The United States government has been shutdown for almost two weeks as the debate between Republicans and Democrats in Congress and the White House continues to rage. Logan Anderson, a junior in business from West Jordan, Utah, said, “It’s too complicated and confusing to understand with all the social media rumors and false accusations to even care.” Here is what is happening:According to the Constitution, every year Congress must pass a budget, outlining the spending and income of the Government for that year. The last time the government actually made a budget was in 1997. Since that time, they have merely just been passing “resolutions.” Resolutions give the government the freedom to continue spending money for a predetermined time limit, Business Professor Cary Wasden explained.Why the shutdown now? Neither Republicans or Democrats can come to a mutual agreement regarding budget and spending. Republicans are in control of the House of Representative and the Democrats are in charge of the Senate and the White House. The Democrats are hoping to continue the current trend by passing a resolution and increasing the debt ceiling, or the amount of debt the country can have, so that they can fund all the government programs. Such programs include the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, as it is more commonly known. Republicans have no desire to fund Obamacare allowing President Obama to continue spending more money, according to Wasden.What does this mean? The Republicans in the House of Representatives are not willing to pass a resolution that includes funding for Obamacare, and the Democrats in the Senate and White House aren’t willing to approve any resolution that doesn’t fund Obamacare and raising the debt ceiling. With both sides being very reluctant to negotiate, the government has had to shutdown. Wasden said, “You are not getting the true story from either side and neither party comes out of this looking good. It shows us just how absolutely dysfunctional our government is right now. It’s a complicated issue with a simple solution. Just pass a budget.”What happens with a government shutdown? With the government shutdown, many government-funded programs have been shutdown as well. For example, all national parks, museums, and zoos have been closed. Most federal employees are temporarily out of work. Obtaining a passport or gun permit will also be unavailable until the debate is resolved. Surprisingly enough, this isn’t the first time that this has happened. In 1996, a similar government shutdown lasted 21 days. Conner Dunlap, a sophomore studying marine biology from Sitka, Alaska, said, “I think the government just needs to learn how to work together and not in opposition. They are just not getting the job done.” Recently, there have been signs of progress but no real signs of a resolution. If Congress does not reach an agreement by Oct. 17, it will have the possibility of defaulting on the national debt. If that were to happen, the national credit score would be worsened and would cause some long-term problems. “There is no way that a budget gets passed when there is so much animosity between the two parties. They will just pass another resolution,” said Wasden.Source: CNN

The Enactus Winter Project Expo drew students eager to get involved in entrepreneurship and service projects designed to launch creative ideas into working business models on Feb. 1 in the Aloha Center.With a new name, approach, and projected goals, BYU-Hawaii’s Enactus, formerly called SIFE, is ready to take on projects that range from local to global, said participants.Richard S. Tanner, director of both the expo and the Willes Center, said, “This is a night for people to come join or learn about projects.” “Enactus is an acronym,” Tanner explained. ‘”E’ stands for entrepreneurial, ‘act’ for action, and ‘us’ representing the need for all of us to work together.”Representatives from 12 booths displaying projects presented their goals and vision to potential student recruits. Tanner and his wife judged the creativity and content of the booths and awarded prizes to those in the booths who were greeted with the loudest cheers from attendees.Britton Winterrose, a sophomore majoring in business management from Washington, said, “Enactus is awesome and everybody should come. We need everyone to be a part of our team - people who can write, songwriters, and people who can produce media for events. We will find a place for your talent.”Jay Yung, a senior majoring in marketing from Florida and vice president of Enactus, said he has run projects, events and meetings for over two years.“Enactus is the only organization on campus that allows you to apply what you are learning in school in a collaborative environment,” said Yung.Later this year, Yung hopes to amp up the expo to a larger scale. “This expo is just a benchmark for us to do a lot more. We want to work up to including all the departments in the school and students with any major, not just business organizations.”The BYUH team placed third in the 2012 Enactus National Competition held in Kansas City last May. A team of chosen students will compete again this year, showcasing projects started and run by students at BYUH.Yung encouraged students to join who want a greater chance of finding a job post graduation. “Enactus has corporate partners that specifically hire students from within the organization. Students should participate in projects so that the companies know what you’re made of,” said Yung.The organization’s purpose, according to the official Enactus website, is “to enable progress through entrepreneurial action.” Yung added, “This is a stepping stone to getting a job. We will help you get to the next level.”Students interested in participating can attend Enactus meetings on Wednesday nights at 7 p.m. in GCB 185.

BYU-Hawaii students and staff share their favorite smartphone applications."Pinterest is a social media app where you can gather things that interest you and pin them onto a wall to share with others. “[Pinterest] is the combination of all the most brilliant ideas all in one spot. Whoever thought of it is brilliant. You can take all the ideas that you like onto one spot and go through it later and remember why you liked it,” said Leilani Fowlke, a junior majoring in marine biology from Wyoming."DaBus is an app that tracks the island-wide bus transportation system. DaBus is perfect for those traveling to and from town from campus and a must download app for BYUH students. “There’s a GPS on the bus, so you can actually get precise times when the bus is going to show up, which is nicer than before because you’d show up when it’s supposed to be there and it’d be an hour late. It’s accurate by about five minutes,” said Daniel Graves, a junior majoring in English from Murray, Utah."Snapchat is an app where you can send a picture of yourself to your friends (who have also downloaded the app as well) for a brief moment of time. The pictures are then deleted. “It makes taking ‘selfies’ in public acceptable,” said Robyn Perez, a freshman majoring in EXS from Memphis, Tenn. “You can send random, embarrassing stuff to your friends. But they can’t keep it and if they take a screen shot, [the app] tells you.”"Shazam is a song identifying app. You can search for songs that you hear and like instantly. “It’s like SoundHound, [where] you can record a song on the radio,” said English Professor Joseph Plicka. “But be careful using it in the car. I’m not going to endorse this app without the provisional warning.”"Graffiti is an app that allows you to write out your text and send them. “I can actually write to text,” said Bookstore Manager Kenway Kua. “[I recommend this] for all those who cannot text…. I like it because you can freely write. Graffiti would probably be my favorite.” "Nestle Mom’s Club pregnancy app is perfect for those expecting. “[Nestle Mom’s Club pregnancy app] shows how many weeks you are, that kind of thing that you have to pay attention to and about the baby and how it is developing. I think it’s a really good app,” said Jamie Pon, an alumnus from Hong Kong. "WeChat is an app where you can speak text and send the text to your friends. “You can tap the words, and talk, ‘hello, hello, hello’ and send,” said Yuanyu “Coco” Xia, a freshman majoring in accounting from China.

As the race for the Republican nomination commenced in 2011 featuring two prominent Mormons, Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman, the stage was set for the media to examine the Mormon religion. From NBC to the Daily Show on comedy central, Mormonism became a topic of discussion and debate across the nation.Denise Burnett, a senior in peacebuilding from Washington, spoke of the positive affects in her life. “Doing my internship abroad this summer, I saw an influx of interest and recognition of the LDS Church with Mitt Romney’s role in the U.S. presidential election. I feel this has opened up a lot of opportunities for the church and brought a lot of missionary experiences.”Harry Smith of NBC News reported on the church’s welfare program on Brian William’s “Rock Central” and spoke about the love and care Mormons have for others. He said, “We met these different people from so many different walks of life. You would not be able to distinguish these people from any other walk of life except for their total commitment to their faith.” On the sports front, Notre Dame’s Linebacker and Laie’s own Manti Te’o was voted second in the Heisman Trophy race and inspired people with his positive attitude and perseverance on and off the field. Daniel Lawler, a senior from Utah, said Te’o’s “inspirational heroics off the field showed us it’s what you do when the storm comes that defines you as a man. His story touched many lives and his play on the field echoed what kind of man he was off the field.” High school athlete, Jabari Parker also made headlines last year. He was only the 13th high school athlete to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine and appeared on “Good Morning America” with Katie Couric. His Mormon faith was on display, as seminary and missionary service was shown and discussed in his interview. “He seems almost too good to be true,” commented Josh Elliot, co-host of “Good Morning America.”American Idol star David Archuleta was featured in Rolling Stone magazine singing with other missionaries at the LDS General Conference. The magazine attached the caption: “David Archuleta harmonized with fellow aspiring Mormon missionaries in Utah before leaving to spend two years on a religious mission in South America. Hardcore!”Along with Archuleta’s “hardcore” devotion, other Mormons alike have made the perception of Mormons change for the better. Toby Redd, a junior in finance from Washington, spoke of the new perception of Mormons. “People think Mormons are more normal now. They don’t think of us as a crazy cult anymore because of all the exposure this year.”

The Sam Adams Associates for Integrity presented in October former NSA employee and intelligence leaker Edward Snowden with the Integrity Award in Intelligence. The presentation of the award and a speech by Snowden were both recorded in Moscow, Russia. The footage was the first video taken of Snowden since he fled to Russia for political asylum. However, AP reports Snowden’s request for clemency made in early November to the U.S. government has been denied.

Known as the “guys” who make music with just the piano and cello, the Piano Guys’ pianist and songwriter, Jon Schmidt, and videographer Paul Anderson joined Peter Hollens, a self-made YouTube a cappella sensation, to answer some questions for BYU-Hawaii. For this article, Jon Schmidt’s answers will be noted by JS, Paul Anderson’s as PA, and Peter Hollens’ as PH.Q: What are your impressions of Empower Your Dreams and how, as musicians and YouTubers, do you fit into this?JS: Such a cool event. I’m super impressed of what is happening. I think [BYUH students] are really blessed to have this opportunity. It’s a huge opportunity. It merges real life with education. It just kind of blew me away.PH: I think the innovation within the higher education system needs to go this route. Otherwise, the tuition doesn’t make any sense. You need to have this kind of experience, in my opinion, and all the verticals for me to be able to tell my son to fork out all the money to go to college because it is really expensive and this kind of thing actually provides true value. It’s awesome to be a part of this.Q: How would you say your experiences qualify you as judges?PA: I think each of us has been in the field of raising money to keep our business going. We understand that model. We know what it is like. We know what you have to do to keep the customers or fans happy, and what to do to create a product that will last a while that people will continue to enjoy. JS: I totally relate to what they are trying to do. It is very relatable to being entrepreneurial as an independent artist, inventing something and trying to market it.PH: I would say that anyone who has found success on YouTube as a musician and has a kind of longevity at all really learns how to run a business, how to brand yourself, how to innovate constantly, and that’s what these kids are really going to have to do if they are going to succeed at their business.Q: What would you say are the skills students should be trying to acquire and pick up if they want to be successful? Are these things that you can learn in the classroom or should they be spending more time somewhere else? PA: Well I think it is good to learn in the classroom. I didn’t go to college, but I wish I would have learned some things before going out in the world, because I spent a lot of money experimenting on things myself. The biggest thing I would say for them is to just go out and do it, to just start something, even if it is wrong or doesn’t work, just do it.PH: I would also say that anyone who even thinks they want to do anything has to learn social media, branding and how to market yourself. You have to present yourself in digital means just like you do in an interview physically. You need to have that same element but in a digital way.PA: People need to stay authentic to who they are. There is a lot of people who go out there and choose something to make money, and even if it does make money, they don’t find happiness—the happiness that comes along if they were to stay true to themselves. If you stay true to yourself, there is long-term happiness and money will come with it.PH: Money has to be the by-product, not the reason for doing anything.Q: What project has been your favorite so far?PA: It’s hard to say; it seems like every project we do is our favorite. We just did one recently where Jon and Steve (the cellist) dressed up in the 17th Century and also the 1970s to mix the two genres of music with the song ‘I Want You Back’ by The Jackson 5. It was hard to take them seriously on set because they looked so goofy, but it was just so fun.PH: From what we do with constantly creating and constantly thinking of the next thing so as soon as you release it, it’s like ‘Okay, what is next?’ It’s one of things I dislike most about my job – that I never have time to relish in the creation of something that I’ve put hundreds of hours into.JS: It’s like asking ‘Who is your favorite child?’Q: Any last words of advice for BYUH students?JS: The world is so full of opportunity right now… The world is wide open and we are right at the beginning of it. Right now you’ve got crowdfunding that is young. Do it now when stuff is new.PH: Just start. If you have an idea, do it. Be an innovator. If you love something, create it. There are online tutorials for everything. I taught myself how to do everything. I just did it; you can do it.PA: Everyone has a gift. Find out what your gift is, because there is something you can do. I always wanted to be a musician but I’m not that great of one. Now I have surrounded myself with awesome musicians so I get to experience that and I can help them with my gifts.Uploaded March 25, 2015

He was always seeing shots—in between classes, walking down the hallway, sitting in lectures—possible camera angles or different ideas for potential videos. But BYU–Hawaii alumnus Taylor (Tay) Steele, who now teaches creative video marketing and works as a freelance videographer, had only ever regarded videography as a hobby and unrealistic career.

Begins with spiritual and scholarly focus More than 100 high school students attended BYU-Hawaii’s Holomua college prep program that helps them acquire the knowledge, skills, and information needed to succeed at the university. Holomua camp directors and mentors spent the first day introducing the camp members to each other and to Laie to set the tone for the week.

There is no sport humans are better fitted to than running, as observed by the German science magazine geo.de. According to geo.de, it is the most widespread sport worldwide, due to obvious reasons: one can start right away and without a coach or any special equipment beside shoes. Even that is debatable with the advent of barefoot running.