This week on “Sunday Morning” (July 19)

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: Lee Cowan

COVER STORY: What’s the matter with Congress? | Watch Video
Congress was granted many powers under Article I of the Constitution. Nonetheless, in recent decades, lawmakers – including under current GOP majorities – have ceded much of their authority to the president, while Washington has been plagued by gridlock, and a sense that Congress has been marginalized. As both parties point fingers, “Sunday Morning” national correspondent Robert Costa talks with Capitol Hill observers who discuss why the House and Senate are for the most part failing to address many problems facing Americans, and whether they are optimistic that Congress – beset by partisanship, gerrymandering, and the president’s pressures to do his bidding – could one day find its way again.

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ALMANAC: July 19 (Video)
“Sunday Morning” looks back at historical events on this date.

SPORTS: Pitch perfect: Developing natural grass for the World Cup | Watch Video
FIFA rules state that World Cup matches must be played on pitches with natural grass. For this year’s tournament, where some matches were scheduled in stadiums with artificial turf, special varieties of grass were required to withstand playing conditions and differing climates. Conor Knighton examines how scientifically-engineered sod was deployed, sometimes in domed stadiums, to ensure resiliency under the demands of World Cup competition.

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ARTS: Carol Bove’s heavy metal artistry (Video)
Carol Bove’s bent and warped steel sculptures tower above visitors to the artist’s retrospective at New York’s Guggenheim Museum. Correspondent Faith Salie talks with Bove about how her artwork invites museum-goers into an environment of curiosity and playfulness.

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COMMENTARY: Ted Danson with 4 tips on aging creatively (Video)
Studies show that having a positive outlook about aging, and having good social networks, can have positive health benefits, from preventing memory loss to a longer life expectancy. Actor Ted Danson presents “Sunday Morning” viewers with advice on how to embrace aging.

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U.S.: Judge Ronald Gould on his MS: “Just take life a step at a time” | Watch Video
Ronald Gould is a federal judge on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle, one rung below the U.S. Supreme Court. At 79, he shoulders a full caseload despite living with progressive multiple sclerosis. He talks with CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook about working with MS, a condition he faces with grit and a healthy dose of humor. LaPook also talks with one of Gould’s former law clerks, Karla Gilbride, an attorney who has been blind since birth.

WEB EXTRA: Attorney Karla Gilbride on challenges facing people with disabilities (Video)
Karla Gilbride, an attorney who has been blind since birth, and who formerly served as general counsel of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, talked with Dr. Jon LaPook about what abled people should consider when thinking about people with disabilities.

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PASSAGE: In memoriam (Video)
“Sunday Morning” remembers some of the notable figures who left us this week, including Oscar-winning actress Brenda Fricker (“My Left Foot”), and Sam Neill, star of the blockbuster “Jurassic Park.”

HARTMAN: A retirement sendoff for a guardian angel (Video)
In 1965, Marco Houpe was just 15 months old when he was injured in a fire, with third-degree burns over 85% of his body. Wynola Wayne, then a young trainee nurse at her Columbus, Ohio hospital’s burn unit, helped save his life. Recently, when Wayne retired after nearly six decades as a nurse, it was no ordinary farewell party, as Houpe made plain. Steve Hartman reports. 

MUSIC: Shania Twain on her “very long road” to getting it right | Watch Video
Shania Twain grew up dirt poor in rural Ontario, and as a child sang country songs in bars. Throughout family hardships, divorce, and losing her voice to Lyme disease, and despite not signing a record contract until her late 20s, Twain became the top-selling female country artist of all time. She talks with correspondent Seth Doane about her biographical new album, “Little Miss Twain,” in which she reflects on her life with a smile.

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Watch an extended interview with Shania Twain (Video)

To hear Shania Twain perform “Little Miss Twain,” click on the video player below:

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TV: “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe”: Comedy that breaks the rules (and the multiverse) (Video)
A new HBO Max comedy series – a spin-off from “The Big Bang Theory” – features comic book store owner Stuart Bloom (Kevin Sussman) as an unlikely action hero trying to restore order to a disintegrating universe. Luke Burbank talks with Sussman, co-star Lauren Lapkus, and series creators Chuck Lorre, Bill Prady and Zak Penn, about taking “The Big Bang Theory” characters into uncharted worlds.

To watch a trailer for “Stuart Fails to Save the Universe,” click on the video player below:

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COMMENTARY: Sam Smith and the “gentle revolution” of “My Guy” | Watch Video
Rolling Stone writer Barry Walters, author of the music history “Mighty Real,” says the latest ballad by British singer Sam Smith is a step forward from LGBTQ love songs being marginalized.

Sam Smith performs “My Guy”:

READ AN EXCERPT: “Mighty Real: A History of LGBTQ Music, 1969-2000” by Barry Walters

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NATURE: Scrub-jays in Florida (Extended Video)
We leave you this Sunday with scrub-jays in the city of Rockledge, Florida. Videographer: Doug Jensen.
      

WEB EXCLUSIVES:

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Pat Oliphant and the art of political cartoons (Video)
Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Pat Oliphant, whose acidic drawings skewering political figures were syndicated in as many as 500 publications around the world, died on July 13, 2026 at age 90. In this April 16, 2000 “Sunday Morning” story, Oliphant talked with Morley Safer about caricature, censorship, and the influence of the first great political cartoonist, 19th century French master Honoré Daumier, whose grotesque drawings of King Louis Philippe led to a curtailment of press freedom in France in 1835.  

MARATHON: Hot dog! America’s love of franks (YouTube Video)
Do you relish frankfurters? In honor of National Hot Day Day this past week, “Sunday Morning” brings you these stories devoted to everyone’s favorite dog (on a bun). Featuring:

• Chicago’s special way with a hot dog (2001)
• Lee Cowan with a frank look at the making of a hot dog (2013)
• Bobby Flay with an appreciation of hot dogs (2005)
• A landmark roadside hot dog stand in Mamaroneck, N.Y. (2003)
• Bill Geist attends Hot Dog University (2007)
• Chicago’s most popular hot dog (2009)
• Scott Pelley with the story of Nathan’s Famous (2002)
• Mo Rocca in search of a Mexican hot dog (2009)
• Steve Hartman with a flinger of hot dogs (2012)
• A profile of champion hot dog eater Joey Chestnut (2010)

MARATHON: Farms and ranches, the old and the new (YouTube Video)
“CBS Sunday Morning” heads out to pasture across the U.S., highlighting good neighbors, modern innovations, cute animals and more. Featured: 

• Isolated Nebraska ranchers learn they are not alone
• A pig rescue farm
• How farmers are adapting to climate change
• Vertical farming
• A shortage of agricultural labor
• “Goat-crashing” on Zoom
• Jim Belushi, cannabis farmer
• Seattle farmers market reopens
• Farming the land in a national park
• Rancher’s vegan wife sets out to save cattle
• Homes sprouting up around farms
• Innovative partnership aids farm workers
• Teddy Roosevelt’s ranch
• Former football player turns to farming  

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

GALLERY: Summer music highlights of 2026
Summer is the time to enjoy live music, indoors and out. Scroll through our gallery of some of 2026’s leading musical acts, featuring images by CBS News photojournalist Jake Barlow and photographers Ed Spinelli and Kirstine Walton.

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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