Six Months After Maria, Puerto Rico Struggles to Rebuild

Here’s what you’ll find on today’s show:

— In the waning hours of September 20th, 2017, Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico. Today, more than 100,000 are still in the dark, thousands of small businesses have yet to reopen, and hundreds of thousands of people have left the island, many for good. The Federal Emergency Management Agency began a temporary program to house residents displaced by the storm, but six months later, 3,500 Puerto Ricans are still living in hotels and motels as they struggle to rebuild their lives.

— An expansive new study tracked 20 million children and their parents over 16 years. It found that even when black boys come from wealth, they still go on to earn less than their white counterparts. Over the course of the study, researchers traced the lives of 10,000 black males who grew up in wealthy households comparable to their white peers. They were able to show that black boys raised in rich households were more likely to become poor as adults and did not have the same level of upward mobility.

— Lawmakers in California are planning to introduce a bill that would require major tech companies like Apple and Samsung to make replacement parts available to individuals who want to repair their own devices. Currently, many companies favor an ‘authorized repair’ model, where they license independent shops to attempt a narrow set of repairs and force them to return devices that require more complicated fixes. The D.I.Y. community has complained for years about the high cost of repairing devices through authorized retailers.

— Nella Larsen, author of the Harlem Renaissance, is one of the women to be newly recognized with an obituary in The New York Times for her 1964 death. We re-examine her legacy in light of a new Times series that traces historical figures who never received their due from the public upon their passing.

— It’s not entirely easy to be funny these days. But comedian Aparna Nancherla has been preparing for this moment for a while. Netflix has produced a new series of stand-ups that airs today, where you can find Nancherla opening up about her anxiety on stage and how it has prepared her for the current political climate. She joins The Takeaway to discuss her Netflix stand-up debut and how social media has changed the way people communicate with each other.