JetBlue to start requiring customers to wear face coverings during travel
April 28, 2020
JetBlue announced that starting May 4 all customers will be required to wear a face covering during travel. The policy comes after the airline began requiring all crew members to wear face coverings while working. JetBlue has modeled its policy on the Centers for Disease Control guidelines that indicate all individuals should wear a face […]
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Tropizen pumps $1M to boost manufacturing, cultivation capacity
April 28, 2020
Tropizen, a licensed local cultivator and manufacturer of medical cannabis products, announced the investment of over $1 million in a significant expansion of its cultivation facilities and production capacity. The company also announced the successful completion of its first harvest from the expanded facilities, as it continues to operate under the coronavirus pandemic. “As a […]
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Puerto Rico’s film industry takes $80M hit from COVID-19 pandemic
April 27, 2020
Puerto Rico’s thriving film industry has taken an $80 million hit from the measures taken to fight the spread of the COVID-19 virus, as have many other jurisdictions favored by Hollywood producers. The shelter-in-place and business lock-down orders the island’s government issued on Mar. 16, have meant the cancellation of some 21 production projects that […]
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Oversight Board makes suggestion to gov’t on use of $2.2B CARES Act funds
April 27, 2020
The Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico offered the central government suggestions on how to spend the $2.2 billion allocation through the CARES Act to finance unbudgeted expenses related to the pandemic “in a way that is consistent, efficient, and transparent.” “The funds provided by the CARES Act are considerable and, if used […]
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UPR-Mayagüez gets $750K grant to develop traffic congestion solutions
April 27, 2020
The University of Puerto Rico’s Mayagüez campus (known as the RUM in Spanish) will receive $750,000 in grant funding over three years to participate as a member of the National Institute for Congestion Reduction, a project led by the University of South Florida, it announced. The Florida college received a $7.5 million grant from the […]
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Por Onza package-free shop to open in Cabo Rojo
April 27, 2020
Por Onza, a sustainable, package-free shop is slated to open in the southwestern town of Cabo Rojo to offer a variety of locally harvested products, owner Wilvette González confirmed. The concept is about letting customers buy the products in bulk, which they will pack in their own reusable containers, González said. “Each person will serve […]
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Puerto Rico’s self-employed may file unemployment claim starting April 28
April 24, 2020
Puerto Rico’s self-employed population will be able to apply for unemployment benefits through the Labor Department starting April 28, agency Secretary Briseida Torres said. The benefit will be available for first time for independent contractors through the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program created through the CARES Act signed into law Mar. 27, to aid workers whose […]
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FEMA obligates $365M to rebuild Puerto Rico’s water systems
April 24, 2020
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has obligated more than $365 million for permanent and emergency work on 182 projects to repair and upgrade potable water and sewer systems and other water control facilities across Puerto Rico, it announced. More than half of the funds are for permanent work projects. “Our investment in the island’s water […]
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Oversight Board calls for ‘gradual reopening’ of Puerto Rico’s economy
April 24, 2020
Saying the priority at this time should be broader testing for COVID-19 in Puerto Rico, the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico urged “a gradual reopening of certain elements of the economy to contain the financial effect on the economy as a whole.” In a letter sent to Gov. Wanda Vázquez, Oversight Board […]
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Puerto Rico Treasury to begin notifying taxpayers eligible for $1,200 stimulus
April 23, 2020
Some 486,000 Puerto Rico residents will begin receiving e-mail notices from the island’s Treasury Department informing them of their eligibility for the $1,200 federal stimulus check, which will be deposited directly into their bank accounts, agency Secretary Francisco Parés said. The deposits materializes as soon as the U.S. Department of the Treasury approves the local […]
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Puerto Rico’s healthcare sector ‘most exposed’ to coronavirus crisis
April 23, 2020
The Coronavirus pandemic will cause people to rethink existing values and will impact economic models going forward, a group of local and international experts gathered by Invest Puerto Rico during a virtual webinar concluded. In Puerto Rico, where the economy has been limping along for the better part of the last 12 years, the already […]
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2 Puerto Rico co.’s face $25K fines from FCC for disrupting doppler radar
April 23, 2020
The Federal Communications Commission handed down notices against two local companies — WiFi Services Caribbean Inc. and Buzzer Net LLC — which face a $25,000 fine each for operating networks that violate the integrity of the Federal Aviation Administration’s doppler radar in San Juan. In separate notices, the federal telecom regulator described the reasons for […]
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2 Puerto Rican co.’s design equipment to fight COVID-19 spread
April 23, 2020
Puerto Rican companies Air Logix and Technical Industrial Sales joined forces to manufacture boxes featuring a germicidal light that works on a microwave electromagnetic spectrum, to disinfect and sterilize medical equipment, as the COVID-19 virus rages around the world. Faustino García-Rivera, president of Air Logix, said given the health challenges worldwide, and seeing the existing […]
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Economic Dev’t announces 4th edition of Robot Makers program
April 23, 2020
The Robot Makers program is back for its fourth edition, featuring a new virtual format to train 116 middle and high school teachers as well as college professors, Department of Economic Development and Commerce Secretary Manuel Laboy announced. “Like all projects being developed in the midst of the emergency due to the spread of COVID-19, […]
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Gov’t permits office processes 11K+ online applications during lock-down
April 22, 2020
A month into the government-mandated island-wide lock-down and curfew to combat the spread of the COVID-19 virus, the Permits Management Office (OGPe, in Spanish) has processed 11,100 procedures for 46 products requested through the Single Business Portal. Department of Economic Development and Commerce Secretary Manuel Laboy said of that total of approved applications, more than […]
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