Puerto Rico Senate Vice President Carmelo Ríos Santiago By THE STAR STAFF Puerto Rico Senate Vice President Carmelo Ríos Santiago is convening an emergency meeting with the island’s main housing stakeholders amid a steep rise in rental prices that is squeezing working families across the San Juan metropolitan region. Ríos said the Senate will bring together representatives of the Asociación de Arrendadores de Bienes Inmuebles, municipal mayors, and Housing Secretary Luis Augu

Financial Oversight and Management Board Executive Director Robert Mujica Jr. Mujica says island is also out of step on contingency fees, extensions in public contracting By THE STAR STAFF Financial Oversight and Management Board Executive Director Robert Mujica Jr. said at a board meeting Wednesday that lawmakers must modernize Puerto Rico’s lobbying laws to safeguard public contracting once the board mandated under the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stabili

The LNG delivery delay has forced the San Juan power plant to burn diesel instead of natural gas, raising generation costs for Puerto Rico ratepayers. (Facebook via U.S. Coast Guard Sector San Juan) By THE STAR STAFF A simmering dispute between New Fortress Energy (NFE) and the San Juan Bay Pilots escalated this week as both sides filed sharply worded motions in federal court, revealing deep disagreements over tug requirements, berth dimensions, and the information needed to

By THE STAR STAFF Robert Mujica Jr., the executive director of the Financial Oversight and Management Board, criticized the island Education Department on Wednesday regarding its budget and the governor’s intention to increase pensions for those receiving less than $1,000. “The Department of Education continues to present a fiscal and public policy challenge,” Mujica said in his summary during the oversight board’s public meeting. “Federal funds granted following the COVID-19