Puerto Rico has valuable natural resources, but many observers hold that the people of Puerto Rico are the island’s most valuable natural resource of all. Here are just a few of the notable Americans from Puerto Rico or of Puerto Rican heritage: Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor Rita Moreno, one of just 15 EGOT winners in… Read more »

When Amazon announced that they were ready to open a second headquarters, hundreds of cities across the nation courted them with tax breaks. New York City won the competition, and Amazon got ready to put in $2.5 billion to build the new facility in Queens. NYC met them more than halfway with $2.8 billion in… Read more »

President Trump has declared a national emergency to give himself more flexibility to appropriate funds to build the border wall which was one of his campaign promises. Trump has been talking about doing so for some time. White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney ran through the budget items the White House planned to use… Read more »

Rep. Drew Stokesbary, along with 16 others from the House of Representatives of the State of Washington, has presented House Joint Memorial (HJM) 4009 in support of statehood for Puerto Rico. The Memorial does not call for statehood directly, but for the U.S. Congress to make Puerto Rico into an incorporated territory, and to “apply… Read more »

Right now, two thirds of Puerto Rico is classified as “abnormally dry.” This is enough to affect crops and pastures. 8.9% of the Island is experiencing “D-1” or “moderate drought” conditions. This is enough to cause some damage to crops and some water shortages. (Data from the U.S. government.) Conditions of moderate drought are currently… Read more »

Senators Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) wrote to the Appropriations Committees of both the House and the Senate, asking for equal treatment of Puerto Rico in nutrition assistance and disaster relief generally. “As U.S. citizens, Puerto Ricans deserve equal treatment when it comes to federal assistance,” they wrote. “Please keep the recovery… Read more »

Bipartisan leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure have opposed the Rossello Administration’s request for a 10-year “waiver” of the law that requires ocean shipping between U.S. ports be on vessels that are American built, owned, flagged, and crewed for the shipping of liquid natural gas. Recognizing that Congress would… Read more »

“There is no doubt that Puerto Rico is, and has been, nothing other than an unincorporated territory under the plenary powers of Congress,” Andres Cordova recently wrote in an opinion piece published in The Hill. This reality creates tension for presidential candidates, who often say that they will support self-determination for Puerto Rico, or stated less… Read more »

Residents of Puerto Rico cannot vote in presidential elections. People born in Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens.  They can vote if they move to a state. But citizens who live in Puerto Rico, no matter where they were born, cannot vote in presidential elections – even if they were born in a state. This is… Read more »