Puerto Rico News Digest For June 1, 2016

HURRICANE SEASON STARTS TODAY

From The San Juan Daily Star:

"U.S. government forecasters expect a near-normal Atlantic hurricane season,
after three relatively slow years. But they also say climate conditions that influ-
ence storm development are making it difficult to predict how many hurricanes
and tropical storms will arise over the next six months. The National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration’s outlook released late last week called for a
near-normal season with 10 to 16 named storms, with four to eight hurricanes
and one to four “major” ones with winds reaching 111 mph and up..."

SENATE HONORS VETS ON MEMORIAL DAY

From Caribbean Business:

"The Senate received Monday a group of veterans and their families, as well as
officers, to commemorate Memorial Day in a ceremony at a Capitol monument
honoring the fallen in various wars. Sen. Miguel Pereira, chairman of the Judici-
ary, Security and Veterans Committee, hosted the activity and received Col. Mar-
ta Carcana, adjutant general of the National Guard of Puerto Rico, who delivered
a message to attendees. Also attending the ceremony were Jorge Cases, spokes-
man for the Veterans Advocate Office; former Puerto Rico National Guard Adjt.
Gen. Luis González Vale and former San Juan Mayor Héctor Luis Acevedo, who
retired as a lieutenant colonel from the U.S. Army Reserve in 1998..."

OMB: PAYING DEBT COULD MEAN LAYOFFS

From News Is My Business:

"If the government of Puerto Rico were to pay the full amount due next year in
GO debt would require laying off more than 3,400 public workers, among other
adjustments, Luis Cruz, executive director of the Office of Management and Bud-
get, told members of the House Finance Committee during budget hearings Mon-
day. In his testimony, Cruz said the $209 million set aside from the General Fund
will go to cover GO interest payment, but no principal amount, which would total
$1.4 billion next fiscal year..."

SAN JUAN TAXI DRIVERS PROTEST UBER

From Fox News Latino:

"Traffic chaos prevailed in San Juan on Tuesday as taxi drivers and  truckers
protested the arrival in Puerto Rico of Uber, the private ride-hailing service,
which links passengers and drivers via a mobile application. On Tuesday mor-
ning it was difficult to find taxis on the capital streets, while some tourist excur-
sions had to be cancelled when drivers with certain tourist operators refused to
work..."

Puerto Rico News Digest For May 5, 2016

DEMOCRATS PUSH FOR PR DEBT MEASURE

From Bloomberg:

"House Democrats are stepping up pressure on Republicans to advance legis-
lation addressing Puerto Rico’s worsening debt crisis by issuing a report ar-
guing that austerity cuts can’t be sustained and have made the island more
vulnerable to the mosquito-borne Zika virus. Health-care cuts in response to
the $70 billion debt crisis have created a potentially “disastrous” outcome for
residents and show how further sharp reductions in government spending can’t
be a part of a legislative solution, according to the report released Wednesday
by Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee..."

TAXI DRIVERS PROTEST UBER IN SAN JUAN

From The San Juan Daily Star:

"The streets of San Juan were clogged with traffic Tuesday during a protest
carried out by taxi drivers against the possible arrival on the island of the com-
panies Uber and Lyft. The demonstration, organized by the Puerto Rico Fede-
ration of Taxis, began Tuesday morning at Luis Muñoz Marín International Air-
port in Isla Verde and proceeded to the Capitol in San Juan. Juan de León, pre-
sident of the federation, said the protest took place because the government so-
ught to “leave behind a sector that has been growing with the development of
our country and has contributed to the treasury to allow the entrance of com-
panies that take out money and don’t contribute anything...”

FEDS WANT PIERLUISI TO RETURN MONEY

From Caribbean Business:

"The Federal Election Commission (FEC) wants Puerto Rico’s Resident Co-
mmissioner in Washington, Pedro Pierluisi, to return more than $91,000 in ge-
neral election donations to his reelection campaign for resident commissioner,
Politico magazine reported Wednesday. The FEC contends that, since Pierluisi
is retiring from his nonvoting position in Congress to run for Puerto Rico gover-
nor, there is no need for him to retain those funds. The Office of Electoral Comp-
troller in San Juan, which oversees campaign fundraising, has also begun an in-
vestigation into Pierluisi’s gubernatorial campaign, specifically whether he rai-
sed money from Wall Street executives and lobbyists without reporting it, Poli-
tico said..."

PR IRKED BY BASEBALL SERIES UNCERTAINTY

From The Tribune-Review:

"Puerto Rico officials on Wednesday expressed indignation over the potential
cancellation of a Pittsburgh versus Miami baseball series scheduled on the is-
land, saying concerns about the Zika virus are overblown. Calling off the ga-
mes would be disrespectful to the family of the late Pirates star Roberto Cle-
mente and, more importantly, could cost the cash-strapped U.S. territory mi-
llions of dollars in lost revenue, lawmakers and tourism officials said. “It's an
outrageous situation,” Rep. Angel Matos, head of the tourism commission for
Puerto Rico's House of Representatives, told the Tribune-Review..."

Puerto Rico News Digest For March 3, 2015

GOVERNOR GIVES OUT FIRST PARDONS

As reported by El Nuevo Dia today, Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro
Garcia Padilla granted the first pardons of his administration on
January 20th. Thirteen pardons were granted, with six total pardons
and seven conditional ones. The most serious offender who was pardoned
by Padilla was a conditional one granted to a man who had been in prison
since 1993 for first degree murder, theft, conspiracy and weapons violations.
According to the Governor's office, the pardon was granted after careful
consideration and proof of rehabilitation. The other individuals who were
pardoned all had sentences of six years or less.

INITIAL PRICE SPIKES EXPECTED UNDER IVA

From The San Juan Daily Star:

Certified Public Accountants Association President Kermit Lucena
said that when the local tax rate goes up to 16 percent in April,
people should expect an initial jump of nine points in prices for
goods, before they likely stabilize. “If you pay $1.07 now, you
will pay $1.16,” he said. “For those entities that can not absorb
the cost of the value-added tax, you will see a hike in prices.”
Lucena said he does not know whether that will lead to long-term
inflation, but has his doubts that it will. “Inflation is month by
month,” he said. “I don’t expect to see a 10 percent to 12 percent
hike month by month like in Latin America, but we will see an
initial jump.”

DORAL MADE LARGE LOAN IN FINAL WEEK

From Caribbean Business:

A week before Doral Bank was closed by federal regulators, it made
a $20 million loan to a company managed by Israeli investor Moishe
Mana for 17 different properties around Miami's Wynwood neighborhood,
according to Miami-Dade records. The 17 assorted properties owned by
Melanie Holdings LLC add up to approximately 4.9 acres of real estate.

Doral Bank was closed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC)
on Feb. 27. The bank had operations in Puerto Rico, Florida, and New
York. The FDIC entered into an agreement with Banco Popular de Puerto
Rico to sell some of the bank's assets, and is currently in two other
agreements to sell the majority of the remaining assets.

PR SENATE NIXES "ANTI-UBER" BILL

From News Is My Business:

A bill that seeks to establish public policy and regulate the operation
of mobile application-based transportation network companies, such as
San Francisco’s Uber, was struck down Monday on the Senate floor in a
13-11 vote. Bill 1209, authored and introduced last year by Sen. Antonio
Fas-Alzamora, sought to curb the arrival of these types of businesses,
known as TNCs for short, which allow consumers to submit a trip request,
which is routed to crowd-sourced taxi drivers.

WINNING POWERBALL TICKETS SOLD IN PR, USVI

From Virgin Islands Daily News:

The Caribbean was a lucky place to buy Powerball tickets this weekend
because one person in the Virgin Islands and one person in Puerto Rico
each turned a $3 investment into $2 million, according to the Powerball
website. Someone in St. Thomas, St. Croix or St. John matched five of
the six numbers in Saturday's drawing.

The numbers drawn were 11, 17, 25, 28, 46 and the Powerball number was
12, according to the website. Powerball tickets cost $2 each, and the
Powerplay option costs an extra $1. Because the Powerplay multiplier
came up as "2X," the person in Puerto Rico and the person in the Virgin
Islands doubled the $1 million they each won by matching five numbers.