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Democrats hope the record number of women and minority candidates will fire up the diverse base. But in hard-hit, minority communities, convincing people that their vote can actually bring change is a tall order.

The fire at Brazil’s National Museum would be a severe loss to science and art at any time. But today, many Brazilians look at the rubble and see a painful symbol of corruption and austerity.

Should college admissions be race-neutral? Increasingly, it’s a question being pushed to the courts to decide, with the latest test coming from a lawsuit against Harvard University. Last week, the US Department of Justice submitted a brief in support of the plaintiff, a group that opposes consideration of race and argues that the school discriminates against Asian-Americans. Harvard disagrees, defending its “whole-person evaluation” and saying that, in pursuit of diversity, it legally treats race as one of many factors in admissions. Asian-Americans have weighed in on both sides. The case of Students for Fair Admissions Inc. (SFFA) v. Harvard is scheduled to go to trial on Oct. 15. Ultimately, it could end up at the Supreme Court, which is likely to be more conservative than in 2016, when it upheld narrowly tailored race-conscious admissions in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, 4 to 3. If so, supporters of SFFA hope a decision in its favor would strongly curtail, or completely prevent, the consideration of race in college admissions. 

Think you're good at dodgeball? See how long you last in boruboru, a traditional playground game. Formal leagues are giving girls who grew up amid the civil war more opportunities to dive, dodge, and throw.

A year ago a group of neighbors in the small Puerto Rican city of Humacao desperately signaled for help.

They made a sign visible from the air: “S.O.S. Necesitamos agua/comida,” “We need water/food.” Their effort symbolized the urgency of the situation in the United States territory, which had been pummeled by hurricane Maria. 

Recently the neighbors put up a new sign for aerial view that read “Bienvenidos,” or welcome. It signaled “Tourists, please visit us.”

Power has finally been restored to the entire island, though the grid is hardly as stable and robust as would be desirable. Most hotels have reopened or will soon, and new ones under construction will join them in the coming months. 

“[W]e’re ready to turn the page,” Humacao resident Janet Gonzalez told CBS News in August. The photo of their cry for help had spread virally worldwide. Now the neighborhood hopes “our new positive message spreads just as fast,” she says.

The looming anniversary of the Sept. 20, 2017, megastorm, whose damage is estimated at more than $90 billion, has brought with it sober assessments of what went wrong. An independent study published late last month raised the death toll to 2,975, far more than the original estimate of 64, making Maria one of the nation’s worst natural disasters. That total included deaths that occurred up to six months after Maria but were attributed to the storm, with its widespread power outage and the difficulty of reaching remote areas with relief supplies.

“We never anticipated a scenario of zero communication, zero energy, zero highway access,” Gov. Ricardo Rosselló has said. He will form a commission to study how to respond better, including whether to establish a registry of vulnerable people who would need urgent help if a future disaster struck.

A Sept. 4 report from the US Government Accountability Office found that more than half (54 percent) of the federal emergency workers sent to Puerto Rico were not fully qualified for the positions they held. 

“Federal, state, and territory officials noted that the shortages and lack of training led to confusion...,” the GAO report said, while also noting a paucity of workers who spoke Spanish as another key problem.

In a response, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has promised to learn from its inadequate response to Maria and improve its future practices.

One thing Americans might do this winter is visit the island. A sunny beach would be a welcome respite to many and pump money into the local economy.

Tourists ready to be of even more help have plenty of choices, points out an article on the Travel & Leisure website. In true “citizen scientist” fashion they might take a snorkeling trip that includes collecting data on native species or a kayak expedition after dark that could study the effects of light pollution. Other programs let visitors plant trees or clean up the coastline.

At the same time, Puerto Ricans themselves are leading the way in restoring their island home. 

“We believe [Puerto Rico is] going to yield one of the best comeback stories in tourism history,” says Brad Dean, chief executive of Discover Puerto Rico, a new nonprofit group that helps visitors plan their trips. “The story isn’t about what Maria did to Puerto Rico. It’s about what people achieved after Maria.”

A year after the disaster the signs at last are pointing toward progress.