Vanessa Miller

Since leaving her job, Pattee has been receiving pension checks. But Mercy Iowa City’s decision last week to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and initiate a $20 million sale of its assets to the University of Iowa has her — and many other current and former Mercy employees like her — wondering whether and for how long that will continue.

“I’ve been working on corn specifically for 35 years,” said Alan Myers, an Iowa State University professor of biochemistry, biophysics, and molecular biology since 1987, who has made it his “maize” mission to amplify the sweet-corn experience by making sweet corn sweeter.

In a letter updating its tens of thousands of patients on how this week’s news of Mercy Iowa City’s bankruptcy could affect them and their care, Steindler Orthopedic Clinic on Friday vowed to “remain independent” — even as the 150-year-old community hospital, and Steindler’s longtime partner, “will cease to exist.”

After considering Mercy Iowa City’s argument that it’s an increasingly “fragile organization” forced into an emergent bankruptcy filing after suffering “significant and negative destruction of value,” a U.S. bankruptcy judge on Wednesday agreed to expedite the timeline of the hospital’s sale – presumably to the University of Iowa – setting a bid deadline of Sept. 19.

The Board of Regents on Tuesday morning unanimously approved a University of Iowa request to buy most of Iowa City-based Mercy Hospital’s assets for $20 million — without asking any questions about the deal’s finances, including how they came to the $20 million figure, where that money will come from, and what will happen with the $63 million Mercy owes on publicly-issued bonds.

The University of Iowa has signed a letter of intent to acquire “substantially all the operating facilities and key assets of Mercy Iowa City — which has filed for bankruptcy — in hopes of ”preserving the continuity of care for patients and continuing opportunities for physicians and employees.“

In asking the court to dismiss the demand a receiver take control of Mercy – for a second time in the under two weeks since investor Preston Hollow Community Capital and master trustee Computershare Trust petitioned the court July 24 – hospital attorneys Thursday accused the plaintiffs of “insufficient service following deceptive and improper actions.”

Three months into its post-collegiate life, the future of the vacated Iowa Wesleyan University campus is starting to take shape thanks to Mount Pleasant Community School District’s $1.25 million offer to buy portions of the 60-acre property.

Just over a year after starting as Iowa State University’s director of equal opportunity and Title IX coordinator, Carl Wells on Tuesday left for a job back in South Carolina as associate dean for campus life at Newberry College — a 167-year-old private Lutheran college.

More than a year after the University of Iowa sued a pair of contractors it said was responsible for installing defective and “potentially life-safety threatening” windows on at least nine floors of its 14-story Stead Family Children’s Hospital, UI attorneys report an arbitration hearing is set for May 6-24, 2024.

As the University of Iowa makes moves to fill out its nearly 500-acre Oakdale Campus in Coralville, it’s seeking Board of Regents approval to build a new $20 million addition onto its eight-year-old Biomedical Research Support Facility.

After slipping last year to the lowest number of medical care specialties ranked among the Top 50 nationally in at least a decade, the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics again this year ranked in the same two specialties — but improved their ratings in the U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Hospitals” list made public today

An 80-plus-mile ride, coupled with 100-plus-degree heat indexes made for a tough day for the tens of thousands of bicyclists who rode from Tama-Toledo to Coralville on day six of RAGBRAI Friday.

Despite inflation, labor cost and supply chain snags that stalled the original timeline, a new Steindler North Liberty Ambulatory Surgery Center now is under construction just east of Interstate 380, north of Forevergreen Road – adding to the health care construction boom underway in that community.

Summertime means free time for many young people, and free time – especially for teens and preteens – can mean more time online and on social media. The Gazette spoke with a Unviersity of Iowa professor about what that means for kids, and what parents can do to keep a check on their children’s online presence.