Tag Archives: aging

Romney Defends Biden On Memory Loss Accusations

The Huffington Post reports: Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) defended Joe Biden amid questions about the president’s mental acuity following the release of a special counsel’s report that cast the 81-year-old as an elderly man with “significant” memory problems. “I’ve worked with the president, and I haven’t seen anything that’s abnormal before. It was like President Trump saying Nikki Haley three …

Read More »

Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley Released From Hospital

CNN reports: Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa has been discharged from the hospital after being treated for an infection, his office announced Thursday. He is expected to be back at work next week, according to the short statement from the office. At 90 years old, Grassley is the oldest member of the US Senate. He was elected to the …

Read More »

China’s Population Drops Amid Record Low Birth Rate

Reuters reports: China’s population fell for a second consecutive year in 2023, as a record low birth rate and a wave of COVID-19 deaths when strict lockdowns ended accelerated a downturn that will have profound long-term effects on the economy’s growth potential. The National Bureau of Statistics said the total number of people in China dropped by 2.08 million, or …

Read More »

CBS Poll: Over 75% Want Age Limit For Elected Officials

Axios reports: Over three-fourths of Americans think there should be a maximum age limit for elected officials, according to a CBS News/YouGov survey. The poll comes as attention toward the age of politicians has been in the spotlight after several incidents, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) freezing in front of reporters and ongoing concerns about President Biden’s age. …

Read More »

McConnell’s Doctor: No Evidence Of Stroke, Seizures

CNN reports: Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell’s office released an update about the 81-year-old Kentuckian’s health after he froze in front of cameras last week for the second time in as many months. The note from Brian Monahan, the Capitol Hill attending physician, says there is no evidence of a stroke, seizure disorder or movement disorder like Parkinson’s disease. The …

Read More »

McConnell’s Doctor: He Is “Medically Clear” To Work

CNN reports: Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell is medically cleared to continue his schedule, the US Capitol physician said Thursday, after he froze for the second time in as many months in public. The statement comes as McConnell moved behind the scenes to reassure his allies and donors he can do his job – even as questions persist over how …

Read More »

GOP Senators Mull “Special” Meeting On Leadership

Politico reports: A handful of GOP senators is weighing whether to force a fraught internal debate about their leadership’s future after Mitch McConnell’s second public freeze-up in a month. Some rank-and-file Republicans have discussed the possibility of a broader conversation once senators return to Washington next week. Party leadership is not currently involved in those discussions, and nothing has been …

Read More »

McConnell’s Office: He Was “Momentarily Lightheaded”

Politico reports: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell froze for nearly 30 seconds during a press conference Wednesday, an episode his office attributed to him being “momentarily lightheaded.” The Senate minority leader, speaking in Kentucky, froze while answering questions from reporters. Aides stepped in to help McConnell out and repeat questions. Before McConnell froze, he was asked about whether he planned …

Read More »

McConnell Vows To Serve As GOP Leader Through 2024

CNN reports: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to serve the rest of the 118th Congress as the GOP leader, the Kentucky Republican’s office said in a statement Friday. Questions about the future of McConnell, 81, were swiftly raised this week after he froze for 30 seconds during a news conference. The statement doesn’t address his plans in the next …

Read More »

Concerns Renewed About Feinstein’s Mental State

NBC News reports: Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., appeared confused during a vote on a defense appropriations bill Thursday, prompting a fellow Democratic senator to step in. During a Senate Appropriations Committee markup of bills Thursday morning, Feinstein seemed to stumble on a vote. Instead of saying the expected response of “aye” or “nay,” she began to deliver a speech expressing …

Read More »

NBC: McConnell Had Recent Unreported Fall At Airport

NBC News reports: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell tripped and fell disembarking from a plane at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport this month, two sources familiar with the incident said. The fall, which has not been previously reported, occurred July 14 after the flight out of Washington was canceled while everyone was on board. McConnell, R-Ky., who was a passenger, …

Read More »

McConnell Appears To Have Medical Issue At Podium

Reuters reports: Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell suddenly stopped talking and had to be walked away from the podium during his press conference on Wednesday. The 81-year-old sparked concerns as he appeared unable to complete his sentence while surrounded by his colleagues. It comes months after he was released from hospital where he was treated for a fall during dinner …

Read More »

South Koreans Became At Least A Year Younger Today

CNN reports: More than 51 million people in South Korea awoke on Wednesday to find themselves a year or two younger – at least, according to the law. Under legislation that came into effect Wednesday, “all judicial and administrative areas” across the East Asian country will adopt the “international age” system used by most of the world, ending years of …

Read More »

US Median Age Up 3.4 Years Since 2000 To 38.8 Years

Via press release from the US Census Bureau: The last two decades have seen the country grow continuously older. Since 2000, the national median age – the point at which one-half the population is older and one-half younger – has increased by 3.4 years, with the largest single-year gain of 0.3 years coming in 2021, bringing it to 38.8 years, …

Read More »

Tony Bennett’s Family Reveals His Alzheimer’s Diagnosis

AARP Magazine reports: Tony Bennett has Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of age-related dementia. Alzheimer’s is characterized by a progressive memory loss that robs its sufferers of many of the gifts that we all take for granted — speech, understanding, treasured memories, recognition of loved ones — and leaves them utterly dependent on caregivers. Although he can still recognize …

Read More »

WaPo: When Should Senate’s Octogenarians Exit?

The Washington Post reports: A few years ago, Sens. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) established unusual benchmarks for deciding whether to run for reelection in 2022, potential six-year terms that would end with Grassley in his mid-90s and Leahy in his late 80s. Today, seven senators are at least 80 years old, the second-largest number of …

Read More »

Concerns Grow About Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s Memory

Forward reports: Dianne Feinstein’s short-term memory is failing, causing the senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee to forget briefings immediately after they take place and even failing to remember things she has just said, according to a new report in the New Yorker. Feinstein is 87 years old and successfully won reelection in 2018 with the support of former …

Read More »

US Researchers Report Advance In Alzheimer’s Vaccine

CBS News reports: University of New Mexico researchers are working on a vaccine they hope could prevent Alzheimer’s disease, UNM’s Health and Sciences Department Associate Professor Kiran Bhaskar, who’s been passionate about studying the disease for the last decade, says the work started with an idea in 2013. Bhaskar and his team started to test the vaccine on mice. It …

Read More »

Trump Scales Back Fines On Abusive Nursing Homes

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration is scaling back the use of fines against nursing homes that harm residents or place them in grave risk of injury, part of a broader relaxation of regulations under the president. The shift in the Medicare program’s penalty protocols was requested by the nursing home industry. The American Health Care Association, the …

Read More »

Promising Results For New Alzheimer’s Drug

CNN reports: An experimental drug shattered and removed toxic plaques in the brains of patients with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease, researchers said Thursday. Given to patients once a month for a year, infusions of the drug aducanumab cleared the brain of the deposits, which experts believe play a crucial role in disrupting cellular processes and blocking communication among nerve cells. Although …

Read More »