Cheer

Kudos to the Butler Family YMCA for its decision to take over management of the Butler Road Race starting next year, and to Butler Health system for pledging to remain the event’s primary sponsor going forward.

Race organizers said in January that the event was entering its final year, but after many people expressed hope that it would continue the YMCA stepped in to fill the need.

In the past 23 years the race has awarded more than $410,000 in scholarships to 741 graduating seniors from Butler County high schools. Starting next year proceeds from the race will fund the YMCA’s Strong Kids Campaign, a financial-assistance program for children and their families.

It’s great to see a venerable institution like the race get a new lease on life. And equally gratifying to know that it will continue to help provide much-needed assistance to needy people in this community.

Jeer

America’s penchant for mass incarceration got a big boost on Friday, with U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions reversing an Obama administration policy and reinvigorating America’s failed “war on drugs” through the use of mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenders.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise. In February Sessions reversed another Obama-era policy and once again began allowing the Justice Department to use private prisons to house federal inmates.

Both moves are regressive and counter-productive. They will end up costing taxpayers more money, reducing the effectiveness of the criminal justice system, and needlessly ruining the lives of many first-time, non-violent drug offenders.

This is likely just the beginning of sweeping changes at the DOJ. The only question is how much damage Session’s outdated and overly-politicized philosophy of law enforcement will ultimately inflict.

Cheer

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro has done a good job of repairing the office’s damaged image since he succeeded his disgraced predecessor, Kathleen Kane.

Since his election Shapiro has made ethics his first priority, signing a new pledge of integrity and asking — and getting — all of his 800 employees to do the same.

That’s a good start to rebuilding the shattered trust that is Kane’s legacy, but ethics is about more than mission statements. It’s about practicing what you preach.

So when Shapiro on Thursday signed his name beside 20 other state attorneys general to a letter calling for the appointment of independent counsel to investigate contacts between Russia and the 2016 campaign of President Donald Trump, it was the right move.

Putting this issue to bed once and for all should be a bipartisan effort. For Shapiro, it’s a chance to show that he’s willing to live up to his pledge of restore public trust in law enforcement agencies through advocating for transparency and fidelity.