All Blog Posts from Couric & Co.
September 1, 2010 4:29 PM
Glenn Beck, Then and Now
Last Saturday, tens of thousands of people descended on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. to hear conservative commentator Glenn Beck speak about restoring traditional American values.
Our story about the crowd estimate at Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally has been one of the top stories at CBSNews.com in the past 24 hours.
On Monday, Beck said his rally attracted "a minimum of 500,000 people" and complained that news outlets underestimated the number attendees.
At the rally, Beck declared "something beyond imagination is happening."
One year ago, could Beck have imagined this rally?
In an interview for @katiecouric last year, Beck described his audience as, "people who just want to understand what's going on. They don't want to hate anybody. They don't want to yell at anybody. They quite honestly don't want to get off their couch at night or on a weekend and go march in a tea party. They don't want to do that."
According to the turnout over the weekend, it appears they want to do precisely that.
Check out Katie's interview with Glenn Beck, below.
August 31, 2010 6:23 PM
Dean Reynolds is a CBS News national correspondent based in Chicago.
War in Iraq Not Over for Families of 50,000 U.S. Troops Still There
Capt. Eric Ackles (right) was sent to Iraq in July. His wife Nikki worries that the American public may now turn away from the conflict there - considering it done.
Along Warriors Walk at Ft. Stewart, Ga., you can see that while combat forces are leaving Iraq, combat is not.
Under saplings that line the concrete are new graves of fallen American soldiers, the latest of which only weeks old.
Today, I spoke with Nikki Ackles, whose husband, Eric, departed for Iraq on July 1. He is one of the 50,000 troops who will stay in Iraq until next summer, guiding, assisting or whatever the Pentagon wants to call their duties in the service of the Iraqi people.
Offcially, the remaining American troops will advise and assist Iraqi forces. In Pentagon-speak they will "conduct partnered counter-terrorism operations and provide combat enablers to help Iraqi security forces maintain pressure on the extremist networks." If that sounds like combat to you, it sure does to Nikki Ackles.
"There are still bad people in Iraq who do bad things to our soldiers no matter what the name of the mission is," she said in a reference to the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the beginning of Operation New Dawn.
August 30, 2010 6:58 PM
Katie Couric's Notebook: Immune System
It's a natural tendency - someone nearby sneezes or blows his or her nose - and we run for cover. Whatever he has, we don't want it.
But it turns out that just seeing someone suffering like that might actually be good for our health.
Scientists from the University of British Columbia sat down with several groups of people. Each was shown a series of photographs. Some had to look at pictures of people who were obviously ill, coughing or with a runny nose or rash.
The researchers then compared before and after blood samples and found that looking at all those sick people made participants' immune systems kick into over-drive - protecting them from what their bodies saw as an imminent threat.
It's a reminder just how amazing the human body is. Even when we can't play defense as someone sneezes our way, Mother Nature may somehow be there quietly saying "God bless you."
That's a page from my notebook.
I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.
August 27, 2010 10:48 AM
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.
August 25, 2010 7:15 PM
Katie Couric's Notebook: Grant vs Reagan
He was a war hero - America's first General of the Army who led Union troops to victory in the Civil Wa - and then helped reunite a bruised country as our 18th President.
He's the bearded guy on the fifty dollar bill and oh yeah he is buried in Grant's tomb.
Well, now a North Carolina Congressman has a bill of his own to kick Ulysses S. Grant off the $50 and replace him with Ronald Reagan. Republican Patrick McHenry argues the Gipper deserves the honor for defeating the Soviet Union and transforming political and economic thinking.
Grant still has his supporters, and they're fighting back with a campaign to keep his portrait right where it is. With a Marist poll showing 79 percent of Americans oppose the change, the old general might still have it in him ... 145 years after Appomattox, Grant won't have to surrender this one either.
That's a page from my notebook.
I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.
August 21, 2010 8:03 PM
Harold Dow Broke Barriers, Landed Exclusives
CBS' "48 Hours Mystery" Correspondent Peter Van Sant wrote this remembrance.
The world stood still Saturday morning when the CBS News family, and the "48 Hours Mystery" team learned of the passing of our beloved colleague Harold Dow. He was just 62 years old. I loved the guy. And to be honest, I still haven't wrapped my brain around the fact that he is gone.
Harold is a man who could have been just about anything in life. And I mean anything. He was incredibly funny, insightful, caring, tough when he needed to be, determined and as a colleague, a friend.
