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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A Hollywood stage show has become a hit by playing juvenile angst for laughs. Mortified features adults from all walks of life reading aloud from diaries, letters and poems they composed as teens for the amusement of total strangers.
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Attorneys for death row inmate Stanley Tookie Williams meet Thursday with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. They will argue for clemency for the Crips' co-founder and for commuting his sentence to life in prison without parole. Williams is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Dec. 13.
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Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has been talking tough in his bid to take control of the city's large, troubled school district. Such a takeover could put Villaraigosa at odds with the teachers' union, a group he once served as a labor organizer.
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New Orleans today began allowing residents from eight of the city's 18 postal zip codes to return home as part of a phased return program. Many areas of the city still lack electricity and clean water.
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New Orleans is opening its doors to businesses and residents in nearly half of the city's zip codes. But power is out still in many areas, and the water isn't safe. Health Department officials warn about letting people return too soon.
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The Chumash band of Santa Ynez Mission Indians want to use profits from its casino to expand its land holdings and business ventures. But tribal officials are battling some of the rich and famous residents of the bucolic Santa Ynez Valley, near Santa Barbara.
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California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is under pressure to call off a special election for his reform measures this fall. Three of the four major proposals have been withdrawn or challenged. Now the governor's redistricting measure faces a legal challenge in the state court of appeals.
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The dark comedy by David Hare chronicles the tangle of diplomatic maneuvers leading to the war. It hints that President Bush and top advisers intended to invade Iraq even before the Sept. 11 attacks.
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Los Angeles has elected its first Latino mayor in more than 100 years. City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa won by a landslide, ousting the incumbent James Hahn. Black voters, who backed Hahn four years ago, were the critical element in Villaraigosa's victory.
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The possibility that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will call a special election is growing more likely. He wants to give the public a vote on measures he says he can't get through a Democrat-controlled legislature. But opponents say the threat of a special election is creating a political impasse.