[naviga:h3]Cheer [/naviga:h3]

Butler County is among the state leaders in local economic investment and development.

A recent study by SmartAsset, a financial technology company in New York, compared counties across the nation using four factors — business growth, gross domestic product growth, new building permits, and municipal bonds — to create a ranking system that focuses on local economies.

Butler County ranked second statewide in overall investment over the past two years. We also posted Top 10 rankings in business growth (2.5 percent) and new building permits per 1,000 homes (6.9), while ranking 450th out of 3,141 counties nationwide.

That’s not small news.

Stan Kosciuszko, president of the Butler County Chamber of Commerce, said condo and apartment construction in the Cranberry area likely boosted the county’s ranking for building permits.

Four large hotel construction projects, and the county’s construction of a multi-million-dollar annex building likely boosted Butler’s ranking for municipal bonds and incoming investment during the past two years as well.

“Those things would really play into some major investment,” Kosciuszko said.

Another positive indicator of general economic health is the county’s low unemployment rate, he said.

According to figures released in June by the state Department of Labor and Industry, the county’s unemployment rate is 4.7 percent — 11th lowest in the state.

These are truly remarkable statistics — the fruit of a lot of hard work by countless business people.

[naviga:h3]Jeer [/naviga:h3]

The federal Department of Veterans Affairs continues disdainfully to heap shame upon itself for dysfunction so deeply embedded that the VA seems unable — or unwilling — to shed it.

VA officials took a beating Wednesday from Congressional for failing to warn them about a budget crisis that could force the shutdown of some VA hospitals by August.

The VA said last week it might shutter hospitals unless Congress closes a $2.5 billion shortfall in th VA’s already gargantuan $164 billion budget. They blame the shortfall on a sharp increase in demand by veterans for health care, including costly treatments for the deadly hepatitis C virus.

We agree with U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., the chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, who said he was shocked at the magnitude of the VA’s problems and outraged that Congress was not notified until nearly 10 months into the budget year, which ends Sept 30. The budget mess should have been discussed months earlier.

“This is unprecedented — a true VA ‘budget-gate’ for our time,” Miller said.

VA Secretary Robert McDonald says the VA has completed 7 million more patient appointments this year than it did last year, including 4.5 million appointments with private medical providers under the new Veterans Choice program. This is a hard pill to swallow, since Congress already added $500 million to the VA budget to cover the Choice program.

And speaking of pills: McDonald said the unexpected high price of treatment for hepatitis C has dented VA spending. A single hep C pill can cost $1,000.

But what has the VA done to negotiate a more reasonable price for its multitude of patients who need this treatment? Could if have done more? If not, why not?

The VA has a spending problem. It has a communication problem. And it has an attitude problem.

It’s a bloated, out-of-control bureaucracy that’s a little reminiscent of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources before former Gov. Tom Ridge broke it up into three different agencies.

Maybe a similar break-up would be good for the VA, too.

[naviga:h3]Cheer [/naviga:h3]

Jacob Campbell, Mike Davis and Amber Kozik are the kind of friends anybody would want, especially Wesley Zablocki.

Wesley was almost 12 when he died March 3 after a four-year struggle with osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer.

Jacob, Mike and Amber, all 12 and like Wesley, all from Butler, will take part in a trip that they think would have made Wesley proud.

In his memory, the three will accompany Wesley’s father, Ted Zablocky, on the Ultimate Hike — a 20.7 mile trek through the Dolly Sods section of the of the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia — on Aug. 1.

CureSearch for Children’s Cancer, a Maryland-based nonprofit dedicated to pediatric cancer research, hosts this and other annual hikes in the region.

Wesley’s parents and friends, who call themselves “Wesley’s Warriors,” set a fundraising goal of $25,000. they’ve nearly doubled that goal already. Wesley’s mother, Nikki Zablocki of Butler, said the team may break a record for the Dolly Sods location. She said they’re hoping to hit $50,000.

Good friends to have. Best wishes to Amber, Mike and Jacob for their dedication, and cheers to the memory of their friend, Wesley.