This week on ‘Sunday Morning’ (Aug. 23)

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 11:00 a.m. ET. (Download it here.) 

Guest host: Steve Hartman

COVER STORY: The explosion of ticks and Alpha-gal syndrome
This year, emergency room visits for tick bites have increased dramatically, corresponding with a new threat: a rise in Alpha-gal syndrome (AGS), where one bite from a Lone Star tick can make you violently allergic to red meat. Correspondent David Pogue looks at how residents of Martha Vineyard are addressing an epidemic of Alpha-gal, and talks with experts about how best to avoid tick bites.

For more info:

• Thomas Mather, director, Center for Vector-Borne Disease, University of Rhode Island
• TickEncounter Reserouce Center, University of Rhode Island
• Sam Telford III, director, Tufts New England Regional Biosafety Laboratory, Tufts University
• The Tick Center at Martha’s Vineyard Medical, Oak Bluffs, Mass.
• Red Cat Kitchen, Martha’s Vineyard

     
ALMANAC: August 23
“Sunday Morning” looks back at historical events on this date.

PHOTOGRAPHY: Capturing an immortal photograph of jazz legends
In 1958, photographer Art Kane assembled many of the greatest legends in jazz on a brownstone stoop in Harlem; his picture became one of the most famous images ever taken of artistic royalty. Correspondent Mo Rocca talks about Kane’s iconic group portrait with the photographer’s son, Jonathan; and about the legacy the musicians left behind with legendary bassist Ron Carter, who played alongside nearly all of the jazz greats pictured that hot August day.

For more info:

• Photographer Art Kane Archive (Official site)
• Milt Hinton Collection
• Bassist Ron Carter (Official site)
• “Ron Carter: Finding the Right Notes” (PBS)
• Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library, Harlem

DESIGN: Luna Parc: A home and an eclectic canvas
For more than 35 years, artist Ricky Boscarino has turned his house in Sandyston, N.J., and its 8.5 acres into an eye-popping gallery filled with sculptures, ceramics, mosaics and whimsy. Correspondent Serena Altschul pays a visit to Boscarino’s quirky home, dubbed Luna Parc, and his outdoor “electric garden.”

For more info:

• Luna Parc, Sandyston, N.J. | Tour dates

BOOKS: Robin Wall Kimmerer on the wonders of nature
Botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer, a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, is author of the New York Times bestsellers “Braiding Sweetgrass” and “The Serviceberry” – books that advocate for living and working in collaboration with the Earth. She talks with correspondent Martha Teichner about the importance of respecting both Western scientific knowledge and indigenous knowledge, planting trees, and sharing the gifts of nature.

For more info:

• robinwallkimmerer.com
• “The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World” by Robin Wall Kimmerer, illustrated by John Burgoyne (Scribner), in Hardcover, Large Print Trade Paperback, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
• Plant Baby Plant

     
PASSAGE: In memoriam
“Sunday Morning” remembers some of the notable figures who left us this week.

     
ARTS: Casa Verdi, a rest home for musicians living in harmony
Opera great Giuseppe Verdi, one of history’s most successful composers, used his fortune to create a retirement home for professional musicians “not favored by fortune.” Residents of Casa Verdi in Milan not only share their lifetimes of artistry, they also provide master classes to young musicians. Chris Livesay reports.

For more info:

• Casa Verdi, Milan

    
HARTMAN: Inside shooting victim Fletcher Merkel’s bedroom
Eight-year-old Fletcher Merkel was one of two students killed when a gunman fired randomly into the Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis last August. Steve Hartman (who documented the bedrooms of young shooting victims in the Oscar-winning short documentary “All the Empty Rooms”) talked with Fletcher’s parents, Jesse and Mollie, about their son, and the sacred space he left behind.

INTERACTIVE: “Everything as it was”: Explore the bedrooms of kids killed in school shootings

For more info:

• Photographer Lou Bopp

MUSIC: The real no-shoes Kenny Chesney
In his recent memoir, “Heart Life Music,” Kenny Chesney describes his life’s journey, from Knoxville, Tenn., to No Shoes Nation and beyond. Chesney sits down with Lee Cowan in the Florida Keys, where the country superstar is just another laid-back local, to talk about family, touring, and how he recovered from a 2009 concert which he describes as “hitting a wall.” [Originally broadcast Oct. 26, 2025.]

To hear Chesney perform “Silver Sands Marina,” from his upcoming album, click on the video player below:

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Extended interview – Kenny Chesney (Video)
The country superstar talks with Lee Cowan about his book, “Heart Life Music.”

READ AN EXCERPT: “Heart Life Music” by Kenny Chesney with Holly Gleason

For more info:

• “Silver Sands Marina” by Kenney Chesney, to be released Sept. 25, available for pre-order
• “Heart Life Music” by Kenny Chesney with Holly Gleason (‎William Morrow), in Hardcover, Large Print Trade Paperback, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
• kennychesney.com

     
MILEPOST: TBD
     

ARTS: From the ashes arises an origami koi
In the 1990s, Robert Lang, a physicist who once designed lasers for NASA, became a leading figure in the world of origami, combining math and art to create magic. After the 2025 Altadena wildfire destroyed his house, and a lifetime’s works of folded paper, Lang set out to recreate his designs – and the origami community joined in. Tracy Smith reports.

For more info:

• Robert J. Lang Origami
• Exhibition: “To Catch a Fish,” at Mingei International Museum, San Diego (through Nov. 1)
• Origamido Studios, Haverhill, Mass. 
• Descanso Gardens, La Cañada Flintridge, Calif.
• Origami USA

     
GALLERY: Photos of the Week
“Sunday Morning” looks at some of the most evocative images captured the week of August 17, 2026.

     
NATURE: Harbor seals in Oregon
     

LIVE: 

“CBS Sunday Morning” launches new series of live events at the 92nd Street Y in NYC, debuting with Sylvester Stallone
America’s #1 Sunday morning news program announces a new collaboration beginning Sept. 28 to bring conversations with the biggest newsmakers in the arts, politics and culture to the stage, and streamed online.

For more info: 

• Tickets are on sale at www.92ny.org.     
  

WEB EXCLUSIVES:

MARATHON: The splendor of the Rocky Mountains (YouTube Video)
Enjoy these “Sunday Morning” stories and Nature videos set in the majestic Rocky Mountains of the U.S. and Canada. Featuring: 

• Photographer John Fielder captures the beauty of the Rocky Mountains (2015)
• Nature: The Canadian Rockies near Alberta (2021)
• Yellowstone and the origin of the National Park Service (2025)
• Nature: Geysers at Yellowstone (2019)
• Forrest Fenn’s treasure hidden in the Rockies (2015)
• Nature: The Canadian Rockies (2018)
• Photographer Ansel Adams and his legacy (Knighton)
• It’s elk rutting season, and the crowds (including Bill Geist) have come to watch (1999)
• Nature: Colorado Rockies (2020)
• The winter caretaker at Yellowstone National Park (2015)
• Protecting against avalanches in Sun Valley, Idaho (2021)
• How the Rockies, and American expansionism, were depicted by 19th century artists (1983)
• Nature: A Rocky Mountain snowscape near Leadville, Colo. (2019)
• The historic Baldpate Inn at Estes Park, Colo. (2018)
• Nature: Spring flowers bloom in the Colorado Rockies (2017)
• The Frozen Dead Guy residing at a “haunted” Colorado hotel (2024) 
• Wildfires bring renewal to Yellowstone (1988) 
• Nature: Glacier National Park in Montana (2015)

FROM 1981: Yankees pitcher Tommy John (Video)
Pitcher Tommy John, who in the 1970s underwent an innovative procedure on his injured pitching arm that would become famous as “Tommy John surgery,” died on Aug. 15, 2026 at age 83. In this “Sunday Morning” story that aired Aug. 16, 1981, John talked with correspondent Heywood Hale Broun about his comeback after surgery, and about baseball’s other comeback – returning to the field following the major league players’ nearly two-month-long strike. [Also appearing are Yankee outfielder Lou Pinella and trainer Gene Monahan.]  

FROM 2024: Tommy John on Tommy John surgery (Video)
In this interview from 2024, former pitching ace Tommy John talked with correspondent Faith Salie about the injury to his pitching arm he suffered in 1974, and about the innovative procedure (which came to be known as “Tommy John surgery”) that rescued his career – and would prolong the careers of many more professional and amateur athletes since. 

GALLERY: Notable deaths in 2026
A look back at the esteemed personalities who left us this year, who touched us with their innovation, creativity and humanity.

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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