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

Butler County Community College announced some exceedingly good news this recently, revealing that its Pioneer Proud Campaign is already $1 million over the goal of $5.5 million it had set out to raise by the end of June.

That $1 million surplus can be attributed to a gigantic donation by local real estate developer Robert Heaton, who kicked in $1 million — the largest donation the college has ever received in its 50-year history.

The campaign is raising money to renovate BC3’s library, the Heaton Family Learning Commons, and projects to sustain student access and support economic development.

In a year when colleges, universities and high schools are suffering financially, it’s good to see that donors to institutions like BC3 still value education. We can’t say the same for our broken, childish state government.

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

Pennsylvania has spent more than $1 million advertising a ballot question to raise the state’s manadtory judicial retirement age that was supposed to appear in next week’s primary.

But that’s money down the toilet now, after Commonwealth Court Judge Kevin Brobson ruled earlier this week that voting on the issue can’t take place until November.

Brobson’s ruling effectively upholds a state resolution that delayed the vote, after three Democratic state senators sought to have any votes cast next week invalidated so lawmakers could rewrite the ballot question.

The proposed amendment to Pennsylvania’s constitution would let roughly 1,000 state and district judges remain on the bench until age 75. The current mandatory retirement age for judges in Pennsylvania is 70.

Regardless of which side of this question you come down on, the issue here isn’t the ballot question. It’s the $1 million that just became yet another example of government waste in Pennsylvania.

And the question will still appear on Tuesday’s ballot. County election bureaus have been instructed to post signs at polling places asking voters to ignore it.

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

Congratulations to Butler’s Brandon Eckstein, a staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force who received the Inherent Resolve Campaign Medal on Tuesday, from U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter.

The medal, created on March 30 through an executive order by President Barack Obama, is awarded to members of our military who are fighting ISIS, and anyone who is serving or has served in Iraq, Syria or contiguous water or airspace on or after June 15, 2014, is eligible.

That means plenty of our brave men and women will be bearing this medal — a scorpion impaled by a dagger — going forward. But Eckstein has the particular distinction to be the first to receive it. It was a proud moment for the young soldier to see his country recognize his bravery and resolve in the face of wanton hate and destruction.

The fight against ISIS is complex and the challenges troubling. But what we all should be able to agree upon is that the service of soldiers like Eckstein should never go unappreciated.