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Ina Jaffe

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Ina Jaffe is a National desk correspondent based at NPR West, NPR's production center in Culver City, Calif.

Covering California and the West, Jaffe has reported on nearly all of the major news events, elections, and natural disasters in the region. Currently, she covers issues related to aging. She also reports on regional and national politics, contributing election coverage in 2008, 2010, and 2012.

In addition to captivating and informing listeners, Jaffe's reports have garnered critical acclaim. In 2012, her series on rising violence in California State Psychiatric Hospitals was honored with a Gracie Award from the Alliance for Women in Media as well as awards from Investigative Reporters and Editors and the American Bar Association. Her three-part series on California's Three Strikes sentencing law won the ABA's Silver Gavel Award in 2010, as well as the Sigma Delta Chi award from the Society of Professional Journalists. For her coverage of California politics, Jaffe received two California Journalism Awards for reporting on minority political power in Los Angeles and the historic recall election that made Arnold Schwarzenegger governor.

Before moving to Los Angeles, Jaffe was the first editor of Weekend Edition Saturday with Scott Simon which made its debut in 1985. As Weekend Edition Saturday editor, Jaffe shared a 1988 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for the report "A State of Emergency" which covered racial conflict in Philadelphia.

Born in Chicago, Jaffe attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison and DePaul University receiving Bachelor's and Master's degrees in philosophy, respectively.

Your Money
2:21 am
Wed May 1, 2013

Automatic-Enrollment IRAs Get A Test Run In California

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Originally published on Wed May 1, 2013 9:51 am

With all of the controversy over entitlement reform, there's one thing both sides can agree on: Social Security alone does not provide enough money for a comfortable retirement. For these workers, the Obama administration is proposing automatically enrolling workers in IRAs through their employers.

California adopted a version of this last year. Democratic state Sen. Kevin de Leon sponsored the bill to automatically enroll workers in an individual retirement account. The inspiration, he says, was his Aunt Francisca, who's 74.

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Law
3:25 pm
Wed April 10, 2013

A Mother's Fight Against 3 Strikes Law 'A Way of Life'

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Sue Reams campaigned to change California's three-strikes law and help set free her son, Shane.
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Originally published on Wed April 10, 2013 6:19 pm

Since the November election, 240 California prisoners facing potential life sentences have been set free. That's because voters changed California's tough three strikes sentencing law.

As NPR reported in 2009, that law sent thousands of people to prison for terms of 25 years to life for minor, nonviolent crimes. Now those prisoners can ask the court to have their sentences reduced.

One of those set free under the new law is Shane Reams. He owes his freedom in no small part to his mother Sue's 17-year campaign to change the law.

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Arts & Life
2:19 am
Mon April 1, 2013

'A Lovely Feeling': Celebrating Older Women With Fabulous Style

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Credit Courtesy of Ari Seth Cohen
Ilona Royce Smithkin, 93, cut her red hair to make her eyelashes.
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The Idiosyncratic Fashionistas, New York City, 2011
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Linda Zagaria, New York City, 2011
Credit Courtesy of Ari Seth Cohen
Carmen De Lavallade, New York City, 2012
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London, 2011
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New York City, 2013
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Lois Kinley, New York City, 2012
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Tziporah Salamon, New York City, 2011
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Mary, New York City, 2012
Credit Courtesy of Ari Seth Cohen
Ilona Royce Smithkin, New York City, 2012
Credit Courtesy of Ari Seth Cohen
Mary, New York, 2012
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Linda Rodin, New York City, 2012
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Blogger Ari Seth Cohen with Ilona Royce Smithkin, 93, one of his most famous subjects.
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Originally published on Fri April 5, 2013 7:50 am

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Working Late: Older Americans On The Job
2:55 am
Thu March 14, 2013

A Retired Chicago Cop's Second Act Is At A Barbershop

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Credit Beth Rooney for NPR
Richard Piña, 69, with customer Augustin Bustos at Rich's Den barbershop in Calumet City, Ill. Piña, who retired from the Chicago police force 12 years ago, works at his shop four or five hours a day.
Credit Beth Rooney for NPR
Richard Piña and his youngest daughter, Alex, both work at Rich's Den in Calumet City, Ill. Pina bought the barbershop a few years before he retired from the Chicago police force.
Credit Beth Rooney for NPR
A photo of Richard Piña (fourth from the left) from his days as a Chicago police officer hangs in a waiting area at Rich's Den.
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Originally published on Thu March 14, 2013 7:43 pm

Increasingly, people are continuing to work past 65. Almost a third of Americans between the ages of 65 and 70 are working, and among those older than 75, about 7 percent are still on the job. In Working Late, a series for Morning Edition, NPR profiles older adults who are still in the workforce.

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Working Late: Older Americans On The Job
2:42 am
Wed March 6, 2013

For Elderly Midwife, Delivering Babies Never Gets Old

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Credit John W. Poole / NPR
Colorado midwife Dian Sparling, 71, meets with Lisa Eldridge and her baby, Colton James.
Credit John W. Poole / NPR
Credit John W. Poole / NPR
Dian Sparling, 71, is a midwife in Fort Collins, Colo.
Credit John W. Poole / NPR
Dian Sparling, a certified nurse midwife in Fort Collins, Colo., recently went back to being on call.
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Originally published on Thu March 7, 2013 1:30 pm

Increasingly, people are continuing to work past 65. Almost a third of Americans between the ages of 65 and 70 are working, and among those older than 75, about 7 percent are still on the job. In Working Late, a series for Morning Edition, NPR profiles older adults who are still in the workforce.

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Working Late: Older Americans On The Job
2:02 am
Wed February 27, 2013

At 85, 'Old-School' Politician Shows No Signs Of Quitting

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Credit Narayan Mahon for NPR
Wisconsin state Sen. Fred Risser at the state Capitol.
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Wisconsin state Sen. Fred Risser, 85, at the state Capitol. He has been representing the city of Madison since 1956.
Credit Narayan Mahon for NPR
Risser listens during a committee meeting at the state Capitol. He has seen the Legislature change over the decades from a body made up exclusively of white men to one that includes women and minorities.
Credit Narayan Mahon for NPR
"The Legislature is more polarized than I've ever seen it," Risser says. "There are more straight party-line votes than there have ever been." Here, he meets with constituents about upcoming bills.
Credit Narayan Mahon for NPR
Despite his age, Risser takes the stairs every day and advises freshmen legislators to do the same.
Credit Narayan Mahon for NPR
Risser has his usual lunch of soup and beer at an Irish pub across from the state Capitol.
Credit Narayan Mahon for NPR
Risser holds a frame with photos of four generations of legislators in his family. His father, Fred E. Risser was a state senator; his grandfather, Ernest Warner, was an assembly member; and his great-grandfather, Clement Warner, was a state senator and assembly member following the Civil War.
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Originally published on Wed February 27, 2013 7:16 pm

Increasingly, people are continuing to work past 65. Almost a third of Americans between the ages of 65 and 70 are working, and among those older than 75, about 7 percent are still on the job. In Working Late, a series for Morning Edition, NPR profiles older adults who are still in the workforce.

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Movies
4:48 pm
Thu February 21, 2013

Baby Boomers Return To The Multiplex, And Hollywood Notices

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Credit The Weinstein Company
Maggie Smith plays aging opera diva Jean in the film Quartet. Increasingly, movies are turning their attention to older subjects in order to draw in older audiences.
Credit Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images
Dustin Hoffman attends the AARP's Movies for Grownups Awards with his wife, Lisa Hoffman. Hoffman's Quartet is just one of a new crop of popular films that target an over-50 audience.
Credit Sony Pictures Classics
Emmanuelle Riva is the oldest woman to be nominated for the Best Actress Oscar. Her role in the successful, award-winning Amour shows how an older audience is changing the face of cinema.
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Originally published on Fri February 22, 2013 9:26 am

If you're not counting the days until the release of Iron Man 3, if you're not sure who Kristen Stewart is, and if the last romantic comedy you saw starred Meryl Streep, you just may be over 50.

That's a segment of the moviegoing audience that may have been neglected once — but no more. A number of films appealing to older audiences, or films that have themes closely related to aging, have been scooping up nominations for Oscars and other awards.

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Working Late: Older Americans On The Job
2:08 am
Wed February 20, 2013

When A Bad Economy Means Working 'Forever'

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Credit Gabriella Demczuk / NPR
The recession put a dent in Sims-Wood's savings, and she expects she'll have to stay in the workforce "forever."
Credit Gabriella Demczuk / NPR
Part-time librarian Janet Sims-Wood, 67, helps student Andre Williams navigate the online catalogue at the Accokeek Library at Prince George's Community College in Largo, Md.
Credit Gabriella Demczuk / NPR
Sims-Wood goes over computer data with librarian Maria Bonet. Though Sims-Wood is on the job at a time when she thought she would be retired, she stays positive. "I have faith that things will work out. I don't care how bad they are. It's going to work out," she says.
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Originally published on Wed February 20, 2013 7:34 pm

Increasingly, people are continuing to work past 65. Almost a third of Americans between the ages of 65 and 70 are working, and among those older than 75, about 7 percent are still on the job. In Working Late, a series for Morning Edition, NPR profiles older adults who are still in the workforce.

Read more