When Dani Johnson was sent to Knoxville, Tenn., for a week to do an episode of the feel-good reality show "Secret Millionaire," she was given $40 to live on, a beat-up car and a dirty apartment, and told to go find some good to do.
She lived in a high-crime area during her stay. "Going anywhere without my husband is always a safety issue for me," she said. "Being in that neighborhood is not foreign to me ... I have worked with the homeless before. I have cut their hair. I have trimmed their nails. I have washed their feet."
Her mission was to find unsung heroes in the community and help them out - first as a volunteer, and then, at the end of the week, with her own money. A best-selling author, radio-show host, motivator and philanthropist, Johnson, who grew up poor, neglected, abused and was once homeless, is now worth millions. To explain why she had cameras on her while shooting "Secret Millionaire," Johnson told everyone she was working on a documentary about volunteering.
"Secret Millionaire" (premiering 8 p.m. EST Sunday, ABC) dispatches the rich into a community where they've never been and are told to help the needy. The wealthy keep their true identities a secret until near the end of filming.
Johnson went to work at the Love Kitchen, which feeds the poor; Special Spaces, helping to renovate bedrooms for terminally ill children; and the Joy of Music, a school encouraging inner-city child musicians. Johnson also befriended a down-on-its-luck family, whose daughter has leukemia.
She wandered through neighborhoods and talked to strangers about the community. By networking, she came upon the nonprofit organizations she worked for.
Not knowing her at all, the organizations were happy just to have an extra pair of hands. When she revealed herself later, they were shocked.
"Little Dani would do anything we asked her to do," says Helen Ashe, 82, who co-founded the Love Kitchen 25 years ago with twin sister Ellen Turner. "She was over there mashing potatoes. She'd cook. She'd clean. She did anything.
"We couldn't believe a millionaire would come and work like she did. We didn't know who she was."
It turns out, "she was a blessing," Ashe says.
Johnson donated tens of thousands of dollars to each organization, basing her financial gifts on how much need she saw.
The "Secret Millionaire" experience has stayed with Johnson more than six months after she shot it.
"What has changed in me is the passion for (volunteer) mobilization," she says. "It's gone to a whole other level. It's gone to a passionate, passionate level."

When Dani Johnson was sent to Knoxville, Tenn., for a week to do an episode of the feel-good reality show "Secret Millionaire," she was given $40 to live on, a beat-up car and a dirty apartment, and told to go find some good to do.
She lived in a high-crime area during her stay. "Going anywhere without my husband is always a safety issue for me," she said. "Being in that neighborhood is not foreign to me ... I have worked with the homeless before. I have cut their hair. I have trimmed their nails. I have washed their feet."
Her mission was to find unsung heroes in the community and help them out - first as a volunteer, and then, at the end of the week, with her own money. A best-selling author, radio-show host, motivator and philanthropist, Johnson, who grew up poor, neglected, abused and was once homeless, is now worth millions. To explain why she had cameras on her while shooting "Secret Millionaire," Johnson told everyone she was working on a documentary about volunteering.
"Secret Millionaire" (premiering 8 p.m. EST Sunday, ABC) dispatches the rich into a community where they've never been and are told to help the needy. The wealthy keep their true identities a secret until near the end of filming.
Johnson went to work at the Love Kitchen, which feeds the poor; Special Spaces, helping to renovate bedrooms for terminally ill children; and the Joy of Music, a school encouraging inner-city child musicians. Johnson also befriended a down-on-its-luck family, whose daughter has leukemia.
She wandered through neighborhoods and talked to strangers about the community. By networking, she came upon the nonprofit organizations she worked for.
Not knowing her at all, the organizations were happy just to have an extra pair of hands. When she revealed herself later, they were shocked.
"Little Dani would do anything we asked her to do," says Helen Ashe, 82, who co-founded the Love Kitchen 25 years ago with twin sister Ellen Turner. "She was over there mashing potatoes. She'd cook. She'd clean. She did anything.
"We couldn't believe a millionaire would come and work like she did. We didn't know who she was."
It turns out, "she was a blessing," Ashe says.
Johnson donated tens of thousands of dollars to each organization, basing her financial gifts on how much need she saw.
The "Secret Millionaire" experience has stayed with Johnson more than six months after she shot it.
"What has changed in me is the passion for (volunteer) mobilization," she says. "It's gone to a whole other level. It's gone to a passionate, passionate level."

Daniel Pearl Execution Video: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed beheaded Daniel Pearl, according to FBI forensic testing, which has linked the video with veins on his hand matching one in the video.
Daniel Pearl was kidnapped in the Pakistani port of Karachi on January 23, 2002 while researching Islamic militants. After his kidnap, he was handed to an al-Qaeda gang led by Mohammed, a strategist for the terrorist network, who killed him.
Only a few short weeks later, the video of his execution, in which he was beheaded was delivered to authorities in the U.S.
The Pearl Project, a three-year independent investigation into the killing has cast doubts on the conviction of Omar Sheikh for the murder of Daniel Pearl. The investigation concludes Pakistani authorities “knowingly used perjured testimony” to pin the murder on him.

Daniel Pearl Execution Video: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed beheaded Daniel Pearl, according to FBI forensic testing, which has linked the video with veins on his hand matching one in the video.
Daniel Pearl was kidnapped in the Pakistani port of Karachi on January 23, 2002 while researching Islamic militants. After his kidnap, he was handed to an al-Qaeda gang led by Mohammed, a strategist for the terrorist network, who killed him.
Only a few short weeks later, the video of his execution, in which he was beheaded was delivered to authorities in the U.S.
The Pearl Project, a three-year independent investigation into the killing has cast doubts on the conviction of Omar Sheikh for the murder of Daniel Pearl. The investigation concludes Pakistani authorities “knowingly used perjured testimony” to pin the murder on him.

One of the longest careers in broadcast journalism came to an end Friday. Veteran reporter and commentator Daniel Schorr died in Washington. He was 93.
Schorr had covered the world for more than 60 years, spending 24 of them at CBS News, "CBS Evening News" Anchor Katie Couric reports.

(Scroll down to watch Katie Couric's remembrance of Daniel Schorr)

Edward R. Murrow recruited Schorr to work for CBS in 1953. As a correspondent in Moscow, he persuaded Nikita Khrushchev to give CBS his first television interview. Later, Schorr became a member of the storied CBS News Washington Bureau.

"He had a great way of irritating government officials because he always came up with the truth," said CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer. "He came up with these stories. People couldn't figure out how he got it."

Schorr led CBS News coverage of the Watergate scandal. When he got a hold of President Nixon's infamous enemies list, he read it cold on live TV and was stunned to hear himself say, "Number 17, Schorr, Daniel … a real media enemy."

Born in the Bronx the son or Russian immigrants, Schorr was brilliant, brash and abrasive. He clashed not only with government officials but news management and left CBS in the uproar that followed his leaking of a congressional report about questionable activities by the CIA.

In 1979, Schorr joined the fledgling CNN and in the mid-'80s moved to NPR, where he worked until his death.

In his later years, he wrote, "Stormy as it was, I wouldn't trade my career for anyone else's."

One of the longest careers in broadcast journalism came to an end Friday. Veteran reporter and commentator Daniel Schorr died in Washington. He was 93.
Schorr had covered the world for more than 60 years, spending 24 of them at CBS News, "CBS Evening News" Anchor Katie Couric reports.

(Scroll down to watch Katie Couric's remembrance of Daniel Schorr)

Edward R. Murrow recruited Schorr to work for CBS in 1953. As a correspondent in Moscow, he persuaded Nikita Khrushchev to give CBS his first television interview. Later, Schorr became a member of the storied CBS News Washington Bureau.

"He had a great way of irritating government officials because he always came up with the truth," said CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer. "He came up with these stories. People couldn't figure out how he got it."

Schorr led CBS News coverage of the Watergate scandal. When he got a hold of President Nixon's infamous enemies list, he read it cold on live TV and was stunned to hear himself say, "Number 17, Schorr, Daniel … a real media enemy."

Born in the Bronx the son or Russian immigrants, Schorr was brilliant, brash and abrasive. He clashed not only with government officials but news management and left CBS in the uproar that followed his leaking of a congressional report about questionable activities by the CIA.

In 1979, Schorr joined the fledgling CNN and in the mid-'80s moved to NPR, where he worked until his death.

In his later years, he wrote, "Stormy as it was, I wouldn't trade my career for anyone else's."

Daniel Sunjata, Although he has played a fashion designer in The Devil Wears Prada, the lovestruck Christian to Jennifer Garner’s Roxanne in Cyrano De Bergerac, baseball legend Reggie Jackson in The Bronx is Burning and poet Langston Hughes in Brother to Brother, Daniel Sunjata is best known as New York City fireman Franco Rivera in the FX series Rescue Me. This month, he adds a new role to his resume: Massachusetts State Police investigator Win Garano in the Lifetime movies At Risk and The Front, a pair of crime dramas adapted from Patricia Cornwell novels that premiere Apr. 10 and Apr. 17 respectively.
Sunjata stars opposite Andie McDowell as his D.A. boss, a woman with her own self-serving agenda. “That ticks him off, but at the same time there’s a subtle sexual tension between the two of them and that factors in as well,” says the Chicago-born, New York-based actor, who’s no stranger to procedural drama. “One of my first jobs on TV was on Law & Order Special Victims Unit. I was a nameless laboratory tech who’d come on every three episodes for 15 seconds,” he remembers. Honey did not bat a lash when the dynamic actor shared more memories and insights about his roles and himself.
What drew you to this character, Win Garano?
The thing that resonated with me most deeply was playing a character with the same kind of ethnic ambiguity as I have. Win Garano is of mixed race and so am I. I also happen to be adopted. Win isn’t adopted but he lost his parents in a tragic accident and was raised by his grandmother so there were aspects of that that I was able to identify with. Also, having the opportunity to show that I can be number one on the call sheet and fulfill the demands of that, something that I’d yet to showcase in my career.

Daniel Sunjata, Although he has played a fashion designer in The Devil Wears Prada, the lovestruck Christian to Jennifer Garner’s Roxanne in Cyrano De Bergerac, baseball legend Reggie Jackson in The Bronx is Burning and poet Langston Hughes in Brother to Brother, Daniel Sunjata is best known as New York City fireman Franco Rivera in the FX series Rescue Me. This month, he adds a new role to his resume: Massachusetts State Police investigator Win Garano in the Lifetime movies At Risk and The Front, a pair of crime dramas adapted from Patricia Cornwell novels that premiere Apr. 10 and Apr. 17 respectively.
Sunjata stars opposite Andie McDowell as his D.A. boss, a woman with her own self-serving agenda. “That ticks him off, but at the same time there’s a subtle sexual tension between the two of them and that factors in as well,” says the Chicago-born, New York-based actor, who’s no stranger to procedural drama. “One of my first jobs on TV was on Law & Order Special Victims Unit. I was a nameless laboratory tech who’d come on every three episodes for 15 seconds,” he remembers. Honey did not bat a lash when the dynamic actor shared more memories and insights about his roles and himself.
What drew you to this character, Win Garano?
The thing that resonated with me most deeply was playing a character with the same kind of ethnic ambiguity as I have. Win Garano is of mixed race and so am I. I also happen to be adopted. Win isn’t adopted but he lost his parents in a tragic accident and was raised by his grandmother so there were aspects of that that I was able to identify with. Also, having the opportunity to show that I can be number one on the call sheet and fulfill the demands of that, something that I’d yet to showcase in my career.