All Blog Posts from Couric & Co.

Sandra Hughes is a CBS News correspondent based in Los Angeles.

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For weeks we’ve been reporting for the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric about the credit crunch and the negative affect it has had on small business owners. Specifically, big banks have been reluctant to lend money right now which in turn prevents businesses from growing. Some have had to lay off employees, others have shut down altogether. But we found that for business owners with good credit, a solid business plan, and a lot of determination, there is still money to be had.

The Contos family in Long Beach, Calif., has been running restaurants for 45 years. They have excellent credit, a profitable business and plans to expand to a third location. But when they approached their long time banker, they were not given the amount they needed. Undeterred, they called the Small Business Administration and asked if there were other places they should look for financing. They were referred to Excel National Bank in Beverly Hills. While other banks were making risky subprime home loans, Excel stayed conservative and now has money to lend. Excel loaned Iristi Contos $1.7 million. They will break ground on the new location when the overall economy perks up.

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Sandra Hughes is a CBS News correspondent based in Los Angeles.

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It was the day of the Chino Hill’s earthquake when I met surfing legend Laird Hamilton. We were waiting to follow him off the Malibu coast for what was supposed to be a stand-up paddle surfing lesson for me – and an explanation of why he has so whole-heartedly taken on this new water sport.

It was an inauspicious way to start the day, with the earth shaking the way it did. But we tried not to let it rattle us. It didn’t seem to bother Laird nor his adorable four-year-old daughter, Reece, who tagged along for our story.

We headed to the water and Laird, now 44-years-old, talked and talked about stand-up paddling. But realize this is the man when it comes to traditional surfing. He has conquered some of the biggest waves on the planet, up to 80 feet high. In 2000, he took what’s considered one of the most daring surf rides ever, on a monster wave in Tahiti’s Teahupo’s break, a super-dangerous place to surf due to its razor-sharp reefs. Laird has also appeared in two surfing movies and his latest, "Water Man," is due out this month.

So it was only natural to wonder why he’s hung up his surfboard and now professes his love of stand-up paddle surfing. Laird put it this way: "if you know anything about me, you know I’m always looking for a new way to cut an apple ...

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Sandra Hughes is a CBS News correspondent based in Los Angeles.

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“What part of 'out of bounds' don’t they understand?”

It was a rhetorical question from Mt. Baldy, Calif., volunteer Fire Chief Bill Stead. He watches year after year as people from the Los Angeles area make the day trip up to Mt. Baldy to ski, snowboard, or sled. He says they’re so determined to have a good time; they often ignore the rules – going so far as to tear down avalanche-warning signs and use them as saucer sleds!

I saw it with my own eyes. The chief took us to a popular hill used for sledding. There, I saw adults and children walking right past a big posted notice: “Warning: Potential Avalanche Area—Do Not Cross!” They climbed right up that hill and sledded down, oblivious to the danger. I talked to some of the sledders who either said they didn’t notice the sign or didn’t think an avalanche could happen to them.

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Sandra Hughes is a CBS News correspondent based in Los Angeles.

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It was a rainy day when we drove up the almost hidden driveway to the Berry Botanical Garden in suburban Portland, Oregon. Cameraman Max Stacey and I had missed the tiny sign and we were just going by addresses when we found it! But what a delightful find. Six acres of gardens and a beautiful old white house just up from the river road. But the real hidden gem was the project directors Ed Guerrant and Andrea Raven are working on inside; seed banking.

It’s not a new idea but saving the world's seeds has taken on a measure of urgency and Ed told me why, because he says "not since the age of dinosaurs have things been going extinct at the rate they are now."

Right now up to one-fifth of the earth's plants are in trouble--fluctuating temperatures from global warming mean some plants that need cold conditions are too warm, those that need rain, aren't getting it.

If you wonder why it's so important to save plants it's because plants are not only a source of food but are also a source of medicine. One in six of all wild plants are used for medicine, one in ten for food. Who knows what disease might yet be cured by some wild plant that is near extinction? And what about the delicate balance of the eco-system? Ed and Andrea explained to me that losing just one plant could throw things off. What bird or bug might eat that plant? Without that plant, the bird or bug dies. That, in turn, can affect many other animals.

So, the job of saving endangered plant species in the Northwest U.S. is the job of Ed and Andrea. They go out into the field and delicately (so they don't damage the plant) take seeds from endangered plants in the northwest. Like the pale larkspur, western lily and nelsons checker mallow. It’s an insurance policy against extinction. They take the seeds back for drying and ultimately freezing inside their seed bank.

The Berry Botanical Garden takes its seed banking seriously. The seed bank is a freezer that is kept in a fire-proof room behind a bank vault door. They are working on making the room completely earthquake safe, as well.

And if you think they're seed serious in Oregon you should see the seed bank just outside London! It’s called the Millennium Seed Project. A towering fortress of modern steel built to house all the world's seeds. It’s huge and quite modern looking and the idea is to hold the key to the entire world's plant life right there. They are well on their way. Officials at the Millennium Seed Project predict by 2010 they should have about ten percent of the world’s seeds!

A day at the beach is always a welcome outing. This day turned out to be one I won’t soon forget. First, I met a tall, tan, long-haired man named Izzy Paskowitz. In his day, Izzy was a world-class surfer. But we weren’t there to talk about Izzy’s accolades, although that would be an entertaining day.

Today we came to watch Izzy and his surf instructors teach dozens of very unique kids to catch waves off the California coast. These days Izzy runs a surf camp in Pacific Beach but several times a year that camp gets put on hold and everyone puts their energy into a program called “Surfers Healing.” You can see in Izzy’s eyes this is a special day for him and you hear it in the shouts of joy and giggles from the kids emerging from their cars that this is a day they have been looking forward to all year. What’s incredible about today is that all the surfers are autistic children. With symptoms that range from mild to severe, the kids come from all over the country for this one day of wonder...

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