Cheers and congratulations to Evans City and Seven Fields. After more than 18 months of preparation, The neighboring municipalities launched their joint regional police department Tuesday during a swearing-in ceremony at the Seven Fields borough building.

The new police department of three full-time and eight part-time officers will provide police coverage to nearly 5,000 residents and 100 businesses in both municipalities and patrol more than 30 miles of road.

It provides police coverage 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for both municipalities with the main police station in Evans City and a satellite office in Seven Fields.

The force benefits both municipalities. Evans City lowered its property tax rate for 2015 from 22.8 mills to 20 mills, and Seven Fields will save almost $80,000 in police costs after severing a contract with neighboring Cranberry Township.

Joe McCombs, the former chief of the Evans City Police Department, was sworn in as the chief of the new department. A police commission with three representatives from each municipality will oversee the department.

Economies of scale? You bet.

The flu season is turning ugly early. Experts predict a more severe outbreak than in recent years. It started earlier than expected and is putting more patients in the hospital.Pennsylvaniais experiencing high levels of flu activity along with 35 other states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state Health Department.A different form of the flu virus emerges each year as a dominant strain. Early in 2014, health officials identified influenza A H3N2 as this season's dominant strain. Vaccines were formulated for H3N2 beginning in February, but the virus began to mutate as the year progressed.That means the vaccine still offers some immunity, but it doesn't work as well as it would have if the virus hadn't mutated.The CDC says the H3N2 strain tends to be more severe than most flu strains. So far, 15 children have died from the flu, compared with four deaths around the same time last year.And if that's not enough, a second, B-type strain has emerged. Both have been detected in Butler County — So far, 31 cases of influenza A H3N2 and 18 cases of influenza B have been confirmed by the state Health Department.About 40 percent of Americans have been vaccinated against the flu — that's 140 million vaccine doses distributed. The CDC says between 15 million and 60 million will come down with the flu. Especially susceptible are the very young, the very old and people with chronic health conditions such as asthma.The CDC is still recommending that people get the flu vaccine because it might provide protection and reduce severe outcomes such as hospitalization and death.And it doesn't hurt to follow the general guidelines of prevention, not to mention common courtesy: wash your hands frequently; cover up when you cough or sneeze; and get adequate rest.

If one shred of good can come out of the Penn State-Jerry Sandusky child sex scandal, this is it.A new definition of child abuse took effect last week in Pennsylvania, along with changes regarding who must report it.The new law, part of the state's response to the Sandusky and clergy sex abuse scandals, largely involves Pennsylvania's Child Protective Services Law. It expands the definition of those who must report suspected abuse, and requires that they contact the state directly, not just a supervisor or someone designated to make such reports.There are also steeper penalties for those who fail to report suspected abuse.In addition, the law requires child welfare advocates to get new training, and people who work with children must undergo periodic comprehensive background checks.Penn State football coach Joe Paterno's career ended in shame and scandal because it was determined he knew about Sandusky's sins, but did not report them. The revisions to state law remove any doubt about reporting suspicions of child sexual abuse.