All Blog Posts from Couric & Co.

When you swipe your credit card, your account displays your debt ... but who's really picking up the tab? In case you missed the Evening News last night, check out the Fast Draw piece below. In brief: Mitch Butler and Josh Landis examine the crisis facing credit card companies, who have faced recent difficulty trying to sell off consumer debt to investors.

And remember to check back on their blog for the latest Fast Draws.

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Daniel Sieberg is CBS News' science and technology correspondent. He blogs regularly over at Tech Talk.

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Google Earth is getting a facelift. If you're a regular user, then you've noticed that about 70 percent of the Earth's surface has been, well, missing from the exploratory features of Google Earth. But with the latest update, Google Earth 5.0, people will now be able to dive into the deep blue from their desktop.

Google partnered with countless scientists and organizations worldwide from NOAA to the Navy to create a realistic map of the ocean floor using bathymetry (underwater topography), and there are many "hot spots" to click on to get more information like video, photos, and research data. While it's not like you can quite swim with the fishes ...

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It's a new year, and we're counting down - again. Inauguration Day is just 11 days away. And, as the folks over at Hotsheet remind us, we have a little announcement to make. As Kevin Hechtkopf writes:

For now through January 20, CBSNews.com will be bringing you the most up-to-date news and information on the preparations, the ceremonies and the parties as Barack Obama is sworn-in and takes office.

Check out the new section here.

Also, we want to bring your attention to CBS News' special coverage plans for Inauguration Day. CBS News anchor Katie Couric will anchor live coverage from Washington on Jan. 20 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET. In addition, Couric will anchor a primetime special Change And Challenge: The Inauguration Of Barack Obama from 9 to 10 p.m. The primetime special will be followed at 10 p.m. ET by a live Webcast hosted by Couric on this site and on CNET.com. CBS Radio News will also provide special coverage throughout the day.

Our coverage will also incorporate CBS EyeMobile users who will be able to submit videos of their first-hand experiences from the events for use on broadcast, online and on mobile. More information to come on how to do that.

You can read a full release from CBS News on the coverage after the jump.

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Our sister blog, Political Hotsheet, is pointing to an item in the Washington Post reporting that President-elect Barack Obama will announce he is tapping CNN correspondent and CBS News contributor Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon, to be surgeon general. Could Dr. Gupta be heading to Washington? Brian Montopoli writes:

The Washington Post, citing two sources, is reporting that Obama has offered Gupta the job.

"Gupta has told administration officials that he wants the job, and the final vetting process is under way," reported the Post. "He has asked for a few days to figure out the financial and logistical details of moving his family from Atlanta to Washington but is expected to accept the offer."

CBS News can confirm through a source close to Dr. Gupta that the doctor was offered the position.

Read the full post and check out some of Gupta's work for CBS News here.

You can't miss the headlines: Kidnapping Expert Kidnapped. It sounds like pure tabloid fodder, but this item is the latest grim symptom of a growing drug-crime epidemic in Mexico.

Over at our sister blog, World Watch, Mike Wuebben has a lighter take, that the Mexican corruption-drama is so over-the-top it "reads like a Hollywood screenplay." Mike writes:

Much has been made of the supposed audacity of embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich for refusing to resign. But "Lighting Rod" ain't got nuthin' on former Mexican police chief Victor Gerardo Garay who was arrested on charges of helping a drug cartel. According to a report yesterday in the Mexican newspaper Reforma, Garay turned a raid on Colombian drug dealers into "an orgy and alleged robbery of half a million dollars, jewelry, and even the robbery of an English bulldog." Garay even took a little time out for a hot tub with a few of the many prostitutes on hand.

Check out the rest of his post here. Tonight on the CBS Evening News, Correspondent John Blackstone has an eye-opening report on this country in the throes of a savage drug war manned by brutal cartels. You can watch his report on the growing crisis of violence and corruption in Mexico - and find out why it's a growing danger for innocent citizens and even Americans journeying south - tonight at 6:30 p.m. ET.

We here at Couric & Co. just wanted to take a few minutes and welcome our new cousins in blog-land, Political Hotsheet and World Watch.

Hotsheet is taking the chair previously filled by Horserace, the late, great blog about all things from the campaign trail. It's turning a fresh eye on Washington as the next administration shapes up. Check it out here.

World Watch will include dispatches from our team of foreign correspondents and staff at the London Bureau. It's already up and running with a few posts from Correspondent Sheila MacVicar about the terror – and ensuing investigation into the massacre – in Mumbai. It'll include breaking news items and more in-depth reporting than we can sometimes fit into a broadcast. So check it here and check back often!

And don't forget to give our new neighbors a warm welcome. Leave them a few comments or drop us a note and let us know what you think.

The National Archives today added another heap of about 90,000 pages of documents to the mountain of paper from the Nixon administration. With it, some 200 hours of tape shine additional light on Richard Nixon's presidency.

It's the 12th time more Nixon documents have been opened to the public since 1980. They include, according to the Nixon Library and Museum: "file segments for the Committee for the Re-Election of the President Collection; White House Special Files, Staff Member & Office Files; White House Central Files, Staff Member & Office Files; and the National Security Council File series, including the Henry A. Kissinger Office Files and the National Security Council Institutional Files."

Sound dry? It isn't. Our justice and homeland security correspondent, Bob Orr, has a great piece on tonight's Evening News with highlights, including what Henry Kissinger said to the president after the notorious 1972 "Christmas Bombing" of Hanoi, and what Nixon did to portraits of former presidents in his offices.

You can see a selection of the paper documents here, but most are only in libraries. The library is working on putting the tapes online, and quite a few already are.

Listen to them here.

Despite that Nixon conducted much business in great secrecy ...

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Over at Tech Talk, our sister blog, science and technology correspondent (and self-proclaimed "digital nomad") Daniel Sieberg has given us a little previewa of his story on tonight's CBS Evening News. It's about grade-school kids using the Web not just to share too much information about themselves - but to share potentially-illegal video tips on how to deceive their teachers and cheat on tests.

Here's a taste:

It's no secret that young people make mistakes; it's a necessary part of growing up. But the Internet - and specifically the rise of video-sharing Web sites - opened a new portal for potential pitfalls. On tonight's CBS Evening News with Katie Couric we're looking at how teens are posting controversial videos on sites like YouTube, often in the hopes of getting noticed or showing off. But in the process they may be setting themselves up for real-world consequences in the future.

For our story we talked to two young people about their decision to post "how to cheat on a test" videos on YouTube. Both of our subjects are unrepentant about their decision - but they also do not want us to use their real names. Both said they're seeking attention and aren't worried about being caught because "adults don't use YouTube."

Wait, adults don't use YouTube? Huh. Somebody must have forgotten to tell Oprah, Charlie Rose, and, or course, Katie. Anyway, check out the rest of Daniel's blog post right here, and don't forget to watch tonight at 6:30 ET.

Earlier today, Mark Phillips, a CBS News correspondent based in London, sent in to CBSNews.com a rather clever story about the much-changed reputation of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Check out a snippet below, or read the full story right here.

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The question came from a Swedish reporter in the back of the room. "Would you like to be called Flash Gordon Brown now, or just Gordon?"

"Just Gordon," said Brown.

This exchange took place as the British Prime Minister was taking questions from foreign reporters at a meeting in London a day after his government had poured $63 billion into buying bank shares and his partial-nationalization scheme was being credited with finally stopping the decline of world markets.

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Over in the Politics section, there's a real issue for the campaigns to deal with, and as Brian Montopoli reports, it has nothing to do with lipstick. It's Wall Street - tanking.

Both Obama and McCain are vying to take ownership of the economic issue, and are using very different approaches to doing so. You can read Brian's whole report here, or check out a preview below.

With 50 days left until Election Day, the battle for the presidency may have finally settled on a defining issue. And it has nothing to do with lipstick.

The collapse of financial industry titans Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch and subsequent stock market crash, just the latest pieces of bad economic news in a year that has been dotted with grim headlines, have forced the campaigns of Barack Obama and John McCain to put aside some of the more trivial aspects of the campaign and try to cast their candidate as most prepared to properly guide the economy.

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