by Anna Laffrey | Mar 22, 2018 | Featured, Technology
WASHINGTON— A sleek minibus cruises the streets of National Harbor, Maryland, stopping for walkways and making clean turns. The black-and-white vehicle rolls up to street curbs where riders who have summoned it with an app stand waiting, all the while avoiding...
by Anna Laffrey | Mar 20, 2018 | Featured, Living
TAMPA, Fla. — The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has extended temporary housing set to expire this week by more than two months for Puerto Rican citizens who relocated to the United States after Hurricane Maria, a FEMA representative said. Puerto Ricans...
by Anna Laffrey | Mar 20, 2018 | Featured, Living
TAMPA, Fla. — The Baymont Inn & Suites sits on the edge of the University of South Florida campus outside Tampa. A ceiling fan blows humid air around the lobby, where an array of giant stuffed animals observe tourists coming and going in the early spring warmth....
by Anna Laffrey | Mar 20, 2018 | Featured, Politics
WASHINGTON— Six months after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, 270 schools are operating without power, families are leaving the island and the federal government hasn’t done enough to help children, several Democratic congressional leaders said Tuesday. At least...
by Anna Laffrey | Mar 20, 2018 | Education, Featured
TAMPA, Fla. — Adriana Figueroa planned to move to the U.S. mainland from Puerto Rico for college, but Hurricane Maria moved up her plans. She’s now finishing high school in the Tampa area – one of at least 13,000 Puerto Rican students who relocated after the storm....
by Anna Laffrey | Mar 13, 2018 | Energy, Featured
WASHINGTON — The intersection of autonomous vehicle technology, ride-sharing and electric propulsion in vehicles will change the way that cities work, transportation experts said Tuesday at a meeting on how the new cars will affect urban sprawl. The...
by Anna Laffrey | Mar 1, 2018 | Environment, Featured, Living
WASHINGTON – Puerto Rico needs a new “Marshall plan” — a massive U.S. effort to help Europe rebuild after World War II — to recover from the massive devastation caused by Hurricane Maria, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said Thursday. Warren and two other...
by Anna Laffrey | Feb 28, 2018 | Featured, Politics
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump endorsed legislative solutions to gun violence Wednesday, urging lawmakers to take bipartisan actions on gun control that have long been opposed by the majority of his party and the National Rifle Association. In an hour-long...
by Anna Laffrey | Feb 27, 2018 | Living
WASHINGTON — Raquel Williams-Jones has organized tent cities, volunteered on civic boards and founded a resident-driven housing organization. Soon, she’ll take on a new job — as a “service coordinator” for public housing residents under a new round of...
by Anna Laffrey | Feb 23, 2018 | Featured, Living, Technology
A Tesla Model S that was cruising at highway speeds rammed into the back of a parked fire truck on a freeway in Culver City, CA in late January. The man behind the wheel claimed his car was running on Tesla’s enhanced autopilot system. But shouldn’t he still have...
by Anna Laffrey | Feb 22, 2018 | Health & Science
WASHINGTON — In the wake of mass shootings like the ones in Las Vegas or at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, people often wonder whether improving mental health care would have prevented the perpetrators from committing mass murder....
by Anna Laffrey | Feb 15, 2018 | Featured, Politics
WASHINGTON – Better efforts to combat mental illness and enforcement of existing gun laws may have prevented yesterday’s mass shooting at a school in Parkland, FL, said Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “Focusing on dangerous people, mentally ill people, can...
