Fort Hays State University athletics once again has partnered with The Mall of Hays to continue the text-to-win total points promotion in conjunction with Tiger basketball this season, FHSU’s athletic department announced Wednesday.

The promotion is for all home MIAA conference double-headers (nine games) beginning Saturday with winners being announced Feb. 28. The total points promotion features $1 being added to a mall gift card for every point scored this season by the Lady Tigers and Tigers.

“We are excited for the second year of this promotion, showing support to the college and giving back to the community is something that we find important,” said Savannah Butler of The Mall. “It gives fans double the reason to come out and support the Tigers.”

Last year was the first for the total points promotion, which gives fans the opportunity to text-to-win while they are at the games at Gross Coliseum.

“With any first-time, season-long promotion like this, a lot of time and effort is spent on educating and communicating with fans in order for it to be effective,” said Assistant Athletic Director Tim Callahan. “We are hopeful the momentum from the promotion picks up where it left off last year and our fans will be just as excited to participate.”

A keyword will be announced at each of the nine conference home games with fans having more chances to win the more games they attend. Fans must text the key word to 639-FHSU (3478). Last year’s winners were Judy Getty (Lady Tigers) who received a gift card for $681 and Mike Slattery (Tigers) who received a $694 gift card to The Mall. Winners must be present at the final home game to win.

For more on the promotion, click HERE.

The Hays Police Department conducted 10 traffic stops and responded to one animal call on Tuesday, according to the HPD activity report.

Dec. 17
Abandoned vehicle, 400 block West Fourth, 12:40 a.m.
Search warrant 27oo block Willow, 1:17:49 a.m
Criminal trespass, 200 block West 10th, 2:20 a.m.
General disturbance, 1300 block Anthony, 7:46 a.m.
Unwanted person, 300 block West Eighth, 11:14 a.m.M
Motor vehicle accident/private property, 4300 block Vine, 12:10 p.m.
Drug offenses, 200 block West Fifth, 12:47 p.m.
Found/lost property, Hays, 3:43 p.m.
Suspicious activity, 2000 block Marshall, 4:29 p.m.
Harassment, 2400 block Centennial Blvd, 5:07 p.m.
Search warrant, 200 block West Fifth, 5:39 p.m.
Civil dispute, 300 block East 25th, 6:36 p.m.
Found/lost property, 100 block West Seventh, 7:22 p.m.
Traffic/driving complaint, 3000 block Cherry Hill, 7:27 p.m.
Traffic/driving complaint, 1700 block Harvest, 8:32 p.m.
Drug offenses, 300 block West 15th, 9:59 p.m.

By JIM McLEAN
KHI News Service

WASHINGTON — Kansans could be more vulnerable to infectious disease threats than residents in many other states, according to a report released Tuesday.

The report — produced by Trust for America’s Health, a nonpartisan public health advocacy organization, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation — ranked Kansas near the bottom of states for its ability to prevent and control infectious disease outbreaks, giving it passing grades on only four of 10 indicators.

The report said the state’s low ranking was due to several factors, including cuts in public health funding, low vaccination rates and a lack of planning for how to deal with infectious disease threats posed by climate change.

Kansas was one of 19 states that received a score of four or lower.

Miranda Steele, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, downplayed the report saying measuring a limited number of indicators does not constitute a “comprehensive look” at the state’s public health system.

Kansas received points for having a state laboratory capable of handling “a significant surge in testing” in response to a disease outbreak. But if fell well short of targets for vaccinating children against whooping cough and vaccinating Kansans of all ages against the seasonal flu.

The report cited the state for failure to plan for potential increases in infectious diseases due to climate change:

“Small changes in temperature, a half a degree here and there, can greatly affect the ecosystem and can cause increases in mosquitos and ticks and other carriers of infectious disease,” said Rich Hamburg , TFAH’s deputy director, explaining why the controversial indicator was included in the report.

Acknowledging the politics surrounding the issue, Hamburg said states didn’t need to have a finished climate change adaptation plan to meet the requirement. If they had taken any steps to formulate a plan — which 15 states had done, according to the report — that was good enough.

“You get a point here if you’re just thinking about it, if you’re starting to put some plans in place,” he said.

Kansas also received zero points for its efforts to combat the spread of the human papillomavirus, or HPV. The 24 states and the District of Columbia that scored better either required teenagers to be vaccinated against HPV or funded vaccination and education efforts.

KDHE’s Steele said the TFAH report — while generally correct — ignores the fact that Kansas uses some of the money it receives for a cervical cancer screening program to educate Kansans about HPV and how to prevent it.

“These activities focus primarily on screening but do include some information on HPV vaccination,” Steele said.

A similar report issued last year prompted criticism from Gov. Sam Brownback.

He said it didn’t paint an accurate picture of the state’s public health readiness.

Dr. Gianfranco Pezzino — a senior fellow at the Kansas Health Institute, the parent organization of the KHI News Service — said there is no consensus on the best indicators to use in assessing a state’s capacity to deal with infectious diseases. Even so, the former Kansas state epidemiologist said the TFAH report is valuable because “it raises important issues that we should be talking about.”

Hamburg said he believes the report fairly measures states’ overall capacity to deal with infectious diseases.

“We need to strengthen fundamental capabilities,” Hamburg said. “State and local health departments need to have expert workers and state-of-the-art tools. If they don’t have those tools and they don’t have those resources, then we won’t be able to adequately mitigate these (infectious disease) outbreaks.”