It’s pretty miraculous when you come down to it that Haverstraw is in the kind of financial shape reflected in it’s latest outside audit.

Better yet, the town quickly moved to correct the only deficiencies auditors found in the 2007 report on town fiscal health.

It’s all remarkable because of one word — Mirant.

The energy company has devastated local taxpayers and municipalities with its continuing tax assessment challenges.  Never happy with a victory, they’ve now looking for another reduction of their assessments.

Haverstraw did what it could in advance of the settlement of the largest of those challenges a few years back and they’ve worked hard — as reflected in their audits and the changes they’ve made — to get through to this point.

But with Mirant always hovering like a huge storm cloud, it’s hard to imagine what the future might bring.

I have no mixed feeling about the release of convicted Pan Am 103 bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi by Scottish authorities.

He’s supposedly terminally ill and was released earlier today on “compassionate” grounds.

Compassion should have extended no farther than providing him appropriate medical care until he died in prison.

There was no compassion for the lives of the 270 who died when the jet was bombed, crashing to the ground in Lockerbie, Scottland with 189 Americans aboard.

His release is an affront to the U.S., to all the families of those killed on Pan Am 103 and to all of humanity.

Inhumane acts simply don’t deserve compassion for those who orchestrate or take part in them.

I’ll admit I was surprised to hear late this morning that former Giant Plaxico Burress had accepted a deal that will land him in jail for two years.

I expected he’d take his chances, hoping a jury might see a reason to give him a break.

I’m conflicted over his sentence. On one hand, I feel like shooting himself, dealing with the injury, the break with the Giants after their Super Bowl success and facing the public humiliation over his stupidity has been punishment enough.

He may even have been singled out as an example by both Mayor Bloomberg and the police because of his celebrity. But where does this end?

I followed the on-field heroics and off-field legal problems of West Virginia University football standouts Chris Henry and Adam “Pacman” Jones from their days in Morgantown to their time in the National Football League. Both had multiple brushes with the law and neither one —even after repeated second chances — got that they had to change their act.

Jones, for one, couldn’t stay away from clubs and the trouble that often lurks in that atmosphere even when his future in football depended on it.

So there was Burress, out clubbing, and packing a loaded gun — possibly because he saw himself as a target. But if you go places where you feel threatened, the simple solution is to stay away and party at home. Failing that, let a professional bodyguard tag along to fend off overzealous fans or macho idiots out to pick a fight with a star.

It’s a shame that talent self-destructs so often. Michael Vick did and so did his brother, who many believed was even more talented.

Now Burress has cut a deal that he has to find disappointing. He’ll lose two critical years from his pro career, leaving him to hope for a comeback in his mid-30s.

But even before a cell door closes behind him, another door has opened.

As it suspended the wide receiver, the NFL announced that he would be reinstated after his prison term.

Perhaps they don’t get it, either.

Twice in two days I’ve been heading east on Route 59 in Nanuet and had a close call with cars coming off the southbound exit from the New York State Thruway opposite Grandview Avenue.

Yesterday I was first in line, waiting for the light to change in the middle of three eastbound lanes. When the light went green, the three of us across started forward only to find a wave of cars coming off the ramp and making the left turn in front of us to head east on Route 59.

Then again this morning, the same thing happened, except that this time there were a couple of trucks in the mix cutting in front of us.

Yesterday, I chalked it up to a handful of people in a hurry who all blew through an amber light turning red.

But with it happening again this morning, I started wondering if something might be wrong with the timing of the lights.

When I reached the office, I spoke with Clarkstown Police spokesman Sgt. Harry Bauman, who said he wasn’t aware of other calls from concerned motorists.

He planned to have the spot checked this morning, but in the meantime, I’d urge people to count off a couple of Mississippis before heading through the intersection when the light goes green.