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

You couldn’t pick two finer people to be honored with the Distinguished Service Award. This year’s recipients, Pamela Ambrose and Gerri Paulisick, are shining examples of civic selflessness.

Ambrose, a maintenance clerk for the county Facility and Operations Department, has worked with the Girl Scouts for 14 years, and is in charge of two troops and 31 girls. She also serves as treasurer of the organization’s Service Team, a group of seven leaders who plan events for all 35 troops in Butler School District.

Paulisick, a founder and managing partner at the law firm Boyer, Paulisick & Eberle, is also a consummate volunteer. She has served as a room mother at Emily Brittain Elementary school for 12 years, has served as a board member for Candle, Inc., and currently serves as a parent representative on the Butler School District’s Community Advisory Panel.

It’s dedicated people like Ambrose and Paulisick who power communities around Butler County. It shouldn’t just be one day a year that we stand up and say: “Thank you for your efforts.”

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

If people needed another reminder that Pennsylvania lawmakers are still stumbling around in the dark, the House Education Committee gave them a reminder this week. Members recommended a bill intended to keep school funding flowing if a budget isn’t enacted by Aug. 15.

At first glance, this sounds like a good thing. Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale has estimated that schools had to borrow nearly $1 billion to stay open during last year’s historic budget impasse. That’s millions of dollars in interest that will never be recouped. Supporters of the bill say it’s need to protect students.

“This bill at least protects those children, to make sure that our education system continues to work,” said committee Chair Stan Saylor, R-York County.

There’s actually a better way to achieve that result. State officials could actually do their jobs and turn in a compromise budget by the June 30 deadline.

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

In a long-awaited and much-needed move, the Federal Drug Administration issued new rules Thursday that will ensure hundreds of electronic cigarette brands will face federal review in order to stay on the market.

The rules, which include limiting e-cigarette sales to minors and requiring new health warnings, could cost the multibillion-dollar industry heavily — particularly because the FDA will require all manufacturers to get federal permission to continue marketing all e-cigarettes launched since 2007. That constitutes the majority of products on the market today.

E-cigarettes convert nicotine — the addictive ingredient in cigarettes — into an inhalable liquid vapor, but eliminate the chemicals and tars associated with burning real tobacco. That’s a point in their favor, but the devices also haven’t been widely studied, and the implications of their use for public health are still unclear.

Manufacturers, who want to protect what was a $3.5 billion industry in 2015, have complained that the cost associated with the new rules could wipe them out. That seems, frankly, unlikely. The FDA is correct to regulate products of this new and growing industry.