Tuesday Nov 10, 2020

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

San Juan The

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DAILY

Star

‘Jeopardy!’

Can’t Imagine Show Without Alex Trebek

P20

Romero Insists, CVM Resists COVID-19 Outbreak Involving Nearly 30 Health Care Providers Reported at Arecibo Hospital; Are Other Institutions on the Same Path?

P5

MTA’s P3 Pact Sets Sail P3

NPP SJ Mayoral Candidate Wants to Move Forward with Transition; CVM Claims He’s Not Certified Officially by SEC

NOTICIAS EN ESPAÑOL P 19

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Tuesday, November 10, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

GOOD MORNING

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November 10, 2020

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

Major US operator to take over island ferry service under P3 pact

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he Puerto Rico Maritime Transportation Authority (ATM by its Spanish initials) and HMS Ferries Inc., part of the Hornblower family of businesses, on Monday announced the transition process for the operation and maintenance of the island’s maritime transportation systems.

The ATM system includes ferry service between Cataño and San Juan, and between Ceiba, Vieques and Culebra.

“We are very happy to begin this partnership with Puerto Rico through the Maritime Transportation Authority,” said Kevin Rabbitt, chief executive officer of the Hornblower Group, in a written statement. “We are firmly committed to providing quality service to the thousands of people who use Puerto Rico’s ferry service annually.”

“HMS Ferries has unrivaled shipping experience and is the largest passenger ship operator in the United States,” Rabbitt added. “We have put a lot of effort and dedication into this alliance, since our main objective is to provide a world-class service that will be the jewel of the Caribbean.”

Public-Private Partnerships Authority Executive Director Fermín Fontanés emphasized that “[t]his public-private partnership agreement is the appropriate mechanism for the island municipalities of Vieques and Culebra, as well as Cataño, to have an efficient, reliable and consistent maritime transport service.”

“We are convinced that the selection of HMS Ferries will mark the way to improve this service, under the highest standards, in accordance with successful models in other jurisdictions,” Fontanés said.

HMS Ferries developed a plan aimed at standardizing and executing substantial improvements to maritime transportation between Ceiba and the islands of Vieques and Culebra. The transition period for operations could take up to three years, but HMS Ferries is committed to implementing a comprehensive and aggressive work plan that could well be completed sooner than stipulated, the Hornblower Group said in its statement.

The plan will identify the priorities that will allow HMS Ferries and the ATM to achieve quality service based on the highest standards.

“As part of our commitment, we will be initiating a series of community dialogues with the residents of the island municipalities of Vieques and Culebra, as well as with their mayors and the top municipal executives of Ceiba, Cataño and San Juan,” said Matt Miller, president of HMS Ferries. “This will have the purpose of having a clearer idea of their needs and receive the contribution

of solutions to the problems that plagued the maritime transport system for years.”

HMS Ferries and its affiliates operate and maintain a wide variety of vessels in various locations, including operations in New York City.

In 2019, HMS Ferries operated a fleet of 16 vessels and transported more than three million people and one million vehicles. The Hornblower company has a fleet of almost 200 of its own vessels that have offered services to more than 30 million passengers and more than 80,000 trips.

“We have a qualified staff, experts in maritime issues who will evaluate the immediate needs to achieve the maintenance, operation and improvement plans for the fleet of vessels used on the routes between Ceiba and the islands of Vieques and Culebra, as well as on the San Juan-Cataño route,” said José Jiménez, deputy director of operations for HMS Ferries. “Our experience, in turn, will give us the opportunity to retrain the people who work directly with the vessels to quickly achieve their conditioning and operation.”

Jiménez added that an important element of the transition plan will be the launch of a new ticket and reservation system that will complement HMS’s work on the island. HMS Ferries is aware of user dissatisfaction with the existing ticket system. One of its priorities will be to implement in Puerto Rico its own ticket and box office reservation system, which will adjust to the needs of users without sacrificing quality and service.

The Hornblower Group is a world leader in shipping with offices in San Francisco, Chicago, New York and London. Its portfolio reflects nearly 100 years of experience and innovation in the maritime sector, which over time has redefined the marine hospitality industry, establishing a portfolio of award-winning brands in various categories including Hornblower Cruises & Events in the Tourism category; Dinners, American Queen Steamboat Company and Victory Cruises Line in the Nights category; and NYC Ferry, HMS Ferries and Seaward Marine Services in the Transportation category. Hornblower also operates services in association with the U.S. National Park Service.

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The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

Romero says he is SJ mayor-elect; CVM resists, insisting that ‘every vote counts’

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

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ew Progressive Party San Juan mayoral candidate Miguel Romero Lugo said Monday that he is the capital city’s mayor-elect, even though the State Elections Commission (SEC) has stated that a preliminary certification does not certify elected candidates.

During a press conference where he announced his appointed transition committee members, including former Comptroller Manuel Díaz Saldaña as president, Romero said he received a preliminary results certification from the SEC, which was signed by the commission’s chairman Francisco Rosado Colomer and every electoral commissioner except Citizens Victory Movement (CVM) electoral commissioner Olvin Valentín.

“Transition processes won’t be put on hold amid a general scrutiny because general scrutinies, basically, are a review meant to inspect record accounting,” Romero said.

“There’s no recount, there is a rigor to comply with the law, as the law establishes when the process begins, which is immediately after the elections. We want to be very responsible. I have no doubt about the result of the election,” Romero added. “I assure you that if the results hadn’t been the same, neither the Popular Democratic Party, the Puerto Rican Independence Party nor the Dignity Project would have signed the certification; therefore, the political campaign is over. We have to begin this legal process formally for the sake of San Juan citizens.”

scrutinize, Romero responded that the certification states that “100 percent of the polling centers had reported, as four political parties confirmed it.”

“Allegations, speculations,” Romero said.

“I think what they do is dwell on the differences, and perhaps someone outside feels a little lost. I mean that some citizen does not feel some kind of confidence. I reiterate that the process was carried out, and the rules applied the same to everyone.”

As for beginning a transition with San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto, Romero said he hasn’t received a response from her yet as he only announced on Sunday that he was preparing for a transition. However, he said, “I expect to begin a process in a harmonious, cordial, serious manner, and adhering to all the legal parameters that guide the entire process.”

SJ mayoral candidate Miguel Romero met yesterday morning with governor Wanda Vázquez. Natal spokesperson: Romero ‘has not been certified as mayor’ Later in the day, Natal’s spokesperson When a reporter asked if it was “untimely” said. “The law is the law and we must enforce Orlando Vélez said in a written statement that to claim victory against CVM San Juan mayoral it. This is an issue of complying with our the CVM mayoral candidate’s campaign “is candidate Manuel Natal Albelo, the senator responsibilities. They’re saying that they’re committed to ensuring that every vote from said that since Election Day there has been filing lawsuits, but they haven’t done so; they the people of San Juan counts.”

“During the past week, we have recruited an opportunity to file lawsuits to challenge could have done so a day after the elections. the process and detain certifications.

I find this contradictory that a movement that and trained hundreds of volunteers who will Meanwhile, even though Valentín said sent a message on new styles [of politics] is participate in the General Scrutiny,” Vélez via a written statement that “the certification using the styles that the people have rejected said. “Contrary to what Senator Romero said, issued by the SEC with supposed prelimi- to try in some way to delegitimize a process neither has he been certified as Mayor, nor nary results has no legal basis and is based that has been done transparently, where rules have all the votes been counted. In fact, there are thousands of votes yet to be counted, on an article of the old Electoral Code, now were applied equally to everyone.” repealed,” Romero responded that “lookAs for earlier statements from the CVM which will undoubtedly define the outcome ing at the certification, the certification was claiming as false that the SEC counted every of the mayoral race. It will be days and posexpedited according to Article 10.8 from the vote since there are around 4,000 manual sibly weeks of a lot of work, but, in the end, 2020 Electoral Code.” votes, ballots that were not read by counting the desire for a change by the majority of the “Lawsuits don’t stop the law,” Romero machines, and other polling centers left to people of the Capital City will be reflected.”

Rep. Morales: Record doesn’t support CVM House candidate’s claims on SJ District 3 vote count

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

R

ep. Juan Oscar Morales on Monday rejected a report released by Citizen Victory Movement (CVM) candidate for the House of Representatives Eva Prados regarding the number of votes she obtained at a polling station in District 3 of San Juan.

“Since the process began, I gave the space to conclude the counting of the votes of 100 percent of the polling stations and I waited until I heard the official results issued by the State Elections Commission [SEC],” said Morales, the incumbent San Juan District 3 representative, in a written statement. “Sometimes the numbers were favorable to me and sometimes they were not. In the end, those results give me the advantage by 128 votes.”

“But I have to clarify information that the CVM candidate is spreading,” the New Progressive Party lawmaker added. “When she talks

about Unit 19, she is missing the truth. We have evidence that in that electoral unit she obtained only one vote. The record was signed

by Mrs. Prados’ official who was in that unit, without alleging any irregularity. It is not until after the SEC published the results that these arguments were raised.”

“The minutes even provide for the official to note if there are irregularities. The record is so valuable that it can be used even in court,” Morales continued. “If the people who allegedly told her they voted for her did so, their votes would be totaled on the receipt for the machine that was used in that unit. And the evidence we have shows that this is not correct.”

The legislator said that throughout the vote counting process at the close of election day in that unit, there was representation from the CVM, who validated the processes by signing the minutes.

“I even have to establish that in that very polling station Mrs. Prados did not have an

official on the day of the event and it was agreed that the person appointed as electoral coordinator would serve as an official within the polling station,” Morales said. “This person was present from 9 in the morning

until the end of the electoral event.”

“With great humility I receive the decision of the people,” he said. “Now it is my turn to continue working for all the constituents of District 3.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

5

Physicians Association president confirms COVID-19 outbreak at Arecibo hospital Licensed Practical Nurses spokesperson: Other hospitals to face similar outbreaks

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

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hysicians and Surgeons Association of Puerto Rico (CMCPR by its Spanish initials) President Víctor Ramos confirmed Monday that Dr. Susoni Metropolitan Hospital in Arecibo is facing a COVID-19 outbreak involving at press time some 25 nursing practitioners and three physicians.

Ramos told the Star that hospital personnel called him in confidentiality to raise their concerns to the pediatrician, telling him that the hospital administration hasn’t managed the outbreak properly. Meanwhile, the CMCPR president said the island Department of Health is aware of the matter.

“I assume that the Health Department will conduct an investigation,” Ramos said.

“Our request to any hospital administration is to be responsible; it’s not strange that there are cases among health personnel as we are the ones who attend to COVID-19 patients, but if there are any cases, we must

manage them aggressively to stop it from spreading and turn out to be a spreader event.”

The Arecibo hospital, which is part of the Metro Pavia Health System hospital network, has put a dozen employees who were diagnosed with COVID-19 in quarantine to prevent community outbreaks.

Meanwhile, Licenced Practical Nurses Association spokesperson Julio Irson Ramos told the Star that San Francisco Metropolitan Hospital, which is also part of the Metro Pavia Health System, faces a similar issue where the hospital administration “is holding onto the same modality.” The nurse practitioner said the management is not enforcing a proper COVID-19 safety protocol with its personnel.

“At San Francisco Hospital, both emergency room and floor personnel have been exposed to the coronavirus; there’s a developing hotspot taking place, similar to what happened to another hospital within the metropolitan area that had to shut down its Surgery Department because they lacked the workforce to run that department,” he said. “They are not establishing a protocol for how will they handle any situation with employees, how will they report among

employers and the opportunity that employers must offer workers to rehabilitate.”

Irson Ramos said the hospital management issued an administrative order at the beginning of the pandemic that provided a 14-day quarantine, which was later reduced to 10 days. Still, he said, the management at San Francisco Hospital “is using compliance with the 10 days [of

quarantine] as an excuse so employees come back without a negative test result because if not, they get written up.”

“This is disastrous; allowing an outbreak to occur in a hospital because we are limited in staff, this has no forgiveness from God,” he said. “We are playing with the lives of professionals. We are putting at risk not only those professionals but also their families and an entire community.”

Irson Ramos added that every health worker must be treated with respect, and that hospitals must stop using strategies to weaken safety guidelines as the field faces a personnel shortage. He demanded better working conditions, proper personal protective equipment, optimal working hours, more testing and improved nutrition as “exhaustion is the immune system’s worst enemy.”

“One hundred sixteen physicians have been infected, 800 nurses have been infected, almost 50 respiratory therapists have been infected with COVID-19 -- a second casualty of a respiratory therapist came from San Francisco Hospital,” Irson Ramos said. “The hospital management must do every test required by law and a pulmonologist must evaluate every report.”

Escalera: 134 police officers have COVID-19

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

P

uerto Rico Police Bureau (NPPR by its Spanish initials) Commissioner Henry Escalera Rivera on Monday announced updated data on COVID-19 cases in the agency.

At the moment, five barracks and work units are closed as a preventive measure, Escalera said. They are: Camuy District, Arecibo Area Homicide Division, Ceiba Maritime Division, Division of Special Arrests and Extraditions, Alcohol and Radar Unit in Bayamón.

Escalera said some 468 agents have been isolated as a preventive measure. Since the coronavirus pandemic emergency arose, 4,584 officers have returned to their duties.

Some 134 agents have currently reported positive results for COVID-19, according to the tests ordered and certified by Dr. María Del Carmen Calderón.

Agents assigned to neighboring barracks have been appointed to those affected to reinforce preventive patrolling and deal with reported complaints, Esalera said.

In all barracks and closed units a decontamination and deep cleaning process is being conducted.

The reopening of the affected facilities will be announced shortly, in accordance with the recommendation of the medical staff, he said.

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The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

Legal assistance organization asks governor for moratorium against evictions for the most needy

By THE STAR STAFF

A

yuda Legal, an organization that promotes access to the courts for the poor, asked Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced to impose a moratorium on home evictions for nonpayment of rent until the end of this year.

The organization in a letter noted that the governing administration took a step in the right direction when in the first executive order to manage the COVID-19 crisis it imposed a moratorium to help homeowners who become delinquent on their mortgage payments avoid foreclosures on their homes. Today, the group said it is a matter of urgency to extend the same benefit to people who cannot pay their rent or mortgage due to the economic blow caused by the pandemic.

Ayuda Legal asked the governor to incorporate in a new executive order a clear public policy that prohibits evictions until the COVID-19 state of emergency ends. The scope of the order must include both rentals and mortgages, the organization said.

“Instruct the Housing Department to oversee compliance with moratoriums on evictions, foreclosures and other protections applicable to the [residence],” the legal aid group said. This agency’s ministerial duty is to ensure the implementation of Puerto Rico’s public housing policy, both for subsidized and private housing.

Likewise, the Office of the Financial Institutions Commissioner and the financial entities that handle mortgage loans should be called on to guarantee compliance with this public policy.”

To support people who depend on the payment of rent for income, the executive order must include a clear mandate to the Department of Housing and an exhortation to municipalities to use federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds to promote rent and mortgage subsidies, Ayuda Legal said.

“Municipalities such as Bayamón, Canóvanas, Ponce and Caguas have already moved in this direction,” the group wrote. “As we have warned since April,

this is a permitted, legitimate and necessary use of these funds that could once be lost due to lack of use.”

Recent orders and actions from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are evidence of how the executive branch can act to stop evictions that will worsen the COVID-19 crisis, Ayuda Legal said. In the federal regulation that orders moratoriums on evictions for nonpayment of rent between Sept. 4 and Dec. 31 of this year, it is established that “[i]n the context of a pandemic, eviction moratoria -- such as quarantine, isolation, and social distancing -- can be an effective public health measure utilized to prevent the spread of communicable disease.”

“There’s no question: housing is a public health issue. States and jurisdictions have the power to extend this moratorium from the executive,” the organization said in its letter to the governor. “At Ayuda Legal Puerto Rico we are always willing to work to promote access to justice and decent housing. We appreciate your consideration of these actions and we are at your disposal to discuss these matters.”

Aquarium business co-owner pleads guilty to felony trafficking of protected reef creatures

By THE STAR STAFF

A

San Sebastián resident pleaded guilty Monday to export smuggling and two felony violations of the Lacey Act for collecting, purchasing, falsely labeling, and shipping protected marine invertebrate species as part of an effort to subvert Puerto Rican law designed to protect corals and other reef species, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

During 2014 through 2016, Luis Joel Vargas Martell was the co-owner of a home-based saltwater aquarium business, Caribbean Reefers, which also operated online through the EBay store “Redragon1975.”

A large part of the business was devoted to the sale of native Puerto Rican marine species that are popular in the saltwater aquarium trade, the Justice Department statement reads.

Vargas illegally collected live specimens for customers in the mainland United States and foreign countries, delivering them using commercial courier services. One of the most popular items that Vargas and his business sent off-island was an organism from the genus Ricordea. These animals are known as “rics,” “polyps,” or “mushrooms” in the aquarium industry.

Members of the genus form part of the reef structure and spend their adult lives fastened in place to the reef. These animals are colorful in natural light, but what makes them particularly interesting to aquarium owners is that they “glow” under the UV lights that are typically used in high-end saltwater aquariums, the Justice Department says.

It is illegal to harvest Ricordea, zoanthids, and anemones in Puerto Rico if the specimens are going to be sent off-island or otherwise sold commercially, nor is there a permit available to do so. Vargas personally collected much of the Ricordea and other reef creatures that he sold off-island. On multiple occasions, he would accompany his business partner, Raymond Torres, and they would snorkel from the shoreline in search of Ricordea. Because Ricordea are attached to the reef substrate, the pair would utilize a chisel to break off the animals, and in doing so, take chunks of the reef with them, the Justice Department says.

In order to cover up the nature of the shipments and to avoid detection from governmental inspection authorities, the scheme included falsely labeling many of the live shipments as inanimate objects. From

January 2014 to March 2016, Vargas sent or caused to be sent at least 40 shipments of marine species that were illegally harvested in the waters of Puerto Rico. While there is some variation in the price of Ricordea depending on coloration, size, and other factors, the aggregate retail value of illegal Ricordea shipped by Vargas was at least $90,000.

Vargas will be sentenced at a future date designated by the court. Torres pleaded guilty to similar charges on June 9. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 8.

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The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

7

An early test for Biden: managing a divided Democratic party

By ASTEAD W. HERNDON and ADAM NAGOURNEY

S

ince President Donald Trump won the White House in 2016, a shocked Democratic Party had been united behind the mission of defeating him. Four years later, with the election of Joe Biden, the divides that have long simmered among Democrats are now beginning to burst into the open, as the president-elect confronts deep generational and ideological differences among congressional lawmakers, activists and the party’s grassroots base.

The fault lines began to emerge within hours of Biden’s victory. Moderates argued that his success, particularly in industrial Midwestern states that Trump seized from the Democrats in 2016, was proof that a candidate who resisted progressive litmus tests was best positioned to win back voters who had abandoned the Democratic Party. Those tests included single-payer health care, aggressive measures to combat climate change and expanding the Supreme Court.

“The progressives said we need a base candidate,” said Rahm Emanuel, the former mayor of Chicago and White House chief of staff under President Barack Obama, referring to a nominee who appeals to the left wing of the party. “No we didn’t. We needed someone to get swing voters. If you campaign appropriately, you can make that a governing transformation.”

Moderate Democrats said they were hopeful the urgency of the problems confronting the nation would delay the inevitable reckoning the party faces between its ideological wings. Beyond that, they said that a disappointing showing by Democrats in congressional races — the party lost seats in the House and faces a struggle for even narrow control of the Senate — would give liberal Democrats less of a platform to push Biden to the left.

After a fiery call among members of the House Democratic caucus, in which some argued that progressives who have entertained ideas like defunding the police or “Medicare for All” had cost the party congressional seats, some Democratic leaders pushed further away from the left wing.

Rep. Conor Lamb, a moderate from Pennsylvania who survived a difficult Republican challenge, said the results should be a wake-up call to the left.

“What we heard from a lot of our consti-

No exceptions for any reasons. EMBARGO set by source.** Supporters of Joe Biden in Wilmington, Del., celebrate the news that he was elected the 46th president of the United States, on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020. tuents was that they do not like the Democratic message when it comes to police in Western Pennsylvania, and when it comes to jobs and energy,” he said. “And that we need to do a lot of work to fix that.”

But after four years of pent-up frustration and energy, that may prove unlikely. By every early indication, Biden’s election has emboldened progressive energy, no matter the setbacks in the congressional races. There is an up-and-coming generation of elected Democratic officials who have been waiting in the wings, eager to take the lead in formulating a platform for the party.

After supporting Biden as a means of defeating Trump, younger and more progressive Democrats who have gained a foothold in Congress and among party activists are skeptical about his future administration. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, setting policy terms in a statement after Biden was declared victorious, said: “A Band-Aid approach won’t get the job done. We have a mandate for action on bold plans to meet these twin health and economic crises.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, a leading voice of the party’s left wing, said in a phone interview that the next few weeks would set the tone for how the incoming administration will be received by liberal activists.

“I think that’s what people are keeping an

eye out for: Is this administration going to be actively hostile and try to put in appointments that are going to just squash progressives and organizing?” Ocasio-Cortez said. “ I don’t envy the Biden team. It’s a very delicate balance.

But I think it’s really important to strike a good one. Because it sends a very, very powerful message on the intention to govern.”

The fault lines crystallize the task ahead for Biden, who has long seen himself as a pragmatic consensus builder rather than a strict ideologue. In addition to the fractures within his party, Biden’s administration will also have to navigate a Republican Senate, unless Democrats wrest two seats in Georgia during closely watched runoff elections in January.

If the party doesn’t win those seats, an already divided Washington looks likely to endure.

Some moderate Democratic leaders urged the president-elect to head off any internal conflict by embracing policies both sides can agree on and reaching out to the left.

“The first thing I would do if I were Joe Biden is I’d propose a $15-an-hour minimum wage,” said Edward G. Rendell, the former governor of Pennsylvania and a former chair of the Democratic National Committee. “That’s something that both sides agree on. That would be the first action on behalf of President Biden to show there are significant parts of the progressive agenda that need to be acted on.”

Ocasio-Cortez said she expected a longterm fight, particularly given the setbacks for Democrats in the congressional contests. She also cited Cabinet appointments as a way to measure Biden’s ideological core.

She said some people, including Emanuel, should not play a role in the party’s future.

The former mayor has been floated by some in Biden’s inner circle to lead a department like housing or transportation.

“Someone like Rahm Emanuel would be a pretty divisive pick,” she said, citing his record as mayor on racial justice and his opposition to teachers’ unions. “And it would signal, I think, a hostile approach to the grassroots and the progressive wing of the party.”

It is unclear what kind of audience progressives will find with Biden and his administration. Throughout the year, his campaign sought to project unity through measures like a joint task force with supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders, which led a campaign to adopt some of the left wing’s policy proposals, including plans around college debt. But Biden stopped short of the biggest ideas, like eliminating the Electoral College or embracing statehood for Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.

Some leading Democratic Party moderates said they supported many of the ideological goals on the left but, reflecting what has long been a divide between the two wings, urged caution, particularly because of Democratic losses in other races.

“We all have to take a deep breath,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell, a Democrat from Michigan, a state that Trump snatched from Democrats in 2016 but that Biden won back this year. “I know there are going to be people who are pushing for change. I’m one of those people who want Medicare for All.” She argued that Democrats needed to be careful not to push away voters whom Trump won in 2016, or else risk another, similar candidate.

“I also know we can’t afford to have Donald Trump as president,” she said.

But Stanley Greenberg, a Democratic pollster who advised President Bill Clinton when he successfully pushed the party to the center in the 1990s, said Biden would be able to delay divisive party fights because of the enormity of the crises he faces.

“The nature of the pandemic and the economic and health crisis is so deep, he will inherit a mandate of urgency,” he said. “Unity within the party and unity within the country.”

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Tuesday, November 10, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

Biden could roll back Trump agenda with blitz of executive actions

People queue for a mobile COVID-19 testing site in downtown Fargo, N.D., Oct. 20, 2020. President-elect Joe Biden has vowed that on Day One he will move rapidly to confront the pandemic by appointing a national supply chain commander and a pandemic testing board, similar to World War II measures.

By MICHAEL D. SHEAR and LISA FRIEDMAN

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resident-elect Joe Biden is poised to unleash a series of executive actions on his first day in the Oval Office, prompting what is likely to be a yearslong effort to unwind President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda and immediately signal a wholesale shift in the United States’ place in the world.

In the first hours after he takes the oath of office on the West Front of the Capitol at noon on Jan. 20, Biden has said, he will send a letter to the United Nations indicating that the country will rejoin the global effort to combat climate change, reversing Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord with more than 174 countries.

Biden’s afternoon will be a busy one.

He has vowed that on Day 1 he will move rapidly to confront the coronavirus pandemic by appointing a “national supply chain commander” and establishing a “pandemic testing board,” similar to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s wartime production panel. He has said he will restore the rights of government workers to unionize. He has promised to order a new fight against homelessness and resettle more refugees fleeing war. He has pledged to abandon Trump’s travel ban on mostly Muslim countries and to begin calling foreign leaders in an attempt to restore trust among the United States’ closest allies.

“Every president wants to come out of the gate strong and start fulfilling campaign promises before lunch on the first day,” said Dan Pfeiffer, who served as a senior adviser to President Barack Obama and helped choreograph Obama’s first days in the White House. “Executive orders are the best way to do that.”

For Biden, who won the election in a deeply divided nation, the early signals he sends as the country’s new leader will be critical. On the trail, he repeatedly said he was campaigning as a Democrat but would govern “as an American.” Following through on that promise will require him to demonstrate some respect for parts of the Trump agenda that were fiercely supported by the more than 70 million people who did not cast ballots for him.

“How far is he going to go?” Rick Santorum, a former Republican senator, asked on CNN on Saturday, hours after Biden had been declared the victor. “If you want to show that you want to work on a bipartisan basis, then you don’t go out right away and sign all the executive orders on immigration and bypass the Congress.”

But there is no question that Biden and members of his party are eager to systematically erase what they view as destructive policies that the president pursued on the environment, immigration, health care, gay rights, trade, tax cuts, civil rights, abortion, race relations, military spending and more.

Some of that will require cooperation with Congress, which may remain divided next year. If Republicans maintain control of the Senate, Biden’s pledges to roll back some of Trump’s tax cuts are almost certain to run headfirst into fierce opposition from that chamber. Efforts to advance a more liberal agenda on civil rights and race relations — centerpieces of Biden’s stump speech during his campaign — may falter. And his efforts to shape the new government with appointments could be constrained by the need to win approval in a Republican Senate.

But Biden may be able to achieve some of his goals with nothing more than the stroke of a pen. Trump largely failed to successfully negotiate with House Democrats during his four years in office, leaving him no choice but to use executive actions to advance his agenda. Biden can use the same tools to reverse them.

Some executive orders have become almost automatic at the start of a new administration. Biden is almost certain to move immediately to revoke the so-called global gag rule, which prohibits federal government funding for foreign organizations that provide or even talk about abortion. The rule, also known as the Mexico City policy, has been a political Ping-Pong ball since Ronald Reagan was president and is typically in place only under Republican administrations.

Trump reinstated it on his first business day in office.

But Biden has signaled that his top priority will be demonstrating a much more muscular federal approach to the pandemic than Trump’s leave-it-to-the states strategy.

Aides said he would use the power of his office to invoke the Defense Production Act — the Korean Warera law that allows the president to order businesses to manufacture products necessary for national defense — to build up supplies more aggressively than Trump has.

While Biden would like to see a national mask mandate, his advisers have concluded that he does not have the legal authority to impose one. So he will try to increase mask wearing in other ways. He has already said that, as president, he would require masks on all federal property, an executive order that could have wide reach and is likely to come in the first hours or days of his presidency.

In addition to mandating masks in federal buildings, Biden has said he would require them on “all interstate transportation.”

The president-elect has also repeatedly derided Trump’s lack of ethical standards, accusing him of waging an extensive assault on Washington’s norms and traditions.

Biden’s response to that will probably take the form of an ethics pledge to impose tough new requirements on the people who serve in his government.

“The Trump administration has shredded those standards,” Biden’s campaign wrote on his website. “On Day 1, Biden will issue an ethics pledge, building and improving on the Obama-Biden administration’s pledge, to ensure that every member of his administration focuses day in and day out on the best outcomes for the American people, and nothing else.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

9

Even as Trump cut immigration, immigrants transformed U.S.

By MIRIAM JORDAN

T

o grasp the impact of the latest great wave of immigration to the United States, consider the city of Grand Island, Nebraska: More than 60% of public school students are nonwhite, and their families collectively speak 55 languages.

During drop-off at Starr Elementary on a recent morning, parents bid their children goodbye in Spanish, Somali and Vietnamese.

“You wouldn’t expect to see so many languages spoken in a school district of 10,000,” said Tawana Grover, the school superintendent who arrived from Dallas four years ago. “When you hear Nebraska, you don’t think diversity. We’ve got the world right here in rural America.”

The students are the children of foreign-born workers who flocked to this town of 51,000 in the 1990s and 2000s to toil in the area’s meatpacking plants, where speaking English was less necessary than a willingness to do the grueling work.

They came to Nebraska from every corner of the globe: Mexicans, Guatemalans and Hondurans who floated across the Rio Grande on inner tubes, in search of a better life; refugees who fled famine in South Sudan and war in Iraq to find safe haven; Salvadorans and Cambodians who spent years scratching for work in California and heard that jobs in Nebraska were plentiful and the cost of living low.

The story of how millions of immigrants since the 1970s have put down lasting roots across the country is by now well-known. What is less understood about President Donald Trump’s four-year-long push to shut the borders and put “America First” is that his quest may prove ultimately a futile one. Even with one of the most severe declines in immigration since the 1920s, the country is on an irreversible course to becoming ever more diverse, and more dependent on immigrants and their children.

The president since the moment he took office issued a torrent of orders that reduced refugee admissions, narrowed who is eligible for asylum, made it more difficult to qualify for permanent residency or citizenship, tightened scrutiny of applicants for high-skilled worker visas, and sought to limit the length of stay for international students. His policies slashed the number of migrants arrested and then released into the country from nearly 500,000 in fiscal 2019 to 15,000 in fiscal 2020.

The measures worked: “We are going to end the decade with lower immigration than in any decade since the ’70s,” said William Frey, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, who analyzed newly available census data.

President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to reverse many of the measures. He has vowed to reinstate Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, known as DACA, an Obama-era program that allowed young adults mainly brought to the United States illegally as children to remain, and to resume accepting refugees and asylum-seekers in larger numbers.

He has also said he would introduce legislation to offer a path to citizenship for people in the country illegally.

Yet immigration remains a flashpoint for Americans, millions of whom have supported Trump’s clampdown, and pushing any substantial immigration reform through Congress

Workers waiting in traffic during a shift change at the JBS Beef Plant in Grand Island, Neb. will prove difficult as long as Republicans remain in control of the Senate.

And in any case, Trump’s immigration legacy cannot be unraveled overnight. While some of the executive orders and memorandums that helped close off the border can be rolled back swiftly, hundreds of technical but significant changes made to the immigration system will take much longer to undo.

But as Grand Island shows, nothing that Trump has done was able to halt the inexorable shifts unleashed by the biggest wave of immigration since the 1890s, when Southern and Eastern Europeans arrived in huge numbers through Ellis Island.

Even if immigration were to come to a standstill, their offspring would continue to reshape the country.

In 1992, only 50 Hispanics were enrolled in Grand Island’s schools. By 2001, there were 1,600 out of about 7,600 students. Now, Latinos account for more than half of the 10,000 students in the district, and there is no forecast that does not show that proportion continuing to accelerate.

A surge in arrivals into the U.S. began in the 1970s, gathered strength in the 1980s and crested in the early 2000s. Millions of Latin Americans have come. There also has been spectacular growth in the number of Asians, who outnumbered foreign-born Hispanics in 2010-19. The new immigrants are more likely than native-born Americans to have a college degree and are integrated into every level of the economy. This is even more true of their children.

In 1920, the foreign-born accounted for 13.2% of the population. A backlash against Japanese, Southern Europeans and Jews, among others, resulted in national origin quotas adopted in 1924 that put an end to a large influx that had started in the late 1800s.

It would take until the 1970s for immigration to climb steadily again, after the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 eliminated quotas and created a system based on family relationships and work categories.

The foreign-born population grew by 5.6 million in the ’80s, 8.8 million in the ’90s and 11.3 million in the 2000s.

By the time Trump took office, this contemporary wave

of immigration had lifted the foreign-born population to 44.5 million, representing 13.7% of the population, the biggest share since 1910. Among them were about 11 million immigrants in the country illegally.

Average net migration shrank by 45% from 2017 to 2019 from an average of 953,000 during the previous seven years, as fewer immigrants arrived and more left, according to a Center for Immigration Studies analysis of census data.

There will be an even more precipitous decline recorded by the close of 2020 following visa restrictions imposed by the president amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“This year is truly unprecedented in how dramatic and fast this decline in immigration has been,” said David Bier, an immigration analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute.

“Outside of wars and the Great Depression, we have never seen a level of immigration like we are seeing right now.”

Trump put much of the focus on disparaging refugees and immigrants as drains on public coffers and championing a wall on the southwestern border.

Yet all the attention on the border ignored the much more significant growth in immigration that was happening elsewhere in the country.

The number of immigrants of Asian origin grew by 2.8 million in the nine years ending 2019, more than from any other region. The biggest gains were among Indians and Chinese; the number of Mexicans dropped by 779,000.

The children of immigrants who are already here will continue to make the United States more diverse: The 2020 census is expected to show that more than half of people under 18 are people of color.

“The mainstream now increasingly includes people who are nonwhite, particularly from immigrant backgrounds,” said Richard Alba, a sociology professor at the City University of New York Graduate Center.

The movement of the baby boom generation out of the labor force amid a plummeting birthrate is accelerating the trend and intensifying the need for new immigrant labor to pay the Social Security and Medicare bills for retiring Americans.

“It’s not that native-born kids can’t take the boomers’ jobs; it’s that there are not enough of these kids to take them,” said Dowell Myers, a demographer at the University of Southern California who researches the subject.

That diversity is already being reflected in the higher rungs of the workforce.

For much of the second half of the 20th century, white workers held a virtual monopoly on the best-paying positions.

But by 2015, among top-earning workers under 50, about a third were nonwhite, mainly Latinos or Asians of immigrant origin, according to research by Alba, who predicts that their share will only grow.

A study released last month found that nearly 30% of all students enrolled in colleges and universities in 2018 hailed from immigrant families, up from 20% in 2000.

“When you start having cohorts of college graduates that are so diverse, it’s going to change the workforce, which means more people from diverse backgrounds moving into positions of authority and high remuneration,” Alba said.

“There’s no going back.”

10

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

Restaurants have lavish setups for outdoor winter dining. But is it safe?

By WINNIE HU and NATE SCHWEBER

A

Latin fusion restaurant in Queens will serve crispy arepa cups and ropa vieja at an outdoor dining chalet with rustic wood beams and sparkling chandeliers.

In the Bronx, an Italian place has winter-proofed its back patio with Plexiglas walls and electric heaters, along with festive vines with pink flowers.

And a Manhattan bistro is handing out silver space blankets — the kind used by marathon runners to prevent hypothermia — to shivering diners.

A pandemic that has upended much of life in New York is now ushering in something the city has never really tried: dining by snow and ice. Or, as some restaurants are telling customers, the new BYOB is bring your own blanket.

The explosion of outdoor dining has been a savior for more than 10,000 restaurants and bars that have taken over sidewalks, streets and public spaces to try to keep their businesses afloat. It has been so popular that Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City Council are making outdoor dining permanent.

But year-round dining outside is untested in the city’s bone-chilling winters, and has created daunting challenges for an industry fighting to survive.

“Are we going to have a mild winter or a harsh one?” said Andrew Rigie, executive director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance, an industry group. “It’s a gamble. With so much uncertainty about the weather and diner behavior, it’s a risk.”

While a financial imperative for restaurants, enclosing outdoor areas for winter has raised health concerns as coronavirus cases in New York have started to rise again. Protecting patrons from the elements has led some restaurants to create shelters that lack sufficient ventilation, raising the risk of transmission.

Outdoor heaters — including propane heaters that had been banned in the city but are now permitted as a way to help restaurants — could also pose fire hazards.

Still, with restaurants having few options to make money, New York and other cities are forging ahead with winter outdoor dining. Chicago held a design challenge that drew ideas like a Japanese-style hea-

Ming Lay, the owner of Oceanic Boil, a restaurant in New York, builds a structure for winter dining, Oct. 25, 2020. New York’s struggling restaurants will try to lure diners with chandeliers and space blankets — and enclosures that health experts worry could increase the risk of the coronavirus. ted table and a modular cabin inspired by ice-fishing huts that fits on a parking spot.

In New York, the multibillion-dollar restaurant industry, one of the city’s most important economic pillars, has been decimated by the pandemic. Indoor dining has resumed, but at only 25% capacity.

About half the industry’s 300,000 employees are out of work. Many of the city’s 24,000 restaurants and bars have closed for good, and those open are seeing only a fraction of their business. Some estimates suggest that up to half may close permanently within the next year.

Still, outdoor dining has raised worries among public health and medical experts who warn that it can create a false sense of security that it is inherently safer than being inside. If customers wind up in completely enclosed spaces, the benefits of being outdoors, like increased airflow, would be lost, and the virus could spread more easily from infected people, through droplets and aerosols, especially if they were not wearing masks.

“You’re actually creating an environment where the virus is within the enclosure,” said Dr. Abraar Karan, a doctor at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School who has treated COVID-19 patients and prefers dining at tables

out in the open.

After ordering a margarita on a chilly patio in Boston recently, “I looked at the waiter and I said, ‘Soon, the only thing you’ll have on the menu is frozen margaritas,’” Karan said.

More than 10,600 restaurants have signed up for New York City’s outdoor dining program, a huge increase over the 1,023 sidewalk cafes before the pandemic. The program helps offset the indoor dining limit that many establishments say is not enough to climb out of their financial hole. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that capacity could be raised to 50%, but it is unclear when.

The city and state have imposed new rules for winter outdoor dining: A space will be considered indoor dining if more than 50% of its wall area is covered and be subject to the 25% capacity limit and other restrictions, including spacing tables 6 feet apart.

But given the sheer number of restaurants, it remains to be seen how strictly the city will police outdoor dining. Officials said various agencies, including the Transportation, Buildings and Health departments, will play a role in ensuring that restaurants do not block streets and have safe structures that do not pose virus risks.

“We’ll work closely with the industry to make sure every outdoor structure is ready for cold weather and safe for diners and staff,” said Mitch Schwartz, a spokesperson for the mayor.

It is unclear how many restaurants will actually offer year-round outdoor dining. Rigie said restaurants must weigh how much business they might generate versus the cost of winterizing, which could run as high as $50,000 for expenses, including buying heaters and Plexiglas, and hiring electricians and contractors.

In the Bronx, Enzo’s has enclosed its back patio with plastic and added a pair of electric heaters, but has yet to commit to building an enclosure in the front where tables sit under an awning and five umbrellas. “It’s a game of waiting,” said Robert Aste, a manager.

Restaurants adapting to winter dining are also competing with homeowners for items that make cold weather more bearable, especially heaters.

Ming Lay, the owner of Oceanic Boil in Queens, said he needed electric heaters for his cabana and struck out at five Home Depot stores before snapping up four of them at a Costco.

Nicole Biscardi, a restaurant adviser hired by the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, has worked with dozens of restaurants to navigate what she calls “an alphabet soup of regulations,” including different restrictions for each type of outdoor heater — propane, electric and natural gas — and confusing criteria for enclosures. For instance, covering two long sides of a rectangular tent would make it an indoor area, while covering one long and one short side would not.

“It’s a very precarious time for these businesses,” she said. “They’re being hit with cumbersome regulations and a lot of extra expenses.”

Many restaurants worry that winter dining may not pay off. Treis Hill, a co-owner of two Brooklyn bars, Baby Jane and Dick and Jane’s, said they have spent more than $16,000 to set up outdoor dining with barriers, tents and heaters. But on a recent chilly afternoon at one bar, just two customers were under tents that could seat a total of 20.

“I think it’s going to be kind of gloomy for the winter for a lot of businesses,” Hill said.

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

11

In a divided Washington, Biden could still exert economic power

By ALAN RAPPERPORT, JEANNA SMIALEK, ANA SWANSON and JIM TANKERSLEY

P

resident-elect Joe Biden will take office in January with a weak economy weighed down by the resurgence of the coronavirus, millions of Americans still unemployed and businesses struggling and shuttering as winter bears down.

Addressing that economic challenge and following through on his campaign’s tax and spending promises could be complicated if Republicans maintain control of the Senate.

But as President Donald Trump has demonstrated time and again, Biden has the power to pull some levers unilaterally, without congressional approval, and could influence the federal government’s economic policymaking machinery through an array of executive actions, regulations and personnel changes.

“There’s a tremendous amount that can be done without Congress,” said Felicia Wong, who serves as an adviser on the Biden transition board but who was speaking in her capacity as head of the Roosevelt Institute, a progressive think tank.

From finding ways to stimulate the economy to changing trade rules to tinkering with corporate taxation, here are some of the ways a Biden presidency could unilaterally influence economic policy.

Stimulus In the run-up to the election, Trump saw the limits of the White House’s ability to jump-start the economy without Congress. He repurposed some federal funds to temporarily extend expanded unemployment insurance and allowed companies to defer collection of workers’ payroll taxes but found his hands largely tied beyond those measures. Economists and political advisers say Biden could seek other creative approaches if a Republican Senate blocks the kind of big spending package that Democrats have been pushing.

That includes providing student debt relief, which Wong said would work as a sort of stimulus by removing the burden of those payments. Biden could direct the Education secretary to forgive student loans up to a certain amount; Wong would favor as much as $50,000 to $75,000 for low- and moderate-income households. That move, she said, would strongly benefit workers from minority racial and ethnic groups.

The administration could also use executive authority to raise the minimum wage for federal contractors to $15 an hour, she said, providing a pay boost for many thousands of workers.

Biden will be able to exert some additional oversight over the $2.2 trillion stimulus package that passed in March. For instance, small businesses that took Paycheck Protection Program loans were required to keep workers on payrolls, and he could instruct his Treasury Department to more rigorously scrutinize the loans to ensure that the money was actually going to pay salaries and overhead costs.

Biden could also take a page from Trump and seek to repurpose unspent funds from that stimulus legislation, including hundreds of billions of dollars that were earmarked for the Paycheck Protection Program but never allocated before a congressional deadline ended the program. He could also lean on the Treasury to make lending facilities established by the Federal Reserve more

Former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential nominee, addresses a round table on economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, in Philadelphia, on June 11, 2020 generous and attractive to users, if they haven’t expired by the time he enters office.

Taxes Biden proposed trillions of dollars of tax increases on high earners and corporations in his campaign. Much of that agenda would require cooperation from Congress, but in a few areas, a Biden administration could act on its own to raise taxes — largely by changing regulations governing how Trump’s signature 2017 tax law is carried out.

Several of those regulations apply to income earned abroad by multinational corporations that operate in the United States. A Biden Treasury Department could move to reverse a series of decisions that Trump’s team made after the 2017 law was passed that effectively reduced the liability of multinationals under a pair of new taxes created by the law, known as the Base Erosion and Anti-Abuse Tax and the Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income.

Biden campaigned on a promise to raise U.S. tax liability on multinationals’ global income, which he could attempt to do via regulation by changing how the liability is calculated. His Treasury Department could also attempt to roll back a so-called high-tax exemption, which allowed some companies to lower their tax bills in the United States.

A Biden Treasury could also change the regulations covering Opportunity Zones, another creation of the 2017 law that is intended to entice investment in high-poverty areas by providing a tax break. Such changes could make it more difficult for investors to qualify for the tax benefits from the zones, and Treasury could impose more stringent reporting requirements on projects that qualify for the breaks.

Trade As Trump has shown, the executive branch has a great deal of latitude when it comes to trade policy.

Biden will face several trade decisions in the short term, including whether to continue with Trump’s ban on TikTok and WeChat, the popular social media apps, and whether to retain America’s tariffs on Chinese goods and foreign metals.

Biden would not need congressional approval to deal with these and other outstanding trade issues — including how to resolve a spat with the European Union over subsidies given to Boeing and Airbus, how to resolve global negotiations over digital services taxes and whether to follow through on Trump’s plans to place new tariffs on Vietnam.

Congressional approval would be needed if Biden wanted to pass any free-trade deals. But his advisers have said that they are unlikely to pursue any new agreements in the short term, instead focusing on domestic priorities.

Some of Biden’s other priorities on trade transcend party lines and could gain support among congressional Republicans — like strengthening Buy American rules to devote more federal dollars to U.S. products or investing in domestic technologies like semiconductors to ensure that China does not gain a competitive edge.

Financial regulation Some of the biggest Trump-era changes to bank regulation have been done through the regulatory agencies rather than through Congress. Examples include a weakening of the Volcker Rule, which keeps banks from betting for their own profit, and a reworking of the Community Reinvestment Act, which requires banks to invest in poor communities.

A new crew of regulatory officials will have leeway to either undo those tweaks or to impose new ones — which will probably cut toward stronger oversight. Much like the slow drip of deregulation under the Trump administration, any changes coming out of the Fed and its fellow regulatory agencies are likely to be small and steady.

“It is going to be a tough slog for the Democrats on the legislative front,” said Ian Katz, a director and financial policy analyst at Capital Alpha Partners. “The action is really with the regulators.”

But changes may not come that quickly, even if Biden taps more pro-regulatory officials for the various agencies. One of the most powerful regulatory positions — the Fed’s vice chair for supervision — is held by Randal Quarles, a Trump appointee whose term is not up until October 2021.

Consumer protection A Biden administration could exert huge influence over consumer protections, including those involving debt collection, payday lending and foreclosure abuse.

The Supreme Court ruled in June that the White House has the power to fire the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau without cause, rejecting a federal law that sought to place limits on presidential oversight of independent agencies.

That means Biden will be free to replace Kathleen Kraninger, the bureau’s current director, with someone who will more rigorously scrutinize businesses and ramp up enforcement.

Katz pointed to payday lending regulation and a debt collection rule at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as things that could be on the table quickly.

Richard Cordray, the bureau’s former director, said in a white paper earlier this year that it should be taking action to help people avoid foreclosure and eviction during the pandemic and be carefully monitoring the practices of debt collectors.

12

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

Turkey’s finance minister resigns amid pressures of sliding economy

By CARLOTTA GALL

T

urkey’s finance minister, Berat Albayrak, the son-in-law of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, announced his resignation Sunday evening amid escalating fallout over the country’s collapsing economy and plunging currency.

Albayrak said in a personal letter posted on Instagram that he was stepping down for health reasons after five years as finance minister under Erdogan.

His resignation comes a day after the head of Turkey’s central bank was replaced. Critics say disastrous economic policies have plunged the country’s economy into a crisis, with the lira tumbling 30% this year.

Albayrak’s departure may also signal a recalibration by Erdogan in reaction to the election of Joe Biden in Tuesday’s U.S. presidential election. Part of Albayrak’s portfolio was to handle relations with the White House through his friendship with President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner.

Albayrak and Kushner had maintained contact via WhatsApp and managed an informal next-generation communication between the two leaders that skirted official protocol and helped earn Albayrak a meeting with Trump in the Oval Office last year.

“I think primarily the driver for his resignation is the collapse of the eco-

Berat Albayrak, Turkey’s finance minister, says he is stepping down for health reasons.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his father-in-law, has not commented publicly. nomy,” said Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

“But maybe another reason is that the job has expired.”

Erdogan has managed his growing economic and political difficulties in part through the benefits of his friendship with Trump. The country has so far averted sanctions for buying the Russian S-400 missile system and avoided substantial fines on the Turkish state bank, Halkbank, for its role in violating U.S. sanctions on

Iran.

A Biden administration could exercise greater firmness in handling Turkey.

And Erdogan — who has yet to congratulate Biden on his victory — may be acting to place Turkey’s economy in steadier hands.

Erdogan has appointed Naci Agbal, a former finance minister who is seen as a loyal but capable manager, to head the central bank. Agbal is known for his opposition to Albayrak’s economic policies over the last two years.

There was no official comment Sunday on whether Erdogan had received or accepted Albayrak’s offer to resign. The powerful Turkish television networks did not carry reports of his resignation.

Social media in Turkey was filled with comments Sunday evening about the development, though, as supporters called on Erdogan not to accept his son-in-law’s resignation and opponents posted videos of traditional dances in celebration.

Albayrak, who is married to Erdogan’s eldest daughter, Esra, has been seen as a potential political heir to Erdogan.

But the tone of the resignation letter indicated heartfelt disappointment on Albayrak’s part, and he mentioned the president only in passing. Albayrak thanked his colleagues, God and the wider Muslim community for allowing him to serve his country,

but notably he did not thank Erdogan.

He also made an oblique reference to infighting within the leadership, saying it was hard to differentiate between friends and enemies and right from wrong.

Albayrak, 42, earned a business degree at Pace University in New York and was chief executive of Turkish conglomerate Calik Holdings before becoming a member of Turkey’s parliament. He joined the Cabinet in 2015 as energy minister and was appointed minister of Treasury and Finance in 2018, essentially becoming the country’s economic czar under Erdogan’s newly strengthened presidential system.

But his handling of the economy has been widely criticized as dismal. It has gone hand in hand with Erdogan’s increasing interference in decisions by the Central Bank and in the judiciary, which has undermined the confidence of businesses and investors.

As foreign investment has dried up, rising inflation and unemployment have politically damaged Erdogan, who has long won popularity by delivering a middle-class lifestyle to Turks.

This year Albayrak spent Turkish foreign reserves to shore up the lira, which has fallen to 8.5 to the dollar from 3.5 in 2017. Not only has he been unable to stop the lira’s decline, but on several occasions he made light of the falling exchange rate, saying he was not concerned about the U.S. dollar.

Opposition parties have increasingly been calling for early elections in order to reverse Turkey’s economic decline.

“He will go down in history as an incompetent minister who ruined the Turkish economy,” Aykan Erdemir, a former Turkish opposition lawmaker and Turkey program director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, posted on Twitter.

Meral Aksener, one of the leaders of an opposition alliance aligned against Erdogan, challenged the president to accept Albayrak’s resignation.

“Mr. Erdogan you are at a junction,” she wrote in a Twitter post. “Either you choose your nation and do what is necessary, or you choose your son-in-law and you will lose at the first ballot box.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

13 Stocks

Wall Street at all-time highs as vaccine moves step closer

W

all Street’s main indexes hit record highs on Monday as the first successful data from a latestage COVID-19 vaccine trial spurred hopes of the economy recovering quickly from a year of pandemicdriven crisis.

Oil prices surged more than 8% and U.S. Treasuries sold off after U.S. drugmaker Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech said data from the large-scale trial of their vaccine showed it was more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19. [O/R][US/] “This (news) is extremely important and should give the market confidence that Pfizer’s candidate offers a breakthrough in terms of reaching herd immunity at some point next year,” said Robin Winkler, strategist at Deutsche Bank Research.

With Joe Biden’s clinching over the weekend of a tightly-fought presidential election also fuelling gains, the blue-chip Dow surged as much as 5.7%.

The companies hit hardest by months of travel bans and lockdowns soared. Boeing Co jumped 14%, while airlines and cruise line operators were trading between 18% and 35% higher.

Pfizer and BioNTech said they had found no serious safety concerns so far and expected to seek U.S. emergency use authorization later this month.

“There are questions left in terms of how quickly Pfizer can get their vaccine to markets all around the world,” said Mike Bailey, director of research, FBB Capital Partners, Maryland.

“But today’s market move suggests... we checked a box in terms of reducing some risk as we look ahead in terms of economy.” At 12:41 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1,323.71 points or 4.67%, the S&P 500 gained 109.77 points or 3.13% while the Russell 2000 small-cap index leaped 5.6% to an all-time high.

The S&P energy index was on course for its best day since April, while bank shares, often seen as a proxy for the broader economy, jumped about 13%.

In contrast, shares in technology and other companies seen as “stay-at-home” winners in the pandemic were lower or made limited gains.

Netflix Inc fell 5.8% and Amazon.com Inc 2.8%, while Zoom Video and exercise bike maker Peloton Interactive Inc PTON.O> plunged more than 13%, limiting the tech-heavy Nasdaq’s gains to 0.8%.

World stocks scaled a record high earlier in the day and the dollar remained weak as expectations of better global trade ties and more monetary stimulus under President-elect Biden lifted demand for risky assets. [MKTS/ GLOB] Treasury yields had fallen last week on expectations that Biden would win the White House, but the Senate would be controlled by Republicans, potentially stifling a fiscal stimulus package and putting the onus back on the Federal Reserve.

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14

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

Putin is mum on Biden’s victory, foreshadowing tense years ahead

Supporters of President Donald Trump gather outside the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg, Penn., after the Associated Press announced Joe Biden as Presidentelect, Nov. 6, 2020.

By ANTON TROIANOVSKI and ANDREW E. KRAMER

T

he morning after Joe Biden became president-elect of the United States, the Kremlin published a congratulatory message from President Vladimir Putin.

It was a happy-60th-birthday greeting to a Moscow theater director.

Unlike his Western European counterparts, who quickly posted congratulations Saturday, Putin had not issued a statement on the president-elect even as night fell in Moscow on Sunday. Four years earlier, the Kremlin rushed out a message for President Donald Trump within hours of the U.S. television networks calling the race on election night.

“Putin is a good soldier and does not wag his tail before his enemies,” a prominent pro-Kremlin analyst, Sergei Markov, said in explaining the difference.

The early signs indicate that Putin is preparing for a deeply adversarial relationship with America’s next president. While Trump never delivered on Russian hopes of rapprochement between Washington and Moscow, his America-first foreign policy dovetailed with the Kremlin’s desire to weaken the Western alliance and to expand Russian influence around the world.

Biden, by contrast, is a president-elect whom Putin already has many reasons to

dread. Biden sees Russia as one of America’s biggest security threats, promises to rebuild frayed ties with European allies and, as vice president, worked actively to support proWestern politicians in Ukraine, a country at war with Russia.

To Russia’s governing class, the 77-yearold Biden was the preferred candidate of an American “deep state” — a huge network of spies and diplomats that, in the Kremlin’s telling, worked to undermine Trump and his efforts to improve ties with Russia. And Biden, unlike Trump, seems to many Russians to be the sort of American politician they detest the most: someone ready to meddle around the world in the name of democratic ideals, rather than respecting spheres of influence and engaging with Moscow in hard-nosed talks.

“There you have it: the notorious deep state that Trump had promised to get rid of,” Mikhail Leontyev, a commentator, intoned on prime-time news in Russia on Saturday, describing Biden. “We wouldn’t give a toss about this if these guys didn’t try to get involved in all our business, and the probable winner has made it his mission to get involved in all the world’s business.”

As swing states counted votes in recent days, Russian state television increasingly adopted Trump’s assertion that the Democrats had stolen the election. A reporter in Washington for Russia’s state-run Channel 1 ridi-

culed the street celebrations of Biden’s victory as those of people “crying, hopping around and getting drunk.” On a Sunday night news show, host Dmitri Kiselyov said the election showed the United States to be “not a country but a huge, chaotic communal apartment, with a criminal flair.”

The vitriol on Kremlin-controlled television and the lack of a quick congratulations for Biden were notable, given that Putin appeared to be trying to distance himself from Trump as Biden emerged as the clear favorite in recent months. Some Russian analysts and politicians had even speculated that new leadership in Washington could be a good thing for Moscow.

“There are increasingly few within the Russian elite who see Trump as an objective in himself,” Tatiana Stanovaya, a political commentator, wrote in an essay titled “A Farewell to Trump?” She added that there was “also a feeling of Trump fatigue,” even in the Kremlin.

Indeed, Putin chose this fall not to give Trump what would have been a prized foreign policy victory: a renegotiated New START treaty nuclear arms deal, the last remaining major arms control agreement between the countries.

Trump’s lead negotiator, Marshall Billingslea, went so far as to announce that the two leaders had a “gentleman’s agreement” for a renegotiated deal. Yet, within hours, a deputy foreign minister, Sergey Ryabkov, called the Trump administration delusional. “Washington is describing what is desired, not what is real,” he said.

Instead, in a television interview last month, Putin lauded Biden as being prepared to extend the treaty. And in what may have been a backhanded compliment, he praised the Democrats as sharing leftist ideals with a party of which Putin was once a member: the Communists.

“We will work with any future president of the United States — the one whom the American people give their vote of confidence,” Putin said.

The CIA said earlier this year that Putin appeared to be interfering in the election on behalf of Trump. The Kremlin has denied meddling in U.S. politics, and many analysts in Moscow noted that no fresh, substantiated allegations of Russian interference had emerged from the United States since Election Day. Indeed, the notion that Trump’s departure from the White House could reduce American anger about Russian interference in

the 2016 election appeared to be the biggest silver lining of Biden’s victory, some politicians and analysts said.

“It’s not that we believe in a soberingup in Washington, but the key irritant might go away,” Konstantin Kosachev, head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the upper house of the Russian Parliament, wrote on Facebook. “Wouldn’t that be a reason to resume talks on arms control, for instance? We are definitely ready.”

Biden could also benefit Russia by bringing the United States back into the nuclear deal with Iran, an agreement to which Moscow is a party, another Russian lawmaker, Leonid Slutsky, said. In 2018, Trump withdrew the United States from the deal, which President Barack Obama had helped broker among world powers to halt Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

Even as the Kremlin stayed mum Sunday, Putin’s staunchest domestic opponent — opposition leader Alexei Navalny — offered well-wishes on Twitter to Biden and Kamala Harris, the vice president-elect. He also congratulated Americans on holding “a free and fair election,” an indirect sideswipe at the Putin government.

“This is a privilege which is not available to all countries,” Navalny, who is recovering after being attacked with a nerve agent in Siberia, wrote. “Looking forward to the new level of cooperation between Russia and the US.” The Kremlin and its backers have long claimed, without evidence, that opposition activists like Navalny are the instruments by which America’s “deep state” implements its anti-Russian agenda. The Russian news media often says that the United States has engineered “color revolutions” across the former Soviet Union.

Markov, the pro-Kremlin analyst, said he expected Biden to increase support for Putin’s domestic opponents — perhaps foreshadowing a message of the Russian state media during Biden’s presidency.

“Financing for a color revolution against Putin, I believe, will sharply increase,” Markov said.

Putin portrays himself as a defender of Russia against an encroaching West. A tougher Russia policy in the United States could play to his advantage, said Sam Greene, director of the Russia Institute at King’s College London.

“Conflict with the West and the United States in particular form an important part of Putin’s legitimacy,” Greene said.

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

15

China extends reach in the Caribbean, unsettling the U.S.

By KIRK SEMPLE

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hina has offered Jamaica loans and expertise to build miles of new highways. Throughout the Caribbean, it has donated security equipment to military and police forces and built a network of Chinese cultural centers. And it has dispatched large shipments of test kits, masks and ventilators to help governments respond to the pandemic.

The initiatives are part of a quiet but assertive push by China in recent years to expand its footprint and influence in the region through government grants and loans, investments by Chinese companies, and diplomatic, cultural and security efforts.

But while governments in the region have welcomed Beijing’s interest, the Trump administration has viewed China’s growing presence — and its potential to challenge Washington’s influence in the region — with concern and suspicion.

The Caribbean markets are generally small, and most of the nations there lack the sizable reserves of minerals and other raw materials that often draw Chinese attention. But the region has strategic importance as a hub for logistics, banking and commerce, analyst say, and could have great security value in a military conflict because of its proximity to the United States.

“There are a lot of reinforcing reasons that go beyond balance sheets,” said R. Evan Ellis, research professor of Latin American studies at the U.S. Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute. “China understands intuitively the strategic importance of that space.”

China’s efforts in the region are part of its global strategy to forge deep economic ties and strong diplomatic relationships around the world, in part through the building of major infrastructure projects under its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative.

A crucial motivation for China’s Caribbean strategy also is winning over the remaining nations that officially recognize Taiwan instead of China, most of which are in the Caribbean and Latin America, said Richard Bernal, a professor at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica and former Jamaican ambassador to the United States.

China considers Taiwan to be part of its territory and has long sought to reduce the number of countries that recognize it. But recently Taiwan’s international stature has grown with its aggressive response to the coronavirus pandemic.

“China’s objective is to gradually eliminate the recognition of Taiwan,” Bernal said.

China’s growing interest has come as much-needed help for Caribbean nations that have serious infrastructure needs but whose status as middle-income countries complicates their access to financing for development.

Low-interest loans by the Chinese government totaling more than $6 billion over 15 years have financed major infrastructure projects and other initiatives throughout the Caribbean, according to the Inter-American Dialogue, a research organization based in Washington. The total climbs by $62 billion with the addition of assistance to Venezuela, much of it given in return for long-term oil supplies.

During the same period, Chinese firms have invested in ports and maritime logistics, mining and oil concerns, the sugar and

timber industries, tourist resorts and technology projects. Between 2002 and 2019, trade between China and the Caribbean rose eightfold, said Ellis, the professor at the U.S. Army War College.

China’s global push for business and allies has generated criticism, particularly in the United States and Western Europe, which have called the Belt and Road Initiative predatory. In 2018, Sri Lanka, unable to repay Chinese loans, surrendered its major port to China.

But analysts who closely follow Chinese activity in the Caribbean say that while there is some concern about the sustainability of some of the debt assumed by regional governments, they have seen no evidence of a debt trap as in the case of the Sri Lankan port.

“The loans are not only economic business but also a way of building goodwill,” said Bernal, the professor at the University of the West Indies.

Jamaica, which has emerged as an anchor of Chinese activity in the Caribbean, has received more Chinese government loans than any other Caribbean island nation, according to the Inter-American Dialogue, which closely tracks Chinese government financing in the region.

Over the past 15 years, Beijing has lent Jamaica some $2.1 billion for building roads, bridges, a convention center and housing, according to the group. Grants have financed a children’s hospital, schools and an office building for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, among other projects, according

to the Planning Institute of Jamaica.

And direct investments from Chinese firms in Jamaica poured more than $3 billion into projects like bauxite mining and sugar production, Chinese business leaders said, according to local news reports.

In November 2019, the Jamaican government announced that it would stop negotiating new loans from China as part of its effort to reduce debt quickly but would continue to cooperate with the Chinese on major infrastructure projects through joint venture and public-private partnerships, among other arrangements.

But Jamaican officials say outstanding Chinese loans are not putting an extraordinary burden on the country: They amount to only about 4% of Jamaica’s total loan portfolio and are scheduled to be repaid within a decade.

China has also widened its influence in the Caribbean through security cooperation, including the donation of equipment to military and police forces, and cultural outreach programs, like the expansion of its network of Confucius Institutes. These institutes provide language instruction and cultural programming but have been accused of disseminating Chinese government propaganda.

The pandemic allowed China to strengthen these relationships further by donating or selling personal protective equipment, in what has come to be called “mask diplomacy.”

The Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, pledged in July that China would extend $1 billion in loans for vaccines to Latin American and Caribbean countries.

Shipments from China of medical equipment to combat the coronavirus arriving in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, this spring. China has strengthened ties overseas through such donations in what has come to be called “mask diplomacy.”

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Tuesday, November 10, 2020

Joy in India as Biden and Harris win, but questions, too

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN and PRAKASH ELUMALAI

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rom the moment the sun came up in Thulasendrapuram, a little village in southern India, people started stringing firecrackers across the road. They poured into the temple.

They took colored powder and wrote exuberant messages in big, happy letters in front of their homes, like this one: “Congratulations Kamala Harris, pride of our village.”

If there was one place in India that relished the triumph of Joe Biden and Harris, his running mate, in the U.S. presidential election, it was Thulasendrapuram, the hamlet where Harris’s Indian grandfather was born more than 100 years ago.

Her name is scrawled on a board by the temple. People there love her and identify strongly with her.

For four days, Thulasendrapuram’s 500 or so residents had been waiting anxiously. They’d been praying at the temple, draping Hindu idols with rose petals and strings of sweetsmelling jasmine, and alternately searching for good omens and checking their cellphones for the latest updates.

On Sunday, a wave of joy burst.

“Kamala has made this village very proud,” said Renganathan, a farmer, who rushed to the village’s main temple.

“She’s a great lady and an inspiration. She belongs to this soil.”

Although Harris has been more understated about her Indian heritage than about her experience as a Black woman, her path to the vice presidency has also been guided by the values of her Indian-born mother and her wider Indian family, who have stood by her all her life. In several major speeches, Harris has gushed about her Indian grandfather, P.V. Gopalan, who inspired her with his stories about the fight for India’s independence.

Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, who came to America young and alone in the late 1950s and made a career as a breast cancer researcher before dying of cancer in 2009, remains one of the people Harris talks about most.

In her victory speech in Delaware on Saturday, Harris said her mother was “the woman most responsible for my presence here today.”

“When she came here from India at the age of 19, she maybe didn’t quite imagine this moment,” Harris said. “But she believed so deeply in an America where a moment like this is possible.”

Indians have been watching this election extremely closely, less because of Harris’ heritage than for what it might portend for India-U.S. relations. In the past few

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris speaks in Wilmington, Del., on Saturday night, Nov. 7, 2020. Harris’s ancestral village in southern India rejoiced on Sunday — but across the country, many wonder what changes the new administration will bring. months, the two countries, the world’s largest democracies, have drawn closer.

Part of the reason is China. Since Chinese troops surged across the disputed India-China border in June, sparking clashes that killed more than 20 Indian soldiers, the United States and India have bolstered their military relationship, sharing more intelligence and planning more coordinated training exercises, both sides motivated by a desire to contain China.

How things will change under a Biden-Harris administration is the big question that Indians are now asking. The incoming administration is definitely much more familiar with India. Harris spent a lot of time in India as a young woman, visiting family and developing a fondness for Indian food and culture.

And Biden, even before he was President Barack Obama’s vice president, was a champion for India in the Senate, pushing hard for a nuclear deal between the two nations. Biden has also promised to allow more visas for skilled immigrant workers, which President Donald Trump drastically reduced, and Indian workers could benefit enormously from that.

But foreign policy experts expect that the Biden-Harris team will also be tougher on India. They say that the policies of the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, have made life

more difficult for Muslims in the country, and while the Trump administration has kept quiet about changes in Kashmir and the passage of a new, blatantly anti-Muslim citizenship law, Harris and Biden are likely to be more critical.

Harris has already indicated that she is concerned about the way that India has tightened control over Kashmir, a Muslim-majority territory that is disputed between India and Pakistan. People who know her well expect her to speak up more.

“Kamala is a very strong personality who feels very strongly about certain issues, like human and civil rights,” her uncle G. Balachandran said by telephone from his house in New Delhi on Sunday morning. “She may say things if she feels India is going against humanitarian rights.”

Most analysts believe that human rights overall will probably get more attention under a Biden administration, which might make Modi nervous.

Shortly after midnight, Modi tweeted his congratulations to Biden and Harris.

“Your success is pathbreaking, and a matter of immense pride not just for your chittis, but also for all Indian-Americans,” he wrote in a separate message to Harris, using a Tamil term of endearment for aunts that she herself used in her speech accepting the vice presidential nomination in August.

A handful of Harris’ relatives still live in India, including an aunt who has been in her corner for years. She once lined up 108 coconuts to be smashed at a Hindu temple to bring Harris good luck in a race for California attorney general. (Harris won that election, by the slimmest of margins.)

But Harris’ grandfather left the ancestral village of Thulasendrapuram, which is a bumpy eight-hour drive from the city of Chennai, more than 80 years ago. She no longer has close relatives there. Still, that’s not stopping the village from hatching big plans.

Some people are hoping the government will now build a college there, a wish the village has been making for years.

Others say that Harris’ ascension might bring a better road — or at least some more donations for the temple.

On Sunday, packs of women in bright saris thronged the temple, carrying buckets of freshly made sweets.

The smell of gunpowder hung in the air from all the firecrackers.

A light rain fell.

“From the moment she announced that she was a candidate, we have been praying,” said Arul Mozhi Sudhakar, a village councilor. “God has been listening to our prayers.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

17

Strong turnout in Myanmar shows voters’ support for nascent democracy the country’s preeminent political force, with broad voter loyalty shaped by the long years of political imprisonment ining up for hours on dusty city endured by its founders. streets and country dirt lanes, But the party was not expected voters in Myanmar turned out en Sunday to win with quite the landslide masse on Sunday in elections that were it did five years ago. Back then, having expected to leave the governing party of the mantle of the opposition party was Aung San Suu Kyi as the biggest force in enough to propel candidates to victory. the country’s parliament.

Ethnic minority groups make up The strong turnout, in only the secabout one-third of Myanmar’s population, ond truly contested elections the country and they have suffered disproportionately has held in decades, underscored the from persecution by the military: gang voters’ commitment to Myanmar’s narape, forced labor and village burnings, scent democracy, which remains in the among other crimes documented by hushadow of a military dictatorship that man rights groups. ruled for 50 years.

In Mon state in southeastern MyanHalfway across the world from mar, Mi Yin Sa Ning said she had chosen where Americans were assessing the state a Mon ethnic party over the National of their own democracy, the elections in League for Democracy. Like many in the Myanmar served as a crucial referendum state, she was furious when the governon a political transition that is neither Supporters of the National League for Democracy celebrated on Sunday as they ment named a bridge there after Suu orderly nor ordained.

“I had to vote today because my awaited election results outside the party’s headquarters in Yangon, Myanmar. Kyi’s father, an independence icon who is viewed by some in Mon as a subjugator. vote will count for our country’s future,” as Buddhist karma.”

“Daw Aung San Suu Kyi always says the words said U Sithu Aung, a physiotherapist who waited for Suu Kyi’s detractors also accuse the National ‘federal democratic country,’ but her actions only two hours in the sun to cast his ballot in the city of Mandalay. “I know there is a risk of COVID but voting League for Democracy of having devolved into a lead to dictatorship,” Yin Sa Ning said. “Both she is more important than getting infected with a virus.” personality cult around a 75-year-old leader with an and the military are working to get power, not for The elections gave voice to a generation of imperious command over her party. Overseas, the the citizens.” young, independent candidates and ethnic minority reputation of Suu Kyi, who was awarded the Nobel politicians, in a country that has for so long been Peace Prize in 1991, has been battered by her dedominated by two political players: the National fense of the military in its ethnic cleansing campaign League for Democracy, the leading political party, against Rohingya Muslims.

“The ruling party is very tied to Aung San Suu and the military, which still maintains command of Kyi but we don’t want heroism,” said Ma Ei Thinzar much of the government.

Maung, a 26-year-old ethnic minority activist who On Sunday, 102 parties competed in the elections. Many were ethnic parties and others were ran for a parliamentary seat in Yangon. “During this from parties founded by those who had once been democracy era, the state of democracy in Myanmar close to the country’s civilian leader, Suu Kyi, only has gone backward. We had hoped it would go forward.” to have broken with her.

Ei Thinzar Maung, who was imprisoned for Critics say that the governing party, despite her student activism, lost Sunday to a ruling party having been founded in democratic opposition to candidate. the military, is now repeating some of the sins of its After the military seized power in 1962, elecformer foe. The government of Suu Kyi, who spent 15 years under house arrest at the behest of the military tions took place in 1990; Suu Kyi’s party won overgenerals, has arrested scores of students, artists and whelmingly, but the military ignored the results and farmers, simply for expressing their political views. prevented a civilian government from forming. ElecThe electoral commission, under the sway of the tions were held again in 2010, under rules designed ruling party, has censored opposition party members to stifle the opposition, which boycotted the contest.

When fairer elections were finally held in 2015, and disenfranchised many people who do not belong the National League for Democracy trounced the to the Bamar ethnic majority. military-linked Union Solidarity and Development “People being left out is not a new thing in Myanmar, sad to say,” said U Khin Zaw Win, a for- Party. Those elections began the era of power-sharing mer political prisoner who runs a policy think tank between a civilian government and the military.

Like the African National Congress in South in Yangon, the commercial capital of Myanmar. “The Africa, the National League for Democracy remains majority have been inured to explaining this away

By HANNAH BEECH and SAW NANG

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Job Opportunity

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Tuesday, November 10, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL

Third term of the Obama presidency

By CHARLES M. BLOW

B

arack Obama — his policies and his posture — just won a third term.

Joe Biden will be president because of his close association with Obama, because he espoused many of the same centrist policies and positioning and because of public nostalgia for the normalcy and decency the Obama years provided.

Biden is a restoration president-elect, elected to right the ship and save the system.

He is not so much a change agent as a reversion agent. He is elected to Make America Able to Sleep Again.

He doesn’t see his mission as shaking things up, but calming things down.

But, just as was the case with Obama, many of the people who made Biden’s win possible are far to the left of him. As Biden told a Miami television station last month: “I’m the guy that ran against socialists, OK. I’m the guy that’s the moderate. Remember, you guys were all talking, you’d interview me and say, ‘Well, you’re a moderate, how can you win the nomination?’ It’s who I am.” But, progressives

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are not likely to be as silent now as they were during the Obama years.

Obama faced intense, often unfair, resistance from the right on every front, so many who wanted to push him in a more progressive direction held their criticism or limited it for fear of adding to the damage being done to him by his conservative opposition.

But many progressives emerged from that unhappy or downright angry. They are not likely to repeat what many consider a mistake.

As my colleague Thomas Edsall astutely observed last year, the Democratic Party is actually three different parties: the most progressive on the left, the “somewhat liberal” in the middle and the majority nonwhite moderates on the right.

The most progressive, who are also the most vocal, have yet to have a true champion in the White House.

Although Biden and the Democrats need their energy and can sometimes tack in their direction, these people know that the right uses them as the boogeymen of whom voters in the center and on the right should be afraid.

And many centrist Democrats accuse the most progressive of doing damage to the rest of the party with their rhetoric and policy ambitions.

As The Intercept reported last week, House Democrats held a conference call in the wake of the election in which “centrist after centrist lambasted the party’s left for costing it seats in the lower chamber and threatening its ability to win the Senate.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders last month told the Squad — Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna

Pressley and Rashida Tlaib — that the first order of business for progressives was to defeat Donald Trump by electing Biden. But, he said, the second order of business was to push Biden into becoming “the most progressive president since FDR.” Ocasio-Cortez chimed in to thank Sanders for “normalizing bringing the ruckus on the Democratic Party.” As she explained: “That was not seen as OK for a very long time.

It was seen as extremely taboo for a very long time. And it would result in so many people being ostracized, and targeted.”

These progressives aren’t simply going to slink away and be quiet, to sacrifice principles for decorum, nor should they.

We are coming to the end of four years in which Republicans have rampaged, endangering our democracy and attempting to use the courts to lock in their power for a generation. Democrats are meeting that with more happy talk of unity and normalcy. The Republicans know that we are at war; Democrats think it’s a crochet class.

Democrats must think bigger and more strategically.

They lean far too heavily on changing demographics, as if population patterns make long-term planning about the gaining and retaining of power unnecessary. That could eventually be problematic. Although nonwhites still vote about 2 to 1 for the Democrats, Trump this year got a larger share of the nonwhite vote than any Republican since 1960.

When they were frightened by the socialist claim against Biden, frustrated by what they thought wasn’t enough of a Black agenda, had fallen victim to misinformation, or had simply decided that, somehow, the Republican Party was more attractive to them, they voted for Trump.

Nothing is static in politics. You can take nothing for granted.

Trump got more votes than any Republican in history. He will remain a powerful force among conservatives. The Republican Party is still his. There has been some speculation that he could start his own network that rivals Fox News or exists to the right of it, if that’s even possible.

He loves television and this would give him the perfect perch to launch a four-year-long assault on the Biden administration and to influence Republicans in Congress.

He could in fact run again in 2024.

Republicans are playing hardball; Democrats are playing softball.

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

19

Presidente de la Cámara exige renuncia de Néstor Alonso antes del mediodía Por THE STAR

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l presidente de la Cámara de Representantes, Carlos ‘Johnny’ Méndez Núñez, le dio hasta el martes, al medio día al representante Néstor Alonso Vega para que presente su carta de renuncia.

De no ser presentada en el período correspondiente, el líder legislativo adelantó que estará autoconvocado el cuerpo para iniciar el proceso de expulsión.

“El pasado jueves fui claro y contundente de que el Representante Alonso Vega tenía que re-

nunciar inmediatamente a su escaño, aun cuando le cobija la presunción de inocencia, reiteramos nuestra solicitud de renuncia. Han pasado varios días y todavía la Secretaría de la Cámara de Representantes no ha recibido comunicación al respecto. De la misma no ser presentada entre hoy y mañana al mediodía, estaré convocando a la Cámara para iniciar el proceso de expulsión”, señaló el presidente de la Cámara en comunicación escrita.

Alonso Vega fue arrestado la pasada semana por agentes del FBI tras ser acusado de corrupción.

Roban caja fuerte con cheques en la sede del PPD en Puerta de Tierra Por THE STAR

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gentes, adscritos al Precinto de Puertos del Negociado de la Policía, investigaron el lunes una querella de hurto de objetos extraídos de edificios, por hechos ocurridos en el comité central del Partido Popular Democrático, ubicado en la avenida de la Constitución, en San Juan.

Según el parte policial, alegó el querellante, Luis Negrón, alegado encargado, que a eso de las 8:00 a.m. se percató que un desconocido se apropió ilegalmente de una caja fuerte color negra, la cual contenía varios cheques de pago.

La cantidad de los cheques eran de $1,393; $3,000; $288 y $120.

De acuerdo al querellante en el lugar no había nada forzado y tras lo sucedido procedería a la cancelación de los cheques.

Este incidente fue investigado por el agente Emmanuel Miranda del Precinto de Puertos y sería referido a personal del Cuerpo de Investigaciones Criminales de San Juan para que continúen la investigación.

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Tuesday, November 10, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

‘Jeopardy!’ fans can’t imagine the show without Alex Trebek

Alex Trebek, the beloved host of “Jeopardy!,” died on Sunday, prompting an outpouring of mourning and memories.

By JULIA JACOBS

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or television viewers under a certain age, there was never a “Jeopardy!” without Alex Trebek.

Calm, steady and always with a twinkle in his eye, Trebek was a constant on the television screens of millions of people since he took over as host in 1984. After news broke that the game show host died Sunday after battling Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, there was an outpouring of sadness from fans, ex-contestants and celebrities.

“Alex Trebek was ‘Jeopardy!’,” said Monica Thieu, a contestant who won the college championship in 2012. “We have no idea what the show is going to be without him.”

Trebek, who was 80 years old, had hosted more than 8,200 episodes, and more remain to be broadcast. The show said that Trebek’s last day in the studio was Oct. 29 and that the final new “Jeopardy!” episode with him as host will air Dec. 25. The show has not divulged any plans that it has to appoint a new host.

Thieu, 26, who also appeared on the show in 2013 and 2019, said that she revered Trebek as a child, going so far as to try to compete in the National Geographic Bee when she was in fourth grade so she could meet Trebek, who for many years hosted the annual contest (now the

GeoBee) in Washington. “He made it cool to be smart,” she said.

Trebek was equally admired by an older generation of contestants and game show lovers. For decades, the show has been a reliable staple in American pop culture, something viewers can turn on at the same time every weekday — and the silver-haired host was a key ingredient in that.

Richard Cordray, a five-time “Jeopardy!” champion in the 1980s who went on to become the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said that part of what made the game show such a source of comfort for so many Americans was Trebek’s consistency as host.

“In his elegant and gracious way, he always had the answer to every question,” he said.

Ever since Trebek went public with his cancer diagnosis in March 2019, contestants have been vocal about their adoration and support for their host. In a show that aired in November of last year, shortly after Trebek revealed that he had resumed chemotherapy to treat the cancer, Trebek got choked up when one contestant wrote “What is ‘We love you, Alex!’” for his Final Jeopardy response.

And at one match of the “Greatest of All Time” (or GOAT) tournament earlier this year, James Holzhauer, a record-setting “Jeopardy!” star, knew that he was too

far behind to win, so he used his answer board to honor Trebek, calling him the “GHOST,” or “greatest host of syndicated TV.” Among the ex-contestants who have spent the most time onstage with Trebek is Ken Jennings, who captivated “Jeopardy!” fans with a 74-game winning streak in 2004 and went on to win the show’s “GOAT” tournament. On Sunday, Jennings, who is a consulting producer on the current season of the show, wrote on Twitter that Trebek was a “deeply decent man” and said he was grateful for every minute that he got to spend with him.

And in a country where even pop culture icons often attract ire from people with a certain political ideology, Trebek remained far outside the political fray.

“In a time where the country feels deeply divided, Alex will be missed by everyone,” Holzhauer said in a statement Sunday.

On social media, there was a cascade of mourning from fellow television hosts and celebrities. Ryan Seacrest wrote on Twitter that Trebek was “like a family member who I watched every night.” Steve Harvey, who hosts “Family Feud,” called him “the classiest game show host of all time.” Jimmy Kimmel, referencing Saturday’s election results, quipped, “Couldn’t we have one nice weekend?”

Trebek, who was born in Ontario and who started his career at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, also received recognition from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, who said on Twitter that Trebek had been responsible for instilling a love of trivia in many.

But Trebek’s celebrity was never flashy or self-centered. He had turned down offers to write a book until recently, when he published his memoir, “The Answer Is …: Reflections on My Life.” He said he planned to donate the money he got for the book.

On the show itself, past contestants remember him as a consummate professional, treating all contestants with the same interest and respect when interacting with them. (That consistency made it all the more shocking when Trebek diverged from his usual politeness, like when he poked fun at a contestant’s love for a genre of music called “nerd-core hip-hop.”)“He was so committed to the show being about the contestants and not about him,” said Emma Boettcher, a contestant who ended Holzhauer’s winning streak last year. “But for a lot of us, what we remember about the show is his presence.”

Jason Zuffranieri, who appeared as a contestant in 20 episodes of the show last year, said Sunday that it was Trebek’s understated personality on camera and his dedication to the rules of the game that helped build the show’s credibility.

“His ability to stay out of the way and always be fair elevated the audience’s impression of both the game and himself,” he said. “It takes a special person to do that.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

21

With help from Herb Alpert, letting the light in at the Harlem School of the Arts

By JAMES S. RUSSELL

A

typical Saturday at the Harlem School of the Arts would find families chatting with each other as one child runs out of a dance class in tights, or another lugs a viola. A quick bite or check-in with parents, and they would dash to a drawing or singing class.

This happy noise occurred in what the school’s founder, Dorothy Maynor, called the Gathering Place, a two-story-high room that also hosted performances and exhibitions of student work, and where performers from the worlds of jazz, Broadway and classical music would drop by so that children could see and meet working artists up close.

But the Gathering Place, which dates from 1977, was enclosed by concrete-block walls. Children and families came in through a forbidding brick entrance.

Today, the school has completed a thorough transformation inspired by an architect Celia Imrey, and a major patron: Herb Alpert, the trumpeter and record company executive, whose foundation has contributed a total of $17 million to the school, including $9.7 million for the recent upgrade. A glass facade floods the space with morning sunlight, ready to unveil the students’ beehive of activity at the school. An upperlevel corridor doubles as a wood-paneled balcony, reached by a grand switchback staircase. The space has been equipped with sophisticated acoustics, and advanced theater lighting and sound.

“I mourn the level of energy this place had,” Eric Pryor, the school’s president, said, looking forward to the school’s post-pandemic future, when children and families can return.

(Many students continue to take classes by video.)

With many performers and arts organizations staring at a financial abyss, the Harlem School of the Arts has risen and thrived through adversity.

Maynor was an acclaimed lyric soprano of Black and Native American ancestry with a wide smile and a talent now largely overlooked. “Miss Maynor’s voice is phenomenal for its range, character, and varied resources,” wrote The New York Times critic Olin Downes in a review of a famed concert at Town Hall in 1939. She sang classical repertory at the world’s concert halls, but retired in 1963, having performed at Dwight Eisenhower’s presidential inauguration but never at the Metropolitan Opera, which did not hire African-American singers for leading roles when she was in her prime. (She died at age 85 in 1996.)

The Harlem School of the Arts, which offers classes in music, dance, theater and visual arts, was Maynor’s second act. She sought to serve children who had no exposure to arts in public schools and no access to private instruction. She would say that children were made to believe that beauty did not exist in their community but only beyond it.

She started the school in the community house of St. James Presbyterian Church, where her husband, the Rev. Shelby Rooks, was rector. The classes promptly drew swarms of applicants even as Harlem was wracked by protests and riots in 1964 after the fatal shooting of a Black teenager, James Powell, by a white off-duty police officer.

The facade of the Harlem School of the Arts, with a solid front wall that did not clearly transmit the school’s mission, in New York, Sept. 14, 2017.

The school finally moved into its own building next to the church in 1977. Its architect, Ulrich Franzen, designed the school around the Gathering Place, as Maynor had requested, to more generously accommodate parents who had spontaneously appropriated a hallway in the community house to savor their children’s development.

With New York City just two years past its brush with bankruptcy, the new 37,000-square-foot building with studios, practice rooms and four large dance spaces designed with the help of George Balanchine, was an extraordinary act of faith at a time when the city’s future was very much in doubt.

Although the school thrived for years, it was forced to close its doors in 2010 because of poor financial management. Kate Levin, commissioner of the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs in the Bloomberg administration, coordinated support to get the school back on its feet.

A donor appeared unexpectedly from California as if conjured by Maynor, who had been a prodigious fundraiser: Herb Alpert had read about the fate of the school. “It had given such creativity to the community,” he recalled by phone from his home in Malibu, California. “How could people in New York allow it to fold?”

He matched the funds Levin raised from several donors: $500,000 from his Herb Alpert Foundation founded with his wife, singer Lani Hall. In 2012, when new leadership was in place and the school was again humming, Alpert added $2 million to erase the school’s debt and established a $3 million endowment for student financial aid.

Alpert said the trumpet he picked up in grammar school “had taken me so many places in my life. I think every kid should have that opportunity at an early age.” Rona Sebastian, the foundation’s president, added, “Getting rid of the debt was the only way to save the school and work toward the future.”

What’s now called the Renaissance Project was born.

Alpert brought in the acoustician John Storyk, who had worked on Jazz at Lincoln Center. Storyk proposed sloping the glass wall outward to reflect the sound around the room.

Arrays of speakers permit multiple seating and performance configurations. The advanced theater technology is expected to attract more talent to the school and, ultimately, lead to income from outside events.

With the completion of the Renaissance Project last month, the facility has been renamed the Harlem School of the Arts at the Herb Alpert Center. All the new possibilities await a time when the school’s programs for adults and children can resume.

“We’re looking at forming small pods of kids, especially for dance,” Pryor said, noting that practicing at home doesn’t work: “You can’t move properly in a kitchen” As the school moves urgently though cautiously toward reopening, he pointed out, “Some kids and their families are dealing with depression, separation anxiety, loss of family members, isolation. A few are homeless.” He imagined having them all back in the Gathering Place, now officially called Dorothy Maynor Hall, after their first patron.

“I know,” he added, “that they would eat this up.”

22

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

COVID infections in animals prompt scientific concern

Mink were collected for processing on a farm in Naestved, Denmark.

By JAMES GORMAN

T

he decision this past week by the Danish government to kill millions of mink because of coronavirus concerns, effectively wiping out a major national industry, has put the spotlight on simmering worries among scientists and conservationists about the vulnerability of animals to the pandemic virus and what infections among animals could mean for humans.

The most disturbing possibility is that the virus could mutate in animals and become more transmissible or more dangerous to humans. In Denmark, the virus has shifted from humans to mink and back to humans, and has mutated in the process. Mink are the only animals known to have passed the coronavirus to humans, except for the initial spillover event from an unknown species. Other animals, like cats and dogs, have been infected by exposure to humans, but there are no known cases of people being infected by exposure to their pets.

The versions of the virus that have mutated in mink and spread to humans are not more transmissible or causing more severe illness in humans. But one of the variants, found in 12 people so far, was less

responsive to antibodies in lab tests. Danish health authorities worried that the effectiveness of vaccines in development might be diminished for this variant and decided to take all possible measures to stop its spread. This included killing all of the country’s mink and effectively locking down the northern part of the country, where the mutated virus was found. The United Kingdom has banned travelers from Denmark who are not U.K. citizens.

The World Health Organization and scientists outside of Denmark have said they have yet to see evidence that this variant will have any effect on vaccines. They have not, however, criticized Denmark’s decision to cull its mink population.

Mink are not the only animals that can be infected with the coronavirus. Dogs, cats, tigers, hamsters, monkeys, ferrets and genetically engineered mice have also been infected.

Dogs and cats, including tigers, seem to suffer few ill effects. The other animals, which are used in laboratory experiments, have exhibited varying responses.

Farmed mink, however, have died in large numbers in Europe and in the United States, perhaps partly because of the crowded conditions on those ranches, which could increase the amount of exposure.

Public health experts worry, however, that any species capable of infection could become a reservoir that allowed the virus to reemerge at any time and infect people. The virus would likely mutate in other animal species as it has been shown to do in mink. Although most mutations are likely to be harmless, SARS-CoV-2 conceivably could recombine with another coronavirus and become more dangerous.

Conservation experts also worry about the effect on animal species that are already in trouble.

One approach to studying susceptibility has been to look at the genomes of animals and see which ones have a genetic sequence that codes for a protein on cells called an ACE2 receptor, which allows the virus to latch on. One team of researchers studied the genomes of more than 400 animals. Another group did a similar study of primates, which are often infected with human respiratory viruses.

Other researchers are studying species from Beluga whales to deer mice for signs of the coronavirus. Kate Sawatzki, the animal surveillance coordinator for a testing project in pets and other animals at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, said, “To date, we have tested 282 wildlife samples from 22 species, primarily bats in New England rehabilitation facilities, and we are happy to report that none have been positive.”

They have also tested 538 domestic pets, including from households with people with COVID-19, and none have shown signs of active virus. However, Sawatzki said, the lab also conducted blood tests for antibodies, showing exposure, and there they did find antibodies, as is common in humans. The pets seemed to be getting infected but not getting sick or passing the virus on.

So far, the mink in Denmark are the only known instance of the virus infecting an animal, mutating and transferring back to humans. Emma Hodcroft of the University of Basel, Switzerland, traces various mutated versions of the coronavirus as it has spread through Europe and has reviewed scientific information released by Danish health authorities. She said she applauded the government’s decision to take swift action and cull the mink.

“Many countries have hesitated and waited before acting,” said Hodcroft, “and it can be incredibly detrimental in the face of SARS-CoV-2, as we see.”

But she did not approve of the way the information was released, particularly in the government’s Wednesday news briefing, which warned of a dire threat to potential human vaccines but offered no detail for the concern.

“The communication of the science could have been much clearer and led to less worry around the world,” Hodcroft said.

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

23

Pfizer’s early data shows vaccine is more than 90% effective

By KATIE THOMAS, DAVID GELLES AND CARL ZIMMER

D

rugmaker Pfizer announced Monday that an early analysis of its coronavirus vaccine trial suggested the vaccine was robustly effective in preventing COVID-19, a promising development as the world has waited anxiously for any positive news about a pandemic that has killed more than 1.2 million people.

Pfizer, which developed the vaccine with German drugmaker BioNTech, released only sparse details from its clinical trial, based on the first formal review of the data by an outside panel of experts.

The company said that the analysis found that the vaccine was more than 90% effective in preventing the disease among trial volunteers who had no evidence of prior coronavirus infection. If the results hold up, that level of protection would put it on par with highly effective childhood vaccines for diseases such as measles. No serious safety concerns have been observed, the company said.

Pfizer plans to ask the Food and Drug Administration for emergency authorization of the two-dose vaccine later this month, after it has collected the recommended two months of safety data. By the end of the year it will have manufactured enough doses to immunize 15 million to 20 million people, company executives have said.

“This is a historical moment,” said Kathrin Jansen, a senior vice president and the head of vaccine research and development at Pfizer. “This was a devastating situation, a pandemic, and we have embarked on a path and a goal that nobody ever has achieved — to come up with a vaccine within a year.”

Independent scientists have cautioned against hyping early results before long-term safety and efficacy data have been collected. And no one knows how long the vaccine’s protection might last. Still, the development makes Pfizer the first company to announce positive results from a late-

Dr. Albert Bourla, Pfizer’s CEO, in Scarsdale, N.Y., on Oct. 20, 2020.

The drug maker Pfizer announced on Monday, Nov. 9, 2020, that an early analysis of its coronavirus vaccine trial suggested the vaccine was robustly effective in preventing COVID-19, a promising development as the world has waited anxiously for any positive news about a pandemic that has killed more than 1.2 million people. stage vaccine trial, vaulting it to the front of a frenzied global race that began in January and has unfolded at record-breaking speed.

Eleven vaccines are in late-stage trials, including four in the United States. Pfizer’s progress could bode well for Moderna’s vaccine, which uses similar technology. Moderna has said it could have early results later this month.

The news comes just days after Joe Biden clinched a victory over President Donald Trump in the presidential election. Trump had repeatedly hinted a vaccine would be ready before Election Day, Nov. 3. This fall, Pfizer’s chief executive, Dr. Albert Bourla, frequently

claimed that the company could have a “readout” by October, something that did not come to pass.

Operation Warp Speed, the federal effort to rush a vaccine to market, has promised Pfizer $1.95 billion to deliver 100 million doses to the federal government, which will be given to Americans free of charge. But Jansen sought to distance the company from Operation Warp Speed and presidential politics, noting that the company — unlike the other vaccine front-runners — did not take any federal money to help pay for research and development.

“We were never part of the Warp Speed,” she said. “We have never taken any money from the U.S. government or from anyone.”

She said she learned of the results from the outside panel of experts shortly after 1 p.m. Sunday and that the timing was not influenced by the election.

“We have always said that science is driving how we conduct ourselves — no politics,” she said.

The data released by Pfizer on Monday was delivered in a news release, not a peer-reviewed medical journal. It is not conclusive evidence that the vaccine is safe and effective, and the initial finding of more than 90% efficacy could change as the trial goes on.

“We need to see the actual data, and we’re going to need longer-term results,” said Jesse Goodman, a professor of medicine and infectious diseases at Georgetown University. Still, he said, “it’s a testament to hard work and science that we’re getting results that are so good and so fast.”

Other scientists were stunned by the data so far.

“This is really a spectacular number,” said Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale University. “I wasn’t expecting it to be this high. I was preparing myself for something like 55%.”

If the final vaccine ends up with that level of efficacy, it “would be higher than your regular flu vaccine, and this vaccine could have a serious impact on bending the curve of this outbreak,” said Dr. Saad B. Omer, director

of the Yale Institute for Global Health.

Jansen said that because the trial is continuing, an independent board reviewing the data has not told her or other company executives other details, such as how many of the people developed mild versus more severe forms of COVID-19 — crucial information that the FDA has said it will need to evaluate any coronavirus vaccine.

The agency has also asked for other detailed data that could take weeks to review, including about how the company plans to manufacture millions of doses and ensure that the product is consistent and safe.

The trial is expected to continue until 164 people in the 44,000-person trial have developed COVID-19, and will also evaluate how well it protects against developing severe forms of the disease and how well the vaccine protects people who have already been infected with the coronavirus.

Half of the participants received two doses of the vaccine, and half received a placebo. The first analysis was based on 94 volunteers who developed COVID-19. Jansen said the outside board did not say how many of those cases came from participants who had been vaccinated. But with a rate of more than 90% effectiveness, most had to have been in the placebo group.

Jansen said the global surge in coronavirus infections contributed to the speed with which participants in the trial got infected with the virus.

“You can see for yourself; the rates are going up everywhere,” she said.

“So we think based on our predictions, it shouldn’t take us very long” to get to 164 cases of COVID-19.

Dr. Paul Offit, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and a member of the FDA’s vaccine advisory panel, said the news that Pfizer’s trial was progressing quickly was a good sign for other trials, too.

“If there’s any silver lining in the fact that our country is currently on fire with this virus, it’s that these trials can reach a conclusion much quicker than otherwise,” he said.

24 Santana Irizarry, Sec Regional el Sello del Tribunal hoy 15 de II. Gloria E. Acevedo Soto, Sec octubre de 2020. LIC. NORMA G. SANTANA IRIZARRY, Sec ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO Auxiliar del Tribunal I. Regional II. Wanda Rivera OrDE PUERTO RICO TRIBULEGAL NOTICE NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA tiz, Sec Auxiliar del Tribunal I. SALA DE MAYAGUEZ. ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO

LEGAL NOTICE

ORIENTAL BANK, Demandante, v.

CARLOS ZAPATA SERRANO

Demandados CIVIL NUM.: MZ2020CV00109.

SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO. SS.

A: CARLOS ZAPATA SERRANO

POR MEDIO del presente edicto se le notifica de la radicación de una demanda en cobro de dinero por la vía ordinaria en la que se alega que usted adeuda a la parte demandante, Oriental Bank, ciertas sumas de dinero, y las costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado de este litigio.

El demandante, Oriental Bank, ha solicitado que se dicte sentencia en contra suya y que se le ordene pagar las cantidades reclamadas en la demanda.

POR EL PRESENTE EDICTO se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva a la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días de haber sido diligenciado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día del diligenciamiento. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial. pr/sumac/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la Secretaría del Tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra, y conceder el remedio solicitado en la Demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente.

Se le advierte que dentro de los diez (10) días siguientes a la publicación del presente edicto, se le estará enviando a usted por correo certificado con acuse de recibo, una copia del emplazamiento y de la demanda presentada al lugar de su última dirección conocida: Bo. Broadway, 314 Calle Vista Alegre, Mayagüez, PR 006804642. EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y el sello del Tribunal, en Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, hoy día 24 de julio de 2020. Lic. Norma G.

@

LEGAL NOTICE

PUERTO RICO

Parte Demandante Vs.

INTERNATIONAL CHARTER MORTGAGE CORPORATION; JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE como posibles tenedores desconocidos

DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRI- ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO BUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTAN- DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRICIA SALA DE LAJAS. Parte Demandada DE PRIMERA INSTANCIVIL NUM: GM2020CV00524.

BANCO POPULAR DE BUNAL CIA SALA DE SALINAS. SOBRE: CANCELACION DE PUERTO RICO ORIENTAL BANK PAGARE EXTRAVIADO. EMDemandante Vs. Demandante v.

PLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. MICHAEL HENRIQUEZ LEE MARY COLÓN ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉTORO, FULANA DE TAL MORENO; JOHN DOE Y RICA EL PRESIDENTE DE Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL LOS EE. UU. EL ESTADO LIRICHARD ROE BRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO DE GANANCIALES Demandados COMPUESTA POR CIVIL NÚM. SA2020CV00130. RICO. SS.

AMBOS

Demandados CIVIL NÚM.: LJ2019CV00145.

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

SOBRE: SUSTITUCIÓN DE PAGARÉ HIPOTECARIO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R. SS. EDICTO

A: LEE MARY COLÓN MORENO. Urb. El Coqui K 182 calle A) MICHAEL HENRIQUEZ 10, Salinas, PR 00751; PO Box 255, TORO, FULANA DE TAL Aguirre, PR 00704.

Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL POR LA PRESENTE se le emDE GANANCIALES plaza para que presente al triCOMPUESTA POR bunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los 30 días de haber AMBOS

POR LA PRESENTE: Se le notifica que contra usted se ha presentado la Demanda sobre Cobro de Dinero de la cual se acompaña copia. Por la presente se le emplaza a usted y se le requiere para que dentro del término de TREINTA (30) días desde la fecha de la Publicación por Edicto de este Emplazamiento presente su contestación a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial. pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la Secretaría del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Lajas, P. O. Box 393, Lajas, Puerto Rico 0066 7-0393 y notifique a la LCDA. GINA H. FERRER MEDINA, personalmente al Condominio Las Nereidas, Local 1-B, Calle Méndez Vigo esquina Amador Ramírez Silva, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico 00680; o por correo al Apartado 3779, Marina Station, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico 0068 1-3779, Teléfonos: (787) 832-9620 y (845) 345-3985, Abogada de la parte demandante, apercibiéndose que en caso de no hacerlo así podrá dictarse Sentencia en Rebeldía en contra suya, concediendo el remedio solicitado en la Demanda sin más citarle ni oírle.

EXPEDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y

sido diligenciado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día del diligenciamiento. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial. pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Representa a la parte demandante el Ledo.

Javier Montalvo Cintrón, Delgado & Fernández, LLC, PO Box 11750, Femández Juncos Station, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00910-1750. Tel. [787] 2741414. DADA en Salinas, Puerto Rico, a 28 de octubre de 2020.

Marisol Rosado Rodriguez, Sec Regional. Brenda L. Ramos Pomales, Sec Auxiliar.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE GUAYAMA.

FIRSTBANK

staredictos@thesanjuandailystar.com

A: INTERNATIONAL CHARTER MORTGAGE CORPORA TION; JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE como posibles tenedores desconocidos

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.

Marjallisa Colón Villanueva, al PO BOX 7970, Ponce, P.R. 00732; Teléfono: 787-8434168. En dicha demanda se tramita un procedimiento de cancelación de pagare extraviado . Se alega en dicho procedimiento que se extravió un pagaré hipotecario por la suma de veintiocho mil doscientos dólares ($28,200 .00, con intereses al nueve por ciento (9%) anual, vencedero el dla primero (1ro) de noviembre de dos mil cinco (2005), a favor de lnternational Charter Mortgage Corporation, o a su orden, según consta de la escritura número ciento cinco (105), otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día dieciséis (16) de octubre de mil novecientos setenta y cinco (1975), ante el Notario Alberto R. Esteves. Inscrita al folio dieciséis (16) del tomo doscientos cincuenta (250) de Guayama , finca número siete mil seiscientos cuatro (7,604). Registro de la Propiedad, Sección de Guayama. Inscripción segunda (2da). Que grava la propiedad que se describe a continuación: URBANA: Solar marcado con el número doce (12) del Bloque P de la Urbanización Costa

(787) 743-3346

Tuesday, November 10, 2020 Azul, radicada en el término municipal de Guayama, Puerto Rico, con un área superficial de trescientos veinticinco punto cero cero (325.00) metros cuadrados , colindando por el NORTE. en veinticinco punto cero cero (25.00) metros con el solar once (11) del Bloque P; por el SUR, en veinticinco punto cero cero (25.00) metros con el solar trece (13) del mismo Bloque; por el ESTE, en trece punto cero cero (13.00) metros con la calle número cinco {5) del mismo bloque. Enclava una casa de concreto dedicada a vivienda. Inscrita al folio quince (15) del tomo doscientos cincuenta (250) de Guayama, finca número siete mil seiscientos cuatro (7,604). Registro de la Propiedad, Sección de Guayama. 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 Guayama, Puerto Rico, a dla 27 de octubre de 2020. Marisol Rosado Rodriguez, Sec Regional I.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA REGION JUDICIAL DE SAN JUAN SALA MUNICIPAL DE SAN JUAN.

COOPERATIVA DE AHORRO Y CREDITO DE LA INDUSTRIA BIOFARMACEUTICA Demandante V.

PAOLA TRAVIESO ROMERO

Demandado(a) CIVIL NÚM: SJ2019CV12797.

SALA: 505. SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO (REGLA 60). ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO. S.S.

dirección: BUFETE APONTE & CORTES LCDA. ERIKA MORALES MARENGO PO Box 195337 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00919 Tel. (787) 302-0014 ¡(787) 239-5661 Email: ernarerigo16@yahou.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. rarnajudicial.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 25 de febrero de 2020. Griselda Rodriguez Collado, Secretaria.

Carla J. Rivera Climente, SubSecretaria.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE GUAYAMA.

Reverse Mortgage Funding, LLC DEMANDANTE VS.

Sucesión de Paula Torres Quiñones compuesta por Antonio Morales Torres, Fulano de Tal y Sutano de Tal como posibles miembros de nombres desconocidos; Centro de Recaudación de Ingresos Municipales y a los Estados Unidos de América

DEMANDADOS CIVIL NUM.: GM20l9CV00097.

SALA: 306. SOBRE: Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca por la Vía Ordinaria. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.

A: Fulano de Tal y Sutano de Tal como posibles A: PAOLA herederos de nombres TRAVIESO ROMERO desconocidos de la DIRECCIÓN: 85 Res. Luis Llorens Torres, Apto. 1664 Sucesión de Paula Torres Quiñones y/o como San Juan, Puerto Rico cualquier otra persona 00913 POR LA PRESENTE, se le con interés en este caso. emplaza y se le notifica que una Demanda sobre Cobro de Dinero ha sido presentada en su contra y se le requiere para que conteste la misma 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

POR LA PRESENTE, se les emplaza y se les notifica que se ha presentado en la Secretaria de este Tribunal la Demanda del caso del epígrafe solicitando la ejecución de hipoteca y el cobro de dinero relacionado al pagaré suscrito a favor de The Money House, o a su orden, por la suma principal de $150,000.00, con intereses computados sobre la misma

The San Juan Daily Star desde su fecha hasta su total y completo pago a razón de la tasa de interés de 3.251 % anual, la cual será ajustada mensualmente, obligándose además al pago de costas, gastos y desembolsos del litigio, más honorarios de abogados en una suma de $15,000.00, equivalente al 10% de la suma principal original. Este pagaré fue suscrito bajo el affidávit número 3293 ante el notario Laura Mia Gonzalez Bonilla. Lo anterior surge de la hipoteca constituida mediante la escritura número 572 otorgada el 12 de septiembre de 2009, ante el mismo notario público, inscrita al folio 131 vuelto del tomo 453 de Guayama, finca número 7796, Sección de Guayama del Registro de la Propiedad.

La Hipoteca Revertida grava la propiedad que se describe a continuación: URBANA: Solar numero treinta y ocho (38) del bloque AX del Proyecto CRUV-VBC ciento cincuenta (150) conocido como Residencial La Hacienda, radicado en el barrio Machete del termino municipal de Guayama, Puerto Rico, compuesto de trescientos noventa y un metros cuadrados con ochocientos una milésima (391.801). En lindes por el Norte, en once metros con setecientos setenta milímetros (11.770), con la calle numero cuarenta y tres (43); por el Sur, en dieciséis metros con novecientos setenta y tres milimetros (16.973), con el area de facilidades vecinales; por el Este, en veinticinco metros con doscientos cincuenta y dos milimetros (25.252), bloque AX; por el Oeste, en veinte metros con ochocientos setenta y ocho milimetros (20.878), con las calles numero cuarenta y tres (43) y cuarenta y ocho (48). Enclava una estructura de concreto y bloques dedicada a vivienda.

Consta inscrita al folio ciento treinta y cuatro ( 134) del tomo doscientos cincuenta y cuatro (254) de Guayama, finca número siete mil setecientos noventa y seis (7,796), Registro de la Propiedad, sección de Guayama. Se apercibe y advierte a ustedes como personas desconocidas, que de no contestar la demanda radicando el original de la contestación ante la secretaria del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Guayama, y notificar copia de la contestación de esta a la parte demandante por conducto de su abogada, GLS LEGAL SERVICES, LLC, Atención: Leda. Genevieve López Stipes, Dirección: P.O. Box 367308, San Juan, P.R. 00936-7308, Teléfono: 787-758-6550, dentro de los próximos 60 días a partir de la publicación de este emplazamiento por edicto, que

será publicado una sola vez en un periódico de circulación diaria general en la isla de Puerto Rico, se le anotará la rebeldía y se dictará sentencia, concediendo el remedio solicitando en la Demanda sin más citarle ni oírle. Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal hoy 5 de noviembre de 2020. Marisol Rosado Rodriguez, Sec Regional I. Ileana Santiago Vega, Sec Auxiliar del Tribunal.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE CAROLINA SALA SUPERIOR.

PR RECOVERY & DEVELOPMENT JV, LLC Demandante v.

NYDIA IRIS MORALES OLIVER, ENRIQUE RODRÍGUEZ BORRERO Y LA SOCIEDAD DE BIENES GANACIALES POR ELLOS COMPUESTA

Demandados CIVIL NUM.: CA2020CV01909.

SALA: 408. SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO; INCUMPLIMIENTO DE CONTRATO y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA y GRAVAMEN MOBILIARIO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO.

A: NYDIA IRIS MORALES OLIVER, ENRIQUE RODRÍGUEZ BORRERO Y LA SOCIEDAD DE BIENES GANACIALES POR ELLOS COMPUESTA

POR EL PRESENTE EDICTO se le notifica que las partes demandantes de epígrafe han radicado en este Tribunal una demanda en su contra por la causal de Cobro de Dinero, Incumplimiento de Contrato y Ejecución de Hipoteca y Gravamen Mobiliario. Se le emplaza conforme a la Regla 4.5 y 4.6 de las de Procedimiento Civil, mediante la publicación de un solo edicto en un periódico de circulación general diaria en la Isla de Puerto Rico, a los efectos de que se presente cualquier alegación responsiva a la demanda dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación de este Edicto, excluyéndose el día de la publicación. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:// unired.ramajudicial.pr/sumac/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Se le advierte que, si

The San Juan Daily Star no contesta la demanda o deja de presentar una alegación responsiva, radicando el original de dicha alegación responsiva en este Tribunal y notificando copia de la misma al abogado de la parte demandante, dentro del referido término, el Tribunal podrá anotarle la rebeldía y dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra, concediendo el remedio solicitado en la demanda, sin más citarle ni oírle. Favor de notificar copia de su contestación al: LCDO. LUIS J. VILARÓ VÉLEZ: PO Box 363812, San Juan, PR 00936-3812 Tel.: 787-753-2160 luisvilaro@gmail.com EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, en Carolina, Puerto Rico, a 2 de noviembre de 2020. Lcda. Marilyn Aponte Rodriguez, Secretaria Regional. LOURDES DIAZ MEDINA, Sec Aux Tribunal I.

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

PUERTO RICO RECOVERY AND DEVELOPMENT JV, LLC Demandante v.

CARIBBEAN COMMUNICATIONS SOLUTIONS, INC., et. als.

Demandados CIVIL NUM. SJ2020CV11723.

SALA: 506. SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO, EJECUCION DE GARANTIAS. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO.

A: LUIS IVÁN ALEMÁN ALEMÁN, WILMA GONZÁLEZ PADILLA y la SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Se le advierte que, si no contesta la demanda o deja de presentar una alegación responsiva, radicando el original de dicha alegación responsiva en este Tribunal y notificando copia de es ta al abogado de la part e demand ante, dentro del referido término, el Tribunal podrá anotarle la rebeldía y dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra , concediendo el remedio solicitado en la demanda, sin más citarle ni oírle. Favor de notificar copia de su cont estación al: LCDO. LUIS J. VILARÓ VÉLEZ: PO Box 3638 12, San Juan , PR 00936-38 12 Tel.: 787-753-2160 luisvilaro@gmail.com EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, en San Juan, Puerto Rico, a 13 de octubre de 2020. GRISELDA RODRIGUEZ COLLADO, Secretaria. Jessica Soto Pagan, Sec Serv a Sala.

tar 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.

El abogado de la parte demandante es: Jaime Ruiz Saldaña, RUA número 11673; Dirección: PMB 450, 400 Calle Calaf, San Juan, PR 00918-1314; Teléfono: (787) 759-6897; Correo electrónico: legal@jrslawpr. com. Se le advierte que dentro de los diez (10) días siguientes a la publicación del presente edicto, se le estará enviando a usted por correo certificado con acuse de recibo, una copia del emplazamiento y de la demanda presentada al lugar de su ultima dirección conocida: Brisas de Añasco, BB3 Calle 16, Añasco PR 00610-2621. EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y el sello del Tribunal en Añasco, Puerto Rico, hoy día 22 de julio de 2020. Lic. Norma G. Santana Irizarry, Sec LEGAL NOTICE Regional II. Evelyn Padilla NieESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO ves, Sec del Tribunal Conf II. DE PUERTO RICO TRIBULEGAL NOTICE NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA Estado Libre Asociado de PuerSALA DE AÑASCO. to Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL ORIENTAL BANK, DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de PriDemandante, V mera Instancia Sala Superior PABLO ALEQUIN RAMOS de CAROLINA. Demandado GRETCHEN CIVIL NUM.: AÑ2020CV00031.

COLOM CATINCHI SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO Demandante POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. EM-

Tuesday, November 10, 2020 2020. En CAROLINA, Puerto Rico, el 4 de NOVIEMBRE de 2020. MARILYN APONTE RODRIGUEZ, Secretaria Regional. JANNETTE RAMIREZ BERNARD, Secretaria Auxiliar.

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

JOANNE LIZETTE CASTILLO SEE

Demandado Civil Núm.: PO2020CV00501.

Salón: 0601. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE o sea, las personas ignoradas que puedan ser tenedores del pagaré extraviado P/C Lcdo. Raúl Rivera Burgos, Rua : 8879 Estancias de San Fernando , Calle 4, Número A-35, Carolina , PR 00985 Tell (787) 238-7665 Email: raulrblaw@gmail.com

Star

San Juan The

DAILY

Demandante V

ORIENTAL BANK, SUCESOR EN INTERES DE RG PREMIER BANK, JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE

BANCO POPULAR DE PLAZAMIENTOP OR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMEPUERTO RICO; JOHN RICA EL PRESIDENTE DE DOE Y RICHARD DOE LOS EE.UU. EL ESTADO LIDemandado (a) BRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO Civil Núm.: CA2020CV01923 (Nombre de las partes a las que se RICO. SS. (407). Sobre: CANCELACION les notifica la sentencia por edicto) A: PABLO DE PAGARE EXTRAVIADO. EL SECRET ARlO(A) que susNOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTEN- cribe le notifica a usted que 26 ALEQUIN RAMOS de octubre de 2020 , este TriPOR MEDIO del presente edic- CIA POR EDICTO. bunal ha dictado Sentencia , to se le notifica de la radicación A: JOHN DOE Y Sentencia Parcial o Resolución de una demanda en cobro de RICHARD DOE dinero por la vía ordinaria en la (Nombre de las partes a las que se en este caso , que ha sido debique se alega que usted adeuda le notifican la sentencia por edictos) damente registrada y archivada a la parte demandante, Oriental EL SECRETARIO (A) que sus- en autos donde podrá usted Bank, ciertas sumas de dinero, cribe le notifica a usted que el 2 enterarse detalladamente de y las costas, gastos y honora- de NOVIEMBRE de 2020, este los términos de la misma. Esta rios de abogado de este litigio. Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, notificación se publicará una El demandante, Oriental Bank, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución sola vez en un periódico de ha solicitado que se dicte sen- en este caso, que ha sido debi- circulación general en la Isla tencia en contra suya y que se damente registrada y archivada de Puerto Rico , dentro de los le ordene pagar las cantidades en autos donde podrá usted 10 días siguientes a su notificareclamadas en la demanda. enterarse detalladamente de ción. Y, siendo o representado POR EL PRESENTE EDICTO los términos de la misma. Esta usted una parte en el procedise le emplaza para que presen- notificación se publicará una miento sujeta a los términos de te al tribunal su alegación res- sola vez en un periódico de la Sentencia , Sentencia Parcial ponsiva a la demanda dentro circulación general en la Isla o Resolución , de la cual puede los treinta (30) dias de ha- de Puerto Rico, dentro de los de establecerse recurso de ber sido diligenciado este em- diez (10) días siguientes a su revisión o apelación dentro del plazamiento, excluyéndose el notificación. Y, siendo o repre- término de 30 días contados a día del diligenciamiento. Usted sentando usted una parte en partir de la publicación por edicdeberá presentar su alegación el procedimiento sujeta a los to de esta notificación, dirijo a responsiva a través del Sistema términos de la Sentencia, Sen- usted esta notificación que se Unificado de Manejo y Adminis- tencia Parcial o Resolución, considerará hecha en la fecha tración de Casos (SUMAC), al de la cual puede establecerse de la publicación de este ediccual puede acceder utilizando recurso de revisión o apelación to. Copia de esta notificación la siguiente dirección electróni- dentro del término de 30 días ha sido archivada en los autos ca: https://unired.ramajudicial. contados a partir de la publica- de este caso, con fecha de 2 de pr/sumac/, salvo que se repre- ción por edicto de esta notifica- noviembre de 2020. En Ponce , sente por derecho propio, en ción, dirijo a usted esta notifica- Puerto Rico , el 2 de noviembre cuyo caso deberá presentar su ción que se considerará hecha de 2020. LUZ MAYRA CARAalegación responsiva en la Se- en la fecha de la publicación BALLO GARCÍA, Secretaria( o) cretaría del Tribunal. Si usted de este edicto. Copia de esta Regional. f/HILDA J. ROSADO Secretaria(o) deja de presentar su alegación notificación ha sido archivada RODRÍGUEZ, responsiva dentro del referido en los autos de este caso, con Auxiliar.

POR EL PRESENTE EDICTO se le notifica que la s par tes demandantes de epígrafe han radicado en este Tribunal una demanda en su contra por la causal de Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Garantías. Se le emplaza conform e a la Regla 4.5 y 4.6 de las de Procedimiento Civil, mediante la publicación de un solo edicto en un periódico de circulación general diaria en la Isla de Puerto Rico, a los efectos de que se presente cualquier alegación responsiva a la demanda dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación de este Edicto, excluyéndose el día de la publicación. Us ted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:// unired.ramajudicial.pr/sumac/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación término, el tribunal podrá dic- fecha de 4 de NOVIEMBRE de

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The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

Even with a new president, sports at the White House won’t be the same

By KURT STREETER

A

we and tension filled the air on that sunny afternoon in the Rose Garden four years ago this week. I could feel it, and so could everyone else on hand: the sense of celebration mixed with a gnawing worry for the future.

There stood LeBron James, regal in his double-breasted suit but forcing a smile, surrounded by the rest of his team, the NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers. In front of them, President Barack Obama held court, bestowing kudos and lightening the mood by cracking wise.

“Give it up to the world champion Cleveland Cavaliers,” Obama said, nodding to the fact that the Cavaliers’ win over the Golden State Warriors that spring was the city’s first major sports title since 1964. “That’s right, I said ‘world champion’ and ‘Cleveland’ in the same sentence. That’s what we’re talking about when we talk about hope and change.”

It was Nov. 10, 2016. I’ll never forget it. Two days earlier, Donald Trump had defeated Hillary Clinton to win the presidency. I’d been following the Cavaliers closely, working on an article about Cleveland’s coach then, Tyronn Lue. That’s how I found myself in the Rose Garden, on hand to witness a scene woven into the fabric of American sporting life: the honoring of a championship team by the nation’s chief executive.

Everything felt surreal. In the morning, Obama had welcomed Trump to the White House for a short briefing. To watch Obama put aside the seriousness of that moment and then commune with James and the Cavaliers was to watch a president bathe in a sort of healing balm.

That was not a surprise. Obama’s bond with athletes, particularly with Black athletes like the ones who made up the bulk of the Cavaliers’ roster, was a hallmark of his presidency.

But it was more than that. The connection between presidents and athletes had long been cozy, defined by a sort of low-stakes ease. Nothing captured that relationship like Rose Garden ceremonies, which came to regularly honor teams from a wide variety of sports.

True, they were publicity stunts. But they also held meaning. For decades, they had provided a chance for people of all political persuasions to bond over the succor of success and the history and

The Cleveland Cavaliers visited President Barack Obama in 2016. Such ceremonies became increasingly politically charged under President Trump. power of the presidency.

But by 2016, the ease of such visits had become complicated, even for Obama. More, Trump was on the horizon. He had already started picking fights with athletes, leaning into the backlash against Colin Kaepernick, then the San Francisco 49ers quarterback who had just started his protests against police brutality and the mistreatment of Black people by kneeling during the national anthem.

As I watched Obama and Vice President Joe Biden say goodbye to the Cavaliers, I was struck by the sense that the easy communion between athletes and the presidency was about to change in a way that might prove unalterable.

Sports teams first visited the White House in 1865, when President Andrew Johnson welcomed baseball’s Washington Nationals and Brooklyn Atlantics.

Still, it wasn’t until Ronald Reagan took office in 1981 that hosting sports champions at the Rose Garden became routine.

Reagan reveled in such moments. He hammed it up with the national champion Georgetown men’s basketball team, threw a pass to a wide receiver for Wash-

ington’s Super Bowl-winning football team and got a popcorn drenching from the New York Giants’ Harry Carson.

But as time passed and new presidents continued the tradition, the nation’s growing political divide crept in.

Golfer Tom Lehman turned down an invitation from President Bill Clinton, whom Lehman called a “draft-dodging baby killer.” In 2012, Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman Matt Birk, an opponent of abortion rights, refused to accompany his Super Bowl-winning team to visit Obama. That year, Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas, an avid backer of the conservative Tea Party, declined to accompany his Stanley Cup-winning teammates for their Rose Garden visit.

But whole teams turning down the White House?

Sure enough, angered by his policies and rhetoric, emboldened by the evolution in athlete activism, not a single NBA championship winner visited Trump these past four years.

In 2017, after the Warriors won the title and the league and the White House were discussing a visit, Stephen Curry said he would not attend — prompting the president to bark back over Twitter:

“Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team.

Stephen Curry is hesitating. Invitation is withdrawn.”

Soon, James shot back with a tweet, calling the president a “bum,” and adding, “Going to the White House was a great honor until you showed up!”

Some teams did visit. But others skipped it, were not invited or had invitations rescinded when it became clear few players would attend. Since 2016, none of the WNBA champions have gone to the White House. Same for North Carolina’s men’s NCAA championship basketball team, South Carolina’s title-winning women’s basketball team and the 2018 Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. I could go on.

Trump was left with narrowing opportunities to play host. He feted the Alabama and Clemson football teams, and a few champions from mostly white, conservative-leaning sports like baseball and hockey. For a while, he could count on the New England Patriots, whose owner, Robert K. Kraft, and coach, Bill Belichick, are Trump supporters. After winning the Super Bowl at the end of the 2016 season, however, nearly half of the players steered clear of the White House. And when New England was victorious again two years later, the team didn’t visit at all.

So much for the days of easy communion.

It has been four hard years since that day of awe and tension in the White House. Will James, now having led the Los Angeles Lakers to the 2020 title, return with his new team to visit President Biden? Bank on it. Expect the WNBA’s Seattle Storm, who conquered their league title this year and endorsed Biden, to do the same, along with teams that didn’t back a candidate but focused instead on boosting voter registration and turnout.

But with swaths of the country arguing, without evidence, that last week’s election was stolen, will conservative champions or players begin turning down visits to the Biden White House?

That’s not hard to imagine.

It is impossible to say what will happen in future presidencies, with future generations of athletes. For now, sadly, we can assume that the Rose Garden celebration of champions, once a chance to cast aside differences and revel together in greatness, will limp forward, scarred and fractured, same as America.

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

27

Precious Achiuwa’s journey may finally take him to the NBA

By SCOTT CACCIOLA

P

recious Achiuwa has never been in the same place for long. He tends to be on the move — from Nigeria to New York to Memphis, Tenn.

Stationed in Long Island City, Queens, N.Y., for the past seven months as he prepares for the NBA draft Nov. 18, Achiuwa has coped with a rare period of extended monotony. A projected first-round pick who spent last season at the University of Memphis, Achiuwa, 21, works out with his trainer. He does “a whole bunch of Zoom calls” with front-office personnel.

He takes unscripted naps. He visits with his older brother God’sgift Achiuwa, 30, who lives not far from him in Queens.

But it has been a fairly solitary and stationary existence, a change of pace for a 6-foot-9 forward with drive.

“Seven months of doing the same thing,” he said, “over and over.”

He misses competition, he said.

Games of five-on-five have been off-limits during the coronavirus pandemic. He has tried to fill the void in creative ways.

His first love growing up in Nigeria was soccer, and he has a ball at his apartment that he juggles with his feet every day.

“I set goals for myself,” he said. “I’ll be like: ‘You know what? I did 25 in a row yesterday. Today, I’m going to try to get 30.’”

But the wait is nearly over. Training camps are tentatively set to open Dec. 1, just 13 days after the draft. For prospective first-year players like Achiuwa, it will be a quick transition. No summer league.

No long runway to acclimate to the league. And no time to waste. Achiuwa is eager to learn where he will wind up next.

His life, in many ways, has been a nomadic one. One of six siblings, he grew up in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, where his parents, Donatus and Eunice, were Pentecostal ministers. In Port Harcourt, more than 350 miles southeast of Lagos by car, soccer was the game of choice. Basketball was not that alluring to Achiuwa — not when he was very young, anyway.

“We had a basketball around the house, and I’d pick it up and dribble it once or twice,” he said. “Then I’d put it back down and go back to kicking the soccer ball.”

But around the same time he was finding himself towering over his friends on the soccer field — “It was just so awkward,” he said — God’sgift Achiuwa was carving out a path that his younger brother would one day follow.

As a teenager, God’sgift attended a basketball camp in Nigeria where he was scouted by Alex Nwora, the longtime coach at Erie Community College in Buffalo, N.Y. Nwora eventually offered a scholarship, and God’sgift — a 6-foot-8 forward — jumped at the chance.

“I think any time a kid from Africa has the opportunity to come to the U.S. to play basketball and get an education, it’s a no-brainer,” God’sgift Achiuwa said.

God’sgift later transferred to St. John’s, where he played for two seasons before graduating in 2014. By then, Precious was 14 and showing promise of his own as a basketball player. So much promise, in fact, that God’sgift wanted his brother to live with him in Queens so that he could attend high school in the city.

God’sgift approached several coaches to gauge their interest.

“Some of them were actually demanding video of him playing,” God’sgift said. “And I told them: ‘Listen, he’s going to at least be as tall and as big as I am. It runs in the family.’”

He secured a scholarship for Precious to attend Our Saviour Lutheran School in the Bronx, starting as an eighth grader.

Their parents were on board with the plan.

“Knowing that I would be getting an education made it a lot easier for them to let go of me at a really, really young age,” Precious said.

On one of his first days in the United States, God’sgift introduced his brother to a staple of New York City life: the subway.

“There was nobody on the street,” Precious said. “And then all of a sudden there were just so many people coming out from the underground. And I’m looking at my brother, like, ‘Yo, what’s going on?’”

Before long, Precious was commuting to school in the Bronx — a fourhour round trip that required the use of both the subway and public buses. He quickly established himself as one of the top freshman players in the country. His

Precious Achiuwa’s road to the N.B.A. has had many stops — and a pandemic detour — but, as one of his coaches said, he “had this willingness to do whatever it was going to take.” brother had been entrusted by their parents to keep an eye on him. But Precious seemed uniquely focused.

“I didn’t have to go to any meetings or sit in front of any principals,” God’sgift said. “He’s a really good kid.”

As Precious’ talents became more obvious, he sought better competition by transferring to St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark, N.J., where he lived with a teammate’s family, and later to Montverde Academy, near Orlando, Fla., where he was a McDonald’s all-American as a senior.

Even then, he was still relatively new to the game — new enough that he was unfamiliar with Penny Hardaway, the coach at Memphis who was recruiting him. (A friend suggested that Achiuwa watch some of Hardaway’s old highlights online.)

Cody Toppert, one of Hardaway’s assistants, said Achiuwa was not a guaranteed “one-and-done” player when he arrived at Memphis before the start of last season. But the coaching staff could sense that he had come with purpose: to maximize his time. For example, he stayed late after most practices to refine his 3-point shot, which he knew would be a prerequisite for a player his size in the NBA. “He basically had this willingness to do whatever it was going to take to make sure he wasn’t coming back for a second

year,” Toppert said.

The spotlight found Achiuwa early in the season after James Wiseman, the team’s center and one of the top prospects in the draft, ran into eligibility problems and left school after playing in three games. In Wiseman’s absence, Hardaway went with a smaller lineup.

Achiuwa ran the court, defended multiple positions and proved to be an energetic leader.

“It kind of happened by accident because James left,” Toppert said. “But there’s no doubt that it created an opportunity for Precious to show an extreme level of versatility.”

After averaging 15.8 points and 10.8 rebounds while shooting 49.3 percent from the field, Achiuwa was named the American Athletic Conference’s Player of the Year as a freshman. When the season was cut short by the pandemic, he declared for the draft and returned to Queens to prepare for the next phase of his life.

His basketball dreams have involved sacrifice. His father recently died, and he has not seen his mother in about three years. But he talks with her on the phone nearly every day, he said, and there is a chance that she will be able to travel to New York this month to watch the draft with him.

It would mark the end of one journey — and the beginning of another.

28

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

Bryson DeChambeau’s golf revolution marches toward the masters

By BILL PENNINGTON

A

sked about his childhood as he stood on the practice range at a golf tournament in Connecticut this summer, Bryson DeChambeau said his overriding memory was a conviction that a nonconformist would eventually get more done.

“Even as a little boy, I always questioned everything,” said a smiling DeChambeau, whose eccentric, hard-swinging tactics and overpowering performances have roiled the golf world this year. “It’s how new things happen.”

With the pandemic-delayed Masters Tournament set to begin Thursday, the bulked-up DeChambeau, who bludgeoned the U.S. Open field and an esteemed golf course on his way to victory two months ago, plans to unleash his most outrageous assault on golf’s traditions yet. If successful at the revered Masters, which draws voluminous worldwide television ratings, DeChambeau’s gargantuan drives and muscular wedge shots could change the paradigm of how the game is played for the next decade, or more.

At least that will be DeChambeau’s ambition when he sets foot on the first tee on Thursday as the unquestioned tournament favorite at the venerable Augusta National Golf Club, site of the Masters since 1934.

“My goal is to inspire a new generation of golfers to think differently and just go out there and bomb it,” DeChambeau, who believes 400-yard drives will become the norm during his career, said in a recent interview. “Augusta would be the right stage for that.”

DeChambeau’s plan is to reinvent golf much the same way that a 21-year-old Tiger Woods did during his seminal victory at the 1997 Masters, with booming drives that led to a tournament record for the lowest four-round score — and 26 other tournament records tied or broken.

DeChambeau, 27, has gained more than 40 pounds in the past year and as much as 30 yards on his tee shots, he says, because of an innovative, borderline maniacal workout and nutritional regimen. He swings with a ferocity — and velocity — heretofore unseen on the PGA Tour, where players for decades have been schooled to temper their all-out swings in order to enhance assets like tempo and rhythm.

Not DeChambeau, who swings as hard as he can just about every time, especially

off the tee. He repeatedly talks about reshaping golf ideology and smashing drives “as far as I possibly can.”

It is a quest that consumes him even as he should be basking in his greatest accomplishments. For example, DeChambeau, who rarely drinks alcohol, stayed up fairly late after his Open victory at Winged Foot Golf Club outside New York City in September. Early the next morning, however, he was on a jet to Denver, where that afternoon he went through an intensive twohour workout with Greg Roskopf, whom DeChambeau calls his “muscle specialist.”

Roskopf put DeChambeau through what he calls a neuromuscular overhaul, a program he describes as muscle activation techniques intended to correct body imbalances that inhibit, among other things, range of motion. The system is also meant to build higher tolerance levels for exercises that can increase strength.

When not visiting Roskopf every three weeks, DeChambeau works out daily at his home in Dallas, where he has installed each piece of Roskopf’s specialized equipment in his garage. DeChambeau eschews many traditional weight lifting exercises like squats or dead lifts to focus instead on isolated muscle groups that govern side bend, back extension and trunk and leg flex.

He also started consuming 5,000 to 6,000 calories a day, aided by drinking seven protein shakes made by Orgain, one of his many sponsors.

How much strength has DeChambeau gained?

On some exercises, Roskopf said, his pupil more than doubled his weight load.

With few exceptions, his tour contemporaries have been generous in their praise of his accomplishments over the past year, which include two victories and eight other top-10 finishes.

“What Bryson has done is no easy task,” Woods said. “He’s hitting it further; he’s figured it out. But let’s look at the fact that he’s hitting it as straight as he is. That’s the most difficult thing to do.’’

DeChambeau, who has vaulted to sixth place in the world rankings, is something of a loner on the tour, and his methods have periodically prompted his fellow pros to roll their eyes. (In July, he wanted to be able to move his golf ball because of nearby fire ants no one else had observed.) But his competitors also see DeChambeau tirelessly hitting practice shots after a round, until darkness obscures the ball’s path.

At home in Dallas, he might go weeks

“My goal is to inspire a new generation of golfers to think differently and just go out there and bomb it,” DeChambeau said. “Augusta would be the right stage for that.” without playing the game, because he finds casual golf inefficient. Why take 70 random swings over 18 holes with golf partners when the same four hours can be spent pounding 300 balls on a range to get what DeChambeau truly craves: instant technological feedback on a shot’s ball and swing speed, its apex, spin rate, carry and distance?

“You’ve got to recognize how much he’s elevated the discussion of golf fitness and the science of the game,” Phil Mickelson said. “But he’s been successful in a lot of the other areas you need to win at golf.”

It is the other pivotal golf skills that will be most scrutinized this week at Augusta National, where daunting, undulating greens have historically been the chief challenge. DeChambeau’s best finish at the Masters has been a tie for 21st, and an unreliable putting stroke has largely kept him off the leaderboard in his three appearances.

But this year, DeChambeau, who has improved his putting to the point where he ranked 10th last season in strokes gained/putting, intends to overpower the Augusta layout with 350-yard drives that could put considerably less stress on the rest of his game.

Where other golfers will be hitting 5-irons into greens, DeChambeau expects to be hitting wedges. Can such a power-based onslaught succeed?

“Absolutely, it can work,” the twotime Masters champion Bernhard Langer said. “Bryson will have to hit it reasonably straight, but he could have a tremendous advantage.

“Take the 18th hole: If he can fly it

over the bunkers from the tee, then he’s got a huge, 100-yard fairway to land his ball in. Most of the guys will be aiming for the usual landing spot, which is 20 yards wide. If he hits it all the way down the hill on the 11th hole, he’s got pitching wedge to the green, while I’m hitting a two-hybrid. That’s a big difference.”

Past champions who once questioned whether DeChambeau’s strategy would be successful in major championship conditions — like those at Winged Foot in September — have changed their minds.

“I got it wrong back at this year’s U.S. Open,” the three-time Masters winner Nick Faldo said. “We’ve always said you can’t be a long-driving champ or train like one, because you’ve still got to chip and putt. Now with the science, they’ve found a way that you can. So this is amazing.”

Which leads to the question of whether the distance breakthrough spearheaded by DeChambeau, who is just part of a phalanx of long-driving young golfers, is good or bad for golf.

Faldo, who is a CBS golf analyst, wondered how much longer golf courses would need to become to accommodate pro and recreational golfers who learn to hit colossal drives.

“It would cost a fortune to buy that much land and irrigate it, too — that’s impossible,” said Faldo, who speculated that the golf ball might have to be restricted or softened to limit how it will fly.

“Maybe the new golf ball will be a marshmallow,” he said, laughing.

Others see DeChambeau as a godsend to the game, especially at a time when it needs an infusion of youth. Andy North, a two-time U.S. Open champion who is 70, called DeChambeau “cool.”

“He’s proven there’s yet another way to play golf,” said North, now an ESPN golf commentator. “There’s a million ways to play this game and there’s no one perfect way to do it. And I think that’s really refreshing.”

DeChambeau knows exactly where he stands on the issue. He draws the greatest satisfaction not from his achievements on the golf course, but in the aftermath of them, when young golfers approach him and say they want to swing as hard as he does.

“That really makes my day,” he said.

“That’s why I’m not going to stop. I’m going to keep pushing the boundaries, keep questioning the limits.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

29

Sudoku How to Play: Fill in the empty fields with the numbers from 1 through 9.

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

Crossword

Answers on page 30

Wordsearch

GAMES

HOROSCOPE Aries

30

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

(Mar 21-April 20)

Everyone makes mistakes. One of the reasons there is tension in relationships at the moment is that you haven’t been listening to your family. A team is not as strong as it needs to be.

Not to put too fine a point on it, you all need to get together and agree on policies and procedures.

Libra

(Sep 24-Oct 23)

Your cheerful and bubbling personality will rub off on everyone you meet or come into contact with. A social get together which had been postponed will go ahead with suitable safety measures in place. A close friend or neighbour has had reason to feel a little down of late. You have something special in mind to bring a beaming smile to their face.

Scorpio

(Oct 24-Nov 22)

Taurus

(April 21-May 21)

A promotion possibility that has been in the offing for some time will come to a head. Are you ready to step up to a new and more responsible position? You will be pleased and relieved to be in the right place at the right time. It will take a few days before all that has occurred sinks in.

Your ability to keep a secret could come in useful when this is one of those days when you should not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Someone may, in a subtle way, try to work their way into conversations that have nothing to do with them. It is important they don’t hear information they could use against you in the future.

Gemini

(May 22-June 21)

Sagittarius

(Nov 23-Dec 21)

Use any time you have on your own productively. If you’re on top of routine chores, devote yourself to a hobby or study course. It will feel immensely satisfying to increase your knowledge about a subject that has always fascinated you. If you are a student, this should be a great day to zoom ahead with your work.

An issue you have to deal with will not be as problematic as it first appears. Be prepared to stretch your mind and approach this from new angles. It won’t take long before you come up with a way to resolve the problem.

You will make the best decision for all who are concerned.

Cancer

(June 22-July 23)

Capricorn

(Dec 22-Jan 20)

You’re feeling incredibly lucky. Take this opportunity to buy a lottery ticket or enter a raffle. Whether or not you win doesn’t matter as much as enjoying feeling so good. Your positive outlook helps you make a glowing success of everything you undertake. Make the most of all good opportunities that come your way.

Leo

(July 24-Aug 23)

A colleague who is usually very helpful isn’t in such a cooperative mood and you wonder whether you have done anything to upset them. After a quiet talk you may detect a hint of envy in which case it would be best to play a low-key role. It is sad that in envying others, someone you work with is not recognising their own remarkable skills.

Virgo

(Aug 24-Sep 23)

Make it your intention to reach an agreement over issues from the past which continue to remain unresolved. You will finally feel you are getting somewhere with friends or family members who have been argumentative recently. It’s a relief to notice they are starting to show you more consideration.

Tough restrictions are put in place for a reason. It might feel as if someone is making up the rules as they go but this is because circumstances keep changing. If arrangements don’t go according to plan, be flexible and be willing to forge a compromise. Safety should always be the biggest concern.

Aquarius

(Jan 21-Feb 19)

Your health and well-being is more important than a looming deadline. You should not leave any physical problems unattended. A common sense approach to your general health will ensure there are no later problems. Aim to get a good night’s rest then you should be as bright as a button and raring to go in the morning.

ϖ Pisces

(Feb 20-Mar 20)

Discussions are lengthy and meaningful. You will enjoy the debate so you won’t mind but you also have a lot to do so let common sense be your guide on when to eventually call it a day. A domestic dilemma will involve an older member of your family who is being too stubborn for their own good.

Answers to the Sudoku and Crossword on page 29

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

31

CARTOONS

Herman

Speed Bump

Frank & Ernest

BC

Scary Gary

Wizard of Id

For Better or for Worse

The San Juan Daily Star

Ziggy

32

The San Juan Daily Star

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

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