August 30, 2017


News and Views


AFTER THE STORM IS THE WORST AS THE HUMAN TRAGEDY IS EXPOSED.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/houston-flood-hurricane-harvey-30-aug-live-updates/
CBS/AP August 30, 2017, 11:16 AM
Last Updated Aug 30, 2017 2:30 PM EDT
Harvey's worst flooding "not yet over" in southeast Texas, governor says
LIVE UPDATES – go to website to review the latest.


THANK GOODNESS THIS BABY DOES HAVE A LIVING FATHER. SUCH TRAUMA TO A YOUNG CHILD CAN CAUSE SERIOUS EMOTIONAL SCARRING.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/harvey-horror-shivering-tot-found-clinging-to-drowned-mom/
CBS/AP August 30, 2017, 7:51 AM
Harvey horror: Shivering tot found clinging to drowned mom

BEAUMONT, Texas -- Authorities found a shivering toddler clinging to the body of her drowned mother in a rain-swollen canal in Southeast Texas after the woman tried to carry her child to safety from Harvey's floods.

CBS Beaumont affiliate KFDM-TV reports the woman was driving on an Interstate 10 service road Tuesday afternoon when she encountered high water and turned into an office park parking lot.

Capt. Brad Penisson, of the fire-rescue department in Beaumont, said the woman's vehicle then got stuck in the flooded parking lot. Squalls from Harvey were pounding Beaumont with up to 2 inches of rain an hour at the time with 38 mph gusts, according to the National Weather Service.

Penisson said a witness saw the woman take her 18-month-old daughter and try to walk to safety when the swift current of a flooded drainage canal next to the parking lot swept them both away.

The child was holding onto the floating woman when a police and fire-rescue team in a boat caught up to them a half-mile downstream, he said. Rescuers pulled them into the boat just before they would have gone under a railroad trestle where the water was so high that the boat could not have followed.

First responders lifted the child from her mother's body and tried to revive the woman, but she never regained consciousness.

Penisson said the child was in stable condition at Christus St. Elizabeth Hospital. KFDM says the tot appeared to be suffering from hypothermia

The identities of the mother and child were being withheld until the father, who was out of town, could be notified.

On Tuesday night, two people were killed when a tree fell onto a pickup truck Tuesday night in Jasper County, just north of Beaumont, KFDM reports.

The Jasper County Fire Department confirmed to CBS News that two people did drive under a tree, when asked if two people had died.

At least 10 people, including those in Beaumont and Jasper County, have been killed by Harvey since Friday, when it made landfall in Texas as a Category 4 hurricane. Harvey has since weakened to a tropical storm, moved back out onto the Gulf of Mexico then made landfall again.



CRUZ DEFENDS HIS FISCALLY “CONSERVATIVE” DECISION TO WITHHOLD FULL FUNDING FOR HURRICANE SANDY, AND PROMISES “MASSIVE” FUNDING FOR THIS STORM. STILL, THEY WANT ONE TAX CUT AFTER ANOTHER NO MATTER THE SOCIETAL NEEDS. I HOPE THAT FULL FUNDING WILL BECOME A FACT. CRUZ SAYS THAT THE BILL TO PAY FOR SANDY CONTAINED UNRELATED SPENDING PROPOSALS. I’M NOT IN A POSITION TO KNOW FOR A CERTAINTY, BUT THE PATTERN OF BELT-TIGHTENING IS A CONSTANT AMONG REPUBLICANS, AND THAT IS A PROBLEM FOR CITIZENS WHEN FUNDS FOR HUMAN NEEDS ARE REPEATEDLY WITHHELD. TAXES ARE NECESSARY.

VIDEO INTERVIEW -- https://www.cbsnews.com/videos/ted-cruz-on-hurricane-harvey-sandy-disaster-relief-funding/
Ted Cruz on Hurricane Harvey, Sandy disaster relief funding
Texas Senator Ted Cruz says FEMA funding for Harvey victims will be "massive," as other lawmakers criticize his past vote against Sandy relief.
AUGUST 30, 2017, 10:22 AM



33 PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN INSIDE THE SHELTERS

https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/houston-flood-harvey-shelters/
Inside Houston's emergency shelters
Safe and dry
A man waits to check into the shelter in the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, Aug. 28, 2017.

CREDIT: Brendan Smialowski / AFP/Getty Images



THE HURRICANE IS ENTERING TEXAS AGAIN AT PORT ARTHUR, FROM THE GULF OF MEXICO, AND “THE WORST” IS EXPECTED. WHAT WILL THAT LOOK LIKE?

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/houston-helicopter-view-shows-harvey-aftermath/
CBS NEWS August 30, 2017, 8:54 AM
Harvey's extensive impact revealed in aerial views of Houston

CBS News helicopter video of conditions today

For more than four days, America has seen the flooded streets of Houston, neighborhood by neighborhood. Now, a wider view of the devastation is visible as improved weather conditions have cleared the way for non-rescue helicopters to fly over some areas. But even as the waters finally start to recede, the scope of Houston's flooding and its aftermath is devastating, reports CBS News correspondent Jericka Duncan, who took to the skies for a firsthand view.

Harvey makes landfall again as death toll rises – live updates

East Houston is still an area where people are being airlifted to safety by rescue helicopters, which have been flying in dangerous conditions through rain and high winds to bring stranded people to safety.

Civilian aircraft were not allowed to fly over some of the worst-hit neighborhoods, but from the air Duncan and pilot Michael Hume still saw street after street filled with water. As dusk fell, the eerie sight of businesses with their lights on looked like islands in a parking lot lake.

ctm-083017-helicopter-tour.jpg
Aerial view of Houston flooding CBS NEWS

Hume flew through storm conditions to get to South Texas on Monday.

"It was a lot going on. This kind of weather pattern that was going on is probably some of the craziest I've seen in terms of the ferociousness of the storms and how quickly they were coming around," Hume said.

It's that kind of ferociousness that rescue helicopters have been facing all week, flying in lower, more dangerous conditions.

"Not all heroes wear capes. And a lot wear flight suits," Hume said of the rescue crews.

Drones were allowed to fly in some areas Tuesday as well, capturing images of flooded highways and streets and neighborhoods covered with water. The entire city at a standstill.

But from the air Tuesday, weather conditions finally looked to be improving.

"I'm just thankful. That you're actually able to see the sunset. 'Cause that sun is gonna bring a ray of hope to the Houston area," Hume said.

Despite that heartening "ray of hope," it's clear the crisis is far from over. During the helicopter ride Tuesday, there were nine rescue helicopters in the same vicinity – still working to bring stranded people to safety.



OUR FIRST RESPONDERS AND VOLUNTEERS, ESPECIALLY THE CAJUN NAVY HAVE BEEN A HUGE HELP. A NUMBER OF YEARS AGO (MAYBE 15 OR 20 YEARS) THERE WAS A SIMILAR FLOOD, IN WHICH THE MANAGERS OF A NURSING HOME LEFT ALL THE PEOPLE THERE AND FLED. THERE WAS A LAWSUIT A QUITE A SCANDAL ABOUT IT, AS THERE SHOULD HAVE BEEN.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hurricane-harvey-senior-citizens-nursing-home-dickinson-texas-elderly-vulnerable/
By OMAR VILLAFRANCA CBS NEWS August 28, 2017, 9:08 PM
Elderly are among the most vulnerable during Harvey

HOUSTON -- It is an image that is quickly coming to define Hurricane Harvey.

The picture shows stranded senior citizens -- many suffering from dementia -- in a Dickinson, Texas, nursing home. They were stuck in flood waters up to their waists.

The owners' daughter and son-in-law, Kim and Tim McIntosh, went to Twitter and looked online for a lifeline.

"We were desperate, desperate to get someone there and given we couldn't get through to anybody I felt no one was listening," Kim told CBS News.

Their tweet went viral, and within a few hours, the residents were rescued.

Among the most vulnerable during Harvey have been the elderly.

nursing-home-flood.jpg
An image taken by Trudy Lampson shows residents of the La Vita Bella living facility amid flood waters in Dickinson, Texas, on Sun., Aug. 27, 2017. TRUDY LAMPSON
Henrietta Belle, 94, was trapped in her house with her daughter and when the water rose 2 feet above her head.

They waited to be rescued with their neighbors.

"I'm feeling a little tired ... I'm glad to be here … I want to go in and sit down put my feet up and get something to eat," Belle said, laughing.

Flooding disrupts care at Houston hospital, cancer center
U.S. Coast Guard plays major role in rescue operations
Play VIDEO
U.S. Coast Guard plays major role in rescue operations
Other stranded residents took care of a sick 95-year-old neighbor while waiting for help.

"We been out here since 7 o'clock," Jervasia Onezina said in a video interview. "I haven't eaten and he hasn't eaten, he's a diabetic, so they gave him the last crackers, they gave him the last four. I haven't eaten all day and I take medication along with him, and I'm sure other people out here have medication problems as well."

As the rescuers continue their work, folks from the photo that went viral decided to take their own picture showing they are safely riding out the rest of the storm.

170828-en-villafranca-elderly-rescued-harvey.jpg
Group of elderly folks safe and sound in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. CBS NEWS
Those residents are now safe at a nursing facility in Alvin, Texas.

But their family can't come and visit them. Airports are closed and many of the roads in the Houston area are flooded.

The nursing home, however, told CBS News that everyone is in good spirits.

Catastrophic flooding in Texas from Harvey
Catastrophic flooding in Texas from Harvey




ONE MORE DANGER FOR RESCUERS AND RESIDENTS TO WORK AROUND.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/risk-of-explosion-at-chemical-plant-flooded-by-harvey-in-crosby-texas/
By STEFAN BECKET CBS NEWS August 30, 2017, 11:41 AM
Risk of explosion at chemical plant flooded by Harvey in Crosby, Texas

A chemical plant is at risk of exploding after floodwaters caused by Harvey knocked out electricity to the facility in Crosby, Texas, officials said Tuesday.

Arkema Inc. said in a statement that it was evacuating a small number of remaining employees from the plant in Crosby, about 20 miles northeast of downtown Houston. The Harris County Fire Marshal's Office ordered residents in a 1.5-mile radius around the site to evacuate Tuesday evening.

The plant has been shut down since Friday in anticipation of the storm, which has dumped record rainfall and caused vast devastation in southeast Texas. Arkema said 40 inches of rain had fallen at the plant as of Monday.

National Guard mobilizes troops in Texas after Harvey
Play VIDEO
National Guard mobilizes troops in Texas after Harvey
The plant manufactures products and chemicals that must be stored at low temperatures, the company said. Flooding knocked out power to its warehouses, and backup generators were also compromised. Rising temperatures in the storage facilities could trigger a chemical reaction that sparks a fire or explosion, the company said.

Arkema pulled out the 11 employees at the site who had stayed behind to transfer chemicals from the warehouses to refrigeration containers, saying the situation had "become serious." The company said Tuesday that it was now monitoring temperatures in the containers remotely and working with the Department of Homeland Security and state officials to set up a nearby command post.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says about 1,300 households with 3,800 people live in a three-mile radius around Arkema, CBS affiliate KHOU-TV reported.

The risk of an explosion at the chemical facility highlights the ongoing environmental impact caused by Harvey's floodwaters along the Gulf Coast, home to plants responsible for about a quarter of the nation's oil refining capacity.

Exxon, Shell and other companies have informed regulators that chemicals were released from plants and industrial facilities as waters rose. Shell said 100 pounds of the solvent toluene and 100 pounds the carcinogen benzene were released when a roof over a storage tank sank at a refinery in Deer Park, Texas, the Associated Press reports. Exxon reported the release of 15 pounds of benzene from a facility in Baytown, Texas, according to the EPA.

Harvey fuels increase in gas prices nationwide
Play VIDEO
Harvey fuels increase in gas prices nationwide

Many refineries and industrial plants shut down abruptly in anticipation of the storm. Shutdowns cause emissions of large amounts of pollutants into the atmosphere, well above levels emitted under normal circumstances. Large clouds of sulfur dioxide and organic compounds can be released as plants burn off excess chemicals when shutting down, the Dallas Morning News reports.

Those emissions account for the vast majority of pollutants released in the wake of Harvey. Companies along Texas' Gulf Coast have told regulators that more than 1 million pounds of emissions were released into the atmosphere as the storm caused plants to shut down, according to the newspaper.

Residents have reported "unbearable" smells across Houston in recent days. Bryan Parras, an environmental activist who lives in Houston's East End, told the New Republic that residents were experiencing "headaches, sore throat, scratchy throat and itchy eyes." Another resident told the Houston Press that the air smelled "like burnt rubber with a hint of something metallic thrown in."

On Wednesday, the largest oil refinery in the U.S. began shutting down its remaining operations. Motiva Enterprises said it had begun a controlled shutdown of its plant in Port Arthur, Texas, one of the areas hardest hit by Harvey.



ZIKA OUTBREAK? I DO HOPE NOT. MOSQUITOS ARE LIKE BATS. THEY CARRY MANY DISEASES, SOME OF WHICH ARE AMONG THE MOST DANGEROUS IN EXISTENCE.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/health-risks-in-hurricane-harvey-aftermath/
CBS NEWS August 30, 2017, 1:17 PM
Houston health official warns of "mosquito explosion" from standing water

The devastating floodwaters in Texas are raising several major health concerns for residents in both the short and long term, in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

"CBS This Morning" co-host Norah O'Donnell spoke with Dr. David Persse, physician director of Houston's EMS and Public Health Authority, about what Houston residents should watch out for in the coming days and how those in shelters can take precautions to avoid a health crisis.

Harvey arrives in Louisiana as death toll climbs – live updates
While mosquitoes aren't currently a concern for Persse, they will be in a major one very soon.

"In the short term I'm not too worried about the mosquitoes 'cause all this rain is gonna wash out all the breeding sites for the mosquitoes," he said. "But that'll be only about 10 to 14 days, and then we're gonna have an explosion of mosquitoes 'cause there's so much standing water which is all breeding sites."

Asked if they've had any Zika cases in the area, Persse said, "We've had people who've been here who've been infected with Zika in Central and Latin America but we've not had any local transmission here. But that is absolutely something that is front and center on our radar."

Inside Houston's emergency shelters
33 PHOTOS
Inside Houston's emergency shelters
With more than 17,000 people in shelters and about 8,000 crammed into a convention center that has an official capacity of just 5,000, O'Donnell asked Persse, "How do you avoid a health crisis?"

"When we have lots of people congregated into small spaces like this, you worry about viral illness outbreaks that would cause gastrointestinal problems," Persse said. He said the worries are much like the concerns on cruise ships, where viruses like the norovirus can run rampant. It could become a "real problem in a convention center where people are already got all kinds of problems going on."

In order to prevent an outbreak like that, Persse said personal hygiene and access to hand sanitizer are key.

"You have to really try to get folks to focus on their own personal hygiene. So the facility has to make sure the bathrooms are kept tidy, which means they need to be cleaned multiple times a day," he said. "Also, we try to get the hand sanitizer throughout the facility so people will have it easily accessible to them. The one place you don't have hand sanitizer is in the bathroom because you want people to use soap and water to wash their hands."

O'Donnell spent time inside the convention center Tuesday speaking to evacuees and said, "Getting the hand sanitizer up and distributed has been one of our challenges. We need so much of it. The facility had some to begin with but this is a crowd that is much larger than the facility is used to dealing with."



POOR BABIES!!

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hurricane-harvey-abandoned-pets/
CBS NEWS August 29, 2017, 9:30 AM
Harvey leaves countless pets abandoned or at risk in its aftermath

Tropical Storm Harvey has forced tens of thousands of people from their homes, along with countless pets. Many of those animals now abandoned, lost or homeless, as major storms can be especially cruel to animals.

San Antonio's Animal Care Services Shelter is working with the Humane Society of the United States to clear out their shelter and make room for evacuated pets affected by Hurricane Harvey.

When Autumn Henley evacuated, she had to leave three of her dogs behind and hope for the best, reports CBS News correspondent Mireya Villarreal.

"We could only take this dog, Charlie, because the waters were too high," Henley said. "Luckily a family who lived in the neighborhood had a boat and they went back and rescued the three other dogs from the upstairs bathroom."

She and her dogs are now staying at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, which has been accepting pets since Sunday night. Volunteers are working to give pet owners what they need.

"They need very basic things – warm blankets, food, crates. We have a veterinarian here," said Salise Shuttlesworth, executive director of Friends For Life.

0829-ctm-harveyanimals-villarreal-1385200-640x360.jpg
Dogs at a shelter after Hurricane Harvey. CBS NEWS
Across hurricane-ravaged Texas, pet owners, neighbors and good Samaritans are doing what they can to rescue four-legged friends.

But it's not just pets that need help. Ranchers have had to drive their cattle to higher ground.

"We're looking at a dire situation, not just for people but for pets," Lisa Norwood said.

Norwood is with the city of San Antonio Animal Care Services, where they are crating up sheltered dogs and cats and sending them to cities across the country to make room for pets separated from their owners during Hurricane Harvey.

With punishing rain still falling, going home is not yet an option for many — whether on two legs, or four.

"People love their animals. It's heartbreaking. People are taking good care of their animals, doing the best they can," Shuttlesworth said.

During Hurricane Katrina a lot of people refused to evacuate without their pets — that is now happening in Houston, too. San Antonio Animal Care Services has taken in about 200 evacuated pets so far.



ACCORDING TO COHEN A DEAL WITH RUSSIA IN JANUARY 2016 WAS PURSUED, BEFORE THEN BEING DROPPED.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-attorney-discussed-moscow-real-estate-deal-with-trump-three-times/
CBS NEWS August 28, 2017, 5:48 PM
Trump attorney discussed Moscow real estate deal with Trump 3 times

Michael Cohen, executive vice president of the Trump Organization, and a personal attorney to President Donald Trump, discussed a proposal for real estate deal in Moscow with Mr. Trump three times during the presidential campaign, CBS News' Jeff Pegues confirmed Monday.

Had the deal come to fruition, it would have included office, residential and hotel space in Moscow. Cohen told Pegues that it would have been a "significant deal and the proceeds would have "lasted in perpetuity."

The Wall Street Journal originally reported the conversations between Mr. Trump and Cohen. Cohen told Pegues that his conversations with Donald Trump about the Moscow deal "totaled less than four minutes." He said he spoke to Mr. Trump about the deal on three occasions.

The first time Cohen says he mentioned the deal, it was more of what he called a "side note" to a conversation. Then, the second time it was to discuss the non-binding letter of intent (which Mr. Trump later signed) and to explain the economics of the deal. Cohen says the third time it was discussed, he informed Mr. Trump that he had terminated the agreement.

Cohen said, "I wanted to see if there was a way to revive the deal." He had been working on the deal between October 2015 and January 2016 but says it all fell apart "in the second week of January."

Those conversations with the president may be of interest to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, given reporting Monday that Cohen sent an email in January 2016 to Russian President Vladimir Putin's personal spokesman during the U.S. presidential campaign last year to ask him for help in advancing Mr. Trump's business interests, according to the Washington Post.

"As this project is too important, I am hereby requesting your assistance. I respectfully request someone, preferably you, contact me so that I might discuss the specifics as well as arranging meetings with the appropriate individuals. I thank you in advance for your assistance and look forward to hearing from you soon," Cohen wrote.

The email, the Post pointed out, is the most direct interaction yet known between a top Trump employee and a senior member of the Putin government. However, the New York Times' Maggie Haberman tweeted that the email address that Cohen used was a general email press address -- essentially along the lines of a press@kremlin.gov account.

Pegues spoke with Cohen earlier Monday, too. He told Pegues that the Trump Moscow proposal "was simply one of many development opportunities that the Trump Organization considered and ultimately rejected."

Cohen told Pegues that in "late January 2016, I abandoned the Moscow proposal because I lost confidence that the prospective licensee would be able to obtain the real estate, financing, and government approvals necessary to bring the proposal to fruition. It was a building proposal that did not succeed and nothing more."


ASKED IF HE WOULD RUN IN 2020, HE SAID IT’S TOO EARLY TO SAY, AND INTERVIEWER JESSICA KEGU SAID, “WE’LL TAKE THAT AS A YES.” BERNIE LAUGHED. HE IS KEEPING HIMSELF IN THE PUBLIC EYE, THOUGH, WHICH IS A GOOD SIGN THAT HE WILL RUN NEXT TIME. HE TALKS WITH THE PRESS REGULARLY, HAS WRITTEN A NEW BOOK AIMED AT GETTING YOUNG ADULTS INTO THE POLITICAL GAME – EVEN AS YOUNG AS 16 ISN’T TOO YOUNG TO START TO WORK. I DO HOPE THAT WORKS, BECAUSE THERE ARE TOO FEW COMMITTED PROGRESSIVES AMONG THE DEMOCRATS, AND TOO LITTLE APPETITE FOR SERIOUS CHANGE.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/senator-bernie-sanders-new-book-guide-to-political-revolution/
By JESSICA KEGU CBS NEWS August 29, 2017, 1:57 PM
Bernie Sanders calls on young people to solve the "crisis in American democracy"

Bernie Sanders wants America's youth to get involved in politics – and he's written a guide for them. The Vermont senator's new book, "Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution," aims to provide tools to help young adults do just that.

"What this book is about is saying that we have a real crisis in American democracy," Sanders told "CBS This Morning" on Tuesday.

In the book's foreword, Sanders writes of his optimism and faith in the current generation of young people, calling them "the smartest, most idealistic, and least prejudiced generation in the modern history of the United States."

bernie-sanders-ya-cover.jpg
"We have the lowest voter turnout of any major country on earth. It means that we're seeing – as a result of this disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision – billionaires able to buy elections, spend hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars supporting candidates who represent the wealthy and the powerful," Sanders said.

The antidote, Sanders says, is to not only get young people involved in politics but get them involved in the political process.

"Run for school board, run for city council, run for state legislature," he said. "This is a generation that is beyond – in many respects – racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia. I have seen these young people stand together, talk about climate change, the need to transform our energy system, to take on the oligarchy that controls our country."

Sanders also railed against President Trump for policies that the senator says run contrary to what the president ran his campaign on, including draining the swamp and working on behalf of working-class Americans.

"He has brought more billionaires into his administration than any president in the history of this country," Sanders said. "He supported legislation that would throw 32 million people off of health insurance."

Sanders called for the nation to "stand together" despite the country's increasing political divide under Mr. Trump.

"Bottom line is: As a nation we have got to stand together. We cannot allow the divisions that are taking place every single day led by the president. Whether you're black, or white, or Latino, we are one nation. Let's work together," Sanders said.

Asked whether he was planning to run in the next presidential election Sanders said, "It's a little bit early to talk about that. Let's focus on the issues impacting the American people."


STRANGE SONIC ATTACKS IN CUBA ON AMERICAN EMBASSY PERSONNEL

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/infra-and-ultrasonic-waves-thought-to-be-responsible-for-cuba-attacks/
By STEVE DORSEY CBS NEWS August 30, 2017, 11:05 AM
Infra- and ultrasonic waves thought to be responsible for Cuba attacks

WATCH CBS NEWS VIDEO
Photograph -- A view of Havana. CBS NEWS

The latest assessments of the attacks injuring Americans and Canadians in Havana, Cuba, by U.S. intelligence analysts point to inaudible sound as the culprit -- ultra- and infrasonic waves -- according to a source familiar with the incidents that began in November 2016. However, the source says analysts are still working to rule out other technology.

Medical records show U.S. diplomats in Cuba suffered brain injuries
Play VIDEO
Medical records show U.S. diplomats in Cuba suffered brain injuries

Medical records show American doctors diagnosed victims with hearing loss, mild traumatic brain injury and likely nerve damage.

"Sound that we can't hear--both ultrasonic, above our hearing range, and [infrasonic] below our hearing range--can damage hearing too," according to Dr. Michael Hoa, an ear surgeon at Georgetown University Hospital.

Hoa says victims of blasts—which are part acoustic—"can experience symptoms that are akin to a traumatic injury--or a traumatic brain injury."

Officials are investigating whether the attacks came from a type of sonic device targeting the diplomats' homes, which are rented from the Cuban government.

The source also confirmed the identities of the two Cuban embassy officials the U.S. asked to leave the country on May 23 as Frank Silva Hernandez and Joel Lago Oliva. State Department documents list the two as First Secretaries, but the source says they are intelligence officials. They departed the U.S. May 30.

Neither the embassy nor the Cuban mission to the United Nations has responded to numerous phone calls and e-mails for comment.
Although State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert describes the incidents as "unprecedented," the U.S. government has dealt with similar situations in the past.

The Soviets bombarded the U.S. embassy in Moscow with microwave radiation for more than 20 years. However, this didn't become publicly known until 1976 -- in part because the State Department initially denied press reports. Hundreds of embassy employees were medically evaluated, after some complained of headaches, lethargy, and blood disorders.

"We decided that one possibility, vague as it was, could be they (Soviets) were onto something in radiation effects we didn't understand," Dr. Sam Koslov, chief scientific adviser to the Navy on microwave radiation at the time, told CBS News Correspondent Mike Wallace during a "60 Minutes" broadcast June 19, 1977, as Congress was probing the matter.

Nauert says that "at least 16 U.S. Government employees, members of our embassy community, have experienced some kind of symptoms," in Havana. Sources say five Canadians were also affected.

Cuba has denied any involvement in the attacks.

Steve Dorsey is a CBS News correspondent and CBS News Radio executive editor



TRUMP, "TALKING IS NOT THE ANSWER!" MATTIS, "WE'RE NEVER OUT OF DIPLOMATIC SOLUTIONS ....

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mattis-dismisses-trump-on-halting-diplomacy-with-north-korea/
By JOHN BAT CBS NEWS August 30, 2017, 12:44 PM
Mattis contradicts Trump on North Korea

Defense Secretary James Mattis on Wednesday contradicted President Trump's latest comment about abandoning diplomacy with North Korea, during a meeting with his South Korean counterpart.

When asked about it, Mattis rejected the idea that the U.S. was ready to take talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un off the table after the North's ballistic missile test launch over northern Japan on Monday -- after a tweet from President Trump that said of relations with the regime, "Talking is not the answer!"

"We're never out of diplomatic solutions," Mattis said. "We always look for more. We're never complacent."

Mr. Trump's tweet had complained that the U.S. "has been talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years."

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Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
The U.S. has been talking to North Korea, and paying them extortion money, for 25 years. Talking is not the answer!
8:47 AM - Aug 30, 2017
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Mattis, accompanied by South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-Moo, may have distanced himself from the president's tweet but he declined to be specific about how the U.S. would deal with the North.

"We continue to work together," Mattis said. "And the minister and I share a responsibility to provide for the protection of our nations, our populations and our interests, which is what we are here to discuss today and look for all the areas we can collaborate with already very strong collaboration."

In a Tuesday White House press release, Mr. Trump said "all options" are on the table and called North Korea's surprise missile test "threatening" and "destabilizing."

Japan warns people to "take cover" as N. Korea flies missile overhead
Play VIDEO
Japan warns people to "take cover" as N. Korea flies missile overhead

Tensions between the U.S. and North Korea have been heightened since the country's latest launch on Monday, which caused thousands of northern Japanese residents to seek for cover from what they thought might be a potential attack. U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley on Tuesday condemned the provocation before a Security Council meeting, telling reporters "enough is enough."

"What happened yesterday is absolutely unacceptable and irresponsible. The United States, along with Japan and South Korea have called for an emergency Security Council meeting this afternoon. We are going to talk about what else is left to do to North Korea," Haley said.

The Trump administration has attempted to pressure North Korea by issuing more sanctions and pinning political responsibility on China and Russia. Mr. Trump has also relied on fiery rhetoric, threatening to unleash "fire and fury" on Pyongyang.

In the first eight months of Mr. Trump's administration, Kim has threatened to launch a missile close to the U.S. territory of Guam and has ramped up the frequency of the North's ballistic missile testing.



THIS SMELLS LIKE GUNSMOKE TO ME: “OUR BOY CAN BECOME PRESIDENT OF THE USA AND WE CAN ENGINEER IT,” SATER WROTE IN ONE EMAIL TO MICHAEL COHEN, THEN TRUMP’S LAWYER AND AN EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AT THE TRUMP ORGANIZATION. “I WILL GET ALL OF PUTINS TEAM TO BUY IN ON THIS, I WILL MANAGE THIS PROCESS.” OF COURSE, MOST LIKELY TRUMP AND HIS LAWYERS WILL CLAIM THAT THIS DEAL WAS ONLY BETWEEN SATER AND COHEN, AND THAT TRUMP HIMSELF KNEW NOTHING ABOUT IT. SO THIS IS CHECK, RATHER THAN CHECKMATE. WE NEED HIM FROM ANOTHER ANGLE – MONETARY MAYBE?

WHAT ABOUT THIS ONE? THIS SMELLS LIKE PERJURY: “IF HE WERE SITTING IN THE ROOM RIGHT NOW, I REALLY WOULDN’T KNOW WHAT HE LOOKED LIKE,” TRUMP TESTIFIED IN A VIDEO DEPOSITION FOR A 2013 CIVIL LAWSUIT.” AND NOW THIS: “TRUMP’S WILLINGNESS TO ENGAGE ‘FOREVER’ WITH A SERIALLY CONVICTED FELON WITH A BACKGROUND IN MASSIVE FINANCIAL FRAUD.”

JUST READ THIS WHOLE STORY, BECAUSE IT HAS A GREAT DEAL OF INFORMATION IN IT, AND POINTS TO GREATER ACTIVITY ON RUSSIA AS TIME GOES ON. TALLY-HO!

https://www.yahoo.com/news/key-democrat-panel-may-need-hear-president-trump-tower-moscow-project-234628061.html?soc_trk=gcm&soc_src=dbb2094c-7d9a-37c0-96b9-7f844af62e78&.tsrc=notification-brknews
Key Democrat: Panel may need to hear from president on Trump Tower Moscow project
Michael Isikoff Yahoo News
August 29, 2017

VIEW PHOTOS -- Donald Trump, Tevfik Arif and Felix Sater attend the Trump Soho Launch Party in 2007 in New York. (Photo: Mark Von Holden/WireImage)
PHOTOGRAPH – Trump and Swalwell. [Look at Trump’s facial expression. If this weren’t a montage, I would say that they had just exchanged some unpleasantries.]

WASHINGTON — A key Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said the panel needs to seek testimony from Felix Sater, a business associate of President Trump, and may ultimately have to call the president himself in light of newly disclosed emails about a prospective Trump Tower project in Moscow that was being pursued during the early stages of last year’s presidential campaign.

“This is a bright light in an ever-growing constellation of contacts between Donald Trump and Russia,” Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., told Yahoo News. In a hearing with then-FBI Director James Comey last March, Swalwell first raised questions about Sater’s role.

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Swalwell told Yahoo News that Sater, a Russian-born convicted felon turned FBI informant, is a “relevant witness” who may have been a “pivotal player” in the relationship between Trump and the Russian government. But the committee will likely need to go further to resolve all the questions swirling about the issue, including seeking testimony directly from Trump. “We don’t want to be reckless,” said Swalwell. “But that should be on the table. My belief is we have to hear from all relevant witnesses, and it does look like he [Trump] is likely relevant.”

It would be extremely rare, but not unprecedented, for a president to testify before a congressional committee. The last known instance was in 1974 when then-President Gerald Ford testified before a House Judiciary Subcommittee about his pardon of his predecessor, Richard Nixon. (Before that, it hadn’t happened since Woodrow Wilson testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about the League of Nations.) But the mere fact that a leading Democratic investigator is raising the issue illustrates the mounting stakes for the White House from the inquiries, both by Congress and special counsel Robert Mueller, into contacts he and his campaign had with Russian officials.

The potential new interest in Trump’s testimony was triggered by emails turned over to the House Intelligence Committee this week showing that, even while he was running for president, Trump was pursuing a deal to build a giant Trump Tower in Moscow — an ambitious project, envisioned as the world’s tallest building and costing well over $100 million, that was conceived and pitched to the Trump Organization by Sater. The onetime Trump real estate adviser envisioned the project as a way to help Trump win the presidential election, the emails suggest. “Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it,” Sater wrote in one email to Michael Cohen, then Trump’s lawyer and an executive vice president at the Trump Organization. “I will get all of Putins team to buy in on this, I will manage this process.”

Cohen, who even emailed Dmitri Peskov, the chief press spokesman for Putin, in January of last year to seek approval for the project, said this week that he pulled the plug on the project late that month because he “lost confidence” it would get the necessary approvals in Moscow. (Cohen is slated to testify before the House Intelligence Committee next Tuesday.) A White House official told Yahoo News that Trump himself had forgotten about the project and, while furious when recently shown the Sater-Cohen emails, insisted it proved his contention that he never colluded Putin’s government because the Trump Tower Moscow deal never came to fruition.

But the newly discovered emails raise multiple questions about the accounts Trump and his aides have given about their dealings with Sater — a controversial figure who was twice convicted on felony charges, once for slashing another man’s face with a broken cocktail glass and a second time in a “pump and dump” Wall Street stock fraud involving the Genovese and Bonanno crime families. (Sater avoided prison in the later case by becoming an FBI informant on Russian organized crime and other matters.)

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President Trump and Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., (Photos: Getty Images)

Sater later emerged as an adviser to the Trump Organization on real estate deals, both in New York and around the world, complete with an office in Trump Tower and a business card listing him as a “senior advisor to Donald Trump.” But when Trump was grilled under oath in a lawsuit about his relationship with Sater, he insisted he barely knew the Russian émigré.

“If he were sitting in the room right now, I really wouldn’t know what he looked like,” Trump testified in a video deposition for a 2013 civil lawsuit.

When Sater’s role arose last year as a potential campaign issue, Alan Garten, chief counsel for the Trump Organization, told reporters that Sater had been given the business card to pitch deals in 2010 but that he was never an employee and that the arrangement only lasted six months.

But those accounts are now being questioned in light of the new emails showing that Sater was still playing a role with the Trump Organization in pursuing the Moscow project in late 2015 and early 2016 — well after Trump had already declared his candidacy for president.

“This is evidence that Sater never really stopped working for Trump,” said Frederick Oberlander, a lawyer who has sued Sater and the Trump Organization. “As a political matter, it shows Trump’s willingness to engage ‘forever’ with a serially convicted felon with a background in massive financial fraud.”

Sater has consistently denied allegations he defrauded anybody in Trump Organization projects. In a statement provided to Yahoo News by his lawyer, Sater said he was “not working” for the Trump Organization when he pitched the project to Cohen and “had the project been successful, I would not have been compensated” by the company. Sater did not address why he pursued a project for which he would not have been paid. But he indicated in his statement he had not discussed it with Trump.

“Michael Cohen was the only member of the Trump Organization who I communicated with on this project,” he said. “During the course of our communications over several months, I routinely expressed my enthusiasm regarding what a tremendous opportunity this was for the Trump Organization. Ultimately, in January 2016 Michael informed me that the Trump Organization decided not to move forward with the project.”

The questions about the Trump Tower Moscow project are among many the House Intelligence Committee and its Senate counterpart are now pursuing in what many see as an agonizingly slow pace. Nearly nine months into the inquiries, neither panel has yet to hold public hearings with any of the key players in the investigations, such as former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, former campaign manager Paul Manafort, and Donald Trump Jr. Nor is it clear at this point that will ever happen given special counsel Mueller’s parallel criminal, in which those players and many others are potential targets. Swalwell said the House committee has made “tremendous progress in the last eight weeks” and he expects that in September it will be operating at a “pretty dizzying pace.” But asked when he expected the panel will be able to wrap up its probe and reach a finding, he said, “ideally before voters next go to the polls.” That would mean the investigation would likely continue well into next year and wouldn’t wrap up before November 2018 when voters will determine whether the House stays in Republican hands, or will taken over by Democrats inclined, like Swalwell, to cut Trump no slack at all.


IT LOOKS AS THOUGH COLINO MAY HAVE DONE THE SHOOTING, BUT THEY HAVE NO WITNESS. HER PACING AROUND IN THE PARKING LOT, AND THEN PULLING THE GUN ON SOMEONE JUST FOR LOOKING AT HER COULD VERY EASILY INDICATE A DISTURBED STATE OF MIND.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/police-investigate-link-between-videos-and-apparent-random-murder/
By CRIMESIDER STAFF CBS/AP August 30, 2017, 2:13 PM
Police investigate link between videos and mother's "random" murder

Photograph -- Holly Colino CBS AFFILIATE WROC

BROCKPORT, N.Y. — Police say they are looking into a series of YouTube videos that could be linked to a 31-year-old woman charged with shooting another woman apparently at random in a western New York college town.

The speaker in the videos, who identifies herself as Holly Colino, accuses strangers of "robbing, imitating my hair, eyebrows and or lips" and following her.

Brockport police say they are working to determine if the woman in the videos is the same one who is facing murder charges for the death of 33-year-old Megan Dix.

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Megan Dix CBS AFFILIATE WROC

Dix was found dead in her vehicle in Brockport Friday in what police describe as a random act.

Police say Colino was arrested Monday after she allegedly pointed a gun at someone outside Sticky Lips, a barbecue restaurant.

The owner of Sticky Lips told CBS affiliate WROC that one of his employees was walking out to her car after a shift when she saw Colino pacing back and forth. The employee said Colino asked her what she was looking at, and pointed a gun at her.

Colino then backed down, and walked into the Holiday Inn where she was staying. Sticky Lips employees called 911, and deputies apprehended Colino inside the hotel, but deputies say she was able to slip out of a handcuff and flee.

About an hour later Colino was recaptured. Police say she admitted to the killing.

Monroe County Sheriff Patrick O'Flynn told the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle the slaying was a "random, heinous act."

"She gave no reason for why that situation occurred," O'Flynn told the paper. "She met the individual and within seconds of meeting her, she discharged the weapon."

Dix's body was found by her husband, the paper reports. The couple reportedly has a young son.

Colino was charged with second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

It's unclear if Colino has an attorney to comment.



TOM DART, A SOCIAL JUSTICE HERO, IS RUNNING A JAIL AS ONE WHICH TAKES INTO ACCOUNT THE CAUSES OF WHATEVER CRIMES MAY HAVE BEEN COMMITTED, AND USING MENTAL HEALTH CARE TOWARD GETTING PRISONERS READY TO SUCCEED WHEN THEY LEAVE THE INSTITUTION.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/half-of-the-inmates-shouldnt-be-here-says-cook-county-sheriff-2/
Half of the inmates shouldn’t be here, says Cook County sheriff
At one of the largest jails in the U.S., Sheriff Tom Dart sees his job as not just keeping people in jail, but helping some of them get out
Aug 27, 2017
CORRESPONDENT
Lesley Stahl

Sheriff Tom Dart says Cook County Jail, with a population of about 7,500, has become a dumping ground for the poor and mentally ill.
Cook County has implemented a mental health program for some inmates that is now a model for other U.S. jails and includes medication, doctor's visits and group therapy.

Dart's unconventional methods have come under scrutiny as "too soft" and some corrections officers have questioned his loyalty to staff.
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Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart CBS NEWS

Chicago - with the largest number of murders last year of any major city in the country, has one of the largest jails in the country.

An average of 70,000 men and women pass thru Cook County Jail each year, many more than once, and as with other big city jails, most of the inmates who cycle through are either poor, mentally ill or members of a gang.

One of the few things Republicans and Democrats, agree on - is the need for corrections reform. And Cook County is leading the way - almost by necessity - with a new approach to help break the cycle.

As we first told you earlier this year, the county sheriff, Tom Dart, is getting a lot of the credit. A former prosecutor who's been elected and re-elected sheriff since 2006, Dart - as you'll see - is unconventional.

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Dart meets with men in the jail's minimum-security division, all of whom have been charged with low-level, non-violent crimes. CBS NEWS
It was a cold day at Cook County Jail when we met Tom Dart. He has redefined the role of sheriff. He sees the job as not just keeping people in jail but helping some of them get out. He says many behind bars shouldn't be there.

"OK, if they're going to make it so that I am going to be the largest mental health provider, we're going to be the best ones."
Tom Dart: How are you guys doing?

Inmate: Pretty good…

Several times a month, Dart mingles with the men in the jail's minimum-security division, all of whom have been charged with low-level, non-violent crimes.

Tom Dart: What's your charge?

Inmate: I had a violation of probation. I was on probation for driving while license revoked.

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Sheriff Tom Dart and 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl in Cook County Jail, one of the largest jails in the U.S. CBS NEWS
Dart says the jail – with a population today of about 7,500 -- has become a dumping ground for the poor and mentally ill.

Lesley Stahl: What percent do you think here really shouldn't be here?

Tom Dart: I would suggest conservatively that half of the people here in the jail shouldn't be here. That they don't—

Lesley Stahl: Half?

Tom Dart: They don't pose a danger to anybody. The people in most jails-- in 95 percent of the people in this jail are waiting on a trial. So everybody here are people who haven't been convicted yet. So you say to yourself, "All right, they're presumed innocent. Who is so dangerous that we need to hold them here while we're waiting on a trial?"

Tom Dart: You had some violence a long time ago? Nothing, a long time ago? So nothing.

As he makes the rounds, he sounds less like an incarcerator than a defense attorney.

"Last year alone, we had 1,024 people who spent their entire prison term here in the Cook County Jail, but the more incredible statistic is that same group of people spent an extra 222 years of custody here..."

Tom Dart: I can't-- I'm not promising you guys anything, 'cause I don't know what the hell they're gonna do. But I promise you we will push it.

Inmate: All right.

The biggest problem for most of the inmates, he says, is they simply don't have enough money to make bail.

Inmate: I'm trying to find out why my bond's so high.

Lesley Stahl: How many percentage wise [sic] people are really poor and can't afford bail?

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Cara Smith, top adviser for Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart. CBS NEWS

Tom Dart: On any given day, we have probably 2 to 3 hundred people that if they came up $500 they would leave here but we find that if you have access to money wherever it may come from, and frequently it's coming from your gang and if you happen to be the guy in your gang who is the guy who does most of the shootings, you're a very valuable person, they want you back out on the street. But you have some individual who's in here who's never been a danger to anybody, he can't come up with a hundred dollars. He's sitting…the guy with the gun, he's out the door.

[Tom Dart in meeting: Next guy is possession of cannabis.]

He usually turns his notes over to his top adviser, Cara Smith, who runs what you might call a you-shouldn't-be-here squad.

Cara Smith: And what are you charged with?

Inmate: Retail theft.

Cara Smith: And what did they say you tried to steal?

Inmate: Some Red Bulls.

Cara Smith: Some Red Bull drinks.

Smith and her staff hold "office hours" …looking for inmates they can help.

Cara Smith: What we need to work on is trying to get your bond reduced so that you can bond out, so that you can get out of here.

Inmate: OK.

Cara Smith: OK?

Inmate: Yes.

Cara Smith: OK. Good luck, we'll be in touch

Combing through cases, Cara Smith discovered something disturbing. They call them: "dead days."

Photography class at Cook County Jail 60 MINUTES OVERTIME
Photography class at Cook County Jail

Cara Smith: We made up the term but we call them dead days because people spend so much time pre-trial here at the Cook County Jail that once they're sentenced to prison, they've already served their term.

Lesley Stahl: They probably spent more time here than the sentence in some of the cases.

Cara Smith: So last year alone we had 1,024 people who spent their entire prison term here in the Cook County Jail, but the more incredible statistic is that same group of people spent an extra 222 years of custody here in the Cook County Jail.

Lengths of stay run from a week or less to 8 or 9 years. Some of the people who spend years here are the mentally ill, who make up about a third of the population, and are the jail's biggest cost.

Elli Montgomery: And do you know what your charge is today?

Inmate: Retail theft.

Elli Montgomery: Retail theft?

Inmate: $70 worth of ground beef.

Elli Montgomery: $70 worth of ground beef?

Every inmate is screened for mental illness when they first arrive.

Inmate: I was diagnosed as schizophrenic when I was in group home.

Elli Montgomery: In a group home? OK. We're gonna make sure that you get help today.

Inmate: If I don't get the medication that I need, I know it's gonna go wrong.

This man -- who also has a history of mental illness -- has been in and out of the jail 37 times.

Elli Montgomery: I understand.

Lesley Stahl: How does that happen? How does someone come back to a jail 37 times?

Tom Dart: What in God's name do you expect to happen with that person? OK so this person has a serious mental illness, he's not being treated, his family and him have been disconnected for years, he obviously doesn't have a job. He has nowhere to live. What do you think is going to happen? I'll tell you what's going to happen. He will come in contact with law enforcement, either because he's trying to find a place to sleep or he's trying to find something to eat and he'll be back in here. It's not because he walked out of here saying, "Listen, I want to go and commit horrific crimes." It's like he's trying to survive.

Lesley Stahl: In many ways society has turned jails and prisons into mental health clinics and you're actually running one here.

Tom Dart: Yeah. I said, "OK, if they're going to make it so that I am going to be the largest mental health provider, we're going to be the best ones. We're going to treat 'em as a patient while they're here, it's like, we are going to think differently."

Cook County Jail was already one of the largest mental health facilities in the country in 2012, when Chicago closed down half its mental health clinics. These men -- the high-functioning mentally ill -- are bused five days a week to a program that is now a model for other jails across the country. They get medication, visits with psychiatrists, and group therapy.

Counselor: So today I want us to continue to move forward. And you're going to have to have some things that's going to take you to another level.

About 60 percent of all the jail's corrections officers have advanced mental health training. And Dart has moved new people over to the medical facilities.

Tom Dart: What I did is redefined job position and where it would've been a law enforcement position I changed it into a doctor position or a mental health position. And so we've been bringing on a lot of doctors, counselors, therapists, and I have—

Lesley Stahl: Are you running a jail?

Tom Dart: Well, I sometimes I wonder.

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Sheriff Dart named a psychologist to be Cook County Jail's warden: 39-year-old Dr. Nneka Jones Tapia. CBS NEWS

Nothing exemplifies his new direction more than who he chose to run the jail. Not someone with a law enforcement background. He named a psychologist to be the warden: 39-year-old Dr. Nneka Jones Tapia.

[Dr. Nneka Jones Tapia in jail: I'm gonna go cell to cell. Who should I talk to?]

She started as an intern at Cook County Jail almost 10 years ago – and worked her way up. As warden, she tries to infuse more humanity into a pretty heartless place – the maximum-security wing, where she offers some tough-love therapy.

Guard: He wouldn't let the officers handcuff him.

Dr. Nneka Jones Tapia: Why is that?

Guard: Put up a fight. They had to take him to the ground and cuff him.

Dr. Nneka Jones Tapia: Are you gonna keep getting into it with staff?

Inmate: If they keep denying my rights.

Dr. Nneka Jones Tapia: OK, see, you have the wrong attitude.

Inmate: I ain't got the wrong attitude.

Dr. Nneka Jones Tapia: Because I'm trying to help you. But you're still telling me that you're gonna have issues with the staff, and I can't have that. So it's up to you.

Lesley Stahl: We filmed you doing rounds like a doctor in a hospital. But you talked to every single inmate that you passed.

Dr. Nneka Jones Tapia: Yes. It's because we understand the person is a person. They're not what…their charge, they're not their crime. And so we want to give that individual attention to as many people as we can.

Dr. Nneka Jones Tapia: Sorry, gentlemen.

On a walk through a medium-security cellblock she works on "attitude adjustment," trying to change their way of thinking so they don't come back here.

Dr. Nneka Jones Tapia: And all of you guys with tattoos. You might want to think about having those removed. You need to cause how are you going to get a job when you get out?

Inmate: Yah.

Dr. Nneka Jones Tapia: I mean cause first impression is everything. You can't do that.

Dr. Nneka Jones Tapia: How many of you guys have kids?

Lesley Stahl: Oh my.

Dr. Nneka Jones Tapia: So it's not just you that's impacted by you being here—

Inmates: It's our families. Our families.

Cooking class in Cook County Jail 60 MINUTES OVERTIME
Cooking class in Cook County Jail

Dr. Nneka Jones Tapia: --but your families, your children.

To reach out to their families, she's listed her phone number on the jail's website. Dart and his methods have come under intense criticism. He's too soft on the inmates, say some of the corrections officers. Their antagonism grew into outright hostility last year when Dart, intending to be transparent about life behind the walls, released videos to the public showing guards brutally beating up inmates.

Dennis Andrews, the business agent at Teamsters Local 700 that represents the corrections officers, says his members were furious.

Dennis Andrews: The anger was he didn't release the videos of the detainees attacking the officers. You can't release a small segment of something happening without releasing a tape of how you got from point A to point B.

Lesley Stahl: Does the public have a right to see those men beating the prisoners?

Tom Dart: If we aren't releasing that information, then it furthers the public's feeling that law enforcement is covering things up, and that we're hiding things, and we don't have anything to hide. We have good people here, is the majority. But we have some people that don't. And we can't shy from that, because it's what poisons the well with the public.

After the criticism, Sheriff Dart did release videos of inmates attacking staff. But Andrews says that didn't improve morale.

Dennis Andrews: He doesn't address the situations of his own staff at the jail who are being attacked daily by detainees. He presumes them innocent but he doesn't presume his staff innocent.

Lesley Stahl: He presumes his staff guilty?

Dennis Andrews: Yes.

Lesley Stahl: It can't be good if they think that you're not on their side?

Tom Dart: You know, I become puzzled when they think I'm not on their side. It is the most difficult job. And you start with that and then. You're dealing with mentally ill folks. So they've been asked to do all sorts of things that they didn't sign up for. And I am outrageously sympathetic to that.

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Cook County Jail inmates play a game of chess. CBS NEWS

What Sheriff Dart can't tell us yet is whether recidivism rates are coming down. On any given day, he says he releases roughly 200 people to the streets, but he accepts another 200 – some still the old familiar faces. To improve the chances they won't return – again, he's introduced activities like chess lessons.

Tom Dart: People said, you know, "Your chess program. You know, how is that work--" I said, "You know what? One of the major issues we have with the people here-- is they don't think about consequences. "They just think the very first move. They're playing checkers. Chess makes you think four, five, six moves out." I can't tell you how many of the guys in the chess program has told me they never thought like that in their life, that their way of thinking has changed.

There's more than chess. Dart has enlisted volunteers to offer all kinds of classes you rarely see in a jail:

Christopher Jacobs: And you can always move in closer if you want.

A photographer teaches inmates how to find new ways to look at the world and themselves…

Musicians provide therapy through rhythm and sound…

Chef Bruno Abate: Et voila! And we gonna put a little rosemary.

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Italian chef Bruno Abate gives cooking class to inmates at Cook County Jail. CBS NEWS

Italian chef, Bruno Abate, gives cooking lessons.

Bruno Abate: I'm not here just to make food, I'm here to change the way you thinking so you don't come back in this place anymore. We say you know we touch the bottom, now we can only go up, right?

Lesley Stahl: What about your corrections officers, do they look at you and say, "Wait a minute, this is all upside down here."

Tom Dart: Yeah, I mean there's definitely employees here that are puzzled by me. You know, Sheriff Goofy is out giving pizza to all the inmates now 'cause he loves them.

Lesley Stahl: Sheriff Goofy?

Tom Dart: Absolutely. Absolutely. I wear it proudly.

Lesley Stahl: People are going to say you're on the wrong side of the street, ya know?

Tom Dart: That's been suggested.

Lesley Stahl: Yeah.

Tom Dart: But, you'll never find anybody that is more strident in going after the bad, the evil, the ones that hurt people. I used to prosecute them. I arrest them now in my Sheriff's office as well. But when it comes to just blindly, and truly out of indifference, just saying there's segments of our society that we will treat this horrifically callous way, I'm not going to be party to that. And if that upsets people, that's fine.

Produced by Deirdre Cohen. Evie Salomon and Andrea Hilbert, associate producers.

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Lesley Stahl
One of America's most recognized and experienced broadcast journalists, Lesley Stahl has been a 60 Minutes correspondent since 1991.