monday, November 10, 2003
the university daily kansan 1
news
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Kansas wins contest, donates $1,057.03
By Kevin Kampwirth
kkampwirth@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The Kansas-Missouri Border War rivalry, one of the oldest and most bitter rivalries in the country, has taken on a whole new dimension.
Last month, students from both schools vied against each other to see who could collect more spare change for the United Way's Challenge for Change competition.
Kansas collected $1,057.03 to beat Missouri. Combined, the two schools raised nearly $2,000.
"While it took a lot of hard work from a lot of different people, what it proves is that students really care about contributing to the community," said James Owen, Springfield, Mo., law student and student drive co-chairman for Kansas.
The contest began in early October when the Missouri United Way campaign coordinator challenged Kansas students to see who could collect more change for the cause.
Missouri students used two different campus locations to collect
change on Oct. 3. On Oct.15, spearheaded by the KU Center for Community Outreach, Kansas students then used three different campus locations to collect change.
Kaelyn Fox, Pittsburg senior and co-director for the KU Center for Community Outreach, said that every donation helped.
"Above all, our mission was to make students aware that no matter how small the contribution monetarily, every contribution to United Way combines to result in a big impact," Fox said.
Student groups worked with Student Senate, the Student Bar Association and K.K. Amini Scholarship Hall to collect the bulk of the money at locations such as Wescoe Terrace.
The money raised will be used by the United Way to support programs that benefit the community.
In a statement, Fox thanked everybody who helped make the event possible and alluded that the contest may become a tradition.
"A new rivalry is born and the United Way is the big winner," she said.
— Edited by Shane Mettlen
Government fails to warn of virus
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Despite repeated promises, the federal government has failed to warn Americans about the potential dangers of hepatitis C, a virus that infects millions and kills thousands every year.
The government also did not follow through on a plan to notify tens of thousands of patients that they might have been infected by hepatitis C from blood transfusions before 1992.
The Kansas City Star reported yesterday that nearly every public education campaign about the virus has sputtered, with the government often citing a lack of money as the reason.
"They (federal officials) basically failed to do what they needed to do to stay on top of the challenge of hepatitis," said Arthur Caplan, one of the nation's most prominent bioethicists and former chairman of a federal blood-safety committee.
"They've not really come to grips with the fact that this is a serious disease."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in an estimate that has not changed in a decade, says 8,000 to 10,000
people die each year of hepatitis C. A National Institutes of Health conference in 2002 put the death toll at 10,000 to 12,000 but said that might be a low estimate.
The CDC estimates the total number of HCV infections at 3.9 million, although some researchers think it is higher.
CDC Director Julie Gberdering said in a statement that the government had tried to address HCV, as hepatitis C is called.
"CDC has been working with numerous partners to better understand the extent of the infection in the United States as well as educating the public about how HCV is transmitted, what they can do to protect themselves, and the need for testing and counseling for those at risk," Gerberding said.
Susan Wohlert, 40, of Raytown, Mo., believes she was infected when she was 13, while she was volunteering to help clean a medical facility. She wasn't diagnosed until two decades later, and now she believes she is dying from the disease.
In May, after spending three weeks in a coma in a hospital, Wohlt went home, where she
spends her days in bed or slumped in a chair, unable to hold up her head.
"It's painful everywhere." Wohlert said.
But most Americans with hepatitis C still do not know they have it. CDC officials believe.
The virus, which attacks the liver, can lie dormant for 10,20 or 30 years while it slowly corrodes the liver.
The virus leaves some people's bodies completely and many others never get sick. Most of those carrying the virus survive.
But many who contracted hepatitis C decades ago are now beginning to notice fatigue, nausea and joint pain. Some of them will endure a lifetime of suffering from cirrhosis and other ailments.
The CDC has left much of the responsibility for tracking the disease and educating the public to the states — but states say they have done little because of money shortages.
"The unmet need on HCV is staggering, and the public awareness is hugely unmet," said Tom Libertis of the Florida Department of Health.
Hal Margolis, director of the CDC's viral hepatitis division, acknowledges much more public
education needs to be done. He also blames lack of money.
"We're putting out as much as we can," he said.
In 2000, Surgeon General David Satcher announced he would send a letter to every household in America warning about the epidemic. Satcher's office didn't have the $30 million to $40 million for postage, but he said Congress would help mail the letter.
But Congress had legal problems mailing a letter from another branch of government. Apparently no letter was ever mailed
A search for patients transfused with infected blood also has stalled, The Star reported.
in 1999, U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials pledged to hunt for at least 188,000 people who may have had the bad transfusions. A delay in notifying them that they might be carrying the virus "would increase each recipient's risk of serious disease complications and speed the spread of infection."
Although some hospitals say they have made attempts to find patients, many continue to wait for the government to act.
But the search was never ordered, according to the newspaper.
McDonald's widow gives more than $200 million to NPR
By Zack Hemenway
zhenmenway@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
With hundreds of member stations, National Public Radio has always been well-known across the country. But it's likely this is the first time NPR has been featured on CNN, newspaper front pages and The O'Reilly Factor in the same week.
The cause for all the discussion was last week's announcement of what NPR called the largest monetary gift ever received by a cultural institution.
Billionaire philanthropist Joan B. Kroc, widow of McDonald's founder Ray Kroc, left the organization a gift of more than $200 million in her will.
The unprecedented influx of funds to NPR led to front-page headlines and heated discussion. On The O'Reilly Factor, the conservative host squared off with New York democratic congressman Anthony Weiner, debating the need for continued public funding for NPR.
Kansas Public Radio's local station is 91.5 FM. KPR is a small conglomeration of NPR member
stations across central Kansas. J. Schafer, KPR news director, said the donation would not affect his station directly. Schafer said that the money went to the national organization, rather than local stations, but that NPR was involving stations in determining the allocation of the funds.
"They're soliciting input and holding meetings," Schafer said. "They're saying, What should we do with this big ol' pile of money?"
Schafer said he thought the money would be spent creating new NPR programming and maintaining and improving network standards like Morning Edition and All Things Considered.
Burdett Loomis, professor and chairman of political science, said he listened to Morning Edition and other KPR news programming every day.
"There's no commercials, and they cover the stories in substantial depth," he said. "It's not just a summary of the news."
KPR carries a mix of shows from the national organization and locally produced programming. The Kansas network pays a subscriber fee to NPR to carry the
national shows.
Schafer said he would like NPR to use the influx of funds to lower its annual subscriber fees. KPR pays $200,000 to $300,000 in subscriber fees each year and carries a variety of national programs.
Schafer said the national donation would not affect KPR's current operating budget of $1.3 million, the majority of which comes from listener donations. KPR holds one-week fundraising drives twice each year.
Loomis donates money to the station every year. He said he had
an obligation to help fund the station.
"I get a lot of value out of it," Loomis said. "I'd feel guilty listening as much as I do without making a contribution."
Schafer said he hoped his station's listeners were paying attention to the coverage on Kroc's donation.
"I'd like to think she could inspire someone to make a donation," Schafer said. "You never know how many millionaires are listening."
The University Daily Kansan presents:
—Edited by Ashley Marriott
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