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Montana-based Whitefish Energy Holdings has won multiple government contracts in recent months after the company's $300 million contract to restore Puerto Rico's electrical grid was canceled amid controversy. The Associated Press reported Tuesday that Whitefish was awarded a $225,000 contract in June from the Interior Department to do electrical work at fish hatcheries in Washington state. The Energy Department in September additionally gave the company a contract worth more than $1 million to build power transmission lines in Missouri and Arkansas, the AP reported. The company had earned similar contracts from the department in 2016 and 2017, according to the...

Once the calls began, they did not stop. Swiping to decline a call just led to the phone ringing again. Blocked number after blocked number filled up the voice mail. Deleting one message just created space for another to take its place.

Almost one month after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, technology firms like Tesla are stepping in to fill the relief-effort void that many say President Donald Trump has created. Following through with a pledge by Elon Musk that his company could solve Puerto Rico’s energy crisis with solar panels and batteries, Tesla Powerwall battery packs were spotted at San Juan airport on the island over the weekend.

Self-explanatory video at link: http://digg.com/video/puerto-rico-power-restored

The Department of Defense took over the distribution of hurricane relief from government officials in Puerto Rico this weekend after local mayors failed to appropriately disperse the emergency items to the territory’s 78 municipalities, The Miami Herald reported Sunday. According to The Herald, food, water, and medical supplies were previously delivered to 10 regional staging sites in Puerto Rico, but the mayors did not coordinate properly to distribute the large containers of relief at the staging sites. Instead, 10 to 20 soldiers will be posted in every municipality with vehicles and logistical support, where they will deliver relief to every...

U.S. federal prosecutor in Puerto Rico Rosa Emilia Rodriguez announced Sunday her investigation into government officials who allegedly did not deliver hurricane relief aid to the island’s residents. During an interview on WAPA Radio, Rodriguez criticized two officials who failed to deliver needed supplies to their constituents, Metro PR reported. “This morning we received information from a town on the Island where a person close to the municipal administration was asking one of our federal agents that the supplies that were there could not be touched because they were for his mayor,” said Rodríguez, noting that the case is currently...

The FBI is investigating multiple allegations of Puerto Rican government officials withholding FEMA supplies meant for hurricane victims. The bureau received several complaints that local officials are distributing supplies to their friends and political supporters instead of people in need. So far, the FBI is aware of six areas in Puerto Rico where supplies are being misappropriated. This comes as President Trump hints he will pull first responders from the island.

SAN JUAN -- Sen. Bill Nelson doesn’t know how many Puerto Ricans have made their way to Florida since Hurricane Maria ravaged the Caribbean island on Sept. 20. And he doesn’t know how many plan to stay on the mainland as their home slowly recovers. But if they plan to stick around the Sunshine State, the Florida Democrat wants them to go to the polls in 2018, when he’s up for reelection. “If they will register to vote, which I’m certainly going to encourage, because I can tell you among the Puerto Rican community in the greater Orlando area, they...

Be very skeptical of the screeching media, demanding to know why aspects of FEMA recovery efforts aren't happening as fast as they determine it should be. Lying to the American people is something expected. Intentionally causing misery for political gain is also expected of Democrats, no matter how benign-to-lethal that misery will be.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating a decision by Puerto Rico’s power authority to award a $300 million contract to a tiny Montana energy firm to rebuild electrical infrastructure damaged in Hurricane Maria, according to people familiar with the matter. Agents from the FBI’s San Juan field office are looking into circumstances surrounding the deal that the public power monopoly known as Prepa signed with Whitefish Energy Holdings LLC, according to the people familiar with the matter.

FEMA Administrator Brock Long ripped San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz for her attacks on the agency Sunday, saying "we filtered out the mayor a long time ago" and he didn't have time for "political noise." President Donald Trump visited the Hurricane Maria devastation in Puerto Rico on Tuesday and praised relief efforts there, but Cruz criticized him for his "abominable" behavior when Trump threw paper towel rolls to storm survivors and said his visit was a publicity stunt. It was the latest in the war of words between the two after Trump said last weekend she had exhibited poor...

San Juan, Puerto Rico (CNN)Whitefish Energy is stopping its work to restore Puerto Rico's broken electricity grid because the company says it is owed more than $83 million by the island's power authority. Whitefish CEO Andy Techmanski told CNN that repeated requests for agreed payments were not met and there was no choice but to suspend work. ---snip---

The controversy over the no-bid contract previously set off a Twitter feud between the mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulin Cruz, and the company, which is based in Whitefish, Montana, the hometown of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.  The company has only two full-time employees, and many were surprised when it received the big contract to help rebuild Puerto Rico's electrical grid in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. Whitefish has never worked on a project of that size.