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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Pansy Greene, 73, is still in the early stages of Alzheimer's. She and her husband, Winston, describe their "journey," a term they use to refer to much more than Pansy's struggle with the disease. -
Southern California Edison announced Friday morning that it will not restart the troubled San Onofre nuclear power plant. The facility has been offline for a year and a half after a leak in a steam tube created safety concerns.
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Shane Reams owes his freedom from prison in no small part to his mother's 17-year campaign to change California's tough three strikes sentencing law. Sue Reams' work is not done, she says, not when people are still in prison "for stupid things" like stealing baby food. -
After nearly 30 years on the Chicago police force, Richard Piña, 69, now owns Rich's Den in Calumet City, Ill. He had other businesses during his police career — hair salons, a taco stand, a rooming house. "I don't want to say I was an entrepreneur, but I was a hustler," he says. -
Janet Sims-Wood, 67, is like millions of other seniors still working in order to make ends meet. For the part-time librarian, the recession put a huge dent in her savings, so she expects she'll have to work as long as her health allows. -
John David, 73, is one of the many faces of a growing group of Americans: seniors who work. The former TV producer switched careers in his 50s, becoming a fitness instructor. "This turned out to be the real calling," he says. -
This year, the number of registered Republicans in the state dipped below 30 percent of voters. Some GOP candidates are re-registering as independents to avoid having "Republican" next to their names. -
It's not just the presidential contest that's being watched in swing state Nevada. GOP Sen. Dean Heller's race against Democrat Shelley Berkley is also seen as a tossup. That's a bit of a surprise for Republicans, who have counted on retaining the seat as they try to build a Senate majority. -
President Obama and Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan spoke Friday at the annual AARP convention in New Orleans, Medicare and Social Security topped the agenda for both. NPR's Ina Jaffe reports the organization represents millions of older Americans, who are among the most reliable voters.
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The West Los Angeles VA Medical Center is a nearly 400-acre campus whose onetime sole purpose was to house veterans, but some say it has lost sight of that mission. The Department of Veterans Affairs has been renting chunks of the land, mostly to enterprises that have nothing to do with helping veterans.
