TOPEKA – The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has issued a boil water advisory for Smith County Rural Water District No.1 for all services South of 140 Rd between M Rd and X Rd including the unincorporated city of Bellaire, located east of Smith Center.

Customers should observe the following precautions until further notice:

• If your tap water appears dirty, flush the water lines by letting the water run until it clears.
• Boil water for one minute prior to drinking or food preparation or use bottled water.
• Dispose of ice cubes and do not use ice from a household automatic icemaker.
• Disinfect dishes and other food contact surfaces by immersion for at least one minute in clean tap water that contains one teaspoon of unscented household bleach per gallon of water.
• Water used for bathing does not generally need to be boiled. Supervision of children is necessary while bathing so that water is not ingested. Persons with cuts or severe rashes may wish to consult their physicians.

The advisory took effect on Sept.16 and will remain in effect until the conditions that placed the system at risk of bacterial contamination are resolved. KDHE officials issued the advisory because of a loss of pressure due to a line break. Failure to maintain adequate pressure may result in a loss of chlorine residuals and bacterial contamination.

Regardless of whether the public water supplier or KDHE announced a boil water advisory, only KDHE can issue the rescind order following testing at a certified laboratory.

For consumer questions, please contact the water system or KDHE at 785-296-5514. For consumer information please visit KDHE’s PWS Consumer Information webpage: https://www.kdheks.gov/pws/emergencyresponse/water_disruption.htm

Restaurants and other food establishments that have questions about the impact of the boil water advisory on their business can contact the Kansas Department of Agriculture’s food safety & lodging program at  [email protected] or call 785-564-6767.

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Last week’s inspection results from the Kansas Department of Agriculture:

Jalisco’s Mexican Restaurant 2514 Vine #1, Hays – Sept. 11

A routine inspection found five violations.

• In the walk-in cooler, there was a container of raw pork egg rolls that was being stored on a wire shelf directly above an opened container of raw cut onions. No evidence of leaking was observed.
• In the walk-in cooler, there was a covered container of raw shrimp that was being stored on a wire rack directly above an uncovered container of cooked rice. No evidence of leaking was observed. In the walk-in cooler, there was a covered container of raw ground pork that was being stored on a wire shelf directly above a covered container of a white cheese sauce. No evidence of leaking was observed. In the Turbo Air refrigerated prep table, there was an uncovered container of raw bacon that was being stored on a wire rack directly above an uncovered container of cooked assorted vegetables.
• An employee on the cooking line had single-use gloves on his hands and he proceeded to handle raw chicken with his gloved hands. After handling the raw chicken he then grabbed the cutting board on the refrigerated prep table and a plate that was going to be used for ready to eat food.
• On the storage shelf in the kitchen, there were several food-grade containers that were being stacked with sticker residue present along sides of the containers.
• In the side storage shelving area, there was a half-full case of liquid hand soap that was being stored on a solid wooden shelf directly next to several assorted canned food products. No evidence of leaking was observed.

Lindyspring of Hays 1519 Canterbury, Hays – Sept. 11

A routine inspection found no violations.

Roosevelt Elementary 2000 Macarthur, Hays – Sept. 11

A routine inspection found one violation.

• In the southwest corner of the kitchen, there is a floor mixer that has dried food residue present along the underside of the arm with the mixing bowl stored directly under.

H E Hutchinson & Sons 801 11th St., Hays – Sept. 10

A routine inspection found no violations.

Lomatos Pizza 130 W. Ninth St., Hays – Sept. 10

A routine inspection found three violations.

• In the walk-in cooler, there were two large containers of pizza sauce that were mixed the previous night and placed into the walk-in fridge at 8 p.m. The internal temperature of the pizza sauce was 45 F at 12:00 pm.
• In the two-door glass reach-in cooler, there was an open container of cream cheese with a date of 9-3-18, held past 7 days.
• In the back storage closet, there were two large plastic baskets with various chemicals on a wire shelf being stored on directly over the top of single-use cups.

Chartwells – FHSU McMindes Hall, 600 Park, Hays – Sept. 9

A follow-up inspection found four violations.

• In the self-service waffle area, there was waffle batter that was at the temperature of 80 F.
• On the salad buffet line, there was a cabbage salad that was at 45 F.  On the noodle line there was a container of fully cooked rice that was at the temperature of 47 F. On the self-service line next to the waffle station there was strawberry cream cheese at the temperature of 52 F and regular cream cheese at 55 F.
• In the vegetable walk-in cooler, there was a container of opened yogurt with the date of 8/21/19. Product was held for over 7 days.
• In the equipment storage area, there were three of five food-grade plastic tubs that had sticker residue present along the outside of the containers. These containers were being stacked inside one another.

Did you know with any 8th Street Liquor purchase you can get your game day cups for tailgating?

Fort Hays State takes on Missouri Western on Sept. 12 and then Missouri Southern on Sept. 28 and we want to see photos of your 8th Street Liquor Cups out supporting your Tigers.

Take your best tailgate photo at the game or in the comfort of your home with your 8th street cup and upload here for your chance to win this Coors Ultimate Tailgate Grill!

Entries will be accepted through Sept. 29. Then we’ll let the community vote on their favorite tailgate photo Sept. 30 to Oct. 6!

Click HERE to enter your photo for a chance to win.

Submit a photo of you or your family in your Halloween costumes for a chance to win passes to Pumpkin PaZoola at Rilling Hills Zoo.

Enter below or click HERE for the contest page!

City of Hays

Beginning at 8 a.m. Monday, the 1400 block of Main will be closed to through traffic for pavement repairs. Repairs are expected to be completed by the end of the day on Wednesday.

For more information, call (785) 628-7350.

FHSU UNIVERSITY RELATIONS

Fort Hays State University, with almost a third of its enrollment over the age of 25, has been recognized for being among the best four-year colleges in the United States for modern students.

This marks the second consecutive year the university earned top-10 honors in Washington Monthly magazine’s annual Best Colleges for Adult Learners rankings. Fort Hays State University President, Tisa Mason, believes this recognition is again the result of the university’s keen focus on meeting the needs of the modern adult learner.

“Serving the needs of the non-traditional learner has long been the focus of our university,” she said. “Whether our students pursue their educational goals on campus in Hays, online, or in their hometown, they all benefit from the unique blend of academic challenge, personal attention and unmatched affordability that are the hallmarks of a Fort Hays State University experience.”

Fort Hays State University is the only public university in Kansas to earn a top-100 ranking. MidAmerica Nazarene, a private liberal arts college in Olathe, earned a  No. 46 ranking.

“Over the last 15 years, we’ve steadily added new data to our rankings of what colleges do for their country by promoting social mobility, research, and public service,” said Kevin Carey, director of the Education Policy Program at New America, editor of The Washington Monthly’s 2019 College Guide.

The Monthly used data from several sources: the federal government; the Annual Survey of Colleges; the College Board; and university records on enrollment, graduations and other information.

The magazine considers eight primary criteria in reaching its adult learner rankings:
(1)        Ease of transfer or enrollment: not only how easy it is for students to enroll or transfer in, but also whether students can transfer in at an upper level and whether a transfer advisor is available.
(2)        Flexibility of programs.
(3)        Services available for adult students: financial aid counseling, on-campus daycare, counseling and job placement services and veterans services.
(4)        The percent of adult students (age 25 and older): “the age at which students are automatically considered independent from their parents for financial aid purposes.”
(5)        Graduation rates of part-time students: “part-time graduation rates are more relevant for students who will be juggling work, school, and family obligations all at the same time.”
(6)        Mean earnings of adult students 10 years after entering college: a three-year average of data gathered from the College Scorecard.
(7)        Loan repayment rates of adult students five years after entering repayment: based on a three-year average of College Scorecard data to get a percentage of independent students who “were able to pay down at least $1 of their loan’s principal.”
(8)        Tuition and fees for in-district students: for the adult learner category, a measure of affordability based on federal data rather than a ranking of net prices, which mainly apply to first-time, full-time students.

Fort Hays State was also No. 27 Best Bang for the Buck of the 372 institutions in the 12-state Midwestern Region. This category, separated into five geographic areas, ranks institutions “according to how well they help non-wealthy students attain marketable degrees at affordable prices.” It focuses on the Social Mobility set of criteria from the overall four-year university rankings.

Washington Monthly’s overall four-year rankings are based on three sets of criteria:
•        Ten social mobility measures, including percentage of students graduating within eight years, a first-generation performance rank and a net price rank; the number and success rate of Pell Grant recipients and first-generation students;
•        Two research criteria – total amount of money spent on research and the number of “bachelor’s recipients who go on to receive Ph.D.s, relative to college size”;
•        and five service criteria, two based on the number of alumni who serve in the Peace Corps, another on ROTC service, Work Study funds spent on service grants, AmeriCorps matching grants and voting engagement points.

FHSU was the top institution in Kansas in its category, Master’s Universities, which covered 606 colleges that offer a “significant number” of master’s degrees but few or no doctorates.

The other categories for four-year institutions are National Universities, which award “a significant number of doctoral degrees”; Liberal Arts Colleges, baccalaureate colleges that focus on arts and sciences; and Bachelor’s Colleges, which confer bachelor’s degrees “almost exclusively.”

The Washington Monthly’s full rankings, explanations of methodology and articles on issues in higher education are available at washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/september-october-2019/.