In her second attempt to amend The Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act of 1976, Sen. Rebekah Warren (D-Ann Arbor) announced Thursday new legislation that would prohibit employers, landlords, and others in Michigan from discriminating based on sexual orientation, gender identity or expression. The Democratic lawmaker was joined by her allies - members of Unity Michigan Coalition and Professor Peter Hammer, director of the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights at Wayne State University Law School - to introduce the legislation.

In her second attempt to amend The Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act of 1976, Sen. Rebekah Warren (D-Ann Arbor) announced Thursday new legislation that would prohibit employers, landlords, and others in Michigan from discriminating based on sexual orientation, gender identity or expression. The Democratic lawmaker was joined by her allies - members of Unity Michigan Coalition and Professor Peter Hammer, director of the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights at Wayne State University Law School - to introduce the legislation.

The Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth estimates a shortage of 18,000 nurses in the state by 2015 - and the labor force is adapting. The College of Nursing at Wayne State University is enrolling a wide range of people switching to health careers, including former manufacturing workers, said Barbara Redman, its dean. "They bring age, experience and discipline," she said. Timothy Henk, 32, worked for eight years at the Ford Sterling Axle Plant in Sterling Heights. In 2007, he took a buyout, which included $15,000 a year for four years to put toward education. Two friends in nursing - both women - had suggested he look into joining their profession. He researched the demand for nurses in Michigan and used the buyout money to pay his tuition at Wayne State. Henk went through Wayne State's four-year program to obtain a bachelor of science in nursing and then took a licensing exam to become a registered nurse, or R.N. He now works in the critical care unit at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak.

A design by a team of undergraduate biomedical engineering students from Wayne State University's College of Engineering has been selected as one of the top 10 worldwide in the College Engineering category of the 2012 Extreme Redesign 3D Printing Challenge. Students Zahraa Bazzi, Stan Marek and Abrar Wazir submitted a design for a diabetic testing station that would allow an individual with the use of only one arm to independently test their blood glucose levels. "This is a tremendous achievement for our students and for our undergraduate biomedical engineering program," said Michele Grimm, undergraduate program chair and associate professor. A photo of the WSU students is included.

After four years of collegiate fencing, Wayne State senior Michael Ramlow has qualified for the prestigious NCAA Fencing Championship for the first time. The event will be held in Columbus, Ohio, this Thursday through Sunday. Also participating at the NCAA Championships will be fellow Wayne State fencers, freshman Quentin Schneider in the foil, and junior Nick Silantyev in the sabre.

Now in its 13th year, the Art of Aging Successfully was held at the Greater Grace Conference Center in Detroit attracting 500 people. Peter Lichtenberg, director of the Wayne State University Institute of Gerontology, founded and organized the conference as a way to celebrate older adults. "We don't get into health, we focus on wellness," said Lichtenberg. "We don't get into problems, we focus on achievements and aspirations. There are so many negative beliefs about aging and older adults. … We're here to show people that's not the case." The day featured several speakers, vendors offering services and many displays of artwork. It also featured several small group sessions for participants, including art therapy, brain "neurobics" and an exercise class. Photos of the conference are included.

Gov. Rick Snyder offered universities a slight increase in higher education funding for fiscal year 2013, provided they perform in a few key areas such as more degrees completed, better graduation rates in key skill areas, like math and science, and tuition increases kept to 4 percent or less. Snyder's proposal calls for a 3 percent overall increase in higher education funding, translating to a range from 0.9 percent to 7.6 percent for individual universities based on their performance in the key areas identified as well as the number of Pell Grant recipients at each school. All 15 public universities will have a chance to testify before the Legislature makes its budget proposal. On March 28, the committee will hear from the remaining schools - Wayne State University, Eastern Michigan University, Central Michigan University and the MSU Extension and Ag Bio Research.

Wayne State University researchers are helping create the wireless networking future in metropolitan Detroit with the help of national initiatives. Hongwei Zhang, assistant professor of computer science in WSU's College of Engineering, and Patrick Gossman, deputy CIO for special projects in WSU's Division of Computing and Information Technology, received a three-year, $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to build an experimental wireless networking infrastructure for research, education and application exploration. The network will comprise multiple sectors, or cells, using WiMAX (worldwide interoperability for microwave access), a communication technology for wirelessly delivering high-speed Internet service to large geographical areas. WiMAX offers far superior range compared to conventional Wi-Fi networks. "This project will enable the development of wireless vehicular cyber-physical systems (CPS) toward safe, efficient and clean transportation," Zhang said. "It also will enable integrative research and education in wireless CPS through a multilevel, multicomponent education practice."

As a captain for Wayne State University's swim team, Catherine Leix could not have asked for a better way to end her college career. Leix earned All-American honors with her effort as the Warriors won their first-ever Division II national championship in Mansfield, Texas this past weekend. On the first day, Leix took third place in the 500-yard freestyle (4:51.64) and was also part of Wayne State's 800-yard freestyle relay team that took first place - accounting for the first national championship of her career. She finished the weekend by taking seventh place in the 1650 freestyle (17:06:02) and 10th place in the 200-yard freestyle. In the four individual events she competed in during the meet, three resulted in top eight finishes. Leix, a fifth-year senior, secured her spot at nationals for the fourth straight year while helping the Warriors win their second-consecutive GLIAC conference title in February. She's earned All-American honors at nationals in every season since her sophomore year at Wayne State. The championship was the first team national title at Wayne State since the women's fencing team won in 1989.

During the morning newscast it was noted that Wayne State University's Board of Governors will meet today to discuss various topics including increases in room and board rates, budget and finances, grant and contract reports and structural repairs.

This feature story examines how Wayne State University police officers are providing a service that deters car thefts on campus and in the Midtown area. Police officers offer VIN etching to students, staff and neighboring Midtown Detroit communities, which WSU Lt. Dave Scott says is helping cut down on car theft in and around the University. "We've cut crime, auto crime in the Wayne State area and on campus by 70 percent in the last four years," said Scott. Cadets verify a person's VIN number and then create a computer cut stencil for the car. Using a mild acid paste over the stencil, they are able to etch a very light amount of glass. It's a permanent mark that thieves cannot alter. "The value is here that this car is stolen and a thief wants to retag it, he can replace that vin plate pretty easy, but now the numbers won't match. So he's got to replace all the glass in the car," said Scott. "It just got real expensive for him to replace or hide this car." There could also be a financial incentive to having a car VIN etched. "We'll give you a certificate of VIN etching, which could help reduce your comprehensive portion of your car insurance by up to 5 per cent if your major insurance company supports the program. Many of them do," said Scott.

Jennifer Labuda, Wayne State University assistant professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Psychology and Neurophsychology, talked about maintaining communication with the elderly during a segment of Pat Sweeting's "Caregiver Resource Guide." Labuda suggested that social support and social connectiveness is critical to maintaining communication with the elderly or anyone who is homebound. The use of social media, phone calls and cards are good sources for staying in touch.

Metro Detroit tied with metro Chicago for last place for entrepreneurial start-ups among the 15 largest metro areas, says the latest annual report from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. The data, however, can't express the entrepreneurial spirit evident at places like TechTown, a public-private business incubator at Wayne State University, said Leslie Smith, CEO and president. She said there has been a surge in activity over the last five years at the facility, which helps would-be business owners launch start-ups and gain needed skills. TechTown's monthly open houses are packed and the incubator's office space is full of tenants, she said. "Do I think we are on par with others in major metros? Obviously not. But the activity we're seeing at TechTown is up every day," she said.

During the sports reports it was noted that the Wayne State University women's swimming and diving team clinched the Division II national championship title - the first national championship for the University since 1989.

Gov. Rick Snyder embarks Saturday on a week-long trade mission to Italy and Germany for meetings with auto executives and other businesses. Snyder also will be joined in Germany by representatives from Wayne State University, Grand Valley State University, Michigan State University and the University of Michigan for a Partnership Forum at the Fraunhofer Institute, Europe's largest application-oriented research organization.

The FIRST Robotics Rebound Rumble was held Friday and Saturday at Wayne State University, pitting schools from Flint, Okemos and Temperance against schools from Detroit to Pontiac and places in between. The program is run by FIRST Robotics, an organization seeking to build science and technology leadership in the U.S. through mentoring and hands-on training. Students got their robot kits in January. Many wrote business proposals to seek sponsors to help them compete, said Jeffrey Block, assistant vice president of special events for Wayne State.

Karen McDevitt, lecturer in the Department of Communications of the College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts, discussed the popularity of Facebook and the pitfalls of sharing too much personal information.

Winnipeg Jets forward Blake Wheeler and head coach Claude Noel agree on one thing - they have never seen a team win so often at home and fare so badly on the road. Researchers say there's much more to the story than just noisy fans. "There are a variety of reasons" teams do well at home, said Justin Carré, assistant professor of psychology at Wayne State University and a former college hockey player. He cited referee bias, travel, crowd density, familiarity with surroundings and something else: biology. Carré has done studies on hockey players that show their testosterone level increases significantly before home games. Testosterone levels were also higher after victories at home than on the road, his studies showed.

Plans are under way for the Community House's inaugural gala on March 24, at The Community House. The gala will honor family business owner David Trott of Trott & Trott. Allan Gilmour, president of Wayne State University, will serve as the evening's keynote speaker. The event begins at 5:30 p.m., with a VIP reception for gala sponsors and VIP guests with Gilmour and Trott.

Detroit Free Press columnist Ron Dzwonkowski features "Coney Detroit," a new book from the Wayne State University Press. The book's royalties are being donated to Gleaners Community Food Bank. "Coney Detroit" was written by two devotees of our regional fast-food specialty - former Free Press editor Joe Grimm, now a teacher at Michigan State University, and current Free Press business writer Katherine Yung. You will learn from "Coney Detroit" that southeast Michigan is the undisputed coney capital of the world, probably because they were the original "fast food" in the 1920s when the area was exploding with people who often needed a cheap meal in a hurry during a break from work.