Vanessa Miller

Newly governed by a revised tiered student organization structure the University of Iowa implemented this fall following years of litigation, appeals, and legislative action, the UI chapter of conservative-leaning Young Americans for Freedom next week will host its first big event of the academic year.

The firsts are rolling in for University of Northern Iowa senior Olivia Chambers -- who in August became the first UNI swimmer in school history named to a U.S. Paralympic team and on Saturday became the first UNI Paralympic medalist, earning her first Paralympic gold with a 4:29 time in the women’s S13 400-meter freestyle.

Months after agreeing to a $124,000 “separation payment” as part of a surprise split with its relatively new Senior Vice President for Operations and Finance Shawn Norman, Iowa State University is facing a lawsuit accusing it and Norman of sex and age discrimination.

What led to the UI Athletics IT employee’s firing was not disqualifying job-related misconduct — but rather the punishable offense of transferring his complimentary employee tickets for women’s basketball games to his adult son, who then sold them on the open market via a third-party selling website.

In arguing its appeal of a Mercy Iowa City liquidation plan that releases thousands of people and entities from potential lawsuits tied to the community hospital’s demise, its former manager MercyOne said a judge erred and overstepped in confirming the plan.

Echoing continuing care retirement communities it’s developed in Marion, Ames, Altoona, Grimes, and West Des Moines since 2011, a Kansas-based senior living developer is planning another new retirement village in Iowa – this one in its fastest-growing City of Tiffin.

Without discussion or debate, the State Health Facilities Council on Tuesday unanimously agreed that Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids doesn’t require a certificate of need to establish an offsite location in North Liberty.

With tens of thousands of students back and bustling across Iowa’s public universities Monday, the campuses found themselves again dealing with scorching August heat and air-conditioning woes.

Continuing its outreach and expansion, in concert with an explosion of health care services in North Liberty, Mercy Medical Center Cedar Rapids is considering offering services at an “off-site location” in Johnson County — where University of Iowa Health Care is building a new 469,000-square-foot hospital and Steindler Orthopedic is constructing a new 35,880-square-foot ambulatory surgical center.

Five years after discovering damaged and cracking windows throughout its 7-year-old Stead Family Children’s Hospital, the University of Iowa is about one-third through its massive window-replacement project — with work expected to continue through the end of 2025 or into early 2026.

Just days before Iowa State University opened its residence halls and apartments for student move-in this fall, its associate vice president for campus life and director for residence resigned Aug. 7, per a settlement with the university.

After six months of focusing on transition and “maintaining access” for patients of the former Mercy Iowa City it bought for $28 million in January, the University of Iowa is starting to hone a longer-term vision for its new Medical Center Downtown that includes possible relocation of its obstetrics and midwifery, family medicine, and sleep disorders services.

Just over two months until the civil trial of two former University of Iowa fraternity brothers is supposed to begin in Tama County -- after the case was relocated from Johnson County due to its high-profile nature -- parties on both sides are asking a judge to preemptively rule in their favor.

A Johnson County judge faced the question of whether to make an example of driver Drake Brezina or a testament of him — to make him pay behind bars, or behind a microphone, sharing the tragic consequences of his decision to focus on his phone instead of the road.

In the days since Mercy Iowa City’s bondholders raised concerns about dwindling assets available for distribution through a liquidation trust, attorneys, consultants, and advisers for the bankrupt hospital, its creditors, and its pensioners have inundated the court with “final” fee requests totaling nearly $13.4 million.