Seniors

If you think Bluetooth is a rare dental condition and an app is what you eat before the entree, you might not be a candidate for today's high-tech, whiz-bang smart phones. Instead, you might be happier with a mobile phone geared toward seniors. Those phones typically don't have Web-surfing capability, GPS maps and video games. Instead they have large buttons, oversized digital readouts and hearing-aid compatibility, along with a relatively simple calling plan. Although senior-friendly phones aren't new, their lower prices and variety are. A recent price skirmish among wireless companies means seniors can get an easy-to-use cellphone and cheap service to go with it, said Mac Haddow, senior fellow on public policy for the independent and nonprofit Alliance for Generational Equity.

Nobody has yet used the "c" word — cheating — to describe the imbroglio that has scrambled the testing schedule at Chatsworth High this month. But another "c" word — confusion — has forestalled end-of-the-year revelry for dozens of hardworking students, who will have to retake or reschedule a series of Advanced Placement exams. The official statement from Los Angeles Unified about the testing problems blames "an irregular pattern in conducting" an AP psychology exam last week.

"Oh, you mean the guy with the 70-year-old head and the 20-year-old body-builder body? That picture has got to be Photoshopped." Dr. Jeffry Life smiles when I tell him about the general reaction I get about the famous picture of him with his shirt off, the shot that turned a mild-mannered doctor in his mid-60s into a poster boy for super-fit aging and controversial hormone replacement Appearing in medical-clinic ads in airline magazines and...

A Bay Area nonprofit backed partly by groups known for battling teachers unions has filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn five California laws that, they say, make it too difficult to dismiss ineffective teachers. The suit, filed on behalf of eight students, takes aim at California laws that govern teacher tenure rules, seniority protections and the teacher dismissal process. "A handful of outdated laws passed by the California Legislature are preventing school administrators from maintaining or improving the quality of our public educational system," according to the lawsuit, which was filed Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court and announced Tuesday.

RESOURCES GUIDE Fall means back to school for kids and young adults. But hundreds of programs in the Southland are open to seniors, too. And relatives who are concerned about keeping their elders healthy ?mentally and physically ? should encourage them to participate. Research indicates that as long as people stimulate their brains by learning and trying new things, intellectual growth continues, even at an advanced age. The easiest courses to drop into are held at senior and community centers, often sponsored by city recreation departments.

The e-mail alert shouted its message: "Missing Person with Alzheimer's. PLEASE HELP. " It was sent to Alzheimer's Assn. chapters and to law enforcement officials within hours after an Orange County woman disappeared while on a short trip to visit a friend. The woman had set out in her car, made a wrong turn and became confused, says her family, who asked that her name not be used to protect her privacy. During the next two days, she zigzagged her way across two states, making one wrong turn after another, putting ever more miles between herself and her home as she headed east.

If you're over 50 and not finding much of interest on TV, there's a new cable channel you might want to check out. The channel, RLTV, is targeting the 99 million Americans who are older than 50 and spend $2.7 trillion a year on consumer goods, Times entertainment business reporter Joe Flint writes . RLTV has signed some big names, including  Florence Henderson , who has a talk show on the channel. News personalities Joan Lunden , Deborah Norville and Sam Donaldson also are on board.

The invitation arrived via email, from a reader whose age I could guesstimate by its boldface, 36-point type. Ruth Bartnof, age 88, was inviting me to join her cinema class on its final movie outing this semester. Every Wednesday afternoon, the group has gone to the Laemmle Theatre in the Fallbrook Center to watch a film with their professor, then discuss it in the theater lobby. Wednesday also is senior discount day at the seven-screen complex in the west San Fernando Valley.

Despite the headlines about con artists like Bernie Madoff, your chance of getting swindled out of your life savings is relatively slim. But the possibility grows as you get older. One senior in five has been taken in some form of financial con, according to a survey released last week. And half the seniors surveyed reported experiencing some degree of attempted economic exploitation, such as being pressured to buy foreign lottery tickets or being pitched with incomprehensible investments.

With a pregame ceremony that featured mothers and fathers and Coach Ben Howland giving hugs at midcourt, UCLA bid goodbye to its winningest class in school history. The designation is relative: During much of Coach John Wooden's heyday, seasons were shorter and freshmen ineligible. Still, the 20th-ranked Bruins' 94-68 victory over Oregon on Saturday added to impressive numbers that seniors Alfred Aboya, Darren Collison and Josh Shipp have amassed since arriving in Westwood.

A historic — and some say haunted — Los Angeles hospital that has been closed for two decades is set to be converted into apartments for low-income seniors in a $40-million makeover. Linda Vista Community Hospital is an imposing relic from the days when railroads took care of their sick and injured employees in company facilities. Originally known as Santa Fe Coast Lines Hospital, it was built for employees of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway in Boyle Heights, a blue-collar neighborhood east of the city's rail yards and home to many railroad workers.

TRIVANDRUM, India - R. Padmanathan Nair sits on a plastic chair in the entryway of the Heritage senior home talking about the fellow residents who treat him like family, which is helpful seeing as his own rarely visits. His wife tried to abscond with their valuables, he said, so he gave the house to a niece, who ignored him after she got the property. Now his daughter is the only one who visits the 76-year-old retired teacher here in the capital of the southern state of Kerala, and that's just a few times a year.

Carson Clark seriously contemplated leaving UC Irvine after the 2011 season to begin his professional volleyball career overseas. Irvine Coach John Speraw persuaded the fifth-year senior opposite hitter to stay, selling him on the addition of French import Kevin Tillie and a chance to win a second national title. It all worked out for Clark and the Anteaters. Irvine cut down the net and collected pieces of the floor as souvenirs on Saturday after defeating USC, 25-22, 34-32, 26-24 in the NCAA championship match before a packed Galen Center.

About three years ago, producer Graham Broadbent visited the offices of Peter Rice, who was then running Fox Searchlight Pictures. Stacked near Rice's DVD player were discs of the senior citizen comedies "Cocoon" and "Cocoon: The Return. " "There have to be movies for older audiences," Rice told Broadbent. "There have to be. " Broadbent replied, "I think we may have something for you. " The movie Broadbent pitched that day was "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,"a comedy starring Judi Dench and Bill Nighy about a fledgling retirement home in India.

Prosecutors probing insider trading in the medical devices industry are investigating a senior Goldman Sachs banker and a former employee of the notorious hedge fund Galleon Group. The investigation, according to a person briefed on the matter, is focused on the 2009 takeover of Advanced Medical Optics in Santa Ana. The U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles has been scrutinizing the ties between Goldman managing partner Matthew Korenberg, who worked on the Advanced Medical Optics deal, and Paul Yook, a former portfolio manager at Galleon, the person said.

My wife and I arrived as legal immigrants from Canada four years ago at the age of 63 to be closer to our three children. Having lived in Canada most of our lives, we never contributed to Medicare. Right now I am self-employed and have a small-business health plan through Kaiser. The premiums have escalated from $450 per month to $1,228 per month, with a very high deductible. I am afraid we may have to return to Canada, where we enjoyed free health care. I am sure that many parents who join their children in the U.S. are in the same situation and would like to know what other options are available.

Re "Rate cut may not be the last," Jan. 31 It is commonly said that the Federal Reserve was set up to prevent inflation and protect the banks. It has taken on the latter task at the expense of the former. But inflation is a disaster for those on pensions and annuities, such as retirees and other seniors, let alone what it has done to savers. Thus the Fed has been stampeded into harming seniors to benefit financial institutions that are complicit in the current mess. It is war against seniors, savers and retirees.

After reading about a terrible tragedy in which two teens were killed while racing to a friend's graduation in Ventura, I can only shake my head when I read about concerns regarding seniors' driving. Granted that seniors (myself included) may be involved in accidents, but I cannot envision any senior guilty of road rage or speeding on an offramp to pass cars and then swinging back onto the freeway. I cannot picture seniors making dangerous lane changes without signaling or failing to stop at intersections where a stop sign is posted.

The ladies are everywhere at the Atria Woodbridge senior living community in Irvine: It is the ladies who fill the dining hall, the ladies who while away the afternoon chatting and doing crossword puzzles in the sitting room, and the ladies whose photos are on display next to the needlepoint and paintings in the resident art gallery. Such is life in a place where women outnumber men at least three to one. But in a room on the second floor - where model airplanes dangle from the ceiling, work tables line the walls and a sign reading "Boys Will Be Boys" hangs outside the door - Al Ladine has created one spot where the guys run the show.

GODALMING, England - He had just landed his biggest assignment yet, senior telegraph officer on the world's biggest ship. On the second day of its maiden voyage, he celebrated his 25th birthday. Four days later, in the first minutes of April 15, 1912, Jack Phillips was at his post in the wireless room of the Titanic, sending out distress signals and cries for help in Morse code. "CQD CQD," Phillips tapped out. Calling all ships - distress. "Come at once. We have struck a berg.