Friday Morning Read: Senate's new healthcare bill, Jok undrafted, UI raising faculty pay

Study the new bill - Iowa's pair of Republican senators have not yet come out in support or opposition of the U.S. Senate bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, released Thursday. But the state's health care providers are urging them to vote no.

The bill would make deep cuts to Medicaid — insurance for low-income and disabled Americans — by turning it from an entitlement program into a per capita cap as well as roll back Medicaid expansion, though more slowly than the House bill. Read more about the senators' reactions here.

Touring a B-17 - Moments before the more than 70-year-old World War II bomber, named Aluminum Overcast, lifted off the ground Thursday at The Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids, Marvin Ford, 94, hearkened back to his experience as a top turret gunner in a similar aircraft — Tomahawk Warrior — back in the early 1940s.

'It brought us back before, it'll bring us back again,' said Ford, whose last flight in a B-17 was a combat mission over Europe during the height of World War II.

Read more about the B-17, watch a video of it flying, and learn about when you can tour the plane here.

Jok Undrafted - He may not have been selected in the 2017 NBA Draft, but Iowa guard Peter Jok has a shot at an NBA roster spot via the NBA's Summer League.

Jok went undrafted Thursday night, but per his Twitter account, Jok has a deal with the New Orleans Pelicans to play on their Summer League squad in Las Vegas. The Pelicans begin their summer league July 7 at 5 p.m. Read more reaction from Peter Jok here.

UI Looks to raise faculty pay - After telling the Board of Regents this month that University of Iowa colleges in the new budget year will have enough money to raise faculty salaries to nearer the median of their peers, UI President Bruce Harreld on Thursday specified his administration is allocating $4.9 million toward that goal.

All but one of the UI's 11 colleges will receive a portion of that chunk. The College of Education already has met its goal and thus isn't receiving any new funds for salary raises. Read more reaction to the proposed pay raises here.