Enduring human frailties such as lust, hatred and the propensity for bloody vengeance are the stuff of Sophocles\' ancient drama \"Electra,\" and the Hilberry Theatre. Wayne State University \'s graduate drama program offers an authentic, emotionally charged account that makes particularly effective use of a stylized, choreographed Greek chorus. \"Electra\" is an intense, concise, riveting drama, 90 minutes without a break -- and most of the rhetorical burden falls on the title character, which Hilberry\'s Jennifer McConnell creates with a galvanizing staccato relentlessness that\'s more suggestive of incantation than speech. The supporting cast is solid, and the crisply disciplined Chorus is a treat. GRADE: B.

Two Democratic members of Iowa 's congressional delegation said Thursday they have asked the U.S. Justice Department to block Whirlpool Corp.'s proposed purchase of Maytag Corp. Rep. Leonard Boswell and Sen. Tom Harkin sent their request in a letter to Assistant Attorney General Tom Barnett. The Justice Department is investigating whether the merger of Whirlpool, the nation's leading appliance maker, and Maytag, the third largest, would concentrate too much of the appliance business in one company and violate antitrust laws. Industry observers have expressed skepticism that regulators would approve the merger. Stephen Calkins, a law professor at Wayne State University and a former Federal Trade Commission attorney, has said that regulators likely would have grave concerns about concentrating so much of the laundry market in one company.

A page featuring various quirky observations about the effects of music on people includes a conclusion based on research done by Professor Steven Stack of the Criminal Justice Department. He found that opera aficionados are three times more likely to endorse suicide as a solution to family dishonor. But it's not the fault of the genre, he points out. Dramatic personalities are drawn to opera, not influenced by it.

Fox 2 reporter Bill Gallagher reported a story about Sara Zaucha, a Wayne State student, who was struck by a car while she crossed an intersection at Anthony Wayne Drive and Warren Avenue last November. Zaucha suffered a cracked vertebrae and broken leg from the incident. Gallagher reported that Sara's mother Sue Zaucha is pressing to have changes made at the intersections on Anthony Wayne Drive. He also reported that Wayne State 's police chief indicated that the university's Department of Public safety is doing all it can to make things safer for pedestrians crossing the streets on campus.

The City of Sterling Heights will soon be sending out a survey to 3,000 residents, asking them about city services, the community and living in the city. The input will play a factor in the way the City Council works out the 2006-07 budget. The city planned to send postcards last week to the randomly selected residents, notifying them of the survey, said Steve Guitar, the city\'s interim community relations director. He said the four-page, 28-question surveys should arrive at homes this week and the results are scheduled to be presented at the council\'s strategic planning session in February. The city hired officials from the survey research team of Wayne State University \'s Center for Urban Studies to conduct the survey.

There\'s a reason why a growing number of Detroiters are feeling a huge void, and it\'s not just the loss of music they mourn. In many ways, it\'s a whole identity. A month ago, the powers-that-be at WDET-FM (101.9) -- and it\'s not just one person -- abruptly canceled the weekday music shows, firing public radio pillars Judy Adams and Martin Bandyke. The station replaced the eclectic music programming that crossed all genres and decades with nationally syndicated talk and news shows from National Public Radio, oddly enough, duplicating what can be already heard with just a turn of the dial to WUOM-FM (91.7), the public-radio station based in Ann Arbor . The abrupt move has spawned a lawsuit instituted by listeners asking for their pledge-money back, as well as an organized protest group that is staging a second rally at 6 p.m. Friday night across the street from Cobo Center during the 2006 North American International Auto Show charity preview. The change has also garnered some national attention, most recently in articles in the Chicago Tribune and New York Times in which newly installed General Manager Michael Coleman has said of the program changes: \"I think public radio needs to be about more than music programming.\"

A feature story discusses Wayne State 's launching of a one-year teaching certificate pilot program for Ontario university graduates who hold a four-year degree, and a two-year program for students with a three-year degree. Students who complete the program, offered through the College of Education , (and a certification test) will be eligible to teach in Michigan and to apply for an "interim" teaching certificate in Ontario . \"It\'s about supply and demand,\" said Gerry Oglan, assistant dean in the college's teacher certification division. \"The University of Windsor can only take in so many teachers. In Ontario and Michigan there is a demand for teachers.\" A sidebar notes that Wayne State will hold informational meetings Jan. 19, Feb. 16 and March 23 at 7 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Select in Windsor .

Wayne State, Michigan State, University of Michigan and Western Michigan will kick off their new partnership in the Michigan Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (Michigan-LSAMP) Monday at the U-M Detroit Center on Woodward Avenue . The program is a comprehensive initiative designed to increase the number of minority students in bachelor's degree studies and careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It is being underwritten by the National Science Foundation and the four partner institutions. Contact information is given.

A compilation on the op-ed page of comments from columnists and local experts regarding the Supreme Court nomination hearings for Judge Samuel Alito includes observations by WSU law professor Robert Sedler. "He (Alito) would not protect freedom of choice, privacy and other personal rights," Sedler writes. He adds that "the likely confirmation of a predictable conservative voice like Alito's will pressure Chief Justice John Roberts to balance off Alito's views, since Roberts is concerned about the court as an institution."

The ACLU of Michigan says a Kent County judge has not complied with a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that grants poor defendants the right to representation by court-appointed attorneys when appealing their guilty please. At issue is the case of a man who pleaded no contest to two child molestation charges and received up to 30 years in prison. He requested a state-appointed lawyer to help him challenge his sentence, but Michigan law bars automatic appeals for defendants who plead guilty or no contest. ACLU attorneys contend a more recent Supreme Court ruling trumps the Michigan statute. WSU law professor David Moran said "dozens of individuals are being denied their constitutional right to counsel simply because they are poor."

The newspaper picked up a story about seasonal affective disorder that ran originally in the Detroit Free Press. Included in the story is a comment about the effectiveness of antidepressants and light therapy by Alireza Amirsadri, psychiatrist and SAD specialist at the WSU School of Medicine.

Wayne State law professor Stephen Calkins, a former FTC attorney, comments in this article about a merger of Whirlpool and Maytag. He says federal regulators would likely have "grave concerns" about concentrating so much of the laundry machine market in one company.

An obit on John B. Waller, former head of Detroit 's health department, notes that he was named chairman of WSU's Department of Community Medicine in 1987 and that he founded the school's Center for Prevention and Control of Interpersonal Violence. He was 69.

This listing of events in honor of the late Martin Luther King Jr. notes that Delta Omicron Professional Music Fraternity will hold its annual African American Composer Concert at 3 p.m. Monday at the Schaver Musical Recital Hall in WSU's Old Main building.

Fast-track nurses' training is a new trend for people who hold college degrees in other fields. Michigan has six universities that provide such programs - including Wayne State University .

Wayne State 's Department of Theatre will present "Rosa Parks: More Than a Bus Story," on Friday, Feb. 17, at the Bonstelle Theatre. The play, written by Von H. Washington, reveals the life of Mrs. Parks prior to her quiet protest that changed a nation.

A Sikh, who is a senior at Wayne State , was arrested on the campus in August for carrying a Kirpan, a symbolic dagger that initiated Sikhs are required by their faith to wear. A local judge ruled that the ordinance forbidding long knives "was intended to apply to persons carrying a knife as a weapon, or for some unlawful purpose."

Reporter Roger Weber interviewed Jason Booza, interim director of the Wayne State 's Michigan Metropolitan Information Center , and three students about people leaving metro Detroit and the state due to tough economic times. The report ran on the evening news. Many area residents are seeking job opportunities in the southern and western states. Weber also interviewed three students on campus.

The noon newscast included a brief story about a WSU student-sponsored event to provide health screenings on Thursday at Fort Street Presbyterian Church in Detroit . Students in the Physician Assistant Studies, Occupational Therapy, and Physical Therapy programs are screening for high blood pressure and providing foot exams to the homeless and underserved families. The event is the second of three health screenings being offered in January through the "The Open Door" Ministry" of Fort Street Presbyterian Church, Detroit .

Dr. Robert Mentzer, a surgeon and organ-transplant advocate who recently was named dean of Wayne State's School of Medicine, says the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), which administers the national waiting list of organ-transplant candidates, is concerned about alternative allocation schemes that award preferential treatment. "There's always a risk that people will start thinking of donated organs as commodities rather than gifts of life," Mentzer says.