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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: senior citizens

senior citizens stories: 27 news summaries

1 - 20 of 27 Stories | 1 2 Next >>

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David Leonhardt

Forget the $250 Checks, Obama: Say No to Grandma

To cut deficit, we have to cut benefits to seniors

Oct 28, 09 8:35 AM CDT
(Newser) - Economists are none too impressed with Barack Obama's proposal to send each senior a cool $250, and David Leonhardt can see why. The over-65 set has weathered the recession better than anyone—many of them purchased real estate well before the housing bubble burst, and few work in the most-battered... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • entitlement programs • Medicare • Social Security • senior citizens • Obama administration


 America's 
 Most 
 Powerful 
 Octogenarians 

Slate ranks the country's top old people

Oct 21, 09 4:25 PM CDT
(Newser) - Retirement? Bah! Slate’s annual 80 for 80 list ranks America’s mightiest octogenarians, giving extra credit for post-80 achievements, and “being really, really old.” The top:
  1. Thomas Monson (82): As the head of the Mormon church, 13 million people think he’s a prophet “in
... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barbara Walters • Alan Greenspan • list • John Paul Stevens • Daniel Inouye • Thomas Monson • senior citizens • seniors • Noam Chomsky

Obama's Stealth Stimulus: $250 Checks to Seniors

With social security stagnant, Obama proposes payment to elderly

Oct 15, 09 8:12 AM CDT
(Newser) - Seniors won’t be getting a boost in their Social Security benefits this January, but President Obama tried to head off that announcement yesterday by encouraging Congress to give them all a one-time $250 check. The administration sees these payments, which would cost the government about $13 billion, as another... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • inflation • recession • recovery • Social Security • economic stimulus package • senior citizens

Autopsy Shows 100-Year-Old Was Murdered

Nursing home resident Elizabeth Barrow
found strangled

Oct 8, 09 11:31 AM CDT
(Newser) - A Massachusetts medical examiner has ruled the death of a 100-year-old nursing home patient a homicide by strangulation. Elizabeth Barrow was found dead in her room Sept. 24, with a plastic bag over her head and no obvious signs of struggle, a law enforcement source tells the Standard-Times of... More »

MORE ABOUT:
elderly • Massachusetts • homicide • nursing homes • senior citizens • Elizabeth Barrow

Under New Math,
1 in 5 Seniors
Is Poor

Outmoded federal statistics don't reflect reality, group says

Sep 4, 09 9:57 AM CDT
(Newser) - Based on official statistics, only 10% of Americans aged 65 and older are poor, the lowest rate of any age group. But the actual number should be nearly twice that, finds the National Academy of Sciences, which has developed a new, modern way of calculating poverty that is quickly gaining... More »

MORE ABOUT:
elderly • poverty • senior citizens • poverty line

(Newser) - Scan the ranks of health care reform malcontents at your local town hall, and you’ll notice a lot of older faces. With Democrats aiming their sales pitch mostly at middle-class Americans and the uninsured, seniors have come to fear that Medicare, their own beloved government-run health care, will face... More »

MORE ABOUT:
health care costs • health insurance • Medicare • AARP • health care reform • senior citizens • deathers

 In LA, You're 
 Never Too Old to Rap 

Seniors learn to love the music in unusual class

Aug 3, 09 12:33 PM CDT
(Newser) - A new crop of rappers is emerging in Los Angeles, and they have one thing in common: They’re senior citizens. Hip-hop artist Keith Cross started his unorthodox rap class in 2004 to show seniors “there is positive rap out there; we just have to look for it,”... More »

MORE ABOUT:
entertainment • pop culture • rapper • rap music • senior citizens • seniors • Jay-ZTV

Indian Woman, 70, Is Oldest First-Time Mom 

She and husband say they'd wanted a child together for 50 years.

Dec 10, 08 9:19 AM CST
(Newser) - A 70-year-old woman in India says she gave birth to her first child in late November, making her the world’s oldest new mother, the BBC reports. Rajo Devi underwent fertility treatment so she and her husband, Bala Ram, could realize their 50-year dream of having a child. Ram is... More »

MORE ABOUT:
motherhood • India • in vitro fertilization • mothers • birth • new parents • senior citizens

OPINION

Don't Take the 'Gold' Out of Americans' Golden Years

And why is retirement reform taboo?

Dec 4, 08 3:30 PM CST
(Newser) - Snow White’s dwarf pals are so happy to go to work that they sing about it, “and they’re 71 years old,” writes Irwin Stelzer of the Weekly Standard. “So why do so many of us less vertically disadvantaged worry about” extending the retirement age?... More »

MORE ABOUT:
entitlement programs • age • retirement • Social Security • senior citizens • retirement benefits

Young Jews Lobby Vital Fla. Voters: Nana and Bubbeh

Silverman urges 'Great Schlep' for Obama 

Sep 26, 08 1:55 PM CDT
(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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Florida • Jews • Obama 2008 • the Jewish vote • senior citizens • swing states • the senior vote • Bill Maher Grid

McCain in the Minority: Peers Are on the Web

73% of white college grads over 65 are plugged in

Jul 21, 08 5:14 AM CDT
(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,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
John McCain • Internet • senior citizens • computers

 Millions Skip Filing for Stimulus 

IRS struggling to keep up

Jun 20, 08 9:53 AM CDT
(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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
IRS • Social Security • economic stimulus package • senior citizens

Parking Space Spat Leads to Elder Abuse Charges

Younger woman assaults 71-year-old

Jun 19, 08 6:23 PM CDT
(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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
crime • parking space • elder abuse • senior citizens

 Gender and
 Race Aside,
 Age Pushes
 to Fore 

Boomers, seniors split on whether to support fellow oldster

Jun 15, 08 3:17 PM CDT
(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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • John McCain • baby boomer • age • Obama 2008 • baby boom • McCain 2008 • age discrimination • senior citizens • the senior vote

 Light May
 Slow Dementia 

Brighter environs cut depression in research hailed as 'spectacular'

Jun 11, 08 11:53 AM CDT
(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,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
dementia • light • melatonin • senior citizens • Alzheimer's Disease

OPINION

Grandma, Grandpa, Please Back Gay Marriage

LAT scribe urges elderly to dis a gay marriage ban in Calif.

May 30, 08 9:03 PM CDT
(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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
California • gay marriage • voting • California Supreme Court • senior citizens • gays

CDC: Older Americans
Need Shingles Vaccines

Drug cuts risk of getting disease in half

May 16, 08 3:10 AM CDT
(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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Merck • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention • chronic pain • vaccine • virus • senior citizens • shingles

 Get Old, Get Happy 

Researchers find people get happier as they age

Apr 19, 08 5:50 AM CDT
(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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
elderly • aging • old age • happiness • senior citizens

Older (White) Americans Live Longer, Larger

Study sees age, wealth increasing, but gap remains between races

Mar 28, 08 4:55 PM CDT
(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... More »

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

Americans Get More Liberal With Age

Long-term study
shows elders
trending left

Mar 10, 08 1:00 PM CDT
(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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
elderly • age • conservative • list • sociology • liberal • age discrimination • senior citizens

1 - 20 of 27 Stories | 1 2 Next >>


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