Pekin students participating in statewide walk; more

Pekin students participating in statewide walk

PACKWOOD ? More than 700 students in Pekin Community School District will be participating in the Start Somewhere Walk Friday afternoon.

Kindergarten through senior stdents will be walking on the school?s runway and track starting at 1 p.m. At about 1:20 p.m., they will assemble on the football field for a group photo.

Start Somewhere Walks are planned in communities throughout the state to kick off Gov. Terry Branstad?s initiative to make Iowa the healthiest state in the nation within five years.

More information about the walk can be found online at www.StartSomewhereWalk.com.

Iowa State University chemist wins Nobel Prize

DES MOINES (AP) ? An Iowa State University scientist has won the 2011 Nobel Prize in chemistry.

Daniel Shechtman was named the winner of the prize Wednesday for his 1982 discovery of quasicrystals, a chemical structure researchers previously thought was impossible.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences says Shechtman?s discovery showed atoms in a crystal could be packed in a pattern that could not be repeated. It was previously thought atoms were packed in crystals in symmetrical patterns. The discovery changed the way chemists look at solid matter.

The academy says the finding was so controversial Shechtman, a professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, was asked to leave his research group.

Shechtman also is a distinguished professor at the Israel Institute of Technology. He says winning the Nobel Prize ?feels wonderful.?

Muscatine County pondering no-smoking policy

MUSCATINE (AP) ? Muscatine County is considering butting-in when it comes to smoking by new employees.

The Muscatine Journal says Tuesday that county supervisors have asked a health and safety committee to study the matter. The issues include whether smokers should be forced to sign a pledge that they?ll quit and then be required to follow through, whether smokers should pay more for health insurance and whether it?s discrimination for government not to consider smokers for job openings.

The no-smoking issue was raised by Sheriff Dave White. He told supervisors on Monday that he?s heard quit-smoking pledges are being raised more and more among Iowa sheriffs.

Supervisor Bob Howard says he?s worried about what might follow ? no Big Mac hamburgers at lunch and no beer after work.

Iowa Supreme Court to hear steel wheel case

DES MOINES (AP) ? The Iowa Supreme Court will hear arguments in two cases when it travels to Mason City on Oct. 13, including a challenge to Mitchell County?s ordinance banning vehicles with steel wheels from hard-surface roads.

The case involves a Mennonite teenager. Matthew Zimmerman was cited for driving a steel-wheel tractor on a county road in 2010. He was found guilty of violating the ordinance. An Iowa judge agreed with a magistrate?s ruling upholding the constitutionality of the ordinance.

Zimmerman?s family says it interferes with their religious practice. The county says it wants to alleviate damage caused by the wheels.

The court says Tuesday the main issue is whether the ordinance violates Zimmerman?s state and federal rights to free exercise of religion.

The other case involves a defendant?s right to confront witnesses.

Man convicted in crowbar beating seeks new trial

BURLINGTON (AP) ­? A Burlington man convicted of beating a woman with a crowbar wants a new trial.

A jury in September found 33-year-old James Dixon guilty of first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary and attempted third-degree burglary. He was accused of beating Kimberly Peterson with a crowbar in July 2010. Peterson thwarted Dixon from breaking into a Burlington bar that she was cleaning.

The Hawk Eye newspaper says Dixon?s attorney, Gordon Liles, argued during a hearing Monday that Des Moines County prosecutors did not give the defense written notice they would grill a witness for Dixon, Laura Teesdale.

The judge took the matter under advisement. Dixon is to be sentenced Oct. 24.