Monmouth University

• The conference, “Keeping New Jersey Youth Athletes Safe,” will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, April 19, at the Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City.
• The event, being held in conjunction with Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey and the Opioid Education Foundation of America, will be tailored for coaches, athletic directors, athletic trainers, and others involved in youth sports.
• “It’s essential to educate those involved in youth sports about the potential for opioid misuse among student-athletes,” said Angelo Valente, Executive Director of PDFNJ.
• Kolodny, also the executive director of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing, will discuss the opioid epidemic that is impacting families and communities across the country.

• It was hard to avoid the fact that it had been three decades since Clinton was in office – yet at 77, he’s somehow three years younger than Biden.
• Biden, now 80 years old, is the first octogenarian to occupy the Oval Office – and his main rival, former President Donald Trump, is 77.
• If he had run and won, he would have been 72 at the 1997 inauguration.

A trend toward older people

• For 140 years, William Henry Harrison held the record as the oldest person ever elected president, until Ronald Reagan came along.
• Harrison was a relatively spry 68 when he took office in 1841, and Reagan was 69 at his first inauguration in 1981.
• When Reagan left office at age 77, he was the oldest person ever to have served as president.

Beyond the White House

• Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley was just reelected and has turned 90, with no plans to retire.
• Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders is 81 and hasn’t mentioned retirement at all.
• In the House, California Democrat and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, at age 83, just announced she’s running for reelection for her 19th full term in office.
• Every one of the 20 oldest members of Congress is at least 80, and this is the third-oldest House and Senate since 1789.

Delayed retirement

• Most baby boomers who delay retirement do so because they can’t afford to stop working, due to inflation or lack of savings.
• But all of these political leaders have plenty of money in the bank – many are millionaires.
• If they retired, they would enjoy government pensions and health care benefits in addition to Medicare.
• It’s easy to see why so few of them want to walk away.

Age limits?

• There have been calls to impose age limits for federal elected office.
• Yet the most stressful job in the world has no upper age limit.
• And having the wisdom to realize that life is short and about more than just going to work.
• We’ve got to get back to electing people in their 50s and early 60s.” And the polling shows that most Americans would say, “Amen, brother.”

Mary Kate Cary does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• Nearly eight in 10 New Jersey residents of color (79%) support parental notification.
• "Now, parents, grandparents and school boards are pushing back with fury and passion to protect the innocence of their children."
• In the last legislative session, Gopal refused to support a "Parents' Bill of Rights" designed to protect the rights of families in schools.
• "It's hard to believe, but the Chairman of the Senate Education Committee recently called the parents' rights issue a 'manufactured political message,'" Dnistrian said.

• Antagonism between the two expected candidates for US president in 2024 is ramping up as the political battleground turns increasingly nasty.
• Americans continue to be concerned about threats to US democracy, according to a NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll.
• In the same week, Trump’s speech to car industry workers in Detroit pointedly tried to drive a wedge between Biden and working-class voters.

It’s the economy, stupid

• An ABC News/Washington Post poll on September 24 found that 44% of respondents believe they are financially worse off under Biden.
• While his administration can rightly point to strong economic growth, near full employment, and record investment in infrastructure, one economic metric remains a critical area of concern: rising prices.
• Senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, William A. Galston said that “the earnings of most US households declined significantly last year.
• Gary Langer, a public opinion researcher and political analyst, has observed that: “When he reluctantly left office in January 2021, 38% approved of (Trump’s) work as president… But currently, looking back, 48% say they approve of Trump’s performance when he was in office… Comparison with Biden may be a factor.”

The age factor

• The other political issue at play for Joe Biden is his age.
• In a recent NBC News poll, 74% of voters stated that they had concerns about an octogenarian president as well as his mental fitness.
• In May 2023 Trump was found liable in a civil trial of sexually assaulting advice columnist E. Jean Carroll in 1996.
• With 13 months to go before the next presidential election, Biden and Trump remain in an incredibly tight race according to recent polling.