Haiti extends a state of emergency and nighttime curfew to try and repel widespread gang attacks
Haitiโs government says it is extending a state of emergency and nighttime curfew to try and curb violent gang attacks that have paralyzed the capital of Port-au-Prince in a fierce political battle for power.
Fossil fuel-dependent Puerto Rico can fully shift to clean energy by 2050, a federal study says
As Puerto Rico struggles with chronic power outages and a decaying electric grid, federal officials believe the U.S. territory that is heavily dependent on fossil fuels can fully shift to clean energy by 2050, according to a new study that has been two years in the making.
Post-Fiona fuel disruptions spark fear in Puerto Rico
A growing number of businesses including grocery stores and gas stations are temporarily closing across Puerto Rico as power outages caused by Hurricane Fiona drag on in the U.S. territory, sparking concern about the availability of fuel and basic goods.
โLike starting from the bottom againโ: San Antonians from Puerto Rico look for ways to help after Fiona slams island
The impact of Hurricane Fiona, which has devastated the Caribbean and left millions without water or power, is being felt here at home, with many San Antonians from Puerto Rico searching for any updates and ways to help loved ones.
Shark kills US tourist snorkeling in Bahamas, police say
Authorities say a shark has attacked and killed a U.S. cruise ship passenger who was snorkeling in waters around the Bahamas. Tuesdayโs attack involved a 58-year-old woman from Pennsylvania and occurred at a popular snorkeling spot near Green Cay in the northern Bahamas, police spokeswoman Chief Superintendent Chrislyn Skippings told The Associated Press.
Fatal boat trip highlights Haitians fleeing violence
Haitians are fleeing in greater numbers to the neighboring Dominican Republic, where they step onto rickety wooden boats as they attempt to reach Puerto Rico โ a trip in which 11 Haitian women drowned this week, with dozens of other migrants believed missing.
Roberto Clemente: More than Latin Americaโs baseball star
Roberto Clemente was the first Latino to be inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame. The legacy of Roberto Clemente is still treasured today, proven nearly 50 years after his death. In fact, the Orange County School Board unanimously voted to rename the facility Roberto Clemente Middle on Sept. 21, coincidentally during Hispanic Heritage Month. Becoming baseballโs most prominent Afro-LatinoRoberto Clemente started his Major League Baseball career with the Pittsburg Pirates. The son of a sugarcane worker, Clemente began his professional baseball career just after finishing high school.
Puerto Rico reopens public schools amid COVID-19 fears
Students arrive at the Ramon Marin Sola primary school for the first time in nearly a year amid the COVID-19 pandemic as some public schools reopen in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Wednesday, March 10, 2021. (AP Photo/Danica Coto)SAN JUAN โ Parents across Puerto Rico knelt down on Wednesday to adjust their children's face masks and backpacks as public schools reopened for the first time in nearly a year despite the pandemic, with officials reporting scarce attendance amid COVID-19 concerns. Among them was the Ramรณn Marรญn Solรก primary school in Guaynabo, where parents checked their childrenโs face masks before hugging them goodbye. AdFor now, only kindergarteners, special education students and children in first, second, third and 12th grades are allowed to return to school. Union leaders and some parents and teachers have called on Pierluisiโs administration to wait until August to reopen schools, noting the U.S. territory has not seen a significant decrease in COVID-19 cases.
Officials seeking answers to Puerto Rico telescope collapse
This photo provided by Aeromed shows the collapsed Radio Telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. The update is part of a report that the federal agency, which owns the telescope, had to submit to Congress as the investigation continues into the Arecibo telescope. It was until recently the worldโs largest radio telescope and was used to study pulsars, detect gravitational waves, search for neutral hydrogen and detect habitable planets, among other things. The telescope is located in Puerto Ricoโs karst region, which serves as an important water source and contains the islandโs richest biodiversity. It was a crushing event for scientists around the world who had been using the telescope for nearly six decades.
High court to weigh Puerto Rico access to US aid
WASHINGTON โ The Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide whether it is unconstitutional to exclude people living in Puerto Rico from Supplemental Social Security Income. The administration argues that a pair of 40-year-old Supreme Court decisions already upheld the federal law that created SSI and excluded Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories from it. In recent months, a federal judge ruled that Puerto Rico residents should have access to other federal welfare benefits from which they have been excluded as well. A federal judge in Guam said residents of that Pacific island also should be able to collect SSI. AdA separate program, Aid to the Aged, Blind and Disabled, covers residents of the territories, but it has more stringent eligibility requirements and pays less generous benefits than SSI.
Cardinals re-sign C Yadier Molina for 18th season
Puerto Rico's Yadier Molina reacts after tagging out Venezuela's Ali Castillo during the first inning of a Caribbean Series baseball game at Teodoro Mariscal Stadium in Mazatlan, Mexico, Monday, Feb. 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)ST. LOUIS โ Yadier Molina enjoyed going through the process of free agency for the first time in more than two decades as a pro. But it was fun โ fun to be part of the free-agent process," Molina said, โbut in my mind, it was always St. Louis. Molina hit .262 with four home runs in 42 games during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, his last under a $60 million, three-year deal. But he's best known for his defense behind the dish, trailing only Ivan Rodriguez (13) and Johnny Bench (10) for the most Gold Gloves won by a catcher.
Puerto Rico to get billions for storm aid, reconstruction
FILE - In this May 28, 2020 file photo, the home of 85-year-old Carmen Lacen, sits inhabitable after the passing of Hurricane Maria partially covered by a torn, blue tarp, in Loiza, Puerto Rico. The U.S. territory is slated to receive more than $6 billion in federal funds to help prepare for future hurricanes and other disasters, officials said Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021. (AP Photo/Carlos Giusti, File)SAN JUAN โ Puerto Rico is slated to receive more than $6 billion in federal funds to help prepare the U.S. territory for future hurricanes and other disasters, officials said Tuesday. In addition, Puerto Rico now has access to $3.2 billion to continue rebuilding from hurricanes Irma and Maria, said Pierluisi, who praised the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden for acting quickly. Congress had assigned $67 billion to help with reconstruction efforts after the hurricanes devastated the island in September 2017, but of the $43 billion obligated, Puerto Rico has only received $18 billion amid concerns over how the money would be spent.
Feral pigs flummox Puerto Rico, infiltrate communities
A mature Vietnamese pot-bellied pig roams the streets of the Cantera community in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Dec. 11, 2020. Itโs the latest non-native species to invade communities in Puerto Rico like iguanas and caimans did before them, although these are proving particularly hard to control and can't be killed for food because they carry so many diseases. While there are no official numbers, Olivieri said he estimates there are now thousands of pigs roaming across Puerto Rico, with 67 of the islandโs 78 municipalities reporting sightings. He said that while feral hogs are a problem in the U.S. mainland, it is nowhere near the level of whatโs happening with the Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs in Puerto Rico. โItโs become a health problem.โ
More than 17K vaccinated in Puerto Rico; new doses en route
Nurse Melissa Valentin shows a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to be applied to medical personnel at the Ashford Presbyterian Community Hospital in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020. Dr. Iris Cardona, sub-secretary of Puerto Ricoโs Health Department, said some 21,400 Pfizer vaccines will be delivered weekly for the next four to six weeks. First in line to be vaccinated are health workers, emergency responders, hospital employees and those who live or work in shelters or nursing homes. Given that Puerto Rico is an island, many worry that the delivery of the second required Pfizer vaccine dose could be delayed. Puerto Rico has reported more than 112,000 confirmed and probable cases and more than 1,300 deaths.
Dozens of states file anti-trust lawsuit against Google
The lawsuit, announced by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, was filed in federal court in Washington, D.C. by states represented by bipartisan attorneys general. The lawsuit was filed Thursday in federal court in Washington by attorneys general of 35 states as well as the District of Columbia and the territories of Guam and Puerto Rico. โThis is a big deal.โThe DOJ brought an antitrust suit against AT&T in 1974 that led to its breakup. On Wednesday, 10 states led by Republican attorneys general filed a lawsuit against Google accusing it of โanti-competitive conductโ in the online advertising industry, including a deal to manipulate sales with rival Facebook. ___This story has been updated to reflect the lawsuit is an effort of 35 states as well as the District of Columbia and the territories of Guam and Puerto Rico, not 38 states.
Health, defense departments give update on Operation Warp Speed, COVID-19 vaccine distribution
Nurse Melissa Valentin shows a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to be applied to medical personnel at the Ashford Presbyterian Community Hospital in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020. Click here for more stories about the COVID-19 vaccine.) The Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense are expected to hold a briefing on Operation Warp Speed and the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine. Packed in dry ice, shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine began arriving Tuesday at more than 400 additional hospitals and other distribution sites. The first 3 million shots are being strictly rationed to front-line health workers and nursing home patients, with hundreds of millions more shots needed over the coming months to protect most Americans.
The Latest: Kansas mayor resigns over mask mandate threats
(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, Pool, File)KANSAS โ A western Kansas mayor announced Tuesday that she is resigning, effective immediately, because of threats she has received after she publicly supported a mask mandate. Brian Kemp and Public Health Commissioner Kathleen Toomey visited Savannah as the first four shots were administered to local health care workers. ___TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Floridaโs largest hospital system said it was on track to immunize nearly 20,000 health care workers against COVID-19 as Gov. He traveled to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., on Monday and was given the first dose of Pfizer-BioNTechโs coronavirus vaccine. Several health care workers at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in the eastern part of the state also received injections.
Daddy Yankee achieves new balance, readies for his comeback
It's something he had to gradually learn after gaining 40 pounds (almost 20 kilos) during the first months of quarantine. I started eating and eating and eating and I put on the pounds like never before. โI devoted myself to my health and to something that was unknown to me, which was rest,โ he said. โI wanted the artists to be gigantic, on people's faces, so the audience could feel that they were in front of them and we achieved that,โ Yankee said. โIt was a concert that became a residence, like if Las Vegas had moved to Puerto Rico.โ___Follow Sigal Ratner-Arias on Twitter at https://twitter.com/sigalratner.
Huge Puerto Rico radio telescope, already damaged, collapses
This satellite image provided by 2020 Maxar Technologies shows the damaged radio telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, Thursday, Nov. 17, 2020. (Satellite image 2020 Maxar Technologies via AP)SAN JUAN โ A huge, already damaged radio telescope in Puerto Rico that has played a key role in astronomical discoveries for more than half a century completely collapsed on Tuesday. The U.S. National Science Foundation had earlier announced that it would close the radio telescope. The collapse stunned many scientists who had relied on what was until recently the largest radio telescope in the world. โIt's a huge loss,โ said Carmen Pantoja, an astronomer and professor at the University of Puerto Rico who used the telescope for her doctorate.
Huge Puerto Rico radio telescope to close in blow to science
FILE - In this Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020 file photo, provided by the Arecibo Observatory, shows the damage done by a broken cable that supported a metal platform, creating a 100-foot (30-meter) gash to the radio telescope's reflector dish in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. (Arecibo Observatory via AP)SAN JUAN โ The National Science Foundation announced Thursday that it will close the huge telescope at the renowned Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico in a blow to scientists worldwide who depend on it to search for planets, asteroids and extraterrestrial life. The independent, federally funded agency said itโs too dangerous to keep operating the single dish radio telescope -- one of the worldโs largest -- given the significant damage it recently sustained. An auxiliary cable broke in August and tore a 100-foot hole in the reflector dish and damaged the dome above it. Then on Nov. 6, one of the telescopeโs main steel cables snapped, leading officials to warn that the entire structure could collapse.
Cable failures endanger renowned Puerto Rico radio telescope
FILE - In this Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2020 file photo, provided by the Arecibo Observatory, shows the damage done by a broken cable that supported a metal platform, creating a 100-foot (30-meter) gash to the radio telescope's reflector dish in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Itโs a blow for the telescope that more than 250 scientists around the world were using. The telescope was built in the 1960s and financed by the Defense Department amid a push to develop anti-ballistic missile defenses. Repairs from Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico in 2017, were still underway when the first cable snapped. The most recent damage was likely the result of the cable degrading over time and carrying extra weight after the auxiliary cable snapped, the university said.
Puerto Rico unearths uncounted ballots 1 week after election
โWeโve identified, much to our regret, a disorganization in the handling of material in the vaults,โ he said at a press conference. We have to admit that.โRosado said he didnโt know yet how many total votes are in the 126 briefcases, noting some contained three ballots and others 500 ballots. He said those votes could affect races like the one for mayor of Culebra, a popular tourist island just east of Puerto Rico. This year, Puerto Rico received more than 220,000 absentee and early votes, a record for officials who have been overwhelmed by the paperwork. โAfter these elections, there has to be a serious evaluation of how those votes will be handled,โ he said, referring to absentee and early votes.
Time for a change to America, on our clocks and watches
Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m. local time Sunday, Nov. 1, 2020, when clocks are set back one hour. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)WASHINGTON โ It's time for a change for most of the United States. The clock is running out once more for daylight saving time. Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and most of Arizona donโt observe daylight saving time. Daylight saving time returns at 2 a.m. local time on Sunday, March 14.
Puerto Rico getting funds for power grid 3 years after Maria
WASHINGTON โ Puerto Rico is getting much of the money it needs to rebuild its power grid three years after it was wiped out by Hurricane Maria, the island territory's governor and the White House said Friday. The state is home to one of the largest populations of people from Puerto Rico in the United States โ including many who fled Hurricane Maria. โThe Trump Administration delayed, dragged its feet and resisted allocating these badly needed funds,โ said Velรกzquez, who was born in Puerto Rico. It also released $2 billion for the Puerto Rico Department of Education to repair schools across the island. In October, the island's government announced a 10-year plan to modernize and strengthen the power grid at a projected cost of around $20 billion.
Tropical Depression Forms Over The Central Tropical Atlantic
Gradual strengthening is forecast, and the depression is expected to become a tropical storm by late Thursday. Watches and WarningsChanges with this advisory:The government of the netherlands has issued a tropical storm watch for saba and St. Eustatius. Summary of watches and warnings in effect:A tropical storm watch is in effect for, * saba and St. EustatiusA tropical storm watch means that tropical storm conditions are possible within the watch area, generally within 48 hours. Interests elsewhere in the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico should monitor the progress of this system, as tropical storm watches could be required for those areas on Thursday. Wind: tropical storm conditions are possible within the watch area by late Friday.