We'd love to tell you when you can tune in to watch Nitaya Panemalaythong compete to be crowned Miss USA 2012. But we can't, because we don't know when or where the pageant will happen.
Nobody knows. Seriously.
The Miami Herald reported in December that Miami Beach is being considered to host the pageant on June 3, although this has not been confirmed by the Miss Universe Organization, which owns the Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA beauty contests. It, in turn, is owned by NBC Universal and Donald Trump.
According to the Herald, pageant representatives asked that South Florida pay $1 million in cash and services to help host Miss USA, which would include the televised final and three weeks of tourism publicity for South Beach. That figure already has been discounted from an initial request for $3 million, but negotiations are continuing, with cash-strapped Miami seeking to get the cash outlay lowered to $500,000.
Whenever it happens, Panemalaythong will seek to become the second Miss Minnesota to win since Barbara Peterson Burwell won in 1976. The North Star state came right back in 1977 with a second runner-up, Deborah Cossette. In all, six Minnesotans have made the top 10 in the 60 years of the Miss USA pageant.
How the current titleholder will do remains to be seen ... someday ... somewhere.
