A cerebral salute to the Moniteau Academic Decathlon Team for its recent third-place finish in the National Academic Decathlon Competition in the small school division.

Individual team members garnered national medals: Patrick Snyder received one gold medal, Carter Miller received four bronze medals and Jake Taciuch was awarded two bronze, two silver and two gold medals. Jake also received a silver medal in the scholastic division, meaning that he ranked second in the nation in that division.

The medals were presented during a recent ceremony at Edinboro University, where the Academic Sports League also presented awards and scholarships for the 25-school Northwestern Pennsylvania division. Jake Taciuch was awarded a full four-year scholarship to Gannon University. Carter Miller received the Einstein Award for the highest individual score in the Northwestern Pennsylvania division.

Moniteau students in the decathlon program have been awarded more than $2 million in academic scholarships over the past seven years of competition.

Congratulations for an outstanding performance goes to the academic team, to first-year coach Ken Cloonan and to Cloonan's predecessor, Jeremy Borkowski for building the successful program over the previous six years.

Shame on the Republican leadership in Harrisburg — actually, they're not in Harrisburg; legislators fled the capital July 1 for summer break after passing a patchwork budget but leaving unfinished their assigned chore of public pension reform.In response, Gov. Tom Corbett, a fellow Republican, has used his line-item veto to withhold more than $72 million of their “allowance” — $65 million of the General Assembly's own budget and another $7.2 million from various items, including $5 million for parking.And now the predictable tantrums begin.Senate GOP leaders — President Pro Tem Joe Scarnati, Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, Appropriations Chairman Jake Corman and Whip Pat Browne — complained in a joint statement, “While we share the desire to enact statewide pension reform, linking pension reform to punitive program cuts is not a successful strategy.”And House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny County, accused Corbett of depriving funds for Special Olympics and children's programs — and of dragging his feet on liquor privatization, saying, “We call upon the governor to use his bully pulpit and his capital to get liquor privatization done.”Fact is, the $47 billion looming pension crisis, like a black hole, sucks millions of tax dollars away from vital programs and will continue to do so. Left unchecked, the unfunded obligation will continue to grow — to an estimated $65 billion in the next five years.Corbett is applying a time-tested management principle: Make the right thing to do the easiest thing to do. And the right thing is meaningful public pension reform. Legislative leaders in the governor's own party need to stop whining and return to work.

Call Ryanne Forcht Palermo anything but soft-spokin'. The 31-year-old graduate of Butler High School, now living in Seven Fields, recently took part in Race Across America, a cross-country bicycle competition. Palermo and teammates Stacie Truszkowski, Patty George and Anne-Marie Alderson, riding in two-woman shifts, finished the 3,000-mile race in seven days, seven hours and 15 minutes. They departed Oceanside, Calif., on bicycles June 15 and arrived in Annapolis, Md., a week later.UPMC sponsored the quartet, riding as Team PHenomenal Hope, to raise funds for and awareness of pulmonary hypertension, which is high blood pressure in the lungs than can leave its victims short of breath, dizzy, tired, even in need of a lung transplant.The team trained intensively for two years; now that it's over, Palermo says, it's a bit difficult adjusting.“We're not athletes. We're not professional bike riders. We pushed ourselves. We were totally out of our comfort zone for a week,” she said. “At some point in life, everyone should experience what that feels like.”That's an inspiring thought.