Cheers and jeers from around the news:

• Cheers to the public housing authorities in Maine, especially the Auburn Housing Authority, for their smoke-free policies. Maine, as a whole, has 72 percent of its public housing authorities now smoke-free, tops in the nation; Auburn’s, this month went completely smoke-free. These are important public health milestones, which deserve applause.

• Jeers to parking meters in downtown Auburn. Although the city could benefit from the $165,000 in estimated revenue the meters could produce, meters could also be seen as a deterrent to visiting the downtown district, and therefore be a self-defeating policy. That’s one reason businesses have come out against it.

Auburn has done some wise things in its downtown, most recently the re-making of Main Street into a one-way thoroughfare through the business district. It has the possibility to generate more traffic, and needs time to work. If it does, maybe considering parking meters would be appropriate.

• Cheers to Hollywood Slots opening at 8 a.m. on Sunday morning, instead of noon. The controversy about the change centers on need and morality, but there’s equity at stake, too: Mainers can buy lottery tickets on Sunday mornings. Off-track betting parlors, like the one in Lewiston, open and take bets earlier than Hollywood Slots on Sundays.

If Hollywood Slots is denied Sunday morning operations, then it’s arguable the same should extend to the lottery and OTBs, if the state wants to go down that road.

• And finally, cheers to Maine Energy Systems of Bethel and “Maine’s Choice” wood pellets from Strong, for taking the state’s forest products industry in new directions.

These companies – which market pellet furnaces and Maine-made pellets, respectively – represent a growing sector which could reassert Maine prominence in wood products.

At times, the growth of pellet companies and the needs of traditional forest industries have chafed. It’s best for Maine if they can work together. Their success, and the sustainable future of their natural resource – wood – likely depends upon it.