All Blog Posts from Couric & Co.
The Strauss-Kahn media circus begins
Journalists who can fit inside the over-flowing courtroom where the arraignment of IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn is scheduled to take place Monday, May 16, 2011.
/ CBSAt its core, the memorable ones usually concern sex, politics or money.
But unlike Michael Jackson, Bernie Madoff or Bill Clinton, the case against one of the world's most powerful banking figures involves all three.
Remembering Elizabeth Edwards
Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards, points from the podium at the FleetCenter during the Democratic National Convention in Boston, July 28, 2004.
/ APBy Alison Schwartz Dorfman, who covered the Edwards campaign in 2003-2004.
When I heard about the death of Elizabeth Edwards yesterday, along with the rest of the country, I was very saddened.
Over the years we have all gotten to know Elizabeth for many different reasons - the wife of a presidential and vice presidential candidate, the mother who lost her 16 year old son Wade, the woman who opted to have two more children at age 48 and 50, the woman who had breast cancer, the woman whose husband had an extramarital affair, and of course the woman who is known for her courage and resilience.
While most people got to know her from afar, I was very fortunate to get to spend a lot of quality time with Elizabeth Edwards.
In 2003-2004, I was the off-air reporter for CBS News covering then Senator John Edwards. Like anyone who covers campaigns can tell you, you spend a lot of time with the candidates and their families. I met Elizabeth in the early days of the campaign when we were trekking through Iowa.
Continue »What Motivated FDR to Push For the Social Security Act
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Day After Marathon Etiquette
Jim Axelrod ran his first marathon last year.
/ Christina Axelrod
Two-and-a-half years ago, in the middle of covering the Obama-Clinton race for the Democratic nomination, I found myself in front of a mirror, and not too pleased with what I saw.
Are Teachers Making the Grade?
Ben Tracy is a CBS News correspondent based in Los Angeles.
As kids, we all remember those dreaded tests. We read our text books, memorized key ideas and phrases, and then hoped we could remember it all when test day arrived.
But what about the teachers giving those tests? How do we know whether they are passing or failing when it comes to doing their jobs?
For the most part, in this country, we don't.
That is because for decades, teacher's unions have fought to not have their performance linked to their student's test scores. They say one day of standardized tests is not a good way to evaluate an entire year of a teacher's work. So, a teacher's job performance is generally assessed by their principal who sits in their classroom once a year (at most) and watches them teach.
Now a growing number of experts and even democrats (who generally have sided with the teacher's unions) are saying we need more accountability. They say test scores may not count for everything, but they do matter because it's one of the only ways to judge how much students are learning.
In our story for our series "Reading, Writing, and Reform," we explore this issue and the debate raging in Los Angeles after the Los Angeles Times posted rankings of teachers online based on their student's test scores. One teacher we talked to was branded a "least effective" teacher. She says the test data is unfair. One parent we talked to says ineffective teachers need to be helped or moved out of the classroom. In the end, they both agreed that it's about the kids.Continue »
Hurricane Katrina, Five Years Later
If nothing else over the last five years, Louisianans have proved they can take a punch.
First Hurricane Katrina - five years ago this Sunday - and more recently, BP's massive spill in the Gulf. The leak's over. But grappling with its impact and the unknown long-range consequences, environmental and economic, has just begun.
I was in New Orleans as Katrina was menacing the coastline the weekend of August 28-29th, 2005. So many times in the past, the city had dodged the impact of a major storm, often at the last-minute. When Katrina hit, that was the sense again - at least for the first 48 hours. The worst of the hurricane's impact had hit east of the city, sparing massive destruction. Within 48 hours, the levees had begun to buckle and break, water was pouring into the bowl that is this low-lying city, and the rest is a combination of history and infamy.
Flash forward to this year, and the weeks following the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig out in the Gulf of Mexico. Time and again, I heard people along Louisiana's coast say the same thing: Katrina was bad, but this spill is worse. They thought of Katrina as a one massive smackdown. It knocked them flat, and then they began to rebuild. Sure, the impact was ugly, but at least they had a sense of the challenge ahead.
Complete Coverage: Katrina Five Years Later
But with this oil spill, the uncertainty was overwhelming. At first, they wondered when the oil would come ashore. Then it did, in waves. Then they worried the well would never be plugged. It was, on July 15th. Now they're anxious about the long-term impact. Will their coast come back? Will their fishing jobs? And what about the future of deepwater drilling, a major employer along the Gulf coast?
On Katrina's fifth anniversary weekend, many people here are just weary. Worn out by disasters. But most of them will stay, rebuild what they've lost in the classic American tradition of renewal. On Louisiana's coast, they do it more often and better than most.
Chelsea Clinton's Pending Nuptials Rock Rhinebeck
"Here's to Chelsea and Marc! Welcome to the Hudson Valley!" toasted one partier, raising her glass in the air.
Shops and restaurants in this small town are celebrating this weekend's planned wedding of Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky - some more elaborately than others.
Many shops have hung banners, artwork, or photos in their storefront windows congratulating and welcoming the couple the couple.
The couple is rumored to be getting married at the Astor Courts estate. The property is secluded by trees and borders the Hudson River. Signs along the outskirts of the property warn people to keep out.
Last week, two Norwegian journalists were arrested for trespassing on the property.
New York Daily News photographer John Roca chartered a Cessna from the nearby Dutchess County Airport and flew in circles 500 feet over the Astor Estate to snap photos of the property, including a newly assembled, large air-conditioned tent.
"It's the only way to photograph this thing," he said after landing.
The town of 3,000 people is now sprawling with reporters and photographers. These days it is not uncommon to see two or three television crews at once on the sidewalks in downtown Rhinebeck, which only has one traffic signal.
"Oh my God, the traffic is crazy!" said Stephanie Winne, a local real estate agent. "We can't even imagine what it's going to be like on Friday."
This story was filed by CBS News digital journalist Miles Doran.
The Human Face of Haitian Tragedy
A few drops of water on acres and acres of parched land - that's how I woke up thinking of the massive relief effort that's been orchestrated to help the Haitian people.
I will never forget the three days I spent there following Tuesday's earthquake.
"The horror, the horror," as Kurtz said in "Heart of Darkness." The despair, the desperation, the lack of dignity for the dead.
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Resolving my Resolutions
It is a mathematical certainty that if I vow to do something, it is not going to happen. In fact, usually the complete opposite occurs. So in that defeatist and antithetical spirit, I resolve to do the following things in 2009:
1) I will gain 25 pounds. I will burn my gym pass, my workout clothes and my running shoes in an athletic conflagration that I will set ablaze with the fading embers of my self-esteem. I will gorge myself on chocolate cheesecake and Funyons. I will become one with my La-Z-boy recliner and while away the next 12 months watching Lifetime original movies and America's Funniest Pet. I will not eat celery.
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Resolving my Resolutions
It is a mathematical certainty that if I vow to do something, it is not going to happen. In fact, usually the complete opposite occurs. So in that defeatist and antithetical spirit, I resolve to do the following things in 2009:
1) I will gain 25 pounds. I will burn my gym pass, my workout clothes and my running shoes in an athletic conflagration that I will set ablaze with the fading embers of my self-esteem. I will gorge myself on chocolate cheesecake and Funyons. I will become one with my La-Z-boy recliner and while away the next 12 months watching Lifetime original movies and America's Funniest Pet. I will not eat celery.
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