This article about a project to record and present "Detroit stories in drama, fiction poetry, creative nonfiction and oral history" mentions that the Undergraduate Research and Creative Projects Program at Wayne State is involved. The Wayne State program is creating a documentary based on the interviews being conducted by students. The information will eventually be placed online in an archive that hosts a digital history of Detroit. Others involved in the project are Marygrove College, the InsideOut Literary Arts Project and Matrix Theatre.

Muneer Fareed, an imam and former Wayne State University professor, has taken over as the new secretary general of the Islamic Society of North America, the largest Muslim group in the United States that formed in 1963. Fareed was one of the founders and core scholars of the American Learning Institute for Muslims in Detroit. "He was an excellent teacher, an excellent administrator, and a very good colleague," said May Seikaly, chairwoman of WSU's Department of Near East and Asian Studies.

The Wayne State University Office of Undergraduate Research will host its annual Undergraduate Research Conference on Friday, Nov. 10, 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the McGregor Memorial Conference Center. The conference showcases the university\'s best undergraduate research projects and allows student researchers to share their work through panel and poster presentations. The event is free and open to the public.

In companion articles, theatre critic Robert Delaney reviews "Romeo and Juliet," playing at WSU's Hilberry Theatre, and "Inherit the Wind" at the Bonstelle Theatre. Phone numbers are given at the end of the reviews for readers to obtain performance times and ticket information.

The above stations carried reports on a traffic accident last night involving a stolen SUV and a WSU police car. The SUV struck the WSU patrol car at Second and Willis Streets then rolled over and hit a pedestrian. Detroit police are searching for the SUV driver, who managed to exit the damaged vehicle and flee on foot. An injured WSU police officer and the pedestrian were taken to a nearby hospital.

Law professor David Moran commented in a front-page story about the recent conviction of an Oakland County kindergarten teacher for sexually assaulting two young boys in his school. The Free Press found several discrepancies in the case, including inconsistencies in one of the boy's statements that bring the guilty verdict into question. Doubts about where the crime occurred weakened the case and the prosecutor's credibility, according to Moran. The assistant county prosecutor who handled the case said location of the assaults was irrelevant. But Moran says, "That argument is an insult to the intelligence of the judge. When you prove that it happened in a specific place and new evidence proves that it couldn't have happened there, that not only undermines the location, it undermines whether it happened at all."

A sidebar to an article about Congressional races in Michigan provides brief bios of the two candidates for the 14th District - incumbent John Conyers (Democrat) and challenger Chad Miles (Republican). The write-up mentions that Conyers earned undergraduate and law degrees from Wayne State.

A feature on TheraMatrix, a Pontiac-headquartered chain of outpatient physical therapy clinics, mentions that owner and CEO Bob Whitton has a bachelor's degree in psychology from Wayne State University.

The Java Exchange Café is scheduled to open Friday, Nov. 3, in TechTown at Wayne State University. Among other features, the shop will feature regular investment seminars through a partnership with Edward Jones financial services. The phone number and address are provided.

The Wayne State University women's tennis team beat Michigan Technological University 5-4 last Friday, 10/27. WSU won both the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles matches. Details and names of contestants in the various matches are given.

Total foreign enrollments at U.S. graduate schools increased by 1 percent this fall after three consecutive years of decline, according to findings of a survey by the Council of Graduate Schools. The number of new foreign students increased by 12 percent, suggesting that total enrollments should continue to rise, according to the report. The increase in international student enrollments was led by newly entering students from India and China. Programs in engineering, business and physical sciences experienced the biggest gains. More than 177 institutions participated in the poll.

On the 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. evening news, the station ran reports about the Tuesday night accident that sent a WSU police officer and a student pedestrian to the hospital. Charles Pugh reported from Detroit Receiving Hospital that the student was in critical condition, while the police officer had been released from the hospital. The accident involved a stolen SUV that struck a WSU patrol car while fleeing the scene of an attempted auto theft in the university area. The SUV rolled over and hit the student who was walking on the sidewalk. Pugh interviewed three students regarding their feelings about the incident and the station ran B-roll taken the previous night at the scene. Police are still searching for the suspect.

Ben Burns, director of the journalism program here and former executive editor of The Detroit News, is quoted in an obit for Wilbur Elston, a former editor at the Star-Tribune and former editorial writer for The News. Elston also taught journalism at Wayne State. "He worried about the meaning of what he was writing and what impact it would have," Burns said. "He wasn't shy about picking a fight with someone."

This article about candidates for a new circuit court judgeship in Macomb County mentions that one of the two, Carrie Lynn Fuca, has a law degree from Wayne State.

Feature story on Wayne State University alumnus Ernie Hudson, 60, a veteran character actor best known for his role in 1984's "Ghostbusters." He currently has a recurring role on TV's "Desperate Housewives." Hudson earned his undergraduate degree in theater from WSU in 1973. Earlier this year, WSU honored him with a Distinguished Alumni Award. "Wayne State taught me discipline. I've worked professionally for 40 years as a result of the training I got at Wayne State," said Hudson. "When I grew up, there were so many talented black kids who never found their place. If it wasn't for Wayne State, I can't imagine what my life would've been like. I'm really indebted to them."

Wayne State University will be celebrating the life of legendary Hollywood starlet Marlene Dietrich on Nov. 2 and Nov. 3. While she was born in Germany, Dietrich spoke out against the Nazis and received the Medal of Freedom in 1947 for her patriotic activities. The first event, promoting the book "A Woman At War: Marlene Dietrich Remembered" - published by WSU Press - will be at the Detroit Institute of Arts at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 2. David Riva, the book's editor and Dietrich's grandson, will be hosting a screening of his documentary, "Marlene Dietrich: Her Own Story," at 10 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 3, at the WSU Law School's Spencer M. Partrich Auditorium.

Michael Kamuyu, a Kenyan native and part-time instructor in the Department of Africana Studies at Wayne State University, offered his perspective on why the black culture in America is kept apart from other cultures. "A lot of Africans born in America are not even comfortable with being called African," he said. "They get offended, as if they've just been insulted. Until blacks here in this country stop being scared to call themselves Africans, our cultures will continually be kept apart - not by oppression, but by the ignorance that stands in between us." Jason Booza, a WSU Demographer, is quoted in the story about the large numbers of Nigerians living in Texas, New York and Maryland (a total of approximately 52,000), and how they are influencing those communities as they launch businesses, buy homes and have children in the school systems. "When you have small geographically based constituencies like that, yes, they can be a factor," Booza said.

Twenty-one students attending Wayne State University and Western Michigan University have been awarded $100,000 in scholarships for the 2006-07 academic year by The Dennis W. Archer Foundation. Ten students from WSU will each receive $5,000 scholarships. A photo of the scholarship recipients and Wayne State administrators is included. WSU administrators identified are: David Ripple, associate vice president, development, and Paul Fontella, director of development.

Wayne State's College of Nursing, a nationally endowed and accredited research and academic program, recently hosted its sixth annual LifeLine Awards tribute and dinner. The LifeLine Awards honor medical professionals, educators and activists who dedicate themselves to improving health-care locally, regionally and nationally. The Howard Baker Foundation has donated more than $1 million to the College of Nursing in support of the scholarships and full-time student enrollment. It's always a thrill to recognize people who work for change in areas that affect all of us, regardless of age, race or gender," said Barbara K. Redman, dean of the College of Nursing. "The contributions of our LifeLine recipients are vital to our physical, mental and emotional well-being.

Wayne State University law professor Peter Henning comments about the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission's (SEC) filing of fraud charges against nine Delphi executives - including CEO J.T. Battenberg. Henning says Delphi's Chapter 11 bankruptcy was not caused by the 2005 accounting fraud that reignited yesterday with the fraud charges. "It (2005 accounting fraud) only put off the day of reckoning… It was really a way to paper over in a small way the deterioration in the company's business," says Henning. Battenberg denies his guilt and former CFO Alan Dawes agreed to pay $687,000 in fines and penalties without any admission of guilt. Henning adds that Dawes would be the linchpin in the Delphi case, pointing out that the CFO's knowledge was key to the government's probe in similar accounting fraud cases involving Enron Corp. and WorldCom Inc. "The CFO not only knows the accounting but he also knows the management decisions for certain transactions, so he will be a key to the case," Henning says.