All Blog Posts from Couric & Co.

When you trip on the sidewalk, do you get mad at yourself?

Or do you get mad at the sidewalk?

The 92-year-old woman in tonight's Assignment America gets mad at the sidewalk -- or, more specifically, she gets mad at "the bastards" at the city who didn't properly maintain the sidewalk.

Kathleen Harris has been giving those city officials an earful for years and tonight she brings her bluntness to the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.

Of course, there are a lot of seniors who have unkind words for their elected officials (look no further than my father), but what makes Kathleen different is what she has done to make the "SOBs" accountable.

A few years ago, after she tripped on a sidewalk in her hometown of Oswego, NY, and nearly broke her nose, Kathleen tried to get the city to pay her doctor bill. The city refused -- citing a New York State law that says a city can't be held liable for a sidewalk problem unless someone notified the city, in writing, about the problem before the accident.

It's a good out for the city because, really, who in their right mind is going to go to the trouble of documenting every single crack on every singe sidewalk in town?! No one! -- but Kathleen Harris, of course.

Kathleen has now completed the 4 year project. She now knows every piece of pavement that isn't flush to within a quarter of an inch. And she has turned her log sheets over to the city -- all 10,000+ entries.

So what is the city going to say next time someone trips over a sidewalk and wants to sue? I don't know, the city attorney isn't returning my phone calls. But if I hear from her this afternoon I'll be sure and report it in tonight's broadcast. If not, you'll still hear from Kathleen. And believe me, she's worth tuning in for all by herself.

Steve Hartman is a correspondent for CBS News based in New York. His weekly Assignment America segment airs Fridays.

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If you’ve got kids in elementary school, you won’t want them to miss tonight’s Assignment America. On second thought – maybe you will want them to miss it. All I know for sure is that, after they see this story, they’re going to be even less excited about doing homework.

But for good reason.

This week I interviewed a 5th grader from Long Island, N.Y., who is trying to ban homework. It all started when Ben Berrafato had to write an essay about something he felt passionately about. Since he hates doing homework, he wrote about that. It was such a well-crafted essay, the New York Daily News ran it on their editorial page.

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Read Ben's essay here.

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He’ll be reading some of the essay for us tonight on the Evening News with Katie Couric. I also looked into some of his claims that homework has been proven to be a waste of time. And low and behold ...

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More than 30 years ago, CBS News' Charles Kuralt went "On The Road" and filed a host of now-legendary dispatches. Some were everyday stories about individuals, and others remarkable tales of achievement or struggle.

One day, Kuralt stopped his RV in Darwin, Minn., where he met a man who compulsively saved, for years and years, twine. Call it compulsive collecting, but even the twine-ball's creator, Francis Johnson, said to be a collector of something so mundane: "you don't have to be crazy, but it helps."

Check out Kuralt's original report here - and watch the Evening News tonight to see how our Steve Hartman went back and traced Kuralt's steps ... and to see if Francis Johnson's string theory holds up today.

Everyone hates something about their job, right? Well, Steve Hartman visited Fargo, N.D., this week and found one place full of downright happy employees: a bank that gives its employees an exceptional holiday bonus: $1,000.

But this year's gift came with an extraordinary catch. Click the monitor to find out more, and tune in tonight to catch Steve's full story.

Steve Hartman previews his Assignment America for tonight, on the aptly named Camp Hope.

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It's Friday, and that means it's Assignment America day. Steve Hartman has a First Look at his story for tonight's Evening News, about a college sports tradition that's far from ordinary.

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Steve Hartman is a correspondent for CBS News based in New York.

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Tonight's Assignment America is so special, 've asked if I can tell the same story every month 'til further notice.

Seriously. I'm not sure it'll happen, but if it does, we're all in for some tremendously powerful television.

The story is about a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. His name is Randy Pausch and he's one of the foremost authorities on virtual reality. Not long ago he was asked to give a "last lecture." "Last lectures" have become popular on college campuses. It's where the professor speaks as if he's dying and has one last chance to convey all his most important wisdom to his students. It was a painfully simple assignment for Randy.

He IS dying.

Randy has pancreatic cancer which has now spread to his liver. I asked him if he would be around for Christmas. He said, "50/50". I asked, "Father's Day?". He said, "I wouldn't buy me anything.". It was a rare somber moment. Until you start talking about his 3 small children or his wife, Randy is able to stay remarkably upbeat. In his lecture at Carnegie Mellon he started by announcing that he'd experienced a death bed conversion - paused -smirked - and said, "I bought a Macintosh." The place errupted.

In my story tonight I'll have more of the speech along with an interview I did with Randy while his kids were napping earlier this week.

Understandably, Randy wants to spend as much quality time with his kids as possible. But he is also a teacher and he has so much wisdom to share. More now than ever. Facing iminant death seems to have crystalized that wisdom. His lecture has already been downloaded nearly a million times by people all over the world. And most everyone has found inspiration.
I can't possibly tell you everything I want to tell you about Randy in this short blog. Tonight's story will be equally lacking. Which is why I've asked Katie and our other executives here at CBS if I can visit with Randy every few weeks for as long as he has to live. They have agreed. Randy is thinking about it - although he cautioned me to be careful what I wish for. "Death can get ugly," he said.

Maybe, but I think he's got more than enough life to shine through.

Steve Hartman previews his Assignment America for tonight, about a used car salesman who has become a hero to the homeless.

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Steve Hartman provides today's First Look, with a glimpse at his Assignment America story, about a small person growing in stature.

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Steve Hartman previews his story for tonight's Evening News, with a First Look at a young man in New Orleans helping his neighborhood rebuilt after Katrina, one blade at a time.

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