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There's a controversial new study group at the University of Minnesota. Students are not learning about science and sewing -- but about sex.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have turned a "crazy idea" into a potential breakthrough. They removed the lifeblood from a heart - leaving behind a ghostly white shell - then injected new cardiac cells, bringing the organ back from the dead. The federal government wouldn't fund the idea: Grant reviewers said it was implausible. Medical journals wouldn't publish the initial results: Editors doubted them. But Sunday's study in the prestigious Nature Medicine journal is long-awaited validation for the researchers and a promising direction in organ transplantation and the fight against heart disease.

The Memphis metropolitan area, after coming in second last year, tops this year's ranking of metro areas by the rate of violent crime -- homicide, rape, aggravated assault and robbery. In 2006, according to crime numbers released by the FBI, the eight-county Memphis metropolitan area recorded 1,262.7 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, the highest rate in the nation. Last year, the Florence, S.C., metropolitan statistical area had the highest violent crime rate in the country. Memphis came in second with 1,197 violent crimes per 100,000 residents. And that was up from 1,132 in 2004. The Memphis metro area includes Crittenden...

AP) Grand Forks, N.D. The University of Minnesota's athletic director said the school has not strictly enforced a 2003 policy that discourages games with teams using American Indian nicknames and mascots. But that's about to change, according to Joel Maturi, university athletic director. Maturi said his school won't compete against the University of North Dakota in any sport except men's and women's hockey because of UND's Fighting Sioux nickname. Maturi said the policy won't affect other schools in the University of Minnesota system, such as Crookston and Duluth. North Dakota Athletic Director Tom Buning said Minnesota's decision won't affect the...

The show will go on. The University of Minnesota said Friday that the academic and artistic value of the satirical play "The Pope and the Witch," to be staged in March, is stronger than Catholic claims that it's blasphemous. Italian Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo's 1989 work, one of several productions in the Department of Theatre Arts this school year, features a paranoid, drug-addled pope, a witch in nun's habit and a chaotic comedy of errors.

ST. LOUIS – St. Louis Blues’ President John Davidson announced today that defenseman Erik Johnson will attend the University of Minnesota in the fall. “We feel this is a win-win situation for Erik to be going to an excellent hockey program to continue his development,” said Davidson. “This is beneficial for his career, short term and long term, to play for the Gophers. He will have an opportunity to compete for an NCAA National Championship (in St. Louis in April of 2007), play in the World Junior Championships and enjoy university life.” Johnson, 18, was the first overall selection by...

Comments a University of Minnesota instructor made at Monday’s immigration day rally are causing controversy about what is and is not considered racist. Susana De Leon, an activist and part-time instructor of Mexican-American studies, was involved in a verbal confrontation at the rally in Owatonna. "Yes, people from Europe are wet backs man... their backs so wet because they had to cross an ocean to get here,” De Leon said at the rally

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- An Alabama booster convicted of bribing a high school football coach to get a top recruit for the Crimson Tide was found dead Tuesday in his Memphis home, and police were investigating it as a homicide. Logan Young was convicted of bribing a high school coach to get a top recruit for the Tide. (AP) Police hadn't yet confirmed the body was that of Logan Young, but his defense attorney said it was the Alabama booster. "We're treating it as a mystery homicide," Sgt. Vince Higgins said in a telephone interview. He said officials assume the victim...

Ancel Keys, the University of Minnesota public health scientist whose nutrition and diet research ultimately fed thousands of soldiers and saved countless people from heart disease, died Saturday. He was 100. Perhaps best known as the creator of the K ration, the ready-to-eat meal U.S. troops carried in World War II, Keys had a knack for taking on some of the largest public health issues of the 20th century at just the right time. He led a landmark study on starvation that helped guide relief efforts in postwar Europe. Major studies on coronary disease helped put him on the cover...

ORONO — Democratic vice-presidential candidate John Edwards used his first campaign visit to Maine on Wednesday to criticize President Bush's record while calling for changes both at home and abroad. Edwards, the running mate of presidential nominee John Kerry, told an audience at the University of Maine that the situation in Iraq has created domestic problems. He accused Bush of spending billions on health care and education in Iraq while neglecting the same issues at home. "So many things that are important in the lives of the American people are not taking place, but (the United States is spending) $200...

The University of Michigan is quietly reviewing scholarships that it once reserved for minority students as part of a wide-ranging look at programs aimed at recruiting and keeping minorities on campus. One year ago Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court forced U-M to change how it considers race in awarding admission to the university. U-M revised its application procedures in time for last fall's application cycle, but now it is going further and undertaking a legal review of how it uses race to make other key decisions affecting students. Chief among them is how race can be factored into criteria for...

Confusion cited in ruling; application harder http://www.freep.com/news/education/um28_20040528.htm

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Monday upheld a university law school admissions policy that gives minorities an edge, ruling that race can be one of many factors that colleges consider when selecting their students. The ruling in the law-school case preserves the concept of affirmative action for minorities who might otherwise be underrepresented on top campuses, but makes clear that racial preferences must be used sparingly. The 5-4 ruling endorsed a program at the University of Michigan law school meant to ensure a "critical mass" of minorities on campus. The program is not an illegal quota, the high court...

Supreme Court rules in favor of U. of Michigan Admissions Policy

Here is the text of my letter, just now, to the editor of the student newspaper "The Maneater" at the UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI, COLUMBIA ***********************Dear Editor, The Maneater: I have just read your reporter Mike de Salvo's story ("War Resistance Begins") about the recent "die-in" of students there at the university and had a few comments and some information to pass on. I thought the demonstration was very realistic and shows us the horrors of war. I had a few suggestions to make these demonstrations even more powerful. Fortunately I found a connection who can probably help the students. First...

A few years ago, I was an Executive Story Consultant on the Dick Van Dyke series, "Diagnosis Murder." A fancy title, but it just meant I was a member of the writing staff. There were five of us working in the writers room. We were, by most measures, a fairly diverse group of individuals. Two of us were born in New York, one in New Orleans, one in Chicago, one in a small town in Utah. Three of us were Jews, ranging from Conservative down to merely cultural; one was an ex-Catholic; one was Mormon. Four of us were married,...

Discriminatory Diversity By Lowell Phillips January 18, 2003 ToogoodReports.com It looks as if the universe is in perfect balance for the moment. A conservative president has taken a principled stance in defense of the Constitution and an elementary concept of "right" and Democrats, along with other assorted liberals, are attacking him and arguing against logic and their own lofty rhetoric. The latter is, of course, perpetual. The balance occurred when the former did so in spite of the inherent political perils and temptations. But President Bush coming out in opposition to the affirmative action policy at the University of Michigan...