Friday to Sunday Oct 2-4, 2020 by The San Juan Daily Star

October 2-4, 2020

San Juan The

DAILY

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Singer-Songwriter Mac Davis Leaves Behind a Legacy of Hits P20

With Eyes on China Public and Private Sector Executives Look for Ways to Attract Manufacturers to Puerto Rico P3

US Citizens Still Mulling: The Debate Didn’t Help

NOTICIAS EN ESPAÑOL P 19

In Trouble for a Domino Tournament? Justice Refers Ceiba Mayor to SIP Panel P6

32 INC • October 2-4,SEMANA, 2020 2 EDITORIAL

Jueves, 1 de octubre de 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

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GOOD MORNING

October 2- 4, 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.

Executives analyze how to attract companies currently manufacturing in China

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By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

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s part of Manufacturing Week activities on the island, a group of executives who are experts in the field of manufacturing locally and internationally analyzed on Thursday the challenges and opportunities ahead of Puerto Rico as it looks to position itself and compete for the relocation of companies and products currently being made in China. Currently 1,730 manufacturing companies operate on the island that contribute over 48 percent of Puerto Rico’s adjusted gross income, creating 74,500 direct jobs and totaling 220,000 between direct, indirect and induced jobs. Participating in the virtual panel were the island Department of Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC), Puerto Rico Manufacturers Association (PRMA), economic planning and consulting firm Estudios Técnicos, Pharmaceutical Industrial Association (PIA), Puerto Rico Manufacturing Extension (PRiMEX), Medical Devices Cluster and Certified Public Accountants Association. DDEC Secretary Manuel Laboy Rivera said in a written statement that “despite the challenges faced by Puerto Rico, the manufacturers established on the island continue to rely on the specialized workforce produced by the universities in Puerto Rico, the commitment of our professionals and the investment tools that we offer in the Department of Economic Development and Commerce.” As a result of teamwork between the government and the private sector, Puerto Rico has achieved the commitment of the United States government to strengthen and expand its manufacturing industry, he added. “From 2017 until now, our team at [the Puerto Rico Industrial] Development Company has achieved an investment commitment of over $1.4 billion, and thousands of jobs created, as well as retained. Given this, Puerto Rico has the opportunity to strengthen this sector and position itself as the main manufacturing center in the Caribbean,” Laboy Rivera said. “We have more than 60 years of experience, a high-tech manufacturing ecosystem, a geographic location that plays an important role in terms of connectivity, logistics and supply chain, as well as knowledge and compliance with federal regulations, among other assets. Without a doubt, the future of manufacturing on Puerto Rican soil is promising. We thank PRiMEX for being a facilitating entity and guiding the various economic sectors in their search to support the continuation of their operations according to the times.” PRiMEX Board Chairman Felipe Hernández, meanwhile, stressed that for more than 50 years the island has demonstrated the ability to manufacture high-quality products in a regulatory environment.

“We are currently an international manufacturing center for pharmaceutical products and medical devices that has continued to supply products to the market through hurricanes, earthquakes and a pandemic,” he said. “Our human resources from the production line to senior management are world-class. We must take the opportunity to review elements that we must improve to maintain and improve our competitiveness in such a way that we retain and grow the industry present on the island.” PIA President Wendy Perry said that “[f]or PIA the development and advancement of Puerto Rican talent is one of our strategic pillars: promoting our global competitiveness by strengthening our ecosystem.” “Puerto Rico leads [North America] with the highest concentration of experts in the pharmaceutical industry,” she said. “Here 12 of the top 20 most used pharmaceutical products throughout the world are manufactured. In Puerto Rico we generate 18,000 direct jobs and 60,000 indirect jobs, and have a highly educated and specialized workforce where 75 percent have a university degree. PIA has worked and collaborated with INDUNIV academy in the implementation of initiatives such as educational scholarships, internships, summer camps, rotations in the facilities, and workshops with graduates, among others. We have also supported the creation of high-demand baccalaureate programs and concentrations in our industry. Our specialized talent is the engine of our industry.” The PRMA has participated throughout the years in the annual celebration of Manufacturing Week. “We once again joined forces with PRIMEX, DDEC and other organizations to highlight the impact of manufacturing on the lives of all Puerto Ricans and on the economy of our island,” Hernández said. “Manufacturing has been, is and will be the main engine of economic development in Puerto Rico, representing more than 50 percent of the gross domestic product. We are very pleased to participate in this event where students and the general public are provided the opportunity to see firsthand the value of this important sector and to open their eyes to opportunities.”

DDEC Secretary Manuel Laboy Rivera

The San Juan Daily Star

October 2-4, 2020

PDP members: LUMA Energy trying to secure another preferential tax rate; LUMA responds By PEDRO CORREA HENRY Twitter: @PCorreaHenry Special to The Star

opular Democratic Party (PDP) Senate at-large candidate Juan Zaragoza and PDP Rep. Jesús Manuel Ortiz called on both Gov. WandaVázquez Garced and Treasury Secretary Francisco Parés on Thursday to report on the status of a closing agreement that LUMA Energy -- the consortium selected in June by the Public-Private Partnership Authority (P3A) to manage the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s (PREPA) transmission and distribution (T&D) system for 15 years at the cost of almost $2 billion -- has with the Treasury to determine a 20 percent income tax rate on additional fees from both front end and back end transition services, which could save LUMA around $30 million. Zaragoza said that since LUMA Energy entered a concession contract with PREPA, in which he added that the local government is paying for the transition of the T&D system’s management to the consortium, LUMA will already save up to $340 million in 15 years as it has to pay 20 percent in income taxes on management fees. According to the former Treasury secretary, such a rate is much less than what citizens and local businesses pay on the island, which is around 37.5 percent in income taxes. “To the naked eye, this might be an inoffensive clause, but in this type of contract, there are no inoffensive clauses. When we look at the law and determine what’s behind the request of the agreement with Treasury, where LUMA is getting paid $60 million, plus some hourly charges, which could estimate up to $125 million for just arriving in Puerto Rico and accommodating, not for managing the Electric Power Authority, they’re requesting from Treasury to pay 20 percent in taxes, instead of 37.5 percent like [everybody else], their insatiable appetite has no end,” Zaragoza said. “This is happening in the context of a bankrupt country; what we’re calling for -- from both the governor and the Treasury secretary -- is to know if they signed this agreement because, in the contract, it establishes that this clause is a preceding condition that authorizes LUMA to begin operating in Puerto Rico.” Meanwhile, Ortiz said they are expos-

ing a foreign company that has the future of thousands of PREPA workers at risk as they are allegedly moving on with other personnel and that an indication that LUMA is “looking to get more out of the pockets of the people of Puerto Rico.” He also called on leaders from the New Progressive Party, including gubernatorial candidate Pedro Pierluisi, to say if they agree with such clauses and “finding other ways of not only giving away $1.5 billion for management, helping them save $350 million more, but [also] providing more concessions and savings, and preventing more income from going to the Treasury with LUMA Energy.” “We can’t stop looking at this without analyzing the historical context we are living in,” Ortiz said. “It’s all happening in a bankrupt corporation, in a corporation whose adjustment plan -- the Authority’s ABCs -- which is on hold, states [that there will be] three or four increases in the electricity rate for residential and commercial subscribers if this plan is finally approved, at a time when the country is going through its toughest days due to extraordinary events that we all know about, and at the moment when we find out about losing more than $1.8 billion, or 20 percent of our budget, if the credit to foreign companies here in Puerto Rico gets canceled.” When a member of the press asked if LUMA Energy billing $26 million in the past three months, according to declarations by Electrical Industry and Irrigation Workers Union (UTIER by its Spanish acronym) President Ángel Figueroa Jaramillo, is justifiable, Ortiz said that amount comes from the transition fee agreed upon in the contract. “What is unprecedented about it is that the country is not only paying them to manage the [public] corporation [PREPA], but they are also getting an initial income to begin its transition; furthermore, executive employees are getting paid -- they will get paid for 15 years for their work and they will get paid once the contract comes to an end,” Ortiz said. “In all of the phases of that contract, according to what this government signed, they are getting sums of money, and now we also see [LUMA’s] intention to not pay the same tax rate as any other corporation in Puerto Rico for those additional fees.” Zaragoza, for his part, said LUMA Energy “should pick up their bags and go.”

LUMA Energy responds to earlier allegations As for the income tax rates that LUMA Energy has been allegedly negotiating with the government, consortium spokesperson Olga Lydia Vélez told the Star that “the fees that LUMA is entitled to under the O&M [operation and maintenance] agreement are afforded the same treatment that all P3 participants are entitled to under Law 29 and the Puerto Rico Treasury Department’s administrative determination.” “As always, LUMA is complying with all Puerto Rican laws and regulations,” she said. As for the story in Wednesday’s Star in which the UTIER president said in a radio interview that LUMA Energy was violating the contract with PREPA for hiring new personnel instead of the employees that work for the authority, and P3A Executive Director Fermín Fontanés denying that the contract will result in layoffs of current PREPA employees and the loss of acquired benefits, Vélez told the Star that the upcoming event to which the union leader referred “isn’t a job fair.” “This event, designed exclusively

for PREPA employees, will be held by appointment,” Vélez said. “As in everything we do, the health and safety of our employees is a priority. Therefore, we will comply with the strictest security protocols required under the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in controlling the number of participants. At the entrance, we will take temperatures, and we will provide masks and hand sanitizer. There will be enough space to meet the physical distancing necessary for everyone’s safety.” Vélez added that the event will be held at the Pedro Rosselló Convention Center in San Juan on Oct. 7 and Oct. 8. The LUMA spokesperson said further that if an employee does not feel safe attending the event, the corporation will have other options available to support them in the application process. “PREPA employees can call our offices or schedule a virtual appointment through our website at www.LUMAPR. com,” she said. “LUMA is planning to hold similar events in other places on the island. Our focus is on the safety and comfort of employees, as well as the efficiency of our processes.”

The San Juan Daily Star

October 2-4, 2020

Foundation for Puerto Rico president rejects allegations of advertising contracts paid for with CDBG-DR funds By THE STAR STAFF

oundation for Puerto Rico (FPR) President Annie Mayol on Thursday rejected allegations made by Popular Democratic Party (PDP) Sen. Aníbal José Torres and at-large candidate for the island House of Representatives Gabriel López Arrieta in relation to the supposed granting of multi-million-dollar advertising contracts using federal disaster recovery funds. “We must clarify that the information published is based on inaccurate and incorrect data,” Mayol said in a written statement. “For us it is extremely important to make it clear that FPR has not received any contract from the government of Puerto Rico for exclusive advertising expenses,” she said. “Rather, we were selected by the Department of Housing to administer and implement the Whole Community Resilience Planning Program (WCRP) with a total budget of $37.5 million that is distributed through a refund process. The functions and responsibilities of FPR with this program include the design of the pro-

gram, the development of the guidelines, processes and procedures, elaborating the educational component, and orientation and implementation of the program, as well as the distribution of funds, procurement of suppliers and supervision of the selected entities, in collaboration with the Department of Housing.” Torres and López Arrieta alleged that contracts were financed with Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Program funds for promotional and advertising expenses, among other purposes. “Awarding $60 million in contracts for promotion and advertising, among other things, with CDBG-DR funds, is outrageous,” Torres said Tuesday in a press statement. “While thousands still live under blue awnings, others lack safe housing and there is a loud call by the mayors on the need for recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction of their municipalities.” Torres and López Arrieta alleged that the contracts were awarded by the island Housing Department between 2018 and 2020 with CDBG-DR funds that were assigned to Puerto Rico to invest in the

PDP Sen. Aníbal José Torres and at-large candidate for the House of Representatives Gabriel López Arrieta alleged Tuesday that the island Housing Department has awarded around $60 million in seven contracts for public relations, digital advertising, campaign development and office furniture using Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Program funds. recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction of the island. Among the contracted companies are FPR for $37.5 million, the destination marketing organization

Discover Puerto Rico for $8 million and Tere Suárez for $5 million. The PDP legislative candidates said their analysis of the contracts shows that the companies are to carry out promotional, advertising and coordination of digital campaigns. “When we read the contracts we also see that personnel are subcontracted who will bill at the rate of $150 per hour. Furthermore, most of the contracts are for a few months,” López Arrieta said. “Today, the country is witnessing the lack of aid provided by the Department of Housing, which is responsible for managing these funds. They are the ones who can help hundreds of families who still suffer, who have needs. Single mothers, elderly people, boys and girls living under a blue awning. Faced with this scenario, the [Housing] Department’s response is to address issues related to promotion and advertising as a priority. This shows the inability of the government and how priorities are out of order.” Torres and López Arrieta demanded to know the result of the hiring and how it benefited Puerto Rico residents.

AAFAF issues latest gov’t liquidity report. Some agencies’ accounts increased By THE STAR STAFF

he Puerto Rico Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority (AAFAF by its Spanish initials) has published a liquidity report for August on more than a dozen commonwealth units and corporations. The report, published Thursday, summarizes financial information related to 15 component units through Aug. 28, including the actual operating liquidity for each entity as compared to the year-to-date (YTD) figures in the fiscal year (FY) 2021 liquidity plan. The Puerto Rico Ports Authority saw YTD liquidity decrease to $42.2 million from $50.1 million, partly due to high fixed operating expenses, a $6.1 million insur-

ance payment in August and the suspension of cruise operations. Cruise ship operations are not expected to return to meaningful levels until the third quarter of 2021, the report indicates. The Puerto Rico Public Buildings Authority (PBA) YTD liquidity decreased to $75.1 million from $77.9 million mostly because of PayGo or pension payments and purchased services. “These were partially offset by collections of approximately $8.8 million in FY20 pastdue rents,” the report says. The PBA estimates it will end FY 2021 with $85.7 million in liquidity, the document notes. The Puerto Rico Convention Center District Authority’s cash increased by $1.7 million to $15.9 million at the end of August, due to $5 million in appropriations received from the general fund to offset fourth quarter operating losses. Cash is expected to decline significantly over the fiscal year as a result of depressed operating receipts from event cancellations, the document says. The report also included financial information related to AAFAF, the Puerto Rico Integrated Transit Authority, the Medical Services Administration, the Puerto Rico Industrial Development Co., the Department of Economic

Development and Commerce, the State Insurance Fund Corp., the Health Insurance Administration, the Cardiovascular Center for Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, the Housing Finance Authority, the Puerto Rico Tourism Co., the Puerto Rico Administration for the Development of Agricultural Enterprises, and the Automobile Accident Compensation Administration.

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September 2-4, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

Justice refers Ceiba mayor to Special Independent Prosecutor Panel By THE STAR STAFF

he island Justice Department referred Ceiba Mayor Angelo Cruz Ramos to the Special Independent Prosecutor Panel (PFEI by its Spanish initials) on Thursday so that entity can investigate a complaint filed by the northeastern town’s municipal assembly that alleges possible illegal acts related to a domino tournament. The information about the referral was made public by the working group of the candidate for mayor of Ceiba for the New Progressive Party, Samuel Rivera, who defeated Cruz Ramos in the recent primary. The complaint alleges certain irregularities in the granting of municipal funds for a domino tournament, according to a written statement from the Justice Department. According to an official letter signed by Interim Justice Secretary Inés del C. Carrau Martínez, the Justice Department’s Division of Public Integrity and Comptroller’s Affairs evaluated all the evidence collected in the course of a preliminary investigation and in accordance with the provisions of the Article 4 (1) of Law No. 2 of Feb. 23, 1988, known as the Special Independent Prosecutor

Panel Law, the case was referred to the PFEI. The document from the Justice Department says that on Dec. 11, 2019, the Ceiba Municipal Assembly informed the department of certain irregularities committed by municipal officials, which included the mayor and the director of finance, Jorge Marcano Dipiní. The alleged irregularities refer to the granting of $3,000 to the Puerto Rico Domino Federation for a tournament that was to be held in Ceiba. Several municipal legislators argued that the donation was made without due process. As specified, for the month of November 2019, the municipal assembly did not approve an ordinance to grant the donation due to questions and lack of evidence to justify it. However, they were later informed that the donation was made through other means, which raised their suspicions regarding a violation of due process. The public information that emerged indicates that the mayor gave orders to the Finance Department to inflate an already approved contract for the town’s Christmas tree lighting event, and then divert the money to the domino tournament.

Ceiba Mayor Angelo Cruz Ramos

Vega Alta residents sue over deforestation at Cerro Gordo By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

ega Alta Mayor Oscar “Can” Santiago Martínez announced Thursday that citizens of the northern town filed a lawsuit on behalf of a citizen user of the public facilities at the Cerro Gordo Spa, which the municipality has joined, to request that the court stop the large-scale deforestation caused by a contractor paid by the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DNER) and Department of Recreation and Sports (DRD by its Spanish initials). Although it had originally been established that the Mississippi company DebrisTech was to be contracted to collect debris after Hurricane Maria three years ago and to prune or fell about 14 trees, according to data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the company destroyed hundreds of trees, including palm trees and grape trees, in the area of the spa, without the DNER or DRD having duly supervised any such action. DebrisTech’s actions at the spa -- which is known islandwide as a camping destination and also boasts an internationally recognized mountain biking trail -- have been called an “environmental massacre” by neighbors of Cerro Gordo and visitors to the area. In the lawsuit, led by attorney Pedro Ortiz Álvarez, the court is asked to immediately order the stoppage of the indiscriminate felling of vegetation and to start an orderly and complete reforestation of the area impacted and affected by the challenged actions of the defendants. In deciding whether to issue an interim injunction or

preliminary injunction, the court shall consider, among other factors, the following: (a) the nature of the damage to which the petitioning party is exposed; (b) the irreparability of the damage or the lack of an adequate remedy in law; (c) the probability that the promoting party will prevail; (d) the probability that the cause of action becomes academic; (e) the impact on the public interest of the remedy being requested; and (f) the diligence and good faith with which the petitioning party has acted. “The damages suffered and those that are being suffered as a consequence of the actions of the defendant are irreparable because, painfully, it is no longer possible to return this area of great tourist and sports value to its original state,”

Santiago Martínez said. “The trees that have been felled in the area were more than a decade old, as well as the vast majority of the trees and palms that still remain in the area, at the expense of the defendants approving and validating their logging under some assumptions [and/or] studies that no one has seen publicly.” Ortiz Álvarez said in the document submitted to the court that “we must remember that the legal regulations on natural resources and the environment have an unavoidable constitutional dimension, as detailed in the case of Mission Industrial versus the Environmental Quality Board (JCA) 145 DPR 908, 918 of the year 1998.” That case, which has had wide repercussions in the media due to its seriousness, is reminiscent of the widespread felling of trees carried out by the Department of Transportation and Public Works along the roads of Puerto Rico in 2019. “Unlike the trees that are along the roads, in the case of the Balneario de Cerro Gordo all this vegetation does not represent danger or obstruct the passage of anyone; on the contrary, it is a very important part of this natural tourist and sports complex,” said the mayor, who has been asking the central government to transfer the Cerro Gordo Spa facilities to the municipality for its administration and tourism development since the beginning of the current four-year term, as has happened in municipalities such as Toa Baja, Guánica and Luquillo. “The Senate has already approved a resolution by Senator Rossana López León to that effect, but the House of Representatives stopped it without any explanation. I assure you that had the municipality had ownership of [those] areas, this environmental massacre would never have occurred.”

The San Juan Daily Star

October 2-4, 2020

For voters still mulling, one thing is clear: That debate didn’t help By LISA LERER, JENNIFER MEDINA and KATIE GLUECK

“U

seless.” “Ridiculous.” “Horrible.” Undecided voters approached the first presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden with some hope of hearing policies and plans that could help them make a decision they had been mulling for months. Instead, they listened with a mix of disgust and dismay, appalled by the namecalling and lack of decorum of a debate that seemed to shatter any remaining belief that political norms might prevail in a national moment that is anything but normal. “They seemed like little kids arguing. Or maybe old guys arguing in a diner somewhere. Maybe that’s where they belong — in some diner arguing, not on the national stage,” said Ellen Christenson, 69, of Stevens Point, Wisconsin. “I am just so disappointed in the evening. I don’t have any more information than when I started watching.” Christenson said she leaned Democratic, but was undecided this election. Before the debate, she was considering voting for Trump. “It was really kind of useless to the American people. I am just sort of disgusted,” she said. “I don’t feel like voting for either of them really, but especially the president.” For voters battered by a public health crisis that has upended their lives for months and struggling through an economic recession, the debate seemed disconnected from their daily struggles. With hundreds of thousands of people applying for jobless benefits every week and more than 206,000 killed by the coronavirus, the debate became just one more stressor in a country already feeling on edge. A majority of Americans say they believe the nation’s politics are deeply dysfunctional, framing the election in starkly existential terms. Most say they think the contest will decide whether the United States will remain a prosperous democracy, a view that cuts across age, gender, race, region and ideology.

Tuesday night’s debate only exacerbated those fears. In the highest-profile moment of the highly charged campaign, the candidates presented insults and interruptions rather than plans to help a fearful and anxious country emerge from a period of national crisis. Neither man detailed proposals for managing a pandemic still roiling the economy, education and daily life. Trump left voters with little indication of what he might do if reelected beyond fiercely attack his opponents. And Biden, who often struggled to complete a sentence because of interruptions from his rival, didn’t dive into the specifics of his plans beyond promising a greater respect for scientists and public health experts. Tim Beck, 68, said he couldn’t sleep after watching the debate, saying the complete lack of decorum left him shaken and questioning his support of Trump. Beck, a retired insurance industry executive from Grand Junction, voted Libertarian in 2016 because he thought Trump “was just too whacked out.” But the past four years have converted Beck into a backer of Trump — until Tuesday night’s debate. Now, he’s taking a second look at the Libertarian candidate, Jo Jorgensen. “I’ve always been a conservative, but I have never seen such an appalling spectacle,” he said. “I have to try to transcend the personalities, like Trump’s nasty, narcissistic personality, and look at actual policies.” In Alliance, Ohio, where Biden spoke Wednesday as part of his whistle-stop train tour through the region, supporters of both presidential candidates lined up across from the train station, seeking to drown each other out with their chants. But at least a few of the Ohioans in attendance, from opposite sides of the aisle, were in agreement on the ugliness of the debate the night before. “Did you watch the thing last night?” demanded Joan Boyce, 82, when asked why she was backing Biden. “Then you know why.” Larry Johnson, 73, stood a few feet away, observing the most vocal Trump supporters. He, too, was disillusioned by the tenor of the debate, though he said he would probably support the president.

Supporters of Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, hold signs above the Cleveland Lakefront Amtrak Station as Biden departs on a train tour in Cleveland, Sept. 30, 2020. “Embarrassing for the country,” he said. “They were both rude.” Still, he shrugged, “Things have been rude forever.” Amid a deeply polarized electorate and with voting already underway in states across the country, undecided voters comprise only a small slice of the electorate. In a New York Times/Siena College survey released Sunday, just 10% of likely voters didn’t express a vote preference or said they favored a third-party candidate. Yet, even in the midst of the most extraordinary circumstances, successful presidential campaigns are always a balance of persuasion and mobilization. In swing states such as Arizona, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, where the contest is likely to come down to a couple of percentage points, there is a small number of critical voters yet to make up their minds. For Trump, who has trailed in polls for months, the matchup was his biggest opportunity to win back support in those crucial battleground states. The president has struggled to recapture parts of his 2016 coalition that have drifted away, particularly older voters and white women. The president struck an aggressive position, aiming to unnerve Biden and push a politician who has called himself a “gaffe machine” into a misstep.

Instead, Trump unsettled voters, including some who supported his outsider candidacy four years ago. “Almost every word that came out his mouth made me cringe,” said Robert Adshead, 62, a criminal defense lawyer and registered Republican from Abington, Pennsylvania. “I was shocked at his behavior.” Trump interrupted 741 times, according to the online tracker Factbase feed, striking a combative position even with Chris Wallace, the moderator of the event. He attacked Biden’s son Hunter in deeply personal terms by raising his struggles with drug addiction. The president’s effort to play offense quickly became offensive, said Adshead, who voted for Trump in 2016 but after watching the debate said he had firmly decided to vote for a Democratic presidential candidate for the first time in his life. Some of the voters who are sticking with the president were also displeased. “Trump could have taken the high road and not brought up Hunter Biden’s addiction,” said Dyann Harp, 64, a nurse from Waukesha, Wisconsin, who says she is a longtime Republican and supports Trump. Biden, said Harp, handled the personal attack “as well as any parent could have.”

The San Juan Daily Star

October 2-4, 2020

New York becomes the first big city to reopen all its schools By ELIZA SHAPIRO

ewYork City has now reopened all its public schools in a milestone for the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recovery from its position as the global epicenter of the pandemic and a hopeful sign for the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unsteady effort to return children to classrooms. Middle and high school students were welcomed to school buildings on Thursday, following elementary school children who had started earlier this week. About half a million students, from 3-yearolds in pre-K programs to high school seniors, have returned to school for the first time since March. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m glad they are back,â&#x20AC;? Judy Spain, a cook at Bedford Academy High School in Brooklyn, said on Thursday. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They need to be back. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been missing the school environment, socializing. Being in the house is not good for them. They need to be around kids their own age.â&#x20AC;? Roughly another 480,000 children have opted to start the school year remote-only, an indication of how wary many New Yorkers are of sending their children back to classrooms in a city that still fears a second wave of the virus. Despite considerable political opposition to reopening and significant planning problems that forced Mayor Bill de Blasio to twice delay the start of in-person classes, New York, which has by far the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest school system, is now the only large district in the country that has reopened all its schools. Some other big districts are not far behind, though they have faced their own challenges. Schools in Miami-Dade are set to reopen on Monday, at the order of the Florida state education commissioner, despite the strong opposition of the teachersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; union. And school leaders in Houston,

Washington, D.C., and San Diego are planning on bringing at least some students back into classrooms later this month. But over the summer, many districts across the country abandoned plans to offer in-person instruction as the virus surged in many states and reopening became a deeply partisan political issue â&#x20AC;&#x201D; in part because President Donald Trump put schools at the center of his push to reopen the country. New Yorkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reopening effort has been plagued by political issues and logistical concerns from the moment de Blasio announced in July that schools would reopen on a hybrid basis, with children reporting to school one to three days a week to allow for social distancing. The United Federation of Teachers, the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s powerful teachersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; union, soon began raising alarms about the need for safety measures, including upgraded ventilation systems in classrooms and a more robust testing program in schools. At several points throughout the summer, the teachersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; union declared that the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s roughly 1,400 school buildings were not ready to reopen and demanded that the mayor push back the start date. And at one point in mid-September, the unions representing both teachers and principals delivered an urgent warning: If the mayor reopened schools as scheduled, they said, children would report to classrooms without teachers, because of a huge staffing shortage. By the time de Blasio delayed the start of in-person instruction for the second time in midSeptember, some parents and educators were publicly questioning whether classrooms would open at all or if the mayor would revert to all-remote instruction. Earlier this week, the union representing city principals said its members had lost confidence

Students had their temperatures checked as they arrived for sixth grade in Queens on Thursday. in de Blasioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ability to reopen schools and called on the state to take over the effort. Still, de Blasio forged ahead, arguing that reopening schools was a moral imperative. Students in pre-K classes and children with advanced disabilities returned to classrooms last week. Speaking at a news conference Wednesday, the mayor said his visit to an elementary school earlier this week affirmed his view that schools should reopen. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We saw a lot of adults with tears in their eyes too, tears of joy that they could see the kids they love again,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Seeing everyone reunited was really, really powerful.â&#x20AC;? Now, after months of tumult and considerable backlash from educators and parents, de Blasio is the only big-city mayor to have succeeded in fully reopening a school system. But getting children back into classrooms

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does not mean that school reopening has worked. The city still faces myriad challenges. It is unclear how educationally effective hybrid learning really is; some students will report to classrooms just one day a week and learn at home the rest of the time without any live instruction from their teachers, and others will learn remotely even from school buildings. The Department of Education has not said how it will ensure that children are making progress despite their disruptive school schedules. Some children will not get any in-person instruction even under the new system: Some high schools have asked students to stay at home if they are able, in order for the schools to offer a full schedule remotely without having to double their teaching staffs. And some children still do not have devices or internet access to log on for remote classes. There are also pressing safety questions. The city, which has lost more than 20,000 New Yorkers to the virus, saw its test positivity rate increase earlier this week to just over 3% before falling again; de Blasio has said he will automatically close the entire public school system if the rate reaches 3% over a seven-day rolling average. Experts also widely predict that many classrooms and some school buildings will close in the coming days and weeks as children and teachers test positive. Schools will temporarily close if there are at least two confirmed cases in separate classrooms. Some closures are to be expected and are not necessarily cause for alarm, public health officials have said, but the entire system could shut down if significant outbreaks are detected.

The San Juan Daily Star

October 2-4, 2020

The Army rolls out a new weapon: strategic napping By DAVE PHILLIPS

urns out Beetle Bailey had it right all along. The loafing comic-strip Army private has been sleeping on duty for 70 years, to the frequent fury of his platoon sergeant. But Wednesday, the Army released new guidelines for optimal soldier performance — and they include strategic and aggressive napping. The recommendation is part of an overhaul of the Army’s physical fitness training field manual, which was rebranded this week as the FM 7-22 Holistic Health and Fitness manual. No longer is the guide focused entirely on grueling physical challenges like long ruck marches and pull-ups. Now it has chapters on setting goals, visualizing success, “spiritual readiness” and, yes, the art of the nap. “Soldiers can use short, infrequent naps to restore wakefulness and promote performance,” the new manual advises. “When routinely available sleep time is difficult to predict, soldiers might take the longest nap possible as frequently as time is available.” It is the first update to the manual in eight years, and it reflects growing scientific evidence

that peak physical performance includes more than just physical training. “The goal of the Holistic Health and Fitness System is to build physical lethality and mental toughness to win quickly and return home healthy,” the introduction tells readers. The manual also has updates on running techniques to avoid injury, and a section on the importance of spirituality, with entries on meditation, journaling and how the “act of serving others” helps some soldiers realize the “interconnectedness of all things and people.” That is a conversation that Private Bailey never had with Sarge. To promote good sleep, the manual warns soldiers to avoid video games, texting and other screen activity before bed, and recommends winding down by “listening to soothing music, reading, or taking a warm shower or bath” instead. It also says to avoid alcohol before sleep. The new guidance comes as the military has become increasingly aware that chronic sleep deprivation during missions can cripple decision-making and lead to disaster. The Navy recently overhauled sleep schedules at sea after determining that fatigue was a factor in two fatal

warship collisions. During deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, commanders often failed to prioritize sleep. Changing schedules, long duty shifts and overnight missions led to chronic fatigue that fueled a voracious dependency on energy drinks, which left many troops feeling frazzled. Army research found that soldiers who guzzled energy drinks had higher levels of mental health problems, which can make it harder to deal with the stresses of missions. “The Army has always had an internal dynamic that real men don’t need sleep and can just push on, and it’s incredibly stupid,” said Lt. Gen. David Barno, who was commander of combined forces in Afghanistan from 2003 to 2005. “Combat is a thinking man’s business, and your brain doesn’t function without sleep.” Barno said he worked hard to “protect eight hours of sleep a night” while deployed and found that it gave him a clearheaded advantage to accomplish his mission. Putting that practice in official doctrine, he said, will help put old beliefs that sleep is a luxury to rest. “The Army is on to something here,” said

Phillip Carter, a former soldier who served during the Iraq War and now teaches veterans’ policy at Georgetown University. “The old manual looked like something out of a gym class from the 1960s. There was lots of jumping jacks and wind sprints. It wasn’t keeping pace about what we knew about combat. The truth is, we know sleep is critical to better decision-making.” The military’s interest in holistic health began years ago in elite Special Operations units, which brought in trainers, dietitians and wellness coaches and treated operators like elite athletes. The shift to a broad approach to fitness that includes sustainable exercise, better recovery and proper sleep and nutrition could have big payoffs in the wider military, Carter said, both in terms of lifelong well-being and in monetary savings for the taxpayer. Worn-out knees, injured backs and other musculoskeletal injuries are the leading reasons that troops receive disability payments after leaving the military. “The government is spending billions of dollars a year to compensate troops for breaking them in service,” Carter said. “If it’s just a little bit better, it could be a huge difference.”

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October 2-4, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

House reports push for more focus on China by Intelligence agencies The House Intelligence Committee report, primarily the work of the panel’s Democratic majority, calls for a “signifihe United States could fall behind cant realignment of resources” to help in its global competition with China without additional resouthe United States compete with China. The report calls for a broader look at narces to develop better intelligence on tional security threats, including climate the Chinese government, and spy agencies must focus more on the challenge change and pandemics, while trying to collect intelligence on China. of pandemics and trade, according to a report by the Democrats on the House “Absent a significant and immediate reprioritization and realignment Intelligence Committee released Wednesday. of resources, we will be ill-prepared to The warnings in the report, the compete with China — diplomatically, result of a classified two-year study of economically and militarily — on the U.S. intelligence agencies’ work, were global stage for decades to come,” said similar to the conclusions of a RepubliRep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., chair of the committee. “The good news is that we still have time to adapt.” China has been a growing challenge for the United States. President Donald Trump has said without evidence that the coronavirus pandemic originated at a Chinese laboratory, a conclusion the intelligence community has not backed up. China has also been accused by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence of stepping up its efforts to interfere in the November election. The House report recommends a broader approach for the role of intelligence in the U.S. government, saying agencies’ insights need to be accessible to agencies outside the traditional confines of the national security establishment, like the Commerce Department and public health agencies. The Great Hall of the People in Beijing. A House Intelligence Committee report The report also highlights the chacalls for a “significant realignment of resources” to help the United States compete llenges laid bare by the pandemic and with China. discusses tensions between Beijing By JULIAN E. BARNES

can study on China also released Wednesday. While that report, by a task force of House Republican lawmakers, has a wider focus, it too called for a more aggressive stance toward China and better defenses against Chinese theft of intellectual property and efforts to influence U.S. politics. While there is a bipartisan consensus on China, the failure of Democrats and Republicans in the House to work together on the issue was another sign of the partisan dysfunction that has gripped Washington and that could be a hurdle to revising American policy on China despite the agreement.

and local government that hampered China’s initial understanding of it. The report says the emergence of the pandemic highlights the “continued potential for devastating and destabilizing global events originating in China.” “The stakes are high. If the I.C. does not accurately characterize and contextualize Beijing’s intent, America’s leaders will fail to understand the factors that motivate Chinese decision-making,” the report said, using an abbreviation for the intelligence community. Like the intelligence report, the Republicans’ China task force report looks at national security issues and China’s bid to dominate emerging technologies like quantum computing and artificial intelligence. But it also looks more broadly at China’s theft of American secrets and competition in key industries, and calls for a tougher attitude toward Beijing’s human rights violations against the Uighur minority, the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong and its poor environmental record. The Republican report covers a variety of industries and technologies, including next-generation mobile communications. But it also looks at some areas, like space launches, that have been less of a focus of the Trump administration. One key finding of the report is that the United States must watch investment by China in privately held space companies to ensure Beijing cannot steal technologies or other intellectual property being developed by the United States.

The San Juan Daily Star

October 2-4, 2020

In U.S.-China tech feud, Taiwan feels heat from both sides By RAYMOND ZHONG

he United States and China are wrestling to lead the world in artificial intelligence, 5G wireless and other cutting-edge technologies. But the real wizardry that makes those advancements possible is being performed on a yam-shaped island that sits between them, geographically and politically. On Taiwan’s southern rim, inside an arena-size facility stretched out among lush greenery and coconut palms, colossal machines are manipulating matter at unimaginably tiny scale. A powerful laser vaporizes droplets of molten tin, causing them to emit ultraviolet light. Mirrors focus the light into a beam, which draws features into a silicon wafer with the precision, as one researcher put it, “equivalent to shooting an arrow from Earth to hit an apple placed on the moon.” The high-performance computer chips that emerge from this process go into the brains of the latest tech products from both sides of the Pacific. Or at least they did until last month, when the Trump administration effectively forced leading chipmakers in Taiwan — and elsewhere — to stop taking orders from China’s proudest tech champion, 5G giant Huawei. The administration’s stranglehold on Huawei shows that for all of China’s economic progress, the United States still has final say over the technologies without which the modern world could not run. Chipmaking relies on U.S. tools and know-how, which gives officials in Washington the power of life and death over semiconductor buyers and suppliers anywhere on the planet. Next in the firing line is China’s most advanced chip producer, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation. The U.S. Department of Commerce told U.S. companies last week that they needed permission to export to SMIC, saying its chips could be used by China’s military. If the administration blocks SMIC from using U.S. software and equipment entirely, it will sharply set back Beijing’s hopes for meeting more of its own semiconductor needs. That leaves Taiwanese chip companies — including the industry’s leading light, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which owns the Tainan plant — in a tough spot. They are forced to heed the dictates of U.S. tech policy. Yet they can scarcely ignore the fact that so many of their customers and their customers’ customers are in China, where the Communist government is also threatening Taiwan with ever bolder displays of military force. China has for decades claimed the self-governing democracy as part of its territory. In the high-stakes tech fight, TSMC had been playing Finland: a sometime friend to both feuding giants. But that is not the way the tech world works anymore. “China has virtually no room for maneuver,” said

People in Taiwan have a rhyme about TSMC’s workers: Shift by shift, they are saving Taiwan. Pierre Ferragu, the head of technology research at New Street Research. “The U.S. definitely has the upper hand in the struggle.” Tensions in the Taiwan Strait are rising more broadly this year. The Trump administration has stepped up official exchanges with Taiwan ever since its president, Tsai Ingwen, won reelection in January over an opponent who was friendlier to Beijing. In response, Chinese aircraft and warships have menaced the island with growing frequency. When a State Department representative, Keith Krach, visited Taiwan recently, Tsai feted him at a banquet alongside a bevy of government dignitaries and TSMC’s retired founder, Morris Chang, a nod to the company’s significance to Taiwan’s relations with the United States. U.S. officials have taken a great interest in TSMC, whose advanced chips are used in fighter jets and other hardware critical to America’s military edge. The company said this year that it would build a new factory in Arizona, responding to U.S. concerns about overreliance on offshore production. Now, the Trump administration’s campaign against Huawei has forced TSMC to turn against one of its biggest customers. With the two companies unable to work together without licenses, Huawei may find itself unable to make its late-model handsets, an important chunk of its business, once it uses up its chip inventory. “I don’t think Huawei has much of a future unless they can find some way to get their suppliers to get export licenses,” said Matt Bryson, an analyst with Wedbush Securities. One of Huawei’s deputy chairmen, Guo Ping, said last week that the company was assessing its options. “Survival is our main goal,” Guo said in Shanghai. “As Alexandre Dumas once said, all of human wisdom is summed up in two words: wait and hope.” TSMC executives sound confident that Huawei’s

plight will not dent it much. If Huawei cannot order chips from the company, then its rivals will instead. Mark Liu, TSMC’s chairman, said at an industry conference last week that Taiwan would continue improving its technology so U.S. and Chinese companies had no choice but to keep working with the island. “We are enjoying the success of the past,” Liu said. But for the future, “we cannot stay where we used to be before.” TSMC could still get caught in the middle, though, if the U.S. government’s continuing attacks prompt Beijing to strike back. A full-blown clampdown on sales to SMIC could increase the risk of Chinese retaliation “really significantly,” said Ferragu of New Street Research. Countermeasures that Beijing might once have considered too self-defeating — such as choking off Qualcomm’s or Apple’s sales in China, effectively depriving Chinese citizens of most high-end smartphones — could start to seem more acceptable. “At this point, it’s really a game of poker,” Ferragu said. Apple and Qualcomm are both TSMC customers. So what happens if China stops needing TSMC as much as it does now? This could happen naturally. TSMC is working at the frontiers of physics to continue doubling the number of transistors it can fit onto a piece of silicon. That principle, known as Moore’s Law, has guided semiconductor development for decades. Not all tech products today need the most advanced chips, though. Some work best by packaging highend processors with less sophisticated ones. Simple “internet of things” devices do just fine with simpler chips. “The way we design chips is changing. It just has to,” said Jay Goldberg, a tech industry consultant and former Qualcomm executive. “Moore’s Law is slowing, and we’re just having to design chips in a way to accommodate that.” A TSMC spokeswoman, Nina Kao, said demand for the company’s latest production processes was “stronger than ever.” China could also lessen its dependence on Taiwan by getting better at making chips itself. Beijing last year created a $30 billion fund for investing in chip projects. In recent months, thousands of Chinese companies have said they are getting into the semiconductor business, according to an analysis by the 21st Century Business Herald, a government-owned newspaper. China is trying to poach more Taiwanese talent for the task. Dozens of former TSMC managers and engineers joined two ambitious Chinese chip projects last year, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Kao of TSMC said recent turnover was less than 5%, which the company considered a healthy level.

The San Juan Daily Star

October 2-4, 2020

Tokyo stock market halts trading, citing glitch

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he Tokyo Stock Exchange shut down for the day Thursday as its operator raced to solve a technical glitch that halted equities trading throughout the world’s third-largest economy. The breakdown is the worst ever for one of the globe’s biggest platforms to buy and trade stocks, bewildering investors who were unable to place orders. While the exchange has experienced outages in the past, none had stopped trading for a whole day. The outage could have significant cost to investors, depending on how long it lasts. The shutdown stemmed from a problem in a system that reports market information, Japan Exchange Group, the company that operates the system, said in a statement on its website. The glitch first became apparent Thursday morning in Tokyo, before trading began, postponing the beginning of the session. At about noon, the company announced that trading would be stopped for the entire day. The company offered its “deepest apologies” to investors and others affected by the shutdown, but did not give details about the cause and said it did not know when the problem would be resolved. Trading was also halted at exchanges in Nagoya, Sapporo and Fukuoka, the companies running them said. After-hours trading on the markets was also stopped. Trading in Japan’s second-largest exchange, in Osaka, appeared to be unaffected. Over 3,700 companies are listed in Tokyo. Speaking during a regularly scheduled news conference Thursday, Japan’s top government spokesperson, Katsunobu Kato, called the breakdown “very regrettable” and said that the exchange was taking “actions to identify the cause of the problem and restore it.” He said that there was no indication that the shutdown had been caused by a cyberattack, but added that “at this point, we can’t say for certain.” Earlier this year, a distributed denialof-service attack disrupted trading on New Zealand’s stock exchange, raising concerns about the vulnerabilities of global stock markets to threats from hackers. As of December, the Japan Exchange Group ran the world’s third-largest equity market, behind the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, with nearly $6.2 trillion worth of

stocks, according to the World Federation of Exchanges. It had more listed companies than any other exchange, the group said. Thursday’s breakdown effectively halted all trading in the region. Japan was the only major market expected to open, with exchanges in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea closed for autumn holidays. The shutdown was a headache for investors who had been awaiting the release of a quarterly report from the Bank of Japan that tracks economic sentiment among the country’s companies. The report showed cautious optimism among firms adjusting to a future in which economic activity will most likely continue to be limited by restrictions on work and life imposed by the coronavirus. Stocks in Tokyo crashed in March because of investors’ fears about the pandemic’s economic effects. Prices have recovered in the months since, with investors flooding into companies, such as pharmaceutical firms, expected to benefit from the global fight against the virus. It is currently down more than 5% since the beginning of the year. The Tokyo Stock Exchange introduced its current market data system in 2010 and upgraded it in November 2019. The system, known as Arrowhead, was developed by Japan’s Fujitsu Limited. Japan has faced similar problems over the years, with system glitches occasionally stopping some trading for brief periods. The last systemwide shutdown was in 2005, when a software upgrade malfunctioned, shutting the market down for half a day. Malfunctions are not limited to Japan. In 2015, a technical issue shut down the New York Stock Exchange for nearly four hours. In 2013, a “flash freeze” halted trading on Nasdaq.

Trading was halted Thursday at Japanese exchanges in Nagoya, Sapporo and Fukuoka as well as Tokyo, but trading in Osaka appeared to be unaffected.

The San Juan Daily Star

October 2-4, 2020

13 Stocks

Wall Street rises on stimulus bets as economic recovery cools

all Street’s main indexes rose on the first day of the fourth quarter on Thursday as investors bet in favor of more fiscal stimulus after data showed the pace of a domestic economic rebound was slowing. Nine of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher, although gains were led by real estate .SPLRCR and utilities .SPLRCU, pointing to a broader risk-off mood. The consumer discretionary index .SPLRCD, which houses Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O, and the information technology sector .SPLRCT also gained as investors flocked to stocks considered relatively safe during heightened economic uncertainty. “Markets are fairly optimistic this morning about the potential for that stimulus package,” said Chad Oviatt, director of investment management for Huntington Private Bank in Columbus, Ohio. “They are looking for a deal to be done (but) the question becomes, is it just posturing or there is actually a deal in the works?” Aggressive monetary and fiscal stimulus partly powered a Wall Street rebound since a coronavirusdriven crash in March, but the S&P 500 posted monthly declines in September as economic data pointed at a long road to pre-pandemic levels. Data on Thursday showed weekly jobless claims remained at recession levels, while personal income dropped in August, underscoring the need for another government rescue package for businesses and the unemployed. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin were expected to try again on Thursday to reach a deal on COVID-19 relief legislation. Pelosi said she believed Democratic lawmakers and the White House were close to agreeing on the size of a bill. Shares of major U.S. airlines .DJUSAR headed higher as White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the Trump administration was open to standalone legislation to help the industry ride out the recession. With the presidential election now less than five weeks away, analysts have warned of higher volatility over the next few weeks. “Volatility is going to come back in a big way, as opposed to the second quarter, when we were able to just forget everything and pile money into the market,” said Kim Forrest, chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners in Pittsburgh. At 12:49 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was up 0.51%, the S&P 500 .SPX was up 0.62% and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was up 1.08%. Exxon Mobil Corp XOM.N slipped 3.4% after it signaled a bigger-than-expected loss in the third quarter as the U.S. oil major struggles to cope with the effects of a pandemic-driven downturn in the energy industry.

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October 2-4, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

Russian opposition leader Navalny says Putin is behind his poisoning

“Basically, I’m something of a guinea pig,” Aleksei Navalny told Der Spiegel. “There aren’t that many people you can watch living after being poisoned with a nerve agent.” By CHRISTOPHER F. SCHUETZE and MEGAN SPECIA

lexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition leader, who was poisoned in August in Siberia, says he has no doubt that President Vladimir Putin was behind the attack. In his first full interview since being released from the hospital, Navalny said that the use of a closely held, military-grade nerve agent in the attack was convincing evidence that it had been ordered at the highest level of Russia’s security or intelligence services. “Putin is behind the crime,” he told the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel in an interview published on Thursday. “I have no other versions

of the crime. I am not saying this to flatter myself, but on the basis of facts.” Navalny has been recuperating in a Berlin hospital since he was flown to Germany after the poisoning. Although he became ill and collapsed on a domestic flight in Russia, he and his team believe that he was poisoned in his hotel room in the city of Omsk, in Siberia. He was discharged from a German hospital last week after 32 days, many of them in a medically induced coma. Initially, Navalny was treated for two days at a hospital in Tomsk, Russia, where doctors offered a variety of diagnoses — none of them poisoning with a nerve agent from the Novichok family, as German military investigators determined — and claimed that he was too sick to be moved.

The opposition leader called that a ruse and said that the Russians had initially been determined not to let him leave the country. “They were waiting for me to die,” he said. While Moscow has maintained that it played no role in the poisoning, Navalny would not be the first Kremlin adversary to be attacked with Novichok. A former Russian spy, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia were poisoned by the same class of toxin in Salisbury, England, in 2018, touching off a crisis in relations between the countries. Navalny said he hoped his recovery would be helpful in understanding the nerve agent. “The Russian leadership has developed such an inclination to poison that it will not stop so soon,” he said. “My medical history will yet become instructive.” The Novichok family of nerve agents was developed in the Soviet Union and Russia in the 1980s and ’90s, and can be delivered as a liquid, powder or aerosol. The chemical is said to be more lethal than other well-known nerve agents. The poison causes muscle spasms that can stop the heart, cause fluid buildup in the lungs that can also be deadly, and damage other organs and nerve cells. Russia has produced several versions of Novichok, and it is anyone’s guess how often they have been used, experts say, because the resulting deaths can easily escape scrutiny, appearing like nothing more sinister than a fatal heart attack. “The doctors say I can recover 90%, maybe even 100%, but nobody really knows,” Navalny told Der Spiegel. “Basically, I’m something of a guinea pig — there aren’t that many people you can watch living after being poisoned with a nerve agent.” Navalny said he had long known that he

could be subjected to arrest, beatings or even a targeted killing as a prominent opposition figure, but said he would never have suspected an attack with a chemical weapon like Novichok, since they are typically “reserved for secret service agents.” “Nobody expected a nerve agent. I could hardly believe it myself. It’s like dropping a nuclear bomb on a person,” he said. “There are a million more effective methods.” Navalny also described instantly suspecting that he had been poisoned when he began feeling ill on the flight, and lying down on the floor of the aircraft, convinced it was the end. “I know that I am dead,” he said. “Only it turned out later that I was wrong.” He also shed light on what his life has been like since being released from the hospital in Germany, and described his daily routine as “monotonous.” “I train every day — otherwise I do nothing,” he said. “In the morning I walk in the park — that is my job — then I do exercises with the doctor. In the evening, I walk again. During the day, I try to work on the computer.” Navalny said that he intended to return to Russia as soon as his health improves, because not returning would signal a victory for Putin. He also vowed to continue traveling throughout Russia and staying in hotels, despite fears for his life. “They will use more sophisticated methods against us, and we will try to survive,” he said of himself and others who oppose Putin’s government. When his interviewer noted that his hand was shaking as he poured a glass of water, he said the trembling was “not from fear,” but rather a result of the chemical agent. “My task now is to remain the guy who is not afraid,” Navalny said. “And I am not afraid!”

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EU begins legal action over U.K. Brexit plan By STEPHEN CASTLE and STEVEN ERLANGER

the two, allowing for the free movement of goods and people. Sections of a proposed law being he European Commission annou- considered by the British Parliament, nced Thursday that it was pressing known as the United Kingdom internal ahead with legal action against market bill, would override that withdrawal Britain over Brexit legislation that the agreement by allowing British ministers to government in London has said would take key decisions on Northern Irish trade permit it to break international law. unilaterally, rather than through a process The commission, the European involving Brussels. Union’s administrative arm, gave Britain Despite Thursday’s move, talks on a an ultimatum last month, threatening to trade agreement between Britain and the take it to court unless it dropped plans to European Union are still underway. If those override parts of an agreement on with- are successful, they could resolve many of drawal from the bloc that Prime Minister the points at the center of the legal action Boris Johnson struck last year. and pave the way for a compromise. With the deadline having expired, The standoff comes less than 100 the commission said in a statement that it days before Britain is scheduled to leave had sent the British government “a letter of the European Union’s trade zone. Britain formal notice for breaching its obligations formally quit the bloc Jan. 31 but remains under the Withdrawal Agreement.” under its economic rule book until the Britain has 30 days to respond, and end of this year. any legal action could take months to Maros Sefcovic, a vice president of unfold. That gives the two sides the op- the European Commission, warned this portunity to resolve their standoff if they week that Brussels would not hesitate can strike a deal in wider Brexit talks on to use legal remedies in the withdrawal a trade agreement. agreement against Britain if it refused to At the heart of the dispute are parts drop the contentious legislation. of the withdrawal agreement designed to On Thursday, the commission’s prevent the creation of a “hard border” president, Ursula von der Leyen, said that between Northern Ireland, which is part Britain’s legislation was a “full contradicof the United Kingdom, and Ireland, which tion” of previous commitments over how a will remain in the European Union. There hard border in Ireland should be avoided. The British government said it would are currently no border controls between respond later to the EU move. “We have clearly set out our reasons for introducing the measures,” it said in a statement. “ We need to create a legal safety net to protect the integrity of the U.K.’s internal market, ensure ministers can always deliver on their obligations to Northern Supporters of Brexit outside 10 Downing Street, the resi- Ireland and protect the gains from the dence of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in London, Jan. peace process.” 31, 2020.

October 2-4, 2020

France’s colonial legacy is being judged in trial over African art By CONSTANT MÉHEUT and ANTONELLA FRANCINI

earing a long, white tunic with the names of two African ethnic groups written on it, the defendant stepped forward to the bar, took a breath, and launched into a plea. “No one has sought to find out what harm has been done to Africa,” said the defendant, Mwazulu Diyabanza, a Congo-born 41-year-old activist and spokesman for a PanAfrican movement that denounces colonialism and cultural expropriation. Diyabanza, along with four associates, stood accused of attempting to steal a 19th-century African funeral pole from the Quai Branly Museum in Paris in mid-June, as part of an action to protest colonial-era cultural theft and seek reparations. But it was Wednesday’s emotionally charged trial that gave real resonance to Diyabanza’s struggle, as a symbolic defendant was called to the stand: France, and its colonial track record. The presiding judge in charge of the case acknowledged the two trials: One, judging the group, four men and a woman, on a charge of attempted theft for which they could face up to 10 years in prison and fines of about $173,000. “And another trial, that of the history of Europe, of

“No one has sought to find out what harm has been done to Africa,” Mwazulu Diyabanza, an activist, said in court on Wednesday. He and four associates are on trial in the attempted theft of an African object from the Quai Branly Museum.

France with Africa, the trial of colonialism, the trial of the misappropriation of the cultural heritage of nations,” the judge told the court, adding that such was a “citizen’s trial, not a judicial one.” The political and historical ramifications were hard to avoid. France’s vast trove of African heritage — it is estimated that some 90,000 sub-Saharan African cultural objects are held in French museums — was largely acquired under colonial times, and many of these artworks were looted or acquired under dubious circumstances. That has put France at the center of a debate on the restitution of colonial-era holdings to their countries of origin. Unlike in Germany, where this debate has been welcomed by both the government and museums, France has struggled to offer a consistent response, just as the country is facing a difficult reckoning with its past. “Our act aimed to erase the acts of indignity and disrespect of those who plundered our homes,” Diyabanza said. The restitution debate came to a head in France when President Emmanuel Macron promised in 2017 to give back much of Africa’s heritage held by French museums. He later commissioned a report that identified about two-thirds of the 70,000 objects at the Quai Branly Museum as qualifying for restitution. But in the two years following the report, only 27 restitutions have been announced and only one object, a traditional sword, has been returned — to Senegal, in November 2019. The remaining 26 treasures that were designated for restitution, to Benin, are still in the Quai Branly Museum. And the bill supporting these exceptional, or case-bycase, restitutions has yet to be voted on. Calvin Job, the lawyer for three of the defendants, said in court that the bill, by focusing on exceptional rather than regular restitutions, reflected “a desire not to settle the issue.” “We should enshrine the principle of restitution in the code of law,” Job said. Given what they perceive as hurdles, activists from Diyabanza’s Pan-African movement have staged operations similar to that in Paris at African art museums in the Southern French city of Marseille and in Berg en Dal, in the Netherlands.

At times, these actions have epitomized growing identity-related claims, coming from French citizens of African descent living in a country where a racial awakening has started to take place in recent months. “We have young people who have an identity problem,” Job said in an interview, “who, faced with a lack of action, a lack of political will, have found it legitimate to do the work that others don’t.” Speaking to the judge, Julie Djaka, a 34-year-old defendant who grew up in a Congolese family, said: “For you, these are works. For us, these are entities, ritual objects that maintained the order at home, in our villages in Africa, that enabled us to do justice.” Marie-Cécile Zinsou, the president of the Zinsou Art Foundation in Benin and the daughter of a former prime minister of Benin, said that, although she did not share the activists’ methods, she understands “why they exist.” “We cannot be ignored and looked upon down all the time,” she said. “In France, there’s a post-colonial view on the African continent,” Zinsou added, saying that some prominent French cultural figures still doubted that African countries could preserve artworks. Such grievances on France’s post-colonial legacy were in full play Wednesday at the trial as a small crowd of about 50 people, most Pan-African movement activists, were barred from entering the courtroom by the police because of concerns about the coronavirus and because some feared that their presence could disrupt the trial. Activists shouted “band of thieves” and “slavers” at the police officers cordoning off the entrance to the courtroom and they chanted, “Give us back our artwork!” Prosecutors on Wednesday asked that a fine of 1,000 euros (about $1,200) be levied against Diyabanza and a suspended 500-euro fine be levied against his associates. A verdict is expected Oct. 14. Activists in front of the courtroom Wednesday welcomed the recommended sentences, which they found modest, as a collective victory. “We all are defendants here; all of us should normally be at the stand today,” said Laetitia Babin, a 45-year-old social worker born in Congo, who had arrived from Belgium in the morning to attend the trial. “It’s not up to them to decide how artworks are returned to us, it’s up to us,” she said.

The San Juan Daily Star

October 2-4, 2020

The Carnival parade is canceled, and Rio is reeling By MANUELA ANDREONI and ERNESTO LONDOÑO

or more than a century, Rio de Janeiro’s carnival has been an irrepressible force, unstoppable by wars, disease, labor strikes or political repression. Raucous celebrations took over city streets despite the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, during both World Wars and through Brazil’s military dictatorship. Glitter flew, hips swayed and drummers pounded in 2008, despite a dengue outbreak that sickened more than 200,000 in the state. Even in 2014, when trash collectors struck, the revelry continued amid the filth. “Carnival is effectively uncontrollable,” said Felipe Ferreira, a researcher at Rio de Janeiro State University who has studied the evolution of the city’s world renowned festival. “It’s a time when people seize the streets.” But now, amid the pandemic, the official carnival parade has been suspended, indefinitely. Rio is reeling. “I want this moment to come, this moment when we will celebrate life that defeats death, when we will reunite, gather,” said Vieira, artistic director of Estação Primeira de Mangueira, one of Rio’s most traditional samba groups. “But this moment is not possible yet.” Faced with a pandemic that has killed more than 142,000 people — a toll second only to the United States — a deep economic crisis, and a president whose inner circle is engulfed in a growing number of criminal and legislative investigations, Rio residents are being deprived of the moment of catharsis many look forward to year-round. The organizers of the parade decided, for the first time since 1932, when Rio’s samba parade became official, to suspend it, depriving the city of an important source of revenue and its citizens of performances that often deliver skewering political commentary. The heads of the city’s leading samba organizations found that without a vaccine, conditions would not be safe. For the mighty army of dancers, choreographers, costume makers and set

Wagner Goncalves, artistic director of Estacio de Sa, one of the oldest samba groups in Rio de Janeiro, in front of a float from the previous carnival, Sept., 28. 2020. Wars, disease and political turmoil have never prevented Rio de Janeiro from putting on its famous carnival, but now, the coronavirus pandemic has forced a suspension of the annual parade, at great cost to the city and its residents. designers who band together to produce the dazzling costumes and floats, the loss is personal and financial. “I feel like crying, seeing they haven’t started the work of building the floats,” said Nicilda da Silva, 80, who was elected queen of the Porto da Pedra samba group this year and helps plan their parade. “But our hands are tied.” With the official parade postponed indefinitely, it is unclear if — and how — Rio residents will celebrate come February, when the festivities are scheduled. Carnival also draws out hundreds of mobile and often spontaneous street parties, or blocos, that roam the city, playing their own songs or traditional carnival tunes and drawing thousands of revelers in their wake. Rio’s 2021 carnival is expected to be radically different, and likely smaller, than any in recent memory — an incalculable loss, said Lauane Martorelli, a seamstress who has made carnival costumes for performances in the Sambódromo, the official venue for parades, for 13 years. The months leading up to the party are the time when people from all walks of life gather in large warehouses

to build elaborate floats mounted on trucks, try on costumes and rehearse choreographies. “These are spaces in which everyone becomes equal,” she said. “Blacks, gays, evangelical, everyone works under the same roof.” This year, Martorelli has kept her sewing machine buzzing, but instead of the lavish dresses and outfits that have become a family specialty, she and her relatives have stitched together more than 10,000 face masks. The pandemic has been devastating for the family. The virus killed her stepfather, who was the household’s main breadwinner. And selling masks instead of costumes has meant earning

about 30% of what they do in a regular year, she said. Part of the tragedy, said Martorelli, 29, is sparing politicians of the especially searing accountability delivered by the samba performances, which in recent years have called out corruption, police brutality, structural inequality and racism using allegory and satire. “This upcoming year carnival needs to take stock of everything that is happening and to synthesize it for the people,” she said. “In Brazil, people have very short memories and if we don’t hit on these themes now, this era will pass and no one will remember.” The coronavirus has upended lives and livelihoods across the globe, but few places have been hit as hard as Rio de Janeiro, a state of 16 million people where the virus has killed more than 18,000. Vieira, the carnival art director, said that in suspending this year’s parade, the leaders of Rio’s carnival associations had shown they were more responsible than the federal government, which is led by a president who has disdained the virus’s threat. “Carnival is an artistic and cultural activity that is also a mirror of Brazil’s social makeup,” he said. “The least important thing about carnival is its festive aspect.” Still, asking many revelers to indefinitely delay the one time of the year when they have license to escape their humdrum lives, bend rules and lose themselves in a glittering, if ephemeral, fantasy is tough, said da Silva. She’s put aside her costume — but hasn’t retired it entirely, she said, hoping to celebrate somewhere, somehow. “Carnival is a cleansing of the soul,” she said.

October 2-4, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL

For the sake of democracy, cancel the Trump-Biden debates By FRANK BRUNI

ittle more than 12 hours after the conclusion of the most chaotic, counterproductive and outright offensive American presidential debate in my lifetime, the Commission on Presidential Debates promised unspecified format changes in the two remaining faceoffs between Donald Trump and Joe Biden so that the events would be more orderly, which is to say watchable at all. Hooray for the commission, but give me a break. If its members fully absorbed President Donald Trump’s 90-minute snit on Tuesday night in Cleveland, then they know that they can show him the way toward decency and give him a few forceful shoves in its direction, but they can never get him there. That’s the lesson of his entire presidency. The debate just put a gargantuan exclamation point on it. A destructive, dangerous exclamation point, too, which is why the commission isn’t going far enough. It should cancel the coming Trump-Biden debates altogether. Let Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris have their matchup next Wednesday night, then let Americans move on. They have all the information they need to decide whether they want another four

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years of Trump. Giving him more time in front of a national television audience isn’t a route to clarity. It’s an expressway to autocracy, because his performance on Tuesday night proved that he will use these showcases to subvert democracy. In what sane country should that be abetted? By what sound reasoning should that be endorsed? On Wednesday morning I published a column, written fast on the heels of the debate, that exhorted Biden to refuse to participate in a second or third one. But the more I thought about that, the more I realized that he shouldn’t bear that onus and open himself to baseless charges by Trump and his minions that he’s running scared. The architects and arbiters of these events should take on that responsibility. They have ample cause. In fact they have an openand-shut case. Did you tune into the debate? Then you saw that Trump acted like a spoiled child, a machine gun of interruptions, a gusher of insults. His misbehavior rendered any illuminating exchange of ideas or contest of opinions impossible. But that’s not the commission’s real cause. That’s not its best case. This is: Trump’s core strategy in the debate — reflective of his core strategy overall — was to make voters so disgusted that many would turn away from the election and so distrustful that many would follow his lead should he reject the official results. He’s maneuvering himself into position to steal this election. On Tuesday night he turned the debate commission and every television network and internet site that aired or streamed the event into his accomplices. As my Times colleague David Sanger wrote in an analysis with the on-the-money headline “Tuesday’s Debate Made Clear the Gravest Threat to the Election: the President Himself,” every inflated or baseless charge about voting that Trump made during the debate had already been “delivered in recent weeks, in tweets and

rallies with his faithful. But he had never before put it all together in front of such a large audience.” He said the election was “rigged.” He used the words “fraud” and “fraudulent.” He insisted that the Democrats would “cheat.” He cast mail-in ballots, a crucial alternative in the midst of a pandemic, as an enormous scam. He raised the specter of “tens of thousands of ballots being manipulated.” He said that he was “counting on” Supreme Court justices — including, if all goes according to his and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s plans, three whom he appointed — “to look at the ballots.” He ducked a question from the moderator, Chris Wallace, about whether he would pledge not to declare victory “until the election has been independently certified.” He gave every indication that he would challenge any outcome not to his liking. He also repeated previous appeals to his supporters to go to the polls to watch for suspicious conduct. That scenario smacks of voter intimidation. It’s also a recipe for violence, especially when you add the ingredient of the Proud Boys, whom he told to “stand by.” All of that was on top of a florid show of flamboyant nastiness that was equally tactical — and plenty corrosive on its own. Trump figures that if he demoralizes the electorate, that redounds to his benefit, and he’s right. That has long been his way: to treat Americans to a spectacle so coarse and dark that its ugliness befogs everything and befouls everyone. He looks horrible, but nobody else looks much better. But while his posture toward Biden was grotesque, it was also an exaggeration of familiar political feuding. His attack on American democracy, on the other hand, was inexcusable and impermissible. The commission — a bipartisan nonprofit group that has run presidential debates since the ’80s — should respond accordingly. I can hear the objections: That will seem biased. That will seem partisan. Best to err on the side of detachment. But that sort of hesitancy prevented officials in President Barack Obama’s administration from publicizing what they knew about Russian interference in the 2016 election until it was over. That kind of reluctance discouraged journalists from boycotting White House news briefings when they should have, toward the very start of the Trump administration. Trump continues to take a wrecking ball to vital American institutions and sacred American traditions. He did it on Tuesday night to the process by which we choose the person who will shape the country’s future and lead us into it. To give him a stage that grand again is to commit civic suicide.

The San Juan Daily Star

October 2-4, 2020

Familia destina $6.4 millones para aumento en beneficios más categorías del TANF Por THE STAR del Departamento de Ejuntollasecretario Familia (DF), Orlando López, al administrador de ADSEF, Alberto Fradera, informaron el jueves, que desde ya las categorías A (Aged), B (Blind) y D (Disabled) del Programa de Asistencia Temporera a Familias Necesitadas (TANF) verán un aumento en beneficios que totaliza $6.4 millones anuales. “Con este aumento en beneficios hacemos justicia a este sector poblacional que tiene escasos recursos y muchos de ellos no tienen ingresos o solo reciben beneficios del seguro social. Se están impactando 37,697 familias, con mas de 45 mil miembros elegibles que a partir de hoy, y todos los días primero del mes, tendrán mayores recursos para atender sus necesidades básicas”, manifestó el secretario de la Familia en comunicación escrita.

Este aumento apoya a 45,546 participantes, quienes no habían tenido un ajuste en sus beneficios en 20 años. El aumento está dirigido a los adultos mayores, personas con discapacidades y personas legalmente ciegas. Los pagos son recibidos hoy primero de octubre, a través de la Tarjeta Única, por lo que los participantes no tienen que realizar ningún trámite con la agencia. Los beneficios de las categorías A (Aged) y D (Disabled) suben a $80 mensuales y la Categoría B (Blind) a 128 dólares en beneficios mensuales. Anteriormente todas estas categorías recibían un beneficio mensual de 64 dólares fijos. Por su parte, el administrador de ADSEF señaló que, “con este aumento en beneficios cumplimos el objetivo de incrementar la asistencia a todos los participantes del programa de Asistencia Temporera a Familias

Necesitadas (TANF), quienes son las familias con menos ingresos registrados en la agencia. Esta asistencia adicional se une al aumento en beneficios que reciben desde el pasado mes de mayo, las familias del TANF que tienen menores en su núcleo familiar”. Los nuevos niveles de beneficios fueron aprobados por el gobierno federal tras ser enmendado el Plan Estatal del programa Temporary Assistance for Needy Families TANF) que administra la Administración de Desarrollo Socioeconómico de la Familia en consulta con la Administration for Children and Families (ACF). Fradera Vázquez indicó que los beneficios del programa TANF están disponibles a toda familia elegible y pueden ser solicitados a través del portal de servicios en línea del Gobierno de Puerto Rico, accediendo a www.pr.gov, en el botón de Solicitud Elegibilidad TANF o a través de 311.

“Es nuestro compromiso seguir buscando alternativas, no solo de beneficios, sino de oportunidades para quienes estén en edades productivas se encaminen a la autosuficiencia, a la vez que protegemos y apoyamos a aquellos que por su edad o condiciones, no tengan los recursos para procurar su bienestar,” manifestó. El programa TANF realiza desembolsos anuales que sobrepasan los $50 millones a 37,697 familias participantes elegibles a septiembre del 2020. Estos participantes se evalúan en cinco categorías: A (Aged), B (Blind), Categoría C (Children), D (Disable), G (General) y T (Tutor). Por su bajo nivel de ingresos, estas familias también son elegibles al Programa de Asistencia Nutricional (PAN). Los participantes y solicitantes que necesiten más información pueden escribir al correo electrónico consultaadsef@pr.gov, donde personal de la agencia contestará sus preguntas.

Inauguran ante-pista Alpha en el Aeropuerto Mercedita Por THE STAR l gobernador interino Raúl MárE quez Hernández, junto a la alcaldesa de Ponce María “Mayita” Me-

léndez Altieri, y el director ejecutivo de la Autoridad de los Puertos de Puerto Rico (APPR), Joel Pizá Batiz, inauguraron el jueves el “taxiway” Alpha en el Aeropuerto Internacional Mercedita de Ponce, a un costo de $10.7 millones. El “Taxiway” Alpha (‘ante-pista o carretera de rodaje de aeronaves Alpha’) es el acceso principal para que las aeronaves accedan desde y hacia la pista en operaciones de despegues y aterrizajes. Para celebrar la ocasión, una aeronave de Flamenco Cargo recibió los tradicionales chorros de agua de las unidades de rescate del aeropuerto a su paso por la ante-pista. “Fiel al compromiso de nuestra gobernadora Wanda Vázquez, la Autoridad de los Puertos continúa optimizando sus instalaciones para mejorar el nivel de servicio que se brinda, tanto a pasajeros como a las líneas aéreas y así seguir aportando al desarrollo económico de Ponce y la región sur de la isla”, destacó Márquez Hernández en comunicación escrita.

Por su parte, la alcaldesa de Ponce, María “Mayita” Meléndez, resaltó el rol que juega Mercedita en los esfuerzos que lidera el municipio para reactivar su economía, tras el paso del huracán María y los movimientos telúricos desde principios de año. “Nos seguimos preparando para que cuando todo vuelva a la normalidad, el Mundo sepa que Ponce está abierto para el turismo, el Aeropuerto Mercedita es parte esencial de este progreso que se avecina. Las mejoras a la carretera de rodaje de aeronaves Alpha convergen con la reconstrucción de nuestra Ciudad Señorial. A este proyecto se suman la expansión y remodelaciones que se están trabajando en nuestro aeropuerto, sin duda, nos presentan como un nuevo atractivo para posicionar a nuestro pueblo en el lugar que merece como destino turístico. Estas mejoras en la infraestructura del aeropuerto y en los servicios que se ofrecen posicionan a Ponce como un nuevo eje de prosperidad económica. Seguimos firmes en nuestra recuperación”, sostuvo Meléndez Altieri. A su vez, Pizá Batiz explicó que la APPR realizó recientemente un programa de inspección de pavimentos en todos los aeropuertos en la isla, incluyendo Mercedita en Ponce.

La condición de los pavimentos fue evaluada según los estándares de la Agencia Federal de Aviación (FAA) y de la American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Internacional. De la evaluación, el “Taxiway” Alpha presentó defectos en el pavimento que incluían deficiencia estructural, al igual que defectos causados por el clima como oxidación y agrietamiento. La APPR preparó un plan para atender estos defectos, recomendando una reconstrucción total en la parte oeste de la carretera Alpha del aeropuerto Mercedita El proyecto, realizado por la compañía Constructora Santiago II, representa una inversión de $10,682,948, de los cuales la Administración Federal de Aviación (FAA por sus siglas en inglés) participa en el 90 por ciento de su costo, y la APPR aporta el restante 10 por ciento con fondos propios. Los trabajos incluyeron la demolición y pavimentación con material asfáltico de una porción de la carretera Alpha, como también el fresado (‘milling’) de otra porción de la ante-pista y su repavimentación asfáltica (aproximadamente 455,000 pies cuadrados).

“La porción de la carretera cercana al andén principal donde ocurren virajes de las aeronaves fue reconstruida con un pavimento de concreto para más durabilidad y resistencia (aproximadamente 40,00 pies cuadrados). También se instalaron luminarias LED en los lados de la carretera, la construcción de un nuevo sistema de drenaje (aproximadamente 15,000 pies lineales) fue incluida para mejorar el drenaje pluvial, y se realizó el marcado del pavimento. Este proyecto generó 229 empleos directos e indirectos a la economía local”, explicó el titular de Puertos. Este proyecto, abundó Pizá Batiz, se suma a otros que la APPR ha estado realizado en Mercedita para mejorar la experiencia de los pasajeros y visitantes que utilizan dicho aeropuerto, así como para mejorar la seguridad del mismo, tales como la ampliación de la sala de embarque, rehabilitación del sistema de impermeabilización del techo del terminal, aplicación de emulsión asfáltica a la extensión de la Pista 12-30 y al área de viraje, y el proyecto del drenaje subterráneo en la extensión de la Pista 12-30. Combinados, estos proyectos representan una inversión que sobrepasa los $12.8 millones.

October 2-4, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

Mac Davis, Pop and Country singing star, is dead at 78 By BILL FISKICS-WARREN

ac Davis, the pop-country crossover star who wrote hits for Elvis Presley and had a No. 1 pop single of his own with “Baby Don’t Get Hooked on Me,” died Tuesday at a hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. He was 78. His manager and friend, Jim Morey, said the cause was complications of Davis’ recent heart surgery. Davis enjoyed early success as a songwriter in the late 1960s, supplying Presley with Top 10 pop hits like “In the Ghetto” and “Don’t Cry Daddy” after spending much of the decade working in sales and publishing for independent record companies. He also wrote “Something’s Burning,” a Top 20 pop single in 1970 for Kenny Rogers and the First Edition, and “I Believe in Music,” which was recorded by the Detroit pop group Gallery, reaching the Top 40 in 1972. “I Believe in Music” was recorded by scores of artists and became Davis’ signature song; he closed his concerts with it for decades. “Watching Scotty Grow,” another of his best-known compositions, stalled just outside the pop Top 10 for Bobby Goldsboro in 1971. Singing in a warm, resonant baritone, Davis recorded many of these originals himself, working in a Southern pop vein akin to that of Presley, whom he often cited, and his fellow Lubbock, Texas, native Buddy Holly, whom he called his greatest

musical influence. “He was like nothing I’d ever seen before,” Davis said in an interview with the website Elvis Australia about the first time he saw Presley perform onstage, in a parking lot at the county fairgrounds in Lubbock. “Of course, I was just a kid, you know,” Davis went on. “So was he.” Genial, photogenic and fit, Davis had his own television variety hour, “The Mac Davis Show,” from 1974 to 1976 on NBC and was a regular guest on “The Tonight Show” and other talk shows in those years. He made his acting debut in the 1979 movie “North Dallas Forty,” a comedy that starred Nick Nolte as an aging football star and Davis as a calculating quarterback. More recently, after years of inactivity on the charts, Davis enjoyed a revival as a songwriter, collaborating with latterday pop artists like Avicii, the Swedish DJ with whom he wrote the 2014 global pop hit “Addicted to You.” (Avicii died at 28 in 2018.) He also wrote “Young Girls” with pop star Bruno Mars; a version released by Mars in 2012 was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Davis’ other projects over the past few years included collaborations with country star Keith Urban and singer Rivers Cuomo of the band Weezer. Davis’ songwriting in the late 1960s and early ’70s was a product of that era, revealing a debt to both the sunny humanism of 1967’s Summer of Love and the candid

Mr. Davis in 2014. By the mid-1970s he had become a force on the country chart, where he had 16 Top 40 singles between 1972 and 1985. sensuality of the sexual revolution that accompanied it. Buoyed by singalong choruses and a hand-clap beat, “Stop and Smell the Roses,” a Top 10 pop hit for Davis in 1974, expressed a naive optimism verging on schmaltz. “Baby Don’t Get Hooked on Me,” with lines like “I’ll just use you, then I’ll set you free” (about desiring only casual sex from a woman), smacked of male chauvinism. By contrast, “In the Ghetto” — inspired by Davis’ experience with a childhood playmate, the 5-year-old son of one of his father’s Black co-workers — conveyed empathy and depth in speaking to racial inequities. “I really thought I was going to change the world with that song,” Davis said of “In the Ghetto” in a 2017 interview with the website songwriteruniverse.com. “I was very proud of it. But unfortunately, with the way things are today, the song is probably more poignant now than when I wrote it.” Morris Mac Davis was born Jan. 21,

1942, in Lubbock, the second of three children. He and his sister, Linda, spent their childhood living in an efficiency apartment complex with their father, T.J., a building contractor, after their parents divorced; his brother, Kim, grew up in Atlanta with their mother, Edith. Davis’ first guitar was a gift from his father when he was 9 years old. But he was less interested in music than in sports and fistfighting until he finished high school and moved in with his mother in Atlanta, where he started a rock ’n’ roll group called the Zots. The band released a pair of singles on a local label before Davis accepted a job as regional manager for Vee-Jay Records, the influential independent label that was home to popular R&B singers like Jerry Butler and Gene Chandler. He moved to Liberty Records in the mid-1960s and was soon transferred to Hollywood, where he worked for the label’s publishing division before leaving to join Boots Enterprises, the production and publication company owned by Nancy Sinatra. While working for Sinatra, he played on her studio recordings and in her stage shows. He also began publishing his own songs and persuading Presley and other artists to record them. He left Boots Enterprises in 1970 shortly after meeting Columbia Records executive Clive Davis and signing a recording contract with the label. He had his first major hit with “Baby Don’t Get Hooked on Me” two years later. Davis had only four Top 40 pop hit singles with Columbia. But by the mid1970s he had become more of a force on the country chart, where he had 16 Top 40 singles, including the Top 10 hit “Hooked on Music,” between 1972 and 1985. He was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1998. Two years later he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006. Davis is survived by his wife of 38 years, Lise (Gerard) Davis; their two sons, Noah Claire and Cody Luke; another son, Joel Scott, from his first marriage; a sister, Linda; his mother; and a granddaughter.

The San Juan Daily Star

October 2-4, 2020

First look: Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman in ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’ By KYLE BUCHANAN

n the new Netflix adaptation of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” it’s a sweat-slicked summer day in Chicago, 1927, and everybody wants something. White music industry bigwigs want a new recording from the indomitable Ma Rainey (Viola Davis), a Southern singer dubbed the “Mother of the Blues,” and they want it fast. Her ambitious trumpeter, Levee (Chadwick Boseman), is desperate to put a contemporary spin on Ma’s old-fashioned songs, hoping it will launch his own career. And what does Ma want, after she’s arrived late to her recording session, caused a commotion on the street and sized up the pleading music men who now swarm her like gnats? Well, for starters, she wants a Coke. So where the hell is it? Adapted from the 1984 August Wilson play by director George Wolfe and screenwriter Ruben Santiago-Hudson, this new take on “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” will arrive Dec. 18 on Netflix, though much has changed since the film was shot last year. In August, the 43-year-old Boseman died after a private battle with colon cancer; Levee is his final role. “He did a brilliant job, and he’s gone,” said Denzel Washington, a producer on the film. “I still can’t believe it.” Moreover, after a summer of racial reckoning for the country, Wilson’s tragic story of Black Americans navigating a rigged system has become only more relevant. “How can you move forward,” Wolfe said, “when you’re still haunted by the past?” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” is the second film adaptation of a Wilson play produced since 2015, when Washington was entrusted by the Pulitzer Prize winner’s estate with bringing his work to the screen. The first, “Fences,” was directed by Washington and won Davis a supporting actress Oscar; next, Washington hopes to assemble his son John David Washington, Samuel L. Jackson and director Barry Jenkins for an adaptation of Wilson’s 1987 play, “The Piano Lesson.” “The greatest part of what’s left of my career is making sure that August is taken care of,” Washington said. But when Washington and Wolfe first went to Davis to play Ma Rainey, the actress was hesitant. Although she was a two-time Tony winner — for her 2001 performance in Wilson’s drama “King Hedley II” and her role in the 2010 Broadway revival of “Fences”

Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman working on the production last summer with their director, George C. Wolfe, center. — Davis had never played a diva quite like the real-life blues singer Ma Rainey and wondered if she even could. “I thought of 50 other actresses before I thought of myself,” Davis said. “She’s unapologetic, and that extends to her body and the way that she dresses. And trust me — as Viola, in my life, I don’t do that.” Still, once she committed to the role and left all her inhibitions at the door, embodying Ma Rainey was “fan-friggin-fantastic,” she said. “I reveled in her. I swished my hips every day. There was such joy in that freedom of expression.” And her character’s self-confidence also taught Davis another valuable lesson: “I have to remember that I don’t have to barter for my worth. I was just born with it.” Fittingly, the production was engineered around Davis’ busy schedule; it was shot in Pittsburgh last year during the summer hiatus of her ABC series, “How to Get Away With Murder,” and all of Davis’ scenes were filmed first so she could return to production on the show’s final season. Although the secondbilled Boseman was then at the peak of his fame, having just come off a Triple Crown of box-office blockbusters in “Black Panther,” “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame,” Davis described her late co-star as the ultimate collaborator. “A lot of actors mistake their presence for the event,” Davis said. “An actor of Chadwick’s status usually comes on and it’s their ego who comes on before them: This is what they want; this is what they’re not going to

do. That was absolutely, 150% off the table with Chadwick. He could completely discard whatever ego he had, whatever vanity he had, and welcome Levee in.” The role will be a revelation for fans who know Boseman only as the stoic superhero T’Challa. He brings an electrifying physicality to Levee, whether he’s wrestling with a past full of trauma, seducing Ma’s girlfriend, Dussie Mae (Taylour Paige) or tearing into a pair of monologues that culminate in Levee raging at God. Shot through with movie star charisma and practically assured of Oscar recognition, it is Boseman’s finest screen per-

formance. Davis said she had no idea what Boseman was struggling with while he shot the film. “I’m looking back at how tired he always seemed,” she said. “I look at his beautiful, unbelievable team that was meditating over him and massaging him, and I now realize everything they were trying to infuse in him to keep him going and working at his optimal level. And he received it.” But though Levee’s thwarted ambitions will probably take on an even more tragic grandeur after Boseman’s death, Davis encourages the actor’s fans to focus more on the cultural truths Boseman meant to convey. “I think a lot of times, people look at someone’s life backwards,” she said. “Now we have the unfortunate knowledge that Chadwick succumbed to cancer at 43, but really, Levee represents so many Black men living in America. What we’re constantly navigating on a day-to-day basis is the trauma of our past; we’re trying to heal from it, we’re even trying to understand that it’s there, and we’re negotiating that with our dreams and who we want to become.” To Davis, that is what remains so meaningful about Wilson’s work, where everyday Black people were finally afforded the scale and specificity to become the sort of tragic heroes who were long embodied by white men in theater. “Now we know that the role mirrors Chadwick’s life, but if that were omitted, it still mirrors his life in a way,” Davis said, “because it mirrors the life of every Black person grieving, and especially the life of a Black man.”

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The San Juan Daily Star

October 2-4, 2020

Mr. Demille, i’m ready for your booze stash By DAN BILEFSKY

evin Langdon Ackerman had a good lead, so he left his home in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Beachwood Canyon on a Tuesday morning in August and drove 18 miles northwest to Sylmar, California. He guided his metallic black BMW off the 210 and up the winding road to the top of Little Tujunga Canyon; on the right side, Middle Ranch, an equestrian facility and popular wedding venue, on the left, multimillion-dollar estates, everything surrounded by the mountains of the Angeles National Forest. Eventually he reached his destination, a Santa Fe-style home built in the early 1900s. There he met his contact, Caroline Debbané, who took him not through the front door but around to the back of the property. There, a modern lock code opened the swinging cellar doors, and the two descended a flight of concrete steps to the bunker. One entire wall had built-in wine turrets, with dusty bottles of wine and champagne lying on their side. Another wall acted as a liquor cabinet, with more bottles of bourbon, Irish whiskey and rum, untouched for more than a half century. Ackerman had found the booze collection of Cecil B. DeMille, the legendary director and producer. “I’m thinking, ‘Holy crap! I want this, and I need to get this,’ ” Ackerman said. “In my mind, this was born of and ultimately the fruit of me being incredibly vigilant over the last eight years.” Ackerman, himself a filmmaker by trade, is also a dusty hunter: an antique collector who only searches for still-sealed bottles of vintage alcohol, usually American whiskey. Discussion of dusty hunting, and the use of that exact term, appears on the internet around 2007, mostly on whiskey enthusiast blogs and message boards, such as Straight Bourbon. (Collectors of vintage nail polish, chronicled by The Times in 2014, are also considered dusty hunters.) Though this is a fairly new hobby, it is one already facing its end days, as there are simply fewer and fewer undiscovered bottles still out there to find. Ackerman took up the quest in 2012, after coming across an online article about a group of friends who had specifically flown to Kentucky to search liquor store shelves for old bottles of bourbon from the much lauded but by then defunct Stitzel-Weller Distillery. Drinkable Time Capsules For the next several years Ackerman would go dusty hunting several times per week, alternating between working on a film project one day, driving around the greater Los Angeles area on the others. If the city has more than 1,500 liquor retail outlets, he figures he has hit most all of them. “In a very real manner, six years ago or so, people started to realize that buying old bottles is building an investment portfolio in a sense,” Ackerman said. “They will appreciate in a similar way to pork bellies, silver or gold. Bottles that cost me $20 became worth $800 and to me that’s a lot more fun than buying a muni bond for the Los Angeles water department. I’d much rather hound liquor stores.” Pablo Moix was one of America’s first dusty hunters. Back

Some of Kevin Langdon Ackerman’s liquor collection, including a few prohibition-era bottles owned by American filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille, in Los Angeles, Sept. 25, 2020. Dusty hunters seek valuable old bottles of whiskey and other spirits — Ackerman found the collection of a lifetime. in his Mudslide-slinging, fern bar mixology days of the late 1990s, Moix, 45, a longtime bartender, began grabbing any intriguing old bottles he saw at liquor stores. “I was accumulating weird things just to have them at the house,” he said. “Eventually I started asking myself the question: ‘Why is this so valuable? Why is this collectible?’” When Moix became more intentional with his dusty hunting in the early aughts, it was in pursuit of tequila; a lot of brands had gone defunct and he yearned to find them. Come 2011 he was noticing a fervor developing for American whiskey, with more collectors invading the scene. By then a bar’s beverage buyer in Los Angeles, he immediately began stockpiling cases of well-aged Rittenhouse ryes, Vintage Bourbon 17 Year Old and Old Fitzgerald Bottled in Bond, which was once made at StitzelWeller when Julian “Pappy” Van Winkle was literally at the helm. Eventually, he and a business partner, Steve Livigni, were spending 10 hours a day, every day, searching for bottles throughout California and Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. On one road trip they visited nearly every single liquor store between Detroit and Los Angeles. “We later learned we were apparently hitting liquor stores in neighborhoods that are essentially considered war zones,” Moix said. Though they might be sheepish to admit it, dusty hunters have long believed that the more crime-riddled the neighborhood, the more liquor stores there are with cashiers standing behind bulletproof glass, the more likely they are to find great vintage scores. Ackerman has been nearly mugged a few times and once had a sawed-off shotgun held to his head when he peeked into the back room of a Koreatown liquor store and then started rifling through boxes without permission. The most well-known dusty hunter today might be Eric Witz, 42, a senior production editor at the MIT Press, who posts his scores on Instagram at @aphonik, often with detailed analysis of the origins of each bottle. A lover of antiques and enthusiast of cocktail history, he began dusty hunting around 2010 with the

purchase of a 1940s bottle of Forbidden Fruit, a strange grapefruit-and-honey liqueur which has not been on the market for decades. Witz collects not just whiskey, the obsession of most current dusty hunters, but vintage rum, brandy and Chartreuse, all of which are soaring in value at the moment. “I love the idea of being able to taste something that was made a few generations ago,” he said. Spirits have a higher alcohol proof than wine, so they don’t really age in the bottle or go bad; in that way, they are like drinkable time capsules. In fact, most all dusty hunters believe vintage spirits are superior in taste to what is being made today, even if they can’t quite explain why. Maybe better quality materials and more artisanal production methods were being used back then, maybe international beverage conglomerates weren’t yet mucking up quality, or maybe something magical is happening in the glass over all these years. “When some alcohol has blown off, the concentration is deeper,” said Scott Torrence, 52, owner of Chapter 4, a supplier of fine and rare liquids in Culver City, California, who has tasted plenty of Prohibition-era bourbon. “The depth and richness is like the difference between simple syrup and maple syrup.” Dusty hunters like Ackerman, Moix and Witz got in at the perfect time. In 2010, bourbon was a $1.9 billion industry in America; today it’s worth more than $4 billion, according to the Distilled Spirits Council. More and more people are drinking bourbon, buying bourbon and even making bourbon. This enthusiasm has led to more collectors wanting to revisit bottles from the so-called “glut” era, the decades of the 1960s through 1990s when the rise of vodka and a general lack of interest in brown spirits led to many great bottles never being purchased, sitting on retail shelves, gathering a fine coating of time’s grime. Still, it takes a certain amount of skill to dusty hunt: an awareness of shuttered brands from the past, the ability to read esoteric laser coding and to notice bottle sizes, like quarts, that no longer exist. But the internet has made it easier. When Ackerman started, he only had a Razr flip-phone; now he can quickly call up Facebook, Reddit or bottlebluebook.com, an online pricing guide, to see the value of whatever oddity he has just stumbled upon. Though some say the glory days of dusty hunting are long past, with almost all liquor stores in the U.S. now completely picked over, there are still optimistic youths getting into the hobby, like Jonah Goodman, a 22-year-old restaurant consultant in Atlanta. Raised in Louisville, Kentucky, by a father who loved bourbon, he became precociously fascinated with the spirit. By 2018, barely old enough to legally drink, he was trawling Kentucky liquor stores, even finding a 1984 Eagle Rare 101 in his earliest days on the prowl. Goodman believes that the pandemic has injected new life into the hobby, like so many others. “There have been a whole slew of recent dusty finds because so many people are bored, stuck at home, and have started going around searching stores,” Goodman said, noting that there must still be vintage stuff lingering in liquor store back rooms that is finally being put out front. He also suspects distributors have finally had time to reorganize their warehouses and are now sending lingering bottles from the late 1990s and early 2000s into retail. “It kills me when I see people on Instagram posting something they just found in Atlanta. Kills me.”

The San Juan Daily Star LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE GUAYNABO.

ORIENTAL BANK, Demandante, V.

ANGEL E. PEREZ SCHMIDT, FULANA DE TAL Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS,

Demandada CIVIL NUM.: GB2020CV00043. 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: ANGEL E. PEREZ SCHMIDT, FULA DE TAL Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

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

Friday, October 2, 2020

nica: http://unired.ramajudicial. pr salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberé presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaria del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldia 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 LEGAL NOTICE procedente. ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE Greenspoon Marder, LLP PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE Lcda. Frances L. Asencio-Guido PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA R.U.A. 15,622 TRADE CENTRE SOUTH, SUITE 700 SUPERIOR DE CAROLINA. WEST CYPRESS CREEK ROAD REVERSE MORTGAGE 100FORT LAUDERDALE, FL 33309 FUNDING LLC. Telephone: (954) 343 6273 Demandante vs. Frances.Asencio@gmlaw.com SUCESION JOSE RAMON Expedido bajo mi firma, y sello ROSADO FONTANEZ del Tribunal, en Carolina, Puerto Rico, hoy 16 de septiembre de T/C/C JOSE RAMON 2020. Lcda. Marilyn Aponte RoROSADO FONTAY driguez, Sec regional. Rosa M. T/C/C JOSE ROSADO Viera Velazquez, SubSecretaria. emplazamiento y de la demanda presentada al lugar de su última dirección conocida: Urb. Parkville Court, RH-36 Calle 1, Guaynabo, PR 00969. EXPEDIDO firma y el sello del Tribunal en Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, hoy día 26 de junio de 2020. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SANCHEZ, Secretaria Regional. Diamar T. González Barreta, Secretaria del Tribunal ConfidenciaI II.

FONTANEZ COMPUESTA POR JOSE RAMON ROSADO GOMEZ, RAFAEL ROSADO GOMEZ, LESTER FIDEL ROSADO GOMEZ; JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO POSSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (CRIM)

Demandados CIVIL NUM. CA2020CV01630. SOBRE: EJECUCION DE HIPOTECA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO. SS.

A: JOSE RAMON ROSADO GOMEZ, RAFAEL ROSADO GOMEZ, LESTER FIDEL ROSADO GOMEZ; JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO POSIBLES MIEMBROS DE LA SUCESION JOSE RANON ROSADO FONTANEZ T/C/C JOSE RPNON ROSADO FONTAY T/C/C JOSE ROSADO FONTANEZ FOR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al Tribunal su alegación responsiva a la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) dias a partir de la publicación de este edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electró-

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de 2020. En BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, el 25 de septiembre de 2020. LCDA, LAURA I SANTA SANCHEZ, Secretaria. IVETTE M. MARRERO BRACERO, Secretario(a) Auxiliar.

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

staredictos@thesanjuandailystar.com

T/C/C LUIS ANTONIO ESTEVES RIVERA Y BRENDA LUGO VELEZ T/C/C BRENDA LIZ LUGO VELEZ

Demandado(a) Civil: FA2018CV01071. Sobre: ACCION IN REM - EJECUCION DE HIPOTECA POR LA VIA ORDINARIA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: -BRENDA LUGO Cooperativa de Ahorro VELEZ T/C/C BRENDA LIZ y Crédito Centro LUGO VELEZ Gubernamental Minillas * Cond. Point Lagoon (Gubecoop) Estates, Apt. 521 Demandante Carolina PR 00979; Eduardo Colón Roche * Peñamar Ocean Club, Demandado(a) Carr. 982 Km 11.3, Apt 104, Civil: JD2020CV00011. Sobre: Cobro de Dinero (Ordinario). Fajardo Puerto Rico 00738; NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTEN• PO Box 361325 San CIA POR EDICTO. Juan PR 00936-1325; A: Eduardo Colón Roche EL SECRETARIO(A) que susHC 6 Box 2241 Ponce cribe le notifica a usted que 25 PR 00731-9603 P/C Lcda. de septiembre de 2020 , este Erika F. Morales Marengo- Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución emarengo16@yahoo.com en este caso, que ha sido debipara ser notificada por damente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted Edicto.

Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Primera Instancia Sala Superior de EL SECRETARIO(A) que susBAYAMON. cribe le notifica a usted que 23 ORIENTAL BANK de septiembre de 2020 , este Demandante Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, MARTHA CARMELA Sentencia Parcial o Resolución GODOY YARUSCUAN en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada Demandado(a) Civil: BY2020CV01316. Sala: en autos donde podrá usted 503. Sobre: COBRO DE DINE- enterarse detalladamente de RO Y EJECUCION DE HIPOTE- los términos de la misma. Esta CA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SEN- notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de cirTENCIA POR EDICTO. A: -MARTHA CARMELA culación general en la Isla de Rico, dentro de los 10 GODOY YARUSCUAN Puerto días siguientes a su notifica31-9 CALLE 35 URB. ción. Y, siendo o representando MIRAFLORES, BAYAMON usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de PR 00957 EL SECRETARIO(A) que sus- la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial cribe le notifica a usted que 25 o Resolución, de la cual puede de septiembre de 2020 , este establecerse recurso de revisión Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, o apelación dentro del término Sentencia Parcial o Resolución de 30 días contados a partir de en este caso, que ha sido debi- la publicación por edicto de esta damente registrada y archivada notificación, dirijo a usted esta en autos donde podrá usted notificación que se considerará enterarse detalladamente de hecha en la fecha de la publilos términos de la misma. Esta cación de este edicto. Copia de notificación se publicará una esta notificación ha sido archisola vez en un periódico de cir- vada en los autos de este caso, culación general en la Isla de con fecha de 25 de septiembre Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 de 2020. En JUANA DIAZ, Puerdías siguientes a su notifica- to Rico, el 25 de septiembre de ción. Y, siendo o representando 2020. LUZ MAYRA CARABAusted una parte en el procedi- LLO GARCIA, Secretaria. F/DOmiento sujeta a los términos de RIS A. RODRIGUEZ COLON, la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial Secretario(a) Auxiliar. o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 25 de septiembre

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enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 25 de septiembre de 2020. En FAJARDO, Puerto Rico, el 25 de septiembre de 2020. WANDA I SEGUI REYES, Secretaria Regional. F/ IVELISSE SERRANO GARCIA, Secretario(a) Auxiliar.

Demandante

LUIS ESTEVES RIVERA

(787) 743-3346

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

ORIENTAL BANK Demandante V.

FELIX LUIS ORTIZ SERRANO, YOLANDA VALENTIN TORRES Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES POR ESTOS COMPUESTA; MARIA RITA ORTIZ VALENTIN; JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE;

Demandados CIVIL NUM. VB2020CV00291. SOBRE: SUSTITUCION DE PAGARE HIPOTECARIO. EMPLAZAMIENTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU. EL LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE Estado Libre Asociado de Puer- P.R. SS. to Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL A: JOHN DOE Y DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Pri- RICHARD ROE, personas mera Instancia Sala Superior de desconocidas que se CAROLINA.

ORIENTAL BANK Demandante

INOCENCIO

Estado Libre Asociado de PuerGUZMAN PEREZ to Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL Demandado(a) DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de PriCivil: CA2019CV03273. Sala: mera Instancia Sala Superior de 408. Sobre: COBRO DE DINEFAJARDO. RO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENROOSEVELT CAYMAN TENCIA POR EDICTO.

ASSET COMPANY

be le notifica a usted que 12 de febrero de 2020 , este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 25 de septiembre de 2020. En CAROLINA, Puerto Rico, el 25 de septiembre de 2020. LCDA. MARILYN APONTE RODRIGUEZ, Secretaria. F/DAMARIS TORRES RUIZ, Secretario(a) Auxiliar.

A: -INOCENCIO GUZMAN PEREZ

EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscri-

designan con estos nombres ficticios, que puedan ser tenedor o tenedores, o puedan tener algún interés en el pagaré hipotecario a que se hace referencia más adelante en el presente edicto. que se publicará una sola vez.

Se les notifica que en Ia Demanda radicada en el caso de

epígrafe se alega que un pagaré hipotecario otorgado eI 23 de septiembre de 2005, Felix Luis Ortiz Serrano y Yolanda Valentin Torres otorgO en San Juan, Puerto Rico un pagaré hipotecario por Ia suma principal de $1 15,000.00. con intereses a razón del 6.00% anual. a favor de Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaría Puerto Rico (hoy Oriental Bank), con vencimiento el I de noviembre de 2035, ante ci Notario Andrés J. Garcia Arregui, mediante el afidávit nUmero 15390, se extravió, sin embargo Ia deuda evidenciada y garantizada por dicho pagaré hipotecario no ha sido salda, por lo que Ia parte demandante solicita que se ordene Ia sustitución del mismo. En garantía de dicho pagaré el 23 de septiembre de 2005, Felix Luis Ortiz Serrano y Yolanda Valentín Torres constituyeron hipoteca número 62 ante el Notario Andrés J. Garcia Arregui en garantía del pago del pagaré antes descrito, inscrita al folio 6l del tomo 432 de Vega Baja, finca 22484, inscripción 3ra, Registro de Ia Propiedad de Bayamón, Sección IV. La hipoteca que garantiza dicho pagaré grava la propiedad inmueble que se describe a continuación: RUSTICA: Parcela marcada con el #86-C en ci piano de parcelación de Ia comunidad rural Ceiba del barrio Ceiba y Cibuco del término municipal de Vega Baja, con una cabida superficial de 356.32 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con parcela #81 de Ia comunidad; por el SUR, con calle de La comunidad; por el ESTE; con parcela #86 de La comunidad; y por ci OESTE, con parcela #872 de Ia comunidad. Finca 22484 inscrita al folio 161 del tomo 432 de Vega Baja, Registro de Ia Propiedad de Bayamón, Sección IV. POR LA PRESENTE se Ic emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los 30 días de haber sido diligenciado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose ci dIa del diligenciamiento. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando Ia siguiente dirección electrOnica: https://unired.ramajudicial. pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en Ia secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, ci tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder ci remedio solicitado en Ia demanda, o cualquier otro, si ci tribunal, en ci ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. LCDO. JAVIER MONTALVO CINTRON RUANUM. 17682

DELGADO & FERNANDEZ, LLC P0 Box 11750, Fernández Juncos Station. SanJuan Puerto Rico00910-1750, Tel. (787) 274-1414 / Fax (787) 764-8241 E-mail: jmontalvo@ delgadofernandez.com Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, hoy 17 de SEPTIEMBRE de 2020. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SANCHEZ, Secretario(a) . KAREN G. CASTRO MELENDEZ, SubSecretario(a).

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

MARIO ALBERTO ORTIZ GARCIA DEMANDANTE Vs.

DANIELA GARCIA CENICEROS

DEMANDADA CIVIL NUM.: CG2020RF00481. SALA 504. SOBRE: DIVORCIO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PR. SS.

A: DANIELA GARCIA CENICEROS BRISAS DE SAN ALFONSO CALLE 2 E-5 CAGUAS, PR 00725

En este Tribunal se ha presentado una Demanda contra la parte demandada. El nombre de la abogada de la parte demandante lo es, Lcda. Danitza Santiago Ortiz, cuya dirección es la siguiente: PO BOX 45 Caguas, PR 00726, su teléfono es el (787)923-4202. Usted debe contestar la demanda dentro del término de treinta (30) días siguientes de haberse publicado el edicto, debiendo plantear las defensas que estime pertinentes, presentando el original de su contestación a la Demanda en este Tribunal y/o directamente al abogado de la parte demandante, y de no hacerlo así, se le anotará la rebeldía en contra suya y se dictará sentencia concediendo el remedio solicitado, sin más citarle ni oírle. Se dispone además que dentro de diez (10) días siguientes a la publicación del edicto, la parte demandante dirija a la parte demandada por correo certificado con acuse de recibo al lugar de su última dirección conocida, una copia de la Demanda presentada y del Emplazamiento expedido. Se expide este edicto bajo mi firma y el sello de este Tribunal, en Caguas, Puerto Rico, hoy dia 24 de septiembre de 2020. CARMEN ANA PEREIRA ORTIZ, SECRETARIA. ADA CARRION CARRASQUILLO, SUB-SECRETARIA.

24 LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE GUAYNABO-SUPERIOR.

DITECH FINANCIAL LLC FCA VS

SANTAELLA TABOAS, EUGENIO FRANCISCO

mera Instancia Sala Superior de VEGA BAJA.

HACIENDA DEL MAR OWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC. Demandante V.

RESTITUTO RAMOS CINTRON, JOSEFINA CHARRIEZ RODRIGUEZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES, COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

CASO: D2CD2016-0369. SOBRE: EJECUCION DE HIPOTEDemandado(a) CA. NOTIFICACION DE SEN- Civil: VB2019CV01042. Sobre: TENCIA POR EDICTO. COBRO DE DINERO. NOTIFIEUGENIO FRANCISCO CACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

SANTAELLA TABOAS A: RESTITUTO RAMOS A/K/A EUGENIO CINTRON, JOSEFINA SANTAELLA TABOAS CHARRIEZ RODRIGUEZ, ELSA IRIS GONZÁLEZ Y LA SOCIEDAD RODRÍGUEZ A/K/A ELSA LEGAL DE BIENES GONZÁLEZ RODRÍGUEZ GANANCIALES RAMOSSOCIEDAD LEGAL DE CHARRIEZ, COMPUESTA GANANCIALES POR AMBOS EL SECRETARIO(A) QUE SUSCRIBE LE NOTIFICA A USTED QUE EL 27 DE JUNIO DE 2019 , ESTE TRIBUNAL HA DICTADO SENTENCIA, SENTENCIA PARCIAL O RESOLUCION EN ESTE CASO, QUE HA SIDO DEBIDAMENTE REGISTRADA Y ARCHIVADA EN AUTOS DONDE PODRA USTED ENTERARSE DETALLADAMENTE DE LOS TERMINOS DE LA MISMA. ESTA NOTIFICACION SE PUBLICARA UNA SOLA VEZ EN UN PERIODICO DE CIRCULACION GENERAL EN LA ISLA DE PUERTO RICO, DENTRO DE LOS 10 DIAS SIGUIENTES A SU NOTIFICACION. Y, SIENDO O REPRESENTANDO USTED UNA PARTE EN EL PROCEDIMIENTO SUJETA A LOS TERMINOS DE LA SENTENCIA, SENTENCIA PARCIAL O RESOLUCION, DE LA CUAL PUEDE ESTABLECERSE RECURSO DE REVISION O APELACION DENTRO DEL TERMINO DE 30 DIAS CONTADOS A PARTIR DE LA PUBLICACION POR EDICTO DE ESTA NOTIFICACION, DIRIJO A USTED ESTA NOTIFICACION QUE SE CONSIDERARA HECHA EN LA FECHA DE LA PUBLICACION DE ESTE DICTO. COPIA DE ESTA NOTIFICACION HA SIDO ARCHIVADA EN LOS AUTOS DE ESTE CASO, CON FECHA DE 29 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2020. LIC. CORTIJO VILLOCK, EDMY PRSERVICE@ TROMBERGLAWGROUP.COM LIC. RODRIGUEZ SANDOVAL, JULIANA RODRIGUEZSANDOVALJULIANA@ GMAIL.COM EN GUAYNABO, PUERTO RICO, A 29 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2020. LAURA SANTA SANCHEZ, SECRETARIO. POR: F/ SARA ROSA VILLEGAS, SECRETARIO AUXILIAR.

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que 10 de septiembre de 2020 , este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 24 de SEPTIEMBRE de 2020. En VEGA BAJA Puerto Rico, el 24 de SEPTIEMBRE de 2020. LAURA I. SANTA SANCHEZ, Secretario(a). LILLIAN MERCADO RIVERA, Secretario(a) Auxiliar.

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

GABLES TOWERS INC. Demandante

NOOR INTERNATIONAL FAST FOOD LLC

Demandado(a) Civil Núm: SJ2020CV02173. SALA: 903. Sobre: COBRO DE LEGAL NOTICE DINERO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE Estado Libre Asociado de PuerSENTENCIA POR EDICTO. to Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL A: NOOR DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Pri-

The San Juan Daily Star

Friday, October 2, 2020 INTERNATIONAL FAST FOOD LLC

EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que 23 de septiembre de 2020, , este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 60 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 25 de septiembre de 2020. En SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, el 25 de septiembre de 2020. GRISELDA RODRIGUEZ COLLADO, Secretaria Regional. F/MILDRED MARTINEZ ACOSTA, Sec Auxiliar.

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que 25 de septiembre de 2020, , este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 25 de septiembre de 2020. En SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, el 25 de septiembre de 2020. GRISELDA RODRIGUEZ LEGAL NOTICE COLLADO, Secretaria Regional. ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE F/MILDRED J. FRANCO REPUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE VENTOS, Sec Auxiliar. PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE LEGAL NOTICE GUAYAMA. Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Primera Instancia Sala Superior de SAN JUAN.

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Y SUN WEST MORTGAGE COMPANY, INC., COMO AGENTE DE SERVICIO Demandante

SUCESIÓN DE VICENTA MERCADO HERNANDEZ COMPUESTA POR FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS Y!O PARTES CON INTERES EN DICHA SUCESIÓN; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA

MWPR,LLC

Demandante, v.

ZORAIDA COLON SANCHEZ; FERNANDO MADERA COLON

Demandados. CIVIL NÚM. GM2020CV00338. SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCION DE HIPOTECA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R. S.S.

A: FERNANDO MADERA COLON

Queda emplazada y notificada que en este Tribunal ha radicado Demanda sobre Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca en su contra. Se le notifica para que comparezca ante el Tribunal dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación de este edicto y exponer lo que a Demandado(a) sus derechos convenga, en el Civil Núm: SJ2019CV13246 presente caso. POR LA PRE(604). Sobre: EJECUCION DE SENTE, se le emplaza para que HIPOTECA. NOTIFICACIÓN presente al tribunal su alegación DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. responsiva a la demanda dentro A: SUCESIÓN DE de los TREINTA (30) días de haVICENTA MERCADO ber sido diligenciando este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el HERNANDEZ día del diligenciamiento. Usted COMPUESTA POR deberá presentar su alegación FULANO DE TAL responsiva a través del Sistema Y SUTANA DE TAL Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS Y/O cual puede acceder utilizando la dirección electrónica: PARTES CON INTERES siguiente https://unired.ramaiudicial.pr/suEN DICHA SUCESIÓN mac/, salvo que represente por (Nombre de las partes a las que se derecho propio, en cuyo caso le notifican la sentencia por edicto)

deberá presentar alegación responsiva en la secretaria del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido termino, 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 sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Se le advierte que si no contesta la demanda radicando en su contra, radicando el original de la misma y enviando copia de su contestación a la parte demandante, Ledo. Francisco Fernández Chiqués a su dirección: Fernández Chiqués, LLC, PO Box 9749 San Juan, PR 00908, Tel. (787) 722-3040, Fax (787) 722-3317 dentro del término de treinta (30) días de su publicación de este edicto, se le anotará la rebeldía en su contra y se dictara sentencia, conforme se solicita en la Demanda, sin más citarle ni oírle. EXPEDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA Y SELLO DE ESTE TRIBUNAL. En Guayama, Puerto Rico, hoy dia 25 de septiembre de 2020. Marisol Rosado Rodriguez, Sec Regional.

LEGAL NOTICE NORTH CAROLINA FORSYTH COUNTY. IN THE GENERAL COURT OF JUSTICE DISTRICT COURT DIVISION 20 JT 45.

IN THE MATTER OF: STELLA BRIDGE PICKLER, A minor child.

NOTICE OF SERVICE OF PROCESS BY PUBLICATION.

TO: JERRY WAYNE PICKLER, Respondent

TAKE NOTICE that a pleading seeking relief against you has been entered in the above action. The nature of the relief being sought is termination of parental rights of the minor child, Stella Bridge Pickler. You are required to make defense to such pleading no later than November 11, 2020, which is 40 days from the first publication of this notice. This the 30th day of September 2020. Jon B. Kurtz, Attorney for Plaintiff. NC State Bar No. 21158. KURTZ EVANS WHITLEY, GUY & SIMOS, PLLC. 119 Brookstown Ave., Suite 400 Winston Salem, NC 27101 (336) 768-1515.

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

ORIENTAL BANK COMO AGENTE DE SERVICIO DE THE MONEY HOUSE, INC. DEMANDANTE VS.

ANGEL IRÁN REYES SÁNCHEZ, SHEILA LIZ LÓPEZ VÁZQUEZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR

AMBOS (DEUDORES HIPOTECARIOS) DESARROLLOS AGRICOLAS DEL ESTE, S.E (TITULAR REGISTRAL)

DEMANDADOS CIVIL NIJM. HU2019CV01772, SOBRE COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCION DE HIPOTECA (VIA ORDINARIA). EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, El Presidente de los Estados Unidos, El Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico.

A la parte co-demandada: DESARROLLOS AGRICOLAS DEL ESTE, S.E. (TITULAR REGISTRAL) a su última dirección conocida: FISICA Y POSTAL: C-10 CALLE AGUIRRE URB. JARDIN CENTRAL HUMACAO, PR 00791

Por la presente se le(s) notifica que se ha radicado en la Secretaría de este Tribunal una Demanda en Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca en contra de la co-demandada Angel Irán Reyes Sánchez, Sheila Liz López Vázquez y La Sociedad Legal de Bienes Gananciales compuesta por ambos, en la Cual se alega que la parte codemandanda Angel Iran Reyes Sanchez, Sheila Liz Lopez Vazquez y La Sociedad Legal de Bienes Gananciales compuesta por ambos, adeuda a la parte demandante $131,632.60 por concepto de principal, desde el 1ro de mayo de 2019, más intereses al tipo pactado de 4.50 anual que continúan acumulándose hasta el pago total de la obligación. Además Angel Irán Reyes Sánchez, Sheila Liz López Vázquez y La Sociedad Legal de Bienes Gananciales compuesta por ambos adeuda a la parte demandante los cargos por demora equivalentes a 4.00% de la suma de aquellos pagos con atrasos en exceso de 15 días calendarios de la fecha de vencimiento; los créditos accesorios y adelantos hechos en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca; y las costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado equivalentes a $13,736.50. Además Angel Irán Reyes Sánchez, Sheila Liz López Vázquez y La Sociedad Legal de Bienes Gananciales compuesta por ambos se comprometió a pagar una suma equivalente a $13,736.50 para cubrir cualquier otro adelanto que se haga en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca y una suma equivalente a $13,736.50 para cubrir intereses en adición a los garantizados por ley y cualquiera otros adelantos que se hagan en virtud de la escritura de hipoteca número 123, otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 23 de septiembre de 2016, ante el notario José García Noya, consta presentada al Asiento 2016101930-HU01 de fecha 14 de

octubre de 2016 y se segregará de la finca número 2639, la cual consta inscrita al Folio 191 del Tomo 83 de Humacao, Registro de la Propiedad de Humacao. Por razón de dicho incumplimiento, y al amparo del derecho que le confiere el Pagaré, el demandante ha declarado tales sumas vencidas, líquidas y exigibles en su totalidad. Este Tribunal ha ordenado que se le(s) cite a usted(es) por edicto que se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general. Por tratarse de una obligación hipotecaria y pudiendo usted tener interés en este caso o quedar afectando por el remedio solicitado, se le emplaza por este edicto que se publicará una vez en un periódico de circulación diaria general de Puerto Rico. 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 y notifique copia de la Contestación de la Demanda a las oficinas de CARDONA & MALDONADO LAW OFFICES, P.S.C. ATENCIÓN al Lcdo. Duncan Maldonado Ejarque, P.O. Box 366221, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-6221; Tel (787) 622-7000, Fax (787) 625-7001, Abogado de la Parte Demandante. Dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto, apercibiéndole que de no hacerlo así dentro del término indicado, el Tribunal podrá anotar su Rebeldía y dictar Sentencia, concediéndose el remedio solicitado sin más citarle(s) ni oirle(s). EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y con el Sello del Tribunal. DADA hoy 25 de septiembre de 2020, en Humacao, Puerto Rico. Dominga Gomez Fuster, Sec Regional. Carmen B Rodriguez Crespo, Sec Aux del Tribunal.

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

Reverse Mortgage Funding, LLC DEMANDANTE VS.

Sucesión de Josefina Gonzalez Ojeda compuesta por Evelyn Marrero González, Josefina Marrero González, Fulano de Tal y Sutano de Tal como posibles herederos de nombres desconocidos, Centro de Recaudación de Ingresos Municipales; y a los Estados Unidos de América.

DEMANDADOS CIVIL NUM.: BY2020CV02314.

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 herederos de nombres desconocidos de la Sucesión de Josefina Gonzalez Ojeda

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 Metro Island Mortgage, Inc., o a su orden, por la suma principal de $217,500.00, con intereses computados sobre la misma desde su fecha hasta su total y completo pago a razón de la tasa de interés de 3.535% 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 $21,750.00, equivalente al 10% de la suma principal original. Este pagaré fue suscrito bajo el affidávit número 52,322 ante el notario Alfonso J. Gómez Roubert. Lo anterior surge de la hipoteca constituida mediante la escritura número 128 otorgada el 12 de agosto de 2009, ante el mismo notario público, inscrita al folio 1879 del tomo 1965 de Bayamón Sur, del Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección I de Bayamón. La Hipoteca Revertida grava la propiedad que se describe a continuación: ---URBANA: Solar dieciséis, Manzana ‘D” Urbanización Villa Contesa, Barrio Pájaros y Cerro Gordo de Bayamón, Puerto Rico, compuesto de trescientos treintiún metros noventitrés centímetros cuadrados, en lindes por el NORTE, con la Calle ochentiseis en trece metros cincuenticuatro centímetros; SUR, con los solares veintinueve y treinta en trece metros; ESTE, con e! solar diecisiete en veinticuatro metros noventinueve centímetros; y OESTE, con solar quince en veinticinco metros. Contiene una casa de concreto reforzado para una familia. Finca número 18,571, inscrita al folio 183 del tomo 411 de Bayamón Sur. Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección I de Bayamón. Se apercibe y advierte a ustedes como personas desconocidas, que deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Administración y Manejo de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.iamaiudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del Tribunal. De no

The San Juan Daily Star contestar la demanda radicando el original de la contestación ante la secretaria del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Bayamón, 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: 787-7586550, 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 24 de septiembre de 2020. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SANCHEZ, Secretaria Regional. Sandra I. Cruz Vázquez, Secretaria Servicios a Sala.

nos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 28 de septiembre de 2020. En ARECIBO, Puerto Rico, el 28 de septiembre de 2020. VIVIAN Y FRESSE GONZALEZ, Secretaria. F/BRUNILDA HERNANDEZ MENDEZ, Secretario(a) Auxiliar.

Friday, October 2, 2020 BRE de 2020. LAURA I. SANTA Jacome, Sec Auxiliar del TribuSANCHEZ, Secretario(a). IVET- nal. TE M. MARRERO BRACERO, LEGAL NOTICE Secretario(a) Auxiliar. ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE LEGAL NOTICE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE SUPERIOR DE GUAYANILLA. PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA VICENTE L. RAMOS SUPERIOR DE GUAYANILLA.

GALARZA Y LUZ M. VICENTE L. RAMOS CASTILLO SOTO; POR SÍ GALARZA Y LUZ M. Y EN REPRESENTACIÓN CASTILLO SOTO; POR SÍ DE LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL Y EN REPRESENTACIÓN DE GANANCIALES DE LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL COMPUESTA POR DE GANANCIALES AMBOS COMPUESTA POR Demandantes VS. AMBOS CARLOS D. LOPEZ LEGAL NOTICE Demandantes VS. Y YELENITZA Estado Libre Asociado de PuerCARLOS D. LOPEZ RIVERA; POR SÍ Y EN to Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL Y YELENITZA REPRESENTACIÓN DE DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de PriRIVERA; POR SÍ Y EN LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL mera Instancia Sala Superior de REPRESENTACIÓN DE BAYAMON. DE GANANCIALES JOHNNY MERCED BAEZ; LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL COMPUESTA POR DE GANANCIALES CLARIBEL MERCED AMBOS, BNV COMPUESTA POR BAEZ CONSTRUCTION AMBOS, BNV LEGAL NOTICE Demandante v. Demandados CONSTRUCTION CIVIL NÚM.: GY2020CV00042. OMAYRA L. GONZALEZ Estado Libre Asociado de PuerDemandados SOBRE: INCUMPLIMIENTO to Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL MERCED, ORLANDO CIVIL NÚM.: GY2020CV00042. DE CONTRATO E INDEMNIZADE JUSTICIA Tribunal de PriE . GONZALEZ SOBRE: INCUMPLIMIENTO CIÓN POR DAÑOS Y PERJUImera Instancia Sala Superior de REPRESENTADO POR DE CONTRATO E INDEMNIZA- CIOS. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE ARECIBO. SU PADRE ORLANDO CIÓN POR DAÑOS Y PERJUI- AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE PR RECOVERY AND GONZALEZ VAZQUEZ CIOS. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL DEVELOPMENT JV, LLC AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE Demandado(a) Demandante

Civil: BY2018CV02014. Sobre: DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL PUERTO RICO. SS. EMPLAZA-

MYRNA L. LOPEZ PARTICION DE HERENCIA. ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE MIENTO POR EDICTO. CORDERO H/N/C A: CARLOS D. LOPEZ NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTEN- PUERTO RICO. SS. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. CIA POR EDICTO. GARDEN DESIGN HC-03 BOX 1532 YAUCO, A: BNV CONSTRUCTION A: OMAYRA L. CONSTRUCTION, PUERTO RICO 00698 HC-03 BOX 1532 YAUCO, Por la presente se le notifica a GONZALEZ MERCED, JOSUE ROLDAN SOLO PUERTO RICO 00698 usted que se ha radicado en & LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL ORLANDO E . GONZALEZ Por la presente se le notifica a esta Secretaría la demanda REPRESENTADO POR DE GANANCIALES usted que se ha radicado en de epígrafe. Se le emplaza y SU PADRE ORLANDO esta Secretaría la demanda requiere para que notifique al COMPUESTA POR GONZALEZ VAZQUEZ de epígrafe. Se le emplaza y licenciado: EMMANUEL VAZAMBOS Demandado(a) PO BOX 6672, CAGUAS requiere para que notifique al QUEZ TORRES, HC 01 BOX Civil: AR2019CV02010. Sobre: licenciado: EMMANUEL VAZ- 6831, GUAYANILLA, PR 00656, PR 00726-6672

COBRO DE DINERO ORDINA- (Nombre de las partes a las que se RIO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SEN- le notifican la sentencia por edicto) TENCIA POR EDICTO. EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que 16 A: MYRNA L. LOPEZ de septiembre de 2020 , este CORDERO H/N/C Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, GARDEN DESIGN Sentencia Parcial o Resolución CONSTRUCTION POR SI en este caso, que ha sido debiY EN REPRESENTACION damente registrada y archivada DE LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de DE GANANCIALES; los términos de la misma. Esta JOSUE ROLDAN notificación se publicará una SOTO POR SI Y EN sola vez en un periódico de cirREPRESENTACION DE culación general en la Isla de LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificaGANANCIALES ción. Y, siendo o representando EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscriusted una parte en el procedibe le notifica a usted que 31 de miento sujeta a los términos de JULIO de 2020 , este Tribunal la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial ha dictado Sentencia, Senteno Resolución, de la cual puede cia Parcial o Resolución en este establecerse recurso de revisión caso, que ha sido debidamente o apelación dentro del término registrada y archivada en autos de 30 días contados a partir de donde podrá usted enterarse la publicación por edicto de esta detalladamente de los términos notificación, dirijo a usted esta de la misma. Esta notificación notificación que se considerará se publicará una sola vez en un hecha en la fecha de la publiperiódico de circulación general cación de este edicto. Copia de en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro esta notificación ha sido archide los 10 días siguientes a su vada en los autos de este caso, notificación. Y, siendo o reprecon fecha de 17 de SEPTIEMsentando usted una parte en el BRE de 2020. En BAYAMON, procedimiento sujeta a los térmiPuerto Rico, el 17 de SEPTIEM-

QUEZ TORRES, HC 01 BOX 6831, GUAYANILLA, PR 00656, Teléfono: (787) 378-1562, abogado de la parte demandante, con copia de la contestación a la Demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este edicto, que se publicará una vez en un periódico de circulación diaria general. 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. Se le apercibe que, si no contesta la demanda dentro del término antes indicado, radicando el original de la contestación ante el Tribunal correspondiente, y notificando con copia a la parte demandante, se le anotará la rebeldía y se le dictará Sentencia en su contra concediendo el remedio solicitado a favor de la parte demandante sin mas citarle ni oírle. EXPEDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el Sello del Tribunal, el 23 de septiembre de 2020. LUZ MAYRA CARABALLO GARCIA, Sec Regional. Vivian Oquendo

Teléfono: (787) 378-1562, abogado de la parte demandante, con copia de la contestación a la Demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este edicto, que se publicará una vez en un periódico de circulación diaria general. 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. Se le apercibe que, si no contesta la demanda dentro del término antes indicado, radicando el original de la contestación ante el Tribunal correspondiente, y notificando con copia a la parte demandante, se le anotará la rebeldía y se le dictará Sentencia en su contra concediendo el remedio solicitado a favor de la parte demandante sin mas citarle ni oírle. EXPEDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el Sello del Tribunal, el 23 de septiembre de 2020. LUZ MAYRA CARABALLO GARCIA, Sec Regional. Vivian Oquendo Jacome, Sec Auxiliar del Tribunal.

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The San Juan Daily Star

October 2-4, 2020

Breanna Stewart is ready for the WNBA finals, and the election By TALYA MINSBERG and OCTAVIO JONES

n a lot of ways, this has been the WNBA season Breanna Stewart had hoped for when she plotted her return after rupturing her Achilles tendon while playing in the 2019 EuroLeague championship. Her last season with the Seattle Storm in 2018 had ended with a championship and her being crowned the league’s Most Valuable Player. After a year of rehab and a pandemic-delayed start, Stewart finally got back to her old self: She finished the regular season in a tie as the league’s third-leading scorer (19.7 points per game) and in the top 10 in rebounds and blocks. But Stewart also entered the so called “wubble” or women’s bubble — the 600-acre sports training campus at IMG Academy in Brandenton, Fla. — as part of a league that wanted to bring attention to violence against Black women by dedicating its season to Breonna Taylor and the #SayHerName campaign. Stewart participated in Black Lives Matter protests alongside her WNBA peers and voiced her frustration with the slow rate of change when, in late August, the WNBA, along with the NBA, Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer each stopped play in response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisc. “It’s hard to wake up and entertain a country that throughout its history, has not valued Black life,” Stewart wrote on her social media accounts. “Nothing in the world is more valuable than a human life: No basketball game, no nothing.” In the photos that accompanied the post, Stewart and the Storm wore T-shirts that read, “Arrest the Cops Who Killed Breonna Taylor.” On Sept. 23, the day before Game 2 of the WNBA semifinals, prosecutors declined to bring charges against the two police officers who shot Taylor. It was a bracing reminder that even as the year winds down — to the end of her season and to the November general elections — there is still work to

Stewart has averaged 23 points per game in the W.N.B.A. playoffs. Now she and the Seattle Storm are headed to the finals. be done. Stewart and the Storm swept the Minnesota Lynx out of the semifinals and she will once again play in the WNBA finals where she will continue to push for societal change through voting. This interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity. Breanna Stewart: This is going to be a historic season, obviously, because we are playing in the midst of a pandemic. But everything we did on the court to highlight social issues off court? We’ve done a lot and I’m really proud to be here and represent this league. We’re in a super important time. The census deadline is the end of this month [September]. The voter registration deadline is coming up. We need to make sure everyone is registered to vote. That’s one way to really make a change. I think the fact is we’re continuing to embrace everything that we can do.

We’re not only basketball players, we’re human. We have to fill out our census, we have to register to vote. We have to make an impact in our communities in that way as well, because we can’t be asking other people to do it and not be doing it ourselves. One thing about the bubble is it’s basketball, 24/7. You can easily get kind of caught up in, you know, focusing too much on basketball or like, ‘I’m not doing this well,’ or ‘what can I be doing better?’ And sometimes I could take a moment and be like, ‘I’m just happy that I’m able to play.’ You know, after sitting out last season and coming back from the Achilles’ injury, I’m happy that I’m able to be on this court. If I miss however many shots? That’s what I miss. But I’m still here and able to shoot them. Yeah, we’re professional athletes. But we still have our voices, and we

still have our opinions, and we have our platforms. It shouldn’t be looked at as something that’s outside of ourselves to speak up on social issues and use our voice where it’s needed to be a voice for the voiceless. I think the WNBA has always been at the forefront of this. And, you know, we’re not afraid to speak up and we don’t care if someone doesn’t like us, or doesn’t like what we say. We’re speaking up because that’s what we believe in. The bubble has been a lot, we’re really severely restricted. We’re fortunate to have our season, but it can wear on you a little bit. And in light of all that’s happening, us trying to stand up for #SayHerName and Black Lives Matter and then seeing what happened to Jacob Blake, everybody is like ‘thank God he is still alive,’ but why is this still happening to the Black community? It got to be too much. You know, we needed a second to really regroup and just take a pause from the season and what we’re trying to do. And obviously that started with the NBA, with the Bucks. We saw them do it. We were in solidarity with the league, with all the teams, like we have been all season. If someone wasn’t going to play, then none of us were going to play because that’s how we amplify the message. The NBA guys said this when they were questioning whether to continue or not. “You know, we’re strongest when we’re together.” And that’s the truth. The W.N.B.A. and our platforms are strongest when we’re together. But I think, obviously we can’t be in this bubble forever. But what we’ve done together? I don’t think any of us will forget it, and we’ll continue to be on the same page as far as the messaging that we’re putting out. As we continue on throughout our careers, there’s going to be things that still need to be brought to people’s attention and highlighted. And I think for us as women, we want equality. And I don’t think we’re asking for too much.

The San Juan Daily Star

October 2-4, 2020

An injury gets, and shows, the best of Williams By KAREN CROUSE

erena Williams’ poker face revealed nothing about the lousy card that would almost certainly doom her chances at securing a fourth French Open singles title. In her opening victory against Kristie Ahn, she disguised her gait, too. Williams’ tell came after the match, when she arrived early for her virtual news conference. She is so often fashionably late to meet with the media, the running joke in press rooms is that deadlines are no match for Serena time. Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam champion in singles, entered the tournament with pain from an injured left Achilles tendon. When she said offhandedly that she needed to get the virtual interrogation over with so she could resume her treatment, including laser therapy, ice application and “a ton of prayer,” it was a neon sign that she was not holding a winning hand. On Wednesday, around the time she should have been preparing to step on Philippe Chatrier Court for her second-round match against Tsvetana Pironkova, she instead returned to the interview room to explain her decision to withdraw from the tournament. “I really wanted to give an effort here,” Williams said, adding: “But just looking long-term in this tournament, will I be able to get through enough matches? For me, I don’t think I could. I was struggling to walk. That’s kind of a telltale sign that I should try to recover.” Williams arrived in pain. She came to Paris because she believed she could contend for another major title. Both statements, however incongruous, are true. Athletes become greats through their willingness to keep going, with the foot on the accelerator, when their bodies are flashing red lights. Like the American golfer Tiger Woods at the 2008 U.S. Open and Spain’s Rafael Nadal here four years ago, Williams wants to win so much that not trying was not an option. “I’m not at 100 percent physically,” she said on the eve of the tournament. “But I don’t know any athlete that ever plays physically when they’re feeling perfect.” Woods’ gamble paid off; he won his 14th major championship in 2008 in a playoff. Nadal’s did not; he withdrew in 2016

Serena Williams dropped out before her second-round match against Tsvetana Pironkova. before his third-round match because he feared doing irreparable harm by continuing his French Open run. Nadal recovered and added five more major titles to his brilliant and still building résumé. Likewise, Williams sees no reason she cannot come back better than ever from this latest injury, which she aggravated three weeks ago during her U.S. Open semifinal loss to Victoria Azarenka. “If it was my knee it would be really more devastating for me,” Williams said. She added: “This is something that just happened. It is super acute. I feel like my body is actually doing really, really well. I just ran into, for lack of a better word, bad timing and bad luck, really, in New York.” Williams, 39, Woods, 44, and Nadal, 34, are pals in pursuit of perpetuity, their bonds strengthened by the history each is chasing. Williams and Nadal are one championship from equaling the major victories records, held by Margaret Court with 24 and Roger Federer with 20; Woods is three from tying Jack Nicklaus at 18. “It gets harder to win as we all age,” said Woods, who will defend his 15th major title at the rescheduled Masters in November. He added: “I think that whether it’s Rafa

or Fed or Serena, they’ve been so consistent and so dominant for such a long period of time, that’s how you can have those all-time marks. Consistency over a long period of time is the hallmark of those records.” A competitiveness that feeds a disdain for pain makes that consistency possible. When asked why he never said anything about his injured leg in 2008, Woods said: “You never want to let any of the guys know you’re hurt in any sport. Doesn’t matter, ever.” Williams echoed that sentiment when she said, referring to her match against Ahn, “I had to focus on walking straight so I wasn’t limping.” Nadal understood completely. Of course he did. “Well, you don’t want to show that if you really believe that you can keep going,” Nadal said Wednesday after he advanced to the third round. Expounding on the mindset that molds the greats, Nadal added: “You really believe that maybe you win that match, then you can improve a little bit for the next couple of matches with the doctor or the staff after that victory, then it is normal that you are not showing

anything to the world. Then if you can’t keep going, that is the moment to go and say: ‘You know, guys, I can’t anymore. That’s it.’” Williams’ moment of truth came after her brief prematch hitting session. After consulting with her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, Williams decided it was better to withdraw than risk making the injury worse. “I don’t want it to get to that point where it can’t get better,” she said. It is notable that Williams made it here at all. Playing two majors in the span of just over a month has taken its toll on players with considerably less tread on their tires. Elina Svitolina, 26, of Ukraine, said she has needed an extra half-hour massage after each match to recover. Taylor Fritz of the United States said he was “definitely more sore” after his first-round, five-set match than he expected to be. Fritz is 22. Williams has Hermès handbags that are older than that. “I love playing tennis, obviously,” Williams said. “I love competing.” She added: “And I’m so close to some things, so I feel like I’m almost there. I think that’s what keeps me going.”

The San Juan Daily Star

October 2-4, 2020

Henrik Lundqvist’s future is unknown after Rangers buy out his contract By ALLAN KREDA

enrik Lundqvist has been a prominent New York athlete over a sterling career with the Rangers, with 459 career wins and myriad philanthropic efforts to boot. Now, the end of his 15-year era is at hand as the Rangers announced this week that they would buy out the last season of his contract. Lundqvist finished his Rangers career by playing the first two games in their three-game defeat against Carolina in this summer’s qualifying round. He had started only one of the team’s last 19 regular-season games, and just four of their last 30 en route to a career-worst 10-12-3 record. His final appearance at Madison Square Garden was a five-save effort in relief of Igor Shesterkin in a 6-4 loss to the New Jersey Devils on March 7, the last game at the Garden before the coronavirus led play to be suspended. His storied Rangers career also included winning the Vezina Trophy after the 2011-12 season and making 129 straight postseason starts through Game 2 against the Hurricanes. “Representing this organization has been the biggest source of pride and joy in my life,” Lundqvist said Wednesday on Twitter. “I’m so grateful for the opportunity, for the friendships and for all the great memories created wearing the red, white and blue.” “Few players have been as important to the Rangers franchise as Henrik Lundqvist, and we are incredibly grateful for all he has done for our organization,” James L. Dolan, the executive chairman of MSG Sports, said in a statement. Lundqvist now becomes an unrestricted free agent with an uncertain future. With the buyout, he will receive over the next two years part of the remaining $5.5 million he was owed to finish a sevenyear contract extension he signed in December 2013 that commenced in 2014-15. The buyout also gives the Rangers $3 million of additional salary cap space for 2020-21 and adds $1.5 million in dead cap space for 2021-22. If Lundqvist does choose to continue playing, he joins a glut of free-agent goaltenders on the market, including Stanley Cup winners Braden Holtby and Corey Crawford, plus Robin Lehner, Jimmy Howard and Anton Khudobin, who led the Dal-

Henrik Lundqvist started the Rangers’ first two games in its qualifying round series against Carolina, extending his streak of playoff starts to 129 games before Igor Shesterkin took over in Game 3. las Stars to the 2020 Stanley Cup finals. The Rangers carried three goaltenders on their roster for part of the 2019-20 season, with Lundqvist, 38, alongside two emerging 24-year-olds. They have the rising star Shesterkin, who was 10-2-0 in his first NHL season, and Alexandar Georgiev, whom they would still have to re-sign as a restricted free agent. The Rangers committed to a rebuild late in the 2017-18 season, to the point of sending a letter to fans. Lundqvist vowed to be part of the revamped roster despite his veteran status. Youth has become especially prevalent for the Rangers under coach David Quinn, who was hired from Boston University in May 2018. And by trading defenseman Marc Staal, 33, to Detroit last Saturday, the Rangers made the roster even younger while creating needed salary cap space. Still, Lundqvist’s No. 30 will surely be added to the Garden’s rafters and his plaque almost a given to grace the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. Former coaches and teammates said his legacy of spectacular play under pressure and unyielding decency will live for generations. “Henrik is simply a wonderful human

being who knows how to compete and win on the ice, while displaying the humanity that must exist to be a positive contributor to the lives of others off it,” said Tom Renney, who coached the Rangers for the first three-plus seasons of Lundqvist’s career. When Lundqvist debuted in 2005, the Rangers had not made the playoffs since 1997 and had a new-look squad led by Jaromir Jagr, Michael Nylander and Martin Straka up front and Renney behind the bench. Expectations, though, were not particularly high. Yet the Rangers shocked the pundits that season. They had 44 wins and 100 points behind Jagr’s franchise-record 54 goals and 123 points plus Lundqvist’s stellar first-year performance in goal with a 2.24 goals-against average and a 30-12-9 record. “He commanded the net from his very first game,” Renney said. “Very composed, competitive and confident.” Kevin Weekes, the team’s veteran goalie that season, remembers being instantly aware something special was percolating. “From camp on, Hank was amazing,” recalled Weekes, who is now the lead analyst with the NHL Network after an 11year career with seven teams including the

Rangers, New York Islanders and Devils. “And he looked so different — the way he did his pads, the way he stood in the net, his stance and the way he attacked the puck. I knew he was going to be the guy.” Lundqvist had played five seasons for Frolunda in his native Sweden before joining the Rangers, who had selected him in the seventh round of the 2000 draft after 21 other goaltenders were selected. After quickly becoming the starter, he posted the first of his 11 seasons of 30 or more victories and the first cascading chants of “Henrik, Henrik” rained down at Madison Square Garden. “There was so much energy every time he played,” Weekes said. “He literally took the Rangers, the Garden, the league and the position by storm and by force.” Along the way, Lundqvist has accumulated 61 career playoff wins, including leading the Rangers to the Stanley Cup finals in 2014, when they fell to the Los Angeles Kings in five games. Lundqvist, Martin Brodeur and Tony Esposito are the only goaltenders with 400 wins with one team. Yet milestones and grandiose statistics were never the driving force for Lundqvist, who reached the playoffs in all but one of his first 12 NHL seasons. When Lundqvist snared his 400th career win at home against Colorado in February 2017, he spoke at length about the teammates and coaches who had helped him along the way to the rare milestone, which has been achieved by only 12 other goaltenders. “You get a little sentimental at times, thinking that this really happened,” he said after that victory and an embrace with the longtime Rangers goaltending coach Benoit Allaire. “It’s a little surreal. I love it.” Lundqvist could still reach 500 career wins and third place on the career list behind Brodeur (691) and Patrick Roy (551) if he continues his career elsewhere. He has played entirely in the shootout era, which means, unlike other goalies with 400 wins, he has no ties on his record. What comes next for Lundqvist is uncertain. “You want to be where you are loved and celebrated where you are wanted,” said Weekes, who recorded 14 wins as Lundqvist’s backup in 2005-06. “And that’s what Hank has known for the majority of his career. He has been incredible for them.”

The San Juan Daily Star

October 2-4, 2020

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HOROSCOPE Aries

(Mar 21-April 20)

The terms of a close relationship need to be revised. Your partner has got into the habit of making decisions for you. They might think they are doing you a favour or that they know you so well they can guess what you are thinking. Since this isn’t the case, they need to start listening to your views.

Taurus

(April 21-May 21)

You’re missing meeting up with friends as much as you used to do. If you’re single, you’re looking for new ways to find a partner. You could meet someone new via an online dating app. Are you in a committed relationship? Don’t be surprised if romance is the last thing on your partner’s mind. They’re under a lot of stress.

Gemini

(May 22-June 21)

You’re conveniently on hand when a close friend needs a favour. Although you had other plans, you are the only one available to help them. It may be an inconvenience but don’t let your resentment show. You might never know how much it means to them that you are there for them at the right moment.

Cancer

(June 22-July 23)

A well run committee has kept a group going through thick and thin. People at the top have found ways to overcome many challenges, restrictions and frustrations. You have been ignorant to what has been going on behind the scenes until this has been pointed out to you. Now you do know, you feel awful you didn’t pick up on this and will quickly show your gratitude.

Leo

The San Juan Daily Star

October 2-4, 2020

(July 24-Aug 23)

Libra

(Sep 24-Oct 23)

You’re angry with a neighbour for stirring up a fuss. Some people seem very proficient in turning dramas into a crisis or this is how it will look to you. It will at first appear as if they are exaggerating a situation but when you find out more, it could be that they are actually doing the opposite. They haven’t revealed all they have been going through.

Scorpio

(Oct 24-Nov 22)

A close friend or partner will admit they don’t share your current goals. There are other things they would rather pursue. This does not mean you aren’t compatible or that your relationship is over. You might actually find it fun to enjoy interests and friendships outside of this relationship.

Sagittarius

(Nov 23-Dec 21)

Capricorn

(Dec 22-Jan 20)

It’s early days in a relationship but someone is starting to be possessive and dictatorial towards you. Your one wish is that others would respect you for who you are and not for the person they wish for you to be. If they seem unlikely to change their ways, it would be better to end it now.

You’re allowing emotions to colour your vision. Think first and then react. Instead of listening to the gossips who are quick to pull people down, judge others from your own experiences of them. If you have always found someone to be honest and reliable, why pay attention to rumours that say the opposite?

Aquarius

(Jan 21-Feb 19)

Someone you haven’t seen a lot of recently is less pressed for time and more able to relax and meet up with you. The problem is, you’ve made other plans. You hadn’t expected them to be available and they hadn’t expected you to be otherwise engaged. At least now they know you haven’t been sitting around waiting for them to get in touch.

A friend will forget all about a promise they make to you. Their apologies when you point this out to them, will seem sincere. A new partner is still on their best behaviour. You may be impressed with their helpful support but give it a little longer and see if it lasts.

Virgo

Pisces

(Aug 24-Sep 23)

The more you get to know a colleague or neighbour, the less you like about them. This person is not only the complete opposite of you but they aren’t reliable, honest or upright in behaviour. Although you won’t ignore them altogether, you won’t be making an effort to be friends with them. You could do without people like this in your life.

(Feb 20-Mar 20)

You know your priorities. Someone will take umbrage because you have to change social plans made for today because your family need you. You are surprised by an old friend’s lack of understanding. It doesn’t matter how much they complain, you have to put your family first.

Answers to the Sudoku and Crossword on page 29

October 2-4, 2020

CARTOONS

Herman

Speed Bump

Frank & Ernest

Scary Gary

Wizard of Id

For Better or for Worse

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Ziggy

The San Juan Daily Star

October 2-4, 2020

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