All Blog Posts from Couric & Co.

Nancy Cordes is the Transportation and Consumer Safety Correspondent for CBS News.

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Medicare is a lifeline for 45 million American seniors. But costs for the government program are exploding. Medicare now consumes a startling 16 percent of the federal budget.

Both Barack Obama and John McCain have warned that without significant changes, Medicare will either go bankrupt in 10 years ... or swallow up the entire budget.

So, what would each candidate do to fix Medicare? Despite the magnitude of the problem, it's not a topic either man talks about much on the campaign trail. That's partly because Medicare reform has long been considered the "third rail" of politics – something candidates steer clear of addressing, for fear of alienating the single largest voting bloc: seniors.

So while both Obama and McCain have laid out some significant reform proposals, most Americans probably ...

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Nancy Cordes is the transportation and consumer safety correspondent for CBS News.

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One of the most common ingredients in the food we eat isn't even a food. It's food dye.

Food dyes are synthetic chemicals and you've seen them on many an ingredient list. They've got names like "Red 40" and "Blue 2." Without them, your cheesy macaroni might not be yellow and your fruit punch might not be red. Thousands of grocery store items contain artificial food dyes. We even spotted a package of "100% Real" potato au gratin today that gets its golden hue from 100 percent real "Yellow 5 Lake" and "Yellow 6 Lake."

There have been a lot of studies on the effects of artificial food dyes on children, dating back to the 1970s. Some showed that food dyes could cause behavioral problems in children, and others didn't. But a few years ago, an analysis of 21 of the most conclusive studies found compelling evidence that, indeed, artificial dyes could contribute to hyperactivity, restlessness, and attention problems in some children – particularly those with ADHD. What's more, the studies suggested that removing dyes from those children's diet was a quarter to half as effective in reducing those symptoms as giving the kids Ritalin or other stimulants. In other words, certain kids with ADHD might not need drugs if the artificial dyes were removed from their diets.

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Nancy Cordes is the Transportation and Consumer Safety Correspondent for CBS News.

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Keith Riddle is the mayor of Burkesville, a town nestled against the Cumberland River in southwestern Kentucky. Since he took office in January, Riddle (who is also the town barber) has had one major problem on his plate he never expected to deal with: the possibility that his town will be submerged under 14 feet of water.

"It was panic for everyone," says Riddle, recalling the first time he and the town's 1700 other residents learned that the Army Corps of Engineers had designated the massive Wolf Creek Dam 20 miles upstream at “high risk for failure” due to holes in the dam’s limestone foundation. Applying a new rating system developed after the levees protecting New Orleans failed during Hurricane Katrina, the Corps considers Wolf Creek Dam one of the six federal dams most desperately in need of repair, both because of the severity of the erosion and because of the threat to life and property of the dam were to burst.

“The school has done mock evacuations and they have got every kid to safety in about 45 minutes,” says Mayor Riddle, who keeps topographical flood maps in his office so residents can stop by and examine the potential threat to their homes. City Hall, where he sits, would be underwater. So would the courthouse and most of Main Street. “The worst case scenario it would destroy the whole town.”

Looking to relieve pressure on Wolf Creek Dam, the Corps of Engineers has lowered the water level of Lake Cumberland – a 100-mile recreational mecca created when the dam was built in the 1940’s – from 723 feet to 680 feet. But that has created a new problem.

“It eliminated every boat ramp on the lake!” bemoans Ed Slusser, the owner of Alligator One Marina, who says he has lost $1 million dollars in business because of the drop. “This was a marina that has been here for 50 years. This was the first commercial marina on Lake Cumberland. And it’s going to be the first marina on Lake Cumberland to disappear.”

But the Army Corps of Engineers says it has to put safety before revenues in this case, and that the drop in the lake level has significantly decreased the chances of a dam burst. It’s working around the clock to fill the holes that have been eroded with a cement-water grout. Now, the residents of Burkesville are sleeping a little easier, as are the residents of Nashville, Tennessee – just a couple hours downstream.

Nancy Cordes is the Transportation and Consumer Safety Correspondent for CBS News.

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Walking through the supermarket shouldn't have to feel like a game of Clue. But that's just the way a lot of shoppers feel these days in the wake of some food scares from China. They'd like to know more about where that plum or strawberry or slab of beef comes from, but there's no way to tell.

Seafood is the only food product currently required by law to display a label declaring its country of origin. Sometimes states and countries that are proud of their produce will place stickers on fruits and vegetables -- "Grown in Washington," "Product of Chile" -- but they don't have to. So even shoppers with great intentions can get stumped.

Here are some tips from the Center for Food Safety, the USDA and Wegmans grocery stores on how to discern where the food in the produce aisle is from.

-- If it's winter, those berries are probably NOT grown in the US. They were grown south of the Equator, most likely in Chile.
-- Almost all greens not locally grown are from California. Few come from overseas.
-- Bananas are grown in Central or South America -- mostly Costa Rica and Ecuador.
-- Only 4 percent of all imported fruit comes from China and less tha 2.5% of imported vegetables. Nearly two thirds of our imported vegetables come from Mexico.
-- Pennsylvania is the state of the mushroom.
-- Produce that has been washed, chopped and bagged or packaged isn't necessarily safer. It's gone through an extra processing stage, which mean one additional step where it could have been exposed to contamination.
-- Apples not grown in the US are most likely grown in Chile or New Zealand.
-- If your orange does not have a sticker, it could be from Florida, it could be from South Africa or it might be from Brazil.

Still have questions about a particular produce item? Ask to see the store's produce manager. He or she should know where each type of fruit or vegetable was shipped in from -- because even if there's no label, the origin was probably stamped on the boxes. Happy shopping!

Nancy Cordes is the Transportation and Consumer Safety Correspondent for CBS News.

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If it seems like your drive to work has gotten bumpier, you aren't imagining it. There is 40% more traffic on the roads since 1990 -- and yet roads are getting repaved less frequently.

The primary reason why may surprise you. The cost of materials used to fix pavements has shot up a tremendous 33% in the past three years, rising far more quickly that inflation. That's partly due to rising fuel costs -- but mostly it's because there is a huge demand for those products in fast-growing China and India. So, highway repaving budgets don't stretch anywhere near as far as they sued to. The result? According to TRIP, a national transportation research group, a third of America's major roads are in poor or mediocre condition. It's a situation that costs everyone money -- you feel it in your wallet when worn roads and potholes send your car to the shop for alignment and suspension repairs.

In Pennsylvania, the Secretary of Transportation estimates he need $1.9 billion dollars more per year to catch up with repair demands -- it's so bad that a bridge we visited in tiny Dillsburg has been closed -- you can see right through the pavement to the stream below -- and won't see repairs for five years. That means all the school buses and emergency vehicles (not to mention the residents) that relied on that bridge now have to make a 6 mile detour.

Phil Gould doesn't need any statistics to tell him his ride is rougher than it used to be. He's been in the trucking business for 42 years, and he's seen a slow and steady decline in the condition of the nation's Interstates since they were created in the middle of the last century. I went for a long drive with Phil along I-81 in Central Pennsylvania to find out what the increase in potholes and slippery surfaces on our nation's highways means for his safety and his comfort level. One bad rut can flatten a tractor trailer's tire, creating a hazardous situation -- so it's something he thinks about a lot. "Anything needs to be maintained -- nothing lasts forever," he told me as we rolled through Harrisburg.

Nancy Cordes is the Transportation and Consumer Safety Correspondent for CBS News.

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There are two major competitors in the high-flying world of manufacturing airliners: Boeing, an American company, and Airbus, its European rival. It’s a constant battle for top dog status, and it looks like Boeing has won the latest round.

Both aircraft makers are introducing next generation jets, but the offerings couldn’t be more different:

Boeing’s 787, also called the “Dreamliner,” is a medium widebody that seats 223 people. The Airbus A380 “Superjumbo” is the largest airliner ever built – a double decker plane that can seat 555 with room to spare.

The first 787 rolls off the factory floor in Everett, Washington next month (on 7/8/07 – get it?), on time and under budget. The A380 is a budget buster that has been plagued by production delays.