Last week we ran a story about how the chamber's job bell broke because it was ringing out the good news of Baxter International's 1,500-job announcement.

We have to admit that we thought the idea of ringing a bell announcing new jobs was corny, and, while the idea hasn't yet gone viral like planned, the chamber's monthly Ring the Bell events did catch the eye of MSNBC. And that was before the Baxter announcement.

Any time we can spread a positive image about Newton County, that's a good thing.

There was so much good news in the wake of the Baxter announcement that the little bell came apart in the middle of announcing 1,500 new jobs. That may have been for the best as some people could be dealing with sore arms if they'd actually had to ring the bell 1,500 times.

We hope we can see the bell come apart a few more times in the coming months. And if it takes a bigger, sturdier bell to continue the tradition, that's all the better.

Baxter's long term announcement was accompanied by good news in the short term, as the local unemployment rate decreased to 10.3 percent in March. A handful of jobs continue to be added here and there, and given the fact Baxter's already posted Covington jobs on its website, we expect the good news to continue.

The future is bright in Newton County and the chamber's bell makes sure that's no secret.