People walking through the Fort Hays State University campus may notice quite a few new structures in place tonight.  Tonight, the Leadership 310 Class is closing off a week of activities with Shack City.

In tonight’s event, teams of 2-10 people must construct a shack and stay in it all evening.  Entry fee for each team is $10. The only rule is that structures can’t be factory made such as tents, hunting blinds or campers.

Teams will construct and stay in their shack beginning at 5:00 pm Friday, November 1st through 7:00 am November 2nd.  During that time, participants will be presented with dinner, contests, games, a guest speaker and two musical performances spread throughout the evening.

Junior Brenna Johnson from Beloit is one of the students putting on this week’s events. Johnson told Hays Post that students in her group have been working on these events for a while.

“The Leadership 310 class is the last class before students earn a leadership certificate.  The outcome of the class is: you will be putting a team together, pick a project and go through the project until the very end.  So from beginning to end you’re planning it all out then putting into action.”

Her group chose Poverty Awareness Week as the theme for their projects, with all money raised going to Habitat for Humanity of Ellis County (HHEC). Shack City is the last of the events scheduled this week.  Other events they’ve put on this week:

• Monday: Freddy’s and Gambino’s donated a portion of their proceeds to HHEC
• Tuesday: the group had a booth in the Union promoting the week’s events and distributing informational materials.
• Wednesday: they showed the film One Dollar Poverty, a story of 4 men living in Haiti for 28 days, spending $1 a day
• Thursday: the group Forked the Quad: students left 374 forks in the quad with each fork representing 10 people in Ellis County living below the poverty line

Johnson added that though it’s targeted to FHSU students, community members are encouraged to come out to either participate or spectate, as all proceeds (including any free-will donations collected this evening) will go back into the community through HHEC.  Anyone wishing to register can call 785-628-4497.

If the trick-or-treaters at your house brought home too much sugary candy, here’s an option offered by Lifetime Dental Care in Hays:

Lifetime Dental provided toothbrushes to the trick-or-treaters during Thursday’s Spooktacular at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History.

You can see the kids in their costumes as they talk to Mike Koerner and Scott Boomer on the Spooktacular program airing next week on Eagle Community TV Channel 14 at 3p.m. and 8p.m.

The Ellis County High Technology Unit is warning residents about a new cyber threat being called ransom-ware.  According to Bradley R. Ricke, Ellis County High Technology Crime Unit Investigator, the virus is being distributed via email right now, and while there aren’t any reported cases in Ellis county, occurrences nationwide are growing and spreading.

Ricke said that this virus is similar to others: an email claiming to be from a financial institution is sent out containing a link leading to a malicious site.  Once a user clicks the link, the website downloads a virus to the computer with the intent of damaging components and stealing personal information.  However, this fairly new threat is a little different.

The virus encrypts personal files such as pictures and music that are typically harder to replace.  Once the virus encrypts those files, users are given a certain amount of time to enter payment information in a pop up box, thus holding the encrypted files ransom.  If the time frame passes, the virus deletes all files that have been encrypted.

“Once it installs, it will encrypt parts of their hard drive, specifically the My Documents folder.  It can even encrypt external drives and USB drives that are plugged in” said Ricke.  “A lot of folks will have their cloud storage with backup documents running in the background, so theoretically they could get your backup too.”

Ricke added that if the virus is coded to encrypt data where personal files are saved by default, programs such as the Cloud or Dropbox that synchronize multiple computers to one central folder or location could pose a larger problem. Such programs, when they recognize a file has been changed, will automatically update and re-sync with the computer.  If given enough time for files to be uploaded to those services, the encryption could easily pass from one machine to another.

Ricke said that anyone who believes he/she has downloaded such a virus should unplug the computer or take the battery out right away.  Don’t boot the computer back up.  Instead, take the computer to an IT professional.

He also said that anti-virus may be effective in catching the virus before it damages the system, but as this is a new type of attack, software companies have to react and work on releasing updates that address this particular type of threat.

The best way to avoid the virus according to Ricke is to never click links in emails asking for personal information.  Instead, anyone who receives an email claiming to be from his or her financial institution (bank, lender, etc is advised to call the number on the company’s website to communicate with staff directly.

UPDATE 10:40A.M.  Ellis County Undersheriff Bruce Hertel has identified the man killed in Thursday’s fatality accident.  He is 73-year-old Lavern J. Braun of rural Victoria.

UPDATE 7A.M.:   A 73-year-old rural Ellis County man was killed in a two-vehicle accident Thursday afternoon in the 2600 block of Grants Villa Road.  The accident occurred at about 4p.m. Thursday.

According to the Ellis County Sheriff’s Office, two pick-ups were apparently  driving in the middle of the road.

The second pickup driven by 50-year-old Kirk Denning, Russell, was east-bound.  The Ellis County driver was west bound.  Denning tried to stop, locking up the vehicle wheels and sliding into the west-bound vehicle, and was struck on the passenger side.

Denning’s passenger, 25-year-old Joseph Berens , Russell, was transported to Hays Medical Center.  Denning refused treatment.

The Ellis County man, whose name has not been released, was pronounced dead at the scene.

None of the men were wearing seatbelts.

ORIGINAL STORY:  Emergency crews have been dispatched to a two vehicle accident in the 2600 block of Grants Villa Road south of Victoria.  Initial reports are that one of the victims of the accident had at one point lost consciousness.

Dispatchers had originally called for one victim to be extricated from the vehicle, but crews on the scene stated that extrication would not be needed.

One victim is being transported for medical services “code yellow” and another victim refused medical treatment at the scene of the accident.

Stay tuned to Hays Post and Eagle radio for updates as they become available.