In my opinion, the easiest and most comfortable news to report is good news. And I’ve just come across some very good news that was in the news last week. You may have heard it. But even if you have, and for sure if you have not, I’m here this morning to report it again. It’s the news about a young woman being declared the winner of Chicago’s annual public school spelling bee and is now on her way to compete in the national and famously difficult Scripps Spelling Bee in Washington DC. She is Beatriz Whitford-Rodriguez, 13 years old, in the eighth grade at Skinner North Classical School in the West Town neighborhood near Lincoln Park. Along with several thousand students from 175 public schools in Chicago, Beatriz worked her way to spell the word sauerkraut, sau-er-kraut, which may not be the hardest word in the English language to spell, but it sure is hard enough to puzzle me. After reading the news about Beatriz winning the Chicago Public Schools Spelling Bee, I gave myself one chance to spell sauerkraut: sau-er-kraut. I love to eat sauerkraut, but to be honest in reporting this news, I must admit getting stuck. Oh my, did I get stuck on those two letters “a” and “u.” So I want to say to Beatriz, good luck in the Scripps Spelling Bee. And thank you for the good news to report about you winning the public school spelling bee in Chicago.

Walter Jacobson gives his Perspective: