Vanessa Miller

The project – a collaboration of Corridor Community Action Network, The LENA Project, Iowa City-based social justice advocate Anne Ventullo and others, with financial backing from Velvet Lotus Tattoo –is in the process of collecting toy donations to stock several distribution sites across the community this season.

One in five of those ISU students screened in fall 2021 were in “serious psychological distress,” and more than half were experiencing loneliness, according to the ISU version of the National College Health Assessment.

Speaking a different language in a health care setting can not only prevent patients from communicating aches and pains or doctors from relaying important medical news or instructions – it can keep people from seeking care altogether.

The adage never to talk religion or politics with family and friends — especially over dinner or the holidays — is getting harder to follow these days given those off-limits subjects increasingly are bleeding into topics historically deemed safer, like the cost of the turkey, the weather, or even Taylor Swift.

The athletic departments across Iowa’s public universities have spent more than a combined $7.3 million taking COVID-19 tests and other pandemic-related precautions and measures – expenses covered by their main campuses, athletics revenue or federal aid.

The University of Iowa is seeking help hiring temporary workers for its State Hygienic Lab that – like many other industries – is facing a labor shortage stretching its staff thin as it aims to process an average of 1,000 tests a day for things like COVID-19, newborn and maternal screenings, and tuberculosis.

After shedding students annually for more than a decade – a post-recession trend aggravated by the pandemic – Iowa’s 15 community colleges this fall recorded their first collective enrollment uptick since 2010: a half percentage point bump, pushing the student tally to 82,251.

Spelling out its contention with a $12.8 million jury verdict awarded to a contractor on its Stead Family Children’s Hospital, the state – on behalf of the University of Iowa and Board of Regents – is accusing jurors of leveling “excessive” damages and of being “influenced by passion or prejudice.”

Meanwhile, contractor Modern Piping the day after its favorable verdict Oct. 27 asked the court to require the state, UI and regents to pay an additional $16 million related to bond issues and questions that arose at the start of the disagreement in April 2016.

Going back to fiscal 2018, University of Iowa Student Health psychiatry visits are up 40 percent, even though total enrollment is down 8 percent over the same period.

Reported crimes tied to social interaction jumped at the University of Iowa last year, with rape reports surging to 64 in 2021 from 38 in 2020, 50 in 2019, and 22 in 2015.

Adding to the hundreds of millions in new construction, renovations, and expansions already planned or underway across its Johnson County campuses, the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics this week wants Board of Regents approval to spend another $16 million upgrading its main Iowa City location.

A push to raise $250 million for the 146-year-old University of Northern Iowa began quietly four years ago, starting with fundraising for a $14.9 million renovation of the campus’ Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center.

Four years after taking over the sprawling Kirkwood Community College system in 2018 as its fifth president and first female head, Lori Sundberg, 64, on Monday announced plans to retire next fall.

“The health and safety of students is a priority at the University of Iowa, and many students enjoy opening their windows in their living spaces for fresh air,” UI spokesman Chris Brewer told The Gazette.