Vanessa Miller

Officer failed to stop at a stop sign, hit vehicle

The University of Iowa has agreed to pay a Johnson County family $2 million to settle a lawsuit involving accusations of negligence in the 2009 delivery of their son, who “showed signs immediately of injury to his right arm” and has failed to regain full mobility.

Lawmakers have proposed a bill that would expand the nine-member Board of Regents to include two “non-voting” members of the Legislature. It also would cap tuition rates across the public universities at 3 percent for undergraduate students.

Responding to 10 diversity, equity, and inclusion-related recommendations Iowa’s Board of Regents issued in November, Iowa State University has disseminated a directive barring anyone on campus from making students, employees, applicants, or visitors “disclose their pronouns.”

Born a slave on a Missouri plantation more than 160 years ago to a mother owned by Moses Carver, George Washington Carver was orphaned during the Civil War and freed with the abolition of slavery in 1865.

More than two years after launching a 24/7 crisis and support line for University of Iowa students, the campus in January expanded that phone, text, and online chat service to faculty, staff, and postdocs – as part of an ongoing UI effort to “prioritize the mental health and well-being of employees.”

As part of the University of Iowa’s takeover of Mercy Iowa City – which became official Wednesday and continued UI Health Care’s accelerating expansion statewide – it’s assuming more than 1,000 of Mercy’s contracts, costing $3.4 million to “cure” amounts the former community hospital owed under those agreements.

Although the skywalk spanning Market Street connecting portions of the historic Mercy Hospital campus on Wednesday morning still boasted that 150-year-old name and its teal and white colors, a sign along the street below announced Mercy’s new owner and new name: University of Iowa Health Care "Downtown Campus.“

As part of the ownership transfer, about 1,000 former Mercy Iowa City “team members” — including 45 physicians and 33 advanced practice providers — will become UIHC employees.

Although long-serving Iowa State University Provost Jonathan Wickert just last week announced plans to relinquish his appointment later this summer, he actually submitted his resignation letter more than two months ago on Nov. 10.

A former Iowa State University police officer fired for engaging in a high-speed pursuit against department policy, during which she hit two uninovlved vehicles -- including one that then ran into an apartment building -- has been ordered to pay back the unemployment benefits she collected after being placed on administrative leave.

A week before Mercy Iowa City’s 150-year history comes to an end – with the bankrupt hospital transitioning to University of Iowa ownership Jan. 31 – the Board of Regents will meet Wednesday to consider new bylaws for the former Mercy campus, renamed UI Health Care Medical Center Downtown.

Iowa State University is immediately launching a search for a new provost after its record-setting Senior Vice President Jonathan Wickert announced plans to step down this summer following a dozen years in the role.

To date, $2.2 million has been raised toward a $3.5 million campaign goal — including a $900,000 “Community Attraction and Tourism grant” the Enhance Iowa Board awarded North Liberty in December.

After eight years on the Board of Regents and nearly seven as its president, Michael Richards on Tuesday announced he’s stepping down from his presidential post and will leave the board at the end of April — three years before his term expires.