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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Puerto Ricans have endorsed U.S. statehood for the Caribbean island but also ousted the pro-statehood governor in a close election. Gov. Luis Fortuno conceded defeat Wednesday to his main challenger after concluding there were not enough outstanding ballots to close the gap with his main challenger, Alejandro Garcia Padilla. The margin in Tuesday's vote was less than 1 percent. "Now it's time for us to come together as one people. The campaign is over," Fortuno said in a news conference.

In a very subtle move, instead of covering the speech given by Puerto Rican Governor Luis Fortuno Wednesday night at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, MSNBC interviewed Arizona Governor Jan Brewer. MSNBC has vilified Brewer for her tough stances against illegal immigration and has painted her as anti-Hispanic. Fox News covered the speech briefly, but interviewed Chris Christie for the majority of the time. Fox News however, hasn't painted Jan Brewer as racist and anti-Hispanic, etiher. To be fair, Brewer should have declined an interview with MSNBC during Fortuno's speech but, they set her up.

Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuno (R) is a sleeper pick for the No. 2 spot on the 2012 presidential ticket, according to GOP strategists. Republican front-runner Mitt Romney has kept his cards close to his chest on vice presidential prospects, saying that it would be “presumptuous” to think about it before winning the nomination. But in a recent interview with Newsmax, he described Fortuno as “a solid conservative and a firm leader.” He also dubbed Fortuno “one of the great leaders of our party.” Republican strategists say that whomever Romney picks, the selection has to resonate with Hispanic voters. Sen....

Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuno (R) is a sleeper pick for the No. 2 spot on the 2012 presidential ticket, according to GOP strategists. Republican front-runner Mitt Romney has kept his cards close to his chest on vice presidential prospects, saying that it would be “presumptuous” to think about it before winning the nomination. But in a recent interview with Newsmax, he described Fortuno as “a solid conservative and a firm leader.” He also dubbed Fortuno “one of the great leaders of our party.”

But there is another intriguing possibility. Luis Fortuño is the 51-year-old governor of Puerto Rico, whose four million people have all been U.S. citizens since 1952, making their governor eligible to become vice president. Mr. Fortuño made history in 2004 by being elected the island's lone delegate to the U.S. House as a conservative and followed up that feat in 2008 by being elected governor with the largest margin of any predecessor since the 1960s. His party not only won control of the legislature by historic margins but also won the power to name three supreme court judges, giving that...

After months of work and anticipation, [Puerto Rico] Gov. [Luis] Fortuño finally unveiled his administration’s comprehensive tax reform. At the center of the measure is an across-the-board reduction in the individual tax bracket that would result in a 49-percent overall savings in six years. Corporate reductions are slated to reach 30 percent. The cornerstone of the tax modification is the reduction of the income tax brackets. People making less than $20,000 would not pay any tax. The bracket of those making $20,001 to $30,000 would be taxed 7 percent. From $30,001 to $70,000, the allocation would be 14 percent. The...

(English-language translation) San Juan - Governor Luis G. Fortuño expressed gratitude today for the U.S. House of Representatives' modifications that improve the federal healthcare reform dispositions regarding the territories, while at the same time acknowledging that "work needs to be done". The Puerto Rican Governor maintained that the federal healthcare reform reconciliation bill approved last night by the federal House contains substantial improvements in the treatment and the assigning of funds the island will receive. Prior to the vote, the Governor had stated that the legislation would involve assigning $8.624 billion in Medicaid funds to the island over the next...

(English-language translation) SAN JUAN – Senator Eduardo Bhatia publicly called on Governor Luis Fortuño on Monday to reveal which Republican congressmen support including Puerto Rico in federal healthcare reform. The demand comes in the wake of another trip by the Governor to the federal capital and following unsuccessful efforts and multiple trips by the Governor to secure Puerto Rico's inclusion in the largest public-health program to be considered in Washington since the creation of Medicare. “Fortuño is a Republican only for his own convenience. After months of cheap talk and ridiculous threats against President Barack Obama, what the Governor has...

In light of the rampant wave of killings that continues this year and a deficit of police officers on the state police force, Gov. Fortuño passed an executive order calling on the U.S. National Guard to lend 1,000 officers to work with the island’s police force until the government can train enough police officers to bridge the gap. The governor glossed over the issue that the move could indicate a failure of the commonwealth’s crime fighting plans, instead saying, “The initiatives we have adopted until now in our fight against crime have begun to give results … but these have...

Implementing tax breaks for the poor and middle class will be the New Progressive Party’s [NPP's] first order of business this year, Gov. Fortuño said after meeting Tuesday with the NPP legislative conference at La Fortaleza [the Governor's Mansion]. Fortuño said he expects to pass reform legislation during the second half of this year and taxpayers will first receive tax cuts in 2011 and more in 2012. The reform will eliminate income taxes for families that earn less than $20,000 annually, Fortuño and House Speaker Jenniffer González promised. The tax cuts for will be fueled by “fostering work, rewarding success...

Gov. Luis Fortuño said Tuesday it is not time to stage another general strike, but rather for all sectors to work together to jumpstart the economy. “I don’t think this is the moment to be halting the government, or much less the economy of Puerto Rico. We have much more to gain working together and that is what I feel we should do,” Fortuño said during a press conference when asked about a warning by the Todo Puerto Rico por Puerto Rico Coalition that another general strike was in the works. The Todo Puerto Rico por Puerto Rico Coalition on...

(English-language translation) Santurce - Scores of police officers, including the Tactical Operations Division, continue to surround Minillas Government Center allegedly to take security measures following an incident involving Governor Luis Fortuño, according to statements from Consumer Affairs Secretary Luis Rivera Marín. Security in the place is so tight that reporters were not granted access to the government complex's parking area, forcing members of the press to park on the highway and thus block sidewalks and access ramps for the disabled. "You already know what happened to the Governor, so this is not speculative. We have to ensure security and integrity....

(English-language translation) [Resident Commissioner] Luis Fortuño last night became the [pro-statehood] New Progressive Party's (PNP's) candidate for Governor after getting 59.28% of the votes of party members participating in yesterday's primaries. He will share the ballot with Pedro Pierluisi, who was favored by PNP supporters for the Resident Commissioner nomination. Pierluisi, who was actually Fortuño's candidate, got 60% of the votes. Regarding the candidacy for Governor, the official numbers from the Commonwealth Elections Commission (CEE) showed that, at the closing of this edition, Fortuño had 97,575 votes, while his challenger, [former two-term Governor] Pedro Rosselló, had 67,033. These numbers were...