Ina Jaffe
Ina Jaffe is a veteran NPR correspondent covering the aging of America. Her stories on Morning Edition and All Things Considered have focused on older adults' involvement in politics and elections, dating and divorce, work and retirement, fashion and sports, as well as issues affecting long term care and end of life choices. In 2015, she was named one of the nation's top "Influencers in Aging" by PBS publication Next Avenue, which wrote "Jaffe has reinvented reporting on aging."
Jaffe also reports on politics, contributing to NPR's coverage of national elections since 2008. From her base at NPR's production center in Culver City, California, Jaffe has covered most of the region's major news events, from the beating of Rodney King to the election of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. She's also developed award-winning enterprise pieces. Her 2012 investigation into how the West Los Angeles VA made millions from illegally renting vacant property while ignoring plans to house homeless veterans won an award from the Society of Professional Journalists as well as a Gracie Award from the Alliance for Women in Media. A few months after the story aired, the West Los Angeles VA broke ground on supportive housing for homeless vets.
Her year-long coverage on the rising violence in California's public psychiatric hospitals won the 2011 Investigative Reporters and Editors Award as well as a Gracie Award. Her 2010 series on California's tough three strikes law was honored by the American Bar Association with the Silver Gavel Award, as well as by the Society of Professional Journalists.
Before moving to Los Angeles, Jaffe was the first editor of Weekend Edition Saturday with Scott Simon, which made its debut in 1985.
Born in Chicago, Jaffe attended the University of Wisconsin and DePaul University, receiving bachelor's and master's degrees in philosophy, respectively.
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Registered Republicans now make up just 25 percent of the state's electorate. If they are divided in this race, a Democrat could claim second place in the state's open primary. -
For many Americans, retirement is no longer the long vacation they once imagined. More older adults are in the workforce than ever. -
At least a million more home aides will be needed in the next decade, U.S. statistics suggest. And about a quarter of today's 3 million aides who help older adults avoid nursing homes are immigrants. -
A new study from Human Rights Watch finds the residents are being given the drugs despite an FDA warning that they can increase the risk of death for older people with dementia.
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Critics say Feinstein — the oldest member of the U.S. Senate at 84 — should not run for another six-year term. But an expert says chronological age doesn't tell you much about ability. -
Too many people with dementia are being given sedating drugs to make them easier to handle in understaffed facilities, a new study finds, despite federal warnings to stop the practice. -
Vice Media is currently embroiled in a sexual harassment scandal. Several women are saying they endured harassment and groping while on the job.
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Americans are maintaining independence thanks to something called Villages — local membership organizations that provide access to services that help older adults stay in their homes as they age. But how is that model being adapted when it comes to mountain communities, like those of rural Plumas County in northern California?
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In its 17 years, the "village movement" — that aims to let the elderly age in their homes — has taken root mostly in well-off, white communities. Activists are now trying to adapt it to poorer, minority communities, such as the Englewood neighborhood in south Chicago.
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The so-called "village movement" coordinates crucial services for the elderly, allowing many to age in their homes. It's now expanded to 200 spots around the U.S., as advocates adapt the model to different communities.
