Life without parole. If it sounds unpleasant, downright harsh, it\'s supposed to. In Michigan, where the death penalty was banned in 1846, the mandatory punishment for a first-degree murder conviction is life in prison without the possibility of parole No matter how old one is, that\'s a long time because there is no hope for release, unless a governor is willing to risk political backlash and commute the sentence - an almost impossible hope. But for teenagers who are not yet considered adults, is life in prison without parole a reasonable punishment? Oakland County \'s history over the past four decades is fairly rich on this issue. One state senator, citing a study that found Michigan to be among the top states with such offenders, is pushing a bill that would ban life-without-parole sentences for offenders under age 18. Right now, a 17-year-old is an adult in the eyes of Michigan \'s criminal code. State Sen. Liz Brater, D-Ann Arbor, said young offenders deserve consideration for a second chance, not a guaranteed way out of prison, and she would do that by banning life-without-parole sentences for offenders under 18. Brater cited a recent Wayne State University poll that showed the public favors not locking young murderers away forever, as 72 percent of those polled believed violent offenders under 18 are strong candidates for rehabilitation.

EAST LANSING - The Intercollegiate Studies Institute and Toward A Fair Michigan are sponsoring a discussion on the topic \"Should a Free Society Allow Affirmative Action Preferences in Higher Education?\" The event will be held at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Hannah Community Center , 819 Abbott Road and is free and open to the public. The experts who will participate are William Allen of Michigan State University and Robert Sedler of Wayne State University, who will argue in the negative, and Daniel Barnhizer of MSU and Thomas Weisskopf of the University of Michigan, who will argue in the affirmative.

Long a reality in foreign countries, the underworld of fake drugs is emerging as a major concern in the United States . More phony drugs are finding their way into Americans\' medicine cabinets, officials say, including hundreds of counterfeit pain pills recently smuggled into Michigan in makeshift packaging of plastic baggies and Scotch tape. An increase in Internet-purchased meds, combined with fast growth in the counterfeit drug trade is bringing more of the fake drugs into the country -- often unbeknownst to consumers. Some experts are skeptical of warnings from the drug industry and the FDA that counterfeits are a major threat. \"I don\'t think the problem is nearly as bad as some of the drug companies would have us believe,\" said Jesse Vivian, Wayne State University professor of pharmacy practice. \"Whenever I hear a legislator, politician or drug company say, \'This is terrible and can lead to a whole lot of suffering,\' I haven\'t seen a whole lot of evidence to back it up.\" Counterfeit drugs have been sold for decades in foreign countries without major consequences, Vivian said.

The following joined faculty at Wayne State University , Detroit , Law School : Erica Beecher-Monas, Jocelyn M. Benson, Paul R. Dubinsky and Noah D. Hall.

Wayne State lost to Bemidji State , 3-1, at the State Fairgrounds. Jason Baclig scored for Wayne State (0-7-1, 0-3-1). Bemidji is 7-1-0, 3-1-0.

Detroit - The Wayne State University men\'s hockey team (0-7-1 overall, 0-3-1 CHA) battled the 18th-ranked Bemidji State Beavers (7-1-0 overall, 3-1-0 CHA) nearly even for the second straight night only to come up short in the end as BSU completed a sweep with a 3-1 win Saturday night at the Michigan State Fairgrounds Coliseum.

Detroit elections officials lost track of ballots in nine precincts -- or almost 3,000 votes -- in Tuesday\'s election, and did not count them until two days after polls closed. State Elections Director Chris Thomas ordered city officials late Friday to keep their hands off voting records until he meets with them today. Detroit Elections Department Director Gloria Williams insisted Friday it was completely normal for poll workers to temporarily lose track of a few precinct results -- stored in computerized memory packs -- in a busy election, an assessment shared by Sean T. Smith, a computer consultant who oversaw the tabulation of the votes on hundreds of packs. Williams and Smith said there was no way anyone could tamper with the missing packs. Throughout the election night process, the memory packs holding all of the city votes are often in the hands of part-time or temporary workers, including some who are hired for election night alone, said Smith. The workers are told \"over and over\" that the memory packs are one of the most vital parts of counting the vote, Smith said. \"The challenge is always getting competent poll workers,\" said Smith, a 30-year-old sophomore at Wayne State University who has helped coordinate the city\'s election night computer networks since 2000. Memory packs usually go missing in city elections, Williams said. \"It was Thursday when we found them all,\" she said. \"That\'s normal. Very normal.\"

A Ford Motor Co. safety engineer and the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) research director are among six individuals who have been recently inducted into the Wayne State University College of Engineering Hall of Fame.

A diversity dialogue, co-sponsored by Plunkett & Cooney, P.C. and Huntington Bank, was held on Nov. 21 at Lawrence Technological University . The session titled, "The Future of Affirmative Action in Michigan : A Dialogue," featured businessmen, former University of California Regent Ward Connerly and Wayne State University Law School Dean Frank Wu.

Frank Wu, dean of Wayne State 's Law School , will host a dialogue on "The future of affirmative action in Michigan " during Lawrence Technological University 's Diversity Seminar Series, Nov. 21, at the Ridler Field House.

A concert of sacred jazz choral music will begin at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 19th at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament. The concert will feature performances by the Wayne State Concert Chorale and the Archdiocesan Chorus.

Most of the state is awash in new college freshman, but the wave hasn't hit two mid-Michigan public universities. Central Michigan saw a slight decline. Wayne State had the largest decline in freshman dropping from 3,120 last fall to 2, 879 this year.

Wayne State and St. Clair County Community College recently entered an agreement to provide degree programs to St. Clair County residents. The agreement will enable the institutions to engage in educational programs to help eligible participating students obtain both an associate of arts degree and a bachelor's degree through their respective institutions. A photo of President Irvin D. Reid and Provost Nancy Barrett, along with representatives from St. Clair Community College is included.

The Wayne State University Humanities Center Fellows Conference, held on Friday, Nov. 18, is discussed along with background information on the keynote speakers. Five Wayne State faculty participating in the conference are also noted. Photos of the keynote speakers are included.

David Schneider, associate professor of neuropharmacology at Wayne State , is the founder of a Troy company that has developed a drug test utilizing the power of an advanced scientific instrument to analyze saliva. Schneider has applied for more than two dozen patents for test kits used for collecting and handling saliva samples that can be analyzed by a mass spectrometer. Such tests can be used to test for drugs and the procedure is much faster than the traditional urine-sample method. The WSU professor also is working on tests that could provide early detection of cancer.

A suit brought by five book publishers against Google for copyright infringement could spell the end regarding how information searches on the Internet are carried out. The publishers claim that Google is exceeding the free use of limited portions provision of the law by making digital copies of entire books. Professor Jessica Litman, who teaches Internet law at Wayne State University , points out that Google intends to use only limited extracts from books for an index, and indexes traditionally have been deemed fair use under the law.

Lyke Thompson, director of the Center for Urban Studies here, is quoted in a story about Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's come-from-behind victory in Tuesday's election. Helped by vigorous campaigning and a widely televised eulogy at Rosa Parks' funeral, the incumbent mayor won 53 percent of the vote, compared to Hendrix's 47 percent, confounding pollsters who had predicted an easy victory for Hendrix. Now, the question is whether Kilpatrick can lead the city in the type of turnaround he pulled off in his own campaign. "The elephant in the room is the deficit," Thompson points out. The city projects a shortfall of $130 million to $300 million this year and has been trying to bridge the gap by cutting back on services and laying off personnel, including police officers.

A story about freshmen enrollment at public universities includes a comment by WSU Provost Nancy Barrett. The story indicates that freshman enrollment in the state is up overall this year, to 40,536, according to the Presidents Council, State Universities of Michigan . But freshmen enrollment at some universities, including Wayne State , is down. Barrett said the drop, from 3,120 to 2,879, was somewhat anticipated because WSU had large freshmen increases in 2003 and 2004. "We've been growing by leaps and bounds, and I think this is a correction," she said.

Students from Wayne State 's Theatre Department will participate in a memorial ceremony to honor deceased crew members of the ill-fated Edmund Fitzgerald. The 7 p.m. ceremony will take place on the Willis B. Boyer Museum Ship berthed on the Maumee River . The WSU students will present a play about the Fitzgerald tragedy.

Carolynn Rowland, a nurse and researcher in the WSU School of Medicine, is quoted in a story about a new method of infant potty training. The method involves starting toilet training before children can talk or walk. Rowland has reservations about the method. "My concern is if you put the onus on the child to do something you want them to do that they're not capable of doing, you may be setting them up for problems, and you're putting a whole lot of pressure on them," she said. The story ran on the Knight Ridder newswire.