Cheers and jeers from around the news.

--Jeers to the voters for rejecting Question 7, the constitutional amendment to give municipal officials five extra days to validate citizen petitions. There was no organized campaign against its passage. Admittedly, there was no organization advocating for its approval, either. It just seemed obvious.

To everyone but the voters, that is. It was knocked down on Election Day.

In lieu of its passage, lawmakers should review the statutes on petitions and see if they can provide any short-term relief to the municipal officials. Reviewing and validating petition signatures is a tough, time-consuming job -- it should be done right, not rushed, which means it needs more time.

--Cheers to Rick Speer, director of the Lewiston Public Library, for being named outstanding librarian of the year by the Maine Library Association. It's a well-deserved honor; Speer has spent a quarter-century turning the Lewiston library into one of the city's best public facilities.

(For dealing with the brouhaha about the book "It's Perfectly Normal" alone, he deserved a medal.)

--Cheers to Edward Little High School for fully switching to a paper-less system for student report cards, which may save the district $3,000. This seems like a sensible innovation.

Our only concern is in the safety of the information, either from corruption or loss, in case of a breakdown of technology. Plus, although parents can access information about their child's academics at any time, this is still no guarantee they will.

It seems the true measure of success of this program, PowerSchools, is not so much the money it will save, but whether it increases the engagement of parents in their children's education beyond what a traditional report card could do.

--Cheers to the anniversary of "Sesame Street," which has been educating and entertaining American children in the same fashion for 40 years. It's remarkable that regardless of how fashion, tastes or preferences shift, some old standbys still preside without equal. "Sesame Street" is one of those.

So to Bert, Ernie, Big Bird, Grover, Snuffleupagus, Mr. Hooper, that Johnny-come-lately Elmo and our personal favorite, Oscar the Grouch, a happy fortieth birthday. Hopefully, we'll be meeting you on Sesame Street for many years to come.

--And finally, jeers to the events at Fort Hood, Texas, on Thursday. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the friends, families and comrades of the soldiers killed and wounded during that horrific attack.

editorialboard@sunjournal.com

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