Thursday Aug 6, 2020

Thursday, August 6, 2020

San Juan The

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Star

Spayathon Is Here to Stay

Bureaucracy at Its Best

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With Primaries Around the Corner, Is the SEC Ready Amid P5 the Pandemic?

PDP Hopefuls to US Court: ‘Yes or No’ Referendum Illegal

Forensic Sciences Bureau Employees Demand Separation from Public Safety Dept., Point at Lack of Supplies, Backlogged Investigations Claim Secretary Has Never Set Foot in Their Agency

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The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, August 6, 2020

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August 6, 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.

Spayathon stays; governor signs pet legislation

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By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

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ov. Wanda Vázquez Garced signed Senate Bill 1621 on Wednesday to create the Provisional Licenses Act for the Practice of Veterinary Medicine Free of Charge to the Public.

The measure also amends the Puerto Rico Veterinary Medicine Practice Act to establish a provisional license for licensed veterinary physicians, technicians, and technologists from other U.S. jurisdictions and Canada to practice veterinary medicine free of charge.

“These provisional licenses to veterinary doctors from other jurisdictions go hand in hand with our public policy to protect pets and address the problem of overcrowding of cats and dogs on our streets. This represents an act of social responsibility and [provides] the care they need when they are often mistreated or abandoned,” the governor said. “Furthermore, we are offering these free services to a population that may not have access to veterinary services and we are allowing animal welfare organizations to receive the necessary help to continue fighting animal overpopulation in Puerto Rico. In this way we prevent there being so many homeless animals suffering and dying on the streets.”

The measure, authored by Sen. Miguel Romero Lugo, includes events aimed at sterilization, vaccination, education, preventive care, and treatment of animals free of cost to the public, as has been the case with Spayathon for Puerto Rico.

Referring to the judicial order that declared Executive Orders 2020-15 and 2020-18 null and void, regarding the granting of dispensations to veterinarians who are not licensed in Puerto Rico, Vázquez said it jeopardizes the possibility of future rounds of the Spayathon for Puerto Rico program or the occurrence of similar programs since they depend heavily on the support of veterinarians duly licensed in their home jurisdictions to offer free vaccination and sterilization surgeries in clinics.

Romero Lugo said: “I am thankful to those who supported this measure because it remedied an impediment that had been created for these vaccination, sterilization, especially education services to be carried out.”

“These mass events for many of the people are the first time that they are able to access this treatment.

It was important to ensure this continuity,” he said. “I thank entities, veterinary doctors, and the governor of Puerto Rico who stated that they are in favor of this measure. As she says, we are a society that encourages us to be a people sensitive to animal welfare. I recognize the support, the signing of measures that are transcendent for the people of Puerto Rico.”

Kitty Block, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, applauded the governor’s decision and welcomed the signing of the bill.

“We thank Gov. WandaVázquez Garced for signing a bill that will increase access to veterinary services in Puerto Rico. Our thanks also to Senator Miguel Romero for taking the necessary measures to present this important legislation that will benefit countless animals over the years to come,” Block said. “Spayathon is an unprecedented activity that has cared for over 50,000 animals, offering help for population control and control of sick animals and helping low-income people to offer the care that these additional members of their family need. In fact, that event in February positioned Puerto Rico worldwide as the country with the highest number of rescued pets and animals cared for.”

“Last June, after a meeting with rescuers, I expressed my support for Spayathon for Puerto Rico,” she added. “Today we backed up words with action with the signing of the legislation.”

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The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, August 6, 2020

Forensics employees: Public Safety chief ‘has never been here’ Call for separation from the department, citing bureaucracy and supply shortages that have backlogged criminal investigations

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

A

fter Forensic Sciences Bureau (FSB) Commissioner María Conte Miller issued a resignation ultimatum through various outlets, saying she “can’t handle” being under the Public Safety Department (DSP by its Spanish initials) any longer because the fusion of the two agencies has led to bureaucracy, shortages of supplies, and backlogs in criminal investigations, employees protested Wednesday in front of the FSB to support their supervisor and demand that the Puerto Rico Senate approve House Bill (HB) 2075, which would make the FSB into an independent government entity.

From maintenance personnel to forensic investigators, FSB workers met at the gates of their workplace in the afternoon to express their agreement with Conte Miller’s concerns and that they feel they are being forgotten by the DSP. Likewise, Local 2099 Puerto Rico United Public Servants President Aixa Estrada Franco said that under the commissioner’s supervision, workers at the FSB have done their best to make it work. However, employees have been aware that because some responsibilities are not in her hands, the bureau’s work has been negatively affected.

Estrada Franco said further that DSP Secretary Pedro Janer has never visited the FSB. “No, he has never come here, he has never visited the

bureau’s premises to acknowledge its necessities or understand how work here is done,” Estrada Franco said while other protesters concurred.

Meanwhile, Estrada Franco, who works as an autopsy facility clerk in the pathology unit, said that Conte Miller has performed well amid the struggles the FSB has with its management and, even with their limited resources, she has taken the time to attend to her employees’ concerns.

However, the union leader told the Star that the commissioner can’t make every decision but rather must wait for approval from the DSP. “Our hands are tied by the DSP,” Estrada Franco said.

“We understand that every agency works with particular needs, yet there are certain bureaucratic procedures that can’t wait any longer as there’s equipment that needs maintenance, there’s a lot of work that needs to move forward.

We can’t wait for months to get approval for purchases; our communication with Management and Human Resources is very poor.”

“There has not been any advancement with the FSB since it has been under the DSP’s umbrella due to their bureaucracy and protocols,” she added. “They don’t know how this works.”

Enid Feliciano, a forensic investigation who has worked at the FSB since 2004 and serves as spokeswoman for the same union local, told the Star that when Janer made a negative comment about HB 2075, she found it hard to understand since he has never been available for any staff meeting, nor does he seem to listen to Conte Miller’s concerns.

“We had to write three letters to the secretary requesting a meeting [outside the agency] with members of the union and agency employees, and it was not until June that he agreed to come,” Feliciano said. “In that meeting, we gave him an open invitation to the agency so he could look at the facilities, listen to our needs, attend to our issues with [time and attendance system] Kronos, supply purchases [and] staff exodus, as we are specialized professionals not only with

college degrees, but we have experience in specific fields.

What was his answer? None! Instead, he dares to disparage that bill when he has never reached out to us.”

Lyzette Reyes BerrÍos, a forensic pathologist who has worked for 20 years at the FSB, said the agency must be protected because it holds a culture and history of protecting Puerto Rico. Likewise, she insisted that senators must approve the bill today in order to keep justice alive.

“We are a family here. Here is a culture and a history that has remained alive for years and years, proving with quality, within every legal forum, our value to diminish human pain,” Reyes Berríos said. “We have worked with sensitivity, moderation and commitment to the people of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is our boss. If Dr. Conte [Miller] can keep helping us contribute to making FSB work 100 percent with our best resources and on time, it’s a valid call.

Senators should keep an eye out to make sure our needs are served on time and to make sure we can perform with the highest quality in this agency.”

Janer replaced current Secretary of State Elmer Román as DPS acting secretary in December 2019, and was officially confirmed for the position in April.

Federal agents visit House of Representatives to pick up documents

By THE STAR STAFF

H

ouse Speaker Carlos Méndez Nuñez confirmed Wednesday that federal agents visited the Puerto Rico House of Representatives to pick up previously requested documents involving an investigation around two New Progressive Party (NPP) lawmakers.

“A story has come out that an office of the House of Representatives had been raided by agents and that is totally false, that is not true,” he said.

He said he told reporters after attending a caucus meeting

that the House was cooperating with various investigations and that he was told to provide information from a specific office, which was done Wednesday.

“The agents came here, they went to the Presidency office, precisely looking for directions to get to the Secretary’s office, which is the one with the ministerial duty, and [everything was done] according to the process of delivering all requests made by state or federal agencies or even the [local] government agencies that may request information on matters related to the House of Representatives,” the speaker added.

Because the House had been closed for two weeks, the federal agents picked up the documents Wednesday.

When asked whether the investigation involved lawmakers other than NPP Reps. Nelson del Valle or María Milagros “Tata” Charbonier, Méndez replied in the negative. However, he said that in the past, law enforcement has asked about other House officials. Recently, federal agents raided the homes of the Charbonier and del Valle and took their cellphones. The officials also took a cellphone belonging to Charbonier’s husband.

The investigations, according to sources, are related to a complaint accusing certain lawmakers of having ghost employees or people who appear to be working on paper but are not

truly performing any work.

Neither Charbonier nor del Valle answered requests for comment.

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The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, August 6, 2020

5

PDP hopefuls ask US court to declare ‘Yes-or-No’ referendum illegal

By THE STAR STAFF

T

hree Popular Democratic Party (PDP) legislative candidates have asked the U.S. District Court to declare that Act 51, the law calling for a yes-or-no statehood plebiscite, is illegal because it goes against the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Marco A. Rigau, president of the San Juan Municipal Assembly and a Senate candidate; Jimmy Zorrilla, a PDP candidate for the House of Representatives for San Juan Precinct 3; and Yaramarys Torres, a PDP candidate for an at-large House seat, are suing State Elections Commission (SEC) President Juan Ernesto Dávila Rivera, arguing that the status plebiscite has no other purpose but to affect election results.

The plaintiffs noted that the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) of 2014 is an omnibus spending bill that gathers several appropriation bills together in one larger bill. Through the CAA, the U.S. Congress appropriated $2.5 million for “objective, nonpartisan voter education about, and a plebiscite on, options that would resolve Puerto Rico’s future political status, which shall be provided to the SEC.” On May 16 of this year, Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced signed Act 51 into law, thereby enabling a status vote and establishing the rules for the holding of a plebiscite in

November to resolve the century-old problem of Puerto Rico’s territorial status.

In the Report of the House Ways and Means Committee, Congress established the requirements for the transfer of the $2.5 million to the SEC. The requirements are that the “voter education materials, plebiscite ballot, and related materials are not incompatible with the Constitution and the laws and policies of the United States.”

Act 51 says “the intent of Congress was not to limit, diminish, or delegitimize the right of the U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico to exercise their self-determination regardless of the application of a federal plebiscite law.”

“Logically, if the Attorney General considers any element to be ‘incompatible,’ he should present his arguments so this Legislative Assembly can take them into consideration,” the law says. “This Act provides a reasonable amount of time for the U.S. Attorney General to exercise his ministerial duty of issuing the certification.”

Section 3.1 of Act 51 established June 30 as the deadline for completing any transaction, certification, and disbursement related to the holding of the plebiscite.

In a letter dated July 29, the U.S. Attorney General’s office raised timing issues as well as “substantive concerns with the plebiscite materials that make them incompatible with the policies of the United States.”

According to the Attorney General’s of-

fice, “multiple aspects of Act 51-2020 make clear that it approaches the question of Puerto Rico’s future status from a decidedly proStatehood, and anti-territorial, point of view.”

“In that context, the Department’s approval and funding of the plebiscite may be seen as an endorsement of these views and a rejection of the other available status options,” the Attorney General’s office said, stating further that “the plebiscite appears to be based in part on a determination by the Legislature of Puerto Rico with which the Department disagrees, namely that the 2012 and 2017 plebiscites ‘constitute a direct rejection of the current territory status.’ The Department cannot support a plebiscite in tension with that policy judgment, as it would further suggest that the United States is no longer neutral about the options for Puerto Rico’s future status.”

The Attorney General’s office also stated that “the Department [of Justice] is concerned that statements in the plebiscite materials may cause voters to misperceive the effect of a majority vote in favor of Statehood.”

Despite the Attorney General’s position refusing to notify Congress of the approval of the materials for the Nov. 3 plebiscite, and that it was unable to obligate the appropriated federal funds, the SEC said the vote will go on.

In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs contend that “[t]he November 3 plebiscite, as ordered

by Law 51, improperly interferes with the election of a federal officer -- namely, Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner, inasmuch as pro-Statehood voters may be more inclined to vote in the general elections for the proStatehood candidate for Resident Commissioner, considering that a Statehood ‘yes or no’ plebiscite will take place on that same date.”

“Since the U.S. Attorney General has already stated that the results of the plebiscite will be of no consequence and will not bind the Federal Government, the real purpose of the plebiscite is no other than helping the proStatehood party and its candidates to prevail in the general elections,” the lawsuit said.

Meanwhile, the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states that a state shall not make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive a person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law.

The United States Supreme Court has also held that the power of a state to determine the manner of holding elections must be exercised in a manner consistent with the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The case is Rigau vs SEC case number 3:20-cv-01385-WGY.

SEC applies final touches ahead of ‘atypical’ primary elections

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

S

tate Elections Commission (SEC) President Juan Dávila Rivera said Wednesday that the agency is putting its final touches on preparations for Sunday’s primary elections.

Dávila Rivera told the Star that the SEC has been working on voting centers in the south of Puerto Rico where some of the schools that traditionally house polling stations cannot be used due to earthquake damages, so the commission decided to reserve tents and portable bathrooms so citizens could exercise their right to vote safely.

Meanwhile, the SEC will use Roberto Clemente Coliseum in Hato Rey as its headquarters in order to comply with safety requirements against the spread of COVID-19.

“There are many unique things about this event. First, both parties are on primary elections; it’s the first electoral event with the COVID-19 pandemic,” Dávila Rivera said.

“The SEC also had budget issues, although we did an estimate of how much [the primaries]

were going to cost with the last election. It wasn’t until this week that we were authorized to have $2 million, which subtracts the deficit we had since June 2019, and which we responsibly asked for since that date.”

The SEC chief said the SEC already has done the logistics on ballot delivery, as the agency hired more than 160 trucks to deliver the aforementioned documents for distribution to both the New Progressive Party (NPP) and the Popular Democratic Party (PDP). He also confirmed that 1,370 voting centers will be available.

“Not everything has been rosy, but we are focused on everything coming out well,” Dávila Rivera said. “We have all the personal protective equipment that we need. Ballots are still coming in, yet they are getting ready to be distributed.”

‘Lolín’ Santiago: ‘Over the weekend, we worked for 48 hours straight’ Amid the COVID-19 pandemic and other major events, NPP Electoral Commissioner María Dolores “Lolín” Santiago told the Star that, since Saturday, when the party had issues with the early vote, they have been working

non-stop to minimize any missteps during the primaries.

“Since I arrived two months ago, we have been working 15-16 hours a day,” Santiago said. “Over the weekend, we worked for 48 hours straight. We have been working since Saturday to adjust our needs after the shortcomings we experienced and any other inconvenience we could have going forward due to an official.”

Santiago told the Star that the NPP encountered minor inconveniences with its at-home vote, as they were able to pick up 2,900 votes out of some 3,300 requests; she said they will revisit the rest on Saturday.

Likewise, the party will hold its inmate vote on Friday. Nonetheless, the NPP is working on safety measures for both voters and officials against the coronavirus to protect the right to vote, she said.

“We’ll have gloves, hand sanitizer, and face masks in every voting center. For every electoral officer, we ordered more than 11,000 surgical robes for which we are still awaiting delivery,” Santiago said. “Although we are asking every voter to wear their face masks,

we will hand out face masks to those who need one. We have thermometers and have designed protocols for anyone who tests for high body temperature; we are also requesting that voters maintain physical distancing.”

The Star requested an interview with PDP Electoral Commissioner Lind O. Merle, but had received no response as of press time.

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The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, August 6, 2020

Courts to remain open for primaries

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

T

he administrative director of the island’s courts, Sigfrido Steidel Figueroa, announced on Wednesday that the judicial centers of the 13 judicial regions of Puerto Rico, as well as the offices of the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court, will remain open to address cases and electoral matters on Sunday, primary elections day, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The hours of operation were determined in an administrative order by Puerto Rico Supreme Court Chief Justice Maite Oronoz Rodríguez.

“In addition to taking the necessary measures to operate this coming Sunday, the judges of the Superior Court were also appointed to deal with cases and controversies involving electoral matters,” Steidel Figueroa said in a

written statement. “These appointments were made according to the random selection process established by Rule 4 of the Regulations for the Appointment of Presiding Judges and Alternate Presidents of Local Election Commissions and Other Electoral Matters.”

Likewise, two special panels on duty were appointed at the Court of Appeals to attend to electoral cases on the day of the primaries.

By means of the administrative order, Oronoz Rodríguez, the presiding judge, also ordered that electoral cases of a civil nature be filed through the Unified System of Case Management and Administration (SUMAC by its Spanish acronym). Complaints may also be filed through SUMAC in electoral cases of a criminal nature.

The people who appear in their own right may present their documents physically

in the judicial centers or through the email addresses available for that purpose in each judicial region.

Additionally, on Saturday, electoral matters of a civil nature may be received and ad-

dressed in the judicial centers, the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

A copy of the administrative order, OAJP2020-065, is available at www.ramajudicial.pr.

Governor delivers recovery status report to US Congress

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

G

ov. Wanda Vázquez Garced announced Wednesday the delivery of the fourth Congressional Status Report on the Economic and Disaster Recovery Plan to the U.S. Congress detailing the island’s progress in recovery efforts amid the coronavirus pandemic.

As required by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, P.L. 115-123, the island government provides Congress periodic updates on the recovery of Puerto Rico from hurricanes Irma and Maria, which devastated the island in 2017.

“When I took my oath as Governor of Puerto Rico, I swore to stand with our people and do everything in my power to expedite the recovery efforts from the 2017 hurricanes Irma and Maria,” Vázquez said. “My

priority was that every person who was affected and harmed by these hurricanes would have their unmet needs met. Despite the challenges we have confronted during this past year, we have emerged stronger and made significant strides toward our island’s recovery.

Today, I can proudly say that we are building a better, stronger, and more resilient Puerto Rico.”

In the written communication, delivered to Congressional Leadership by the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration (PRFAA), the governor highlighted the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) collaboration with the commonwealth’s Central Office for Recovery, Reconstruction, and Resilience (COR3) and government officials on the island as essential to the significant progress made toward recovery.

The island government has received support from FEMA, which has aided in expediting the pace of the island’s recovery by making strides toward the obligation of funds. The letter highlights that the island has surpassed the performance achieved in the initial 18 months after the disaster by reaching several milestones. * Currently, 2,056 projects have been obligated with a total amount of $654,726,905 associated funds, and project obligations increased from 10-15 projects per month to 550 projects over the past year. * The federal government has provided more than $25 billion toward response and recovery efforts in Puerto Rico, and $7.5 billion has been approved under FEMA’s Public Assistance program, out of which COR3 has disbursed $4.3 billion. * The projections of FEMA and COR3 indicate that

by December 2020, around 50-60 percent of projects and 60-70 percent of the total cost will be awarded.

COR3 Executive Director Ottmar Chávez Piñero said “the acceleration of projects, obligations and dis-

bursements, and the reduction of administrative costs, among other achievements, allow this generation to witness how Puerto Rico will be able to get back on its feet, while allowing Puerto Ricans to be part of its reconstruction.”

The governor added that “[i]t is worth noting that all of these important milestones were accomplished despite the ongoing earthquakes that continue to impact our island on a daily basis and the social distancing requirements and intermittent islandwide lockdowns required to protect the health of our population amid the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“While it has not been easy and the circumstances have been challenging, I have never been prouder of our people, their spirit, and our ability to come together and face these challenges headstrong and emerge stronger than ever,” Vázquez said.

Jennifer M. Storipan, executive director of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration, highlighted the island government’s achievements over the past year “despite the challenging circumstances we have faced.”

“As Puerto Rico continued to recover from the 2017 hurricanes Irma and Maria, earlier this year, the island was impacted by thousands of earthquakes that today continue to affect our island. We are also battling with the biggest pandemic of our century, the COVID-19 virus,” she said. “With so many competing priorities, it is easy to forget that we are still in a recovery phase.

However, these milestones have been accomplished because the Governor has restored the island’s credibility in Washington, D.C., and we have an excellent working relationship with the federal agencies. As we continue with our recovery efforts, I know that our work, coupled with our people’s resiliency, will help us build a better Puerto Rico.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, August 6, 2020

7

Can New York City reopen schools? The country is watching

By ELIZA SHAPIRO

W

ith about a month to go before New York City schools are scheduled to reopen, the city is confronting a torrent of logistical issues and political problems that could upend Mayor Bill de Blasio’s ambition to make New York one of the few major U.S. districts to bring students back into classrooms this fall.

There are not yet enough nurses to staff all city school buildings, and ventilation systems in aging buildings are in urgent need of upgrades. There may not even be enough teachers available to offer in-person instruction.

Some teachers are threatening to stage a sickout, and their union has indicated it might sue over reopening. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has contradicted the mayor on every major issue related to schools during the pandemic, has spent the past several days loudly noting that de Blasio’s plan is not yet complete.

And the parents of the city’s 1.1 million public school students, exhausted after nearly four excruciating months of remote learning, are desperate for answers and still unsure if they will send their children back into classrooms.

Los Angeles, Miami, Washington, D.C., and scores of smaller suburban and rural districts have in recent weeks reversed course on reopening and opted to start the school year remote-only, meaning that tens of millions of American children will be learning at home for months to come. Chicago, the second-largest district, is also likely to delay its reopening plan.

But buoyed by its low infection rate, New York City is still planning to reopen its buildings Sept. 10 on a hybrid model, in which children will report to school one to three days a week — with masks and social distancing required — and learn online the rest of the time.

Even if the city succeeds in opening schools, there is little certainty that it will be able to keep them open all semester.

One Indiana school that opened last week reported a positive case on the very first day of classes. Health experts predict the same is almost certain to happen at some point in some of New York’s 1,800 schools next month. Just two cases in different classrooms of the same school could force its closing for two weeks.

De Blasio has laid out a series of safety measures over the past few days in an attempt to assuage fears and boost the chances that reopening really happens — and to try to quiet mounting criticism from the teachers’ union and Cuomo.

The city is also home to vast numbers of vulnerable children who rely on school for food, therapy and sometimes even safety from dangerous home conditions. Remote learning has been a failure for many of the city’s children, but has been particularly disastrous for the 200,000 students with disabilities and 114,000 who are homeless.

Balancing the risks and rewards of reopening is hugely challenging on its own. But the mayor and governor’s mutual dislike — and Cuomo’s determination to undermine the mayor — have compounded the problem.

The two men have each trumpeted the city’s plummeting case numbers as a point of pride. But the searing criticism they

Teachers, parents and students march in lower Manhattan on Monday, Aug. 3, 2020, to express frustration with the city’s plan to reopen schools. have both faced for waiting too long to close schools in midMarch, when the virus was already spreading rapidly, has put them on high alert over reopening.

De Blasio said last week he believed New York was up for the challenge, calling reopening a “big, tough job, but one this city is ready for.”

He acknowledged that many parents and teachers are fearful about returning to classrooms, and said he would not reopen schools — or would close them — if the city’s test positivity rate ticks above 3%.

“This is a way of proving that we will do things the right way,” de Blasio said.

Cuomo has set the threshold at 5%.

The city’s average test positivity rate is currently around 1%, although lags in test results have compromised some recent data. Average test positivity rates in some parts of Florida, where there has been enormous opposition to school reopening, reached as high as 20% last month.

Cuomo is expected to announce later this week that school districts across the state can tentatively plan to reopen because of the low virus caseload. But that does not necessarily mean that New York City schools will open — the State Education Department will still need to sign off, and the mayor himself has said he will not make a final call until later this summer.

Although the governor has frequently asserted that he has final say over whether schools open or close during the pandemic, he has recently sought to distance himself from that authority, saying he expected parents and teachers to make clear whether or not they want to return to school.

Though it is unlikely that Cuomo will veto the city’s reopening if the numbers stay low, the rancorous history between the two men on schools has prompted confusion among parents.

“I’m not looking forward to a fight between Cuomo and de Blasio,” said Peter Kruty, the father of two children in city public schools. “That’s not going to be constructive. I hope no one is going to pull rank at the last minute.”

Even if state education officials sign off on New York City’s final plan, which has not yet been submitted, de Blasio’s administration still faces glaring obstacles on the path to reopening.

Perhaps chief among them is growing dissent from the teachers’ union, which helped craft the city’s plan and is an active participant in high-level discussions about reopening, but has recently backed away from that plan as teachers’ fears have mounted.

President Donald Trump’s push to reopen alarmed educators but gave unions in Democratic cities, including New York, a politically powerful cudgel with which to oppose opening school doors.

Although one national teachers’ union has authorized health and safety strikes, it is illegal for teachers to strike in New York City. But in a call with members last month, Michael Mulgrew, president of the local United Federation of Teachers, said, “I am preparing to do whatever we need to do if we think the schools are not safe and the city disagrees with us.”

On Monday, city teachers marched in Lower Manhattan to protest reopening plans, using the hashtag #WeWontDieforDOE, in reference to the Department of Education.

Even some educators who say they are willing to go back to classrooms said they were concerned that the highly charged climate in New York over reopening has damaged bonds between teachers and parents.

“We went from being honored as the most amazing people in the world to now we are lazy people who don’t want to work,” said Melissa Dorcemus, a high school special education teacher in Manhattan. “I’m like, which are we? It just flipped so fast on us.”

City Hall officials said they were planning to meet the union’s safety demands, though some crucial details are still scarce.

Still, Mulgrew recently said that even if all the safety boxes are checked, he may continue to oppose reopening, because of a lack of trust between the union and the mayor over the delayed closure in March.

Mulgrew and Cuomo, who are political allies, appear united in their goal of sowing distrust over the mayor’s reopening plan. The city has tried to preempt their protestations by rolling out more safety measures in recent days.

De Blasio said quick-turnaround tests will be made available for all staff before school starts, although he has not announced details about whether students and staff will be tested after the school year begins.

One or two cases in a single classroom will prompt the members of that class to learn remotely for two weeks. But if two or more people in different classrooms test positive, the entire building will close while disease detectives investigate links between the cases.

Many staffing questions remain. The teachers’ union has said it would not be comfortable returning to schools without a nurse in every building, a goal that has still not been reached, despite a recent flurry of hires.

The district also does not know if it will have enough teachers for students in classrooms. The city has estimated that about 20% of teachers will be allowed to work remotely because of medical accommodations. At the same time, it does not yet know how many students will show up to school: Families have until next week to choose full-time remote instruction.

8

Thursday, August 6, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

New York Health Commissioner resigns after clashes over virus

Dr. Oxiris Barbot resigned on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2020, in protest over her “deep disappointment” with de Blasio’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak and subsequent efforts to keep it in check.

By J. DAVID GOODMAN

N

ew York City’s health commissioner, Dr. Oxiris Barbot, resigned Tuesday to protest her “deep disappointment” with Mayor Bill de Blasio’s handling of the pandemic, renewing scrutiny of his leadership during the crisis just as the city faces pressing decisions about how quickly to reopen schools and businesses.

Her departure came after escalating tensions between City Hall and top city health department officials, which had begun at the start of the coronavirus outbreak in March, burst into public view and raised concerns that the feuding was undermining crucial public health policies.

De Blasio immediately announced a replacement for Barbot, which suggested that she had resigned because she believed that she was about to be dismissed or demoted.

“I leave my post today with deep disappointment that during the most critical public health crisis in our lifetime, that the health department’s incomparable disease control expertise was not used to the degree it could have been,” Barbot said in her resignation email sent to de Blasio, a copy of which was shared with The New York Times.

“Our experts are world renowned for their epidemiology, surveillance and response work. The city would be well served by having them at the strategic center of the response not in the background.”

The mayor on Tuesday morning immediately announced

a replacement for Dr. Barbot, and later pushed back against any suggestion that she had resigned in protest.

After a day of news coverage highlighting her departure, the mayor’s office abruptly released a statement at 8:30 p.m., saying that Dr. Barbot had been told over the weekend that “the administration was moving in a different direction.”

At a hastily called news conference after her resignation earlier in the day, de Blasio defended his handling of the outbreak, saying that the city had made ”extraordinary progress.”

The virus took a devastating toll in the spring, killing more than 20,000 residents, but it has largely ebbed in recent weeks. On Monday, for example, only 316 people in the city tested positive out of more than 30,000 tested.

Still, the turnover in the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene comes at a pivotal moment: Public schools are scheduled to partially open next month — which could be crucial for the city’s recovery — and fears are growing that the outbreak could surge again when the weather cools.

“It had been clear in recent days that it was time for a change,” de Blasio said of Barbot. “We need an atmosphere of unity. We need an atmosphere of common purpose.”

The mayor announced the appointment of a new health commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi, a former senior leader at Health + Hospitals, the city’s public hospital system.

Current and former health officials said the departure of Barbot reflected de Blasio’s history of distrust in his health department. From early in the coronavirus outbreak, he has

clashed with the department on testing, public messaging and how quickly to shutter schools.

De Blasio has been faulted for resisting calls to close down schools and businesses, which some epidemiologists believe worsened the outbreak.

Once he decided on closures, de Blasio pushed for the state to authorize further restrictions, a move ultimately made

by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. And in the intervening months, the mayor has moved cautiously in reopening the city, guarding the progress that has been made in controlling the virus.

But even as the outbreak began to ebb in late May, tensions with Barbot mounted.

Some public health officials had bristled at the mayor’s decision to place the city’s contact-tracing program inside Health + Hospitals. The health department has performed such tracing for decades; the public hospitals have not.

Barbot disagreed with the move but kept her disapproval private.

Yet the behind-the-scenes tensions flared into public view in May, when an article appeared in the New York Post about a conflict months earlier between Barbot and a police commander who wanted personal protective gear that had been set aside for health workers to be given instead to the police. The Post quoted Barbot as saying at one point, “I don’t give two rats’ asses about your cops.” Police unions and some elected officials called for her ouster.

At that point, Barbot began to make fewer public appearances as de Blasio seemed to look elsewhere for public health guidance, turning to a new senior adviser, Dr. Jay Varma, and to the public hospitals chief, Dr. Mitchell Katz.

On Tuesday, de Blasio made clear that he did not believe that Barbot was a team player.

“It’s never about one agency,” he said at one point. He used the words “teamwork” or “team” 15 times in a 38-minute news conference.

New York City’s health department is regarded as one of the best municipal health agencies in the world. But during the epidemic, the mayor has repeatedly ignored the advice of its top disease-control experts and sidelined the department.

“I think this is the culmination of months of conflict between the health department and City Hall,” said Councilman Mark Levine, who heads the council’s health committee. “This reflects enormous frustration that global experts in infectious disease are being marginalized in the middle of a pandemic.”

Perhaps the most consequential debate inside City Hall over the coronavirus came during the second week in March.

The city had a small number of positive cases, but its public health system was flashing a warning about the unchecked spread of a flulike virus.

Barbot and one of her top deputies began urging more restrictions on gatherings. De Blasio for a time sided instead with Katz, who had been advising City Hall against ordering shutdowns.

Some officials inside the Health Department talked about quitting that week or staging a walkout to force action.

Eventually, top officials and the mayor agreed on the need to lock down the city to stop the spread of the virus. De Blasio ordered schools closed March 15.

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, August 6, 2020

9

Biden announces $280 Million fall ad buy across 15 states

By SHANE GOLDMACHER and KATIE GLUECK

J

oe Biden’s campaign announced a $280 million fall advertising blitz Wednesday, outlining plans for $220 million in television and $60 million in digital ads across 15 states in the lead-up to the November election.

The ad reservation, which will begin Sept. 1, is by far the biggest of the 2020 race by either campaign and is a sign of the swift turnabout in Biden’s finances, as both small and large donors have rallied behind him since he became the presumptive Democratic nominee against President Donald Trump.

Trump has reserved more than $145 million in television ads in 11 states starting after Labor Day; he has not announced the size of his digital reservations.

In a conference call outlining their fall strategy, Biden’s top advisers laid out a fairly simple and straightforward case heading into November: The 2020 election will be about Trump in general, and his stewardship of the nation during the coronavirus pandemic in particular.

“This election is a clear referendum on Donald Trump and his failed leadership on COVID and also on the economy,” said Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, Biden’s campaign manager.

O’Malley Dillon said the ad buy reflected the campaign’s efforts to open “multiple pathways” to achieving 270 electoral votes, with spending slated for states both in industrial strongholds that Trump won in 2016, like Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, as well as in more traditionally conservative corners of the Sun Belt, including Georgia and Texas.

Biden’s campaign declined to say how much it was spending in any particular state, but the initial ad buy included 10 states that Trump carried in 2016 (the five above plus Florida, North Carolina, Arizona, Ohio and Iowa) and five that Hillary Clinton won (Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, Colorado and Virginia).

Despite an Electoral College system in which winners are determined by state, the Biden campaign said it planned to continue to book national ads, including on “major viewing events” like sports and news, and on networks it said would target Black voters, including BET, TV1, Bounce and OWN, which together officials estimated would reach half of Black households.

There are four states where Biden is currently booking ads and Trump is not: two that Trump carried in 2016, Texas and Georgia, and two states that Clinton won, Virginia and Colorado. Although Georgia is not part of Trump’s fall ad buy, he has been advertising heavily in the state since June.

On the conference call, the Biden campaign officials previewed some of the messages and contrasts they intend to press in the ad campaign. Mike Donilon, Biden’s chief strategist, said that the former vice president, Biden, offers stability compared to an “erratic” Trump, that he represents “core American values” compared to “walking away from them,” and that Biden represents someone “willing to bear the burden” of leading.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential nominee, speaks at a campaign event in New Castle, Del., July 21, 2020.

The campaign officials promised that Biden would make his own case through ads that would often be in his own voice. In a memo, the campaign said it would focus heavily on longer and more expensive minute-long ads versus the standard 30-second spots.

“There’s a great value in being able to positively speak to the central concern of people’s lives,” Donilon said. “The Trump campaign is in a very difficult situation when they are unable to speak to the central issue in this country, and that their entire campaign is really an effort to distract people’s attention.”

The Biden campaign included Texas — and its bounty of 38 electoral votes — in its initial fall ad reservation.

The campaign has previously made a show of announcing an ad buy in Texas, but it actually spent only $65,000 on that ad, according to data from Advertising Analytics, an ad tracking firm. The campaign did get some free airings, including on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” which ran the full minute-long spot when the campaign announced it.

The Biden campaign’s effort to compete in typically red territory may also be designed in part to encourage Trump to spend money there, even as polls show opportunities for Biden in some of those states. O’Malley Dillon noted the Trump campaign’s recent efforts to retool its advertising, which included a brief suspension of television advertising last week.

“As we’ve seen in their reset on their strategy and on

their advertising in a smaller footprint of states, that’s not our approach,” she said. “Our approach is to go on offense, to have a broad strategy across all platforms and channels to reach voters where they are.”

On the call, senior Biden operatives detailed their plans to use paid media to target core constituencies including Latino, African American and Asian American and Pacific Islander voters, as well as both young and older voters.

According to the accompanying memo, when it comes to Latino outreach, for example, the campaign intends to “reserve a large bulk of advertising across Colorado, Florida, Arizona, Nevada and Virginia,” as well as “investments in Latino paid media in Pennsylvania and North Carolina.”

Biden campaign officials expressed confidence in the state of a race that shows their candidate leading many national polls by double digits, with a vice-presidential selection expected next week and the national convention the week after that.

For months, Biden has had a far smaller public presence than Trump, who has restarted his regular press briefings on the coronavirus and whose daily Twitter missives drive cable coverage day after day. Don’t expect that lower-key approach to necessarily change as the election nears, aides suggested.

“I don’t think that we need to be counterprogramming,” said Kate Bedingfield, one of Biden’s deputy campaign managers.

10

Thursday, August 6, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

Republicans aid Kanye West’s bid to get on the 2020 ballot

Kanye West at his first rally in support of his presidential bid last month in North Charleston, S.C.

By DANNY HAKIM and MAGGIE HABERMAN

A

t least four people who have been active in Republican politics are linked to Kanye West’s attempt to get on the presidential ballot this year. The connection raises questions about the aims of the entertainer’s effort and whether it is regarded within the GOP as a spoiler campaign that could aid President Donald Trump, even as those close to West have expressed concerns about his mental health as he enters the political arena.

One operative, Mark Jacoby, is an executive at a company called Let the Voters Decide, which has been collecting signatures for the West campaign in three states. Jacoby was arrested on voter fraud charges in 2008 while he was doing work for the California Republican Party, and he later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor.

Jacoby, in a statement, said his company was nonpartisan and worked for all political parties. “We do not comment on any current clients, but like all Americans, anyone who is qualified to stand for election has the right to run,” he said.

New York Magazine reported Monday evening on the campaign’s links to two other people with partisan ties. One is Gregg Keller, the former executive director of the American Conservative Union, who has been listed as a contact for the campaign in Arkansas. Keller, who did not respond to a message seeking comment, is a Missouri-based strategist. He was under consideration to be Trump’s campaign manager in 2015, a role that was ultimately filled by Corey Lewandowski, accor-

ding to a former campaign official.

Another person linked to the West campaign is Chuck Wilton, who is listed as a convention delegate for Trump from Vermont and as an elector with the West operation who could potentially cast an Electoral College vote for West. Wilton could not be reached. He and his wife, Wendy, a Trump appointee at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, have been political supporters of the president. She hung up immediately when called at her office.

Late Tuesday, a local reporter in Madison, Wisconsin, recorded a woman dropping off ballot signatures for West. A report in Vice identified the woman as a Republican elections lawyer, Lane Ruhland. Ruhland worked for the Republican National Committee during the 2016 presidential election recount in Wisconsin. She did not return requests for comment, and a spokesman for the law firm where she works, Husch Blackwell, did not have an immediate comment.

The nature of the financial relationships between the West campaign and the operatives, if any, was not immediately clear.

West was until recently a fervent supporter of Trump and said they shared a “dragon energy,” but he declared early last month that he would run for president himself. A few days later, Trump retweeted a post that said West could siphon votes from Joe Biden, who has clinched the Democratic nomination.

“That shouldn’t be hard,” Trump wrote. “Corrupt Joe has done nothing good for Black people!”

West developed a relationship with Jared Kushner, the

president’s son-in-law, after West’s wife, Kim Kardashian West, worked with the president on criminal justice reform efforts.

Kushner declined to comment, but a person close to him said that while West had periodically reached out to him, Kushner hadn’t been stoking a run to divert votes away from Biden.

To be sure, if West’s goal is to disrupt the general election between Biden and Trump, he is going about it in a strange way. For instance, some of the states where he has filed to get on the ballot have been solidly red states, like Arkansas, where his presence would almost certainly do little to change the general election equation. But other states he is targeting, like Wisconsin, are seen as pivotal.

Soon after his announcement, he explained that he was going to use a Wakanda-like management approach, referring to the fictional country from “Black Panther.” His running mate, Michelle Tidball, is a self-described “biblical life coach” based in Cody, Wyoming, where the Wests have a ranch. Tidball, according to TMZ, once advocated making beds and doing dishes as a way to treat mental illness.

West has missed the filing deadlines in a number of states, and on Tuesday he appeared to have abandoned efforts to get on the ballot in New Jersey, but he could still be a spoiler in other states. Jacoby said he hoped that news media attention underscored the complexity of getting on the ballot and “the need to modernize such ballot access laws to make it easier for every American who wants to serve.”

During an appearance in South Carolina last month, West broke down crying. He later tweeted that his wife “tried to bring a doctor to lock me up.” Amid his erratic behavior, Kardashian West has spoken out about her husband’s struggles with mental illness, and West has publicly apologized to his wife for some of his comments.

So with little resemblance to a viable campaign, it is unclear why ballots are still being gathered on West’s behalf. A spokeswoman for West referred questions to the campaign, which did not respond to requests for comment. A spokeswoman for the Kardashian family also had no immediate comment.

During the 2016 campaign, Trump’s staff aimed to depress turnout among Black voters after determining that its own appeal to African Americans was slim. His appeal to Black voters that year was, “What do you have to lose?”

A recent commercial by the Trump campaign demonstrates that this continues to be part of its strategy. The ad focuses on tough-on-crime legislation supported by Biden during his Senate career, claiming that “Joe Biden’s policies destroyed millions of Black lives,” while ads aimed at whites claim that Democrats are too soft on crime.

Some of those who oppose Trump have been suspicious of West’s candidacy, to say the least. And they have expressed concerns that he could play a role similar to that of Jill Stein, the 2016 Green Party candidate whom many Clinton supporters still see as having siphoned votes away from the Democratic nominee.

Political commentator Ana Navarro-Cárdenas recently tweeted that voters should “pay no attention” to West and likened him to Stein, saying such candidates “come in a variety of colors and gender.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, August 6, 2020

11

Disney, staggered by pandemic, sees a streaming boom

By BROOKS BARNES

T

he Walt Disney Co. reported doomsday financial results Tuesday as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and a television-related write-down, with net quarterly losses totaling $4.72 billion.

But Disney’s newest and, as far as many investors are concerned, most important business — streaming — experienced blockbuster growth as people quarantined at home. Disney said it had more than 100 million subscribers worldwide across its Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ streaming services. Powered by the release of “Hamilton,” Disney+ has about 60.5 million by itself, hitting the low end of its initial five-year goal after only nine months in operation.

To further strengthen its streaming business, Disney said that it would bypass theaters in the United States, Canada and part of Europe and make “Mulan” — a $200 million film — available to Disney+ subscribers on a premium basis. Access will cost $30 on top of Disney+ membership and start Sept. 4.

“Mulan” had been scheduled for release in theaters worldwide in March. Disney said it would still release the live-action movie in countries where theaters are open but Disney+ is not available. That includes China, where the film’s story takes place.

“The tremendous success of Disney+ in less than a year clearly establishes us as a major force in global direct-to-consumer space,” Bob Chapek, Disney’s chief executive, told analysts on a conference call. “We are looking at ‘Mulan’ as a one-off as opposed to a new windowing model.” Chapek added, however, that Disney was “excited” to discover how a major film might perform in online release.

Robert Iger, Disney’s executive chairman and former chief executive, did not participate in the call, his first such absence since naming Chapek chief in February.

Disney also announced that it would introduce a new general entertainment subscription streaming service overseas next year. It will be called Star and offer programming from Disney properties like ABC, FX, Freeform, Searchlight and 20th Century Studios, which Disney bought from Rupert Murdoch last year.

As such, Disney will not pursue an international rollout of Hulu, which is available only in the United States.

Revenue in the quarter that ended June 27, the third in Disney’s fiscal year, added up to $11.78 billion, falling from $20.26 billion a year ago. In the most-recent quarter, Disney furloughed an estimated 100,000 employees, cut executive pay by up to 50% and took out a $5 billion line of credit to bolster its liquidity, on top of $8.25 billion secured in March. The company also suspended its summer dividend and slashed $700 million in expansion spending at its domestic theme parks.

Per-share losses totaled $2.61 — a stark departure from the spectacular growth the company delivered from 2006, when it bought Pixar, to last year, when it swallowed the majority of Murdoch’s entertainment empire. In the same period last year, Disney had a profit of 79 cents per share.

Excluding one-time items, Disney squeaked out per share profit for the most recent quarter of 8 cents, better than analysts were expecting. The items included nearly $5 billion of writedowns, in large part related to Disney’s traditional international te-

Disney World in Florida reopened to a limited number of daily visitors in mid-July. Disney said interest had been weaker than anticipated. levision business. Disney has closed down more than 20 overseas cable channels so far this year.

Increasingly cost-conscious consumers are canceling their cable and satellite service in larger numbers, resulting in lower subscriber fees and advertising sales for companies like Disney, which owns the FX, Freeform, National Geographic, Disney Channel and Disney Junior cable networks. It is not just overseas: Richard Greenfield, a founder of the LightShed partners research firm, estimates that Americans will be cutting the cord at an 8% rate by the end of the year, compared with a 6% rate in the spring.

Despite the impact of the pandemic, Disney’s share price has been remarkably buoyant, with investors overlooking nearterm losses and focusing on comeback efforts — most notably the return of some sporting events and the reopening of a retrofitted Walt Disney World to a limited number of visitors. The early success of Disney’s streaming division has also helped Disney shares, which climbed 5% in after-hours trading Tuesday, to about $123.

Hulu has been on a roll because of new programming, including the FX-supplied series “Mrs. America,” which received eight Emmy nominations. Disney+ created a cultural thunderclap in early July, when it released a live capture of the original “Hamilton” stage production.

But building streaming services is tremendously expensive.

Losses at Disney’s streaming division grew to $706 million from $562 million in the quarter.

Disney Media Networks, a division that includes ESPN, was helped by the pandemic, at least from a fiscal standpoint. It had operating profit of about $3.2 billion, a 48% increase, because ESPN was able to defer substantial rights payments to the NBA and Major League Baseball. Disney’s movie studio held its own; operating profit fell 16%, to $668 million, in part because theaters were closed and the company did not have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to advertise the arrival of new films.

But it was a brutal period for Disney’s theme park division, where operating profit plunged $3.7 billion, resulting in a loss of about $2 billion. Christine M. McCarthy, Disney’s chief financial officer, told analysts that Shanghai Disneyland, which reopened in early May, had started to bounce back. But the company’s Florida mega-resort, Walt Disney World, which reopened in mid-July, has performed worse than the company had anticipated.

“We expect that demand will grow when the COVID situation in Florida improves,” McCarthy said on the conference call. Florida reported roughly 5,500 new coronavirus infections Tuesday. That is down from more than 9,000 a day last week but is still among the highest infection rates in the nation.

Disney’s theme parks have long been watched as a bellwether for the broader economy. It is unclear whether the masses — reeling from widespread pay cuts and job losses — will be able to afford Disney vacations in the months and years ahead. So far, Disney has not reduced its ticket prices.

12

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, August 6, 2020

Ford, struggling in a changing industry, replaces its CEO

Jim Hackett, the chief executive of Ford Motor, speaks at a news conference in New York on July 12, 2019.

By NEAL E. BOUDETTE

T

hree years ago, Ford Motor brought in a new chief executive, Jim Hackett, to streamline the company’s inner workings and raise profits.

Now, after he achieved mixed results, the company is again turning to a new boss, hoping he can accelerate the process and finish the job.

On Tuesday, Ford said Hackett will retire Oct. 1 and will be succeeded by James D. Farley Jr., whose promotion to chief operating officer in February had fueled speculation that Hackett’s tenure was nearing an end.

“I am very grateful to Jim Hackett for all he has done to modernize Ford and prepare us to compete and win in the future,” said William Clay Ford Jr., Ford’s executive chairman. The company, he added, is becoming “much more nimble.”

Farley will take the titles of president and CEO, and join Ford’s board of directors, the company said.

Hackett, a former chief executive of Steelcase, an office furniture manufacturer that is much smaller and less complex, was named to the top job at Ford in May 2017, as the company’s business was slumping under his predecessor, Mark Fields. Hackett promised to revitalize Ford’s operations and steer the company toward vehicles that would generate profits — pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles — and invest in emerging technologies like elec-

tric and self-driving vehicles.

The company is starting to introduce some of the models developed under Hackett, including a redesigned F-150 pickup truck and a new series of SUVs under its dormant Bronco brand. The Mustang Mach E, an electric SUV styled to resemble the storied sports car, has generated lots of buzz and is set to go into production later this year.

“We have lots of work ahead of us to complete our mission, but thanks to Jim, we are a very different company today than we were three years ago,” Ford said in a conference call to discuss the leadership change.

Hackett is credited with eliminating money-losing cars from Ford’s North American lineup in favor of more profitable pickups and SUVs. He formed alliances with Volkswagen, the Indian automaker Mahindra and Rivian, a startup working on electric trucks in which Ford has invested. Hackett also accelerated plans to develop electric vehicles.

But so far, the turnaround has had little effect on the company’s bottom line and stock price. Ford’s profits fell in 2018 and 2019, dropping to $47 million last year. This year, the pandemic has hammered its business, and the company lost $876 million in the first half of the year.

“Making the CEO change now could be viewed as Ford is ready to move faster, more aggressively,” Joseph Spak, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets, wrote in a

note to clients. “Farley’s persona and style may be what is needed for that.”

Wall Street analysts have criticized Hackett for stopping short of presenting a full turnaround plan with detailed financial goals and timetables. Ford had planned to do so early in his tenure but changed course and presented only broad targets and revealed its plans piecemeal as it rolled out specific initiatives and projects.

Ford shares were trading at about $11 when Hackett arrived. The stock was trading at $6.85 Tuesday afternoon, up about 2%.

Hackett “faced challenges in technology changes and current operations without technology or auto industry experience,” said Erik Gordon, a business professor at the University of Michigan who follows the auto industry.

Investors value Ford at about $27 billion, just onetenth the market capitalization of Tesla, the electric automaker that makes far fewer cars and has been around only since 2003.

Farley, 58, joined Ford in 2007 from Toyota Motor, where he played a key role in launching the company’s Lexus luxury brand. Since arriving at Ford, he has held a variety of jobs, including running the company’s marketing, its European operations and a new business strategy group.

Farley’s temperament is very different from Hackett’s. The current chief executive has a cerebral, grandfatherly presence and is known for writing long companywide emails about his thoughts on Ford and its future.

Farley is known as an intense and animated personality.

In a conference call, Farley noted the automaker has a history going back 117 years. Over more than a century, Ford has competed with and been closely compared to its two Detroit rivals, General Motors and the company now known as Fiat Chrysler.

But given the technological changes and disruption now rippling through the auto industry, Farley said Ford’s competitors today include companies like Amazon, Tesla, Toyota and Baidu, a Chinese artificial-intelligence technology company that is working on self-driving cars.

Farley said his first priority would be to ensure a smooth transition. He added that he is optimistic about the company’s prospects now that it has introduced the new F-150, Bronco SUV and the Mustang Mach E. Ford is hoping the Mustang Mach E will emerge as a serious challenger to Tesla, which has faced little serious competition. The company is also taking aim at Jeep, a Fiat Chrysler brand, with its new Bronco, for which it has taken 150,000 reservations.

On Farley’s list of tasks are raising Ford’s profit margin in North America to 10% or more, cutting costs and reviving the company’s sales in Europe, China and South America.

“I’m inspired by the momentum we are building,” Farley said in the conference call. “To fulfill our mission, we need to swing for the fences.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, August 6, 2020

13 Stocks

Wonderful world of Disney earnings surprise boosts Wall Street

U

.S. stocks climbed on Wednesday on the heels of a surprise quarterly profit from Disney and as investors stayed optimistic that a deal was near for a U.S. coronavirus fiscal aid package.

Walt Disney Co’s (DIS.N) shares jumped 8.80%, to put it among the biggest boosts to the S&P 500 and Dow. The stock notched its biggest daily percentage gain since March 24 as revenue declines for Disney parks and media networks were not as bad as feared.

“That is helping the Dow and that has been a laggard versus the S&P this year, but it is more than that,” said Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at Baird in Milwaukee. “At a time when everyone is talking about how big and how important these megacaps are to the S&P, kind of quietly you are starting to see a little bit of a leadership rotation.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 373.05 points, or 1.39%, to 27,201.52, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 21.26 points, or 0.64%, to 3,327.77 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 57.23 points, or 0.52%, to 10,998.40.

Square Inc (SQ.N) surged 7.10% after the payments processor reported a 64% rise in second-quarter revenue, as consumers increased online buying and used its peer-topeer Cash App platform during the pandemic.

As quarterly results have come in better-than-feared and heavyweight technology and technology-related companies have surged, a heavy dose of fiscal and monetary stimulus have helped fuel a rally in equities to bring the S&P 500 to less than 2% from its closing record on Feb. 19.

With 384 companies in the S&P having reported earnings through Wednesday morning, results are coming in 23.5% above expectations, in aggregate, according to Refinitiv data, the highest on record back to 1994.

Economic data painted a mixed picture, as U.S. services industry activity gained momentum in July, according to an ISM survey, with new orders jumping to a record high.

However, hiring declined, supporting views that a recovery in the labor market was faltering.

Earlier, the ADP National Employment Report, which can be an inconsistent precursor to the government payrolls report set for Friday, showed U.S. private employers hired far fewer workers than expected last month.

“We know we had this tremendous rebound off the lows but what we need now is sustained strength,” said Delwiche.

Friday is being viewed as a deadline by one of the lead negotiators for the White House and some Senate Republicans in talks with congressional Democrats on a fresh round of coronavirus aid, or talks will be scrapped.

Financials .SPSY, industrials .SPLRCI and materials .SPLRCM, that track economic growth, outperformed among the major S&P sectors.

Teladoc Health Inc (TDOC.N) fell 19.01% after agreeing to buy chronic care provider Livongo Health Inc (LVGO.O) in a deal valuing the company at $18.5 billion, betting on a boom in online care and consultations spurred by the coronavirus crisis. Livongo shares fell 11.40%.

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14

Thursday, August 6, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

As death toll rises after deadly blast, a search for answers and survivors

Wreckage near the blast site in Beirut on Tuesday.

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

R

escue workers still struggling to treat thousands of people wounded in an enormous explosion that rocked Beirut turned their attention on Wednesday morning to the desperate search for survivors.

The blast, so powerful it could be felt more than 150 miles away in Cyprus, leveled whole sections of the city near the port of Beirut, leaving nothing but twisted metal and debris for blocks in Beirut’s downtown business district.

The waterfront neighborhood normally full of restaurants and nightclubs was essentially flattened. A number of crowded residential neighborhoods in the city’s eastern and predominantly Christian half were also ravaged.

Nearly all the windows along one popular commercial strip had been blown out and the street was littered with glass, rubble and cars that had slammed into each other after the blast.

The buildings that remained standing in the blast area looked as if they had been skinned, leaving only hulking skeletons.

The death toll rose to over 100 and with an untold number still missing and officials expected that figure to rise. More than 4,000 people were injured, overwhelming the city’s hospitals.

“What we are witnessing is a huge catastrophe,” the head of Lebanon’s Red Cross George Kettani told the news network Mayadeen. “There are victims and casualties everywhere.”

With electricity out in most of the city, emergency workers were limited in what they could do until the sun rose.

Emergency workers joined residents scattered across the wreckage digging through the rubble even fires still smoldered around them.

“There are many people missing until now. People are asking the emergency department about their loved ones and it is difficult to search at night because there is no electricity,” health minister Hamad Hasan told Reuters.

“We need everything to hospitalize the victims, and there is an acute shortage of everything,” Hassan told local news stations Wednesday morning.

Officials said it appeared the blast was caused by the detonation of more than 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate, a chemical commonly used in fertilizer and bombs, which had been stored in a warehouse at the port since it was confiscated from

a cargo ship in 2014.

Already struggling with an economic collapse, a political crisis and the coronavirus pandemic, many in Lebanon demanded answers to serious questions: why such a dangerous cache of material was allowed to be stored at the port, who knew it was there and why nothing was done to better secure the site?

“As head of the government, I will not relax until we find the responsible party for what happened, hold it accountable and apply the most serious punishments against it,” Prime Minister Hassan Diab said.

Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, the head of Lebanon’s general security service, told the state-run news agency that “highly explosive materials” had been seized by the government years ago and were stored near the blast site. Although the possibility that the explosives had been intentionally set off was being probed, he warned against getting “ahead of the investigation” and speculating that it was a terrorist act.

The Lebanese Red Cross said that every available ambulance from North Lebanon, Bekaa and South Lebanon was being dispatched to Beirut to help patients and engaged in searchand-rescue operations.

Some 300,000 people have been displaced from their homes. But amid the devastation, stories of heroism.

The Lebanese Red Cross raced to set up temporary shelters with food, hygiene kits and basic needs to house up to 1,000 families who lost their homes, although that will only be enough to help a small fraction of the estimated 300,000 people who were displaced by the blast.

But even as scores of people remained missing and families engaged in desperate searches in the 2-square-mile blast zone around the port that was ground zero for the explosion, stories of heroism also began to emerge.

Cheers erupted as rescue workers pulled a young man from the rubble, his clothes caked in dirt and dust and clinging to his body, and carried him on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance.

At St. George’s hospital, where at least four nurses died, a doctor described how one nurse scooped up three premature infants from the neonatal intensive care unit, where the ceiling had partially collapsed and glass had shattered, to carry them to safety. A photo journalist, Bilal Jawich, captured a photograph of the nurse, who has not been publicly identified.

“16 years of photojournalism and a lot of wars. I can say

A damaged apartment in Beirut on Wednesday.

I have never seen what I saw today,” he wrote in a post accompanying the photo that described how the nurse rushed to the phone to call for help with the tiny babies clutched in her arms.

Many on social media applauded the quick thinking of a woman seen in a video vacuuming on a balcony when the first blast hit. Without hesitation, she threw herself forward to shield a young girl across the room, swept her into her arms and ran for safety.

The city’s governor, Marwan Abboud, told reporters that hundreds of thousands had been displaced by the explosion.

Across the battered city, residents, hotels, schools and others offered shelter to those in need, coordinating the efforts on social media.

“Please DM me if you or anyone you know needs shelter,” wrote Joelle Eid on Twitter. “My family home was not affected and is open. We can arrange for transport as well. #ourhomesareopen” Hundreds lined up to donate blood overnight at a blood bank in the northern city of Tripoli, and urban search and rescue units from across the region and further afield — including from France, Poland, Greece and the Netherlands — were sent to Beirut to assist in the hunt for the missing.

The science behind the blast: Why fertilizer packs a punch.

When an explosive compound detonates, it releases gas that rapidly expands. This “shock wave” is essentially a wall of dense air that can cause damage, and it dissipates as it spreads further out. A mass of exploding ammonium nitrate produces a blast that moves at many times the speed of sound, and this wave can reflect and bounce as it moves — especially in an urban area like the Beirut waterfront — destroying some buildings while leaving others relatively undamaged The explosive power of ammonium nitrate can be difficult to quantify in absolute terms, given its age and the conditions in which it has been stored. However, it could be as high as about 40% of the power of TNT. At 40% the power of TNT, the detonation of 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate could produce 1 psi of overpressure — defined as the pressure caused by a shock wave over and above normal atmospheric pressure — as far as 6,600 feet away. The same explosion would produce 27 psi at a range of 793 feet away, which would destroy most buildings, and kill people either through direct trauma or being struck by debris.

Accidental detonation of ammonium nitrate has caused a number of deadly industrial accidents, including the worst in U.S. history: In 1947, a ship carrying an estimated 2,000 tons of ammonium nitrate caught fire and exploded in the harbor of Texas City, Texas, starting a chain reaction of blasts and blazes that killed 581 people.

The chemical has also been the primary ingredient in bombs used in several terrorist attacks, including the destruction of the federal office building in Oklahoma City in 1995, which killed 168 people. That bomb contained about two tons of ammonium nitrate.

Even as hospitals were destroyed and staffers killed, doctors and nurses raced to help.

Continues on page 15

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, August 6, 2020

15

Poor and desperate, Pakistani Hindus accept Islam to get by

By MARIA ABI-HABIB and ZIA UR-REHMAN

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he Hindus performed the prayer rituals awkwardly in supplication to their new, single god, as they prepared to leave their many deities behind them. Their lips stumbled over Arabic phrases that, once recited, would seal their conversion to Islam.

The last words uttered, the men and boys were then circumcised.

Dozens of Hindu families converted in June in the Badin district of Sindh province in southern Pakistan. Video clips of the ceremony went viral across the country, delighting hard-line Muslims and weighing on Pakistan’s dwindling Hindu minority.

The mass ceremony was the latest in what is a growing number of such conversions to Pakistan’s majority Muslim faith in recent years — although precise data is scarce. Some of these conversions are voluntary, some not.

News outlets in India, Pakistan’s majority-Hindu neighbor and archrival, were quick to denounce the conversions as forced.

But what is happening is more subtle. Desperation, religious and political leaders on both sides of the debate say, has often been the driving force behind their change of religion.

Treated as second-class citizens, the Hindus of Pakistan are often systemically discriminated against in every walk of life — housing, jobs, access to government welfare. While minorities have long been drawn to convert in order to join the majority and escape discrimination and sectarian violence, Hindu community leaders say that the recent uptick in conversions has also been motivated by newfound economic pressures.

“What we are seeking is social status, nothing else,” said Muhammad Aslam Sheikh, whose name was Sawan Bheel until June, when he converted in Badin with his family. The ceremony in Badin was notable for its size, involving just over 100 people.

“These conversions,” he added, “are becoming very common in poor Hindu communities.”

Proselytizing Muslim clerics and charity groups add to the faith’s allure, offering incentives of jobs or land to impoverished minority members only if they convert.

With Pakistan’s economy on the brink of collapse in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the pressures on the country’s minorities, often its poorest people, have increased. The economy will contract by 1.3% in the 2020 fiscal year because of the pandemic, the World Bank predicts. Up to 18 million of Pakistan’s 74 million jobs may be lost.

A protest last year in Karachi, Pakistan, against the forced conversions of Hindu girls to Islam. More voluntary forms of conversion, driven by the desire for a better life, are less often discussed.

Sheikh and his family hope to find financial support from wealthy Muslims or from Islamic charities that have cropped up in recent years, which focus on drawing more people to Islam.

“There is nothing wrong with that,” Sheikh said. “Everyone helps the people of their faith.”

As Sheikh sees it, there is nothing left for Pakistan’s more affluent Hindus to give to help the people of their own faith. That is because there are so few Hindus left.

At independence in 1947, Hindus composed 20.5% of the population of the areas that now form Pakistan. In the following decades, the percentage shrank rapidly, and by 1998 — the last government census to classify people by religion — Hindus were just 1.6% of Pakistan’s population. Most estimates say it has further dwindled in the past two decades.

Once a melting pot of religions, Sindh province, where the conversion ceremony took place, has seen minority members flee to other countries in droves in recent decades. Many face harsh discrimination, as well as the specter of violence — and the risk of being accused of blasphemy, a capital crime — if they speak out against it.

“The dehumanization of minorities coupled with these very scary times we are living in — a weak economy and now the pandemic — we may see a raft of people converting to Islam to

stave off violence or hunger or just to live to see another day,” said Farahnaz Ispahani, a former Pakistani lawmaker who is now a senior fellow at the Religious Freedom Institute, a research group in Washington.

Forced conversions of Hindu girls and women to Islam through kidnapping and coerced marriages occur throughout Pakistan. But Hindu rights groups are also troubled by the seemingly voluntary conversions, saying they take place under such economic duress that they are tantamount to a forced conversion anyway.

“Overall, religious minorities do not feel safe in Pakistan,” said Lal Chand Mahli, a Pakistani Hindu lawmaker with the ruling party, who is a member of a parliamentary committee to protect minorities from forced conversions. “But poor Hindus are the most vulnerable among them. They are extremely poor and illiterate, and Muslim mosques, charities and traders exploit them easily and lure them to convert to Islam. A lot of money is involved in it.”

Clerics like Muhammad Naeem were at the forefront of an effort to convert more Hindus. (Naeem, who was 62, died of cardiac arrest two weeks after he was interviewed in June).

Naeem said he had overseen more than 450 conversions over the past two years at Jamia Binoria, his seminary in Karachi.

Most of the converts were low-caste Hindus from Sindh, he said.

“We have not been forcing them to convert,” Naeem said. “In fact, people come to us because they want to escape discrimination attached with their caste and change their socioeconomic status.”

Demand was so great, he added, that his seminary had set up a separate department to guide the new converts and provide counsel in legal or financial matters.

On a recent afternoon, the call to prayer echoed through a cluster of newly erected tents in Matli, a barren patch of Sindh. A group of Karachi’s wealthy Muslim merchants bought the land last year for dozens of families who had converted from Hinduism.

At a new mosque adjacent to the tents, Muhammad Ali — who was known by his Hindu name, Rajesh, before converting last year alongside 205 others — performed ablutions before praying.

Last year, his entire family had decided to convert to Islam when Naeem, the cleric, offered to free them from the bonded labor in which they were trapped, living and working as indentured servants because of unpaid debt. Ali is originally from the Bheel caste, one of the lowest in Hinduism.

“We have found a sense of equality and brotherhood in Islam, and therefore we converted to it,” Ali said.

As death toll rises after deadly blast, a search for answers and survivors

From page 14

At least four large hospitals in Beirut were so severely damaged by the explosion that they were unable to admit patients, doctors said. Health care workers were injured and killed in the blast, and a warehouse storing much of the country’s vaccine supply was believed to have been razed.

An official at American University Hospital in Beirut, the country’s most prestigious and largest private hospital, said they were sending noncritical patients to hospitals outside the capital.

At least four nurses died and five doctors were wounded at St. George Hospital, one of the hardest hit, according to Dr. Joseph Haddad, the director of the hospital’s intensive care unit.

Haddad had just finished his rounds and was walking home when the explosion struck. He rushed to check on his family and found his apartment completely destroyed.

He then returned to the hospital to get to work, expecting to be busy stitching up patients injured in the blast and saving lives.

But he discovered that the hospital, too, was in rubble.

“The patients were coming down the stairs, the elevators weren’t working. They were walking down from as high as nine floors up,” Haddad said. “It was the deepest hell of an apocalypse.

When I went back to my home an hour later, people were crying in the streets.”

“Every floor of the hospital is damaged. I didn’t see this even during the war. It’s a catastrophe,” said Dr. Peter Noun, the head

of St. George Hospital’s Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Department. “The damage is extremely bad. All the rooms are damaged. All the parents and their children were in their rooms. Everything just fell down, the windows destroyed, the ceiling in pieces.”

In addition to taking out some of the capital’s most important hospitals, worries mounted over hundreds of thousands of vaccines and medications that are stored at the warehouse run by the Ministry of Public Health at Karantina, half a mile from the port where the explosion took place.

The vaccines and medications stored at the warehouse are used to prevent infectious diseases in children under 5 years old and to treat acute sicknesses as well as cancer and autoimmune diseases.

16

Thursday, August 6, 2020

New nominations to U.K. House of Lords raise old concerns of cronyism

The Houses of Parliament in London, Sept. 4, 2019. Critics say Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s nominations for lifetime legislative posts continued a pattern of patronage that undermines the credibility of a long-troubled institution.

By MARK LANDLER

O

ne is a Russian-born British newspaper baron whose father was once a KGB officer. Another is a retired cricket player who goes by the nickname Beefy, and yet another is the prime minister’s younger brother.

With a collection of names like that, it was perhaps little wonder that Prime Minister Boris Johnson decided to release his first list of appointments to the House of Lords late on a Friday afternoon last week, with Parliament in recess and the public lulled into a tropical haze on the hottest day of the year so far.

But Downing Street’s apparent effort to bury the news seemed, in the end, unnecessary. The handing out of peerages, as lifetime appointments to the House of Lords are called, is one of Britain’s most predictable displays of patronage and cronyism — so reliably unsavory, regardless of the prime minister or party in power, that even Johnson’s critics found it hard to get too wound up about it.

“Shameless,” wrote Simon Jenkins, a columnist for The Guardian, on Monday.

Reached later by phone, Jenkins said he was actually more concerned about a new government proposal to overhaul Britain’s planning laws, which date back to 1947. He said it would strip

local councils of control over real estate development in the name of Johnson’s drive to “build, build, build.”

The degradation of the House of Lords, by comparison, has been going on for 400 years. “To be honest, since James I,” Jenkins said, referring to the first Stuart king of England, whose sale of peerages, during his reign from 1603-25, was so brazen that it turned the landed gentry against the crown.

Still, Jenkins and other critics said Johnson’s appointments broke new ground in ways that could further tarnish the credibility of the House of Lords. At its best, the British Parliament’s ancient upper chamber serves as a check on the more unruly House of Commons, debating and amending legislation, if with less power than the lower chamber. In recent decades, though, it has become known mainly as a sinecure for wealthy donors and other well-connected types.

Defying a commitment to fight bloat, the prime minister created 36 new peers, the second highest number in more than two decades, swelling the chamber to nearly 800 members. Among legislative bodies worldwide, only the Chinese National People’s Congress is larger, with nearly 3,000 seats. The House of Commons, which does most of the legislative heavy lifting, is capped at 650 elected members.

“This just hangs around the neck of the House of Lords, and to the extent that its reputation is damaged, it is weakened,” said Meg Russell, a professor of politics at University College London and an expert on the institution. “It becomes more expensive, less efficient and effective, and more open to ridicule.”

Johnson also broke with custom by nominating peers from the opposition Labour Party, usually the prerogative of the party’s leader. He chose people who supported his Brexit campaign, a thumb in the eye to Labour, which was split by Brexit in the last election.

That will buttress the pro-Brexit contingent in the House of Lords but it also creates a politically nonaligned faction — members who are not welcome in their own party but do not belong to Johnson’s Conservative Party either — which could make it more unpredictable in its voting.

Queen Elizabeth II confers peerages and the prime minister’s nominations are vetted by a House of Lords Appointments Commission. In rare instances, the commission can refuse to endorse them on grounds of propriety. This time, a person with knowledge of the process said, the government brushed aside the commission on certain cases, adding to the lack of transparency.

“The House of Lords is completely at the mercy of the prime minister,” Russell said. “He can discredit the institution by putting in an inappropriate number of people and inappropriate types of people.”

Some experts said Johnson’s nominations were in keeping with a government that holds the House of Lords in contempt. He has suggested moving the chamber to York, in the north of England, to make it more attuned to the interests of ordinary voters. The lords, many of whom live in or near London, are unsurprisingly reluctant.

Even though Johnson appointed dozens of new peers, a spokesman for 10 Downing St. said the prime minister remained committed to reducing the size of the House of Lords. He did not comment on individual nominees, beyond saying they were “nominated in recognition of their contribution to society.”

But there is no shortage of red flags on Johnson’s list, starting with Evgeny Lebedev, who owns The London Evening

Standard and is a close friend of Johnson’s. Lebedev’s father and bankroller, Alexander, is an oligarch who once worked for the KGB and has financed Novaya Gazeta, a liberal-leaning paper disliked by the Kremlin.

The younger Lebedev is known for throwing bacchanals at his converted castle in Italy. Johnson was photographed in 2018 at an airport, returning from one of them. Fellow passengers told The Guardian that Johnson, then serving as foreign secretary, looked as if “he had slept in his clothes.”

There is no suggestion that Lebedev is acting as an agent of the Russian government. But the timing of his peerage was awkward, coming a week after a parliamentary committee released a long-awaited report documenting how Russian money had corrupted British politics. The report said several other members of the House of Lords, whom it did not name, had business interests linked to Russia or worked for companies with Russian ties.

Two vocal Brexiteers on Johnson’s list also attracted notice: Ian Botham, a colorful and charismatic retired cricket player widely known as Beefy, and Claire Fox, a writer and politician who began as a Communist and migrated to the right over the years, joining the Brexit Party and serving in the European Parliament.

And then there was the conspicuous snub of John Bercow, the former speaker of the House of Commons, whose stentorian calls for order during the emotional debates over Brexit turned him briefly into a celebrity.

The Labour Party’s former leader, Jeremy Corbyn, nominated Bercow in keeping with a long tradition of elevating retired speakers. But Johnson left him off the list, with aides suggesting his candidacy had been sunk by allegations that he bullied subordinates. Others said it was revenge for Bercow’s readiness to let backbenchers harangue the government on its Brexit policy.

To some critics, penalizing Bercow for bad behavior seemed almost comically arbitrary, given the other names on Johnson’s list.

“It’s as if he invited his mates for a drunken weekend in Prague and offered them all seats in the House of Lords afterward,” Jenkins said.

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, August 6, 2020

17

Colombia Supreme Court orders ex-president Álvaro Uribe detained

By JULIE TURKEWITZ

C

allows judges to detain him pending an indictment if they believe he is a flight risk or could tamper with evidence. He could be held for up to a year as the investigation moves along.

The case stems from an investigation that the Supreme Court started in 2018. The court’s judges are examining whether Uribe tried to influence the testimony of an alleged paramilitary member, Juan Guillermo Monsalve, pushing Monsalve to retract statements in which he linked Uribe to the creation of paramilitary groups.

Uribe has denied a connection to paramilitary groups, instead saying he fought against them. He has also denied asking anyone to obstruct justice.

If found guilty, Uribe could face approximately six to eight years in prison, Bernate said, though it is likely he would spend the time under house arrest instead.

On Tuesday, as darkness fell, Colombians throughout the capital, Bogotá, leaned out their windows to shout and bang pots in celebration of Uribe’s detention.

But in Medellín, an Uribe stronghold, hundreds of supporters gathered to show their support. “He gave us security like no other president did,” said Catalina Pozada, 42, who credited the former president for forcing one of the country’s guerrilla groups to halt kidnappings and highway blockades.

The court’s decision could also affect the current president, Duque, whose popularity sagged during his first year in office, until he got a bump for his handling of the pandemic. His supporters on the right may turn against him for not doing more to keep his mentor free, while critics on the left may use Uribe’s detention to taint Duque and associate him with criminals.

Duque defended his mentor Tuesday, saying the former president embodied “honorability.” Speaking on a national radio station, Duque said the idea that Uribe would be aligned with paramilitary groups was “absurd.”

The case is one of several investigations in the Supreme Court into Uribe’s conduct over the years.

The investigation came about after Uribe accused a political opponent, Sen. Iván Cepeda, of manipulating witnesses against him, prompting an investigation of Cepeda. That inquiry was closed in 2018, and the court decided instead to proceed with the investigation of Uribe for allegedly bribing a witness and procedural fraud.

“This is an important shift toward strengthening democracy,” Cepeda said. “Colombia has been a country with monarchic tendencies in which certain political figures are untouchable. Well, here there cannot be anyone above the constitution, above the law and above justice.”

olombia’s Supreme Court ordered Tuesday the detention of a former president and longtime giant of Colombian politics, Álvaro Uribe, amid an investigation into whether he committed acts of fraud, bribery and witness tampering.

The decision is a landmark in a nation accustomed to back-door deals between politicians who were rarely called to answer for their actions in court.

While some other nations in Latin America have tackled corruption aggressively in recent years, sometimes prosecuting presidents, Colombia has infrequently indicted major political players.

Widely viewed as the most powerful Colombian politician of the past two decades, Uribe had been the subject of investigation for years, but this is the closest he has come to facing a panel of judges. His ability to avoid prosecution had led many Colombians to call him the “Teflon president.”

The court order has the potential to upend the political landscape in Colombia. And it makes him the first president in modern Colombian history to face detention.

He will spend the time under house arrest, the court said. While this is far less severe than time in prison, Uribe said he was dreading the confinement.

“Being deprived of my freedom causes me deep sadness,” Uribe wrote on Twitter on Tuesday, “for my wife, for my family and for the Colombians who still believe that I have done something good for the country.”

Uribe was president from 2002-10, and continues to wield outsize power from his seat as senator. The current president, Iván Duque, was little known before Uribe backed him — and he won election in 2018 with a promise to restore Uribe’s legacy.

Uribe’s standing in Colombia makes his detention “really something significant for our country,” signaling a possible shift toward forcing previously untouchable politicians to answer for alleged crimes, said Francisco Bernate, a law professor at the Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá, the capital.

His detention threatens to further polarize Colombian politics, heightening conflict between Uribe’s allies and his opponents over the former president’s legacy.

On Tuesday, Duque attacked his own judicial system for pursuing his mentor, denouncing the fact that Uribe would not be allowed to remain free pending the resolution of his case — something that criminals and guerrillas have been allowed to do, he noted.

“It hurts, as a Colombian,” Duque said, that “an exemplary public servant, who has occupied the highest post in the state, is not allowed to defend himself in liberty, with the presumption of innocence.”

Prosecuting judges have not yet brought formal Álvaro Uribe, center, was president of Colombia from 2002 to 2010, and is a mentor to the current president, charges against Uribe, but the Colombian justice system Iván Duque, at right.

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Thursday, August 6, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL

Republicans are ready for the Don Draper method

By ROSS DOUTHAT

“T

his never happened. It will shock you how much it never happened.”

This is a Don Draper line from “Mad Men,” delivered as advice he earned the hard way, when he stole another man’s identity and left his own behind.

It’s also the way that many Republican senators hope to deal with the memory of the Donald Trump era, assuming that they wake up on Nov. 4 (or whenever the ballot counting ends) and discover that the president has not been reelected.

Acting as if Trumpism “never happened” doesn’t just mean they want to blot out their memories of Trump himself, his Twitter feed, their unwilling ring-kissing, all the rest. It means that many of them believe that Trump’s election was essentially an accident, a fluke, a temporary hiatus from the kind of conservative politics they’re comfortable practicing, and so if he loses there’s no reason the Republican Party can’t go back to the way things used to be.

One of the last times I was in Washington, in days when it was still normal to hop a plane to our nation’s capital, a smart Republican staffer remarked to me that out of his entire caucus, only a small group of senators thought the GOP had something significant to learn from Trump’s ascent.

The rest were ready for the Draper method.

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You can see that readiness at work already in the internal Republican debates about the latest round of coronavirus relief. These debates are somewhat mystifying if you believe that the party has been remade in Trump’s populist image, or alternatively if you just believe that the GOP is full of cynics who attack deficits under Democrats but happily spend whatever it takes to stay in power. Neither theory explains the Republican determination to dramatically underbid the Democrats on relief spending three months before an election, nor the emergence of a faction within the Senate Republicans that doesn’t want to spend more money on relief at all.

But these developments are easier to understand if you see the Republican Senate, in what feels like the twilight of the Trump presidency, instinctively returning to its preTrump battle lines. The anti-relief faction, with its sudden warnings about deficits, is eager to revive the Tea Party spirit, and its would-be leaders are ur-Tea Partyers like Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. The faction that wants to spend less than the Democrats but ultimately wants to strike a deal is playing the same beleaguered-establishmentarian role that John Boehner and Mitch McConnell played in the pre-Trump party — and of course McConnell is still leading it. And the fact that neither approach seems responsive to the actual crisis unfolding in America right now doesn’t matter: The old Tea Party-establishment battle — a battle over whether to cut a deal at all, more than what should be in it — is still the Republican comfort zone, and the opportunity to slip back into that groove is just too tempting to resist.

Of course there is cynicism as well as ideological comfort at work. Some of the Republicans rediscovering deficit hawkishness — including non-senators like Nikki Haley — are taking a Joe Biden presidency for granted and positioning themselves as the foes of a big-government liberalism before it even takes power, in the hopes of becoming the leaders of the post-2020 opposition.

But it’s not clear that self-interest rightly understood would incline an ambitious Republican to bring back the old Tea Party spirit. After all, the lesson of 2016 was that Ted

Cruz didn’t win, and instead True Conservatism as defined by the right’s ideological enforcers got thrashed by a realestate mogul who promised big, beautiful health care and infrastructure and a whole bunch of things that it turned out Republican voters favored even if their party’s activists did not. So if running the Tea Party play again reflects cynicism, then it’s a highly motivated cynicism — with the motivation being the palpable desire of most Republican senators to look back on the Trump experience and recite the Draper catechism: This never happened.

Most, but not all: There is also that group my staffer friend mentioned, the senators who accept that Trumpism really happened, and who envision a different party on the other side.

You can identify the members of this group both by their willingness to spend money in the current crisis and by their interest in how it might be spent. That means Marco Rubio spearheading the small business relief bill. It means Josh Hawley pushing for the federal government to pre-empt layoffs by paying a chunk of worker salaries. It means Tom Cotton defending crisis spending against Cruz’s attack. It means Mitt Romney leading a push to put more of the federal stimulus payments in the hands of families with kids.

Notably, all of these figures have had differing approaches to Trump the man: Romney famously in opposition, Cotton and Hawley fully on-side, Rubio somewhere in between. And the same diversity shows up among the bornagain deficit hawks, a group that includes not just reliable Trump allies but also the 2016 Never Trumper Ben Sasse.

So Republican divisions over Trump himself are somewhat different from Republican divisions over what to learn from Trumpism. A figure like Romney is anti-Trump, but he might be friendlier to post-Trump populism, while Cruz and Paul have ended up pro-Trump but will probably revert to their libertarian roots once he’s gone.

Or, I should say, if he ever goes. Because the trouble with both the Draper method and the “this happened, let’s learn from it” approaches to the Trump experience is that they assume not only that Trump will lose (a strong bet but of course not a certain one) but also that in defeat he will recede sufficiently to be willfully forgotten, or allow a more robust nationalism to supplant his ersatz, personalized version.

Will he? I don’t know. No politician’s mystique is permanent; maybe a sweeping defeat will really be the end of Trump’s. But nobody should be surprised if the desires that are so palpable among Republican senators right now — both the yearning for a simple return to the status quo ante and the hope for a better, smarter populism — will have to contend, across a Biden presidency, with an alternative embodied either by a scion or by the man himself: the dream of a Trump Restoration.

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, August 6, 2020

19

Contraloría revela deudas millonarias de Loíza a siete entidades públicas Por THE STAR Contraloría de Puerto Rico emitió el Llasamiércoles, una opinión cualificada de operaciones fiscales del Municipio de

Loíza.

El informe revela que, al 31 de diciembre de 2018, el Municipio adeudaba $2,890,986 a siete entidades; entre otras, a la Administración de Sistemas de Retiro, al Departamento de Hacienda, a la Autoridad de Acueductos y Alcantarillados, y al Servicio de Rentas Internas Federal (Internal Revenue Services – IRS). Esta suma incluye 260,189 dólares por concepto de intereses, penalidades y recargos. Una situación similar se había publicado en el Informe de Auditoria M-18-02 del 2017.

Además, el IRS impuso en el 2016, tres embargos al Municipio por $260,441 a 16 cuentas bancarias por no remesar las retenciones de los empleados al Seguro Social Federal. En el 2019, el Municipio acordó pagar $7,100 mensuales al IRS hasta el saldo de la deuda de $840,180. Esta situación se atribuye a que los alcaldes y directores

de Finanzas en funciones, no administraron adecuadamente las finanzas de Loíza.

La auditoría de seis hallazgos señala que el Municipio pagó $19,803 por servicios de auditoría a una corporación impedida legalmente de dar ese servicio. El Municipio había formalizado un contrato el 9 de marzo de 2017, con dicha corporación de responsabilidad limitada. Sin embargo, al cambiar su estatus legal a una corporación regular el 1 de marzo de 2018, no podía prestar los servicios de auditoría.

Esta situación se refirió a la secretaria de Justicia para que determine las acciones administrativas o judiciales a seguir. Además, se le recomienda al presidente de la Junta de Contabilidad de Puerto Rico y al presidente del Colegio de Contadores Públicos Autorizados de Puerto Rico, a que consideren esta situación para que tomen las medidas pertinentes.

Contrario a la Ley 81-1991 de Municipios Autónomos, el Municipio cargó una deuda de $4,970 al presupuesto de 2017, por servicios de transportación prestados entre el 2010 al 2013. Además, contrario

al Reglamento 33 sobre el Registro de Contratos en la Oficina del Contralor, el Municipio registró 121 contratos y enmiendas por $3,868,335, hasta 22 meses posteriores a su otorgación.

Los auditores identificaron, que los encargados de la propiedad en Loíza, no realizaron los inventarios físicos anuales del 2016 al 2018. El encargado de la propiedad, al cesar sus funciones en el 2018, tampoco realizó ni certificó el inventario bajo su custodia y responsabilidad. Esta situación, no permite mantener un control de la propiedad y propicia su uso para fines ajenos a la función pública.

El examen del Informe del Flujo de Efectivo evidenció que 15 fondos especiales con recursos económicos por $194,841 habían permanecido inactivos entre 30 a 36 meses. Esta situación, priva al Municipio de recursos económicos que pueden utilizarse para atender otras necesidades.

El Informe comenta que Loíza tenía en el 2016, un déficit acumulado del 78 por ciento en el Fondo Operacional; en el 2017, un déficit del 88

por ciento, y en el 2018, un déficit del 105 por ciento. El Municipio no consignó los créditos necesarios para disminuir los déficits corrientes del 2016 y 2017 y, el Informe de Flujo de Efectivo al 31 de diciembre de 2018, reflejó sobregiros ascendentes a $9,761,001 millones.

Contrario a la reglamentación vigente, el Municipio de Loíza tenía 111 empleados clasificados como transitorios por periodos de hasta 25 años.

Además, al 31 de diciembre de 2018, tenía cuatro demandas civiles por $1,260,000 pendientes de resolución por los tribunales.

La auditoría recomienda a la directora de la Oficina de Gerencia y Presupuesto, que se asegure el cumplimiento del Municipio con el Plan de Acción Correctiva establecido por la Oficina del Contralor de Puerto Rico.

Este informe cubre el periodo del 1 de enero de 2016 al 31 de diciembre de 2018, y está disponible en www. ocpr.gov.pr.

Anuncian reconstrucción del antiguo hotel Ponce Intercontinental Por THE STAR gobernadora Wanda Vázquez Garced el miércoles que, luego de 45 Lañosaanunció de su cierre en 1975, el antiguo Ho-

tel Ponce Intercontinental se convertirá en un nuevo hotel de la cadena Marriott International bajo la marca Tribute Portfolio.

La primera ejecutiva fue testigo del acuerdo firmado entre la Compañía de Turismo y el desarrollador Vigía Holdings LLC., el cual viabiliza el nuevo desarrollo ubicado en el sector El Vigía, en Ponce, que creará alrededor de 400 empleos directos e indirectos, y que conlleva una inversión estimada de $20 millones.

“El renacer de esta histórica hospedería representará una nueva oferta turística en una zona emblemática de la ciudad de Ponce, así como la creación de nuevas oportunidades de empleos. Promover un ambiente de inversión en la isla y colaborar con el sector privado con el fin de impulsar la economía local continuará siendo prioridad para nuestra administración”, expresó la gobernadora en comunicación escrita.

Tras la firma del decreto para la concesión de créditos y exenciones contributivas, bajo la Ley 60-2019 (Código de Incentivos), que permite que los desarrolladores turísticos continúen acogiéndose a los beneficios de la antigua Ley de Desarrollo Turístico de Puerto Rico (Ley Núm. 74-2010), la titular de Turismo, Car-

la Campos, informó que: “En la Compañía de Turismo de Puerto Rico nos enorgullece apoyar proyectos turísticos de vanguardia que elevan nuestros atributos históricos y culturales para ampliar nuestro ofrecimiento local. Hoy viabilizamos el rescate oficial del histórico hotel Ponce Intercontinental para convertirse en el Ponce Tribute, agregando 200 habitaciones a nuestro inventario hotelero, un mínimo de 150 empleos en fase de operación, además de una inyección estimada de $20 millones a nuestra economía”.

Para la reapertura de esta icónica hospedería de la región sur, la Compañía de Turismo determinó una inversión elegible estimada en casi $13 millones, a la cual se le otorgó una concesión de crédito alterno por inversión turística de $5 millones. Esto es equivalente a un 40% de la inversión elegible, según lo dispone la Ley 60-2019.

La alcaldesa de Ponce, María “Mayita” Meléndez Altieri, por su parte dijo: “En Ponce hemos sido sacudidos, pero somos fuertes y estamos en vías de la recuperación. Son muchos los proyectos de reconstrucción y económicos que se detuvieron por los terremotos y la pandemia, pero está en agenda continuar con ellos y los vamos a completar. Hoy estamos aquí para brindar nuestro apoyo a la reconstrucción del antiguo Hotel Intercontinental, que con su ubicación en el sector Vigía, representará una inyección económica de unos $20 millones y generará más de 200

empleos en la fase de construcción, y 150 empleos directos en la fase operacional.

Ponce está abierto a negocios, inversiones, a colaboraciones con empresas privadas y al desarrollo económico y turístico, y esto es una prueba de ello”.

Las 23 cuerdas de la propiedad fueron segregadas durante la planificación del nuevo proyecto, que cuenta con un plan maestro.

“Hemos trabajado minuciosamente para restaurar el Ponce Tribute como la gran dama de la Isla. Como propietario y arquitecto, reconocí la importancia de este edificio icónico y su importancia no solo en Ponce sino en toda la región de Puerto Rico y el Caribe. El rescate del Ponce Intercontinental es el proyecto turístico más importante del área sur del país. Su simbolismo y significancia en el contexto histórico lo convierte en un legendario y monumental ícono arquitectónico en la memoria colectiva de la ciudad de Ponce.

Misla Hospitality Group junto a Marriott International y Capitalia encaminaremos, a partir de noviembre de este año, el rescate de este importante activo turístico convirtiéndolo en el primer Tribute Portfolio del Caribe”, indicó Abel Misla Villalba.

Por su parte, el secretario del Departamento de Desarrollo Económico y Comercio (DDEC), Manuel Laboy, señaló: “El regreso del icónico Hotel Ponce Intercontinental, bajo la marca Tribute Portfolio de la exitosa cadena Marriott, es una

excelente noticia para la zona sur, ya que esto se traduce en inversión y creación de empleos, no solo en el proceso de remodelación de la estructura, sino de otros comercios o proyectos que se desarrollan para garantizar una experiencia turística inolvidable. Además, amplía la gama de opciones de hospederías disponibles en la Ciudad Señorial, lo que demuestra que la región se prepara para la alta demanda que surgirá tras la aprobación de la dispensa aérea para pasajeros y carga que se le concedió a Puerto Rico a inicios de año, e incluye al aeropuerto internacional Mercedita”.

El nuevo Tribute Portfolio contará con servicio completo de cuatro estrellas, incluyendo casino, área de salones para eventos y banquetes, habitaciones standard, suites y villas, área de piscinas para adultos y niños, entre otras amenidades.

La fecha de reapertura está proyectada para marzo de 2022.

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Thursday, August 6, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

The Rockettes’ ‘Christmas Spectacular’ is canceled

By JULIA CARMEL

F

or the first time in 87 years, the show at Radio City Music Hall will not go on, the owner of the venue said Tuesday.

“We regret that the 2020 production of the ‘Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes’ ” has been canceled, Madison Square Garden Entertainment said in a statement, citing “uncertainty associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.”

According to the Rockettes’ website, more than 75 million people have seen the dancers perform since the Christmas show began in 1933. During a typical busy season, each of the 80 Rockettes may perform up to four shows a day, with each one kicking up to 650 times. As the news broke, several of the dancers posted their own statements on Instagram.

“Christmas has officially been cancelled,” wrote Samantha Berger, who has been performing with the Rockettes for 15 seasons. “Until Next year,”

“We regret that the 2020 production of the ‘Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes’” has been canceled, MSG Entertainment said in a statement, citing “uncertainty associated with the Covid-19 pandemic.” she added with two broken-heart emojis. “Please Wear a Mask.”

A spokeswoman for MSG Entertainment, which also manages the show, confirmed that the Madison Square

Garden Co. plans to lay off 350 people — about one-third of the company’s corporate workforce, The New York Post reported.

“While we believe this is a necessary step to protect the long-term future of our businesses, we continue to actively pursue solutions that will allow us to safely reopen our doors,” MSG Entertainment and MSG Sports said in a statement, “so we’re able to bring as many employees back as quickly as we can, once a return date for live events is established.”

The Rockettes are now selling tickets for November 2021, and many of the performers are holding out hope.

“We were all preparing for this, but the confirmation of a cancelled season confirms the heartbreak,” Danni Heverin wrote on Instagram. “Please, I beg of you, think of others and do the right thing. Wear a mask. Socially distance.”

“We are in this together,” she wrote. “Looking forward to the next time we can celebrate Christmastime again in NYC.”

What is it like to watch live dance again? Amazing

By GIA KOURLAS

I

t didn’t bode well that the first live dance I was going to see since mid-March was one I had seen many times before. “Sunshine,” a Larry Keigwin war horse set to the Bill Withers classic “Ain’t No Sunshine,” can give a dancer the opportunity to really feel the music in all the worst ways. It’s treacly stuff.

So I’m happy to say that as soon as Melvin Lawovi began to move, my chest tightened; I even sensed — the horror — some tears. Lately, for self-preservation, I’ve been talking myself into believing that I can live without watching dance in person, and while that is true, I clearly miss it. A lot. “Sunshine,” which opened the outdoor Kaatsbaan Summer Festival under beautiful blue skies on Saturday, worked out just fine.

That was also to the credit of Lawovi, a recent addition to American Ballet Theater, who never delivered a treacly moment as he traversed the stage with the lightest touch.

Instead of dwelling on the lyrics or giving in to angst, he danced with an unparalleled polish, as if his body were clearing the air.

But repertory alone doesn’t seem the be-all and end-all of this summer festival, the first of its kind in Kaatsbaan’s 30 years as a cultural park. From the performances to Brandon Stirling Baker’s light-and-sound installation in a rustic barn to the peace of being surrounded by so much open space and air, the festival is not only about live dance. It’s a package. The best choreographic moments came in the dancers’ simple yet courtly walks across the grass to the stage.

Kaatsbaan’s artistic director, Stella Abrera, and its executive director, Sonja Kostich, aren’t messing around when it comes to safety, and that was comforting, too, at this socially distanced performance. The experience included frantically filling out the health check survey in the car while thinking hard about the questions: Was that a touch of a sore throat this morning?

I loved the elegant firmness of the handwritten signs telling us to wear masks; the raised stage that seemed as if it was dropped from the sky onto a field; and the optional post-performance walk, on the grounds of what was originally a farm, with live music (instead of a meandering or selfcongratulatory post-performance talk).

In honor of the Black Lives Matter movement, the festival has been curated by three respected Black dance artists: Calvin Royal III, a soloist at Ballet Theater, who programmed the first weekend; Alicia Graf Mack, who leads the dance division of the Juilliard School; and Lloyd Knight of the Martha Graham Dance Company.

For the first program, the selections were brief and unassuming — less about innovative choreography than watching bodies in motion. (Programs are short: 20 to 30 minutes, and feature solos and duets.) At the start of the tap solo “Laying the Ground,” Leonardo Sandoval, accompanied by bassist Greg Richardson, used his body as an instrument, contrasting soft taps of his feet with gentle slaps on his thighs and chest as he made his way to a wooden platform on the stage.

His footwork was hushed — an articulate, musical whisper — as he somehow managed to convey the idea that he was gliding just above his feet.

“The Dividing Line,” a premiere by Royal set to Gershwin, wavered between sensations — abutting stillness and alienation were glimpses of hope. Royal, cutting a figure both introspective and heroic, stood with his back to us at first, his arms bound from behind until he suddenly released them and skittered across the stage with quick backward steps.

That feeling of push and pull continued throughout this dance, in which Royal, in stops and starts, unleashed his body in space. While personal and poetic, its power might have been amplified had certain gestures — the reach of an arm, the somber bow of the head — been toned down, more accidental.

The 30-minute program ended with another solo by Royal, “The Dream Continues,” set to excerpts from Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, and danced by the elegant Courtney Lavine, Royal’s Ballet Theater colleague.

During the transition between the solos, Royal’s voice was heard reciting Langston Hughes’s poem “Harlem” as he slowly moved across the stage: “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?”

He hopped off, in essence handing the space to Lavine — and to King’s words, which beamed into the air with extra clarity.

Lavine, in a leotard and skirt that danced around her knees, used her luxurious arms and expansiveness to spin seemingly out of control then stop on a dime as she held still, giving beauty and breadth to King’s message. Her capacity to move clearly isn’t suffering under quarantine, but at the same time, it wasn’t about the steps: She was a spirit, clearly dancing for something bigger than herself.

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, August 6, 2020

21

A black pianist helped birth Bossa Nova. His story is rarely told.

By BEATRIZ MIRANDA

J

oão Gilberto’s landmark “Chega de Saudade” is widely considered bossa nova’s first album. But about seven years before its 1959 release, a Brazilian musician known as Johnny Alf composed “Rapaz de Bem.” The song incorporated several elements that became hallmarks of the genre: a linear melody, a gentle way of singing, a series of unconventional key changes, a rhythmic dissociation of drums and bass.

Alf, a pianist, composer and singer, dared to blend classical, popular, foreign and local music references into his own creative process. The source of his inspiration lies in the music of Chopin, Debussy, Nat King Cole, Stan Kenton, and the Brazilian notables Custódio Mesquita and Francisco Alves. His music attracted the most avant-garde ears to the piano bars of the Copacabana neighborhood in Rio, where he regularly performed in the early ’50s.

Antônio Carlos Jobim, who was also known as Tom, and Gilberto — now known as two of the most famous names in bossa nova — were among the faithful habitués who were stunned by songs like “Rapaz de Bem,” one of Alf’s first professional compositions and, the radio host and music producer Ramalho Neto argues in the 1965 book “Historinha do Desafinado,” the actual first bossa nova song.

It’s been 10 years since Alf’s death from cancer at 80. In his six-decade career, he composed more than 80 songs, some recorded with giants like Caetano Veloso and Chico Buarque. But while his pivotal role is well-accepted by scholars, artists and critics, why isn’t he more widely known to listeners as a pioneer of one of the most appreciated Brazilian genres around the world?

Like his music, Alf’s story was complex. He was born Alfredo José da Silva to a poor Black housemaid. His father died when he was 3, and he owed much of his musical education to his mother’s employers — an upper-middle-class family who paid for his piano lessons and helped raise him, though they later strongly disapproved of his nightclub career. (They expected Alf to become an accountant or an English teacher.)

But music was intrinsic to Alf’s life long before his debut in the clubs of Copa-

cabana. When he was only a high school student, he was invited to play the piano at the Brazilian-United States Institute (IBEU), in Rio’s downtown. Sessions there earned him his first radio gig and generated his artist name: “Johnny” was suggested by a fellow student for being a popular name in America, and “Alf” was his nickname at the school.

In 1949, Alf, a connoisseur of American music, joined the Sinatra-Farney Fan Club, a place to appreciate, discuss and play the music of Frank Sinatra and Dick Farney, a Brazilian pianist and singer inspired by the American star. It was here that Alf’s music began to flourish, and his sound developed a striking modernity. According to José Domingos Raffaelli, a music critic and former Sinatra-Farney attendee, Alf used to perform for hours as listeners begged him to play on. In 1952, thanks to a recommendation from Farney himself, Alf got his first job at a Copacabana piano bar called Cantina do César.

Three years later, Alf moved to São Paulo with the promise of making a better living. By then he was an independent musician in his mid-20s with no family support. In 1958, when bossa nova was gaining momentum in Rio, Alf was 270 miles away — far enough to miss out on the movement.

But distance wasn’t the only barrier Alf faced. João Carlos Rodrigues, the author of “Johnny Alf: Duas ou Três Coisas Que Você Não Sabe” (“Johnny Alf: Two or Three Things You Don’t Know”), believes the sophistication of Alf’s music was a significant obstacle, because the radio and record companies preferred a more “easily digestible” music.

Marcos Napolitano, a social history professor at the University of São Paulo who researches music movements in Brazil, agreed. “It is undeniable that Alf’s work was more subtle, intimate and sophisticated,” he said in an email interview, “apart from him being a timid, standoffish performer.”

Alf’s personality offstage — where he boldly insisted on creative freedom — also limited him. “No one called me to record because I only did what I wanted,” he told Rodrigues.

Nelson Valencia, who managed Alf’s career for over 20 years, said in a phone interview that Alf didn’t naturally chase opportunities, but rather waited for them to

Johnny Alf, at the piano, was a bossa nova pioneer who never achieved the fame of his acclaimed peers. appear. He added that his client also could have pushed harder to explore the growing Japanese and American markets.

In 1963, Alf did record an album in English (with Jobim’s compositions) that has never been released. In the late ’70s, when Sarah Vaughan, one of his greatest idols, invited him to tour the United States, Alf was warned to refuse it by his mãe de santo — the priestess of Umbanda, the Afro-Brazilian religion to which he was devoted — and he didn’t go.

Alf was also Black, poor and gay in an industry aiming to attract affluent white audiences to the genre. Napolitano said that in the late ’50s, the music business saw in bossa nova a chance to compete with American rock ’n’ roll, and Valencia acknowledged that race and class inequalities restricted Alf’s rise: “There was a movement to promote Tom Jobim, who was rich, white, young, good-looking,” he said, and added that with Alf’s abilities, “maybe he was someone who could overshadow Tom Jobim.”

Alf’s talent, Rodrigues said, could also have been a problem for Aloysio de Oliveira, an influential bossa nova producer who was particularly interested in promoting Jobim and Gilberto in the United States. Alf was excluded from the landmark

“Bossa Nova at Carnegie Hall” concert, organized by Oliveira and held in New York in 1962.

Alaíde Costa, Alf’s favorite singer, said that racism in bossa nova has always been veiled, to the point where Black people, like her and Alf, didn’t even realize they were facing discrimination. “When the movement began, I was already a professional. I used to be invited to the meetings because I could help the movement somehow,” she said in a phone interview. “But when the bossa nova boomed, I felt I was no longer necessary.” She added that she regrets not having been part of the movement in a larger way.

While Alf never achieved stardom, the genre’s legends always saw him as a musical guru. Jobim not only used to call him Genialf (a combination of “genius” and “Alf”), but was so inspired by “Rapaz de Bem” that he composed “Desafinado (Off-Key),” one of bossa nova’s most famous songs. When Gilberto realized that Alf’s unusual syncopations reminded him of the beat of the tamborim (a samba percussion instrument), he said he had finally found what he was looking for.

Alf, however, has remained a few steps removed from fame. He was, Valencia, said, “his own hero and own villain.”

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The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, August 6, 2020

‘An American Pickle’ review: Keeping it Kosher

By A.O. Scott

“A

n American Pickle,” a time-travel farce directed by Brandon Trost and adapted from a New Yorker story by Simon Rich, marinates crisp almost-timeliness in the mild brine of nostalgia. It’s not too salty or too sour, and it’s neither self-consciously artisanal nor aggressively, weirdly authentic. The subject, more or less, is what it means to be Jewish, and given how contentious that topic can become — can I get an oy vey? — the movie finds an agreeable, occasionally touching vein of humor.

The setup for most of the jokes is that, in 1919, an impoverished immigrant named Herschel Greenbaum, recently arrived in Brooklyn from a fictitious, Cossack-ridden anti-Anatevka called Schlupsk, falls into a vat of saltwater and cucumbers. He leaves behind a pregnant wife, Sarah (Sarah Snook). She has a son, who has a son, whose son, in 2019, is a sad-sack tech guy named Ben. When Herschel is fished out of his century-long bath, alive and perfectly preserved, he goes to live with Ben, his only known relative,

setting up a cross-generational odd-couple situation brimming with comic potential.

All the more so because both Herschel and Ben are played by Seth Rogen, who does the bewhiskered Yiddish thing and the diffident millennial thing with equal craftiness. While the characters are recognizable types — from popular culture if nowhere else — Rogen brings more than mere shtick to the performances. Herschel is neither a sentimental schlemiel nor a twinkly old-world grandpa, but rather an impatient, sometimes intolerant striver with a violent streak.

His pre-pickling experience of the world was hard and bitter, leavened only by the hope that future generations of Greenbaums would be better off.

Which is just what happened, of course.

Herschel once confessed to Sarah that he hoped to taste seltzer water before he died, and Ben has a gizmo in his apartment that makes it on demand. He’s even less of a caricature than his great-grandpa — not a hipster or a nerd so much as a smart guy with a deep streak of melancholy.

It turns out that what connects him to Herschel

Like great-grandfather, like great-grandson: Rogen in the dual role.

isn’t just genetics: it’s also grief. Ben’s parents are dead, and Herschel’s accident robbed him of the pleasures and consolations of family.

That’s some pretty heavy stuff, but “An American Pickle” is swift and nimble enough to avoid weighing itself down with schmaltz. It’s almost too thin to sustain its premise for the running time — a scant 90 minutes — and sometimes feels more like a stretched-out sketch than a fully developed feature.

The century that separates Herschel from Ben allows the story to leapfrog over quite a lot of history, including the Holocaust, Israel, socialism, and the complicated process of upward mobility, acculturation and self-preservation that is the movie’s very condition of possibility. The drama of Jewish male selfhood that preoccupied so many in the middle generations — the whole Philip Roth-Woody Allen megillah — is all but erased. Herschel had his beloved Sarah. Ben has no apparent sexual or romantic interests, or even any friends that we know about. There’s no room for women in this pickle jar.

But the flimsiness of the movie’s conceit

also works to its benefit. At its best, it’s a brisk, silly plucking of some low-hanging contemporary fruit. Food trends. Social media. Unpaid internships. The inevitable conflict between Herschel and Ben turns a family squabble into a culture-war skirmish, a conflict played out in a way that feels both satirically sharp and oddly comforting.

And pickles can be comfort food. Not too filling, good for the digestion, noisy and a little sloppy rather than artful or exquisite or challenging. This one, as I’ve said, isn’t bad, and even allows a soupçon of profundity into its formula. The tough, pious ancestor and his sensitive, secular descendant have almost nothing in common, and the imaginative challenge is to find an identity that can include them both more or less as they are. What makes them both Jews? The answer turns out to be simple and, at least for this conflicted 21st-century Jew, persuasive: the shared obligation to mourn the dead.

“An American Pickle” is rated PG-13. A little violence, a little swearing. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes. Watch on HBO Max.

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, August 6, 2020

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Do you want to be a vaccine volunteer?

By HEATHER MURPHY

M

aybe you are an altruist looking for a way to help fight the coronavirus. Maybe you are hoping to be among the first to try an experimental vaccine. Or maybe you are just bored or could use a few hundred dollars.

Whatever your reasons, scientists, bioethicists and current volunteers say participating in a vaccine trial can be meaningful. And without hundreds of thousands of volunteers, there will be no vaccine for anyone.

But you may be surprised by the commitment and risks that a trial entails. Here’s what you need to know.

How do I find a trial?

A number of sites maintain lists of coronavirus vaccine trials. The COVID-19 Prevention Network site, created by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, helps connect volunteers to phase three studies.

Right now, for example, Moderna is looking to enroll around 30,000 volunteers.

ClinicalTrials.gov also lists COVID-19 vaccine studies at different phases.

What do these different phases mean?

There are three primary phases of a vaccine trial. A phase one trial is focused on safety. If you participate, you are likely to be among the first humans to try the vaccine. Researchers will want to track whether it affects you negatively, such as making you feverish or dizzy. Typically they will monitor you and a few dozen other subjects closely after each dose, and then check in periodically for about a year.

At the time you receive the vaccine, the developer won’t know if it prevents COVID-19. And even if it does, there’s little chance you’ll get the right amount. Still, phase one trials are appealing to some volunteers because clinicians can sometimes assure all subjects that they’ll get the experimental vaccine, not an inactive placebo.

Phase two is bigger and typically involves a few hundred people. At this point, researchers are still watching for side effects, but they are also examining whether their vaccine is generating an immune response, said Dr. Larry Corey, a virologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the leader of the COVID-19 Preven-

Melissa Harting of Binghamton, N.Y., volunteered to receive a coronavirus vaccine as part of a Phase 3 trial by the National Institutes of Health. tion Network.

If you think about a vaccine developer’s desired immune response like a bar that a pole-vaulter needs to clear to move to the next round, “you want to see that you got over the bar,” he said. To extend the metaphor, the pole-vaulter won’t know if clearing that bar was enough to win, he said. Just because a vaccine has generated an immune response doesn’t mean it was sufficient to protect anyone, he said.

Only a phase three trial allows researchers to study if their vaccine works.

They do this by enrolling tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of volunteers, giving one-half of the group to two-thirds of them the vaccine and giving the rest a placebo or an alternative treatment. They do not expose anyone to the coronavirus, but they try to enroll a large enough group in locations with enough cases that they can bank on some people getting infected in the normal course of their lives. They then evaluate whether the vaccine reduced the frequency of acquiring the infection and lessened the severity of the disease in the test group, Corey said.

How do I increase my chance of early access to an experimental vaccine?

There’s no guarantee that you’ll actually be protected from the coronavirus at any phase of a vaccine trial, no matter how hyped the product has been. By a phase

three trial, of course, there’s more to suggest that it works than a phase one trial. But you might not get the vaccine at all. It might be an inactive placebo or an alternative intervention.

Researchers have to give these to some subjects to create a control group, said Nir Eyal, director of the Center for Population-Level Bioethics at the Rutgers School of Public Health.

“Otherwise what do you compare the results to?” Eyal asked.

During the Ebola outbreak, there was a push to try to run efficacy trials without a control group, he said. But eventually most researchers came around to the idea that, without a control group, a study would tell them “basically nothing” because — as with the coronavirus — its “spread is mercurial and very different in different areas at different times.”

How much will I get paid?

It could be a few hundred or a few thousand dollars. It varies by the trial.

“What you are doing is providing compensation for time and trouble,” said Dr. Daniel Hoft, director of the Saint Louis University Center for Vaccine Development.

Organizers try to avoid creating a financial incentive. So even if they could pay much more, they don’t.

“If the money seems extraordinarily

attractive to you, think again,” said Arthur Caplan, a bioethicist. “You don’t want to let compensation blind you to the need to pay attention to the risks.”

If my health is harmed because of a trial, who pays for my care?

Let’s say that you are adversely affected by an experimental vaccine. You might assume that the vaccine developer will cover your health care costs. But typically the developer only commits to reimbursing your insurance company, Caplan said.

“Insurance companies will rarely pay anything if you are hurt in an experiment,” he said. So ask a lot of questions first. “If I get injured, what happens?” is among those he recommends.

Corey added that in some cases, the institute running the trials or the U.S. government’s pandemic relief fund, known as the Public Readiness and Preparedness Act, might cover those costs.

What if I’m willing to be infected with the coronavirus to speed up the science?

Across the world, a lively debate is underway about that.

This type of vaccine research is called a “challenge trial,” which entails giving volunteers a vaccine, then deliberately exposing them to the virus to see if they end up infected.

The approach is controversial because COVID-19 has no cure and can be fatal.

But it is also tantalizing because it promises to dramatically speed up research.

In mid-July, scientists at Oxford University announced that they would soon begin recruiting volunteers for such a trial.

In the United States, a handful of vaccine developers have cautiously signaled they are open to a similar path eventually.

Eyal believes that the most ethical way to conduct these trials is to focus on young, healthy volunteers who meet criteria that suggest they’d be unlikely to develop a severe case of COVID-19. There are no guarantees, however, which is why some experts are adamantly opposed to challenge trials.

But if you are not deterred and want to help advance the science, the site 1 Day Sooner invites people to sign up for future challenge trials. As of last week, the site ticker showed that more than 32,000 people from 140 countries were ready to volunteer.

24

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, August 6, 2020

What’s in this deep ‘blue hole’ off Florida? They’re working on

By HEATHER MURPHY

S

prinkled across the ocean floor, invisible from the surface, are hundreds — or maybe thousands — of sinkholes. These “blue holes,” as

scientists call them, do not swallow up everything incapable of fighting their gravitational force, like their black hole cousins. But to those who study them, they are still nearly as intriguing.

Recently, one particular blue hole

An image provided by Curt Bowen, a SCUBA diver in the Amberjack blue hole, 30 miles west of Sarasota, Fla., Nov. 18, 2018. Scientists will venture into the Green Banana’s depths next month, a blue hole near Amberjack, where they hope to answer longstanding questions about whether the sink hole — which extends around 275 feet, like an inverted, hourglass-shaped 20-story building, anchored in the ocean floor — connects to other sink holes and whether freshwater flows within.

— the Green Banana — has captured the imagination of many a land dweller.

Headline after headline has offered a variation on the same theme: Scientists are flocking to a mysterious blue hole.

One publication asked:“What Could It Be?” What it is is the Green Banana, one of the deepest blue holes ever discovered, according to Jim Culter, a senior scientist at Mote Marine Laboratory, and it is on the verge of being studied in the most comprehensive way yet.

Soon scientists will venture into the Green Banana’s depths, where they hope to answer long-standing questions about whether the sinkhole — which extends around 275 feet, like an inverted, hourglass-shaped 20-story building, anchored in the ocean floor — connects to other sinkholes and whether freshwater flows within.

The scientists leading the mission to the sinkhole, which begins 155 feet below the ocean’s surface around 50 miles offshore from St. Petersburg, agree that the name, the Green Banana, sounds like it should be a bar in Key West. According to Larry Borden, a longtime commercial fisherman and

boat captain who has known about the Green Banana for decades, the name emerged in the mid-1970s after a boat captain saw a green banana skin floating by a known “spring,” as fishermen referred to the underwater sinkholes back then.

One reason that so little is known about them, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is that their entry points are often narrow — before they broaden out — making it impossible for an automated submersible to enter.

In the mission, which NOAA is funding, the plan is to carefully lower a 600-pound lander inside. Together the lander, which is shaped like a triangular prism, and divers will collect water and sediment samples and complete a biological survey, said Emily Hall, a scientist at Mote Marine Laboratory leading the mission.

“The excitement comes from the idea that this is exploration — we don’t know what we will see down there biologically and chemically,” she said. “We have an idea. But every time we go down there we find something new.”

Can trees live forever? New kindling for an immortal debate

By CARA GIAIMO

T

rees do not pay taxes. Some seem to avoid death as well.

Many of the world’s most ancient organisms are trees, including a 3,600-year-old cypress in Chile and a sacred fig in Sri Lanka that was planted in the third century B.C. But according to a paper published in the journal Trends in Plant Science, time ravages us all in the end. The paper, “Long-Lived Trees Are Not Immortal,” argues that even the most venerable trees have physiological limits — though we, with our puny life spans, may never be able to tell.

Sergi Munné-Bosch, a plant biologist at the University of Barcelona, wrote the article in response to a January study on ginkgo trees, which can live for more than 1,000 years. The study found that 600-yearold ginkgos are as reproductively and photosynthetically vigorous as their 20-year-old peers. Genetic analysis of the trees’ vascular cambium — a thin layer of cells that lies just underneath the bark, and creates new living tissue — showed “no evidence of senescence,” or cell death, the authors wrote.

Munné-Bosch said he found the paper “very interesting,” but disagreed with how some readers of the

study in popular media and beyond had interpreted it.

“In my opinion at least, there is no immortality,” he said.

Those tree species that can live for centuries or millenniums have a lot of tricks for staying youthful. They have simple body plans, and develop modularly, so they can replace parts they lose. They also build on their own dead tissue, which provides support and volume at a low metabolic cost. The trunk of a very old tree might be 95% dead, Munné-Bosch said, a strategy used also by other plants.

For these reasons, it is much more likely that such a tree will die of external causes than age-related

ones. In some populations, this can result in “negative senescence” — a phenomenon where the durability of older trees means they actually have a greater chance of survival than younger ones, Munné-Bosch said.

Still, “everything seems to indicate” that individual trees are mortal, he said.

But others have a different take.

“A modular organism such as a tree could hypothetically live forever,” said Peter Brown, a forest scientist who runs an ancient tree database called the OldList. “I don’t think there is any real physiological or anatomical limitation for them not to just keep going.”

24 LEGAL NOTICE IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO.

ROOSEVELT CAYMAN ASSET COMPANY Plaintiff, v.

LILA RITA HERNANDEZ CALDERON

Defendant CIVIL NO. 16-03085-GAG. COLLECTION OF MONEIS - FORECLOSURE OF MORTGAGE. NOTICE OF SALE.

TO: LILA RITA HERNANDEZ CALDERON, General Public, and all parties that may have an interest in the property

WHEREAS, Judgment in favor of Plaintiff was entered for the principal sum of $181,419.48 plus accrued interest annual commencing in 3.00%, and monthly late charges from the 1st day of November, 2016, until the debt is paid in full. Such interests continue to accrue until the debt is paid in full. The Defendants was also ordered to pay Plaintiff late charges in the amount of $33.77 of each and any monthly installment not received by the note holder within 15 days after the installment was due until the debt is paid in full. Such late charges continue to accrue until the debt is paid in full. The defendant was also ordered to pay Plaintiff all advances made under the mortgage note including but not limited to insurance premiums, taxes and inspections as well as 10% of the original principal amount ($18,863.83) to cover costs, expenses, and attorney’s fees guaranteed under the mortgage obligation. WHEREAS, pursuant to said judgment, the undersigned SPECIAL MASTER, Joel Ronda Feliciano, was ordered to sell at public auction for US currency in cash or certified check, without appraisal or right to redemption to the highest bidder and at the office E Street, Lot 3, Section 4, Los Frailes Industrial Park, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico 00969 (18,3699028-66.1126971) the following property: “URBANA: Solar radicado en la Urbanización Ciudad Universitaria, situada en el barrio Cuevas de Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, que se describe en el piano de inscripción de la urbanización con el número cinco de la manzana U, con un área de trescientos veinticinco metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con el solar cuatro, distancia de veinticinco metros; por el SUR, con el solar seis, distancia de veinticinco metros; por el ESTE, con el solar ocho, distancia de trece metros; y por el OESTE, con la calle cinco, distancia

@

de trece metros. El inmueble antes descrito contiene una casa de concreto, diseñada para una familia. Recorded at page 242 of volume 481 of Trujillo Alto, Property Registry of San Juan, Fourth Section of San Juan, property number 6,820. The mortgage foreclosed as part of the instant proceeding is recorded at page number 242 of volume number 481 of Trujillo Alto, in the Registry of Property of San Juan, Fourth Section, property number 6,820.

Potential bidders are advised to verify the extent of preferential liens with the holders thereof.

It is understood that the potential bidders acquire the property subject to any and all the senior liens that encumber the property.

It shall be understood that each bidder accepts as sufficient the title that prior and preferential liens to the one being foreclosed upon, including but not limited to any property tax liens (express, tacit, implied or legal) shall continue in effect it being understood further that the successful bidder accepts then and is subrogated in the responsibility for the same and the bid price shall not be applied toward the cancellation of the senior liens. WHEREFORE, the first public sale will be held on September 4th, 2020 at 9:30 am and the minimum bidding amount that will be accepted is the sum of $188,638.34. In the event said first auction does not produce a bidder and the property is not adjudicated, a SECOND public auction shall be held on September 11th, 2020 at 9:30 am and the minimum bidding amount that will be accepted is the sum of $125,758.89. If said second auction does not result in the adjudication and sale of the property, a THIRD public auction shall be held on September 18th, 2020 at 9:40 am and the minimum bidding amount that will be accepted is the sum of $94,319.17.

Upon confirmation of the sale, an order shall be issued canceling all junior liens. For further particulars, reference is made to the judgment entered by the Court in this case, which can be examined in the aforementioned office of the Clerk of the United States District Court. San Juan, Puerto Rico, this 9th day of July, 2020. Joel Ronda Feliciano, Special Master. E-mail: rondajoel@ me.com. Tel: 787-565-0415.

COLOMBANI LATORRE

Defendant CIVIL NO. 18-cv-01499 (ADC).

FORECLOSURE OF MORTGAGE AND COLLECTION MONIES. NOTICE OF SALE.

TO: CARMEN HERNIDHIA COLOMBANI LATORRE, General Public, and all parties that may have an interest in the property

WHEREAS, Judgment in favor of Plaintiff was entered for the principal sum of $116,611.16, accrued variable interests starting at 6.95%, and deferred balance of $9,373.33 for a total of $125,984.49 from February 1, 2016 until the debt is paid in full.

Such interests continue to accrue until the debt is paid in full. The Defendants was also ordered to pay Plaintiff late charges in the amount of $39.04 of each and any monthly installment not received by the note holder within 15 days after the installment was due until the debt is paid in full.

Such late charges continue to accrue until the debt is paid in full.

The defendant was also ordered to pay Plaintiff all advances made under the mortgage note including but not limited to insurance premiums, taxes and inspections as well as 10% of the original principal amount ($12,800.00) to cover costs, expenses, and attorney’s fees guaranteed under the mortgage obligation. WHEREAS, pursuant to said judgment, the undersigned SPECIAL MASTER, Joel Ronda Feliciano, was ordered to sell at public auction for US currency in cash or certified check, without appraisal or right to redemption to the highest bidder and at the office E Street, Lot 3, Section 4, Los Frailes Industrial Park, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico 00969 (18,369902866.1126971), the following property: “URBANA: Solar marcado con el número Seiscientos Siete (607) en el bloque LC-35 (607 LC-35) en el plano de inscripción de la Urbanización La Cumbre, radicado en el Barrio Monacillos de Rio Piedras, termino municipal de la Capital de Puerto Rico, con un área superficial de trescientos cuarenta y ocho metros cuadrados con cuatro centímetros cuadrados (348.04).

Y colinda por el NORTE: en veinticuatro metros con ochenta centímetros con el Solar número Seiscientos Seis del bloque LCTreinta y Cinco del mencionado plano; SUR; en veintitrés metros con cuarenta centímetros con el Solar número Seiscientos Ocho LEGAL NOTICE del bloque LC-Treinta y Cinco IN THE UNITED STATES DIS- del mencionado plano; ESTE; en TRICT COURT FOR THE DIS- dieciséis metros con cincuenta centímetros con la calle denomiTRICT OF PUERTO RICO. ROOSEVELT CAYMAN nada “Madison Street” del menpiano; OESTE; en doce ASSET COMPANY IV cionado metros con veinticinco centímePlaintiff v. tros con terrenos propiedad de CARMEN HERNIDHIA la Corporación de Renovación

staredictos@thesanjuandailystar.com

Urbana y Vivienda de Puerto Rico. Enclava en dicho solar una edificación para usos residenciales. The mortgage foreclosed as part of the instant proceeding is recorded at page number 161 of volume number 112 of Monacillos Este y el Cinco, property number 3,541 in the Registry of Property of Puerto Rico, Fifth Section of San Juan. The aforementioned mortgage has one senior lien: i. MORTGAGE: In favor of Doral Mortgage Corporation, in the original principal amount of $20,000.00, with 9.95% annual interests, due on February 1, 2012 constituted by deed #53, executed in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on January 28, 2002, before Notary Eric Hernandez Batalla, recorded at mobile volume 267 of Monacillos Este y el Cinco, property #3,541. and one junior lien: i. AL ASIENTO 151 DEL DIARIO 893, se presentó el día 1 de julio de 2010, mandamiento de fecha 21 de junio de 2010, expedida en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de San Juan, en el Caso Civil número KCD2010-2223, para que se anote embargo a favor de Doral Bank, por la suma de $122,109.63. Potential bidders are advised to verify the extent of preferential liens with the holders thereof. It is understood that the potential bidders acquire the property subject to any and all the senior liens that encumber the property. It shall be understood that each bidder accepts as sufficient the title that prior and preferential liens to the one being foreclosed upon, including but not limited to any property tax liens (express, tacit, implied or legal) shall continue in effect it being understood further that the successful bidder accepts then and is subrogated in the responsibility for the same and the bid price shall not be applied toward the cancellation of the senior liens. WHEREFORE, the first public sale will be held on September 4th, 2020 at 9:45 am and the minimum bidding amount that will be accepted is the sum of $128,000.00. In the event said first auction does not produce a bidder and the property is not adjudicated, a SECOND public auction shall be held on September 11th, 2020 at 9:45 am and the minimum bidding amount that will be accepted is the sum of $85,333.33. If said second auction does not result in the adjudication and sale of the property, a THIRD public auction shall be held on September 18th, at 9:45 am and the minimum bidding amount that will be accepted is the sum of $64,000.00.

Upon confirmation of the sale, an order shall be issued canceling all liens. For further particulars, reference is made to the judgment entered by the Court in this case, which can be examined in the aforementioned office of the

(787) 743-3346

Thursday, August 6, 2020 Clerk of the United States District Court. In San Juan, Puerto Rico, this 14th day of July, 2020.

JOEL RONDA FELICIANO, Special Master. Email: rondajoel@ me.com. Phone number: 787565-0415. ****

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

ORIENTAL BANK COMO AGENTE DE SERVICIO DE THE MONEY HOUSE, INC. DEMANDANTE vs.

LA SUCESIÓN DE DARIO RAMOS CRUZ COMPUESTA POR BENJAMIN RAMOS; FULANO Y FULANA DE TAL COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESION; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (CRIM)

DEMANDADOS CIVIL NUM.: GM2019CV01007.

SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCION DE HIPOTECA (VÍA ORDINARIA). EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO Y MANDAMIENTO DE INTERPELACION. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, El Presidente de los Estados Unidos, El Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico.

A la parte co-demandada: FULANO Y FULANA DE TAL COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESIÓN DE DARIO RAMOS CRUZ, A LA SIGUIENTE DIRECCIÓN: FISICA: #643 CALLE SAN CIPRIAN COMUNIDAD CORAZON GUAYAMA, PR 00784; Y POSTAL: PO BOX 5 GUAYAMA, PR 00785

Por la presente se le(s) notifica que se ha radicado en la Secretaría de este Tribunal una Demanda Enmendada en Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca por la vía ordinaria en contra de La Sucesión Dario Ramos Cruz, por razón de no haber cumplido con los pagos mensuales según pactados, adeuda a la parte demandante la suma de $67,253.53 por concepto de principal, desde el 1ro de mayo de 2019, más intereses al tipo pactado de 3.3/4% anual que continúan acumulándose hasta el pago total de la obligación. Además La Sucesión de Dario Ramos Cruz adeuda a la parte demandante los cargos por demora equiva-

lentes a 4.00% de la suma de aquellos pagos con atrasos en exceso de 15 dias calendarios de la fecha de vencimiento; los creditos accesorios y adelantos hechos en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca; y las costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado equivalentes a $7,116.30. Además La Sucesión de Dario Ramos Cruz se comprometió a pagar una suma equivalente a $7,116.30 para cubrir cualquier otro adelanto que se haga en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca y una suma equivalente a $7,116.30 para cubrir intereses en adición a los garantizados por ley y cualquiera otros adelantos que se hagan en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca número 291, otorgada en Cayey, Puerto Rico, el día 10 de junio de 2016, ante el notario Priscilla M. Santiago Acosta, de la finca número 12032, inscrita al Folio 168 del Tomo 354 de Guayama, Registro de lá Propiedad de Guayama. Por razón de dicho incumplimiento, y al amparo del derecho que le confiere el Pagaré, el demandante ha declarado tales sumas vencidas, líquidas y exigibles en su totalidad. Este Tribunal ha ordenado que se le(s) cite a usted(es) por edicto que se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general. Quedan emplazados y notificados de que en este Tribunal se ha radicado una demanda enmendada en su contra. Se les ordena a que dentro del término de treinta (30) días, a partir de la notificación de la presente Orden, acepten o repudien la participación que les corresponda en la herencia de Dario Ramos Cruz. Los co-demandados miembros de la Sucesión de Dario Ramos Cruz se incluyen en la demanda enmendada ya que como herederos responden por las cargas de la herencia según lo dispuesto en Nuestro Ordenamiento Jurídico. Se les apercibe y notifica que, de no expresarse dentro de ese término de 30 días en tomo a su aceptación o repudiación de herencia, la herencia se tendrá por aceptada. También se les apercibe que luego del transcurso del termino de 30 días antes señalado contados a partir de la fecha dia la notificación de la presente Orden, se presumirá que han aceptado la herencia del causante y, por consiguiente, responden por las cargas de dicha herencia conforme el Articulo 959 del Código Civil, 31 L.P.R.A. 2785. Se ordena a la parte demandante a que, en vista de que la sucesión de Dario Ramos Cruz, se incluye a los herederos y herederos desconocidos de Dario Ramos Cruz denominados Fulano y Fulana De Tal, proceda a notificar la presente Orden mediante publicación de un edicto a esos efectos una sola vez en un periódico de circulación diaria general de la Isla de Puerto Rico.

The San Juan Daily Star Se le(s) emplaza y requiere que dentro de los sesenta (60) días siguientes a la publicación de este edicto excluyendo el día de la publicación de este edicto conteste(n) la demanda radicando el original de la contestación en este Tribunal y enviando copia de la Contestación de la Demanda a las oficinas de CARDONA & MALDONADO LAW OFFICES, P.S.C. ATENCIÓN al Ledo. Duncan Maldonado Ejarque, P.O. Box 366221, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-6221; Tel (787) 6227000, Fax (787) 625-7001, Abogado de la Parte Demandante.

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. Se le(s) advierte que si dejare(n) de contestar la Demanda en el período de tiempo antes mencionado, podrá dictarse contra usted(es) Sentencia en Rebeldía, concediéndose el remedio solicitado sin más citarle(s) ni oirle(s). EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y con el Sello del Tribunal. DADA hoy 13 de marzo de 2020, en Guayama, Puerto Rico. Marisol Rosado Rodriguez, Secretaria Regional.

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

SCOTIABANK DE PUERTO RICO COMO AGENTE DE SERVICIO DE THE MONEY HOUSE, INC. DEMANDANTE VS.

ANGEL IRÁN REYES SÁNCHEZ, SHEILA LIZ LÓPEZ VÁZQUEZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS (DEUDORES HIPOTECARIOS); JC HOLDINGS, LLC. (TITULAR REGISTRAL)

DEMANDADOS CIVIL NUM.: HU2019CV01772.

SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCION DE HIPOTECA (VÍA ORDINARIA). EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, El Presidente de los Estados Unidos, El Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico.

A) la parte codemandada: ANGEL IRÁN REYES SÁNCHEZ, SHEILA LIZ LÓPEZ

VÁZQUEZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS (DEUDORES HIPOTECARIO, a su última dirección conocida: FISICA: C-10 CALLE AGUIRRE URB. JARDIN CENTRAL HUMACAO, PR 00791; Y POSTAL: BOX 44 URB. JARDIN CENTRAL HUMACAO, PR 00791; HC-5 BOX 16800 YABUCOA, PR 00767.

Por la presente se le(s) notifica que se ha radicado en la Secretaría de este Tribunal una Demanda en Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca en su contra, en la cual se alega entre otras cosas que Angel Irán Reyes Sánchez, Sheila Liz López Vázquez y La Sociedad Legal de Bienes Gananciales compuesta por ambos adeuda a la parte demandante por concepto de hipoteca la suma de $131,632.60 por concepto de principal, desde el 1ro de mayo de 2019, más intereses al tipo pactado de 4.50 anual que continúan acumulándose hasta el pago total de la obligación.

Además Angel Irán Reyes Sánchez, Sheila Liz López Vázquez y La Sociedad Legal de Bienes Gananciales compuesta por ambos adeuda a la parte demandante los cargos por demora equivalentes a 4.00% de la suma de aquellos pagos con atrasos en exceso de 15 días calendarios de la fecha de vencimiento; los créditos accesorios y adelantos hechos en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca; y las costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado equivalentes a $13,736.50. Además Angel Irán Reyes Sánchez, Sheila Liz López Vázquez y La Sociedad Legal de Bienes Gananciales compuesta por ambos se comprometió a pagar una suma equivalente a $13,736.50 para cubrir cualquier otro adelanto que se haga en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca y una suma equivalente a $13,736.50 para cubrir intereses en adición a los garantizados por ley y cualquiera otros adelantos que se hagan en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca número 123, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 23 de septiembre de 2016, ante el notario José García Noya, consta presentada al Asiento 2016-101930-HU01 de fecha 14 de octubre de 2016 y se segregará de la finca número 2639, la cual consta inscrita al Folio 191 del Tomo 83 de Humacao, Registro de la Propiedad de Humacao. Por razón de dicho incumplimiento, y al amparo del derecho que le confiere el Pagaré, el demandante ha declarado tales sumas vencidas, líquidas y exigibles en su totalidad. Este Tri-

The San Juan Daily Star bunal ha ordenado que se le(s) cite a usted(es) por edicto que se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general.

Por tratarse de una obligación hipotecaria y pudiendo usted tener interés en este caso o quedar afectando 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 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 y notifique copia de la Contestación de la Demanda a las oficinas de CARDONA & MALDONADO LAW OFFICES, P.S.C. ATENCIÓN al Lcdo. Duncan Maldonado Ejarque, P.O. Box 366221, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-6221; Tel (787) 6227000, Fax (787) 625-7001, Abogado de la Parte Demandante.

Dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto, apercibiéndole que de no hacerlo así dentro del término indicado, el Tribunal podrá anotar su Rebeldía y dictar Sentencia, concediéndose el remedio solicitado sin más citarle(s) ni oirle(s).

EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y con el Sello del Tribunal. DADA hoy 27 de mayo de 2020, en Humacao, Puerto Rico. Dominga Gomez Fuster, Sec Regional.

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

ORIENTAL BANK COMO AGENTE DE SERVICIOS DE THE MONEY HOUSE, INC. DEMANDANTE VS.

WILMA YOLANDA VIVAS SÁNCHEZ

DEMANDADOS CIVIL NUM.: CG2020CV00078.

SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCION DE HIPOTECA (VÍA ORDINARIA). EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, El Presidente de los Estados Unidos, El Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico.

A la parte co-demandada: WILMA YOLANDA VIVAS SÁNCHEZ, a su última dirección conocida: FISICA: (a) C-8 CALLE 2 URB. LOS TAMARINDOS I SAN LORENZO, PR 00754; Y POSTAL: (b) EE-18 CALLE 14 URB. VILLAS DEL REY CAGUAS, PR 00727; (c) 92 CAMBRIDGE ST., LAWRENCE MA 01843.

Por la presente se le(s) notifica que se ha radicado en la Secretaría de este Tribunal una Demanda en Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca en su contra, en la cual se alega entre otras cosas que la parte demandada adeuda a la parte demandante por concepto de hipoteca la suma de $101,822.70 por concepto de principal, desde el 1ro de septiembre de 2019, más intereses al tipo pactado de 3.50% anual que continúan acumulándose hasta el pago total de la obligación. Además la parte demandada adeuda a la parte demandante los cargos por demora equivalentes a 4.00% de la suma de aquellos pagos con atrasos en exceso de 15 días calendarios de la fecha de vencimiento; los créditos accesorios y adelantos hechos en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca; y las costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado equivalentes a $10,848.30.

Además la parte demandada se comprometió a pagar una suma equivalente a $10,848.30 para cubrir cualquier otro adelanto que se haga en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca y una suma equivalente a $10,848.30 para cubrir intereses en adición a los garantizados por ley y cualquiera otros adelantos que se hagan en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca número 43, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 30 de junio de 2016, ante el notario Alfredo A. Infante Gutiérrez, de la finca número 9203, inscrita al Folio 193 del Tomo 183 de San Lorenzo, Registro de la Propiedad de Caguas, Sección Segunda. Por razón de dicho incumplimiento, y al amparo del derecho que le confiere el Pagaré, el demandante ha declarado tales sumas vencidas, líquidas y exigibles en su totalidad. Este Tribunal ha ordenado que se le(s) cite a usted(es) por edicto que se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general. Por tratarse de una obligación hipotecaria y pudiendo usted tener interés en este caso o quedar afectando 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 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 y notifique copia de la Contestación de la Demanda a las oficinas de CARDONA & MALDONADO LAW OFFICES, P.S.C. ATENCIÓN al Lcdo. Duncan Maldonado Ejarque, P.O. Box 366221, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-6221; Tel (787) 6227000, Fax (787) 625-7001, Abogado de la Parte Demandante.

Dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este

Thursday, August 6, 2020 Edicto, apercibiéndole que de no hacerlo así dentro del término indicado, el Tribunal podrá anotar su Rebeldía y dictar Sentencia, concediéndose el remedio solicitado sin más citarle(s) ni oirle(s).

EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y con el Sello del Tribunal. DADA hoy 25 de marzo de 2020, en Caguas, Puerto Rico. Carmen Ana Pereira Ortiz, Secretaria Rodriguez Rodriguez, Sec Aux.

LEGAL NOTICE GOBIERNO DE PUERTO RICO. NOMBRE COMERCIAL PARA REGISTRAR. AVISO. A QUIEN PUEDA INTERESAR: De acuerdo con las disposiciones de la Ley Núm. 75 del 23 de septiembre de 1992, según enmendada, mejor conocida como la Ley de Nombres Comerciales del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico y la Sección 24 del Reglamento promulgado bajo la ley citada anteriormente, el siguiente nombre comercial ha sido presentado en el Departamento de Estado de Puerto Rico para su archivo y registro:

TU INVERTER PR

Número de Expediente: 23371999-1. Propietario: Joanne M Martinez Rodriguez. Dirección: Urbanización Caguax calle colesibi P10, caguas, PR 00725.

Actividad Empresarial: Venta, instalación y reparación de aires acondicionados. Renuncia a elementos no registrables: NOTIFICACIÓN: Cualquier oposición a este registro deberá presentarse en el Departamento de Estado de Puerto Rico dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este aviso.

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

CONCILIO MISIÓN CRISTIANA FUENTE DE AGUA VIVA INC. DEMANDANTE Vs.

FIRSTBANK PUERTO RICO, INC.; JOHN DOE

DEMANDADO CIVIL NUM. JU2020CV00108.

SALA 703. SOBRE: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: JOHN DOE DIRECCION DESCONOCIDA

EL (LA) SECRETARIO(Al)e notifica a usted que el día 28 de julio 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 4 de agosto de 2020. En Caguas, Puerto Rico, 4 de agosto de 2020. f:/ CARMEN ANA PEREIRA ORTIZ, Secretaria Regional. f:/ CARMEN R. DÍAZ CÁCERES, Secretaria de Servicios a Sala.

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

ORIENTAL BANK

Parte Demandante VS.

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO COMO CUSTODIO DE LOS ARCHIVOS DE DORAL MORTGAGE CORPORATION; JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE

Parte Demandada CIVIL NÚM: SJ2019CV11729 (506). SOBRE: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE

LA SECRETARIA que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 2 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 4 de agosto de 2020. En San Juan, Puerto Rico, el 4 de agosto de 2020. Griselda Rodríguez Collado, Secretaria Regional. Mildred Martínez Acosta, Secretaria Confidencial del Tribunal I.

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

CENTURION INSURANCE

AGENCY, INC POR SI Y COMO PARTE INTERESADA Demandante v

ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA, ACTUANDO POR CONDUCTO DE LA ADMINISTRACION DE HOGARES DE AGRICULTORES; JOHN DOE Y RICHARD DOE

Demandado(a) Civil: GR2020CV00008. SALA 302. Sobre: CANCELACION DE PAGARE EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACION DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA, ACTUANDO POR CONDUCTO DE LA ADMINISTRACION DE HOGARES DE AGRICULTORES; JOHN DOE Y RICHARD DOE

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican Ia sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que 21 de julio 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 Ia misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en Ia 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 Ia Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de Ia cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de Ia publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en Ia fecha de Ia publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 24 de julio de 2020.

En CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, el 27 de julio de 2020. CARMEN ANA PEREIRA ORTIZ, Secretario(a).

YOLANDA MEDINA ROTGER, Secretario(a) Auxiliar.

LEGAL NOTICE

25

EDICTO.

A: FULANO DE TAL Y MENGANO DE TAL CELINK (REVERSE MORTGAGE SERVICING DPT. - 3900 CAPITAL CITY BOULEVARD LANSING, MI 48906

(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 13 de MAYO 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 MAYO de 2020. En VEGA BAJA , Puerto Rico, el 20 de mayo de 2020. LCDA. LAURA I SANTA SANCHEZ, Secretaria.

MARITZA ROSARIO ROSARIO, Secretario(a) Auxiliar.

LEGAL NOT ICE Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Primera Instancia Sala Superior de JUNCOS.

COOPERATIVA DE AHORRO Y CREDITO DE LA INDUSTRIA BIOFARMACEUTICAS Demandante VS.

JOSE MIGUEL VAZQUEZ MALDONADO

Demandado(a) Civil: JU2019CV00079. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO (REGLA 60). NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: JOSE MIGUEL VAZQUEZ MALDONADO, URB COLINAS DEL ESTE H-18, CALLE 9, JUNCOS, P.R. 00777 COOPERATIVA AHORRO de las partes a las que se Y CREDITO VEGA ALTA le(Nombre notifican la sentencia por edicto)

Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Primera Instancia Sala Superior de VEGA BAJA.

Demandante v.

EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted 21 de JULIO 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 Demandado(a) Civil: VA2019CV00103. Sobre: vez en un periódico de circulación PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. NOTI- general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, FICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR dentro de los 10 días siguientes

SENIOR MORTGAGE BANKERS INC., CELINK y US DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, FULANO DE TAL Y MENGANO DE TAL

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 22 de JULIO de 2020.

En CAGUAS Puerto Rico, el 22 de julio de 2020. CARMEN ANA PEREIRA ORTIZ, Secretario(a).

Sandra J. Trinidad Cañuelas, Sec Auxiliar.

DEMANDANTE vs.

ALIMENTOS DE BEBE INC. y MIGUEL RIVERA SANTOS Y FULANA DE TAL, AMBOS EN SU CARÁCTER PERSONAL Y COMO MIEMBROS DE LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES QUE ESTOS COMPONEN

DEMANDADOS CIVIL NÚM.: LR2020CV00031.

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

• A: MIGUEL RIVERA SANTOS, POR SI Y COMO REPRESENTANTE DE LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE LEGAL NOTICE BIENES GANANCIALES Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto COMPUESTA CON Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE FULANA DE TAL. JUSTICIA Tribunal de Primera • A: FULANA DE TAL Instancia Sala Superior de CAGUAS. POR SI Y COMO PR RECOVERY AND REPRESENTANTE DE LA DEVELOPMENT JV, LLC. SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE DEMANDANTE Vs. BIENES GANANCIALES JUAN CARLOS COMPUESTA CON FERNÁNDEZ LEÓN MIGUEL RIVERA SANTOS DEMANDADO NOTIFIQUESE A LAS CIVIL NUM. CD2019CV00417.

DIRECCIONES: SALA 703. SOBRE: COBRO DE • Villa Caribe Vía DINERO ORDINARIO. Constanza 200, Caguas A: JUAN CARLOS P.R. 00727.

FERNÁNDEZ LEÓN URB. TREASURE VALLEY • professionaladvisorsinc @gmail.com.

CALLE 2 J32, CIDRA, • mrivera@ifproadm.com PUERTO RICO 00739

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@orf-law .com y a la dirección notificaciones@orf-law.com. EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del LEGAL NOTICE Tribunal, en Lares, Puerto Rico, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE hoy día 24 de julio de 2020. En PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE Lares, Puerto Rico, el 24 de julio PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE de 2020. Diane Alvarez VillanueLARES. va, Sec Regional. Yanelly Perez MERCHANT Soto, Sec Auxiliar.

EL (LA) SECRETARIO(A) le notifica a usted que el día 28 de julio 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 4 de agosto de 2020. En Caguas, Puerto Rico, 4 de agosto de 2020. f:/ CARMEN ANA PEREIRA ORTIZ, Secretario(a) Regional. f:/ CARMEN R. DÍAZ CÁCERES , Secretario(a) de Servicios a Sala .

ADVANCE, LLC

26

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, August 6, 2020

WNBA players escalate protest of anti-BLM team owner

By SOPAN DEB

P

layers for the Atlanta Dream and other teams across the WNBA have begun a public show of defiance by wearing T-shirts endorsing the Democratic opponent of the Dream’s co-owner Sen. Kelly Loeffler (RGa.), who is in a tightly contested race for her seat and has spoken disparagingly of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Images of players, including the nine-time All-Star Diana Taurasi, wearing the shirts endorsing Raphael G. Warnock flooded social media Tuesday before a nationally televised matchup between Atlanta and the Phoenix Mercury.

Across the chest of the black T-shirts were two words “Vote Warnock,” a reference to the Atlanta pastor who is one of the top Democrats running against Loeffler in a special election in November.

It was the latest escalation in a conflict that has roiled the WNBA. in recent weeks. Loeffler, who owns 49 percent of the team, has publicly and frequently derided the league for dedicating its season to the Black Lives Matter movement, provoking sharp criticism from some of the league’s most high-profile figures.

The players’ union has called for her ouster, but WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert told CNN in mid-July that Loeffler would not be forced to sell the team.

Neither the Loeffler nor the Warnock campaigns immediately returned requests for comment.

Elizabeth Williams, who has played for the Dream since 2016, said in an interview Monday that the players plan to “vocally support” Warnock in the coming weeks, and that players have had “several” conversations with him.

“When we realized what our owner was doing and how she was kind of using us and the Black Lives Matter movement for her political gain, we felt like we didn’t want to feel kind of lost as the pawns in this,” Williams said.

“This is just more proof that the out of control cancel culture wants to shut out anyone who disagrees with them,” Loeffler said in a statement late Tuesday. “It’s clear that the league is more concerned with playing politics than basketball, and I stand by what I wrote in June.”

Warnock, in an email, said he was “honored and humbled by the overwhelming support from the W.N.B.A. players.”

“This movement gives us the opportunity to fight for what we believe in, and I stand by all athletes promoting social justice on and off the court,” Warnock said. “Senator Loeffler and those like her who seek to silence and dismiss others when they speak up for justice have planted themselves on the wrong side of history.”

Williams said the idea to publicly endorse Warnock came from Sue Bird, the 11-time All-Star guard for the Seattle Storm. Both Williams and Bird are executives in the players’ union. Top players also consulted with Stacey Abrams, the Democrat who lost a close race for the Georgia governor’s seat in 2018 to Brian Kemp, a Republican. Abrams joined the players’ union board of advocates last summer.

In planning the demonstration, the players thought it was important that the T-shirts debuted during a game that was nationally televised. Tuesday’s game between the Dream and Mercury was scheduled to be broadcast on ESPN 2. Williams said that the Dream players will continue to wear the T-shirts in upcoming games, and other teams have agreed to do so, too.

“We can’t really do anything about her ownership,” Williams said, referring to Loeffler.

“That’s not something we can control. We can control who we vote for.”

The teams’ coaches were made aware of the demonstration, Williams said, but she was unsure whether Mary Brock, the philanthropist who owns the other 51 percent of the Dream, was told ahead of time. Brock thus far has not publicly addressed the conflict between Loeffler and the WNBA players.

This level of public protest — players on a team openly campaigning against their own owner — is virtually unheard of in professional sports. But it is not out of character for players in the WNBA, a league that has frequently shown a willingness to tackle social justice issues publicly. In 2016, WNBA players were among the first professional athletes in the United States to demonstrate against police brutality, also with T-shirts. The WNBA initially fined those players before rescinding the fines.

It was not immediately clear whether the league would take action against the players

Senator Kelly Loeffler, Republican of Georgia, has criticized the W.N.B.A. for its commitment to social justice this season and disparaged the Black Lives Matter movement. for Tuesday’s demonstration. Representatives for the league did not immediately return a request for comment.

Recently, the league has waded deeper into politics, in large part because of its players’ willingness to do the same. In 2018, the WNBA partnered with Planned Parenthood for an initiative called “Take a Seat, Take a Stand,” which sent a portion of ticket proceeds to multiple groups including Planned Parenthood. Since then, WNBA players have often been spotted at the front lines of demonstrations, especially recently after the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, who were killed by the police.

The initial response to Loeffler, who is not involved in the day-to-day operations of the team, came after she wrote a letter in early July to Engelbert, saying, “I adamantly oppose the Black Lives Matter political movement, which has advocated for the defunding of police.” Loeffler also accused the movement of promoting “violence and destruction across the country.”

One of the most high-profile rebukes came from Dream players, who issued a collective statement on July 10: “It is not extreme to demand change after centuries of inequality.

This is not a political statement. This is a statement of humanity.”

Loeffler has since made a cause célèbre of criticizing the WNBA’s commitment to social justice, frequently conducting interviews pain-

ting herself as a victim of so-called “cancel culture” as a result of the backlash from players.

In her Senate race, Loeffler is fighting to remain in the seat she was appointed to late last year after Johnny Isakson stepped down because of health problems. To win, a candidate must get 50 percent of the vote. If no candidate reaches that mark, the top two candidates will have a runoff, which is widely expected to be the outcome. The other top candidate in the race is Rep. Doug Collins, a Republican and ardent supporter of President Donald Trump.

Collins and the WNBA players have one thing in common: They want Loeffler to sell her stake in the team. But Collins’ reasoning was different. On July 7, he issued a statement that said Loeffler should “get out of the liberal agenda advocacy business,” in reference to the Dream.

Asked if she was bothered that the WNBA was not forcing Loeffler to sell her stake, Williams said: “Honestly, I think that she wants the league to push her out. She wants that to be part of this statement that she’s making that, ‘Oh, Black Lives Matter is divisive. They pushed me out because they feel differently, blah blah blah.’

“So I think, ironically, playing this kind of wait and see game is more frustrating for Kelly than it is for us,” Williams said.

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, August 6, 2020

27

Nadal won’t chase repeat title at US Open

By CHRISTOPHER CLAREY

R

afael Nadal will not defend his U.S. Open men’s singles title.

Nadal announced earlier this week that he was withdrawing from the tournament because of his concerns about travel during the coronavirus pandemic.

“This is a decision that I did not want to take,” he said Tuesday on Twitter, one day after the entry deadline. “But in this case, I am following my heart by deciding that right now I prefer not to travel.”

Nadal, 34 and ranked No. 2 behind Novak Djokovic, is a four-time singles champion at the U.S. Open and won the title last year after a lengthy and memorable five-set duel with Daniil Medvedev in the final.

With 19 Grand Slam singles titles, he is just one short of matching Roger Federer’s men’s record, but he has decided to wait. His next chance could come at the French Open, which he has won a record 12 times and which is scheduled to start Sept. 27 — just two weeks after the men’s final at the U.S. Open.

“Rafa is one of the greatest champions in the history of our sport, and we support this decision,” said Stacey Allaster, the U.S. Open tournament director.

“I know our fans will be disappointed to not have Rafa playing this year’s Western & Southern Open and U.S. Open. However, for the fans and the sport, we look forward to being inspired by him when he decides he’s ready to play.”

Because of temporary changes to the ranking system, Nadal will still be able to count the points from winning last year’s U.S. Open even though he is skipping this year’s event. He did not specify Tuesday whether he would play in this year’s French Open, but he had already committed to playing at least some of the clay court season when he announced he would play at the Madrid Open the week after the U.S. Open.

But the Madrid event, one of the most prestigious tournaments on both the men’s and women’s tours, was canceled Tuesday after the organizers received a recommendation from Spanish public health authorities to call it off because of an increase in positive virus tests in some parts of Spain.

“The situation is very complicated worldwide; the COVID-19 cases are increasing,” Nadal said. “It looks like we

Rafael Nadal will not try to repeat his United States Open singles title; he said he would not play in the tournament because of the coronavirus pandemic. still don’t have control of it.”

Nadal was in Indian Wells, Calif. in early March, set to play in the BNP Paribas Open before that event was called off on the eve of the qualifying tournament.

He traveled back to his base in Mallorca, Spain, where he went through lockdown before returning to train at the tennis academy he started in Manacor, his home city.

The women’s tour resumed this week with a clay court event in Palermo, Italy, but the men’s tour has been shut down for nearly five months and is not set to resume until later this month in New York, with the Western & Southern Open and the U.S. Open.

The Western & Southern Open, normally played in the Cincinnati suburbs, was moved to New York this year to create a doubleheader in a controlled environment where it would be easier to maintain strict health and safety protocols. Spectators will not be allowed onsite at either tournament.

“All my respects to the USTA [United States Tennis Association], the U.S. Open organizers and the ATP for trying to put the event together for the players and fans around the world through TV,” Nadal said.

But Nadal will instead be watching from afar. So will Federer, who announced he would not play again in 2020 as he recovered from his latest knee surgery. The

last Grand Slam tournament without Federer and Nadal was the 1999 U.S. Open, where Federer, then 18, was eliminated in qualifying. The Open remains the only Grand Slam tournament where Federer and Nadal have not played each other.

Ashleigh Barty, the No. 1 women’s player, announced last week from her home in Australia that she was withdrawing from the Open because of concerns about travel and the health risks for some of her team members.

But the vast majority of leading players are, at least for now, still entered, including Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka, Karolina Pliskova, Sofia Kenin and Bianca Andreescu, the reigning women’s champion. In the men’s event, Djokovic and six other top 10 players remain on the entry list.

But as Alexander Zverev pointed out last week, players are closely monitoring the health situation in New York and the travel situation internationally.

The USTA laid out key elements of its plan Tuesday in an update sent to players, explaining that if a player leaves the tournament “bubble” without written permission from Allaster or the tournament’s chief medical officer, the player will be removed from the event and fined an unspecified amount. If a coach or other guest of a player leaves the bubble, that credential will be revoked, and the coach

or guest will be required to leave the tournament hotel within 24 hours. The coach or guest would also be fined and prohibited from receiving a credential to the 2021 U.S. Open, the USTA said.

Several leading players, including former U.S. Open champion Andy Murray, have lobbied recently for strong penalties for those who break health and safety protocols.

Players staying in private housing instead of an official hotel must rent through the USTA and abide by a safety plan.

Players must pay all costs for 24-hour security that is approved, and capable of being monitored, by the USTA. Players in private housing are not permitted to stay with or receive visits from individuals who are not part of the officially approved entourage that is being tested by the USTA for the virus.

Each player is allowed to come with a maximum of three accredited guests or team members, up from one in the initial planning, which was a proposal that Djokovic criticized. But only one of those guests will be allowed access to competition areas, locker rooms, player dining and lounges.

Locker rooms will be limited to 30 players at a time, with players encouraged to leave as soon as possible. In the absence of spectators, new outdoor fitness areas and outdoor lounge spaces are being created on-site.

Players and their guests will be tested twice for the virus once they arrive, about 48 hours apart, and antibody tests will also be encouraged. Those who test positive for antibodies will be tested for the virus less frequently during the tournament.

Those who test positive during the tournament will be withdrawn automatically and isolated for 10 days. Players who test positive upon arrival could still compete if they received medical clearance after the necessary isolation. If a player is sharing a hotel room with a guest and that guest tests positive during the event, the player will be automatically withdrawn.

Players arriving from outside the United States will not face an additional quarantine requirement upon arrival in New York, according to the USTA. But it is still unclear whether players or their team members will face quarantine if they travel on to Europe for the clay-court season, although the USTA said it was making “positive progress” on that front.

28

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, August 6, 2020

Toronto tones down its postseason party

By MORGAN CAMPBELL

O

n Bremner Boulevard just west of Scotiabank Arena, a few TV news crews gathered outside the temporary fence surrounding the building, hoping to see NHL teams leaving or entering the perimeter.

In the past, barricades bounded the wide cul-desac, barely pinning in the crowded street party that drew thousands of fans to the Toronto Raptors’ run to the 2019 NBA championship. But in the hours before the start of the 2020 NHL playoffs Saturday afternoon, the area featured security, police and a solitary hot dog vendor waiting next to his cart.

In an indoor retail space across the street, a Sport Chek apparel store with plenty of Toronto Maple Leafs gear on display was open but empty of shoppers. Farther down the concourse, a liquor store had customers lined up out the door, spaced 6 feet apart.

Toronto is one of two sites hosting the NHL’s postseason — the other is Edmonton — in a restart that came after a 140-day pause in play because of the coronavirus pandemic. The culminating tournament did not compel many locals to rearrange their priorities during the Simcoe Day holiday weekend, but the league has put down a symbolic footprint, if not an economically significant one. Blocks of rooms at two downtown hotels house the teams, and signage on busy sidewalks near the arena remind pedestrians the NHL has arrived.

Norm O’Reilly, director of the International Institute for Sport Business and Leadership at the University of Guelph, said Canadians recognized the significance of holding the games in the country’s largest city, “even though there’s very little economic impact because nobody’s traveling to watch the games.” He added, “For the hard-core hockey fan, it’s a no-brainer.”

Inside the empty arena, stakes remained high not only for the league, which is looking to salvage a season upended by the pandemic, but also for the players, who are competing for the Stanley Cup, after all. But arena light shows and piped-in crowd noise could not make playoff hockey without spectators feel normal.

“There’s no crowd, obviously,” New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist said Saturday after his team’s 3-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. “That intensity that you feed off of playing in the playoffs, it’s not there.”

Before restarting play, the NHL published a 28-page manual outlining how it would operate a playoff schedule while limiting player and staff exposure to the public during the pandemic. Players and staff undergo daily COVID-19 screenings, and stay at their hotels when not playing or training, or at NHL-designated recreational areas, including movie theaters, patios and lounges.

The setup helps ensure that all teams feel like visitors, including the hometown Maple Leafs, who, like every other team in the hub, are staying in a downtown hotel.

“There will be some familiarity for us” being in the home arena, Maple Leafs captain John Tavares said Sun-

Thousands of Raptors fans packed the plaza outside Scotiabank Arena during the N.B.A. finals last season.

The same area is nearly empty due to coronavirus precautions as the arena hosts the Eastern Conference teams in the N.H.L. playoffs. day before Toronto’s series-opening loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. “Things are going to be different, even when we do get to use our own facilities.”

But in a league where gate revenue still matters, teams also need to adjust to a postseason without live spectators.

The Maple Leafs, for example, ranked fourth in the NHL in home attendance this season, averaging 19,301 fans per home game. Revenue lost from those fans’ ticket purchases, parking, seat licensing and concessions adds up. The absence of fans heightens the importance of TV ratings, even as the NHL competes for North American viewers against other leagues, like Major League Baseball and the NBA, that have resumed competition this summer.

According to Sports Media Watch, the series opener between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Montreal Canadiens averaged 1.54 million viewers on NBC, a markedly smaller audience than the NBA and MLB restarts drew earlier in July.

Four years ago, all seven Canadian NHL teams missed the playoffs and TV ratings cratered. That year, the first week of playoff broadcasts averaged a reported

513,000 viewers in Canada, down 61 percent from the previous season.

Canadian viewership numbers weren’t yet available at press time, but last week, Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston reported that 4.3 million people total tuned in across the company’s various networks during an NHL exhibition doubleheader July 28.

But even in hockey-mad Canada, where, in 2013, Rogers Communications, which owns Sportsnet, agreed to pay $5.2 billion for 12 years of NHL TV rights, deep fan engagement and big audiences are not guaranteed for this postseason. The only two Canadian teams at the Toronto playoff hub are the eighth-seeded Maple Leafs and the 12th-seeded Canadiens. An early exit for either team would eliminate two of Sportsnet’s biggest TV attractions.

O’Reilly said that outside Canada the summer restart was an opportunity for the NHL to grow its audience beyond its current fan base, but the league won’t know if it has succeeded until later in the postseason.

“Can they get that share of the market that’s just a general sports fan?” O’Reilly said. “If the NHL can get them interested in hockey, that’s a win.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, August 6, 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)

Approach anything to do with long-term arrangements with care. There may still be changes you have no control over and these could cause delays or postponements. It would be better to set a series of short-term goals you are confident you can reach. This will give you a clearer sense of direction.

Taurus

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, August 6, 2020

(April 21-May 21)

Libra

(Sep 24-Oct 23)

Money from an inheritance or legal settlement is delayed. You’ve heard a number of excuses and you’ve lost trust in someone. Consult a legal expert and hire them to help you get money that is rightfully yours. Solving problems won’t be easy because you are having to rely on other people who are turning out to be untrustworthy.

The more adaptable you are, the easier it will be to overcome challenges coming your way.

Someone will oppose your ideas. You will find a way to handle opposition with ease.

Your determination to succeed will make it easy to handle a difficult situation. Plans may change but you will adapt.

Scorpio

Gemini

(May 22-June 21)

Sagittarius

(Nov 23-Dec 21)

Sort out anything to do with your career immediately. An unexpected offer will have an instant appeal. If you sense this will go to someone else if you hesitate, accept it straight away. A change of financial fortune is possible. Putting additional earnings into a savings account will help you build a nest egg.

A thoughtless friend or colleague may make some harsh comments about you. There’s no reason why you should try to change your behaviour to please them or anyone else for that matter. Someone may not like to hear the truth but honesty is the best policy. Ignore anyone’s complaints about the way you approach a job you’ve carried out successfully many times before.

Cancer

(June 22-July 23)

Capricorn

(Dec 22-Jan 20)

If you’re trying to lose weight, increase activity levels and introduce gradual changes.

Nutritious food will boost your energy and enhance your concentration. Snack on fruit to help with sweet cravings. Be sure to add a little exercise into your day. A positive outlook will also have a good impact on your health.

Leo

(July 24-Aug 23)

Online meetings, team efforts and community affairs bring you new and interesting involvements. Expect an eventful day so far as your working life is concerned. It is a time of fruition if you’ve been striving to make your family circumstances more secure. Study pursuits, both advanced or as a beginner, will proceed well.

Virgo

(Aug 24-Sep 23)

A situation will call for some quick thinking.

If someone had owned up to their mistakes a problem could have been avoided. You will be asked to take over other people’s amateur efforts. You will need to exert a high degree of discipline to complete a task others have given up on.

(Oct 24-Nov 22)

Harmony within the home is fragile at best.

Problems have been building for a while and this is about to come to a head. You might feel unappreciated but it isn’t a good idea to protest too loudly. There’s a high chance a loved one feels the same way and you just aren’t able to understand each other.

Activities put you at the centre of attention.

Once everything is under way, those stagefright jitters will evaporate. All the appreciative comments coming your way will boost your confidence. A powerful rapport will be established with someone you meet through your work. They will make some helpful suggestions on how you might achieve a cherished goal.

Aquarius

(Jan 21-Feb 19)

You will accept the possible consequences of decisions made today. You and a partner have discussed the possible consequences of a joint financial arrangement. You’re making a daring decision but you both feel good about it. Although there are risks, there are also some great benefits. Trust in the bounty of the Universe.

Pisces

(Feb 20-Mar 20)

A relationship is up one moment and down the next. It feels like you’re on an emotional roller coaster. You know in your heart what you need to do to break out of this pattern.

Unless you take action, it will go on into the foreseeable future. Emotionally, you can’t take any more.

Answers to the Sudoku and Crossword on page 29

Thursday, August 6, 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

Thursday, August 6, 2020

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