North Idaho Spelling Bee champ in D.C. this week

The North Idaho Regional Spelling Bee champion is participating in the 2016 Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. this week — and so far, so good.

Coeur d'Alene home-schooled seventh-grader Josiah Pinkerton, 13, participated in the first preliminaries test Tuesday morning. His dad, Dan Pinkerton, who is accompanying his son in D.C., reported the morning went well. He said Josiah was up at 6 a.m. to study and be prepared for the day.

"It's going great," Dan said. "So far he's doing really well."

Dan said Josiah will participate in round two this morning and round three in the afternoon. The preliminaries begin at 11 a.m. Pacific Standard Time and continue until 2 p.m. They will stream live on ESPN3.

If Josiah advances to the next round, he will compete in the finals, which begin Thursday at 1 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. The finals will stream live on ESPN2.

Info: www.spellingbee.com