The University of Iowa men's and women's basketball teams made their first public appearances of the 2013-14 season on Friday at the annual Black and Gold Blowout.

The UI's selection for 2013 Mom and Dad of the Year are, respectively, Tammy Taylor of Callender, Iowa, and Willie Delfs of Sioux City, Iowa. The parents were nominated by their students and then honored during Family Weekend festivities.

Grace Lidgett, 8, was just 14 months old when she was referred to UI Children’s Hospital. She started showing allergy symptoms and had difficulty growing. The family learned she has cystic fibrosis—a genetic disorder that causes her body to produce thick, sticky mucus that clogs her organs.

When fans show up for a Hawkeye football game, everything is as it should be. But readying Kinnick Stadium for a game requires a small army and hours of preparation.

Iowans who struggle with hunger will get some help from an effort backed by Iowa farmers and the University of Iowa athletics department.

UI Recreational Services is hosting a second round of adult tennis clinics designed to guide players at the beginner and intermediate levels of play.

Kyleigh Burlingame of Webster City, Iowa, was diagnosed with Doose syndrome, a form of childhood epilepsy. With this particular disorder, seizures can originate from all over the brain as opposed to one focal point. She will be the Kid Captain for the Iowa vs. Ohio game Saturday, Oct. 19.

University of Iowa students, faculty and staff, and the general public can learn the basics of rowing during classes sponsored by UI Recreational Services' Hawkeye Community Rowing.

Gary Barta, the UI's director of athletics, says the sum of the parts of the UI Athletics Department's strategic plan for the next five years are crystallized in five simple words: Win. Graduate. Do it right.

Andy Peterson, director of the UI sports concussion program, says football helmets help diffuse the impact of collisions, but don't absorb the forces of that impact; modern helmets help protect against skull fractures and traumatic head injuries that cause bleeding in the brain, he says.

In 2009, 11-year-old Alex Kirby learned he had a rare genetic kidney disorder. After his transplant, doctors determined his sister, Molly, had the same disorder and would also need a transplant.

Five weeks into the 2013 college football season, the Baylor University Bears are the most productive team according to a weekly ranking that measures offensive and defensive production compiled by a University of Iowa economist.