Today in Brief (Wednesday, March 30)

BUSINESS

US Stocks Open Higher, Building on Gains from Day Earlier

U.S. stocks are rising Wednesday morning, building on a rally from the day before. Cruise line companies are rising after Carnival posted strong first-quarter results. Technology stocks are leading the way higher, while energy stocks rebound with the price of oil.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 135 points, or 0.8 percent, to 17,768 as of 10:18 a.m. Eastern time. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index jumped 14 points, or 0.7 percent, to 2,068. The Nasdaq composite index added 47 points, or 1 percent, to 4,893. Big names in the technology sector rose more than the rest of the market. Apple rose $2.54, or 2.4 percent, to $110.23. Apple, the world’s most valuable publicly traded company, is at its highest price since mid-December.

POLITICS

Kasich Recalls Puerto Rico as Tax Loophole During Town Hall Meeting

Puerto Rico came to the forefront of the Republican presidential primary campaign during a Republican Town Hall meeting held Tuesday night in Wisconsin—not for its debt crisis this time, but as an example of corporate welfare in the 1990s. The island surfaced in a response to the question—“How have you shown moral courage in the face of public opposition in any choice made? Can you cite a decision that you made despite it being politically unpopular?”—posed to presidential candidate John Kasich by a member of the audience during the event moderated by CNN’s Anderson Cooper.

Here’s what Kasich’s had to say: “When I was in Washington, D.C., I said if we are going to reform welfare for the poor people, we ought to reform it for rich people. So, I fought for corporate welfare reform. And we closed some of the loopholes that some of these companies got when they moved out of the country or moved to Puerto Rico to get tax advantages.”  It is likely that Kasich was hoping to curry favor with fiscal conservatives when he conjured the Newt Gingrich-led assault on corporate welfare after sweeping into power during mid-term elections in 1994.

Ferrer, Rosa Debate for PDP Resident Commissioner Ticket

Popular Democratic Party (PDP) leaders Héctor Ferrer and Ángel Rosa engaged in a lively and, at times, heated debate Wednesday morning as a preamble to the June 5 PDP primaries for the party’s resident commissioner ticket.

Ferrer, a former three-term PDP representative, and Rosa, a current majority senator, exchanged barbs throughout the hour-long debate aired on AM news radio station WKAQ, with Rosa blaming Ferrer in part for the commonwealth’s $70-billion debt load, mostly the result of various bond issues that were carried out throughout various government administrations.

Rosa sought to paint Ferrer as a “leader of the past” who represents outdated attitudes, while Ferrer highlighted his experience and accused Rosa of having a large ego. It would mark only the third time in the PDP’s 77-year history that a primary has been held for the resident commissioner’s chair.

Charge Against Trump Campaign Manager Threatens to Overshadow Wis. Race

PALM BEACH, FL – MARCH 11: Corey Lewandowski campaign manager for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The 2016 presidential race may have descended on Wisconsin – but most of the campaign buzz surrounds an incident that happened nearly a month ago in Florida.

Police in Jupiter, Florida, charged Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, with simple battery Tuesday as a videotaped altercation with a reporter transformed what was another messy campaign sideshow into a criminal court summons. Trump decried the charges.

The unexpected development injects a court battle into an already contentious Republican primary season just a week before a high-stakes election in Wisconsin. It came on a day that all five presidential contenders campaigned in the state, overshadowing Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s endorsement of Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders’ push to narrow Hillary Clinton’s delegate lead.

NOTEWORTHY

Ten Puerto Rico Municipalities Have Lost at Least 10% of Their Population

The Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics (PRIS) revealed Wednesday that ten island municipalities have lost more than 10% of their population during the first half of this decade.

The PRIS, which published the most recent population estimates from the US Census Bureau for Puerto Rico municipalities, indicated that from April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2015, the municipalities that experienced the largest percentage reduction in their respective populations were Lares, Mayagüez, Fajardo, Guánica and Peñuelas.  On the other hand, population grew in only two of the island’s 78 municipalities, those being Gurabo and Toa Alta.

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