A story about Halloween traditions includes comments by professor Janet Langlois of the English Department. An expert in folklore, Langlois points out that many believe that Halloween customs were brought to this country by Irish Immigrants who came here during the Great Potato Famine. The Celts, who lived in what is now Ireland about 2,000 years ago, observed a festival call Samhaim in which the ghosts of deceased persons came back to the outer world to mingle with the living." She said some Halloween traditions, such as trick-or-treating, jack-o-lanterns and pranks date back to the Celtic era, while others came about in more recent times.

This story, about a complicated case involving embezzlement charges against a former Wal-Mart vice chairman and a former vice president who charged that the vice chairman had embezzled company funds, includes comments by WSU law professor Peter Henning. He explained the case boils down to a matter of contract law. "It's who are you going to believe - the degree of knowledge on each side," Henning said.

A story about homeless people who benefit from a temporary shelter program that rotates to different sites each week, includes a vignette about 43-year-old Jon Broadnax, one of the participants. During the day, he attends classes at Wayne State , where he is majoring in computer programming. He also writes poems, such as one that depicts a conversation with God.

Jason J. VanDiver of Southgate has joined the Wayne State Office of Alumni Relations as an alumni relations officer.

Twenty-one Wayne State University Law students were honored at the Federal Bar Association Eastern District of Michigan Chapter Annual State of the Court luncheon in September for their work in the Law School 's Civil Rights Litigation Clinic. Each fall the chapter honors local attorneys for their pro bono work, and the WSU Law students were included in the honor this year. A picture of some of the WSU students was also featured with the article.

A brief item notes the renaming of Wayne State 's North Residence Hall in honor of Yousif Ghafari of Bloomfield Hills. Ghafari, who is chairman of Ghafari Associates in Dearborn , pledged $9 million to the university's capital campaign. The gift will be used to support WSU's new Engineering Development Center .

Women's skin has twice as many nerve fibers as men's skin. A body of research has yet to yield definitive answers, says pain researcher April Hazard Vallerand, PhD, RN of Detroit's Wayne State University College of Nursing. "It does look like females have some differences in pain in some areas," said Vallerand. "Women can detect heat more easily. But women also acknowledge pain more frequently. What underlies all this is that women are more willing to discuss their symptoms in the first place."

Theodore Coutilish, executive director of marketing and publications, was elected president of the Detroit chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators for 2005-2006. It was also noted in the item that Coutilish is a regular columnist for the Grosse Pointe News.

This article about the 24th annual Minority Business Celebration in Grand Rapids notes that Frank Wu , dean of the WSU Law School , was the keynote speaker. He talked about affirmative action and pointed out that progress has been made in diversity because many people are "uncomfortable, at least troubled," by all-white, male boards and groups. He predicted that, if current trends continue, by 2050, "we will cease to have a single, identifiable racial majority in the United States ."

This article by John Corvino of the Philosophy Department takes issue with a Connecticut clergyman's assertion in a newspaper piece that God ordained marriages to be between one man and one woman. After refuting the cleric's argument, Corvino concludes, "A resounding lesson of history is that we ought to be very careful when people try to make their interpretation of God's commands the basis for civil law."

Wayne State University will participate in a parent information night at Monroe County Intermediate School District on Oct. 27. Michael Peterson of the WSU College of Education will join a teacher from the Southfield Public Schools in presenting the program "Multi-Level Teaching: The Keys to Teaching and Reaching Children with Different Abilities."

Law professor Peter Henning is quoted in an article about a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into the accounting practices of General Motors Corporation's pension accounting practices and its relationship with auto parts supplier Delphi Corp. "This is an area where companies really rely on their accounting firms," Henning said. "But the temptation is always there to play with an estimate because it can help with your cash flow."

This newspaper picked up an earlier Detroit Free Press story about a new video game that involves bullying by school children. "We know that in terms of school violence, and school shootings in particular, one of the main factors that contributed to the school violence was bullying," explains Debra Jozefowicz-Simbeni, professor in the School of Social Work here.

Detroit Receiving Hospital named Michael Stellini vice president of medical affairs in addition to his other duties as medical director of palliative care services for Detroit Receiving and Harper University Hospital , hospice medical director for Karmanos Cancer Institute and section chief of the palliative medicine section at the Wayne State University School of Medicine.

George H. Shade, a Detroit obstetrician and gynecologist and an associate professor at Wayne State , has been re-elected to the Michigan Doctors' Political Action Committee board of directors.

Both Detroit dailies covered an enrollment report released by the University of Michigan yesterday that shows that the number of African American freshmen is up 26 percent from the previous year. Black students now represent 7.5 percent of the student body. The number of Hispanic students was up 5.1 percent. Minority freshmen enrollment had declined last year after the U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down a U-M admissions procedure that gave extra points to minorities.

The Bonstelle Theatre will open its season on Oct. 28th with the docudrama "Ten November" by Steven Dietz. The tale of the play focuses on the 30th anniversary of the tragic sinking of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald ship and its 29 member crew. The play will run through to Nov. 6th. Prices range from $11-$14 with discounts available for senior citizens and students.

Dr. Seetha Shankaran, WSU pediatrics professor and division director of neonatal-perinatal medicine at Children's Hospital of Michigan and Hutzel Women's Hospital, led three years of research on a technique that involves a cooling treatment for new babies suffering from HIE, a condition that occurs when the brain fails to receive sufficient oxygen or sufficient blood before birth. The story reports on a child who was successfully treated at Hutzel Women's Hospital using the technique.

An obit on Cheryl McCall, who parlayed her love of children into a career defending their rights as an attorney, mentions her experiences as a student at Wayne State, where she caused a stir on campus as the first freshman and first female editor of The South End student newspaper. While at WSU, she participated in marches on Washington , D.C. , and hitchhiked to Berkeley , Calif. "As students," she once explained, "we were consumed by the war; we were digging into all the university's alliances into what we believed was the wrong side."

Detroit News business columnist Daniel Howes says in a feature piece on page one of the business section, that Wayne State University is an example of what it takes to get people back in Detroit . He attributes much of the university's success to President Irvin D. Reid and his "voice of educational entrepreneurialism." Reid is meeting with hotel development companies to discuss his vision of a hotel and conference center that would draw from the university community and visitors to Detroit's two large medical complexes nearby - Detroit Medical Center and Henry Ford Hospital. "What do we bring to the partnership? We bring the land and a substantial number of customers," Reid says. "Emphatically, yes, people are coming here." Howes writes that when Reid arrived in 1997, Wayne State had 1,200 occupied beds in residence halls. Today it has 3,200. Within 15 years, according to its long-range plan, it wants to have as many as 8,000 students living on campus. Howes concludes that " Wayne State is offering tuition-paying customers what the next mayor must provide if he hopes to rebuild Detroit 's weak tax base and stem the exodus to the suburbs - safe streets, a good education and solid services and amenities at lower tax rates.