Thursday Feb 16, 2023

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.

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Nonprofits that serve special ed students vexed by long delays in payments

By THE STAR STAFF

Despite being one of the island agencies with the highest budget, the Education Department has neglected to make timely payments to providers of services to special needs students.

The information came out Wednesday at a hearing of the Special Committee for Legislative Monitoring of the Department of Education’s (DE) Special Education Program to address Senate Resolution 42, which proposes to investigate the lack of diligence in the disbursement of payments owed for services provided to special education students.

“We are here to discuss the issue of delayed payments for those services that correspond to special education students. These delays sometimes take months,” stressed Sen. María de Lourdes Santiago Negrón, who chairs the committee. “The matter has reached such seriousness that there are institutions that cannot continue receiving students.”

Sen. María de Lourdes Santiago Negrón

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The senator said the agency has two ways of paying: direct payment to the institution, with the school sending the invoice to the agency, and reimbursement, the process in which families pay the private school and then bill the department.

February 16, Legals Sports Games Horoscope Cartoons

During its presentation, the Pequeño Campeón de Jesús Foundation, a nonprofit that provides services to children with special needs through the DE model, noted that during the 2022-2023 academic year, the first payment it received was on Jan. 9 for only one month of service.

During the 2014-2015 academic year, they did not receive payments, which caused them to have to resort to an administrative hearing in which the administrative judge issued a direct payment resolution in May 2015, according to school director David E. Jiménez Toro. In addition, in August 2015, the Special Education Legal Division denied the invoices for direct deposit payments, which caused the appellate court to submit a resolution in favor of the parents so that the DE would pay for purchases of services and not for reimbursement.

“It is frustrating because the Department of Education is the agency that receives the most funds annually and they are supposed to be used to providing an excellent and dignified educational service for all children,” Jiménez Toro said.

Caguas Learning Academy, another nonprofit, also faced payment delays. Since 2016, they have partici-

pated in the program for the purchase of educational services in the reimbursement modality, which means, according to their presentation, that parents pay for the service and then the DE reimburses the money paid for the educational services provided as outlined in the student’s Individualized Educational Plan. After this, they go to the option of direct payment to the institution, a modality that the DE created to “be able to place emergency students in unique institutions that provide specialized, less restrictive services that are adjusted to the student’s needs.”

Regarding payments that cannot be reconciled, the Caguas Learning Academy director said there is no agreement with what is sent in the invoice, since the DE issues payments that are less than what is invoiced.

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Meanwhile, the directors of the institutions providing services charged that the DE has not issued payment for assistants of some of their students, even though they are approved. Likewise they said, the failure to make payment compromises the stability of their institutions; the salaries of their educators, assistants, nurses and therapists, among others; and the costs associated with lines of credit to meet these amounts due to the lack of punctuality in the DE’s payments.

Citizens’ group sues Convention District Authority over denied public information request

By THE STAR STAFF

The Citizenship Committee for the Audit of Public Credit has sued the Convention District Authority (ADCCPR by its Spanish initials) for refusing to provide information on the public corporation’s bond issues, financial statements and board of directors meeting minutes.

“This lawsuit has been filed following the Convention District Authority’s refusal to provide requested public information about its financial history,” Eva Prados Rodríguez, the executive director of the nonprofit entity and a lawyer, said in a statement Wednesday. “Over recent months, we have requested information that must be accessible to the people. Even though the request for information presented by the committee meets all the requirements established in the Transparency Law, the requests were denied.”

Prados Rodríguez said that on Nov. 11 of last year, ADCCPR denied the filed application because, according to the public corporation, some forms it creates do not fall under the Transparency Law.

“The excuse that the ADCCPR gave to deny our request is based on a document that establishes additional requirements

and obstacles not contemplated in the Transparency Law for the public corporation to deliver the required information,” the attorney added. “These ‘additional’ requirements are nothing more than unnecessary and illegal barriers to free access to public information.”

Likewise, Prados Rodríguez said, the

requirement by the ADCCPR to restrict the processing of requests for public information to the completion of a form not required by law constitutes an unfair bureaucratic obstacle for which it violates the fundamental right of access to information.

“The Transparency Law allows any

person to submit a request for information without the need to identify themselves as a natural or legal person,” she said. “Article 6 also establishes the form and content requirements that the request must have: that it be written or made electronically, without the need to prove any particular or legal interest; that includes at least one address or email to receive notifications; and ‘Please specify the format in which you wish to receive the information and provide a description of the information being requested.’”

Published reports have found that other government agencies have imposed requirements other than those contained in the Transparency Law to obtain access to documents, Prados Rodríguez pointed out.

“The country is experiencing turbulent times, and great uncertainty, regarding the policies and strategies that will be used to tackle the economic and fiscal crisis that overwhelms us, as well as regarding the work and legitimacy of its government institutions,” she noted. “From this perspective, the right of access to public information is the tool from which citizens can monitor their government’s progress, insert themselves and influence public affairs.”

Probe sought into maintenance fee hikes at some housing complexes

By THE STAR STAFF

San Juan District 4 Rep. Víctor Parés Otero announced the filing on Wednesday of a resolution to investigate alleged increases in the maintenance fee at several housing complexes where older adults reside.

“Over the past few weeks we have received a lot of information about increases in the maintenance fee of several housing complexes in San Juan, particularly those under a cooperative model,” the lawmaker said in a written statement. “This type of complex is home to most seniors in the capital city and many of them cannot afford increases of up to $40 per month. That is too onerous and warrants investigation.”

Among the complexes mentioned is the Los Robles housing cooperative on Américo Miranda Avenue, as well as the Sky Towers condominium, both in Río Piedras.

“In a letter dated February 3, 2023, the Los Robles Complex Board of Directors implemented, without consulting the council (owners) of the complex, an increase in

residents’ monthly contributions for maintenance,” Parés Otero noted. “If the unit is one room, instead of paying $222 a month, now they will pay $247, if it is two rooms the payment will be $272, an increase of $30. For three rooms the increase will be $35 and for four, the increase will be $40. These sums are very onerous for elderly people who live on their pension and social security.”

The legislator said he had already had discussions with residents of both complexes and that he opposed such increases.

“Residents of these complexes do not have to pay for decisions by boards of directors,” he said. “You can’t increase maintenance fees so much, and less so overnight. We will work to avoid this increase,” which he termed “abusive.”

Parés Otero said he will be communicating with Mabel Jiménez, executive president of the Public Corporation for the Supervision and Insurance of Puerto Rico Cooperatives, known as COSSEC by its Spanish acronym, to discuss the issue at the Los Robles housing cooperative.

The lawsuit reflects broader concerns that government agencies and instrumentalities have imposed requirements other than those contained in the Transparency Law to obtain access to information in the public interest.

Rep. Víctor Parés Otero

UPR maintenance workers strike for better pay, medical coverage

By THE STAR STAFF

Maintenance workers represented by the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) Workers Union launched a strike Wednesday, closing off access to most UPR campuses such as the main campus in Río Piedras.

In a radio interview Tuesday, UPR President Luis Ferrao Delgado had urged workers against closing gates.

The union is demanding salary increases and improvements to their medical plan. The decision to launch the strike came after Ferrao Delgado requested time to review the most recent union proposal.

Currently, the UPR Workers Union has a registration of almost 1,000 workers. A third of those have more than 10 years of service but earn $1.25 below the federal and state minimum wage, which is $8.50 per hour.

“The UPR Workers Union has been more than reasonable in its proposals to the University, even offering alternatives to help the institu-

tion,” said David Muñoz Hernández, president of the union. “What the administration has done is deprive workers of the uniform payment, decrease the Christmas bonus, eliminate the tuition waiver and the payment of excess sick leave as workers earn $7.25 an hour, which is a miserable salary considering inflation and the high cost of living in Puerto Rico.”

As the union pointed out, the problem with the health care plan dates to 2021 when the UPR administration issued Certification 129, including union workers in the single medical plan, alleging that it represented savings. But there was no such savings, the union leader said.

The budget assigned to UPR for the health care plan is $58 million. With the union’s medical plan, there would be savings of $4 million that could be used to increase workers’ wages, Muñoz Hernández argued.

Taking into account the economic conditions of the university, the union proposed a mechanism to retain the workers and a salary adjustment to $9.50 in July of this year. In addition, the union proposed using savings

from the employer’s contribution to the health insurance plan sponsored by the union and other adjustments to pay for the salary increases.

The union also proposed as a novel alternative the creation of university cooperative companies and putting out-of-use farms that the UPR owns under the care of workers in support of agricultural science programs.

Likewise, they proposed “super bri-

gades” specialized in repairs and maintenance of electrical systems, roofs, refrigeration and plumbing, which would serve all the system’s units and operate with extra-university funds. Such an alternative would make it possible to pay compensation higher than the current one and that would be more competitive in the employment market.

Scuba Dogs Society says it did not endorse Normandie hotel project

By THE STAR STAFF

The environmental nonprofit Scuba Dogs Society (SDS) clarified on Wednesday that it has never endorsed the proposed project for the Normandie hotel in the El Escambrón area of San Juan. “We disallow any person or organization that indicates or suggests that the Scuba Dogs Society endorsed the

project,” SDS spokesman Herman Colberg and ecologist Ariel E. Lugo said in a written statement. “The Scuba Dogs Society does not endorse private projects.”

The SDS has been part of the conservation and improvement efforts of El Escambrón for the past 20 years, so the organization considers that integrated planning in ecological and social harmony must be made at the site, taking into consideration the community and the best scientific criteria, the statement said. That has always been the approach of the SDS to all the coasts and natural spaces in Puerto Rico, a position that is reflected in “The Manifesto: Call to the Inhabitants of Puerto Rico,” which was approved at the 10th Enrique Martí Coll Ecourbanism Congress in 2021, the statement noted.

The document is an urban planning guide with a vision of long-term sustainable socioeconomic development and where the most important positions of the organization and its collaborators are listed.

Colberg and Lugo added that confusion exists with entity names, because the owner of the Scuba Dogs aquatic school — which adjoins the facilities of the Normandie hotel and has operated in El Escambrón since 2010 — made some statements about the project. The spokesmen clarified that the Scuba Dogs aquatic center is a separate

private entity from the SDS, although its owner serves on the SDS board of directors.

“Statements made in a personal capacity by members of the Board of Directors of the Scuba Dogs Society or Scuba Dogs aquatic school do not represent the views of our organization,” Colberg and Lugo said.

Union maintenance workers at the University of Puerto Rico are demanding salary increases and improvements to their medical plan.

Spirit Airlines to expand service, increase routes to Puerto Rico

By THE STAR STAFF

The executive director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, Carlos Mercado Santiago, announced Spirit Airlines’ expansion plans on Wednesday, which include five new routes and significant frequency increases between the United States and San Juan.

The announcement implies that Spirit will be offering up to 21 flights, on days of high demand, from 11 destinations to Puerto Rico starting in June.

Mercado Santiago said in a written statement that, “The expansion announced today by Spirit represents a growth of over 200 percent for the airline over the past four years.”

The five new routes will result in an economic impact of $11.96 million and 213,304 additional seats in the inventory available to travel to the island during 2023.

New daily nonstop flights between Luis Muñoz Marín Airport (SJU) and Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) in

Georgia, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) in Texas, Wayne County Metropolitan Airport (DTW) in Michigan, Chicago O’Hare International Airport

(ORD) in Illinois and Bradley International Airport (BDL) in Connecticut will begin operations in May.

Additionally, the route between Or-

lando, Florida (MCO) and San Juan (SJU) will increase its frequency to five daily flights, and those from the cities of Boston, Baltimore, Newark, New Jersey and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, will increase to two daily flights.

“The announcement of these new routes and more flight frequencies by Spirit is the result of a lot of effort and represents a greater offer for our passengers. Meanwhile, the opening of the new routes also provides more opportunities for strategic connection between San Juan and other destinations around the United States,” said Jorge Hernández, CEO of Aerostar Airport Holdings.

Discover Puerto Rico’s chief strategy officer, Edward Zayas, added, “We are very excited about these expansions in travel to and from Puerto Rico.”

“This shows the demand that our destiny is generating,” he said. “Our destination depends on air traffic and it is through expansions like these that our industry grows and on which so many Puerto Rican workers and families depend.”

Saint Just residents ask authorities to close controversial discotheque

By THE STAR STAFF

The Highway 848 Residents Association of Trujillo Alto’s Saint Just neighborhood again asked authori-

ties to close the La Gerencia Discotheque and asked the island Department of Justice and federal agencies to investigate state and municipal police who have intervened in criminal incidents

and complaints from neighbors without resolving the issue.

“On July 2, 2022, there was a violent shooting at these facilities where about 60 bullet casings, an expensive Rolex watch -- that had been thrown on the floor -- and a hat of a recognized brand were collected,” said Eulegio Vivaldi, a spokesman for the residents association, in a press release. “The shooting was caused by a ‘drug dealer’ who came to the scene once a week.”

Vivaldi alleged that the crime scene was altered by a police agent who had been hired to guard the entrance to the business.

“Although the State and Municipal Police responded to the scene of the shooting, there was never any arrest of those responsible,” he said. “Weeks later there was another shooting where the police went and there was no arrest either.”

However, what is most striking, the spokesman added, is the fact that just a

week ago, a “task force” headed by the island Treasury Department raided the establishment and found that the business never had use permits, did not have the documentation for the collection and payment of the sales and use tax, and although they charged their clients they never sent the collections to the Treasury Department, he said.

“In the raid on the discotheque, the Treasury [officials] discovered that the business does not have a license to operate ($1,500 fine), did not exhibit the original license it never had ($1,500 fine), operated multiple entertainment [gaming] machines without licenses ($2,000 fine), did not have a license for the sale of cigarettes ($500 fine), and did not have permits and IVU [sales and use tax] certificate ($500 fine),” Vivaldi said in the communication.

The spokesman enumerated several other substantial fines and said “the total fines imposed in the raid added up to $55,000.00.”

The five new routes will result in an economic impact of $11.96 million and 213,304 additional seats in the inventory available to travel to the island during 2023, officials said.

La Gerencia Discotheque in Trujillo Alto’s Saint Just sector

Buffalo gunman sentenced to life in emotional and dramatic hearing

By JESSE McKINLEY and DAN HIGGINS

The gunman in a racist massacre at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, last year was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole Wednesday, after apologizing for his attack amid a torrent of raw emotions from the victims’ families, including one man who lunged at him in court.

“You will never see the light of day as a free man again,” said the judge, Susan Eagan, after reading a statement about the harmful effects of institutional racism and white supremacy, calling it an “insidious cancer on our society and nation.”

The sentence reflected the outcome of a guilty plea to 10 counts of first-degree murder and a single count of domestic terrorism motivated by hate, which carries a penalty of life imprisonment without parole.

Eagan’s sentence came after a brief apology by the gunman, Payton Gendron, who said he was “very sorry” for the attack and blamed online content for the shooting rampage May 14 in which 10 people were killed, all of them Black, and three people injured. He said he didn’t want to inspire other racist killings.

“I shot and killed people because they were Black,” he said. “Looking back now, I can’t believe I actually did.”

As Gendron spoke, a member of the audience began screaming and cursing at him, the second such interruption in an emotionally raw hearing.

Earlier, the sentencing was dramatically interrupted and the courtroom cleared after a man lunged at the defendant.

Eagan emptied the courtroom and reconvened the hearing a short time later, pleading for decorum while saying she understood the anger toward the gunman. “We are all better than that,” she said.

Before Gendron heard his sentence, families of the victims testified to the insurmountable damage done by the attack.

“You are a cowardly racist,” said Simone Crawley, whose grandmother Ruth Whitfield, 86, was killed in the shooting. She asked for accountability for others who aided or turned a blind eye to Gendron’s growing radicalization.

“You recorded the last moments of our loved ones’ lives to garner support for your hateful cause, but you immortalize them instead,” Crawley continued. “We are extremely aware that you are not a lone wolf, but a part of a larger organized network of domestic terrorists. And to that network, we say we as a people are unbreakable.”

Zeneta Everhart, whose son Zaire was injured but survived, said, “The world says you have to forgive in order to move on. But I stand before you today to say that will never happen.”

Kimberly Salter’s husband, Aaron Salter, a retired Buffalo police officer, did not survive: He was shot and killed in the

attack. Salter quoted the Bible as she stood just feet from Gendron, who wore an orange jumpsuit and spectacles.

“You will reap,” she said, “what you sow.”

The gunman mostly gazed at many of them impassively as they spoke, except for one moment when he could be seen crying.

Gendron, 19, pleaded guilty in November to the state charges. He is also charged with federal hate crimes and weapons violations, some of which could carry the death penalty if the Justice Department decided to seek it. Those charges are still pending.

Gendron, an avowed white supremacist, livestreamed the attack and specifically chose the Tops market in east Buffalo because it had a large Black clientele.

In the days and months before his massacre, the gunman — who was 18 at the time — had written in exhaustive and hate-filled detail about his plans.

The mass shooting was a stark reminder of the rise of white supremacy in America as well as of the limitations of state gun laws in an age when the Supreme Court has allowed broad protections for gun owners, including striking down a New York law in June that placed strict limits on carrying guns.

Shortly after the Buffalo attack, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a series of measures to once again strengthen New York’s gun laws while investigating social media platforms where the gunman was radicalized. (That new gun law has,

thus far, withstood legal challenges.)

Hochul, a Democrat, also mandated that New York State Police use the state’s so-called red-flag law to seek emergency orders from judges to seize weapons from people who are believed to pose a threat to themselves or others.

Gendron was never flagged by such systems, however, despite the fact that he had voiced a desire to commit a murdersuicide while he was a high school student in 2021 and was taken in for a psychiatric evaluation. He was soon released.

The planning and barbarity of his plans became apparent May 14: After driving to Buffalo from his home in Conklin, New York, some 200 miles from Buffalo, he wore body armor and camouflage during his shooting spree.

He also posted a lengthy screed riddled with racist writings and expressing admiration for a white supremacist ideology known as replacement theory, which posits the false idea that white people, who make up a majority of America’s population, are being supplanted by minorities.

His video feed of the attack was briefly online before being shut down by social media companies. Still, the Buffalo attack remains one of the nation’s deadliest racist shootings, joining a list that includes the killing of nine Black parishioners at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015; an

antisemitic rampage in Pittsburgh at the Tree of Life synagogue in 2018 where 11 people were killed; and an attack at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, in 2019 in which more than 20 people were killed by a man who had expressed hatred of Latinos.

A memorial on Friday, May 20, 2022, across the street from the Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo, N.Y., where 10 people were killed in a white supremacist shooting rampage on May 14. The gunman in the massacre was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, after apologizing for his attack amid a torrent of raw emotions from the victims’ families, including one man who lunged at him in court.

What we know about the train derailment in Ohio

awaiting screening as of Monday, the agency said.

Fearing an explosion, authorities performed a controlled release of the toxic materials from five train car tankers Feb. 6, and the contents were diverted to a trench and burned off.

Precautionary measures were being taken in the wider region, particularly in states using water from the Ohio River.

The West Virginia subsidiary of American Water, which provides water services in 24 states, said Sunday that it had not detected any changes in the water at its Ohio River intake site. Still, the company installed a secondary intake on the Guyandotte River in case an alternate source was needed. The subsidiary, which serves more than 500,000 people, has also enhanced its treatment processes.

measured contaminants below levels of concern. The East Palestine Water Treatment Plant said it had not seen adverse effects. Norfolk Southern said in a statement that its own experts and contractors were testing water from private wells, although those homeowners were encouraged to use bottled water.

Norfolk Southern said Tuesday that it also had provided more than $1.2 million in reimbursements and cash advances to families to help cover evacuation costs for lodging, travel, food, clothes and other items.

By CHRISTINE HAUSER

This month, a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in eastern Ohio, igniting a fire that covered the town of East Palestine in smoke. Fearful of a major explosion, authorities carved out an evacuation zone and carried out a controlled release of toxic fumes to neutralize burning cargo inside some of the train cars.

Residents feared for their health as concerns have mounted about the effect the derailment and the fire could have on the environment and the transportation network.

Here’s what we know.

What happened?

Around 9 p.m. Feb. 3, a train derailed in East Palestine, a village of about 4,700 residents about 50 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. There were 150 cars on the route from Madison, Illinois, to Conway, Pennsylvania. The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating, said Tuesday that 38 cars derailed and a fire ensued, which damaged an additional 12 cars.

The train, operated by Norfolk Southern, had been carrying chemicals and combustible materials, with vinyl chloride, a toxic flammable gas, being of most concern to investigators. A huge fire erupted from the derailment, sending thick billowing smoke into the sky and over the town. Residents on both sides of the Ohio-Pennsylvania border were ordered to evacuate, as Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio raised alarms about

a possible explosion.

Local and federal officials started an investigation that involved the NTSB and the Environmental Protection Agency. The NTSB said its investigation included examining tank car fittings, the locomotive event data recorder and surveillance video from a residence that showed what appeared to be the failure of a wheel bearing moments before the derailment.

A preliminary report is expected in two weeks, it said.

Has there been harm to the environment?

The derailment has caused concerns about air, soil and water pollution.

On Friday, the EPA said that about 20 rail cars were reported to have been carrying hazardous materials. Chemicals including vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, ethylhexyl acrylate and ethylene glycol monobutyl ethers were “known to have been and continue to be” released to the air, surface soil and surface waters, the EPA said.

On Sunday, the EPA, after monitoring the air, said it had not detected contaminants at “levels of concern” in and around East Palestine, although residents might still smell odors. Working with Norfolk Southern and the Columbiana County Emergency Management Agency, the EPA had screened the air inside about 290 homes as of Monday and said it had not detected vinyl chloride or hydrogen chloride, which could cause life-threatening respiratory issues.

An additional 181 homes were still

The Evansville Water and Sewer Utility in Indiana, which draws water from the Ohio River for its treatment plant, was also monitoring and testing the waterway.

“There is a slim chance that we will detect contamination from this spill at our site because our structure is around 700 river miles away from the spill,” said Ella Johnson-Watson, a spokesperson for the utility.

In a news conference Tuesday, Tiffani Kavalec, the surface water division chief for the Ohio EPA, said that testing had detected two chemical contaminants in some Ohio River tributaries. Water treatment processes should filter the contaminants out, she said.

“We’re pretty confident that these low levels are not getting passed onto the customers,” she said.

DeWine, however, said that if he lived in the affected area, he would drink bottled water.

Residents were evacuated and face uncertainty.

Just after the derailment, 1,500 to 2,000 residents in East Palestine were told to evacuate the area. Schools were closed for the week, along with some roads. Norfolk Southern said it had donated $25,000 to help the American Red Cross set up shelters and deal with the influx of people.

On Feb. 6, DeWine extended the evacuation order to include anyone in a 1-by-2-mile area surrounding East Palestine, including parts of Ohio and Pennsylvania.

On Feb. 8, the governor’s office announced that residents were permitted to return home, after air quality samples

There have been no reports of injuries or deaths from the derailment, but on social media and in news reports, some residents said that fish and frogs were dying in local streams and people have shared images of dead animals or said they smelled chemical odors around town. The arrest of a reporter during a news conference about the derailment led to online criticism of the law enforcement response.

Residents of the area have complained of headaches and feeling sick since the derailment. A federal lawsuit filed by two Pennsylvania residents is seeking to force Norfolk Southern to set up health monitoring for residents in both states, The Associated Press reported, and to pay for related care for those in a 30-mile radius.

How long will it take to get back to normal?

Ten days after the derailment, Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, said in a statement on Twitter that it was a “complex environmental disaster” that would require long-term study.

“Many questions remain unanswered about the quality of the braking system used, the durability of the repair parts in the trains, and the Transportation Department’s regulatory approach to our nation’s rail system,” he said.

In 2017, regulations requiring braking system upgrades for trains carrying hazardous materials were rolled back.

The EPA informed Norfolk Southern on Friday that it might be responsible for costs associated with the cleanup of the site. The agency did not offer details about when the site might be considered returned to normal.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is working on a two-stage cleanup, starting with the removal of materials from the site before moving to an assessment for a remediation plan, a spokesperson said.

A train carrying toxic chemicals that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, in early February has raised concerns about air, soil and water pollution in the region.

As lawmakers spar over Social Security, its costs are rising fast

By JIM TANKERSLEY

President Joe Biden scored an early political point this month in his fight with congressional Republicans over taxes, spending and raising the federal debt limit: He forced Republican leaders to profess, repeatedly, that they will not seek cuts to Social Security and Medicare.

In the process, Biden has effectively steered a debate about fiscal responsibility away from two cherished safety net programs for seniors, just as those plans are poised for a decade of rapid spending growth.

New forecasts from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, set to be released Wednesday, were expected to show Medicare and Social Security spending growth rapidly outpacing the growth in federal tax revenues over the next 10 years. That is the product of a wave of baby boomers reaching retirement age and beginning to tap the programs, which provide guaranteed income and health insurance from the time benefits are claimed until death.

Those retirees are an electoral force. In refusing to touch so-called entitlement programs, Biden was appealing to seniors, along with generations of future retirees, when he used his State of the Union address and subsequent speeches this month to amplify attacks on Republican plans to reduce future spending on Social Security and Medicare or potentially sunset the programs entirely.

“They’re more than government programs,” Biden told a Florida audience last week. “They’re a promise — a promise we made: Work hard and contribute, and when the time has come for you to retire, you’ll be there — we’ll be there for you to help you out. It’s been a sacred trust, the rock-solid guarantee generations of Americans have counted on, and it works.”

In his 2020 campaign, Biden proposed shoring up Social Security’s finances and increasing benefits for some retirees by raising taxes on high earners. Social Security is primarily funded through payroll taxes on workers’ incomes of up to $160,200. Biden has suggested eliminating the cap for incomes above $400,000 a year, subjecting them to payroll taxes.

Influential Republicans have proposed a variety of changes to make both programs more fiscally sustainable, including spending cuts and gradually raising the retirement age from 67 to keep up with longer life expectancy.

Republican leaders in Congress have stressed in recent days that, despite the calls from some conservatives to link safety net spending and the debt limit, they will not seek those chan-

ges as part of an agreement to raise the nation’s borrowing cap.

House Republicans have threatened not to increase the current $31.4 trillion limit, which the United States technically hit Jan. 19, unless Biden agrees to unspecified demands to reduce government spending and debt. If the cap is not raised and the government is unable to pay all its bills at once, some retirees might not get their Social Security checks as scheduled. But leaders say their demands to raise the cap will ultimately leave Social Security and Medicare intact.

Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, told reporters Tuesday that “there is no agenda on the part of Senate Republicans to revisit Medicare or Social Security, period,” adding, “I’ve noticed that the speaker of the House has said the same thing.”

If both sides hold their positions, the fiscal debate will narrow to Biden’s proposals to raise taxes on corporations and high earners — which Republicans have roundly rejected — and Republican proposals to cut the growth of a much smaller slice of federal programs.

Biden plans to address the deficit in remarks Wednesday in which he will criticize Republican proposals that he says would add $3 trillion to the debt. That includes repealing tax increases Biden signed into law in 2022, which would increase federal revenues, as well as making permanent several Republican tax cuts that are set to expire at the end of 2025.

That debate will exclude the primary spending-side drivers of future federal debt and deficits. Both Social Security’s and Medicare’s trust funds are spending more than they take in from payroll taxes and other revenue sources, a growing gap that is included in how the government accounts for the total size of its budget deficit.

In its last wave of forecasts, in May, the budget office predicted Social Security spending would grow by two-thirds over the coming decade. That’s more than double the expected growth rate for spending on the military and on domestic programs like education and environmental protection. High inflation could further accelerate that growth; Social Security enacted an 8.7% cost-of-living increase this year, its largest in decades.

By 2033, the May forecasts suggest, the federal government will be spending nearly as much on Social Security alone as it does on all discretionary spending — military and otherwise — combined.

Medicare is a smaller program but poised to grow even faster, at three times the rate of military and other discretionary spending over the next

decade, according to the May forecasts. The new projections are likely to show its growth will be restrained somewhat by a law Biden signed last summer that is expected to reduce the program’s spending on prescription drugs for seniors.

The trustees of the programs predict Social Security’s main trust fund, for retirement benefits, will run out of money by 2034. At that point, the program’s tax revenues will be able to cover only about three-quarters of scheduled retiree benefits, though Congress could choose to make up the difference with borrowing or additional tax revenue. Medicare’s hospital trust fund is set to deplete its reserves in 2028.

Lawmakers could stabilize the programs by raising taxes, reducing spending or simply continuing to borrow money to keep paying full benefits. A group of liberal lawmakers led by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has a proposal to expand Social Security benefits and extend its solvency for 75 years through a variety of new taxes on investment and business income, along with earnings for Americans making $250,000 or more.

The conservative Republican Study Committee in the House has a plan that would raise the retirement age for both programs and reduce Social Security benefits for some higher-earning retirees.

Fiscal hawks in Washington, including think tank officials and some Senate Republicans, have said lawmakers must move now to find bipartisan agreement on plans to better balance

the programs’ spending with tax revenues in the years to come. More than a decade ago, President Barack Obama, a Democrat, issued similar warnings.

“To put us on solid ground, we should also find a bipartisan solution to strengthen Social Security for future generations,” Obama said in his 2011 State of the Union address. “We must do it without putting at risk current retirees, the most vulnerable or people with disabilities; without slashing benefits for future generations; and without subjecting Americans’ guaranteed retirement income to the whims of the stock market.”

Some were dismayed that Biden — and Republican lawmakers — did not follow a similar path at his own State of the Union this month. “The sober warnings from the experts is quite a contrast to the gleeful cheers from bipartisan policymakers at the State of the Union for doing nothing,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which advocates federal debt reduction.

In his State of the Union address, Biden, who was Obama’s vice president, ripped Republicans for plans to cut safety net programs. Republicans in the audience booed him vigorously. After some back-and-forth with his critics, Biden declared victory.

“So folks, as we all apparently agree, Social Security, Medicare is off the books now, right? All right. We’ve got unanimity,” he said.

President Biden has forced Republican leaders to profess, repeatedly, that they will not seek cuts to Social Security and Medicare.

Prosecutors seek Trump lawyer’s testimony, suggesting evidence of crime

By ALAN FEUER, MAGGIE HABERMAN and BEN PROTESS

Federal prosecutors overseeing the investigation into former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents are seeking to pierce assertions of attorney-client privilege and compel one of his lawyers to answer more questions before a grand jury, according to two people familiar with the matter, adding an aggressive new dimension to the inquiry and underscoring the legal peril facing Trump.

The prosecutors have sought approval from a federal judge to invoke what is known as the crime-fraud exception, which allows them to work around attorney-client privilege when they have reason to believe that legal advice or legal services have been used in furthering a crime. The fact that prosecutors invoked the exception in a sealed motion to compel the testimony of the lawyer, M. Evan Corcoran, suggests that they believe Trump or his allies might have used Corcoran’s services in that way.

Among the questions that the Justice Department has been examining since last year is whether Trump or his associates obstructed justice in failing to comply with demands to return a trove of government material he took with him from the White House upon leaving office, including hundreds of documents with classified markings.

In May, the Justice Department issued a subpoena for any classified documents still in Trump’s possession, after he had voluntarily turned over an initial batch of material to the National Archives that turned out to include almost 200 classified documents. In June, Corcoran met with investigators and handed over more than 30 documents in response to the subpoena.

Another lawyer for Trump, Christina Bobb, then signed a statement asserting that a “diligent search” had been conducted at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s residence and private club in Palm Beach, Florida, and that there were no additional documents bearing classification markings. Bobb has told investigators and others that Corcoran drafted the statement, and that she added some caveats to it, seeking to make it sound less ironclad.

But when the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago in August, agents found more than 100 additional classified documents. The affidavit submitted by the Justice Department to obtain the search warrant said that there was “probable cause to believe that evidence of

obstruction” would be found in the search.

Corcoran recently appeared before a grand jury in U.S. District Court in Washington and is believed to have asserted attorney-client privilege on behalf of Trump in refusing to answer certain questions related to his representation in the documents investigation, according to three people familiar with the matter.

It remains unclear what questions Corcoran sought to avoid answering by asserting attorney-client privilege or what crime the Justice Department cited in invoking the crime-fraud exception in its motion to Judge Beryl A. Howell, the chief judge in the Washington federal courthouse, who oversees all grand jury matters.

But after his appearance in front of the grand jury, Corcoran received notice that the Justice Department was seeking to use the exception to break through his assertions of privilege, the people familiar with the matter said. Howell, who has consistently decided in the government’s favor on privilege issues surrounding Trump, will ultimately rule on the department’s request about Corcoran. She will be stepping down from the position of chief judge next month.

The push for Corcoran’s testimony is another sign of the aggressive efforts being made by Jack Smith, the special counsel overseeing the investigations into Trump, to secure testimony. Smith is guiding both the

investigation into Trump’s handling of the classified documents and the inquiry into Trump’s efforts to remain in office after his election defeat in 2020 and how they led to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol.

A spokesperson for Trump described the latest move by the Justice Department as a politically motivated witch hunt intended to block Trump from being reelected to the White House, and predicted that it would fail.

It remained unclear if the crime-fraud arguments in the Justice Department’s motion to compel Corcoran’s testimony included evidence beyond what was initially contained in the search warrant affidavit.

It was also not immediately clear whether the Justice Department suspects misconduct by Corcoran and Trump, by Trump and others, or by Trump alone.

Although the Justice Department occasionally uses the crime-fraud exception for cases in which lawyers and their clients team up to break the law, prosecutors more commonly invoke it when they believe a client is improperly using a lawyer’s services in the furtherance of a crime, according to legal experts.

“The attorney does not have to be a co-conspirator,” said John S. Martin Jr., who served as a U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and is a former federal judge.

A spokesperson for the special counsel’s office declined to comment.

Prosecutors overseeing the documents investigation have also been asking witnesses questions about Boris Epshteyn, who has played a central role in coordinating lawyers on several of the investigations involving Trump, according to multiple people briefed on the matter. It was Epshteyn who first brought Corcoran into Trump’s orbit.

At least three lawyers have sat for interviews with the Justice Department during which questions about Epshteyn were asked — among them Bobb and, more recently, Alina Habba, people with knowledge of the matter said. A third lawyer close to Trump, Jesse Binnall, has also spoken with prosecutors about Epshteyn, the people said.

One person briefed on the interviews said that investigators were interested in discussions between Epshteyn and others about establishing a possible common-interest privilege in the documents case. A commoninterest privilege creates a kind of umbrella privilege allowing groups of lawyers and clients to communicate with each other confidentially.

Such common-interest agreements are frequently used in cases with multiple lawyers and multiple witnesses. But prosecutors are asking questions indicating they’re interested in whether Epshteyn was trying to improperly influence witness testimony, the person briefed on the interviews said. Binnall declined to comment.

Lawyers representing or advising Trump have been central players in both the documents and Jan. 6 investigations.

A federal judge in California issued an opinion in a civil case last year arguing that there was reasonable evidence that Trump and another one of his lawyers, John Eastman, had conspired together to commit at least two crimes in their efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election: conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruction of an official proceeding before Congress.

Eastman had filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent the House select committee investigating Jan. 6 from obtaining some of his emails by arguing that many were protected by attorney-client privilege. But the judge, David O. Carter, overruled him, citing the crime-fraud exception as a reason to allow the committee to have the emails.

In June, federal agents armed with a search warrant seized Eastman’s phone in connection with the Jan. 6 investigation.

Former President Donald Trump addresses the New Hampshire Republican State Committee 2023 Annual Meeting, in Salem, N.H., on Jan 28, 2023.

Inflation cooled just slightly, with worrying details

By JEANNA SMIALEK

Inflation has slowed from its painful 2022 peak but remains uncomfortably rapid, data released earlier this week showed, and the forces pushing prices higher are proving stubborn in ways that could make it difficult to wrestle cost increases back to the Federal Reserve’s goal.

The consumer price index climbed 6.4% in January compared with a year earlier, faster than economists had forecast and only a slight slowdown from 6.5% in December. While the annual pace of increase has cooled from a peak of 9.1% in summer 2022, it remains more than three times as fast as was typical before the pandemic.

And prices continued to increase rapidly on a monthly basis as a broad array of goods and services, including apparel, groceries, hotel rooms and rent, became more expensive. That was true even after stripping out volatile food and fuel costs.

Taken as a whole, the data underlined that while the Federal Reserve has been receiving positive news that inflation is no longer accelerating relentlessly, it could be a long and bumpy road back to the 2% annual price gains that used to be normal. Prices for everyday purchases are still climbing at a pace that risks chipping away at economic security for many households.

“We’re certainly down from the peak of inflation pressures last year, but we’re lingering at an elevated rate,” said Laura Rosner-Warburton, senior economist at MacroPolicy Perspectives. “The road back to 2% is going to take some time.”

Stock prices sank in the hours after the report, and market expectations that the Fed will raise interest rates above 5% in the coming months increased slightly. Central bankers have already lifted borrowing costs from near-zero a year ago to above 4.5%, a rapid-fire adjustment meant to slow consumer and business demand in a bid to wrestle price increases under control.

But the economy has so far held up in the face of the central bank’s campaign to slow it down. Growth did cool last year, with the rate-sensitive housing market pulling back and demand for big purchases like cars waning, but the job market has remained strong, and wages are still climbing robustly.

That could help to keep the economy chugging along into 2023. Consumption overall had shown signs of slowing meaningfully, but it may be poised for a comeback: Economists expect retail sales data sche -

duled for release Wednesday to show that spending climbed 2% in January after falling 1.1% in December, based on estimates in a Bloomberg survey.

Signs of continued economic momentum could combine with incoming price data to convince the Fed that it needs to do more to bring inflation fully under control, which could entail pushing rates higher than they had expected or leaving them elevated for longer. Central bankers have been warning that the process of wrangling cost increases might prove bumpy and difficult.

“There has been an expectation that it will go away quickly and painlessly — and I don’t think that’s at all guaranteed,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at an event last week. “The base case for me is that it will take some time, and we’ll have to do more rate increases, and then we’ll have to look around and see whether we’ve done enough.”

A broad range of products and services kept inflation elevated in January: Pricier hotels, car insurance and vehicle repairs all contributed to the increase in the overall index.

Some goods, including used cars and clothing for women, dropped in price on a monthly basis. Even so, the slowdown for some physical products was less pronounced than it had been. Price increases for overall apparel accelerated, for instance.

Moderating price increases for goods and commodities have driven the overall inflation slowdown in recent months. Fed officials have embraced the cooldown but have also warned that it may not continue, because it has come as pandemic disruptions faded and tangled supply chains unsnarled.

“Supply chains can’t recover twice,”

Lorie Logan, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said in a speech Tuesday.

Service prices may prove to be more closely tied to underlying momentum in the economy: Labor is a major cost for many service companies, so businesses are likely to charge more when unemployment is low and they have to increase pay to compete for workers.

So far, such inflation shows little sign of letting up. Service prices excluding energy continued to increase rapidly in January, owing in part to the jump in rental and other housing costs.

That rapid rent inflation is expected to abate in the months ahead as a recent pullback in asking rents on newly leased apartments gradually feeds into official inflation data. But how much — and for how long — increases in housing costs will fade is uncertain.

“It is a little bit unclear what the underlying momentum is in shelter,” said Sonia Meskin, head of U.S. macro at BNY

Mellon Investment Management, explaining that strong job gains and solid wage growth could keep pressures on the market. “Shelter tends to correlate with a tight labor market.”

Hiring in America remains unusually strong, despite recent high-profile layoffs in the technology industry. Employers added more than 500,000 jobs in January, an unexpectedly robust number, and gains in average hourly earnings and other pay trackers remain rapid, though they have begun to slow.

The unsavory question confronting officials at the Fed is whether the labor market will need to weaken in order to wrestle inflation lower. Many central bankers have suggested that wage increases are probably too hot to be consistent with 2% inflation, their official target. Central bankers define their inflation goal using a related but more delayed inflation measure, the personal consumption expenditures index.

“I don’t think they’re going to feel comfortable until the labor market turns a little more decisively,” said Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at J.P. Morgan.

Diners at a restaurant in New York, Feb. 2, 2023.

S&P 500, Dow slip after retail sales data; megacaps lift Nasdaq

U.S. stock index futures slipped on Wednesday, as investors awaited retail sales data amid worries that elevated inflation and a tight labor market will keep the Federal Reserve on track for more interest rate increases this year.

The benchmark S&P 500 .SPX came under pressure on Tuesday after data showed U.S. consumer prices accelerated in January, boosting expectations that the Fed will raise the policy rate at least twice more this year to the 5%-5.25% range.

The consumer price index rose 6.4% last month from a year earlier, far above the Fed’s 2% target but a step down from last year’s blistering pace.

The focus, now, will shift to retail sales data, due at 8:30 a.m. ET, for clues on consumer spending amid worries of slowing economic growth and high inflation.

U.S. retail sales are expected to have risen 1.8% in January, as per a Reuters poll, after falling more than anticipated in December.

At 7:18 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were down 36 points, or 0.11%, S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were down 6.75 points, or 0.16%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were down 19.75 points, or 0.16%.

U.S.-listed shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) TSM.N fell 5.7% in premarket trading after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc BRKa.Nslashed its stake in the chipmaker.

Shares of Airbnb Inc ABNB.O and Tripadvisor Inc TRIP.O jumped more than 9% each after the companies posted forecast-beating results due to strong demand for travel.

Kraft Heinz KHC.O rose 1.3% after the ketchup maker beat quarterly sales estimates, helped by demand for its packaged meals and condiments, despite high prices.

Biogen Inc BIIB.O added 1.4% after it beat analysts’ estimates for quarterly results on strong demand for its spinal muscular atrophy drug, Spinraza.

Nearly 70% of the S&P 500 firms that have reported results so far, have topped profit expectations, as per Refinitiv as of Friday.

However, analysts estimate fourth-quarter earnings fell 2.8% from a year earlier.

Markets have had an upbeat start to the year, driven by a renewed interest in growth stocks that were battered in 2022 as the Fed raised rates aggressively to bring steep prices under control.

The rally, however, stalled last week on signs of a tight labor market and hawkish commentary from Fed policymakers.

Money market traders have priced in at least two

MOST ASSERTIVE STOCKS

PUERTO RICO STOCKS

more 25 basis point rate hikes this year and see interest rates peaking at 5.2% by July.

The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury notes steadied near six-week highs after dipping earlier. [US/]

At 10:11 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 81.07 points, or 0.24%, at 34,327.00, the S&P 500 was up 21.36 points, or 0.52%, at 4,158.65, and the

COMMODITIES

CURRENCY

Nasdaq Composite was up 104.62 points, or 0.88%, at 11,996.41.

Coca-Cola Co slipped 0.4% despite a strong fullyear profit forecast.

Marriott International Inc edged up 0.8% after the hotel operator forecast first-quarter earnings above Wall Street estimates as it benefited from strong travel demand.

Palantir Technologies soared 9.9% after the data analytics firm forecast its first profitable year and said it had slowed hiring, cut stock-based payouts and reduced cloud computing investments in response to lower spending from recession-wary businesses.

By GULSIN HARMAN and EMMA BUBOLA

As six more people were pulled from the rubble in southeastern Turkey, officials said on Wednesday that rescue efforts were underway in hundreds of buildings where survivors of last week’s magnitude 7.8 earthquake and its aftershocks may still be alive.

“Praise be, we touched one more life. There is no losing hope,” one rescuer said in an interview with Anadolu after Fatma Gungor, 77, was removed from the rubble in the city of Adiyaman. After she was shown being carried out on a stretcher, covered in a gold foil blanket and wearing an oxygen mask, another rescuer added: “I am so excited. I don’t know what to say. We were on the verge of giving up.”

Such rescues, which are increasingly improbable after the first 72 hours following natural disasters, have been a small sliver of positive news in a country where over 35,000 people died in the earthquake and more than 1 million have been left without shelter. As state-controlled news outlets have covered the rescues, less of a spotlight has been put on the many more bodies being pulled out each day, the conditions of the rescued people or the public anger over the government’s response to the tragedy.

For now, the rescues were celebrated as a rare bright spot amid the dust, death and

destruction. In Gungor’s case, the rescuers told Anadolu that one of her family members had urged the team to keep going over-

night, even as the rescuers themselves were worn down and hungry.

“I told them that it was their call,” the

rescuer said. “We continue as long as you tell us so.”

AFAD, Turkey’s emergency agency, said that as of Tuesday search and rescue efforts were continuing in 682 buildings across the 10 provinces of Turkey that were hit by the earthquake. A spokesperson for the agency said that rescuers were using thermal cameras and sound-detecting machines to determine whether anyone was trapped inside.

“The rescue efforts continue in buildings where there is hope for a person is alive,” the agency said in a statement.

On Wednesday morning, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said at a news conference in Kahramanmaras that search and rescue efforts were continuing in 215 buildings in the city.

More than a dozen people have been rescued in Turkey after spending more than 200 hours trapped in the rubble. Two brothers survived by rationing bodybuilding supplements, drinking their own urine and swallowing gulps of air.

On Wednesday afternoon, Cemile Kekec, 74, was removed from the rubble, 227 hours after the earthquake in Kahramanmaras, the same hard-hit city where Melike Imamoglu, 42, was rescued in the morning, according to the Anadolu news agency. A woman and her two children were also rescued Wednesday afternoon in the city of Antakya.

Six more people are rescued in Turkey, as its death toll tops 35,000 Russia has relocated 6,000 Ukrainian children to Russian territory camps, report finds

By CARLY OLSON

The Russian government is holding at least 6,000 Ukrainian children in camps in Russia and Russian-occupied Crimea, according to a U.S.-backed report published Tuesday, part of what human rights advocates call Moscow’s systemic attempt to Russify occupied parts of Ukraine.

Most of the children, who are between 4 months and 17 years old, are being kept at “integration programs” that are designed to immerse them in pro-Russian ideals, the report said. Other facilities are holding children before putting them up for adoption or foster care in Russia.

The research was a collaboration between Yale University and the Conflict

Observatory program, which the State Department set up in May to document war crimes and other atrocities committed by Russian and Russian-backed forces in Ukraine. The researchers released their findings through a report from Conflict Observatory.

Since Moscow’s invasion in February, Russian authorities have announced with fanfare the transfer of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia to be adopted and become citizens, The New York Times reported in October. On state-run television, officials offer teddy bears to new arrivals, who are portrayed as abandoned children being rescued from war.

This mass transfer of children is a potential war crime, regardless of whether they were orphans, experts say. And while

many of the children did come from orphanages and group homes, authorities also took children whose relatives or guardians want them back, according to international human rights officials.

“There have been credible allegations of forced transfers of unaccompanied children to Russian-occupied territory, or to the Russian Federation itself,” the U.N. assistant secretary-general for human rights, Ilze Brands Kehris, said in September.

The report published Tuesday said that at least 6,000 children are being held in 43 camps, although the numbers of both “are likely significantly higher.” Forty-one of the sites used to be summer camps in Russia and Russia-occupied Crimea.

The report described the program as systematic and “coordinated by Russia’s

federal government.” More than two-thirds of the facilities are engaged in “reeducation” efforts, exposing children to proRussian views “with the apparent goal of integrating children from Ukraine into the Russian government’s vision of national culture, history and society,” it said, adding that some camps have also provided children with military training.

“The alleged actions of the Russian Federation since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 can constitute the grave violation of child abduction during armed conflict,” the report said. It cited rushed adoptions, transferring children across international borders and prolonged custody without express consent from guardians as possible violations of the Geneva Conventions.

Search and rescue teams looking for survivors in Antakya, Turkey, on Tuesday.

Heavy losses renew questions about Russia sustaining its offensive

By MARC SANTORA

As Russia steps up its offensive in eastern Ukraine, weeks of failed attacks on a Ukrainian stronghold have left two Russian brigades in tatters, raised questions about Moscow’s military tactics and renewed doubts about its ability to maintain sustained, large-scale ground assaults.

The fighting has also come at a cost for Ukraine, which is expending vast amounts of ammunition to repel Russia’s growing numbers of ground troops, often supported by heavy armor, artillery and close air support. That has added urgency to Ukraine’s pleas for more ammunition, while Western allies this week expressed increasing concern about their ability to meet the demand.

The battle around the Ukrainian city of Vuhledar, which sits at the intersection of the eastern front in the Donetsk region and the southern front in the Zaporizhzhia region, is viewed as one of Moscow’s opening moves of a nascent spring offensive. Although it has been playing out for weeks, the scale of Russia’s losses is only beginning to come into focus.

Accounts from Ukrainian and Western officials, Ukrainian soldiers, captured Russian soldiers, Russian military bloggers, and video and satellite images all paint a picture of a faltering Russian campaign that continues to be plagued by dysfunction.

Moscow has rushed tens of thousands more troops, many of them inexperienced new recruits, to the front line in recent weeks as President Vladimir Putin’s forces seek to demonstrate progress before the anniversary of his full-scale invasion Feb. 24.

Western officials estimate that a large part of Russia’s army is now fighting in Ukraine. Britain’s defense secretary, Ben Wallace, told the BBC on Wednesday that “97% of the Russian army” is in Ukraine, although he did not elaborate or offer evidence of that. U.S. defense officials estimate that about 80% of Russia’s ground forces are dedicated to the war effort.

In attempting to capture Vuhledar, which lies near a rail line Russia uses to supply its forces, “the enemy suffered critical losses,” Col. Oleksii Dmytrashkivskyi, a spokesperson for Ukrainian military forces in the area, said in an interview.

The Russians failed to take into account the terrain — open fields laden with mines — or the strength of the Ukrainian forces, he said. Two of Russia’s most elite brigades — the 155th and 40th Naval Infantry Brigades — were decimated in Vuhledar, Dmytrashkivskyi said.

In one week alone, the Ukrainian General Staff, which is responsible for military strategy, estimated that Russia lost at least

130 armored vehicles, including 36 tanks. That estimate has been supported by accounts from Russian military bloggers,

whose reporting on the war is influential in Russia, and by drone footage of the destruction reviewed by independent military analysts.

Wallace on Wednesday cited reports that “a whole Russian brigade was effectively annihilated” in Vuhledar, where he said that Moscow “lost over 1,000 people in two days.” The British defense intelligence agency reported last week that Russian units had “likely suffered particularly heavy casualties around Vuhledar,” abandoning at least 30 armored vehicles after one failed assault.

Wallace told LBC News, a British news outlet, that the losses in Vuhledar showed the result of “a president and a Russian general staff that defies reality or ignores reality and simply doesn’t care how many people they are killing of their own, let alone of the people they are trying to oppress.”

Many of the captured soldiers were newly mobilized under a call-up Putin announced last September of some 300,000 recruits, while others had been recruited by the Wagner mercenary group, according to Ukrainian and Russian accounts.

In recent weeks, a rivalry between Wagner forces and the regular Russian army has opened up, with the mercenary group claiming that its fighters are more capable.

Wagner fighters have led the Russian campaign in the city of Bakhmut, 60 miles north of Vuhledar. Ukrainian forces defending the city are in an increasingly precarious position, but only after months of unrelenting Russian assaults that have come at a heavy cost for Moscow and left the city in ruins.

The Grey Zone, a Telegram channel that is affiliated with Wagner, was scathing about Russian military efforts in Vuhledar and called for Russian commanders responsible for the losses to be held accountable in public trials.

“Impunity always breeds permissiveness,” a recent post said.

A Russian marine who survived the fight in Vuhledar told the Russian media outlet 7x7, which is based in the Komi region of Russia, that those who survived the battle were considered deserters. The marine, whose identity the news outlet did not disclose, citing the need to protect his safety, said he was part of the 3rd company of the 155th brigade. After his unit’s failed assault, he said, only eight soldiers were left alive.

“It would have been better if I had been captured and never returned,” he said.

Moscow has continued to insist all is going according to plan. On Sunday, Putin said the “marine infantry is working as it should. Right now. Fighting heroically.”

Ukrainian soldiers shelter in a trench on the front line of battle while fellow soldiers fire a 120mm mortar toward Russian positions, in the Bahkmut region of eastern Ukraine on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023.

Ukrainian soldiers on the front line of battle operate an anti-tank gun in the Bahkmut region of eastern Ukraine, on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023.

Scotland’s leader says she will step down in surprise move

By MARK LANDLER, MEGAN SPECIA and JENNY GROSS

Nicola Sturgeon, the leader of Scotland’s government and a fiery campaigner for Scottish independence, said Wednesday in a surprise announcement that she would resign, declaring that after more than eight years in office she was exhausted and had become too polarizing a figure to lead Scotland’s divisive politics effectively.

“Is carrying on right for me?” Sturgeon said at a hastily scheduled news conference in Edinburgh. “And more important, is me carrying on right for my country, my party, and for the independence cause I have spent my life fighting for?”

“I’ve reached the difficult conclusion that it’s not,” she concluded.

She said she would remain in her role until a successor was in place.

Sturgeon’s abrupt resignation removes one of the most visible figures from British politics — a skilled veteran of the United Kingdom’s system of power sharing, a sure-handed leader during Scotland’s ordeal with the coronavirus pandemic, and perhaps the most outspoken advocate of Scotland breaking away from the union.

But in recent weeks, Sturgeon, 52, had become embroiled in a dispute over the Scottish government’s policy on gender recognition. Britain’s Parliament rejected legislation from Scotland’s Parliament making it easier for people to change their gender. The debate over the issue erupted after a convicted rapist and transgender woman, Isla Bryson, was incarcerated in a women’s prison.

Nor are Scotland’s dreams of independence any closer than they were nearly a decade ago, when voters rejected

a plan to break away from the United Kingdom. Support for independence has waxed and waned over the years, but the British government remains implacably opposed to allowing another referendum.

Sturgeon denied that she resigned over the gender legislation but acknowledged that in the current hothouse political environment, “issues that are controversial end up almost irrationally so.”

Sturgeon’s party, the Scottish National Party, remains the

dominant political force in Scotland, and her departure is unlikely to lessen its drive for independence, its founding goal. But as the party debates how and when to pursue a second independence referendum, it was unclear who would take up the mantle as the chief advocate.

Her announcement left Scotland’s political establishment at a loss. Only last month, she said in an interview with the BBC that she had “plenty in the tank” to continue leading Scotland and was “nowhere near ready” to step down.

On Wednesday, however, Sturgeon said she had been wrestling for weeks with the decision to resign. She spoke about being exhausted by the pandemic, during which she adopted a more cautious stance on masks and other socialdistancing policies than the government in England.

There was an echo in Sturgeon’s resignation of that of Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister of New Zealand, who announced her resignation last month by saying she “no longer had enough in the tank.”

Sturgeon, who joined the pro-independence Scottish National Party when she was 16, has spent her time in office vying for Scotland to secure as much additional power over its own affairs as possible.

Last year, she announced new plans for another Scottish independence referendum that would take place in October, reopening the question of whether Scotland would secede from Britain in what would be the second vote on Scottish independence in a decade.

Polls show that Sturgeon remains broadly popular, although her ratings have sagged since the pandemic ebbed and politics in Scotland have been taken over by issues like the gender recognition legislation.

New Zealand, battered by Cyclone Gabrielle, declares state of emergency

By MICHAEL LEVENSON and JUDSON JONES

New Zealand declared a national state of emergency for only the third time in its history Tuesday after a potent cyclone flooded parts of the country, knocking out power to nearly 250,000 residents, stranding people on rooftops and sweeping at least one sailor out to sea.

The cyclone, Gabrielle, battered most of the North Island, the northern part of the country, which includes its most populous city, Auckland, according to the National Emergency Management Agency. Military officials said that at least 200 members of the Royal New Zealand Navy, the army and the Royal New Zealand Air Force were involved in the response.

“Cyclone Gabrielle is the most significant weather event New Zealand has seen this century,” Chris Hipkins, New Zealand’s prime minister, said at a news conference. “The severity and the breadth of the damage that we are seeing has not been experienced in a generation.”

Officials said that the cyclone had socked the North Island with heavy rain, severe winds and very large waves before moving out to sea. MetService, the national weather authority, said that wind gusts of more than 90 mph had blasted many parts of the island and that a few exposed

areas had reported gusts of more than 105 mph. Nearly 16 inches of rain fell in some parts of the North Island, according to MetService, and nearly 8 inches fell in Auckland.

Hipkins said that while the full picture of the damage was not yet clear, “what we do know is the impact is significant and it is widespread.” Officials reported that at least one person had died, a woman whose home was crushed by a landslide in the village of Putorino.

A firefighter was missing and another firefighter was critically injured during rescue operations, authorities said.

The cyclone cut power to about 225,000 customers on the North Island, Hipkins said, and utility companies reported that they had not seen such damage to the grid since Cyclone Bola in 1988. Hipkins said that crews were working to repair the damage, which had disrupted cellphone communications as well.

Roads throughout the North Island were flooded, he said, and travel delays were expected at airports. Officials said that heavily flooded roads had made it difficult to replenish dwindling food and water supplies in some areas.

The national state of emergency, officials said, applied to regions that had previously declared local states of emergency: Northland, Auckland, Tairawhiti, Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Hawke’s Bay and Tararua District.

New Zealand’s two previous states of emergency were declared in 2020, near the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in 2011 after an earthquake struck Christchurch, its second-largest city, killing 185 people.

Roger Ball, acting director of civil defense emergency management, said that the declaration would empower officials to direct resources to flooded regions and would reassure the public that “no effort will be spared.”

Military officials said they had deployed helicopters to rescue people from rooftops in Napier, a coastal city on the North Island.

The country’s navy said it had also launched a rescue operation in severe storm conditions to save a sailor who had been swept out to sea on a catamaran. The sailor, who was wearing a life jacket, was pulled from the ocean by two navy divers on an inflatable boat, officials said.

Military officials said they had also relocated 60 to 100 people from Hastings, an inland city on the North Island, and had cleared downed trees, moved medical supplies and responded to an emergency call to evacuate residents after a river burst its banks.

The storm was expected to move away from the North Island on Wednesday, weakening along the way. Heavy rain was still expected to drench parts of central New Zealand through Thursday, MetService said.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon of Scotland at Bute House in Edinburgh on March 30, 2017.

China tries to depict furor over spy balloon as sign of US decline

By DAVID PIERSON

While many in the world see the Chinese spy balloon as a sign of Beijing’s growing aggressiveness, China has sought to cast the controversy as a symptom of the U.S.’ irrevocable decline.

Why else would a great power be spooked by a flimsy inflatable craft, China has argued, if not for a raft of internal problems like an intensely divided society and intractable partisan strife driving President Joe Biden to act tough on Beijing?

The balloon incident “has shown to the world how immature and irresponsible — indeed hysterical — the United States has been in dealing with the case,” read a recent editorial in the People’s Daily, the ruling Communist Party’s mouthpiece.

Chinese propaganda has tried to score points against the Biden administration, mocking it as flailing, overreacting and trying to outflank its hard-right Republican opponents to demonstrate who can stand taller against Beijing. Nowhere in China’s response has the government acknowledged the balloon’s cost to its own credibility and the mounting evidence that it was all too willing to spy on its neighbors and beyond.

Instead, on Tuesday, China sought to show it had already moved on from the incident. Much of the country’s messaging tended to strategic interests elsewhere in the world. China’s ambassador to France, Lu Shaye, spoke of shoring up ties with the European Union to break the grip of U.S. influence within the bloc. And China welcomed Iran’s hard-line president, Ebrahim Raisi, to Beijing, where he’ll meet with China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, in a sign of the two countries’ shared vision of a more multipolar world, free of Washington’s dominance.

Xi underscored that point last week when he delivered a speech at the Central Party School in which he proclaimed that “Chinese-style modernization” was a new model for human advancement that dispelled the notion that “modernization is equal to Westernization.”

The speech echoed more subtly the steady drumbeat of anti-American rhetoric that has filled the opinion sections of Chinese state media since the balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4. China has asserted that the United States overreacted by downing the balloon,

which the Chinese insist was a civilian airship that was blown off course. American officials say the vessel belonged to a vast Chinese surveillance program designed to collect information on the military capabilities of countries around the world.

Tensions heated up over the weekend, with the U.S. shooting down three unidentified flying objects over North America, and China announcing it would down a mysterious craft near the Bohai Sea. It marked a moment of geopolitical brinkmanship amid deepening concerns about the trajectory of the relationship between China and the United States, now at its lowest point in decades.

At the heart of that disquiet are questions about the ability of each country’s leadership to manage nationalistic sentiment and steer the two powers away from a collision course.

As China’s most ardent nationalist leader in generations, Xi can’t be seen bowing to U.S. pressure without undermining his core promise to the Chinese people of rejuvenating the nation, a project he frames in civilizational terms as the East rising and the West declining.

China’s tone has shifted markedly in recent days. After at first uncharacteristically expressing regret for the balloon that emerged over Montana, China accused the Uni-

ted States of waging “information and public opinion warfare.” This week, Beijing said that high-altitude U.S. balloons had flown over Chinese airspace on more than 10 occasions since May of last year, a claim the White House immediately denied.

On Tuesday, Wang Wenbin, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, doubled down, asserting that the Pentagon has spent billions of dollars in developing high-altitude reconnaissance balloons and has transitioned those projects to military services. He accused the United States of using excessive force in shooting the balloon down. The U.S. needs to be careful not to “pull a muscle while flexing so hard,” he said.

Chinese state media has drawn attention to partisan divisions within the United States. It has suggested that the Biden administration shot down the airship to improve the president’s approval ratings and because he had been criticized by Republican lawmakers for not taking action sooner.

“The Biden administration’s decisions on the balloon episode were hijacked by U.S. domestic politics,” the People’s Daily said in an editorial.

That view isn’t restricted to state propaganda; it’s also held by more measured voices in the nation’s foreign policy community, such as Zheng Yongnian, an influential po -

litical scientist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, who has warned that rising nationalism in the United States will likely give rise to more nationalism in China.

“The No. 1 global risk today is U.S. domestic politics,” said Zheng, who has served as an adviser to senior officials. Unlike more strident commentators in China, Zheng disagrees that the United States is in structural decline.

“The U.S. still has strong governance, it’s still the richest country, and it still has the biggest military,” Zheng said. But when he looks to Washington, he said, he sees a president straining to balance his desire to find common ground with Beijing and his need to stand firm against China.

In a political climate where hawkish views on China are being embraced by both parties, lawmakers could face growing pressure to demonstrate their resolve to confront Beijing. The Biden administration, for example, is accused of being soft on China by Republicans, despite frustrating Beijing by banning exports of critical semiconductor technology to China and by bolstering military ties with allies in the region, including Japan, the Philippines and Australia.

Zheng said China should avoid conflict with the United States and find areas of cooperation, such as combating climate change and supporting global health initiatives, that could reduce tension.

That could be difficult if Kevin McCarthy, the new House speaker, follows through on a suggestion he would visit Taiwan, risking a repeat of the massive military exercises China conducted when the former speaker, Nancy Pelosi, traveled to the self-governing island last year.

Another potential flashpoint could take place in the spring, when Xi is expected to meet with President Vladimir Putin of Russia in Moscow. China has tacitly supported the war in Ukraine.

Analysts say there’s still room for the United States and China to stabilize ties. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Wang Yi, China’s top foreign policy official, will both attend the annual Munich Security Conference in Germany, which begins Friday. While no meeting between the two has been scheduled, Ned Price, a State Department spokesperson, said administration officials were “committed to keeping lines of communication open” between Washington and Beijing.

President Joe Biden shakes hands with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy at his State of the Union address, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023.

The repeal of the second amendment revisited

Scalia, Heller was by all accounts a revolutionary decision. It was the first time in the 200 years after the enactment of the Second Amendment that the Supreme Court construed this constitutional provision as prohibiting federal or state governments from enacting gun control legislation. So what happened? Why the change? The short answer (and the correct one in this case) is that the composition of the Supreme Court changed over the years. It is that simple. Don’t let lawyers trick you into thinking otherwise, or allow them muddy your common sense. The same thing happened with a woman’s constitutional right to terminate her pregnancy, recognized by the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade in 1973, and eliminated last year by the same Supreme Court (but with different justices) in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

By JOSÉ L. NIETO MINGO Special to The STAR

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. (The Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, ratified on Dec. 15, 1791, as one of the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights.)

Ihave been a practicing attorney since 1992 and a law professor in various capacities since 1994. It is only natural that the law has evolved significantly in many areas, including individual constitutional rights. When I was a law student in the 1980s, sodomy between consenting adults was a crime, women had a constitutional right to safe and lawful abortions, and same-sex marriages were illegal virtually everywhere, including in Puerto Rico. All that has changed now, and it is only natural, expected and sometimes desirable, that the law evolves.

Another thing that has changed since my less jaded years was the understanding of an individual’s right to possess and carry firearms. Back then, practically nobody believed that there was an individual constitutional right to bear firearms. The Supreme Court decision that “recognized” that right did not come until much later, in the year 2008 in a case called District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, where the Supreme Court held 5-4 that the Second Amendment guaranteed an individual’s right to possess firearms even if that individual was not a member of a state militia.

While written by “conservative” Justice Antonin

Am I saying that all the decisions of the Supreme Court are based solely on politics and not on the law? Of course not. But, some decisions are only understandable on the basis of politics. Yes, yes, I know that everything is political, but I spend a good deal of time trying to convince my law students that there are cases where the Court’s decisions are indeed based on statutory interpretation and legal precedent. In fact, fortunately, most cases are decided that way. But we all know where the devil lives. There are cases that evade legal analysis regardless of how clever you are as an attorney or studious as a legal scholar (do the Supreme Court cases decided during the summer of 2016 relating to PROMESA ring a bell?)

So where am I going with this? To the insane number of murders committed every year in the United States by firearms, that’s where. Mass shootings are so common nowadays that, tragically, they are hardly news anymore. What concerns me is the degree of normalcy that the current interpretation given by the Supreme Court in Heller to the “constitutional individual right” to bear arms has taken. The younger observers of current events may get the impression that the right to bear arms is up there with the right of freedom of political speech, just to name one, as one of the “core” or “essential” constitutional rights that must be defended at all costs from sinister “liberal” or “woke” forces that are conspiring in New York or San Francisco to “disarm us” or “take away our guns.” After all, the argument goes, we all know that “guns don’t kill people. People kill people.” Such nonsense is now ubiquitous. Similarly outlandish is the claim that “an assault weapon is anything that can be used to assault a person, and therefore, a broom is an assault weapon.” I don’t remember ever reading about anyone anywhere walking into a school

and killing hundreds of children with a broom. But the Second Amendment sophists are out there, well financed and organized, trying to convince people that gun control legislation is just a way of punishing “lawabiding” citizens instead of criminals. Funny how easily they forget that every criminal was once a law-abiding citizen, up until the time he or she broke the law, much like a marriage works up until the time that it does not.

Ten years after writing his famous dissenting opinion in the Heller case, and after he retired from the Supreme Court, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote an op-ed piece in The New York Times calling for the repeal of the Second Amendment. I know that in the current political climate, such calls for action would seem crazy and politically suicidal. They may very well sound crazy, but the rest of the world believes the American idea that a person has an individual constitutional right to own and carry a firearm, and that such a right is as important as all the other constitutions rights, is what is in fact cuckoo. Americans are deservedly proud of some of their contributions to the development of democracy and liberty, but I don’t think that the Second Amendment should be one of them.

Telephones:

José L. Nieto Mingo is an attorney and professor of law at the University of Puerto Rico.

POR CYBERNEWS

ISABELA – Un incidente ocurrió a las 2:20 de la tarde del pasado viernes, 10 de febrero de 2023, en la Escuela Intermedia Irma Deliz enel Casco Urbano de Isabela donde una guardián de seguridad supuestamente agredió a la directora escolar.

La perjudicada, María Cristina Paredes, y quien supuestamente es la suegra del secretario de Hacienda, Francisco Parés Alicea, fue agredida por Liz Torres Cruz, quien es guardián de seguridad de la compañía Génesis Security.

Según supo CyberNews, la guardián de seguridad le reclamó a la directora del plantel para que la removieran del plantel y ésta se molestó, por lo que le dijo frases soeces y le amenazó con “arrancarle la cabeza”. Una maestra intervino en el incidente y las separó durante el altercado.

El agente Wilfredo Cortés investigó el inciden-

Federales

SAN JUAN – Agentes de Investigaciones de Seguridad Nacional (HSI, por sus siglas en inglés) arrestaron el viernes, 10 de febrero de 2023, a un hombre de Arecibo por violación al Título 18, Código de los Estados Unidos, Sección 2252 (a)(2), que criminaliza el intento de recepción de cualquier representación visual que involucre a un menor participando en una conducta sexualmente explícita y el Título 18, Código de los Estados Unidos, Sección 1470, que tipifica como delito la transferencia de material obsceno a un menor.

“Como maestro, el acusado ocupaba una posición de confianza en nuestra sociedad, la cual traicionó cuando cometió la supuesta conducta ilegal”, dijo W. Stephen Muldrow, fiscal de los Estados Unidos para el Distrito de Puerto Rico en declaraciones escritas.

El arresto sigue a una investigación de HSI, en cooperación con el Departamento de Educación de Puerto Rico y la Oficina del Fiscal de los Estados Unidos para el Distrito de Puerto Rico.

Según la acusación, el 17 de mayo de 2020 o

te, pero la comandancia de Aguadilla no tuvo conocimiento del suceso hasta hoy, miércoles, 15 de febrero.

Mientras la jueza Dailesa Cabán Hernández expidió una ley de asecho a favor de la perjudicada con vigencia del 10 de febrero al 27 de marzo. Las acusaciones presentadas fueron por violaciones de alteración a la paz y Ley 30, porque la guardián de seguridad no estaba de turno en el plantel al momento del altercado.

El fiscal Armando Alonso citó la prueba para el proximo lúnes, 21 de febrero a las 9:00 de la mañana.

Además, el fiscal ordenó ocupar el arma de fuego de la guardián de Seguridad.

El director de Seguridad del Departamento de Educación César González confirmó a CyberNews que le solicitó a la compañía Génesis Security a que la funcionaria sea removida del plantel.

maestro

transferir material obsceno

alrededor de esta fecha, Jonathan Ortiz-Medina, de 36 años, transfirió a sabiendas material obsceno a una persona que no había cumplido los dieciséis años e intentó recibir de una menor a través de servicios de mensajería imágenes que mostraban a la menor participando en conductas sexualmente explícitas.

“Las personas en puestos de confianza deben comprender que no hay lugar en nuestra sociedad para abusar de esa confianza y manchar la posición de nuestros maestros. Nuestras escuelas no tienen lugar para depredadores, nuestros niños necesitan sentirse seguros en la escuela”, dijo la agente especial interina a cargo Rebecca González-Ramos. “Para aquellos que contemplan abusar de posiciones de confianza pública, continuaremos trabajando con nuestros socios locales y federales y utilizando todos los recursos disponibles y autoridades de investigación sólidas para identificarlos, arrestarlos y enjuiciarlos”, agregó.

“El Departamento de Educación no tolerará ningún acto delictivo que afecte a nuestra comunidad escolar donde debe prevalecer un ambiente de armonía y aprendizaje. Invitamos a cualquier estudiante o empleado a reportar cualquier

actividad sospechosa al equipo socioemocional, maestros y oficiales de seguridad en cada una de nuestras escuelas”, dijo Eliezer Ramos Parés, secretario del Departamento de Educación. “Continuaremos colaborando con las agencias de aplicación de la ley en todas las investigaciones, específicamente aquellas que amenazan la seguridad de nuestros estudiantes”, añadió.

El viernes, Ortiz-Medina tuvo su audiencia inicial ante el juez federal Marcos López. El imputado fue trasladado al Centro de Detención Metropolitano de Guaynabo a la espera de un nuevo proceso judicial.

Si es declarado culpable, Ortiz-Medina enfrenta una sentencia mínima legal de cinco años hasta 20 años de prisión seguida de un período de libertad supervisada de 5 años hasta cadena perpetua por intento de recepción de pornografía infantil; y hasta 10 años de prisión seguidos de una pena de libertad supervisada de tres años por la transferencia de material obsceno a un menor. Un juez de un tribunal de distrito federal determinará cualquier sentencia después de considerar las Pautas de sentencia de Estados Unidos y otros factores legales.

arrestan a

por

a un menor e intento de recepción de material de explotación infantil

Procesan criminalmente a guardián de seguridad por agredir a directora escolar de Isabela

At the Oscar nominees luncheon, a crowd in cruise control

fare. “After 50 years in the business, I finally get here.”

It was not the first time at the luncheon for songwriter Diane Warren, who has been nominated for an Oscar 13 times before and is back in contention this year for the song “Applause,” from the film “Tell It Like a Woman.”

“It’s my favorite day,” Warren said. “No one’s a loser yet, everybody’s a winner.” I noted that Warren had received an honorary Oscar in November, and asked whether it had dimmed her desire to win a competitive statuette. “No, I still want to win,” she said, grinning. “He wants a friend!”

As the nominees and their guests took their seats to nosh on mushroom risotto, the academy president, Janet Yang, came to the stage and addressed the fallout from the organization’s handling of the Will Smith slap at last year’s ceremony.

“It was inadequate,” Yang said. “We learned from this that the academy must be fully transparent and accountable in our actions, and particularly in times of crisis, we must act swiftly, compassionately and decisively.”

One unrelated tweak has already been made: Unlike last year, when eight below-the-line Oscars were presented just before the telecast began, Yang promised that each category would be aired live during the March 12 telecast. Because of that, Yang pleaded with the nominees to keep their speeches short: “We need to be sensitive to our running time,” she said. “This is live television, after all.”

By KYLE BUCHANAN

For the privileged few embarking on an Oscar campaign, the path to a nomination asks you to hobnob with so many of the same people that over the course of many months, your competitors can begin to feel like classmates.

But on Monday afternoon, at a luncheon held in Beverly Hills, California, for this year’s Oscar nominees, the arrival of a new student caused quite a stir.

That would be Tom Cruise, nominated this year as a producer of the megahit best picture contender “Top Gun: Maverick.” He was among the first notable names to walk into the ballroom of the Beverly Hilton. The 60-year-old star had sat out both the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice Awards this season, so many of his fellow nominees were encountering him for the first time. Before long, the ballroom had turned into a massive meet-and-greet.

“I love you, I love you, oh, my God!” said “Everything Everywhere All at Once” star Ke Huy Quan, who hopped in place, exclaiming, “I want a picture with this man!” before seizing a selfie with Cruise. Director Guillermo del Toro went over for an embrace, as did nominated actors Brendan Fraser, Angela Bassett and Michelle Williams. Cruise even posed for pictures with Steven Spielberg, a once-frequent collaborator whom the star has not been publicly photographed with in over a decade.

The nominees luncheon is supposed to be an egalitarian affair where big stars and behind-the-scenes technicians are on equal footing, but there was no mistaking Cruise as the ballroom’s top dog: He had the gravitational pull of the sun and its burnt-orange countenance, too. Any of the nominees who might have pulled focus from Cruise had declined to attend: Original-song contenders Lady Gaga and Rihanna were busy with other obligations (including, for the latter, a just-concluded Super Bowl stint), and even surprise best-actress nominee Andrea Riseborough was missing in action.

Still, simply making it to Cruise took some time: In the schmoozy hour before lunch was served, he was so mobbed by his fellow nominees that he was hardly able to move more than a few feet. I watched for a while as “Elvis” star Austin Butler drifted with slow, inexorable determination toward Cruise, who finally pulled the younger man toward him by clamping a hand on his shoulder like a stapler. For several minutes, they were locked in such a tight bro-embrace that it was impossible to discern what they were talking about (or, more important, whether Butler was still speaking in his “Elvis” drawl).

So instead, I made my way to “Top Gun: Maverick” producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who observed the scene serenely just a few feet away. “It’s my first time at the luncheon,” said the newly nominated producer, who’s better known for making explosive action movies than Oscar

With that settled, the nominees were called one by one to the front of the stage, where they would pose together for one massive “class photo.” The first name announced was Jamie Lee Curtis, who had earned her first Oscar nomination this year for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”

“I’ve been acting since I was 19 and I’m 64 — do the math,” Curtis told me. “That’s many years of watching this photograph being taken.” Her late parents, actors Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, had both been Oscar nominees. “To be connected through this legacy of their work and my work and now being included here, it’s very powerful,” she said.

Eventually, with all the nominees assembled, producer and academy governor DeVon Franklin counted down to a flashbulb — pop! — then counted down again as the academy photographer took another picture. “All right, three more,” Franklin said.

“I’ve got one more expression,” shouted best-actor nominee Colin Farrell (“The Banshees of Inisherin”).

Moments earlier, Farrell had been in an animated conversation with Warren, who was standing on the riser behind him. When the pictures were finished and the attendees started to make their way out of the ballroom, I asked Warren what they had discussed.

“We talked about how we both did very badly at school,” she said, “and now here we are, at the coolest graduation picture ever.”

From left, the “Elvis” star Austin Butler with Tom Cruise at the luncheon in Beverly Hills for this year’s Oscar nominees on Monday, Feb. 13, 2023.

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, February 16, 2023 20

LEGAL NOTICE

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO MMG PR CFL, LLC

Plaintiff Vs. ALBA DIANA VILAR VELEZ

Defendants

Civil No.: 11-1517. (SSC). Re: COLLECTION OF MONIES, FORECLOSURE OF MORTGAGE. NOTICE OF SALE. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, COMMONWEALTH OF PUERTO RICO, SS.

To: ALBA DIANA VILAR VELEZ; DEPARTAMENTO DE LA VIVIENDA DE PUERTO RICO; CONSEJO DE TITULARES DEL CONDOMINIO MARINA III AND THE PUBLIC IN GENERAL:

Judgment was entered in favor of plaintiff for the sum of $83,966.01 in principal, $7,287.79 in accrued, plus accrued interest as of October 10,2011, which continue to accrue at 6.00% per annum until payment in full. Late charges of $396.91, and any disbursements made by plaintiff on behalf of defendant in accordance with the mortgage deed, plus costs, and ten (10) percent attorney’s fees; Pursuant to the judgment, the undersigned Special Master was ordered to sell at public auction for United States 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 United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, Federico Degetau Federal Building, Chardón Street, Hato Rey, San Juan, Puerto Rico or any other place designated by said Clerk, to cover the sums adjudged to be paid to the plaintiff, the following property:

URBANA: Propiedad Horizontal: Apartamento residencial localizado en el primer piso (segundo nivel) del Edificio B del Condominio Marina III Barceloneta, sito en el barrio Pueblo del término municipal de Barceloneta, Puerto Rico, con un área aproximada de 95.941 pies cuadrados, equivalentes a 83.2666 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, en 46’4” con áreas comunes, pasillo y escaleras; por el SUR, en 46’4” con el apartamento #801; por el ESTE, en 17’10” con la calle Juan de la Torres y por el OESTE, en 21”3” con área de estacionamiento. Consta de sala-comedor, cocina, balcón

3 dormitorios, 2 baños, roperos (closets) y lavandería (laundry). Su puerta principal de entrada está situada en su lindero Norte. Estacionamiento: Le pertenece el uso exclusivo de dos estacionamientos identificados con el #901 en el área descubierta del estacionamiento y en el plot plan con una cabida superficial de 270.00 pies cuadrados, equivalentes a 25.08 metros cuadrados; siendo sus colindancias por el NORTE, con el estacionamiento #1001; al SUR, con el estacionamiento, # 801; al ESTE, con área de rodaje y al OESTE, con área verde. El área total de este apartamento, incluyendo el estacionamiento privado es de 1,165.941 pies cuadrados equivalentes a 108.346 metros cuadrados. Porcentaje: Elementos comunes generales:

2.3518%. Inscrito al Sistema Karibe de Barceloneta, Finca 15881, Registro de la Propiedad Puerto Rico de Manatí.

Physical address: Apt. 901-B Cond Marina III, Barceloneta, PR 00617. The property is subject to the following Junior liens:

Mortgage in favor of Departamento de la Vivienda de Puerto Rico, or to its order, for principal amount of $40,000.00, with no annual interests, due on demand, constituted by deed #92, executed in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on July 23, 2007, before Miguel Bauza Rolon, with restrictive covenants for the sale of the property for ten (10) years. Mortgage in favor of Departamento de la Vivienda de Puerto Rico, or to its order, for principal amount of $12,500.00, with no annual interests, due on demand, constituted by deed #93, executed in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on July 23, 2007, before Miguel Bauza Rolon, with restrictive covenants for the sale of the property for six (6) years.

JUDICIAL ATTACHMENT: Filed in the Court of First Instance, Manatí Section, Civil Case number CD2011-753, regarding collection of monies, filed by Consejo de Títulares del Condominio Marina III versus Alba Diana Vilar Velez, in the amount of $6,005.09, pursuant to judgment entered on January 26, 2012 and order of attachment dated March 26, 2012 with the corresponding Writ dated March 27, 2012. Annotated at Karibe System of Barceloneta, property 15,881 on August 31, 2021, Annotation “A”. 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 or preferential liens to the one being foreclosed upon, including but not limited to any

property tax liens (express, tacit, implied or legal), or homeowner associations dues, to the extent specified under the applicable Condominium Law, shall continue in effect. It being understood 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. The present property will be acquired free and clear of all junior liens. THEREFORE, the FIRST PUBLIC SALE shall be held on the MARCH 3RD, 2023, AT THE 10:30 A.M., and the minimum bid that will be accepted is the sum of $100,000.00. In the event said first public auction does not produce a bidder and the properties is not adjudicated, a SECOND PUBLIC AUCTION shall be held on the MARCH 10TH, 2023, AT THE 10:30 A.M. and the minimum bid that will be accepted is the sum of $66,666.66, 2/3 parts of the minimum bid for the 1st public sale. If said second auction does not result in the adjudication and sale of the property, a THIRD AUCTION will be held on the MARCH 17TH, 2023, AT THE 10:30 A.M. and the minimum bid that will be accepted is the sum of $50,000.00, ½ of the minimum bid for the 1st public sale. Upon confirmation of the sale, an order shall be issued canceling all junior liens. For further particulars, reference is made to the judgment entered by the Court in this case, which can be examined in the Office of the Clerk of the United States District Court, Federal Building, Chardon Avenue, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico. In San Juan, Puerto Rico, on January 25th, 2023. AGUEDO DE LA TORRE, SPECIAL MASTER.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

CENTRO JUDICIAL DE PONCE SALA SUPERIOR BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Parte Demandante Vs. GAMALIEL ECHEVARRÍA ROMÁN T/C/C GAMALIER ECHEVARRÍA ROMÁN

Parte Demandada

Civil Núm.: PO2021CV02704.

Sala: 406. 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

Thursday, February 16, 2023 22

y hace constar que en cumplimiento de la Sentencia dictada el 21 de abril de 2022, la Orden de Ejecución de Sentencia del 18 de agosto de 2022 y el Mandamiento de Ejecución del 19 de agosto de 2022 en el caso de epígrafe, procederé a vender el día 4 de abril de 2023, a las 11:30 de la mañana, en mi oficina, localizada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Centro Judicial de Ponce, Sala Superior, en 2150 Ave. Santiago de los Caballeros, Ponce, Puerto Rico, al mejor postor en pago de contado y en moneda de los Estados Unidos de América, cheque de gerente o giro postal, todo título, derecho o interés de la parte demandada sobre la siguiente propiedad:

URBANA: Solar en la Urbanización Las Monjitas de Ponce, Puerto Rico, identificado con el número 29 del bloque D, con una cabida de 335.27 metros cuadrados. Colindando por el NORTE, en 14.00 metros, con la Calle C; por el SUR, en 13.00 metros con el solar número 13; por el ESTE, en 24.14 metros con el solar número 30; y por el OESTE, en 26.60 metros, con el solar número 28. Contiene una casa de fiberdyne y hormigón, tipo Campoamor de tres (3) dormitorios, sala-comedor, cocina, baño y marquesina. Inscrita al folio 22 del tomo 809 de Ponce, Finca Número 22350, Registro de la Propiedad de Ponce, Sección I. La escritura de hipoteca consta inscrita al folio 24 del tomo 2142 de Ponce, Finca Número 22350, Registro de la Propiedad de Ponce, Sección I. Inscripción quinta. Dirección Física: Urb. Las Monjitas, 414 Calle Capellán (Solar 29 Bloque D), Ponce, PR 00730-3913. Número de Catastro: 63-365-076-08629-001. El tipo mínimo para la primera subasta será de $71,677.00. De no haber adjudicación en la primera subasta se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA, el día 11 DE ABRIL DE 2023, A LAS 11:30 DE LA MAÑANA en el mismo lugar, en la cual el tipo mínimo será de dos terceras partes del tipo mínimo fijado en la primera subasta, o sea, $47,784.66. De no haber adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA, el día 18 DE ABRIL DE 2023, A LAS 11:30 DE LA MAÑANA en el mismo lugar, en la cual el tipo mínimo será la mitad del precio pactado, o sea, $35,838.50. Si se declarase desierta la tercera subasta, se adjudicará la finca a favor del acreedor por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada si ésta es igual o menor que el monto del tipo de la tercera subasta, si el tribunal lo estima

conveniente. Se abonará dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si ésta es mayor. Dicho remate se llevará a cabo para con su producto satisfacer a la demandante el importe de la Sentencia por la suma de $66,469.36 de principal, más intereses sobre dicha suma al 3.75% anual desde el 1 de mayo de 2019 hasta su completo pago, más $405.55 de recargos acumulados, los cuales continuarán en aumento hasta el saldo total de la deuda, más la cantidad estipulada de $7,167.70 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogados, así como cualquier otra suma que contenga el contrato del préstamo. Surge del Estudio de Título Registral que sobre esta propiedad pesa el siguiente gravamen posterior a la hipoteca que por la presente se pretende ejecutar: Aviso de Demanda: Pleito seguido por Banco Popular de Puerto Rico Vs. Gamaliel Echevarría Román también conocido como Gamalier Echevarría Román, ante el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Ponce, en el Caso Civil Número PO2021CV02704, sobre Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca, en la que se reclama el pago de hipoteca con un balance de $66,469.36 y otras cantidades, según Demanda de fecha 18 de noviembre de 2021. Anotada al Tomo Karibe de Ponce. 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 les 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 conoci-

miento 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 Ponce, Puerto Rico, hoy 4 de enero de 2023. MANUEL MALDONADO, ALGUACIL, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, CENTRO JUDICIAL DE PONCE, SALA SUPERIOR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE CAROLINA SALA SUPERIOR BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Parte Demandante Vs. SUCESIÓN DE VÍCTOR RODRÍGUEZ CHAULIZANT COMPUESTA POR

FULANO Y MENGANO DE TAL, POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS, SUCESIÓN DE MERCEDES MORALES

VÁZQUEZ, COMPUESTA POR ZUTANO Y PERENCEJO DE TAL, POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS, DEPARTAMENTO DE HACIENDA POR CONDUCTO DE LA DIVISIÓN DE CAUDALES RELICTOS; CENTRO DE RECAUDACIÓN DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (CRIM)

Parte Demandada Civil Núm.: CA2019CV00094. Sala: 409. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA “IN REM”. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. AVISO DE PÚBLICA SUBASTA. El Alguacil que suscribe por la presente anuncia y hace constar que en cumplimiento de la Sentencia en Rebeldía dictada el 19 de julio de 2019, la Orden de Ejecución de Sentencia del 15 de agosto de 2022 y el Mandamiento de Ejecución del 13 de enero de 2023 en el caso de epígrafe, procederé a vender el día 2 DE MAYO DE 2023, A LAS 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA en mi oficina, localizada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Centro Judicial de Carolina, Sala Superior, en la Avenida 65 Infantería, Carretera Número

Tres (3), Kilómetro 11.7 (Entrada de la Urbanización Mansiones de Carolina) Carolina, 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: Solar radicado en la Urbanización Villa Fontana, situada en el Barrio Sabana Abajo de Carolina, Puerto Rico, que se describe con el Número Dos (2) del bloque “EL” con un área de 315.80 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con los Solares veinticuatro (24), veinticinco (25) y veintiséis (26), distancia de 16.54 metros; por el SUR, con la Calle Número Cuarenta y Siete (47), distancia de 12.16 metros; por el ESTE, con el Solar Número Uno (1), distancia de 21.79 metros; y por el OESTE, con el Solar Número Seis (6), distancia de 22.31 metros. En dicho solar enclava una vivienda de concreto para una familia. La propiedad consta inscrita al folio 1 del tomo 617 de Carolina, Finca Número 32275 BIS, Registro de la Propiedad de Carolina, Sección I. La escritura de hipoteca consta inscrita al folio móvil del tomo 898 de Carolina, Finca Número 32275 BIS, Registro de la Propiedad de Carolina, Sección I. Inscripción novena. DIRECCIÓN FÍSICA: VILLA FONTANA, EL2 VÍA 26, CAROLINA, PR 00983-3908. Número de Catastro: 20-088016-493-02-001. El tipo mínimo para la primera subasta será de $64,928.00. De no haber adjudicación en la primera subasta se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA, el día 9 DE MAYO DE 2023, A LAS 9:00 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, $43,285.33. De no haber adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el día 16 DE MAYO DE 2023, A LAS 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA en el mismo lugar, en la cual el tipo mínimo será la mitad del precio pactado, o sea, $32,464.00. 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 $36,553.89

de principal, más intereses sobre dicha suma al 7% anual desde el 1 de octubre de 2017 hasta su completo pago, más $213.76 de recargos acumulados, más la cantidad estipulada de $6,492.80 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 pesan los siguientes gravámenes posteriores a la hipoteca que por la presente se pretende ejecutar: a. Hipoteca: Constituida por Víctor Rodríguez Chaulizant y su esposa, Mercedes Morales Vázquez, en garantía de un pagaré a favor de Citibank N.A., o a su orden, por la suma de $16,000.00 sus intereses al 2.5% anual y vencedero a la presentación, según consta de la Escritura Número 367, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el 7 de octubre de 1998, ante el Notario Alejandro Oliveras Rivera. Inscrita al Folio móvil del tomo 901 de Carolina, Finca Número 32275 BIS, inscripción décima. Nota: Sujeta a condiciones que aceleran su vencimiento.

b. Aviso de Demanda: Pleito seguido por Banco Popular de Puerto Rico Vs. Víctor Rodríguez Chaulizant, Mercedes Morales Vázquez y la Sociedad Legal de Bienes Gananciales, compuesto por ambos, ante el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Carolina, en el Caso Civil Número CA2019CV00094 sobre Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca, en la que se reclama el pago de hipoteca, con un balance de $36,553.89 y otras cantidades, según Demanda de fecha 10 de enero de 2019. Anotada al Tomo Karibe de Carolina. 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 les 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, conti-

The San Juan Daily Star

ca en garantía de un pagaré a favor de Secretario de la Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano, o a su orden, por la suma principal de $196,500.00, con intereses al 7.125% anual, vencedero el día 22 de diciembre de 2096, constituida mediante la escritura número 245, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 7 de agosto de 2009, ante el notario Priscilla M. Santiago Acosta, e inscrita al folio 2,307 del tomo 1,129 de Sabana Llana, finca número 12,444, inscripción 5ta, como Asiento Abreviado extendida las líneas el día 21 de noviembre de 2017, como Asiento Abreviado en virtud de la Ley número 216 del día 27 de diciembre de 2010. Que la cantidad mínima de licitación en la primera subasta del inmueble antes descrito será la suma de $131,000.00 según se establece en la escritura de hipoteca antes relacionada. En caso de que el inmueble a ser subastado no fuera adjudicado en su primera subasta se ordena la celebración de una segunda subasta de dicho inmueble, en la cual, la cantidad mínima será una equivalente a 2/3 parte de aquella, o sea la suma de $87,333.33; desierta también la segunda subasta de dicho inmueble, se ordena la celebración de una tercera subasta en la cual, la cantidad mínima será la mitad del precio pactado para la primera subasta, es decir la suma de $65,000.00. 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, entiéndase efectivo, giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, y que las cargas y gravámenes preferentes, si los hubiese, 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. La propiedad no está sujeta a gravámenes anteriores y/o preferentes según surge de las constancias del Registro de la Propiedad en un estudio de título efectuado a la finca antes descrita. Una vez efectuada la venta de dicha propiedad, el Alguacil procederá a otorgar la escritura de traspaso al licitador victorioso en subasta, quien podrá ser la parte demandante, cuya oferta podrá aplicarse a la extinción parcial o total de la obligación reconocida por la sentencia dictada en este caso. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Si el producto de la venta fuere insuficiente para satisfacer la cantidad reclamada, se procederá a la ejecución de la sentencia en con-

tra de la parte demandada por el remanente de las sumas no satisfechas, mediante embargo y venta en ejecución de cualesquiera otros bienes propiedad de la parte demandada en cantidad suficiente para dejar cubierta y totalmente satisfecha a la parte demandante cualquier deficiencia o parte insoluta de la sentencia dictada a su favor según dispuesto en la sentencia dictada en este caso. Se dispone, conforme con la sentencia dictada en este caso que, una vez efectuada la subasta y vendido el bien inmueble, los adjudicatarios sean puestos en posesión del mismo dentro del término de veinte (20) días por el Alguacil de este Honorable Tribunal y los actuales poseedores lanzados del referido inmueble. Y para la concurrencia de licitadores y para el público en general, se publicará este Edicto de acuerdo con la ley, mediante edicto, en un periódico de circulación general en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, una vez por semana, por espacio de dos (2) semanas consecutivas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre ambas publicaciones, y para su fijación en tres (3) lugares públicos del municipio en que ha de celebrarse la venta, tales como la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía, y se le notificará además a la parte demandada vía correo certificado con acuse de recibo a la última dirección conocida. EN TESTIMONIO DE LO CUAL, expido el presente Edicto de Subasta para conocimiento y comparecencia de los licitadores, bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, en San Juan , Puerto Rico, a 2 de febrero de 2023. EDWIN E. LÓPEZ MULERO, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR, ALGUACIL DEL TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE SAN JUAN.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA DE SAN JUAN

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante Vs.

YOLANDA MARGARITA CLEMENTE

ARMSTRONG, T/C/C

YOLANDA MARGARITA

CLEMENTE POR SÍ;

FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANO DE TAL COMO MIEMBROS

DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESIÓN DE JOSÉ E. ROSICH GARCÍA, T/C/C

JOSÉ ENRIQUE ROSICH GARCÍA; CENTRO DE RECAUDACIONES DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES, Y LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE

AMÉRICA

Demandados

Civil Núm.: SJ2021CV06721. Sala: 508. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA - IN REM. EDICTO DE SUBASTA.

Al: PÚBLICO EN GENERAL.

A: YOLANDA

MARGARITA CLEMENTE

ARMSTRONG, T/C/C

YOLANDA MARGARITA CLEMENTE POR SÍ; FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANO DE TAL COMO MIEMBROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESIÓN DE JOSÉ E.

ROSICH GARCÍA, T/C/C

JOSÉ ENRIQUE ROSICH GARCÍA; CENTRO DE RECAUDACIONES DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES, Y LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA.

Yo, EDWIN E. LÓPEZ MULERO, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de San Juan, a los demandados, acreedores y al público en general con interés sobre la propiedad que más adelante se describe, y al público en general, por la presente CERTIFICO, ANUNCIO y HAGO CONSTAR: Que el día 9 DE MARZO DE 2023, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en mi oficina, sita en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico, procederé a vender en Pública Subasta, al mejor postor, la propiedad inmueble que más adelante se describe y cuya venta en pública subasta se ordenó por la vía ordinaria mediante Sentencia dictada en el caso de epígrafe, la cual se notificó y archivó en autos el día 24 de junio de 2022. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado, estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría 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 16 DE MARZO DE 2023, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA; y en caso de no producir remate ni adjudicación, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el día 27 DE MARZO DE 2023, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA en mi oficina sita en el lugar antes indicado. Que en cumplimiento de un Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que ha sido liberado por la Secretaría del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de San Juan, en el caso de epígrafe con fecha de 12 de agosto de 2022, procederé a vender en pública subasta y al mejor postor, todo derecho, títu-

lo e interés que tenga la parte demandada de epígrafe en el inmueble que se describe a continuación: URBANA: Solar marcado con el número Trece (13) de la URBANIZACION EXTENSION SAGRADO CORAZON (Segunda Sección) según el plano de inscripción de dicha Urbanización radicado en el Barrio Cupey de Rio Piedras, término municipal de San Juan, Puerto Rico, con un área superficial de MIL QUINIENTOS TREINTA Y CUATRO PUNTO DOSCIENTOS CINCUENTA Y NUEVE METROS CUADRADOS (1534.259). Colinda por el NOROESTE, en veintidós punto cero cero metros con la calle número cinco de la misma Urbanización; por el NORESTE, veinte punto noventa y siete metros con el solar número Doce de dicha Urbanización; por el Sur, en cuarenta y uno punto setecientos treinta y un metros con el solar número Veintidós de la referida Urbanización y con terrenos afectados a servidumbre para líneas eléctricas; por el ESTE, en treinta y nueve punto veintisiete metros con el solar número Cinco de la Urbanización; y por el OESTE, en treinta y ocho punto trescientos setenta y dos metros con la Parcela A antes descrita. Enclava una casa de concreto para fines residenciales. Finca Número 22,224 inscrita al folio 185 del tomo 804 de Río Piedras Sur, Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección IV de San Juan. Dirección de la Propiedad: 1799 Calle Santa Clara, Urb. Sagrado Corazón, San Juan PR 00926. La subasta se llevará a cabo para satisfacer, hasta donde alcance, el importe de las cantidades adeudadas a la parte demandante conforme a la sentencia dictada a su favor, a saber: de 243,998.23 de principal, más los intereses al 7.00% anual hasta su total y completo pago, contribuciones, recargos y primas de seguro adeudados y los cuales continuarán en aumento hasta el saldo total de la deuda, más la cantidad estipulada de $24,700.00 equivalente al 10% de la suma principal original pactada, estipulada para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado; más recargos acumulados hasta la fecha en que se pague la deuda; más cualquiera suma de dinero por concepto de contribuciones, primas de seguro hipotecario y riesgo, así como cualesquiera otras sumas pactadas en la escritura de hipoteca, todas cuyas sumas están líquidas y exigibles. La hipoteca a ejecutarse en el caso de epígrafe fue constituida mediante la escritura número 18 otorgada el día 11 de abril de 2008, San Juan, Puerto Rico, ante el Notario Público Jelka L. Duchisni Sanabria y consta inscrita al folio 764 del tomo 867 de Río Piedras Sur, finca núme-

ro 22,224, Registro de la Propiedad de Río Piedras Sur, Sección IV de Bayamón. 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 cargos o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuesto a la hipoteca del actor y a los dueños, poseedores, tenedores de o interesados en títulos transmisibles por endoso o al portador garantizados hipotecariamente con posterioridad al crédito del actor que se celebrarán las subastas en las fechas, horas y sitios señalados para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si les conviniere o se les invita a satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, otros cargos y las costas y honorarios de abogado asegurados quedando subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante. Entiéndase: Hipoteca Revertida en garantía de un pagaré a favor del Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, o a su orden, por la suma principal de $370,500.00, con intereses al 7.00% anual, vencedero a la presentación, constituida mediante la escritura número 19, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 11 de abril de 2008, ante la notario Jelka L. Duchisni Sanabria, e inscrita al folio 705 del tomo 867 de Río Piedras Sur, finca número 22,224, inscripción 6ta. Que la cantidad mínima de licitación en la primera subasta del inmueble antes descrito será la suma de $247,000.00 según se establece en la escritura de hipoteca antes relacionada. En caso de que el inmueble a ser subastado no fuera adjudicado en su primera subasta se ordena la celebración de una segunda subasta de dicho inmueble, en la cual, la cantidad mínima será una equivalente a 2/3 parte de aquella, o sea la suma de $164,666.67; desierta también la segunda subasta de dicho inmueble, se ordena la celebración de una tercera subasta en la cual, la cantidad mínima será la mitad del precio pactado para la primera subasta, es decir la suma de $123,500.00. 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, entiéndase efectivo, giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, y que las cargas y gravámenes preferentes, si los hubiese, 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. La propiedad no está sujeta a gravámenes anteriores y/o preferentes según surge de las constancias del Registro de la Propiedad en un estudio de título efectuado a la finca antes descrita. Una vez efectuada la venta de dicha propiedad, el Alguacil procederá a otorgar la escritura de traspaso al licitador victorioso en subasta, quien podrá ser la parte demandante, cuya oferta podrá aplicarse a la extinción parcial o total de la obligación reconocida por la sentencia dictada en este caso. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Si el producto de la venta fuere insuficiente para satisfacer la cantidad reclamada, se procederá a la ejecución de la sentencia en contra de la parte demandada por el remanente de las sumas no satisfechas, mediante embargo y venta en ejecución de cualesquiera otros bienes propiedad de la parte demandada en cantidad suficiente para dejar cubierta y totalmente satisfecha a la parte demandante cualquier deficiencia o parte insoluta de la sentencia dictada a su favor según dispuesto en la sentencia dictada en este caso. Se dispone, conforme con la sentencia dictada en este caso que, una vez efectuada la subasta y vendido el bien inmueble, los adjudicatarios sean puestos en posesión del mismo dentro del término de veinte (20) días por el Alguacil de este Honorable Tribunal y los actuales poseedores lanzados del referido inmueble. Y para la concurrencia de licitadores y para el público en general, se publicará este Edicto de acuerdo con la ley, mediante edicto, en un periódico de circulación general en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, una vez por semana, por espacio de dos (2) semanas consecutivas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre ambas publicaciones, y para su fijación en tres (3) lugares públicos del municipio en que ha de celebrarse la venta, tales como la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía, y se le notificará además a la parte demandada vía correo certificado con acuse de recibo a la última dirección conocida. EN TESTIMONIO DE LO CUAL, expido el presente Edicto de Subasta para conocimiento y comparecencia de los licitadores, bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, en San Juan, Puerto Rico, a 2 de febrero de 2023. EDWIN E. LÓPEZ MULERO, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR, ALGUACIL, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE SAN JUAN.

SALA DE SAN JUAN

SUN WEST MORTGAGE

COMPANY, INC

Demandante Vs. SUCESIÓN DE CARMEN

MILAGROS NESBIT T/C/C

CARMEN M. NESBIT

COMPUESTA POR

TAI NESBIT, FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANO DE TAL; CENTRO DE RECAUDACIÓN DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES

Demandados

Civil Núm.: SJ2021CV04948.

Salón Núm.: 508. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA Y COBRO DE DINERO POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. EDICTO DE SUBASTA.

Al: PÚBLICO EN GENERAL.

A: SUCESIÓN DE CARMEN MILAGROS

NESBIT T/C/C CARMEN

M. NESBIT COMPUESTA

POR TAI NESBIT, FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANO DE TAL; CENTRO DE RECAUDACIÓN DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES.

Yo, ERIK F. OSUNA ACEVEDO ALGUACIL AUXILIAR, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de San Juan , a los demandados, acreedores y al público en general con interés sobre la propiedad que más adelante se describe, y al público en general, por la presente CERTIFICO, ANUNCIO y HAGO CONSTAR: Que el día 9 DE MARZO DE 2023, A LAS 11:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en mi oficina, sita en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico, procederé a vender en Pública Subasta, al mejor postor, la propiedad inmueble que más adelante se describe y cuya venta en pública subasta se ordenó por la vía ordinaria mediante Sentencia dictada en el caso de epígrafe, la cual se notificó y archivó en autos el día 27 de marzo de 2022. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado, estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría 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 16 DE MARZO DE 2023, A LAS 11:00

DE LA MAÑANA; y en caso de no producir remate ni adjudicación, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el día 27 DE MARZO DE 2023, A LAS 11:00

DE LA MAÑANA, en mi oficina sita en el lugar antes indicado. Que en cumplimiento de un Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que ha sido liberado por la Secretaría del Tribunal de

Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de San Juan , en el caso de epígrafe con fecha de 5 de mayo de 2022, procederé a vender en pública subasta y al mejor postor, todo derecho, título e interés que tenga la parte demandada de epígrafe en el inmueble que se describe a continuación: URBANA: PROPIEDAD HORIZONTAL: Family Unit number one thousand and two (1002) of Baldorioty Plaza Condominium number 212 of South Marginal Street Baldorioty de Castro Avenue, corner Diez de Andino Street, Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico; which family unit is located in the tenth floor with its balcony facing Diez de Andino Street. It is an irregular rectangular shaped Apartment measuring forty four feet nine inches, equivalent to thirteen meters and sixty four centimeters long by twenty six feet five inches, equivalent to eight meters and five centimeters wide, making a total area of one thousand one hundred and forty six point ninety nine square feet, equivalent to one hundred and six point sixty square meters as specifically in Exhibit B-1002 of the deed. Its boundaries are as follows: NORTH, twenty six feet five inches equivalent to eight point zero five meters with interior common elements of the building such as concrete bearing walls and interior proper elements of the Apartment such as block partition walls separating it from family unit number 1001.; SOUTH, twenty six feet five inches equivalent to eight point zero five meters with interior common elements of the Building such as concrete bearing walls and interiors proper elements of the apartment such as block partitions separating it from family unit number 1003.; EAST, forty four feet nine inches equivalent to thirteen point sixty four meters with exterior common elements of the Building such as concrete bearing walls and windows walls and exterior proper elements of the apartment such as block partitions separating it from the exterior Diez de Andino Street; WEST, forty four feet nine inches equivalent to thirteen point sixty four meters with exterior common elements of the Building such as concrete bearing walls and windows walls and exterior and interior proper elements of the apartment such as block partition walls and entrance doorway separating it from and leading restricted common hallway. The main entrance door is on the west side and communicates with the restricted common hallway of the tenth floor. This unit has a percentage of one thousand eight hundred eighty eight hundred thousand eight hundred eight hundred thousandths in the common elements and twenty

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

de los licitadores y el público en general y para su publicación en un periódico de circulación general, una vez por semana durante el término de dos (2) semanas consecutivas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre ambas publicaciones, y para su fijación en tres (3) lugares públicos del municipio en que ha de celebrarse la venta, tales como, la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía y se le notificará además a la parte demandada vía correo certificado con acuse de recibo a la última dirección conocida. Se les advierte a todos los interesados que todos los documentos relacionados con la presente acción de ejecución de hipoteca, así como la de la subasta, estarán disponibles para ser examinados en la Secretaría del Tribunal. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titulación y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere al crédito de ejecutante, continuarán subsiguientes 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 ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores, previa orden judicial dirigida al Registrador de la Propiedad de la sección correspondiente para la cancelación de aquellos posteriores. Y para conocimiento de la demandada, de los acreedores posteriores, de los licitadores, partes interesadas y público en general, expido el presente Aviso para su publicación en los lugares públicos correspondientes. Librado en Guayama, Puerto Rico, a 27 de enero de 2023.

MYRIAM ÑECO, ALGUACIL PLACA #107.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU-

NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE FAJARDO

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante V.

SUCESIÓN DE LUZ

MILAGROS CRUZ

MELÉNDEZ, T/C/C LUZ

CRUZ MELÉNDEZ, COMPUESTA POR:

LUIS ÁNGEL DELGADO

ADORNO, T/C/C

LUIS DELGADO

ADORNO, POR SI Y EN LA CUOTA VIUDAL USUFRUCTUARIA, FULANO DE TAL, FULANA DE TAL, SUTANO DE TAL, SUTANA DE TAL, A, B, Y C COMO

POSIBLES MIEMBROS DE LA SUCESION,

EL HONORABLE SECRETARIO DEL DEPARTAMENTO DE HACIENDA DEL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO Y EL CENTRO DE RECAUDACIONES DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (CRIM)

Demandados

Civil Núm.: N3CI2015-00393.

Sala: 307. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PR, SS. AVISO DE VENTA EN PÚBLICA SUBASTA. El que suscribe, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Fajardo, a la parte demandada y al público en general les notifico que, cumpliendo con un Mandamiento que se ha librado en el presente caso por el Secretario del Tribunal de epígrafe con fecha 13 de septiembre de 2022 y para satisfacer la Sentencia dictada en el caso de autos fechada dictada el día el 7 de noviembre de 2019, notificada el 15 de noviembre de 2019, este Honorable Tribunal dictó Sentencia contra la parte demandada; siendo la Sentencia publicada en un periódico de circulación general, The San Juan Star, el 21 de noviembre de 2019. Se procederá a vender el día 7 DE JUNIO DE 2023 A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en mi oficina, localizada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Fajardo, al mejor postor en pago de contado y en moneda de los Estados Unidos de América todo título, derecho o interés de la parte demandada sobre la siguiente propiedad:

URBANA: Solar radicado en el Barrio Guzmán Abajo de Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, identificado con el número 18 del Bloque “O” del Plano de Inscripción de la Urbanización Alturas de Rio Grande, Sección Séptima. Tiene una cabida superficial de 220.52 metros cuadrados.

Colinda por el NORTE, en 8.91 metros, con el solar número 17 del Bloque “O”; por el SUR, en 8.91 metros, con el solar número 19 del Bloque “O”; por el ESTE, en 24.75 metros, con área verde (Green Area) y destinada a uso público y por el OESTE, en 24.75 metros, con la acera pública que lo separa de la Calle Principal (Main Street). En dicho solar enclava una vivienda de hormigón y bloques, para una sola familia, construida de acuerdo con los planos y especificaciones aprobados por la Federal Housing Administration y otras Agencias Gubernamentales. Finca Número 29,574, inscrita al tomo Karibe de Río Grande. Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección III de Carolina. Que

con el importe de dicha venta se habrá de satisfacer a la parte demandante las cantidades adeudadas, según la Sentencia dictada en el caso de epígrafe, por el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Fajardo. El remate comenzará por las sumas adeudadas declaradas en la Sentencia, y se llevará a cabo para con su producto, satisfacer dichas sumas. Las cuantías de la sentencia se describen de la siguiente manera: al día 1ro de enero de 2015, la parte demandada adeuda las siguientes cantidades a la parte demandante: $19,334.75 por concepto de principal adeudada según la Sentencia, más los otros gastos, intereses y recargos que se acumulan hasta la fecha de su total y completo pago, más las costas y gastos del proceso. Debido al incumplimiento de la parte demandada, con los términos de contrato habido entre las partes se declara con lugar la demanda y se ordena la ejecución de hipoteca y venta en pública subasta de la propiedad objeto de este pleito, declarando vencida la suma de $19,334.75 por concepto de principal y otras sumas adeudadas según la Sentencia, más los otros gastos, intereses y recargos que se acumulan hasta la fecha de su total y completo pago, más las costas y gastos del proceso. La subasta se llevará a cabo el día 7 DE JUNIO DE 2023 A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA. La venta de la propiedad será realizada para cubrir el importe adeudado a la demandante, el cual al momento de la Sentencia ascendía a la suma de $19,334.75 adeudada según la Sentencia, más los otros gastos, intereses y recargos que se acumulan hasta la fecha de su total y completo pago, más las costas y gastos del proceso. Se le advierte a los licitadores que la adjudicación se hará al mejor postor, quien deberá consignar el importe de su oferta en el mismo acto de la adjudicación en moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de Norteamérica, y para conocimiento de la parte demandada y de toda(s) aquella(s) persona(s) que tenga (n) interés inscrito con posterioridad a la inscripción de los gravámenes que se están ejecutando, que los mismos serán eliminados del Registro de la Propiedad, y para conocimiento de los licitadores y el público en general, y para su publicación en un periódico de circulación general, una vez por semana durante el termino de dos (2) semanas consecutivas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre ambas publicaciones, y para su fijación en tres (3) lugares públicos del municipio en que ha de celebrarse la venta, tales como, la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía, y se le notificará además

a la parte demandada y a su abogado o abogada vía correo certificado con acuse de recibo siempre que haya comparecido al pleito. Si el (la) deudor (a) por Sentencia no comparece al pleito, la notificación será enviada vía correo certificado con acuse de recibo a las últimas direcciones conocidas. Se les advierte a todos los interesados que todos los documentos relacionados con la presente acción de ejecución de hipoteca, así como la de la subasta, estarán disponibles para ser examinados en la Secretaría del Tribunal. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titulación y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere al crédito de ejecutante, continuarán subsiguientes 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 para conocimiento de la parte demandada, de los acreedores posteriores, de los licitadores, partes interesadas y público en general, expido el presente Aviso para su publicación en los lugares públicos correspondientes. En Fajardo, Puerto Rico, a 23 de enero de 2023. DENISE BRUNO ORTIZ, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR #266, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE FAJARDO. JORGE A. ORTIZ ESTRADA, ALGUACIL REGIONAL INTERINO #622.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE CAROLINA SALA SUPERIOR BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO, INC. Demandante V. SUCESION DE OLGA DAVIS QUIÑONES; COMPUESTA POR VIVIAN GARCIA, VIALMA GARCIA, FULANO DE TAL, FULANA DE TAL, SUTANO DE TAL, SUTANA DE TAL, A, B Y C COMO MIEMBROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESION; SECRETARIO DEL DEPARTAMENTO DE HACIENDA DEL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO

Demandado

Civil Núm.: FCCI201100024. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. AVISO DE SUBASTA. El que suscribe, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior, Centro Judicial de Carolina, Carolina,

Puerto Rico, hago saber, a la parte demandada y al PÚBLICO EN GENERAL: Que en cumplimiento del Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia expedido el día 12 de mayo de 2022, por la Secretaría del Tribunal, procederé a vender y venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor la propiedad que ubica y se describe a continuación: URBANA: Solar radicado en la Urbanización Villas de Loíza, situada en el Barrio Canóvanas del municipio de Loíza, Puerto Rico, que se describe en el plano de inscripción de la urbanización con el número, área y colindancias que se relacionan a continuación que contiene una casa de concreto reforzado, diseñada para una sola familia. Solar 19 del bloque AH. Área del solar: 248.40 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, en 10.35 metros con calle 29-C; por el SUR, en 10.35 metros con solar 16; por el ESTE, en 24.00 metros con solar 18; y por el OESTE, en 24.00 metros con solar 20. Inscrita al folio 232 del tomo 130 de Canóvanas, finca número 6,778 Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección Tercera de Carolina. La propiedad ubica en: Villas de Loíza Calle29 19AH, Canóvanas, PR. El producto de la subasta se destinará a satisfacer al demandante hasta donde alcance, la SENTENCIA dictada 28 de febrero de 2012, notificada el 27 de septiembre de 2019, en el presente caso civil, a saber la suma de $120,224.04 por concepto de principal; $3,384.53 por concepto de intereses acumulados, a razón del $21.7071183 “per diem”, $160.80 por concepto de cargos por demora; los cuales al igual que los intereses continúan acumulándose hasta el saldo total de la deuda reclamada en este pleito; $12,372.60 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado; y demás créditos accesorios garantizados hipotecariamente. La adjudicación se hará al mejor postor, quien deberá consignar el importe de su oferta en el acto mismo de la adjudicación, en efectivo (moneda del curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América), giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del alguacil del Tribunal. La PRIMERA SUBASTA se llevará a efecto el día 11 DE ABRIL DE 2023 A LAS 10:45 DE LA MAÑANA, en el Centro Judicial de Carolina, Carolina, Puerto Rico. Que el precio mínimo fijado para la PRIMERA SUBASTA es de $123,726.00. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una SEGUNDA SUBASTA la misma se llevará a efecto el día 18 DE ABRIL DE 2023 A LAS 10:45 DE LA MAÑANA, en la oficina antes mencionada del Alguacil que suscribe. El precio mínimo para la SEGUNDA SUBASTA

será de $82,484.00, equivalentes a dos terceras (2/3) partes del tipo mínimo estipulado para la PRIMERA subasta. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una TERCERA SUBASTA la misma se llevará a efecto el día 25 DE ABRIL DE 2023 A LAS

10:45 DE LA MAÑANA, en la oficina antes mencionada del Alguacil que suscribe. El precio mínimo para la TERCERA SUBASTA será de $61,863.00, equivalentes a la mitad (1/2) del tipo mínimo estipulado para la PRIMERA subasta. Si se declarase desierta la tercera subasta, se adjudicará la finca a favor del acreedor por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada si ésta es igual o menor que el monto del tipo de la tercera subasta, si el Tribunal lo estima conveniente; se abonará dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si esta es mayor, todo ello a tenor con lo dispone el Articulo 104 de la Ley Núm. 210 del 8 de diciembre de 2015 conocida como “Ley del Registro de la Propiedad Inmueble del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico”. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquiere libre de toda carga y gravamen que afecte la mencionada finca según el Artículo 102, inciso 6. Una vez confirmada la venta judicial por el Honorable Tribunal, se procederá a otorgar la correspondiente escritura de venta judicial y se pondrá al comprador en posesión física del inmueble de conformidad con las disposiciones de Ley. Para conocimiento de la parte demandada y de toda aquella persona o personas que tengan interés inscrito con posterioridad a la inscripción del gravamen que se está ejecutando, y para conocimiento de todos los licitadores y el público en general, el presente Edicto se publicará por espacio de dos (2) semanas consecutivas, con un intervalo de por lo menos siete días entre ambas publicaciones, en un diario de circulación general en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico y se fijará además en tres (3) lugares públicos del Municipio en que ha de celebrarse dicha venta, tales como la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía. Se les informa, por último, que: a. Que los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la secretaría del tribunal durante las horas laborables. b. Que se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes. Se entenderá, que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. EXPIDO, el presente EDICTO, en Carolina, Puerto Rico,

hoy día 27 de enero de 2023. HÉCTOR L. PEÑA RODRÍGUEZ, ALGUACIL, DIVISIÓN DE SUBASTAS, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA SUPERIOR DE CAROLINA.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE SAN JUAN MAGDA I. ORTIZ GARRETT Peticionaria V. ANTHONY A. REYES MALDONADO Peticionado

Caso Núm.: OPA-2022-029713. Sobre: VIOLENCIA DOMÉSTICA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

A: ANTHONY A. REYES MALDONADO. 9866 BOSTON STATE ROAD, BOSTON, NUEVA YORK 0014025. POR LA PRESENTE, se notifica que ha sido presentada en este Tribunal por la parte peticionaria, una petición de Orden de Protección, Ley 54 en su contra y se ha señalado vista en sus méritos para el 1 de marzo de 2023 a las 9:00 de la mañana. La abogada de la parte peticionaria, la Lcda. Jessica Bernard Boígues, de la Oficina para el Desarrollo Integral de las Mujeres, del Municipio de San Juan, con dirección física de Avenida Carlos E. Chardón 160, Torre Municipal de San Juan, Piso 10, San Juan, P.R. 00918, dirección postal de PO BOX 9023966, San Juan, P.R. 00902-3966, teléfono 787-4806832 y correo electrónico jbernard@sanjuan.pr. Se le advierte que este edicto se publicará en un periódico de circulación diaria general una sola vez y que, si no comparece a la vista señalada, la parte peticionaria podrá solicitar que se dicte una determinación en rebeldía, concediéndosele el remedio solicitado en la Petición. EXPEDIDO

BAJO MI FIRMA y Sello del Tribunal, hoy 31 de enero de 2023. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ

COLLADO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. EDNIRIS LANZÓ OLIVER, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

MARIA I. GARRETT

Peticionaria V.

ANTHONY A. REYES

MALDONADO

Peticionado Caso Núm.: SJL121-20222712. Sobre: LEY 121 ADULTOS MAYORES. EMPLA-

ZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

A: ANTHONY A. REYES MALDONADO. 9866 BOSTON STATE ROAD, BOSTON, NUEVA YORK 0014025.

POR LA PRESENTE, se notifica que ha sido presentada en este Tribunal por la parte peticionaria, una petición de Orden de Protección, Ley 121 en su contra y se ha señalado vista en sus méritos para el 1 de marzo de 2023 a las 9:00 de la mañana. La abogada de la parte peticionaria, la Lcda. Jessica Bernard Boígues, de la Oficina para el Desarrollo Integral de las Mujeres, del Municipio de San Juan, con dirección física de Avenida Carlos E. Chardón 160, Torre Municipal de San Juan, Piso 10, San Juan, P.R. 00918, dirección postal de PO BOX 9023966, San Juan, P.R. 00902-3966, teléfono 787-4806832 y correo electrónico jbernard@sanjuan.pr. Se le advierte que este edicto se publicará en un periódico de circulación diaria general una sola vez y que, si no comparece a la vista señalada, la parte peticionaria podrá solicitar que se dicte una determinación en rebeldía, concediéndosele el remedio solicitado en la Petición. EXPEDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y Sello del Tribunal, hoy 31 de enero de 2023. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. EDNIRIS LANZÓ OLIVERO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN LUNA RESIDENTIAL II, LLC.

Parte Demandante V. SUCESIÓN DE JORGE WILLIAM PERDOMO MEDRANO

Parte Demandada Civil Núm..: SJ2022CV06684. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.

A: SUCESIÓN DE JORGE

WILLIAM PERDOMO MEDRANO COMPUESTA POR “MPC” Y “RPC” MENORES DE EDAD Y/O A FULANA DE TAL COMO TUTOR O MADRE CON PATRIA POTESTAD DE ESTOS.

VILLAS DEL PARQUE, CALLE ROSARIO 255 APTO. 105 SAN JUAN PR 00912; APT. 7-A CONO. MIRAMAR ROYAL TOWERS SAN JUAN, PR, 00907 (PROPIEDAD).

Por la presente se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los 30 días de haber sido notificado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día del diligenciamiento. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la dirección electrónica https://unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Representa a la parte demandante el Lcda. Raquel Deseda Belaval, Delgado Fernández, LLC, PO Box 11750, Fernández Juncos Station, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00910-1750. Tel. [787] 274-1414. DADA en San Juan, Puerto Rico, a 1 de febrero de 2023. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. BRENDA HERNÁNDEZ ZAVALA, SECRETARIA DE SERVICIOS A SALA.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Parte Demandante Vs. LA SUCESIÓN DE LUIS MANUEL APONTE LÓPEZ

T/C/C LUIS M. APONTE LÓPEZ COMPUESTA

POR ANLWIS MANUEL APONTE COLÓN, FULANO Y MENGANO DE TAL, POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; ELIZABETH ROBLES

TORRES, POR SÍ Y EN LA CUOTA VIUDAL USUFRUCTUARIA

Parte Demandada

Civil Núm.: CG2023CV00080.

Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA.

EMPLAZAMIENTO E INTER-

PELACIÓN POR EDICTO.

ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE

LOS E.E.U.U., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.

A: ANLWIS MANUEL APONTE COLÓN, COMO HEREDERO DE LUIS MANUEL APONTE LÓPEZ

T/C/C LUIS M. APONTE

LÓPEZ; ELIZABETH

ROBLES TORRES POR SÍ Y EN LA CUOTA VIUDAL USUFRUCTUARIA, A SUS ÚLTIMAS DIRECCIONES CONOCIDAS: URB.

JARDINES DE RABANAL, 6 (61) CALLE BAMBÚ, CIDRA PR 00739; RR

1 BOX 3082-1, CIDRA, PR 00739-8206; URB.

JARDINES DE RABANAL, 7 CALLE BAMBÚ, CIDRA, PR 00739-9923, CORREO ELECTRÓNICO: ROBLESELIZABETH851@ GMAIL.COM.

FULANO Y MENGANO DE TAL, POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LUIS MANUEL APONTE LÓPEZ T/C/C LUIS M. APONTE LÓPEZ CON DIRECCIÓN E IDENTIDAD DESCONOCIDA.

Queda usted notificado que en este Tribunal se ha radicado Demanda sobre Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca por la Vía Ordinaria por lo que la parte demandante ha declarado la totalidad de la deuda vencida ascendente a la suma de $104,940.49 de principal, más intereses sobre dicha suma al 4.50% anual desde el 1 de septiembre de 2017 hasta su completo pago, más $756.00 de recargos acumulados, los cuales continuarán en aumento hasta el saldo total de la deuda, más la cantidad estipulada de $12,065.50 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogados, así como cualquier otra suma que contenga el contrato de préstamo. La propiedad que garantiza hipotecariamente el préstamo es la siguiente: RÚSTICA: Predio de terreno marcado como lote 6 radicado en el Carretera de Puerto Rico 7775, Barrio Rabanal del término municipal de Cidra, Puerto Rico, con cabida superficial de 1534.3353 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con uso público de área recreativa; por el SUR, con los lotes 4 y 5 a segregarse; por el ESTE, con el lote a dedicarse a uso público; y por el OESTE, con terrenos propiedad de Efraín Torres. Inscrita al folio 21 del tomo 397 de Cidra, Finca 14662. Registro de la Propiedad de Caguas, Sección II. La hipoteca consta inscrita al folio 22 vuelto del tomo 397 de Cidra, Finca 14662. Registro de la Propiedad de Caguas,

Sección II. Inscripción 6ta. La demandante es la tenedora por endoso en blanco, por valor recibido y de buena fe del referido pagaré objeto de la presente acción. Se interpela a los demandados para que acepten o renuncien a la herencia de la causante dentro de los 30 días subsiguientes a la fecha que fuesen emplazados o requeridos que contesten, para darle cumplimiento al Artículo 959 del Código Civil entendiéndose que, si no se expresan dentro de dicho término, aceptan el caudal relicto; la renuncia se hará por instrumento público o por escrito judicial. La parte demandada deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Administración y Manejo de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del Tribunal. Se le advierte que si no contesta la Demanda, radicando el original de la contestación en este Tribunal y enviando copia de la contestación a la abogada de la Parte Demandante, Lcda. Belma Alonso García, cuya dirección es: PO Box 3922, Guaynabo Puerto Rico 00970-3922, Teléfono y Fax: (787) 789-1826, correo electrónico: oficinabelmaalonso@gmail.com, dentro del término de treinta (30) días de la publicación de este edicto, excluyéndose el día de la publicación, se le anotará la rebeldía y se le dictará Sentencia en su contra, concediendo el remedio solicitado sin más citarle ni oírle. EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y el sello del Tribunal, hoy, 2 de febrero de 2023, en Carolina, Puerto Rico. LISILDA MARTÍNEZ AGOSTO, SECRETARIA. ENEIDA ARROYO VÉLEZ, SUB-SECRETARIA.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU-

NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE CAROLINA

U.S. BANK TRUST

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS TRUSTEE OF CVI

CGS MORTGAGE LOAN TRUST I

Demandante V. JORGE LUIS BAUZO MORALES, ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO

Demandados

Civil Núm. CA2022CV03318.

Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA

POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO.

ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉ-

RICA, PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, S.S.

A: JORGE LUIS BAUZO MORALES. Queden emplazados y notificados que en este Tribunal se ha radicado Demanda sobre Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca en su contra. Por la presente se le emplaza y notifica que debe contestar la demanda dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación del presente edicto y deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), el cual podrá acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar Sentencia en Rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la Demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su discreción, lo entiende procedente. Los abogados de la parte demandante son:

Lcdo. Andrés Sáez Marrero

T.S.P.R. Núm. 18074 TROMBERG, MORRIS & POULIN, LLC

1515 South Federal Highway, Suite 100 Boca Raton, FL 33432 Tel. 877-338-4101 / Fax: 561-338-4077 prservice@tmppllc.com / asaez@tmppllc.com

Expido este edicto bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal, hoy 16 de diciembre de 2022. LCDA.

MARILYN APONTE RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. MARICRUZ APONTE ALICEA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

LUNA RESIDENTIAL II LLC.

Demandante V. SUCESIÓN DE MARCOS GONZALEZ RODRIGUEZ COMPUESTA POR

FULANO Y FULANA DE TAL

Demandado(a)

Civil: SJ2018CV02036. (508).

Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA - IN REM. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: SUCESIÓN DE MARCOS GONZALEZ RODRIGUEZ COMPUESTA POR

FULANO Y FULANA DE TAL.

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto)

EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 12 de enero de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 60 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 6 de febrero de 2023. En SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, el 6 de febrero de 2023. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA. MARILY LÓPEZ MARTÍNEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA MUNICIPAL DE AÑASCO COOPERATIVA DE AHORRO Y CRÉDITO DE RINCÓN

Parte Demandante Vs. LUIS MORALES SÁNCHEZ, (SOCIO NÚM. 3110912) SU ESPOSA ANA PÉREZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

Parte Demandada Civil Núm.: AÑ2022CV00193. COBRO DE DINERO (REGLA 60). EDICTO.

A: LUIS MORALES SÁNCHEZ, SU ESPOSA ANA PÉREZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS.

Se le apercibe que la parte demandante por mediación del Lcdo. Rafael Fabre Colón, P.O. Box 277, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico 00681, Tel . 787-2650334, ha radicado la acción de epígrafe en su contra. Copia de la demanda, emplazamientos y del presente edicto le ha sido enviado por correo a la última dirección conocida. Pueden us-

tedes obtener mayor información sobre el asunto revisando los autos en el Tribunal. Se le apercibe que tiene usted un término de treinta (30) días para radicar contestación a dicha demanda de cobro de dinero y/o cualquier escrito que estime usted conveniente a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la Secretaría del Tribunal de epígrafe, pero que de no radicarse escrito alguno ante el Tribunal dentro de dicho término el Tribunal procederá a ventilar el procedimiento sin más citarle ni oírle. Dada en Añasco, Puerto Rico, hoy 6 de febrero de 2023. LCDA. NORMA. G. SANTANA IRIZARRY, SECRETARIA GENERAL, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE AÑASCO. LIZBETH VÁZQUEZ GONZÁLEZ, 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

Demandante V. ÁNGEL LUIS ROMÁN

MELÉNDEZ, SONIA SOSA GÓMEZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES

Demandado(a)

Civil: SJ2022CV01805. (604).

Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE SENTENCIA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: ANGEL LUIS ROMAN

MELENDEZ, SU ESPOSA SONIA SOSA GOMEZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS.

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 12 de enero de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede es-

tablecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 60 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 10 de febrero de 2023. En SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, el 10 de febrero de 2023. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA. MARILY LÓPEZ MARTÍNEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN

ALMA WHITE DE JESUS

Demandante Vs. DORAL MORTGAGE, LLC, AHORA FIRST BANK PUERTO RICO; JOBN DOE Y RICHARD ROE COMO POSFFILES TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS Demandados

Civil Núm.: SJ2023CV00122. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ HIPOTECARIO EXTRAVIADO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.

A La Parte CoDemandada: JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE, DEMANDADOS DESCONOCIDOS CUYA DIRECCIÓN SE DESCONOCE. Se les notifica por este medio que en el caso del epígrafe se solicita la CANCELACIÓN de un pagaré extraviado a favor de Doral Mortgage, LLC por la suma de Ciento Veinticuatro Mil Cuatrocientos Dólares ($124,400.00) garantizado con hipoteca constituida mediante escritura número Doscientos Ocho (208) otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico día veintiocho (28 de agosto de dos mil nueve (2009) ante la Notario Ivonne B. González Medrano, la cual se encuentra inscrita al Sistema Karibe de Río Piedras Norte, finca número 38,862, inscripción quinta, Registro de la Propiedad de San Juan, Sección Segunda. Este Tribunal ha ordenado que se le(s) cite a usted(es) por edicto que se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general. Pudiendo usted tener interés en este caso o quedar afectado por el remedio solicitado, se le emplaza por este Edicto que se publicará una vez en un periódico de circulación diaria general de Puerto

Rico. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:// unired.ramajudicial.pr/sumac/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaria del tribunal y notifique copia de la Contestación de la Demanda a las oficinas de CARDONA & MALDONADO LAW OFFICES, P.S.C. ATENCIÓN al Lcdo. Jaime E. Dávila Santini, P.O. Box 366221, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-6221; Tel (787) 622-7000, Fax (787) 625-7001, Abogado de la Parte Demandante, dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto, apercibiéndole que de no hacerlo así dentro del término indicado, el Tribunal podrá anotar su Rebeldía y dictar Sentencia, concediéndose el remedio solicitado sin más citarle(s) ni oírle(s). EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y con el Sello del Tribunal. DADA hoy 9 de febrero de 2023 en San Juan, Puerto Rico. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. MICHELLE RIVERA RÍOS, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

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

Demandante V. FERNANDO LUGO PACHECO

Demandado(a) Civil: SJ2021CV08260. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: FERNANDO LUGO PACHECO. (Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 9 de febrero de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término

derecho propio. Debe notificar con copia de ella al abogado de Ia parte demandante el Lcdo.

Ian A. Lebrón Ward, Cond. El Centro I, Suite 249, Ave. Muñoz Rivera #500, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 00918; tel. (787) 7514391, dentro de treinta (30) días siguientes a Ia publicación de este Edicto, apercibiéndole que de no hacerlo asI dentro del término indicado, el Tribunal podrá anotar su rebeldía y dictar sentencia concediendo el remedio solicitado en Ia Demanda sin más citarle ni oírle. Expedido bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal, en Coamo, Puerto Rico, hoy día 7 de febrero de 2023. ELIZABETH GONZÁLEZ RIVERA. SECRETARIA REGIONAL. ANGÉLICA COLÓN NEGRÓN, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL I.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

MONSERRATE PÉREZ SANABRIA Y LA SUCESIÓN DE LUIS

FELIPE ROCA AQUINO, COMPUESTA POR, LUIS

FELIPE ROCA PÉREZ, HÉCTOR IVÁN ROCA

PÉREZ, PEDRO ÁNGEL

ROCA PÉREZ Y CHARLIE

ALBERTO ROCA PÉREZ

Demandante Vs. PEDRO JUAN ORTIZ SEPÚLVEDA

Demandado

Civil Núm.: CN2023CV00010. Sobre: RECTIFICACIÓN DE ERROR DE ASIENTO REGISTRAL AL ÁMPARO DEL ARTÍCULO 214 DE LA LEY DEL REGISTRO DE LA PROPIEDAD INMOBILIARIA DE PUERTO RICO. EMPLAZAMIENTO

POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

A: PEDRO JUAN ORTIZ SEPÚLVEDA.

POR LA PRESENTE se le NOTIFICA Y EMPLAZA que ante este tribunal se ha radicado una acción en el caso de epígrafe mediante la cual la parte demandante solicita la Rectificación de Asiento Registral al Amparo del Artículo 214 de la Ley del Registro de la Propiedad Inmobiliaria de Puerto Rico. Usted tiene treinta (30) días para contestar la presente demanda contados a partir de la publicación del presente edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:// unired.ramajudicial.pr/sumac/,

salvo que se presente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente.

LCDA. ADRÍN l. PÉREZ GARCÍA TS 9898 RUA 8636

CALLE CALDERÓN MUJICA #72

CANÓVANAS, PUERTO RICO 00729

TELÉFONO 876-8838, · adrin_72@hotmail.com

EXPEDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y sello del Tribunal, hoy día 07 de febrero de 2023. LCDA. MARILYN APONTE RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. MARICRUZ APONTE ALICEA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA

TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INS-

TANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN

RUBEN TORRES

CINTRÓN Y SUSANA

CINTRON TORRES

Demandante V.

FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE

CORPORATION Y JOHN DOE

Demandado(a)

Civil: BY2022CV05650. Sala:

501. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE

CORPORATION Y JOHN DOE.

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto)

EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 8 de febrero de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este

caso, con fecha de 9 de febrero de 2023. En Bayamón, Puerto Rico, el 9 de febrero de 2023.

LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. NEREIDA QUILES SANTANA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR OE BAYAMÓN MANAL M. ABDEL RAHIM KOJAK Demandante Vs. VICTOR J. REYES GONZALEZ Demandado

Civil Núm.: BY2023RF00006.

Sobre: REVOCACIÓN DE PATRIA POTESTAD. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.

A La Parte Demandada: VÍCTOR J. REYES

GONZÁLEZ. CALLE PASCUAS 4C URB. LOMAS VERDES, BAYAMÓN, P.R. 00956.

Por la presente se le notifica que ha sido presentada en este Tribunal una Demanda en su contra. Se le emplaza y requiere para que, dentro del término de treinta (30) días contados a partir de la publicación del edicto, presente a este Tribunal su alegación responsiva a dicha demanda, radicando el original de la misma en este Tribunal, 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, y enviando copia de su alegación responsiva al [Lcdo. José l. Jiménez Rivera Avenida Betances J8 Urb. Hermanas Dávila, Bayamón, P.R. 00959, Tel. Núm. 787-798-2885, Email Jimenez jose1953@yahoo.com]; salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría de este Tribunal. De no hacerlo, se le anotará la Rebeldía y se dictará Sentencia en su contra concediendo el remedio solicitado en la Demanda sin más citarle ni oírle. EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal, en Bayamón, Puerto Rico, hoy 9 de febrero de 2023. Lcda. Laura I. Santa Sánchez, Secretaria Regional. Ivette Ríos Vázquez, Secretaria Auxiliar Del Tribunal I.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU-

NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN

ARMANDO CARDENALES MATOS, REP. POR SU APODERADO, EDWIN CARDENALES PÉREZ

Demandante Vs, THAIMYS LLAMAR CARDENALES CARDONA

Demandada

Civil Núm.: BY2023CV00702. (403). DIVISIÓN O LIQUIDACIÓN DE LA COMUNIDAD DE BIENES HEREDITARIA. EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

A: MS. THAIMYS IZAMAR CARDENALES CARDONA DEMANDADA, PERSONA CON ALGÚN INTERÉS EN LA PROPIEDAD QUE MÁS ADELANTE SE RESEÑA: Por la presente se le notifica que se ha presentado en esta Secretaría una demanda alegando que la demandada, Thaimys lzamar Cardenales Cardona tiene una participación de una tercera (1/3) parte del cincuenta por ciento (50%) en común pro indiviso en unión a otros herederos sobre el inmueble que se describe como sigue: “URBANA”: Solar marcado con el número DOCE (12) de la manzana “J” de la Urbanización Sierra Linda. radicada en el Barrio Pájaros, de Bayamón, Puerto Rico, compuesto de CUATROCIENTOS NUEVE METROS CON ONCE CENTÍMETROS CUADRADOS (409.11) colindando: por el NORTE con la calle cuatro (4), en diecisiete metros con seis centímetros (17.06); por el SUR en diecisiete metros con seis centímetros (17.06), con el solar número trece (13); por el ESTE con la calle número siete (7) en veinticuatro metros (24.00 m.); y por el OESTE con el solar número once (11), en distancia de veinticuatro metros (24). Contiene una casa de concreto, de una sola planta, dedicada a vivienda. Inscrita al folio número 22 vuelto del tomo número 316 de Bayamón, finca número 13,927. Codificación número 085-071-362-12-001. La parte demandante es dueño en común pro indiviso de un cincuenta por ciento (50%) de la mitad de la propiedad descrita anteriormente y de una tercera (1/3) del otro cincuenta por ciento (50%) de dicha propiedad. Que la parte demandante tiene interés en adquirir mediante compra la participación de la demandada y ésta se niega a vender dicha participación, como también se niega a comprarle las participaciones que éstos poseen en dicha propiedad. Que el demandante le interesa comprar la participación de ésta, ya que de acuerdo a la Ley Núm. 55-2020. Código Civil de Puerto Rico, Artículo

Thursday, February 16, 2023

850, dispone lo siguiente: “El comunero no está obligado a permanecer en la comunidad y tiene derecho a pedir en cualquier tiempo se divida la cosa.” Que la parte demandante entiende que tiene una causa de acción contra la demandada y le es imposible emplazar personalmente a la demandada, Thaimys lzamar Cardenales Cardona, cuando ésta es parte indispensable y necesaria en el pleito. Que se solicita se excuse a la parte demandante del envío de una copia de la demanda y el emplazamiento. Se notifica a usted(es) que de no comparecer a contestar la demanda dentro del término de treinta (30) días a la publicación de este edicto, que se publicará una sola vez, se podrá dictar sentencia ordenándole vender su participación o que le compre al demandante las participaciones que éste posee en la predescrita propiedad. 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://www.poderjudicial. pr/indez.php/tribunal-electronico//, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la Secretaría del Tribunal. Es abogada de la parte demandante, la Lcda. María del P. Velilla Rodríguez, con dirección: Urb. Agustín Stahl, A-10, Carr. 174, Bayamón, Puerto Rico 00956-3043. POR ORDEN del Tribunal expido este edicto bajo mi firma y sello oficial de este Tribunal en Bayamón, Puerto Rico, hoy día 10 de febrero de 2023. Lcda. Laura I. Santa Sánchez, Secretaria Regional. Katherine Santiago Rodríguez, Secretaria Auxiliar Del Tribunal I.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante V. SUCESION DE EDNA MARGARITA FONTANEZ

BRIGANTY T/C/C

EDNA FONTANEZ BRIGANTY, COMPUESTA

POR ¨JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE¨ COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; CENTRO DE RECAUDACIONES DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (CRIM)

Demandado(a)

Civil: BY2022CV05348. Sala: 503. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HI-

POTECA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: ¨JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE¨ COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESION DE EDNA MARGARITA FONTANEZ

BRIGANTY T/C/C EDNA

FONTANEZ BRIGANTY. (Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 9 de febrero de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 14 de febrero de 2023. En BAYAMÓN, Puerto Rico, el 14 de febrero de 2023. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. IVETTE M. MARRERO BRACERO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOT ICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE AIBONITO FINANCE OF AMERICA

REVERSE LLC

Demandante Vs. SUCESION ADRIAN ORTIZ ROSADO

T/C/C ADRIAN ORTIZROSADO COMPUESTA

POR ADRIALIZ ORTIZ

RIVERA, MARILYN ORTIZ

RIVERA; JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO

POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES

Demandados

Civil Núm.: AI2022CV00207.

Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE

ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

A: JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO

POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESION ADRIAN

ORTIZ ROSADO T/C/C

ADRIAN ORTIZ-ROSADO.

POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al Tribunal su alegación responsiva a la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación de este edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: http://unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberé 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.

Greenspoon Marder, LLP

Lcda. Frances L. Asencio-Guido

R.U.A. 15,622

TRADE CENTRE SOUTH, SUITE 700 100 WEST CYPRESS CREEK ROAD FORT LAUDERDALE, FL 33309

Telephone: (954) 343 6273

Frances.Asencio@gmlaw.com

Expedido bajo mi firma, y sello del Tribunal, en Aibonito, Puerto Rico, hoy 1 de febrero de 2023. ELIZABETH GONZÁLEZ RIVERA, SECRETARIA. MARGIE SANTIAGO COLÓN, SUBSECRETARIA.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

WILMINGTON SAVINGS

FUND SOCIETY, FSB, NOT INDIVIDUALLY BUT SOLELY AS TRUSTEE FOR FINANCE OF AMERICA STRUCTURED SECURITIES

ACQUISITION TRUST 2018 - HB1

Demandante Vs.

SUCESION CARMEN

SOCORRO MARTINEZ

MELENDEZ T/C/C

CARMEN S. MARTINEZ

T/C/C CARMEN S.

MARTINEZ MELENDEZ

COMPUESTA POR JOHN ROE Y JANE ROE COMO

POSIBLES HEREDEROS

DESCONOCIDOS;

SUCESION BLANCA

GLORIA MELENDEZ

ARROYO T/C/C GLORIA

MELENDEZ ARROYO T/C/C GLORIA MELENDEZ

MARTINEZ T/C/C

GLORIA M. MARTINEZ COMPUESTA POR EDNEE MARTINEZ MELENDEZ, JOSE MIGUEL MARTINEZ PIÑERO, FRANCIS

JAVIER MARTINEZ PIÑERO, MICHAEL MARTINEZ; JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICPALES Demandados

Civil Núm.: BY2022CV05092. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

A: JOHN ROE Y JANE ROE COMO POSIBLES MIEMBROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESION CARMEN

SOCORRO MARTINEZ

MELENDEZ T/C/C

CARMEN S. MARTINEZ T/C/C CARMEN S . MARTINEZ MELENDEZ. POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al Tribunal su alegación responsiva a la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación de este edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: http://unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberé 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.

Greenspoon Marder, LLP

Lcda. Frances L. Asencio-Guido

R.U.A. 15,622

TRACE CENTRE SOUTH, SUITE 700 100 WEST CYPRESS CREEK ROAD

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL 33309

Telephone: (954) 343 6273

Frances.Asencio@gmlaw.com

Expedido bajo mi firma, y sello del Tribunal, en Bayamón, Puerto Rico, hoy 31 de enero de 2023. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. ELIBETH TORRES ALICEA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

No more spring trainings

By DAVID GARDNER

John Jaso knew he wanted to retire, so he started shopping for sailboats. It was the 2017 season, and Jaso, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ first baseman, would spend his downtime at home browsing on boat websites. And when the Pirates visited a team near a body of water, he would wander the marinas and imagine himself on the open water.

One June morning in Baltimore, before a 7:10 p.m. first pitch against the Orioles, Jaso rented a car and drove to Annapolis, Maryland. There, he found the boat he’d been looking for: a 2014 Jeanneau 44 DS. He had it surveyed, bought it and had it shipped to his offseason home in St. Petersburg, Florida. He made it back to the stadium in time to go 2 for 4 with an RBI.

Four months later, when the Pirates’ season ended without a playoff berth, a handful of reporters wandered over to Jaso’s locker and asked him what his plans were. He had reached the end of his two-year, $8 million deal with the team and was set to become a free agent. He told them that his next destination would be somewhere in the Caribbean. He was retiring.

“I have a sailboat,” he said, “so I just want to sail away.”

Five years later, as pitchers and catchers began flooding into spring training camps in Arizona and Florida on Monday, Jaso, the last catcher to have caught a perfect game, has no regrets about having sailed off into the sunset. “Sometimes I’ll just be out on the boat bobbing in the water, not sailing or even fishing, and I’ll think to myself: ‘There’s nowhere else on the planet I’d rather be than right here,’” he said. “It’s been the perfect fit for who I am.”

Jaso’s baseball journey was never quite as good a fit. Tampa Bay selected him in the 12th round of the 2003 draft, and he made it to the majors near the end of the 2008 season. In his nineyear career, he was traded three times and switched to first base from catcher after sustaining multiple concussions. But he had plenty of highlights, too: He caught Félix Hernández’s 2012 perfect

game for the Seattle Mariners — there hasn’t been one in MLB since — and hit for the first cycle in PNC Park history when he was with Pittsburgh in 2016. His long dreadlocks toward the end of his career made him almost instantly recognizable. And he pulled in career earnings of more than $17 million, according to Spotrac.

But he found the MLB life to be unfulfilling in some unexpected ways. “Baseball set me up for life,” he said. “I love it, and I respect it. But it was part of this culture of consumerism and overconsumption that began to weigh really heavily on me. Even when I retired, people said: ‘You might be walking away from millions of dollars!’ But I’d already made millions of dollars. Why do we always have to have more, more, more?”

Boating filled the void in his life. He familiarized himself with every foot of the ship. He took a class for diesel motor mechanics and installed solar panels and a wind generator. He devoured hours of YouTube videos about the electronics and made sure he knew what every wire did. “If anything goes wrong in the open ocean,” he said, “I’m the only one out there to fix it.”

All that was left to do: learn how to sail.

He found an ad for a sunset tour on Craigslist and emailed the captain, offering a few hundred bucks for a crash course in commanding a boat. After a few hours, he felt comfortable enough to go it alone. “It was like learning to hit a fastball and lay off a slider,” he said. “You can hear coaches talk about it all day, but you’ll only learn how to do it if you face it in a game.”

Jaso named his boat Roaming Rose and started taking day trips into the Gulf of Mexico in early 2018. One day that spring, he was working on his boat when he was struck with a sudden and strange sensation. “I thought, something feels really weird right now,” he said. “Like I was forgetting something. And then it hit me: I should have been in spring training. I started laughing because I realized: I didn’t miss it at all.”

He took his first big voyage a few weeks later. He sailed south to Key

West, Florida, and stayed on the boat for three weeks before departing for the Abaco Islands in the northern Bahamas, anchoring down in a protected bay for the better part of a month. He took off when he heard about a major storm making its way across the Atlantic. He avoided most of the winds and rain on the five-day sail home, but on the final night, he said he encountered violent winds and lightning.

On the deck, he kept one hand on the wheel and one on his go bag. His life preserver was strapped on tight in case he was thrown overboard. He watched the lightning marble the sky and felt its surges shake the boat. He alerted the Coast Guard to his position and called his brother as a backup. After a few hours of white-knuckling, he was back on dry land.

“In the moment, you’re terrified, and you want to be as far away from danger as possible,” he said. “But once it’s over, you appreciate where you’re at more. There’s this euphoria that comes over you when the storm clouds part. It’s like holding your breath underwater and then coming back up to the surface

and taking that first gulp of air.”

When Jaso described the experience to Fernando Pérez, a friend and former teammate, Pérez wasn’t surprised in the slightest. “Playing professional baseball is a kind of drug,” said Pérez, who is now a video analyst with the San Francisco Giants. “When you retire, you have to find another high. The drug that John found was being in the middle of nowhere and keeping himself alive. That first storm didn’t scare him away. He liked getting caught in it.”

For the first two years after retirement, Jaso spent about six months of the year on his boat. For the rest, he was based in St. Petersburg, Florida. Although he said he does not follow baseball anymore, he does try to catch a game or two every year. In 2018, during a Rays win over the Boston Red Sox, he tried to go down to the dugout to say hello to some former teammates. But an usher saw his tie-dyed, sleeveless T-shirt and his lack of a ticket and waved him back up to the cheap seats. Eventually, another usher recognized him and let him down.

An undated photo provided by John Jaso shows him aboard his sailboat in the Caribbean Sea with his girlfriend Jayden Davila in the background.

The San Juan Daily Star

He has also taken several trips to Europe, discovering a passion for exploring his father’s ancestral land in the Basque Country of northern Spain. And he has driven a camper van around Australia and Indonesia. But the boat has been his biggest pleasure. “I want my life to be simple, and it doesn’t get simpler than being on a sailboat,” he said. “You treat the boat right, and she treats you right. That’s all there is to it.”

Before the pandemic, he docked Roaming Rose in Turks and Caicos. With travel restrictions, it was stuck there for almost two years. When he was cleared to come back and collect the boat in 2022, he brought along his girlfriend, Jayden Davila, for a three-month

sail around the Caribbean. They docked in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.

“John is a pretty peaceful person in general,” Davila said. “But there’s another level of peace and happiness for him when he’s on the boat. Even when there are issues — and something is always going wrong — he liked dealing with it. When things are calm, sometimes he’ll just randomly grab his guitar and start playing. It’s really a beautiful existence for him out there.”

Jaso still lives primarily in St. Petersburg, where he manages some investment properties. But he’s rarely

in one place for long. This winter, he’s been snowboarding in Colorado and Wyoming. By the spring, he’ll be back on the boat.

“When you’re sailing, you’re going back to something primitive,” he said. “You’re removing yourself from the material world — this concrete, electronic world. And you’re returning to this sense of wonder. It’s the same sense you get when you’re holding a newborn baby, looking into their eyes, and feeling the world disappear around you.

“Sometimes it’s easy to forget that we all come from the same place. When you’re out there on the water, you remember.”

Ted Lerner, 97, dies; developer bought and built Washington Nationals

By RICHARD GARDNER

Ted Lerner, the billionaire real estate developer who bought the floundering Washington Nationals in 2006 and oversaw their thrilling rise to 2019 World Series victors, rewarding his native city with its first major league championship in 95 years, died Sunday at his home in Chevy Chase, Maryland. He was 97.

The death was confirmed by Jennifer Mastin Giglio, chief communications officer of the Nationals, who said the cause was complications of pneumonia.

“There were generations of baseball fans who grew up in D.C. without a team,” Lerner’s son, Mark, who was given control of the team by his father in 2018, told The New York Times in 2019 when the Nationals defeated the Houston Astros in a seven-game Series. “Now they have one, and one that won a World Series.”

Washington had been without a World Series champion since 1924, when Calvin Coolidge was president, and without any major league team for 33 years before the Montreal Expos arrived there in 2005 as a ward of Major League Baseball and were renamed the Nationals.

Ted Lerner sat in the bleachers at Griffith Stadium as a youngster, watching the original Washington Senators play, and was later an usher there.

The Nationals had losing records in their first six seasons under Lerner’s ownership, extending a mostly lackluster history for Washington baseball teams when they played in the American League.

The first Senators won only one World Series between their founding in 1901 and their move to Minnesota in 1960 to become the Twins. The second Senators, created as an expansion team, had only one winning season from 1961 to 1971 before relocating to Texas and becoming the Rangers.

The Nationals played at the aging Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium from 2005 to 2007, then moved into the new Nationals Park, built by the District of Columbia with $611 million in taxpayer money. In the years that followed, their fortunes gradually improved, with Lerner spending lavishly on stars like pitchers Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg and slugging outfielder Bryce Harper.

After a dismal start to their 2019 season, the Nationals surged.

Harper had departed for a free-agent contract with the Philadelphia Phillies before the season, but the Nation -

als added outstanding left-hander Patrick Corbin to their pitching rotation and were buoyed by a lineup that included Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto. They defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers and the St. Louis Cardinals in the first rounds of the National League playoffs. The Nationals and the Astros lost all their home games in the World Series, which concluded with the Nationals capturing games 6 and 7 in Houston.

Lerner kept a low public profile when it came to his baseball team ownership, a bearing that extended to his real estate activities.

“I never could have imagined over my life that I would build over 20 million square feet of commercial and residential space, and very few people would know my name,” he was quoted as saying by The Washington Business Journal when he received a lifetime achievement award from the Urban Land Institute in November 2015. “I guess I have a different approach to real estate development than Donald Trump. And I’m fine with that.”

Theodore Nathan Lerner was born on Oct. 15, 1925, the oldest of three children of Mayer and Ethel Lerner. His father arrived in Washington from Palestine in 1920 and worked as a distributor for a clothing company, then bought, remodeled and resold homes. His mother immigrated from Lithuania.

He graduated from Roosevelt High School in Washington, where he was a classmate of Bowie Kuhn, who later became baseball commissioner.

Lerner received undergraduate and law degrees from George Washington University after serving in the Army during World War II. In 1951, two years after he graduated from law school, he married Annette Morris, whom he met while they were in college.

Lerner had started selling homes on weekends when he was in law school, he told Washingtonian magazine in 2007. As he began building a real estate empire, “I took off for Jewish holidays and a Redskins game or two. It was nothing to do 18-hour days.” (The Washington Redskins of the NFL are now the Washington Commanders.)

Lerner’s company, Lerner, became one of the largest private developers in the Washington metropolitan area, building malls, office buildings, hotels, private homes and apartment buildings. He and his family have an estimated net worth of $6.6 billion, according to Forbes magazine.

Lerner’s first shopping center, the open-air Wheaton Plaza (now Westfield Wheaton) in suburban Maryland,

was dedicated in 1960.

He opened Tysons Corner Center, a national model for enclosed, climate-controlled malls, in the late 1960s and another mall, the Galleria at Tysons II, outside Washington in Fairfax County, Virginia, in the late 1980s.

As his wealth grew, Lerner sought without success to buy pro sports teams, including the American League’s Baltimore Orioles and the NFL’s Washington Football Team (formerly the Redskins). Eventually he purchased the Nationals for a payment of $450 million to Major League Baseball, which had taken over the National League’s failing Montreal team in February 2002 and moved it to Washington three years later.

The Lerner family also holds a partnership in Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns and operates Washington’s Capital One Arena along with the NHL’s Washington Capitals, the NBA’s Washington Wizards and WNBA’s Washington Mystics.

Lerner is survived by his wife and son; his daughters Debra Lerner Cohen and Marla Lerner Tanenbaum; nine grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren. His wife, as well as his children and their spouses, are all principal owners of the Nationals.

Ted Lerner in 2008. He bought the floundering Washington Nationals in 2006 and helped guide it to World Series glory in 2019.

As camps open, the Mets understand their assignment

it could be more heightened, because it was already there.”

Showalter led the Mets to 101 victories last regular season, tied with Atlanta for the most in the National League East, a division the Atlanta Braves won via a tiebreaker. Both teams lost their first playoff round, and the Philadelphia Phillies — a distant third in the division race — reached the World Series.

At 66, with Manager of the Year Awards in four decades, Showalter still hasn’t been to a Fall Classic. He has taken one team to a league championship series: the 2014 Baltimore Orioles, who swept the Detroit Tigers to get there. The Tigers’ aces that fall were Scherzer and Verlander.

Examples like that are why Showalter never speaks as boldly as players like closer Edwin Díaz, a 2022 All-Star, who matter-of-factly described the Mets’ mandate on Tuesday.

their spring training stadium, an obvious safety hazard. And he noted that the team had redesigned its sliding pits at the training facility to help familiarize players with the new bases this season — 18 inches square, up from 15, designed to promote stolen bases.

“You get used to ’em looking a certain way,” Showalter said. “I know the first day I walked out down here last week and saw the bags, right away they were different. But I don’t know how much they’re actually going to affect the game.”

Showalter has been talking a lot with the minor league managers, who oversaw changes at the lower levels last season: the pitch clock, restrictions on infield positioning, limits on pickoff throws. The Mets’ staff met with league officials Tuesday afternoon to review it all.

By TYLER KEPNER

Nothing matches baseball for reassuring signs of renewal. The first smashing of shoulder pads on a steamy summer day? The first squeaking of sneakers on hardwood in a gym? Nope. There’s baseball, and there’s everything else.

And there they were Tuesday morning, a prospect and a coach behind the batting cages and bullpen mounds, on a diamond with no outfield at the New York Mets’ training complex in Port St. Lucie, Florida. The half field, as it is called, is like a luxury home with a soaring entryway but no rooms — capable of facilitating just infield practice, nothing else.

Joey Cora, 57, a former major league infielder now skilled in the fine points of the fungo bat, smacked rollers to Ronny Mauricio, 21, a rangy Dominican shortstop with power and speed. Mauricio wore shorts, a backward cap and a Mets T-shirt, sweat pouring through it as he darted left and right for grounders until Cora lined one over the little fence, just behind the infield dirt. Oops.

“Old habits, baby!” someone cried, and Cora smiled. It took him some 1,000 trips to the plate to actually hit a home run in the majors.

Pitchers and catchers officially reported to spring training Wednesday, but most had arrived a day early. They played catch on another oddly configured space (two full diamonds with a shared outfield), arms and legs unfolding in familiar styles, carefully shaping curves and sliders below speeds permissible on highways.

Only Justin Verlander throws like that, an observer might think — and hey, over there, that’s unmistakably Max Scherzer. They are the two highest-paid players in baseball, and the only pitchers in the Grapefruit League with three Cy Young Awards. (Clayton Kershaw, out in the Cactus League in Arizona with the Los Angeles Dodgers, also has three.)

Steven Cohen, the Mets’ owner, first fan and unapologetic big spender, lavished $43.3 million per year on Scherzer before last season — and did it again in December for Verlander, who turns 40 in a week. In 2022, Verlander had the majors’ best ERA, won the American League Cy Young Award and helped the Houston Astros win the World Series.

“He understands the expectations and the mantle of what he carries,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said, trying to downplay the obvious demands on his ace right-handers. “Both those guys have climbed that mountain, so I don’t think

“Our expectation is to win the championship,” said Díaz, who had his hair dyed blond to match his teammates for Puerto Rico in next month’s World Baseball Classic. “So we’re looking forward to start winning games and try to be in the World Series.”

Showalter did not mention the words “World Series” on Tuesday, at least not in the first of the hundreds of news conferences he will give this season. He did mention the rare gift of opening the season with seven games in seven days, all at ballparks with retractable roofs, in Miami and Milwaukee. What a treat for a planner.

“When we get home we will have played seven days in a row, unless there’s a leak in the roofs,” Showalter said. “Rooves. Rufus.”

The chummy media gathering — news conference is too formal a term — had its usual amusing sidebars. Showalter is setting up a talent show for the players, although none will likely top a former Baltimore prospect, Ryan Flaherty, who once brought two monkeys to camp — one pitched to the other — and won a roster spot.

Showalter is thrilled to have only 52 games against divisional opponents, down from 76 last season (“That didn’t make any sense at all,” he said). He is happy that the Mets finally removed the bullpen mounds from foul territory of

“I don’t worry about the pitch clock because I like to pitch quick,” Díaz said. “I don’t like to let the hitter think what pitch is coming.”

There are only two choices with Díaz, who has no plans to add anything new after fanning 118 of his 235 opposing hitters, with a 1.31 ERA, in the 2022 regular season.

“No,” he said, “I will keep throwing my two pitches, my fastball and my slider, and keep striking out everybody.”

Díaz’s season earned him the richest contract ever for a closer — five years, $102 million — and center fielder Brandon Nimmo also returned, for eight years and $162 million. The Mets got Verlander after losing ace right-hander Jacob deGrom to Texas (Showalter, a former Rangers manager, said he helped him find a house in Dallas) and shuffled elsewhere in the pitching staff: Kodai Senga, José Quintana, David Robertson and Brooks Raley are in; Chris Bassitt, Taijuan Walker, Seth Lugo and Joely Rodríguez are out.

For Cohen, it adds up to $450 million or so, including tax penalties, by far the most an owner has ever spent on a roster. The pressure is implicit, but the weight of it all is a burden for another day. This was a beginning to savor.

“In order to have something to finish, you’ve got to figure out a way to start it,” Showalter said. “I’m a little more interested in that part right now.”

Brandon Nimmo returned to the Mets for eight years and $162 million as part of a high-spending off-season.

Sudoku

How to Play:

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

Sudoku Rules:

Every row must contain the numbers from 1 through 9

Every column must contain the numbers from 1 through 9

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

Crossword

Crossword #B26T79AF

Down

1. Rub roughly

2.

5. Positioned accurately

10. Gush

14. Wheel-to-wheel shaft

15. Conclusion beginning

16. "In the Valley of ____" (2007 Tommy Lee Jones film)

17. Squabble

20. Drop in the mail

21. From ___ Z

22. Some alcohols

23. Pumps and wedges

25. Eye doctors' org.

26. Kansas city

28. Entices

33. Sis's sibling

34. One of the five basic tastes

36. Big name in chain stores

37. "Heroides" writer

39. Dental products brand 41. Software buyer

42. Sturdy chiffon

44. Ancient Mexican 46. Mendes or Gabor 47. Alienate

53. Lockheed Martin rifle project

57. Tolkien character 58. Behold, to Caesar

61. Like some bulls

63. Franklin D.'s mother 64. Old Peruvian currency

67. Ultimate

Aries (Mar 21-April 20)

You may think you know what you want? But do you, Aries? Your feelings can play tricks on you, especially now when the pearly Moon angles towards a Venus/ Neptune tie. You could keep changing your mind or find that even if your desire is strong, you don’t have the belief in yourself to make it happen. You do have imagination, so visualizing vividly is a good start.

Taurus (April 21-May 21)

An attraction to someone could take up a lot of time and energy, so first consider if this is something that might have mileage. With Venus your guide planet and nebulous Neptune in the mix, this budding friendship or romance could take more than it gives. This combination of energies also encourages a compassionate approach that can find you overlooking fatal flaws.

Gemini (May 22-June 21)

Don’t be in too much of a rush to agree to an offer or plan which might not be as great as it seems. While it can appeal on many levels, there may be reasons why it’s best avoided, until you can make an informed decision. Remember that all that glitters is not gold! It might entice you by offering a way to make money or be successful in double quick time. It may also cost you dear.

Cancer (June 22-July 23)

Ready for change? You may feel you’ve already been through enough on this score over recent weeks. But with the Sun and Saturn in your sector of transformation, this combination of energies is going to make sure you take note. Something may come to a head in a way that you can’t ignore. And yet you’ll be given insights that are so clear, you’ll know just what to do.

Leo (July 24-Aug 23)

You may be tempted to rush into a contract or creative project, fuelled by dreams of what could be. And what is on offer might be very enticing indeed, Leo. But will it be good for you? Before you commit, consider discussing this with someone who is completely detached from it. Their perspective could be invaluable in helping you to weigh up the pros and cons in no time at all.

Virgo (Aug 24-Sep 23)

You could get a small gift or surprise windfall that adds a pleasant touch to your day, and leaves you with the feeling that life is on your side. This might be a good time to entertain and enjoy a get-together of family or friends, as you know how to make others feel special. Someone could ask you for something that seems a step too far, Virgo. If you don’t want to do it, just say no.

Libra (Sep 24-Oct 23)

A side of you could relish getting out and about, and enjoying a romantic break or the pleasures of dating. Even so, you might experience a conflict regarding boundaries and when to enforce them. As Venus aligns with hazy Neptune, there is a chance that you may feel guilty for taking a firm approach to someone’s request. If you sense they are just taking advantage, steer clear.

Scorpio (Oct 24-Nov 22)

A Sun/Saturn presence in your home zone, can be an opportunity to take a step back from life and view it from a fresh perspective. While you’ll likely still be busy, the coming weeks can be a chance to tune into your emotions, providing valuable guidance on how you really feel about key issues. Drawn to someone for friendship or romance? There’s more to them than you’re seeing.

Sagittarius (Nov 23-Dec 21)

This could be one of the better times for networking, marketing your services or boosting an online business. And if you need advice, the right people could easily be found. Regarding family matters though, it may be difficult to discern what is going on, and a situation might seem to get more complex the more you try to straighten it out. With patience, it might resolve itself, Archer.

Capricorn (Dec 22-Jan 20)

Ready to live to your full potential? If so, don’t let feelings related to past experiences stand in the way of success. Just as you’re about to venture into the unknown, you may be assailed by memories of difficult experiences. If you need support, then the help of a life coach or teacher might give you the confidence necessary to forge ahead and discover your inner adventurer.

Aquarius (Jan 21-Feb 19)

As the Sun continues in your sign, it can inspire you to boldly make the most of your talents and push ahead with your plans. This is a time to enjoy being selfish, and to get involved with those ideas and relationships that bring personal satisfaction. Regarding your finances though, don’t commit to an expensive purchase, as you might not use it as much as you think, Aquarius.

Pisces (Feb 20-Mar 20)

This is very much a time for tying up loose ends and finding closure on lingering issues, so that you can start a new chapter when the Sun enters your sign later this week. Have new plans and projects in mind? Research your options, but don’t commit to anything just yet. A beguiling Neptune aspect suggests you could fall into a trap, just because something seems so alluring.

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