Tuesday Aug 25, 2020

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

San Juan The

50¢

DAILY

Star

Night Owl or Early Bird?

It May Affect How You Move P23

Online School Semester Starts with an ‘F’

Eliezer Molina: ‘We Have to Do Things Differently to Get Different Results’ P3

Life Starting to Look Normal in China, Where Pandemic Began

Teachers, Parents with No Power, No Internet; Some Students in Public System Without Computers

P14

NOTICIAS EN ESPAÑOL P 19

P4

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The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

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August 25, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star, the only paper with News Service in English in Puerto Rico, publishes 7 days a week, with a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday edition, along with a Weekend Edition to cover Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Eliezer Molina: ‘Puerto Rico’s problems are not only red and blue’

Today’s

Weather Day

Night

High

Low

89ºF

This is the fifth in a series of interviews with candidates running in the 2020 general elections

78ºF

Precip 20%

Precip 10%

Partly Cloudy

Partly Cloudy

Wind: Humidity: UV Index: Sunrise: Sunset:

By PEDRO CORREA HENRY Twitter: @PCorreaHenry Special to The Star

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From ESE 13 mph 72% 10 of 10 6:08 AM Local Time 6:43 PM Local Time

INDEX

Local 3 Mainland 7 Business 11 International 14 Viewpoint 18 Noticias en Español 19 Entertainment 20

Pets Health Legals Sports Games Horoscope Cartoons

22 23 25 26 29 30 31

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n order to fight against corruption and patronage, bring power to the people and promote economic development in Puerto Rico, independent gubernatorial candidate Eliezer Molina said he and his cabinet hold “The Antidote” to tackle institutional stagnation and heal the island’s economic system.

Molina spoke with the Star on Monday about “The Antidote,” which is the name the engineer gave to his political model. He said it was built to address various issues that concern Puerto Rican citizens, although one of his main priorities is to rebuild Puerto Rico’s consumerist economy into one focused on production, providing resources to strengthen small local enterprises and strengthen in-house manufacturing.

“There will be more to it in a document that will be released in a few days, so people come to [see] that Puerto Rico’s problems are not only red and blue; it’s a political issue due to a consumerist economy that has collapsed,” Molina said. “We must transform this.”

As another priority is to fight against corruption, the independent gubernatorial candidate said he proposes to amend the island Constitution by summoning a constituent assembly in order to give people the opportunity to choose the judges that will occupy the bench seats in the country’s courts.

“When it comes to corruption, we propose to amend the Constitution for the purpose of letting people appoint their judges and develop a community mechanism to judge their decisions, unlike now, with the Legislature and the governor appointing them, and they later have to judge those who nominated them,” Molina said. “Do you think that a judge can be unbiased in a case against the person who appointed them and on whom they depend to be nominated again? That’s the root of corruption.”

Meanwhile, when the Star asked Molina why a constituent assembly was necessary for his political model, he said it was not only to provide the opportunity to elect the people who will occupy the courts’ bench seats, but also to address the issues with the public pension system and define essential government services with every social and civil sector in Puerto Rico.

“We propose a constitutional assembly so every social and civil sector from Puerto Rico can unite, generate this document and hold on to the good things from our Constitution, while mending what’s not positive from it because no one can tell me that allowing a triple tax exemption is a good thing,” Molina said. “Nobody can tell me that it is fair that there are general obligation bonds where I, first, cut pensions to my workforce, where I close schools, where I close hospitals before paying a bondholder. That is not technical, that is financial corruption.”

Meanwhile, he said his “Antidote” project also proposes that politicians’ immediate family members should not be able to be hired by any public entity, since he believes that politicians “came to serve people, not to get rich.”

“We see that senators hire their representatives’ family members, and vice versa, or hire the mayor’s family members,” Molina said. “We saw that from [Gov.] Wanda Vázquez [Garced] when we found out that both her daughters were getting their salaries paid by the country; it’s unacceptable, that cronyism of coming [to the government] and having a political career, and making money to sustain their families is one of the variables we will work on to fight against corruption.”

Molina said further that Puerto Ricans need a document that respects people’s will and that citizens must stand up and insist that they cannot let themselves be frightened by “corrupt politicians into tolerating corruption because they don’t provide the tools to move forward.”

“We need a document that enforces Puerto Ricans’ will, and we don’t have it,” he said. “We can’t be scared of this because in life, we try to progress and everyone who’s unable to adapt to changes is bound to disappear, and we won’t disappear.

We have offspring, we have grandchildren, we have a future ahead in our country.”

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Tuesday, August 25, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

Zero connection: Online semester starts with serious problems, according to the school community

By THE STAR STAFF

E

velyn Matías, a teacher, posted a photo of herself on Facebook sitting on the floor of the porch of a friend’s home with her laptop in order to teach classes online because she has been without power or internet for three days.

“Searching since early this morning for an internet signal to teach classes. Thanks to the person who allowed me shelter,” she said.

Yaritza Miranda, another teacher, said that because she has been without electricity, she was forced to use her cellphone to welcome each of her groups and let them know the difficulties she was having. Yazmín Méndez, another teacher, said she had to frantically look for a place she and her two children, who have begun classes, can connect to the internet.

The virtual school semester began on Aug. 17 but a week later, teachers and students are still having difficulties.

Deborah Soto Arroyo, a social studies teacher, charged Monday that the Department of Education did not take into consideration the thousands of teachers and students who do not have internet service in their homes in order to begin the virtual school semester. Likewise, she assured that, to this day, there are a large number of students who do not have computers either.

“Teachers have always been available to teach with the virtual modality, even recognizing that many colleagues do not have internet service. Some who do have internet haven’t even been able to activate their respective emails because they don’t have the resources to pay for faster internet,” said Soto Arroyo, a teacher at Carmen Barroso Morales School in Levittown, Toa Baja. “We have had cases of teachers who choose to expose themselves to infection with COVID-19 by visiting the homes of other teachers to help them with the connection since they do not have internet in their homes, or the one that they have does not

have the required speed.”

Soto Arroyo, who is running for a legislative seat under the Popular Democratic Party banner, said teachers are doing everything possible to remain calm and not show anxiety to parents and students.

“However, we call on the Department of Education to provide us with guidelines that we can implement so that teachers and students who do not have internet service are not left behind,” she said.

Iniabell Ramos Tosado wrote on Facebook that teachers have been forced at their own expense to increase the speed of their internet in order to teach.

“We are always running the extra mile and are the worst paid,” she said.

Over the weekend, the White House formally declared teachers essential workers as part of its efforts to encourage schools around the country to reopen for in-person learning. Most teachers in Puerto Rico have resisted the idea. However, they are supposed to return to schools in September despite the coronavirus pandemic.

The island Education Department’s website contained notices about the continuing delivery this week of laptops to students and teachers. For instance, there was a public notice about the delivery of laptops and other electronic equipment in Ponce. The STAR called the agency to inquire about the delay in delivering laptops, but as of press time had not received a response.

PDP lawmaker calls for NPP House majority to question Education secretary

By PEDRO CORREA HENRY Twitter: @PCorreaHenry Special to The Star

P

opular Democratic Party (PDP) Rep. Rafael “Tatito” Hernández Montañez on Monday called for Speaker of the House of Representatives Carlos “Johnny” Méndez Nuñez and the New Progressive Party (NPP) majority to call a special session in order to question Education Secretary Eligio Hernández because he, the PDP spokesman said, converted about 50 positions of trust at the department into permanent posts.

During a press conference via Zoom, Hernández Montañez also said he proposes to amend Law 85-2018, the Puerto Rico Educational Reform Law, in order to reverse the Education chief’s decision in order to guarantee effective administration from the public entity, as such a determination would make the department “inoperable,” the PDP legislator said.

Meanwhile, Hernández Montañez also called on Méndez and other representatives to summon the Education secretary to appear at a hearing.

“It’s concerning that the unilateral decision from the Education secretary to convert positions of confidence or sensitive positions into career posts just months away from

culminating this four-year period [political] term and in the middle of starting school has been complete chaos,” Hernández Montañez said. “I introduced legislation to address this questionable situation trusting that this [issue] is included in a special session’s work agenda and the NPP majority in the House gives way.”

Meanwhile, Hernández Montañez said he sent a letter to the Education secretary expressing how his determination was “not practical or functional” for the agency as it might bring conflicts to the next secretary when he or she intends to implement correct public policies at the agency.

“Likewise, I sent a letter to Secretary Eligio Hernández expressing that it is not practical or functional that the biggest and most complex agency in the Puerto Rican government is operated without a team that is trusted and committed to their Education secretary’s public policies, especially in sensitive areas such as budget, finances, teaching, security and the program directives on different school subjects,” Hernández Montañez said. “Appointing career posts to the same component that has failed our country will be preventing the new secretary of Education who will be appointed in 2021 to implement public policies correctly, as the personnel in charge of performing will not be of their trust. This decision contradicts the

most basic administrative principles and must be stopped immediately.”

He also said that via letter, he requested information such as the number of students enrolled; the numbers of students, teachers, and parents who were registered and trained in the Microsoft Teams platform; how many students and teachers have access to the internet; if the agency is providing internet service for both pupils and faculty members and who is paying for it; and if the Education Department fulfilled their promise of providing $300 for educational material.

Hernández Montañez also said he questioned Hernández’s decision to begin the school year with “countless deficiencies.”

“To mention examples from the chaos at [the Department of] Education, in the first week where virtual courses were supposed to begin, the digital platform collapsed,” the minority legislator said. “Neither teachers nor students were properly trained; nor was the high percentage of students whose family income is at a poverty level taken into account. Neither the necessary infrastructure to guarantee that free internet is provided to the school community nor the technological equipment that was promised to each student since the earthquakes began in the southwest of the country has been delivered.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

5

Gov’t officials make some distressing, and disgusting, discoveries in restaurants

By JOHN McPHAUL and ELSA VELÁZQUEZ SANTIAGO Special to The Star

F

rom now on you might want to take extra care when reviewing the options for dining out. Not only because of COVID-19.

The Puerto Rico Police Department and other agencies carried out several operations Sunday afternoon and evening as part of inspections to enforce the executive order that establishes health and social distancing measures to reduce and prevent coronavirus infections, but in the process they found something else.

As reported on Telenoticias (Telemundo), during the operation authorities visited the Latin Star restaurant on Ashford Avenue in Condado, which was closed after an inspection by the Police, firefighters and public health agencies.

The photos posted in social media by TV news reporter Jeremy Ortiz show buckets of cooked and raw food on the floor, all piled up, and even a mouse in what appears to be a refrigerator.

Jesús Hernández, director of the island Health Department’s Investigations Unit, pointed out Monday in an interview with RadioIsla 1320 AM that they found at the Latin Star restaurant that rice was being served from a bucket.

“From that bucket they served the diners,” Hernández said.

Health Secretary Lorenzo González

Feliciano said in a written statement that restaurants were ordered closed due to non-compliance with the executive order and environmental health protocols.

“We have been firm that the executive order must be complied with. Our staff will work with the Puerto Rico Police to ensure that both merchants and individuals comply with the measures imposed to minimize the spread of COVID-19,” González Feliciano said. “In the case of establishments, we will not hesitate to close those that flout the rules, knowing that they not only violate [the safety measures], but also put lives at risk.”

When the Health Department became aware that the Latin Star Restaurant establishment was operating in violation of the executive order, it mobilized personnel to investigate. However, in addition to non-compliance with the executive order, the intervention showed that the restaurant does not follow environmental health protocols, which puts the health and safety of diners and employees at risk.

“As part of the violations that we found, the mishandling of food, expired and improperly packaged food and a lack of cleanliness in the kitchen area, among others, stand out,” Hernández said. “What we saw is truly unacceptable, so we proceeded to close the establishment. We remain vigilant with this and other cases in which we have intervened to ensure that they do not violate the law again and put people’s health at risk.”

Also as part of the interventions, Dumplings, another Condado area eating establish-

ment, was ordered closed apparently due to environmental health violations, because the kitchen was not in proper condition, food was stored improperly and toilets lacked adequate connections. In addition, there were lines outside the establishment, a violation of the executive order, and the required social distancing was not duly enforced.

On their Facebook page, the Dumpling administration denied the order to close the establishment was because of health violations.

“Today rumors have circulated that the Health Department closed our restaurant due to unhealthy conditions, something that is totally false; we had expired permits and

we are already working on it,” reads the post on Facebook. “Our restaurant has an open kitchen for everyone to see, our cleaning is rigorous and we comply with everything related to health.”

They also shared photos.

Personnel from the Health Department also visited three other establishments, where they did not find violations but did provide guidance on the provisions of the law to prevent future violations.

They also intervened at a residence, after becoming aware that a private party was being held there with an excessive number of people gathered without taking social distancing measures.

Executive Order 2020-062 establishes that on Sundays, all citizens must remain in their residences or accommodations 24 hours a day, unless they are addressing a health situation or must travel to any of the establishments allowed by law or to provide assistance to senior citizens, people with disabilities or especially vulnerable people who require medical or professional care.

Likewise, the order provides that all citizens must limit their social activities or family entertainment, both in public and private places.

“Measures of physical distancing and the use of masks are mandatory for all people, in order to prevent the spread of the virus,” the Health secretary said. “It is not just about the rules imposed by the government, but also about the social responsibility of enforcing them. We all have to do our part to control infections.”

Lawmaker denounces breakdowns, stoppages at the docks

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

W

aiting for a package or a shipment of supplies for your business? It may be stuck at a dock.

Rep. José Aponte Hernández denounced on Monday the constant failures and stoppages in the disembarkation of items and products in recent days at the docks in the port zone of Puerto Nuevo, which is part of his legislative jurisdiction, saying the so-called Puerto Nuevo Terminal (PNT) company must be broken up.

“During the past few days, the cargo disembarkation at the PNT docks in the Puerto Nuevo area has had setbacks and yesterday,

Sunday, it was paralyzed, to the direct detriment of the Puerto Rican people,” said Aponte Hernández, a former speaker of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives. “Ships have been in the port area for hours without taking any action because Luis Ayala Colón [Sucrs. Inc.] and Tote Maritime, which merged to create the PNT, had not complied with the union dock employees, failing to pay them overtime, not repairing their sanitary facilities and did not provide the safety equipment they need to protect themselves from COVID-19 as promised. This situation illustrates our objections; this is a total monopoly that is affecting the people. Work can be stopped for any reason. … Things cannot go on like this. This monopoly

must be broken.”

The statements by the chairman of the House Committee on Federal, International and Status Relations came amid dozens of complaints by employees of the Puerto Nuevo docks, which also include poor working conditions such as lack of water service, he said.

“This agreement had the effect of granting PNT almost absolute and exclusive control over the docks of the port area of Puerto Nuevo, maritime traffic to and from the island, and the services that will be provided to maritime carriers, both domestic and international,” Aponte Hernández said. “For this reason, and given the reality of the past few days, where in the middle of a tropical storm [Laura] services

were paralyzed, I will be sending a letter to the Federal Maritime Commission and the federal Department of Justice, in order to request that this monopoly be eliminated and a fair and open commercial practice be allowed for all.”

The veteran legislator said that since PNT is a single port operator, when differences arise with the union or another supplier, work is paralyzed. Before, when there were two operators (TOTE-PRT and LAC) this did not happen because even though they were under the same terms, they had different practices.

“Every day our observations are verified; the government of Puerto Rico must not allow maritime operators to be reduced, much less docks to be closed,” Aponte Hernández said.

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Tuesday, August 25, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

Subsidy process for first-time home purchase continues

By THE STAR STAFF

H

ousing Secretary Luis FernĂĄndez Trinchet urged citizens on Monday to continue applying to the Direct Buyer Assistance Program which provides assistance to people who buy their first home to cover the difference between closing and down payment on a first mortgage obtained from a participating financial institution.

The program announced recently by Gov. Wanda VĂĄzquez Garced can provide up to $25,000 for low- or moderate-income families or up to $35,000 for low- or moderate-income families that include a member of essential recovery staff in the acquisition of their home, principal that does not exceed the current limits of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgages, or the value indicated in the appraisal. There also is an additional incentive of $5,000 if the home is located in an urban center.

The program entails two different mortgage contracts. One is the bank mortgage loan contract and the other is one that individuals must sign that contains restrictive covenants, one requiring homeowners to live in the property for at least five years and another regulating the use of the public aid that will be provided.

Since the program began, some 418 applications have been received, of which 376 were eligible. The

Housing Secretary Luis FernĂĄndez Trinchet program is aimed at helping working individuals such as teachers and firemen. The average salary of the applicants is around $30,000. “With this program, we want to recognize and help people who have suffered situations during the various emergencies that we have faced, as well as those who have been in the front line of battle,â€? FernĂĄndez Trinchet said. “These federal funds are available so that they can have the opportunity to fulfill their dream of having a home of their own.â€? “The HBA [Homebuyer Assistance] Program is a

great financial support tool for many families considering the purchase of a first home,� he added. “This federal aid seeks to promote the expansion of our communities and provides economic incentives to Puerto Rico residents that allow them to settle on the island in a safe home of their own.�

FernĂĄndez Trinchet also noted that until Aug. 31, the agency will continue to give priority to this very important sector of Puerto Rico to help them meet their goal of home ownership.

The program contains a monitoring phase in which officials make sure citizens comply with the rules of the program such as living in the property for five years. They will also monitor employment.

None of the island’s leading financial institutions, such as Banco Popular, are participating in the Direct Buyer Assistance Program.

JosĂŠ Javier HernĂĄndez, a Housing official, said large banks are over regulated. Banco Popular had 87 questions and now they have three. One of the issues was that Banco Popular said guidelines were being published by the Housing Department with some crossed out. They also asked about the reasons for having two mortgage contracts instead of one. “They have concerns about the contracts and want to include certain clauses,â€? he said. “So we are trying to ease those concerns and we hope to resolve them.â€?

Long lines for seniors are in the past

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

S

enate Joint Resolution 515 (RC of S. 515), filed by Sen. Miguel Romero Lugo, is now law, creating express service lines for seniors, pregnant women, state and municipal

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police and/or medical or health services personnel who work in hospitals, health service facilities or technological laboratories, including nurses, paramedics, medical technologists and doctors of medicine.

The resolution temporarily extends the provisions of Law 297-2018, as amended, known as the Uniform Law on Express Service Lines and Assignment of Priority Shifts, and applies to supermarkets, pharmacies, and banking and financial institutions. “Over the past few months, we have been through one of the most momentous emergencies in our modern history,� said Romero, a candidate for mayor of San Juan. “With attention to the danger that continues to be represented by the global pandemic that affects us, I introduced the RC of S. 515, which has already been converted into law, and which seeks to protect and ensure the safety specifically of one of the most vulnerable populations, our older adults, in addition to first responders.�

The law addresses the problems that have arisen with the substantial increase in traffic at supermarkets, pharmacies, and banking or financial institutions. “Our most vulnerable populations and those security and medical personnel who are serving as the first line of defense during this emergency have had to face the reality of long waits in these establishments, which can place them

in a greater state of exposure, endangering their health,�

Romero added.

Through the Uniform Law on Express Service Lines and Assignment of Priority Shifts, a public policy was established that is conducive to the establishment of express service lines and assignment of priority shifts in all agencies and public corporations of the Puerto Rico government. as well as municipalities, the legislative branch and private entities that receive public funds and offer direct services to citizens.

Likewise, the law defines that the “Express Line and Priority Shifts� is for people with disabilities, people 60 years of age or older, veterans, people who have traveled between, and must return to, the islands of Puerto Rico, Vieques or Culebra by sea or by air in the same day, pregnant women, state and municipal police and/or medical or health services personnel who work in hospitals, health service facilities or technological laboratories, including nurses, paramedics, medical technologists and doctors of medicine, duly identified. “It is in our best interest to establish all the prudent measures that ensure the protection of the most vulnerable sectors and, furthermore, give priority to those people who are risking their own lives for the benefit of all Puerto Ricans,�

Romero said. “It is important that we continue to call for the protection of each and every citizen in the face of the reality that we still live in.�

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

7

Virus response fueling GOP bid to retake New Mexico seat

By SIMON ROMERO

W

hen Democrats in New Mexico swept elections just two years ago, flipping the Republican-held congressional district that stretches across more than half the state ranked among their biggest wins.

But in a sign of how tenuous the Democrats’ hold is on some of the House seats they picked up in 2018, especially in districts that President Donald Trump carried four years ago, that prize is suddenly in play yet again.

The incumbent, Rep. Xochitl Torres Small, is now among the most vulnerable Democrats in Congress in a race that is drawing attention from leaders of both parties, and potentially huge amounts of spending, as Republicans eye an opening to blunt Democratic momentum in this part of the West.

Yvette Herrell, the Republican seeking to oust Torres Small, is stoking anger over a slump in the oil industry and measures taken by Democrats in New Mexico to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Shifting blame from Trump for the pandemic’s economic fallout, Herrell has grown so critical of New Mexico’s virus mitigation policies that it sometimes seems as if she is running as much against the state’s Democratic governor as against Torres Small.

“This is a razor-thin race we’re looking at if the Republicans energize their base, as they already did in the primary,” said Gabriel Sanchez, a pollster with Latino Decisions and executive director of the University of New Mexico’s Center for Social Policy.

As the Republican convention gets underway, some of the complications of politics in 2020 are playing out in New Mexico.

The cautious pandemic response by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has kept cases from exploding in a poor state that is home to large numbers of people with underlying conditions. New Mexico has had far fewer COVID19-related deaths on a per capita basis than neighboring Arizona, one of the first states to reopen in May. Still, open defiance by sheriffs, business owners and many others of Lujan Grisham’s policies, which include a statewide mask mandate, can make parts of the district in southern New Mexico feel almost like a different state from Albuquerque and points northward, where many people are wearing masks.

The strategy of running hard to the right by avowing loyalty to Trump while blasting Democrats for problems associated with the pandemic could be working for Herrell, who lost the 2018 race by fewer than 4,000 votes.

A poll by the Tarrance Group for the Republican National Committee showed the candidates tied with each getting 46%, and 8% of voters undecided. The poll, conducted in July in a survey of 400 voters, had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

Democrats are still thought to have the upper hand in their battle to maintain control of the House, with various other races around the country leaning in the party’s

Diners eat outside at socially distanced tables at an Applebee’s in Hobbs, N.M., Aug, 13, 2020. A district flipped by Democrats is suddenly in play again as Republicans mobilize opposition to coronavirus pandemic measures, signaling the tenuous hold Democrats have on some seats they picked up in 2018. direction. Still, the contest in New Mexico shows how easily that could change, even for candidates holding a significant cash advantage.

Torres Small has about $3.9 million in cash on hand (partly a result of robust fundraising in 2018), dwarfing Herrell’s $379,000 and raising the possibility that outside groups could enter the fray to bolster the Republican’s campaign.

As the race tightens, it offers a glimpse into whether a Democrat can hold on to a relatively conservative district where Trump won by 10 points in 2016. The district is now the largest by area in the United States to be represented by a Democrat, stretching from suburban areas near Albuquerque to the border with Mexico.

Almost 50% of eligible voters in the district are Hispanic, a larger proportion than New Mexico’s two other congressional districts. Torres Small, a bilingual 35-year-old water rights lawyer whose grandmother emigrated from Mexico, is trying to appeal to those voters with ads in both Spanish and English.

The vast district includes Las Cruces, a Democraticleaning city that is home to New Mexico State University, but also the counties that produce most of New Mexico’s oil, an area sometimes called “Little Texas,” where voters have been seething over a shift to the left in the state.

Torres Small, whose 2018 ads featured her grasping a hunting rifle, is now casting herself as a moderate Democrat who can reach consensus with Republicans and even defy Democratic leaders when necessary.

In contrast to the bipartisan image cultivated by the incumbent, Herrell, 56, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation who was born and raised in southern New Mexico, is making it explicitly clear that she sides with Republicans on issues including oil production, abortion and support for Trump.

While voicing criticism of Torres Small for voting for Trump’s impeachment, Herrell said in an interview that she is counting on a surge in Republican turnout to win the race.

“I’m more in touch with what our voter values are,” Herrell said. “This is a very family-oriented district, very blue collar, pro-Second Amendment, pro-life, pro-free market.”

In New Mexico’s June primary, voter turnout climbed to about 40% of eligible voters, the highest level for a primary in the state since the early 1990s.

But in what could be a troubling sign for Democrats, the total number of Republican votes cast in the primary increased by more than 40% from 2016, while Democratic votes rose by about 5%, according to the New Mexico Secretary of State’s office.

Democrats say they are also counting on much higher turnout in the November election in anticipation of greater voting by mail by constituents hesitant to cast ballots in person during the pandemic.

In the meantime, Herrell and other Republicans are eyeing the political divisiveness around New Mexico’s response to the pandemic as an opening to build support for the party in the coveted district.

8

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Not the convention, or the election, North Carolina Republicans hoped for

By JEREMY W. PETERS

F

or most of the past decade, North Carolina was a showcase for the Republican Party’s growth — its strength in the suburbs, in rural areas and in races up and down the ballot proving that it could dominate in parts of the country where demographics favored the Democrats.

Now it could be a victim of its own excess.

After victories in 2010, when Republicans took control of the state Legislature for the first time in more than 100 years, and in 2012, when a Republican won the governor’s race, they used their power in the state Capitol to carry out a sweeping conservative agenda that included tax cuts, caps on medical malpractice damages and ending tenure for teachers.

But some of their most contentious moves — creating highly gerrymandered Congressional districts; restrictions on gay and transgender rights that prompted national boycotts; and curbs on the power of the Democratic governor — backfired with voters and the courts, which struck down many of them. And after defeating the Republican governor in 2016, Democrats won enough seats in the legislature in 2018 to break the supermajority Republicans had for eight years.

Now, embattled Republican lawmakers find their fates intertwined with those of President Donald Trump, a deeply polarizing figure who won here in 2016 by 3 percentage points but has pushed many voters to their limits with his hectoring style and mismanagement of a coronavirus outbreak that is still spreading throughout the state.

North Carolina was supposed to be a more promising opportunity for Republicans, which is why they selected Charlotte, its largest city, as the site of the Republican National Convention this year. The presence of tens of thousands of Trump supporters would be a display of confidence for a party that has carried the state in all but one presidential election since 1980, and planned to do so again. But when the pandemic made that kind of mass gathering unsafe, Trump got into a spat with state and local officials and moved the festivities to Jacksonville, Florida, only to cancel once that plan proved unfeasible.

A much more scaled-down gathering is taking place in Charlotte this week as several hundred Republican officials from across the country meet to vote on relatively mundane party matters — their movements tracked by Bluetooth sensors and their faces shielded by masks, a must per the party’s rules.

Polls show former Vice President Joe Biden tied with Trump here. And the president’s standing is dragging down the incumbent Republican senator,ThomTillis, who is trailing his Democratic

opponent, Cal Cunningham, in most polls.

The challenges in North Carolina are an extension of Republicans’ vulnerabilities in other states across the Sun Belt like Georgia and Arizona. As these places grow more racially diverse, the Republican Party has lost support in the fast-growing communities around large cities by supporting an agenda that some people see as hostile to minorities, immigrants and women.

“They say most people get more conservative as you age, but I’ve gotten more liberal,” said Cindy Strom, an educational consultant who lives in the Charlotte suburb of Mooresville after moving from Chicago four years ago.

In a sense, Strom is like other recent transplants who are helping to transform the state’s political dynamics by bringing their liberal sensibilities to a traditionally conservative state.

As the mother of a child with special needs, she said she has come to see Republicans as the party that doesn’t care about people like her.

“You realize not everybody can pull themselves up by their bootstraps,” she said as she stood in the doorway of her house on recent afternoon. “Some people do need a helping hand from the government.”

But if the Republican Party and Trump were more attuned to women and working families, Strom said she might not be leaning so much in favor of the Democrats.

“Had the Republicans run anybody else, I might not have voted for Hillary,” she said, referring to the 2016 election, when Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in North Carolina. “But it’s almost not about politics. I don’t think he has any morality. I don’t think he’s a very good person.”

While Strom’s vote for Biden is all but certain, she is not as firm about her vote in the Senate race. Republicans see people like her as their path to holding the Senate majority. But voters’ antipathy for Trump, combined with the exhaustion that many say they feel when it comes to politics, makes it harder for activists like Chris McCoy to break through.

McCoy, the state director of the conservative political outfit Americans for Prosperity, was preparing for an afternoon of door-to-door canvassing for Tillis in Strom’s neighborhood recently. Political division has grown so intense, he said, that many voters have shut down.

“Even the smallest things that were never political before now have a slant, and I think people are on overload,” he said. “It just never stops. And you hit a point where some of these folks are thinking they just want to turn everything off.”

The organization, which is funded by libertarian billionaire Charles Koch, has had to

Delegates gather amid socially distanced seating, on the first day of the Republican National Convention at the Charlotte Convention Center in Charlotte, N.C., on Monday, Aug. 24, 2020. refine its algorithms to find its target voters, fewer of whom are registering with either of the major parties, McCoy said.

Americans for Prosperity has said it will not campaign for Trump or help with his reelection, a split that stems from differences over both substance and style. Instead, the group is using its super PAC to focus on the Senate, the battleground where other Republican-friendly organizations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are also shifting resources in an attempt to defend the majority and maintain a bulwark against the Democratic-led House — and a possible Biden White House. States like North Carolina, along with Maine and Iowa, are their firewall.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce started running an ad this weekend in the Raleigh market aimed at voters who might be persuaded to vote Republican even if they had written off the president. There is no mention in it of Trump, the Republican Party or bread-and-butter conservative issues like fiscal responsibility. Instead, the ad focuses on Tillis’ support for the nearly $700 billion Paycheck Protection Program, which has helped small businesses during the pandemic, and it praises the senator as responsible and reliable. Tillis is shown wearing a mask as he meets with constituents and greets them with a friendly elbow bump.

Republicans hope to capitalize on the relatively unique circumstances of the BidenTrump matchup, with many likely Biden voters now saying that their choice is driven more by opposition to the president than by affection for

Biden. In private polling, Republicans have found that as many as 29% of Biden supporters in states where there is a competitive Senate race say they are open to voting for a Republican.

But Democrats are making an aggressive play for traditional Republican voters in North Carolina, seeing an opportunity to remind voters about the least popular parts of the Republican agenda.

During a commercial break during Rush Limbaugh’s radio show recently, an ad by an independent group supporting the Democrat running against Tillis — Cunningham, who is an Army veteran and a former state senator — blamed Republican budget cuts for the closure of health care centers in the rural parts of the state.

“There’s a scab there,” Morgan Jackson, Cunningham’s chief political strategist, said in an interview. “And if you pick it, it will bleed.”

Disliking Trump or how he conducts himself does not always translate into a vote for Democrats, and many are likely to vote again for the president in spite of his conduct. Strom’s neighbor Kirk Domanick told a canvasser from Americans for Prosperity that he was likely to vote Republican because he was worried that Democrats were going too far in shutting down the state to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Domanick said that Trump “needs to shut up sometimes” but “does the best he can.”

“Joe Biden is not a bad guy — he’s just not the guy for now,” he said, adding a caveat: “Maybe Joe will surprise me. November is a long way off.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

9

As Census count resumes, doubts about accuracy continue to grow

By MICHAEL WINES

W

ith the 2020 census into its final stage, more than 1 in 3 people hired as census takers have quit or failed to show up.

Many still on the job are going door to door in areas that largely track places where there are elevated rates of coronavirus infections, according to calculations by the National Conference on Citizenship, Civis Analytics and The New York Times.

And with 38 million households still uncounted, state and local officials are raising growing concerns that many poor and minority households will be left out of the count.

Wracked by pandemic and politics and desperately short of time, the last stage of the national population count — a constitutional mandate to tally everyone living in the United States accurately — is unfolding in historic doubt.

COVID-19 and rising mistrust of the government on the part of hard-to-reach groups like immigrants and Latinos already had made this census challenging. But another issue has upended it: an order last month to finish the count a month early, guaranteeing that population figures will be delivered to the White House while President Donald Trump is still in office.

Unlike the Postal Service, another fundamental American institution suddenly under siege and where problems have unleashed a furious public backlash, the census is racing toward a finale largely out of sight. But many experts are increasingly convinced that a public reckoning over a deeply flawed count may be unavoidable.

“If the current situation holds, I do not expect a census of the quality that the Census Bureau will even want to release the data,” Kenneth Prewitt, the Columbia University professor who oversaw the 2000 census, said at a University of Virginia forum this month.

Prewitt’s view is shared by many state and local census officials and private experts.

“This is truly, truly, hair-on-fire awful,” said one government research contractor long involved in census issues, who declined to be identified because of an employment prohibition against being quoted.

The Census Bureau roundly disagrees. “We are sufficiently staffed, with high productivity, and we continue adding people to do the work,” Timothy P. Olson, who manages the census on a day-to-day basis, said in an interview. “I believe we’re in a really good place to complete the data collection by Sept. 30.”

Olson said the last part of the tally — when census takers count the 61 million households that have not submitted a census form — was

proceeding one-third faster than predicted. The bureau projected it would be 28% done by now, he said, instead, it is 37.3% done.

He said shifting paper census surveys online, giving census takers iPhones and access to a mobile app, and offering performance bonuses had made the count far nimbler than it was a decade ago. Census takers, he said, are two-thirds more productive than forecast.

And although the bureau has struggled to find door-knockers, he said, over 160,000 new hires being trained now or in the coming days will fill its need.

That said, the bureau has perhaps more uncounted households than at this stage in any previous census — and under the worst circumstances in memory. Just as crucial, the speedup in the deadline gives experts less time to check the data than ever before. Inside Census Bureau headquarters, officials are assessing which quality checks must be jettisoned and data-processing software rewritten to finish on time.

And on the ground, the early door-knocking has been riddled with kinks like sloppy training, a clunky mobile app and unsettling encounters with people not wearing masks and who were unconcerned about spreading the coronavirus to the stranger on their porch.

Such problems have raised doubts among experts about whether the 2020 population totals will be accurate enough for crucial national decision-making. The numbers are used to divide the 435 seats in the House of Representatives among the states, draw political maps nationwide and fairly dispense more than $1.5 trillion in federal grants and aid annually.

The count faces two crushing deadlines — to compile an accurate tally by Sept. 30, and to process and double-check the numbers in time to deliver population totals to the president by Dec. 31. The Census Bureau earlier had told Congress it needed to push the delivery of population totals to April 2021 because of the pandemic.

The Trump administration ordered the speedup, critics say, because it wants to subtract immigrants living in the country illegally from the totals before sending them in January to Congress to reapportion the House. That plan — which faces multiple court challenges — would reshuffle House seats to give a modest advantage to the Republican Party.

The bureau said Saturday that it had reached enough nonresponders to raise the total share of households counted to 74.8%, a healthy rise from the 64.1% that had voluntarily sent in census forms when door-knocking began.

But by definition, the remaining households are ever harder to reach, and the obstacles to

reaching them are formidable. They include predictions of an unusually active hurricane season and fears that Trump’s anti-immigrant policies will deter census responders.

“Sane people are questioning the government,” said Esteban L. Bovo, a Miami-Dade County commissioner and liaison to the Census Bureau. “As much as I tell people federal law prohibits the government from giving their information out, I don’t know that they’re buying it.”

Then there is the pandemic, which forced a three-month delay in door-knocking to August — and whose nationwide average of new cases is about 50% higher today than when that delay was imposed last spring.

Nearly 4 in 10 U.S. counties recorded at least 100 virus cases per 100,000 residents in the past week. More than half of the 38.2 million residents who remain to be counted — 20.1 million — live in states with COVID-19 rates above that level, according to an analysis by the National Conference on Citizenship.

That poses a daunting problem for doorknockers, said William F. Pewen, an epidemiologist working with the National Conference on Citizenship to assess the coronavirus crisis’ impact on the census. Above the 100-cases-aweek level, he said, the chance of a sudden surge in infections rises sharply, as does the individual risk of infection. So does public wariness about interacting with strangers.

“Doors are not going to open,” Pewen said, “and we could miss thousands or millions of people.”

But Olson said that although many potential door-knockers apparently declined jobs for fear of getting sick, the virus did not significantly seem to affect residents’ willingness to talk to census workers.

That said, census takers say there is resistance. One said that doormen of high-rise buildings had denied entry in roughly 3 out of every 4 locations in an upscale Chicago neighborhood, usually citing COVID-19 concerns. The problem is bad enough that New York City last week sent a notice ordering building managers to let census workers in.

In Miami-Dade County, where 4 in 10 of the county’s 870,000 households have not filled out census forms, the weekly rate of virus cases is 281 per 100,000 residents, dwarfing the national average of about 13.5.

But rural areas also are at risk. Largely untouched by the coronavirus outbreak a month ago, the 13,500 residents of Montana’s Big Horn County have recorded 81 cases in the past week — 608 per 100,000. Fourteen people have died.

In 2010, about half the county’s households filled out census forms. This year, only about 1 in 5 has done so, and a Crow Indian reservation is in a lockdown to prevent spread of the virus, deterring census takers from going there.

“The initial plan was to go into communities when COVID rates were manageable,” said Denice Ross, a senior fellow at the National Conference on Citizenship. “That’s why they needed extra time. By compressing it, they’ve lost that flexibility.”

Plasma donation at a testing site in Miami Springs, Fla., on July 22, 2020. In MiamiDade County, four in 10 of the county’s households have not filled out census forms.

10

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Officer is fired after TikTok videos show his arrest of black woman

By CHRISTINA MORALES

A

police officer in Georgia was fired as of Friday after videos on TikTok that drew millions of views showed him using a Taser in the arrest of a Black woman, the authorities said.

The Police Department in Gwinnett County, which is about 20 miles northeast of Atlanta, said it had begun its investigation into the officer, Michael Oxford, before the video spread widely on TikTok. Investigators examined whether Oxford, who is white, used de-escalation techniques and whether he violated departmental policy on Aug. 18 when he arrested the woman, Kyndesia Smith.

“One of our core values is courtesy,” the department said in a statement. “We strive to conduct ourselves in a manner that promotes mutual respect with the community and our peers. The investigation in this case has shown that Officer Oxford violated our policy and did not meet our core values.”

It was the latest in a series of episodes that have reverberated across the country as racial unrest continues to brew after the death of George Floyd in May. Efforts to reach Oxford and Smith were not successful Sunday evening.

The episode in Gwinnett began after the police said they received a “property damage call.” When Oxford arrived, he said he was told that a bottle had been thrown at a car, according to a police report.

What happened was caught on surveillance video, and he was directed to a house where someone had been seen on the video picking up the bottle before the police arrived, the report said.

When Oxford got to the house, he saw a woman who matched the description of the person in the surveillance footage who picked up the bottle before the police arrived, he wrote. He attempted to speak to her but could not because Smith and others were yelling at him, the report said.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Smith tells

In a video from TikTok, Officer Michael Oxford, left, is seen after using a Taser on Kyndesia Smith, and then struggling to handcuff her after she fell into some bushes. the officer in one of several videos posted on TikTok. Oxford told her she could go to jail for obstructing his investigation. In one of the videos, Smith responded: “It doesn’t matter.

You’re on our property. We did not call you.

I’m not going anywhere.”

The videos do not show what happened immediately leading up to Smith’s arrest, and it was not clear who had recorded them.

The officer told Smith she was under arrest, pulled at her and used a Taser as she fought being handcuffed. Smith fell to the ground onto a patch of bushes near the porch where she had been standing, the report said.

In a second video, Smith could be heard saying, “Call the police, Momma.” Oxford, standing over her, attempts to handcuff one of her wrists.

“Don’t touch me,” Smith says. She waves her arm away from Oxford, who conti-

nues his effort to handcuff her. Onlookers are heard yelling for him to stop.

“You’re on her neck,” a person off camera says. “Do you not understand what you’re doing?” Oxford tells Smith to stop resisting.

In a third video, Smith is sitting upright and struggling with Oxford who says “Give me your hands” several times.

Toward the end of a video, another white officer arrives and helps to handcuff Smith.

Although Oxford was fired, the department did say there was probable cause to arrest Smith for obstruction of a law enforcement officer and that his use of force was within the department’s policy.

Smith was taken to the Gwinnett County Jail, where she was released early Wednesday morning. The status of the charges against her and whether she had a lawyer were unclear Sunday.

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

11

Europe tried to limit mass layoffs, but the cuts are coming anyway

By LIZ ALDERMAN

A

t BP, 10,000 jobs. At Lufthansa, 22,000. At Renault, 14,600.

When European countries ordered businesses to shutter and employees to stay home as the coronavirus spread, governments took radical steps to shield workers from the prospect of mass joblessness, extending billions to businesses to keep people employed.

The layoffs are coming anyway.

A tsunami of job cuts is about to hit Europe as companies prepare to carry out sweeping downsizing plans to offset a collapse in business from the outbreak. Government-backed furlough schemes that have helped keep around one-third of Europe’s workforce financially secure are set to unwind in the coming months.

As many as 59 million jobs are at risk of cuts in hours or pay, temporary furloughs, or permanent layoffs, especially in industries like transportation and retail, according to a study by McKinsey & Co. Governments are warning that millions will soon lose paychecks, and the European Central Bank last week said unemployment was likely to surge and stay high even when a recovery from the pandemic unfolds.

“Europe has been successful at dampening the initial effects of the crisis,” said John Hurley, senior research manager at Eurofound, the research arm of the European Union. “But in all likelihood, unemployment is going to come home to roost, especially when the generous furlough programs start to ease off,” he said.

“There’s going to be a shakeout,” he added, “and it’s going to be fairly ugly.”

Compared with the United States, which lost more than 20 million jobs in April alone, the furlough programs in the EU have prevented unemployment from going off the charts. Germany, France, Denmark and Britain are among countries that have employed so-called short-work schemes, effectively nationalizing the paychecks of about 60 million private-sector employees.

But even before a recent resurgence of coronavirus cases, the pandemic’s economic damage was growing, and it now appears those expensive government programs only postponed the pain for some workers. Corporate giants and retail companies operating well below capacity since the

start of the crisis will now pivot to slashing tens of thousands of positions in autumn and through next year. Some companies figure the disruption is the best time to move forward on long-contemplated downsizing.

Airbus, BP, Renault, Lufthansa, Air France, Debenhams department store chain, Bank of Ireland, retailer W.H. Smith and even McLaren Group, which includes the Formula One racing team, along with countless smaller businesses, are among those planning cuts that will sweep factory workers, retail employees and high-paid whitecollar workers into the ranks of the unemployed.

The layoffs are mounting even as Europe has flashed signs of recovery amid a historic contraction in growth rates. In Germany, business and consumer confidence is growing, while manufacturing activity across the eurozone bounced back to growth in July. The euro is strengthening against the dollar as investment flows into Europe.

The scale and speed of the cutbacks underscores the challenge facing leaders as they recalibrate their approach to limiting the pandemic’s damage.

For one thing, the cost of Europe’s support programs has been mounting. European leaders recently agreed to a landmark 750 billion euro stimulus package on top of hundreds of billions spent since the start of the crisis, ballooning national debts and deficits.

And many of the jobs being subsidized are in industries facing potentially irreversible damage from the pandemic.

About 9 million European workers, up to one-fifth of those currently enrolled in the short-work programs, are in what German bank Allianz has dubbed “zombie jobs” — positions in the auto and airline industries, restaurants, shops and hotels and other sectors ill-equipped to confront shifting consumer behavior. Many of these jobs are still on the books almost solely because of government subsidies, the bank said.

“The programs in Europe are more generous than in the United States, but they won’t last forever,” said Simon Tilford, an author of a Center for European Reform report on the economic risks of the pandemic. “Lots of companies will lay off workers irrespective of whether they can continue to access wage subsidy schemes because they can’t see demand recovering anytime soon,”

A Lufthansa jet in Frankfurt. The airline is cutting 22,000 jobs. he said.

In the meantime, governments “are going to face a difficult choice about continuing to subsidize workers in sectors where there is a question about the long-term future,” including autos and aerospace, he added.

Employers will soon face other financial pressures as emergency benefits adopted when the virus was raging in the spring come to a close. In Britain, a moratorium on forfeiture of commercial properties because of unpaid rent — effectively allowing firms to delay rent payments — ends in September. In Germany, a rule allowing companies in distress to avoid filing for bankruptcy will also begin phasing out in September.

Among the U.K. businesses that have already announced cuts, British Airways, easyJet and Virgin Atlantic will shed a total of nearly 20,000 jobs. Boots, Pret a Manger and a phalanx of other high street retailers and food shops will lay off at least 15,000 in the coming weeks and months. At BP, 10,000 office-based positions will go, most by the end of the year. Millions of others on precarious temporary and “on-call” contracts are also at risk.

Governments are moving to ensure that rising joblessness doesn’t turn into a quagmire of long-term unemployment.

Britain and other countries are expanding access to benefits and investing billions in

programs to train workers in industries that are hiring, whether in chemical engineering, truck driving or home care.

Britain will invest 800 million pounds ($1 billion) into job centers and double the number of work coaches to 27,000 to help benefit claimants back into work. France is recruiting thousands of new counselors to give job seekers what the government says will be more personalized direction.

Adecco, Europe’s largest temporary employment agency, whose main business includes working with companies and labor unions to carry out restructuring plans, has been amping up its retraining.

“We see a huge wave of restructuring coming, especially in Germany, France and the United States,” said Christophe Catoir, Adecco’s president for France and Northern Europe. “In September, October and November we will probably register an additional 1 million unemployed in France alone — not just people in short-term work, but high-skilled people.”

Yet there are opportunities, he said. Engineers will be laid off at Airbus, which is cutting 15,000 jobs in Europe. But job vacancies currently abound for industrial and technical engineers, as well as in the pharmaceutical and agro-food industry, Catoir said.

“Creating a mobility of skills will be the basis of a rebound,” he said. “Without it you will have continued unemployment.”

12

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

As evictions loom, lawyers are gearing up to help

The Rhiley family at their home in Omaha, Neb., Aug. 14, 2020. Danni Rhiley, 42, said she had fallen short on rent money because she had to stop working as a full-time aide to a paraplegic man with a compromised immune system because of concerns about the coronavirus.

By MATHEW GOLDSTEIN

J

ust a few weeks ago, Jessie Reed was worried about being evicted from her Omaha, Nebraska, apartment with her three young children. Her landlord had already tried to force her out in May when she stopped paying rent after quitting her job at an Omaha Steaks warehouse. One of her children has severe asthma, and Reed was worried she would unwittingly catch the coronavirus at work and transmit it.

But in June, a legal aid lawyer convinced a local judge that Reed was protected by a federal moratorium on evictions under the CARES Act, which Congress passed in March to cushion the economic fallout of the pandemic.

The ruling has bought Reed, 32, time to settle her financial affairs.

“I wanted a lawyer as a backup because the landlord was trying to intimidate me,” she said.

For tenants, especially those with limited means, having a lawyer can be the difference between being evicted or

being able to stay on in a rented home.

Yet legal representation for tenants is relatively rare in housing courts. Surveys from several big cities over the years have shown that in housing court, landlords are represented by lawyers at least 80% of the time, while tenants tend to have lawyers in fewer than 10% of cases.

This unlevel playing field is about to come into sharper focus in the months ahead, now that the fourmonth pause on evictions provided by the CARES Act, followed by a 30-day notice period that ends on Monday, is coming to an end. The moratorium had provided protection to about 12 million tenants living in qualifying properties. Additionally, local moratoriums in some states had protected renters in homes not covered by the federal law.

“Tenants are not equipped to represent themselves, and eviction court places them on an uneven playing field that allows landlords to run roughshod over their rights,” said Ellie Pepper of the National Housing Resource Center,

which focuses on housing policy and funding issues.

In New York, which in 2017 became the first American city to guarantee the right to a lawyer in housing court, the effect is clear. Since the law went into effect, 84% of tenants who had a lawyer managed to remain in their homes after a housing dispute, according to the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel, an advocacy group.

Demand for legal assistance with housing issues is on the rise in states where local moratoriums for rentals not covered by the CARES Act have already ended. In the Atlanta area, legal aid lawyers say calls seeking help in dealing with private landlords are running 25% higher than they were two months ago. In particular, lawyers said, calls are coming in from Clayton County, one of the poorest areas that Atlanta Legal Aid serves.

“Our caseloads haven’t yet exploded, because the courts just started hearing cases that were pending before the pandemic struck,” said Lindsey Siegel, a lawyer with Atlanta Legal Aid. “But it’s coming.” The nonprofit is bringing on additional lawyers and setting up housing clinics in local courts to advise renters, Siegel added.

Landlords have struggled, too, taking in 29% less in rent checks in the first 10 days of August than in the same period in March, according to a report from Rentec Direct, a property management information and tenant screening firm.

David Schwartz, chief executive officer of Waterton, a Chicago real estate firm that owns or manages 22,000 rental apartments in nearly two dozen states, said he and other large landlords didn’t favor another blanket moratorium to prevent evictions. But he does favor an extension of so-called enhanced unemployment payments for those out of work and rental assistance to help keep people in their apartments if they are willing to arrange payment plans with landlords.

“The problem with the moratorium is that there are households who just aren’t paying rent because they feel there are no repercussions,” said

Schwartz, who is also chairman of the National Multifamily Housing Council, a landlord association.

Even tenants who have managed to patch together rent stand on shaky ground. For instance, Reed, who recently started offering child care for neighbors out of her home, could still be evicted if she can’t make a go of her business.

Her landlord, William Stanek, said he was waiting to see if Reed’s application to a local charity for rental assistance was approved. He said he might have to move again to evict her next month.

But for now, Stanek “has been very nice to me and my kids,” Reed said.

In Nebraska, where the local moratorium on evictions expired in May, at least 92,000 people are at risk of being forced out of their homes in the coming months, according to a report by a consortium of housing advocates and public policy organizations. The report said that nationally, at least 30 million people — including those in homes not covered by the CARES Act moratorium — were in danger of being evicted without any new federal aid or a renewed pause.

In Omaha, Caitlin Cedfeldt, the lawyer who represented Reed, said she and her colleagues at Legal Aid of Nebraska were busier than ever.

“Right now I have to be in court four days a week. That’s a pretty high number for me,” said Cedfeldt, who has been working for Legal Aid for 2 1/2 years. “Most of the time I used to be in court twice a week.”

Part of the reason she has been so busy is that many landlords who owned properties covered by the CARES Act jumped the gun in pushing for evictions before the moratorium ended. Cedfeldt said many renters who came to her were often unaware of their rights under the legislation.

“All I could do was watch tenants show up to court and see them get evicted when they shouldn’t have been,” Cedfeldt said. “I especially remember seeing one woman who burst into tears any time the court asked if she had any response. It was awful.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

13

Stocks

S&P, Nasdaq close at new highs as Wall Street rides bull momentum

T

he S&P 500 and the Nasdaq reached new record closing highs on Monday as optimism over potential medical advances in the war against the coronavirus pandemic pushed all three major U.S. stock indexes higher.

The benchmark S&P 500 reclaimed its February closing high last week, confirming a bull market and the fastest recovery from a bear market trough on record.

The blue-chip Dow, while leading Monday’s gains, remains nearly 4.2% below its all-time high, and down 0.8% yearto-date. The Nasdaq and the S&P have gained 26.8% and 6.2%, respectively, since the final closing bell of 2019.

Of note, the Dow Transports index, often considered a barometer of U.S. economic health, handily outperformed the broader market.

“There’s been a broadening in this rally and the what’s reflected in the transports,” said Chuck Carlson, chief executive officer at Horizon Investment Services in Hammond, Indiana. “(Higher) volume is accompanying this expanding breadth, and those are all bullish things.”

Markets worldwide were given a boost by new developments in the global race to battle the coronavirus, including an announcement from the Food and Drug Administration that it had given emergency authorization for the use of plasma from recovered patients as a treatment option.

However, the World Health Organization expressed skepticism about the treatment due to “low quality” data.

The Trump administration is considering fast-tracking an experimental COVID-19 vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca Plc and Oxford University in hopes it could be deployed in the United States before Americans head to the polls in November.

“There’s an element of that news helping the ‘reopening trade,’ which is a euphemism of economically sensitive stocks performing better,” Carlson added.

The four-day Republican national convention got under way on Monday, with the party making the case for Trump’s reelection.

On Capitol Hill, Democrats and Republicans remained at loggerheads over funding levels and unemployment benefits.

Market participants will pay close attention to U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s remarks on monetary policy at this week’s Kansas City Fed Jackson Hole symposium, which is being held this year in a virtual format.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 378.13 points, or 1.35%, to 28,308.46, the S&P 500 gained 34.12 points, or 1.00%, to 3,431.28 and the Nasdaq Composite added 67.92 points, or 0.6%, to 11,379.72.

Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, all but healthcare ended the session in the black.

Energy and financials enjoyed the largest percentage gains.

Ahead of its 4-to-1 share split on Friday, Apple Inc provided the biggest boost to the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, its share price closing above $500 days after becoming the first public U.S. company to top $2 trillion in market value. The stock gained 1.2%.

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Tuesday, August 25, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

In China, where the pandemic began, life is starting to look … normal

By JAVIER C. HERNÁNDEZ

I

n Shanghai, restaurants and bars in many neighborhoods are teeming with crowds. In Beijing, thousands of students are heading back to campus for the fall semester. In Wuhan, where the coronavirus emerged eight months ago, water parks and night markets are packed elbow to elbow, buzzing like before.

While the United States and much of the world are still struggling to contain the coronavirus pandemic, life in many parts of China has in recent weeks become strikingly normal. Cities have relaxed social distancing rules and mask mandates, and crowds are again filling tourist Revelers at a concert in Chongli, in the northern sites, movie theaters and gyms.

“It no longer feels like there is something too fright- province of Hebei, last week. ful or too life-threatening out there,” said Xiong Xiaoyan, who works at a paint manufacturer in the southern prov- cording to official data. ince of Guangdong.

On Sunday, China reported no new locally transmitXiong, who described the restrictions put in place to ted cases for the seventh consecutive day. The 12 new combat the virus as “suffocating,” recently visited a movie infections it reported were all imported, bringing China’s theater for the first time since the outbreak total number of confirmed cases to 84,951, with at least “When the lights turned dark, I felt I had returned to 4,634 deaths. In the United States, nearly 5.7 million peomy normal life,” she said. “I could forget about everything ple have been infected and at least 176,200 have died. outside and have my own spiritual world.”

Now many Chinese cities are once again hosting The return to normalcy has made China an outlier in large events, though with some limits on crowd sizes, afthe global economy. ter months when such gatherings were banned entirely.

The United States is facing a potentially long and Qingdao, a seaside city in eastern China, is holdpainful recession, as some places have reimposed restric- ing its popular beer festival this month largely as planned tions to contend with a surge in cases this summer. Sever- (face masks are optional). Shanghai recently held a gamal countries in Europe have been experiencing fresh out- ing convention that attracted thousands of enthusiasts. breaks, putting additional pressure on an already weak Many people are resuming old routines, with some economy. By contrast, China has been slowly recovering modifications, hopeful that the worst has passed. in recent months, and its factories are humming again, China’s leaders, hoping to bolster the economy, are although its growth is still weaker than before the pan- eager for people to get back to work and start shopping demic, and job losses are significant. and traveling again.

It is a stark turnabout from the early days of the panBut they are also taking a cautious approach, requirdemic, when China was the epicenter of the outbreak ing movie theaters and tourist sites, for example, to opand the authoritarian government imposed sweeping erate at half-capacity. To get into banks, restaurants and lockdowns. Across the country, life came to a halt and other public venues, residents must submit to temperathe economy cratered as people were forced to stay at home and shops largely shut down, except those selling essential goods.

In Wuhan, the streets were all but deserted, except for government vehicles and delivery drivers ferrying food and supplies. Hospitals were overrun with patients as nervous residents with coughs and fevers sought treatment.

A sense of anger and anxiety permeated the city while residents grappled with a rapidly mounting death toll and uncertainty about when the lockdown would end.

Despite a delayed response and early missteps by the government, the recovery in China points to the success of the extreme tactics. After months of travel restrictions and citywide testing drives, locally trans- Wearing masks while watching a film at a movie mitted cases of the virus in China are near zero, ac- theater in Beijing last month.

ture checks and show digital codes verifying that they are healthy and have not traveled recently to areas where there have been clusters of new cases.

Authorities continue to restrict travel in the Xinjiang region in western China, where an outbreak last month prompted a lockdown. China still prohibits most foreigners from entering the country, for fear that they could bring the virus.

There have been outbreaks in recent months, but in each case the response was swift. When Wuhan reported six coronavirus cases in May, breaking a streak of more than a month without any confirmed infections, the city launched a plan to test all 11 million of its people. And when a new cluster emerged in Beijing in June, authorities quickly reimposed some lockdown measures to contain it.

While China is not the only place where restrictions have eased — Taiwan, for example, has kept the virus under control for months — the semblance of normalcy has become a point of national pride and fodder for the country’s vast propaganda apparatus.

The state news media is pointing to the return of large gatherings and classes as evidence of China’s superior response to the virus, especially compared with the United States and other Western countries whose officials are still dealing with large outbreaks.

When photos circulated worldwide in recent days showing thousands of people swimming shoulder to shoulder at a pool rave in Wuhan, prompting some criticism overseas, Chinese commentators were quick to defend the party. Global Times, a state-run newspaper, called the reaction to the photos “foreign sour grapes.”

Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, said the world should pay more attention to China’s efforts to control the outbreak.

“This reflects a strategic victory achieved by Wuhan and the Chinese government in fighting the virus,” he said at a regular news briefing Thursday.

China could still face a COVID-19 resurgence, experts warn, especially as the weather cools and people spend more time indoors.

“They still need to be cautious,” said David Hui, director of the Stanley Ho Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

“Mass gatherings and mass celebrations should not be encouraged.”

Some Chinese residents are worried that the public is becoming too dismissive of the virus.

Cheng Ailin, 59, recently visited a gorge in Guangdong that was crowded with tourists. She said she was shocked to see that most people were not wearing masks.

“There were no control and prevention measures,” she said. “If there were a coronavirus case, the consequences would be unimaginable, and the trouble would have no end.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

15

Russia, expecting plaudits for vaccine, is miffed by its cool reception

By ANDREW E. KRAMER

I

t was with great fanfare that President Vladimir Putin and other officials announced this month that 1 billion doses of a Russian vaccine for the new coronavirus would soon be rolled out, supposedly putting an end to the worst pandemic in a century.

But rather than taking a bow for saving the world with their vaccine, which they call Sputnik V, Russian health officials have found themselves on the defensive.

“Some foreign colleagues, who must have felt certain competition and competitive edges of Russia’s product, have been trying to express opinions that we find totally groundless,” the minister of health, Mikhail Murashko, told a news conference in Moscow.

Most of those “opinions” are based on the fact that Sputnik V has not been tested in late-stage, large, randomized control trials that are critical in establishing a vaccine’s safety and effectiveness.

By skipping such trials, Russia is potentially endangering people to score propaganda points, health experts warn.

“If we wanted to take the chance of hurting a lot of people or giving them something that doesn’t work, we could start doing this, you know, next week if we wanted to,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the United States’ leading infectious disease expert.

Russian scientists have dismissed such criticism as sour grapes. Alexander Gintsburg, the director of the Gamaleya Institute, the scientific body that designed the vaccine, said the pushback was merely “a fight for market share” of coronavirus vaccines.

“We are certain we have the best, most tested and most effective vaccine in the world,” said Kirill Dmitriev, the head of a state-controlled investment fund financing the vaccine. “Our competitors understand this perfectly and fear a strong position of Russia in the vaccine market.”

The world’s major powers are racing to develop and produce a vaccine that, if successful and accepted by their own citizens and other countries, will earn geopolitical and economic benefits for the winner, along with prestige. The U.S. has poured billions of dollars into an effort called Operation Warp Speed.

Currently, eight vaccines are further along than Russia’s in late-stage trials, including ones produced by Moderna in the U.S., by Oxford University and AstraZeneca in Britain, and several in China.

Vaccines generally go through three stages of human testing before they can gain approval. The first two phases test the vaccines on small numbers of people to see whether they stimulate an immune response or cause harm.

The last phase compares the vaccine to a placebo in tens of thousands of people, to determine whether it works in preventing disease. The final phase could also highlight potentially disastrous side effects, such as rendering those inoculated more vulnerable to severe forms of COVID-19. Russia began late-stage trials this month, after approving the vaccine.

Dmitriev, the investor in the vaccine, has said that Russian scientists had confidence in it because they had used the same approach on a successful Ebola vaccine. And starting last

A scientist working with samples of a coronavirus vaccine at the Gamaleya Institute in Moscow, in a photo distributed by the government-controlled Russian Direct Investment Fund.

September, just months before the pandemic began, they had fortuitously been studying in clinical trials a vaccine against Middle East respiratory syndrome, which is caused by a similar coronavirus. Russia is in talks on exporting the vaccine or licensing production with 20 countries, including Brazil, Cuba, the Philippines and Saudi Arabia.

The Ministry of Health said the first doses would go to Russian medical workers and teachers, and Putin said one of his daughters had already taken the vaccine.

But even Russian doctors have been reluctant customers.

The chair of the ethics committee in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Alexander Chuchalin, quit as the ministry was in the process of approving the vaccine. Reached by telephone, Chuchalin declined to comment.

In an online survey, only 24% of 3,040 doctors said they would administer the new vaccine to their patients.

Four Russian trade unions representing doctors and teachers have recommended their members not take the vaccine.

The Kremlin approved it prematurely in a “political decision” for purposes of prestige and to revive the economy, said Anastasia Vasilyeva, the director of one of the unions, Doctor’s Alliance, which is affiliated with a Russian political opposition group.

“Doctors are not stupid,” she said in an interview. “They understand what an untested medicine can do.”

The unusual route to approval has roots in Russia’s long history of vaccine development. In the 1950s, a family of Russian

scientists tested an ultimately successful polio vaccine on their own children.

In 1969, Dr. Alexander Butenko quickly designed a vaccine against Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever to quell an outbreak in southern Russia. He injected himself first, following a Russian tradition for medical scientists, then tested it on a small number of people. Soviet health authorities approved the vaccine to halt the spread of the disease though it had not undergone late-stage clinical trials. In that case, the vaccine worked.

Such rapid approval “isn’t just done for sporting interest,” said Butenko, who is now retired. “It’s always done in a crisis,” when the risks of a new vaccine are weighed against the harm from an epidemic.

So far, scientists have found no indications that vaccines against the new coronavirus could cause an enhancement of the disease, Johan Neyts, a professor of virology at the University of Leuven in Belgium, said in a telephone interview. “But this is something that should be kept in mind.”

One reason for concern, he noted, is a decades-old study

by Dutch virologists who developed an experimental vaccine against a strain of coronavirus that infects cats. When the animals were subsequently exposed to the feline virus, they died more quickly than cats given a placebo.

In their study, published in the Journal of Virology in 1990, the researchers called it “early death syndrome.”

“This is one of the main reasons everyone is vigilant,” Neyts said.

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Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Researchers document first case of virus reinfection

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

R

esearchers in Hong Kong are reporting the first confirmed case of reinfection with the coronavirus.

“An apparently young and healthy patient had a second case of COVID-19 infection which was diagnosed 4.5 months after the first episode,” University of Hong Kong researchers said Monday in a statement.

The report is of concern because it suggests that immunity to the coronavirus may last only a few months in some

people. And it has implications for vaccines being developed for the virus.

The 33-year-old man had only mild symptoms the first time and no symptoms this time around. The reinfection was discovered when he returned from a trip to Spain, the researchers said, and the virus they sequenced closely matched the strain circulating in Europe in July and August.

“Our results prove that his second infection is caused by a new virus that he acquired recently rather than prolonged viral shedding,” said Dr. Kelvin Kai-Wang

To, a clinical microbiologist at the University of Hong Kong.

Given that there are millions of cases worldwide, it is not unexpected that a few, or even a few dozen, people might be reinfected with the virus after only a few months, experts have said.

Doctors have reported several cases of presumed reinfection in the United States and elsewhere, but none of those cases have been confirmed with rigorous testing. Recovered people are known to shed viral fragments for weeks, which can cause tests to show a positive result

in the absence of live virus.

But the Hong Kong researchers sequenced the virus from both rounds of infection and found significant differences in the two sets of virus, suggesting that the patient was infected a second time.

Common cold coronaviruses are known to cause reinfections in less than a year, but experts had hoped that the new coronavirus might behave more like its cousins severe acute respiratory syndrome and Middle East respiratory syndrome, which seemed to produce longer-lasting immunity of a few years.

At least 14 killed after two blasts rip through Philippines

By JASON GUTIERREZ

T

wo powerful explosions ripped through heavily populated areas of a southern Philippine island Monday, killing at least 14 people and wounding 75 others in a known stronghold of the extremist group Abu Sayyaf.

“There was a heavy explosion” around noon near the town plaza on Jolo Island, said Capt. Rex Payot, a spokesman of the joint police-military anti-terrorism task force.

Police and military reports said that soldiers and civilians were killed instantly in the first blast, which occurred as army personnel were assisting local municipal officials in carrying out COVID-19 humanitarian efforts.

Not long after, a second explosion — set off by a suicide bomber, an official said — hit near the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Early last year, a suicide bombing at the same cathedral killed at least 23 people just as worshippers were gathering for Sunday Mass.

Police officers and soldiers secured an area after two explosions struck the town of Jolo in the Philippine province of Sulu on Monday.

Mayor Kherkar Tan of Jolo said that, in total, at least seven soldiers, one police officer and six civilians were killed in the blasts Monday. At least 21 soldiers, six officers and 48 civilians were also injured.

No one immediately took responsibility for the explosions. But Jolo, in the Sulu Archipelago in the nation’s far south, has long been considered occupied territory and a hotbed of militant activity.

Abu Sayyaf, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, has split into several factions, one of which is led by Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan, the acknowledged leader of the local Islamic State group in the southern Philippines.

Sawadjaan, who claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing of Our Lady of Mount Carmel last year, was “most probably” behind Monday’s attack, too, said a military spokesman, Lt. Col. Ronaldo Mateo.

Mateo said the first bomb was rigged to a motorbike that had been left behind by its driver. After it exploded, he said, “a female suicide bomber detonated herself as a soldier stopped her from entering the cordoned-off area.”

He said the identity and nationality of the suicide bomber were still being confirmed. The attack last year was also carried out by suicide bombers — an Indonesian couple.

The military’s Western Mindanao Command said in an internal report seen

by The New York Times that the first explosion occurred in front of the Paradise Food Plaza in a village called Walled City in downtown Jolo.

Gen. Manuel Abu, head of the police in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which includes Jolo, said the first blast was probably meant to draw authorities to the area.

“The second explosion occurred in front of the first blast site,” he said. “Initially, we sent our bomb experts to investigate.”

Jolo’s provincial information officer, Sonny Abbing, told a local radio station, “I was near the site when I heard a loud explosion and saw some of police and personnel fell.”

The Jolo mayor issued a lockdown order in the wake of the blasts. The Philippine Coast Guard in Southwestern Mindanao, as well as in the areas of Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Basilan and Zamboanga, was placed on high alert after the blasts, according to local news reports.

This month, Philippine troops captured five men they described as Abu Sayyaf militants working under the bomb expert Mundi Sawadjaan in Jolo. He escaped, but military officials said they believed that the group had been scouting for possible targets.

“We have been chasing after him since May,” said Maj. Gen. Corleto Vinluan Jr. of the Western Mindanao Command.

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

17

Canada’s conservatives picking a leader to rival scandal-scarred Trudeau

By IAN AUSTEN

W

hen the four contenders to lead Canada’s Conservative Party gathered virtually in June for an English-language debate, one subject dominated their conversation: the many ways they felt Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had failed Canada.

On Sunday evening, the Conservative Party will announce its new leader, who will become the closest political rival to Trudeau, a Liberal, at a time when he is once again ensnared in an ethics investigation.

Several prominent Conservative Party members have argued that, no matter who wins the leadership race, the party’s top priority should be offering an alternative vision for Canada’s future rather than focusing on the weaknesses of Trudeau and his government or the bitter disagreements in their own party.

Since 2015, when Trudeau unexpectedly defeated Stephen Harper, the Conservative prime minister, the party has struggled to respond effectively to Trudeau’s personal popularity. But a new Conservative Party leader could successfully challenge Trudeau’s platform, particularly as the prime minister continues to struggle with scandals, analysts say.

“Trudeau is an anomaly because he’s the first true Canadian celebrity politician,” said Jenni Byrne, a former campaign manager for Harper. “He remains the Liberals’ biggest asset, even now.”

Last week after offering a sweeping vision of post-pandemic Canada during a ceremony, Trudeau named a new finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, and announced that he would shut down the current session of Parliament in order to reset the government’s agenda toward economic recovery.

Opponents swiftly cast the announcement as an attempt

by Trudeau to mute committee hearings into his links to WE Charity, an organization that was awarded a multimilliondollar administrative contract by the government and later paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees to Trudeau’s mother and brother.

Bill Morneau, the previous finance minister, resigned abruptly last week. Morneau had also been caught in the throes of the ethics investigation.

While Trudeau remained in power after the October election, it was without a majority of votes in the House of Commons. The Conservatives managed to pull in more of the popular vote, with Andrew Scheer as leader. But after several weeks of criticism over his campaign performance, Scheer announced in December that he would step down following a new leadership vote.

Among the first to criticize Scheer was Peter MacKay, the former leader of the Progressive Conservative Party. Not long after last October’s vote, MacKay said that Scheer’s personal opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage had hung around his neck “like a stinking albatross” that drove away women and urban voters.

Sharp barbs have continued between the four candidates vying to lead the Conservative Party.

“This has actually been the nastiest leadership race that I believe I’ve seen the conservative movement run,” Byrne said.

“You have different campaigns who are basically saying if you support this candidate, you’re not a true conservative.”

MacKay, who is from Nova Scotia and who served in

Erin O’Toole, speaking after the victory on Sunday in Ottawa that made him the leader of Canada’s Conservative Party, said, “The world still needs more Canada, it just needs less Justin Trudeau.”

Harper’s Cabinet, is now a leadership candidate and is widely seen as one of the two front-runners.

His chief rival, Erin O’Toole of Ontario, is a former air force navigator and corporate lawyer. O’Toole, who was first elected to the House of Commons eight years ago, was the veteran’s affairs minister in Harper’s government and finished third in the leadership contest that selected Scheer.

Leslyn Lewis and Derek Sloan, the other two candidates in the race, are making explicit appeals to other social conservatives in the party.

Lewis, who is Black, is a fiscal conservative and a newcomer to politics. A lawyer with a graduate degree in environmental studies, she also represents a change for a party that is often criticized as being dominated by white men and weak on environmental issues.

During the campaign, O’Toole has promoted the idea that, compared with MacKay, he is the more true conservative. But several prominent party members said that the men’s political histories suggested otherwise.

“They are carbon copies of each other,” said Kory Teneycke, who was Harper’s director of communications. “Their differences are quite modest.”

The next federal election could come as soon as Parliament resumes in late September if the House of Commons votes down a confidence motion in Trudeau, although most political analysts think that is unlikely.

“This is our chance to build a more resilient Canada,” Trudeau said last week during his speech. “A Canada that is healthier and safer, greener and more competitive. A Canada

that is more welcoming and more fair.”

Morneau, the former finance minister, said he quit his post because it was time to let a new minister guide Canada’s recovery. But some news outlets reported that there were substantial disagreements between Morneau and the prime minister over the cost and extent of pandemic relief programs.

In the flurry of events that followed the resignation, Trudeau indicated more government spending would loom large. And the choice to replace Morneau with Freeland, who had been deputy prime minister, fits with that approach.

In her previous life as a journalist and author, Freeland wrote extensively about income inequality. Even Doug Ford, Ontario’s Conservative premier, praised her appointment. “I absolutely love Chrystia Freeland,” Ford told reporters. “I’ll have her back, I’ll help her any way we can.”

Ken Boessenkool, a prominent Conservative and former adviser to Harper, said that he and most other Canadians believe that when it comes to the pandemic, Trudeau’s government “managed phase one of this thing enormously well.”

While Boessenkool said that the WE Charity investigation had been too complicated to damage the prime minister severely, the combination of the inquiry and Morneau’s resignation had curtailed some of the gains he had made in the pandemic.

But Boessenkool said that the new Conservative leader should not propose slashing the country’s social safety net.

He also warned the new leader not to underestimate Trudeau, particularly with a new finance minister by his side.

“That makes me more nervous than facing just Trudeau,” he said.

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Tuesday, August 25, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL

Trump’s campaign of chaos

By CHARLES M. BLOW

I

smell the stench of panic on Donald Trump.

Every week that passes with him trailing in the polls — and with the very real possibility of defeat lurking — his Twitter tirades and public utterances seem to grow more erratic.

He is leaning into a campaign of chaos. He has undertaken an unprecedented attack on the U.S. Postal Service to prevent mail-in voting, trying to force voters to choose between protecting their health and exercising their right to vote.

This is an attempt at voter suppression on a massive scale. It is out in the open, designed to reduce the number of ballots cast (to give him a better chance of winning), and to create a pretext for contesting and delegitimizing the result should he lose.

This is the behavior of a desperate man, but it’s also a repeat of 2016, when Trump, then behind in the polls as he is now, signaled that he might not accept the election results.

The Obama White House went so far as to devise a secret plan in case he did this. As New York Magazine reported in 2018, the plan, according to interviews with Ben Rhodes, Obama’s senior aide and

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speechwriter, and Jen Psaki, Obama’s communications director, “called for congressional Republicans, former presidents, and former Cabinet-level officials including Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, to try and forestall a political crisis by validating the election result. In the event that Trump tried to dispute a Clinton victory, they would affirm the result as well as the conclusions reached by the U.S. intelligence community that Russian interference in the election sought to favor Trump, and not Clinton.”

The difference between then and now is that Trump now holds the power of the presidency.

This time, a bipartisan group of political figures has tried to game out what will happen if Trump refuses to accept the verdict this year, and the results aren’t pretty. As Rosa Brooks, a Georgetown law professor, a former Defense Department official and a co-organizer of the group known as the Transition Integrity Project, told the Boston Globe in July, “All of our scenarios ended in both street-level violence and political impasse.” She continued, “The law is essentially … it’s almost helpless against a president who’s willing to ignore it.”

Trump knows he’s struggling.

Bodies continue to pile up because of his incompetent response to the pandemic. Some 176,000 Americans have already been lost to the coronavirus, and that number could rise to nearly 300,000 by December. Millions of people are unemployed and anxious. There is ongoing civil unrest, and there have been large-scale protests against racism.

More than 3 1/2 years of endless outrages have culminated in our current catastrophes, and many voters are exasperated and outraged.

And yet, Trump has somehow managed to convince millions of Americans that he is not the cause of the chaos, but that he is somehow the last rampart against it. Other Trump supporters realize that he is the cause of the chaos, and they actually cheer it.

As Trump said Friday while speaking at the 2020 Council for National Policy Meeting in Arlington, Virginia: “I’m the only thing standing between the American dream and total anarchy, madness and chaos.

And that’s what it is. I’m representing you. I’m just here. And I’m not sure it’s an enviable position, but that’s what it is. That’s what it is.”

He continued: “You know, when I made that statement, I was a little embarrassed by it because it sounds so egotistical. It’s like an egotistical statement. And I was a little embarrassed: ‘I’m the only

President Donald Trump talks to supporters as he arrives in Avoca, Penn., Aug. 20, 2020. “Trump doesn’t believe in the preservation of this democracy; he believes in the preservation of Donald. one.’ But there was no other way to say it. We have to win the election.”

He is selling the fear of a dystopian Joe Biden/ Kamala Harris future. It is a fear of loss: loss of racial privilege and protection, loss of economic stability, loss of religious liberty, loss of gun culture and loss of political power and control.

Trump has taught conservatism to cowards. He has taught conservatives to see monsters in shadows.

He has taught them to view fear as power.

Trump will no doubt bring his fear message to this week’s Republican National Convention, hoping to alter the polling that has remained stubbornly steady.

But, if that doesn’t work, expect Trump to take an even more dramatic step. Time is winding down.

The election is in a few months. He needs a narrative-altering event, and don’t put anything past him.

He would be willing to create one, even if it damages the country and its institutions.

Trump doesn’t believe in the preservation of this democracy; he believes in the preservation of Donald. He doesn’t care what he might destroy, as long as he saves himself.

As Trump’s sister Maryanne Trump Barry is heard saying on secretly recorded tapes obtained by the Washington Post, “Donald is out for Donald, period.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

19

Comisionada residente confirma es positiva a COVID-19 Por THE STAR

L

a comisionada residente Jenniffer González Colón confirmó el lunes, que arrojó positivo a COVID-19.

“Hoy me hice la prueba del COVID y lamentablemente di positivo”, dijo González Colón en un video colocado en sus redes sociales.

“Yo creo que fue un error el estar en un espacio cerrado”, añadió.

“Es una buena lección para los políticos, así como al público en general”, dijo.

Advirtió a todos los que estaban alrededor de ella a que se hagan la prueba.

Mencionó que no tiene síntomas asociados.

Salud rectifica información sobre menores hospitalizados como casos sospechosos a COVID-19 Por THE STAR

E

l Departamento de Salud (DS) corrigió el lunes, la información que ofreció el secretario Lorenzo González Feliciano sobre la hospitalización de varios niños por coronavirus (COVID-19).

“El Departamento de Salud informó sobre el caso de dos menores de edad que estaban en cuidado intensivo por COVID-19, según el reporte diario que envían los hospitales al departamento, con el fin de actualizar nuestras estadísticas y mantener un registro de nuestros pacientes. Dicha información fue validada en varias ocasiones por el personal del hospital Puerto Rico Women’s and Children’s Hospital en el día de ayer. En el día de

hoy, el director ejecutivo de dicha entidad hospitalaria, José Samuel Rosado, dijo que, por un error del personal del hospital, se informó incorrectamente sobre ambos casos. Según explicó, y tras una conversación entre el personal de Salud y el presidente de la Asociación de Hospitales, Jaime Plá, los menores en cuestión fueron considerados casos sospechosos de COVID-19, pero ubicados en la lista de intensivo pediátrico de dicha institución, siendo así como se reportó al departamento”, establece un comunicado del DS. “Tras la rectificación por parte del hospital, procedimos a enmendar nuestras estadísticas y retiraremos ambos casos del Dashboard”, añadió.

El informe del Departamento de Salud no reportó

muertes por COVID-19, mientras que se registraron 442 casos confirmados y 311 casos probables adicionales.

Sin fatalidades adicionales reportadas al cierre de esta edición, las muertes confirmadas suman 251 y las probables son 139, por lo que, el total de decesos es 390.

Cualquier fallecimiento registrado luego de emitido el reporte, se verá reflejado en informes posteriores.

Las personas hospitalizadas ascienden a 363. Hay 71 pacientes adultos y dos pediátricos en intensivo.

De otra parte, el total de los resultados de casos confirmados de COVID-19 es 13,922. El total fue ajustado sumar tres casos: uno con fecha de toma de muestra del 23 de julio y dos con fecha de toma de muestra del 27 de julio. De ese total, 7,313 son mujeres y 6,609 son hombres. Los casos reportados son aquellos que tienen una prueba PCR positiva, con fecha de toma de muestra del 12 al 21 de agosto.

Como parte del reporte, se registraron 311 casos probables adicionales, con fecha de toma de muestra que comprende del 13 al 21 de agosto. En este renglón, el total es 16,696, tras ser ajustado, al restar 42 casos que tuvieron una prueba molecular positiva, posteriormente, y se sumaron a los casos registrados como parte de este informe.

De otra parte, se sumaron ocho casos con fechas de toma de muestra del 27 de junio al 6 de agosto. Los casos probables se dividen en 9,198 mujeres y 7,498 hombres.

Los ajustes en totales se realizan como parte de un esfuerzo del Departamento de Salud, entidades y laboratorios clínicos, para asegurar que toda muestra realizada para COVID-19 sea registrada en el Bio Portal, independientemente de la fecha en que se tomó la misma.

20

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

‘The Vow’ follows Nxivm down dark, damaging paths

Sarah Edmondson is among the former members of Nxivm who appear in “The Vow,” a nine-part documentary series debuting Sunday on HBO.

By MAUREEN RYAN

E

veryone involved in the nine-part documentary series “The Vow,” which chronicles the twisted saga of Nxivm, seems pretty media savvy. They know how easily complicated stories can get condensed into the shorthand of headlines.

If you’ve heard only one thing about Nxivm, which billed itself as a self-help organization but led many participants down dark and damaging paths, it’s probably that its leader, Keith Raniere, coerced women in the group to have sex with him; most coverage of the group has referred to it as a “sex cult.” If you’ve heard two things, the other fact is likely that some women were put through a terrifying ceremony in which Raniere’s initials were branded on their bodies.

At one point in the eighth episode, a former Nxivm member, Sarah Edmondson, jokes that a scar-healing cream should give her a sponsorship deal. By then, after the series had offered ample evidence of the rampant misogyny and corrosive narcissism Edmondson and other Raniere followers experienced, she had more than earned that brief display of levity.

“The Vow,” which debuted Sunday on HBO, doesn’t stint on the jaw-dropping details. But it also makes clear that the story of Nxivm (pronounced “NEX-ee-um”) is more

complex — and much more chilling — than the reductive “sex cult” label would indicate. As dangerous conspiracy theories rise to shocking prominence in U.S. life, “The Vow” examines why people are so primed to fall for perilous psychological traps that skilled manipulators use to lure and catch their idealistic prey.

Nxivm, which was based in a group of unexceptional houses and offices in and around Albany, New York, but had chapters all over North and South America, promised to free participants, many of them articulate and energetic women, from insecurities, negative emotions and destructive patterns. Raniere, a floppy-haired former businessman who insisted that people call him “Vanguard,” told seminar attendees that through “data and facts,” he and his instructors could help them push past the fears and limitations holding them back.

Instead, trial testimony and court rulings have revealed, Raniere weaponized people’s secrets and insecurities so that he could exploit them emotionally and financially. According to a lawsuit filed by former followers, Nxivm was also an enormous pyramid scheme that bilked its members out of millions of dollars.

There had been negative coverage of Nxivm in the past, but everything began to go awry for the group in 2017, when The New York Times reported on the branding ceremo-

nies and other disturbing allegations about Raniere and his most loyal acolytes. Last year, Raniere was convicted of multiple felonies, including racketeering and sex trafficking. (In Raniere’s trial, his attorneys said his sexual encounters with his followers were consensual.) Some top-level adherents, including Allison Mack, the former “Smallville” actress, and Clare Bronfman, an heiress to the Seagram liquor fortune, have struck plea deals and await sentencing.

“The Vow” illustrates how seemingly bright, capable people ended up enmeshed in the organization. As Mark Vicente, one of many appealing, complicated Nxivm refugees who appear in the series, put it: “We’re not (expletive), strange monsters that made bad choices our whole life. We didn’t join a cult. Nobody joins a cult! Nobody. They join a good thing — and then they realize they were (expletive).”

“The Vow” creative team, led by directors Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer, had plenty of raw material to work with.

Members of the group appear to have documented nearly every conversation they had with each other and with Raniere during the past two decades, and many Nxivm seminars were also recorded. We don’t have to rely on the commentary from former members to see what Raniere was selling, and how much others helped him promulgate sexist mindsets and increasingly deranged formulations of abuse as love.

The early episodes focus on how adherents were drawn in by Nxivm’s superficial resemblance to other self-help philosophies. Then the documentary evolves into something of a slow-burn thriller. The viewer becomes a fly on the wall as the filmmakers follow a group of anti-Nxivm campaigners, including Edmondson, Vicente and actresses Catherine Oxenberg and Bonnie Piesse, who implore the authorities and the media — including The Times — to do something about Raniere and his secretive inner circle. (Oxenberg’s daughter India was deeply involved in Nxivm — the group attracted quite a few Hollywood folks — and Catherine’s pain and relentless energy are affecting.)

For survivors of Raniere’s alleged patterns of financial and emotional abuse — which reach back at least three decades — the path toward healing and potential redemption often involves trying to undo the work they did for the “Vanguard” and his lieutenants. There’s a lot of talk these days about the concept of restorative justice as a means of atoning for damage done, and the ex-Nxivm folks at the core of “The Vow” show what that idea looks like in action. Even as they bravely fight for justice for Raniere’s victims, they struggle with a painful array of things they wish they’d done differently.

What is the path back for those who participate in — or look away from — abuse? Where’s the line between coercion and independence? What consequence is society willing to dish out when a storyteller with a committed following — in politics, in the arts, in self-help realms or anywhere else — is revealed to be a charismatic predator or canny charlatan? Those are the deeper questions that animate “The Vow” and help make it not just engrossing but extraordinarily relevant.

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

21

To test spread of Coronavirus, scientists put on a concert

By THOMAS ROGERS

G

erman pop singer Tim Bendzko was trying his best to energize the crowd at Quarterback Immobilien Arena here Saturday morning. Flanked by band members and backup singers, he bounced across a stage at the indoor concert and sports venue, thrusting his microphone toward about 1,400 tightly packed audience members, prompting them to sing along.

The response was a muffled hum — not surprising, given that the audience members were wearing masks and sitting in sweltering heat. Still, Bendzko thanked them and said, “On this day, you are saviors of the world.”

They were not typical concertgoers but volunteers in an elaborate study by a team at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg called Restart 19. Each attendee, outfitted with a digital location tracker and hand disinfectant laced with fluorescent dye, was carefully positioned in seats as part of an experiment to track the risks of coronavirus infection posed by large, indoor events.

Researchers hope to use their results to determine which elements of events like this pose the greatest risk for transmission and to help create guidelines for limiting such dangers and safely restarting live performances around the world.

The live-music and events sector has been among the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic. In Germany alone, it brings in 130 billion euros (more than $153 billion) in revenue each year, according to a recent study commissioned by the IGVW, an industry group there. Concert venues were among the first to shut down to slow the virus’ spread, and their future remains uncertain.

Indoor performances have returned in Germany, but slowly, under rules that vary from state to state. Many venue operators and event organizers, however, argue that crowd size limits and hygiene requirements imposed by authorities make it economically unviable for venues that aren’t subsidized by the state to restart operations. In the United States, health experts have said that arena concerts would likely not happen on a wide scale until a vaccine becomes available.

Leipzig is in the state of Saxony, where indoor events are allowed with up to 1,000 attendees — amid strict hygiene and distancing rules. But Philipp Franke, a manager of the arena hosting the study, said in a phone interview that this number was still too low for him to reopen. The attendance limit is scheduled to be raised in September, but Germany’s rising infection numbers have drawn increased scrutiny to the plan.

Franke hoped that the study’s results would allow politicians to make informed decisions about resuming concerts and indoor sports. “Cultural events are socially important,” he added. “A society needs such events in order to find some fulfillment and an outlet.”

The study is being led by Dr. Stefan Moritz, head of the clinical infectious diseases department at the university. In a phone interview, he said the experiment was a response to the dearth of scientific literature available for policymakers

The pop singer Tim Bendzko performs at the Quarterback Immobilien Arena in Leipzig, Germany, for a study about the coronavirus and live events, Aug. 22, 2020. about the dangers of events like the one Saturday.

“We know the personal contacts at the concert are risky, but we don’t know where they happen,” he said. “Is it at the entrance? Is it at the bleachers?”

Moritz concluded that the best way to gather reliable data would be to stage an actual concert.

To minimize the risk of infection, all volunteers were tested for the coronavirus in advance and had their temperatures checked upon arrival. Outfitted with their tracking devices, masks and fluorescent disinfectant, they were then asked to simulate different concert scenarios over the course of 10 hours: one with no social distancing, another with moderate safety measures, and a third with strict ones.

Each iteration included performances by Bendzko and a break, during which participants simulated trips to vendors for food and drinks and made bathroom visits. Using trackers, the staff monitored the number of times attendees came close to one another, and later used ultraviolet lamps to determine which surfaces were covered with the most fluorescent disinfectant by the end of the day.

Moritz said the most intriguing finding likely would be related to aerosol spread. Scientists have recently confirmed that the virus can remain suspended in the air, possibly for hours in closed environments.

“It’s so weird what happens with these movements of air,” he said. “Things you wouldn’t expect.”

To simulate the spread of aerosols in the arena Saturday, staffers used a smoke machine to emit a cloud of fog

into the rafters. It drifted upward before moving into a spiral shape and spreading toward the audience. The spread of particles in the space was modeled by Moritz’s team members, who will compare it with data collected by carbon dioxide sensors during the study.

Moritz said results from the study, which was sponsored by the states of Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, were expected be ready in early October. He added that the findings likely could be applied to similar events and venues around the world.

He said he had been contacted by researchers in Australia, Belgium and Denmark who planned to carry out similar studies.

For many people in the audience, volunteering was worth it for the experience of finally going to a concert after months of deprivation.

Bianca Tenten, a 21-year-old student from Cologne, Germany, said listening to music at home couldn’t replicate the sense of togetherness and the spontaneous encounters that she often experienced at live music events. She added that for concert organizers and artists, “there is a passion and a love there.”

Stefanie Oehme, a 34-year-old teacher who traveled to Leipzig from Dresden, said she had grown dispirited with people who contend that limitations on public life are here to stay.

“I think this is a sign of things moving back toward the old normal,” she said. “It makes it a bit more tangible.”

22

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Dog called ‘Soda Pup’ delivers wine during lockdown

By LOUISE HALL

A

dog delivering wine to people’s doorsteps amid the coronavirus lockdown is stealing the hearts of residents in Maryland.

The pooch, better known by the name Soda Pup, is allowing customers to continue purchasing wine from the Stone House Urban Winery while observing social distancing measures.

The adorable 11-year-old brindle boxer wasn’t always a hard-working wine delivery pup, but eagerly filled the position when the coronavirus stay-at-home measures meant customers could no longer pop into the winery in person.

“After we could no longer have our guests come into the winery in a social setting, I noticed that Soda was looking a little sad,” Stone House owner Lori Yata told Today.

“You see, every time the door would chime, Soda would jump up to greet whomever was coming in. It was so funny — when a regular guest would come in, their head would swivel over to Soda’s bed and he would be acknowledged before the rest of us,” Soda Pup’s owner told the broadcaster.

Apparently Soda Pup has more than taken to the new role, carrying the wine in a horse saddlebag and carefully transporting the bottles to customers for treats.

“When we get the call, I hold up Soda’s vest and he hurries on over. Not exaggerating, he really hurries over and stands ready,” Ms Yata said.

Customers call ahead of time to secure their wine, and when they arrive at the car park to pick up Soda trots out to the car park for door-to-door delivery.

“I put a couple treats in the pack, a bag for the wine, and the two bottles of wine. I then open the door and he marches on up the walk to the curb and parking lot to deliver the wine,“ Ms Yata told Today.

“I do have to make sure there are no critters around, such as geese, squirrels, bunnies etc. ... Come on, he is a dog!”

The creative solution to the obstacle of social distanc-

ing in the winery’s transactions has provided a small lifeline for the business, which like many others has taken a hit due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Soda has been by my side through some of the toughest times of my life,“ the winery owner said. ”Once again, he is by my side when I have no idea how this small business is going to survive these most difficult times.“ “Some customers will buy more bottles of wine so

their kids can see Soda deliver it. Again, it puts a smile on so many faces, young and old,” the owner said.

However, Ms Yata emphasised that, ultimately, it is the happiness that Soda Pup brings to her customers and the love her dog receives in return that makes the unique delivery method worth it.

“If Soda puts a smile on at least one face, then he has completed his mission in life,” she said.

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

23

Whether you are a night owl or early bird may affect how much you move

By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS

P

eople who are evening types go to bed later and wake up later than morning types. They also tend to move around far less throughout the day, according to an interesting new study of how our innate body clocks may be linked to our physical activity habits. The study, one of the first to objectively track daily movements of a large sample of early birds and night owls, suggests that knowing our chronotype might be important for our health.

In recent years, a wealth of new science has begun explicating the complex roles of cellular clocks and chronotypes in our health and lifestyles. Thanks to this research, we know that each of us contains a master internal body clock, located in our brains, that tracks and absorbs outside clues, such as ambient light, to determine what time it is and how our bodies should react. This master clock directs the rhythmic release of hormones, such as melatonin, and other chemicals that affect sleep, wakefulness, hunger and many other physiological systems.

Responding in part to these biochemical signals, as well as our genetic inclinations and other factors, we each develop a chronotype, which is our overall biological response to the daily passage of time. Chronotypes are often categorized into one of three groups: morning, day or night. Someone with a morning chronotype will naturally wake early; feel most alert and probably hungry in the morning; and be ready for bed before Stephen Colbert comes on. Day types tend to wake a bit later and experience peak alertness a few hours deeper into the day. And evening types rise as late as possible and remain vampirically wakeful well past dark.

Our chronotypes are not immutable, though. Research shows that they have a yearslong rhythm of their own, with most people harboring a morning or day chronotype when young, an evening version during adolescence and young adulthood, and a return to a day or morning type by middle age. But some people remain night owls lifelong.

Our shifting chronotypes are known to affect our health, especially if someone is an evening type. In past studies, people identified as evening types were more likely to develop heart disease, obesity, diabetes and other metabolic conditions than people with other chronotypes.

They also tended to exercise less and sit far more, which may contribute to their risks for health problems.

But these past studies of chronotype and exercise depended almost exclusively on people’s recollections of how active they had been, which are notoriously unreliable, meaning that any potential links between our bodies’ innate clock signals and our likelihood of moving remained speculative.

So, for the new study, published in The Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, researchers at the

University of Oulu in Finland turned to some of their fellow Finns. Years before, more than 12,000 had become part of an ongoing study of the health of almost every child born in Oulu in 1966.

Now, the researchers checked in with almost 6,000 of them still living in the Oulu area and willing to participate in a follow-up study. These men and women, all age 46, visited the university for an in-person exam, which included medical and other tests and a variety of questionnaires, including one designed to determine their chronotypes.

The researchers also gave each volunteer an activity tracker and asked them to wear it for two weeks, providing objective data about their physical activities. Then the scientists compared how people moved with how their internal clocks chimed.

And they found that among both men and women, the morning types and many of the day types moved significantly more than the evening types, even when the researchers controlled for people’s health, professions, socioeconomic status and other factors. Little of this extra activity seemed to be formal exercise, the scientists calculated, based on how much energy the volunteers expended.

But it added up. For morning men, the difference amounted to about 30 minutes more of walking each day, and for women, about 20 minutes more than among night owls.

The findings underscore that “our chronotypes can

have a surprisingly important role in our lives,” said Laura Nauha, a doctoral student at the University of Oulu who led the new study. They may affect not just when and how willingly we wake but how frequently we rise from our chairs and move. This study is observational, though, so it does not show that our chronotypes cause us to move more or less, only that the two issues are related. It also does not explain why evening types tend to be less active.

There may be physiological interactions between people’s body clocks, muscles and other bodily systems that result in evening types being less motivated to get off the couch or chair and stroll.

But practical considerations probably play a larger part, she said. Evening types may feel most energetic at night, when gyms could be closed and pathways dark. Another obvious factor “could be lack of sleep” and resulting fatigue, she said, since evening types often struggle to sync their body’s timing with the demands of their work schedules — particularly now, during the pandemic, when almost all of our schedules are fractured.

Overall, the study’s findings suggest that late risers may want to monitor how frequently they move, Nauha said. “Evening types may need to work harder to try to ensure they exercise.”

If you are unsure of your chronotype, a version of the questionnaire used in this study is available at cet-surveys. com.

24 LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE FLORIDA.

MERCHANT ADVANCE, LLC

DEMANDANTE VS.

EMPRESAS A VINATAN, LLC., H/N/C/ EL KAIROS BBQ. E IRIS G. RIVERA MARTINEZ Y EDWIN BARRETO DIAZ, AMBOS EN SU CARÁCTER PERSONAL Y COMO PARTE DE LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES POR AMBOS COMPUESTA

DEMANDADO CIVIL NÚM.: FL2020CV00007.

SALÓN: 102. SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO ORDINARIO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO.

A: EDWIN BARRETO DIAZ., por si y como representante de la SLG que compone con Iris Rivera Martínez.

NOTIFIQUESE A LAS DIRECCIÓN: PO Box 265 Florida, P.R. 00650.

Bo. Tosas Carr. 665 Km 3.9 Florida, P.R. 00650.

POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza y requiere para que conteste la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto.

Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), la cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda o cualquier otro sin más citarle ni oírle, si el tribunal en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. El sistema SUMAC notificará copia al abogado de la parte demandante, el Lcdo. Kenmuel J. Ruiz López cuya dirección es: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-8518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección kenmuel.riuz@oft-law.com y a la dirección notificaciones@orflaw.com. EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en Manati, Puerto Rico, hoy dia 17 de agosto de 2020. VIVIAN Y FRESSE GONZALEZ,

@

SECRETRARIA REGIONAL. CARMEN J. ROSARIO VALENTIN, SEC AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL I.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE PONCE.

WILMINGTON SAVINGS FUND SOCIETY, FSB, d/b/a Christiana Trust, as indenture Trustee. for the CSMC 2016-PR 1 Trust Mortgage-Backed Notes, Series 2016·PR1 Parte Demandante v.

CITIFINANCIAL; JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE PR RECOVERY ANO como posibles tenedores DEVELOPMENT JV, LLC desconocidos DEMANDANTE vs.

Parte Demandada LUIS O. CIVIL NUM: Al2020CV00221.

TOUCET CAMPOS SOBRE: CANCELACION DE

DEMANDADO CIVIL NÚM.: PO2019CV03974.

SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO.

PAGARE EXTRAVIADO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO. SS.

A: LUIS O. TOUCET CAMPOS VILLA DEL CARMEN A: JOHN DOE Y RICHARD 3153C CALLE TURPIAL ROE como posibles PONCE , PUERTO RICO tenedores desconocidos

POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza y requiere para que conteste la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto.

Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), la cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda o cualquier otro sin más citarle ni oírle, si el tribunal en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. El sistema SUMAC notificará copia al abogado de la parte demandante, el Ledo. José F. Aguilar Vélez cuya dirección es: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan , Puerto Rico 00936-8518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección jose. aguilar@orf-law.com y a la dirección notificaciones@orf-law .com. EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en PONCE, Puerto Rico, hoy día 17 de AGOSTO de 2020.

En Ponce, Puerto Rico, el 17 de AGOSTO de 2020. LUZ MAYRA CARABALLO GARCIA, SECRETARIA. F/KATHERINE DENNISSE LÓPEZ RIVERA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE AIBONITO.

POR LA PRESENTE se les emplaza y requiere para que conteste la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto. Usted deberá radicar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: http://unired.ramajudicial.pr/ sumac/, salvo que se presente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá radicar el original de su contestación ante el Tribunal correspondiente y notifique con copia a los abogados de la parte demandante, Lcda.

Marjaliisa Colón Villanueva, al PO BOX 7970, Ponce, P.R. 00732; Teléfono: 787-8434168. En dicha demanda se tramita un procedimiento de cancelación de pagare extraviado. Se alega en dicho procedimiento que se extravió un pagaré hipotecario, a favor de Citifinancial, o a su orden, por la suma $61,400.00, al 8.173% de interés anual, según escritura número 28, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el d(a 30 de marzo de 2006, ante el Notario Víctor R. Nuñez Arco. Inscrito al folio treinta y siete (37) del tomo doscientos sesenta y tres (263) de Aibonito, finca número seis mil ochocientos nueve (6809), inscripción séptima (7ma). Que grava la propiedad que se describe a continuación: RÚSTICA: Parcela marcada con el número seiscientos setenta y dos (672) en el plano de parcelación de la comunidad rural San Luis del Barrio Llanos del término municipal de Aibonito, Puerto Ríco, con una cabida superficial de cero punto novecientos sesenta y nueve (0.969) cuerdas, equivalentes a trescientos ochenta punte noventa (380.90) metros

staredictos@thesanjuandailystar.com

cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con la parcela número seiscientos setenta y tres (673) de la comunidad; por el SUR, con la parcela número seiscientos setenta y uno (671) de la comunidad; por el ESTE, con faja de seguridad para la quebrada y por el OESTE, con la calle número diez (10) ele la comunidad. Inscrita al folio doscientos cincuenta y dos (252) del torno ciento treinta y cuatro (134) de Aibonito. Registro de la Propiedad de Barranquitas. SE LES APERCIBE que, de no hacer sus alegaciones responsivas a la demanda dentro del término aquí dispuesto, se les anotará la rebeldía y se dictará Sentencia, concediéndose el remedio solicitado en la Demanda, sin más citarle ni oírle. Expedido bajo mi finna y sello del Tribunal en Aibonito, Puerto Rico, a día 17 de agosto de 2020. Elizabeth Gonzalez Rivera, Sec Regional. Carmen A. Torres Torres, Sec del Tribunal Conf II.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA MUNICIPAL DE CABO ROJO.

CONDADO 3, LLC Demandante, v.

FELIX SOLER VEGA H/N/C JUN PORTABLE TOILETS, FULANA DE TAL, LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS;

lidariamente a CONDADO 3, LLC., la suma de $11,243.21, más los intereses que continúa acumulando, más una suma razonable por concepto de honorarios de abogados, costas y gastos, según pactados. Se les advierte que este edicto se publicará en un periódico de circulación general una sola vez y que, si no comparecen a contestar dicha Demanda dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación del Edicto, a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial. pr/sumac/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal, se le anotará la rebeldía y se dictará Sentencia concediendo el remedio así solicitado sin más citarles ni oírles. La abogada de la parte demandante es la Lcda. Melanie del Carmen Rivera Marrero, cuya dirección física y postal es: Cond. El Centro I, Suite 801, 500 Muñoz Rivera Ave., San Juan, Puerto Rico 00918; cuyo número de teléfono es (787) 946-5268, y su correo electrónico es: melanie@bellverlaw.com. Expedido bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal, en Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico, hoy día 20 de agosto de 2020. Lic. Norma G. Santana Irizarry, Secretaria.

ción. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 20 de agosto de 2020. En BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, el 20 de agosto de 2020. LCDA. LAURA I SANTA SANCHEZ, Secretaria Regional. LUREIMY ALICEA GONZALEZ, Secretaria Auxiliar.

LEGAL NOT ICE

A: YAIMELIT SOLA GARRIGA 8358 Bernwood Cove Loop Apt. 706 Fort Myers, Florida, 33966 O sea, la parte demandada arriba indicada.

Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL Demandados DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de PriCIVIL NÚM.: CB2020CV00092. mera Instancia Sala Superior SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO de BAYAMON. Y EJECUCIÓN DE GRAVAORIENTAL BANK MEN MOBILIARIO. EMPLAParte Demandante VS. ZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESSUHEIL M. TADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA ACEVEDO SERRANO EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS Parte Demandada EE.UU. DE AMERICA EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE CIVIL NUM: BY2020CV0211.

SALA (403). SOBRE: COBRO PUERTO RICO. DE DINERO Y EJECUCION A: FELIX SOLER DE DINERO. NOTIFICACIÓN VEGA H/N/C JUN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

PORTABLE TOILETS, FULANA DE TAL, LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

Quedan emplazados y notificados que en este Tribunal se ha radicado Demanda sobre cobro de dinero y ejecución de gravamen mobiliario por la vía ordinaria en la que se alega que la parte demandada FELIX SOLER VEGA H/N/C JUN PORTABLE TOILETS, FULANA DE TAL, LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS, le adeudan so-

(787) 743-3346

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

A: SUHEIL M. ACEVEDO SERRANO

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) LA SECRETARIA que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 19 de AGOSTO de 2020, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los lUdías siguientes a su notifica-

LEGAL NOTICE

el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente.

Es la abogada de la parte demandante: Lcda. Janet I. Nieves Rosario Urb. Ext. Reparto Caguax 99 Calle 21 Ste. 103 Caguas, PR 00725 Teléfono Oficina: (787) 703-1208 j.nievesro sariogmail.com Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal de Caguas hoy dí 21 de agosto de 2020. Carmen M Pereira Ortiz, Secretaria. Ana H. Lugo Muñoz, SubSecretaria.

LEGAL NOTICE Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Primera Instancia Sala Superior de Caguas (Juncos).

PR RECOVERY AND DEVELOPMENT JV, LLC.

DEMANDANTE Vs. ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUDIANE RIVERA GOMEZ NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA H/N/C JUST CLEANING SALA SUPERIOR DE CADEMANDADO GUAS. CIVIL NUM. CG2019CV03848.

Sonia Ureña Reinoso SALA: 802. SOBRE: COBRO Demandante V. DE DINERO ORDINARIO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA Pablo Enrique Sola Garriga y Yaimelit Sola POR EDICTO.

Garriga

Demandada Civil Núm.: CG2020CV01408.

Sala: 702. Sobre: DIVISION DE BIENES HEREDITARIOS. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R. SS.

A: DIANE RIVERA GÓMEZ H/N/C JUST CLEANING BOSQUE LLANO 421 CALLE CAOBA, SAN LORENZO PUERTO RICO 00754-9843

EL (LA) SECRETARIO(A) le notifica a usted que el día 20 de agosto de 2020, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia o Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representado usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia o Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto.

Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 21 de agosto de 2020. En Caguas, Puerto Rico, 21 de agosto de 2020. CARMEN ANA PEREIRA ORTIZ, Secretaria Regional. f:/ CARMEN R. DÍAZ CÁCERES, Secretaria de Servicios a Sala.

POR LA PRESENTE, se le emplaza por edicto para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los 30 días de haber sido publicado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día de la publicación.

Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su LEGAL NOTICE contra y conceder el remedio solicitando en la demanda, o Estado Libre Asociado de Puercualquier otro, si el tribunal, en to Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL

DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Primera Instancia Sala ( Superior de) CAROLINA.

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante v.

SUCN VICTOR MANUEL RIVERA ORTIZ T/C/C Y/O

Demandado(a) Civil: Núm. SJ2019CV12144.

SALA 403. Sobre: CANCELACION O RESTITUCION DE PAGARE EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: JOHN DOE y RICHARD DOE COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS DEL PAGARE EXTRAVIADO

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 20 de agosto de 2020, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 21 de agosto de 2020. En CAROLINA, Puerto Rico, el 21 de agosto de 2020.

Lcda. Marilyn Aponte Rodriguez, Secretaria. F/Lilliam Ortiz Nieves, Sec Auxiliar.

LEGAL NOTICE Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Primera Instancia Sala Superior de QUEBRADILLAS.

ORIENTAL BANK COMO AGENTE DE SERVICIO DE THE MONEY HOUSE, INC. Demandante v.

EDGARDO AVISAIT ROSA FELICIANO, ET ALS

Demandado(a) Civil: QU2019CV00119. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCION DE HIPOTECA (VIA ORDINARIA). NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

The San Juan Daily Star

A: EDGARDO AVISAIT ROSA FELICIANO, DALYMAR TORRES MATEO ROSA-TORRES, SOC LEGAL GANAN

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 10 de marzo de 2020, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 20 de agosto de 2020. En Camuy, Puerto Rico, el 20 de agosto de 2020. VIVIAN Y. FRESSE GONZALEZ, Secretaria. SUHAIL SERRANO MOYA, Secretaria Auxiliar.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE GUA YAMA

TlTLE SECURITY GROUP, LLC Demandante v.

FIRST SECURITY MORTGAGE INC.; JUAN DEL PUEBLO Y JUANA DEL PUEBLO y cualesquier persona desconocida con posible interés en la obligación cuya cancelación por decreto judicial se solicita.

Demandados CIVIL NÚM. GM2020CV00119.

SOBRE: CANCELACION DE PAGARE EXTRAVIADO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO. SS.

A: JUAN DEL PUEBLO Y JUANA DEL PUEBLO COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES Y CUALESQUIER PERSONA DESCONOCIDA CON POSIBLE INTERÉS EN LA OBLIGACIÓN CUYA

Tuesday, August 25, 2020 CANCELACIÓN POR DECRETO JUDlCI.AL SE SOLICITA.

Por la presente se le notifica que ha sido presentada en este Tribunal una Demanda en su contra en el pleito de epígrafo. En este caso la parte demandante ha radicado una Demand a para que se decrete judicialmente el saldo de un (1) pagaré hipotecario a favor de First Security Mortgage Inc., por lu suma de $200 ,000.00. Dicho pagaré fue suscrito el día 6 de noviembre de 1998 , ante el notario Hector L. Torres Vila, garantizado por hipoteca constituida mediante la Escritura número 1227 otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, inscrita al folio 50 vuelto del tomo 420 de Guayama, finca número 15,015, inscripción .2da. Se describe la propiedad a continuación: URBANA: Solar número ocho de la Urbarúzación Montemar , ubicada en el Barrio Algarrobos del Municipio de Guayama, Puerto Rico, con un área de mil novecientos dos punto seis mil setecicentos treinta y seis metros cuadrados (1,902.6736 m.c.), equivalentes a cero punto cuatro mil ochocientos cuarenta y una cuerda (0.4841 celas) y en lindes: por el NORTE, en tres alineaciones de diecinueve metros ( l9.0000 m), en arco de dieciséis metros cinco mil novecientos tres diez milímetros ( 16.5903 m) y treinta y un metros trescientos cuatro milímetros (31.304 m) con la Calle 8 las primeras dos y con el solar número nueve (9) la tercera; por el SUR, en distancia de veinte metros quinientos cuarenta y cuatro milímetros (20.544 m), con el solar número cuatro (4); por el ESTE, en seis alineaciones de nueve punto ochocientos sesenta y un milímetros (9.861 m) ocho punto ciento veintiocho milímetro s (8.128 m) dos punto ochocientos setenta y cinco milímetros (2 .875 m), once punto ochocientos cincuenta y cuatro milímetros (l l.854 m), veinticuatro punto doscientos siete milímetro s (24.207 m), doce punto doscientos veimiséis milímetro s (12.226 m), con el Bloque C de la Urbanización Bello Horizonte; y por el OESTE, en distancia de treinta y ocho metros punto ciento diecinueve milímetros (38.1 J 9 m), con el solar número Séis (6). Finca número 15,015 inscrita al folio 50 del tomo 420 de Guayama. Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rio, Sección de Guayama. La parte demandante alega que dicho pagaré ha sido saldado según más detalladamente consta en la Demanda radicada que puede examinarse en la Secretaría de este Tribunal. Por tratarse de una obligación hipotecaria y pudiendo usted tener interés en este caso o quedar afectado por el remedio solicitado, se le emplaza por este

edicto que se en un periódico de circulación diaria general de Puerto Rico. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado ele Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electronica: https:// unired.ramajudicial.pr/sumac/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio y notirifación copia ele ella a la abogada de la parte demandante la Leda. Zilmarie Delgado Pieras, 33 Calle Resolución, Suite 302, San .luan, PR 00920-2727; Tel. (787) 7826500, dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto, apercibiéndole que de no hacerlo así dentro del témino indicado, el Tribunal podrá anotar su rebeldía y dictar sentencia concediendo el remedio solicitado en la Demanda sin más citarle ni oírle.

EXPEDIDO bajo mi finna y sello de este Tribunal. en Guayama, Puerto Rico, hoy día 25 de febrero de 2020. MARISOL ROSADO RODRIGUEZ, Secretario. ISA M. FIGUEROA LEON, SebSecretaria.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE SAN JUAN SALA SUPERIOR 807.

EDDIE O’BRAIN COSME AMARO Y ARACELIS CRUZ VAZQUEZ Demandante Vs.

FIRSTBANK PUERTO RICO; JUAN DEL PUEBLO Y JUANA DEL PUEBLO y cualesquier persona desconocida con posible interés en la obligación cuya cancelación por decreto judicial se solicita

Demandado CIVIL NÚM: SJ2020CV00164.

SOBRE: CANCELACION DE PAGARE EXTRAVIADO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO. SS.

A: JUAN DEL PUEBLO Y JUANA DEL PUEBLO COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES Y CUALESQUIER PERSONA DESCONOCIDA CON POSIBLE INTERÉS EN LA OBLIGACIÓN CUYA CANCELACIÓN POR DECRETO JUDICIAL SE SOLICITA

Por la presente se le notifica que ha sido presentada en este Tribunal una Demanda en su contra en el pleito de epígrafe.

En este caso la parte demandante ha radicado una Demanda para que se decrete judicial-

mente el saldo de un (1) pagaré hipotecario a favor de Firstbank Puerto Rico, por la suma de $35,600.00. Dicho pagaré fue suscrito el día 1 de marzo de 1997, ante el notario Vivian Ortiz Ponce, garantizado por hipoteca constituida mediante la Escritura número 46 otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, inscrita al folio 96 vuelto del tomo 782 de Rio Piedras Norte, finca número 22,828, inscripción 4ta. Se describe la propiedad a continuación: URBANA: Solar marcado con el número veinticuatro (24) de la Manzana “T” del Plano preparado por la Autoridad sobre Hogares de Puerto Rico, hoy Corporación de Renovación Urbana y Vivienda de Puerto Rico para su proyecto de solares denominado San Jose Development PRHA-Doce radicado en el Barrio Hato Rey del término municipal de Rio Piedras, hoy San Juan, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de trescientos cuatro metros cuadrados con noventa y seis centésimas de metros cuadrados, en lindes por el NORTE, con el solar P-veintitrés de la mencionada Urbanización, distancia de veinticuatro metros con treinta centímetros; por el SUR, con el solar P-veinticinco de dicho proyecto, distancia de veinticuatro metros con treinta centímetros; por el ESTE, con los Solares P-cinco y P-seis de la susodicha Urbanización, distancia de doce metros con cincuenta y cuatro centímetros; y por el OESTE, con la servidumbre de paso de la Calle número ocho del mencionado proyecto PRHA-doce, distancia de doce metros con cincuenta y cuatro centímetros. Finca: 22828, inscrita al folio 92 del tomo 782 de Rio Piedras Norte. Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección II de San Juan. La parte demandante alega que dicho pagaré ha sido saldado según más detalladamente consta en la Demanda radicada que puede examinarse en la Secretaría de este Tribunal. Por tratarse de una obligación hipotecaria y pudiendo usted tener interés en este caso o quedar afectado por el remedio solicitado, se le emplaza por este edicto que se publicará una vez en un periódico de circulación diaria general de Puerto Rico. Usted deberá radicar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: http:// unired.ramajuclicia.i.pr/ sumac /, salvo que se presente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá radicar el original de su contestación ante el Tribunal correspondiente y notifique con copia a la abogada de la parte demandante, Lcda. Zilmarie Delgado Pieras, 33 Calle Resolución, Suite 302, San Juan, PR 00920-2727; Tel. (787) 782-

6500. SE LE APERCIBE que, de no hacer sus alegaciones responsivas a la demanda dentro del término aquí dispuesto, se les anotará la rebeldía y se dictará Sentencia, concediéndose el remedio solicitado en la Demanda, sin más citarle ni oírle. EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el Sello del Tribunal, hoy día 26 de febrero de 2020.

GRISELDA RODRIGUEZ COLLADO, Secretaria. Norma I Flores Rivera, Sec Serv a Sala.

LEGAL NOTICE

25

acuse de recibo, una copia del emplazamiento y de la demanda presentada al lugar de su última dirección conocida: Villa Grillasca, 933 Calle Dr. Virgilio Biaggi, Ponce, PR 00717-0566.

EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y el sello del Tribunal en Ponce, Puerto Rico, hoy día 24 de junio de 2020. Luz Mayra Caraballo Garcia, Sec Regional. Maricell Ortiz Muñiz, Sec Aux del Tribunal I.

LEGAL NOTICE

ORIENTAL BANK, Demandante, V.

EVELYN E. BABILONIA ACEVEDO

Demandada CIVIL NUM.: AG2020CV00101.

SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. EMPLAZAMIENTOP OR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO. SS.

A: EVELYN E. Estado Libre Asociado de PuerBABILONIA ACEVEDO ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO to Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU- DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Pri- POR MEDIO del presente edicNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA mera Instancia Sala ( Superior to se le notifica de la radicación de) MAYAGUEZ. de una demanda en cobro de SALA DE PONCE. dinero por la vía ordinaria en la NFC INMOBILIARIA ORIENTAL BANK, que se alega que usted adeuda Demandante, V., DE PUERTO RICO a la parte demandante, Oriental FRANCISCO MICHELI REPRESENTADA POR Bank, ciertas sumas de dinero, MALDONADO EVELYN ENID y las costas, gastos y honoraDemandado COLE FALTO; rios de abogado de este litigio.

CIVIL NUM.: PO2020CV00126.

El demandante, Oriental Bank, NEREIDA FALTO PEREZ SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO ha solicitado que se dicte senDemandante v.

POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. EMORIENTAL BANK AND tencia en contra suya y que se PLAZAMIENTOPO R EDICTO. le ordene pagar las cantidades ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AME- TRUST; FULANO DE TAL reclamadas en la demanda.

RICA EL PRESIDENTE DE Y MENGANO MAS CUAL POR EL PRESENTE EDICTO LOS EE. UU. EL ESTADO LIDemandado(a) se le emplaza para que presenBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO Civil: Núm. MZ2020CV00254. te al tribunal su alegación resRICO. SS. Sobre: CANCELACION DE PA- ponsiva a la demanda dentro A: FRANCISCO MICHELI GARE EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFI- de los treinta (30) días de haCACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR ber sido diligenciado este emMALDONADO plazamiento, excluyéndose el POR MEDIO del presente edic- EDICTO. to se le notifica de la radicación A: ORIENTAL BANK AND día del diligenciamiento. Usted de una demanda en cobro de TRUST; FULANO DE TAL deberá presentar su alegación dinero por la vía ordinaria en la Y MENGANO MAS CUAL responsiva a través del Sistema que se alega que usted adeuda (Nombre de las partes a las que se Unificado de Manejo y Adminisa la parte demandante, Oriental le notifican la sentencia por edicto) tración de Casos (SUMAC), al Bank, ciertas sumas de dinero, EL SECRETARIO(A) que sus- cual puede acceder utilizando y las costas, gastos y honora- cribe le notifica a usted que la siguiente dirección electrónirios de abogado de este litigio. el 17 de agosto de 2020, este ca: https://unired.ramajudicial.

El demandante, Oriental Bank, Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, pr/sumac/, salvo que se repreha solicitado que se dicte sen- Sentencia Parcial o Resolución sente por derecho propio, en tencia en contra suya y que se en este caso, que ha sido debi- cuyo caso deberá presentar su le ordene pagar las cantidades damente registrada y archivada alegación responsiva en la Sereclamadas en la demanda. en autos donde podrá usted en- cretaría del Tribunal. Si usted POR EL PRESENTE EDICTO terarse detalladamente de los deja de presentar su alegación se le emplaza para que presen- términos de la misma. Esta no- responsiva dentro del referido te al tribunal su alegación res- tificación se publicará una sola término, el tribunal podrá dicponsiva a la demanda dentro vez en un periódico de circula- tar sentencia en rebeldía en su de los treinta ( 30) días de ha- ción general en la Isla de Puer- contra, y conceder el remedio ber sido diligenciado este em- to Rico, dentro de los 10 días solicitado en la Demanda, o plazamiento, excluyéndose el siguientes a su notificación. Y, cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en día del diligenciamiento. Usted siendo o representando usted el ejercicio de su sana discredeberá presentar su alegación una parte en el procedimiento ción, lo entiende procedente. responsiva a través del Sistema sujeta a los términos de la Sen- Se le advierte que dentro de Unificado de Manejo y Adminis- tencia, Sentencia Parcial o Re- los diez (10) días siguientes tración de Casos (SUMAC), al solución, de la cual puede esta- a la publicación del presente cual puede acceder utilizando blecerse recurso de revisión o edicto, se le estará enviando a la siguiente dirección electróni- apelación dentro del término de usted por correo certificado con ca: https://unired.ramajudicial. 30 días contados a partir de la acuse de recibo, una copia del pr/sumac/, salvo que se repre- publicación por edicto de esta emplazamiento y de la demansente por derecho propio, en notificación, dirijo a usted esta da presentada al lugar de su cuyo caso deberá presentar su notificación que se considerará última dirección conocida: Bo. alegación responsiva en la Se- hecha en la fecha de la publi- Ceiba Baja, Carr. 110 Km 1.2, cretaría del Tribunal. Si usted cación de este edicto. Copia de Aguadilla, PR 00603; PO Box deja de presentar su alegación esta notificación ha sido archi- 1294, Moca, PR 00676-1294. responsiva dentro del referido vada en los autos de este caso, EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y el término, el tribunal podrá dic- con fecha de 18 de agosto de sello del Tribunal en Aguadilla, tar sentencia en rebeldía en su 2020. En MAYAGUEZ, Puerto Puerto Rico, hoy dia 24 de junio contra, y conceder el remedio Rico, el 18 de agosto de 2020. de 2020. Sarahi Reyes Perez, solicitado en la Demanda, o LCDA. NORMA G. SANTANA Secretaria. Zuheily Gonzalez cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en IRIZARRY, Secretaria. FGLO- Aviles, SubSecretaria, el ejercicio de su sana discre- RIA E. ACEVEDO SOTO, Sec LEGAL NOTICE ción, lo entiende procedente. Auxiliar.

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO Se le advierte que dentro de LEGAL NOTICE DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUlos diez (10) días siguientes a la publicación del presente ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA edicto, se le estará enviando a DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU- SALA DE BAYAMON. usted por correo certificado con NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA ORIENTAL BANK SALA DE AGUADILLA.

Demandante, V.

EDUARDO FIGUEROA PADILLA, DIANA JOVE VELEZ y la Sociedad Legal de Gananciales compuesta por arnbos

Demandados CIVIL NUM.: GB2019CV01435.

SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. EMPLAZAMIENTOPO R EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO. SS.

A: EDUARDO FIGUEROA PADILLA, DIANA JOVE VELEZ y la Sociedad Legal de Gananciales compuesta por ambos

POR MEDIO del presente edicto se le notifica de la radicación de una demanda en cobro de dinero por la vía ordinaria en la que se alega que usted adeuda a la parte demandante, Oriental Bank, ciertas sumas de dinero, y las costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado de este litigio. El demandante, Oriental Bank, ha solicitado que se dicte sentencia en contra suya y que se le ordene pagar las cantidades reclamadas en la demanda. POR EL PRESENTE EDICTO se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva a la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días de haber sido diligenciado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día del diligenciamiento. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:// unired.ramajudicial.pr/sumac/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la Secretaría del Tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra, y conceder el remedio solicitado en la Demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Se le advierte que dentro de los diez (10) días siguientes a la publicación del presente edicto, se le estará enviando a usted por correo certificado con acuse de recibo, una copia del emplazamiento y de la demanda presentada al lugar de su última dirección conocida: Urb. Garden Hills, E9 Ave. Ramirez de Arellano, Guaynabo, PR 00966-2811. EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y el sello del Tribunal en Bayamon, Puerto Rico, hoy día 10 de marzo de 2020. Lcda.

Laura I Santa Sanchez, Secretaria Regional. Ivette Marrero Bracero, SubSecretaria.

26

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

After a COVID scare, an Olympic hopeful recovers her optimism

“The uneven bars make me especially nervous because when you stop training, you lose sense of where the bar is going to be,” Lee said of returning to training after spending two weeks in isolation.

By JULIET MACUR

A

t first, Sunisa Lee, a favorite to make the United States women’s gymnastics team for the Tokyo Olympics, didn’t think much of the tickle in her

throat.

But on that Sunday evening last month, two days after the 2020 Summer Games were supposed to begin before they were postponed a year, the tickle turned into soreness that made her throat feel like it was on fire.

When she woke up with a fever and chills, she panicked.

Contracting the coronavirus and unknowingly infecting her father, John, had been her worst fear throughout the pandemic. He is at high risk for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, because he was paralyzed from the chest down after falling from a ladder in 2019, and his breathing is compromised.

To be safe, Lee, 17, shut herself in her second-floor bedroom while her family — including her three younger siblings — relocated their bedrooms to the first floor of their St. Paul, Minn., home and slept on air mattresses or the couch.

Though her coronavirus and strep tests came back negative, Lee spent nearly two weeks in isolation, not wanting to take any chances. Her aunt and uncle, with whom she had been very close, died of COVID-19 this summer, within 13 days of each other. She had to say goodbye to her aunt via Zoom.

Now Lee, a high school senior this year, is finally

back at her gym, Midwest Gymnastics, for what seems like her hundredth restart in 2020.

This interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.

Sunisa Lee: Of course, the first thing I thought when I got sick was, “I have the coronavirus.” It was scary. I had the worst headache of my life and it lasted for four days. My throat hurt so bad that I couldn’t talk or swallow. At night, I slept with five blankets on me because I had the shivers and couldn’t stop shaking. Then my fever got really high, like to 103. One day I cried all day when I couldn’t even lie down because it hurt to do anything. My mom left chicken soup for me at my door, and it was so great that she could take care of me. The food was good. I didn’t lose my taste or smell, so maybe it wasn’t the coronavirus after all.

The week after I was sick, I was still stuck in my room while I rested and isolated. It was frustrating, but everyone wanted me to stay away from them, stay out of the gym and stay home. So I watched a lot of “The Vampire Diaries” and FaceTimed with my friends. I also did a lot of schoolwork, wrote three or four papers, and just chilled. My dad called me every day to check up on me, and I also made sure he wasn’t feeling sick. It was stressful to think that he might have caught something from me. I’m so relieved that he didn’t.

While I was at home, a Snapchat memory on my phone reminded me that it was one year since my dad’s accident. I actually didn’t cry when I saw it. I’m just so

happy that my dad is alive right now. I looked back at the memories of his accident and got chills. I thought he was going to pass away when he was in the hospital, so I didn’t want to go to nationals and compete. But he told me to go, that he really wanted me to go. So I did. Now I realize that if he didn’t push me like that, I wouldn’t be in the spot I am right now with the Olympics so close.

On the anniversary, I texted him and said, “Dad, I’m so proud of how far you’ve come and that you’ve come back so strong.” He is still in a wheelchair, but he can use his hands and he is getting better every day.

The day the Olympics were supposed to start, one of my coaches, Alison Lim, sent me a text. She said today was the day I’d be at the opening ceremony and that this year didn’t turn out how any of us wanted it to. She told me to keep reaching and pushing my limits, and that it won’t be easy, but that nothing worth it ever is. On that sad, depressing day of this crazy year, it was so nice to get a note like that.

It really sucked to be out of the gym for so long.

I can’t afford to miss more time because I already missed so much with my ankle injury. Getting sick pushed me back another two weeks. I’m so nervous that I’m falling behind. One of the hardest things was watching my friends post what they are doing in the gym. I just sat on my bed in my pajamas and watched them on Instagram.

Everyone got pretty good.

Before I went back to training, I had to take an EKG to make sure my heart was OK. I also had to take a chest X-ray, do a throat culture and give blood for testing. The national team and my coaches wanted to make sure my body was ready for hard training. When I finally got back to the gym, my coach, Jess Graba, told me to take it slow and not rush into anything. Now I basically have all of my skills back, except on vault. I haven’t done vault yet because my ankle still hurts a little bit, but I go to physical therapy every week to strengthen it.

After you take time off, it can be really scary to do the harder things you used to do, and I personally hate being scared. When I’m scared of hurting myself, I start to overthink things and won’t go for it. The uneven bars make me especially nervous because when you stop training, you lose sense of where the bar is going to be.

And I grew an inch and a half this year, so I have had to make adjustments.

So instead of thinking too much, I just force myself to do a skill. After I throw one, I’m fine, even though I always wipe out on that first one. I just get back up and get ready to go again.

I learned one very important lesson through all this. I realized that I could actually miss practice and rest, then come back to the gym and still have my skills. I had no idea that it could be that way. Now I think it’s more beneficial, mentally and physically, to rest sometimes because your body and your mind can heal and you can work on yourself as a person. And when you finally go back, your body feels brand-new.

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

27

Bayern Munich wins Champions League, a victory for tradition and team

By RORY SMITH

I

n a moment of elation, the cameras hunted for despair.

They found it in the slight, forlorn shape of Neymar, sitting on Paris St.-Germain’s bench, a perfect picture of heartbreak. Neymar, with tears in his eyes. Neymar, staring into the middle distance. Neymar, with his head in his hands.

Here, in tight focus, was the shot, the story. No player fits so neatly as an avatar for their team as Neymar. He is the most expensive player in the world, and his club is the richest project soccer has ever seen. His career has been shaped by money, and the club’s ambitions are fueled by it. He is the star concerned only with his own light. He is the princeling who yearned to be king. He is the modern PSG made flesh.

His quest is his club’s quest: to win hearts and minds, to prove their greatness and their worth and, in doing so, to gain recognition and acceptance. Both see the Champions League as the only stage on which that can be achieved. Both had failed at the last step on Sunday: a single goal had been enough to give Bayern Munich a 1-0 victory and a sixth European crown, and prolong the agony of PSG. In those lingering camera shots, in the silence, Neymar not only illustrated how that felt, but exposed the limitations that had led him, and his team, here. It is always easier to tell an individual story than a collective Kingsley Coman with the trophy that his goal helped to deliver. one. There is no one image — not Joshua Kimmich’s artful cross, not Kingsley Coman’s precise header, not Manuel would relish. He trusted his players not to blink. The mar- marketing tool of a nation state.

But a single picture does not tell a whole story. PSG Neuer’s trophy lift — that encapsulates the source of Bay- gins were fine, and PSG hardly played badly, but the rehas not failed, not really, not in the long term. Its presence ward justifi ed the risk. ern’s success.

That will be of scant solace to Neymar and his team- here was success. A decade since its Gulf money arrived, Nor is there a single, pithy explanation. Bayern was, by a shade, the better team in a final that produced a mates, of course. The identity of the player that proved it can breathe the same rarefied air as the old elite. That, dish quite distinct from any of its ingredients. Two teams their undoing will add a little sting for PSG, too. Coman in the context of what Qatar wants from its investment, is front-loaded with attacking talent combined in Lisbon to was born and raised in Paris; he joined PSG’s youth acad- almost the same as the Champions League trophy. Almost.

So, too, all of the associations that come with it. To create a game — a compelling, absorbing game — that emy as a child. He was a teammate of Presnel Kimpembe, was more slow-burn drama than quick-fire entertainment. the French champion’s central defender, until both were have Neymar — the most expensive player on the planet, an icon, a social media phenomenon — as the avatar of Both defended with grit and steel and thought. Nei- 18. this PSG team is to demonstrate all of the things that are Coman is, in other words, the ultimate player for Euther was quite as assured as normal. Robert Lewandowski was a touch short of his ruthless best leading the Bay- ropean soccer’s superclub era. He is the embodiment of valuable to the club’s backers about this project. It speaks ern line; Kylian Mbappé was not quite as explosive as he the game’s stratification, for how different the world of of power and wealth and glamour and relevance and afcould be for PSG. Neymar did not want for work ethic, the elite is from that of those mere mortals who might not fection, in some quarters, if not universally.

Neymar’s despair might have been the final image win a championship every single season of their career. In but his invention was just a little lacking.

Both teams were in pursuit of a domestic and Eu- these circumstances, it feels almost inevitable that at some of the night, but that is the closing of a chapter, not the ropean treble — league, cup and Champions League sil- point he was going to score the winning goal in a Cham- culmination of the book. Just as the European soccer seaverware — and yet neither was quite itself. Bayern won pions League final. He is proof that, at a certain height, it son lasts nine months and, at the end of it, Coman gets a medal or three, the same is true of PSG. There will be because it came closer than PSG, because its self-percep- is almost impossible to fall.

For all Neymar’s tears, he and the team he repre- another chance, and another chance after that, and on tion is better defined, because it draws its strength and its wonder from its system, not from the lavish talent of its sents — in more ways than one — are precisely the same. and on into the future.

Young money soon morphs into old power, and the Sunday’s final had been dressed up as a meeting between individuals. insurgents become the ruling class. Neymar will be back two visions of soccer: the old power and the new money, Hansi Flick, Bayern’s coach, had the courage not to change tack out of respect for — or fear of — PSG’s the establishment and the insurgent, the immovable ob- here again; PSG will be back here again. That is the way fearsome front line. Bayern played the high defensive line ject of European soccer’s self-appointed aristocracy and the game is built. That is the way the game works. At a which, common consensus had it, Mbappé in particular the unstoppable force of a sports team co-opted as the certain height, the tears never last for long.

28

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Dustin Johnson rebounds with a rout at the Northern Trust

Dustin Johnson rebounded from a dreadful July to win the Northern Trust for the third time.

By BILL PENNINGTON

D

ustin Johnson had just missed a straightforward 6-foot birdie putt on the ninth hole at the Northern Trust golf tournament Sunday, squandering a chance to extend his commanding lead in the event’s final round. Then, walking across a street to the 10th tee, he tripped and stumbled before regaining his footing.

The proverbial bump in the road? Two hiccups that might derail, or unnerve the famously tranquil Johnson?

Not a chance. Johnson hammered an iron shot 267 yards into the middle of the 10th fairway then made a comfortable par. Two holes later, he expanded his lead to nine strokes over his closest competitor, Harris English. The rout continued, interrupted only by a 75-minute thunderstorm delay, but in the end, Johnson had his 22nd PGA Tour victory and took the lead after the opening event of the 2020 FedEx Cup playoffs.

Johnson’s final round 63 at the Northern Trust, coupled with a career-low 60 on Friday and two other rounds in the 60s, left him 30-under par for the tournament. English, who shot 69 on Sunday, was second at 19-under par. It was Johnson’s second victory since the PGA Tour resumed in mid-June after a three-month layoff because of the COVID-19 pandemic and his third time winning the Northern Trust.

“My ball-striking was unbelievable; I found something on Wednesday,” Johnson said. “I was swinging re-

ally good but something clicked on Wednesday.”

Johnson began the day with a five-stroke lead and quickly made a statement to the rest of the field on the second hole when he rolled in a 6-foot eagle putt. From there, Johnson only stomped on the accelerator, with birdies in four of his next six holes. It was an impressive stretch, although not nearly as striking as Friday’s round when Johnson was 11-under-par through his first 11 holes — a performance built on accurate, powerful tee shots, deft iron play and confident, precise putting.

As English, who also had four rounds in the 60s during the tournament, said of Johnson in a television interview during the rain delay: “Dustin hasn’t missed a shot and he’s putting really well. That’s a tough combination.”

For Johnson, this month has been a remarkable revival from a dreadful July when he shot 80 in back-to-back rounds at the Memorial Tournament and missed the cut.

At his next tournament, he opened with a 78 and promptly withdrew. But the respite led to a turnaround in August which has seen Johnson record 12 successive rounds in the 60s, including at the PGA Championship when he finished tied for second. With Sunday’s victory, Johnson also becomes the No. 1 ranked player in men’s golf as the PGA Tour nears the close of its truncated 2020 season.

“Obviously, I’ve got myself into a really good position,” Johnson said of the FedEx Cup playoffs, which he has never won. “It’s just something that I would really like to have on my resume when I’m done playing golf. It’s a

big title. It means a lot to all the guys out here.”

About seven hours before Johnson finished, Tiger Woods, who barely made the cut for the second half of the tournament, completed a notable round. After two desultory rounds Friday and Saturday when he shot a combined 2-over par and fell out of contention, Woods rebounded Sunday by birdieing his first four holes. He closed with a 5-under-par 66 to finish at 6-under for the tournament.

Unfortunately for Woods, his rally may not be enough to keep alive a bid for a third FedEx Cup title.

Woods will play in next week’s BMW Championship at the Olympia Fields Country Club in Illinois, but he will need a stellar outing to advance to the final round of the FedEx Cup playoffs. Woods’ finish Sunday left him in 57th place in the FedEx Cup standings. Only the top 30 golfers will qualify for the final event of the playoffs, the Tour Championship at the East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Sept. 4-7.

Woods knew the math after his round Sunday, and had one solution for getting into the top 30: win the BMW Championship.

“I don’t know what the number will be for me to move on to East Lake, but obviously a ‘W’ definitely gets it done,” he said.

Overall, Woods said he felt fit after the four rounds of the Northern Trust, which potentially could be the first of four tournaments he plays in five weeks. He said his surgically repaired back, which has hampered him periodically this season, did not factor into his play.

“My body feels pretty good,” Woods said. “You know, this is going to be a long haul either way. Hopefully, I get into the Tour Championship and that helps me get ready for the U.S. Open.”

The U.S. Open is scheduled for Sept. 17-20 at the Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y. Woods played Sunday with Rory McIlroy, who also finished near the bottom of the leaderboard. Afterward, McIlroy admitted that he continued to be disquieted by the eerie silence of professional golf’s fanless environment, a necessary, if unpopular, condition of the tour since it resumed June 11.

McIlroy, who has had an uneven summer with six finishes outside the top 30 in his past seven events, said he misses the energy and motivation that thousands of fans brought to tournaments. It is more than an absence of cheering: There is a sameness to each tournament without the quirks and eccentricities that fans from different regions bring to a sporting event.

“This is going to sound really bad, but I feel like the last few weeks, I’ve just been going through the motions,” said McIlroy, who shot 69 on Sunday to finish 28 strokes behind Johnson. “I want to get an intensity and some sort of fire, but I just haven’t been able to. And look, that’s partly to do with the atmosphere and partly to do with how I’m playing. I’m not inspiring myself and I’m trying to get inspiration from outside sources to get something going.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

29

Sudoku How to Play: Fill in the empty fields with the numbers from 1 through 9.

Sudoku Rules: Every row must contain the numbers from 1 through 9 Every column must contain the numbers from 1 through 9 Every 3x3 square must contain the numbers from 1 through 9

Crossword

Answers on page 30

Wordsearch

GAMES

HOROSCOPE Aries

30

(Mar 21-April 20)

The more people involved in planning a future holiday, the harder it will be to reach an agreement. Give others room to change their minds especially when there is some doubt about arrangements. You feel out of practice with a task you put on hold earlier in the year.

A refresher course will give your confidence a boost.

Taurus

(April 21-May 21)

Gemini

(May 22-June 21)

(June 22-July 23)

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Patience will be necessary when circumstances relating to the past are both frustrating and upsetting. It’s hard to be diplomatic with a senior colleague who isn’t listening to anyone but themselves. Meeting up with a friend you haven’t seen in a while will be a happy plus.

Libra

(Sep 24-Oct 23)

Time is flying by and you wonder where the hours go. You would welcome the chance to enjoy some peace and quiet. A relative’s complaints are starting to annoy you when nothing seems to please them. No matter how hard you try they will find fault in what you do.

They’re never satisfied and the fault is theirs, not you.

Scorpio

(Oct 24-Nov 22)

It will feel rewarding to tidy up your workplace or living space. A precious item you thought was lost forever will be found. A younger relative may approach you to guarantee a loan.

Their attitude when you refuse will upset you.

Don’t cheat yourself for the sake of someone who does not give you the respect you deserve.

Sagittarius

(Nov 23-Dec 21)

You will be asked to carry out duties outside your usual work or social arrangements.

Although you might doubt your ability in some areas, you will welcome the new challenges these bring. Take care when bidding on an online auction. A small purchase could lead to a multitude of additional expenditures.

Why not ask for help when you need it? Instead of pretending everything is okay, admit that you could do with some support. Delegate responsibilities and then chores will seem less burdensome. Don’t feel you have to do everything in one fell swoop. If you’re caring for an ailing relative, think about hiring a home healthcare worker.

Cancer

Capricorn

(Dec 22-Jan 20)

An opportunity you are considering will be risky but exciting. You’re wondering whether the return will be worth the risk. Because the offer appeals to you, this is a chance you may be willing to take. Some enterprising friends will join you when you knew all along they were hoping to get your interest.

Leo

(July 24-Aug 23)

Avoid impulsive behaviour. A spontaneous decision could get you into trouble. You will not have considered the consequences of your words and actions. Someone who is over-sensitive will misinterpret your words. Their reaction will upset you but your feelings, it would seem, aren’t important. You might wish you had stayed at home.

Virgo

(Aug 24-Sep 23)

A friend’s attitude towards you is changing.

You have cleared a misunderstanding. Apologies have been accepted and although they’re still slightly moody, you can feel this relationship improving. If only the same thing could be said about an older relative who seems to expect you to be always at their beck and call.

A workaholic friend is trying to get you interested in a project they are starting. You just want to have fun. They will try to goad you into joining them but you aren’t listening. You don’t want to use all your time and energy on work and competitive endeavours. You just aren’t in the mood for hard work.

Aquarius

(Jan 21-Feb 19)

You could have a lot of fun making money out of a creative talent. It will feel rewarding to spend more time on handicrafts and other artistic pursuits. Are you single? You could meet someone special through a community project. You sense this is going to be a great relationship once they’ve succumbed to your charm.

Pisces

(Feb 20-Mar 20)

A partner is uncertain about whether or not you should be together. If you share their concern, it is time to have a heart to heart about your joint future. A friend of a friend may offer to help you further a personal interest. Be cautious as there may be strings attached to this offer.

Answers to the Sudoku and Crossword on page 29

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

31

CARTOONS

Herman

Speed Bump

Frank & Ernest

BC

Scary Gary

Wizard of Id

For Better or for Worse

The San Juan Daily Star

Ziggy

32

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

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