On Sunday, Dr. Herb Smitherman of Wayne State University's School of Medicine and The Hill's Karen Finney joined Melissa Harris-Perry on her MSNBC show to talk about the Affordable Care Act and the care it provides. A link to the discussion is included.

Craig Fahle interviewed experts about the U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding the Affordable Care Act. Among featured guests were Wayne State University law professor Lance Gable and Dr. Herb Smitherman, WSU assistant dean of community and urban health.

Forbes Woman columnist Anne Doyle shared her experience as part of the discussion about the changing roles of Muslim women with Wayne State University lecturers Saeed Khan and Layla Saatchi. "Recently, our terrific Detroit National Public Radio (WDET) Talk Show host, Craig Fahle, led a courageous and fascinating on-air conversation about the changing roles of Muslim women," Doyle wrote. The column includes a link to the audio of the discussion. A photo of Khan, WDET Radio Host Craig Fahle and Saatchi is included.

Professor Robert Sedler opined about the U.S. Supreme court's decision upholding the Affordable Care Act. Sedler wrote: "The effect of the decision is to now give the states a choice. Michigan will have to decide whether it wants to accept or refuse the Medicaid expansion, most of which will be paid for by the federal government. That decision, of course, does not affect the rest of the act." He concluded: "Pundits, politicians and law professors will continue to comment. But for lawyers and judges, the constitutional question is now settled. It is time to move on."

Craig Fahle spoke with Lead Systems Security Specialist for Wayne State University Kevin Hayes about recent computer security issues. They discussed an interesting "phishing expedition" recently perpetrated around Wayne State and what you can do to make your information safer.

Ferndale Mayor Dave Coulter has established a business council to help spur economic development in the city. Coulter is leading the group along with Ned Staebler, vice president for economic development at Wayne State University. Staebler formerly worked with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and is in a good position to deal with business owners' concerns, Coulter said. "The best way to grow our local economy is to leverage our local assets," Staebler said in a statement. "I'm excited to help connect Ferndale's business community with the resources at Wayne State and foster greater collaboration between industry, academia and government."

Poet Terry Blackhawk will take part in Saturday's inaugural Wayne State University Made in Michigan Literary Walk, featuring local authors -- from poets to rock 'n' roll historians -- who will read from and sign copies of their works at several Midtown venues. "This is a way to showcase Wayne State University Press and the writers, as well as different locations within our cultural community," said Blackhawk. "It will be a movable feast, and I'm very delighted and thrilled to be a part of it." The event will be held at various locations on campus throughout the day Saturday.

Wayne State University's Board of Governors approved a 3.88 percent increase on a 6-2 vote Wednesday. The move placed WSU under a 4 percent tuition rate increase cap that the Legislature established for Michigan's public universities to be eligible for performance funding. "This is never easy to do. … Our Michigan economy has shown signs of improvement, but there's a long way to go," said Allan Gilmour, president of Wayne State. The total general fund budget for WSU next year totals $567 million. That's up four-tenths of 1 percent, Gilmour said.

The recent H1N1 flu pandemic was found to be particularly dangerous to obese people, and a Wayne State University researcher is looking for clues as to why. Emily Martin, assistant professor of pharmacy practice in the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, has begun interviewing people hospitalized with influenza to study how weight impacts their illness, response to treatment, and recovery. The project, "Influenza and Obesity: A Prospective Study of Patient Outcomes and Antiviral Resistance," is supported by a one-year, $10,000 grant from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.

WWJ reporter Sandra McNeill spoke with Wayne State students about tuition costs on the eve of today's Board of Governors meeting.

An editorial calls Gov. Snyder's announcement about funding more than $300 million into 18 infrastructure projects a "drop in the bucket as things go, but at least the water is headed in the right direction." The editorial further notes: "That it's a lot of money, "but compared to the hundreds of millions the state has siphoned from higher education funding over the past decade, it hardly registers. And this is money for infrastructure, not general fund money to educate young people. However you cut it, this is still an investment in higher ed, and that's a good thing." Wayne State's $30 million to help build a biomedical research building is mentioned as one of the projects.

Evolution-wise, bottlenose dolphins have left their mammalian brothers in the dust, and new research is showing what genes they changed to do it. These genes include those involved in brain and metabolism. These changes could be why dolphins are known to be exceptionally smart, able to use tools, recognize themselves and even communicate with each other and with trainers. "We are interested in what makes a big brain from a molecular perspective," study researcher Michael McGowen, of the Wayne State University School of Medicine, told LiveScience. "We decided to look at genes in the dolphin genome to see if there are similarities in the genes that have changed on the dolphin lineage and those that have changed on the primate lineage."

Leaders and environmentalists came together last week in Rio de Janeiro for the Rio+20 environmental sustainability conference. The goal of the event was to bring countries together to establish sustainability guidelines. Richard Smith, associate professor of social work at Wayne State University, participated in the conference as part of the Eco-Cities Builders group. He spoke with WDET's J. Carlisle Larsen about what was agreed upon at Rio+20.

Michigan universities, colleges get $300 million from state for building projects Wayne State University hosted Gov. Rick Snyder yesterday as he signed a bill authorizing more than $300 million in spending on Michigan universities. Wayne State President Allan Gilmour outlined plans for the new Multidisciplinary Biomedical Research Building, set to break ground this summer. "The students will be the long-term beneficiaries of this, and so will the transfer of knowledge," Gilmour said. "People will push for more answers (and) push the boundaries of knowledge." WDET reporter Dan Lloyd provided on site coverage of the event, and the station ran stories throughout the evening.

Cheryl Deep, Wayne State University's Institute of Gerontology, was a guest on NPR's Joy Cardin show discussing Brain Neurobics. Research suggests that certain types of mental exercises might help our brain maintain concentration, memory and visual and spatial skills over the years. Deep conducts "Brain Neurobics" sessions for the institute.

Wayne State University plans to begin work this year on a $93 million biomedical research facility in Midtown that President Allan Gilmour believes will "revitalize a city block that is now vacant." The university hosted Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder on Monday for the signing of a capital outlay bill that committed $30 million in state funding to the project, which includes renovation of the former Dalgleish Cadillac dealership on Cass Avenue, construction of a new addition and demolition of the American Beauty Electric Irons Building. Wayne State is expected to occupy the majority of the 196,500-square-foot facility, which will house up to 450 research-related employees, while Henry Ford Health Systems plans to move a bone and joint center and motion analysis lab there. The 127,000-square-foot Dalgleish Cadillac building, designed by Albert Kahn and constructed in 1927, is in solid shape and will be outfitted with a 70,000-square-foot addition that will front Woodward Avenue. A photo of the site is included.

Gov. Rick Snyder on Monday is scheduled to sign legislation to authorize and assist construction for 18 projects at public universities and community colleges across Michigan. The combined long-term costs of the projects are estimated at about $613 million, according to the House Fiscal Agency. The state's share of the costs would be nearly $305 million. Snyder plans to sign the capital outlay bill at Wayne State University. WSU plans a $90 million biomedical research building, with completion expected in January 2015.

"Up" host Chris Hayes talks with Dr. Herbert Smitherman Jr., assistant dean of community and urban health at Wayne State University, about the consequences of the Supreme Court's upcoming ruling on the Affordable Care Act.

Gov. Rick Snyder's administration this fall will launch its comprehensive logistics strategy aimed at turning Michigan into a global logistical hub that it says could bring up to 75,000 direct jobs to the state. At its core, the initiative is a promotional effort to pitch the state's advantages -- such as transportation assets, locations, incentives and workforce -- to companies globally, thereby increasing trade and investment in Michigan. "There's tremendous opportunity to better market the region as a transportation, logistics and distribution hub. We have many of the infrastructure pieces in place," said John Taylor, an associate professor of supply chain management and director of supply chain programs at Wayne State University. "We need to market the aerotropolis instead of talking about it. It's there, it exists. It's already a major hub."

Michigan's public universities are increasing the number of nonresident students on their campuses in an effort to battle demographic slumps in state high school graduates and buttress slumping budgets. Last fall, about 51,000 students from another U.S. state or a foreign country took classes at Michigan's 15 public universities. That's just more than 20 percent of the total students and is up from fall 2010, when about 48,000 students (or 16 percent of the total) from another state or foreign country took classes at a Michigan university. However, most of the out-of-state students were clustered at a few universities. Wayne State University isn't trying to recruit nonresident students. "We need to focus on educating all the students in Michigan before reaching out to other states," said Robert Kohrman, the associate vice president for budget, planning and analysis at WSU, which wants to increase recruiting in west Michigan. "Michigan taxpayers are providing funding to us to help the students of Michigan."