Short takes on the news | The Salt Lake Tribune

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Butting heads • A recent series of events would be more evidence that Utah state officials don't know how to take care of public lands, if it weren't for the fact that it involves a federal agency that doesn't seem able to do much better. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is preparing to release a score of non-native Rocky Mountain goats into the La Sal Mountains near Moab. The only purpose for the release is as a sop to big-game hunters, and the move endangers the delicate balance of nature in the area. But the U.S. Forest Service has, so far, managed no more than a stern letter. We don't need the feds to overreach their authority. We just need them to do their jobs.

Fixing faces • Smiling faces marked the occasion last month when officials held their ceremonial groundbreaking for the new University of Utah School of Dentistry. The school not only will make it possible for aspiring Utah dentists to learn their profession without having to leave the state, it will also make a special effort to bring more women into a profession that is, for some reason, short on diversity. The fact that the dean of the new school, Rena D'Souza, is one of the few females in such a post should only help that mission.