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(U-WIRE) SAN MARCOS, Texas – Wendy Rojero gets paid to save lives.

No, she is not a… (U-WIRE) SAN MARCOS, Texas – Wendy Rojero gets paid to save lives.

No, she is not a doctor or a firefighter. She donates plasma twice a week.

DCI Biologicals in San Marcos pay donors for a life-saving bodily fluid called plasma, which is found in blood. They seek healthy individuals over 18 to donate plasma to the medical community. Rojero, exercise and sports science senior, donates often.

“I have donated plasma seven times,” Rojero said. “I did it for the extra cash for groceries and gas at first. Then, I learned how much it benefits others.”

Plasma donation helps a variety of people with medical needs. When frozen at 35 degrees below zero, plasma has a shelf life of up to 10 years.

DCI Biologicals supervisor Jessica Garcia explained how plasma is used.

“Plasma is the yellowish liquid part of your blood,” Garcia said. “It is used to make medications that benefit people such as hemophiliacs and burn victims.”

Garcia said the first donation takes about two and a half hours due to screening and a physical exam. After the first donation, the process takes anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour. The procedure is similar to donating blood.

“It’s not a very long process and I think they pay well for your time,” Rojero said. “I have gotten anywhere from $15 to $40 for a single donation.” – Keri Brower, The University Star (Texas State U.-San Marcos)

(U-WIRE) NEW YORK – A 29-year-old woman who attended Columbia’s School of General Studies under a false identity was arrested Saturday in a shopping mall near Chicago, several news sources have reported.

Esther Elizabeth Reed was enrolled as a GS student for two years under the name of Brooke Henson and cheated Columbia University out of nearly $100,000 in student loans. The scam was revealed in January 2007, but Reed fled when police came to her Columbia dorm. She is said to have attended other universities with up to six assumed identities.

Reed was apprehended in Tinley Park, Ill. by police searching for the perpetrator of a five-person killing nearby. She at first presented a fake Iowa driver’s license, but ultimately admitted her true identity.

“You have me. I am who you think I am,” she told police, according to the Daily News.

Reed, originally from Montana, disappeared in 1999. The real Brooke Henson disappeared from South Carolina the same year, and was never found. – Maggie Astor, Columbia Daily Spectator (Columbia U.)

(U-WIRE) TAMPA, Fla. – Students looking for a different way to sell their textbooks might be in luck.

Two University of South Florida entrepreneurs created a Web site for selling textbooks, furniture and other items. What makes their site different from others: Sellers don’t have to pay fees or shipping costs.

Alumnus Mark Vila and student Jorge Marrero got the idea to start University Reach about nine months ago when they said they noticed that students weren’t getting a good deal at bookstores and other online exchanges.

“The whole point of it is to eliminate third parties,” Vila said.

Vila said University Reach is essentially a bulletin board, similar to those found on campus. Sellers list their items under the appropriate category and wait to hear back from buyers.

So far the website, universityreach.com, is open to college students, including those at community colleges, in Gainesville, Tallahassee and Tampa. A valid student e-mail account is required to sign up.

Vila said the problem with college bookstores is that they often buy books back from students for a low price, only to resell them at a higher price.

Online exchanges take commission from any item sold and might not always compensate a seller for the full shipping cost. There’s also a small fee that sellers have to pay to list an item. – Marinella Mozzicato, The Oracle (U. South Florida)

(U-WIRE) CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Diamonds are a girl’s best friend, but if Matthew M. Di Pasquale gets his way, they’ll soon be a frustrated Harvard boy’s best friend too.

The Dunster House senior plans to publish nude photographs of Harvard co-eds in a new campus magazine, to be called “Diamond.” The plans for the magazine haven’t been fully fleshed out, but Di Pasquale said he hopes to discharge his first issue this spring.

Di Pasquale has created a website for the magazine, and he has solicited prospective Harvard models. He has also sent information to friends at the University of Pennsylvania. So far he has recruited one model.

As for how he’ll make money off the student body, Di Pasquale said he has financial backing, but he declined to reveal the source.

Di Pasquale said he conceived the idea of Diamond about two weeks ago. His inspiration was simple: “I love women,” he said.

If published, Diamond would not be the campus’s sole sex magazine. H Bomb, which is officially recognized by the college, was founded in 2004 and has been published periodically since then.

But Diamond will inhabit a different niche than H Bomb, with its artistic focus, according to Di Pasquale. Diamond will be more mainstream — “more Hollywood” —