Running now through Labor Day, the Old Threshers Reunion in Mount Pleasant is a refreshing step back in time.

Carson Thomas, 14, kicks off the fifth year of the Kid Captain program, a collaboration between UI Children's Hospital and the Iowa Hawkeyes.

The signs that football season is inching closer and closer in Iowa City are appearing everywhere. One staple for die-hard University of Iowa football fans is the first Johnson County I-Club breakfast, held every Friday morning before home games at the Sheraton hotel.

Chris Baker, alumnus of the University of Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Communication, will read from his new book, "Others Had It Worse: Sour Dock, Moonshine, and Hard Times in Davis County, Iowa," at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5, in a free reading at Prairie Lights Books in downtown Iowa City.

The University of Iowa School of Music will present a jam session by jazz faculty members from 8 to 10 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 3, at George’s, 312 E. Market St. in downtown Iowa City. The performance, part of a monthly series, is free and open to the public.

Eric Linsker of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Alexandria Peary of Londonderry, N.H., have been named 2013 recipients of the prestigious Iowa Poetry Prize. Linsker's collection, "La Far," and Peary's collection, "Control Bird Alt Delete," will both be published in March 2014 by the University of Iowa Press.

The University of Iowa Lifetime Enrichment Adult Program is offering a variety of courses to adult learners this fall.

University of Iowa Health Care emergency medicine experts warn that the current high temperatures can pose serious health risks and urge people to be on the lookout for signs of heat-related illness in themselves and others.

Geoffrey G. O’Brien, graduate of the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, will read from "People on Sunday" at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 9, in a free reading at Prairie Lights Books in downtown Iowa City. The reading also will be streamed live on the UI Writing University website.

The University of Iowa is pleased to announce the following faculty promotions. The promotions are effective for the 2013-14 academic year, beginning July 1.

The University of Iowa School of Music will present a faculty recital by Amy Schendel, assistant professor of trumpet, at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 30, in Riverside Recital Hall on the UI campus. The performance, which is free and open to the public, will also feature Elaina Burns on piano and Todd Schendel on trombone.

The University of Iowa will celebrate the 10th anniversary of its award-winning oat hulls project later this fall, and what better way to mark the occasion than to introduce a new source of alternative energy?