy when he threw out a proposed $285-million financing deal and $165-million settlement that the city said it desperately needed and was the best it could get. The decision is another example of how Rhodes has made legal decisions in the historic bankruptcy case that have been guided by a concern for the city, residents who have suffered for years with substandard city services and retirees who face pension and health care cuts. "Although he is a judge, I think he views himself as representing the people of Detroit - all of these little people who don't have a voice," said Laura Bartell, professor of law at Wayne State University.

Sagor Bhuiyan and Adham Aljahmi aren't your typical college seniors. In addition to being pre-med students, they've launched SIB Medical Technologies, a startup that aims to commercialize at-home stool sample collection kits that they say are simpler and less likely to expose patients to toxic materials. Bhuiyan learned of the device, which was invented by Wayne State University Professor Jeffrey L. Ram, through the university's technology commercialization department. Bhuiyan says he and Aljahmi were interested in founding a startup because they saw a way to solve a simple need that also has forensic applications. Bhuiyan and Aljami signed up for WSU's Blackstone Launchpad program, which nurtures student-led startups, and they officially formed SIB Medical Technologies in January 2013. Since that time, SIB has gone on to snag $5,000 from WSU's Warrior Fund, and mentoring plus a $7,500 resident technology commercialization grant from the TechTown business accelerator.

John Taylor, chair of the Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management in the School of Business Administration, commented in a piece about Detroit and Canadian trade and the declining value of the Canadian dollar. Taylor said the weaker Canadian dollar may affect Canadian shoppers who regularly visit Detroit area stores.

A new study suggests that patients with spinal cord injuries could benefit from careful assessment for sleep apnea. Results show that 77 percent of spinal cord injury survivors had symptomatic sleep-disordered breathing, and 92 percent had poor sleep quality. The study also found that the nature of sleep-disordered breathing in patients with spinal cord injury is complex, with a high occurrence of both obstructive and central sleep apnea events. The occurrence of central sleep apnea, which requires special consideration in diagnosis and treatment, was more common in patients with a cervical injury than in those with a thoracic injury. "The majority of spinal cord injury survivors have symptomatic sleep-disordered breathing and poor sleep that may be missed if not carefully assessed," said principal investigator and lead author Dr. Abdulghani Sankari, physician scientist at John D. Dingell VA Medical Center and Wayne State University School of Medicine. "Our findings help in identifying the mechanism of sleep-disordered breathing in spinal cord injury and may provide potential targets for new treatment."

The tradition of volunteer work on and around Martin Luther King Day continues in the city of Detroit, and it kicks off with an ambitious fight against blight this weekend. Several community organizations including AmeriCorps and the Michigan Community Service Commission have teamed up with Wayne State University's Center for Urban Studies for the MLK Day Service Series. Those interested in volunteering have three opportunities: Saturday, Sunday and/or Monday (the official Martin Luther King Day holiday). Organizers invite volunteers to "make it a day on, not a day off" for the 2014 MLK Weekend and help create safer routes to school for students near various Detroit Public Schools. The volunteer effort involves boarding and cleaning up over 20 vacant homes in three Detroit neighborhoods.

Researchers at Wayne State University have discovered a potential way to improve the lipid profiles in patients undergoing hemodialysis that may prevent cardiovascular disease common in these patients. Patients undergoing hemodialysis for kidney failure are at a greater risk for atherosclerosis, a common disease in which plaque builds up inside the arteries. The team of researchers discovered that a unique combination of vitamin E isomers known as tocotrienols improved the patients' lipid profiles. "After 12 and 16 weeks of intervention, the hemodialysis patients taking the Vitamin E supplements showed significant improvements in their blood lipid profiles," said Pramod Khosla, associate professor of nutrition & food science in Wayne State University's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. "Specifically, their triglycerides were reduced and their HDL cholesterol levels increased, as compared to the placebo group." "Accelerated cardiovascular disease is a major problem in the end-stage renal disease population, and these findings may lead to new approaches to understanding its pathophysiology and to treatment," commented Dr. James Sondheimer, associate professor of internal medicine in Wayne State's School of Medicine. "A multicenter trial to confirm these findings and determine clinical significance is clearly called for."

In her column about the state of organized labor following Michigan's adoption of a right-to-work law late in 2012, Crain's publisher Mary Kramer includes comments by Wayne State University labor expert Marick Masters. The public-sector unions are struggling most with pension reforms, whether it's in Detroit, Illinois, Chicago or just about any other spot in the country. "The public sector is the last bastion of defined-benefit plans," says Masters. "Increasingly, from a financial point of view, they're indefensible." So what should unions do? Besides pension reform, Masters thinks unions need to reinvent themselves to remain relevant. "Imagine if a labor union could deliver to an employer a workforce that was ready to work, certified for skills, certifiably drug free," he says. "That's a big burden off employers."

In urban development circles, strategies that leverage the staying power and scale of anchor institutions -- universities, hospitals and other place-based powerhouses -- are on the rise. But anchor institutions will only succeed in transforming communities and revolutionizing the way cities approach their developmental futures if they adopt high-road practices. In Detroit, for example, city leaders and foundations have identified Midtown, anchored by Wayne State University and Henry Ford Hospital, as the focal point for an integrated set of investments in housing, commercial development and medical research.

GO-GIRL (Gaining Options-Girls Investigate Real Life), a program run through the College of Education at Wayne State University, is aimed at encouraging seventh-grade girls to build science, technology, engineering and math skills, especially minority students who are traditionally underrepresented in those fields. Girls have to apply to get into GO-GIRLS, although they don't necessarily have to be top math or science students so much as solid, hardworking kids, says Sally Kay Roberts, director of the GO-GIRLS program. The program connects students with female researchers, allows them to tour university research laboratories and access university library resources. The program also recruits females working in STEM disciplines to talk to the girls about what their career is really like and how they prepared for it.

Wayne State University will host its annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Tribute Luncheon at the Max M. Fisher Music Center at 10 a.m. Friday, Jan. 17. The keynote speaker is Mae Jemison, a physician, engineer, educator, entrepreneur and NASA astronaut. Jemison was the first African American woman in space and now leads the 100 Year Starship initiative to enable innovations for human travel to the stars. "Dr. Jemison's admiration for Dr. King, coupled with her extraordinary achievements in science and technology, made her a great choice as our 2014 keynote speaker," said WSU Vice President of Government and Community Affairs Patrick O. Lindsey. "Each year, we celebrate King's legacy with those who personify his dream. We hope that those attending will be motivated to pursue their dreams so that they will be an inspiration for future generations." Net proceeds from the luncheon will support Adopt-A-Classroom, a nationally recognized organization that invites the community into classrooms to increase opportunities for student success by empowering teachers with community partnerships and funds to purchase resources. Last fall, Wayne State adopted Detroit's Burton International Academy. Since 2008, nearly 40 classrooms in the Detroit area have been sponsored.