The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission shouldn't have had to feel obligated to suspend tolls due to the inclement weather that moved through the state during the second week of this month. If storm maintenance had operated as effectively as it was capable, crews would have been able to keep up with the situation.

The stormy conditions didn't constitute a superstorm.

Winter storm maintenance on the turnpike usually is able to keep ahead of storm conditions. When problems are being encountered on other state roads, turnpike traffic generally is experiencing fewer headaches.

What went wrong this time is an issue turnpike officials need to address — both for the remaining weeks of this winter and for future winters.

Winter storm work costs the turnpike plenty of money. It shouldn't have to cost more due to a loss of toll revenue.

The turnpike showed that it had a conscience by giving motorists a break amid their traveling difficulties. But that break should not have been necessary.

There is good news amid the report that serious crime in Butler increased by about 5 percent in 2006, compared with 2005.The upbeat news is that part of the reason for the increase was the greater success of police in addressing criminal activity — that is, solving cases and making arrests.City police Chief Tim Fennell is quick to make that point."Some of the increases in certain categories is attributable to good and aggressive police work," Fennell said.Overall, the chief said, not much has changed regarding the rate of crime in the city, and that assessment is reasonable.The number of serious crimes investigated in 2006 — 1,284 — was just 70 more than the number investigated in 2005.Still, in the eyes of law-abiding city residents, those additional crimes were too many and cause for increased concern.The 61 percent increase in drug cases reported in the latest crime report is unsettling, but within that number is evidence of an important trend — that heroin use continues to decline.When compared with many other communities, Butler still can be regarded as a safe city. Still, it would be better if there were many fewer cases for the police to investigate.The people who live here, or who visit here for whatever reason, obviously hold the key to a much more positive report.

State House Republican Leader Sam Smith, R-Jefferson, has given state taxpayers the opportunity to be hopeful, if not cautiously optimistic, about the commonwealth's future welfare costs.Nevertheless, what Smith is saying now should have been said two or three years ago. Had it been said, welfare's impact on the state's 2007-08 budget might be less burdensome."It is our intention to work with the governor as we re-evaluate how the welfare department enforces eligibility requirements and to restructure the benefits package so it is not better than the average working family," Smith said.Smith's comment was in response to the news that during Gov. Ed Rendell's first term, approximately 360,000 Pennsylvania residents were added to the welfare rolls. Those additional welfare recipients have created an historic high welfare caseload for the state.One in every 10 state residents is dependent on welfare assistance, according to a report in the Feb. 6 edition of The Bulletin, a publication of the Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association.Welfare is the single largest expenditure of the current state budget, to the tune of $9.8 billion. That total includes both the state's General Fund and other special state funds.The welfare statistics deliver a message about economic conditions in the state, and that message is not complimentary.It is to be hoped that Smith, along with his GOP and Democratic colleagues, will not relax until means for lessening the state's welfare burden are in place.It has become painfully clear that controlling welfare costs wasn't high on the Rendell agenda during the governor's first four years as Pennsylvania chief executive.And, yes, the welfare benefits package should not be better than the circumstances under which working people must live.