In the news

Wayne State mentioned in an Arkansas invenstigation

An article about the investigation into the death of a man in police custody in Nashville, Ark. in 2003, mentioned that Wayne State faculty member performed one of two independent autopsies for the case. When the Arkansas Medical Examiner performed the autopsy on Larry \"Nicky\" Hill Jr., he found Hill\'s death to be natural disease processes and accidental circumstances.Toxicology tests found that Hill had a blood alcohol content of 0.14, well above the legal limit of 0.08. The Arkansas Medical Examiner\'s report also found pepper foam as the only link to police officers. An autopsy report by Dr. Werner Spitz, Wayne State University professor of pathology and Macomb County, Michigan medical examiner, concurred with the autopsy report released by Arkansas Chief Medical Examiner William Sturner.

Teen's lawyer decries tactics

Law professor Peter Henning, a former federal prosecutor, is quoted in a story about the upcoming trial of the Clinton Township teen who is accused of planning a Columbine-style massacre at his high school. The student\'s attorney claims the case has been tainted by overzealous prosecution and media publicity. Henning speculated that the prosecution\'s case may not be as strong as originally thought and could be difficult to prove. \"People say things (online) to impress people,\" he said. They lie and make up whole personalities. What they say may not be reflective of what they actually intend to do.\"

Africa Town plan will hasten Detroit's demise, not stem the tide

In a column critical of the Detroit City Council\'s plan to create a $30 million-a-year entrepreneurial zone called Africa Town, Laura Berman contends the plan would \"accelerate the city\'s demise, not stem it.\" The plan would classify black Detroiters as an \"under-served majority\" entitled to special funds other groups could not apply for. Berman writes: \"While immigrants elsewhere in America are revitalizing urban areas, they\'re moving straight to the suburbs here - and revitalizing them, notes Kurt Metzger, the research director at Wayne State University\'s Center for Urban Studies.\"

Another life sciences win for Kalamazoo

Kalamazoo Community College will be the home of a new high-tech laboratory for Michigan\'s life sciences industry. The Michigan High Throughput Screening Center is expected to be up and running by next summer. It will provide computerized, high-speed and robot-driven procedures that can help accelerate drug discovery for small pharmaceutical companies, university researchers and start-up companies. Financial support will come from private donors and grants.

Universities need help to educate more students

This month\'s \"President\'s Perspective\" commentary, authored by incoming Michigan State University president Lou Anna Simon, identifies the challenges Michigan\'s universities face as they heed Gov. Jennifer Granholm\'s call to identify a strategy that will increase participation in the state\'s higher education system. The governor\'s mandate, through the Commission on Higher Education and Economic Growth, is to double the number of postsecondary degree holders within 10 years, then keep them living and working in Michigan. Growing enrollment translates into needed funding for more university professors and increased physical capacity offering classrooms, laboratories and technological infrastructure.

Sports Resorts rejects buyout

Randy Paschke, chair of the accounting department in Wayne State's School of Business Administration, commented about Sports Resorts International Inc. board's rejection of an offer by company founder and majority shareholder Don Williamson to buy its three subsidiaries for 40 million shares of stock. Paschke said there are advantages for a company such as Sports Resorts to go private. \"The cost of being a public company is just horrendous,\" he said, adding that costs have more than doubled for some companies with the new rules.

Lack of trust poisons efforts to reform asbestos litigation

Dr. Michael R. Harbut, chief of the Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine at Wayne State University, commented about the declining numbers of patients being treated for illnesses related to exposure to asbestos. Harbut said it\'s difficult to understand why medical centers with a large patient load wouldn\'t be seeing asbestosis. \"In my own practice, I\'ve seen at least three new noncontroversial diagnoses in the last nine workdays,\" said Harbut, who is also co-director of the National Center for Vermiculite and Asbestos-Related Cancers.