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.
Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia said Tuesday it may take seven more years to finish Puerto Rico’s reconstruction following the ravages of hurricanes and other natural events.
“Those FEMA projects are long-term. Like I’ve always said, compare it to New York, New Jersey, Louisiana, and New Orleans, these projects take many years. Reconstruction takes many years,” the governor said. “Right now my estimate is that the reconstruction will be fully completed in a term of about seven additional years. That is being very accurate. I don’t want to create unreasonable expectations.”
Pierluisi made his remarks following a Financial Oversight and Management Board report criticizing the administration for its slowness in disbursing federal funds to help Puerto Rico rebuild its infrastructure ravaged by natural disasters and to deal with the effects of COVID-19.
Pierluisi said he interpreted the oversight board report as a warning, more than as a criticism of his administration, that if federal funds are not used diligently, they could be lost.
Recently, the island returned some $23 million in unused American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds. Pierluisi said the money went to private schools that did not present the
required documentation for Federal Emergency Management Agency reimbursements.
“Not one penny of federal money earmarked for our schools was wasted,” the governor said.
Pierluisi noted that the construction industry in Puerto Rico is at full capacity. Still, there is a labor shortage, so he has invited mainland construction companies to participate in the reconstruction process.
The governor also highlighted the creativity of certain southern cities hit by earthquakes in organizing consortiums to manage reconstruction work instead of relying on the central government.
He also noted that in the south, after the effects of the pandemic, children resumed face-to-face education quickly.
“We acted quickly,” Pierluisi said. “We built modular schools that can be used for up to 20 years even though they are temporary.”
Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) codefendants in a $1 billion lawsuit accusing them of engaging in a racketeering scheme said the case should remain under the bankruptcy stay.
The defendants, Inspectorate America Corp., Core Laboratories, Trafigura AG, Trafigura Beheer BV, Trafigura Limited, Trafigura Argentina SA, Vitol SA and Vitol Inc. made the request in a motion filed in the Marrero-Rolon vs. Autoridad de Energia Electrica de Puerto Rico suit in federal court.
The case, filed in 2015, was stayed following PREPA’s June 2017 bankruptcy filing. The suit is a class action made up of all PREPA ratepayers between 2002 and 2015. In 2021, the plaintiffs asked for a partial lift to the stay to proceed with discovery but the petition was denied.
The judge had asked for an informative motion on the status of PREPA’s bankruptcy.
The plaintiffs alleged in the suit that PREPA conspired with its fuel oil suppliers and laboratories that tested the fuel’s quality to falsify laboratory results so that PREPA could receive fuel that did not comply with environmental standards but still pay the higher fuel price. The cost, estimated to surpass $1 billion, was passed on to the consumers in high fuel adjustment charges.
The defendants in the case said the stay should remain.
“The automatic stay still bars discovery as to PREPA,” the defendants argued in their motion.
Because PREPA had a central role in the alleged conspiracy, it will hold a substantial portion of the evidence. U.S. District Judge Jay Garcia-Gregory ruled previously in favor of the stay until PREPA ends its bankruptcy protection.
Senate President José Luis Dalmau Santiago confirmed on Tuesday the enactment of Senate Bill 1065, which guarantees a base salary for Puerto Rico firefighters of $2,500 per month with an additional $375 increase.
“We are pleased that the Governor has signed this important bill for our Firefighters,” Dalmau Santiago said in a written statement. “We recognize their effort and ensure that they are fairly compensated for their
daily work.”
“This salary increase is a step forward for employees of the Puerto Rico Firefighters Bureau who face long working hours and are exposed to extreme conditions,” the Senate president added.
The law, which was authored by Sen. Ramón Ruiz Nieves, aims not only to adjust the base salary, but also to promote the retention of firefighters as first-response professionals and recognize the importance of their work in Puerto Rican society.
San Juan Mayor Miguel Romero Lugo confirmed Tuesday the implementation of periodic reviews of the recently signed Public Order Code, beginning with a 90-day grace period.
“[I]n that same [grace] period there are revisions in case any technical amendment is necessary,” Romero Lugo said at a press conference.
The mayor also stressed that during the validity of the code a review will be carried out every 180 days. Likewise, a team made up of five people, which he will designate soon, will be responsible for the reviews. The mayor stressed the importance of keeping the code updated with the changing realities of the municipality.
Provisions of the new code include schedules for the sale of alcoholic beverages, restrictions regarding unnecessary noise and sanctions related to the inappropriate use of public spaces. For example, it is prohibited to repair vehicles on public roads and those who do not pick up after their pets will face fines of $250.
This code was approved last Saturday with 13 votes in favor and three against by the San Juan Municipal Assembly. It will enter into force 90 days after the publication of an edict in a newspaper of general circulation.
Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia indicated on Tuesday that he could veto the Electoral Code if it ultimately proposes increasing the age to request early voting and exercise it by mail to 75 years.
“That in itself is reprehensible, as I see it,” the governor said in response to questions from the press. “What we want is to make it easier for older people to vote.”
“The trend throughout the world is to facilitate voting, and specifically the elderly,” he added. “With all reason, we are going to make it more comfortable, so
that they can exercise it [the right to vote] from their homes.”
The Electoral Code bill arrived at La Fortaleza on July 11. If it is not signed by Aug. 11, what is known as a “pocket veto” will be applied.
In response to questions from the press, Pierluisi noted that although he has not yet reviewed the bill in detail, if he confirms that the measure contains the aforementioned amendment, he would veto it based on that point alone.
In past elections, early voting by mail was allowed for people 65 years of age or older.
The internet, along with its offspring the World Wide Web, is a very handy tool for searching for valuable information, paying bills and making purchases online, or for entertainment purposes.
However, in the same way that a spider uses its web to catch prey, pedophiles and child traffickers use the internet as a web of their own to lure and catch their prey. Just two weeks ago, two teenage girls from Arroyo who had gone missing were slain, while their parents had no idea what they were doing or where they had gone. The heinous killings were so devastating that New Progressive Party Rep. José “Quiquito” Meléndez Ortiz called upon all parents and legal guardians to monitor with great attention to detail the interactions their children have on social media, specifically applications such as TikTok and Snapchat.
Considering the increasingly urgent discourse surrounding the dangers of social media, Lt. Luis F. Maldonado Miranda, director of the Cybernetic Crimes Division of the Puerto Rico Police Bureau, spoke with the STAR about the possible dangers posed by the internet for children and teenagers.
“We always recommend to parents to have control of their children’s electronic devices,” Maldonado Miranda told the STAR. “Parents should have control of not just the device per se, but also all of the information that their children absorb in their electronic devices; we have to be aware and recapture the subject of parental controls.”
Maldonado Miranda also pointed out that phones and social media are not the only platforms that parents should be aware of -- online video games can also be a doorway for unethical, illicit, or even high-risk interactions without parents’ knowledge.
“Just like on social media, children and teenagers can interact with people from all over the world while playing games online -- people who you have no idea who they are or what their intentions are,” Maldonado Miranda said.
He also went into detail about parental control apps and called on parents to investigate them with care.
“Most phone operating systems provide the ability to download Google Family Link, which is a parental controls app for mobile devices; game consoles also provide parental controls on the console from the get-go,” the law enforcement officer said. “As parents we must dedicate time to properly reading instruction manuals and understanding how these things work; a lot of the time these are very user friendly, but we have to dedicate time to do this. It is important.”
Maldonado Miranda also believes that more than just online interaction, the entertainment and content that children consume on the internet can also be dangerous.
“When I talk about the content they access on the internet, I’m talking about anything that is recommendable in terms of their age,” he said. “It’s good to follow the recommendations of the Entertainment Software Rating Board, making sure the young ones don’t have access to violent or explicit content, because if their mind is not ready for those subjects, if we allow our children to watch stuff that they don’t understand, we can begin to see much more violent conduct in children and teenagers, more aggression and compulsion.”
Many times parents let their kids use a cellphone just so they don’t bother them,” Maldonado Miranda added. “Without being monitored, these children are being raised looking at content that is not necessarily positive or constructive.”
Regarding adult predators and traffickers of children, the officer also spoke about some of the grooming tactics such criminals tend to lean on. Attracting children with what they like is their number one tactic, he said, which is why paying close attention to online video games and who children are talking to online -- and what they are talking about -- is highly recommended.
“Conversations in their text boxes might seem normal at first, but there is a possibility for conversations to turn dark over time,” Maldonado Miranda said. “Once they’ve gained the child’s trust, they can expose them to sexual and explicit content and, [as a way of] normalizing sexual [conduct], they may say things such as, ‘It’s ok for you to be naked in the house whenever you want,’ or ‘this is totally normal,’ as they send them a pornographic video. These things happen right under the parent’s nose.”
The PRPB officer cautioned: “Don’t post pictures of your kids in school uniforms on social media; people who dedicate themselves to hunting down children will look for these details to track them down.”
Regarding how to identify a possible child predator, Maldonado Miranda believes “children who don’t want to show their parents the apps on their phone, if they come home with things parents haven’t bought for them, if they want to be by themselves in their room too long, all of these are potential signs of a possible predator interacting with the child.”
What may come as a surprise to some is that even in the year 2023, many parents are not aware of how easily their kids can hide material from them on their phones.
“We’ve given seminars to parents, showing them application icons that are used for hiding pictures on a cellphone, yet some of them said they’ve seen it but had no idea what it was until we told them,” Maldonado Miranda said.
Negligence is significantly more dangerous than the
actual devices, he pointed out.
“The year 2020 was a year when everyone just got stuck home, connected to the internet thanks to the global pandemic,” the officer said. “Our office handled 24 cases of child pornography and 35 cases of seduction of a minor. “That’s just our office, that’s not counting all the cases the FBI took care of in that year.”
In 2021 the results weren’t much different, with 22 cases of child pornography and 25 cases of child seduction. The year 2022 had 18 cases of child pornography, and 17 cases of child seduction, and so far in 2023 there have been seven cases of child pornography and four child seduction cases, Maldonado Miranda said.
“It’s important to note that just because there has been a reduction in these cases, doesn’t mean they aren’t happening,” the cybercrime specialist said. “The problem is that there is a lot of negligence by a lot of parents. Parents are not scrutinizing or monitoring their child’s phone or devices as much as they probably should. When parents start to realize the things that are happening, the more cases can be reported and worked on by our offices, so it’s neither a good thing nor a bad thing if the scale is up or down; it can mean parents are waking up and we’re bringing these people to justice, and it can also mean things are happening under the parent’s noses.”
Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company (PRIDCO) bondholders and the Financial Oversight and Management Board have reached a debt settlement.
Officials informed the markets of a new restructuring support agreement (RSA), according to an Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA) filing on Aug. 3. The officials had first reported that they had reached a deal in 2019.
The RSA said that under the terms of the debt agreement, PRIDCO bondholders will receive $30 million in cash and a face amount equal to 100% of the rest of their outstanding debt. The PRIDCO bond claim is
$186.3 million, with $22,411 in interest accruing daily. PRIDCO’s bonds are paid for with the rental payments produced by PRIDCO properties.
The new bonds will expire in 2053, with a 7% coupon for the first three years, increasing to 8.75% in year four.
The agreement was made with Crown Managed Accounts SPC, Crown/GT Segregated Portfolio First Ballantyne, Ginkgo Tree, GN3 SIP Limited Goldentree Distressed Fund, Goldentree Distressed Master Fund 2014 LTD, Goldentree Insurance Fund Series Interests of the Sali Multi-Series Fund LP, Goldentree Master Fund LTD, Goldentree V1 Master Fund, LP, GTAM 110 Designated Activity High Yield and Bank Loan Series Trust.
The Violet Flag Project, with the collaboration of various organizations and the Municipality of Gurabo, will begin training sessions on Thursday to combat gender violence at the municipal level.
“The purpose is to strengthen the structures that prevent and address gender-based violence and promote equity at the local level,” Gurabo Mayor Rosachely Rivera Santana said in a written statement.
The project aims to raise awareness of the problem and provide tools for municipalities to assist victims. In addition, it seeks to strengthen municipal capacities to
face the factors that contribute to gender-based violence.
The municipalities that complete the training and adopt corresponding measures will receive a “Violet Flag” as a symbol of their commitment to the eradication of gender violence. Part of the process includes the adoption of safety protocols and municipal ordinances.
From May to June, municipalities were invited to participate in regional meetings, which reached 33 towns. Of that number, 19 municipalities have registered for training, including Fajardo, Maricao, Utuado and Toa Baja.
The educational modules will be virtual, running until Oct. 26.
Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC by its Spanish acronym) Secretary Manuel Cidre Miranda began a trade mission to Panama on Tuesday to increase exports from small and midsize Puerto Rican companies to the Central American country.
“Panama as an international air and port center is the ideal territory for entry into Central and South America,” Cidre Miranda said in a written statement. “Puerto Rico, being a territory of the United States, is the best option for Panamanian companies interested in the North American market.”
DDEC Assistant Secretary of Entrepreneurship and Business Development Soraya Morón added that “[f] rom today until Friday, we will be in meetings with companies and buyers who are already interested in
our products or services.”
“Puerto Rican entrepreneurs have a great opportunity to generate business relationships with Panamanian companies,” she said.
Among the activities scheduled through Friday is the “Commercial Briefing” and the Investment Opportunities Forum in Puerto Rico, where investors and entrepreneurs in connection with Panama will participate.
Jorge Pagán, director of DDEC’s Trade and Export Program, stressed the importance of the mission.
“With this Mission we bring clients closer to our businessmen so that they can relate and coordinate new negotiations beneficial to both countries,” he said.
The trade missions are coordinated by the Trade and Export Program and are funded in part by a federal State Trade and Export Promotion grant from the United States Small Business Administration.
Ron DeSantis says the military is more interested in global warming and “gender ideology” initiatives than in national security.
Tim Scott says the Justice Department “continues to hunt Republicans.”
Vivek Ramaswamy has vowed to “shut down the deep state,” borrowing former President Donald Trump’s conspiratorial shorthand for a federal bureaucracy he views as hostile.
As Trump escalates his attacks on American institutions, focusing his fire on the Justice Department as he faces new criminal charges, his competitors for the Republican nomination have followed his lead.
Several have adopted much of Trump’s rhetoric sowing broad suspicion about the courts, the FBI, the military and schools. As they vie for support in a primary dominated by Trump, they routinely blast these targets in ways that might have been considered extraordinary, not to mention unthinkably bad politics, just a few years ago.
Yet, there is little doubt about the political incentives behind the statements. Polls show that Americans’ trust in their institutions has fallen to historic lows, with Republicans exhibiting more doubt across a broad swath of public life.
The proliferation of attacks has alarmed Republicans and Democrats who worry about the long-term impact on U.S. democracy. Public confidence in core institutions — from the justice system to voting systems — is fundamental to a durable democracy, particularly at a time of sharp political division.
“We’ve had these times of division before in our history, but we’ve always had leaders to bridge the gaps who have said we need to build respect, we need to restore confidence in our institutions — today we have just the opposite,” said Asa Hutchinson, the former governor of Arkansas and a moderate whose campaign for the Republican presidential nomination has gained little traction.
Trump is still the loudest voice. As he blames others for his defeat in 2020 and, now, after being charged in three separate criminal cases, he has characterized federal prosecutors as “henchmen” orchestrating a “cover-up.” After he was indicted last week on charges related to his attempts to overturn the election, his campaign cited “abuse, incompetence, and corruption that is running through the veins of our country at levels
never seen before.”
DeSantis, however, has echoed that view, making criticisms of educators, health officials, mainstream media, “elites” and government employees central to his campaign, and even, at times, invoking violent imagery.
“All of these deep state people, you know, we are going to start slitting throats on Day 1,” DeSantis said during a New Hampshire campaign stop late last week. The Florida governor, a Navy veteran, used similar language about the Department of Defense late last month, saying that if elected he would need a defense secretary who “may have to slit some throats.”
Other candidates, too, have keyed into voters’ trust deficit. Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur, wants to shut down the FBI and the IRS as part of his fight against the deep state. Nikki Haley, a former South Carolina governor and ambassador to the United Nations, has said she opposes red-flag gun laws because “I don’t trust that they won’t take them away from people who rightfully deserve to have them.”
Even Mike Pence, who has criticized Trump’s plot to overturn the 2020 election at the heart of the charges filed late week, has suggested the Justice Department is politically motivated in its prosecution, warning of a “two-tiered system of justice,” with “one set of rules for Republicans, and one set of rules for Democrats.”
Running against the government is hardly new, especially for Republicans. For decades, the party called for shrinking the size and reach of some federal programs — with the exception of the military — and treated President Ronald Reagan’s declaration that “government is the problem” as a guiding principle.
But even some Republicans, largely moderates who’ve rejected Trumpism, note the tenor of the campaign rhetoric has reached new and conspiratorial levels. Familiar complaints about government waste or regulatory overreach are now replaced with claims that government agencies are targeting citizens and that bureaucrats are busy enacting political agendas.
“Does anyone believe the IRS won’t go after Middle America?” Haley tweeted in April.
None of the candidates responded to requests for interviews about these statements.
Casting doubt on the integrity of government is hardly limited to Republican
candidates. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a long-shot candidate for the Democratic nomination, has made questioning public health officials on long-established science a focus of his campaign. In her quixotic bid for the nomination, Marianne Williamson has declared that she is “running to challenge the system.”
And President Joe Biden, whose resistance to institutional change has often frustrated the left wing of his party, has mused about his skepticism of the Supreme Court — “this is not a normal court,” he said, after the court’s ruling striking down affirmative action in college admissions.
A Gallup poll released in July found that public confidence in major U.S. institutions is at record low levels, with historic levels of distrust in the military, police, schools, big business and technology. Several other institutions — including the presidency, the Supreme Court and the criminal justice system as well as newspapers and broadcast news, are just slightly above the record low they hit last year.
There is an unmistakable partisan divide: Republicans are far less likely to express confidence in a majority of institutions in the survey, including the presidency and public schools. Democrats have far more doubt about the Supreme Court and the police. (There is bipartisan distrust in the criminal justice system, with less than 1 in 4 voters expressing confidence in the system.)
The military has seen an especially steep decline in trust from Republican voters, with
68% saying they have confidence in the armed forces, compared with 91% three years ago. DeSantis in particular has spoken to that shift on an institution that Republicans were once loath to criticize.
“When revered institutions like our own military are more concerned with matters not central to the mission — from global warming to gender ideology and pronouns, morale declines and recruiting suffers,” he said when he announced his bid. “We need to eliminate these distractions and get focused on the core mission.”
Feeding on voters’ already deeply embedded skepticism might have once been seen as politically risky, but social media and the right-wing media have helped change that, said Sarah Longwell, a Republican consultant who conducts weekly focus groups with her party’s voters.
Longwell says these forces have created a “Republican triangle of doom,” with the party’s voter base, politicians and partisan media creating a feedback loop of complaints and conspiracy theories.
“The lack of trust has become a defining feature of our politics,” she said. “Voters feel like there is an existential threat any time that someone who doesn’t share your politics is in charge of something. We’ve lost the sense that neutral is possible.”
But that does not explain the whole picture. The public’s trust in government institutions has been slipping for decades, first declining in the wake of the Vietnam War and then again after Watergate and yet again after the war in Iraq and the Great Recession.
Former Gov. Jerry Brown of California noted that he ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 1992 by attacking Washington institutions as corrupt, but the argument never caught fire in the way it has with Republicans, he said, in part because his party’s base generally trusted government.
Today he sees the country as more polarized. Notions that would have once been seen as being on the fringe, such as Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, are mainstream. Many Republican voters expect to hear candidates attack elections results routinely, undermining the system they depend on for power.
“Democracy does depend on trust,” even if “politics depends on fear,” Brown said in a recent interview. “The world is getting more dangerous, and at home it’s getting less governable.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida clearly stated in a recent interview that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, diverging from the orthodoxy of most Republican voters as the former president’s struggling GOP rivals test out new lines of attack against him.
“Of course he lost,” DeSantis said in an interview with NBC News published Monday. “Joe Biden’s the president.”
DeSantis’ remarks — his first blunt acknowledgment of the 2020 outcome after three years of hedging — were the latest sign that Trump’s rivals are seeking to use his growing legal troubles against him. In the days since Trump was indicted on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election, both DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence have more sharply broken from the former president over his actions leading up to the Capitol riot.
The criticism has been subtle. Neither candidate has openly attacked Trump or suggested the charges are warranted. In his latest comments, DeSantis continued to suggest that the election had problems, calling it not “perfect.” But both appear to be seeking ways to use the indictment to press on the former president’s weaknesses and to build a case for themselves that even Trump supporters will hear.
DeSantis has also been trying to reset his struggling campaign, and his donors have pushed him to moderate his positions to appeal to a broader audience.
First, though, DeSantis must find a way through the Republican primary contest, in which Trump holds a dominant polling lead. And DeSantis’ latest remarks, while accurate, may put him at odds with much of the Republican base. Although the 2020 election was widely found to have been secure, roughly 70% of Republican voters say that Biden’s victory was not legitimate, according to a CNN poll conducted last month.
In a statement, Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump, said that “Ron DeSantis should really stop being Joe Biden’s biggest cheerleader.”
So far, of the most prominent candidates, former
Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and Pence have spoken out most strongly against Trump. Christie is running on an explicitly anti-Trump platform. Pence has said that Trump deserves the “presumption of innocence” but has also said he would testify in the former president’s trial over Jan. 6, 2021, if required to do so.
“The American people deserve to know that President Trump asked me to put him over my oath to the Constitution, but I kept my oath and I always will,” Pence told CNN in an interview that aired Sunday. “And I’m running for president in part because I think anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States.”
But neither argument appears to be resonating with Republican voters. Christie is polling at about 2% in national surveys, and Pence has not qualified for the first Republican debate this month. At a dinner for the Republican Party of Iowa late last month, the audience booed former Rep. Will Hurd of Texas, a long-shot candidate, after he accused the former president of “running to stay out of prison.”
In the NBC interview, DeSantis still said he saw problems with how the 2020 election was conducted. He cited the widespread use of mail-in ballots, private donations to election administrators from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, and efforts by social media companies to limit the spread of a report about Hunter Biden’s laptop.
“I don’t think it was a good-run election,” DeSantis said. “But I also think Republicans didn’t fight back. You’ve got to fight back when that is happening.”
DeSantis had acknowledged Friday that the former
president’s false conspiracy theories about a rigged 2020 election were “unsubstantiated.”
In the run-up to last year’s midterms, DeSantis campaigned for vociferous election deniers, including Doug Mastriano, who ran for governor in Pennsylvania, and Kari Lake, who did so in Arizona.
Both lost, as did all of their most prominent counterparts, showing that while election denial can work in Republican primaries, it does not play as well in general elections in battleground states. Sixty percent of independent voters nationwide believe Biden won the 2020 election, the CNN poll found — an ominous sign for Republicans who embrace election denialism going into 2024. For Trump’s hard-line supporters, DeSantis’ new comments on the 2020 election were seen as disqualifying.
“Any politician that says that Donald Trump lost that election and Biden really won is done,” Mike Lindell, the pillow company founder who has been a vocal promoter of conspiracy theories about election machines, said in an interview Monday with The New York Times. “Their campaign is basically over when they make a comment like that.”
DeSantis’ shift, however, serves to buttress his overall argument against Trump, namely that under Trump’s leadership, Republicans have performed poorly in three elections in a row.
And it could help assuage the fears of some of DeSantis’ big-money donors. Robert Bigelow, who contributed more than $20 million to a super PAC backing DeSantis, told Reuters last week that he would not give more money unless DeSantis adopted a more moderate approach. The governor’s campaign is experiencing a fundraising shortfall and laid off more than one-third of its staff last month.
As part of a “reboot” of his campaign, DeSantis has moved from the safe zone of speaking only with conservative pundits and opinion hosts at Fox News to greater access for mainstream news outlets, including interviews with CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC and The Wall Street Journal. He has also taken far more questions from reporters on the campaign trail.
He has used those platforms to dig at Trump for his age, his failure to “drain the swamp” during his term in office, and the “culture of losing” that DeSantis says has overtaken the Republican Party under Trump.
But he has also consistently defended Trump over the criminal charges, saying they represent the “weaponization” of federal government against a political rival of Biden. Taken together, DeSantis’ comments on the former president suggest he is inching, rather than running, toward more direct confrontation with Trump. The governor never mentions Trump by name in his stump speech to voters, preferring to engage on the topic only when asked by attendees at his campaign events or by reporters.
A“complicated and active” storm system swept across the eastern United States on Monday evening, delivering widespread thunderstorms that killed at least two people, grounded thousands of flights and left more than 1 million homes and businesses without power.
The line of storms barreled through a stretch from Georgia to New York, downing power lines, sending trees crashing into homes and tearing roofs from buildings, according to preliminary reports from the National Weather Service.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered airports to ground flights along a busy travel corridor that links major U.S. cities, including Atlanta, New York and Washington, leading to thousands of flights being delayed or canceled.
At least one tornado was confirmed, just after 5:30 p.m. in the village of McGraw, about 30 miles south of Syracuse, New York. The weather service said that mobile homes in the village of around 1,000 people would likely be “damaged or destroyed.” The extent of the damage was not immediately clear Monday night.
In Florence, Alabama, a 28-year-old man died after he was struck by lightning in a parking lot in the city, about 60 miles west of Huntsville, local police said. And in Anderson, South Carolina, a 15-year-old boy was killed when a large tree fell and struck him, according to local fire officials.
In Pennsylvania, a person was injured when a tree fell on the car they were in, according to the preliminary reports.
In Virginia, officials rescued a woman who was trapped inside her home after a tree fell on it.
Some of the worst-hit areas were along the MasonDixon Line and the southern Appalachians, said weather
service meteorologist David Roth.
He cautioned that while the line of storms, known as a bow echo, had moved off the New Jersey coast, there was still a risk of “excessive rainfall” overnight into Tuesday across parts of upstate New York and Vermont. There, he said, “the heavy rainfall may just be beginning,” noting that the region could expect several inches.
In Cambridge, Maryland, several inches of rain caused flash flooding that stranded more than a dozen people in their cars on deluged roads, Chief Justin Todd of the Cambridge Police Department wrote by email. No injuries or deaths had been reported, he said, noting that several streets were closed as the police worked with local officials to get debris cleared.
Rob Kramer Jr., a Dorchester County council member, said that while the water was receding, “several roads” remained flooded.
As of early Tuesday, nearly 400,000 homes and businesses from Georgia to Pennsylvania remained without power, according to poweroutage.us.
Scientists say climate change has supercharged storms in recent years, making hurricanes more intense and heavy downpours more frequent. Droughts, floods, wildfires and heat waves have all become increasing threats.
Where extreme rainfall is a concern, so is the risk of catastrophic flooding. But the rising temperatures make the problem worse: They allow the air to hold more moisture, leading to more intense and sudden rainfall.
NOTICE OF NAMES OF PERSONS
APPEARING AS OWNERS OF CERTAIN UNCLAIMED PROPERTY HELD BY MORTGAGE GUARANTEE INSURANCE CORPORATION
The persons whose names and last known addresses are set forth below appear from the records of the above named company to be entitled to abandoned property in amounts of fifty dollars or more:
Acosta, Silvio
Agosto, Jackeline & Jimenez, Jesus E Badillo, Angel & Gonzalez, Isabel Banco Popular De Puerto R, Bonilla, Wilma & Nilda
Carmona, Lydia & Palermo Carlos R
Cheverez, Jose Or Banco Popular De Puerto Rico
Concepcion, Daniel & Alamo, Magdalena
Cordoves, Harold & Diaz, Maria
Cuadra, Aileen
Fernandez, Eduardo
Fernandez, Jesus
Flores, Rafael & Rodriguez, Omara
Garcia, Alexis Or Banco Santander Puerto Rico
Garcia, Enrique & Soto, Daisy
Gomez, Juan
Irizarry, Elsie & Acosta, William
Medina, Alexandra & Charlois, Jean
Melendez, Maritza & Montanez, Domingo
Montanez, Pedro & Alicea, Iris D
Morales-Lebron, Angel & Rodriguez-Maldonado, Diana
Narvaez, Jerry & Llorete, Jannet
Nieves-Gonzalez, Luis
Oneill, Jose & Calo, Migda
Oquendo, Juan & Lopez, Doris
Ortiz, Luis
Pena, Josefina
Perez, Angel & Canales, Olga I
Perez, Wilfredo & Robledo, Evelyn
Picart-Lamas, Nelson
Poventud, Oscar
Quinones, Luis
Ramos, Saul & Ortiz, Carmen
Restrepo, Bernardo & Baez, Miriam
Rivera, Gladys
Rivera, Radames & Velazquez, Yolanda
Rodriguez, Eduardo & Lebron, Rosaly
Rodriguez, Erick
Rodriguez, Jose & Rivera, Caroline
Rosado, Juan & Rivera, Maritza
Rosado, Ramon & Morales, Johanna Or Banco Santander PR
Sanchez-Marrero, Rafael & Espinosa-Vargas, Luz E
Santa, Mercedes
Silva, Johnny
Soto, Milton & Santos, Yaritza
Terron, Pedro & Cuevas, Nayda L
Torres, Carmelo & Ortiz, Carmen Z
Torres, Eduardo & Santiago, Raquel N
Torres, Jesus & Perez, Erika
Torres-Gutierrez, Albert & Riveria-Riveria, Maritere
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young voters, who turned out in force during the 2020 election, are particularly concerned about global warming.
Some environmental groups were left infuriated when Biden greenlit a drilling project known as Willow on pristine federal land in Alaska and mandated the sale of offshore drilling leases as part of a deal to pass the climate bill, undermining a campaign promise to ban drilling on federal lands.
“We know that polls don’t tell the entire story,” Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said Monday when asked about why voters seemingly do not know what is in Biden’s bills. As the administration continues to enact the various legislative packages, she said, “we’ll see Americans start to feel what we’ve been able to do in Washington.”
Native Americans were also a crucial voting bloc in Arizona in 2020, when the state voted for a Democratic presidential candidate for the first time since 1996. They made up 6% of Arizona’s electorate in 2020, larger than Biden’s margin for victory, according to the National Congress of American Indians.
More than 80% of Native American voters in 2020 agreed with the statement that “the federal government should return lands stolen from Native American tribes,” according to a 2022 poll conducted by the African American Research Collaborative.
“It is likely a strategic decision to focus on the Grand Canyon,” said Gabriel Sanchez, a fellow at the Brookings Institution who has researched voting trends among Native Americans.
“Many Native Americans do not vote based on party, but on which candidates will do the most to advance the interests of Native American communities.”
By ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS and LISA FRIEDMAN
President Joe Biden was slated to designate nearly 1 million acres of land near the Grand Canyon as a new national monument Tuesday to protect the area from uranium mining, administration officials confirmed Monday.
Biden’s visit to Arizona is part of a nationwide blitz by the White House to translate key policy victories to voters — including a law he signed last year to inject $370 billion in tax incentives into wind, solar and other renewable energy — as the 2024 campaign ramps up. Senior Cabinet officials are also touring the country this week, highlighting his domestic agenda.
During his first stop of a three-state tour, Biden will announce that he is creating a national monument — the fifth such designation of his presidency — in an area sacred to Native
American tribes, administration officials told reporters Monday.
“The mining is off limits for future development in that area,” Ali Zaidi, Biden’s national climate adviser, told reporters on Air Force One. “It’s focused on preserving the historical resources” in the area.
Native tribes and environmental groups have long lobbied for the government to permanently protect the area around the Grand Canyon from uranium mining, which they say would damage the Colorado River watershed as well as areas with great cultural meaning for Native Americans.
Under the proposed designation, all new uranium mining will be blocked. Uranium mining has already been restricted in the area in question since 2012, but that Obama-era moratorium was set to expire in 2032. Biden’s designation would make the conditions permanent.
Biden’s visit to Arizona was also an effort to energize crucial constituency groups in the state, even as much of the American public remains skeptical of his domestic agenda.
Biden has called the Inflation Reduction Act — major legislation he signed last year that aims to cut planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions — “the largest investment ever in clean energy.” Yet 71% of Americans say they have heard “little” or “nothing at all” about the package one year later, according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll.
And most Americans — 57% — disapprove of his handling of climate change, according to the poll. Surveys show
The National Mining Association called the monument designation “unwarranted” and said it would force the United States to rely on imported uranium from countries like Russia. Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., the chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources, blasted Biden for locking up domestic resources.
“This administration’s lack of reason knows no bounds, and their actions suggest that President Biden and his radical advisers won’t be satisfied until the entire federal estate is off limits and America is mired in dependency on our adversaries for our natural resources,” Westerman said in a statement.
The administration has argued that the proposed monument represents only 1.3% of the nation’s known uranium reserves.
“This is going to be a limit on future development in this space while being respectful of existing rights,” Zaidi said.
The area in question is called, “Baaj Nwaavjo,” which means “where tribes roam,” for the Havasupai people, while “I’tah Kukveni” translates to “our footprints,” for the Hopi tribe.
This year, Biden created a new national monument, Spirit Mountain, in Nevada, insulating from development a halfmillion acres that are revered by Native Americans. He also restored and expanded protections for Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante in Utah, sites that are sacred to Native Americans and that had been opened to mining and drilling by the Trump administration.
In June, the Biden administration banned drilling for 20 years around Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, one of the nation’s oldest and most culturally significant Native American sites.”
pany might land. The publisher, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary next year, has had more than seven owners in its history.
A sale to another publisher would mean the new management would understand the book business. But it would also mean further consolidation in the industry, with potentially fewer players available to bid on big books, and the chance of layoffs as redundant jobs were eliminated. It could also raise regulatory scrutiny: Paramount’s first attempt to sell Simon & Schuster, to Penguin Random House, was derailed by government antitrust concerns.
Acquisition by a private equity firm, on the other hand, presents its own risks. The ruthless side of that business was immortalized in a 1989 book, “Barbarians at the Gate,” which detailed KKR’s acquisition of Nabisco and the burden the deal’s debt left on the company.
was sold, those who worked there earned a cash payout from the sale worth up to two times their salary, KKR said.
In addition to RBMedia, KKR has also invested in another company in the book world: Overdrive, a digital reading platform used in libraries and schools.
Pete Stavros, a co-head of global private equity at KKR, said in an interview that the deal would give Simon & Schuster employees the chance at achieving “a lifeimpacting amount of wealth.”
Stavros and Sarnoff said they saw opportunities for the publisher in international expansion and in audiobooks, a significant point of growth for the industry at large. Sarnoff said he didn’t expect the deal to have any impact on Simon & Schuster authors.
The road to Monday’s announcement has been long and bumpy.
By ELIZABETH A. HARRIS, LAUREN HIRSCH and BENJAMIN MULLINParamount said earlier this week that it had reached a deal to sell Simon & Schuster, one of the biggest and most prestigious publishing houses in the United States, to the private equity firm KKR, in a major changing of the guard in the books business.
The deal, for $1.62 billion, will put control of the cultural touchstone behind authors including Stephen King and Bob Woodward in the hands of a financial buyer with an expanding presence in the publishing industry.
Although private equity investors have had a significant footprint in the book business — different firms have owned literary agencies, publishing houses and retailer Barnes & Noble — the acquisition of one of the largest publishers in the country vastly increases the hold of financial interests in the business.
“I think I speak on behalf of the entire management team when I say we are thrilled with the result,” Jon Karp, CEO of Simon & Schuster, said in an interview. “They plan to invest in us and make us
even greater than we already are. What more could a publishing company want?”
Karp will stay on as CEO after the deal closes.
Richard Sarnoff, an adviser to KKR on its media deals, is a familiar name to many in the publishing industry and his involvement is encouraging, several publishing executives said Monday. Sarnoff has held multiple positions at Bertelsmann, the company that owns Penguin Random House, and served as chair of the Association of American Publishers, a trade group.
In letters to Simon & Schuster’s staff members and authors, Karp said that he had known Sarnoff for two decades, and that he “understands the nuances of the book business as well as anyone I know.”
Also involved is Ted Oberwager, who leads KKR’s gaming, media, entertainment and sports group. Oberwager is on the board of RBMedia, an audiobook company, and Skydance Media, which teamed up with Paramount Pictures on “Top Gun: Maverick,” a Tom Cruise action drama that generated more than $1 billion.
Since Simon & Schuster was first put up for sale in 2020, many in the publishing industry have fretted over where the com-
Gustavo Schwed, a management professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, said the sale would allow KKR to invest in a business that was no longer viewed as core by its seller. But, like any private equity deal, the amount of debt KKR uses to finance the acquisition will help determine the publisher’s financial constraints.
“Sometimes, despite your best intentions, things crash and burn — and the more leverage you use, the more risk there is of that happening,” Schwed said.
KKR did not outline its financing plans Monday. LionTree Advisors and Shearman & Sterling advised Paramount on the deal.
As part of the deal, Simon & Schuster employees will receive an ownership stake in the company, part of a program KKR developed to improve engagement among those who work in the companies it buys. The private equity firm used this model with RBMedia, which KKR acquired in 2018.
That bet paid off: KKR agreed to sell RBMedia last month to another investment firm for a substantially higher price. KKR said that under its ownership RBMedia doubled the size of its audiobook catalog, from more than 31,000 to more than 66,000 audiobooks.
Because employees had an ownership stake in the company, when RBMedia
After Paramount (then called ViacomCBS) reached an agreement to sell Simon & Schuster to Penguin Random House, the country’s largest book publisher, for $2.18 billion, the Biden administration challenged the sale in court. A judge sided with the government last year.
Rather than appeal, Paramount decided to put Simon & Schuster back on the market, obligating Penguin Random House to pay a $200 million termination fee for its trouble, on top of millions in legal costs.
Since the first deal crumbled, Simon & Schuster has performed well and remained an attractive purchase. In the first quarter of 2023, its sales rose to $258 million, up 19% from the prior year. Results at other major publishers, by contrast, were disappointing during that period.
Although KKR’s offer for the publisher is less than what Penguin Random House had agreed to pay, the difference in the price is partially offset by the termination fee paid to Paramount and earnings from the publisher. But KKR is an attractive buyer, in part because it is unlikely to raise red flags with regulators.
“Paramount doesn’t want to traipse through another deal that goes bust,” said Erik Gordon, a professor at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. “It wants to sell the business without more surprises.”
powerhouse Activision Blizzard, dooming FTC challenges to both deals. In 2022, the Justice Department also lost its bid to challenge UnitedHealth Group’s plan to buy a health tech company.
Stacy Mitchell, a co-executive director of the advocacy organization Institute for Local Self-Reliance and an Amazon critic, said she hoped the FTC would pursue a sweeping case against the tech giant. She said the agency should focus on how Amazon’s control of the retail business — from its store to its logistics network that delivers packages — let it hurt competitors and merchants.
“It’s a watershed moment,” she said. “What we need to see from the FTC is a case that targets the core of Amazon’s monopolization strategy.”
Amazon has said that it competes aggressively with other retailers and that efforts to regulate its business would only hurt consumers and the businesses that sell products through its site.
Under the leadership of CEO Andy Jassy, Amazon has recently been in retrenchment mode. The company has cut costs, laying off thousands of workers as growth slumped after a soaring period fueled by the pandemic. Last week, Amazon announced that its revenue in the second quarter of the year had increased 11%, to $134.4 billion, beating analysts’ expectations.
In June, the FTC sued Amazon in a separate case that accused the company of tricking users into subscribing to its Prime fast-shipping membership program and then making it difficult for them to cancel.
By DAVID McCABEAmazon is scheduled to meet with members of the Federal Trade Commission next week to discuss an antitrust lawsuit that the agency may be preparing to file to challenge the power of the retailer’s sprawling business, according to a person with knowledge of the plans.
The meetings are set to be held with Lina Khan, the FTC chair, and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya, who are FTC commissioners, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the discussions are confidential.
The meetings signal that the FTC is nearing a decision on whether to move forward with a lawsuit alleging that Amazon has violated anti-monopoly laws. Such discussions are
sometimes known as “last rites” meetings, named after the prayers some Christians receive on their deathbed. The conversations, which are usually one of the final steps before the agency’s commissioners vote on a lawsuit, give the company a chance to make its case.
If the FTC files suit, it would be one of the most significant challenges to Amazon’s business in the company’s nearly 30-year history. Amazon, a $1.4 trillion behemoth, has become a major force in the economy. It now owns not just its trademark online store, but the movie studio Metro-GoldwynMayer, the primary care practice One Medical and the highend grocery chain Whole Foods. It is also one of the world’s largest provider of cloud computing services.
The FTC has investigated Amazon’s business for years. The company’s critics and competitors have argued that the once-upstart online bookstore has used its retailing clout to squeeze the merchants that use its platform to sell their wares.
U.S. officials have grown increasingly concerned about the influence and reach of giant tech companies like Amazon, Google and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram. The Justice Department has filed several antitrust lawsuits against Google, with two scheduled to go to trial next month. The FTC has also sued Meta over accusations that it snuffed out young competitors by buying Instagram and WhatsApp.
Some of those efforts have stumbled in the courts. Federal judges declined this year to stop Meta from acquiring a virtual reality startup and Microsoft from buying video game
Amazon has also faced scrutiny from states and regulators in other countries. The District of Columbia’s attorney general filed a lawsuit against the company in 2021, arguing that it had used unfair pricing policies against merchants on its site. The lawsuit was thrown out by a judge, though the attorney general has tried to revive the case. California filed a similar lawsuit last year that has been moving forward. In December, Amazon also reached a deal to end a European Union antitrust investigation by agreeing to change some of its practices.
If the FTC sues, it would formally pit Khan — who has been one of Amazon’s most prominent detractors — against the company.
While a law student at Yale, Khan had argued that Amazon’s growth represented a failure of American antitrust laws, which she said had become myopically focused on consumer prices as a measure of whether businesses were violating the law. Amazon’s prices were often low, she wrote in a widely read 2017 paper, but that failed to account for other ways it could bully players across the economy.
The paper’s success supercharged a debate in Washington about the power of the tech giants. In 2019, federal antitrust regulators decided to investigate some of the companies. In keeping with a long-standing practice of dividing responsibilities, the Justice Department agreed to look at Google and Apple while the FTC examined Facebook and Amazon.
President Joe Biden named Khan to oversee the FTC — giving her control of the Amazon investigation — roughly two years later.
People pass the AmazonGo store in New York, on Aug. 1, 2023. Amazon’s meetings with the Federal Trade Commission, known as “last rites” meetings, are typically a final step before the agency votes on filing a lawsuit.U.S. and European bank stocks dropped on Tuesday on renewed investor worries about the health of the industry after ratings agency Moody’s downgraded several U.S. lenders and Italy approved a surprise 40% windfall tax on its lenders.
Moody’s cut credit ratings of several U.S. regional lenders on Monday and placed some banking giants on review for potential downgrade. It warned U.S. banks will find it harder to make money as interest rates rise, funding costs climb and a recession looms. It also cited some lenders’ exposure to commercial real estate as a concern.
“What we’re doing here is recognizing some headwinds - we’re not saying that the banking system is broken,” Ana Arsov, managing director of financial institutions at Moody’s, told Reuters in an interview.
The failures of three U.S. lenders earlier this year sparked the biggest industry crisis since 2008 and precipitated UBS Group’s government-backed takeover of Credit Suisse. While the turmoil has subsided in recent months, investors remain cautious.
The KBW Regional Banking Index lost 2.6% on Tuesday, while the shares of some of the banks downgraded by Moody’s, including M&T Bank, Pinnacle Financial Partners, and BOK Financial Corp, fell between 2.6% and 3.7%.
Banks that were placed on review for potential downgrade, including Bank of New York Mellon, US Bancorp, State Street and Truist Financial sank more than 2%. Truist and BNY Mellon declined to comment, while the others did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Global stocks skidded and the dollar jumped on Tuesday after Moody’s cut the credit ratings of 10 small to mid-sized U.S. banks and China’s trade data was worse than forecast in July, raising caution about the economic outlook.
The yuan slid to a three-week low as Asian stocks and the Australian and New Zealand dollars, seen as proxies for Chinese growth, turned weaker. The data also heightened pressure for China to provide fresh stimulus to prop up demand.
The gloom also affected major lenders that were not mentioned by Moody’s, with the broader S&P 500 Banks Index sliding almost 3%.
Investors have scaled down their expectations for future bank earnings, and markets have already priced in some of the factors Moody’s cited, said Mike Mayo, a bank analyst at Wells Fargo.
Moody’s also placed six banking giants, including Bank of New York Mellon, US Bancorp, State Street and Truist Financial, on review for potential downgrades in a move that tempered a still strong outlook for U.S. growth.
Longer term there’s unlikely to be an issue, but rising interest rates and regional banks’ exposure to commercial real estate has cast a cloud over the market, said Anthony Saglimbene, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial in Troy, Michigan.
“Investors are using some of this news to trim positions that have done very well,” he said. “Markets are just going through a period where investors are questioning whether
stock prices have run ahead of some of the fundamentals.”
MSCI’s U.S.-centric gauge of stocks across the globe shed 1.13%, while the pan-regional STOXX 600 index in Europe lost 0.31%.
Italy sent shockwaves across the European banking sector by setting a one-off 40% tax on Italian bank profits reaped from higher rates, after reprimanding lenders for failing to reward depositors.
The euro zone bank index fell 3.78% and was on track for its biggest daily fall since the financial turmoil of March.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 416.81 points, or 1.17%, to 35,056.32, the S&P 500 lost 52.39 points, or 1.16%, to 4,466.05 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 215.61 points, or 1.54%, to 13,778.79.
The S&P 500 is trading around 18.5 times next year’s earnings, and “if we avoid a recession and analysts are right, then the stock market is more fairly valued,” Saglimbene said.
“We are probably in the later stages of this downward revision,” Mayo told Reuters. “This is the toll of higher rates for longer, the potential of a recession. It’s different from what happened in the March crisis, this is more an issue about rates, recession and risk.”
The new military leaders of Niger have rebuffed diplomatic efforts by the United States, the United Nations and regional groups to resolve a crisis sparked by a coup in the West African nation, dimming hopes that civilian rule will be restored soon.
The soldiers who took over Niger last month refused to meet a delegation of envoys on Tuesday from the United Nations, the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States, the 15-member regional bloc known as ECOWAS.
A day earlier, Victoria Nuland, the acting U.S. deputy secretary of state, made a surprise trip to Niger but left after talks with one of the coup leaders that she described as “extremely frank and at times quite difficult.”
The general she met with had been trained in the United States and was considered a close U.S. military ally. But Nuland said that he offered no assurances that President Mohamed Bazoum of Niger would be reinstated or that civilian rule would be restored. And she was denied a meeting with the junta’s leader, Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani.
The situation in Niger has threatened to derail years of Western security and aid assistance to one of the world’s poorest countries and a key ally in a region stricken by widespread instability that has been the site of seven military takeovers in less than three years.
Niger, a landlocked nation of 25 million people, hosts at least 2,600 Western troops, including 1,100 Americans, who have trained the country’s military and used it as a base to monitor Islamist insurgencies.
The future of that partnership now appears to be in doubt, as the generals who seized power in Niger have severed military ties with France, which has 1,500 troops in the country, and said little about whether they plan to continue cooperating with the United States.
Nuland said shortly before departing from Niger that she had offered several options to a coup leader to resolve the stalemate and maintain the relationship with the United States. But, she added, “I would not say that we were in any way taken up on that offer.”
She told reporters that she was denied a meeting with Bazoum, who has been
detained in his private residence since July 26, and Tchiani, who removed him from power.
Diplomats and officials from West Africa said they still were hoping for a peaceful resolution to the crisis, even after an ultimatum from ECOWAS for the coup leaders to relinquish power expired Sunday.
ECOWAS, which has threatened military action against the coup leaders, is scheduled to meet for an extraordinary summit on Thursday. It has frozen financial transactions with Niger and closed borders between the country and its neighbors. Niger’s junta closed the country’s airspace on Sunday evening.
The streets of Niamey, the capital, remained calm Tuesday despite soaring food prices and blackouts that have become more frequent since Nigeria, which supplies more than two-thirds of Niger’s electricity, suspended its supply after the coup.
Hundreds of young people have posted themselves at the city’s roundabouts at night to check for suspicious cars and weapons, heeding a call by the junta to defend the country.
Bazoum remained locked in his private residence with his wife and one of his sons, who is in his early 20s. The mutineers have cut electricity and water to the house, said a friend and adviser to Bazoum who
requested anonymity to discuss the president’s situation.
Among the West African officials still sounding rare notes of optimism was Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou, Bazoum’s prime minister, who was in Rome during the coup and is now in Paris. He said in a telephone interview Monday that “the president has not resigned” and there could still be “a happy outcome.”
“The junta doesn’t have a firm hold on Niger’s institutions and constitutional order,” he said. “The institutions can still be put back in place.”
However, hours after Mahamadou spoke with the Times, the junta in Niger said it had replaced him with a new prime minister, Lamine Zen, a civilian and former finance minister.
The junta also named a new head to the country’s presidential guard, the unit tasked with protecting Bazoum but which detained him last month. Tchiani, who led the unit at the time of the coup, now appears to be in charge of the country.
Nearly two weeks after the coup, the military leaders have not announced a timeline for a transition or when elections might take place.
It was unclear how Nuland, the U.S. envoy, was able to reach Niamey despite the airspace closure. The coup leader she
met with was Gen. Moussa Salaou Barmou, the former head of Niger’s special forces. Once a close partner of the United States, he was named chief of staff of Niger’s military shortly after the coup.
Barmou was trained at Fort Benning, Georgia, and the National Defense University in Washington. American military commanders who worked with Barmou expressed shock that he had joined the coup’s senior ranks.
“I’m disappointed and surprised,” said J. Marcus Hicks, a retired two-star Air Force general who headed U.S. Special Operations forces in Africa. “Barmou was one of the most competent and capable senior African military leaders I dealt with.”
Nuland added that she had warned Barmou and other coup leaders against partnering with the Wagner paramilitary group from Russia, as neighboring Mali has done.
“The people who have taken this action here understand very well the risks to their sovereignty when Wagner is invited in,” she said.
In an interview with the BBC on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said he did not believe that Russia or the Wagner group were behind the coup in Niger, but that “they tried to take advantage of it.”
Jan Dvorkin had raised and nurtured his adopted son in Moscow for seven years until, one day in May, Russian authorities notified him they were revoking custody. A woman Dvorkin knew had filed an official complaint, saying that because he was transgender and gay, he was an unfit parent.
When Dvorkin asked the woman why she had reported him, she told him he had brought it on himself, and “that I could have easily avoided it by staying in the closet.”
He managed to find another family to take the boy, who is deaf, so that the child would not be sent to an orphanage.
Dvorkin’s experience underscores the increasingly repressive treatment that gay and transgender people are subjected to across Russia — a hardship that seems certain to grow as the government leverages the war in Ukraine as justification for greater restrictions on LGBTQ life.
The latest crackdown came late last month when President Vladimir Putin signed a law that criminalized all surgery and hormone treatments used for gender transitions.
That law comes on top of a measure enacted in December prohibiting the representation of LGBTQ relationships in any media — streaming services, social platforms, books, music, posters, billboards and film.
Critics, including legal and medical professionals and gay rights activists, view the campaign as an effort to distract from Russia’s military failings in Ukraine — by creating a boogeyman it can portray as a threat from a deviant and corrupt West.
“It is a common practice to look for internal enemies when their external enemy turns out to be tougher than expected,” Dvorkin, 32, said in an interview from Moscow. “With no success on the front line, Putin found an easy enemy, a vulnerable group whom he can defeat in Russia.”
As with many repressive measures, Putin himself seemed to have inspired the law.
Long before his invasion of Ukraine, Putin had scorned the idea of gay rights. But as his military stumbled, he began to rewrite the war as a Western attempt to undermine Russian security and “traditional values.”
He took aim at questions of gender identity as well as sexual orientation, regularly denigrated transgender people in his
speeches, mocking the idea of “Parent No. 1 and Parent No. 2” instead of “Mom and Dad,” and suggested that the West sought to make the world adopt “dozens of genders.”
The new law bans all gender transitions as well as changing genders on official documents such as passports. It became harsher as it proceeded in Russia’s parliament; typically a rubber stamp for Putin’s favored legislation, it overwhelmingly passed the law. The final version annuls marriages when one spouse changes gender and bans adoptions by such couples.
The law essentially removes the ability of transgender people to control their own bodies, rights activists said, and even if people had the means to travel abroad seeking surgery, which many do not, they would not be allowed to update official documents. Having the wrong gender on identification papers would create hurdles in countless aspects of life such as employment and travel.
The new law also bans treatment with either estrogen or testosterone, which are typically taken before undergoing transition surgery. There are limited exceptions for people who had started the process and already changed documents.
Critics said the ban could lead to what is essentially a black market for the drugs. A transgender person in St. Petersburg said that a clandestine lab there was already attempting to make estrogen from over-the-
counter drugs. Illicit testosterone was a bigger challenge, said the person, who insisted on anonymity to avoid retribution.
Surveys by independent pollster Levada show that, over the past decade, the Kremlin’s propaganda campaign against the LGBTQ community may have affected Russian attitudes: The percentage of respondents who said they viewed gay people with disgust or fear increased to 38% in 2021 from 26% in 2013.
In 2013, the first Russian law against disseminating “gay propaganda” was framed as protecting children. This time, with the war as a backdrop, the law banning gender transition was presented as a matter of national security.
“The war is not only on the front line, the war is going on in the minds and souls, and we want to protect our country from being destroyed from within,” Pyotr Tolstoy, a hard-line deputy speaker of parliament, wrote on Telegram.
The concept of national security has become an increasingly fluid one, said Max Olenichev, a lawyer who defends LGBT people. “It has become an ephemeral thing that can mean absolutely anything,” he said. “Whenever you do not want to give a reason, just say ‘national security.’”
The law also corresponds with Putin’s attempt to portray Russia as a bastion of what he calls “traditional family values,” a long-standing effort to appeal to conservative voters at home and abroad.
The hope is that support for his social agenda will extend to endorsing the war, said Alexander Kondakov, a sociologist at University College Dublin. “By targeting a group that is already marginalized, they amass support for the war and any other cause that the government wants,” he said.
For the LGBTQ community, the law was yet another blow.
Dvorkin described the mood among transgender people as “dark and depressing,” with members bracing for more hate crimes. “There was already an increase in vocal hate groups, and since the law passed they have gone off the rails,” he said.
Violence against gay people surged after the 2013 law, said Kondakov, who studies the intersection of law and security for the LGBT community. Prosecutions also jumped after the stricter version passed in December, according to a report by Novaya Gazeta Europe, an independent newspaper.
Dvorkin, who began transitioning at 28, is the founder of Center T, which offers medical and other advice to thousands of transgender people. The government recently designated the organization a “foreign agent,” a label whose onerous requirements carry an automatic stigma, and he fears it will soon have to shutter or go underground.
Dvorkin began looking for a new home for his son not long after the stricter law passed in December. Repeated warnings from the children’s services office, which supervised the adoption, against discussing his gender identity and sexual orientation online, as well as a court-imposed fine, signaled that his custody was in jeopardy.
His son, now 10, also had a kidney disease. In June, Dvorkin struggled to locate a family willing to take him. He finally persuaded one to do so, then managed to persuade officials not to return him to an orphanage.
Use of hormones and surgery for transgender people was first accepted in the Soviet Union in the 1970s, and by 2017, Russia had developed what many considered a rational approach, leaving the decision up to a panel of doctors and psychiatrists.
Gender transition had not been much of a political issue in Russia until now. Initially, the Ministry of Health questioned the need for any change, but it soon surrendered to browbeating by Vyacheslav Volodin, chair of parliament, who accused officials of pursing an American agenda by seeking to emulate “Sodom.”
Although overall numbers are not readily available, Volodin said 2,700 people had currently been approved for gender transitions by the ministry; the source of the number was unclear. Russia’s population is more than 143 million.
In St. Petersburg, the person who described the clandestine lab, who uses the pronoun they, rushed to finish the process of being legally recognized as a woman before the law took effect. Describing it as “anarchistic escapism,” they said they invented a new, unusual first name whose spelling looks like someone smashed a keyboard with a fist. They said they assured the bureaucrat reading the application that it was a traditional Siberian name.
“The best thing we can do is to resist this state by simply existing,” they said.
One man spent his childhood in the foothills of northeastern Afghanistan dreaming of being a soldier for the U.S.-backed government. The other secretly applied to a military academy — against his parents’ wishes — determined to prove himself on the battlefield.
Both went on to have storied careers during the war and fled their country alongside other commandos when the Taliban seized power in August 2021. But last spring they returned, making their way to a safe house in the mountains of northern Afghanistan.
“We must stand up and defend our freedom, even in front of anything,” one of the men, Akmal Amir, said in a video he recorded this spring from their hideout.
The two men — Amir, 33, and Basir Andarabi, 35 — had bonded in exile over a shared resolve to retake their homeland. They knew it was probably impossible. But the Taliban takeover was so sudden, so shocking, they could not accept defeat; it felt more like a chapter in the war than its epilogue.
So, clinging to the last glimmers of hope for a dream they shared, they embarked on a mission that was practically suicide: to overthrow the Taliban.
Speaking out against corruption
Amir and Andarabi were both raised in the high peaks and river valleys of neighboring provinces of northeastern Afghanistan, and came of age around the time the U.S. invaded the country in 2001.
Andarabi’s family was among the poorest in their district, friends and relatives said, and he was known for stealing apples and cherries from his primary school’s garden at lunchtime. Even as a young boy, he dreamed of becoming a soldier, his friends recalled. To him, the military was a great equalizer in a highly unequal society, a profession where, if he worked hard and mustered his courage, he could make something of himself.
He went on to lead a platoon of elite commandos, quickly earning a reputation for his unwavering dedication to his men. Even when he was meant to be on leave, he often volunteered instead to participate in military operations and frequently told his men that if they could not bring peace to their homeland, no one could, former colleagues said.
In 2020, a video of him reprimanding an official who delivered less food than promised to his men went viral on social media. Food “is the right of the soldier who fights in the dust in the far-flung districts, but here you are stealing” it, he said in the video. That moment made him a face for speaking out against the corruption that riddled the Western-backed government and hobbled its military’s efforts.
Like Andarabi, Amir was determined to join the military. After he graduated from high school and was accepted into a university engineering program, the strong-headed teenager kept it a secret from his parents and applied to a military academy in Kabul instead. When he was offered a spot there, there was no talking him out of it, his relatives said.
When the Taliban made a lightning advance across the country in the summer of 2021, both men strengthened
their resolve, even as the military they fought for crumbled and the Afghan officials they served under fled.
When Andarabi heard that Taliban forces were inching closer to his hometown in Baghlan province, he rushed there to lead its defense. He rallied hundreds of people to take up arms in another speech that made the rounds on social media. In the course of the fighting, he was severely injured in the eye and sent to India for medical treatment.
Around that time, Amir volunteered to leave his station in Kabul to fight in Helmand province, where there were fierce clashes between Taliban forces and government soldiers. After a week in Helmand, he headed to his hometown in Kapisa province to lead the defense there and then to Panjshir province — the final holdout against the Taliban.
When Panjshir fell, he sneaked into a mountainside hideout, determined to keep the fight alive. But with supplies dwindling, he fled to neighboring Iran four months later, where Andarabi had also sought refuge after being discharged from the hospital in India.
The resistance
The two men connected in Iran as part of a community of former Afghan commandos. By then, Andarabi’s oncewarm demeanor was gone — a casualty of the Taliban takeover, his friends in Iran said. All he talked about was retaking the country. When other former commandos floated the possibility of starting a new life in the United States, he chastised them.
“When you go to those countries, who will protect your sister, your mother?” a friend of Andarabi, Bashir Akbari, 32, recalled him saying. “What will happen to your honor?”
Amir and Andarabi bonded over their shared determination to liberate their homeland and agreed to link up with one of a smattering of armed resistance groups pledging to
overthrow the Taliban.
The last stand
When the men returned to Afghanistan this spring, they disguised themselves, growing out their beards and hair so it fell near their shoulders. Amir told relatives he was going to Turkey, confiding his true plans only to his brother.
“Before going, he told me there was a 20% chance of survival,” said Amir’s brother, Mohammad Hares Ajmal. “But he said, ‘There is no other way, and I have to go and free the people from the oppression of the Taliban.’ ”
The two made their way to a snowy hideout near the Salang Pass, a critical mountain road that connects Kabul to northern Afghanistan. There, they linked up with around nine other rebels with orders to build an operations center and coordinate a spring offensive between small teams of other rebels.
But weeks later, the Taliban’s expansive intelligence unit arrested two men from a local village who had been supporting the team with food and ammunition, according to resistance fighters. The men later revealed that they had confessed the location of the hideout, the fighters said.
When the supply of food stopped, Amir and Andarabi realized something was amiss. They moved to another hideout nearby, but once the Taliban military had been tipped off to their initial whereabouts, it seemed the team’s fate was sealed.
Around 11 p.m. one night soon after, around 35 Taliban vehicles and hundreds of soldiers opened fire on their second hideout — overwhelming the team. The firefight lasted until dawn and killed Andarabi and Amir.
Their deaths marked the end of a spring offensive that never really began at all. The fight was over. After 20 years, and a failed war, the men had lost again.
Acommotion sounded at the entrance of the building, and a shout went up. Soldiers carried in two men on stretchers, one with his lined face taut in a grimace, a third, with bloodstained pants, following behind.
Within seconds the men were lifted onto operating tables and medics swarmed in, cutting off bloody clothes, hooking up drips, talking to the men in low voices.
“Brother, you will make it,” the third soldier, Batya, called out to his friend with a chest wound. “Hold on, we have more to do.”
Wounded just 40 minutes earlier on Ukraine’s southern front in the Zaporizhzhia region, the soldiers from the 110th Brigade had arrived at a stabilization point, one of a dozen medical stations set up by the Ukrainian Army within a few miles of the front line to provide critical, lifesaving care.
For the past two months, as Ukrainian troops have tried to break through Russian defenses in a broad counteroffensive to seize back occupied terrain in southern Ukraine, their units have run into dense minefields and heavy Russian artillery fire and drone attacks.
Each mile is a bloody fight as the counteroffensive has progressed painfully slowly, with units coming up against dug-in Russian defenses and taking heavy casualties. Troops spearheading the offensive have breached the first line of defense in areas in recent days, potentially opening the way for a deeper assault.
Positioned close to the front lines, the stabilization points, temporary medical posts where patients are stabilized for onward evacuation, have been receiving a constant inflow of soldiers wounded in the fighting. The numbers have been “colossal,” said a medic from the center where the three men from the 110th Brigade were treated.
Equipped with four operating tables in a long room, the stabilization point handles the wounded from several brigades involved in the counteroffensive and has been working around the clock for two months.
The Ukrainian military allowed journalists from The New York Times to visit several stabilization points along 100 miles of the southern front over the past week. For security reasons, they were asked not to identify locations or buildings, and to name soldiers only by their call signs.
As Ukraine prepared new brigades for the counteroffensive, it also set up an extensive medical evacuation system with four lines of care, encompassing 20 city hospitals in the region, an array of stabilization points and up to
50 medical units attached to the brigades.
The man who devised the system, Dr. Roman Kuziv, the head of the military hospital in the city of Zaporizhzhia, flicked open a screen on his cellphone to show a database of the case load across the whole Zaporizhzhia front. The patients are color coded according to the severity of their wounds.
“I can see if they are yellow, green or red,” he said. The system was running at 20% of its capacity, he said.
The aim is to ensure that each wounded soldier receives a high level of care within as little as 25 minutes of the injury in order to save lives, he said. It is not always possible. A combat medic on the front line quickly administers first aid, but Russian artillery fire is often so intense that sometimes units cannot evacuate the wounded for hours, medics said.
The ambulances that transport soldiers to the stabilization points frequently come under fire as well, and soldiers sometimes have to drag or carry the wounded for several miles on foot to a vehicle. A stabilization point was hit in a missile strike one recent night, doctors said.
Despite the chaos of war, the system holds together well.
Stabilization points are set back a few miles from the front line for safety and for access to a steady water supply. There, doctors treat the wounded for shock and to prevent blood loss before sending patients on to better equipped stabilization points where surgeons can operate or to city hospitals, doctors said.
At the next medical stage, 40 minutes’ drive away on a potholed road, surgeons pinned
broken limbs and fought to save a soldier’s foot from a mine injury. The bones were smashed, but the blood vessels were intact, said Bohdan, the doctor in charge of the stabilization point. As the surgeons operated, he moved to a nearby table, pressing a pad on the bleeding wound of a soldier.
For operations near the front line, artillery barrages landed not far away as medical personnel, drivers and guards worked night and day. The staff stayed undercover most of the time to keep out of sight of Russian reconnaissance drones. At night, they worked in the dark for security, mostly using a red light, which is less detectable, on their headlamps.
The casualties arrived in spurts and on some days in a continuous rush. There were dozens of mine injuries and shrapnel wounds, but in this counteroffensive, few bullet wounds, doctors said.
A combat medic, pouring with sweat after carrying the wounded out from their positions, paced the room anxiously as doctors worked on the men, before heading back to the front line.
“Around 10 rockets from a grenade launcher landed nearby,” the soldier, Batya, 51, said, describing the attack on their position. Still reeling from a concussion, he said he had grabbed a medical kit and run out to help the wounded. He came across the first wounded soldier, Vorchun (Grumpy), in the nearest bunker and bandaged his face and hands, and then found his friend Shuravi, 57, who had been dragged into a trench with a chest injury, he said.
The three men from the 110th Brigade
would survive, said Romashka, a quiet, calm officer who heads the stabilization point. Romashka, whose call sign means Daisy, called the next medical post: “I’m sending you six guys, two yellow, the rest green.”
The next day, the 110th Brigade took part in an assault, taking heavy casualties. At night, all four tables were occupied by soldiers with severe leg injuries that would need amputation, said a Swedish volunteer combat medic, who asked that his name not be published for security reasons. The next morning, soldiers carried out body parts in black bags for disposal.
Some doctors said they had seen worse casualties in battles last year; one said they were treating up to 250 people a day back then in the counteroffensive in the Kherson region. The Ukrainian government does not release casualty numbers for the Ukrainian military, but Western officials have said the number of dead and wounded is more than 100,000.
In the first months after the Russian invasion last year, many soldiers did not have body armor or helmets and often suffered lethal injuries to the head and chest, said Dr. Andrii Komarinets, the head of medical services for the 110th Brigade, who runs one of the larger stabilization points.
Everyone has body armor now, he said, but the new threat is Russian mines. “They booby-trap their dead, they booby-trap our dead, they mine anything they can,” he said of the Russian forces. “Our men enter a bunker, and they detonate it remotely. They have plenty of explosives.”
The medics relied on donations, largely from the Ukrainian diaspora around the world, for additional equipment. “The ultrasound machine was bought for us by Ukrainians living in Australia. We have an ambulance bought by Americans and delivered through the Ukrainian Church,” he said. “We have two mattresses from two guys in the Netherlands whom I have never seen.”
But the army was short of doctors and especially of nurses, he said. “We don’t have enough hands,” he said.
The strain on the medical operations was often revealed in gestures rather than words. An administrator silently lifted a thick stack of medical reports from the past week, one for each patient. They had treated more than 70 people that day, and more were on their way, he said.
Romashka smoked an elegantly curved pipe as he scrolled through messages on his cellphone while waiting for the next patients. In another corner of the room, nurses cut up a watermelon. “Have some, it’s very sweet,” one said.
Extreme weather events are proliferating. Florida is essentially sitting in a hot bath, with ocean temperatures off some of its coast higher than body temperature.
At the same time, technological progress in renewable energy has made it possible to envisage major reductions in emissions at little or no cost in terms of economic growth and living standards.
In 2009, when Democrats tried but failed to take significant climate action, their policy proposals consisted mainly of sticks — limits on emissions in the form of permits that businesses could buy and sell. In 2022, when the Biden administration finally succeeded in passing a major climate bill, it consisted almost entirely of carrots — tax credits and subsidies for green energy. Yet, thanks to the revolution in renewable technology, energy experts believe that this all-gainno-pain approach will have major effects in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
are driving rank-and-file Republicans to oppose action on climate change? The other day, my colleague David Brooks argued that many Republicans dispute the reality of climate change and push for fossil fuels as a way to “offend the elites.” He’s right. Look at the hysterical reaction to potential regulations on gas stoves, and while it’s clear that special interests were, um, fueling the fire, there was also a strong culturewar element: The elites want you to get an induction cooktop, but real men cook with gas.
By PAUL KRUGMANUnderstanding climate denial used to seem easy: It was all about greed. Delve into the background of a researcher challenging the scientific consensus, a think tank trying to block climate action or a politician pronouncing climate change a hoax and you would almost always find major financial backing from the fossil fuel industry.
Those were simpler, more innocent times, and I miss them.
True, greed is still a major factor in antienvironmentalism. But climate denial has also become a front in the culture wars, with right-wingers rejecting the science in part because they dislike science in general and opposing action against emissions out of visceral opposition to anything liberals support.
And this cultural dimension of climate arguments has emerged at the worst possible moment — a moment when both the extreme danger from unchecked emissions and the path toward slashing those emissions are clearer than ever.
Some background: Scientists who began warning decades ago that the rising concentration of greenhouse gases in Earth’s atmosphere would have dangerous effects on the climate have been overwhelmingly vindicated.
Worldwide, July was the hottest month on record, with devastating heat waves in many parts of the globe.
But not if Republicans can help it. The Heritage Foundation is spearheading an effort called Project 2025 that will probably define the agenda if a Republican wins the White House next year. As The New York Times reports, it calls for “dismantling almost every clean energy program in the federal government and boosting the production of fossil fuels.”
What’s behind this destructive effort? Well, Project 2025 appears to have been largely devised by the usual suspects — fossil-fueled think tanks such as the Heartland Institute and the Competitive Enterprise Institute that have been crusading against climate science and climate action for many years.
But the political force of this drive — and the likelihood that there will be no significant dissent from within the GOP if Republicans do take the White House — has a lot to do with the way science, in general, and climate science, in particular, have become a front in the culture war.
About attitudes toward science: As recently as the mid-2000s, Republicans and Democrats had similar levels of trust in the scientific community. Since then, however, Republican trust has plunged as Democratic trust has risen; there’s now a 30-point gap between the parties.
We saw the effect of this anti-science trend when COVID-19 vaccines became available: Vaccination was free to the public, so there was no economic cost to individuals, yet getting vaccinated was widely perceived as something “experts” and liberal elites wanted you to do. As a result, Republicans disproportionately refused to get their shots and suffered substantially higher rates of excess deaths — deaths over and above those you would normally have expected — than Democrats.
Does anyone seriously doubt that similar attitudes
The fact that the climate war is now part of the culture war worries me, a lot. Special interests can do a great deal of damage, but they can be bought off or counterbalanced with other special interests. Indeed, an important part of President Joe Biden’s climate strategy is the idea that renewable energy investments, which have been soaring since his legislation passed, will give many businesses and communities a stake in continuing the green transition.
But such rational if self-interested considerations won’t do much to persuade people who believe that green energy is a conspiracy against the American way of life. So, the culture war has become a major problem for climate action — a problem we really, really don’t need right now.
CATAÑO – El gobernador Pedro Rafael Pierluisi
Urrutia, anunció el martes el desarrollo del proyecto de vivienda Bahía Apartments con una inversión de 29 millones de dólares de fondos CDBG-DR.
“Este es otro proyecto que beneficia a nuestra comunidad, promovido por el Programa de Brecha de CDBG-DR de Créditos Contributivos de Vivienda por Ingresos Bajos. Estamos facilitando la creación de estas unidades de vivienda que buscan apoyar a familias y adultos mayores de escasos y moderados recursos”, dijo Pierluisi en declaraciones escritas.
Bahía Apartments ofrecerá 104 unidades de vivienda multifamiliar asequible. Esta inversión cuenta con aproximadamente 29 millones de dólares de fondos federales CDBG-DR y el respaldo del Programa de Créditos Contributivos de Vivienda de Bajos Ingresos.
El diseño constará de un edificio de doce pisos con unidades variadas: 16 de una habitación, 72 de dos habitaciones y 16 de tres habitaciones. Adicio-
nalmente, 16 unidades serán adaptadas para personas con discapacidades según la Ley de Americanos con Discapacidades.
“Estamos comprometidos en proporcionar soluciones de vivienda a las personas de ingresos bajos a moderados. Esta colaboración financiera nos permitirá avanzar significativamente hacia ese objetivo”, expresó el secretario de Vivienda, Rodríguez Rodríguez.
El proyecto Bahía Apartments contará con diversas amenidades como un patio de recreo, estacionamiento, sistema de cisterna, gimnasio, áreas de almacenamiento, oficinas, ascensores, y más. Además, se planean mejoras en las carreteras PR-5 y PR-165 para facilitar el acceso.
Blanca Fernández, directora ejecutiva de la AFV, destacó la incorporación de medidas de resiliencia y conservación de energía. “Nuestro objetivo es promover prácticas sostenibles y responsables que beneficien tanto a los habitantes como al entorno”, mencionó Fernández.
Se incluirá una infraestructura de internet de ban-
da ancha para reducir la brecha digital. “Creemos que el acceso a la tecnología es un derecho fundamental y buscamos proporcionar igualdad de oportunidades”, agregó Fernández.
El alcalde de Cataño, Julio Alicea Vasallo, agradeció al gobernador y al secretario de Vivienda por este y otros proyectos que se llevan a cabo en el municipio con el apoyo de COR3 y FEMA.
En respuesta, el gobernador Pierluisi enfatizó su compromiso con la gente de Cataño y señaló que este proyecto es solo uno de los muchos en el municipio que se financian con fondos de FEMA.
SAN JUAN – Mientras nos adentramos en el pico de la temporada de huracanes 2023, la preparación eficaz y la comprensión de los fenómenos atmosféricos emergen como elementos esenciales para la resiliencia de la comunidad. Consciente de esto, One Alliance Insurance Corporation (OAIC) anunció su iniciativa “Vientos de Preparación”, un evento centrado en la educación y la preparación para la temporada de huracanes.
El evento, que tendrá lugar el miércoles, 16 de agosto en el Teatro Ing. Salvador V. Caro del Colegio de Ingenieros y Agrimensores de Puerto Rico desde las 8:30 a.m., promete ser un foro de aprendizaje y colaboración, presentando a expertos en clima, cambio climático, estrategias de preparación para huracanes al igual que reconstrucción luego de un fenómeno.
Ricardo Benítez, Vicepresidente Ejecutivo de One Alliance Insurance Corporation y portavoz del evento, declaró: “En One Alliance creemos firmemente en la importancia de la preparación y la resiliencia. Con ‘Vientos de Preparación’, buscamos brindar al público, a nuestros asegurados, productores y aliados de la industria de seguros las herramientas y conocimientos necesarios para
enfrentar con éxito la temporada de huracanes. La verdadera resiliencia se fomenta a través de la colaboración y la preparación proactiva”.
Los asistentes al evento tendrán la oportunidad de participar en una variedad de charlas y talleres que abordarán temas como el pronóstico meteorológico para 2023, el cambio climático y sus efectos en Puerto Rico y la región del Caribe, y la preparación para huracanes, incluyendo aspectos que van más allá de la póliza de seguros. El evento también destacará los retos de la construcción en Puerto Rico tras un desastre natural, así como los procesos de reclamaciones y la estructura de apoyo
de One Alliance Insurance Corp.
Entre los recursos conferenciantes de Vientos de Preparación figuran expertos en el campo como la meteoróloga Ada Monzón; Alberto Bachman de Cotton Global Disaster Solutions, especialistas en la restauración comercial tras desastres; el Ing. Emilio Colón, ingeniero, consultor y perito con vasta experiencia en la industria de seguros y construcción; y miembros del equipo de Reclamaciones en One Alliance Insurance Co., Isela Carlo y Orlando Rivera. También habrá una sesión de preguntas y respuestas para abordar dudas y preocupaciones.
Se espera una participación significativa de diversos segmentos, incluyendo agentes y productores de seguros, representantes municipales, clientes comerciales, aliados y socios de negocio de OAIC.
“Esta iniciativa es solo una de las muchas maneras en que One Alliance está comprometida a servir a nuestros clientes y al pueblo de Puerto Rico. A través de este tipo de colaboración, creemos que podemos fortalecer a Puerto Rico contra las fuerzas de la naturaleza y forjar un futuro más resiliente para nuestra isla”, recalcó Benítez.
Para más información sobre el evento Vientos de Preparación, visite www.onealliancepr.com
William Friedkin, a filmmaker whose gritty, visceral style and fascination with characters on the edge helped make “The French Connection” and “The Exorcist” two of the biggest box-office hits of the 1970s, died Monday at his home in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles. He was 87.
The cause was heart failure and pneumonia, said his wife, Sherry Lansing, the former head of Paramount Pictures in Hollywood. His death came just weeks before the release of his most recent directorial effort, “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial,” a movie based on the Herman Wouk play.
Friedkin was a promising but not wellknown director with a background in documentary film when he teamed up with producer Philip D’Antoni to make “The French Connection,” based on the true story of two swashbuckling New York City police officers, Sonny Grosso and Eddie Egan, who broke up an international heroin-trafficking ring in 1961. The script was adapted from a book by Robin Moore.
Working with a modest budget, Friedkin and D’Antoni relied on a cast of relative unknowns. Roy Scheider, an off-Broadway actor, took the role of Grosso, called Buddy Russo in the film. Gene Hackman, whose modest credits included a small part in a big film, “Bonnie and Clyde,” and a big part in a small film, “I Never Sang for My Father,” was hired to play his partner, Popeye Doyle, based on Egan.
By sheer accident, Fernando Rey played Alain Charnier, a character based on the international drug kingpin Jean Jehan. Friedkin had wanted Francisco Rabal, from the Luis Buñuel film “Belle de Jour,” but his casting director confused the two actors.
Filmed on location in New York for less than $2 million, or about $15 million in today’s money (the average Hollywood film cost $3 million at the time), “The French Connection” delivered visceral drama, documentary realism and edge-of-your-seat thrills. Popeye Doyle’s pursuit, in a commandeered car, of a hijacked elevated train in Brooklyn has often been called the best car-chase scene ever filmed.
“The French Connection” was released in 1971 and dominated the Academy Awards the next year, winning the Oscar for best picture and earning Friedkin the best director
award. Hackman won for best actor in a leading role. The film also won in the adapted screenplay and editing categories.
Friedkin followed up a year later with “The Exorcist,” based on William Peter Blatty’s bestselling horror novel about the demonic possession of a 12-year-old girl. Filmed largely on location in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, it was a suspenseful, often gruesome, cinematic study of evil at work in the modern world — evil conceived in almost medieval terms.
Linda Blair, as the possessed girl, gave a terrifying performance enhanced by eye-popping special effects. In a cinematic moment that entered into legend, she spewed a jet of green vomit — actually a blend of oatmeal and pea soup — straight into the face of a priest played by Jason Miller. Even more startling, during the exorcism later in the film, her head spun full circle on her shoulders, grinning maniacally.
The film, released in late December 1973, became a phenomenal hit, one of Hollywood’s top-grossing movies to date, with ticket sales of more than $200 million (the equivalent of about $1.3 billion today). It was also the first horror film to be nominated for a best picture Oscar. (It lost to “The Sting.”)
“Horror was a disreputable genre, but Friedkin elevated it with the A-list treatment,” Peter Biskind, the author of “Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock ’n’
Roll Generation Saved Hollywood” (1998), said in an interview for this obituary in 2016. “‘The Exorcist’ was so successful that it paved the way for the gentrification of B movies that has given us ‘Star Wars,’ the ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ cycle and the comic-book movies we have today.”
William Friedkin, known to his friends as Billy, was born in Chicago on Aug. 25, 1935, to Louis and Rachel (Green) Friedkin. Both parents were Jews who had left Ukraine early in the century with their families to escape the tsarist pogroms. His mother, who was known as Rae, was an operating room nurse; his father worked a variety of low-paying jobs.
After graduating from Senn High School on Chicago’s North Side in 1953, Friedkin took a job in the mailroom of the local television station WGN. Within a few years he had worked his way up to director, turning out hundreds of shows, from “Bozo’s Circus” to live performances of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, as well as documentaries.
His documentary work coincided with the advent of portable cameras, a decisive influence on his style. “I learned on equipment that almost begged for you to get up and move around,” he told Gene Siskel, then the film critic for the Chicago Tribune, in 1980.
“The French Connection” was rejected by every studio in town before Richard Zanuck, in his final days at 20th Century Fox, gave it the green light. Convinced that the film
required a street-level documentary feel, Friedkin spent weeks on the beat with the two police officers who had broken the French Connection drug case. He said he paid an official at the New York Transit Authority a $40,000 bribe to overlook the rules and allow the famous chase sequence to be filmed.
After “The French Connection” won five Oscars and “The Exorcist” became an enormous box-office success, Friedkin found himself one of the most sought-after directors in Hollywood.
A turbulent period ensued. He remade “The Wages of Fear,” Henri-Georges Clouzot’s classic 1953 thriller about drifters driving truckloads of nitroglycerin over rugged terrain, as “Sorcerer” (1977), with Scheider in the part originally played by Yves Montand. Most critics found it long, labored and not particularly thrilling. It was released around the same time as “Star Wars” and died a quick death.
He later called “Sorcerer,” in an interview with Indiewire in 2017, “the only film I’ve made that I can still watch.”
The lurid “Cruising” (1980), with Al Pacino as a New York City detective who goes undercover in the city’s gay S&M bars to solve a murder, aroused the fierce opposition of gay activists, who objected to the film’s portrayal of gay men and who picketed the location shoots, much to Friedkin’s dismay.
That film was the first in a series of flops that included “Deal of the Century” (1983), a farce about arms dealers, with Chevy Chase, Gregory Hines and Sigourney Weaver, and the critically reviled “Jade” (1995), a murder mystery with a script by Joe Eszterhas and with Linda Fiorentino and David Caruso in the starring roles. Along the way, Friedkin managed something like a return to form with “To Live and Die in L.A.” (1985), an atmospheric noir about a Secret Service agent seeking to avenge the death of his partner.
“The paradox of William Friedkin is that he made only two really good films, ‘The French Connection’ and ‘The Exorcist,’” Biskind said. “There are others that are interesting but deeply flawed. But those two films had an outsize influence.”
Friedkin married Lansing in 1991. She was the chair and CEO of Paramount Pictures from 1992 to 2005. His first three marriages — to actresses Jeanne Moreau and LesleyAnne Down and television news anchor Kelly Lange — ended in divorce. In addition to Lansing, he is survived by two sons, Jackson and Cedric.
The San Juan Daily Star Wednesday, August 9, 2023 21
When Stephanie Beatriz likes a script she enjoys reading it aloud at home to get a better feel for the character and story. She warmed up quickly to “Twisted Metal,” the new Peacock mayhem machine based on the popular PlayStation game series that first burned rubber in 1995. But as she turned the pages, encountering psycho clowns, murderous religious cults, cannibalism and other manner of good times, she had to pause. Her 8-month-old daughter was in the room.
In a June video interview she recalled what she told her husband: “I’m going to take a break and stop because I’m not sure that this is great for her subconscious.”
Her concern was well-founded. Premiering July 27, “Twisted Metal” is nothing if not extreme. Fast and profane, it is fueled by what “A Clockwork Orange” once called a bit of the old ultraviolence. It is blood-soaked, bullet-ridden and chaotic. In one early scene, two men sit in massive tubs, waiting to be cooked and served. One of them is sprinkled with a generous portion of lemon pepper spice as a human foot dangles from a line; Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s “Shimmy Shimmy Ya” (“Ooh, baby, I like it raw”) blares on the soundtrack.
Starring Anthony Mackie as John Doe, a wiz behind the wheel hired to deliver a mystery package across a hazardous, postapocalyptic America, and Beatriz as Quiet, his no-nonsense, vengeance-minded passenger, “Twisted Metal” stakes out a sometimes-queasy intersection between terror and glee. It’s a little like “Mad Max” on laughing gas.
“It’s a very weird apocalypse,” Marc Forman, an executive producer, said. “It’s crawling with cannibals and weird cults. What’s great is that you never know what’s around the corner.”
There’s very little that is old fashioned about “Twisted Metal,” yet it has a fair amount of nostalgia in the tank — for both the pre-apocalyptic world, and for an earlier age of gaming. The story is set in the wake of a hazily defined, world-destroying event that occurred in 2002, freezing culture as the characters know it in that year. An evil interrogator uses the late ’90s Europop earworm “Barbie Girl” to torture his prisoners.
As Mackie’s John drives his beat-up 2002 Subaru through a dilapidated shopping mall, he’s excited to see the remnants of a Foot Locker (he grabs some kicks as he races by). A Twisted Metal game cartridge falls onto his windshield; he looks at it quizzically.
Mackie, 44, recalled playing the earliest versions of Twisted Metal. “I remember it just being destruction,” he said in a June phone interview as he sat, ironically, in traffic. “The game was just demolition derby, and I loved it, but it was impossible to play. You couldn’t control the cars — you were just flying past each other, shooting missiles and hoping they hit.”
The playing experience advanced, along with the rest of the gaming industry, through subsequent iterations. Now
“Twisted Metal” is just the latest TV series hoping to translate gaming popularity to small-screen success, following in the footsteps of series like Netflix’s “The Witcher” and HBO’s abundantly Emmy-nominated hit “The Last of Us.”
In gaming circles, “Twisted Metal” belongs to the genre of “vehicular combat.” The game isn’t big on narrative. The series’ creative team, including the showrunner Michael Jonathan Smith and the writer-executive producers
Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (both writers on the “Deadpool” movies), were charged with expanding the game’s world to the scale of a TV show — to take it beyond, in Mackie’s words, “just being destruction.” (PlayStation Productions and its corporate cousin Sony Pictures Television produced the series along with Universal Television.)
Some characters exist in both Twisted Metal mediums, including the psychotic clown Sweet Tooth, perhaps the show’s most macabre creation. A bare-chested hulk with a leering clown mask — he is played by the body of wrestler Joe Seanoa paired with voice of the actor Will Arnett — Sweet Tooth controls what is left of Las Vegas, driving what appears to be a refurbished ice cream truck and wielding a
machete that he uses to slash open all comers.
At one point he assembles a ragtag army of outcasts to do his bidding, giving him a literal insane clown posse. But Sweet Tooth has one thing in common with John and Quiet: an enmity for Agent Stone (a platinum-dyed Thomas Haden Church), a petty tyrant who essentially runs the country.
Somehow, amid all the mayhem, “Twisted Metal” finds room for contemporary class consciousness. John has been tasked with a cross-country trip, from New San Francisco to New Chicago and back, with the promise of a cozy life by the bay if he succeeds. New San Francisco is a walled urban paradise where the swells dwell, while throughout most of the country, it’s a mad scramble to survive. Inside the wall you can eat dinner. Outside, you might be dinner.
“The metaphors abound,” Beatriz (“Brooklyn NineNine”) said. “It is silly, it is violent, it is funny. But so much of the show is about who has and who doesn’t. There’s an argument to be made that there’s a certain kind of cannibalism happening now, within our society, at all times.”
But fans of the Twisted Metal game needn’t worry that their beloved bedlam has gone highbrow. The series’ bread and butter remains people shooting and slicing each other to pieces, often while driving cars equipped to do the same. This is car culture at the end of the world, a land of last resorts. So it seems appropriate that John drives not a soupedup sports car but a true beater, modified to handle the wear and tear of the apocalypse. John’s true love in “Twisted Metal” isn’t Quiet, but Evelyn — or, as her license plate reads, EV3L1N.
Mackie can relate. After his breakout performance in “We Are Marshall,” from 2006, he was able to purchase his dream car: a 1964 1/2 Ford Mustang (as the earliest Mustang models are known by enthusiasts). He’s been tinkering with it ever since. The car’s name is Marshall.
“Me and Marshall are always cruising and enjoying our time together,“ Mackie said. “Before I had my sons, Marshall was like my best friend. Some people talk to their plants, some people talk to their cats. I would talk to my car.”
Beatriz had a slightly different automotive comingof-age. She was acting in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival when she started thinking of moving to Los Angeles. One problem: She didn’t know how to drive, and a car is a must in LA. So she learned from a friend and fellow Shakespearean, Catherine E. Coulson, perhaps best known as the Log Lady in “Twin Peaks.” Coulson would take Beatriz around Ashland, Oregon, where the festival was located, in her Prius, a far more fanciful image than any you will see in “Twisted Metal.”
Beatriz’s maiden voyages with the Log Lady have given way to faster adventures: She was grand marshal for the Indianapolis 500 in May. As part of the gig she got to ride shotgun in an Indy car before the race, hitting speeds of 190 mph. “Could have gone faster, would’ve been great,” she said.
All that fun, and not a killer clown in sight.
Anthony Mackie and Stephanie Beatriz, who star in “Twisted Metal,” TV’s latest video game adaptation, in New Orleans, July 10, 2023. Peacock’s new show indulges in the same ultraviolence as the video game that inspired it, but this time it has a message about the haves and the have-nots. By IRIS EDÉN SANTIAGO Special to The STAR
Although she is so right to call her collection “a very Coconut Grove kind of runway,” the Miami-based fashion designer delivers global fabulousness with international flair. Her looks are happy, optimistic, a little bohemian and undeniably sophisticated. Silvia Tcherassi has been delivering high-impact glamour and effortless elegance for 36 years. For her #PreFall2023 collection she presented a fantastic array of summery looks to elevate and complement the wardrobe of every savvy fashionista living or jet-setting to dreamy seaside destinations. Bodysuits, bathing suits, halter tops, silky dresses, jumpsuits. By the way, fashion is a state of mind; these looks are perfection anywhere away from the cold.
trendsetter, Silvia Tcherassi is one of the leading figures in fashion. She has been awarded one of France’s highest honors – the Officier de L’Ordre Arts et Lettres (Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters), a distinction bestowed on leaders of the international arts community for their “contribution and commitment to cultural service.”
The Colombia-born couturier uses vibrant colors masterfully. Her color palette is very Miami, very fresh and citrusy: lemon, orange, yellow, lime. She also incorporates red, terracotta, turquoise, blue and green. Specifically loved her use of bright orange, which she calls “absolute optimism, zestful energy.” But more than anything, loved the fact that Tcherassi gave us a break from Barbiecore. This coming from someone who has been obsessed with fuchsia since kindergarten. But yes, we definitely need to stop the pink fever for a while.
A true trailblazer, innovator and
Tcherassi began her career as an interior designer, but according to her website the search for new artistic expressions led her into fashion. Her creations have been presented during the official calendar of Paris and Milan fashion weeks. The brand is available worldwide through her own namesake 15 stores situated in luxury fashion destinations across Europe, the U.S. mainland and South America, high-end department stores, and online fashion retailers.
Tcherassi is the author of the book “Elegancia sin Esfuerzo” (Effortless Elegance) published in 2010 by Random House about her style approach, from fashion to hospitality.
This August menu is essentially designed for beating the heat on seriously sweltering summer days, when ice-cold everything seems appropriate. We’re on the right track, I think, with a chilled soup, followed by a room-temperature vegetable salad and a dessert straight from the refrigerator.
The avocado soup — a cool, savory smoothie of avocado, lime juice, yogurt and olive oil — couldn’t be easier: Everything goes in the blender, swirled to a silky purée. I like to keep a jug in the fridge, ready to pour into chilled bowls or glasses, so it’s well worth the 15-minute investment.
Many know the picnic-standard three bean salad, made from three cans of beans (kidney, garbanzo and string), a sliced onion and cider vinegar. I like that, too, but here I’m proposing a different sort of bean salad, the kind you can make only in late summer when all of the great fresh beans are available.
Right now, at the market, you’ll proba bly find fresh shelling beans piled high in their pods. Grab a few pounds and shuck them, then simmer them for the best-tasting, creamiest beans imaginable. While you’re at it, scout the market for ribbonlike Romano beans, also called runner beans or flat beans. They have extraordinary texture and flavor when cooked. Then you’ll need some tender green beans, which can sometimes be a problem. Look for the smallest ones.
Cooked to perfection, these seasonal treats need only a zesty vinaigrette. I’d be perfectly happy with only dressed beans. But to make the salad
more substantial, I added halved fingerling potatoes, cherry tomatoes and boiled eggs. Arranged on a platter with arugula and basil, it’s the very picture of a summery dinner salad. For me, the beans are the stars, though for all intents and purposes, this is a vegetable version of salade niçoise. Adding good canned tuna, olives or anchovy fillets, or a dab of aioli would not be out of line.
“Icebox cake” is fun to say, even if no one has an icebox anymore. It’s usually a combination of cake or cookies and whipped cream, meant to get good and soggy, and served cold. I modeled mine after tiramisù and filled it with Italian ladyfingers (savoiardi). They’re available in supermarkets and Italian food shops, and are a lifesaver if you ever need to put together an easy des-
sert. Layered with sliced juicy nectarines, raspberries and an almond-scented cream, the cake is ready after a few hours of chilling.
Prepare the cake in the afternoon or a day in advance, and serve it as a welcome cooling dessert after this relatively light meal. But it may best as a snack from the fridge at midnight, after a bout of tossing and turning, because it’s too hot to sleep.
This chilled soup couldn’t be easier to make, packing a lot of flavor into a quick dish of just a few ingredients.
Fresh, green and somewhat tart, it’s quite refreshing on a warm day.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Total time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
2 large ripe avocados, halved and pitted
1 1/2 cups plain (not Greek) yogurt
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 small bunch cilantro or parsley, leaves and tender stems
A few slices of jalapeño
Preparation:
1. Put 1 cup water, the avocados, yogurt, lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste, cilantro (or parsley) and jalapeño in a blender. Purée until smooth. Taste for seasoning and chill well.
2. Before ready to serve, thin with more water to taste (thicker for soup, thinner to drink).
3. Pour into chilled soup bowls for a sit-down first course, or into shot glasses for a stand-up appetizer.
You’ll find the green beans, wax beans, Romano beans and fresh shelling beans for this salad at the farmers’ market, making it perfect for a summer lunch or supper. With sweet cherry tomatoes and fingerling potatoes, it makes a substantial meal. Add good canned tuna, black olives or anchovy fillets too, if you wish.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Continues on page 24
A chilled avocado soup. This chilled avocado soup flavored with tart yogurt can be spooned or sipped. The San Juan Daily StarFrom page 23
Total time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Ingredients:
For the Vinaigrette:
1 small shallot, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, smashed to a paste
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and black pepper
For the Salad:
1 pound small round potatoes or fingerlings
Salt and black pepper
6 eggs
3 cups shucked fresh shelling beans, such as cranberry beans (about 3 pounds of pods), or use 2 (15-ounce)
cans cannellini or cranberry beans, drained and rinsed
1 pound green beans, preferably a mix of green beans, yellow wax beans and flat Romano beans
1 pound cherry tomatoes, halved
5 ounces arugula
1 handful basil leaves, for garnish
1 (6- to 8-ounce) can tuna, preferably ventresca (optional)
Aioli, for serving
Preparation:
1. Make the vinaigrette: In a small bowl, put shallot, garlic and vinegar. Whisk in olive oil, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
2. Cook potatoes: Place potatoes in a medium pot over high heat, cover with water and add a good pinch of
salt. Boil for about 15 minutes, until tender. Let cool, then cut in half.
3. Cook eggs: In the same pot, boil the eggs until runny in the center, about 7 minutes. Transfer to a bowl with ice water to cool. Peel and halve them while the beans cook.
4. Cook fresh shelling beans: Place in a small saucepan and cover with 2 inches of water. Add a pinch of salt and bring to a boil over high heat. Turn heat down to low and simmer until tender, 20 to 30 minutes. Let the beans cool in their own broth. (If using
canned beans, skip this step.)
5. Blanch the green beans: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add green beans and cook till just done, about 3 minutes. Remove from water and spread out on a baking sheet or platter to cool. Repeat with wax beans and Romano beans, if using.
6. Assemble the salad: Place drained shelling beans, green beans, potatoes and cherry tomatoes in a large bowl or serving platter. Season everything with salt and pepper, then toss gently, using your hands. Pour the vinaigrette over, then toss gently, again using your hands.
7. Place egg halves over the vegetables, surround with arugula and scatter basil leaves over the top. Top with tuna, if using. Pass a bowl of aioli, if desired.
Chilled, creamy and not too sweet, this simple, no-bake icebox cake is a perfect dessert. In truth, it’s even a bit like tiramisù, but with ripe summer fruit. Store-bought ladyfingers make it easy; shop at the farmers’ market for the best fruit. Make it a few hours or even a day in advance of serv-
ing for effortless entertaining.
Yield: 10 to 12 servings
Total time: 35 minutes, plus overnight chilling
Ingredients:
3/4 cup dry white wine or rosé
1/4 cup light brown sugar
2 whole cloves
1 tablespoon rum or brandy (optional)
2 1/2 cups heavy cream, chilled
2 1/2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract
2 (4.5-ounce) box ladyfingers (about 28 ladyfingers)
6 nectarines (about 2 pounds), pitted and cut in 1/2-inch slices
1/2 pint raspberries
Crumbled amaretti cookies, for topping
Preparation:
1. Make the syrup: In a small saucepan, combine the wine, brown sugar and cloves. Simmer over medium heat, stirring, just to dissolve sugar, a few minutes. Turn off heat, and add rum or brandy, if using. Set aside, off the heat, to cool.
2. Put cream and powdered sugar in a clean bowl and, using a stand mixer, hand mixer or whisk, whip to very soft peaks — not too stiff. Stir in almond extract.
3. Build the cake: One at time — they’ll be too soggy otherwise — quickly dip one side of each ladyfinger in the syrup, and place in a 9-inch square baking dish with 2-inch sides (or something similar, doesn’t have to be ovenproof). Repeat until the bottom of the pan is lined with syrup-dipped ladyfingers.
4. Dollop about a quarter of the whipped cream all over the ladyfingers, then spread with a spatula. Scatter half of the sliced nectarines, then half of the raspberries, over the cream.
5. Dip the remaining ladyfingers, one at a time, into the syrup, and layer them over the fruit. Spread another quarter of the whipped cream, then scatter the remaining nectarine slices and raspberries over.
6. Top with the remaining whipped cream and spread to your liking.
7. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours, and preferably overnight. (Cover lightly with wax paper, if you like.) Before serving, sprinkle with amaretti. The cake may be cut into squares, or simply scooped out with a big spoon.
A raspberry-nectarine icebox cake. A finish of amaretti cookies takes this easy icebox cake to the next level. A Niçoise salad with summer vegetables. Preparing fresh beans can take some time, but you can simply use green beans and canned beans to speed up the process.ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS E.E.U.U. ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO. SS.
MALDONADO
POR LA PRESENTE se les notifica que se ha iniciado la preparación del inventario en sede notarial del caudal relicto de los causantes Santos Alonso Maldonado. Se les requiere para que toda reclamación con los correspondientes comprobantes bajo juramento sea presentada y dirigida al peticionario por conducto de sus abogados a las siguientes direcciones y dentro del plazo de treinta (30) días contados desde la publicación del presente edicto:
Sucesión Santos Alonso Maldonado
Lcdo. Omar Sánchez Pagán PO Box 195055
San Juan Puerto, Rico, 00919
Se le advierte que de no responder a este Aviso, los procedimientos para la formación y liquidación del caudal d ela causante continuarán sin más citarle ni oirle.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA
CENTRO JUDICIAL DE HUMACAO SALA SUPERIOR BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO
Parte Demandante Vs. JAYSON ALBERT
PADILLA RODRÍGUEZ, RUBIANNE JENICE
MUÑOZ CORDOVÉS
T/C/C RUBIANNE
JENNICE MUÑOZ
CORDOVÉS Y LA
SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS
Parte Demandada
Civil Núm.: HU2021CV00947. (206). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA “IN REM”. ESTADOS
UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. AVISO DE PÚBLICA SUBASTA. El Alguacil
que suscribe por la presente anuncia y hace constar que en cumplimiento de la Sentencia en Rebeldía dictada el 10 de marzo de 2022 y notificada el 11 de marzo de 2022, la Orden de Ejecución de Sentencia del 28 de junio de 2023 y el Mandamiento de Ejecución del 29 de junio de 2023 en el caso de epígrafe, procederé a vender el día 12 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2023, A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en mi oficina, localizada en Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Centro Judicial de Humacao, Sala Superior, en la Avenida Nicanor Vázquez, (frente al Centro de Bellas Artes) Humacao, Puerto Rico, al mejor postor en pago de contado y en moneda de los Estados Unidos de América cheque de gerente o giro postal todo título, derecho o interés de la parte demandada sobre la siguiente propiedad:
RÚSTICA: Barrio Mambiche
Prieto de Humacao. Solar Número: tres (3). Cabida: 1087.00 metros cuadrados. Linderos: por el NORTE: con Parcela B (Uso Público); por el SUR: con franja verde; por el ESTE: con el Solar Número cuatro (4) y Parcela B (Uso Público); y por el OESTE: con el Solar Número dos (2). Descripción conforme a plano. La propiedad y la escritura de hipoteca constan inscritas al tomo Karibe de Humacao, Finca 31092, Registro de la Propiedad de Humacao. La escritura de hipoteca es la inscripción cuarta. Dirección
Física: Mambiche Prieto #3, Km 1.9, SR 938 Int., Humacao, PR 00791. Número de Catastro: 51-255-062-476-85-000. El tipo mínimo para la primera subasta será de $55,967.00. De no haber adjudicación en la primera subasta se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA, día 19 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2023, A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en el mismo lugar, en la cual el tipo mínimo será de dos terceras partes del tipo mínimo fijado en la primera subasta, o sea, $37,311.33. De no haber adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el día día 26 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2023, A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en el mismo lugar, en la cual el tipo mínimo será la mitad del precio pactado, o sea, $27,983.50. Si se declarase desierta la tercera subasta, se adjudicará la finca a favor del acreedor por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada si ésta es igual o menor que el monto del tipo de la tercera subasta, si el tribunal lo estima conveniente. Se abonará dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si ésta es mayor. Dicho remate se llevará a cabo para con su
producto satisfacer a la demandante el importe de la Sentencia por la suma $53,204.54 de principal, más intereses sobre dicha suma al 5% anual desde el 1 de septiembre de 2017 hasta su completo pago, más $192.24 de recargos acumulados, más la cantidad estipulada de $5,596.70 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogados, así como cualquier otra suma que contenga el contrato del préstamo. Surge del Estudio de Título Registral que sobre esta propiedad pesa el siguiente gravamen posterior a la hipoteca que por la presente se pretende ejecutar: a. Bitácora: Al Asiento 2021-115999-HU01, el 13 de septiembre de 2021, Demanda de fecha 27 de agosto de 2021, ante el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Humacao, en el caso Civil Número HU2021CV00947, seguido por Banco Popular de Puerto Rico vs. Jayson Albert Padilla Rodríguez y su esposa, Rubianne Jenice Muñoz Cordovés también conocida como Rubianne Jennice Muñoz Cordovés, sobre Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca, en la que se reclama el pago de hipoteca, con un balance de $53,204.54 y otras cantidades o la venta en pública subasta de la propiedad. Pendiente de anotación. Se notifica al acreedor posterior o a su sucesor o cesionario en derecho para que comparezca a proteger su derecho si así lo desea. Se le advierte a los interesados que todos los documentos relacionados con la presente acción de ejecución de hipoteca, así como los de Subasta, estarán disponibles para ser examinados, durante horas laborables, en el expediente del caso que obra en los archivos de la Secretaría del Tribunal, bajo el número de epígrafe y para su publicación en un periódico de circulación general en Puerto Rico por espacio de dos semanas y por lo menos una vez por semana; y para su fijación en los sitios públicos requeridos por ley. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante, continuarán subsistentes; entendiéndose que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate y que la propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores tal como lo expresa la Ley Núm. 2102015. Y para el conocimiento de los demandados, de los
acreedores posteriores, de los licitadores, partes interesadas y público en general, EXPIDO para su publicación en los lugares públicos correspondientes, el presente Aviso de Pública Subasta en Humacao, Puerto Rico, hoy 13 de julio de 2023. JOSÉ L. RODRÍGUEZ HERNÁNDEZ, ALGUACIL REGIONAL INTERINO, ALGUACIL DEL TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, CENTRO JUDICIAL DE HUMACAO, SALA SUPERIOR. JANIA GUASP LOZA, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR PLACA #653.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN
REVERSE MORTGAGE FUNDING LLC.
Demandante Vs. SUCESION SACROVIR
A. RIVERA ZAYAS T/C/C
SACROVIR AUGUSTO
RIVERA ZAYAS T/C/C
SACROVIR RIVERA T/C/C
SACROVIR RIVERA
ZAYAS T/C/C SACROVIER RIVERA ZAYAS COMPUESTA POR CELIA SIERRA RONDON; JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO POSIBLE HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES
Demandados
Civil Núm.: SJ2019CV11582.
Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EDICTO DE SUBASTA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.
A: LA PARTE DEMANDADA, AL (A LA) SECRETARIO(A) DE HACIENDA DE PUERTO RICO Y AL PÚBLICO
GENERAL:
Certifico y Hago Constar: Que en cumplimiento con el Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que me ha sido dirigido por el (la) Secretario(a) del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de San Juan, en el caso de epígrafe, venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor, por separado, de contado y por moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América y/o Giro Postal y Cheque Certificado, en mi oficina ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Ins-
tancia, Sala de San Juan, el 30 DE AGOSTO DE 2023, A LAS 11:00 DE LA MAÑANA, todo derecho título, participación o interés que le corresponda a la parte demandada o cualquiera de ellos en el inmueble hipotecado objeto de ejecución que se describe a continuación:
URBAN: Horizontal property: Apartment number one thousand one hundred fifteen (1115) is situated on the eleventh floor of the building Condominium Borinquen Towers III, in the Section which composes the Eastern part of the building. It consist of irregular rectangular shaped body measuring approximately fourteen feet eleven and a half inches (14’11 ½”) wide, by twenty four feet four inches (24’4”) long and open balcony of eleven feet eleven inches (11’11”) long, by five feet five inches (5’5”) wide, that is an are of THREE HUNDRED
EIGHTY ONE POINT TWENTY SIX (381.26) SQUARE FEET, equivalent to THIRTY FIVE POINT FORTY SEVEN (35.47)
SQUARE METERS; bounding on the NORTH with an exterior Wall which separates it from the common yard on the Northern side of the building where the balcony opens; on the SOUTH with an interior Wall which separates it from the common public corridor to which the entrance door of the apartments opens and with an interior Wall which separates it from the common public stairway; on the EAST, with a party Wall which separates it from apartment number one thousand on hundred sixteen (1116); on the WEST with a party Wall which separates it from apartment number one thousand one hundred fourteen (1114). This apartment consists of a combination of living dining room with its closet, dressing room, one bathroom, a kitchenette with cabinets, storage closets and a thirty gallon capacity water heater. Le corresponde una participación de punto tres dos cero cuatro por ciento (.3204%) en los elementos comunes generales. Inscrita al folio 17 del tomo 704 de Monacillos, finca 22,262, Registro de la Propiedad de San Juan, Sección III. La Hipoteca Revertida consta inscrita al folio 46 del tomo 1009, finca 22,262 de Monacillos, Registro de la Propiedad de San Juan, Sección III, inscripción 6ª. Propiedad localizada en: 1482 AVE. FD ROOSEVELT, COND. BORINQUEN TOWER III, APT. 1115, SAN JUAN, PR 00920-2708. Según figuran en la certificación registral, la propiedad objeto de ejecución está gravada por las siguientes
cargas anteriores o preferentes: Nombre del Titular: DORAL FEDERAL SAVINGS BANK AND LOAN BANK. Suma de la Carga: $20,000.00. Fecha de Vencimiento: 1 de diciembre de 2007. Según figuran en la certificación registral, la propiedad objeto de ejecución está gravada por las siguientes cargas posteriores a la inscripción del crédito ejecutante: Nombre del Titular: Secretario de la Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano. Suma de la Carga: $133,500.00. Fecha de Vencimiento: 2 de mayo de 2090. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad de la propiedad y que todas las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito ejecutante antes descritos, si los hubiere, continuarán subsistentes. El rematante acepta dichas cargas y gravámenes anteriores, y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Se establece como tipo de mínima subasta la suma de $133,500.00, según acordado entre las partes en el precio pactado en la escritura de hipoteca. De ser necesaria una SEGUNDA SUBASTA por declararse desierta la primera, la misma se celebrará en mi oficina, ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de San Juan, el 7 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2023, A LAS 11:00 DE LA MAÑANA, y se establece como mínima para dicha segunda subasta la suma de $89,000.00, 2/3 partes del tipo mínima establecido originalmente. Si tampoco se produce remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se establece como mínima para la TERCERA SUBASTA, la suma de $117,5066,750.00, la mitad (1/2) del precio pactado y dicha subasta se celebrará en mi oficina, ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de San Juan, el 14 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2023, A LAS 11:00 DE LA MAÑANA. Dicha subasta se llevará a cabo para, con su producto satisfacer a la parte demandante, el importe de la Sentencia dictada a su favor ascendente a la suma de $55,573.76 de principal, más los intereses sobre dicha suma en la cantidad de $16,566.51 los cuales continúan acumulándose a razón de la tasa de interés corriente, hasta su completo pago, más contribuciones, recargos y primas de seguro adeudados y la suma de $13,350.00 por concepto de costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado. Dichas sumas están vencidas, son líquidas y exigibles. La venta en pública su-
basta de la referida propiedad se verificará libre de toda carga o gravamen posterior que afecte la mencionada finca, a cuyo efecto se notifica y se hace saber la fecha, hora y sitio de la PRIMERA, SEGUNDA Y TERCERA SUBASTA, si esto fuera necesario, a los efectos de que cualquier persona o personas con algún interés puedan comparecer a la celebración de dicha subasta. Se notifica a todos los interesados que las actas y demás constancias del expediente de este caso están disponibles en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante horas laborables para ser examinadas por los (las) interesados (as). Y para su publicación en el periódico The San Juan Daily Star, que es un diario de circulación general en la isla de Puerto Rico, por espacio de dos semanas consecutivas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre ambas publicaciones, así como para su publicación en los sitios públicos de Puerto Rico. Expedido en San Juan, Puerto Rico, hoy 20 de julio de 2023. PEDRO HIEYE
GONZÁLEZ, ALGUACIL REGIONAL.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE CAGUAS
FIRSTBANK PUERTO RICO
Parte Demandante Vs. FRANCISCO MANUEL NICOLÁS DEL RIO
GARCED
Parte Demandada Civil Núm.: CG2019CV03046. Salón Núm.: (704). Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA Y COBRO DE DINERO. EDICTO DE SUBASTA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R., SS.
A: FRANCISCO MANUEL NICOLÁS DEL RIO
GARCED: Y AL PÚBLICO
EN GENERAL:
El Alguacil que suscribe, certifica y hace constar que en cumplimiento de Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que me ha sido dirigido por la Secretaría del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Caguas, procederé a vender en pública subasta y al mejor postor, por separado, de contado y por moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América. Todo pago recibido por el (la) Alguacil por concepto de subastas será en
efectivo, giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del (de la) Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia. Todo derecho, título, participación e interés que le corresponda a la parte demandada o cualquiera de ellos en el inmueble hipotecado objeto de ejecución que se describe a continuación: URBANA: Propiedad Horizontal: Apartamento residencial 108, localizado en la cuarta planta del módulo uno (1), Edificio A del Condominio Caminito localizado en la Carretera Estatal Puerto Rico guión ciento ochenta y nueve (PR-189), kilometro ocho punto seis (KM.8.6), en el Barrio Mamey del término Municipal de Gurabo, Puerto Rico, con la descripción, área y colindancias que se relacionan a continuación; por el NORTE, con elemento común; por el SUR, con elemento común; por el ESTE, con el apartamento 207; y por el OESTE, con el apartamento 107 y elemento común. Este apartamento está construido en hormigón reforzado y bloques. Consta de un nivel con su puerta de entrada y escalera del edificio por el lindero Oeste. Consta de sala-comedor, balcón, cocina con área de lavandería, un segundo baño, dos (2) dormitorios con sus closets, pasillo dos linen closets y dormitorio principal con baño y closet. Este apartamento tiene como uso exclusivo y como anejo dos (2) estacionamientos colocados uno detrás del otro, identificados con el número trescientos treinta y nueve (339) con un área de trece punto setenta y cinco metros cuadrados (13.75 m.c.) y número trescientos cuarenta (340), con un área de doce punto veinticinco metros cuadrados (12.25 m.c.), identificados en el Site Plan y los planos aprobados del Condominio. El área de los estacionamientos anejos no será incluida en el cómputo del área superficial de este apartamento, ni en la determinación del porciento de participación en los elementos comunes del Condominio. El área total de la superficie interior del apartamento utilizada para determinar el por ciento de participación en los elementos comunes del condominio que incluye solo el área interior el balcón es noventa y seis punto setenta y cuatro metros cuadrados (96.74 m.c.). Área interior del apartamento: noventa y uno punto cuarenta metros cuadrados (91.40 m.c.). Área total del balcón: cinco punto treinta y cuatro metros cuadrados (5.34 m.c.). A este apartamento le corresponde una participación de cero punto cuatrocientos setenta y tres por
ciento (0.473%) en los elementos comunes del Condominio. Consta inscrita al folio 77 del tomo 489 de Gurabo, finca número #18,987, Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección Segunda de Caguas. La propiedad objeto de ejecución está localizada en la siguiente dirección: Condominio Caminito, Apartamento 108, Gurabo, P.R. 00778. Se informa que la propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravamen posterior, una vez sea otorgada la escritura de venta judicial y obtenida la Orden y Mandamiento de cancelación de gravamen posterior. (Art. 51, Ley 210-2015). En relación a la finca a subastarse, se establece como tipo mínimo de licitación en la Primera Subasta la suma de $139,689.00, según acordado entre las partes en el precio pactado en la Escritura de Hipoteca #264, otorgada en Humacao, Puerto Rico, el día 2 de noviembre de 2012, ante el notario Manuel U. Rivera Giménez, e inscrita al folio 77 del tomo 489 de Gurabo, finca número 18,987, inscripción 2da. La PRIMERA SUBASTA, se llevará a cabo el día 21 DE AGOSTO DE 2023 A LAS 9:45 DE LA MAÑANA, en mis oficinas sitas en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Caguas, el tipo mínimo para la primera subasta es la suma de $139,689.00. Si la primera subasta del inmueble no produjere remate, ni adjudicación, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 28 DE AGOSTO DE 2023 A LAS 9:45 DE LA MAÑANA, en el mismo sitio y servirá de tipo mínimo las dos terceras partes del precio pactada para la primera subasta, o sea, la suma de $93,126.00. Si la segunda subasta no produjere remate, ni adjudicación, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el día 5 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2023 A LAS 9:45 DE LA MAÑANA, en el mismo lugar y regirá como tipo mínimo de la tercera subasta la mitad del precio pactado para la primera, o sea, la suma de $69,844.50. Dicha subasta se llevará a cabo, para con su producto satisfacer a la parte demandante el importe de la Sentencia dictada a su favor, a saber: Suma Principal de $113,462.30, con intereses a 3.75% anual, desde el 1ro de marzo de 2018, hasta el presente y los que se continúen acumulando hasta su total y completo pago, más los cargos por demora que se corresponden a los plazos atrasados desde la fecha anteriormente indicada a razón de la tasa pactada de 4.00% de cualquier pago que éste en mora por más de quince (15) días desde la fecha de su vencimiento, más una suma equivalente a $12,699.00, por concepto de costas, gastos y
honorarios de abogado, más cualquier otra suma que resulte por cualesquiera otros adelantos que se hayan hecho la demandante, en virtud de las disposiciones de la escritura de hipoteca y del Pagaré hipotecario. Para más información, a las personas interesadas se les notifica que los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado, estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal, durante las horas laborables.
Este EDICTO DE SUBASTA, se publicará en los lugares públicos correspondientes y en un periódico de circulación general en la jurisdicción de Puerto Rico. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los referentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes. Se entenderá que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Se procederá a otorgar la correspondiente Escritura de Venta Judicial y el Alguacil pondrá en posesión judicial al nuevo dueño, si así se lo solicita dentro del término de veinte (20) días, de conformidad con las disposiciones de Ley. Si transcurren los referidos veinte (20) días, el tribunal podrá ordenar, sin necesidad de ulterior procedimiento, que se lleve a efecto el desalojo o lanzamiento del ocupante u ocupantes de la finca o de todos los que por orden o tolerancia del deudor la ocupen. Expedido en Caguas, Puerto Rico, a 21 de julio de 2023. ÁNGEL
GÓMEZ GÓMEZ, ALGUACIL PLACA #593. ***
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL
GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE BAYAMÓN
ORIENTAL BANK
Demandante V. EQUITY MORTGAGE
COMPANY; JOHN DOE & RICHARD ROE
Demandados
Civil Núm.: BY2023CV03431.
Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R., SS.
A: JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE, personas desconocidas que se designan con estos nombres ficticios, que puedan ser tenedor o tenedores, o puedan tener algún interés en el pagaré
hipotecario a que se hace referencia más adelante en el presente edicto, que se publicará una sola vez. Se les notifica que en la Demanda radicada en el caso de epígrafe se alega que el 17 de diciembre de 2003, se otorgó un pagaré a favor de Equity Mortgage Company, o a su orden, por la suma de $105,000.00 de principal, con intereses al 5.5% anual, con vencedero el 1 de enero de 2034, ante el Notario Francelis Ortiz Pagán. En garantía del pagaré antes descrito se otorgó la escritura de hipoteca número 49, en Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, el 17 de diciembre de 2003, ante el Notario Francelis Ortiz Pagán, inscrita al folio 99 del tomo 260 de Dorado, finca 13371, inscripción 2, Registro de la Propiedad de Bayamón, Sección IV. El inmueble gravado mediante la hipoteca antes descrita es la finca 13371 inscrita al folio 99 del tomo 260 de Dorado, Registro de la Propiedad de Bayamón, Sección IV. La obligación evidenciada por el pagaré antes descrito fue saldada en su totalidad. Dicho gravamen no ha podido ser cancelado por haberse extraviado el original del pagaré. El original del pagaré antes descrito no ha podido ser localizado, a pesar de las gestiones realizadas. Equity Mortgage Company es el acreedor que consta en el Registro de la Propiedad. Scotiabank, hoy Oriental Bank, fue último tenedor conocido del pagaré antes descrito. POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los 30 días de haber sido diligenciado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día del diligenciamiento. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial. pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación. responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente.
LCDO. JAVIER MONTALVO CINTRÓN RUA NÚM. 17682
DELGADO & FERNÁNDEZ, LLC
PO Box 11750, Fernández Juncos Station San Juan, Puerto Rico 00910-1750, Tel. (787) 274-1414 /
Fax (787) 764-8241
E-mail: jmontalvo@ delgadofernandez.com
Expedido bajo mi firma y sello
del Tribunal, hoy 27 de junio de 2023. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. VIVIAN J. SANABRIA, SUB-SECRETARIA.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE VEGA BAJA BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO
Demandante V. GLORIA OTERO CANO Y LA SUCESION DE JOSE TIBURCIO REYES NATER COMPUESTA POR SUS MIEMBROS FULANO DE TAL, FULANA DE TAL Y GLORIA OTERO CANO EN LA CUOTA VIUDAL USUFRUCTUARIA Demandado(a)
Civil: VB2019CV00421. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.
A: GLORIA OTERO CANO; LA SUCESION DE JOSE TIBURCIO REYES NATER COMPUESTA POR SUS MIEMBROS, FULANO DE TAL, FULANA DE TAL Y GLORIA OTERO CANO EN LA CUOTA VIUDAL USUFRUCTUARIA.
(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 6 de agosto de 2023, 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 2 de agosto de 2023. En Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, el 2 de agosto de 2023. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. MARITZA ROSARIO ROSARIO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN. LAS BRISAS PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CORP.
DEMANDANTE VS. BARRERAS, INC.
DEMANDADO CIVIL NÚM.: SJ2023CV05103.
SALON: 803. SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO E INCUMPLIMIENTO DE CONTRATO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R. ss.
A: BARRERAS, INC.
Edif. Barreras #602 Ave. Barbosa San Juan, PR 00917 Dirección postal: PO Box 366348 San Juan, PR 00936; 5234 Powers Ferry Rd. Atlanta, GA 30327 y 26 Calle Guayama San Juan, PR 00917.
POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los 30 días a partir de la publicación de este edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Representa a la parte demandante, la representación legal cuyo nombre, dirección y teléfono se consigna de inmediato:
BUFETE FORTUÑO & FORTUÑO FAS, C.S.P. LCDO. JUAN C. FORTUÑO FAS
RÚA NÚM.: 11416 PO BOX 3908, GUAYNABO, PR 00970
TEL: 787- 751-5290,
FAX: 787-751-6155a
E-MAIL: ejecuciones@fortuno-law.com
En San Juan, Puerto Rico, a 2 de agosto de 2023. Griselda Rodriguez Collado, Sec Regional. F/Iris Olivo Nuñez, Sec Serv a Sala.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Primera Instancia Sala
Superior de PONCE. ORIENTAL BANK
Demandante v. SUCESION DE ANGEL ANDRES SANTIAGO
RODRIGUEZ Y SUCESION DE LILLIAM
RODRIGUEZ ARROYO
T/C/C MILKA LILLIAM
RODRIGUEZ T/C/C MIRTA
LILLIAM RODRIGUEZ
ARROYO T/C/C MILTA
LILLIAM RODRIGUEZ, COMPUESTAS POR
SUS HEREDEROS CONOCIDOS ANA
MARILYS SANTIAGO
RODRIGUEZ, ANGELO
SANTIAGO RODRIGUEZ; SUCESION DE CARMEN
LILLIAM SANTIAGO
RODRIGUEZ; FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS Y/O
PARTES CON INTERES EN DICHAS SUCESIONES
Demandado(a)
Civil Núm. PO2022CV00478
(406). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO, EJECUCION DE HIPOTECA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.
A: FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS Y/O
PARTES CON INTERES DE LA SUCESION DE ANGEL ANDRES
SANTIAGO RODRIGUEZ, SUCESION DE LILLIAM
RODRIGUEZ ARROYO
T/C/C MILKA LILLIAM
RODRIGUEZ T/C/C MIRTA
LILLIAM RODRIGUEZ
ARROYO T/C/C MILTA
LILLIAM RODRIGUEZ Y LA SUCESION DE CARMEN LILLIAM
SANTIAGO RODRIGUEZ
LOTE #71 CALLE
TRINITARIA COMUNIDAD
CRISTINA JUANA DIAZ, PR 00795
DIRECCIÓN
POSTAL:
HC-5 BOX 5473 JUANA
DIAZ, PR 00795
P/C LCDO. JUAN C.
FORTUNO FAS PO BOX 3908
GUAYNABO, PR 00970
(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 1 de agosto de 2023, 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 3 de agosto de 2023. PONCE, Puerto Rico, el 3 de agosto de 2023.
CARMEN G. TIRU QUIÑONES, Secretario(a). f/ MARIELY FÉLIX RIVERA , Secretario(a) Auxiliar.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA
CENTRO JUDICIAL DE MAYAGÜEZ SALA SUPERIOR ORIENTAL BANK
COMO AGENTE DE SERVICIO DE THE MONEY HOUSE, INC.
Demandante Vs.
Demandados
Civil Núm.: MZ2022CV00959.
Sala: 207. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA (VÍA ORDINARIA). EDICTO DE SUBASTA. El Alguacil que suscribe por la presente CERTIFICA, ANUNCIA y hace CONSTAR: Que en cumplimiento de un Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que le ha sido dirigido al Alguacil que suscribe por la Secretaría del TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE MAYAGÜEZ, SALA SUPERIOR, en el caso de epígrafe procederá a vender en pública subasta al mejor postor en efectivo, cheque certificado en moneda legal de los Estados Unidos de América el 5 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2023, A LAS 11:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en su oficina sita en el local que ocupa en el edificio del TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA
CENTRO JUDICIAL DE MAYAGÜEZ, SALA SUPERIOR, todo derecho, título e interés que tenga la parte demandada de epígrafe en el inmueble de su propiedad que ubica en: BARRIO SANTANA, #29 (LOT 1)
CALLE SAN MIGUEL, SABANA GRANDE, PUERTO RICO 00637 y que se describe a continuación: RUSTICA: Solar marcado en el plano con el #1, compuesto de 674.63 metros cuadrados. Radica en el barrio Santana del término municipal de Sabana Grande, Puerto
Rico. Mide al NORTE, 42.65 metros y colinda con el solar #2, a segregarse de la finca principal; SUR, en 41.90 metros; con terrenos de la Autoridad de Tierras de Puerto Rico; por el ESTE, en 18.92 metros con terrenos de la Autoridad de Tierras de Puerto Rico, donde actualmente está construido el caserío José A. Castillo y por el OESTE, en 13.00 metros con la parcela de terreno cedida para uso público que la separa de la calle San Miguel. ENCLAVA: Una casa de concreto, con piso de loseta y ventanas del frente de la casa en cristal y las demás en metal. Mide 34’ de frente, incluyendo la marquesina por 32’ de fondo. Consta de sala, comedor, tres cuartos de dormitorios, un baño y balcón, con valor de $10,000.00. Según escritura #436, otorgada en Mayagüez, el 30 de noviembre de 1974, ante Andrés Ruiz, Junior, inscrito al folio 284 del tomo 134 de Sabana Grande, inscripción 2da. La propiedad antes relacionada consta inscrita al Folio 283 del Tomo 134 de Sabana Grande, finca número 7121, Registro de la Propiedad de San Germán. El tipo mínimo para la primera subasta del inmueble antes relacionado, será el dispuesto en la Escritura de Hipoteca, es decir la suma de $63,426.87. Si no hubiere remate ni adjudicación en la primera subasta del inmueble mencionado, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA en las oficinas del Alguacil que suscribe el día 12 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2023, A LAS 11:00 DE LA MAÑANA. En la segunda subasta que se celebre servirá de tipo mínimo las dos terceras partes (2/3) del precio pactado en la primera subasta, o sea la suma de $42,284.58. Si tampoco hubiere remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA en las oficinas del Alguacil que suscribe el día 19 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2023, A LAS 11:00 DE LA MAÑANA. Para la tercera subasta servirá de tipo mínimo la mitad (1/2) del precio pactado para el caso de ejecución, o sea, la suma de $31,713.44. La hipoteca a ejecutarse en el caso de epígrafe fue constituida mediante la escritura de hipoteca número 150 otorgada en Ponce, Puerto Rico, el día 2 de diciembre de 2017, ante la Notario Dennise M. Llorens Alicea, según la inscripción Octava (8va), y modificada en cuanto a su principal que será de $63,426.87; en cuanto a su pago mensual de principal e interés será por la cantidad de $271.71; en cuanto a su vencimiento que será el primero (1ro) mayo de 2051, en cuanto a los costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado que serán $6,342.68 y en cuanto al tipo mínimo en
DO PRIMERA, SEGUNDA Y TERCERA SUBASTA. El Alguacil que suscribe, funcionario del Tribunal de Carolina, Puerto Rico, por la presente anuncia y hace saber al público en general que en cumplimiento con la Sentencia dictada en este caso con fecha 31 de marzo de 2017, y según Orden y Mandamiento del 12 de julio de 2023 librado por este honorable Tribunal, procederé a vender en pública subasta al mejor postor, y por dinero en efectivo o cheque certificado a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal con todo título derecho y/o interés de la parte demandada sobre la propiedad que se describe a continuación: URBANA: HORI-
ZONTAL PROPERTY: number
Four Hundred Eight. Residential apartment with an irregular shape located at the fourth floor of Baldorioty Towers, Tower no. I, (Mundo Feliz, Tower no. I), located in Hato de Cangrejos
Arriba Ward of the municipality of Carolina, Puerto Rico, facing Baldorioty de Castro Avenue, said apartment with an area of approximately one thousand one hundred twenty point sixty one square feet, equivalent to one hundred four point fourteen square meters, and its boundaries are as follows: by the NORTH, in a distance of thirty nine feet zero inches equivalent to eleven point eighty eight meters with common corridor and ventilation shafts, separated by walls and the entrance door, in a distance of five feet five inches with common stair number two separated by bearing wall; by the SOUTH, in a distance of forty four feet five inches, equivalent to thirteen point fifty three meters with exterior space separated by walls and balcony’s railing; by the EAST, in a distance of eight zero inches with stair number two and in sixteen feet eleven inches with exterior space separated by bearing and in five feet zero inches with exterior space, separated by balcony’s railing; by the WEST, in a distance of twenty nine feet eleven inches equivalent to nine point eleven meters with apartment four hundred ten separated by bearing wall. To this apartment belongs; parking space number one hundred thirteen. Las demás dependencias del apartamento se describen en el documento. FINCA NÚMERO:
20,279, inscrita al folio 78 del tomo 523 de Carolina, sección I de Carolina. DIRECCIÓN FÍSICA: BALDORIOTY TOWER NO. 1 (COND. MUNDO FELIZ, TOWER NO. 1), APT. 408, CAROLINA PR 00979. Se anuncia por medio de este edicto que la PRIMERA SUBASTA habrá de celebrarse el día 7 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2023, A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en mi oficina de la sala de Alguaci-
les que sita en el edificio que ocupa el Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala Superior de Carolina. Siendo ésta la primera subasta que se celebrará en este caso, será el precio mínimo aceptable como oferta en la Primera Subasta, eso es el tipo mínimo pactado en la Escritura de Hipoteca para la propiedad, la suma de $126,350.00. De no haber remanente o adjudicación en esta primera subasta por dicha suma mínima, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 14 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2023, A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en el mismo lugar antes señalado en la cual el precio mínimo serán dos terceras (2/3) partes del tipo mínimo pactado en la Escritura de Hipoteca para la propiedad, la suma de $84,233.33. De no haber remanente o adjudicación en esta segunda subasta por el tipo mínimo indicado en el párrafo anterior, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA en el mismo lugar antes señalado el día 21 DE SEPTIEMBRE
DE 2023, A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en la cual el tipo mínimo aceptable como oferta será la mitad (1/2) del precio mínimo pactado en la Escritura de Hipoteca para la propiedad, la suma de $63,175.00. El Honorable Tribunal dictó Sentencia In Rem, declarando Con Lugar la demanda al incumplir la parte demandada con los términos del contrato hipotecario y ordenando la venta en pública subasta del inmueble antes descrito. Se dispone que una vez celebrada la subasta y vendido el inmueble relacionado, el alguacil pondrá en posesión judicial a los nuevos dueños dentro del término de veinte (20) días a partir de la celebración de la Subasta. Si transcurren los referidos veinte (20) días, el tribunal podrá ordenar, sin necesidad de ulterior procedimiento, que se lleve a efecto el desalojo o lanzamiento del ocupante u ocupantes de la finca o de todos los que por orden o tolerancia del demandado/deudor la ocupen. El Alguacil de este Tribunal efectuará el lanzamiento de los ocupantes de ser necesario. Si la subasta es adjudicada a un tercero y luego se deja sin efecto, el tercero a favor de quién se adjudicó la subasta solo tendrá derecho a la devolución del monto consignado más no tendrá derecho a entablar recurso o reclamo adicional alguno (judicial o extrajudicial) contra el demandante y/o el acreedor y/o inversionista, dueño pagaré y/o su abogado. Si se anula la venta, el comprador tendrá derecho a la devolución del depósito de la venta judicial menos los honorarios y costos incurridos en el proceso de venta judicial. No tendrá ningún otro recurso contra el acreedor hipotecario ejecutan-
te ni la representación legal de éste. Por la presente, también se notifica e informa a Fulano de Tal y Sutano de Tal, personas desconocidas que puedan tener derechos en la propiedad o título objeto de este edicto. La Venta en Pública Subasta de la referida propiedad se verificará libre de toda carga y gravamen posterior que afecte la mencionada finca, a cuyo efecto se notifica y se hace saber la fecha, hora y sitio de la Primera, Segunda y Tercera Subasta, si eso fuera necesario, a los efectos de cualquier persona o personas con algún interés puedan comparecer a la celebración de dicha Subasta. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes. Se entenderá que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento del caso de epígrafe están disponibles en la Secretaría de este Tribunal durante horas laborables y para la concurrencia de los licitadores expido el presente Edicto que se publicará en un periódico de circulación diaria en toda la Isla de Puerto Rico por espacio dos (2) semanas y por lo menos una vez por semana y se fijará, además, en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Alcaldía y la Colecturía de Rentas Internas del Municipio donde se celebrará la Subasta y en la Colecturía más cercana del lugar de la residencia de la parte demandada. EN TESTIMONIO DE LO CUAL, expido el presente que firmo y sello, hoy día 21 de julio de 2023. HÉCTOR L. PEÑA RODRÍGUEZ, ALGUACIL, SALA SUPERIOR DE CAROLINA.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA
TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE CAROLINA
SUCN. RUBEN
RODRÍGUEZ RODRÍGUEZ
Y SUCN. MARTA TORRES
RIOS REPRESENTADA
POR RUBÉN RODRÍGUEZ TORRES, MELVIN
RODRÍGUEZ TORRES
Y AMINTA RODRÍGUEZ TORRES
Demandante V. FULANO Y SUTANO DE TAL
Demandado(a)
Civil: Núm. TJ2023CV00123.
401. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO.
NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. A: FULANO Y SUTANO DE TAL.
(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 2 de AGOSTO de 2023, 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 3 de AGOSTO de 2023. En CAROLINA, Puerto Rico, el 3 DE AGOSTO de 2023. MARILYN APONTE RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA. KEILA GARCÍA SOLÍS, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE MAYAGÜEZ
ROBERTO PAGAN ORTIZ, TAMBIEN CONOCIDO POR ROBERTO PAGAN, REPRESENTADO POR SU APODERADA MARIA ANTONIA MARTINEZ DE JESUS Demandante V. JESUS SERRANO BURGOS, SUCESION DE JESUS SERRANO BURGOS, COMPUESTA POR FULANO Y FULANA DE TAL, X, Y, Z Demandado(a)
Civil: MZ2021CV01642. Sobre: LIQUIDACIÓN DE GANANCIALES, PARTICIÓN DE HERENCIA, LIQUIDACIÓN DE COMUNIDAD Y ACCIÓN CIVIL. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.
A: JESUS SERANO DE JESUS Y SUCESION DE JESUS SERRANO BURGOS COMPUESTA POR FULANO Y FULANA DE TAL, X, Y, Z. (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 12 de julio de 2023, 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 03 de agosto de 2023. En Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, el 03 de agosto de 2023. LCDA. NORMA G. SANTANA IRIZARRY, SECRETARIA. JOSSIE BOBE RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE TOA ALTA ESTHER
RAMIREZ COLON Demandante V. FREDDIE TORRES
ROSARIO, FERNANDO TORRES ROSARIO Y LA SUCN DE DANIEL TORRES ROSARIO COMPUESTA POR SUS HIJOS TIFFANY VANESSA
TORRES IGLIO, FRIANA MARIEL TORRES
NARVAEZ, HIRAN DANIEL TORRES NARVAEZ Y SU VIUDA MARIEL NARVAEZ SANCHEZ, FULANO DE TAL Y FULANA DÉ
TAL Y FULANA DE TAL COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS Demandado(a)
Civil: TA2021CV00612. Sobre: LIQUIDACIÓN DE COMUNIDAD HEREDITARIA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.
A: FERNANDO TORRES ROSARIO, FULANO DE TAL Y FULANA DE TAL COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESION DANIEL TORRES ROSARIO, ARIANA MARIEL TORRES
ROSARIO. (Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 20 de julio de 2023, 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 21 de julio de 2023. En Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, el 21 de julio de 2023. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. MARITZA BONILLA HERNÁNDEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE BAYAMÓN ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC, COMO AGENTE DE FAIRWAY ACQUISITIONS FUND, LLC
Demandante Vs. ERIKA M. PADILLA RIVERA
Demandado Civil Núm.: BQ2022CV00128. Salón: 403. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO ORDINARIO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.
A: ERIKA M. PADILLA RIVERA - CARR 807 KM 5.5 SÓTANO 2 BO. DOS BOCAS I, COROZAL, PR 00783 / HC 4 BOX 5813, BARRANQUITAS, PR 00794.
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 ale-
gación 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 a los abogados de la parte demandante, el Lcdo. Kevin Sánchez Campanero cuyas direcciones son: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico 009368518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección kevin.sanchez@ orf-law.com, y a la dirección notificaciones@orf-law.com. EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en Bayamón, Puerto Rico, hoy día 06 de junio de 2023. En Bayamón, Puerto Rico, el 06 de junio de 2023. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. KATHERINE SANTIAGO RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA
AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL I.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE SAN JUAN ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC COMO AGENTE DE ACE ONE FUNDING, LLC
Parte Demandante Vs. JOSE A RODRIGUEZ FRANCO
Parte Demandada
Civil Núm.: SJ2023CV03616. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO.
A: JOSE A RODRIGUEZ FRANCO - COND EL ALCAZAR 500, CALLE VALCARCEL APT 5B, SAN JUAN PR 009233350.
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 remedió 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, Natalie Bonaparte Servera cuya dirección es: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-8518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección natalie.bonaparte@orf-law.com y a la dirección notificaciones@ orf-law.com. EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, hoy día 7 de julio de 2023. En SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, 7 de julio de 2023. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA. YADIRA DÍAZ GONZÁLEZ, SECRETARIA DE SERVICIOS A SALA.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE MAYAGUEZ.
JAMES JOSEPH FOX
ACEVEDO
DEMANDANTE vs. DOLORES NADA FREYRE, ET.ALS
Demandada
CIVIL NUM: MZ2023CV00801. SALA: 307. SOBRE: USUCAPTON (PRESCRIPCION ADQUISITIVA). EDICTO.
A Dolores Nadal Freyre, Félix Nadal Freyre, Dolores Martínez Nadal, Salvador Nada) Freyre, Carmen Guadalupe Barletta Caballero, Carmen Nadal Freyre, Carmen María Nadal Carrión, Daniel Praxeder Quijano, José Eugenio Nadal Garnier, Eugenio Baldomero Nadal Garnier, Antonio Santos Nadal Garnier, Dolores Nadal Martínez, Esteban Nadal Martínez, Dolores Nada) Grao, Ramon Antonio Nadal Grao, José Nicolás Nada] Grao, Magdalena Martina Nadal Grao, Rafael de los Santos Nadal Grao, Altagracia Nadal Gran, Teresa Beatriz Nada) Gran, Marta Esperanza Nada) Rosado, Estebanía Nada), María Salomé Ramírez Nadal, Estebanía Ramírez Nadal, Herminia Ramírez Nadal, Luis Ramírez Nadal, Gloria Ramírez Nada), Petra Ramírez
The
Nada), Pedro Ramírez Nada), Iris María Ramírez Charneco, Irene Charneco
González, Sociedad De San Vicente de Paúl, Asociación de Señoras de San Vicente de Paúl, Hospital San Antonio, Josefa Deriux, Juan Deriux, Catalina Salort de Borria, Carmen Arroyo de Borrero, Angelica Galvez y los Demandados desconocidos; John Doe, Richard Doe, Juan del Pueblo, Sociedad Juan Del Pueblo, Jane Roe, Jane Doe, Hospital del Pueblo.
Por la Presente se les emplaza para que presenten su alegación responsiva dentro del término de TREINTA (30) DIAS siguientes a la publicación de este emplazamiento por Edicto que será publicado una sola vez en un periódico de circulación diaria general en la Isla de Puerto Rico. Usted(es) deberá(n) 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 de este Tribunal de Primera Instancia y notificando copia de la misma al Ledo. Luis Roberto Santos Montalvo con oficinas localizadas en Calle Concordia 256, Bo El Seco, Edificio Oil Energy, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, 00680; teléfono (787) 833-5466, y cuya dirección postal es P.O. Box 1809, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico 00681. 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 por la parte demandante en la Demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. EXPEDIDO, bajo la firma de este Tribunal, en Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, hoy día 1 de agosto de 2023.
Lcda. Norma G. Santana Irizarry, Secretaria Regional, Centro Judicial de Mayagüez. f/Rebeca Medina Figueroa, Secretaria Auxiliar del Tribunal I.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL
GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRI-
BUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE CAROLINA SALA SUPERIOR DE CAROLINA
BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO
Demandante V.
Demandados
Civil Núm.: CA2022CV01992. Sala: 401. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA “IN REM”. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. AVISO DE SUBASTA. El que suscribe, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Carolina, Carolina, Puerto Rico, hago saber, a la parte demandada y al PÚBLICO EN GENERAL: Que en cumplimiento del Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia expedido el día 21 de julio de 2023, por la Secretaría del Tribunal, procederé a vender y venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor la propiedad que ubica y se describe a continuación: URBANA: Parcela de terreno marcada con el número tres (3) del Bloque “J” de la Urbanización Ciudad Central II, localizada en el Barrio San Antón del Municipio de Carolina, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de 267.31 metros cuadrados, colindando por el NOROESTE, con una distancia de 22.75 metros, con solar número cuatro (4) del Bloque “J”; por el SUROESTE, en una distancia de 22.75 metros, con solar número dos (2) del Bloque “J”; por el SURESTE, en una distancia de 11.75 metros, con acera que la separa de la calle número siete (7); y por el NOROESTE (así surge), en una distancia de 11.75 metros, con solar dedicado a parque. Enclava casa que contiene sala, comedor, cocina, baño y área exterior para “laundry”. Afecta por su colindancia Sureste con servidumbre a favor de la Puerto Rico Telephone Company. Inscrita en la finca número 54,713, al folio 84 del tomo 1,275 de Carolina. Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección II de Carolina. La propiedad está ubicada, según pagaré, en: #3 Bloque J, Urb. Ciudad Central II, Barrio San Antón, Carolina, Puerto Rico. Además, el Alguacil que suscribe, hago saber a todos los acreedores que tengan inscritos o anotados sus derechos sobre los bienes hipotecados con posterioridad a la inscripción del crédito del ejecutante, o de los acreedores de cargas o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuesto a la hipoteca ejecutada y las personas interesadas en, o con derecho a exigir el cumplimiento de instrumentos negociables garantizados hipotecariamente
con posterioridad al crédito ejecutado, siempre que surjan de la certificación registral, para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si les convenga o satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, costas y honorarios de abogados asegurados, quedando entonces subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante: Aviso de Demanda de fecha 21 de junio de 2022, expedido en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Carolina, en el Caso Civil número CA2022CV019992, por concepto de Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca, por la Vía Ordinaria, seguido por el Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, versus José Víctor Rivera Rivera y su esposa Mildred Soto Ortiz y la Sociedad Legal de Bienes Gananciales compuesto por ambos, por la suma de $76,753.13 más intereses y otras sumas, anotado el día 10 de agosto de 2022, al tomo Karibe de Carolina, finca número 54,713, Anotación A. El producto de la subasta se destinará a satisfacer al demandante hasta donde alcance, la SENTENCIA dictada a su favor el día 2 de junio de 2023, archivada en autos y notificada el 5 de junio de 2023, y publicada en periódico de circulación general, “The San Daily Star”, el 9 de junio de 2023, en el presente caso civil, a saber la suma de $76,753.13 por concepto de principal, más los intereses sobre dicha suma a razón del 5.625%, anual desde el 1ro de julio de 2019, hasta su completo pago, más las primas de seguro hipotecario, recargos por demora y cualesquiera otras cantidades pactadas en la escritura de primera hipoteca, desde la fecha antes mencionada y hasta la fecha del pago total de las mismas, más la suma de $10,350.00 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado; y demás créditos accesorios garantizados hipotecariamente (“Sentencia”). La adjudicación se hará al mejor postor, quien deberá consignar el importe de su oferta en el acto mismo de la adjudicación, en efectivo (moneda del curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América), giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del alguacil del Tribunal. LA PRIMERA SUBASTA se llevará a efecto el día 18 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2023 A LAS
9:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en la Oficina de Alguaciles de Subastas del Tribunal de Carolina, Carolina, Puerto Rico. Que el precio mínimo fijado para la PRIMERA SUBASTA es de $103,500.00. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una SEGUNDA SUBASTA la misma se llevará a efecto el día 25 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2023 A LAS 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en la Oficina de Alguaciles de Subastas del
Tribunal de Carolina, Carolina, Puerto Rico. El precio mínimo para la SEGUNDA SUBASTA será de $69,000.00, equivalentes a dos terceras (2/3) partes del tipo mínimo estipulado para la PRIMERA subasta. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una TERCERA SUBASTA la misma se llevará a efecto el día 2 DE OCTUBRE DE 2023 A LAS 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en la Oficina de Alguaciles de Subastas del Tribunal de Carolina, Carolina, Puerto Rico. El precio mínimo para la TERCERA SUBASTA será de $51,750.00, equivalentes a la mitad (1/2) del tipo mínimo estipulado para la PRIMERA subasta. Si se declarase desierta la tercera subasta, se adjudicará la finca a favor del acreedor por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada si ésta es igual o menor que el monto del tipo de la tercera subasta, si el Tribunal lo estima conveniente; se abonará dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si esta es mayor, todo ello a tenor con lo dispone el Articulo 104 de la Ley Núm. 210 del 8 de diciembre de 2015 conocida como “Ley del Registro de la Propiedad Inmueble del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico”. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquiere libre de toda carga y gravamen que afecte la mencionada finca según el Artículo 102, inciso 6. Una vez confirmada la venta judicial por el Honorable Tribunal, se procederá a otorgar la correspondiente escritura de venta judicial y se pondrá al comprador en posesión física del inmueble de conformidad con las disposiciones de Ley. Para conocimiento de la parte demandada y de toda aquella persona o personas que tengan interés inscrito con posterioridad a la inscripción del gravamen que se está ejecutando, y para conocimiento de todos los licitadores y el público en general, el presente Edicto se publicará por espacio de dos (2) semanas consecutivas, con un intervalo de por lo menos siete días entre ambas publicaciones, en un diario de circulación general en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico y se fijará además en tres (3) lugares públicos del Municipio en que ha de celebrarse dicha venta, tales como la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía. Se les informa, por último, que: a. Que los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la secretaría del tribunal durante las horas laborables. b. Que se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes. Se entenderá, que el rematante los acepta y queda
Wednesday, August 9, 2023
subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. EXPIDO, el presente EDICTO, en Carolina, Puerto Rico, hoy día 02 de agosto de 2023. GRETCHEN M. JEREZ SEDA, ALGUACIL, DIVISIÓN DE SUBASTAS, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA SUPERIOR DE CAROLINA.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA MUNICIPAL DE PONCE ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC COMO AGENTE DE FAIRWAY ACQUISITIONS FUND LLC
Demandante Vs ZYNNIA RIVERA MERCADO
Demandado
Civil Núm.: PO2023CV00304. Salón: 301. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO ORDINARIO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.
A: ZYNNIA RIVERA MERCADO.
P/C LCDA NATALIE BONAPARTE SERVERA.
PO BOX 71418, SAN JUAN PR 00936-8518. (Nombre de las partes a las que se les notifica la sentencia por edicto)
EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que 28 de JULIO de 2023, 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 representado 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 1 DE AGOSTO DE 2023. En Ponce, Puerto Rico, el 1 DE AGOSTO DE 2023. CARMEN TIRÚ QUIÑONES, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. SANDRA GONZÁLEZ RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Pri-
mera Instancia Sala Superior de San Juan.
BANCO POPULAR IDE
PUERTO RICO
Demandante VS. NANCY ELIZABETH GUARDARRAMA
RIVERA T/C/C NANCY
E. GUARDARRAMA
RIVERA T/C/C NANCY
GUARDARRAMA
RIVERA; SENAIDA FELIZ DELGADO
Demandado (a)
Civil Núm.: SJ2023CV03363. Sala: 604. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO, EJECUCION DE HIPOTECA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTOS.
A: NANCY ELIZABETH
GUARDARRAMA
RIVERA T/C/C NANCY
E. GUARDARRAMA
RIVERA T/C/C NANCY
GUARDARRAMA
RIVERA; SENAIDA FELIZ DELGADO
EL SECRETARIO (A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 1 de agosto de 2023, 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 !a Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los diez (10) días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a ios 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 3 de agosto de 2023. En San Juan, Puerto Rico, el 3 de agosto de 2023. GRISELDA RODRIGUEZ COLLADO, Secretario (a) Regional. F/ MARTHA ALMODOVAR CABRERA, Secretario (a) Auxiliar.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN
BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO
Parte Demandante Vs. LA SUCESIÓN DE LYDIA
ESTHER AYALA AYALA T/C/C LYDIA E. AYALA AYALA COMPUESTA
POR FULANO DE Y MENGANO DE TAL, POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; LA SUCESIÓN DE ALFONSO MARTÍNEZ BARRETO COMPUESTA POR BUTANO Y PERENCEJO DE TAL, POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS ROBERTO MARTINEZ BARRETO
Parte Demandada Civil Núm.: SJ2022CV04795. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA - IN REM. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.
A: LA SUCESIEON DE LYDIA ESTHER AYALA AYALA T/C/C LYDIA E. AYALA AYALA COMPUESTA POR FULANO Y MENGANO DE TAL, POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; LA SUCESIÓN DE ALFONSO MARTÍNEZ BARRETO COMPUESTA
POR SUTANO Y PERENCEJO DE TAL, POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; ROBERTO MARTINEZ BARRETO.
LA SECRETARIA que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 3 de agosto de 2023, 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 2023. En San Juan, Puerto Rico, el 4 de agosto de 2023. Griselda Rodríguez Collado, Secretaria Regional. Elsa Magaly Candelario Cabrera, Secretaria Auxiliar Del Tribunal I.
LEGAL
SANTIAGO CRESPO, THE MORTGAGE HOUSE INC., JOHN DOE
Demandadas
Civil Núm.: CG2023CV01781. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO POR LA VÍA JUDICIAL. Sala: 701. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, S.S.
A: THE MORTGAGE HOUSE INC. Y JOHN DOE COMO TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS DEL PAGARÉ a favor de The Mortgage House Inc., o a su orden, por la suma principal de $66,400.00, intereses al 4.125%, vencedero el día 1 de enero de 2041, constituida mediante la escritura número 56, otorgada en Juncos, Puerto Rico, el día 14 de diciembre de 2010, ante el notario Abelardo O. Dauhajre Dávila, e inscrita al folio 139 del tomo 1,749 de Caguas, finca número 27,107, Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Primera Sección de Caguas. Por la presente se le emplaza y notifica que debe contestar la demanda incoada en su contra dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación del presente edicto. 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: httrs://unired.ramajudicial. pr/sumac/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio. Si usted deja de presentar y notificar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el Tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la Demanda, o cualquier otro, si el Tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Los abogados de la parte demandante son.
ABOGADOS DE LA PARTE
DEMANDANTE:
Lcdo. Reggie Díaz Hernández
RUANúm.: 16,393
BERMUDEZ & DIAZ LLP
Suite 209 500 Calle De La Tanca
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA
SALA DE CAGUAS
BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO
Demandante V. JOSÉ EDGARDO
San Juan, Puerto Rico 00901
Tel.: (787) 523-2670
Fax: (787) 523-2664
rdíazbdprIaw.com
Expido este edicto bajo mi firma y el sello de este Tribunal, hoy 1ro de agosto de 2023. Lisilda Martínez Agosto, Secretaria General. Ana H. Lugo Muñoz, Secretaria Auxiliar.
The past and the future blended seamlessly Saturday at Camden Yards in Baltimore, alternate visions of glory trimmed in orange and black. Between innings, the scoreboard showed clips from the Orioles’ last championship clincher, 40 years ago this fall. When the game resumed, the current players did a sharp imitation.
Flawless defense, stingy pitching, clutch hitting, heady baserunning. A sold-out crowd. Fireworks. A splash zone in the outfield stands — the Bird Bath — to hose down fans after big hits. Another win for the best team in the American League.
Oriole Magic, revisited.
“They remind me a lot of when I came up, with Eddie Murray and Rich Dauer and Mike Flanagan and Dennis Martinez,” said Scott McGregor, the pitcher who closed out the 1983 World Series against Philadelphia and reunited with his former teammates last weekend. “We all came up out of a very successful system, and winning is addictive. Once you get it, you grab ahold of it. And they’re doing that.”
After a weekend sweep of the moribund New York Mets, the Orioles stood at 70-42, atop the AL. They are doing it with a $70 million roster — only Pittsburgh and Oakland spend less — stocked with blossoming prospects, value-priced imports and a few regulars under 30 years old who weathered a deep rebuild.
“It happened a little faster than I thought, honestly,” said first baseman Ryan Mountcastle, whom Baltimore selected out of high school in the first round eight years ago. “From being the worst team in baseball in ’21 to possibly being in the playoffs the next year was a huge step in the right direction. And this year we’ve carried it over.”
The Orioles — who were 83-79 last season and missed the playoffs by three games — were once the standard for consistent excellence. Over 20 seasons through 1983, they won three championships, six AL pennants and 100 more regular-season games than any other franchise.
In the four decades since, the Orioles have never returned to the World Series and rank 26th of 30 teams in winning percentage, at .468. The worst of it came
recently, with at least 108 losses in each of the three full seasons from 2018-21. No team since the expansion Mets of the early 1960s had endured such epic futility in such a short period.
General manager Mike Elias, a former assistant with the Houston Astros, took over after the 2018 season, inheriting a team that had gone 47-115. With a threadbare front office and farm system — and no international scouting presence — he initiated a teardown to rival the one that helped make the Astros a powerhouse.
“There was absolutely, in my opinion, no other way to fix the Orioles given where the organization was — and to fix them quickly — than to do what we did, which was concentrate on just pulling young talent in from every direction possible,” Elias said. “I don’t think anything else would have worked. I definitely don’t think anything else would have brought the team to competing for first place within five years.”
A new manager, Brandon Hyde, helped develop a few promising young players — including Mountcastle and outfielders Austin Hays and Anthony Santander — while Elias built a new infrastructure with the backing of John Angelos, the team’s managing partner. With the worst teams allowed to spend the most money on amateur talent, there was little incentive to win in the majors.
“They were super process-based and
I was trying to stay that way also, but it’s tough when you’re having to answer questions every night on why you lost and you can’t be 100% honest about some things sometimes,” Hyde said. “So Mike having patience with me, that’s what I appreciate the most.”
Now, Hyde leads a balanced and versatile roster, with high-impact switchhitters like Santander and catcher Adley Rutschman and athleticism that shows up routinely on the field and the bases. The team is tied for 11th in the majors in onbase plus slugging (.743) and tied for 12th in ERA (4.04), but it seems to be more than the sum of its parts.
“In spring training you could see how many guys were just professionals already — and it’s really rare for young guys to be like that and be ready, mentally, for the big leagues,” said veteran starter Kyle Gibson, whose one-year, $10 million contract was Baltimore’s largest investment last winter.
He added: “And that’s really half the battle. I mean, all these guys are physically gifted; they wouldn’t be here if they weren’t. But all the intangibles you can’t really quantify — understanding the game, being able to adjust to the speed of it — can hold people back, and I feel like player development does a really good job of getting these guys ready.”
Rutschman, the first overall pick in the 2019 draft, is the rare catcher who
bats leadoff; he ranks among the league leaders in walks and on-base percentage. Gunnar Henderson, a second-round pick in that draft, stars at both shortstop and third base, making good on his preseason ranking as the consensus top prospect in baseball.
“I feel like this is exactly what we should be doing, because I’ve been around a lot of these guys and I know what they’re capable of,” Henderson said. “And I feel like we added some pieces and they’ve been flourishing here.”
The most recent addition, right-handed starter Jack Flaherty, should help the Orioles navigate their biggest challenge: cobbling together enough quality innings before turning the game over to overwhelming relievers Yennier Canó and Félix Bautista — and keeping that tandem fresh, too.
Flaherty, who looked strong in his Orioles debut last week in Toronto, arrived from the St. Louis Cardinals through an Aug. 1 trade for three prospects. Elias, who also added right-handed reliever Shintaro Fujinami in a July deal with the Oakland A’s, made both trades while protecting all of the team’s best prospects. The Orioles have a league-high eight prospects on MLB.com’s top 100 list, led by Class AA shortstop Jackson Holliday, the first pick in last year’s draft, at No. 1 overall.
“I don’t think we’re being dogmatic about it; we wouldn’t rule out those types of trades,” Elias said. “Where we’re coming from is, we’re going to have to be scouting- and player development-oriented with a lot of homegrown players. Because of the market size, we’re going to have to be pretty measured if we decide to expend elite prospects for very shortterm help.”
The Orioles have just one player, catcher James McCann, signed past this season, though young players like Henderson are under club control. The hard questions will come soon enough, but for now the team is squarely in a honeymoon phase: bountiful present, boundless future, and a lot of affection to go around.
“The atmosphere is phenomenal,” Flaherty said. “Guys are playing together, they really love on each other — and they work, too. You just kind of feel like things are going to go right when you go out there every night.”
The day after slugging his 40th home run of the season — and leaving his pitching duties early because of a cramp in his right middle finger — Shohei Ohtani walked into the Los Angeles Angels clubhouse dressed, as always, in Southern California chic: flip-flops, navy shorts, black T-shirt and a backward black baseball cap.
Whether he expected to be here, that’s hard to say.
As the Angels came back to Anaheim for their first homestand after the Aug. 1 trading deadline, they were celebrating a successful trip to Detroit, Toronto and Atlanta that had revived hope in the team’s season. And more important, they returned with the face of the franchise still in tow.
Countless pundits had expected Ohtani, a free agent after this season, to be traded at the deadline, but nobody working at Angel Stadium seemed to think things would play out any other way than they did.
“We have a special player who is having a really unique, special year with a team that’s competitive,” general manager Perry Minasian said. “And for us not to give ourselves an opportunity to get better and go for it would have been, in my opinion, the wrong decision.”
Minasian added: “He’s somebody that we all love, somebody I love, and I hope he’s here for a long time.”
Whether Ohtani remains an Angel for two more months, or the rest of his career, is an open question. His free agency is expected to be among the wildest pursuits of a player in baseball history. Rather than bow out, the Angels kept him close while making a number of deadline moves in hopes of adding depth to their top-heavy club.
In adding starter Lucas Giolito, relievers Reynaldo López and Dominic Leone, first baseman-outfielder C.J. Cron and outfielder Randal Grichuk, the injury-decimated Angels, who stood three games back in the American League wild-card chase the morning of Aug. 1, believed they had strengthened themselves in their ongoing battle to make the playoffs for the first time since 2014.
The deadline moves also presented a good-faith gesture to Ohtani, whose words from two Septembers ago continue to echo loudly: He likes his team, loves its fans, but, above all, he just wants to win.
Outside the white lines, Ohtani, 29,
remains the game’s greatest enigma. He doesn’t say much, and he offers fewer clues regarding his life outside the game. He takes questions only after he pitches, which is every six days or so. Even then, it is in the tunnel outside the Angels’ clubhouse — one lone man and his interpreter backed up against a concrete wall, no sign of the personality they show away from reporters, short answers, little depth.
Angels officials stand sentry as he speaks, ready to cut off the first part of the interview scrum to transition to the Japanese media portion. Then they remain poised to cut that off as well so Ohtani can escape back into the protective cocoon of the clubhouse and the pureness of the baseball to which he passionately and fully devotes his life.
When he was done talking after last Thursday’s heartbreaking 5-3 loss to the Seattle Mariners, in which the Angels had been two outs away from victory, Ohtani retreated quietly to the chair in front of his locker, doing what many young people do after work has separated them from their devices for hours: Phone in his left hand, he stared intently at the screen as a large ice bag encased his right elbow. Ippei Mizuhara, his interpreter, sat cross-legged on the carpeted floor next to him as they decompressed from another day in Shoheiland.
That night’s game had produced yet another viral moment in a career full of them. Ohtani left the game as a pitcher after only
four innings and 59 pitches because of the cramp, but stayed in the game as a designated hitter and blasted an eighth-inning home run with an exit velocity of 107 mph.
“How do you do that?” Mark Gubicza, an Angels radio broadcaster and longtime pitcher, said. “It’s like watching Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky and Tiger Woods play baseball, all in one. He’s a freak. A cramp in your right hand and you still hit the ball 107 mph?”
In the midst of another staggering season, Ohtani was leading the majors in homers (40) through Monday, and was also leading in total bases (282), extra-base hits (66) and on-base plus slugging percentage (1.082). He was tied for the major league lead in triples (seven).
On the mound, he was leading the majors in lowest opponents’ batting average (.186). A second Most Valuable Player Award seems like a foregone conclusion.
His importance to the Angels is off the charts: He was leading the team, by a wide margin, in plate appearances (501) and innings pitched (124-2/3).
“He is mentally as strong as anyone I’ve ever been around,” manager Phil Nevin said.
By retaining him at the deadline, the Angels clung to what they feel is an important piece of rope tethering the two sides together. Rivals will line up on the freeagent market — the universal belief is that the Los Angeles Dodgers are retrenching this summer so they can throw all available
resources at Ohtani this winter — but the Angels have every intention of extending what has been a great relationship, even if it has not yet resulted in team success.
Nobody understands the overall value of Ohtani more than the Angels. Club officials feel his impact daily as they watch the throng of fans entering Angel Stadium. They see it in the lines outside the team store as Ohtani merchandise flies off the shelves, including his jerseys, which are the second most popular in baseball behind the Atlanta Braves’ Ronald Acuña Jr. And visible reminders are all around the stadium via advertisements for tires (Yokohama), probiotic beverages (Yakult), imaging products (Konica Minolta) and felines (Churu, “Japan’s No. 1 cat treat”).
The Angels had won 10 of 13 entering August, but after a pair of losses to Atlanta, a four-game sweep by the Mariners and a brutal late-inning collapse against San Francisco on Monday, the Angels had fallen to eight games back in the wild-card race. Ohtani had muscle cramps in three games over an eight-game stretch and guessed the culprit was “fatigue.” He had played in 112 of the Angels’ 114 games, and he had been the starting pitcher in 21 of them — this after he had led Japan to the gold medal in the World Baseball Classic this spring.
As is his custom, he addressed neither the trading deadline nor his future with the Angels after Thursday’s start. He spoke only of the game he had just played.
“Ideally, I wish I could have gone 100 pitches and saved the bullpen,” he said ruefully.
Still, he had reached base in all four plate appearances, swiped second to put himself in position to score the team’s first run and then smashed another epic homer, cramp or no cramp.
It was all part of the continuing, maddening pattern. The superlative Ohtani plays out of this world, and the flawed Angels remain stuck on the ground. As they hope and wait — and try to get better — his teammates have a front-row seat to a performance that has no true precedent in MLB history.
“While I’m smiling ear to ear and looking left and right, everyone else was like, ‘Yeah, it’s just what he does,’” Giolito, the newcomer, said of watching Ohtani hit a homer with a cramped hand. “I think everyone else is kind of used to it by now.”
He added, “But for me, it’s pretty special to watch and be on this side of it rather than on the other end.”
Even in the highest-resolution image, examined up close, there was not so much as a discernible sliver of daylight. The margin by which the United States was eliminated from the Women’s World Cup was so microscopic that it cannot be expressed in a unit of measurement the country fully recognizes.
A millimeter, a single millimeter, is no more than 0.04 inches, yet even that most slender gap can serve as the gossamer border between two realities. Such is the unspoken truth of sports, of course: The difference between triumph and disaster, delight and dismay, can be far thinner than we choose to pretend.
For the United States, there is some comfort in that. “It is tough to have your World Cup end by a millimeter,” Alyssa Naeher, the U.S. goalkeeper, said after her team’s loss to Sweden in a penalty shootout Sunday. It does not take an especially vivid imagination to envision how the outcome might have been different.
Had Naeher intercepted Lina Hurtig’s shot at a slightly different angle, maybe the spin would have carried the ball to safety. Had Hurtig struck her penalty more softly, or more firmly, maybe Naeher would have saved it more decisively. Granted a reprieve, maybe the United States would have gone on to win that game in the round of 16, the tournament, the crown. Maybe, maybe, maybe.
That solace, though, is an illusion, and so too is the idea that the United States was eliminated by a millimeter. It was not one penalty that ended its hopes of a third straight title and, in the process, drew the veil over a whole golden, glorious generation, no matter how tempting it might be to believe. This is another unspoken truth of sports: Moments do not exist in isolation.
There is a certain irony in the fact that it was against Sweden that the United States, so limp and insipid earlier in the tournament, started to show signs of life. Naomi Girma was imperious. Lindsey Horan was dynamic. Sophia Smith, Trinity Rodman and Lynn Williams were all, at various points, electric. There were glimpses, in Melbourne, Australia, of what this team might one day be.
But that should not disguise the shortcomings of what came before. The United States was only in position to be knocked out by Sweden because it had failed to beat both the Netherlands and — more troubling — Portugal in the group stage.
The United States, the two-time reigning champion and pretournament favorite and great superpower of women’s soccer, won only one game in Australia and New Zealand, and that was against Vietnam. It was not even supposed to be in Melbourne. It was meant to be in Sydney, playing the Group G runner-up, at a time that had been specially arranged so that it was not in the middle of the long American night or early in the morning.
The spin of the ball, the single millimeter, was the
culmination of a succession of failures, ones that can most immediately be traced to the last two weeks, but the roots of which stretch back not just months but years. To dismiss this disappointment as merely a cruel twist of fate, is to risk failing to learn from those failures, making them endemic.
It is not enough, for example, to point the finger of blame at the coach, Vlatko Andonovski. He will, most likely, be removed from his position before his contract expires at the end of the year, and it is hard to make a case for his retention. This is the worst performance a U.S. team has mustered at a World Cup. A price has to be paid.
But Andonovski is not the cause of the malaise. There are structural, systemic issues that have to be addressed, too. There are issues with the way the United States produces players, a fragmented system reliant on pay-to-play youth teams in disparate leagues, unattached to elite adult teams, feeding into the college system.
That was fine when the United States effectively had a monopoly on professionalized women’s soccer, before the major men’s teams of Europe and South America decided — and let’s not cast them as the good guys here, given how long it took — that maybe women might enjoy the chance to play the sport.
In an ecosystem in which the intellectual and financial weight of global soccer can be deployed to hothouse talented young players, the American approach is not so much lacking as a guarantee of failure. So, too, is the continued emphasis on physicality, rather than cunning, that such a system favors. It is not a coincidence that the United States was eliminated from the tournament when its one player of genuine invention, Rose Lavelle, was absent. Lavelle is the one player, after all, that her country simply cannot replace.
Nurturing talent, though, is just the first problem.
It is significant that Horan is the only member of Andonovski’s squad currently playing in Europe. Others, including Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan, have spent time there, but most have been drawn back to play in the surging National Women’s Soccer League.
The United States needs players competing against their rivals and peers in the Champions League, not only as a finishing school but as a way to better understand their relative strength. Smith, for example, is lavishly gifted, but is she more so than Lauren James of England, Aitana Bonmatí of Spain or Linda Caicedo of Colombia? Answering that question is crucial for understanding how to set expectations.
Most immediately, though, what is required is a generational shift. It is, as Rapinoe herself put it, a “sick joke” that her last act at a World Cup will be missing a penalty. She has already confirmed she will retire at the end of the NWSL season. There are others, though, who may have to be ushered into the autumn of their careers rather less willingly.
That is never a pain-free process, and it will be all the more agonizing because of all this team has achieved. Naeher, Morgan, Julie Ertz, Kelley O’Hara and Crystal Dunn — as well as the absent Becky Sauerbrunn — have all enjoyed distinguished, glittering careers, the final, glorious ambassadors of a generation that won two World Cups.
Moving on would always be difficult in a purely sporting sense. It is made all the more charged, though, because of what this team means in a cultural one. They are, rightly, revered as players but they are also admired because of the causes — equal pay, equal rights, the struggle against racism and misogyny and homophobia — that they have willingly adopted.
As Rapinoe has always acknowledged, though, the activism has to flow downstream from the sport. Winning, she said, is necessary because it is the precondition for people wanting to hear what you have to say. Victory has always been what allowed the U.S. players to speak their minds and to make their stands to the most people.
It follows, then, that when they are no longer almost a guarantee of winning — when they might, in some senses, make success less likely — then they cannot be protected for what they represent, for what they mean, rather than what they do. There comes a point when they have to be judged as athletes, not activists, and that means knowing when to say goodbye.
None of that would have been changed had Naeher managed to keep out Hurtig’s penalty, had the ball spun just out, had that microscopic difference worked in the Americans’ favor. This U.S. team was always coming to the end of its road. No matter where the ball landed, there was never any other reality than the one the United States finds itself in now, at the end of one era and the start of another.
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
Answers on page 38
Aries (Mar 21-April 20)
Your dreamy nature is going to be sparked today and you may take an idealistic view of the world, Aries. Even though the current situation isn’t exactly how you view it, that doesn’t mean you can’t change the situation to make it more the way you want. Be courageous when it comes to your goals. Let your fantasies run wild and work to turn them into realities.
Taurus (April 21-May 21)
Be more optimistic than usual today, Taurus. It’s important that your intense emotions don’t bog you down. You may lose sight of important facts. Maintain a healthy relationship between you and reality. You may find that your head is in the clouds and you’re slowly slipping into some netherworld that has nothing to do with you. Don’t get thrown off course.
Gemini (May 22-June 21)
You may be in quite the party mode today, Gemini. Be open and social with the people around you. Take off on a wild adventure that quenches your thirst for spontaneity and fun. Stay up late and talk to a friend you haven’t seen for a while. The time to live is now. Make the most of every moment of your life.
Cancer (June 22-July 23)
Searching for the hidden meaning in things may be a waste of time, Cancer. Go with the flow and have fun. The more you relax, the more relaxed people will be around you. It will make for better chemistry in general, regardless of whom you’re with. You need to be a friend if you want to make friends. Don’t turn everyone into your enemy. Take the chance to get to know them.
Leo (July 24-Aug 23)
Your creative nature is at a peak today, Leo, and the artist within you is tempted to come out and play. Indulge in a fantasy world that makes you happiest. Escapism may be a necessary element to the day in order to balance all the hard work you’ve been doing. Express yourself creatively through whatever means available.
Virgo (Aug 24-Sep 23)
You’re likely to feel a burst of energy encouraging you to engage with others in fun, creative projects, Virgo. Join a group of musicians and rock the night away. It’s OK to spend a good part of the day up the clouds. This is where you operate best. There’s no need to resist this tendency. If other people become frustrated by your otherworldly attitude, that’s their problem and not yours.
Libra (Sep 24-Oct 23)
Issues regarding love and romance are likely to improve quite a bit over the next couple weeks, Libra. The thing to be most concerned about today, however, is that you may take an unrealistic approach to current relationships. You might be in a dream world in which you perceive the situation to be quite different from what it actually is. Be careful of this tendency.
Scorpio (Oct 24-Nov 22)
When it comes to situations regarding love and romance, it might not be a bad idea to lighten up a bit now, Scorpio. You might be taking things way too seriously in this area of your life. Consequently, it’s difficult for others to get close. You may very well intimidate them. Take a more fun-loving, easygoing approach and see where the adventure takes you.
Sagittarius (Nov 23-Dec 21)
This should be a fun day for you, Sagittarius. You should enjoy a good mood and social times with others. Don’t do anything that requires discipline or realistic thinking. This is a better day to simply have fun and relax. If you must work, do your best to keep your mood up. You can have fun even if you’re being productive with menial tasks and duties.
Capricorn (Dec 22-Jan 20)
Take an adventurous approach, Capricorn, especially when it comes to love and romance. Don’t get moody or down in the dumps when things don’t seem to be going your way. It’s up to you to change your attitude. Trust that things will improve when you turn the corners of your mouth up instead of down. Stop worrying about every little issue that comes up. Take it all in stride.
Aquarius (Jan 21-Feb 19)
Love is coming your way, Aquarius. You’re likely to be more passionate than usual. Be careful that your enthusiasm for the object of your desire doesn’t go overboard. It’s possible that you have an unrealistic view of the situation. It also could be that someone is leading you on and making you think something that isn’t completely true.
Pisces (Feb 20-Mar 20)
The fast actions of the day may confuse you, Pisces. Don’t be surprised if your head is in a whirl over recent events involving love and romance. You may feel as if things are happening too quickly for you to really understand them. Try not to be so analytical. You may find that you’re chasing a lost cause while the train is pulling out of the station. Hop on board and leave the other issue behind.
