Puerto Rico News Digest For January 28, 2015

MASTURBATING COP HAS BEEN SUSPENDED

From The Daily Mail:

Police in Puerto Rico have suspended a female police officer  after photos
of her performing a sex act in uniform ended up being leaked to fellow
officers. According to a police insider,  the images were taken by a male
colleague at the police station and were posted onto social media. They
said that the young woman, Cynthia Marrero Pomales, 29, was serving in
Carolina. She reportedly uploaded the pictures herself on social media
although it is understood that she had not intended for them to be shared
outside of a small private circle of friends.

PR EXPANDS TAX DEAL TO OWN EMIGRANTS

From Forbes:

Puerto Rico’s Acts 20 & 22, tax incentive laws aimed at luring wealthy
American investors to move there and at reviving the Island’s economy,
are celebrating their third anniversary this month. Now, the Island is
trying to build on this momentum by expanding who can use the tax
breaks; one amendment  is aimed at enticing successful Puerto Ricans
who have left the Island to return.

Puerto Rico Senate Bill 864 increases the potential impact of Act 22
by expanding who qualifies for the tax break. Prior to this legislation,
Act 22 was only applicable to new migrants to Puerto Rico who had
not been residents for the 15 year period before the Act went into
effect in January 2012. That period has now been reduced from 15
to 6 years. That means anyone who left the Island before 2006 can
now apply for the Act 20/22 tax breaks.

COURT URGED TO REVERSE GAY MARRIAGE RULING

From SDGLN.COM:

Lambda Legal on Monday filed a brief urging the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the First Circuit to overturn a lower court ruling
dismissing Conde-Vidal v. Garcia-Padilla, the lawsuit seeking to
end the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico’s discriminatory ban on
marriage for LGBT couples.

“The District Court ruling in October was contrary to Supreme
Court precedent and stands in stark contrast against the avalanche
of court rulings over the past 18 months finding marriage bans
like Puerto Rico’s to be discriminatory and unconstitutional,”
said Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, Staff Attorney for Lambda Legal.

LEGISLATURE TO REDUCE TOLL FINES

From The San Juan Daily Star:

The island House and Senate passed diff erent versions of a bill
Monday that will reduce thefi nes imposed on drivers for passing
through highway toll plazas without paying and establish an
amnesty that will allow drivers who owe large sums in fines for
doing so to pay them. Puerto Rico’s Department of Transportation
and Public Works (DTOP) began this year to enforce the law that
imposes $100 fi nes for passing through the toll plazas without
paying. Citizens were given 30 days to pay the amount they owe in
tolls to erase the fi ne. Nonetheless, many citizens have com-
plained that they were not informed in writing as required by law
that they have fines. Others said they did not deserve the fines
because they recharge their AutoExpreso accounts every month.
AutoExpreso is the name of the island highway toll collection
system.

PR LABOR FORCE SHRINKS FURTHER IN DECEMBER

From News Is My Business:

Puerto Rico’s labor force had 25,000 fewer members in December,
when compared to the same month in 2013, which could account for
the lower unemployment rate announced by the Labor Department
Tuesday. According to the agency, the December jobless rate stood
at 13.7 percent, representing the “lowest rate for that month  since
2008,” when the unemployment rate stood at 15.5 percent.