Professor Liette Gidlow of Wayne State University, specializes in 20th century politics, women's history and culture. In this week's class, Gidlow looks at the issue of civil rights in the early 1990's.

Wayne State University professor Michael Belzer commented in a story about the opening today of the new Detroit/Wayne county Port Authority terminal and the expansion of Detroit's trade opportunities. Broadening that current trade by making Detroit a hub serving the broader North American market will happen only if new economic linkages can be forged, said Belzer who studies transportation networks. Belzer said the potential exists for Detroit to be a dramatically more important hub of shipping agricultural goods and other products by combining port facilities in Detroit with rail and trucking lines serving the U.S. and Canada. But the economics tend to be complicated when transferring commodities between transit modes, say from ships to rail, he said.

New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg - who recently said on national television that all immigrants should come to Detroit - will be participating in a local conference on how immigrants can boost the economy, officials confirmed Thursday. The conference, to be held Monday at Wayne State University, will be Gov. Rick Snyder\'s first major speech on immigrants, whom he sees as playing a vital role in getting Michigan back on the path to prosperity. Bloomberg will be participating via teleconference, along with former Compuware CEO Peter Karmanos Jr., Detroit City Councilman Ken Cockrell Jr. and WSU President Allan Gilmour.

Wayne State could be in danger of losing its state funding because a government report shows it increased its tuition above the 7.1 cap set by the state budget. Despite the fact that WSU's Board of Governors voted June 22 to raise tuition 6.9 percent, a report issued by the House Fiscal Agency shows that WSU's tuition will increase 8.8 percent starting in the fall. "The state budget director has asked all Michigan public universities for certification that their tuition will not increase by more than 7.1 percent in the coming school year," said Matt Lockwood, WSU director of communication, in a statement. "We have begun that process and are confident that we are in compliance with the state's tuition restraint incentive."

NextEnergy announced June 30 that Ned Staebler has joined the company's board of directors. Staebler is vice president for economic development at Wayne State University.

An article gives an overview of an address from U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan, who spoke about business and job creation during a Detroit Economic Club meeting on Monday. \"Detroit is at the forefront once again,\" the HUD secretary added. \"Because of the investment of Compuware and Quicken Loans and support from Wayne State University and Gov. Snyder to forge business incubators like TechTown and Ann Arbor SPARK, Detroit has become the nation\'s fastest growing tech job market," he said. "It has helped America become a global leader in advanced vehicle battery manufacturing. Just think, two years ago, the United States only had two factories making them. By next year, 30 factories will be on line.\"

In an opinion piece, former newspaper publisher Phil Power supports the Great Lakes Global Freight Gateway, a plan to link the Canadian deep-water port of Halifax and river port of Montreal with the freight handling networks of southeastern Michigan via the Canadian National rail network terminating at Windsor. Michael Belzer, professor at Wayne State University and an expert on the economics of rail freight, also supports the plan and is quoted in the op-ed. Belzer calculates that the gateway could shorten by days international transit time for goods. This could also reduce distribution costs by as much as 20 percent, thereby shortening supply chains for all Michigan manufacturing, agricultural and distribution businesses. \"It\'s all about the cost per container,\" Belzer said. He believes a development like the gateway could allow the auto industry to cut costs by as much as $800 per car.

The Michigan Creative Film Alliance is looking for a local house that has a piano in it as a location for their next project, according to the Macomb County Film Office. The alliance - a filmmaking joint venture between Michigan State University, University of Michigan, and Wayne State University - is working on "Beauty Queen," the story of a female teen beauty pageant queen who is diagnosed with a rare skin disease that makes her hair fall out right before competition.

A panel of health care experts and employers concluded today at an Engineering Society of Detroit Institute meeting that waste in the health care system should be tackled methodically by using lean engineering, evidenced-based medicine and employer incentives to change workers sometimes-unhealthy lifestyle choices. At Wayne State University\'s School of Engineering, the eight panelists discussed the root causes and possible solutions to waste and inefficiency, which contribute to employers\' rising health benefit costs. Barbara Redman, dean of Wayne State's College of Nursing, said health care research can help hospitals, physician organizations and other health care companies reduce variations in services and address wasteful practices in treating patients with chronic diseases. \"Employers should require (insurance) contracts to include advanced-practice nurses. They cost less to educate, their salaries are lower, they have very high quality\" and can perform 70 percent of the tasks of a primary-care physician, Redman said.

Denise McNair, a graduate of Wayne State's School of Social Work, is profiled in an "Everyday Hero" segment highlighting people who have made a difference. McNair, 49, had spent 15 years of her life suffering from the substance abuse of crack and alcohol. Her life was spiraling out of control and she found herself incarcerated. When she was released from jail she secured a job cleaning the lobby at the Dearborn Inn, and eventually obtained her GED and associates degree. She enrolled at Wayne State University qualifying for a work study job, obtained her undergraduate degree and qualified for an accelerated program of 10 months allowing her to obtain a master's degree in Social Work. She is currently the clinical director of Get Back Up, an adult male substance rehab center located in Detroit.

Utica Community Schools administrative intern Tom Lietz has been honored by Wayne State University for his ongoing contributions to forensics education. Lietz, an associate principal intern at Heritage Junior High School and the Utica Academy for International Studies, has been named this year\'s recipient of the Robert Runyon Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award. Kelly Young, director of forensics at Wayne State University, said the award is presented annually by the communications department to honor individuals who have made substantial contributions to promoting speech and debate activities at the high school, college or national level.

The Detroit Tigers will host the franchise\'s ninth annual Negro Leagues Weekend July 15-17 at Comerica Park paying tribute to several former Negro Leagues players Among the honorees is Ron \"Schoolboy\" Teasley, a member of Wayne State University's Hall of Fame, who played for the Detroit Cubs, Toledo Cubs, Toledo Crawfords, Toledo Rays, Detroit Wolves and New York Cubans from 1938-48. He has worked for 20 years as an educator and baseball coach at Northwestern High School in Detroit.

In 2005, Jeffrey Martin, professor of kinesiology, health and sport studies in Wayne State University\'s College of Education, found that children living in underserved communities are less physically active than their higher-income counterparts. Now, in a follow-up study, Martin has found environmental factors that may affect underserved children\'s physical activity and fitness levels: classmate support, gender and confidence. The study was published in the June 2011 issue of Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. \"Underserved children, such as minority children living in low-income households, do not engage in enough physical activity either in or out of school and often lack fitness compared to Caucasian children,\" said Martin.

More than $30 million in state funding could be in jeopardy for Michigan State and Wayne State universities following a government report that shows the schools have exceeded a 7.1 percent tuition cap set this year by state lawmakers. Though MSU and WSU recently voted to raise tuition 6.9 percent in September, a report by the nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency shows that tuition will increase at MSU by 9.4 percent and at WSU by 8.8 percent, when comparing fall semester rates to 2010. Both universities insist they are in compliance. If state budget director John Nixon rules against the universities, MSU could be forced to forfeit $18.3 million in incentive funding, and WSU could lose up to $12.8 million. \"The state budget director has asked all Michigan public universities for certification that their tuition will not increase by more than 7.1 percent in the coming school year,\" WSU spokesman Matt Lockwood said in a statement. \"We have begun that process and are confident that we are in compliance with the state\'s tuition restraint incentive.\"

New Michigan Media will host its Immigration and Michigan\'s Economic Future conference on Monday, July 18, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Community Arts Auditorium. The free event will feature Gov. Rick Snyder delivering the keynote address on the role of immigrants and immigration in the revitalization of the state\'s economy. The conference, presented in collaboration with Global Detroit and sponsored by the McCormick Foundation and the New Economy Initiative, also includes presentations and panel discussions with former Compuware CEO Peter Karmanos Jr., Detroit City Councilman Kenneth Cockrel Jr., as well as several other business, media, philanthropic, academic and community leaders.

Michael Belzer, professor at Wayne State University who specializes in the economics of freight transportation, comments in a story about the ongoing debate over the proposed construction of a new bridge connecting Windsor and Detroit. The Ambassador bridge is the busiest crossing between the U.S. and Canada, the world's two largest trade partners, carrying more than 7 million vehicles in 2010 and an estimated 25 percent of the U.S.-Canadian trade. Belzer agrees that truck traffic volumes at the Detroit-Windsor border will increase over the coming decades. Unless a new bridge is built, \"we will be right back into the congestion problem we had a decade ago,\" he said. Belzer, who runs a nonprofit group that is trying to create an inland port in Detroit, also pointed out that more than 100 years ago, companies originally invested in Detroit because it had great transportation assets. Today, infrastructure still plays a key role in attracting business investments to the area, he said.

Wayne State University communications student Alex Gallegos is profiled about his short documentary on Detroit bike culture that is making its way around the web and earning accolades in the process. The film, viewed nearly 14,000 times since it was uploaded two weeks ago, highlights various individuals, groups and businesses contributing to Detroit\'s growing bicycle community, including the East Side Riders, Critical Mass, The Hub and Corktown Cycles. An excerpt from the film and Q & A are included.

The U.S. Supreme Court will be hearing a case arising from a local matter involving a teacher at a small Lutheran elementary school in suburban Detroit over federal civil rights protections. Cheryl Perich wanted her job back after a six-month disability leave and school officials refused, a dispute that could be used to clarify whether hundreds of thousands of employees at parochial schools and other church-affiliated institutions deserve federal civil rights protections. While the federal law in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex and ethnicity, it does contain a provision in which a religious employer may only hire individuals who practice that religion if their job duties include instruction in church doctrine or other \"propagation of a particular religion,\" a practice referred to as ministerial exception. \"There\'s a lot of significance to this. ... The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether this ministerial exception exists and, if so, whether this parochial school teacher qualifies as a minister,\" says Christopher Lund, assistant law professor at Wayne State University who teaches a course in religious liberty. \"One of the issues on which the lower courts are divided is whether these types of parochial school teachers qualify as ministers under the ministerial exception. Some lower courts have said they do, some have said they don\'t. One of the jobs of the Supreme Court is to resolve differences from lower courts.\"

Royce Hutson, assistant professor of social work at Wayne State University, contributed to an op-ed about the science of measuring mortality and morbidity, particularly in relation to war. There are bitter disputes among groups of researchers who study death tolls in the world\'s hot spots. Many governments would also prefer to discreetly avoid any discussion of the civilian costs of war. Yet the numbers matter. They can influence political responses to armed conflicts, famines and natural disasters. Statistics are routinely used to draw attention to evidence of systematic human rights violations and even genocide.

Jerry Herron, professor of English and American Studies at Wayne State University, commented in a story about the influence of TV dance shows on teens. \"Dance shows used to have a function; they were serving a need. \"Kids watched how the dancers moved, how they dressed, how they wore their hair. With the advent of MTV, those great dance shows became less relevant.\"