Nine members of the state House of Representatives spent nearly $14,000 of taxpayers' money attending legislative conferences and an educational seminar last year after eight of the nine already had been defeated for re-election. The ninth lawmaker announced his retirement shortly after his trip.

The trips are supposed to be for training lawmakers to be more effective in their jobs. But since eight of these lawmakers already knew they would be leaving their legislative duties and the ninth was contemplating retirement, they should not have attended the sessions at taxpayers' expense.

There should be rules to prohibit this kind of waste of public dollars.

It was the Harrisburg Patriot-News that compiled the information and published a story about the trips last Monday.

It was just the latest in a long string of questionable spending and decision-making that has emerged in the 20 months since the legislature's approval of a middle-of-the-night pay raise on July 7, 2005, without public notice or debate.

Like the other items, this latest disclosure further tarnishes the image of a legislature elected to represent the public's best interests, rather than the personal interests and enjoyment of the officials.

There is no acceptable explanation for the departing lawmakers' participation in these conferences and seminars.

School board members must make decisions based on what they believe will be the best for the district and for the education of its students.That was the task facing Mars School Board members Tuesday evening as they considered possible calendars for the 2007-08 school year.Board members were given four potential calendar choices. The calendar they selected calls for an Aug. 29 start of classes and a June 6 ending date, if all five snow days built into the calendar are used. And, there will be no spring break.During the discussion, the board was faced with the issue of accommodating families who take their vacation during the time that normally would have been set aside for a spring break. But some board members correctly pointed out that, as school directors, their main concern was education rather than families' vacations.The same attitude prevailed in regard to older students who have summer jobs that are available through Labor Day.Again, the best decision in terms of the education schedule must supersede anything else.Although every other Butler County school district will begin classes the week of Aug. 27 and the Butler County Area Vocational-Technical School will begin on Aug. 29, it was up to Mars board members to decide what is best for Mars.They have made their decision, and parents and students should accept it without grumbling.

It should be unsettling to Pennsylvania residents — and people from anywhere else who frequent the commonwealth's new slot machine parlors — that Keystone State gambling regulators caved in to casino operators Thursday and eased the screening of applicants for casino jobs.Of particular concern is a provision that a felony or gambling-related conviction for a non-casino employee such as a restaurant worker, valet or member of the cleaning staff will no longer trigger an automatic recommendation for a denial.In a money environment such as the casinos, screening of potential employees should not be compromised, and convicted felons should not be on the employee rolls temporarily or otherwise.The staffing problems that the state's newly opened casinos have been having with the stronger screening rules in effect have been but a temporary inconvenience, and the Gaming Control Board should not have changed them.Gaming board officials have said that the relaxed screening process still would enable the board to weed out career criminals or people with financial problems.A "we'll see" attitude of caution should embrace those who have been watching the slots-gambling start-up and who all along have maintained that job applicants should be fully screened before beginning work, no matter what inconveniences that process might entail.The background-checks process takes a couple of weeks, and it's understandable that some people who live paycheck to paycheck cannot afford the wait to see whether the gaming board will approve them for a credential. But having a properly executed screening process is worth more than the inconvenience and delays it might create.The Gaming Control Board's decision Thursday was wrong.