CBS News announced, "Andy Rooney will announce on this Sunday's '60 Minutes' that it will be his last regular appearance on the broadcast. Rooney, 92, has been featured on "60 Minutes" since 1978. He will make the announcement in his regular essay at the end of the program, his 1097th original essay for '60 Minutes'. It will be preceded by a segment in which Rooney looks back on his career in an interview with Morley Safer." However, Newsday's TV reporter Verne Gay is suspicious about this announcement. more ›

CBS News correspondent Lara Logan's interview about her terrifying sexual assault in Cairo aired on 60 Minutes last night (see it below). Besides having her clothes torn to shreds and feeling "hands raping me over and over," Logan said they were pulling out her hair, "holding big wads of it, literally trying to tear my scalp off my skull. And I thought, when I thought I am going to die here, my next thought was I can't believe I just let them kill me, that that was as much fight as I had. That I just gave in and I gave up on my children so easily, how could you do that?" more ›

CBS's $15-million-a-year contract with Katie Couric—arguably the Rodney Dangerfield of the current crop of news anchors—expires June 4. So naturally the speculation that she'll be giving up her post is making a comeback (we feel like we've been kicking the tires of this story for ages now). The AP is reporting today that, according to a network executive, Couric will be leaving the anchor desk when her contract is up. more ›

Last week, CBS News revealed that correspondent Lara Logan "suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating" on February 11, while covering the reaction to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's resignation in Cairo. Now the Daily Mail reports on Logan's attack, "Sensitive parts of her body were covered in red marks that were originally thought to have been bite marks. After further examination they were revealed to be from aggressive pinching. It has also been revealed that she was stripped, punched and slapped by the crowd, which was labelling her a spy and chanting 'Israeli' and 'Jew' as they beat her." more ›

The journalist and now ex-NYU fellow who belittled the "brutal and sustained sexual assault" on CBS correspondent Lara Logan last week in Cairo, Egypt is now on an apology tour. Well, sort of: Nir Rosen, who resigned his position at NYU's Center on Law and Security yesterday after the uproar his Tweets ("Jesus Christ, at a moment when she is going to become a martyr and glorified we should at least remember her role as a major war monger") caused, told CNN's Anderson Cooper he had no excuse, he "was a jerk," but then blamed his actions on the late hour, "It was 2 AM and I was just being thoughtless," and not really knowing what happened to Logan. But Cooper called him out on that. more ›

Yesterday, CBS News revealed its chief foreign affairs correspondent, Lara Logan, "suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating" while covering reaction to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's resignation in Cairo's Tahrir Square last Friday. Logan returned to the United States the next day and was treated at a hospital; she is now recuperating at home. According to the Post, CBS News decided to make the statement because it started to get questions from other media outlets: A source said, "A call came in from The [Associated Press]... They knew she had been attacked, and they had details. CBS decided to get in front of the story." more ›

CBS News issued a statement on how correspondent Lara Logan suffered a horrible attack last week in Egypt: "On Friday February 11, the day Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak stepped down, CBS correspondent Lara Logan was covering the jubilation in Tahrir Square for a '60 Minutes' story when she and her team and their security were surrounded by a dangerous element amidst the celebration.. In the crush of the mob, she was separated from her crew. She was surrounded and suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers." more ›

After the video of the Indonesian two-year-old who smokes 40 cigarettes a day caught (Internet) fire, someone at CBS decided a news crew should go to the country and find the child who smokes those suckers like he's a little kingpin. According to CBS, "Just before midnight, our crew found Aldi Suganda, in the quiet fishing village of Musi Bbanyuasin -- lit cigarette in-hand... At home, Aldi plays with toys and grips a bottle. But his tiny hands also light cigarettes with the familiarity of a seasoned smoker." more ›

Yesterday, numerous bold-faced names were at Lincoln Center for a memorial in honor of late CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite. President Obama was on hand to pay tribute, "I did not know Mr. Cronkite personally. But I have benefited as a citizen from his dogged pursuit to find truth, his passionate defense of the truth of reporting. Walter wasn't afraid to rattle the high and the mighty...Too often, we fill that void [today] with instant commentary and celebrity gossip and the softer stories that Walter disdained, rather than the hard news and investigative journalism he championed." Other speakers included CBS News anchor Katie Couric, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, former President Clinton and singer Jimmy Buffett, who performed "Son of a Son of a Sailor." more ›

Legendary CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite's death is still being mourned by the country. In a statement released by CBS News, President Obama said, "He brought us all those stories large and small which would come to define the 20th century. That’s why we love Walter, because in an era before blogs and e-mail, cellphones and cable, he was the news. Walter invited us to believe in him, and he never let us down." more ›

Katie Couric had another exclusive interview tonight--one with both John McCain and his running Sarah Palin. And in the video above, Couric asks Palin about her remarks--made while getting a cheesesteak in Philadelphia, to a Temple University graduate student--saying the U.S. should cross the Afghanistan border to Pakistan ("If that's what we have to do stop the terrorists from coming any further in, absolutely, we should").

Couric: Is that something you shouldn't say out loud, Sen. McCain? more ›

After speculation that she would leave CBS News well before her contract expires in 2011, CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric said she would be staying put. During the summer television press tour, she told reporters, "I have no plans to leave anytime soon. I'm very committed to the people here and the product." The product in question has lagged in ratings, placing third after NBC's and ABC's evening news broadcasts. Next week, all network anchors--Brian Williams, Charles Gibson and Couric--are joining Obama on his trip to the Middle East. When asked if the media was biased towards Obama, Couric said, "I don't think we're 'in the tank' at all. We talk to Sen. [John] McCain extensively. We go to events he allows us to cover." more ›

Anthony Lappé is a writer, blogger, television producer and executive editor of GNN.tv, the web site for the Guerrilla News Network. He's written for mainstream press like the Times and was the National Affairs Editor for Black Book, and in 2003 he collaborated on the award-winning Showtime documentary about Iraq called BattleGround: 21 Days on the Empire’s Edge, which covered the front lines of the simmering guerrilla war in Iraq in 2003. Part of what he saw there influenced his new graphic novel, Shooting War, which started out as a serial on the Smith Magazine website. The lavish hardcover print edition, with illustrations by Dan Goldman, follows the gonzo adventures of a New York blogger who becomes a media darling in 2011 after his footage of a bombing at a Williamsburg Starbucks gets picked up by the mainstream media. Looking to keep coverage of the ongoing Iraq quagmire edgy, a global news network hires him to bring a youth angle to the guerrilla war. Part satire, part dystopian nightmare, Shooting War is unflinching in its depiction of the hellish future toward which the Bush administration is corralling us. more ›

Senator John McCain won the Republican primary in New Hampshire, with the race being called for him early on. Senator Hillary Clinton beat Senator Barack Obama by a few thousand votes in a very close race. Comebacks all around! more ›

If CBS News Writers Strike, Democrats Will Nix Debate Several presidential candidates - Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Bill Richardson -have announced their intentions not to cross picket lines for a debate sponsored by CBS News on December 10th. The Writers Guild of America announced earlier this week that its members who work for the network’s television and radio operations at both the national and local level have authorized a strike vote. The members have... more ›

Make sure you’re sitting down before reading further: Today TV bloggers formed a virtual picket line to support the Writers Guild strike. We’ve been refreshing Ramblings of a TV Whore all day, hoping for some blogging scab to post something! All this strike activity is becoming quite the trend; CBS News writers are expected to join their more gifted and talented “creative” colleagues who are entering week two of the strike. The CBS News scribes... more ›

Giving Proper Credit to CBS 2 and Scott Weinberger more ›

What is the lawsuit about, Kenneth? more ›

Choice Royce found this timely wheatpaste on Wall Street - check out Bernie Kerik's cable knit sweater! Today, the former mayor attended the September 11 commemoration ceremonies at Ground Zero. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a DOA/Fall Victim at 1 Hogan Place in Manhattan (that's the Manhattan DA's office), a double stabbing on East 171st St. in the Bronx, and an overturned ambulance at Broadway and Delafield Ave. on Staten Island.
• Opening day sales for tickets to The Metropolitan Opera set a record this Sunday after increasing 25% year over year, to $2.08 million. Online sales to performances were 50% higher than 2006's opening.
• New York apple growers are concerned despite what is shaping up to be an excellent harvest this year. Recent moves to crack down on illegal immigration means that orchard owners may not be able to fill the demand for seasonal agricultural workers to pick all of the apples.
• Cops arrested the surgical scrubs-wearing bank robber who darted into a hospital where he blended with facility personnel to evade capture. 50-year-old Robert Britt actually works at the VA hospital near the bank he robbed and already served seven years in prison during the 1980s for another bank robbery.
• An unauthorized biography of Katie Couric paints an unflattering portrait of the CBS News anchor, including allegations that the only reason she didn't file for divorce from her cancer-stricken husband was a fear of bad publicity.
• Bobby's Happy House, a Harlem music store opened in 1946, is being asked to leave its present location by new building owners, and 90-year-old owner Bobby Robinson is unsure if he will be able to find a new space to open.
• Curbed looks at the mysterious "Pine Tree Building" on 2nd Place between Hoyt and Boyd Sts. in Carroll Gardens.
• A class action suit has been filed on behalf of the approximately 100 men and women who hand out copies of AMNewYork newspapers in front of subway stations. The suit against the Tribune Co. alleges that the $20 a day workers are paid to distribute the papers is below New York's minimum wage when one takes into account how long employees work.

The New York Post has a story today on the seizure of an old checkered cab from its owner, who uses it to give free rides to people around the city. 80-year-old Ray Kottner had his hack seized when Taxi and Limousine Commission investigators spotted him accepting a $10 gratuity from a grateful rider. Kottner's been driving a cab for 64 years but decided to quit "working for the man" a few years ago. A CBS News profile of him in 2006 described his unique business model. He offers people free rides in his old checker cab. In addition to the ride, he offers an irascible personality and doesn't suffer fools gladly. People love it, and the money he makes in tips from grateful riders far outstrips anything he made as a cab for hire. more ›

There must be something about the morning shift at WABC. After just four days on the job as the permanent replacement for Steve Bartelstein, Ken Rosato, overslept and was late for the 5 a.m. edition of Eyewitness News. We think it is pretty safe to assume that he just overslept, since he probably hasn’t adjusted his body clock fully to the new hours, and that he wasn’t spending the night out clubbing like his predecessor. We wonder if he brought bagels to smooth things over. more ›

A look at some noteworthy television this week: more ›

Get ready for this Sundays 60 Minutes, because there's an intriguing segment: Anderson Cooper interview rapper Cam'ron about the hip-hop community's code of silence when it comes to crimes. In fact, here's an excerpt of their exchange from CBS News:

"If I knew the serial killer was living next door to me?" Giles responds to a hypothetical question posed by Cooper. "I wouldn't call and tell anybody on him — but I'd probably move. But I'm not going to call and be like, 'The serial killer's in 4E.' " more ›

Yesterday, NBC News revealed that Virginia Tech shooting gunman Cho Seung-Hiu sent them a package of photographs, writings, and video - a "multimedia manifesto." The network turned over the materials to the authorities but also shared the package's contents during the evening news last night and on its website. more ›

Who's that? Why, it's Supreme Court Justice Gerald Garson, taped by the Brooklyn DA's office. Garson is on trial for accepting bribes from lawyers while presiding over divorce cases - and the accusations are incredible. The 74-year-old jurist, who is now suspended, allegedly accepted cash, cigars, meals and more from lawyers who wanted their clients to win. And how was Garson's side business discovered? When a woman wanted to get a "fixer" to bribe the judge because she wanted to win her divorce and child custody case... only to find out that her husband's lawyer already bribed Garson! more ›

Testimony in the trial of Paul Cortez, accused of murdering ex-girlfriend Catherine Woods, was completed yesterday after the prosecution questioned Cortez. The prosecution tried to prove that Cortez was jealous of Woods' ex-boyfriend David Haughn, who still lived with Woods even while they were broken up and Woods was dating Cortez. Assistant DA Peter Casolaro said, "Your competition was an inarticulate, uneducated, slow, not-much-to-look-at rube from Ohio, right?" after saying that Cortez was "physically fit, talented and articulate" (Cortez thanked him). more ›

That Donald Trump. Just last week, there was all this attention about his hotel planned for Soho hitting a snag - well, actually many, many human remains - when a graveyard was found. The Department of Buildings issued a stop-work order and community groups criticizing the 45-floor Trump Soho Hotel rejoiced for the moment. And then Tara Conner happened. more ›

Ed Bradley, longtime CBS News journalist and 60 Minutes correspondent, died today at age 65. Bradley had been diagnosed with leukemia some years ago, but a recent infection made his condition life-threatening. more ›