Utah State News Service

By Jordan Hernandez and Rebecca Jones Orange Crush Pop-Tarts, 12 Lean Cuisine meals, mattress pads, 24 bath towels and “fruit snacks that aren’t too chewy.” Those were among the requirements on a rider on Charlie Puth’s contract with Utah State University, according to the student body officials who were charged with keeping the singer-songwriter content during his visit to Logan on Friday. But at least, student Felicia Gallegos said, "he didn’t request a dog this time — thank goodness." Puth had reportedly requested a furry friend — no specific breed was specified — when he originally contracted to perform at Utah State in April. That concert was cancelled when Puth got sick. Despite the somewhat obscure requests, Gallegos said she was grateful Puth had been willing to honor his original fee. When Gallegos booked Puth for the previous school year, the singer was within the organization’s budget. Over the summer, though, Puth gained popularity — and his price r...

By Bronson Teichert A federal campaign to “promote and strengthen” LGBT communities in rural America is being met with a bit of skepticism in Utah — from an LBGT advocate. Michelle Bogden-Holt, the director of the Access and Diversity Center at Utah State University, said she’s concerned the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s LGBT Rural Summit Series might come across as a top-down effort to push acceptance on rural Americans. “In my experience I have always found that it works better from the bottom up, because you have everyone involved as opposed to a big governmental agency coming in and saying, ‘you have to do this,’” Bogden-Holt said. “When that happens, you will have push-back.” The biggest changes, Bogden-Holt said, happen at a grass-roots level. That perspective aligns Bogden-Holt with Utah state Representative Michael Noel, a Republican rancher from Kanab who said he didn’t think the campaign was “necessarily” needed. Noel, however, made it clear that he was open t...

By Bronson Teichert Horse owners in northern Utah are scrambling to keep their animals safe from West Nile Virus following reports of six confirmed cases, resulting in four deaths, since Aug. 24. Both conventional insect abatement protocols and unconventional methods are being used to prevent mosquitoes from spreading the virus, which is spread by mosquitos that turn standing water into breeding and hatching grounds. Removing anything that holds standing water, including old tires, hinders population growth, according to Kerry Rood, a professor of veterinary health at Utah State University. “Adding mosquito larvae-feeding fish to standing water,” is one way that might help drive down transmission rates. “In theory they would then reduce the mosquito hatch and you could keep some of those standing bodies of water.” Diseases carried by mosquitoes, and particularly the Zika virus, have been widely discussed in the past year. But it’s West Nile that is prevalent and causing prob...

By Cody Penman An increase in cougar hunting permits, approved this month by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, still leaves the state short of the all-time high for authorized kills. The Division of Wildlife Resources plans to raise the number of cougar hunting permits for the 2016-17 hunt to 492 — a 30 permit rise from the previous hunting season. The move has drawn criticism from the Humane Society of Utah. But David Stoner, a mountain lion expert and ecologist at Utah State University, said this year’s number still falls below the average of 504 permits per year, and well below the state record. “At one point there were over 650 permits for cougar hunting,” Stoner said. Utah currently employs a cougar management plan to keep track of mortality rates from hunting and various other deaths, such as roadkill. The plan was put into place in 1990. From all causes, on average, 421 cougars are killed by humans in the Beehive State every year. “The number of cougars kil...

By Rylee Marron   For the principal of Green Canyon High School, one of the most exciting parts about starting a new school is choosing its traditions. “We will have to come up with a school song, fight song, new mission statement and a new constitution on how we are going to run things at this new school,” said David Swenson, the head administrator at Green Canyon, which will open in North Logan in the fall of 2017. The school will take in students within the boundaries of North Logan, Hyde Park, Benson, Amalga, Newton and Clarkston.  Swenson said he’s been busy selecting coaches, furniture, fixtures, equipment and uniforms. Most of those things, though, will ultimately be replaced. Traditions have a chance to be part of the school far into the future. Swenson said he might hold a contest for the fight song and school song. “I have already had several people who have called me that they are working on a school song,” Swenson said. “The members of the commu...

By Anapesi Kaili  Utah State University’s farmers market began less than a month ago, but participating local businesses are already seeing growth in revenue from student consumers. The market features vendors from around the valley, as well as several local farms. Representatives from Tanaka Balance, one of the local businesses involved, said they appreciated the opportunities the farmers market has already given them.  “This has helped our sales tremendously,” said Sheldon Namaski, a chef at Tanaka Balance. “Being up here, we do catering, and it’s spawned two or three jobs already.” The increased business is a direct result of the visibility the business was able to receive from being a part of the market, Namaski said. “Last year USU was rated for one of the worst schools with community engagement,” said James Worth, a student at Utah State involved in organizing the market. “This allows students to get a taste of Logan.” The farmers market has...

By McKenna Allred A committee that has been working to update Utah State University’s mobile app gave an update on its progress at the first meeting of the student government President’s Cabinet on Thursday. At the meeting the committee discussed the app and what could be improved. The committee also made plans to work with the university’s IT professionals on continuous maintenance throughout the year. Committee head Spencer Perry said other state universities’ apps are a great example of how Utah State’s should look. “I am really impressed by Utah Valley University,” Perry said. “Their app looked really good and was easy to use.” Perry said the UVU app was more user-friendly, with a homepage that made it simple to navigate through the menu. The details on the app were clean and didn’t cause confusion as to where the links would take them. Utah State’s current iPhone and Android app is not as useful to students due to the lack of resources on the app and a tendency to cra...

By Cody Penman The Division of Wildlife Resources may soon allow Utah anglers to try a new bait: corn. The division plans to launch the experiment in 2017 at selected lakes and reservoirs including Cutler Reservoir, west of Logan. “Utah is currently the only state in the western states where corn is not allowed,” said Roger Mellenthin, a researcher at the divison’s Fisheries Experiment Station. “The people here are wanting to use it so I guess you could say we are giving in.” For now, it remains unlawful to use or even possess corn while fishing, according to the 2016 Utah Fishing guidebook. And there are some concerns about bringing it back as a legal bait. “Our biggest concern right now is that people make a mess,” Mellenthin said. “People fishing on public lands have a tendency to leave their garbage on the shore and nobody wants to see the cans of corn or leftover corn in the water.” But if anglers clean up after themselves, the study might become a permanent change. ...

By Miranda Tilley  A hearing on Tuesday will allow Logan residents to voice concerns over utility companies that have torn up yards — and left property owners to clean up the mess. City rules require utility companies to notify residents before doing any work on private property, including the strips of land between the sidewalk and road, often called park strips, parking strips or curb strips. But Logan residents have filed multiple complaints about workers who have left broken sprinkler systems and lawns in disrepair. Mike DeSimone, Logan’s community development director, said fiber optic companies face many challenges when updating infrastructure. He said it is difficult to remain competitive, get systems in quickly, and stay on top of service calls in addition to making people happy. There is “tension between people wanting improved services and having access to those right away,” he said. But homeowner Tony Nielson said he’s discontent. “I can’t go home or on...

By Pono Suganuma Aggies for Standing Rock, a group of Utah State University students and local community members, formed this month to stand in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux tribe in protesting the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The tribe has raised concerns to federal courts, media and the White House, asserting the pipeline would not only destroy culturally, historically and religiously significant sites, but also endanger the tribe’s environmental resources and economic well-being. The purpose of the 1,168-mile pipeline is to transport around 470,000 gallons of crude oil a day from North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to its final destination in Illinois. The founder of the Aggies for Standing Rock group, Angela Enno Gray, is concerned about the negative effects the pipeline will have on the environment. “I'm passionate about it,” she said, “because I know our natural resources are not infinite, and what we do to our Mother Earth will also i...

By Shanie Howard Student leaders at Utah State University are asking representatives of other colleges to join them in declaring a statewide mental health crisis. The request is intended to draw the attention of the Utah State Legislature to a perceived lack of adequate counseling and psychological services on Beehive State college campuses. “If legislators in Utah know that this is a cohesive effort on behalf of the students in the entire state of Utah, then they will listen to our voice,” said Matthew Clewett, the author of a resolution approved by the Utah State University Student Association executive council on Tuesday evening. The resolution highlights statistics from the Utah Department of Health, which previously has reported that the state has one of the highest rates of suicide in the nation. More than 100 students enrolled in Utah higher educational institutions attempted to take their own lives during the 2014-15 school year. Fifteen of those attempts were complete...