Paul Wilbur, president and chief executive officer of American Specialty Cars (ASC), was the guest on "Leaders on Leadership," co-produced by Wayne State University's School of Business Administration and Detroit Public Television. Wilbur, who became leader ASC following the untimely death of Heinz Prechter, talked about leadership in transition.

State lawmakers are holding up $270 million in building projects at Michigan universities in a battle over who controls such projects, including a $46 million energy system project at Wayne State University. Lawmakers are demanding that public colleges and universities pass resolutions stating they\'ll abide by laws that require legislator approval of any project costing more than $1 million. Michigan\'s three largest universities so far have said they understand the laws but haven\'t passed the requested resolutions. The boards at University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University have not passed the resolution, partly because doing so may lead to other requests. \"This is a very important committee for us, (but) it\'s one committee out of 81 committees for the Legislature,\" said Harvey Hollins III, vice president for government and community affairs at Wayne State. \"This is not the only committee we are asked to respond to for certain things. We really want to be careful this doesn\'t create a slippery slope and we would be beholden to 81 different requests.\" Richard Bernstein, a member of Wayne State's Board of Governors, believes a fight with lawmakers is not wise. \"Universities have to become more pragmatic about the current and political economic situation of our state and choose their battles more carefully,\" he said. Wayne State was sanctioned earlier by the state for building a $1.7 million parking lot between Antoinette Street and York Street, west of Cass Avenue, without approval. The university realized midway through the project it failed to get approval and issued a stop-work order Aug. 17 and formally apologized to the state. The subcommittee put a six-month delay for approving Wayne State\'s project to build a steam boiler plant system on campus that would reduce the university\'s utility costs. It was a costly lesson, said Wayne State\'s Hollins. \"A dirt parking lot has already cost us more than a million,\" he said. But \"they had the option of throwing the book at us.\" A photo of the School of Medicine's C.S. Mott Center building is included.

New research out of England reveals flu shots do not work as well in older adults who have recently experienced the death of a family member or close friend. On the other hand, the shots work better for older adults who are happily married than those unmarried or especially those who are widowed. According to Stewart Neufeld, Institute of Gerontology at Wayne State University, \"It is possible that bereavement has a negative effect on the immune response due to reduced exercise and poorer eating habits. More physical exercise and better nutrition would be helpful in maintaining a more robust immune system.\"

After six weeks of rigorous preparation, three Michigan robotics teams -- from the Bloomfield Hills International Academy, the Utica Community Schools and Kettering University (a team from North Oakland and Macomb schools) -- triumphed as the winning alliance in the third annual FIRST Robotics Detroit Regional Competition. A total of 33 teams came from across Michigan and Ohio for two days to drive, bump, navigate and shoot balls with their custom robots on the playing field in the Matthaei Building at Wayne State University. Michigan teams have won the national championship in each of the last four years.

Fencing: Wayne State finished 10th in the NCAA championships at Houston, won by Harvard. Warriors junior Marek Petraszek was 13th in the men's epee.

A brief mentions that "Workers Rights Are Human Rights," will be held on Thursday, March 30, noon-2 p.m. at Wayne State University's Law School, in the Spencer M. Partrich Auditorium. The featured speaker is David Bonior, chair of American Rights at Work.

Michael Coleman, WDET-FM general manager, expects to be vindicated on an embezzlement charge, but he\'s unsure of the impact his arrest will have on the upcoming fundraising drive he says is critical to WDET\'s future. \"I\'m going to do what\'s in the best interest of the station,\" Coleman, 40, who is free on bond, told The Detroit News. \"If I\'m getting in the way, then I\'ll back away and let someone else make that phone call.\" Wayne State University -- which owns and operates WDET -- has stood by Coleman. The criminal charge came as a shock to Coleman, who said he had only one meeting with police -- in February -- until his arrest on Thursday. For an investigation that began in the fall, Coleman questions why he and his two former employees -- Jeremy Nordquist and Justin Ebright -- were arrested now for embezzling, just two weeks before the pledge drive. \"Our challenge will be to convey to our donors that this isn\'t a WDET issue,\" Coleman said. A photo of Coleman is included.

General Motors Corp. was hoping to address some issues by filing an annual report admitting questionable charges, understated losses and a litany of accounting errors dating back years. But at the last minute, with its Form 10-K about to be submitted to federal regulators, GM spotted yet another accounting problem -- it had misstated cash-flow levels at its General Motors Acceptance Corp. unit. GM\'s stunning decision Thursday night to delay its 2005 annual report to sort through the mess underscores the intense pressure brought on the company by an ongoing investigation of its finances by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. \"They are going to dig through everybody on the supplier side,\" said Peter Henning, a Wayne State University law professor and former SEC attorney. \"It\'s really starting to stick out like a sore thumb to investigators.\"

Detroit-area filmmakers are represented at the Ann Arbor and East Lansing film festivals including Ron Aronson, Wayne State University Distinguished Professor of Humanities. A movie coproduced by Aronson titled "First Amendment on Trial: The Case of the Detroit Six," will be showing Sunday, March 26 at 2 p.m. in East Lansing. The half-hour documentary examines the FBI crackdown on Communist party activity in Detroit in 1952.

The Detroit News March 12 article, "Professors paid not to teach," is discussed by readers in the "Letters: Your Opinion section." ---Lizabeth A. Barclay, professor of management at Oakland University, takes issue with the story's charge that professors have light teaching loads and a lot of spare time. Barclay writes, "My colleagues and I teach five courses per year. I do all my own grading. During the fall and winter, I often spend 60 hours a week working, as do many of my colleagues." She adds that sabbaticals are a way to move her research up a notch. ---Susan Wood, professor of art History at Oakland University, says she has noticed that many of The News reporters' bylines do not appear every day. "Clearly, on some days of the week, The News must be paying them not to write. What an inefficient and outrageous waste of your readers' and advertisers' money." ---Jeff Jenks writes that sabbaticals allow faculty to update their knowledge and skills every seven years, then students receive new current and contemporary ideas, theory and experience. ---John Ellis writes that the article made him think about the time it took The News to submit Freedom of Information Act requests, dig up statistics, conduct interviews, sort through the information and the many other tasks it took to prepare the article. "Was the reporter paid for this time away from the word processor? If so, perhaps The News' follow-up piece should be 'Journalist paid not to write.'"

Nolan Finley, Detroit News editorial page editor, opines that bold moves are needed to encourage high school graduates to pursue a college education. Finley writes that he is intrigued by an idea offered by Paul Dimond, of Miller, Canfield, during a recent conference. Dimond advocates killing the Single Business Tax and replacing it with a sales tax on services and investing all the new money in higher education. Finley adds that such a concept would require a different mind-set from Michigan residents and policymakers. "And it would demand that the state focus nearly all of its resources on education, while letting a lot of other important things go."

Troy businessman and philanthropist Marvin Danto has donated $3 million to Wayne State University for a new Engineering Development Center which will accommodate educational programs, research and development in the growth fields of biotech, nano-science and alternative energy technology. "Mr. Danto's generosity is inspired by his insight and belief in the university's role as a leader in the future of Michigan," said Wayne State University President Irvin D. Reid. "I see this endeavor helping create alternative fuels and more efficient automotive engines in America with subsequent growth in industries, new jobs and a sustainable society."

Five members of the Wayne State University team will participate in the 2006 NCAA Championships in Houston, including junior foilist Lindsey Howard. Howard will make her first appearance at the NCAA Championships. She placed sixth at the Midwest Regional and compiled a 46-19 record in dual meets, and placed first at the Michigan Open and sixth at the Midwest Fencing Conference Championship.

The band Los Lobos has expressed its desire through its manager not to honor the agreement it made with WDET to appear at a fund-raising performance in May. It's an apparent protest over WDET's daytime switch from music to talk. According to WDET spokesperson, Kevin Piotrowski, the station is in the process of booking some other WDET favorites who are interested.

Saeed A. Kahn, a lecturer in Wayne State University's Department of Far East and Asian Studies, will be the speaker at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Newman Center in Port Huron. Kahn will appear as part of the center's Distinguished Speakers Series and its Season for Nonviolence segments. He is a research fellow at the Institute for Social Policy & Understanding, a state think tank.

WDIV meteorologist Andrew Humphrey conducted interviews and provided on site coverage of the FIRST Robotics competition at Wayne State's Matthaei athletic complex. The story was scheduled for the Friday evening newscast.

The sedate, urbane world of public broadcasting was rattled Thursday as prosecutors charged three former employees of Michigan Public Media with illegally accepting golf club memberships, Persian rugs, airline tickets and massages in exchange for on-air considerations at the state\'s top public radio station. Each of the men -- current WDET-FM general manager Michael Coleman, Jeremy Nordquist and Justin Ebright -- was charged by Washtenaw County prosecutors in Ann Arbor with embezzlement of under $20,000 while working at Michigan Public Media-controlled WUOM-FM (91.7). Each could face up to five years in prison if convicted. Coleman, who left Michigan Public Media as deputy director last year to be general manager at WDET and who has made several controversial programming changes in his new job, remains in his position, said Louis Lessem, vice president and general counsel for Wayne State University, which owns the station. \"We know very little about the charge, other than that it has been made,\" said Lessem, adding that Coleman is not on administrative leave.

The head of public radio in Detroit was charged with embezzlement Thursday, accused of accepting money, airline tickets and lodging while he worked as deputy director of a radio station owned and operated by the University of Michigan . Michael Coleman, general manager of Wayne State University \'s WDET-FM, was charged in 14A District Court in Ann Arbor with one felony count of embezzlement while at his former job at Michigan Public Media\'s WUOM-FM (91.7). \"At this point I have no plans to remove him as general manager,\" said Louis Lessem, the university\'s vice president and general counsel. \"We know very little about the charges.\" Further, Lessem said there were no plans to call a special meeting of the Board of Governors to discuss the charges.

A federal court has thrown out the 1999 rape conviction of a Wayne State University law school administrator, saying jurors should have been told of a psychiatric report that showed his accuser may not have been telling the truth. Robert Lee Smith, 57, was sentenced to 20 to 50 years in prison after an Oakland County Circuit Court jury convicted him of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Girls Matter Conference: Hear about helping your daughter be the best she can be from television anchor Fanchon Stinger, Judge Kathleen M. McCarty and a host of workshop speakers. For girls 9-14, their moms and dads and professionals working with girls. 7:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Sat. $16. General Lectures Building , Wayne State University , 5045 Anthony Wayne Drive , Detroit . Register at YWCA Downtown, (313) 259-9922 or www.girls -matter.org