Wednesday Feb 22, 2023

The San Juan Star

Ponce, Caguas Among Top 9 Small Cities in US Where Women Out-Earn Men

Biden and Putin

Offer Radically Different Portraits of the War in Ukraine

Can Hospitals Change in Time to Keep Their Burned Out Nurses?

Governor, Others Express Horror at Cataño

Birthday Party Shooting Where a 4-Year-Old Was Slain, 2 Other Children Wounded

NOTICIAS EN ESPAÑOL

GOOD MORNING February

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.

Fiscal board’s law firm notes that it represented New Fortress in past lawsuit

By THE STAR STAFF

The Financial Oversight and Management Board’s law firm in the commonwealth bankruptcy case, O’Neill & Borges, has acknowledged it represented New Fortress Energy LLC, a fuel supplier and the parent company of Genera, the private operator of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) legacy power plants.

The information is contained in a footnote to a legal opposition filed by O’Neill & Borges in which it called a company’s attempt to have the law firm disqualified as the oversight board’s legal representative because of ethical conflicts, a mere “smear campaign.”

Carlos Lamoutte, a lawyer, said O’Neill & Borges (O&B) represented New Fortress in a suit brought by the Sierra Club and Puente de Williamsburg to stop the construction of an LNG facility in San Juan. He did not know whether O&B was involved in helping New Fortress obtain or negotiate the contract to manage PREPA’s legacy power plants.

“But that contract is a conflictive one because it is one of PREPA’s largest contracts,” Lamoutte told the STAR.

Under the Puerto Rico Recovery Accuracy in Disclosures Act (PRRADA) of 2021, professionals are required to submit verified statements identifying their connection to parties identified in the List of Material Interested Parties (MIP List) involved in Puerto Rico’s bankruptcy. PRRADA was enacted six years after PROMESA and more than five years after R&D Master Enterprises sued to disqualify O’Neill & Borges on Jan. 19, after a similar motion by Lamoutte, the company’s lawyer, failed because he lacked standing.

R&D said O&B had illegal undisclosed conflicts of interest because in addition to representing the oversight, it represented a group of funds that acquired a $384 million commercial loan portfolio from Puerto Rico’s Economic Development Bank (EDB). R&D is one of the borrowers whose loans were the subject of that transaction, which the local government is trying to nullify.

“R&D Master opts to pursue the same tactics of innuendo, invective, illogical conclusions, and unsupported factual statements as to which it simply lacks any personal knowledge, to −once again− pursue its evident ultimate goal here, a declaration that the EDB Agreement is null and void ab initio,” O&B argued.

When the judge overseeing Puerto Rico’s bankruptcy, Laura Taylor Swain, dismissed Lamoutte’s suit, it left the door open for R&D Master Enterprises to attempt to

disqualify O&B because of its condition as creditor to Puerto Rico, which prevents the court from dismissing the case for lack of standing.

Lamoutte filed a mandamus in court seeking to have the oversight board review the EDB loan contract, which, he said, the government has already declared fraudulent. He believes the oversight board has not acted because of O&B. After the lower court failed to act, the matter is before the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, which has scheduled oral arguments in the case for March 9.

Separately, the EDB is also trying to nullify the agreement in the local courts. A hearing in the case is slated for April.

Meanwhile, Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia confirmed he canceled a contract with DLA’s Piper because the law firm assumed the legal representation of Venezuelan banker Julio Herrera Velutini, who has been charged with two others, including former Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced, for corrupt acts. The governor said he wanted to avoid “the appearance of a conflict of interest.”

PDP leaders speak after being called out for silence following statements by Ponce first lady deemed homophobic

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

Popular Democratic Party (PDP) President José Luis Dalmau Santiago and the candidates to preside over the party, Jesús Manuel Ortiz, Carmen Maldonado González and Luis Javier Hernández Ortiz, reacted on Tuesday to the controversy generated by the statements of Ponce first lady Miyady Velázquez Pagán about some members of the LBGTTQ + community.

“The statements were made by the First Lady [of Ponce] and the mayor [Luis Manuel Irizarry Pabón] said he felt her feelings,” Dalmau Santiago said at a press conference. “They are the ones who have to answer the arguments that were established there.”

The response of the PDP officials came after human rights activist Pedro Julio Serrano on Tuesday demanded that the leaders of the party express themselves on what he said were homophobic statements made by the Ponce first lady.

“Not only have they remained silent without condemning the homophobic statements of the First Lady of Ponce, but they also do not denounce the Mayor’s statements that homosexuality is a behavior with a language of ‘love the sinner and not sin,’” Serrano said. “As if that were not enough, they remain silent in the face of possible discrimination against openly gay singer José Alfredo, who was denied participation in an event in Ponce. This is unacceptable, especially on the part of those who aspire to lead that party.”

According to local press reports, during a recent interview on the podcast “Un Cura de Barrio,” hosted on YouTube by Father Orlando Lugo Pérez, the priest asked Velázquez Pagán why she called homosexuals “confused.” The Ponce first lady replied that she runs a group “similar to Alcoholics Anonymous … where I don’t go and grab you by the hair and tell you ‘Come away because you’re

Governor

By THE STAR STAFF

homosexual, you have to be here.’ No. You come with a cry for help.”

“I have had the opportunity to work with people [LGBTQ+] who feel limited, tied down or abused or who chose that method [homosexuality] because they were abused at a very young age …” Velázquez Pagán continued in the interview. “When you care for them they are people who are hurt, injured, raped, violated. … Those that I have attended to.”

Serrano said in a statement early on Tuesday that “After briefly dismissing the homophobic statements of his wife, Miyady Velázquez Pagán, the Mayor of Ponce, Luis Irizarry Pabón, said ‘We are not homophobic, we love every human being. We don’t necessarily support behavior, but we love the human being God has created.’”

“Mayor, the sin is not homosexuality, the sin is homophobia. Being who you are and loving who you love can never be sins. Discriminating, violating and attacking the dignity of LGBTQ+ people is,” Serrano said. “In your response, Mayor, there is no apology. There is no attempt to make amends. It makes no reference to the harm caused by such statements. They don’t talk about the discrimination that entails. Nothing. Hollow and trite words, full of condemnation and fundamentalism. We want action. That the Municipality of Ponce makes a public policy, in writing and by municipal ordinance –- with the signature of the mayor –- that no one will be discriminated against based on sexual orientation or gender identity. That would be what is appropriate, not words that are carried away by the wind and much less words that classify homosexuality as behavior.”

Later on Tuesday, PDP Rep. Jesús Manuel Ortíz González directly rejected the statements made by the Ponce first couple.

“I respect the position they may have, but my position is totally opposite,” he said. “I do not agree with that state-

ment and it seems to me that our party is one of tradition and defense of human rights.”

Meanwhile, Maldonado González said “the words of the [PDP] comrades are respected, but I do not agree with that. We have to be an inclusive party.”

Hernández Ortiz noted that “on Sunday a person from the LBGTTQ+ community will be chosen to occupy a seat on the PDP Governing Board.”

“I believe that the discourse of marking or labeling someone, wherever they come from, is wrong,” he said.

The outgoing president of the PDP, Dalmau Santiago, confirmed that so far, Harry Román has been the only person who has settled to occupy the chair representing the LBGTTQ+ community.

on effects of short-term rental boom: Constitution protects private property rights

At a time when the hoarding of properties by investors is causing housing shortages in Puerto Rico, Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia, whose son has the most short-term rental properties in San Juan, said Tuesday that the government must respect an individual’s use of his private property. This week, the Puerto Rican Independence Party charged that an individual investor is purchasing residential properties in Río Piedras, most of which are used by students, and significantly increasing the rent paid by longtime residents.

“They are private properties, and the government has to respect private property. The Constitution requires it,” the governor told reporters.

“Here in Puerto Rico, there is a Constitution that requires respect for private property. The owner of a property has the right to sell it, and the one who buys it [has the right] to use it as long as it is in accordance with the law and regulations,” he added.

Nonetheless, there is an increasing number of people hoarding properties to use them for short-term rental, a situation that has resulted in increasing long-term rental and property prices that are displacing the

middle class and the poor. The Río Piedras urban center of San Juan, near the University of Puerto Rico’s flagship campus, has 30 units being used for short-term rental.

Currently, San Juan is the city with the most short-term rentals at 3,800, according to data obtained by Norberto Quiñones Vilches, a data analyst working in the mainland U.S. Most of these properties are in coastal areas or tourism areas such as Old San Juan. Carolina has 1,842 short-term rentals, most of which are in Isla Verde. Naguabo, another coastal town, has 74 properties but Quiñones Vilches said it is growing. Humacao, meanwhile, has 400 units, Fajardo 700 units, Luquillo 800 and

Río Grande 1,000.

Anthony Pierluisi, one of Gov. Pierluisi’s children, controls much of the short-term property rental business in San Juan where his firm West Indies Vacation Rentals has 88 properties, Quiñones Vilches noted.

The short-term rental boom is causing a housing shortage and hike in prices. Other firms that have taken over the short-term rental market in San Juan are: The Dream Catcher with 36, Dream Inn PR and La Esmeralda PR with 32 each, Qastle with 27 and Mok Properties with 25.

The island Legislature has yet to approve bills that could help ease the housing shortage.

The Popular Democratic Party officials spoke publicly after human rights activist Pedro Julio Serrano earlier on Tuesday demanded that the leaders of the party express themselves on what he said were homophobic statements made by the Ponce first lady.

Governor expresses horror at fatal birthday party shooting

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia reacted in horror on Tuesday to the multiple murder that occurred in a public residential area in Cataño on Monday where, among other people, a four-year-old boy was killed and other minors were wounded by bullets in the middle of a birthday party.

“It breaks my heart for what happened in that residential area in Cataño,” the governor said in response to questions from reporters. “I try to be measured in my statements, but it is an act of savagery to enter an area shooting where you are celebrating a birthday with children. That is, those responsible for this savagery must be given the full weight of the law. And I’m going to be personally following up on this case.”

Two men and a four-year-old child died and two other children were wounded by gunfire in an incident reported at about 7:31 p.m. on Monday in the vicinity of the Jardines de Cataño residential complex.

According to preliminary information, a call through the 9-1-1 Emergency System alerted police to a suspicious situation. When the units arrived at the scene, they found the body of 24-year-old Johnny Jay Osorio García on the ground with bullet wounds. In addition, a man identified as Jesús Carrasquillo Alecia, 24, a resident of Bayamón, and a four-year-old child died in a hospital as a result of injuries they received.

Two other minors, nine and 10 years old, were listed in stable condition.

At the scene, a .40 caliber handgun, 7.62 x 39, and a Honda Accord vehicle were seized.

Agents from the Homicide Division of the Bayamón Criminal Investigations Corps and the prosecutor on duty took charge of the investigation.

Asked what should be done about the surging social crisis

of gun violence, Pierluisi said “We are doing it. Here and now, about 24 people are being arrested who are involved in this drug trafficking matter.”

“This has no easy solutions, but there is a law and order aspect,” the governor added. “We must identify them, we must process them and we must remove them from free society to protect us all because this type of incident cannot happen again, because every time it is repeated it will be a horror as it has been today for all those who were there.”

Education Secretary Eliezer Ramos Parés said: “I grew up seeing crime in Puerto Rico, but toward children and the most vulnerable in the country, that has not been seen and I think we are losing respect for life, and it is up to all of us to instill it and carry the message of respect for life.”

Also reacting to the news of the fatal shooting in Cataño, New Progressive Party (NPP) Rep. Yashira Lebrón Rodríguez insisted on the reactivation of the “Value Your Life” program, a social-school impact platform focusing on providing orientation workshops in public schools on values such as tolerance and respect.

“This news is very sad,” the District 8 (Bayamón) lawmaker said. “The massacre at the Jardines de Cataño public housing complex has shocked the entire people of Puerto Rico. We need to tackle violence at its roots, and that includes implementing a values program in our public schools. Value Your Life, a program of the Department of Justice more than a decade ago, is a good initiative to work on immediately.”

The program, which focused on cultivating values of mutual tolerance and respect, was administered by the Justice Department from 2009 to 2012. It included the active participation of several government entities such as the departments of Family, Correction and Rehabilitation, Education, Recreation and Sports and the Puerto Rico Police, in an educational forum aimed at school students.

Interim Family Secretary Cení Rodríguez Troche reacted in a written statement Tuesday, saying, “The loss of a fouryear-old boy in the middle of a shootout between criminals generates an indescribable sadness, but also an indignation before which we cannot be silent.”

“Those who committed these murders evidently do not have a shred of humanity,” she said. “I cannot even imagine the pain of that mother and father, who saw how a violent and vile act took the life of their little one. As a society, and this includes all of us – civil society, private enterprise and government – we must rethink where we have failed, so that respect for life has taken a back seat, and direct new prevention efforts. My condolences to that family and our prayers so that the other two children can recover promptly.”

UPR, maintenance workers reach agreement to end strike

By THE STAR STAFF

of Puerto Rico (UPR) President Dr. Luis A. Ferrao Delgado said late Monday that university officials had reached an agreement with the Workers’ Union that ends the strike that began last Wednesday, Feb. 15.

“We have always recognized the urgency of doing wage justice to the employees of the University of Puerto Rico,” Ferrao said in a written statement. “Since I assumed the presidency, I have had as a priority to meet this need; we are committed to employees being part of and benefiting from the salary increase through the budget request to the Office of Management and Budget, which would have to be approved by the Legislature and by the Fiscal [Financial] Oversight [and Management] Board.”

He added that they also agreed to a one-time bonus of $2,750 for the labor union. The agreement put an end to the strike and therefore the injunction filed by UPR was withdrawn.

“I appreciate the support of the President of the Governing Board, Ricardo Dalmau, and other members of the Board,” Ferrao said.

Education Secretary Eliezer Ramos Parés said “I grew up seeing crime in Puerto Rico, but toward children and the most vulnerable in the country, that has not been seen and I think we are losing respect for life.”

University of Puerto Rico President Dr. Luis Ferrao Delgado

Ponce, Caguas rank 4th & 5th, respectively, among small cities in US where women out-earn men

By THE STAR STAFF

Ponce and Caguas have been named as two of only nine small cities in the United States and its possessions where women earn more than men, according to a new data study documented by consumer finance startup Pheabs.com.

The gender wage gap has been a major topic of conversation in the U.S. over the past few years, with statistics showing that women in the United States are paid 83 cents for every dollar paid to men.

However, according to government statistics, there are nine small cities in America pioneering the way in women’s pay. Ponce ranked fourth with a wage gap of $1,082 in favor of female earners and Caguas ranked fifth with a wage gap of $405.

The nine small cities are the only ones in the nation where women out-earn men.

The report analyzed federal data to calculate the wage gap between the median earnings for males who are working full time, year round, and their female counterparts. The numbers were subtracted from one another to calculate a wage gap.

The data was compiled and analyzed by Pheabs, an independent consumer finance intermediary, which uses more than 8,000 data points in a single loan application to connect borrowers with the best loan or source of finance for them.

The remaining cities in the ranking were: Jacksonville, North Carolina (first); Inglewood, California (second), Miami Gardens, Florida (third); Lake Havasu City, Arizona (sixth); Lauderhill, Fla. (seventh); Cathedral City, Calif. (eighth); and Compon, Calif. (ninth).

Comptroller: Northwest ALDL fell short in federal funding use for job creation

By THE STAR STAFF

The commonwealth Comptroller’s Office said Tuesday that the Northwest Local Labor Development Area (Northwest ALDL) could have used more federal funding to create jobs.

The finding was part of an audit into the Northwest ALDL fiscal operations, which found significant but not widespread noncompliance with standard operational practices. The audit covered the period from Jan. 1, 2017 to June 30, 2021.

Report DA-23-09 reveals that the Northwest ALDL did not use $7.3 million in the funds delegated from 2016 to 2019 to create training and job opportunities for youth, adults and displaced workers. The amount constitutes 49% of the federal funds agreed upon through contracts between the Northwest ALDL and the Department of Economic De-

velopment and Commerce (DDEC by its Spanish acronym).

DDEC manages funds sent under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) and must ensure their use following the Unified State Plan. The municipalities of Aguadilla, Aguada, Añasco, Isabela, Moca, Rincón, and San Sebastián are part of the Northwest ALDL.

The audit of three findings indicates that, as of June 30, 2021, the Northwest ALDL’s Board of Mayors still needed to update the regulations governing its operation, duties, and responsibilities under the provisions of the WIOA in force since July 1, 2015. The situation makes it challenging to assign duties in case of irregularities or errors in operations.

The audit report notes that the local board did not hold four meetings required by the regulations. The board also failed to approve 95% of the minutes and held extraordinary meetings without the necessary quorum. The local board comprises an executive director and 24 representatives of the private and educational sectors of the municipalities that make up the Northwest ALDL.

The indicated shortcomings, the audit report said, make it difficult for local board members to communicate, collaborate and coordinate on strategies to meet the needs

of workers and employers. In addition, the legality of the decisions or agreements of the board could be questioned, the report said.

The Northwest ALDL budget was $4.4 million in 2017, $5.3 million in 2018, $5.4 million in 2019 and $6.4 million in 2020.

The nine small cities listed in the report, including Caguas and Ponce, are the only ones in the nation where women out-earn men.

Commonwealth Comptroller Yesmín Valdivieso Galib

Inside the hunt for UFOs at the end of the world

By KATIE ROGERS

Really? That’s it?

The U.S. military is capable of many things, but finding the remnants of an unidentified flying object scattered across a blinding expanse of Arctic ice in minus30-degree weather using six available hours of daylight is not one of them.

The search for a downed UFO began and ended near this oil-camp town at the frozen edge of the world, where Navy pilots flying P-8 Poseidons finally gave up Friday, ending their mission with no answers.

Hours later and about 500 miles away, Canadian forces searching for the shreds of a second object in the Yukon Territory retreated empty-handed. The same thing happened on Lake Huron, where Coast Guard captains docked their boats without finding whatever it was that F-22 fighter pilots shot out of the sky with a $400,000 Sidewinder missile. (The pilots actually shot two missiles; the first one missed.)

The three objects were intercepted in quick succession on Feb. 10, 11 and 12, just days after the United States shot down a giant Chinese spy balloon Feb. 4. But as quickly as the national craziness over aerial phenomena began, the military packed up and went home, leaving the answers encased in Arctic ice and under the whitecaps of Lake Huron.

In Deadhorse — permanent population: 25 — life had already moved on by Saturday morning. Oil workers left for their shifts while it was still dark, and they would be back in the evening for early dinners and early bedtimes. Nancy Bremer, a receptionist at the Aurora Hotel — home to the only restaurant in town, a buffet-style assembly line that serves ahi tuna steaks and cheeseburgers — said people here were focused on work and not concerned with any looming threat of an object shot down over ice.

“If we find it,” she asked, “should I call you?”

The good people of Deadhorse notwithstanding, many of us still had a lot of questions. For a nation that has been riveted by this saga since the aerial assaults on mysterious objects began — Pop! Pop! Pop! — the end felt incomplete.

Were aliens involved? (No, says the

White House.) Surveillance devices of mysterious provenance? (No, says the White House.) Hobby balloons? (We may never know, says the White House.)

But of course, this is America. When was the last time we let anything go?

Perhaps some answers are in Illinois, where, according to two people familiar with the investigation, FBI agents have interviewed a team of hobby aviation enthusiasts who said their balloon had gone missing somewhere over the southwest coast of Alaska last Saturday, during its seventh trip around Earth.

No one from the government or the hobby club has confirmed that any of the objects shot down were the group’s weather-chasing pico balloon, but the club has taken down its website after an onslaught of inquiries.

The Biden administration is leaving it up to the public to piece together an answer. President Joe Biden, apparently seeking to ease a diplomatic rift with the Chinese, told the public Thursday that the three unidentified objects were probably not surveillance devices.

Sam Lyman, a pilot who commutes to Deadhorse from Albuquerque, New Mexico, said the government’s explanation for shooting down the flying objects — that they were traveling at an altitude that made them

a potential threat to civilian aircraft — made sense to him.

The object floating over Alaska was traveling at about 40,000 feet when it was shot down.

During 30 years of flying, Lyman, 47, said he had seen countless weather and party balloons — a graveyard of HAPPY BIRTHDAYs and GET WELL SOONs in the sky — and said that a large weather balloon could conceivably get in the way of an aircraft, causing “disastrous” results, like collapsing over the front of an airplane.

If, in fact, it really was a balloon — which the White House says it cannot confirm.

“The only information we have is what they put on the internet,” Lyman said. “I’ll leave it at that.”

Military officials said letting the Chinese spy balloon float across the country and out to sea gave them time to assess it for counterintelligence purposes.

But Alaskan lawmakers, who believe their last-frontier state has become the first line of defense against a number of threats to national security — including floating ones — have criticized the Biden administration for not shooting down the Chinese

balloon sooner.

“At what point do we say, a surveillance balloon, a spy balloon coming from China is a threat to our sovereignty?,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said during a Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee hearing Feb. 9. “It should be the minute — the minute it crosses the line — and that line is Alaska.”

The next day, a Sidewinder took out a UFO over Deadhorse.

Robert Powell, a board member of the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies — the abbreviation that has replaced UFO and means “unidentified aerial phenomena” — has been pushing for Congress to fund formalized research of the craft. In January, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a report that documented 366 recent unidentified sightings, many of which were drones, birds or trash.

People such as Powell are focused on getting answers about the many sightings that do not have an explanation. He does not consider the three downed objects to be in that category. In this case, he said, the government had released just enough information without offering a fulsome explanation. Even though he is a stickler for answers, he can see why.

“If it turns out that the second, third and fourth object were a hobbyist balloon or some university’s research balloon or what have you,” Powell said, “it would not look good that we shot those down with a halfmillion-dollar missile.”

The frozen Arctic Ocean, where the wreckage of a balloon is suspected to be located near Deadhorse, Alaska, on Feb. 17, 2023. As quickly as the national craziness over downed objects began, the United States called off the search, leaving answers encased in Arctic ice and under the whitecaps of Lake Huron.

DeSantis visits 3 states on tour meant to show he is tough on crime

“There is simply no place in Chicago for a right-wing extremist like Ron DeSantis, and I am disappointed in F.O.P. leadership for inviting him to speak to officers.”

DeSantis and his staff have delighted in stirring up such turmoil in Democratic strongholds. His combative press secretary, Christina Pushaw, tweeted back at Adams, “Nice rhetoric — but here’s reality: More Americans fled NYC than any other metro area last year. More Americans moved to Florida than any other state.” She concluded, “Maybe it’s you who can learn from” DeSantis.

In Elmhurst, it was clear the political wars of the Trump years were not about to abate if the spotlight turns to DeSantis. Suburban Chicagoans faced off, one side shouting through bullhorns to protest DeSantis’ policies on education, abortion and LGBT issues, and the other, just as loud and amplified, extolling his views on crime and policing.

Inside the hall, Rep. Darin LaHood, a Republican whose district stretches through the Chicago exurbs from Peoria to Rockford, introduced DeSantis. Outside, Rep. Sean Casten, a Democrat who represents close-in Chicago suburbs, joined the protesters.

One of those protesters, Kim Cambra, 60, of Elmhurst, said she voted for Trump twice, but one of her daughters is gay, and another, who was transgender, died in 2020 of a heroin overdose, possibly self-inflicted. The anti-transgender talk of both DeSantis and Trump brought her out Monday.

“I wish I could vote for Trump again, but if he’s going to make my daughter unsafe, I just can’t,” she said.

By JONATHAN WEISMAN and EMMA G. FITZSIMMONS

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a presumed but unannounced candidate for the presidency, barnstormed through three Democratic metropolises earlier this week, appealing to embattled police officers and crime-concerned citizens with an address pledging more support for law enforcement and vowing to battle liberal-minded criminal justice reforms.

The Presidents Day stops in New York and the suburbs of Philadelphia and Chicago were meant to tweak Democratic politicians who run those cities, with denunciations of “woke” prosecutors and anti-police talk. Part Florida boosterism, part campaign stump speech, the three stops were also supposed to establish the Florida governor’s appeal with the kind of Republican-leaning suburban voters who fled former President Donald Trump and must be pulled back for the GOP to recapture the White House next year.

“We’re grateful to be here to deliver a very important message, a message about safe communities, the rule of law and about standing by the people that wear the uniform and put themselves at risk to protect us,” he told an audience of law enforcement officers at an Elmhurst, Illinois, Knights of Columbus hall, well outside Chicago, a city that has been demonized as lawless and ungovernable since Trump’s 2016 campaign.

He also appeared in Fort Washington, a Philadelphia suburb, and on Staten Island, the one borough that voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020.

DeSantis, 44, has captured the attention of Republican voters by presenting himself as a younger, more policy-focused heir to Trump. Violent crime, which surged in the last year of

Trump’s presidency, has ebbed slightly with the virulence of the coronavirus pandemic. But it remains a major concern for voters. And it has dominated a mayoral campaign in Chicago whose first round of voting ends Feb. 28.

By appearing with the Fraternal Order of Police, the conservative police officers union, DeSantis seemed determined to generate headlines, three months after Trump became the first declared Republican candidate of the 2024 presidential election and a week after the former president was joined by Nikki Haley, the former United Nations ambassador and South Carolina governor.

Mayor Eric Adams of New York coldly welcomed the Florida governor to his city and said he might find it different from his home state because, Adams said, it does not ban books, discriminate against gay residents or interfere with abortion rights.

“We’re happy to teach you something about values while you’re here,” Adams said.

If anything, DeSantis elicited a sharper response in Illinois, where Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, called on “every candidate hoping to hold public office in the land of Lincoln” to denounce the appearance, and where Mayor Lori Lightfoot of Chicago, in the midst of a difficult reelection campaign, sought to link DeSantis with a rival, Paul Vallas, who is backed by the police union.

On Monday, Lightfoot called DeSantis “a right-wing demagogue” who is “racing to the bottom to outdo Trump, whether it’s trying to sanitize history and, frankly, erase the things that he doesn’t agree with” or “denying the fact that COVID is real and deadly.”

Vallas, who is running in the nonpartisan mayoral race as the law-and-order candidate, released a statement Friday saying,

DeSantis was introduced in New York by Lee Zeldin, the former Long Island congressman who lost last year’s governor’s race to Kathy Hochul, the incumbent Democrat, and who has been a staunch ally of Trump’s. Zeldin’s presence suggested a possible loosening of Trump’s political grip on top Republicans in his former home state.

DeSantis’ message resonated with New Yorkers who are frustrated about a rise in major crimes, said Joseph Borelli, the City Council’s Republican minority leader, who attended the event, at the restaurant Privé.

“His message was simple — that Florida has hit a 50-year low in crime because they haven’t enacted policies like bail reform and defund the police,” he said. “Every time you open a newspaper, they’re talking about crime in New York and other big progressive cities.”

Experts have questioned how substantially crime has decreased in Florida because data for 2021 was released as law enforcement agencies moved to a new FBI methodology for collecting such statistics.

Many New Yorkers moved to Florida during the pandemic, including wealthy residents like billionaire Carl Icahn. In 2020, New York City had a net loss of nearly 21,000 residents to Florida, according to IRS data, almost double the average annual net loss from before the pandemic.

Illinois experienced a similar migration, which included Ken Griffin, founder of the hedge fund giant Citadel and one of the GOP’s largest donors. Undeterred, Democratic leaders in Illinois have pressed forward with progressive legislation to limit cash bail and ban assault weapons, the kind of governance DeSantis railed against at each stop Monday.

Mayor Eric Adams makes the State of the City address in Queens, Jan. 26, 2023.

The

1 dead, a dozen injured in explosion at Ohio metal plant

By MICHAEL LEVENSON

One person died and at least a dozen others were injured Monday in an explosion at an Ohio metal factory that scattered debris over hundreds of yards, authorities said.

Firefighters were called about 3 p.m. to a “very large explosion” with heavy fire and smoke at a metal plant in Bedford, Ohio, about 12 miles southeast of Cleveland, Capt. Brian DiRocco of the Oakwood Village Fire Department told reporters.

Thirteen people were taken to hospitals, mostly for burn injuries, DiRocco said. One person was in critical condition, he said. Mary Louise Madigan, a spokesperson for Cuyahoga County, later confirmed that a 46-year-old man had died.

DiRocco said the cause of the explosion was under investigation. He described the foundry as a “relatively safe plant,” despite the inherent danger involved in working with molten metals.

The explosion sent plumes of dark smoke into the air and scattered debris hundreds of yards, damaging cars in a parking lot across the street, DiRocco said.

Jeff Huhn, who works at Mid-State Sales across the street from the plant, told The Akron Beacon Journal that he heard the explosion.

“We were just loading up a truck, getting ready to leave, and it was the loudest noise we ever heard,” Huhn told the Beacon Journal. “Everything was shaking, things were falling off the shelves here.”

The explosion “blew debris and shrap-

nel; there were cars on fire,” he added. “We just saw pandemonium after the explosion.”

I. Schumann & Co., which has been making copper alloys since 1917, according

to its website, said in a statement to News 5 Cleveland that an explosion “of unknown origin struck our Bedford, Ohio, facility today resulting in injuries to employees and significant damage to the facility.”

The company said that it was focused on supporting authorities “who came on scene quickly to help our employees.” It added, “The safety and health of our employees is our top priority and we commit to ensuring they receive the medical care they need.”

“We will work alongside investigators in their search for answers as part of our commitment to Northeast Ohio where we have been operating for more than 100 years,” the company said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with our team members and their families at this difficult time.”

Millions across US brace for coast-to-coast winter storm

By DERRICK BRYSON TAYLOR and JUDSON JONES

Amajor winter storm will unfold over the northern part of the United States this week, bringing a mixed bag of precipitation that will be “extremely disruptive,” forecasters said. The storm was taking shape in the West by Tuesday morning. More than 30 million people were under winter weather alerts in a nearly continuous stretch from the coast of California all the way to the coast of Maine.

Snow was beginning out West, with some falling at low elevations of 1,000 feet and even as low as 500 feet in Northern and Central California. The extreme weather threat then shifts toward the Northern Rockies and Northern Plains, where more than 13 million people were under a winter storm warning and 1 to 2 feet of snow was expected in the mountains.

The heavy snow and strong winds that developed over the Northern Rockies on Tuesday were projected to spread south and east, according to an advisory from the National Weather Service. The weather system was expected to extend into the Plains by the evening, packing heavy snow, strong winds and freezing rain. The weather services warned of possible disruptions to power lines as a result.

The Upper Midwest, Great Lakes and

parts of the Northeast are expected to get a taste of the wintry mix today, when weather conditions are expected to worsen. Wind gusts greater than 30 mph could cause blizzard conditions over portions of the Midwest, forecasters said.

More than 8 inches of snow is likely in areas from South Dakota east through southern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin and in parts of Michigan.

The weather service office in Billings, Montana, said plenty of snow and high temperatures around 3 degrees Fahrenheit were expected today. “Might be a good day to stay home,” the forecasters said. “Definitely not a day for travel or outdoor activities.”

Similar blustery conditions were also predicted for Salt Lake City on Tuesday, where the weather service office advised local residents to stay home or change their commute time. “Venture out only if you need to and stay safe,” they said.

“It’s not often we see the winter storm severity index in the ‘extreme’ category,” the weather service office in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, said. The state’s department of public safety urged residents to prepare before the weather worsened.

“Time is running out to get prepared for this expected major storm coming,” officials said. “Keep travel plans flexible and have enough supplies, including prescription

medications, on hand at home.”

Although the storm was expected to wallop the Rockies and Midwest, it was also forecast to bring snow to a portion of the Northeast later in the week. A winter storm watch was in effect for parts of Maine, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont.

Heavier snow totals of up to a foot were likely for higher elevations, such as the Adirondacks and the Green and White

Mountains, the weather service said. Lighter accumulations of up to 4 inches were predicted for the lower elevations across upstate New York and central New England. Areas along the East Coast appear to be left out of the weather equation this time, as they have been much of this winter. New York City and other major cities along the Interstate 95 corridor are experiencing some of their least snowy seasons in the past 50 years.

Snow in Wisconsin earlier this month. A sprawling storm system is expected to bring winter weather to much of the northern half of the United States this week.

Firefighters at the plant of I. Schumann & Co. in Bedford, Ohio, after an explosion at the factory on Monday.

In a first, a woman issues a thunderstorm watch, officials say

tornado and thunderstorm watch issued nationwide. A lead forecaster averages about 13 years in the position and more than 23 years in total at the Storm Prediction Center.

From 1 to 3 p.m., Leitman refined the size and scope of the thunderstorm watch as conditions changed. Around 3:30 p.m., she led a conference call with other offices responsible for counties within the watch area.

After a quick conversation with other forecasters, a few counties were added to the watch, which included a region stretching from the outskirts of Oklahoma City to Dallas.

She took a second and then looked back at one of her colleagues and said: “Evan, take a picture. It’s my first watch.”

She then hit send — at that point, it really is just a matter of pressing a button — and put her hands in the air in an “I’m done” gesture.

It was 3:45 p.m., 15 minutes before the end of her shift.

Leitman tweeted about her first time issuing a watch. She happened to mention that it was the first time a woman had done it.

Accolades came flooding in, surprising and overwhelming her.

By JUDSON JONES

Warm, moist air and colder, dry air collided last week to create the conditions necessary for hail, damaging winds and tornadoes across the southern Plains and into the Southeast, and it was the job of an elite meteorology group called the Storm Prediction Center to give people advance notice.

For Elizabeth Leitman, who has worked at the Norman, Oklahoma, center since 2010, it would be the day she would issue her first thunderstorm watch.

She would also become the first woman ever to do so in the 70-year history of the center and its previous iterations, according to center officials.

Leitman is one of only two women among the 22 fulltime forecasters at the Storm Prediction Center. “As far as I know, there’s been five of us,” Leitman said, referring to

Loyalty Finance LLC

female forecasters who have worked there.

None of her predecessors, though, reached the role of lead forecaster. On Wednesday, her first day training to become a lead forecaster, she did all the intricate work while someone supervised her every move.

“These are national experts,” said Bill Bunting, chief of forecast operations at the center and Leitman’s boss. “They are the best of the best.”

Leitman described these lead forecasters, of whom there are only five, as “the neurosurgeons of this severe weather world.”

“When people come to SPC, they don’t tend to leave,” she said. “We’re not that far removed from individuals who were here in the ’60s and ’70s. There’s, like, basically three generations of forecasters at SPC.”

By 1 p.m., she knew conditions were becoming favorable for severe storms. Looking at radar, satellite and observational data, and after talking to colleagues, she drew up her first draft of the watch.

The National Weather Service has issued these watches — for both thunderstorms and tornadoes — since 1966. Similar forecasts under a different name date back to 1952.

Watches highlight areas where conditions are favorable for severe thunderstorms or tornadoes to develop. The Storm Prediction Center’s goal is to offer as much as a twohour notice before storms form.

Lead forecasters oversee everything else others are doing during their shift but are also responsible for every

She said she felt honored to support women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields by setting an example for girls who are interested in weather and meteorology.

She was once one of those girls she now hopes to inspire. She always loved weather and became interested in the Storm Prediction Center when she was in middle and high school in St. Louis.

While others were coming home to computers in the late 1990s to open AOL and check Instant Messenger or download music on Napster, Leitman said she had been checking the latest information from forecasters in Norman on their webpage.

She started to notice their names at the bottom of the watches and outlooks. They became heroes to her.

In her high school years, she toured the University of Oklahoma and visited the Storm Prediction Center. Her parents took a picture of her out in front, and at that moment, she became determined to work there.

She went to the university, but after graduating, she first had to gain experience at local weather offices in Billings, Montana, and Louisville, Kentucky. It wasn’t until 2010 that she returned to Oklahoma to work in her dream job.

“I was stubborn,” she said. “I knew what I wanted.”

When she walked into a male-dominated room at the center on her first day, she said, she did not feel barriers other than those she set up for herself.

She works with some of the forecasters whom she had idolized after seeing their names on watches and outlooks in the late ’90s.

And now, watch No. 33 of 2023 — a bulletin created to predict the future and save lives — has her name on it.

Elizabeth Leitman at the Storm Prediction Center of the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla., Feb. 17, 2023. On Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, Leitman became the first female forecaster to issue a thunderstorm watch in the center’s history, officials said.

Nurses are burned out. Can hospitals change in time to keep them?

By BRADFORD PEARSON

One morning, in fall 2020, Francesca Camacho drove away from her 12-hour night shift as a critical care nurse at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and tried to merge onto the highway. The day’s work, in her words, was “just very terrible.” This wasn’t uncommon at the time: The Cook County area was experiencing the highest levels of COVID hospitalization it had ever experienced, surpassed only by the omicron variant wave the following year.

She was on the phone with her parents, a ritual she had developed as a way to decompress after a shift, when she noticed what appeared to be a teenage driver in front of her.

“I remember thinking, What is this girl doing that justifies her not letting me in?” Camacho, now 27, recalled. “And I just felt this surge of rage.”

She hung up the phone and screamed and cried for the rest of the drive home.

The next day, she asked her co-workers if anything similar had ever happened to them; they all said yes. Lunchtime therapy sessions with fellow nurses turned into professional therapy sessions.

“It really was feelings of anger that I felt, and I think very deep underneath that was just terrible sadness about what I was seeing and what we were all going through,” she said recently.

In August, she quit her job. She is now a first-year law student at Boston University and plans to use her law degree to advocate changes in the medical field.

Burnout has always been a part of nursing, an effect of long working hours in physically and often emotionally taxing environments. The COVID pandemic exacerbated those factors and added some of its own: understaffing, a rise in violence and hostility toward health care workers over masking mandates and an increase in deaths, particularly in the early months of the pandemic. In a study from the American Nurses Foundation, released last month, 57% of 12,581 surveyed nurses said they had felt “exhausted” over the past two weeks, and 43% said they felt “burned out.” Just 20% said they felt valued. (Those numbers were largely consistent throughout the pandemic.)

“Burnout and our current issues have been going on for decades,” said Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, president of the American Nurses Association. “So what did we learn from the last couple of years? That we need to make sure that we implement programs and processes to decrease the burnout and to improve the work environment. Because COVID is not the last pandemic, or the last major issue to happen.”

For some, those well-intentioned changes may not come soon enough: Forty-three percent of those surveyed by the American Nurses Foundation said they were at least thinking about switching jobs. Some, like Camacho, have left the profession. Others are shifting roles.

Kelly Schmidt, 52, spent 25 years working in the newborn intensive care unit at a hospital near her home in San Anselmo, California. She was drawn to the job — she credits

that to her mother’s work as a midwife and her own “innate sense to want to protect them and heal them” — and found herself doing whatever it took: riding in the back of ambulances, flying in transport planes over the Pacific or in helicopters through the Bay Area fog.

She loved her job, her patients and her co-workers, but over the years other challenges materialized. The transition from physical charts to electronic medical records took her away from her patients’ sides, and, just as the pandemic hit, a transition to a management role tasked her and a coworker with overseeing more than 90 employees. As nurses themselves began to fall sick and quarantine, the stress grew and the healthy staff ranks thinned, and Schmidt said she “emotionally started feeling like a robot.”

Then, in May, she found herself on the bottom mattress of her daughter’s bunk bed, sick with COVID and quarantined from the rest of her family. She found herself reassessing the two-hour commutes, the emotional labor of the job, the compartmentalization. She saw a job listing for a nearby school nurse position, dusted off and updated her 23-yearold resume and, on a Sunday night, applied. The district called her on Monday, interviewed her over a video call on Tuesday (“I practically was keeling over by then,” Schmidt recalled) and offered her the job by the end of the week.

“I don’t want people to think the job I left was a bad job,” she said. “It was just time for me to go. I’ve had other colleagues say, ‘I don’t want to leave my job hating it,’ so they retire early. I didn’t want to leave my job hating it. I wanted to leave on a high note. And now I have pictures of the helicopter on my desk and I can chitchat with the little kids and try to figure out if they’re sick or not.”

Some hospitals recognized there was a problem before the pandemic and tried to fix it. Kathleen Littleton, 35, of

Baltimore, not only worked at Johns Hopkins Hospital (and received her master’s degree in nursing science at its university) but also served as an instructor in the nursing school as well. The hospital utilized the research of Cynda Hylton Rushton, a clinical ethics professor at the nursing school, specifically “the Mindful Ethical Practice and Resilience Academy,” a program that focuses on mindfulness and meditation to combat burnout, with some success.

Then the pandemic hit and, Littleton recalled, there was, practically speaking, no time to think about mindfulness or meditation.

As the Johns Hopkins ICU began to fill in spring 2020, Littleton’s mental health plummeted. By November she had transferred to the hospital’s labor and delivery wing, thinking it would be less stressful. Instead, she saw a handful of COVID-infected mothers go directly from C-sections to life support.

In October 2021, she left Hopkins for a travel-nurse job that paid her three times what she made at her previous role but also put her face-to-face with different tragedies: gunshot wounds, car accidents, stabbings, train crashes. She was regularly dissociating, she said, looking down at her hands and wondering whose they were.

At her therapist’s suggestion, she checked off the days until her contract ended in May 2022. With the extra money she had saved from the pay bump she took an extended honeymoon through Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands. She now works for an insurance company doing health promotion and engagement.

“I feel so guilty that I am not in the hospital still, and I also really mourn the loss of my critical care career,” Littleton said. “I’m disappointed not in myself — because it’s not fair to blame myself — but I’m really disappointed that I just can’t do it anymore.”

One thing that’s not an issue, Dr. Mensik Kennedy of the American Nurses Association said, is interest in the field. Conventional wisdom — and Mensik Kennedy’s own expectations — would presume that, with these intense levels of stress and burnout, interest in nursing would wane. Yet there were 60,000 qualified nursing applicants turned away from nursing schools this past year, according to the ANA.

As experienced nurses leave the profession, there are fewer and fewer opportunities for students to get the handson, in-hospital training that is necessary for the profession, which in turn leads to nursing schools not producing enough graduates to fill the gap. Fix the burnout and staffing issues, Mensik Kennedy said, and the infrastructure can once again support the necessary amount of new graduates needed to fill the nursing gap.

The most important way to start, she said, is to regularly measure nurses’ stress levels, to take action when they begins to climb and to change the glorification of working without breaks.

For Schmidt, the former NICU nurse, that stress has eased with her new role.

“It’s still hard work,” she said. “It’s still good work. I still am super busy. But it’s not always life and death.”

Francesca Camacho, who quit her nursing job and is now a first-year law student at Boston University, in Boston, Feb. 10, 2023.

The PlayStation goggles are a win for gamers. Not for the metaverse.

By BRIAN X. CHEN

Ah, the “metaverse.” Will a fantasy where our office meetings and social gatherings take place mostly in virtual reality ever come true?

As a tech critic who has worn almost every pair of virtual-reality goggles released in the last seven years, I’ve been holding my breath for a long time. And based on my testing of this year’s first big hardware release in the metaverse category — Sony’s PlayStation VR2, which arrives today — I’ve concluded that VR still has a ways to go before becoming a mainstream staple for work and play.

To be clear, the PlayStation VR2, priced at $550, is one of the best pieces of VR hardware you can buy. The curvy white headset plugs into the PlayStation 5 console, which is equipped with a powerful computer to run high-resolution games more smoothly; by contrast, Meta’s VR devices, including its $400 Oculus Quest 2 and $1,500 Quest Pro, work wirelessly and rely on slower computing chips built into the headsets.

Also unlike Meta, Sony leans into the use of VR goggles only for gaming — a wise choice because, so far, games are the most popular VR applications, and productivity apps for taking video calls through headsets haven’t gained traction.

Still, none of this is enough to make VR more than a niche, even as more brands, including Apple, prepare to enter the industry. That’s because many of the problems people have had with VR headsets since the get-go — including their offputting aesthetic and high price — remain for the PlayStation VR2 goggles. That being the case, I can recommend them to enthusiasts but not to those who play the occasional video game.

Here’s how I felt about virtual reality and the metaverse after a week of testing the PlayStation VR2.

VR has yet to find a truly killer app.

Why use VR for making video calls, streaming movies or playing games when the existing methods already work well? This is the perennial question surrounding the metaverse. Despite making progress with the technology, the new PlayStation goggles don’t offer a clear answer.

Andeno Co

Tasa mínima, promedio ponderado, y máxima para préstamos personales pequeños otorgados para la semana que terminó el sábado, 18 de febrero de 2023

The most compelling new game I tried was Horizon Call of the Mountain, a VR spinoff of the bestselling PlayStation 4 title Horizon Zero Dawn, a postapocalyptic role-playing game. In the VR game, you control the character from a firstperson perspective and can swing your arms to run around and climb mountains; you can also move your hands to grab an arrow from a quiver and shoot it with a bow.

It’s a fun game with impressive graphics that show off the hardware’s muscle, but in the end, I still preferred the gameplay and deeper story of the original Horizon Zero Dawn, which I finished years ago on the PlayStation 4.

Otherwise, a majority of VR games accompanying the device’s launch that I tested were relatively old and uninteresting. Those included Star Wars: Tales From the Galaxy’s Edge; Tetris Effect: Connected; and Moss, which were previously released for the older Quest 2 and first-generation PlayStation VR.

In general, the graphics and motion in the new PlayStation goggles looked clearer and smoother than Meta’s VR products. Still, more often than not, I found myself wondering why a game should be played in VR instead of on a television screen.

In the Star Wars game, where you take on the role of a droid mechanic, shooting a blaster at an enemy would have been just as simple using a game controller. The same could be said about Moss, where you control a white mouse in a 3D environment. Tetris Effect: Connected involves rotating pieces known as tetrominoes, just as you would in any traditional Tetris game made in the last few decades; there was no clear benefit to playing this in an immersive environment.

Other games that will soon be available for PlayStation VR2, which I could not test, include big titles like Gran Turismo 7 and Resident Evil Village. Those are popular franchises,

but both were released for traditional consoles in the last two years.

Gaming may currently be VR’s killer app, but if you want fresh and exciting games, the console-plus-TV combo is still king.

Headsets still look and feel weird to wear.

Since VR hardware started hitting the market about seven years ago, headsets have shed some weight. At 20 ounces, the PlayStation VR2 is 1 ounce lighter than its predecessor and 5 ounces lighter than the Meta Quest Pro. But all the goggles still felt too heavy. In my experience, I could wear them for no longer than 30 minutes before starting to feel neck strain.

Case in point: The PlayStation VR2 fell off my face and hit the ground when I was playing the Star Wars game and bent over to pick up a tool from the floor of a virtual space station. The wire plugged into the console also made the device feel more cumbersome than wireless headsets, and it created a tripping hazard in the living room.

And like all the goggles that came before it, the PlayStation VR2 looks pretty ridiculous. My wife couldn’t resist shooting videos to mock me as I wore a headset that made me look like a character from the movie “Tron.”

For storage, Sony includes a charging station to hold the motion controllers, which is convenient. But along with the headset, the product takes up precious space in a living room — and unlike a laptop or smartphone, VR goggles instantly make a tidy room look cluttered. For single folks, I fear that the sight of the goggles would kill the chances of a second date.

The metaverse is lonely.

For the concept of the metaverse to succeed, we need to be able to connect with our loved ones in that space. In its current state, VR is still a mostly solitary experience. When you wear the PlayStation goggles, you block out your view of the real world. What you’re doing in the game is shown on the TV screen that the PlayStation is plugged into. That lets others in the room follow along, but it’s not very social.

Which brings up another issue: To have friends to play with in the metaverse, they must buy the same headset — and the tech is still expensive.

When consumer technology goes mainstream, it typically becomes cheaper and more accessible. Despite being on the market for most of the last decade, virtual reality is heading in the opposite direction. At $550, the PlayStation VR2 costs $150 more than its predecessor — and that’s on top of the $500 you have to pay for a PlayStation 5.

Sony is not alone in the price creep. Last year, Meta raised the price of its bestselling headset, the Quest 2, to $400, from $300. Apple’s headset, which may release this year, is expected to be a premium device that may cost thousands of dollars, according to reports.

So maybe one day — when the tech is cheaper, has a truly killer app and doesn’t make people look like weirdos — we’ll all hang out in the metaverse. For now, I’ll continue to meet folks in person and online the old-school way.

New York Times reporter Brian Chen tests the new Sony PlayStation VR2 in Oakland, Calif. on Feb. 14, 2023. After testing Sony’s virtual reality goggles, Chen has concluded that virtual reality still has a ways to go before becoming a staple for work and play.

Wall St tumbles as Walmart, Home Depot forecasts disappoint

Home Depot Inc fell 5.4% to a three-month low after the No. 1 domestic home improvement chain warned of weakening demand and issued a dour profit forecast for 2023.

Smaller rival Lowe’s Cos Inc fell 4.8% ahead of its results next week.

Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, shed 0.2% after it forecast full-year earnings below estimates and painted a grim picture of hotter-than-expected food inflation squeezing profit margins.

“Walmart is a bellwether for how the consumer is doing and the fact is that they envision that the consumer may be getting to that point of having to pull back,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley Wealth.

Analysts are expecting earnings of S&P 500 companies to grow by 1.6% in 2023, compared to a 4.4% growth estimated at the start of the year, as per Refinitiv data.

Ten of the major 11 S&P 500 sectors fell, with the consumer discretionary index slumping 2.1%.

At 10:02 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 424.64 points, or 1.26%, at 33,402.05, the S&P 500 was down 47.46 points, or 1.16%, at 4,031.63, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 165.27 points, or 1.40%, at 11,622.00.

U.S. stocks have added to their gains so far this year after its worst annual showing in more than a decade in 2022, as investors hoped the central bank’s rate-hike cycle was nearing its end.

However, recent economic data has pointed to a resilient economy with inflation far from the Fed’s 2% target, raising bets for two or three more 25 basis point increases.

The central bank has got more wiggle room to raise rates as U.S. business activity unexpectedly rebounded in February, according to a survey, underpinned by a robust services sector.

Money market participants see the benchmark level peaking to a 5.3% in July, and staying near those levels throughout the year.

Adding to the glum mood, yield on the U.S. benchmark 10-year Treasury note edged higher, pressuring rate-sensitive growth stocks.

Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft Corp and Googleparent Alphabet Inc fell between 1.6% and 1.6%.

In a bright spot, Meta Platforms Inc added 0.7% after the Facebook parent said it is testing a monthly subscription service called Meta Verified, which will let users verify their accounts using a government ID and get a blue badge.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 5.23-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 3.50-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded one new 52-week highs and one new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 26 new highs and 50 new lows.

The S&P 500 now accurately reflects signs of betterthan-expected economic growth and a drop in bond yields, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. strategists led by David Kostin. At the same time, higher valuations, lackluster

MOST ASSERTIVE STOCKS

PUERTO RICO STOCKS

corporate earnings and elevated interest rates mean there’s little room for the rally to extend, they said, a view that was broadly echoed by their counterpart at Morgan Stanley, Michael Wilson.

To Solita Marcelli at UBS Global Wealth Management, the risk-reward trade-off for equities doesn’t look appealing. She continues to recommend that equity investors position defensively and be prepared for additional volatility ahead.

COMMODITIES CURRENCY

“We remain bearish equities,” said Eric Johnston at Cantor Fitzgerald. “There has been a dramatic change in sentiment and positioning which has gotten much more bullish, making this a tailwind for our bearish view. And while this dramatic change has happened, the outlook for earnings, the Fed, and multiples is unchanged. All of the stock being bought now will just create that much more supply on the way down.”

Now with the path for further monetary tightening in focus, bond investors still broadly expect U.S. inflation to ebb further. The so-called breakeven rate on five-year five-year forwards — a proxy for inflation expectations — slumped to 2.18 per cent on Friday from 2.31 per cent a week prior. It was little changed Tuesday.

Biden and Putin offer radically different portraits of the war in Ukraine

By DAVID E. SANGER

Just hours after Vladimir Putin blamed the West for starting the war in Ukraine and said he was suspending the one remaining nuclear arms treaty with the United States, President Joe Biden on Tuesday accused the Russian leader of committing atrocities on a vast scale, and called on the world to stand up to him and other “tyrants.”

In a split-screen moment, the two speeches, only hours apart and just three days before the anniversary of Russia’s invasion, gave radically different accounts of how a war that has already created hundreds of thousands of casualties is reshaping Europe.

Biden, speaking at the royal castle in Warsaw on a cold, drizzly day, seemed energized by his surprise trip into Kyiv the day before, repeatedly noting that a capital Putin thought would fall in days remained free, and that its resolve to face down a far larger power was greater than ever.

“Kyiv stands!” Biden declared, as a crowd of several thousand, many waving American flags, stood bathed in lights aimed at the centuries-old castle. Time and time again, he referred to Putin’s many failures over the past year, both military and diplomatic, and made the case that 2022 had been the year that democracies rallied against a common adversary. “Autocrats only understand one word: No, no, no. No, you will not take my country,” Biden said.

The president thanked Poland for taking in 1.5 million refugees from the war

in Ukraine and for becoming the primary transfer point for a flood of arms that have been critical for Ukraine’s military forces. But his rallying cry to the Polish people omitted discussion of the White House’s current worries.

Biden and his aides are clearly concerned that the war could be devolving into a stalemate, in which neither side will negotiate but neither can turn the tide.

Biden made no reference to Putin’s

announcement, before a gathering of governors and lawmakers in Moscow earlier in the day, that he would not allow inspectors from the United States back into Russia to assure Moscow’s compliance with New START. Nor did he talk about Putin’s episodic threats to employ nuclear weapons, usually uttered when Russian forces were losing ground.

But while the White House has tried at various points to make the case that the war in Ukraine is a battle for the pres-

ervation of some norms of national behavior — respect for the sovereignty of nations, and the right of populations to choose their leaders — he kept returning to Putin. At one point he mocked one of the Russian leader’s assertions earlier in the day that NATO had been planning to attack Russia, presumably from inside Ukraine.

“The West was not plotting to attack Russia,” Biden said, going on to say that Russia had taken Ukrainian children in an attempt to steal the country’s future, and had for a time cut off Ukraine’s exports of grain and other farm products. “Putin tried to starve the world,” he said.

There was no new policy evident in the speech, although Biden promised new sanctions on Russia by the end of the week and said vaguely that “we will hold accountable those who are responsible” for the war. He did not call Putin a war criminal, as he did from this city in March of last year. But he also did not address the limitations of sanctions, something the West has discovered as China, India and Turkey, among others, have kept buying Russian petroleum products.

The speech itself came at a critical moment. Although the European allies have held together far more effectively than anyone expected a year ago, there were signs at the Munich Security Conference, which concluded on Sunday, that many European leaders wondered whether they could sustain this level of spending on arms, government support and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

Russia shells bus station in Kherson, killing at least 6 people

By MARC SANTORA and NATALIA YERMAK

Russian forces shelled a busy bus station in the southern Ukrainian port city of Kherson on Tuesday, killing at least six people and injuring scores more as Russia kept up its bombardment of the city, Ukrainian officials said.

Andriy Yermak, a top aide to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, released a video and photos showing what he said was the af-

termath of the attack, with storefronts torn apart and at least one body in the rubble.

Yermak said on the Telegram messaging app that the transit hub had been crowded with people “just going on with their business, to work, to buy something in the city” when the attack occurred.

Zelenskyy said shells had also hit a parking lot, residential areas and a highrise building. “The Russian army is heavily shelling Kherson,” he said in a statement.

In early November, Kherson was the

scene of jubilation as residents wrapped themselves in Ukrainian flags and cheered their country’s troops entering the city after eight months of Russian occupation.

At the time, Russia forces retreated to the east bank of the Dnieper River — but within weeks they had begun bombarding the city and surrounding areas from positions across the waterway, often shelling civilian neighborhoods dozens of times a day.

Zelenskyy described those attacks as

being driven by Moscow’s desire for “revenge” after its battlefield defeat.

Ukrainian officials have urged residents to evacuate, but thousands who lived through the Russian occupation are reluctant to leave, even though many homes have no power or running water as Russian bombardments have hit critical infrastructure.

Dozens of people in the city and surrounding villages have been killed since the Russian retreat, Ukrainian officials said.

President Joe Biden participates in a bilateral meeting with President Andrzej Duda of Poland on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023.

Biden’s surreal and secretive journey into a war zone

By PETER BAKER and MICHAEL D. SHEAR

As the train rumbled across the Ukrainian countryside through a long night, the view outside the window left little to see, just the occasional streetlight or shadows of buildings in the distance. But neither could those watching the train go by see who was inside, nor would they probably have guessed had they stopped to wonder.

Huddled aboard the anonymous train were U.S. President Joe Biden and a skeleton team of advisers accompanied by armed and edgy Secret Service agents, embarking on a secret mission to visit Kyiv, the capital. As far as the world was concerned, Biden was back in Washington, home for the evening after a date night at an Italian restaurant.

In fact, he was on a journey unlike any other taken by a modern U.S. president.

In an audacious move meant to demonstrate American resolve to help Ukraine defeat the Russian forces that invaded a year ago this week, Biden traveled covertly to Kyiv to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and promise even more weapons for the country’s defenders. The visit produced an indelible image of the two presidents striding to a memorial for fallen soldiers in broad daylight even as an air-raid siren blared, a show of defiance of Moscow quickly beamed around the world.

Never in Biden’s lifetime had a president ventured into a war zone that was not under the control of U.S. forces, much less on a relatively slow-moving locomotive that would take 9 1/2 hours to reach its destination. During that time, he was potentially exposed to circumstances beyond the control of the hypervigilant security phalanx that normally seeks to shield a commander in chief from every conceivable physical danger and minimize his time outside a hardened shelter.

For much of the past year, in fact, most of the people around the president resisted any urge to go, on the assumption that it was too risky. But nearly a year after the Russian invasion, with Ukrainian troops faring far better than anyone expected at the start and other U.S. and European leaders having made the trip, Biden and his team gambled that he could get in and out safely.

“Of course there was still risk, and is still risk, in an endeavor like this,” Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser,

told reporters by phone from the train as it departed Kyiv for the return trip to Poland.

“And President Biden felt that it was important to make this trip because of the critical juncture that we find ourselves at as we approach the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.”

The trip had been in the works for months, aides said, as just a trusted few officials at the White House, Pentagon, Secret Service and intelligence agencies weighed the threat assessments. In meetings, Biden focused on the risk his visit could pose to others, not himself, one aide said.

Finally, the decision came to a head Friday, when Biden gathered with a handful of top advisers in the Oval Office and consulted with others by phone. He opted to go.

Biden was already set to travel to Poland for the anniversary. Often when presidents make secret stops in uncertain locations, the visits are added to the end of an existing trip. In this case, the White House decided to put it on the front end in hopes of keeping the secret.

Biden played his part in the ruse. On Saturday evening, he and Jill Biden went to Mass at Georgetown University, then stopped by the National Museum of American History and finally went out to dinner at the Red Hen restaurant, where they enjoyed the rigatoni, widely considered the best in the nation’s capital. When the couple arrived back at the

White House, most people might have assumed they were in for the night.

But a few hours after midnight, Biden was spirited out of the mansion and taken to Joint Base Andrews in the Maryland suburbs, where a small coterie of aides, security agents, a medical team, a White House photographer and two journalists awaited him.

Biden arrived about 4 a.m., and the plane took off at 4:15 a.m. for the flight across the Atlantic. Biden was joined by a handful of aides — Sullivan; Jen O’Malley Dillon, a deputy chief of staff; and Annie Tomasini, director of Oval Office operations. The plane touched down at Ramstein Air Base in Germany at 5:13 p.m. local time, where, with its shades down, it was refueled before taking off again at 6:29 p.m. It then made its way to Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport in Poland, landing at 7:57 p.m.

Biden was put in a motorcade with roughly 20 cars and driven without sirens for about an hour along a mostly empty highway to the small city of Przemyśl and taken to the train station where many thousands of refugees have arrived from Ukraine over the past year. Arriving at 9:15 p.m., the travelers found few people there and the stalls closed.

The motorcade pulled right up to a mostly purple train, with several cars painted blue with a yellow stripe along the middle to resemble the Ukrainian flag. Rarely does a president ride in any vehicle

other than those of the Secret Service or U.S. military, but flying into Ukraine is not deemed safe.

The train pulled away from the station without ceremony at 9:37 p.m. and crossed the border into Ukraine around 10 p.m.

Dressed in casual clothes, Biden had a hard time sleeping during the long train ride, according to a senior official who asked not to be identified describing the trip. The president spent the ride recalling his previous trips to Kyiv, including a speech to the Ukrainian parliament and his remarks on his final trip in 2017. He read a briefing memo on the history of Kyiv back to its founding and reflected on his history with the city.

Talking with aides, Biden recounted his telephone call with Zelenskyy on Feb. 24 last year as Russia’s invasion began, marveling about how the Ukrainian leader told him at the time that he was not sure when they would speak again. Now, Biden mused to aides, here they were a year later about to meet face to face in Kyiv.

After the all-night trip, the train pulled into Kyiv-Pasazhyrsky station at 8 a.m. local time. The platform had been cleared. On a sunny day with blue skies and a brisk chill in the air, Biden disembarked, now wearing a blue suit with a tie featuring Ukrainian colors. He was greeted by Bridget A. Brink, the U.S. ambassador.

“It’s good to be back in Kyiv,” Biden said.

During his five hours in the city, he met with Zelenskyy at Mariinsky Palace, joined him in laying a wreath at the Wall of Remembrance at St. Michael’s GoldenDomed Monastery and stopped by the U.S. Embassy to meet with its staff.

Then he headed back to the same train station, departing at 1:10 p.m. On the long, meandering train ride back to Poland, the senior official said Biden issued a series of directions on military, economic and diplomatic areas to help Ukraine. He was seized with the meetings he had just had. Once again, he could not sleep much.

He arrived at the Przemyśl Główny station at 8:45 p.m. local time, and he headed back to the airport for a flight to Warsaw, where he will deliver a speech Tuesday. His mind, aides said, remained on his previous stop.

“Kyiv,” he had said before leaving, “has captured a part of my heart, I must say.”

President Joe Biden, left foreground, is escorted by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, left background, as he visits the Wall of Remembrance, a memorial to the nation’s fallen soldiers, in Kyiv, Ukraine’s embattled capital, on Monday, Feb. 20, 2023.

Remembering the lives saved drives rescuers in Turkey to push on

By RAJA ABDULRAHIM

Taking a break from combing through the ruins of a powerful earthquake, Ahmet Aydanbekar rested in a courtyard in a salvaged blue armchair and thumbed through his phone to watch videos of past rescues.

Shouts of “God is great” erupted from a video taken in southern Turkey when he helped pull out a 5-year-old girl named Melek from the rubble a day after the Feb. 6 disaster. Remembering the lives saved keeps him going, he said, despite the exhaustion and the grim knowledge that the window for finding survivors is rapidly closing.

Across the hard-hit southern city of Antakya, the smell of death hung in the air.

“It’s hard to have hope,” Aydanbekar, 43, a volunteer rescuer with the Humanitarian Relief Foundation, a Turkish aid group, said as he smiled wearily. “The first 72 hours are the most important to find people alive. All the people we’ve found alive after 72 hours are a miracle.”

As of Sunday, the thousands of international and domestic rescue workers in the earthquake zone were winding down the hunt for survivors. Then, on Monday night, the same region was jolted by another powerful quake, sending rescuers rushing to newly collapsed buildings where tenants had returned, either to live because they believed they were safe, or to retrieve their belongings.

The Feb. 6 earthquake killed more than 41,000 people in Turkey, destroyed more than 100,000 buildings and left more than 1 million people homeless, according to government officials.

In neighboring Syria, more than 5,000 people died, according to the United Nations. In northwestern Syria, the hardesthit area, one civil defense group’s search for survivors ended Feb. 10, after just five days of rescue efforts.

At the height of relief efforts in Turkey, nearly 12,000 international rescue workers from 88 countries fanned out across a zone that stretched for 250 miles, according to Winston Chang, a U.N. coordinator of disaster response, who helped oversee the effort. But some of those international rescue crews have already come and gone.

After Monday night’s quake, rescuers

kicked back into action as more buildings collapsed in or near Antakya, and at least six people were killed in Turkey.

Coming in the wake of thousands of aftershocks over the past two weeks, Monday night’s quake also shifted mounds of rubble still to be searched, further complicating the rescuers’ task.

Over the weekend and into Monday in Antakya, those who remained pushed on and regularly invoked God, gazing up to the skies when they talked about the chances of still finding survivors. A small number of improbable rescues in recent days have captivated the country and given the workers fresh hope.

On Saturday, a wife and husband were pulled out alive from their home, 296 hours after the earthquake hit, near where Aydanbekar’s crew was working in Antakya.

Still, with tens of thousands dead, it was just a small buoy of joy in an ocean of mourning.

Much of the rescue effort is now focused on Antakya, where crews Friday combed about 200 buildings. By the end of Saturday, the search was down to 40 buildings, and only about a dozen were left by Sunday.

Up the road from where Aydanbekar was resting Sunday, members of his crew were at the site of two downed buildings. They worked carefully because a third building was partly braced against the mound of rubble, and they feared that it would collapse as they shifted the debris.

Days earlier, ambulances were stationed expectantly at practically every search site, their sirens a blaring comfort that life was still being found among so much death. Now, across the city, those ambulances have been replaced by greenand-white mortuary vans.

A psychologist with the Humanitarian Relief Foundation advised rescuers to call or video chat with their friends and family regularly to remind them of home

comforts and to combat stress, said one worker, Mohammad Zahiroglu, 45, as he watched three excavators sift through a search site.

Every day, Zahiroglu said, he tries to call his parents in Istanbul, who are closely following the news about each rescue.

They ask him what his searches are like. He does not tell them that now, it is mostly death.

Some rescuers said that they kept tiny bottles of mentholated ointment in their pockets to dab under their nostrils in an effort to mask the stench of bodies. Others had scrawled their blood type on their hard hats in case they, too, became victims.

Many families have expressed anger at the Turkish government’s response and rescue efforts, which have been criticized as slow and haphazard. Some waited for days outside crumpled buildings before any rescuers arrived.

By Sunday, among the few families still waiting, that anger appeared to have evolved into quiet desperation.

At one of the sites where Humanitarian Relief Foundation members were working, family members pulled up chairs to the sidewalk across the street and watched intently, as if facing a stage where a tragedy was unfolding.

A few crushed and damaged buildings away, a crew from Kyrgyzstan had pulled out the wife and husband who survived after 296 hours — a Syrian refugee couple — Saturday.

Around noon that same day, the rescuers had begun breaking through layers of debris when they found a crevice big enough for someone to lay in. They called out for anyone still alive and listened.

“We didn’t think we would find anyone alive after all this time,” said Almaz Asanov, a colonel with the Kyrgyz crew. “But then we heard a voice.”

The next day, they were back at the same apartment building, its six floors densely pancaked to the height of a onestory building, looking for three more people buried underneath.

Rescuers raised their arms to hush the gathered crowd. Everyone quieted. The workers leaned forward, listening. A dog was brought to sniff the wreckage. But they heard nothing.

Sunday was the first day that no one was found alive.

Rescuers with the IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, volunteers and soldiers search through rubble from a collapsed building in Antakya, Turkey, on Monday, Feb. 20, 2023.

With an eye on China, Philippines moves closer to US interests

By SUI-LEE WEE and CAMILLE ELEMIA

For years, the Philippines largely stood by as Chinese forces rammed its fishing vessels and occupied the reefs and shoals that once belonged to the Southeast Asian nation. Those days may soon be over.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who took office in June, has adopted the most muscular foreign policy approach that the Philippines has seen in close to a decade. He is seeking out alliances, restoring his country’s defense ties with the United States and prioritizing his country’s territorial dispute with China in the South China Sea.

Earlier this month, Marcos agreed to grant the U.S. military access to four new defense sites in the Philippines. On the same day, Washington said it would restart its joint patrols of the South China Sea with the Philippines, which had been suspended by Manila for six years. There is speculation that Subic Bay, a crown jewel among the many naval sites in Philippines, will also welcome U.S. soldiers in the coming months.

Marcos’ decisions have largely been driven by the territorial dispute that the Philippines has with Beijing over the South China Sea. But he has also shared concerns about a possible Chinese invasion of the self-ruled island of Taiwan, saying that “it’s very hard to imagine a scenario where the Philippines will not somehow get involved.”

On Tuesday, Marcos summoned the Chinese ambassador after a Chinese coast guard vessel directed a military-grade laser at a Philippine ship, the first time in years that a president had personally lodged such a protest.

From the standpoint of the Americans, Marcos’ approach has been a welcome change, if not without some debate within the Philippines. His predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, embraced China and distanced the Philippines from the United States until the final months of his term. Marcos has drawn the two countries even closer, making the Philippines the linchpin of the Biden administration’s strategy to counter China with a stronger military presence in the region.

The Philippines’ northernmost inhabited island, Itbayat, is just 93 miles away from Taiwan. The United States and the Philippines have not disclosed the four new sites that the Americans will gain access to, but three are facing Taiwan and one is bordering the South China Sea, according to an official with knowledge of the discussions who spoke on the condition of

anonymity because he was not authorized to share negotiation details.

The Philippines’ strategy shift comes as U.S.-Chinese relations are at a particularly low point. The recent incursion of a Chinese surveillance balloon, and the ensuing diplomatic tit for tat, prompted the last-minute cancellation of a visit to China by Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Although he and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, spoke at the Munich Security Conference over the weekend, their sharp exchange did little to ease tensions.

Manila could grant the United States access to additional sites across the Philippines in the coming months, despite anger from China.

In an interview, the Philippine ambassador to the United States, Jose Romualdez, said that Subic Bay — once home to the largest American military base outside of the United States — is “one of the sites that are being considered” for future U.S. military access.

Subic Bay is one of the most strategic deepwater ports in Asia, with direct access to the South China Sea as well as the Bashi Channel, a waterway separating Taiwan and the Philippines. Now, an American private equity firm controls a shipyard there.

The story of how Cerberus Capital Management took over the shipyard despite competition from China highlights the growing distrust among the Filipinos toward Beijing and the country’s expanded commitment to Washington.

In 2019, after it emerged that two Chinese companies had

expressed interest in buying the shipyard from a South Korean firm, a former Filipino navy chief, Alexander Pama, warned on Facebook that the Philippines was facing a “very significant national security issue.”

A high-ranking official in the navy, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to disclose private discussions to the news media, said the navy was intent on preventing a Chinese takeover.

Duterte’s defense secretary, Delfin Lorenzana, told reporters that he wanted the Philippine government to take control of the shipyard. But Hanjin, the South Korean firm, had more than $1 billion in loans, and Manila could not afford the debt.

A second senior navy official, who also declined to be named, said the navy then met with the U.S. Embassy in Manila, asking U.S. officials to find a possible buyer, but warned that the U.S. government should not be involved because of Duterte’s animosity toward Washington.

Privately, Duterte had started to shift his views on China and the United States.

Washington had donated millions of COVID-19 vaccines to the Philippines by the summer of 2021. That year, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Duterte that the United States saw the Philippines as “an equal, sovereign partner.” The next day, Duterte announced that the Visiting Forces Agreement, a mutual defense pact that he had repeatedly threatened to terminate, was back on.

During Duterte’s term, China spent only 3% of the $24 billion it had pledged to invest in the Philippines, data show.

Two months before Duterte left office in June, the Philippine government said Cerberus — whose executive ranks are stacked with former U.S. government officials — had bought the shipyard.

Although the Philippines is the largest recipient of U.S. military aid in the Indo-Pacific, Marcos has taken pains to show that his country is not reliant on one superpower or the other. Officials in the Philippines are hoping that strengthening alliances and staging joint exercises with the United States, Japan and South Korea will help modernize the country’s military and reinforce its independence.

This month, Marcos agreed to increase economic and defense cooperation with Japan, and the Philippines said it would work with the United Kingdom on maritime law enforcement. The Philippine navy will be one of the new tenants at Subic Bay.

A monument at the boardwalk in Subic Bay, once home to the largest American military base outside of the U.S., commemorates the day U.S. soldiers left the Philippines in Subic, Philippines, Feb. 7, 2023.

The smartphone and the sources of teen despair

media. Other causal candidates, enumerated by Derek Thompson of The Atlantic in his helpful essays on the subject, tend to have a stronger ideological valence — a liberal might point to teenage anxiety about climate change or school shootings or the rise of Donald Trump, a conservative might insist that it’s the baleful effects of identity politics or the isolation created by COVID-era lockdowns.

Overall I think if you’re looking for a single explanatory shock, Haidt’s camp has the better of the argument. The timing of the mental health trend fits the smartphone’s increasing substitution for in-person socialization, while the Great Awokening and Trumpism are more chronologically downstream. And the coronavirus era exacerbated the problem without being a decisive shift.

But then the smartphone revolution asked people raised under these conditions — raised with less family stability and weak attachments to religion, with a strong emphasis on self-creation and a strong hostility to “normativity” — to enter and forge a new social world. And they went forth and created the online world we know today, with its pinball motion between extremes of toxic narcissism and the solidarity of the mob, its therapy-speak unmoored from real community, its conspiracism and ideological crazes, its mimetic misery and despairing catastrophism.

By ROSS DOUTHAT

American teenagers, and especially American teenage girls, are increasingly miserable: more likely to entertain suicidal thoughts and act on them, more likely to experience depression, more likely to feel beset by “persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness,” to quote a survey report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Adults in every era tend to fret about the condition of the youth relative to the good old days when we ourselves were young and full of promise. But in the debate about these psychological trends, the alarmists have the better of the argument: As cataloged by New York University’s Jonathan Haidt, a leading alarm-sounder, in indicator after indicator you can see an inflection point somewhere in the early 2010s, where a darkening begins that continues to this day.

Haidt thinks the key instigator is the rise of social

Then data aside, having lived through the online revolution as both a participant and a parent, it seems obvious that social media has worsened the coming-ofage experience relative to the halcyon 1990s — creating a “sense of another consciousness that’s welded to your own consciousness and has its own say all the time,” as my fellow teenager-of-the-’90s Freddie deBoer wrote recently, which makes the general self-consciousness of adolescence feel much more brutal.

But when you’re analyzing the effects of a technological shock it’s also useful to analyze the society that existed just as the shock arrived. On the internet “we could have built any kind of world,” Thompson writes. “We built this one. Why have we done this to ourselves?” One answer is that social media entered into a world that was experiencing the triumph of a certain kind of social liberalism, which the new tech subjected to a stress test that it has conspicuously failed.

By “social liberalism” I don’t mean the progressivism that took off in the Trump era — antiracism and diversity-equity-inclusion and #MeToo. I mean the more individualistic liberalism that emerged in the 1960s and experienced a second takeoff across the first decade of the 2000s. Its defining features were rapid secularization (the decline of Christian identification accelerated from the 1990s onward) and increasing social and sexual permissiveness — extending beyond support for same-sex marriage to beliefs about premarital sex, divorce, out-ofwedlock childbearing, marijuana use and more.

In the early Obama years, many liberals assumed that these trends were positive and healthy, or at least sustainable and manageable. They weren’t yielding the social disorder that conservatives always fear, crime was low and the decline of the two-parent family could be treated mostly as an economic problem, and blue America (or at least upper-middle-class blue America) seemed to be successfully balancing moral liberty and personal responsibility.

All of which has made social liberalism look much more unsustainable and self-undermining than it did in 2008. It’s threatened not just by political radicalism and returning disorder, but by a collapse of familial and romantic and even sexual connection, a terrible atomization and existential dread, a chasing after ever-stranger gods.

If you were comfortable with the world of the early Obama years, it makes a lot of sense to focus on the technological shock that brought us to this place, to lament and attempt to alter its effects.

But those effects should also yield a deeper scrutiny as well — because what looked stable and successful 15 years ago now looks more like a hollowed-out tree standing only because the winds were mild, and waiting for the iPhone to be swung, gleaming, like an ax.

POR CYBERNEWS

SAN JUAN – El gobernador Pedro Rafael Pierluisi Urrutia, anunció el martes, que se otorgó estatus permanente, con periodo probatorio, a 1,215 maestros transitorios del sistema público, lo que permitirá que los servicios educativos continúen de manera ininterrumpida.

“Mi compromiso y el de toda mi administración con la educación ha sido claro desde que asumí mi mandato. Específicamente, mi programa de gobierno destaca el apoyo al magisterio y nos compromete a promover el desarrollo profesional de nuestro personal docente, y así lo hemos hecho. Con las acciones que he tomado ha quedado demostrado que nuestros maestros y maestras son clave para lograr un sistema de educación pública del que nos sintamos orgullosos y que ayude a elevar el aprovechamiento académico de nuestros estudiantes para beneficio de las próximas generaciones y del Puerto Rico al que todos aspiramos. Además de un histórico aumento salarial de $1,000 mensuales, he procurado cada vez más poner en las manos de nuestros educadores los recursos y herramientas que les permitan un mejor desempeño”, destacó el gobernador en conferencia de prensa.

El primer ejecutivo añadió que “la educación es una de las misiones más importantes que le corresponde atender a mi administración. Les reitero que el eje de todo ese esfuerzo por educar a nuestra juventud es el maestro y la maestra en el salón de clase. Por eso, felicito a todos los maestros y maestras que con esta acción obtienen su permanencia para seguir siendo custodios de la educación de nuestra juventud puertorriqueña”.

Por su parte, el secretario del Departamento de Educación, Eliezer Ramos Parés, resaltó la entrega y el compromiso del magisterio para rendir el mejor servicio, en beneficio del estudiantado.

“Continuamos avanzando y fortaleciendo nuestro sistema público de enseñanza al dar estatus permanente a más maestros, que han demostrado el compromiso de formar a nuestros niños y jóvenes en la sala de clase”, sostuvo.

Con estas permanencias, suman cerca de 3,487 las que se han otorgado durante la administración actual, entre maestros de corriente regular y los del programa de Educación Especial.

Los maestros que obtuvieron sus permanencias pertenecen a distintas categorías, entre ellas: Inglés elemental, Maestro bibliotecario, Maestro de educación secundaria, Maestro bilingüe, Maestro de idiomas extranjero, Maestro de Edu-

cación Especial, Trabajador social escolar, Consejero profesional escolar , maestros ocupacionales, Profesores para el Instituto Tecnológico de Puerto Rico (Escuela de troquelería y herramentaje y el Puerto Rico Aviation Maintenance Institute), Maestros y profesores de la Secretaría Ocupacional y Técnica y, Maestros de escuelas Montessori. Hay, además, maestros de educación temprana, Educación Física, Salud, Bellas Artes, y de recurso en la computadora.

POR CYBERNEWS

SAN JUAN – El secretario del Departamento de Justicia, Domingo Emanuelli Hernández, informó el martes, que el influencer y motivador, Jorge Christian Batista Agront, se declaró culpable de cuatro cargos de evasión contributiva tras suscribir un acuerdo de pago con el Departamento de Hacienda, mediante el cual se comprometió a pagar sobre 8.3 millones de dólares y a ofrecer horas de servicio comunitario para orientar y educar sobre aspectos contributivos.

“A través de la investigación y el procesamiento de este caso se logró cobrar una cifra millonaria que le corresponde al erario, y por ende, al pueblo. Agradezco la labor de las fiscales Ileana Martínez Rosado y Jennifer Reyes Martínez, de la División de Delitos Económicos del Departamento de Justicia, liderada por el fiscal Rodney Ríos Medina, y la colaboración del personal del Departamento de Hacienda como parte de la alianza investigativa”, expresó Emanuelli Hernández en declaraciones escritas.

Una alianza investigativa entre el Departamento de Hacienda y el Departamento de Justicia puso al descubierto el patrón de evasión por parte de Batista Agront, quien adeuda al fisco alrededor de 7.6 millones de dólares, incluyen-

do multas y penalidades, por incumplir con su deber de reportar más de 11 millones de dólares en sus Planillas de Contribución sobre Ingresos, en su carácter individual y por su corporación Jettrades, LLC.

El secretario de Justicia explicó que, para cumplir con su responsabilidad contributiva, “Batista Agront se comprometió a pagar la totalidad de las contribuciones adeudadas y los intereses acumulados. Además, tendrá que pagar una multa de 5,000 dólares por cada cago, para un total de 20,000 dólares, lo que representa la pena máxima conforme al Código de Rentas Internas”.

La jueza Nerisvel Durán Guzmán, del Tribunal de Primera Instancia de San Juan, acogió el acuerdo y sentenció al influencer en el martes. Batista Agront tendrá que desembolsar el monto total a plazos, comenzando el próximo 15 de marzo.

El influencer, quien se identifica como Chris Agront, se promueve como educador financiero y experto en el mercado de las criptomonedas.

Jorge Christian Batista Agront tendrá que pagar sobre $8.3 millones y ofrecer horas de servicio comunitario tras declararse culpable por deuda en Hacienda

Anuncian permanencia para 1,215 maestros en el Departamento de Educación

Richard Belzer had a ball with the relationship between comic and crowd

By JASON ZINOMAN

When Richard Belzer did stand-up on “Late Night With David Letterman,” he always entered to the opening riffs of “Start Me Up” by the Rolling Stones, dancing his way onstage, looking like the life of the party in dark shades.

Once he arrived at the microphone, he made a point of engaging with the studio audience in a way you rarely saw on television. More than once, he asked, “You in a good mood?” and waited for a cheer. Then his tone shifted: “Prove it.”

With that opening pivot, he turned the relationship between comedian and crowd upside down. The expectation was now on the people in the seats: Impress me.

Belzer, who died Sunday, is best known for his performances as a detective on TV, but his acting career was built on a signature persona in comedy, as a master of seductive crowd work who set the template for the emcee in the early days of the comedy club. Often in jackets and shirts buttoned low, he cut a stylish image, spiky and louche. He could charm with the best of them, but unlike many performers, he didn’t come off as desperate for your approval. He understood that one of the peculiar things about comedy is that the line between irritation and ingratiation can easily blur.

Throughout the 1970s, he ran the show at the buzziest of the New York clubs: Catch a Rising Star, stand-up’s answer to Studio 54. He roasted the crowds while warming them up, quizzing them about where they were from and what they did, establishing rapport and dominance. Long before Dave Chappelle dropped the mic at the end of shows, Belzer regularly did so.

If the crowd wasn’t laughing, he could lay on a guilt trip: “Could you be a little more quiet? Because I’m going to have a nervous breakdown.” And if someone heckled, look out. According to a story from comic Jonathan Katz, one night someone in the crowd yelled, “Nice jacket!” and Belzer responded that he got it on sale in his mother’s vagina.

Belzer didn’t get famous as quickly as many of his peers, but he was a cult figure with wide influence in comedy. You can hear his clipped cadences, not to mention his use of “babe” as a nickname, in the act of Dennis Miller, who once referred to him as “the dark prince” of Catch a Rising Star. Andy Kaufman’s alter ego, Tony Clifton, was partly inspired by Belzer (notice the glasses).

Even as an emcee, Belzer was his own star attraction. He became famous for taking an incredibly long time to introduce a comic. In an interview for a documentary about him that has yet to be released, Belzer recalled once taking an hour and 45 minutes to bring

up the next comic. Bill Scheft, a stand-up who is producing the movie, said Belzer ad-libbed many lines “that became stock emcee lines for others.”

Few of Belzer’s live shows were taped, but you can find traces online. An all-purpose showman who could sing and dance, he even did pratfalls while spoofing a hipster pose. One wonderfully goofy bit involved getting his hand stuck while running it through his hair, dragging his whole body down to the ground.

He leaned hard on flamboyant impressions, including those of Ronald Reagan, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and especially Mick Jagger. There’s a wonderful competitive moment from the 2011 show “Green Room” when, in the middle of a conversation, Belzer gets into a “Jagger-off” with comic Rick Overton. He triumphs, doing an impression he always called “peacock on acid.”

More than any joke, what stands out from a deep dive into Belzer’s online comedy was an attitude: impatient, sarcastic, friendly but quick to jab. There was a percussive sound to his running retorts to the crowd: “Yeah, right, sure.” These move-it-along interruptions had a rhythm and sound that was quintessentially New

York.

When he dove into a familiar premise, his voice could move from dry to wry in a blink, mocking himself. It’s no wonder that Letterman, another ironist whose attitude perpetually commented on and upstaged his own jokes, booked him so often.

Today, crowd work is much easier to see, in specials but also all over social media, where it has become a critical part of marketing and selling tickets for young comics. But in the 1980s, unless you went to a club, you didn’t often find people turning “Where you from?” into spontaneous comedy, so it’s striking that in his 1986 HBO special, he included plenty of such basic interactions.

“There’s a lot of parts of New Jersey that are very nice,” he said, responding to one guy from the state. “I can’t think of any right now.”

As early as 1978, he opened sets with a touch of hostility, looking up and asking, “Could you make these lights brighter? I’d like to go blind.”

Nothing on video displays his stature as much as a 90-minute show celebrating the 10th anniversary of Catch a Rising Star that aired on HBO in 1982. It’s a terrific portrait of New York comedy at the time, with a long bill including Kaufman, Billy Crystal, Rita Rudner and David Brenner, along with singer Pat Benatar, who was managed by the club’s owner, Rick Newman.

Belzer introduces them all, keeping things just sarcastic enough to prevent anyone from taking themselves seriously. Once Joe Piscopo finishes a Frank Sinatra impression in full costume and makeup, Belzer marvels: “What an honor. What a surprise. What a man. What a toupée.”

At the end, Robin Williams heckles Belzer from the crowd before going onstage and improvising a series of scenes to close out the night. Whereas Belzer was relatively unknown to the mainstream then, Williams was a giant television star and powerhouse live performer, frenetic and wildly unpredictable. Williams riffs punchlines effortlessly, but Belzer keeps up and matches him, line by line. That some don’t land only adds gravitas to the feat, since it proves this was not an act polished for HBO but a real attempt to translate high-wire improv to television.

This ephemeral work is not the part of comedy you tend to see in movies or specials, but when done well live, it can be thrilling. And part of the job of the emcee is to be alert to the value of spontaneous moments. Belzer understood this as well as anyone.

“The greatest thing for me is when I make the audience laugh in a moment that could only happen that night with that audience,” he said in a recent interview. “Sometimes I laugh with the audience because I’m hearing the joke the same time they are.”

Richard Belzer at “Saturday Night Live” in 1978. He understood that for comedians, the line between ingratiation and irritation could blur.Credit...

The San Juan Daily Star

‘Rust’ prosecutors downgrade Baldwin’s manslaughter charges

By JULIA JACOBS

Prosecutors have downgraded the involuntary manslaughter charges against Alec Baldwin, significantly reducing the possible prison time for the actor, who was holding the gun that discharged on the “Rust” movie set, killing the film’s cinematographer.

Baldwin’s lawyers argued this month that the Santa Fe County district attorney had incorrectly charged the actor under a version of a New Mexico firearm law that was passed months after the fatal shooting in October 2021.

If convicted under that law, called a firearm enhancement, Baldwin would have received a minimum prison sentence of five years. Instead, he now faces a maximum of 18 months in prison.

In a statement, Heather Brewer, a spokesperson for the district attorney, said the prosecution had dropped the firearm enhancement to “avoid further litigious distractions by Mr. Baldwin and his attorneys.”

“The prosecution’s priority is securing justice, not securing billable hours for big-city attorneys,” Brewer said Monday.

The altered charges, which were filed Friday, also apply to Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer who was responsible for weapons and ammunition on set. She loaded the gun the day of the shooting with what were supposed to be all dummies, inert cartridges used to resemble real rounds on camera. While Baldwin was drawing his revolver to prepare for a scene, the gun discharged a live round, killing the cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, and wounding the director, Joel Souza.

Baldwin has asserted he was not responsible for the fatal shooting, saying he was handed a gun that he was told was “cold,” meaning it did not contain live rounds and was safe to

handle.

Lawyers for both Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed had argued that by charging their clients under the firearm enhancement law, the prosecutors appeared to be applying a version of the law that had not been passed until 2022.

The version that was on the New Mexico books when Hutchins was killed says the firearm enhancement applies when a weapon is “brandished” in the commission of a noncapital felony. The newer version imposes a minimum five-year sentence if a firearm was “discharged” in the commission of a noncapital felony.

According to the law’s definition of “brandished,” the action must be done “with intent to intimidate or injure a person.” Baldwin’s lawyers argued in court papers that the prosecutors had not accused the actor of that behavior in legal filings or public statements, instead alleging that the actor had been negligent on set and had repeatedly violated film safety standards,

which he denies.

A lawyer for Gutierrez-Reed, Jason Bowles, wrote in court papers that the firearm enhancement could not apply to her because she was not holding the gun when it went off. Instead, prosecutors have accused her of negligent behavior that included not properly checking the rounds that she loaded

into the gun. Gutierrez-Reed told investigators that she did check each round that day.

Bowles said the prosecutors’ decision to drop the firearm enhancement “reflected good ethical standards and was correct on the facts and law.” A lawyer for Baldwin, Luke Nikas, declined to comment.

For both defendants, prosecutors have filed two counts in the alternative, meaning that if they are convicted, a jury would decide which definition of involuntary manslaughter applies.

This is not the only challenge Baldwin’s legal team has made to the prosecution’s case. The lawyers have also questioned the constitutionality of the district attorney’s appointment of a special prosecutor, Andrea Reeb. Reeb is also a newly elected state representative, and Baldwin’s lawyers have said that serving in two separate branches of government is unlawful and have asked for her to be disqualified.

A judge will be asked to determine whether there is cause to move forward with the charges filed against Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed. The first hearing in the case is scheduled for Friday.

If convicted of involuntary manslaughter, Alec Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film’s armorer, would now face up to 18 months in prison.

Wednesday, March 4, 2020 20

Wednesday, February 22, 2023 22

By IRIS EDÉN SANTIAGO

very fashion designer participating in events around the world will work miracles to attract A-list celebrities to their show. And if those celebrities model their label for the photographers, their job is done. This coordination is extremely vital because the people sitting in the first row of these events often are the main course of the show. And their looks are instant publicity, sometimes better than the collections on the runway.

Dignitaries, actors, actresses, performers, supermodels and royals are favorites amongst these guests. Tamara Falco, Victoria de Marichalar, Macarena Gómez and Luz Casal were some of the celebrities spotted at the shows in Madrid. But it was Pedro Sánchez, head of

the Spanish government, who took the crowd of fashionistas by surprise. Sánchez attended Teresa Helbig’s show with wife Begoña Gómez. And even though Gómez is a regular at these shows, Sánchez is the first prime minister to attend a fashion week show in Madrid. Her Majesty the Queen of England, Elizabeth II, caused a similar commotion when back in 2018 she attended Richard Quinn’s show during London Fashion Week.

And back to the 77th Edition of the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Madrid. So much talent, so many trends, so many fantastic collections. In a nutshell, the collections were full of color, drama, sequins and volume. Still trending? Green, fuchsia, orange, purple, metallics, feathers and cropped tops. We loved Teresa Helbig, Isabel Sanchís, Andrés Sarta, Paloma Suárez, Lola Casademunt by Maite and Jorge Vázquez. Custo Barcelona, Roberto Torretta, Eduardo Navarrete, Hannibal Laguna, Carlos Duarte, Pedro del Hierro, Otrura and Pertegaz were among the 70+ designers who presented

Lola Casademunt

their fall winter 2023 collections at Ifema Madrid and other venues throughout the city. We will review the best shows individually. In the meantime, enjoy some highlights on this page.

Emerging fashion designers like Adrià Egea, Alejandre, Charlie Smits, Fátima Miñana, Guillermo Décimo, Sabela Juncal, Reparto, Aitor Goikoetxea and 93 Sierra presented their proposals at their own event, Allianz Ego Catwalk.

LEGAL NOTICE

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO WILMINGTON SAVINGS FUND SOCIETY, FSB, D/B/A CHRISTIANA TRUST, AS INDENTURE TRUSTEE, FOR THE CSMC 2015-PR1 TRUST, MORTGAGE-BACKED NOTES, SERIES 2015-PR1

Plaintiff V. ANGEL GARCIA GARCIA Defendants

Civil Action Num.: 21-cv-01229. (FAB). Matter: FORECLOSURE OF MORTGAGE. NOTICE OF SALE.

To: ANGEL GARCIA GARCIA AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC:

WHEREAS: On July 13, 2022

Default Judgment was entered and grated on same day in favor of Plaintiff to recover from defendants the principal amount of $127,202.53 plus accrued interests at an annual rate 4.00%, since March 1st, 2020, to the present, a deferred principal balance of $2,114.68, which does not accrue interest at the time, plus late charges fees in the amount of 5.0% of each and any monthly installment not received by the note holder within 15 days after the installment was due, including the balance of the sum of $15,229.00, for costs, charges, disbursements, expenses and attorneys’ fees guaranteed under the mortgage obligations. The records of the case and of these proceedings may be examined by interested parties at the Office of the Clerk of the United States District Court, Room 150 or 400 Federal Office Building, 150 Chardon Avenue, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico.

WHEREAS: Pursuant to the terms of the aforementioned Judgment, Order of Execution, and the Writ of Execution thereof, the undersigned Special Master was ordered to sell at public auction for U.S. currency in cash or certified check without appraisement or right of redemption to the highest bidder and at the office of the Clerk of the Court, Room 150 or 400 – Federal Office Building, 150 Carlos Chardón Avenue, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, to cover the sums adjudged to be paid to the plaintiff, the following property described in Spanish: UR-

BANA: Propiedad Horizontal: Apartamento número ciento cuarenta (140), localizado en el tercer cuarto y quinto piso del Edificio I del Condominio Paseo Mónaco, situado en el kilómetro dieciséis punto seis (16.6) de la Carretera Estatal número cien-

to sesenta y siete Barrio Cerro Gordo del Municipio de Bayamón, Puerto Rico. Este apartamento está construido en hormigón reforzado. Tiene tres (3) niveles, con su puerta de entrada por el lindero Este, y por ella se accesa al área común general del Condominio. Este apartamento tiene un área total de mil quinientos sesenta y cuatro punto noventa y seis (1,564.96) pies cuadrados equivalentes a ciento cuarenta y cinco punto cuatrocientos cuarenta y dos (145.442) metros cuadrados.

Linderos: En el primer nivel del apartamento (tercer piso del edificio) por el NORTE, con el apartamento número ciento treinta y nueve (139); por el SUR, con área común general del condominio; por el ESTE, con área común general del Condominio entre la que se encuentra el área de ubicación de la puerta de entrada al apartamento y con el apartamento número ciento treinta y nueve (139); y por el OESTE, con área común general del Condominio. Los linderos en el segundo nivel del apartamento (cuarto piso del edificio) son por el NORTE, con el apartamento número ciento treinta y nueve (139); por el SUR, con el apartamento número ciento cuarenta y cuatro (144) y con área común general del condominio; por el ESTE, con el apartamento número ciento treinta y siete (137) y con el apartamento número ciento treinta y nueve (139); y por el OESTE, con el apartamento número ciento treinta y siete (137) y con área común general del condominio. Este segundo nivel se comunica con el primero a base de una escalera interior del apartamento. Los linderos del tercer nivel del apartamento (quinto piso del edificio) son por el NORTE, con el apartamento número ciento treinta y nueve (139); por el SUR, con el apartamento número ciento cuarenta y cuatro (144); por el ESTE, con el apartamento número ciento treinta y siete (137); y por el OESTE, con el apartamento número ciento treinta y nueve (139) y con área común general del condominio: Este tercer nivel se comunica con el segundo a base de una escalera interior del apartamento. Este apartamento consta de sala-comedor, balcón, cocina con clóset, tres cuartos con closets, dos baños, un medio baño, un área de lavandería, un clóset adicional fuera de los cuartos, escalera interior, un área techada en la azotea del edificio y un área techada en laazotea del edificio, y un área de terraza descubierta en la azotea del edificio la cual está delimitada en su lindero por una pared. A este

apartamento le corresponde dos espacios sencillos de estacionamientos, identificados cada uno con el número ciento cuarenta (140) en el área de estacionamiento ubicada al Este del edificio marcado I; J, K y L del condominio. Le corresponden a este apartamento como anejos, el estacionamiento número ciento cuarenta (140) para dos automóviles, uno detrás del otro y el área de terraza que ubica en el tercer nivel del apartamento, todo según ilustrado en el Plot Plan y planos del condominio aprobados por ARPE. A este apartamento le corresponde una participación de cero punto cinco mil quinientos cuarenta y ocho por ciento (0.5548%) en los elementos comunes del Condominio. The encumbered property is recorded at Page 35 of Volume 1918 of Bayamon Sur, Property Registry of Puerto Rico, lot number 79,880, First Section of Bayamón. Property address: Condominio Paseo de Monaco II, Apartament 140, Bayamón, P.R. 00960. The deed of mortgage and subsequent modifications are recorded at Page 35 of Volume 1918 and Page 55 of Volume 1922 both of Bayamón Sur, Property Registry of Bayamón, Third and Fourth Inscription respectively. WHEREAS: This property is subject to the following liens: Senior Liens: NONE. Junior Liens: NONE. Other Liens: NONE. Potential bidders are advised to verify the extent of preferential liens with the holders thereof. It shall be understood that each bidder accepts as sufficient the title and that prior and preferential liens to the one being foreclosed upon, including but not limited to any property tax, liens, (express, tacit, implied or legal) shall continue in effect it being understood further that the successful bidder accepts them and is subrogated in the responsibility for the same and that the bid price shall not be applied toward their cancellation. THEREFORE, the FIRST PUBLIC SALE shall be held on the 14TH DAY OF MARCH OF 2023 AT 8:45 AM. The minimum bid that will be accepted is the sum of $135,966.15. In the event said first auction does not produce a bidder and the property is not adjudicated, a SECOND PUBLIC AUCTION shall be held on the 21ST DAY OF MARCH OF 2023 AT 8:45 AM, and the minimum bid that will be accepted is the sum $90,644.10, which is two-thirds of the amount of the minimum bid for the first public sale. If a second auction does not result in the adjudication and sale of the property, a THIRD PUBLIC AUCTION will be held on the

28TH DAY OF MARCH

OF

2023 AT 8:45 AM, and the minimum bid that will be accepted is the sum of $67,983.01, which is one-half of the minimum bid in the first public sale. Should there be no award or adjudication at the third public sale, the property may be awarded to the creditor for the entire amount of its debt if it is equal to or less than the amount of the minimum bid of the third public sale, crediting this amount to the amount owed if it is greater. The undersigned Special Master shall not accept in payment of the property to be sold anything but United States currency (cash), or certified checks, except in case the property is sold and adjudicated to the plaintiff, in which case the amount of the bid made by said plaintiff shall be credited and deducted from its credit; said plaintiff being bound to pay in cash or certified check only any excess of its bid over the secured indebtedness that remains unsatisfied. WHEREAS: Said sale to be made by the undersigned Special Master subject to confirmation by the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico and the deed of conveyance and possession to the property will be executed and delivered only after such confirmation. Upon confirmation of the sale, an order shall be issued cancelling all junior liens. For further particulars, reference is made to the judgment entered by the Court in this case, which can be examined in the Office of Clerk of the United States District Court, District of Puerto Rico. In San Juan, Puerto Rico, 17th day of January of 2023. Pedro A. Vélez Baerga, Special Master, 787-672-8269.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

Parte Demandante Vs. RICHARD LUIS GONZÁLEZ KNEIFEL, NORMA IRIS OYOLA TIRADO Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

Parte Demandada Civil Núm.: HU2022CV00541. (205). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE

ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. AVISO DE PÚBLICA SUBASTA. El Alguacil que suscribe por la presente anuncia y hace constar que en cumplimiento de la Sentencia en Rebeldía dictada el 24 de agosto de 2022, la Orden de Ejecución de Sentencia del 13 de enero de 2023 y el Mandamiento de Ejecución del 17 de enero de 2023 en el caso de epígrafe, procederé a vender el día 20 DE ABRIL DE 2023, A LAS 11:00 DE LA MAÑANA en mi oficina, localizada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Centro Judicial de Humacao, Sala Superior, en la Avenida Nicanor Vázquez (frente al Centro de Bellas Artes), Humacao, Puerto Rico, al mejor postor en pago de contado y en moneda de los Estados Unidos de América, cheque de gerente o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal; todo título, derecho o interés de la parte demandada sobre la siguiente propiedad: URBANA: Solar marcado con el Número Noventa y Cinco (95) de la Urbanización Las Villas de Río Blanco, radicada en el Barrio Río Blanco del término municipal de Naguabo, Puerto Rico, con una cabida de 558.6914 metros cuadrados, equivalentes a 0.1421 cuerdas. En lindes por el NORTE: en 13.92 metros lineales con el Solar Número Ochenta y Uno (81); por el SUR: en 20.75 metros lineales con la Calle Número Tres (3) del proyecto; por el OESTE: en 26.51 metros lineales con el Solar Número Noventa y Cuatro (94) del proyecto; y por el ESTE: en 19.48 metros lineales y un arco de 2.81 metros con la Calle Número Uno (1) del proyecto. Enclava una estructura para fines residenciales diseñada para viviendas de una familia, construida conforme a planos y especificaciones aprobadas por las agencias e instrumentales gubernamentales pertinentes. Inscrita al folio 127 del tomo 233 de Naguabo, Finca 13184. Registro de la Propiedad de Humacao. La escritura de hipoteca consta inscrita al tomo Karibe de Naguabo, Finca 13184. Registro de la Propiedad de Humacao. Inscripción tercera. Urb. Reparto Valencia, Villas de Río Blanco, 95 Calle 3, Naguabo PR 00718. Número de Catastro: 52-229-095-193-09-000. El tipo mínimo para la primera subasta será de $82,163.00. De no haber adjudicación en la primera subasta se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA, el día 27 DE ABRIL DE 2023, A LAS 11:00 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,

$54,775.33. De no haber adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA, el día 4 DE MAYO DE 2023, A LAS 11:00 DE LA MAÑANA en el mismo lugar, en la cual el tipo mínimo será la mitad del precio pactado, o sea, $41,081.50. 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 $76,251.82 de principal, más intereses sobre dicha suma al 4.25% anual desde el 1 de junio de 2020 hasta su completo pago, más $492.38 de recargos acumulados los cuales continuarán en aumento hasta el saldo total de la deuda, más la cantidad estipulada de $8,216.30 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogados, así como cualquier otra suma que contenga el contrato del préstamo. Surge del Estudio de Título Registral que sobre esta propiedad pesa el siguiente gravamen posterior a la hipoteca que por la presente se pretende ejecutar: a. Bitácora: Al Asiento 2022-061128-HU01, el 10 de mayo de 2022, Demanda de fecha 26 de abril de 2022, ante el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Humacao, en el Caso Civil Número HU2022CV00541, seguido por Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

Vs. Richard Luis González Kneifel y su esposa Norma Iris Oyola Titado, sobre Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca, en la que se reclama el pago de hipoteca, con un balance de $76,251.82 y otras cantidades, o la venta en pública subasta de la propiedad. Pendiente de anotación. Se notifica al acreedor posterior o a su sucesor o cesionario en derecho para que comparezca a proteger su derecho si así lo desea. Se le advierte a los interesados que todos los documentos relacionados con la presente acción de ejecución de hipoteca, así como los de Subasta, estarán disponibles para ser examinados, durante horas laborables, en el expediente del caso que obra en los archivos de la Secretaría del Tribunal, bajo el número de epígrafe y para su publicación en un periódico de circulación general en Puerto Rico por espacio de dos semanas y por lo menos una vez por semana; y para su fijación en los sitios públicos requeridos por ley. Se entenderá que todo

licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante, continuarán subsistentes; entendiéndose que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Y para el conocimiento de los demandados, de los acreedores posteriores, de los licitadores, partes interesadas y público en general, EXPIDO para su publicación en los lugares públicos correspondientes, el presente Aviso de Pública Subasta en Humacao, Puerto Rico, hoy 25 de enero de 2023. WILNELIA RIVERA DELGADO, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR PLACA #249. JOSÉ LUIS RODRÍGUEZ HERNÁNDEZ, ALGUACIL REGIONAL.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

ESPACIO

RESIDENTIAL LLC

Demandante V. ANGEL RIVERA

MALDONADO; JANET

FIGUEROA GONZALEZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES

COMPUESTA POR

AMBOS

Demandados

Civil Núm.: HSCI2009-00516. (206). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. AVISO DE VENTA EN PÚBLICA SUBASTA. Yo, JOSÉ LUIS RODRÍGUEZ HERNÁNDEZ, Alguacil de la División de Subastas del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Humacao, a la 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, con fecha 31 de agosto de 2022 y para satisfacer la Sentencia por la cantidad de $53,143.05 de principal; dictada en el caso de epígrafe el 30 de noviembre de 2009, notificada y archivada en autos el 7 de diciembre de 2009; procederé a vender en pública subasta, al mejor postor en pago de contado y en moneda del curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América, todo derecho, título e interés que haya tenido, tenga o pueda tener la deudora demandada en cuanto a la propiedad localizada en el: Municipio de Naguabo, Puerto Rico,

el bien inmueble que se describe a continuación: D-16 4 St. Praderas Del Este, Naguabo, PR 00718. URBANA: SOLAR NÚMERO DIECISEIS (16) DEL BLOQUE “D”, RADICADO EN LA URBANIZACIÓN PRADERAS DEL ESTE, LOCALIZADA EN EL BARRIO SANTIAGO Y LIMA DEL TÉRMINO MUNICIPAL DE NAGUABO, PUERTO RICO, CON UN ÁREA SUPERFICIAL DE DOSCIENTOS SESENTICUATRO PUNTO CERO CERO (264.00) METROS CUADRADOS, COLINDANDO POR EL NORTE EN DOCE PUNTO CERO CERO (12.00) METROS CON EL SOLAR SIETE (7) DEL BLOQUE “D” DE LA URBANIZACIÓN; POR EL SUR, EN DOCE PUNTO C ERO CERO (12.00) METROS CON LA CALLE NÚMERO CUATRO (4) DE LA URBANIZACIÓN; POR EL ESTE, EN VEINTIDOS PUNTO CERO CERO (22.00) METROS CON EL SOLAR QUINCE (15) DEL BLOQUE “D” DE LA URBANIZACIÓN Y POR EL OESTE, EN VEINTIDOS PUNTO CERO CERO (22.00) METROS CON EL SOLAR DIECISIETE (17) DEL BLOQUE “D” DE LA URBANIZACIÓN. ENCLAVA CASA DE HORMIGÓN Y BLOQUES DE HORMIGÓN PARA FINES RESIDENCIALES. FINCA #14302 DE NAGUABO, INSCRITA AL TOMO KARIBE, REGISTRO DE LA PROPIEDAD DE HUMACAO. 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 de Humacao, cuyas cantidades ascienden a $53,143.05 de principal; 5.95% de intereses, los cuales continúan acumulándose hasta el saldo total de la deuda; $213.12 de cargos por mora, los cuales continúan acumulándose hasta el saldo total de la deuda; más $150.00 por concepto de otros gastos, más los intereses que se acumulen hasta el pago total de la deuda, más costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado. El tipo mínimo para la subasta será la suma de tasación pactada, la cual es $55,825.00 para la propiedad descrita. Si no produjere remate o adjudicación la primera subasta, se procederá a una segunda subasta y servirá de tipo mínimo la cantidad de $37,216.66. Si tampoco hubiere remate ni adjudicación en esta segunda subasta, se procederá a una tercera subasta, en ésta el tipo mínimo será la cantidad de $27,912.50. Si se declarase desierta la tercera subasta se dará por terminado el procedimiento, pudiendo adjudicarse a opción del demandante. Para el lote descrito, la PRIMERA SU-

con la Calle Jardín; por el SUR, en una distancia de 28.048 metros, con el Lote 118 y con el lote 117; por el ESTE, en una distancia de 27.989 metros, con el Lote 127; y por el OESTE, en una distancia de 29.115 metros, con calle principal. El inmueble antes descrito contiene una casa de concreto diseñada para una sola familia construida de acuerdo con planos y especificaciones sometidos y aprobados por las agencias e instrumentalidades gubernamentales pertinentes. Inscrita en la finca número 20,069, al tomo Karibe de Gurabo. Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección II de Caguas. La propiedad ubica en: Los Paisajes de Ciudad Jardín, 128 Calle Jardín, Gurabo, PR. El producto de la subasta se destinará a satisfacer al demandante hasta donde alcance, la SENTENCIA dictada a su favor, el día 18 de noviembre de 2013 y notificada el 6 de junio de 2019, en el presente caso civil, a saber la suma de $349,720.24 de principal más los intereses a razón del 4.5% anual desde el día 1ro de septiembre de 2011 así como intereses acumulados y por acumularse a partir de esa fecha y hasta su total pago completo repago de la deuda; cargos por demora equivalentes al 4.00% de todos aquellos pagos con atrasos en exceso de 15 días calendarios de la fecha de vencimiento hasta el total y completo repago de la deuda; $36,495.00, es decir, el 10% sobre el principal del pagaré hipotecario para el pago de costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado como suma pactada a dichos efectos; 10% de la cuantía original del Pagaré para cubrir cualquier otro adelanto que se hagan en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca y una suma equivalente al 10% del principal original de pagaré para cubrir los intereses en adición a los garantizados ley. 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 29 DE MARZO DE 2023 A

LAS 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en la oficina del referido Alguacil, localizada en el Centro Judicial de Caguas, Caguas, Puerto Rico. Que el precio mínimo fijado para la PRIMERA SUBASTA es de $364,950.00. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una

SEGUNDA SUBASTA la misma se llevará a efecto el día 5 DE

ABRIL DE 2023 A LAS 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en la oficina antes mencionada del Alguacil que suscribe. El precio mínimo para la SEGUNDA SUBASTA será de $243,300.00, equivalentes a dos terceras (2/3) par-

tes 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 12 DE ABRIL DE 2023 A LAS 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en la oficina antes mencionada del Alguacil que suscribe. El precio mínimo para la TERCERA SUBASTA será de $182,475.00, 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 Caguas, Puerto Rico, hoy día 6 de febrero de 2023. Ángel

Gómez Gómez, Alguacil Placa #593, División De Subastas,

Tribunal De Primera Instancia, Sala Superior De Caguas.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

Demandante V. VIVIANA ARAGONES SÁNCHEZ

Demandado

Civil Núm.: DCD2014-0444. Sala: 701. IN REM - EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. 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 Bayamón, Bayamón, 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 23 de enero de 2023, por la Secretaría del Tribunal, procederé a vender y venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor la propiedad que ubica y se describe a continuación:

URBANA: PROPIEDAD HORI-

ZONTAL: Apartamento número 054, localizado en el segundo piso del Edificio “D” del Condominio Paseo Mónaco, localizado en el kilómetro 16.6, Carretera número 167, Barrio Cerro Gordo, Municipio de Bayamón. Este apartamento está construido en hormigón reforzado. Tiene un nivel con su puerta de entrada por el lindero Oeste y por ella se accesa al área común general del Condominio. Tiene un área de 1,337.40 pies cuadrados equivalentes a 124.294 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con área común general del Condominio; por el SUR, con el Apartamento número 053; por el ESTE, con el Apartamento número O39 y con área común general del Condominio y por el OESTE, con área común general del Condominio. Entre la que se encuentra el área de ubicación de la puerta de entrada al apartamento. Consta de sala-comedor, dos balcones, cocina con “closets”, área de lavandería, tres cuartos con “closets”, dos baños y un “closet” adicionales fuera de los cuartos. Le corresponde un estacionamiento marcado con el número O54D para dos automóviles. Le corresponde una participación en los elementos comunes equivalentes a 0.4741%. Inscrito al folio

133 del tomo 177 de Bayamón, finca número #73,705 Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección Primera de Bayamón. El producto de la subasta se destinará a satisfacer al de-

mandante hasta donde alcance, la SENTENCIA dictada y notificada en este caso el 9 de abril de 2014 y notificada el 24 de abril de 2014 en el presente caso civil, a saber la suma de $1,737.68 por concepto de intereses acumulados, $195.02 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; y la suma $16,897.70 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 12 DE ABRIL DE 2023 A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en el cuarto piso, Oficina de Alguaciles de Subastas de Centro Judicial de Bayamón, Bayamón, Puerto Rico. Que el precio mínimo fijado para la PRIMERA SUBASTA es de $168,977.07. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una SEGUNDA SUBASTA la misma se llevará a efecto el día 19 DE ABRIL DE 2023 A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en la oficina antes mencionada del Alguacil que suscribe. El precio mínimo para la SEGUNDA SUBASTA será de $112,651.38, 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 26 DE ABRIL DE 2023 A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en la oficina antes mencionada del Alguacil que suscribe. El precio mínimo para la TERCERA SUBASTA será de $84,448.53, 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 pose-

sión 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 Bayamón, Puerto Rico, hoy día 02 de febrero de 2023. MARIBEL LANZAR VELÁZQUEZ, ALGUACIL PLACA #735, DIVISIÓN DE SUBASTAS, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN.

LEGAL NOTICE

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO WILMINGTON SAVINGS FUND SOCIETY, FSB, NOT IN ITS INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY BUT SOLELY AS CERTIFICATE TRUSTEE OF BOSCO CREDIT II TRUST SERIES 2017-1, BY FRANKLIN CREDIT MANAGEMENT CORPORATION AS SERVICER Plaintiff V. UNKNOWN HEIRS, FORCED HEIRS, DEVISEES, GRANTEES, ASSIGNEES, LIENORS, CREDITORS, TRUSTEES AND ALL OTHER PARTIES CLAIMING AN INTEREST BY, THROUGH, UNDER OR AGAINST THE ESTATE OF EDUARDO ORTIZ DE LEON, DECEASED ; CARMEN L. LOPEZ MORALES; CENTRO

DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (CRIM)

Defendants Civil No.: 19-CV-1733. (ADC). FORECLOSURE OF MORTGAGE (IN REM ONLY). NOTICE OF SALE.

To: UNKNOWN HEIRS, FORCED HEIRS, DEVISEES, GRANTEES, ASSIGNEES, LIENORS, CREDITORS, TRUSTEES AND ALL OTHER PARTIES CLAIMING AN INTEREST BY, THROUGH, UNDER OR AGAINST THE ESTATE OF EDUARDO ORTIZ DE LEON, DECEASED ; CARMEN L. LOPEZ MORALES; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (CRIM), ANY OTHER PARTY WITH INTEREST OVER THE PROPERTY MENTIONED BELOW, AND, GENERAL PUBLIC.

WHEREAS: Consent In Rem Final Judgment was entered in favor of Plaintiff to recover from the Defendants the sum of Principal Balance of $286,338.24, Deferred Principal of $2,073.69, Interest Due through December 18, 2020 of $19,012.19, Funds owed by Borrower $2,024.59, Late Charge Payment of $1,318.80, NonSufficient Funds Fee of $30.00 and Attorney fees and Costs of 10% in the total amount of $30,273.17 plus interest thereafter at the daily accrual rate of 3% until final payment, and costs, and that plaintiff have execution therefore due in the above cause, plus all expenses and advances made by the plaintiff. The records of the case and of these proceedings may be examined by interested parties at the Office of the Clerk of the United States District Court, Room 150, Federal Office Building, 150 Chardon Avenue, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico. WHE-

REAS: Pursuant to the terms of the aforementioned Judgment, Order of Execution of Judgment and the Writ of Execution of Judgment thereof, the undersigned Special Master was ordered to sell at public auction for U.S. currency in cash or certified check without appraisement or right of redemption to the highest bidder and at the office of the Clerk of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, Room 150 – Federal Office Building, 150 Carlos Chardon Avenue, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, to cover the sums adjudged to be paid to the Plaintiff, the following property:

URBANA: Solar marcado con el numero veintiocho de plano de Urbanización levantado por el Doctor Rafael Bernabe y

cuyo solar mide cuatrocientos sesenta y tres punto veinte metros cuadrados. En lindes por el Norte en una distancia de veintinueve punto noventa metros con el solar numero veintiséis; por el Sur, en una distancia de veintiocho metros con el solar numero treinta; por el Este en una distancia de dieciséis metros con la calle número dos; por el Oeste en una distancia de dieciséis punto once metros con el solar numero doce. Enclava una casa. Consta inscrita al Folio 219 del tomo 244 de Rio Piedras Norte, Finca número 692, de Registro de la Propiedad de San Juan, Sección Segunda. WHEREAS: This property is subject to the following liens: Senior Liens: None. Junior Liens: None. Other Liens: None. Plaintiff’s mortgage in the amount of $281,000.00 was recorded at the San Juan Property Registry, Page 70, Volume 1477 of Rio Piedras Norte, property number 16,889, 4th inscription. The loan since then was modified pursuant to mortgage constituted by deed number 443, executed in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on September 30, 2016, before notary public Julio

E. Pijem Berrios, which MODIFIED it regarding its interests and due date, being now its new principal in the amount of $302,731.72 accruing interest at a 3% annual rate, starting on November 1, 2016 through September 1, 2021 and then will accrue interest at 3.375% until its due date on December 1, 2044, which was presented for recording on October 13, 2016 at entry 2016-101894SJ02 at Karibe. Deed of Clarification number 538 executed on November 14, 2016, which clarifies the due date of the first period of interest related to the Deed of Modification number 443, it should read accruing interest at a 3% annual rate from November 1, 2016 to November 1, 2021, which was presented for recording on November 15, 2016 at entry 2016-115031-SJ02 at Karibe. Potential bidders are advised to verify the extent of preferential liens with the holders thereof. It shall be understood that each bidder accepts as sufficient the title and that prior and preferential liens to the one being foreclosed upon, including but not limited to any property tax, liens, (express, tacit, implied or legal) shall continue in effect it being understood further that the successful bidder accepts them and is subrogated in the responsibility for same and that the bid price shall not be applied toward their cancelation. THEREFORE, the FIRST PUBLIC SALE shall be held on the 14 DAY OF MARCH, 2023 AT 9:15 AM. The minimum bid that will be accepted is the sum of $281,000.00.

In the event said first auction does not produce a bidder

and the property is not adjudicated, a SECOND PUBLIC AUCTION shall be held on the 21 DAY OF MARCH, 2023 AT 9:15 AM and the minimum bid that will be accepted is the sum of $187,333.33, which is two thirds of the amount of the minimum bid for the first public sale. If a second auction does not result in the adjudication and sale of the property, a THIRD PUBLIC AUCTION will be held on the 28 DAY OF MARCH, 2023 AT 9:15 AM and the minimum bid that will be accepted is the sum of $140,500.00, which is one half of the minimum bid in the first public sale. Should there be no award or adjudication at the third public sale, the property may be awarded to the creditor for the entire amount of its debt if it is equal to or less than the amount of the minimum bid of the third public sale, crediting this amount to the amount owed if it is greater. The Special Master shall not accept in payment of the property to be sold anything but United States currency or certified checks, except in case the property is sold and adjudicated to the Plaintiff, in which was the amount of the bid made by said Plaintiff shall be credited and deducted from its credit; said plaintiff being bound to pay in cash or certified check only any excess of its bid over the secured indebtedness that remains unsatisfied. WHEREAS: Said sale to be made by Special Master subject to confirmation by the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico and the deed of conveyance and possession to the property will be executed and delivered only after such confirmation. Upon confirmation of the sale, an order shall be issued cancelling all junior liens. For further particulars, reference is made to the judgment entered by the Court in this case, which can be examined in the Office of the Clerk of the United States District Court, District of Puerto Rico. In San Juan, Puerto Rico, this 9th day of February of 2023. PEDRO

A. VELEZ-BAERGA, SPECIAL MASTER.

LEGAL NOT ICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO

DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU-

NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE PONCE

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante Vs.

SUCESIÓN DE MARÍA

OTILIA MALDONADO

NAZARIO T/C/C MARÍA

OVILIA MALDONADO

NAZARIO COMPUESTA

POR SU VIUDO VICENTE

SEGARRA ACEVEDO; Y SU HEREDERA

CONOCIDA COMO

MARGARITA VEGA

MARIE HERGER DORSEY, SONY HERGER DORSEY Y MENGANO DE TAL, POSIBLE HEREDERO DESCONOCIDO, COMO PARTE DE LAS SUCESIONES DE BÁRBARA ANN DORSEY

MENDOZA Y DE ALFRED

HERGER DORSEY T/C/C

ALFRED BERNHART HERGER DORSEY; ALFRED DOMINGO HERGER TRAVESO

T/C/C ALFRED HERGER

Y SUTANO DE TAL, POSIBLE HEREDERO

DESCONOCIDO, COMO PARTE DE LA SUCESIÓN DE ALFRED HERGER

DORSEY T/C/C ALFRED

BERNHART HERGER DORSEY

Parte Demandada

Civil Núm.: KCD2016-1142. (806). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. REQUERIMIENTO DE INTERPELACIÓN POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS E.E.U.U., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.

A: NARCISO EMILIO

VARONA RODRÍGUEZ, POR SÍ Y COMO HEREDERO DE BÁRBARA ANN DORSEY

MENDOZA; A GRACE

MARIE HERGER

DORSEY Y SONY

HERGER DORSEY

COMO HEREDEROS DE BÁRBARA ANN DORSEY

MENDOZA Y DE ALFRED

HERGER DORSEY T/C/C

ALFRED BERNHART

HERGER DORSEY; A: COND. EL ESCORIAL, 111 MARGINAL F.D.

ROOSEVELT, APT. 15A, SAN JUAN, PR 009172713; CARIBBEAN

TOWERS, 670 AVE.

PONCE DE LEÓN, APT. 613, SAN JUAN, PR 00907-3241; URB.

MANSIONES DE RÍO

PIEDRAS, 1800 CALLE

DIAMELA, SAN JUAN, PR 00926-7213.

MENGANO DE TAL, POSIBLE HEREDERO DESCONOCIDO DE BÁRBARA ANN DORSEY

MENDOZA Y DE ALFRED

HERGER DORSEY T/C/C

ALFRED BERNHART

HERGER DORSEY;

Y SUTANO DE TAL, POSIBLE HEREDERO

DESCONOCIDO DE ALFRED HERGER

DORSEY T/C/C

ALFRED BERNHART HERGER DORSEY, CON IDENTIDADES Y DIRECCIONES DESCONOCIDAS.

Queda usted notificado que el 7 de octubre de 2021, este Tribunal dictó Sentencia en el caso de epígrafe concediendo a la demandante el importe de $70,528.63 de principal, más intereses sobre dicha suma al 7.5% anual desde el 1 de diciembre de 2015, hasta su completo pago, más $239.04 de recargos acumulados, más la cantidad estipulada de $9,635.00 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogados, así como cualquier otra suma que contenga el contrato del préstamo. La sentencia recae sobre la siguiente propiedad: URBANA:

PROPIEDAD HORIZONTAL:

Apartamento #15-A del edificio gobernado por el régimen de Propiedad Horizontal conocido por el nombre de Condominio El Escorial, sito en el #111 de la Calle Marginal Avenida Roosevelt, en la Urbanización Piñero, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico. Este apartamento está localizado en la esquina sureste de la 15ta. planta del edificio y colinda por el NORTE, en parte con el vestíbulo de la 15ta. planta del edificio y en parte con el patio interior del Este del edificio, por el SUR, con el patio del solar que ocupa el edificio principal en colindancia con la Avenida Roosevelt de la Urbanización Piñero; por el ESTE, en parte por el patio interior Este del edificio y en parte con el patio del solar que ocupa el edificio principal en colindancia con los solares 9 y 28 de la manzana D de la Urbanización Piñero; y por el OESTE, en parte con el vestíbulo de la 15ta. planta del edificio. El apartamento “A” tiene una cabida superficial de 1191.61 p.c., equivalentes a 110.77 m.c. Se compone este apartamento de una sala-comedor de donde se tiene acceso, por la parte suroeste de la misma, a un balcón rectangular con cabida superficial de 94.55 p.c., equivalentes a 8.79 m.c. y de donde se tiene acceso también, por su parte sureste, a un pasillo interior que contiene un clóset de cuyo pasillo se tiene acceso a su vez a 3 dormitorios y un baño. El dormitorio #1, localizado en la sección noreste del apartamento, tiene un closet, da acceso a un baño para uso de este dormitorio, los dos dormitorios, localizados en la parte Sur del apartamento y denominados dormitorio #2 y #3 contienen un clóset cada uno. De la sala-comedor antes mencionada se tiene acceso por su parte norte a una cocina que contiene closet y cuya cocina se tiene acceso,

asimismo, por su parte este, a un balcón de servicio que tiene una cabida superficial de 52.50 p.c., equivalentes a 4.88 m.c. De este balcón de servicio se tiene acceso hacia el Norte, a través de una puerta de entrada secundaria del apartamento al vestíbulo de la 3ra. planta del edificio. La puerta de entrada principal de apartamento está localizada en el extremo noreste de la sala que resulta ser a su vez el extremo Sureste del vestíbulo de uso comunal limitado de esta planta de cuyo vestíbulo se tiene acceso por sus lados Este y Oeste a 2 elevadores y a 2 escaleras que conectan las varias plantas del edificio con el vestíbulo principal localizado en la planta terrera y de cuyo vestíbulo se tiene acceso a su vez a través de los patios Sur y Norte de la propiedad a la Avenida Roosevelt y la calle #2, respectivamente, de la urbanización Piñero. Inscrita al folio 181 del tomo 733 de Río Piedras Norte, Finca 21173. Registro de la Propiedad de San Juan, Sección II. La hipoteca consta inscrita al folio 111 del tomo 1467 de Río Piedras Norte, Finca 21173. Registro de la Propiedad de San Juan, Sección II. Inscripción 8va. Se interpela a los herederos 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 de Puerto Rico del 1930, 31 L.P.R.A. § 2787, 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 interpelada deberá presentar su contestación, radicando el original de la contestación en la Secretaría de este Tribunal y enviando copia a la abogada de la Parte Demandante, Lcda. Belma Alonso García, cuya dirección es: PO Box 3922, Guaynabo, PR 00970-3922, correo electrónico: oficinabelmaalonso@gmail.com, dentro del término de treinta (30) días de la publicación del edicto, excluyéndose el día de la publicación, advirtiéndosele que de no hacerlo se tendrá por aceptada la herencia. EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y el sello del Tribunal, hoy, 23 de enero de 2023, en San Juan, Puerto Rico. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA. NANCY I. GARCÍA FIGUEROA, SECRETARIA DE SERVICIOS A SALA.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYA-

MÓN

EX-PARTE

Civil Núm.: BY2023CV00522.

Sobre: EXPEDIENTE DE DOMINIO (705). EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU., ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

A: LAS PERSONAS IGNORADAS Y DESCONOCIDAS A QUIENES PUDIERA PERJUDICAR LA INSCRIPCIÓN DEL DOMINIO A FAVOR DE LA PARTE PETICIONARIA EN EL REGISTRO DE LA PROPIEDAD DE LA FINCA QUE MÁS ADELANTE SE DESCRIBIRÁ Y A TODA PERSONA EN GENERAL QUE CON DERECHO PARA ELLO DESEE OPONERSE A ESTE EXPEDIENTE.

tura para fines residenciales.”

FEDERICO

ANDINO GONZALEZ

PETICIONARIA

POR LA PRESENTE: se les notifica para que comparezcan, si lo creyeren pertinente, ante este Honorable Tribunal dentro de los veinte (20) días contados a partir de la última publicación e este edicto a exponer lo que a sus derechos convenga en el expediente promovido por la parte peticionaria para adquirir su dominio sobre la finca que se describe más adelante. Usted deberá presentar su posición 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 en la secretaría del Tribunal. Si usted deja de expresarse dentro del referido término, el Tribunal podrá dictar sentencia, previo a escuchar la prueba de valor de la parte peticionaria en su contra, sin más citarle ni oírle, y conceder el remedio solicitado en la petición, o cualquier otro, si el Tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. El abogado de la parte peticionaria es el Lic. Jaime Rodríguez Rivera, cuya dirección es #30 Calle Reparto Piñero, Guaynabo, PR 00969-5650, Teléfono 787720-9553. “RÚSTICA: Predio de terreno radicado en el barrio Hato Nuevo Carretera 173 km 7.6) de Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de aproximadamente 250-300 METROS CUADRADOS. (Según mensura efectuada por el Ing. Juan Rodríguez Claudio, de 247.282 metros cuadrados). En lindes por el NORTE: Carretera estatal 173; al SUR: con terrenos de Alexander Fuentes; por el ESTE: con terrenos de Omar Abdecadel y por el OESTE: terrenos de Daniel Sánchez. Enclava una estruc-

Este edicto deberá ser publicado en tres (3) ocasiones dentro del término de veinte (20) días, en un periódico de circulación general diaria, para que comparezcan si quieren alegar su derecho. Toda primera mención de persona natural y/o jurídica que se mencione en el mismo, se identificará en letra tamaño 10 puntos y negrillas, conforme a lo dispuesto en las Reglas de procedimiento Civil, 2009. Se le apercibe que de no comparecer los interesados y/o partes citadas, o en su defecto los organismos públicos afectados en el término improrrogable de veinte (20) días a contar de la fecha de la última publicación el edicto, el Tribunal podrá conceder el remedio solicitado por la parte peticionaria, sin más citarle ni oírle. En Bayamón, Puerto Rico, a 13 de febrero de 2023. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. NÉLIDA OCASIÓ ORTEGA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL I.

LEGAL NOT ICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE PONCE SALA SUPERIOR ORIENTAL BANK COMO AGENTE DE SERVICIO DE THE MONEY HOUSE, INC.

Demandante Vs. LA SUCESION DE NORMAN LUIS ESCOBALES PEREZ COMPUESTA POR NORMAN, MELANIE, JOSÉ L., MARÍA ANGELIQUE TODOS DE APELLIDOS ESCOBALES RABASSA; FULANO Y FULANA DE TAL COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESION; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (CRIM)

Demandados Civil Núm.: PO2021CV02801. Sala: 406. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA (VÍA ORDINARIA). EDICTO DE SUBASTA. El Alguacil que suscribe por la presente CERTIFICA, ANUNCIA y hace CONSTAR: Que en cumplimiento de un Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que le ha sido dirigido al Alguacil que suscribe por la Secretaría del TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE PONCE, SALA SUPERIOR, en el caso de epígrafe procederá a vender en pública subasta al mejor postor en efectivo, cheque certificado en moneda legal de los Estados Unidos de América el 25 DE ABRIL DE 2023, A LAS 11:00

DE LA MAÑANA, en su oficina sita en el local que ocupa en el edificio del TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE PONCE, SALA SUPERIOR, todo derecho, título e interés que tenga la parte demandada de epígrafe en el inmueble de su propiedad que ubica en: H-39 CALLE OLAS, URBANIZACION EXTENSION COSTA SUR, YAUCO, PUERTO RICO 00698 y que se describe a continuación: URBANA: Solar marcado con el número treinta y nueve (39) del Bloque H de la Urbanización Extensión Costa Sur, del término Municipal de Yauco, Puerto Rico, con un área superficial de quinientos diecisiete metros cuadrados con doscientos sesenticinco milésimas de otro (517.265).

En lindes: NORTE, con el solar número cuarenta (40), mide veintitrés metros seiscientos veintiséis milímetros (23.626); por el SUR, con el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, mide once metros seiscientos cincuentisiete milímetros (11.657) y con el solar número diez (10), mide siete metros quinientos veintiséis milímetros (7.526) ; por el ESTE, en varias alineaciones con la calle “E”, mide nueve metros cincuenta centímetros (9.50) en forma de arco mide cinco metros seiscientos veintiuno milímetros (5.621) y en líneas recta mide diez metros setecientos cuarentiocho milímetros (10.748); y por el OESTE, en forma de arco con la calle “A” mide veintitrés metros novecientos treintiun milímetros (13.931). Afecta a este solar una servidumbre a favor de la Puerto Rico Telephone Company y otra a favor de la Autoridad de Acueductos y Alcantarillados de Puerto Rico. La propiedad antes relacionada consta inscrita al Tomo Karibe de Yauco, finca número 12,207, Registro de la Propiedad de Ponce, Sección Segunda. El tipo mínimo para la primera subasta del inmueble antes relacionado, será el dispuesto en la Escritura de Hipoteca, es decir la suma de $77,203.00.

Si no hubiere remate ni adjudicación en la primera subasta del inmueble mencionado, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA en las oficinas del Alguacil que suscribe el día 2 DE MAYO DE 2023, A LAS 11:00 DE LA MAÑANA. En la segunda subasta que se celebre servirá de tipo mínimo las dos terceras partes (2/3) del precio pactado en la primera subasta, o sea la suma de $51,468.67.

Si tampoco hubiere remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA en las oficinas del Alguacil que suscribe el día 9 DE MAYO DE 2023, A LAS 11:00 DE LA MAÑANA. Para la tercera subasta servirá de tipo mínimo la mitad (1/2) del precio pactado para el caso de ejecución, o sea, la suma

de $38,601.50. La hipoteca a ejecutarse en el caso de epígrafe fue constituida mediante la escritura de hipoteca número 242 otorgada en Ponce, Puerto Rico, el día 16 de septiembre de 2016, ante la Notario Saideth Cristóbal Martínez, y consta inscrita al Tomo Karibe de Yauco, finca número 12,207, inscripción Sexta (6ta), Registro de la Propiedad de Ponce, Sección Segunda. Dicha subasta se llevará a cabo para con su producto satisfacer al Demandante total o parcialmente según sea el caso el importe de la Sentencia que ha obtenido contra la parte co-demandada, ascendente a la suma de $73,840.14 por concepto de principal, desde el 1ro de mayo de 2019, más intereses al tipo pactado de 4.25% anual que continúan acumulándose hasta el pago total de la obligación. Además, La Sucesión de Norman Luis Escobales Pérez adeuda a la parte demandante los cargos por demora equivalentes a 4.00% de la suma de aquellos pagos con atrasos en exceso de 15 días calendarios de la fecha de vencimiento; los créditos accesorios y adelantos hechos en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca; y las costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado equivalentes a $7,720.30. Además, La Sucesión de Norman Luis Escobales Pérez se comprometió a pagar una suma equivalente a $7,720.30 para cubrir cualquier otro adelanto que se haga en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca y una suma equivalente a $7,720.30 para cubrir intereses en adición a los garantizados por ley. Por razón de dicho incumplimiento, y al amparo del derecho que le confiere el Pagaré, el demandante ha declarado tales sumas vencidas, líquidas y exigibles en su totalidad. Que los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al Procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la SECRETARIA DEL TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE PONCE, SALA SUPERIOR durante las horas laborables. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titulación del inmueble 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 de 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. Por la presente se notifica a los acreedores desconocidos, no inscritos o presentados que 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. La propiedad objeto de ejecución y descrita anteriormente se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores una vez el Honorable Tribunal expida la correspondiente Orden de Confirmación de Venta Judicial. Y para conocimiento de licitadores del público en general se publicará este Edicto de acuerdo con la ley por espacio de dos semanas en tres sitios públicos del municipio en que ha de celebrarse la venta, tales como la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía. Este Edicto será publicado dos veces en un diario de circulación general en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, por espacio de dos semanas consecutivas. Expido el presente Edicto de subasta bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal en Ponce, Puerto Rico, hoy día 14 de febrero de 2023. MIGUEL A. TORRES AYALA, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR PLACA #560, ALGUACIL DE SUBASTAS, 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 PONCE SALA SUPERIOR ORIENTAL BANK COMO AGENTE DE SERVICIO DE THE MONEY HOUSE, INC. Demandante Vs. LA SUCESION DE DIGNA ONID MARTINEZ MERCADO T/C/C DIGNA ONID MERCADO MOJICA COMPUESTA POR ODALIS MARTÍNEZ MERCADO, MARICELY MARTÍNEZ MERCADO, LENICE MARTÍNEZ MERCADO E ISMAEL MARTÍNEZ MERCADO; FULANO Y FULANA DE TAL COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESION; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE

INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (CRIM)

Demandados

Civil Núm.: PO2021CV02640.

Sala: 406. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA (VÍA ORDINARIA).

EDICTO DE SUBASTA. El Alguacil que suscribe por la presente CERTIFICA, ANUNCIA y hace CONSTAR: Que en cumplimiento de un Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que le ha sido dirigido al Alguacil que suscribe por la Secretaría del TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE PONCE, SALA SUPERIOR, en el caso de epígrafe procederá a vender en pública subasta al mejor postor en efectivo, cheque certificado en moneda legal de los Estados Unidos de América el 25 DE ABRIL DE 2023, A LAS 11:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en su oficina sita en el local que ocupa en el edificio del TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE PONCE, SALA SUPERIOR, todo derecho, título e interés que tenga la parte demandada de epígrafe en el inmueble de su propiedad que ubica en: K-18 CALLE G, URBANIZACION JARDINES DE MONTBLANC YAUCO, PR 00698 y que se describe a continuación: URBANA: Solar marcado con el número diez y ocho del Bloque K de la Urbanización “Montblank”, localizado en el Barrio Susúa Baja del término Municipal de Yauco, Puerto Rico, con un área superficial de trescientos catorce punto veintiséis sesenta y cinco metros cuadrados (314.2665), en lindes; por el NORTE, con el solar número ocho, en una distancia de trece punto cincuenta metros y con el solar número nueve en una distancia de dos punto cincuenta metros; por el SUR, con la calle G, en una distancia de nueve punto sesenta y ocho metros y un arco de tres punto cincuenta y cinco metros; por el ESTE, con el solar número diez y siete en una distancia de veintitrés punto quince metros (23.15); y por el OESTE, con el solar número diez y nueve, según documento, en una distancia de punto 08 metros (así surge). Sobre dicho solar enclava una casa de concreto y bloques, para fines residenciales. La propiedad antes relacionada consta inscrita al Folio 109 del Tomo 543 de Yauco, finca número 10,110, Registro de la Propiedad de Ponce, Sección Segunda. El tipo mínimo para la primera subasta del inmueble antes relacionado, será el dispuesto en la Escritura de Hipoteca, es decir la suma de $83,190.00.

Si no hubiere remate ni adjudicación en la primera subasta del inmueble mencionado, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA en las oficinas del Alguacil que suscribe el día 2 DE

MAYO DE 2023, A LAS 11:30

DE LA MAÑANA. En la segunda subasta que se celebre servirá de tipo mínimo las dos terceras partes (2/3) del precio pactado en la primera subasta, o sea la suma de $55,460.00. Si tampoco hubiere remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA en las oficinas del Alguacil que suscribe el día 9 DE MAYO DE 2023, A LAS 11:30 DE LA MAÑANA. Para la tercera subasta servirá de tipo mínimo la mitad (1/2) del precio pactado para el caso de ejecución, o sea, la suma de $41,595.00. La hipoteca a ejecutarse en el caso de epígrafe fue constituida mediante la escritura de hipoteca número 141 otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 6 de diciembre de 2017, ante la Notario Saideth Cristóbal Martínez, y consta inscrita al Tomo Karibe de Yauco, finca número 10,110, finca número 10,110, inscripción Décimo Cuarta (14ta), Registro de la Propiedad de Ponce, Sección Segunda. Dicha subasta se llevará a cabo para con su producto satisfacer al Demandante total o parcialmente según sea el caso el importe de la Sentencia que ha obtenido contra la parte co-demandada, ascendente a la suma de $80,200.36 por concepto de principal, desde el 1ro de enero de 2020, más intereses al tipo pactado de 4.00% anual que continúan acumulándose hasta el pago total de la obligación.

Además, La Sucesión de Digna Onid Martínez Mercado t/c/c Digna Onid Mercado Mojica adeuda a la parte demandante los cargos por demora equivalentes a 4.00% de la suma de aquellos pagos con atrasos en exceso de 15 días calendarios de la fecha de vencimiento; los créditos accesorios y adelantos hechos en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca; y las costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado equivalentes a $8,319.00.

Además, La Sucesión de Digna

Onid Martínez Mercado t/c/c

Digna Onid Mercado Mojica se comprometió a pagar una suma equivalente a $8,319.00 para cubrir cualquier otro adelanto que se haga en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca y una suma equivalente a $8,319.00 para cubrir intereses en adición a los garantizados por ley. Por razón de dicho incumplimiento, y al amparo del derecho que le confiere el Pagaré, el demandante ha declarado tales sumas vencidas, líquidas y exigibles en su totalidad. Que los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al Procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la

SECRETARIA DEL TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

CENTRO JUDICIAL DE PONCE, SALA SUPERIOR durante las horas laborables. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titulación del

inmueble 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 de 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. Por la presente se notifica a los acreedores desconocidos, no inscritos o presentados que 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. La propiedad objeto de ejecución y descrita anteriormente se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores una vez el Honorable Tribunal expida la correspondiente Orden de Confirmación de Venta Judicial. Y para conocimiento de licitadores del público en general se publicará este Edicto de acuerdo con la ley por espacio de dos semanas en tres sitios públicos del municipio en que ha de celebrarse la venta, tales como la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía. Este Edicto será publicado dos veces en un diario de circulación general en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, por espacio de dos semanas consecutivas. Expido el presente Edicto de subasta bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal en Ponce, Puerto Rico, hoy día 14 de febrero de 2023.

MIGUEL A. TORRES AYALA, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR PLACA #560, ALGUACIL DE SUBASTAS, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, CENTRO JUDICIAL DE PONCE, SALA SUPERIOR.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

MARTINEZ RIVERA

Demandante V.

BANCO CREDITO Y AHORRO PONCEÑO, DESPUES BANCO SANTANDER

PUERTO RICO, AHORA FIRST BANK PUERTO RICO; JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS

Demandado(a)

Civil: BY2022CV05921. Sala: 503. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ HIPOTECARIO EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE. EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 7 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 NOTICE

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

NEWREZ LLC D/B/A

SHELLPOINT MORTGAGE SERVICING

Demandante V. LA SUCESIÓN DE AIDA ESTHER ARUZ CANCEL, TAMBIÉN CONOCIDA COMO

AIDA ESTHER ARUS CANCEL Y POR AIDA

ESTHER CRUZ CANCEL COMPUESTA POR ILSA

YOLANDA FIGUEROA ARÚS, ILIA ESTHER

FIGUEROA ARÚS Y ÁNGEL LUIS FIGUEROA ARÚS; CENTRO DE

RECAUDACIÓN DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (CRIM)

Demandados

Civil Núm.: SJ2022CV05753. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, S. S.

A: ILIA ESTHER FIGUEROA ARÚS Y ÁNGEL LUIS FIGUEROA ARÚS. 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 17 de noviembre de 2022. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. BRENDA BÁEZ ACABÁ, SECRETARIA DE SERVICIOS A SALA.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE AGUADA.

JETHRO

WICKENDEN-RIVERA

Demandante V. BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO, POR CONDUCTO DE SU SUCESOR EN DERECHO DE WESTERNBANK

PUERTO RICO, JUAN DEL PUEBLO Y JUANA DEL PUEBLO Y CUALESQUIERA PERSONA DESCONOCIDA CON POSIBLE INTERÉS EN LA OBLIGACIÓN CUYA CANCELACIÓN POR DECRETO JUDICIAL SE SOLICITA

Demandados Civil Núm.: AG2023CV00076.

Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU., ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

A: JUAN Y JUANA DEL PUEBLO.

Por la presente se le notifica que ha sido presentada en este Tribunal una Demanda en su contra en el pleito de epígrafe. En este caso la parte demandante ha radicado una Demanda para que se decrete judicialmente el saldo de (1) pagaré hipotecario: pagaré a favor Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, por la suma principal de $20,000.00 dólares con intereses al 6.99% anual, vencedero a la presentación, constituida mediante la escritura número 782, otorgada en Rincón, Puerto Rico, el día 1 de septiembre de 2005, ante el notario Jose A. Amador Lopez, e inscrita al folio de Karibe volumen de Rincón, finca número 6,756, inscripción 5ta; sobre la propiedad que se describe a continuación: RUSTICA: Predio de terreno sito en el Barrio Ensenada del término Municipal de Rincón, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de cuatro mil setecientos treinta y dos puntos siete (4,732.7) metros cuadrados. Colinda por el NORTE, en 33.902 metros con camino municipal; por el SUR, en 64.903 metros con Rafael Moreno; por el ESTE, en 108.566 metros con el remanente de la finca principal y por el OESTE, en 82.526 metros con el solar uno. Finca número 6,756, inscrita al folio 297 del tomo 139 de Rincón, Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección de Aguadilla. La parte demandante alega que dicho pagaré ha sido saldado según más detalladamente consta en la Demanda radicada que puede examinarse en la Secretaría de este Tribunal. Por tratarse de una obligación hipotecaria y pudiendo usted tener interés en este caso o quedar afectado por el remedio solicitado, se le emplaza por este edicto que se publicará una vez en un periódico de circulación diaria general de Puerto Rico. Usted deberá 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. Debe notificar con copia de ella a la abogada de la parte demandante a la Lcda. Alyssa Rivera Rivera, a la dirección P.O. Box 19815, San Juan, P.R. 00910. Teléfono 787-400-7269, dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto. Se le apercibe que, de no hacerlo así dentro del término indicado, el Tribunal podrá anotar su rebeldía y dictar sentencia concediendo el remedio solicitado en la Demanda sin más citarle, ni oírle. EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA Y SELLO DEL TRIBUNAL, en Aguada, Puerto Rico, hoy a 9 de febrero de 2023. Sarahi Reyes Perez, Sec Regional. Erika I Cruz Perez, Sec Aux del Tribunal.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE CAGUAS

REVERSE MORTGAGE

FUNDING LLC.

Demandante Vs. SUCESION MARIA

TERESA BELFORT

RODRIGUEZ T/C/C MARIA

BELFORT RODRIGUEZ

COMPUESTA POR

MARIA VICTORIA

ORTIZ BELFORT, LUZ

MERCEDES ORTIZ

BELFORT; JOHN DOE

Y JANE DOE COMO

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

Demandados

Civil Núm.: CG2021CV02592.

Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EDICTO DE SUBASTA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

A: LA PARTE DEMANDADA, AL (A LA) SECRETARIO(A) DE HACIENDA DE PUERTO RICO Y AL PÚBLICO

GENERAL:

Certifico y Hago Constar: Que en cumplimiento con el Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que me ha sido dirigido por el (la) Secretario(a) del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Caguas, en el caso de epígrafe, venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor, por separado, de contado y por moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América y/o Giro Postal y Cheque Certificado, en mi oficina ubicada en el

Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Caguas, el 3 DE ABRIL DE 2023, A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA, todo derecho título, participación o interés que le corresponda a la parte demandada o cualquiera de ellos en el inmueble hipotecado objeto de ejecución que se describe a continuación: URBANA: Solar marcado con el número ocho (8) del Bloque “AH” de la Urbanización Caguas Norte situada en el Barrio Bairoa de Caguas, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de trescientos treinta y uno punto veinte metros cuadrados (331.20 m/c). En lindes por el NORTE, en catorce punto cuarenta metros (14.40m), con la calle número veintiocho (28); por el SUR, en catorce punto cuarenta metros (14.40m), con solares número trece (13) y catorce (14); por el ESTE, en veintitrés punto cero cero metros (23.00m), con el solar número siete (7); y por el OESTE, en veintitrés punto cero cero metros (23.00m), con el solar número nueve (9). Enclava una casa. Inscrita al folio 100 del tomo 927 de Caguas, finca 31,390, Registro de la Propiedad de Caguas, Sección I. Propiedad localizada en: URB. CAGUAS NORTE, AH-8 CALLE QUEBEC, CAGUAS, PUERTO RICO 00725. Según figuran en la certificación registral, la propiedad objeto de ejecución está gravada por las siguientes cargas anteriores o preferentes: Nombre del Titular: N/A. Suma de la Carga: N/A. Fecha de Vencimiento: N/A. Según figuran en la certificación registral, la propiedad objeto de ejecución está gravada por las siguientes cargas posteriores a la inscripción del crédito ejecutante: Nombre del Titular: Secretario de la Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano. Suma de la Carga: $205,500.00. Fecha de Vencimiento: 1 de abril de 2082. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad de la propiedad y que todas las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito ejecutante antes descritos, si los hubiere, continuarán subsistentes. El rematante acepta dichas cargas y gravámenes anteriores, y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Se establece como tipo de mínima subasta la suma de $205,500.00, según acordado entre las partes en el precio pactado en la escritura de hipoteca. De ser necesaria una SEGUNDA SUBASTA por declararse desierta la primera, la misma se celebrará en mi oficina, ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Caguas, el 10 DE ABRIL DE 2023, A LAS 9:30 DE LA MAÑANA, y se establece como mínima para dicha segunda subasta la suma de $137,000.00, 2/3 partes del tipo mínima establecido

jor 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 2 DE MAYO DE 2023 A

LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en la oficina del referido Alguacil, localizada en el Centro Judicial de Guayama, Guayama, Puerto Rico. El precio mínimo fijado para la PRIMERA SUBASTA es por la cantidad de $64,000.00. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una SEGUNDA SUBASTA, la misma se llevará a efecto el día 9 DE MAYO DE 2023 A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en la oficina antes mencionada del Alguacil que suscribe. El precio mínimo para la SEGUNDA SUBASTA será de $42,666.66, 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 16 DE MAYO DE 2023 A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en la oficina antes mencionada del Alguacil que suscribe. El precio mínimo para la TERCERA SUBASTA será de $32,000.00, 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. Los acreedores que tengan inscritos o anotados sus derechos sobre los bienes hipotecados con posterioridad a la inscripción del crédito del ejecutante, o los acreedores de cargas o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuesto a la hipoteca ejecutada y las personas interesadas en, o con derecho a exigir el cumplimiento de instrumentos negociables garantizados hipotecariamente con posterioridad al crédito ejecutado pueden concurrir a la subasta si les convienen o satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, costas y honorarios de abogados asegurados, quedando entonces subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante. 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 Guayama, Puerto Rico, hoy día 13 de febrero de 2023. HÉCTOR

E. MÁRQUEZ, ALGUACIL, DIVISIÓN DE SUBASTAS, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA SUPERIOR DE GUAYAMA.

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. SUCESIÓN DE ROBERTO NIEVES

REYES COMPUESTA

POR OLGA VANESSA

NIEVES PACHECO, JESSICA NIEVES

PACHECO, ROBERTO NIEVES MERCADO, SUJEY ARELIS NIEVES SOLANO, FULANO Y MENGANO DE TAL, POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS Y LA SUCESIÓN DE YAHAIRA

NIEVES MERCADO COMPUESTA POR SU

VIUDO MIGUEL A. OTERO

FUENTES, SUTANO Y PERENCEJO DE TAL, POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS

Demandado(a)

Civil: BY2022CV00618. Sala:

501. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: OLGA VANESSA NIEVES PACHECO, JESSICA NIEVES PACHECO, ROBERTO NIEVES MERCADO, YAHAIRA NIEVES MERCADO, SUJEY ARELIS NIEVES SOLANO HEREDEROS DE ROBERTO NIEVES REYES, FULANO Y MENGANO DE TAL POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS.

JANE DOE OTERO NIEVES POR CONDUCTO DE SU PADRE, MIGUEL A. OTERO FUENTES, COMO HEREDERA DE YAHAIRA NIEVES MERCADO, PERENCEJO DE TAL POSIBLE HEREDERO DESCONOCIDO DE YAHAIRA NIEVES MERCADO. (Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 13 de 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.

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

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA

TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE CAGUAS ORIENTAL BANK

Demandante V. SUCESION DE RAMON

PULLIZA ALMODO VAR COMPUESTA POR

GLADYNEL MARIA

PULLIZA VELAZQUEZ, AXEL FRANCIS

PULLIZA VELAZQUEZ Y ALEXANDER PULLIZA. VELAZQUEZ; CARMEN

GLADYS VELAZQUEZ GUZMAN

Demandado(a)

Civil: CG2022CV02759. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R., SS.

A: SUCESION DE RAMON PULLIZA ALMODÓVAR COMPUESTA POR GLADYNEL MARIA

PULLIZA VELAZQUEZ, AXEL FRANCIS PULLIZA VELAZQUEZ, ALEXANDER PULLIZA VELAZQUEZ, FULANO DE TAL Y FULANA DE TAL Y CARMEN GLADYS VELAZQUEZ GUZMAN CON LAS SIGUIENTES DIRECCIONES

CONOCIDAS: CALLE PASEO CRISTAL #42, PASEOS DE SANT BARBARA, GURABO PR 00778; 85 ARLINGTON AVE. APTO. 201, BLOOMFIELD, NJ 07003; 211 GAIL STREET, VIDALIA, GEORGIA 30474; COND. PARQUE SAN ANTONIO II, APT. 3005, BARRIO CAÑABONCITO, CAGUAS PR 00727-5963; COND. PARQUE SAN ANTONIO II, APT. 3002, BARRIO CAÑABONCITO, CAGUAS PR 00727-5963. (Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 6 de 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 15 de febrero de 2023. En CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, el 15 de febrero de 2023. LISILDA MARTÍNEZ AGOSTO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. MARTA E. DONATE RESTO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE HUMACAO BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante V. ALEXIS DIAZ ALICEA, FULANA DE TAL Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR

AMBOS

Demandados(a) Civil: YB2022CV00231. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: ALEXIS DIAZ ALICEA, FULANA DE TAL Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR

AMBOS; DIRECCIONES:

HC 4 BOX 6780 YABUCOA PR 00767-9509; JARDINES DE YABUCOA

132 CALLE AUSTRIA YABUCOA PR 00767. (Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 10 de 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 16 de febrero de 2023. En HUMACAO, Puerto Rico, el 16 de febrero de 2023. IVELISSE C. FONSECA RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA.

DALISSA REYES DE LEÓN, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA

TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA MUNICIPAL DE MANATÍ

FINANCE OF AMERICA REVERSE LLC

Demandante V. SUCESIÓN NÉSTOR COLÓN RAMOS COMPUESTA POR JORGE COLÓN RODRÍGUEZ, AWILDA COLÓN RODRÍGUEZ, JOSÉ COLÓN RODRÍGUEZ, JUDITH COLÓN RODRÍGUEZ, CARMEN COLÓN RODRÍGUEZ, NÉSTOR COLÓN RODRÍGUEZ, ELOINA COLÓN RODRÍGUEZ, BETSY COLÓN, MADY COLÓN; JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO

POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; SUCESIÓN DE MARÍA CRUZ LAUREANO COMPUESTA POR MARÍA ELENA NIEVES CRUZ, ÁNGEL LUIS NIEVES CRUZ, MOISÉS NIEVES PÉREZ, CARLOS ALBERTO NIEVES PÉREZ; JOHN ROE Y JANE ROE COMO

POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA; CENTRO DE RECAUDACIÓN DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES Demandado(a)

Civil: AR2022CV00529. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: JORGE COLÓN

RODRÍGUEZ, AWILDA COLÓN RODRÍGUEZ, JOSÉ COLÓN RODRÍGUEZ, JUDITH COLÓN RODRÍGUEZ, CARMEN COLÓN RODRÍGUEZ, NÉSTOR COLÓN RODRÍGUEZ, ELOÍNA COLÓN RODRÍGUEZ, BETSY COLÓN Y MADY COLÓN; JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO POSIBLES MIEMBROS DESCONOCIDOS

LA SUCESIÓN NÉSTOR COLÓN RAMOS; JOHN ROE Y JANE ROE COMO POSIBLES MIEMBROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESIÓN MARÍA CRUZ LAUREANO.

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 13 de 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 15 de febrero de 2023. En Manatí, Puerto Rico, el 15 de febrero de 2023. VIVIAN Y. FRESSE GONZÁLEZ, SECRETARIA. CARMEN J. ROSARIO VALENTÍN, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOT ICE

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

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Parte Demandante Vs. CARIBBEAN FINANCIAL SERVICES

CORPORATION H/N/C EASY MONEY; YONDER INVESTMENT

CORPORATION COMO SUCESOR EN DERECHO DE CITIFINANCIAL SERVICES OF PUERTO RICO, INC. H/N/C CITIFINANCIAL; CARLOS LEMOS HERMIDA, WANDA RODRIGUEZ

MALDONADO Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS; FULANO Y MENGANO DE TAL, POSIBLES TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS DEL PAGARÉ

Parte Demandada Civil Núm.: YB2022CV00293. (205). Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO POR LA VÍA JUDICIAL. EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS E.E.U.U., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.

A: CARIBBEAN FINANCIAL SERVICES

CORPORATION H/N/C EASY MONEY A SUS ÚLTIMAS DIRECCIONES

CONOCIDAS: VILLA BLANCA, AVE MUÑOZ MARÍN 22, CAGUAS, PR 00725, AVE MUÑOZ RIVERA #22, CAGUAS, PR 00726, COND. ASHFORD PLAZA, 1510 AVE ASHFORD APT 1E, SAN JUAN, PR 00911-1102, PO BOX 4999, CAGUAS, PR 00726-4999, CARLOS LEMOS HERMIDA, WANDA RODRIGUEZ MALDONADO Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS A LAS ÚLTIMAS DIRECCIONES

CONOCIDAS: BO

AGUACATE ARRIBA CARR. 3 R908 KM 1 HM 0, YABUCOA, PR 00767, 41 CALLE LUIS MUÑOZ RIVERA, YABUCOA, PR 00767-3111 Y PO BOX 797, YABUCOA, PR 007670797. FULANO Y MENGANO DE TAL, POSIBLES TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS DEL PAGARÉ. Queda usted notificado que en este Tribunal se ha radicado demanda sobre cancelación de pagaré extraviado por la vía judicial. El 15 de noviembre de 2002, Carlos Lemos Hermida y su esposa Wanda Rodríguez Maldonado constituyeron una hipoteca en Caguas, Puerto Rico, conforme a la Escritura núm. 208 autorizada por el notario Raúl Muñoz González en garantía de un pagaré suscrito bajo testimonio número 19235 por la suma de $43,500.00, a favor de Caribbean Financial Services haciendo negocios como Easy Money, o a su orden, devengando intereses al 14.95% anual y vencedero el 1ro de diciembre de 2032, sobre la siguiente propiedad: RÚSTICA: Lote “E”. Parcela de terreno identificada como lote “E” en el plano de inscripción localizado en el barrio Aguacate del término municipal de Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de 4,976.9161 metros cuadrados,

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 Bayamón, Puerto Rico, hoy día 14 de febrero de 2023.

Edgardo Elias Vargas Santana, Alguacil Auxiliar Placa 193, División de Subastas, Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Bayamón.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU-

NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN

CASCADE FUNDING

MORTGAGE TRUST HB4

Demandante, V. LA SUCESIONES DE SEVERO RESTO

MOLINA Y GUILLERMINA

RODRÍGUEZ VÉLEZ

COMPUESTAS POR ÁNGEL LUIS RESTO

RODRÍGUEZ; HECTOR

RESTO RODRÍGUEZ; OLGA RESTO RODRÍGUEZ; RUBÉN

RESTO RODRÍGUEZ; WILLIAM RESTO RODRÍGUEZ, FULANO DE TAL, FULANA DE TAL, MENGANO DE TAL Y MENGANA DE TAL COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS CON INTERÉS EN LA SUCESIÓN; CENTRO DE RECAUDACIÓN DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (CRIM) Y ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA

Demandados

Civil Núm.: VA2022CV00159.

Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. EDICTO DE INTERPELACIÓN. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, S.S.

A: LAS SUCESIONES DE SEVERO RESTO

MOLINA Y GUILLERMINA

RODRÍGUEZ VÉLEZ COMPUESTAS POR ÁNGEL LUIS RESTO RODRÍGUEZ; HECTOR RESTO

RODRÍGUEZ; OLGA

RESTO

RODRÍGUEZ; RUBÉN RESTO

RODRÍGUEZ; FULANO DE TAL, FULANA DE TAL, MENGANO DE TAL Y MENGANA DE TAL COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS CON INTERÉS EN LA SUCESIÓN.

El Artículo 1578 del Código Civil de 2020, dispone: “Transcurridos treinta (30) días desde que se haya producido la delación, cualquier persona interesada puede solicitar al tribunal que le señale al llamado un plazo, para que manifieste si acepta la herencia o si la repudia. Este plazo no excederá de treinta (30) días. El tribunal apercibirá al llamado de que, si transcurrido el plazo señalado no ha manifestado su voluntad de aceptar la herencia o de repudiarla, se dará por aceptada.” Por la presente el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, conforme al Art. 1578, supra, y el caso Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria vs. Latinoamericana de Exportación, Inc., 164 DPR 689 (2005), les ordena que el término de treinta (30) días, hagan declaración aceptado o repudiando la herencia de los causantes, SEVERO RESTO MOLINA y GUILLERMINA RODRÍGUEZ VÉLEZ. Se les apercibe a los herederos antes mencionados que de no expresarse dentro de ese término de treinta (30) días en torno a la aceptación o repudiación de herencia, la misma se tendrá por aceptada. 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 15 de febrero de 2023. LCDA.

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

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU-

NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

CENTRO JUDICIAL DE PON-

CE SALA SUPERIOR

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Parte Demandante Vs. JORGE LUIS MELÉNDEZ

SANTIAGO T/C/C

GEORGE LUIS

MELÉNDEZ SANTIAGO

Parte Demandada

DE DINERO, EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. AVISO DE PÚBLICA SUBASTA. El Alguacil que suscribe por la presente anuncia y hace constar que en cumplimiento de la Sentencia el dictada el 19 de agosto 2022, la Orden de Ejecución de Sentencia del 4 de enero de 2023 y el Mandamiento de Ejecución del 9 de enero de 2023 en el caso de epígrafe, procederé a vender el día 26 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 Avenida 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: En caso de que el producto de la subasta sea insuficiente para satisfacer las sumas adeudadas a la parte demandante, se ordena la venta en pública subasta de cualesquiera otros bienes de la parte demandada hasta que cualquier parte insatisfecha de la sentencia sea totalmente cubierta. La propiedad hipotecada a venderse en pública subasta se describe como sigue: URBANA: Solar Número Dieciocho (18) del Bloque E de la Urbanización Costa Sur con una cabida de 312.00 metros cuadrados. Colindando por el NORTE: en 24.00 metros, con el Solar Número Diecisiete (17); por el SUR: en 24.00 metros con el Solar Número Diecinueve (19); por el ESTE: en 13.00 metros con la Calle B de dicha urbanización; y por el OESTE: en 13.00 metros con un área de recreo. Inscrita al Folio 168 del Tomo 207 de Yauco, Finca 6695. Registro de la Propiedad de Ponce, Sección II. La escritura de hipoteca consta inscrita al tomo Karibe de Yauco, Finca 6695. Registro de la Propiedad de Ponce, Sección II. Inscripción sexta. Dirección Física: Urb. Costa Sur, E18 Calle B, Yauco PR 00698. Número de Catastro: 60-385-012-22618-001. El tipo mínimo para la primera subasta será de $80,514.00. De no haber adjudicación en la primera subasta se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA, el día 3 DE MAYO 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, $53,676.00. De no haber adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el día 10 DE MAYO 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, $40,257.00. 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 $75,077.97 de principal, más intereses sobre dicha suma al 3.25 % anual desde el 1 de enero de 2020 hasta su completo pago, más $294.42 de recargos acumulados, más la cantidad estipulada de $8,051.40 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. Aviso de Demanda: Pleito seguido por Banco Popular de Puerto Rico como Vs. Jorge Luis Meléndez Santiago también conocido como Gorge Luis Meléndez Santiago, ante el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Ponce, en el Caso Civil Número PO2022CV01268, sobre Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca, en la que se reclama el pago de hipoteca, con un balance de $75,077.97 y otras cantidades, según Demanda de fecha 16 de mayo de 2022. 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 conocimiento de los demandados, de los acreedores posteriores, de los licitadores, partes interesadas y público en general, EXPIDO para su publicación en los lugares públicos correspondientes, el presente Aviso de Pública Subasta en Ponce, Puerto Rico, hoy 23 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 SALA SUPERIOR DE GUAYNABO BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Parte Demandante Vs. LA SUCESIÓN DE IRIS

MINERVA MARRERO

AYALA T/C/C IRIS

M. MARRERO DE MENÉNDEZ T/C/C IRIS

MINERVA MARRERO

T/C/C IRIS MARRERO

AYALA COMPUESTA

POR FULANO Y MENGANO DE TAL, POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS

Parte Demandada Civil Núm.: GB2022CV00807. (201). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO, EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO E INTERPELACIÓN. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS E.E.U.U., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.

A: FULANO Y MENGANO DE TAL, POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE IRIS MINERVA MARRERO AYALA T/C/C IRIS M. MARRERO DE MENÉNDEZ T/C/C IRIS MINERVA MARRERO T/C/C IRIS MARRERO AYALA.

Queda usted notificado que en este Tribunal se ha radicado demanda sobre ejecución de hipoteca por la vía ordinaria en la que se alega se adeuda las siguientes cantidades: $166,255.97 de principal, más intereses sobre dicha suma al 7.00% anual desde el 1 de febrero de 2022 hasta su completo pago, más $899.34 de recargos acumulados, los cuales continuarán en aumento hasta el saldo total de la deuda, más la cantidad estipulada de $19,200.00 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogados, así como cualquier otra suma que contenga el contrato del préstamo. La propiedad que garanti-

za hipotecariamente el préstamo es la siguiente: URBANA: Solar número 921 del Bloque M-30 de la Urbanización Luis Muñoz Rivera, situada en el Barrio Frailes de Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, compuesto de 351.00 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE: en 13.50 metros, con la calle número 16; por el SUR: en igual medida, con el solar número 959; por el ESTE: en 26.00 metros, con el solar número 920; y por el OESTE: en igual medida, con el solar número 922. Enclava una casa de hormigón reforzado, para fines residenciales de una sola familia. Inscrita al folio 21 del tomo 135 de Guaynabo, Finca 10571. Registro de la Propiedad de Guaynabo. La escritura de hipoteca consta inscrita como asiento abreviado al folio 174 del tomo 1534 de Guaynabo, Finca 10571. Registro de la Propiedad de Guaynabo. Inscripción quinta. La escritura de modificación de hipoteca consta inscrita al tomo Karibe de Guaynabo, Finca 10571. Registro de la Propiedad de Guaynabo. Inscripción sexta. La demandante es la tenedora por endoso, 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 el Artículo 1578 del nuevo Código Civil de Puerto Rico, 31 L.P.R.A. § 11021, 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 PR 00970-3922, Teléfonos: (787) 789-1826 y (787) 708-0566, 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 10 de

febrero de 2023 en Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. ANGELA RIVERA HERNÁNDEZ, SUBSECRETARIA.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

ERIKA ESTHER

MARTINEZ TORRES

Peticionaria HERIBERTO MARTÍNEZ HERNANDEZ Causante

EX-PARTE

Civil Número: CY2022CV00452.

Civil: DECLARATORIA DE HEREDEROS. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO.

A: POSIBLES PERSONAS CON DERECHO EN LA HERENCIA DE HERIBERTO MARTÍNEZ HERNÁNDEZ.

POR LA PRESENTE se anuncia el fallecimiento de Heriberto Martínez Hernández. A tales efectos, su hija, la Sra. Erika

Esther Martínez Torres, ha presentado la Petición de Declaratoria de Herederos caso civil número CY2022CV00452 ante el Tribunal de Primera Instancia de Caguas, Puerto Rico. Se llama a las personas que crean con igual grado o mejor derecho al de la Peticionaria, para que comparezcan, a reclamar su derecho dentro de VEINTE (20) DÍAS a partir de la publicación de este edicto. Usted debe presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial. pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente.

LCDO. PEDRO A. CRESPO

CLAUDIO (RUA 17415)

EMPHATIA NOTARY & LEGAL ADVISORS, PSC

Urb. Villa Criollos Calle Corazón A-6 Caguas, P.R. 00725

Tel. 939-337-5550

E-mail: pcrespo@emphatialaw.com

POR ORDEN DEL JUEZ DE ESTE TRIBUNAL, hoy día 15 de febrero de 2023. EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, hoy día 15 de febrero de 2023. LISILDA MARTÍNEZ AGOSTO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. RIVERA RIVERA, GLORIMAR, 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. MUNICIPIO DE SAN JUAN, CHRISTIAN OMAR DÍAZ PIZARRO SARA NOEMÍ VÉLEZ HERNÁNDEZ T/C/C SARA N. VÉLEZ HERNÁNDEZ; FULANO Y MENGANO DE TAL, POSIBLES TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS DEL PAGARÉ

Demandado(a)

Civil: SJ2022CV10592. Sala: 802. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. A: CHRISTIAN OMAR DÍAZ PIZARRO Y A SARA NOEMÍ VÉLEZ HERNÁNDEZ T/C/C SARA N. VELEZ HERNANDEZ a su última dirección conocida: PORTALES DE SAN JUAN APT G-152, SAN JUAN, PR 00924-4579. FULANO Y MENGANO DE TAL, POSIBLES TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS DEL PAGARÉ. (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 14 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 16 de febrero de 2023. En SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, el 16 de febrero de 2023. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA. ELSIE PRATTS MELÉNDEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

A Ukrainian racer’s Olympic fight brings pride but also guilt

ried their sleds into a mobile relief vehicle. Since then, he has started a foundation and worked closely with other organizations to supply medical aid and other forms of humanitarian relief, including food and clothing.

By MATTHEW FUTTERMAN

Vladyslav Heraskevych, who became Ukraine’s most famous Olympian in 2022 because of the anti-war sign he held in front of a television camera days before Russia invaded his country, feels the guilt come in waves.

They are especially powerful when the bad news from the front lines reaches him, as it did last month, when he learned that his friend and teammate at the Youth Olympic Games, figure skater Dmytro Sharpar, died in combat near Bakhmut. Sharpar was 25.

Days later, another top Ukrainian athlete, decathlon champion Volodymyr Androshchuk, also died in fighting near Bakhmut. He was 22.

“It is very hard to understand how these people sacrificed their lives while you are doing sport,” Heraskevych said from Austria during an interview this month, after competing in a skeleton race on the World Cup circuit. He was in Latvia last week for the season’s final competition.

In any country enduring a war, especially Ukraine, where missiles rain indiscriminately across civilian areas and uncontested cities hundreds of miles from the battlefields, there is a never-ending tension between total dedication to the fight and the need for small slivers of normalcy. Children still need to go to school. When air-raid sirens are quiet, adults try

to salvage livelihoods and gather in cafes or pubs, even as their friends and relatives are sleeping in frozen trenches. On fields across the world, pro athletes play sports.

Like Heraskevych, many of them question why they are not fighting alongside their friends. They try to hold the line in the Donbas. He travels to Switzerland and Lake Placid, New York, to compete and to cities far from the front lines to run sports clinics for children. Government officials tell him to keep going, that without him, skeleton would not exist in Ukraine. Sometimes, he’s not sure they are right.

“They tell me that like the president has said, I should keep doing it because sport is also Ukraine, that it would be bad if all we had was people fighting on the front lines,” he said. “We are also fighting to save culture, and life.”

Unlike other notable sports figures from Ukraine, including retired tennis player Sergiy Stakhovsky, Heraskevych has yet to fire artillery or serve near the front lines. This month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told a meeting of sports ministers from allied countries that during the past year 228 athletes and coaches have died.

Heraskevych knew many of them, although he has tried to serve the country in other ways.

In the first days of the war, he and his father converted the van that once car-

His organization, the Heraskevych Charity Foundation, worked to secure 6 tons of supplies from Portugal last year, and has coordinated with Little Wing Relief Works in the United States to secure additional supplies. His efforts have helped bring six medical tents and generators that serve as mobile medical units near combat zones, where medics perform triage on injured soldiers before they are transported to hospitals. He has built a relationship with Dmitry Feld, longtime marketing manager of USA Luge, who grew up in Kyiv, the capital, and has helped spearhead much of Little Wing’s support efforts. Heraskevych is also among the leading voices in Ukraine’s efforts to keep Russia and Belarus out of international sports, especially the Olympics.

Heraskevych has one Top 10 finish in a World Cup race and was 13th at the world championships. He barely trained last summer, and his mind often drifts elsewhere during competitions, even sometimes as he sprints down the ice and prepares to dive onto his sled.

“Maybe we will work more in the offseason,” he said. “We will see.”

Other than the existential threat that he and his country face each day, his biggest concern is making sure Russian and Belarusian athletes remain suspended from international competition in most sports and are not allowed to compete in the Olympic Games while the war continues.

He worries little about doomsday predictions of the collapse of international sports if athletes are punished for the policies of their governments, pointing to the years after World War II, when athletes from Germany and Japan were prohibited from competing in the 1948 Olympic Games.

“Nobody questioned it,” he said. “Now they say athletes are not guilty, that they are victims of the system.”

Heraskevych, other Ukrainian athletes and sports officials, and representatives from other countries have gone

on the offensive in recent weeks after Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, said officials were working to find a way for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete at the 2024 Paris Games as so-called neutral participants.

In December, Bach said in a news conference, “Participation must happen on sporting merits.”

After the IOC’s January announcement that it was working to allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete, officials in Ukraine threatened to lead an Olympic boycott. That prompted the IOC to issue a statement calling that threat “extremely regretful.”

Ukraine has not been deterred. Last Friday, Zelenskyy addressed a group of about 30 sports ministers and government officials, including representatives of some of the most prominent countries in the Olympic movement, including the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Norway.

“The International Olympic Committee needs honesty,” Zelenskyy said. “Honesty it has unfortunately lost.”

In a statement after the meeting, the group said it planned to call on the IOC “in the coming days” to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from international sports as long as their nations are engaged in the war in Ukraine.

For now, the United States has supported the continued suspension, but the country’s diplomats have also left the door open for discussions on the matter. The U.S. representative at the meeting, Lee Satterfield, an assistant secretary of state for education and cultural affairs, reiterated the country’s previous statements on participation by Russian and Belarusian athletes.

A State Department spokesman said Feb. 10 that the government would continue to consult with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and seek “greater clarity” from the IOC regarding any plans to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete.

In pushing for the continued ban of Russians and Belarusians from numerous international sports, Heraskevych said he did not want to hurt individual athletes but said Russia would inevitably use its participation as propaganda.

Vladyslav Heraskevych, a Ukrainian skeleton racer, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb. 14, 2023.

Manchester United bidding war already has a winner: The sellers

fan groups in England about everything from human rights to sporting integrity.

The latter may prove to be the more formidable obstacle, because Jassim and Ratcliffe can expect to face scrutiny under rules set by European soccer’s governing body, UEFA, that prohibit teams with the same owner from playing in top continental competitions like the Champions League.

Ratcliffe already owns OGC Nice, which plays in France’s top league and has drawn some of his fortune to finance its push toward European qualification.

Jassim will face the challenge of convincing soccer regulators that his interests are different from those of the Qatari ownership group that runs perennial Champions League contender Paris St.-Germain. Jassim’s father was, with the country’s former emir, one of the architects of Qatar’s vision of itself as a player on the global stage, and one of the driving forces behind its flashy purchases of showcase assets like another British institution, the department store Harrods, and the Shard, Britain’s tallest building. The father’s close links to the country’s leadership have already raised doubts that his son’s pursuit of United is merely a private investment.

Ratcliffe and Jassim may soon face other challenges, too. Friday’s deadline for bids was an artificial one, confected by United’s bankers to create urgency. Other bids may already exist, and new (and possibly higher) ones can still be presented.

By TARIQ PANJA

The World Cup in Qatar was in its third day when Manchester United’s press office announced that its American owners were exploring an end game they had long refused to even consider: a potential sale of the famed English soccer club.

Every day since that November morning, the swirl of speculation about who might buy United, one of the world’s most popular, and most valuable, sports teams, has gathered pace.

A British billionaire quickly confirmed that he planned to bid. An American hedge fund kicked the tires. Reports of a Saudi Arabian offer sent the club’s stock price surging.

But it was from Qatar, rumored for weeks to have investors interested in adding United to the country’s expanding sports portfolio, where details of the first official bid appeared. And just like that, the fight for the club’s future, a battle of differing visions for what kind of Manchester United would emerge from the auction, was on.

The official word of concrete Qatari interest arrived in a statement Friday night: an all-cash offer — reportedly worth as much as $6 billion — by Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani, a little-known royal whose power may lie more in his post as chair of a major Qatari bank and in the influence of his father, who served 18 years as prime minister and helped put their small nation on the international map.

Jassim’s statement offered populism, or at least what sounded like a Gulf billionaire’s vision of it. Pledging to invest in United’s stadium and its teams without adding a dollar to its debts, his five-paragraph statement read like a box-ticking

exercise in proposals designed to win the support of anyone eager to see the back of the Glazers, the family that has controlled the Premier League giant for nearly two decades.

But Jassim’s suggestion of a “debt-free” takeover also did nothing to hide the financial muscle behind the offer that would make United, in an instant, the most high-profile Qatariowned property on Earth.

His public pitch took other bidders by surprise. Raine, the investment bank handling the sale for United’s board and the Glazer family, had asked prospective buyers to limit any public pronouncements, perhaps to entice as many offers as possible, or at the very least to avoid scaring off any suitors.

The Qatari offer changed that, and quickly led another bidder, Jim Ratcliffe, a British petrochemical billionaire based in Monte Carlo, to first privately and then publicly confirm that he had made an offer for 69% of United, the amount of the club owned by the Glazers.

Ratcliffe pointedly offered United fans an English alternative to the prospect of Gulf ownership. Manchester born and a lifelong United fan, Ratcliffe promised to put “the Manchester back into Manchester United,” to revive a club anchored not to foreign interests but to “its proud history and roots in the northwest of England.”

The competing offers immediately split the United fan base, with many overseas supporters openly pining on social media for a sale that they hoped would see Qatar’s deep pockets do for Manchester United what billions of dollars from the United Arab Emirates have done for its neighbor Manchester City. That sentiment did not appear to be shared by much of the club’s matchgoing supporters, with concerns raised by

But one thing all the bids — public, secret or still to come — may benefit from is near universal agreement among United fans of all stripes that the club should no longer be run by the famously unpopular Glazers. The family acquired the team in a highly contentious deal in 2005 in which it leveraged the majority of the purchase price against the club, meaning United has spent hundreds of millions of dollars paying for the right to be owned by the family.

That deal, while infuriating supporters, has been hugely profitable for the Glazers. Through fees and dividend payments, the family has already secured a return far higher than its initial direct investment (a fraction of the roughly $1.4 billion purchase price at the time). The club’s value has skyrocketed, with news media reports suggesting the family is now seeking as much as $7 billion to part with it.

That price point will narrow the pool of potential owners considerably. At least one potential buyer told The New York Times last week that anything close to that figure was “madness,” and said that his group had walked away because it believed that United, which still carries debt of nearly $600 million, was not worth more than 3 billion pounds, or $3.6 billion.

Yet in Raine, United’s owners have entrusted the job of soliciting offers to a bank with a recent track record of finding buyers willing to pay above-market prices. The firm, led by New York banker Joe Ravitch, secured 2.5 billion pounds (about $3 billion) last year in the sale for Chelsea. But that was more of a forced sale, one sparked by British government sanctions against Chelsea’s Russian owner, Roman Abramovich, shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Glazers do not face similar pressure. Their call for bids for United was framed as merely an effort to “explore strategic alternatives for the club.”

That means whatever the billionaires offer, whatever they promise, wherever they call home, Manchester United will be sold only at a price the Glazers are willing to accept.

Sudoku

How to Play:

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

Sudoku Rules:

Every row must contain the numbers from 1 through 9

Every column must contain the numbers from 1 through 9

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

Crossword

Answers on page 38

Wordsearch

Aries (Mar 21-April 20)

As Mercury faces off with rebellious Uranus, you’ll be restless and keen to keep moving. Are you looking for a way to make the coming days more interesting? If so, seek out people or ideas that are innovative and refreshing. You’ll find it hard to put up with situations that limit your freedom or that are too boring. Go easy, as a rash decision might sabotage all your hard work.

Taurus (April 21-May 21)

Routine tasks and chores might seem way too tedious, but anything that involves new opportunities will appeal. Keep those ideas coming, as they may be your passport to fresh experiences. The pace of change can quicken over coming days, and you might feel that it’s all happening too fast. Do what you have to, to deal with it, Taurus. There is really no need to rush.

Gemini (May 22-June 21)

There is an innovative energy in the air, Gemini. If you tap into it, you might uncover the answer to a long-running issue, or come up with plans for an exciting day out. This may not be the best time for talking things over, especially as inflexible aspects can make it hard to reach an agreement or to compromise. If you need to brainstorm though, this is a great opportunity.

Cancer (June 22-July 23)

Drawn to a person, group or club, that holds different ideas to your own? You may be eager to find out more. You might not agree on certain issues, but their company will provide food for thought. Ready to meet new people, Cancer? Doing so may change your outlook, if you’re prepared to be flexible and open your mind to fresh perspectives. A positive shift could occur.

Leo (July 24-Aug 23)

Plans could change due to sudden events. As Mercury squares off with Uranus, you might prefer spontaneous and exciting happenings to anything too mundane. The coming days may reveal a hidden side to you that revels in the unexpected, or others could see a facet of you that surprises them, even if they know you well. Need time out? A spur of the moment outing may do the trick.

Virgo (Aug 24-Sep 23)

Mercury angles towards Uranus, so this is not a time to stick with the familiar, but to branch out and explore new paths. Some of the ideas you come across could seem fascinating. Dwell on them further, and they might provide solutions to some of your most pressing questions. Browsing books, surfing the web and talking things over, can pave the way for sizzling insights.

Libra (Sep 24-Oct 23)

Ready to roll? Today may be different. Part of the enjoyment can be because things take a different turn than expected. Flexibility could be an asset, and the key to getting the outcome you want, even if things aren’t going to plan. Plus, as the Moon aligns with aquatic Neptune, calling up someone who needs reassurance will let them know that you really do care about them.

Scorpio (Oct 24-Nov 22)

The wrong words spoken at the wrong time could cause an upset, and it may be down to crossed wires, Scorpio. You’ll need to be ultra-careful anyway, as others could be snappy for no good reason. The Mercury/Uranus angle is not that great for fostering good communication, and someone could choose to be difficult just because they feel in an edgy mood. So, be prepared!

Sagittarius (Nov 23-Dec 21)

A disruptive aspect suggests you’d be wise to cut out activities that require you to be on the ball, as your attention could be scattered. And if you need to let off steam, opt for a good walk or a workout, as it can leave you calmer and better able to focus. There may be some mind-blowing plans and ideas swirling in the ether, but you can’t take them all on board. Be selective, Archer.

Capricorn (Dec 22-Jan 20)

Keep things simple over coming days, Capricorn. If you become too bogged down in the details, there is more scope for things to go wrong. Unpredictable influences could play havoc with your plans, so the less complicated they are, the better. A flood of ideas might find you ready to make a decision which could transform your life. Think long and hard about this before you go for it.

Aquarius (Jan 21-Feb 19)

This might be a disruptive time when plans could unravel. You may be running in circles to get something sorted out because you’re let down at the last moment. And yet you could also encounter someone who turns out to be a real treasure and a great person to know. Going it alone with a DIY project? It’s worth being careful. If you aren’t sure, get an expert in, Aquarius.

Pisces (Feb 20-Mar 20)

Need an original perspective on something? A creative and innovative aspect could bring exciting ideas into the mix. Have a new interest? Connecting with others who share your fascination may be a game-changer, Pisces. Plus, with the Moon aligning with Neptune, you may encounter someone you really sync with. This could become a friendship that you treasure.

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