All Blog Posts from Couric & Co.

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

Ask almost anyone about “The Wizard of Oz” and they immediately recount their favorite scene or the first time they watched it during childhood. I remember seeing the movie year after year with my mom and my two sisters in Brooklyn, New York, always eagerly anticipating my favorite scene when Dorothy clicks the heels of her fabulous ruby red slippers and says, “There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.”

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When we started working on a story about resume fraud and whether more people were lying on their resumes now because the job market is so tight, our biggest challenge was finding someone who would admit he or she lied on their resume. No easy task.

I called some of the big names who made news when their stretching of the truth became public, like George O'Leary, the former Notre Dame Coach who lied about his education and college football career and David Edmondson, the former CEO of Radio Shack who lied about a college degree on his resume. Maybe they'd want to talk to us and provide a cautionary tale to any job seeker who might be thinking of embellishing or outright lying in these recessionary times. Not a chance. They weren't interested or didn't return my calls.

New regulations are in effect which will force credit card companies to give consumers 45 days notice of any rate increases or changes, giving cardholders the option of opting out and paying their balance down at their current lower rate. Companies must now also send out statements 21 days before payment is due instead of the current 14 day requirement.

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A new report (PDF) today from New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo revealed that big banks – including the recipients of billions in taxpayer-funded bailouts – paid their employees massive bonuses regardless of how the banks performed.

Correspondent Kelly Wallace is covering the story for tonight's "CBS Evening News". Earlier today, she discussed the report and previewed tonight's story in a conversation with CBSNews.com editor-in-chief Dan Farber.

Consider these statistics for a moment. 62 percent of college seniors have four or more credit cards. That's not a typo. Four or more. Crazy, right? With an average balance on these cards of more than $4,000 these seniors are entering the real world already saddled with hefty credit card debt.

For our Children of the Recession piece airing tonight on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, I interviewed Shanetta Francis, a recent graduate of Trenton High School in New Jersey who could not wait to get her hands on plastic.

"Because I heard so much about credit cards and how they raise your limit and you can get black cards and gold cards or platinum cards and I was like I cannot wait until I turn 18," she told me.

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I visited the camp for our "Children of the Recession" story which airs tonight on We wanted to explore whether the recession has prompted more parents and teachers to start teaching kids Finance 101.

At least 50 eight and nine year olds were seated on the floor in front of me and I asked them questions such as: why is it important to save, what's a credit card, etc. but then I wondered if any of them actually knew someone who lost a job so I asked.

I never expected such a huge response.

Easily, three-quarters of them raised their hands.

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Eleven thousand lucky ticket holders got a chance to see the spectacular sendoff of their icon Michael Jackson today at the Staples Center.

Another seven thousand were next door at the Nokia Theater, and no doubt millions around the world watched on television.

As biographer Randy Taraborrelli said that's how Michael would have wanted it.

His family, friends and fans may be laying the King of Pop to rest soon, but this will not be the end of the story. Impending court proceedings on the estate and custody of his three kids will dominate headlines for weeks to come.

But today isn't about all that. It's about the music and the magic that Michael Jackson brought into our lives for so many decades.

And, perhaps a fitting tribute as a media circus leaves LA - a real one is coming: Ringling Brothers is loading at the Staples Center.

I don't know why but I believe that would make Michael smile.

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One of the most striking things to me about the new national survey of students focusing on cheating by cell phone or using the Internet, which we are reporting for Thursday’s The Early Show, is how many kids don’t necessarily think it’s cheating at all.

Almost one in four middle and high school students surveyed said they didn’t think storing notes on a cell phone or texting during an exam constituted cheating. What? Cheating by any other name is still cheating, right?

Kyle Cohen, a senior at Ridgewood High School in New Jersey, tried to explain the conundrum to me this way: "I think just because you are not making the person to person contact (it's easier) to convince yourself that you are not doing something wrong."

Katherine Griffith, another Ridgewood High School senior, said she thinks kids think of it more as "helping each other out as opposed to I'm going to cheat on my test and look at someone else’s paper."

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I wasn’t bullied as a kid but I did come across at least one bully during my career. No names need to be mentioned. They know who they are! There were many days when I’d shed a few tears wondering why this was happening to me and in those moments, the bully was definitely winning. As hard as it was, I always tried to remind myself the bully was the one with the big problem, not me.

That’s the message the American Academy of Pediatrics wants doctors, teachers and parents to send to kids. The numbers are alarming – almost 30 percent of all kids say they’ve either been bullied or are doing the bullying. Three out of 10! And the rest have likely witnessed bullying or know someone who has been bullied or who is a bully.

In our piece tonight on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, you’ll meet 13-year-old Daniel Warburton, an 8th grader who has been bullied relentlessly since the 4th grade. He said it started as name calling, with kids calling him names like “faggot,” and turned physical on the football field last year when seven of his so-called teammates tackled him to the point of unconsciousness. A teammate who stood up for Daniel ended up being bullied himself and then sucker-punched Daniel as a way of regaining favor with the bullies.

“I know this happens every day and a lot of kids are going through this and me being one of them, it’s just really upsetting,” he told me.

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There is one quote that really stuck with me when we were researching ideas for tonight’s story on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric about college students graduating into the recession. “Damn me for being born in ’87,” Suzanne Block told The Chicago Tribune back in March before graduating. “This is just a nightmare. There could not be a worse time to be looking for a job.”

Oh how right Suzanne is. Employers say they’ll hire 22 percent fewer grads this year versus last year. And while 51 percent of college seniors looking for jobs found one before leaving campus back in 2007, less than 20 percent were as fortunate this year.

Desperate times call for desperate measures? Well, maybe not desperate but unusual, creative approaches to the job hunt seem to be the norm, not the exception, as students try to find a way to stand out. Remember, today’s graduates are not only competing against their peers but against experienced 20-somethings and baby boomers who lost their jobs and are anxiously trying to find new ones.

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