All Blog Posts from Couric & Co.

A 21-year-old soldier joined the Army to see the world. It's the beginning of too many tragic stories we've heard since October of 2001.

But Michael Pearson wasn't killed in Afghanistan or Iraq. He died at Fort Hood when Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire yesterday afternoon.

The 13 people killed and the 30 wounded are only the beginning of the ultimate toll. The Readiness Center is meant to be a safe place where soldiers can prepare to deploy and where they can heal and begin to forget the nightmares. Now, it has become another horrific memory for survivors.

At least 300-thousand soldiers who have fought in the wars since 9-11 are suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.

We don't know yet what motivated Hasan's murderous rampage. We only know there are many young men and women who served bravely but are suffering greatly.

It is the nation's responsibility to give them the care they need and the security they deserve.

That's a page from my notebook.

I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.

It was an off-year election and an off night for Democrats.

Republican candidates swept gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia - two states President Obama won just a year ago.

How significant those victories are and what they foreshadow for 2010 - is up for debate today.

RNC Chairman Michael Steele declared these elections will determine the direction the country is headed - that Americans are tired of being tax too much by a government delivering too little.

The White House, meanwhile, is downplaying the results, and pointing to last night's congressional victory in New York's 23rd District.

Our own Jeff Greenfield delivered this timely analogy, "predicting national trends from off year elections is like predicting the World Series winner from spring training."

It may be too soon to say Republicans knocked it out of the park - but one thing is clear - they are still in the game.

That's a page from my notebook.

I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.

The details of the gang rape that took place outside a high school homecoming dance at Richmond High School in California are horrifying. A girl was repeatedly attacked for two and a half hours. And as many as 20 people either took part or stood by and watched.

In California, it is illegal to witness a crime against a child and not report it-- but only if the victim is 14 or younger. In this case, she was 15.

So, the witnesses at Richmond High technically didn't break the law. But didn't anyone there just feel the slightest bit of compassion or mercy for the victim?

Some experts chalk it up to "the bystander effect." The people watching the crime may have felt powerless to stop it-- or perhaps they thought someone else would.

But in the age of the cell phone, how hard could it have been to call police?

Just one anonymous call, one person doing the right thing, could have stopped two and a half hours of brutality and spared a young woman a lifetime of emotional and physical scars.

That's a page from my notebook.

I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.

You have to hand it to Chrysler. Their sales in the United States dropped 30 percent in October compared to October 2008, but they’re crowing that October was six percent better than September. I don’t know whether that says more about Chrysler or September. In fact September was a pretty bad month for all the carmakers because it was the first month up after the expiration of the popular Cash for Clunkers program. All of Detroit suffered a bit of a hangover when the deals stopped being done.

By comparison, GM and Ford did pretty well. GM, which had a 4.7 percent jump in October would have been up 11.6 percent, but it was dragged down by its Hummer, Saab, Saturn and Pontiac brands – all of which are being dropped eventually. Ford kept up its hot streak, recording a 3 percent bump in October sales. It’s already benefitting from positive consumer reviews of its products and fresh profits in the third quarter.

Auto industry writer Paul Ingrassia, author of the forthcoming Crash Course was impressed by both Ford and GM.

“The progress is welcome and it’s real,” he said in an interview. “There’s a long way to go, but you have to have a few first steps.”

And you have to step in the right direction, which is what Chrysler is not doing.

Says Ingrassia: “Chrysler is still in the deep woods here and it’s unclear what will happen.”

A look at their report for October shows incredible declines in almost all of its models except the Dodge Challenger. Chrysler Sebring? Down 69 percent. Chrysler Aspen? Down 68 percent. Town and Country minivan? Down 33 per cent. Zheesh!

This is a company in desperate need of a turnaround plan, which is exactly what its new owner, Fiat, will unveil this week. The word is that Fiat plans to introduce many smaller models to Chrysler showrooms.

Judging from the way its current lineup has been selling, Chrysler could use anything other than what it already has on offer.

Remember how Mom always yelled, "turn down that music!" In the days of the boom box, the volume was just plain annoying. But now that the soundtrack of our lives goes straight into our ears - it can be downright dangerous.

Some European officials want to force makers of MP3 players, like iPods to lower default volume settings for a maximum of 80 decibels. That's a little louder than normal conversation - about the same as the dial tone from a phone. Right now, many players can pump out ear-splitting levels equivalent to a lawn mower, almost as loud as an airplane.

Researchers say listening at that volume for just an hour a day can cause permanent damage after just a few years. In fact, one study found as many as 13 percent of 16 to 19-year-olds already have some hearing loss.

It could take a year or two before these standards are finalized, but Mom may finally get what she wanted and a lot of us will still be able to hear her.

That's a page from my notebook.

I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.

Froot Loops, Cookie Crisp, Reese's Puffs - I almost got a cavity just reading that. Yet, they're the kinds of sugary cereals children beg for at the grocery store.

The boxes and T-V ads usually have a colorful cartoon character on them. But, one group of researchers is not amused.

The Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale University reports that cereal companies spend more than $156 million a year on ads geared for kids.

At a time when 12 percent of U.S. children from ages 2 to 5 are considered obese - along with 17 percent of kids 6 to 11 - this problem is anything but sweet.

All parents have been there in that grocery aisle - having to decide between what the kids want and what you know is better for them.

But maybe some oatmeal for your Little Miss Sweet Tooth can help her avoid big health issues in the future.

Don't let a bunny or a tucan take over your parenting role. Tell them you are coo coo for good nutrition, not for Cocoa Puffs.

That's a page from my notebook.

I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.

As President Obama weighs difficult decisions about how to proceed in Afghanistan, in the early hours of the morning he saw the ultimate consequence of the war.

The president arrived at Dover Air Force Base just after midnight to witness the arrival and transfer of 18 Americans killed in action. Those 15 soldiers and three drug enforcement agents were among 55 Americans killed in October, making this the deadliest month since the war began eight years ago.

This year the Pentagon lifted the ban on media coverage of these transfers --the arrival of flag covered caskets.

During Vietnam, those caskets, carried across air fields and across our TV screens, were a haunting reminder of an ever-climbing death toll in a seemingly endless battle.

Now, the president will decide the policy. Whether or not to send thousands more soldiers into combat having witnessed the price of the hardest choice any president can make.

That's a page from my notebook.

I'm Katie Couric, CBS News

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A nineteenth century American poet named James Russell Lowell once wrote, "Compromise makes a good umbrella, but a poor roof."

If that pithy quote proves true, the health care reform bill headed for the Senate floor is about to get all wet.

Senator Harry Reid made the decision to advance a bill including a public option - well sort of. It would create a government plan to serve as competition for private insurance companies - but it allows states to opt out.

The very existence of the option in the bill makes it a tough sell. No Republicans will support it. Neither will Independent Senator Joe Lieberman, and even some moderate Democrats are now on the fence.

But if there is a public plan at all, experts say it will be more effective in negotiating lower prices if it's truly national.

Without the 60 votes necessary to block a filibuster, this bill may end up on the ground - like a broken umbrella after a storm.

That's a page from my notebook.

I'm Katie Couric, CBS News

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Remember how maternity wards were portrayed back in the old days?
Nervous men pacing in the waiting room getting ready to pass out cigars.

These days, you'll find most men in the delivery room -- one hand on their partner's shoulder, the other hand gripping a camcorder.

But now, a leading childbirth specialist in Britain says it's time for the men to go back outside.

Michel Odent tells The Observer newspaper that birthing should be a low-profile affair.

No husband, and no doctor - just the mother and an experienced midwife.

He says the presence of a male partner causes added stress for the mother -- leading to longer labor and more births by caesarean section.

His assertions have met with criticism from professionals and parents in Britain.

Here in the U.S., the average labor lasts about eight hours.

That's a long day at work for mom and if dad wants to be there too, that's nobody's business but their own.

That's a page from my notebook.
I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.

In August 2009, CBS News made a simple request of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for public documents, e-mails and other materials CDC used to communicate to states the decision to stop testing individual cases of Novel H1N1, or “swine flu.” When the public affairs folks at CDC refused to produce the documents and quit responding to my queries altogether, I filed a formal Freedom of Information (FOI) request for the materials. Members of the news media are entitled to expedited access, which I requested, since this was for a pending news report and on an issue of public health and interest.

The Obama administration made a commitment to a “new era of open government,” as stated in a presidential memorandum on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). On March 19, 2009, Attorney General Eric Holder issued new FOIA guidelines to “restore the public’s ability to access information in a timely manner.”

Two months after my FOI request, the CDC has yet to produce any of these easily retrievable materials. Sadly, this is of little surprise. This has become standard operating procedure in Washington.

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