Trump’s Puerto Rico poll numbers are worse than Bush’s after Hurricane Katrina

By Aaron Blake 12 October 2017 (The Washington Post) – President Trump seemed to hint early Thursday that the federal government could pull out of helping Puerto Rico before the recovery is finished. And just hours later, a new poll showed what a bad idea that was.Quinnipiac University is providing some of the first full-scale […]

Puerto Rico by the numbers: Three weeks later, the island is still devastated from Hurricane Maria – “What happened in Texas and Florida were disasters. What happened in Puerto Rico was a catastrophe.”

By Alison Durkee 15 October 2017 (Mic) – It has now been more than three weeks since Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico and the island is still reeling from the devastation it caused.Despite an influx of federal and private aid, many on the hurricane-ravaged island are still without such basic necessities as potable […]

Video: Experts fear looming health crisis in Puerto Rico – “People are here for weeks in the rubble and no one comes to do anything about it”

By José A. Iglesias 13 October 2017 (Miami Herald) – Three weeks after Hurricane Maria ransacked Puerto Rico, mounds of soaking, animal-infested garbage still line streets. Public health experts say every day that the debris remains, the risk of an epidemic grows. Kamille Camacho, of Iniciativa Comunitaria, says, “I feel helpless because I want to […]

In powerless Puerto Rico, washboards and hand-held fans are making a comeback – “It was either this or steal, and I would rather be broke than steal”

By Jim Wyss 14 October 2017 SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO (Miami Herald) – Washboards, candles, and cash are the new must-have items on this powerless island. Almost four weeks after Hurricane Maria battered Puerto Rico, 85 percent of the population is still without electricity, forcing people to get creative — and go old school — […]

House Republicans warn Congress not to “bail out” Puerto Rico

By Aída Chávez 13 October 2017 (The Intercept) – Nestled in the $36.5 billion disaster relief package the House of Representatives approved Thursday is $5 billion specifically for Puerto Rico to maintain basic government function after being devastated by two hurricanes, as economic activity on the island has come to a near standstill, and tax […]

California’s wildfires aren’t “natural” – Humans made them worse at every step – “Personally, I think it will be one of the worst disasters in California history”

By Umair Irfan  15 October 2017 (Vox) – Raging infernos in California are burning through shrub land and neighborhoods while inching perilously close to San Francisco and Los Angeles.This year is shaping up to be one of the state’s worst fire seasons ever, as windswept flames have scorched more than 214,000 acres and caused at […]

Graph of the Day: Heroin and fentanyl deaths in New Jersey, 2004-2016

By Stephen Stirling and Luke Nozicka 4 October 2017 NEWARK (NJ Advance Media) – Four programs in New Jersey have been awarded federal grants to fight the state’s opioid epidemic, a crisis that has claimed the lives of more than 7,000 people since 2012. NJ Advance Media has learned that the State Parole Board will […]

Doctor quits Puerto Rico medical relief team over “spa day”, says she has never seen a disaster relief operation being run the way it has been in Puerto Rico

By Anne Branigin 13 October 2017 (The Root) – Here are a couple of things your tax dollars have paid for in the past few weeks: Vice President Michael Pence’s NFL protest/publicity stunt, the Scotch tape keeping Donald Trump’s ties together, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders calling for Jemele Hill to get fired, […]

Desperate Puerto Ricans are drinking water from a hazardous-waste site – “This is the only option I have”

By John D. Sutter 14 October 2017 Dorado, Puerto Rico (CNN) – Jose Luis Rodriguez waited in line Friday to fill plastic jugs in the back of his pickup truck with water for drinking, doing the dishes and bathing. But there is something about this water Rodriguez didn’t know: It was being pumped to him […]

Puerto Ricans angry, dismayed over Trump tweets – “When did we stop being America?”

By Sandra Lilley , Suzanne Gamboa, Daniella Silva, and Carmen Sesin 13 October 2017 (NBC News) – President Donald Trump’s Twitter comments on Thursday threatening to pull federal resources from Puerto Rico as the U.S. territory grapples with the lack of basic necessities elicited shock and alarm on the island and the mainland.San Juan Mayor […]

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