A brief in the entertainment section notes that Harry Belafonte, 84, will deliver the fifth Keith Biennial Lecture at 7 p.m. Sept. 8 at Wayne State University\'s Community Arts Auditorium. The free event was originally scheduled for last fall. For more information: www.keithcenter.wayne.edu.

Every year, David Smith, a history and Latin teacher at Wayne State University and Grosse Pointe South high school, takes a step back in time by participating in Fort Malden\'s Military Heritage Days in Amherstburg. Smith is a period re-enactor from ancient Rome\'s first century AD. \"It allows us to go beyond the text and put ideas into practice,\" he said at the event Sunday. \"It\'s a chance to feel it and live it.\"

Power at several Wayne State University buildings was reduced for hours Monday afternoon in a bid to avoid taxing the city\'s system. Public Lighting Department officials requested the cut by raising indoor temperatures and turning off noncritical equipment at Natural Science; McGregor; Art Building, Community Arts and Alumni House; Reuther Library; and Prentis Hall.

Harvey Hollins III, Wayne State University's vice president for government and community affairs, was a guest on "The Craig Fahle Show" discussing his appointment by Governor Rick Snyder\'s administration to direct the Michigan Office of Urban and Metropolitan Initiatives. His appointment is effective Sept. 1, and his plan for the state is to \"build on the distinctive attributes of our cities and tailor solutions that effectively address their needs.\"

A study titled "Invisible Poverty" released in July by Wayne State University's Institute of Gerontology is included as the Gaylord Herald Times' Top Story of the day. The study indicates that the 2010 census underestimates the number of senior citizens living in poverty in Michigan. According to the census, 9.7 percent of elderly are living in poverty. The Wayne State project discovered the actual number was 37 percent. The Elder Index calculates the bare necessities needed for senior survival such as housing, transportation, health care and food. Dona Wishart, executive director of the Otsego County Commission On Aging, which provides a number of programs that promote the well-being of older adults, said "I have high regard for the work that the Wayne State Gerontology Institute produces. Yes, we have seen an increased need for services from our senior population."

Health Alliance Plan is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a free summer festival in Detroit August 6 on Wayne State University's campus featuring live entertainment, health and wellness experts, health cooking demos and a recipe contest. The HAP Happy Together Summer Fest will be held from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at WSU's Physical Education Center.

A new study by Wayne State University and the Dearborn nonprofit ACCESS will examine the effects of air pollution on respiratory health among the area's youth and elderly in Dearborn's south end. Preliminary data indicates the rate of asthma-related hospitalizations in Dearborn's south end is more than double that of Michigan in general, according to the University Research Corridor. The study's joint research team, led by Mary Dereski of WSU, will focus on how air pollution from nearby factories affects the onset of acute asthma. The abnormally high rate of such respiratory diseases in the south end should be of "great concern," Dereski said in a statement.

Several media outlets statewide reported that Harvey Hollins III, Wayne State University's vice president for government and community affairs, will be moving to a job with the state of Michigan on Sept. 1. Gov. Rick Snyder appointed him to head up the newly created Office of Urban and Metropolitan Initiatives. Hollins will serve as an adviser to Snyder on issues related to urban and regional economic initiatives. He will be based in Detroit, but will also have offices in Grand Rapids and Flint. \"I\'m glad we have a governor who\'s not afraid of and believes in a great Detroit,\" Hollins said.

The vast majority of Wayne State jobs eliminated July 28 and 29 were administrative, Robert Kohrman, associate vice president for budget, planning and analysis said Aug. 1. Kohrman said that while he did not have a comprehensive list of all positions eliminated, no teaching faculty members were eliminated and the cuts occurred throughout the entire university. Matt Lockwood, WSU director of communications, told the Detroit Free Press July 30 that all the positions were administrative, except for one clinical faculty position.

The Southeast Michigan Purchasing Managers Index took a precipitous decline in July, down nearly 10 points from the June level to 51.7. Anything over 50 indicates a growing economy, but for now at least, the local expansion has nearly stalled. It was the fourth straight month of decline since the index hit a high of 71.8 in March. It is the 18th straight month above 50. "It is possible that this slowdown can be attributed to a temporary summer slowdown in manufacturing," said Nitin Paranjpe, an economist and faculty member in supply chain management at Wayne State University, which analyzes monthly results compiled by the local chapter of the Institute for Supply Chain Management.

Macomb Community College is in exploratory talks about building a new facility on the Lake St. Clair shoreline to offer direct lake access for students in water quality or environmental science research programs. The college is in talks with universities and various government agencies in Southeast Michigan about the project, one of several that college President Jim Jacobs announced at the fourth annual Lake St. Clair Appreciation Day. The others include a new degree program with Oakland University, Wayne State University or Michigan State University to train water quality technicians, which Jacobs hopes to formalize later this year, as well as a non-credit training course to give students skills for jobs at local boating marinas, and an exhibition devoted to the lake at the college\'s Albert Lorenzo Cultural Center in Clinton Township sometime next year.

Calling it a "whitewash," local Latinos and advocates blasted today an internal investigation by a federal immigration agency that dismissed allegations of abuse and profiling. And they called for the community to start videotaping federal agents whenever they target minorities. In April, the head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) John Morton said his agency would conduct an internal probe into a dozen allegations from local Latinos and immigrants that federal agents had profiled and abused them. The completed report, obtained Friday by the Free Press, said all the complaints were unfounded or unsubstantiated. Also attending the event yesterday in support were Lawrence Garcia, chair of the Hispanic Latino Commission of Michigan, Wayne State University professor Jose Cuello and Angela Reyes, director of the Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation.

The nearly 200 students in Wayne State University\'s electric vehicle engineering master\'s program may have taken different routes to get there, but they have the same goal: Capitalize on the auto industry\'s growing need for electric vehicle engineers. The transition from automotive mechanical engineer to EV engineer can be difficult, said Jerry Ku, director of the master\'s degree program. Unlike traditional automotive engineering, where countless mock-ups and models were used to test vehicles, most of the modeling and testing of EVs is done using software that represents the entire EV system, Ku said. Also, he said, EV engineering is multidisciplinary. The engineers must be proficient in electrical and chemical engineering, among other things. Wayne State established the EV engineering program in May 2010 in conjunction with Macomb Community College after they received a joint $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. The institutions offer several degrees in alternative-energy and electric-drive technology. A sidebar describes the various degree programs related to electric vehicles at WSU and Macomb Community College. Also, a photo of Ku is included.

Dave Cole, the former chairman of the Center for Automotive Research, and Jayson Pankin, a former Delphi Holdings LLP executive, have formed the AutoHarvest Foundation, a nonprofit to help automakers, auto suppliers and universities market and license their intellectual property through a website it hopes to launch in its final form next year. Those entities have patents and other intellectual property they would like to commercialize, and they are sure there are potential customers or partners who would be interested. But until now, they have had no easy clearinghouse for finding them. AutoHarvest, a 501(c)(3), was granted nonprofit status by the IRS last December and is headquartered in a small office on the fifth floor of Detroit\'s TechTown incubator. It also has space in the University of Michigan\'s North Campus Research Complex in Ann Arbor. Already pledging support, and in some cases up-front cash, are more than 60 organizations, including Wayne State University, Ford; Chrysler Group LLC; General Motors Co.; Ohio State University; Kettering University; Visteon Corp.; Delphi; 3M Corp.; TARDEC; Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M.; Michigan State University; NextEnergy; and Automation Alley.

Women attorneys lead both sides of a court battle under way over Michigan university practices in admissions, financial aid and other areas. It\'s an issue that could soon reach the U.S. Supreme Court. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found last month that Proposal 2, the 2006 Michigan constitutional amendment passed by voters to ban consideration of race and gender in college admissions and government hiring, violates the U.S. Constitution. Attorney General Bill Schuette last week filed a request for the 15-judge court in Cincinnati to scrap that ruling by a three-judge panel and hear the case again as a whole. If the court denies that request, attorneys and university officials expect the state to take the case to the Supreme Court. Partner Shanta Driver at Detroit-based Scheff, Washington & Driver PC is co-lead counsel for the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary and a collection of 36 Latino and African-American students and applicants to the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University, who are also co-defendants in one of two consolidated lawsuits over Prop 2.

Pontiac-based New Passages Behavioral Health & Rehabilitation Services has been acquired by Hope Network, a Grand Rapids-based provider of specialty health services and community-based programs in a noncash deal, said Hope Network CEO Phil Weaver. The two nonprofits said raising about $2 million in capital for information-technology projects and the need to reduce expenses to prepare for health care reform led the companies to combine operations. Weaver said Hope Network has agreed to fund the institute for the first three years, including $500,000 this year. The institute, which intends to seek grants for research projects and be self-sufficient, also plans to affiliate with universities, including Wayne State University, to conduct joint research, Jacobs said.

A recent Wayne State University study is cited in this story about the healing power of faith. The WSU study found that if traumatic brain injury victims feel close to a higher power, it can help them rehabilitate. The study of 88 patients at the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan in Detroit was published in the February issue of Rehabilitation Psychology.

Lyke Thompson, director of Wayne State University's Center for Urban Studies, appeared on Spotlight on the News with Chuck Stokes to discuss the debate about the U.S. budget deficit and how it impacts Michigan. "The debate in Washington about the budget deficit is the wrong priority for Michigan," Thompson said. "Michigan is actually seeing an increasing unemployment rate and at the same time, we\'re focused at the national level on reducing deficits, which will, by all economic estimates, actually increase the number of jobless so the focus of the debate nationally is totally off kilter relative to Michigan\'s interest."

Pontiac-based New Passages Behavioral Health & Rehabilitation Services has been acquired by Hope Network, a Grand Rapids-based provider of specialty health services and community-based programs in a noncash deal, said Hope Network CEO Phil Weaver. As part of the acquisition, Hope Network will create the Hope Institute for Research, the only Michigan-based private specialty health research institute and only one of a handful in the U.S., Weaver said. Weaver added that the Hope Network has agreed to fund the institute for the first three years, including $500,000 this year. The institute, which intends to seek grants for research projects and be self-sufficient, also plans to affiliate with universities, including Wayne State University, to conduct joint research.

A Lansing State Journal editorial brief applauds state Budget Director John Nixon's decision last week that Michigan State University and Wayne State University complied with the state\'s tuition restraint requirements, thus making the universities eligible for additional state funding.