Tuesday Dec 27, 2022

INDEX

MORNING

PREPA debt plan may include preemption of local laws barring privatization of power plants

By THE STAR STAFF

The proposed debt adjustment plan for the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) contains language suggesting that the Financial Oversight and Management Board may preempt local laws that prevent putting PREPA’s legacy power plants under private management due to legislative opposition.

On Aug. 10, 2020, the Public-Private Partnership Authority (P3A) issued a request for qualification for companies or consortia interested in managing, operating, maintaining, conducting asset management and decommissioning, as applicable, one or more of PREPA’s power generation assets. On Nov. 10, 2020, the P3A qualified eight proponents and issued requests for proposals from those respondents. The P3A is in advanced negotiations with a preferred proponent to assume operation of the generation assets and had anticipated reaching a 10-year agreement prior to the end of the current calendar year. As reported by the STAR, the preferred proponent is a consortium of companies headed by New Fortress Energy, which also supplies fuel to PREPA. Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority Executive Director Omar Marrero Díaz expects the proposed public-private partnership (P3) for PREPA’s legacy plants under a private operator to come to fruition in the first six months of 2023. He said the process is a complicated one that requires approvals from the P3A, the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau, PREPA and the oversight board.

The proposed legacy generation P3, meanwhile, is opposed by the Legislature, which has instructed P3A board members Eduardo Ferrer Ríos and Liza Ortiz Camacho, who represent the public interest on behalf of the Legislature, to oppose the proposed P3. Their votes are required for a P3 contract to be valid.

The debt adjustment plan (PAD by its Spanish acronym) contains language on how the proposed P3 will be moved forward despite legislative opposition.

The PAD states that prior to or as soon as practicable following the reorganization of PREPA, the utility must be operationally restructured “including that PREPA shall, as required by the Fiscal Plan and applicable law: take all necessary actions to complete the competitive procurement process for substantially all of PREPA’s generation assets and complete ongoing efforts to transfer operation and maintenance of existing PREPA generation assets to professional and independent private operators, and maintain operation and maintenance contracts with private operators for the transmission and distribution system,

provided that such contracts” do not impact new bonds for the reorganized PREPA.

The PAD states that provisions of commonwealth laws, rules or regulations that affect PREPA or “Reorganized PREPA” and are inconsistent with the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA), which created the oversight board, may be preempted. The oversight board does not dismiss the possibility it could force the Legislature to move forward with the proposed P3 subject to U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain’s green light.

“While the Oversight Board could seek to exercise its powers under PROMESA to enjoin such legislative actions it believes are inconsistent with the purposes of PROMESA, under PROMESA § 108, there is no certainty the Title III Court will grant the foregoing judicial relief, or that it would be upheld on appeal,” the PAD notes.

Swain has said in judicial documents that she publicly hopes to approve a PAD for PREPA next summer. If she approves the PAD with language enjoining the Legislature to move PREPA’s transformation forward, the question is whether the Legislature will be obligated to do so.

“We don’t know. It would be a first,” a STAR source said on condition of anonymity because they are involved in the process.

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.

U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain

Pyrotechnics law not enforced, Cayey mayor laments

By THE STAR STAFF

Cayey Mayor Rolando Ortiz Velázquez spoke out Monday about what he said is an alarming increase in the use of pyrotechnics of all kinds, noting that on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day it was observed that illegal fireworks are becoming louder and more powerful.

“My biggest concern is children with autism, seniors and pets, who are harmed more than the rest of the population,” the mayor said.

Ortiz Velázquez added that the Puerto Rico Pyrotechnics Act (Act No. 83 of June 25, 1963, as amended), remains in force and was amended in 2004 and 2006, but is not being applied to its full extent.

“This law is very specific in its language, to prohibit the possession, use, manufacture, import, sale, delivery to any person … of … pyrotechnic products,” he said. “It repealed the Law of 1948 and mentions [items ranging] from rockets and firecrackers, to the so-called psychiatricals.”

The measure adds flares and any other

fireworks, whether aerial or explosive, with their names in English, such as big bomb, saturn missile, flash cracker, artillery shell, pulling firecrackers, thunder bomb firecracker and whistling moon traveler, among others, in which any chemical compound or mechanical

mixture containing oxidizing units and fuels or other ingredients is used, or any substance that alone or mixed with another may be flammable.

“It’s not just children with autism who are affected in a particular way, but also those

with other conditions, as well as the elderly, because not everyone tolerates excessive noise, especially those who are bedridden,” the mayor said. “We must become aware of this auditory impact and look for alternatives to correct it. The situation is totally out of control; the noise from pyrotechnics is extremely excessive. In the particular case of Cayey we were listening to pyrotechnics until five in the morning.”

Ortiz Velázquez added that in Argentina, the Municipality of Olavarría implemented a positive initiative that was later adopted by other institutions, called ‘More Lights Less Noise,” with the aim of raising awareness so that during the Christmas holidays fireworks (lights) displays predominate instead of sound devices.

“As a society we have to be more effective in enforcing laws,” the mayor said. “For example, seizures of such explosives were much more frequent in the past than has been seen this year, according to media reports. This is a subject of analysis for the Public Safety Bureau and also for the federal authorities, because these explosives are not manufactured in Puerto Rico.”

By THE STAR STAFF

As the island Legislature recently reappointed John Rivas, a graphic design artist and professor at the University of Puerto Rico Carolina Campus, to the board of the School of Studio Arts & Design (Escuela de Artes Plásticas y Diseño) in San Juan, the school’s management will upgrade the facilities, incorporate new technologies and create a master’s degree program in 2023.

“As a board member, I intend to give continuity to

projects that benefit the school, which has received support from [various] entities and is currently modernizing its equipment,” Rivas told the STAR. “I urge the government to continue supporting an entity that gives glory and honor to Puerto Rico. I want to acknowledge the work of the chancellor and I will continue to help the school also as a UPR Carolina professor.”

Chancellor Ileana Muñoz Landrón said that unlike in the past, under the current central government administration the school has received funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act that was used for digital printers and large TV printers as well as interactive screens to allow students to create art works.

“I have to say that the government has supported me,” she said.

The school is benefiting from almost $33 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding allocated for cultural entities early this year. It has also received $200,000 in energy funds and will work with the Department of Economic Development and Commerce to install solar panels at the facility.

Among the plans this year are to begin renovating the former Manicomio Insular in Ballajá and Conception Hospital, which the school shares with the Arts League, as well as the Lorenzo Omar Gallery and other facilities, Muñoz Landrón said.

Some $2.8 million in Title V funds allocated over a five-year period including the coronavirus pandemic al-

lowed the school to upgrade the design center, purchase materials and make other upgrades.

Through the ARPA allocation, Muñoz Landrón said, the school will be able to launch an arts master’s degree program that is expected to be approved by accrediting agencies.

“We are starting to work on curricular development,” she said.

Another goal for the school is to increase the salary of workers and professors, who have not obtained a raise in years, she said.

The chancellor said the reappointment of Rivas to the board is very positive as he is a prominent graphics design artist who has worked hard for the school.

Prof. John Rivas

Cayey Mayor Rolando Ortiz Velázquez

Vega Baja residents protest construction of telecommunications tower

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

Faced with what they consider the worst gift they could have received at Christmas, residents of the El Rosario and Alturas urbanizations of Vega Baja held a demonstration in their community on Monday opposing the construction of a telecommunications tower by the company QMC Telecom LLC in the residential area.

On Dec. 19, residents received notification that the Office of Permits Management (OGPe by its Spanish acronym) had granted a permit to build the antenna tower in a karst area of the aforementioned neighborhoods.

“The OGPe has decided to take away our community’s peace of mind by granting a building permit to a company that intends to install a telecommunications antenna in a karst that is located in the very heart of the urbanizations El Rosario and Alturas de Vega Baja,” said Ruth Vázquez, a resident and spokesperson for the No to the Antenna in Urbanizations El Rosario and Alturas Committee. “This construction will be only steps away from 66 residences and families that will be directly and seriously affected by this work.”

Vázquez noted that, according to documented evidence, on Dec. 9, 2021 the company QMC Telecom LLC filed a construction permit application with

the OGPe for the construction of a telecommunications facility to be used for the co-location of companies providing cellular service.

The construction was to be done on a piece of karst land that, in addition to being a small forested area for the community, is protected as a natural resource by Law 292 of 1999 in addition to Law 170 of Aug. 12, 1998 and the

federal Endangered Species Act, as it is the habitat of the Puerto Rican boa and the concho toad.

Residents of both urbanizations began to receive noti fi cation of the construction of the cell tower in the area on Dec. 16, 2021, but according to the protesters, and contrary to what was expressed in an affidavit by the QMC company, to date, there are residents who

Woman shot in face in apparent gender violence incident

By THE STAR STAFF

Authorities on Monday investigated an incident in Utuado allegedly involving gender-based violence in which a woman was shot in the face. According to the police, a call was received through the 911 emergency system reporting a female with a gunshot wound who was inside a vehicle on Highway 611 in the Viví Abajo neighborhood of the aforementioned municipality.

Upon arriving at the scene, agent Salas of the Utuado Precinct reported that a female was transported to Mountain Metropolitan Hospital in Utuado with an apparent bullet wound in the face.

Police said a man was arrested in what appears to be an incident of gender-based violence.

Homicide agent Juan Rodríguez Orengo, under the supervision of Sergeant Alberto Torres, took charge of the case investigation. Domestic violence staff were on site, meanwhile.

have not received official notification of construction.

“This in itself is a violation because one of the requirements for the granting of permits is to have notified each of the residents of the proposal of construction,” Vázquez said.

On Dec. 27, 2021, the community submitted a request for intervention to OGPe to stop the continuity of the project, and the agency declared requested intervention “valid.” Some of the arguments outlined by residents are that there are residences within a radius of 100 meters from the center of the tower. Also, there are antennas less than a mile away from the proposed project, the land is part of the karst zone and is the habitat of endangered species, and all endorsements and permits obtained for the OMC-160 El Rosario project were obtained through the Joint Regulations of 2020, which was declared null.

“All the arguments we have presented against the construction of this antenna were presented before the OGPe,” Vázquez said. “The construction of this illegal antenna threatens natural resources and the environment, and puts at risk the health and life of all residents. It is regrettable that permits continue to be granted to these companies who have no respect for the environment or for life. We will remain firm and in opposition to this construction because it is our quality of life that is at stake.”

Police said a man was arrested in what appears to be an incident of gender-based violence in Utuado.

Vega Baja residents said the karst area proposed forthe construction of a cell tower is protected by local law as well as the Federal Endangered Species Act, as it is the habitat of the Puerto Rican boa and the concho toad.

Banco

By THE STAR STAFF

agrees to settle suit alleging faulty fees

Banco Popular de Puerto Rico (BPPR) has agreed to pay $5.5 million to settle claims it assessed illegal overdraft and non-sufficient funds fees.

The settlement benefits current and former Banco Popular clients who were assessed overdraft (OD) and non-sufficient funds (NSF) fees between Feb. 1, 2016 and April 1 of this year.

The deal is the result of the class action lawsuit Soto et al. v. Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. The case number is 3:20-CV-01057.

The plaintiffs alleged in the class action suit filed in 2020 that Banco Popular routinely assessed more than one non-sufficient funds fee on the same item and charged both NSF Fees and OD fees on the same item. The suit said the practices breach contractual promises, violate the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and/ or result in the bank being unjustly enriched.

The practices of which BPPR is accused in the lawsuit allegedly cause consumers to pay a large sum in fees, on top of whatever their transactions cost.

“BPPR’s customers have been injured by the Bank’s improper practices to the tune of millions of dollars bilked from their accounts in violation of their agreements with BPPR,” the suit said.

While BPPR hasn’t admitted to any wrongdoing, it agreed to a $5.5 million class action settlement to resolve the allegations over fees.

Under the terms of the BPPR fees settlement, class members can receive a cash payment based on the number of overdraft and NSF fees they were assessed by BPPR.

Class members who paid the highest number of fees will receive larger proportional shares of the settlement fund. No payment estimates are available.

Current customers will receive their share of the settlement fund as an account credit. Former customers

without active BPPR accounts will receive their settlement payment as a check.

If any funds remain in the settlement after the first round of payments, a second round of payments may be sent to class members who accepted their first payments. Residual funds may instead be distributed to a charitable recipient approved by the court.

The deadline for exclusion and objection is Feb. 12, 2023.

A final approval hearing will be held in Courtroom 4, 3rd Floor, U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, 300 Recinto Sur St., San Juan, PR 00901 on March 14, 2023 at 4 p.m. to determine: (a) whether

the settlement should be approved as fair, reasonable and adequate to the settlement class; (b) whether the final approval order should be entered in the same form as the final approval order submitted by the parties with the motion for final approval; (c) whether to approve class counsel’s application for attorneys’ fees and costs, and for a service award for each of the class representatives; and (d) any other matters that may properly be brought before the court in connection with the settlement.

The settlement website is PRBankFeeClassAction.com

The claims administrator is Kroll Settlement Administration LLC in New York.

The settlement benefits current and former Banco Popular clients who were assessed overdraft and non-sufficient funds fees between Feb. 1, 2016 and April 1 of this year.

27 dead in ‘once in a generation’ blizzard in western New York

By MICHAEL GOLD and MIHIR ZAVERI

Four days after snow started falling, the Buffalo area remained crippled on Monday by a devastating blizzard that left at least 27 dead and that officials said was the worst winter storm in more than 50 years.

With many roads in western New York remaining impassable, thousands still without power and as much as a foot of snow expected to continue falling through the day on Monday, officials in Erie County, which includes Buffalo, said they expected the death toll could rise.

“This has been a very difficult and dangerous storm,” Buffalo’s mayor, Byron Brown, said at a news conference on Monday. “It’s been described as a once-ina-generation storm. And everything that has been forecast, we have gotten in the city of Buffalo, and then some.”

As the storm and its effects lingered, some residents started to emerge from their homes, saying they were running short on food and other essential supplies. Brown said some residents and businesses had been without power since Friday.

A driving ban remained in place in Buffalo, a city of around 270,000 people, and many of its immediate suburbs as authorities pleaded with residents to remain home. Officials said that many of the city’s streets had yet to be plowed, with the early focus on clearing paths for ambulances, police and rescue vehicles and medical workers.

Complicating efforts, Gov. Kathy Hochul said, were “scores and scores of vehicles” that had been abandoned in ditches and snowbanks during the storm and had yet to be removed. In some cases, she said, snowplows and rescue vehicles had been trapped.

Hochul, a Democrat, said she had asked the White House for a federal disaster declaration. President Joe Biden said on Twitter that he had spoken with Hochul and would “make sure” the state had needed resources.

Mark C. Poloncarz, the Erie County executive, said authorities had identified 12 more deaths since Sunday that they had linked to the storm. The deaths included people found trapped in their cars and

those who had “cardiac-related events” while removing snow from outside homes and businesses.

At least one death in Niagara County was caused by carbon monoxide poisoning, officials said. The county sheriff’s office said a 27-year-old man was found dead in his home in Lockport, New York, after heavy snow blocked an external furnace and caused carbon monoxide to enter the house. Another person was taken to a hospital for treatment, the sheriff’s office said.

Western New York, where residents take pride in their resilience in the face of brutal winter weather, appeared to have suffered the worst of a fierce storm that brought bitter cold to much of the United States. At one point on Friday, roughly twothirds of the U.S. population was under winter warnings or advisories.

Other regions appeared to be recovering after strong winds took down power lines in the central, eastern and northern United States. In Maine, one of the states hit hardest by power outages, more than 17,000 homes and businesses remained without power on Monday afternoon, according to state utility companies’ maps.

But the storm has lingered in the Buffalo area. “We can see, sort of, the light at the

end of the tunnel,” Poloncarz said. “But this is not the end yet. We are not there.”

After sheltering for days, many residents started to venture out of their houses, particularly to find food, although many restaurants and supermarkets remained closed.

Dave Lewis, 52, of Buffalo, walked for 45 minutes while navigating snow drifts before he found an open corner store, Buff City Market. Lewis said he purchased “tuna fish, jerky and pop.”

“I had to get food,” Lewis said. “I’ll take what I can get.”

The shop’s owner, Ali Omer, said a metal barrier he had placed over the window of the store had frozen shut on Friday. He managed to pry it open on Sunday, and residents had been pouring in ever since to buy whatever supplies they could.

Latasha Leeper, 38, paid a man $100 to remove a 4-foot snow drift behind her car that had forced her to miss her Sunday shift at a nearby group home.

Leeper, who cares for teenagers with autism, said three of her colleagues who were scheduled to work only on Friday ended up working through the weekend because others like her remained unable to drive.

“Our staff is struggling,” she said.

The snow is expected to end by Tuesday morning and to be mostly concentrated north of the city during the day, before moving south overnight, said Jon Hitchcock, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Buffalo.

The snow is forecast to be “very fluffy,” he added, and, with very little wind in the forecast, the Buffalo region should not expect the same level of blizzard-like conditions it experienced over the weekend.

The weather service said Monday that more than 49 inches of snow was recorded over three days at Buffalo Niagara International Airport, the highest total in Erie County. Jefferson County received between 22 and 41 inches of snow, Niagara County recorded up to 24 inches of snow and Lewis County saw up to 30 inches of snow over the same time period, according to the weather service.

More than 12,000 customers remained without power in Erie County. Poloncarz said electricity “might not get restored until Tuesday.” Officials said the airfield at the Buffalo airport would remain closed until Wednesday morning.

Poloncarz and Hochul, who grew up in the Buffalo suburbs, said this week’s storm was the worst in their memory. Both, at times, evoked comparisons to the city’s blizzard of 1977, which left 28 people in the state dead.

“No one thought we’d see a blizzard worse than the one in ’77 here,” said Hochul, who was 18 at the time of that monumental storm. “And we did this week.”

People stand and walk along a snowy residential street as a utility vehicle drives by them in Buffalo, N.Y., Dec. 26, 2022.

Democrats, feeling new strength, plan to go on offense on voting rights

be more aggressive in expanding voting access — especially after the Senate this year failed to advance a broad voting rights package.

Adam Pritzker, a cousin of Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and co-founder of the States Project, a Democratic group that pumped more than $60 million into state legislative races this year, warned against what he described as his party’s reflexive complacency. “Democrats never cease to amaze me,” he said. “They go from like waving the white flag in states to then thinking that we won, then wanting to take the foot off the gas pedal. It just seems a little bit dangerous to think that way.”

Walz was among more than a dozen Democratic governors and governors-elect who gathered in early December in New Orleans, where the topic of defending and expanding voting access was a frequent topic of conversation in the ballrooms and hallways of the Democratic Governors Association’s annual winter gathering.

In Pennsylvania, Shapiro has rare powers to appoint the top election official, in contrast to most other states, where elections are run by other elected officials or appointed boards.

He pledged to pick someone “prodemocracy” and said he was optimistic that Republicans would agree to change the state’s law that forbids the processing of absentee ballots and early votes before Election Day. Trump’s allies used the law to sow chaos in the state after the 2020 election, falsely claiming that absentee ballots tallied after Election Day were evidence of vote-rigging.

Shapiro, whose defeated Republican opponent, Doug Mastriano, ran on a platform of vast new voting restrictions, said he was willing to consider some GOP proposals and “meet in the middle” if it meant expanding voting access.

By REID J. EPSTEIN

For the past two years, Democrats in battleground states have played defense against Republican efforts to curtail voting access and amplify doubts about the legitimacy of the nation’s elections.

Now it is Democrats, who retained all but one of the governor’s offices they hold and won control of state legislatures in Michigan and Minnesota, who are ready to go on offense in 2023. They are putting forward a long list of proposals that include creating automatic voter registration systems, preregistering teenagers to vote before they turn 18, returning the franchise to felons released from prison and criminalizing election misinformation.

Since 2020, Republicans inspired by former President Donald Trump’s election lies sought to make voting more difficult for anyone not casting a ballot in person on Election Day. But in the midterm elections, voters nationwide rejected the most prominent Republican candidates who embraced false claims about American elections and promised to bend the rules to their party’s advantage.

Democrats who won reelection or will soon take office have interpreted their victories as a mandate to make voting easier and more accessible.

“I’ve asked them to think big,” Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota said of his directions to fellow

Democrats on voting issues now that his party controls both chambers of the state’s Legislature.

Republicans will maintain unified control next year over state governments in Texas, Ohio, Florida and Georgia. In Texas and Ohio, along with other places, Republicans are weighing additional restrictions on voting when they convene in the new year.

Democratic governors in Arizona and Wisconsin will face Republican-run legislatures that are broadly hostile to expanding voting access, while Josh Shapiro, the Democratic governorelect of Pennsylvania, is likely to eventually preside over one chamber with a GOP majority and one with a narrow Democratic majority.

And in Washington, D.C., the Supreme Court is weighing a case that could give state legislatures vastly expanded power over election laws — a decision with enormous implications for the power of state lawmakers to draw congressional maps and set rules for federal elections.

Democrats have widely interpreted that case — brought by Republicans in North Carolina — as dangerous to democracy because of the prospect of aggressive GOP gerrymandering and the potential for state legislators to determine the outcome of elections. But it would also allow Democrats to write themselves into permanent power in states where they control the levers of elections.

The Supreme Court’s deliberation comes as many Democrats are pushing the party to

Republicans have sought additional voting restrictions for decades. Those efforts increased after the 2020 election, when several Republicanled states passed new laws with measures that included requiring voters to show photo identification, stripping control from local election boards and curtailing some early voting.

The effect of these voting laws remains unclear. In Georgia, which passed a major election law in 2021, turnout was strong, but mail voting plummeted under the new requirements.

The most popular Democratic plan on voting access is to join the 20 states that have enacted or approved automatic voter registration, a system that adds anyone whose information is on file with a government agency — such as a department of motor vehicles or a social services bureau — to the voter rolls unless they opt out. Oregon, which in 2016 became the first state to adopt the practice, had the highest percentage of voter turnout in the country last month, a distinction held in recent elections by Minnesota.

In Michigan, voters in the past two midterm elections have approved constitutional amendments that expanded early and absentee voting, created an independent redistricting commission and expanded the use of drop boxes.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said at the recent governors’ gathering that she was considering backing automatic registration and making it easier for out-of-state students attending Michigan universities to register to vote. (Republicans in some states have sought to make it harder for out-of-state college students, who tend to lean Democratic, to vote, arguing that they should cast ballots in their home states.)

“I’m certainly willing to have an honest conversation about voter ID, as long as that is something that is not used as a hindrance to voting,” Shapiro said. “I’m not willing to negotiate with people who are engaged in conspiracy theories and spewing nonsense about 2020. I’m willing to talk to people who come to the table with honest beliefs on how we can expand voting rights and voting participation.”

In two other battlegrounds, Arizona and Wisconsin, there is likely to be far less space for Democratic governors to work with Republican legislators.

Wisconsin Republicans spent much of the past two years passing more than a dozen voting bills that wound up being vetoed by Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat who won reelection last month. Republican leaders have said they will not reintroduce those bills only for Evers to veto them again in 2023.

“I think it’s done,” Evers said of the state’s pitched fight over voting laws. “They may try to pass some laws to make it more difficult to vote. And they know I’ll veto those.”

And in Arizona, where Republican Kari Lake has yet to concede defeat in the governor’s race, Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs described a relationship with Republican state Senate leaders that is so strained, she has had no communication with them and does not plan to.

Hobbs said that while she was “hopeful we can find some common ground” on voting issues, she was not optimistic.

“These people are claiming fraud when there is none, these people mounted an insurrection on the Capitol, they’re the ones who have broken the trust,” she said in New Orleans. “You can’t coddle these people that have been misled by the people they have upheld as leaders. These so-called leaders need to be held accountable.”

Demonstrators gather across from the Arizona State Capitol after the midterm elections in Phoenix, on Nov. 25, 2022. Katie Hobbs, the Democratic governorelect, said she had not spoken with Republican State Senate leaders about voting issues.

Buses of migrants arrive near Kamala Harris’s home on Christmas Eve

to Democratic-led cities, and the scores of migrants were not the first to be dropped off near Harris’ home on the grounds of the Naval Observatory.

Abbott announced the state would begin chartering buses in April, sending a political message to places such as Washington, New York and Chicago and offloading some of the strain caused by record levels of immigration.

In a letter to President Joe Biden last week, Abbott criticized the president’s border policies and said the influx left migrants “at risk of freezing to death on city streets.”

“Texas has borne a lopsided burden caused by your open border policies,” he wrote. “The need to address this crisis is not the job of border states like Texas.”

Abbott’s concerns included the potential lifting of Title 42, a pandemic-era public health policy that allowed for the rapid expulsion of migrants.

Volunteers had anticipated three buses with about 130 immigrants to arrive in New York on Christmas Day, but the buses were rerouted to the vice president’s residence.

By STEPHANIE LAI

More than 100 migrants arrived near Vice President Kamala Harris’ home on Saturday evening, one of the chilliest Christmas Eves on record in the capital, according to a mutual aid group.

Volunteers anticipated three buses with about 130 immigrants to arrive in New York on Christmas Day, but the buses were rerouted to the Washington area because of road closures and frigid conditions, said Madhvi Bahl, an organizer with the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network.

Migrants arrived in Washington after a 36-hour journey, some with little more than a T-shirt or a light blanket, Bahl added. The mutual aid group helped

coordinate travel and housing for the migrants and provided food, coats, shoes and other warm articles of clothing to combat temperatures that plunged below 20 degrees.

The mutual aid group said the buses were sent by the Texas Division of Emergency Management, which follows directives of Gov. Greg Abbott’s office. Abbott’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“They have been doing that for a few months now; it’s all for the spectacle,” Bahl said of the governor’s office. “The cruelty is the point. It’s awful to use people in this manner, for political reasons.”

The three buses appeared to be the latest sent by Republican governors along the southern border

Thousands of migrants were waiting across the Texas border on Wednesday, when the policy was set to expire and bring an expected surge in border crossings. However, the Supreme Court ordered a delay of the policy’s end date, keeping the health order in place for at least several more days.

The White House condemned the busing of migrants to Washington in a statement on Christmas Day.

“Governor Abbott abandoned children on the side of the road in below-freezing temperatures on Christmas Eve without coordinating with any federal or local authorities,” said Abdullah Hasan, a White House spokesperson. “This was a cruel, dangerous and shameful stunt.”

Hasan added that the administration has repeatedly said it would work with both parties on border security and immigration reform, stating that “these political games accomplish nothing and only put lives in danger.”

With detailed evidence and a call for accountability, Jan. 6 panel seeks a legacy

gress consider barring Trump and his allies from holding office under the 14th Amendment’s ban on insurrectionists, a proposal likely to go nowhere. Most of its recommendations for legislation are also likely to meet a dead end, with the major exception of the passage on Friday of an overhaul of the Electoral Count Act, the law Trump had tried to exploit to get his vice president to throw out electoral votes.

Moreover, Republicans are likely to try to turn the tables on the committee, beginning an investigation into the investigators.

A counternarrative is underway. Trump bashed the committee’s report as “highly partisan.” And five House Republicans led by Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana released their own report on the Capitol attack this week. That 141-page document criticizes law enforcement failures, accuses Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her senior team of bungling Capitol security and tries to recast Trump’s role in the events of Jan. 6 as a voice for peace and calm.

ministration had viewed the president’s conduct.

Trump’s speechwriter Robert Gabriel Jr. sent a text message at 2:49 p.m. as the riot was escalating: “Potus im sure is loving this.”

Hicks, texted a colleague that evening after learning of Trump’s denigrating comments about his own vice president, Mike Pence: “Attacking the VP? Wtf is wrong with him.”

The panel also added new evidence about how deeply Trump was involved in the false elector scheme. Joshua Findlay, a Trump lawyer, testified that it was his “understanding” that Trump had personally directed campaign lawyers to pursue the false elector plan.

That built on testimony from the Republican National Committee chairperson, revealed during the committee’s summer hearings, that Trump had connected the RNC with conservative lawyer John Eastman “to talk about the importance of the RNC helping the campaign gather these contingent electors.”

By LUKE BROADWATER

The House Jan. 6 committee’s 845-page final report is chock-full of new details about former President Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election.

It documents how Trump and his allies tried at least 200 times to persuade state or local officials to throw out President Joe Biden’s victory. It reveals that Trump did, in fact, push for the National Guard to be present on the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021 — but to protect his supporters as they marched on Congress, not lawmakers.

And it has new testimony from Trump aides including Hope Hicks, who became overwhelmed with disgust at the president’s behavior and the mob riot they were witnessing. “We all look like domestic terrorists now,” she wrote in a text.

But even as the committee continues to reveal damning evidence about the attack on the Capitol and what led to it, it has reached the end of its run. The publication of the report, the result of an exhaustive monthslong effort, has created a permanent record intended at a minimum to hold Trump accountable in history. Criminal referrals have been issued. Much of the panel’s staff has moved on, accepting other jobs.

To be sure, there is still some final work to do. The panel has an interactive website to unveil and hundreds of transcripts to release — even after a batch of nearly 50 more on Friday evening that included testimony by former Attor-

ney General William P. Barr; Pat A. Cipollone, former White House counsel; and Trump’s eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump.

But its members are now beginning to share their views on a central question: What is the legacy of the Jan. 6 committee?

The panel — made up of seven Democrats and two Republicans — consistently broke new ground for a congressional investigation. Staffed with more than a dozen former federal prosecutors, it set a new production standard for how to present a congressional hearing. It also got significantly ahead of a parallel Justice Department investigation into the events of Jan. 6, with federal prosecutors later interviewing many of the same witnesses the panel’s investigators had spoken with.

For Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the chair of the committee, the answer to the question of legacy is simple: The committee raised the issue of threats to democracy to the top of the public consciousness and, during midterm elections in state after state, voters repeatedly defeated election-denying candidates.

“We demonstrated that Jan. 6 was a clear and present danger that an overwhelming majority of the people rejected,” Thompson said in an interview. “A lot of them expressed that rejection at the ballot box on Nov. 8.”

But Republicans still gained enough seats that they are set to take over the House in January, and are likely to undermine the panel’s legacy in other areas.

The committee recommended that Con-

Thompson has shrugged off calls to investigate the investigators as a distraction, and pointed instead to his own panel’s findings. The legacy, he said, was in the mountain of evidence the panel amassed.

The committee’s final report revealed more of the scope of that mountain, describing in extensive detail how Trump had carried out what it called “a multipart plan to overturn the 2020 presidential election.”

Among the new evidence were revelations about how early on Jan. 6, Trump knew about the mayhem at the Capitol.

After giving a speech to his supporters at the Ellipse, Trump ran into a member of the White House staff and asked whether he or she had watched his speech on television.

“Sir, they cut it off because they’re rioting down at the Capitol,” the employee said around 1:21 p.m., in an early indication Trump was aware of the violence, according to the report.

Shortly after 2:44 p.m., Trump was made aware the riot had turned deadly.

A Capitol Police officer had shot a rioter named Ashli Babbitt, and a handwritten note presented to the president — dashed off onto a White House pocket card and preserved by the National Archives — read: “1x civilian gunshot wound to chest @ door of House chaber.” A White House employee saw the note on the dining table in front of Trump, according to the committee’s report.

Still, Trump waited hours to call for his supporters to go home.

The committee’s report revealed new evidence about how those inside the Trump ad-

Other witnesses attempted to clean up for Trump and cast his behavior in a more flattering light, the committee suggested.

Ivanka Trump claimed that her father had been “disappointed and surprised” by the Jan. 6 attack, but she could not name a specific instance of him expressly saying it.

“He — I just felt that,” she said. “I know him really well.”

But when the committee staff asked her if Trump had ever expressed any regret about his actions or sympathy for the people who were injured that day, she answered no.

The transcript of Ivanka Trump’s testimony released Friday, however, hinted at the trauma of that day, showing how panicked lawmakers reached out to her to try to persuade her father to call off the mob.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, texted Ivanka Trump at 3:37 p.m. on Jan. 6: “The President needs to put out a very strong tweet telling people to go home and to stop the violence now.” Later, Ivanka Trump spoke to Collins by phone, as she and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, were together. Both were “understandably quite shaken by the events of the day,” Ivanka Trump said.

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., vice chair of the committee, said the transcripts were part of the “tremendous amount of evidence and information” that would shape the panel’s legacy.

“The report demonstrated the very significant and troubling plan that President Trump oversaw to overturn an election,” she said. “People will read the report. They will read the transcripts, and be able to see what evidence the committee has gathered. I’m proud of what we’ve done.”

Supporters of President Donald Trump storm the Capitol in Washington, on Jan. 6, 2021. The final report of the January 6 committee provides many new details on Donald Trump’s actions and a record for history. But Republicans will soon begin a campaign to discredit it.

Reasons for optimism in 2023

By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN, RAVI MATTU, BERNHARD WARNER, SARAH KESSLER, STEPHEN GANDEL, MICHAEL J. DE LA MERCED, LAUREN HIRSCH and EPHRAT LIVNI

As 2022 comes to an end amid stubborn inflation, a “tripledemic,” a climate crisis and a brutal war with no end in sight, it can be difficult to remember that good things happened this year, too.

Coronavirus vaccines became available for children as young as 6 months old, a relief to parents as much of the world returned to a new normal. Rich countries agreed to do more to help poor nations cope with climate disasters. And major scientific breakthroughs brought us a tad closer to long-held ambitious such as nuclear fusion power and curing cancer.

Even as the world faces many challenges, there are reasons to be hopeful about 2023 and beyond. We’ve decided to continue the DealBook tradition of highlighting the most promising developments of the year.

We’re a little closer to a new source of clean energy. After a major breakthrough in nuclear fusion this month, investors are pouring money into companies that want to harness the type of energy that powers the sun and stars. Fusion, if it could be deployed on a large scale, would offer a nearly limitless pollution-free energy source. But until this year, scientists had never created a fusion reaction that produced more energy than it consumed. Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California finally reached that milestone this month. While it could still be decades before fusion becomes a practical power source, the accomplishment is a big step toward that goal.

Wall Street and venture capitalists are bullish on green tech, too. In his year-end letter, Bill Gates notes that climate-related research and development have grown nearly one-third since the 2015 Paris accords. Private capital investment in the sector is on the upswing too, with $70 billion spent over the past two years. From that, new technologies to address climate issues are continuing to emerge. At the New York Times’ DealBook Summit in November, Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, predicted that venture funding would flow more into startups using hard science to tackle the planet’s biggest problems. “I believe we will be seeing a transformation of where the money goes,” Fink said. “It’s not going to go to all this stuff that provided us good utility to get food quicker or find a taxi sooner.”

Bots probably won’t take your job — and could make it easier. Fears that technology will replace human workers are as old as technology, and they were raised once again in November when a company called OpenAI released ChatGPT, an automated writing program. But AI experts have long insisted that such technologies have limitations that prevent them from fully replacing humans. What the bots can do well is make grunt work easier. One example that went viral shortly after ChatGPT’s release: A Palm

Beach doctor posted a video of himself dictating a letter to an insurance company.

Real progress is being made in tackling child poverty. The number of children in America living below the poverty line has plummeted by 59% since 1993. As the Times’ Jason DeParle reported in September, “child poverty has fallen in every state, and it has fallen by about the same degree among children who are white, Black, Hispanic and Asian, living with one parent or two, and in native or immigrant households.” The improvements coincide with more generous state and federal subsidies for working families, and changes to welfare laws that make it easier for struggling households to apply for assistance programs.

We’re getting closer to cancer vaccines. Researchers have long thought that it was possible to immunize individuals at high risk of cancer, or even cure cancer in those who were showing signs of it. Until recently, they had made little progress, but now promising results from preliminary studies are giving some doctors new hope. Moderna said this month that a skin cancer vaccine performed well in midstage trials. Moderna and others are working on dozens of other vaccines to treat various other cancers.

New ways of working are becoming commonplace. Hybrid arrangements are well-established at many companies (even as some CEOs are finding success getting staff back to the office more regularly). But another experiment is gaining traction: Not one of 33 companies that piloted a

four-day workweek for six months as part of a large-scale study this year said they would return to a standard schedule. The firms, which together have more than 900 employees, also reported higher revenue and employee productivity. The nonprofit advocacy group that coordinated the pilot programs, called 4 Day Week Global, has signed up dozens of companies to participate in studies next year.

Here are some more innovations and milestones, some long in the making, that happened this year:

— The James Webb Space Telescope brought distant and ancient galaxies into view for the first time — and, oh, what a view!

— The age of electric-powered aviation got a little bit closer.

— Mycotecture, the growing field of making things out of mycelium (a material derived from the root structure of mushrooms), kept growing and growing. One startup called MycroWorks specializes in fungi-based leather. Designers at Hermès are sold.

— Wooden skyscrapers and 3D-printed homes went up in cities across Europe and North America. Both types of structures are quicker and cheaper to build and produce less building waste and fewer emissions.

-- A giant fan is sucking tons of carbon dioxide out of the sky in Iceland. The Department of Energy and a bevy of investors are racing to bring the technology, called direct air capture, to other parts of the world.

A new chatbot is a ‘code red’ for Google’s search business

Called LaMDA, or Language Model for Dialogue Applications, Google’s chatbot received enormous attention in the summer when a Google engineer, Blake Lemoine, claimed it was sentient. This was not true, but the technology showed how much chatbot technology had improved in recent months.

Google may be reluctant to deploy this new tech as a replacement for online search, however, because it is not suited to delivering digital ads, which accounted for more than 80% of the company’s revenue last year.

“No company is invincible; all are vulnerable,” said Margaret O’Mara, a professor at the University of Washington who specializes in the history of Silicon Valley. “For companies that have become extraordinarily successful doing one market-defining thing, it is hard to have a second act with something entirely different.”

Because these new chatbots learn their skills by analyzing huge amounts of data posted to the internet, they have a way of blending fiction with fact. They deliver information that can be biased against women and people of color. They can generate toxic language, including hate speech.

create artwork and other images, such as OpenAI’s DALL-E technology, which has been used by more than 3 million people.

From now until a major conference expected to be hosted by Google in May, teams within Google’s research, Trust and Safety, and other departments have been reassigned to help develop and release new AI prototypes and products.

As the technology advances, industry experts believe, Google must decide whether it will overhaul its search engine and make a full-fledged chatbot the face of its flagship service.

Google has already been working to enhance its search engine using the same technology that underpins chatbots like LaMDA and ChatGPT. The technology — a “large language model” — is not merely a way for machines to carry on a conversation.

By NICO GRANT and CADE METZ

Over the past three decades, a handful of products like Netscape’s web browser, Google’s search engine and Apple’s iPhone have truly upended the tech industry and made what came before them look like lumbering dinosaurs.

Last month, an experimental chatbot called ChatGPT made its case to be the industry’s next big disrupter. It can serve up information in clear, simple sentences, rather than just a list of internet links. It can explain concepts in ways people can easily understand. It can even generate ideas from scratch, including business strategies, Christmas gift suggestions, blog topics and vacation plans.

Although ChatGPT still has plenty of room for improvement, its release led Google’s management to declare a “code red.” For Google, this was akin to pulling the fire alarm. Some fear the company may be approaching a moment that the biggest Silicon Valley outfits dread — the arrival of an enormous technological change that could upend the business.

For more than 20 years, the Google search engine has served as the world’s primary gateway to the internet. But with a new kind of chatbot technology poised to reinvent or even replace traditional search engines, Google could face the first serious threat to its main search business. One Google executive described the efforts as make or break for Google’s future.

ChatGPT was released by an aggressive research lab called OpenAI, and Google is among the many other companies, labs and researchers that have helped build this technology. But experts believe the tech giant could struggle to compete with the newer, smaller companies developing these chatbots, because of the many ways the technology could damage its business.

Google has spent several years working on chatbots and, like other big tech companies, has aggressively pursued artificial intelligence technology. Google has already built a chatbot that could rival ChatGPT. In fact, the technology at the heart of OpenAI’s chatbot was developed by researchers at Google.

All of that could turn people against Google and damage the corporate brand it has spent decades building. As OpenAI has shown, newer companies may be more willing to take their chances with complaints in exchange for growth.

Even if Google perfects chatbots, it must tackle another issue: Does this technology cannibalize the company’s lucrative search ads? If a chatbot is responding to queries with tight sentences, there is less reason for people to click on advertising links.

“Google has a business model issue,” said Amr Awadallah, who worked for Yahoo and Google and now runs Vectara, a startup that is building similar technology. “If Google gives you the perfect answer to each query, you won’t click on any ads.”

Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO, has been involved in a series of meetings to define Google’s AI strategy, and he has upended the work of numerous groups inside the company to respond to the threat that ChatGPT poses, according to a memo and audio recording obtained by The New York Times. Employees have also been tasked with building AI products that can

Today, this technology helps the Google search engine highlight results that aim to directly answer a question you have asked. In the past, if you typed “Do aestheticians stand a lot at work?” into Google, it did not understand what you were asking. Now, Google correctly responds with a short blurb describing the physical demands of life in the skin care industry.

Many experts believe Google will continue to take this approach, incrementally improving its search engine rather than overhauling it. “Google Search is fairly conservative,” said Margaret Mitchell, who was an AI researcher at Microsoft and Google, where she helped to start its Ethical AI team, and is now at the research lab Hugging Face. “It tries not to mess up a system that works.”

Other companies, including Vectara and a search engine called Neeva, are working to enhance search technology in similar ways. But as OpenAI and other companies improve their chatbots — working to solve problems with toxicity and bias — this could become a viable replacement for today’s search engines. Whoever gets there first could be the winner.

“Last year, I was despondent that it was so hard to dislodge the iron grip of Google,” said Sridhar Ramaswamy, who previously oversaw advertising for Google, including Search ads, and now runs Neeva. “But technological moments like this create an opportunity for more competition.”

Google CEO Sundar Pichai in his office at Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. on May 3, 2019. Pichai has emphasized the importance of artificial intelligence to his company.

Wall Street ends up as investors eye data for rate prospects, energy outperforms

The S&P 500 closed higher on Friday, in a light trading day ahead of a long weekend, as investors assessed inflation data against rate hike and recession fears while energy shares jumped on higher oil prices.

A Commerce Department report showed U.S. consumer spending barely rose in November, while inflation cooled further, but not enough to discourage the U.S. Federal Reserve from driving interest rates to higher levels next year.

The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, rose 0.1% last month after climbing 0.4% in October.

A benchmark survey showed U.S. consumers expect price pressures to moderate notably in the next year, with the one-year inflation outlook dropping to the lowest in 18 months in December.

Wall Street indexes had sold off sharply on Thursday after revised data had indicated a resilient American economy, fueling worries that the Federal Reserve could keep hiking rates for longer and end up pushing the economy into a recession.

But Friday’s data and the fact that it came in roughly in line with expectations, eased some of those concerns for now, according to Shawn Cruz, head trading strategist at TD Ameritrade in Chicago, Illinois.

“This is a clear indication that this is a bad news is good news kind of market. The market wants the Fed to feel what they’re doing has been enough,” said Cruz.

“It is on edge over what the path for Fed policy is going to be for next year as that’s going to drive the economy and corporate earnings.” Investors have been jittery since last week as the Fed indicated that it remains stubbornly committed to achieving the 2% inflation goal and projected rate hikes to above 5% in 2023, a level not seen since 2007.

Joe Quinlan Head of CIO Market Strategy at Merrill and Bank of America Private Bank also called Fed hawkishness “the big cloud on the horizon.” “Today is more of a muted response to good data but still it’s not all clear, mission accomplished,” he said, adding that analyst earnings estimates for 2023 are likely too high.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 176.44 points, or 0.53%, to 33,203.93, the S&P 500 gained 22.43 points, or 0.59%, to 3,844.82 and the Nasdaq Composite added 21.74 points, or 0.21%, to 10,497.86.

The S&P and Nasdaq lost ground for the third week in a row, with the benchmark index falling 0.2% compared with a weekly decline of 1.9% for Nasdaq. The Dow however gained 0.9% for its first weekly increase out of three.

TD Ameritrade’s Cruz also noted that thin trading volume may have created more exaggerated moves Thursday and Friday with volume dropped sharply on Friday as participants likely took time off ahead of the long weekend as U.S. markets will be closed on Monday, the day after the Christmas holiday.

On U.S. exchanges 7.75 billion shares changed hands on Friday compared with the 11.41 billion average for the last 20

MOST ASSERTIVE STOCKS

PUERTO RICO STOCKS

CURRENCY

sessions.

Energy shares stood out as the biggest advancers throughout the session as oil prices gained following news of Moscow’s plans to cut crude output.

After spending most of the day down, even the technology and healthcare sectors, the S&P’s weakest performers for the session, managed to eke out small gains with tech adding 0.08% and healthcare adding 0.12%.

Tesla Inc’s shares had touched a more than two-year low in volatile trading as boss Elon Musk’s promise to not sell his shares for at least two years did not reassure investors.

Dow Jones parent News Corp gained 2.8%, making it the second-biggest percentage gainer in the S&P Communications services index after a report that billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg was interested in acquiring either Dow Jones or the Washington Post.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 2.06-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.09-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 2 new 52-week highs and 1 new low; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 49 new highs and 228 new lows.

Attacks complicate Russia’s campaign of striking Ukraine’s energy grid

By ANDREW E. KRAMER

Ukraine is striking more boldly at targets deep in Russian territory because Kyiv has assessed that Moscow’s military is fighting at the limits of its conventional capabilities, former military officials and analysts say.

So far, the Ukrainian long-range attacks that hit airfields in the heart of Russia, along the Volga River, have not caused extensive damage. The latest, on Monday, killed three service members, Russia’s Defense Ministry said, after air defenses shot down a Ukrainian drone approaching Engels air base, near the city of Saratov.

But the attacks, which remain sensitive enough that the Ukrainian government has not publicly acknowledged them, have forced Russia to move planes, potentially complicating Moscow’s campaign of aiming cruise missile strikes at Ukraine’s energy grid.

Since some cruise missiles are launched from bombers that fly from the airfields hit in the attacks, the strikes could potentially destroy the missiles on the ground at the Russian airfields before they can be deployed.

With the sense widespread in Kyiv among officials and civilians that, short of nuclear intensification, Russia cannot do much more to Ukraine than it is not already doing, the allure of curtailing Moscow’s missile capabilities at home outweighs any escalatory concern.

“If somebody attacks you, you fight back,” Andriy Zagorodnyuk, a former Ukrainian defense minister who now advises President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said

in an interview this month, after the first Ukrainian long-range strike on Russian military targets hit Engels and another airfield in central Russia.

Zagorodnyuk, clarifying that he did not speak for the government and could not confirm the strikes, added: “You cannot consider, this person will attack you because you are fighting back. There is absolutely no strategic reason not to try to do this.”

Serhiy Hrabskiy, a retired colonel and commentator on the war for Ukrainian news media, said Ukraine’s military has not hesitated to hit airfields, fuel tanks and ammunition depots that are legitimate mili-

Dec. 4, 2022.

tary targets. Targeting sites in Crimea and cross-border artillery duels have become routine as the war has moved closer to Russia and the occupied peninsula.

“There is no reaction,” Hrabskiy said in an interview. “Why? Because the Russians simply do not have capacity to do so.”

The United States and Ukraine have agreed that Kyiv will not strike targets in Russia with U.S.-provided weaponry. The Biden administration has vowed to avoid U.S. involvement that could escalate to direct confrontation with Russia. But American officials clarified they will not object to Ukraine striking back with its own

weaponry.

A Ukrainian state-owned military contractor has said it developed a long-range drone that would, theoretically, be able to hit Moscow. Russia said Ukraine used Soviet-era, jet-powered reconnaissance drones to hit air bases Dec. 5.

“We are not working to prevent Ukraine from developing their own capability,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said after those strikes.

Ukraine’s long-range strikes have coincided with a depletion of Russian cruise and tactical ballistic missiles. After repeated forays on electrical power plans, substations and other infrastructure targets through the fall and early winter, Russia has enough missiles for two or three more waves of strikes on Ukraine’s electrical grid, Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, told Ukrainian news outlet Liga.net in an interview published Monday.

Russia has been firing waves of 70 to 75 missiles in intervals of about a week, but the time between strikes has been growing.

“They will run out,” Budanov said.

The most sophisticated missile in Russia’s arsenal, the Kinzhal, a hypersonic weapon that can reach targets in minutes and is all but impossible to shoot down, is in even shorter supply, Budanov said.

Russia began its invasion with 47 Kinzhals in its arsenal, Budanov said, and has manufactured only “a few” more during the war.

“You can scare the world with the fact that you have a Kinzhal,” he said. “But when you start to really use them, what’s next?”

Ukraine’s foreign minister proposes peace summit for February

By CARLY OLSON

Ukraine’s foreign minister said on Monday that his government hopes to have a peace summit by the end of February, about one year after Russia invaded Ukraine.

In an interview with The Associated Press, the minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said that the United Nations could host the summit, with Secretary General António Guterres acting as the possible mediator.

“Every war ends in a diplomatic way,” Kuleba said in the interview. “Every war ends

as a result of the actions taken on the battlefield and at the negotiating table.”

Kuleba said that Russia would need to face prosecution for war crimes at an international court to attend the summit.

Kuleba added that he was “absolutely satisfied” with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to the United States last week and that the Patriot missile battery would be operational in Ukraine within six months.

Although Ukrainian officials have proposed a peace deal for months, and Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that he was willing to negotiate, U.S. and European

officials have said that it is difficult to envision terms of a settlement that both Ukraine and Russia would accept.

This month, Zelenskyy discussed his vision for a global peace summit in a call with President Joe Biden. And in November, at the annual Group of 20 summit in Bali, Zelenskyy spoke about his “path to peace” to end the war, noting that Ukraine would not compromise on its stance until its territory was reinstated.

Also Monday, Ukraine’s foreign ministry demanded that Russia be removed as one of the five permanent members of the U.N. Se -

curity Council and called for the country’s expulsion from the United Nations, a move considered unlikely.

The foreign ministry said that Russia illegally took over the Soviet Union’s seat without going through necessary procedures outlined in the U.N. charter when the union broke up in 1991. It also argued that Russia has abused its veto powers on the Security Council.

Russia should be readmitted only once it “fulfills the conditions for membership in the organization,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

A satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows bomber aircraft at Engels Air Base in Saratov, Russia, on Sunday,

In Christmas address, Pope bemoans ‘grave famine of peace’

By JASON HOROWITZ

Pope Francis used his Christmas address from a balcony overlooking a crowded St. Peter’s Square on Sunday to call for “concrete gestures of solidarity” with besieged Ukrainians living through the holiday “in the dark and cold, far from their homes due to the devastation caused by 10 months of war.”

Lamenting that the “icy winds of war continue to buffet humanity” in an era scarred by a “grave famine of peace,” Francis meditated in his 10th Urbi et Orbi — or “to the city and to the world” — Christmas blessing on the birth of Jesus as a symbol of peace.

Francis, who turned 86 last week and now switches between a wheelchair and a cane in public appearances, urged the tens of thousands of faithful in the square to “follow that road” away from a “world closed in on itself and oppressed by the dark shadows of enmity and war, to a world that is open and free to live in fraternity and peace.” Speaking specifically about the suffering in Ukraine caused by Russia’s unprovoked invasion, he called on God to “enlighten the minds of those who have the power to silence the thunder of weapons and put an immediate end to this senseless war.”

He did not mention President Vladimir Putin of Russia by name.

Francis now regularly speaks out against war, but it has taken him a long and fitful time to find his voice.

Driven by hopes of maintaining the Vatican’s traditional aversion to picking sides in conflict to potentially play a role in an eventual brokering of peace, as well as by an entrenched anti-NATO bias in some corners of the Vatican, Francis has studiously avoided naming Putin, or even Russia itself, as the aggressor. Only at the end of August, amid questioning about whether the pope was risking his moral authority, did the Vatican issue a statement saying “the large-scale war in Ukraine” was “initiated by the Russian Federation.” It insisted Francis’ condemnation was “unequivocal.”

Earlier that month, he had infuriated Ukrainians by calling Daria Dugina, a 29-year-old Russian ultranationalist who spoke out in favor of the invasion of Ukraine, an “innocent” victim after she was killed in a car bombing. In September,

Francis, who incessantly criticizes the arms trade, said it was acceptable for countries to provide weapons to Ukraine so that the country could defend itself. Self-defense in the face of aggression, Francis said at the time, was “not only lawful but also an expression of love of country.”

More recently, he has spoken about the “battered Ukrainian people,” but then, in a November interview with Jesuit magazine America, he said he had received “much information about the cruelty of the troops” in the war in Ukraine.

But despite ample public information and investigations into the behavior of the Russian troops, including mass killings, Francis added, “As a rule, the most cruel, perhaps, are those who are from Russia but do not adhere to the Russian tradition, such as Chechens, Buryats and so on.” Many Chechens are Muslim. Buryats are a Mongol ethnic group who traditionally follow Buddhist and shamanic beliefs.

Besides prompting perplexity in the West, Francis’ remarks infuriated Russia,

which demanded an apology from the Vatican. Its diplomats reached out to Moscow and apparently apologized.

This month, Francis appealed to the faithful to spend less money on their Christmas gifts and parties and to send the saved money to Ukrainians struggling through the frigid winter.

And in remarks ushering in the holiday at a Christmas Eve Mass before thousands of faithful packed in St. Peter’s Basilica, Francis lamented the consumerism that risked emptying the holiday of its meaning, and blamed the sins of greed and the thirsts for power for causing some leaders to want to “consume even their neighbors.”

To avoid standing for too long Saturday, Francis delegated much of the celebrating of the ceremony to a cardi-

nal. On Christmas Day, he stood with the help of a cane from the basilica balcony overlooking the square.

Moving beyond Ukraine on Sunday, he touched on other “theaters of this third world war” around the globe.

“Let us think of Syria, still scarred by a conflict that has receded into the background but has not ended,” he said. He mentioned the suffering of the people of Haiti and the increasing violence in the Holy Land, and he urged a divine intervention to rebuild “mutual trust between Israelis and Palestinians.” He urged an end to the conflict and violence tearing apart the coexistence of people with different cultures and traditions in northern Africa, prayed for a lasting truce in Yemen, and for reconciliation in Myanmar and Iran.

Francis also noted how the war in Ukraine had aggravated the risk of famine around the world, especially in Afghanistan and the countries of the Horn of Africa, and he argued that money that could go to feeding the hungry went to arming soldiers.

“We know that every war causes hunger and exploits food as a weapon, hindering its distribution to people already suffering,” he said, urging political leaders to commit “to making food solely an instrument of peace.” But he did not say which leader he was referring to.

Francis also emphasized past hallmarks of his papacy, including care for migrants and the destitute, calling the world “sick with indifference” and unwelcoming to Jesus as it is to “many foreigners” and the poor.

“Today, may we not forget the many displaced persons and refugees who knock at our door in search of some comfort, warmth and food,” he said. “Let us not forget the marginalized, those living alone, the orphans and the elderly who risk being set aside.”

Snow blankets a destroyed neighborhood in Irpin, Ukraine, on Sunday, Dec. 4, 2022. Pope Francis urged the tens of thousands of faithful in St. Peter’s Square to pray for Ukraine and for others suffering in conflicts around the world.

Taliban bar women from NGOs, threatening to worsen crisis

By CHRISTINA GOLDBAUM, SAFIULLAH PADSHAH and NAJIM RAHIM

The Afghan government Saturday barred women from working in local and international humanitarian organizations, officials said, a move that threatens billions of dollars of aid that has kept Afghanistan from the brink of starvation amid an economic collapse.

The ban is the latest blow to women’s rights under a Taliban administration that appears to value eradicating women from public life over keeping the country from plunging further into a dire humanitarian catastrophe that risks the lives of millions of Afghans.

The edict, announced in a letter from the Ministry of Economy and confirmed to The New York Times by the ministry’s spokesperson, warned that the ministry would revoke the operating licenses of any organizations that did not comply. It was unclear whether the ban would apply to the United Nations’ aid agencies, and to all women or only Afghan nationals working in aid organizations.

Since the Western-backed government collapsed last year and the economy crashed practically overnight, Afghanistan’s long-standing malnutrition crisis drastically worsened. Across the country, millions of Afghans lost their jobs; the price of food soared beyond many families’ reach; and emaciated children flooded malnutrition clinics.

Today, nearly 20 million people — more than half of the population — are facing potentially life-threatening levels of food insecurity, according to a U.N. analysis. Of those, 6 million people are nearing famine.

Over the past year, billions of dollars in aid from humanitarian groups have kept the country from the brink of mass starvation, providing free food to millions of families that would otherwise go hungry and offering lifesaving medical care to millions of malnourished children.

Many humanitarian aid organizations consider the move barring female staff a red line in Taliban governance that could shut down their operations throughout the country, as donors and decision-makers balk at the open discrimination against women in their ranks, according to aid workers. Closing operations would effectively destroy Afghanistan’s aid ecosystem and sever a lifeline for the record 28.3 million Afghans — or two-thirds of the population — expected to need some form of humanitarian assistance next year, aid workers say.

Even for groups that remain in Afghanistan, the loss of women humanitarian workers could seriously hinder the delivery of aid, particularly to women in need. In many parts of the country, women typically only interact with men in their family and would be unable to directly receive aid — like food parcels or medical care — from male aid workers.

Hours after the decree was announced, a few international aid groups were discussing immediately suspending their operations in the country until further notice. John Morse, country director for DACAAR, a Danish nonprofit, said he would close his office Sunday to discuss the consequences of the ban with his senior leadership.

“I think the big discussion is solidarity” among NGOs and trying to press the Afghan government to reverse the decree, he said.

The edict comes less than a week after the Afghan government barred women from attending private and public universities, crushing the hopes of millions of girls who have watched as the rights they grew up with under U.S. occupation have been slowly erased since the Western-backed government collapsed. In March, the new government also reneged on promises to allow girls to attend public high schools.

The moves further signaled that the Taliban’s leadership has cast aside any intent to moderate, and is determined to reinstitute the hard-line rule that the group maintained during its first stretch in power, in the 1990s.

Both announcements also underscore how ideological hard-liners within the Taliban movement, including its supreme leader, Sheikh Haibatullah Akhundzada, have increasingly imposed their influence over those who have urged moderation in order to maintain engagement with the international community.

Stoking fears that authorities plan to further roll back women’s rights, security forces in the capital, Kabul, this week held meetings with school principals, teachers and adminis-

trators of private education centers, instructing them to shut down their winter courses for all girls — including those in primary schools — and send home their female teachers, according to six education professionals across five districts in Kabul.

Schools are currently on winter break but many students have been attending supplementary courses at private schools and education centers before the spring semester begins next year.

When asked about the meetings, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Education denied other reports that the government had officially banned girls from attending primary schools. But the meetings raised fears that the Afghan government may be laying the groundwork to further restrict girls’ education next year.

Taken together, the bans on women in higher education and Saturday’s ban on employment in NGOs were a heartbreaking blow to women across the country, many of whom had worked to carve out a public role for themselves in Afghan society after the Taliban’s first regime was toppled in 2001.

For many Afghan women working for aid groups, their jobs were a testament to that two-decadelong fight. But their incomes have also become a lifeline for their families amid the economic crash and widespread joblessness.

“I am in shock,” said Maghfira Ahmadi, who works in the financial and administrative department of Doctors Without Borders in Kunduz, a commercial hub in northern Afghanistan.

Ahmadi said she is the sole breadwinner for her family since the Western-backed government collapsed last year and the new government stopped paying the pension of her father, a retired public-school teacher.

“I am very worried about the future,” she said. “I used to pay for everything for my family with my salary, but I don’t know what will happen to us.”

A rally on Thursday in Kabul, Afghanistan, to protest the Taliban rule barring women from attending universities.

Conservatives in western Canada pass law rejecting federal sovereignty

By IAN AUSTEN

In the heavily conservative western prairie province of Alberta, Canada, many residents, especially those on the far right, chafed at the COVID-19 restrictions imposed by the Liberal federal government in Ottawa, the country’s capital.

The widespread resentment helped fuel the enormous truck blockade this year that disrupted trade with the United States and paralyzed Ottawa for a month.

Now, oil-rich Alberta has ratcheted up the long-running schism between western and eastern Canada by approving a bill allowing the province to ignore any federal laws and regulations it opposes, a move some critics described as an unconstitutional threat to the basic fabric of the country’s government.

The leader of Alberta’s provincial government, Danielle Smith, justified her support for the bill by saying, “It’s not like Ottawa is a national government,” a conclusion that is widely disputed by constitutional experts. Smith, who is the leader of Alberta’s United Conservative Party and the premier of the province, added: “The way our country works is that we are a federation of sovereign, independent jurisdictions.”

The new law is the latest development reflecting an informal, far-right effort in western Canadian provinces, mainly Alberta, to secede from Canada, underscoring just how difficult it can be for Ottawa to govern the regionally divided country.

Though Smith is not a member of any group participating in the secessionist movement, sometimes called Wexit, she has long espoused its driving view that the federal government is taking advantage of Alberta.

Holding views considered extreme even among Canadian conservatives, Smith has opposed all pandemic measures, including vaccines and masks. Her government has suggested that Alberta’s law could be used to reject federal authority and laws in several areas, including public health, the environment and firearms.

Critics, however, say that the law is a constitutional overreach by the province that is unlikely to survive a court challenge. They also say the legislation will create uncertainty that may cause investors to shy away from Alberta and could jeopardize Indigenous peoples’ rights and treaty obligations.

The law reflects the province’s deep-seated grievances toward the federal government.

Many Albertans have long argued that Ottawa has exploited the wealth generated by the province’s lucrative energy industry for the benefit of other provinces while dismissing pressing needs in Alberta, including increased funds for health care. The overwhelming majority of Alberta’s energy is exported, and the province is the largest source of imported oil for the United States.

They view Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s ambitious program to move away from fossil fuels to combat climate change as a threat to their vital industry and his progressive government as out of touch with Albertans on many issues, particularly gun control.

In introducing the proposed law, Smith said, “I hope that we’ve sent a message to Ottawa that we will vigorously defend our constitutional areas of jurisdiction, and they should just butt out.”

But political scientists and analysts said the law is less about constitutional jurisdiction than it is about attracting the secessionist and anti-vaccination movements by tapping into a

strain of anger and disenchantment toward the federal government and toward Trudeau in particular.

“This is coming from a deep-seated anger at the federal government and Justin Trudeau,” said Duane Bratt, a professor of political science at Mount Royal University in Calgary. “She clearly wants to fight with Trudeau.”

Trudeau, for his part, does not seem interested in taking the bait. While the federal government has the power to override the law or to take it directly to Canada’s Supreme Court for a constitutional review, there is no sign that he plans to pursue either move.

After the law was adopted, he told reporters that he was “not interested in fighting with the Alberta government.”

Many legal experts say the law is unconstitutional because it claims the authority to nullify bills passed by federal lawmakers.

While provinces historically have a little room in Canada’s system in how they enforce and follow federal legislation, “Alberta now takes two large steps forward to say that the existence of flexible federalism is a grounds for the province to refuse, in a direct and frontal way, the applications of federal laws,” said Eric Adams, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.

Jason Kenney, Smith’s predecessor as premier and a Conservative who resigned from his seat in Alberta’s Legislature shortly after the proposed law was introduced, issued a statement when he stepped down that was widely interpreted as critical of Smith.

“Our democratic life is veering away from ordinary prudential debate towards a polarization that undermines our bedrock institutions and principles,” Kenney said.

Critics of the law have included business and energy groups that are usually allies of conservative politicians but that contend that selectively disregarding federal rules could drive away investment and cost the province jobs.

“This could cause us problems within Canada and with other provinces, as well as with Ottawa,” Deborah Yedlin, CEO of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, told Global News, a broadcaster.

Rachel Notley, leader of the provincial branch of the leftleaning New Democratic Party, called on Smith to seek an immediate court review.

“I believe this act will fail in the courts, but, for the sake of Alberta workers, we should get that rolling as quickly as possible to limit the chaos and the uncertainty this act creates,” Notley, a former premier, told reporters.

The Alberta government has long claimed that the landlocked province’s oil industry has been held back by federal environmental rules that have frustrated attempts to build new pipelines or increase capacity of existing pipelines to the United States and ports.

The new law has also

A “Take Back Alberta” rally on a private farm near Lethbridge, Canada, Aug. 12, 2022, aimed at getting frustrated citizens to sign up as United Conservative Party members.

provoked anger among Indigenous groups in Alberta who say that it will undermine their rights under treaties they signed with Britain before Canada’s formation and that are now administered by the federal government.

The law “is just another unlawful attempt to continue the province’s deliberate abuse and exploitation of our peoples, lands, territories and resources,” Grand Chief Arthur Noskey of the Treaty 8 First Nations said in a statement.

The Onion Lake Cree Nation, which straddles the AlbertaSaskatchewan border, filed a lawsuit this month in Alberta’s superior court asking it to strike down the law because, the community said, it violates or endangers a variety of treaty rights.

Smith’s office did not respond to a request for an interview.

Smith has maintained that the law will withstand any court challenge and has equated the legislation with efforts by Indigenous communities to regain sovereignty for their territories.

“Ottawa, I think, unfortunately treats First Nations with disrespect, and they also treat provinces with disrespect,” she told the legislature after the law passed.

The

Jan. 6 committee

that participated in the attack on the Capitol and that pose a threat of renewed violence.

Congressional hearings are often filled with the distraction of partisan squabbling, grandstanding and detours into tangential subjects. The Jan. 6 committee was different, and the American people were better off for it. Trump and others refused to answer subpoenas from the committee, which would have given them an opportunity to answer questions and make their case. Their refusal is unfortunate; they deserve the chance to defend themselves and present their account of the facts, and Americans deserve the chance to hear from them. They’re still due that chance, and Trump may still have his say in a court of law.

As the select committee’s chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., emphasized at its final hearing on Monday, the government should continue to pursue those responsible for the Jan. 6 attack and to hold them accountable.

More than 900 people already have been charged with crimes related to the attack on the Capitol, and several hundred of those have been convicted or pleaded guilty. Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the extremist Oath Keepers group, was convicted of seditious conspiracy in November. Jury selection has begun in the federal trial of Enrique Tarrio, a former leader of the Proud Boys, another extremist group, who faces similar charges.

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD

The hearings of the House select committee on the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol presented a careful, convincing and disturbing account of Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. They provided an abundance of detail about what we’ve long known: that Trump and his allies engaged in an assault not only on Congress but also on democracy itself.

The work done by the committee over the past 18 months may be even more important than its report, which was released Thursday. The months of scouring investigation and the carefully staged hearings, in which the evidence of Trump’s malfeasance was presented to the public, were critical elements in the nation’s full understanding of the attack on the Capitol. Through the work of these hearings, Congress showed that the best possible answer to political violence lay in the tools that were right at hand: the rule of law, checks and balances, testimony given under oath and the careful process of bureaucracy.

Like a slow-motion replay, the committee’s work also gave Americans a second chance to comprehend the enormity of what transpired on Jan. 6. It seems plausible, as some members of the panel have asserted, that the hearings made protecting democracy a significant issue in the midterm elections and helped persuade voters to reject some election deniers who ran for state offices. The sustained attention on Trump’s conduct in his final days in office is also valuable as he mounts a renewed campaign for the presidency. And the hearings focused the attention of the public and policymakers on the extremist groups

The seven Democrats and two Republicans who served on the committee captured the attention of Americans who may not have been sufficiently informed or alarmed about Trump’s role in the events of Jan. 6 to take notice. The two Republicans, Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, deserve particular credit for defying their party to participate. Their presence and the damning testimony delivered by Trump’s aides and allies conveyed the message that some things are necessarily more important than loyalty to a political party.

Americans have also learned, thanks to these hearings, exactly how close this country came to even greater tragedies. Rioters came within 40 feet of Vice President Mike Pence. A Justice Department official, Jeffrey Clark, in late December 2020 sought to send a letter — based on lies — to officials in Georgia and potentially several other key states that warned of election irregularities and called for a special legislative session to select alternate slates of presidential electors.

The lesson, in part, is that our democracy is inescapably fragile. It requires Americans and those who serve them as elected officials and in law enforcement to act in good faith. The committee rightly spent many hours of its work documenting the actions of all those local, state and federal officials who defied Trump’s demands and acted in many different ways to protect democracy.

The dangers remain clear and present, so this work is not complete. House Republicans will be in the majority come January, including many who sought to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory and some who encouraged the rioters.

Political violence is on the rise, especially among right-wing extremists.

And Trump is running for president again on a platform of his grievances, still insistent that he did not lose the last election, still refusing to accept the rule of law. He is, in fact, escalating his rhetoric.

The nation needs to respond to these threats. Congress needs to pass the reforms to the electoral process that are included in the year-end omnibus spending bill. Law enforcement can do more to crack down on extremist violence. Voters should reject Trump at the polls.

The committee called on the Justice Department to also bring criminal charges against Trump and the lawyer John Eastman for their efforts to overturn the 2020 election, including Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 attack. The Justice Department is still engaged in its own investigation. As we wrote in August, if there is sufficient evidence to establish Trump’s guilt on a serious charge in a court of law, then he should be charged and tried; the same goes for all of the others whom the committee referred to the Justice Department.

Thompson, urging action on all these fronts, said that as a nation, “we remain in strange and uncharted waters.” Yet the hearings also underscored that the country is better off with clarity and truth.

Ray Ruiz

Sharon Ramírez

The San Juan Daily Star

Gobernador firma ley que amplía derechos de la comunidad con albinismo, entre otras medidas

POR CYBERNEWS

LA FORTALEZA – El gobernador, Pedro Rafael Pierluisi Urrutia, convirtió en ley este lunes, diez piezas legislativas, entre estas, el Proyecto del Senado 247 que al establecer la política pública del Estado en torno a la población de albinismo y el Síndrome de Hermansky-Pudlak, ordena a la Administración de Seguros de Salud (ASES) y los planes de salud privados, incluir en sus cubiertas especiales la condición de albinismo y los trastornos que puedan causarlo.

También, el Departamento de Salud (DS), deberá mediante el Sistema de Vigilancia de Defectos Congénitos identificar y subdividir los tipos de albinismo para incluir el Síndrome de Hermansy-Pudlak, el cual, según el portal de Internet de la agencia, es un albinismo oculocutáneo que se caracteriza por poca o ninguna pigmentación en los ojos y en la piel y por sangrado prolongado debido problemas con las plaquetas. Este informe será sometido anualmente al Instituto de

Estadísticas y a la Asamblea Legislativa.

Asimismo, mediante esta nueva ley, la Oficina del Procurador del Paciente tendrá la facultad de intervenir y multar a quienes violen disposiciones legales, previa notificación y vista. Además, autoriza a la Oficina del Comisionado de Seguros (OCS) y al DS a aprobar la reglamentación necesaria para cumplir con los propósitos de ley.

En el Plan de Salud del Gobierno, la cubierta especial incluirá servicios, pruebas y procedimientos médicamente necesarios de seguimiento por un oftalmólogo o dermatólogo para el manejo de la condición una vez establecido el diagnóstico. En los casos de Síndrome de HermanskyPudlak y Chediak-Higashi, se cubrirán también los servicios, prueba y procedimientos ofrecidos por un hematólogo. Igualmente, medicamentos prescritos por oftalmólogos, dermatólogos y en los casos del Síndrome de Hermansky-Pudlak, aquellos prescritos por hematólogos, neumólogos para tratar condiciones o complicaciones en el manejo y prevención de complicaciones en

esta población. Asimismo, lentes y espejuelos especialmente prescritos para protección, prevención y mejora de la visión, según los parámetros de cantidad y costo de estos establecidos por el plan de Salud gubernamental, al igual que cremas de protección solar específicas para prevención de complicaciones por exposición a los rayos ultravioletas, entre otros servicios y medi-

Vega Alta repite como campeón del Norte en la Coliceba

POR CYBERNEWS

seis carreras de Vega Alta.

VEGA

ALTA – Los Maceteros de Vega Alta repitieron como campeones de la sección Norte en la Confederación de la Liga Central de Béisbol Aficionado (Coliceba), al eliminar en un juego decisivo a los Caciques de Orocovis.Vega Alta es el primer equipo clasificado a las semifinales, penúltima etapa del torneo que contará con la participación de cuatro franquicias.

Aunque Orocovis fue el equipo líder de la fase regular con apenas una derrota, los Maceteros lograron imponerse en dos de los tres juegos de la serie final de la sección. El último encuentro fue el viernes y concluyó con resultado 6-3.

El derecho Elier Santana cubrió cinco entradas para ganar el encuentro y Jonathan Pacheco se apuntó el salvamento. Gabriel Robles y Einar Muñiz se combinaron para remolcar cuatro de las

En la final del Suroeste, los Ganduleros de Villalba le ganaron 16-5 a los Prodigiosos de Sabana Grande para nivelar la serie a dos triunfos y forzar a un juego decisivo. Kevin Luciano bateó de 5-4 con tres empujadas y cuatro anotadas.

En la Central, los campeones defensores Jardineros de Aibonito se fueron al frente en su serie 2-1 al dominar 5-3 a los Peces de Salinas, con cinco entradas del lanzador Héctor ‘Heto’ Acevedo.

Por su parte, en el Este, los Mulos de Juncos vencieron 3-1 a los Gigantes de Carolina para abrir con el pie derecho la final de la sección. El juego se decidió en el noveno episodio, con sencillo de Waldyvan Estrada.

Próximos juegos: Martes 27 diciembre Carolina en Juncos – 7:30 pm

Miércoles 28 diciembre Aibonito en Salinas – 7:30 pm Jueves 29 diciembre Juncos en Carolina – 7:30 pm (de ser necesario)

Viernes 30 diciembre Salinas en Aibonito – 7:30 pm (de ser necesario)

Sabana Grande en Villalba – 7:30 pm (Decisivo)

3 muertos y 215 hospitalizados en informe preliminar COVID-19

POR CYBERNEWS

SAN JUAN – El informe preliminar de COVID-19 del Departamento de Salud (DS) reportó el viernes 3 muertes y 215 personas hospitalizadas.

El total de muertes atribuidas es de 5,502. Hay 215 adultos hospitalizados y 18 menores. El monitoreo cubre el periodo del 6 al 20 de diciembre 2022.

La tasa de positividad está en 26.01 por ciento.

In 2022, Latin pop thrived on innovation. Again.

By JON PARELES

Pop in 2022 was unequivocally dominated by Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny. Songs from his latest album, “Un Verano Sin Ti” (“A Summer Without You”), were streamed billions of times, keeping it at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart for much of the year; his tours and other live performances grossed $435 million, according to Billboard Boxscore. Even so, his triumph was anything but a surprise. Every one of the six albums that the artist, born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, has released since 2018 has been a billion-streamer.

Yet he has stuck to lyrics in Spanish. Unlike prior waves of Latin pop hitmakers who have reached a wider U.S. market, Bad Bunny is very clearly not bothering to court an English-language crossover. The world is listening anyway.

Bad Bunny’s voice — a rich baritone groan that can sound both supremely confident and perpetually unsatisfied — has become one of the most recognizable sounds of the 21st century, at home in every collaboration and any idiom he chooses, from reggaeton to punk-pop. He has built a persona as a hard-partying, raunchy, fashion-forward Casanova who also speaks out about Puerto Rico’s pride and frustrations. And the commercial success of “Un Verano Sin Ti” was so undeniable that it became the first release performed entirely in Spanish to receive a Grammy nomination for album of the year.

That’s a very belated milestone. It’s also just a hint of how much diverse, brilliant Spanish-language pop appeared in 2022: from forward-looking pop contenders like Rosalía and Rauw Alejandro; from introspective yet sonically ambitious songwriters like Carla Morrison and iLe; and from experimental composers like Lucrecia Dalt. Drawing freely and idiosyncratically on tradition, all of them have found ways to recast multigenerational lore into music for the here and now.

Latin music — a purposely loose category that encompasses countless national, regional and local styles — has always pointed toward joyful innovation. Across the Americas, historical forces including colonialism, slavery, Indigenous perseverance, and cultural and individual resourcefulness forged music that is richly, creatively hybridized. Latin music has long proved that the fusions broaden connections.

In 1938, New Orleans pianist and composer Jelly Roll Morton, speaking about the origins of jazz, told Alan Lomax, “If you can’t manage to put tinges of Spanish in your tunes, you will never be able to get the right seasoning, I call it, for jazz.”

What Morton called the “Spanish tinge” actually came from Afro-Cuban rhythms like the habanera. Rhythms, dynamics, melodic contours, vocal inflections and other ideas from Latin music have repeatedly catalyzed mainstream

musical evolution: in jazz, rock ’n’ roll, psychedelia, disco, electronic dance music and hip-hop. Current pop has found an international common denominator in the reggaeton beat that emerged decades ago in Panama and Puerto Rico. Now it just sounds like an eternal, syncopated pulse.

In the era of streaming and the internet, Latin music has reconfigured the meaning of regional styles. A particular beat or a standard instrumental lineup — a cumbia by a mariachi band, or a bachata with electric guitar and bongos — still points clearly to a singular place of origin, to Mexico or the Dominican Republic. But musicians aren’t confining themselves to homeland styles or shunning outsiders. With everything available for listening or sampling or layering, far more boundary-hopping now takes place; Bad Bunny’s album, for instance, focuses on reggaeton but also dips into bachata, cumbia and merengue. In the best new Latin pop, genre-hopping and genre-splicing are clearly a matter of

musical curiosity and shared intentions, not crossover calculation.

Spanish songwriter Rosalía made it her game plan to jump-cut among styles on her profoundly and playfully self-conscious 2022 album, “Motomami.” The songs constantly, willfully mutate, using the flamenco Rosalía studied in Spain along with reggaeton, bachata, piano ballads, jazz, hip-hop and salsa. On “Motomami” she sings about her determination to transform, her sudden global fame and how fleeting it could be; she also throws in some Japanese references, in case anyone thought she was limited to Europe and the Americas. Each allusion has clearly recognizable roots, but Rosalía insists that their contrasts add up to something more: a common humanity, even if it’s digitally mediated.

Puerto Rican singer, songwriter and producer Rauw Alejandro steered his pop-reggaeton toward electronic realms on his 2022 album, “Saturno.” He nodded toward reggaeton predecessors — one of the album’s hits, “Punto 40,” radically updated a 1998 song in collaboration with its originator, Baby Rasta — but he also deployed synthesizers to go hopscotching through styles like electro- and hyperpop, sometimes dissolving the beat to trade typical reggaeton braggadocio for lost-in-space heartache.

Eerie electronic backdrops merged with Latin rhythms to heighten the intimacy of 2022 albums like “Nacarile,” by Puerto Rican songwriter iLe (Ileana Cabra), and “El Renacimiento,” by Mexican songwriter Carla Morrison. ILe touched down in established styles like reggaeton (in a duet with the Puerto Rican reggaeton pioneer Ivy Queen) and bolero (in a duet with Chilean songwriter Mon Laferte), but also created otherworldly new hybrids, floating her voice within a phantom chorale in songs that explored temptation and oppression. On “El Renacimiento” (“The Rebirth”), Morrison sang about overcoming doubts and anxieties in music that seemed to hover around her protectively, invoking traditional rhythms from a great distance.

As Latin pop flexes both its inventiveness and its commercial clout, crass imitations and dilutions are bound to appear. There will inevitably be questions about who profits and who deserves credit.

Bad Bunny, for one, isn’t threatened. One of the most hard-hitting songs on “Un Verano Sin Ti” is “El Apagón,” which means “The Blackout” — an irate reference to the frequent power failures that have plagued Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria in 2017. The track begins with a stark, traditional Puerto Rican beat, a bomba, as Bad Bunny praises the island’s people, culture and spunk. Midway through, it switches into buzzing, blasting, big-room EDM — as if leaping from ritual to rave — but not before Bad Bunny makes a point Jelly Roll Morton might well have respected.

“Ahora todos quieren ser latinos / No, ey, pero les falta sazón,” Bad Bunny chants. “Now everybody wants to be Latin, but they don’t have the seasoning.”

Bad Bunny ruled 2022 with his latest blockbuster album, “Un Verano Sin Ti,” and wildly successful arena and stadium tours.

By NEIL GENZLINGER

Maya Ruiz-Picasso, a daughter of Pablo Picasso who as a child was painted and drawn by her famous father numerous times, and who after his death in 1973 was frequently consulted for her knowledge about his works, died Tuesday in Paris. She was 87.

Her daughter, Diana Widmaier-Ruiz-Picasso, an art historian, said the cause was pulmonary complications.

Ruiz-Picasso was the child of Picasso’s long relationship with Marie-Thérèse Walter, with whom he became involved in 1927 although he was married at the time to Olga Khokhlova, a Russian ballet dancer. He remained married until his wife’s death in 1955 and had other lovers as well, but he spent considerable time with Walter and their daughter during the tumultuous years of the Spanish Civil War and World War II. It was a period of frequent deprivation throughout Europe.

“I still have tender memories of those times when we would gather in the kitchen to draw together,” RuizPicasso told her daughter as Widmaier-Ruiz-Picasso was preparing an exhibition about her mother and grandfather that opened in April at the Musée Picasso-Paris. “It was the only warm place in the apartment.”

By the time Maya was born in 1935, Picasso had already done landmark work in cubism and surrealism, and his artistic interests in the late 1930s and ’40s covered a wide range. Some pieces wrestled with the turbulence and violence of the day, but others had a childlike quality. He is said to have once remarked, upon viewing an exhibition of children’s drawings, “When I was their age I drew like Raphael, but it took me a lifetime to learn to draw like them.”

In the same period that he was unveiling “Guernica” (1937), his jolting masterwork inspired by the bombing of that Spanish city, he was painting works such as “Maya With Doll” and “Maya in a Sailor Suit” (both 1938), which depicted his daughter with a typically Picasso-esque distorted face. In one, she has a doll in her lap; in the other, she’s chasing a butter fl y with a net.

Picasso painted his last portrait of Maya on the eve of her 18th birthday in 1953. By then she had distanced herself from Picasso, and she rarely saw him after that. But she was declared an heir after his death. She later became known as an authority on his works and was sometimes called upon by Sotheby’s or Christie’s to authenticate a particular piece or declare it a fake.

She made headlines in 2006 when she declared that several drawings attributed to Picasso and sold by Costco, the warehouse-club wholesaler, were fakes, as were the authenticating certi fi cates that came with them, which had supposedly been signed by her. “The certi ficate is a fake, ditto the signature, ditto the spelling, ditto the drawing,” she told The New York Times in reference

to one of the works, a drawing of a faun.

Another of the disputed drawings was of a bullfi ght. She deemed it not a Picasso for several reasons, one of them anatomical.

“My father knew that bulls have two testicles, in addition to something very masculine,” she told the Times.

Ruiz-Picasso, who was christened María de la Concepción, was born Sept. 5, 1935, in Paris. She was named after Picasso’s sister, who had died in childhood, a loss that haunted him. In time “María” became “Maya” as a result of how the young child pronounced her own name.

According to the 2021 book “A Life of Picasso: The Minotaur Years, 1933-1943,” the fi nal installment of John Richardson’s four-part biography of the artist, Picasso registered the birth as “father unknown” because French law at the time did not allow a married man to be listed as the father of another woman’s child. Instead, at her baptism in 1942, he identi fi ed himself as her godfather.

She grew up mostly in France, with her father dropping into her life periodically.

“I loved watching my father paint because he approached the canvas as if he were dancing on tiptoes,” Ruiz-Picasso said in an audio guide to a 2013 Picasso exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. “First, he painted. Then, to see the work, he had to back away. Then he looked at the painting from a distance to see what it needed. Then he danced off again.”

She attended the Lycée Français, an international school in Madrid. She met Pierre Widmaier, a naval offi cer, in 1960 in Greece, and they soon married.

After Picasso’s death in 1973, Ruiz-Picasso sued successfully to be recognized as an heir, as two children Picasso had with another lover, Françoise Gilot, had done earlier. That gave her the right to use the name Ruiz-Picasso, Ruiz having been the name of Picasso’s paternal grandfather, though she also often used the name Widmaier.

An agreement among the heirs also gave her part of his estate, though only after complicated negotiations, since Picasso had left no will.

“He did not make a will because he did not want to suggest that he might ever die,” she told the Times in 1980. “My father was terri fi ed of dying.”

She was given some of his works, which she has lent and donated over the years. She was appointed a knight of the Legion of Honor in 2007 and commander of the Order of Arts and Letters in 2016, in recognition of her research and other efforts on behalf of her father’s legacy.

In addition to her daughter, Ruiz-Picasso is survived by her husband; two sons, Olivier and Richard; and two grandchildren.

Maya Ruiz-Picasso, a daughter of Pablo Picasso and a frequent subject of his art, in Paris in 1986.

How to travel the world while putting nature first

By ELAINE GLUSAC

Before the recent U.N. Biodiversity Conference in Montreal, the World Travel and Tourism Council, a nonprofit organization of travel businesses, issued a report on “nature positive travel,” a new term that describes travel that supports and protects nature.

Julia Simpson, president and chief executive of the WTTC, called the report “a big shout-out for nature.”

Alarmingly, the report notes that 1 in 4 species worldwide faces the threat of extinction (as assessed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature), and that species abundance — the number of individuals of each species in a particular location — has fallen 68% since 1970, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

To combat these declines, the report, which has been endorsed by the Secretariat of the U.N. Biodiversity Conference and the World Commission for Protected Areas, offers recommendations that include raising traveler awareness of the importance of biodiversity, auditing travel companies and those that supply them for their impact on nature, collaborating with local communities as guardians of nature, and investing in species protection and habitat reconstruction.

While the WTTC has already published a road map to net-zero carbon emissions for the travel industry by 2050, Simpson calls nature-positive tourism “a practical guide for our industry” to protect nature and encourage biodiversity while awaiting more powerful solutions to decarbonize travel, particularly aviation.

She recently answered questions on nature-positive travel. The following are excerpts from the interview, edited for length and clarity.

Q: What is the purpose of nature-positive tourism?

A: As we’re seeing the devastating effects of climate change on our world, with horrendous fires and floods and tornadoes, everybody’s more and more aware of what we can do to lessen the impact.

Earlier this year, we published the net-zero road map for travel and tourism to reduce our impact in terms of carbon emissions by 50% by 2030. Biodiversity is the flip side of that. With nature positive tourism, we’re looking to protect and rebuild nature.

Eighty percent of all travel involves the traveler going into some form of nature. It could be a beach, it could be mangroves, it could be skiing, it could be mountaineering. We used to talk about leaving a lighter footprint. But now I think people actually want to have a positive footprint, like collecting plastics on the beaches of Bali that arrive there from other parts of the world.

For the travel and tourism industry overall, if threats to nature are poorly managed, they can contribute to all five recognized drivers of biodiversity loss, from changing land-use patterns to direct exploitation of resources, climate

change, pollution and the introduction of invasive nonnative species.

The positive part of nature positive is actually doing something to improve an ecosystem as opposed to just being a benign force.

Q: The report recommends reconnecting people to nature. How?

A: Some hotels in the tropics are connecting the consumer with the nature around them; often, even food will be sourced locally.

Nature-positive tourism is also about connecting people within communities that can safeguard nature. For example, in Colombia, they had a terrible problem with the drug trade, and they tried to pivot their economy to a peaceful economy based on tourism. You actually had former FARC guerrillas become guides. And in South Africa, where the poaching of rhinos has been a really big problem, many organizations, including government agencies, private conservancies and safari lodges, have incentivized people so that local communities actually can earn more by protecting their rhinos. You’re seeing this happen also in Rwanda, where the government is working with local communities to take back land that had been converted to agriculture to rebuild some of the forests that the gorillas live in.

Q: What does it mean to invest in nature, which the report recommends?

A: There is now a lot of green investment where people are planting things like mangroves and restoring reefs that were destroyed by development. So, it’s not just about protecting, it’s also about rebuilding. I was just at a resort in Bali that is using 3D printers to print coral and plug it back into places to start rebuilding the reef and protecting the fish stock.

Q: The report recommends supporting sustainable value chains. What is that?

A: If you are a hotel, you look at where your energy is coming from, and how to buy energy that’s been sourced in a more sustainable way. Another concern: Where are you buying your food from? Is it imported?

A hotel doesn’t exist in isolation. It is supplied by a lot of people, and when they source things, the vehicles they use should be green. The goal is to try to spread that sustainability footprint through your whole supply chain, from transportation to food, energy and water.

Q: How can a traveler be nature positive?

A: The solution needs to be at all levels. It has to be government led. It has to be led by the industry. And, obviously, all of us as individuals when we travel should be mindful and ask questions and challenge standards.

At hotels, you don’t need to get your sheets or towels changed every day. If hotels have plastic, ask why. In a hotel with small plastic bottles of shampoo, drop an email to the hotelier and say, “You guys could do better.” Buffets generate a lot of food waste. So, it’s looking at those kinds of things and, in general, being a conscious traveler.

RIP InSight: Dust shuts off NASA marsquake detector after 4 years

By KENNETH CHANG

NASA’s Mars InSight spacecraft is dead.

For months, mission managers have been expecting this as dust accumulated on the lander’s solar panels, blocking the sunlight the stationary spacecraft needs to generate power.

InSight, which arrived on the surface of Mars more than four years ago to measure the red planet’s seismological shaking, was last in touch Ddec. 15. But nothing was heard during the last two communication attempts, and NASA announced Wednesday that it was unlikely for it ever to hear from InSight again.

“I feel sad, but I also feel pretty good,” Bruce Banerdt, the mission’s principal investigator at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in an interview. “We’ve been expecting this to come to an end for some time.”

He added, “I think that it’s been a great run.”

InSight — the name is a compression of the mission’s full name, Interior Exploration Using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport — was a diversion from NASA’s better known rover missions, focusing on the mysteries of Mars’ deep interior instead of searching for signs of water and possible extinct life on the red planet. The $830 million mission aimed to answer questions about the planet’s structure, composition and geological history.

Mars lacks plate tectonics, the sliding of pieces of crust that shape the surface of our planet. But marsquakes occur nonetheless, driven by other stresses such as the shrinking and cracking of the crust as it cools.

The mission’s final year proved particularly eventful, as its instruments detected vibrations from a sizable space rock, 15 to 40 feet in diameter, hitting Mars 2,000 miles away from the spacecraft on Christmas Eve last year. NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was then able to photograph the new crater and chunks of underground ice that were kicked up to the surface by the impact. That ice discovery was closer to the equator than any spotted previously, a potential resource for future astronauts.

In May, InSight measured a marsquake registering 4.7 magnitude, the largest of the

mission.

The spacecraft’s seismometer lived up to scientists’ expectations. It was the first time that quakes have been detected on another planet. (It was, however, not the first off-Earth quakes. During the Apollo missions, NASA astronauts left seismometers on the moon, and those registered numerous moonquakes.)

The seismic waves bouncing around the interior of Mars essentially provided a sonogram of the planet, offering new details about the crust, mantle and core.

This was the biggest result of the mission, Banerdt said, “to actually map out the deep interior of the planet.”

The crust below InSight turned out thinner than expected, about 15 to 25 miles. The red planet’s core is still molten, somewhat a surprise to scientists because Mars is much smaller than Earth. The core is also larger than expected — 1,120 miles in diameter — and less dense than predicted, which points to lighter elements mixed in with the iron. Those elements would lower the melting point, which could help explain why the core is not solid.

The geological structure helps scientists understand how quickly heat is seeping out of Mars, and that in turn helps them reconstruct what the surface may have been like several billion years ago and how habitable the surface may have been back then.

“We broke new ground, and our science team can be proud of all that we’ve learned along the way,” Philippe Lognonné of Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, principal investigator of InSight’s seismometer, said in a statement from NASA.

However, a second instrument, which was designed to burrow 16 feet underground, was never able to go far beneath the surface, foiled by unexpectedly clumpy soil. The device, nicknamed “the mole,” was to measure heat flow coming from the deep interior of Mars.

“That was a big disappointment,” Banerdt said.

Other instruments on InSight measured Martian weather and remnants of an ancient magnetic field that are preserved in the rocks.

Banerdt said it was still possible that InSight could pop back to life, especially if one of the small dust devil cyclones that skitter across the Martian landscape passes over the

spacecraft and cleans off the dust.

If the solar panels can charge up the batteries, InSight would try to restart and try to get back in touch. Radio transmissions from a revived InSight could show up as interference in communications sent from other NASA spacecraft at Mars.

“If we start seeing that signal consistently, that would tell us that perhaps InSight is back in business,” Banerdt said.

As InSight comes to an end, one of the other active NASA spacecraft on the surface of Mars, the Perseverance rover, is setting the stage for a future mission. It has started dropping onto the ground 10 tubes containing rock samples that are about the size of a stick of chalk.

Perseverance has been drilling a variety of rocks in the Jezero Crater where it

landed. A follow-up mission still in the planning stages, Mars Sample Return, is to bring the rocks back to Earth for scientists to study in their laboratories.

The rover is still carrying other tubes — for the rocks drilled so far, two samples have been drilled — and the plan is for the rover to bring the sample tubes to the Mars Sample Return lander.

The samples that are being dropped on the ground now are in essence a backup in case something goes wrong with Perseverance before the Mars Sample Return lander gets there. In that case, the plan would be for the lander to set down near the samples that Perseverance had already dropped, and then helicopters, similar to the Ingenuity Marscopter that is currently accompanying the rover, would retrieve the samples.

In an image provided by NASA/JPL-Caltech, one of the Mars InSight lander’s last images, showing its seismometer resting on the Martian surface on Dec. 11, 2022. After four years of making important discoveries about the interior of the red planet, the stationary lander lost power because of Martian dust covering its solar panels.

The San Juan

‘Disruptive,’ or depressed? Psychiatrists reach out to teens of color

By MATT RICHTEL

Dr. Brittany Stallworth was in fifth grade when she received her first suspension. She and four girlfriends had worn lime-green shirts to school to celebrate the birthday of one of the girls, whose favorite color was green.

“We were accused of promoting gang activity,” Stallworth recalled recently. They were among just a handful of Black children in their private school outside Detroit. Later that day, at home, her parents warned her: “You have to understand how people are going to interpret things, how you are going to be perceived.”

Two decades later, Stallworth is a resident in psychiatry at Morehouse School of Medicine, where she is part of a team of mental health specialists, led by Dr. Sarah Vinson, that focuses on the needs of low-income children and teenagers of color, groups often overlooked in the ongoing adolescent mental health crisis.

Every Tuesday, the team runs a clinic from the 15th floor of an elegant high-rise in downtown Atlanta. There, they conduct telehealth visits with young patients and then, among themselves, discuss symptoms, diagnoses and the medications, if any, to prescribe.

Such dedicated care is unusual for all but the most fortunate. According to a study published in 2017 in JAMA Psychiatry, one-fourth of communities in the top 25% income bracket in the United States have a practicing mental health specialist. In contrast, among the poorest income quartile, only 8% of the lowest-income communities have such a practice. Across the country, the burden is often shouldered by school counselors and time-strapped primary-care doctors.

The lack of specialized and long-term care has contributed to poor teens of color being underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed. Black children and adolescents are more likely to be diagnosed with a disorder involving hostility or aggression than their white counterparts are, even when their symptoms are similar, according to an analysis published in 2019 in the journal Families and Society. And they are less likely to be diagnosed with “internalizing” disorders, such as depression and anxiety.

“What you’re seeing is that behavior that looks disruptive may be post-traumatic stress or depression,” said Dr. Warren Ng, president of the American Academy for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and a psychiatrist at the Columbia University School of Medicine. This misperception may be the result of prejudice but also of the simple fact that, on average, teenagers of color spend less time being seen by the right mentalhealth professional. Diagnoses are being made by “people with different levels of training and also different levels of cultural training,” Ng said.

For adolescents, such a misdiagnosis can be a fork in the road, leading to the wrong care, improper medication, school detention or misperception by a justice system that is inclined to view adolescents labeled hostile as inherently threatening.

Vinson, interim chair of psychiatry at Morehouse School of Medicine, assumed leadership of the Tuesday clinic in 2019; their work addresses the inequity. All of the doctors currently

on the team are Black, but she emphasized that a psychiatrist does not need to be a person of color to effectively treat adolescents of color. Still, she said, “lived experience” helps. “Brittany was a Black girl and a Black woman before she was a Black doctor,” Vinson said of Stallworth. “She brought that experience into the role as a physician.”

The boy who nearly burned

On a recent Tuesday morning, Vinson listened as the other doctors described their cases. Stallworth began: She had just finished a video session with a middle school boy who has been a clinic patient for almost four years. Several years prior, his mother set fire to the family’s house, with him in it.

At the time, a clinician at a different organization diagnosed the boy, then 9, with oppositional defiance disorder, or ODD, a condition characterized by chronic hostility and lack of cooperation, Vinson said. The boy’s family subsequently met with her, and she was dubious. Over several exams, she had observed symptoms beyond irritability: The boy slept poorly and, during the day, he sometimes banged his head against the wall.

Vinson suspected the boy was diagnosed with ODD partly because he had reacted testily to the other clinician during examination. She was also concerned that the clinician improperly prescribed him an antipsychotic medication and a mood stabilizer — medications, she said, “that have really substantial side effects and are used only when absolutely necessary.”

Eventually, the Morehouse team changed the boy’s diagnosis to anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, and prescribed him Zoloft, an antidepressant with anti-anxiety properties, and Clonidine, a sleep aid. He has been in biweekly talk therapy since 2019, interrupted briefly by COVID-19, with his counselors advised by the Morehouse team.

During the recent Tuesday exam, the boy’s grandmother reported to Stallworth that his teacher said he had been acting out in class, having outbursts and speaking sharply to the teacher. Stallworth talked with the boy at length, and the grandmother told her that the boy’s “mood is good” at home. The boy sometimes banged his head in his sleep, the grand-

mother noted, but she felt it was involuntary rather than selfharm and did not wake him.

Stallworth recommended a slight increase in the Zoloft dosage, and Vinson agreed, urging close supervision of the boy. “He can change up real fast,” she said. “He can go from being this good kid to getting arrested.”

Dr. Darron Lewis, who is completing a fellowship specializing in child and adolescent psychiatry and serves as Vinson’s aide-de-camp, said, “It’s not that he’s a bad kid.”

“His reaction might be a little bigger than someone else’s reaction,” he said. “And some might see that reaction as dangerous and call the cops. He’s not a criminal, nothing like that.”

‘A harsher diagnosis’

Going back a decade, research has highlighted an imbalance in the diagnoses that Black and white patients receive. The 2019 analysis in Families and Society, which found that diagnoses for ODD and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, were unequally distributed between Black and white adolescents, concluded: “There are biases in the way people see Black children that have them receive a harsher diagnosis.”

Its conclusion built on prior research. A 2007 study examined the diagnoses of 1,189 children and adolescents, 74% of whom lived below the poverty line, and found that “Black and Native Hawaiian youth were more likely than white youth to be diagnosed with disruptive behavioral disorders.”

Another study, published in 2006, found that Black children and adolescents in two states, Indiana and New Jersey, were more frequently diagnosed with disruptive disorders than white patients were, and less frequently diagnosed with internalized disorders such anxiety and depression.

That study considered several possible reasons for the differences: Black children and teenagers faced more trauma that led to aggressive behavior; Black families or communities considered some behaviors acceptable that teachers or clinicians found threatening; a young Black person might not be acculturated to express sadness, so an unrecognized depression is overshadowed “when they are boisterous and acting out”; and clinicians were biased.

Of course, the diagnoses can be appropriate. But when misapplied, the consequences can be lasting, said Kess Ballentine, a researcher at Wayne State University and the author of the 2019 analysis. Teachers and law enforcement officials may be prone to see such diagnoses as an indication that youngsters are inherently hostile or aggressive — “born bad” — and funnel them into the justice system rather than into counseling. These diagnoses are “a tributary to the school-to-prison pipeline,” Ballentine said. “We need to do something about this.”

She also said such consequences may be lost on many well-meaning but time-strapped counselors whose diagnoses are aimed at getting help for children and teens who are acting out.

Quite often, what is lacking are mental health professionals with the bandwidth and expertise to get to the bottom of the problem, Ng said: “Poor kids and kids of color don’t have the luxury of time with us.”

Dr. Darron Lewis, left, and Dr. Joshua Omade review a case with colleagues at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta on Oct. 4, 2022.

LEGAL NOTICE

ASOCIADO

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DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE ARECIBO

RICARDO ROJAS PAGAN Peticionario EX-PARTE

Civil Núm.: AR2022CV00965.

Sobre: EXPEDIENTE DE DOMINIO. EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.

A: Al anterior colindante Rafael Reyes y al actual colindante Richard Szyniszewski; a todo aquel que tenga algún derecho real o interés sobre el inmueble objeto del presente expediente de dominio; a las personas ignoradas a quienes pueda perjudicar la inscripción, a los anteriores dueños y sus sucesores y en general a toda persona que quiera oponerse:

Por la presente se le notifica para que comparezcan si creyeren que les conviene, ante este Honorable Tribunal dentro de los VEINTE (20) DÍAS a partir de la publicación de este edicto y exponer lo que a sus derechos convenga en el expediente promovido por el peticionario para adquirir el dominio sobre la siguiente propiedad: RÚSTICA: Radicada en el barrio Islote de Arecibo, Puerto Rico, compuesta de CERO PUNTO 1708 (0.1708) CUERDAS equivalentes a SEISCIENTOS SETENTA Y UNO PUNTO CUATROCIENTOS SETENTA Y CINCO (671.475) METROS CUADRADOS. Colinda por el NORTE, con Vanessa Rojas Pagán; por el SUR, con Rigoberto Rojas; por el ESTE, con camino municipal; y por el OESTE, antes con Rafael Reyes, ahora Richard Szyniszewski. No consta inscrita en el Registro de la Propiedad. Catastro número 013-033-00163-000. Deben notificar con copia de sus alegaciones a la representación legal de los peticionarios: Lcdo. Fernando H. Padrón Jiménez, PO Box 2833, Arecibo, PR 00613-2833. Tel. (787) 816-6732. En Arecibo, Puerto Rico a 14 de noviembre de 2022. VIVIAN Y. FRESSE GONZÁLEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. YANITZA IGLESIAS MALDONADO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

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BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Parte Demandante Vs. LA SUCESIÓN DE SUSANA ORTIZ MIRANDA COMPUESTA POR FULANO Y MENGANO DE TAL, POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS

Parte Demandada Civil Núm.: GB2021CV00847. Sala: 201. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. 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 dictada el 6 de septiembre de 2022, la Orden de Ejecución de Sentencia del 2 de noviembre de 2022 y el Mandamiento de Ejecución del 8 de noviembre de 2022 en el caso de epígrafe, procederé a vender el día 7 DE FEBRERO DE 2023, A LAS 9:40 DE LA MAÑANA, en mi oficina, localizada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Guaynabo, en el Centro Gubernamental, Carretera Número 20, Kilómetro 5, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, al mejor postor en pago de contado y en moneda de los Estados Unidos de América, cheque de gerente o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal; todo título, derecho o interés de la parte demandada sobre la siguiente propiedad: URBANA: PROPIEDAD HORIZONTAL: Apartamento número 1002. Apartamento residencial de forma irregular localizado en la primera planta del edificio número 10 del Condominio Portales de Alhelí, situado en la Carretera Estatal Número 833, Kilómetro 0.8, Barrios Los Frailes del término municipal de Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, con un área aproximada de 1,174.70 pies cuadrados, equivalentes a 109.13 metros cuadrados.

Son sus linderos los siguientes: por el NORTE, en una distancia de 42’11” con patio común y pasillo; por el SUR, en una distancia de 42’11” con patio común limitado; por el ESTE, en una distancia de 34’ 7” con patio común limitado y con el apartamento número 1101, según Certificación Registral apartamento número 1001; y por el OESTE, en una distancia de 34’ 7” con patio común limitado, área común y con el apar-

tamento número 1001. Este apartamento consta de balcón, sala-comedor, cocina, laundry, dos (2) baños y tres (3) dormitorios. La puerta de entrada de este apartamento está situada en el lindero Norte. Este apartamento goza del uso exclusivo de un patio que es el elemento común limitado, el cual está delimitado marcado por puntos y/o verjas, según surge de los planos del proyecto. A este apartamento le corresponde una participación de 1.365% en los elementos comunes del Condominio. Se le asigna el área de estacionamiento números 92 y 93-S. Inscrita al folio 20 del tomo 1542 de Guaynabo, Finca Número 49834, Registro de la Propiedad de Guaynabo. La escritura de hipoteca consta inscrita al folio 20 vuelto del tomo 1542 de Guaynabo, Finca Número 49834, Registro de la Propiedad de Guaynabo. Inscripción cuarta. Dirección Física: COND. PORTALES DE ALHELÍ, 2050 CARR. 8177, APT. 1002, GUAYNABO, PR 00966-3758. Número de Catastro: 16-086-085-086-09-050. El tipo mínimo para la primera subasta será de $100,000.00. De no haber adjudicación en la primera subasta se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA, el día 14 DE FEBRERO DE 2023, A LAS 9:40 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, $66,666.66. De no haber adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA, el día 21 DE FEBRERO DE 2023, A LAS 9:40 DE LA MAÑANA, en el mismo lugar, en la cual el tipo mínimo será la mitad del precio pactado, o sea, $50,000.00. 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 de $69,349.99 de principal, más intereses sobre dicha suma al 6.75% anual desde el 1 de junio de 2018 hasta su completo pago, más $1,102.62 de recargos acumulados, los cuales continuarán en aumento hasta el saldo total de la deuda, más la cantidad estipulada de $10,000.00 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 que afecta a la propiedad en cuestión: Aviso de Demanda:

Pleito seguido por Banco Popular de Puerto Rico Vs. Sucesión de Susana Ortiz Miranda compuesta por Fulano y Mengano de Tal, ante el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Guaynabo, en el Caso Civil Número GB2021CV00847, sobre Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca, en la que se reclama el pago de hipoteca con un balance de $69,349.99 y otras cantidades, según Demanda de fecha 18 de noviembre de 2021. Anotada al Tomo Karibe de Guaynabo. Anotación A. 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. 210-2015. 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 Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, hoy 17 de noviembre de 2022. YAMIXA RAMOS CEBALLOS, ALGUACIL, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA SUPERIOR DE GUAYNABO.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE GUAYNABO WILMINGTON SAVINGS FUND SOCIETY FSB D/B/A CHRISTIANA

TRUST, AS INDENTURE TRUSTEE FOR THE CSMC 2015-pr 1 TRUST MORTGAGE-BACKED NOTES, SERIES 2015PR-1

Parte Demandante Vs. SUCESION DE MIRTHA ALEMAN SANTIAGO TC/C MYRTA ALEMAN SANTIAGO, MIRTA DEL CARMEN ADEMAN, COMPUESTA POR DAMARIS CRUZ ALEMAN, ARELIS CRUZ ALEMAN, JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; ALBERTO CRUZ SANTINI; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES

Parte Demandada Civil Núm.: BY2018CV03553. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA “IN REM”. ANUNCIO DE SUBASTA. El suscribiente, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia de Puerto Rico, Sala de Guaynabo, a los demandados de epígrafe y al público en general hace saber que venderá en pública subasta en la Oficina de Alguaciles, sita en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Guaynabo, al mejor postor, en moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América en efectivo, cheque certificado, o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, el derecho que tenga la parte demandada en el inmueble que se relaciona más adelante para pagar la SENTENCIA por $15,987.72 de balance principal, al 7.50% anual desde el primero de noviembre de 2017 hasta su completo pago; el 5% computado sobre cada mensualidad de principal e interés por la suma de $311.85 por concepto de cargos por demora desde el día primero de diciembre de 2017, hasta su total y completo pago; más la suma estipulada para honorarios de abogado, pactada en la escritura de hipoteca por la suma de $4,460.00; y cuales quiera otras sumas que por cualesquiera concepto legal se devenguen hasta el día de la subasta. La propiedad a venderse en pública subasta se describe como sigue: URBANA: Solar marcado con el número once (11) del Bloque O del plano de inscripción del proyecto Zenón Díaz Valcárcel PRHA guion once (PRHA-11) radicado en el Barrio Pueblo Viejo Amelia del término municipal de Guaynabo, Puerto Rico con una cabida superficial

de doscientos cincuenta y tres metros cuadrados con cincuenta y seis centésimas de metro cuadrados (253.56 m/c); en lindes por el NORTE, con la Calle Número Cinco (5) distancia de once metros con dos centímetros (11.02); por el SUR, con el solar O guion cincuenta y cuatro (O-54) distancia de once metros con cuarenta y cuatro centímetros (11.44); por el ESTE, con el solar O guion doce (O-12) distancia de veintidós metros con sesenta centímetros y por el OESTE, con el Solar O guion diez (O-10) distancia de veintidós metros con cincuenta y cinco centímetros (22.55). Sobre este solar enclava una casa. Finca número 19,987, Inscrita al folio 261 del tomo 451 de Guaynabo, del Registro de la Propiedad de Guaynabo. Dirección Física: Barrio Amelia, 43 Calle Hermandad, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico 00965. La PRIMERA SUBASTA se llevará a cabo el día 7 DE MARZO DE 2023 A LAS 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA, y servirá de tipo mínimo para la misma la suma de $44,600.00 sin admitirse oferta inferior. En el caso de que el inmueble a ser subastado no fuera adjudicado en la primera subasta, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 14 DE MARZO DE 2023, A LAS 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA, y el precio mínimo para esta segunda subasta será el de dos terceras partes del precio mínimo establecido para la primera subasta, o a sea la suma de $29,733.33. Si tampoco hubiera remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el día 21 DE MARZO DE 2023, A LAS 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA, y el tipo mínimo para esta tercera subasta será la mitad del precio establecido para la primera subasta, o sea, la suma de $22,300.00. El mejor postor deberá pagar el importe de su oferta en efecto, cheque certificado o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal. Si se declarase desierta la tercera subasta, se dará por terminado el procedimiento, pudiendo adjudicarse el inmueble al acreedor hipotecario dentro de los diez días siguientes a la fecha de la última subasta, si así lo estimase conveniente, por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada conforme a la sentencia, si ésta fuera igual o menor que el monto del tipo de la tercera subasta y abonándose dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si ésta fuera mayor. Se avisa a cualquier licitador que la propiedad queda sujeta al gravamen del Estado Libre Asociado y CRIM sobre la propiedad inmueble por contribuciones adeudadas y que el pago de dichas contri-

buciones es la responsabilidad del licitador. Que se entenderá por todo licitador acepte como suficiente la titulación y que los cargos y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes en entendiéndose que el rematador los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse su extinción al precio rematante. Todos los nombres de 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 surgen 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. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Y para conocimiento de licitadores, del público en general y para su publicación en un periódico de circulación general diaria en Puerto Rico y en los sitios públicos de acuerdo a las disposiciones de la Regla 51.7 de las de Procedimiento Civil, así como para la publicación en un periódico de circulación general diaria y en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, por espacio de dos semanas con antelación a la fecha de la primera subasta y por lo menos una vez por semana. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento indicado estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante las horas laborables. (Art. 102 (1) de la Ley núm. 210-2015). Expedido el presente en Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, a 21 de noviembre de 2022.

YANIXA RAMOS, ALGUACIL DEL TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE GUAYNABO,

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE GUAYNABO

ORIENTAL BANK

Demandante

Vs. SUCESION DE AWILDA LOPEZ RIVERA,

COMPUESTA POR FULANO DE TAL Y ZUTANO DE TAL, COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS CON POSIBLE INTERÉS; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (“CRIM”)

Demandados Civil Núm.: GB2022CV00299. (201). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO (EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA). EDICTO DE SUBASTA.

Al: PÚBLICO EN GENERAL.

A: SUCESION DE AWILDA LOPEZ RIVERA, COMPUESTA POR FULANO DE TAL Y ZUTANO DE TAL, COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS CON POSIBLE INTERÉS; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (“CRIM”).

Yo, YANIXA RAMOS CEBALLOS, Alguacil de este Tribunal, a la parte demandada y a los acreedores y personas con interés sobre la propiedad que más adelante se describe, y al público en general, HAGO SABER: Que el día 7 DE FEBRERO DE 2023, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA en mi oficina, sita en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Guaynabo, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, venderé en Pública Subasta la propiedad inmueble que más adelante se describe y cuya venta en pública subasta se ordenó por la vía ordinaria al mejor postor quien hará el pago en dinero en efectivo, giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del o la Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado, estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal de Guaynabo durante horas laborables. Que en caso de no producir remate ni adjudicación en la primera subasta a celebrarse, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA para la venta de la susodicha propiedad, el día 14 DE FEBRERO DE 2023, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA y en caso de no producir remate ni adjudicación, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el 21 DE FEBRERO DE 2023, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA en mi oficina sita en el lugar antes indicado. La propiedad a venderse en pública subasta se describe como sigue: URBANA PROPIEDAD HORIZONTAL:

DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE GUAYNABO

Apartamento número Seiscientos Cuatro (604) de la Torre número Dos (2). Apartamento residencial número Seiscientos Cuatro (604) de la Torre número Dos (2) del Edificio de Propiedad Horizontal CONDOMINIO GARDEN HILLS PLAZA, situado en el Barrio Pueblo Viejo del término municipal de Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. Está situado en la parte Norte-Centro de la planta número Seis (6). Tiene un área aproximada de fabricación de MIL SEIS (1,006) PIES CUADRADOS, equivalentes a NOVENTA Y TRES PUNTO CINCUENTA (93.50) METROS CUADRADOS, siendo sus mayores medidas lineales aproximadas de cuarenta pies (40’) en su mayor largo y veintinueve pies siete pulgadas (29’7”) en su mayor ancho. Colinda por el NORTE, con pared exterior que da hacia el área de estacionamiento; por el SUR, con pared que lo separa de un pasillo de uso común, de los elevadores y el closet del incinerador y de limpieza; por el ESTE, con pared que da a un espacio exterior de uso común; y por el OESTE, con pared que da hacia un espacio exterior de uso común. Su puerta principal de entrada está situada en la colindancia Sur y lo comunica directamente a pasillo común que le da acceso a las escaleras y a los elevadores y estos le dan acceso a espacios comunes dentro de los límites del Edificio y su terreno que a su vez le dan acceso a una vía pública. Se compone de sala, comedor, cocina, balcón, una habitación-dormitorio, dos baños, pasillo y closets. Este apartamento tiene un porcentaje de cero punto cinco ocho cero por ciento (0.580%) en los elementos comunes generales del Edificio y un porcentaje de uno punto dieciséis por ciento (1.16%) en los elementos comunes limitados de la Torre número Dos (2) y un porcentaje de catorce punto setenta y cuatro porciento(14.74%) en los elementos comunes limitados de la planta o piso en que está situado. A este apartamento le ha sido asignado el espacio de estacionamiento número Cuarenta y Cuatro(44). La escritura de hipoteca se encuentra inscrita al folio 178 del tomo 1502 de Guaynabo, finca número 20,392, inscripción quinta. La dirección física de la propiedad antes descrita es: Condominio Garden Hills Plaza II, Apartamento 604, Ave. Luis Vigoreaux, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. La Subasta se llevará a efecto para satisfacer a la parte demandante la suma de $83,017.80 de principal, intereses al 5.00% anual desde el 1ro. de noviembre de 2021, hasta su completo pago; más la cantidad de $10,100.00 estipulada para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado, más recargos acumulados, todas

cuyas sumas están líquidas y exigibles. Que la cantidad mínima de licitación en la primera subasta para el inmueble será de $101,000.00 y de ser necesaria una segunda subasta, la cantidad mínima será equivalente a 2/3 partes de aquella, o sea, la suma de $67,333.33 y de ser necesaria una tercera subasta, la cantidad mínima será la mitad del precio pactado, es decir, la suma de $50,500.00. De declararse desierta la tercera subasta se adjudicará la finca a favor del acreedor por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada si esta 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. La propiedad se adjudicará al mejor postor, quien deberá satisfacer el importe de su oferta en moneda legal y corriente de los Estados Unidos de América en el momento de la adjudicación y que las cargas y gravámenes preferentes, si los hubiese, 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. La propiedad a ser vendida en pública subasta se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Podrán concurrir como postores a todas las subastas los titulares de créditos hipotecarios vigentes y posteriores a la hipoteca que se cobra o ejecuta, si alguno o que figuren como tales en la certificación registral y que podrán utilizar el montante de sus créditos o parte de alguno en sus ofertas. Si la oferta aceptada es por cantidad mayor a la suma del crédito o créditos preferentes al suyo, al obtener la buena pro del remate, deberá satisfacer en el mismo acto, en efectivo o en cheque de gerente, la totalidad del crédito hipotecario que se ejecuta y la de cualesquiera otro créditos posteriores al que se ejecuta pero preferente al suyo. El exceso constituirá abono total o parcial en su propio crédito. EN TESTIMONIO DE LO CUAL, expido el presente Edicto para conocimiento y comparecencia de los licitadores, bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, en Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, 23 de noviembre de 2022. YANIXA RAMOS CEBALLOS, ALGUACIL, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA SUPERIOR DE GUAYNABO.

LEGAL NOTICE

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO.

LIME HOMES, Ltd. Plaintiff, vs. ALEXIS DIAZ

HERNANDEZ, HIS WIFE LILLIAM CRISTELA

CARRON ACOSTA AND THE CONJUGAL LEGAL PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN THEM: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Defendants

Civil No. 18-1517 (PAD). RE: FORECLOSURE IN REM. NOTICE OF SALE.

TO: ALEXIS DIAZ HERNANDEZ, HIS WIFE LILLIAM CRISTELA CARRON ACOSTA AND THE CONJUGAL LEGAL PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN THEM: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC:

WHEREAS: On April 5, 2019 Default Judgment was entered and grated on same day in favor of Plaintiff to recover from defendants the principal amount of $208,684.35, plus interest at a rate of 6.125% per annum since August 1st, 2015 to the present. The defendant also owes Plaintiff late charges in the amount of 5.00% of each and any monthly installment not received by the mortgage note holder within 15 days after the installment was due; all advances made in accordance with the mortgage note, including but not limited to, insurance premiums, taxes and inspections; as well as 10% ($25,900.00) of the original principal amount to cover, costs, expenses, and attorney’s fees guaranteed under the mortgage obligations. The records of the case and of these proceedings may be examined by interested parties at the Office of the Clerk of the United States District Court, Room 150 Federal Office Building, 150 Chardon Avenue, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico. WHEREAS: Pursuant to the terms of the aforementioned Judgment, Order of Execution, and the Writ of Execution thereof, the undersigned Special Master was ordered to sell at public auction for U.S. currency in cash or certified check without appraisement or right of redemption to the highest bidder and at the office of the Clerk of the Court, Room 150 – Federal Office Building, 150 Carlos Chardón Avenue, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, to cover the sums adjudged to be paid to the plaintiff, the following property described in Spanish:

URBANA: Parcela de terreno identificada como Solar 60 del Bloque “MM” de la Urbanización Mansión Del Mar, radicada en el Barrio Sabana Seca del término municipal de Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, con una cabida de 407.614 metros cuadrados y en lindes por el NORTE, en 9.34 metros y en una distancia en arco de 3.87 metros, con la calle número 4 (Plaza de Estrellas); por el SUR, en 23.26 metros con los solares número 61 y 62; por el ESTE, en 24.12 metros con la calle número 1; y

por el OESTE, en 23.50 metros con el solar número 59. En dicho solar enclava una casa de concreto diseñada para una familia. The encumbered property is recorded at Page 215 of Volume 484 of Toa Baja, Property Registry of Puerto Rico, and lot number #26,650, Section Second of Bayamón. Property address: Urbanización Mansión Del Mar, MM-60 Plaza Estrella, Toa Baja, P.R. 00949. The deed of mortgage is recorded at Page 203 of Volume 549 of Toa Baja, Property Registry of Bayamón, Second Section. WHEREAS: This property is subject to the following Juniors liens described in Spanish: A. Hipoteca en garantía de un pagaré a favor de First Equity Mortgage Bankers, o a su orden, por la suma principal de $76,000.00, con intereses al 10.500% anual, vencedero el día 1 de agosto de 2037, constituida mediante la escritura número 206, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 3 de julio de 2007, ante la notario Ana Isabel Diaz Cabán, e inscrita al folio 204 del tomo 549 de Toa Baja, finca número 26,650, inscripción 7ma. B. Embargo Federal contra Alexis Díaz Hernández y L. Carrión, seguro social xxx-xx-9021, por la suma de $2,987.88, notificación número 180364615, presentado el día 22 de octubre de 2015, anotado al folio 14, Asiento 4, del libro de Embargos Federales número 4. Fecha límite de renovación 21 de enero de 2025. C. Embargo Federal contra Alexis Díaz Hernández, seguro social xxx-xx-9021, por la suma de $3,843.63, notificación número 18364115, presentado el día 22 de octubre de 2015, anotado al folio 14, Asiento 3, del libro de Embargos Federales número 4. Fecha límite de renovación de fecha 22 de julio 2025. Potential bidders are advised to verify the extent of preferential liens with the holders thereof. It shall be understood that each bidder accepts as sufficient the title and that prior and preferential liens to the one being foreclosed upon, including but not limited to any property tax, liens, (express, tacit, implied or legal) shall continue in effect it being understood further that the successful bidder accepts them and is subrogated in the responsibility for the same and that the bid price shall not be applied toward their cancellation. THEREFORE, the FIRST public sale shall be held on the 14th day of February of 2023, at: 8:30 am. The minimum bid that will be accepted is the sum of $259,000.00. In the event said first auction does not produce a bidder and the property is not adjudicated, a SECOND public auction shall be held on the 21st day of February of 2023, at: 8:30 am, and the minimum bid that will be accepted is the sum $172,666.67, which

is two-thirds of the amount of the minimum bid for the first public sale. If a second auction does not result in the adjudication and sale of the property, a THIRD public auction will be held on the 28th day of February of 2023, at: 8:30 am, and the minimum bid that will be accepted is the sum of $129,500.00, which is one-half of the minimum bid in the first public sale. Should there be no award or adjudication at the third public sale, the property may be awarded to the creditor for the entire amount of its debt if it is equal to or less than the amount of the minimum bid of the third public sale, crediting this amount to the amount owed if it is greater. The undersigned Special Master shall not accept in payment of the property to be sold anything but United States currency (cash), or certified checks, except in case the property is sold and adjudicated to the plaintiff, in which case the amount of the bid made by said plaintiff shall be credited and deducted from its credit; said plaintiff being bound to pay in cash or certified check only any excess of its bid over the secured indebtedness that remains unsatisfied. WHEREAS: Said sale to be made by the undersigned Special Master subject to confirmation by the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico and the deed of conveyance and possession to the property will be executed and delivered only after such confirmation. Upon confirmation of the sale, an order shall be issued cancelling all junior liens. For further particulars, reference is made to the judgment entered by the Court in this case, which can be examined in the Office of Clerk of the United States District Court, District of Puerto Rico. In San Juan, Puerto Rico, this 29th day of November of 2022. By: Pedro A. Vélez Baerga, Special Master 787-672-8269.

LEGAL NOTICE

AMERICA; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES

Demandados

Civil Núm.: SJ2021CV06707.

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 Instancia, Sala de San Juan, el 18 DE ENERO DE 2023, A LAS 9:30 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: URBANA: Solar o predio de terreno situado en la Urbanización Valencia, en el Barrio Hato Rey, del término municipal de Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de trescientos ochenta y cuatro punto cuarenta (384.40 m.c.) metros cuadrados. Identificado en el plano con el numero ciento quince (115). En lindes por el Norte, que es su fondo, en veinte punto cero cero (20.00 m.) metros, con el solar numero ciento catorce (114) de la Urbanización Valencia, propiedad del señor Jorge A. Carlo; por el Sur, que es su frente, en veinte punto cero cero (20.00 m.) metros, con la calle Borinquen; por el Este, en diecinueve punto veintitrés (19.23 m.) metros, con el solar numero ciento diecisiete (117) de la Urbanización Valencia, propiedad de Doña María Echegaray, viuda de Viera; y por el Oeste, en trece punto cincuenta y ocho (13.58 m.) metros, con el solar numero ciento doce (112) y en cinco punto sesenta y cinco (5.65 m.) metros, con el solar numero ciento trece (113) de la Urbanización, haciendo un total en este lindero de diecinueve punto dieciocho (19.18 m.) metros. Enclava una casa de concreto. Consta inscrita al folio 31 del tomo 351 de Rio Piedras Norte, finca 6,574, Registro de la Propiedad de San Juan, Sección II. Propiedad localizada en: URB. VALENCIA, 359 (115) CALLE

JEAN, SAN JUAN, PR 00923. Según figuran en la certificación registral, la propiedad objeto de ejecución está gravada por las siguientes cargas anteriores o preferentes: Nombre del Titular: N/A. Suma de la Carga: N/A. Fecha de Vencimiento: N/A. 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: $235,500.00. Fecha de Vencimiento: 12 de noviembre de 2077. 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 $157,000.00, 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 25 DE ENERO DE 2023, A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA, y se establece como mínima para dicha segunda subasta la suma de $104,666.67, 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 $78,500.00, 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 1 DE FEBRERO DE 2023, A LAS 9:30 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 $152,262.56 por concepto de principal, más la suma de $27,284.08 en intereses acumulados al 4 de abril de 2022 y los cuales continúan acumulándose a razón de 3.516% anual hasta su total y completo pago; más la sumas de $6,311.14 en seguro hipotecario; $5,320.00 en tarifas de servicios; $560.00 en seguro; $375.00 de tasaciones; $520.00 de inspecciones; $1,610.00 de adelantos pendientes; más la cantidad de 10% del pagare original en la suma de $15,700.00, para gastos, costas y honorarios de abogado, esta última habrá de devengar intereses al máximo del tipo legal fijado por la oficina del Comisionado de Instituciones

Financieras aplicable a esta fecha, desde este mismo día hasta su total y completo saldo. La venta en pública subasta 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 5 de diciembre de 2022.

EDWIN E. LÓPEZ MULERO, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN

Vs.

MUNICIPALES

Demandados Civil Núm.: SJ2021CV03822. 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

REVERSE MORTGAGE FUNDING LLC. Demandante

SUCESION FREDDIE ESPINO LOPEZ T/C/C FEDERICO ESPINO T/C/C FREDDIE ESPINO COMPUESTA POR JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS

COLON, ESDRAS MISAEL RIVERA COLON, IRIS MARTA RIVERA COLON; JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE

LEGAL NOTICE

Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE CABO ROJO.

FELIX AYALA QUINTANA Demandantes

JOHN DOE Y RICHARD DOE, PRESUNTOS TENEDORES DEL PAGARE EXTRAVIADO Demandados

Civil Numero: CB2022CV00610. Sobre: CANCELACION DE PAGARE EXTRAVIADO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EU. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO. ss.

A: JOHN DOE Y

RICHARD DOE

Por Ia presente se le emplaza a ustedes JOHN DOE Y RICHARD DOE COMO PRESUNTOS TENEDORES DEL PAGARE EXTRAVIADO, a parte demandada en el caso de epígrafe, donde Ia parte demandante solicita al Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico, para que conteste dentro del término de treinta (30) días, a contarse desde Ia fecha de publicación de este Edicto, en un periódico de epígrafe general, Ia demanda que se ha radicado en el caso de epígrafe. Si no contesta Ia demanda, radicando el original de su contestación ante el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Cabo Rojo Puerto Rico y notificándole copia de dicha contestación a Ia representación legal de Ia parte demandante, se le anotará Ia rebeldía a solicitud de Ia parte demandante y se le dictara Sentencia una vez se vean los méritos de lo alegado en Ia demanda, concediendo el remedio solicitado sin mas citarle ni oírle. Deberá contestar Ia demanda según se dispone en Ia Reglas de las de Procedimiento Civil vigentes para el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico. Debe notificar con copia del original de su contestación al Lcdo. Nelson Vincenty Cappas, Calle Muñoz Rivera #39, Cabo Rojo, PR 00623, Teléfono 787484-7636, Abogado de Ia parte demandante. En Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico a 13 de diciembre de 2022. Veronica Martinez Ortiz, Secretaria del Tribunal. Maria M. Avilés Bonilla, Secretaria Auxiliar del Tribunal I.

LEGAL NOTICE

- - -ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN.

LA

ANTONIO, AMBOS DE APELLIDOS NOYA MANGUAL DEMANDANTES Vs. DORAL BANK, INC.; BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO DEMANDADOS CIVIL NÚM.: SJ2022CV07973.

SOBRE: NULIDAD DE ESCRITURA DE HIPOTECA Y DE HIPOTECA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.

A: DORAL BANK

o sea, la parte demandada arriba mencionada.

POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los 30 días de haberse publicado el emplazamiento por edicto, excluyéndose el día de la publicación. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudiciai. pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaria 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. Esta acción es de Liquidación de Comunidad de Bienes Hereditarios EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en San Juan, Puerto Rico, hoy día 15 de septiembre de 2022. GRISELDA RODRIGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE PONCE SALA SUPERIOR DE PONCE BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

SUCESIÓN DE ELIEZER SANTIAGO FIGUEROA;

SUCESIÓN DE ONEIDA SANTIAGO FIGUEROA, COMPUESTA POR: IVÁN SANTIAGO FIGUEROA, RIGOBERTO SANTIAGO FIGUEROA, RAÚL SANTIAGO FIGUEROA, ÁNGEL LUIS SANTIAGO FIGUEROA, SERGIO SANTIAGO FIGUEROA, SAMUEL SANTIAGO FIGUEROA; “JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE” COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESIÓN DE LA SUCESIÓN DE ONEIDA SANTIAGO FIGUEROA; CENTRO DE RECAUDACIONES DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (C.R.I.M.)

Demandados

Civil Núm.: PO2022CV01628. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO E INTERPELACIÓN. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, S. S. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO E INTERPELACIÓN DIRIGIDO A: SAMUEL SANTIAGO FIGUEROA, COMO HEREDERO DE LA SUCESIÓN DE ONEIDA SANTIAGO FIGUEROA. K-17 SAN FRANCISCO II YAUCO, PR 00698, Y POSTAL CONOCIDA ES: 282N CALLE SAN JUAN URB. SAN FRANCISCO, YAUCO, PR 00698; DIRECCIÓN ESPECÍFICA: #75 CHAPEL HILL DR., BRENTWOOD, NY 11717.

SUCESIÓN

DE DIANA

MANGUAL VILLAFAÑE, COMPUESTA POR SUS HEREDEROS * DIANA MARGARITA Y JOSÉ

Demandante V. SUCESIÓN DE ELIEZER SANTIAGO FIGUEROA, COMPUESTA POR: DARWIN SANTIAGO SANTOS, COMO HEREDERO CONOCIDO DE LA SUCESIÓN DE ELIEZER SANTIAGO FIGUEROA; “JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE” COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA

Quede emplazado, notificados e interpelado, que en este Tribunal se ha radicado Demanda sobre Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca de la que surge lo siguiente: Que se ha incumplido con las cláusulas de la escritura de hipoteca objeto de ejecución por haberse dejado de pagar las mensualidades vencidas y al día 1ro de enero de 2022, la parte demandada le adeuda a la parte demandante las siguientes cantidades: $68,252.98 por concepto de principal; generando intereses a razón de 6.625% desde el 1ro de diciembre de 2021; cargos por demora los cuales al igual que los intereses continúan acumulándose hasta el saldo total de la deuda reclamada en este pleito, y la suma de $10,380.00 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado;

y demás créditos accesorios garantizados hipotecariamente. La propiedad hipotecada cuya ejecución se solicita tiene la siguiente descripción y localización: URBANA: Solar marcado con el número K-17 del plano de inscripción de la Urbanización San Francisco II, radicada en el Barrio Almácigo Bajo del término municipal de Yauco, Puerto Rico, con una cabida de doscientos noventa y cuatro punto trescientos ochenta y uno (294.381 m/c). En lindes por el NORTE, con solar K-19; por el SUR, con calle dos; por el ESTE, con solar K-16; y por el OESTE, con solar K-18. Según plano esta afecta a una servidumbre a favor de Puerto Rico Telephone Company que mide uno punto cincuenta y dos metros de ancho que corre por su colindancia con la calle. Enclava edificación. Inscrita en la finca número 16,406, al folio 34 del tomo 492 de Yauco. Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección II de Ponce. 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. Además, en cuanto a la interpelación de los herederos del causante, a que dentro del término legal de treinta (30) días contados a partir de la fecha de la notificación de la presente Orden, acepten o repudien la participación que les corresponda en la herencia del causante conforme dispone el Artículo 959 del Código Civil, 31 L.P.R.A. §2787, de no expresarse dentro de ese término de treinta (30) días en torno a su aceptación o repudiación de herencia, se tendrá por aceptada. También se le APERCIBE a los herederos antes mencionados que luego del transcurso del término de treinta (30) días antes señalado contados a partir de la fecha de la notificación de la presente Orden, se presumirá que han aceptado la herencia del causante y, por consiguiente, responden por las cargas de dicha herencia conforme dispone el Artículo 957 del Código Civil, 31 L.P.R.A. §2785. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial. pr/sumac/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio. 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 RUA Núm.: 16,393 BERMÚDEZ & DÍAZ, LLP Edificio Ochoa, 500 Calle De La Tanca Suite 209 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00901 Tel.: (787) 523-2670 / Fax: (787) 523-2664 rdíaz@bdprlaw.com Expido este edicto bajo mi firma y el sello de este Tribunal, hoy 20 de diciembre de 2022. Luz Mayra Caraballo García, Secretaria Regional. Mariely Félix Rivera, Secretaria Auxiliar Del Tribunal.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante V. SUCESIÓN DE HECTOR LUIS MUÑIZ PÉREZ COMPUESTA POR SU VIUDA LUZ CELENIA HERNÁNDEZ VALLE, POR SI; SU HEREDERA CONOCIDA LILLIAM YAHAIRA MUÑIZ HERNÁNDEZ; FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS Y/O PARTES CON INTERÉS EN DICHA SUCESIÓN;SUCESIÓN DE HECTOR LUIS MUÑIZ HERNÁNDEZ COMPUESTA POR FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS Y/O PARTES CON INTERÉS EN DICHA SUCESIÓN; FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANO DE TAL POR POSIBLES TENEDORES DEL PAGERÉ EXTRAVIADO; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA; LEVITT MORTGAGE CORP

Demandado(a) Civil: AG2022CV01121. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: LEVITT MORTGAGE CORP FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS Y/O PARTES CON INTERÉS DE LA SUCESIÓN DE HECTOR LUIS MUÑIZ PÉREZ Y LA SUCESIÓN DE SUCESIÓN DE HECTOR LUIS MUÑIZ

HERNÁNDEZ Y/O COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES DEL PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO DIRECCIONES:

CALLE RAFAEL HERNÁNDEZ # 391 SAN ANTONIO, PR 00603

CALLE RAFAEL HERNÁNDEZ #2170 POBLADO SAN ANTONIO, PR 00690

PO BOX 600 POBLADO SAN ANTONIO, PR 00690

P/C LCDO. JUAN C. FORTUÑO 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 19 de diciembre de 2022 , este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 21 de diciembre de 2022. En AGUADILLA , Puerto Rico, el 21 de diciembre de 2022. SARAHI REYES PEREZ, Secretaria. ARLENE GUZMAN PABON, Secretaria Auxiliar.

LEGAL NOTICE

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. SUCESIÓN DE FRANCISCO ROMÁN

ACEVEDO COMPUESTA POR SUS HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS Y/O PARTES CON INTERÉS

FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL

Parte Demandada CIVIL NÚM: SJ2022CV01395 (604) . SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO; EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: SUCESIÓN DE FRANCISCO ROMÁN ACEVEDO COMPUESTA POR SUS HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS Y/O PARTES CON INTERÉS FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL

LA SECRETARIA que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 20 de diciembre de 2022, 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 22 de diciembre de 2022. En San Juan, Puerto Rico, el 22 de diciembre de 2022. Griselda Rodríguez Collado, Secretaria Regional. f/ Elsa Magaly Candelario Cabrera, Sec Auxiliar del Tribunal I.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE PONCE FIRSTBANK PUERTO RICO

Demandante Vs ELPIDIO RODRÍGUEZ

CRESPO, FRANCES

SANTIAGO VEGA Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

Demandados Civil Núm.: PO2019CV01886. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA Y COBRO DE DINERO (VÍA ORDINARIA). EDICTO DE SUBASTA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

A: ELPIDIO RODRÍGUEZ CRESPO, FRANCES

SANTIAGO VEGA Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS; AL PUBLICO EN GENERAL HAGO SABER Y AL ACREEDOR DEL

SIGUIENTE GRAVAMEN

POSTERIOR:

El Alguacil que suscribe, anuncia 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 DE PONCE, procederé a vender en pública subasta y al mejor postor, de contado y por moneda del 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: Solar radicado frente a la calle Antonio R Barceló esquina Calle Palma del Municipio de Peñuelas, Puerto Rico, con un área superficial de ciento cuarenta y cinco punto sesenta (145.60) metros cuadrados y en lindes por el Norte, EN DIEZ PUNTO CUARENTA (10.40) METROS, CON LA CALLE Palma; por el SUR, en diez punto cuarenta (10.40) metros, con un solar ocupado por el Senor Luis Feliciano; por el ESTE, con catorce punto cero cero (14.00) metros, con la calle Antonio R Barcelo; y por el OESTE, en catorce punto cero cero (14.00) metros; con un solar ocupado por la señora Carmen Pacheco Viuda de Ferrer. Inscrita al folio ”79” del Tomo “250” de Peñuelas. Finca “2848” Registro de la propiedad de Puerto Rico Sección de Ponce Inscripción IV. El número de catastro de la propiedad hipotecada es 363-015017-04-001. En relación a la finca a subastarse se establece como tipo mínimo de licitación en la Primera Subasta la suma de $75,473.73 según acordado entre las partes en el precio pactado en la Escritura de Primera Hipoteca “37” otorgada en Ponce, Puerto Rico, el día 8 de junio de 2017, ante el notario Gerardo A. Quiros López. La PRIMERA SUBASTA se llevará a cabo el día 2 DE FEBRERO DE 2023, a las 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en mis oficinas sitas en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, SALA SUPERIOR DE PONCE. En relación a la propiedad a subastarse, la cantidad mínima de licitación en la Primera Subasta será la suma de $75,473.73. Si la primera subasta del inmueble no produjere remate, ni adjudicación, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 9 DE FEBRERO DE 2023, a las 10:00 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 $50,315.82. Si la segunda subasta no produje-

re remate, ni adjudicación, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el día 16 DE FEBRERO DE 2023, a las 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en el mismo lugar y regirá como tipo de la tercera subasta la mitad del precio pactado para la primera, o sea, la suma de $37,736.87. 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: Dicha venta se llevará a efecto, para con su producto satisfacer a la parte demandante el importe de su Sentencia, a saber: la suma principal de CINCUENTA Y SIETE MIL CUATROCIENTOS VEINTINUEVE DÓLARES CON OCHENTA Y ÚN CENTAVO ($57,429.81) más intereses convenidos al CUATRO por ciento (4%) anual desde el 1ro de noviembre de 2018, hasta el presente y los que se continúen acumulando hasta su total y completo pago y aquellas otras sumas que surjan de la faz de la anterior obligación y de la hipoteca que la garantiza, incluyendo la suma de SEIS MIL QUINIENTOS SESENTA DÓLARES ($6,560.00) para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado. Además, a 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 preferentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante continuaran 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. Se informa que la propiedad objeto de ejecución se adquiere libre de cargas y gravámenes pos-

teriores. Expedido en PONCE, Puerto Rico, a 15 de diciembre de 2022. MANUEL MALDONADO, ALGUACIL PLACA #820.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE GUAYAMA

MTGLQ, INVESTORS, L.P. Parte Demandante Vs. SUCESIÓN DE RUTH ADRIANA CARABALLO HUERTAS COMPUESTA POR SUS HEREDEROS: ADRIÁN EDGARDO MARRERO DE LEÓN COMO COMPONENTE DE LA SUCESIÓN DE RUTH AMARILIS DE LEÓN CARABALLO; SUCESIÓN DE ADA HUERTAS DELGADO COMPUESTA RAFAEL ROSADO HUERTAS Y RIGOBERTO ROSADO HUERTAS; FULANO Y SUTANO DE TAL COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LAS SUCESIONES DE RUTH ADRIANA CARABALLO HUERTAS, ADA HUERTAS DELGADO Y RUTH AMARILIS DE LEÓN CARABALLO; CRIM Demandados Civil Núm.: GM2019CV00288. Salón Núm.: (303). 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: SUCESIÓN DE RUTH ADRIANA CARABALLO HUERTAS COMPUESTA POR SUS HEREDEROS: ADRIÁN EDGARDO MARRERO DE LEÓN COMO COMPONENTE DE LA SUCESIÓN DE RUTH AMARILIS DE LEÓN CARABALLO; SUCESIÓN DE ADA HUERTAS DELGADO COMPUESTA RAFAEL ROSADO HUERTAS Y RIGOBERTO ROSADO HUERTAS; FULANO Y SUTANO DE TAL COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LAS SUCESIONES DE RUTH ADRIANA CARABALLO HUERTAS, ADA HUERTAS DELGADO Y RUTH AMARILIS DE LEÓN CARABALLO; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES

(CRIM); DEPARTAMENTO DE HACIENDA: 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 Guayama, 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: Solar número uno del Bloque “KK” de la Urbanización Costa Azul situada en el Barrio Machete del término municipal de Guayama, Puerto Rico, con un área superficial de doscientos setenta y cuatro metros cuadrados cincuenta y un centímetros. En lindes por el NORTE, en un arco de trece metros con calle número catorce; por el SUR, en doce metros cincuenta y seis centímetros con futura avenida; por el ESTE, en veinte y dos metros noventa y cinco centímetros con el solar numero dos; y por el OESTE, en veinte y tres metros treinta y siete centímetros con área reservada para facilidades vecinales y usos accesorios. En dicho solar enclava una casa diseñada para fines residenciales. Consta inscrita al folio 260 del tomo 316 de Guayama, finca número #10,540, Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección Primera de Guayama. La propiedad objeto de ejecución está localizada en la siguiente dirección: Urbanización Costa Azul, KK-1 Calle 14, Guayama, P.R. 00784. 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 $53,662.99, según acordado entre las partes en el precio pactado en la Escritura de Hipoteca #435, otorgada en Caguas, Puerto Rico, el día 17 de diciembre de 2004, ante el notario Lourdes M. Collazo Algarín, inscrita al folio 12 del tomo 473 de Guayama, finca #10,540, inscripción 7ma. La PRIMERA SUBASTA, se llevará a cabo el día 7 DE FEBRE-

RO DE 2023 A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en mis oficinas sitas en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Guayama, el tipo mínimo para la primera subasta es la suma de $53,662.99. Si la primera subasta del inmueble no produjere remate, ni adjudicación, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 14 DE FEBRERO DE 2023 A LAS 10:00 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 $35,775.32. Si la segunda subasta no produjere remate, ni adjudicación, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el día 22 DE FEBRERO DE 2023 A LAS 10:00 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 $26,831.49. 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 $48,235.76, la cual se desglosa a continuación: la suma principal de $43,879.21, con intereses a 6.00% anual, desde el 5 de noviembre de 2017, hasta el presente y los que se continúen acumulando hasta su total y completo pago, la suma principal de $4,355.55, como pago diferido y la cual no genera intereses, más los cargos por demora que se corresponden a los plazos atrasados desde la fecha anteriormente indicada a razón de la tasa pactada de 20% de cualquier pago que éste en mora por más de quince (15) días desde la fecha de su vencimiento, más una suma equivalente a $10,732.59, 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 Guayama, Puerto Rico, a 15 de diciembre de 2022. LITZY M. CORA ANAYA, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR PLACA #247.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE SAN JUAN ORIENTAL BANK

Demandante V. RICARDO MIGUEL FRANCIA MAVILA, MILLIE PEREZ RIVERA Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES

GANANCIALES

POR ESTOS COMPUESTA Demandada Civil Núm.: SJ2022CV02881. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R., SS. AVISO DE PÚBLICA SUBASTA. El que suscribe, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de San Juan, hago saber a la parte demandada RICARDO MIGUEL FRANCIA MAVILA, MILLIE PEREZ RIVERA Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES POR ESTOS COMPUESTA y al PÚBLICO EN GENERAL; que en cumplimiento del Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia expedido el 15 de noviembre de 2022, por la Secretaría del Tribunal, procederé a vender y venderé en pública subasta por el precio mínimo de $79,600.00 y al mejor postor, pagadero en efectivo, cheque de gerente o giro postal, a nombre del alguacil del tribunal, la propiedad que se describe a continuación: CONDOMINIO ALTAMESA GARDENS, APT C-21, AVE. SAN ALFONSO 1, SAN JUAN, PR 00921, y que se describe de la siguiente manera: URBANA: Propiedad Horizontal: Apartamento Altamesa Gardens: Apartment C-21 is located on the third floor of building number 3, which is located in the Western part of the property. It consists of an irregular rectangular shaped body, measuring approximately 31’ ½”long by 24’ O” wide, that in an area of 710.00 square feet,

and 66.300 square meters of another. Bounding by the North with a party wall which separates it from apartment C-22 and with the interior wall which separates it from the Northwest, stairways of the rectangular section, located on the extreme south of the long leg of the “L” which forms building number 3 to which the entrance door of the apartment opens and which leads to the public way, by the South, with the party wall which separates it from apartment C-16, by the East, with the exterior wall which separates it from the common yard on the East side of the building, by the West, with the exterior wall which separates it from the common yard on the West, side of the building . This apartment consists of a combination living room, dining room, a kitchen equipped with a unit cabinet in General Electric Rage Model JM Seventy One with counter and a thirty gallon capacity water heater, a bathroom and two bedrooms. The percent in the element common is .916%. Finca 21849 inscrita al folio 197 del tomo 675 de Monacillos, Registro de la Propiedad de San Juan, Sección III. La finca antes descrita se encuentra afecta a los siguientes gravámenes: (i) HIPOTECA constituida por Ricardo Miguel Francia Mavila y su esposa Millie Perez Rivera, en garantía de un pagaré, aff. #2896, a favor de Oriental Bank, o a su orden, por $79,600.00 al 3.50%, vencedero el 1 de agosto de 2030, según Esc. #370 en San Juan a 28 de julio de 2015 ante Jose R. Marchand Planel, inscrita al folio 177 def tomo 1099 de Monacillos finca #21849 inscripción 8va. La hipoteca objeto de esta ejecución es la que ha quedado descrita en el inciso (i). Será celebrada la subasta para con el importe de la misma satisfacer la sentencia dicta el 15 de julio de 2022, mediante la cual se condenó a la parte demandada pagar a la parte demandante la suma de $59,534.19 de principal, más $4,288.94 de interés al 3.50% anual al 22 de marzo de 2022, que continuarán acumulándose hasta el saldo total, $636.04 de cuenta escrow, $654.35 de cargos por atraso, $12.48 de otros cargos, $7,960.00 de costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado, más cualquier otro desembolso que haya efectuado o efectúe la parte demandante durante la tramitación de este caso para otros adelantos de conformidad con el Contrato Hipotecario, incluyendo primas de seguro de hipoteca, prima de seguro de siniestro y cargos por demora. La PRIMERA SUBASTA será celebrada el día 24 DE ENERO DE 2023 A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en la oficina del Alguacil, sita en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de San Juan, Puerto Rico. Servirá

de tipo mínimo para la misma la cantidad de $79,600.00, sin admitirse oferta inferior. De no haber remate ni adjudicación, celebraré SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 31 DE ENERO DE 2023 A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en el mismo lugar, en la que servirá como tipo mínimo, dos terceras (2/3) partes del precio pactado para la primera subasta, o sea, $53,066.67. Si no hubiese remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, celebraré TERCERA SUBASTA el día 7 DE FEBRERO DE 2023 A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en el mismo lugar en la que regirá como tipo mínimo, la mitad del precio pactado para la primera subasta, o sea, $39,800.00.

El Alguacil que suscribe hizo constar que toda licitación deberá hacerse para pagar su importe en moneda legal de los Estados Unidos de América, de acuerdo con la Ley y de acuerdo con lo anunciado en este Aviso de Subasta. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante horas laborables. Se entiende que todo licitador que comparezca a la subasta señalada en este caso acepta como bastante la titulación que da base a la misma. Se entiende que cualquier carga y/o gravamen anterior y/o preferente, si la hubiere al crédito que da base a esta ejecución continuará subsistente, entendiéndose, además, que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción cualquier parte del remanente del precio de licitación. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Por la presente se notifica a los acreedores que tengan inscritos o anotados sus derechos sobre los bienes hipotecados con posterioridad a la inscripción del crédito del ejecutante o 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, 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 subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante. Vendida o adjudicada la finca o derecho hipotecado y consignado el precio correspondiente, en esa misma fecha o fecha posterior, el alguacil que celebró la subasta procederá a otorgar la correspondiente escritura pública de traspaso en representación del dueño o titular de los bienes hipotecados, ante el no-

tario que elija el adjudicatario o comprador, quien deberá abonar el importe de tal escritura. El alguacil pondrá en posesión judicial al nuevo dueño, si así se lo solicita dentro del término de veinte (20) días a partir de la confirmación de la venta o adjudicación. 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. Y PARA CONOCIMIENTO DE LOS LICITADORES Y DEL PUBLICO EN GENERAL y para su publicación de acuerdo con la Ley, expido el presente Edicto bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal. En SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, hoy 12 de diciembre de 2022. Edwin E. López Mulero, Alguacil Auxiliar, Tribunal De Primera Instancia, Sala De San Juan.

LEGAL NOT ICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE SAN JUAN ORIENTAL BANK

Demandante V. LUIS MIGUEL BÁEZ ROSARIO, OTONIEL BÁEZ ROSARIO, ELIEZER BÁEZ ROSARIO Y CRISTAL BÁEZ ROSARIO COMO MIEMBROS CONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESIÓN DE RAMONITA ROSARIO ALICEA JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE COMO MIEMBROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESIÓN DE RAMONITA ROSARIO ALICEA Demandados Civil Núm.: SJ2022CV02066. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA.

LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R., SS. AVISO DE PÚBLICA SUBASTA. El que suscribe, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de San Juan, hago saber a la parte demandada LUIS MIGUEL

BÁEZ ROSARIO, OTONIEL BÁEZ ROSARIO, ELIEZER BÁEZ ROSARIO Y CRISTAL BÁEZ ROSARIO como miembros conocidos de la Sucesión de Ramonita Rosario Alicea, JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE como miembros desconocidos de la Sucesión de Ramonita Rosario Alicea y al PÚBLICO EN GENERAL; que en cumplimiento del Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia expedido el 17 de agosto de 2022, por la Secretaría del Tribunal, procederé a vender y venderé en pública subasta por el pre-

What we learned from Week 16 in the NFL

By DERRIK KLASSEN

For most of us, it’s the crescendo of the holiday season, but for the NFL, it’s do-or-die time. The Green Bay Packers preserved their NFC playoff prospects Sunday with a win over the Miami Dolphins. Two scrappy underdogs, the Detroit Lions and Seattle Seahawks, saw their playoff chances shrink with painful losses, while the Carolina Panthers extended their hopes for at least another week.

The Lions’ recent success may have been an illusion.

The Detroit Lions season was shaping up to be a Cinderella story. After a 1-6 start, the Lions had battled back with a 6-1 run to get to .500 heading into Christmas weekend. Though they were still a long shot for the playoffs, the Lions were rolling, and they controlled their destiny. But it all came crashing down Saturday under the weight of a desperate Carolina Panthers’ run game.

The Panthers, barely clinging to playoff hopes themselves, mashed the Lions up front. It was a four-quarter stomping, but the Panthers did a majority of their work in the first half. Led by Chuba Hubbard and D’Onta Foreman, the Panthers rattled off 240 yards on 22 carries in the first two quarters alone, an effort that put them up 24-7 at the half.

A lack of run defense and discipline killed a Lions team that was built on running the ball and doing all the little things right. They’re normally a sound team, if a bit short of talent on both sides of the ball, but they erred on Christmas Eve, a performance that may well dash their chances of playing postseason ball. The New York Times’ Upshot now has the Lions with just a 17% chance to make the playoffs.

The Vikings need to learn how to win big.

The Minnesota Vikings had already locked up a playoff spot and the NFC North title, but a dramatic win over the New York Giants moved them to 12-3. Kicker Greg Joseph finished off the affair as time expired, draining a 61-yard field goal to give the Vikings the 27-24

victory. The narrow win was a perfect encapsulation of a Vikings team that somehow escapes with victories despite never dominating its opponents.

In games decided by a single possession — 8 points or fewer — the Vikings are now 11-0 this season. They have beaten just one opponent by more than 8 points, and that came in Week 1 against the Green Bay Packers. Those 11 close wins include a bizarre final two minutes against the Buffalo Bills that featured Justin Jefferson’s one-handed catch on fourth-and-18; the biggest comeback in NFL history against a Jeff Saturday-coached Indianapolis Colts team; and now a careerlong field goal for Joseph that was also the longest ever for the Vikings. The last might be the most impressive considering Minnesota’s history of kicking woes since, well, as long as anyone can remember. This year has been shockingly kind to the Vikings.

Relying on tight wins is dicey in the playoffs, though. Competent teams keep games close and the fortunate ones win them, but great teams find ways to dominate their opponents. The Vikings haven’t done that. Instead, they were slammed in their three losses to the Eagles, Cowboys and Lions by a combined score of 98-33. It’s obviously

great to win football games, but closegame wins are generally not sustainable, and the Vikings haven’t proved they can win big.

The Vikings might need to find another gear to be a serious contender, a gear more convincing than a 3-point home win over the Giants.

Kansas City’s success may not be all about its offense.

Nobody will mistake the Kansas City Chiefs for a defensive team. Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Andy Reid run the show, and all the defense has to do is hold the other team to fewer than 30 points in most weeks. But Saturday’s win over the hungry Seattle Seahawks was different. Kansas City’s offense put up a respectable 24 points, but it was the defense that really did the job, holding Seattle to 10 points and perhaps giving the team an extra bit of confidence heading into the postseason.

Kansas City had held only one other opponent to 10 points this season. That was in a Week 11 win over a Los Angeles Rams team quarterbacked by backup Bryce Perkins and missing wide receiver Cooper Kupp. That hardly compares with smothering the Seahawks, whose offense has been rolling for most of the season behind

Geno Smith, a Pro Bowl quarterback who has DK Metcalf at his side.

It was a collective effort from the Kansas City defense, with a focus on stopping the Seahawks’ passing game. Up front, Chris Jones led a pass-rushing onslaught that garnered two sacks of Smith and seven quarterback hits. Rookie defensive end George Karlaftis popped for his biggest moment of the season, earning a well-timed thirddown sack deep in Seahawks territory after beating Seattle rookie tackle Abraham Lucas around the edge. Smith was under duress all day and was not getting the pockets he had been used to.

It must be said that the Seahawks were without wide receiver Tyler Lockett, who surely would have made this game more difficult for Kansas City. But this was still Kansas City’s most convincing defensive performance, and it could not have come at a better time. If its defense can inch closer to average, as opposed to the below-average unit it has been for most of the season, Kansas City might again be the team to watch in January.

Around the NFL SUNDAY

Buccaneers 19, Cardinals 16 (Overtime): The day’s final game was a rock fight between teams that are in worse shape at this point in the season than they anticipated. Like in a handful of other games this year, the Tampa Bay Bucs held on for dear life in a low-scoring affair before Tom Brady pulled a win out of his hat. Two straight fourth-quarter drives, both strung together primarily by Brady’s quick passes, sent the game into overtime after Tampa Bay trailed by 10. The Buccaneers limited third-stringer Trace McSorley and the Arizona Cardinals to one first down before kicking a gamewinning field goal.

Rams 51, Broncos 14: A season’s worth of frustrations poured out for the Denver Broncos. Russell Wilson could not stop falling prey to negative plays, taking six sacks and throwing three interceptions. It got so bad that by the third quarter backup quarterback Brett Rypien and the entire offensive line had words on the sideline after Wilson

Rasul Douglas and two other Packers defenders intercepted passes by Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa in the fourth quarter.

had been sacked. Rypien himself threw a pick-6 after entering in the fourth quarter. The Los Angeles Rams’ offense, backup quarterback and all, took advantage of the floundering Broncos roster: Cam Akers had three rushing touchdowns, and Los Angeles scored on every single drive except its last, a kneeldown to end the blowout.

Packers 26, Dolphins 20: Tua Tagovailoa played his best half of football in more than a month to kick off the Christmas Day games. With his guidance, the Miami Dolphins scored on four of their first five drives, marching downfield with a symphony of Raheem Mostert carries and explosive receptions from Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. Tagovailoa came out flat for the second half, however, and gifted the Green Bay Packers’ defense three consecutive interceptions in the fourth quarter. All three of the picks went straight into a lurking defender and contributed to Miami’s scoreless second half. The short fields, as well as a strong touchdown drive to open the third quarter, were enough for the Packers to put enough points on the board in Florida to keep their NFC playoff hopes alive for another week.

SATURDAY

Steelers 13, Raiders 10: The Las Vegas Raiders burned all the offense they had on their opening possession. They mounted a 14-play touchdown drive to kick things off, but then running back Josh Jacobs stalled out, leaving the Raiders passing game with a lot of third-andlongs in snowy, 13-degree weather. The Pittsburgh Steelers offense didn’t get many points in response for most of the game, but quarterback Kenny Pickett rose to the challenge and scored on a two-minute drive, hitting George Pickens down the middle for the go-ahead score. Derek Carr, with all three timeouts and 43 seconds to work with, threw an interception to Cam Sutton, almost certainly ending the Raiders’ playoff hopes for the year.

Cowboys 40, Eagles 34: There’s a case to be made that Jalen Hurts would have won this game if he had been able to play, but it’s not as if the Philadelphia Eagles collapsed with their backup quarterback, Gardner Minshew. The Eagles’ offense scored 27 points, thanks in part to Minshew’s willingness to feed his skill players, and their defense scored a pick-6 on the Dallas Cowboys’ first drive. Dak

Prescott and the Cowboys went nuclear after that opening drive blunder, however, and proved too explosive for the Eagles defense.

49ers 37, Commanders 20: Brock Purdy isn’t perfect, but he will uncork the ball to the San Francisco 49ers’ handful of elite skill players. Kyle Shanahan usually makes that pretty easy to do, too, just as he did in this one. Tight end George Kittle had himself a day, scoring one touchdown on a deep post and another on a 33-yard catch and run. The 49ers’ pass rush got after Taylor Heinicke to the point where he was pressured into a fourth-down misfire for an interception that got him benched in favor of Carson Wentz.

Bengals 22, Patriots 18: Each team scored in only one half, the Cincinnati Bengals dominating the first before the New England Patriots rallied in the second. Joe Burrow diced up the Patriots for the first two quarters, leaning heavily on big-bodied wide receiver Tee Higgins to dunk on the Patriots’ small cornerback group. But a couple of key mistakes — two interceptions thrown by Burrow and a Ja’Marr Chase fumble — made it tough for the Bengals to pull away, and the Patriots clawed their way back, narrowing the lead before fumbling inside the Bengals’ 10-yard line on what could have been a game-winning drive.

Chiefs 24, Seahawks 10: Geno Smith was in hell all day. Kansas City’s pass rush swarmed him for four quarters, generating a ton of interior pressure led by Chris Jones. When paired with the physical, tight-window style of coverage played by Kansas City, it was tough sledding for a Seahawks’ passing offense that has otherwise carried the team. For Kansas City, the ever-reliable Patrick Mahomes-to-Travis Kelce connection did its magic. Kelce snagged six catches for 113 yards, earning just over half of the team’s total receiving yards on the day.

Bills 35, Bears 13: Not many teams throw two interceptions and come away with a 22-point win anyway. The Bills are not most teams. Josh Allen was mostly good outside of a few numbskull plays, the kind of performance he can be prone to when nothing is really on the line. The Bills’ defense was the real reason for the team’s success, though. Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields had just seven carries for 11 yards, the first time he’s been held to under 50 yards since early

October.

Ravens 17, Falcons 9: A surging Baltimore Ravens’ defense held its own against a tough Falcons’ run game. The Falcons slammed their running backs forward 33 times but netted just 115 yards, roughly 3.5 yards per carry. The Ravens ran the ball much better, earning 5.4 yards per carry, and were able to control the pace of the game. Atlanta’s rookie quarterback, Desmond Ridder, led the offense into the red zone twice in the fourth quarter, but the first drive ended on downs and the second ended in a field goal that was too little, too late.

Panthers 37, Lions 23: The Lions needed to win this game to have a good shot at the playoffs, but they didn’t play with any urgency. From the first play of the game, the Panthers’ ground attack gashed the Lions up and down the field. The Panthers finished with 320 yards rushing, 240 in the first half alone. The Panthers went into the half with a 24-7 lead, and that was enough of a cushion to stave off the Lions’ comeback attempt.

Vikings 27, Giants 24: The Vikings have once again come out on top in a game decided by one possession, extending their record to 11-0 in those games. This time, kicker Greg Joseph had to clear his career long by a few yards, nailing a 61-yarder as the clock wound down to zeros. Quarterback Kirk Cousins completed 71% of his passes, leaning heavily

on Justin Jefferson and T.J. Hockenson. Giants quarterback Daniel Jones had just his second 300-yard passing game, but one costly second-half interception inside the Vikings’ 35-yard line was the difference between a win and a loss.

Saints 17, Browns 10: This game was played in 5-degree weather, yet the team used to playing in a dome, the New Orleans Saints, came out victorious. Thanks largely to the conditions, it was a big Taysom Hill game. Hill had nine carries for 56 yards and a score, and he was on the field as a decoy during a handful of other plays. The Cleveland Browns, traditionally a good running team, didn’t have much success running the ball, earning fewer than 4 yards per carry and struggling to prop up an abysmal passing game.

Texans 19, Titans 14: It’s impressive that the Tennessee Titans strung together seven wins with a makeshift roster, but now injuries have fully caught up to them. With rookie quarterback Malik Willis playing in place of injured Ryan Tannehill, the Titans’ offense had little to offer outside of Derrick Henry’s 126 yards on 23 carries. Willis threw two interceptions and took four sacks, more than enough mistakes to give the Houston Texans chances to win. Davis Mills, though not very effective himself, did just enough with the short fields to get the Texans their second win of the year, both of which have come in the division.

Greg Joseph of the Minnesota Vikings kicked a 61-yard field goal to beat the Giants.

Kathy Whitworth, record-holder for US golf wins, dies at 83

By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN

Kathy Whitworth, who joined the Ladies Professional Golf Association tour in the late 1950s when it was a blip on the national sports scene and who went on to win 88 tournaments, a record for both women and men on the United States tours, died on Saturday. She was 83.

Whitworth was at a neighborhood Christmas party in Flower Mound, Texas, where she lived, when she collapsed and died soon after, said Christina Lance, an LPGA spokesperson.

Whitworth, who turned pro at 19, was the LPGA Tour’s leading money winner eight times and became the first women’s pro to win more than $1 million in prize money when she finished third in the 1981 Women’s Open, the only major tournament she didn’t win. She earned more than $1.7 million lifetime in an era when purses were modest.

“I would have swapped being the first to make a million for winning the Open, but it was a consolation which took some of the sting out of not winning,” she said in a profile for the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Tiger Woods, with 82 victories on the PGA Tour, is the only active golfer anywhere near Whitworth’s total. Sam Snead, who died in 2002, is also credited with 82 PGA victories, and Mickey Wright won 82 times on the LPGA Tour.

Known especially for her outstanding putting and bunker game and a fine fade shot that kept her in the fairways, Whitworth was a seven-time LPGA Player of the Year and won the Vare Trophy for lowest stroke average in a season seven times.

The Associated Press named Whitworth the Female Athlete of the Year in 1965 and 1966, and she was inducted into the LPGA Tour and World Golf halls of fame.

She won six tournaments considered majors during her career, capturing the Women’s PGA Championship three times, the Titleholders Championship twice and the Western Open once.

“She just had to win,” her contemporary and fellow Hall of Famer Betsy Rawls told Golf Digest in 2009. “She hated herself when she made a mistake.

She was wonderful to play with — sweet as she could be, nice to everybody — but oh, man, she berated herself something awful. And that’s what drove her.”

Kathrynne Ann Whitworth was born on Sept. 27, 1939, in the West Texas town of Monahans, but grew up in the southern New Mexico community of Jal (named for a local rancher, John A. Lynch). Jal was the headquarters of the El Paso Natural Gas Co., which drove the regional economy; Whitworth’s parents, Morris and Dama Whitworth, owned a hardware store for many years.

Whitworth, the youngest of three sisters, enjoyed tennis as a youngster, then began playing golf at 15 under the tutelage of Hardy Loudermilk, the pro at a nine-hole course in Jal.

“That was more than 10 years before open tennis tournaments were allowed,” she told The New York Times in 1981. “Golf was then the only pro sport for women so I decided to stick with golf.”

Loudermilk viewed her as possessing exceptional potential and referred her to Harvey Penick, the head pro at the Austin Country Club, who became one of golf’s most prominent teachers, best known for his 1992 instructional, “Harvey Penick’s Little Red Book” (1992), written with Bud Shrake.

“Early on, Harvey told me in a kind but firm way, ‘I think I can help you, but you have to do what I say,’” Whitworth recalled in “Kathy Whitworth’s Little Book of Golf Wisdom” (2007), written with Jay Golden. “I just said, ‘Yes sir.’ “If he told me I had to stand on my head, I would have stood on my head.”

Penick stressed the need to adopt a grip that assured a square club face, something Whitworth never forgot. “Every time I got into a slump or started hitting the ball poorly, I had Harvey Penick to go to,” she wrote.

Whitworth captured the New Mexico State Amateur title twice, briefly attended Odessa College in Texas and turned pro in December 1958.

The LPGA was struggling at the time despite featuring brilliant golfers such as Wright, Rawls and Louise Suggs. Galleries were relatively sparse and touring players sought out low-budget hotels and traveled by auto.

Whitworth didn’t win a tournament until her fourth year on the tour, when she captured the Kelly Girl Open. She cited her second victory, later in 1962, at the Phoenix Thunderbird Open as giving her the confidence to withstand pressure.

Whitworth was approaching the final hole at that event, dueling for the title with Wright, who was playing behind her. She didn’t know Wright’s score at the time since there was no leader board, but, “I made a decision to go at the hole,” she told Golf Digest, although “the pin was stuck behind a trap.”

“I whipped it in there about 15 feet and made the birdie,” she recalled.

She won by four strokes and established herself as a force on the tour with eight victories in 1963.

Whitworth recorded her 88th LPGA victory in May 1985 at the United Virginia Bank tournament. She competed on the women’s senior circuit, the Legends Tour, then retired from competitive golf in 2005.

In her later years, Whitworth lived in the Dallas suburb of Flower Mound, gave golf lessons, conducted clinics and organized a junior women’s tournament in Fort Worth. A wooden case at her home course, Trophy Club Country Club in Roanoke, Texas, houses numerous trophies and 88 nickel-plated plaques engraved with details of her victories.

Whitworth is survived by her longtime partner, Bettye Odle.

Whitworth was a sturdy 5 feet 9 inches but didn’t deliver awesome drives and wasn’t viewed as a charismatic figure.

“Some people are never meant for stardom, even if they are the star type,” Hall of Famer Judy Rankin told Sports Illustrated in 1983, reflecting on Whitworth’s unflashy persona.

“It’s not necessary for people to know you,” Whitworth told the magazine. “The record itself speaks. That’s all that really matters.”

Kathy Whitworth in 1967. Whitworth won more U.S. tour golf tournaments than any man or woman.

Sudoku

How to Play:

Fill in the empty fields with the numbers from 1 through 9.

Sudoku Rules:

Every row must contain the numbers from 1 through 9

Every column must contain the numbers from 1 through 9

Every 3x3 square must contain the numbers from 1 through 9

Wordsearch Crossword

Answers to the Sudoku and Crossword on page 37 Aries (Mar 21-April 20)

With the emphasis on a practical zone, you’ll appreciate more than ever that time is money, and this can spur you on to rethink your priorities. The focus on your sector of ambition is extremely powerful and most of your attention may be on planning, so you’ll more easily accomplish your goals. With both dreamy and practical aspects at work, it’s time to bring your dreams to life.

Taurus (April 21-May 21)

Looking for support or someone you can confide in? Go with the tried and trusted Taurus, and avoid sharing any of your personal secrets with someone you have only just met. Old friends may be kindly, but won’t hesitate to let you know if you’re making a mistake and they won’t back down either. A new associate might say anything they think you want to hear.

Gemini (May 22-June 21)

Mars continues to rewind in your sign, which means you may be entertaining doubts. And they could be amplified by Mercury, your personal planet, slowing prior to turning retrograde this week. But you do have a choice as to what you focus on. Plus, being with friends can shift your thoughts to the positive. They believe in you, and may help restore your faith in yourself.

Cancer (June 22-July 23)

With Venus forging a developing tie to dreamy Neptune, it can be difficult to understand where someone is coming from, especially if a conversation only adds to the confusion. Don’t suffer in silence but be willing to engage them, as it could be key to a better bond. Perhaps they have been waiting for someone to show an interest Cancer, and are glad you reached out to them.

Leo (July 24-Aug 23)

Take it easy Leo, there’s no need to rush anything. With a grounded focus on your sector of work and lifestyle, small steps can lead to big gains. And while there may be a side of you that would prefer a sprint to a crawl, doing so could mean you end up having to start all over again. Looking for romance? Someone might seem beguiling but may have hidden flaws. Go easy!

Virgo (Aug 24-Sep 23)

A strategic approach to the day could make it much more productive overall, and means you’ll attend to the details. Avoid taking shortcuts, as the results could embarrass you. Besides, the current practical setup is perfect for concentrating your mind. If you’re still feeling the effects of yesterday’s holiday feast, this is a good day to get moving and walk some of it off, Virgo.

Libra (Sep 24-Oct 23)

No matter how much someone tries to butter you up Libra, don’t let them. With a Neptune tie building, someone could put on a very persuasive act, and you might fall for it unless you’re astute. Fortunately, a no-nonsense Moon/Saturn link today may help you spot any hidden agendas, making it easier to say no. Plus, family can be delightful, but at times a tad difficult.

Scorpio (Oct 24-Nov 22)

If you have the chance of a day off, then do take it, Scorpio. Your tendency may be to knuckle down and get on with all those things you don’t normally have a chance to do. This is also a good time to chat with people, while you have time to spare. A conversation with an old friend could highlight something you didn’t know. It may be information you can make good use of.

Sagittarius (Nov 23-Dec 21)

Does someone have you running around in circles? If so, you may be getting a little tired of their attitude and keen to do something about it. This might not be easy if they are close to you, as you’ll likely feel guilty for speaking up. With a practical set of influences on the cards, there’s no better time to set firmer boundaries. It could stop them from taking you for granted, Archer.

Capricorn (Dec 22-Jan 20)

Seeking fresh options? A Moon/Saturn link in your money zone, encourages you to align with ideas and opportunities that may open new doors. It’s also a hint to listen to your intuition. If you get a nudge to call someone or follow through on an idea, then do so. It could be a small step that takes you in the direction of a big ambition. Plus, a reunion might happen at the perfect time.

Aquarius (Jan 21-Feb 19)

You may feel like hibernating for the day, or longer, especially if you had a hectic day yesterday. The Moon’s merger with Saturn in your sign, hints that you might prefer some alone time to gather your thoughts and recharge your batteries. Still, if someone does invite you out, Jupiter’s heady influence means you’ll soon shake off any tiredness and be ready for a great time.

Pisces (Feb 20-Mar 20)

There may be a lot of demands on you, and the way the planetary setup looks today, you could go into “helper†mode and be ready to answer those calls for assistance. Whether someone needs a listening ear, help with an event or a spot of babysitting, you might rush to the rescue. Once you’re done, opt for some self-care with a warming bath and some pampering, as you deserve it.