Some Puerto Ricans in the dark again

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A blackout hit Puerto Rico's capital and surrounding areas Thursday after two of the U.S. territory's main power plants shut down, a failure that came amid warnings from officials that the power company is struggling to remain operational.

The capital of San Juan was left without power along with the neighboring municipalities of Caguas, Bayamon and Carolina, company spokeswoman Yohari Molina said. More than 970,000 people live in the areas hit by the blackout.

A break in a transmission line was found in late afternoon, and power was being restored.

Overall, more than 15 percent of power customers in Puerto Rico remain in the dark nearly six months after Hurricane Maria savaged the island. Officials have said they expect power to be fully restored by May. But a federal control board that recently obtained a $300 million loan for the power company warned that the loan would only serve to keep it operational through late March. Board members expect to request more loans. into a financial company that a month earlier had given White House adviser Jared Kushner's family real estate firm a $180 million loan.

While there's no evidence that Kushner or any other Trump administration official had a role in the agency's decision to drop the inquiry into Apollo Global Management, the timing has once again raised potential conflict-of-interest questions about Kushner's family business and his role as an adviser to his father-in-law, President Donald Trump.

The SEC detail comes a day after The New York Times reported that Apollo's loan to the Kushner Cos. followed several meetings at the White House with Kushner.