All Blog Posts from Couric & Co.

Kelly Wallace is a CBS News Correspondent based in New York.

Ask almost anyone about “The Wizard of Oz” and they immediately recount their favorite scene or the first time they watched it during childhood. I remember seeing the movie year after year with my mom and my two sisters in Brooklyn, New York, always eagerly anticipating my favorite scene when Dorothy clicks the heels of her fabulous ruby red slippers and says, “There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.”

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Hi, everyone. Katie's on assignment. I'm Kelly Wallace.

The short and medium-range Iranian missiles soared into the air with an ear-splitting roar, but the message was even louder: Iran is ready for a military threat.

Two of the rockets fired today can carry warheads 12-hundred miles. That's far enough to reach several American military bases, Israel and parts of Europe.

The tests come just days before Iran sits down in Geneva with the U.S. and five other nations to talk about its nuclear ambitions.

The White House is threatening tough sanctions if Iran doesn't halt uranium enrichment.

Iran's leaders insist there's no reason to stop because their nuclear program is only for energy production - and has nothing to do with these missile tests.

Most Western observers don't buy that and many now believe if there had been any hopes of a quick deal with Iran - these missiles found their targets - and took them out.

I'm Kelly Wallace, CBS News.

When we started working on a story about resume fraud and whether more people were lying on their resumes now because the job market is so tight, our biggest challenge was finding someone who would admit he or she lied on their resume. No easy task.

I called some of the big names who made news when their stretching of the truth became public, like George O'Leary, the former Notre Dame Coach who lied about his education and college football career and David Edmondson, the former CEO of Radio Shack who lied about a college degree on his resume. Maybe they'd want to talk to us and provide a cautionary tale to any job seeker who might be thinking of embellishing or outright lying in these recessionary times. Not a chance. They weren't interested or didn't return my calls.

New regulations are in effect which will force credit card companies to give consumers 45 days notice of any rate increases or changes, giving cardholders the option of opting out and paying their balance down at their current lower rate. Companies must now also send out statements 21 days before payment is due instead of the current 14 day requirement.

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Katie's on assignment.

Here's the skinny on health care in America: We are simply too fat and it's costing us a fortune in medical bills.

Despite all those fad diets and fat free products in the grocery store aisles, obesity has increased by 37 percent since 1998. Along with the love handles and muffin tops come a smorgasbord of problems - including diabetes and heart disease.

A new study published in the journal Health Affairs found that obese people pay an average of $1,400 more per year in health care costs, a total of $147 billion annually.

The head of the group behind the report sent a wake-up call to Congress, saying that unless the growing problem of obesity is addressed, America will be unable to contain its health spending.

Experts say essentials like proper diet and exercise need to be at the core of any health policy lawmakers consider.

The only way to tighten our belts - is to tighten our bellies.

I'm Kelly Wallace, CBS News.

Katie Couric is on assignment. I'm Kelly Wallace.

We've all heard the excuses. Some of us have probably even made them - all the many reasons why we can't quit smoking. "It tastes good." "It gives me something to do with my hands." "It helps me when I get stressed out."

The fact is nicotine is addictive.

Today President Obama signed some legislation that could cut down the number of people who get hooked.

The FDA will now have the power to regulate the amount of nicotine in cigarettes, and prevent companies from promoting fruit or candy flavors. These things lawmakers say are meant to appeal to children.

While the bill has its critics in the tobacco industry, supporters applaud the efforts to improve public health and to try to keep cigarettes out of the reach of young people.

The President has personal experience with the struggle to kick the habit, and would probably agree that the best way to stop smoking is to never start in the first place.

I'm Kelly Wallace. CBS News.

One of the most striking things to me about the new national survey of students focusing on cheating by cell phone or using the Internet, which we are reporting for Thursday’s The Early Show, is how many kids don’t necessarily think it’s cheating at all.

Almost one in four middle and high school students surveyed said they didn’t think storing notes on a cell phone or texting during an exam constituted cheating. What? Cheating by any other name is still cheating, right?

Kyle Cohen, a senior at Ridgewood High School in New Jersey, tried to explain the conundrum to me this way: "I think just because you are not making the person to person contact (it's easier) to convince yourself that you are not doing something wrong."

Katherine Griffith, another Ridgewood High School senior, said she thinks kids think of it more as "helping each other out as opposed to I'm going to cheat on my test and look at someone else’s paper."

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I wasn’t bullied as a kid but I did come across at least one bully during my career. No names need to be mentioned. They know who they are! There were many days when I’d shed a few tears wondering why this was happening to me and in those moments, the bully was definitely winning. As hard as it was, I always tried to remind myself the bully was the one with the big problem, not me.

That’s the message the American Academy of Pediatrics wants doctors, teachers and parents to send to kids. The numbers are alarming – almost 30 percent of all kids say they’ve either been bullied or are doing the bullying. Three out of 10! And the rest have likely witnessed bullying or know someone who has been bullied or who is a bully.

In our piece tonight on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, you’ll meet 13-year-old Daniel Warburton, an 8th grader who has been bullied relentlessly since the 4th grade. He said it started as name calling, with kids calling him names like “faggot,” and turned physical on the football field last year when seven of his so-called teammates tackled him to the point of unconsciousness. A teammate who stood up for Daniel ended up being bullied himself and then sucker-punched Daniel as a way of regaining favor with the bullies.

“I know this happens every day and a lot of kids are going through this and me being one of them, it’s just really upsetting,” he told me.

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There is one quote that really stuck with me when we were researching ideas for tonight’s story on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric about college students graduating into the recession. “Damn me for being born in ’87,” Suzanne Block told The Chicago Tribune back in March before graduating. “This is just a nightmare. There could not be a worse time to be looking for a job.”

Oh how right Suzanne is. Employers say they’ll hire 22 percent fewer grads this year versus last year. And while 51 percent of college seniors looking for jobs found one before leaving campus back in 2007, less than 20 percent were as fortunate this year.

Desperate times call for desperate measures? Well, maybe not desperate but unusual, creative approaches to the job hunt seem to be the norm, not the exception, as students try to find a way to stand out. Remember, today’s graduates are not only competing against their peers but against experienced 20-somethings and baby boomers who lost their jobs and are anxiously trying to find new ones.

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Katie's on assignment. I'm Kelly Wallace.

You know the feeling - you open a credit card bill and see a balance that looks more like the national debt.

In the past six months, an estimated 10 million Americans have seen their interest rates double or even triple, often retroactively. Others have been hit with over-the-limit penalties because the bank lowered their credit line, or paid late fees because the due date was a Sunday, and the bank was closed.

Well, a bill being debated in the Senate this week would change that. Customers who pay on time could see their rates go down, and some of those annoying fees would disappear. A similar bill has already passed the House.

Banks are in business to make a profit. Customers should expect penalties when they don't play by the rules, but banks should play fairly, too. After spending billions of taxpayer dollars bailing them out, many customers feel they deserve a little credit.


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