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.
State Elections Commission (SEC) Interim Chairwoman Jessika Padilla Rivera underscored the significance of the meeting held on Monday with LUMA Energy officials with the purpose of ensuring uninterrupted electrical service during the crucial primary elections this Sunday, June 2.
Meanwhile, LUMA asked the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau for more money in its budget amid complaints about the instability in the energy service.
“We have already notified all the voting centers to be used on June 2 to avoid any type of maintenance in the area that suspends the electricity service,” Padilla noted. “If that were the case, if there was no electricity service, LUMA would already have technicians assigned to the areas to restore the electricity service immediately.”
Padilla reiterated the SEC’s preparedness for the first electoral event of 2024, assuring that the final details are being worked out with the New Progressive Party and the Popular Democratic Party.
“Each of the commissioners is currently working hard with what is the early vote, so yes, we believe that everything is ready for next Sunday, June 2,” she stated.
Meanwhile, LUMA Energy submitted to the Energy Bureau a budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year that shows increases in the level of operational expenses related to the transmission and distribution lines – which are managed by the consortium – along with reductions in the items allocated
to the operation of the energy generation components.
In the motion that LUMA delivered last Friday, the company stressed that the $692 million budget that would be under its control aligns with the distribution endorsed by the Public-Private Partnerships Authority (P3A). In comparison, the $319 million requested by Genera PR, the private operator of the thermoelectric generation fleet, exceeded what was provided by the P3A by $18 million.
By THE STAR STAFF
ina Valedón Santiago, the Popular Democratic Party candidate for the Senate for the Humacao district, said Monday that the fact that Gov. Pedro Pierluisi’s team brought in former Gov. Ricardo Rosselló Nevares for its primary campaign closing this past Sunday is “evidence that they did not learn anything about what is happening in Puerto Rico.”
“If Pierluisi wins on Sunday [primary elections day] and becomes the official candidate of the New Progressive Party (NPP) for the November elections, he will have to carry that heavy political package,” Valedón said. “The voters will not
forget. Now the questions that people ask on the street are: Why did Rosselló endorse Pierluisi? What was the negotiation and what were the promises? They will have to answer.”
On Monday morning, Pierluisi’s campaign director, Edwin Mundo, said the NPP faithful have forgiven the ex-governor, who stepped down from office under pressure in 2019 after a leaked Telegram chat spawned a scandal.
“I differ from Mundo,” the Senate candidate said. “Rosselló went down in history as the first governor who had to resign from his position and if the NPP insists on placing him as a decoy on the ballot along with Pierluisi, they will be in for a surprise.”
Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia participated Monday in Memorial Day ceremonies to honor the soldiers and veterans from Puerto Rico who lost their lives.
“We dedicate this special moment to remember our fallen, those heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty, particularly those who could not return to their homeland,” the governor said during the ceremonies at the Puerto Rico National Cemetery in Bayamón. “We offer our eternal gratitude to their families and loved ones, as well as to all the people of Puerto Rico and our nation. This loss is immeasurable and its memory lives in each of us, because each act of courage will always be remembered.”
Pierluisi highlighted the presence of members of the armed forces, active and retired, as well as their families.
He added that “the legacy they left us with their commitment and courage will last for generations without end and is a reminder that freedom, democracy, and peace have
Honoring the lives of the fallen during Memorial Day ceremonies at Puerto Rico National Cemetery in Bayamón on Monday, Gov.
that “the legacy they left us with their commitment and courage will last for generations without end and is a reminder that freedom, democracy, and peace have a very high price.”
a very high price.”
“The members of our armed forces, especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice
by giving their lives for us, always dared to be great, and they achieved it with great effort, work and courage,” the governor said.
Attending the event were the Democratic minority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries; National Guard Adj. Gen. Miguel Méndez; Veterans Advocate Agustín Montañez; Sgt. Richard Soto; National Cemetery Director Juan Nieves; National Cemeteries Assistant Director Marcos de Jesús; Sens. William Villafañe Ramos and Gregorio Matías Rosario; and Rep. José Aponte Hernández; as well as heads of agencies.
“As the son of a lieutenant in the United States Army, who has rested in this cemetery since last year, I recognize the immense sacrifice of wearing a military uniform,” Pierluisi said. “My father always personified the values and principles of the pursuit of equality and justice, and it has been his teachings that I have sought to emulate throughout my life. Therefore, when a father or mother, son or daughter, husband or wife, chooses to serve in distant seas or distant countries, let us always keep in mind and never take for granted that they respond to a noble calling so that we can enjoy the rights and privileges that American democracy gives us.”
In an effort to train more health professionals specialized in the control and prevention of substance use and abuse in the face of the challenge that Puerto Rico is facing with the longstanding public health problem, Central University of the Caribbean (UCC by its Spanish initials) President Waleska Crespo Rivera on Monday announced the extension of the enrollment period for its graduate program in substance abuse counseling.
“Substance abuse is an important risk factor for various health problems, including heart disease, stroke, cancer and mental illness,” Crespo emphasized. “Therefore, training and specialization in this topic is pertinent and necessary.”
She also noted that around 200,000 people in Puerto Rico have a substance use disorder. Meanwhile, according to an article published by the New York Times, for the first time on record cannabis has surpassed alcohol as the daily drug of choice for people in the United States.
In 2022, 17.7 million people reported using cannabis either every day or almost every day, compared to 14.7 million who reported using alcohol with the same frequency, according to a new study. Although many more people consume alcoholic beverages than use cannabis, frequent drinking has become slightly less common than about 15 years ago, new research reveals. But the proportion of people in the United States who
frequently use marijuana has increased 15-fold over the past three decades.
According to the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis, the demand for addiction counselors is expected to increase 21% by 2030, resulting in a shortfall of some 13,600 professionals. Those estimates do not capture changes in care delivery patterns or uneven regional distributions in the supply of addiction counselors that may be present.
The substance abuse counseling program at UCC is characterized by its comprehensive approach, which addresses all types of substances involved in use disorders, including licit and illicit substances, alcohol and prescription medications.
“At UCC we strive to develop competent professionals to serve individuals, families and communities affected by substance abuse,” Crespo said. “Our study offering is one that emphasizes the importance of prevention and community education.”
The program has two educational offerings. One confers a post-baccalaureate certificate that offers the tools to provide substance abuse counseling services. The second is the master of health sciences in substance abuse, which allows counselors to provide services, as well as supervise, plan, administer and evaluate programs for prevention and treatment, both in public agencies and in private organizations.
Crespo stressed that “the UCC has funds to provide
scholarships and aid to professionals who are interested in enrolling.”
Those interested in the program must have a bachelor’s degree in a health-related field. The deadline to apply for admission is May 31, 2024. More information is available by writing to michelle.caban@uccaribe.edu or samary.ortiz@uccaribe.edu or call 787-798-3001 ext. 2706 and 2708.
So far this year, the killings of 23 women have been recorded in Puerto Rico, of which 10 have been femicides and eight of those were committed by their partners, according to data from the island Institute of Statistics presented during the Second Symposium on Statistics on Gender Violence in Puerto Rico.
“This Second Symposium on Statistics on Gender Violence has become a fundamental space for the exchange of knowledge and the promotion of concrete actions to confront this serious problem that affects our society,”
said Dr. Orville Disdier, the executive director of the Statistics Institute of Puerto Rico, in a written statement.
The symposium brought together more than 100 representatives from the public and private sectors and nonprofit organizations, and included the participation of 14 experts who addressed topics such as the design of public policies to eradicate gender violence, the social impact of violence and the health approach to combating it.
During the event, the importance of addressing all manifestations of violence, including economic and emotional violence, as well as child abuse, was highlighted, as
By THE STAR STAFF
The Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company (PRIDCO) and FirstBank, in a strategic partnership, have signed a $52 million credit agreement to add 196,000 square feet to the structure PRIDCO leases to contact lens maker CooperVision.
PRIDCO established the Puerto Rico Industrial Investment Corporation (PRIICO) as a conduit to borrow funds to construct highly customized facilities requiring significant capital investment to attract high-caliber tenants to Puerto Rico, according to a letter published by the Financial Oversight and Management Board last week.
PRIDCO would grant a mortgage on the existing manufacturing facility and the project to FirstBank, as an administrative agent, as security for PRIICO’s loan.
PRIDCO is the owner and landlord
of the manufacturing facility occupied by CooperVision, which will serve as collateral for the proposed debt transaction.
CooperVision’s parent company, The Cooper Companies Inc., will guarantee CooperVision’s obligations to PRIDCO under CooperVision’s lease with the public corporation.
The principal amount and interest of the proposed debt transaction will be repaid from monthly rent payments under the 15-year lease agreement by and between PRIDCO and CooperVision.
Rental income received from CooperVision under the lease agreement must be sufficient to cover debt service of the proposed debt transaction, with a debt service coverage ratio of 1:1. The monthly rental payments will be deposited in a designated blocked and pledged account to be maintained by FirstBank. The proposed
was the importance of statistical data in the formulation of public policies.
The Statistics Institute is an autonomous government entity in charge of coordinating the production of government statistics to ensure that data and statistical collection systems are complete and reliable, and that they provide rapid and universal access. More information and access to the symposium presentations can be found by visiting [estadisticas.pr](https:// estadisticas.pr/en/ Segundo-simposio-estadisticas-violencia-de-genero).
Dr. Orville Disdier, executive director of the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics
debt transaction provides for a fixed interest rate equal to the 10-year secured overnight financing rate, or SOFR, swap rate plus 4.10%. The interest rate is subject to market conditions and will be determined on the closing date.
Under the proposed debt transaction, PRIDCO will retain ownership of the asset and lease the new space to CooperVision to expand its manufacturing presence that
was first established in 1985, and that has been operating at the current Juana Díaz facilities since 1999. The project will be completed in multiple phases with an estimated construction cost of some $76 million and total expansion cost estimated at around $104 million. The project entails the creation of some 725 new jobs, with an incremental annual payroll estimated at $32 million.
The Puerto Rico Police Bureau reported on Monday morning that agents were investigating an explosion reported at the Puerta Loíza restaurant on Gilberto Monroig Avenue in Santurce. According to reports, the police received an alert call through the 9-1-1
Emergency System about an explosion at the location.
When the agents arrived, they found a deceased man burned in the kitchen area in circumstances that are under investigation.
Personnel from the Firefighters Bureau were mobilized to the scene and the case will be investigated by agents from the Police Bureau’s Explosives Division.
San Juan Daily Star
Severe weather stretching from the Midwest to the East Coast disrupted pool parties and travel plans for millions of people Monday, the end of Memorial Day weekend and one of the nation’s busiest travel days.
Flights from Atlanta to Boston experienced ground delays and stops as severe weather, including heavy rain and potentially damaging winds and hail, moved into much of the Eastern United States on Monday afternoon. Parts of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania were under severe storm watches.
The disruptions followed a weekend when storms and tornadoes killed at least 22 people from Texas to Virginia and left hundreds of thousands without power.
Officials with the Federal Aviation Administration said they had worked with the airlines to plan for the expected weather. By midday Monday, La Guardia Airport in New York City had reported average ground delays of 100 minutes, and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the busiest in the world, reported departure delays because of severe thunderstorms.
Ground stops and major delays were also expected at airports in Chicago, Virginia, Baltimore, Washington, Philadelphia and Cleveland because of the storms, according to the FAA.
In Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency Monday morning after four people were killed over the weekend. More than 150,000 customers in the state were without power at midday after damaging winds.
Elsewhere, a tornado left at least seven
near Valley View, Texas, north of Dallas, on Saturday, May 25, 2024. Powerful storms and tornadoes over the weekend killed at least 22 people from Texas to Virginia and left hundreds of thousands without power. (City of Denton Fire Department via The New
people dead in North Texas, including two children ages 2 and 5. Eight people were killed in Arkansas, and two died in Oklahoma as severe storms swept through the region, flattening hundreds of buildings and blowing away homes. And severe thunderstorms in Virginia resulted in at least one fatality, officials said.
Thousands of others in the South and Midwest were without power Monday, according to tracking site poweroutage.us.
Later Monday, severe thunderstorms were expected from Texas to New York, the
National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center said. Flash flooding was possible from Maryland to the Catskill Mountains in New York, the weather service said, and tornadoes were possible in the mid-Atlantic region.
The system was the latest to pummel the region over the past few days. Five people were killed and part of a city was obliterated in Iowa last week after a powerful tornado hit.
President Joe Biden issued a statement of condolence to those affected by the storms, and he thanked emergency
responders for their work.
“Jill and I are praying for those who tragically lost their lives as a result of devastating tornadoes that tore through Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma, leveling entire communities and leaving a path of destruction in their wake,” Biden said.
Biden said that the federal government was “ready to provide support as needed.” He noted that the Memorial Day holiday storms came just weeks after counties in the Midwest and South were recovering from severe weather.
On Sunday, severe thunderstorms in Howell County, Missouri, produced hail the size of baseballs and tornadoes that downed trees and damaged homes near the town of Mountain View, said Kelsey Angle, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Springfield.
In Kentucky, Beshear deployed the National Guard to help state forestry workers clear downed trees and dangerous debris. He activated the state’s price-gouging statute to prevent price increases on necessary supplies and said he believed that the state would qualify for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Emergency workers have reported high water, fallen trees and other dangerous conditions in about a third of Kentucky’s 120 counties, mostly in the western part of the state, state Transportation Secretary Jim Gray said at a news conference. The storms also impacted nearly 100 state highways.
In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a severe weather disaster declaration that covered 106 counties. Officials estimate that nearly 100 people were injured over the weekend, more than 200 homes were destroyed and more than 220 buildings were damaged.
Up, up and not OK: Letting go of balloons could soon be illegal in FloridaBy CARA BUCKLEY
Balloons released in the sky don’t go to heaven. They often end up in oceans and waterways, where they’re 32 times more likely to kill seabirds than other types of plastic debris. Despite this, humans like to release them en masse, be it to celebrate a loved one’s life or a wedding, or to reveal the gender of a baby.
The practice is on the verge of becoming illegal in Florida, where the Legislature has joined a growing number of states to ban the intentional release of balloons outdoors. The Florida ban is expected to be signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and would take effect July 1.
Florida is at the forefront of a dizzying and contentious array of statewide bans, outlawing lab grown meat, certain books from school
libraries and classrooms, and most abortions after six weeks. But the balloon ban is rare for garnering widespread bipartisan support. It was championed by environmentalists and sponsored by two Republican lawmakers from the Tampa Bay area, state Rep. Linda Chaney and state Sen. Nick DiCeglie.
“Balloons contribute to the increase in microplastic pollution which is harmful to every
living thing including humans, polluting our air and drinking water,” Chaney wrote in an email.
“My hope is that this bill changes the culture, making people more aware of litter in general, including balloons,” she said.
Chaney said she first heard about the perils of balloon debris in 2020. Aquatic animals often mistake balloons for jellyfish and feel full after
A photo provided by the City of Denton Fire Department shows a building destroyed by a storm York Times)May 28, 2024 6
The Libertarian Party chose one of its own as its presidential nominee Sunday night, capping a grueling day of elimination voting and a boisterous four-day event, where Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. unsuccessfully sought to court the group’s backing.
The nominee, Chase Oliver — an openly gay former Democrat who in 2022 forced a runoff in a race for a U.S. Senate seat in Georgia — beat out nine other candidates at the party’s national convention in Washington, including Kennedy.
Kennedy, who was a late addition to the official list of potential nominees Sunday morning, was eliminated in the first round of voting Sunday afternoon, with 19 votes — just 2% of the total. Trump, who was not an official candidate, received six write-in votes in the first round.
The Libertarian Party is among the better-established minor parties, with name recognition and placement on the majority of state ballots in November. The Libertarian nominee is guaranteed to be on the November ballot in at least 37 states, a number that party leaders say they expect to grow in the coming months.
With its emphasis on unfettered individual liberties and limited government, the party draws supporters from across the political spectrum. Libertarian Party faithful call for the dismantling of the regulatory state — including, for some, the abolition of the Internal Revenue Service and the FBI — as well as the legalization of drugs and sex work. Broadly, the party has embraced cryptocurrency, opposed tariffs and foreign military spending, and called for the release of the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, who is being held in the U.K. and faces espionage charges in the U.S.
A theme of the party’s convention, displayed proudly on badges and signs at the convention, was: “Become Ungovernable.”
On Sunday, it almost was. The party took more than seven hours, and seven rounds of elimination voting, to get a presidential nominee — and even then the party nearly ended up without any candidate at all, as more than one-third of the final voters cast ballots for “none of the above.”
Had the party failed to nominate a candidate, it would have likely lost ballot access in many states.
“I assume that everybody understands what it means if you literally don’t have a candidate,” the party chair, Angela McArdle, told the delegates after the second-to-last round of votes failed to produce an outright majority winner.
In his acceptance speech late Sunday night, Oliver, 38 — who has described himself as “armed and gay” — pledged to unify the party along its common principles and to expand its reach around the U.S. “We can set the world free in our lifetimes,” he said, adding that he would help bring to an end the “genocide in Gaza,” would get rid of the Federal Reserve and would “stop the thieving” of taxation.
“Here’s the elevator pitch, you guys,” Oliver said, adding, “If you are living your life in peace,” then your life “is your life, your body is your body, your business is your business.”
He also took a shot at Kennedy, saying, “Rule No. 1: If you want to elect a real political outsider, don’t elect somebody with the last name Kennedy.” And alluding to President Joe Biden, 81, and Trump, 77, Oliver made an explicit pitch for younger voters who “don’t want octogenarians running their lives.”
The ultimate selection of an actual member of the Libertarian Party came as no surprise to other actual members of
Up, up and not OK: Letting go of balloons could soon be illegal in Florida
From page 5
eating them, essentially starving from the inside out. Ribbons affixed to balloons entangle turtles and manatees. Balloons also pose a threat to land animals. In her research, Chaney learned about a pregnant cow that died after ingesting a balloon while grazing. The unborn calf died too.
The bill closes a loophole in an existing Florida law that allowed for the outdoor release of up to nine balloons per person in any 24-hour period, a provision that critics say didn’t achieve the goal of reducing marine trash.
The new legislation makes it clear that balloons can pose an environmental hazard, supporters say. It equates intentionally releasing a balloon filled with a gas lighter than air with littering, a noncriminal offense that carries a fine of $150. The ban also applies to outdoor releases of any balloons described by manufacturers as biodegradable.
The ban does not restrict the sale of balloons by party suppliers or manufacturers; they could still be used indoors or as decorations outdoors if properly secured.
Balloons released by a government agency or for government sanctioned scientific purposes would be exempt from the new law. Hot air balloons recovered after launch or balloons released by children age 6 and younger would also be exempt.
the Libertarian Party. Many of them had greeted Kennedy and Trump with deep skepticism and said that their presence at the convention was an unwelcome distraction.
Kennedy’s candidacy, and the general disaffection shown in national polls for both Trump and Biden, has meant more attention on third parties this year. The Libertarian Party convention over the weekend, held in the Washington Hilton hotel, was a reminder of the internecine squabbles and organizational frustrations often inherent in minor parties — particularly one that prides itself on freedom of expression.
Sunday’s proceedings were carried live on C-SPAN, whose viewers were treated to regular unbleeped profanity, a marriage proposal, a man wearing something like a loincloth onesie, and heated debate about rules of parliamentary debate and voting procedures.
The sixth round of votes was expected to be the last: Oliver faced off against Michael Rectenwald, a former professor at New York University who left the school in 2019 on the heels of several controversies. He had invited right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos to be a guest speaker in his class and had sued colleagues and the university for defamation. Rectenwald is a member of the party’s radical Mises Caucus.
But neither Oliver nor Rectenwald reached a majority in that vote: Oliver got 49.53% of the vote, and Rectenwald, who had led every previous vote, got 44.73%. Just over 5% voted “None of The Above.” (Former Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino got one write-in vote, as did singer Courtney Love.) Rectenwald, as the lowest performing official candidate, was dropped from the ballot, and the party faced the prospect of having to back either Oliver or nobody at all. Just after 10 p.m., the final votes came in.
The bill counts among its supporters the Florida Retail Association as well as the Coalition for Responsible Celebration, a trade association for balloon distributors and party stores, which in a statement said it recognized “the importance of promoting responsible balloon usage and ensuring safe access to these joyinspiring products.”
The legislation marks a win for environmentalists hamstrung by Florida legislation known as the “ban on bans,” which prohibits counties and local municipalities from regulating single use plastics and plastic bags.
Jon Paul “J.P.” Brooker, director of Florida conservation for the nonprofit group Ocean Conservancy, said increased concern about the health of beaches, a major driver of tourism, helped conservationists and lawmakers find common ground.
“Florida is its beaches,” Brooker said, “People are not going to flock by millions to them if they’re trashed and there’s dead animals and plastic and trash all over.”
Brooker said while it remains to be seen how vigorously police will enforce the ban, the fact that they will be able to issue tickets was a good thing. “More than anything,” he added,” it gives us in the environmental community an opportunity to educate the public as to why it’s bad.”
According to Emma Haydocy, Florida policy manager for the Surfrider Foundation, seven other states have cracked down on outdoor balloon releases. And just last week, lawmakers in North Carolina filed their version of the Florida legislation.
In lieu of releasing balloons, conservationists are urging people to instead plant a tree or toss flower petals into the water.
“There are so many other ways of celebrating that are not detrimental,” Haydocy said.
Not long ago, streaming TV came with a promise: Sign up, and commercials will be a thing of the past.
Netflix rose to streaming dominance in part by luring customers to an ad-free experience. Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and HBO Max followed that lead.
Well, that did not last long.
Ads are getting increasingly hard to avoid on streaming services. One by one, Netflix, Disney+, Peacock, Paramount+ and Max have added 30- and 60-second commercials in exchange for a slightly lower subscription price. Amazon has turned ads on by default. And the live sports on those services include built-in commercial breaks no matter what price you pay.
The importance of advertising was driven home this month when Amazon and Netflix both staged their first in-person presentations during the so-called upfronts, a decades-old television event in New York where media companies try to woo advertisers.
Netflix dispatched Shonda Rhimes, the successful executive producer of “Bridgerton” and creator of “Grey’s Anatomy,” to talk up the service to marketers. Amazon packed its event with celebrities such as Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal, and a live performance from Alicia Keys.
“Remember when streamers told you, ‘We’re going to do television a new way, so I’m afraid we won’t be needing your little commercials anymore,’” Seth Meyers, the “Late Night” host, told advertisers at one of the events this month. “Cut to a few years later, every episode of ‘Shogun’ is interrupted by ‘Whopper, Whopper, Double Whopper!’”
Or as one frustrated consumer vented on social media this past week: “Why am I paying for Prime Video and getting all these commercials? It is beginning to get annoying.”
Representatives for Netflix and Amazon declined to comment.
Perhaps the changed viewing experience was inevitable. Over the past decade, as media companies raced to introduce streaming services to compete with Netflix, they prized subscriber counts above all else.
There was just one problem: profits.
The companies bled money, and Wall Street soured on their businesses. So executives are turning back the clock. They are ordering lower-cost, old network standbys such as medical dramas, legal shows and sitcoms. They are offering bundled packages to make consumers less tempted to click on the cancel button. (Disney+, Hulu and Max will team up later this year, for instance.) And they are embracing commercials, as a way to increase revenue.
“The crazy thing is that we might wind up where we’re back to ‘Texaco Presents,’” said Chuck Lorre, the comedy hitmaker behind shows such as “Young Sheldon,” “Two and a Half Men” and “The Big Bang Theory.” “I’m old enough to remember Fred and Barney on ‘The Flintstones’ smoking cigarettes because the show was paid for by a tobacco company.”
Consumers can still avoid most of the ads, for a price. Most streaming services still have an ad-free version, including Amazon, which requires subscribers to pay an extra $3 a month to skip
A camera operator during the Miami Dolphins vs. Buffalo Bills NFL game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. on Jan. 7, 2024. Peacock and other streaming services that now carry live sports will be have commercials, even for those in ad-free subscription tiers. (Alfonso Duran/The New York Times)
the ads. Apple TV+ continues to offer only an ad-free experience. The commercial tiers, however, are becoming more essential to their business. There were at least 93 million ad-supported streaming subscriptions in the United States at the end of last year, according to estimates from Brian Wieser, an industry analyst, and Antenna, a subscription research firm. In the wake of Amazon’s automatic switch to advertising, and more ad-tier customers picked up by other streaming services, Wieser and Antenna estimate that there are at least 170 million ad-supported subscriptions now.
Through the first three months of 2024, 56% of new subscribers to a streaming service chose the lower-priced ad-tier, according to Antenna. That was up from 39% a year earlier, the firm said.
Executives have tried to assure subscribers that while advertising is back, it won’t be as overwhelming as in traditional television.
Just a few years ago, an episode of a prestige basic cable drama such as Ryan Murphy’s “American Crime Story” was interrupted by 21 minutes of commercials. But ads take up far less time on streaming services. For instance, on Disney+, the average amount of time for commercials is four minutes per hour. On Hulu, it’s just over six minutes.
“There was always this notion that people don’t like ads,” said Rita Ferro, the president of ad sales at Disney. “I don’t think that’s true. People don’t like bad advertising or a bad advertising experience.”
In the data-rich streaming world, she argued, the advertising experience is better informed than it was on traditional television, and the company knows what a person’s viewing preferences are and “what products are relevant to you,” she said.
Wieser, the analyst and founder of the consulting firm Madison and Wall, said he expected that even with ads running on streaming services, overall ad revenue would continue
to decline for media companies. He projects that the amount of time spent watching ads on television — both streaming and traditional network and cable TV — will fall by 24% by 2027 compared with last year.
Part of the reason, he said, is that many people will continue to pay extra to avoid ads on services like Netflix. “The vast majority of Netflix subscribers will never choose an ad-supported option of any price,” he said.
Still, viewers may have no choice in some cases. Even Netflix subscribers who pay more than $15 a month for the adfree tier will be exposed to commercials if they tune into the streamer’s pair of NFL Christmas games this year, or WWE shows next year. The same goes for subscribers of Peacock, Paramount+ and Prime Video, which also carry live sports.
“Amazon is selling the NFL. How is that different from what Fox is selling or what CBS is selling?” said Joe Marchese, a former head of ad sales for the Fox networks group who is now a venture capitalist. “Netflix is pitching a Shonda Rhimes show. The thing you’re pitching to advertisers — here’s culture creation, would you like to be adjacent to it? That sounds exactly the same. The only difference is who’s doing it.”
And in some cases, a half-century’s worth of precedent is shattering.
For decades, HBO offered zero commercials. But now, advertisers can run commercials on Max’s ad tier during episodes of older HBO fare, and an ad before a new HBO series. At the company’s upfront presentation for advertisers, executives played a clip from a GMC Sierra pickup truck commercial that ran on Max’s ad tier before episodes of HBO’s “True Detective.”
It was especially striking to see Casey Bloys, the chair of HBO and a two-decade veteran of the network who is more accustomed to script development than pitching marketers, promoting programming “that reaches multiple audiences” during the upfront. While reeling off stats about the audience makeup of HBO’s documentary series “Hard Knocks,” Bloys stumbled on his words, chuckled and said, “I’m new to the advertising banter.”
The typical summer slowdown in U.S. stock markets may be more pronounced this year with inflation jitters and an early presidential debate that have the potential to weigh on a rally that has pushed the S&P 500 near record highs in recent months.
The S&P 500 is up nearly 12% this year on strong earnings and signs inflation may be falling enough for the Federal Reserve to cut benchmark interest rates, but that rally is unlikely to continue in the months ahead, investors said.
Summer has historically been the slowest season for U.S. stocks. The benchmark S&P 500 has risen 56% of the time between June through August, according to data from CFRA Research dating back to 1945. Traders on vacation and investors waiting for fall corporate earnings before committing to next year’s asset allocations are often cited as reasons for the summer doldrums.
This summer brings extra headwinds, though, with ongoing uncertainty over the timing of rate cuts and the unknowns of the U.S. presidential election expected to drive some choppiness.
“Markets are pretty richly valued at this point, and everything has to go right between now and July for the Fed to deliver any interest rate cuts,” said Sameer Samana, senior global market strategist at the Wells Fargo Investment Institute.
“We don’t see a lot of potential catalysts for more gains, so there’s a good chance that the seasonal slowdown we typically see will be turbocharged this year.”
Inflation data will be the key driver of the market for the rest of the year, determining the path of Treasury bond yields and their relative attractiveness compared with stocks.
The S&P 500 is currently trading at a forward price-toearnings ratio of 21.6 compared with roughly 17.5 in October when 10-year Treasury yields hit near two-decade highs.
Hotter-than-expected inflation data early this year dampened expectations for Fed rate cuts in 2024, pushing yields broadly higher. Then a dip in the rate of price increases in April was widely seen as giving the Fed cover to ease, with the market now pricing in a 35 basis point cut by the end of December.
But another hot reading in June or July could dash those hopes. The next personal consumption expenditures report is expected on Friday, while the next consumer price index report is expected on June 12.
“The real challenge will be on the relative side. If yields were to spike and if it looks like the Fed isn’t going to cut, then investors will move into bonds and cash,” said Ed Clissold, chief U.S. strategist at Ned Davis Research.
At the same time, global fund managers have their highest stock allocation since January 2022, according to BofA Global Research. “When everybody is long, there’s nobody left to buy,” said Giuseppe Sette, president of market-research firm Toggle.
This year’s election race between President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and Republican former President Donald Trump is another unknown.
The S&P 500 has advanced between Memorial Day and Labor Day 75% of the time when a first-term president is running for reelection, said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research. But this year’s race is extremely tight with Biden largely tied with Trump in national opinion polls.
The pair have also agreed to a June 27 debate. That would mark the earliest-ever general election debate in a presidential race, focusing investor attention on the potential outcome and policy implications of the race much earlier than usual.
“This looks like it will be a fairly tight presidential election, so getting some kind of pullback as investors move to the sidelines is quite possible,” said Clissold.
With international condemnation mounting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said Monday that the killing of dozens of people in a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah was “a tragic accident” but gave no sign of curbing the Israeli offensive there. His comments came at a particularly delicate time, just three days after the International Court of Justice appeared to order Israel to immediately halt its offensive in the city and as diplomats were aiming to restart negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage-release deal between Israel and Hamas at some point in the next week.
The International Court of Justice appeared to order Israel on Friday to suspend its military offensive and “any other action” in Rafah that might wholly or partly destroy the Palestinian population there. Some of the court’s judges said that Israel could still conduct some military operations in Rafah under the terms of their decision.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting with President Joe Biden in Israel amid the Israel–Hamas war, on Oct. 18, 2023. Netanyahu said Monday that the killing of dozens of people in a camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah was “a tragic accident” but gave no sign of curbing the Israeli offensive there.
(Kenny Holston/The New York Times)
Netanyahu said in a speech to the Israeli parliament that Israel tried to minimize civilian deaths by asking people in the Gaza Strip to evacuate, but “despite our supreme effort not to harm uninvolved civilians, a tragic accident occurred to our regret last night.” He accused Hamas of hiding among the general population, saying, “For us, every uninvolved civilian who is hurt is a tragedy. For Hamas it’s a strategy. That’s the whole difference.”
The military said the target of the strike Sunday was a Hamas compound, adding that “precise munitions” were used to eliminate a Hamas commander and another senior Hamas official at the site.
But at least 45 people were killed by the blast and subsequent fires, according to the Gaza health ministry, including 23 women, children and older people. The ministry said that 249 people were wounded.
The Israeli military said in a statement Monday that it had taken a number of steps before the strike to reduce the risk of harming uninvolved civilians, including conducting aerial surveillance and using precise munitions. “Based on these measures, it was assessed that there would be no expected harm to uninvolved civilians,” the military said.
Military drone footage of the attack, reviewed by The New York Times, showed the munition striking an area housing several large cabinlike structures and parked cars.
Two Israeli officials said that the strike took place outside the designated humanitarian zone that was supposed to offer safe refuge to residents being told to evacuate to get out of harm’s way. The military produced a map showing what it said was the location of the strike in relation to the designated humanitarian area.
Israel said the strike Sunday night killed two Hamas officials, but the civilian deaths generated instant condemnation, likely making it harder for Israel to defend its view that the ambiguity of the court order allowed it to continue its campaign in Rafah.
President Emmanuel Macron of France said Monday that he was “outraged” by the airstrike in Rafah, adding that these operations “must stop.”
An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, said Monday that an initial investigation by the military had concluded that the strike, or shrapnel from it, may have unexpectedly ignited a flammable substance at the site. Eyewitnesses described intense fires in the aftermath of the strike.
More than 2,000 people were buried alive in the landslide that smothered a Papua New Guinea village and work camp on Friday in the country’s remote northern highlands, authorities told the United Nations on Monday.
Government officials visited the disaster site on Sunday. And even as the official death toll jumped from a few dozen to 670, they warned that far more victims than expected appeared to still be caught under the rubble.
“The landslide buried more than 2,000 people alive and caused major destruction to buildings, food gardens and caused major impact on the economic lifeline of the country,” Lusete Laso Mana, an official in the national disaster center, said in a letter to the United Nations.
The letter stressed that rescue efforts continued to be a challenge. The main
highway to the area is blocked, the letter said, and the ground remains unstable as water flows beneath the rocks, shifting land and “posing ongoing danger to both the rescue teams and survivors alike.”
The region, in Enga province, is densely populated and located near the Porgera gold mine operated by Barrick Gold, a company based in Canada, in collaboration with Zijin Mining, a Chinese group. It is an area of remote and difficult jungle terrain, in a country of around 12 million people that sits just north of Australia. Tropical and divided along tribal, ethnic and linguistic lines, Papua New Guinea is rich in natural resources but largely underdeveloped, making it especially vulnerable to natural disasters, which strike frequently.
U.N. officials have been closely monitoring the situation. And with the latest estimate in hand, they emphasized that the need for assistance would be long-term and complicated.
“This situation necessitates immediate action and international support to mitigate further losses and provide essential aid to those affected,” said Anne Mandal, a spokesperson for the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration.
Over the weekend, the agency estimated that, on top of the toll of dead and missing, more than 250 houses had been abandoned as residents feared additional slippage, with roughly 1,250 people displaced.
Just getting to survivors has proved to be an enormous challenge. An aid convoy reached the area Saturday afternoon to deliver tarps and water, but no food. On Sunday, the local government secured food and water for around 600 people, according to the U.N., but heavy equipment still had not made it through, leaving people to search for bodies on dangerous, unstable debris using small shovels and pitchforks.
Tribal feuds have also added to the post-disaster safety risks.
The military named the two targets of the strike as Yassin Rabia, the commander of Hamas’ leadership in the occupied West Bank, and Khaled Nagar, a senior official in the same wing of the group. The military said the West Bank wing was responsible for planning, funding and carrying out terrorist attacks throughout the West Bank and within Israel.
For more than half a century, concerns about oil shortages or a damaged climate have spurred governments to invest in alternative energy sources.
In the 1970s, President Jimmy Carter placed solar panels on the roof of the White House as a symbol of his commitment to developing energy from the sun. In the 1990s, Japan offered homeowners groundbreaking subsidies to install photovoltaic panels. And in the 2000s, Germany developed an innovative program that guaranteed consumers who adopted a solar energy system that they would sell their electricity at a profit.
But no country has come close to matching the scale and tenacity of China’s support. The proof is in the production: In 2022, Beijing accounted for 85% of all clean-energy manufacturing investment in the world, according to the International Energy Agency.
Now the United States, Europe and other wealthy nations are trying frantically to catch up. Hoping to correct past missteps on industrial policy and learn from China’s successes, they are spending huge amounts on subsidizing homegrown companies while also seeking to block competing Chinese products. They have made modest inroads: Last year, the energy agency said, China’s share of new clean-energy factory investment fell to 75%.
The problem for the West, though, is that China’s industrial dominance is underpinned by decades of experience using the power of a one-party state to pull all the levers of government and banking, while encouraging frenetic competition among private companies.
China’s unrivaled production of solar panels and electric vehicles is built on an earlier cultivation of the chemical, steel, battery and electronics industries, as well as large investments in rail lines, ports and highways.
From 2017-19, it spent an extraordinary 1.7% of its gross domestic product on industrial support, more than twice the percentage of any other country, according to an analysis from the
Shipping containers at the port in Ningbo, China, March 27, 2024. The U.S. and Europe are trying to catch up to China’s lead in industrial policy, a rival skilled in using all the levers of government and banking to dominate global manufacturing. (Gilles Sabrié/The New York Times)
Center for Strategic and International Studies.
That spending included low-cost loans from state-controlled banks and cheap land from provincial governments, with little expectation that the companies they were aiding would turn immediate profits.
And it was accompanied by what the United States and other countries have charged was China’s willingness to skirt international trade agreements, engage in intellectual property theft and use forced labor.
It all combined to help put China in the position today to flood rival countries with lowcost electric cars, solar cells and lithium batteries, as consumers across the wealthy world are increasingly turning to green tech.
China now controls more than 80% of worldwide production of every step of solar panel manufacturing, for example.
“There’s enormous economies of scale by going big as China did,” said Gregory Nemet, a professor of public policy at the University of Wisconsin who has studied the global solar industry. When the investments resulted in overcapacity, suppressing the profitability of China’s companies, Beijing was willing to ride out the losses.
and batteries, in part by adopting some of China’s tactics to nurture industries.
Biden and the heads of European governments, are more willing to call out Beijing for what they say are illegal practices like purposefully subsidizing excess production and then dumping underpriced goods on other countries.
Beijing denies that it has violated trade rules, contending that its enormous industrial capacity is a sign of success. Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, said this month that China had increased the global supply of goods and alleviated international inflation pressures, while helping the world fight climate change.
Biden said this month that he would impose tariffs of up to 100% on imports of Chinese green technologies including electric vehicles. The aim is to deny China any more of an opening in America.
European officials are expected to impose their own tariffs soon — despite warnings from some economists and environmentalists that the measures will slow progress on meeting clean energy goals. Europe has become more worried about security issues as China has tilted its geopolitical stance toward Russia and Iran.
“If the end result was that you had to rely on other countries for key parts, that was OK,” said Brad Setser, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Joseph Stiglitz, an economist at Columbia University, said the U.S. had long lacked a broader industrial policy and a coordinated strategy.
“Even the Democrats were afraid to take a more aggressive government role,” he said, “and I think that was obviously a big mistake with long-run consequences.”
From the perspective of some Chinese economists, complaints about unfairness from the U.S. and Europe are a sign of their own governments’ failures.
“The West’s decision to pursue neoliberal economic policies was a strategic mistake, which led to the de-industrialisation of their economies and provided China with an opportunity,” said Zheng Yongnian, a professor at Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Whatever mistakes were made, political leaders in the U.S. say they are determined not to repeat them.
Last year, the U.S. and European Union made “significant inroads” in clean energy technology, according to the International Energy Agency.
And the Biden administration’s multibillion-dollar program is one of the most extensive uses of industrial policy in American history. Biden’s tariffs are a targeted escalation of an American trade offensive against China that began under former President Donald Trump. Trump imposed tariffs on imported goods from China valued at more than $350 billion a year, drawing retaliatory tariffs from Beijing. Biden has kept those tariffs, has added or increased them for clean energy and has raised new barriers to trade with Beijing, including denying China access to advanced semiconductors from the United States.
Biden’s trade agenda is “very, very aggressive,” said David Autor, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist who has extensively documented the effects of trade with China on the U.S. economy, including factory job losses.
President Joe Biden and European leaders are determined to develop their countries’ manufacturing capacity in advanced technologies like semiconductors, electric vehicles
The West’s embrace of industrial policy is a departure from the ideology of open markets and minimal government intervention that the U.S. and its allies previously championed.
Policies prompted by the 1970s energy crises were largely reversed when Ronald Reagan was elected president in 1980. Even the solar panels installed at the White House during the Carter administration were removed.
Except for certain security-related industries, the U.S. adopted the view that an unfettered market always knows best.
In his view, there are critical distinctions between Biden’s trade strategy and Beijing’s as both nations seek to lead the clean-energy race.
China was more focused on sending lowcost exports to global markets, Autor said, and preventing foreign firms from dominating China’s domestic markets.
Biden, he said, is more focused on keeping out imports from China and denying China access to some key U.S. technologies, like advanced semiconductors.
The Georgians call it the Russian Law. It was passed recently by the parliament in the Republic of Georgia, purportedly to improve transparency by having civil society and media groups that get some of their funds from abroad register as groups “carrying the interests of a foreign power.” But the tens of thousands of Georgians who have taken to the streets again and again against the law know its real goal — to suppress those who would hold the government to account, and to move the country into the orbit of Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
The law has drawn stiff rebukes from the United States and Europe. The State Department has announced visa restrictions on officials behind the foreign-agent law, and Congress has threatened further sanctions. European Union officials have warned that it could block Georgia’s bid for membership only six months after the country was granted candidate status. This is a serious threat for a country where polls show about 80% of the population supporting a Western political orientation. The clash over the foreign-agent law in a small country nestled in the Caucasus Mountains has been largely overshadowed by Russia’s war on Ukraine. Yet it is also at its core an East-West struggle over Georgia’s political path, a contest with cardinal implications for the region’s future. Georgia, in fact, was the first neighboring country invaded by Russia post-Soviet Union, in 2008, to block its westward drift.
Now the ruling party, Georgian Dream, seems to share Russia’s goal, though it has generally avoided openly siding with
Dr. Ricardo Angulo Founder
Manuel
María de L. Márquez
R. Mariani
Russia. Launched 12 years ago by billionaire oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili — who made his money in Russia — as a broad and ill-defined opposition movement, the party has taken an increasingly anti-Western stance in recent years. In a speech in Tbilisi, the nation’s capital, last month, Ivanishvili inveighed against a “global war party” that, he said, was “appointed from outside” and was using nongovernmental organizations to take control of Georgia. Georgian Dream has also echoed other Russian attacks on purported Western decadence.
The foreign-agent bill marks the most overt political attack on Western influence the party has taken. When first introduced last year, massive public protests forced the government to pull it back. But the government revived it this spring, and despite even larger and angrier protests, the parliament passed the bill May 14.
The pro-Western president of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili, whose position is largely ceremonial but allows her to block legislation, promptly vetoed the measure, arguing that in essence and spirit it was “a Russian law that contradicts our Constitution and all European standards, and therefore an obstacle to our European path.” Though Georgian Dream has more than enough votes to override the veto, it has not done so yet, and there are reports that it might be prepared to let it stay on the shelf in exchange for Western aid and other perks.
The Russian and Georgian laws, though on the face of it similar to the Foreign Agents Registration Act that’s been on American books since 1938, carry a far different message. To anyone reared in the Soviet Union, “foreign agent” has an unmistakable connotation: Spy. Enemy. Traitor.
Georgian nongovernmental organizations have already felt the sting. The deputy managing director of the Georgian branch of Transparency International, a global anti-corruption organization, told the French news outlet France 24 that posters affixed outside his home read “Enemy of the Church,” “Enemy of the state,” “LGBT propagandist” and the like, clearly spelling out how Georgian Dream shares Russia’s definition of “foreign agent.”
Compelling a person or organization to prominently declare in anything they publish or post that they are a “foreign agent” is a devastating stigma. And in addition to the stigma, failure to register can carry ruinous penalties. The Kremlin has used the law, enacted in 2012 after a wave of anti-Putin demonstrations, to shut down many independent nongovernmental organizations that dealt with corruption, election monitoring, the climate, gender or anything else that Putin could not control or deemed threatening.
Georgian Dream may reckon on a similar crackdown in the period before parliamentary elections set for Oct. 26, to muffle the pro-Western opposition. But the law could have the opposite effect, uniting a badly fractured opposition in support of a pro-Western future. Some 120 Georgian organizations have declared that they will not register as foreign agents if the law is enacted, portending a nasty struggle.
The tug of war is not yet over. There have been reports that the Georgian government may be open to freezing the law in exchange for a package of economic and security support and privileges like visa liberalization. Politico has reported that the
A building damaged by an airstrike that injured at least 14 people in the center of Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Saturday, May 25, 2024. (Finbarr O’Reilly/The New York Times)
U.S. House of Representatives is working on a carrot-and-stick bill with just such incentives should the foreign-agent bill be scrapped, along with sanctions should it be enacted.
And while Americans and Europeans are ramping up the pressures to take down Georgia’s bill, they might take a look at their own “foreign agent” legislation to ensure that it never becomes weaponized for political reasons.
America’s Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, written in 1938 to combat Nazi propaganda and all but forgotten until Russia began meddling in U.S. elections, basically requires persons or entities engaged in lobbying or advocacy for foreign governments to register with the Department of Justice. It has now become a major tool for exposing efforts by Russia, China and other autocratic states to manipulate the Western public through media, governmental or commercial outlets they control. The EU is now working on a similar law.
Over the years, accusations have cropped up of selective use of FARA against organizations unpopular at the moment with the government, such as the Irish Northern Aid Committee or the Palestine Information Office. Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee tried to use FARA against an environmental advocacy group in 2018. The law has surfaced in investigations of Hunter Biden, the president’s son, and questions have been raised about why Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., who has been accused of acting as an agent for Egypt, blocked legislation that would have modernized and strengthened FARA.
On balance, a law that helps the public understand who is funding foreign influence operations is useful and needed at a time when foreign meddling in elections or other domestic processes is becoming more insidious and widespread. The fact that democratic countries have such legislation does not negate their obligation to speak and act against its perversion by governments and politicians seeking to destroy the very transparency that such laws are intended to provide.
POR CYBERNEWS
PONCE – El Centro Médico Episcopal San Lucas (CMESL) celebró la graduación de 42 nuevos subespecialistas del Programa de Educación Médica, quienes completaron residencias en medicina transicional, pediatría, cardiología, cirugía, obstetricia y ginecología, emergencia y medicina interna.
“Puerto Rico y su gente los necesita,” expresó Juan Salazar Trogolo, Principal Oficial Ejecutivo del Sistema de Salud Episcopal San Lucas, en declaraciones escritas.
San Lucas se consolida como el hospital privado con la mayor cantidad de residencias médicas en Puerto Rico. La mayoría de los graduados aprueban los exámenes nacionales de certificación de su especialidad y están entrenados para brindar servicios de salud centrados en el cuidado individualizado.
“Estamos increíblemente orgullosos de nuestros graduados y confiamos en que contribuirán significativamente al avance de la atención médica en Puerto Rico y más allá,” dijo Rafael Alvarado Noriega, director ejecutivo operacional del CMESL.
La Dra. María Valentín Mari, directora de Educación Médica Graduada San Lucas, reafirmó el compromiso del programa con la salud pública de Puerto Rico. “Continuaremos trabajando intensamente para que nuestro programa se mantenga como uno de los principales centros de educación médica graduada en Puerto Rico,” sostuvo.
La ceremonia de graduación se llevó a cabo en el Ponce Hilton y contó con la participación del secretario del Departamento de Salud, Dr. Carlos Mellado, como orador invitado.
El Programa de Educación Médica de San Lucas está
acreditado por el Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), y también ofrece un programa de adiestramiento en podiatría subespecializado en cirugía reconstructiva de pie y tobillo.
SAN JUAN – La Escuela de Medicina del Recinto de Ciencias Médicas de la Universidad de Puerto Rico se enorgullece en anunciar que Claudia Sofía Rivera Barbeito, estudiante de tercer año de medicina, ha sido una de las ganadoras del Concurso de Ensayos Building Trust, organizado por la Fundación del American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM).
La estudiante fue reconocida por su ensayo titulado “Whispers of Solace: My Journey as an Abortion Doula”. En su ensayo, Claudia relata la importancia de construir confianza con los pacientes en situaciones médicamente y emocionalmente complejas.
La Dra. Débora Silva, Decana Interina de la Escuela de Medicina, comentó: “Estamos orgullosos de Claudia y de este reconocimiento que destaca su capacidad para comunicar su visión sobre el futuro de la atención médica. Su habilidad para conectar y construir confianza con los pacientes es un testimonio del compromiso y la empatía
que promovemos en nuestra institución”.
Por su parte, Claudia Sofía expresó: “Es un honor poder resaltar la importancia de la salud y los derechos reproductivos a nivel nacional, especialmente en un ambiente que constantemente atenta contra estos. Para mí, gran parte de la medicina es abogar por los derechos de nuestros pacientes, y espero que este ensayo inspire a otros profesionales de la salud a unirse a la lucha para asegurar estos servicios. Estoy muy agradecida con la Fundación del ABIM por crear espacios como este y al Recinto de Ciencias Médicas por todo su apoyo”.
El concurso de ensayos Building Trust de la Fundación ABIM tiene como objetivo destacar experiencias auténticas y desafiantes de los estudiantes de medicina en la construcción de confianza con los pacientes. Este año, el concurso recibió ensayos de más de 40 escuelas de medicina y enfermería de todo Estados Unidos y Puerto Rico.
Las persionas interesadas en leer el ensayo completo de Claudia pueden acceder el enlace: https://buildingtrust.org/2024/05/whispers-of-solace-my-journey-as-an-
abortion-doula/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR2 DwJcxJY9bzOSAY3nis8FvNPIgzqWRCZtbkjVpNDVxsrXimM7j3IwKan0_aem_ZmFrZWR1bW15MTZieXRlcw
SAN JUAN – Con el propósito de mejorar el trato que se le brinda a los animales en Puerto Rico, la senadora por acumulación Keren Riquelme propuso la creación de un Concilio de Bienestar Animal el cual revisará la Ley 154-2008, mejor conocida como la ‘Ley para el Bienestar y la Protección de los Animales’, para atemperarse a la realidad actual.
El concilio estará compuestos por miembros del Negociado de la Policía, el Departamento de Salud, a través de la Oficina para el Control de Animales, el Departamento de Educación, la Asamblea Legislativa y activistas que “han dado la batalla y conocen de primera mano los retos de la protección y el respeto por los animales”.
Esta nueva plataforma tendrá la misión de revisar la
antes mencionada ley para que se uniforme el reglamento con el fin de regular los albergues de rescate y cuido de animales, que incluya nuevas reglas para el proceso de eutanizar, de ser necesario, el cual debería ser estandarizado.
“En el dia de ayer sostuve una conversación con el agente del Negociado de la Policía Joel Vidot, quien está encargado de la implementación de la Ley 154 en la Región Policial de Arecibo, para discutir qué necesitan nuestros policías para enforzar esta ley y de esa charla salió su propuesta de crear un concilio. El Agente Vidot entiende que no se han identificado los múltiples factores que fomentan el descontrol y maltrato de animales y que solo podemos trabajarlo con un plan que incluya continuidad a largo plazo y con unión de voluntades, que es lo que pretende hacer el concilio”, sostuvo la Senadora.
The San Juan Daily Star
What will fix deeply into spectators’ experience at University of Puerto Rico (UPR)-Carolina interior design professor Eileen L. Díaz’s photo exhibit is how fragmented parts of architectural designs come to life.
To teach students about architectural structures and design through a virtual reality experience, Díaz, with the help of UPR Art Gallery Coordinator Héctor Maldonado, put together an exhibit of 36 photos from her travels to Asia, Europe and North America titled: “(De) Contexto: una mirada al mundo, a través de la fotografía de objetos y detalles fragmentados” [(De) Context: A Look at the World, Through the Photography of Objects and Fragmented Details].
The exhibit is taking place in the UPR-Carolina Library.
photo was taken.
University in the United Kingdom, said she took the photos during trips she made between 2004 and 2016 to different popular sites.
“The idea is to show photos that appear to be artworks but that allow the person to familiarize themselves with the architectural work without the complete structure,” she said.
The visitor can scan the QR codes of each photo and use the Oculus Quest virtual glasses to see and experience the entire structure where the photo was taken. While Díaz said she has shown in other exhibits, it is her first time mounting one of her own work. Her husband helped her with the technical aspects of the exhibit.
“We are very happy,” she said. “This is not just a photo exhibit.”
Maldonado said that in designing the exhibit, the intent was to contextualize each of the fragmented photos of structures.
UPR-Carolina Graphic Design Department Director John Rivas described the exhibit as a fascinating trip across different countries that explores their styles and urban images.
The photos are of parts or fragments of different architectural designs. However, the virtual journey goes beyond the context. For example, a photo of a fragment of the Torii Gates from the Fushimi Inari-Taisha Shrine in Japan becomes a thousand red torii gates surrounding the spectator, inviting access to the temple.
Using virtual reality glasses, the image of an air balloon in California becomes a trip in the balloon with a view of houses and trees.
Brooke Shields, the model-turned-actor who has starred in films, television and onstage, has been elected as the next president of Actors’ Equity Association, the labor union representing stage actors and stage managers.
Shields, 58, will take office immediately. She succeeds Kate Shindle, who had been the union’s president since 2015 and announced last month that she would not seek reelection.
The position of Equity president is a volunteer job, and Shields was elected to a four-year term. There have been a number of other well-known performers who have served in the post, including Burgess Meredith, Ellen Burstyn, Colleen Dewhurst and Ron Silver.
Shields won the election with about half the vote; the balance was split between two Equity vice presidents, Erin Maureen Koster and Wydetta Carter. Her victory was reported by the newsletter Broadway Journal and announced by the union Friday; a union spokesperson said she was not available for an interview. In a campaign video posted on YouTube, Shields said that
among her priorities would be lobbying for greater government funding for the arts. “I understand the real need to support live theater, and I have a history of being able to open doors and of being able to help,” she said.
Equity has about 51,000 members and represents them in contract negotiations around the country. Just last week, the union won the right to represent a variety of performers at Disneyland, so the union will now need to try to bargain for a contract for those workers.
The union is negotiating for a new contract for off-Broadway workers, and it is at odds with the Broadway League over a new contract governing developmental work — how performers are compensated when participating in workshops for shows in development. Equity has threatened that its members would stop working on those developmental projects if a deal is not reached by mid-June.
“More than an image, each photo speaks about human ingenuity, of the passage of time and the interaction between man and his environment,” he said.
“The passion and dedication of architect Díaz toward her profession are reflected vividly in each photo,” Rivas added. “Her ability to capture the essence and beauty of the architectural works is truly inspiring.”
So far, the exhibit has had a warm reception.
In a survey of the exhibit, one of the commentators wrote, “Excellent exhibit, the technology used, and all of the human resources. I wish you success.”
Brooke Shields on the opening night of her residency at the Café Carlyle in New York, Sept. 12, 2023. Shields has been elected as the next president of Actors’ Equity Association, the labor union representing stage actors and stage managers. (Tony Cenicola/The New York Times)
Shields became famous through films such as “Pretty Baby” and “The Blue Lagoon” and by modeling, notably for Calvin Klein. She has appeared in five Broadway musicals, always as a replacement: “Grease,” “Chicago,” “Cabaret,” “Wonderful Town” and “The Addams Family,” as well as a handful of offBroadway shows. Her early career, and the problematic ways in which she was sexualized as a child and adolescent, was the subject of a documentary last year.
Díaz, an architect with a doctorate from Nottingham Trent A photo of a fragment of the Torii Gates from the Fushimi Inari-Taisha Shrine in Japan becomes a thousand red torii gates surrounding the spectator, inviting access to the temple. The visitor can scan the QR codes of each photo and use the Oculus Quest virtual glasses to see and experience the entire structure where theOn a quiet weekday evening inside a restaurant in Brooklyn, a dog under a table announced its presence with a single pronounced yap. At a scoop shop in downtown Manhattan, a large white poodle was spoon-fed what appeared to be vanilla ice cream. In the dining room of a chic Midtown restaurant, a teacup Pomeranian strutted across the floor.
When it comes to dogs in restaurants, two things can be true at once: first, according to the New York City health code, “no live animal shall be kept, housed or permitted to enter into or remain in any food service establishment,” with a few exceptions, including service animals and city-approved dog cafes such as Boris & Horton.
Second: the dog nibbling a french fry at the next table.
There are 617,000 licensed dogs in New York City, and the vast majority, presumably, eat in. But while no city agency tracks how many dogs are regulars at the city’s restaurants, anecdotal evidence suggests that the number is far from zero. Whether this is a scourge or a delight depends on whom you ask — and tensions between the two camps can run high.
“Nowadays, it’s very common to see dogs in restaurants,” said Beth Torin, a restaurantsafety consultant who until 2020 was executive director of the Office of Food Safety in the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. “Nobody goes anywhere without their dogs.”
Often, the pets make an understated entrance. “A lot of times, you won’t even see the dog” until you seat the owners, said Ally Gallegos, a former maître d’ at an upscale neighborhood restaurant in the West Village. “And you’re like, ‘Oh, God.’”
What happens next is straightforward, at least in theory. The Americans with Disabilities Act allows the staff to ask just two questions: Is the dog a service animal, required because of the owner’s disability? And what work or task has the dog been trained to perform? This should mean that service dogs get in with no problems, and other pets are gently redirected outside. (Pets are allowed on outdoor patios at the restaurant’s discretion.)
In practice, this is often not what happens: “People are afraid to deny a dog,” said Thomas Panek, the CEO and president of the nonprofit Guiding Eyes for the Blind, in Yorktown Heights, New York. (Panek, who is legally blind, is assisted by a service dog named Ten.) A result is that, over time, “they have all these bad experiences
with dogs that really shouldn’t be in the restaurant.”
“You’re getting into hundreds of conflicts of varying degrees of intensity every shift,” said Lindsey Peckham, a hospitality consultant who has worked in some of the city’s most acclaimed dining rooms, including Eleven Madison Park. “You’re like, this isn’t the hill I’m going to die on.”
Peckham recalls a time when “dogs in restaurants were a very rare exception.” Then, she said, came the proliferation of emotional support dogs, which do not legally qualify as service animals but sound as if they do. And in the return to post-pandemic normalcy, she theorized, many New Yorkers wouldn’t — or couldn’t — leave their dogs at home. “So all of a sudden, dogs are everywhere.”
One of those dogs is Darcy, an anxious Chihuahua-Pomeranian mix, who is a regular at a number of West Village restaurants. “If I leave her for an extended period of time at home, I have to give her trazodone,” said her owner, Samantha Leach, a writer and editor. “I feel guilty.”
And so, for the most part, where Leach goes, so does Darcy. Should they be turned away, “that’s super fair and valid,” Leach said,
but more often than not, Darcy is greeted with open arms and, occasionally, bacon.
Most dogs are well-mannered, said one Manhattan hospitality veteran, who asked not to be identified to avoid the impression that he was speaking for his employers.
The trouble is the outliers: There was the time, Peckham recalled, that two boisterous Chihuahuas were allowed to gallivant across the banquettes of a formal Manhattan restaurant. And the time a small dog startled a large dog, who let out a “guttural woof,” stood up suddenly and knocked over a table of food and wine at an elegant downtown spot. And the time a muscular puppy bit a server in a Brooklyn restaurant.
“The real issue is space,” said Jeremiah Stone, a chef and co-owner of Bar Contra and Wildair. Service is a ballet; nobody wants to trip over an errant schnauzer.
But the group most hurt by nonservice dogs in restaurants may be the owners of real service dogs. Because some people lie about their dogs being service animals, well-meaning restaurant hosts don’t always know how to recognize a real service dog at work.
“A service dog is meant to be invisible in
public,” said Olivia Jean Hamilton, 30, an actor who is assisted by a mobility dog, a goldendoodle named Tobias. The impostors, she explained, “give people misconceptions.”
“People are dreading us,” Hamilton said. “It genuinely gives me anxiety going to a restaurant I haven’t been to before, because I don’t know how they’re going to respond to me.”
Exhausted by the steady parade of dogs, some restaurant owners have turned to emotional appeals. Shari Call, the owner of Simple Loaf Bakehouse in Park Slope, Brooklyn, hung a standard “dogs are not allowed” sign, with her own addition: “The fine was expensive,” it pleads. “Please help us by respecting the rules.”
“That is a lie,” Call admitted, but the effect was immediate.
In an email, Shari Logan, an assistant press secretary for the health department, said its inspectors “work tirelessly to ensure that restaurants are following the rules.” But whether those rules are enforced is another question: According to data provided by the health department, of the 20,781 restaurants cited last year, 84 establishments, or less than half a percent, were cited for live animal violations involving dogs. (The fines range from $200 to $350.)
In other words, the chances of being caught are slim. “I’ve never actually heard of anybody getting fined,” Call said.
The health department declined to elaborate on its specific concerns about dogs in dining rooms, but Torin, the restaurant-safety consultant and a self-identified dog lover, was blunt: “Dogs are dirty.”
According to the Food and Drug Administration’s food code, animals can transmit “disease-causing organisms” and “pathogens” that can contaminate food, “shed hair continuously” and “may deposit liquid or fecal waste.”
Which is not to say there are no dogfriendly hot spots — but they cannot be named here. Stone of Wildair and his American Staffordshire terrier, Kombu, were regulars for a while at a “pretty nice” restaurant and covert dog destination. Among the regulars, he said, there had been an unspoken agreement: “Let’s not ruin this thing.”
But the simple truth is that restaurant staff can’t screen dogs for their behavior, said the manager of a Michelin-starred Brooklyn restaurant, who asked not to be identified to avoid speaking for her employer. There is no obvious and reasonable way to draw lines between the good boys and the very good boys.
“All of our dogs, if we’re going to bring them in a restaurant, need to behave,” said Panek, of Guiding Eyes for the Blind. “And if they don’t behave, they should be asked to leave. It’s pretty simple.”
According to the New York City Department of Health and many diners with service dogs, your dog does not belong in a restaurant — but some dog owners can’t part with their pets.The San Juan Daily Star Tuesday, May 28, 2024 15
As Dr. Sreyleak Luch drove to work the morning of Feb. 8, through busy sunbaked streets in Cambodia’s Mekong river delta, she played the overnight voice messages from her team. The condition of a 9-year-old boy she had been caring for had deteriorated sharply, and he had been intubated, one doctor reported. What, she wondered, could make the child so sick, so fast?
“And then I just thought: H5N1,” she recalled. “It could be bird flu.”
When she arrived at the airy yellow children’s ward at the provincial hospital in Kratie, she immediately asked the child’s father if the family had had contact with any sick or dead poultry. He admitted that their rooster had been found dead a few days before and that the family had eaten it.
Luch told her colleagues her theory. Their responses ranged from dubious to incredulous: A human case of bird flu had never been reported in their part of eastern Cambodia. They warned her that if she set off the bird flu warning system, senior government officials might get involved. She risked looking foolish, or worse.
Anxious but increasingly certain, Luch phoned the local public health department, just across the street. Within minutes, a team arrived to collect a sample from the child, Virun Roeurn, for testing in a lab.
By then, Virun’s distraught parents had lost faith in the hospital. They demanded that he be sent by ambulance to the capital, Phnom Penh. His flu swab sample traveled with him.
Virun died on the journey. At 8 p.m., Cambodia’s National Public Health Laboratory confirmed Luch’s suspicion: He had died of highly pathogenic bird flu.
Luch berated herself for not having thought to test the boy a day earlier, when she might have saved him if she had treated him for influenza.
But the alarm she raised and the urgent activity that followed was a testament to the strength of Cambodia’s disease tracking system and to its importance to the global biosurveillance system.
It is the fruit of years of international and local investment, training and public education. It shows how front-line work in low-income countries is increasingly vital to a global system to detect zoonotic diseases — viruses that jump between animals and humans, the
A member of the National Animal Health and Production Research Institute takes a swab from a duck during surveillance of the poultry section of the Orussey market, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, May 7, 2024. When a child in a small Cambodian town fell sick, his rapid decline set off a global disease surveillance system. (Thomas Cristofoletti/The New York Times)
way COVID-19 did. The goal is to identify and contain them, buying time to produce enough vaccines or drugs to treat them, or to embark on a frantic mission to develop something new.
A growing threat
H5N1 is one of many viruses that cause influenza in birds. It emerged in Hong Kong in 1996 and has since evolved into versions that have caused outbreaks in wild and farmed birds and have occasionally jumped to humans.
In 2020, a new, especially deadly one caught the attention of scientists as it spread along migratory routes to parts of Africa, Asia and Europe.
By 2022, it had reached North America and South America and was killing wild and domestic animals, including livestock and marine mammals.
So, scientists were alarmed when, in February 2023, Cambodia reported that two people had been infected with H5N1. Was this the new version of the virus, returned to Asia and killing people? There had been no human cases in the country for nearly a decade, although scientists had found that the virus had been present in birds all that time.
Genetic analysis established that the virus infecting Cambodians was the familiar subtype, not the one in the Americas — a relief.
In Phnom Penh, the national laboratory sent Virun’s sample down the road to the Insti-
tut Pasteur, the Cambodian outpost of a global network of public health research centers that date from the French colonial era. There, virologists confirmed the H5N1 diagnosis and compared the sample with a decade’s worth of influenza samples in the institute’s biobank. They confirmed that it was the familiar subtype of the virus.
Twenty-four hours after Virun died, the Pasteur lab uploaded genomic sequencing of the virus that had killed him to databases accessible to scientists worldwide. It notified the World Health Organization, which sent out a global alert.
In Kratie, there was a new concern: Contact tracing had located another case, Virun’s older brother, Virak, 16. He had few symptoms but spent four days in isolation in the hospital until he tested negative.
The disease detectives felt confident that Virak had been infected by the same dead rooster as Virun — and not by Virun himself. That meant Virun’s death was a chance misfortune, not the beginning of a global catastrophe of sustained human-to-human transmission.
‘Text me’
The effectiveness of Cambodia’s surveillance system can be credited in part to one man, Dr. Ly Sovann, an apparently unsleeping tropical medicine specialist who runs the Cambodian Center for Disease Control.
“I have two phones, four SIM cards, so I
never lose the network anywhere in the country, and people can always reach me,” Sovann said. “You see something, you see an unusual respiratory disease, you see a cluster of diarrhea cases — you text me. Because one, two hours, one day, it can make a big difference.”
Hospitals in Cambodia are now required to send the national lab five samples a month from patients with febrile illnesses, and samples from anyone with a severe respiratory illness. The agriculture ministry has similar requirements for livestock.
The recent news from the United States of bird flu in dairy cows has alarmed the Cambodians.
“The lesson learned from the U.S. is that we need to look more in these other animals and do more tests,” said Dr. Tum Sothyra, director of the National Animal Health and Production Research Institute.
The ministry is expanding testing to animals that are likely to eat infected birds, but he hopes it can find the funds to test cows as well.
WHO recommends culling all birds in a radius of 1 kilometer (about 2/3 of a mile) from anywhere a bird has been found to have H5N1, but Cambodia culls birds only at the households and the immediate neighbors of confirmed cases.
“Government recognizes the economic impact on people would be enormous,” said Dr. Makara Hak, animal health adviser with the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization office in Phnom Penh. “Sometimes, I feel that people don’t think about the potential loss of life.”
Sothyra said the Cambodian government’s position is that it cannot afford compensation for culled birds and that it does not wish to encourage people to spread disease to get a payout for their birds.
But the lack of compensation means people are reluctant to report sick chickens. And they often eat those they find dead.
“You ask people, ‘Why did you eat it?’” Hak said. “And they say, ‘If I don’t eat, I don’t live.’”
Sovann said he knew there was still considerable public education to be done about bird flu. But to keep the country and the world safe, he needs more front-line health care workers like Luch, who are brave enough to raise the alarm.
“You could just do the small thing, but you could save many lives,” he said. “You could delay the next pandemic.”
LEGAL NOTICE
TRIBUNAL DE SUCESIONES - CONDADO DE NASSAU. CITACION TESTAMENTARIA COMPLEMENTARIA. EL PUEBLO DEL ESTADO DE NUEVA YORK.
Por la Gracia de Dios Libres e Independientes. Expediente n.º 2010-362990. PARA:
CHRISTOPHER MARK
y toda persona desconocida cuyo nombre o partes de sus nombres y cuyo lugar o lugares de residencia se desconocen y no pueden determinarse tras una investigación diligente, los herederos instituidos en el testamento, los herederos legítimos y los parientes mas cercanos de dicho difunto, Vincent O’Neill y, en el caso de que alguno de los herederos instituidos en el testamento nombrados específicamente o como grupo hubiera fallecido, sus representantes legales, cónyuges, si los hubiera, herederos y sucesores, cuyos nombres o lugares de residencia y direcciones postales se desconocen y no pueden determinarse tras una investigación diligente.
SALUDA Y HACE SABER: Habiendo sido debidamente presentada una solicitud por Barbara Curry, con domicilio en 29 Michel Avenue, Farmingdale, NY 11735, el Tribunal de Sucesiones, Condado de Nassau, ubicado en 262 Old Country Road, Mineola, Nueva York, LO CITA A PRESENTARSE el 17 de julio de 2024 a las 9:30 de la mañana para fundamentar por que no se debe dictar una sentencia en la sucesión de Vincent O’Neill (con Ultimo domicilio en 41 Harrison Avenue, Massapequa, New York 11758) admitiendo para su aprobación un testamento con fecha de 15 de julio de 2009, cuya copia se adjunta, como el testamento del fallecido Vincent O’Neill, relativo a bienes muebles e inmuebles, y ordenando que se emita una:
• Carta de autorización y designación de albacea a favor de Barbara Curry
• Otras medidas solicitadas (si corresponde): que se prescinda de fianza.
HON. MARGARET C. REILLY
Jueza en materia de sucesiones
Dado, firmado y sellado 7 de mayo de 2024
Debra Keller Leimbach, Secretaria en jefe
La presente citación se le envía en cumplimiento de la ley, No esta obligado a comparecer en persona. Si no comparece, se entenderá que consiente el procedimiento, salvo que presente un escrito
con objeciones verificadas al respecto. Tiene derecho a que comparezca un abogado en su nombre.
Nombre de los abogados: Kevin M. Berry, Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer Dirección: 14 Wall Street, Suite 6B, New York, New York 10005
Tel.: (212) 267-3091
DEBE ADJUNTARSE A ESTA CITACION UNA COPIA AUTENTICA DEL TESTAMENTO OFRECIDO PARA SU LEGALIZACION.
Notificación: 22NYCRR
207.7c: La prueba de la notificación deberá presentarse a más tardar el segundo día anterior a la fecha de devolución.
LEGAL NOTICE
SURROGATE’S COURTNASSAU COUNTY. SUPPLEMENTAL PROBATE CITATION. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. By the Grace of God Free and Independent.
File No. 2010-362990.
CHRISTOPHER MARK
and any and all unknown persons whose names or parts of whose names and whose place or places of residence are unknown and cannot after diligent inquiry be ascertained, distributees, heirs-at-law and next-of-kin of Vincent O’Neill, deceased, and if any of the said above distributees named specifically or as a class be dead, their legal representatives, their husbands or wives, if any, distributees and successors in interest whose names and/or places of residence and post office addresses are unknown and cannot after diligent inquiry be ascertained.
GREETINGS A PETITION having been duly filed by Barbara Curry, residing at 29 Michael Avenue, Farmingdale, New York 11735.
YOU ARE HEREBY CITED TO SHOW CAUSE before the Surrogate’s Court, Nassau County, at 262 Old Country Road, Mineola, New York, on July 17, 2024 at 9:30 o’clock in the fore noon of that day, why a decree should not be made in the estate of Vincent O’Neill, lately domiciled at 41 Harrison Avenue, Massapequa, NY 11758 admitting to probate a Will dated July 15, 2009 a copy of which is attached, as the Will of Vincent O’Neill, deceased, relating to real and personal property, and directing that
• Letters Testamentary to Barbara Curry
• Further relief sought (if any): That a bond be dispensed with.
HON. MARGARET C. REILLY, Surrogate
Dated, Attested and Sealed,
May 7, 2024
Debra Keller Leimbach, Chief Clerk
This Citation is served upon you as required by law. You are not obliged to appear in person. If you fail to appear, it will be assumed that you consent to the proceedings, unless you file written verified objections thereto. You have a right to have an attorney-atlaw appear for you.
Name of Attorney: Kevin M. Berry, Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer
Address: 14 Wall Street, Suite 68, New York, NY 10005
Phone No. (212) 267-3091
A TRUE COPY OF THE WILL OFFERED FOR PROBATE MUST BE ATTACHED TO THIS CITATION
Notice: 22NYCRR 207.7c:
Proof of Service should be filed on or before the second day preceding the return date ***
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE PONCE SALA SUPERIOR BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO
Demandante Vs. HECTOR LUIS REYES CRUZ; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA
Demandados Civil Núm.: PO2022CV01428. Sala: 406. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCION DE HIPOTECA (VÍA ORDINARIA). EDICTO DE SUBASTA. El Alguacil que suscribe por la presente CERTIFICA, ANUNCIA y hace CONSTAR: Que en cumplimiento de un Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que le ha sido dirigido al Alguacil que suscribe por la Secretaría del TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, CENTRO JUDICIAL DE PONCE, SALA SUPERIOR, en el caso de epígrafe procederá a vender en pública subasta al mejor postor en efectivo, cheque certificado en moneda legal de los Estados Unidos de América el 24 DE JUNIO DE 2024, A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA, su oficina sita en el local que ocupa en el edificio del TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE PONCE, todo derecho, título e interés que tenga la parte demandada de epígrafe en el inmueble de su propiedad que ubica en: APARTAMENTO 703, CONDOMINIO EL SEÑORIAL, PONCE, PR 00731 y que se describe a continuación: URBANA: PROPIEDAD
HORIZONTAL: Apartamento número siete guión cero guión
tres de forma rectangular situado en el séptimo piso del Condominio El Señorial, con un área aproximada de cien metros cuadrados (100.00 m.c). Colindando por el NORTE, en seis metros con diez metros (6.10 m.), con la pared que lo separa del patio lateral Norte, que a la vez colinda con terrenos propiedad de Don Luciano Giorgi y en seis metros con veinticinco con la pared que lo separa del área de estacionamiento de la azotea del primero piso que a la vez colinda con el predio “C” del solar; por el SUR, en una distancia de doce metros con treinta y cinco centímetros (12.35 m.), con la pared que lo separa del apartamento siete guión cero guión cuatro; por el ESTE, en una distancia de ocho metros con ocho centímetros (8.08 m.), con la pared que lo separa del patio delantero Este, que a la vez colinda con la Calle Buenos Aires; y por el OESTE, en una distancia de siete metros con dieciséis centímetros (7.16 m.), con la pared que lo separa del Apartamento siete guión cero guión dos y en 91 centímetros, con la pared que lo separa del corredor de uso común limitado. Este apartamento consta de una sala-comedor, dos dormitorios cada uno con su closet para ropa, cocina, dos cuartos de baño, un closet para ropa de cama, lavandería y un pasillo que comunica la sala-comedor, con los dormitorios y los cuartos de baño y otro pasillo que va también de la sala a la puerta que abre el corredor de uso común limitado por donde se comunica al exterior. Todas las medidas son aproximadas. Se le asigna el estacionamiento número diecisiete (17). A este apartamento le corresponde una participación de cero punto noventa y nueve (0.99%) en los elementos, gastos y ganancias comunes del edificio e igual proporción se aplicará en la votación de las reuniones de los condominios. La propiedad antes relacionada consta inscrita al Folio 25 del Tomo 1385 de Ponce, finca número 39,951, en el Registro de la Propiedad de Ponce Sección Primera. El tipo mínimo para la primera subasta del inmueble antes relacionado, será el dispuesto en la Escritura de Hipoteca, es decir la suma de $79,000.00. Si no hubiere remate ni adjudicación en la primera subasta del inmueble mencionado, se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA en las oficinas del Alguacil que suscribe el día 1 DE JULIO DE 2024, A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA. En la segunda subasta que se celebre servirá de tipo
mínimo las dos terceras partes (2/3) del precio pactado en la primera subasta, o sea la suma de $52,666.66. Si tampoco hubiere remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA en las oficinas del Alguacil que suscribe el día 9 DE JULIO DE 2024, A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA. Para la tercera subasta servirá de tipo mínimo la mitad (1/2) del precio pactado para el caso de ejecución, o sea, la suma de $39,500.00. La hipoteca a ejecutarse en el caso de epígrafe fue constituida mediante la escritura de hipoteca número 687 otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 1ro de agosto de 2005, ante el Notario Jorge García Soto y consta inscrita Folio 96 vuelto del Tomo 2039 de Ponce, bajo la finca 39,951, inscripción Octava (8va), en el Registro de la Propiedad de Ponce, Primera Sección. Dicha subasta se llevará a cabo para con su producto satisfacer al Demandante total o parcialmente según sea el caso el importe de la Sentencia que ha obtenido ascendente a la suma de $61,128.27 por concepto de principal, desde el 1ro de octubre de 2020, más intereses al tipo pactado de 6.50% anual que continúan acumulándose hasta el pago total de la obligación. Además, la parte codemandada, Héctor Luis Reyes Cruz, adeuda a la parte demandante los cargos por demora equivalentes a 5.00% de la suma de aquellos pagos con atraso en exceso de 15 días calendarios de la fecha de vencimiento; los créditos accesorios y adelantos hechos en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca; las costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado equivalentes a $7,900.00. Además, la parte co-demandada, Héctor Luis Reyes Cruz, se comprometió a pagar una suma equivalente a $7,900.00 para cubrir cualquier otro adelanto que se haga en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca y una suma equivalente a $7,900.00 para cubrir intereses en adición a los garantizados por ley. Que los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al Procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la SECRETARIA DEL TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, CENTRO JUDICIAL DE PONCE, SALA SUPERIOR durante las horas laborables. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titulación del inmueble y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes
entendiéndose que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio de remate. La propiedad está sujeta al siguiente gravamen anterior y/o preferentes según surge de las constancias del Registro de la Propiedad en un estudio de título efectuado a la finca antes descrita: GRAVAMEN PREFERENTE: Hipoteca en garantía de un pagaré a favor de la Autoridad para el Financiamiento de la Vivienda de Puerto Rico, o a su orden, por la suma principal de $11,000.00, sin intereses, vencedero el día 1 de febrero de 2013, constituida mediante la escritura número 688, otorgada en Ponce, Puerto Rico, el día 1 de agosto de 2005, ante el notario Jorge García Soto, e inscrita al folio 96 del tomo 2039 de Ponce, finca número 39,951, inscripción 7ma. Sujeta a condiciones bajo el Programa La Llave para tu Hogar por un término de 8 años. Surge de un estudio de título que, sobre la finca descrita anteriormente, pesa un gravamen posterior a la hipoteca que se ejecuta mediante este procedimiento que se relaciona a continuación; GRAVAMEN POSTERIOR: Sentencia dictada el día 11 de septiembre de 2007, expedida por el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Juana Díaz, Puerto Rico, en el Caso Civil número JDCI-200700345, sobre Cobro de Dinero, seguido por Asociación de Empleados del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, demandante, versus Héctor L. Reyes y su esposa Ely S. Peña Avilés, demandado, por la suma de $3,796.16, más otras sumas, anotado el día 29 de mayo de 2010, al folio 14 del tomo 6 del Registro de Sentencias de Ponce I. GRAVAMEN POSTERIOR: Embargo Federal contra Hector Reyes Cruz, seguro social xxx-xx-9558, por la suma de $7,983.11, notificación número 764066411, anotado el día 17 de marzo de 2011, al folio 133, Asiento 3, del libro de Embargos Federales número 8 de Ponce I. Renovación de fecha 22 de octubre de 2018. Por la presente se notifica a los acreedores desconocidos, no inscritos o presentados que sus derechos sobre los bienes hipotecados con posterioridad a la inscripción del crédito del ejecutante o acreedores de cargos o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuesto a la hipoteca del actor y a los dueños, poseedores, tenedores de o interesados en títulos transmisibles por endoso o al portador garantizados hipote-
cariamente con posterioridad al crédito del actor que se celebrarán las subastas en las fechas, horas y sitios señalados para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si les conviniere o se les invita a satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, otros cargos y las costas y honorarios de abogado asegurados quedando subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante. La propiedad objeto de ejecución y descrita anteriormente se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores una vez el Honorable Tribunal expida la correspondiente Orden de Confirmación de Venta Judicial. Y para conocimiento de licitadores del público en general se publicará este Edicto de acuerdo con la ley por espacio de dos semanas en tres sitios públicos del municipio en que ha de celebrarse la venta, tales como la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía. Este Edicto será publicado dos veces en un diario de circulación general en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, por espacio de dos semanas consecutivas. Expido el presente Edicto de subasta bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal en Ponce, Puerto Rico, hoy día 9 de mayo de 2024. PEDRO RODRIGUEZ LUGO #369, ALGUACIL DE SUBASTAS, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, CENTRO JUDICIAL DE PONCE, SALA SUPERIOR.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE CAGUAS ESTRELLA HOMES III, LLC.
Parte Demandante Vs. SUCESION DE LUIS ANGEL ZAYAS ALVERIO, COMPUESTA POR JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DE ÉSTE Y/O PERSONA CON INTERÉS, CENTRO DE RECAUDACIÓN DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES Y LA ADMINISTRACIÓN PARA EL SUSTENTO A MENORES
Parte Demandada Civil Núm.: CG2023CV02615. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR VÍA ORDINARIA Y COBRO DE DINERO. ANUNCIO DE SUBASTA. El suscribiente, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia de Puerto Rico, Sala de Caguas, a los demandados de epígrafe y al público en general hace
saber que los autos y documentos del caso de epígrafe estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante horas laborables y que venderá en pública subasta al mejor postor, en moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América en efectivo, cheque certificado, o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, en mi oficina en el Centro Judicial de Humacao, Caguas, Puerto Rico, el derecho que tenga la parte demandada en el inmueble que se relaciona más adelante para pagar la SENTENCIA por $80,476.21, de balance principal, los intereses adeudados sobre dicho principal y computados al 5 ¼ % anual desde el primero (1ero) de abril de 2020, hasta su total pago y completo pago; cargos por demora devengados, más la suma de $8,400.00 estipulada para honorarios de abogado, pactada en la escritura de hipoteca; y cuales quiera otras sumas que por cualesquiera concepto legal se devenguen hasta el día de la subasta. La propiedad a venderse en pública subasta se describe como sigue: RÚSTICA: REMANENTE: Predio de terreno radicado en el Barrio Cerro Gordo de San Lorenzo, con una cabida de cero punto mil doscientos cincuenta y cuatro (0.1254) cuerdas, iguales a cuatrocientos noventa y dos punto ochenta (492.80) metros cuadrados. En lindes por el Norte, con Antonio Alverio, en diecinueve punto nueve mil setecientos siete (19.9707) metros; por el Sur, con carretera municipal en veintiuno punto ocho mil quinientos dieciocho (21.8518) metros; poro el Este, con Antonio Alverio, en veintidós punto seis mil seiscientos diez (22.6610) metros y por el Oeste, con predio número dos (2), en veintiséis punto siete mil cuatrocientos veintiocho metros. Inscrita al folio doscientos setenta (270) del tomo doscientos cincuenta y tres (253) de San Lorenzo, finca número trece mil cero cincuenta y dos (13,052), Registro de Caguas, Sección III. Dirección Física: PR 916 km 3.4, Cerro Gordo WD, San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico 00754. La PRIMERA SUBASTA se llevará a cabo el día 12 DE JUNIO DE 2024 A LAS 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA, y servirá de tipo mínimo para la misma la suma de $184,000.00 sin admitirse oferta inferior. En el caso de que el inmueble a ser subastado no fuera adjudicado en la primera subasta, se celebrará una segunda subasta el día 20 de junio de 2024, a las 9:00 de la mañana, y el precio mínimo
subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Y para conocimiento de licitadores, del público en general y para su publicación en un periódico de circulación general diaria en Puerto Rico y en los sitios públicos de acuerdo a las disposiciones de la Regla 51.7 de las de Procedimiento Civil, así como para la publicación en un periódico de circulación general diaria y en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, por espacio de dos semanas con antelación a la fecha de la primera subasta y por lo menos una vez por semana. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento indicado estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante las horas laborables. (Art. 102 (1) de la Ley núm. 210-2015). Expedido el presente en Humacao, Puerto Rico, a 7 de mayo de 2024. JENNISA GARCIA MORALES, ALGUACIL REGIONAL. JANIA GUASP LOZA #653, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR. ALGUACIL DEL TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE HUMACAO. ***
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE UTUADO SALA SUPERIOR BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO
Demandante Vs. LA SUCESIÓN DE LOS FINADOS ISAIAS VALDES
GONZALEZ Y ELSIE
SERRANO GONZALEZ TAMBIÉN CONOCIDA
COMO ELISA SERRANO GONZALEZ COMPUESTA POR ISAIAS VALDES III, JUTH VALDES, XYZ; (HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS); ESTADO LIBRE
ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO Y CRIM
Demandados Civil Núm.: UT2023CV00133. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. EDICTO DE SUBASTA. AL: PÚBLICO EN GENERAL.
A: LA SUCESIÓN DE LOS FINADOS ISAIAS VALDES
GONZALEZ Y ELSIE
SERRANO GONZALEZ TAMBIÉN CONOCIDA
COMO ELISA SERRANO GONZALEZ COMPUESTA POR ISAIAS VALDES III, JUTH VALDES, XYZ; (HEREDEROS
DESCONOCIDOS);
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO Y CENTRO DE RECAUDACIÓN DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (CRIM).
Yo, JOSÉ F. RIVERA PÉREZ, 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 25 DE JUNIO DE 2024, A LAS 1:30 DE LA TARDE en mi oficina, sita en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Utuado, Utuado, 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 Utuado 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 2 DE JULIO DE 2024, A LAS 1:30 DE LA TARDE y en caso de no producir remate ni adjudicación, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el 10 DE JULIO DE 2024, A LAS 1:30 DE LA TARDE en mi oficina sita en el lugar antes indicado. La propiedad a venderse en pública subasta se describe como sigue: “URBANA: Solar identificado con el número OCHENTA Y SIETE (87) en el plano de inscripción de la URBANIZACION PEREZ MATOS de Utuado, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de TRESCIENTOS DIECINUEVE puntos CERO CINCO (319.05) metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, en NUEVE punto OCHENTA (9.80) metros, con una calle sin salida, por el SUR, en TRECE punto TREINTA (13.30) metros, con los solares número OCHENTA y NUEVE (89), número OCHENTA Y OCHO (88) de la referida Urbanización; por el ESTE, en VEINTE punto NOVENTA Y SIETE (20.97) metros, con los solares número SESENTA y SEIS (66) y número SESENTA y SIETE (67); y por el OESTE, en VEINTIUNO punto CUARENTA y CINCO (21.45) metros, con el solar número OCHENTA y SEIS (86) de la urbanización. Enclava una casa para fines residenciales”. La escritura de hipoteca se encuentra inscrita al folio 115 del tomo 526 de Utuado,
finca 10,102 del Registro de la Propiedad de Utuado. La dirección física de la propiedad antes descrita es: Urbanización Pérez Matos, Solar 87 ( ahora Número 70), Calle Las Palmas, Utuado, Puerto Rico. La Subasta se llevará a efecto para satisfacer a la parte demandante la suma de $58,696.44 de principal, más intereses sobre dicha suma al tipo de 5.375% por ciento anual desde el 1ro. de octubre de 2022, hasta su completo pago; más las primas de seguro estipuladas en la escritura de hipoteca, contribuciones de la propiedad, de aplicar y contra riesgos, más recargos por demora, más los intereses devengados y la cantidad estipulada de $10,125.00 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado. Que la cantidad mínima de licitación en la primera subasta para el inmueble será de $101,250.00 y de ser necesaria una segunda subasta, la cantidad mínima será equivalente a 2/3 partes de aquella, o sea, la suma de $67,500.00 y de ser necesaria una tercera subasta, la cantidad mínima será la mitad del precio pactado, es decir, la suma de $50,625.00. 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 a ser vendida en pública subasta se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Podrán concurrir como postores a todas las subastas los titulares de créditos hipotecarios vigentes y posteriores a la hipoteca que se cobra o ejecuta, si alguno o que figuren como tales en la certificación registral y que podrán utilizar el montante de sus créditos o parte de alguno en sus ofertas. Si la oferta aceptada es por cantidad mayor a la suma del crédito o créditos preferentes al suyo, al obtener la buena pro del remate, deberá satisfacer en el mismo acto, en efectivo o en cheque de gerente, la totalidad del crédito hipotecario que se ejecuta y la de cualesquiera otro créditos posteriores al que se ejecuta pero preferente al suyo.
El exceso constituirá abono total o parcial en su propio crédito. EN TESTIMONIO DE LO CUAL, expido el presente Edicto para conocimiento y comparecencia de los licitadores, bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, en Utuado, Puerto Rico, 14 de marzo de 2024. JOSÉ F. RIVERA PÉREZ, ALGUACIL DEL TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA SUPERIOR DE UTUADO. LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE YAUCO ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC, COMO AGENTE DE ACE ONE FUNDING, LLC. Demandante Vs. JOSÉ J. TORRES VEGA Demandado
Civil Núm.: YU2023CV00364. Salón: 1. 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: JOSÉ J. TORRES VEGA - HC 3 BOX 15535, YAUCO PR 00698-9825. POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza y requiere para que conteste la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), la cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:// www.poderjudicial.pr/index. php/tribunal-electronico/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda o cualquier otro sin más citarle ni oírle, si el tribunal en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. El sistema SUMAC notificará copia a los abogados de la parte demandante, Lcdo. Gabriel Antonio Ramos Colón cuyas direcciones son: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico, 009368518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección gabriel.ramos@ orf-law.com y a la dirección notificaciones@orf-law.com.
EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en Yauco, Puerto Rico, hoy día 21 de marzo de 2024. En Yauco, Puerto Rico, el 21 de marzo de 2024. CARMEN G. TIRÚ QUIÑONES, SECRETARIA
REGIONAL. DELIA APONTE VELÁZQUEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE LAJAS ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC, COMO AGENTE DE ACE ONE FUNDING, LLC. Demandante Vs. ARMANDO CAMACHO COTTÉ
Demandado Civil Núm.: LJ2023CV00149. Salón: 0100. 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: ARMANDO CAMACHO COTTÉ - H2 BOX 11231, LAJAS PR 00667-9223.
POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza y requiere para que conteste la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), la cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:// www.poderjudicial.pr/index. php/tribunal-electronico/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda o cualquier otro sin más citarle ni oírle, si el tribunal en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. El sistema SUMAC notificará copia a los abogados de la parte demandante, el Lcdo. Gabriel Antonio Ramos Colón cuyas direcciones son: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico 009368518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección gabriel.ramos@ orf-law.com y a la dirección notificaciones@orf-law.com.
EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en Lajas, Puerto Rico, hoy día 27 de marzo de 2024. En Lajas, Puerto Rico, el 27 de marzo de 2024. NORMA G. SANTANA IRIZARRY, SECRETARIA. IVELISSE CHERENA RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE SAN JUAN
LEGACY MORTGAGE
ASSET TRUST 2021-GS1
Parte Demandante Vs. FERNANDO ALFONSO
QUINONES RIOS, ALEXANDRA ROJAS
LARA Y LA SOCIEDAD
LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES
COMPUESTA POR ESTOS
Parte Demandada Caso Civil Núm.: SJ2024CV03412. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA - IN REM. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. POR LA PRESENTE se les emplaza y requiere para que conteste la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto. Usted deberá radicar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: http:// unired.ramajudicial.pr/sumac/, salvo que se presente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá radicar el original de su contestación ante el Tribunal correspondiente y notifique con copia a los abogados de la parte demandante, Lcda. Marjaliisa Colon Villanueva, al PO BOX 7970, Ponce, P.R. 00732-7970; Teléfono: 787843-41668. En dicha demanda se tramita un procedimiento de cobro de dinero y ejecución de hipoteca bajo el número mencionado en el epígrafe. Se alega en dicho procedimiento que la parte Demandada incurrió en el incumplimiento del Contrato de Hipoteca, al no poder pagar las mensualidades vencidas correspondientes a los meses de enero de 2021, hasta el presente, más los cargos por demora correspondientes. Además, adeuda a la parte demandante las costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado en que incurra el tenedor del pagaré en este litigio. De acuerdo con dicho Contrato de Garantía Hipotecaria la parte Demandante declaró vencida la totalidad de la deuda ascendente a la suma de $394,681.22 de balance principal, el cual se compone de un primer principal por la suma de $216,860.47, y un principal diferido por la suma de $177,820.75, más los intereses sobre la suma de $216,860.47 a razón del 2.500% anual, así como todos aquellos créditos y sumas que surjan de la faz de la obligación hipotecaria y de la hipoteca que la garantiza, incluyendo la suma pactada para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado. La parte Demandante presentó para
su inscripción en el Registro de la Propiedad correspondiente, un AVISO DE PLEITO PENDIENTE (“Lis Pendens”) sobre la propiedad objeto de esta acción cuya propiedad es la siguiente: URBANA: PROPIEDAD HORIZONTAL: Apartamento residencial identificado con el número 204 localizado en el segundo piso del complejo conocido como Condominio Puertos Paseos ubicados en la Avenida Las Cumbres, en el Barrio Cupey del término municipal de San Juan, Puerto Rico. Este apartamento está construido de hormigón forzado. Este apartamento tiene un nivel con su puerta de entrada desde el vestíbulo del segundo piso por el lindero Sur, y este conduce al vestíbulo principal del edificio. Este apartamento tiene un área total aproximada de 1564 pies cuadrados, equivalentes a 145.30 metros cuadrados. Linderos: Por el Norte, en 35 pies 5 pulgadas equivalentes a 10.80 metros, con pared exterior que lo separa del área exterior común; por el Sur, en 33 pies 5 pulgadas equivalentes a 10.19 metros, con pared medianera que lo divide del apartamento 201 del conducto de los elevadores, que es área común y del vestíbulo de entrada que es área común; por el Este, en 48 pies 8 pulgadas equivalentes a 14.83 metros, con pared exterior que lo separa del área exterior común; y por el Oeste, en 50 pies 3 pulgadas equivalentes a 15.32 metros, con pared medianera que lo separa del apartamento 203 y de conducto de elevadores que es área común. Este apartamento consta de sala y family, balcón, comedor, cocina, pasillo de dormitorios, baño, lavandería, dos dormitorios, dos closets en dormitorios, dormitorio máster, closet vestidor, “vanity” y baño “master”. A este apartamento le corresponde el estacionamiento cubierto 148-C y el estacionamiento descubierto 314-A en el edificio de estacionamiento del Condominio al Norte del edificio principal. A este apartamento le corresponde una participación de 1.1010% en los elementos comunes del Condominio. Inscrita al folio ciento veintiuno (121) del Tomo quinientos setenta y seis (576) de Río Piedras Sur, finca número dieciocho mil ciento noventa y dos (18,192), Registro de la Propiedad de San Juan, Sección IV. SE LES APERCIBE que de no hacer sus alegaciones responsivas a la demanda dentro del término aquí dispuesto, se les anotará la rebeldía y se dictará Sentencia, concediéndose el remedio solicitado en la Demanda, sin más citarle ni oírle. Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal en San Juan, Puerto Rico. A día 10
de mayo de 2024. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA. BRENDA L. BÁEZ ACABÁ, SECRETARIA DE SERVICIOS A SALA. LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE PONCE
BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante Vs. SUCESION DE FRANCISCO VEGA RUIZ, COMPUESTA POR SU HIJA ESTHER EMILIA VEGA RODRIGUEZ, TAMBIÉN CONOCIDA
COMO ESTHER VEGA RODRIGUEZ;SUCESION DE ESTHER EMILIA RODRIGUEZ RODRIGUEZ, TAMBIÉN CONOCIDA COMO ESTHER E. RODRIGUEZ RODRIGUEZ, COMPUESTA POR SU HIJA ESTHER EMILIA VEGA RODRIGUEZ, TAMBIÉN CONOCIDA COMO ESTHER VEGA RODRIGUEZ Y FULANO DE CUAL Y ZUTANO DE CUAL, COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS CON POSIBLE INTERÉS DE AMBAS SUCESIONES; ESTHER EMILIA VEGA RODRIGUEZ, TAMBIÉN CONOCIDA COMO ESTHER VEGA RODRIGUEZ; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (CRIM) Demandados Civil Núm.: JCD2016-0945. (801). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO (EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA). EDICTO DE SUBASTA. AL: PÚBLICO EN GENERAL. A: SUCESION DE FRANCISCO VEGA RUIZ, COMPUESTA POR SU HIJA ESTHER EMILIA VEGA RODRIGUEZ, TAMBIÉN CONOCIDA COMO ESTHER VEGA RODRIGUEZ;SUCESION DE ESTHER EMILIA RODRIGUEZ RODRIGUEZ, TAMBIÉN CONOCIDA COMO ESTHER E. RODRIGUEZ RODRIGUEZ, COMPUESTA POR SU HIJA ESTHER EMILIA VEGA RODRIGUEZ,
TAMBIÉN CONOCIDA
COMO ESTHER VEGA RODRIGUEZ Y FULANO DE CUAL Y ZUTANO DE CUAL, COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS CON POSIBLE INTERÉS DE AMBAS SUCESIONES; ESTHER EMILIA VEGA RODRIGUEZ, TAMBIÉN CONOCIDA COMO ESTHER VEGA RODRIGUEZ; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (CRIM).
Yo, MIGUEL A. TORRES AYALA, 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 24 DE JUNIO DE 2024, A LAS 2:45 DE LA TARDE en mi oficina, sita en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Ponce, Ponce, 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 Ponce 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 1RO. DE JULIO DE 2024, A LAS 2:45 DE LA TARDE y en caso de no producir remate ni adjudicación, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA el 9 DE JULIO DE 2024, A LAS 2:45 DE LA TARDE en mi oficina sita en el lugar antes indicado. La propiedad a venderse en pública subasta se describe como sigue: URBANA: Solar marcado con el número Quince (15) de la Manzana “H” del plano preparado por la Corporación de Renovación Urbana y Vivienda de Puerto Rico, para su proyecto de solares denominado CRUV guión Ciento Treinta y Cinco (CRUV135) VBC guión Noventa y Ocho (VBC-98), radicado en el BARRIO CANAS, sitio Pámpanos del término municipal de Ponce, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de DOSCIENTOS OCHENTA Y SIETE PUNTO TREINTA Y SIETE (287.37) METROS CUADRADOS. En lindes por el NORTE, con el solar número H guión
Uno (H-1) de la mencionada Urbanización, distancia de CATORCE PUNTO CINCUENTA (14.50) METROS; por el SUR, con la Calle número Catorce (14) del proyecto, distancia de ONCE PUNTO CERO CERO (11.00)METROS en línea recta y un arco curvilíneo de CINCO PUNTO CUARENTA Y NUEVE (5.49)METROS, con la Calle número Dieciséis (16); por el ESTE, con la Calle número Dieciséis (16) de la susodicha Urbanización, distancia de DIECISÉIS PUNTO CINCUENTA (16.50)METROS; y por el OESTE, con el solar número H guión Catorce (H14) del mencionado proyecto CRUV guión Ciento Treinta y Cinco (CRUV-135)VBC guión Noventa y Ocho (VBC-98), distancia de VEINTE PUNTO CERO CERO (20.00)METROS. En este solar enclava una casa para fines residenciales. La escritura de hipoteca se encuentra inscrita al folio 175 del tomo 2078 de Ponce, Registro de la Propiedad de Ponce, Sección Primera, finca número 37,440, inscripción séptima. La dirección física de la propiedad antes descrita es: Urbanización Vistas del Mar, Calle Arrecife, 3049 (antes Solar 15, Manzana H, Ponce, Puerto Rico. La Subasta se llevará a efecto para satisfacer a la parte demandante la suma de $37,908.15 de principal, intereses al 7.95% anual, desde el día 1ro. de julio de 2018, hasta su completo pago, más la cantidad de $5,600.00 estipulada para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado y recargos acumulados,, todas cuyas sumas están líquidas y exigibles. Que la cantidad mínima de licitación en la primera subasta para el inmueble será de $56,000.00 y de ser necesaria una segunda subasta, la cantidad mínima será equivalente a 2/3 partes de aquella, o sea, la suma de $37,333.34 y de ser necesaria una tercera subasta, la cantidad mínima será la mitad del precio pactado, es decir, la suma de $28,000.00. 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 a ser vendida en pública subasta se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Podrán concurrir como postores a todas las subastas los titulares de créditos hipotecarios vigentes y posteriores a la hipoteca que se cobra o ejecuta, si alguno o que figuren como tales en la certificación registral y que podrán utilizar el montante de sus créditos o parte de alguno en sus ofertas. Si la oferta aceptada es por cantidad mayor a la suma del crédito o créditos preferentes al suyo, al obtener la buena pro del remate, deberá satisfacer en el mismo acto, en efectivo o en cheque de gerente, la totalidad del crédito hipotecario que se ejecuta y la de cualesquiera otro créditos posteriores al que se ejecuta pero preferente al suyo. El exceso constituirá abono total o parcial en su propio crédito. EN TESTIMONIO DE LO CUAL, expido el presente Edicto para conocimiento y comparecencia de los licitadores, bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, en Ponce, Puerto Rico, 10 de mayo de 2024. MIGUEL A. TORRES AYALA, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR PLACA #560, ALGUACIL DE LA DIVISIÓN DE EJECUCIÓN DE SENTENCIAS, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA
SUPERIOR DE PONCE.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE MAYAGÜEZ OLGA
AVILES MONTALVO
Demandante Vs. DENNYS PADILLA, AIDA RIVERA CAROLYN PADILLA COLBERG Y OTROS
Demandados Civil Núm.: MZ2023CV01533. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO, EJECUCIÓN HIPOTECA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.
A: DENNYS PADILLA11363, SW 161 PLACE, MIAMI, FL 33196. AIDA RIVERA - 11525 237TH ST, ELMONT NY 11003.
POR LA PRESENTE se les emplaza y requiere para que contesten la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este edicto, deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC) al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica:
https://unired.ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaria del tribunal. Deberá notificar su alegación al Lcdo. Nelson Vincenty Cappas, Calle Muñoz Rivera 39, Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico 00623. Este caso se trata de Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca, en el que la parte demandante solicita se declare Con Lugar el cobro de dinero y la ejecución de la hipoteca que grava la propiedad. Se le apercibe que 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. EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, Mayagüez Puerto Rico, hoy 13 de mayo de 2024. LCDA. NORMA G SANTANA
IRIZARRY, SECRETARIA DEL TRIBUNAL. JOSSIE D. BOBÉ RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE PONCE SALA SUPERIOR DE PONCE
BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO; POPULAR MORTGAGE, INC.
Demandante V. MR. COOPER Y OTROS
Demandado(a)
Caso Núm.: PO2024CV00734. (Salón: 602 CIVIL SUPERIOR). SOBRE: CANCELACIÓN O RESTITUCIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.
MARITZA DEL CARMEN GUZMÁN MATOS - MGUZMAN@ PARTNERSLEGALSERVICESPR. COM.
A: MR. COOPER, JOHN DOE, RICHARD DOE, PARA SER NOTIFICADO POR EDICTO. (Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 16 de mayo de 2024, 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 20 de mayo de 2024. En Ponce, Puerto Rico, el 20 de mayo de 2024. CARMEN G. TIRÚ QUIÑONES, SECRETARIA. LOYDA TORRES IRIZARRY, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE AIBONITO MARIA ASUNCION CARPENA VEGA TAMBIÉN CONOCIDA
COMO MARIA CARPENA VEGA
Demandante V. FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION COMO SUCESOR EN DERECHOS DE DORAL MORTGAGE CORPORTATION, JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES CON INTERÉS
Demandados Civil Núm.: AI2024CV00182. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ HIPOTECARIO EXTRAVIADO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. A: JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE (PERSONAS DESCONOCIDAS CON POSIBLE INTERÉS).
En este caso la parte demandante ha radicado Demanda para que se decrete judicialmente el saldo de un pagaré a favor de Doral Mortgage Coporation, o a su orden, por Cuarenta y Ocho Mil Dólares ($48,000.00), con intereses al siete cinco octavos por ciento (7 5/8%) anual, vencedero el primero (1ero) de abril de dos mil ocho (2008), según consta de la escritura número novecientos dos (#902), otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día seis (6) de marzo de mil novecientos noventa y tres (1993), ante el Notario Público Hiram Amundaray Rivera testimonio 8,433 inscrito al folio 214 vuelto del tomo 180 de Aibonito finca 9,314, inscripción 3era, y está garantizado por hipoteca sobre la propiedad que se describe como sigue: RÚSTICA: Solar identificado con la Letra B, radicado en el Barrio Robles-Sierra (Cuyón), Municipio de Aibonito, con una cabida superficial de novecientos veintidós punto cincuenta (922.50) metros cuadrados, y en lindes por el NORTE, en diecisiete punto
setenta y cinco (17.75) metros, con el remanente de la finca principal de la cual se segrega; por el SUR, en dos (2) alineaciones distintas que suman diecinueve punto dieciséis (19.16) metros, con la Carretera número setecientos veintidós (#722); por el ESTE, en cincuenta y siete punto treinta y cinco (57.35) metros con el solar C, a segregarse; y por el OESTE, en cincuenta y nueve punto noventa y cinco (59.95) metros, con el solar A, a segregarse. Enclava un casa. Inscrita al folio número 214 del tomo número 180 de Aibonito, finca número 9,314, Registro de la Propiedad de Barranquitas. La parte demandante alega que dicho Pagaré se ha extraviado, según más detalladamente consta en la Demanda radicada que puede examinarse en la Secretaría de este Tribunal. Por tratarse de unas obligaciones hipotecarias, y pudiendo usted tener interés en este caso o quedar afectado por el remedio solicitado, se les emplaza por este Edicto que se publicará en un (1) periódico de circulación general una (1) sola vez y que si no comparecen a contestar dicha Demanda radicando el original de la misma a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual pueden acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:// www.poderjudicial.pr/index. php/tribunal-electronico/, salvo que se representen por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberán presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala de Aibonito, con copia al abogado de la parte demandante, Lcdo. Jorge García Rondón, a PMB 538. 267 Sierra Morena, San Juan, Puerto Rico 0096 dentro del término de treinta (30) días contados a partir de la publicación del Edicto, se les anotaré la rebeldía y se dictará sentencia en su contra concediendo el remedio solicitando en la Demanda sin más citarles ni oírles. EN TESTIMONIO DE LO CUAL, expido el presente Edicto por Orden del Tribunal, bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, en Aibonito, Puerto Rico, hoy 15 de mayo de 2024. ELIZABETH GONZÁLEZ RIVERA, SECRETARIA. KATIRIA LIZ COLÓN CABRERA, SUBSECRETARIA.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE COMERÍO
BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO
Parte Demandante Vs. CARLOS JESÚS RIVERA RIVERA, MÓNICA
RODRÍGUEZ ALICEA
T/C/C MÓNICA ALICEA Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS
Civil Núm.: CR2023CV0049. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO, EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. AVISO DE PÚBLICA SUBASTA. El Alguacil que suscribe por la presente anuncia y hace constar que en cumplimiento de la Sentencia en Rebeldía del 11 de marzo de 2024, la Orden de Ejecución de Sentencia del 6 de mayo de 2024 y el Mandamiento de Ejecución del 7 de mayo de 2024 en el caso de epígrafe, procederé a vender día 1 DE JULIO DE 2024, A LAS 11:00 DE LA MAÑANA en el Cuarto Piso de la Oficina del Alguacil de Subastas, en mi oficina, localizada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Comerío, en 16 Calle Georgetti, Comerío, Puerto Rico, al mejor postor en pago de contado y en moneda de los Estados Unidos de América todo título, derecho o interés de la parte demandada sobre la siguiente propiedad: Descripción de la Propiedad: RÚSTICA: Predio de terreno radicado en el Barrio Quebrada Grande de Barranquitas, compuesto de 1,659.3762 metros cuadrados, o sea .4222 cuerdas. Colinda por el NORTE: Sucesión Rivera Báez; por el SUR y OESTE: con Sucesión Rivera; y por el ESTE: con camino público. Inscrita al folio 235 del tomo 126 de Barranquitas, Finca 7792. Registro de la Propiedad de Barranquitas. Dirección Física: Barrio Quebrada Grande Carr.749 KM 4.1 INT BARRANQUITAS PR 00794. Número de Catastro: 41-247-067-140-19-000. El tipo mínimo para la primera subasta será de $147,029.00. De no haber adjudicación en la primera subasta se celebrará una SEGUNDA SUBASTA, el día 8 DE JULIO DE 2024 DE 2024, A LAS 3:00 DE LA TARDE, en el mismo lugar, en la cual el tipo mínimo será de dos terceras partes del tipo mínimo fijado en la primera subasta, o sea, $98,019.33. De no haber adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se celebrará una TERCERA SUBASTA, el día 15 DE JULIO DE 2024 DE 2024, A LAS 3:00 DE LA TARDE, en el mismo lugar, en la cual el tipo mínimo será la mitad del precio pactado, o sea, $73,514.50. Si se declarase desierta la tercera subasta, se adjudicará la finca a favor del acreedor por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada si ésta es igual o menor que
el monto del tipo de la tercera subasta, si el tribunal lo estima conveniente. Se abonará dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si ésta es mayor. Dicho remate se llevará a cabo para con su producto satisfacer a la demandante el importe de la Sentencia por suma de $127,919.20 de principal, más intereses sobre dicha suma al 4.00% anual desde el 1 de junio de 2019 hasta su completo pago, más $1,483.32 de recargos acumulados los cuales continuarán en aumento hasta el saldo total de la deuda, más la cantidad estipulada de $14,702.90 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”. Surge del Estudio de Título Registral que sobre esta propiedad pesa el siguiente gravamen posterior a la hipoteca que por la presente se pretende ejecutar: AVISO DE DEMANDA: Pleito seguido por Banco Popular de Puerto Rico vs. Carlos Jesús Rivera Rivera y Mónica Rodríguez Alicea también conocida como Mónica Alicea, ante el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Comerio, en el caso civil número CR2023CV00409, sobre cobro de dinero y ejecución de hipoteca, en la que se reclama el pago de hipoteca, con un balance de $127,919.20 y otras cantidades, según Demanda de fecha 4 de diciembre de 2023. Anotada al Tomo Karibe de Barranquitas. Anotación C. Se notifica al acreedor posterior o a su sucesor o cesionario en derecho para que comparezca a proteger su derecho si así lo desea. Se les advierte a los interesados que todos los documentos relacionados con la presente acción de ejecución de hipoteca, así como los de Subasta, estarán disponibles para ser examinados, durante horas laborables, en el expediente del caso que obra en los archivos de la Secretaría del Tribunal, bajo el número de epígrafe y para su publicación en un periódico de circulación general en Puerto Rico por espacio de dos semanas y por lo menos una vez por semana; y para su fijación en los sitios públicos requeridos por ley. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante, continuarán subsistentes; entendiéndose que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate y que la propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y
gravámenes posteriores tal como lo expresa la Ley Núm. 210-2015. Y para el conocimiento de los demandados, de los acreedores posteriores, de los licitadores, partes interesadas y público en general, EXPIDO para su publicación en los lugares públicos correspondientes, el presente Aviso de Pública Subasta en Comerio, Puerto Rico, hoy 14 de mayo de 2024. Rodolfo Lara Martínez, Alguacil #321, Alguacil Del Tribunal De Primera Instancia, Centro Judicial De Comerío, Sala Superior.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE GUAYNABO BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO
Demandante V. ALEJANDRO VEITIA BIENES Y ALIÑA CARMEN FONT FERNÁNDEZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS, R&G MORTGAGE CORP., JOHN DOE
Demandadas Civil Núm.: GB2024CV00283. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO POR LA VÍA JUDICIAL. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, PRESIDEN DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, S.S.
A: ALEJANDRO VEITIA BIENES Y ALIÑA CARMEN FONT FERNÁNDEZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS, R&G
MORTGAGE CORP. Y JOHN DOE COMO TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS DEL PAGARÉ A FAVOR DE R&G MORTGAGE CORPORATION, O A SU ORDEN, POR $74,250.00 CON INTERESES A RAZÓN DE 10.25% ANUAL, VENCEDERO EL 1 DE DICIEMBRE DE 2017, SEGÚN ESCRITURA 570, OTORGADA EN SAN JUAN, EL 30 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 1987, ANTE EL NOTARIO HEBERTO
J. DE VIZCARRONDO ARMSTRONG, INSCRITA AL FOLIO 74 DEL TOMO 555 DE GUAYNABO,
INSCRIPCIÓN 6TA. DICHO PAGARÉ FUE NOTARIADO BAJO EL AFIDÁVIT 1208, OTORGAD POR EL NOTARIO HEBERTO J. DE VIZCARRONDO ARMSTRONG.
Por la presente se le emplaza y notifica que debe contestar la demanda incoada en su contra dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación del presente edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:// unired.ramajudicial.pr/sumac/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio. Si usted deja de presentar y notificar 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. Los abogados de la parte demandante son. ABOGADOS DE LA PARTE
DEMANDANTE:
Lcdo. Reggie Díaz Hernández RUA Núm.: 16,393
BERMUDEZ & DIAZ LLP
Suite 209
500 Calle De La Tanca San Juan, Puerto Rico 00901
Tel.: (787) 523-2670
Fax: (787) 523-2664 rdiaz@bdprlaw.com
Expido este edicto bajo mi firma y el sello de este Tribunal, hoy 14 de mayo de 2024. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL II. SARA ROSA VILLEGAS, SECRETARIA DEL TRIBUNAL CONFIDENCIAL I. LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE HATILLO ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC
COMO AGENTE DE FAIRWAY ACQUISITIONS FUND, LLC
Parte Demandante Vs. WILFREDO GONZALEZ VAZQUEZ
Parte Demandada Civil Núm.: CM2023CV00763. 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: WILFREDO GONZALEZ VAZQUEZ - URB VISTAS DE CAMUY 3 CALLE PETER ALFUND, CAMUY
PR 00627-2911; 141 OLD ORANGE PARK RD APT 181, ORANGE PARK FL 32073.
POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza y requiere para que conteste la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), la cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:///www.poderjudicial.pr/ index.php/tribunal-electronico, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda o cualquier otro sin más citarle ni oírle, si el tribunal en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. El sistema SUMAC notificará copia al abogado de la parte demandante, Natalie Bonaparte Servera cuya dirección es: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-8518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección natalie.bonaparte@orf-law.com y a la dirección notificaciones@ orf-law.com. EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en HATILLO, Puerto Rico, hoy día 1 de abril de 2024. VIVIAN Y. FRESSE GONZÁLEZ, SECRETARIA. BRENDA LIZ HERNÁNDEZ SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE ARECIBO ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC, COMO AGENTE DE FAIRWAY ACQUISITIONS FUND, LLC.
Demandante Vs. ELISA FRET CORTÉS
Demandada Civil Núm.: AR2024CV00159. Salón: 403. 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: ELISA FRET CORTÉS - URB. LOS AIRES 213 CALLE BARIO, ARECIBO PR 00612-8870. POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza y requiere para que conteste la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto.
Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), la cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:// www.poderjudicial.pr/index. php/tribunal-electronico/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda o cualquier otro sin más citarle ni oírle, si el tribunal en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. El sistema SUMAC notificará copia a los abogados de la parte demandante, el Lcdo. Gabriel Antonio Ramos Colón cuyas direcciones son: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico 009368518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección gabriel.ramos@ orf-law.com y a la dirección notificaciones@orf-law.com.
EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en Arecibo, Puerto Rico, hoy día 1 de abril de 2024. En Arecibo, Puerto Rico, el 1 de abril de 2024. VIVIAN Y. FRESSE GONZÁLEZ, SECRETARIA. EIMMY FELICIANO TORRES, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR. LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE MAYAGÜEZ ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC, COMO AGENTE DE ACE ONE FUNDING, LLC. Demandante Vs. JEFFRY NÚÑEZ MARTÍNEZ
Demandado Civil Núm.: MZ2023CV01985. Salón: 103. 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: JEFFRY NÚÑEZ MARTÍNEZ - 209 CALLE NAN RAMIREZ, MAYAGUEZ PR 00680. POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza y requiere para que conteste la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), la cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:// www.poderjudicial.pr/index. php/tribunal-electronico/, salvo
que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda o cualquier otro sin más citarle ni oírle, si el tribunal en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. El sistema SUMAC notificará copia a los abogados de la parte demandante, el Lcdo. Gabriel Antonio Ramos Colón cuyas direcciones son: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico 009368518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección gabriel.ramos@ orf-law.com y a la dirección notificaciones@orf-law.com.
EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, hoy día 2 de abril de 2024. En Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, el 2 de abril de 2024. LCDA. NORMA G. SANTANA IRIZARRY, SECRETARIA. EVELYN J. RODRÍGUEZ RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR. LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA REGIÓN JUDICIAL DE BAYAMÓN SALA SUPERIOR DE TOA ALTA WILFREDO HERNÁNDEZ BÁEZ
Demandante V. BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO, FIRST BANK DE PUERTO RICO, COMO CUSTODIOS DE LOS EXPEDIENTES DE DORAL MORTGAGE CORPORATION; JOHN DOE Y RICHARD DOE
Demandados Civil Núm.: TA2023CV01279. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ HIPOTECARIO. EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, S.S.
A: JOHN DOE / RICHARD DOE. Quedan notificados que la demandante de epígrafe ha radicado en este Tribunal una Demanda contra ustedes como co-demandados en la que se solicita la cancelación por la vía judicial de un Pagaré hipotecario extraviado a favor de Doral Mortgage Corporation, o a su orden, por la suma principal de $18,000.00 e intereses al 10.00% anual y vencimiento el día 1ro de marzo de 2006, mediante la Escritura Número 45 otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico ante el notario público Roberto Combas Martínez. El descrito Pagaré hipo-
tecario grava la propiedad que se describe a continuación: RÚSTICA: Lote número tres (3): Parcela de terreno identificada con el número tres (3), la cual esta localizada en el Barrio Piñas del término municipal de Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de mil ciento cuarenta y cuatro punto trescientos treinta y tres metros cuadrados (1,144.333 mc), equivalentes a cero punto dos mil novecientas once cuerdas (0.2911 cdas). En lindes por el NORTE, con terrenos de Tomás Rivera; por el SUR, con camino municipal Los Andinos; por el OESTE, con la parcela identificada como el número cuatro (4) y por el ESTE, con la parcela identificada como el número dos (2). Enclava edificación, la cual se describe de la siguiente manera: casa de bloques y hormigón que mide cuarenta y cinco pies (45’) de largo por veinticinco pies (25’) de ancho, alzada en columna de ocho pies (8’) de alto, consta de tres (3) cuartos dormitorios, dos (2) baños, sala, comedor, cocina, balcón, marquesina y laundry room, diseñada para una familia, con un valor de veinte mil dólares ($20,000.00), mediante escritura número siete (7), otorgada en Toa Baja, el veintinueve (29) de marzo del año mil novecientos ochenta y dos (1982), ante Raúl Rivera Rivera e inscrito al folio treinta (30) del tomo ciento sesenta y dos (162) de Toa Alta, finca número ocho mil setecientos doce (8712), inscripción segunda (2ᵃ). Inscrita al folio treinta (30) del tomo ciento sesenta y dos (162) de Toa Alta, finca número ocho mil setecientos doce (8,712), Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección Tercera (III) de Bayamón. Se les advierte que el presente Edicto se publicará en un periódico de circulación general una sola vez y se le requiere para que contesten la Demanda de epígrafe dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación del edicto, radicando el original de su contestación en el Tribunal correspondiente y notificando con copia de la misma a la parte demandante a la siguiente dirección: BUFETE
APONTE & CORTÉS
LCDA. ERIKA MORALES MARENGO PO Box 195337 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00919-5337
Tel. (787) 239-5661
Email: emarengo@apontecortes.com
Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:// unired.ramajudicial.pr/sumac/, salvo que se presente por derecho propio. Se le apercibe
que de no hacerlo, el tribunal podrá dictar Sentencia en rebeldía concediendo el remedio solicitado en la demanda, sin citarle ni oírle. Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, hoy día 29 de abril de 2024. Lcda. Laura I. Santa Sánchez, Secretaria Regional. Maritza Bonilla Hernández, Secretaria De Servicios A Sala.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN
WATERLOVERS PR LLC
Parte Demandante Vs. LUIS HERNÁNDEZ RIVERA
Parte Demandada Civil Núm.: SJ2024CV03631. Sala: 906. Sobre: DESAHUCIO SUMARIO EN PRECARIO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU., ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R., SS. A: LUIS HERNÁNDEZ RIVERA.
Queda emplazada y notificada de que en este Tribunal se ha radicado una demanda de Desahucio Sumario en Precario en su contra. Se le notifica que deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica HTTPS:// WWW.PODERJUDICIAL. PR/INDEX.PHP/TRIBUNALELECTRONICO, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la Secretaría del Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala de San Juan y enviando copia a la parte demandante: Lic. Elizabeth Villagrasa Flores, PO Box 195168, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00919-5168; teléfono (787) 766-7000, facsímil (787) 766-7001, correo electrónico evillagrasa@ferraiuoli.com. Se le apercibe y notifica que si no contesta la demanda radicada en su contra dentro del término de treinta (30) días de la publicación de este edicto, se le anotará la rebeldía y se dictará sentencia concediendo el remedio solicitado en la demanda, sin más citárseles, ni oírseles. Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, a 21 de mayo de 2024. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA. MARÍA SERRANO SOTO, SECRETARIA DE SERVICIOS A SALA.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE BAYAMÓN SALA SUPERIOR
DE GUAYNABO BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante V. SUCESIÓN DE CARMEN JULIA MATOS MARRERO T/C/C CARMEN J. MATOS MARRERO COMPUESTA POR SUS HEREDEROS CONOCIDOS COMO Y OTROS Demandado(a) Caso Núm.: GB2023CV00993. (Salón: 201). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO - ORDINARIO Y OTROS. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. JUAN C. FORTUÑO FASJCFORTUNO@FORTUNO-LAW. COM.
A: SUCESIÓN DE CARMEN JULIA MATOS MARRERO T/C/C CARMEN J. MATOS MARRERO COMPUESTA POR SUS HEREDEROS CONOCIDOS COMO DENNIS DE TAL MATOS, LUIS BENJAMÍN DE TAL MATOS, CARMEN DENISE DE TAL MATOS; FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS Y/O PARTES CON INTERÉS EN DICHA SUCESIÓNURB. APOLO II, KK21 CALLE OLIMPO, GUAYNABO PR 00965, Y; 440 N 6TH ST. LEBANON, PA 17046-36 16. (Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 17 de mayo de 2024, 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 20 de mayo de 2024. En Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, el 20 de mayo de 2024. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. SARA ROSA VILLEGAS, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.
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
Coolers
Craziest
Manure
Nugget
Fatty Frowns Grieve
Outlawed
Rehash
Remade
Shams
Smidgens
Smoke
Stale
Stifle
Strings
Sugar
Tabulate
Tacitly
Tawny
Scott Servais spent 11 seasons as a major league catcher, and sometimes, he tried to help the man hovering behind his back.
“If there were certain pitches that I knew would be tougher for the umpire to call, I would comment to him, ‘Hey, we’re gonna be doing a lot of this today,’” said Servais, now the manager of the Seattle Mariners. “Like if it was a lefty with a big slider or a hard cutter, I might say, ‘We’re gonna be running this in here a lot,’ just to give him a heads-up.”
The idea was that if the umpire knew the pitcher’s intentions, he might reward him with more strike calls if he consistently executed his game plan. Now, with PitchCom, technology that allows pitchers and catchers to communicate, baseball has a way to allow umpires to know the intention of every pitch. But umpires don’t use the device.
Minnesota Twins shortstop Carlos Correa said recently that he thinks they should, and Servais acknowledged he had never considered a modern application of his old technique. Yet, the more he thought about the concept, the less he liked it.
“If you’re expecting a pitch to break a certain way and it’s not there — it’s still a strike, but you’re like, ‘No, it can’t be a strike because it was supposed to be over here,’” Servais said. “So, maybe now they
Houston Astros’ Carlos Correa connects for a two-run homer in the fourth inning of Game Five of the World Series against the Washington Nationals in Washington on Sunday, Oct. 27, 2019. Correa, now with the Minnesota Twins, said he favors umpires using technology that allows pitchers and catchers to communicate, as a way of knowing the intention of every pitch and improving their ability to call balls and strikes more accurately. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)
call it a ball. There may be some benefits to it, and I wouldn’t rule it out, but I’d have to push back on Carlos in that regard.”
Correa raised the idea in Cleveland last weekend after some borderline ball-strike calls went against the Twins in a close loss to the Guardians. Correa is not a chronic complainer — he has never been ejected — but thinks the PitchCom would help umpires call a more accurate zone.
“It just occurred to me because I was thinking during the game about that,” Correa told Dan Hayes of The Athletic. “If umpires knew what was coming, it would be a lot easier for them to call balls and strikes instead of just trying to guess what way the ball is going to go.”
The Twins’ pitchers had the lowest walk rate in the majors through Wednesday, at 6.7%, with the Mariners just behind, at 7%. Their pitchers wouldn’t seem to have much of an issue with the strike zone, but even so, some of Seattle’s pitchers
seemed to like Correa’s idea.
“I think it would help,” said Bryce Miller, a right-handed starter. “Sometimes I think if the catcher’s set up for a certain location and we miss, it’s [automatically] a ball. But if [the umpire] knows a splitter’s coming, he should be looking at the bottom of the zone. So, if you throw it there, it might help in getting that pitch.”
Former umpire Ted Barrett raised another issue, saying that some umpires might need to crank up their earpiece, which would inadvertently give away the pitch to the hitter. But Barrett, who called games from 1994 to 2022, wouldn’t dismiss the idea entirely.
“Me personally, I never wanted to know; I didn’t have to hit, so I could wait to react after it’s received,” he said. “I would try it in a spring training game to see if it helped — but, man, you need a Batman utility belt now to keep everything in place.”
Mariners designated hitter Mitch Garver, who has caught more than 300 games in the majors, explained why the idea might have merit. Then he hit on the point that is said to most concern Major League Baseball.
“I’ve caught some guys with outlier stuff, and those are the pitches that really screw up the umpires — like the low-release fastball that rides the bottom of the zone and
catches the lower half, or the sweeping breaking ball that comes all the way across the plate; it’s hard for them to see that cross,” Garver said.
“I’m trying to think of a negative to that [idea], and the only thing I could think of is that an opposing team might be able to relay the way a certain umpire sets up for a different pitch.”
If an umpire knows a splitter is coming, Garver added, he might crouch down a bit, expecting the pitch to be low. Likewise, he guessed, if a high fastball is on its way, he might stand more upright.
According to an MLB official, who was granted anonymity to discuss internal planning, the league has explored the idea but decided against implementing it. The reason is precisely what Garver mentioned: The league does not want to create another situation that could tempt teams to relay signals to the batter.
After the sign-stealing scandal involving Correa’s 2017 Houston Astros team, anything that might lead to similar activity is a nonstarter for MLB. So, as intriguing as Correa’s concept might be, the inspiration for PitchCom’s existence is the same reason it won’t be given to umpires.
Where have all the flowers gone?
Since the Philadelphia Phillies opened Citizens Bank Park 20 years ago, the flower beds above the left field wall have been a charming little part of the scenery. The first homer there, by Bobby Abreu in 2004, cleared the flowers. So did pitcher Joe Blanton’s homer in the 2008 World Series and Bryce Harper’s “Bedlam at the Bank” blast in 2022.
But if April showers bring May flowers, then what happened to the floral arrangements in Philly? For TV viewers this season, it seems that the flowers are no more, replaced by a short orange billboard stretching above the length of the left field wall.
A recent visit to the park, however, revealed that the flowers never went anywhere at all. They’re just hidden by that billboard — which, ironically, advertises a “vegetation management” company that managed that vegetation right out of view.
The Phillies insist they haven’t forgotten about the flowers and are said to be considering various plans for what to do with them. Maybe they’ll have a pregame ceremony for their return, featuring former Phillies Kevin Flora, Erik Plantenberg and Pete Rose.
That’s for a later date, though. As for now — well, mum’s the word.
Answers to the Sudoku and Crossword on page 21
