Who can easily log on in the first place. As for the other half, well, thats a different story, as david pogue explains this morning. Reporter during the pandemic, highspeed internet has been the foundation of work, school, and doctor visits, which is great if you have highspeed internet. But about half of americans dont. To get online to do your research or your correspondence, you park at a taco bell . I do. Reporter ahead on sunday morning, the Great AmericanInternet Access crisis. Pauley she is a legend of country music, tanya tucker. And back before the pandemic shut most concerts down, she shared some stories with our bob schieffer. Delta dawn reporter she was once country musics wild child, a breakout star at the ripe old age of 13, tanya tucker has been riding high for five decades. With a grammywinning album that is getting the best reviews of here career. If that 13yearold tanya tucker was sitting here, what would you tell her today . I dont think i would tell her anything. I think she would have to talk to me and give me some advice. Reporter later on sunday morning, it is a new dawn for tanya tucker. Pauley vanilla can sometimes be dismissed as perhaps a bit bland. But seth doanes travels this morning pretty much prove there is no such thing as plain vanilla. Reporter we journeyed to rainforests half way around the world to truly appreciate a spice so often seen as ordinary. This concept of an orchid that must be pol pollenated by hand, one by one, before noon, sounds like something in a fairytale. It is magical. Reporter the extraordinarily colorful story of vanilla, ahead on sunday morning. Pauley rita braver goes birdwatching with David Allen Sibley. And mo rocca has some questions for linda lavin, best remembered for her tv show, alice. And lee coco shows us why here at cbs, the eyes have it. Plus hugs from luke burbank, thoughts from jim gaffigan, and more, on this sunday morning, august 2nd, 2020. Well be right back. Want restaurants to open . And schools . Want the economy to get back on track . Youre not alone. And you can help make it happen. Stay 6 feet apart. Wash your hands. Wear a mask every time you leave your home. Choose to join the fight against covid19. Do your part. Slow the spread. This is about the next 10 years. But this is something you can do today. You can make a difference today by filling out the 2020 census. The census impacts hospitals, schools, and public transportation. The 2020 census counts everyone, whether you rent, own, or live at home, including roommates. Taking the census is quick and easy. Its only 10 questions. Shape your future. Start here at 2020census. Gov. You guys have a good day. Pauley turns outs out the internet doesnt cast nearly as wide a net as we might think. Yes, half of us have fairly reliable service. Not so, the other half. Our cover story is reported by david pogue. David after earning her masters degree, writer karie fugett but this little farm in rural oregon. It seems to have everything beauty, affordability, and just a 30minute drive to the city. But she quickly discovered one thing that wasnt available. We dont have internet. We havent been successful getting it out here yet. David so you must be able to get online somehow. What have you been doing . When there isnt a pandemic, i go to a library or restaurant or cafe. Now since the pandemic, all of those places are closed down. If i need internet, taco bell has been very reliable. David so youre a professional writer, and to get online to do your research or your correspondence, you park at a taco bell . I do. And i dont feel like a professional writer when im parked at a taco bell. I usually feel pretty embarrassed. David as modern americans, we count among our blessings that most of us have been able to keep going through the pandemic, doing our work, teaching our kids, seeing our doctors, thanks to Broadband Internet, that is highspeed internet. There is only one problem. Tens of millions of americans are not connected to Broadband Internet. The Digital Divide affects every region of our country. David gigi sohn worked for the f. C. C. During the obama administration. How Many Americans still dont have broadband . It depends on who you ask. If you ask the federal communications commission, theyll say it is 20 million, 23 million, and that is a grossly undercounted number. Microsoft has done a study that shows 162 million americans dont have broadband as the f. C. C. Describes broadband. David that is half the population with very low internet or none at all. Why does the f. C. C. So hugely undercount the amount of people . What the f. C. C. Says, if you can serve one person in the census block, that means youre serving everybody in its census block. Reporter a census block can be anything from one city block to hundreds of square miles in rural areas. If im the f. C. C. , and there is 5,000 People Living in a census block and one guy has Broadband Internet, i can record that as 5,000 people . Im sure it is not only possible, im sure that is absolutely the case. Reporter but having no Broadband Internet isnt the whole problem. Millions of communities have broadband, according to the f. C. C. , but in the real world, it is too slow to matter. This is the Fastest Internet speed available in america. This is the average speed. And this is what the f. C. C. Defines as broadband. It is not very fast. They would love to have that minimal speed here in georgetown, maine. The f. C. C. Says this Coastal Community has Broadband Internet because residents can sign up for d. S. L. Service. Thats digital subscriber line, basically internet over the phone wires. But in practice. Its terrible. It is absolutely awful. Most of the time we have little to none, and only occasionally does it get up to mediocre. Its really bad laughing . Reporter resident tommie burke said it got even worse once everyone started staying home during the pandemic, and worse yet once the summer residents arrived at their vacation homes. The fact that lots of people are up here now that arent normally here all of the time, the internet is even worse. Together well review what we know. Reporter as the new school year begins, many students will be taking classes remotely over the internet, but for maine residence, like behmanmanjar, that is almost impossible. The screen might freeze and i cant hear anybody, and then they might discuss all of the notes without me and i have to catch up. Reporter in cities like austin, texas, so many kids werent online last semester, the School System had to print and mail 40,000 homework packages a week. And they resorted to filling school buses with portable wifi hotspots, and parking them near apartment complexes where a lot of people dont have broadband. And you may say austin . But according to gigi sohn, austin illustrates the biggest broadband problem of all. The vast majority of people who dont have broadband Internet Access is because they cant afford it, because the price is too high. Reporter and sure enough, the u. S. Has the third most expensive broadband in the developed world, mostly because there is not much competition. It is just a money problem, and not a problem of putting wires in the ground. Well, we should be complaining about both, the lack of actual internet infrastructure in many places, but also the cost. Reporter the thing is, we have fixed problems like this before. In 1934, only 11 of rural americans had electricity. President franklin d. Roosevelt created the ruler electrification administration. New lines are going up almost everywhere at the rate of 500 miles a day. Reporter and within 20 years, 90 of those homes had cheap, reliable electricity. Now over the years, the government has come up with a basket of programs designed to help with internet affordability and accessibility. Unfortunately, sohn says they havent always worked as designed. The f. C. C. Has now, for well over a decade, paid out tens of billions of dollars to Rural Broadband companies to build Internet Access in places where there isnt any. And the fact of the matter is, is that the government has gotten a very, very poor return on its investment. This f. C. C. , and ill even say the f. C. C. That i work for, has not done a very good job of demanding that these Companies Tell Us what theyve actually built with the money theyve got. Reporter this is not making the f. C. C. Look too good. I dont think it is incompetence. I think part of it is resources. The f. C. C. Staff has shrunk enormously in the last decade or so. Reporter f. C. C. Chairman ajit declined an interview with us. Earlier this year, Congress Passed a law requiring the f. C. C. To improve the way it measures Internet Access. But the f. C. C. Says nothing will happen unless Congress Also pays for it. The f. C. C. Simply does not have the 65 we need to start the process and implement that law throu through its first year. Reporter meanwhile, the agency is promoting new technologies, like 5g and orbit satellites that might address our broadband problems some day. But for now, most seem to agree on one thing especially these days the internet should be considered a necessity. Months into the pandemic, karie fugett ended up Getting Office space in town just to go online. I think at this point it should be considered a utility, just like water or electricity. And especially now that weve experienced this pandemic, were seeing just how much we rely on it. The difference between someone who has Internet Connection and someone who doesnt is just too wide. Assistant that tal one looks out for charges that might surprise you and helps you fix them. 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Tech so if you have auto glass damage, stay safe with safelite. Singers safelite repair, safelite replace. Pauley birdwatcher, writer, and artist David Allen Sibley, can tell us all about what it is like to be a bird. Before covid settled in, rita braver set out to find out what it like to be david sibley. In the hedge rows and hay fields of deerfield, massachusetts. Im hearing a lot of birds right now. Reporter David Allen Sibley cant help talking about the wonder of birds. They communicate with each other through sight and sound. Reporter kind of like we do . Yeah, in the same way we do. So everything they do is accessible to us. Reporter and making birds accessible to us is the driving force of david sibleys life. He sketches and paints everything from songbirds and swallows to penguins and puffins. This is the toughty puffins, and this is the rhinoceros auklet. We are talking thousands and thousands of bird pictures. Each wing, each feather carefully crafted. You never said to yourself, i dont care if i never draw another chickadee again . No. It is one step after the other, like knitting, where it becomes sort of routine. Reporter it has been a routine with a goal, to write and illustrate detailed field guides, covering more than 800 species to help birdwatchers properly identify what they are seeing. That looks like a robin. Is that a robin . No. That is a black headed headed grosbeak. Each species is arranged in a column, the brightest plumage at the bottom, the brightest at the top. Reporter it has sold more than two million copies, and he has been called the most important illustrator of birds since John James Audubon or roger torey petersen. Previous field guides had fewer illustrations, so they left out a lot of different ages and sub species. Reporter now 57, david sibley learned to lovebirds by going out on hikes with his father, fred, a noted ornithologist at yale. As soon as the field guide came out, or was in the works, yes, i became much less wellknown. [laughter] reporter youre kind of the bird people of north america. [laughter] i guess it is our human Family Business. Unusual, but it is the Family Business. Reporter david started drawing birds at age 8, and their parents didnt worry for an instant when their son dropped out of cornell to pursue his passion and study birds in the field. His reason, very valid, was that cornell has a set track that you follow in your major. And that didnt leave time for looking at birds or painting birds. Reporter david sibley would spend 14 years driving around the country, observing and sketching. Always utterly fascinated by birds. I really like the shape, the proportions, the smooth lines each species so spe perfected adapted to its own lifestyle. Reporter along the way he met his wife. Do you think you would have been happy with someone who wasnt as into birds as you were . I dont think that would have worked. Here comes a little goldfinch. Reporter yes, davids wife, joan walsh, is an ornithologist, too. Take it down and try to see movement here comes one. Indigo. Sweet. Reporter in 1988, we she who pushed him to fulfill his lifelong dream of writing a field guide. I said, you can keep talking about it or you can say youre doing it. And so he did and he stood up and he faked it. Reporter is that true . Did you really fake it . We were in a hot tub. Reporter he would spend years working on the guide, but when publishers saw it, they went wild. To walk into a room with a publisher and have them say, yes, well do it in five minutes was, i guess, a very unusual experience. Reporter in fact, his first volume hit the New York Times bestseller list. He followed it up with a series of other popular books about birds. And whether it is in his art or the delight that comes when he watches birds at his backyard feeder a chipping sparrow two chipping sparrows now. Reporter david says he is still learning about his favorite topic. What are some of the questions are you trying to answer . Can they smell . Reporter can they . They do smell. And do they sleep . They balance while they sleep. Reporter are you just making this up . No. It is all true. Reporter indeed, his latest book is called what its like to be a bird. And who should know better than David Allen Sibley. [birds chirping] the only fdaapproved, oncedaily 3 in 1 copd treatment. With trelegy and the power [whoosh] give everyone something to look up to. The allnew highlander hybrid. Toyota. Lets go places. Yes. Neutrogena® ultra sheer. Superior protection helps prevent early skin aging and skin cancer with a clean feel. Its the one. The best for your skin. Ultra sheer. Neutrogena®. Here is your steak and eggs. What took you slowly, did you have to go out and catch the cow . Linda lavin served up jokes in the longrunning tv series alice. This morning she is with our mo rocca for a round of questions and answers. Reporter this past april, a starstudded concert was announced to celebrate broadway composer Stephen Sondheims 90th birthday. The lineup included meryl streep, mandy matinkin, Audra Mcdonald and bernadette peters. It did not include actress and singer linda lavin. I just love this, you go on line and you write, this is very exciting. Im wondering if you would like me to sing the boy from from the mad show. In that moment, what i really wanted to say was, why the hell am i not on that show. So i tried to say it in a more gracious way and they called. Reporter she ended up singing a number she first sang back in 1966. Youre willing to advocate for yourself im willing to advocate for myself, absolutely. Sometimes people dont think of you. They dont know youre here. Im still here. They dont know youre alive. Youve got to let them know. Youve got to let them know. I used to be shy reporter shes alive all right. It has been 35 years since linda lavin ended her run at tvs alice. How do i stop him from chasing me just for my body . Let him catch you. And she has been hustling ever since. Starring on broadway where she won a tony, and on shows like mom. Look at that tiny tush, i hate her. Reporter once the pandemic set in, she began doing weekly concerts from her manhattan living room with pianist billy stritch. I wish i were in love again reporter and she has even released a new album. Ive worked more in these two and a half months than i have in two and a half years. Im not making that up. Reporter growing up in porland, maine, music was always a part of her life. Her mother, lucille, sang opera. She sang on the radio and early television. She sang with george gershwin, but in those years, doctors would say to women who were career women, if you want to have a baby, you have to give up your career. And thats what my generation comes from, those women. Reporter did your mother give up her career when she was expecting you . Yeah. When im in a spot, its true, i always know what to do. Reporter she says her mother always encouraged her to sing. My mother also tells the story, i stood up, i hadnt spoken yet, and one night there was company, and i stood up in my crib and sang god bless america. Reporter for her seventh birthday, she and her girlfriends made a fateful trip to the movies. And the movie was cover girl, with Rita Hayworth and gene kelly, and i remember it as if it was yesterday. Rita hayworth came