Good news has been as plentiful as the pollen lately. Below is a look back at some of the positive stories that have appeared in the pages of The Daily Leader.

• MSA graduate and “American Idol” finalist Jasmine Murray is set to perform two free shows at the Mississippi Spring Fest and Fair Wednesday and Thursday. Murray will perform Wednesday night, which is Youth Night, and again Thursday for Ladies’ Night. Local singer Andi Cotten will open for Murray Thursday. Both shows are in the multi-purpose building at the Lincoln Civic Center. The shows are free to the public.

• Brookhaven’s Lafollette Bogan was named The Daily Leader All-Area Most Valuable Player recently. The 6-foot-3 Bogan averaged 21.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.6 assists per game for coach Marcus Flippin and the 21-8 Panthers. Bogan turned up his production in region play as he scored 30 points in a six-point win over division foe Natchez late in the season. In an elimination game in the first round of the region tournament Bogan scored 34 points on 15-for-21 shooting to lead BHS to an 81-64 victory over Wingfield. He scored a season high 41 against South Jones and averaged 20 points per game a playoff win over West Jones and a season ending loss at Long Beach.

• Silentianna Collins of Brookhaven was named the girl’s All-Area Most Valuable Player. Collins averaged 3.2 points per game as a freshman, a team high 10.8 points per game last season as a sophomore, and a team leading 14.9 in 2018-2019 as a junior. Her skills drew interested Division I coaches throughout the year and will continue to do so throughout the Summer AAU evaluation period and into her senior season in Sinclair Gymnasium.

• Those attending the upcoming “The Hits of Broadway” Dinner Theater are promised an evening to remember.

“There will be tears and laughter and jazz hands. And awesome food,” said choir director Christian Scott.

The Copiah-Lincoln Community College Jazz Band directed by Stephen Pounders and Scott’s Ambassadors will provide most of the entertainment for the second annual fundraising event, which will be April 11 at the Thames Conference Center on the college’s Wesson Campus. The event begins at 7 p.m.

• Lucy Shell was named chairwoman of Brookhaven School District Board of Trustees for the 2019-2020 school year. She is replacing past-chairman Willie “Doc” Harrison.

• Inquoris “Inky” Johnson is the guest speaker at the upcoming third annual Fellowship of Christian Athletes banquet, scheduled for April 11. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. at Easthaven Baptist Church. Johnson is a former University of Tennessee cornerback. At age 20, he was injured during a Volunteers football game in what should have been a routine tackle.

But Johnson suffered a paralyzed right arm — just a few games away from being a first-round NFL draft pick — and he has lived with daily pain and physical challenges ever since that day in the fall of 2006.

Though his injury permanently sidelined him from his dream of playing the game of football professionally, he did not allow it to sideline him from his goals to be successful, persistent and used by God.