Hard News Café Weekly News Roundup (Oct. 1, 2012)

 
News about Cache Valley and USU
from the Department of Journalism & Communication 
October 1, 2012

 All the Local News:
Fall coming to Cache Valley, USU Homecoming Week on Aggie TV News, Evans book awards presented, Democratic congress candidate, dine locally, USU alum’s new book, why I can’t vote for Mitt, sports  . . . and more!

FALL HARVEST TIME—Farm stands all across northern Utah are overflowing with the fall harvest—apples, squash, corn, peaches, peppers and more. (Ted Pease photo)




CACHE VALLEY NEWS

Demo challenger chides Congress on gridlock, urges voter turnout
September 25th, 2012
Story & Photos by D. Whitney Smith

LOGAN—Utah residents have the second-worst voting record in the United States—Texas has the worst—according to Democratic congressional candidate Donna McAleer, who is vying for Utah’s 1st District seat against five-term Republican incumbent Rob Bishop.“It’s so important we vote in this country, because when we make a decision not to vote, that’s a vote for the status quo,” McAleer said.







Smithfield kids pass smoke test at Summit school Safety Fair 
September 29th, 2012 
By Katie Swain
SMITHFIELD—Young children drop to their hands and knees and begin to crawl toward exits at the sound of a blaring smoke alarm. Commands to “stay down low” are broadcast above the noise as artificial smoke swirls through the room clouding vision and impeding breathing. Finally a back door is opened and the students from Summit Elementary rush out of the Utah State Fire Marshal’s Life Safety House and back into fresh air. “We all made it out OK!” said Jeremy Hunt, assistant fire chief for Smithfield Fire Department.

Cub River sports complex to stay in county, Richmond says
September 27th, 2012  
By Heidi Vaughan
RICHMOND—The City Council was unanimous Tuesday in regards to annexing  the Cub River Sports Complex into Lewiston. Their decision: “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”

Professional center at Gateway & 1st North OK’d by Providence
September 27th, 2012  
By Dani Hayes
PROVIDENCE—A professional building proposed on the southwest corner of Gateway Drive and 100 North got the go-ahead to begin construction from the City Council Tuesday.

Local restaurants make deals that help student budgets
September 23rd, 2012
By Jessica Sonderegger
CACHE VALLEY—Taco Tuesdays, Free Pie Nights and Five-Dollar Footlongs are faithfully celebrated by college students from the East Coast to the West; if not for the inexpensive dining, then for the social atmosphere created by the congregation of hungry students. But the need for economic recovery continues to encourage us to sustain our local economies—keeping our money in the community we live, even as college students.

Money and fun: Corn maze saved the farm at Little Bear Bottoms
September 23rd, 2012
By Brandon Fonda
MENDON—The corn maze is what brings in most visitors this time of year, but it’s only one of many attractions on the 30-acre farm at Little Bear Bottoms. It also includes a haunted trail, spooky barn ride, two straw forts, pumpkin patch, string maze and, new this year, a train ride pulled by a four-wheeler. “I’ve been coming here with my family for eight years now,” said Dale Buchanan, a Nibley native.

USU NEWS

Aggie TV News  
The ATV News team reports on USU’s 2012 Homecoming, political races heating up, street painters celebrate USU, a new kind of really solid, disaster-proof homes, the DNR kills off invasive brown trout from Logan Canyon, turning old urban trees into beautiful floors and art, Aggie milk taste-testing, warm up for more football—and more!



Diné Tah and Joe Hill: Books on the Navajo and labor leader win awards
September 23rd, 2012 
By Natasha Bodily

LOGAN—A first-time memoir author and a biographer are winners of this year’s Evans Biography and Handcart Awards, coordinated by Utah State University’s Mountain West Center for Regional Studies. Alwin Girdner, author of Diné Tah: My Reservation Days 1923-1939, said his book grew out of bedtime stories he told his children about the years he lived on a Navajo reservation in Arizona near the Four Corners. “Dinétah” means “among the Navajo people,” and refers to the Navajo homeland region.

The saga of labor activist Joe Hill, executed in Utah, wins Evans prize
September 24th, 2012
Story & Photos by D. Whitney Smith
LOGAN—It’s a true story about attempted murder, possible sex scandal, crooked cops and death by firing squad—and that’s just what happened in Utah. Journalist and historian William Adler, whose biography about union songwriter Joe Hill won USU’s $10,000 Evan’s Biography Award, was on campus Friday.

‘What do I do?’ Nontraditional students in the dark at USU 
September 23rd, 2012
By Kelsie Davis
LOGAN—Tammy Neilson didn’t realize it would be this tough to come back to school. “Working full time, taking care of my kids and going to school—sometimes it’s all too much,” said the 42-year-old single mother of two teenage girls, who is pursuing a bachelor’s degree at Utah State University. There’s an office on campus to help nontraditional students like Neilson. But until this week, she’d never heard of it. “That would have been nice to know when I started two years ago,” she said. “What do they even do?”

JCOM alum comes home with his new book, ‘Housekeeper’s Son’
September 23rd, 2012

By Natasha Bodily
Special from The Utah Statesman
LOGAN—In 277 pages, USU alumnus Christopher Loke takes a reader on a journey of mystery and murder and addresses the blur between right and wrong in the author’s first novel, The Housekeeper’s Son. Loke came back to USU for a book-signing at the USU Bookstore, a homecoming for the 2005 master’s graduate in journalism.








OPINION

Opinion: A question of principle—I just can’t vote for Mitt
September 27th, 2012

By Harry Caines
CacheValleyDaily.com
When this column is completed, they will have changed the secret handshake. The password to enter the Mahogany Lounge will be different (it was “swordfish”). And the pass key that used to give me access to the executive washroom will no longer turn that little red light to green. And cutting in line at the supermarket? I can kiss that goodbye. I am Harry Caines, I am going to do what is verboten to any good and true Republican in the state of Utah—I will be voting for Barack Obama’s re-election come November. 




SPORTS

Mercy rule invoked as MC Mustangs pound Bonneville
September 27th, 2012
By Danielle Manley
OGDEN—The Mountain Crest Mustangs led the entire game Sept. 21 against the Bonneville Lakers. With six touchdowns in three quarters of play, the game was called at 42-0. “I was surprised,” Mountain Crest head coach Mark Wooton said. “They had some turnovers earlier, we recovered a fumble and there were some interceptions.”

• • •


(Be)Friend the Hard News Café on Facebook!
The Hard News Café
© 2012
Department of Journalism & Communication
Utah State University
Logan, Utah 84322-4805
435-797-3292 • jcom@aggiemail.usu.edu • ted.pease@usu.edu

“Dedicated to free expression and mutual understanding in the information age.”

A service of the USU JCOM Department and the College of Humanities & Social Sciences.
.