Vanessa Miller

Nationally, 59 million people live in rural areas — including 9.7 million high schoolers — compelling 16 colleges and universities to form a new “STARS College Network.” The STARS initiative, which stands for “Small Town and Rural Students,” aims to expand and create new pathways to college for students who might not otherwise plan to attend.

Conservative commentator Matt Walsh – as part of his nationwide “What is a Woman” documentary tour – is planning a visit to the University of Iowa this month, inciting some complaints, concerns and an online petition to shut down his lecture.

Mercy Iowa City this morning is holding a series of “all staff” meetings to announce upcoming changes for the 194-bed hospital — including the appointment of a new CEO, the hire of a operations-improvement consultant, and a new plan to end its relationship with MercyOne.

“The Secret Schoolhouse” is a one-time event planned for 7:30 p.m. April 12 in The James Theater in Iowa City. The covert operation will require a ticket – a “golden ticket.” And they aren’t available for purchase.

“I hope that they got some confidence,” 10-year-old Chandler Felton, of Ely, said about the Iowa women’s basketball team upon its return to a massive crowd of cheering fans Monday. “I hope that they feel like there’s lots of supporters out there for them. And that they should be really proud.”

Heather Heddens’ high school heroics came on the court in the 1970s when girls played six-on-six basketball. The game changed to 5-on-5, full-court basketball in 1994, but the enthusiasm the sport stirs among Iowans remains the same.

Iowa Wesleyan University — the state’s second oldest college now careening toward closure next month — wasn’t the only higher education institution in February to ask Gov. Kim Reynolds for a cut of Iowa’s billions in federal COVID-relief funds to help overcome “significant obstacles” and stay open.

A powerful line of storms — including several possible tornadoes — swept across Iowa Friday, toppling trees, flipping cars and tearing roofs off homes.

A month before Iowa Wesleyan University on Tuesday announced its closing in May, an independent audit in February reported trustees and administrators believed they had plans in place to “continue operations into FY24 and beyond.”

One of the oldest universities west of the Mississippi — Iowa Wesleyan University — is closing its doors 181 years after it’s founding in 1842.

A Board of Regents pause on new diversity, equity, and inclusion programming – enacted last week in response to a Republican-led bill

Iowa’s jointly-enrolled high schoolers last year earned a total 1,804 degrees, diplomas, or certificates alongside their high school diplomas – marking a 61 percent jump in a single year from 2021, according to the new report.

Best practice for K-12 schools is to offer one psychologist per 500 students, but Iowa is far lacking — at one per 1,900 students, with its outlook “worsening,” according to the National Association of School Psychologists.

Moody’s Investors Service again has downgraded Mercy Iowa City Hospital’s credit rating following “severe cash flow deterioration, from historically weak levels, which has resulted in material and rapid cash burn.”

Fifty years after Iowa began collecting and analyzing data on residents diagnosed with cancer through its Iowa Cancer Registry, statistics reveal Iowa has the second-highest cancer incidence rate in the nation and is the only state with a rising rate of cancer.