All Blog Posts from Couric & Co.

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

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For every story, we try to find one character who we hope will really connect with viewers. So when we were asked to do a piece for the “CBS Evening News with Katie Couric” on the blistering heat affecting much of the nation, we needed to find someone who really understood what it meant when the mercury neared the 100 degree mark. Our colleagues in Washington, D.C. found us that very person.

Marty Raynor is a deliveryman. On Monday, when it was 96 degrees in the nation’s capital, a near record high for the city, he was out delivering water and lots of it. What’s it been like, we asked. “I tell you, it ain’t been pleasant but it’s, you know, in order to make that money, I’ve got to keep rolling,” Raynor said as he wiped sweat from his forehead.

For many of us, when the temperatures outside sizzle, we can stay inside in our air-conditioned homes or offices. I know that’s what I try to do but what about people like Marty who have to work outside for a living and cannot escape the oppressive heat?

“I’ve been drinking plenty of water, that’s the best thing for being out here in this kind of weather,” he said. “You need to, you got to put some fluid in your body, without that, you might just dry up,” he added with a laugh, not letting Mother Nature torch his sense of humor.

The heat, we learned, is serious business not just for people like Marty, but for elderly residents like Ellsworth Farrell, who told us he has no air conditioning where he’s living right now. “All we have is fans, a fan is good but all it does is circulate the hot air, you know, but it’s better than nothing,” he said as he spent much of Monday at one of DC’s cooling centers which were opened to give people some relief...

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With record temperatures scorching the West, it's good to remember some common-sense advice that isn't as common as it should be.

For details on beating the heat, just click the monitor.

Will 2006 be like 1994? With one week left until Election Day, Katie ponders in her Notebook whether this will be a "wave election."

Click the monitor to catch the wave...

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