All Blog Posts from Couric & Co.

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

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Ever wonder why a gallon of milk costs as much as it does (more than $4 at my local grocery store in New York City) and who benefits when the prices go up? We did.

That’s what led to tonight’s piece on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.

With the price of a gallon of whole milk up 15 percent in the past year (May 2007 – May 2008), we thought someone must be profiting big time. Could it be a great time to be a dairy farmer?

Not a chance.

We met Richard Byma, a dairyman in northern New Jersey for the past 36 years, who told us his costs are skyrocketing — feed and fertilizer have doubled in the past year, and rising gas prices at the pump mean higher farm fuel prices for his farm equipment.

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Seth Doane is a CBS News correspondent based in New York.

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A few months ago my boss asked me to start traveling around the country to look at the “Other America,” an America that we weren’t always paying attention to. The series was born and now that four pieces have aired on the Evening News, I think it’s starting to develop its own feel.

I see “Other America” as a look at hard-working Americans that are struggling to get by. As the economy gets tough for so many of us – with higher prices to pay at the pump and grocery store – our paychecks (for those of us lucky enough to have work) seem to be shrinking. What is so frightening is that there are so many stories out there to cover in this series.

For this week's “Other America,” we headed to Dover, Tenn. My producer, Linda Karas, a long-time CBS-er, and Emily Rand (who’s also been helping with these stories), heard that America’s Second Harvest would be setting up a mobile pantry in this rural town in the middle of Tennessee.

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Seth Doane is a CBS News correspondent based in New York.

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“It’s a no-win situation right now,” says Sharon Romano, “I don’t see anyone winning except the oil companies.”

Sharon Romano and her husband, Angelo, certainly aren’t winning these days; in fact they’re dangerously close to losing everything they’ve worked to build. As the owners of “Romano & Son Trucking,” a business that has been in the family for nearly 40 years, they’ve been squeezed by the high price of fuel.

They have to pay a daily diesel bill that runs in the thousands of dollars in order to keep their 12 trucks on the road hauling asphalt for their clients. In the Phoenix area, where the Romanos live, diesel prices have jumped nearly 60 percent in just a year. It has wiped out their profits. Sharon remembers, “It seemed like overnight for me… I woke up one day and thought ‘oh my God, how can we do this?’”

A friend told them that the cost of diesel fuel was about half the price in Mexico. Angelo thought, “Let’s take a ride.”

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I remember my first rock concert. Pink Floyd, live at the Merriweather Post Pavillion. It was crowded, it was pouring down rain, and it was miserable.

But it was affordable.

Back then, any young fan could score a ticket for under 10 bucks. Times have changed, but even with inflation, $200 seems a bit high.

For the rest of my Notebook, just click on the monitor.

Peter Maer is a CBS News White House correspondent.

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The former oil man in the Oval Office refuses to predict the future course of gasoline prices. In a radio interview with CBS News in the White House Roosevelt Room, President Bush declined to offer his own price at the pump forecast. He recalled the hit he took earlier this year when, at a news conference, he told me that he had not heard about analysts' predictions of four buck a gallon gas. At the time he described the forecast as "interesting."

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CBS News White House correspondents Peter Maer (top left) and Mark Knoller (bottom left) interviewed President Bush in the Roosevelt Room at the White House.

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We had to wait nearly an hour for President Bush to enter the Roosevelt Room for our radio interview.

But actually, we’d been waiting more than seven years.

My colleague Peter Maer and I have been pitching the White House to grant us an interview with the president since the year he took office.

Most recently, we were told that Mr. Bush doesn’t like doing radio interviews. He doesn’t think his comments get a fair shake when we only use “snippets” of what he says in our radio reports and on the hourly radio newscasts.

Well, that’s the nature of the business. But through the magic of this podcast, you can hear everything thing he said, in the context in which he said it.

We were given 15 minutes, and tried to wring every nanosecond out of it.

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Click here to listen to the entire interview with President Bush.

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Peter Maer is a White House correspondent for CBS News.

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Comments by President Bush today raised questions about his level of awareness of what Americans are paying for gasoline and where prices could be headed. During a photo opportunity with his economic advisors, Mr. Bush mentioned gasoline costs as he made the case for permanent tax cuts.

He told reporters, "If you're worried about $3 gasoline and you think your taxes may be going up in two years, then the uncertain price of gasoline creates more uncertainty as you plan for your future."

It was unclear whether Mr. Bush was referring to concerns about current or future prices. Press Secretary Dana Perino insisted the president is "fully aware of $3 and up gas."

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Bill Whitaker is a CBS News correspondent based in Los Angeles.

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They are there almost every day – people of all ages, genders and colors with big name tags on their shoulders and even bigger smiles on their faces. They are Bob Barker’s people. The line to “The Price Is Right” snakes past the back door of the news bureau here at TV City. When we are running out to cover a story or walking out to lunch, “The Price Is Right” crowd is there. We hear them telling their stories to show producers – Shondra from Shreveport, Mark from Missoula – eager to be contestants, hoping to meet Bob Barker. They are part of the excitement of working at TV City, a slice of America right outside our door.

I knew Bob Barker was popular (after all, he’s had the top-rated daytime game show for years), but nothing prepared me for what has been going on around TV City the last few weeks. As the clock was ticking down toward Bob Barker’s retirement, legions of his fans not only were lining up, but were camping out for the chance to see him one last time – to be part of TV history. The line that usually stretched along the side of the building has been stretching around the block.

People brought lawn chairs and sleeping bags and cards to keep themselves comfortable and entertained while they waited. For days. Nearby stores stayed open around the clock to feed the fans. One person we met had camped out since Saturday for a much coveted seat in the last show, which was taped yesterdya.

So far no one has been named as Bob Barker’s replacement.

Whoever it is will have big shoes -- and long lines -- to fill.

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

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I don’t have to tell you about rising gas prices. Chances are you’ve been at a gas station recently and the conversation you had with yourself went something like this, “I can’t believe the prices keep going up and up and up.” Maybe you added a few other choice words – but we want this blog to have a “G” rating.

At a New York City gas station not far from the CBS Broadcast Center, the price of a gallon of regular unleaded is $3.35 – up 36 cents from just a month ago. We learned today the national average price for a gallon is a record $3.10 – a few cents higher than the record levels we saw after Hurricane Katrina.

What’s going on? “A lot of it is supply and demand,” said oil analyst Andrew Lebow, senior vice president of Man Financial.

Okay, now that Economics 101 class you once took will come in very handy. Despite the record prices, Americans are still guzzling up – going through about 9.35 million barrels a day compared to about 8 million ten years ago.

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Today's First Look comes to us from Kelly Wallace, who offers a preview of her report for the Evening News on the rising price of gas.

Just click the monitor for more.