Puerto Rico State News

Ex-NBA star DeMarcus Cousins ejected after ugly fracas with fans in Puerto Rico

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 15:14:45 +0000

Cousins ejected after slapping at fan during timeout
Crowd hurled drinks as Cousins exited in shouting match
BSN reviewing incident; future with Guaynabo unclear

DeMarcus Cousins was ejected from a game in Puerto Rico on Monday night after a heated confrontation with a courtside fan and a hostile exit that nearly escalated into chaos.

The 34-year-old former NBA All-Star and Olympic gold medalist, now playing for Mets de Guaynabo in the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN), got into a verbal altercation with a fan during a timeout in the fourth quarter.

In Puerto Rico, a Rise in Detentions Under Trump Creates Unease

Mon, 09 Jun 2025 12:40:48 +0000

Federal authorities on the island have recently detained hundreds of Dominicans, who often share the same ethnic background, language and culture as Puerto Ricans.

Saharan Dust Gives Skies Over Florida a ‘Hazy Milk’ Appearance

Thu, 05 Jun 2025 19:21:45 +0000

A dust plume that has been traveling across the Atlantic may later spread as far as Texas and Georgia as a weather system breaks it apart.

In Puerto Rico, a Struggle for Power Comes to Light

Wed, 04 Jun 2025 13:00:06 +0000

The Trump administration is clawing back millions in climate grants promised to credit unions in Puerto Rico. A reporter traveled to the island to meet people affected by the rollback.

‘Half the tree of life’: ecologists’ horror as nature reserves are emptied of insects

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 07:00:25 +0000

A new point in history has been reached, entomologists say, as climate-led species’ collapse moves up the food chain even in supposedly protected regions free of pesticides

Daniel Janzen only began watching the insects – truly watching them – when his ribcage was shattered. Nearly half a century ago, the young ecologist had been out documenting fruit crops in a dense stretch of Costa Rican forest when he fell in a ravine, landing on his back. The long lens of his camera punched up through three ribs, snapping the bones into his thorax.

Slowly, he dragged himself out, crawling nearly two miles back to the research hut. There were no immediate neighbours, no good roads, no simple solutions for getting to a hospital.

Tony Bechara, Painter Who Championed Latino Artists, Dies at 83

Tue, 27 May 2025 18:09:31 +0000

He turned away from a potential career in the law or international relations to produce abstract paintings, and he headed El Museo del Barrio.

Puerto Rico Is Waiting for Frozen I.R.A. Funds

Sat, 17 May 2025 16:16:36 +0000

The Trump administration is trying to claw back billions in climate grants, including $147 million that could help people in Puerto Rico withstand frequent power failures.

Puerto Rico drops climate lawsuit after DoJ sues states to block threats to big oil

Fri, 02 May 2025 20:43:56 +0000

Territory’s voluntary move comes as Trump administration makes good on pledge to end lawsuits against oil and gas

Puerto Rico has voluntarily dismissed its 2024 climate lawsuit against big oil, a Friday legal filing shows, just two days after the US justice department sued two states over planned litigation against oil companies for their role in the climate crisis.

Puerto Rico’s lawsuit, filed in July, alleged that the oil and gas giants had misled the public about the climate dangers associated with their products. It came as part of a wave of litigation filed by dozens of US states, cities and municipalities in recent years.

Attacks on Judges Undermine Democracy, Warns Ketanji Brown Jackson

Fri, 02 May 2025 13:39:27 +0000

Speaking to a judicial conference, the Supreme Court justice said attacks were designed to intimidate and influence.

A moment that changed me: I went into the wilderness with my family – and lost my inhibitions

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 10:00:12 +0000

We took a wrong turn on vacation and ended up on a six-hour trek into the rainforest. After my mom flung off her top, my brother was attacked by fire ants and I developed a fiery hot rash, everything began to seem strangely zen …

It was the summer of 2001 and I was on the brink of adolescence, embarking on my first journey outside the continental United States to the tropically convenient American territory of Puerto Rico. I was 11, and already the goofball in my group of friends – but, away from those with whom I was familiar, I was painfully shy. Until a family vacation from hell rid me of all my inhibitions.

The chaos began when my well-intentioned parents decided to take my brother and me to see the beautiful rainforest. My mom had her heart set on going to the El Portal de El Yunque National Forest visitor centre; a friend had told her it was “perfect for kids”, with guided, paved pathways, a cafe, and even a gift shop. But when my flustered, monolingual father got lost on the Puerto Rican freeway, he panicked, as my mother flipped through the map trying to direct him. “What’s a salida?!” he cried, sailing past the “exit” signs.

Blackouts and the Collapse of Puerto Rico’s Colonial Bargain

Tue, 22 Apr 2025 03:51:48 +0000

For over half a century, the island’s commonwealth status was justified by promises of security, stability and the material comforts of modern life.

Lawsuit Aims to Broadly Halt Deportations of Foreign Students

Sat, 19 Apr 2025 04:54:40 +0000

A suit challenges the Trump administration’s campaign in four states and Puerto Rico, and seeks the reinstatement of terminated student visas.

Most Power Is Restored in Puerto Rico After Islandwide Blackout

Fri, 18 Apr 2025 17:05:40 +0000

The power outage, which began on Wednesday, was the latest to hit the island, which has long suffered from blackouts.

Puerto Rico Restores Some Power After Blackout

Fri, 18 Apr 2025 14:35:35 +0000

It will take at least until Friday to fully restore electric service after a series of failures blacked out the whole island on Wednesday, officials said.

Power restored to more than half of Puerto Rico after island-wide blackout

Thu, 17 Apr 2025 20:21:29 +0000

Wednesday’s outage the latest in series of blackouts to affect Puerto Rico in wake of Hurricane Maria in 2017

About 58% of Puerto Rico has has had power restored following an island-wide blackout on Wednesday, the government of Puerto Rico federal affairs administration said on Thursday.

It added that current generation stands at 1,439MW. A total of 31 generation units are online, with 16 additional units in the process of being brought back online, it said.

Schools in Puerto Rico are bracing for Trump cuts after gains made during the Biden years

Fri, 28 Mar 2025 14:00:25 +0000

The island, with the seventh-largest school district in the US, is unusually reliant on federal funding

Maraida Caraballo Martínez has been an educator in Puerto Rico for 28 years and the principal of the elementary school Escuela de la Comunidad Jaime C Rodriguez for the past seven. She never knows how much money her school in Yabucoa will receive from the government each year because it isn’t based on the number of children enrolled. One year she got $36,000; another year, it was $12,000.

But during the Biden administration, Caraballo noticed a big change. Due to an infusion of federal dollars into the island’s education system, Caraballo received a $250,000 grant, an unprecedented amount of money. She used it to buy books and computers for the library, whiteboards and printers for classrooms, to beef up a robotics program and build a multipurpose sports court for her students. “It meant a huge difference for the school,” Caraballo said.

Half of Puerto Rico without power after sweeping New Year’s Eve blackout

Tue, 31 Dec 2024 19:28:48 +0000

Nearly entire island without electricity as Luma Energy estimates it will take at least 24 hours to restore power

More than half of Puerto Rico remained without electricity early on Wednesday after a sweeping power outage on New Year’s Eve.

Luma Energy, the private energy company primarily supplying power to the island, reported as of 10.45am on Tuesday morning that only 13.5% of the US territory’s customers had power.

Young adults in Puerto Rico are struggling financially. Here's what that means and why some return

Sun, 10 Nov 2024 13:27:00 +0000

More than half of adults ages 18 to 29 in Puerto Rico are financially fragile compared to older generations on the island, and young adults in the U.S.

Nearly all of US states are facing droughts, an unprecedented number

Tue, 05 Nov 2024 19:30:10 +0000

More than 150 million people and 318m acres of crops are affected by droughts after summer of record heat

Every US state except Alaska and Kentucky is facing drought, an unprecedented number, according to the US Drought Monitor.

A little more than 45% of the US and Puerto Rico is in drought this week, according to the tracker. About 54% of land in the 48 contiguous US states is affected by droughts.

Trump's closing campaign message is hampered by distractions, disconnect

Sun, 03 Nov 2024 16:14:00 +0000

Donald Trump's campaign has faced backlash for several controversial remarks in the final days of his campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris.

Seth Meyers on Trump’s garbage truck stunt: ‘I think you should stay there’

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 14:30:36 +0000

Late-night hosts discuss Trump’s attempt from backlash over Puerto Rico comments and a gender gap in early voting

Late-night hosts talk Donald Trump dressing up as a garbageman as a late campaign stunt and Kamala Harris’s lead among suburban women.

'Our pain matters': Jennifer Lopez endorses Harris at Las Vegas rally – video

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 08:12:04 +0000

Jennifer Lopez introduced the Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, at a Las Vegas rally, talking about her background as a Puerto Rican. The actor and singer pushed back at the comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who at Trump's Madison Square Garden rally called Puerto Rico 'a floating island of garbage', and called voters to act at the ballot box

From joy and JLo to insults and ‘alpha males’: Harris and Trump zero in on Nevada

‘I feel robbed’: the millions of residents in US territories like Puerto Rico who can’t vote in presidential race

Thu, 31 Oct 2024 01:03:00 +0000

After a comedian at a Trump rally described Puerto Rico as ‘garbage’, old resentments were fired up, as residents say it’s unfair to be disfranchised in elections

Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally was meant to be a triumphant return to the city that made his name. Instead, the event has reheated simmering tensions on the island territory of Puerto Rico, where locals say they feel like second-class citizens, days out from a historic US election.

Comments from a comedian at Trump’s rally this week, describing Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage”, might have fired up local resentment against the Republican candidate, but those who live there will be unable to show their anger through the ballot box.

Harris plays cleanup on Biden 'garbage' comment

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 16:39:00 +0000

A racist joke about Puerto Rico that Tony Hinchcliffe told at a rally for Donald Trump is an issue in the Republican's campaign against Kamala Harris.

Former Puerto Rico governor criticizes racist language at Trump rally

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 10:00:09 +0000

Ricardo Rosselló – no stranger to political fallout himself – says Trump must address offensive jokes with ‘full force’

Puerto Rico’s former governor Ricardo Rosselló has been closely watching the fallout from the racist comments made during Donald Trump’s campaign rally on Sunday.

As someone involved in politics for much of his life, Rosselló – who has historically supported the Democratic party – heard reactions from both Republican colleagues and previously ambivalent voters.

Trump claims ‘nobody loves Puerto Rican community more than I do’ at Pennsylvania rally

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 02:59:32 +0000

Ex-president’s comments come after comedian at one of Trump’s recent rallies called Puerto Rico ‘island of garbage’

US elections 2024 – live updates

Donald Trump praised Puerto Ricans on Tuesday during a Pennsylvania rally, days after a comedian made a racist joke and referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage” at one of his rallies.

“Nobody loves our Latino community and our Puerto Rican community more than I do,” the former president said a little over an hour into a rally in Allentown, in the Lehigh Valley, which has a sizable Latino population.

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Racist jokes about Puerto Rico at rally bring anger and disgust: ‘Truly how the Trump party sees us’

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 13:00:10 +0000

Tony Hinchcliffe’s series of racist jokes at Donald Trump’s rally on Sunday were widely condemned

Some Americans, particularly those of Puerto Rican descent, said that the racist remarks aired at Donald Trump’s Sunday night rally at Madison Square Garden in New York helped them decide who to vote for.

The speaker and comedian Tony Hinchcliffe took aim at Puerto Rico, in a series of racist jokes including one in which he called it “a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean”.

Puerto Rico Republican chair demands Trump apology for rally’s racist remarks

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 12:32:53 +0000

Angel M Cintrón, party’s chair on island, says he will not vote for Trump unless he says sorry for speaker’s comments

US elections 2024 – live updates

The president of the Republican party’s branch in Puerto Rico has said he will not vote for Donald Trump unless he apologises for racist remarks made at his rally referring to the US island territory as a “floating island of garbage”.

Outrage even among fellow Republicans is continuing to mount after the racist insult at the Republican nominee’s rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Sunday, with the podcaster Tony Hinchcliffe coming under fire for his inflammatory comments made about Puerto Rico in the opening speech.

Trump rally comedian workshopped racist Puerto Rico line at NYC comedy club the night before

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 11:46:00 +0000

The comments have drawn intense anger and reignited the criticism over Trump's handling of Hurricane Maria's devastating aftermath in Puerto Rico.

Pennsylvania: anger among Puerto Ricans in key swing state after racist remarks

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 09:00:05 +0000

Comments at Trump rally lead to anger and indignation in one of the most crucial battleground states in the election

On Sunday evening, the Philadelphia councilmember Quetcy Lozada was attending a campaign event with Vice-President Kamala Harris at a local restaurant, as the Democratic presidential candidate announced a new economic proposal for Puerto Rico.

Lozada is of Puerto Rican descent and represents the seventh city council district in Philadelphia, made up of over 50% Latino, predominantly Puerto Rican, residents.

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Obama says ‘you can count on Kamala’ at Philadelphia rally – as it happened

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 03:06:27 +0000

This blog is closing now, thanks for following along. You can find all of our US elections coverage here.

Here’s our story of the resignation of Washington Post columnist Michele Norris, the latest high profile writer to leave the newspaper in protest at its decision not to endorse a candidate in next week’s presidential election.

Norris says the Post’s non-call was a “terrible mistake & an insult to the paper’s own longstanding standard of regularly endorsing candidates since 1976”.

Anger grows over racist remarks about Puerto Ricans at Trump rally

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 22:09:12 +0000

Republicans join Kamala Harris and Joe Biden in condemning comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s comments

Outrage is continuing to mount following the racist anti-Puerto Rican remarks at Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally in New York as Democrats, celebrities and even some Republicans condemned the incident.

Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe came under fire for comments made about Latinos and Puerto Rico at the Sunday rally.

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Harris rejects Tony Hinchcliffe's racist remarks about Puerto Rico at Trump MSG rally as 'nonsense'

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 17:31:00 +0000

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris said GOP nominee Donald Trump is "fixated on his grievances, on himself and on dividing our country."

Donald Trump fills Madison Square Garden with anger, vitriol and racist threats – video report

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 16:50:45 +0000

Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, held a campaign rally in Madison Square Garden on Sunday filled with racist remarks and vitriol. Opening the event, rightwing campaign supporters made racist comments and dangerous threats about immigrants before Trump took to the stage where he made similar remarks. The event drew comparisons to an infamous Nazi rally held at the New York arena in 1939

Trump fills Madison Square Garden with anger, vitriol and racist threats

US voters: share your reactions to the racist remarks about Puerto Rico at Trump’s New York rally

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 12:38:24 +0000

We’re interested to hear from Puerto Ricans and US voters with Latino heritage how they feel about comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s “island of garbage” remarks

Donald Trump’s campaign has condemned a speaker at a Republican rally in New York who made racist remarks about Puerto Rico.

Podcaster Tony Hinchcliffe, speaking ahead of Trump at the rally in Madison Square Garden, said, “There’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now – I think it’s called Puerto Rico.”

You can see the article that included respondents to this callout here.

You can contribute to open Community callouts here or Share a story here.

My dream was to own a home in Puerto Rico—at 37, I bought an oceanfront condo: Take a look inside

Sat, 31 Aug 2024 12:15:00 +0000

"Financially Lit!" author Jannese Torres shares how she achieved her dream of owning a home in Puerto Rico, where her family is from.

Hurricane Ernesto aims for Bermuda after leaving many in Puerto Rico without power or water

Thu, 15 Aug 2024 11:15:00 +0000

A hurricane warning was in effect for Bermuda, with Ernesto expected to pass near or over the island on Saturday.

Ernesto becomes a hurricane after pummeling northeast Caribbean and knocking out power in the region

Tue, 13 Aug 2024 13:45:00 +0000

Ernesto strengthened into a hurricane on Wednesday, dropped torrential rain on Puerto Rico and threatened to strengthen into a major storm en route to Bermuda.

Puerto Rico After Maria – The Media & The Reality

Sun, 29 Oct 2017 22:18:29 +0000

Puerto Ricans came together to help residents of neighbor islands in the Caribbean who got hit by Hurricane Irma; as we were still lending a hand, Puerto Rico had a few days to prepare for the most devastating hurricane in a century. It’s been a month now since Maria hit, most likely you will not […]

The post Puerto Rico After Maria – The Media & The Reality appeared first on Puerto Rico.

Tourism in Puerto Rico After Hurricane Maria – A Month After

Wed, 18 Oct 2017 21:22:32 +0000

The post Tourism in Puerto Rico After Hurricane Maria – A Month After appeared first on Puerto Rico.