A Week In Review: August 8th – August 15th, 2018

After 11 months, 3 billion dollars and a constant stream of controversy, Puerto Rico has fully restored power to its citizens. Hurricane Maria disrupted the island in 2017 disabling utilities and infrastructure, leaving a wake of helpless victims who additionally dealt with a seemingly unconcerned government response.

The last homes to receive power were located in a remote community called Real Anon just outside of Ponce located in the Southern part of the island. Jazmin Mendez and Charlie Colon, were some of the last residents to receive power, and cheered loudly after being able to turn on laps instead of lanterns and generators.

Now that power has been restored, Jose Ortiz the CEO of Puerto Rico’s utility program PREPA says much work still has to be done. Experts agree that although electricity has returned, the utility grid is just as weak as it was before Maria struck.

“I’m trying to explain this simply so everyone understands,” Ortiz said. “This was a lot of patchwork just so we could get the lights back on. Now, we have to do it right.”

Some families are still without power because of damage sustained to the house, other areas are still dark because 100,000 light bulbs are still needed to illuminate streets and walkways. Over the next 6 months, Ortiz says some homes will lose power again as workers fix the rushed job required to get cities and towns operational.

The Center of Disease Control has annouced that they are monitering cases of measles in over 100 individuals across 21 different states this week.

Experts believe this years outbreak is likely to surpass last years which had 118 cases across 15 states.

So far reports indicate Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Washington have all had some exposure to the infection with more cases appearing near airports around Detriot, Newark and Memphis.

Several cases include patients who were unaware they had the illness and traveled through restautrants, airports and different countries, drawing even more concern about the potential for a larger outbreak. Most patients who’ve contracted the disease never recieved immunization shots and likely came into contact with someone who had been infected.

Health officials are cautioning the public to get their immunizations most especially before traveling outside the country. Measles is common in other areas of the world and can easily be spread on planes or ships.

The highly contagious disease can be spread through the respitotory system and can linger in the air for up to two hours after an infected individual has left a room. Symotoms include: red eyes, cough, runny nose, high fever, and a red rash spread over the body.

Despite Hong Kong’s push to silence it’s political opposition, this week admist the noise of loudspeakers and the angst of protestors, Andy Chan and his Hong Kong Nationalist Party (HKNP) refused to go unheard and delivered a riveting speech at the Foreign Corespondents Club (FCC) luncheon which reprompted questions about the effectivness of China’s “One Government, Two Systems” agreement with Hong Kong.

“If Hong Kong were to become truly democratic, Hong Kong sovereignty must rest with the people of Hong Kong. And there’s only one way to achieve this, independence,” said Chan.

The HKNP is on the verge of being banned after government officials doing surveillance on the party claimed the organization poses a “immenet threat” to national security.

The current President Xi Jinping made a statement addressing Chan’s desent last year as the party began to grow in numbers: “Any attempt to endanger China’s sovereignty and security [or] challenge the power of the central government is an act that crosses the red line, and is absolutely impermissible.”

Poor upkeep and faulty design appear to be the culprits of the recent bridge collapse that claimed the lives of at least 38 people in Genoa, Italy this week. Rescue efforts are still the main focus for law enforcement personnel however experts in the engineering field and several open records concerning the bridge’s stability are likely to be used by investigators as the aftermath unfolds.

The Morandi bridge is privately owned which is believed to possibly be another contributing factor to the deadly end of the structure.

Guy Nordenson, a structural engineer who also heads his own company spoke on the tragedy and cooperate responsibility: “when you privatize infrastructure, then you’ve brought in the profit motive,” Mr. Nordenson said. “You start to have a conflict of interest between the good of the public and the good of the company.”

As families mourn those they’ve lost, anger is beginning to quickly bubble as it becomes clearer that the problems with the bridge were documented and well known long before it’s collapse. Professor Antonio Brencich from the University of Genoa alerted officials to the structures faults, even suggesting it be demolished and rebuilt.

A technology analyist has predicted that Apple Inc., the first public company to amass a trillion dollars is likely to begin production of it’s new car design between 2023 and 2025.

The foreshadowing of Apple’s latest disruptive industry move comes as several leading car manufacturer and tech professionals have teamed up with Apple over the past several years working on Apple’s self driving car fleet called Project Titan.

Although Apple announced it would be halting its self driving vehicle, International securities anaylist Ming-Chi Kuo says due to the automotive sectors need to catch up to the latest technological advances, Apple would be steps ahead of competitors with intergated technology and functionality friendly to users.

So far Apple has declined to comment on the beginning of production.

After the Associated Press announced that Google was still recording and keeping location and data information from users, Google confirmed the assertion and released a statement regarding user privacy policy.

Users are asked via their smartphone settings if they’d like to opt-in or out of location tracking however its come to light that regardless of a users wishes, Google still tracks locations in the background to improve user searches.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time Google and other leading technology companies have been caught misleading users about their privacy. Earlier this year the FTC fined Uber, Facebook, and Vizio for similar practices.

To find out how to delete locations, timestamps and more, click here!

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