The winners and the losers

• Winner: Wednesday's announcement that 200 acres of the historic Hi Ute Ranch will be protected from development was a red-letter day for open-space preservation in Summit County. The ranch, located west of Kimball Junction, will be protected through a conservation easement that allows it to be used for ranching, farming and historic uses but restricts the development on 200 acres of ranch land. Utah Open Lands Executive Director Wendy Fisher described the preservation project as an "heirloom" to be passed on to future generations. Such foresight is, indeed, priceless.

• Winner/Loser: Utah school districts are continuing their reviews of on-campus vending machine offerings, with some districts requiring vendors to provide more healthy options such as water, milk, fruit juices and snacks while reducing the junk food offerings. Anything school districts can do to enhance student nutrition is welcome, but this addresses only one component of the rising incidence of childhood obesity. Physical education must be a higher priority, and students need longer lunch periods so they can eat meals rather than eat out of vending machines. School controls are, obviously, less effective in high schools because students are permitted to leave campus. But in junior highs and elementary schools, school districts have a responsibility to provide better nutritional choices.

• Loser: The world lost one of its fresh voices this week when poet and peace activist Mattie Stepanek died at age 13. The bespectacled child, who had a rare form of muscular distrophy, charmed the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Larry King with his effervescent charm. He used his acclaim to raise awareness of muscular dystrophy, which also claimed the lives of his three older siblings. His mother has the adult-onset form of the disease. Stepanek sold more than 500,000 books of his poetry, the most successful of which was "Heartsongs," published in 2001. It shot to the top of the New York Times best-seller list, aided by appearances on television and published articles.