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

Nearly $2 million — what Butler County received in natural gas drilling impact fee revenue last year — is a lot of money. And where there’s lots of money, there’s inevitably jockeying to get a piece of the pie.

This week, Butler County Commissioners put the kibosh on a lot of the uncertainty and bad blood that comes with a wide open process, and put out a policy directing how the county should use the majority — 90 percent — of its impact fees.

It’s good to have a set of rules in place at the county level regarding this money. It shows people that commissioners have a vision for how the funds can best improve Butler County. It should also reassure people that the impact fees aren’t a big barrel of pork waiting to be funneled into pet projects and distributed hither and thither, entirely at the board’s discretion.

Government regulations can frustrate people, or reassure them that their leaders are exercising an even hand when it comes to important decisions. This policy clearly falls into the second category.

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

Does anyone take Kanye West seriously? The pop culture icon certainly seems to hope they do. On Thursday he stopped his show in San Jose, Calif., to rant about the election and drop a proverbial bombshell: West didn’t vote, but if he had, he’d have cast a ballot for Donald Trump.

Was West — who also claimed he would run for President himself in 2020 — trolling? Did he actually mean it? Twitter, as usual, did not care. Fans flooded the Internet with hot-takes and outrage, and gave West’s ramblings enough legs to make “news” on Friday.

This just in: expecting seriousness from an egomaniac who once appeared on Rolling Stone in a crown of thorns and next to the tagline “The passion of Kanye West,” is a bad bet. The correct response to Kanye’s reveal is: “So what?”

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

Butler’s historic Penn Theater, now under the control of The Penn Theater Performance Company, gave the city some good news last week, when organizers announced they had secured official nonprofit status and were planning fundraising efforts they hope will raise enough money to refurbish the Main Street landmark.

There’s no word yet on how much the work — a thorough cleaning of the interior and renovations to bathrooms — might cost, but the end goal is clear: get the theater up to code and hosting live performances.

Some important work on the building — roof repairs, replacement windows — has already been completed. But the theater has, for too long, lacked a long-range plan, goals, or a group capable of working toward (and delivering on) promises for its future.

That appears to all be in the past now, with the group already firing up a campaign called 12 months/12 events and planning things like a Beer Dinner with Butler Brew Works on Dec. 4. If you’re looking for a good cause to support, or just a way to get out and enjoy what Butler has to offer, participating in the Penn’s revival is a good place to start.