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Sandy Hausman reports
Virginia Tech was one of several colleges and universities in the commonwealth to report a big increase in applications.
Credit Virginia Tech
For students who don’t test well, the pandemic proved a blessing as most colleges and universities announced they would not require SAT or ACT scores. At the University of Virginia, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Greg Roberts thinks that’s behind a 17% increase in the number of applicants.
“Some students probably don’t think their scores reflect who they are as human beings or students, he explains. Without those scores they feel like they have a shot for admission, and so they threw their hat in the ring.”
Sandy Hausman reports
Credit PETA
Daphna Nachminovich is an executive with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and she knows how quickly cats reproduce.
“They have at least two litters a year, and they have multiple kittens per litter, she says. They start reproducing at five or six months.
So she doesn’t oppose sterilizing feral cats, but she’s not happy with a bill sponsored by Senator Lynwood Lewis. It would allow animal shelters to create
trap, neuter and release programs or TNRs to control population growth, but it doesn’t require the provision of food, water, shelter and veterinary care.
Scott Karr at his store, Wild Birds Unlimited of Charlottesville
Scott Karr has ten bird feeders, three bird baths and a fountain surrounding his Charlottesville home. He’s also the owner of the local Wild Birds Unlimited – a business that has prospered during the pandemic.
“We specialize in making your life at home a little more interesting,” he explains.
Since May, the franchise reports double-digit growth as people discovered bird watching. We’re lucky, he says, because many Virginia birds are homebodies too.
“Most of our feeder birds stay here all year around. The northern cardinal, your blue jays, your chickadees, your titmice. We’ve got three common varieties of woodpeckers that come to feeders, blue birds, gold finches – they all stick around,” Karr says.
Sandy Hausman reports
The Blue Ridge Health District is now offering vaccinations in the parking lot of a shuttered K-Mart.
Credit Blue Ridge Health District
The old Kmart store in Charlottesville has been closed for years, but there’s a giant white tent in the parking lot and a greeter on duty now – a volunteer charged with getting people in for COVID-19 vaccination.
“We ask that you stay in your car until about five minutes before your appointment time, she says. You can see the line of people already standing there, distanced apart, and so that’s the building where you’ll go for your vaccine.”