Some Texans consider it the next best thing to paradise, returning year after year to enjoy its comfortable climate and affordable prices.
Located near the midpoint of Mexico's west coast, Puerto Vallarta sprawls around tranquil Banderas Bay at the feet of the jungle-clad Sierra Madre mountains. It records 345 sunny days per year, with average high temperatures of 28 C (86 F) from January to April and 31 C (92 F) from May to December.

Current trends indicate it will be over 6% and largest cost-of-living adjustment since 1982; announcement due next month
Sept. 15, 2008 – Senior citizens may be headed for their largest pay increase – or cost of living adjustment – in more than 25 years, following this year’s Social Security COLA of only 2.3 percent. Projections are now being made that the increase for 2009 will almost certainly exceed six percent.

About 18% of seniors on Medicare have diabetes; Hispanic are four times more likely to be hospitalized due to uncontrolled diabetes.

Focusing on Hispanic senior citizens with diabetes and covered by Medicare, a new effort between the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the Patient Education Research Center at the Stanford University School of Medicine was announced yesterday by Health and Human Services (HHS). Their goal is to increase the number of diabetes self-management training programs (DSMT) in the U.S. for Hispanics and others.

Halloween on Wall Street started much too early this year, and it was all trick and no treat. It has been really scary. Scary, like when we review reports on retirement accounts and other mutual fund holdings, and scary to even turn on the news to hear the newest, breathless threat to our economy here and globally. We have, as you know, been in much, much better shape than many other parts of the country.

With the New Year brings new challenges and new opportunities. I will continue to work on a bipartisan basis to ensure the priorities of seniors are enacted into law. Just before adjourning, the U.S. House of Representatives passed two bills I authored to improve the lives of seniors.