
More than 110 million Americans to travel for holidays despite COVID surge
AAA says traveling is almost at pre-pandemic levels.
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Mark Strassmann is CBS News' senior national correspondent based in Atlanta. He covers a wide range of stories, including space exploration. Strassmann is also the senior national correspondent for "Face the Nation."
Since joining CBS News in 2001, Strassmann has covered major domestic and international stories, primarily for the "CBS Evening News" and "Face the Nation." Strassmann broke the story of Trayvon Martin, the Florida teenager who was gunned down in Sanford, Florida, by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman. Strassmann also provided extensive coverage of Zimmerman's trial. Additionally, he reported on the BP oil spill for four months, Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, the Terry Schiavo right-to-die story, church burnings in the South, the shuttle program, Colorado wildfires and Texas floods, the raising of the Hunley submarine, the Worldcom accounting debacle, the aftermath of September 11 and the trials of aging Ku Klux Klan members in the Birmingham church bombing. He has also made multiple trips to Iraq since 2003.
Strassmann was the CBS News embedded correspondent with the 101st Airborne, reporting from the frontlines for seven weeks as U.S. forces swept from Kuwait into Iraq. He was the first television correspondent worldwide to break the news of the fragging incident within that unit. Strassmann was staying in the tent just behind the one in which two U.S. servicemen were killed in the attack and reported live from Iraq soon after it happened. He also covered the fall of Haitian President Aristide, among other major international stories.
Previously, Strassmann was a national correspondent for NBC News Channel, the network's affiliate news service, in its Atlanta bureau (1997-2001). He also contributed reports to "Today" and other NBC broadcasts. Before that, Strassmann was assigned to NBC News Channel's Miami bureau (1995-97). During that time, he reported extensively in the United States and abroad on major stories, including the Branch Davidian standoff near Waco, the Columbine school shootings, a total of eight Democratic and Republican National Conventions, the Atlanta Olympic Games, the Elian Gonzalez story, the Pope's trip to Cuba, Princess Diana's funeral, the 50th anniversary of D-Day and the 2000 Bush-Gore election story in Florida.
Prior to that, Strassmann was a reporter for WFLA-TV Tampa (1987-95), WTVT-TV Columbus, Ohio (1985-87), KMOL-TV San Antonio (1985) and WSAZ-TV Charleston, W. Va. (1982-85). He began his career as an associate producer at WCVB-TV Boston (1980-82).
Strassmann has received more than 30 journalism awards, including a 2002 Emmy Award for CBS News' coverage of the D.C. sniper story, an Emmy Award for "CBS Sunday Morning," and an Ohio State Award.
He was born in New York City and grew up in Boston. He is married to WSB-TV Atlanta anchor Linda Stouffer. They have two children.
AAA says traveling is almost at pre-pandemic levels.
The pandemic interrupted the Santa Claus Girls' yearly gift giving tradition, but now they are back bringing cheer to children in need.
An estimated 160,000 military families experienced difficulty putting food on the table in 2020, according to Feeding America.
One study found that the median home price was 10 times higher than the median income.
Not only are builders facing a shortage of materials amid supply chain issues, they're also hampered by labor shortages.
"Workers definitely have more labor market leverage because employers need to hire," said one expert.
The new instruments have given students a sense of normalcy after some lost their homes.
Millions of Americans have quit their jobs due to pandemic burnout. Many have started their own companies.
American hospitals are undergoing another emergency on top of the pandemic, as the struggle to fill drug orders for hundreds of patients.
Some staff members are making grocery runs themselves so that schools can feed students.
Caleb Anderson, who just turned 13, is an aerospace engineering major instead of a seventh-grader.
Three weeks into the school year, thousands of students and staff across the Atlanta metro have had to quarantine after being exposed to COVID, according to one estimate.
Imani Bell, 16, died during conditioning drills after coaches held an outdoor practice despite a heat warning from the county.
"Whatever glowing feeling is inside me, it just transferred from that TV screen and went inside them," he said.
One woman told her son she woke to creaking noises before the building collapsed.