In her weekly column, publisher Mary Kramer calls for more investment in education in Michigan as well as strategic tax policies and targeted job development. She says business and civic leaders should demand more from elected officials and that there should be less partisan bickering about how to stimulate the Michigan economy. Kramer cites an innovative program in Kalamazoo , where a group of anonymous donors have guaranteed four-year college scholarships to any public high school graduate, with the percentage of aid based on the number of years the student has attended Kalamazoo public schools. She quotes Eli Broad, a major benefactor of Michigan State , who told the New York Times: "A number of us have come to believe that the biggest problem America has is the state of our schools."

Michigan State University has announced plans to move the core of its College of Human Medicine to Grand Rapids by 2010. The plan calls for construction of a $60-$70 million building and expansion of the MSU medical program to include more research and a focus on specialties. The osteopathic medical school would remain in East Lansing .

In an editorial, the newspaper urges state officials in Michigan to adopt some form of the Kalamazoo plan that allows public school graduates to have their tuition paid at any of Michigan 's public universities. "Their challenge must be finding the resources," the editorial says. While complementing Gov. Granholm and other leaders for "sending all the right messages about the importance of higher education," the Free Press adds that "it's a mixed message at best if the state does nothing to keep the cost of advanced schooling from rising out of sight for all but upper-income households and star athletes."

Asterand, a private Detroit company that specializes in human tissue supply, has joined forces with U.K.-based Pharmagene, forming one of the world's leading companies in tissue supply and tissue-based research. Asterand began more than five years ago as an operation that was running out of one lab in the Karmanos Cancer Institute, then moved to Wayne State University 's TechTown, the city's only research and technology park. Asterand Chief Executive Officer Randal Charlton said his company's relocation has helped bring the spotlight to downtown Detroit and TechTown, an area that is an excellent starting point for Michigan 's life sciences industry.

This Grosse Pointe cable channel began airing an interview Monday by Gerontology Institute Director Peter Lichtenberg with financial planner Donald Haas. The topic is financial gerontology.

Wayne State 's Community Arts Gallery will display the Urban Jupena Sabbatical Exhibition Oct. 21 - Nov. 25. An opening reception will be held Oct. 21, 5 p.m. - 8p.m.

Wayne State erupted for 27 second-half points to defeat Findlay , 34-17, at Adams Field for its first two-game winning streak since the 2001 season. Wayne State (2-5, 2-5 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) trailed 10-7 in the third quarter when quarterback Nolan Martin scored on a 1-yard run to make it 17-10. Martin scored on another 1-yard run at 12:45 of the fourth quarter to make it 24-10. Chris Middlebrooks\' 6-yard touchdown run made it 27-10 and Leo Wells completed a 20-point fourth quarter for the Warriors with a 91-yard interception return for a touchdown with 1:02 remaining. Wayne State last won two straight when it won at Northern Michigan , 44-41, on Oct. 6, 2001, and defeated Hillsdale, 19-17, in its Homecoming game the following week. Findlay (3-5, 2-5) has lost five straight.

London: Infants born with oxygen loss who are given an innovative therapy that lowers their entire body temperature by four degrees within the first six hours of life, have a better chance of survival and lower incidence of brain injury, according to a report in the October 13 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The team, led by Seetha Shankaran, M.D., at Wayne State University studied the effect of hypothermia or reduced body temperature, in full-term infants with asphyxia and related complications at birth. The Neonatal Research Network will also follow the children until they reach age six or seven, to compare the incidence of health problems or learning difficulties.

Directing the McCarter Theatre\'s production of \"Gem of the Ocean\" was a perfect fit for actor Ruben Santiago-Hudson and for more than one reason, he explains, while sipping coffee at Princeton \'s Carousel restaurant the other day. Not only had he acted the key role of Caesar in the Broadway production of the acclaimed August Wilson play, but Santiago-Hudson had a strong personal reaction to the play\'s unique female main character. That remarkable Wilson creation, Aunt Ester, a 285-year-old keeper of wisdom and understanding (played in this production as on Broadway by Phylicia Rashad), reminded Santiago-Hudson of Nanny, the wise and loving caretaker who brought him up in Lackawanna, N.Y., in the 1950s. And it was Nanny who Santiago-Hudson immortalized, first in his Obie-winning one-man play \"Lackawanna Blues,\" then in the expanded version he wrote and sold to HBO. After graduating from SUNY Binghamton, where he says a professor encouraged him to apply for further study, Santiago-Hudson won a scholarship to study for a master\'s degree at Wayne State University .

It is not clear how many students are taking time out, but officials at several schools across the country say the number of students who apply but then ask for a deferment is increasing. Students are taking time out of the classroom to travel, reflect and participate in community service jobs or work so they can pay for college. Student who take time off and return to school within a year report that it helped them appreciate school more. Some universities such as the Northeastern University in Boston offer programs, which require students to work a semester at a job connected to their studies. The program is intended to help students get real life experience.

The entertainment listings include separate entries for current plays at both the Hilberry and Bonstelle theatres at Wayne State .

Wayne State 's football team defeated Findlay 34-17 on Saturday. Nolan Martin ran for two 1-yard touchdowns and Leo Walls scored on a 91-yard interception return for Wayne State .

Nolan Martin ran for two 1-yard touchdowns and Leo Walls scored on a 91-yard interception return as Wayne State defeated Findlay . Martin scored late in the third quarter to give the Warriors a 14-10 lead, and then added another touchdown early in the fourth quarter. Wayne State scored 20 points in the final quarter for the win.

A new study could lead to ways to extend the lives of patients with a lethal form of lung cancer. A study by researchers at Wayne State University and New York University School of Medicine, published in this week\'s New England Journal of Medicine, finds a molecule that reveals the early stages of pleural mesothelioma, a chest cancer caused by asbestos. "It's called osteopontin, and it's been discovered before, but not really as an early detection marker for mesothelioma, what it means is this is a disease that's usually found late in the course of the disease- and the survival is not good when found late," says Wayne State's School of Medicine's Dr. Harvey Pass. "What has to be done now is take this marker and validate it in big trials. It's important to know that patients who present with early mesothelioma, earliest state, stage one, can have 5 year survival," Pass says.

Wayne State 's Law School announced that the 13th Annual Bernard Gottfried Memorial Labor Law Symposium will be held on Thursday, October 20th, at the Law School . The event includes sessions on major law developments of the last decade, a panel discussion on the decline in union membership and an address by John E. Higgins, Jr., deputy general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board.

Wayne State's Merrill-Palmer Institute is seeking volunteers to help with its 22nd annual Metropolitan Detroit Teen Conference, which will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. Nov. 3. The free conference, designed to bring together metro Detroit teenagers from diverse backgrounds, will host 300 ninth- and 10th-grade students from more than 50 schools and organizations. The students will be placed in groups of six to eight for topical discussions and volunteer facilitators will initiate and monitor the discussions among the students. Those interested in volunteering need to attend a special training orientation from 8 a.m. to noon Tuesday at the McGregor Memorial Conference Center on the campus of Wayne State University. Contact information is provided.

Chilling a newborn\'s entire body can help prevent or reduce brain damage caused by lack of oxygen during difficult births, research suggests. However, experts say the results are too preliminary and in conflict with previous research for the treatment to be used outside of medical studies. \"Widespread application of brain cooling ... would be premature,\" Dr. Lu-Ann Papile, a neonatologist at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, wrote in an editorial accompanying the study in Thursday\'s New England Journal of Medicine. She had no role in the study. A pilot study in newborns found no benefit. But the new study was the largest to test the technique. It was led by doctors at Wayne State University in Detroit , involved 15 children\'s hospitals around the country and was funded by the federal government. Newborns were randomly assigned to get usual care or the hypothermia treatment. It involves placing the babies on a special blanket containing chilled water that lowers their temperature to 92.3 degrees for three days, then gradually rewarms them back to normal, around 98.6 degrees. Babies were evaluated 18 to 22 months later.

Cooling a newborn for three days on a temperature-controlled blanket can help to prevent or reduce brain damage caused by lack of oxygen during difficult births, a national study has found. The research, published in today\'s New England Journal of Medicine, provides hope for babies deprived of oxygen in the first six hours of life. Newborns with that complication, which occurs in fewer than one in 1,000 U.S. births, are more likely to die or face significant mental and physical disabilities, including cerebral palsy, mental retardation, blindness and hearing loss. Between 60,000 and 80,000 of the 4 million babies born in the U.S. each year are at high risk of death or disability because of birth problems that deprive them of oxygen. Forty-four of the babies who were cooled died or developed disabilities, compared with 64 of those who died or developed complications in the comparison group, said Dr. Seetha Shankaran, professor of pediatrics at the Wayne State University School of Medicine and division director of neonatal-perinatal medicine at Children\'s Hospital.

Emery King is a long way from the Purdue University junior who took a summer job at an Indiana radio station and never looked back. "My instructor asked if anyone was interested in the part-time job and I felt my hand going up,\" said King, who later became an NBC White House correspondent and a veteran news anchor at Detroit \'s WDIV-TV (Channel 4). The summer job led to a full-time position as a news reporter -- a position that didn\'t jibe with college classes. \"So in my senior year, I dropped out,\" said King, a Gary, Ind. , native. On Oct. 22, Wayne State University \'s Journalism Institute for Minorities will salute the veteran journalist. The event will also help endow JIM, an organization that provides scholarships, internships and support for minority journalism students.

Social activists, environmentalists, urban gardeners and people interested in community revitalization will gather this weekend for Detroit \'s first Great Lakes Bioneers conference. The event, featuring workshops, performances and locally grown food, will be at Wayne State University . The conference is being conducted at WSU through the university\'s Center for Peace and Conflict Studies.