Fred Reinhart, director of technology at Wayne State University, is noted as an attendee of the BIO 2006 annual convention of the Biotechnology Industry Association. Reinhart said he was attending sessions and networking.

Dr. Michael Simon, a member of the Breast Multidisciplinary Team, Karmanos Cancer Institute and professor, department of internal medicine at Wayne State, was appointed to the African American National Advisory Council by the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Universities and local governments that offer health insurance to the partners of gay workers are violating a 2004 amendment to the Michigan Constitution concerning marriage, the state attorney general's office argued Tuesday in court. Eric Restuccia, a lawyer for Attorney General Mick Cox, said giving the same benefits to same-sex partners that now go to spouses and children puts domestic partnerships on a similar footing as marriage, even though the constitutional amendment limited marriage to a man and a woman. Restuccia added that nothing would stop public employers from offering benefits to same-sex partners, as long as they also are given to workers' relatives or possibly others they designate. An attorney for the University of Michigan and Wayne State University told the court that the cost of covering health care for those who aren't spouses, children or domestic partners would be "astronomical."

Gloria Hage, representing U-M and Wayne State University on the issue of same-sex benefits to Michigan couples, said requiring employers to offer benefits beyond domestic partners would drive up the cost of insurance premiums and throw other benefits, such as rights to married housing, in question. "To interpret this to go beyond the legal definition of marriage - will leave universities to guess how to design our benefits packages…How wide do we have to cast the net?" she asked.

New research looking at the brains of women during hot flashes has begun to answer some of the questions about what causes them and how to treat the symptoms. The research also supports the notion that simple methods -- like wearing light clothing, drinking cold drinks and turning up the air conditioning -- are a lot more helpful than most women think. Researchers at Wayne State University recently studied 12 menopausal women prone to hot flashes using magnetic resonance imaging technology that allowed the scientists to track for the first time the brain functions of the women during a hot flash. According to the results, \"this seems to be a temperature-related event, so it almost certainly originates somewhere in the brain,\" says Wayne State psychiatry professor Robert Freedman, who has led much of the recent hot-flash research. \"And we likely experience the discomfort of it in the brain.\" In other studies, Wayne State researchers have found that women who experience the most difficult hot flashes are different in how their bodies regulate temperature, sweating and cooling down.

Jerry Herron, professor of contemporary American culture, commented about the popularity of student Web sites such as www.ratemyteachers.com. The Web site, which allows students and parents to anonymously sound off about teachers and administrators, has gained a huge following -- and as many detractors. School districts across the country and around the world -- about 750 of them in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom -- have barred students from using the site while on school grounds, including many in metro Detroit, including Novi, St. Clair Shores, Troy, Wayne-Westland and Chippewa Valley. Such sites feed the American obsession with ratings and contests, Herron said. He doesn\'t consider that a negative. \"These are signs of a healthy democratic impulse that doesn\'t get expressed in the usual way -- voting and running for office,\" Herron said. \"And they tend not to be forums for the cranky and disaffected looking for commiseration.\"

Theatre reviewer Lawrence B. Johnson gave an A- to the Hilberry Theatre's "The Inspector General." Johnson says the production is a "robust, earthy, riotous rendering by the young troupe at Wayne State University's Hilberry Theatre."

A sidebar notes that Wayne State University's Orchestra and Symphonic Chorus will be performing in honor of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, at the Community Arts Auditorium. Ticket and contact information is provided.

Michael Sessions, an 18-year-old Wayne State University freshman, is one of eight candidates vying for two open seats on the Plymouth-Canton Community Schools board in the May 2 election. Hynes said he believes his age will not hinder him in the race - and only help if he's elected to the board. "I think it's going to be an advantage for me," he said. Between classes at WSU, where he is majoring in public affairs and social work, Hynes tutors Detroit kindergartners and first-graders who are struggling to read. He also interns at the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan and a law office in Ann Arbor.

Wayne State University Law School appointed Krystal Gardner as director of its career services office.

Softball: Wayne State outfielder Becky Quinn is the Great Lakes player of the week after batting .600 with three home runs and nine RBIs.

Wayne State's Office of Marketing and Communications honored Cara Orchard, marketing coordinator, Office of Business and Auxiliary Operations, with the 2006 Beth Thibault Memorial Communicator of the Year Award. Orchard received the award at the seventh annual University Communicators Conference at Wayne State. Orchard oversees marketing initiatives for the university's One Card, parking recreation and fitness center and housing programs.

The Life Sciences Core Technology Alliance, a consortium that includes Michigan's three largest research universities, plans by early fall to begin drug research at a new $18 million facility at Argonne National Labs in Lemont, Ill., a federal lab operated by the University of Chicago. The new lab will enable the alliance to access a high-energy light source that cost Argonne hundreds of millions of dollars to build, said John Oliver, vice president of the alliance and vice president for research at Wayne State University. The light source allows researchers to determine the molecular structure of large molecules very quickly and is primarily used in drug-treatment research. The consortium has made a 15-year commitment to conduct the research, Oliver said.

Former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer will deliver the keynote address at the WSU Law School 's symposium on "The Reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act" at noon Wednesday, April 12, in the Spencer M. Partrich Auditorium.

Wayne State professor Michael Belzer, an expert on the trucking industry, is quoted in an article that examines whether paying truck drivers by the load may lead to their driving unsafely in an attempt to transport more loads in a given time span. The situation is of particular concern for drivers who haul hazardous commodities, such as gasoline and chemicals. "The carrier wants to keep the rate based on piece work so it can eliminate the risk it might otherwise have due to traffic tie-ups, weather, loading or unloading delays, or anything else," Belzer explained.

A brief piece Sunday afternoon about an upcoming Detroit Orientation Institute program at Wayne State , included comments by program director Ann Slawnik. She explained features of the institute and noted that "it's a great way for people to get connected" with Detroit .

This online newsletter carries a Detroit Free Press story by Michael Ellis and Jennifer Dixon about GM's recently reported accounting errors and an explanation of them by CEO Rick Wagoner. Winning a vote of confidence from GM's Board of Directors recently, Wagoner told the Free Press reporters that bringing in an outsider to run the company at this time would cause turmoil. He called the company's accounting errors "embarrassing to us all." But Alan Reinstein, professor of accounting at Wayne State , had this to say: "It's difficult for me to believe that a company with GM's experience and reputation would have so many people who allegedly do not fully grasp the accounting rules," he said.

Law professor Michael McIntyre writes the following in a brief letter to the editor: "The April 2 story claims that the Ford Foundation sponsors anti-Semitism and has failed to continue the legacy of Henry Ford. Both claims cannot be true."

The first entry in the Business Calendar mentions that Ed Van Hees of the Wayne State University Geology Department will speak Tuesday evening at a meeting of the American Association of Individual Investors at the Troy Community Center . He will offer information about investing in gold and diamond mining.

An article about anchorperson changes at the major network news operations includes a comment by Ben Burns, director of the WSU journalism program. "TV is starting to look a lot like major league sports, he says. "All the networks are looking for the formula that will work, with the main ingredient being intelligent, attractive women. Local stations have been doing this for years, and networks are just now catching on."