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This week on “Sunday Morning” (May 26)
The Emmy Award-winning “CBS News Sunday Morning” is broadcast on CBS Sundays beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET. “Sunday Morning” also streams on the CBS News app beginning at 12:00 p.m. ET. (Download it here.)
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COVER STORY: World War II veterans speak to the ages
Vincent Speranza, who served as a paratrooper during the Battle of the Bulge, died last year at age 98. But visitors to the National WWII Museum in New Orleans can still talk to him, and – thanks to voice recognition software and artificial intelligence – hear answers to their questions about Speranza’s experiences during and after the war. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin talks with the museum’s vice president Peter Crean about the race against time to preserve the stories of the men and women who fought in the war, and with some of the veterans who will be able to “speak” to future generations.
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ALMANAC: May 26
“Sunday Morning” looks back at historical events on this date.
ARTS: Indigenous artist Jeffrey Gibson, on view at the Venice Biennale
Jeffrey Gibson, a member of the Mississippi band of Choctaw Indians and of Cherokee descent, is the first Indigenous artist to be chosen to represent the United States with a solo exhibition at the Venice Biennale, which is considered the Olympics of the art world. Correspondent Seth Doane visits the site of the Biennale, and meets with Gibson at his studio in Upstate New York, where he created his exhibition titled “The Space in Which to Place Me.”
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FOOD: Texas BBQ, with a foreign flavor
The Lone Star State’s distinctive barbecue is getting some impressive variations, with the help of pitmasters with roots in such places as Egypt, Vietnam and Japan. Correspondent Lee Cowan talks with some of the new bright lights of Texas BBQ, and with Daniel Vaughn, barbecue editor of Texas Monthly. (This story was originally broadcast November 19, 2023.)
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TV: Pam Grier is comfortable with being an icon
She was a gun-toting goddess who made her name in blaxploitation films like “Coffy” and “Foxy Brown,” and inspired director Quentin Tarantino to write a film especially for her. But action star Pam Grier proved to be more than just proficient at taking down drug dealers; she also beat cancer. The actress talks with correspondent Tracy Smith about starring in the Amazon Prime horror series “Them: The Scare,” and why she agreed to work in a genre that she finds terrifying.
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PASSAGE: In memoriam
“Sunday Morning” remembers some of the notable figures who left us this week.
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HISTORY: Leopold & Loeb and the crime of the century
One hundred years ago, two affluent and academically-gifted young men – Nathan Leopold, 19, and Richard Loeb, 18 – decided to commit the perfect murder, when they abducted and killed 14-year-old Bobby Franks in Chicago. “48 Hours” correspondent Erin Moriarty reports on how Leopold & Loeb’s murder was solved, and why the crime that shocked the nation still haunts us today.
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HARTMAN: TBD
Natalie Powers
STAGE: “All of Me” and the lighter side of disability
For more than 40 years Emmy Award-winner Kyra Sedgwick has starred in films and on TV, including the series “The Closer,” and has shared the world stage with her husband, fellow actor Kevin Bacon. Now, in the Off-Broadway comedy “All of Me,” Sedgwick plays the mother of a young disabled woman who is romantically involved with a disabled man. Correspondent Mo Rocca talks with Sedgwick about the play she calls a “family dysfunction story,” and with actors Madison Ferris and Danny J. Gomez who say they like the play for not indulging in what’s been called “inspiration porn.”
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SPORTS: Daria Kasatkina, the world’s bravest tennis player
For the first half-dozen years of her pro career, Russian-born Daria Kasatkina was an ascending tennis player, not known for being political or particularly outspoken. Then, in February 2022, Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, and she condemned her country for it. Five months later, an emboldened Kasatkina made another statement she knew could trigger backlash in her homeland, one famously hostile to gay rights: She was in a relationship with another Russian athlete, former Olympic skater Natasha Zabiiako. Kasatkina and Zabiiako talk with “60 Minutes” correspondent Jon Wertheim about the importance of speaking out, and why they can’t go home.
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NATURE: TBD
WEB EXCLUSIVES:
EXTENDED INTERVIEW: Dan Rather (YouTube Video)
In this extended interview with “CBS Sunday Morning” correspondent Lee Cowan, legendary CBS News veteran Dan Rather, now 92, talks about his early life and years in broadcasting, including his experiences with Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite; his proudest moments as a correspondent; the effects that the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the Vietnam War had on his reporting; the role of social media in journalism today; and why covering some stories means that journalists must accept “danger is your business.”
The Emmy Award-winning “CBS News Sunday Morning” is broadcast on CBS Sundays beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET. Executive producer is Rand Morrison.
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Paris Hilton’s bill to protect minors at residential treatment facilities heads to president’s desk
Heiress, model and actor Paris Hilton is the force behind a bill headed to President Biden’s desk that’s aimed at preventing the abuse of minors at rehab and other residential facilities.
The House passed the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act in a bipartisan 373-33 vote Wednesday, after the Senate passed the bill by unanimous consent earlier in the week. It’s a cause that’s personal to Hilton, who says she was abused at residential treatment facilities as a teen. Hilton lived in a series of residential treatment facilities from the age of 16, testifying before Congress in June that she had been violently restrained, stripped of clothing and tossed into solitary confinement, among other experiences.
“Today is a day I will never forget,” Hilton wrote on Instagram. “After years of sharing my story and advocating on Capitol Hill, the Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act has officially passed the U.S Congress. This moment is proof that our voices matter, that speaking out can spark change, and that no child should ever endure the horrors of abuse in silence. I did this for the younger version of myself and the youth who were senselessly taken from us by the Troubled Teen Industry.”
Now 43, Hilton has championed child protection legislation on Capitol Hill for years, encouraging lawmakers to pass regulations to help protect troubled teens from abuse at treatment centers. Hilton met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill this week, urging them to take up the legislation before the 118th Congress ends.
Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna introduced the legislation in the House and Senate, and they were joined by Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Tommy Tuberville and Republican Rep. Buddy Carter.
“Children across the country are at risk of abuse and neglect due to a lack of transparency in institutional youth treatment programs,” Khanna said in a statement. “The industry has gone unchecked for too long. Paris Hilton and other survivors of abuse in this broken system have bravely shared their stories and inspired change. I’m proud to lead this legislation with my colleagues to protect the safety and well-being of kids.”
The legislation creates a federal work group on youth residential programs to oversee the health, safety, care, treatment and placement of minors in rehab and other facilities. It also directs the Department of Health and Human Services to make contact with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to make recommendations about state oversight of such programs.
Hilton is the great-grandaughter of Conrad Hilton, who founded Hilton Hotels.
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The Biden administration is beginning to retaliate against China for its sweeping hack of U.S. telecommunications companies earlier this year.
Last week the Commerce Department issued a notice to China Telecom Americas, the U.S. subsidiary of one of China’s largest communications firms, alleging in a preliminary finding that its presence in American telecom networks and cloud services poses a national security risk. The company has 30 days to respond, although the Commerce Department has not said what action it plans to take next.
The New York Times was the first to report the action, which is a direct response to China’s infiltration of telecom networks earlier this year. The China-backed hacking group known as Salt Typhoon penetrated the networks of numerous companies including Verizon, AT&T and Lumen Technologies, a U.S. official familiar with the matter told to CBS News in October.
It’s unclear what the impact on China Telecom would be, since the FCC has already limited China Telecom Americas’ ability to operate in U.S. communications infrastructure. In October 2021, the FCC revoked its license to provide phone services in the US.
The FCC found that China Telecom “is subject to exploitation, influence, and control by the Chinese government and is highly likely to be forced to comply with Chinese government requests without sufficient legal procedures subject to independent judicial oversight.”
China Telecom Americas has not responded to requests for comment.
U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials are continuing to try to learn more about the scope of the hack, which targeted U.S. surveillance capabilities used for operations including wiretaps. U.S. intelligence officials routinely seek court authorization to use telecom systems like those targeted in the breach to collect information for law enforcement or national security probes.
One fear is that the cyberattacks could have allowed the hackers to access information about ongoing U.S. investigations — including those tied to China — through the collection of sensitive data and techniques.
China’s incursions into U.S. critical infrastructure — including water treatment plants and the electrical grid — have lawmakers on Capitol Hill and the incoming Trump administration warning of a more aggressive retaliatory posture going forward.
Rep. Mike Waltz, designated by President-elect Trump to be national security adviser, told Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation” Sunday, “We need to start going on offense and start imposing, I think, higher costs and consequences to private actors and nation state actors that continue to steal our data, that continue to spy on us.”
Last month, Rep. Jim Himes, Democrat of Connecticut and the ranking on the House Intelligence Committee, issued a similar warning.
“We’re not just going to name and shame,” he said on “Face the Nation.” “We are going to go into their networks and give as good as we got.”