Utah State News Service

By Junshi Zhao South Korean students at Utah State University are feeling the effects of political unrest back home as the calls for the resignation of President Geun-Hye Park have intensified in recent days. The instability — resulting from recent revelations that the daughter of a famous cult leader allegedly exerted undue influence within Park’s government — has made USU student Suki Kim question a decision to return home after graduation. Park said on Tuesday she would be willing to leave office if ordered to do so by the Republic of Korea’s parliament. If Park did resign, though, it would defy Kim’s expectations. “I don’t think she would give up this position,” Kim said. “But things will continue to grow and get worse if she staying. It scares me.”   Hyun Jin Cho, who is studying aviation at Utah State, agreed. “I think it will become more serious if she decides to do nothing and keeps lying to citizens,” Cho said. Cho took some comfort from the fact that Park i...

By Rylee Marron The little girl only wanted one thing for Christmas. It wasn’t the prettiest doll or the coolest toy of the year. But to her, it was better than the whole toy section. "She told me 'you know what? We just have plastic forks and spoons to eat with,'"  recalled North Park Police Chief Kim Hawkes, who was the girl’s Shop-With-A-Cop partner last year.  "'I would like to get my mom some real metal knives and forks.'" The annual holiday charity event will move to a new location this year, but Hawkes expects to continue creating memorable experiences like the one he shared with that little girl in 2015. “There are some kids that are focused on toys. But she was so excited that she could hardly contain herself," Hawkes said. "All she could say was how neat her mom was going to think this gift was that she found.” Hawkes said there was some concern, when Kmart closed its North Logan store, that Shop-With-A-Cop could come...

By Nicholas Porath Veteran users of the herbal supplement kratom may be changing their habits in the wake of a Drug Enforcement Administration announcement that it would reclassify the drug as a Schedule 1 controlled substance, according to employees of tobacco and vape stores across the Wasatch Front. But in the wake of the DEA’s decision to halt its ban — which was set to take effect on Oct. 1 — a new group of customers appears to have materialized. “Sales have slowed down from the original customers a bit, but the supposed ban actually advertised it for us,” said Alicia Kirschman, a sales associate at One Stop Smoke Shop in Ogden. “I get so many calls asking if we sell kratom. I get a lot of people asking what it is, and why they were trying to make it Schedule 1. People are trying it just because it was almost illegal. I’m definitely seeing it become more recreational.” Those who have used kratom for years — the substance has been used in traditional cultures to reliev...

By Valentino Warren The International Dark-Sky Association announced on Tuesday that Cedar Breaks National Monument would become the next park in Utah to be dark sky certified. The park will be formally reviewed in late January and receive bronze, silver or gold status by the second week of February, said John Barentine, a program manager from the non-profit association that works to stop light pollution.  Barentine said the one-to-two-year process of selecting and certifying a Dark Sky Park is extremely thorough. The certification recognizes conservative use of artificial light of all kinds and particularly the reduction of blue light emissions, which are a known ecological hazard, Barentine said.  "Our process is fairly rigorous and balanced against the fact we're a very small organization, by typical non-profit standards," Barentine said.  An association-certified Dark Sky Park is a land mass possessing an exceptionally starry sky and nocturnal environm...

By Shanie Howard A workshop aimed at helping students develop resilience could become a credit-generating class at Utah State University by the fall of 2017. Dr. David Bush, a psychologist at the school’s Counseling and Psychological Services center and the director of the workshops, said resilience is “the strongest predictor of academic success — more than GPA or IQ tests.” Bush has received permission from the school to monitor the grades of students who have attended the resilience workshops. If he sees an improvement, Bush will begin expanding the curriculum to fill a semester-long class.  “I would love to see this workshop eventually expanded to a two-credit course,” said Becca Phillips, a student studying instructional leadership who helped research and develop the trainings. “Building resilience is a process, and it doesn’t happen right away.” Phillips began her research in June. Despite spending more than five months studying and building up her own resilience, ...

By Miranda Tilley Logan residents are nearly evenly split on whether the city should take action to reduce the population of deer within city limits, according to the results of a new survey — and the lack of a clear majority opinion on the matter has left city leaders still struggling to decide what to do. On Tuesday the council announced the results of the  optional, mail-in survey, which was conducted by students at Utah State University. The results show 47 percent of people don’t think anything needs to be done to reduce the amount of deer within the city’s limits. Those who do want the city to take further action are divided on what steps to take. The council agreed on   Sept. 20   that the deer population in Logan had grown to a dangerously high level and something needed to be done. As a result, the survey was sent to randomly selected residents within Logan's boundaries on   Sept. 26 , with the purpose of better understanding resid...

By Jaden Johnson The Utah State University volleyball team ended conference play on a high note, sweeping San Jose in three sets today in a match the Aggies owned from start to finish. Utah State as a team had a combined hitting percentage of .371 in the match, led by a career-high hitting percentage of .625 by outside hitter Kaylie Kamalu-Smith. In her last ever Mountain West competition, the senior recorded 17 kills with just two errors. “I think you just kind of find the zone sometimes,” Kamalu-Smith said. “Especially with the season winding down, I just tried to leave it all out there. I don’t want to have any regrets.” The Aggies dominated the first set, never trailing on the way to a 25-12 victory. The Aggie defense was out in full force during the set, using 23 digs to hold the Spartans to a hitting percentage of just .023. San Jose State came to life in second set, starting out with a 10-9 lead, but the Spartans’ first lead of the day didn’t last for long as the Aggi...

By Jessica Dryden Cheers erupted from Providence Elementary on Monday as the Cache Education Foundation delivered $6,200 in combined grant money to the school. The grants will be used to purchase non-consumable items used in the classroom. Terri Lewis, the Cache Education Foundation executive director, delivered 32 small grants to Providence Elementary school alone. “The best part about delivering the grants is to watch the teachers receive their award card and see how excited they get,” Lewis said. She explained that classroom budgets are usually tight, and teachers often use their own funds to supplement their classrooms. “When someone steps up to help them with much-needed resources, they are over the moon,” Lewis said. Lindsey Feux, a sixth grade teacher at Providence Elementary, said she will use the grant money to purchase science equipment for her classroom. Two microscopes, glass slides, and square lens covers are on her list. “I am so excited and thankful for ...

By Valentino Warren The Hildale Branch Library in Washington County will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday afternoon to celebrate the grand opening of the first library in a city long-dominated by member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The town, which lies on the Utah-Arizona border, is the former home of now-imprisoned FLDS leader Warren Jeffs. Under the control of Jeffs and other FLDS leaders, many members of the community was denied access to information through the internet and access to a diversity of reading material. Joel Tucker, who is the director of the Washington County Library System, said the goal is to provide the whole community access to information — without regard to race or religion. “The FLDS church does not seem excited to have us but there is a high need for the library,” Tucker said. “Those not of the church need a neutral ground where they can be welcomed and take advantage of the resources available." Doin...

By Nicholas Porath Palates were pleased at Crumb Brothers Artisan Bread Friday night, as the Logan bakery held its first wine and cheese night. Patrons enjoyed a mouth-watering array of food and beverages, including house-made pizza, squares of locally farmed cheese from Richmond and Draper, locally grown fruit, Creminelli tartufo truffle salami, some deserts and a selection of wine and beer. The food was set up buffet-style, and drinks sold by the glass.  Executive chef Barney Northrop was pleased about the turnout, considering this was the bakery’s first event. “It went great,” Northrop said. “The turnout was great; we were pretty full. As far as capacity we can seat about 50 people and I believe 44 was our final count, so that gives us some room for moving around a little bit.” Northrop hopes to host more events like this in the future, and is grateful for the opportunity to host with the ability to serve alcohol, now that the restaurant has a liquor li...

By Jensie Bahr The Utah State University women’s tennis team finished its best season in program history on Sunday at the Cal State Northridge Invite. With a 23-14 run against players from Northridge and other Southern California schools, the Aggies finished the season with a total of 105 wins, shattering the previous record of 74 that was set two years ago.     Head coach Sean McInerney said having a more intense atmosphere at practice helped the players adapt better during matches.     “You play how you practice,” McInerney said. “We made every day competitive, not just the weekends when we’re competing. Every time we step on the court, we’ve been finding more ways to win instead of looking for reasons to lose.” Senior Nini Guensler contributed to the record with nine wins in doubles play and seven wins in singles pay. “Being more focused in practice and specifically working on my stroke has been a huge help to my game,” Guensler said. “It’s been a jou...

By Miranda Tilley The Logan City Council on Tuesday approved a new student housing unit near Utah State University — over the objections of some residents who said their cherished views of Old Main would be blocked. The 55-foot-tall campus residential unit will be built on 6th East near Utah State University. Jan Nyman, a resident of Adams neighborhood, said the complex will be an “eyesore to the community and the university.” Neighbor Marilyn Griffin said she would “really like to not see any of these big buildings in front of Old Main.” The residents’ concerns sparked a conversation about protecting key viewsheds — like those including Utah State’s oldest and most iconic building. Mike DeSimone, Logan’s community development director, said the city has never defined specific views, like Old Main, that need to be protected. DeSimone said the intent of the plan for the complex was to intensify housing for students near campus. And that, he said, would alleviate another c...

By Miranda Tilley   The Logan City Council on Tuesday increased the price to purchase winter parking permits to $75 — and Mayor Craig Petersen hopes this will decrease vehicles parked overnight in the street.   “The struggle the city has with overnight street parking is that it creates problems for the snowplows,” Petersen said. The original proposed ordinance for the price of permits was $250 but, after hearing testimonies from Logan citizens, the council settled on $75. Landlord Dakota Worrell said the originally suggested price hike was troublesome. He said it would have been more economical, "for me to have my tenants collect their parking tickets and I’ll pay that instead of buying permits."  The current violation for overnight parking without a permit is a $20 fine. Councilman Tom Jensen suggested the council evaluate whether that could be increased. “You’ll take a lot more cars off the street if you increase the ticket rather than the permit,” Jens...

By Nicholas Porath With a ban on kratom approaching, tobacco and vape stores carrying the product across the Wasatch Front are preparing to get rid of remaining stock.  The herbal supplement, made from the leaves of a tree in the coffee family, is set to be banned by the federal Drug Enforcement Agency after Sept. 30, and the stores have until that day to sell their remaining supplies. The Blue Sphinx in Providence is offering a 50 percent off promotion on kratom to quickly get rid of the remainder in its store. General manager Fred Done isn’t happy about the ban, which will place the active chemicals in the plant in the Schedule 1 category of controlled substances alongside heroin, marijuana, LSD and ecstasy. Done said the ban will hurt a lot of his customers. “There’s a lot of benefits from it,” he said. “We have had a lot of people that came in that had pins in their hips, knees or back. It’s an all-herbal remedy and they didn’t have to worry about the euphoria or oth...

By Junshi Zhao Indonesians in northern Utah are feeling the effects of drug-related violence in their homeland. Suri Young, a restaurant manager in Logan, has been working toward her American citizenship for years — as a green card holder, her ability to visit family in Indonesia has been limited. But even once Young earns citizenship next year, she is unlikely to make the trip, especially now that Indonesia's anti-narcotics chief has declared the start of a drug war. To support the war, which was annoucned by Indonesia's national anti-narcotics agency chief, Budi Waseso, earlier this month, the agency is adding weapons, investigators and technology. Waseso told  Reuters  that he viewed the lives of drug dealers as “meaningless.” He would like his country to be as aggressive as the Philippines in fighting drug trafficing. The president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, has made the extra-judicial killings of criminals a cornerstone of his dome...

By Keith Ariaz The last time Jaxson Webb completed a season in an Aggie baseball uniform he was holding a World Series trophy. Now, back on the Utah State University club baseball team after two years away, Webb is having a much different experience. The Aggies ended their 2016 fall season 2-8, the team’s worst record in years. But as the team heads into winter practice to prepare for the spring season, Webb and his teammates are nonetheless feeling confident they can recapture the qualities that made them champions in 2014. Webb acknowledged ending the fall season feeling discouraged. “It’s very hard not to compare this team to the last one,” Webb said. “That year we only lost two games and ended the season 12 and two. Two of the teams we lost to this year we had beaten every game that season, so yeah, it’s a little hard not to compare.” Asencion Junior Gonzalez, one of the newest members on the team, agreed that the end of the season was discouraging. He nonetheless believ...

By Shanie Howard Utah State University’s Counseling and Psychological Services center is now broadcasting counseling workshops to the university’s regional campuses. Leaders from CAPS made the decision to broadcast   their   workshops to other Utah State University campuses last month. The results, so far, have been varied. “It has worked well for some of our topics,” said LuAnn Helms, the assistant director of CAPS. So far the classes have only had between five to 12 students attending, but Helms believes that by next semester   more students will participate and CAPS will be able to better determine which topics work well via broadcast and which don’t.  “We will try it again next semester and try to get more people,” Helms said.  CAPS began offering counseling workshops for students in 2011, allowing students to sit together and discuss ways to deal with different issues they faced, such as dealing with stress, building resilience and getting heal...

By Hannah McDonald As a volunteer for an online crisis counseling agency, Utah State University sophomore Catie Giraldes usually takes about eight calls in a two-hour shift. On Wednesday around 2 a.m., Giraldes was called in to respond to around 25 people in crisis. The agency for which she volunteers temporarily shut down its services that morning until it could respond to a record number of callers, some of whom had been waiting three or four hours for counseling. Giraldes’ experience reflected a nationwide rise in crisis calls following the presidential election. Utah, much like many other states, was not immune to the fear and discontent some people were feeling in the wake of the election of Donald Trump, who rose to power on promises of mass deportations and bans on Muslims, and his running mate Mike Pence, who has linked gay unions to the “deterioration of marriage and family” and has supported funding organizations “which provide assistance to those se...

By Cody Penman As the sun rose above the mountains west of Cache Valley on Saturday, upland game hunters were out walking through fields hoping to be one of the lucky ones. The general season pheasant hunt started at sunrise Saturday morning — and there are a lot of birds to be excited about. Officials from the Division of Wildlife Resources are partnering with Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife to release more birds this season. “Our goal is to have more birds when people go out to hunt," said Jason Robinson, the DWR upland game coordinator. "We will be releasing about 10,000 throughout the hunt.” Ryan Nichols, an avid fowl hunter, is thrilled there will be an increase of pheasant releases. “I heard the division is releasing birds almost every weekend of the hunt,” Nichols said. “That makes me super excited because that means I can shoot more birds.” Nichols, who teaches first-time hunters, is hoping the DWR will continue its efforts in supporting the...

By Miranda Tilley A hearing on Tuesday will give residents of Adams neighborhood a chance to voice their concerns about the availability of street parking, a growing concern in the densely populated area to the west of Utah State University. Possible solutions may be to significantly raise the price of, or eliminate altogether, seasonal permits which are currently available for purchase by home owners. Permits are effective Nov. 15 through the end of February 2017. Overnight parking is not allowed on the streets without permits from 1 to 6 a.m. but “the enforcement is slacking on ticketing law-breakers,” said Burt Lamborn, a resident of Adams neighborhood, during the Logan City Council meeting on Sept. 6.  “It seems like the city bends over backwards to accommodate the university students' high-dollar, high-density housing units, but they often forget the neighborhoods and the permanent residents in some areas in Logan,” said Jan Nyman, who has bee...

By Jaden Johnson The Utah State University volleyball team entered Thursday night’s match with Boise State in desperate need of a win after dropping two straight matches on the road last week, but things only got worse for the Aggies as they suffered one of their worst losses of the season. Collectively as a team, the Aggies had a season-low hitting percentage of .091 on the match, including a hitting percentage of .000 in the second set. They also tallied up a total of 20 hitting errors en route to a 3-0 sweep. “That’s about as bad of a performance as you can have in your home gym,” Aggie head coach Grayson DuBose said. “We should have played better.” After gaining a 16-11 lead in the first set, USU gave up a 14-5 run and the Broncos never looked back. Boise State went on to outscore the Aggies 50-28 in the second and third sets. “They got us uncomfortable and then we got fragmented and we couldn’t respond,” DuBose said. “That’s a really nice volleyball team, but w...

By Jaden Johnson The Utah State University volleyball team entered Saturday night’s match with Air Force looking to move past a three-game losing skid, and with the help of a season-best hitting effort it came out with a 3-0 win. The Aggies, fresh off of a Thursday night loss where they had a season-low combined hitting percentage of .091, turned things around dramatically three days later in Logan. The team had a new season-high hitting percentage of .384, up from its previous season-high of .312. The three-set sweep over Air Force (0-13, 9-17) was a welcomed change for the Aggies, who have lost their past three matches by a combined score of 9-1. “I think that we were getting a little down, coming off a streak of losses,” said junior middle blocker Carly Lenzen. “It’s nice to have this one in the bag, and to have it be a nice sweep for us.” Lenzen, who led the team in service aces and blocks in the match, and had a career high hitting percentage of .500 ...