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ALBEMARLE COUNTY, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) — An Albemarle County teacher is going beyond textbook notes to help her third-grade class understand a lesson on simple machines.

Meriwether Lewis Elementary School teacher Anne Straume brought together elementary, middle and high school students for a collaborative hands-on project.

She got the idea from a tweet while researching ways to help her students understand how the machines work.

“I saw a tweet from Europe that incorporated simple machines. Different age levels of children were working on it. So I was like, this is something we can bring to Albemarle County schools,” Straume said.

Straume took to Twitter, using 140 characters to reach out to middle and high schools in the district.

Her tweet caught the eye of Beth Costa, principal at Henley Middle School.

“I was looking through Twitter. It had been a little while since I had seen it,” said Costa. “I saw it again and just reached out, ‘hey had anyone responded to your request for a middle and high school to collaborate around the third-grade simple machine project?'”

“She immediately responded, saying no I haven’t found anybody. So said I think we can do this,” she added.

The last piece of the puzzle, Monticello High School, putt the project into motion.

“Before we knew it, kids were meeting, people were meeting to bring an elementary, middle and high school together,” Costa said.

Elementary school students had the task of sketching up a dream machine. Middle school students turned those drawings into computer models, and high school students were in charge of building the 3-D model.

One of those designs, the “Dog Bot,” was created by third-grader Anisten Luzaich. Her dream machine is a dog feeder for her chihuahua who is rather rowdy during feed time.

Students and teachers say the final projects exceeded their expectations.

“This was a real-life application and we couldn’t ask for anything more,” Costa said.

And it allowed students at each level to take what they learned in a textbook and apply the knowledge.

“You can read, you can look at, but when you really get an opportunity to do, that’s the deeper learning that we want for kids,” Costa said.

Educators hope other teachers in the county reach across the district to create more opportunities for students on various grade levels to collaborate.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) — Virginia Lottery profits are handed over to the state Department of Education to fund schools in the Commonwealth. The money has been seen as extra dollars on top of what the state gives, but educators say it’s filling in the gaps where state funding is lacking.

Lottery profits didn’t always support education. When the first lottery ticket was sold on Sept. 30, 1988, revenue went to capital projects and the general fund. John Hagerty, with the Virginia Lottery, says that changed once voters went to the polls in 2000.

“As a constitutional amendment, voters were asked do you want all lottery profits to go to K-12 education? And the voters overwhelming said yes,” Hagerty said.

As a result of the decision by voters, by law, all lottery profits, which are slightly under one-third of ticket sales, go to the Department of Education. The agency takes care of distributing funds to local school districts on a per-pupil basis.

Since that vote, more than $9 billion has helped fund public education, according to Virginia Lottery. In the fiscal year 2018, schools received $606 million.

Although the amount seems like a large sum of money, Hagerty says it only makes up about 10 percent of what Virginia spends on education.

School districts receive revenue from federal, state and local governments. The responsibility is shared among the three with lottery funds grouped in with the state funding.

Kathy Burcher, with the Virginia Education Association, says the lottery profits are supposed to act as additional dollars to what the state contributes but the money is filling in the holes.

“For every lottery dollar in, they would actually take state dollars to be able to move those to other public services,” Burcher said.

She says lottery dollars are funding programs that are required by the state, such as K-3 Primary Class Size Reduction, Special Education, and the Virginia Preschool Initiative. She says some of these are solely funded by lottery dollars.

She would like to see the money go to localities and allow them to spend it how they see fit.

“Whether it’s a bus replacement, or it’s carpet replacement, or replace a roof. Those dollars don’t exist because every penny, literally, school divisions are cobbling together every penny they can to provide basic programs for their students,” Burcher said.

She wants the state to re-evaluate the Standards of Quality so the state can increase education dollars. That the required number of positions the state will fund. For anything over the state’s recommendations, the local school district is financially responsible.

During the 2019 General Assembly session, state lawmakers agreed to amend the student-to-teacher/counselor ratio, but the positions will not be funded by the state. Localities will have to pick up the tab for the extra positions.

“What we need to do is re-establish the funding through the state revenue sources that are not lottery dollars for those programs, so that school divisions truly can start to build the lottery dollars back as icing on the cake and not the cake,” Burcher said.

In Albemarle County for the 2018-2019 budget, 73 percent of funding for schools came from the local government, 26 percent from state funding and the remaining balance from federal dollars.

More than $2 million of the district’s operating budget of $190 million came from lottery funding, which also helps to pay for core programs.

“Every dollar counts and every dollar is important, so it’s certainly a small wedge of the overall, pie it’s a needed funding source,” Rosalyn Schmitt, the chief operating officer with Albemarle County Public Schools, said.

She would like to see the state to pick the tab for those fundamental programs so lottery funds would enhance the budget.

“We would hope those supplemental funds would help those important programs like foreign language in elementary schools or more mental health professionals or other programs that are just as critical,” Schmitt said.

Parents can help restore those funds. The Virginia Education Association and ACPS say parents can advocate for more money for schools and keep a close eye on state elections and lawmakers’ decisions around state funding.

The Virginia Lottery also encourages everyone to play responsibly.

ALBEMARLE, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) — A bad night of sleep can make getting through the day a serious struggle. An occasional night of poor sleep is common, but a steady pattern of it could seriously harm your health.

More than one-third of American adults are not getting enough sleep, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Sleeping issues are probably one of the top five complaints people have when they go see their doctor,” Dr. Christopher Winter, medical director at Charlottesville Neurology & Sleep Medicine, said.

Health experts are pointing to our lifestyles, busy schedules, grueling long work hours, and bright laptop and televisions screens at night.

“Based upon our 24-hour culture, and the number of things we have at our disposal at three o’clock in the morning, there are a lot more distractions,” Winter said.

We are not taking sleep seriously, and many struggle to find enough hours in the day to sleep.

Depriving yourself of sleep has lasting consequences on your body and is associated with a number of chronic diseases and conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity and depression.

Winter says sleep is vital for our minds and bodies to work correctly.

“There are not too many things, that sleep doesn’t either have a positive or negative impact on,” he said.

Sleep and moods are also closely connected. After a sleepless night, you may be more irritable, short-tempered, stressed out and mentally exhausted.

And sleep deprivation can put a damper on your ability to appreciate the better moments of life.

“When you look at research about individuals that are poorly slept, 18 positive things will happen to them during the day and one negative thing,” Winter said. “Lack of sleep really forces our brain to focus on that negative thing versus when we sleep well we sort of dismiss the negative and sort of focus on the positive.”

The CDC recommends seven or more hours of sleep but Winter says that’s the not the case for everyone. People must listen to their body to find the right number of hours needed to wake up feeling refreshed.

“We can talk in averages, the average person needs eight hours of sleep at night but that not be specific to what you need. Genetically, people do better with inappropriate amounts of sleep than other people,” Winter said.

And once you start getting the right amount of hours of sleep, the benefits are endless.

ALBEMARLE COUNTY, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) — When people who work a normal, day schedule are preparing for bed, those like Sergeant Rayshaun Gause with the University of Virginia Police Department are just starting their day and heading in to work.

“The community out here keeps us awake,” Gause said.

One-fifth of Americans are like Gause.

The graveyard shift has become increasingly normal. Many industries such as emergency health care and transportation depend on employees who work outside the normal nine-to-five business hours.

But working a standing or rotating night shift can affect mental and physical health. It disrupts the body’s metabolic process and circadian rhythm, which tends to coincide with the cycle of daytime and nighttime.

“I rarely sleep in the day time because when it’s nice outside, who wants to be sleep,” Gause said.

And whether you are a morning person or night owl, the overnight shift can be challenging.

“There are people who tolerate it better than others. I don’t think it’s something that we’re ever really used to. So many biological mechanisms in your body are telling you this is unnatural,” Dr. Christopher Winter, medical director at Charlottesville Neurology & Sleep Medicine, said.

These workers must combat their bodies’ natural rest period while trying to remain alert and high functioning.

This is something University of Virginia Ambassador Jared Hall knows all too well. He works eight-hour shifts from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.

“You just see a lot more activity then you typically do during the day. It’s not by any means a drag when you’re constantly moving and constantly chatting,” Hall said.

As a nurse at UVA with the Blue Ridge Poison Control Center, Jennifer Horn knows how important a good night’s rest is professionally and personally.

“I make sure I have the necessary sleep for work because work is a priority for me,” Horn said.

She’s been working overnight for more than 20 years.

There are negative side effects to working overnight and the hours are inconvenient. But, many night workers can’t give up the night shift entirely.

So the question is how do they get the necessary sleep and take care of themselves?

“Eating well, getting your exercise, and protecting your sleep. It’s about setting up a schedule being disciplined about it,” Winter said.

And preparing for bed starts before overnight workers hit the pillow. He suggests wearing sunglasses or glasses that block blue light exposure.

“Light tends to be the biggest problem when an individual is done working at 6 a.m. They walk out of the building, hospital or newsroom and now they see the light getting brighter and brighter in the environment. That’s telling their brain it’s time to be awake,” Winter said.

Once it’s time to lay down, one of the most important things any overnight worker should have are blackout curtains, which simulants a nighttime environment. Sleep masks also help.

But after years of experience on the overnight shift, these workers say it’s their job keeps them going.

“It’s a job that we have to ensure the safety out there. We’re protecting and serving,” Gause said.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) — For years, NICU nurses have struggled with preventing premature babies from yanking on their breathing tubes, a serious problem impacting these babies.

A University of Virginia Health System nurse is providing a solution to this problem with a special “hug.”

Tricia Cady has always had a special love for babies.

“I love working with babies because they are so pure. They’ve had no bad choices in their lives,” she said.

The nurse says she would lie in bed at night thinking of ways to stop a NICU nurse’s nightmare of her little patient pulling tubes from their nose or mouth.

“When that tube gets pulled out, that’s an unplanned extubation,” Cady explained.

Cady, a nurse of 22 years, says unplanned extubation rates have not budged in 30 years.

“That really upset me because it was a very vulnerable patient population,” she said. “Research says we should strive for this to be a never event.”

After over two decades in the profession, she went back to school. During a class assignment, she transformed her passion for babies into action.

“What can I do to try to contain their hands so they are developmental sound and they’re hands are tucked with free movement,” Cady asked.

After rattling the idea around in her head, she came up with the idea of the “Cady Hug.”

“I named it the hug because I just pictured myself picking them up and hugging them, protecting,” Cady said.

What was once just an idea in her began quickly taking shape.

She received a grant from the Ivy Biomedical Innovation fund, which connected her with a UVA design student. The student helped her idea grow from a simple piece of cloth she sewed together to her first prototype.

The “Cady Hug” is made like a vest, embracing the baby with soft stretchy material and securing the infant’s arms.

Cady says she hopes that her invention spreads nationwide and that we see a drop in unplanned extubation rates.

What makes the device so important is that when babies pull out tubes, it can cause long-term health problems, such as lung disease.

The Cady Hug still has a long way to go before it’s ever used in the NICU. It must go through and pass various tests.

ALBEMARLE COUNTY, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) — For years, local vineyards, farms and orchards have had to turn to foreign workers to get through peak planting and harvesting season.

Those familiar with the federal H-2A program say as the economy continues to thrive, the need for these types of workers will only increase.

Barboursville Vineyards has a reputation for producing some of Virginia’s top wines.

The 900-acre estate, 185 of which is laced with vines, produces 20 wines.

“To make the better wines, we have to allocate more time and handwork; very specific handwork,” winemaker and general manager at Barboursville Vineyards, Luca Paschina said.

Paschina has been with the vineyard for 28 years. He describes the winemaking process as very complex and considers it an art, which requires skilled artists.

“The season starts in winter, in early January where we have to prune every single vine, and we have 150,000,” he said.

This means they need skilled workers willing to put in the long hours to perform and strenuous manual labor required to maintain the vines.

For about 20 years, Barboursville has had to turn to foreign workers because they’re unable to find Americans willing to pick and prune their vines.

The federal H-2A program allows agriculture employers to hire seasonal workers for different countries.

“It would be hard to function if the program was not existing,” Paschina said.

Barboursville hires up to 16 workers a season.

It’s not the only in the area that outsource labor to keep the business running: Trump Winery, Horton Vineyards, Early Mountain Vineyards, Dickie Bros. Orchard, and Crown Orchard also rely on the program.

Demands for the workers have increased in Virginia throughout recent years. In 2013, employers applied for more than 2,600 workers and overtime increased to more than 3,400 in 2016, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Kerry Scott, program manager of masLabor, an agency that works with employers on labor services, says the need for foreign workers will go up around the country as the economy improves.

“We’re filling jobs that we’ve attempted to fill but are unable to,” Scott said.

Utilizing the program is a very pricey and an extensive process. First employers advertise the jobs in three states and with the Virginia Employment Commission to prove there’s a need for seasonal labor they’re unable to find.

“There’s huge protections built in this program for American workers,” Scott said.

They must also provide housing, transportation, and pay workers an hourly rate above the minimum wage.

“Employers do not do this program to save money. They do it to stay in business,” said Scott.

Scott adds that not only are the visas helping employers, but it’s also keeping agriculture businesses at home in the U.S. and Americans employed.

“Each job filled by an H-2A visa supports 4.4 U.S. jobs in that enterprise or related to that enterprise. It’s making it possible for an employer that stays in business to provide jobs for all these other people,” Scott said.

Workers do not stay in the U.S. permanently. They return home once their contract is done. Many are often invited back. Barboursville says a number of its workers have been with coming back for 10 years.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) — A Charlottesville group has teamed up with churches in the area to create an ID program for people who struggle to obtain one issued by a government agency.

The program, backed by Welcoming Greater Charlottesville, is designed to help those living in the shadows and give them a sense of belonging in the community.

“Our purpose is to make the community, city and county as welcoming as possible especially those who are marginalized,” said Russ Linden with Welcoming Greater Charlottesville.

The local ID is still in the design stage but basic information such as a person’s name, address, date of birth, and a photo will be on the card.

This isn’t a government-issued ID but an identification card for those who have trouble getting the proper documentation.

“It doesn’t give people access to things they are not eligible [for] but it will help make people feel more a part of the community more accepted,” Linden said.

The initiative is seen as a way to break down barriers and open doors for many. Without identification, many people struggle to access basic services such as opening a bank account and enrolling their child in school.

Residents such as immigrants, homeless people, the elderly, and people returning from jail will benefit from the program.

Two local churches, New Beginnings Christian Community and Hinton Avenue United Methodist, are the official sponsors.

Brenda G. Brown-Grooms is a minister at New Beginnings Christian Community. Through her experience working with those returning home from jail, she says there’s a great need for this type of program.

“In the case of New Beginnings, we begin to notice the problem with people having a valid ID to do basic things they needed to have in order to live a decent life,” she said.

“If you’ve ever connected with people who have been in jail and have been released, you know some of the problems they have with getting jobs and housing. You need ID to do any of that and if you don’t you’re at a disadvantage,” added Brown-Grooms.

Critics of the initiative may wonder why residents can’t use a DMV-issued ID or drivers license but according to those leading the initiative, it’s not always that easy.

“Now the DMV does issue IDs and many people prefer that but we know of some who have gone. The DMV required certain documents that the people did not have, they lost them or just didn’t have,” Linden said. “Some folks who are undocumented so that do not have by definition to show documents they are here legally. But they are here and a part of our community.”

The program is being modeled after communities in North Carolina and Indiana, which have developed successful ID programs and issued identification to thousands.

Anyone, of any age or background living in Charlottesville or Albemarle County, can apply.

Leaders are working with local government agencies and law enforcement for them to accept the ID. They see this as a way to build trust between communities, such as immigrants and police.

Linden says that many undocumented immigrants do not report crimes in their neighborhoods because they do not feel comfortable contacting police because they do not have identification to show officers.

The program is still being developed. Leaders hope it rolled out sometime in 2019.