I worked hard my whole career and retired feeling secure. Then I lost every last dime in a scam. I was left with $1,300 a month in Social Security benefits to live on in an area where monthly expenses run about $3,700.

I’m a smart woman, but scams against older Americans are increasing in number and sophistication. Whether through scams, strained savings, or costs of living going up, half of older Americans — that’s 27 million households — can’t afford their basic needs.

And suddenly I became one of them. The experience has taught me a lot about the value of a strong social safety net — and why we’ll need to protect it from the coming administration.

I was ashamed and frightened after what happened, but I scraped myself up off the floor and tried to make the best of it.

I’d worked with aging people earlier in my career, so I was familiar with at least some of the groups who could help. I reached out to a local nonprofit and they came through with flying colors, connecting me to life-saving federal assistance programs.

I was assigned a caseworker, who guided me through applying for public programs like the Medical Savings Plan (MSP), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), subsidized housing, Medicare Part D, and Medicaid.

It’s hard to describe my relief at getting this help.

Before receiving the MSP, I’d been paying for medications and health insurance — which cost about $200 — out of my monthly Social Security check. With MSP, that cost is covered. I also found an apartment I liked through subsidized housing, and I have more money for groceries through SNAP. Now it’s easier to afford other necessities, like hearing aid batteries and my asthma inhaler.

But I’m worried about the incoming administration’s plans to cut programs like these, which have helped me so much. They’re proposing slashing funding and imposing overly burdensome work and reporting requirements. Studies show that requirements like these can cause millions of otherwise eligible people to lose critical assistance.

President-elect Trump has also indicated that he favors increased privatization of Medicare, which would result in higher costs and less care. And his tax promises are projected to move up the insolvency date of Social Security.

All told, the federal budget cuts the incoming Republican majority in Congress has put forward would slash health care, food, and housing by trillions over the next 10 years, resulting in at least a 50 percent reduction in these services. And they plan to divert those investments in us into more tax cuts for the nation’s very wealthiest.

I want lawmakers of each party to know how important these social investments are for seniors and families. Older Americans — who’ve worked hard all our lives — shouldn’t be pushed out onto the streets, forced to go without sufficient food or health care due to unfortunate circumstances.

We have the tax dollars — the question is whether we have the political will to invest in seniors, workers, and families, or only for tax cuts for the very rich. If we do the latter, that’s the real scam.

The Washington Nationals are finally starting to make some noise in the offseason, but there is still plenty of work to be done. 

For quite some time this winter, the Nationals were a very quiet team in free agency. However, that recently changed as the they signed pitcher Michael Soroka to a one-year, $9 million deal. 

The right-hander was an All-Star back in 2019, but has missed a ton of time because of injuries while bouncing back and forth between the starting rotation and the bullpen. Washington appears like they will be giving him a chance to be a starter in 2025, but it’s hard to expect anything from him after the last number of years. 

While the Nationals do have five starters under contract now and projected to be in the rotation to start the season, they are really lacking a reliable veteran to help lead this rotation. The starting pitching market has been wild, but if Washington is hoping to compete, they should be thinking about adding another arm, even after signing Soroka. 

Recently, Jeff Passan of ESPN.com wrote about the starting pitcher market and highlighted Jack Flaherty’s value on the rise, which could affect the Nationals. Passan pointed out that the “exorbitant” price of pitching helps Flaherty. And it’s not just deals for pitchers like Blake Snell and Max Fried.

He noted examples like Luis Severino’s $67 million, three-year deal and Frankie Montas’ $34 million, two-year deal, as examples. All of those, he wrote, lifts Flaherty’s potential value.

“However long Flaherty’s free agency takes to flesh out, he’s still bound to do well because every team needs starting pitching, and all it takes is one suitor to step up,” Passan wrote.

After seeing some of the other deals starters have received so far this offseason, it’s easy to understand why Flaherty’s value has gone up. While the right-hander isn’t an ace, he had a strong season in 2024 for both the Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Dodgers. Also, he won a World Series, which never hurts a resume. 

The right-hander showed top-end of the rotation production with the Tigers in 2024, as he totaled a 7-5 record and 2.95 ERA before being traded. 

For Washington, they have to be thinking about adding a more established starter than Soroka this offseason. Besides MacKenzie Gore and Jake Irvin, there are a lot of question marks in this rotation. 

Even though the price tag might be on the rise, the 29-year-old right-hander could be exactly what the Nationals need in their starting rotation to take a step forward in 2025 and beyond. 

A 66-year-old American citizen has been in the DC jail for almost 10 months awaiting extradition to the Philippines for a crime her attorneys say there’s no evidence she committed.

Air Force veteran Grace Lourenco earned commendations for her service. In 1981, she was part of the flight crew aboard the Air Force plane that returned 53 U.S. diplomats and citizens who had been held hostage in Iran, her family said – a moment seen around the world.

She went on to earn a business degree, get married and have a daughter.

Court filings from a 2023 divorce proceeding between Lourenco and her husband, Hans Brunner, show a D.C. judge believed her statements that she had suffered physical abuse in the marriage.

The decree of divorce also contains the judge’s assessment of the alleged crime for which Lourenco was arrested at her Georgetown home earlier this year. It describes an incident in October 2018 at a home the couple owned in the Philippines, where Brunner worked.

“After lunch, on the ride back to their Manila home, Mr. Brunner told Ms. Lourenco he wanted to have an open relationship with [a German woman he’d met] and that he wanted to open a trust fund for her.”

“[Lourenco] remembers waking up in a hospital a couple days later,” said her attorney, William Zapf. “She had been unconscious, and it is believed that she had taken some medication that made her unconscious.”

The judge’s conclusions went on to say: “Later … while standing on the balcony, Mr. Brunner was attacked from behind. The perpetrator hit Mr. Brunner on the back of the head with a sharp, hard weapon. He did not see who attacked him.

“He was in a coma for two days.

“He asserts Ms. Lourenco was the perpetrator. Not only did Mr. Brunner fail to present evidence that Ms. Lourenco was the perpetrator, but he also failed to present evidence that (she) had wanted to kill him to get his pension.”

The judge concluded: “Both parties have committed intrafamily offenses against the other, but Mr. Brunner committed more offenses against Ms. Lourenco, and the Court finds (him) to have been the primary aggressor.”

Lourenco’s attorneys say her future is in the hands of the U.S. State Department.

“In cases like this where there are very serious humanitarian concerns about our client, Grace, this is the type of case where the Secretary of State can say no and should say no,” Zapf said.

Several people she served with in the Air Force have written letters supporting Lourenco.

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