Valdosta, Georgia - August 8, 2012 -

On August 8th, children in Valdosta will be preparing for the first day of school.

The streets are empty around five in the morning, but soon they'll be full of school buses. Thousands of kids are heading back to school today in Lowndes County. With the new school year comes some big changes.

One of those changes is more fruits and vegetables on students plates. It's part of new federal rules that are aimed limiting calories. It's the biggest push toward healthy eating since federal subsidized lunch programs began in the 1940s.

Kids will be served two and a half cups of fruit per week and nearly 4 cups of vegetables. The goal is to try and target childhood obesity in the state.

Georgia has the second highest childhood obesity rate in the country. That's according to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.

Click on the link below for details:


http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/Fruits-Vegetables-and-Hope-for-Students-Health-165380476.html

If parents haven't gotten all their back to school shopping done, they'll have a chance to save some money.

For the first time since 2009 Georgia will offer shoppers a tax holiday on back-to-school products. The holiday will be on August 10th and 11th. Many people are looking forward to some much needed financial relief.

Parents will spend roughly six hundred and ninety dollars on school supplies this year which is up 85 dollars from last year's average. That's according to the National Retail Federation.

The sales tax will be lifted for general school supplies, clothing worth one hundred dollars or less as well as computers and their accessories.

Stay with WCTV for continuing coverage of the first day of school in Lowndes County.