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From This Collection

West Virginia effort to aid Puerto Rico is caught in Trump’s solar tariffs

Jun 1, 2018
With 2018's hurricane season starting, some families are still recovering from last year's storms.
Months after the storms, many communities on the island have no electricity.
Courtesy of Rebecca Kiger

Following the hurricane, recovery in Puerto Rico takes different forms

We revisit a dairy farmer, a convenience store owner, a homeowner and a community center to see where things stand seven months after Hurricane Maria.
Clockwise from top left: Juan Orta says he's spent $75,000 of his own money to reopen his convenience store in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico; Cows at Vaqueria Ceiba del Mar in Hatillo, Puerto Rico; Luis Martinez, owner of Ceiba del Mar; Glorimar Rivera who lives on a street that was once covered in power lines and fallen poles.
Peter Balonon-Rosen/Marketplace

A slice of life — and pastelillo — in Puerto Rico

Apr 27, 2018
The impact of a looming school closure on the owners of a food truck who have been feeding students and parents for 31 years.
Since 1987, the food truck formally named "Love Pizza" has operated outside of Escuela Elemental John F. Kennedy, an elementary school in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico slated to close this summer. Students and parents call the truck "Maggie's Food Truck."
Peter Balonon-Rosen/Marketplace

Puerto Rico governor says to people in informal housing "It's time to go"

Apr 27, 2018
We check in with Gov. Ricardo Rosselló on housing, education, pensions, and who is actually in charge.
Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rosselló in his office in San Juan in 2018.
Peter Balonon-Rosen/Marketplace

Puerto Rico's school system braces for change: closures and charters

Apr 26, 2018
Government officials plan to close over 280 public schools, combine resources and introduce charter schools and a private school voucher program to the island.
Second grade teacher Pierette Hidalgo leads students and parents in a chant during a school closing protest at Escuela Elemental John F. Kennedy in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico on April 17, 2018. The school is one of 283 schools slated to be close on the island following population declines.
Peter Balonon-Rosen/Marketplace

In Puerto Rico, no title, no lease and no assistance to rebuild

Apr 26, 2018
There's no official count of how many people lived in makeshift, informal housing but estimates put over half of the housing on the island as built informally.
Peter Balonon-Rosen/Marketplace

How businesses in Puerto Rico are recovering after Maria

Dec 18, 2017
"It's basically been a lot of effort to try and stay on my feet."
A convenience store in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico is open, after the owner lost $25000 in spoiled goods after Hurricane Maria.
Joanne Griffith/Marketplace

For public good, not for profit.

The business of disaster: How does the U.S. spend relief money?

Dec 1, 2017
A guide to when the Federal Emergency Management Agency get involved and the rules governing how its funds are spent.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials help people with questions at the George R. Brown Convention Center which was a shelter for evacuees from Hurricane Harvey, in Houston on September 2, 2017.
MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

Some Puerto Ricans refuse to leave their island, despite lack of power

Dec 1, 2017
"That was horrible. It’s an experience that I don't ever want to live through again."
Glorimar Rivera outside her home in Hatillo, Puerto Rico.
Joanne Griffith/Marketplace

Meet the man bringing power back to Puerto Rico

Dec 1, 2017
"It just is one of the most challenging missions that we've really faced."
Col. John Lloyd, who leads the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers mission to restore power to Puerto Rico, stands in front of the strategy map highlighting key transmission lines. "It just is one of the most challenging missions that we've really faced,” he told us.
Joanne Griffith/Marketplace