In the resort town of Mazatlan, Mexico, the head of one of the world's most dangerous and powerful drug cartels, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was captured on Sat. Feb. 22. With the help of Mexican Marines and officials, the Drug Enforcement Agency brought down the infamous leader of the Sinaloa Cartel. Also known as Mexico’s Osama Bin Laden, Joaquin Guzman has led a brutal and bloody battle throughout Mexico to take control of key trafficking territories. The drug empire Guzman has created stretches as far as Australia and Europe. Guzman has been eluding law enforcement for over a decade with a $7 million bounty on his head. The manhunt for Guzman began in 2001 after he escaped from a Mexican prison in a laundry truck. Living everywhere from Argentina to Guatemala, Guzman has been a hard man for U.S. and Mexican intelligence agencies to capture. Guzman is worth more than $1 billion dollars as reported by Forbes Magazine. Over 70,000 people have been killed in the drug war since 2006. Benjamin Garcia, a sophomore in exercise science from Mexico, said, “Mexicans would rather live illegally in the United States than living with the fear and violence in Mexico. According to law enforcement officials, there is no drug-trafficking organization in Mexico with the scope, the savvy, the operational ability, expertise, and knowledge as the Sinaloa cartel.”Freddie Ika, a special instructor in psychology from Oakland, said, “They need to focus on taking down the entire organization, and not just focus on one person.”Mexico’s largest drug busts have been from the Sinaloa Cartel, finding more than 134 tons of marijuana and an underground methamphetamine lab. The recent capture of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is a major blow to the Sinaloa Cartel and the illegal drug industry. U.S. and Mexico officials hope that the drug war will become weakened by the recent capture of Guzman and other top cartel officials. According to law enforcement, Guzman has had significant protection from villagers in the mountains of the Mexican states of Sinaloa and Durango. Guzman is also thought to have paid off several law enforcement officials to elude many close captures, one being in 2012 in Cabo San Lucas, a Baja California resort town, hindering tourism in the area even more. Nicole Staudte, a sophomore in marketing from Iowa, said, “Just because the main guy is gone doesn’t mean Mexico will be safer. I think it will remain dangerous from all the lower-level dealers fighting for Guzman’s spot.”

Of the 16,000 people that finished the Great Aloha Run, held on Monday Feb. 17, BYU-Hawaii alumnus, Thomas Puzey came in first place. Puzey competed in the 8.15-mile race held in Honolulu in years past and placed in the top five. What makes this year special is that he not only won, but also beat out the second place finisher by over a whole minute, according to bestroadraces.com. Even with the unusual amount of rain present at the 30th Annual Great Aloha Run, Puzey was able to win with a time of 43.02.“I’ve never met someone who was so focused on accomplishing something. He knows what he wants, he knows what it takes to do it, and he does it,” said Kevin Schlag, the men’s cross country coach. “He’s one of those guys you might read about in Outside Magazine and just think, ‘I wish I could do all of that kind of stuff,”’ said Riley Moffat, head of reference in the Joseph F. Smith Library. “He’s probably not going to make a lot of money but he’s going to have a lot of fun.” According to Puzey, who goes by the name “Rivers” is a sponsored athlete. Puzey ran on the cross-country team here at BYUH and afterwards went onto excel athletically. He has run many marathons, and also competes in Ironman races, notably rounding out the top 25 at the Ironman 70.3 Hawaii on June 1st 2013, which qualified him for the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii, where he competed in Oct. 13 2013, according to sportstats.com. “Most of us run and train after college for fun, but he has been able to turn it into his life,” said Jon Hooke, a junior from Ventura California studying Business Finance who is on the BYU-Hawaii Cross Country team. Hooke ran with Puzey on the cross-country team during his freshman year. Hooke also said, “He’s just a really awesome guy. I loved running with him because he always made it fun. He was hilarious and always had the best jokes.”“I think it’s great what Rivers (Thomas) has done,” said Besser Davila, a center-mid on the men’s soccer team, and undeclared sophomore from Orem, Utah. “It takes hours and hours of training, and to see all that work finally pay off is great to see.”

The scenic island landscape of the North Shore draws in Hollywood producers to film on Oahu. From remote island dramas to romantic comedy vacation films, the island offers a landscape for a variety of genres. The green mountains can double as a jungle thousands of years ago, and the beach as a private uninhabited island. One of the perks of movies being filmed in Hawaii is the celebrity sightings BYU-Hawaii students have been able to experience. Allie Smilanich, a senior studying business marketing from Utah, said, “When I was a freshman, my friends and I went down to the beach where they were filming ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ and got to see Johnny Depp.” Although some sets are closed off, often locals are welcome to watch the filming. Smilanich said the “Pirates” star Depp was extremely kind and took the time to talk to all of the people who lined up to see him and shake their hands. Another popular movie filmed in the North Shore area was “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.” After seeing the movie, local resident, Andrew Dixon, said, “I feel privileged to walk on the same sand that Jennifer Lawrence did in ‘The Hunger Games.’” Students and staff said they witnessed scenes being filmed at Turtle Bay Resort for the hit movie. Surf-centered movies such as “Blue Crush,” “Soul Surfer” and “North Shore” are popular films that have been filmed in places familiar to students and residents of the North Shore. Movies filmed at Kualoa Ranch and other locations around the island are “Jurassic Park,” “Godzilla,” “Mighty Joe Young,” “Tears of the Sun,” “Pearl Harbor,” “Windtalkers,” “Karate Kid II,” and “Hawaii.” TV shows include both “Hawaii Five-0s,” “Lost,” “Gilligan’s Island” and “Fantasy Island.”Jaden McCarry, a junior from Alaska studying intercultural peace building, said, “I loved watching ‘50 First Dates’ and being able to identify places that I frequently see and go to.” The film stars Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler and is set on the North Shore and Laie’s own Hukilau Café plays a special part in it, although the cafe is not shown in the movie. HawaiiMagazine.com asked people in 2010 what were their favorite movies filmed in Hawaii. The top five answers were:1. “50 First Dates”2. “Blue Hawaii”3. “Donovan’s Reef”4. “South Pacific”5. “Blue Crush”

With recent hits like “What Does the Fox Say?,” “Gangnam Style” and “Call Me Maybe,” all of which transcended throughout the world, foreign music is becoming an international phenomenon. Although students at BYU-Hawaii speak over 50 different languages, music is something that the multicultural student body shares a common interest in and is a way to bridge the language gap. Maddie Merchant, a freshman from BYU visiting Laie, noticed something different about BYU-Hawaii. “Everyone is so different and everyone listens to different music, but they still have so much in common.” Merchant continued, “They listen to songs from their own country and in their own language, but they still know all these popular songs that have gone viral. It’s really cool to see how connected everyone is through music.” Through media outlets such as YouTube, ITunes, Facebook, and Twitter, foreign music has gained access in nearly every country throughout the world. However, students at BYUH have their own theories about how songs become so popular internationally. Brooke Lindahl, a freshman in psychology from Arizona, said, “I think they really appeal to kids even though they might not be able to understand what the song is about. They have a really good beat, and a lot of the songs have dances to go with them and everyone just gets addicted.” Sarah Precourt, a freshman in psychology from Virginia, added, “Honestly, people just listen to them to make fun of them, or show their friends. Then, they just get stuck in your head and you can’t stop singing them. You eventually end up loving the song, even though you have no idea what the lyrics mean.”“Gangnam Style,” by South Korean musician Psy, is arguably the biggest international music hit. The song has drawn over 1.9 billion views on YouTube, and is known all around the BYUH campus. Psy released Gangnam style and only 10 days after releasing the dance video, it became the most watched and liked video in YouTube history, and Psy became an international icon. In an interview with Time Magazine, Psy admitted that luck was the reason Gangnam Style went viral. ”I think this is all about luck. They say some philosopher said, ‘when effort meets chance, then there is luck…’ Chance was YouTube and effort my last 12 years because I’ve done these kinds of dance moves and videos and songs for 12 years.”

Iolani Palace remained a royal residence up until the reign of Queen Lili´uokalani, said Hardy Spoehr, a palace tour guide. Originally constructed in 1882 by King Kalakaua, the last king of Hawaii built the palace at a cost of about $330,000, a figure Spoehr said would be equivalent to millions of dollars today.

Not all families resemble the traditional nuclear family of a father, mother and children. According to the United States Census Bureau, 23 percent of children live with a single mother.

The White Helmets of Syria, also known as the Syria Civil Defense, is an organization of 2,900 civilians who, according to Time Magazine, go “into some of the most dangerous places on earth to do what the world has refused to do – save Syrian lives.”

The app began with a simple idea from Rami Rasamny, the Chief Executive Officer of LHO. “My outdoor experience started at a very early age,” he said.

BYU-Hawaii was named one of the most financially fit colleges in the United States. BYUH received a 3.943 financial GPA, which gives the school an A grade, and is numbered 82 out of the 100, says Matt Schifrin, editor of investing, markets and personal finance for Forbes magazine. “This comes as a pleasant surprise as some have felt that our school was ‘inadequate,’” said Raife Campbell, a BYUHSA vice president and a junior in business from Australia. “This shows the world that our little college is more than others have previously thought ‘e laiti ae maigi,’ which is Samoan for, ‘that which is small can cause great effect’.” “I feel like I’m part of something great here,” remarked Nathan Cunningham, a junior in business from Texas. Michael Christensen, BYUH budget and housing director, explained what sets BYUH apart from other college campuses. “Some factors that naturally help us include the support of the church.” Christensen said tithing funding helps keep tuition lower than other comparable schools, especially domestically. Another factor that sets the school apart is the Board of Trustees, which includes the First Presidency of the church, three members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, a member of the presidency of the Seventy, the general Relief Society president and the general Young Women’s president, said Christensen. This board carefully discusses what is to be done with the Lord’s money at BYUH, BYU in Provo, BYU in Idaho, Institutes and Seminaries, said Christensen. Different organizations are encouraged by BYUH officials to see where money spending can shift when starting new developments, said Christensen. Then the budget is taken from existing funds and “we are not asking for more,” said Christensen. Forbes “created the FORBES College Financial Grades, which measured the fiscal soundness of more than 900 four-year, private, not-for-profit schools with more than 500 students (public schools are excluded),” says Schifrin. The article describes how the financial grades were given. “For the purposes of our [Forbes] analysis, we used the two most recent fiscal years available from the Department of Education–2011 and 2010. The grades measure financial fitness as determined by nine components broken into three categories,” says Schifrin.