Happy Valentines Day! It`s hard not to love a baby animal, right? Say hello to Happy, a baby aardvark at the Nashville Zoo. He’s #1 — the first baby aardvark born in the zoo.

While Happy might look all cuddly and pink in these photos, aardvarks are private creatures, who mind their business and eat ants/termites. They are nocturnal and underground creatures, making them hard to spot during the day and notoriously hard to research, reports WPLN reporter Catherine Sweeney.

So note to self: you can only see them at the Nashville Zoo during presentations, or when they’re on walks. (You can love Happy the aardvark from afar.)

Photos: Catherine Sweeney and Allyson Mao

Immigration, live concert tickets, rural healthcare, and progress in ending the “tampon tax.” These are the subjects of some of the top bills of interest that WPLN reporters are following this legislative session.

Swipe for our “legislative primer.” This is the second year of a two-year session in Tennessee, and lawmakers are working with a tighter budget than in recent years.

Do you have bills or issues that you are following or that you are passionate about? Let us know in the comments.

Follow along for more. Tap link in bio for story updates.

Photo: AP: George Walker IV / AP

As a part of the “Restore Nashville” campaign announced Friday, Mayor Freddie O’Connell is asking multiple city departments to make changes to soften the impact of the storm recovery.

Plans include relief for fees and penalties for water and electric bills, waiving building permit fees, and providing a housing assistance program that received a donation from the Tennessee Titans. It will be administered through the Metro Action Commission.

“In the first hour alone, we received more than 130 applications. And on its second day, we are already at 800 applications,” said Metro Action Executive Director Jamekia Bies. “This shows just how great the need is.”

The application for the housing fund will be open only through this Thursday (tomorrow).

Applicants must reside in Davidson County, have been impacted by the storm and meet income eligibility requirements.

Tap link in bio for the Davidson County Emergency Winter Housing Assistance program info.

Photo: Justin Barney / WPLN

This week we had lots of storm stories including a musician’s view of the folks who came out to support the music industry during the storm, plus coverage of Gov. Bill Lee’s final State of the State address.

Tap link in bio for more in-depth stories and to sign up for the NashVillager newsletter, a human-powered 5-day a week email direct to your inbox with stories, info, and ticket giveaways.

Among the physical health effects of the cold, there are mental ones, too. Being cold can make you feel more lonely. Oxytocin is a hormone that plays a big part in the way the brain behaves when we make social connections, and it also is tied to how your body regulates temperature. So socializing (or lack thereof during the storm) or cold can affect your amount of oxytocin.

Mental health is not the only thing that may have suffered during Winter Storm Fern.

There are also health issues from the cold, from the dangers of physical exertion during cold temps (shoveling snow, cutting and dragging trees, standing/walking on ice, cold airways for those with asthma).

Follow along for more and tap link in bio for continuing coverage of the effects of Winter Storm Fern.

“It’s like your fingerprints have changed. It’s like you look in the mirror and the color of your eyes has changed,” said Chris Leonard of the Nashville Tree Conservation Corps.

Many folks are struggling with the visual devastation of tree loss in and around Nashville, as the silhouette of foliage, perhaps unconsciously memorized, is now different in the aftermath of Winter Storm Fern.

The loss will shake ecosystems, affecting water drainage, heat and wildlife, as reported by WPLN’s Caroline Eggers.

But this storm could be a catalyst for change. Citizens can take action and:

🌳 Demand better laws to protect trees against development (which typically kills more trees than storms)
🌳 Plant climate-resilient trees
🌳 Volunteer with or donate to tree-planting efforts

“I spend so much of my time trying to soothe the fears of people about anything to do with nature, about bees and birds and critters and trees,” said Jo Brichetto, a Nashville naturalist. “This is going to be hard to get people to want to plant trees again. But we have to do it.”

Tap link in bio for more.

Photos 1, 4, 5: Blake Farmer
Photo 2: Terry Cook
Photo 3: Justin Barney