All Blog Posts from Couric & Co.

Mark Strassmann is a CBS News Correspondent based in Atlanta.

I liked the guy from the moment I met him.

His name was Nick Xiarhos, a tall, dark-haired Marine. He projected physical strength, maturity, decency, and a self-confidence without bluster or bravado. He was a lot of the things any parent would want their kid to be at twenty-one.

Like me, Nick grew up in the Boston area. Talking like a couple of townies was part of our easy rapport, even though what we were talking about was difficult.

Cost of the War Hits Home for the President

Nick had been deployed near Ramadi, Iraq back in April 2008. A suicide truck bomber had barreled toward the gate of a Marine compound, intent on killing as many people as he could. Two Marine guards at the front checkpoint stood their ground, and kept firing at the truck, trying to slow its driver and save their mostly sleeping buddies. The truck stopped short of the compound and exploded. The two guards were killed. But their bravery saved the lives of everyone else – including Xiarhos. Like a handful of other Marines who were there and told us the story back in January, he was humbled by this act of bravery.

In August I heard that Nick Xiarhos had been killed. He had come home from Iraq, and switched units for the chance to fight in Afghanistan. And there, on July 23rd, 2009, he and another Marine were killed by a roadside bomb.

Nick had this knack. The memory of him hung with you. President Obama had shaken hands with Xiarhos in passing after a speech this past April at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina. When the president heard that a young Marine whom he had met had been killed, he wanted to meet the Xiarhos family. Mr. Obama’s facing a tough decision whether to risk more American lives by increasing troop levels in Afghanistan. When he finally met Steve and Lisa Xiarhos, Nick’s parents, he told them that Nick would stay in his mind as the face of sacrifice and the cost of freedom. Hearing that meant a lot to the family.

Nick’s father is a police lieutenant in Yarmouth, Massachusetts. When Nick’s body came home, he described himself as the “saddest – and the proudest --- man in the world.” All of Yarmouth grieves the loss. There are two entrances to the town in the middle of Cape Cod. Each one of them has a memorial sign saluting Nick Xiarhos.

Wherever he went, Nick Xiarhos made his mark and left an impression.

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Dean Reynolds is a CBS News Correspondent based in Chicago.

Just as all of us in Chicago were beginning to recover from the city’s rejection by the International Olympic Committee comes news that is even harder to swallow:

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This story was written by CBS News correspondent Karen Brown. Brown first profiled paraplegic mountain climber Chris Waddell in a Sept. 20 story for the "CBS Evening News" and CBSNews.com. We've been posting his blogs and our own, following his summit attempt.

Chris Waddell has made it to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro – as it has never been done before. Senior producer John Mondello and I were some of the first to speak to him. He sounded exhausted but contented. He said the view from the 19,340-foot summit was incredible.

It took him three days and about 22 hours of pedaling to push through the last three miles. The dense scree and sand at the top of the mountain made the going extremely difficult and slow – all at about a 45 degree angle. Chris said that he was moving about a yard a minute at one point; it was that difficult.

His friend Bob More tells me "the final 3000 feet up …were hard to walk up, never mind ride." He also said that "there were hundreds of moments that anyone else would have said, 'Forget it.' Chris just kept going."

I asked Chris what kept him going and he said that it wasn't just about him. He said that so many had poured themselves into the project, that he didn't want to let them down, so when he wanted to quit he didn't.

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Dean Reynolds is a CBS News Correspondent based in Chicago.

To say times are tough economically in this country is an understatement. But the sheriff of Alexander County, Illinois has set a new standard for deprivation. Sheriff David Barkett had his official cruisers repossessed by the local bank in the county seat of Cairo.

Usually, when you see a lot of sheriff’s cruisers in a bank parking lot it means a crime has been committed. Say, a bank robbery. But not now. Four of Barkett’s five cruisers (the fifth one is in the shop for repairs) now sit humiliatingly in the lot of the First National Bank of Cairo, shorn of their emergency lights, antennae and even their seals. You can see the faint outline of them on the suddenly denuded cruisers.

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Karen Brown is a correspondent for CBS News, and blogged about Chris Waddell - as he attempts the first paraplegic summit of Kilimanjaro

The count down is on. Chris Waddell has arrived Kenya, without his gear, but safe and sound.

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Today's census report is awash with new statistics on poverty in America.

But behind the numbers are the faces of real Americans doing their best to get by.

Case in point is Denise Guidry's family. Randall Pinkston and I met them this week in the small town of Wesson, Mississippi.

I didn't meet Denise right away -- I learned her house was up for sale, so I headed there instead. There we found a "For Sale" sign, a large oak tree, and a swing set sitting idle.

I found everything that parents in this country try to provide for their families: a place to grow up, a place to call home. I was stunned to see where Denise and her family ended up.

Randall Pinkston's piece
Read the census report

First I overheard it was a trailer, but after driving up and down the street it became pretty clear that a trailer would have been a nice alternative.

Instead I found Denise and her five children living in small camper, parked in a clear corner lot next to railroad tracks. A generator provides electricity to cook, and an air conditioner to keep comfortable. Just weeks ago, this family lived in a 2,500 square foot home. I met them when after they were trying to find a way to make room for everybody in their new home, the 27 square foot camper.

Regardless their hopes are up. This family is happy to live in Wesson because it is the small community they had been looking for when they left Louisiana for Mississippi.

"This is where I want my children to grow up", Denise told me.

What hurts this mother of 5 the most is not the material losses she's endured. Yes they are tough for her, but her biggest regret is not being able to be home for them. She's gone from being a full time mom to working 75 hours at 3 part time jobs to provide for her family, while her husband travels frequently looking for work in oil fields that need pipelines.

"We'll get through this. We're going through a rough patch right now, but we'll get through it."

They are one family in Mississippi of out millions who have joined the ranks of the poor in this country -- and seeing them as just a number in a report filled with statistics doesn't do them justice.

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Wow! What a voice!

It's surprising that a little girl, with a wide eyed stare that seems so matter of fact, could belt out tunes so profoundly, with such a self-assured presence.

And to think, her parents were told, “she'd never speak."

That’s the miracle, the inspiration of Gina Marie Incandela, a seven year old Orlando girl who’s not only a model for kids, but could teach anyone how to fulfill a dream.

Gina Singing at the Mets Game
Gina Singing at the U.S. Open

But Gina’s journey was a little different, more difficult in some ways, and thanks to parents who listened and offered support, a little easier in others.

You see Gina was diagnosed at the age of two with a mild form of autism called Pervasive Development Disorder. It not only impaired her speech, but her social skills, her fine motor capacity, and her language development.

But thanks to early diagnosis, her parents placed her in occupational therapy and intensive speech therapy which continues today. Progress was slow at first, until they introduced Gina to music. Taking music therapy with Mrs. Theresa Evans unlocked the development door. Her school work improved, she got along better with her peers, and something else. She actually had talent. Her mom, Michelle Incandela said, “Even if she could only sing the vowel parts of the song, she would sing it in perfect pitch and perfect key. I was really something spectacular.”

Gina was about to give them another spectacle. At five years old, she heard the national anthem on TV and declared she could sing it better. And she said she wanted to sing at a major league ball game. Her mother couldn’t believe it. But instead of tossing the notion aside, she found a try-out for a Spring Training game for the New York Mets. She won an audition, and soon, was standing on the pitchers mound belting out the patriotic tune.

Gina was in demand. After just a year, she’s sung in hockey arenas, ballparks, conventions and hometown games of the Orlando Magic. She became the team’s good luck charm, singing at nine playoff games, including three NBA Finals.

All the attention was a bit nerve-wracking for her mom, who said, “you’re sending your child out there, in the middle of the field, and you just have to pray that nothing goes wrong and hope that audiences like her.”

But Gina was right in her element.

I asked her what was the hardest part of singing before thousands of people? And without missing a beat, Gina replied, "It’s a piece of cake. The happiest day of my life is when I’m singing."

Be sure to check out our piece tonight at cbsnews.com/evening

Believe it or not, there’s a place on the planet that sees one inch of rain every thirteen years. It’s a desert in Chile called Salar de Atacama. It’s the driest place on earth – a fact even introduced once on "Jeopardy" -- but for producers of lithium, this desert is one of the richest. Above ground is a vast wasteland of dried clumps of clay, some the size of a child’s bicycle. Nothing grows out here. Below ground, though, is a different story.

“This is the best place on earth," Ron France told me in the middle of the desert. Neither of us could have traveled to many places that were more remote. France is president of Chemetall, an American company that produces lithium. Lithium is the world’s lightest metal, and the energy source in the batteries of cell phones, laptops and Blackberrys.

Snow melts off the nearby Andes mountains and is trapped underground is this closed basin. One-hundred thirty feet below the surface, the water gathers in salt water brines. Chemetall, France’s company, pumps the brine above ground into a series of ponds. In a process that lasts eighteen months, the desert sun evaporates out other salts. The beauty is that the sun does almost all the work. What’s left is lithium brine, which is shipped to a nearby factory for processing into lithium carbonate powder and shipped to battery-makers, mostly in Asia.

Demand for lithium is about to soar. This fall, Mercedes will introduce into showrooms its first plug-in hybrid car. Its power will come from a lithium ion battery and the lithium alone in that battery will weigh twenty pounds. (The lithium in a cell phone weighs one-tenth of an ounce.) A half-dozen other carmakers have plans for their own plug-in models, powered by lithium. Chevy claims its new Volt will get at least 250 miles per gallon.

Three major companies dominate the world’s lithium market. The metal itself is produced in only a half-dozen countries, including a small site in Nevada, but half the world’s lithium comes from the Salar de Atacama. That’s why Ron France thinks of this remote place in Chile as the best on earth.

So remember the Salar de Atacama. If plug-in hybrid cars catch on, the focus of America’s energy policy could start to shift away from OPEC pipelines in the Middle East to lithium brine pools and Chile. And you never know when the name might come in handy as an answer on a “Jeopardy” re-run.”

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When I first read about 24 year old PJ Lukac in Chicago's newspapers I was immediately moved by his story. Here was a young, bright, medical student with a promising future facing the most terrifying news from his own doctor -a malignant tumor lodged inside his brain. But what struck me the most is what he had done about it -- he decided to face his disease and made it his mission in life to fight it.

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In Wales they are just astounded at the reaction to their public service announcement about the dangers of texting while driving.

The 30-minute video was made for use in schools in South Wales; it wasn’t even due to go into the curriculum till next year.

But a 4-minute excerpt landed on YouTube, a million and a half people saw it, and – police say – mostly positive reaction has flooded in.

See Richard Roth's Story here

There is much more to the video than the crash sequence that’s circulated on the internet. It is not just a record of a horrific fatal car crash caused by a distracted teen; it’s also the story of what happens next: the after shocks that change the lives of the young survivor and her family, and upset the equilibrium of the whole community.

It’s startling, seeing it, to learn it was made on such a small budget: about £10,000 or less than $20,000. The Gwent Police Force funded most of it; many of its officers and staff are in it, along with police and fire rescue vehicles and helicopters. Some of the actors are professional; but three of the most memorable characters – the driver of the car and her two friends and passengers – are very engaging local teenagers who were among 300 kids who auditioned.

I met Jennie Davies, Amy Ingram - both university students, and Laura Quantick who’s finishing at a local secondary school. What they shared before the experience of making the video was an interest in drama or music and a bit of experience in local productions. What they share now is an almost zealous – and very articulate – passion for spreading the lesson the video teaches, about the danger of texting while driving.

They are a bit astounded about the sudden attention that’s come to them and their work. Jennie plays “Cassie Cowan,” the “Cow” of the video’s title; she’s the driver of the crash car and, horribly scarred, its only survivor. “I figured I was doing a small film,” she told me, “a local film for Gwent police; and it’s turned into a massive YouTube sensation. It’s pretty crazy.” It was interesting, too, I thought – that Jennie doesn’t drive. Some of her scenes were recorded with the camera mounted on a towing truck pulling her car; and in some, a double was used.