Cheer C

Dog lovers delight. Jade’s Dog Park is under construction at Butler’s Alameda Park.

Plavchak Construction of Jefferson Hills is the general contractor of the $152,000 project.

The park is scheduled to open in the spring. It will include a life-size bronze dog statue made by Colorado sculptor Louise Peterson for $30,000.

The park, which will be situated behind the Alameda Waterpark parking lot, will also feature an ADA-compliant parking area, a plaza, benches and two fenced-in areas for the dogs. Wiring, plumbing and a covered pavilion will be added if there’s enough money.

And here’s the best part: No county funding is involved in the project. Donations will cover the entire cost.

This is a splendid idea taking shape, paid for by those who love their pets and want a safe place for them to play.

Jeer D

Pennsylvania’s Office of the Treasury gets a wag of our finger for its ridiculous justification of extending Democratic legislators nearly $1.9 million in operating funds after the now-broke caucus exhausted its reserves amid the ongoing budget impasse.

Here’s how the office explained it’s decision: “Without the ability to pay its employees, the General Assembly would be unable to enact laws related to the promotion and preservation of the general welfare ...”

Pardon us, but — what? Pennsylvania lawmakers and their aides cost taxpayers more than $250 million last year. Proper funding is not the issue. If anything, a few weeks or months without pay might do our do-nothing General Assembly some good.

Even if Treasury doesn’t get it, Pennsylvania voters do.

A poll released two weeks ago by The Franklin & Marshall College found that most voters blame the state Legislature for the budget impasse. More pertinent here: A whopping 66 percent believe lawmakers shouldn’t get a paycheck if the state’s budget is late.

They’re right. You shouldn’t get paid if you’re not doing your job.

Cheer C

Across our region, gasoline prices have been falling steadily since an Independence Day peak average of nearly $3 gallon. It’s not a short-term trend, either. — gas was pushing close to $4 a gallon on Independence Day 2014.

Now some local stations are offering unleaded regular at $2.45 a gallon — and the post-Labor Day prices appear headed on a continued downward trend.

Tensions and conflicts continue to simmer in the oil-rich Middle East, an instability that usually jacks up gas prices overnight. But that region’s unrest doesn’t seem to have much impact this time.

Instead, the driving force continues to be a stubborn strategy by Saudi Arabia to flood the global market with its crude oil, which is cheaper to harvest and remains profitable even with the lower prices of a surplus market.

The Saudi strategy pressures competitors like Pennsylvania’s Marcellus shale driller/frackers, whose production costs are considerably higher than Saudi Arabia’s. The Saudi oil producers hope their plan puts a serious crimp in the American fracking industry’s profits.

There’s no doubt that the Saudi strategy is having an effect. More than a dozen energy production companies — natural gas and coal producers — announced layoffs in the past few months. All cited lower prices.

But the strategy benefits other markets with low-cost energy and transportation. For commercial and recreational traveler alike, it costs far less these days to fill the gas tank.

And the prices will continue to drop before they go up again, analysts say.