How the US will replace immigrant workers with Puerto Ricans

Last week, I received a text message from Luz, a recent evacuee from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico currently residing in a New York City hotel paid by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. A few days earlier, we had spoken about her anxieties regarding her uncertain future after the FEMA voucher program ends.

PHOTO: Former President Barack Obama, left and President Donald Trump.

One year after exchanging pleasantries with a newly-inaugurated President Donald Trump and ascending onto Marine One for the final time, former President Barack Obama has remained a central figure across the United States and global political scene. As his successor has seemed to systematically target key components of his legacy, Obama has been strategic, according to current and former aides, in choosing when and how to speak out.

Huffman letter protests Trumpa s offshore oil drilling plan

Rep. Jared Huffman and two other members of Congress have taken the lead in a letter to Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke protesting the Trump administration's offshore oil drilling plan. The Trump administration this month announced a proposal to allow drilling in most U.S. continental-shelf waters, including areas of the Atlantic and the Arctic.

Corruption in Uganda: Minister Sam Kutesa and Company May Yet Survive Their Latest Scandal

America's Department of Justice statement of November 2017, naming Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa as a recipient of a bribe in exchange for oil concessions and other contracts may or may not constitute a change of policy among Uganda's development partners. The United States has known about and tolerated the most glaring instances of corruption for much of the thirty-year life-span of the National Resistance Movement government.

What’s it got,

An audit by the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction released this past week revealed that a Department of Defense task force to support economic development squandered hundreds of millions of American taxpayer dollars. The audit of the Task Force for Business and Stability Operations was first requested in 2016 by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and then-Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., after it was reported by SIGAR that the TFBSO had spent over $40 million to build "what is likely to be the world's most expensive gas station" in Afghanistan, as Special Inspector General John Sopko put it.

Trump defends vulgar remarks while partly denying them

Sen. Dick Durbin said he heard President Trump repeatedly use vulgar language to describe African countries during a White House immigration meeting Thursday. The senator called Trump's comments 'vile, hate-filled and racial' on Friday.

Diplomats try to smooth over Trump’s remarks

By JOSH LEDERMAN and JONATHAN LEMIRE Associated Press WASHINGTON - American diplomats scrambled Friday to salvage their nation's bonds with Africa, Haiti and even the celebrated "special relationship" with Britain after President Donald Trump, in the span of a few hours, deeply offended much of the world with the most undiplomatic of remarks.

First ride: Aboard Florida’s new Brightline train

U.S. Congresswoman Lois Frankel takes a selfie aboard Brightline's introductory trip between West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale on Jan. 12, 2018, during an invitation-only media preview ride beginning and ending at the Brightline West Palm Beach station. Brightline is selling tickets and passes both online and on its mobile app and will begin service for the general public beginning Saturday, Jan. 13. To see more photos, go to TCPalm.com.

US embassy hits back at Donald Trump – bad deal’ claim after UK visit cancelled

The US embassy in London said its move to a new location has been completed within budget - just hours after Donald Trump described it as a "bad deal". Mr Trump has refused to travel to the UK to open the new American embassy, hitting out at its move from Grosvenor Square in the prestigious Mayfair district of central London to an "off location" at Nine Elms, south of the Thames.

Donald Trump slams the new US Embassy in Battersea and says he will not travel to London to open it

US president Donald Trump has confirmed he will not travel to the UK to open the new American embassy - and hit out at the Battersea location of the 1.2 billion dollar project. Writing on Twitter, Mr Trump said he thought the embassy's move from Grosvenor Square in Mayfair to Nine Elms, was a "bad deal".

NAFTA supporters use stock market to try to dissuade Trump from withdrawing from trade deal

When President Donald Trump met with six Republican senators last week to talk about trade, the lawmakers issued a stark warning: Implementing an unrestrained "America First" agenda - such as withdrawing from the North American Free Trade Agreement - would endanger stock prices that have soared since his election. Just steps from the Oval Office, the president listened as GOP Sens. Cory Gardner of Colorado and Pat Roberts of Kansas depicted the potential fallout if Trump follows through on his threats to quit NAFTA.

The Latest: Trump says he’s getting raves on immigration

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters following a weekly, closed-door strategy session, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, left, listens to President Donald Trump speak during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018, in Washington.

Bannon tries to dodge ‘Fury’ backlash

President Donald Trump waves to members of the media as he walks across the South Lawn as he arrives at the White House in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 7, 2018, after traveling from Camp David, Md. less President Donald Trump waves to members of the media as he walks across the South Lawn as he arrives at the White House in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 7, 2018, after traveling from Camp David, Md.

US senator says no evidence of ‘sonic attacks’ in Cuba

Republican Sen. Jeff Flake says the U.S. has found no evidence that American diplomats in Havana were the victims of attacks with an unknown weapon. Flake, a Senate Foreign Relations Committee member and a longtime leading advocate of detente with Cuba, met Friday with high-ranking Cuban officials including Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez and officials from the Interior Ministry, which oversees domestic security and works with foreign law-enforcement agencies.

Humans Can Fly in This Drone-Like Electric Hybrid ‘Octocopter’

The company that partnered with UPS to create a package-delivering drone is ready to fly its new passenger aerial vehicle. The SureFly, a two-seater electric hybrid helicopter , has received approval from the FAA to take a test flight at CES in Las Vegas on Jan. 8. Designed by Ohio-based commercial transportation solutions company Workhorse Group, the SureFly is designed to be safer, easier to fly and more affordable than a typical chopper.

Storm slaps coastal South with most snow in nearly 3 decades

A brutal winter storm smacked the coastal Southeast with a rare blast of snow and ice Wednesday, hitting parts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina with their heaviest snowfall in nearly three decades. Forecasters warned that the same system could soon strengthen into a "bomb cyclone" as it rolls up the East Coast, bringing hurricane-force winds, coastal flooding and up to a foot of snow.

EU foreign policy chief says ‘blockade’ of Cuba not solution

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini toured the historic center of Havana accompanied by city historian Eusebio Leal Spengler and the EU ambassador to Cuba Alberto Navarro in Havana, Cuba, 3 January 2018. [Alejandro Ernesto/EPA/EFE] Blockading Cuba is not the solution, the European Union's foreign policy chief said yesterday on a trip aimed at strengthening ties with Havana, after Washington tightened restrictions on the island.

Disasters Affected 8% of U.S. Population in 2017, FEMA Notes in Review of Historic Year

The Federal Emergency Management Agency supported 59 major disaster declarations and 16 emergency declarations in 2017, a year during which unprecedented disasters affected more than 25 million Americans, almost eight percent of the U.S. population. In its year-end review, FEMA notes it was a record busy year for FEMA employees and for state and local emergency responders across the country, as well for the federal flood insurance program, which FEMA manages.