Cranberry Township, buoyed by its location and governed in recent decades by boards of supervisors bent on progress, not on standing still, has recorded another accomplishment worthy of great pride.

Selected by the national publication Bloomberg Businessweek as the best town in Pennsylvania to raise a family, Cranberry is a prime example of what can be accomplished by communities not content with the status quo.

Cranberry encourages growth, rather than discouraging it, and that positive attitude is clearly evident in the development that has taken place there.

The selection was the product of a Bloomberg Businessweek evaluation conducted in conjunction with Bloomberg Rankings of 3,200 communities nationwide with populations between 5,000 and 50,000. The evaluation did not include places where the median income exceeds $115,866, the lower limit for the wealthiest 20 percent of U.S. families.

Expressing pride in Cranberry's selection, Bruce Mazzoni, the township supervisors' chairman, said, “We think we've done a lot right to attract families, and it's great to have that validation for things we've done decades in the past.”

Jerry Andree, township manager, expressed similar feelings, saying, “This sense of place just didn't happen overnight. It was done through deliberate public policy by the boards of supervisors over the years.”

Bloomberg Businessweek's evaluation focused in large part on public school performance and safety, median income, the local job market, county-level unemployment, plus other factors including housing costs.

The Bloomberg study rightly concluded that “Cranberry, as the locals call it, is no longer merely a bedroom community for Pittsburgh.”

“We're thrilled to have the recognition,” Mazzoni said, referring to township officials. But all township residents should embrace that view as well. The designation will make others not familiar with the benefits Cranberry has to offer look at how the municipality might benefit them.

St. Stephens Lutheran Academy and Glade Run Lutheran Services in Zelienople are part of what can be regarded as an elite group in the eyes of Project Learning Tree, an environmental education program of the American Forest Foundation.As the recipient of a $2,600 GreenWorks grant, St. Stephens and Glade Run join just 28 other schools and youth organizations awarded such grants in 17 states and the District of Columbia.The aim of the local grant is to help students learn to conserve and to make maple syrup from sap they've collected, in this case from St. Stephens/Glade Run forestland. Many of the students in question are healing from trauma-induced conditions, or have autism or other special needs.Glade Run, St. Stephens and the Forest Foundation merit praise for making this opportunity possible for the students in question.

Former state Rep. Bill DeWeese of Greene County, longtime House Democratic leader, has embraced the technicalities “card” in appealing his corruption conviction and, thus, the prison sentence he is serving.In his appeal filed before the state Superior Court, DeWeese is alleging procedural errors by judges and misconduct by prosecutors — common arguments in such appeals.He contends those purported errors and the alleged misconduct constitute grounds for overturning his jury’s verdict or for granting him a new trial.He has a right to pursue his appeal, but evidence presented at the trial was deemed sufficient by the jury to convict him. To those state residents fed up with the conduct of lawmakers in the state capital in recent years, DeWeese’s current status as a prisoner rather than a governmental leader isn’t evoking much if any sympathy. Elected officials should conduct themselves within the guidelines of the law.DeWeese was convicted of illegal use of public employees and resources for political purposes. Like other former lawmakers serving prison time for similar misdeeds, he conducted himself as if he were above the law.He wasn’t, and he should serve the sentence meted out to him — not be freed on a flimsy technicality.