A rose to the Golden Triangle Development LINK, which celebrated its 20th anniversary Thursday with a reception at the Communiversity. The truest measure of the LINK’s success is seen in the landscape, particularly at the Lowndes County Industrial Park, which lay mostly fallow when the LINK was brought into existence in 2001. The LINK originally began as the Columbus Lowndes Economic Development Association (CLEDA). In 2003, the organization was rebranded as the “LINK,” representing the economic development efforts of Lowndes County. Clay and Oktibbeha counties joined the link in 2013 to form a regional economic development organization. Today, projects across the region owe their existence to the work of the LINK and collectively represent one of the biggest economic development success stories in the state, generating more than $10 billion in capital investments and creating more than 10,000 good-paying jobs. When the LINK started 20 years ago, no one could have imagined how successful it would prove to be. Congratulations to LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins and his staff on 20 years of economic development excellence.

A rose to the 16 Golden Triangle students who were named this week as National Merit Semifinalists. Mississippi School for Math and Science has 14 semifinalists while Starkville High School has two. They are among 16,000 of the 1.3 million students who entered the program seeking to attain semifinalist status. MSMS students named as semifinalists are Heaven Alvarado, Ean Choi, Maryann Dang, Jules Gallo, Sebastian Harvey, Noah Lee, Ethan Liao, Jacob Neal, Gabriel Petitt, Landon Tu, Dorothy Virges, Jackson Williams, Iris Xue and Junran Zhou. Starkville High students Harrison Holliday and Jenna Holder are also semifinalists. These students will have the opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,140 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $28 million that will be offered next spring. Congratulations and good luck!

A rose the Tennessee Williams Tribute committee, Mississippi University for Women and playwrights Joseph Frost of Jackson, Elyzabeth Wilder of Sewanee College in Tennessee, and Mary Johnson of Knoxville, Tennessee for the Sept. 8 staging of the winning entries in the Tribute’s “10:4 TEEN” playwriting competition. The short (10-minute) one-act plays were performed by MUW students at the Cromwell Communications Center. The three plays were selected in a contest for playwrights, drawing inspiration from Williams’ work. Since its inception in 2001, the Tennessee Williams Tribute has gone to great lengths to keep the event new and fresh. The playwright contest and performance is the latest example of those efforts. This year’s Tribute comes to a close this weekend. In collaboration with the Columbus Arts Council and the Columbus Community Theater, William’s play, “The Eccentricities of a Nightingale” will be performed in the Omnova Theatre, at the Rosenzweig Arts Center on Saturday (7:30 p.m,.) and Sunday (2 p.m.).

The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.