Good news was plentiful this past week, with the pages of The Daily Leader chock-full of positive stories. Below is a look back at some of those.

• The Mississippi Department of Employment Security’s labor rate data for July 2018 shows Lincoln County at 5.1 percent unemployment, its first positive change since a yearlong slide down to 4 percent in March began a three-month growth spurt.

• Church of the Way has outgrown its current location and is moving to the old Yamaha building just off Hwy. 550. “We’re going to have plenty of room for expansion to offer some ministries we don’t have room for in the current building,” pastor David Fortenberry said. “We want to do some children and youth ministries, and we’re gonna be reaching out to the community, that’s for sure.”

• A new park in the Brignall community could be open soon. The Brookhaven Board of Aldermen last week accepted the lowest of three bids for Phase 1 of the park project, which may take four to five weeks to complete. The park will be on a vacant lot that was overgrown and littered with cans and broken glass. The city cleaned it up and contractors took down some trees.  Phase 1 of the project will be ground work to clear the lot, construction of a basketball court, a fence and a pavilion built on the slab that was already there.

• Tickets for the annual Peel ’Em and Eat ’Em Shrimp Dinner are on sale now. Tickets are $15 per plate for the Junior Auxiliary of Brookhaven fundraiser. The money raised from the dinner is used to fund JA projects such as Wish Tree, Smile Games for special needs students, Reality World for ninth-graders, Crown Club, community assistance and scholarships.

“The shrimp dinner is the Junior Auxiliary’s only fundraiser,” said JA President Brenda Orr. “Money raised is used to fund numerous projects. The community’s support of shrimp dinner allowed us to serve more than 2,200 children in Lincoln  County last year.”

• Brookhaven graduate and current Co-Lin student Cristina Craig was part of an elite group of 33 students in the state who participated in biomedical research as part of an internship through a scholars program. Co-Lin sophomore Sydney Jackson also participated in the program at Southern Miss.