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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A new private company will take over power generation units owned by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, the public corporation currently in charge of generating energy on the U.S. territory. The power generation equipment in Puerto Rico, plagued by ongoing blackouts and decaying infrastructure, is on average about 45 years old — twice the age of those on the U.S. mainland. The company and the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) are currently undergoing a transition process set to last 100 days. Officials in Puerto Rico have been taking steps toward privatizing power generation for some time. Power customers in Puerto Rico have seen seven electric rate increases last year, even though people in Puerto Rico already pay about twice as much as mainland U.S. customers for unreliable service.

Ana de Armas garnered an Academy Award nomination for best actress in a leading role for her performance as Marilyn Monroe in Netflix's "Blonde" — amid controversy over the movie. De Armas, 34, was nominated for the Oscar a day after “Blonde” got eight Razzie Award nominations, including worst picture and screenplay, further underscoring how polarizing the film has been. This is the Cuban-born actor's first Oscar nomination. Her performance in the movie also earned de Armas her second Golden Globe nomination last year. “Argentina, 1985” won a Golden Globe last month for best non-English language motion picture.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The governing board of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, the public corporation currently in charge of energy generation on the island, approved a contract that brings the U.S. territory one step closer to privatizing power generation. Less than 4% of Puerto Rico’s power generation currently comes from renewable energy. Power generation units in Puerto Rico are on average about 45 years old, twice those of the U.S. mainland. As part of the ongoing privatization process, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority relinquished the island’s power transmission and distribution system to Luma Energy. It’s unclear whether privatizing power generation would have any impact on such efforts.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The government of Puerto Rico is a step closer to privatizing power generation on the island despite widespread skepticism among consumers, who crave a reliable source of electricity after decades of random power outages. The contract needs to be approved by the governing board of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority and signed by Gov. Power generation units in Puerto Rico are on average about 45 years old, twice those of the U.S. mainland. The system was previously managed by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority. The privatization process follows ongoing issues around Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority's bankruptcy.

Within hours of being sworn in as the new governor of Arkansas, Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed an executive order Tuesday banning the term "Latinx" from official use in the state government. It was one of seven orders signed by Sanders, a Republican, right after taking the oath. Bonilla said that what's even more unexpected is that Sanders signed such an executive order on her first day in office. Sanders cited a 2020 Pew Research report that found that only 3% of the Hispanic population nationwide uses the term. When citing the Pew report in the executive order, Sanders did not say the study also found that 76% of Hispanics had not even heard of the term "Latinx" before, Bonilla pointed out.

Actor and Golden Globes presenter Niecy Nash called out the "Black Girl Magic" during the awards ceremony Tuesday night. Tyler James Williams, Brunson's castmate on “Abbott Elementary,” won best supporting actor in a TV comedy series for his portrayal of a public school educator. Brunson, Zendaya and Williams are all first-time Golden Globes nominees and winners. Rich Polk / NBCHe said he was having tea at home when he got the phone call to host the Golden Globes. The Golden Globes awards show made its television comeback Tuesday after NBC opted not to air the 2022 ceremony in the wake the criticism.

It was also nominated for best TV musical or comedy TV series. Gomez, 30, was nominated for her performance as Mabel Mora in Hulu's true crime satire “Only Murders in the Building." The show was also nominated for best musical or comedy TV series. Also joining the club of first-time Latino Golden Globe nominees are Aubrey Plaza, Diego Calva and Diego Luna. Two other young Latinas, Anya Taylor-Joy and Ana de Armas, landed best performance nominations for their leading movie roles.

Rita Moreno was hooked when she was tapped to play a ghost in the television comedy "Lopez vs. Lopez," starring comedian George Lopez and his daughter, Mayan Lopez. "I loved why she comes back from the dead," Moreno said about her character on the show, which airs on NBC (NBC News and NBC are part of NBCUniversal). George Lopez and Rita Moreno in "Lopez vs. In her view, "Lopez vs. Lopez" has “all the makings of a successful family comedy,” Moreno said. Brice Gonzalez and George Lopez in "Lopez vs.

Ten of the 13 people Dominican authorities accused of attempting to murder former Major League Baseball player David "Big Papi" Ortiz have been convicted. On June 2019, Ortiz was shot in the back while at a bar in his native Dominican Republic. According to the attorney general, Rodríguez Mota is "the person who paid those who carried out the act" against Ortiz. The remaining seven men received sentences of less than 10 years. Ortiz underwent multiple surgeries in the Dominican Republic and the U.S. after the attack.

He voted against the Puerto Rico Status Act on the floor last week, calling for "letting a full and robust legislative process take place." One of the bill’s main negotiators, Rep. Nydia Velázquez, D-N.Y., the first Puerto Rican woman elected to Congress, is confident about more congressional hearings on Puerto Rico's territorial status in the new year. That’s intentional, said Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González-Colón, a Republican nonvoting member of Congress representing Puerto Rico who favors statehood and helped negotiate the Puerto Rico Status Act. What’s next for Puerto Rico’s territorial status? Excluding Puerto Rico’s territorial status also gives Wicker and others pause.

That journey hit a milestone Monday, when Congress passed a law named after Salas' son, Daniel Anderl. "We can't forget that Judge Salas was not just targeted for being a judge. "Judge Salas and her family were victims of a horrific hate crime." Congress ultimately passed the Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act on Thursday as part of the annual defense authorization bill. Marshals Service to hire additional analysts, security specialists and other personnel to help prevent threats to federal judges.

It would assign over $17.6 billion in Medicaid funds to Puerto Rico over the next five years. That temporarily changed after the pandemic, when Congress passed legislation increasing Medicaid funding by 6% to states and U.S. territories. The current bill seeks to increase the federal government’s share of Medicaid costs paid to Puerto Rico to 76 cents. The bill's failure would also trigger a significant decrease in the allotment Puerto Rico gets to fund its Medicaid program. Since the start of the pandemic, Puerto Rico has received roughly $3 billion annually for its Medicaid program based on an interpretation of the Medicaid funding cap provision from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The House voted Thursday in favor of the Puerto Rico Status Act, which seeks to resolve the U.S. territory's status and its relationship to the United States through a binding plebiscite. The Puerto Rico Status Act also lays out terms for a November 2023 binding plebiscite including all three nonterritorial status options. Lawmakers from both sides debated the merits of the Puerto Rico Status Act on the House floor Thursday. While Democrats insisted the legislation is a significant step toward Puerto Rico's decolonization, Republicans worried over the economic implications of changing Puerto Rico's status. Venator- Santiago, who has been tracking Puerto Rico legislation in Congress for years, said this is the first time since 2010 that the House votes in favor of legislation dealing with changes to Puerto Rico’s territorial status.

The list of Latino films inducted into the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress grew a bit longer Wednesday. Every year the board selects 25 films to add to the registry based on its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions. “The National Film Registry, the Library of Congress has taken a critical step to preserve the work of Latino actors and industry creatives." There are now 24 Latino films on the National Film Registry, according to the Library of Congress. Here's the full list of Latino films at the National Film Registry:

Puerto Rican singer and musician Lalo Rodríguez, best known for his salsa megahit "Ven devórame otra vez" (Come devour me again) has died. As fellow musicians and fans grapple with the uncertain circumstances surrounding his death, they're remembering Rodríguez as a talented artist who helped lift salsa music to new heights. Light and progress Lalo," salsa music icon Willie Colón, who is also credited for helping popularize the genre, lamented in Spanish on Twitter. Salsa music enthusiast Juana Peña described Rodríguez as a "versatile singer, capable of getting into any rhythm and doing it well" in a tweet. Puerto Rican writer Sandra Guzmán mourned the singer's passing with a touching post saying, "A virtuoso goes to music heaven to join Puerto Rican salsa Gods.

More than 40 million borrowers like Morales-Bartlett were eligible to cancel up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt under President Joe Biden’s one-time student loan forgiveness plan. Meanwhile, the pandemic-era federal student loan repayment pause has been extended while the government awaits the court’s decision. The average federal student loan debt nears $30,000. Brown’s son still has about $50,000 in student debt despite being one of the thousands of North Carolinians who received some student loan relief as part of a multistate settlement with Navient, one of the nation’s largest student loan servicers, over allegations of unfair and deceptive student loan servicing and predatory lending practices, according to Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Stein's office. He also applied to the currently blocked student loan forgiveness program and is waiting to hear back.

Luma Energy secured an extension on its temporary contract Wednesday following a 4-1 vote by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s board. Government officials promised Luma Energy and the partial privatization of the power grid would improve electric services. On other occasions, Luma Energy blamed outages on bad weather and sargassum, a type of seaweed. Still unresolved is the bankruptcy proceeding for the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, which owes nearly $9 billion, the largest debt of any government agency. As soon as a federal judge approves a debt restructuring plan for the power authority, Luma Energy's contract will become permanent for 15 years.

Latino voters are expected to be consequential in determining who Georgia will send to the Senate. Latino voters provided a roughly 80,000-vote net advantage for Warnock on Election Day, according to Barreto. On the GOP side, the National Republican Senatorial Committee is trying to give Walker an edge with Latino voters through its Operación ¡Vamos! Canvassers from GALEO, a Latino nonprofit, knock on doors in Georgia ahead of the Senate runoff election on Tuesday. Ahead of the Senate runoff election, Voto Latino identified 175,000 Latinos in Georgia who are young, low-propensity voters who participated in the last election.

Abortion, gun control and crime were some of the top issues that drove young Latino voters to the polls this year. Out of all young voters, Latinos were the most likely to name crime as the top issue that decided their vote. CIRCLE estimated that 27% of people ages 18 to 29 voted in the midterm election, making it the second-highest youth voter turnout, behind the 2018 midterm election, in almost three decades. The 2022 Midterm Election Voter Poll found inflation was the top issue motivating Latino voters in 11 battleground states. Rayes said young Latino candidates "are engaging the Latino community to come out and vote," pointing out Florida and California as examples.

A new documentary about the killing of Mexican American soldier Vanessa Guillen provides an inside look at the tenacious pursuit her family embarked to spark change in the military justice system. Christy Wegener, director of the “I am Vanessa Guillen” documentary available on Netflix Thursday, said this is “not a traditional crime documentary by any means.”“It has a bigger mission,” she told NBC News. Vanessa Guillen, at center. As her fight for further and more permanent military reform continues, Mayra Guillen said she has considered becoming a congresswoman. Mayra Guillen, center, in "I Am Vanessa Guillen."

Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer has made history as Oregon’s first Hispanic member of Congress, according to NBC News projections. "I am excited and ready to serve the people of Oregon," Chavez-DeRemer tweeted Monday alongside a photo standing in front of the U.S. Capitol building. Chavez-DeRemer became the first Latina and first female mayor of the city of Happy Valley in 2010 and was re-elected 2014. Before that, she served on the Happy Valley Parks Committee and the Happy Valley City Council. From having never elected a Hispanic to Congress, another Latina in Oregon could be elected and make history alongside Chavez-DeRemer.

Early voting turnout data suggests Latino voters were crucial in flipping the Republican district and electing Democratic Latino officials in the nation’s most heavily Hispanic state. Barreto has been tracking Latino voters' influence in contested races nationwide. While ballots are still being counted in New Mexico, Barreto estimates that 67% of all Latino registered voters in the 2nd Congressional District (about 134,100 Latino voters) participated in the 2022 midterm election. Democratic Rep. Melanie Stansbury comfortably prevailed against Michelle Garcia Holmes, a Republican Latina, to represent the state's 1st Congressional District. Follow NBC Latino on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Democratic state Rep. Yadira Caraveo made history as Colorado’s first Latina elected to Congress, according to NBC News projections. With 97% of the votes counted, Caraveo won 48.4% of the votes and Republican state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer won 47.7%, according to the NBC News Decision Desk. Caraveo, a pediatrician and the daughter of Mexican immigrants, was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 2018. Pediatrician and Colorado State Senator Yadira Caraveo in Thornton, Colo., on Aug. 17, 2022. The first Hispanic member of Congress representing Colorado, John Salazar, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2004 and served until 2011.

Young Latino voters were a crucial voting bloc in slowing down the so-called Republican red wave in the 2022 midterm elections, according to early exit polls. Thirty percent of young Latino voters favored the Republican House candidate. Additionally, 41% of young Latino voters identify as liberal, while 34% identify as moderate and 25% as conservative. Young Latino voters under 30, alongside young Black voters, showed stronger support for Democrats on Election Day compared to young white voters, according to the analysis by CIRCLE. "The ranking for those two states is really heavily influenced by the big presence of young Latino voters," Medina said.

Several Republican and Democratic Latinos made history in the midterm elections, even as votes were still being tallied Wednesday in many parts of the country. According to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, Latinos ran for top offices in 44 of the nation's 50 states. Antonio Delgado became the first person who identifies as Latino to be elected to the office, according to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. Matos, a former Providence City Council president, was appointed lieutenant governor in April 2021 when Dan McKee became the state's governor. Follow NBC Latino on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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