Now that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has explained its reasons for rejecting the state’s redistricting plan, it’s clear that the high court used good judgment in reaching that decision.

The majority opinion rightly points out that challengers of the plan prepared by the Legislative Reapportionment Commission proved there were numerous unnecessary splits of municipalities and that it would have been easy for the commission to achieve “a substantially greater fidelity of all of the (state constitution) mandates involving compactness, contiguity and integrity of political subdivisions.”

Redistricting has been challenged in the past, but this time those challenging the plan focused on the commission’s plan as a whole and showed there were viable alternatives with fewer municipal divisions, while past appeals were more limited in scope.

Whether the commission intentionally delayed issuing its plan until virtually the last minute in hopes that the court would choose not to consider any challenges because of the closeness of this year’s elections is open to speculation. But the court showed by its ruling that it was more concerned about the plan’s adherence to the state constitution than how it might affect the coming elections and the commonwealth’s political landscape.

That is as it should be.

Cheer Many people choose not to get involved when they see a crime occurring, but a Butler man merits a thumbs-up for helping police solve some vehicle break-ins that perhaps might have otherwise gone unsolved.The watchful city man, who city police rightfully chose not to identify, confronted an Ohio man at 1:50 a.m. Feb. 2 while he allegedly was in the process of ransacking a car on College Street. The Butler man made sure that the Ohio man would not leave the scene, then called police, who determined that the suspect also might have been involved in other break-ins that night and at other times in the same area.While authorities generally discourage people from risking their own well-being by trying to thwart crimes, the city resident in question deserves praise for the way he handled this situation.He did a service not only to that neighborhood but perhaps to other neighborhoods as well.People should pay attention to what’s going on around them, and when something doesn’t seem right, there’s a good likelihood that it isn’t.The best advice is to keep watching, call authorities and ask them to quickly investigate.The city man in this instance felt he had to take the additional step of confronting the Ohio man, and he did it correctly.For that he deserves the city’s and other residents’ gratitude.

Jeer Last Sunday’s Super Bowl would have been better if guest singer M.I.A. had not been part of the halftime entertainment.Part of the “entertainment” she provided was a grossly inappropriate gesture.As with Janet Jackson’s infamous “wardrobe malfunction” during the 2004 halftime event, M.I.A.’s inappropriate conduct during this year’s show will force those in charge of future Super Bowls’ halftime entertainment to contemplate how to address the issue in the future.Perhaps the unpredictability of certain star performers’ conduct while being watched by 100 million people — many of them children — requires a radical shift in future entertainment.Limiting the halftime entertainment to the more traditional performances of bands would be more likely to guarantee family entertainment, but that wouldn’t mesh with the big-name, high-energy, high-tech-laden performances that have come to be synonymous with Super Sunday.As with the 2004 halftime show, M.I.A.’s extended middle finger and singing of an expletive this year are likely to be remembered more than anything else that occurred at halftime.And, as in 2004, when Jackson’s “malfunction” put CBS in hot water with the Federal Communications Commission, last Sunday’s M.I.A. antics had television executives — this time NBC executives — scrambling to defend the network.Too bad today’s performers can’t be counted on to present family entertainment during a family oriented event.