Thursday Oct 22, 2020

Thursday, October 22, 2020

San Juan The

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UK Study to Infect Volunteers with COVID-19 to Test Vaccine P13

Pierluisi Promises Changes to Transparency Law PDP Senate Candidate: Rivera Schatz Intends to Destroy General Archive P3

Grijalva to Jaresko: Investigate Insider Trading Allegations Against Creditors P6

For the Record: If He Wins, NPP Gubernatorial Candidate Commits to Reviewing Law 141-2019 to Assure Public Info Access After List of Exorbitant Senate Salaries Is Released P4

NOTICIAS EN ESPAÑOL P 19

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Thursday, October 22, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

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October 22, 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.

PDP Senate candidate accuses Senate president of trying to destroy General Archive

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opular Democratic Party Senate candidate Ada Álvarez Conde accused Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz of evidence-tampering by promoting a bill that would destroy official documents. Álvarez Conde made her remarks at a news conference together with a dozen historians and librarians in front of the General Archive of Puerto Rico, in San Juan.

“Senate Bill 1661 intends to destroy the Archive of Puerto Rico with harmful amendments to Act No. 5, approved in 1955. It was filed in July 2020 and approved in a special session,” Álvarez Conde said.

“In practice, the bill annuls the fiscal and legal power of the Archive and general archivist of Puerto Rico to exercise their roles as official custodians of the documents of the country’s agencies. Legislation for this [purpose] is a way of not being able to control the management of funds and the government administrations themselves; it is a way of hiding corruption. And avoiding government transparency. In other words, it is a way of erasing the trail of their misdeeds.”

The Senate candidate has a doctorate degree in Puerto Rico history and her thesis was on Act No. 5 of 1955, the law that regulates the information collected in the national archives since its creation, and the budgets assigned since 1985 as well as the cultural policy on documentary heritage.

“This law was presented without consulting the Archive, without consulting with its director or the specialized personnel of the Archive, and behind the country’s back,” Álvarez Conde said. “The bill attacks and damages the historical memory of the country and the documentary heritage of the country.”

A presentation from Institute of Puerto Rican Culture (IPRC) Director Carlos Ruiz states that “the new proposed article eliminates the intervention of the General Archivist in the final decision on the conservation of physical documents.”

“If these [documents] are destroyed, without the consultation of experts, thousands of historical and permanently valuable documents will not be available for public use,” and later the presentation indicates

that the IPRC is NOT in favor of its approval in an extraordinary session.

The bill was introduced on July 24 and was approved by the Senate but did not complete the legislative process.

Senate Bill 1661 provides that the heads of agencies may authorize the destruction of documents starting three months after they are produced or reproduced, without being subject to the authorization or intervention of any other public entity.

“This is an affront to justice and I call for intervention now before it is too late,” Álvarez Conde said.

“From now on we see the intention to destroy evidence and that makes corruption cases go unpunished.”

The candidate noted that the legislation will allow for the destruction of documents from various agencies that have been the target of investigations related to acts of corruption. Álvarez Conde added that the General Archive is named after Ricardo Alegría and next year it would be 100 years old. She said Senate Bill 1661 is an affront to Alegria’s memory and cultural achievements.

“This is an attack on culture, on memory,” she said. “Let us be clear, the archive is the custodian of memory and belongs to the people, it is not a government warehouse.”

PDP Senate candidate Ada Álvarez Conde

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Thursday, October 22, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

Pierluisi commits to amending transparency law ‘in any way or fashion that makes sense’ NPP gubernatorial candidate reacts to Senate salaries revelations

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

N

ew Progressive Party gubernatorial candidate Pedro Pierluisi said Wednesday that, as governor of Puerto Rico, he would review Law 141-2019, the Transparency and Expedited Procedure for Access to Public Information Law, to ensure transparency in public information after Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz released a list with most upper chamber employees’ salaries after Superior Court Judge Anthony Cuevas Ramos ruled in favor of a lawsuit filed by Citizen Victory Movement District 3 House of Representatives candidate Eva Prados Rodríguez.

House Speaker Carlos “Johnny” Méndez Núñez has yet to release invoices, payrolls and contracts from the lower chamber.

“When I was briefly at La Fortaleza, for five days I was the governor of Puerto Rico; back then, that was an issue and I promised back then that I would sit down with the leaders of the press to make sure we amend that law, in any way or fashion that makes sense to ensure transparency, to ensure that the press has the access it needs to do its job, so count on me for that,” Pierluisi said during a press conference where the former resident commissioner presented his government plan titled “Puerto Rico Promete,” which focuses on issues such as economic development, government excellence, quality of life and statehood.

The NPP gubernatorial candidate and former two-term resident commissioner said one of his proposals to help the fight against corruption is to make the public contracting pro-

cess in Puerto Rico “truly transparent and competitive, from start to finish.”

“What we’re proposing to do is to have in Puerto Rico an office of personnel management (OPM), along the same lines that you have in the federal government. That OPM not only will set forth to establish the general schedule system, which we call the Uniform Classification and Remuneration Plan, for all the employees of the government of Puerto Rico,” Pierluisi said. “It will do that, but it will do more than that; like the OPM, it would be in charge of hiring the civil servants of Puerto Rico, and doing it based on merit, not based on political or partisan reasons, or any other improper reasons.”

Meanwhile, Pierluisi added that he is in favor of applying a Uniform Classification and Remuneration Plan to every employee in every government branch as “we want wage justice for the public employees from the central government.”

“In the case of the House and Senate, my position is that they should also establish a classification and compensation

plan that is clear, transparent, in which it is known what is paid for similar functions, that the different jobs’ classifications involving the House and the Senate be made and that it be known to the public. Who earns more, how much, and why.

Because their jobs are more onerous and complex than that of someone else who earns less,” Pierluisi said. “Also, a healthy public administration principle is that the supervisors earn more than the supervised; as a general rule, that’s what should be followed because that’s what makes you aspire for more.

The more responsibilities you earn, the more you should earn.”

As for the revelations of Senate employees’ salaries, Pierluisi said that as “the Senate has already done so, so it is appropriate, in my opinion, for the House to do the same.”

Pierluisi keeps an eye on PREPA-LUMA Energy agreement As for LUMA Energy’s closing agreement to manage the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s (PREPA) transmission and distribution system for 15 years, Pierluisi said his commitment is to inspect the agreement and ensure that it complies with Law 120-2018’s [Law to Transform Puerto Rico’s Electrical Grid] legislative intention to reduce the authority’s operating costs.

“There cannot be rate increases due to increased administrative costs of the authority; that is ruled out, and we are going to make sure that this is the case,” he said. “Law 120-2018 also said the acquired rights of the employees of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority employees cannot be affected in accordance with the collective agreement or contract, as appropriate, and we will ensure that. Any PREPA employee who wants to work under a public-private partnership has to receive the same compensation and extra benefits that [he or she] currently receives under the authority.”

When a member of the press asked Pierluisi if the LUMA Energy agreement already needs to be renegotiated, he said he will ensure that the corporation is using adequate metrics to enforce the contract.

PDP candidates to House speaker: Cancel Mundo’s legislative contracts totaling nearly $1.6 million

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

P

opular Democratic Party (PDP) House of Representatives candidates Juan José “Pepe” Ortiz and Keyliz Méndez, along with District 1 (San Juan) Senate candidate Jesús Manuel Laboy, called on House Speaker Carlos “Johnny” Méndez Nuñez on Wednesday to immediately cancel contracts with House strategist Edwin Mundo that reach nearly $1.6 million.

Ortiz said it was inconsistent that Méndez Nuñez would justify austerity measures on the part of Puerto Rican citizens when he allowed during the current four-year term the hiring of Mundo and his KEM Co. by 11 legislative offices for a total of $1,597,000.

“Mundo, in addition to having contracts with Méndez [Nuñez] amounting to $359,000, also provides professional services to New Progressive Party [NPP] District 3 Rep. Juan Oscar Morales for $332,000,” said Ortiz, who is running for the same San Juan District 3 seat in the House.

“The question we must ask ourselves is this: How did the $332,000 in contracts benefit the District 3 communities?

Because, today, the district’s conditions are disastrous. At every corner, we see clandestine dumps, neglected parks that have gone without weeding since February; the conditions of the roads are terrible, especially in the Santo Domingo, Venezuela, Buen Consejo, Montecarlo and Country Club sectors. If the municipality has not responded, it is the representative’s duty, along with the central government, to act and identify the resources.”

House at-large candidate Méndez said meanwhile that, besides Méndez Nuñez and Morales, other NPP lawmakers have contracts with Mundo, such as District 8 Rep. Yashira M. Lebrón for $201,000, District 18 Rep. José “Che” Pérez Cordero for $84,000, District 14 Rep. José “Memo” González Mercado for $60,000, District 33 Rep. Ángel Peña Ramírez for $9,000, At-Large Rep. Nestor Alonso Vega for $12,000, District 23 Rep. Victor M. Torres for $32,000, and District 4 Rep. Víctor Parés for $257,000.

“As the people continue to pay for the wrong decisions of an unstable and unscrupulous government, we see money being wasted in the House of Representatives,” Méndez said. “This is why we are calling on Speaker Méndez [Nuñez] to cancel the contracts with Edwin Mundo, which are still active. This situation is unsustainable and there is

no justification for maintaining such exorbitant contracts, especially when the country demands prudence from its elected officials.”

Laboy said the principles of merit and excellence should be brought back to the legislative assembly.

“In decision making, the guiding principles of academic preparation, and years of experience and service in order to be hired to address or solve the problems of the district of San Juan and Puerto Rico must prevail,” the Senate candidate said.

Courtesy of PDP

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, October 22, 2020

5

Pro-independence non-party members urge full support for PIP candidates

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

L

ess than two weeks before the general elections, more than 100 non-members of the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) endorsed a joint statement on Wednesday asking island voters to support of the party’s candidates and in particular PIP gubernatorial candidate Juan Dalmau.

“On November 3, we urge you to vote in full on the national ballot under the insignia of the PIP and its candidate for governor, Juan Dalmau,” said Manuel E. Meléndez Lavandero, a coordinator of the initiative and an independence leader both on the island and abroad, in a written statement. “We call on all the ‘independentistas’ and our people in the national territory and those in the diaspora who yearn to return to the homeland, to vote in that way.”

According to the statement, the signatories state that a full vote for the PIP is justified by its “consequent condemnation and repudiation of the Financial Oversight and Management Board, and the continuous defense of the environment and the struggles of women, students and the LGBTTQ community, as well as the claims that the [pro-independence] community has made against government corruption, among other reasons.”

“A full vote for the Puerto Rican Independence Party is also an endorsement of the anti-capitalist government program and [a vote] in favor of social justice as reflected in the comprehensive Patria Nueva platform,” said economist and professor

Martha Quiñones in a written statement.

Quiñones is an organizer, among others, of the aforementioned effort in support of the pro-independence community.

According to the group, the more than 100 signatories framed their endorsements taking into consideration the current historical situation, the difficult

political and social situation that Puerto Rico is going through, and the need to take concrete steps to strengthen the movement for decolonization, independence, and social justice in all parts and fronts of struggle.

“We invite the thousands of ‘independentistas’ not affiliated with any com-

munity to join this effort in support of the only independence party in the country, recognizing that this initiative only symbolically collects a portion of our patriotic people,” Meléndez Lavandero said. “May the coming days be spent continuing to add to the best and noblest patriotic spirit that distinguishes us.”

SEC tests vote counting machines

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

T

he State Elections Commission (SEC) announced Wednesday that for several days it has been conducting logic and precision tests to calibrate and validate the operation of the 6,075 electronic vote counting machines that it will use in the general elections on Nov. 3.

As part of the process, the test data is entered using the logic and precision ballots into the electronic counting machine. Then, the data is processed electronically and at the end the results of those tests are disclosed on the SEC website, the agency said in a written statement.

Setup is usually done weeks before Election Day in a real environment and in tune with the day of the

event. Once the tests are complete, the results are reset to zero, the SEC said.

“The results of these tests are not official or preliminary data, since the process of counting the votes has not started,” said SEC Chairman Francisco J. Rosado Colomer. “The SEC will begin to release the official results on November 3, once the polling stations close at 5 in the afternoon.”

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Thursday, October 22, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

Grijalva asks oversight board to investigate insider trading claims

By THE STAR STAFF

U

.S. House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raúl Grijalva asked Financial Oversight and Management Board Executive Director Natalie Jaresko on Wednesday to investigate insider trading allegations against some of Puerto Rico’s creditors before continuing with negotiations to restructure the island government’s debt.

“These insider trading allegations put the integrity of the restructuring proceedings into question, placing a cloud of illegitimacy over a process the result of which could bind the residents of Puerto Rico and all creditors for decades,” Rep. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) wrote in a letter.

Facts underlying the insider trading allegations related to Puerto Rico’s restructuring proceedings were first detailed on Feb. 25 in a court motion filed by the Committee of Unsecured Creditors.

“At the heart of the request for more detailed disclosures was the concern that some hedge funds’ failure to publicly disclose the nature and amount of each economic interest as required by the Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 2019 was facilitating their engagement in unlawful practices without detection,” the U.S. lawmaker wrote. “These include the possibility that hedge funds traded on non-public information while using the PROMESA [Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act] restructuring proceedings to artificially manipulate bond markets.”

In response to the February motion, Judge Laura Taylor Swain in July ordered hedge fund groups to release

more details about their holdings. A public accountability initiative analyzing the disclosures revealed that at least four hedge funds bought bonds they argued in court were of no value during court-ordered confidential mediation and while there was no public information suggesting that legal challenges to these bonds would be withdrawn. In August, several members of Congress sent a letter to New York Attorney General Letitia James, raising concerns about insider trading allegations and calling on her to launch an investigation.

On Oct. 5, National Public Finance Guarantee Corp. filed a motion asking Swain to order an investigation into whether hedge funds violated mediation confidentiality and engaged in insider trading.

Puerto Rico’s creditors in court documents have denied they have engaged in insider trading. Grivalva noted that while questions about insider trading has been raised, hedge fund groups meanwhile have asked the court to impose strict deadlines to finalize a restructuring agreement while failing to mention the insider trading claims.

Green energy producers: PREPA governing board caved in to fiscal board

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

T

he Renewable Energy Producers Association (APER by its Spanish acronym) called the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) governing board “incapable” of defending its actions before the Financial Oversight and Management Board (FOMB), while pointing to the utility’s failure to implement the Puerto Rico Energy Public Policy Act. “PREPA’s governing board surrendered and stopped defending the renewable energy projects it approved, leaving in limbo the renewable energy public policy already established by Law 17-2019,” said APER Executive Director Julián Herencia. “Given the FOMB’s rejection of the more than 590 megawatts of generation from solar energy, the PREPA governing board, after acknowledging, in a letter sent to the FOMB, that that rejection is illegal, incorrect and unjust, has dropped to its knees at the whim of the [oversight] board and has become paralyzed without defending its actions.”

The APER noted in a written statement that the oversight board’s rejection of renewable energy projects goes against the island’s public policy on energy and was based on a certified fiscal plan that used obsolete and incorrect data

and inputs in its cost models.

It also maintains that PREPA’s governing board did not incorporate into the plan submitted to the oversight board the latest data provided by experts the governing board itself had hired, on the marketing and competitiveness of renewable energy in Puerto Rico. Therefore, it is not surprising that the certified fiscal plan does not reflect the reality of the market in Puerto Rico, the APER said.

“But what is surprising is that -- although that same information was considered and incorporated by the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau (PREB) in the evaluation and approval of these projects -- to date the governing board has not submitted the proper amendments to the fiscal plan so that it conforms to what the PREB has already accepted and incorporated,” including the elimination of the conversion of the Palo Seco generation plant in Toa Baja, Herencia emphasized.

The APER also noted that the Integrated Resource Plan approved by the PREB includes significant changes. However, the association alleges that PREPA continues to delay the process, without showing signs of updating its fiscal plan, or complying with its commitments, and exposing itself to future legal disputes.

The APER demanded that PREPA’s governing board fulfill

its fiduciary duty and address the unfair, illegal and incorrect position of the oversight board through a motion to Judge Laura Taylor Swain to prevent the board from interfering with the energy public policy of the Puerto Rico government. This way, the green energy advocacy group said, the development of the 593 megawatts of power generation from renewable sources renegotiated by PREPA and approved by the PREB can continue, as it did successfully in 2017 when the oversight board tried to usurp public policy by imposing Noel Zamot as receiver of PREPA.

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, October 22, 2020

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The pandemic’s real toll? 300,000, and it’s not just from the coronavirus

By RONI CARYN RABIN

T

he coronavirus pandemic caused nearly 300,000 deaths in the United States through early October, federal researchers said Tuesday.

The new tally includes not only deaths known to have been directly caused by the coronavirus, but also roughly 100,000 fatalities that are indirectly related and would not have occurred if not for the virus.

The study, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is an attempt to measure “excess deaths” — deaths from all causes that statistically exceed those normally occurring in a certain time period. The total included deaths from COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, that were misclassified or missed altogether.

Many experts believe this measure tracks the pandemic’s impact more accurately than the case fatality rate does, and they warn that the death toll may continue an inexorable climb if policies are not put in effect to contain the spread.

“This is one of several studies, and the bottom line is there are far more Americans dying from the pandemic than the news reports would suggest,” said Dr. Steve Woolf, director emeritus of the Center on Society and Health at Virginia Commonwealth University, whose own research recently reached similar conclusions about excess deaths.

“We’re likely to reach well over 400,000 excess deaths by the end of the year” if current trends continue, Woolf said.

Paul Sutton, deputy director of the division of vital statistics at the CDC and an author of the analysis, said the study had set out to gauge the number of deaths that “we would not have expected to see under normal circumstances.”

The results indicate that the pandemic “is having a tremendous and significant impact on death in the country, and it may extend well beyond those deaths that are directly classified as COVID deaths,” Dr. Sutton said.

The analysis highlights two disturbing trends. The researchers discovered a high percentage of excess deaths in an unexpected group: young adults in the prime of life. And the coronavirus has greatly raised deaths over all among people of color.

Although the pandemic has mostly killed older Americans, the greatest percentage increase in excess deaths has occurred among adults ages 25 to 44, the analysis found.

While the number of deaths among adults

Health workers at the Brooklyn Hospital Center moved bodies to an overflow morgue trailer in May. ages 45 to 64 increased by 15%, and by 24% among those ages 65 to 74, deaths increased 26.5% among those in their mid-20s to mid-40s, a group that includes millennials.

Among those in the youngest age group, under 25, deaths were 2% below average.

People of color also had large percentage increases in excess deaths, compared with previous years. Hispanics experienced a 54% increase, while Black people saw a 33% rise.

Deaths were 29% above average for American Indians or Alaska Native people, and 37% above average for those of Asian descent.

By comparison, the figure for white Americans was 12%, according to the analysis.

The report reviewed deaths from Jan. 26 to Oct. 3, and used modeling to compare the weekly tallies with those of corresponding weeks in 2015-19.

The researchers estimated that 299,028 more people than expected died in the United States during that period, with 198,081 deaths

attributable to COVID-19 and the rest to other causes.

That estimate is significantly higher than the 216,025 coronavirus deaths officially reported by the CDC as of Oct. 15. (The figure now is nearing 221,000, according to a database maintained by The New York Times.)

Other researchers have also found greater deaths overall during the pandemic. A study published July 1 in JAMA Internal Medicine reported that deaths from all causes in the United States increased by 122,000 from March 1 to May 30, a figure that was 28% higher than the deaths attributed solely to COVID-19 during that period.

Dr. Woolf’s study, published in the journal JAMA, examined the period from March 1 to April 25 and found that COVID-19 deaths represented only two-thirds of the excess deaths in the United States during that period.

In 14 states, including Texas and California, more than half of excess deaths were linked

to underlying health conditions unrelated to COVID-19. Dr. Woolf discovered large increases in deaths from diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease and cerebrovascular disease.

In New York City, for example, deaths from heart disease increased by 400%, and deaths from diabetes rose by 356%, Dr. Woolf’s analysis found.

In many cases, patients may have delayed seeking medical attention or going to the emergency room, either out of fear of contracting the virus or because medical care was not available.

Substance abuse disorders and psychological stress may also be playing a role in excess deaths, he said.

Going forward, Woolf said, “It’s important for people who have these conditions to not delay or forgo medical care because of their fears of the virus.”

“In many cases, the danger of not getting care is much greater than the risk of exposure to the virus,” he said.

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Thursday, October 22, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

Worried about COVID-19 in the winter? Alaska provides a cautionary tale

On Friday, the weekly average of new coronavirus cases in Alaska reached its highest point of the year

By MIKE BAKER

O

ver the summer months, Alaska’s restaurants filled up, the state invited tourists to come explore and fisheries workers arrived by the thousands to live in crowded bunkhouses.

And yet the coronavirus remained largely in check.

Of course, Alaska had the benefit of isolation and wideopen spaces. But officials had also developed a containment effort unlike any other in the country, doing more testing than almost every other state and then tracking every person who came back positive with an army of contact tracers, following up with daily phone calls for those infected and all their close contacts.

It paid off: Even with the extensive search for possible infections, Alaska was recording some of the fewest coronavirus cases per capita in the nation.

Now, as temperatures begin dipping back below freezing and sunset arrives with dinner, the state’s social gatherings, recreational activities and restaurant seating have started moving back indoors — and the virus has seized new opportunities. With new case clusters emerging throughout the state, the acclaimed contact tracing system has grown strained.

At a time when cases across the United States are rising and people are growing fatigued by months of restrictions, Alaska’s struggles provide an early warning that winter could bring the most devastating phase of the pandemic.

“We’ve been markedly concerned about what the fall and winter will look like, and I think it’s playing out that it’s highly concerning,” said Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska’s chief medical officer.

On Friday, the weekly case average in Alaska reached its highest point of the year. The percentage of people testing positive has doubled in recent weeks. In parts of the state, tribal villages have been forced into lockdown.

Across the country, cases have been surging toward new highs since the onset of fall, with more than 59,000 new cases identified Tuesday. At least 12 states have added more cases in the past week than in any other seven-day stretch — many of them northern states such as the Dakotas, Wisconsin and Illinois.

Along with cold-season gatherings moving into more confined spaces, there is evidence that the coronavirus is more virulent in colder weather and lower relative humidities. Dr. Mohammad Sajadi, who studies infectious diseases at the University of Maryland, was among the researchers who examined global trends in the early part of the pandemic and saw a weather correlation.

Sajadi said there could be a range of factors: Researchers have found that some viruses persist longer in colder and drier conditions; that aerosolized viruses can remain more stable in cooler air; that viruses can replicate more swiftly in such conditions; and that human immune systems may respond differently depending on seasons.

It is possible that the virus will spread rapidly in the coming months and create the need for new lockdown restrictions, Sajadi said.

“The conditions will be prime for something like that happening,” he said.

Alaska faces some particular challenges as winter approaches, with state officials fearing the prospect of an outbreak

in a remote setting: Most villages in the state are unconnected to the road system, and winter weather could prevent medevac flights from reaching them. Zink described one small community with no running water that is currently dealing with an outbreak, and weather has already prevented officials from getting supplies in. She declined to identify the community for privacy reasons.

On the western coast of the state, 68 people in the Native village of Kwinhagak have tested positive and four of them have had to get medevac flights to Anchorage, said Ferdinand Cleveland, the tribal administrator. The community has about 800 residents.

Cleveland said the village has been in a lockdown that is expected to last about a month. He said residents have at times struggled to get supplies such as masks and gloves, and he worries about what lies ahead.

“I’m expecting another wave,” he said.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy said that he had expected cases would go up as the weather changed, and that the state had continued to build out supplemental hospital capacity should it be needed.

“It’s going to be a very tough fall and winter for the entire world,” he said.

In the pandemic of 1918, influenza killed more than half of the residents in some of Alaska’s Native communities. The virus had arrived by boat from Seattle, where crews had screened passengers to prevent any spread, only to have an outbreak begin in Nome in the days after the ship docked. Most of the territory’s deaths during the pandemic occurred over the subsequent weeks.

That history surfaced in the spring, when Alaska was deciding whether to move ahead with a fishing season that would draw thousands of people from elsewhere. Community members balked at the possibility of bringing the virus to areas that had managed to have few if any infections.

The season ultimately went ahead with extensive testing and restrictions, including fences that kept workers in processing facilities quarantined to their sites so that any infections could not spread into communities. Officials believe it was largely a success.

The state has also embraced strict strategies at its airports, where arriving passengers must present proof of a recent negative coronavirus test or pay for a test and await results in quarantine.

Before leaving the terminal in Anchorage, passengers are funneled to a row of tables where people wearing protective equipment work behind Plexiglas shields checking paperwork and informing those found deficient about testing options and quarantine mandates.

One of the challenges that Zink has consistently faced is convincing residents to wear masks and stay distanced, two tools that public health experts have said can help reduce the spread of the virus. In May, when Dunleavy lifted statewide restrictions, he left decisions about how to manage the pandemic to local jurisdictions.

For masks, that has left some in a bind. In Fairbanks, the mayor said a local order would send people outside the city limits in places where masks would not be required. He instead focused on trying to coax people by encouragement.

In Wasilla over the weekend, people gathered in rows of tables at a German-themed bar for the start of an Oktoberfest celebration. While the outdoor seating offered panoramic views of the snow-capped Chugach Mountains, the weather was near freezing so people crowded inside, where no one was wearing masks.

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, October 22, 2020

9

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The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, October 22, 2020

Voters in two states report threatening ‘vote for Trump’ emails

Voters lined up to cast ballots on Monday in Westchester, Fla. The state is a hotly contested battleground in the presidential race.

By NICK CORASANTI, BEN DECKER and STEPHANIE SAUL

V

oters in Florida and Alaska reported receiving menacing and deceptive emails Tuesday that used false claims about public voting information to threaten voters: “Vote for Trump on Election Day or we will come after you.” (There is no way for any group to know for whom individual voters cast their ballots.)

One of the emails, obtained by The New York Times, came from an address that sugges-

ted an affiliation with the Proud Boys, a far-right group. But metadata from the email shows that it did not come from the displayed email address — “info@officialproudboys.com” — but instead originated from an Estonian email server.

The email obtained by The Times had been sent to a voter in Gainesville, Florida, and was nearly identical to dozens of others that had been reported in the city. Voters in Brevard County, Florida, and Anchorage, Alaska, also reported receiving similar emails.

Mayor Lauren Poe of Gainesville said in an interview that the emails were “a very brutish way of trying to intimidate people from going to the polls,” but that none of the voters he had talked to seemed to have been fooled.

“Most people who had gotten it realized that it was a scam and that there was really no way people were going to find out who you vote for,” Poe said. “So now I think people are just a little annoyed by it, or think it’s kind of comical how ham-fisted it was — but don’t seem very panicked.”

Federal and local law enforcement authorities in Florida are investigating the emails and have put out alerts on social media to warn voters.

“We here at the Sheriff’s Office and the Alachua County Supervisor of Elections are

aware of an email that is circulating, purported to be from the Proud Boys,” the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office wrote on Facebook. “The email appears to be a scam and we will be initiating an investigation into the source of the email along with assistance from our partners on the federal level.”

Christopher Krebs, the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, an arm of the Department of Homeland Security, said on Twitter that the agency was “aware of threatening emails with misleading info about the secrecy of your vote.”

“Ballot secrecy is guaranteed by law in all states,” Krebs added. “These emails are meant to intimidate and undermine American voters’ confidence in our elections.”

T.J. Pyche, a spokesman for the Alachua County elections supervisor, said the county had begun receiving reports around 10 a.m.

Tuesday that people were receiving the emails.

He estimated that hundreds of people in the county had received them.

The county contacted local law enforcement officials, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. At the University of Florida, emails were removed from the inboxes of about 200 people.

In the email that The Times reviewed, metadata shows that the original email came from vhost43553f0@avalik.koolibri.ee, an Estonian mail server hosted on ElkData.ee, one of the country’s domain hosting services.

It remains unclear how many voters in Florida, Alaska or other states received similar or identical emails.

Each email begins by directly addressing the voter with his or her full name. It continues: “We are in possession of all your information You are currently registered as a Democrat and we know this because we have gained access into the entire voting infrastructure. You will vote for Trump on Election Day or we will come after you. Change your party affiliation to Republican to let us know you received our message and will comply. We will know which candidate you voted for. I would take this seriously if I were you.”

The email then concludes with an address, most likely the address attached to a voter’s registration.

Kevin R.B. Butler, a professor of computer science at the University of Florida, said that while the emails appeared threatening, they were not highly technical.

“The emails are clearly alarming by the content of them and the seemingly targeted nature of them, so I can understand why people would be very alarmed to get an email like this,” he said. “But the emails themselves are not a particularly sophisticated type of operation.”

“Under Florida law, we’re fairly liberal about what’s available to the public when it comes to voter registration lists,” Butler added.

“Your name, your address and your party affiliation — all of that is recorded. So getting this information is not particularly challenging.”

In most states, voter registration data is public information, available free or through a processing fee. But that information has occasionally been weaponized by bad actors trying to claim that they have obtained voting information via hacking.

The emails sent to voters Tuesday also underscored just how public some information is regarding voter registration, including email addresses. In Alachua County, which is home to Gainesville, the email addresses for tens of thousands of voters were publicly available.

John Hultquist, the director of threat intelligence at FireEye, a Silicon Valley cybersecurity firm, said the emails appeared to simply be “voter intimidation that leverages the anonymity of the internet.”

He added, “Twenty years ago, it might have been done through the mail.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, October 22, 2020

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Thursday, October 22, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

Google up against laws that thwarted Microsoft (and others since 1890)

By STEVE LOHR

T

wo weeks ago, House lawmakers concluded a 16-month investigation into Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook and called for sweeping changes to curb their market power. The lawmakers’ verdict: Traditional antitrust laws aren’t up to the challenge, and the laws need their biggest overhaul in more than 40 years.

But the Justice Department, after its own 16-month investigation, filed a major suit against Google on Tuesday relying on those very same antitrust laws. And according to the agency, the laws are more than enough to successfully challenge Google’s monopoly behavior.

That’s because under existing antitrust laws, a company is a violator if it has used restrictive contracts to protect its dominant position, undermining competition and thus harming consumers. The Justice Department, in constructing its case against Google, followed those requirements to the letter.

Its suit, which was joined by 11 states, accuses Alphabet’s Google of cutting a series of exclusive deals with Apple and other partners that thwarted competition in the markets for search and search advertising. That stifling of competition, the suit says, ultimately leads to consumer harm by giving people fewer choices.

“The case looks narrow but fairly strong,” said Herbert Hovenkamp, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

“The focus on restrictive contracts by a dominant company is as old as the Sherman Act,” which is the bedrock antitrust law of 1890.

Google, in a statement, called the government action “a deeply flawed lawsuit that will do nothing to help consumers.”

Whether antitrust laws need modernizing and whether the Justice Department can win its case against Google with existing laws are not mutually exclusive matters. Both are expected to proceed along parallel tracks. The House lawmakers’ recommended changes to antitrust law are simply a legislative framework and may take years to come to fruition. And the Justice Department’s action against Google is also likely to be protracted, with the company saying Tuesday that it expected the case to take at least a year to go to trial.

The specifics of the Justice Department action, legal experts said, strongly echo the last major antitrust case against a big technology company, Microsoft. That suit, filed in 1998, claimed Microsoft was using its gatekeeper power as the owner of a dominant personal computer operating system, Windows, to block the potential threat from internet browsing software.

The Justice Department accused Microsoft of using restrictive contracts with PC makers and others to inhibit the distribution of the software of Netscape Communications, the commercial pioneer in the browser market.

And it worked. After a lengthy trial, Microsoft was found to have repeatedly violated the nation’s antitrust laws.

“That was the last big win for the government, so it makes sense to map a similar path,” said Sam Weinstein, a former official in the Justice Department’s antitrust division and a professor at the Cardozo School of Law. The Microsoft case also helps the government make an ar-

A federal lawsuit filed on Tuesday accuses Google of harming consumers by using restrictive contracts to stifle competition in search and search advertising. gument for consumer harm in the Google case. In antitrust, consumer welfare is often associated with a monopolist demonstrating its power by raising product prices to maximize profit.

Google’s search service is free to consumers, which means the government cannot point to rising prices. But prices didn’t really figure into the Microsoft case, either. The software giant bundled its web browser for free into its dominant Windows operating system.

Consumer harm, the government argued, can result in several ways. Less competition in a market means less innovation and less consumer choice in the long run. That, in theory, could close the market to rivals that collect less data for targeted advertising than Google does. Enhanced privacy, for example, would be a consumer benefit.

“The harm is to competition, and the consumer loses as a result,” said Tim Wu, a professor at the Columbia Law School (and a contributing New York Times opinion writer).

Yet the Microsoft case is also a cautionary example. It took years, with a settlement eventually approved in 2002. Its effect is debated to this day. Without the suit and years of scrutiny, some observers said, Microsoft could have throttled the rise of Google.

Others insisted that the technological shift toward the internet and away from the personal computer meant that Microsoft lost the gatekeeper power it once held. Technology, not antitrust, opened the door to competition, they said.

The Justice Department, in its suit and in a briefing with reporters, was vague about what remedies the government would propose if it won the case. But at this stage, Google is so dominant in search that giving consumers the choice to select another search engine may not make much of a difference.

Google is regarded not only as a search service that provides relevant results but also as a verb — what people think of as internet search. Given a choice, they might well choose Google, and the company would argue that was because it was a superior product that people preferred.

“It’s hard to argue that this case, whatever the outcome, will really change the competitive landscape in search,” said A. Douglas Melamed, a former senior official in the Justice Department’s antitrust division, who is a professor at the Stanford Law School.

The standard critique of antitrust law, with its lengthy court battles, is that it is late and slow, unsuited to addressing anticompetitive concerns in fast-moving high-tech markets. That is a genuine concern, legal experts said.

Still, filing the suit this week could make a difference, they agreed.

“A suit like this one does send signals to the market and to the firm itself about what kind of competitive behavior is acceptable,” said Scott Hemphill, a professor at New York University Law School.

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, October 22, 2020

13

To test virus vaccines, U.K. study will intentionally infect volunteers

By BENJAMIN MUELLER

S

cientists at Imperial College London plan to deliberately infect volunteers with the coronavirus early next year, launching the world’s first effort to study how vaccinated people respond to being intentionally exposed to the virus and opening up a new, uncertain path to identifying an effective vaccine.

The hotly contested strategy, known as a human challenge trial, could potentially shave crucial time in the race to winnow a number of vaccine candidates. Rather than conducting the sort of trials now underway around the world, in which scientists wait for vaccinated people to encounter the virus in their homes and communities, researchers would purposely infect them in a hospital isolation unit.

Scientists have used this method for decades to test vaccines for typhoid, cholera and other diseases, even asking volunteers in the case of malaria to expose their arms to boxes full of mosquitoes to be bitten and infected. But whereas the infected could be cured of those diseases, COVID-19 has few widely used treatments and no known cure, putting the scientists in charge of Britain’s study in largely uncharted ethical territory.

Starting with tiny doses, the scientists will first administer the virus to small groups of volunteers who have not been vaccinated at all, in order to determine the lowest dose of the virus that will reliably infect them. That process, scheduled to begin in January at a hospital in north London, will be followed by tests in which volunteers are given a vaccine and then intentionally exposed to this carefully calibrated dose of the virus.

The study will be led by scientists with Imperial College London and hVivo, a company specializing in human challenge trials. It still requires approval from Britain’s drug regulation agency, but the government said on Tuesday that it would allot 34 million pounds ($44 million) in public funding.

The first round of volunteers, up to 90 healthy adults ages 18 to 30, will have the virus dripped into their noses without having been vaccinated. If not enough participants become infected, the scientists will try to expose these early-stage volunteers to a higher dose, repeating the process until they have identified the necessary exposure level of the virus.

Only once the scientists decide on a dose, which they intend to do by late spring, will they begin the process of comparing vaccine candidates by immunizing the next group of volunteers and then exposing them to the virus.

Some vaccine candidates now undergoing trials may already have received approval by then, but researchers hope a challenge trial will add direct evidence of efficacy and help them compare the performance of different vaccines.

“Deliberately infecting volunteers with a known human pathogen is never undertaken lightly,” said professor Peter Openshaw, an immunologist and co-investigator on the study.

“However, such studies are enormously informative about a disease, even one so well studied as COVID-19.”

Many important questions about the study remain unanswered. The British government’s vaccine task force, which

Pedestrians in Paris, Oct. 17, 2020. As virus cases surge again in Europe, challenge trial advocates say the risks are outweighed by the potential of having an effective vaccine sooner. will select the first vaccine candidates to include in the human challenge trial, has not yet announced its plans.

The idea of human challenge trials has already been met with a lukewarm reception by several leading vaccine makers, including Johnson & Johnson and Moderna, leaving analysts uncertain as to which companies’ vaccines will end up being included.

And it is not yet clear how regulators in Europe or the United States will evaluate results from human challenge trials, or whether such studies will accelerate the vaccine approval process.

For proponents of the strategy, saving lives by potentially speeding the development of a vaccine and advancing the understanding of the virus is a moral imperative. Those scientists and bioethicists say that the risk of the coronavirus seriously sickening or killing young, healthy volunteers — the sort of people who would be infected — is low enough as to be outweighed by the possibility of saving tens of thousands of lives.

“I’m surprised they haven’t been used earlier,” professor Julian Savulescu, the director of the Oxford Uehiro Center for Practical Ethics, said of human challenge trials on coronavirus vaccines. “Every day that you delay developing a vaccine and effective treatment, another 5,000 people die. It’d be useful for screening out less effective vaccines and for understanding the immune response.”

The scientists overseeing the trial said they would use the antiviral medicine remdesivir to treat volunteers as soon as they began detecting viral infection, even before the onset of symptoms. But that drug has been found to have only modest benefit. And some analysts said the treatment, while necessary, would limit researchers’ ability to determine whether the vaccine candidates being evaluated reduced the severity of illness.

The volunteers in London will be paid roughly Britain’s minimum wage, which is about 9 pounds ($11) per hour, for their time in taking part in the trial and their two to three weeks in mandatory quarantine. The researchers said they were wary of offering additional incentives that could cloud the judgment of volunteers.

Thousands of people in Britain have already expressed interest in taking part in challenge trials for the coronavirus through an American group, 1Day Sooner, that advocates for such studies.

But with the virus now surging again across Europe and parts of the United States, some scientists have argued there is no shortage of people enrolled in ordinary vaccine trials being exposed to the virus under natural conditions.

“This is not a rare disease,” said Dr. Paul Offit, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and a member of the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory panel. “You can probably find a hot spot to do a vaccine trial.”

14

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, October 22, 2020

Nigerian soldiers shoot at demonstrators against police brutality

By SHOLA LAWAL

N

igerian security forces opened fire Tuesday night at a demonstration in Lagos against police brutality, hitting several people according to witnesses, in a major escalation of the unrest that has gripped the country for two weeks.

The extent of the casualties was unclear, but some witnesses said that they saw people who were killed, and videos posted to social media showed wounded people, crackled with apparent gunfire and showed uniformed forces shooting into the air.

A police officer who witnessed the episode and spoke on condition of anonymity said that 11 people had been killed. But that report that could not be immediately corroborated.

The shooting came toward the end of a day of mounting violence in multiple cities, with the national police deploying riot squads in the capital, Abuja, in Lagos and elsewhere. The unrest spread even after President Muhammadu Buhari attempted to respond to the protesters’ demands by announcing last week that he would disband a special unit of police officers accused of brutalizing people.

Adding to the sense of spiraling chaos, officials said about 2,000 inmates had escaped Monday in a prison break in Benin City, in southern Edo state.

After news reports early Tuesday that police had killed two or more people in Lagos, the country’s largest city and economic hub, a crowd set a police station there ablaze. Despite the violence and a curfew declared by the governor of Lagos state, protesters refused to disband, blocking roads and demanding that police officers accused of wanton violence be put on trial.

Uniformed forces were deployed to the Lekki Toll Gate area, an upscale suburb of Lagos, where the biggest ongoing protests have been held, largely peacefully, since October 7. Beginning at around 7 p.m. Tuesday, some of them began firing — shortly after the streetlights unexpectedly went out and security cameras were removed from the scene, witnesses said.

A protester streaming the scene live on Instagram, Obianuju Catherine Udeh, 29, a disc jockey who goes by DJ Switch, said she counted seven casualties around her. Sporadic gunfire went on for about an hour.

“We’ve already told them we’re not going anywhere,” she said. In front of her, a body lay motionless, and nearby protesters crowded around a man with what appeared to be a gunshot wound in his leg.

Demonstrators said they were corralled into one area by fires, with no safe way out.

“The whole place is blocked, there are soldiers everywhere and they came in guns blazing,” DJ Switch said, before her livestream suddenly ended. “Are they going to shoot all of us?

The only weapon we have is the Nigerian flag.”

The governor of Lagos state, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, said that people bent on creating chaos had hijacked the mostly peaceful protests against police brutality — a claim supported by witness accounts of the demonstrations.

“Lives and limbs have been lost as criminals and miscreants are now hiding under the umbrella of these protests to unleash mayhem on our state,” the governor said in a statement.

After the police station was burned, the governor declared a 4 p.m. curfew, giving people about four hours to get home in an immense metropolitan area with some 14 million people and some of the world’s worst traffic jams. Many people had little hope of complying with the curfew; many others did not try.

Protesters in Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, have been demanding that the government disband a rogue police unit called the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, commonly known as SARS, and that they say particularly robs, tortures and even kills well-dressed young people who the officers think might have money.

The crowds have also called for punishment of officers who commit brutality.

Last week, Buhari agreed to dismantle SARS and carry out other police reforms, vowing to “ensure that all those responsible for misconduct are brought to justice.”

But the demonstrations have not abated.

People note that the government has promised before to do away with SARS, yet it still exists, and they argue that a newly created police unit will just be the same menace in new uniforms.

On Monday, Lagos inaugurated a panel of inquiry to investigate allegations of abuse, but proceedings have not begun. Three other states have also made the same move.

In the massive prison break, a spokesman for the interior ministry in charge of correctional facilities, Mohammed Manga, said armed crowds had attacked two correctional facilities in Benin City and overpowered guards on duty.

He said 1,993 inmates were missing; it was not clear how many inmates were held before the attack.

“Most of the inmates held at the centers are convicted criminals serving terms for various criminal offenses, awaiting execution or standing trial for violent crimes,” Manga said.

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, October 22, 2020

15

Asbestos, a Canadian mining town, votes to detoxify its name

By MARIE FAZIO

W

hat’s in a name? Not a carcinogen, according to a Quebec mining town that no longer wants to be known as Asbestos.

The town is home to the Jeffrey Mine, which was once the largest chrysotile asbestos mine in the world. Blue water fills the pit where miners once worked, over the years providing crucial material to outfit World War I and II soldiers.

The town, about 100 miles east of Montreal, is also home to 7,000 residents, some of whom have sought to distance themselves from the cancer-causing material that formed the backbone of Asbestos’ economy and identity for decades.

On Monday evening, after lengthy debates, committee meetings, discussions and days of residents’ voting from their cars, the mayor unveiled the people’s choice for a new name: Val-des-Sources, which translates to Valley of the Springs.

If all goes as expected, the town will be rid of the carcinogenic reference by December, the mayor said. The new name still needs the approval of the provincial government and the minister of municipal affairs and housing.

“I know that changing the name is a very emotional subject — for us, too — since the beginning,” Hugues Grimard, the town’s mayor, said Monday, deeming the decision “historic.”

“But to have all the citizens who came out to vote, that tells me that we succeeded in winning over the population,” he said, “and that makes me very proud.”

After the town council approved a name-change plan, a choice of six names was put before voters. All residents older than 14 were eligible, according to a spokeswoman for the town. Nearly half of the eligible voting population — around 3,000 residents — participated. After three rounds of voting, Val-des-Sources emerged as the winning name, with 51%of the votes.

In 2006, six years before the mine shut down, town officials proposed the idea of a name change but ultimately failed to gain necessary support. A second push for a name change succeeded in November, and the mayor sent out a call for suggestions.

“The word ‘asbestos’ unfortunately doesn’t have a good connotation, especially for Anglophones, and it’s hindering the city’s plans to develop external economic relations,” the city said in a news release at the time.

The six proposed names on the ballot, whittled down from 1,000 submissions, included options like Trois-Lacs (Three Lakes) and L’Azur-des-Cantons (Azure of the Townships) — a reference to the blue water that now fills the mine — that gestured to the natural beauty of the area.

Asbestos — the commercial name used to describe different fibrous minerals that until the 1970s were used in insulation, roof tiles, fire-resistant clothing and many other products — was not one of the options.

The new name, Val-des-Sources, is an homage to the

natural landscape that surrounds the town: the Nicolet River that flows into Lake Trois-Lacs, three interconnected lakes, and the hilly horizon, the mayor said.

Asbestos the town has a deep and complex history with asbestos the mineral, said Jessica Van Horssen, a professor at Leeds Beckett University and author of “A Town Called Asbestos.”

The town was originally named after a group of miners who discovered what they initially thought was a small asbestos deposit in a farmer’s field but eventually became the largest asbestos mine in the world, Van Horssen said.

When business was good, children in town could write their names in asbestos dust that floated down from the mines, and the dust would coat laundry drying on lines outside. During World Wars I and II, miners in Asbestos provided material for ships, aircraft and fireproof soldier’s uniforms, she said.

“They were heroes, and took a lot of pride in their work and community because of that,” she said.

Many historians agree that a lengthy, violent labor strike at the mine in 1949 was the beginning of broad political, economic and social changes in Quebec that became known as the Quiet Revolution.

The Jeffrey Mine officially shut down in 2012, many years after scientists deemed asbestos dangerous and cancercausing. According to the World Health Organization, all

forms of asbestos, including chrysotile, are carcinogenic.

Exposure can cause cancer of the lungs, larynx and ovaries, as well as mesothelioma and other diseases.

Although many countries have taken steps to ban its use or production, including Canada in 2018, the WHO estimated in 2005 that about 125 million people worldwide were exposed to asbestos at work.

Some residents of the town, particularly older inhabitants, vehemently fought the change, as some French Canadians don’t necessarily associate “Asbestos” with the deadly mineral because the French word for asbestos is “amiante.”

“Us older people are all in favor of the name Asbestos,” André Thibodeau, a 76-year-old lifelong Asbestos resident, told CBC News while casting his vote. “You don’t change names for nothing!”

Young people and small-business owners — it can be difficult to sell products labeled with “asbestos” — were among those who pushed hardest for the change, Van Horssen said. She said she hoped that the name change reflected hope for the future of the town.

“The community has been through incredible changes in its history, from having to move their homes every few years so the mine could expand to having their world completely change when they were finally told what the mineral was doing to their bodies,” she said. “They’ll survive this, and hopefully begin a new era that’s not reliant on a toxic industry.”

What’s left of the Jeffrey Mine in Asbestos, Quebec, soon to be called Val-des-Sources.

16

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, October 22, 2020

CI

T

NT

PLEBI S

I C I AL

66

El

E VE

OF

nos están escuchando

EL TRIBUNAL SUPREMO VALIDÓ ESTE PLEBISCITO

O

•

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WASHINGTON y todo ESTADOS UNIDOS

0 202

% de todos los americanos favorecen

ENCUESTA GALLUP

la admisión de Puerto Rico como Estado

PRESIDENTE BARACK OBAMA “Cuando pasemos el Acta de Derechos de Voto John Lewis [en 2021], debemos continuar marchando. Para hacerlo aún mejor… garantizando que todos los ciudadanos americanos tengan representación igual en nuestro gobierno, incluyendo ciudadanos americanos que viven en Washington, DC, y Puerto Rico. Ellos son americanos.” 20 de julio 2020

CANDIDATO PRESIDENCIAL JOE BIDEN “Yo creo que la Estadidad sería la manera más efectiva de asegurar que los residentes de Puerto Rico sean tratados con igualdad, con la representación igual a nivel federal. Pero el pueblo de Puerto Rico tiene que decidir, y el gobierno federal tiene que respetar su decisión y actuar sobre ella.” 15 de septiembre 2020

SENADOR MARCO RUBIO “Este 3 de noviembre tendrán la oportunidad de hacer historia.

Esta simple pregunta de sí o no, sobre la Estadidad, es de suma importancia para el futuro de la Isla. El apoyo a la Estadidad está creciendo, el Congreso necesita escuchar directamente de ustedes.

Los ciudadanos americanos en Puerto Rico tienen una larga historia de contribución y defensa de nuestra nación. Ha llegado el momento de ejercer sus derechos y votar.” 7 de octubre 2020

APROVECHA ESTA OPORTUNIDAD IMPORTANCIA HISTÓRICA

TU PARTICIPACIÓN ES ESENCIAL

LA DESCOLONIZACIÓN YA COMENZÓ

SÓLO CUENTA EL QUE VOTA

EL MENSAJE AL CONGRESO ES LA CLAVE

LA ESTADIDAD SÍ ES POSIBLE

VOTAR SÍ POR LA ESTADIDAD NOS CONVIENE

LÍDER DEMÓCRATA DEL SENADO CHARLES SCHUMER

Estadidad nos da representación y poder a nivel federal

“Con respecto a D.C. y Puerto Rico, especialmente si Puerto Rico vota por [la Estadidad]…a mi me encantaría hacerlos Estado.”

30 de septiembre 2020

ESTADIDAD NO/NO

VICE PRESIDENTE MIKE PENCE “Si los ciudadanos americanos en Puerto Rico escogen Estadidad, yo apoyaré ese voto.” 29 de abril 2010

PRESIDENTE

LÍDER REPUBLICANO DEL COMITÉ DE RECURSOS NATURALES ROB BISHOP

SENADO

“Los congresistas quieren oír de ustedes, recuerde que votar sí, significaría estar en pie de igualdad con el resto de los 50 estados de Estados Unidos. Este noviembre tienen una oportunidad real de hacer oír sus voces aquí en los pasillos del Congreso. Por favor, vote.

El futuro de Puerto Rico depende de ello.” 8 de octubre 2020

NADA DERECHO A ELEGIR AL PRESIDENTE

CÁMARA DE REPRESENTANTES

NADA

1 Comisionado Residente SIN VOTO

2 Senadores CON VOZ Y VOTO

5 Representantes CON VOZ Y VOTO

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, October 22, 2020

Beneficios con la

ESTE ES UN PLEBISCITO HISTÓRICO

ESTADIDAD EL 100% DE LA POBLACIÓN DE PUERTO RICO RECIBE ALGÚN BENEFICIO FEDERAL DIRECTO

RECIBIREMOS

$9,500 MILLONES ADICIONALES

MEDICAID (Mi Salud)

ECONOMÍA Programas Federales SBA y otros relacionados al comercio

CDBG Y VIVIENDA (Todos los programas FHA, Farmers Home, entre otros)

SEGURO SOCIAL

MEDICARE (65+ y Discapacitados)

BENEFICIOS SUPLEMENTARIOS (Crédito Contributivo por Ingreso de Trabajo, etc.)

EDUCACIÓN (Becas Pell, Subsidios, Préstamos, entre otros)

PROGRAMA DEL PAN

VETERANOS (Hospitales y Servicios Directos)

FEMA (Beneficios en Huracanes y Terremotos)

REPRESENTACIÓN EN EL CONGRESO

17

SEGURIDAD (POLICÍA, DEFENSA, FBI, TSA, DEA, COAST GUARD)

SALARIO PROMEDIO ANUAL ESTIMADO INDEPENDENCIA / SOBERANÍA

ESTADIDAD

VENEZUELA

CUBA

REPÚBLICA DOMINICANA

MÉJICO

PUERTO RICO

ESTADO MÁS POBRE

MISSISSIPPI

ALASKA

HAWAI

TODO ESTADOS UNIDOS

$172

$7,480

$8,090

$9,432

$20,166

$43,567

$76,715

$78,048

$60,293

LA ESTADIDAD NOS GAR ANTIZA DERECHOS IGUALES

GARANTIZAMOS LA CIUDADANÍA

RECIBIMOS TRATO IGUAL

PRESERVAMOS NUESTRA CULTURA

MANTENDREMOS NUESTRA BANDERA

ACABAMOS CON LA JUNTA

LA ESTADIDAD MAXIMIZA NUESTRO POTENCIAL ECONÓMICO

Mayor Capacidad de Abogar por Nuestros Intereses Económicos

Recuperación Económica y Reconstrucción Resiliente

Más Fondos Federales y Empleos

Competitividad Económica

Más Inversión y Turismo

AUSPICIADO POR:

18

Thursday, October 22, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL

After the pandemic, a revolution in education and work awaits

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

T

he good Lord works in mysterious ways. He (She?) threw a pandemic at us at the exact same time as a tectonic shift in the way we will learn, work and employ. Fasten your seatbelt.

When we emerge from this corona crisis, we’re going to be greeted with one of the most profound eras of Schumpeterian creative destruction ever — which this pandemic is both accelerating and disguising.

No job, no K-12 school, no university, no factory, no office will be spared. And it will touch both white-collar and blue-collar workers, which is why this election matters so much. How we provide more Americans with portable health care, portable pensions and opportunities for lifelong learning to get the most out of this moment and cushion the worst is what politics needs to be about after Nov. 3 — or we’re really headed for instability.

The reason the post-pandemic era will be so destructive and creative is that never have more people had access to so many cheap tools of innovation, never have more people had access to high-powered, inexpensive computing, never have more people had access to such cheap credit — virtually free money — to invent new products and services, all as so many big health, social, environmental and economic problems need solving.

Put all of that together and KABOOM! You’re going to see some amazing stuff emerge, some longestablished institutions, like universities, disappear — and the nature of work, workplaces and the workforce be transformed.

PO BOX 6537 Caguas PR 00726 Telephones: (787) 743-3346 • (787) 743-6537 (787) 743-5606 • Fax (787) 743-5100

Dr. Ricardo Angulo Publisher Manuel Sierra

Ray Ruiz

General Manager

Legal Notice Director

María de L. Márquez

Sharon Ramírez

Business Director

Legal Notices Graphics Manager

R. Mariani

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Circulation Director

Editor / Reporter

Lisette Martínez

María Rivera

Advertising Agency Director

Graphic Artist Manager

Ravi Kumar, president of the vast Indian tech services company Infosys, at his home in Princeton, N.J., Oct. 20, 2020.

I’ve been discussing this moment with Ravi Kumar, president of the Indian tech services company Infosys, whose headquarters is in Bangalore. Because Infosys helps companies prepare for a digital world, I’ve always found it a source of great insight on global employment/education trends. I started my book “The World Is Flat” there in 2004. Back then, Infosys’ main business was doing work that American companies would outsource to India. Today, Kumar operates from New York City, where he’s creating thousands of jobs in America. How could that be?

It starts with the fact, explained Kumar, that the Industrial Revolution produced a world in which there were sharp distinctions between employers and employees, between educators and employers and between governments and employers and educators, “but now you’re going to see a blurring of all these lines.”

Because the pace of technological change, digitization and globalization just keeps accelerating, two things are happening at once: The world is being knit together more tightly than ever — sure, the globalization of goods and people has been slowed by the pandemic and politics, but the globalization of services has soared — and “the half-life of skills is steadily shrinking,” said Kumar, meaning that whatever skill you possess today is being made obsolete faster and faster.

Your children can expect to change jobs and professions multiple times in their lifetimes, which means their career path will no longer follow a simple “learn-to-work” trajectory, as Heather E. McGowan, co-author of “The Adaptation Advantage,” likes to say, but rather a path of “work-learn-work-learn-work-learn.”

“Learning is the new pension,” McGowan said. “It’s how you create your future value every day.”

The most critical role for K-12 educators, therefore, will be to equip young people with the curiosity and passion to be lifelong learners who feel ownership over their education.

Obviously, everyone still needs strong fundamentals in reading and writing and math, but in a world where you will change jobs and professions several times, the self-motivation to be a lifelong learner will be paramount.

Parallel to that, explained Kumar, accelerations in digitization and globalization are steadily making more work “modular,” broken up into small packets that are farmed out by companies.

Companies, he argues, will increasingly become platforms that

synthesize and orchestrate these modular packets to make products and services.

In the process, Kumar added, “work will increasingly get disconnected from companies, and jobs and work will increasingly get disconnected from each other.” Some work will be done by machines; some will require your physical proximity in an office or a factory; some will be done remotely; and some will be just a piece of a task that can also be farmed out to anyone, anywhere.

As more work becomes modular, digitized and disconnected from an office or factory, many more diverse groups of people — those living in rural areas, minorities, stay-at-home moms and dads and those with disabilities — will be able to compete for it from their homes.

This is already having a big impact on education. “We have started hiring many people with no degrees,” explained Kumar. “If you know stuff and can demonstrate that you know stuff and have been upskilling yourself with online training to do the task that we need, you’re hired. We think this structural shift — from degrees to skills — could bridge the digital divide as the cost of undergraduate education has increased by 150% over the last 20 years.”

Infosys still hires lots of engineers. But today Kumar is not looking just for “problem solvers,” he says, but “problem-finders,” people with diverse interests — art, literature, science, anthropology — who can identify things that people want before people even know they want them.

Steve Jobs was the ultimate problem-finder.

Finally, he argues, in the future, postsecondary education will be a hybrid ecosystem of company platforms, colleges and local schools, whose goal will be to create the opportunity for lifelong “radical reskilling.”

“Radical reskilling means I can take a front-desk hotel clerk and turn him into a cybersecurity technician. I can take an airline counter agent and turn her into a data consultant.”

Today, companies like Infosys, IBM or AT&T are all creating cutting-edge in-house universities — Infosys is building a 100-acre campus in Indianapolis designed to provide their employees and customers not “just-in-case learning” — material you might or might not need to master the job at hand — but “just-in-time learning,” offering the precise skills needed for the latest task, explained Kumar.

In the future, lifelong learning will be done by what I call “complex adaptive coalitions.” An Infosys, Microsoft or IBM will partner with different universities and even high schools, argues Kumar. The universities’ students will be able to take just-in-time learning courses — or do internships — at the corporations’ in-house universities, and company employees will be able to take just-in-case humanities courses at the outside universities. Both will be able to “learn, earn and work,” all at the same time. It’s already beginning.

There is great potential here — if it is done right. The students get exposed to what is most new by way of innovation technologies and techniques. And the company engineers and executives get exposed to what is most enduring — civics, ethics, theories of justice, principles of democracy, notions of the public good, environmentalism and how to lead a life of purpose.

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, October 22, 2020

19

Gobernadora solicita a municipios estatus de proyectos por daños provocados por María Por THE STAR

L

a gobernadora Wanda Vázquez Garced informó el miércoles, que envió misivas a los 78 alcaldes para conocer el estatus de los proyectos de recuperación de los daños tras el paso del huracán María con las asignaciones de fondos federales asignados y desembolsados.

“Siento una gran satisfacción y conforme al arduo trabajo que hemos realizado en los últimos 13 meses en beneficio de los municipios y de la ciudadanía en general, logramos con la colaboración y trabajo eficiente de la Oficina Central de Recuperación, Reconstrucción y Resiliencia (COR3, por sus siglas en inglés) y la Agencia Federal para el Manejo de Emergencias (FEMA, por sus siglas en inglés), la asignación de 78.3 millones de dóalres para 1,789

proyectos en todos los municipios, de los cuales 70.5 millones de dólares representa el pareo de fondos federal. Estos están destinados para los proyectos pequeños (‘small projects’) de categoría de trabajo perma-

nente. Estos fondos desembolsados son iniciales, dado a que se siguen trabajando, aprobando y desembolsando fondos, según los municipios cumplen con el proceso requerido, y es por eso que tenemos que saber el

estatus de las obras de construcción o reparación de los proyectos que los municipios tienen obligados”, explicó la primera ejecutiva en comunicación escrita.

Los proyectos pequeños de recuperación son los que se estiman en 123,100 dólares o menos y el 90 por ciento del dinero aprobado se desembolsa automáticamente para que se puedan comenzar las obras de manera más rápida.

“Hemos solicitado a los alcaldes que, en los próximos 30 días, nos puedan proveer un estatus de las obras relacionadas a los proyectos o en qué proceso se encuentra cada uno de ellos. El Gobierno está comprometido en atender las necesidades de los municipios y brindar orientación durante el proceso de recuperación y reconstrucción de la isla”, agregó Vázquez Garced.

Presidente del Centro Unido de Detallistas alza su voz en contra de la violencia de género Por THE STAR nte la ascendente cifra de mujeres asesinadas A en Puerto Rico, el presidente del Centro Unido de Detallistas (CUD), Jesús Vázquez, anunció

el miércoles que su gremio estará uniéndose a la campaña “No Calles”, en repudio a la violencia de género en la isla.

“Conscientes del alza reciente en el número de víctimas por violencia de género en Puerto Rico y reiterando el compromiso social del Centro Unido de Detallistas, decidimos unirnos a la campaña “No Calles”, promovida anualmente por el Hogar Nueva Mujer. Nuestro deber como parte de esta sociedad muchas veces trasciende los parámetros institucionales y en este caso, consideramos que es importante apoyar la gestión que realiza el Hogar Nueva Mujer a favor de las mujeres en Puerto Rico”, afirmó Vázquez en comunicación escrita.

Vázquez anunció su decisión de formar parte de la campaña impulsada por el Hogar Nueva Mujer, a través de la cual se busca crear conciencia entre la ciudadanía, a la vez que se levantan fondos para ayudar a víctimas de violencia de género.

En lo que va de año, más de 30 mujeres han sido asesinadas en manos de hombres. La campaña “No Calles” consiste en la realización de una serie de actividades a través de las redes sociales en las que se busca orientar acerca de este mal social y las alternativas para combatirlo. Además se venderá material educativo y camisetas alusivas a la campaña a través de la página web: www.nocallespr.com.

La campaña tendrá su evento cumbre mañana con una participación masiva en los medios sociales, en la que los participantes publicarán sus fotografías vistiendo las camisetas con el hashtag #NoCalles. A estos fines el Centro Unido desarrolló un poderoso mensaje en video para contribuir a la campaña educativa contra la violencia. En el

video el Comité de Mujeres Empresarias del CUD hace un llamado a las víctimas.

“Desde el Centro Unido de Detallistas continuaremos colaborando con estas iniciativas que ayudan a empoderar a las mujeres puertorriqueñas, haciéndole frente a los males que las acechan”, manifestó el ejecutivo.

20

Thursday, October 22, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

Whispers of an Italian-Jewish past fill a composer’s music

By THOMAS MAY

S

ince early in his career, Yotam Haber has grappled with what it means to be a contemporary Jewish composer. The tentative answers offered by his music — full of allusions, distortion and whispers of the past — suggest that the grappling itself is a vital part of that identity.

Haber’s most recent work, “Estro Poetico-Armonico III,” which juxtaposes a live mezzo-soprano and orchestra with decades-old recordings of Italian Jewish cantorial singing, dramatizes a subtle dialogue between creation and tradition. One of three composers to receive the Azrieli Foundation’s music prizes for 2020, Haber wrote the piece to fulfill the Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music.

The biennial awards of the foundation, based in Toronto, include two additional categories: the Prize for Jewish Music, given to an already existing recent work, and, introduced this year, the Commission for Canadian Music. (The other 2020 winners are Yitzhak Yedid and Keiko Devaux.) The Nouvel Ensemble Moderne of Montreal will livestream the premieres of all three works on medici.tv and the Azrieli Facebook page Thursday evening.

Haber, 43, refracts his exploration of Jewish musical identity through an ongoing attraction to Italian culture that began when he first traveled there at 18. Despite spending part of his childhood in Israel — he was born in the Netherlands but moved to the Middle East with his family when he was young — Haber became seriously interested in his Jewish heritage only after studying in Italy.

“I had never really thought about it before,” he said in a phone interview, but was prompted to consider it afresh by “being in a different country and trying to figure out who I am.” He was particularly drawn to the stalwart Roman Jewish community, which stood in marked contrast to his own experiences as what he calls a “cultural nomad.” (He also lived in Nigeria and the Ivory Coast as a boy before his father, a civil engineer, moved the family to Milwaukee in 1988.)

Studying in Italy, Haber found men-

tors among the avant-garde. As he took courses in live electronics, he discovered texts from a memorial held in the 1950s for Milanese victims of the Holocaust.

He set these to music in “Shema” (2000), which tethers its consideration of Jewish identity to the acts of remembering and listening; the title is the Hebrew word that begins one of the central prayers of Judaism.

How we remember and how we listen are recurring concerns, including in “Estro Poetico-Armonico III.” It borrows its title from the Baroque composer Benedetto Marcello’s collection of cantata settings of the first 50 psalms. A contemporary of Vivaldi and Bach, Marcello used his transcriptions of the chants he heard in Venetian synagogues as inspiration.

“Marcello was a Christian composer who claimed that these chants could be traced back to what was passed down on Mount Sinai,” Haber said.

But no matter how far back the Jewish oral tradition extends, every generation inevitably swerves from the original.

As a result, Haber said, the desire for a tradition to survive time and change can only be “a beautiful, doomed fantasy.”

He first responded to Marcello’s project with “Estro Poetico-Armonico I” (2011), for string quartet and recorder quartet, based on the last psalm setting in the collection. It is what Haber calls “a transcription of a transcription”; the listener can hear the process of distortion, which its composer compares to a musical version of the game telephone.

“Estro Poetico-Armonico II,” for a small chamber group, followed in 2014.

If the first piece, according to its composer, resembled an old painting that had smeared from being left in the rain, the second contains barely discernible “little droplets” of the Marcello source — a poignant reminder of the fragility of tradition.

Unlike its predecessors, “Estro Poetico-Armonico III” contains no material from Marcello; it only alludes to his fantasy of reaching into the past through an act of transcription. But the transcription here is not merely distorted. Haber intentionally erases or overwrites his source, a

The composer Yotam Haber, in front of a work by his wife, the artist Anna Schuleit Haber, in Harrisville, N.H., in Oct. 17, 2020.

10-hour collection of reel-to-reel tapes of Jewish cantorial singing made by the ethnomusicologist Leo Levi in the mid-20th century.

The result includes live singing and also a layer of prerecorded material.

These elements link it to another group of compositions Haber began in 2008 with “death will come and she shall have your eyes,” a song cycle blending traditional prayers and contemporary poetry.

The organizing body of the Roman Jewish community helped fund its creation, but several of that group’s officials and other prominent members of the community were conspicuously absent at the premiere. Haber later discovered that this was in protest of his use of a female soloist to sing sacred texts — taboo for some observant Jews.

“Along with my love for the mezzosoprano voice, because I feel so strongly about this, I’ve been doubling down and including it,” he said, including in “Estro Poetico-Armonico III.” Gender plays a key role in the work.

Each of the five movements sets a text by a male poet reflecting on contemporary

Israeli identity. “Having these sung by a woman changes the way you read the text,” Haber said. Fragments of prerecorded music from the Italian-Jewish tradition weave unpredictably in and out.

Haber’s previous pieces using the Levi recordings radiated, he said, an attitude of “adoration and astonishment” toward the archival singing. But he’s grown more ambivalent. “The mezzo is no longer complicit,” he said. “My singer doesn’t want to be a part of what is happening in these recordings, and is even battling the cantors.”

He has spent the lockdown with his family in a small town in New Hampshire, where he composed “Estro PoeticoArmonico III”; its density, which he compares to a “palimpsest,” contrasts with the quiet from which it was produced.

“Normally, daily life becomes very hectic and filled with information in a way that affects the way we write music,” he said. “But for this piece I was able to shut all of that off, so in a way it is not a very ‘clever’ piece at all, but perhaps my most emotional piece. And that is absolutely liberating.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, October 22, 2020

21

Gillian Flynn knows ‘Utopia’ has ‘unsettling’ COVID parallels

By JENNIFER VINEYARD

T

he world of the zeitgeisty Amazon Prime thriller “Utopia” is dauntingly complex. Adapted from a 2013 British show by the same name, the series centers on a wild conspiracy theory about viral epidemics — or not so wild, as it turns out, because the theory proves to be true.

This revelation, and much else, has been coded into mysterious comic books (“Dystopia” and its sequel “Utopia”), whose most obsessed readers eventually learn that the epidemic has been engineered, the media and the government have been manipulated and shadowy forces are promoting a worthless vaccine.

In short, the end of the world is nigh.

Near the end of the show’s first season, released in late September, biotech chief executive Dr. Kevin Christie (John Cusack), who created the bogus vaccine and is also a secret human trafficker, finally reveals his master plan: His vaccine is designed to make people infertile in order to radically reduce the world’s population. In Christie’s view, humans are the real virus, wiping out other creatures, and he’s convincing enough to make one of the show’s crusading characters join his mad cult.

The show’s resemblance to our own very real pandemic was accidental, but it lends it an uneasy verisimilitude, inspiring a few critics to lament what felt like a validation of anti-vaccine crankdom in the era of QAnon. Could that be irresponsible?

Even dangerous?

“I think it is a Rorschach test, you know?” said creator and showrunner Gillian Flynn. “It’s a show designed to let you find what you want from it and have different points of view, which is exactly where we are right now.”

In a phone interview, Flynn sifted through some of the show’s mysteries, revealed a few meaningful clues and Easter eggs, and discussed the show’s debated ideology. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.

Q: One of the things that distinguishes your “Utopia” from the British version is that we actually see the “Utopia” comic book here. Did you have artist João Ruas embed other clues within it beyond the ones the characters find, such as the Christie Labs logo that implicates Kevin Christie?

A: I felt strongly about seeing the

Clockwise from top, Desmin Borges, Dan Byrd, Ashleigh LaThrop and Jessica Rothe in “Utopia.” The thriller series is about a viral epidemic, but the verisimilitude was accidental. comic book. I wanted people to know why the characters were obsessed with the comic, both because of the secret clues hidden within it and also the beauty of it. I got the wonderful João Ruas to do the art. I discovered him through Bill Willingham’s “Fables.” I was looking for something that was like Arthur Rackham on acid, with a Henry Darger vibe, and that was João. He specializes in creepy children, haunted animals and nasty situations.

For some images, I was vague: “I want to see people doing something shocking.”

For the images I really wanted people to look at, I would describe it exactly. When we see the Blue Fairy and Jessica work on a puzzle in the comic, it’s an incomplete puzzle of the depopulation virus that Alice pieces together later. You can freeze the images and look at them more closely.

Q: It might also be worth freezing the conspiracy wall Wilson Wilson (Desmin Borges) constructed. Among other things, he has a Post-it note reminding him to “call Dennis K,” meaning Dennis Kelly, the creator of the original series?

A: Exactly. He’s got all the answers.

You know when Wilson and Christie make a connection about all the animals becoming wiped out, except the ones that are cute? Christie says, “Never in history has a creature been begging for extinction more than the panda.” Well, if you look closely at Wilson’s wall, there is a big picture of a

panda, and he’s written on its forehead: “I suck.”

Q: Do you see a QAnon quality to the show’s conspiracy?

A: Absolutely. The weird thing is, I started writing this in 2013. I was intrigued by the rise of conspiracies at that time — and it’s only become more so — but I wrote it before I knew about QAnon. Certainly there is that idea that if you look hard enough, and if you want it bad enough, you have the ability to convince yourself of anything. We’re in this weird place where truth has become malleable. Even science has become debatable, which is very frightening. It puts us in a position where we are easy to manipulate.

Q: Some critics have taken issue with what they see as the show’s underlying ideology, interpreting it to be on the side of anti-vaccine groups and pandemic skeptics because it makes conspiracy theorists the heroes. But you could also say the show exposes how indoctrination works.

A: I wanted to play it both ways. That was a deliberate choice. I understand how conspiracies are born and how you can find your own truth that pleases you. I also wanted to acknowledge the fact that we do live in a world where people are really trying to convince each other of incredibly odd ideas, and if you get enough followers, they can become “real.” And we do live in

a world where Watergate happened. We do have this proof that the people who are supposed to be in charge of us are not trustworthy. So I wanted to acknowledge both those sides of it.

I did have moments where I kind of had a stomach lurch, especially as the anti-vaxxer movement gained steam, and here I was writing a story where there is something bad with a vaccine. Obviously, it’s because of a bad human being who is clearly out of his mind, as far as his zealotry. If people watching this show take medical advice from John Cusack, something’s gone horribly wrong. Don’t do that. This is fiction. John and I had lots of conversations about what the vibe of Dr. Christie had, and I always said, “He’s kind of like Bill Gates.” And then there was a Bill Gates conspiracy theory that he was deliberately spreading a disease so that he could profit off it. That was unsettling.

Q: How much of what’s happened in the real world is going to shape how you treat Season 2, if there is a Season 2?

A: It’s not going to continue with the same story line about the vaccine and depopulation. I don’t want it to be the vaccine show, you know? It’ll go in a different direction. Season 2 of “The Boys” is probably the most brilliant Season 2 I’ve ever seen. You think it’s going to be about Compound V, and then they just smash it all and move on. That was daring and smart.

I thought that flashback in Season 2 of the U.K. “Utopia” was brilliant. I’ve always been a big back-story writer. The audience will follow you through far-out plotlines — like Amy killing Desi and framing Nick in “Gone Girl” — if you have a plan. So I spent months on everyone’s back story, especially the Christie-MilnerDad triumvirate — how they met, how they started hatching this idea, how they could afford to do it. I am planning an episode where you spend the entire time back in the 1980s, as they were figuring this all out. I’d rather see it in action than expository the hell out of it.

Originally, we also had in the script that Jessica would burn down Home, sort of in the symbolic “you can never go home again.” But as I was writing the back story of Home, I realized I wanted to see in action how Home works, what Home feels like. So that is also something we’ll play with in Season 2.

22

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, October 22, 2020

Man’s best friend once made nice wool blankets, too

By LESLEY EVANS OGDEN

E

ight years ago, Tessa Campbell heard a genuine shaggy dog story.

In 2012, Wayne W. Williams, an elder of the Tulalip Tribes, was donating material to the Hibulb Cultural Center on the tribal reservation in Washington state. He told Campbell, the museum’s senior curator, that his donation included a dog wool blanket.

Weavers examining it were unconvinced, suspecting it was mountain goat wool. But examination under an electron microscope at the University of Victoria in British Columbia in 2019 confirmed what Williams, who died in 2017, had said: The blanket, dated to about 1850, contained dog wool, lending credence to stories from the oral tradition of the Coast Salish Indigenous peoples of a special dog that was long kept and bred for its fleece.

A study published last month in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology adds to the evidence for the industry that produced this dog wool, as well as its ancient roots. The analysis

by Iain McKechnie, a zoo archaeologist with the Hakai Institute, and two co-authors examined data collected over 55 years from over 16,000 specimens of the dog family across the Pacific Northwest. It suggests the vast majority of canid bones from 210 Pacific Coast archaeological sites, from Oregon to Alaska, were not from wild wolves, coyotes or foxes. Instead, they were domestic dogs, including small woolly ones that were kept for their fur.

While the Indigenous cultures of the Pacific Northwest are often associated with their traditional harvesting of salmon, whales, herring and clams, their animal husbandry on land is less well known. The study highlights their underappreciated breeding of animals — particularly dogs — for wool.

One of McKechnie’s co-authors, Susan Crockford, has studied dog bones in archaeology sites for many years. Starting in the 1990s, she noticed that Pacific Northwest domes-

An undated photo provided by Iain McKechnie shows a “wool dog” skull recovered by researchers in 2018.

Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest once bred dogs in large numbers and sheared them for wool. tic dog remains were of two distinct size categories — large and small. But distinguishing domestic hounds from their wild cousins can be difficult, and most specimens from previous Northwest Pacific Coast zoo archaeological studies lacked species identification, said Madonna Moss, another co-author from the University of Oregon.

By going back over numerous earlier studies, the team discovered that British Columbia was a precontact hot spot for domestic dogs. And on the south coast of British Columbia, smaller dogs that would have had woolly fur outnumbered larger hunting dogs, and “seemed to be a longterm, persistent part of Indigenous community life for the last 5,000 years,” McKechnie said.

These knee-high wool dogs weren’t combed like modern pooches but sheared like sheep.

Indeed, journal accounts from a Hudson’s Bay Company fur trading post at Fort Langley, British Columbia, in the early 19th century described canoes from people of the Cowichan

tribe that were filled with “dogs more resembling Cheviot Lambs shorn of their wool.”

The Cowichan peoples of eastern Vancouver Island are recognized to this day for their textiles. Lydia Hwitsum, a former elected Cowichan chief, said she learned traditional weaving from her mother, who explained to her daughter that dog wool was historically incorporated into yarn-making “to make the fibers even stronger.”

But with colonization came imported textiles. Demand for wool from these small white dogs dropped, their numbers dwindled and the breed is believed to no longer exist.

Detailed knowledge of the dog wool industry has long been lost. But a growing body of scientific evidence suggests its use was once common.

Caroline Solazzo, a researcher at the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute, has tested 11 ancient Coast Salish blankets for signatures of dog hair. She found them in seven of the specimens. And of 47 blankets microscopically analyzed by Elaine Humphrey at the University of Victoria, all but three contained dog wool.

After “10 years of plodding” through data gleaned from merged

piles of dog bone data, McKechnie said his team has found evidence of deep relationships between coastal Indigenous communities and domestic dogs, highlighting their 5,000-year-old fashion industry that relied on woolly breeds of man’s best friend.

Carly Ameen, a bioarchaeologist and dog specialist at the University of Exeter in England who was not involved in McKechnie’s study, said these new identifications of old bones are “hard to validate objectively.” But she said the study makes an excellent case for mining the mountains of dog data already available.

“If we are going to find more direct evidence for these wool dogs, and other dog ‘types’ in the Americas, it is not going to be through the excavation of new remains as much as through the detailed investigation of well-recorded and conserved collections such as this one,” she said.

Back in Tulalip, Campbell’s blanket discovery has invigorated her whole community’s journey to reawaken ancient Coast Salish textile weaving.

And as for the unusual tale of dogs bred for wool, that’s a yarn still unraveling.

An undated photo provided by the Smithsonian Institution shows the pelt of a Coast Salish woolly-dog, collected in 1859.

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, October 22, 2020

23

Did lockdowns lower premature births? A new study adds evidence.

By ELIZABETH PRESTON

S

ome public health researchers are seeing hints that the coronavirus pandemic might help solve a long-standing puzzle: What causes premature birth?

Studies in Ireland and Denmark this summer showed that preterm births decreased in the spring during lockdowns to stop the spread of the virus in those countries. Anecdotally, doctors around the world reported similar drops. They speculated that reduced stress on mothers, cleaner air or better hygiene might have contributed. A large study from the Netherlands, published last week in The Lancet Public Health, has yielded even stronger evidence of an association between the lockdowns and a smaller number of early births.

The authors used data from a national newborn screening program. As in the United States, nearly all babies in the Netherlands have a spot of blood collected a few days after birth and tested for certain diseases. Information including the babies’ gestational ages — at how many weeks of the mother’s term they were born — is collected at the same time.

The Dutch researchers examined newborn blood screening data from 2010 to 2020, which included more than 1.5 million infants. Over 56,000 of those babies were born after the Netherlands started locking down in response to the pandemic.

With their large data set, the researchers compared early births in windows one to four months before and after the lockdown. Looking at the same windows in earlier years let them account for any other trends, such as seasonal changes in premature birth. No matter which windows they used, the researchers saw that premature births had dropped after March 9, when the government in the Netherlands began warning the public to take more hygiene measures and to stay home if they had symptoms or possible exposures to the virus. Within the next week, schools and workplaces began to close down.

“We could see that this impact was real,” said Dr. Jasper Been, a neonatologist at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam and the study’s lead author.

The reduction was from 15% to 23%, he said.

Dr. Roy Philip, a neonatologist at University Maternity Hospital Limerick in Ireland and author of the earlier study finding fewer preterm births this spring in the country, said he was “truly delighted” to read the new paper. He said it suggested that the lockdown did, in fact, cause the drop in early births. Unlike the Irish and Danish studies, the new Dutch study showed a decrease across all ages of premature babies — not only the earliest ones.

But as is often the case after such an investigation, Been said, “You have more questions than you started out with.”

One of those unanswered questions is about stillbirths.

In the best-case scenario, the preemies that were missing from hospitals this spring were born as healthy full-term infants. But it’s possible that some of those missing preemies died, instead.

Stillbirths “might actually be the dark side of this,” Been said. Researchers couldn’t measure stillbirths in the Dutch data

A preterm newborn was wheeled to meet his mother in a hospital in Istanbul. A large study of babies born in the Netherlands links the lockdowns with fewer preterm births. set, because only live infants undergo newborn screening. If most of the missing preemies were actually stillborn, Been said, there would have to have been a huge increase in stillbirths — maybe three times the usual number, conservatively.

No one has reported such a change so far.

At one hospital in London, a study showed an increase in stillbirths after the start of the pandemic (not the lockdown).

This increase might have come from hidden coronavirus infections, the authors wrote, or from women’s reluctance to seek medical care during the pandemic. Studies in Nepal and India showed that mothers were less likely to give birth in hospitals in the spring, and that stillbirths increased in those countries.

Further complicating the picture, COVID-19 itself may raise the odds of premature birth.

To find out how pandemic lockdowns affected preterm birth across different countries, the Dutch researchers have joined an international consortium of nearly 40 nations sharing data. Lockdowns might have been good for the health of mothers and babies in some places and not others, Been said, adding, “In general, we see that this whole pandemic seems to increase inequalities a lot.” The Dutch study even hinted that the drop in preterm births was limited to wealthier neighborhoods, although the result wasn’t statistically significant.

“Boy, did this affect people really differently,” said Jennifer Culhane, a senior research scientist in obstetrics and gy-

necology at Yale School of Medicine.

Culhane said the new study confirmed what she had been hearing from U.S. colleagues about lower preterm birthrates this spring.

“Anecdotally, this is what we’re all hearing and feeling,” she said.

In the absence of strong evidence in the United States, she and her colleagues have partnered with an insurance company to begin a large-scale study of how lockdowns affected premature births in this country.

She speculates that the lockdown’s effects might have depended on economic circumstances. For mothers who had the resources to work from home, “This could have a been a stress-reducing moment,” she said. For essential workers or those experiencing economic hardships, it might have been a different story.

“We see gross inequities in this country,” Culhane said.

“My guess is that women that had no reprieve from rat-racytype things had, actually, an enhanced burden of stress.”

Scientists have long struggled to find the causes of premature birth, and good ways to prevent it.

“We haven’t been able to reduce the preterm birthrate come hell or high water,” Culhane said.

Future studies could finally reveal ways to prevent early births for all mothers — no pandemic needed.

24 LEGAL NOTICE SUMMONS (CITACION JUDICIAL) NOTICE TO DEFENDANT: (AVISO AL DEMANDADO):

RYAN ANDERSON and DOES 1 to 20, inclusive

YOU ARE BEING SUED BY PLAINTIFF (LO ESTÁ DEMANDANDO EL DEMANDANTE):

AIMCO VENEZIA LLC

NOTICE: You have been sued.

The court may decide against you without your being heard unless you respond within 30 days. Read the information below. You have 30 CALENDAR DAYS after this summons and legal papers are served on you to file a written response at this court and have a copy served on the plaintiff. A letter or phone call will not protect you. Your written response must be in proper legal form if you want the court to hear your case.

There may be a court form that you can use for your response.

You can find these court forms and more information at the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www.courtinfo.ca.gov/ selfhelp), your county law library, or the courthouse nearest you. If you cannot pay the filing fee, ask the court clerk for a fee waiver form. If you do not file your response on time, you may lose the case by default, and your wages, money, and property may be taken without further warning from the court.

There are other legal requirements. You may want to call an attorney right away. If you do not know an attorney, you may want to call an attorney referral service. If you cannot afford an attorney, you may be eligible for free legal services from a nonprofit legal services program.

You can locate these nonprofit groups at the California Legal Services Web site (www. lawhelpcalifornia.org), the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www.courtinfo.ca.gov/ selfhelp), or by contacting your local court or county bar association. NOTE: The court has a statutory lien for waived fees and costs on any settlement or arbitration award of $10,000 or more in a civil case. The court’s lien must be paid before the court will dismiss the case. ¡AVISO! Lo han demandado.

Si no responde dentro de 30 días, la corte puede decidir en su contra sin escuchar su versión. Lea la información a continuación. Tiene 30 DÍAS DE CALENDARIO después de que le entreguen esta citación y papeles legales para presentar una respuesta por escrito en esta corte y hacer que se entregue una copia al demandante. Una carta o una llamada

@

telefónica no lo protegen. Su respuesta por escrito tiene que estar en formato legal correcto si desea que procesen su caso en la corte. Es posible que haya un formulario que usted pueda usar para su respuesta. Puede encontrar estos formularios de la corte y más información en el Centro de Ayuda de las Cortes de California (www.sucorte. ca.gov), en la biblioteca de leyes de su condado o en la corte que le quede más cerca. Si no puede pagar la cuota de presentación, pida al secretario de la corte que le dé un formulario de exención de pago de cuotas.

Si no presenta su respuesta a tiempo, puede perder el caso por incumplimiento y la corte le podrá quitar su sueldo, dinero y bienes sin más advertencia.

Hay otros requisitos legales. Es recomendable que llame a un abogado inmediatamente. Si no conoce a un abogado, puede llamar a un servicio de remisión a abogados. Si no puede pagar a un abogado, es posible que cumpla con los requisitos para obtener servicios legales gratuitos de un programa de servicios legales sin fines de lucro. Puede encontrar estos grupos sin fines de lucro en el sitio web de California Legal Services, (www.lawhelpcalifornia.org), en el Centro de Ayuda de las Cortes de California, (www.sucorte.ca.gov) o poniéndose en contacto con la corte o el colegio de abogados locales.

AVISO: Por ley, la corte tiene derecho a reclamar las cuotas y los costos exentos por imponer un gravamen sobre cualquier recuperación de $10,000 ó más de valor recibida mediante un acuerdo o una concesión de arbitraje en un caso de derecho civil. Tiene que pagar el gravamen de la corte antes de que la corte pueda desechar el caso.

CASE NUMBER: (Número del Caso): 198MCV01124 The name and address of the court is: (El nombre y dirección de la corte es): SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES Santa Monica Courthouse 1725 Main Street Santa Monica, CA 90401.

The name, address, and telephone number of plaintiff’s attorney, or plaintiff without an attorney, is: (El nombre, la dirección y el número de teléfono del abogado del demandante, o del demandante que no tiene abogado, es): Robert C. O’Brien, Paul A. Rigali, Timothy C. Tanner LARSON O’BRIEN LLP 555 S. Flower Street, Suite 4400, Los Angeles, CA 90071 Tel: (213) 436-4888; Fax: (213) 623-2000

Email: robrien@larsonobrienlaw.com; prigali@larsonobrienlaw.com; ttanner@larsonobrienlaw.com DATE (Fecha): 06/18/2019.

Clerk, by (Secretario): Marcos Mariscal, Deputy. ****

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

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante v.

DORAL FINANCIAL CORPORATION H/N/C H.F. MORTAGE BANKERS, POR CONDUCTO DE SU AGENTE RESIDENTE; DORAL MORTGAGE CORPORATION T/C/C DORAL DORAL MORTGAGE, LLC, POR CONDUCTO DE SU AGENTE RESIDENTE CT CORPORATION SYSTEM; FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION (FDIC) COMO SINDICO DE DORAL BANK; TEH MORTGAGE LOAN CO. INC.; MIGUEL ANGEL BURGOS RIVERA, DENNISSE RAMOS MARTINEZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS; FULANO Y MENGANO DE TAL, POSIBLES TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS DEL PAGARE

cribe le notifica a usted que el 27 de julio 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 14 de octubre de 2020. En CAROLINA, Puerto Rico, el 14 de octubre de 2020.

LCDA MARILYN APONTE RODRIGUEZ, Secretario(a). F/ BETHZAIDA MERCADO ALVAREZ , Secretario(a) Auxiliar.

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

ORIENTAL BANK

Demandante (a) VS.

ROSEMARIE VALDEZ ARROYO

Demandado (a) Civil Núm.: SJ2019CV11190.

Sala: 807. SOBRE COBRO DE DINERO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: ROSEMARIE VALDEZ ARROYO

EL SECRETARIO (A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 15 de octubre 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 enA: THE MORTGAGE detalladamente de los LOAN CO. INC., MIGUEL terarse términos de la misma. Esta noANGEL BURGOS tificación se publicará una sola RIVERA, DENISSE vez en un periódico de circulaRAMOS MARTINEZ Y ción general en la Isla de PuerLA SOCIEDAD LEGAL to Rico, dentro de los diez (10) días siguientes a su notificaDE GANANCIALES ción. Y, siendo o representando COMPUESTA POR usted una parte en el procediAMBOS, FULANO Y miento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia MENGANO DE TAL, POSIBLES TENEDORES Parcial o Resolución, de la cual DESCONOCIDOS DEL puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del PAGARE término de 30 días contados a (Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) partir de la publicación por edicEL SECRETARIO(A) que sus- to de esta notificación, dirijo a

Demandado(a) Civil: Núm. CA2020CV00051.

SALA 404. Sobre: CANCELACION DE PAGARE EXTRAVIADO POR LA VIA JUDICIAL. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

staredictos@thesanjuandailystar.com

(787) 743-3346

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, October 22, 2020 usted esta notificación que se Demandante vs. considerará hecha en la fecha OMAR H ROSAS AVILES, de la publicación de este edicFULANA DE TAL Y LA to. Copia de esta notificación ha SOCIEDAD LEGAL sido archivada en los autos de DE GANANCIALES este caso, con fecha de 16 de COMPUESTA POR octubre de 2020. En San Juan, Puerto Rico, el 16 de octubre AMBOS de 2020. Griselda Rodriguez Demandado Collado, Secretario Regional. CASO NUM. TJ2020CV00063. f/ Mildred J. Franco Reventos, SALA 408. SOBRE: COBRO Secretario(a) Auxiliar.

DE DINERO ORDINARIO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA LEGAL NOTICE POR EDICTO. Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Primera Instancia Sala Superior de Caquas.

COOPERATIVA DE AHORRO Y CREDITO DE CAGUAS Demandante vs.

FULANO Y MENGANO DE TAL

Demandado CASO NUM. CG2019CV01979.

SOBRE: CANCELACION DE PAGARE EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO ENMENDADA.

A: FULANO Y MENGANO DE TAL

(Nombre de las partes a las que se les notifica la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 21 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 15 de de octubre de 2020. En Caquas, Puerto Rico, 15 de octubre de 2020. CARMEN ANA PEREIRA ORTIZ, Secretaria. JESSENIA PEDRAZA, Secretaria Auxiliar.

A: OMAR H ROSAS AVILES, FULANA DE TAL Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

(Nombre de las partes a las que se les notifica la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el13 de octubre 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 13 de de octubre de 2020. En CAROLINA, Puerto Rico, 13 de octubre de 2020.

LCDA. MARILYN APONTE RODRIGUEZ, Secretaria. DAMARIS TORRES RUIZ, Secretaria Auxiliar.

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

COOPERATIVA DE AHORRO Y CREDITO DE CABO ROJO Demandante V

SUCESION RAMON AUGUSTO MARTINEZ TORRES, COMPUESTA POR HIRAM TORRES, SUTANO DE TAL, JANE DOE, RICHARD ROE

Demandados CIVIL: MZ2019CV01060. SOLEGAL NOTICE BRE: COBRO DE DINERO. Estado Libre Asociado de Puer- NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENto Rico, TRIBUNAL GENERAL CIA POR EDICTO. A: SUCESION RAMON DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Primera Instancia Sala Superior AUGUSTO MARTINEZ de CAROLINA. TORRES, COMPUESTA

ORIENTAL BANK Demandante V

JAVIER RAMIREZ TORRES

Demandados CIVIL: CA2019CV03274.

LEGAL NOTICE SALA: 409. SOBRE: COBRO Estado Libre Asociado de Puer- DE DINERO POR LA VIA ORto Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL DINARIA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Pri- SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. mera Instancia Sala Superior A: JAVIER de CAROLINA.

ORIENTAL BANK

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL(LA) SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 9 DE OCTUBRE DE 2020 este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia o 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 esta. 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 o 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 13 de octubre de 2020.

En CAROLINA, Puerto Rico, el 13 de octubre de 2020. LCDA. MARILYN APONTE RODRIGUEZ, Secretaria Regional.

MARICRUZ APONTE ALICEA, Secretaria Auxiliar.

RAMIREZ TORRES

POR SUTANO DE TAL, JANE DOE Y RICHARD ROE

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL(LA) SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 14 DE OCTUBRE DE 2020 este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia o 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 esta. 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 o 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 16 de octubre de 2020.

En MAYAGUEZ, Puerto Rico, el 16 de octubre de 2020. LCDA. NORMA G SANTANA IRIZARRY, Secretaria Regional. F/ BETSY SANTIAGO GONZALEZ, Secretaria Auxiliar.

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

COOPERATIVA DE AHORRO Y CREDITO SAULO D. RODRIGUEZ Demandante vs.

ISMAEL CONCEPCION FLORES; EMMA CRISTINA CONCEPCION RIVERA; SOCIEDAD DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

Demandado CASO NUM. CG2019CV04090.

SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCION DE HIPOTECA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: ISMAEL CONCEPCION FLORES. EMMA CRISTINA CONCEPCION RIVERA Y LA SOCIEDAD DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

(Nombre de las partes a las que se les notifica la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 14 de octubre 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

The San Juan Daily Star 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 14 de octubre de 2020. En Caquas, Puerto Rico, 14 de octubre de 2020. CARMEN ANA PEREIRA ORTIZ, Secretario (a). JESSENIA PEDRAZA, Secretaria Auxiliar.

Thursday, October 22, 2020

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 16 de octubre de 2020. En CAROLINA, Puerto Rico, el 16 de octubre de 2020.

LCDA MARILYN APONTE RODRIGUEZ, Secretario. F/BETHZAIDA MERCADO ALVAREZ, Secretario(a) Auxiliar.

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 16 de octubre de 2020. En CAROLINA, Puerto Rico, el 16 de octubre de 2020.

LCDA. MARILYN APONTE RODRIGUEZ, Secretaria. F/BETHZAIDA MERCADO ALVAREZ, Secretaria(a) Auxiliar.

LEGAL NOTICE

Demandado(a) Civil: CA2020CV00795. SALA: 404. Sobre: CANCELACION DE PAGARE EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACION DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE, COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS DEL PAGARE EXTRAVIADO

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO (A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 27 de julio 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 diez (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

Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Primera Instancia Sala Superior de FAJARDO.

NELLY ESTHER QUIÑONES LEBRON Demandante V

Banco Popular, como sucesor en interés de DORAL MORTGAGE CORP., JOHN DOE & RICHARD ROE

Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL LEGAL NOTICE DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de PriEstado Libre Asociado de Puer- mera Instancia Sala Superior Demandados to Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL Municipal de Ponce.

CIVIL: FA2020CV00017. SODE JUSTICIA Tribunal de PriBRE: CANCELACION DE PAFIRST BANK mera Instancia Sala Superior GARE EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFIPUERTO RICO de CAROLINA. CACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR Demandante v.

EDICTO. FIRST AMERICAN TITLE

INSURANCE COMPANY Demandante v.

RAYMOND BARRAL ALMODOVAL T/C/C RAYMOND RUBEN BARRAL ALMODOVAR

SOUTHERN MORTGAGE CORPORATION, TAMBIEN Estado Libre Asociado de PuerDemandado CONOCIDA COMO to Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL CIVIL NUMERO: DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Pri- SOUTHERN MORTGAGE PO2019CV03965.

SOBRE: mera lnstancia Sala Superior INCORPORATED Y COMO INCUMPLIMIENTO DE CONde CAROLINA. SOUTHERN MORTGAGE TRATO COBRO DE DINERO Y REPOSESION. SALA:601.

FIRSTBANK INC; DORAL FINANCIAL NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENPUERTO RICO CORPORATION; DORAL CIA POR EDICTO. Demandante v.

MORTGAGE LLC, ANTES A: RAYMOND BARRAL FEDERAL DEPOSIT CONOCIDA COMO ALMODOVAR T/C/C INSURANCE DORAL MORTGAGE RAYMOND RUBEN CORPORATION (FDIC) CORPORATION; BARRAL ALMADOVAR COMO SUCESORES FEDERAL DEPOSIT PARA SER NOTIFICADOS EN DERECHO DE R&G INSURANCE POR EDICTO P/C FEDERAL SAVINGS CORPORATION (FDIC); CAROLINA MEJIA LUGO BANK; JOHN DOE Y ORIENTAL BANK; PO Box 194089 RICHARD ROE, COMO FULANO DE TAL Y San Juan, PR 00919 POSIBLES TENEDORES MENGANO MAS CUAL (Nombre de las partes a las que se DESCONOCIDOS DEL les notifica la sentencia por edicto) Demandado PAGARE EXTRAVIADO CIVIL NUMERO: EL SECRETARIO(A) que susLEGAL NOTICE

LEGAL NOTICE

CA2019CV01523. SALA: 404.

SOBRE: CANCELACION DE HIPOTECA REPRESENTADA POR PAGARE HIPOTECARIO EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: FULANO DE TAL Y MENGANO MAS CUAL

(Nombre de las partes a las que se les notifica la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 21 de julio 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 representado 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

cribe le notifica a usted que el 20 de agosto 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 representado 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 19 de octubre de 2020. En Ponce, Puerto Rico, el 19 de octubre de 2020. LUZ MAYRA CARABALLO GARCIA, Secretario(a) Regional. f/ GLORIBEE MORALES MORENO, Secretaria(a) Auxiliar.

A: JOHN DOE, NO OBRA DIRECCION; RICHARD ROE, NO OBRA DIRECCION

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL(LA) SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 25 de febrero de 2020 este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia o 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 esta. 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 o 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 20 de octubre de 2020. En FAJARDO, Puerto Rico, el 20 de octubre de 2020. WANDA I SEGUI REYES, Secretaria Regional.

F/SHEILA ROBLES HERNANDEZ, Secretaria Auxiliar.

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

WILFREDO RODRIGUEZ ROSARIO Demandante VS.

IVETTE PEÑA GUZMÁN

Demandada CASO NUM: FA2020RF00165.

SALA: SOBRE: DIVORCIO (RUPTURA IRREPARABLE).

EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS E.E.U.U. EL ESTADO

25

LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PR. SS. de $12,022.08, más los intereses que acumule hasta su total pago, suma que está líquida y exigible. POR LA PRESENPOR LA PRESENTE se le noTE se le emplaza para que tifica que la demandante ha presente al tribunal su alegaradicado una Demanda sobre ción responsiva dentro de los Divorcio-Ruptura Irreparable. treinta (30) días de haber sido Habiéndose ordenado la publipublicado este emplazamiencación de un Emplazamiento to, excluyéndose el día de la por Edicto para emplazarlo a publicación. Usted deberá preusted, durante el término que sentar su alegación responsiva establece la Ley, en un perióa través del Sistema Unificado dico de circulación general en de Manejo y Administración de la Isla de Puerto Rico. POR Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede ESTE MEDIO, se le emplaza acceder utilizando la siguiente por Edicto y requiere a usted, dirección: https://unired.ramala parte con interés, para que judicial.pr/sumac/ salvo que se notifique al: LCDO. RICARDO represente por derecho propio, M. PRIETO GARCÍA, a su dien cuyo caso deberá presentar rección postal 6 CALLE CELIS su alegación responsiva en la AGUILERA S, SUITE 201-A, secretaría del tribunal. Si usted FAJARDO, PUERTO RICO, deja de presentar su alegación 00738, Tel. (787) 860-0875, y/o responsiva dentro del referido a su email: prietolawoffice@ término, el tribunal podrá dicyahoo.com, con copia de su tar sentencia en rebeldía en su contestación a las alegaciones contra y conceder el remedio de la Demanda en este caso, solicitado en la demanda, o las cuales podrá usted examicualquier otro, si el tribunal, en nar en la Sala de Fajardo, del el ejercicio de su sana discreTribunal de Primera Instancia, ción, lo entiende procedente.

Sección Superior, dentro de La dirección postal del abogalos treinta (30) días contados do de la parte demandante es desde el siguiente día a la fela siguiente: cha de la publicación de este Lcda. Adela Surillo Gutiérrez Emplazamiento por Edicto, con Bufete la advertencia a los efectos de Collazo, Connelly & Surillo, LLC P.O. Box 70212, que si no contesta la demanda San Juan, PR 00936-8212 presentando el Original de la Teléfono: 625-9999.

Contestación, ante el Tribunal Para publicarse conforme a la correspondiente, con copia a la parte demandante, se le Orden dictada por el Tribunal anotara la rebeldía y se dictara en un periódico de circulación Sentencia para conceder el re- general. EN TESTIMONIO DE medio solicitado sin más citarle LO CUAL, expido el presente ni oírle. EXTENDIDO BAJO MI Edicto que firmo y sello en San FIRMA, y el sello del Tribunal Juan, Puerto Rico, hoy 13 de en Fajardo, Puerto Rico, hoy octubre de 2020. GRISELDA 15 de octubre de 2020. Wan- RODRIGUEZ COLLADO, Seda I Segui Reyes, Secretaria cretaria. MARILYN ANN ESPINOSA RIVERA, Secretaria Regional.

Serv a Sala.

A: IVETTE PEÑA GUZMÁN Dirección desconocida

LEGAL NOTICE

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

COOPERATIVA DE AHORRO Y CREDITO DE MEDICOS Y OTROS PROFESIONALES DE LA SALUD (Medicoop) Demandante v.

VICTOR RODRIGUEZ COLLAZO

Demandado CIVIL NÚM.: SJ2020CV04572 (503). SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO. SS.

A: VICTOR RODRIGUEZ COLLAZO

POR EL PRESENTE EDICTO, se le notifica que se ha radicado en esta Secretaría por la parte demandante, Demanda sobre Cobro de Dinero en la que se alega adeuda la suma

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

ORIENTAL BANK Demandante v.

LUIS ROBERTO NIEVES ARES, NAMSY LÓPEZ MALDONADO Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES, COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

Demandado CIVIL NÚM: CA2020CV00695.

SOBRE: EJECUCIÓN DE GARANTÍAS (IN REM). EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO. SS.

A: LUIS ROBERTO NIEVES ARES, NAMSY LÓPEZ MALDONADO Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES,

COMPUESTA POR AMBOS 4608 Ash Tree St., Snellville,GA 30039-3360 DE: ORIENTAL BANK

POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los 30 días siguientes a la publicación de este edicto.

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

Este caso trata sobre Ejecución de Garantías (“IN REM”) en que la parte demandante solicita que se condene a la parte demandada a pagar: la suma principal de $104,236.48, más intereses a razón de 5.125%, desde el 1 de junio de 2019, que se acumulan diariamente hasta su total y completo pago, más la suma de $22,344.39 por cargos por mora, más la suma de $58.54 en conexión con la cuenta de reserva, más la suma de $14,900.00 por concepto de costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado hipotecariamente asegurados. Se le apercibe que, si dejare de hacerlo, se dictará contra usted sentencia en rebeldía, concediéndose el remedio solicitado en la demanda, sin más citarle ni oírle.

Lcdo. Juan C. Salichs Pou, Número del Tribunal Supremo 11,115 PO Box 195553, San Juan, PR, 00919-5553, Teléfono: (787) 449-6000, Facsímile: (787) 474-3892, Correo Electrónico: jsalichs@splawpr.com EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y Sello del Tribunal, hoy 13 de octubre de 2020. Lcda. Marilyn Aponte Rodriguez, Secretaria.

Lourdes Diaz Medina, Sec Aux Trib I.

LEGAL NOT ICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE GUAYNABO.

AMERICAS LEADING FINANCE LLC Demandante, v.

JOSEFINA RIVERA RAMOS, SU ESPOSO CÁNDIDO LÓPEZ SANTIAGO Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL

DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

Demandados CIVIL NÚM.: GB2020CV00381.

SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA Y EJECUCIÓN DE GRAVAMEN MOBILIARIO (REPOSESIÓN DE VEHÍCULO). EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU. DE AMERICA EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.

A: JOSEFINA RIVERA RAMOS, SU ESPOSO CÁNDIDO LÓPEZ SANTIAGO Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

Quedan emplazados y notificados que en este Tribunal se ha radicado Demanda sobre cobro de dinero por la vía ordinaria y ejecución de gravamen mobiliario (reposesión de vehículo) en la que se alega que la parte demandada Josefina Rivera Ramos, su esposo Cándido López Santiago y la Sociedad Legal de Gananciales Compuesta por Ambos, le adeudan solidariamente a Americas Leading Finance, LLC., la suma de $18,008.37, más los intereses que continúen acumulando, las costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado según pactados.

Además, solicitamos de este Honorable Tribunal que autorice la reposesión y/o embargo del Vehículo. Se les advierte que este edicto se publicará en un periódico de circulación general una sola vez y que, si no comparecen a contestar dicha Demanda dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación del Edicto, a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial.pr/sumac/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal, se le anotará la rebeldía y se dictará Sentencia concediendo el remedio así solicitado sin más citarles ni oírles. El abogado de la parte demandante es el Lcdo. Gerardo Ortiz Torres, cuya dirección física y postal es: Cond. El Centro I, Suite 801, 500 Muñoz Rivera Ave., San Juan, Puerto Rico 00918; cuyo número de teléfono es (787) 946-5268 y su correo electrónico es: gerardo@ bellverlaw.com. Expedido bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal, en Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, hoy día 13 de octubre de 2020.

Lcda. Laura I Santa Sanchez, Secretaria Regional. Diamar I Gonzalez Barreto, Secretaria del Tribunal Confidencial I.

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Thursday, October 22, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

Should a neutral-site World Series become baseball’s new normal?

By TYLER KEPNER

T

he Los Angeles Dodgers and the Tampa Bay Rays gathered at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas on Tuesday for the first game of the World Series, the 116th in history and the first at a neutral site.

The Dodgers were the home team, more than 1,200 miles from their home.

“I’m sad that it didn’t happen at Dodger Stadium, because this game would have been at Dodger Stadium,” infielder Enrique “Kike” Hernández said after clinching the pennant in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series in Arlington on Sunday. “But the feeling is kind of still the same: We’re still going to the World Series.”

Hernández was 1-for-2 with an RBI in the Dodgers’ 8-3 win over Tampa Bay in Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday night. Blake Snell was slated to be the Rays’ starting pitcher, with the Dodgers sending Tony Gonsolin to the mound for Game 2 on Wednesday night. Walker Buehler and Charlie Morton are the scheduled starters for L.A. and Tampa Bay, respectively, for Game 3 on Friday night.

In football, of course, the Super Bowl is always held at a neutral site; 10 years ago it was right next door, at the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium. The World Series is here only because of the coronavirus pandemic — but if Scott Boras had his wish, this would be the start of a new tradition.

Boras, the most prominent agent in baseball, has called for a neutral-site World Series for at least a decade, once making the proposal in a letter to Bud Selig, the former commissioner. Selig replied politely, Boras said, but the idea went nowhere.

“Of course the big bugaboo was that it means so much to the local entities to have the World Series in their town,” Boras said in an interview on Monday. “And I said, ‘Yeah, but the detriment it’s causing the game — it’s like serving soup in your hand. I get that it’s soup, but your product is going to waste by doing it.”

Soup belongs in a bowl, as it happens, and in Boras’ vision, the Super Bowl should be a model for Major League Baseball.

“We have to be forward-thinking about how we create a game that has attention above all other sports,” he said. “It’s already given us an indication of what the current, traditional approach has provided, and that

best record from each league. But Boras, who has signed current or former clients like Gerrit Cole, Bryce Harper and Alex Rodríguez to groundbreaking free agent contracts, said the Rays are an anomaly, with few highly paid free agents besides starter Charlie Morton, who signed a two-year, $30 million contract before last season.

“You hear the talk about what they’ve done to put their team together, but to me, analytics have created a base camp philosophy, and that is, they’re really not in the process to get to the summit,” he said. “You have to have oxygen to get to the summit, and that’s free agency. You’ve got to have the superstars; you’ve got to have those special people to get to the top.”

The Rays are no fluke; they had the American League’s best earned run average A fan took a selfie before an N.L.C.S. game last week at Globe Life Field. The last year, at 3.65, and trailed only Cleveland pandemic led M.L.B. to hold each league championship series and the World among AL teams this year, at 3.56. But Boras said the truncated regular season had given Series at a neutral site. the Rays an edge this October.

“In this 60-game schedule, when your In Boras’ opinion, though, MLB should relievers are only throwing 20 or 30 inninis that baseball does not receive the attention of the Super Bowl. Well, let’s create a think bigger. But is it really worth sacrificing gs, you can now not have starters and win,” product that does receive the attention of home crowds for a neutral-site spectacle, he said. “Throw relievers for three innings, the Super Bowl, and let’s create something just to revive interest nationally in a sport and basically do two or three of those in one that allows for a World Series week and that now thrives more locally? game and another game, and it creates a fal“Not nationally, internationally,” Boras sity of baseball that we know is not true over brings commerce and corporate interaction and all those things that come to a city for said. “You have the ability to attract people a 162-game schedule.” the Super Bowl — but we can actually deli- to our national pastime worldwide, because Whatever the reasons for their success, ver four to seven games as opposed to one.” they know where it’s going to be, and they the Rays have become a model for the inIt is always tricky to measure the reach can plan.” dustry by winning with low payrolls. Several Boras emphasized the word pageantry, big-market teams have poached Tampa Bay of the World Series. At the height of baseball’s popularity on television, the event still envisioning a weeklong extravaganza that executives to lead their baseball operations, trailed the Super Bowl in the ratings, but not encompasses an awards ceremony, a home including the Dodgers (Andrew Friedman), by much. The final game of the 1980 Wor- run derby, entertainment and elaborate the Boston Red Sox (Chaim Bloom) and the ld Series (on a Tuesday night) drew a 40.0 viewing parties throughout the host city.

Houston Astros (James Click).

“We attract a gala for seven days wherating, the highest in World Series history.

The free-agent market was strong last Three months later, Super Bowl XV drew a re people can attend one game out of six winter — led by Boras clients like Cole, or seven and still feel involved,” he said. Anthony Rendon and Stephen Strasburg — 44.4.

Super Bowl ratings have held relati- “They can watch at forums, corporate par- but after a regular season without ticket savely steady despite the proliferation of TV ties, sponsorship — you can really create a les, some teams may be less aggressive this networks; February’s game got a 41.6 rating. World Series week.” time. That could be one industry aftershock Crucial to the plan, Boras said, would of the pandemic.

But World Series ratings have fallen sharply, with last year’s averaging an 8.1, or about be to play all the games consecutively with As for the appetite for a neutral-si13.9 million viewers. (The estimated audien- no days off, like this year’s league champion- te World Series, that will be hard to gauge ship series. Doing so would feed viewers’ from this year’s, given the limits on ticket ce for the 1980 finale was 54.8 million.)

Even so, the first five games of the 2019 appetite for binge watching — “This is the sales (11,500 per game) and restrictions on World Series helped Fox to the most-wat- best Netflix series you could ever want,” he the kinds of gatherings Boras imagines. But if ched week for any network since the Super said — while highlighting the importance of the concept seems radical, another idea that Bowl eight months earlier. Networks still a deep roster, theoretically increasing the li- intrigues him has roots that stretch to 1903. crave postseason baseball, especially the kelihood that the best teams would win.

“We started with best-of-nine,” Boras For the first time since 2013, the World said, “and I think there was something to World Series, and MLB has no plans to alter Series does feature the two teams with the that for a true championship.” it by moving future games to a neutral site.

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, October 22, 2020

27

After doping scandal, Russia hacked the Olympics, US and Britain say

By TARIQ PANJA

A

fter the unmasking of its state-orchestrated doping program turned it into a sporting pariah, Russia hardly quietly accepted its punishment.

Angered and humiliated, it has fought, so far unsuccessfully, to re-enter the international sports community through legal channels. But, U.S. prosecutors and British government officials say, it went much further than that, actively seeking to undermine the Olympics it was barred from.

Just as it used the full might of the state in a cheating scheme that brought it now-disputed medals at events like the 2014 Sochi Games, Russia unleashed some of the same forces to hack and disrupt the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea and the now-delayed 2020 Tokyo Summer Games, according to U.S. and British officials.

Now, once again, the International Olympic Committee is left to decide what, if any, action to take against one of the largest and most influential countries in its movement, one that has time and again challenged its ideals.

According to U.S. and British authorities, operatives from Russia’s military intelligence wing unleashed a barrage of cyberattacks on the 2018 Winter Olympics and started operations against the Tokyo Games as part of a broader worldwide hacking campaign that also included attacks on a French presidential election and Ukraine’s electricity grid.

Russia denied the allegations, as it did when details of its doping program first emerged and after attacks on other sporting bodies, including the global doping regulator.

A Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, on Tuesday described the accusations as “Russophobia.”

“Russia has never carried out any hacking activities against the Olympics,” he told reporters in Moscow.

The accusations come as Russia tries to overturn the four-year ban from major international sporting events it received in December when experts at the world’s anti-doping regulator found that Russian officials manipulated key data that would have allowed sports federations to finally identify the hundreds of athletes it helped to cheat.

For the IOC and its president, Thomas Bach, the latest details of Russian malfeasance are likely to be a bitter blow. For years, the Olympic movement has stopped well short of punishing Russia with the most se-

vere penalties, which would include barring any Russian athletes from appearing at the Olympics or participating in regional events.

On Monday, the IOC was cautious in its first comments about the affair. Its statement did not mention Russia by name or specifically respond to the allegations.

“The IOC and the Organizing Committees of the Olympic Games have identified cybersecurity as a priority area and invest a lot to offer the Olympic Games the best cybersecurity environment possible,” the statement said. “Given the nature of the topic, we do not divulge those measures.”

In South Korea, the IOC angered much of the global anti-doping movement by allowing Russian athletes to participate even though its national Olympic committee, flag and national anthem were banned. A total of 168 Russian athletes competed under the designation “Olympic Athlete From Russia.”

Russia faced another ban in Tokyo, this time more severe than the one it received before the Pyeongchang Games. Russian athletes will have to prove they are clean from banned substances and do not have links to any of the manipulated data from a discredited Moscow laboratory. And in Tokyo they will not be able to be a part of a team in the way they were in South Korea.

Travis Tygart, who heads the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, another group that Russia tried to hack, said he was not surprised in the slightest by the latest developments.

He said Russia’s behavior “hasn’t changed one bit,” and the absence of meaningful punishment, in his view, has only emboldened Russia.

“The powers that be don’t have the courage to stand up to Russia even when they damage and maybe permanently damage the Olympic brand and the Olympic values,” Tygart said. “If a toddler keeps getting what it asks for and keeps disobeying the rules, why would they act differently?”

For German fencer Max Hartung, who set up a German athletes’ representation group after the IOC’s handling of the Russian doping scandal, the new accusations show how precarious even the biggest events can be.

“If a big nation state wants to sabotage sports events there’s probably no means by which a sport event can defend itself from such a nation,” he said.

Russia’s efforts to disrupt the 2018 Winter Olympics started several months before the event and gathered pace as the IOC in 2017 considered barring Russia from the Games for its doping activities. Once the ban was confirmed, operatives from a unit of the

American prosecutors charged six Russian intelligence agents in a worldwide hacking operation that included the Olympics.

Russian intelligence agency Main Directorate, usually referred to as the GRU, dug in, U.S. prosecutors said.

The role of the spy agency described in the scheme bears some hallmarks to how the doping program operated, when officers from a separate organization, the Federal Security Bureau, the main successor agency to the KGB, took part in clandestine, middleof-the-night operations to replace drug-tainted urine samples with clean ones at the Sochi Olympics.

In the Olympics hack, GRU operatives sent emails to members of the IOC, athletes and other companies posing as Olympic or South Korean government officials to trick the recipients into giving them access to key Olympic infrastructure. At one point, they hacked a company that provided timekeeping services to the Olympics, according to court papers.

With their trap set, Russian officers sent event organizers into a frenzy by targeting the opening ceremony of the Games, taking down internet access, disrupting signals, grounding broadcasters’ drones and taking down the official website, which prevented spectators from printing tickets required to attend the Games.

South Korea, which had spent billions of dollars to prepare for the Games, had to take drastic action as the cyberattack threatened to overwhelm the meticulously planned opening ceremony that was supposed to feature a deployment of drones. In the end, they were visible only on television, with organizers forced to use prerecorded video of the drones for telecasts.

At the time, South Korean officials and the IOC struggled to determine what had happened. The Russian officials, according to the U.S. indictment, tried to cover their tracks by taking steps to lay the blame on perpetrators in North Korea, which had made threats to the Games before agreeing to send some of its athletes to participate in a unified Korean team.

With their mission accomplished, the group involved in the successful cyberattack turned its attention to Tokyo, using the same techniques, which included months of reconnaissance work to learn about the individuals and organizations involved in putting together the complex event.

A division of Britain’s intelligence agency GCHQ said it had detected the Russian intelligence agency’s main cyberwarfare center, known as Sandworm and Voodoo Bear, trying a campaign closely matching the one two years earlier.

British authorities, according to people familiar with the investigation, coordinated their investigation with counterparts in the FBI, and once they had confirmed with certainty that individuals affiliated with the GRU’s 74455 unit were carrying out reconnaissance work to disrupt the Tokyo Olympics, they contacted Japanese officials to warn them of the threat.

Britain’s foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, condemned the attacks as “cynical and reckless.”

Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Katsunobu Kato, said Japan would mount efforts to protect the Games.

“We cannot turn a blind eye to malicious cyberattacks that threaten democracy,” Kato told a news conference.

He added that Japan was in contact with authorities in the United States and Britain.

Russia’s arbitration hearing against its sports ban — which also includes a prohibition against hosting major sports events — is scheduled to begin in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Nov. 2, after being delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Russia said it disputed the ban “in its entirety,” and Dmitry Medvedev, its prime minister at the time, described the sanctions as part of “chronic anti-Russian hysteria.” Its defense has been undermined by the former head of its anti-doping agency, Yuri Ganus, who described the punishment as just and said Russia had manipulated athletes’ records to disguise evidence of doping.

Athletes who can prove they are untainted by the doping scandal will be able to compete at international events, including the Olympics, under a neutral flag.

28

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, October 22, 2020

Flattened basketballs as art

By SOPAN DEB

F

or many of us, the outdoors serve as a refuge — a place to gather (at a social distance, of course) and live some sort of normalcy as the pandemic continues to disrupt society.

Then there is artist Tyrrell Winston, who has spent years scouring the outside world to gather the material he has made integral to his work. Winston’s pieces are typically made with objects he finds outside — most commonly, flattened basketballs and cigarette butts.

“When I’m walking down the street, I’m seeing art materials,” Winston said during a recent Zoom interview. “It’s literally, ‘What can I use or what can I look at that I have never seen before?’”

Winston, 35, is based in New York City and has no formal art training, but he has made a career out of combining his two loves — basketball and art — to create compelling three-dimensional works.

He said he was currently constructing something for Dan Gilbert, the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers: a piece of 168 flattened basketballs. (Gilbert had commissioned two other pieces by Winston that are outside the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, where the Cavaliers play.)

Once Winston finishes this piece, it will be the largest artwork of flattened basketballs collected by an NBA owner, supplanting one that belongs to Michael Rubin, a Philadelphia 76ers co-owner, who has a Winston piece made of 105 basketballs.

The flattened basketballs used to come from Winston’s travels through Manhattan and Brooklyn. A used basketball, he said, tells its own story. “And I do not have to ascribe, put words with it, and it becomes abstract in that way,” he said.

“I want my work to mean many things to many people. There is no one definitive meaning.”

Now, Winston has graffiti artists sourcing balls for him in California, upstate New York, Florida, Texas and other parts of the United States. They often come from train tracks, Winston said, a common home for basketballs. Or junk shops.

Estate sales. Any place. They just have to be used.

“Weather is my favorite assistant, and that’s just something I have no desire to

try to figure out how to manipulate or that I want to, because the ethos of the work is about all of these touches that are not mine,” he said.

One reason Winston started using found pieces for his art was that he had $150,000 in college debt when he graduated from Wagner College with an arts administration major during the recession in 2008. He did not have money to buy materials, and on top of that, he didn’t know how to paint. But he knew he wanted to be an artist, especially after attending a Dada exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. Two of Winston’s biggest influences are Marcel Duchamp, the French artist who died in 1968, and David Hammons, an American artist. They pioneered “found art” pieces — although in very different ways. Duchamp was a father of Dadaism, an avant-garde art movement of the early 20th century that aimed to be “anti-art.” He dabbled in the whimsy and the outward rejection of conventional art, as in his piece “Fountain,” a urinal he signed “R. Mutt,” considered one of the most notable artworks of the 20th century. In the latter half of the 20th century, Hammons constructed several vivid commentaries on being Black in America through pieces made from hair on the floor in barbershops, from sweatshirts and from constructing basketball hoops several stories high, among many others.

Sports are a clear influence on Winston’s art, even aside from flattened basketballs and used nets — another common material for him. He grew up a Los Angeles Clippers fan in Orange County, Calif. One of his pieces, 2019’s “Don’t Forget to Floss,” has a used basketball rim on top of a stool. It is a direct homage to Duchamp, who did the same with a bicycle wheel in one of his early works. Winston’s latest exhibit is a digital display of his takes on sports fandom, in partnership with the Library Street Collective, a gallery in Detroit. Sports fans will find many of the pieces familiar and possibly sacrilegious, depending on one’s point of view.

Winston, whose work has been displayed all over the world, takes on a sports-obsessed society, particularly the hype surrounding sports memorabilia.

Here is a look at some of the pieces on display.

The artist Tyrrell Winston replaced a basketball net at Cooper Park in Brooklyn.

“Weather is my favorite assistant,” he says.

‘Punishment paintings’ In this series of paintings, Winston recreates the signatures of some of the most famous athletes in history — painting their autographs over and over in a series called “Punishment Paintings.” Among the athletes whose autographs Winston recreates are Michael Jordan, Pete Rose, Muhammad Ali and Mickey Mantle. He suggests that their level of fame is a form of “punishment” in itself, because society does not allow them to be flawed.

“I want people to ask, ‘Why have I chosen these people?’” Winston said, adding, “We have commodified some of these athletes and we look at them as immortal and put an unfair expectation on them sometimes.”

But Winston said that the punishment of fame isn’t the only kind of punishment he is concerned with. There is also the physical.

“So when I say, ‘Punishment Paintings,’ too, it’s the training and the mental endurance that these people that we put on these pedestals have to endure,” Winston said.

‘Signing sessions’ This is one that hard-core sports fans may find surprising. Winston simply takes pieces of valuable, authenticated, signed memorabilia — such as a Jordan-autographed basketball and a Rose-signed baseball — and puts his own John Hancock

on them, a purposeful act of desecration.

The act is an homage in itself. Winston likened it to an act by Robert Rauschenberg, the influential American artist who, like Duchamp, specialized in turning artistic expectations on their head. Rauschenberg once took a valuable drawing by Willem de Kooning, another 20th-century giant of American art who popularized abstract expressionism, and erased it with de Kooning’s permission. He put the blank piece of paper on display in 1953.

Even as one of Rauschenberg’s most daring pieces, to take a valuable drawing and perform an act of what some would consider destruction, it did not create a public sensation until the 1960s.

To Winston, the signing of the Jordan ball is a tribute in itself. But he has an analogy that basketball fans today may more readily recognize as an explanation for this piece of work.

“It is Iverson crossing over Jordan his rookie year and hitting that shot,” Winston said. “I like to have those parallels.

This is a moment in our history, but it’s also an athletic accomplishment. And me doing that Jordan ball, I mean, I’ll tell you, man, I was so nervous. It’s because of the respect and the admiration that I have for Michael Jordan as a basketball player.

And I still think my signature looks kind of funny on it because I have so much respect.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, October 22, 2020

29

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

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

Crossword

Answers on page 30

Wordsearch

GAMES

HOROSCOPE Aries

30

(Mar 21-April 20)

Rather than getting on with routine you are eager for some variety. Because of this you could be taking a short trip to a place that holds fond memories or that you just happen to really enjoy. A partner who tags along may not share your enthusiasm but they will have a hard time resisting your charm.

Taurus

(April 21-May 21)

A phone call or visit from your parents or an older relative is likely to tie you up for some time. You may, as a consequence, have to put back some other plans you had for the day.

This won’t be a big inconvenience and when you hear some of the news they are keen to tell you about, you will be glad you made them the priority.

Gemini

(May 22-June 21)

A friend has been secretive and distant recently. When they suddenly reveal a secret romance, you aren’t sure whether you approve of their behaviour especially if you feel it’s going to hurt someone. Are you single? An old romance is beginning to show signs of being rekindled and since you never really got over this break up, you will welcome the chance to get back together again.

Cancer

(June 22-July 23)

Joining forces with a group of like-minded people gives you a chance to get closer to people you care about or have cared about.

You may not realise how out of touch you and a friend have become. This is not a friendship you would want to end and that’s why you will be doing your best to make it up to them now.

Leo

(July 24-Aug 23)

There’s an undeniably dramatic side to your nature that is evident at this time. Your flair for adding just the right amount of theatre to your words and actions will make you popular with those in your immediate circle. Someone will admit to having needed cheering up and they’ll be glad to have you around.

Virgo

(Aug 24-Sep 23)

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, October 22, 2020

Something good will come out of an upsetting situation. If you have recently felt a sense of loss or disappointment there will be a recovery of losses. An online conversation will be the key that eases a career burden. Someone will offer to take over a difficult task for you.

Libra

(Sep 24-Oct 23)

A final reminder for a bill will make you wonder why this has been left so long to settle. You may have thought a partner had taken care of this and they will admit to having thought the same of you. Now you can’t ignore the matter and it should be dealt with straight away.

Scorpio

(Oct 24-Nov 22)

A quiet conversation will alert you to some background events which have been kept well under cover. This may have something to do with the future of your job or a project you are involved in. Although nothing is yet for certain you could be able to use this knowledge to help further your own career.

Sagittarius

(Nov 23-Dec 21)

Capricorn

(Dec 22-Jan 20)

The only way to get a community project off the ground will be with the help of a good management team. The launch will be the hardest part. Once things are underway, progress will be faster than you had imagined.

A work assignment needs careful attention and you will insist everything is done by the book.

A family get together has been postponed so many times you know that you can’t put it off any longer. If this involves meeting relatives you never get on with, you will only be going out of politeness. What will surprise you is that this occasion won’t be anywhere near as dull as you had expected.

Aquarius

(Jan 21-Feb 19)

An older woman will be contacting you. She knows what it is to suffer and she has some wise words to share with you. Something you are told will stick in your mind for a long time to come. New relationships begun now will bring you great happiness.

Pisces

(Feb 20-Mar 20)

Pay attention when people are talking to you. Your head is in the clouds or you’re too busy checking your test messages to listen to what’s being said. Any decisions that have to be made concerning the home need to be agreed on by all who are involved. This could mean a few compromises will need to be made.

Answers to the Sudoku and Crossword on page 29

Thursday, October 22, 2020

31

CARTOONS

Herman

Speed Bump

Frank & Ernest

BC

Scary Gary

Wizard of Id

For Better or for Worse

The San Juan Daily Star

Ziggy

32

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, October 22, 2020

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