Puerto Rico rejects key deal with creditors to reduce debt

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico’s governor announced Tuesday that a federal control board reached a key deal that would reduce the U.S. territory’s overall debt by nearly 80%, but that his administration is rejecting it amid concerns about cuts to the island’s crumbling public pension system.

The impasse between the governor and a board that oversees Puerto Rico’s finances threatens to throw into limbo attempts to end a bankruptcy-like process for a government that six years ago declared unpayable its more than $70 billion public debt load.