by tyler | Dec 18, 2023 | CNN, us
The Mississippi police officer who wrongfully shot an 11-year-old after the boy called 911 for help has been suspended without pay effective immediately, according to a member of the Indianola Board of Aldermen.
Alderman Marvin Elder tells CNN that on Monday night a motion was made at the Indianola Board of Aldermen meeting to suspend Sgt. Greg Capers without pay effective immediately. Elder said that the motion passed 4-1.
Capers mistakenly shot and seriously injured Aderrien Murry in late May while the officer was responding to a domestic disturbance call at the child’s home, according to his mother, Nakala Murry, and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation. Capers was initially put on paid administrative leave after the shooting while it was investigated.
The Indianola Police Department told CNN they would not comment about the case.
Responding to Capers’ suspension without pay, his attorney Michael Carr told CNN they are still deciding whether to appeal.
“We were not made aware of the meeting or given the opportunity to speak or give our side,” Carr said. “Let me be clear; the decision to change Officer Capers’ status from leave with pay to leave without pay is no reflection on the merit of the alleged criminal charges against him.”
Last week, Murry filed a written affidavit in Sunflower County Circuit Court accusing Capers of bodily harm and aggravated assault to her minor son.
“This affidavit is written by Ms. Murray, and the charge as written does not reflect the complete statute,” Carr told CNN. “Let me reiterate that this affidavit is not filed by any investigative agency at this time. Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is currently investigating the case. They have not filed an affidavit or any charge.”
Carr said that the Bureau of Investigation is in possession of Officer Capers’ body cam footage, adding, “I am certain once released, (it) will clear him completely from any criminal allegation in the shooting.”
Capers has a scheduled probable cause hearing on October 2 at 10 a.m., according to Carr.
The May shooting was captured on police body camera, but it has not been released to the public. The footage is in the possession of the Bureau of Investigation which is investigating the shooting. In a statement after the shooting, the MBI said the agency was “currently assessing this critical incident and gathering evidence” and would turn over its findings to the state attorney general’s office after the investigation is complete.
The Murry family has made repeated calls for Capers to be fired and charged. As a result of the shooting, Aderrien was given a chest tube and placed on a ventilator at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson after developing a collapsed lung, fractured ribs and a lacerated liver, his mother said.
He was released from the hospital days later and is continuing to recover, according to his family.
The boy’s family has filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking $5 million, claiming excessive force, negligence, reckless endangerment, and civil assault and battery, among other counts.
Reacting to the lawsuit, Indianola Mayor Ken Featherstone said he looks forward to “making everyone whole,” but the city “doesn’t have $5 million in the bank.”
Correction: A previous version of this story gave the wrong first name of Indianola Board Alderman Marvin Elder.
by tyler | Dec 18, 2023 | CNN, us
Here’s a look at the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a stock index comprised of 30 “blue-chip” US stocks. It is meant to be a way to measure the strength or weakness of the entire US stock market.
The Dow began in 1896 with 12 industrial stocks.
Dow Jones & Co was founded by journalists Charles Dow and Edward Jones.
Current Dow stocks
Record high close – December 14, 2023, the Dow closes at 37,248.35 points.
Biggest one-day point gain – March 24, 2020, the Dow gains 2,112.98 points.
Biggest one-day percentage gain – March 15, 1933, the Dow closes up 15.34%.
Biggest one-day point loss – March 16, 2020, the Dow closes down 2,997.1 points.
Biggest one-day percentage loss – October 19, 1987, the Dow closes down 22.61%.
1882 – Dow, Jones & Co. is created.
1884 – Charles Dow creates the Dow Averages, the precursor to the DJIA.
May 26, 1896 – The first index, made up of 12 industrial companies, is published and the Dow opens at 40.94 points.
January 12, 1906 – The Dow closes at 100.25, the first close above 100.
October 24, 1929 – The Stock Market crash of 1929 begins which leads to the Great Depression of the 1930s. It takes 25 years for the Dow to regain its September 1929 high of 381 points.
1930 – Dow Jones becomes incorporated and the comma in the name is dropped.
March 12, 1956 – The Dow closes at 500.24, the first close above 500.
November 14, 1972 – The Dow closes at 1,003.16, the first close above 1,000.
October 19, 1987 – The Dow closes down 508 points, at the time the biggest one-day drop ever in the Dow’s history.
November 21, 1995 – The Dow closes at 5,023.55, the first close above 5,000.
March 29, 1999 – The Dow closes at 10,006,78, the first close above 10,000.
September 17, 2001 – Stock markets reopen after the 9/11 terror attacks.
September 21, 2001 – After the first full week of trading post 9/11, the Dow falls more than 1,300 points, or about 14%.
October 19, 2006 – The Dow closes at 12,011.73, the first close above 12,000.
April 25, 2007 – The Dow closes at 13,089.89, the first close above 13,000.
July 19, 2007 – The Dow closes at 14,000.41, the first close above 14,000.
September 29, 2008 – Worst single-day point drop in history at the time, plunging 777.68 points – the same day the US House rejects the $700 billion financial bailout package.
October 6-10, 2008 – Worst weekly point and percentage decline finishing at 8,451.19, or down 1,874.19 points and 18.15% for the week.
February 21, 2012 – The Dow crosses the 13,000 level for the first time since May of 2008.
February 1, 2013 – The Dow closes above 14,000 for the first time since October of 2007.
May 7, 2013 – The Dow closes above 15,000 for the first time.
November 21, 2013 – The Dow closes above 16,000 for the first time, at 16,009.99.
July 3, 2014 – The Dow closes at 17,068.26, the first close above 17,000.
December 23, 2014 – The Dow closes at 18,024.17, the first close above 18,000.
August 26, 2015 – The Dow closes with a 619-point gain, the biggest daily point gain since 2008.
January 7, 2016 – The Dow drops 5% in its first four days of the year, the worst four-day percentage loss to start a year on record.
November 22, 2016 – The Dow closes at 19,023.87, the first close above 19,000.
January 25, 2017 – The Dow hits the 20,000 milestone for the first time in history.
March 1, 2017 – The Dow closes at 21,115.55, the first close over 21,000 in history.
August 2, 2017 – The Dow closes above 22,000 for the first time, at 22,016.24.
October 18, 2017 – The Dow closes above 23,000 for the first time, at 23,157.60.
November 30, 2017 – The Dow closes above 24,000 for the first time, at 24,272.35.
January 4, 2018 – The Dow closes at 25,075.13, the first close above 25,000.
January 17, 2018 – The Dow closes at 26,115.65, the first time it has closed above 26,000.
July 11, 2019 – The Dow closes at 27,088.08, the first time it has closed above 27,000.
November 15, 2019 – The Dow closes above 28,000 for the first time, at 28,004.89.
January 15, 2020 – The Dow closes above 29,000 for the first time, at 29,030.22.
March 16, 2020 – The Dow records its worst one-day point drop in history, 2,997.1 points, and its worst performance on a percentage basis since October 19, 1987, also known as “Black Monday.”
March 24, 2020 – The Dow closes with a 2,112.98-point gain, to become the biggest one-day point gain in history.
November 24, 2020 – The Dow closes above 30,000 for the first time, at 30,046.24.
January 7, 2021 – The Dow closes at 31,041.13, the first close above 31,000.
March 10, 2021 – The Dow closes at 32,297.02, the first close above 32,000.
March 17, 2021 – The Dow closes above 33,000 for the first time, at 33,015.37.
April 15, 2021 – The Dow closes above 34,000 for the first time, at 34,035.99.
July 23, 2021 – The Dow closes above 35,000 for the first time, at 35,061.55.
November 2, 2021 – The Dow closes at 36,052.63, the first close above 36,000.
December 13, 2023 – The Dow closes above 37,000 for the first time, at 37,090.24.
by tyler | Dec 18, 2023 | CNN, us
Here’s a look at the life of Mike Pompeo, former US secretary of state and director of the CIA.
Birth date: December 30, 1963
Birth place: Orange, California
Birth name: Michael Richard Pompeo
Father: Wayne Pompeo, machinist
Mother: Dorothy (Mercer) Pompeo
Marriages: Susan (Mostrous) Pompeo (date unavailable publicly-present); Leslie (Libert) Pompeo (1986-1997, divorced)
Children: with Susan Pompeo: Nicholas
Education: United States Military Academy, West Point, B.S., 1986; Harvard Law School, J.D., 1994
Military service: US Army, 1986-1991, Captain
Religion: Christian/ Presbyterian
First person to have served as both CIA director and secretary of state.
Graduated first in his class at West Point Military Academy.
Pompeo says he loves Revolutionary War history, country music, show tunes and college basketball.
Served as a deacon and Sunday School teacher at his church in Kansas.
1986-1989 – US Army officer in charge of patrolling the border between West Germany and East Germany and Czechoslovakia during the Cold War.
1994-1996 – Tax litigator at the the Washington, DC law firm of Williams & Connolly.
1998 – Co-founds Thayer Aerospace, an aerospace manufacturing company.
2006-2010 – Serves as president of Sentry International, a manufacturing company that produces oil drilling equipment.
January 3, 2011-January 23, 2017 – Serves as the Congressman for Kansas’ 4th District. He is reelected three times.
2014 – Is appointed to the House Select Committee to investigate the attack on the US embassy in Benghazi.
January 16, 2016 – Arguing for a “fundamental upgrade to America’s surveillance capabilities,” he co-authors an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal with David B. Rifkin Jr., stating, “Congress should pass a law reestablishing collection of all metadata, and combining it with publicly available financial and lifestyle information in a comprehensive, searchable database.”
November 18, 2016 – US President-elect Donald Trump announces Pompeo’s nomination to lead the CIA.
January 23, 2017 – Confirmed by the Senate, 66-32, and sworn in as head of the CIA.
March 13, 2018 – Trump announces Pompeo’s nomination to replace Rex Tillerson as the next secretary of state.
April 18, 2018 – Trump announces via Twitter that Pompeo visited North Korea over Easter weekend and met with leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang.
April 26, 2018-January 20, 2021 – Serves as the 70th US secretary of state.
May 7-10, 2018 – Pompeo heads back to Pyongyang to finalize the agenda for the upcoming summit between the United States and the Korean Peninsula. Three detained Americans – Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak-song and Kim Sang Duk, also known as Tony Kim – are freed and arrive back at Joint Base Andrews with Pompeo.
May 30, 2018 – Pompeo meets with senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol in New York ahead of the proposed summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Kim Yong Chol is the most senior North Korean official to visit the United States in 18 years.
June 12, 2018 – Trump and Kim meet in Singapore, marking the first meeting between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader.
July 9, 2018 – Makes an unannounced visit to Afghanistan and meets with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
October 7, 2018 – Meets with Kim in Pyongyang, in preparation for a second summit between Trump and Kim.
October 16, 2018 – Two weeks after the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Pompeo visits Saudi Arabia to meet with King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Pompeo says the leaders “strongly denied” any knowledge of what happened to Khashoggi as reports begin to filter out that the journalist was killed and dismembered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul during a botched interrogation.
November 27, 2018 – In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, Pompeo defends the Trump administration’s support for Saudi Arabia in light of the outrage over the killing of Khashoggi. Pompeo stresses the need for strong US-Saudi ties to counter the regional threats posed by Iran.
January 9, 2019 – Makes an unannounced visit to Iraq and meets with Iraqi officials.
January 22, 2019 – Less than a week after a deadly ISIS-claimed attack in Syria, Pompeo delivers remarks to the World Economic Forum. He says, “It should not go unnoticed that we’ve also defeated the ISIS caliphate in Syria and Iraq alongside more than six dozen nations in the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.”
June 13, 2019 – Pompeo blames Iran for an attack on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, saying that the assessment is based on intelligence.
July 7, 2019 – In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Pompeo announces the creation of a new committee, the Commission on Unalienable Rights. The committee will examine the definition of human rights. Pompeo says the phrase has grown vague since the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.
September 27, 2019 – Pompeo is subpoenaed by three House committees for failure to produce documents relating to Trump and associates reported efforts to pressure Ukraine into assisting with Trump’s reelection. On October 4, he fails to meet the subpoena deadline.
October 2, 2019 – During a news conference in Italy, Pompeo admits that he was on the July 25 phone call in which Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden.
January 24, 2020 – A reporter for National Public Radio says that Pompeo screamed obscenities and demanded she prove she could find Ukraine on an unmarked map after she asked – and Pompeo refused to answer – whether he owed former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch an apology. The alleged incident takes place after the taping of an interview that aired on NPR’s “All Things Considered.”
May 6, 2020 – Pompeo says the US does not have certainty about the origin of the coronavirus pandemic, despite originally claiming that there was “enormous evidence” the virus originated in a Chinese lab.
May 15, 2020 – Trump fires State Department inspector general Steve Linick after Pompeo recommends Linick be removed. Days later, Pompeo tells The Washington Post that he asked Trump to remove Linick because the independent watchdog was “undermining” the department and wasn’t performing in a way that the top US diplomat wanted him to.
July 31, 2020 – Pompeo is subpoenaed by the chairman of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, Representative Eliot Engel, to turn over documents related to the Bidens and Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings.
August 25, 2020 – Representative Joaquin Castro, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, announces an investigation has been opened into Pompeo’s decision to address the Republican National Convention. The decision to speak to the political convention in prerecorded remarks from Jerusalem breaks with longstanding precedent of sitting secretaries of state avoiding partisan politics, particularly while abroad.
September 18, 2020 – Engel agrees to withdraw the subpoena he issued in July against Pompeo after the State Department turned over more than 16,000 pages of documents related to the Bidens and Burisma Holdings.
January 19, 2021 – With one day left in his tenure as secretary of state, Pompeo takes to his Twitter account, denouncing “all the -isms,” including multiculturalism, saying “they’re not who America is. They distort our glorious founding and what this country is all about. Our enemies stoke these divisions because they know they make us weaker,” he writes.
January 26, 2021 – Hudson Institute announces that Pompeo has joined as a fellow.
April 16, 2021 – The State Department’s independent watchdog finds that Pompeo and his wife, Susan, violated federal ethics rules by making over 100 personal, non-work related requests to department employees – from ordering gifts to booking salon appointments and taking care of the family dog.
June 15, 2021 – Pompeo launches a new political group aimed at supporting conservative candidates. Champion American Values PAC (CAVPAC) will “help Republicans take back majorities” in the House of Representatives and the Senate and build conservative state legislatures and governorships, Pompeo says in a statement.
August 9, 2022 – Pompeo meets with the US House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, US Capitol attack, according to US Representative Zoe Lofgren.
January 24, 2023 – Pompeo’s memoir “Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love” is published.
by tyler | Dec 18, 2023 | CNN, us
Here’s a look at the life of John Thune, Republican senator and Senate minority whip from South Dakota.
Birth date: January 7, 1961
Birth place: Pierre, South Dakota
Birth name: John Randolph Thune
Father: Harold Thune, schoolteacher
Mother: Yvonne “Pat” (Bodine) Thune, librarian
Marriage: Kimberley (Weems) Thune (1984-present)
Children: Larissa and Brittany
Education: Biola University, B.S. in Business Administration, 1983; University of South Dakota, M.B.A., 1984
Religion: Protestant
1985-1987 – Legislative assistant for US Senator James Abdnor (R-South Dakota).
1987-1989 – Special assistant for the US Small Business Administration.
1989-1991 – Returns to South Dakota and serves as executive director for the South Dakota Republican Party.
1991-1993 – Appointed South Dakota state railroad director by South Dakota Governor George S. Mickelson.
1993-1996 – Executive Director of South Dakota Municipal League.
1996 – Elected to the US House of Representatives.
1997-2003 – Serves three terms in the US House of Representatives for South Dakota.
2002 – Runs for Senate against incumbent Democrat Tim Johnson, but loses narrowly.
2003-2004 – Works as lobbyist and consultant in Washington, DC.
January 2004 – Announces he will challenge Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota) in the upcoming Senate race.
November 2004 – Wins Senate seat for South Dakota, defeating Daschle.
January 5, 2005 – Starts his term as US Senator for South Dakota.
June 2009-January 2012 – Senate Republican Policy Committee chairman.
November 2010 – Runs unopposed and wins reelection to the Senate.
February 22, 2011 – Announces that he will not seek the Republican presidential nomination for 2012.
December 13, 2011 – Elected Senate Republican Conference chairman and assumes the position on January 26, 2012.
November 13, 2014 – Reelected chairman of the Senate Republican Conference.
November 8, 2016 – Wins reelection to the US Senate.
November 14, 2018 – Elected Senate Republican Whip.
November 8, 2022 – Wins reelection to the US Senate.
by tyler | Dec 18, 2023 | CNN, us
Here’s a look at the life of Rand Paul, US senator from Kentucky.
Birth date: January 7, 1963
Birth place: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Birth name: Randal Howard Paul
Father: Ron Paul, former presidential candidate and retired US representative from Texas
Mother: Carol (Wells) Paul
Marriage: Kelley (Ashby) Paul
Children: Robert, Duncan and William
Education: Attended Baylor University, 1981-1984; Duke University School of Medicine, M.D., 1988
Religion: Christian
Practiced as an ophthalmologist for 18 years.
Former president and longtime member of the Lions Club International.
Was active in the congressional and presidential campaigns of his father, Ron Paul.
1993 – Completes his ophthalmology residency at Duke University Medical Center.
1994 – Founds grassroots organization Kentucky Taxpayers United, which monitors state taxation and spending. It is legally dissolved in 2000.
1995 – Founds the Southern Kentucky Lions Eye Clinic, a non-profit providing eye exams and surgeries to those in need.
August 5, 2009 – Announces on Fox News that he is running as a Republican for the US Senate to represent Kentucky.
May 18, 2010 – Defeats Secretary of State Trey Grayson in the Kentucky GOP Senate primary.
May 19, 2010 – In interviews with NPR and MSNBC, while answering questions about the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Paul expresses strong abhorrence for racism, but says that it is the job of communities, not the government, to address discrimination. Paul later releases a statement saying that he supports the Civil Rights Act and would not support its repeal.
November 2, 2010 – Paul is elected to the Senate, defeating Jack Conway.
January 5, 2011 – Sworn in for the 112th Congress. It is the first time a son joins the Senate while his father concurrently serves in the House. Ron Paul retires from the House in 2013.
January 27, 2011 – Participates in the inaugural meeting of the Senate Tea Party Caucus with Senators Mike Lee and Jim DeMint.
February 22, 2011 – Paul’s book “The Tea Party Goes to Washington” is published.
September 11, 2012 – Paul’s book “Government Bullies: How Everyday Americans Are Being Harassed, Abused, and Imprisoned by the Feds” is published. He is later accused of plagiarism in some of his speeches and writings, including in “Government Bullies.” Paul ultimately takes responsibility, saying his office had been “sloppy” and pledging to add footnotes to all of his future material.
February 12, 2013 – Delivers the Tea Party response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address.
March 6-7, 2013 – Paul speaks for almost 13 hours, filibustering to stall a confirmation vote on CIA Director nominee John Brennan.
February 12, 2014 – Paul and the conservative group FreedomWorks file a class-action lawsuit against Obama and top national security officials over the government’s electronic surveillance program made public by intelligence leaker Edward Snowden. The lawsuit is later dismissed.
December 2, 2014 – Paul announces his bid for a second term in the Senate.
April 7, 2015 – Paul announces his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination during an event in Louisville, Kentucky.
May 20, 2015 – After 10 hours and 30 minutes, Paul ends his “filibuster” over National Security Agency surveillance programs authorized under the Patriot Act. Paul’s speech wasn’t technically a filibuster because of intricate Senate rules, but his office insists it was a filibuster.
August 5, 2015 – The Justice Department indicts two officials from a Rand Paul Super PAC for conspiracy and falsifying campaign records. During the 2012 presidential primary season, Jesse Benton and John Tate allegedly bribed an Iowa state senator to get him to endorse Ron Paul. Benton and Tate go on to help run one of the Super PACs supporting Rand Paul, America’s Liberty PAC. Both men are later convicted.
February 3, 2016 – Announces that he is suspending his campaign for the presidency.
November 8, 2016 – Wins a second term in the Senate, defeating Democrat Jim Gray.
November 3, 2017 – A neighbor assaults Paul at his home in Bowling Green, Kentucky, which results in six broken ribs and a pleural effusion – a build-up of fluid around the lungs. The attorney representing Paul’s neighbor, Rene Boucher, later says that the occurrence had “absolutely nothing” to do with politics and was “a very regrettable dispute between two neighbors over a matter that most people would regard as trivial.” Boucher, who pleaded guilty to the assault, is sentenced in June 2018 to 30 days in prison with a year of supervised release.
August 2018 – Goes to Moscow and meets with Russian lawmakers, extending an invitation to visit the United States. While abroad, Paul tweets that he delivered a letter to Russian leader Vladimir Putin from US President Donald Trump. A White House spokesman later says that Paul asked Trump to provide a letter of introduction. After he returns, Paul says that he plans to ask Trump to lift sanctions on members of the Russian legislature so they can come to Washington for meetings with their American counterparts.
January 29, 2019 – A jury awards him more than $580,000 in his lawsuit against the neighbor who attacked him in 2017. The amount includes punitive damages and payment for pain and suffering as well as medical damages.
August 5, 2019 – Paul says part of his lung had to be removed by surgery following the 2017 attack by Boucher.
March 22, 2020 – Paul announces that he has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, becoming the first US senator to test positive for coronavirus.
August 10, 2021 – Paul is suspended from YouTube for seven days over a video claiming that masks are ineffective in fighting Covid-19, according to a YouTube spokesperson.
November 8, 2022 – Wins reelection to the Senate for a third term.
October 10, 2023 – Paul’s book “Deception: The Great Covid Cover-Up” is published.
by tyler | Dec 18, 2023 | CNN, us
Here’s a look at the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, a self-governing US territory located in the Caribbean.
(from the CIA World Factbook)
Area: 9,104 sq km
Population: 3,057,311 (2023 est.)
Capital: San Juan
The people of Puerto Rico are US citizens. They vote in US presidential primaries, but not in presidential elections.
First named San Juan Bautista by Christopher Columbus.
The governor is elected by popular vote with no term limits.
Jenniffer González has been the resident commissioner since January 3, 2017. The commissioner serves in the US House of Representatives, but has no vote, except in committees. Gonzalez is the first woman to hold this position.
It is made up of 78 municipalities.
Over 40% of the population lives in poverty, according to the Census Bureau.
Puerto Ricans have voted in six referendums on the issue of statehood, in 1967, 1993, 1998, 2012, 2017 and 2020. The 2012 referendum was the first time the popular vote swung in statehood’s favor. Since these votes were nonbinding, no action had to be taken, and none was. Ultimately, however, Congress must pass a law admitting them to the union.
In addition to becoming a state, options for Puerto Rico’s future status include remaining a commonwealth, entering “free association” or becoming an independent nation. “Free association” is an official affiliation with the United States where Puerto Rico would still receive military assistance and funding.
1493-1898 – Puerto Rico is a Spanish colony.
July 25, 1898 – During the Spanish-American War, the United States invades Puerto Rico.
December 10, 1898 – With the signing of the Treaty of Paris, Spain cedes Puerto Rico and Guam to the United States. The island is named “Porto Rico” in the treaty.
April 12, 1900 – President William McKinley signs the Foraker Act into law. It designates the island an “unorganized territory,” and allows for one delegate from Puerto Rico to the US House of Representatives with no voting power.
March 2, 1917 – President Woodrow Wilson signs the Jones Act into law, granting the people of Puerto Rico US citizenship.
May 1932 – Legislation changes the name of the island back to Puerto Rico.
November 1948 – The first popularly elected governor, Luis Muñoz Marín, is voted into office.
July 3, 1950 – President Harry S. Truman signs Public Law 600, giving Puerto Ricans the right to draft their own constitution.
October 1950 – In protest of Public Law 600, Puerto Rican nationalists lead armed uprisings in several Puerto Rican towns.
November 1, 1950 – Puerto Rican nationalists Oscar Collazo and Griselio Torresola attempt to shoot their way into Blair House, where President Truman is living while the White House is being renovated. Torresola is killed by police; Collazo is arrested and sent to prison.
June 4, 1951 – In a plebiscite vote, more than three-quarters of Puerto Rican voters approve Public Law 600.
February 1952 – Delegates elected to a constitutional convention approve a draft of the constitution.
March 3, 1952 – Puerto Ricans vote in favor of the constitution.
July 25, 1952 – Puerto Rico becomes a self-governing commonwealth as the constitution is put in place. This is also the anniversary of the United States invasion of Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War.
March 1, 1954 – Five members of the House of Representatives are shot on the House floor; Alvin Bentley, (R-MI), Ben Jensen (R-IA), Clifford Davis (D-TN), George Fallon (D-MD) and Kenneth Roberts (D-AL). Four Puerto Rican nationalists, Lolita Lebron, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Andres Figueroa Cordero and Irving Flores Rodriguez, are arrested and sent to prison. President Jimmy Carter grants Cordero clemency in 1977 and commutes all four of their sentences in 1979.
July 23, 1967 – Commonwealth status is upheld via a status plebiscite.
1970 – The resident commissioner gains the right to vote in committee via an amendment to the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970.
September 18, 1989 – Hurricane Hugo hits the island as a Category 4 hurricane causing more than $1 billion in property damages.
November 14, 1993 – Commonwealth status is upheld via a plebiscite.
September 21, 1998 – Hurricane Georges hits the island causing an estimated $1.75 billion in damage.
August 6, 2009 – Sonia Sotomayor, who is of Puerto Rican descent, is confirmed by the US Senate (68-31). She becomes the third woman and the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice.
November 6, 2012 – Puerto Ricans vote for statehood via a status plebiscite. The results are deemed inconclusive.
August 3, 2015 – Puerto Rico defaults on its monthly debt for the first time in its history, paying only $628,000 toward a $58 million debt.
December 31, 2015 – The first case of the Zika virus is reported on the island.
January 4, 2016 – Puerto Rico defaults on its debt for the second time.
May 2, 2016 – Puerto Rico defaults on a $422 million debt payment.
June 30, 2016 – President Barack Obama signs the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA), a bill that establishes a seven-member board to oversee the commonwealth’s finances. The following day Puerto Rico defaults on its debt payment.
January 4, 2017 – The Puerto Rico Admission Act is introduced to Congress by Rep. Gonzalez.
May 3, 2017 – Puerto Rico files for bankruptcy. It is the largest municipal bankruptcy in US history.
June 5, 2017 – Puerto Rico declares its Zika epidemic is over. The Puerto Rico Department of Health has reported more than 40,000 confirmed cases of the Zika virus since the outbreak began in 2016.
June 11, 2017 – Puerto Ricans vote for statehood via a status plebiscite. Over 97% of the votes are in favor of statehood, but only 23% of eligible voters participate.
September 20, 2017 – Hurricane Maria makes landfall near Yabucoa in Puerto Rico as a Category 4 hurricane. It is the strongest storm to hit the island in 85 years. The energy grid is heavily damaged, with an island-wide power outage.
September 22, 2017 – The National Weather Service recommends the evacuation of about 70,000 people living near the Guajataca River in northwest Puerto Rico because a dam is in danger of failing.
October 3, 2017 – President Donald Trump visits. The trip comes after mounting frustration with the federal response to the storm. Many residents remain without power and continue to struggle to get access to food and fuel nearly two weeks after the storm hit.
December 18, 2017 – Gov. Ricardo Rosselló orders a review of deaths related to Hurricane Maria as the number could be much higher than the officially reported number. The announcement from the island’s governor follows investigations from CNN and other news outlets that called into question the official death toll of 64.
January 22, 2018 – Rosselló announces that the commonwealth will begin privatizing the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority.
January 30, 2018 – More than four months after Maria battered Puerto Rico, the Federal Emergency Management Agency tells CNN it is halting new shipments of food and water to the island. Distribution of its stockpiled 46 million liters of water and four million meals and snacks will continue. The agency believes that amount is sufficient until normalcy returns.
February 11, 2018 – An explosion and fire at a power substation causes a blackout in parts of northern Puerto Rico, according to authorities.
May 29, 2018 – According to an academic report published in the New England Journal of Medicine, an estimated 4,645 people died in Hurricane Maria and its aftermath in Puerto Rico. The article’s authors call Puerto Rico’s official death toll of 64 a “substantial underestimate.”
August 8, 2018 – Puerto Rican officials say the death toll from Maria may be far higher than their official estimate of 64. In a report to Congress, the commonwealth’s government says documents show that 1,427 more deaths occurred in the four months after Hurricane Maria than “normal,” compared with deaths that occurred the previous four years. The 1,427 figure also appears in a report published July 9.
August 28, 2018 – The Puerto Rican government raises its official death toll from Maria to 2,975 after a report on storm fatalities is published by researchers at George Washington University. San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, a critic of the Trump administration, says local and federal government failed to provide needed aid. She says the botched recovery effort led to preventable deaths.
August 29, 2018 – Trump says the federal government’s response to the disaster was “fantastic.” He says problems with the island’s aging infrastructure created challenges for rescue workers.
September 4, 2018 – The US Government Accountability Office releases a report revealing that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was so overwhelmed with other storms by the time Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico that more than half of the workers it was deploying to disasters were known to be unqualified for the jobs they were doing in the field.
September 13, 2018 – In a tweet, Trump denies that nearly 3,000 people died in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. He expresses skepticism about the death toll, suggesting that individuals who died of other causes were included in the hurricane count.
July 9, 2019 – Excerpts of profanity-laden, homophobic and misogynistic messages between Rosselló and members of his inner circle are published by local media.
July 10, 2019 – Six people, including Puerto Rico’s former education secretary and a former health insurance official, are indicted on corruption charges. The conspiracy allegedly involved directing millions of dollars in government contracts to politically-connected contractors.
July 11, 2019 – A series of protests begin in response to the leaked messages and the indictment, with calls for Rosselló to resign.
July 13, 2019 – The Center for Investigative Journalism publishes hundreds of leaked messages from Rosselló and other officials. Rosselló and members of his inner circle ridicule numerous politicians, members of the media and celebrities.
July 24, 2019 – Rosselló announces he will resign on August 2.
August 7, 2019 – Puerto Rico’s Justice Secretary Wanda Vázquez Garced is sworn in as the third governor Puerto Rico has had in less than a week. Earlier in the day, the August 2nd swearing-in of Rosselló’s handpicked successor, attorney Pedro Pierluisi, is thrown out by the Supreme Court, on grounds he has not been confirmed by both chambers of the legislature.
September 27, 2019 – The federal control board that oversees Puerto Rico’s finances releases a plan that would cut the island’s debt by more than 60% and rescue it from bankruptcy. The plan targets bonds and other debt held by the government and will now go before a federal judge. The percentage of Puerto Rico’s taxpayer funds spent on debt payments will fall to less than 9%, compared to almost 30% before the restructuring.
December 28, 2019 – A sequence of earthquakes of magnitude 2.0 or higher begin hitting Puerto Rico, including a 6.4 magnitude quake on January 7 that killed at least one man, destroyed homes and left most of the island without power.
February 4, 2020 – A magnitude 5 earthquake strikes Puerto Rico. It is the 11th earthquake of at least that size in the past 30 days, according to the US Geological Survey.
November 3, 2020 – Puerto Ricans vote in favor of statehood, and Pierluisi is elected governor.
January 2, 2021 – Pierluisi is sworn in.
April 21, 2022 – The Supreme Court rules that Congress can exclude residents of Puerto Rico from some federal disability benefits available to those who live in the 50 states.
August 4, 2022 – Vázquez is arrested in San Juan on bribery charges connected to the financing of her 2020 campaign.
September 18, 2022 – Hurricane Fiona makes landfall along the southwestern coast of Puerto Rico, near Punta Tocon, with winds of 85 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. The hurricane causes catastrophic flooding, amid a complete power outage. Two people are killed.
