Arches National Park has stopped issuing permits for its popular Fiery Furnace area after President Trump's upheaval of the NPS left the park understaffed during the busy spring break season.

The big picture: The Fiery Furnace is a dramatic, labyrinthine cluster of rock fins and hoodoos — a fragile landscape that was degrading from overuse before permits were implemented in the 1990s.

• The park has typically allowed about 100 visitors a day to explore the site, spring through fall.

Driving the news: Arches announced Sunday it was discontinuing permits for the site "until further notice."

• "Normally, [seasonal workers] would have been here by this time, and we could have offered those services, but that got a little delayed this year," park spokesperson Karen Henker told Axios.

Catch up quick: The Trump administration laid off about 1,000 NPS employees and implemented a hiring freeze in February, rescinding job offers to about 5,000 seasonal workers.

• After public outcry, those offers were reinstated — and more than 2,000 seasonal positions were added.
• But the reversal came too late for parks in warmer climates, including Arches, to recover all the employees they'd previously hired in time for the busy spring break travel rush.

How it works: To visit the Fiery Furnace, visitors could previously take a guided ranger tour — open to 14 to 42 guests per day — or snag one of 75 daily permits for self-guided hikes.

• Self-guided permits still require a video and briefing with a ranger because visitors are so prone to disorientation and becoming lost.

What they're saying: Both options are "staff-intensive," Henker said.

• "That's not something we're able to do right at the moment, given the uptick in seasonal visitation already and just how busy that front desk is, until we get some more hands."

Zoom out: Terminated full-time employees were reinstated by court orders last week. But getting them back into the parks is likely to be difficult for the same reason seasonal workers didn't immediately materialize after their offers were restored in February.

• Many national park gateway communities face housing shortages, and employees may have found other jobs while their NPS positions were in limbo.

Why parks are struggling to get workers back

Take a "cul(t)inary" trip to the dark side at Salt Lake City's new Satanic-goat-worshipping cafe.

Driving the news: The Goat Head opened a few weeks ago in the former KoKo Kitchen location at 300 East and 700 South, with breakfast and lunch offerings to tempt the devil himself.

What's inside: The menu features standard — but solid — diner fare with names like "Morning ritual" (eggs, protein and potatoes), "Children of the Corn" (shrimp and grits) and "Hail Seitan" (seitan sandwich).

• There are several vegan and vegetarian dishes, just in case animal sacrifice isn't your thing.
• The cafe serves a handful of local beers and mimosas, including the "Emily's Hazed" lavender lemonade with prosecco.

Zoom in: I tried the "Poultry in Motion" pulled chicken sandwich ($15) with the leek and mushroom soup du jour ($6).

• The sammy was a flavorful surprise, with a noticeably strong pickle and a soft pretzel bun.

Between the lines: The occult theming is generally limited to the restaurant's name, logo and menu. The interior is minimalist and sunny, with no altars or dead chickens to be found (except the one in my sandwich).

When to go: The Goat Head is open 8am-3pm Tuesday through Sunday.

Share with a hungry worshipper

🪧 U.S. Rep. Blake Moore, co-chair of the "DOGE caucus," was met with hundreds of protesters outside an Ogden restaurant while he spoke to a Republican group Saturday. (Deseret News)

❌ Gov. Spencer Cox vetoed SB 37, a measure that would have sent property tax revenue to the state's general fund for later distribution to public schools. (FOX 13)

• He said the bill could create a loophole for lawmakers to divert property taxes away from education.

💈 Some cosmetologists are objecting to proposed rules that would make it easier to get licenses, saying that would put longtime practitioners out of business and could leave Utahns with botched haircuts and pedicures. (Salt Lake Tribune)

🛐 Business chains with Utah locations must allow franchisees to close on Sundays and other religious days under HB 441, which Cox signed Monday. (KSL.com)

Last week our tech team hosted a ChatGPT training for reporters to experiment with some limited text summaries and data analysis.

Why it matters: The use of AI in news media has massive implications for for democracy, ethics and community power dynamics.

• Yes, but: I'm still fumbling with my account login, so that's a long way off.

After a brief existential crisis, we decided to see if it knows enough about us to make fun of us — with prompts for jokes about Utah.

Here are the yuks.

The bottom line: It's impressive in a way. I'm not buying tickets to the standup show.

Jokes about Draper moms, Park City and funeral potatoes