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October 11, 2008 3:53:57 AM CDT

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Stories related to: senior citizens

Stories

18 Stories

  • September 2008

    • Young Jews Lobby Vital Fla. Voters: Nana and Bubbeh

      Dallas Morning News  |  Sep 26, 08 1:55 PM CDT

      Young Jews Lobby Vital Fla. Voters: Nana and Bubbeh

      (Newser) - The 2008 election is so important that some Jewish kids may actually visit their grandparents voluntarily. That's the theory behind “The Great Schlep,” an initiative urging young Jews to fly to Florida over Columbus Day weekend and lobby their relatives for Barack Obama. The sponsor is a pro-Obama Jewish group, but more important, it has a celebrity spokesman: Sarah Silverman. More »

      Tags

      Obama 2008  • Florida  • Jews  • swing states  • senior citizens  • the Jewish vote  • the senior vote

  • July 2008

    • McCain in the Minority: Peers Are on the Web

      Associated Press  |  Jul 21, 08 5:14 AM CDT

      McCain in the Minority: Peers Are on the Web

      (Newser) - John McCain may be a Luddite when it comes to the internet—the 71-year-old candidate confesses that he relies on his wife and aides to do his browsing for him—but most of his peers are computer savvy, AP reports. While only 35% of Americans over age 65 are online,  three-quarters of white, college-educated American men over the age of 65 routinely use the internet, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center. More »

      Tags

      John McCain  • Internet  • senior citizens  • computers

  • June 2008

    • Millions Skip Filing for Stimulus

      CNN  |  Jun 20, 08 9:53 AM CDT

      Millions Skip Filing for Stimulus

      (Newser) - Roughly 5 million people who qualify for a stimulus check could be out of luck because they haven't filed a tax return, CNN reports, and the IRS is scrambling to let them know. These un-stimulated masses consist mostly of seniors and veterans who don’t normally file returns. “I think there are some natural barriers to getting some folks to want to file a return again,” one IRS employee theorized. More »

      Tags

      Social Security  • IRS  • senior citizens  • economic stimulus  • stimulus package  • stimulus response

    • Parking Space Spat Leads to Elder Abuse Charges

      CBS13  |  Jun 19, 08 6:23 PM CDT

      Parking Space Spat Leads to Elder Abuse Charges

      (Newser) - A woman in Stockton, Calif., is facing elder-abuse charges after she allegedly attacked a 71-year-old woman who caught her parking in a handicap spot without a permit, CBS reports. The victim says her 26-year-old assailant “put her baby down and came at me with both hands” when she saw the older woman taking a photo of her license plate. The victim was knocked down but not seriously hurt. More »

      Tags

      crime  • senior citizens  • parking space  • elder abuse

    • Gender and Race Aside, Age Pushes to Fore

      New York Times  |  Jun 15, 08 3:17 PM CDT

      Gender and Race Aside, Age Pushes to Fore

      (Newser) - Now that a primary season fraught with racism and sexism has ended, the nation now gears up to face its general-election gremlin: ageism. While John McCain, 71, may joke that the primary qualification to be president is "to be very, very, very, very old," the New York Times reports that his age may work for him among ever-more vibrant oldsters trying to break a gray ceiling, of sorts. More »

      Tags

      Barack Obama  • John McCain  • Obama 2008  • McCain 2008  • age  • senior citizens  • Baby Boom generation  • age discrimination  • baby boom  • baby boomers  • the senior vote

    • Light May Slow Dementia

      BBC  |  Jun 11, 08 11:53 AM CDT

      Light May Slow Dementia

      (Newser) - Brighter daytime lighting can significantly soften dementia symptoms, according to a Dutch study that found better moods and sleep patterns correlated with brighter environs. Combined with extra doses of the hormone melatonin, lighting slowed onset of symptoms by up to 5%, which “may not sound like a huge amount,” one researcher said, but “it could represent 6 months" of extra time in a patient's own home. More »

      Tags

      Alzheimer's  • dementia  • senior citizens  • light  • melatonin

  • May 2008

    • Grandma, Grandpa, Please Back Gay Marriage

      Los Angeles Times  |  May 30, 08 9:03 PM CDT

      Grandma, Grandpa, Please Back Gay Marriage

      (Newser) - If old folks in California would come out to support gay marriage in November, a proposed amendment banning it would keel over and die, Joel Stein writes in the Los Angeles Times . The majority of Californians under 50 support it, but only 36% of senior citizens. Which leads Stein to urge oldsters to "take a leap of faith and trust the younger generations on this one." Sometimes social change requires "uncomfortable lurches toward improvement." More »

      Tags

      California  • gay marriage  • voting  • senior citizens  • California Supreme Court  • gays

    • CDC: Older Americans Need Shingles Vaccines

      HealthDay News  |  May 16, 08 3:10 AM CDT

      CDC: Older Americans Need Shingles Vaccines

      (Newser) - The CDC is recommending that all adults age 60 and older get vaccinated against shingles, a common condition that can result in chronic plan, the Washington Post reports. Research has found that the recommended Merck vaccine reduces the occurrence of shingles by some 50% in this age group. Only those with immunodeficiency diseases should not be vaccinated, according to the CDC. More »

      Tags

      vaccine  • virus  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  • CDC  • senior citizens  • chronic pain  • Merck and Co.

  • April 2008

    • Get Old, Get Happy

      Chicago Sun-Times  |  Apr 19, 08 5:50 AM CDT

      Get Old, Get Happy

      (Newser) - Happiness really does come with age, researchers have discovered in one of the widest-ranging studies ever of happiness in America. Measures of happiness steadily climbed among study participants into their mid-60s. Levels dipped only slightly after that, and people in their 80s still tended to be happier than people under 40, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. More »

      Tags

      elderly  • aging  • senior citizens  • happiness  • old age

  • March 2008

    • Older (White) Americans Live Longer, Larger

      Reuters  |  Mar 28, 08 4:55 PM CDT

      Older (White) Americans Live Longer, Larger

      (Newser) - Americans over age 65 have better financial security, are better educated and expected to live far longer than ever, a study finds—but huge gaps remain between results for whites and those for blacks and Latinos. "The life expectancy gap between whites and blacks has narrowed but is still large," a researcher tells Reuters. "There is a big wealth gap between whites and blacks." More »

      Tags

      obesity  • race  • elderly  • aging  • senior citizens  • racial inequality  • National Institute on Aging

    • Americans Get More Liberal With Age

      LiveScience  |  Mar 10, 08 1:00 PM CDT

      Americans Get More Liberal With Age

      (Newser) - The older a person gets, the more conservative he or she is likely to be, right? Wrong, say scientists who studied more than 46,000 people who responded to a US government survey from 1972 to 2004. In fact, a lead researcher tells LiveScience, "More people are changing in a liberal direction than in a conservative direction." More »

      Tags

      list  • conservative  • elderly  • age  • senior citizens  • liberal  • sociology  • age discrimination

  • February 2008
  • January 2008

    • Candidates Court Fla.'s Senior Power Brokers

      Politico  |  Jan 29, 08 1:03 PM CST

      Candidates Court Fla.'s Senior Power Brokers

      (Newser) - The road to the GOP nomination may pass through The Villages, a retirement community outside Orlando with an upper-crust, Republican-heavy population. “If you don’t get your condos to the polls, you don’t win,” a professor says of the 350 retirement communities in Florida, where 40% of voters are over 65, Politico reports. And The Villages, pop. 65,000, holds special sway. More »

      Tags

      John McCain  • Florida primary  • senior citizens  • retirement communities

    • Octogenarian Busted for Racing

      Globe and Mail  |  Jan 8, 08 12:18 PM CST

      Octogenarian Busted for Racing

      (Newser) - An 85-year-old speedster has been charged with street racing after a Canadian cop clocked him going 100mph, the Globe and Mail reports. When the officer tried to pull over the rocketing Oldsmobile Intrigue, the heedless octogenarian sped up, weaving between lanes in icy