The holiday lighting made downtown Butler bright and festive.

But now that the General Richard Butler Bridge has been completed, the city and community organizations ought to be thinking about expansion of the current lighting to include the new bridge, as well as possibly extending the holiday lighting farther up North Main Street.

Although "White Christmas" didn't apply to Western Pennsylvania during the holiday season just completed, the holiday spirit nevertheless prevailed, thanks in part to the lighting that has brightened most of Main Street

The lighting added to the festivities of Ring in the Arts, the city's New Year's Eve celebration.

Thanks are in order again to Armstrong for donating the manpower and time to install the decorations; company employees also will be removing them.

Thanks also are in order to the downtown business people and volunteers who will be performing maintenance on the lighting in the coming months — such as replacing burned-out bulbs, repairing wiring and cleaning and painting the decorations.

It's not too early to begin thinking about next year's holiday lighting. After all, the city's 2007 Christmas parade is only 10 months and two days from this Sunday.

Jubilent shouts of "We're number one" probably won't be heard in Harrisburg this month, despite the fact that Pennsylvania retains the distinction of having the most costly state legislature in the nation.Even with the repeal of the controversial pay-raise vote of 2005, Pennsylvania's state lawmakers are still paid more than lawmakers in all but a few other states. And with 253 legislators, Pennsylvania employs the most fulltime lawmakers of any state. The only state with more lawmakers is New Hampshire, which has 424. But that body is a true "citizen legislature," with compensation set at just $200 for a two-year term.With Pennsylvania's generous salaries for state lawmakers, plus health benefits, pension benefits, car leases, per diems and other perks, the Keystone State stands above all others when it comes to the cost of the legislative branch.And along with lots of lawmakers comes the second-largest legislative staff of approximately 3,000 people. Only New York's legislature has more staff.Looking at the total costs and legislative results, voters and taxpayers have to ask, "Are we getting our money's worth?"All this was worth remembering when it was reported last week that the cost of operating the General Assembly increased 9 percent last year, to $308 million. Adding in the cost of staffers, Pennsylvania taxpayers are spending close to half a billion dollars a year to fund the state legislature.In addition to legislative expenses growing three times faster than the rate of inflation, the legislature also boosted its financial reserve fund to $215 million — a 34 percent increase over 2004-05.The official defense for this reserve fund is to protect lawmakers from political pressure that a governor could impose by withholding legislative funding. In theory, this might have some merit, but the reality is that such a scenario is not likely — and the General Assembly has no reason to be sitting on a $215 million reserve fund.Taxpayers should demand this fund be slashed, and the latest retention of the title of most costly state legislature should help build popular support and political pressure for a reduction in the size of the state legislature, which is most likely to occur by way of a constitutional convention.The time has come for real reform in the state legislature — in not only how it does business, but also in its bloated size and unnecessary expense.

In the face of more and more explicit films, including the graphic depiction of torture, the Motion Picture Association of America and National Association of Theater Owners are right in their intent to beef up their ratings system.The plans include "clearer definitions and stronger warnings" that many R-rated movies aren't for younger children. However, those under 17 still would be allowed into an R-rated movie if accompanied by a parent or adult guardian.Plans are to discuss the ratings system with filmmakers Monday at the Sundance Film Festival. A formal announcement is planned for March.The ratings system came under fire last year in a documentary "This Film Is Not Yet Rated," which targets the ratings board's secretive process and inconsistencies in how the MPAA considers sex and violence when rating films.Plans call for no changes in letter ratings. Decisions are expected regarding formalized language for the clearer definitions and stronger warnings being promised.The decision to revise the ratings system is long overdue.