Accomack County 4-H Prioritizing Youth Literacy with “Molina Books Across Virginia”
Feb 23, 2021
Books, books and more books needed! After attending the local school board meeting in September, Marcus Riley, Accomack County 4-H Youth Development Agent, learned that school libraries were closed. The media specialist could bring a limited number of books to the classroom for students to select. Students need to read to improve their vocabulary, reading comprehension of text and stimulate their minds/imagination. A parent in attendance also voiced his frustrations with closing the library for students. Due to the uncertainty of COVID-19 and safety protocols in place, this made an almost impossible task for the schools to provide personal books to its students given the financial strain it would put on their budgets.
SUMMARY
T. O. Sandy was Virginia’s earliest agricultural extension agent. A farmer, scientist, and teacher, he opened the state’s first extension office in Burkeville in 1907, serving the residents in surrounding counties with practical agricultural advice. In 1914, Virginia Polytechnic Institute (now Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg assumed the administration of the statewide program. Sandy, who had briefly attended Virginia Tech, coordinated Virginia’s extension efforts until his retirement in 1917. During Sandy’s tenure as extension agent, farming practices and attitudes toward scientific agriculture in Virginia significantly improved.
Thomas Oldham Sandy was born in Essex County, Virginia, on February 22, 1857. He matriculated at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1875, but did not complete a degree and left the next year. In 1879 he bought a cattle and horse farm in Westmoreland County. On June 25, 1891, Sandy married Sallie Thweatt Miller and the couple settled at her ance
Avoid these tree removal mistakes ahead of an ice storm
Tree removal expert Steve Flournoy said it was not too late to perform tree maintenance ahead of the impending storm, but warned to watch out for potential dangers. âWires are serious business, and we donât want anybody to get hurt trying to do it themselves when theyâre too close to the wire. Common sense is the rule,â Flournoy explained. He predicted the forecasted ice storm could knock over more trees and branches that didnât come down over the weekend.
and last updated 2021-02-16 18:04:03-05
HENRICO COUNTY, Va. The threat of more snow and ice for Central Virginia has some homeowners taking a closer look at their trees. The set up late Wednesday night into Thursday morning will be favorable for another round of significant freezing rain and likely an ice storm.
Why snow removal crews are moving away from rock salt
Road crews have been forced to pre-treat and de-ice Central Virginiaâs roads in recent weeks. However, environmentalists are urging localities to take a closer look at what theyâre putting on the roadways. Rock salt is the most abundant and cheapest way to clear the roads, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT). Foresters like John Jastrzembski have studied the environmental impacts that sodium chloride has on Mother Nature. âThereâs no doubt itâs a necessary thing, but there are environmental consequences of using salts,â he explained. âThere are always traces of the salt deposits whether they leach into the waterway or groundwater or move downriver to the Chesapeake Bay.â
Scrapie is uncommon, but Virginia and federal officials continue to monitor for the degenerative disease of sheep and goats.
The sheep and goat disease was discussed during a Feb. 2 small ruminent webinar hosted by the Virginia Cooperative Extension.
The disease is caused by a prion, but is still not fully understood, according to Sarah Firebaugh, a USDA veterinarian.
The scrapie prion has a misfolded protein that causes the DNA of infected animals to encode for that protein.
Mad cow disease and chronic wasting disease are also caused by prions.
Although there is a randomized scrapie, in which an animal becomes infected but is not contagious, it is the classical, communicable scrapie that researchers are tracking.