Wednesday Sep 23, 2020

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

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CMCPR Chief Accuses Oversight Board of Exacerbating Medicaid Funds Chaos P4

Jaresko Scolds Gov’t Again, Demands Pensioner Info P4

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We Want Them Back Safe Island Sees Hike in Women Going Missing; Loved Ones Deserve Answers What’s the Gov’t Doing About It?

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The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

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September 23, 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.

House to probe hike in women going missing; official condemns partisan politicization of gender violence

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n response to what appears to be a disproportionate pattern of women going missing over the past nine months, including one from Humacao, the Public Safety Committee of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives will in the coming days begin an in-depth and detailed investigation into the problem.

Committee Chairman Félix Lassalle Toro, along with the Rep. Maricarmen Mas Rodríguez of District 19 (Mayagüez and San Germán), announced the investigation and its objective.

“The goal of this investigation is to identify exactly the number of people who have been designated as missing in Puerto Rico this year, as well as in the past five years, and particularly women, in order to focus all available resources, not only those of the Police Bureau, but also of the municipal police and federal law enforcement agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI),” Mas Rodríguez said in a statement. “The House has been very active in the search for real and viable solutions during this four-year term and we will continue to do so; that is why we are going to investigate this situation in depth and detail.”

“The designation of ‘missing person’ is something that is very difficult for the family and friends of that person. They need and deserve an answer about what happened to their loved ones,” noted Lassalle Toro, who represents District 16, which includes the municipalities of Isabela, San Sebastián and Las Marías. “Over the past few weeks, we have carefully observed an increase in the number of missing persons cases in Puerto Rico. We are not going to limit ourselves to learning the protocols used by the Department of Public Safety (DSP) to handle these types of cases. We know about the professionalism and dedication of our police officers.

What we are looking for is to see how we can help, with legislation and/or by identifying alternatives that are viable and, above all, can be quickly implemented to help in the search for these citizens.”

The proposed investigation comes after media reports over the past few months about the increasing number of women going missing. According to the police, some 20 women have gone missing in Puerto Rico.

Just this week, the police asked for help in locating 20year old Rosimar Rodríguez, who appears to be the victim of a kidnapping.

The young woman was forced into a car by unknown individuals on the night of Thursday, Sept. 17 in the Sabana Seca neighborhood of Toa Baja.

A witness told police that a man with a dark complexion, approximately 5 feet six inches tall, forcibly pushed Rodríguez into a white Suzuki vehicle against her will.

At the time of the incident, Rodríguez was wearing a gray shirt, blue denims and red and white sports shoes. The young woman is five feet five inches tall and weighs ap-

proximately 130 pounds.

Meanwhile, several girls reported missing in Ponce and Río Piedras have reappeared.

Police reported Tuesday that Kermarie Robles Albino, 13, who had been reported missing in the municipality of Ponce, was located alive and well. According to the police report, agent Rebecca Rosado from the Ponce Homicide Division said the mother of the minor brought her to the Ponce Area Station.

Two teenagers reported missing on Aug. 26 on La Paz Street in Río Piedras reappeared this week in good health, police reported.

According to the authorities, Esmeralda Burgos Medina, 14, and Jessica Marlene Vázquez Jiménez, 16, walked into police headquarters in Río Piedras, but further details were not immediately available.

Early this week, Women’s Advocate Lersy Boria and Popular Democratic Party candidate Ada Conde called for an end to violence against women.

Boria rejected the use of gender violence as a political football and noted that it won’t end with a tweet or a political rally. “Since I took over the position of Women’s Advocate, I have seen candidates discussing the issue of female violence as if it is a partisan football,” she said. “This is an issue of women’s rights. The subject of violence against women is being minimized.”

Anyone with information on Rosimar Rodríguez or another missing person’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Police Bureau at 787-343-2020.

According to the police, some 20 women have gone missing in Puerto Rico. Just this week, the police asked for help in locating 20-year old Rosimar Rodríguez, who appears to be the victim of a kidnapping.

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The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

CMCPR president accuses fiscal board of neglecting health services to 200,000 citizens

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

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day after the Star reported that Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón filed an amendment to House Resolution 8319 so that $1.1 billion in Medicaid funds authorized by Congress for the current fiscal year ending Sept.

30, but yet to be approved for use by the Financial Oversight and Management Board, can be rolled over into the next fiscal year, Physicians and Surgeons Association of Puerto Rico (CMCPR by its Spanish initials) President Víctor Ramos said Tuesday that $700 million that was to be authorized by the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services might get lost if the oversight board does not amend and obligate the funds, leaving 200,000 low-income citizens without access to the government healthcare plan.

Ramos said the oversight board has yet to obligate the funds for use because it wants to disburse $470 million out of the $700 million to a program that expects to pay Medicare Part B benefits to Medicare Part A recipients. However, the CMCPR president said, allocating the funds to such a program would leave behind programs that cover medication to Hepatitis C patients, pay 70 percent of the fee schedule to Medicare Part B recipients and healthcare providers, and pay insurance fees for citizens who live under the federal poverty level.

“This population is already covered as Medicare covers Part A [benefits] and the government’s Vital Plan covers what

would be Medicare Part B. But who is interested in this program that pays for Medicare Part B? Companies that offer Medicare Advantage plans; MMM, Triple S, Humana, and MCS that could take them as Platinum patients, that’s the program that health insurance companies wanted,” Ramos said. “There’s no reason for the board to hold these funds, except that they want to make the Health Insurance Administration implement the program to provide Platinum benefits to those that are already insured, because we know the interests of certain people on the board.

And who are the ones that benefit from making their insurers get a Platinum Program? Brokers! And who is a broker on the board? Its chairman, José Carrión III.” Meanwhile, Ramos called on Carrión III to take action as “the board has had a history of repealing bills to provide access to healthcare services to both providers and patients.”

“If Jose Carrión III wants to do a favor to Puerto Ricans before he leaves his seat on Oct. 31, then let 200,000 patients to whom you’re denying access to quality medical services get into the Health Reform,” Ramos said. “You did not lobby a cent from these funds, I did, and people that are here with me and many others did. You can’t do this.”

Ramos: Another full lockdown would be ‘complicated’ After members of the press asked Ramos to respond to island Health Secretary Lorenzo González Feliciano’s comments from earlier Tuesday about anticipating a possible lockdown due to COVID-19 cases spiking in Puerto Rico, he said enacting a phase similar to the earlier one in March is complicated because “the

[financial] aid available in that month is no more.”

“What I do believe is that what happened with the last executive order was no accident, that medical groups met with the Economic Task Force and said case positivity had decreased and that we could open again, and that a private laboratory would hold back results for 10 days and would release them a day after the order came into effect?” Ramos said. “I don’t believe in chances.”

When asked if he was referring to Quest Laboratories holding back data, he said yes. Nonetheless, he said that even though he has no evidence to prove that backlog was intentional, he added that “he couldn’t believe an important medical group alleging that we were at 6 percent of positivity [in COVID-19 cases].”

Jaresko: ‘Gov’t not complying with pensioner information’

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

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inancial Oversight and Management Board Executive Director Natalie Jaresko said Tuesday that the Puerto Rico government has not complied with the delivery of information on government pensioners.

Specifically, the oversight board followed up with the government to request the remaining information and an analysis of the tax effect of Laws 80, 81 and 82 of 2020, in order to determine, Jaresko said, whether these laws, which expand retirement benefits for public employees, are financially feasible not just today, but tomorrow and for years to come.

“To date, the government has not provided the information required to make a fiscally responsible determination on whether it can pay the increases in benefits it has proposed for future retirees in public service, or whether it has thoroughly analyzed the fiscal effect of these laws before approving them,” Jaresko said in a written statement.

“The Board continues to have serious concerns about this legislation. Our own analysis

shows that these laws will create huge and unaffordable costs, in the long run, for the government,” she added. “However, we will continue working with the government and analyzing the information it has provided, as well as the additional information that we hope it will provide us during this week.”

The board’s executive director explained

that she anticipated being able to resolve her concerns about the feasibility of the laws as soon as possible, as she has received many emails and messages from public employees who hope to plan for their retirement in light of these statutes.

“Those employees deserve a degree of certainty that cannot be provided without

a proper analysis of the cost and feasibility of these decrees,” Jaresko said. “Retirement benefits are one of the most important commitments that any government can carry out.

The Government of Puerto Rico must ensure that it can really pay for the promises it makes to those who dedicate their professional lives to serving the people, ensuring their safety and educating their children.”

“The history of legislating increases in retirement benefits, which have proven unaffordable or simply were not adequately funded, represents one of the main causes of a virtually unfunded retirement system today,” the oversight board executive director added. “In 2019, the Board published an independent and comprehensive analysis of the Puerto Rico Government’s pension systems, which revealed numerous shortcomings. … The Oversight Board will work with the Government of Puerto Rico to ensure that only promises that can be kept are made. That is our commitment, our responsibility and our mandate under PROMESA [the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act of 2016].”

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

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Truck drivers demand safer working conditions for San Juan employees amid pandemic

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

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ersonal protective equipment, vehicle sanitization, physical distancing, and other protective actions.

These were some of the demands made by public truck drivers Tuesday in front of San Juan’s Public Works Operations Center as they reported anomalies occurring in the city as employees are confronting issues at their workplaces due to a lack of protocol for preventing exposure to the coronavirus.

Puerto Rico Truckers Coalition Coordinator Carlos Rodríguez said that as the capital city’s public workers are going back to work in person, maintenance brigade employees have raised flags as dump trucks and waste collection trucks have yet to be disinfected, exposing them to rat urine and feces, while many had to obtain sanitizing equipment and protective gear with their own income. However, in fear of retaliation, they decided to leave it to Rodríguez to “raise the red flags.”

“There was an employee who worked at [Hiram] Bithorn [Stadium] who collapsed; his companions had to pick him up from the floor and they drove him to a hospital. He was diagnosed positive for COVID-19,” Rodríguez said. “The employee who collapsed seems to not be in

danger, but his companions kept working even though they were supposed to be in quarantine for 14 days or until they get a negative result. They’ll keep spreading the disease, but they keep going because they are intimidated and are scared of losing their jobs.”

He also called on San Juan Mayor

Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto to provide public workers with proper disinfection training and hazardous material suits. Rodríguez said the city’s public workers have not been trained appropriately and are at risk of exposure to the virus that causes COVID-19.

“We’re keeping an eye on them and reporting such ordeals. We ask the mayor

to comply and provide her workers with safer working conditions. We don’t think we’re demanding something extravagant or over the top; we request what’s fair for these employees, many of whom are heads of households,” Rodríguez said.

“Even if she lost in the primary elections, similar to what happened with Governor Wanda Vázquez Garced, who lost and has thrown the country’s issues into oblivion, we hope the mayor doesn’t climb onto that bandwagon; if she wants to go out with style and grace, she should address her workers’ concerns.”

As for the truck drivers running point for city employees, Rodríguez said that even though the Puerto Rican Workers Union is the one that is supposed to ensure the workers’ welfare, he told the Star that “they are more focused on working on the political campaign in support of the Citizen Victory Movement.”

As he is also a spokesman for the Capital Workers Union, Rodríguez said he felt obliged to make San Juan employees’ complaints known since, he said, their concerns so far have “fallen on deaf ears.”

“Things have changed, and we must find a way to live with the COVID-19 surrounding us,” he said. “But we must provide the tools and strategies to prevent cases from going up. It’s hard, but we have to protect each other.”

Health secretary does not rule out total closure because of COVID-19

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

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sland Health Secretary Lorenzo González Feliciano does not rule out a return to total shutdown in the next executive order from Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced if COVID-19 cases continue to increase.

“It’s good to see that this week we don’t have the numbers we reported last week in terms of deaths, of which we had 18 one day, 12 another day, 11 another day,” González Feliciano said Tuesday in a radio interview. “We had more than 40 deaths reported in three days -- that did worry us.”

González Feliciano said that so far this week, COVID19-related deaths in Puerto Rico have risen from 608 to 613. On Tuesday, 88 confirmed cases and 36 additional probable cases of COVID-19 were reported.

The Health chief indicated that there has been an increase in diagnosed cases of COVID-19. In total,

confirmed cases have reached 20,399 and probable cases 22,197.

Regarding whether or not he would recommend a change in the executive order, González Feliciano said “the numbers [of cases] put us on an orange alert, which is already much more restrictive than what we started in this executive order,” which is in force until on Friday, Oct. 2.

“If we continue to see these numbers [of infections], we could reach a critical level, which would be a ‘lockdown,’ total closure,” he said.

The Health secretary announced that at the end of this week he will meet with his work team and then “give recommendations to the governor for the next executive order.”

Confirmed deaths from COVID-19 on the island total 443 and probable deaths from the disease caused by the novel coronavirus remain at 170, so the total number of deaths is 613.

On Tuesday, there were 369 people hospitalized, of which 63 are in intensive care, one of them a pediatric patient, and 42 patients on a ventilator, one of them a minor.

Health Secretary Lorenzo González

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The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

PRASA to start construction of new analysis laboratory in Caguas

By THE STAR STAFF

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uerto Rico Aqueducts and Sewers Authority (PRASA) Executive Director Doriel Pagán Crespo announced Tuesday the start of construction work on the Central Analysis Laboratory, which tests water for bacteria and minerals, after the old lab was demolished due to damages inflicted by Hurricane Maria in 2017.

The new laboratory project, which has a construction cost of $21 million and a total investment of $34 million, will begin this month, and will run until December 2021. The work consists of the design and construction of a 42,000-square-foot building, as well as improvements to the infrastructure. The design meets American Standards Association specifications and is in accordance with federal and state building codes effective 2018.

Prior to the project, the agency demolished the building that was destroyed by Hurricane Maria at a cost of $475,838. As part of this initial phase, all of the steel from the demolition was recycled.

“PRASA, the Central Office for Recovery, Reconstruction and Resilience (COR3) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) worked together to make the cost estimates, so the project will be built with its [PRASA’s] own funds and later

PRASA Executive Director Doriel Pagán be reimbursed by the federal agency,” Pagán Crespo said. “This laboratory will become the largest in the Caribbean; it will carry out local tests for Cryptosporidium and Giardia, which are currently being sent to the United States.”

The Central Laboratory of Caguas was inaugurated in the 1990s. In addition to this facility, PRASA has a regional bacteriology laboratory located in Mayagüez, as well as five sampling stations in San Juan (Metropolitan Region Sampling Station), Arecibo (North Region Sampling Station), Mayagüez (West Region Sampling Station), Ponce (South Region Sampling Station) and

Humacao (Eastern Region Sampling Station).

The laboratory also performs analysis of the wastewater that is treated and then returned to the island’s bodies of water.

The tests certify that the water supplied by PRASA is potable, and meets the requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act, as well as the Clean Water Act and other applicable federal and state environmental laws and regulations.

“The agency’s Laboratory has a team of expert professionals including licensed chemists, microbiologists, medical technologists and technical personnel committed to the health and well being of Puerto Rico, and above all, to serving quality drinking water,” Pagán Crespo said.

Adjustments for double-billed water clients Pagán Crespo also said that some 140,000 customers’ bills were adjusted after water consumption for the month of March was overestimated due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The adjustments mean some $16 million will be reimbursed to consumers.

Pagán Crespo said that between the end of August and the beginning of September, 76,400 adjusted invoices were sent out.

“As of this week, until October, about 70,000 additional adjusted bills will be sent,” she said.

PR’s Economic Activity Index increases 2.3% from June to July

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

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conomic Development Bank of Puerto Rico (BDE by its Spanish initials) President Pablo Muñiz Reyes on Tuesday published the data related to the Economic Activity Index (EAI) for July 2020, which reached a maximum level of 111.3 points for the month, representing an increase of 2.3 percent when compared to the previous month.

It also represents a drop of 8.9 percent against July 2019 -- the fifth consecutive monthly decrease after 20 months of year-on-year increases.

Muñiz Reyes highlighted that the analysis period includes the months from which the island experienced the consequences of a 6.4-magnitude earthquake, followed by strong aftershocks, complicated by the subsequent state of emergency declared due to the severity and scope of the current COVID-19 pandemic.

“In cumulative terms, the EAI-BDE average for 2019 was 122.6,” he said. ¨This shows an increase of 1.6 percent compared to 2018, the second consecutive annual growth after five years with consecutive annual reductions. However, the accumulated average of the EAI-BDE for fiscal year 2020 ended at 119.6, which translates into a decrease of 2 percent versus fiscal year 2019 (122.1 or +6.1 percent).”

In turn, the accumulated average of the IAE-BDE for the period from January to July 2020 was 115.5 points, which represents a reduction of 5.5 percent, Muñiz Reyes noted.

The certified public accountant also noted that during July 2020, two of the four components of the

EIA-BDE: cement sales and electricity generation, showed increases of 23.4 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively, while non-agricultural salaried employment decreased 9.1 percent and gasoline consumption fell by 30.4 percent. All results were compared to July 2019 figures.

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The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

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Advice on virus transmission vanishes from CDC website

By APOORVA MANDAVILLI

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ust days after publishing significant new guidance on airborne transmission of the coronavirus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday withdrew the advice, saying only that it had been “posted in error” on the agency’s website.

The rapid reversal prompted consternation among scientists and again called into question the credibility of the world’s premier health agency, even as President Donald Trump and his senior health officials have sought to undermine CDC scientists. The president faces an election whose outcome may turn on public perception of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

The turnabout arrived as the number of virus-related deaths in the United States approached the 200,000 mark.

Tens of thousands of new infections are reported every day, and experts fear a resurgence as cooler weather approaches and people spend more time indoors.

The new document for the first time had acknowledged that the virus spreads mainly by air, a declaration with urgent implications for how people protect themselves indoors and how ventilation should be engineered in schools, offices, hospitals and other public buildings.

Experts with knowledge of the incident said Monday that the latest reversal appeared to be a genuine mistake in the agency’s scientific review process, rather than the result of political meddling. Officials said the agency would soon publish revised guidance.

“We are reviewing our process and tightening criteria for review of all guidance and updates before they are posted to the CDC website,” said Jason McDonald, a spokesman for the agency.

Still, the reversal prompted rebukes from even the CDC’s staunchest supporters. “It’s not something that instills a lot of confidence, right?” said Dr. Carlos del Rio, an infectious disease expert at Emory University. “It doesn’t help at all.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta, Feb. 28, 2020. Just days after publishing significant new guidance on airborne transmission of the coronavirus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday, Sept. 21, 2020, withdrew the advice, saying only that it had been “posted in error” on the agency’s website.

Other scientists said it was hard to understand how a document of such public health importance could have been posted without careful vetting, given how closely the agency’s actions are now scrutinized.

“At this time, everybody knows that the stakes are extremely high, in terms of science communication,” said Dr. Abraar Karan, an internal medicine physician at Harvard Medical School.

The CDC has suffered a series of blows to its reputation as the pandemic has spread in the United States. Only in April, for example, did officials recommend face coverings for the public, after initially saying masks were not necessary.

The CDC said in August that people who have close contact with an infected person but no symptoms don’t need to get tested for the infection. But last week, after The New York Times reported that the guidance had been dictated by officials in the administration rather than by scientists, the agency reversed its position and said all close contacts of infected people should be tested regardless of symptoms.

That reversal came after Michael Caputo, the top spokesman at the

Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, took a leave of absence “to focus on his health and the well-being of his family” after accusing federal scientists of “sedition” in a bizarre Facebook rant. Dr. Paul Alexander, an adviser to Caputo who was highly critical of CDC research, also is leaving the department.

Trump last week lashed out at the agency’s director, Dr. Robert Redfield, after Redfield told a congressional hearing that a vaccine would not be widely available until the middle of next year. “It’s just incorrect information,” the president said.

The constant controversies make it “that much more difficult for the general public who are now looking at this guidance and wondering, ‘What the hell does this all mean?’ ” said Karan.

The latest incident concerns the spread of the virus by air through droplets and aerosols, which are tiny particles containing the virus that can stay aloft for long periods and travel farther than 6 feet.

Scientists were aware from the beginning of the pandemic that the coronavirus could be spread by res-

piratory droplets sneezed or coughed by infected people. Only lately have health agencies like the World Health Organization acknowledged the role of floating aerosols, expelled by talking, breathing or even singing.

The CDC’s new document described both as airborne transmission, but officials had not previously detailed an expansive role for aerosols.

The virus is spread through “respiratory droplets or small particles, such as those in aerosols, produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, sings, talks, or breathes,” the CDC said in the document published Friday and subsequently withdrawn.

These particles may be inhaled and may seed an infection, the agency added: “This is thought to be the main way the virus spreads.”

“Airborne viruses, including COVID-19, are among the most contagious and easily spread,” the CDC also said — a statement with immense implications for how hospitals should care for coronavirus patients, said Saskia Popescu, a hospital epidemiologist at George Mason University.

Airborne viruses may require that patients be isolated in so-called negative-pressure rooms, which prevent the virus from escaping, and that health care workers wear N95 masks at all times.

“The challenge would be then that we are not able to put every single patient in negative-pressure rooms,” Popescu said.

If the ventilation and infectioncontrol systems in hospitals offered inadequate protection against the virus, hospitals would have seeded many more infections, she added.

“My gut tells me that’s why they pulled it, truly,” Popescu said. “I think they understand that you can’t just throw out ‘airborne’ haphazardly. It has very serious implications for hospitals.”

Scientific research so far indicates that aerosols are important primarily in certain settings — mostly in crowded indoor spaces with poor ventilation, like many bars, clubs, gyms and restaurants.

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The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

What Trump’s environmental rollbacks mean for global warming

With Story: BC-TRUMP-ENVIRONMENT-NYT President Donald Trump has made dismantling federal climate policies a centerpiece of his administration — a new analysis from the Rhodium Group finds those rollbacks add up to a lot more planet-warming emissions.

By BRAD PLUMER and NADJA POPOVICH

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resident Donald Trump has made dismantling federal climate policies a centerpiece of his administration. A new analysis from the Rhodium Group finds those rollbacks add up to a lot more planet-warming emissions: 1.8 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by 2035. That’s more than the combined energy emissions of Germany, Britain and Canada in one year.

The Trump administration has acted to repeal or weaken at least 100 environmental regulations over the past four years, including Obama-era climate policies that Trump has said stifle businesses. The rollbacks include: Fuel-economy standards: The Trump administration changed Obama-era rules that would have required new passenger cars, SUVs and pickup trucks sold in the U.S. to become less polluting over time. Instead of improving fleetwide fuel economy by 5% annually for model years 2021 through 2026, automakers will now have to improve just 1.5% per year.

California’s authority to set its own tailpipe emissions standards and to mandate electric vehicles was also revoked by the administration. The state’s special right to set stricter automobile pollution limits than the federal government’s dates back to the Clean Air Act of 1970, and for years the state has required that automakers sell a certain amount

of electric vehicles. As of September, 13 states and Washington, D.C., have formally adopted California’s policies and are challenging the administration’s decision in court.

Together, these vehicle rollbacks would have the largest effect on future emissions.

New cars and trucks are expected to emit 1 billion more tons of carbon dioxide through 2035 than they would have if the cleaner vehicle rules had stayed in place. The rule changes could also lead to 5 million fewer electric cars sold over that span, the Rhodium Group, a research and consulting firm, estimated. The transportation sector is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions for the U.S. Methane leaks from oil and gas operations: The Trump administration has also sought to revise or reverse two major Obamaera rules aimed at limiting leaks and intentional venting of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. (In July, a federal judge blocked the rollback of one of these rules, concerning methane on public lands, but the administration is still pushing to repeal it.) Methane is the primary ingredient in natural gas, but when it escapes into the atmosphere before being burned for energy, it can warm the planet 36 times as much as carbon dioxide does over a 100-year period. Several recent studies have found that more methane is leaking from oil and gas facilities than previously thought.

Regulations on methane leaks from landfills, another significant source of emis-

sions, were also delayed under Trump. Methane is created when food and other waste decomposes under low-oxygen conditions.

The Obama administration had issued rules to capture more of this methane from waste.

Regulations on hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs: These potent greenhouse gases are used in air conditioners, refrigeration and insulating foams. In 2017, the world’s nations agreed to phase out HFCs in favor of alternatives less dangerous to the climate, but the Trump administration has not ratified that treaty and instead has proposed to roll back federal regulations curbing the use of HFCs in the U.S. Assuming these Trump administration policies go forward as planned and survive legal challenges, the U.S. will emit the equivalent of an extra 1.8 billion tons of carbon dioxide between now and 2035, the Rhodium Group estimated. That’s more than Germany, Britain and Canada together emitted from energy use in 2018, the latest year for which data is available.

Greenhouse gas emissions are the main driver of global warming, which is increasingly causing damage throughout the U.S. More frequent flooding along the coasts, increased fire hazard in the West, worsening air quality, and fiercer heat waves have all been tied to rising global temperatures. If emissions are not reined in, scientists say, the damage will only deepen.

The new analysis looked at total emissions over the next 15 years because the impact of these rollbacks will grow over time, said Hannah Pitt, a senior analyst at the Rhodium Group.

New cars and trucks sold today are expected to stay on the road for more than a decade, for example, which means they will steadily emit more carbon dioxide than they otherwise would have under more stringent rules.

The rollbacks measured here represent only a portion of the climate policies that the Trump administration has sought to reverse.

Trump has also moved to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate change agreement, an international accord to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and has pushed to open up new federal lands for oil and gas development.

The Energy Department also plans to change federal rules that would have required more efficient lightbulbs. But it is difficult to quantify the full effects of many of those policies, and they were not included in the Rhodium Group analysis.

Trump has also repealed and replaced

the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, which aimed to push states to reduce emissions from coal-fired power plants and shift to cleaner alternatives like natural gas or renewable energy. It is unclear what effects this move will ultimately have: Many states have been retiring coal plants and shifting to cleaner alternatives recently — because of the falling cost of natural gas, wind and solar power — and were already beating the targets set by the Obama-era rule.

The coronavirus pandemic has injected an extra dose of uncertainty into this analysis.

As states locked down, transportation emissions fell as people drove fewer miles. The Rhodium Group analysis assumes that U.S. economic activity will largely recover in the years ahead, and there are already signs of a rebound. But if, for instance, vehicle traffic remains depressed for years to come, then the fuel-economy rollbacks will have a somewhat smaller effect on emissions.

The Trump administration’s rule changes have not halted all efforts to address climate change nationwide. Even as the federal government retreats from regulating emissions, many states and cities are acting on their own to clean up pollution from power plants and buildings. California has struck an agreement with five large automakers — Ford, Honda, BMW, Volkswagen and Volvo — to stick to Obama-era fuel-economy standards, which will partly blunt the effect of Trump’s rollbacks.

States like Colorado and New Mexico are creating policies to curb methane leaks, and at least 16 states have announced plans to cut the use of HFCs. Overall, planet-warming emissions in the U.S. are expected to be lower at the end of Trump’s first term than they were when he took office, in part because of action by states and cities. But the rollbacks mean that emissions will still be higher than they would have been if the rules had stayed in place, at a time when scientists and environmentalists say they will need to fall even faster to avert the worst consequences of global warming.

Perhaps the biggest uncertainty in gauging the climate effects of the Trump administration is the election. If, for instance, Joe Biden wins the White House and swiftly moves to reinstate new rules on vehicles, methane and HFCs — or puts in place even more sweeping policies to cut emissions, as he has pledged — the effect of Trump’s changes could, in theory, be undone. If Trump wins, however, many of the rollbacks are likely to stay in place.

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

9

How Ginsburg’s death has reshaped the money race for Senate Democrats

By SHANE GOLMACHER and JEREMY W. PETERS

F

or much of 2020, Al Gross’ Senate campaign in Alaska has proceeded as something of an afterthought for most Democrats, a distant contest that was off the radar in terms of determining control of the U.S. Senate. After all, Gross is not even technically running as a Democrat, an affiliation that might doom him in a conservative state.

But in the hours after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death Friday, Gross’ campaign as an independent saw an infusion of attention and cash that could reshape the race: Nearly $3 million has poured into his coffers — about as much total money as the campaign had in the bank at the end of July.

“Within 15 minutes of the sad news, you saw truly organic movement,” said David Keith, who is managing Gross’ bid to oust Sen. Dan Sullivan, a Republican.

From Alaska to Maine to North and South Carolina, Democratic strategists working on Senate campaigns described a spontaneous outpouring of donations the likes of which they had never seen, allowing Democrats the financial freedom to broaden the map of pickup opportunities, or press their financial advantage in top battlegrounds already saturated with advertising.

By Monday, Democratic contributors had given more than $160 million online through ActBlue, the leading site for processing digital donations. ActBlue broke one record after another — its biggest hour in 16 years, its busiest day, its busiest weekend — after Ginsburg’s death, with an estimated tens of millions of dollars going toward efforts to retake the Senate, where the acrimonious confirmation fight to replace Ginsburg will occur.

At least 13 Democratic candidates or senators raised more than $1.3 million each since Friday from a single fundraising effort, which included Gross, a former orthopedic surgeon.

And in a closely contested race in North Carolina that could tip the balance in the chamber, Cal Cunningham, the Democrat challenging Sen. Thom Tillis, enjoyed a $6 million influx of cash. As impressive as Cunningham’s haul was, the Democratic candidates in Maine, Arizona, Kentucky and South Carolina are believed to have fared even better.

“Righteous anger is being translated into political action,” said Sen. Brian Schatz, DHawaii, who helped raise $122,000 in online donations for Cunningham over the weekend with Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut.

But for all of the cash and the passion being generated, there is no guarantee that a fierce Supreme Court fight just weeks before the election

will help Democrats wrest control of the Senate from Mitch McConnell and the Republicans.

The Democrats need to pick up four seats to guarantee a Senate majority, or three seats and the presidency, with the vice president serving as a tiebreaker.

Achieving that will require winning in states that President Donald Trump carried in 2016.

A confirmation clash could harden an already polarized electorate and hamper Democrats’ efforts to win over the kind of ticket-splitting voters — barring a Democratic landslide — that they will most likely need.

So far, Republicans have not reported any commensurate surge in donations, though they expect that will change once Trump names his nominee later this week. With the lack of a specific person to attach to fundraising appeals, the president’s email solicitations employed gimmicky subject lines like “Supreme Court Choice Attached”; the campaign also began selling “Fill That Seat” T-shirts.

Only hours after Ginsburg’s death, McConnell, the majority leader, promised that the eventual pick would receive a floor vote. Democrats said the news that a vote would be held, despite the justice’s dying wish that she not be replaced “until a new president is installed,” served as an accelerant for donations — a “rocket ship of rage,” as one Senate campaign manager called it.

Some Republicans are sounding the alarm about the money flowing into Democrats’ Senate campaigns, saying it exacerbates a financial imbalance where Democratic challengers and super PACs were already outpacing them in key contests.

“It was a little advantage before,” said Scott Reed, a top strategist with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is spending money on Senate races. “Now it’s a monster advantage.”

Democrats already had more television dollars reserved from September through Election Day in five of the top Senate battlegrounds seen as likeliest to determine control of the Senate — North Carolina, Iowa, Arizona, Montana and Maine — according to data from Advertising Analytics, an ad-tracking firm. Republicans have reserved more time than Democrats only in Colorado and Georgia among the top-tier races.

Several Democratic challengers expanded their television ad buys Monday, with Sara Gideon in Maine reserving another $600,000 in new cable ads. Gideon will begin running an ad Tuesday about confirming judges that links Sen. Susan Collins, the Republican incumbent, to McConnell and the national party.

The Gideon campaign declined to say how much money it had raised since Friday.

In South Carolina, Sen. Lindsey Graham’s Democratic opponent, Jaime Harrison, had a

record-breaking week before Ginsburg died, raising $2 million in the two days after a Quinnipiac poll showed the race tied at 48%.

Graham, the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, had previously said he would not advance an election-year Supreme Court nomination after Republicans blockaded President Barack Obama’s nominee in 2016 from receiving a hearing.

Democratic activists aimed much of their ire about Republicans’ hypocrisy at Graham. The Harrison campaign, too, declined to comment on what he had raised.

Which party’s voters will be more galvanized? That was a question strategists in both parties were reluctant to speculate about, as they waited for polling data from battleground states to trickle in over the next few days.

In Montana, for instance, Gov. Steve Bullock, the Democratic challenger, must win significantly more votes than his party’s presidential nominee, Joseph Biden, if he has any hope of unseating Sen. Steve Daines. Trump carried Montana by 20 percentage points four years ago.

While awed at the money Democrats were able to bring in, some conservatives questioned how effectively it could be spent coming so late — just six weeks before the election — when there was a finite amount of advertising time that could still be reserved on television and a diminishing rate of return.

“The number of truly persuadable swing voters is so small,” said Ralph Reed, a top strategist for the Christian right, which is organizing voters in states like North Carolina and Iowa where Republican senators face tough reelections.

“Outspending on TV is largely firing a shotgun at the head of a pin,” he added. “Spraying a lot

of expensive fire to a very small target.”

Schatz, the Hawaii senator, sharply disagreed.

“It is a myth that this money can’t be used, or that every race is already saturated,” he said.

“There are lots of viable Democratic Senate candidates who lack the money to get their message out, whether it be direct mail, social media or the radio.”

If the past is any indication, a Supreme Court confirmation battle will spur Republican megadonors to open their wallets, as they did in 2018 for Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination fight.

Some conservative groups said over the weekend that they had secured commitments from large donors to help confirm Trump’s eventual nominee.

The Judicial Crisis Network, which advocates more conservative judges, said it would spend at least $10 million on the court battle, the same amount it deployed in defending Kavanaugh in his confirmation fight. And on Sunday, the latest super PAC donations from the casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and his wife were disclosed, bringing his contributions to preserve Republicans’ majority in the Senate to $50 million.

“We’re flying a little blind as to what is happening on the Republican side,” Murphy said of their fundraising. The Republican counterpart to ActBlue, a group called WinRed, does not voluntarily show its total donations in real time. “I would be surprised if there was anything similar happening,” Murphy said, “but I don’t know for sure.”

In Alaska, Gross’ campaign manager said the campaign was planning to expand local hiring. “It’s notoriously a state that people think of as red,” Keith said. “It’s not as red as people think.”

Mourners attend a vigil to honoring the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2020. Money poured in to Democratic Senate campaigns as people mourned Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death this weekend.

10

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

Bernie Sanders sounds alarm on a Trump ‘nightmare scenario’

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), then a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, speaks to reporters in Burlington, Vt., on March 12, 2020. Sanders is set to deliver a speech in Washington on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2020, to outline the danger that he believes President Donald Trump poses to the nation’s democracy.

By SYDNEY EMBER

S

en. Bernie Sanders is planning to mount an aggressive campaign to counter potential attempts by President Donald Trump to delegitimize the results of the November election, warning that Democrats and Republicans alike must do “everything that we can to prevent that from happening.”

In a phone interview on Monday evening, Sanders said he would spend the next six weeks urging the country to prepare for a “nightmare scenario” in which Trump declares himself the winner of the election and refuses to step down even if he loses.

As part of his effort, he is set to deliver a speech in Washington on Thursday — his first in-person appearance related to the election since before he dropped out of the presidential race — to outline in stark terms the danger that he says Trump poses to the nation’s democracy.

“We are living in an unprecedented and dangerous moment — extremely dangerous moment — in American history,” Sanders said. “And what this speech is going to be about is whether or not the United States of America will continue to be a democracy and a nation ruled by law and our Constitution.”

In the interview, Sanders said that he thought there was an “excellent chance” that Joe Biden, the Democra-

tic presidential nominee, would win the election, but that he was worried that the Biden campaign was not doing enough to reach “nontraditional voters,” including young people and Latinos. He said he was planning to hold a virtual town hall event on Tuesday with Julián Castro, the former housing secretary under President Barack Obama, “to get the word out” to Latino voters about the importance of the election.

Trump, who has consistently trailed Biden in national and swing-state polls, has spent months trying to sow doubt about voting and the election. The president has claimed without evidence that mail voting will lead to “the greatest Rigged Election in history”; has urged people in North Carolina to illegally vote twice to stress-test the election system; and has even suggested delaying the election, which he cannot do on his own.

Biden himself has warned that Trump might try to disrupt the election, and Democrats and some anti-Trump Republicans have grown increasingly anxious about such a possibility before, during and after Election Day. Some groups have begun gaming out how to respond to various doomsday scenarios. Facebook and other large tech companies have also taken steps to prepare for any potential efforts

by Trump or his campaign to use the companies’ platforms to delegitimize the vote.

Sanders, Vermont’s junior senator, will continue what

an aide described as the “public awareness” phase of his effort while campaigning on Biden’s behalf. The aide would not say whether Sanders would hit the campaign trail before Election Day. Sanders demurred when asked if he was involved in any preparations should his predictions about Trump and the election come true.

“Right now,” he said, “my main focus is to prevent Donald Trump from staying in office if he loses the election, to prevent him from delegitimizing the election results, to make sure that every vote cast is counted, to make sure that voters are not intimidated.”

In recent weeks, Sanders has privately spoken with experts, including Rosa Brooks, a law professor at Georgetown and a co-founder of the Transition Integrity Project, a bipartisan group of former government officials, political professionals and journalists that has gamed out election scenarios.

The senator said he had also spoken to the Biden campaign about these issues.

In the interview, Sanders laid out a series of steps to prevent Trump from corrupting the election, including urging states to count mail-in ballots “as rapidly as they can” and encouraging them to begin processing and counting ballots before Election Day. (Rules on when states can begin counting vary across the country.)

“If you are starting from zero on election night, and you’ve got hundreds of thousands or millions of absentee ballots, how long is that going to take you to count?” Sanders said. “It will take a very long time. And that will allow the fomenting of conspiracy theories and so-called fraud and everything else.”

Sanders also said he would encourage social media companies to stop people from using their platforms to spread disinformation and threaten election officials. And he said he had requested bipartisan hearings in the Senate with secretaries of state as well as law enforcement and election officials “to tell us how they are going to handle Election Day and the days that follow.”

“The American people have got to be prepared for this,” he added. “It is absolutely essential that they are.”

Since the coronavirus pandemic shut down the campaign trail in March, Sanders has delivered addresses and held roundtable events via livestream, using the infrastructure he built up during his campaign. Aside from his activities in the Senate, Sanders has not made any public appearances in person since the last Democratic presidential debate, on March 15.

Until recently, most of his focus has been on the pandemic. But as he has grown increasingly fearful that Trump could sabotage the election, aides said, he has shifted some of his focus to figuring out what to do if the president tries to hold onto power illegitimately. This month, Sanders sent a lengthy email to his supporters warning them “about Trump’s threat to our constitutionally enshrined system of the peaceful transition of power.”

In addition to his speech on Thursday, he is planning to hold a virtual town hall on Saturday focused on rural voters, during which he is expected to deliver a similar message about Trump and the election, the aide said.

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

11

Microsoft grabs some of world’s biggest games in $7.5 billion deal

With the purchase of ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Studios, Microsoft gained control of major gaming titles like Doom.

By KEVIN BROWNING and STEVE LOHR

M

icrosoft landed a major blow in its decadeslong battle with its video game industry rival Sony on Monday, announcing the $7.5 billion acquisition of a video game company that narrowed the gap between the two tech giants’ offerings.

By buying game maker ZeniMax Media, the parent company of gaming studios like Bethesda, Microsoft gained control of major gaming titles like The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Doom, Quake and Wolfenstein. The deal allows Microsoft to counter criticism that it lags behind Sony in the quality of its games while deepening its game catalog seven weeks before both Microsoft and Sony release a new generation of gaming consoles.

Gamers have long complained that Microsoft’s Xbox consoles lacked the type of exclusive, high-quality games that Sony promotes as a major selling point for its PlayStation consoles. For years, Sony owned more games studios than Microsoft. But last year, Microsoft passed Sony, owning 15 studios to Sony’s 14.

The deal announced Monday increased Microsoft’s lead to 23 game studios, and gives it control over some of the world’s most popular franchises. Sony declined

to comment on Microsoft’s purchase.

Microsoft did not say how many of its newly acquired games would be exclusive to the Xbox, but pointed to the remarks of Phil Spencer, the company’s executive vice president of gaming, who said in an interview with Bloomberg that games would be available to other consoles on a “case-by-case basis.”

Analysts and gamers praised the deal and said it demonstrated the company’s commitment to improving its game options for Xbox users.

The acquisition was a “major coup” for Microsoft, said Piers Harding-Rolls, a research director at Ampere Analysis, an analytics firm in London. “This deal catapults Microsoft’s games portfolio into a much stronger position,” he said.

The video game industry is exploding in popularity, helped in large part by the coronavirus pandemic, which has forced much of the world to remain indoors and find online entertainment. About 2.7 billion people are projected to play a game this year, according to the gaming market researcher Newzoo, and gamers worldwide are expected to spend nearly $160 billion in 2020.

The deal represents a shift in focus for Microsoft, which is mainly a business technology company, with

most of its revenue coming from productivity and communications software, and cloud computing services sold over the internet. But its online gaming business and Xbox sales are growing rapidly. In the quarter that ended in June, Microsoft’s gaming revenue jumped by 64%, to $1.3 billion from the year-ago quarter.

The company has avoided the intense antitrust scrutiny that other big tech companies like Apple and Amazon have faced. It recently lost out in the corporate scramble for TikTok, the popular social media app, but might have found a better use for its money by sticking to gaming, some analysts said.

“This really does align much more with what they’re doing,” said Rod Breslau, a former ESPN reporter who now covers esports and video games as a consultant. “If you try to compare how the TikTok deal ended up with Oracle with how Microsoft ended up here, this is way better of an approach.”

Carolina Milanesi, a technology analyst for the research firm Creative Strategies, said that people “thought Microsoft was crazy when they invested in Minecraft” for $2.5 billion in 2014, “but that turned out to return both on revenue and brand awareness among Gen Zers.”

Microsoft, which will release its Xbox Series X on Nov. 10, has long trailed Sony in total console sales — Sony has produced the three bestselling individual home consoles in the original PlayStation released in 1994, the PlayStation 2 and the PlayStation 4. To better compete, Microsoft has highlighted the flexibility that it offers users to play games across devices and on-thego with features like Xbox Game Pass, a Netflix-style subscription service for games, and xCloud, a new service that lets people play Xbox games on Android phones. It said future Bethesda games would be available on Game Pass the same day that they are released on computers and Xbox consoles.

Spencer framed the acquisition of ZeniMax in similar terms in a blog post Monday, saying the move was part of a plan “to deliver the most performant, immersive and compatible next-generation gaming experiences, and the freedom to play blockbuster games with your friends, anytime, anywhere.”

Now, Breslau said, the onus is on Sony to respond.

Two new games now owned by Microsoft, Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo, were supposed to be released initially as exclusives on Sony’s upcoming PlayStation 5. Spencer told Bloomberg that Xbox would still honor that deal, but the issue shows how deeply Microsoft has cut into the slate of games Sony values.

“This really is going to put some pressure on Sony,” Breslau said. “Pay up, get your money out, get your wallet out, start spending billions of dollars.”

12

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

Head of Nikola, a GM Electric truck partner, quits amid fraud claims

Trevor Milton founded Nikola in 2014 with a plan to produce zero-emission semi trucks that run on hydrogen fuel cells and batteries.

By JACK EWING and NEAL E. BOUDETTE

T

revor Milton, a college dropout, turned his entrepreneurial visions into Nikola, a startup aiming to develop long-haul semitrucks powered by hydrogen and electricity. General Motors was so taken with the idea that it took a $2 billion stake in the company, even though it essentially has no revenue and has not produced a single truck.

But Milton’s ascent has come to an abrupt end. On Sunday night, Nikola announced that he had resigned as chair amid allegations that he had deceived investors about the company’s technology.

His departure followed a report by the investment fund Hindenburg Research on Sept. 10 accusing him of making numerous false assertions about Nikola’s technology, including producing a video in which a truck was rolled down an incline to make it look as if the company had developed a working prototype.

Hindenburg, a short-selling firm that said it was aiming to profit by betting Nikola’s share price would go down, called Nikola “an intricate fraud.” Its report appeared two days after the company and GM agreed to cooperate on production of battery-powered pickup trucks and hydrogen-powered heavy trucks.

Nikola, based in Phoenix, called the accusations

by Hindenburg “false and defamatory” and said it would complain to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Nikola shares, which had jumped after the deal with GM, fell sharply after the Hindenburg report. On Monday, the shares lost 19%, closing at barely half their value after the GM deal was announced.

Bloomberg News reported last week that the SEC was looking into the Hindenburg allegations against Nikola, and The Wall Street Journal reported that the Justice Department was doing so. Neither agency has confirmed that an investigation is underway.

Milton said in a statement that “the focus should be on the company and its world-changing mission, not me.

So I made the difficult decision to approach the board and volunteer to step aside.”

Stephen Girsky, a former vice chairman of GM and a member of Nikola’s board, will take over as chairman.

While denying Hindenburg’s accusations, Nikola acknowledged that a 2017 prototype truck that appeared in a promotional video was not operating under its own power.

“Nikola never stated its truck was driving under its own propulsion in the video,” the company said in a statement.

Nikola said it had since built fully functional models.

The deal with GM held the prospect of providing

crucial help in assembling a pickup truck that Nikola hopes to introduce by the end of 2022. In exchange, GM took an 11% stake in the company.

GM on Monday affirmed its resolve to go forward with the deal.

“We will work with Nikola to close the transaction,” the company said in a statement. “Our overall goal is to put everyone in an EV and accelerate adoption.”

Analysts have been predicting that traditional carmakers like GM would form partnerships with fast-moving electric car startups in order to catch up with Tesla, which has a considerable lead in battery technology. GM’s deal with Nikola illustrates the hazards of that approach.

Whatever the state of its technology, few companies have experienced Nikola’s meteoric rise. Milton, 39, started a security alarm business and then a company that sought to convert diesel engines to run on natural gas before it ran into legal trouble and was sold. In 2014, he founded Nikola with a plan to produce zero-emission semitrucks that run on hydrogen fuel cells and batteries.

His ambitions mirror those of another company that aimed to shake up the automotive industry: Tesla. Milton even drew on the same source for his company’s name — inventor Nikola Tesla, who achieved breakthroughs in electric motors in the late 1800s.

Milton unveiled a semitruck, called the Nikola One, in 2016, and said it was operational.

“It’s not a pusher,” Milton said at the event, using an industry term for a mock-up vehicle that cannot be driven and must be pushed.

In its report, Hindenburg Research contended that the promotional video showing the moving 2017 prototype and Milton’s statements were part of “an ocean of lies.”

It also accused Milton of claiming Nikola had proprietary technology, when it sourced components from suppliers.

Hindenburg’s founder, Nathan Anderson, declined to say how much money his company had put into shorting Nikola shares or how much it had made since the report was released.

In a lengthy written rebuttal to Hindenburg’s claims, Nikola acknowledged the truck shown in the 2017 promotional video was not moving on its own. But it said that a semitruck, the Nikola Tre, was being produced in a joint venture with Iveco, the Italian truck-maker, and would be available by the end of next year. Republic Services, the trash hauler, has placed an order for 2,500 electric garbage trucks, Nikola added.

Milton also posted pictures of what he said are five trucks being assembled in Ulm, Germany.

“Do these look fake?” he wrote.

The day-to-day running of Nikola is in the hands of Mark Russell, the chief executive, whose ties to Milton go back several years. Before joining Nikola as president last year, he was chief executive of Worthington Industries, a diverse maker of steel products like tanks for propane, hydrogen, helium and natural gas. Worthington acquired Milton’s diesel conversion company, dHybrid Systems, in 2014 and also invested in Nikola.

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

13 Stocks

Nasdaq, S&P 500 rise on Amazon boost; Dow under pressure

T

he S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose on Tuesday, led by a bounce in Amazon.com, while a likely delay in the passage of new fiscal stimulus by Congress dampened hopes of a faster economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and kept the Dow subdued.

Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O jumped 4.0% after Bernstein upgraded its stock to “outperform”, saying the company will continue to receive a boost from premium subscribers and third-party merchants even beyond the pandemic.

Microsoft Corp MSFT.O, Apple Inc AAPL.O, Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O and Facebook Inc FB.O, which together fuelled a Wall Street rally since a coronavirus-driven crash in March, rose between 0.3% and 2%.

“The market is looking for some stability. Once again investors and traders are going to look to names that had gotten unduly beaten up,” said Kenny Polcari, managing partner at Kace Capital Advisors in Boca Raton, Florida.

Seven of the 11 major S&P 500 indexes were trading higher, with real estate .SPLRCR and consumer discretionary .SPLRCD leading gains.

U.S. stocks started the week on the back foot as fears about a new round of lockdowns in Europe and a stalemate in Congress over the size and shape of another coronavirus-response bill dented hopes of a swift economic recovery.

On Monday, the benchmark S&P 500 .SPX ended just under 9% down from its record high on Sept. 2, floating above correction territory.

Investors are now bracing for an extended period of market volatility on concerns over growing political uncertainty in Washington that have been sharpened by the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

“All the political energies are going to be directed towards the next Supreme Court nomination. I don’t see them paying attention to that and pushing stimulus through at the same time,” said Mike Zigmont, head of trading and research at Harvest Volatility Management in New York.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday told a congressional panel that America’s economy had shown “marked improvement” since the coronavirus pandemic drove it into recession, but the path ahead remains uncertain and the U.S. central bank will do more if needed.

Chicago Fed President Charles Evans also warned that the U.S. economy risks a longer, slower recovery, if not another outright recession, if Congress fails to pass a fiscal package.

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14

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

U.K.’s Boris Johnson to order pubs and restaurants to close early

The new rules are the most stringent since restaurants, pubs and many other businesses were allowed to emerge from full lockdown in July.

By STEPHEN CASTLE

P

rime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain plans to impose new restrictions on nightlife, including the forced early closure of pubs and restaurants in England, as he ramps up the country’s efforts to curb a rising tide of coronavirus infections.

Pubs and restaurants will be restricted by law to offering table service only and must close at 10 p.m., beginning Thursday, Downing Street said late Monday; ordinarily, there is no mandatory closing time, though many close at 11 p.m. The new rules are the most stringent since restaurants, pubs and many other businesses were allowed to emerge from full lockdown in July.

Johnson was scheduled to officially announce his latest move in Parliament on Tuesday before making a broadcast address in the evening. The intervention comes after days of speculation that Britons could face tougher enforcement of existing rules, new curbs on different households meeting up with each other and shorter opening hours for pubs and restaurants.

Tighter restrictions are already in place in some parts of the country, and the virus alert rating was raised Monday to level four, signifying that it is in general

circulation, with transmission high or rising exponentially.

“No one underestimates the challenges the new measures will pose to many individuals and businesses. We know this won’t be easy, but we must take further action to control the resurgence in cases of the virus and protect the National Health Service,” Downing Street said in a statement.

Like much of Europe, Britain is firmly in the grip of a second wave of the pandemic. Confirmed new infections fell from more than 5,000 a day in April and May to about 600 in early July, but have rebounded to about 3,600.

Two of Britain’s top scientific advisers warned Monday that the number of cases was doubling about every seven days, and painted an alarming picture of what lay ahead.

Without action, there could be 50,000 new infections per day by midOctober and around 200 daily deaths by mid-November, they said in a televised statement that prepared the ground for Tuesday’s statement by the prime minister.

However, Johnson’s latest move has been a difficult balancing act.

He has been widely blamed for missteps that have worsened the pandemic in

Britain, which has the highest death toll in Europe — almost 42,000 by one government count, and more than 52,000 by another. He delayed ordering a lockdown in March, when cases and deaths were soaring, he was also slow to require masks in stores, and Britain’s virus testing and contact tracing programs have been inadequate.

The government is anxious to avoid a repetition of those costly errors. At the same time, there is a vigorous debate about the economic cost of coronavirus restrictions, their impact on mental health and the threat they pose to individual liberty.

Critics accuse the government of confused messaging and of making too many announcements for the public to keep track of. Having encouraged white collar workers two weeks ago to return to their offices, so as to spur central city economies, the government has now reversed itself and softpedaled that message.

Only recently it tightened rules to prevent gatherings of more than six people and announced fines of up to 10,000 pounds — almost $13,000 — for those who refuse to self-isolate after testing positive for the virus. The restrictions imposed by the central government apply only to England; Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland set their own policies, which have followed a similar pattern.

Most analysts believe that the government is desperate to protect a fragile economic recovery and keep schools open, despite the changes to be announced Tuesday. The new restrictions underscore the government’s conclusion that the virus is spreading mainly through social contact and particularly among younger people.

Should the situation worsen, the government has been considering a short period of more far-reaching restrictions to act as a kind of circuit break to halt the spread of the virus.

During talks Monday with political leaders from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, Johnson “made clear that the rising infection rates are a cause for great concern, which he is taking very seriously,” Downing Street said in a statement put out after the discussion.

It added that the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish leaders would be invited to

attend a meeting of an emergency committee Tuesday morning — before Johnson’s statement — “to discuss next steps for the country.”

Cases and fatalities are rising faster in several Western European countries, like France and Spain, but there are growing fears that Britain is following the same trajectory, with infections rising sharply as students return to school and as some workers trickle back to their offices.

Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, said Monday that the country had “in a bad sense, literally turned a corner,” but he also conceded that policymakers have to strike a difficult balance.

“If we do too little this virus will go out of control, and we will get significant numbers of increased direct and indirect deaths,” he said. “But if we go too far the other way, then we can cause damage to the economy, which can feed through to unemployment to poverty, to deprivation, all of which have long-term health effects.”

Britain faces a “a six-month problem” as it heads into the fall and winter, which tend to be bad for respiratory diseases, he added in a broadcast statement with Patrick Vallance, the chief scientific adviser.

Surveys generally show that Britons remain concerned about the coronavirus and, earlier this year, there was strong support for lockdown measures.

But on Monday more than 20 experts signed an open letter arguing that coronavirus restriction measures were going too far in aiming to suppress the virus. That objective — which the government has not publicly embraced — was “increasingly unfeasible” and “inconsistent with the known risk profile of COVID-19,” they argued.

“More targeted measures that protect the most vulnerable from COVID, whilst not adversely impacting those not at risk, are more supportable,” they added.

Some lawmakers from Johnson’s Conservative Party fret about the economic damage done to the country by COVID-19 restrictions and object to the government’s issuing rules without consulting Parliament.

“Restraints on liberty deserve prior scrutiny and approval by Parliament,” wrote Steve Baker, one influential backbench lawmaker, on Twitter.

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

15

China’s ‘Big Cannon’ blasted Xi. Now he’s been jailed for 18 years.

By CHRIS BUCKLEY

R

en Zhiqiang, the property tycoon nicknamed “Big Cannon,” was notorious for his blunt criticisms of the Communist Party, and yet his wealth and political connections long seemed to shield him from severe punishment. Until now.

A court in Beijing sentenced Ren to 18 years in prison Tuesday. The court said he was guilty of graft, taking bribes, misusing public funds and abusing his power during and after his time as an executive at a property development company.

Ren’s supporters and sympathizers said that his real crime was criticizing the Communist Party and calling the country’s hard-line leader, Xi Jinping, a “clown.”

“Very clearly this was punishment for his words; that’s going to be obvious to everyone,” Guo Yuhua, a sociologist in Beijing, said by telephone. “Those economic problems — this one, that one — can be concocted whenever you want.”

Ren’s punishment has underlined how far Xi has rolled back allowances for dissent, even from members of the elite like Ren, a scion of a Communist family and former friend of senior officials. His supporters also see the long prison term as a warning to others, especially elites, who may be thinking about openly challenging the party and Xi. “Cracking down on Ren Zhiqiang, using economic crimes to punish him, is a warning to others — killing one to warn a hundred,” said Cai Xia, an acquaintance of Ren’s who formerly taught at the Central Party School, which trains rising officials.

“It’s a warning to the whole party and especially to red offspring,” Cai said, referring to the children of party officials.

She spoke before the court’s judgment in a telephone interview from the United States, where she now lives.

At 69, Ren is old enough that he could spend the rest of his life in prison unless his sentence is reduced.

So far, the Beijing Second Intermediate People’s Court has issued few details of the evidence that it said proved that Ren had illegally enriched himself by about $2.9 million between 2003 and 2017. The official summary of the court’s judgment said that his abuses had led Chinese state-owned companies to lose around $17 million. The court said that he had “fully admitted to the facts of all the crimes and willingly accepted the court’s judgment.”

But his case was cloaked in secrecy, and the court’s decision was swift by the standards of politically sensitive cases that come before China’s party-controlled courts. The court did not say when Ren’s trial took place, but supporters said the court posted an announcement that his trial was to be held Sept. 11. The news of his sentence was downplayed

by Chinese state-run news outlets, which mostly carried the court’s statement.

“This is political persecution, plain and simple,” Cai said. “He was already audited when he retired, and then repeatedly checked again in 2016.”

Ren retired from the Huayuan company in 2014. He

A Beijing court said Ren Zhiqiang had used his former posts to take bribes and embezzle public funds. waded into political hot water in 2016, when he scoffed at Xi’s call for Chinese journalists to staunchly follow the Communist Party. But at the time the party’s punishment was relatively light: It put Ren on probation, and he received a round of censuring by the state news media.

This time, Ren was detained in March after he criticized Xi’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak that spread across China and then the world from late last year. In an essay that spread on the internet, he said the officials’ mishandling of the outbreak — including stifling information about initial infections — vindicated his 2016 warning against stifling public criticism.

After citing a February speech in which Xi defended the party’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, Ren wrote, “Standing there was not an emperor showing off his ‘new clothes,’ but a clown stripped of his clothes who still insisted on being emperor.”

In July, the Communist Party announced that Ren had been expelled and that he had been placed under criminal investigation. The party announcement said that Ren’s misdeeds included using public funds to pay for use of a golf course. But the announcement also singled out Ren’s opinions, accusing him of distorting party history and being disloyal.

“Ren Zhiqiang lost his ideals and convictions,” the party said. “On major matters of principle, he failed to stay in line with the party’s central authorities.”

While other Chinese people have criticized the Chinese

government, and suffered punishment for it, Ren stood out for his ties to the party establishment and for his willingness as a prominent businessman to bluntly criticize the party.

He came from a family steeped in Communist Party tradition — his father served as a vice minister of commerce — and he was once close to senior party leaders, including Vice President Wang Qishan.

Like many in his generation, Ren worked in the countryside and then as a soldier before he ventured into business in the 1980s, when China’s market economy was opening under Deng Xiaoping. He made his name and his fortune in real estate, overseeing the Huayuan property company.

City authorities in Beijing held a controlling stake in the company, but Ren left his stamp on it.

He was “confident, decisive, aggressive, like a commanding officer in the military,” a Beijing official-turnedbusinessman, He Yang, wrote in a memoir shared on the Chinese internet.

Even before he ventured into political debate, Ren ignited controversy with his public comments on the economy and the housing market. His many profiles in Chinese magazines often mention an incident in 2010 when a man threw a shoe at him while he was attending a real estate forum at a high-end hotel.

Ren appeared to brush off the criticism and embraced the opportunities to share his views on the internet.

“What’s most lacking in this society isn’t lies but truthspeaking,” Ren said in 2013.

16

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

‘Coloured lives matter’: A South African police shooting like no other

By LYNSEY CHUTEL

T

he deadly encounter between police and a young man from the projects set off public outrage with all the familiar scenes: shrines of flowers and stuffed animals, clouds of tear gas and barrages of rocks aimed at officers in riot gear, and impassioned slogans.

“Say His Name” read one poster.

“Coloured Lives Matter,” said another.

This police killing occurred not in Minneapolis or Ferguson, Missouri, or Cleveland but in South Africa, where the anger and distrust of law enforcement authorities mirror that in communities across the world, but the geography of racial tension is more complex than white versus Black.

The young man who was shot last month, 16-year- Bridget Harris, mother of Nathaniel Julies, a teenager old Nathaniel Julies, was of mixed heritage, or, as it is still who was killed by police, with her partner, Clint Smith, known, colored, a vestige of apartheid-era South Africa’s in Eldorado Park, South Africa on Sept. 13, 2020. racial classification. Two of the three officers arrested in the case are also colored, and one is Black. nearby store. He gave half his meal to the family’s dogs so When Julies’ mother, Bridget Harris, saw first his body, he could finish faster, recalls Harris’ partner, Clint Smith. she said, she was shocked by the gunshot wounds.

Julies was a frequent visitor to the store.

“We couldn’t count,” she said. “It’s too many.”

Around 9 p.m., the store owner heard a bang. So did Death at the hands of police in South Africa is hardly Harris and Smith. Then the cries of disbelief began. uncommon — by one estimate, each day a South African “They shot Lockies!” neighbors shouted. dies in a police action. But this particular shooting in JohanThe officers are believed to have quickly driven the nesburg unleashed passionate protests that commanded an young man away, dropping him off at a hospital. But no one unusual degree of attention, inside South Africa and out. told the family where he was. When Harris heard that the And the explanation, at least in part, is that this was no ordi- hospital was treating a gunshot victim, she rushed over and nary young man who was killed. saw a figure covered by a sheet.

Julies was seriously disabled by Down syndrome and Disbelief gripped her when she recognized the sanbarely able to form complete sentences. A familiar figure in dals protruding out. his Soweto neighborhood, Eldorado Park, he was often seen “I was screaming the whole hospital down,” she said. hanging out in local stores in the hope someone might buy “How can it be Nathaniel out of everybody? I saw the sanhim his favorite cookie or on the dance floor with his sig- dals, but I still felt, no, it’s not my baby.” nature moves. He was known as Lockies, and many in the In many parts of the United States and elsewhere, the neighborhood made a point of looking out for him.

Black Lives Matter movement has spurred fresh scrutiny of Much remains unknown about what happened the race relations, as protesters demand an end to what they evening he was killed next to a broken-down delivery van see as pervasive police brutality, usually dispensed by white within sight of his family home. officers against people of color.

Authorities initially tried to suggest that Julies had been In South Africa, too, citizens have long denounced shot during an exchange of gunfire between police officers police brutality. Under cover of the pandemic lockdowns, and gang members. But within days of the killing, they critics say, some officers are acting with still more impunity. charged the three officers.

But the narrative here is more tangled.

Two of them, Simon Ndyalvane, a sergeant known In South Africa, a majority-Black police force is acin the community as Scorpion, and Caylene Whiteboy, a cused of abusing a majority-Black citizenry. The police constable, were said to have been at the scene of shooting, station at the center of Julies’ case, for example, is staffed and face charges of murder and obstruction of justice. They overwhelmingly by Black and colored police officers. But it are also accused of attempting to discard evidence, said a has been the subject of over 80 complaints of brutality from spokeswoman for the prosecution, Phindi Mjonondwane. 2012 to 2019, 10 of them involving fatalities, according to The third officer, Detective Sgt. Foster Netshiongolo, faces Viewfinder, an investigative journalism project that collects charges of accessory to murder and obstruction of justice. data on police killings.

Julies’ family believes that he may have been shot South Africans, especially those old enough to rewhen the officers tried to question him about something member the apartheid days, when the country was ruthand could not understand why he was unable to answer. lessly ruled by a white government, may never look kindly On the evening of Aug. 26, when he was killed, Julies’ at police. family had just finished dinner when he slipped out, apPolice departments were once an extension of the parently in search of the chocolate-chip cookies sold at a apartheid state, enforcing its rules, assassinating political

leaders and encouraging violence to keep townships destabilized. For nonwhite South Africans, police were a source of terror, not protection. And Black police officers were seen as traitors.

Apartheid excelled at pitting one group against another, and the legacy of that is still playing out today in communities like the predominantly colored one Julies lived in.

Police have made efforts to move on from the brutality of the apartheid era. In a bid at reform, the South African government began rebranding the department when apartheid came to an end, in 1994. It is now called the South African Police Service, with the word “Service” added.

But critics say this has not changed the culture of the police force. The new generation of officers are regarded with suspicion amid allegations of rampant corruption. And police killings remain so common that it is rare when a death gets people to the streets. But earlier this year, demonstrations broke out after police and soldiers were accused of killing another man during the pandemic lockdown.

“I think the South African state, and South African society, are really at a watershed moment this year in the response and reckoning to the impunity, violence and brutality in the police service,” said Daneel Knoetze, who heads Viewfinder, the journalism project that tracks police killings.

Authorities have pledged that there will be justice in the killing of Julies.

“We will spare nobody,” said the police minister, Bheki Cele, who in 2009, rebutted reports that he had encouraged a so-called shoot-to-kill policy. “Whoever has committed a crime will have to face the law.”

When community members marched to demand answers over Julies’ death, police moved aggressively to disperse them. Protesters then barricaded streets and burned tires.

President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed distress at television images of the violence beamed across the country, describing Eldorado Park as “a community that deserves better.” But he included a reprimand.

“While communities have a right to express dissent, anger should not spill over into action that could worsen the trauma already experienced by citizens,” Ramaphosa said.

“Justice can only prevail if community workers work with our criminal justice system to address alleged injustice or abuse.”

Since the shooting, there has been a steady stream of visitors to the freshly painted, four-room, apartheid-era home where Harris is raising her seven remaining children.

“I feel like I’m living it all over again,” Harris said.

She and Smith wear T-shirts with Julies’ face on it. His visage also beams down at them from a large portrait donated by demonstrators.

But many are skeptical that they will ever see justice — in this case, or in their daily lives.

“They are supposed to be protecting us, but they are killing us,” said Leonie Nero, a mother of two who lives near Julies’ home. “They are targeting innocent children. Where should our children play?”

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

17

An Indigenous Canadian journalist was covering a protest. Then he got arrested.

By IAN AUSTEN

T

he land was theirs, the Indigenous protesters said, and so they tried to prevent the housing project near Niagara Falls from going forward — burning tires to block a highway, spray-painting slogans on the construction company’s equipment and setting an excavator on fire.

The demonstrations didn’t get much national attention, but Karl Dockstader, a local Indigenous reporter, thought it was a big story.

As the protests grew larger over the summer, he returned repeatedly to the site, finally deciding to pitch a tent nearby to do more in-depth reporting.

Then he received an email from the Ontario Provincial Police. They wanted to meet with him.

When he showed up, police arrested him and charged him with criminal mischief, and with violating an injunction against the blockade. Now, as he awaits resolution of the case, Dockstader, who is co-host of a weekly talk radio program that focuses on Indigenous issues, is himself blocked from reporting on a major Indigenous event in his own backyard.

Dockstader’s arrest is one of four recent arrests of reporters covering Indigenous protests in Canada, and journalism and civil rights groups immediately leapt to his defense. Canada’s constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech includes freedom of the press as a “fundamental freedom.”

“It’s an abuse of power,” said Brent Jolly, the president of Canadian Association of Journalists. “And it’s a pretty effective way for them to shut down debate.”

Pamela Palmater, a Mi’kmaq lawyer who holds a chair in Indigenous law at Ryerson University in Toronto, said the arrests also suggest an effort to silence coverage of Indigenous issues, which could undermine the country’s efforts under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to make reconciliation with Indigenous people for past wrongs.

“It’s preventing our stories, our side, our version from getting out there, whether it’s an Indigenous or non-Indigenous journalist who has been arrested, it runs counter to reconciliation,” Palmater said.

Appeals court judges in Newfoundland and Labrador said as much in March, when they unanimously reversed the conviction of Justin Brake, a Canadian journalist who was arrested in 2016 for violating an injunction against protests by Indigenous groups against a hydroelectric dam project in Labrador.

“To achieve the goal of reconciliation better understanding of aboriginal issues and aboriginal peoples is needed,” the judges wrote. “This places heightened importance on ensuring that independently-reported information on aboriginal issues, including aboriginal protests, is available to the extent possible.”

The court also strongly criticized the trial court for not considering Brake’s status as a journalist, writing that an injunction can limit “freedom of the press and, in appropriate cases like the present one, the protection of rights pertaining to Indigenous interests.”

In February, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested Melissa Cox, a documentary filmmaker from New York, at an Indigenous rail blockade in British Columbia, again saying she broke an injunction. A court dismissed those charges last month,

Karl Dockstader, an Indigenous radio reporter, in Niagara Falls, on Sept. 8, 2020, has been blocked from reporting on a major Indigenous event in his own backyard. without explanation.

About two weeks after Dockstader was arrested, another reporter covering the blockade, Starla Myers, was also arrested

by Ontario police, and charged with two criminal counts of mischief and disobeying a court order.

Myers, a member of the Mohawk Turtle Clan and a nurse who also works for the Mohawk-owned website Real Peoples Media, is now under similar restrictions as those imposed on Dockstader.

Dockstader, 40, is the host, along with Sean Vanderklis, of “One Dish, One Mic,” which was a podcast but became an AM radio station, CKTB, a year ago. The show focuses on local Indigenous issues in Caledonia, Ontario, which includes the community of the Six Nations of the Grand River.

That community has a decadeslong history of disputes over land claims.

Dockstader, a Haudenosaunee member of the Oneida Bear Clan, grew up in southwestern Ontario as well as Buffalo, New York, and worked as a chef for about 15 years.

About two years ago, he began hosting the radio show.

Earlier this year he and Vanderklis won a prestigious Indigenous journalism fellowship, which will give them training through the CBC. Dockstader is also the language program coordinator at the native friendship center in Fort Erie, Ontario, which provides services and activities for Indigenous people in the city.

The story he was covering began on July 20, when about a dozen people gathered to block construction of a housing development they contend is being built on Indigenous land.

As was the case at a blockade elsewhere in Ontario earlier

this year, they raised Six Nations flags and painted “1492 Land Back Lane” on a construction container, a mock reference to Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the Americas.

Dockstader and Vanderklis drove to see the protest on the first day.

“These things start out as tiny things and you just never know what’s going to happen,” Dockstader said.

After a police raid Aug. 5 that resulted in arrests, more protesters arrived, leading to blockades on more roads. In all, Dockstader made 15 trips to the site.

By late August, Dockstader decided to pitch his tent.

“I was interested in establishing a relationship with people that were in charge as opposed to just running around snapping photos, having cool things to post and getting clicks,” he said.

“I was there for the sole purpose of documenting what was happening and doing a deeper dive.”

Being present at the scene was contrary to the injunction, but before the charges were brought earlier this month, Dockstader’s lawyer told police he was there as a journalist, not a protester.

In an email, Constable Rod Leclair, a police spokesperson, declined to offer any specifics about Dockstader’s case but said “engaging in activities outside of their reporting purpose, could subject media personnel to charges in relation to violation of a court order and other applicable offenses.”

Dockstader is set to appear in court in November.

“For me,” Dockstader said, “I set the hard line of having journalists protected so that it’s not police using their discretion to decide what is and isn’t journalism. But they clearly seem to want to foray into that territory. They just don’t care.”

18

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL

Trump’s Supreme Court pick may need to denounce Roe. Good.

By MICHELLE GOLDBERG

I

n a floor speech in July, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., issued an ultimatum on future Supreme Court fights.

“I will vote only for those Supreme Court nominees who have explicitly acknowledged that Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided,” Hawley said. He would require on-the-record evidence that the next Republican nominee “understands Roe to be the travesty that it is.” Absent that, he said, “I will not support the nomination.”

The day after Ruth Bader Ginsburg died, Hawley reiterated this commitment, and called on his fellow Republican senators to do the same.

Others on the religious right may impose a similar litmus test. Social conservatives felt betrayed when, in June, Neil Gorsuch, Donald Trump’s first Supreme Court appointee, wrote in a majority opinion that it’s illegal under the 1964 Civil Rights Act to fire someone for being gay or transgender.

They were doubly dejected when Chief Justice John Roberts cast the deciding vote in a decision striking down a Louisiana law that would have all but regulated legal abortion out of existence in the

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titutionalized hypocrisy as part of the confirmation process. As Northup points out, during his confirmation hearing in 1991, Clarence Thomas simply described Roe v. Wade without taking a clear position on it. Less than a year later, he joined a dissent in a pivotal abortion case that said Roe was “wrongly decided, and that it can and should be overruled.”

Because nominees typically refuse to speak about Roe in depth, the debate about abortion during confirmation hearings seems to take place in code. “Everyone talks about precedent,” Murray said. “Nobody really talks about Roe v. Wade.”

This makes the conversation about the future A supporter listens to President Donald Trump during a of legal abortion abstract and hard to follow. Tracampaign rally at MBS International Airport in Freeland, ditionally, the right has liked it that way. For years, Mich., Sept. 10, 2020.

Hawley said in his Senate speech, religious conservatives have been told: “Don’t mess up the Supreme state. As Politico reported, they now want a gua- Court nomination process by raising Roe. It’s imprurantee that a new Trump judge will carry out their dent. It’s in poor taste. It will divide our coalition.”

Instead, he said, conservatives were urged to talk agenda.

At this bleak moment for reproductive rights, about “process, about methods, maybe throw in this counts as good news. It might at last end the some talk about umpires.”

There’s a reason for this: Roe is popular. Whiabsurd charade that allows conservative Supreme Court nominees to obscure their opposition to legal le many Americans support abortion restrictions, a abortion. Just over six weeks before the election, it Pew poll last year found that 7 in 10 oppose seeing should make clear to everyone what is at stake if Roe overturned. As David Wasserman wrote on Monday, more than a fifth of Trump’s 2016 voters in Trump is allowed to replace Ginsburg.

“Hawley wants to make sure where they stand, battleground states leaned pro-choice.

Still, Hawley is in a position to extract concesif they disagree with Roe v. Wade,” said Nancy sions.

The two remaining pro-choice Republican Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive senators, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, have alRights. “The 70-plus percent of the American public that supports Roe v. Wade would like to know that, ready said they’re opposed to the Senate voting on a Trump nomination before the election. If Trump lotoo.”

The custom of nominees concealing their in- ses two more senators, his pick will be defeated. So tentions regarding Roe — as well as other issues — this time, Trump’s nominee might not get away with began after 1987, when a bipartisan majority of se- doing what Brett Kavanaugh reportedly did, telling nators rejected President Ronald Reagan’s Supreme Collins that Roe is “settled law.”

That would be for the best. “It would actually Court nominee Robert Bork. Bork didn’t just oppose be more galvanizing for Democrats if the RepubliRoe; during his hearing he discussed his skepticism of the 1965 Supreme Court ruling striking down cans would just either do what they say they want to bans on contraceptives, which established the right do, overturn Roe and face the political backlash that that would engender,” said Murray, “or have their to privacy that Roe is based on.

“In the wake of Robert Bork, almost every no- nominee just say explicitly, ‘I don’t believe there is a minee, on the Republican and Democratic side, has constitutional right to abortion.’”

Republicans have supported Trump through been a little more cagey about their views of Roe,” nearly four years of stupefying corruption to bring us said Melissa Murray, a New York University law to this precipice, when states might once again forprofessor and expert on reproductive rights jurisprudence. The one exception was Ginsburg, who, as ce women to give birth against their will. If DemoMurray recalled, “linked abortion rights to women’s crats can’t force Trump’s nominee to be clear about the rights he or she intends to take from us, maybe full citizenship” during her confirmation.

The reticence around Roe has essentially ins- Hawley can.

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

19

Negociado de Energía publica reglamento propuesto de respuesta a la demanda Por THE STAR

E

l Negociado de Energía de Puerto Rico (NEPR) de la Junta Reglamentadora de Servicio Público (JRSP), en cumplimiento con la Ley, desarrolló un reglamento propuesto para que la Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica (AEE) elabore un programa de respuesta a la demanda, se informó el martes.

Dicho programa procura tener como resultado un cambio en los patrones de consumo de energía provocando una reducción en la factura de los clientes y en la energía que tiene que producir la Autoridad, además de tener efectos positivos para el medio ambiente.

El pasado 2 de julio, el Negociado

de Energía, emitió una Resolución mediante la cual invitó a los interesados a que presentaran comentarios sobre el borrador, esto para mejorar el mismo antes de iniciar el proceso formal de reglamentación. Como parte de este proceso preliminar, el Negociado de Energía recibió un total de siete comentarios escritos de las partes interesadas.

Luego de una evaluación cuidadosa de los comentarios presentados, el NEPR revisó el borrador y realizó un reglamento propuesto.

Entre los cambios realizados, se simplificó la estructura general para la adquisición de recursos de respuesta a la demanda. “La AEE diseñará y ejecutará sus propios programas de respuesta a la demanda (potencialmente con asis-

tencia contratada) y tendrá la responsabilidad exclusiva de desarrollar todos los recursos de respuesta a la demanda de manera costo efectiva”, indica la Resolución.

En sus comentarios al borrador, la Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica había mostrado preocupación por sus limitaciones de recursos y de capacidad para diseñar y ejecutar un programa de respuesta a la demanda. El NEPR diseñó el reglamento propuesto con la expectativa de que la AEE pueda seleccionar, mediante un proceso competitivo, quienes puedan desarrollar, administrar y ejecutar programas de respuesta a la demanda. De igual manera, el reglamento propuesto establece el rol de los productores independientes de energía

y de las cooperativas de energía. “La respuesta a la demanda es una opción de recurso para ayudar a equilibrar la oferta y la demanda de energía”, añade la Resolución.

Finalmente, se informó que el público en general podrá presentar sus comentarios sobre el reglamento propuesto hasta el 22 de octubre de 2020.

Los comentarios se pueden presentar al Negociado de Energía de la siguiente manera: Por correo electrónico a la siguiente dirección: comentarios@ energia.pr.gov. En línea, utilizando el sistema de radicación electrónica del NEPR en la siguiente dirección: https:// radicacion.energia.pr.gov. Por correo postal o en persona en las instalaciones del NEPR.

Puertorriqueños verán limitados servicios médicos por pérdida de $1,000 millones en Medicaid, según AAV Por THE STAR

E

l candidato a la comisaría residente de Puerto Rico en Washington por el Partido Popular Democrático (PPD), Aníbal Acevedo Vilá responsabilizó el martes, a la comisionada residente Jenniffer González y a la “guerra interna” en el Partido Nuevo Progresista (PNP) por la pérdida de $1,000 millones de fondos de Medicaid y tildó de falso e irresponsable afirmar que en Puerto Rico hay “dinero de más” para cubrir las necesidades de salud de la población, como expresó González ayer en las redes sociales.

Asimismo, el exgobernador popular sostuvo que la incompetencia y la dejadez del gobierno del PNP, ha dejado desprovisto a 1.4 millones de personas de la posibilidad de ver ampliar los servicios existentes y de recibir posibles subsidios temporeros que pudieran ser financiados por el programa federal de Medicaid.

“Resulta altamente irresponsable de parte de Jenniffer González decir que existe ‘dinero de más’ o un excedente de recursos, cuando tenemos 250,000 puertorriqueños que no tienen cubierta médica, incluyendo miles de niños y adolescentes, también tenemos otros 493,984 envejecientes pertenecientes al programa de Medicare que necesitan también ayuda con los costos de medicamentos. Esta crasa negligencia demuestra la total improvisa-

ción e insensibilidad de la comisionada residente y el gobierno del PNP, quienes, en todo un año, en vez de haber invertido su tiempo en la búsqueda de soluciones a esta situación, optaron por tratar de adelantar la estadidad que jamás llegará. Esto es imperdonable.”, afirmó Acevedo Vilá en comunicación escrita.

Recordó que desde abril pasado representantes del sector privado de salud advirtieron sobre el peligro de que estos fondos se perdieran. Ante esa información, la comisionada González evidentemente no hizo nada. Más aún, informes periodísticos apuntan a que el gobierno de Wanda Vázquez le notificó en julio a la comisionada sobre esta situación, inclusive mediante correo electrónico y nuevamente ella no hizo nada.

Según Acevedo Vilá, luego que hiciera pública la carta de la gobernadora advirtiéndole al liderato congresional de la crisis y requiriendo acción, González “guardó silencio por varias semanas” y el fin de semana pasado dijo categóricamente que no se iban a perder los fondos y que se podrían reprogramar.

“De forma insensible y en un claro menosprecio con la gente necesitada, Jenniffer González no solo mintió sobre esto, sino que viene a solo horas de vencerse el término a presentar una enmienda de última hora, en un solo párrafo y de forma improvisada para tratar de salvar cara ante

la evidente negligencia e irresponsabilidad de su desempeño”, expresó Acevedo Vilá.

“Hoy un periódico de circulación general nos informa que el Centro de Servicios Medicare y Medicaid (CMS), que administra estos fondos, informa que hasta anoche nadie de Puerto Rico le había notificado sobre esta crisis. Estas expresiones de CMS por un lado desmienten lo que dijo Jenniffer el domingo y nuevamente demuestran la incompetencia de este gobierno,” puntualizó.

Sobre la excusa que ha levantado González y la directora ejecutiva de la Junta de Control Fiscal, Natalie Jaresko de que ese dinero no tiene uso definido porque dicha asignación no es recurrente a partir del 2021, el exgobernador sostuvo que “ambas funcionarias se equivocan, porque el gobierno de Puerto Rico tuvo todo un año para identificar gastos y compras no recurrentes en el área de salud y el Plan Vital que pudieron haber sido sufragado con esos fondos. Si se hubiese trabajado con tiempo un plan de acción coherente y veraz. Ni siquiera eso puede hacer bien este gobierno.”

“Si la comisionada residente Jenniffer González hubiera hecho su trabajo responsablemente, hubiese identificado junto a la Junta de Control Fiscal y el Departamento de Salud, aquellos gastos, compras y servicios que no sean necesariamente recurrentes a partir del año fiscal 2021 y que

pudieran haber sido sufragados con esos fondos. Pudieron haber comprado equipos médicos, medicamentos, pruebas de laboratorio, cubrir servicios temporeros de salud mental, servicios y tratamientos contra la Hepatitis C, la compra de equipos especializados para niños con impedimentos, el pago de cancelación de deudas a suplidores de salud, servicios ambulatorios y hasta pagar deducibles para gente necesitada en servicios, por mencionar algunos ejemplos de gastos en áreas en las que pudo haber pedido una autorización administrativa para ciertos usos no-recurrentes. Además, la comisionada residente pudo usar sus alegadas influencias en Washington para que los congresistas intervinieran con la junta y lograran que se aprobara el uso de estos fondos,” agregó Acevedo Vilá.

“Lamentablemente ayer se dio otro paso para que se consuma lo que dimos a conocer y venimos advirtiendo desde hace dos semanas, la pérdida de mil millones de dólares de los fondos federales que se usan para darle servicios a nuestra población médico-indigente y pagarle por sus servicios a todos los proveedores de salud. La responsabilidad de Jenniffer González en esta tragedia es evidente. La comisionada residente le escondió esta información al país. No es hasta el martes, 8 de septiembre, que hice pública la carta de la gobernadora al liderato congresional, que el país se enteró de esta situación”, sostuvo.

20

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

One musician’s plan to make the concert industry more diverse

By BEN SISARIO

S

hortly before COVID-19 shut the concert industry down, Noelle Scaggs, one of the singers in alt-pop band Fitz and the Tantrums, began noticing that there was seldom anyone else like her on the road.

A Black woman in a band of white men, Scaggs saw few other women of color on festival stages. Behind the scenes — among the touring crews and other industry personnel she came into contact with — the situation was no different.

“Most of the time,” Scaggs said in an interview, “I was the only woman of color in any room.”

Over the summer, as Black Lives Matter protests pushed the music industry into self-examination, with major record labels promising to diversify their ranks, Scaggs began developing a plan to break the homogeneity of the concert world — the multibillion-dollar business that provides most artists a majority of their income but has received less scrutiny over the makeup of its workers and executives.

Scaggs’ initiative, Diversify the Stage, aims to give more opportunities to people of color, women and LGBTQ people throughout the touring industry, particularly in production and technical positions. In a business that runs on status quo, with the same staff hired for tour after tour, Scaggs is also challenging fellow artists to use their influence over who is hired.

“We have the power to create the demand for more diverse workforces,” Scaggs said. “We have the power to place pressure on businesses and those who staff our tours to evolve and hold them accountable for making inclusivity a quantifiable action, not just a statement.”

Scaggs, 40, has been a steady presence in R&B and alternative music for two decades, first as a well-traveled vocalist — she sang on the Black Eyed Peas’ 2003 hit “Let’s Get It Started” — and, since 2008, in Fitz and the Tantrums, which walks a line between neo-soul and high-energy alternative pop.

Noelle Scaggs, one of the singers in the alt-pop band Fitz and the Tantrums, in Los Angeles, Sept. 10, 2020. Scaggs has an initiative, Diversify the Stage, that aims to direct more touring business opportunities to people of color, women, and LGBTQ people.

Her plan with Diversify the Stage is twofold: building an online directory to help booking agents, touring managers and others find a wide group of candidates for any position, and bringing young people into the business through mentorship programs.

Both efforts are underway. This fall, the House of Blues Music Forward Foundation, a charity affiliated with concert

giant Live Nation, will work with Diversify the Stage and several other progressive industry groups on a series of master classes for 20 young women of color.

Next year, those women will be placed in apprenticeships throughout the business.

Scaggs’ initiative arrives as criticism has grown more heated over the industry’s power imbalances and the relative lack of women and minorities in senior

positions. Major record labels and concert promoters have pledged to change, and some have taken steps like hiring inclusion officers. But critics are impatient.

Two grassroots campaigns, #TheShowMustBePaused and the Black Music Action Coalition, have recently published lists of demands for music companies, among them anti-racism and anti-sexism clauses in live performance contracts.

Watching the flurry of earnest corporate statements this summer, Scaggs said she did not want to wait for others to act. “I was just like, is this going to be another situation where we have the same conversation a year or two later, but nothing has really changed?”

Concrete numbers are unavailable about the makeup of the touring business, in which workers may be employed by an artist, a promoter, a venue or an outside vendor. The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative at the University of Southern California, which has documented the poor representation of women in pop, announced in June that it would look at the live sector as part of a broader study of leadership in the music business.

Touring jobs are often filled through word-of-mouth, which can perpetuate the exclusion of women and minorities. “Sometimes I hear, ‘Yeah, I’ll hire a Black production manager, but I just don’t know where to find them,’ ” said Jerome Crooks, a tour manager for Nine Inch Nails and other acts.

A few years ago, Crooks, who is Black, began to develop a database of touring personnel — “a rock ’n’ roll LinkedIn,” as he puts it — to solve just this problem. That database, Never Famous, is now Diversify the Stage’s partner for its employment directory, which is expected to arrive in the spring.

By then, Never Famous may have competition. Live Nation Urban, a division of the concert company, is developing its own Black Tour Directory, as is Roadies of Color United. She Is the Music, a group co-founded by Alicia Keys that is another partner of Diversify the Stage, has its own database. If anything, the overlapping sites may push the issue forward.

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

21

Playing Jesus in a pandemic summer

By MICHAEL PAULSON

O

n Sunday afternoon, Nicholas Edwards rolled the white gaiter over his nose and mouth for the last time.

For six weeks, he had played Jesus in a production of “Godspell” that was the first musical featuring union actors performed in the United States since coronavirus forced theaters to close in mid-March.

The Berkshire Theater Group show had many restrictions. It was performed outdoors, under a tent; the actors were tested for the virus three times a week, lived together in a pandemic pod, and were kept apart onstage. And it apparently worked — the run ended with no known infections among the cast, crew, staff or audience.

Among those in the final crowd: the show’s composer, Stephen Schwartz, who told the cast afterward, “I didn’t realize how much we needed this.” Two hours later, most of them piled into vans for New York.

Edwards, 28, who had begun the year on Broadway in “Frozen,” headed back to an uncertain future. Just before boarding the van, he sat outside the tent, in a new “Godspell” jean jacket with “Jesus” stitched above the pocket, to talk about the unusual run. Here are edited excerpts from that conversation.

Q: You ended with a group hug at the curtain call — something you had avoided at previous performances.

A: Today, the bubble is broken. Obviously we’re still in a pandemic, but these are people who we’ve lived with, and this is something we’ve wanted to do so bad for the longest time — touch each other onstage.

Q: It looked like you were weeping during “On the Willows,” as Jesus is saying farewell to the cast.

A: At the beginning of this process, the first few rehearsals, I was like, “Oh, this is going to get shut down.” But we did it, and I’m so proud of it. We reached the end, and we did what we set out to do.

Q: Is this the smallest stage you’ve been on, or the biggest?

A: Physically it’s pretty small. But every day you feel like the whole world is watching you. So in a way this was the biggest thing I’ve ever done.

Q: Why did you agree to do this show?

A: Truthfully, I didn’t want to at first, because I was scared. I didn’t want to leave home, and I kept thinking about the logistics. I was scared to be in the front lines, but I knew I had to challenge myself — this felt like some sort of calling.

Q: What was the hardest part of the protocols and restrictions?

A: Not being able to touch each other. Figuring out the masks. God, the partitions. Who can sing, when. The distancing factor. All of it was hard.

Q: Did you ever feel unsafe?

A: No, actually. I had had the virus, and had gotten the antibodies, and I felt really safe. But I was struggling

The cast of the Berkshire Theater Group production of “Godspell” hugs at the end of the final performance, in Pittsfield, Mass., Sept. 20, 2020. emotionally and mentally. Usually the stage is a safe place where we feel most at home and normal, but it became a place where I was anxious all the time.

Q: I gather there were five positive tests among the cast and crew during the run, including one for you, all of which turned out to be false.

A: It seemed like we were getting one every week, almost. It was frustrating, because the testing was supposed to keep us safe, but it started to work against us.

Q: At the start of the run, you had 75 patrons under the tent; then Massachusetts required you to cut back to 50. What was it like performing for an audience that size?

A: It was weird. But some nights you get certain audience members that this show is, in that moment, changing their life, or making their day. They’re really leaning in and watching. So in a way the smaller audiences made you appreciate each person.

Q: Your mother is Dominican, your father is Puerto Rican, you identify as Afro-Latinx, and many days you wore Black Lives Matter T-shirts to rehearsal. What was on your mind this summer?

A: So much. There’s the whole being-Black-in-America thing, and then there’s also being a person of color in the theater, which is its own thing. You don’t understand it until you’ve lived through it — what it’s like to walk into an audition room and have someone ask you to basically Black it up, or to hear a creative tell you that you might not be Latinx enough, or you might not be Black enough.

And here I am, sitting in this crossroads, and where do I lie?

Cause I’m just me.

Q: You’ve now played Jesus twice, in “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Godspell.” How has that affected you?

A: Being a person of color, and then standing center stage, the most powerful place in the world, and telling these stories to a mostly white audience, and they listen to me — I didn’t realize how powerful that was. And now, more than ever, I know that it’s important that you use your voice.

Q: Why do you think “Godspell” has lasted for 50 years?

A: The music, obviously. And yes, this show is 50 years old, but damn, it still hits. I think “Godspell” always works because whenever there’s something going on in the world — recession, wildfires, terrorism, pandemic — this show brings hope to people.

Q: What are you going to do once you’re back in New York?

A: I want to hug my mom. I want to see my friends, now that New York is becoming safer. I’m going to get back to my Twitch community, where I stream video games and sometimes I play music on there. I want to keep writing my music — I started releasing my original songs, acoustically, on Instagram. And I’m getting a puppy.

Q: Would you go see a show during this pandemic?

A: Yes. Oh my God, I’ll fly out to the next one if they let me.

FASHION The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, March 4, 2020 Wednesday, September 23, 2020 20 22

The TheSan SanJuan JuanDaily DailyStar Star

Christian Siriano and Tom Ford have an unexpected mind-meld

Christian Siriano showed his spring 2021 collection at his home in Westport, Conn.

By VANESSA FRIEDMAN

C

hristian Siriano, late of “Project Runway” (first as a contestant, then as chief mentor in the reinvented series), has never been one of New York Fashion Week’s star attractions. His clothes, which thumb their nose at irony in favor of the blandly glamorous, have always been a little too namby-pamby Hollywood for the Wes Anderson affinity set.

But this has been a fashion season like no other, so it is perhaps fitting that Siriano pulled off what may have been the coup of the week: the biggest and most unabashedly dressed-up physical show that took place.

To do it, he lured about 80 of the still-here style set not only out of Manhattan but out of New York City entirely and up to his house in Westport, Con-

necticut, for a socially distanced runway in a grassy swath of backyard, complete with lavender gin cocktails, personal picnic baskets and taffeta in full bloom.

Was everyone really so desperate for human connection and a live show that they’d travel 90 minutes out of state to see it? Was it literal escapism? Or was something else going on?

All of the above.

Each look — from the little plaid St.-Tropez miniskirt-’n’-bra-top suits to the Ascot black sheaths with trumpet flounces at the sleeve and hem, and the slick flared trousers — came with its own matching mask, only natural given that Siriano was among the first New York designers to pivot to making face masks during the personal protective equipment crunch of the early pandemic. Just as he was one of the first designers to champion diversity of size

and skin color on the runway.

That’s reality, though aside from one simple long black dress with “Vote” printed all over it, fantasy in the form of poufs and flamenco ruffles and wedding cake layers of tulle prevailed.

And it all culminated in a pregnant Coco Rocha strutting out in a red turtleneck top attached to a trailing taffeta flounce, who then leapt into the swimming pool in celebration. Attendees blinked — and blinked again — as she clambered out, waterlogged but laughing. Then they shook their heads and, through their masks, grinned.

Siriano is not pushing boundaries.

He’s not that guy and never will be. He’s not going to reshape identity in cloth.

But maybe he can change the mood.

You think this is no time for fashion or showmanship, because life is too heavy, the world in too dire a place?

Think again, busters, Siriano said. This is exactly the time. Frivolity has a deeper purpose.

And maybe he is right. In any case, he’s not the only one musing along such lines.

“We need clothes that make us smile,” Tom Ford, one of the few former star attractions who was part of the official calendar, said in a cri de coeur of a video monologue. He talked about the “nightmare” of designing his latest collection, with sample rooms shut down and hibernation the norm, and how fashion, for him, came to represent the promise of a better, happier time.

The result, posted as a look book of still photographs, was exactly that: a trip back in time to the styles of the 1970s, when he first made his name.

It was all animal print and floral fabulousness (for men and women) in slinky jersey, tie-dye hostess caftans and fuchsia satin joggers. If they weren’t exactly plowing new ground — to anyone who remembers Ford’s early Gucci oeuvre, they will be achingly familiar — they had a certain cheerful oomph.

As did Hillary Taymour’s “digital activation” for Collina Strada: a contagiously charming and seriously trippy film involving tie-dye cornfields, floating cows, leaping frogs and a dancing flower person created by illustrator Sean-Kierre Lyons. Models of many ages, sizes and physical abilities wore Taymour’s brand of mostly upcycled bodysuits, slip dresses and hoodies in fruit-bowl shades. The occasional baby also appeared. And pets.

Taymour has made addressing the climate crisis and fashion’s role in it the foundation of her label. Given the current spate of natural disasters, this could have led to a collection rife with nihilism, but Taymour chose to bathe it in sunlight — to suggest, as the title said, “change is cute.”

It’s a peculiar adjective to choose for a time when everyone else is banging on about historic import, but you know what? When all was said and done, and whatever the form, it seemed possible, for a moment, that it was.

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

23

On Venus, cloudy with a chance of microbial life

By DENNIS OVERBYE

I

t has been a while — like, forever — since anyone claimed to have discovered life on Venus.

And truth be told, the scientists who announced last week the discovery of phosphine, a gas, in Venus’ atmosphere did not claim to have discovered life, either — only that they could not think of anything that might have produced it other than microbes in the clouds.

“We’re not saying we discovered life on Venus,” Sara Seager of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said in an interview a few days before the announcement.

On Earth, anyway, the only natural source of phosphine is microbes; the gas is often associated with feces.

But it would hardly rank as a surprise to find out that scientists don’t know everything there is to know yet about the geochemistry of Venus, our nearest but rarely visited neighbor in the solar system.

Nor would it be the first time that the search for life on another planet has foundered on ignorance of the local chemistry. Experts still argue whether some experiments on the Viking landers in 1977 detected signs of life on Mars, but the main lesson from that adventure was that scientists had tried to run on Mars before learning to walk there: They went looking for Martian biology before they had mastered Martian chemistry.

One of the strengths of science is that interpretations can turn on a dime with the addition of more data.

In the case of Venus, opinion has turned and turned again.

In the mythology that served as the narrative backbone of classic science fiction, Venus was often portrayed as a cloudy, swampy rainforest kind of planet — a water world, a plantation world, humid but habitable, in some accounts even inhabited by docile natives. Mars was a dying, desert civilization — a vision promoted in the early 20th century by Bostonian philanthropist Percival Lowell, who thought he could see canals on Mars.

That was long before either place was actually visited and their inhospitable natures revealed: Venus with its crushing carbon dioxide atmosphere, surface temperature of 800 degrees Fahrenheit and sulfuric acid clouds; Mars with its frozen wisp of an atmosphere. Both of them bone dry, at least on their surfaces.

Venus is the brightest object that most people will see in the sky, after the sun, the moon and the infrequent supernova. It is also the celestial object most likely to be mistaken for a UFO. Venus had another pop culture moment in the 1940s. An all-purpose scholar and psychoanalyst named Immanuel Velikovsky, inspired by biblical accounts of such events as the sun standing still in the heavens, proposed that Venus had been spit from Jupiter 3,500 years ago and had careered through the solar system, side-

In a photo from JPL/NASA, an image of Venus made with data recorded by NASA’s Mariner 10 spacecraft in 1974. Astrobiologists are shifting their gaze, and speculations, to Earth’s broiling sister planet. swiping Earth and dosing it with plague viruses from its comet tail, then collided with Mars before settling into its present orbit. Never mind the laws of celestial mechanics.

The publication in 1950 of Velikovsky’s “Worlds in Collision,” a bestseller, scandalized astronomers. As it turned out, Velikovsky’s theory made two correct predictions for all the wrong reasons: that Jupiter is a source of radio noise, and that Venus is hot.

By then, the founders of what would be the American space program had already set their minds and hearts on Mars as the likely abode of life and the ultimate destination. In 1954, Werner von Braun published a long article in Colliers magazine that was a blueprint for a human expedition to the Red Planet. In a particularly perceptive aside, he anticipated that a century would pass before this happened; lately NASA has been discussing the 2030s as a realistic time frame for such a trip.

Carl Sagan, then a doctoral student at the University of Chicago, provided an accurate explanation for Venus’ torrid temperature in his 1960 Ph.D. thesis. The planet’s carbon dioxide atmosphere had created a runaway greenhouse effect, he concluded. Venus was a lifeless desert, at least on the ground.

Sagan, who died in 1996, was always optimistic about the prospects for life in the universe, championing the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. In 1967, he and Harold Morowitz, a biochemist at Yale, pointed out that conditions in the clouds of Venus seemed hospitable, with pressures of just one atmosphere and temperatures of about 40 degrees Fahrenheit conducive to life.

“If small amounts of minerals are stirred up to the clouds from the surface, it is by no means difficult to imagine an indigenous biology in the clouds of Venus,” they wrote in a paper in Nature.

The notion was not particularly popular. “The idea encountered much resistance and some ridicule back then,” said David Grinspoon, a planetary scientist at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, who has championed the idea for more than 30 years.

Grinspoon recalled that when he included a chapter on the plausibility of cloud-based life in his 1997 book, “Venus Revealed,” his publisher pressed him to take it out, contending that such a notion was outlandish. The chapter stayed.

In recent years the discovery of extremophiles — bacteria that live in nuclear reactors, hot ocean vents and other unlikely places — and of exoplanets has spurred new work and ideas about habitable planets. If Mars can have microfossils, why not Venus?

Moreover, Grinspoon said, new studies of Venus have led to the conclusion that the planet might have lost its oceans rather recently, only 700 million years ago, allowing plenty of time since the formation of the planet for life to have evolved and then escaped to the clouds.

What kind of life would that be? In 2004, Dirk Schulze-Makuch, an astronomer at the Technical University Berlin, in Germany, and his colleagues suggested that microbes floating in the clouds could be coated with a compound called cyclooctasulfur that would act as a sunscreen and convert ultraviolet light into visible wavelengths for photosynthesis.

This year, Seager and her colleagues expanded on this idea and sketched out an entire possible life cycle for such organisms. The microbes could inhabit droplets of sulfuric acid in the clouds, they proposed; as the droplets collided and merged, more and more microbes would be enclosed together, metabolize and divide.

Eventually the drops would grow too heavy and rain down from the clouds, but they would evaporate before hitting the ground, causing the microbes to dry out and go dormant.

Seager pointed out that microbes also exist in Earth’s atmosphere, they just don’t stay aloft as long.

“Well, I definitely would not say there’s life on Venus with certainty,” Seager emphasized. Among other things, she said, biologists still do not know which intestinal microbes produce phosphine or how they do it.

And what sort of life could endure the kinds of conditions in a sulfur cloud? Probably not the DNA-based organisms that we are, Seager said.

If it were discovered that nature has an alternative way to produce life, that would be the signal event of 21st-century science. And so the race for new data is on.

Space agencies are considering sending out new probes.

Yuri Milner’s Breakthrough Foundation, known for its $3 million prizes to scientists, has already said that it will finance research into Venusian life.

24 LEGAL NOTICE Condado de Wake de Carolina del Norte. En la Sala del Tribunal Superior del Tribunal General de Justicia Archivos No. 20 SP 421 y 20 SP 422 AVISO DE SERVICIO DE PROCESO POR PUBLICACIÓN

A: MANUEL RAMON ROMERO-BRITO,

Demandado.

Tenga en cuenta que se ha presentado un alegato en busca de reparación en su contra en la acción antes mencionada. La naturaleza del amparo que se solicita es para la legitimación de dos menores: Elmer Valentin Reyes, nacido el 28 de diciembre de 2016, y Ruby Valentin Reyes, nacida el 26 de marzo de 2015. Debe presentar la defensa de dicho alegato a más tardar el 26 de octubre, 2020, siendo dicha fecha al menos cuarenta (40) días a partir de la primera publicación de este Aviso, y en caso de que usted no lo haga, el peticionario solicitará al tribunal la reparación solicitada.

Este, el día 16 de septiembre de 2020.

Yvonne Armendáriz, Esq. Oficina Legal Armendáriz, PLLC 1140 Kildaire Farm Road Suite 206-4 Cary, NC 27511 Teléfono: (919) 656-1524 Email: yvonne@armendarizlaw.com ****

dicha contestación a la Lcda.

María Pagán Hernández, P.O. Box 21411, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00928-1411, teléfono 787282-6734, parte demandante, dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto. Si dejare de hacerlo, podrá dictarse contra usted sentencia en rebeldía concediéndole el remedio solicitado en la demanda. EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala de San Juan, a 3 de septiembre de 2020. GRISELDA RODRIGUEZ COLLADO, Secretaria. MALLIAM COLLAZO HUERTAS, SECRETARIA SERVICIOS A SALA.

SUCESION JULIAN MARTINEZ YORDAN COMPUESTA POR JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; ANGELES VIRGENMINA BELLIDO RUIZ POR SI Y EN LA CUOTA VIUDAL USUFRUCTARIA; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES (CRIM)

Se le notifica a usted que se ha radicado en esta Secretaría la demanda del epígrafe. Se le emplaza y requiere que radique en esta Secretaría el original de la contestación a la Demanda y que notifique con copia de

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ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE TOA ALTA.

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Parte Demandante vs.

CHRISTIAN G. MALDONADO RIVERA COBRO DE DINERO

manda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Expedido en Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, a 4 de marzo de 2020. Lcda. Maura I Santa Sanchez, Sec Regional. Nelida Jimenez Sanchez, Sec Auxiliar.

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

Parte Demandada CIVIL NUM.: TA2019CV01491. LILLIAN GARCIA RAMOS EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICDemandante vs.

TO EMITIDO POR EL TRIBUESTADOS UNIDOS NAL DE PRIMERA. INSTANDemandados DE AMERICA, POR CIA DE PUERTO RICO, SALA CIVIL NUM. PO2020CV01124.

CONDUCTO DE LA DE TOA ALTA. SOBRE: EJECUCION DE LEGAL NOTICE ADMINISTRACION A: CHRISTIAN G. HIPOTECA. EMPLAZAMIENESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE HOGARES DE MALDONADO RIVERA, TO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUUNIDOS DE AMÉRICA EL AGRICULTORES; JOHN parte demandada en el NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOE & RICHARD ROE caso de: SALA DE SAN JUAN DOS UNIDOS EL ESTADO LIDemandados GLEIDIS MIREYA DE LA BRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO Banco Popular de Puerto CIVIL NÚM.: TB2020CV00312.

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Maldonado Rivera, Civil re. EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIA: ANGELES

JUAN CARLOS ALONZO; JHONATAN MORALE SANTANA

VIRGENMINA BELLIDO RUIZ, POR SI Y EN LA CUOTA VIUDAL USUFRUCTARIA; JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO POSIBLES MIEMBROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESION JULIAN MARTINEZ YORDAN. SS.

DEMANDADOS CIVIL NÚMERO: SJ2020RF00853 (701). SOBRE: PRIVACIÓN PATRIA POTESTAD. EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE NORTE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS E E.UU. ESTADO LIBRE ASOPOR LA PRESENTE se le CIADO DE PUERTO RICO. ss. emplaza para que presente al A: Sr. Juan Carlos Alonzo Tribunal su alegación responDirección Desconocida siva a la demanda dentro de LEGAL NOTICE Se le notifica a usted que se los treinta (30) días a partir de ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO ha radicado en esta Secreta- la publicación de este edicto.

DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU- ría la demanda del epígrafe. Usted deberá presentar su aleNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA Se le emplaza y requiere que gación responsiva a través del radique en esta Secretaría el Sistema Unificado de Manejo y SALA DE SAN JUAN GLEIDIS MIREYA DE LA original de la contestación a Administración de Casos (SUla Demanda y que notifique MAC), al cual puede acceder CRUZ TAVERAS con copia de dicha contesta- utilizando la siguiente direcDEMANDANTE vs. ción a la Lcda. María Pagán ción electrónica: http://unired.

JUAN CARLOS ALONZO; Hernández, P.O. Box 21411, ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se JHONATAN MORALE San Juan, Puerto Rico 00928- represente por derecho propio, 1411, teléfono 787-282-6734, en cuyo caso deberé presentar SANTANA parte demandante, dentro de su alegación responsiva en la DEMANDADOS CIVIL NÚMERO: los treinta (30) días siguien- secretaria del tribunal. Si usted SJ2020RF00853 (701). SO- tes a la publicación de este deja de presentar su alegación BRE: PRIVACIÓN PATRIA PO- Edicto. Si dejare de hacerlo, responsiva dentro del referido TESTAD. EDICTO. ESTADOS podrá dictarse contra usted término, el tribunal podrá dicUNIDOS DE NORTE AMERICA sentencia en rebeldía conce- tar sentencia en rebeldía en su EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS E diéndole el remedio solicitado contra y conceder el remedio E.UU. ESTADO LIBRE ASO- en la demanda. EXPEDIDO solicitado en la demanda, o CIADO DE PUERTO RICO. ss. bajo mi firma y sello de este cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en Tribunal Superior de Puerto el ejercicio de su sana discreA: Sr. Jhonatan Rico, Sala de San Juan, a 3 de ción, lo entiende procedente.

Morales Santana Greenspoon Marder, LLP septiembre de 2020. GRISELCalle Laura De La Cruz DA RODRIGUEZ COLLADO, Lcda. Frances L. Asencio-Guido R.U.A. 15,622 Secretaria. MALLIAM COLLANúmero 78 TRADE CENTRE SOUTH, SUITE 700 ZO HUERTAS, SECRETARIA El Jamo Cabrera loo WEST CYPRESS CREEK ROAD SERVICIOS A SALA. FORT LAUDERDALE, FL 33309

Provincia María Trinidad Sánchez República Dominicana

LEGAL NOTICE

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

LEGAL NOTICE

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

REVERSE MORTGAGE FUNDING LLC. Demandante vs.

Telephone: (954) 343 6273 Frances.Asencio@gmlaw.com Expedido bajo mi firma, y sello del Tribunal, en Ponce, Puerto Rico, hoy 9 de septiembre de 2020. Luz Mayra Caraballo Garcia, Sec Regional. Maricell Ortiz Muñiz, Sec Aux. del Tribunal I.

staredictos@thesanjuandailystar.com

Núm.: TA2019CV01491, sobre Cobro de Dinero.

derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del Tribunal, advirtiéndosele que de no hacerlo se le anotará la rebeldía y se dictará Sentencia concediendo el remedio solicitado sin más citarle ni oírle.

Dado en Toa Baja, a TOA ALTA, a 11 de septiembre de 2020.

LCDA. LAURA I SANTA SANCHEZ, Secretario (a). Gloribell Vazquez Maysonet, Sec del Tribunal Conf I.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE TOA ALTA.

JENNIFER ROSA CONCEPCION RIVERA Y HECTOR DAVID CONCEPCION RIVERA Parte Demandante v.

MIDWEST FUNDING CORP. JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE,

DOS DE AMÉRICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS Parte Demandada Se le notifica a usted, CHRIS- UNIDOS EL ESTADO LIBRE TIAN G. MALDONADO RIVE- ASOCIADOS DE PUERTO CASO NÚM. TB2020CV00279.

SOBRE: CANCELAC IÓN DE RA, que en la Demanda que RICO. PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. EDICorigino este caso se alega A: JOHN DOE & TO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE que usted le adeuda a la parRICHARD ROE te demandante, BANCO PO- Por la presente se emplaza y se AMERlCA EL PRESIDENTE PULAR DE PUERTO RICO, les notifica que se ha presenta- DE LOS ESTADOS UNlDOS las siguientes cantidades: a. do en la Secretaría de este Tri- EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO. $18,347.95 de principal e inte- bunal la demanda del caso de A: MIDWEST FUNDING reses devengados hasta el 8 epígrafe solicitando la cancelade noviembre de 2019, más los ción del Pagaré suscrito a favor CORP. , JOHN DOE Y intereses que se devenguen a de Estados Unidos de America RICHARD ROE o sea, las partir de la fecha de radicación por conducto de la Adminispersonas ignoradas que de la Demanda al tipo legal, tracion de Hogares de Agripuedan ser tenedores del hasta el total y completo pago cultores, o a su orden, por la pagaré extraviado de la obligación, y una suma ra- suma principal de $44,500.00, zonable para las costas, gastos con vencimiento en 33 años y Por la presente se les notifiy honorarios de abogado, por habiéndose constituido por la ca que se ha presentada ante concepto de las sumas des- escritura número 10 otorgada este tribunal una Demanda , embolsadas por el uso de una en San Juan, el 31 de julio de en el caso de epígrafe , en la tarjeta de crédito MasterCard 1985, ante el Notario Público cual se solícita la cancelación Edge cuyos últimos 4 dígitos Martha F Martinez Espada, ins- de un pagaré a favor de Midson 6502. Se le emplaza y re- crita al folio 60 del tomo 377 de west Funding Corp. , o a su quiere que presente al tribunal Toa Baja, finca número 22052, orden , por la suma principal su alegación responsiva dentro inscripción 1ra. Representa a la de $22,650.00, con intereses de los treinta (30) días siguien- parte demandante la abogada al 7% anual , vencedero el tes a la publicación de este cuyo nombre, dirección y telé- día 1 de septiembre de 2002, edicto, a través del Sistema fono se consigna de inmediato: otorgado en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 24 de agosto de Unificado de Administración y ENEL M. PEREZ MONTE 1972, testimonio 3024 , garanManejo de Casos (SUMAC), al RUA 9019 GA 24 Ave. Ramirez de Arrellano tizado mediante la escritura de cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electróni- Gardens Hills, Guaynabo PR 00966 hipoteca número 869, ante la Tel/Fax.: (787) 998-7415 notario Arminda de Choudens ca: https://unired.ramaiudicial.

Lcdaenelperez@gmail.com Ferraro , e inscrita al folio 102 pr, salvo que se representen Se le apercibe que si no comdel tomo 200 de Toa Baja, finpor derecho propio, en cuyo parecieran ustedes a contestar ca número 12,306, inscripción caso deberá presentar su dicha demanda dentro del tér1 ra. y que grava la propiedad alegación responsiva en la semino de 30 días a partir de la que se describe a continuacretaría del tribunal. Deberá publicación de este edicto se le ción: URBANA: Solar marcado notificar a la licenciada: María anotará la rebeldía y se le dictacon el número tres del Bloque S. Jiménez Meléndez al PO rá sentencia concediendo el re“HM”, situado en la UrbanizaBox 9023632, San Juan, Puermedio solicitado sin más citarle ción Levittown Barrio Sabana to Rico 00902-3632; teléfono: ni oirle. La parte demandada .Seca de Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, (787) 723-2455; abogada de la deberá presentar su alegación con un área de trescientos diez parte demandante, con copia responsiva a través del Sistema metros cuadrados con cincuende la contestación a la demanUnificado de Administración y ta centímetros cuadrados. En da. Si usted deja de presentar Manejo de Casos (SUMAC), al lindes por el NORTE, en trece su alegación responsiva dentro cual puede acceder utilizando metros cincuenta centímetros del referido término, el tribunal la siguiente dirección electróni, con Victoriano Juárez, según podrá dictar sentencia en reca: https://unired.ramajudicial.

Plano Calle número setecientos beldía en su contra y conceder pr, salvo que se represente por veintiuno; por el SUR, en trece el remedio solicitado en la de-

(787) 743-3346

The San Juan Daily Star metros cincuenta centímetros , con el solar número cuarenta y uno; por el ESTE, en veintitrés metros , con el solar número dos; por el OESTE , en veintitrés metros, con el solar número cuatro. Se Je advierte que este edicto se publicará en un periódico de circulación general una sola vez y que si no comparece a contestar dicha Demanda dentro del término de treinta (30) días, contados a partir de la publicación de este edicto, 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 discreción, lo entiende procedente. Usted deberá presentar su alegación respqnsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), el cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial. pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio. El abogado de la parte demandante es: Ledo.

Raúl Rivera Burgos, RUA 8879, Estancias de San Fernando, Calle 4, Número 4, A-35, Carolina, P.R. 00985, Tel. (787) 238-7665, Email: raulrblaw@ gmail.com. EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal de Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, hoy día 11 de SEPTIEMBRE de 2020.

Gloribell Vazquez Maysonet, Sec del Trib Conf. I. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SANCHEZ, Sec Regional.

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

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

Representa a la parte demandante, la representación legal cuyo nombre, dirección y teléfono se consigna de inmediato: BUFETE FORTUÑO & FORTUÑO FAS, C.S.P. LCDO. JUAN C. FORTUÑO FAS RÚA NÚM.: 11416 PO BOX 13786, SAN JUAN, PR 00908 TEL: 787- 751-5290, FAX: 787-751-6155 E-MAIL: ejecuciones@fortuno-law.com En Guaynabo, Puerto Rico a 15 de septiembre de 2020. LCDA. LAURA SANTA SANCHEZ, Sec Regional. Sara Rosa Villegas, SubSecretaria.

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

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

SUCESIÓN DE SERGIO MARTÍNEZ RIVEROS DEMANDANTE VS. T/C/C SERGIO MARTÍNEZ ART WEAR BY NINA INC. COMPUESTA POR SU DBA NINA ACCESSORIES VIUDA GRACE ROJAS DEMANDADOS AGUILLAR T/C/C GRACE CIVIL NÚM. GB2020CV00474.

ROJAS DE MARTÍNEZ, SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO. POR SÍ; FULANO DE EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE COMO HEREDEROS DE LOS EE. UU. EL ESTADO DESCONOCIDOS Y/O LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R. PARTES CON INTERÉS A: ART WEAR BY EN DICHA SUCESIÓN; NINA INC. DBA NINA ESTADOS UNIDOS DE ACCESSORIES AMÉRICA AVE. ESMERALDA DEMANDADOS 200-C, PONCE DE LEON CIVIL NÚM.: BY2020CV02189.

GUAYNABO, PR 00969 SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. URB. BUCARE CALLE AMATISTA, #25 EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE GUAYNABO, PR 00969 AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE SUPERMERCADOS MÁXIMO, INC.

POR LA PRESENTE se le em- DE LOS EE. UU. EL ESTADO plaza para que presente al tri- LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R. ss. bunal su alegación responsiva A: GRACE ROJAS dentro de los 30 días a partir de la publicación de este edicto. AGUILLAR T/C/C GRACE Usted deberá presentar su aleROJAS DE MARTÍNEZ gación responsiva a través del

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

POR SI Y COMO HEREDERA CONOCIDA DE LA SUCESIÓN DE SERGIO MARTINEZ RIVEROS T/C/C SERGIO MARTINEZ Y FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANO DE TAL COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS Y/O PARTES CON INTERES DE DICHA SUCESIÓN LEVITTOW LAKES, SECCIÓN 4TA AD-24, BOULEVARD MONROIG, TOA BAJA PR 00949

tación ante el Tribunal correspondiente, con copia a la parte demandante, se le anotaría la rebeldía y se le dictará sentencia concediendo el remedio solicitado sin más citarle ni oírle.

Se le apercibe que conforme al Artículo 959 del Código Civil, 31 L.P.R.A. § 2787, usted tiene 30 días para aceptar o repudiar la herencia desde la publicación de este edicto. A esos efectos, de no rechazarla, se tendrá la herencia por aceptada. En Bayamón, Puerto Rico a 10 de septiembre de 2020. LCDA. LAURA I SANTA SANCHEZ, Secretaria Regional. Magdalis Colon Martinez, Sec de ServiPOR LA PRESENTE se le cios a Sala. emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación resLEGAL NOTICE ponsiva dentro de los 30 días de haber sido diligenciado este ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO emplazamiento, excluyéndose DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUel día del diligenciamiento. Se NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA alega en dicho procedimiento SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN que la parte demandada incu- JUAN rrió en el incumplimiento del INDHIRA J. Contrato de Hipoteca y la parte SÁNCHEZ POLANCO demandante declaró vencido DEMANDANTE vs. el préstamo reclamado en la ROBERTO A. demanda. La suma adeudada TATIS MARICHAL asciende a $293,280.64 de DEMANDADO principal. Esta suma no incluye los intereses acumulados CIVIL NÚM.: SJ2020RF00906. los cuales aumentan a razón I SALA: 702. SOBRE: DIVORdel 8.00% de intereses al año, CIO (R.I.). EDICTO. ESTADOS hasta su completo pago ni car- UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL gos por demoras, ni el diez por PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE . ciento (10%) para costas, gas- UU. ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIAtos y honorarios de abogado. DO DE P.R. SS. El inmueble gravado ubica en Urb. Levittow Lakes, Sección 4ta, AD-24, Boulevard Monroig, Toa Baja Pr 00949; identificado como la finca núm. 6,722, inscrita al folio 95 del tomo 102 de Toa Baja, sección II de Bayamón. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Representa a la parte demandante, la abogada cuyo nombre, dirección y teléfono se consigna de inmediato: LCDO. JUAN C. FORTUÑO FAS RÚA NÚM: 11416 FORTUÑO & FORTUÑO FAS, C.S.P. PO BOX 9300 SANTURCE, PR 00908 TEL: 787- 751-5290/ FAX: 787-751-6155 E-MAIL: ejecuciones@fortuno-law.com Se le apercibe que, si no compareciere usted a contestar dicha demanda dentro del término de 30 días a partir de la publicación de este edicto, radicando el original de la contes-

A: ROBERTO ADOLFO TATIS MARICHAL

Se le notifica a usted que se ha radicado en esta Secretaría la demanda del epígrafe. Se le emplaza y requiere que radique en esta Secretaría el original de la contestación a la Demanda y que notifique con copia de dicha contestación a la Leda .

Rosa L. Vázquez López, 379 Calle César González, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico 00918, teléfono 787- 766-0949, abogada de la parte demandante, dentro de los treinta días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto. Si dejare de hacerlo, podrá dictarse contra usted sentencia en rebeldía concediéndose el remedio solicitado en la demanda. EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala de San Juan, a 11 de septiembre de 2020. SRA. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. JESSICA COLON, SEC SERV A SALA.

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

AMERICAS LEADING FINANCE LLC Demandante, v.

MIGUEL MOLINA MORLAS, SU ESPOSA FULANA DE TAL Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES

COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

MTGLQ INVESTORS, L.P. Parte Demandante vs.

LA SUCESIÓN DE WILFREDO BATISTA MELÉNDEZ compuesta por Carlos J. Batista Fontán, Wilfredo Batista Fontán y Joel Batista Fontán; John Doe y Richard Roe como miembros desconocidos; ADMINISTRACIÓN PARA EL SUSTENTO DE A: Miguel Molina Morlas, MENORES, Y CENTRO su esposa, Fulana de Tal DE RECAUDACIÓN y la Sociedad Legal de SOBRE INGRESOS Gananciales compuesta MUNICIPALES; AUREA por ambos.

ESTHER FONTAN Quedan emplazados y notificaARROYO dos que en este Tribunal se ha

Demandados CIVIL NÚM.: SJ2020CV04071.

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 SS.

radicado Demanda sobre cobro de dinero por la vía ordinaria en la que se alega que los demandados, Miguel Molina Morlas, su esposa, Fulana de Tal y la Sociedad Legal de Gananciales compuesta por ambos, le adeudan solidariamente al Americas Leading Finance, LLC, la suma de principal de $3,504.48, 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 M. 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, el facsímile (787) 946-0062 y su correo electrónico es: gerardo@bellverlaw.com. Expedido bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal, en SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, hoy día 25 de septiembre de 2020. GRISELDA RODRIGUEZ COLLADO, Secretaria.

MARLYN ANN ESPINOSA RIVERA, Secretaria Serv a Sala.

Parte Demandada CASO CIVIL NÚM: AR2020CV00184.

SOBRE: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOlTECA POR LA VIA ORDINARIA Y COBRO DE DINERO. EMPLAZAMIENTO Y NOTIFICACIÓN DE INTERPELACIÓN POR EDICTO. Estados Unidos de América Presidente de los Estados Unidos de América Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico.

A: WILFREDO BATISTA FONTAN por sí y como heredero de a Sucesión de Wilfredo Batista Meléndez

POR LA PRESENTE se les emplaza y requiere para que contes¡te la demanda y que se exprese en torno a su aceptación o repudiación de la herencia de Wilfredo Batista Meléndez, dentro de los sesenta (60) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto. Usted deberá radicar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: http:// unired.ramajudicial.pr/sumac/, salvo que se presente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá radicar el original de su contestación ante el Tribunal !correspondiente y notifique con copia a los abogados de la parte demandante, Lcda. Marjaliisa Colón Villanueva, al PO BOX 7970, Ponce, P.R. 00732; Teléfono: 787-843-4168. En dicha demanda se tramita un procedimiento de cobro de diner.o y ejecución de hipoteca bajo el número.mencionado en el epígrafe. Se alega en dich:o procedimiento que la parte Demandada incurrió en el incumplimiento del Contrato de Hipoteca, al no poder pagar las mensualidades vencidas correspondientes a los mese.s de agosto de 2016, hasta el presente, más los cargos por demora correspondientes. Además, adeuda a la parte LEGAL NOTICE demandante las costas, gastos ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO y honorarios de abogado en DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU- que incurra el tenedor del paNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA garé en este litigio. De acuerdo SALA SUPERIOR DE CIALES. con dicho Contrato de Garantía

Hipotecaria la parte Demandante declaró vencida la totalidad de la deuda ascendente a la suma de 1 $8,012.72 de principal, más los intereses sobre dicha suma al 6.996% anual, así como todos aquellos créditos y sumas que surjan de la faz de la obligación hipotecaria y de la hipoteca que la garantiza, incluyendo la suma estipulada para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado. La parte Demandante presentó para su inscripción en el Registro¡d e la Propiedad correspondiente, un AVISO DE PLEITO PENDIENTE (“Lis Pendens”) sobre la propiedad objeto de esta acción cuya propiedad es la siguiente: RUSTICA: Lote número uno (1 ): Parcela de terreno radicada en el barrio Morovis Norte, del término municipal de Morovis, con una cabida superficial de mil cincuenta y nueve punto cuatro mil quinientos cuarenta y ocho (1,059.4548) metres cuadrados, equivalentes a cero punto dos mil seiscientos noventa y cinco (0.2695) cuerdas.

En lindes por el NORTE, en veintinueve punto doscientos cuarenta y cinco (29.245) metres, con remanente de la finca principal de la cual se segrega; por el SUR, en treinta y uno punto trescientos diez (31.310) metros, con Sucesión Marcos Hernández; por el ESTE, en treinta y dos punto novecientos cuarenta y seis (32.946) metros, con el lote numeró dos (2) de esta segregación; por el OESTE, en cuarenta y cuatro punto cuatrocientos cincuenta y siete (44.457) metros, con la finca principal de la cual se segrega. Enclava casa. lnscrtta al folio doscientos sesenta y cinco (265) del tomo ciento veintidós (122) de Morovis, finca número siete mil ochocientos catorce (7,814) Registro de la Propiedad de Manatí. SE LES APERCIBE que de no hacer sus alegaciones responsivas a la demanda dentro del término aquí dispuesto, se les anotará la rebeldía y se dictará Sentencia, concediéndose el remedio solicitado en la Demanda, sin más citarle ni oírle. Además, como miembro de la Sucesión Wilfredo Batista Meléndez, se ha presentado una solicitud de interpelación judicial para que sirva en el término de treinta (30) días aceptar o repudiar la herencia. s.e le apercibe que si no compareciera usted a expresarse dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación de este edicto en torno a la aceptación o repudiación de la herencia, se presumirá que han aceptado la herencia! del causante Wilfredo Batista Meléndez y por consiguiente, responderán por las cargas de dicha herencia conforme dispone el Art. 957 del Código Civil, 31 L.P.R.A. S27:85. En Ciales, Puerto Rico, a 14 de septiembre de 2020.

Vivian Y Fresse Gonzalez, Sec Regional. Carmen M. Burgos Ortiz, SubSecretaria.

25

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26

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

Nikola Jokic plays basketball like it’s water polo

By SCOTT CACCIOLA

C

iaran Wolohan was watching the Denver Nuggets play on television a couple of years ago when he saw an enormous man with gangly arms grab a defensive rebound, spin around and uncork an 85-foot pass to a teammate for a fast-break layup, all in one fluid motion.

Wolohan, who coaches men’s and women’s water polo at Wagner College on Staten Island, N.Y., was taken aback. He hopped onto the internet.

“I had to look up who he was, because he was this big, unfit-looking guy,” Wolohan said. “But it was just this amazing, full-field pass, and I was like: perfect water polo technique.”

The player was Nikola Jokic, and Wolohan was not surprised to learn that Jokic was from Serbia, a water polo hotbed.

“He’s been around water polo,” Wolohan said.

“You can tell for sure.”

Jokic, a 7-foot, 284-pound center, might just be the water polo world’s favorite basketball player. He passes like a water polo player, treats the tactics of basketball like one and even resembles one, with his shipping-crate frame.

“It’s a big man’s sport,” said Sean Tierney, 47, who plays for the Denver Water Polo Club. “There’s a lot of physical contact — a lot of bellying up.”

On Sunday, Jokic did everything for the Nuggets but put them over the top in a 105-103 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 of the NBA’s Western Conference finals. He had 30 points, nine assists, six rebounds and four steals, and he scored the Nuggets’ final 12 points before Anthony Davis beat the buzzer with a game-winning 3-pointer for the Lakers.

Denver trailed in the best-of-seven series, two games to none, heading into Tuesday night’s Game 3.

“We need to fight,” said Jokic, an All-NBA secondteam selection. “That’s our only chance.”

Jokic didn’t play water polo formally — he was never on a team, he said — but he would strip to his swim trunks and toss the ball around with his friends when he was growing up in Sombor, a small town about 100 miles northwest of Belgrade.

That did not make him unique. Serbia has a deep passion for water polo. There are water polo pools in nearly every city. Young people will drag goals to the lake on weekends. The Serbian men’s national team, a fixture on the Olympic medal podium, won gold in 2016.

“Oh, it’s probably the biggest sport,” said Bora Dimitrov, the men’s water polo coach at St. Francis College in Brooklyn.

Basketball has gained ground in recent years, thanks to the exploits of NBA players like Jokic, Bogdan Bogdanovic of the Sacramento Kings and Boban

Marjanovic of the Dallas Mavericks. Dimitrov, who grew up in Novi Sad, Serbia’s second-largest city, said he would put all three of them on a billboard alongside tennis champion Novak Djokovic as the country’s biggest sports stars of the moment.

But water polo is a part of the cultural fabric, and Jokic did not specialize in basketball until he was teenager. He dabbled in many sports when he was young, and that likely helped him develop his dexterity, said Ognjen Stojakovic, the Nuggets’ director of player development.

“He’s actually very good in volleyball,” said Stojakovic, who is also Serbian. “You should see him. All the sports with the ball, he’s unbelievable. Especially Spikeball.”

Spikeball is a game in which players smack a small ball off a round, horizontal net, and the Nuggets apparently moonlight as Spikeball aficionados.

“You would think he’s MVP of Spikeball,” Stojakovic said of Jokic.

At the same time, Jokic’s proclivity for palming the basketball is one of the sharpest parallels that water polo practitioners draw when they watch him on the court. One-handed passes. One-handed rebounds.

One-handed floaters. One-handed dribble handoffs.

Jokic also has the habit of holding — and sometimes waving — the ball above and behind his head with one arm as he fends off his defender with the other.

He might as well be treading water while he does it.

The court-length passes stand out to Brian Clark, 59, who also plays for the Denver Water Polo Club.

Most basketball players do a big windup with a motion that includes a step forward with the opposite leg and a huge follow through with the throwing arm. Not Jokic, whose lower half remains still as he whips the ball, his hips and core generating all his power.

“He’s standing there, he’s got his chest up and he’s got his arm straight back,” Clark said, “and then just does a boom! And that absolutely is a water polo move.”

Water polo people can be territorial when it comes to Jokic, especially when those water polo people are from Denver.

“It’s irritating when he does it and the announcers are like, ‘What an incredible baseball pass,’” Clark said. “It’s not a baseball pass!”

More generally, there is Jokic’s approach to the game and what Dimitrov, the coach at St. Francis, described as his countryman’s “water polo mind.”

Patience is a virtue in water polo. Games tend to be low scoring — Serbia won the men’s Water Polo World League championship last year by edging Croatia, 12-11 — and players carefully pass in search of the most high-percentage shots. Those passes need to be spot on when everyone is chest-deep in water.

“It seems like every time Nikola throws the ball, he

Denver’s Nikola Jokic is known for his precision passing, even if the ball travels the length of the court.

It’s a hallmark of water polo, which is popular in his native Serbia. notices that one small step of advantage that his teammate has over a defender,” Dimitrov said, “and then he puts the ball in that pocket to create an opportunity for an easy layup.”

Jokic is the rare player who seems capable of bending games to his preferred tempo: methodical bordering on painstaking. He has joked that he does not have much of a choice.

“I’m patient because I cannot really run fast,” he said.

But even in the half-court, Dimitrov said, Jokic often takes his time. He surveys the situation and plots when to strike.

“When you take a closer look, he has a completely different game than any other player,” Dimitrov said.

“No one has the same build or the same moves.”

Tierney recalled playing against Serbian teams when he was younger and how some of the players were notorious for their pre-match routines.

“You’d see a guy sitting on the side, having a cigarette before he’d jump in the pool,” Tierney said.

And then the game would start, and the Serbians would impose their will. “It was unbelievably intimidating,” Tierney said.

There is something about Jokic that is similarly deceptive: No one is mistaking him for Mr. Olympia. The Wall Street Journal once described him as a “penguin on stilts.” His many fans are familiar with the semiapocryphal stories about his emergence as a basketball prodigy.

“Other players were like, ‘Has he ever lifted anything heavier than a spoon in his life?’” Dimitrov said.

“But he would do these amazing things.”

With the ball in his possession, Jokic is a magician.

He just wears sneakers instead of a Speedo.

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

27

She’s the WNBA threat no one warned you about

By ERICA L. AYALA

T

he Minnesota Lynx never planned to give Crystal Dangerfield many minutes this season. Yet somehow the former Connecticut guard was on the floor in the closing seconds of a tight game last Thursday.

She had been announced as the WNBA’s Rookie of the Year that afternoon. She started her first professional playoff game that night.

Entering the playoffs, Dangerfield averaged 16.2 points a game to lead the Lynx in scoring. Yet at halftime of Thursday’s single-elimination game, the Phoenix Mercury had contained her to 2 points. Dangerfield maintained her composure, found her shot and ended the night with 17 points to give Minnesota an 80-79 win. Dangerfield was overcome with emotion afterward. He voice was shaky during a postgame interview on ESPN as she fought back what she later called happy tears.

She wasn’t supposed to be doing postgame interviews or helping eliminate Diana Taurasi, who is the WNBA’s career scoring leader, and the Phoenix Mercury from the playoffs. Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve had been transparent with Dangerfield about not intending to play her much at all.

“I’m like, OK, you can let that bother you, sit, pout, just let it be. Or you can turn things around for yourself, try to go and earn some minutes and change their mind about what the situation was going to look like,” Dangerfield said in a telephone interview.

The Lynx have now advanced to a best-of-five semifinal series, which was set to begin Tuesday, against the Seattle Storm, who tied the Las Vegas Aces for the league’s best record. It would have been easy for the rookie to be overcome by her nerves last Thursday and even easier now. But that’s not how the Tennessee native was raised.

Chris and Davonna Dangerfield, who both served in the U.S. Army, emphasized discipline for their three children.

“They didn’t let us get away with anything,” Crystal Dangerfield said. “It was, schedule here, schedule there, do

this the right way, and at the end of the day be a good person too.”

That foundation served her well at UConn, where players are expected to buy into a team-first mentality and learn humility.

“Freshman year at UConn is unlike any other. You go in having felt like you could do anything on the court, and that is stripped away,” Dangerfield said. “You have to learn that system, learn what they’re asking you to do about playing hard and stuff like that.

“I feel like after you go through that, you’re good. Nothing’s going to have you too high or too low.”

UConn coach Geno Auriemma was tough on his backcourt facilitators, and Dangerfield was no exception.

“When Crystal was here, we wanted to — as she mentioned one time — to make her grow up fast,’’ he said. “And there were some great moments that she had as a freshman, but not enough of them.”

Auriemma watched from home as Dangerfield faced off against the Mercury. He was reminded of the 2019 NCAA Tournament game against UCLA in which Dangerfield scored 11 of her 15 points in the fourth quarter to give UConn a 69-61 win and a trip to the round of eight.

“During the game and after the game she was very emotional because there was something that she wanted to do, and she felt great about her accomplishments. And I saw that the other night,” Auriemma said.

Entering the WNBA, Dangerfield again had to grow up fast. Picked in the second round of the 2020 draft, her place on the Lynx roster was not secure.

But with veteran guard Odyssey Sims arriving late as she worked her way back from maternity leave and Lexie Brown entering concussion protocol after the second game of the season, Dangerfield started July 30 and has each game since.

She is the lowest-drafted player to win the Rookie of the Year Award.

“She’s got a motivation about her,’’ said Katie Smith, a Lynx assistant. “She knows that she can hang in this league, but I think that also has helped fuel her.”

Crystal Dangerfield wasn’t expected to play many minutes for the Minnesota Lynx, but instead she became their top scorer and won the Rookie of the Year Award.

“She just shows up every day and doesn’t talk a whole lot, just goes out, does it,” Smith added. “I’m not necessarily surprised, but just happy because she’s really been a huge piece of why we are where we are right now.”

Smith, who was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018, knows what it takes to win. As a player, she won two titles with the WNBA’s Detroit Shock, two more in the American Basketball League before that and three Olympic gold medals. She said she was impressed with the way Dangerfield approached her work.

That said, the coaches, including Reeve, are not shy about telling Dangerfield what she needs to improve — mostly because Dangerfield has proved she can take it.

“I was talking to Katie earlier today and was like, I have a long list for her in the offseason,” Reeve told reporters Saturday. “And then I thought, what the hell am I going to wait for the offseason for?

Why don’t I tell her now, and let’s see if

she can’t evolve? Anything we’ve given her, she’s done a great job of.”

Reeve, who last week was named coach of the year, would not divulge what was on Dangerfield’s to-do list.

But the rookie had a few extra days to make plans to execute them before Tuesday’s game, which was postponed from Sunday after multiple Seattle players received inconclusive results on their coronavirus tests. The league is playing out its season in a bubble at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., in which players and staff are tested daily.

Dangerfield said she could not say what this season means for her WNBA career beyond that more hard work is in store.

“Honestly, the only thing that changed is where the bar would have been at the end of the season,” Dangerfield said, adding: “I just want to not let my level of play drop below where it’s at right now. That’s all it is. It’s just wanting to get better each day, each game, really.”

28

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Players Alliance gets $10 million from MLB and union to build diversity

By JAMES WAGNER

M

ajor League Baseball and the players union have pledged $10 million to the Players Alliance, a nonprofit formed this summer by more than 100 current and former Black players in the wake of George Floyd’s death, aiming to help build Black participation in the sport, from front offices to the diamond.

The donation, which was officially announced Monday morning, will be dispersed annually over five years, financing initiatives including a player-led mentorship program, a program meant to recruit Black students to internships in the sport and another meant to donate baseball equipment to Black groups in need throughout the country.

Curtis Granderson, 39, president of the Players Alliance and a former outfielder whose 16-year career included stints with the Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees and New York Mets, called the money “amazing,” in part because the nonprofit was formalized only 12 weeks ago.

“MLB and the union have rolled out programs historically, and some have been great and some have obviously needed to have a little bit of assistance to them,” he said in a telephone interview this weekend. “We, as the players — the market you have been targeting — some of us have gone through these programs or have started very similar programs, so we can be a great resource to take the programs that are already good and make them better, or introduce some new ones.”

The idea for the Players Alliance came this summer when Cameron Maybin, a 33-year-old Chicago Cubs outfielder, saw a video of NFL players saying, “Black lives matter,” and listing victims of police brutality, including Floyd. (The majority of players in the NFL are Black.)

Realizing that little had been said within baseball on the same topics, Maybin reached out to one of his closest friends, Dee Strange-Gordon of the Seattle Mariners, and talked about getting the few Black players in baseball to take part in a video of their own, which they did in June with the help of former

Dee Gordon and Cameron Maybin in 2018. The two players helped come up with the idea for the Players Alliance this summer. pitcher Edwin Jackson.

Maybin said Black players in baseball have felt handcuffed because there are so few of them and they feared repercussions for speaking out.

“In the past, it’s like: ‘Hey, you don’t need to touch social or political issues.

You just need to be a role model at baseball camps,’” he said in a telephone interview.

By making the video, Maybin said Black players realized there was strength in numbers. He added, “If we all speak up and we all feel strongly about what’s going on in our communities, we all can be the voices for our communities.”

Granderson said making the video, the interest it garnered and subsequent conversations among Black players, which brought them together more than ever, led to the formation of the nonprofit. They resolved to pool their efforts to tackle problems they saw. (In the past, their community service efforts were fragmented; a survey of Players Alliance members found that they had donated over $40 million over recent years on their own.) As the group grew and be-

gan programs like mentorship of young Black players and students, Granderson said, MLB and the union reached out to ask how they could get involved.

“The biggest value that we have in the Players Alliance is us, the players,” Maybin said. “It’s not somebody speaking for us. We are the face.”

The donation from MLB and the union was timely: Granderson said the Players Alliance had no money in its bank account before the pledge. The $10 million will allow the group to expand and formalize more initiatives; Maybin said he had recently discussed with his former Yankees teammate C.C. Sabathia, the Players Alliance vice president, how to help finance youth travel teams, because playing baseball is expensive.

In a statement, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said the league believed the efforts of the Players Alliance “will complement existing diversity initiatives and accelerate progress.” The players union chief Tony Clark added in a statement: “Recent events and social unrest have profoundly crystallized the need for prescriptive programs and additional

education designed to enhance Black participation at all levels of baseball for the betterment of our game as well as society.”

There were only 67 Black players on opening day major league rosters this season, with a smaller share of representation in several other areas of the sport. While MLB’s own efforts have gradually reached more underserved and underrepresented youth players — for example, two 2020 first-round picks, Ed Howard of the Cubs and Jordan Walker of the St. Louis Cardinals, both of whom are Black, are alumni of diversity development programs — the rate of Black players in the major leagues has dwindled from a high of around 19 percent in the early ’80s to about 8 percent now.

There are only two Black major league managers (Dave Roberts of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Dusty Baker of the Houston Astros), two Black heads of baseball operations (Michael Hill of the Miami Marlins and Kenny Williams of the Chicago White Sox) and just one Black CEO or team president (Derek Jeter of the Miami Marlins). There are no Black majority owners.

“We don’t want charity cases, but we have seen historically that there have been individuals that are qualified for some of these positions,” Granderson said.

Details are still being ironed out, but Granderson said the Players Alliance hoped to pay for or help set up young Black men or women with entrees into the sport, from front offices to coaching staffs to apparel company positions.

He added, “Some of the stuff we’ve heard in talking to certain studentathletes is: ‘Hey, I’m in a state where there is no MLB anywhere close to me.

They’re not coming to a job fair down by us because it just doesn’t make sense.’

But again, with 2020, we don’t have to go to you, we can Zoom it to you.”

The Players Alliance has also set up multiple advisory boards and committees, including one made up of team owners, one of team executives and another of minor league players.

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

29

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

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

Crossword

Answers on page 30

Wordsearch

GAMES

HOROSCOPE Aries

30

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

(Mar 21-April 20)

You’re so intent on completing tasks already begun that you’re missing other opportunities and some great events that are going on around you. Keep one eye open on what is going on elsewhere. Accept the chance to take on new responsibilities before someone else gets in first. Multi-tasking will make you more productive.

Libra

(Sep 24-Oct 23)

A goal that is about to be reached will feel all the more rewarding because of the challenges being thrown at you now. You can overcome these and this will make you more aware of your strengths. Your determination can be formidable and persistence will pay off. To achieve, you need to stick at it.

Taurus

(April 21-May 21)

Scorpio

You’re itching to get away. A holiday that is being arranged will be more fun if taken as part of a group than a partnership. Include friends or a neighbour in your travel plans for the future. Sometimes more really is merrier even if you do still have to wait a while before it is safe for you all to travel together.

You’re on the brink of exhaustion. Rather than keep pushing yourself, pause to enjoy the simple things in life. Take some time off work to recharge your batteries. Think about making your immediate environment more comfortable. You deserve to be surrounded by beautiful objects. Make your home a haven from the outside world.

(Oct 24-Nov 22)

Gemini

(May 22-June 21)

Sagittarius

(Nov 23-Dec 21)

Squabbles within a team is preventing a group project from progressing. You’re growing frustrated with the pettiness of some people. You could be asked to take control of this project and although this will be quite a challenge, it would also be a good use of your leadership skills. You will quickly whip the group back into shape.

If you’re concerned about a work, financial or legal matter, it can’t do any harm to ask more questions. In fact, finding out more could save you a lot of unnecessary worry.

Are you putting too much trust in someone by expecting them to always be there for you when you need them? Looking after your own interests means making your own decisions.

Cancer

(June 22-July 23)

Capricorn

(Dec 22-Jan 20)

You deserve a gold star for your ability to keep the peace in a hostile environment. Someone isn’t being truthful. You sense this but you don’t have any evidence to back your feelings. When a colleague or relative makes exaggerated claims, you will find a way to prove them wrong and ease the situation.

Accept a challenge. Even if this is something you’ve never done before, you can learn as you go. Ignore any doubts that you aren’t good enough. Stop telling yourself others are better than you. You have to start somewhere; take that first step now. With so many difficult things going on it can be good to concentrate on the positives in your life.

Leo

Aquarius

(July 24-Aug 23)

(Jan 21-Feb 19)

Look at past difficult experiences as lessons to learn from. They are over and it is time to let go. Dwelling on negative aspects of your past will hold you back. Stop using a mistake or disappointment as an excuse for your current lethargy. Set new goals. Take a deep breath and go for it.

If you cast your mind back over the past four months you could be surprised by how much progress you have made despite all the difficulties you have been through. You have adapted to new routines and discovered a lot about yourself. As gradually things start to open up, you’re able to consider new options and opportunities.

Virgo

Pisces

(Aug 24-Sep 23)

Arguments will quickly erupt unless you watch what you say. A workmate will be quick to take offence where none was intended. Avoid discussing anything to do with politics, religion or money. Especially from midday onwards, you won’t be in the mood to get involved in a heated exchange.

(Feb 20-Mar 20)

There’s a lot of nonsense being spoken by some of the people around you who have more imagination than common sense. You don’t want to waste your time listening to their idle gossip. If you can nip this in the bud, do so. If you can’t, shut your ears to it and get on with your own work.

Answers to the Sudoku and Crossword on page 29

Wednesday, September 23, 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

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

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