Northwestern University men’s basketball has announced a historic “home-and-home” exhibition series with Iowa State that will be played over the next two years.

The series begins Sunday, October 26, 2025, when Northwestern travels to Ames to face the Cyclones at Hilton Coliseum. Iowa State will return the favor during the 2026 preseason, visiting Welsh-Ryan Arena on either Saturday, October 24, or Sunday, October 25, 2026:

The matchup represents significant firsts for both programs. Northwestern will break new ground by playing its first preseason exhibition against a Division I opponent in program history. For Iowa State, the October contest will mark their first exhibition game at Hilton Coliseum since 2017, when they defeated Emporia State 77-68.

The Cyclones will enter the Northwestern exhibition having already completed their preseason opener at Creighton on October 17. The 2025 schedule marks the first time Iowa State has played two exhibition games in a single season since 2009, when they defeated Black Hills State 96-47 and UNC Pembroke 106-54

Both teams enter the series following contrasting 2024-25 campaigns. Iowa State posted a 25-10 record and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, earning the 13th spot in ESPN’s Way Too Early Top 25 rankings. Northwestern finished 17-16 in their third consecutive winning season.

Specific tipoff times and television broadcast schedules will be announced at a later date. Northwestern’s full 2025-26 schedule has yet to be released, buttickets are currently available for purchase.

In Iowa baseball’s (33-20-1, 21-9 Big Ten) first game in the 2025 Big Ten Tournament vs. Rutgers (29-28, 15-15) Wednesday night from Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Neb., the No. 3-seeded Hawkeyes defeated the No. 10-seeded Scarlet Knights by a score of 4-3 to win the Pool C grouping and clinch a semifinal appearance on Saturday.

Cade Obermueller started on the mound for the Hawkeyes, where he threw a stellar seven shutout innings, allowing four hits and one base-on-balls with 10 strikeouts. Three additional pitchers would see action for Iowa, including Brant Hogue, who picked up a stressful save after allowing Rutgers to pull within one run.

In total, the Hawkeyes’ pitching staff would combine for 13 strikeouts, while allowing three base-on-balls and three earned runs on nine Rutgers hits.

As for the offense, Iowa would record 10 hits, with Miles Risley leading the Hawkeyes with one RBI on 3-of-4 from the plate. Caleb Wulf (2-4) and Kellen Strohmeyer (1-3) also contributed one RBI each. While Gable Mitchell did not record an RBI, he still batted a productive 3-for-5 at the dish.

Although the Hawkeyes’ win secured them a spot in the semifinals, they will still play their second game of pool play tomorrow vs. No. 6-seed Indiana (31-25, 16-14) from Omaha.

Tomorrow’s game against the Hoosiers, initially scheduled for 2 p.m. CT, has now been rescheduled for 9 p.m. at Charles Schwab Field on the Big Ten Network. In addition to the telecast, fans can listen to the action through the Hawkeyes Radio Network alongside play-by-play voice John Leo and color analyst John Evans.

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• A new grant program announced by Gov. Kim Reynolds would provide preschools and child care centers with $300,000 over three years to offer all-day care for 4-year-olds.
• Reynolds also proposed a new fund to solicit donations from businesses to boost child care workers’ wages. And she extended a pilot making child care workers eligible for child care assistance funds.
• Reynolds proposed similar initiatives in a bill that failed to pass the Iowa Legislature this year.

Gov. Kim Reynolds is launching a new grant program for preschools and child care centers to partner and provide all-day care for 4-year-olds and boost Iowa’s child care workforce.

The move comes after state lawmakers ended the 2025 Iowa legislative session without passing Reynolds’ proposal to add similar programs to state law.

Reynolds announced a range of child care-focused steps in a May 20 news release. They include:

• Creating a new continuum of care grant program to provide grants of $300,000 over three years to preschools and licensed child care providers to offer all-day care for 4-year-olds.
• Establishing a Statewide Child Care Solutions Fund that matches donations from businesses to boost child care workers’ wages.
• And extending a pilot program that makes child care workers eligible for state child care assistance funding, even if they exceed the program’s income limits.

“When individuals, businesses and government all work together to solve a problem, Iowans benefit. Nowhere is this more evident than in child care,” Reynolds said in a statement. “Programs like the Child Care Assistance pilot and the Statewide Solutions Fund will continue to increase our child care workforce and capacity. And the Early Childhood Continuum of Care grant will help give working parents what they need — a full day continuum of care for their children.”

Several of the initiatives Reynolds announced Tuesday were in her bill to incentivize partnerships between preschools and child care providers. The legislation passed the Iowa Senate April 23, but it never received a vote in the House.

Democrats had criticized the bill for redirecting existing funding that went to Early Childhood Iowa programs instead of providing new money for child care and preschool programs.

Grants would incentivize preschool and child care partnerships for all-day care

The continuum of care grants will be available to licensed child care centers and participants in Iowa’s statewide voluntary preschool program.

The grants are worth up to $100,000 per year for three years.

An online request for proposal page said “the source of funding is a combination of state and federal funding sources.”

“This first-of-its-kind grant opportunity supports partnerships between high-quality preschool and child care programs, providing a full day of care that meets the needs of children and working families,” Iowa Department of Education Director McKenzie Snow said in a statement. “We know that about 90 percent of a child’s brain develops by age 5, and Iowa’s new Continuum of Care grant will expand family access to high-quality early childhood options that lay the foundation for learner success in school and beyond.”

Statewide fund seeks donations to boost child care workers’ wages

Reynolds is seeking donations from businesses and individuals for a new Statewide Child Care Solutions Fund, which would provide money to hire new child care workers.

The program would build on a 2024 pilot program that created regional child care solutions funds in several counties around the state.

Reynolds cited a study by the Common Sense Institute of Iowa that examined the pilot program and determined a statewide fund could add 11,000 new child care slots around the state, create 8,000 jobs around Iowa and allow 5,000 more women to enter the workforce.

Restricted donations would go towards the local fund in the area specified by the donor while the state will provide a 2-to-1 match for unrestricted donations.

A spokesperson for Reynolds could not immediately answer questions about the cost of the state match or how it would be funded.

Reynolds extends pilot program letting child care workers access child care assistance

Reynolds will also extend a pilot program begun in 2023 that makes all child care workers eligible for child care assistance, regardless of their income level, to try to keep more child care workers in the workforce.

Iowa’s child care assistance program subsidizes the cost of child care for low-income families.

The pilot program currently serves 900 families and 1,500 children, according to the state’s news release.

A spokesperson for Reynolds did not immediately answer questions about how Reynolds would fund the extension of the pilot program.

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on X at @sgrubermiller.