Vanessa Miller

A U.S. District Court judge on Monday dismissed MercyOne’s appeal of a liquidation plan for the bankrupt Mercy Iowa City hospital it managed for years -- a plan MercyOne opposed, in part, because it left the Des Moines-based health care system exposed to potential lawsuits.

“I thank my mother for finding the physician,” he said. “Of course, I was involved with that whole process of finding a surgeon, going and meeting them, and asking them about the operation and the alternatives and getting second opinions. And the decision was left up to me, ultimately, of whether or not to get surgery.”

Amid an onslaught of criticism from lawmakers and proposed legislation to codify their higher education critiques, Iowa’s Board of Regents this week directed its public universities to do “a lot more” to comply with the “spirit of the laws” — including pulling down current or archived webpages with any mention of diversity, equity and inclusion.

The Board of Regents on Thursday levied a rare rejection of a University of Iowa construction project, opting not to approve -- at least for a period of time -- a long-awaited renovation of the 100-year-old Iowa Memorial Union.

The University of Iowa’s living learning communities house students with peers who share similar interests or majors in hopes of forming deeper community connections. Administrators confirmed to The Gazette that three of those communities — serving LGBTQ+, Latinx, and Black students — will no longer be offered starting next year.

After an hour updating lawmakers on ways their campuses are serving students, the presidents of Iowa’s three public universities fielded questions from lawmakers -- including about cuts to their diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.

With Iowa maintaining the second-highest rate and fastest-growing rate of new cancers nationally, advancements in treatment has its count of cancer survivors up in the state to 171,535 in 2025 — up from 168,610 in 2024.

The university is reviewing is lease of the 485-acre nature area that for years has attracted researchers, naturalists and students -- but poses budget issue.

With lobbyists for Iowa’s public universities lingering in an “undecided” state on the dozens of bills introduced this session angling to reshape higher education, the Board of Regents this week will consider creating a new “legislative committee” tasked with taking a position on pending legislation.

In the year since taking over Iowa City’s bankrupt Mercy Hospital and transitioning the 78-year-old facility into its new downtown campus, University of Iowa Health Care has not completed a comprehensive review of staff badge access, “increasing the risk of unauthorized entry,” according to an internal audit made public this week.

A month after Iowa’s Board of Regents cut references to diversity and inclusion throughout its five-year strategic plan, Iowa’s public universities largely have done the same in response to legislation and regent directives curtailing all DEI efforts.

Proposed renovations going before the Board of Regents next week include an open study lounge with adjacent small-group study rooms; an expanded fitness center with floor-to-ceiling windows looking out toward Iowa City Park and the Iowa River; and a centralized vending area.

Despite a University of Iowa announcement in December of its intentions to seek approval this month of a new “School of Social and Cultural Analysis,” the plan has been shelved following legislative opposition and regent rejection.

That bigger Children’s Hospital window replacement budget — if approved by the Board of Regents next week — will bring the total cost to replace cracking and damaged windows encasing the eight-year-old hospital to $52.5 million.

After eight months without a full nine-member Board of Regents, Gov. Kim Reynolds has appointed University of Northern Iowa student Lucy Gipple to fill the vacant student-regent spot, according to UNI.