Friday to Sunday Jul 10-12, 2020

July 10-12, 2020

San Juan The

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How Do You Define Rosé?

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Justice’s Long and Winding Road The Most ‘Trustworthy’ Agency’s Bumpy 4-Year Ride in a Timeline Vázquez, Longo, Burgos, Carrau …

How Many Justice Chiefs Will It Take?

Nino Correa Appointed as NMEAD Commissioner, At Last

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COVID-19 Cases Peaking Again P5

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The San Juan Daily Star

July 10-12, 2020

- “Nosotros los empleados de la AEE estamos locos de empezar con ustedes y estar a la altura de la industria eléctrica a nivel mundial para echar a P.R. hacia adelante y acabar con el abuso que tienen aquí la unión esta”.

- “We Are Ready”.

- “Esperando con mucho deseo que se entrevisten con los empleados”.

- “Bienvenidos a Puerto Rico”.

- “Welcome to Puerto Rico. Team AEE member!!! Hoping to be Team LUMA”.

- “Trabajé como Line Man por 18 años con la AEE. Mis últimos 5 años fui Line Man 4. Me interesa saber cómo puedo aplicar con LUMA PR”.

-Agradezco la iniciativa de mantener abiertos los canales de comunicación y la disponibilidad para aclarar todas nuestras dudas. Aunque los procesos de cambios inevitablemente causan incertidumbre y ansiedad, estar informados nos ayuda a procesar estos cambios de manera responsable y proactiva. Estoy seguro de que este nuevo comienzo en manos de la administración de LUMA, resultarán en grandes oportunidades profesionales para los empleados de la Autoridad, y más que nada, en numerosos beneficios para el pueblo de Puerto Rico. Ofrezco mi disponibilidad para brindar la asistencia durante cualquier etapa del proceso de transición.

De una empresa privada, estoy ubicado en la AEE de Santurce. Estoy interesado en ser parte de ustedes si van a reclutar personal. Soy bilingüe y tengo solo mi 4to año. Estoy a su disposición. Tengo 6 años trabajando en la AEE.

-Estoy disponible para ser parte de LUMA, aquí a disposición.

Soy ingeniero eléctrico experimentado con más de 20 años de experiencia trabajando como gestor de construcción eléctrica y consultor eléctrico en AEE, FLOUR y Farmacéuticas; entre otros. Estoy interesado en obtener información sobre el proceso de contratación y las oportunidades en LUMA Puerto Rico.

-Vivo en Puerto Rico y recientemente se anunció que LUMA Energy administrará el sistema de energía eléctrica de la Isla. Escribo este correo porque me gustaría ser considerado para un puesto en LUMA

Espero recibir noticias pronto.

Actualmente, estoy buscando un nuevo desafío. Me gustaría ser considerado como parte del cambio que todos los puertorriqueños merecen.

-Buenos días. Como cliente y ciudadano de San Juan les doy bienvenida.

-Buenas tardes. Recibimos ayer un email sobre preguntas y respuestas relacionadas al proceso de transición de la AEE a LUMA Energy.

En mi carácter personal, agradezco la disposición para aclarar las dudas.

Si ustedes logran que esto ocurra con LUMA, tendrán empleados con un gran compromiso, fidelidad y orgullo de servir y de ofrecer un sistema de energía eléctrica de calidad a nuestro país… y lo podemos lograr junto con LUMA.

- Los empleados de la Autoridad llevamos desde el 2014 con incertidumbre sobre nuestro empleo y retiro, con rechazo del pueblo de Puerto Rico solamente por trabajar aquí (algunas brigadas han experimentado hasta insultos cuando están trabajando en la calle), una alta gerencia que no tiene comunicación con nosotros (de muchos asuntos nos hemos enterado por la prensa),

-Soy técnico de AEE. Buscando información encontré que las compañías QUANTA Y ATCO tienen una excelente política con relación a sus empleados veteranos y militares. Como veterano, que me enorgullece serlo,… ¿qué planes tiene LUMA para con los veteranos?

Esto es solo una muestra del apoyo y deseo de pertenecer a

- “Hi, welcome to PR. We are waiting for this moment. Now you have full support of PREPA Safety Team.

- “Tengo experiencia trabajando en compañías de electricidad y me gustaría aprender aún más”.

- “Quisiera saber cómo nos podemos comunicar directamente con ustedes para saber qué nos ofrecen a los empleados”.

- “I am PREPA worker. I am willing to work for you”.

-¿En qué fecha entrevistarán a los empleados interesados en unirse a LUMA? Estoy muy interesado en ser parte de esto.

-Gracias anticipadas por la disposición para aclarar dudas. ¡Deseándoles éxito en esta nueva tarea!

-Primero, quiero darles la bienvenida a este gran reto, que es llevar el sistema de energía eléctrica de Puerto Rico a un nivel moderno, confiable y eficiente. Quiero agradecerles la comunicación directa. Les recomiendo que esta comunicación sea con la mayor frecuencia posible.

lumapr.com

-Recibí la información sobre la

si cumplo con los requisitos de

transición de la AEE a LUMA. Actualmente, estoy a punto de completar mis 30 años de servicio con

cualquier empleo en el área de

la Autoridad. Tengo tanto compromiso con mi empresa que me gustaría seguir trabajando para LUMA en el

ingeniería. Les agradezco su atención.

De tener alguna pregunta, no duden en ponerse en contacto conmigo en cualquier momento.

futuro.

-Buen día, soy empleado de la -Muchas gracias a ustedes por hacer la diferencia. Me gustaría pertenecer a ustedes y espero que salgan nuevas oportunidades. ¿Dónde puedo enviar mi resumé? Estoy muy deseoso de que me llamen ya.

Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica de Puerto Rico. Actualmente, soy Supervisor de Líneas de Ingreso.

Estoy en la disposición de abrirme nuevas puertas en LUMA.

Si están buscando un empleado que piense “out of the box”… ¡Estoy listo!

-¡Saludos! Deseo información sobre las plazas disponibles. Adjunto resumé para el Departamento de Recursos Humanos.

-¡Saludos! Quisiera información de los empleos disponibles.

Gracias.

-Como todos, en este proceso de transición, tenemos una serie de preguntas en relación a la información provista. Las preguntas son las siguientes: Estoy interesado en pertenecer a LUMA.

hemos experimentado 3 desastres casi consecutivos (como el huracán María, terremotos y la pandemia) y ni unas gracias nos han dado. Es importante que estos temas delicados sean tratados con la sensibilidad que amerita para cuidar la salud mental de nosotros los empleados que hemos tenido todas esas experiencias antes mencionadas y que ahora enfrentamos el miedo natural al cambio, a lo desconocido. La comunicación directa y la apertura a recibir mensajes de parte de ustedes es un gran paso en esta dirección. Los empleados de la AEE son fieles y orgullos de la Autoridad.

-Recibí la información sobre la transición de la AEE a LUMA. Actualmente, estoy por cumplir mis 30 años de servicio con la Autoridad. Tengo un compromiso con mi empresa y me gustaría seguir con el mismo compromiso de seguir trabajando para LUMA. Mi pregunta es… si me acojo al retiro de la AEE, durante los próximos meses, ¿podré solicitar trabajo cuando salgan las plazas publicadas en LUMA? - ¡Buenas tardes! Yo trabajaba con la AEE y renuncié. Me fui para Estados Unidos y ahora quiero regresar a mi Isla para trabajar con ustedes.

-"Muchos éxitos para Puerto Rico gracias por estar aquí para mejorar nuestro sistema eléctrico; yo trabajo por 26 años AEE en Transmisión y necesitamos mejorar mucho y con la ayuda de ustedes será posible."

-"Saludos, estoy recién graduando de la UPR en Mayagüez como ingeniero eléctrico. Me gustaría ver si tendría alguna oportunidad de trabajar para su compañía o si tuviese alguna posición como ingeniero eléctrico o ingeniero de proyectos. Le agradecería si me podrían ayudar en eso, cualquier otra información que necesiten se la puedo hacer llegar vía correo electrónico. Muchas gracias por su tiempo y éxito en su compañía."

-"Para solicitar empleo en PR ya que trabajo en la Florida con ### Energy".

-"Tengo licencia de ayudante de perito con experiencia urbano, comercial e industrial, dónde puedo ver ofertas de empleo."

lumapuertorico

GOOD MORNING

3

July 10-12, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star, the only paper with News Service in English in Puerto Rico, publishes 7 days a week, with a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday edition, along with a Weekend Edition to cover Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

UPR unions to governor: Include retirement plan bill in extraordinary session

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By PEDRO CORREA HENRY Twitter: @PCorreaHenry Special to The Star

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t least six syndicates from the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) sat in front of the Capitol on Thursday to demand that Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced include House Resolution 2572 in an extraordinary session to seek its approval.

More than 19,000 active and retired employees from the higher education institution are still waiting to see if both the island House and Senate approve the bill as it was endorsed by all of the legislators. Retirement System Board President Eduardo Berríos said it is still a surprise that the Senate did not approve a bill that protects the university’s retirement system, as he said it was one of the most sustainable such systems of any public agency.

“This bill was left pending in the last extraordinary session by the Senate. The bill, which was authored by [Rep. María de] Lourdes Ramos, was approved unanimously by the House of Representatives. This picks up what Resolution 655 had included, which was approved by both the House and the Senate, yet it was vetoed by the governor,” Berríos said. “This bill was born after university members felt the need to protect the trust of the Retirement System with defined benefits and to protect it from a governing board, or the Financial Oversight and Management Board, who want to dismantle it and turn it into a 401k trust fund.”

Puerto Rican Association of University Professors President Ángel Rodríguez said meanwhile that the bill benefits all personnel from managers to handymen, as the university’s retirement system has been functioning under experts from the Retirement System Board, an arrangement that he says keeps it transparent and auditable.

On the other hand, if the governing board assumes control of the system, they are not under the obligation to negotiate with members about the decisions that would take place. “[The governing board] has already tried

making fundamental changes to the [retirement] system, such as increasing the retirement age and changing the defined benefits, which means how much an employee will be compensated once they retire, to a defined contribution, which puts your contributions into a stock exchange and, once you retire, you will not know if you will be rewarded or not,” Rodríguez said.

When The Star asked what the unions would do if the governor were to resign due to ongoing controversies, Brotherhood of Non-Academic Employees spokesperson Janelle Santana said this was a chance for either the governor or the system to make an honest and valuable choice.

“We must mention that we have been looking for a draft consensus. Basically, we have everyone who represents the employees of the university: faculty members, non-academics, managers, and retirees, who are the most important, supervisors and directors,” Santana said. “If we endorse this bill, it is because we see that the [retirement] system works.”

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The San Juan Daily Star

July 10-12, 2020

Bumpy ride for Justice Dept. as politics and controversies rock the agency

By PEDRO CORREA HENRY Twitter: @PCorreaHenry Special to The Star

E

ver since Wanda Vázquez Garced was appointed back on Jan. 17, 2017 as secretary of the Department of Justice by thenGov. Ricardo Rosselló Nevares, the agency has trembled and quaked, first as the appointment was opposed by women’s organizations due to Vázquez’s allegedly poor performance at the Women’s Advocate Office, and later over persecution of politicians such as the Popular Democratic Party’s (PDP) late president, Héctor Ferrer.

AlthoughVázquez, who has been serving as the non-elected governor of Puerto Rico since last summer, has had the chance to gain back trust from opponents, a series of events continuing into this week have shown the Justice Department to be in turmoil.

Here, The Star shares a timeline of some events that have put the agency’s reputation in hot water: Hurricane donations spoiled in Patillas due to mishandling Back on Oct. 16, 2017, government officials found hidden humanitarian supplies in the town of Patillas. Former Secretary of State Luis Rivera Marín and then-Justice Secretary Vázquez posted videos on their Twitter accounts to show the amount of hurricane donations that were spoiled after being left exposed under the sun and rain.

“We visited the mayor’s townhouse, [and went] to their collection center, and there was enough water, and food, and many citizens who needed these supplies. The provisions are not meant to be safe-kept or stored,” the then-Justice secretary said at the time. “We asked [PDP] Mayor Norberto Soto for remedial actions so this would not happen again and we would not lose supplies ever again.”

However, Vázquez’s video was later deleted on Jan. 18 of this year as social media users called her out for not holding anyone accountable as Justice secretary and, simultaneously, being allegedly involved with hidden hurricane donations found inside a warehouse in Ponce, which was revealed by Facebook user El León Fiscalizador.

Vázquez temporarily relieved of her duties at Justice due to OPFEI charge On Nov. 28, 2018, the then-Justice secretary had to vacate her post temporarily as the Office of the Special Independent Prosecutor Panel (OPFEI by its Spanish acronym) reported she allegedly intervened inappropriately in a case in which the home of her daughter and son-in-law was robbed by Tyrone Torres Betancourt, who was later sentenced to 15 years in prison.

During the investigation, it was also revealed that her daughter’s husband, Kelvin Carrasco Ramos, was submitted to an inhibition order by Vázquez in April 2018 when he worked as an administrative assistant in the Justice Department. According to the Government Ethics Law, the incumbent Justice secretary was not under obligation to ask for permission to appoint him, as it did not present a conflict of interest. On Dec. 7, 2018, there was no cause for arrest found against Vázquez.

“I intervened because my daughter was a victim and, as a mother of a victim, she had every right to have my support and advice,” she said this week during a press conference in which she defended her dismissal of former Justice Secretary Denisse Longo Quiñones, who allegedly intervened three times in a federal investigation in which her mother, former interim Health Secretary Concepción Quiñones de Longo, was involved.

No probes into missing relief supplies, suspect medical cannabis licenses On July 24, 2019, a blog post by journalist Sandra Rodríguez Cotto revealed screenshots from a WhatsApp chat between Vázquez and former La Fortaleza Chief of Staff Raúl Maldonado in which she declined to investigate a case referred by him involving missing truck containers with humanitarian supplies for Hurricane Maria victims.

“I was sent a draft statement from her office about the [container] reports. I do not hold the elements to have an opinion about it,” Vázquez said in the chat. “I understand that the OSG should reveal the results to the people. I do not know the methodology or the process involved. In fact, if there is no criminal conduct, it should not be referred to Justice.”

Rodríguez Cotto also posted official documents showing that Vázquez knew about an influence-peddling scheme involving the Health Department’s Medical Cannabis Regulatory Board, as certain advisers

from La Fortaleza, along with lawyers María Palau Abasolo and her husband José Giovanni Ojeda Rodríguez, lobbied for particular medical businesses to acquire licenses.

“The documents find that the married couple tried and pressured to give away licenses for medical cannabis center operation to 69 businesses involved with Ojeda Rodríguez’s interests,” Rodríguez Cotto wrote.

Likewise, she wrote that then-Medical Cannabis Regulatory Board Director Antonio Quilinchini was pressured to provide medical cannabis center operation licenses without the required procedure, leading him to report such anomalies to then-Health Secretary Rafael Rodríguez Mercado, who later referred the case to Maldonado. Maldonado later reported it to Rosselló, but the governor dismissed the issue as a rumor.

Vázquez becomes a non-elected governor As Rosselló announced his resignation on Aug. 2, 2019, designated Secretary of State Pedro Pierluisi was the one who was sworn in as governor.

However, after the island Supreme Court determined the appointment to be unconstitutional due to the Senate hanging up Pierluisi’s nomination, on Aug. 8 Vázquez became the next in line to become governor.

Now governor, on Aug. 19 she appointed Longo Quiñones as Justice secretary.

Lack of transparency ascribed to Longo Quiñones Since Longo Quiñones was confirmed on Oct. 3, 2019, she had been under controversy over issues of transparency in disseminating public information. On March 4, she issued an internal memo that established procedures that allowed state agencies to take over three weeks to hand over public information.

The memo, which used the Transparency and Expedited Procedure for Access to Public Information Act as a reference, was heavily criticized by members of the press and legislators on the grounds that it diluted public accountability and restricted the con-

stitutional right to freedom of speech. A day later, the memo was back-shelved.

Longo Quiñones criticizes OPFEI on Telegram chat analysis On Feb. 14, Longo Quiñones questioned OPFEI’s performance after the Justice Department was criticized for its Telegram chat report. Longo Quiñones said the impression the agency got was that prosecutors did not understand the conclusions of law contained in the report.

“In the report we signed, they mentioned and detailed white-collar crimes, which are understood through a detailed and complex analysis of all the direct and circumstantial evidence,” she said. “Contrary to the limitations imposed by the OPFEI, the analysis of the Department of Justice addresses not only what was said or shared in the Chat WRF, but a criminal evaluation of what the behavior evidenced in the Chat WRF revealed. The mere participation in the chat does not establish the crimes considered; what the chat does is that it corroborates the relationship between the participants of identified crimes.

That conduct was corroborated through interviews and the evidence gathered by Justice.”

Swift finale for interim Justice secretary Burgos As Longo Quiñones was dismissed from Justice for allegedly intervening in a fraud investigation in the Health Department she was prohibited from participating in as her mother was under observation, it also resulted in Wandymar Burgos’ having her resignation as interim Justice secretary approved by Vázquez on Thursday as interim secretary for stopping an agent from handing over file reports to the OPFEI, as the panel determined in a resolution that there was no need to do so as long as the Justice Department had copies of the documents pending evaluation.

“I have my head held up my high,” Burgos said in her letter of resignation.

“All my actions have been motivated by my ethical and upstanding work style.”

Burgos held the position for less than a week, after several legislators from the majority New Progressive Party threatened to vote against her nomination and demanded she step down. After Vázquez approved Burgos’ resignation, she appointed Inés Carrau Martínez as interim Justice secretary.

“I’m grateful that governor Wanda Vázquez has bestowed trust in me to temporarily occupy the position of secretary of the Department of Justice and lead our Department forward,” Carrau Martínez said. “I have complete trust … that the prosecutors, lawyers, attorneys, recorders and all personnel who work here will continue to keep investigations on course.”

The San Juan Daily Star

July 10-12, 2020

5

Correa Filomeno named interim NMEAD commissioner

By THE STAR STAFF

P

ublic Safety Secretary Pedro Janer announced on Thursday the appointment of Nino Correa Filomeno as interim commissioner of the island Emergency Management and Disaster Administration Bureau (NMEAD by its Spanish acronym).

“With no one in charge of the Bureau and as we approach the peak of the hurricane season, it is important that the work plans continue forward and that an efficient response is guaranteed for the benefit of the Puerto Rican people,” Janer said in a written statement. “We believe that Nino Correa has the necessary experience to assume the reins of NMEAD and lead the excellent team that makes it up.”

The designation will be in force until Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced determines

who will take over the position permanently.

“I am grateful for this opportunity and I reiterate my commitment to ensure the safety of citizens at a time when we are handling several emergencies simultaneously,” Correa Filomeno said. “I am honored to once again make my experience available to the Puerto Rican people.”

Correa Filomeno has more than 30 years of experience in the field of emergency management. He has served as search and rescue coordinator for 18 years and since January has held the position of director of operations at NMEAD. Janer noted that Deputy Commissioner Marcelo Rolón resigned from his post and Correa Filomeno will have the work team he needs to carry out his duties. He said the governor will soon make a statement on the appointment of a deputy commissioner.

Is coronavirus peaking again on the island?

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

P

uerto Rico Institute of Statistics Executive Director Orville Disdier Flores said Thursday in a radio interview that a peak of coronavirus infections similar to that of last March is taking place.

“The indicators, unfortunately, are telling us that in late June and early July, a spike in the number of cases of COVID[-19] infections is very similar to what we had in late March and early April,” Disdier Flores said on the NotiUno 630 AM program “Normando en la Mañana.”

“We may be experiencing daily increases of more than 60 cases confirmed by the PCR [polymerase chain reaction] test.”

Disdier Flores urged that particular attention be paid to the high rates of COVID-19 infection in the island’s western region and in the San Juan metropolitan area.

Health Secretary Lorenzo González Feliciano meanwhile confirmed the death of a 13-year-old girl from COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

On Thursday morning the agency reported zero deaths due to the virus.

“We are aware of the death of a 13-year-old teenager,” González Feliciano said in a written communication.

“The preliminary information received establishes that the doctor certified COVID-19 as the cause of death of the young woman.”

However, the Health secretary said he was waiting for the death certificate to confirm the causes of the teen’s death in Caguas.

“At this time, we are waiting to receive the Death Certificate at the offices of the Demographic Registry to

confirm the information,” he said. “Once the documentation is complete, we will issue the official information to all the media.”

According to the department, 147 people were hospitalized on Thursday due to COVID-19, an increase of 20 when compared to Wednesday.

At press time Thursday, confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Puerto Rico stood at 1,107 women and 1,128 men, for a total of 2,235. The total number of confirmed cases was adjusted after adding three cases, one with a sample collection date of June 16 and two cases with a sample collection date of June 23.

Reported cases are those that have a positive PCR test, with a sample date of June 28 to July 6.

Several positive cases at long-term care home Family Secretary Orlando López Belmonte announced Thursday that the Elderly Task Force confirmed four additional positive cases of COVID-19 involving residents of a long-term care home for older adults in Carolina.

López Belmonte said he instructed the licensing staff to carry out the required intervention to ensure that safety measures and isolation protocol are followed with positive residents.

“The home currently has an enrollment of 59 residents, of whom 27 are in the custody of the State and 32 privately,” the Family secretary said in a written statement.

“I have ordered the [department’s] licensing and protection staff to closely supervise and closely collaborate with the home to achieve full compliance with health and safety measures, as well as assist them in whatever is necessary to protect the rest of the residents. Household staff are communicating with the families of each of the residents of the home to inform them of the measures being taken.”

Last Monday, the first positive case of COVID-19 was reported with a molecular test (out of five conducted) corresponding to an adult over 61 years of age from the same long-term care home, who is currently hospitalized and remains in stable condition. During the epidemiological investigation process, a 52-year-old man was identified with conditions that compromised his health, was hospitalized, tested positive for the COVID-19 molecular test, and died.

On the same day, molecular and serological tests were performed on all residents and employees of the home, with detection of three COVID-19 positive residents, which were reported Thursday. The cases are females between the ages of 76 to 84. According to a statement, all the people are asymptomatic and stable.

The home has 38 employees, who have previously undergone rigorous testing. Those personnel also participated in the taking of samples in the home.

Health Secretary, Lorenzo González

6

The San Juan Daily Star

July 10-12, 2020

Amended law strengthens ban on operation of gas stations by wholesalers

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

T

he Gasoline Retailers Association (ADGPR by its Spanish initials) announced Thursday that the amendments achieved by unanimous vote in both legislative bodies were approved by Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced and became Law 60-2020, which entered into force on June 27 guaranteeing a level of competition between wholesalers and retailers of gasoline.

“Public policy is advanced to maintain broad competition in the retail sale of gasoline, preventing the operation of gasoline stations by oil producers,” said Rafael Mercado Ghigliotty, president of ADGPR, which groups more than 700 gasoline stations in Puerto Rico, in a written statement. “We are grateful to Gov. Wanda Vázquez for signing this law, and to the Senate and House of Representatives for the unanimous approval of the bill, at a time when the industry is so vulnerable and needs it most.”

At the close of the current legislative session, the last of the four-year electoral term, gasoline retailers managed to boost their industry with the approval of amendments to Law 3 of March 21, 1978, which regulates the gasoline industry in Puerto Rico.

With the approval of Law 60-2020, the legislation is updated to reaffirm the public policy of prohibiting the direct operation of gasoline stations by oil companies.

Among the amendments to Law 3 that were achieved through the new Law 602020 are: * Redefine terms such as oil producer, wholesale distributor and retail service station to make their roles clear. With respect to retail service stations, activities that are now common in a station such as convenience stores, inspection stations and others are incorporated. * Expand the definition of “operational

decoupling” that prohibits refiners, oil producers or wholesale distributors from operating retail service stations. With the new definition, the activities that would violate the prohibition are clarified, such as imposing, fixing or limiting the profit margin, the retail price of gasoline, the products that can be sold at a retail service station and/or the price at which such products are sold. * Establish a private cause of action for unfair competition when the Department of Justice’s Office of Monopolistic Affairs does not act on a complaint by a retailer for violation of the terms of the Law. Known as the Law on Control of Petroleum Producers and Refiners and their Derivatives and of Wholesale Distributors of Gasoline and/or Special Motor Fuels, Law 3 prohibited the direct operation of gasoline stations by oil companies and required that the price of gasoline sold by wholesale distributors to retailers be uniform throughout Puerto Rico, among other provisions.

Grid Revitalization Forum to take place July 14-16

By THE STAR STAFF

T

he 3rd Puerto Rico Grid Revitalization Forum -- PR-GRID Virtual -- an annual event that brings together the main opinion leaders on economic development topics in the area of energy, will take place July 14 to July 16.

Co-hosted by the Puerto Rico Manufacturers Association (PRMA), PR-GRID Virtual will gather the market to chart a course to fulfill the objectives of

Law 17, which calls for the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) to rely on 40 percent renewable energy sources by 2025, and 100 percent by 2050.

“Great goals entail great challenges in the economic field, infrastructure, manufacturing, human resources, financing and public policy, among others,” PRMA President Carlos Rodríguez said in a written statement. “The Manufacturers Association, as a leading organization that brings together the island’s industrial sector, feels committed to promoting a conversation focused on solutions. We are excited to co-sponsor with New Energy Events this type of event that adds value to both our partners and the business ecosystem.”

PR-GRIDVirtual takes place against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, the earthquakes that seriously damaged several of Puerto Rico’s power generation assets in January, and the onset of hurricane season.

Rodríguez noted that this year the event brings together key executives in the field of renewable energy. All public or private companies related to the field of renewable energy are invited to participate.

During the three days, the forum will include the participation of Rear Adm. Peter Brown, representative of the United States government for disaster recovery in Puerto Rico; Puerto Rico Economic Development and Commerce Secretary Manuel Laboy; PREPA Executive Director José Ortiz; Natalie

Jaresko, executive director of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico; and Wendy Perry, president of the Pharmaceutical Industry Association of Puerto Rico, among other prominent speakers.

The groups will discuss ways to make PREPA’s grid more durable and will also discuss the restructuring support agreement that will restructure PREPA’s $9 billion debt.

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The San Juan Daily Star

July 10-12, 2020

7

U.S. weighs early vaccine access for minorities and others at risk

By MEGAN TWOHEY

F

ederal health officials are already trying to decide who will get the first doses of any effective coronavirus vaccines, which could be on the market this winter but could require many additional months to become widely available to Americans.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and an advisory committee of outside health experts in April began working on a ranking system for what may be an extended rollout in the United States. According to a preliminary plan, any approved vaccines would be offered to vital medical and national security officials first, and then to other essential workers and those considered at high risk — the elderly instead of children, people with underlying conditions instead of the relatively healthy.

Agency officials and the advisers are also considering what has become a contentious option: putting Black and Latino people, who have disproportionately fallen victim to COVID-19, ahead of others in the population.

In private meetings and a recent public session, the issue has provoked calls for racial justice. But some medical experts are not convinced there is a scientific basis for such an option, foresee court challenges or worry that prioritizing minority groups would erode public trust in vaccines at a time when immunization is seen as crucial to ending the pandemic.

“Giving it to one race initially and not another race, I’m not sure how that would be perceived by the public, how that would affect how vaccines are viewed as a trusted public health measure,” said Claire Hannan, executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers, a group represented on the committee.

While there is a standard protocol for introducing vaccines — the CDC typically makes recommendations, and state and local public health departments decide whether to follow them — the White House has pressed the agency at times to revise or hold off on proposals it found objectionable. President Donald Trump, who has been pushing to reopen schools, fill workplaces and hold large public events, has been acutely focused on the political consequences of public health guidance.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, almost every aspect of the administration’s response has involved scarce resources, high demand and claims that the privileged were receiving unfair advantage. The White House recently created Operation Warp Speed, a multiagency effort to accelerate vaccine development that

A testing site in San Jose, Calif. Coronavirus cases in the state have spiked in recent weeks. has invested billions of federal dollars in a growing number of companies. At the public advisory committee hearing, held in mid-June, a Defense Department representative said the operation would address the distribution plans in coming weeks.

To speed distribution, the most promising vaccines will go into production even before they have cleared the final stages of clinical trials and been authorized for public use by the Food and Drug Administration.

But there will be a gap between the first doses coming off the manufacturing lines and a stockpile large enough to vaccinate the U.S. population. “I would say months,” Dr. José Romero, the chairman of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, predicted.

The committee, which reports to the CDC director, has long played a key role in determining how to implement new vaccines. The group includes 15 voting members selected by the health secretary who come from immunology, infectious disease and other medical specialties, 30 nonvoting representatives from across the health field, and eight federal officials focused on vaccines. Still, it operates largely out of sight.

“It’s a backroom kind of thing,” said Dr. Nancy Bennett, a health professor at the University of Rochester who led the advisory committee from 2015 to 2018.

Romero is among four committee members who have been deliberating on the plans since this spring alongside doctors at the CDC, representatives from the health field, ethicists

and other outside consultants. In June, they briefed the full committee on their work, offering a glimpse of the questions being considered.

As they come up with a multitiered schedule for the first 1.2 million vaccine doses and then the next 110 million, they have focused on who should be considered essential workers, what underlying conditions should be taken into account and what kinds of living environments — nursing homes, homeless shelters — put people at high risk. Among the questions: What should be done about pregnant women? Should teachers go toward the front of the line? Should prisoners be in a top tier?

But for the broader committee, questions of whether to prioritize race and ethnicity sparked the most debate.

Black and Latino people have become infected with the virus at three times the rate of whites, and have died nearly twice as frequently.

Many of them have jobs that keep them from working at home, rely on public transportation or live in cramped homes that increase their risk of exposure. They are more likely to suffer from underlying health problems, including diabetes and obesity, that raise the risk of hospitalization and death. Not only do the groups have less access to health services, they also have a documented history of receiving unequal care.

The questions come amid a national uproar over the United States’ racist past, which stretches into its response to infectious disease — including the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study, when the government deliberately let hundreds

of Black men go untreated even when there was a known cure for the disease.

Dr. Sharon Frey, a professor of infectious diseases at St. Louis University, pointed to health disparities among Black and Latino people at the recent meeting.

“I think it’s very important that the groups get into a high tier,” she said. “Maybe not an entire group but certainly to address people who are living in the urban areas in these crowded conditions.”

Dr. Peter Szilagyi, a professor of pediatrics at the University of California, Los Angeles, said he was “really struggling with what to do about race and ethnicity.”

He wondered if a lot could be accomplished for minority groups by prioritizing people in general with underlying conditions and by trying to improve their access to health care.

Romero, the chairman, was doubtful. “This will not address the problem that exists now,” he said. “I think we need to deal with this issue at this time with the information that we have.

And it is: They are groups that need to be moved to the forefront, in my opinion.”

Harald Schmidt, an assistant professor of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania, is not a member of the committee but has been suggesting other ways vaccine prioritization could work. He predicts that courts would strike down any guidelines explicitly based on race and ethnicity. Instead, he has proposed using an index that takes into account education, income, employment and housing quality to rank neighborhoods by socioeconomic disadvantage that he says could serve as a good proxy.

“It’s imperative that we pay attention to how COVID has impacted the health of minorities differently; otherwise it compounds the inequalities we’ve seen,” Schmidt said.

Whoever is prioritized for the first doses, it will not matter if the vaccines don’t work for those demographics. And that will not be determined unless the vaccine trials themselves include those groups. So far, several vaccine candidates have entered final Phase 3 trials.

At a Senate hearing last week, Dr. Robert Redfield, the CDC director, and Dr. Francis Collins, head of the National Institutes for Health, emphasized the need for racial and other diversity within the trials.

“The last thing we want to be is trying to recommend who gets the vaccine and we don’t have any data on how the vaccine works in the population that we think really needs this vaccine,” Redfield said.

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The San Juan Daily Star

July 10-12, 2020

Trump threatens funding cuts if schools do not fully reopen

By PETER BAKER, ERICA L. GREEN and NOAH WEILAND

P

resident Donald Trump pressured the government’s top public health experts on Wednesday to water down recommendations for how the nation’s schools can reopen safely this fall and threatened to cut federal funding for districts that defied his demand to resume classes in person.

Once again rejecting the advice of the specialists who work for him, Trump dismissed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “very tough & expensive guidelines,” which he said asked schools “to do very impractical things.” Within hours, the White House announced that the agency would issue new recommendations in the days to come.

The president’s criticisms, in a barrage of Twitter threats, inflamed a difficult debate that has challenged educators and parents across the country as they seek ways to safely resume teaching American children by September. Even as the coronavirus is spreading faster than ever in the United States, Trump expressed no concern about the health implications of reopening in person and no support for compromise plans that many districts are considering.

His all-or-nothing stance left him at odds with the nation’s two largest school districts. Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City announced shortly after Trump’s tweets that schools would not fully reopen in September, with students attending classes in person only

one to three days a week to accommodate social distancing. The chief public health officer in Los Angeles County told school officials Tuesday to be prepared to continue learning entirely from home given the surge of infections in California.

But Trump’s attack on the CDC underscored his growing impatience with public health experts he considers obstacles to his ambitions of reopening the country after months of lockdown. As he significantly trails Joe Biden, his presumptive Democratic challenger, in most polls, the president has brushed off warnings and pushed states to reopen businesses in hopes of reviving the crippled economy before the election on Nov. 3, a goal that would be hamstrung if parents had to remain at home with their children this fall.

“I disagree with @CDCgov,”Trump wrote on Twitter on Wednesday, a day after hosting a series of calls and events to pressure schools to reopen fully. “While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them!!!”

During a coronavirus task force briefing later Wednesday afternoon, Vice President Mike Pence announced that the CDC would issue new recommendations next week, saying the guidelines should not be a reason for schools to stay closed. “We just don’t want the guidance to be too tough,” he said, promising “five different documents that will be giving even more clarity on the guidance going forward.”

Secretary of Education Betsy Devos, speaks at a White House coronavirus task force briefing at the U.S. Department of Education in Washington.

The agency has recommended for weeks that schools that remain open modify layouts to maintain social distancing, install physical barriers where that is not possible, increase disinfection and cleaning of facilities, avoid serving communal meals in cafeterias, discourage sharing objects and ensure ventilation systems are up-to-date. If a school has a confirmed case, the guidance says, students and “most staff” members should be dismissed for two to five days while local health officials consider what to do next.

An administration official, who discussed internal deliberations on condition of anonymity, said the new guidance had been in development for weeks but had yet to be cleared by top CDC or task force officials. The guidelines would address how schools can reopen and whether parents should send children, most likely including a checklist for making that decision. The official denied that Trump or other White House officials had pressured the agency to ease the existing guidelines for schools, which were updated in April.

Another official said that some in the White House had learned of the CDC’s plans to distribute new guidance only on Tuesday, when Dr. Robert Redfield, the agency’s director, told governors about it in a call led by Pence.

Redfield said on Wednesday that Americans should not interpret CDC guidelines as requirements.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert and one of the coronavirus task force’s most prominent members, did not attend the briefing Wednesday, an absence that drew attention. Fauci later said in a brief telephone conversation that he was part of a small group of officials asked to call in from the White House Situation Room to a meeting the task force held before the briefing. Dr. Fauci said the officials who called in were less relevant to the topics discussed in the briefing.

In taking on defiant educators, Trump invoked the one lever he had — federal funding — to impose his will on schools, which are traditionally run by localities and states.

“In Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and many other countries, SCHOOLS ARE OPEN WITH NO PROBLEMS,” Trump wrote on Twitter.

“The Dems think it would be bad for them politically if U.S. schools open before the November Election, but is important for the children & families. May cut off funding if not open!”

In reality, it may be a hollow threat. The president has no control over about 90% of school district budgets, which are generally

financed by local property and sales taxes.

And he has little control over federal funding already appropriated by Congress.

“Trump has no legal authority to withhold funds,” Arne Duncan, the secretary of education under President Barack Obama, said during a briefing with reporters Wednesday.

“Threatening people, bullying them, lying doesn’t stop the virus from spreading.”

He added: “It’s ludicrous. It’d be funny if it wasn’t so sad.”

The Education Department may be able to reroute or withhold some emergency coronavirus relief funding that school districts say they desperately need to fund staff, programming and the public health measures recommended by the CDC And the president could veto additional funds that schools want from Congress this summer.

On Wednesday, Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, saidTrump would seek to “substantially bump up money for education” in the next coronavirus relief package, but “this money should go to students.”

A senior House Democratic aide said lawmakers would most likely push to limit the president’s authority to withhold school funds in a next round of relief.

Many parents, educators and doctors believe that the social, educational and psychological costs of a prolonged shutdown or online learning now outweigh the risk of the virus itself, a position expressed by the American Academy of Pediatrics. But how schools reopen safely is a matter of serious discussion.

While children have proved less susceptible to the virus, teachers are more vulnerable because of their age. Many have expressed concern about returning to work in buildings that were never intended to keep children 6 feet apart or otherwise prevent the spread of a deadly virus.

Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, said the mortality rate for those 25 and younger was less than a tenth of a percent, though she cautioned there was much to learn. “Until we know how many have been infected, we have no evidence that there is significant mortality in children without coexisting diseases,” she said.

But she added that children might be a threat to relatives in multigenerational homes.

“Americans have done a great job in keeping infection rates low in children in the sheltering time,” she said. “We are worried now that as cases spread that it is getting to the older parents and the grandparents.”

The San Juan Daily Star

July 10-12, 2020

9

5 Guards and a nurse face charges in death of inmate who pleaded, ‘I can’t breathe’

By MICHAEL LEVENSON

F

ive former detention officers and a nurse at a North Carolina jail have been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of a Black man who repeatedly exclaimed, “I can’t breathe,” as the officers tried unsuccessfully to remove his handcuffs, a county prosecutor said Wednesday.

The man, John Neville, 56, had been booked into the Forsyth County jail in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on Dec. 1, on a charge of assaulting a woman, according to authorities.

About 24 hours later, Neville had an unknown medical condition that caused him to fall from the top bunk of his cell and hit the concrete floor, according to the Forsyth County district attorney, Jim O’Neill.

Detention officers and an on-call nurse found Neville disoriented and confused and took him to an observation cell, O’Neill said at a news conference Wednesday.

O’Neill did not detail what happened next, or say specifically what role prosecutors believe the officers and the nurse had in Neville’s death.

But he said that over the next 45 minutes, Neville “would sustain injuries that would eventually cause him to lose his life.”

The episode was captured on video, and O’Neill said that an autopsy report found that Neville repeatedly said, “I can’t breathe,” as officers tried to remove his handcuffs. The autopsy found that Neville died of a brain injury because of cardiopulmonary arrest that was caused by “positional and compressional asphyxia during prone restraint.” The report also cited other “significant conditions” that Neville had, O’Neill said, including “acute altered mental status” and asthma.

Neville died on Dec. 4, 2019, at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

The charges were the latest to be brought in the death of a Black man at the hands of law enforcement officers since the killing of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police touched off global protests against

was cooperating with the authorities.

“This was not an arrest,” Freedman said. “This was a medical emergency and he was following standard operating procedure and they had a nurse supervising the procedure.”

Heughins’ employer, Wellpath, said it was saddened by Neville’s death.

“We are confident that a review of the circumstances surrounding Mr. Neville’s death will show that Nurse Heughins acted professionally and reasonably in trying to save his life,” the company said in a statement. “Nurse Heughins engaged in no misconduct, but rather provided compassionate quality medical care.”

An image provided by the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office, Jim O’Neill, the district Neville had worked in construcattorney in Forsyth County, N.C. O’Neill announced the charges of five former de- tion, had been married twice and tention officers and a nurse at a North Carolina jail with involuntary manslaughter lived in Greensboro, North Carolina, in the death of a Black man, John Neville. according to a lawyer for his family, Michael A. Grace. police brutality and systemic racism. 36. The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office After Neville died, the sheriff’s offiNeville’s plea — “I can’t breathe” — said it had fired all of them Tuesday, with ce asked the state authorities to investiwas the same one uttered by Floyd and the exception of Stamper, who was fired gate but did not publicly acknowledge

by Eric Garner, another Black man, Wednesday. The nurse who was char- the death until last month, nearly seven who died in 2014 after a New York City ged, Michelle Heughins, was employed months after it occurred, according to police officer held him in a chokehold by a private contractor, according to the The Winston-Salem Journal. Kimbrough sheriff’s office. Williams and Woodley had said that Neville’s family had asked on a sidewalk.

Over the past decade, The New are Black, the sheriff’s office said. The him to keep the death private.

York Times found, at least 70 people in rest of the officers are white.

Grace said the family appreciated “Good men and women made the way the sheriff’s office and the the country have died in police custody after saying the same three words: “I bad decisions that day and, as a result, district attorney’s office had handled a good man died,” the Forsyth County the case. can’t breathe.”

At the news conference Wednes- sheriff, Bobby F. Kimbrough Jr., whose day, O’Neill addressed Neville’s son, office runs the county jail, said at the Sean Neville, and daughter, Brienne news conference.

Thornton Neville.

Kimbrough said that the five for“We have all been witnesses to the mer officers had asked him to relay a unrest that has gripped our world over message to Neville’s children, as he the last several weeks,” O’Neill said. walked them into a magistrate’s office “As it relates specifically to your father, to be charged Wednesday.

“They said, ‘Sheriff, tell them that Mr. Neville, his death was avoidable we meant their father no harm — we and that is a tragic, singular fact.”

O’Neill said he would not release were trying to assist and help,’ ” Kimvideo of the episode “unless and until brough said. “We are sorry that the we reach a proper court of law.” He mistakes were made that day. I take said that it was important for a jury responsibility for that, as the sheriff.”

It was not immediately clear if all or judge not to have “preconceived opinions” about the guilt or innocence of those charged had lawyers. David Freedman, a lawyer for Roussel, said of those charged.

The five former officers charged the officers were released on $15,000 were Lavette Williams, 47; Edward unsecured bonds. Freedman said his A provided handout photo of John NeRoussel, 50; Christopher Stamper, 42; client had been in law enforcement ville, 56, who was booked into the ForAntonio Woodley, 26; and Sarah Poole, for 30 years, had a clean record and syth County jail in Winston-Salem, N.C.

10

The San Juan Daily Star

July 10-12, 2020

Supreme Court rules Trump cannot block release of financial records

By ADAM LIPTAK

T

he Supreme Court on Thursday cleared the way for prosecutors in New York to see President Donald Trump’s financial records, a stunning defeat for Trump but a decision that probably means the records will be shielded from public scrutiny under grand jury secrecy rules until after the election, and perhaps indefinitely.

In a separate decision, the court ruled that Congress could not, at least for now, see many of the same records. The vote in both cases was 7-2. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote both majority opinions.

In the case concerning the prosecutors’ subpoena, he wrote that “no citizen, not even the president, is categorically above the common duty to produce evidence when called upon in a criminal proceeding.” He added that Trump may still raise objections to the scope and relevance of the subpoena.

The court’s four more liberal members joined that majority opinion, and Trump’s two appointees voted with the majority but did not adopt its reasoning.

In the case concerning congressional subpoenas, Roberts wrote that lower courts had not adequately considered the separation of powers concerns raised in the case. He was joined by the same justices who voted with him in the New York case.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. dissented in both cases.

Trump immediately attacked the outcome on Twitter. “This is all a political prosecution.

“Courts in the past have given “broad deference”. BUT NOT ME!” he wrote.

Trump had asked the court to block both sets of subpoenas, which had sought information from Trump’s accountants and bankers, not from Trump himself; the firms have indicated that they would comply with the court’s ruling.

Trump’s lawyers had argued that he was immune from all criminal proceedings and investigations so long as he remained in office and that Congress was powerless to obtain his records because it had no legislative need for them.

House Democrats and New York prosecutors said the records may shed light on Trump’s foreign entanglements, possible conflicts of interest, whether he has paid his taxes and whether his hush money payments violated campaign finance laws.

The court’s decision was a major statement on the scope and limits of presidential power, one that will take its place with landmark rulings that required President Richard Nixon to turn over tapes of Oval Office conversations and forced President Bill Clinton to provide evidence in a sexual harassment suit.

One of the cases concerned a subpoena to Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA, from the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., a Democrat. It sought eight years of business and personal tax records in connection with an investigation of the role that Trump and the Trump Organization played in hush-money payments made in the run-up to the 2016 election.

Vance expressed satisfaction with the ruling in his favor.

“This is a tremendous victory for our nation’s system of justice and its founding principle that no one — not even a president — is above the law,” he said in a statement. “Our investigation, which

Reporters gather outside the Supreme Court Building ahead of decisions being handed down in Washington. was delayed for almost a year by this lawsuit, will resume, guided as always by the grand jury’s solemn obligation to follow the law and the facts, wherever they may lead.”

Both Trump and his company reimbursed the president’s former lawyer and fixer, Michael D. Cohen, for payments made to pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels, who claimed that she had an affair with Trump.

Cohen was also involved in payments to Karen McDougal, a Playboy model who had also claimed she had a relationship with Trump. The president has denied the relationships.

Trump sued to stop the accounting firm from turning over the records, but lower courts ruled against him. In a unanimous ruling, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in New York, said state prosecutors may require third parties to turn over a sitting president’s financial records for use in a grand jury investigation.

In a footnote to the decision, Chief Judge Robert A. Katzmann, wrote that the information sought was in a sense unexceptional.

“We note that the past six presidents, dating back to President Carter, all voluntarily released their tax returns to the public,” Katzmann wrote. “While we do not place dispositive weight on this fact, it reinforces our conclusion that the disclosure of personal financial information, standing alone, is unlikely to impair the president in performing the duties of his office.”

Trump’s lawyers argued that he was immune from all criminal proceedings and investigations so long as he remained in office.

The Justice Department filed briefs supporting Trump but

took a more measured position, saying that prosecutors should be forced to meet a demanding standard before they were allowed to obtain the information they sought.

Lawyers for Vance responded that the Supreme Court had already decided the central issue in the case in 1974 in United States v. Nixon, which required Nixon to disclose tapes of Oval Office conversations in response to a subpoena in a criminal case.

The second subpoena, also directed to the accounting firm, came from the House Oversight and Reform Committee, which is investigating the hush-money payments and whether Trump inflated and deflated descriptions of his assets on financial statements to obtain loans and reduce his taxes.

The third set of subpoenas came from the House Financial Services and Intelligence Committees and were addressed to two financial institutions that did business with Trump, Deutsche Bank and Capital One. They sought an array of financial records related to the president, his companies and his family.

The cases tested the independence of the Supreme Court, which is dominated by Republican appointees, including two named by Trump. In earlier Supreme Court cases in which presidents sought to avoid providing evidence, the rulings did not break along partisan lines.

To the contrary, the court was unanimous in ruling against Nixon and Clinton in such cases, with Nixon and Clinton appointees voting against the presidents who had placed them on the court. The Nixon case led to his resignation in the face of mounting calls for his impeachment. The Clinton case led to Clinton’s impeachment, though he survived a Senate vote on his removal.

The San Juan Daily Star

July 10-12, 2020

11

Facebook’s decisions were ‘setbacks for civil rights,’ audit finds

By MIKE ISAACE

A

uditors hand-picked by Facebook to examine its policies said that the company had not done enough to protect people on the platform from discriminatory posts and ads and that its decisions to leave up President Donald Trump’s inflammatory posts were “significant setbacks for civil rights.”

The 89-page audit put Facebook in an awkward position as the presidential campaign heats up. The report gave fuel to the company’s detractors, who said the site had allowed hate speech and misinformation to flourish. The audit also placed the social network in the spotlight for an issue it had worked hard to avoid since the 2016 election: that it may once again be negatively influencing American voters.

Now Facebook has to decide whether its approach to hateful speech and noxious content — which was to leave it alone in the name of free expression — remains tenable. And that decision puts pressure on Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, who has repeatedly said that his company was not an arbiter of truth and that it would not police politicians’ posts.

“Many in the civil rights community have become disheartened, frustrated and angry after years of engagement where they implored the company to do more to advance equality and fight discrimination, while also safeguarding free expression,” wrote the auditors, Laura Murphy and Megan Cacace, who are civil rights experts and lawyers.

The audit, which was the culmination of two years of examination of the social network, was another signal of how power by the largest tech companies is increasingly under scrutiny. Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon are all facing questions over how they are wielding their influence and what effects it has had. Later this month, the chief executives of all four companies are set to testify in front of Congress.

But the report was especially devastating for Facebook because its executives had pointed to it as a sign that the company was seriously grappling with the content of its site.

In the audit, Facebook was repeatedly faulted for prioritizing free expression on its platform over nondiscrimination and for not having a robust infrastructure

Facebook Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Capitol Hill in Washington. to handle civil rights. The report homed in on three posts by Trump in May, which the audit said contained hateful and violent speech or which harmed voters. Facebook left those posts untouched, over objections by the auditors, the report said.

In doing so, the social network set a “terrible precedent” that others could copy and that could affect the November election, the report said. The move cheated the billions of other people who use Facebook out of equal treatment, giving powerful political leaders a special exemption to make false and divisive statements, it said.

“Facebook has made policy and enforcement choices that leave our election exposed to interference by the President and others who seek to use misinformation to sow confusion and suppress voting,” Murphy and Cacace wrote.

They added that they “would have liked to see the company go further to address civil rights concerns in a host of areas.”

In a post Wednesday about the audit, Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, said the report was “the beginning of the journey, not the end.” She added, “What has become increasingly clear is that we have a long way to go. As hard as it has been to have our shortcomings exposed by experts, it has undoubtedly been a really important process for our company.”

Sandberg said Facebook was already taking steps to address its shortcomings, including banning ads with fearmongering statements and prohibiting the spread of disinformation around the 2020 census. The company said it would also hire more civil rights experts, create a role for a senior vice president of civil rights leadership and direct voters to a “voting information center” that has accurate information.

Facebook’s difficulties have been compounded by civil rights groups organizing a campaign, “Stop Hate for Profit,” to urge its advertisers to boycott the platform.

More than 300 advertisers, including CocaCola and North Face, have agreed to pause their spending on the site.

On Tuesday, civil rights leaders met with Zuckerberg and Sandberg with 10 demands, including appointing a civil rights executive. But attendees said the Facebook executives did not agree to many of their requests and instead spouted “spin.”

Zuckerberg said that while the company would make some changes to its processes, it would not do so because of external pressure or threat of financial loss, said one person who attended the meeting.

“I don’t know if Mark appreciates that hateful speech has harmful results and that Facebook groups have real-world consequences,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League

and one of the leaders of the “Stop Hate for Profit” campaign.

Civil rights groups including Free Press and Color of Change also met Wednesday with nearly 300 ad agency and brand marketing leaders about Facebook.

In the session, they said the new audit report exposed holes in the company’s content policies and enforcement practices, according to attendees.

The audit “has laid bare what we already know: Facebook is a platform plagued by civil rights shortcomings,” said Vanita Gupta, chief executive of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “Facebook has an enormous impact on our civil rights — by facilitating hate speech and violence, voter and census disinformation, and algorithmic bias, and by shortchanging diversity and inclusion.”

In the report, the auditors credited Facebook for making progress on some issues over the past two years, including increasing the hiring of some in-house civil rights experts and creating an ad system that would no longer allow advertisers running housing, employment and credit ads in the United States to target users based on gender, age or ZIP code. Zuckerberg had also personally committed to building products that “advance racial justice,” the report said.

But Facebook had been too willing to let politicians out of abiding by its rules, allowing them to spread misinformation, harmful rhetoric and even calls to violence, the report said.

The auditors said their concerns had increased over the past nine months because of decisions made by Zuckerberg and Nick Clegg, Facebook’s global head of policy and communications.

Last fall, Zuckerberg delivered a speech at Georgetown University about his commitment to protecting free speech at all costs. Since then, the report noted, Facebook had refused to take down inflammatory posts from Trump and had permitted untruthful political ads to be circulated.

“Elevating free expression is a good thing, but it should apply to everyone,” the auditors wrote. “When it means that powerful politicians do not have to abide by the same rules that everyone else does, a hierarchy of speech is created that privileges certain voices over less powerful voices.”

12

The San Juan Daily Star

July 10-12, 2020

Stocks

Stocks succumb to shutdown fears but China charges on

E

quity markets slid on Thursday after U.S. data raised worries about the economy’s recovery and doused enthusiasm that drove a Chinese stock rally for an eighth straight day, while the dollar gained as new coronavirus cases hit another record.

The dollar had struggled earlier in the session, with China’s yuan climbing to a four-month peak, as investors poured into Chinese stocks on growing signs of a recovery that also helped lift copper prices to more than a year high.

But concerns about renewed U.S. coronavirus lockdowns kept a lid on oil prices, too, and outweighed signs of a pick-up in U.S. gasoline demand. A slowing rate of decline in weekly U.S. jobless claims from a peak in March also gave investors pause.

Rising coronavirus cases and slower improvement in the U.S. jobs market amounted to a one-two punch for the market.

“We are reaching the levels of unemployment which are likely to persist until a more true re-opening can occur, either with a vaccine, novel treatment, or time,” said Jamie Cox, managing partner at Harris Financial Group in Richmond, Virginia.

The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 49 nations, retreated after earlier gains. The index fell 0.8% after its broadest measure of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.66% on the China rally.

Wall Street also fell. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 1.58%, the S&P 500 lost 1.20% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.51%.

In Europe, stocks pared gains to close lower. Europe’s broad FTSEurofirst 300 index dropped 0.78%.

More than 60,000 new coronavirus infections were reported on Wednesday and U.S. deaths rose by more than 900 for a second straight day, the highest since early June.

Jobless claims have been gradually falling, though they remained roughly double their highest point during the 200709 Great Recession.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits totalled a seasonally adjusted 1.314 million for the week ended July 4, down from 1.413 million the prior week, the Labor Department said.

Oil prices fell about 3% as investors worried that renewed U.S. lockdowns to contain the spread of coronavirus would sap fuel consumption.

“COVID-19 cases continue to increase in the U.S. and traders wonder when they will see an end of this, when the trend will change,” said Louise Dickson, oil markets analyst at Rystad Energy.

Brent crude futures fell 0.79% at $42.5 a barrel. U.S. crude slid 2.79% at $39.76 a barrel.

Overnight in Asia, Chinese stocks set their longest winning streak in two years, and the yuan had strengthened past 7% , despite rising tension over Hong Kong and the economic uncertainty caused by COVID-19.

It was the Shenzhen blue-chip index’s eighth straight day of gains, adding another 1.5% to its 16% surge this month, and it helped Europe initially on an upward trajectory after hesitation caused by uninspiring German data.

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The San Juan Daily Star

July 10-12, 2020

13

Bolsonaro hails anti-Malaria pill even as he fights Coronavirus

By ERNESTO LONDOÑO

P

resident Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil has been presenting an image of resilience and vigor as he fights the coronavirus, flashing smiles and thumbs-up, posting on social media — and enthusiastically promoting the drug hydroxychloroquine.

His attitude during convalescence is consistent with his widely discredited contention that the virus poses little threat to people who are healthy, and his endorsement of the drug, although studies have found no evidence that it works on COVID-19 patients but have shown possible danger in taking it.

“I’m doing much better than I was,” Bolsonaro, 65, said in a video posted Tuesday night as he washed down a dose of hydroxychloroquine with water. “It’s working.”

Bolsonaro acknowledged that there are no drugs scientifically proven to treat COVID-19, but he said: “I’m one more person it’s working on. I trust hydroxychloroquine.”

In the United States, the National Institutes of Health in June stopped a clinical trial of hydroxychloroquine, saying the drug did not work, and the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning in May, explaining that the medication can cause dangerous abnormalities in the heart rhythm of coronavirus patients.

The president’s illness, which he disclosed Tuesday, has reignited debate over the government’s handling of the pandemic: Bolsonaro has downplayed the danger posed by the virus, encouraged Brazilians to brush aside quarantine measures adopted by states and urged Brazilians to continue working.

The virus has infected more than 1.7 million people and killed more than 67,000

Gravediggers perform the burial of a person who died from the coronavirus, at Vila Formosa cemetery in Sao Paulo. patients in Brazil, and it is not slowing down.

On Tuesday, the country reported 45,305 new infections and 1,254 deaths.

The president’s critics, including health experts, fear that his insistent endorsements of hydroxychloroquine will encourage many more people to take it, while not taking precautions to avoid infection. And if Bolsonaro recovers quickly without serious complications, they say, it would add to that false sense of invulnerability.

In an editorial, the newspaper O Globo called Bolsonaro’s latest statement “irresponsible marketing” for a drug that can have dangerous side effects in patients with heart conditions.

His stance is a lonely one among major world leaders. Even President Donald Trump, who for months enthusiastically promoted hydroxychloroquine, took it for only two weeks and mentioned it less often after studies cast doubt on it.

With symptoms that appear mild so far, Bolsonaro showed no sign that testing positive for the virus had made him any less dismissive of the merits of social distancing, mask wearing and other measures that have enabled other countries to rein in transmission and save lives.

Despite his apparent confidence, Bolsonaro is not out of danger. It often takes about a week after symptoms emerge for COVID-19

cases that become serious to shift for the worse.

Nelson Teich, a doctor who stepped down as health minister in mid-May, less than a month into the job, warned in a column published Wednesday that the country is in dire need of a data-driven strategy to reopen the economy while mitigating risks.

“We’re in a race against time,” he wrote in an article published in O Globo under the headline “It’s Almost like Waiting for a Miracle.”

“The longer the quarantine lasts,” he added, “the harder it will be to manage the consequences of the impact of COVID-19 in the health sector, the economy and people’s behavior.”

Bolsonaro’s leadership during the pandemic has been criticized at home and abroad as among the most disastrous in the world. The country’s infection and death totals are second only to those of the United States. Brazil’s contagion rate remains high and may spike higher as restaurants, bars and gyms are reopening.

Since mid-May, the health ministry has been run by an active-duty army general with no public health background, who acquiesced to Bolsonaro’s demand that hydroxychloroquine be included in the protocol to treat COVID-19 patients in Brazil. Bolsonaro’s two former health ministers resisted that move, regarding it as irresponsible.

Yet the president Wednesday held out Brazil’s response as exemplary.

“No country in the world has done what Brazil has,” he wrote in a message on Twitter.

“We saved lives and jobs without creating panic, which also leads to depression and death. I always maintained that the fight against the virus could not have a collateral effect worse than the virus itself.”

14

July 10-12, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

Couples separated by Europe’s travel bans fight to be reunited

A couple crosses the Charle Bridge, often bustling with crowds prior to the coronavirus pandemic, in Prague.

By MEGAN SPECIA

E

very morning, Marisa Lobato wakes up and checks the news to see if the travel restrictions have changed.

She lives in São Paulo, Brazil, and her fiancé Horst Schlereth, is in Germany. Before the coronavirus put everything on hold, Lobato had planned to go to Germany this spring to prepare for their wedding. Now their daily calls are filled with fretting over when they will reunite.

“We feel completely stuck in this situation,” she said. “I normally don’t cry in front of him, but I cry alone. It’s really a horrible feeling.”

The pair are among a number of separated, unmarried couples who have rallied on social media for changes to the European Union’s travel restrictions, using the hashtag #LoveIsNotTourism and #LoveIsEssential. Unlike most married people, they do not have a right to enter the EU to be reunited with their partners.

Now, the European Commission, the bloc’s executive branch, is throwing its weight behind the cause, urging member states to exempt unmarried people with partners in Europe from the travel ban. But only Denmark and Sweden have adopted any of the recommendations, and couples say even border guards in member states are confused about the regulations.

Late last month, the EU announced plans to reopen travel July 1 to visitors from 15 countries in an attempt to salvage the bloc’s peak tourism season. The United States, Brazil

and Russia, among other countries, were notably excluded.

Some of the countries that are still banned aren’t close to meeting the EU requirements for controlling the coronavirus before they can resume travel and could need weeks, months or more to reach those standards.

Ylva Johansson, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, is an outspoken advocate for the separated couples.

Her office said there are no official statistics on the number of people affected, but a Facebook support group for couples separated during the pandemic has around 3,000 members.

While the commission has recommended that member nations allow unmarried couples to reunite, Johansson said, it is up to each country to set its own policy.

“For me it’s important that you have as broad as possible of a definition of a couple that are really a true couple,” she said. “But the exact definition of that is for the member states to decide.”

Many people who want that definition loosened have pointed to the approach that Denmark adopted this month — which allows visitors who can prove they are in durable relationships and test negative for COVID-19 to enter the country — as an example for other nations in the bloc.

Several members of the European Parliament have written letters calling on other European leaders to implement more open policies, and dozens signed an open letter to Horst Seehofer, the German interior minister, urging him to recognize unmarried couples.

“The family of the 21st century goes beyond the official

marriage,” Moritz Körner, a European Parliament member from Germany, wrote to Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte of Italy, in one of several open letters he has sent to European leaders.

Until the virus changed everything, Miriam Paffen, who is German, and her partner, Javier, who is Argentine and a resident of Brazil, made trans-Atlantic journeys to spend time together. Their last visit was in December.

“We actually have no idea when we can see each other again,” Paffen said.

Ryann McQuaid, an American living in New York, and her partner Hanna Maes, who is Belgian and lives in Brussels, are in a long-term relationship, but for the past year have been long distance. They typically saw each other every three months before lockdowns derailed their plans.

They have been frantically calling officials, searching for answers to when — and whether — they can be together again in Brussels.

“Everyone we get in touch with will point us to another official,” McQuaid said. “We’ve never had to sort of justify our relationship in that sense before. So that’s also just been very frustrating.”

Border restrictions in countries outside Europe have also split unmarried couples apart during the pandemic. Couples in the United States and Canada have found themselves separated for months by the closure of their countries’ shared border.

A visa delay has prevented Morgan Bretnall, who is based in Britain, from traveling to the United States to be with her fiancée, Stacey, an American living in Puerto Rico.

While U.S. travelers can technically travel to Britain, they must enter a mandatory two-week quarantine, which Bretnall said is unfeasible. The couple became engaged in December.

“Right now, our life is on hold,” Bretnall said.

In Europe, some married couples have only recently been reunited after months apart.

Flavia Negwer, a German, and her American husband, Jeff Wong, spent months wondering how to get Wong back to Germany despite travel restriction. He had traveled to the New York area to visit family and prepare for an upcoming move to the United States this fall.

But his trip of a few weeks turned into months when Europe banned nonessential travelers, leaving Wong and Negwer unsure when they might see each other again. Adding to the uncertainty, his German visa expired while he was stranded in the United States.

Last week, after the European Union’s new travel guidelines came into effect, they called embassies, European officials and even the German border police to better understand the rules before Wong attempted to enter the country.

They got no clear answers, but he decided to attempt to return to Germany, anyway.

“I felt like I had a better understanding of the EU guidelines and rules than the officials that we talked to at the border,” Wong said.

He was eventually let in after showing the expired visa that indicated he had lived and worked in Germany for years.

The San Juan Daily Star

July 10-12, 2020

15

Used clothes ban may crimp Kenyan style. It may also lift local design.

By ABDI LATIF DAHIR

C

quality fabrics, sourced from Europe, to Kenyans who wanted to create high-end fashion locally.

In 2018, she started also offering production services to designers looking to develop smaller lines who were being turned away by factories only interested in bulk orders.

Kamwana said designers and manufacturers should collaborate and take baby steps to push the industry toward maturity.

“This whole value chain will take quite a few years to be feasible or to be seen,” she said, adding, “what we can do immediately is perfect our art of making.”

Other Kenyan companies are also responding to the challenges posed by the pandemic by focusing locally.

Frederick Bittiner Wear, which does fabric selection, design and tailoring for retailers in East Africa, Europe and the United States, has seen a reduction in orders because of the pandemic, so it has turned to producing leggings, T-shirts and vests for the local market, said Dominic Agesa, the managing director.

After approaching distributors with samples, Agesa said he got 50 orders in a week.

For too long, “Kenya has been reluctant” to incentivize local manufacturers, he said, but the import ban was one step toward making conditions more favorable for a local scene to eventually flourish.

“Are we able to satisfy the Kenyan market and

beyond?” Agesa asked, then answered, “Gradually, the answer is yes.”

But before a robust clothing sector takes hold, experts say local manufacturers will have to overcome a host of challenges, including inadequate access to finance, the high cost of electricity, and the lack of raw materials, including cotton.

The fact that powerful lobby groups for the secondhand clothing industry in the United States have already criticized Kenya’s move doesn’t bode well either, said Emily Anne Wolff, a researcher at Leiden University in the Netherlands who has studied plans to phase out used clothing in East Africa.

Kenya is aiming to be the first country in subSaharan Africa to negotiate a free-trade agreement with the United States, which could undermine Kenya’s will to retain the clothing ban.

Used clothes traders have appealed to the government in recent days to lift the ban, saying there is no public health risk associated with the trade. But officials have so far ruled that option out.

For now, Kenyan designers and manufacturers say the ban gives them a window of opportunity to start shaping the future of fashion in Kenya.

“Now is a good time to make choices and changes,” said Kamwana, the owner of Textile Loft. “You will be surprised by what comes out of this country.”

atherine Muringo’s wardrobe consists of secondhand outfits shipped from all over the world: colorful blouses and jeans from Canada, floral dresses from the United States, trench coats from Australia and leather handbags from the United Kingdom.

For years, Muringo bought the used clothes and accessories at cheap prices in open-air markets in Nairobi and used them to fashion her own idiosyncratic style.

Seven years ago, she also started a business buying and selling such items, distributing castoff fur coats, hoodies and shoes to customers in Kenya and in foreign markets like Botswana, Uganda and Tanzania.

But in late March, the Kenyan government banned the importation of used garments in what it said was a precautionary measure to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Even though used clothes are fumigated before being shipped, Kenyan authorities said they were taking precautions because of the spike in infections in countries like the United States.

Now, businesses like hers are threatened, as well as the sartorial choices of millions of Kenyans who depend on low-cost imports to stay stylish.

“Kenyans love to go to the secondhand markets and spend hours looking and searching,” Muringo said.

“Kenyans love the diversity of secondhand.”

Officials also said the banning of imported clothing — known as mitumba, the Swahili word for “bundles” — could have an unexpected benefit. It could help Kenya revive its own textile industry, which was wiped out in the late 1980s as the country started opening its markets to foreign competition.

“I think corona has shown not just for Kenya but for many countries to look inward a lot and try and fill some of the market gaps,” said Phyllis Wakiaga, the chief executive of the Kenya Association of Manufacturers.

“The reality is that there’s a big opportunity for us to produce local clothes for the citizens.”

For years, Kenya, along with other countries in East Africa, had tried to phase out used clothing to boost local manufacturing. But the countries faced the threat of being removed from the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, which promotes trade by providing reduced or duty-free access to the U.S. market. Many countries backed off from instituting a ban on imported clothing, with the exception of Rwanda.

Wagura Kamwana, the proprietor of a fabric shop, the Textile Loft, is seeking to capitalize on this moment.

Kamwana, 40, grew up wearing hand-stitched clothes from her mother, and later on, sought trendy outfits at secondhand markets. Kenyans like used clothes, she said, both for their affordability and because of the Workers at Shona EPZ, which shifted from making apparel for export to producing personal protective their high-quality fabrics.

In 2016, she opened her store, offering premium equipment, in Athi River, Kenya

16

July 10-12, 2020

Cairo badly needed a detox. Lockdown supplied one, at a steep price.

By DECLAN WALSH

I

f ever a city needed a good detox, it was Cairo.

Centuries of turbulent history, topped with recent decades of chaotic urban development, have left the ancient metropolis in poor physical shape. Its complexion is parched and blemished. Traffic clogs its throbbing arteries. It has signs of major stress.

The coronavirus obliged. Three months of lockdown, including an 11-hour nightly curfew, imposed a rejuvenating deep cleanse on Cairo. Roads once choked with honking cars ran free. The air, free of fumes, seemed to sparkle. Silence flooded the streets.

At my apartment near the Nile, a bedroom that was An empty street during curfew hours in Cairo in March. barely usable because of the morning din became an oasis of calm. In the evenings, my family gathered on the balcony to koshary, Egypt’s national dish of spiced lentils, rice and macawitness sunsets that were more saturated than ever. The pollu- roni.

The picnic was a mercy dash after months cooped up in tion app on my phone glowed an unfamiliar green.

Of course, it came at a jarring price. On dawn runs down their cramped, low-rent neighborhood. “We had to get out,” deserted streets, I passed anxious-looking people wearing said Meneim, a retired nurse in a black cloak who continued her treatment for breast cancer throughout the lockdown. masks, crowded around the entrance to a hospital.

Now, disease was dictating the pace of life. As night And then it was over.

Toward the end of June, the government announced it fell and the curfew officially began, I crossed into downtown was allowing mosques, restaurants and coffee houses to re- Cairo, a jumble of old palaces, crumbling elegance and gaudy open. On the last night of curfew, I scrambled into the streets shop fronts where, in normal times, the traffic is so crazy that to capture its delicate pleasures one final time. Hundreds of guidebooks offer tourists solemn advice on how to survive.

“Look for locals and join a group,” advises my edition Egyptians, it turned out, had the same idea.

They clustered at dusk on a bridge, watching the squad- of National Geographic Traveler. “They cross all together, one ron of kites that fluttered in the hot breeze shooting down lane at a time.”

That night it would have taken a miracle to get knocked the Nile. Young men in skinny jeans tugged on strings. Veiled women chased after dating couples, trying to sell them roses. down. The strays were in charge — skinny cats that strutted Inevitably, the fun tweaked Egypt’s rulers, always wary down empty boulevards, for once unbothered, and a pair of of unsanctioned public gatherings. A senior lawmaker warned lordly street dogs that snoozed atop an SUV. The Metro Cinema, with its dust-encrusted Art Deco that the crowded skies posed a threat to national security because Egypt’s enemies could fit the kites with surveillance facade, opened in 1940 with “Gone With the Wind.” Now it had the eerie air of an abandoned film set, advertising the cameras.

But on the bridge, nobody cared for such talk, preferring Egyptians movies it had been showing in March: “Peep Show,” to wallow in this odd moment, between serenity and anxiety, and “The Thief of Baghdad.”

In the late 19th century, Egypt’s ruler, Khedive Ismail, when their city’s famously frenetic pulse had been slowed by modeled this area on the airy elegance of Haussmann’s Paris, a virus.

I chatted with two brothers who held aloft a giant kite but for decades the graceful buildings have gradually crumbled emblazoned with photographs of themselves, preening, and into disrepair. Now, in the desolation of curfew, they seemed the soccer star Mohammed Salah, who was beaming. Nearby, to stand proud again, as did the statues lining the way.

The giant bronze lions that guard Qasr el Nil, the city’s Samiha Meneim, 62, perched on a rickety plastic chair, surrounded by 15 family members as well as half-eaten platters of most scenic bridge, looked more relaxed than ever with no foe

in sight.

The mix of eerie desolation and faded splendor had a touch of magic, and for an instant the thought of the Egyptian version of the movie “Night at the Museum,” in which the bronze lions come to life under darkness.

But I was not entirely alone.

Teenagers clustered conspiratorially in doorways. Fooddelivery riders clustered around their motorcycles outside a restaurant. Business was brisk.

“If it keeps going like this,” remarked Mahmoud Abdel Fattah, leaning over his handlebars. “I’ll be as rich as Naguib Sawiris” — an outspoken billionaire who has been a vociferous critic of the lockdown measures.

Still, Fattah noted wryly that, at 28 cents per delivery, that fortune could take a while. “Maybe after 1 million pizzas,” he quipped.

For all their ebullience, the deliverymen also had a downbeat air. Sure, they could zoom to any address in minutes. But Cairo without the grit, the grind, the bustle of people — was it really Cairo at all?

Outside the city center, the lockdown has been loosely observed — social distancing is little more than an admirable idea in the city’s cramped slums.

Many Egyptians wear masks over their chins or spurn them entirely, much to the chagrin of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, a fitness enthusiastic who has urged Egyptians to stay safe, keep fit and lose weight during the lockdown. “Remember to do sport, it increases immunity levels,” he said in May. Otherwise, it has been business as usual for el-Sissi during the lockdown — with the arrest of rights activists, belly dancers and even young women who post dance videos to social media. The virus, though, cannot be banished so easily.

Egypt has more than 77,000 known cases, and confirmed infections have grown by about 1,400 cases a day for the past month. Egypt has registered more than 3,400 deaths, the highest toll in the Arab world. In an ominous portent, elSissi last week opened a 4,000-bed field hospital to treat coronavirus patients.

And the economic toll is only now becoming apparent.

Millions of workers have lost income, and families are cutting back on meat and other items that are now unaffordable. The International Monetary Fund has lent $8 billion to get Egypt through the crisis. More may be needed.

The day after the lockdown was lifted, I walked the same route again. The sense of magic had evaporated.

The San Juan Daily Star

July 10-12, 2020

17

Call a thing a thing

By CHARLES M. BLOW

N

ow that we are deep into protests over racism, inequality and police brutality — protests that I’ve come to see as a revisiting of Freedom Summer — it is clear that Donald Trump sees the activation of white nationalism and anti-otherness as his path to reelection. We are engaged in yet another national conversation about race and racism, privilege and oppression.

But, as is usually the case, the language we used to describe the moment is lacking. We — the public and the media, including The New York Times, including, in the past, this very column — often use, consciously or not, language that shields anti-Black white supremacy, rather than to expose it and hold it accountable.

We use all manner of euphemisms and terms of art to keep from directly addressing the racial reality in America. This may be some holdover from a bygone time, but it is now time for it to come to an end.

Take for instance the term “race relations.” Polling organizations like Gallup and the Pew Research Center often ask respondents how they feel about the state of race relations in the country.

I have never fully understood what this meant. It suggests a relationship that swings from harmony to disharmony. But that is not the way race is structured or animated in this country. From the beginning, the racial dynamics in America have been about power, equality and access, or the lack thereof.

Protests, and even violence, have erupted when white people felt their hold on those things was threatened or when Black people — or Indigenous people or Hispanics — rebelled against those things being denied.

So what are the relations here? It is a linguistic sidestep that avoids the true issue: anti-Black and anti-other white supremacy.

It also seems that the way people interpret that question is in direct proportion to the intensity of revolt that’s taking place at a particular time. Satisfaction with race relations is somewhat correlated with the silence of the oppressed. When they stop being silent, it affects the outcome.

After the rise of Black Lives Matter, satisfaction with race relations suffered a sustained drop.

The same can be said for the term “racial tension.” Read your news carefully and pay close attention to television and your podcasts and you will hear this phrase repeated. Someone is inflaming racial tensions or trying to cool them. But again, what does this mean?

Is the act of taking to the streets to demand justice a form of tension? Again, whenever people object to their oppression, it is framed as problematic to peaceful coexistence. Furthermore, this tension between the oppressed and the oppressors has always existed and always will. The lulls you experience between explosive revolts of the oppressed should never be mistaken as harmony.

They should be taken as rest breaks.

Then there are ever-present terms like “racial unity” and “racial division.” America loves to frame race in this country around unity rather than equality. But to do so robs the oppressed of legitimate grievance.

I’ve never understood the aim of bringing people together

Protesters march against racism and police violence, in Brooklyn. in unity absent the removal of anti-Black white supremacist social and political frameworks. It is one thing to experience transracial unity with an ally who is fighting just as hard for your liberation as you are. But it is literally impossible for me to unify with someone perfectly happy with the current state of affairs, which included the oppression of people who look like me.

Most of these phrases suggest a false premise: that white people and nonwhite ones are operating from equal positions of power in this society and are simply not getting along or agreeing on issues.

In other words, by implication, they make nonwhite people equally at fault for the state of race in America, when both history and social science demonstrate, unequivocally, that this is not true.

It is almost like we are experiencing a Lost Cause revisionism in our language on the issue of race.

It is time for us to simply call a thing a thing: White supremacy is the biggest racial problem this country faces and has faced. It is almost always the cause of unrest around race. It has been used to slaughter and destroy, to oppress and imprison. It manifests in every segment of American life.

It is odd that we are so timid about using it now because the white men who were the architects of modern white supremacy used it freely.

Mississippi was one of the first states to rewrite its constitution for the express purpose of codifying white supremacy, and states across the South followed the Mississippi example.

As one delegate at the Mississippi constitutional convention of 1890 put it: “It is the manifest intention of this Convention to secure to the State of Mississippi, ‘white supremacy.’”

One hundred and thirty years on, we are still fighting against this architecture.

Until we stop playing cute about these facts, until we stop walking around it like it’s not the root, our dialogue will continue to be hamstrung.

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18

July 10-12, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL

The Roberts court curtails birth control access. Again.

By THE NYT EDITORIAL BOARD

W

ell, that didn’t take long.

Only days after surprising the nation by striking down a strict antiabortion law in Louisiana, the Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts reminded Americans once again that it is no friend to reproductive rights, or to the vast majority of women who will use some form of birth control in their lifetime.

In a decision Wednesday, the justices dealt another blow to the birth control mandate under the Affordable Care Act. In the wake of the 7-2 ruling in Little Sisters of the Poor v.

Pennsylvania, “between 70,500 and 126,400 women would immediately lose access to nocost contraceptive services,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg noted in her dissent, citing a government estimate.

The Little Sisters of the Poor is an order of Catholic nuns who are religiously opposed to birth control. (Many conservatives wrongly conflate some methods of birth control with abortion.) They’re also opposed to the ACA’s birth-control mandate, which says that insurance plans sponsored by large employers must include preventive care — including all forms of birth control approved by the Food and Drug Administration — at no additional cost.

That’s why, if women have insurance through work, they probably have not been charged a copay to get birth control pills or an intrauterine device in recent years.

The order of nuns — along with other entities, like the company Hobby Lobby, that have taken issue with the contraception mandate — say that it violates their religious liberty under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a 1993

federal law. The religious order feels this way despite the fact that religious nonprofits already were able to exempt themselves from the contraception mandate by merely filling out a form.

In other words, the Little Sisters of the Poor did not have to pay for a single birth control pill.

The litigation on this issue has been continuing for the better part of the past decade.

Then the Trump administration, which has consistently sided with anti-abortion activists, came along, vastly expanding the exemptions to the contraception mandate so that any company that isn’t publicly traded can opt out, if

it has a religious or a moral objection. States sued to block those regulations, the case made it to the Supreme Court and here we are: The court has upheld the Trump administration’s expanded exemptions to the mandate, on administrative grounds, making it harder for many thousands of American women to get birth control.

It bears reminding that the cost of birth control can be significant, and that many women rely on it not just to prevent pregnancy but to treat medical issues. Sometimes, the contraceptive method that works best — or the only one a person can tolerate — costs many hundreds of dollars without insurance coverage.

It also bears reminding that the Trump administration has been attacking both the ACA and access to birth control since the moment President Donald Trump took office. On the latter front, its most successful effort before this week was to gut the nation’s decades-old family planning program, called Title X, in an explicit effort to cripple Planned Parenthood.

All of the administration’s efforts on this front have most directly affected poor women and women of color.

Finally, it bears reminding that this Supreme Court’s conservative majority, with Chief Justice Roberts at the helm, has been very friendly to religious litigants.

It’s hard to imagine the conservative justices of this court, especially, allowing employers to claim a moral exemption and require their employees to pay out of pocket for, say, a treatment for COVID-19. That sounds absurd.

And yet, when it comes to birth control, such state interference with personal health decisions is considered a legitimate matter for public debate.

The San Juan Daily Star

July 10-12, 2020

19

Jenniffer González anuncia $2.3 millones para aeropuertos, salud, organizaciones culturales y UPR Mayagüez por el COVID-19

Por THE STAR a comisionada residente, JenniL ffer González Colón, anunció el jueves, una nueva partida de fondos

federales que suman 2,389,253 dólares provenientes del Departamento de Transportación federal (DOT, por sus siglas en inglés) a través de la Administración Federal de Aviación (FAA, por sus siglas en inglés), de la Administración de Desarrollo Económico (EDA, por sus siglas en inglés), del Departamento de Salud y Servicios Humanos (HHS, por sus siglas en inglés) y del National Endowment for the Arts que han sido

autorizados bajo la ley de estímulo económico federal para manejar la emergencia por el coronavirus, mejor conocida como el CARES Act (Ley Pública 116-136).

“Como parte de las distintas asignaciones de fondos federales, el Aeropuerto Antonio Rivera Rodriguez en Vieques recibirá 1,382,144 dólares; el Aeropuerto Fernando Luis Ribas Dominicci recibirá 232,499 dólares; el Aeropuerto Antonio Neri Juarbe Pol recibirá 192,820 dólares y el Aeropuerto Eugenio María de Hostos 4,350.00 dólares para mejoras a la pista y reemplazos de alumbrados

y generadores entre otras mejoras de infraestructura”, detalló la comisionada en comunicación escrita.

La Administración de Desarrollo Económico (EDA) asignó 300,000 dólares a la Universidad de Puerto Rico Recinto de Mayagüez para actualizar los planes de desarrollo económico y fortalecer los programas de ayudas a comunidades como respuesta a la pandemia del coronavirus.

Por su parte HHS asignó $77,440 a la Asociación de Salud Primaria para incrementar la capacidad de pruebas del COVID-19.

Por otra parte, el National

Endowment for the Arts asignó 200,000 dólares en fondos directos para organizaciones artísticas sin fines de lucro en la Isla para mitigar los efectos del coronavirus.

Bajo este programa competitivo se benefician 855 organizaciones a través toda la nación, incluyendo a cuatro organizaciones en Puerto Rico, se otorgan 50,000 dólares a 846 organizaciones, mientras que nueve agencias de arte locales recibirán 250,000 dólares cada una para otorgar más a las organizaciones de arte en su área, para un total de 44.5 millones de dólares.

El National Endowment for the Arts recibió más de 3,100 solicitudes elegibles que solicitaron este programa.

El Museo de Arte de Ponce, la Universidad de Puerto Rico en Río Piedras, Mauro Inc. y el Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico recibirán 50,000 dólares cada uno bajo este programa de subvención, para apoyar los sueldos del personal, los honorarios de los artistas o el personal contractual y los costos de las instalaciones.

El National Endowment for the Arts es una agencia federal independiente que brinda apoyo y oportunidades de financiamiento a agencias de artes estatales, líderes locales, otras agencias federales y el sector filantrópico, para promover el aprendizaje de las artes, y celebrar el diverso patrimonio cultural de los Estados Unidos, y el acceso equitativo a las artes en las comunidades.

Aumenta el nivel de sequía severa Por THE STAR l nivel de sequía severa en Puerto E Rico aumentó entre el 30 de junio y el 7 de julio, según el informe

emitido este jueves en la mañana por el Monitor de Sequía de Estados Unidos.

Al 30 de junio el 22.44 porciento de Puerto Rico estaba bajo la categoría de sequía severa. Al 7 de julio aumentó a 32.19 porciento, para un alza de 9.75 porciento.

Mientras que la sequía moderada bajó levemente, de 54.69 porciento a 54.54 porciento.

La sequía anómala tocaba el 73.20 porciento de Puerto Rico al 30 de junio. Al 7 de julio se redujo a 72.20 porciento.

Al 30 de junio el 26.80 porciento de Puerto Rico no estaba bajo ningún nivel de sequía. Al 7 de julio está en 27.80 porciento, según datos del Monitor de Sequía de Estados Unidos.

Luego de la fecha de cierre del informe del Monitor de Sequía de Estados Unidos, que fue el martes 7 de julio, se registró lluvia en varios lugares de Puerto Rico, lo que llevó a un aumento en el nivel del embal-

se Carraízo, con 8 centímetros.

Los otros embalses que subieron de nivel son Cidra con 4 centímetros, Patillas con 19 centímetros, Carite 4 centímetros, Río Blanco 20 centímetros y Fajardo 2 centímetros.

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July 10-12, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

‘Hamilton,’ ‘The Simpsons’ and the problem with colorblind casting play characters of color.

Despite this recent trend, actors and creators have defended such choices with purportedly merit-based arguments. Earlier this year, in fact, Loren Bouchard, one of the creators of “Central Park,” explained Bell’s casting by saying, “Kristen needed to be Molly; we couldn’t not make her Molly.”

More often than not, when the defense rings out in the chord of “they were the best person for the job,” that “best person” is white. That is no coincidence.

Another popular defense that pops up, most often in internet discourse, involves canon: The story, the holy text, must be preserved as written. Even if this defense didn’t presuppose that anything canon should not be open to challenge or reinterpretation, it would still fail to recognize that in many stories the character’s whiteness is incidental to the narrative. So why not use that opportunity to re-create the character as someone who doesn’t fall into the majority?

The fact that Ariel is white has nothing to do with her story about wanting to be with her love and walk on land. The casting of a Black actress to play Hermione Granger in the play “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” provoked howls from many fans, but the character’s whiteness never had any bearing on her brilliance. In fact, stories that do not take their characters’ whiteness as a given may find fresh relevance and invite new audiences into their sphere, because for so many people of color, they don’t get to see themselves represented in the media they consume.

But however well-intentioned, there are complications “Hamilton” has been celebrated as a bold exemplar of diversity. But it’s not enough to simply slot actors of color that come with works that aim to use colorblind casting to highinto historically white roles. light people of color who wouldn’t otherwise be represented.

Creators may cast blind, thinking their job done, failing to conrepresenting a diverse set of performers.

By MAYA PHILLIPS The history of the practice in live-action takes is more egre- sider that a Black man cast as a criminal or a Latina woman cast ate June brought news that the animated shows “The Simp- gious and has been well-documented: Mickey Rooney’s notori- as a saucy seductress — even when cast without any regard to sons,” “Family Guy,” “Big Mouth” and “Central Park” would re- ous Asian landlord in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”; Alec Guinness’ Arab their race — can still be problematic. One kind of blindness can cast characters of color who have been played by white actors. prince in “Lawrence of Arabia”; Laurence Olivier in blackface lead to another.

And then there’s also the “Hamilton” problem. The show A week later “Hamilton” dominated the cultural chatter on as Othello. In the past decade alone, Natalie Portman, Emma Independence Day weekend when Disney+ premiered the film Stone and Scarlett Johansson, among others, played characters may place diverse bodies on the stage, but productions that would subvert a narrative traditionally owned by white characon screen who were of Asian descent in the source material. version of the Broadway phenomenon.

And though this trend so often favors white actors — if you ters must not just tag in actors of color but reconsider the funIn both situations, performers inhabited characters of racial backgrounds that were different from their own, often referred to have a few hours or days to kill, Google “whitewashing contro- damental way the new casting changes the story. In “Hamilton,” as “colorblind casting.” But one provoked the usual apologies versy” — it certainly isn’t limited to them. People of color are the revision of U.S. history is dazzling and important, but it also and promises to do better, while the other was celebrated anew often tagged in to represent an identity different from their own, neglects and negates the parts of the original story that don’t fit as being a bold exemplar of diversity — though it ultimately as if Chinese is synonymous with Korean or Mexican is synony- so nicely into this narrow model. The characters’ relationship to slavery, for example, is scarcely mentioned because it would be mous with Indian. presents a set of more complex concerns.

It seems needless to say, and yet here it is: Any casting of a incongruous with the triumphant recasting of our country’s first Still, the difference between the two lies in their approaches to the all-encompassing nature of whiteness in U.S. industries performer in the role of a race other than their own assumes that leaders. (“Hamilton” star and creator Lin-Manuel Miranda reand narratives. Whereas the world of voice-acting for animation the artist step into the lived experience of a person whose culture sponded to this criticism this week, calling it “valid.”)

The trouble of a colorblind production might not be the is just another dominated by white workers, casting a person isn’t theirs, and so every choice made in that performance will casting itself but the fact that the casting may still erase the reiof color as a typically white character is an act of subversion, a inevitably be an approximation. It is an act of minstrelsy.

Kristen Bell, who voiced biracial Molly Tillerman in the magined characters’ identities. (If Willy Loman is Black, wouldn’t normalization of something other than the white standard. The Black and brown Founding Fathers of “Hamilton” make the story Apple TV+ show “Central Park”; Jenny Slate, who voiced bi- he have a more complex understanding of the American dream?) of America something that can finally be owned by people of racial Missy Foreman-Greenwald in “Big Mouth”; and Mike Careless colorblind casting — in animated roles and in livecolor, as opposed to the reality, which so often refutes the rel- Henry, voice of Black “Family Guy” and “The Cleveland Show” action roles on TV, movies or the stage — assumes that identicharacter Cleveland Brown, each announced their decisions to ties amount to nothing and that all experiences are transferable, evancy of their lives and contributions.

Although egalitarian in theory, colorblind casting in prac- gracefully bow out in the name of proper representation. Hank which is far from the reality.

Blindness is no excuse. In a moment when we’re reassesstice is more often used to exclude performers of color. It’s a high- Azaria, who for years voiced the Indian “Simpsons” character minded-sounding concept that producers and creators use to Apu, stepped away from the role earlier this year; last month the ing everything surrounding representation, perhaps it’s time for free themselves of any social responsibility they may feel toward show announced that it will no longer use any white actors to all of us to finally open our eyes.

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The San Juan Daily Star

July 10-12, 2020

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Ennio Morricone was more than just a great film composer

By JOHN ZORN

E

nnio Morricone was more than one of the world’s great soundtrack composers, he was one of the world’s great composers, period. For me, his work stands with Bach, Mozart, Debussy, Ellington and Stravinsky in achieving that rare fusion of heart and mind. Dare we compare the five notes of his famous “coyote call” in “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” with the four opening notes of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5? Morricone’s music is just as timeless.

Morricone, who died Monday at age 91, has been an influence and an inspiration since I first encountered his work as a teenager in 1967. “The Ecstasy of Gold” from “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” hit me with the same power as modernist masterpieces like “The Rite of Spring,” Ives’ Symphony No. 4 and Varèse’s “Arcana”; it shares their complex rhythmic invention, unique sound world and lush romantic sweep.

Embracing the soaring lyricism of his Italian heritage, Morricone’s gift for song was extraordinary. He was one of those musicians who could make an unforgettable melody with just a small fistful of notes. His meticulous craftsmanship and ear for orchestration, harmony, melody and rhythm resulted in music that was perfectly balanced; as with all master composers, every note was there for a reason. Change one note, one rhythm, one rest, and there is diminishment.

Having roots in both popular music and the avantgarde, Morricone was an innovator, and he overcame each new challenge with a fresh approach, retaining a curiosity and childlike sense of wonder. He was always open to trying new sounds, new instruments, new combinations — rarely drawing from the same well twice.

He was a man of integrity who did not suffer fools gladly. Stories of his responses to inane directorial suggestions are legend, including one of my favorites: “In the history of music, nothing like that has ever happened — nor will it ever happen.” He lived a relatively simple life

Dare we compare the five notes of Ennio Morricone’s famous “coyote call” in “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (starring Clint Eastwood, shown here) with the four opening notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony? in a beautiful apartment in Rome, waking as early as 4:30 a.m., taking walks and composing at his desk for hours on end. He traveled little.

What needs to be understood is that Morricone was a magician of sound. He had an uncanny ability to combine instruments in original ways. Ocarina, slapstick, whistling, electric guitar noises, grunts, electronics and howls in the night: Anything was welcome if it had dramatic effect. By the 1960s, the electric guitar had become central to his palette and he was able to blend it into a variety of unusual contexts with dramatic flair. In “Svegliati e Uccidi,” he has the guitarist imitate the “rata-tat-tat” of a machine gun through the amplifier’s spring reverb, and his instruction to the musician to “sound like a spear” resulted in one of the most intense guitar tones ever recorded, in “Once Upon a Time in the West.”

His mastery of a wide range of genres and instruments made him a musician ahead of his time. He could

explore extended techniques on a trumpet mouthpiece in a free-improvisational context in the morning; write a seductive big-band arrangement for a pop singer in the afternoon; and score a searing orchestral film soundtrack at night. This kind of openness remains the way of the future — and was a formative model for me.

Morricone is best known for his film work, but we must never forget his large catalog of “absolute” music — his classical compositions. There the music comes straight from his heart. And yet what he accomplished in the challenging and restrictive world of film music is nothing short of miraculous. There, his immense imagination, sharp ear for drama, profound lyricism, puckish sense of humor and huge heart find voice through a magnificent and masterly musicianship. Artistic freedom was his credo, and his impeccable taste and innate sense of energy, space and time were palpable. His work elevated every film he scored.

One of my dearest memories is visiting him at a recording session in New York, around 1986. He was, as always, a gentleman: elegant, gracious and more than kind to a young fan who stood humbled in front of his hero. We spoke through a translator for much of our conversation, but he took me aside for a few moments and shared some composerly advice on working in movies. I will always remember his words to me that day: “Forget the film. Think of the soundtrack record.”

Many composers wonder, and may even worry, if their work will live on after they are gone — if their contribution will be remembered and their music treasured.

Morricone need have had no such fears. His work has been embraced; he achieved that rare balance of being profoundly influential to both the inner world of musicians and society as a whole. His sonic adventures stand on their own merits both in the context of the films he scored and on their own terms as pure music. This was his magic.

He was more than a musical figure. He was a cultural icon. He was the maestro — and I loved him dearly.

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The San Juan Daily Star

July 10-12, 2020

How do you define rosé?

By ERIC ASIMOV

C

ertain categories of wine must be approached on tiptoe, as opinions surrounding them will be tenaciously defended, even if their champions are ill-informed. Arguments will ensue.

Riesling is like that, for sure, and natural wine, without a doubt. But rosé?

Rosé is a popular, beloved sort of wine, I imagined, that all would embrace. It’s for lovers, not for fighters, connoting relaxation, not combat.

Yet as we explored an assortment of rosés in our latest unit of Wine School, I was surprised to find substantial disagreements not only on how these wines were experienced — that’s always a given — but also on the nature of rosé, how to define it and whether it has any value at all.

Informed debate and discussion is the purpose of Wine School. Our aim is to promote exploration and understanding, as well as comfort and ease with wine. Achieving these goals, however, requires actually drinking the wines and forming opinions based on your impressions.

You can never be wrong in describing how a wine makes you feel. That is a matter of taste, informed by experience. Our belief is that with increased knowledge, by which I mean trying many different sorts of wines, opinions may evolve. When it comes to wine, being openminded means extra pleasure.

As usual, I recommended three bottles. They were: Wölffer Estate Long Island Rosé 2019, Tiberio Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo 2019 and Arnot-Roberts California Rosé Touriga Nacional 2019.

The idea was to look at different ideas of rosé, from different places, made from different grapes, using different techniques.

“My feeling is that classification as red, white or rosé is so 19th century,” Elizabeth Gabay, an English wine authority, wrote in the same Twitter thread. She suggested relying on vinification technique rather than color.

By that standard, are these three entirely different wines? If you try them all, it seems so.

The Arnot-Roberts, from California, was the most conventional rosé, even if its components, 80% touriga nacional and 20% tinta cão, both leading port grapes, are unusual choices for rosé.

After harvest, the grapes were crushed and the juice was left to macerate with the pigmentladen skins until the desired color was achieved, about 24 hours. The wine was fermented, but malolactic fermentation, in which bacteria transform

malic acid into softer lactic acid, was blocked in order to maintain liveliness. It was aged briefly in steel vats.

The result was a superb pale rosé, fresh and energetic, with complex fruit, floral and herbal flavors and a chalky minerality.

The Wölffer, from the South Fork of Long Island, was made differently. It was roughly 60% merlot, 33% chardonnay and 6% cabernet franc, with small amounts of a few other grapes. It’s quite rare for good rosés, other than sparkling wines, to be made from a blend of red and white grapes.

The Wölffer winemaker, Roman Roth, told me that the merlot is harvested with plenty of color in the juice and does not require maceration with the skins. The chardonnay, he said, lightens the color of the merlot and adds texture.

He, too, blocks the malolactic fermentation — a step, he said, that has become more important with climate change.

The wine, which had a pale salmon color like the Arnot-Roberts, was dry, lively and well rounded, with floral, peachy flavors. This is a fun wine, not as complex as the Arnot-Roberts, but just what you might want poolside or at other ca-

sual summer gatherings.

The Tiberio Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo is different.

This dark style, made entirely from the montepulciano grape, is traditional in the Abruzzo region.

Like the Arnot-Roberts, the juice is macerated with the skins until it achieves the desired cherry red color. As with the other two, the malolactic fermentation is blocked.

The wine is fresh and lively, energetic and dry, with tangy, stony, floral flavors and a touch of salinity. It has complexity and character, and is simply lovely. While the other two might go best with relatively delicate dishes, this is definitely a food wine and would go well with a wide range, including lamb, as Martina Mirandola Mullen of New York suggested.

Paradoxically, grouping these wines by vinification technique, as Gabay suggested, would put the Arnot-Roberts and the Tiberio together.

These two very different-looking and -tasting wines both achieved their colors through maceration.

The Wölffer, which resembled the ArnotRoberts, would be in a separate category. For now, I’ll stick to calling them all rosés.

Very different bottles of rosé raised questions about whether to group by color or by how the wines are made.

The San Juan Daily Star

July 10-12, 2020

How we get stronger

Weight training prompts changes in the nervous system that prime the muscles to get bigger and stronger.

By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS

W

hen we start to lift weights, our muscles do not strengthen and change at first, but our nervous systems do, according to a fascinating new study in animals of the cellular effects of resistance training. The study, which involved monkeys performing the equivalent of multiple one-armed pullups, suggests that strength training is more physiologically intricate than most of us might have imagined and that our conception of what constitutes strength might be too narrow.

Those of us who join a gym — or, because of the current pandemic restrictions and concerns, take up bodyweight training at home — may feel some initial disappointment when our muscles do not rapidly bulge with added bulk. In fact, certain people, including some women and most preadolescent children, add little obvious muscle mass, no matter how long they lift.

But almost everyone who starts weight training soon becomes able to generate more muscular force, meaning they can push, pull and raise more weight than before, even though their muscles may not look any larger and stronger.

Scientists have known for some time that these early increases in strength must involve changes in the connec-

tions between the brain and muscles. The process appears to involve particular bundles of neurons and nerve fibers that carry commands from the brain’s motor cortex, which controls muscular contractions, to the spinal cord and, from there, to the muscles. If those commands become swifter and more forceful, the muscles on the receiving end should respond with mightier contractions. Functionally, they would be stronger.

But the mechanics of these nervous system changes have been unclear. Understanding the mechanics better could also have clinical applications: If scientists and doctors were to better understand how the nervous system changes during resistance training, they might be better able to help people who lose strength or muscular control after a stroke, for example, or as a result of aging or for other reasons.

So, for the new study, which was published in June in the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers with the Institute of Neuroscience at Newcastle University in England decided to teach two female macaque monkeys to lift weights, and the researchers watched what happened to their nerves.

They began by surgically implanting tiny transmitters and electrodes in the monkeys (complying with regulations for humane treatment of animals during research). These

23

electrodes would stimulate different sets of nerves, so the researchers could track how nerve responses changed as the animals lifted.

Macaque monkeys, like humans and other primates, have two major bundles of nerves that transmit messages from the motor cortex. One, called the reticulospinal tract, is ancient in evolutionary terms, with connections throughout the brain and into the brainstem. Many species, including rodents and reptiles, sport a reticulospinal tract. These nerves generally direct broad motor skills, like posture.

But most exercise neuroscientists have long believed that a separate bundle of nerves, called the corticospinal tract, is most likely involved in increasing muscle strength when we start weight training. The corticospinal tract is younger in evolutionary terms and more refined than the reticulospinal tract, controlling fine motor skills like grasping objects. It is found in primates, like us and monkeys, but rarely in reptiles.

The researchers began prompting the monkeys to lift, using treats to get them to pull a weighted lever with their right arms, while the scientists measured which nerves became most activated — and by how much — before, during and after the workouts.

For almost three months, the monkeys trained five times a week, with the researchers increasing the amount of resistance on the lever until the monkeys could complete a workout equivalent “to a human doing 50 onearmed pullups,” said Isabel Glover, a neuroscientist and author of the new study with Stuart Baker, the director of the Movement Laboratory at Newcastle University.

This impressive gain in strength was driven, the electrode data showed, by changes in one set of nerves, which began sending progressively stronger, more urgent commands to the muscles. But it was not the corticospinal tract. It was, instead, the older, more primitive reticulospinal tract that strengthened when the animals lifted.

This finding underscores that “strength isn’t just about muscle mass,” Glover said. “You get stronger because the neural input to your muscles increases.”

Perhaps more poetically, the data tell us that strength may be even more fundamental to our well-being than we already expect, since gaining it involves and alters some of the most ancient components of our central nervous system.

Of course, this study was conducted with macaques, which are not people, although they “have a very similar nervous system to humans,” Baker said.

It also was small, involving only two monkeys, neither of them male. “These are really fundamental features of motor control, so we wouldn’t expect any differences between males and females,” Baker said. But it is impossible yet to be certain.

Even with those caveats, though, the results intimate that we most likely are hard-wired to respond quickly and well to weight training and should not be deterred if our muscles do not at first bulge. “Initial gains are all about strengthening the reticulospinal tract,” Baker said. “Only later do the muscles actually start to grow.”

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July 10-12, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

Can an algorithm predict the pandemic’s next moves?

Mauricio Santillana has developed a model to predict Covid-19 outbreaks two to three weeks in advance, based on social-media and Google search data.

By BENEDICT CAREY

J

udging when to tighten, or loosen, the local economy has become the world’s most consequential guessing game, and each policymaker has his or her own instincts and bench marks. The point when hospitals reach 70% capacity is a red flag, for instance; so are upticks in coronavirus case counts and deaths.

But as the governors of states like Florida, California and Texas have learned in recent days, such bench marks make for a poor alarm system. Once the coronavirus finds an opening in the population, it gains a two-week head start on health officials, circulating and multiplying swiftly before its reemergence becomes apparent at hospitals, testing clinics and elsewhere.

Now, an international team of scientists has developed a model — or, at minimum, the template for a model — that could predict outbreaks about two weeks before they occur, in time to put effective containment measures in place.

In a paper posted on Thursday on arXiv.org, the team, led by Mauricio Santillana and Nicole Kogan of Harvard, presented an algorithm that registered danger 14 days or more before case counts begin to increase.

The system uses real-time monitoring of Twitter, Google

searches and mobility data from smartphones, among other data streams.

The algorithm, the researchers write, could function “as a thermostat, in a cooling or heating system, to guide intermittent activation or relaxation of public health interventions” — that is, a smoother, safer reopening.

“In most infectious-disease modeling, you project different scenarios based on assumptions made up front,” said Santillana, director of the Machine Intelligence Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital and an assistant professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at Harvard. “What we’re doing here is observing, without making assumptions. The difference is that our methods are responsive to immediate changes in behavior and we can incorporate those.”

Outside experts who were shown the new analysis, which has not yet been peer reviewed, said it demonstrated the increasing value of real-time data, like social media, in improving existing models.

The study shows “that alternative, next-gen data sources may provide early signals of rising COVID-19 prevalence,” said Lauren Ancel Meyers, a biologist and statistician at the University of Texas, Austin. “Particularly if confirmed case counts are lagged by delays in seeking treatment and obtaining test results.”

The use of real-time data analysis to gauge disease

progression goes back at least to 2008, when engineers at Google began estimating doctor visits for the flu by tracking search trends for words like “feeling exhausted,” “joints aching,” “Tamiflu dosage” and many others.

The Google Flu Trends algorithm, as it is known, performed poorly. For instance, it continually overestimated doctor visits, later evaluations found, because of limitations of the data and the influence of outside factors such as media attention, which can drive up searches that are unrelated to actual illness.

Since then, researchers have made multiple adjustments to this approach, combining Google searches with other kinds of data. Teams at Carnegie-Mellon University, University College London and the University of Texas, among others, have models incorporating some real-time data analysis.

“We know that no single data stream is useful in isolation,” said Madhav Marathe, a computer scientist at the University of Virginia. “The contribution of this new paper is that they have a good, wide variety of streams.”

In the new paper, the team analyzed real-time data from four sources, in addition to Google: COVID-related Twitter posts, geotagged for location; doctors’ searches on a physician platform called UpToDate; anonymous mobility data from smartphones; and readings from the Kinsa Smart Thermometer, which uploads to an app. It integrated those data streams with a sophisticated prediction model developed at Northeastern University, based on how people move and interact in communities.

The team tested the predictive value of trends in the data stream by looking at how each correlated with case counts and deaths over March and April, in each state.

In New York, for instance, a sharp uptrend in COVIDrelated Twitter posts began more than a week before case counts exploded in mid-March; relevant Google searches and Kinsa measures spiked several days beforehand.

The team combined all its data sources, in effect weighting each according to how strongly it was correlated to a coming increase in cases. This “harmonized” algorithm anticipated outbreaks by 21 days, on average, the researchers found.

Looking ahead, it predicts that Nebraska and New Hampshire are likely to see cases increase in the coming weeks if no further measures are taken, despite case counts being currently flat.

“I think we can expect to see at least a week or more of advanced warning, conservatively, taking into account that the epidemic is continually changing,” Santillana said. His co-authors included scientists from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Stanford University; and the University of Salzburg, as well as Northeastern.

He added: “And we don’t see this data as replacing traditional surveillance but confirming it. It’s the kind of information that can enable decision-makers to say, ‘Let’s not wait one more week, let’s act now.’”

24 partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a Estado Libre Asociado de Puer- usted esta notificación que se to Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL considerará hecha en la fecha DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Pri- de la publicación de este edicmera Instancia Sala Superior to. Copia de esta notificación de COMERIO. ha sido archivada en los autos BANCO POPULAR DE de este caso, con fecha de 2 de JULIO de 2020 En COMERIO, PUERTO RICO Puerto Rico, el 2 de julio de Demandante v.

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(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 26 de junio de 2020, 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

ROBERTO RAMOS BÁEZ, JULIA I. MARTÍNEZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS a su última dirección conocida: URB FAIRVIEW, 674 CALLE LUIS ALMANSA, SAN JUAN PR 00926-7618.

EDELMIRA MARTINEZ GUADALUPE POR SÍ Y LEGAL NOTICE EN LA CUOTA VIUDAL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO USUFRUCTUARIA a DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUsus últimas direcciones NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA conocidas: URB SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN FAIRVIEW, 674 CALLE JUAN. LUIS ALMANSA, SAN BANCO POPULAR DE JUAN, PR 00926-7618, PUERTO RICO URB VILLA DE CANEY, PARTE DEMANDANTE VS. A7 CALLE ARACIBO, DORAL MORTGAGE TRUJILLO ALTO, PR CORPORATION T/C/C 00976-3503 y URB DORAL MORTGAGE, LLC., POR CONDUCTO COLINAS DE FAIRVIEW, 4N11 CALLE 212, DE SU AGENTE TRUJILLO ALTO, PR RESIDENTE CT 00976-8238.

CORPORATION SUTANO Y PERENCEJO SYSTEM; FEDERAL DE TAL, POSIBLES DEPOSIT INSURANCE HEREDEROS CORPORATION (FDIC) DESCONOCIDOS DE COMO SÍNDICO JORGE ANTONIO DE DORAL BANK; TORRES SANTIAGO; ORIENTAL BANK AND FULANO Y MENGANO TRUST; RAFAEL EMILIO DE TAL POSIBLES PACHECO ROSA; TENEDORES ROBERTO RAMOS BAEZ; DESCONOCIDOS DEL JULIA I. MARTINEZ Y PAGARÉ LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL Queda usted notificado que en DE GANANCIALES este Tribunal se ha radicado COMPUESTA POR Demanda sobre Cancelación AMBOS; LA SUCESIÓN de Pagaré Extraviado por la vía DE JORGE ANTONIO judicial. El pagaré en cuestión TORRES SANTIAGO por la suma de $145,000.00 fue suscrito por Roberto RaCOMPUESTA POR SUTANO Y PERENCEJO mos Báez y su esposa Julia I. Martínez el 30 de septiembre DE TAL, POSIBLES de 2000, a favor de Doral MortHEREDEROS gage Corporation, o a su orden, DESCONOCIDOS; con intereses al 8.95% anual y EDELMIRA MARTINEZ vencedero el 1ro de octubre de GUADALUPE POR SÍ Y 2015, con el número de testiEN LA CUOTA VIUDAL monio 12,587. En garantía de dicho pagaré, en la misma feUSUFRUCTUARIA; FULANO Y MENGANO cha, se constituyó una hipoteca conforme a la Escritura número DE TAL, COMO 868, autorizada por la notario POSIBLES TENEDORES Teresita Navarro García, en DESCONOCIDOS DEL San Juan, Puerto Rico, sobre la siguiente propiedad: URBANA: PAGARÉ

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 2 de JULIO de 2020. En GUAYAMA, Puerto Rico , el 2 de julio de 2020.

MARISOL ROSADO RODRIGUEZ, Secretaria Regional. F/ ILEANA CRUZ VAZQUEZ, Secretaria Auxiliar.

PARTE DEMANDADA CIVIL NÚM. SJ2019CV12760 (802). SOBRE: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO POR LA VÍA JUDICIAL. EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS E.E.U.U. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.

A: RAFAEL EMILIO PACHECO ROSA,

staredictos@thesanjuandailystar.com

NORTE, con la calle 23-A, distancia de 13.35 meros; por el SUR, con los solares número 2 y 3, distancia de 13.35 metros; por el ESTE, con solar número 11, distancia de 30.00 metros; y por el OESTE, con el solar número 13, distancia de 30.00 metros. Enclava una casa. La propiedad consta inscrita al folio 211 del tomo 129 de Río Piedras Sur, Finca 4,554 del Registro de la Propiedad de San Juan, Sección IV. La referida hipoteca consta inscrita al folio 9 del tomo 678 de Río Piedras Sur, Finca 4,554 del Registro de la Propiedad de San Juan, Sección IV, inscripción 7ma. La parte demandada deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Administración y Manejo de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:// unired.ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del Tribunal. Se le advierte que si no contesta la demanda, radicando el original de la contestación en este Tribunal y enviando copia de la contestación a la abogada de la Parte Demandante, Lcda. Belma Alonso García, cuya dirección es: Terrazas de Guaynabo, H-26 Calle Las Flores, Guaynabo Puerto Rico 00969, Teléfono y Fax: (787) 789-1826, correo electrónico: oficinabelmaalonso@gmail. com, dentro del término de treinta (30) días de la publicación de este edicto, excluyéndose el día de la publicación, se le anotará la rebeldía y se le dictará Sentencia en su contra, concediendo el remedio solicitado sin más citarle ni oírle.

EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y el sello del Tribunal, hoy 2 de julio de 2020, en San Juan, Puerto Rico. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. MARÍA M. CRUZ RAMOS, SUB-SECRETARIA(O).

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE TRUJILLO ALTO Solar radicado en la Urbani- EN CAROLINA. zación Fairview, situada en el DLJ MORTGAGE Barrio Cupey de Río Piedras, CAPITAL, INC Puerto Rico, que se describe vs en el plano de inscripción de SCOTIABANK OF la urbanización con el número, PUERTO RICO área y colindancia que se relaciona a continuación: número CASO: FECl201501850. SOdoce (12) de la manzana “Y”. BRE: CANCELACION DE PAÁrea del solar: cuatrocientos GARE EXTRAVIADO. A. JOHN DOE Y metros y cincuenta centímetros (400.50 m.c.). En lindes: por el RICHARD ROE COMO

(787) 743-3346

The San Juan Daily Star

Friday, July 10, 2020 POSIBLES TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS DEL PAGARE EXTRAVIADO P/C LIC. MARJALIISA COLON VILLANUEVA A SU DIRECCION: PO BOX 7970 PONCE PR 00732

NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. EL SECRETARIO(A) QUE SUSCRIBE LE NOTIFICA A USTED QUE EL 03 DE JULIO DE 2020 , ESTE TRIBUNAL HA DICTADO SENTENCIA, SENTENCIA PARCIAL O RESOLUCION EN ESTE CASO, QUE HA SIDO DEBIDAMENTE REGISTRADA Y ARCHIVADA EN AUTOS DONDE PODRA USTED ENTERARSE DETALLADAMENTE DE LOS TERMINOS DE LA MISMA. ESTA NOTIFICACION SE PUBLICARA UNA SOLA VEZ EN UN PERIODICO DE CIRCULACION GENERAL EN LA ISLA DE PUERTO RICO, DENTRO DE LOS 10 DIAS SIGUIENTES A SU NOTIFICACION. Y, SIENDO O REPRESENTANDO USTED UNA PARTE EN EL PROCEDIMIENTO SUJETA A LOS TERMINOS DE LA SENTENCIA, SENTENCIA PARCIAL O RESOLUCION, DE LA CUAL PUEDE ESTABLECERSE RECURSO DE REVISION O APELACION DENTRO DEL TERMINO DE 30 DIAS CONTADOS A PARTIR DE LA PUBLICACION POR EDICTO DE ESTA NOTIFICACION, DIRIJO A USTED ESTA NOTIFICACION QUE SE CONSIDERARA HECHA EN LA FECHA DE LA PUBLICACION DE ESTE DICTO. COPIA DE ESTA NOTIF[CACION HA SIDO ARCHIVADA EN LOS AUTOS DE ESTE CASO, CON FECHA DE 06 DE JULIO DE 2020.

LIC. COLÓN VILLANUEVA, MARJALIISA MCOLON@WWCLAW.COM EN CAROLINA, PUERTO RICO, EL 06 DE JULIO DE 2020. LCDA. MARILYN APONTE RODRTGUEZ, SECRETARIO. POR: F/ IDA FERNANDEZ RODRIGUEZ, SECRETARIO AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Primera Instancia Sala Superior de TOA ALTA.

PR RECOVERY AND DEVELOPMENT JV, LLC Demandante v.

IVETTE OTERO BAEZ H/N/C FOUR WINDS

Demandado(a) Civil Núm. BY2019CV05789.

Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO ORDINARIO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: IVETTE OTERO BAEZ H/N/C FOUR WINDS URB DORADO DEL MAR, JJ 8 CALLE PELICANO, DORADO PR 00646-2315

(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 21 de ABRIL de 2020, 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 6 de JULIO de 2020. En TOA ALTA, Puerto Rico, el 6 de julio de 2020. LCDA LAURA I SANTA SANCHEZ, Secretaria Regional. Gloribell Vazquez Maysonet, Sec del Tribunal Con I.

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

ORIENTAL BANK Demandante v.

ISRAEL ODIOT VAZQUEZ

en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 3 de JULIO de 2020. En BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, el 3 de julio de 2020. LCDA.LAURA I SANTA SANCHEZ, Secretaria Regional. IVETTE M MARRERO BRACERO, Secretaria Auxiliar.

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

DANERIS FERNANDEZ GERENA Peticionario

EX PARTE Causante: ANTONIO FERNÁNDEZ VARGAS

CIVIL NUM.: SJ2019CU11891.

Sala: 802. SOBRE: ADMINISTRACIÓN JUDICIAL DE LOS BIENES HEREDITARIOS. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R. SS

Demandado(a) Civil Núm. BY2019CV02674.

A: Francisco Jesús SALA: 503. Sobre: COBRO DE Fernández Albino DINERO Y EJECUCION DE Por la presente se le notifica HIPOTECA . que la parte demandante ha A: ISRAEL presentado ante este Tribunal una petición de administraODIOT VAZQUEZ CASA LINDA COURT, dor judicial en la sucesión del causante Antonio Fernández APARTAMENTO #3, Vargas, en la cual usted es heBAYAMON, PUERTO redero. Representa a la parte RICO 00959; 50 CALLE demandante, la abogada cuyo SAN PATRICIO, LOIZA, nombre, dirección y teléfono PUERTO RICO 00772- se consigna de inmediato: 1740; PO BOX 502, LOIZA, LCDA. ANA CRISTINA GÓMEZ PÉREZ PUERTO RICO 00772 RUA# 15092 (Nombre de las partes a las que se Abogada del Demandante le notifican la sentencia por edicto) P.O. Box 13762 EL SECRETARIO(A) que susSan Juan, P.R. 00908 Tel. 787-459-1035 cribe le notifica a usted que anacgomezperezgmail.com el 16 de marzo de 2020, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Se le apercibe que si no compaSentencia Parcial o Resolución reciere usted a contestar dicha

The San Juan Daily Star demanda dentro del término de treinta (30) días, a partir de la publicación de este edicto, se le anotará la rebeldía y se le dictará sentencia concediendo el remedio solicitado, sin más citarle ni oírle. EXPEDIDO bajo firma y sello de este Tribunal.

En Bayamón, Puerto Rico a 3 de julio de 2020. GRISELDA RODRIGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. MARIA M. CRUZ RAMOS, SECRETARIA DEL TRIBUNAL..

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE BAYAMON.

ORIENTAL BANK Demandante V.

BANK OF AMERICA, N.A.; JOHN DOE & RICHARD ROE

Demandados CIVIL NUM. BY2020CV01832.

SOBRE: CANCELACION DE PAGARE EXTRAVIADO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R. SS.

A: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., como posible tenedor o persona a favor de la cual se otorgó el pagaré hipotecario, y asI surge del Registro de la Propiedad, a que se hace referencia más adelante en el presente edicto que se publicará una sola vez.

Se les notifica que en Ia Demanda radicada en el caso de epigrafe se alega que un pagaré hipotecario fue otorgado el 6 de mayo de 2014, a favor de Bank of America N.A., por la suma de $375,500.00 de principal, con intereses al 1.750% anual, vencimiento el I de junio de 2039, ante la Notario Hector Francisco Márquez Somoza. La hipoteca que grava la propiedad descrita en el párrafo anterior fue constituida mediante la escritura número 7 del 6 de mayo de 2014, ante el Notario Hector Francisco Márquez Somoza, inscrita al folio #40 del tomo #1805 de Bayamón Sur, finca #644 15, inscripción lOma, Registro de la Propiedad de Bayamón, Sección I. El inmueble gravado mediante la hipoteca antes descrita es Ia finca número 64415 inscrita a! folio #40 del tomo #1805 de Bayamón Sur, Registro de la Propiedad de Bayamón, Sección I. La obligación evidenciada por el pagaré antes descrito fue saldada en su totalidad. Dicho gravamen no ha podido ser cancelado por haberse extraviado el original del pagaré. El original del pagaré antes descrito no ha podido

Friday, July 10, 2020

ser localizado, a pesar de las gestiones realizadas. Bank of America N.A. es el acreedor que consta en el Registro de la Propiedad. El último tenedor conocido del pagaré antes descrito fue Oriental Bank. POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los 30 días de haber sido diligenciado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el dIa 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 Ia siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial. pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretarla 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 ci ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente.

LCDO. JAVJER MONTALVO CINTRON RUANUM. 17682 DELGADO & FERNANDEZ, LLC P0 Box 11750, Fernández Juncos Station San Juan, Puerto Rico 009 10-1750, Tel. (787) 274-1414 / Fax (787) 764-8241 E-mail: jmontaIvodelgadofernandez.com Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, hoy 3 de JULIO de 2020. LCDA. LAURA I SANTA SANCHEZ, Secretaria Regional. Ana Lopez Rivera, SubSecretaria.

LEGAL NOT ICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE AGUADILLA.

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante Vs.

KEVIN D. BADILLO RIVERA

Demandados CIVIL NÚM.: AG2019CV01532.

SALÓN:. SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.

A) KEVIN D. BADILLO RIVERA

POR LA PRESENTE: Se le notifica que contra usted se ha presentado la Demanda sobre Cobro de Dinero de la cual se acompaña copia. Por la presente se le emplaza a usted y se le requiere para que dentro del término de TREINTA (30)

días desde la fecha de la Publicación por Edicto de este Emplazamiento presente su contestación a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https: //unired.ramajudicial. pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la Secretaría del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Juana Diaz, P.O. Box 1419, Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico 00796 y notifique a la LCDA. GINA H. FERRER MEDINA, personalmente al Condominio Las Nereidas, Local 1-B, Calle Méndez Vigo esquina Amador Ramírez Silva, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico 00680; o por correo al Apartado 2342, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico 00681-2342, Teléfonos: (787) 832-9620 y (845) 345-3985, Abogada de la parte demandante, apercibiéndose que en caso de no hacerlo así podrá dictarse Sentencia en Rebeldía en contra suya, concediendo el remedio solicitado en la Demanda sin más citarle ni oírle. EXPEDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el Sello del Tribunal hoy 21 de febrero de 2020. Sarahi Reyes Perez, Secretaria Regional. Nathalie I Acevedo, SubSecretaria.

LEGAL NOTICE

ca: https://unired.ramajudicial. pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Expedido bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal.

En Fajardo,Puerto Rico, hoy 2 de julio de 2020. Wanda I Segui, Secretaria. Amarilis Marquez, Secretaria del Tribunal I.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Primera Instancia Sala Superior de UTUADO.

YAHAIRA OCASIO SÁNCHEZ Demandante v.

ERICK TORRES MALDONADO

Demandado(a) Civil Núm: UT2019RF00020.

Sobre: DIVORCIO / RUPTURA IRREPARABLE. NOTIFICACION DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: ERICK TORRES MALDONADO 121 LINDER ROAD APT 5 ROSELLE NJ 07203

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA (Nombre de las partes a las que se CENTRO JUDICIAL DE FA- le notifican la sentencia por edicto) JARDO SALA SUPERIOR. EL SECRETARIO (A) que susMYRELLI HERNÁNDEZ cribe le. notifica a usted que el 22 de JUNIO de 2020, este FELICIANO, ELLIOT HERNÁNDEZ FELICIANO Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, y ELLIOT HERNÁNDEZ Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debiMARTINEZ damente registrada, y archivaDemandantes da en autos donde podrá usted GEORGE W. WARREN, enterarse detalladamente de et als los términos de la misma. Esta Demandados notificación se publicará una CIVIL NUM. RG2019CV00355 sola vez en un periódico de (303). SOBRE PRESCRIP- circulación general en la Isla CIÓN EXTRAORDINARIA de Puerto Rico dentro, de los (USUCAPIÓN). EDICTOS. ES- 10 días siguientes a su notificaTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA ción. Y, siendo o representando EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ES- usted una parte en el procediTADOS UNIDOS EL ESTADO miento sujeta a los términos LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R. de la Sentencia, Sentencia A. GEORGE W.WARREN Parcial o Resolución, de la cual MARGARITA MAlOS DE puede establecerse recurso de WARREN y la Sociedad revisión o apelación dentro del de 30 días contados a Legal de Gananciales por término partir de la publicación por edicellos constituida to de esta notificación, dirijo a POR LA PRESENTE se le emusted esta notificación que se plaza para que presente al triconsiderara hecha en la fecha bunal su alegación responsiva de la publicación de este edicdentro del termino de 30 días to. Copia de esta notificación después de la publicación de ha sido archivada en los autos este Edicto, excluyéndose el del caso con fecha de 24 de día de la publicación. Usted JUNIO de 2020. En UTUADO, deberá presentar su alegación Puerto. Rico, el 24 de junio de responsiva a través del Sistema 2020. Diana Alvarez Villanueva, Unificado de Manejo y AdminisSecretaria Regional. Carmen tración de Casos (SUMAC), al Gonzalez Cordero, Secretaria cual puede acceder utilizando Auxiliar. la siguiente dirección electróni-

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26

The San Juan Daily Star

July 10-12, 2020

As NBA forges ahead, LeBron James is ‘ready for this moment’

By SCOTT CACCIOLA

A

s NBA teams migrate to Florida for the league’s scheduled restart later this month, players have expressed a range of concerns.

They are concerned about the coronavirus, and Florida’s status as one of the pandemic’s hot spots. They are concerned about being separated from their families. They are concerned about being stuck inside the so-called bubble at Walt Disney World near Orlando for several weeks, if not months. And they are concerned about diverting attention from social justice issues.

LeBron James, who has not spoken publicly since the league’s plans were formalized last month, may share some of those concerns. But it is also clear — at least to his Los Angeles Lakers teammates — that he wants this restart to succeed.

He is 35, on the back edge of his prime.

He has a clear shot at another ring, what would be his fourth. The circumstances are odd, but the hunger is the same.

“We know what’s at stake here, and we might not get it again,” shooting guard Danny Green said Tuesday in a Zoom conference call with reporters. “If you have a special group, you better take advantage of it.”

The Lakers, who were expected to depart for Florida on Thursday, hope to be marooned inside the NBA’s private campus at Disney World until early October, through the end of the finals. They are scheduled to play the first of their eight “seeding” games on July 30 (against the Los Angeles Clippers, another championship contender) before the playoffs start in mid-August.

That is the plan, anyway. With coronavirus cases spiking in Florida and a handful of teams shutting down their local practice facilities before traveling, it is a fragile experiment. An outbreak within the bubble could conceivably shut the whole thing down.

“I would be lying to you if I told you everybody was completely comfortable and had no ill feelings toward how it’s going to be,” said Jared Dudley, a forward who did not express a great deal of excitement about being quarantined in his hotel room for his 35th birthday today. “I think we all know it’s a risk.”

During the nearly four-month pau-

“He hasn’t changed at all, man,” Danny Green, left, said of LeBron James’s work ethic during the season’s hiatus. se in the season, teammates said, James kept in peak physical condition while moonlighting as one of the team’s social leaders. On group chats, he relayed information about which gyms were available.

He offered guidance to teammates on how they could use their voices effectively amid the civil unrest that gripped the country. But he also kept the mood light, sustaining the team’s sense of camaraderie.

“LeBron’s a goofball,” Dudley said.

“Let’s be honest.”

More recently, James was a persistent presence at the Lakers’ practice facility, where players cycled in and out for individual workouts.

“He’s in the gym early, he’s leaving late and he’s the last guy working — and probably working the longest and the hardest,” Green said. “He hasn’t changed at all, man.”

His consistency is all the more striking considering how unusual this season has been for the NBA — and for the Lakers, in particular. Green likened it to being on a “roller coaster in a cave.”

Before the season even started, Ja-

mes waded into a geopolitical storm involving China and the NBA. In January, Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, were among nine people who died in a helicopter crash. Less than two months later, the season was suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic.

At the time, James had the Lakers primed for a title run. At 49-14, they had the best record in the Western Conference, and James was playing some of the most complete basketball of his career, averaging 25.7 points and a league-best 10.6 assists a game.

Now, James has flecks of gray in his quarantine beard. He has been fairly bionic during his 17-year career. But he had a significant groin injury last season, and no athlete can be dominant forever. Despite the season’s idiosyncrasies, he seems determined to seize the opportunity before him.

But the Lakers will not be whole at Disney World. Avery Bradley, the team’s best perimeter defender, opted out of the restart for family reasons. To fill the empty spot on the roster, the Lakers last week signed J.R. Smith, who has his own shared

history with James.

As teammates with the Cleveland Cavaliers, James and Smith made four straight trips to the NBA Finals, helping the team win it all in 2016. But their partnership imploded in 2018, when Smith forgot the score during a critical possession of Game 1 of the finals against the Golden State Warriors. The Cavaliers wound up getting swept, and James signed with the Lakers a few weeks later.

Now, they have the chance for a reset — together again, this time in a bubble, vying for another crack at a title.

Smith said he would bring his keen understanding of The LeBron James Experience — wisdom he could share with younger teammates in a playoff setting.

“I know ’Bron can get pissed,” Smith said, “and people are not going to know how to deal with it.”

Smith last appeared in uniform during the 2018-19 season, when he played in 11 games for the Cavaliers. His time in Cleveland came to an end after he accused the team of intentionally losing games. He remained unsigned this season as a free agent.

In a conference call with reporters this week, Smith said he went through a deep period of depression when he thought his career was finished.

“And it lasted a few months,” he said.

“I’m a big video gamer, and I didn’t even play ‘2K’ anymore.”

As for his on-the-court role, Smith said the coaching staff had instructed him to “shoot the ball at a high level” and defend.

He will not be expected to operate as a playmaker.

“It’s fortunate,” he said, “because I’ve never been the guy who was really trying to set up guys.”

Other players said the lengthy pause had been restorative in important ways.

Davis, hindered by a shoulder injury for much of the season, said he had taken advantage of the chance to rest and become “the best version” of himself. Green said he had been running hills. And forward Kyle Kuzma said he had been working on personal growth.

“I’ve been reading, meditating and painting a lot,” he said.

As for James, teammates say they can sense how little his approach has wavered.

“He’s ready for this moment,” Dudley said. “You can tell.”

The San Juan Daily Star

July 10-12, 2020

27

Ivy League places all sports on hold until January

By WILLY WITZ

T

he Ivy League presidents have placed all sports on hold until at least January, making it the first Division I conference that will not play football as scheduled in the fall because of the coronavirus pandemic.

As a result, a broad array of sports, from football and men’s basketball to cross-country and sailing, have been placed in limbo. Practices could take place in the fall, beginning with limited individual and small group workouts, but conditions would have to improve dramatically for sports to be played next year.

The presidents said in a statement Wednesday that sports could not be played under campus-wide policies that include restrictions on student and staff travel, social distancing requirements and limits on group gatherings.

“With the information available to us today regarding the continued spread of the virus, we simply do not believe we can create and maintain an environment for intercollegiate athletic competition that meets our requirements for safety and acceptable levels of risk,” the statement read.

As for the possibility of playing football in the spring, Princeton football coach Bob Surace characterized it thusly: “One word. Hope.”

He added that a vaccine, better therapies and people following health guidelines would be necessary if there were any chance of playing in the spring, but there is also the fear of a second wave of the virus this winter.

Although the caliber of football in the Ivy League, which plays at the Football Championship Subdivision level and does not allow athletic scholarships, is far below that of the best programs in the country, the decision made by the eight presidents could have great influence among university leaders nationwide tasked with deciding when and how sports will return to college campuses.

“I think other conferences around the country are going to follow,” Columbia athletic director Peter Pilling said Wednesday night.

The same day the Ivy League announced its decision, Ohio State and North Carolina became the latest schools to suspend voluntary workouts after outbreaks among athletes.

Hints that the Ivy League was leaning this way became clearer Monday when three of its schools announced plans for reopening their campuses to only some students in the fall. One of those schools, Harvard, said that it would allow only 40 percent of its students — mostly freshmen — back on campus and that all classes would be held remotely. For the

Devin Darrington of Harvard runs the ball against Yale during a game in November 2019. spring semester, Harvard said, freshmen would be sent off campus and seniors would be allowed to return for their final semester.

Football coaches had anticipated this decision since the Ivy League announced last week that it would decide on the fate of fall sports Wednesday — and in the intervening days two coaches said they had not been asked about making contingency plans. Robin Harris, the executive director of the Ivy League, declined an interview request before the decision was announced.

“It’s been kind of like Santa Claus and the Easter bunny,” Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens said.

“You kind of knew they didn’t exist and then finally you were told.”

The Ivy League universities, which are buoyed by large endowments and a powerful academic brand, have largely been able to remove money from decisions regarding athletics. For example, the Ivy League became the last Division I league to hold a conference basketball tournament and is the only league that prohibits its football teams from

playing in bowl games or a playoff. And as the start of the college football season has crept into August, the Ivy League has steadfastly stuck to a 10-week season ending on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. This year, it was due to begin Sept. 19.

Continues on page 28

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The San Juan Daily Star

July 10-12, 2020

From page 27 The Ivy League universities, which are buoyed by large endowments and a powerful academic brand, have largely been able to remove money from decisions regarding athletics. For example, the Ivy League became the last Division I league to hold a conference basketball tournament and is the only league that prohibits its football teams from playing in bowl games or a playoff. And as the start of the college football season has crept into August, the Ivy League has steadfastly stuck to a 10-week season ending on the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

This year, it was due to begin Sept. 19.

The Ivy League also did not flinch March 10, when it became the first conference to cancel its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, just before the coronavirus began to run rampant in the Northeast.

Almost immediately, the Ivy League was criticized for overreacting, with some of the harshest criticism coming from its own players and coaches. But within two days, the NCAA tournaments had been canceled, and the NBA, the NHL and Major League Baseball’s spring training suspended games.

The circumstances now, though, are different. The country is firmly in the midst of a pandemic, not on its nascent edges.

“There was a suddenness that doesn’t exist now,” said Pilling, the Columbia athletic director. “Obviously there’s a tremendous amount of disappointment because everyone here wants to compete but people

recognize the severeness of the pandemic.”

There is a sense, in the Ivy League, that even playing football in the spring is a moonshot. Ivy League spokesman Matt Panto said the conference had not sought a waiver from the NCAA to move football (or other sports) to the spring, something the official believed would be required. An NCAA spokeswoman, Stacey Osborn, declined to answer questions about the waiver process.

And in a sign of how impactful the loss of a season may be on a broad swath of athletes, the Ivy League said it would consider granting a fifth year of eligibility for athletes — something it stood steadfastly against when spring sports were canceled.

While pro basketball, soccer and baseball have experienced halting moments in their recent returns with sprinklings of positive tests and hiccups in the testing process, a return of college sports is even more problematic because its players — unlike the professionals — are not paid.

Also, the surge in cases in many pockets of the country over the past month has created more obstacles for the return this fall of college football, which many schools count on for millions of dollars in television, ticket and advertising revenues that fuel athletic departments.

The Patriot League, which includes Lehigh, Colgate, Lafayette, Fordham, and other mostly small colleges in the Northeast with limited athletic scholarships, announced late last month that its fall sports — in-

Morehouse quarterback Michael Sims throws a pass during a game against Alabama A&M in September 2019. cluding football, which competes at the FCS level — would play league competition from the end of September until Thanksgiving, yet travel by airplane would not be permitted.

Fordham announced Tuesday that it had canceled its first three games — including a Sept. 12 game at Hawaii.

Last week, Lafayette canceled its season-opening game at Navy.

Shortly after the Patriot League announced its restrictions, Morehouse College, which competes at the Division II level, became the first scholarship program to cancel its football season. The decision by Morehouse,

a historically Black college, highlighted a troubling prospect: that if the school played football it could potentially harm even more African American people, which through comorbidity factors, living conditions or inadequate access to health care have shown to be more vulnerable to the most severe effects of the virus.

When asked in an interview how he foresaw college leaders reacting to the recent uptick in cases, Morehouse President David Thomas said: “I would hope every president asks themselves that question: Why am I in business? What am I here for?”

The San Juan Daily Star

July 10-12, 2020

Sudoku

29

How to Play:

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

Sudoku Rules: Every row must contain the numbers from 1 through 9 Every column must contain the numbers from 1 through 9 Every 3x3 square must contain the numbers from 1 through 9

Crossword

Answers on page 30

Wordsearch

GAMES

HOROSCOPE Aries

30

(Mar 21-April 20)

Normally when you are lonely, you would previously have entertained friends in your home. You feel robbed of pleasures such as opening your door to let people in to share. In a practical sense, you will put something together in a virtual place that will help people feel more connected and less isolated.

Taurus

(April 21-May 21)

It might feel as if your life is in turmoil. Changes in your career make you worried about the future. Who could have imagined at the start of the year this virus would have such an impact? You feel you have no option than to take a path you would not normally have chosen. Stay positive and it will be easier to adapt to change.

Gemini

(May 22-June 21)

Disappointing news will come as a shock.

Practical arrangements need to be put in place in the workplace around social distancing and health considerations. You wonder why some provisions hadn’t been instigated earlier. Wear safety equipment when working with sharp tools. The sooner you come to terms with new routines, the easier it will be.

Cancer

The San Juan Daily Star

July 10-12, 2020

(June 22-July 23)

Libra

(Sep 24-Oct 23)

You’re doing all you can to make a shared environment as safe as possible. It may be necessary to ask for more time to get everything in place. You might be given the option to take part in a new scheme or project. Ask for more time to think about it if you have any doubts about the practicalities.

Scorpio

(Oct 24-Nov 22)

The more positive your approach to work assignments, the easier it will be to get them over with. Are you in business for yourself? A stronger online presence can help your business to survive through difficult times. You’re becoming more aware of people who are struggling who you hadn’t imagined would find this situation a challenge.

Sagittarius

(Nov 23-Dec 21)

Capricorn

(Dec 22-Jan 20)

If you’re feeling the pinch, ask your creditors to give you more time and space to help you take control of your finances. It’s important not to ignore the problem but to speak to your bank or building society and put new arrangements in place. You may need to help an ailing relative to get food delivered to their home.

There will be long-term benefits from taking up an online course or workshop. If you’ve been travelling abroad and have to isolate for two weeks, devote some time to a challenging course of study. An authority figure does not want to listen to the truth. Keeping a journal can be a safe place to air any frustrations.

You’re ready to take a look at your relationships to decide which ones should be given more priority. This is because you’re aware of all the time and attention a needy friend has been demanding from you. It has meant a lot for you to be able to help them but they are able now to fend for themselves. You have done all you can.

Leo

Aquarius

(July 24-Aug 23)

(Jan 21-Feb 19)

Even though it isn’t easy, on a good day you feel you are doing the right thing. Other times you question what is going on and whether it is the best way to handle a difficult situation.

New measures are being put into place in the workplace to ensure everyone is complying with health and safety rules.

It’s not easy to hear that your presence isn’t required. A group project cannot continue without some changes. It may be necessary to reduce the team to a minimum to meet new safety requirements. Try to give a partner or a close relative the time they are asking for from you. They just need some space, that’s all.

Virgo

Pisces

(Aug 24-Sep 23)

You have learned more about your partner and other loved ones through the experiences you have recently shared together. There’s no better way to build bonds than to get personally involved in other people’s hobbies, interests and activities. You might never have expected to get so deeply involved in a youngster’s education.

(Feb 20-Mar 20)

Someone is finding any excuse to text you or meet up with you on a social networking site.

You’re starting to feel it is time to avoid them.

Are you in a relationship? People expect to meet up regularly online but you also have to seriously consider your responsibilities to your partner. Get your priorities right.

Answers to the Sudoku and Crossword on page 29

July 10-12, 2020

31

CARTOONS

Herman

Speed Bump

Frank & Ernest

BC

Scary Gary

Wizard of Id

For Better or for Worse

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Ziggy

32

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July 10-12, 2020

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