Rachael Cundey could probably figure the odds of being chosen to be highlighted during the upcoming Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Of the 281 spellers competing in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, May 29 and Thursday, May 30, Cundey was one of only five selected to be profiled.

Cundey, who will be competing in her fifth and final bee a year after finishing 10th, spent time with an ESPN producer and camera crew for a few days this week.

“It’s exciting to have all this attention but it’s also a little overwhelming,” said Cundey.

Michele Sherman and Renee Cribb can celebrate a special bond on Mother’s Day.

It took both sisters, and help from a higher power, to bring one little girl into the world.

Sherman served as a surrogate for her sister’s baby, Sara Grace Cribb, now 5 years old.

“We were overwhelmed,” said Cribb, who is mother to a son, David Shaw, 20. “It was just a gift that was just so selfless and we knew it came from the heart, that she loved us and that’s why she wanted to do it. It was an offer we certainly couldn’t refuse.”

A tax increase likely will be one of the options for filling a nearly $5 million deficit when Columbia County’s school board meets Tuesday.

At a budget hearing this past week, Superintendent Charles Nagle painted a gloomy outlook for next school year’s budget, telling board members that years of state funding cuts, state-mandated health insurance increases and rising enrollments have left few options for balancing next year’s $178 million budget.

“This is the sixth budget I’ve presented, and it’s probably the worst,” Nagle said.

 Euchee Creek Elementary School counselor Elizabeth Hooker had to kiss a cow after winning the school's Relay for Life fundraiser to benefit the American Cancer Society. The students paid a quarter to vote for the staff member they wanted to see kiss a cow. The cow was provided by Georgia's Mobile Dairy Classroom which demonstrated how a milking machine works for the students.