Limón

Brian Lynn Hogue, 64, disappeared while driving from San José to Guápiles, where he lives on a farm with his wife, Susan, and their son, according to a statement from his family. He was planning to return to the United States this week to attend his daughter’s wedding before he went missing.

The temblor could be felt across Limón, Cartago, northern Heredia and the southern end of San José province, according to intensity reports from the Seismic Engineering Laboratory.

A U.S. surveillance plane spotted an unregistered vessel Monday afternoon and reported to Costa Rican authorities its location 50 nautical miles off the Caribbean coast of Limón.

Costa Rica’s main port in Limón has been unable to bring two Chinese-donated X-ray scanners fully online six years after they were donated. The scanners lack Internet and electrical connections and can't be operated in the rain.

The new terminal is set to quadruple the port of Moín’s current capacity. It will be the largest of its kind in Central America, designed to receive so-called Post Panamax ships — cargo vessels that are too big to fit through the existing Panama Canal.

Some have voiced concerns about the project’s final price tag, specifically the cost of expropriating land for the expansion. The bill must now be signed by President Luis Guillermo Solís before becoming law.

Last year was a rough one for Costa Rica when it came to crime. No where was this more clear than the dramatic increases in homicides and burglaries of homes, according to the Judicial Investigation Police’s (OIJ) 2014 annual report released Monday. Homicides spiked across the country by 14.6 percent – more than any other crime – with 471 people killed during 2014.

Judicial Investigation Police found several types of bullet casings at the scene, including some from an AK-47 assault rifle and a 9 mm handgun.

There’s 1 metric ton less of Jamaican "high red” marijuana destined for Costa Rica after authorities seized a boatload of the drug off the coast of Limón on Sunday, according to a statement from the Public Security Ministry.

President Luis Guillermo Solís signed an executive order Tuesday establishing a committee to coordinate 75 development projects and initiatives ranging from sewers to job training for the country’s depressed Caribbean region. The president also named writer and intellectual Quince Duncan head of the Commission on Afro-Descendent Affairs during his weekly press conference at Casa Presidencial.