NATIONAL BRIEFING / AND FINALLY . . .

Jonesboro, Ark., sixth-grader Morgan Sims knew how to spell “debacle,” but she got an unfortunate lesson in its meaning when her school district forgot an important entry fee.

Morgan correctly spelled “debacle” -- meaning failure, in an often ludicrous way -- to win the Craighead County Spelling Bee on Friday. But her school forgot to pay the $100-per-school-building entry fee to the Scripps National Spelling Bee required to advance to the state competition.

Second-place finisher Elizabeth Kaffka, a fifth-grader at another school, is heading to the state competition instead.