All Blog Posts from Couric & Co.

Tom Kotula and Jon Hauserman are rowing down the East Coast, building houses at 12 Habitat for Humanity sites along the way.

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Katie's on assignment today.

It's a dramatic example of a housing market that went from boom to bust - literally.

Bulldozers tore through a small housing development this week in San Bernardino County, Calif., demolishing 16 homes. These were not dilapidated houses that had become an eyesore. They were brand new. Four were ready for buyers , and had all the extras, like granite counter tops and a Jacuzzi. Others were in various stages of construction.

But home prices in the area have sunk 43 percent. The builder abandoned the project and the bank foreclosed, deciding it would be cheaper to tear them down than to complete and sell them.

This, ironically, comes as homelessness is on the rise - up 50 percent in many cities. A hundred miles away in Los Angeles, twice the number of families used winter shelters this year as last.

To the bank, this was about dollars, but some feel, it doesn't make much sense.

The president hosted his first lunch for newspeople (more accurately newsmen and one newswoman) in the private dining room of the residence. It is always a thrill to be part of this lunch. I was first invited in 2006 with President Bush. It’s an opportunity for some frank conversation in a relaxed, informal setting. Of course sports was the initial topic (guys) but I was able to direct the chit chat more towards the Oscars and movies. President Obama said he had watched "Slumdog Millionaire" at the White House and loved it … in many ways, he said it reminded him of growing up in Jakarta, where he lived between the ages of 6 and 10. He also really liked "Gran Torino," and the table pretty much agreed that Clint Eastwood was enormously talented in acting, as well as directing and composing. He missed the Oscars because the governors were at the White House for a formal dinner. That was about it in terms of small talk. The discussion soon moved to something much bigger: the economy.

The conversation was on background with a number of White House officials, so I'll spend the next few minutes characterizing what they had to say. I think it’s safe to say we’ll hear from Dr. Obama tonight. He’ll level with the American people and explain that the patient is sick, here’s the diagnosis and that the prognosis is good. I got the impression he’s going to try to explain these complicated issues in layman’s terms without sounding too professorial or as if he’s lecturing at an Introduction to Macroeconomics class.

But he will try to connect the dots and explain why the credit crisis is impacting people on a personal level, whether it’s plant layoffs, college loans or home foreclosures. When asked about nationalizing the banks ...

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Earlier today, in an exclusive interview with House speaker Nancy Pelosi, who played a key role in pushing the nearly $800 billion stimulus package through Congress, Katie asked her whether Republicans were treated fairly over the stimulus.

You can see more of the interview tonight on the Evening News – and check back here for additional transcripts and footage.

Katie Couric: Madam Speaker, you know, looking back on how this unfolded, do you think you've reached across party lines enough? Because not one Republican voted for the House version.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi: Well, that's – yes, I do think we reached across party lines. We gave them what they wanted. They wanted certain provisions in the bill. They wanted committee hearings and markups, what we call markups to the bill. We gave them 26 hours of amendment process then on the floor more amendments and a legislative opportunity. So I think ... they were treated fairly in terms of process.

Couric: But did you include them enough in the conversation and the discussion?

Pelosi: Well, they are always – the conversation is a public one here. But you have to remember that we had an election and it was about a direction for our country. We have strong philosophical differences in the Congress. This isn't inter-party bickering. This is major differences of opinion on philosophy on how our country should go forward.

We reject the failed Bush administration economic policies which got us where we are today. The proposals that the Republicans put forth were more of the same. We will not go back. In fact, even some of the Republicans in the House voted against the Republican proposal.

Mark Knoller is a White House correspondent for CBS News.

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Press Secretary Dana Perino said President Bush was in the Oval Office at 6:55 a.m. this morning.

He made some phone calls, talked to National Security Advisor Steve Hadley, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and took a call from his former Chief of Staff Andrew Card.

Mr. Bush then talk a last walk around the South Lawn, and is now spending his last moments in the White House with his family until the Obamas arrive just before 10 a.m.

Perino herself was in the press room giving out her last supply of M&M's with the presidential seal and Mr. Bush's signature on them.

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Click Here For All Of CBSNews.com's Special Inauguration Coverage

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Complete Inaugural Coverage

Christina Ruffini is a CBS News broadcast associate who works in Washington, but lives in Maryland. Also a starving graduate student, Ruffini has become an expert in a variety of parasitic behaviors that include grocery shopping in the kitchens of friends, scrounging for paper products in public restrooms and finding free places to crash.

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When it comes to lodging in the land of Lincoln, your chance of finding a decent, well-priced place to stay during Barak Obama’s inauguration are getting slimmer than Amy Winehouse on a weekend purge.

More than 95,000 hotel rooms have been booked in the greater D.C. metropolitan area, private apartments are being rented out in droves, and couch-surfing has reached near epidemic levels. Even roach-riddled broom closets are going for $600 a night.

However, if you are one of the many procrastinating patriots still in desperate need of a dwelling, you are not completely without options.

You could go on Craigslist and agree to pay an exorbitant fee to lease the flat of some random district denizen who will probably show up in the middle of the night and throw you into his basement well.

Or, if you've seen "Silence of the Lambs" too many times, you could take a cue from the city’s many residence-less residents, and think inside the cardboard box. Oversized Rubbermaid containers also make excellent ...

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Mark Knoller is a White House Correspondent for CBS News, temporarily reporting from the CBS News Pet Desk at the White House.

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You had to feel sorry for India the Cat as the least-known member of the First Family. She never got quite the same level of public attention or affection as the Bush Family dogs Barney and Miss Beazley.

Quietly this morning, the First Lady’s press office let it be known that India, a black American Shorthair, died yesterday in the White House at the age of 18.

The story goes that India got her name from one of the Bush’s twin daughters, Barbara. When she was nine, she named the cat for former Texas Ranger baseball player Ruben Sierra – who was called “El Indio.”

The Bush Family also took to calling the cat “Willie” or just plain “Kitty.”

One of India's favorite pastimes, according to First Lady Laura Bush, was to sun herself on a chair near the Palladian window at ...

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Everyone was all smiles when 43 welcomed 44 to the White House today. President and Mrs. Bush gave Barack and Michelle Obama a walk through their new home. It had to be a bit awkward, though. If you listened to any Obama campaign speech, Mr. Bush's name was practically a four letter word.

Still, he wasn't defeated by Mr. Obama. President Bush's father had to show around the newly elected Bill Clinton after being fired by voters.

We're not being told exactly what went on in the oval office today. Historically, some first meetings have gone better than others. Dwight Eisenhower is said to have been impressed by JFK, but FDR wanted nothing to do with the outgoing Herbert Hoover.

These men are seasoned politicians who can put their differences aside. Each promises a smooth transition over the next 10 weeks. With two wars and the worst economic crisis since the depression, we deserve nothing less.

For many kids, there is more "trick" than "treat" this Halloween. Across the country, parents in neighborhoods hit hard by foreclosures say they'll drive their little ghosts, goblins and witches someplace else tonight so they can make the rounds on streets not lined with abandoned houses. From Florida to Nevada to Michigan, there are places were 20, 50, even 75 percent of homes are empty.

But amid those grim statistics, it's heartening to hear a story like Tracy Orr's. She was ready to watch as her Pottsboro, Texas, home was auctioned last weekend, only to have a stranger, moved by her tears, buy it back for her. Marilyn Mock put in the winning bid without even seeing a picture of the house or knowing much about the distraught woman beside her.

A legend here at CBS News, Charles Kuralt, may have said it best: "The everyday kindness of the back roads more than makes up for the acts of greed in the headlines."

Happy Halloween, everyone.

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Just as we struggle to emerge from the sub-prime housing mess, there may be another crisis lurking – in your wallet.

The research firm Moody's says the number of Americans unable to pay their credit card bill is rising faster than ever, and could hit a record 8 percent by next year, forcing banks to write off $100 billion.

This has card issuers fighting back. And while it means fewer credit card offers clogging your mailbox, it could also cost you.

Banks are hiking fees and interest rates and lowering credit lines – even for some customers with good credit. So you may not be able to charge as much, and anything you do charge will cost more if you carry a balance.

It's another reminder that what began as a housing crisis now affects us in many ways. And it couldn't come at a worse time – just before the holiday shopping season.