Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) after a news conference on the Epstein Files Transparency Act outside the Capitol in Washington, on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025.(Damon Winter/The New York Times ) By MICHELLE COTTLE Today’s Republican Party is big on manliness and masculine virtues. The MAGA right in particular is forever obsessing over who is the biggest, the strongest, the most fearless among them. This is why, watching President Donald Trump’s fight to keep a lid on the Epstein fil

Women shop at the Karmel Mall, a Somali shopping center, in Minneapolis, Oct. 14, 2019. President Donald Trump intends to strip hundreds of Somalis living in the United States of the protected status they have had for decades under a program for immigrants from countries in crisis. (Jenn Ackerman/The New York Times) By NICHOLAS BOGEL-BURROUGHS President Donald Trump intends to strip hundreds of Somalis living in the United States of the protected status they have had for deca

Zohran Mamdani, mayor-elect of New York City, speaks to reporters after attending a Sunday service at Union Grove Missionary Baptist Church in the Crotona Park East neighborhood of the Bronx, on Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025. In a Sunday interview on “Meet the Press,” Mamdani said he had made a forceful case to President Donald Trump that troops were not needed in the city. (Dave Sanders/The New York Times) By NATAHN TAYLOR PEMBERTON It was a break-the-internet moment if there ever w

Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner, Pablo José Hernández By THE STAR STAFF Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner, Pablo José Hernández, has called on the U.S. Department of Defense for an immediate briefing and full transparency following a sudden surge in military-related activity affecting the island. The concerns include unexplained airspace restrictions, reports of training exercises, and new authorizations for munitions disposal on the island municipality of Vieques. Loca

On September 8, Secretary of the Army Pete Hegseth and General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited the island, highlighting Puerto Rico’s strategic importance for U.S. national security, as well as its role in combating drug cartels and the narco dictator Nicolás Maduro through the America First policy, which strengthens border security and fights illicit activities in the region. By THE STAR STAFF Gen. Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, i

Popular Democratic Party Senator José A. Santiago Rivera By THE STAR STAFF Popular Democratic Party Senator José A. Santiago Rivera, who chairs the Senate Committee on Municipal Affairs, has unveiled a proposal to fully exempt 94% of businesses on the island from paying the inventory tax. The measure, he said, would not disrupt funding for essential municipal services. The announcement comes amid ongoing tensions between merchants and mayors over the scope of eliminating the

By THE STAR STAFF On Monday, during the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau’s (PREB) ongoing rate case hearings, LUMA’s Chief Financial Officer, Andrew Smith, began his testimony, addressing critical issues that continue to affect Puerto Rico’s electric system recovery. His remarks focus on how PREPA’s prolonged bankruptcy and chronic underfunding have weakened the grid and severely limited efforts to improve reliability and resiliency for customers. Smith explained that PREPA’s financ

By THE STAR STAFF The administrative director of the court system, Sigfrido Steidel Figueroa, reported on Monday that the Judicial Branch will implement a special operational plan starting this Thursday due to the Thanksgiving period. “The Judicial Branch will operate under a special plan to guarantee essential services during the Thanksgiving period,” Steidel Figueroa said in written statements. He explained that all courts and administrative offices will operate under regul