Gazette Daily News Podcast, July 20

It will dip below the 90s again Wednesday, and thankfully the breeze will remain. According to the National Weather Service it will be sunny with a high near 88 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area. A northwest wind 10 to 15 mph will increase to 15 to 20 mph in the afternoon. On Wednesday night it will be clear, with a low of around 66 degrees.

University of Iowa Health Care is requesting a 33 percent increase — to over $525 million — for continuing to build its new hospital in North Liberty, saying inflation and a workforce shortage are causing the cost to skyrocket.

Hospital officials are asking the Iowa Board of Regents for approval on a revised construction budget for the 469,000-square-foot campus at the southwest corner of Forevergreen Road and Highway 965.

The project — which is already underway — remains the same as a proposal approved by regents in fall 2021, as the new budget does not include any changes to the campus layout, building design or floor plans.

The hospital project's original proposed cost was $230 million, but that was bumped up after the scope of the project was changed after its approval.

The University of Iowa College of Education has received a $15 million donation — the largest gift ever to the college — to support training and research in school mental health.

The Iowa Center for School Mental Health, founded last summer with $20 million in federal pandemic relief money, will be renamed the Scanlan Center for School Mental Health after the gift from the Chicago-based Scanlan Family Foundation.

The center is a partnership between the UI and the Iowa Department of Education to address the mental health needs of Iowa students and staff with professional development, research and clinical assessment and intervention.

The gift and renaming, which will be considered June 27 by the Iowa Board of Regents, will expand clinical support for school mental health in collaboration with the UI’s Belin-Blank Center.

The mayor of Fairbank was killed in a two-vehicle crash Monday morning on U.S. Highway 218 that involved a driver's education car.

Gregory Harter, 71, a passenger in the driver's education vehicle, died at the scene. Three others were injured, including two 14-year-olds, one of whom was the driver.

The Iowa State Patrol said that shortly before 8:30 a.m., a 14-year-old from Waterloo was driving southbound on Highway 218 near the Janesville exit when the car went onto the shoulder. The driver overcorrected, crossing the southbound lanes of the highway and the median into the path of an oncoming car.

Fairbank is a small town located west of Oelwein in Buchanan and Fayette counties.