NATIONAL SPELLING BEE 2007: ROUND FOUR

Paul Lindseth got the O. He got the U. He got the B and the L. And he got the I. But he didn't get the first E in oubliette--and, after that, there was no turning back for The Big Apple's best hope in this year's tournament.

And Asbury Park's Robert Hale (pictured)? Something tells me he'll never start erinaceous with an A again.

But oh, that Prateek Kohli! Representing Long Island Jewish World, he dispatched diocesan to earn himself a spot in tomorrow's rounds.

And you can be sure Samir Patel will be there, too--sunglo took care of that.

So who else is still in the competition? One of the remaining spellers is Maithreyi Gopalakrishnan, representing the Daily Camera of Boulder, Colorado. So far she's spelled gesture, tyrannical, and salinelle. Here the eighth grader qualifies for the National Spelling Bee--for the fourth consecutive year.



Source (6:47)

VOICELESS: KRISTEN LOMBARDI

I learned from Gawker that journalist Kristen Lombardi was "let go" from The Village Voice last Friday. As I noted in January, Lombardi was active in covering health issues of Ground Zero workers. I wish her well in whatever she does next.

BONUS FOR GOOD SPELLING In other Gawker news, the snarksite's Alex Balk points out that a recent New York Observer letter mispells Joe Conason's name. I could devote an entire item to Balk's mispelling of Lombardi's first name as K-r-i-s-t-i-n, but why bother with such petty matters when there's a National Spelling Bee to cover?

So far New Yorkers Adrian Acevedo and Paul Lindseth are still in the running, having spelled condemn and dutifully, respectively. [DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS DEPARTMENT: Adrian is actually out, felled by the written portion.] Also in the game: Long Island returnee Prateek Kohli (Martian) and the Lone Star State's veteran competitor Samir Patel (décor).

Last year's coverage can be found via this post.