(Radio Iowa) — A study finds Iowa’s kids are becoming just as sedentary and chunky as their parents. The report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation finds almost 30-percent of Iowa children between the ages of 10 and 17 are overweight or obese. It follows a recent report that found 32-percent of Iowa adults in that category. Foundation program officer Jasmine Hall-Ratliff says we continue preach about the virtues of diet and exercise. “But in a lot of neighborhoods and communities, that’s difficult to do because there aren’t grocery stores available or the schools don’t have good policies for physical activity while kids are in school,” Hall-Ratliff says, “or workplaces have not implemented policies and practices that encourage their employees to be physically active during the work day.”

The report also found almost 15-percent of young Iowa children, between the ages of two and four years, were overweight or obese. Iowa simply isn’t doing all it can, according to the report, to promote a healthy lifestyle in schools — or pre-schools. “There are policy recommendations that early childcare centers have a definition for good, vigorous physical activities for their young kids, 30 to 60 minutes a day being really active, running around, jumping around, that sort of thing,” Hall-Ratliff says, “but Iowa does not have that kind of policy in place.”

There’s no “silver bullet” solution to bringing the obesity numbers down, she says, and that’s unfortunate. Parents are a tremendous influence on their children in many ways, so given the number of obese Iowa adults, she says it’s little surprise so many children are shaping up the same way. “It’s what’s being served and sold in schools, what kind of physical activity policies are in place in schools,” Hall-Ratliff says. “It’s also the practice of eating healthfully and being physically active and there have often been recommendations that parents and kids be active together, walk outside together, so that the parents can model healthy behavior.”

The obesity report for young children ranks Iowa 21st in the nation, a slight drop, while the rankings for middle and high schoolers place Iowa 30th, a slight rise. As for adults, Iowa ranks as the 13th most obese state, a rate that’s holding steady. See the full report at: http://www.healthyamericans.org/

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Northwest Iowa authorities say they arrested a Colorado man with 77 pounds of marijuana in his vehicle. Court records say 34-year-old Darrel Wait, of Thornton, Colorado, is charged with two counts of possession of a controlled drug and with other crimes.

Authorities say a Woodbury County sheriff’s deputy made a traffic stop on Wait’s vehicle Sunday. A police drug dog taken to the scene alerted officers to the likelihood that drugs were in the vehicle. Police say a subsequent search uncovered the pot.

(Updated) — A woman from Pottawattamie County was struck and killed during an SUV versus pedestrian accident Thursday morning, in Shelby County. The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office identified the victim as 50-year old Patsy Ann Maria Nuzum, of Avoca. The Iowa State Patrol reports Nuzum was struck by a 2005 Chevy Trail Blazer, as she was walking south in the northbound lane of Highway 59, about one-quarter of a mile north of 700th Street. The accident happened at around 5:52-a.m., as the SUV, driven by 20-year old Kourtnie Birgenheier, of Harlan, was passing a pickup truck pulling a trailer, as both vehicles were traveling south on Highway 59. Nuzum came to rest in the east ditch after she was struck. She died at the scene.

The accident remains under investigation by the Iowa State Patrol, who were assisted by Deputies with the Shelby County Sheriff’ Office, Harlan Police and Harlan Fire Department.