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...