Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, current leader Neon Vincent, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, Doctor RJ, Magnifico, annetteboardman and Man Oh Man. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) wader, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck, ScottyUrb, Interceptor7, BentLiberal, Oke (RIP) and jlms qkw.
OND is a regular community feature on Daily Kos, consisting of news stories from around the world, sometimes coupled with a daily theme, original research or commentary. Editors of OND impart their own presentation styles and content choices, typically publishing each day near 12:00 AM Eastern Time.
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Many Puerto Ricans desperate to return home to island reeling from disaster
The Guardian
As Puerto Rico came into view below, passengers on the JetBlue aid flight from New York fell silent as the scale of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Mariabecame apparent: the usually verdant mountains were brown and barren, and the bright blue water offshore was dotted with large aid ships.
A member of the flight crew addressed the passengers: “I understand what you’re feeling might be overwhelming, but Puerto Ricans are resilient.”
Before the plane touched town, that same crew member said “Puerto Rico se levanta”–Puerto Rico rises up. His voice broke. The passengers clapped, cried and whistled.
The flight carried emergency responders and journalists – but also ordinary Puerto Ricans, desperate to return home to an island still reeling from the disaster.
Even though Puerto Rico is now largely without electricity, running water is a luxury and mobile phone reception is no longer taken for granted, demand for plane tickets is high.
Cut Off From The World, Puerto Ricans Search For A Ghost Of A Signal
NPR
On the side of a busy expressway in northern Puerto Rico, dozens of cars stand in a line, parked at careless angles off the shoulder. Drivers hold their phones out of car windows; couples walk along the grass raising their arm skyward.
This is not a picturesque stretch of road. It's about 90 degrees out, and the sun is beating down relentlessly. All you can hear is the rumble of cars and trucks passing by, sometimes dangerously close. Then, inside a Ford Escape near the edge of the highway, Casandra Caba exclaims, "Look!"
Smiling, she holds up her iPhone screen, showing an alert from the messaging app WhatsApp. "I just got a message from a cousin in the Dominican Republic."
Hurricane Maria destroyed large swaths of Puerto Rico's infrastructure when it hit the island last week. Among other things, it wiped out cell service. The island was totally incommunicado — but signals are starting to trickle back in some places, like this stretch along Expressway 22 on the island's northern side.