Tuesday Jun 6, 2023

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

Governor announces $40.5 million for summer school food program

By THE STAR STAFF

Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia announced Monday that a disbursement of $40.5 million will be made to support the feeding of families with eligible students during the summer, as part of the Pandemic EBT (P-EBT) summer program.

“The positive impact of this program on the nutrition of our students and families in Puerto Rico is unquestionable,” Pierluisi said at a press conference.

“We have disbursed more than $1 billion to support nutritional assistance for our children since February 2021,” he added.

The governor said the program has benefited more than 300,185 students from public and private schools, which is equivalent to some 185,00 families participating in the Nutrition Assistance Program (PAN by its Spanish acronym) and another 40,000 that are not participants in the program.

“These funds also generate more than $1 billion in economic activity in the food supply chain in Puerto Rico, benefiting families of diverse socioeconomic levels and our

economy in general,” Pierluisi said.

The chief executive also noted that families entering the program for the first time will receive a Family Card in the mail with the benefits already scheduled. Those families who have already received the benefit previously and have kept the Family Card only have to fill out the application and the benefit will arrive by transfer to the card in 48 to 72 hours.

For families who are not PAN participants, a P-EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer) link has been enabled at pr.gov to receive applications virtually starting today. In addition, the resources of the P-EBT summer program can be used for the purchase of unprepared food in the more than 3,000 PAN-certified stores and in the Family Markets.

“The well-being and health of our families and students is always one of our top priorities,” the governor said. “I am proud of the success of this program and the agile and efficient disbursement of these funds directly to our students and I congratulate the Family Department and ADSEF [Family Socioeconomic Development Administration] for the work they continue to do.”

San Germán to have its first specialized sports school

By THE STAR STAFF

San Germán Mayor Virgilio Olivera Olivera announced Monday that “our municipality will have its first Specialized Sports School.”

The project, which has already passed into the hands of the members of the municipal assembly, “will be innovative and will have the already experienced direction of the members of the Remington Christian Academy in the facilities of the Galo Rosado Second Unit School (closed since 2017),” the mayor said in a written statement.

“We always think of the best for our respected and beloved people of the City of San Germán,” Olivera said, referring to the collaborative agreement with the community of Sabana Eneas, where the new school is to be located, and a nonprofit sports entity.

“This school is Christian, bilingual and specializes in the sport of baseball, among others,” the mayor said. “It seems to me, in advance, that the project is excellent for the Community of Sabana Eneas and for all of San Germán. … This project revolves exclusively around first-class Christian, bilingual and sports education. … This is the first Specialized School in baseball and other sports, so it equals economic development in the community.”

As part of the agreement, the school will be used as a shelter in case of an atmospheric disaster, and the Sabana Eneas Community Council will manage and safeguard the onsite materials during the use of the facilities. The council, as required in the lease, will prioritize the hiring of the residents of the community, and the corporation will allow the school to be used as a voting center at State Elections Commission election events, among other terms.

Gov. Pedro Pierluisi

Urban Train expansion study aimed at Convention Center District, Old San Juan

By THE STAR STAFF

Josué Menéndez, director of the Integrated Transportation Authority (ATI by its Spanish initials) told the Senate Committee on Innovation, Telecommunications, Municipal Planning and Infrastructure on Monday that the study and execution of the expansion process of the Urban Train toward the Convention Center District and Old San Juan has already begun.

“That is why we make these public hearings so that the country knows what is going to happen with the proposed expansion of the Urban Train and that it does not remain just talk, as it has been for 17 years,” Sen. Elizabeth Rosa Vélez, who chairs the committee, said in an aside with the media. “People are still complaining about [traffic] congestion in the metro area. … We have brought in people today who are users of the train, expressing the reality of what is happening. It is a very important issue in our country, in infrastructure, because it

Josué Menéndez, director of the Integrated Transportation Authority, said “the study and execution of the expansion process of the Urban Train has begun, from its terminal station of Sagrado Corazón in Santurce, to the northeast of San Juan,” specifically the Convention Center District and Old San Juan.

is the most expensive train in the world and we all pay for it.”

At the hearing, Menéndez said “the study and execution of the expansion process of the Urban Train has begun, from its terminal station of Sagrado Corazón in Santurce, to the northeast of San Juan [the Convention Center and Old San Juan].”

“We have established a work plan,” he said. “The coordination of this process is being carried out through a specialized group selected by ATI, under strict federal guidelines.”

He also clarified that the goal is to reach Old San Juan, including a stop at the Convention Center.

The deponent noted that a total of 12 alternative routes will be developed for the extension of the Urban Train, which will run from the Sagrado Corazón station to the Convention Center District.

“Naturally, these alternatives vary in alignment, modality, and type of grade [on the ground, elevated and underground],” Menéndez said. “The

development of this exercise is consistent with the guidelines of the federal transportation agency and will allow the project to qualify, in due course, for the allocation of federal funds that can be used to pay for technical engineering, design and construction services.”

Rosa Vélez asked why the expansion of the Urban Train had been stopped, to which Menéndez replied that he did not know, as he was not with the agency at the time, but indicated that it could be presumed that the passage of hurricanes and earthquakes may be the reason for the delay in expansion plans.

“Right now we are focused on the analysis,” he said.

The committee chairwoman also asked why only the metro area is being considered at this time. The deponent said the planning for now is focused on a vision of the current needs of the San Juan metro area. He pointed out that the area with the highest population density is Santurce, and for that reason it is the focus of the analysis.

Unsecured creditors seek to bar 2 fiscal board experts from testifying at July PREPA debt confirmation hearing

By THE STAR STAFF

As a Financial Oversight and Management Board (FOMB) expert report insisted upon its estimation that Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) bondholders’ net revenue claim is $2.1 billion, unsecured creditors want to stop two oversight board witnesses from testifying at a PREPA debt confirmation hearing next month.

On Monday, the oversight board submitted an amended report from expert David Plastino, principal at the Brattle Group and leader of Brattle’s Bankruptcy & Restructuring Practice, whose task was to estimate the bondholders’ unsecured net revenue claim.

Starting today, as part of the adversary proceeding FOMB v US Bank National Association, the federal Title III bankruptcy court will hold hearings on the estimation of the bonded debt claim following a ruling earlier this year in which U.S. District Court

Judge Laura Taylor Swain decided that the bondholders do not have a lien over PREPA’s revenues.

Plastino estimated that the unsecured net revenue claim is $2.1 billion as of July 2, 2017, the Claim Estimation Date, an amount bondholders say is too low.

Meanwhile, the Unsecured Creditors Committee (UCC) in a June 2 motion asked the Title III court overseeing the PREPA bankruptcy to stop two oversight board witnesses from testifying about negotiations.

The UCC does not want the oversight board chairman, David Skeel, and board consultant David Brownstein, director of Citigroup Global Markets, to testify at PREPA’s confirmation hearings, slated for July 17, because they refused to be deposed on matters related to the bankruptcy citing mediation privilege.

The two refused to talk about the negotiations between the oversight board and National Public Finance Guarantee Corp. and

the fuel line lenders, both of which settled their debt with PREPA.

“Brownstein conceded that he, along with the oversight board, might decide to testify at the confirmation hearing on the very same issues that he refused to answer during his

deposition based on a claim of mediation privilege,” the UCC argued. “Neither the oversight board nor its witnesses may invoke a privilege as both a shield and a sword.”

The request was published in PREPA’s bankruptcy case.

David Skeel, chairman of the Financial Oversight and Management Board

USACE to issue bid for emergency power generation in Puerto Rico

By THE STAR STAFF

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) expects to issue a formal solicitation notice by June 20 regarding a potential $5 billion multiple-award task order contract (MATOC) for emergency power generation and stabilization of energy services in Puerto Rico.

USACE’s Savannah District will be responsible for the projects, according to a notice posted last week on SAM.gov.

The agency is seeking contractors to provide land-based temporary generating units, temporary transformers, control cabling as well as equipment installation, operation and maintenance (O&M) services.

O&M services will include coordinating with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) and LUMA Energy, the private operator of PREPA’s transmission & distribution system.

The notice said the purpose of the acquisition is to establish a MATOC with a shared capacity of $5 billion, with a five-year ordering period, to accomplish power system stabilization and power generation services under

the North American Industry Classification System. The primary contract focus is on temporary emergency power augmentation and on related repairs of generation facilities to stabilize the Puerto Rico power system. The work will consist of providing land-based temporary generating units (dual fuel – liquefied natural gas/diesel), temporary transformers, control cabling, and installation of equipment. In addition, the work will cover operation of the equipment, including maintenance, fuel, coordination with PREPA and LUMA on an operation schedule and connections to their equipment.

“Price will be a selection factor for all orders placed under the awarded contracts,” the notice says. “Under this MATOC, hybrid firm-fixed price (FFP) Task Orders with costplus fixed fee (CPFF) elements are anticipated due to the uncertainty and volatility surrounding the cost of the fuel required to power the generators. FAR [Federal Acquisition Regulation] 16.103(b) states a firm-fixed-price contract, which best utilizes the basic profit motive of business enterprise, shall be used when the risk involved is minimal or can be predicted with an acceptable degree of certainty.”

The proposal due date is July 20.

AAFAF launches transition phase for PREPA employees

By THE STAR STAFF

The Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority (AAFAF by its Spanish initials) issued an administrative order OA-2023-003 late last week to establish the second phase of the Voluntary Transition Program (PTV by its Spanish initials) for employees of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA).

The order, issued Friday, comes as Genera PR prepares to take over PREPA’s power plants in July.

AAFAF Executive Director Omar Marrero Díaz said t”we consider it necessary to offer PREPA employees the opportunity to take advantage of a new phase of the

Voluntary Transition Program so that they can benefit from the program’s incentives.”

“This way, we offer an additional alternative to those employees interested in moving to a new phase in their professional career,” he added.

Marrero Díaz said the PTV benefits include: an economic incentive equivalent to six months’ salary, a final settlement for vacation leave and accumulated overtime, and a $600 incentive for health-related expenses.

The period in which public servants may request the PTV begins with the approval of the order and ends on June 26.

“The AAFAF considers it necessary and appropriate to

give PREPA employees the opportunity to take advantage of this Voluntary Transition Program and benefit from the incentives it offers,” Marrero Díaz said. “This has the purpose of attending to, in a fiscally responsible manner, the PREPA reorganization process in conjunction with the transition process of the generation fleet to Genera Puerto Rico.”

Under the program, eligible employees will be considered to occupy regular or transitional career positions. The PTV excludes those employees whose salaries are paid in whole or in part with federal funds. In addition, any employees in positions of trust would also be excluded, unless they have the right to reinstatement to a career position before becoming a program participant, Marrero Díaz said.

Omar Marrero Díaz, executive director of the Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority

Island airports, ports made more resilient with significant investments

By THE STAR STAFF

Puerto Rico Ports Authority Executive Director Joel A. Pizá Batiz announced Monday that the island’s main regional airports and seaports are more resilient at the outset of the hurricane season thanks to the acquisition of equipment, infrastructure repairs and other complementary actions to safeguard operational safety.

“We feel confident in the management carried out to optimize the operations of our main regional airports, not only for the emergency cases that usually occur in the hurricane season, but also for the operations that are carried out daily in them and that have a significant contribution to the Puerto Rican economy,” Pizá Batiz said.

The official said $572,547 in funds obtained through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) was invested in the purchase of five generators of high quality, capacity and

durability. They are being distributed as follows: one 150-kilowatts (kW) generator for the passenger terminal at the Isla Grande airport; one 500-kW generator for the passenger terminal and two 250-kW generators for the Air Rescue and Operations buildings at Mercedita Airport in Ponce, respectively; and one 500kW generator for the passenger terminal at Rafael Hernández Airport in Aguadilla that is in the process of installation. Arecibo Airport also has a new power generator in operation.

Pizá Batiz also stressed that new equipment was acquired to strengthen the Ports Authority’s maintenance resources for green areas. Some of the equipment acquisitions made in the past three years for regional airports are two tractors purchased at a cost of $204,000 with Ports’ own funds, including 15-foot drills and three 5-foot Kubota-type pruners with 360-degree turning capacity valued at $60,000.

“We have already delivered two trac-

tors to the Antonio (Nery) Juarbe airport in Arecibo and the Eugenio María de Hostos airport in Mayagüez, respectively,” Pizá Batiz said. “The José Aponte De la Torre airport in Ceiba, for its part, already has one of three 5-foot Kubota-type mowers with 360-degree turning capacity in operation.”

In addition, a backhoe tractor with turbo diesel engine, enclosed cab, air conditioner and eight-pound fire extinguisher was obtained with an investment of $117,985. A platform for the mobilization of heavy equipment was also received. That equipment is part of the maintenance program of the Aviation Bureau’s Conservation Division. This month the division will receive two dump trucks with a capacity of eight to ten cubic yards and six-cylinder engines, acquired with a total investment of $223,828.00.

The Ports chief highlighted other actions taken in the past two years such as the acquisition of two new cargo vehicles; tools;

high-tech intervention, rescue, protection and miscellaneous equipment for the Air Rescue units of Ponce and Aguadilla, with an investment of $322,000, which will facilitate more rapid response to incidents; the renewal of the authority’s vehicle fleet with 17 new units obtained with a $517,043 investment in combined funds from the CARES Act, Sharing Funds and Ports’ own funds; and new air visual navigation aid systems that will increase the efficiency and safety of operations for pilots at island airports.

Solar panels to be part of $270,000 in improvements at Julia de Burgos shelter

By THE STAR STAFF

Island Housing Secretary William Rodríguez

Rodríguez signed an agreement Monday with Casa Protegida Julia de Burgos that will allow the installation of solar panels and other equipment at the facility that serves as a shelter for women and children at imminent risk of domestic violence.

The $270,000 initiative will be funded through the Social Interest Housing program under Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funds.

“This project will promote energy efficiency,

roof repair, and interior and exterior painting of the building of this organization that offers a very important service in our society for a vulnerable group,” Rodríguez said. “Similarly, the project includes the purchase of kitchen equipment, further improving the functionality and sustainability of the shelter. Once again we see recovery funds put at the service of those most in need and it certainly marks a significant step toward restoring the safety of women and children.”

During the signing of the agreement – in which the director of the Governor’s Office, Caridad Pierluisi, also participated – it was

reasserted that the objective of the entity is to create a safe and welcoming environment where families can overcome difficult situations and begin the process of rebuilding their lives.

Casa Protegida Julia de Burgos Interim Executive Director Lenna Marielys Ramírez Cintrón said receiving the funds “allows us to transform the Casa Julia shelter into a resilient space for our participants and for the staff who work there. Our shelters are an essential lifesaving service for women and child survivors of domestic violence who are in imminent danger.”

She added that “we recognize that, in times

of emergency, cases of violence increase and it is Casa Julia’s commitment to provide a safe space where they can take refuge and have the necessary support to build free lives.”

“We appreciate the support to strengthen our shelter and continue our mission to eradicate violence and build a Puerto Rico of equity,” Ramírez Cintrón said.

Casa Protegida Julia de Burgos is an organization that offers protection, safety and immediate support, with a multidisciplinary team composed of professionals in counseling, social work, psychological services and legal assistance.

Comptroller finds tablets purchased in 2020 for Head Start still in storage

By THE STAR STAFF

The Comptroller of Puerto Rico issued a qualified opinion about the operations of the Municipality of San Juan’s computerized information systems that found a significant amount of electronic tablets purchased for Head Start that remain in storage or are in need of repairs.

A qualified opinion means individual or aggregate non-compliances are significant but not widespread.

Report TI-23-07 reveals that the Municipality of San Juan invested $1.4 million to buy 2,126 electronic tablets with a cover, keyboard and three-year warranty in 2020 for Head Start and Early Head Start students.

Of those, some 485 electronic tablets worth $304,672 had not been distributed as of July 6, 2022.

Commonwealth auditors observed that the tablets were kept in good condition; however, the investment had yet to obtain all the expected utility. Should the tablets

be assigned before October 2023, then the municipality would retain the opportunity to verify their operation and make possible warranty claims, the comptroller’s report noted.

The audit of two findings also detected that 185 electronic tablets classified as broken and wet, worth $114,998, remained stored in the Municipal Tower. Of those, 111 had been referred for evaluation, but after 10 months the guarantee had yet to be processed. The situation does not allow for

maximizing the useful life of the equipment, the report noted.

The report said 13% of the tablets in Head Start centers were defective and had not been referred for maintenance service. The situation is attributed to the Municipal Regulations not having specific guidelines for referring to defective equipment.

The report recommends that the Municipal Management Office ensure that the municipality complies with a corrective action plan established by the Comptroller’s Office.

Mercedita International Airport in Ponce

How the debt limit deal addresses climate goals

By MANUELA ANDREONI and BRAD PLUMER

President Joe Biden and Congress have wrangled a big political deal to raise the country’s debt ceiling.

Tucked into that deal are some changes to how the government approves new projects that bear on the country’s climate goals, whether pipelines or bus lanes. While these tweaks are fairly modest, they’re part of a broader push by many lawmakers for something known as permitting reform, which could affect how quickly the United States cleans up its climate pollution.

Here’s how it affects you, your communities and foreign policy.

Behind the jargon: A way to get big things done.

Permitting reform refers to efforts to change the rules, including those under the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, that govern how, and how quickly, federal agencies authorize big projects. That could be congestion pricing on cars in New York City’s Manhattan borough or a big solar array on federal lands, or, hardest of all, transmission lines that can go through many state and city jurisdictions.

Those who want to build any of those projects have to first detail what the environmental impacts could be, and they have to seek public input. It’s, well, democracy.

The debt ceiling deal would surely speed up one thing.

That’s the Mountain Valley Pipeline. It’s a big win for the established oil and gas producers and their champion in the Senate, Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. How polluting the pipeline would be is a matter of debate. But opponents say a new gas pipeline, which would operate for decades, defies the scientific consensus that the world needs to move quickly away from fossil fuels in order to slow down climate change.

So would renewable energy projects get built faster?

That’s unclear. One section of the bill is designed to speed up energy projects of all kinds, polluting or not, by designating a lead agency to oversee environmental reviews and requiring that they are completed in one to two years. In theory, that could speed up oil and gas projects as well as renewables. But those deadlines could prove tough to enforce, and some experts say those changes would have only a modest impact.

It doesn’t resolve the most urgent question.

Most significantly, the bill leaves unsettled whether the permitting of new transmission lines will be accelerated.

Why are transmission lines so important? Because they can carry electricity from solar arrays and wind farms to the communities that need it. There aren’t nearly enough of them. The sheer volume of wind and solar

projects that have been built recently “has overwhelmed the nation’s antiquated systems to connect new sources of electricity to homes and businesses.”

There’s also the need to make the electricity grid flexible enough to deal with higher demand when extreme heat or cold prompts us to crank up air conditioners or heaters. Right now, our systems are often not fit for that purpose. It’s one of the reasons we’re seeing power failures during heat waves and winter storms, and that’s super dangerous.

A host of things stand in the way of new transmission lines, including permitting and arguments over who should pay for them.

So how did the debt limit negotiations address this? They didn’t.

Democrats had floated a proposal to encourage new transmission lines that would connect different parts of the country but that was stripped out. Instead, the bill mandates that the issue be studied. There have been many such studies already. So the debt ceiling

deal may end up delaying efforts to modernize the grid.

While lawmakers say they will revisit transmission later, critics say this was a missed opportunity at a time when the United States needs to move far more quickly. Some worry that Congress may have missed its best shot to encourage new power lines. And the stakes are high: One study found that unless the United States speeds up the rate at which it builds transmission, more than 80% of the climate benefits of last year’s big clean energy law could be squandered.

How does this affect America’s global standing?

The Biden administration’s ability to show the world that it is serious about taking climate action rests not only on its bold promises to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions but also on its ability to keep its promises. Without grid modernization, that could prove extremely difficult.

Environmental campaigners have something new to weigh: Is faster better?

NEPA has been used to delay and block big infrastructure projects, including oil and gas pipelines. Campaigners have become deft at stopping things, using environmental regulations.

Now, though, the United States needs to get better at building new infrastructure quickly to meet its climate goals. That could be a new subway line or a bus-only lane to encourage city commuters to rely less on cars. Or it could mean an offshore wind farm, or transmission lines that can get that wind energy to homes and businesses to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. The question now is whether the permitting process for those projects should be streamlined. And if it is, would that cause more environmental harm in the places where they are built and for the plants and animals that live there?

Modernizing the U.S. electric grid, which is buckling under the sheer volume of new wind and solar projects, requires government permits.

California officials investigating flight of migrants to Sacramento

By SHAWN HUBLER, NICHOLAS NEHAMAS and EMILY COCHRANE

Sixteen migrants from Venezuela and Colombia were abruptly flown on a private chartered jet to California and dropped off outside a church building in Sacramento on Friday, state officials said, accusing a contractor for a state-funded Florida program of transporting the group from outside a Texas migrant center under a false promise of jobs if the migrants agreed to be taken to California.

“We’re confident it was Florida,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in an interview Sunday, citing documents the migrants showed authorities upon their arrival that indicated their travel had been “administered by the Florida Division of Emergency Management” and its contractor, Vertol Systems Co.

Bonta, whose office is investigating the episode, said that the migrants, who are not fluent in English, had been approached outside El Paso, Texas, and told “in broken Spanish” to sign the documents as a condition of boarding the plane to Sacramento, but that not all had understood where they were going and not all had signed.

The episode mirrored an aggressive tactic used by hard-line Republican governors to protest President Joe Biden’s immigration policies by dispatching dozens of migrants, with little explanation or warning, to states and cities led by Democrats. Vertol Systems was the company used for transport in the fall when Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida directed two planeloads of South American migrants from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard, a Democratic-leaning Massachusetts island.

Representatives for Vertol and for DeSantis, a Republican who has made immigration

a major theme of his campaign for president, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. On the campaign trail, DeSantis, who has a fundraiser scheduled in Sacramento on June 19 and who has publicly traded barbs with Gov. Gavin Newsom of California over immigration, frequently highlights his decision to send migrants to Martha’s Vineyard.

Bonta and Newsom, both Democrats, met with the migrants Saturday, pledging to take care of them while they remained in the state.

On Sunday, Bonta said that members of

the group had taken photos and videos of their trip, capturing images of the people who had approached them in Texas and chaperoned their trip to Sacramento as their anxiety over the situation mounted.

He vowed to aggressively pursue the possibility of criminal or civil charges for those involved in the transport, calling the action “morally bankrupt.”

“To be clear, this was the state of Florida using its budget to move migrants in Texas to New Mexico and California,” he said. “These are migrants who never were in Florida.”

California, along with the city of Sacramento and local nonprofits, will work “to ensure the people who have arrived are treated with respect and dignity, and get to their intended destination as they pursue their immigration cases,” Newsom said in a statement. Several nonprofit organizations in Sacramento also confirmed that they had spoken with the migrants.

Bonta said that the migrants, many of whom had met one another during their journey and banded together for safety, included a girl who had turned 18 on the road and a father who had left six children behind in a desperate bid to provide for his family.

One man, Bonta said, played him a voicemail message in Spanish from his 9-year-old daughter: “Papa, I’m hungry — we didn’t eat

today,” the attorney general said, translating the message. “Mama is sick.”

The group had been approached outside a migrant center near El Paso, by people who said they were there on behalf of a private contractor and could help them get to a center where they would receive assistance securing a job, shelter, clothing and other necessities, according to state and nonprofit officials.

Reading from paperwork that migrants shared with authorities, Bonta said they had been instructed to sign and initial waivers saying they agreed “to participate in the state of Florida’s voluntary transportation program,” and that they understood that “this program is administered by the Florida Division of Emergency Management” and that “a contractor for this program is Vertol Systems Company Inc.”

The waivers, which echo documents carried by migrants in previous transport cases, did not mention jobs, he said, and released Florida and Vertol of any liability.

Bonta said Florida authorities would most likely cite the paperwork to argue that the migrants had given informed consent, as DeSantis contended after the episode at Martha’sVineyard. But, Bonta added, they “weren’t fully informed and it wasn’t fully consensual.”

The migrants were then transported to New Mexico and flown on a chartered flight to Sacramento, where they were driven to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento. Left outside an administrative building for the church, the migrants had backpacks of belongings, little information about where they were and a promise that someone would be coming to get them.

“The ones that I’ve spoken to — they feel they’ve been lied to; some of them have said they were abandoned,” said Cecilia Flores, who works with Sacramento ACT, a community organization. “They couldn’t understand why anyone would do something like that.”

The group, she said, did not include children and appeared to be made up of women and men under age 40. Many of them were seeking asylum in the United States, but none of the migrants, to her knowledge, had intended to go to Sacramento.

Sacramento ACT and other organizations are working to find the migrants secure housing and to help with their next steps. Several have court appointments elsewhere in the country, and some have out-of-state court dates within the next two weeks, Bonta said.

Mayor Darrell Steinberg of Sacramento, a Democrat, said he was “heartened” by the attorney general’s investigation, adding that “whoever is behind this must answer.”

Migrants on a ferry in Vineyard Haven, Mass., Sept. 16, 2022. Sixteen migrants from Venezuela and Colombia were abruptly flown on a private chartered jet to California and dropped off outside a Sacramento Catholic church building on Friday, June 2. 2023, state officials said, prompting an investigation into whether they were transported from outside a Texas migrant center under false pretenses.

The 2024 GOP field balloons this week, adding 3 new candidates

By TRIP GABRIEL

The growing field of Republicans running for president is set to expand by three this week, with the entry of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Vice President Mike Pence and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. The field continues to expand in part because hopefuls see opportunity in the struggle of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to become the undisputed challenger to former President Donald Trump.

DeSantis trails Trump by about 30 points in national polls of Republican voters. No one else is close, but with 1 in 4 Republicans still looking for an alternative to the two front-runners, a fierce competition to be that other option is emerging.

All three of the latest entrants are considered long shots, at least for now.

But each will get a momentary burst of attention when declaring his candidacy, with the hope that from small sparks a brush fire will spread.

Chris Christie

When: Tuesday

Where: A town-hall-style event at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics outside Manchester.

Christie, who dropped out of the 2016 primary early and became a supporter of Trump’s, has cast himself as the former president’s harshest critic in the Republican field. He says Trump is unfit to serve after inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Christie’s team recently said that he would run a campaign focused on “mixing it up in the news cycle and engaging Trump.”

But being an outspoken Trump critic has so far paid few dividends. Among 10 declared or potential 2024 candidates tested in a Monmouth poll last week, Christie was viewed the most negatively by Republican voters (21% viewed him favorably and 47% unfavorably). His strategy is to make it onto a debate stage, where his trademark pugilism, he has promised, will be aimed at Trump.

Christie is likely to campaign heavily in New Hampshire, where a large number of independents are expected to vote in the primary next year, offering Christie his best opportunity to damage Trump.

Mike Pence

When: Wednesday

Where: A rally with voters in Des Moines, Iowa, followed by a CNN town hall at 9 p.m. Eastern.

Pence brought credibility with social conservatives to the 2016 ticket, but his star faded with the party base after he refused to comply with Trump’s efforts to block President Joe Biden’s victory. As an evangelical Christian and former Indiana governor, Pence is a natural fit with Iowa conservatives, and he is likely to focus much of his campaigning there in the hope of a strong showing in the first nominating contest next year. His campaign intends to reintroduce him to voters as his own man, not Trump’s No. 2.

But Pence, who espouses traditional Ronald Reagan-esque views on economic and foreign policy — he supports aid to Ukraine — finds himself at odds with the current populist thrust of the party. In the Monmouth poll, he had the second-highest unfavorable number (35%, versus 46%

favorable). When Fox News host Sean Hannity mentioned at a town hall with Trump on Thursday that Pence would soon join the race, there were boos.

Doug Burgum

When: Wednesday

Where: Fargo, North Dakota.

Burgum, who is little-known outside his home state, made a large fortune in computer software and is in a position to self-fund his longer-than-long-shot campaign. He has said he believes that 60% of American voters constitute a “silent majority” that feels ignored by intense ideological debates that dominate politics.

“There’s definitely a yearning for some alternatives right now,” Burgum told a Fargo news site.

Energy policy is central to his message: As governor, Burgum set a goal of reaching carbon neutrality in North Dakota by 2030. He aimed to do so not by diminishing dependence on fossil fuels, a key part of the state’s economy, but by accelerating technology to capture carbon emissions in the ground. Burgum is low-key and notably not aligned with Trump-style populism. That means that, in addition to being little known, he will be paddling against the current in today’s Republican rapids.

Former Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, former Vice President Mike Pence and Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota are set to announce their runs for the presidency this week.

Twitter’s US ad sales plunge 59% as woes continue

By RYAN MAC and TIFFANY HSU

Elon Musk recently said Twitter’s advertising business was on the upswing. “Almost all advertisers have come back,” he asserted, adding that the social media company could soon become profitable.

But Twitter’s U.S. advertising revenue for the five weeks from April 1 to the first week of May was $88 million, down 59% from a year earlier, according to an internal presentation obtained by The New York Times. Twitter has regularly fallen short of its U.S. weekly sales projections, sometimes by as much as 30%, the document said.

That performance is unlikely to improve anytime soon, according to the documents and seven current and former Twitter employees.

Twitter’s ad sales staff is concerned that advertisers may be spooked by a rise in hate speech and pornography on the social network, as well as more ads featuring online gambling and marijuana products, the people said. The company has forecast that its U.S. ad revenue this month will be down at least 56% each week compared with a year ago, according to one internal document.

These issues will soon be inherited by Linda Yaccarino, the NBCUniversal executive whom Musk named Twitter’s CEO last month. She is expected to start the job Monday, four people familiar with the situation said.

Yaccarino declined to comment through a spokesperson. Musk did not respond to a request for comment.

The state of Twitter’s advertising is crucial because ads have long made up 90% of the company’s revenue. After Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in October and took the company private, he vowed to build “the most respected ad platform.” But he quickly alienated advertisers by firing key sales executives, spreading a conspiracy theory on the site and welcoming back barred Twitter users.

In response, several large ad agencies and brands, including General Motors and Volkswagen, paused their ad

spending on Twitter. Musk has said Twitter was on track to post $3 billion in revenue in 2023, down from $5.1 billion in 2021, when it was a public company.

Twitter’s valuation has since plunged. In March, Musk said the company was worth $20 billion, down more than 50% from the $44 billion he paid for it. Last week, the mutual funds giant Fidelity, which owns shares in Twitter, valued the company at $15 billion.

Twitter feels increasingly “unpredictable and chaotic,” said Jason Kint, CEO of Digital Content Next, an association for premium publishers. “Advertisers want to run in an environment where they are comfortable and can send a signal about their brand,” he added.

Some of Twitter’s biggest advertisers — including Apple, Amazon and Disney — have been spending less on the platform than last year, three former and current Twitter employees said. Large specialized “banner” ads on Twitter’s trends page, which can cost $500,000 for 24 hours and are almost always bought by large brands to promote events, shows or movies, are often going unfilled, they said.

Twitter has also run into public relations snafus with big advertisers such as Disney. In April, Twitter mistakenly gave a gold check mark — a badge meant to signify a paying advertiser — to the @DisneyJuniorUK account, which Disney doesn’t own. The account posted racial slurs, leading Disney officials to demand from Twitter an explanation and assurances that it wouldn’t happen again, two people with knowledge of the situation said.

Disney, Apple and Amazon declined to comment.

Six ad agency executives who have worked with Twitter said their clients continued to limit spending on the platform. They cited confusion over Musk’s changes to the

service, inconsistent support from Twitter, and concerns about the persistent presence of misleading and toxic content on the platform.

Last month, for instance, a picture that appeared to show an explosion near the Pentagon — which artificial intelligence experts identified as a synthetically generated image — was shared by dozens of Twitter accounts and briefly caused the stock market to tumble.

Some advertisers also continue to worry about Musk’s tweets. Last month, he posted several times comparing billionaire financier George Soros, a frequent target for conspiracy theorists, to “X-Men” comic book villain Magneto. Ted Deutch, CEO of the American Jewish Committee, noted that Soros and Magneto are Holocaust survivors and that “the lie Jews want to destroy civilization has led to the persecution of Jewish people for centuries.”

“Musk should know better,” he said.

Twitter is exploring ways to make it easier for advertisers to buy space on the platform, testing an automated system outside the United States to make deals, two people familiar with the arrangement said. Insider earlier reported the move.

The company is experiencing ad growth in areas that it once shied away from or prohibited, including online gambling and marijuana products. In one week last month, four of Twitter’s top 10 U.S. advertisers were online gambling and fantasy sports betting companies, according to one presentation. Twitter has also started allowing ads for cannabis accessories, including “bongs, vapes, rolling paper,” as well as erectile dysfunction products and services, according to internal emails.

Adult content, which is permitted on Twitter, has become a concern among the company’s sales staff. When some employees tried to drum up interest from advertisers for Mother’s Day, they found that potential sponsored search terms, including “MomLife,” surfaced pornographic videos, according to two people familiar with the conversations.

These are issues that some advertisers hope Yaccarino will solve.

Dave Campanelli, chief investment officer of Horizon Media, said he was hoping for change after Yaccarino started, because media agencies such as his struggled to maintain contact with Twitter last fall after Musk arrived.

“For a period, we weren’t even sure who to get on the phone with to talk to,” he said. “With Linda coming in, that could change that in a big way.”

He acknowledged that Twitter’s mercurial boss and volatile environment might pose a challenge for Yaccarino.

“It’s a tall order,” Campanelli said.

S&P 500 ends lower as traders eye potential pause in rate hikes

The S&P 500 ended lower on Monday as investors weighed whether the U.S. Federal Reserve might pause its interest rate hikes at its upcoming policy meeting, while Apple briefly hit a record high before losing ground.

Apple Inc ended 0.8% lower after the world’s most valuable company unveiled an augmented-reality headset called the Vision Pro, its riskiest and biggest bet since the introduction of the iPhone. Earlier Apple rose as much as 2.2% to an all-time high.

Other heavyweight growth stocks were mixed, with Nvidia Corp dipping 0.4% and giving back some of its recent gains, and Tesla Inc adding 1.7% after the electric vehicle maker’s sales of China-made cars in China jumped in May.

Geopolitical concerns also simmered on the background, with the U.S. preparing to impose a 200 per cent tariff on Russian-made aluminum and U.S.-listed Chinese shares tumbling as Washington’s move to shoot down an alleged surveillance balloon from the Asian nation.

A rout in megacaps like Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Google’s parent Alphabet Inc., which reported results last week, weighed on sentiment. The group’s reality check came after the Nasdaq 100 approached bull-market territory. Investors will continue to focus on earnings to figure out whether the recent rally was a “bear trap” driven by “fear of missing out,” noted Chris Larkin at E*Trade from Morgan Stanley.

The S&P 500 on Friday closed at its highest level in over nine months after a report showed that wage growth moderated in May.

Following a stronger-than-expected earnings season and expectations the Fed could pause its aggressive monetary tightening cycle, the S&P 500 is up nearly 20% from its closing low in October, lifted by gains in heavyweight tech stocks including Apple, Nvidia and Microsoft Corp.

Reinforcing expectations the Fed could pause its rate hikes, a survey from the Institute for Supply Management showed the U.S. services sector barely grew in May as new orders slowed, pushing a measure of prices paid by businesses for inputs to a three-year low, which could aid the Fed’s fight against inflation.

“That bad news is good news in terms of the Fed. The bad news, meaning weak economic reports, is actually good news because it makes it more likely the Fed will pause its series of interest rate hikes, believing they have begun to do their trick bringing inflation down,” said Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist Ingalls & Snyder in New York.

Traders have priced in a nearly 80% chance that the Fed will hold interest rates at its June 13-14 policy meeting, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool, although they

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expect another hike in July.

The S&P 500 declined 0.20% to end the session at 4,273.79 points.

The Nasdaq declined 0.09% to 13,229.43 points, while Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.59% to 33,562.86 points. Of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes, seven declined, led lower by industrials, down 0.71%, followed by a 0.58% loss in energy.

Palo Alto Networks Inc climbed 4.4%, with the cyber-

security firm set to replace Dish Network Corp in the S&P 500 index on June 20. Dish shares fell 2.7%.

Big U.S. banks slipped after the Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. regulators were preparing to tighten rules for large banks, which could include raising their capital requirements by 20% on average.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones within the S&P 500 by a 1.5-to-one ratio.

The S&P 500 posted 17 new highs and four new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 90 new highs and 54 new lows.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was relatively light, with 9.7 billion shares traded, compared to an average of 10.5 billion shares over the previous 20 sessions.

Russia says Ukrainian forces trying to break through eastern front

By ANDREW E. KRAMER and JULIAN E. BARNES

Ukrainian ground forces tried to break through Russian defenses in eastern Ukraine, in an area of the front that had not shifted significantly for months and staged large-scale assaults across much of the front line, Russian authorities and military bloggers aligned with the Kremlin said Monday.

Ukraine has remained silent about military operations after months of preparing for a major counteroffensive in the war. Consequently, Russian reports were expected to signal the start of military action before any formal Ukrainian announcements. The only indication from the Ukrainian side that an operation may have started was a video released by the military Sunday showing soldiers putting a finger to their lips, asking for silence.

Two unverified Russian reports said Ukrainian forces had pushed through Russian defenses in two areas. While the Russian Ministry of Defense said early Monday that a major Ukrainian operation had begun along multiple sections of the front in the Donetsk region, it said the Ukrainian attack had been repelled. Moscow’s reports of the offensive and Ukrainian casualties could

not be corroborated. Tass, the Russian news agency, cited the ministry spokesperson, Igor Konashenkov.

There was no immediate response from

Ukrainian authorities to the Russian claim.

By early Monday, a Russian Telegram channel that reports on the war said Ukrainian forces had breached a first line of Russian

defenses near the town of Velyka Novosilka in Donetsk, and reclaimed two villages as Russian forces fell back to reserve positions.

Buttressing the Russian reports the counteroffensive had begun, independent U.S. military analysts said they believed Ukrainian units had begun an initial thrust to determine the position and strength of Russia’s forces.

The various reports of combat maneuvers across the front were hard to decipher and it was unclear what operations were part of a main attack and which could be feints or diversions. But a thrust to test Russian lines would be a traditional tactic of the kind Americans have been training the Ukrainians to undertake.

The Russian reports of the fighting Sunday night and Monday morning were of movements of larger units, a potential signal that Ukraine had pushed its NATO-trained forces into the fight.

Rybar, another Russian Telegram channel, said Ukrainian forces had launched an attack in the Zaporizhzhia region, to the west of Donetsk, with company sized units, or groups of about 100 soldiers, supported by tanks, and had advanced about 200 yards. It said Russian forces had destroyed two Ukrainian tanks with anti-tank missiles. The claims could not be independently verified.

At least 42 are dead and thousands are displaced after flooding in Haiti

By JESÚS JIMÉNEZ

At least 42 people were dead and thousands were displaced after a weekend of heavy rainfall and widespread flooding in Haiti, the country’s disaster response agency said Monday.

The heavy rain, which fell mostly Saturday and Sunday, flooded more than 13,000 homes, displacing people across Haiti, according to the agency. It also said that 85 people were injured and 11 were missing.

As emergency workers rushed to provide food, drink-

ing water and shelter for those who were affected, western portions of the Caribbean nation appeared to have suffered the brunt of the heavy rain.

In western portions of Haiti, more than 5,000 homes had been affected by rain and flooding, leaving more than 2,500 people displaced, the agency said in an update Sunday. In the central region, it said that the agriculture sector had been “very impacted.”

Videos circulating on social media depicted dramatic scenes over the weekend as heavy flooding made some roadways look like flowing rivers with vehicles floating away.

Jean-Martin Bauer, acting humanitarian coordinator for Haiti at the United Nations, said in a statement Monday that numerous schools and other buildings were damaged, particularly in the western and northwestern regions of Haiti.

“Although this is not a cyclone nor a tropical storm, considerable damage was observed in the affected areas,” Bauer said.

At a news conference Sunday, the acting prime minister, Ariel Henry, thanked volunteers with the disaster response agency for their work. He said on

Twitter that federal agencies were working to meet the “demands of the day.”

The widespread flooding is the latest blow to a country that has become all too familiar with natural disasters, most notably a magnitude-7 earthquake in 2010 that killed more than 200,000 people and destroyed much of Port-auPrince, Haiti’s capital.

Since then, Haiti has struggled to recover from the massive effects the earthquake had on the nation’s economy and infrastructure, while facing other natural disasters. In August 2021, more than 1,900 people were killed in Haiti after the country was struck by a magnitude-7.2 earthquake, which was followed by heavy rain from a tropical depression just two days later.

“I am particularly concerned by this situation at a time when the Haitian population is already highly vulnerable,” Bauer said Monday, adding that the flooding came “at a time when the country is facing a major humanitarian crisis.”

Even before this past weekend’s rain and flooding, nearly half of Haiti’s population, about 5.2 million people, were in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations.

Donating blood at the city hospital after the local government announced a request for additional donors on Monday in Odesa, Ukraine, June 5, 2023.

Vigilante justice rises in Haiti and crime plummets

By FRANCES ROBLES and ANDRE PAULTRE

The 14 presumed gang members under arrest were arriving at a police station in Haiti’s capital when a group of people overpowered the police, rounded up the suspects outside and used gasoline to burn them alive.

The gruesome executions April 24 marked the start of a brutal vigilante campaign to reclaim the streets of the capital, Port-au-Prince, from gangs that have inflicted terror on Haitians for nearly two years.

In a nation wracked by extreme poverty and violence, civilians have taken up arms and killed at least 160 people believed to be gang members in the six weeks since a citizens “self-defense” movement known as “bwa kale” kicked off its vigilantism with the brazen police station attack, according to data gathered in a new report by a prominent Haitian human rights group.

The result: a sharp drop in kidnappings and killings attributed to gangs in neighborhoods where people told The New York Times they had been afraid to leave their homes.

“Before the 24th, every day someone passed by and demanded that I give him money because of my little business,” said Marie, 62, who sells shoes on the streets of Port-auPrince. The Times is withholding her full name and those of other residents quoted in this article for their safety.

“When I had no money, they took whatever they wanted from my table, and this happened at any time of the day,” she said.

But two weeks ago, members of the “bwa kale” — crude slang for erection — burned a man believed to be a gang member alive in front of her shoe stall.

Although she sees the revenge movement as “God beginning to make things right,” Marie has misgivings.

“I support vigilance groups, but I don’t like the way they do it,” she said. “He could have been punished in another way. He could have been arrested and put in jail.”

The outbreak of mob justice is worrisome, Haiti experts say, because it could easily be used to target people who have nothing to do with gangs and could lead to an explosion of even worse violence if the gangs seek retribution.

That it took a movement of self-appointed vigilantes to bring some semblance of calm to parts of Port-au-Prince underscores the chaos engulfing a country where no president has been elected in two years, and underpaid and outgunned police have fled in large numbers.

Even as vigilantes set people ablaze and

set up checkpoints, many Haitians support them and consider them a natural consequence of an acute power vacuum.

Nearly two years ago, the last elected president, Jovenel Moïse, was assassinated in his home and replaced by an interim prime minister widely viewed as inept. Elections have not been held since the assassination, and the Caribbean nation of 11 million people has no remaining elected officials.

The acting prime minister, Ariel Henry, appealed last year for outside intervention, but efforts by the United States and other nations to mount an international contingent have stalled, largely because no country wants to lead it.

Gangs have long controlled Haiti’s poorest neighborhoods, but their influence and violence grew after Moïse’s killing.

They have battled for control of parts of Port-au-Prince through random killings, rape and kidnappings. A nine-day period last July saw 470 murders, according to the United Nations. The violence has kept residents from being able to work or to buy food, prompting many people to leave for the United States.

“People lived like rats who only came out of their holes to eat,” said Arnold Antonin, 80, a Haitian filmmaker living in the Dominican Republic who fled last year when his wife, Beatriz Larghi, was kidnapped and gangs took over his neighborhood, south of the capital.

“The gangs were like the cats.” (His wife was released unharmed after three days, after a ransom was paid. )

On April 24, residents decided enough was enough. The 14 presumed gang members

had been arrested and taken to a Port-auPrince police station. Police officers watched helplessly as neighbors beat the suspects and used tires doused in gasoline to set them on fire, according to the report by the Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights, known as CARDH, which used a combination of field investigators, local authorities, witness accounts, media and verified social media reports to compile its data.

The killings were also captured in videos that have been widely shared.

“The country is near anarchy,” said Nicole Phillips, a human rights lawyer in San Francisco who follows Haiti closely, noting that the vigilante killings are particularly worrisome because many young boys are recruited to gangs by force.

In one episode, a crowd in Pétion-Ville, a well-off Port-au-Prince suburb, left the charred bodies of five men they had killed near a police station along the road that led to Moïse’s home.

“The reaction of the population, after years of gangs imposing their law, can be attributed to self-defense,” said Gédéon Jean, the executive director of CARDH. “Gangs are supported by certain authori-

ties, politicians and businesspeople. At almost all levels of the police force, gangs have links with police officers. The police do not have the means to systematically and simultaneously confront the growing gangs.”

The “bwa kale” movement has led to a significant reduction in gang violence, according to the report. In May, 43 murders were recorded, most in Port-au-Prince, compared with 146 in April, Jean said, adding that there have been almost no kidnappings.

“Fear has changed sides,” Antonin said. He plans to return to Haiti in the coming weeks now that his neighborhood is back in the hands of the community.

“The people who are doing this are not criminals,” said Robert Maguire, a retired professor at George Washington University who has studied Haiti for decades. “They are just ordinary Haitians who are fed up, frustrated and frightened. And they want some kind of security. If they have to do it themselves, they’ll do it.”

Amanda, 29, said she had to leave her house in the La Grotte neighborhood of Portau-Prince in a hurry before dawn one April morning when gangs descended on her street. She slept on sidewalks and hid from assailants. The vigilantes then killed some of the gang members, she said, though without any guarantees that they got the right people.

Now they staff checkpoints, helping keep strangers out of her neighborhood by checking IDs.

“I support the vigilance brigades,” she said. “When I pass at a checkpoint, I accept that they check on me.”

One energetic teenager working a checkpoint vowed to keep up the pressure by closing roads all night long and interrogating people trying to enter. It was necessary, he said, because the police were too afraid of the gangs.

“We are ready to fight until things change in this country,” he said, declining to give his name, for fear of being targeted by gangs. “Nothing can stop us.”

Men with machetes, part of a self-defense initiative to keep gangs from gaining control of their neighborhood, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Money for show horses, not work horses, on India’s rails

By ALEX TRAVELLI

In a country where major industry and political fortunes alike are often tied to a vast, interwoven rail system, India has lavished public resources on new trains, but its purse strings have been much tighter when it comes to ensuring the safety of those already racing along its tracks.

Those decisions loomed large Sunday in the aftermath of a devastating train wreck that killed at least 275 people in eastern India. Investigators said they were focused on the possibility that signal failure might have led to the three-train crash Friday, the worst rail wreck in the country in years.

The crash, which also injured more than 1,100 people, occurred when a passenger train heading south at about 80 mph toward the city of Chennai veered onto the wrong track and hit a parked freight train, authorities say. The first train’s derailed cars then plowed into a second passenger train that was heading toward it, leaving a scene of carnage.

Over the past years, India has been polishing its long-ramshackle infrastructure as never before, and its railways, which are at the heart of the world’s fifth-largest economy, have been a prime beneficiary. The government spent almost $30 billion on the rail system during the past fiscal year, up 15% from the year before.

But the amount spent on basic track maintenance and other safety measures has been falling. A report last year by India’s auditor general, an independent office, found that less money was being allocated for track renewal work and that officials had not even

spent the full amount set aside.

With more than 20 million passengers riding the rails of India every day, many of them migrant workers, a politician cannot go wrong by showering money on the system, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done just that, with no little fanfare. The budget for the train system, one of the largest in the world, is five times as much this year than when he took office.

Most of Modi’s initiatives have been

aimed not at the basic steps needed to get trains from Point A to Point B without mishap, but at improving speed and comfort. He regularly extols higher-fare new electric Vande Bharat trains connecting bigger cities and has made an early priority of a Japanesestyle bullet train, though it can do nothing to improve the lives of the country’s ordinary passengers.

The government says the investment is part of an effort to elevate the experience of riding India’s railways to a world-class standard and to attract investment from abroad.

Spending on programs dedicated to safety improvements for India’s fleet of more than 13,000 older trains has been shrinking, however, as a portion of the total and even in absolute terms, according to the most recently published budgets.

Partha Mukhopadhyay, a senior fellow at the Center for Policy Research, a organization in New Delhi, cited one need in particular. “The signaling function could perhaps do with more attention,” he said. “Strategically, signaling is a soft-capacity addition, and as we move to higher-speed trains, it will become more important.”

As devastating as the crash on Friday has been, rail travel in India is far safer than ever.

Derailments were once frequent, with an average of 475 per year from 1980 to about the turn of the century. In the decade leading to 2021, that number dropped to just

over 50, according to a paper railway officials presented at the World Congress on Disaster Management.

Rail safety in India, more generally, has also improved, with the number of serious train accidents dropping steadily: to 22 in the 2020 fiscal year from more than 300 annually two decades ago. By 2020, for two years in a row, India had recorded no passenger deaths in rail accidents — a milestone hailed by the Modi government. Until 2017, more than 100 passengers were killed every year.

Under Modi, India has been on a spending spree, with its Finance Ministry and the World Bank hoping that private companies will follow the government’s lead and pour more money into the economy. The World Bank noted in a report in April that India’s rate of government spending toward longterm goals “has increased relative to the prepandemic level.” Transportation, including the railroads, plays a major part in that spending surge.

“In the 21st century, for rapid development of the country, growth and reform of railways is essential,” Modi said at the dedication of a train line last year. ”A nationwide campaign is underway to transform railways.”

Auguste Tano Kouamé, the World Bank’s country director for India, said the high rate of public spending on power distribution, new highways and the railroads would “crowd in” more spending by companies in pursuit of long-term gains.

Three months ago, intent on promoting homegrown safety technology, India’s railway minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, made a show of placing himself and the chair of the Railway Board on two trains on a collision course. The idea was to demonstrate the new system, called Kavach, or armor.

The two trains sped toward each other on a single track. At a distance of 400 meters — about 440 yards — the new system applied the brakes automatically.

But the Kavach system has been installed on only a tiny fraction of India’s trains, covering about 900 miles of the total route, more than 40,000 miles. It was not used by the trains that crashed Friday, and one opposition politician, Mamata Banerjee, a former railway minister, seized on that.

“Had the device been on the train, this would not have happened,” she told reporters.

Vaishnaw, whose resignation has been demanded in some quarters — rejected the suggestion.

“This accident is not about the collisionavoidance system,” he said.

Railway workers in India on Sunday at the site of a three-train crash.

Turkey’s election is a warning about Trump

By BRET STEPHENS

“The totalitarian phenomenon,” French philosopher Jean-François Revel once noted, “is not to be understood without making an allowance for the thesis that some important part of every society consists of people who actively want tyranny: either to exercise it themselves or — much more mysteriously — to submit to it.”

It’s an observation that should help guide our thinking about the reelection this week of Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey. And it should serve as a warning about other places — including the Republican Party — where autocratic leaders, seemingly incompetent in many respects, are returning to power through democratic means.

That’s not quite the way Erdogan’s close-butcomfortable victory in Sunday’s runoff over former civil servant Kemal Kilicdaroglu is being described in many analyses. The president, they say, has spent 20 years in power tilting every conceivable scale in his favor.

Erdogan has used regulatory means and abused the criminal-justice system to effectively control the news media. He has exercised his presidential power to deliver subsidies, tax cuts, cheap loans and other handouts to favored constituencies. He has sought to criminalize an opposition party on specious grounds of links to terrorist groups. In December, a Turkish court effectively barred Erdogan’s most serious prospective rival, Mayor Ekrem

Imamoglu of Istanbul, from politics by sentencing him to prison on charges of insulting public officials.

Then, too, Kilicdaroglu was widely seen as a colorless and inept politician, promising a return to a status quo ante that many Turks remember, with no fondness, as a time of regular economic crises and a kind of repressive secularism.

All of this is true, as far as it goes, and it helps underscore the worldwide phenomenon of what Fareed Zakaria aptly calls “free and unfair elections.” But it doesn’t go far enough.

Turkey under Erdogan is in a dreadful state and has been for a long time. Inflation last year hit 85% and is still running north of 40%, thanks to Erdogan’s insistence on cutting interest rates in the teeth of rising prices. He has used a series of show trials — some based in fact, others pure fantasy — to eviscerate civil freedoms. February’s earthquakes, which took an estimated 50,000 lives and injured twice as many, were badly handled by the government and exposed the corruption of a system that cared more for patronage networks than for well-built buildings.

Under normal political expectations, Erdogan should have paid the political price with a crushing electoral defeat. Not only did he survive, he increased his vote share in some of the towns worst hit by, and most neglected after, the earthquakes. “We love him,” explained a resident quoted in The Economist. “For the call to prayer, for our homes, for our headscarves.”

That last line is telling, and not just because it gets to the importance of Erdogan’s Islamism as the secret of his success. It’s a rebuke to James Carville’s parochially American slogan, “It’s the economy, stupid.” Actually, no: It’s also God, tradition, values, identity, culture and the resentments that go with each. Only a denuded secular imagination fails to notice that there are things people care about more than their paychecks.

There is also the matter of power. The classically liberal political tradition is based on the suspicion of power. The illiberal tradition is based on the exaltation of it. Erdogan, as the tribune of the Turkish Everyman, built himself an aesthetically grotesque, 1,100-room presidential palace for $615 million. Far from scandalizing his supporters, it seems to have delighted them. In it, they see not a sign of extravagance or waste, but the importance of the man and the movement to which they attach themselves and submit.

All this is a reminder that political signals are often transmitted at frequencies that liberal ears have trouble hearing, much less decoding. To wonder how Erdogan could possibly be reelected after so thoroughly wrecking his country’s economy and its institutions is akin to wondering how Vladimir Putin appears to retain considerable domestic support in the wake of his Ukraine debacle. Maybe what some critical mass of ordinary Russians want, at least at some subconscious level, isn’t an

easy victory. It’s a unifying ordeal.

Which brings us to another would-be strongman in his palace in Palm Beach. In November, I was sure that Donald Trump was, as I wrote, “finally finished.” How could any but his most slavish followers continue to support him after he had once again cost Republicans the Senate? Wouldn’t this latest proof of losing be the last straw for devotees who had been promised “so much winning”?

Silly me. The Trump movement isn’t built on the prospect of winning. It’s built on a sense of belonging: of being heard and seen; of being a thorn in the side to those you sense despise you and whom you despise in turn; of submission for the sake of representation. All the rest — victory or defeat, prosperity or misery — is details.

Erdogan defied expectation because he understood this. He won’t be the last populist leader to do so.

POR CYBERNEWS

GUAYNABO – La comisionada residente, Jenniffer González Colón, animó el lunes a las pequeñas y medianas empresas a utilizar las oportunidades diseñadas por el gobierno federal para expandir sus negocios. Sus palabras se dieron durante el primer evento “Construyendo Puentes Hacia los Mercados Globales”, organizado por el Servicio Comercial de la Administración de Comercio Internacional del Departamento de Comercio de Estados Unidos.

“Nuestro objetivo debe ser aumentar nuestra capacidad comercial y empoderar a las pequeñas y medianas empresas de nuestra isla para que comercialicen sus bienes, productos y servicios en todo el mundo”, comentó la comisionada residente en declaraciones escritas.

La Iniciativa de Exportación de Diversidad Global de la Agencia pretende presentar a las empresas de Puerto Rico contactos confiables, información precisa y recursos listos para usar que conducen al éxito comercial al expandir sus rutas de productos y servicios.

POR CYBERNEWS

“Según las estadísticas de comercio exterior de la Oficina del Censo, en 2022, Puerto Rico exportó veinte mil setecientos millones de dólares en bienes, lo que lo convierte en el exportador número 25 entre los 53 estados y territorios exportadores de los Estados Unidos”, detalló González Colón.

En el evento, González Colón y Arun Venkatraman, secretario adjunto de Comercio para Mercados Globales, otorgaron el Premio al Logro de Exportación a tres empresas: Joyería Krystalos, Avery Dennison Corporation y B & B Manufacturing Corporation.

S

AN JUAN – El Panel sobre el Fiscal Especial Independiente (FEI) anunció que el 7 de junio de 2023 a las diez de la mañana, los fiscales presentarán nuevamente cargos contra Albert Torres Berríos, senador por el distrito de Guayama, en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia de San Juan.

Entre los cargos están soborno, y violaciones al Código de Anticorrupción, entre otros.

El martes 18 de abril de 2023, la jueza Alfrida M.

Tomey Imbert determinó que no había causa para arresto contra el senador Torres Berríos, miembro del Partido Popular Democrático (PPD).

Los cargos se derivan de eventos que supuestamente ocurrieron en 2021, cuando Torres Berríos solicitó dinero a sus empleados y cometió acoso laboral. Se sometieron ocho declaraciones juradas para este caso.

Entre los denunciantes figuró el secretario del Departamento de Agricultura, Ramón González Beiró.

Comisión senatorial evalúa el Programa de Educación Física Adaptada del Departamento de Educación

L CAPITOLIO – La Comisión Especial para la Monitoría Legislativa del Programa de Educación Especial del Departamento de Educación que preside la senadora, María de Lourdes Santiago Negrón, llevó a cabo una vista pública para evaluar el estado de situación de los servicios de Educación Física Adaptada (EFA) en el Departamento de Educación (DE).

“En el día de hoy se recibió información sobre el Programa de Educación Física Adaptada, y aunque todos han reconocido que el programa ha mejorado en los últimos años, sigue faltando una conceptualización más amplia de las necesidades de los niños con diagnósticos complejos… Educación física y bellas artes deberían ser más valoradas por el Departamento, no son disciplinas de entretenimiento, son disciplinas que proveen el fundamento para el aprendizaje de las otras destrezas catalogadas como académicas”, expresó Santiago Negrón.

Esta audiencia responde a la Resolución del Senado 42, y para atender el tema la Comisión citó a deponer al Sr. Timothy García Maldonado, facilitador docente de Educación Física Adaptada de la secretaría Asociada de Educación Especial; a la Dra. Margarita Marichal, direc-

tora del Departamento de Educación de la Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico, Recinto Metro; al Dr. Mario L. Vega Giboyeaux, director del Departamento de Educación Física Adaptada de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Bayamón y al Sr. Yamil Ayala, maestro de Educación Física Adaptada del Departamento de Educación.

Durante su alocución, García Maldonado dijo que “el programa de EFA en el 2022-2023 cuenta con 226 maestros especialistas en EFA alrededor de todo Puerto Rico para atender una matrícula de 5,116 estudiantes”.

Los datos ofrecidos por la secretaría Asociada de Educación Especial evidencian que el “13.1% de la matricula reciben servicios del Programa de Educación Física Adaptada a nivel elemental (prekínder a 5to grado), 2.5% en nivel intermedio (6to a 8vo grado), 1.4% en nivel superior (9no a 12mo grado) y 83% en salones a tiempo completo de diferentes edades”. Otro dato, presentado en la ponencia muestra que se “ofrecieron servicios de EFA a 118 estudiantes en modalidad home bound lo cual representa el 2.2% de la matricula que recibe servicios de EFA”.

García Maldonado reconoció que “el programa de EFA es un área que el Departamento de Educación ha

ido fortaleciendo de forma continua por los pasados años. Se ha establecido política pública clara sobre los servicios, de igual forma se han identificado recursos adicionales para fortalecer los comités de evaluación, aumentar la cantidad de maestros para fortalecer el proceso de instrucción de enseñanza a nuestros estudiantes”.

Por su parte, el Dr. Vega Giboyeaux denunció que “el Departamento de Educación tiene colocada a la Educación Física Adaptada en una especie de limbo, ectópico (sin lugar propio)”.

FEI intentará presentar cargos contra senador Albert Torres nuevamente

Comisionada residente impulsa expansión internacional de pequeños negocios puertorriqueños

Exploring Rock Hudson’s legacy through a new lens

By DAVID BELCHER

Rock Hudson was the ultimate midcentury movie star, turning heads and breaking hearts as the camera lit his chiseled face and rugged frame. The double life he led as a gay man — and his death from AIDS-related causes at 59 in 1985 — have sealed him in Hollywood lore, but he is largely unknown to new generations of film fans.

For Stephen Kijak, the director of the documentary “Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed,” which premiered Sunday at the Tribeca Festival (and streaming on Max on June 28), the actor was a fascinating figure to explore, both as a quintessential midcentury movie star and a gay icon.

Kijak, who has directed several LGBTQ-themed films, spoke recently from his Los Angeles home about the legacy of and enduring fascination with a movie star who lived a gay life almost out in the open and who, in a true act of openness as one of the first celebrities — if not the first — to go public about his illness, changed the course of how the world responded to the AIDS epidemic. The conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Q: What is it about Rock Hudson that drew you to do this film?

A: This film presented itself at exactly the right time, and from a group of people I love working with who brought me a subject I was fascinated by. I didn’t know a lot about Rock Hudson, and I love being in that spot. That journey of discovery is built into my process so that I can bring my audience along with me. It was initially titled “The Accidental Activist,” which is 100% accurate but a little bit limiting. I thought there was a bigger story there, even though that is also an interesting element to his story: someone who doesn’t at all intend to change anything but inadvertently ends up being culturally, politically and socially a catalyst in a way that I think most people have completely forgotten about.

Q: How did it go from being titled “The Accidental Activist” to “All That Heaven Allowed”?

A: There were so many more people over the course of the entire AIDS crisis who were true activists, who really moved the needle with forceful, direct action. I thought “activist,” and even “accidental,” might be a bit rich. There is so much more around his story: the Hollywood closet, the manufactured personality, the double life, the way the private existed weirdly under the surface of the manicured facade. He was having this kind of great rampant, randy gay sex life right there under everyone’s noses, but seemingly living without a care. There wasn’t the kind of angsty, ohI-wish-I-could-just-be-an-out-gay-man. It was a generation

that I don’t think considered that to be an option, or even something that they would want.

Q: What do you think people who are not familiar with Rock Hudson will get from this film?

A: He’s faded away. Who were the big marquee names from the ’50s who everybody knows? It’s Marilyn Monroe. It’s James Dean. If anything, he is probably remembered for having died of AIDS in the ’80s and that scandal of having kissed Linda Evans on “Dynasty” when he was sick. Also, the manufactured star is not a concept that is completely alien to our modern age. He is a completely classic midcentury figure, from his upbringing, his trajectory, the look, the style, the movies he made. And who doesn’t like a doppelgänger story? The hall of mirrors, the split personality, the hidden life. There’s always the question of “why would young people be interested in this?” It wasn’t that long ago when it was really hard to be gay. Publicly, your life would be ruined. You were constantly afraid of being discovered.

Q: Is there a sense of how a movie can hold something in this moment that it might not have held in the past?

A: There are people who don’t know a subject and people who do. So how is the method of our telling going to pull them both in and give them something that they didn’t expect or have experienced before? There is a slight tweak to how we approached who we were going to interview on film. Who you see on camera is a short stack of gay men who were in his life, either lovers, playmates, a wing man, a co-star, a best pal — people who he revealed himself to. What you get is an arc of gay men that takes you from pre-

Stonewall, pre-gay liberation to the other side of the AIDS crisis. It’s Rock’s life that could have been through the lens of these guys.

Q: Was that a specific decision?

A: Yes, and partly it was practical. We had to be very specific on how many days we could shoot. Granted, there is a part of me that wishes that we could have been rolling on Linda Evans when she tears up, but I think the choke in her voice still works. And you’re seeing her and him in their “Dynasty” glory days.

Q: Does this movie represent more than just Rock Hudson? Does it represent the film industry still regarding that “double life” idea?

A: Well, I’m not going to name names, but you know there’s a handful of Rock Hudsons out there right now who have to be even more careful given the fact that everyone has a little camera in their phone. Confidential magazine was one thing, but it seems so quaint now looking back.

Q: Do you think this film documents something people long to return to? The old Hollywood, maybe?

A: When his films were great, they were so great. The Douglas Sirk films were so lush and so layered. I could watch “All That Heaven Allows” a hundred times. Oh, and “Written on the Wind” with that crazy Dorothy Malone performance! Can I make a movie about her next?

Rock Hudson’s double life as a midcentury romantic leading man who was gay is the subject of a new documentary, “Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed.”

Five international movies to stream now

wife. Director Antoneta Kastrati lost her own mother and sister in the war, and here she crafts a remarkable portrait of a community struggling to process unimaginable trauma. Lume’s crippling grief is dismissed as demonic possession by her in-laws and parents, who displace their own sense of loss into the desperate desire for a new generation. Matoshi turns in a formidable performance as a woman who has no words for the pain she so acutely feels, bearing the brunt of not just her own anguish but everyone else’s, too.

‘Factory to the Workers’

Stream or rent it on DAfilms.

In 2005, the ITAS machine parts factory in Croatia became the site for a monumental event. For decades, the institution had been state-funded but worker-managed, with employees owning shares and governing themselves democratically. When efforts were made to privatize the factory, the staff took over and insisted on continuing a system of joint and equitable ownership, in what became the first successful occupation of a European factory by its workers.

By DEVIKA GIRISH

‘It Is Night in America’

Stream it on Mubi.

Ana Vaz’s debut feature is a work of nocturnal ethnography — a documentary that invites us into a thicket of sound and darkling images so we may emerge with a fresh understanding of the world around us. “It Is Night in America” captures Brasília, Vaz’s hometown in Brazil, through two layers of obfuscation. The film is shot on grainy, expired 16 mm film stock and with a blue tint that turns even daytime scenes into something out of a twilight zone.

The camera’s subjects are the wildlife of the city — owls, capybaras, snakes, foxes and more — seen in the Brasília zoo and on the streets; the soundtrack is a viscous fog of ambient noise — crickets, wind, vehicle horns — interspersed with recordings of phone calls to forest officers to report sightings of animals. These dreamlike visions all accumulate into a parable about aggressive urbanization in the name of progress. What happens when our faunal kin are made invaders in their own homes? Vaz suggests that we learn to look not just ahead but also sideways, at the things that take refuge in the shadows, in the background and in the night.

‘Social Hygiene’

Rent or buy it on Apple TV.

This supremely clever feature by Quebecois director Denis Côté wrings great comedy from a simple dissonance. On a grassy field in an unidentified locale, a petty thief, Antonin (Maxim Gaudette), is berated by a series of women — his sister, his wife, his mistress, a tax collector — in long, staged vignettes. The characters speak in dramatic, declam-

atory French, as if in a 19th-century play, and their costumes range from corseted dresses and shabby tailcoats to power suits and leather jackets. Yet the content of their conversations is contemporary and drably banal, dotted with references to Facebook, Volkswagens and discount mattresses.

Full of great quips (“I have so many debts, it’s like I have friends”), “Social Hygiene” milks these arch incongruities for an extended gag about the chasms between art and life. Although Antonin fashions himself as a tormented literary protagonist — a scrupled thief and a thwarted artist — he emerges as little more than a posturing, self-pitying millennial unwilling to take charge of his life. An air of phoniness looms over the characters, who appear like marionettes in Coté’s cool, distant tableaux. When we finally see them up close, their faces fill the screen, but they seem even smaller — regular folks playing at being heroes and victims.

‘Zana’

Stream it on Tubi and Amazon Prime Video.

This gutting Kosovan film opens with a scene straight from the horror textbook: While leading a cow through the woods, Lume (Adriana Matoshi), a young, married woman living on a farm in the countryside, stumbles upon a bloodied bovine skull. As “Zana” unfolds, however, its genre stylings — austere visuals, blurred lines between nightmares and reality, pastoral gore and folklore — give way to the real historical terror pulsating underneath.

Lume, we learn, lost her 4-year-old daughter in the Kosovo War, which resulted in thousands of civilian casualties. She has been unable to conceive since, much to the chagrin of her mother-in-law, who drags her to healers and doctors and threatens to find Lume’s husband a second

In the documentary “Factory to the Workers,” director Srdjan Kovacevic visits ITAS 10 years after the takeover to capture its inner workings and outward challenges in a new, ruthlessly capitalist Europe. Assembling footage shot within the factory across five years, Kovacevic crafts a remarkable, fly-on-the-wall portrait of the workers’ labor, relationships and self-fashioned bureaucracy. Competition from corporations has shrunk the factory’s revenue, resulting in a vicious cycle of delayed salaries and lower morale and culminating in a tumultuous leadership change. Unfolding like a thriller, the film is both cynical and galvanizing with its striking reminder that it takes a crowd — or rather, a collective — to make any kind of dent in this world.

‘The Substitute’ Stream it on Netflix.

This Argentine drama might seem, at first glance, to be another entry in a hackneyed, often misguided genre: films about fish-out-of-water teachers trying to make a difference in inner-city schools. But “The Substitute,” directed by Diego Lerman, adds new dimensions to a cinematic cliché.

Lucio (Juan Minujín), a prestigious novelist subbing as a literature teacher at a local school, is indeed miles apart in life circumstances from his teenage students. They are embroiled in the violent intrigues of drug lords and corrupt politicians; his main concern, on the other hand, is to get his 12-year-old daughter, who is dealing poorly with her parents’ divorce, into a fancy school.

But “The Substitute,” crucially, is not about Lucio’s pedagogic brilliance or the transformative power of books; the scenes of him lecturing in class are almost comically uninspired. Rather, Lucio slowly realizes that his real contribution to his students is in being an ally to them in life rather than in school — which means getting his hands dirty in ways he’s always sought to avoid. With a sensitive lead turn by Minujín, “The Substitute” remains elusive and prickly all the way through, mimicking the messiness of reality more so than the neat arcs of stories.

A moment from the documentary “It Is Night in America.”

By DANIELLE FRIEDMAN

Hiking is hot right now. From 2018 to 2021, the number of Americans hitting the trails ballooned to 59 million from around 48 million, according to the nonprofit Outdoor Foundation.

For Alyson Chun, an outdoors guide and assistant director of adventure sports at Stanford, hiking offers freedom and perspective. She said it helped her reconnect with “the grandness of the world” whenever she felt bogged down by daily life.

But for those of us who haven’t spent serious time outdoors since summer camp, a half-day hike can feel daunting. What happens if you lose cell service? How can you avoid getting lost or injured? And do you really need special hiking shoes? We asked the experts for help.

The benefits of a hike

Hiking offers all the cardiovascular benefits of walking, but the uneven terrain does more to strengthen the leg and core muscles, which in turn boosts balance and stability, said Alicia Filley, a physical therapist outside Houston who helps train clients for outdoor excursions. It also generally burns more calories than walking.

These benefits multiply when trails increase in elevation. If you want to build upper-body strength, Filley said, you can wear a weighted backpack and use trekking poles.

Spending time in nature and having experiences that inspire awe can also lower stress and anxiety. One small 2015 study found that people who walked in nature for 90 minutes were less likely to negatively ruminate about themselves — a risk factor for depression — than those who walked in an urban environment.

The conversational pace of hiking also makes it an ideal form of group fitness, said Wesley Trimble, a spokesperson for American Hiking Society. Trimble, who has a mild form of cerebral palsy, hiked the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail in 2014.

If you’re exploring a new trail or region, consider meeting up with a local hiking club to learn the lay of the land. Several groups for specific communities have flourished over the past few years, like Outdoor Afro, Latino Outdoors, Disabled Hikers and Hike It Baby, a group for parents of young children.

How to get started

Training for a hike If you’re relatively active, you’re probably already training just by going for walks. “It can be as simple as heading out the door and walking for 40 minutes to an hour and to build up strength and endurance,” said Lee Welton, a personal trainer in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

To train for steeper terrain, walk up hills, shift your treadmill to an incline or take the stairs. Welton also recommended simple leg-conditioning exercises before and between hikes, including calf raises, toe lifts, squats and single-leg exercises such as lunges.

Finding trails

Picking the right trail can mean the difference between a pleasant workout and a miserable slog.

AllTrails and Hiking Project are databases compiled by experts and regular hikers alike that color-coordinate trails

based on difficulty. Apps like those also allow you to download or print trail maps, in case cell service is spotty.

When choosing a hike, note its average elevation gain per mile and use the maps and profile tool to see whether the uphills are gradual or more abrupt. “There might be a short, steep section of the trail, and the rest of it’s fairly easy to moderate,” Welton said.

A good starter hike might have between 100 and 300 feet of elevation gain per mile, he added. “Anything over 500 feet gain per mile is considered difficult.”

If you’re attempting something harder, look for a trail with multiple routes back, in case you need to scale back your plan. Read about the trail’s length and terrain to estimate how long it will take (or use an online calculator). Remember to add rest stops and consider how weather might be a factor.

Packing the right gear

The key to a relaxed hike is being as prepared as possible for the unknown, whether it’s a sudden downpour or a twisted ankle. Every hiker should bring the 10 essentials, which include food and drink, first aid supplies, a map and compass and rain gear — all inside a supportive backpack with thick shoulder straps and a waist belt.

But the most essential gear is footwear, Trimble said, because “your feet are literally your foundation.” You don’t need to invest in special hiking shoes, but you do need shoes that offer stability, protection and traction, especially if the trail is rocky, steep or muddy.

“Good shoes and hiking poles offer extra stability,” Filley said.

Staying safe

Hiking carries some risks, but a few simple precautions can help to ensure you get back safely. If you’re a new hiker, go with a friend or a local group until you’re more experienced, Trimble said.

Tell at least one person where you’ll be and check in afterward, Chun said. Leave a note on your car dashboard with your route so if you’re not back by sunset, rangers will know where to find you.

Finally, don’t push yourself too hard.

“Slow down, take in the scenery, listen to the birds,” Welton said. “Just be present in nature.”

People hike through a park in Marietta, Ga., May 19, 2023. Exploring the great outdoors offers a host of mental and physical benefits. But there are a few things you need to know first.

Hiking has all the benefits of walking and more. Here’s how to get started.

An easy spring dinner that shows off bulgogi’s versatility

By MELISSA CLARK

Just as there is no one right way to simmer up a marinara sauce, nor a single “correct” apple pie, there are myriad recipes for making bulgogi.

A classic Korean dish of beef marinated in some combination of soy sauce, sugar, garlic and ginger, the meat is then grilled until the sauce caramelizes and condenses, turning salty and sweet, zingy and umami-rich. It’s those heady flavors mixed with the char that give the dish its deep appeal, making it one of the most beloved preparations of Korean cuisine — and one of the most adaptable.

As my colleague Eric Kim put it a few years ago in a fascinating deep dive, versatility is one of bulgogi’s virtues.

“If you grew up in a Korean household,” he wrote, “then the dish wasn’t just occasional barbecue; it was dinner on the regular, a quick pan-fry on the stovetop.”

This weeknight recipe embodies that easygoing spirit. Its foundation is the marinade, which can be quickly whisked together with pantry staples. (If your pantry doesn’t already include gochujang, the Korean fermented soybean and chile paste, you can rectify that by buying some at an Asian market, at a large supermarket or online.) Here, I’ve paired the marinade with thinly sliced pork (as you’d find in a traditional jeyuk bokkeum, but with less chile) and loads of vegetables. But think of this recipe as the kind of template that you can — and should — make your own.

Substitute other proteins, such as chicken, turkey, tofu or, more traditionally, beef, for the pork. Any quick-cooking vegetables — broccoli, asparagus, hakurei turnips, green beans, bell peppers and zucchini — will all work in place of the sugar snap peas and radishes, depending on the season. But if you like mushrooms, it’s worth keeping them in the mix for their earthy, meaty character.

In grilled bulgogi recipes, the char is essential — in fact, the term bulgogi means “fire meat” — yet, in this stovetop version, the pork might not even brown. Instead, the goal here is to sear the meat long enough to cook it through, while the sauce thickens and intensifies. Just take care not to overcook the pork, so it doesn’t toughen, and the flavor remains deep and wonderful.

To serve, spoon the heady mixture over rice, or fold it into lettuce leaves — or do both. There are so many great options when it comes to bulgogi.

Pork Bulgogi With Spring Vegetables

In this easy recipe, a deeply flavored Korean bulgogi marinade is paired with sliced pork, which is seared in a skillet with snow peas, radishes and mushrooms. You can use the basic recipe as a template, substituting other proteins like chicken, tofu or, most traditionally, beef for the pork, and whatever quickcooking vegetables you like: cherry tomatoes, zucchini, broccoli florets are all great options. Don’t worry about browning the pork here. The goal is to sear it long enough to just cook it through, while the sauce condenses and caramelizes, coating the meat and vegetables.

Yield: 4 servings

Total time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

For the Marinade and Sauce:

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup gochujang

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon white sesame seeds, plus more for serving

2 tablespoons neutral oil, such as grapeseed, avocado or sunflower

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

2 cloves garlic, finely grated or minced

1 (2-inch) piece ginger, finely grated or minced

2 scallions, thinly sliced

For the Pork and Vegetables:

1 pound boneless pork chops, tenderloin or loin, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon neutral oil, such as grapeseed, avocado or sunflower

4 ounces shiitake mushrooms, sliced (about 1 1/2 cups)

1/2 cup thinly sliced radishes (about 5)

6 scallions, white and green parts thinly sliced

8 ounces snow peas, strings removed and halved crosswise (about 2 1/2 cups)

Cooked rice or lettuce leaves, for serving

Preparation:

1. Make the marinade: Add marinade ingredients to a medium bowl and whisk un-

til combined. In a small bowl, reserve half the marinade at room temperature for serving.

2. Add pork to the marinade in the medium bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours.

3. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add neutral oil. Once the oil is hot, add mushrooms. Let sear, stirring once or twice, until just tender and caramelized, 4 to 7 minutes.

4. Raise heat to high. Add pork along with its marinade, radishes, snow peas and all but 2 tablespoons of the scallions (reserve for garnish) to pan. Let cook, stirring often, until the pork is just cooked through, about 3 to 5 minutes. (Take care not to overcook it; it won’t brown, and it may still look slightly pink inside).

5. Garnish with reserved scallions and sesame seeds, and serve hot over rice with reserved marinade for drizzling.

Pork bulgogi with spring vegetables in New York, April 5, 2023. The salty-sweet, zingy marinade that grounds this beloved Korean dish coats vegetables and pork, in this interpretation from Melissa Clark. Food styled by Simon Andrews.

NASA panel says data problems make explaining UFOs difficult

tagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, presented a video recorded by a P-3 surveillance plane, which showed three dots that appeared to move back and forth. Further research found that the dots were three planes about 40 miles away waiting to land at an airport.

Kirkpatrick showed another video in which something remains unexplained, but which was an example of the kind of thing the U.S. military sees around the world. The video, recorded by a MQ-9 drone flying in the Middle East last year, appeared to show a silver orb. While some outside experts have said such objects appear to be stray weather balloons, Kirkpatrick said they have no further data and cannot yet come to a firm conclusion.

Throughout the public meeting, experts repeatedly emphasized that the data collected of almost all of the unexplained incidents was of low quality, and therefore it was difficult to reach any conclusions about many incidents.

NASA will release a report of its task force by the end of July, making recommendations to the government. But it was clear from the panel discussion on Wednesday that improving data collection to quickly resolve unexplained or anomalous sightings will take time.

In the meantime, reports of UFOs will continue to proliferate.

By JULIAN E. BARNES

Members of a NASA task force that studies unidentified anomalous phenomena said last week that they were pushing the government to collect better data to try to find answers for unexplained events that have captured the public’s imagination.

A Pentagon official speaking at the meeting said the Defense Department is examining more than 800 cases from the past 27 years, but only 2% to 5% of those incidents are considered truly unexplained. The numbers are an increase from 2022 and represent new information that the Federal Aviation Administration has given to the Pentagon as well as an uptick in reports after a Chinese spy balloon transited the United States.

These phenomena have fascinated the public. People are and always will be interested in space aliens, but these unexplained incidents are not extraterrestrial visitations — they are mostly drones, balloons and trash blowing in the wind.

“There is no conclusive evidence suggesting an extraterrestrial origin for UAPs,” said Nadia Drake, a panel member and science journalist who has written in the past for The New York Times. “Collecting more good data from the scientific community to review in a peer-reviewed context will be important for progress to be made here.”

One reason data on UAPs is so bad is that the military cameras, radar and other sensors that have collected videos are typically fine-tuned for other purposes, such as bomb

targeting, rather than being designed to gather data necessary to identify nonhostile objects.

Many in the public are invested in the idea that some of the anomalous phenomena could be extraterrestrial. NASA officials said many panel members had been subjected to online harassment. Throughout the meeting, many commentators on NASA’s YouTube feed accused panel members of lying or covering up evidence of extraterrestrials.

Despite such hostility, the panel tried to explain some of the material that has fascinated the public. It used some (slightly tricky) high school geometry to explain how the object in one video taken by a Navy plane in 2015 known as “GOFAST” was not moving quickly but at just 40 mph by illustrating how the vantage point on an object could be a visual trick.

Scott J. Kelly, a former astronaut, said that when flying, whether in air or space, optical illusions abound. When he was a F-14 Tomcat pilot, he said, the flight officer in the back seat thought he saw a UFO.

“I didn’t see it,” Kelly said. “We turned around. We went to go look at it. It turns out it was Bart Simpson, a balloon.”

Many military UAP videos appear interesting at first, but ordinary explanations emerge.

Sean M. Kirkpatrick, the director of the Pen-

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AL: PÚBLICO EN GENERAL.

A: JOSE MIGUEL PEREZ JIMENEZ Y SU ESPOSA DAHILA SOTO VAZQUEZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA, POR TENER EMBARGO ANOTADO A SU FAVOR POR LA SUMA DE $24,843.53.

Yo, LUIS E. ROMÁN CARRERO, Alguacil de este Tribunal, a la parte demandada y a los acreedores y personas con interés sobre la propiedad que más adelante se describe, y al público en general, HAGO SABER: Que el día 5 DE JULIO DE 2023, A LAS 11:15 DE LA MAÑANA en mi oficina, sita en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Camuy, Camuy, Puerto Rico, venderé en Pública Subasta la propiedad inmueble que más adelante se describe y cuya venta en pública subasta se ordenó por la vía ordinaria al mejor postor quien hará el pago en dinero en efectivo, giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del o la Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado, estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal de Camuy durante horas laborables. Que en caso de no producir remate ni adjudicación en la primera subasta a celebrarse, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA para la venta de la susodicha propiedad, el día 12 DE JULIO DE 2023, A LAS

11:15 DE LA MAÑANA y en caso de no producir remate ni adjudicación, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el 19 DE JULIO DE 2023, A LAS 11:15 DE LA MAÑANA en mi oficina sita en el lugar antes indicado. La propiedad a venderse en pública subasta se describe como sigue: RUSTICA: Parcela de terreno radicada en el Barrio Piedra Gorda, del término municipal de Camuy, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de mil ochenta y cinco punto ocho mil cuatrocientos ochenta metros cuadrados (1,085.8480 m.c.) equivalentes a cero punto dos mil setecientos sesenta y tres (0.2763) cuerdas. En lindes, por el NORTE, con Serafina Pérez, por el SUR, con terrenos dedicados a uso público; por el ESTE, con predio marcado con la Letra “D”; y por el OESTE, con Predio marcado con la Letra “B”. Enclava una casa dedicada a vivienda. La escritura de hipoteca se encuentra inscrita al folio 85 del tomo 371 de Camuy, Registro de la Propiedad de Arecibo, Sección Segunda, finca número 9,274, inscripción Quinta. Modificada la hipoteca relacionada en la inscripción 5ta., en cuanto a que se cancela parcialmente por la suma de $6,419.93 para un nuevo principal que será de $115,580.07, sus intereses serán 2% anual, los primeros 60 meses comenzando el 1ro. de agosto de 2013; al 3% anual los siguientes 12 meses comenzando el 1ro . de agosto de 2018; al 4% anual, los próximos 12 meses comenzando el 1ro. de agosto de 2019 y al 4.50% anual, los próximos 233 meses comenzando el 1ro. de agosto de 2020; su vencimiento será el día 1ro. de diciembre de 2039, según la escritura número 71, otorgada en Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, el día 20 de julio de 2013, ante el Notario Público Roberto M. García Rullán, inscrita al folio 85 del tomo 371 de Camuy, Registro de la Propiedad de Arecibo, Sección Segunda, finca 9,274, inscripción 6ta. La dirección física de la propiedad antes descrita es: RD. 119, KM. 12.1, Barrio Piedra Gorda, Camuy, Puerto Rico. La Subasta se llevará a efecto para satisfacer a la parte demandante la suma de $87,138.76 de principal, interés al 4.5% anual, desde el 1ro. de enero de 2022, hasta su completo pago, más la cantidad de $12,200.00 estipulada para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado; más recargos acumulados, todas cuyas sumas están líquidas y exigibles. Que la cantidad mínima de licitación

en la primera subasta para el inmueble será de $115,580.07 y de ser necesaria una segunda subasta, la cantidad mínima será equivalente a 2/3 partes de aquella, o sea, la suma de $77,053.38 y de ser necesaria una tercera subasta, la cantidad mínima será la mitad del precio pactado, es decir, la suma de $57,790.04. De declararse desierta la tercera subasta se adjudicará la finca a favor del acreedor por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada si esta es igual o menor que el monto del tipo de la tercera subasta, si el Tribunal lo estima conveniente. Se abonará dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si esta es mayor. La propiedad se adjudicará al mejor postor, quien deberá satisfacer el importe de su oferta en moneda legal y corriente de los Estados Unidos de América en el momento de la adjudicación y que las cargas y gravámenes preferentes, si los hubiese, continuarán subsistentes, entendiéndose que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. La propiedad hipotecada a ser vendida en pública subasta se encuentra afecta al siguiente gravamen posterior: Embargo Federal a favor de los Estados Unidos de América, por la suma principal de $24,843.53, contra José Pérez Jiménez, seguro social número XXX-XX-0190, Caso No. 388 869 319, Certificación del 25 de octubre de 2019, anotado el 27 de noviembre del 2019 al Sistema Karibe, Registro de la Propiedad de Arecibo, Sección Segunda. La propiedad a ser vendida en pública subasta se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Podrán concurrir como postores a todas las subastas los titulares de créditos hipotecarios vigentes y posteriores a la hipoteca que se cobra o ejecuta, si alguno o que figuren como tales en la certificación registral y que podrán utilizar el montante de sus créditos o parte de alguno en sus ofertas. Si la oferta aceptada es por cantidad mayor a la suma del crédito o créditos preferentes al suyo, al obtener la buena pro del remate, deberá satisfacer en el mismo acto, en efectivo o en cheque de gerente, la totalidad del crédito hipotecario que se ejecuta y la de cualesquiera otro créditos posteriores al que se ejecuta pero preferente al suyo. El exceso constituirá abono total o parcial en su propio crédito. EN TESTIMONIO DE LO CUAL, expido el presente Edicto para conoci-

Tuesday, June 6, 2023 22

miento y comparecencia de los licitadores, bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, en Camuy, Puerto Rico, 17 de mayo de 2023. WILFREDO OLMO SALAZAR, ALGUACIL REGIONAL. LUIS

E. ROMÁN CARRERO, ALGUACIL CONFIDENCIAL DEL TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA SUPERIOR DE CAMUY.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

FINANCE OF AMERICA REVERSE LLC

Demandante Vs. SUCESION ARMANDO IZQUIERDO MEILAN

T/C/C ARMANDO IZQUIERDO COMPUESTA POR ERNESTO ARMANDO IZQUIERDO ZIPPERLE, JACQUELINE MARIE IZQUIERDO ZIPPERLE, ARMANDO JUAN IZQUIERDO FONALLEDAS, PURITERE MORLEY IZQUIERDO; JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES

Demandados

Civil Núm.: GB2021CV00760.

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

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

GENERAL:

Certifico y Hago Constar: Que en cumplimiento con el Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que me ha sido dirigido por el (la) Secretario(a) del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Guaynabo, en el caso de epígrafe, venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor, por separado, de contado y por moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América y/o Giro Postal y Cheque Certificado, en mi oficina ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Guaynabo, el 6 DE JULIO DE 2023, A LAS 10:20 DE LA MAÑANA, todo derecho

título, participación o interés que le corresponda a la parte demandada o cualquiera de ellos en el inmueble hipotecado objeto de ejecución que se describe a continuación: URBANA: Solar Numero Cinco (5), Bloque A de la Urbanización Villa del Parque, de Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, Barrio Frailes, con un área de trescientos treinta y ocho metros sesenta y siete centímetros cuadrados (338.67 mc), colindando por el NORTE, con la Calle A de la Urbanización Villa del Parque con una longitud de trece metros doscientos centímetros (13.200 m); por el ESTE, con el lote número seis (6) de la misma Urbanización, con veinticinco metros ochocientos diez centímetros (25.810 m) longitud; por el SUR, con terrenos de la Urbanización Muñoz Rivera, lote M veintiocho (M 28) con trece metros doscientos setenta y seis centímetros (13.276 m) longitud; y por el OESTE, con el lote número cuatro (4) de la Urbanización Villa del Parque, longitud de veinticinco metros, treinta y siete centímetros (28.37 m). Enclava una residencia de dos plantas, para una familia. Inscrita al folio 230 del tomo 258 de Guaynabo, finca 15,607, Registro de la Propiedad de Guaynabo. La Hipoteca Revertida consta inscrita al folio 141 del tomo 1,510 de Guaynabo, finca 15,607, Registro de la Propiedad de Guaynabo, inscripción 9ª. Propiedad localizada en: VILLA DEL PARQUE, A5 CALLE A, GUAYNABO, P.R. 00969. Según figuran en la certificación registral, la propiedad objeto de ejecución está gravada por las siguientes cargas anteriores o preferentes: Nombre del Titular: N/A. Suma de la Carga: N/A. Fecha de Vencimiento: N/A. Según figuran en la certificación registral, la propiedad objeto de ejecución está gravada por las siguientes cargas posteriores a la inscripción del crédito ejecutante: Nombre del Titular: Secretario de la Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano. Suma de la Carga: $375,000.00. Fecha de Vencimiento: 12 de septiembre de 2087. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad de la propiedad y que todas las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito ejecutante antes descritos, si los hubiere, continuarán subsistentes. El rematante acepta dichas cargas y gravámenes anteriores, y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Se establece

como tipo de mínima subasta la suma de $375,000.00, según acordado entre las partes en el precio pactado en la escritura de hipoteca. De ser necesaria una SEGUNDA SUBASTA por declararse desierta la primera, la misma se celebrará en mi oficina, ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Guaynabo, el 13 DE JULIO DE 2023, A LAS 10:20 DE LA MAÑANA, y se establece como mínima para dicha segunda subasta la suma de $250,000.00, 2/3 partes del tipo mínima establecido originalmente. Si tampoco se produce remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se establece como mínima para la TERCERA SUBASTA, la suma de $187,500.00, la mitad (1/2) del precio pactado y dicha subasta se celebrará en mi oficina, ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Guaynabo, el 20 DE JULIO DE 2023, A LAS 10:20 DE LA MAÑANA. Dicha subasta se llevará a cabo para, con su producto satisfacer a la parte demandante, el importe de la Sentencia dictada a su favor ascendente a la suma de $173,334.06 por concepto de principal, más la suma de $14,128.73 en intereses acumulados al 1 de junio de 2022 y los cuales continúan acumulándose a razón de 2.402% anual hasta su total y completo pago; más la sumas de $12,615.72 en seguro hipotecario; 1,408.40 en seguro; $425.00 de tasaciones; $220.00 de inspecciones; $1,610.00 de adelantos pendientes más la cantidad de 10% del pagare original en la suma de $37,500.00, para gastos, costas y honorarios de abogado, esta última habrá de devengar intereses al máximo del tipo legal fijado por la oficina del Comisionado de Instituciones Financieras aplicable a esta fecha, desde este mismo día hasta su total y completo saldo. La venta en pública subasta de la referida propiedad se verificará libre de toda carga o gravamen posterior que afecte la mencionada finca, a cuyo efecto se notifica y se hace saber la fecha, hora y sitio de la PRIMERA, SEGUNDA Y TERCERA SUBASTA, si esto fuera necesario, a los efectos de que cualquier persona o personas con algún interés puedan comparecer a la celebración de dicha subasta. Se notifica a todos los interesados que las actas y demás constancias del expediente de este caso están disponibles en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante horas laborables para ser examinadas por los (las) interesados (as). Y para su

publicación en el periódico The San Juan Daily Star, que es un diario de circulación general en la isla de Puerto Rico, por espacio de dos semanas consecutivas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre ambas publicaciones, así como para su publicación en los sitios públicos de Puerto Rico. Expedido en Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, hoy 12 de abril de 2023.

FRANCES TORRES CONTRERAS, ALGUACIL REGIONAL. ALG. HUGO BASCÓ MEDINA, ALGUACIL PLACA #807.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

Parte Demandante V. LUIS RAUL FORTI ISALES

Parte Demandada Civil Núm.: HSCI201600140.

Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO. AVISO DE PÚBLICA SUBASTA. El que suscribe, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Humacao, hago saber a la parte demandada LUIS RAUL FORTI ISALES, Y AL PÚBLICO EN GENERAL, que en cumplimiento del Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia por Embargo liberado el 16 de marzo de 2023, por la Secretaria del Tribunal, procederé a vender y venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor pagadero en efectivo, cheque de gerente o giro postal, a nombre del alguacil del tribunal, la siguiente propiedad [551 THE MARBELLA CLUB, HUMACAO, PR 00791]: HORIZONTAL PROPRTY: Apartment #551 of the Zaragoza Building, which forms part of the Marbella Club II Condominium Regime, located in The Marbella Club at Palmas del Mar, Candelero Abajo ward, Humacao, Puerto Rico. Irregular shaped one story, 2 bedroom unit, with a total construction area of 1,564 square feet, equivalent to 145.35 square meters. Entrance: The main entrance is located on the side of the apartment leading to common areas of the Condominium surrounding the interior open court of the Zaragoza Building. This apartment occupies part of the fifth floor of the Zaragoza Building. Its boundaries are described as approved by ARPE: By the Southeast; with exterior elements of the

Condominium; by the Northest, with building interior patio; by the Southwest, with the common wall that separates it from apartment #550; by the Northeast, with the common wall that separates it from apartment 552. Structure: This unit constains a vestibule with laundry closet and bathroom, a living/dining room, a kitchen, a hall, a master bedroom with a bathroom, walk-in closet, closet and balcony, a bedroom with bathroom, hall, kitchenette area, closet, walk-in closet, and a covered terrace. Limited common elements: This unit has the exclusive use and enjoyment of the following limited common elements of The Marbella Club II Condominium: Storage cage and parking space identified both with #551 located in the basement floor of the Zaragoza Building, with a total area of 12.00 square feet, equivalent to 1.12 square meters and 147.00 square feet, equivalent to 13.66 square meters respectively and Hallway area located in from of the entrance of the unit, with a total area of 60.67 square feet, equivalent to 5. 64 square meters. Elementos comunes generales y elementos comunes limitados: The residential unit has a 1.457% share in the general common elements of The Marbella Club II Condominium and a 1.130% share in the limited Common elements of The Marbella Club II Condominium. Finca 26756, inscrita al Sistema Karibe de Humacao, Registro de la Propiedad de Humacao. El inmueble antes descrito se encontrará afecto a los siguientes gravámenes: (i) Hipoteca constituida por Luis Raúl Forti Isales, en garantía de un pagaré, aff#.23, a favor de Oriental Bank of Trust, o a su orden, por $733,400.00 al 6.625%, vencedero el 1 de abril 2035, según Esc. #18 en San Juan, a 31 de marzo del 2005, ante Dimaries Broco Irizarry, inscrita al Sistema Karibe de Humacao, finca #26756 inscripción 2da. (ii) DEMANDA: Radicada en el Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala de Humacao, sobre cobro de Dinero, en el caso civil #HSCI201600140 seguido por Oriental Bank vs. Luis Raul Forti Isales, donde se solicita el pago de la deuda garantizada con la hipoteca relacionada en la inscripción 2da., reducida a $728,824.4 7, anotada al Sistema Karibe, de Humacao, finca #26756, el 10 de septiembre del 2020, Anotación A. (iii) Embargo: Según Orden de embargo del 5 de noviembre del 2019, radicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de

FERRERAS, SU ESPOSA FIOLDALINA MATOS Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

Demandantes V. CRUZ TOLEDO REYES Y OTROS

Demandados

Civil Núm.: SJ2023CV01546.

Sobre: ACCIÓN CIVIL. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO.

ESTADOS UNIDOS DE NORTEAMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU., ESTADO

LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

A: SR. JOSÉ LUIS

TOLEDO REYES, SR. JUAN ALBERTO TOLEDO RIVERA, Y SRA. SONIA NOEMÍ TOLEDO RIVERA.

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

Héctor E. Pabón Vega

Nombre del (de la) abogado de la parte demandante, o de la parte, si no tiene representación legal 8620

Número ante el Tribunal Supremo, si es abogado(a)

P.O. Box 21411

San Juan, Puerto Rico 00928-1411

Dirección

Teléfono 787-282-6734

Número de teléfono; número de fax hpabonvega@gmail.com

Correo electrónico

EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, hoy 11 de mayo de 2023. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. MICHELLE RIVERA RÍOS, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

ZENOVIA CINTRÓN AGOSTO

DEMANDANTE VS. THE MORTGAGE HOUSE, INC.; PENINSULA

MORTGAGE BANKERS,

CORP.; JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE

DEMANDADOS

CIVIL NÚM. SJ2023CV04615. SOBRE: CANCELACION DE PAGARE EXTRAVIADO. EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PR.

A: The Mortgage House, lnc, con última dirección conocida en 305 Hoover Blvd Suite. 500, Holland MI 49423-3797; Península Mortgage Bankers, Corp., con últimas direcciones conocidas en 9415 SW 72 2d St. Miami, FL. 33173 y PO Box 911200, Orlando, FL 32891- 1200; John Doe y Jane Doe, estos dos últimos con paraderos desconocidos.

POR LA PRESENTE: Se les notifica que en el caso de epígrafe se ha presentado una demanda solicitando la cancelación de un pagaré suscrito el 20 de noviembre de 1998 por la Demandante y su esposo Emilio Pérez Acevedo tic/e Emiliano Pérez Acevedo a favor de The Mortgage House, lnc., o a su orden por la suma principal de $55,000.00, interés al 7.5% anual, con vencimiento el 1 de diciembre de 2008, según surge de la escritura número #386, otorgada en Carolina el 20 de noviembre de 1998 ante el notario Francisco Díaz Guerrero, para gravar la finca número once mil setenta y siete (11077), de Sabana Llana, inscrita al folio diecinueve vuelto (19vlto) del tomo doscientos cuarenta y nueve (249), Registro de la Propiedad de San Juan, Sección Quinta (V). La parte demandante alega que dicho pagaré fue saldado en su totalidad y no ha podido ser cancelado por haberse extraviado el mismo. Se les apercibe que deberán comparecer dentro de los próximos treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación de este edicto, que será publicado una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, a contestar la demanda de epígrafe o a presentar cualquier tipo de alegación o defensa a la que puedan tener derecho en esta etapa del pleito. Dicha comparecencia deberán hacerla 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 dicho escrito en la secretaría del tribunal y notificando copia de la misma a la parte demandante por conduc-

to de la LCDA. DALMARIS BETANCOURT, URB. BALDRICH, 200 CALLE MANUEL F. ROSSY, SAN JUAN, PR 00918, TEL (787) 630-1296. También se les apercibe y advierte a ustedes, como personas que pueden ser tenedores o estar interesados en el pagaré antes mencionado, que de no contestar la demanda o presentar sus defensas de la manera y en el tiempo que arriba se indica, el Tribunal podrá anotarles la rebeldía y dictar sentencia en su contra, concediendo el remedio solicitado en la demanda sin más citarles, ni oírles. EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y SELLO DEL TRIBUNAL, EN SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO, HOY 22 de mayo de 2023. Griselda Rodriguez Collado, Secretaria. F/Michelle Rivera Rios, SubSecretaria.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

ALBERTO JOSÉ

ANAYA SANTIAGO

Querellante Vs. PREMIER CONCIERGE SERVICES INC.

Querellada

Civil Núm.: CG2023CV0002.

Sobre: RECLAMACIÓN LABORAL. (LEY NÚM. 2 DEL 17 DE OCTUBRE DE 1961, SEGÁN ENMENDADA). Sala: 701. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO.

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

A: PREMIER CONCIERGE SERVICES, INC.

DIRECCIÓN FÍSICA: 35 AVE. MUÑOZ RIVERA, SAN JUAN PR 00901; DIRECCIÓN POSTAL: PO BOX 9065492, SAN JUAN PR 00906.

Por la presente se le emplaza para que notifique al Lcdo.

Juan Carlos Toro Sepúlveda, P.O. Box 6246, Mayagüez, P.R. 00681, Teléfono (787) 5286450, copia de la contestación a la demanda radicada por la parte demandante, dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este edicto, que se publicará una vez en un periódico de circulación diaria general, por orden del Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala de Caguas. Se le apercibe que, si no contesta la Demanda presentando el original de la contestación ante el tribunal, con copia a la parte demandante se le anotará la rebeldía y se dictará sentencia, concediéndose el remedio solicitado sin más citarle ni oírle. Expedido

bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala de Caguas, Puerto Rico, a 31 de mayo de 2023. LISILDA MARTÍNEZ AGOSTO, SECRETARIA. ANA H. LUGO MUÑOZ, SECRETARIA DE SERVICIOS A SALA.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE MAYAGÜEZ COMMONWEALTH OF PUERTO RICO COURTHOUSE OF FIRST INSTANCE COURTROOM OF MAYAGUEZ

JON MICHAEL DUPONT

Demandante / Plaintif PAIGE NICOLE GRANDCHAMP

Demandada / Defendant Civil Número / Civil Number: MZ2022RF00753. Sobre / Re: DIVORCIO (RUPTURA IRREPARABLE) DIVORCE (IRREPARABLE BREAKUP) CUSTODIA Y PATRIA POTESTAD / CUSTODY AND PARENTAL AUTHORITY. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R., SS.

A: PAIGE NICOLE GRANDCHAMP.

P. O. BOX 62, KIOWA, CO 80117.

POR LA PRESENTE: Se le notifica a usted, Paige Nicole Grandchamp, que la parte demandante de epígrafe, he radicado en esta Secretaría una Demanda sobre Divorcio por la causal de Ruptura Irreparable que aquí se menciona. Se le emplaza y requiere para que notifique a: LCDA. LOURDES

M. ORTIZ PAGAN, P.O. Box 593, Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico 00623, Tel (787) 831-1984, Fax 833-5118, remitiéndole copia de su contestación a la Demanda y radique el original de la contestación en este Tribunal dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto. Si no contesta la demanda, se le anotará la rebeldía y se dictará sentencia conforme a la prueba a recibirse, sin más citarle ni oírle. EXPEDIDO POR ORDEN DEL TRIBUNAL, en Mayagüez, Puerto Rico hoy 24 de mayo de 2023. LIC. NORMA G. SANTANA IRIZARRY, SECRETARIA REGIONAL II. LILLIAN PÉREZ CANDELARIA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

PALMAS DEL MAR HOMEOWNERS

ASSOCIATION, INC. Vs MIGUEL A. CRUZ LEBRÓN Demandado(a) Núm. Civil: HU2022CV01744. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: MIGUEL A. CRUZ LEBRÓN.

P/C LCDO. JOSÉ R. GONZÁLEZ RIVERA. EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 30 de mayo de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 31 de mayo de 2023. En HUMACAO, Puerto Rico, el 31 de mayo de 2023. IVELISSE C. FONSECA RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. IVELISSE M. MONCLOVA CRUZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE VEGA BAJA ESTRELLA HOMES III LLC

Demandante Vs ADA IVELISSE

MARRERO RODRIGUEZ

Demandada Civil Núm.: VB2022CV00278. (Salón 201 CD, CM, TR y CR). Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA Y COBRO DE DINERO (VÍA ORDINARIA). EDICTO DE SUBASTA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

A: ADA IVELISSE

MARRERO RODRIGUEZ y AL PUBLICO EN GENERAL HAGO SABER: El Alguacil que suscribe, anuncia y hace constar que en cumplimiento de Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que

me ha sido dirigido por la Secretaría del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, SALA DE VEGA BAJA, procederé a vender en pública subasta y al mejor postor, de contado y por moneda del curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América. Todo pago recibido por el (la) Alguacil por concepto de subastas será en efectivo, giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del (de la) Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia. Todo derecho, título, participación e interés que le corresponda a la parte demandada o cualquiera de ellos en el inmueble hipotecado objeto de ejecución que se describe a continuación: RÚSTICA: Parcela número 194 de la Comunidad Rural Guarico del Barrio Algarrobo de Vega Baja. Area: cero cuerdas con mil setecientos treintitrés diezmilésimas de otra, equivalente a 681.23 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, parcela 201; por el SUR, Carretera Guarico; por el ESTE, parcela 197 y 193; y por el OESTE, parcela 195. Inscrita al folio “275” del Tomo “225” de Vega Baja. Finca “15,210”. Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección IV de Bayamón. Dirección física: 194 Rd. 674 Comunidad Guarico, Vega Baja, Puerto Rico. En relación a la finca a subastarse se establece como tipo mínimo de licitación en la Primera Subasta la suma de $51,168.78 según acordado entre las partes en el precio pactado en la Escritura de Modificación de Hipoteca #109 otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 12 de marzo de 2013, ante la Notario Alexandra M. Serracante Cadilla la cual consta inscrita al tomo Karibe de Vega Baja, finca número “15,210”, inscripción 10ma. La PRIMERA SUBASTA se llevará a cabo el día 5 DE JULIO DE 2023, 11:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en mis oficinas sitas en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, SALA DE VEGA BAJA. En relación a la propiedad a subastarse, la cantidad mínima de licitación en la Primera Subasta será la suma de $51,168.78. Si la primera subasta del inmueble no produjere remate, ni adjudicación, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 12 DE JULIO DE 2023, A LAS 11:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en el mismo sitio y servirá de tipo mínimo las dos terceras partes del precio pactada para la primera subasta, o sea, la suma de $34,112.52. Si la segunda subasta no produjere remate, ni adjudicación, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el día 19 DE JULIO DE 2023, A LAS 11:30 DE LA MAÑANA en el mismo lugar y regirá como tipo de la tercera subasta la mitad del precio pactado para la primera, o sea, la suma de $25,584.39. Dicha Subasta se llevará a cabo, para

con su producto satisfacer a la parte demandante el importe de la Sentencia dictada a su favor, a saber: Dicha venta se llevará a efecto, para con su producto satisfacer a la parte demandante el importe de su Sentencia, a saber: la suma principal de CUARENTA Y CUATRO MIL TRESCIENTOS TREINTA Y DOS DOLARES CON VEINTIDOS CENTAVOS ($44,332.22), más intereses convenidos al SEIS Y UN OCTAVO POR CIENTO (6 1/8%) anual, pactando el pago de una suma igual al 10% de la obligación principal para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado desde el 1ro mayo de 2017, hasta el presente y DOS MIL QUINIENTOS NOVENTA Y TRES CON OCHENTA Y TRES CENTAVOS ($2,593.83) de “piggy back” suma la cual no acumula intereses, más los que se continúen acumulando hasta su total y completo pago y aquellas otras sumas que surjan de la faz de la anterior obligación y de la hipoteca que la garantiza, más una suma estipulada para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogados de CINCO MIL QUINIENTOS DOLARES ($5,500.00) más cualquier otra suma que resulte por cualesquiera otros adelantos que se hayan hecho la demandante, en virtud de las disposiciones de la Escritura de Hipoteca y del Pagaré Hipotecario. Para más información, a las personas interesadas se les notifica que los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado, estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal, durante las horas laborables. Este EDICTO DE SUBASTA, se publicará en los lugares públicos correspondientes y en un periódico de circulación general en la jurisdicción de Puerto Rico. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante continuaran subsistentes. Se entenderá, que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Se procederá a otorgar la correspondiente Escritura de Venta Judicial y el Alguacil pondrá en posesión judicial al nuevo dueño, si así se lo solicita dentro del término de veinte (20) días, de conformidad con las disposiciones de Ley. Si transcurren los referidos veinte (20) días, el Tribunal podrá ordenar, sin necesidad de ulterior procedimiento, que se lleve a efecto el desalojo o lanzamiento del ocupante u ocupantes de la finca o de todos los que por orden o tolerancia del deudor la ocupen. Se informa que la propiedad objeto de ejecución se adquiere

libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Expedido en VEGA BAJA, Puerto Rico, a 11 de mayo de 2023. LUIS F. ORTIZ ROSA, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR PLACA #888.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE MAYAGÜEZ MMG I PR CR, LLC Demandante V. AMALIE APONTE VERA, SU ESPOSO EDGARDO BATIZ RAMIA Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR ESTOS; HERIBERTO RIOS RIVAS, SU ESPOSA BETHZAIDA ANDINO LOZADA Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR Estos; JOSE ANGEL SAAVEDRA MORALES; AUREA ESTHER ECHEVARRIA PEREZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR estos; MARTIN CONCEPCION CRUZ SU ESPOSA DIONIDA LOPEZ ESTREMERA Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS Demandada Civil Núm.: ISCI201201561. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. AVISO DE VENTA EN PÚBLICA SUBASTA. A: AMALIE APONTE VERA, SU ESPOSO EDGARDO BATIZ RAMIA Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS; HERIBERTO RIOS RIVAS, SU ESPOSA BETHZAIDA ANDINO LOZADA Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS; JOSE ANGEL SAAVEDRA MORALES; AUREA ESTHER ECHEVARRIA PEREZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS; MARTIN CONCEPCION CRUZ SU ESPOSA DIONIDA LOPEZ ESTREMERA Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES

COMPUESTA POR AMBOS; Y AL PUBLICO EN

GENERAL:

El que suscribe, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior, Centro Judicial de Mayagüez, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, hago saber a la parte demandada, y al PUBLICO EN GENERAL: y a todos los acreedores que tengan inscritos o anotados sus derechos sobre los bienes hipotecados con posterioridad a la inscripción del crédito del ejecutante, o de los acreedores de cargas o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuesto a la hipoteca ejecutada y las personas interesadas en, o con derecho a exigir el cumplimiento de instrumentos negociables garantizados hipotecariamente con posterioridad al crédito ejecutado, siempre que surjan de la certificación registral, para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si les convenga o satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, costas y honorarios de abogados asegurados, quedando entonces subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante a saber. Que en cumplimiento del Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia expedido el día 27 de febrero de 2019, por la Secretaria del Tribunal, procederé a vender y venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor la propiedad que ubica y se describe a continuación: Dirección de la

Propiedad: SR 307 KM 7.8,BO

BOQUERON, CABO ROJO,PR

00623: RUSTICA Parcela radicada en el Barrio Boquerón, del término municipal de Cabo Rojo, con una cabida superficial de 10,998.7854 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con propiedad de S.A.D. Corporation; por el SUR, con parcela marcada con la letra B dedicada a uso público; por el ESTE, con Bonifacio Bobe, Aladino Ojeda y Klaus A. Schweigart; y por el OESTE, con Jose J. Fas. Contiene una casa terrera de una sola planta. Inscrita al folio 17 del tomo 836 de Cabo Rojo, Registro de la Propiedad de Carolina de San German, finca número 10,883. La finca antes descrita afecta un gravamen posterior que se describe a continuación: DO-

RAL BANK CON AGENTE DE SERVICIO DE BANCO SAN-

TANDER: A cuyo favor aparece anotación de demanda caso civil #ISCI201201561, por concepto de Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca por la Vía Ordinaria, seguido de Doral Bank como Agente de Servicio de Banco Santander de PR versus Amalie Aponte Vera, su esposo Edgardo Bátiz Ramia y la Sociedad Legal de Gananciales constituida por estos; Heriberto Ríos Rivas, su esposa

Bethzaida Andino Lozada y la

Sociedad Legal de Gananciales constituida por estos; Jose Ángel Saavedra Morales, su esposa Aura Esther Echevarría Perez y la Sociedad Legal de Gananciales Compuesta Constituida por estos; Martin Concepción Cruz, su esposa Dionisia Lopez Estremera y la Sociedad Legal de Gananciales Constituida por estos; por la suma de $69,749.859 más intereses etc. El producto de la subasta se destinará a satisfacer el balance de la sentencia dictada ascendente a $69,749.89, más los intereses sobre dicha suma al 7.375% anual desde el día 1ero de abril de 2012 hasta su total complejo pago, la suma estipulada de $10,400.00 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado, cargos por demora, así como las cantidades pactadas en la escritura de hipoteca que se adeuden mensualmente a partir del 1ero de mayo de 2012 hasta el saldo de la obligación, disponiéndose que si quedare algún remanente luego de pagarse las sumas antes mencionadas del mismo deberá ser depositado en la Secretaria del Tribunal para ser entregado a los demandados previa solicitud y orden del Tribunal. La venta de la referida propiedad se verificará libre de toda carga o gravamen que afecte la mencionada finca. La adjudicación se hará al mejor postor, quien deberá consignar el importe de su oferta en el acto mismo de la adjudicación, en efectivo (moneda del curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América), giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del alguacil del Tribunal. LA PRIMERA SUBASTA se llevará a efecto el día 17 DE AGOSTO DE 2023 A

LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en la oficina del referido Alguacil, localizada en el Centro Judicial de Mayagüez, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. Que el precio mínimo fijado para la PRIMERA SUBASTA es de $104,000.00. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una SEGUNDA SUBASTA, la misma se llevará a efecto el día 24 DE AGOSTO DE 2023 A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en la oficina antes mencionada del Alguacil que suscribe. El precio mínimo para la SEGUNDA SUBASTA será de $69,333.33, equivalentes a dos terceras (2/3) partes del tipo mínimo estipulado para la PRIMERA subasta. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una TERCERA SUBASTA la misma se llevará a efecto el día 31 DE AGOSTO DE 2023 A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en la oficina antes mencionada del Alguacil que suscribe. El precio mínimo para la TERCERA SUBASTA será de $52,000.00, equivalentes a la mitad (1/2) del tipo mínimo estipulado para la PRIMERA subasta. Si se declarase de-

sierta la tercera subasta, se adjudicará la finca numero 10,883 a favor del acreedor por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada si ésta es igual o menor que el monto del tipo de la tercera subasta, si el Tribunal lo estima conveniente; se abonará dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si esta es mayor, todo ello a tenor con lo dispone el Articulo 104 de la Ley Núm. 210 del 8 de diciembre de 2015 conocida como “Ley del Registro de la Propiedad Inmueble del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico”. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquiere libre de toda carga y gravamen que afecte la mencionada finca según el Artículo 102, inciso 6. Se hace constar que Que la finca número 35,391 fue segregada de la finca número 10,883, no obstante, la misma no fue liberada de la hipoteca por la cantidad de $104,000.00 constituida por sus dueños originales en la totalidad de la finca, por lo que se encuentra gravada con la misma. De lograrse un licitador victorioso, entonces, podrá celebrarse la subasta de la Finca número 35,391, para que se subaste por el remanente de la deuda, y la cual se describe a continuación: RUSTICA: Predio de terreno marcado en el plano de inscripción con el número 3, localizado en el Barrio Boquerón, del término municipal de Cabo Rojo, con una cabida superficial de 956.6916 metros cuadrados, equivalentes a 0.2434 cuerdas. En lindes por el NORTE, en dos alineaciones continuas, la primera en 20.996 metros con terrenos pertenecientes Klaus A. Schweigart, y la segunda en 18.0067 metros con el solar marcado en el plano de inscripción con el numero dos (2); por el SUR, en 36.376 metros con servidumbre de paso y con el remanente de la finca principal de donde se segrega; por el ESTE, en 22.896 metros con la faja de terreno marcada en el plano de inscripción como calle “A” dedicado a uso público; y por el OESTE, en 26.741 metros con terrenos de Rosa Delia Bobe Ortiz. Consta inscrito al folio 76 del tomo 1023 de Cabo Rojo, finca numero 35,391; Registro de la Propiedad Sección de San German. Una vez confirmada la venta judicial por el Honorable Tribunal, se procederá a otorgar la correspondiente escritura de venta judicial y se pondrá al comprador en posesión física del inmueble de conformidad con las disposiciones de Ley. Para conocimiento de la parte demandada y de toda aquella persona o personas que tengan interés inscrito con posterioridad a la inscripción del gravamen que se está ejecutando, y para conocimiento de todos los licitadores y el público en gene-

ral, el presente Edicto se publicará por espacio de dos (2) semanas consecutivas, con un intervalo de por lo menos siete días entre ambas publicaciones, en un diario de circulación general en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico y se fijará además en tres (3) lugares públicos del Municipio en que ha de celebrarse dicha venta, tales como la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía. Se les informa, por último, que: a. Que los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la secretaría del tribunal durante las horas laborables. b. Que se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes. Se entenderá, que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. EXPIDO, el presente EDICTO, en Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, hoy día 25 de mayo de 2023. CALIXTO RIVERA GHIGLIOTTY, ALGUACIL #283, DIVISIÓN DE SUBASTAS, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA SUPERIOR DE MAYAGÜEZ.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE CAGUAS SUN WEST MORTGAGE COMPANY, INC

Demandante Vs. SUCESIÓN DE HILARIO GARCÍA T/C/C HILARIO GARCÍA PEREZ, COMPUESTA POR SUS HEREDEROS CONOCIDOS SHERYL GARCÍA, ODALYS GARCÍA; PAOLA GARCIA Y FRANCISCO GARCÍA, FULANO(A) DE TAL Y SUTANO(A) DE TAL COMO MIEMBROS DECONOCIDOS DE DICHA SUCESIÓN, CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (CRIM)

Demandados

Civil: GR2022CV00332. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

A: ODALYS GARCÍA; PAOLA GARCIA,

FRANCISCO GARCÍA COMO HEREDEROS CONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESIÓN DE HILARIO GARCÍA T/C/C HILARIO GARCÍA PEREZ; FULANO(A) DE TAL Y SUTANO(A) DE TAL COMO HEEDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE DICHA SUCESIÓN. 3401 NORTH LAKE VIEW DR. APT 1412, TAMPA, FL, 33618; 60 CALLE 4 TOSCANA, GURABO, P.R. 00778-3900.

(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 31 de mayo de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 31 de mayo de 2023. En CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, el 31 de mayo de 2023. LISILDA MARTÍNEZ AGOSTO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. MARTA E. DONATE RESTO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante V. LUIS MANUEL LEON ORTIZ

Demandado(a)

Civil: MZ2022CV01661. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: LUIS MANUEL LEON ORTIZ. (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 23 de mayo de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 26 de mayo de 2023. En Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, el 26 de mayo de 2023. LCDA. NORMA G. SANTANA IRIZARRY, SECRETARIA. NILDA TORRES ACEVEDO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA

TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE YAUCO EN SABANA GRANDE COMMERCIAL EQUIPMENT FINANCE, INC.

Demandante Vs ÁNGEL PORFIRIO SOTO AYALA

Demandado

Civil Núm.: SJ2022CV10784.

Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y REPOSESIÓN DE GARANTÍA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: ÁNGEL PORFIRIO SOTO AYALA P/C LCDO.

JUAN C. FORTUÑO FAS, JCFORTUNO@FORTUNOLAW.COM.

El Secretario(a) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 19 de mayo de 2023, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia o Sentencia Parcial en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los DIEZ DÍAS siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representado usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia o Sentencia Parcial, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de TREINTA DÍAS con-

tados 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 del 2 de junio de 2023. En Yauco en Sabana Grande, Puerto Rico, a 2 de junio de 2023.

CARMEN TIRÚ QUIÑONES, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. DELIA APONTE VELÁZQUEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR I.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Parte Demandante Vs. LA SUCESIÓN DE MARÍA

REYES GARCÍA T/C/C

MARÍA AMALIA REYES

GARCÍA COMPUESTA

POR FULANO Y MENGANO DE TAL, POSIBLES HEREDEROS

DESCONOCIDOS, NÉLIDA ROSA REYES

GARCÍA T/C/C NELLY REYES PERRY T/C/C

NELLY ROSA REYES

GARCÍA y MILDRED

HARRIS REYES GARCÍA

T/C/C MILDRED R.

ARCHE POR SÍ Y COMO

HEREDERAS DE LA CAUSANTE, FRANK

ILLICH JR.

Parte Demandada Civil Núm.: CG2023CV01208. (705). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO, EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO E INTERPELACIÓN. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS E.E.U.U., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.

A: NÉLIDA ROSA REYES

GARCÍA T/C/C NELLY

REYES PERRY T/C/C

NELLY ROSA REYES

GARCÍA y MILDRED

HARRIS REYES GARCÍA

T/C/C MILDRED R.

ARCHE POR SÍ Y COMO

HEREDERAS DE LA CAUSANTE y a FRANK

ILLICH JR a las siguientes

direcciones: URB.

CONDADO MODERNO, D3

CALLE 3, CAGUAS, PR 00725-2478, PO BOX 254, CAGUAS, PR 00726-0254, COND DOS MARINAS

II, 200 AVE MARINA VW APT 1607, FAJARDO, PR 00738-4215, PO BOX 634, CAGUAS, PR 00726-

AMADOR

32907-8121,

MAHWAH, NJ 07430-1506.

y MENGANO DE TAL, POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE MARÍA REYES GARCÍA

T/C/C

MARÍA AMALIA REYES

GARCÍA. Queda usted notificado que en este Tribunal se ha radicado demanda sobre ejecución de hipoteca por la vía ordinaria en la que se alega se adeuda las siguientes cantidades: $50,962.04 de principal, más intereses sobre dicha suma al 5.50% anual desde el 1 de octubre de 2022 hasta su completo pago, más $99.92 de recargos acumulados, los cuales continuarán en aumento hasta el saldo total de la deuda, más la cantidad estipulada de $8,800.00 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogados, así como cualquier otra suma que contenga el contrato del préstamo, incluyendo pero sin limitarse a gastos de mantenimiento, inspecciones y otros adelantos “corporate advances”. La propiedad que garantiza hipotecariamente el préstamo es la siguiente: URBANA: Solar radicado en la Urbanización Condado Moderno, situada en el Barrio Bairoa de Caguas, Puerto Rico, marcado con el número 3 de la manzana D, compuesto de 342.37 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE: con la calle número 3 distancia de 11.50 metros y un arco de 2.75 metros; por el SUR: con el solar numero 4 distancia de 15.00 metros; por el ESTE: con el solar número 2, distancia de 23.00 metros y; por el OESTE: con la calle número 2 distancia de 19.50 metros y un arco de 2.75 metros. Contiene una casa de concreto reforzado. Inscrita al folio 220 del tomo 506 de Caguas, Finca 16160. Registro de la Propiedad de Caguas, Sección I. La escritura de hipoteca consta inscrita como asiento abreviado al folio 165 del Tomo 1788 de Caguas, Finca 16160. Registro de la Propiedad de Caguas, Sección I. Inscripción quinta. La demandante es la tenedora por endoso, por valor recibido y de buena fe del referido pagaré objeto de la presente acción. Se interpela a los herederos para que acepten o renuncien a la herencia de la causante dentro de los 30 días subsiguientes a la fecha que fuesen emplazados o requeridos que contesten, para darle cumplimiento al Artículo 959 del Código Civil de Puerto Rico, 31 L.P.R.A. § 2787 entendiéndose que, si no se expresan dentro de dicho término, aceptan el caudal relicto; la renuncia se hará por instrumento público o

por escrito judicial. La parte demandada deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Administración y Manejo de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del Tribunal. Se le advierte que si no contesta la demanda, radicando el original de la contestación en este Tribunal y enviando copia de la contestación a la abogada de la parte demandante, Lcda. Belma Alonso García, cuya dirección es: PO Box 3922, Guaynabo PR 00970-3922, Teléfonos: (787) 789-1826 y (787) 7080566, 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 31 de mayo de 2023 en Caguas, Puerto Rico. Lisilda martínez agosto, secretaria. Marta e. Donate resto, secretaria auxiliar.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU-

NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA DE GUAYNABO

COOPERATIVA DE AHORRO Y CRÉDITO JESÚS OBRERO

Parte Demandante V. SERGIO

RODRIGUEZ RIVERA

Parte Demandada

Civil Núm.: GB2023CV00045.

Sala: 101. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. EMPLAZAMIENTO

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

A: SERGIO RODRÍGUEZ RIVERA.

POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza y requiere para que notifique a:

AGS LEGAL COLLECTIONS, LLC

Abogados de la parte demandante

Lcdo. Ricardo A. Acevedo Bianchi - RUA 20637

Lcdo. José R. González RiveraRUA 13105

Lcdo. Juan A. Santos BerríosRUA 9774

P.O. Box 10242

Humacao, Puerto Rico 00792

Teléfono: (939) 545-4300

Email: rab@agslegalpr.com o jrg@agslegalpr.com

POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva, con copia a la representación legal de la parte demandante,

dentro de los 30 días de haber sido publicado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día su publicación. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:// unired.ramajudicial.pr/sumac/, 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. Extendido bajo n firma y Sello del Tribunal, en Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, hoy día 19 de mayo de 2023. Se enmienda a los fines de corregir el mes en que se expidió el Emplazamiento por Edicto. LCDA.

LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. F/ SARA ROSA VILLEGAS, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR CONF I.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO

DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN VIVIANA

DIAZ DE LA CRUZ

Demandante Vs. DAVID CRUZ SANCHEZ

Demandado

Civil Núm.: BY2023RF00646.

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

A La Parte Demandada:

DAVID CRUZ SÁNCHEZ. URB. VALPARAÍSO DOS

RÍOS, CALLE 9 E-5, TOA BAJA, P.R. 00949. Por la presente se le notifica que ha sido presentada en este Tribunal una Demanda en su contra. Se le emplaza y requiere para que, dentro del término de treinta (30) días contados a partir de la publicación del edicto, presente a este Tribunal su alegación responsiva a dicha demanda, radicando el original de la misma en este Tribunal, a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial.pr, y enviando copia de su alegación responsiva al [Lcdo. José l. Jiménez Rivera Avenida Betances J8 Urb. Hermanas Dá-

vila, Bayamón, P.R. 00959, Tel. Núm. 787-798-2885, Email Jimenez jose1953@yahoo.com]; salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría de este Tribunal. De no hacerlo, se le anotará la Rebeldía y se dictará Sentencia en su contra concediendo el remedio solicitado en la Demanda sin más citarle ni oírle. EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal, en Bayamón, Puerto Rico, hoy 30 de mayo de 2023. Lcda. Laura I. Santa Sánchez, Secretaria Regional. Isabel C. Souchet Burgos, Secretaria Auxiliar.

LEGAL NOTICE

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

UBIOR TORRES, T/C/C INES OBIOL

TORRES, COMPUESTA

POR FRANCES RÍOS

UBIOR Y LA SUCESION

LOUIS RIOS UBIOR, COMPUESTA POR LOUIE

JOSEPH RÍOS, STEVEN RÍOS, DAWN MARIE RÍOS

Y DOUGLAS RÍOS

Demandante V.

MARIA FERRER RAMOS

Y FRANCISCO FERRER

RAMOS, SUCESIÓN

MARÍA FERRER RAMOS COMPUESTA POR PERSONAS DESCONOCIDAS, Y SUCESIÓN

FRANCISCO FERRER RAMOS, COMPUESTA POR PERSONAS DESCONOCIDAS

Demandado(a)

Civil Núm.: SJ2022CV10782.

Sala: 903. Sobre: ACCIÓN

DECLARATIVA DE DOMINIO

POR USUCAPION EXTRAORDINARIA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: MARIA FERRER RAMOS, PERSONA DESCONOCIDA, FRANCISCO FERRER RAMOS, PERSONA DESCONOCIDA, SUCESIÓN MARÍA FERRER RAMOS, PERSONAS DESCONOCIDAS, SUCESIÓN FRANCISCO FERRER RAMOS, PERSONAS DESCONOCIDAS.

(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 mayo de 2023, este

Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 31 de mayo de 2023. En San Juan, Puerto Rico, el 31 de mayo de 2023. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA. MILDRED J. FRANCO REVENTOS, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE CAGUAS LUNICSA CRUZ MEDINA

Demandante V. ORIENTAL BANK COMO SUCESOR EN INTERÉS DE LEVITT MORTGAGE CORPORATION Y/O R&G MORTGAGE CORPORATION SUBSIDIARIA DE R-G PREMIER BANK OF PUERTO RICO; FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANO DE TAL Y CUALESQUIER PERSONA DESCONOCIDA CON POSIBLE INTERÉS EN LA OBLIGACIÓN CUYA CANCELACIÓN POR DECRETO JUDICIAL SE SOLICITA

Demandados Civil Núm.: GR2023CV00120. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ HIPOTECARIO EXTRAVIADO. EMPLAZAMIENTO MEDIANTE EDICTO. LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE NORTEAMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE NORTEAMÉRICA, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.

A: FULANO DE TAL, COMO POSIBLE TENEDOR DESCONOCIDO DEL PAGARÉ. DIRECCIÓN DESCONOCIDA.

POR LA PRESENTE se le em-

plaza, se le notifica que una demanda ha sido presentada en su contra para la cancelación de un pagaré hipotecario extraviado. Este pagare fue suscrito por constituida por Rosa lvette Milian Ramirez, a favor de LEVITT MORTGAGE CORP, o a su orden, por la suma principal de $57,050.00, con intereses a razón de 7 1/2% anual, vencedero el 1 de mayo de 2027. Según Escritura #26 otorgada en Guaynabo el 30 de abril de 1997 ante Carlos F. Padin Pérez, inscrita al folio 50 del Tomo 221 de Gurabo, en su cuarta (4a) inscripción. La parte demandante solicita al Tribunal que declare extinta la obligación evidenciada por el pagaré antes descrito y que ordene al registrador de la Propiedad a cancelar el asiento de inscripción de hipoteca que se había constituido en garantía de dicho pagaré. Por medio de este edicto se le emplaza a usted y se le requiere para que conteste la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto, radicando el original de su contestación ante el Tribunal correspondiente y notificando con copia de la misma a la parte demandante por conducto de su abogada a : LCDA. ISAMAR ESTRADA DIAZ, Calle Georgetti #9, Caguas, Puerto Rico 00725 y/o HC 05 BOX 55035 Caguas PR Tel.: 787-420-0030 - isamar.estradalaw@gmail. com. Se le apercibe 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. EXTENDIDO bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, hoy 24 de mayo de 2023. Lisilda Martínez Agosto, Secretaria. Sandra J. Trinidad Cañuelas, Secretaria Auxiliar.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE CAGUAS LUNICSA CRUZ MEDINA

Demandante V. ORIENTAL BANK COMO SUCESOR EN INTERÉS DE LEVITT MORTGAGE CORPORATION Y/O R&G MORTGAGE CORPORATION SUBSIDIARIA DE R-G PREMIER BANK OF PUERTO RICO; FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANO DE TAL Y CUALESQUIER PERSONA DESCONOCIDA CON POSIBLE INTERÉS EN LA OBLIGACIÓN CUYA CANCELACIÓN POR DECRETO JUDICIAL SE

SOLICITA

Demandados

Civil Núm.: GR2023CV00120. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ HIPOTECARIO EXTRAVIADO. EMPLAZAMIENTO MEDIANTE EDICTO. LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE NORTEAMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE NORTEAMÉRICA, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.

A: SUTANO DE TAL, COMO POSIBLE TENEDOR DESCONOCIDO DEL PAGARÉ. DIRECCIÓN DESCONOCIDA. POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza, se le notifica que una demanda ha sido presentada en su contra para la cancelación de un pagaré hipotecario extraviado. Este pagare fue suscrito por constituida por Rosa lvette Milian Ramirez, a favor de LEVITT MORTGAGE CORP, o a su orden, por la suma principal de $57,050.00, con intereses a razón de 7 1/2% anual, vencedero el 1 de mayo de 2027. Según Escritura #26 otorgada en Guaynabo el 30 de abril de 1997 ante Carlos F. Padin Pérez, inscrita al folio 50 del Tomo 221 de Gurabo, en su cuarta (4a) inscripción. La parte demandante solicita al Tribunal que declare extinta la obligación evidenciada por el pagaré antes descrito y que ordene al registrador de la Propiedad a cancelar el asiento de inscripción de hipoteca que se había constituido en garantía de dicho pagaré. Por medio de este edicto se le emplaza a usted y se le requiere para que conteste la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto, radicando el original de su contestación ante el Tribunal correspondiente y notificando con copia de la misma a la parte demandante por conducto de su abogada a : LCDA. ISAMAR ESTRADA DIAZ, Calle Georgetti #9, Caguas, Puerto Rico 00725 y/o HC 05 BOX 55035 Caguas PR Tel.: 787-420-0030 - isamar.estradalaw@gmail. com. Se le apercibe 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. EXTENDIDO bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, hoy 24 de mayo de 2023. Lisilda Martínez Agosto, Secretaria. Sandra J. Trinidad Cañuelas, Secretaria Auxiliar.

ORIENTAL BANK

Demandante Vs. SUCESION DE AIDA

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

Demandados

Civil Núm.: FA2023CV00292. (307). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO (EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA). EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBREASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.

A: FULANO DE TAL Y ZUTANO DE TAL, COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESION DE AIDA FIGUEROA SANTIAGO. POR EL PRESENTE EDICTO se le notifica que se ha radicado en esta Secretaría por la parte demandante, Demanda Enmendada sobre Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca por la Vía Ordinaria en la que se alega adeuda la suma principal de $58,825.27, intereses sobre dicha suma al 3.50% anual, desde el día 1ro de noviembre de 2022, hasta su completo pago, más recargos acumulados, más la cantidad de $6,613.70, estipulada para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado, así como cualquier otra suma estipulada en el contrato de préstamo, todas cuyas sumas están líquidas y exigibles. La propiedad hipotecada a ser vendida en pública subasta es: URBANA: Solar de forma regular, marcado con el número Cinco (5) del Bloque “C”, con cabida de DOSCIENTOS SETENTA Y DOS

PUNTO OCHENTA (272.80)

misma Urbanización. En dicho solar enclava una estructura de hormigón y bloques de una sola planta para vivienda de una familia. La escritura de hipoteca se encuentra inscrita al Sistema Karibe de Ceiba, Registro de la Propiedad de Fajardo, finca número 3,052, inscripción cuarta. POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los treinta (30) días de haber sido publicado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día de la publicación. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección: https:// unired.ramajudicial.pr/sumac/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal y enviar copia a la representación legal de la parte demandante cuya dirección más adelante se indica. 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.

Lco. Baldomero A. Collazo Torres Bufete Collazo, Connelly & Surillo, LLC

P.O. Box 11550

San Juan, P.R. 00922-1550

Tel. (787) 625-9999

Fax (787) 705-7387

E-mail: bcollazo@lawpr.com

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

METROS CUADRADOS de la URBANIZACIÓN VEGAS DE CEIBA, radicado en el Barrio Machos del Municipio de Ceiba, Puerto Rico; y en lindes por el NORTE, en doce punto cuarenta (12.40) metros, con los solares números Veinte (20) y Veintiuno (21) de la misma Urbanización; por el SUR, en doce punto cuarenta (12.40) metros, con la Calle número Dos (2) de la misma Urbanización; por el ESTE, en veintidós punto cero cero (22.00) metros, con el solar número Seis (6) de la misma Urbanización; y por el OESTE, en veintidós punto cero cero (22.00) metros, con el solar número Cuatro (4) de la

Se le advierte, además, a los herederos que conforme el caso de Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria v. Latinoamericana de Exportación, Inc., 164 D.P.R. 689, 696 (2005) y a tenor con las disposiciones del Artículo 1578 del Código Civil de Puerto Rico (31 L.P.R.A. sec. 11021), deberá aceptar o repudiar la herencia de la causante Aida Figueroa Santiago, dentro del término de treinta (30) días. De no expresar su intención de aceptar o repudiar las herencias dentro del término que se le fijó, las herencias se tendrán por aceptadas. Se le notifica también por la presente que la parte demandante habrá de presentar para su anotación al Registrador de la Propiedad del Distrito en que está situada la propiedad objeto de este pleito, un aviso de estar pendiente esta acción. Para publicarse conforme a la Orden dictada por el Tribunal en un periódico de circulación general. EN TESTIMONIO DE LO CUAL, expido el presente Edicto que firmo y sello en Fajardo, Puerto Rico, hoy 23 de mayo de 2023. Wanda I. Seguí Reyes, Secretaria Regional. Linda I. Medina Medina, Secretaria Auxiliar Del Tribunal I.

The Heat, a long shot in the playoffs, pull even with long shots

By SOPAN DEB

Michael Malone is generally the kind of coach who would leave a negative Yelp review after vacationing in Shangri-La. But his worry was warranted this time.

On Saturday, the day before Game 2 of the NBA Finals, Malone lamented his team’s poor defense in the first game of the series against the Miami Heat. The Denver Nuggets had given the Heat looks at a lot of wideopen 3-pointers — a bad sign, Malone said, even though good shooters like Max Strus and Duncan Robinson kept missing and Denver won the game.

On Sunday, Strus and Robinson combined for six of Miami’s 17 3-pointers. On a night when the Heat mostly seemed outmatched, their 3-point shooting helped them steal a victory on the road to tie the series at one game apiece. Somewhat appropriately, they won by 3 points: 111-108.

“There was miscommunication, game plan breakdowns, personnel breakdowns,” Malone groused afterward. He added: “We got lucky in Game 1. Tonight, they made them.”

The Heat have frustrated all of their playoff opponents this year by making jump shots they had missed during the regular season. Most teams over the past decade have focused on generating points from the most efficient shots: 3-pointers, free throws and shots at the basket. Miami has followed that trend to an extent, but it was one of the worst 3-point-shooting teams during the regular season and had been more likely to grind out points — led by Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo — by focusing more on midrange baskets.

That’s most likely a doomed strategy against Denver, an offensive juggernaut. The Heat cannot match the playmaking of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr. and Aaron Gordon. For the Heat to win, they have to remain hot from 3-point range.

On Sunday, Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said the Heat had been “more intentional” in their offense, suggesting the plan had been to lean into their 3-point shooting.

“That doesn’t guarantee you anything either,” Spoelstra said. “But at least you give yourself the best chance.”

The Heat have seized on their chances

this postseason, shown by their unlikely run to the NBA Finals as a No. 8 seed. Kevin Love, who joined the Heat midseason, said he wasn’t aware of the team’s 3-point struggles until he came to Miami.

“I always feel like there’s something to closing the door to the regular season,” Love said, adding: “You just kind of get to reset. And I think guys felt that. They just had another level of confidence and understanding that if we go out there and just be ourselves and play free and play fluid, we’ll give ourselves a chance to win.”

During the regular season, Miami ranked third in shots taken 10 to 14 feet from the basket, and 10th for shots between 5 and 9 feet. That’s not to say the Heat didn’t shoot enough 3s: They were 10th in attempts per game. They just didn’t make them.

In the second quarter Sunday night, the Nuggets led by as many as 15. The game was on the verge of turning into a blowout. But Love, who hadn’t played in the last three games, hit a deep shot for Miami to keep the Nuggets within sight. Miami shot 8 for 17 from 3-point range in the first half — which helped the Heat stay within 6 points of Denver at halftime.

The Heat continued to bomb 3s and tied

the game relatively early in the third quarter. Denver still led going into the fourth quarter, but the 3s helped the Heat keep the game within reach, allowing for a comeback.

In the final quarter, it was Robinson’s turn. His two 3s in the opening minutes cut the Nuggets’ lead to 2. Miami’s eventual victory was its seventh of this postseason run after being down by at least 10 points. It has matched the 2022 Golden State Warriors and the 2011 and 2012 Heat for the most doubledigit comebacks in one postseason in the past 25 years.

While the Heat do have some strong shooters, they do not include the team’s best players, Butler and Adebayo. In addition, guard Tyler Herro, one of the team’s best shooters, has missed almost the entire playoff run with a right hand injury.

Miami’s offense often centers on Adebayo grabbing the ball at the elbow and using his passing skills or Butler driving the baseline and using shot fakes and strength to create space for himself.

In the playoffs, Miami flipped a switch. Suddenly, its 3-pointers have begun to fall at an elite clip. Entering Game 2, the Heat had been the best 3-point-shooting team in the playoffs at 38.7%. In the Eastern Conference

finals against the Boston Celtics, the Heat shot 43.4% from 3 over seven games.

Asked if he knew why the Heat suddenly improved their shooting, Cody Zeller, Miami’s reserve center, said he thought the regular season “was inaccurate.”

“The playoffs are more accurate as far as how good of a shooter our guys are,” Zeller said. “We haven’t been surprised by guys making shots in the playoffs. We’re more surprised by not making shots during the regular season.”

The 3-pointer, which teams are more reliant on than ever, is a high variance shot. Offenses can create many open looks, but players are still shooting a ball into a circle that is 10 feet off the ground. You’re more likely to miss than make them. But if a team gets hot over a couple games, it doesn’t matter what the other team does defensively. The Boston Celtics saw that, and so did the Nuggets in Game 2.

The Nuggets have more offensive weapons than the Heat. For the Heat to keep pace, they have to keep shooting more 3s.

“In terms of the shooters, that’s pretty simple: Let it fly. Ignite. Once they see two go down, it could be three, it could turn into six, just like that,” Spoelstra said Saturday, while snapping his fingers.

In the regular season, the ideal tactic to defend the Heat was to focus on Butler and Adebayo and gum up the middle, forcing the ball to the perimeter. After all, during the regular season, the Heat shot 34.3% — a low-ish number — from 3 on shots considered open, according to the NBA’s statistics. No NBA defense can take away everything from an opposing offense.

Strategies are generally to push teams toward what they’re not great at. The Celtics did just that, and Miami made them pay at a rate of 42.1% on open 3-pointers.

The temptation when a team goes cold on its deep shots is to focus more on getting shots near the rim. In Game 2, the Heat rarely went to the rim, shooting only 10 times in the restricted area.

Miami heads home for Game 3 on Wednesday (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC) with the series tied, 1-1. Once again, the Heat won a playoff game they weren’t expected to win on shots they weren’t expected to make.

“That’s what this game is,” Butler said. “Make or miss game. Make or miss league. We made some shots. They didn’t.”

The Heat’s Jimmy Butler let fly a 3-point shot during the second half of Sunday’s Game 2 of the N.B.A. finals.

Roger Craig, teacher of an era-defining pitch, is dead at 93

By RICHARD GOLDSTEIN

Roger Craig, who pitched or managed in five World Series and changed the face of pitching in the 1980s as the guru of the split-fingered fastball, died Sunday. He was 93.

The San Francisco Giants, a team Craig managed for eight seasons, leading them to the National League pennant in 1989, announced his death on its website Sunday. His family said Craig had a short illness, a Giants spokesperson said.

For some, Craig was a figure in baseball trivia: He was the starting pitcher for the Dodgers in their final game before moving from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, and five years later, in 1962, he threw the first pitch in the New York Mets’ history. He was the loser both times. He lost 24 games and then 22 for the dreadful Mets in their first two seasons, including 18 in a row in 1963. But he had his moments when backed by good-hitting lineups.

A lanky 6-foot-4 right-hander who, it was often noted, bore a remarkable resemblance to President Lyndon B. Johnson, Craig pitched in three World Series for the Dodgers in the 1950s and another with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1964. In managing the Giants to the 1989 NL pennant, he implored his players to hustle with the mantra “Humm baby” and taught his pitchers to throw the split-fingered fastball.

Craig spread the gospel of the split, thrown with the same motion as a traditional fastball but able to confound batters because the pitcher gripped the baseball with his index and middle finger spread widely apart, and parallel to the seams instead of across them.

“The split finger is, simply, a fastball that you put an extra spin on so that it drops down in front of the batter so fast that he don’t know where it’s goin’,” Craig

explained in a 1988 interview with Playboy. “Every pitcher with brains who wants to stick around wants to learn it.”

As the pitching coach for the Detroit Tigers, Craig taught the delivery to righthander Jack Morris, who helped propel the team to the 1984 World Series championship and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2018.

After leaving the Tigers when his salary demands were unmet, Craig taught the split-fingered fastball to Houston Astros right-hander Mike Scott, who had sought his advice. Scott went on to win the 1986 NL Cy Young Award. As Scott once put it, “God bless Roger Craig.”

“Everyone was throwing that pitch,” Mike Scioscia, who caught for the Dodgers in the 1980s and later managed the Angels, told The Associated Press in 2011. “It was the pitch of the ’80s just like the pitch of the ’60s was a slider.”

Roger Lee Craig was born Feb. 17, 1930, in Durham, North Carolina, one of 10 children of John and Mamie Craig. His father was a shoe salesman. He was spotted by a part-time scout for the Dodgers while pitching in high school, then signed by the team out of North Carolina State University in 1950. After pitching in the Dodgers’ minor league system and serving in the Army, Craig made his debut with Brooklyn in July 1955.

He had a 5-3 record over 21 games, 10 of them starts, then beat the New York Yankees in Game 5 of what became the only World Series a Brooklyn team would win. He pitched for the Dodgers again in the 1956 World Series, taking the loss in Game 3 of the seven-game series win for the Yankees.

A fastball pitcher early in his career, Craig developed arm problems that he attributed to throwing in cold and damp weather as the starter on Sept. 29, 1957, at the Philadelphia Phillies’ Connie Mack

Stadium, in the final game the Dodgers played before moving to Los Angeles.

Craig was back in the minors for much of 1958 and for part of the 1959 season while rehabilitating from his injury. He never regained the speed on his fastball but when he returned to the Dodgers for good in 1959 he concentrated on getting ahead of batters in the count. That year, he revived his career as a control pitcher and had his best major league season, posting an 11-5 record while leading the NL in shutouts, with four, as the Dodgers won their first pennant in Los Angeles. He started twice in the World Series against the Chicago White Sox, with one loss and one no-decision in a game won by the Dodgers, who took the Series in six games.

Craig pitched mostly in relief before he was chosen by the Mets as their No. 3 selection in the October 1961 expansion draft, after catcher Hobie Landrith and infielder Elio Chacon. He was the sixth pick overall since the Mets alternated with Houston, the other new team, in the draft order.

The Mets traded Craig to the Cardinals be -

fore the 1964 season, and he won Game 4 of the World Series in relief as St. Louis beat the Yankees in seven games. He later pitched for the Cincinnati Reds and the Phillies and finished his career with a 7498 record.

Craig began teaching the split-fingered fastball, a variation on a lower-velocity delivery called the forkball, when he managed the San Diego Padres in 1978 and ’79. Future Hall of Fame reliever Bruce Sutter had been using the pitch for several years with the Chicago Cubs, having learned it from their roving instructor, Fred Martin, when he was in the minors. While Craig did not “discover” the split finger, he proved especially adept at teaching it.

After five years as a Tigers coach, Craig became the Giants’ manager with 18 games left in the 1985 season and remained with the team for seven more years. The highlight of his tenure came in 1989, when the Giants won an NL pennant for the first time since 1962, although they were swept by the Oakland Athletics in an earthquake-delayed World Series. He retired after the 1992 season and had spent time on his Southern California ranch in Borrego Springs in his later years.

The split-fingered fastball remained a part of pitchers’ arsenals in the years that followed Craig’s retirement, but it gradually declined in popularity over concerns that it can put undue stress on a pitcher’s arm.

“We have lost a legendary member of our Giants family,” Larry Baer, the Giants’ CEO, said in a statement. “Roger was beloved by players, coaches, front office staff and fans. He was a father figure to many and his optimism and wisdom resulted in some of the most memorable seasons in our history.”

He is survived by his wife, Carolyn; three daughters, Sherri Paschelke, Teresa Hanvey and Vikki Dancan; a son, Roger Jr.; seven grandchildren; and 14 greatgrandchildren, the Giants said.

In looking back on his career, Craig shared wry memories of pitching for Casey Stengel’s Mets.

As he related it to CBS Sports in 2013, Stengel would tell him more or less the following: “Mr. Craig, I know you pitched nine innings today and won’t pitch again for four days, but don’t throw between starts just in case we’re ahead. I may need you to pitch an inning or two.”

Roger Craig in 1986, as manager of the San Francisco Giants. He helped lead the team to the 1989 World Series, which Oakland won in four games after a midseries delay due to an earthquake in the Bay Area.

Sudoku

How to Play:

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

Sudoku Rules:

Every row must contain the numbers from 1 through 9

Every column must contain the numbers from 1 through 9

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

Crossword

Answers on page 30

Wordsearch

Aries (Mar 21-April 20)

Money matters might be weighing on the mind of a close friend or lover, Aries, and he or she might seek your advice. A creative project may require a larger expenditure of money, time, or other resources than you originally thought. This could make you wonder if you will be able to continue with it. It might take some tweaking on your part, but you should be able to complete it as planned.

Taurus (April 21-May 21)

You might have visitors, Taurus, or even a hot date scheduled for tonight. By midafternoon you might feel too tired to go out and wonder if you should cancel. It’s best to keep your activities low-key. Have coffee and cake at home instead of going out, and get the cake from a bakery! Your evening should be full of exciting, stimulating conversation. You’ll be glad you stuck with your plans.

Gemini (May 22-June 21)

Deliveries that you expect could be delayed, Gemini. Today you might learn something shocking about a neighbor or relative. The gossip might spread rapidly through your community. This could have you reeling even though it might be exaggerated. You might visit a few people nearby or spend a lot of time on the phone trying to learn the truth. Don’t take anything you hear at face value.

Cancer (June 22-July 23)

Some good but surprising news could come your way today, Cancer. Perhaps a family member or friend will call or drop by with a surprising development that directly affects you. In the evening, go out together and celebrate. Don’t forget to include your special someone in your celebration plans.

Leo (July 24-Aug 23)

Today may start out frustrating, Leo. Be prepared! Some equipment might go on the blink and it could take a while to get it fixed. A temporary separation from your partner could also be disappointing. You may have a lot of physical energy for which you have little immediate outlet. Take a long walk. This would not only provide an energy outlet but also clear your head.

Virgo (Aug 24-Sep 23)

Your level of artistic inspiration is high today, Virgo. Dreams or meditation may bring up some spiritual insights and revelations, and you may promptly forget them upon coming out of your dream or meditative state. This could prove frustrating! Try writing them down even if you only remember snatches. This can help bring them to the surface again. You will want a record of them anyway.

Libra (Sep 24-Oct 23)

Some upsetting news regarding money could throw you into a dither today, Libra. Perhaps a check you’ve been expecting hasn’t arrived on time. Maybe the bank has made an error regarding your account. It isn’t anything that can’t be straightened out, though it’s going to be a pain making all the calls. Basically, all should be going very well for you. This is only a temporary setback.

Scorpio (Oct 24-Nov 22)

A setback in your career might have you feeling disoriented, Scorpio. Equipment might be involved. Don’t go crazy. It’s only temporary. Your determination, efficiency, and practicality should take care of it in no time. Basically, you’re probably feeling optimistic about the future and unlikely to change that energy any time soon. Try not to worry about problems today. Spend time relaxing and enjoying the company of friends and family

Sagittarius (Nov 23-Dec 21)

A delivery that you were expecting from far away might be delayed, Sagittarius, causing you to wonder if it might have been lost. It hasn’t. Unfortunately, there isn’t much you can do but wait. Mechanical equipment could also go out of whack, necessitating a call to a repair service. This could set you back some and make you antsy. Try to find something else to do!

Capricorn (Dec 22-Jan 20)

Today you may feel especially passionate, Capricorn, and desire a romantic encounter. You might even have a hot date scheduled. Don’t be surprised if it has to be postponed for reasons beyond anyone’s control. You might try to sublimate those feelings through creative activities. Romantic novels and movies could also prove good outlets, though never as good as the real thing!

Aquarius (Jan 21-Feb 19)

A visitor with a few problems might come to your door in search of advice and sympathy, Aquarius. He or she might also have some other news that could shock you. A professional crisis might make it necessary for you or your partner to spend most of the day away from home and family. This could be frustrating, particularly if you have to cancel plans. Hang in there!

Pisces (Feb 20-Mar 20)

A visitor with a few problems might come to your door in search of advice and sympathy, Aquarius. He or she might also have some other news that could shock you. A professional crisis might make it necessary for you or your partner to spend most of the day away from home and family. This could be frustrating, particularly if you have to cancel plans. Hang in there!

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