Puerto Rico’s October 23-29, 2017 political week in tweets

by Oct 30, 2017News Week in Tweets0 comments

Tuition Waived for Puerto Rican Students 

Several schools in the mainland have offered in-state tuition status and/or reduced tuition to Puerto Rican college students affected by Hurricane Maria. Schools participating in any form of assistantship are the University of Tulane, 64 campuses of the State University of New York, 17 Connecticut State Colleges & Universities, five state and six community colleges in Florida, and the University of Arkansas. This action aims to help alleviate a huge burden to families as they repair and rebuild their lives and for students to continue with their college hopes and dreams.

 

Schools Reopen Without Electricity

Puerto Rico reopened one-tenth of its schools in hopes of returning to normalcy. Before Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico had more than a thousand schools educating over 300,000 students and now it hopes to bring “the maximum benefit to the maximum number of students while protecting their safety and well-being.”, stated Julia Keleher, the Secretary of Education in Puerto Rico.

 

Whitefish, a two-person company, Hired to Rebuild Puerto Rico

On October 19, WhiteFish Energy announced that it won a contract from the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) to rebuild the island’s electrical system. Whitefish is a two-person company causing questions of the company’s abilities to meet the requirements and Puerto Rico’s needs to rise.

 

A Twitter Exchange Between WhiteFish and San Juan Mayor

San Juan Mayor Carmen Cruz took to Twitter to protest the signing contract with WhiteFish. She tweeted that “the contract should be voided right away, and a proper process which is clear, transparent, legal, moral and ethical should take place”. Whitefish response was threatening to remove the workers already in Puerto Rico. Hours later the company apologized in an attempt to keep the controversial conversation at peace.

 

Tesla Works Away to Bring Back Power

Hospital del Nino becomes the first hospital with restored power from a combination of solar cells and Tesla’s powerpacks that allows energy to generate from sun rays and store power for later usage. Tesla tweed that this is just one of the “first of many solar + storage projects going live”. Tesla strong focus on bringing back power is hope many Puerto Ricans need today.

 

HUD May Be Able To Relocate Puerto Ricans to Mainland

US Department of Housing and Urban Development are rumored to have opened the possibility of developing a plan of relocating Puerto Ricans to the mainland. Thousands of Puerto Ricans have already fled the island to other locations after the storm hit. If there is an opportunity to create a long-term housing relief, the Trump Administration is said to be exploring these possibilities.