Vanessa Miller

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.

Many of the more than 200 who showed up in snow pants and tuft-tipped winter hats at a caucus precinct location in Coralville were same-day Republican registrants, including several who came out specifically to support Nikki Haley. The former South Carolina governor won Johnson County. It was the only county that Trump didn’t carry.

Even as “dangerously cold temperatures” have pushed all three of Iowa’s public universities

With mounting scientific evidence showing exercise can reduce stress, anxiety, and symptoms of depression, one Iowa State University associate professor wants to know why and how and whether the type and amount of exercise matters.

With the $28 million sale of Mercy Iowa City to the University of Iowa just over two weeks from closing, the 150-year-old community hospital’s largest bondholders are seeking court affirmation they will get the vast majority of that money “promptly.”

Given wind chills in Johnson County could plummet below negative-35 degrees Tuesday, the University of Iowa on Friday announced it’s not holding in-person classes on what was scheduled to be the first day of the spring semester.

Instead of the nearly $40 million Legislative appropriations increase Iowa’s Board of Regents wanted in the next budget year, Gov. Kim Reynolds has recommended a $12.3 million bump — amounting to a 2.5 percent increase for each of Iowa’s public universities.

The new chief integration officer that University of Iowa Health Care has appointed to manage its complex merger with Mercy Iowa City — following UIHC’s $28 million bankruptcy acquisition of the community hospital — could earn $780,000 this year, according to her professional services agreement.