The Trump Administration does not see a need for new appropriations for assistance to Puerto Rico to cope with the damaging earthquakes that began December 28th and are continuing in the central and southwestern portion of the island of Puerto Rico. A senior official was quoted this morning in Politico as reacting to the plans… Read more »

Inspired by ABC’s “Shark Tank,” the New York Federal Reserve is bringing a pitch day to San Juan, Puerto Rico on January 27 and 28th. The event, modeled on one created by the Kansas City Fed in 2011, brings investors and community organizations together for a pitch competition. Shark Tank in San Juan? “Shark Tank”… Read more »

Puerto Rico has been hit by more than 1,280 earthquakes in the past month. How severe have the quakes been, what has caused them, and will there be more? What’s magnitude? When we hear that Puerto Rico has experienced a 6.4 magnitude earthquake, what does that mean? Earthquakes are measured according to the Richter scale, developed… Read more »

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service has won a significant court victory in a dozen year effort to have Microsoft pay taxes on at least $39 billion in income that it shifted to Puerto Rico, where the profits were not taxed at all or taxed no more than two percent — contributing to the territorial government’s… Read more »

President of the Puerto Rico Senate Thomas Rivera Schatz has proposed an up or down vote on statehood for the 2020 elections in November. Senate Bill 1467, translated as the Law for the Final Solution of the Political Status of Puerto Rico, calls for a plebiscite during the general elections on November 3, 2020,  which… Read more »

Flanked by fellow U.S. House of Representatives Members from both national parties, Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon (R/New Progressive Party) Saturday said that she plans to introduce a bipartisan bill to appropriate money for assistance related to the earthquakes in the central southwestern part of the island of Puerto Rico since December 28th. Touring… Read more »

U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita M. Lowey (D-NY) announced on Thursday the release of emergency spending legislation to provide $3.35 billion in assistance to Puerto Rico following a series of recent earthquakes. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) tweeted that the House of Representatives will consider the legislation when it returns to Washington… Read more »

In the wake of the recent earthquakes that have plagued Puerto Rico, national leaders have spoken up in various contexts in support of their fellow U.S. citizens. On January 13, forty one Members of Congress sent a letter to Ben Carson of HUD, demanding a face to face meeting about the disaster recovery funds which… Read more »

“One man, one vote” was a popular political slogan in the 1880s. In the 1960s, updated to “One person, one vote” in recognition of woman suffrage, the slogan was used again to protest against apartheid and to tag a series of Supreme Court decisions about voting rights and apportionment of representatives in the legislature. The… Read more »

Judge Clark Waddoups of Utah handed down a decision that people born in American Samoa should be citizens from birth, just as the people of Puerto Rico are. The next day he stayed his own decision, waiting for a federal appeal to settle the legal questions this brings up. American Samoa is a small U.S. territory…. Read more »