By THE STAR STAFF
Puerto Rico should install rooftop solar panels in locations such as airports, businesses and industrial sites to reach national renewable energy goals, a U.S. Department of Energy study has found.
The Puerto Rico Grid Resilience and Transitions to 100% Renewable Energy Study (PR100) is a two-year study by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Grid Deployment Office and six national laboratories to comprehensively analyze stakeholder-driven pathways to Puerto Rico’s clean energy future. In Year 1 of the study, the PR100 team rigorously modeled and analyzed scenarios that meet Puerto Rico’s renewable energy targets and achieve short-term recovery goals and longterm energy resilience. The report, which summarizes PR100 progress in Year 1, provides considerations that can inform potential funding and implementation decisions by key federal and local agencies and stakeholders.
The two-year study found that there is not sufficient land available on the island for wind-power infrastructure to meet the 100% goal and Puerto Rico should instead install solar infrastructure on sites such as brownfields, industrial areas and airports.
The study estimated that Puerto Rico’s energy transmission system can bear the projected renewables growth over the next five to 15 years but that further grid upgrades will be necessary in the longer term, particularly for wind power.
The island is currently heavily dependent on fossil fuels for electricity production, with petroleum products in particular accounting for about 60% of energy consumption, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Puerto Rico has higher electricity costs than any U.S. state except Hawaii, which the EIA attributes to its reliance on fossil fuels. The preliminary report estimated installing new renewable energy sources would be more cost-effective than maintaining the existing system and in terms of operating costs is already on track to be more cost-effective by 2025.
Researchers ran simulations of future hurricanes and found that it was easier to restore power when using infrastructure that is spread out more broadly rather than with a handful of larger, centralized hubs.
The work was authored by Argonne National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories for the DOE. Funding
was provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and performed under the technical management of the DOE Grid Deployment Office. The views expressed in the study do not necessarily represent the views of the DOE, FEMA or the U.S. government.
In Year 2, officials plan to continue to analyze the impact of the modeled scenarios on the transmission system, including its resilience to future disruptions.
“We will study impacts to the distribution system from introducing high levels of distributed energy resources to the grid, and our work will include related considerations such as the use of microgrids for improved resilience,” the study says. “Results of these analyses will be fed back to capacity expansion and production cost models to iterate and refine investments and operational projections. Economic impact analyses will yield potential effects on retail rates, including energy justice metrics such as energy burden, which is the percentage of income that various income levels may pay for electricity under each scenario.”
“We have partnered with researchers at the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez,” the study’s authors note. “In the next year, they will contribute to the study by providing technical review and consultation on scenario definition, energy justice and resilience metrics and analyses, and by conducting a survey of existing residential PV [photo-voltaic] systems to collect data and experiences.”
Puerto Rico has put its electricity transmission and distribution system under a private operator, LUMA Energy, and this week is closing a deal to put its power plants under private management.
In order to conserve the island’s natural resources, Rep. José Aponte Hernández has filed House Bill 1419, which aims at the planting of trees and other greenery that contribute to the reforestation of both urban and rural areas.
The measure creates the “Sowing Life” program for the reforestation and protection of flora, to meet the urgent need to promote the planting of trees and all kinds of suitable plants, giving special emphasis to watersheds. The legislation also allocates $10 million for five years for that purpose.
“We believe that projects such as Sembrando Futuro must be established as part of the efforts of this Legislature in order to, together with the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DNER), gradually achieve the objectives that have been set regarding the necessary plant strengthening in both urban and rural areas, but more importantly, along the main hydrographic areas of the
island,” Aponte Hernández said.
In 2018, the uncompleted Sembrando Futuro project began, which sought
to develop the reforestation of the 134 hydrographic basins of Puerto Rico that were devastated by the onslaught of
Hurricane Maria. On that occasion, the goal was to plant 500,000 trees during the subsequent five years. The initiative marked the beginning of reforestation efforts following the events of 2017.
However, that initiative must be supported by others that allow the reconstruction of vegetation in the main watersheds of Puerto Rico,” the former House speaker said.
“It is of utmost importance to embrace and reinforce projects of this nature that seek to minimize the direct consequences of global warming, as well as other aggravating factors in the severe deforestation of the planet,” Aponte Hernández said.
About 95 percent of the western United States is under drought, he noted, with nearly two-thirds in extreme drought. At present, six states are completely in drought conditions. According to scientists, the unprecedented drought is a sign of how the climate crisis is affecting not only weather conditions, but also water supply, food production and electricity generation, the veteran lawmaker said.
House Labor Affairs Committee Chairman Domingo Torres García announced Monday that he has summoned the director of the Office of Administration and Transformation of Human Resources (OATRH by its Spanish initials) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to a public hearing to discuss the government’s Classification and Compensation Plan.
“One year after the OATRH director announced the Classification and Compensation Plan for the central government, it is imperative that the country knows what phase it is in and when employees will be able to see the results, if any, of its implementation,” Torres García said.
He said the hearing to ascertain the plan’s details will take place on Wednesday at 9 a.m. in Hearing Room 1 in the Capitol.
“Since the plan was announced, it has generated different opinions and expectations among public employees of the central government,” the lawmaker said. “For this reason,
we have been attentive to the development of this plan, and, in turn, we have provided space for a concrete elaboration that allows salary justice for thousands of public employees. What the employees expect from the classification and remuneration plan is an increase that compensates and compares with salaries in the private sector.”
“We want the director of OATRH, who has been summoned to appear in person, to indicate the preparation of the Classification and Compensation Plan, the scales, salaries, the cost of implementation, resources available, obstacles in the process, changes, adjustments, appeal processes that employees will have and expectations of the implementation,” Torres García said.
The legislator added that the information that has been publicly disclosed is that the plan’s entry into force has been postponed. Still, those employees who will see a salary increase will receive it retroactively to January 2023, he said.
“In addition, at this point the OATRH must know specifically the number of employees
that are going to be affected and must have the official scales finalized,” Torres García said.The “Energy Alliance” of employees and retirees of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) demanded on Monday that Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia sign into law a bill that protects the present and future pensions of PREPA workers, for which they are calling a mass demonstration on Wednesday in front of La Fortaleza.
The legislation whose signature they demand of the governor is House Bill (HB) 1429, which proposes to create the “Law for the Restructuring and Prudent Issuance of PREPA Debt,” which among other things orders PREPA to respect the order of payment priorities in the Trust Agreement that requires PREPA to pay its operational expenses, those that include the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s Employee Retirement System, before any type of bond.
It also orders the vigorous rejection of “any Adjustment Plan, Restructuring Agreement or Creditors’ Agreement that harms the credit and rights of both active participants and those already pensioned in PREPA’s Employee Retirement System.”
“The Energy Alliance calls this demonstration to demand that Gov. Pedro Pierluisi sign the legislation,” said Johnny Rodríguez Ortiz, president of the PREPA Retirees Association. “This is the only way to guarantee our present and future pensions.”
“We fight for our pensions, but we also defend those of all the comrades who have dedicated a life to working in the Electric Power Authority, and now that they are about
Wednesday’s demonstration on behalf of protections for the pensions of active and retired Rico Electric Power Authority workers is called for 10 a.m. in front of Plaza Colón in San Juan, from where marchers will march to La Fortaleza.
to retire they want to snatch and change them to a 401K retirement system, a proposal that the mobilized rejected when the privatizer LUMA Energy usurped the Electric Power
Authority,” he added. “That is unacceptable.”
Electrical Industry and Irrigation Workers Union President Ángel Figueroa Jaramillo said meanwhile that “the path that the governor and the Legislature intend with the privatization of generation will not only have a deteriorating effect on the working conditions of the comrades who have served the people, but it also will bring an increase in the energy cost in addition to what LUMA has already imposed on the country.”
Ronald Vázquez, vice president of the PREPA Retirees Chapter, pointed out that “we also support the proposal presented by the Retirement System Board of Trustees, which guarantees the payment of present and future pensions without increasing the bill.”
Rodríguez Ortiz estimated that PREPA’s current debt with the Retirement System “is around $900 million,” and that “it was known that there was money equivalent to the payment of pensions until March of this year.”
He reiterated his position demanding the exit of the private operator from PREPA’s distribution and transmission network.
“We will continue to insist that the company LUMA Energy must go, but fundamentally, we are calling all our enrollment to this march, which is in struggle, no longer in defense, we are in struggle for our pension fund,” Rodríguez Ortiz said.
The demonstration is called for 10 a.m. in front of Plaza Colón in San Juan, from where marchers will leave for La Fortaleza, where they will express to the governor their demand that he sign HB 1429, which is expected to arrive on his desk this week.
Rep. Edgardo Feliciano Sánchez, who chairs the House Committee for the Development and Supervision of Public Funds of the Northern Region, requested that the Highways and Transportation Authority (HTA), through Transportation and Public Works (DTOP by its Spanish acronym) Secretary Eileen Vélez Vega, furnish any document in its custody on the suspension bridge in Naranjito.
“On January 19, I asked the Highway Authority to send us the complete file on the suspension bridge within five calendar days,” Feliciano Sánchez said. “I will not accept excuses that there are lost or missing documents, nor any subterfuge that affects this investigation.”
In the information request under House Resolution 648, the committee requests, among other things, communications between the HTA and the contractor Piedras Construction, including submitted invoices, progress reports, and certifications of engineers, both from within the HTA and outside it, who certified the project.
“It is shameful what has happened with the suspension bridge,” the lawmaker said. “The people of Puerto Rico need explanations, and in a transparent and open way … we are going to discuss it in public hearings. The committee will be summoning the DTOP component and the Highway Authority and any officials who have been aware from 2000 onwards about the construction and the defects that existed in this bridge.”
The committee headed by Feliciano Sánchez will begin its public hearings next Wednesday, Feb. 1 with the appearance of Vélez Vega, HTA Executive Director Edwin González, HTA engineer María Ayala and the mayors of the towns of Naranjito and Comerío. On Feb. 2, former HTA director Luis Trinidad will be summoned, along with former DTOP secretary Carlos González and officials from Las Piedras Construction.
“The committee will be holding several public and onsite hearings,” Feliciano Sánchez noted. “I will also be sending a letter to the speaker of the House of Representatives so that we hire a structural engineer from two shortlists that we will be requesting from the Engineers and Surveyors Association, and the engineering departments in Puerto Rico. These
professionals cannot have had contracts with the Highways Authority or DTOP in order to have an independence of criteria that prevents any sign of a conflict of interest,” the lawmaker said.
The government of Puerto Rico suffered 753.2 million cyberattack threats in 2022 compared to 13.7 million attempts the previous year, Puerto Rico Innovation and Technology Service (PRITS) Executive Director Nannette Martínez Ortiz said Monday.
Martínez Ortiz made her remarks at a public hearing of the House Puerto Rico Government Committee discussing the implementation of a cyber security law.
Martínez Ortiz said that of the threats identified in 2022, at least 600 prospered but were blocked by PRITS protection systems. So far in 2023, the agency has already seen a significant increase in cyberattack threats due to increased detection capabilities within agencies and monitoring.
“It has to do more with our detection capacity than with incidents, despite the fact that incidents are increasing,” Martínez Ortiz said. “It is part of the trend.”
“This year I can assure you that the detections will be even higher, and the numbers will be shocking, but what I mean by this is that this is not bad. It is good that we can identify it. …” the PRITS director said. “Now the biggest challenge is really going to be to mitigate all those risks.”
Martínez Ortiz also attributed the increase seen in January to PRITS recently introducing protection and monitoring systems
into the Department of Education network. At the same time, the official took the opportunity during her presentation to request more recurring funds to recruit specialized personnel despite the limited resources available to implement the legislation.
House Bill 1530, authored by Rep. Jesús Manuel Ortiz González, seeks to create the position of principal cyber security officer, or CISO, and establish the government’s public data security policy. Ortiz González, who chairs the House Government Committee, emphasized during the public hearing that the government is not sufficiently prepared to face the attacks that take place in cyberspace.
“This bill, which seems fundamental to what the government of the present and the future will be, proposes to establish as a principle of public policy that providing security in government data is an essential function,” the legislator said. “We have presented it as a starting point that seems important to us in government and governability.”
Martínez Ortiz said PRITS drew up a plan to identify security needs in each agency’s database and improve and protect systems within the government. For this reason, she reiterated the urgency of establishing an additional budget to execute it and to increase the resources of the Cybersecurity Office attached to the agency.
The measure proposes that, in collaboration with the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics, PRITS disclose the updated list of
all cyberattacks reported in the government, detailing the type of attack and the agency affected.
However, the agency opposed providing this information publicly because it exposes weaknesses in security controls that may exist in the institutions. Martínez Ortiz said the agencies that are most vulnerable to cyberattacks, whether due to outdated systems or misconfigured security policies, have been identified.
“We seek to ensure that the government of Puerto Rico meets the highest security standards with a first-class infrastructure,” she said. “It is certainly a challenge, but we are working hard together with the executive branch to create the necessary scaffolding.”
She also advocated PRITS being given “the claws” to be able to fully regulate the cybersecurity systems in the government.
Cybersecurity experts and analysts reiterated the need for a cyber security law to be implemented in Puerto Rico to establish a regulatory framework related to the security of information managed by the government, particularly that which is
exposed to cyberspace.
Juan Pablo Semidey, the president and CEO of IT solutions provider Synapsis, shared the urgency of recruiting more cybersecurity professionals in Puerto Rico and making sure that they work in the government to ensure that the law is as effective as it deserves to be.
Likewise, he encouraged the Legislature to propose other bills that urgently address the issue of privacy from the point of view of giving citizens control over the data that the government collects, stores, manages and shares among different agencies or with third parties.
“House Bill 1530 is a legislative measure that we urgently need to protect information in the hands of the government … [in view] of the multiple and growing threats implied by the use of cyberspace to support public management,” Semidey said.
In a shared presentation, the founders of Bartizan Security and Cyber-LawPR, José Arroyo and Frances Romero, respectively, agreed with Semidey and offered a list of amendments to improve the applicability of the measure.
President Joe Biden’s lawyers told the Justice Department in November that they had no reason to believe that copies of official records from his vice presidency had ended up anywhere beyond a think tank in Washington, where several classified documents had been found that month, two people familiar with the matter said earlier this week.
That assertion, the people said, was based on interviews with former officials who had been involved in the process of packing and shipping such material. The Biden legal team had surveyed them after the discovery Nov. 2 of a small number of classified files in a closet of his former office at the Penn Biden Center, seeking to understand how the files got there.
But it would turn out that a handful of classified records were at Biden’s residence in Wilmington, Delaware, too. The mistaken premise, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, helps explain why roughly seven weeks elapsed before Biden’s lawyers searched boxes in the garage at his Wilmington home Dec. 20 and found several more classified papers.
The escalating scrutiny Biden faced over his handling of the materials in turn led to the discovery of yet more sensitive documents at his residence this month, when Attorney General Merrick Garland also appointed a special counsel. And on Friday, FBI agents — at the invitation of Biden’s lawyers — conducted an extraordinary search of every room in his Wilmington home, finding another halfdozen files marked as classified dating back to his time as a senator.
The account by people familiar with the matter sheds new light on a sequence of events that has led to significant political turbulence for Biden. It comes as former President Donald Trump is also under investigation by a special counsel over his repeated refusal to return sensitive documents after he left the White House, including his failure to comply with a subpoena that prompted the FBI to get a warrant to search his Florida
residence.
Former officials familiar with the packing of Biden’s office in the White House and the vice president’s Naval Observatory home at the end of the Obama administration had told Biden’s lawyers that there were two primary sets of materials, the people said.
One set was believed to be material that might be useful to Biden for his post-vice presidential career in public life or teaching, such as his speeches and unclassified policy memos about topics he was interested in. Those materials were initially shipped to two transition offices and then on to his office at the Penn Biden Center when it opened in 2018. (The National Archives and Records Administration would keep original copies of the official records.)
The other set, the people said, was believed to contain no official records. It was supposed to be material such as political campaign-related documents and old campaign memorabilia, which are exceptions to what counts as presidential records. Those boxes were shipped to the garage of his Wilmington residence, the people said.
Biden’s personal lawyers, led by Bob Bauer, told the Justice Department they
had no basis to believe official records had gone anywhere but the Penn Biden Center after it notified them Nov. 10 that it was scrutinizing the classified files. The lawyers stopped conducting their own review of how the documents could have gotten there and told the department what steps they had taken up to that point, the people said.
The Biden legal team also said they would inform the Justice Department if any government records from his vice presidency were later located elsewhere or they learned a reason to believe such files might be in another location. Soon after, Garland assigned John Lausch, a U.S. attorney in Chicago who had been appointed by Trump, to determine whether a special counsel should be installed.
Biden’s lawyers initially hoped the Justice Department’s preliminary inquiry would be brief. But as weeks passed, they decided as a matter of due diligence — and not because of any new information — that it made sense to check the boxes in the garage, too, the people said; the lawyers did not inform the Justice Department ahead of time.
On Dec. 20, once they found several classified records in those boxes, they
notified the Justice Department, which prompted discussions about whether any further such files might be in the main residence.
Against that backdrop, Biden’s personal lawyers decided they would search several work and storage areas inside the living area of the house, the people said; this time, they told the Justice Department of the plan and said they would let the government know of the results.
After finding a classified page in one of those rooms on Jan. 11, they stopped searching and alerted the Justice Department. When law enforcement officials came to retrieve that page, five more classified pages were discovered in the same area.
Everyone involved understood and agreed that the discovery of those six pages meant that the government would have to conduct its own search of the work and storage areas in the house that the Biden legal team had identified, the people said. But the Biden legal team invited the FBI to also search every room in the residence — including bathrooms, bedrooms and the utility room, the people said.
The rationale, the people said, was that an independent search by the FBI would allow a swift and definitive determination of whether any more classified files were inappropriately stored at the house.
Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday denounced “extremist” Republicans who are working to further roll back abortion rights in the months since Roe v. Wade was overturned, warning that “no one is immune” from efforts to curb access to reproductive health care.
In her speech, delivered on the 50th anniversary of Roe, the landmark Supreme Court ruling that established a constitutional right to abortion, Harris said that a push by some Republicans to establish a nationwide ban should worry people who live in states where the laws are more permissive.
“People live in fear of what might be next,” Harris said.
Harris’ appearance in Florida, the nation’s thirdmost-populous state, comes as Republicans, fresh from winning supermajorities in the Florida Legislature, have discussed changing the timeline of the state’s abortion ban to 12 weeks of pregnancy from 15. After the Food and Drug Administration this month issued a regulation allowing the sale of abortion pills at retail pharmacies, Florida health officials warned pharmacists not to dispense the drugs.
The vice president was the highest-profile administration official to appear on a day when thousands of activists across the United States were preparing to rally and march for changes at the state level. Without the votes in the Senate to enshrine the protections offered by Roe into law, and with President Joe Biden unable to grant those protections through executive action, administration officials hoped Harris’ appearance in Florida could help sustain the sort of anger that became a driving force for
voters during the midterm elections.
In her speech, at a nightlife venue called the Moon, Harris took aim at “so-called leaders” in the state for issuing what she called an extreme ban on abortions and rules that target both health care providers who perform the procedure and pharmacists who dispense the abortion pill.
“Today, we are fighting back,” Harris said.
She said Biden had signed a memorandum directing several agencies across the government, including the Department of Health and Human Services and the
Department of Homeland Security, to assess how the federal government could better support health care providers and pharmacies in providing patients with mifepristone, a drug used to end pregnancies. Officials in states including Florida and Texas have moved to limit the availability of the drug.
“Let us not be tired or discouraged,” Harris said. “Because we are on the right side of history.”
Before the vice president’s speech, several activists, including Alexis McGill Johnson, chief executive of Planned Parenthood, spoke to a crowd that had spent the morning rallying against the state’s Republican governor — “Hey-hey, ho-ho, Ron DeSantis has got to go,” the group chanted at one point. In her remarks, McGill Johnson called the vice president one of the “fiercest fighters for reproductive freedom.” Harris has established herself as the administration’s leading voice on promoting abortion rights, a position she has embraced in recent months.
According to her office, Harris has hosted leaders from 38 states in events known as “convenings,” and has gathered dozens of legislators from 18 states to discuss abortion access. The event in Tallahassee was attended by physicians who said they had been restricted from providing health care, college students who were worried about losing access to reproductive care on campus and young girls whose mothers had brought them to see the first female vice president speak.
“It’s really distressing that they are facing a world where they’ll have less rights than me and my mom,” said Jessica Lowe-Minor, 39, who came to the event with her husband, Rick, and their two daughters, Charlotte, 4, and Madeline, 9. “We’re doing everything we can to help them understand what’s at stake.”
Lowe-Minor then turned to Madeline, who was tying her shoe, and asked her if the government should be involved in health decisions. “No,” the little girl said.
Kyla Hubbard, a 21-year-old student at nearby Florida A&M, attended the event in part because she and her friends were closely watching how the state government may continue to affect the availability of campus health organizations and resources from groups including Planned Parenthood. Hubbard said it was important for the vice president to come to Tallahassee because so many Floridians “aren’t supporting” access to health care.
“We’re learning our bodies; we’re learning ourselves,” Hubbard said. “We need access to those types of resources, so to have that be in the balance is very scary.”
At the back of the room, members of Alpha Kappa Alpha, fellow alumnae of the vice president’s close-knit sorority, sat listening to Harris. Freddie Groomes-McLendon, a retired administrator at Florida State University, said she was hoping that the speech would ignite the sort of grassroots activism the White House wanted to inspire.
“We have a very conservative governor,” said Groomes-McLendon, who is 88. “We’re hoping there’s something we can do.”
Another victim of the mass shooting at a popular Southern California ballroom died at a hospital Monday, bringing the death toll to 11, as investigators continued to seek the gunman’s motive. The massacre during a celebration of the Lunar New Year in a thriving Chinese American suburb was followed by a thwarted attack at another nearby dance hall and a daylong search across the Los Angeles region Sunday. It ended with the suspected gunman dead of a self-inflicted gunshot.
Here are the details:
— Officials publicly identified two of the 10 people who were found dead at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio, and said they were waiting until relatives were notified to identify the others. Five of the dead were women, including My Nhan, 65, and Lilan Li, 63, along with two other women in their 60s and one in her 50s. Of the five men killed, three were in their 70s and two in their 60s.
— Investigators offered no motive for
Media equipment is set up outside the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park, Calif., on Monday, Jan. 23, 2023, where 1 1 people were killed and at least 10 others wounded in a shooting rampage on Saturday night.
the rampage publicly, but as they continued to interview witnesses Monday, a law enforcement official briefed on the matter said
that they believe the gunman, identified by police as Huu Can Tran, 72, specifically targeted some of the people who were killed,
and that others were shot randomly. Tran had recently visited the police station in Hemet, a town in Riverside County where he was living in a mobile park, to say that his family was poisoning him, the official said.
— The gunman tried to carry out a second attack at a ballroom in neighboring Alhambra late Saturday, officials said, but was disarmed by people there whom the sheriff called “heroes,” preventing another tragedy. Brandon Tsay, 26, who works at the ballroom, said he wrestled a semi-automatic assault pistol out of the suspect’s hands.
— The search ended Sunday when a SWAT team closed in on a white van in a parking lot in Torrance, about 30 miles from Monterey Park. Officers heard one shot as they approached the van, Sheriff Robert Luna of Los Angeles County said; they discovered that the suspected gunman had shot himself.
— Relatives and survivors began sharing stories of the victims Monday, describing moments of joy and revelry as dozens of couples ran through their favorite dance moves at the studio. The sheriff said late Sunday that seven of the wounded remained hospitalized.
The gunman in Saturday night’s shooting in Monterey Park, California, was identified by local authorities as a 72-year-old man, making him a rarity among the country’s lengthening list of mass killers, who tend to be much younger.
The median age of gunmen in mass shootings in the United States over the past six decades is 32, according to the Violence Project, a nonprofit research center funded by the National Institute of Justice. As of 2020, there has only been one other mass shooter older than 70.
Mass shooters tend to “target locations that are representative of the grievances that they have,” said James Densley, co-founder of the Violence Project and a professor of the School of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice at Metro State University in Minnesota.
He added that mass shooters in school settings are often students. The shootings at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, last year and Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012
were carried out by former students of the respective schools.
Monterey Park is a predominantly Asian and Asian American community. Several of the victims in Saturday’s shootings were in their 50s and 60s.
While the average age of a mass shooter is in the early 30s, there are clusters who carry out shooting sprees while in their 20s and 40s, a reflection of how these attackers may be in “transitional times” in which “you feel like you don’t fit in, and violence follows,” Densley said. He called the gunman in Monterey Park an “outlier” in terms of his age.
The overwhelming majority of mass shooters in the Violence Project report were men. This likely reflects the social pressure on males to “be stronger, tougher and have the final word, with that final word sometimes being violence,” said Vickie Jensen, a professor in the department of criminology and justice studies at California State University, Northridge.
Social media has been cited as a factor in recent shootings by young men, including
the attacks in Uvalde and Buffalo, New York, reflecting “a problem that intersects with the distribution and the reinforcement of the rigid and hegemonic idea of toxic masculinity,” Jensen said. This was not an issue several decades ago.
There have been a few mass shootings in the United States in which the shooter
was older than 60.
In one of the largest, the 2017 shooting in Las Vegas that left 58 dead, the shooter, Stephen Paddock, was 64. Paddock was a former postal worker and tax auditor, and his mental and physical health had been deteriorating in the months leading up to the shooting.
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By EMILY FLITTER and DAVID YAFFE-BELLANY
In Sam Bankman-Fried’s quest to keep his cryptocurrency empire looking profitable, the disgraced founder of FTX often promoted newfangled digital currencies that crypto aficionados came to call “Samcoins.”
Bankman-Fried wooed the developers of these new coins with names like Serum and Maps, insisting that they make their trading debuts on the FTX exchange. Then his hedge fund, Alameda Research, would buy some of these newly listed Samcoins to prop up their value, while BankmanFried used FTX’s influence in the crypto industry to drum up interest in those coins and convince other investors to also buy significant amounts.
Bankman-Fried was thus able to inflate the coins’ value artificially, making Alameda look healthier than it was and papering over problems at his companies until they imploded in November.
The collapse of FTX and Alameda triggered criminal charges against Bankman-Fried over his mismanagement of the two firms, and has spotlighted his broader crypto dealings, including the aggressive trading practices he orchestrated for Alameda’s benefit.
His promotion of so-called Samcoins was a big part of those practices.
Graham Friedman, director at Republic Crypto, a digital asset strategy company, said it was easy to identify which coins were Samcoins. “It was any project whose value proposition was reliant on FTX and their success.”
Court records, reviews of social media posts and interviews with crypto investors, show how the trades worked.
Sometimes, Bankman-Fried appeared to be pushing up the prices of coins — including FTT, a coin that he had created — that FTX and Alameda would later use as collateral for loans, according to court records and interviews with crypto executives. Many of those executives also accused Bankman-Fried of trying to turn a quick profit by betting that a new coin would fail, or pumping up a coin’s value and then suddenly selling it, with the apparent goal of bolstering Alameda’s balance sheet.
The Justice Department has investigated whether Bankman-Fried and Alameda manipulated markets in a way that led to the collapse of two cryptocurrencies, Luna and TerraUSD, in May. Although they were not Samcoins, they were popular in the crypto world, and their collapse destabilized the entire industry.
Since his company imploded, BankmanFried has repeatedly denied accusations that he tried to manipulate cryptocurrency markets. In a
text message, he compared his company’s efforts to bolster the price of FTT — by publicly announcing that it would buy large quantities — to share buyback schemes at public companies. And he said that his firm’s trading of FTT was designed to keep the market running smoothly by buying coins when people wanted to sell, and selling when they wanted to buy.
“Neither I, nor to my knowledge Alameda, ever intended to manipulate markets,” he wrote.
Signs that Bankman-Fried was orchestrating trades to his firms’ benefit weren’t all that hard to see in the crypto world, according to crypto developers who shared their stories on public forums and investors interviewed by The New York Times. The trades at the center of many of these schemes were openly visible on the blockchain, the digital ledger that records every transaction made in the public sphere of cryptocurrencies.
Bankman-Fried also created FTT to facilitate the trading of other coins on FTX. But according to fraud charges filed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Dec. 13, Bankman-Fried kept FTT’s value artificially high, and then used it as collateral to borrow funds from lending firms. In the 40-page complaint, the CFTC said Alameda borrowed as much as $10 billion from various digital lenders against FTT and other holdings.
At one point, Bankman-Fried became concerned about the “the psychological effect of the price of FTT dropping below a specific threshold” and ordered Alameda to buy FTT to push the price back up, according to separate fraud charges filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“The question always was: How does FTX have so much money?” said Haseeb Qureshi, a managing partner at Dragonfly, a San Franciscobased venture capital firm to which BankmanFried and his team pitched investment deals, including new coin launches.
Qureshi wasn’t the only one with doubts.
While Bankman-Fried was raising funds to start FTT in mid-2019, there were rumors that Alameda was struggling. Ryan Salame, a top FTX executive, told an industry participant that Alameda was losing money, according to screenshots of text messages viewed by the Times; the industry participant did not want to be named because he considered Salame a friend. (A spokesperson for Bankman-Fried said in a statement that the FTX founder was “fairly confident” that Alameda made money in 2019.)
Still, FTT was lucrative for early investors. The coin’s price skyrocketed to nearly $80 in late 2021, about 40 times what it was worth two years earlier. As the broader crypto market surged, Bankman-Fried cultivated a public persona as a wunderkind entrepreneur who intended to
donate all his wealth to charity.
Alameda benefited from its close association with FTX, and ran a venture capital operation seeding other startups, expanding BankmanFried’s influence.
For developers who had designed a new coin and wanted a prominent platform for its first-ever sale, Bankman-Fried’s offer to have FTX be the launching pad was hard to resist. It was a winning proposition for both parties: Developers could use FTX and Alameda’s names to ensure strong demand for their new coins. Alameda, which bought and kept coins for itself, would benefit from having the price of a new coin driven up by frenzied demand from investors, who were reliably lured by its backing.
Soon Bankman-Fried’s reach extended across the crypto industry. He heavily promoted the cryptocurrency Solana, which Alameda used as collateral for loans, according to financial documents viewed by the Times and a person with knowledge of the arrangement. And he also promoted obscure cryptocurrencies such as Bonfida, Oxygen and Maps.
One strategy was clear, according to Qureshi: Bankman-Fried would offer coins created by developers on FTX and give a select group of investors the chance to buy in early at low prices, with a wink and a nod that the price would certainly go higher.
Bankman-Fried’s involvement in starting the coin Serum, which was supposed to support decentralized transactions made directly between users, shows how it worked.
Toward the end of 2020, Bankman-Fried offered Dragonfly and other investors a chance to put $1 million into Serum at a certain value, Qureshi said. The FTX founder then gave them 24 hours to decide whether to accept the offer. He limited the number of investors who could sign up for the offer, passing around a spreadsheet and warning potential investors that once it was full, the price of investing would rise.
Qureshi had never seen a pitch like it. He had many questions about how the new product to which the coin was attached would work, but felt that Bankman-Fried had left no time to inquire.
Qureshi and his team passed, but other investors bought into Serum, figuring it was a safe bet. Bankman-Fried had promised a seven-year lockup on the coins, meaning their value was practically guaranteed to stay high because none of the investors would be allowed to sell them.
At the same time, Alameda was earning a reputation for aggressive trading that caused friction with other crypto projects.
In March 2021, Alameda agreed to buy up
to $80 million worth of digital tokens issued by Reef Finance, a crypto developer, with the understanding that the hedge fund would be a longterm investor, according to an account of the deal published on Reef’s website. But Alameda would not sign a legal contract for the transaction, instead asking Reef to operate “based on ‘trust,’” the Reef post said.
Reef’s price surged once the deal was announced. But shortly after the first $20 million of tokens was delivered, Alameda sent a portion of them to an account at the giant crypto exchange Binance, according to blockchain records, suggesting that the firm intended to sell them at a profit.
On Twitter, Alameda’s CEO at the time, Sam Trabucco, defended the company’s conduct, saying it had no official relationship with Reef but had still held onto “the great majority” of the tokens.
In response, Reef suggested that Alameda had engaged in market manipulation. “We could not understand why Alameda, our long-term strategic investor, would offload their tokens,” the blog post explained. “This action hurt retail investors and should be a cautionary tale.”
In a brief interview this month, Denko Mancheski, the founder of Reef, declined to discuss the incident in detail. “Their practices were widely known,” he said. “We were just one team that decided to say it out loud.”
But it was another branch of BankmanFried’s crypto trading strategy that ultimately became his undoing.
As the crypto market foundered in 2022, Bankman-Fried’s reliance on Samcoins started attracting criticism. In November, the crypto publication CoinDesk reported on a leaked Alameda balance sheet that showed the company’s assets consisted largely of FTT, Serum, Maps, Oxygen and other cryptocurrencies that would be difficult to convert into cash.
The disclosure helped set off a run on deposits at FTX that exposed an $8 billion hole in its accounts, eventually forcing the exchange and Alameda to file for bankruptcy.
Investors are eyeing results from Microsoft Corp, Tesla Inc, IBM and Intel this week to see how their business are coping with the threat of an economic slowdown triggered by the Federal Reserve’s aggressive policy tightening.
Six of the 11 major S&P 500 sector indexes were up in early trading, with a 1.3% rise in tech stocks making them the biggest gainers.
Qualcomm Inc and Advanced Micro Devices Inc climbed 4.5% and 7%, respectively, after Barclays upgraded their stocks to “overweight” from “equal-weight”.
Western Digital Corp jumped 6% on a report that the memory chipmaker could merge with Japan’s Kioxia Holdings.
Those gains helped the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index add 2.9% and hit a one-month high.
“All those names and sectors (chipmakers) in general just got beat up much more than the market in general overall. So now in a lot of those names, there’s value,” said Jimmy Lee, chief executive officer of Wealth Consulting Group.
“It was a tough year for technology investors. So you’re starting to see investors going back into some of those names. But instead of across the board, they’ll be buying the names that have a chance to do good this year, even in a choppy economic environment.”
Analysts now expect fourth-quarter earnings from S&P 500 companies to fall 2.9%, according to IBES Refinitiv data, compared with a 1.6% drop at the beginning of the year.
Investors are also awaiting January manufacturing and fourth-quarter GDP data to assess the impact of the Fed’s rate hikes on the economy.
Although recent data has signaled cooling inflation, a tight labor market may keep the central bank on its aggressive policy tightening path until rates rise over 5%, a level backed by most policymakers.
At 10:04 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 76.08 points, or 0.23%, at 33,451.57, the S&P 500 was up 23.24 points, or 0.59%, at 3,995.85 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 117.16 points, or 1.05%, at 11,257.59.
Cloud-based software firm Salesforce Inc rose 2.0% to lead gains among Dow components after activist investor Elliott Management Corp made a multi-billion-dollar investment in the company, according to people familiar with the matter.
Baker Hughes Co slid 1.1% on missing fourth-quarter profit estimates, hit by component shortages and supply chain disruptions.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.05-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.60-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded two new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 35 new highs and six new lows.
Markets have started 2023 on a strong footing on hopes
worst levels in nearly half a century.
that a moderation in inflationary pressures and some signs of cooling in the labor market could give the Fed cover to dial down the size of its interest rate hikes.
Money market participants are currently expecting a 25-basis point interest rate hike from the Fed in February and see rates peaking at 4.94% in June.
U.S.-listed stocks of Chinese companies such as JD.Com Inc, Baidu Inc and Bilibili Inc fell between 4.9% and 6.4% after China’s economic growth in 2022 slumped to one of its
“I think it’s a combination of some minor profit taking after a very strong rally last week and the news out of China,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.
At 9:42 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 147.35 points, or 0.43%, at 34,155.26, the S&P 500 was down 2.24 points, or 0.06%, at 3,996.85, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 24.64 points, or 0.22%, at 11,054.51.
Insurer Travelers Cos Inc fell 3%, among other drags on the Dow, after forecasting fourth-quarter earnings below estimates.
By RON DePASQUALE
Poland’s prime minister said Monday that his government would ask Germany for permission to send German-made tanks to Ukraine but insisted that whether Berlin approved or not, the Polish government would build a coalition of nations willing to donate some of Europe’s most advanced weaponry.
“We’ll ask for permission, but it’s a secondary issue,” the Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, told reporters, according to the Polish news agency PAP.
“Even if we ultimately don’t receive permission, then, despite that, we’d transfer our tanks to Ukraine together with others within a small coalition, even if Germany is not in the coalition,” Morawiecki added.
It was unclear when Poland, whose officials have been among the loudest voices urging the provision of Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine, would formally request authorization from Germany. Poland is legally required to ask Germany, the tanks’ maker, for a license to re-export the tanks. The Leopards are stocked by many European countries, and Ukraine sees obtaining them as crucial to its war effort before fighting that is expected to intensify this spring.
Germany has so far resisted sending its own Leopards to Ukraine but says that no other countries have formally asked for authorization to transfer their Leopards. On Sunday, Annalena Baerbock, Germany’s foreign minister, signaled that Berlin was open to allowing allies to send the tanks to
Ukraine. She told the French channel LCI TV that Germany “wouldn’t stand in the way” if Poland decided to send them, though she added that Poland had not yet asked for such authorization.
Germany, wary of escalating the conflict with Russia, has been slower than some other European nations in sending advanced weapons to Ukraine and has said that it would coordinate with allies including the United States on the provision of tanks. Washington has supplied Ukraine with an increasingly powerful array of advanced weapons, but has so far declined to send its best tank, the M1 Abrams, pointing to the logistical hurdles posed by a fuel-guzzling vehicle that requires continuous maintenance.
On Sunday, the new chair of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael McCaul, R-Texas, argued on ABC’s “This Week” that the United States should send at least one
M1 Abrams to Ukraine to persuade Germany to greenlight the Leopards.
Ukraine’s appeals for tanks and more weapons from the West have taken on greater urgency with the approach of spring, when both sides in the conflict are preparing offensives, officials have said. And Russia’s recent claims to have captured the small eastern towns of Soledar and Klishchiivka — part of a broader push to seize the city of Bakhmut — have added to the pressure.
“We need tanks — not 10 or 20, but several hundred,” said Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said that although a few dozen Western tanks might not be decisive compared with Russia’s fleet of hundreds, they would help Ukrainian forces on the battlefield and lift troops’ morale.
“They motivate our soldiers to fight for their own values,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with German TV channel ARD that was broadcast Sunday. “Because they show that the whole world is with you.”
The Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said Monday that the pressure Germany was facing showed “nervousness” among Ukraine’s allies, but he warned that Ukraine would ultimately bear the consequences if the West sends tanks.
“The main thing is that the Ukrainian people will have to pay for all these actions, for all this pseudo-support,” he said, according to the official news agency.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine has vowed to take action against corruption in the wake of an official’s dismissal for embezzlement, stressing that the focus on the war would not detract from tackling an endemic issue in his country.
Corruption plagued Ukraine long before Russia launched its full-scale invasion in late February. And while fighting Russian aggression has been the primary focus of Zelenskyy’s government, corruption has remained a priority — especially as weapons and aid worth hundreds of millions of dollars flood into the country, and the price tag for reconstruction efforts is estimated to be in the billions.
Zelenskyy, who came to power in 2019 on a promise of cleaning up corruption, acknowledged in his overnight address Sunday that the government’s “main focus is on defense, foreign policy and war.”
“But this does not mean that I do not see or hear what is being said in society at different levels,” he said, citing issues with energy and military procurement, and saying his government would “take the necessary powerful steps.”
Zelenskyy said he hoped the dismissal of a deputy minister Sunday would send a “signal to all those whose actions or behavior violate the principle of justice.”
“I want this to be clear: There will be no return to what used to be in the past,” Zelenskyy said.
While Zelenskyy did not name the official, Ukraine’s infrastructure ministry identified him as Vasyl Lozynsky, a deputy minister in the office. His firing came after Ukraine’s top anti-corruption agency and the anti-corruption prosecutor’s office “exposed and stopped the activities of an organized criminal group involved in the embezzlement of budget funds,” according to Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine’s infrastructure minister.
The agency, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, said Lozynsky was part of that group and had been detained while getting a $400,000 bribe for helping with equipment and machinery purchasing contracts. Detectives were working to identify other
people involved in the organization, the NABU said in a statement.
The contracts were related to restoring critical infrastructure facilities and providing light, heat and water during the winter, the anti-corruption prosecutor’s office said in a statement. Over the past several months, Russia has pummeled Ukraine with strikes on infrastructure targets designed to spread misery among civilians.
Even as Russia’s war on Ukraine grinds on with no end in sight, Ukraine’s allies have been grappling with complicated questions about the country’s reconstruction: Who will pay for what, and who should control the process and the funds? What kind of external oversight of the money should be required? Kyiv has said it will need $750 billion to rebuild its infrastructure, although a report in September by the Washington-based German Marshall Fund estimated a price tag of $100 billion.
The European Union has tied Ukraine’s candidate status to overhauls of the rule of law, justice and anti-corruption. In addition to concerns about the risk of corruption tainting post-war reconstruction efforts, some U.S. officials have expressed concerns that U.S. weapons given to Ukraine could be diverted or stolen for resale.
Kubrakov, the infrastructure minister, said Sunday that he would instruct his office to review “all active projects” — including its budget and foreign funding.
“We continue to work,” he said in a Facebook post.
When Brazil’s highway police began holding up buses full of voters on election day, he ordered them to stop.
When right-wing voices spread the baseless claim that Brazil’s election was stolen, he ordered them banned from social media.
And when thousands of right-wing protesters stormed Brazil’s halls of power this month, he ordered the officials who had been responsible for securing the buildings arrested.
Alexandre de Moraes, a Brazilian Supreme Court justice, has become Brazil’s lead defender of democracy. Using a broad interpretation of the court’s powers, he has pushed to investigate and prosecute, as well as to silence on social media, anyone he deems a menace to Brazil’s institutions.
As a result, in the face of antidemocratic attacks from Brazil’s former far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, and his supporters, de Moraes cleared the way for the transfer of power. To many on Brazil’s left, that made him the man who saved Brazil’s democracy.
Yet, to many others in Brazil, he is threatening it. De Moraes’ aggressive approach and expanding authority have made him one of Brazil’s most powerful people and also put him at the center of a complicated debate in Brazil over how far is too far to fight the far right.
De Moraes, 54, has jailed people without trial for posting threats on social media; helped sentence a sitting congressman to nearly nine years in prison for threatening the court; ordered raids on businessmen with little evidence of wrongdoing; suspended an elected governor from his job; and unilaterally blocked dozens of accounts and thousands of posts on social media, with virtually no transparency or room for appeal.
In the hunt for justice after the riot this month, he has become further emboldened. His orders to ban prominent voices online have proliferated, and now he has the man accused of fanning Brazil’s extremist flames, Bolsonaro, in his crosshairs. Last week, de Moraes included Bolsonaro in a federal investigation of the riot, which he is overseeing, suggesting that the former president inspired the violence.
His moves fit into a broader trend of Brazil’s Supreme Court increasing its power — and taking what critics have called a more repressive turn in the process.
Many legal and political analysts are now sparring over de Moraes’ long-term impact. Some argue that his actions are necessary, extraordinary measures in the face of an extraordinary threat. Others say that, acting under
the banner of safeguarding democracy, he is instead harming the nation’s balance of power.
“We cannot disrespect democracy in order to protect it,” said Irapuã Santana, a lawyer and legal columnist for O Globo, one of Brazil’s biggest newspapers.
Santana voted in October for Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the new leftist president, but said he worried that many in Brazil were cheering on de Moraes without considering the potential consequences. “Today he’s doing it against our enemy. Tomorrow he’s doing it against our friend — or against us,” he said. “It’s a dangerous precedent.”
Milly Lacombe, a left-wing commentator, said such concerns missed a bigger danger, evidenced by the riots and a foiled bomb plot to disrupt Lula’s inauguration. She argued, in her column on Brazilian news site UOL, the far right posed perils to Brazil’s democracy, which should overshadow concerns about free speech or judicial overreach.
“Under the threat of a Nazi-fascist-inspired insurrection, is it worth temporarily suppressing individual freedoms in the name of collective freedom?” she wrote. “I would say yes.”
The dispute has illustrated a larger global debate not only on judicial power but about how to handle misinformation online without silencing dissenting voices.
Twitter’s owner, Elon Musk, weighed in that de Moraes’ moves were “extremely concerning.” Glenn Greenwald, an American journalist who has lived in Brazil for years and has become a critic of certain social-media rules, debated a Brazilian sociologist last week about de Moraes’ actions. And Brazilian officials have suggested that they would consider new laws to address what can be said online.
De Moraes has declined requests for an interview for more than a year. The Supreme Court, in a statement, said de Moraes’ investigations and many of his orders have been endorsed by the full court and “are absolutely constitutional.”
In the hours after the riot, de Moraes suspended the governor of the district responsible for security for the protest that turned violent and ordered the arrests of two district security officials.
Still, there is little support in the Supreme Court for arresting Bolsonaro, because of a lack of evidence as well as fears that it would prompt unrest, according to a senior court official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.
Multiple Supreme Court justices instead prefer to try to convict Bolsonaro for abusing his power through the country’s election agency, making him ineligible to run for office for eight years, the official said.
Bolsonaro, who has been in Florida since Dec. 30, has long accused de Moraes of overstepping his authority and has tried to impeach him. Bolsonaro’s lawyer said he had always respected democracy and repudiated the riots.
De Moraes spent decades as a public prosecutor, private lawyer and constitutional law professor.
He was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2017, a move denounced by the left because he was aligned with center-right parties.
In 2019, the Supreme Court’s chief justice issued a one-page order authorizing the court to open its own investigations instead of waiting for law enforcement. For the court — which, unlike the U.S. Supreme Court, handles tens of thousands of cases a year, including certain criminal cases — it was a drastic expansion of authority.
The chief justice tapped de Moraes to run the first inquiry: an investigation into “fake news.” De Moraes’ first move was to order a magazine to retract an article that had linked the chief justice to a corruption investigation. (He later rescinded the order when the magazine produced evidence.)
De Moraes then shifted his focus to online disinformation, primarily from Bolsonaro’s supporters. That gave him an outsize role in Brazilian politics that grew further this year when, by chance, his rotation as Brazil’s election chief coincided with the vote.
In that job, de Moraes became Brazilian democracy’s chief guardian — and attack dog. Before the vote, he cut a deal with the military to run additional tests on voting machines. On election day, he ordered the federal highway police to explain why officers were stopping
buses full of voters. And on election night, he arranged for government leaders to announce the winner jointly, a show of unity against any attempt to hold onto power.
In the middle of that group of leaders was de Moraes. He delivered a forceful speech about the value of democracy, drawing chants of “Xandão,” which is Portuguese for “Big Alex.” “I hope from the election onward,” he said, “the attacks on the electoral system will finally stop.”
They did not. Right-wing protesters demonstrated outside military bases, calling on the military to overturn the vote. In response, de Moraes ordered tech companies to ban more accounts, according to a senior lawyer at one major tech firm, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of angering de Moraes.
Among the accounts de Moraes ordered taken down are those of at least five members of Congress, a billionaire businessman and more than a dozen prominent right-wing pundits, including one of Brazil’s most popular podcast hosts.
De Moraes’ orders to remove accounts do not specify why, according to the lawyer and a copy of one order obtained by The New York Times. Visits to banned accounts on Twitter yield a blank page and a blunt message: The “account has been withheld in Brazil in response to a legal demand.” And account owners are simply told they are banned because of a court order and should consider contacting a lawyer.
The lawyer said that his tech firm appealed some orders it viewed as overly broad, but that de Moraes denied them. Appeals to the full bench of judges have also been denied or ignored, this person said.
Multiple social networks declined to comment on the record for this article. De Moraes is a potential threat to their business in Brazil. Last year, he briefly banned Telegram in the country after it did not respond to his orders.
There were talks recently among some justices about the need to bring de Moraes’ investigations to an end, according to the court official, but after the Jan. 8 riot, those talks ceased. The riot has increased support for de Moraes among his peers, according to the official.
Beatriz Rey, a political scientist at the State University of Rio de Janeiro, said de Moraes’ approach, though not ideal, is necessary because other branches of the government, especially Congress, have skirted their duties.
“You shouldn’t have one justice fighting threats to democracy over and over again,” she said. “But the problem is the system itself is malfunctioning right now.”
Canada said over the weekend that it had agreed to pay 2.8 billion Canadian dollars, about $2 billion, to settle the latest in a series of lawsuits seeking reparations for the harm done to Indigenous people through a system of mandatory residential schools that a national commission called “cultural genocide.”
The new settlement, which must still be approved by a court, resolves a class action brought in 2012 by 325 First Nations that sought compensation for the erosion of their cultures and languages.
Thousands of Indigenous students educated at about 130 residential schools from the 19th century through the 1990s were forbidden, sometimes through coercive violence, from speaking their ancestral languages and practicing their traditions.
Indigenous children were sometimes taken from their families by force and sent to the schools, which were largely run by churches.
In 2021, Canadians were shocked by evidence of unmarked graves containing the remains of 215 former students on the grounds
of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia. Evidence of the graves was discovered using ground penetrating radar. Subsequent searches at other onetime schools have found similar possible burial sites. Thousands of students are believed to have died at the schools from disease, malnutrition, neglect, accidents, fires and violence.
If the new agreement is approved, it will be the fifth major legal settlement related to the schools since a 2006 agreement provided compensation to former students and established a National Truth and Reconciliation Com-
mission. The commission examined the educational system, heard testimony from former students and issued a long list of recommendations that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised to fully implement. With the latest agreement, the government will have provided a total of about CA$10 billion in restitution.
“The residential school settlement left a lot of unfinished business,” Marc Miller, the Indigenous relations minister, said in an interview referring to the 2006 agreement. “One part of that was the very legitimate argument by the plaintiff was that there was a collective type of damage to language, culture and heritage and that devastation that was caused by successive government policies.”
The Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation, which announced the discovery of the likely remains at the Kamloops Indian Residential School site in 2021, was among the parties to the current lawsuit.
“Canada spent over 100 years trying to destroy our languages and cultures through residential schools,” Kúkpi7, or Chief, Rosanne Casimir of Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc said in a statement. “It is going to take incredible efforts by our nations to restore our languages and culture — this settlement gives nations the
resources and tools needed to make a good start.”
Under the agreement, the government will place the settlement into a trust fund that Indigenous communities can use for educational, cultural and language programs. It will also be used to develop projects to support former students and help them in “reconnecting with their heritage,” the government said in a statement.
The full agreement will be released later. The Federal Court of Canada is scheduled to hold a hearing in late February, where it is expected to approve the settlement.
While the government settled part of the lawsuit in 2021, the main part of the case had been scheduled to go to trial. Miller, the Indigenous relations minister, said the government decided last fall, however, that it was better to negotiate a settlement than go to court and have the arguments play out in an “adversarial surrounding.”
“Get around the table, figure out how we move forward and figure out how we put in place financial resources,” he said of the federal cabinet’s thinking behind the decision. “Not that they can completely replace the harm that was done — far from it.”
By KATIE ROGERSThe United States has decided to designate the Russian private military group Wagner as a significant transnational criminal organization, the White House said late last week, a move that will expand the number of nations and institutions that can be prevented from doing business with the company.
“Our message to any company that is considering providing support to Wagner is simply this: Wagner is a criminal organization that is committing widespread human rights abuses,” John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson, told reporters at a news briefing.
The new measures against the company, which is already under U.S. sanctions, will take effect next week. Designating Wagner as a transnational criminal organization will allow the government to freeze any assets the company may have in the United States and ban Americans from providing money, goods or services to the group.
Kirby said North Korea had provided arms for Russia’s military operation through Wagner, delivering rockets and missiles for use by the group’s mercenaries last year.
Kirby said Wagner, a mercenary force run by a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has established itself as a “rival power center” to the Russian military and added that the group’s founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has overseen the deplo-
yment of about 50,000 personnel to Ukraine, a number that largely consists of contractors and newly released convicts.
Wagner’s mercenaries have played a large role in the battle for eastern Ukraine and have also carried out military operations in Africa.
“Russia is searching for arms in foreign countries, including through Wagner,” Kirby said.
North Korea has denied it is arming Wagner or Russian forces, but Kirby said the United States has evidence. He produced aerial images that he said showed a Russian train entering North Korea on Nov. 19 and then leaving fully loaded with shipping containers.
Kirby said the amount of material delivered to Wagner has not changed battlefield dynamics in Ukraine but that the United States expects the company will continue to receive North Korean weapons.
He said that American officials had referred the photos to the United Nations Security Council and that he expects additional sanctions to be placed against the company after the panel reviews evidence that United Nations resolutions were violated.
“While we assess that the amount of material delivered to Wagner has not changed battlefield dynamics in Ukraine,” Kirby said, “we expect that it will continue to receive North Korean weapons systems.”
Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, recently had a few things to say about cryptocurrency. Bitcoin, he declared, is a “hyped-up fraud”; it’s a “pet rock.”
Tell us what you really think, Dimon. Actually, Dimon seems to share the same view of Bitcoin that I and many other economists have had all along: The digital “currency” isn’t really a currency. That is, it can’t be used as a medium of exchange — there are very few things you can buy directly with Bitcoin — and it isn’t a stable store of value with reasonably predictable future purchasing power. So it’s basically useless; as Dimon says, it’s a pet rock.
However, one concern that has long nagged at sophisticated crypto skeptics is that most of the negative things one could say about Bitcoin can also be said about gold. You can’t buy groceries, or even a house, with gold ingots. And historically, the purchasing power of gold has been highly unstable.
Gold has fluctuated between being a terrific investment and a terrible one, but in any case, its purchasing power has been far less predictable than that of the dollar, even during periods of inflation.
Yet people still hold gold. A century has passed since
John Maynard Keynes called the gold standard — and by implication, the idea that gold is money — a “barbarous relic.” And he had a point! It turns out, however, that there are, and perhaps always will be, enough financial barbarians out there to sustain substantial demand for gold as a store of value, even though it hasn’t served any monetary purpose for a very long time.
And some analysts have suggested that Bitcoin and other digital currencies will remain valuable even if they fail to become real money because they might take on some of gold’s historic role. Indeed, at the beginning of 2022, a Goldman Sachs analyst predicted exactly that, saying that Bitcoin would take market share away from gold.
Which brings me to this: Is it possible that exactly the opposite has been happening?
Everyone knows about the problems with crypto, which have turned out to go far beyond the fact that there’s a lack of any clear reason for cryptocurrencies to exist. Even where outright fraud wasn’t taking place, there were strong pump-and-dump aspects to the whole thing. We now know, for example, that even as Peter Thiel was proclaiming “the end of the fiat currency regime” and suggesting that the price of Bitcoin could rise by a factor of 100, his venture capital fund was selling off almost all of its Bitcoin holdings.
I have, however, seen relatively little talk about the recent resilience of good old-fashioned gold.
This comes as a bit of a personal surprise. In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, goldbugs used to yell at me all the time, insisting that surging gold prices were a verdict on the Fed’s reckless money printing and a harbinger of the coming hyperinflation. These days, I get harangued about crypto all the time (the two best ways to generate hate mail are to criticize Bitcoin and to criticize Elon Musk), but I hardly hear anyone talking about gold.
Yet gold should be considered an interesting story. After all, Bitcoin has lost more than two-thirds of its value since its peak in late 2021, and many muchhyped stocks such as (cough) Tesla have fallen from grace, but gold has hung in there, with its current price just a few percent off its 2020 peak.
You might be tempted to say that investors are buying gold because they fear inflation. But that hasn’t worked for Bitcoin, which was also supposed to be an inflation hedge. And in any case, gold prices don’t actually seem to respond to expected inflation. What normally drives them, instead, are real interest rates: the inflation-adjusted yield on alternative investments. People didn’t buy gold in the 1970s because inflation was high; they bought
gold because inflation was higher than the yield on U.S. government bonds. They bought gold again after 2008, even though inflation stayed low, because rock-bottom interest rates meant that the inflation-adjusted yield on bonds was extremely low, sometimes negative.
But real interest rates have risen substantially since the Fed began tightening policy to fight inflation. And rising real rates have helped drive down the prices of many assets — not just Bitcoin and Tesla but many other technology and meme stocks.
As we’ve discussed, normally, rising yields would decrease demand for gold. But it is hanging in there. Why?
I have a hypothesis — and it’s no more than that, although I encourage others to see if there’s a way to confirm or refute it. Here it goes: Cryptocurrencies, as I’ve long said, were buoyed by a combination of technobabble and libertarian derp. Well, libertarian derp will always be with us. But investors are losing faith in fashionable technobabble. They still want their pet rocks, but crypto’s plunges and scandals are causing some of them to return to pet rocks with centuries of tradition behind them — that is, gold, the pet rock of ages.
Does any of this matter? Mostly not. But I think it’s interesting and offers a welcome break from grim worries about the debt ceiling.
POR CYBERNEWS
WASHINGTON, D.C. – La comisionada residente, Jenniffer González Colón, destacó la importancia en la estabilización y expansión de la capacidad energética, de manera inmediata, que resaltan los resultados revelados el lunes, en una sesión informativa en línea, del estudio de resiliencia de la red eléctrica de Puerto Rico y transiciones a energía 100 por ciento renovable (PR100).
El estudio lo conduce el Grid Deployment Office (GDO) del Departamento de Energía federal (DOE, por sus siglas en inglés) para analizar el potencial de hacer una transición a la energía renovable en la isla, para el año 2050. En la sesión de DOE y FEMA, explicaron que dicho estudio está basado en posibles escenarios con las distintas fuentes de energía renovable -solar, eólica marina y energía eólica terrestre- y proyectando cómo estas podrían ser utilizadas y a que capacidad. El estudio revela que, técnicamente, sí existe el potencial para alcanzar y exceder la meta de 100% energía renovable en 2050, más para lograrlo tiene que haber la reconstrucción del sistema de transmisión y distribución. A preguntas de participantes, los funcionarios en el panel indicaron que igualmente es necesaria la estabilización y expansión a corto plazo de la capacidad existente para poder permitir energía confiable en lo que se logra la implantación de los planes.
“El resultado preliminar muestra que existe alto potencial para lograr la meta de energía renovable y que la parte crítica es identificar qué alternativas son más viables. Esperamos poder ver en el segundo año del estudio evaluarse más a fondo dichas opciones” indicó la comisionada residente en declaraciones escritas.
La comisionada residente destacó que en la discusión tanto la secretaria de Energía Granholm como la administradora Criswell de FEMA reconocieron la necesidad imperiosa de capacidad de generación a corto plazo para estabilizar el sistema.
“Es importante que destacaron que las asignaciones que logré de sobre $9.6 billones en fondos de FEMA y de sobre $1.8 billones de CDBG-DR para recuperación a largo plazo están dirigidas a la reconstrucción y mejora del sistema, con la flexibilidad para hacer uso de la capacidad instalada como medida de transición hacia la meta ulterior. Que no privan el uso para una u otra alternative. En el segundo año del estudio esperamos de
DOE y FEMA se mantengan en conversación con el Negociado de Energía, las industrias y las comunidades para recomendar cursos que cumplan con el Plan Integrado de Recursos y con los requisitos del Plan de Acción para los fondos de FEMA”, declaró.
La comisionada en su actividad congresional relacionada a la energía renovable promovió el acceso a energía solar residencial además de que se estudie la posibilidad de desarrollar energía eólica marina en aguas federales adyacentes a los territorios de los Estados Unidos.
En octubre de 2022, la comisionada fue parte de un esfuerzo bipartita para asegurar que Puerto Rico recibiera mil millones de dólares a través del Departamento de Energía para favorecer la recuperación energética en las comunidades, mediante un programa para ofrecer a familias de bajos recursos y personas con impedimento, acceso a sistemas de energía solar y de baterías. La asignación finalmente formó parte del acuerdo presupuestario firmado en diciembre pasado. Esta iniciativa fue destacada por la secretaria Granholm durante su presentación en panel, así como por el gobernador Pedro Pierluisi durante su intervención en el mismo.
González Colón sostuvo que logró lenguaje en el Inflation Reduction Act (Ley Pública 117-169) donde se autoriza al Departamento del Interior a analizar la viabilidad y de así serlo, acoger las propuestas que surjan para llevar a cabo
proyectos de energía eólica en aguas de jurisdicción federal adyacentes a Puerto Rico y el resto de los territorios. Esto recogió lenguaje similar al de su — HR 1689, Offshore Wind for Territories Act –que había estado presentado previamente.
“En ninguna parte del informe presentado hoy se expresó ni por la secretaria Granholm in la administradora Griswold que se descarte o se prohíba el uso de gas natural para la transición a corto plazo. Lo que sí indicó la Administradora de FEMA fue que los recursos que ellos proveerán para eso serán para uso transicional. El informe de DOE sí indica que hay potencial para proveer esa capacidad renovable pero que las decisiones a corto plazo deben evaluarse con cuidado para que la instalación rápida de ambos sistemas tanto de combustible fósil como de renovables — y así mismo lo dice el texto, ambos — no resulte en crear proyectos que luego deban cerrar antes de recuperarse lo invertido, y en eso estamos totalmente de acuerdo”, añadió.
El “Estudio de resiliencia de la red eléctrica de Puerto Rico y transiciones a energía 100% renovable (PR100)”, un estudio de dos años, dirigido por el Grid Deployment Office (GDO) del Departamento de Energía Federal (DOE, por sus siglas en inglés) y su equipo de laboratorios nacionales para analizar exhaustivamente los caminos para transicionar a la energía renovable, informado por ciudadanos de Puerto Rico.
POR CYBERNEWSSAN JUAN – El secretario designado del Departamento de Asuntos al Consumidor (DACO), el licenciado Hiram Torres Montalvo, informó el lunes, que dicha dependencia ha expedido en la región de San Juan, desde el mes de noviembre pasado, 130,000 dólares en multas a contratistas por no encontrarse en el Registro de Contratistas, según establece la Ley 146 de 10 de agosto de 1995.“En el DACO nos encontramos monitoreando constantemente el mercado de la construcción para asegurarnos que los contratistas, aquellas personas que se dedican al negocio de la construcción de residencias, al igual que la remodelación y modificaciones de las mismas, cuenten con los permisos necesarios para operar según el marco legal en Puerto
Rico. A esos fines, la Oficina de la Región de San Juan identificó 26 personas y/o entidades jurídicas que violaron los parámetros de la Ley 146 durante un período que inicio en noviembre de 2022 hasta el día de hoy”, señaló el secretario designado end eclaraciones escritas.
Explicó que la Ley 146-1995 establece que toda persona natural o jurídica, que se dedique al negocio de la construcción de viviendas (residencias), así como a realizar medidas, modificaciones, alteraciones, instalaciones y reparaciones esenciales en edificaciones dedicadas a vivienda, y tratamientos de techo para corregir las filtraciones, tiene que inscribirse en éste para poder operar legalmente. También incluye a quién habitualmente se dedique a la construcción de residencias, incluyendo servicios de carpintería, mejoras, al-
bañilería, y otras reparaciones análogas.
“Nuestro equipo de inspectores a través de toda la Isla continúa evaluando las querellas, así como identificando a esos contratistas que no se encuentran registrados. Los consumidores merecen transparencia en la contratación de personal para construir o rehabilitar sus hogares”, agregó el titular designado de la agencia.
Torres Montalvo hizo un llamado a los consumidores a visitar la página oficial del DACO https://www. daco.pr.gov/consumidores/listado-contratistas-registrados/, en el módulo de Registro de Contratista, para corroborar que la persona o entidad a contratarse cuente con los debidos permisos para hacer la labor solicitada.
La plataforma de búsqueda de datos en el Registro de Contratistas es sencilla, solo necesita el nombre para corroborar datos.
An hour before a gospel choir kicked off the funeral for Lisa Marie Presley on the broad lawn of Graceland, Kathy Chandler, the owner of a restaurant in Pilot Point, Texas, was ambling down Elvis Presley Boulevard with a heavy heart. She was clutching a red rose. “Oh my God,” she said. “This is like the last of Elvis to me.”
Chandler, 58, was among more than 1,000 fans who flocked to Graceland on Sunday morning and stood in the bitter cold to pay their respects to Presley, a singer-songwriter, scandalscarred tabloid fixture, and a woman who occupied a unique place in popular culture. She was, as former Memphis Mayor A C Wharton put it, “the only child born to the world’s most famous father.”
The death of Presley this month, at age 54, clipped short a poignant and often painful chapter in the story of the iconic 20th-century singer and his family, who were long ago elevated to something like royalty status by Elvis Presley’s worldwide throngs of adoring fans. And on Sunday, her memorial service showed how this more democratized concept of royalty, arguably perfected by Americans, has moved ever closer to the more traditional kind: Not only did Presley become a king by playing rock ’n’ roll. He also passed down his royal status through his bloodline.
It was a service fit for a princess — delivering a familiar Presleyan mix of media circus, down-home celebrity worship session and allstar musical revue. It also demonstrated the ongoing global reach of the Presley brand, 68 years after its patriarch cut his first professional session in Memphis’ Sun Studio. The path to the Graceland “meditation garden” where Lisa Marie Presley and her father are now both buried was lined with ornate floral arrangements from Elvis fan clubs from Finland, Denmark and Japan.
Among the mourner-performers were Alanis Morissette, Axl Rose of the band Guns N’ Roses and Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins. Atop a riser, a TV correspondent provided commentary in rapid-fire German. Lisa Marie Presley’s friend Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, delivered brief remarks.
Like all children of noble lineage, Presley did not choose the life. It was there waiting for her when she was born in Memphis on Feb. 1, 1968. And like some other royal progeny, she was often uncomfortable wearing the crown.
Her life was, in effect, a princess blues, burdened by financial mismanagement of her inheritance, multiple failed marriages to com-
plicated famous men — including pop star Michael Jackson and actor Nicolas Cage — and the devastating 2020 suicide of her son, Benjamin Keough.
To the public, at least, she seemed to personify the dark streak that runs through Elvis Presley’s most powerful music, from “Mystery Train” to “Suspicious Minds.” She held grudges, and wrote about them using language more demotic than regal: “You’re an idiot and I hate your guts,” she sang on her song “Idiot,” from 2005. “I guess I’m about as happy for you as I would be a cockroach in my food.”
But Presley did not run from her connection to her father. She embraced it, and so did her memorial service. Selections from Elvis Presley’s gospel recordings poured out of a sound system on the Graceland lawn on Sunday morning as the crowd shivered under a gray sky. Her voice mingled with her father’s on one of the selections, “Where No One Stands Alone,” a posthumous duet. Another Elvis song, “He Is My Everything,” seemed to blur the sacred and the secular in a way that spoke directly to Lisa Marie Presley’s connection to him:
“He is my reason for living/ Oh He is the king of all kings/ I long to be His possession/ Oh, He is my everything.”
There was an overt echo of the funeral
services for Elvis Presley, who died in 1977 of cardiac arrest at age 42. An estimated 18,000 mourners lined the streets to send him off as his body moved down Presley Boulevard in a white Cadillac hearse. At Lisa Marie Presley’s service, the sea of mourners was cordoned off to the side of the Graceland lawn. People were reverentially silent. On numerous occasions a wave of cellphones went up in unison to capture footage of the friends and family who gathered for the service under a tent in front of the mansion. They included Presley’s mother, Priscilla
Presley, who divorced Elvis Presley four years before his death, and film director Baz Luhrmann, who scored a hit last year with “Elvis.” That frenetic biopic made a case for Elvis’ enduring cultural impact while wrestling with his appropriation of Southern Black music, an act of love and theft that crashed the barriers of a segregated country like a rock through a plateglass window.
After an African American ensemble, Jason Clark and the Tennessee Mass Choir, delivered an ecstatic take on “Amazing Grace,” Wharton, the former mayor, spoke, reminding the crowd that Lisa Marie Presley’s birth was an important bright spot for Memphis in 1968, the same year Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in the city.
“Many of you here remember that period, truly one of the most trying times in the history of our nation. God knows it was hard,” he said. “It was a hard year for Memphis. But 54 years ago there was a star shining right here at Graceland, with the birth of this precious angel.”
Corgan, playing acoustic guitar, delivered a gentle version of the Smashing Pumpkins song “To Sheila.” The Duchess of York said she and Presley used to call each other “Sissy,” and directed words of consolation to Presley’s surviving children: actress Riley Keough and the twins Harper and Finley Lockwood. Morissette performed a brooding, spiky, piano-driven song, “Rest,” singing: “Can we cut this woman slack? Let her lie down.”
Jerry Schilling, a member of Elvis Presley’s “Memphis Mafia” inner circle who managed Lisa Marie Presley, recalled that she was the only person he had ever met who managed to intimidate Jerry Lee Lewis. Rose sang his band’s 1992 hit “November Rain,” and said that with the suicide of Presley’s son, her life “took a turn down a hard road,” forcing her to seek help in dealing with grief, and prompting her to help others suffering from it.
Riley Keough, who has appeared in films by Lars von Trier and Steven Soderbergh, did not speak. But her husband, Ben Smith-Petersen, read something she had written in honor of her mother. It was addressed to her directly: “I hope I can love my daughter the way you loved me.”
Soon after, People magazine online discerned a morsel of celebrity news embedded in that line: “Riley Keough is a mom,” a pair of People reporters posted on the magazine’s website, adding, “A rep for Keough confirmed to People that the couple welcomed a baby girl in 2022.”
The bloodline continues, unbroken.
Floating on the Regent Seven Seas Explorer, billed as the “the most luxurious ship ever built,” voyagers wanted for nothing. The drinks flowed. Passengers dined on plates of buttered escargots, then walked them off in circles around each of the cruise liner’s decks. Some passed the time with trivia games or novels, or sat and pondered the view of endless blue ocean from the ship’s infinity pool.
Beyond these luxuries, all they could have possibly asked for, said Charles Hadlock, one of the 700 or so passengers aboard the ship, was to visit the New Zealand sites that many of them had traveled thousands of miles to see.
“Which, sadly, is not going to happen,” Hadlock, of Fort Worth, Texas, said in messages sent from the ship.
On Dec. 29, the Explorer departed Sydney for a 14-night, multistop voyage through Australia and New Zealand, with visits to Napier and Rotorua, two cities on New Zealand’s North Island, and Wellington, the capital, on the schedule, as well as days of cruising through the country’s fjords.
Instead, passengers spent two weeks floating at least 16 miles from any land in the ocean on a cruise to nowhere, after the ship was found to have biofoul — a catchall term for foreign organisms on its exterior — and failed to pass New Zealand’s exacting biosecurity laws.
The ship, along with Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth, the Viking Orion and the Coral Princess, is one of at least six cruise liners traveling in and around New Zealand since December to come into conflict with these regulations, condemning those aboard to days of idleness at sea until a painstaking cleaning process, performed by local companies in international waters, can be completed.
For passengers, some of whom had spent tens of thousands of dollars and awaited the cruise for years, it was a crushing and unanticipated blow. For those in the industry in Australia and New Zealand, though, the incidents were all too foreseeable, even if the cause of a spate of them occurring in such a short time frame remained mysterious.
“A lot of people are going to look at it at face value and say the cruise ships were negligent,” said Ashley Coutts, a marine invasion biologist and the chief scientist at the company Biofouling Solutions, based in Tasmania, the Australian island state. “But there’s a lot more to it,” he said.
Few countries take as many biosecurity precautions as New Zealand, which goes to great lengths to protect its natural ecosystems. Passengers who arrive by air, for example, are met at the airport by a pha-
lanx of signs that urge them to dispense with any meat or vegetable products or face the consequences. Even a single undeclared apple, tucked into hand luggage and forgotten about, may carry an instant fine of 400 New Zealand dollars, or about $250. (A recent bill introduced in the country’s parliament seeks to increase that fine almost threefold.)
New Zealanders largely support these efforts. Before the arrival of humans about 750 years ago, the archipelago had developed a unique ecosystem that soon proved vulnerable to the effects of overhunting and the introduction of nonnative species such as rats and weasels. Today, certain birds native to New Zealand can be found only on sanctuary islands, far from the threat of introduced pests. Others are long extinct. Strict regulations protect what is left.
But fighting off invasions at sea has required a different tack.
Marine organisms — including mussels, oysters, algae, crabs and starfish, among a wider maritime cast
— might hitch a ride either in the ballast water of ships, which helps the vessel’s stability, or by clinging to their exteriors, where they are known as biofoul. A global agreement, set by the regulatory authority known as the International Maritime Organization, dictates how ships handle organisms found in ballast water. But no such agreement exists for biofoul, allowing countries to set their own policy.
New Zealand’s standards, introduced in 2018, were the first of their kind in the world and are the most stringent. They stipulate that vessels must have a “clean hull,” with, at most, a coating of slime, stray gooseneck barnacles and a smattering of other organisms on their exterior. Once an initial clean is completed, usually in South East Asia, and the accompanying paperwork has been filed, the ship has 30 days to make its way to New Zealand.
Troubles arise if authorities in New Zealand later conclude that the ship has not been sufficiently scoured, or if more biofoul accumulates on the ship as it wends its way to the country.
In a statement, Paul Hallett, a spokesperson for Biosecurity New Zealand, said the government agency had seen improved management of vessel hulls since the requirements were introduced.
“Ships have just started operating again post-pandemic and it would be too early to say whether there is an increase or a decrease,” he said, adding that occasional issues with cruise ships and biofoul occurred before the pandemic.
Between January 2020 and September, 6% of international vessels entering New Zealand were asked to address biofouling issues, Hallett said.
For the passengers of the Viking Orion, watching a dive team at work cleaning the ship’s hull was a particular highlight, especially after days spent sitting at sea, and with the Australian mainland in sight. “It was the best entertainment of the cruise, at that point,” Christine Goff, a passenger from Denver, said in a phone interview.
Different cruise companies have taken varying approaches toward compensating passengers waylaid by biofouling incidents. Regent has promised passengers a refund, said Hadlock, whereas Viking offered only a single-use cruise voucher, equivalent to the money paid for the ticket, that expires after one year.
For passengers who had traveled thousands of miles and saved for the trip of a lifetime, those vouchers are a difficult reminder of what might have been. Others have been left with a bitter taste in their mouths, and with questions to which they have found few answers.
Hadlock phrased it plainly: “Passengers would still like to know how this happened. How was a major cruise line caught so off guard by regulations?”
Images taken during a recent dive survey show high levels of biofouling — including tubeworms, barnacles and oysters — on a cruise ship that arrived in New Zealand.ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN
BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO
Demandante Vs. INDALECIA MEDINA
CORDERO T/C/C INES
INDALECIA MEDINA
QUILES MEDINA Y JOSE
DAVID QUILES MEDINA
Demandados
Civil Núm.: BY2019CV03820. (403). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO (EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA). EDICTO DE SUBASTA.
Al: PÚBLICO EN GENERAL.
A: INDALECIA MEDINA
CORDERO T/C/C INES
INDALECIA MEDINA
CORDERO; BENJAMIN
QUILES MEDINA Y JOSE
DAVID QUILES MEDINA.
Yo, MARIBEL LANZAR VELÁZQUEZ, Alguacil de este Tribunal, a la parte demandada y a los acreedores y personas con interés sobre la propiedad que más adelante se describe, y al público en general, HAGO SABER: Que el día 14 DE FEBRERO DE 2023 A LAS 10:00 DE
LA MAÑANA en mi oficina, sita en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Bayamón, en el Cuarto Piso, Bayamón, Puerto Rico, venderé en Pública Subasta la propiedad inmueble que más adelante se describe y cuya venta en pública subasta se ordenó por la vía ordinaria al mejor postor quien hará el pago en dinero en efectivo, giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del o la Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado, estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal de Bayamón durante horas laborables. Que en caso de no producir remate ni adjudicación en la primera subasta a celebrarse, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA para la venta de la susodicha propiedad, el día 28 DE FEBRERO DE 2023, A LAS 10:00
DE LA MAÑANA y en caso de no producir remate ni adjudicación, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el día 14 DE MARZO DE 2023, A LAS 10:00
DE LA MAÑANA en mi oficina sita en el lugar antes indicado. La propiedad a venderse en pública subasta se describe como sigue: URBANA: URBANIZACIÓN SANTA JUANITA de Bayamón Sur. Solar: 6 Bloque
“A”. Cabida: 310.5 metros cuadrados. Linderos: Norte, con solar No. 5 del Bloque “A”; Sur, con solar No. 7 del Bloque “A”; Este, con servidumbre de paso de canal del Gobierno Municipal; y por el Oeste, con la Calle Alameda. Contiene una casa de hormigón y bloques para una sola familia. La escritura de hipoteca se encuentra inscrita al folio 135vto. del tomo 416 de Bayamón Sur, Finca No. 18826, Inscripción 6ta. Modificada la hipoteca de la inscripción 6ta., en cuanto al principal que será por $45,660.39 sus intereses serán al 8.50% anual y vencedero el 1ro. de marzo de 2057, según la escritura número 191, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 17 de marzo de 2017, ante el Notario Público Roberto L. Varela Ríos, inscrita al tomo Karibe de Bayamón Sur, Registro de Propiedad de Bayamón, Sección Primera, finca 18,826, inscripción 5ta. La dirección física de la propiedad antes descrita es: Urbanización Santa Juanita, Calle Alameda, A-6, Bayamón, Puerto Rico. La subasta se llevará a efecto para satisfacer a la parte demandante la suma de $45,567.71 de principal, intereses al 8 1/2% anual, desde el día 1ro. de noviembre de 2017, hasta su completo pago, más la cantidad de $4,840.00 estipulada para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado, más recargos acumulados, todas cuyas sumas están líquidas y exigibles. Que la cantidad mínima de licitación en la primera subasta para el inmueble será de $48,400.00 y de ser necesaria una segunda subasta, la cantidad mínima será una equivalente a 2/3 parte de aquella, o sea la suma de $32,266.67 y de necesitarse una tercera subasta la cantidad mínima será la mitad del precio pactado, es decir la suma de $24,200.00. Si se declara desierta la tercera subasta se adjudicará la finca a favor del acreedor por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada si esta es igual o menor que el monto del tipo de la tercera subasta, si el Tribunal lo estima conveniente. Se abonará dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si esta es mayor. La propiedad se adjudicará al mejor postor, quien deberá satisfacer el importe de su oferta en moneda legal y corriente de los Estados Unidos de América en el momento de la adjudicación y que todo licitador acepta como suficiente la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes preferentes, si los hubiese, continuarán subsistentes, entendiéndose que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio
del remate. La propiedad a ser vendida en pública subasta se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Podrán concurrir como postores a todas las subastas los titulares de créditos hipotecarios vigentes y posteriores a la hipoteca que se cobra o ejecuta, si alguno o que figuren como tales en la certificación registral y que podrán utilizar el montante de sus créditos o parte de alguno en sus ofertas. Si la oferta aceptada es por cantidad mayor a la suma del crédito o créditos preferentes al suyo, al obtener la buena pro del remate, deberá satisfacer en el mismo acto, en efectivo o en cheque de gerente, la totalidad del crédito hipotecario que se ejecuta y la de cualesquiera otro créditos posteriores al que se ejecuta pero preferente al suyo. El exceso constituirá abono total o parcial en su propio crédito. EN TESTIMONIO DE LO CUAL, expido el presente Edicto para conocimiento y comparecencia de los licitadores, bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, en Bayamón, Puerto Rico, a 22 de diciembre de 2022. Maribel Lanzar Velázquez, Alguacil Placa #735, Alguacil Del Tribunal, Sala Superior De Bayamón.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE CAROLINA BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO, INC.
Demandante V. MISAEL CHRISTIAN HERNANDEZ LEBRON T/C/C MISAEL HERNANDEZ LEBRON; SU ESPOSA MADELINE RIVERA LUNA Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES
Demandados Civil Núm.: FECI2016-00851. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO - 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 de Carolina, Carolina, Puerto Rico, hago saber, a la parte demandada y al PÚBLICO EN GENERAL: Que en cumplimiento del Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia expedido el día 28 de noviembre de 2022, por la Secretaría del Tribunal, procederé a vender y venderé en pública subasta y al mejor
postor la propiedad que ubica y se describe a continuación: RÚSTICA: Propiedad Horizontal: Apartamento residencial de forma irregular localizado en la Tercera Planta del Edificio B del Condominio Parque del Arcoiris, localizado en la Carretera Ochocientos Cuarenta y Ocho (848), Kilómetro Veintiuno Interior (Km. 21 Int.), Barrio Las Cuevas, Sector Saint Just, del término municipal de Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, el cual se describe en la Escritura Matriz de Dedicación al Régimen de Propiedad Horizontal con el número, área y colindancia que se relacionan continuación: Apartamento número: trescientos veintitrés (323). Área del Apartamento: noventa y dos metros cuadrados con dos mil diezmilésimas partes de otro (92.2010 m.c.). En lindes: por el NORTE, en seis metros con setenta y cinco centésimas partes de otro (6.65m) con espacio abierto; por el SUR, en cinco metros con veintiuna centésimas partes de otro (5.21m) con espacio abierto; por el ESTE, en diez metros con cincuenta y nueve centésimas partes de otro (10.59 m) con pared medianera que lo separa del Apartamento identificado con el número trescientos veinticuatro (324); y por el OESTE, en dieciséis metros con veintisiete centésimas partes de otro (16.27 m) con pared medianera que lo separa del Apartamento identificado con el número trescientos veintidós (322).
Tiene su puerta de entrada y salida por su lado Este que da al área del pasillo que conduce a las escaleras que le brindan acceso al Edificio. Consta de balcón, sala-comedor, una (1) habitación-dormitorios con su closet, un pasillo que brinda acceso a las siguientes áreas: cocina, área de lavandería, un (1) baño completo de uso general, una (1) habitación- dormitorio con su closet, y una (1) habitación dormitorio principal (master room) en la cual ubican un área de “walk in closet” y un (1) baño completo. Le corresponden a este Apartamento dos (2) espacios de estacionamiento identificados con los números trescientos veintitrés (323) y trescientos veintitrés A (323-A). A este Apartamento le corresponde una participación en los elementos comunes del Condominio de punto cero cero cuatro siete cinco cinco (.004755) por ciento. Inscrito al tomo de hoja móvil 651 de Trujillo Alto, finca número #30,229, Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección Cuarta de San Juan. El producto de la subasta se destinará a satisfacer al demandante hasta donde alcance, la SENTENCIA
dictada a su favor el día el 10 de julio de 2017, notificada el 7 de agosto de 2017, y publicada en periódico de circulación general, The San Juan Daily Star, el 14 de agosto de 2017 en el presente caso civil, que se desglosa de la siguiente manera: La cantidad adeudada según la Sentencia, asciende a la suma de $166,714.45 por concepto de principal; $73,151.68 por concepto de principal; $109.64 por concepto de intereses acumulados; los cuales continúan acumulándose hasta el saldo total de la deuda reclamada en este pleito y la suma de $9,480.00 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado; y demás créditos accesorios garantizados hipotecariamente (“Sentencia”). La adjudicación se hará al mejor postor, quien deberá consignar el importe de su oferta en el acto mismo de la adjudicación, en efectivo (moneda del curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América), giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del alguacil del Tribunal. LA PRIMERA SUBASTA se llevará a efecto el día 8 DE MARZO DE 2023 A LAS 1:00 DE LA TARDE, en la Oficina / Sala de Alguaciles de Subastas del Tribunal de Carolina, Sala Superior, Carolina, Puerto Rico. Que el precio mínimo fijado para la PRIMERA SUBASTA será por $94,800.00. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una SEGUNDA SUBASTA la misma se llevará a efecto el día 15 DE MARZO DE 2023 A
LAS 1:00 DE LA TARDE, en la Oficina / Sala de Alguaciles de Subastas del Tribunal de Carolina, Sala Superior, Carolina, Puerto Rico. El precio mínimo para la SEGUNDA SUBASTA será por $63,200.00. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una TERCERA SUBASTA la misma se llevará a efecto el día 23 DE MARZO DE 2023 A
LAS 1:00 DE LA TARDE, en la Oficina / Sala de Alguaciles de Subastas del Tribunal de Carolina, Sala Superior, Carolina, Puerto Rico. El precio mínimo para la TERCERA SUBASTA será por $47,400.00. 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 esta es mayor, todo ello a tenor con lo dispone el Articulo 104 de la Ley Núm. 210 del 8 de diciembre de 2015 conocida como “Ley del Registro de la Propiedad Inmueble del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico”. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquiere libre de toda carga
y gravamen que afecte la mencionada finca según el Artículo 102, inciso 6. Una vez confirmada la venta judicial por el Honorable Tribunal, se procederá a otorgar la correspondiente escritura de venta judicial y se pondrá al comprador en posesión física del inmueble de conformidad con las disposiciones de Ley. Para conocimiento de la parte demandada y de toda aquella persona o personas que tengan interés inscrito con posterioridad a la inscripción del gravamen que se está ejecutando, y para conocimiento de todos los licitadores y el público en general, el presente Edicto se publicará por espacio de dos (2) semanas consecutivas, con un intervalo de por lo menos siete días entre ambas publicaciones, en un diario de circulación general en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico y se fijará además en tres (3) lugares públicos del Municipio en que ha de celebrarse dicha venta, tales como la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía. Se les informa, por último, que: a. Que los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la secretaría del tribunal durante las horas laborables. b. Que se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes. Se entenderá, que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. EXPIDO, el presente EDICTO, en Carolina, Puerto Rico, hoy día 27 de diciembre de 2022. SAMUEL GONZÁLEZ ISAAC, ALGUACIL, DIVISIÓN DE SUBASTAS, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA SUPERIOR DE CAROLINA.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE MAYAGÜEZ
Demandados
Civil Núm.: MZ2021CV01103.
Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EDICTO ANUNCIANDO
PRIMERA, SEGUNDA Y TERCERA SUBASTA. El Alguacil que suscribe, funcionario del Tribunal de la Sala Superior de Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, por la presente anuncia y hace saber al público en general que en cumplimiento con la Sentencia dictada en este caso con fecha 29 de agosto de 2022, y según Orden y Mandamiento del 30 de noviembre de 2022 librado por este honorable Tribunal, procederé a vender en pública subasta al mejor postor, y por dinero en efectivo, cheque certificado o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal con todo título derecho y/o interés de la parte demandada sobre la propiedad que se describe a continuación: URBANA: Solar número E veinticuatro (24) perteneciente al plano de inscripción del Residencial Villa Alba en el barrio Santana de Sabana Grande, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de doscientos setenta y nueve punto sesenta y cinco (279.65) metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con el solar E veinticinco (25); por el SUR, con el solar E veintitrés (23); por el ESTE, con el solar G cinco (5); y por el OESTE, con la calle número seis (6). En este solar enclava una (1) casa de hormigón reforzado y bloques de dos (2) plantas dedicada a vivienda.
FINCA NÚMERO: 6,652, inscrita al folio 142 del tomo 123 de Sabana Grande, Registro de San Germán. Dirección Física: URB. VILLA ALBA, E-24 CALLE 6, SABANA GRANDE PR 00637. Se anuncia por medio de este edicto que la PRIMERA SUBASTA habrá de celebrarse el día 7 DE FEBRERO DE 2023, A LAS 11:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en mi oficina sita en el edificio que ocupa el Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala Superior de Mayaguez. Siendo ésta la primera subasta que se celebrará en este caso, será el precio mínimo aceptable como oferta en la Primera Subasta, eso es el tipo mínimo pactado en la Escritura de Hipoteca para la propiedad, la suma de $90,250.00. De no haber remanente o adjudicación en esta primera subasta por dicha suma mínima, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 14 DE FEBRERO DE 2023, A LAS 11:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en el mismo lugar antes señalado en la cual el precio mínimo serán dos terceras (2/3) partes del tipo mínimo pactado en la escritura de hipoteca, la suma de $60,166.66. De no haber
remanente o adjudicación en esta segunda subasta por el tipo mínimo indicado en el párrafo anterior, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA en el mismo lugar antes señalado el día 21 DE FEBRERO DE 2023, A LAS 11:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en la cual el tipo mínimo aceptable como oferta será la mitad (1/2) del precio mínimo pactado en la escritura de hipoteca, la suma de $45,125.00. Si se declare 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 mínimo de la tercera subasta, si el tribunal lo estima conveniente. Se abonará dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si ésta es mayor. Con el importe de esta venta se habrá de satisfacer el balance de la sentencia dictada en este caso el cual consiste en el pago de $67,169.53 de principal, más intereses convenidos al 6.5000% anual más recargos hasta su pago, más el pago de lo pactado en la sentencia para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogados. Se dispone que una vez celebrada la subasta y vendido el inmueble relacionado, el alguacil pondrá en posesión judicial a los nuevos dueños dentro del término de veinte (20) días a partir de la celebración de la Subasta. Si transcurren los referidos veinte (20) días, el tribunal podrá ordenar, sin necesidad de ulterior procedimiento, que se lleve a efecto el desalojo o lanzamiento del ocupante u ocupantes de la finca o de todos los que por orden o tolerancia del demandado/deudor la ocupen. El Alguacil de este Tribunal efectuará el lanzamiento de los ocupantes de ser necesario. Si la subasta es adjudicada a un tercero y luego se deja sin efecto, el tercero a favor de quién se adjudicó la subasta solo tendrá derecho a la devolución del monto consignado más no tendrá derecho a entablar recurso o reclamo adicional alguno (judicial o extrajudicial) contra el demandante y/o el acreedor y/o inversionista, dueño pagaré y/o su abogado. Si se anula la venta, el comprador tendrá derecho a la devolución del depósito de la venta judicial menos los honorarios y costos incurridos en el proceso de venta judicial. No tendrá ningún otro recurso contra el acreedor hipotecario ejecutante ni la representación legal de éste. Por la presente, también se notifica e informa a Fulano de Tal y Sutano de Tal, personas desconocidas que puedan tener derechos en la propiedad o título objeto de este edicto. La Venta en Pública Subasta de la referida propiedad se
BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO
Demandante Vs. SUCESIÓN DE IVÁN ALADINO AYALA ALVARADO Y SUCESIÓN DE CARMEN GLORIA VÁZQUEZ VÁZQUEZ, COMPUESTAS POR FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS Y/O PARTES CON INTERÉS
MAÑANA en el mismo lugar antes mencionado. El precio para la segunda subasta lo será 2/3 partes del precio mínimo de la primera, o sea, $66,818.45. De declararse desierta dicha segunda subasta, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el día 7 DE MARZO DE 2023 A
LAS 11:00 DE LA DE LA MAÑANA en el mismo lugar antes mencionado. El precio para la tercera subasta lo será 1/2 del precio mínimo de la primera, o sea, $50,113.84. Y PARA QUE ASÍ CONSTE, y para su publicación en un periódico de circulación general y por un término de catorce (14) días en los sitios públicos conforme a la ley, expido la presente bajo mi firma y sello de este tribunal, hoy 12 de enero de 2023 en San Juan, Puerto Rico. EDWIN E. LÓPEZ MULERO, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR.
***
Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA Sala Superior de CAROLINA SUCN DE JUAN RAMON ARROYO GONZALEZ
Y OTROS
Demandante V.
R&G PREMIER BANK OF PUERTO RICO, LUEGO SCOTIABANK DE PR HOY ORIENTAL BANK Y OTROS
Demandado(a) Civil: LO2022CV00143. Sala: 409. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.
A: JOHN DOE Y RICHARDROE.(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 17 de enero de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 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 18 de enero de 2023. En CAROLINA, Puerto
Rico, el 18 de enero de 2023. LCDA. MARILYN APONTE RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA. MARICRUZ APONTE ALICEA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE FAJARDO BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante V. LA SUCESIÓN DE RAFAEL ROSA CURBELO COMPUESTA POR FULANO Y MENGANO DE TAL, POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; LA SUCESIÓN DE LUCILA GOTAY SÁNCHEZ COMPUESTA POR AGUSTÍN GOTAY SÁNCHEZ, SUTANO Y PERENCEJO DE TAL, POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; LA SUCESIÓN DE JULIA GOTAY SÁNCHEZ T/C/C JULIA ALICIA GOTAY SÁNCHEZ COMPUESTA POR CARLOS AGUSTÍN TIRADO GOTAY, PERENGANO Y SUTANEJO DE TAL, POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; LA SUCESIÓN DE EDNA ALICIA TIRADO GOTAY COMPUESTA POR JOANNE J. GRACE TIRADO, SUTANITO Y PERENGANITO DE TAL, POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; LA SUCESIÓN DE JULIO TIRADO GOTAY COMPUESTA POR MENGANITO Y PERENCEJITO DE TAL, POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; DEPARTAMENTO DE HACIENDA POR CONDUCTO DE LA DIVISIÓN DE CAUDALES RELICTOS, CENTRO DE RECAUDACIÓN DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (CRIM) Demandado(a) Civil: FA2022CV00429. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.
A: CARLOS AGUSTIN TIRADO GOTAY como heredero de JULIA GOTAY SÁNCHEZ t/c/c JULIA
ALICIA GOTAY SÁNCHEZ a sus direcciones conocidas en: 428 N. LUMBER ST. ALLEN TOWN, PA 18102; URB. SANTA ISIDRA 1, A3 CALLE 3, FAJARDO, PR 00738-4952 y PO BOX 606, FAJARDO, PR 007380606. JOANNE J. GRACE TIRADO como heredera de EDNA ALICIA TIRADO GOTAY a sus direcciones conocidas en: 2085 WESTGATE DR. APT 401 BETHLEHEM, PA 18017; URB.SANTA ISIDRA 1, A3 CALLE 3, FAJARDO, PR 00738-4952 y PO BOX 606, FAJARDO, PR 00738-0606. FULANO Y MENGANO DE TAL, posibles herederos desconocidos de RAFAEL ROSA CURBELO; con identidad y dirección desconocida.
SUTANO y PERENCEJO DE TAL, posibles herederos desconocidos de LUCILA GOTAY SÁNCHEZ, con identidad y dirección desconocida.
PERENGANO Y SUTANEJO DE TAL, posibles herederos desconocidos de JULIA GOTAY SÁNCHEZ t/c/c JULIA ALICIA GOTAY SÁNCHEZ con identidad y dirección desconocida.
SUTANITO Y PERENGANITO DE TAL, posibles herederos desconocidos de EDNA ALICIA TIRADO GOTAY con identidad y dirección desconocida.
MENGANITO Y PERENCEJITO DE TAL, posibles herederos desconocidos de JULIO TIRADO GOTAY con identidad y dirección desconocida.
(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que 9 de septiembre de 2022, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Re-
solución, 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 17 de enero de 2023. En FAJARDO, Puerto Rico, el 17 de enero de 2023.
WANDA I. SEGUÍ REYES, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. IVELISSE SERRANO GARCÍA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE PATILLAS
LEGACY
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 18 de enero de 2023. En Patillas, Puerto Rico, el 18 de enero de 2023. MARISOL ROSADO RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA. GLORIVEE GARCÍA GONZÁLEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
com. EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en Bayamón, Puerto Rico, hoy día 21 de diciembre de 2022. En Bayamón, Puerto Rico, el 21 de diciembre de 2022. LCDA.
LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. LUREIMY ALICEA GONZÁLEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE CAROLINA
LUNA RESIDENTIAL I, LLC.
término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Representa a la parte demandante el Lcda. Raquel Deseda Belaval, Delgado Fernández, LLC, PO Box 11750, Fernández Juncos Station, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00910-1750. Tel. [787] 274-1414. DADA en Carolina, Puerto Rico, a 11 de enero de 2023. LCDA. MARILYN APONTE RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. DAMARIS TORRES RUIZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
ASSET TRUST 2019-PR1 Demandante V. SUCESIÓN DE GABRIEL RODRIGUEZ LABOY Y SUCESIÓN DE LUZ DELIA GARCÍA BURGOS COMPUESTA POR IVETTE RODRÍGUEZ GARCÍA; OLGA RODRÍGUEZ GARCÍA; DAVID RODRÍGUEZ GARCÍA Y FULANO Y SUTANO DE TAL COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE AMBAS SUCESIONES; CRIM Demandado(a) Civil: GM2022CV00066. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA Y COBRO DE DINERO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.
A: SUCESIÓN DE GABRIEL RODRIGUEZ LABOY Y SUCESIÓN DE LUZ DELIA GARCÍA BURGOS COMPUESTA POR IVETTE RODRÍGUEZ GARCÍA; OLGA RODRÍGUEZ GARCÍA; DAVID RODRÍGUEZ GARCÍA Y FULANO Y SUTANO DE TAL COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE AMBAS SUCESIONES; CRIM.
(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 enero de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE BAYAMÓN ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC COMO AGENTE DE FAIRWAY ACQUISITIONS
FUND, LLC
Demandante Vs. YANIEL FEBLES SAAVEDRA Demandado Civil Núm.: TB2022CV00360. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO.
A: YANIEL FEBLES SAAVEDRAURB LEVITTOWN 2305 PASEO ALEGRE TOA BAJA, PUERTO RICO 00949-4306.
POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza y requiere para que conteste la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), la cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda o cualquier otro sin más citarle ni oírle, si el tribunal en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. El sistema SUMAC notificará copia al abogado de la parte demandante, el Lcdo. José F. Aguilar Vélez cuya dirección es: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-8518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección jose. aguilar@orf-law.com y a la dirección notificaciones@orf-law.
Parte Demandante V. SUCESION DE IRMA DE LA TORRE RAMOS ET AL. Parte Demandada Civil Núm.; CA2022CV00612. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.
A: SUCESIÓN DE IRMA DE LA TORRE RAMOS COMPUESTA POR ROBERTO GONZÁLEZ DE LA TORRE, ROSEMARIE GONZÁLEZ MARTINEZ, ROBERTO GONZÁLEZ MARTÍNEZ, ROXANNE GONZÁLEZ MARTINEZ Y CARMEN MIGDALIA DE LA TORRE RAMOS; LA SUCESIÓN DE VICENTE PIERANTONI PÉREZ COMPUESTA POR MAGDA TERESA PIERANTONI GONZÁLEZ, VICENTE PIERANTONI GONZÁLEZ, MIGUEL ANDRES PIERANTONI GONZÁLEZ Y JUAN RAFAEL PIERANTONI GONZÁLEZ. COND. MALIBU BEACH FRONT, APT. H-306 LOIZA PR 00772; #36 AVE. CRUZ ESTRELLA, HUMACAO PR 00791.
Por la presente se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los 30 días de haber sido notificado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día del diligenciamiento. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la dirección electrónica https://unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE SAN JUAN
Demandante V. JACQUELINE
Demandada Civil Núm.: SJ2022CV09030. Sobre: cobro de diner por la vía ordinaria. EMPLAZamIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMéRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO, ss.
RUIZ TRINTA.
POR MEDIO del presente edicto se le notifica de la radicación de una demanda en cobro de dinero por la vía ordinaria en la que se alega que usted adeuda a la parte demandante, Oriental Bank, ciertas sumas de dinero, y las costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado de este litigio. El demandante, Oriental Bank, ha solicitado que se dicte sentencia en contra suya y que se le ordene pagar las cantidades reclamadas en la demanda.
POR EL PRESENTE EDICTO se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva a la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días de haber sido diligenciado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día del diligenciamiento. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://www.poderjudicial. pr/index/php/tribunal-electronico/, 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, sin más citarle ni
oírle. El abogado de la parte demandante es: Jaime Ruiz Saldaña, RUA número 11673; Dirección: PO Box 366276, San Juan, PR 00936-6276; Teléfono: (787) 759-6897; Correo electrónico: legal@jrslawpr. com. Se le advierte que dentro de los diez (10) días siguientes a la publicación del presente edicto, se le estará enviando a usted por correo certificado con acuse de recibo, una copia del emplazamiento y de la demanda presentada al lugar de su última dirección conocida: Cond. Caminos Verdes, Ave. Las Cumbres Apto. 1907, San Juan, PR 00925; PO Box 19592, San Juan, PR 009101592. EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma, y el sello del Tribunal en San Juan, Puerto Rico, hoy día 12 de enero de 2023. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. MARGARITA MUÑIZ MÉNDEZ, SECRETARIA DE SERVICIOS A SALA.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN
WILMINGTON SAVINGS FUND SOCIETY, FSB, NOT INDIVIDUALLY BUT SOLELY AS TRUSTEE FOR FINANCE OF AMERICA STRUCTURED SECURITIES ACQUISITION TRUST 2018-HB1 Demandante Vs. JOSE LUIS BAYON RIOS T/C/C JORGE LUIS BAYON POR SI Y EN LA CUOTA VIUDAL USUFRUCTUARIA; SUCESION ELVIRA MARIA OTERO BURGOS T/C/C ELVIRA MARIA OTERO T/C/C ELVIRA M. OTERO DE BAYON T/C/C ELVIRA M. OTERO BURGOS COMPUESTA
POR JORGE LUIS BAYON OTERO, PEDRO RAFAEL BAYON OTERO, ISAMAR BAYON OTERO; JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES
Demandados Civil Núm.: BY2022CV05167. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.
A: PEDRO RAFAEL
Demandado(a) Civil: GR2022CV00174. Sala: 705. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO.
NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO ENMENDADO.
A: JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE. POSIBLES(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 4 de enero de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 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 18 de enero de 2023.
En Caguas, Puerto Rico, el 18 de enero de 2023. LISILDA MARTÍNEZ AGOSTO, SECRETARIA. LIZ WHARTON ROSA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE GUAYAMA
Demandante V.
Demandado(a)
Civil: GM2022CV00444. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.
A: JOHN DOE, RICHARD ROE (COMO
(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 17 de enero de 2022, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 17 de enero de 2023. En Guayama, Puerto Rico, el 17 de enero de 2023. MARISOL ROSADO RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA. IRIS V. RODRÍGUEZ RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE AÑASCO MERCEDES LOPEZ GONZALEZ Demandante V. FIRSTBANK PUERTO RICO, ENTIDAD FINANCIERA X, BANCO Z, JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE, COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO Demandados Civil Núm.: AÑ2022CV00310. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU., ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.
A: ENTIDAD FINANCIERA X, BANCO Z, JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE Y A TODAS LAS PERSONAS IGNORADAS QUE PUEDAN SER TENEDORES O QUE EN PODER TENGAN UN (1) PAGARÉ HIPOTECARIO QUE SE EXTRAVIÓ.
Por el presente edicto, que se publicará una sola vez, se le notifica que se ha presentado en este Honorable Tribunal una
demanda alegándose que, mediante la Escritura Número 58, otorgada en Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, el 30 de abril de 2013, ante el Notario Público Jaime V. Biaggi Busquets, se constituyó una hipoteca, sobre el inmueble que sita en el Barrio Rio Arriba de Añasco, Puerto Rico, marcado con el solar número 3 de 1575.5711 metros cuadrados, del Registro de la Propiedad Inmobiliaria de Puerto Rico, finca número 9,511 de Añasco, Sección de Mayagüez, inscripción séptima, garantizada por un pagaré a favor de FirstBank Puerto Rico o a su orden, por la suma de cuarenta mil quinientos dólares ($40,500,00), se garantizan 3 créditos por la suma principal de $115,893.00, con intereses al tres punto veinticinco por ciento (3.25%) anual, vencederos el día 1 de mayo de 2043. Que dicho pagaré se ha extraviado y la parte demandante lo desea cancelar por haberse pagado la deuda en su totalidad, por lo que si ustedes no hacen oposición a la demanda dentro del término de treinta (30) días, contados a partir de la publicación de este Edicto, la parte demandante podrá obtener Sentencia en Rebeldía declarando que la hipoteca que garantiza el mismo se ha extinguido y se ordenará su cancelación en el Registro de la Propiedad, sin más citarles ni oírles. Deberá radicar el original en la Secretaría del Tribunal y enviar copia por correo al abogado de la parte demandante. Que el nombre del abogado de la parte demandante y su dirección postal es la siguiente: Lcdo. Juan Carlos Ortiz Arocho RUA 15,352
Urb. Roosevelt 315 Calle Juan B. Rodríguez San Juan, PR 00918 Tel.: 787-282-8120 / 787-200-7378
Correo electrónico: juankortiz@aol.com
Extendido bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal, por Orden del Honorable Juez de esta Sala. En Añasco, Puerto Rico, a 18 de enero de 2023. LCDA. NORMA G. SANTANA IRIZARRY, SECRETARIA. LIZ NELDY CHICO ACEVEDO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE PONCE
MANDRY TORRES
Demandante Vs ANTONIO LUIS ROSA FIGUEROA Demandado Civil Núm.: PO2022CV01780. Salón: 606. Sobre: DESAHUCIO POR FALTA DE PAGO / COBRO DE DINERO - ORDINARIO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.
A: ANTONIO LUIS ROSA
FIGUEROA – URB. SAN ANTONIO 411 CALLE VILLA APT 2 PONCE, PR 00730, PARA SER NOTIFICADO POR EDICTO.
P/C: LCDA. FABIOLA DE JESÚS VEGA. URB. PERLA DEL SUR 2448 CALLE MARGINAL, PONCE, PUERTO RICO, 00716.
(Nombre de las partes a las que se les notifica la sentencia por edicto)
EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que 7 de diciembre de 2022, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representado usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 27 de diciembre de 2022. En Ponce, Puerto Rico, el 27 de diciembre de 2022. LUZ MAYRA CARABALLO GARCÍA, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. MICHELLE VÁZQUEZ OLIVIERI, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE CAGUAS
EDWIN PEREZ APONTE
Demandante Vs JUSTO M. RIVAS MARTINEZ, JOHN DOE POSEEDOR DESCONOCIDO
Parte Demandada Núm. de Caso: CG2022CV01648. Sala: 701. EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.
A: JOHN DOE / POSEEDOR DESCONOCIDO, JUSTO M. RIVAS MARTINEZ.
EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 17 de enero de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debi-
damente 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 19 de enero de 2023. En Caguas, Puerto Rico, el 19 de enero de 2023. LISILDA MARTÍNEZ AGOSTO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL INTERINA. ENEIDA ARROYO VÉLEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR MUNICIPAL DE CAGUAS ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC, COMO AGENTE DE FAIRWAL ACQUISITION FUND, LLC
Demandante Vs GERARDO NIEVES GARCIA
Demandado Núm. de Caso: SL2022CV00077. Sala: 701. COBRO DE DINERO ORDINARIO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.
A: GERARDO NIEVES GARCIA155 CALLE TOUS SOTO, SAN LORENZO PR 00754-3922. Se notifica a usted que el 13 de enero de 2023 este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia o Sentencia Parcial 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 o Sentencia Parcial, 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 edic-
to. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha 18 de enero de 2023. En Caguas, Puerto Rico, el 18 de enero de 2023. LISILDA MARTÍNEZ AGOSTO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL INTERINA. ENEIDA ARROYO VÉLEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE PONCE ISLAND
Demandante Vs LESTER VEGA ALVARADO Demandado Civil Núm.: PO2022CV00546. Salón: 301. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO ORDINARIO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.
P/C LCDO. JOSE F. AGUILAR VELEZ. PO BOX 71418, SAN JUAN PR 00936. (Nombre de las partes a las que se les notifica la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 28 de diciembre de 2022, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 19 de enero de 2023. En Ponce, Puerto Rico, el 19 de enero de 2023. CARMEN TIRÚ QUIÑONES, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. SANDRA GONZÁLEZ RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE
VEEGA BAJA
PR RECOVERY AND DEVELOPMENT JV, LLC
Demandante V. HOGAR NUEVA ALBORADA INC, SUCESIÓN DE BILLY ALBERTO SOTOMAYOR VAZQUEZ, COMPUESTA POR SU HIJO MIGUEL ALBERTO SOTOMAYOR MELÉNDEZ; FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL COMO, HEREDEROS Y/O PARTES CON INTERÉS EN DICHA SUCESIÓN
Demandado(a) Civil: BY2019CV05127. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA OR EDICTO.
A: HOGAR NUEVA ALBORADA INC., BILLY ALBERTO SOTOMAYOR VAZQUEZ- SECTOR CARMELITA CALLE CRISTO 26B, VEGA ALTA PR 00692; MIGUEL ALBERTO SOTOMAYOR MELENDEZ, FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANO DE TAL - PLAYA CERRO GORDO, PASEO LAS TRINITARIAS #7, VEGA ALTA PR 00692. (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 4 de noviembre de 2021, 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 19 de enero de 2023. En Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, el 19 de enero de 2023. Lcda. Laura I. Santa Sánchez, Secretaria. Maritza Rosario Rosario, Secretaria Auxiliar.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA MUNICIPAL / SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN
ASOCIACIÓN DE RESIDENTES Y RECREATIVA CAMINO DEL MAR, INC. Demandante V. LUIS ABEL HERNÁNDEZ MARTÍNEZ
Demandados Civil Núm.: BY2022CV05218.
Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU., EL PUEBLO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.
A: LUIS ABEL
Por la presente se le notifica que la parte demandante ha presentado ante este Tribunal Demanda contra usted(es), solicitando la concesión del siguiente remedio: Demanda de COBRO DE DINERO, por concepto de cuotas de mantenimientos vencidas y no pagadas por la suma de $3,181.43 al 10 de octubre de 2022. Representa a la parte demandante el abogado cuyo nombre, dirección y teléfono se consigna de inmediato: LCDO. MELVYN E. FONTAN LOZADA Colegiado Núm. 15768, RUA: 14519 PO Box 124, Bayamón, PR 00960-0124 Tel. 787-340-6604 Fax 787-261-9168 e-mail: melfonloza@live.com, melvynfontan@gmail.com Se le apercibe que si no compareciera usted a contestar dicha demanda dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de haber sido diligenciado este Emplazamiento, Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial. pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaria del tribunal. Si usted deje 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. En Bayamón, Puerto Rico, a 12 de enero de 2023. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. NEREIDA QUILES SANTANA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL I.
In the NFL’s divisional-round games, the Cincinnati Bengals got a statement win on the road against the Buffalo Bills’ fearsome defense, Patrick Mahomes added to his legend by depending on his favored target, and the Philadelphia Eagles’ rout of the New York Giants provided a measure of clarity for the losing team.
DeMeco Ryans had the perfect counter for Dallas’ offense.
Through a blend of suffocating passrushing, elite coverage between the numbers, and relentless energy as a tackling unit, the San Francisco 49ers’ defense stifled the Cowboys en route to a tough 19-12 win Sunday night.
All season, the 49ers’ defense has succeeded on those three tenets, established by coordinator Ryans. In the divisional round, it started with the pass rush. Though San Francisco sacked Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott only once, the 49ers’ front seven constantly had him under siege. The base four rushers did a great job condensing the pocket on Prescott, squeezing his space little by little as if he were Han Solo trapped inside the trash compactor.
The claustrophobic environment had Prescott rushing the ball out, but he found no purchase for the type of quick, over-themiddle throws that keep drives alive. The 49ers closed on the Cowboys’ throws over the middle starting with the first drive. On a third-and-7 from the Dallas 40-yard line, 49ers safety Talanoa Hufanga drove down from a deep alignment to cut off tight end Dalton Schultz’s in-breaking route and force an incompletion and a Cowboys punt.
On Dallas’ next drive, with the Cowboys facing another third down from their own territory, 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw faked a blitz then dropped back to cover receiver CeeDee Lamb running deep. Greenlaw cut off the route and Prescott rushed a throw to Michael Gallup near the sideline. Gallup had stopped running his route early, and 49ers cornerback Deommodore Lenoir swooped in for an interception.
Fred Warner, San Francisco’s All-Pro linebacker, showcased his next-level ability in the second half. With the score tied at 9 in the third quarter and Dallas facing another third down, Warner lined up on the line of scrimmage, just outside the center’s left shoulder, before dropping back into coverage.
Warner sprinted to cover Lamb, who sprinted down the right hash on a seam
route. Warner took an incredible angle to reach Lamb and matched him step for step to shut Prescott’s throwing window for an incompletion.
The Bengals’ rushing attack can control a playoff game.
NFL offenses that can throw it all over the field just as well as they ground-andpound are nightmares for defenses, especially in the playoffs as game-planning gets more specific and the edges get smaller. On Sunday, the Bengals reminded the rest of the field that they are a complete offense.
Joe Burrow threw the Bengals to an early 14-point lead over the Bills. On the game’s first drive, a six-play sequence, Burrow peppered his receivers with passes on a combination of quick throws, intermediate darts and deep balls that included a 23-yard toss to Tyler Boyd and a 28-yard touchdown throw that found Ja’Marr Chase down the middle against a busted coverage.
Bengals coach Zac Taylor let the run game take the reins on Cincinnati’s next drive, with Joe Mixon running for 5 yards and then 16 on the first two plays. The downhill runs were aimed between the tackles and tested what the Bills’ response would be. Without edge defender Von Miller and nose tackle DaQuan Jones, the Bills could not mount a reply.
Playing with a lead over the rest of the game, Burrow conducted the offense with a symphony of short and intermediate passes that were complemented by tough, downhill runs from Mixon and Samaje Perine en route to a 27-10 Cincinnati victory. Mixon finished
with 20 carries for 105 yards and a touchdown, a third-quarter score that was initially ruled short but overturned upon review.
The Bengals ran for 172 yards (to the Bills’ 63) despite three of their starting offensive linemen being out with injuries. Facing the Bengals’ backups, the Bills allowed Cincinnati’s rushers to gain 85 yards before contact, a season-high, after giving up the league’s fewest yards before contact (0.8 per carry) during the regular season.
Travis Kelce was key to Patrick Mahomes winning his ‘ankle game.’
Disaster almost struck for Kansas City on Saturday night. With just over two minutes left in the first quarter, star quarterback Patrick Mahomes got his right ankle rolled up on by Jacksonville Jaguars pass-rusher Arden Key. It wasn’t an intentional move, but Key’s entire body weight fell on top of the ankle, reducing Mahomes’ mobility to a grimacing hobble for the remainder of the quarter.
Mahomes finished that drive, which ended with a 50-yard field goal from Harrison Butker that gave Kansas City a 10-7 lead, but was replaced by veteran backup Chad Henne on the next. Henne led a surprisingly calm touchdown drive, but Mahomes came back on the following possession, his right ankle wrapped heavily in tape, and didn’t quite look right physically. He hobbled to hand the ball off from under center and wasn’t moving with the same burst.
Kansas City tried to play out of the shotgun as much as possible to limit how much moving Mahomes had to do, but that wasn’t the only modification it made. Coach Andy
Reid moved tight end Travis Kelce all around the formation — from an in-line position, to the slot, to out wide — all to confuse the Jaguars, who did not have a player capable of defending him.
Kelce caught two touchdowns and finished with 14 receptions, the most in a playoff game by a tight end since the 1970 AFLNFL merger. He previously shared the record with two others after he had 13 receptions in a January 2021 postseason game.
Mahomes, on one healthy leg, delivered a performance only he is capable of putting together, completing 22 of 30 passes for 195 yards and two touchdowns and finishing with a quarterback rating of 77.0. But his success was owed to more than just finding his favorite target. Mahomes proved again there isn’t a football problem he can’t solve, including how to be creative with only one healthy ankle.
With Kansas City leading 20-17 midway through the fourth quarter, Mahomes effectively iced the game with a shifty pocket movement and throw off his left, healthy foot. Kansas City started in a trips formation on second-and-goal from the 6-yard line. Mahomes initially looked to his left to the isolated receiver, tight end Noah Gray, but press coverage took the slant route away.
Without panic, Mahomes shuffled up in a closing pocket, jumped off his left foot, and flicked the ball to the back of the end zone for Marquez Valdes-Scantling, giving Kansas City a two-score cushion.
Final score: Kansas City 27, Jacksonville 20
The Giants finally know what they’ve got in Daniel Jones.
The Giants should be celebrated for defying the odds this season. Earning a playoff spot, never mind winning a postseason game, with a first-year head coach and a roster in need of a rebuild is a testament to the team’s creativity and determination.
Reality slaps all but one team in the face by the end of the season, though, and the Giants are smarting after getting thumped 38-7 by the top-seeded Philadelphia Eagles in the divisional round. The Giants’ front office, led by Joe Schoen in his first year as general manager, faces several personnel decisions but none more important than what to do with quarterback Daniel Jones.
Coach Brian Daboll completely retooled the offense to accentuate Jones’ strengths, so the optimistic view is that the
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offense can only get better as it adds passcatching talent. After the Giants shifted to a run-heavy approach that regularly called on Jones to use his legs, Jones finished fourth among passers with 120 rushes, almost double last season’s total. (Only Chicago’s Justin Fields, Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts and Buffalo’s Josh Allen had more carries.)
In the passing game, Daboll put a premium on getting the ball out quickly and limiting negative plays, an approach that sort of saved Jones, who is more prone to
making mistakes the longer he holds the football, from himself. Daboll also excelled at facilitating open throws underneath and off play-action.
With the right additions at receiver, that approach could find a new level. The Giants got by this year with Richie James, Darius Slayton, and Isaiah Hodgins but none are options worthy of being a No. 1 receiver.
James is undersized at 5-foot-9 and 185 pounds; Slayton is mostly a deep threat; and Hodgins, a surprisingly effective midseason addition, has yet to show he can handle a heavy load over a full season. An injection
of star talent — perhaps through a trade for Arizona’s DeAndre Hopkins or a first-round selection in the draft — might open up new possibilities both for Daboll and Jones. The more pragmatic viewpoint, however, is that Jones hasn’t shown he is the kind of quarterback who can elevate those around him enough to warrant him commanding a healthy portion of a team’s cap space. It’s true that Jones has come alive as a runner and reduced his interceptions to a career-low five in the regular season, but both of those developments were meant to limit his errors as a drop-back passer.
Dual-threat quarterbacks run the NFL, and Jones has not shown that he’s enough of a threat in the pocket. Against the Eagles, Jones was not able to scan the full field and be a dynamic passer, especially when it came to throwing in tight windows.
NFL CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS Sunday, Jan. 29 NFC
San Francisco 49ers at Philadelphia Eagles, 3 p.m. ET (Fox)
AFC Cincinnati Bengals at Kansas City Chiefs, 6:30 p.m. ET (CBS)
Sal Bando, the third baseman and captain of the Oakland Athletics in the 1970s during the team’s run of three consecutive World Series victories, died last Friday in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee. He was 78.
The cause was cancer, Major League Baseball and Bando’s family announced in a statement.
Along with Reggie Jackson, Rollie Fingers, Catfish Hunter, Vida Blue and Joe Rudi, Bando rose through the A’s farm system and powered the team’s greatest era of dominance. Other than the mid1970s Athletics, only three squads of the New York Yankees (1936-39, 1949-53 and 1998-2000) have won three or more World Series in a row.
In a closely fought, back-and-forth World Series, the Athletics defeated the “Big Red Machine” Cincinnati Reds, starring Pete Rose and Johnny Bench, in 1972. They went on to beat the New York Mets in the 1973 Series and the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1974 — teams that included Tom Seaver and Don Sutton on their pitching staffs.
The Athletics were known as the “Swingin’ A’s” for their powerful offense, led by Jackson, and as “the Mustache Gang” for introducing a then-hip hirsute style into the clean-shaven conventionality of professional baseball.
Bando was initially touted as a defensive talent, and he struggled early on trying to hit big league pitching. He credited Joe DiMaggio — then an executive and occasional hitting coach for the Athletics — with getting him to close up his stance and keep his head down to hit for more power, The Sporting News reported in 1969.
Bando became the team captain
that year, when he was just 25 and in his second full major league season. His teammates respected his durability — he played every game or nearly every game during each of the nine full seasons he spent with the Athletics — and he hit for moderate but consistent power, averaging more than 20 home runs and about 90 RBIs.
“You don’t tell a Jackson, a Hunter or a Rudi what to do,” Bando told a team publication of the Milwaukee Brewers, for whom he was then playing, in 1978. “You lead by example, by giving 100 percent, by giving a continuous effort. A successful individual is one who is dedicated.”
The Sporting News described the A’s of that era as “a team in which trouble bubbles like a live volcano,” with bitter fights between the players and owner Charles O. Finley, but the publication added that “Bando, more than anyone else, keeps teammates relaxed and think-
ing about baseball.”
He was voted to four All-Star teams, but Bando did not enjoy the celebrity of teammates like Jackson, who gained in renown from playing later for the Yankees. The A’s went through periods without a local television contract, and for a championship ballclub, attendance at home games was slight.
“In another town, someplace back East, we might be heroes,” Bando told The Sporting News in 1973. “Here we’re not even something special.”
Bando was also not known for the statistical feats of a player like Jackson, who while playing for the Yankees hit three consecutive home runs in the 1977 World Series.
Yet in a detailed 2013 biography of Bando, the Society for American Baseball Research determined that from 1969 to 1973 his “wins above replacement” figure — which estimates the total contribution
of a player in comparison to a hypothetical likely replacement — was the highest in baseball, beating out not just Jackson but also Rose and Bench.
Salvatore Leonard Bando was born Feb. 13, 1944, in Cleveland. His father, Ben, was a carpenter and amateur softball player, according to the Society for American Baseball Research. His mother, Angela Bando, was a homemaker, and she also played softball. Sal grew up in Warrensville Heights, a Cleveland suburb.
After the 1976 season, Bando became a free agent and was signed by the Milwaukee Brewers. He helped the team establish a winning culture, but it did not find anything like the success of the Athletics. He retired after the 1981 season and began to work in the Brewers’ front office. He was the general manager for most of the 1990s, an era when the team usually had a losing record.
Bando married Sandy Fortunato in 1969. Besides her, survivors include his sons, Sal Jr., Sonny and Stef.
In a 1982 essay for The New York Times, Bando reflected on witnessing his first opening day as a retired pro. He described the initial game of the season as a perennial source of tension: having to prove yourself once again to fans and reporters, work to realize your long-percolating dreams of the offseason and fit into uncomfortable new uniforms.
“For the first time, I can sit with my family and enjoy America’s pastime,” he wrote. “My wife won’t have knots in her stomach and prayers on her lips worrying about my performance. Now I can be the one going after the food and drinks and keep the kids sitting in their seats.
“I’m very thankful,” he continued, “for my career and all the blessings that came with it, but it’s sure nice living a normal life.”
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
If you’ve been thinking of making changes to your social scene, these past days might have brought a desire to leave groups or clubs that no longer chime with you, and look around for other options. The same may have occurred with connections that have grown stale. Today’s lunar links with Venus and Saturn could cement a decision to put your own happiness first.
Not impressing someone as much as you’d like? With Venus moving out of range of Saturn, you could soon make a breakthrough. And this person may respond with much more interest and warmth. You’ll realize that any issues were more about your fears than about their lack of interest. Let your authority on a subject shine through, and you’ll easily win them over.
If you’ve recently questioned your beliefs, you’ll sense it’s time to let go of the old and adopt newer, more life-enhancing ideas. This may not happen immediately, but with the help of a mentor, teacher or coach, you’ll notice your outlook begin to change. As the Moon links with Saturn and Venus, you’ll understand why it’s so necessary to edge out of your comfort zone.
A painful incident or an awkward issue you’ve been struggling with may now begin to ease. You’ll realize there is light at the end of the tunnel. Perhaps you’ll find someone you can connect with, who helps you see this in perspective. Once your resistance to change disappears, you’ll realize how good it is to let it all go. Drop this matter, and any related tension will melt away.
A relationship may be on the verge of a shift, which might be fuelled by a change of heart. You’ll find that by talking things over and allowing events to play out naturally, the decisions that work best for both of you will be self-evident. You’ll also be heartened by an offer that could pave the way for exciting developments. Someone in a generous mood is looking out for you, Leo.
Don’t get too caught up in trying to please everyone, as it won’t work, Virgo. If someone is being unreasonable, then say so. They’ll respect you more, and won’t be tempted to try it on again. As the Moon aligns with Saturn and Venus, this may be one of those days when the people around you seem very demanding. Very soon this will shift, and a more easy-going vibe will prevail.
A friendship or romance that started on a positive note, may be going through a rough patch. Naturally, this will leave you wondering whether it’s worth continuing, Libra. Lunar ties suggest that any warmth between you seems to have vanished. This is temporary, and soon you’ll be back on track. You are learning to accept them as they are, and particularly where their boundaries lie.
Family bonds may have been a focus for some time. The Sun’s move into this sector very recently, could coincide with a shift in the family dynamic. This might give way to stable relationships, more cooperation and greater harmony. Today can find you tying up loose ends concerning a matter that has been a thorn in your side. The relief may be huge once resolved.
Finding it difficult to broach an awkward conversation? If you hold back for another day or so, it might no longer be necessary. Still, if you must speak, stick to the facts and let your feelings take second place. You’ll see clearly what you need to do next, and there’ll be less argument. On a creative note, don’t dismiss a brilliant idea as being impossible, at least give it a try, Archer.
Your conscience may have got the better of you recently, encouraging you to consider how you can be more frugal and cut out even more expenses. This phase might not last long, as by the weekend you could relax your grip. Still, with a cautious influence ongoing until early March, this is a good time to lay down habits that will help you earn more and stay in control.
The Sun in your sign highlights all your good points. This is the time to make the most of them, and even overplay them while you’re in the spotlight. Still, recent days may have made you aware of a mistake that has dented your confidence. You might take this far too seriously and beat yourself up about it. There’s no point. Soon you’ll realize it was fate playing its hand.
Don’t get too caught up with an issue that you can’t do anything about. You may want to do something to salvage it, but it might only make things worse. It’s better to let it go and move on. In a day or so when Venus moves into your sign, you’ll have a different perspective, and will see there’s no point in taking it personally. The sooner you start focusing on other things, the better.
