Thursday Sep 24, 2020

Thursday, September 24, 2020

San Juan The

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Tommy DeVito, Original Member of The Four Seasons, Dies at 92 P20

Faster COVID-19 Diagnoses

PREPA in PREB Hot Seat; Responds on Rates Hike P4

US Mourns Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on First Day of Ceremonies P10 NOTICIAS EN ESPAÑOL P 19

FDA Grants Public Health Entities Permission to Diagnose Quicker Commission Created to Approve Use of Tests

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The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, September 24, 2020

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September 24, 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.

Local public health entities obtain FDA consent to carry out faster COVID-19 diagnoses

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he island Health Department (DS by its Spanish initials) and the Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust (PRSTRT) on Wednesday announced the creation of the Puerto Rico Diagnostic Test Evaluation Commission (PRoDTEC) to increase capacity and efficiency in diagnosing COVID-19 amid the public health emergency.

After obtaining the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) consent to grant emergency use authorizations for tests that detect SARS-CoV-2 in laboratories, the two local entities determined to create a commission composed of a panel of experts that will review and approve with greater agility the use of diagnostic tests on the island for the detection of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19.

Health Secretary Lorenzo González Feliciano said the commission will evaluate the validity of as well as stimulate the development of new diagnostic methodologies and tests for the detection of the novel coronavirus.

“This effort demonstrates the collaboration that exists between entities and people who want to work for the sake of Puerto Rico,” González Feliciano said.

“The Trust is like a sibling to the [Health] Department, and vice versa; what matters is that we joined forces to fight against COVID-19. This effort, where the Trust [and its commission] can opt to analyze tests and authorize them locally, gives us great scientific autonomy.”

The Health secretary said further that the determination, which he called a “cutting edge initiative,” makes the island join states such as Connecticut, Maryland, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New York and Washington, which have also received the FDA’s consent to carry out an evaluation under the federal agency’s guidelines and in-house scientific rigor. He said PRoDTEC is also an important step for the scientific community because it serves as a basis for speeding up the implementation of new science-based diagnostic methods for other emerging infectious diseases in the future.

PRSTRT Trustee Daniel Colón Ramos said meanwhile that, as both a Puerto Rican citizen and scientist, he regards PRoDTEC as an important measure for the island as it gives scientists the power to collaborate actively with the FDA in terms of the

tests that will be evaluated and, if authorized, used to diagnose the coronavirus disease. Colón Ramos, who is also the president of the Scientific Committee appointed to manage the creation of the PRoDTEC, said the Health secretary delegated them “without restrictions, but with the clear task of using rigorous criteria in the selection of candidates to form part of the Commission.” The committee reviewed half a dozen competing nominations and unanimously selected Puerto Rico Public Health Trust Research Manager Marcos López Casillas, Business Excellence Consulting Senior Quality Systems Consultant Agnes Rodríguez Soto, and MBQ Pharma CEO Federico Goodsaid Zalduondo as voting members of PRoDTEC. “We are not one-armed; we have the scientific capability and we are at the midst of a pandemic where no one in the world holds the answers,” Colón Ramos said. “The scientific community is gathering its best resources and knowledge to tackle this pandemic. It brings me hope to see both the DS and PRSTRT collaborate as, I, a scientist, believe that, literally, lives will be saved.”

Colón Ramos added that he hopes the creation of PRoDTEC will lead the island to conduct more COVID-19 tests and surpass the July numbers, when some 4,500-6,000 molecular tests were performed daily.

PRoDTEC will first submit a protocol for expedited evaluation of COVID-19 diagnostic tests for approval by the Health Department. Then it will collaborate with the COVID-19 Clinical Laboratory Working Group to establish the protocol in Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments-certified laboratories that meet the regulatory requirements to perform highly complex tests.

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Thursday, September 24, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

PREB grills PREPA officials on rate hikes

By THE STAR STAFF

P

ressured by remarks from government officials opposing rate hikes, the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau (PREB) asked numerous questions to force Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) officials to justify a request for adjustments to certain factors in customers’ utility bills that may lead to rate hikes.

PREB Chairman Edison Avilés asked PREPA officials whether the utility had some $91 million in the bank to make up for fuel adjustment charges the utility wanted to pass on to consumers for the quarter that goes from October to December in the event that the regulator rejects PREPA’s request.

PREPA Finance Director Nelson Morales said the utility had $461 million in its bank account and could assume the cost.

“We don’t want to hurt the finances of PREPA, but we also have to think of the people,” Avilés said.

Puerto Rico is in a fragile state after numerous businesses were forced to shut down amid the global coronavirus pandemic, leaving thousands on the island jobless.

On Sept. 18, PREPA asked the PREB to authorize the reconciliation of the riders in the utility bills for fuel adjustment and for the purchase of energy. After explaining the complex

process for their calculations, PREPA Executive Director Efran Paredes said the utility wanted to get back $91 million for the fuel adjustment factor but give customers a credit of $6.6 million for the fuel purchasing factor.

The projected fuel adjustment charge would come out to 82 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for the months September to December and the power purchase factor to 46 cents per kWh, according to the petition.

“The Authority will inform the customers what cost will be implemented in the next quarter once the PREB issues its order,” Paredes said in a statement before the hearing.

PREPA customers currently pay about 19 cents per kWh in their utility bills.

On Wednesday several officials, including Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced, came out against PREPA’s petition.

“I oppose any hikes. PREPA has not provided evidence to support the hike,” the governor said.

The opposition Popular Democratic Party also called the government irresponsible and negligent, referring to the proposed rate hike.

PREPA has gone before the PREB several times this year to seek authorization for reconciliations.

To justify the adjustments, the document submitted to the PREB noted that demand for energy went up after May because of the COVID-19 pandemic and temperature hikes.

Officials also noted a hike in the price of oil globally.

The hearing was still in progress at press time.

Delgado blasts gov’t for water overcharges, raising electricity rates

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

P

opular Democratic Party gubernatorial candidate Carlos “Charlie” Delgado Altieri blasted what he called the “incompetence and lack of sensitivity” of the New Progressive Party (NPP)-led central government such that in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic it overcharged for water service and said it will raise electricity rates.

“The incompetence and lack of sensitivity of the NPP government has reached extreme levels,” Delgado said. “As if the country did not have enough problems, today we woke up to the news of a possible increase in electricity [rates] requested by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority and that the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority has overbilled for our water service in recent months in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.” .

The Isabela mayor said this is another example of the collapse of the current NPP government administration.

“This government has failed the country by not serving those affected by Hurricane Maria and they have not established a recovery plan. Nor have they cared for those affected by the earthquakes, much less have they established a concerted and effective plan to address the repercussions of the coronavirus in the country” Delgado said. “The only thing they

have done is turn their back on the people, ignoring their needs, and now they charge more for essential water and electricity services.”

Delgado said that for the past four years “the country has been in the wrong hands.”

“The dangerous thing about this scenario is that they intend to govern past January,” he said. “The same ones who have failed the people by limiting aid and losing our people’s funds. The people with their vote have to make themselves felt and reject them at the polls.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, September 24, 2020

5

With more than 4,000 jobs at risk, school bus drivers demand to get back on the road

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

“I

f we do not get these dominos out of the way, which today we have the opportunity to do, unfortunately, our children, our offspring, our grandchildren will suffer the consequences of those who could do something today and did nothing.”

This is what Puerto Rico School Bus Drivers Federation President José Rosado Rolón told the Star on Wednesday as more than 300 school buses gathered in front of the Capitol to demand that the island government, and in particular the Department of Education (DE), get bus and other vehicle drivers back on the road as more than 4,000 direct jobs stand to be lost.

Rosado Rolón said the Federation, the Bus Owners Association and other unions organized the protest as school bus drivers have yet to return to work and fear that the public school transportation system shutdown is affecting the future of some 400 local enterprises. The union leader said losses have been estimated at up to $100 million, and that more than 7,000 indirect jobs are also on the line.

“At this moment, the country has the

resources and the system to help us get back to work. Not only will this help us, it will help the dairy industry, ranchers and farmers who sell their products to the DE,” Rosado Rolón said. “Those lines are being affected by the small number of lunches that the [Education] system is serving, which not only affects them, but also us because we can be the engine that encourages the economies of all those sectors, including those that sell diesel, tires, and [car] parts, and that has stopped.”

Since July, school bus drivers have been meeting with DE Secretary Eligio Hernández on a proposal to reactivate the department’s transportation system amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as the Federation has seen that school drivers in different counties in the mainland United States have provided free meals, teaching materials and even internet to remote communities so students can have access to internet. However, as local drivers have been unable to work again, debts keep stacking up.

“Seven months have passed by without work; transportation companies have no capital, no liquidity, without a due date to get back on the road,” Rosado Rolón said.

“If we don’t pay our insurance policies, the Public Service Commission can cancel our authorizations, so that we, after seven months of not working, are obliged to keep paying our policies. We have to keep on living, we have to keep paying mortgages, commercial loans, and water, electric power, and phone bills.”

The Federation president raised concerns that if the DE does not do anything about the public school transport system amid the public health emergency, it will affect students’ access to education and lead many families into poverty.

“When this is all over, children need to get back to their schools,” Rosado Rolón said. “If we don’t do something to save this industry, sadly, what we’re about to witness is children walking along the edge of the streets like we saw 50 to 60 years ago.”

Later in the day, school drivers had the opportunity to meet with Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz, who committed himself to pushing for a meeting with Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced, Health Secretary Lorenzo González Feliciano and Hernández to address the issues posed by the pandemic.

Governor to women’s advocate: Be more ‘vocal’ amid wave of disappearances, gender violence

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

G

ov. Wanda Vázquez Garced urged Women’s Advocate Lersy Boria on Wednesday to “be vocal” in the face of the disappearances of women and the rise in cases of gender violence.

“I would have hoped that she would be more vocal, that she would give more confidence to all women and young women to approach the Office of the Advocate [for Women],” Vázquez said in response to questions from the press. “And that’s why last night, I instructed her that I need her to be vocal, to talk about all the [available] tools so that women feel safe and that they have an opportunity in the Office of the Advocate to be represented and, also, that they cooperate with the Puerto Rico Police so that a plan is presented, so that the people of Puerto Rico know where our women are, where those young women are who have not yet been located.”

She called the recently reported disappearances of women “an extremely worrying situation.”

“Once I was made aware through the media and the press, I had that direct communication with Henry Escalera, the Police commissioner, on the photos that came out yesterday, except for the young woman who is still being looked for and there is an investigation underway,” the governor said. “We do know that there are still some cases whose status is not known in terms of whether they have been located, so I entrusted the Office of the Advocate [for Women] to be the instrument of guidance, prevention and protection for all these young women and [so they know] that they can approach the Office of the Advocate and the Puerto Rico Police to provide all the information that is necessary.”

The governor made the statements in the middle of a press conference to announce the budgeting of $18.6 million for the demolition of 120 structures in the southwestern municipality of Guánica.

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The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, September 24, 2020

UPR to extend standstill agreement period on bonds through February 2021

By THE STAR STAFF

T

he University of Puerto Rico (UPR) has informed the municipal markets that it has extended the extension period of its 13th standstill agreement on certain bonds through Feb. 28, 2021.

UPR is facing prevalent financial difficulties in all agencies because of a budget shortfall.

According to a filing dated Sept. 22, the document, which is dated Sept. 18, indicated that U.S. Bank Trust National Association, as trustee, and the Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority (AAFAF) — on its own behalf and on behalf of UPR — agreed to amend the period on UPR University System refunding bonds, Series P and Q, to the aforementioned date.

The 13th standstill agreement says that in consideration for extending the compliance period through and including Feb. 28, 2021, UPR will make the certain transfers to the Trustee, U.S. Bank, to hold or to make payments or distributions as required under the Trust Agreement, and the failure to make any such payment, if not rectified within one business day, shall result in a termination of the compliance period.

The payments are $10.8 million (the October through December 2020 payment) on or before Jan.

1, 2021; $7.2 million less a credit for any amount as of Feb. 19, 2021 in the Trustee’s Bond Service Account and Reserve Account that is, in the aggregate, in excess of $65.9 million or before Feb. 26, 2021 (the “January and February 2021 Execution Version Payment”), provided that the parties have executed a forbearance agreement that extends beyond March 31, 2021.

UPR or AAFAF will provide U.S. Bank with detailed plans and specifications for repairing, replacing or reconstructing UPR property that was damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Maria as those plans are approved by UPR. UPR will deposit all proceeds of casualty insurance policies or direct federal aid to repair damages in the university’s segregated accounts at a commercial bank to facilitate audits. After the February date, all repair funds in excess of $1 million shall be used pursuant to a written requisition stating the amount to be paid, the name of the person, firm, or corporation to whom payment is due, and the purpose for which the obligation is to be paid, and shall be signed by the finance director.

On or before the 15th calendar day of each month, UPR will submit the preceding month’s requisitions to U.S. Bank. On the 15th calendar day of each month UPR or AAFAF will provide, or cause

relevant agencies to provide, U.S. Bank with all project requests, progress or other reports provided to the Federal Emergency Management Agency or to any casualty insurance company with respect to the expenditure of repair funds during the preceding month, the agreement says.

PRFAA, Tampa team up to help Puerto Ricans residing in Florida

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

T

he Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration (PRFAA) office in Orlando, Fla. announced in conjunction with the authorities of the City of Tampa in Hillsborough County, Fla. a collaborative agreement that will enable the government to assist hundreds of citizens residing in one of the Florida cities and counties with the

highest Puerto Rican population.

“When our team had the opportunity to meet with the local authorities of Hillsborough County, we reiterated our commitment to working handin-hand with [them] to continue providing services to the Puerto Rican community in Florida,” said Jennifer M. Storipan, executive director of the PRFAA in Washington, D.C. “Today, with this announcement, we reiterate our commitment to helping Puerto Ricans living in Florida. We thank [Tampa] Mayor Jane Castor and her administration for their commitment to the Puerto Rican community and their partnership with PRFAA.” Anthony Carrillo, regional director of PRFAA’s Florida office, said that although the regional office is located in Orange County, they are committed to serving and continuing to expand services for the benefit of the 1.2 million Puerto Ricans who reside throughout the state of Florida.

Next Wednesday, Sept. 30, and on future dates, Puerto Ricans will be able to receive services and their vital documents by making an appointment today on the new PRFAA portal, www.prfaa.pr.gov/book, and choosing the “Services in the City of Tampa” section.

“We are pleased to be able to work with Mayor Castor and the authorities in Hillsborough County on events like this so that together we can continue to serve our community and provide direct services to citizens affected by the pandemic,” Carrillo said.

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The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, September 24, 2020

7

More than 200,000 dead of Coronavirus in United States

By JAMES BARRON

T

he calendar said fall arrived at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday. With it came the latest in the string of unimaginable numbers that tally the destruction from the coronavirus pandemic: The death toll from the virus in the United States passed 200,000.

That sad milestone was yet another reminder that more deaths have been reported in the United States than in any other country — 37% more than in Brazil and 76% more than in India, which rank second and third worldwide in reported deaths from the virus. More people in the United States have died than those who live in the mid-size American cities Tallahassee, Florida, or Huntington Beach, California. The national toll is nearly 2 1/2 times the number of U.S. service members who have died in battle in the Vietnam and Korean Wars, and with the nation’s coronavirus cases increasing again, the number of deaths will continue to rise.

Half of those making up the death toll in the United States have died in the 118 days since May 27, just after the Memorial Day holiday, when there were the typical crowds at the beaches and the usual backyard barbecues in some places, which worried officials in other parts of the country. Cases climbed in June and in July as hospitals in places that had been spared by the virus in the early months of the pandemic were suddenly inundated with patients. The nation’s seven-day average for new cases peaked at 66,781 on July 25. Then came August, with explosions of new virus outbreaks on college campuses, and the Labor Day weekend, when the virus spread in backyard gatherings, just as it had during the Memorial Day holiday. And concerns of a

surge in virus infections loom now as cooler weather pushes people together — dangerously — indoors and as the coming flu season may make it easier for the virus to spread unnoticed.

In March, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had projected in internal documents that the nation’s coronavirus deaths could reach 200,000 as a low range for a worst-case scenario.

One early estimate suggested that fewer than 500 people would die over the course of the pandemic. “More like 60,000,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, predicted in April. “Anywhere from 75,000, 80,000 to 100,000 people,” President Donald Trump said in May, three months after he had declared at a White House coronavirus task force briefing that the case count “within a couple of days is going to be down close to zero.”

The stubbornly high death toll in the United States is a troubling contrast to the reported numbers in other high-income countries. Italy, an early center of the pandemic, reported 17 deaths on Monday; Germany reported 10 deaths. In the United States on Monday, the death toll was 428.

On Tuesday, Trump and the Chinese leader, Xi Jingping, squared off in prerecorded speeches to the United Nations General Assembly. Trump blamed the “the invisible enemy — the China virus” for a catastrophe that has traumatized the world.

“We will distribute a vaccine,” he said. “We will defeat the virus, we will end the pandemic and we will enter a new era of unprecedented prosperity, cooperation and peace.”

Xi, anticipating Trump’s attack, described the virus as a worldwide challenge and said that China’s response had been

scientific and responsible. “Any attempt at politicizing or stigmatizing this issue must be rejected,” Xi said.

And President Vladimir Putin of Russia called the country’s coronavirus vaccine “safe, reliable and effective” and offered to give free shots to U.N. staff members.

His General Assembly speech was played as Russia reported a sharp rise in the number of new coronavirus cases, with Moscow the epicenter of a nationwide spike in infections.

Official figures released on Tuesday pointed to 6,215 new cases, the most in a single day since mid-July. Of those, 980 were reported in Moscow.

Flags near the Washington Monument in Washington, Sept.

22, 2020, honoring the over 200,000 lives lost so far in the United States during the coronavirus pandemic.

FDA to release stricter guidelines for emergency vaccine authorization

By NOAH WEILAND and SHARON LaFRANIERE

T

he Food and Drug Administration plans to soon issue stricter guidelines for the emergency authorization of any new coronavirus vaccine, adding a new layer of caution to the vetting process even as President Donald Trump continues to contradict his own scientific experts and promise that a vaccine will be available as early as next month.

The guidelines, which may be formally released as early as this week if approved by the White House, would lay out more specific criteria for clinical trial data and recommend that the data be vetted by a committee of independent experts before the FDA authorizes any vaccine, according to several people familiar with the draft.

The guidelines would be the most detailed description yet by the federal government about how the vaccine vetting process will proceed.

With the election just six weeks away, Trump has repeatedly promised that the nation’s problems will soon be solved with a vaccine, although no vaccine has yet been proven to work.

His own scientific experts continue to counter his statements, telling Congress that it will likely be the middle of next year, if

not later, before a vaccine is readily available to most Americans.

Drafted by a small group of career scientists at the FDA, the guidelines state that participants in late-stage trials should be tracked for a median of two months after receiving the final dose before an emergency authorization can be considered.

Three companies with vaccine candidates in Phase 3 trials — Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Moderna — all require two doses.

(AstraZeneca’s trial is now paused in the United States because of safety concerns.)

Vaccine regulators have been concerned that a vaccine may only induce short-term immunity. The two-month threshold would make it easier to predict whether a vaccine can produce long-term responses, one person familiar with the guidance said.

The draft guidelines also call for a more thorough safety follow-up with participants who would receive a vaccine under emergency authorization. The guidelines ask the sponsor — such as the drugmaker or Operation Warp Speed, the federal government’s crash vaccine program — to present such a plan.

They also call for at least five cases of severe infection in the placebo group of a vaccine trial, as a way to assess whether participants who do receive the vaccine are at lower risk for more complicated cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by

the coronavirus. Because approximately 10% of cases tend to be severe, this threshold of five would correspond to about 50 total cases of COVID-19 in the placebo group.

And the guidelines recommend standards for manufacturing and testing vaccines seeking emergency authorization, enabling the FDA to determine that a vaccine manufactured after an emergency approval will be as safe and effective as the materials tested in clinical trials.

The Washington Post first reported the upcoming guidance. Although the guidelines have already passed muster with the Department of Health and Human Services and been circulated to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, changes could still be made before their release. Guidelines of this type are routinely reviewed by the White House Office of Management and Budget.

The FDA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The agency’s vaccine advisory committee typically examines data in a public meeting before the agency grants approval, but the process is not mandatory. By setting out its expectations

Continues on page 8

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The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, September 24, 2020

NYC warns about rising virus cases in Hasidic neighborhoods

Orthodox Jews watching a Black Lives Matter protest in Brooklyn in June. City officials are worried about a recent uptick in Covid-19 cases in Hasidic communities.

By JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN

N

ew York City’s Health Department warned Tuesday evening that COVID-19 was spreading at increasing levels in several neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens, a worrisome indicator after a couple of months of declining or flat transmission.

City health officials said that they were especially concerned about a clear uptick in transmission among some of the city’s Hasidic communities, which were devastated by COVID-19 in the spring but had seen few cases in the summer.

Patrick Gallahue, a spokesman for the city’s Health Department, said, “We are concerned about how COVID may be affecting Orthodox communities — in these neighborhoods and beyond — and we will continue working with partners, providers and residents throughout the city to ensure that guidance is

followed, which is critical to suppressing the pandemic.”

One city health official estimated that about one-quarter of new COVID-19 cases in New York City appeared to be emanating from Orthodox Jewish communities, although the official acknowledged that at present the data was imperfect.

The data that alarmed public heath officials included the percentage of COVID-19 tests that were coming back positive. It had increased in recent weeks in several neighborhoods in Brooklyn — Williamsburg, Midwood, Borough Park and Bensonhurst — as well as Kew Gardens and Edgemere-Far Rockaway in Queens.

In the three South Brooklyn neighborhoods — Midwood, Borough Park and Bensonhurst — about 4.7% of COVID-19 tests were positive, which was far higher than in the rest of the city, according to the alert the Health

Department sent to reporters.

Across the entirety of the city, between 1% and 2% of tests have been positive most days in the past two months. The alert said the Health Department was regarding the COVID-19 cases in those three neighborhoods as a single cluster that it was calling the Ocean Parkway Cluster.

The actual increase in new cases has been noticeable, but modest, in recent weeks. For much of the past two months, the seven-day rolling average of new cases has hovered in the mid-200s. Recently, it began to climb toward an average of 300 new cases a day, reaching that on Sept. 14.

The rising case load is a particular cause for concern as it began weeks before the reopening of in-person learning at the city’s public schools and the pending reopening of indoor dining, both of which are expected to lead to an uptick in new cases.

The rising levels of transmission left public health officials in a quandary they have struggled with in recent years: how to gain trust within the city’s Hasidic neighborhoods and encourage cooperation with public health mandates.

In recent years, the Health Department has faced skepticism and sometimes defiance from the Hasidic community as public health officials responded to a measles outbreak and to sporadic herpes cases linked to a circumcision ritual.

And at the height of the pandemic, many Hasidic Jews in New York felt that the mayor had unfairly singled them out when he drew attention to social-distancing violations among mourners at the funeral of a prominent Hasidic rabbi.

It was clear this week that the public health authorities were again struggling with how to encourage — or enforce — maskwearing and social-distancing requirements in Hasidic neighborhoods, where many people are returning to communal life with few COVIDera precautions.

“This situation will require further action if noncompliance with safety precautions is

observed,” the Health Department alert sent Tuesday stated. The alert did not single out any particular group, only naming several neighborhoods with an elevated rate of transmission. “We are writing to provide an update on several COVID-19 signals in Brooklyn and Queens that are cause for significant concern,” the alert stated.

Few if any groups have been hit harder

by COVID-19 than New York City’s Hasidic communities, where large families and crowded living conditions are the norm, and communal life revolves around the synagogue.

By late April, roughly 700 members of New York City’s Hasidic community were believed to have been killed by the disease, and few families had been spared. But the illness subsequently seemed to have passed, and synagogues and yeshivas began to reopen. Many people did not bother with masks.

In some areas with significant Hasidic populations, more than 40% of people being tested were found to have antibodies, fueling speculation that herd immunity might not be far off.

But after the summer passed with few new cases, there has been a gradual increase in recent weeks. The Health Department’s alert comes amid the holidays of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, a time of prayer, reflection, and large gatherings.

Motti Seligson, a Chabad rabbi, said he had recently heard of a few cases in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, “but nothing that can be called a second wave.” He added, “The uptick is something that’s of concern to people in these communities.”

In interviews, several Hasidic men in different neighborhoods across Brooklyn said that few people wore masks at large gatherings, including those at synagogues. They noted that many families were taking careful precautions and still not fully rejoining communal life.

Rabbi Seligson said that some synagogues were holding more services to limit the number of people present at once and that some religious gatherings were being held outdoors.

FDA to release stricter guidelines for emergency vaccine authorization From page 7 in written guidance, the agency appears to be trying to reassure the American public and, some experts suggest, ward off possible political interference by the White House.

In June, the FDA said that a company would need to prove through randomized clinical trials that its vaccine was safe and at least 50% effective to qualify for approval. Dr. Stephen Hahn, the FDA commissioner, has publicly promised that any vaccine would be vetted by the advisory committee, but he

could be overruled by Alex Azar, the health secretary, or the White House.

The FDA’s effort to shore up its credibility follows multiple missteps. After the president touted the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, the agency gave the drug emergency authorization as a COVID-19

treatment, only to reverse the decision three months later because of lack of evidence of the benefits.

The CDC has also bent under political pressure, including delaying important scientific reports on COVID-19 after officials loyal to Trump objected to them.

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, September 24, 2020

9

When Joe Biden’s in town, but it’s hard to tell

By MARC LEIBOVICH

A

s in-person spectacles go, Joe Biden’s pandemic-era campaign appearances can resemble the pandemicera NFL — quiet, eerie and almost entirely fan-free.

There is scant physical evidence that the former vice president and Democratic nominee is in town. His visits are scarcely publicized beforehand, logistical details are closely held and his event venues serve as much as video studios as places of gathering. Barely anyone is allowed near the candidate.

“I had to call an editor friend of mine at The Tampa Tribune to find out where he’d be,” said Rita Fox, a supporter of Biden’s from St. Petersburg, Florida. She stood across the street from Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and near an entrance to Hillsborough Community College, where Biden was holding a veterans roundtable event last week before about a dozen sanitized and socially distanced guests in a gymnasium whose bleachers remained folded up against the walls. No pull-asides, touching of the candidate or photos were permitted.

These measures are taken to ensure maximum protection against the coronavirus, Biden’s campaign said. The productions also serve a strategic voter-outreach purpose, as they will typically draw significant local news coverage and be viewed online by tens of thousands of voters. And they comport with the general philosophy of a campaign that has ceased nearly all traditional means of in-person outreach, including doorknocking, mass distribution of signs and big rallies.

As Biden has resumed campaigning in key battlegrounds, his visits have acquired a distinctly stealthy quality. This can be jarring for a candidate whose zeal for face-to-face campaigning, wading into crowds and lingering on rope lines is well known.

“There is no more of a shake-your-hand, pat-you-on-theback kind of guy than Joe Biden,” said Rick Bloomingdale, the president of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, who joined Biden during a Labor Day visit to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. “This has to be killing him.”

Biden is campaigning on the point that his dedication to staying away from his supporters is proof he cares about them — and that President Donald Trump’s insistence on holding rallies shows he cares only about himself. “The folks who come are packed in tight as they can be, risking disease, mostly without masks,” Biden said of Trump’s rallies during an appearance of his own on Monday at an aluminum manufacturing facility in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. “But not Trump. He safely keeps his distance.”

Still, Biden’s minimal footprint on the ground tends to stoke anxiety among Democrats that their vehicle for defeating the president has a deficit in effort and enthusiasm, especially compared with an opponent whose big-splash approach (boat flotillas, fully resumed campaign events) is anything but reluctant.

The most obvious source of fanfare that greeted Biden’s first stop in Florida last week was from a loud cluster of about

Supporters of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden outside a roundtable-style discussion campaign appearance at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Sept. 15, 2020.

50 Trump supporters who had gathered along Tampa Bay Boulevard. They outnumbered Biden’s supporters by about 2-1 and easily outshouted them, mostly without the encumbrance of masks.

Like their candidate, members of Trump’s contingent were quick to equate their loud presence with a broad appeal for the president — something they say the “fake news” media and nearly all pollsters will either ignore, miss or lie about.

They also readily denigrated the “sleepy” demonstration down the block on behalf of Biden — or “Hidin’ Biden,” as one sign derided him.

In contrast, Biden’s supporters said they felt little need to announce themselves too aggressively and welcomed the Democratic nominee’s lower-key presence. “I like that he’s sleepy,” Fox said. “It would be nice to have a president that allows me to sleep at night.”

Little about this campaign has felt normal for anyone — for candidates, staff members, entourages or voters. But the contrast can be especially acute in the case of Biden, a once-dynamic stump campaigner who has always played off the energy of his crowds during his five decades in politics.

His relish for in-person exchanges is well established, as is his knack for working rooms.

That has been virtually impossible to replicate from the tightly restricted bubble that cloisters the 77-year-old nominee.

As the Democrats’ instrument ofTrump’s removal, Biden is being treated as precious cargo — which itself can be disorienting.

“I’m a tactile politician,” Biden said last month upon announcing that he would be making a limited return to the trail after spending several months tethered mostly to his Delaware home. “I really miss being able to, you know, grab hands, shake hands. You can’t do that now.”

These are complicated times for a tactile politician. Bi-

den, the habitual backslapper, glad-hander and enthusiastic hugger — whose campaign nearly imploded last year after several women accused him of “inappropriate touching” — might now be the most conspicuous practitioner of social distancing in America.

The Biden campaign says its pronounced concern for social distancing is geared mainly toward public safety.

“When we think about how we’re going to put together an event, the overarching concern is, How do we do this in a way that ensures we’re not posing a danger to the community?” said Kate Bedingfield, a deputy campaign manager. She added that, even in a traditional election year, a campaign would reach more voters through local news coverage of a visit than through people who laid eyes on the candidate in person.

Critics of Biden’s hyper-cautious approach have suggested that he can go too far at times, that some of his measures reek of showing off. Even after Milwaukee — the largest city in the swing state of Wisconsin — invested vast time and resources into the Democratic National Convention last month, the campaign declined to send Biden’s running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, to the state for even a quick courtesy appearance, despite the fact that the Democratic National Committee still maintained a scaled-back presence in the city. (“We determined this wasn’t a time to bring her to the state without creating an unsafe environment on the ground,” Bedingfield said.)

On Thursday night, Biden hosted a CNN town hall event in Pennsylvania in which voters were spread out in their cars, as if they were viewing a drive-in movie — a display that Trump promptly ridiculed at a rally that night in Wisconsin.

“They’ve got cars, like cars that are parking,” Trump said. “It’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. And CNN is going, ‘Oh, this is so beautiful, they have cars in a parking lot.’ What a deal.”

Even so, nearly every Biden supporter interviewed for this article endorsed this approach.

“We don’t have to come out in big loud mobs to prove our enthusiasm,” said Dave Finnegan of Celebration, Florida, who was standing in front of a 7-Eleven in Kissimmee, hoping to catch a glimpse of Biden’s motorcade as he arrived for a Hispanic Heritage Month event last Tuesday evening.

Finnegan, 78, held up a “Trump Lied, 200,000 Died” sign and said his primary beef with the president was over his handling of the coronavirus — particularly what he and others called Trump’s “superspreader events.”

Like other Biden supporters, Finnegan raised the example of Herman Cain, the pizza magnate, former Republican presidential candidate and supporter of Trump’s, who attended a rally for the president in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in June. Cain tested positive for the virus soon after the rally and died from its complications on July 30. (It remains unknown where Cain was infected; the editor of his website said he had done “a lot of traveling” before falling ill.)

“He clearly has no respect for the safety of his followers,” Finnegan said of the president. “He gets them all together where they can get sick while he’s standing up there 40 feet away from everyone. He just doesn’t care.”

10

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, September 24, 2020

Justice is honored as pioneer of women’s rights in first day of ceremonies

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

J

ustice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was honored Wednesday as a pioneer of women’s rights who brought the nation closer to its vision of equal justice through a storied career as a lawyer and on the bench.

In a short, simple and modest ceremony in keeping with her own reputation for humility, Ginsburg’s family and fellow members of the Supreme Court paid their respects in the Great Hall of the building where she served for 27 years. Her coffin was then brought outside, where she will lie in repose as Americans bid farewell over the next two days.

“Justice Ginsburg’s life was one of the many versions of the American dream,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said during the ceremony inside the building. “Her father was an immigrant from Odessa. Her mother was born four months after her family arrived from Poland. Her mother later worked as a bookkeeper in Brooklyn. Ruth used to ask what is the difference in a bookkeeper in Brooklyn and a Supreme Court justice. Her answer: one generation.”

The chief justice, who was the only one to speak other than Rabbi Lauren Holtzblatt, recalled that Ginsburg wanted to be an opera singer but pursued law only to find herself the subject of discrimination because of her sex at law school and in the workforce. She went on to become perhaps the country’s leading advocate fighting that discrimination.

“She was not an opera star, but she found her stage right behind me in our courtroom,” Roberts said. “There, she won famous victories that helped move our nation closer to equal justice under law, to the extent that women are now a majority in law schools, not simply a handful. Later, she became a star on the bench.”

He said her 483 opinions — majority, concurring and dissenting — would “steer the court for decades” to come.

“They are written with the unaffected grace of precision,” he said. “Her voice in court and in our conference room was soft, but when she spoke, people listened.”

The chief justice was joined by the other seven current members of the court, seated in order of seniority, as well as Anthony M. Kennedy, the retired justice, and several of their spouses, all wearing face masks and sitting apart in keeping with social-distancing guidelines because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The ceremony lasted 18 minutes from the time the coffin was brought into the hall

by Supreme Court police officers serving as

A 2016 portrait of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg by artist Constance P. Beaty pallbearers. Ginsburg’s former clerks lined the steps of the court building before the ceremony and as the coffin was placed on the portico while visitors paying their respects filed past at the bottom of the stairs.

— PETER BAKER Prominent Republicans and Democrats, including the Clintons, pay their respects.

Prominent politicians from both parties took turns climbing the steps of the Supreme Court on Wednesday afternoon to pay their respects to Ginsburg, including former President Bill Clinton, who nominated her, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The Clintons stood solemnly beside Ginsburg’s coffin, and Bill Clinton’s office issued a statement honoring her as mourners crowded around the court to commemorate her loss.

“With the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, America has lost one of the most extraordinary justices ever to serve on the Supreme Court,” the statement said. “She was a magnificent judge and a wonderful person — a brilliant lawyer with a caring heart, common sense, fierce devotion to fairness and equality, and boundless courage in the face of her own adversity.”

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, one of only two members of her party to oppose the push to quickly confirm a replacement for Ginsburg just weeks before the presidential election, crossed the street from the Capitol to mourn her as well.

“It was a very moving experience,” Collins said afterward. “Although I obviously didn’t agree with all of her decisions, I admired her principled approach to every issue.

This loss is personal as well as professional.”

A parade of Democratic lawmakers also went by to pay their respects Wednesday, including Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York,

the minority leader; Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts; Chris Coons of Delaware and Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, as well as Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. Schumer and Sanders are both alumni of James Madison High School in Brooklyn, which Ginsburg also attended.

“She was obviously an incredibly brave and brilliant woman, and she has made a mark on history,” Sanders said. “She will not be forgotten.”

— LUKE BROADWATER and AISHVARYA KAVI Hundreds of mourners gather outside the court as the public says goodbye.

Hundreds of mourners, some of whom had traveled great distances, lined the street outside the Supreme Court to say goodbye to Ginsburg.

The wait for some visitors lasted hours, and each had their own story about the impact the justice had made on his or her life.

For Carolyn Curry Tallman, 51, who wore a mask emblazoned with Ginsburg’s face, and her friend Renee Bobbitt, 43, the justice represented a trailblazer who not only made their own careers possible but also paved a future for their daughters.

“We’re both mothers to daughters,” Curry Tallman said. “We’re here for them.”

The friends, from Merritt Island, Florida, had been lamenting the loss of Ginsburg on Tuesday when they decided to fly to Washington to honor her and booked an evening flight.

“We’re here for the history we wanted to witness,” said Curry Tallman, a compliance officer at an investment bank. “I’ve had an almost 30-year career in Wall Street, and I don’t think I would have had six months without her; I would never have gotten my foot in the door.”

For Lara Gambony, 52, and Kathleen Dungan, 57, honoring Ginsburg was a tribute to their mothers.

“It’s not only for ourselves but for my mother’s generation,” Gambony said, holding an American flag and choking back tears.

“She forced the courts to see us as human, and that we had brains and we deserve our full rights.”

The two friends drove from Grayslake, Illinois, to be at the Supreme Court early Wednesday.

“She really has helped bring women along. She’s a hero,” Dungan said. “We came out of respect and love for Ruth Bader Ginsburg. This is still our country.”

Tonya Wells, 51, in a mask with an ima-

ge of the justice, flew from Grosse Pointe, Michigan, with her daughter Tuesday night to pay their respects. Choking up, Wells said that the justice’s death had prompted her own self-reflection about how to honor her legacy and spurred her to volunteer more with former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.

“I just felt the sense that I was compelled to be here,” she said. “R.B.G. is just such a representation of goodness and justice and a person who was willing to give her entire life to making things better for people.”

Her daughter Katherine Nottmeier, 17, chimed in that as a young woman, she was fearful of a Supreme Court without Ginsburg.

“It’s definitely scary,” she said. “I feel like my rights could be taken away at any point.”

— LUKE BROADWATER, HAILEY FUCHS and AISHVARYA KAVI Spotted in the crowd: R.B.G.’s littlest fans.

Among the crowd of mourners lined up outside the Supreme Court were some of Ginsburg’s littlest fans.

Lucille Wilson, 3, of Chesapeake Beach, Maryland, could barely walk 10 steps without someone asking for a photograph of her dressed in black as the legal titan.

“We have a book called ‘I Dissent’ that she likes to read,” said Lucille’s mother, Meghann Wilson, 38. “All day she keeps saying, ‘I look just like Ruth in the book.’”

After Ginsburg’s death, Wilson said, “my daughter’s future is in the forefront of our minds.”

“You always want more for your children than you had, right? So I want my daughter to be able to do more and achieve more,” Wilson added.

Not far away in line was Cristina DiPiazza, 38, a social worker who drove from Pittsburgh with her daughter, Frankie Frezzell, 2, who was also dressed up as the justice.

Frankie was Ginsburg for Halloween last year, a costume that DiPiazza said she chose to instill in her powerful female role models.

Although her daughter might not remember the day, DiPiazza said she planned to take photographs so that she could ask questions about the trip.

To DiPiazza, Ginsburg represented intelligence and femininity — and “not letting the world hold those things against her.”

“Those are things that are important for me for my daughter,” she said.

— LUKE BROADWATER, HAILEY FUCHS and AISHVARYA KAVI

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, September 24, 2020

11

9 Of very 10 restaurants and bars in NYC can’t pay full rent

By MIHIR ZAVERI and DANIEL E. SLOTNIK

N

omad, a North African and Mediterranean restaurant in the East Village, shut down in March after the pandemic engulfed New York City, leaving its owner unable to pay the full $11,500 rent for months.

After opening for outdoor dining in June, the owner, Mehenni Zebentout, has struggled to pay 70 to 80% of the rent. He had to cut his staff from nine full-time employees to four part-time workers. And his landlord still wants Zebentout to pay what he owes from the spring.

“We’re just hoping for some miracle,’’ he said. “I believe, according to my experience, two out of three restaurants will close

by December, and I’ll be one of them if there’s no help from the city or the government.”

Even after the opening of outdoor dining, which was meant to provide a boost to the city’s roughly 25,000 restaurants and bars, many are still in financial free fall and closing for good.

The ongoing travails of the industry were underscored by a survey released this week by the New York City Hospitality Alliance, which found that nearly 9 out of every 10 dining establishments had not paid full rent in August and that about one-third had not paid any rent.

Even as the city prepares to allow indoor dining at 25% capacity on Sept. 30, that may not be enough to reverse the steep economic slide of one of the city’s key industries. With the lack of tourists and office workers, many restaurants, particularly in Manhattan, are on the brink of collapse, posing a big obstacle to New York’s recovery.

The 87% of restaurants that said they had not paid their entire August rent was an increase from the 80% that reported not paying all of their June rent. The survey was based on responses from 450 of the 2,500 businesses that make up the alliance’s membership.

The resumption of indoor dining at reduced capacity will allow restaurants to welcome more diners, but some owners said that would not be enough to offset the loss of outdoor dining because of cold weather or the end of the city-permitted program on Oct. 31.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday that there would be an announcement about the program in the coming days, although it was unclear if that meant an extension. “What makes sense?” he said to reporters. “What doesn’t make sense? How will that work?”

City Hall officials declined to provide any more details.

Among other issues, regulations limit the types of heating devices that can be used to keep outdoor spaces warm.

The city should allow restaurants to use portable propane heaters, which are banned, said Andrew Rigie, the executive director of the hospitality alliance. He said heaters hooked up to natural gas lines were permitted but were expensive to install and required special permits.

Jack Sterne, a spokesman for Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, said that a moratorium on evictions, which was recently extended until Oct. 20, had helped some businesses stay afloat. He said the state had also allowed bars to sell cocktails for takeout and delivery.

But he said a “data-driven reopening strategy” in allowing

Josep9. Diners outside a restaurant in New York, Sept. 9, 2020. A survey conducted by an industry group found that nearly 90 percent of restaurants, bars and nightclubs could not pay the full August rent, despite opening for outdoor dining. restaurants to increase capacity was necessary to keep infection rates low.

“This pandemic isn’t over, and everyone is trying to avoid a potential second wave that would force businesses to close down again,” he said.

Rigie cited several reasons that restaurants were still facing persistent financial difficulties.

Socially distanced outdoor dining brings in only a fraction of what a restaurant’s typical income might be, and many establishments were already having a hard time making a profit. Many restaurants are still trying to pay rent owed from the months when they were shut down, making it even harder to cover rent in more recent months.

Federal aid through the Paycheck Protection Program, which was meant to help preserve workers’ jobs, offset some costs, but that has mostly run out. The inability of restaurants to pay rent has also dealt a severe blow to many smaller landlords, who have their own bills to pay.

“This commercial rent crisis is not going anywhere, and it’s continuing to get worse, and we need to deal with it in a thoughtful way,” Rigie said. “Otherwise, we are going to see more defaults throughout the system and more loss of our beloved restaurants and bars and fewer jobs and opportunities for New Yorkers.”

Andrew Schnipper, who owned four Schnipper’s restaurants in New York City before the start of the pandemic, said that he had

since slashed his workforce from about 100 employees to a dozen and closed two of his four locations, one of them permanently.

He said that he was fortunate because Schnipper’s had a robust takeout and delivery business before the pandemic and because he had received money through a government relief loan that helped him stay afloat.

Even so, his business has been down about 85%, and he now owes more than $250,000 in back rent for each of his two open locations. (One of those locations is on the ground floor of the New York Times building on Eighth Avenue; the other is farther east in midtown Manhattan).

Schnipper said that he was negotiating with the landlords at both locations.

“They seem like they’re willing to give us a break on the rent, but at the moment we don’t have an agreement that we believe realistically allows us to survive,” he said.

Schnipper said that restaurants would “go out of business in droves” without rent help from the city and state. He said that he thought reopening for indoor dining at 25% capacity would do little to address his shortfall, because midtown Manhattan remained largely deserted.

“We won’t recover until there’s a vaccine, in my opinion,” Schnipper said, adding that “New York City’s going to take a while to cycle back up, and there needs to be some understanding — it’s going to be an uphill battle.”

12

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, September 24, 2020

Uber and Lyft could gain from U.S. rule defining employment

By NOAM SCHEIBER

T

he Labor Department on Tuesday announced a proposal that could deem millions of janitors, construction workers and gig workers to be contractors rather than employees, its most ambitious step toward blessing the business practices of companies like Uber and Lyft.

Unlike employers, companies that rely on contractors don’t have to pay a minimum wage, overtime or a share of Social Security taxes, or contribute to unemployment insurance and provide workers’ compensation insurance.

The proposal is a so-called interpretive rule, not a regulation that has the force of law.

But it could have significant influence were it to be finalized.

It would technically cover only laws that the Labor Department enforced, like the federal minimum wage and overtime rules. States and other federal agencies, like the Internal Revenue Service, would be free to make their own determinations, as California has done in a recently enacted law that effectively requires companies like Uber and Lyft to classify their workers as employees.

But employers tend to follow the department’s guidance, and the determination could have influence in other contexts and jurisdictions.

Findings of employment status typically depend on a variety of factors. But in its proposed rule, the department said two would loom over all others: the extent to which a company controls how a worker performs a job; and the opportunity that a worker has to profit in the job based on initiative, rather than simply earning a steady wage.

The department said other factors could serve as additional “guideposts,” especially if the first two pointed in opposite directions. The additional factors include how much skill the work requires, and whether the relationship between the worker and the company is permanent or temporary.

“The department’s proposal aims to bring clarity and consistency to the determination of who’s an independent contractor,” Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia said in a statement.

Scalia added that the rule, put forward by the department’s wage and hour division, would make it easier to identify bona fide employees “while respecting the decision other workers make to pursue the freedom and entrepreneurialism associated with being an independent contractor.”

Critics argued that the department was

A traveler walks towards an Uber pick-up at Los Angeles International Airport on Aug. 20, 2020. The Labor Department on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, announced a proposal that could deem millions of janitors, construction workers and gig workers to be contractors rather than employees, its most ambitious step toward blessing the business practices of companies like Uber and Lyft. making it more difficult to deem a worker to be an employee rather than simply clarifying the criteria.

“It’s certainly a narrowing of the test,” said Catherine Ruckelshaus, general counsel of the National Employment Law Project, a worker advocacy group. “Employers know the rules.

Workers know the rules. Employers just don’t like where the lines are between employee and independent contractor. There really isn’t very much confusion.”

The Labor Department had already taken steps down the path of deeming gig workers to be employees. Not long after President Donald Trump took office, the department rescinded guidance adopted under the Obama administration suggesting that gig workers like Uber and Lyft drivers met the criteria for employment status.

Last year, the department issued a socalled opinion letter advising an unnamed gig economy company whose workers clean residences that it considered them to be contractors rather than employees.

While such letters directly apply only to the companies that seek them, other companies tend to read them closely for guidance about the department’s enforcement approach. Experts noted at the time that the letter appeared to be written broadly, somewhat in the vein of a policy pronouncement rather than merely advi-

ce to a specific company.

David Weil, who ran the wage and hour division under the Obama administration and is now dean of the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, said the rule proposed Tuesday was deeply flawed in elevating two factors in its analysis.

“As articulated by Congress, and by many, many different courts, it is a multifactor test where no one factor predominates,” Weil said. “It is legally incorrect to say we’re going to cherry pick our two favorites. It’s not how it works.”

In a call with reporters, senior department officials said the proposal would be published in the Federal Register this week or early next week, at which point the public would have 30 days to comment. The department has allowed longer comment periods for ambitious proposals in the past. One official said the department hoped to finalize the proposal before the end of the year.

Weil warned, however, that because the rule departed from the underlying law that defines who is an employee, it was vulnerable to being struck down by courts. A federal court recently struck down most of a similar Labor Department rule specifying when a worker can be considered an employee of two companies simultaneously, such as a fast-food franchise and its parent company.

While the proposed rule could affect workers in across a variety of industries, from construction to home care, the impact may be most evident in the gig economy, where a vigorous debate over workers’ employment status is playing out.

Prominent gig companies are backing a measure on the November ballot that would exempt their workers from California’s new employment law, known as Assembly Bill 5. Uber and Lyft told prospective investors in filings that treating drivers as employees would force them to rethink their business model.

Some industry officials have estimated that classifying workers as employees — and therefore covering their expenses, paying them a minimum wage and overtime, and contributing to workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance — could raise labor costs 20 to 30%.

In the call with reporters on Tuesday, a senior Labor Department official said that the proposed federal rule “sharpens” the analysis laid out in the earlier opinion letter. The proposal echoes the letter’s pronouncement that the test for classifying workers should encourage certain “innovative work arrangements” pioneered by the gig economy.

Among them is “multi-apping,” in which a worker logs into two or more gig apps at the same time and picks the most lucrative job.

Both documents also suggest that gig companies do not exercise sufficient control over workers to constitute an employment relationship, and emphasize that the companies’ main business tends to be operating a digital platform, not providing a service like transportation or housecleaning. Gig companies like Uber have made similar claims about their business, but these arguments have generally not gotten much traction in court.

“Uber appreciates the department’s focus on independent workers and is reviewing the proposed rule,” a company spokesman said. “Unlike AB 5, which would eliminate work for hundreds of thousands of people, this rule recognizes that the majority of workers on platforms like Uber want to stay independent.”

Critics have said the department’s logic is flawed, noting that while gig workers have some flexibility in when and how long to work, many gig companies enforce certain performance standards through their ratings systems.

These critics have also argued that it defies logic to conclude that the service a customer pays for, such as transportation in Uber’s case, is not central to the company’s business.

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, September 24, 2020

13 Stocks

Wall Street retreats as business activity slows

W

all Street’s main indexes fell on Wednesday as data showing a slowdown in domestic business activity and a stalemate in Congress over more fiscal stimulus raised fears of a choppy economic recovery from a pandemic-driven recession.

Ten of the 11 major S&P indexes were down, with energy .SPNY - already the worst performing sector this year - leading declines.

Hopes of a stable economic rebound and historic stimulus drove a rally in U.S. stocks since a coronavirus-driven crash in March, but doubts over the next coronavirus relief bill and a selloff in heavyweight technology-related stocks have weighed on sentiment this month.

With Congress at an impasse over the bill, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday the central bank was not planning any “major” changes to its Main Street Lending Program.

“The longer we go without more stimulus, the harder it will be to sustain the gains in the economy,” said Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at Baird in Milwaukee.

Data from IHS Markit showed gains at factories were offset by a slowdown in the broader services sector this month, suggesting a loss of momentum in the economy at a time when concerns are rising about a potential surge in COVID-19 cases heading into the colder months.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Justice Department unveiled a legislative proposal that seeks to reform a legal immunity for internet companies and follows through on President Donald Trump’s bid from earlier this year to crack down on tech giants.

Wall Street favorites including Facebook Inc FB.O, Apple Inc AAPL.O, Google-parent Alphabet Inc GOOGL.L and Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O, which have borne the brunt of recent losses, were down between 0.3% and 2.3% in early afternoon trading.

Tesla Inc TSLA.O, another Wall Street darling this year, tumbled 8.2% after Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk failed to impress with his promise to cut electric vehicle costs at the much awaited “Battery Day” event on Tuesday.

At 12:56 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was down 0.26%, the S&P 500 .SPX was down 0.59% and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was down 1.04%.

An index of value-linked stocks .IVX such as industrials outperformed growth-oriented sectors .IGX, suggesting “investors (are) getting comfortable with the belief that the turnaround story is underway for the economy,” said Lindsey Bell, chief investment strategist at Ally Invest in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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14

Thursday, September 24, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

Trump demands U.N. hold China to account for Coronavirus pandemic

In his prerecorded speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, President Trump called China the source of spreading the coronavirus.

By RICK GLADSTONE

P

resident Donald Trump assailed China as the coronavirus villain Tuesday in a strongly worded United Nations speech, extolling his own actions in the pandemic and demanding that the global organization hold accountable “the nation which unleashed this plague onto the world.”

Trump’s speech — made via prerecorded video to a General Assembly that was drastically curtailed because of the pandemic — was followed by a recorded speech from President Xi Jinping of China, who called the coronavirus a crisis shared by everyone. Offering no hint of contrition, Xi portrayed his nation of 1.4 billion people as having acted responsibly to combat COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.

“Any attempt of politicizing the issue or stigmatization must be rejected,” Xi said.

Taken together, the speeches by the American and Chinese presidents, broadcast from the world’s biggest diplomatic forum, punctuated the growing schism between the two superpowers during Trump’s first term, which has raised alarms about a new cold war.

“Each of these leaders sees flexibility as weakness, and the ability to make concessions is the essence of diplomacy,” said Orville Schell, director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society. “So they’re at continued loggerheads.

It’s a very alarming downward spiral.”

That such a standoff would be on public display at the United Nations, Schell said, “makes the U.N. more or less irrelevant, and that’s alarming, too — we’ve fallen out of the

framework of engagement, where we had some ways to mediate our differences.”

With just weeks before the presidential election, Trump also used his speech to highlight what he sees as his foreignpolicy achievements: isolating Iran, moving to withdraw forces from Afghanistan and orchestrating normalized ties between Israel and two Persian Gulf Arab countries. But his attempt to shift the blame to China for the coronavirus pandemic — and away from what critics call his own inept response — was a dominant theme in the speech.

“We have waged a fierce battle against the invisible enemy — the China virus,” Trump said. He spoke of U.S. advances in lifesaving treatments, predicted success in finalizing and distributing vaccines and asserted: “We will end the pandemic, and we will enter a new era of unprecedented prosperity, cooperation and peace.”

Trump did not mention that the United States has far more confirmed cases than any other country, nearly 7 million, and far more deaths, more than 200,000.

He reiterated his contention that the Chinese deliberately hid what they knew about the virus after it had been first detected in the central city of Wuhan last year, allowing it to spread.

He also repeated his accusation that the World Health Organization, an arm of the United Nations, is controlled by Beijing and abetted its early inaction, which China and the WHO have denied. Trump has withdrawn the United States from the WHO, a move that comes into effect in July of next year.

“The United Nations must hold China accountable for their actions,” he said.

Xi, by contrast, described China as a benevolent power that does not wish ill on anyone, without mentioning China’s expansionist behavior in the South China Sea, mass detentions in Xinjiang, political repression in Hong Kong and warnings to Taiwan, the self-governing island that China’s ruling Communist Party regards as Chinese territory.

“COVID-19 reminds us that we are living in an interconnected global village with a common stake,” Xi said. “No country can gain from others’ difficulties or maintain stability by taking advantage of others’ troubles.”

In a swipe at Trump’s go-it-alone approach to international diplomacy and trade, Xi said: “Burying one’s head in the sand like an ostrich in the face of economic globalization or trying to fight it with Don Quixote’s lance goes against the trend of history.”

The U.S.-China divide quickly emerged as a dominant theme at this year’s General Assembly session, which itself is a victim of the coronavirus pandemic. For the first time in the 75-year history of the United Nations, no leader attended the session this year; they sent their speeches via prerecorded video instead.

The delegation of each of the 193 member states was limited to one or two people, spaced far apart and wearing masks in the General Assembly hall, which normally would be teeming with dignitaries. Most of the side meetings, unofficial person-to-person diplomacy and spontaneity that ordinarily color such events are not happening this year.

The contrived feel of this year’s meeting has come against a backdrop of cascading crises of regional conflict, climate change, widening poverty and hunger, all amplified by the coronavirus, exposing what critics have called chronic weaknesses in the United Nations.

Despite the best intentions of Secretary-General António Guterres, the organization’s basic inability to orchestrate an effective, global response to the pandemic has been on full display for months. His call for a cease-fire in the wars that have ravaged Yemen, Syria and Libya, first made in March, has gone largely unheeded, and in his own speech Tuesday he expressed hope for one by year’s end.

“Our world is struggling, stressed and seeking real leadership and action,” Guterres said. “We face a foundational moment. Those who built the United Nations 75 years ago had lived through a pandemic, a global depression, genocide and world war. They knew the cost of discord and the value of unity.”

Now, he said, “we face our own 1945 moment.”

Guterres also seemed especially mindful of threats to the United Nations posed by the rift between the United States and China, the two biggest funders of the organization.

“We are moving in a very dangerous direction,” he said.

“Our world cannot afford a future where the two largest economies split the globe in a Great Fracture — each with its own trade and financial rules and internet and artificial intelligence capacities.”

Such a divide, he said, “risks inevitably turning into a geostrategic and military divide. We must avoid this at all costs.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, September 24, 2020

China, in pointed message to U.S., tightens its climate targets

By SOMINI SENGUPTA

P

resident Xi Jinping of China pledged Tuesday that his country would adopt much stronger climate targets and achieve what he called “carbon neutrality before 2060.” If realized, the pledges would be crucial in the global fight against climate change.

The announcement, made at the annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, is significant because China is currently the top producer of greenhouse gas emissions. What the country does to curb its emissions, therefore, is crucial to slowing down global warming on the whole.

Todd Stern, the chief U.S. negotiator at talks for the 2015 Paris Agreement, called the carbon neutrality target “big and important news.”

“The closer to 2050 the better,” Stern said.

The timing of the announcement was equally notable, coming so close to U.S. elections in which climate change has become increasingly important to voters.

President Donald Trump has pulled the United States out of an international agreement aimed at slowing down climate change. His challenger, Joe Biden, has pledged to rejoin the accord and promised to spend $2 trillion to slash emissions and address the effects of climate change.

“It demonstrates Xi’s consistent interest in leveraging the climate agenda for geopolitical purposes,” said Li Shuo, a China analyst for Greenpeace.

In his speech, Xi called on countries to “achieve a green recovery of the world economy in the post-COVID era.”

“Humankind can no longer afford to ignore the repeated warnings of nature and go down the beaten path of extracting resources without investing in conservation, pursuing development at the expense of protection, and exploiting resources without restoration,” Xi said.

Not only was that a sharp counterpoint to the Trump administration’s expansive rollbacks of environmental protections but also was a way to deflect criticism of China’s own handling of the coronavirus epidemic.

“The contrast between Xi’s speech and Trump’s speech is stark,” said Joanna Lewis, a Georgetown University professor who follows China’s climate policies. “While Trump’s speech blames China for the world’s problems, Xi’s speech calls for global response and highlights

President Xi Jinping of China addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York via video on Tuesday.

China’s contributions.”

But his remarks were less than precise on how and how quickly China would ratchet up its climate policies.

First, while Xi said China would peak its emissions of greenhouse gases “before 2030,” he did not specify how soon. In the past, China had said its peak emissions would come “around” 2030, after which its total emissions would begin to decline. China is on track to reach peak emissions within the next decade.

Second, by saying China would aim to achieve carbon neutrality before 2060, Xi left vague exactly when that key threshold would be reached. There is scientific consensus that the world must reach carbon neutrality, sometimes referred to as net-zero emissions, by 2050 in order to have a reasonable chance of averting the worst climate hazards.

“This announcement therefore buys China some time,” Lewis said, “since the results of the U.S. presidential election are certainly one factor China is considering as it finalizes its climate plan.”

China is the world’s largest consumer of coal, even as it dominates clean energy technology, producing more solar panels and wind turbines than any country in the world. It is also the world’s largest manufacturer of electric cars and buses. Whether and how China transitions away from fossil fuels to renewable energy could become clearer when it issues its next five-year economic plan, which will guide the country’s economic trajectory from 2021 through 2025.

Climate change stands to affect the supply of food and water in China, while sea level rise threatens densely populated industrial cities along the country’s coast. Average temperatures have risen faster in China than the global average between 1951 and 2017.

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Thursday, September 24, 2020

A somber Boris Johnson offers Britain a new plan to halt the virus

By MARK LANDLER and STEPHEN CASTLE

P

rime Minister Boris Johnson has always looked for the silver lining in Britain’s response to the pandemic. Last spring, he promised to “send coronavirus packing” in 12 weeks. In the summer, he cajoled people to return to their offices and restaurants, even offering to subsidize their meals.

On Tuesday, however, an uncharacteristically somber Johnson offered no sweeteners as he announced a raft of new restrictions on British society to try to keep the second wave of infections now hitting the country from getting far worse through the fall and winter.

Pubs and restaurants will close at 10 p.m., people are now urged to work from home and fines on those who break the rules on the size of gatherings or wearing face masks will be doubled to 200 pounds ($255) for first-time offenders. The restrictions, he said, could stay in place for the next six months.

“We always knew that while we might have driven the virus into retreat, the prospect of a second wave was real,” Johnson said to a socially distanced chamber in the House of Commons. “I’m sorry to say that, as in Spain

People at Oxford Circus in London, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020. Fighting a second wave of infections that scientists warn could grow exponentially, the Prime Minister Boris Johnson is imposing new restrictions and penalties for up to six months.

and France and many other countries, we’ve reached a perilous turning point.”

Britain reported nearly 5,000 cases on Tuesday — the highest figure since early May, and more than eight times the daily average in early July — with a rate of hospitalization that is doubling every seven to eight days.

While the daily death toll and the number of hospitalized coronavirus patients are still quite low, the government’s scientific and medical advisers said that, unchecked, the virus could spread exponentially, to 50,000 new cases a day by next month and 200 deaths a day by November.

For Johnson, that grim arithmetic has forced him to reverse course on upbeat initiatives, like restoring spectators to sports events, getting workers to fill up empty office towers, or reviving the restaurant and bar trade.

But unlike previous reversals, Johnson’s latest pirouette drew little criticism.

The pitched debate among scientists and politicians about how best to handle the pandemic has been largely settled in Britain. People on both sides generally agree that the best course is one that tries to curb the spread of the virus through social-distancing measures while at the same time aiming for a degree of normalcy, with schools, shops and even pubs open, though with an earlier curfew.

Johnson, desperate to avoid a return to full lockdown, cast these moves as a “stitch in time to save nine” — a well-timed, targeted effort that would avert more blunt-force restrictions down the road. It was a rather modest slogan for a swaggering politician who once promised the public that Britain would “squash the sombrero” by imposing a strict lockdown that would suppress the bulge in cases in the first wave of the pandemic in March.

Britain did avoid the deluge of patients that left Italy’s hospitals in near collapse. But it still ran up the largest death toll of any country in Europe, delayed in taking preventive steps, failed to organize an effective testing and contact tracing program, and sowed confusion with its public messages, which experts said hampered acceptance of simple measures like wearing face masks.

“To be fair, the government has moved,” said Devi Sridhar, director of the global health governance program at the University of Edinburgh. “But the messaging has been really poor. ‘Eat to help out’ directly subsidized

the most dangerous places to spread the virus,” she said, referring to the summer restaurant campaign of government-subsidized meals.

Sridhar said the new restrictions might help safeguard one of Johnson’s cardinal goals: keeping schools open. In the past, some experts had said the choice might come down to closing schools or closing pubs. By closing pubs earlier — and avoiding the late-night drinking that the prime minister said was particularly risky for spreading the virus — he hopes to keep both open.

“It’s going to be a struggle going into the winter because of a combination of weather and fatigue,” Sridhar said.

The leader of the opposition Labour Party, Keir Starmer, said he backed Johnson’s new measures, even as he criticized the lack of an adequate test-and-trace system and raised a red flag about how the government planned to support jobless workers after its wage subsidy program runs out in October.

Putting off these moves and then having to resort to a second nationwide lockdown, Starmer said, would be a “failure of government.”

His remarks in Parliament came after he made a broader case against the government in an address to the Labour Party’s annual conference. Speaking to a mostly online audience, Starmer said, “It makes me angry that, just when the country needs leadership, we get serial incompetence.”

“The prime minister has had months to prepare for this, but instead of getting a grip, the government has lost control,” he said.

Even as he castigated Johnson and his Conservative Party government, Starmer acknowledged the opposition had much work to do to win back supporters, following its thumping defeat in elections in December.

“Let’s be brutally honest with ourselves: When you lose an election in a democracy, you deserve to,” he said. “You don’t look at the electorate and ask them, ‘What were you thinking?’ You look at yourself and ask, ‘What are we doing?’”

For all his gravity, Johnson allowed himself one typically sunny moment. Referring to advances in treatments and a potential vaccine, he said, “All the medical guidance I have is that by next spring things will be vastly, vastly improved.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, September 24, 2020

17

He killed 2 Marines in 2011. It almost derailed peace talks this month.

By THOMAS GIBBONS-NEFF and NAJIM RAHIM

H

e was a young Afghan police officer working alongside American forces in one of the hot spots of the war, with Taliban ambushes all around. Then he turned his weapon on two U.S. Marines, killing them both.

Now, he is out of prison.

His attack, in Helmand province in 2011, was a serious eruption in a phenomenon that within a year would redefine the American war in Afghanistan: insider killings, often by members of the Afghan security forces who, like the police officer, were not at the time part of the Taliban.

But just this month, that officer, Mohammad Dawood, 31, reached the top of the Taliban’s list of prisoners they wanted released as they negotiated the opening of peace talks with the Afghan government. And along with just five other men detained after killing Westerners, his fate became a sticking point that nearly derailed the whole process, officials say.

While the Taliban made the men’s release an ultimatum before they would go to the table, officials for the United States, France and Australia were quietly urging the Afghan government not to let them go — even as they told the Afghan government to free thousands of other Taliban prisoners with Afghan blood on their hands in order to open the way for the talks.

Only a last-minute deal to remand the six to a kind of house arrest in Qatar allowed the opening of peace talks on Sept. 12.

Dawood, whose name had not been publicly released but whose identity was confirmed by American and Afghan officials, now stands as a symbol of the difficulty — and tough choices — involved in trying to make peace in the middle of a bitter war.

Dawood’s killings of Lt. Col. Benjamin Palmer and Sgt. Kevin Balduf in 2011 represent only a fraction of more than 40 years of violence. But the Taliban’s willingness to go to the brink for him in negotiations, despite his acting only on his own behalf, according to his family

and close friends, was a stark demonstration of how even isolated disputes can threaten the peace process.

“We are not happy about the release of some prisoners, and we know our allies Australia and France are not happy about the release of some,” said Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. special envoy for Afghan peace. In all, the Afghan government freed 5,000 prisoners demanded by the Taliban. “But we understand that this difficult step was in the service of something even more important, which is to get the Afghan war to come to an end, and it was a necessary step.”

Stopping deadly insider attacks like the one by Dawood was once an urgent imperative for the Obama administration.

By the end of President Barack Obama’s first term, cultural tensions and increasing pressure from the Taliban had spilled over into violence as Afghan troops turned their guns on their Western allies, threatening to derail the war effort.

By the height of the war, Americans were building outposts within outposts to defend themselves from the very people they were supposed to be training and fighting alongside.

Insider attacks, sometimes called green-on-blue violence, became a grim feature of the conflict. The deaths of Palmer, 43, and Balduf, 27, came during a flurry of such killings that peaked in 2012, accounting for 15% of coalition troops who were killed or wounded in Afghanistan that year.

Of the four U.S. troops killed in combat in 2020, two were killed in an insider attack in February, marking the last U.S. troops to die from hostile fire before the peace agreement between the United States and the Taliban.

But as was the case for many such attacks, Dawood was not a part of an insurgent group when he killed the two Marines, according to those close to him and to an Afghan official familiar with his case.

Born in Naw Bahar, a small, staunchly anti-Taliban village in Baghlan province, Dawood was one of five brothers and the son of Mohammad Zahir, a poor wheat farmer. He studied at a madrassa in Kunduz and Baghlan, before studying in Pakistan and Iran, where like many

Taliban prisoners lined up at the Bagram military base in Afghanistan before their release on May 26 2020. Even as they pushed for the release of other Afghan prisoners as part of a deal with the Taliban, U.S. officials privately dug in over freeing a man who had killed Americans.

Afghans he worked for a brief time.

Safdar Mohseni, head of the Baghlan provincial council, said Dawood had most likely turned to the Taliban in prison, looking for support.

“He was a good person to me in every way — psychologically, scientifically, religiously — and was a patriot,” said Saqi Mohammad Numani, a religious scholar who taught Dawood for several years. “Like Dawood, I have thousands of students who are not in favor of violence and terror, and Dawood was not in favor of violence.”

After returning from Iran, Dawood was engaged to be married, but because he was low on money, he joined the Afghan police. He trained in Kabul for six months in 2010 and graduated as a sergeant, according to a senior police official who served alongside him in southern Afghanistan.

Not long after Dawood left police training in 2011, he was assigned to the Afghan National Civil Order Police’s 5th Brigade, a new unit the U.S. military was training in Afghanistan’s volatile Helmand province. As the Taliban began regaining ground, U.S. and NATO forces started a concerted effort to professionalize the police force to hold what districts the

Afghan government still controlled.

On May 12, 2011, Dawood walked from the Afghan portion of his base in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of Helmand, and entered the U.S. side, where his Marine advisers lived, slept and ate.

A small group of Marines were outside eating dinner when Dawood lifted his assault rifle and began firing, killing Palmer and Balduf. Marines fired back, wounding Dawood.

Cultural misunderstandings and disgust with Westerners were traced to many insider killings. When the attacks began in earnest in 2008, they took a deep toll on the U.S.-Afghan relationship, sowing doubt and distrust that was only exacerbated by the stress of training and combat.

In a country rife with anti-Semitism, Dawood appeared to turn to that in an attempt to justify his actions. He told investigators he killed the Americans because he thought they were Jews and he did not want to live among them. He said no one had provoked him, though the senior Afghan official said that Dawood’s fundamentalist education in Iran and Pakistan was probably a catalyst for this contempt.

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Thursday, September 24, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL

Vladimir Putin thinks he can get away with anything

By THE NYT EDITORIAL BOARD

I

t is now an established fact, confirmed by laboratories in Germany, France and Sweden, that Alexei Navalny was poisoned with Novichok, a nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union. The powerful poison, which has been used in at least one previous assassination attempt against foes of the Russian regime, was this time employed against a domestic opposition leader who operated openly to expose corruption and challenge the Kremlin. It requires a serious response.

In the face of Kremlin stonewalling, many questions remain unanswered and are likely to remain so. Chief among them is whether President Vladimir Putin ordered or approved the attempted assassination. Then there is the fact that once again, the victim survived the attack, and the nerve agent was identified. Navalny had been flying home from Siberia to Moscow when he was stricken. Did his poisoners want him to perish on the way, as the timetable of the attack suggests, and want to cover up the reason? Or was it their intention to convey a brutal warning of what happens to those who challenge the Kremlin?

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President Vladimir Putin’s denials about the poisoning of a Russian politician aren’t credible.

Navalny may have survived largely because of the pilot’s alacrity in landing and getting him to a hospital. The government later allowed him to be taken to Germany for further treatment. Once they heard of his collapse, Navalny’s colleagues quickly collected what they could from his last hotel in Siberia and got the evidence to Germany, where traces of Novichok were found on a water bottle.

Whatever the full story, the Russian government’s contemptible posturing as an aggrieved victim of unfair suspicions only intensify the need to demand a reckoning from the Kremlin. Putin knows what happened, or he can find out, and if he continues to hide behind glaringly phony denials and ridiculous accusations, he only strengthens the suspicion that this was a deliberate, state-sanctioned hit. He had the greatest motive, means and opportunity.

Even if it was an operation ordered at some lower level, the attack on Navalny breaks new ground. Ranking assassinations according to degrees of infamy may seem frivolous, and attacking two former Russian double agents residing in England, Sergei Skripal and Alexander Litvinenko, by nerve gas or radiation, is hard to exceed in brazenness.

But Navalny was not a former spy. He was

by far the best known and most visible of Putin’s political opponents. His exposés of official corruption — most famously of the extravagant properties owned by former President Dmitry Medvedev — were widely circulated, detailed and credible. Those who tried to kill him had to know, and not care, that the attack could be seen only as an attempt to silence a strong and effective political voice.

Even more appalling was their deployment of a banned chemical weapon on Russian soil against a Russian politician. The perpetrators knew that Novichok had been identified in the attack against Skripal and that its use was a violation of international law. Russia is a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention, and after Germany established that Navalny had been poisoned, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons issued a statement that under the convention, “any poisoning of an individual through the use of a nerve agent is considered a use of chemical weapons.” At the very least, that obligates Russia to establish how a known nerve agent came to be used in the center of Russia.

Putin must believe that there is not much the West can do that it hasn’t already done by way of sanctions. President Donald Trump, for reasons that remain one of the top mysteries of his administration, has largely closed his eyes to Putin’s serial transgressions, whether it’s meddling in American elections, annexing Crimea or stonewalling on the poisoning of dissidents.

The surest sign of European anger would be cancellation of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, a gas conduit from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea. But the project is nearly completed, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel is reluctant to take a step that would be costly for Europe and that would look like bowing to threats from the Trump administration, which has demanded cancellation of the pipeline.

Yet, as Putin looks intent on spending the rest of his life at Russia’s helm and displays ever less concern for human rights or the rule of law, it is incumbent on the West to hold him accountable for murdering or trying to murder anyone he finds troublesome. A state prepared to use banned chemical weapons against its own citizens is a danger and threat to the rest of the world as well, and that must be made clear and unambiguous also to Putin and his co-conspirators.

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, September 24, 2020

19

Wanda Vázquez: “El ‘lockdown’ está en las manos de los puertorriqueños” Por THE STAR

L

a gobernadora Wanda Vázquez Garced dijo el miércoles, que un cierre total ante un repunte de casos de COVID-19 “está en las manos de los puertorriqueños”.

“El ‘lockdown’ está en las manos de cada uno de los puertorriqueños”, dijo Vázquez Garced a preguntas de la prensa.

“Está en las manos de los ciudadanos. Ya hemos dicho una y otra vez que la única vacuna en este momento para el COVID-19 son las mascarillas, el distanciamiento y el ‘hand sanitizer’ (desinfectante de manos)”, añadió.

“Si los puertorriqueños no ponemos de nuestra parte, el lockdown lo establece el gobierno porque el pueblo no haya respondido. Así que yo confío en el

pueblo puertorriqueño para que nos podamos proteger y a la población joven, que son los más que han demostrado

un repunte en los positivos de COVID, que hagan un esfuerzo a que utilicen la mascarilla para que se protejan ellos y no

contagien a sus seres queridos una vez regresen a su hogar”, acotó.

Explicó que antes del 2 de octubre, se reunirá con el Departamento de Salud, el Fideicomiso de Salud y otros componentes salubristas para determinar el curso a seguir de cara a la presentación de una nueva orden ejecutiva que iniciará el 3 de octubre.

“Los fines de semana pueden salir a los restaurantes, pueden salir en los botes los que tengan la dicha de tenerlos, pueden también compartir en el cine, pero tienen que ser de una manera responsable. De lo contrario, tendremos que ir cerrando facilidades y área económicas, que no queremos. Ya estamos bastante perjudicados como para que personas que no quieren cumplir y no quieren poner de su parte, que todos los demás tengan que responder”, señaló.

Senador José Luis Dalmau levanta interrogantes ante aumento en propagación del COVID-19 Por THE STAR

E

l portavoz alterno del Partido Popular Democrático (PPD) en el Senado, José Luis Dalmau Santiago, levantó interrogantes el miércoles, ante la supuesta falta de un plan y el equipo necesario para atender el aumento en la propagación del COVID-19 en la isla.

“En las últimas semanas hemos visto una rápida propagación de la pandemia del COVID-19 en toda la isla, según los propios indicadores del gobierno.

Sin embargo, y a pesar del aumento en las hospitalizaciones y la utilización de los cuartos de cuidado intensivo, no sabemos con cuanto equipo contamos para atender la situación”, precisó el senador en comunicación escrita.

Entre los cuestionamientos hechos por Dalmau Santiago, está la compra de ventiladores, las pruebas, la condición del hospital Ramón Rodríguez Arnau en Bayamón que se destinó para atender los casos de

COVID y el plan de vacunación tan pronto esté lista alguna de las vacunas que se están desarrollando en diferentes partes del mundo.

“La mayoría de estos contagios aumentaron aún cuando teníamos una orden ejecutiva más restrictiva. Ahora, tras haberse liberado se hace mucho más urgente tener un plan y el equipo para atender esta emergencia de manera efectiva. Por lo que el gobierno debe informar si se compraron los ventiladores necesarios para atender a los pacientes si se llenan los hospitales. El Task Force Médico indicó que harían falta 3 mil ventiladores, pero se compraron solo 240 que no sabemos si llegaron y donde se repartieron”, explicó Dalmau Santiago.

Por último, el senador dijo que se habló de un plan de vacunación para el COVID, y al día de hoy no sabemos si existe el dinero para implementar una campaña de vacunación masiva y cuantas vacunas se necesitan.

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Thursday, September 24, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

Tommy DeVito, original member of the Four Seasons, dies at 92

By NEIL GENZLINGER

T

ommy DeVito, an original member of the Four Seasons, the close-harmony quartet that rocketed to fame in the early 1960s with “Sherry” and other hits and earned new generations of fans when the Broadway musical “Jersey Boys” told a semi-factual version of the group’s story, died on Monday in Henderson, Nevada. He was 92.

Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio, the two surviving original members of the group, announced his death. A spokeswoman for Valli said the cause was the novel coronavirus. DeVito had moved to Las Vegas decades ago after leaving the Four Seasons in 1970.

Growing up in difficult circumstances in his native New Jersey, DeVito was, in his own words, “a hell-raiser” as a youth, but he found a purpose with music. He formed a band called the Variety Trio with one of his brothers and Nick Massi, who would become the fourth member of the Four Seasons when that group coalesced in about 1960. (Massi died in 2000 at 73.)

The key component, though, was Valli, with his falsetto vocals. In a 2008 interview with the music publication Goldmine, DeVito recalled that his trio performed regularly at a bar in Belleville, New Jersey, when Valli, a teenager six years younger than him, would sneak in to watch them play. He and the other band members knew Valli from the neighborhood and knew that he had pipes.

“I’d call him up to the stage and let him sing,” DeVito said. “He’d get off right away, because he wasn’t really supposed to be in there; he was underage.”

Before long Valli was part of the group, which went through name and lineup changes before becoming the Four Seasons. “Sherry,” the group’s breakout hit, topped the charts in 1962, and a stream of hits followed, including “Walk Like a Man” (1963) and “Rag Doll” (1964).

DeVito didn’t entirely shed his hell-raiser past; he ran up debts, for one thing, and caused tensions within the group. In 1970 he was either forced out, as some accounts say, or left because the pressures of touring had disagreed with him, as he explained it.

He quickly burned through whatever money he had from the group’s heyday and took jobs working in casinos and cleaning houses to get by.

Actor Joe Pesci, a friend since childhood (whose character in Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas” is named for DeVito), had lived with DeVito for a time before he was famous, and once Pesci broke through, he

Mr. DeVito in 2007. By his own admission “a hell-raiser” in his youth, he began finding a purpose when he got serious about music.

The Four Seasons early in their career, from left: Bob Gaudio, Frankie Valli, Nick Massi and Tommy DeVito.

repaid the favor, helping DeVito out and getting him bit parts in movies, including “Casino” (1995), also directed by Scorsese.

DeVito also had some success as a record producer and recorded an album of Italian folk songs.

Seeing a version of himself portrayed in “Jersey Boys” was startling, he said. But he was comfortable with the show, which he descried as “about 85% true to life.”

“When you first see yourself being played, you look at the actor, who is Christian Hoff, and say: ‘Do I look like that? Did I talk like that? Was I really a bad guy?’” he told Goldmine. “And I was. I was pretty bad when I was a kid. There’s a lot of things I’d never do today that I did back then as a kid.”

Gaetano DeVito was born on June 19, 1928, in Belleville, the youngest of nine children. When he was still too small to hold a guitar, he borrowed an older brother’s and tried playing it while it was lying on the floor. His brother discovered him, he told The Star-Ledger of Newark in 2005, and gave him first a beating and then a counterintuitive warning.

“Now that I’ve seen you doing it,” he recalled his brother saying, “every time I come home and I don’t see you practicing, that’s a beating.”

The large DeVito family shared a flat with an uncle during the Depression, a difficult time.

“You did anything to survive,” DeVito told The Las Vegas Sun in 2008. “You’d steal milk off of porches.”

He left school after eighth grade and started playing in local establishments for modest amounts, getting into scrapes with the law from time to time.

“Jersey Boys” implies that he was somehow connected to organized crime, but that was an exaggeration, he said, done for the sake of the story.

“I was never part of the mob,” he said. “They might have asked me to play a private party or something, but they paid me for it. Mostly they asked me to do benefits.”

Information on his survivors was not immediately available.

“Jersey Boys” opened on Broadway in November 2005 and ran until January 2017, one of the longest runs in Broadway history. (Clint Eastwood directed a film version in 2014.) The show won four Tony Awards, including best musical and best featured actor (Hoff).

If the musical massaged the truth a bit, DeVito generally complained about only one thing in the script: a crack about the cleanliness of his underwear.

“I was the most cleanest guy in the whole group,” he said. “I’m clean. I’m very clean.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, September 24, 2020

21

Amber Ruffin has gone from the writers’ room to the title

By DAVE ITZKOFF

J

oining the writing staff of someone else’s late-night comedy show is not typically the fastest way to further your own performing career, but then again, Amber Ruffin is not your typical television writer.

Since the 2014 debut of “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” she has become one of the most recognizable contributors to that NBC program, writing for its host and appearing in her own recurring segments like “Jokes Seth Can’t Tell” and “Amber Says What.”

Ruffin, who has also written for “A Black Lady Sketch Show” and “Detroiters” (which she also appeared on) and has been featured on programs like “Drunk History,” now has even more airtime to fill: She’s the star of her own late-night series, “The Amber Ruffin Show,” which debuts Friday on NBC’s Peacock streaming service.

It’s an opportunity that Ruffin, 41, was still wrapping her head around during a Zoom call this month, as she contemplated the prospects of creating a TV show during a pandemic and admired the spacious workspace she had only recently returned to at NBC’s headquarters on Rockefeller Plaza.

“When I was here six months ago, I was in an office with 12 other people,” Ruffin said.

“Now I’m in this big thing by myself.” She added: “There’s more people at my house: two, me and my husband. I just sit in this room that’s basically the size of my apartment, but I’m the only person in here. It’s very strange.”

Ruffin spoke about the trajectory that has led her to “The Amber Ruffin Show” and how, amid widespread protests and a fraught national debate over racism in law enforcement, she used her “Late Night” platform to share personal stories of her encounters with police. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.

Q: Did you do anything for fun this summer?

A: I mean, I ate. (Laughs.) The way I eat is recreational. Me and my husband like to get a rental car and drive around, so we did that.

That might be our favorite thing to do. Lucky, because it’s the only thing you can do, really.

Q: Comedy has taken you to Chicago, Amsterdam, Denver and now New York. But you grew up in Omaha (Nebraska). How did that experience shape you?

A: It’s the baseline in my mind, because it’s the first place I lived and the longest I ever lived anywhere. But it is not a normal place to be.

Q: Did you find it homogeneous?

A: The word you’re looking for is white.

(Laughs.) I just wrote a book with my sister Lacey called “You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey,” and we wrote down all of the crazy, racist stories that happened to her.

They’re just the funny ones, and it’s a whole book. And that’s Omaha.

Q: What brought your parents there?

A: They were both in the Air Force, and they got stationed at Offutt Air Force Base, right outside Omaha, and then they stayed there. My mom and dad are from Georgia and Virginia, so they were like: “It’s great here! Look at these unorganized white people trying to harass us.

They’re not even dressed the same. They don’t even have a uniform.”

Q: How did you get into comedy as you were growing up?

A: In my house, I could stay up to watch “Saturday Night Live.” I could do whatever I wanted because I was a nerd and I’m the youngest of five, so I had zero supervision.

They knew I was going to have my homework done. I also liked performing. I was like, (theatrical voice) “I’m going to do musicals!” That led to theater, which led to improv, which is where the most fun people were.

Q: When you started performing improv comedy professionally in Chicago, did you find it to be a competitive environment?

A: Almost never. Because, well, a lot of the times the people who feel that way are white. (Laughs.) This sounds crazy, but Black people root for Black people so hard, almost no matter what. Whenever white people see me succeeding, they think, well, I could never have had that, because you’re filling some Black slot or whatever. So they don’t see me as anything. But Black people are like, yay! Oh, my God, you did something great!

Q: What ultimately brought you to New York?

A: This show (“Late Night”). Seth called and said, will you move to New York? And I said, yes, I will. Here I come. But I had never considered living in New York. I knew for a fact I was never going to live here. I don’t know a lot of facts. (Laughs.)

Q: When you were hired for “Late Night” did you think it was going to lead to a lot of on-camera time for you?

A: Absolutely not. I got here being like, just be quiet and don’t embarrass yourself.

I certainly didn’t think I was going to end up wearing ball gowns and prancing around. That was the surprise of the century. But that is an improv thing. With Seth, if I get a laugh, we get a laugh and we win. I don’t think other people think that. They think, if someone laughs at

Amber Ruffin, a writer and performer on “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” in New York, Sept. 17, 2020. Ruffin is staring in her own late-night series, “The Amber Ruffin Show,” debuting on NBC’s Peacock streaming service. what you’re saying, even if I set you up, that laugh counts for you and I am lesser than, for some reason.

Q: This past spring, after the police killing of George Floyd, you performed a series of opening monologues on “Late Night” where you talked about your own experiences being harassed by police, including one where an officer pulled a gun on you. How were you approached about doing these segments?

A: I wasn’t asked to do it. I saw what was happening and I went, I have to write something about it. So I did. And it quickly fell apart under the weight of this issue. There was no laughing about it. You couldn’t even do an angry rant. It just couldn’t hold. But it had to be addressed, because we were all feeling it so bad. That’s when I came to them with that idea and was like, what if I just tell this story? And then after it went well, I said, buddy, I got so many more. How many of these do you want to do?

Q: Were you concerned you were just giving cover to a white male host who wasn’t qualified to speak on the subject?

A: If that was how it went down? Sure.

But that’s not how it went down. I’m the one being like, I need to do this. He’s the genius moving out of the way. (Laughs.) And I’m here.

I’m prepared. Seth’s the guy who was like, get this child a show already. That’s him; he did that.

Q: How did you finally get your own show?

A: A couple years ago, we put together a show idea, and it didn’t go. But then NBC came to us and were like, hey, there’s this thing called Peacock. Can we do that show you pitched a while ago?

Q: Were you disappointed when they previously passed on the show?

A: It was their fourth pass on me, sir, so I’m good. I’ve sold them three pilots, one of which we shot. At least with this, it was just a pitch document. Unlike a sitcom, you don’t have to spend a year writing it and rewriting.

You just pitch it, like: It’s a late-night show. Do you want it? No? Cool.

Q: What will the format of your show be?

A: It is going to be a monologue, a piece of comedy, just like a lot of other late-night shows. But then we’re going to do another piece of comedy. Another piece of comedy.

And another piece of comedy. It’ll be like the first part of a late-night show, but over and over and over again. (Laughs.) I’m really just trying to disguise the fact that it’s a variety show.

22

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, September 24, 2020

‘Enola Holmes’ review: She’s beyond elementary, and not your dear

By LOVIA GYARKYE

T

he year is 1884 and Enola Holmes is on a mission — to find her mother, escape her brothers and live life on her own terms. It’s a tall order for the teenage sister of Sherlock Holmes, whose age and gender make her battle an uphill one. But her will won’t be broken, and in the Netflix film “Enola Holmes,” directed

by Harry Bradbeer, our title character proves this to anyone in doubt.

After Enola (Millie Bobby Brown of “Stranger Things”) discovers on the morning of her 16th birthday that her mother (Helena Bonham Carter) has disappeared, she reluctantly finds herself under the care of her brothers Mycroft (Sam Claflin) and Sherlock (Henry Cavill). Mycroft wants to send Enola to finishing school, but Enola, who has been raised by her mother to

be independent, refuses to have her identity defined by domesticity.

Motivated by a set of clues left by her mother, Enola escapes to London.

On her way to the city, she crosses paths with Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge), a young lord also on the run from a suffocating fate. The pair form a predictable (but no less tender) bond.

While Enola looks for her mother and tackles other mysteries in the process, England is on the cusp of change, with an expansion of voting rights being decided in the House of Lords. “Enola Holmes” converges around the stakes of democracy, including the work of suffragists fighting for widespread representation. The film is successful in balancing these broad themes with our heroine’s adventures, and that is due in large part to the work of Brown, whose energetic performance breathes new life into

the Holmes creative world.

On the surface, “Enola Holmes” is about a young woman in search of herself, but the film’s value comes

from a deeper investigation of power, familial bonds and the risks of changing a world determined to stay the same.

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The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, September 24, 2020

23

Exercise may make it easier to bounce back from stress

By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS

E

xercise makes it easier to bounce back from too much stress, according to a fascinating new study with mice. It finds that regular exercise increases the levels of a chemical in the animals’ brains that helps them remain psychologically resilient and plucky, even when their lives seem suddenly strange, intimidating and filled with threats.

The study involved mice, but it is likely to have implications for our species, too, as we face the stress and discombobulation of the ongoing pandemic and today’s political and social disruptions.

Stress can, of course, be our ally. Emergencies and perils require immediate responses, and stress results in a fast, helpful flood of hormones and other chemicals that prime our bodies to act.

“If a tiger jumps out at you, you should run,” said David Weinshenker, a professor of human genetics at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta and the senior author of the new study. The stress response, in that situation, is appropriate and valuable.

But if, afterward, we “jump at every little noise” and shrink from shadows, we are overreacting to the original stress, Weinshenker continued. Our response has become maladaptive, because we no longer react with appropriate dread to dreadful things but with twitchy anxiety to the quotidian. We lack stress resilience.

In interesting past research, scientists have shown that exercise seems to build and amplify stress resilience.

Rats that run on wheels for several weeks, for instance, and then experience stress through light shocks to their paws, respond later to unfamiliar — but safe — terrain with less trepidation than sedentary rats that also experience shocks.

But the physiological underpinnings of the animals’ relative buoyancy after exercise remain somewhat mysterious. And, rats are just one species. Finding similar relationships between physical activity and resilience in other animals would bolster the possibility that a similar link exists in people.

So, for the new study, which was published in August in the Journal of Neuroscience, Weinshenker and his colleagues decided to work with frazzled mice and to focus on the possible effects of galanin, a peptide that is produced throughout the body in many animals, including humans.

Galanin is known to be associated with mental health. People born with genetically low levels of galanin face an uncommonly high risk of depression and anxiety disorders.

Multiple studies show that exercise increases production of the substance. In the rat experiments, some of which were conducted at Weinshenker’s lab, researchers found that exercise led to a surge in galanin production in

the animals’ brains, particularly in a portion of the brain that is known to be involved in physiological stress reactions. Perhaps most interesting, they also found that the more galanin there, the greater the rats’ subsequent stress resilience.

For the new research, they gathered healthy adult male and female mice and gave some of them access to running wheels in their cages. Others remained inactive.

Mice generally seem to enjoy running, and those with wheels skittered through multiple miles each day. After three weeks, the scientists checked for genetic markers of galanin in the mouse brains and found them to be much higher in the runners, with greater mileage correlating with more galanin.

Then the scientists stressed out all of the animals by lightly shocking their paws while the mice were restrained and could not dash away. This method does not physically harm the mice but does spook them, which the scientists confirmed by checking for stress hormones in the mice.

They had soared.

The next day, the scientists placed runners and inactive animals in new situations designed to worry them again, including cages with both light, open sections and dark, enclosed areas. Mice are prey animals and their natural reaction is to run for the darkness and then, as they feel safe, explore the open spaces. The runners responded now like normal, healthy mice, cautiously moving toward

the light. But the sedentary animals tended to cower in the shadows, still too overwhelmed by stress to explore. They lacked resilience.

Finally, the researchers confirmed that galanin played a pivotal role in the animals’ stress resilience by breeding mice with unusually high levels of the substance. Those rodents reacted like the runners to the stress of foot shocks, with full-body floods of stress hormones. But the next day, like the runners, they warily braved the well-lit portions of the light-and-dark cage, not recklessly but with suitable prudence.

The upshot of these experiments is that abundant galanin seems to be crucial for resilience, at least in rodents, said Rachel P. Tillage, a Ph.D. candidate in Weinshenker’s lab who led the new study. And exercise increases galanin, amplifying the animals’ ability to remain stalwart in the face of whatever obstacles life — and science — places before them.

Of course, this was a mouse study and mice are not people, so it is impossible to know from this research if exercise and galanin function precisely the same way in us, or, if they do, what amounts and types of exercise might best help us to cope with stress.

But regular exercise is so good for us, anyway, that deploying it now to potentially help us deal with today’s uncertainties and worries “just makes good sense,” Weinshenker said.

24 Unificado de Administración y Manejo de Casos (SUMAC), al ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO cual puede acceder utilizando DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU- la siguiente dirección electróniNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA ca: https://unired.ramajudicial.

SALA SUPERIOR DEXÇOK pr, salvo que se represente TOA ALTA. por derecho propio, en cuyo BANCO POPULAR DE caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la PUERTO RICO secretaría del tribunal. Deberá Parte Demandante vs. notificar a la licenciada: María ANA H. RIOS RIVERA, S. Jiménez Meléndez al PO ISRAEL PADILLA Box 9023632, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00902-3632; teléfono: RODRIGUEZ Y LA (787) 723-2455; abogada de la SOCIEDAD LEGAL parte demandante, con copia DE GANANCIALES de la contestación a la demanCOMPUESTA POR da. Si usted deja de presenAMBOS tar su alegación responsiva Parte Demandada dentro del referido término, el CIVIL NUM.: BY2019CV07466. tribunal podrá dictar sentencia SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO en rebeldía en su contra y con(ORDINARIO).

EMPLAZA- ceder el remedio solicitado en MIENTO POR EDICTO EMI- la demanda o cualquier otro, TIDO POR EL TRIBUNAL DE si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de PRIMERA. INSTANCIA DE su sana discreción, lo entiende PUERTO RICO, SALA DE SU- procedente. Expedido en TOA PERIOR DE BAYAMON. ALTA, Puerto Rico, a 11 DE A: ANA H. RIOS RIVERA, SEPTIEMBRE DE 2020. LCDA por sí y en representación LAURA I SANTA SANCHEZ, GENERAL. de la Sociedad Legal de SECRETARIA Gloribell Vazquez Maysonet, Gananciales Compuesta Sec del Tribunal Conf I.

LEGAL NOTICE

por ella con Israel Padilla Rodríguez, parte codemandada en el caso de: Banco Popular de Puerto Rico vs. Ana H. Ríos Rivera, Israel Padilla Rodríguez y la Sociedad Legal de Gananciales Compuesta por Ambos, Civil Núm.: BY2019CV07466, sobre Cobro de Dinero (Ordinario).

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

SHARELLY ANNETTE DIAZ MARTINEZ

PARTE DEMANDANTE vs.

JOSEPH ANTONIO CUBANO

PARTE DEMANDADA CIVIL NÚM. : SJ2020RF00678.

Se le notifica a usted, ANA SALA: 705. SOBRE : DIVORH. RIOS RIVERA, por sí y en CIO (R.I.). EDICTO. ESTArepresentación de la Socie- DOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA dad Legal de Gananciales EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. Compuesta por ella con Israel UU. ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIAPadilla Rodríguez, que en la DO DE P.R. SS. Demanda que originó este A: SR. JOSEPH ANTONIO caso se alega que usted le CUBANO adeuda a la parte demanCOND. SIERRA ALTA, dante, BANCO POPULAR DE K-101, SAN JUAN,PR PUERTO RICO, las siguientes cantidades: a. $15,905.05 de Se le notifica a usted que se ha principal, $202.63 de intereses radicado en esta Secretaría la hasta el 12 de septiembre de demanda del epígrafe. Se le 2019, más los intereses que se emplaza y requiere que radique devenguen a partir de la fecha en esta Secretaría el original de de radicación de la Demanda la contestación a la Demanda al tipo legal, hasta el total y _y que notifique con copia de_ completo pago de la obliga- dicha contestación a la Leda. ción, $145.94 de cargos por Rosa L. Vázquez López, 379 mora y la cuantía de $1,625.36 Calle César González, Hato pactada para las costas, gas- Rey, P.R. 00918, Tel. (787) tos y honorarios de abogado. 766-0949 / Fax (787) 771-2425 La deuda es por concepto de con el correo electrónico vazun préstamo que les fue des- quezyasociadospr@gmail.com, embolsado por la demandante dentro de los treinta (30) días y cuyos últimos cuatro dígitos siguientes a la publicación de son 0107. Se le emplaza y re- este Edicto. Si dejare de hacerquiere que presente al tribunal lo, podrá dictarse contra usted su alegación responsiva dentro sentencia en rebeldía concede los treinta (30) días siguien- diéndose el remedio solicitado tes a la publicación de este en la demanda. EXPEDIDO edicto, a través del Sistema bajo mi firma y sello de este Tri-

@

bunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala de San Juan, a 10 de septiembre de 2020. SRA. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. CARMEN J. CASTRO SERRANO, SEC SERV A SALA.

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

FIRSTBANK PUERTO RICO

Parte Demandante Vs.

LA SUCESION DE ISRAEL MENDEZ MENDEZ compuesta JUDITH ENID MENDEZ ROMAN, JOSUE ANDRES MENDEZ ROMAN, ALEJANDRO MENDEZ ROMAN , John Doe y Richard Roe como posibles herederos desconocidos; Administración para el Sustento de Menores, Centro de Recaudación de Ingresos Municipales; LILLIAM MORALES RIVERA por si y como miembro de la Sucesión de Israel Méndez Méndez

Parte Demandada CASO CIVIL NUM: MZ2018CV00403.

SOBRE: EJEUCION DE HIPOTECA POR LA VIA ORDINARIA Y COBRO DE DINERO. EMPLAZ MIENTO POR EDICTO. Estados Unidos de América Presidente de los Estados Unidos de America Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico.

A: JUDITH ENID MENDEZ ROMAN Y ALEJANDRO MENDEZ ROMAN ambos por si y como miembros de la Sucesión de Israel Méndez Méndez también conocido como Irra Mendez Mendez

POR LA PRESENTE se les em laza y requiere, ara que conteste la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto. Usted deberá radicar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificad de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMA!C), 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,

staredictos@thesanjuandailystar.com

Thursday, September 24, 2020

al PO BOX 7970, Ponce, P.R. 00732; Teléfono: 787- 43-4168.

En dicha demanda se tramita un procedimiento de obro de dinero y ejecución de hipoteca bajo el número mencionado en el epígrafe. Se alega en dicho procedimiento que la parte Demandada incurrió en el incumplimiento del Contrato de Hipoteca, al no poder pagar las mensualidades vencidas correspondiente a los meses de junio de 2017, hasta el presente, más los cargos por demora correspondientes.

Además, adeuda a I parte demandante las costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado en que incurra el tenedor del pagaré en este litigio. De acuerdo con dicho Contrato de Garantía Hipotecaria la parte Demandante d claró vencida la totalidad de la deuda ascendente a la suma de $51,594.96 de principal, más lo intereses sobre dicha suma al 4.50% anual, así como todos aquellos créditos 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 de la Propiedad correspondiente, un A VISO DE PLEITO PENDIENTE (“Lis Pendens”) sobre la propiedad objeto de esta acción cuya propiedad es la siguiente: RUSTICA: Sito en el Barrio Aibonito de San Sebastián, Puerto Rico, con una cabida de ochocientos dieciséis pu to dos mil quinientos diecinueve metros cuadrados. Colindando por el Norte, con Ángel Rosa; por el Sur, con carretera municipal; por el Este, con José Caban; y por el Oeste, con remanente de la finca principal. Enclava una casa de concreto de una planta dedicada a vivienda. Inscrita al folio 55 del tomo 593 de San Sebastián, Registro de la Propiedad, Sección de San Sebastián, finca número 20,619.

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. En San Sebastian, Puerto Rico, a 31 de agosto de 2020. SARAHI REYES PEREZ, SECRETARIA(O).

CARMEN M. RODRIGUEZ ACEVEDO, SUBSECRETARIA.

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

MIDFIRST BANK

(787) 743-3346

Demandante vs.

MELVIN VAZQUEZ OSORIA, JESSICA LOPEZ COLON Y LA SOCIEDAD DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

Demandada CIVIL NÚM: HA2020CV00164.

SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOSEL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PR. SS.

A: MELVIN VAZQUEZ OSORIA, JESSICA LOPEZ COLON Y LA SOCIEDAD DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza y se le notifica que se ha presentado en Secretarla de este Tribunal la Demanda del caso de epígrafe solicitando la ejecución de hipoteca y el cobro de dinero relacionado al pagaré suscrito a favor de Global Mortgage Corporation, o a su orden, por la suma principal de $38,369.00, más intereses computados sobre la misma desde su fecha hasta su total y completo pago a razón de la tasa fija de 8.0% anual, obligándose además al pago de costas, gastos y desembolsos de litigio, más honorarios de abogados en una suma de $3,836.90 equivalente al 10.00% de la suma principal original. Este pagaré fue suscrito bajo el affidavit 1,846 ante notario público Arturo Arzon Rivera. Lo anterior surge de la hipoteca constituida mediante escritura número 168 otorgada en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el día 18 de octubre de 1999, ante notario público Arturo Arzon Rivera. Se les advierte que este edicto se publicará en un (1) periódico de circulación general una (1) sola vez. 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 secretarla del tribunal y notifique copia de la Contestación a la Demanda a las oficinas del Lcdo. Juan B. Soto Balbás, RUA Número: 7340, JUAN B. SOTO LAW OFFICES, P.S.C., 1353 Ave. Luis Vigoreaux, PMB 270, Guaynabo, PR 00966, TEL:

The San Juan Daily Star

(787) 273-0611, FAX: (787) 273-1540, E-mail: jsoto@jbsblaw.com, abogado de la parte demandante. Dentro del término de treinta (30} días a partir de la publicación del Edicto, apercibiendo que de no hacerlo así dentro del término indicado, el Tribunal podrá anotar su Rebeldía y dictar Sentencia, concediendo el remedio asl solicitado sin más citarle ni oírle.

EXPEDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el Sello del Tribunal, hoy día 11 de septiembre de 2020. VIVIAN Y. FRESSE GONZALEZ, SECRETARIO(A). Por: f/ ISAMAR RODRIGUEZ GONZALEZ, SUB-SECRETARIO(A).

Attorney Juan C. Fortuño-Fas, at P.O. Box 13786, San Juan, PR 00908, telephone numbers 787-751-5290 and 787-7515616. This Summons shall be published only once in a newspaper of general circulation in Puerto Rico. Within ten (10) days following publication of this Summons, a copy of this Summons and the Complaint shall be sent to defendants Carmen Luisa Rivera-González, Evelyn Rivera-González and Rafael Rivera-González, as well as John Doe And Richard Roe as unknown members of The Estates of César RiveraMéndez; Carmen Ana González A/K/A Carmen A. González LEGAL NOTICE A/K/A Carmen A. González de IN THE UNITED STATES DIS- Rivera; César Rivera-GonzáTRICT COURT FOR THE DIS- lez; Gloria Rodríguez-Bernardo TRICT OF PUERTO RICO. A/K/A Gloria Rodríguez; and María Dolores Santiago de RiUNITED STATES OF vera A/K/A María D. SantiagoAMERICA, acting Matto, by certified mail/return through the United States receipt requested, addressed Department of Agriculture to their last known addresses.

(Farm Service Agency), Should you fail to appear and answer the Complaint as ordePlaintiff, v.

CARMEN LUISA RIVERA- red by the Court and notified by this Summons, the Court will GONZÁLEZ, et al., enter default against you, and Defendants proceed to hear and adjudicaCivil No. 19-1942 (FAB). SUMte this case based on the relief MONS. demanded in the Complaint.

TO: CARMEN LUISA

BY ORDER OF THE COURT, RIVERA-GONZÁLEZ, summons is issued pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil ProEVELYN RIVERAGONZÁLEZ AND RAFAEL cedure 4(e) and Rule 4.6 of the RIVERA-GONZÁLEZ, AS Rules of Civil Procedure for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

KNOWN MEMBERS OF In San Juan, Puerto Rico, on THE ESTATE OF CÉSAR September 16, 2020. MARIA RIVERA-MÉNDEZ AND A N TO N G I O R G I - J O R D A N , THE ESTATE OF CARMEN ESQ.CLERK OF THE COURT. Vivian Diaz-Mulero, Deputy ANA GONZÁLEZ A/K/A By: Clerk.

CARMEN A. GONZÁLEZ LEGAL NOTICE A/K/A CARMEN A. GONZÁLEZ DE RIVERA; Estado Libre Asociado de PuerTHE ESTATE OF CÉSAR to Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de PriRIVERA-GONZÁLEZ; mera Instancia Sala Superior THE ESTATE OF de BAYAMON. GLORIA RODRÍGUEZBANCO POPULAR DE BERNARDO A/K/A PUERTO RICO Y SUN GLORIA RODRÍGUEZ; WEST MORTGAGE THE ESTATE OF MARÍA COMPANY, INC., COMO DOLORES SANTIAGO DE AGENTE DE SERVICIO RIVERA A/K/A MARÍA D. Demandante Vs. SANTIAGO-MATTO; JOHN SUNC. DE JUAN RAMON DOE AND RICHARD ROE SILVA HERNANDEZ AS UNKNOWN MEMBERS COMPUESTA POR SU OF ALL THE ESTATES VIUDA HILDA MERCEDES Pursuant to the Order AuthoriMALDONADO zing Service of Process by PuRIVERA T/C/C HILDA blication entered on September MALDONADO RIVERA 16, 2020, by the Court (Docket No. 19), you are SUMMONED T/C/C LIDYA MERCEDES to appear and answer the MALDONADO Complaint no later than thirty RIVERA,POR SI; (30) days after publication of SUS HEREDEROS this Summons, by serving the CONOCIDOS JUAN R. answer in the United States SILVA MALDONADO; District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, and serving a FULANO DE TAL copy to counsel for plaintiff, Y SUTANA DE TAL

COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS Y/O PARTES CON INTERES EN DICHA SUCESION; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA

Demandado(a) Civil: Núm. BY2020CV00844.

SALA: 506. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCUON DE HIPOTECA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: SUCESION DE JUAN RAMON SILVA HERNANDEZ COMPUESTA POR SU VIUDA HILDA MERCEDES MALDONADO RIVERA T/C/C HILDA MALDONADO RIVERA T/C/C LYDIA MERCEDES MALDONADO RIVERA POR SI; SUS HEREDEROS CONOCIDOS JUAN R. SILVA MALDONADO; FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS Y/O PARTES CON INTERES EN DICHA SUCESION. URB. EL CORTIJO SOLAR P-21 CALLE 19 BAYAMON,PR 00956

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 17 de septiembre de 2020, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 17 de septiembre de 2020. En BAYAMON, Puerto Rico, el 17 de septiembre de 2020. F/LAURA I SANTA SANCHEZ, Secretario(a). MARILYN COLON CARRASQUILLO, Secretario(a) Auxiliar.

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, September 24, 2020

Demandado(a) Civil: lS2019CV00265. Sobre: Estado Libre Asociado de Puer- COBRO DE DINERO. NOTIFIto Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL CACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Pri- EDICTO mera Instancia Sala Superior HECTOR de BAYAMON.

LEGAL NOTICE

ORIENTAL BANK Demandante Vs.

MARISOL SAMHAN ESPINEL, SU ESPOSO FITZERALD ERNESTO COUTINBO Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

Demandado(a) Civil: Núm. BY2018CV04154.

Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCUON DE HIPOTECA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: MARISOL SAMHAN ESPINEL, SU ESPOSO FITZERALD ERNESTO COUTINBO Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 27 de AGOSTO de 2020, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 17 de septiembre de 2020. En VEGA BAJA, Puerto Rico, el 17 de septiembre de 2020. LCDA. LAURA I SANTA SANCHEZ, Secretario(a). KAREN G CASTRO MELENDEZ, Secretario(a) Auxiliar.

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

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante

HÉCTOR NEGRÓN BENEJAM

NEGRÓN BENEJAM DIRECCION POSTALURB. COSTA BRAVA, CALLE AMBAR 108, ISABELA P.R. 00662-6314 P/C LCDA. GINA H. FERRER MEDINA PO BOX 2342 MAYAGUEZ, PR 00681-2342

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que 13 de septiembre de 2020 , este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación.

Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 16 de septiembre de 2020. En AGUADILLA , Puerto Rico, el 16 de septiembre de 2020. SARAHI REYES PEREZ, Secretario(a). ARLENE GUZMAN PABON, Secretario(a) Auxiliar.

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

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante V.

WILMA VEGA RIVERA, ROBERTO ARCE Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

Demandado(a) Civil: AG2019CV01451. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

AMBOS DIRECCION POSTALURB. MARBELLA, 231 CALLE TARROGONA, AGUADILLA, P.R. 00603 P/C LCDA. GINA H. FERRER MEDINA PO BOX 2342 MAYAGUEZ, PR 00681-2342

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que 13 de septiembre de 2020 , este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación.

Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 16 de SEPTIEMBRE de 2020. En AGUADILLA , Puerto Rico, el 16 de SEPTIEMBRE de 2020. SARAHI REYES PEREZ, Secretario(a).

ARLENE GUZMAN PABON, Secretario(a) Auxiliar.

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

GRETCHEN COLOM CATINCHI Demandante V.

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO; JOHN DOE Y RICHARD DOE

Demandados CIVIL NUM. CA2020CV01923.

SOBRE: CANCELACION DE PAGARE EXTRAVIADO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R. SS.

A: JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE, personas desconocidas que se designan con estos A: WILMA VEGA RIVERA, nombres ficticios, que ROBERTO ARCE Y puedan ser tenedor o LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL tenedores, o puedan tener DE GANANCIALES algún interés en el pagaré COMPUESTA POR hipotecario a que se hace

25

referencia más adelante en el presente edicto, que se publicara una sola vez.

Se les notifica que en la Demanda radicada en el caso de epIgrafe se alega que el 11 de octubre del 2002, otorgue un pagaré a favor de Popular Mortgage Inc., o a su orden, por Ia suma de $210,000.00 de principal, con intereses al 6.125% anual, con vencimiento el dIa 1 de noviembre del 2032, autenticado mediante el afidávit numero 603 del ante el Notario Hector Luis Torres Dávila. En garantía del pagaré. antes descrito se otorgó La escritura de hipoteca numero 203, en San Juan, Puerto Rico, el 11 de octubre del 2002, ante el Notario Hector Luis Torres Dáviia, inscrito al tomo móvil 918 de Carolina 1, finca#14239, inscripción 8va. y ultima, Registro de Ia Propiedad de Carolina, Sección I. El inmueble gravado mediante Ia hipoteca antes descrita es La finca número 14239 inscrita al folio 223 vuelto del tomo 373 de Carolina, Registro de Ia Propiedad de Carolina, Sección I. La obligación evidenciada por el pagaré antes descrito fue saldada en su totalidad.

Dicho gravamen no ha podido ser cancelado por haberse extraviado el original del pagaré.

El original del pagaré antes descrito no ha podido ser localizado, a pesar de las gestiones realizadas. Popular Mortgage Inc. es el acreedor que consta en el Registro de La Propiedad. POR LA PRESENTE se Ic emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los 30 días de haber sido diligenciado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día del diligenciamiento. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), at cual puede acceder utilizando Ia siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en Ia secretarla 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 Ia demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente.

LCDO. JAVIER MONTALVO CINTRON RUANUM. 17682 DELGADO & FERNANDEZ, LLC P0 Box 11750, Fernández Juncos Station San Juan, Puerto Rico 00910-1750, Tel. (787) 274-1414 / Fax (787) 764-8241 E-mail: jmontalvo@ delgadofernandez.com Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, hoy 11 de septiembre de 2020. Lcda. Marilyn Aponte Rodriguez, Sec Regional. Rosa M Viera Velazquez, SubSecretaria.

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The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, September 24, 2020

Kobe Bryant’s widow sues LA County Sheriff over crash site photos

By CONCEPCIÓN DE LEÓN

V

anessa Bryant, the widow of Kobe Bryant, has sued the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, saying that she “lives in fear that she or her children” will see unauthorized photos taken by deputies at the site of the helicopter crash that killed her husband, their daughter Gianna and seven others.

The lawsuit, which was filed Sept. 17, alleges that “no fewer than eight sheriff’s deputies at the crash site pulled out their personal cellphones and snapped photos of the dead children, parents and coaches.” The photoas, the suit said, were taken for “their own personal gratification,” rather than for official law enforcement purposes.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and invasion of Vanessa Bryant’s privacy. It comes four months after Vanessa Bryant filed a claim against the Sheriff’s Department, a precursor to a lawsuit.

Vanessa Bryant says in the lawsuit that the day of the Jan. 26 crash, she personally

asked Sheriff Alex Villanueva to designate a no-fly zone over the crash site and to secure it from photographers to protect the families’ privacy.

But shortly after the crash, according to the lawsuit, one of the deputies who had responded shared graphic images from the site with a woman at a Norwalk, Calif. bar. A bartender overheard the conversation, the suit said, and reported the episode to the Sheriff’s Department.

The lawsuit says that Vanessa Bryant was “shocked and devastated” when she learned that photographs had been taken and that she “lives in fear that she or her children will one day confront horrific images of their loved ones online.” The taking of the unauthorized photos was first reported in February by The Los Angeles Times.

The suit also alleges that, rather than inform the victims’ families or open an investigation after learning of the deputies’ actions, Villanueva “directed a cover-up,” telling the deputies that they would not face discipline if they deleted the photos.

In an interview with NBC News in Mar-

ch, Villanueva acknowledged that he had ordered the eight deputies involved to delete the unauthorized photos, which included images of the remains.

“That was my No. 1 priority,” Villanueva told NBC News, “to make sure those photos no longer exist.”

In a statement Tuesday in response to the lawsuit, the Sheriff’s Department said, “As a result of the swift actions we took under extraordinary circumstances, no pictures made it into the public arena.” It added, “We continue to offer our heartfelt sympathies for the victims and their families.”

After The Los Angeles Times first reported on the leaked photos in February, Villa-

nueva said he had started an investigation, which would be overseen by the Los Angeles County Inspector General’s Office.

Neither the Inspector General’s Office nor Vanessa Bryant’s lawyers responded to emails or calls for comment.

The helicopter crash that killed the retired basketball star and his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, also killed Christina Mauser; Payton and Sarah Chester; John, Keri and Alyssa Altobelli; and the pilot, Ara Zobayan. The group was flying from Orange County to a youth basketball tournament when the Sikorsky S-76B helicopter slammed into a hillside near Calabasas, Calif., northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

A bill written by State Assemblyman Mike Gipson and sponsored by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department would make it a misdemeanor, punishable by $1,000 fines per violation, for “first responders” to take unauthorized photos of deceased people at the scene of an accident or crime. The bill was passed by the California State Legislature in August and awaits the signature of Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Charles Peterson, veteran minor leaguer and MLB scout, dies at 46

By RICHARD SANDOMIR (Those We‘ve Lost)

C

harles Peterson, a high school sports star in South Carolina who played minor league baseball for 14 seasons before becoming a professional baseball scout and a volunteer football coach, died on Sept.

13 in Columbia, S.C. He was 46.

His sister-in-law Missy South said the cause was complications of COVID-19.

Peterson brought a charismatic, gregarious style to his work as both a defensive line coach at Spring Valley High School in Columbia and a scout for the St. Louis Cardinals. In June he signed the team’s top draft pick, Jordan Walker, a third baseman.

“He had a real infectious presence,” Randy Flores, the Cardinals’ assistant general manager and scouting director, said in a phone interview “He was everything that’s fun about scouting. And he did a great job forging a relationship with the Walker family.”

His travel schedule as a scout did not

leave Peterson much time to coach football until mid-August. This year, as the coronavirus delayed the start of practices, Peterson was already sick, and he was hospitalized for several weeks before he died. His son Charles III, known as Trey, plays for the team.

“Charles was the most humble guy; he never talked about his athletic accomplishments,” Robin Bacon, the team’s head coach, said. “He never said ‘No’ if somebody asked him for help.”

In June, Peterson opened a facility in Columbia, Carolina Playmakers, to train young baseball, football and softball players.

“At a very young age, he set a standard for me, him being a hometown hero, not

only just in sports but how he treated people within the community,” his daughter Alexis Peterson, who played basketball at Furman University, told a local television station in Columbia after her father’s death.

Charles Edward Peterson Jr. was born on May 8, 1974, in Laurens, S.C. His father was a mason; his mother, Carolyn (Lattimore) Peterson, worked outside the home.

Charles was a receiver for his high school team in rural Laurens in 1991 when he reached over the sideline in the end zone to catch a touchdown pass in his fingertips, with four seconds left, to win the state championship game.

“We try that play all the time,” he told The Greenville News. “This is the first time it ever worked.”

The next year, as a senior, he switched to quarterback, excelling enough to be named to Parade magazine’s 1992 High School All-America Team. His coach, Bobby Ivey, called Charles his best player ever.

Despite being recruited to play college football, he chose baseball. In 1993, after

batting .429 as an outfielder for the Laurens Raiders and pitching to a 4-1 record, he was selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first round of baseball’s amateur draft. He played at various levels in the Pirates’ system, for independent minor league teams and in Mexico and Taiwan, but never reached the big leagues.

After his playing days, he began working at the Major League Baseball Scouting Bureau; six years later, the Cardinals hired him. He was named a special assistant to Flores last year.

“His playing career created the lens through which he evaluated players,” Flores said. “He knew how hard it was to get to the big leagues.”

In addition to his mother, his daughter Alexis and his son Trey, Peterson is survived by his wife, Karen (Andrews) Peterson; his brothers, Deron and Chris; another daughter, T’Keyah Peterson, a high school volleyball player; and Keegan Kolesar, whom he raised and who is a minor-league hockey player. A previous marriage ended in divorce.

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, September 24, 2020

27

Rash of injuries has the NFL pointing broken fingers at each other

By MIKE TANIER

A

ccording to conventional NFL wisdom, there are two probable causes of any sudden injury rash: too much high-intensity practice, and not enough high-intensity practice.

Many stars sustained significant injuries Sunday. The San Francisco 49ers lost quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, the Pro Bowl defensive end Nick Bosa, running back Raheem Mostert and others in their victory against the New York Jets.

Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey sustained an ankle injury that is expected to sideline him four to six weeks.

The New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley tore an anterior cruciate ligament, as did Bosa, Seattle Seahawks linebacker Bruce Irvin and Denver Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton. And those are just the biggest names who went down in one weekend.

In a typical year, Sunday’s injury outbreak would be partly blamed on the rigors of the offseason — grueling training camps and meaningless preseason games in which players absorb unnecessary punishment. This year, it’s tempting to blame Sunday’s injuries on the absence of preseason games and a pandemic-truncated offseason that left little time to get into shape.

It’s possible that some players were not quite game-ready in the opening weeks because of upended workout routines and the shortened training camp. It’s also irresponsible to draw conclusions based on a handful of isolated instances.

After all, conventional wisdom also suggested that NFL games would look like the sloppy combination of a kindergarten fire drill and a medieval peasant revolt because of the cancellation of those all-important preseason rehearsals. In fact, play has been crisp over the first two weeks. Also, Week 1 was (by NFL standards) relatively light on injuries.

Some teams have been harder hit so far than others. The Broncos, for example, lost All-Pro defender Von Miller during camp and quarterback Drew Lock for two to six weeks to a shoulder injury Sunday, in addition to Sutton and others.

Pointing fingers at individual coaches or organizations would be inappropriate. Team-by-team training regimens vary wildly in normal circumstances and surely varied even more as coaches and team staff adjusted on the fly. While most organizations used the best available sports science to keep players at close to football shape, a few may have told the guys to rub some dirt on the pandemic and go straight to the blocking sleds.

Some teams just have notoriously rotten injury luck, even when jogging through spring walk-throughs. The Los Angeles Chargers, for example, were fortunate this year that their entire rookie draft class didn’t electrocute themselves while logging onto Zoom meetings.

The new turf at MetLife Stadium is also a suspect in this week’s injury mystery, with 49ers players referring to it after Sunday’s game as “sticky” and “trash.” Subtle defects in a playing surface can have a major effect on elite athletes performing at peak capacity and effort, which explains why the Jets weren’t affected.

The NFL is reportedly investigating the MetLife situation in advance of Sunday’s 49ers-Giants game. If the turf really does exacerbate injuries, the 49ers may have to call Joe Montana and Jerry Rice out of retirement to get through the season.

While Sunday’s list appears unusually long, the inclusion of big names often turns injuries into a bigger story than the typical weekly rundown of battered offensive linemen and backups. The losses of Barkley and McCaffrey, in particular, were a major blow to millions of fantasy football enthusiasts. Forget the 49ers or Broncos: The real crisis this week is that your cousin Carmine’s Metuchen Murder Hornets will use up all of their fantasy waiver points.

This year’s NFL injury uptick even appears to be slightly behind schedule. There’s typically an annual outcry to curtail or eradicate the preseason in mid-August, at the precise moment when a handful of noteworthy preseason injuries dovetails with midday television sports-talk hosts’ mounting boredom with training camp news.

It stands to reason that no amount of training could have prevented 49ers defender Nick Bosa’s knee from bending awkwardly against the Giants on Sunday.

In past years, the players hurt Sunday might have gotten hurt weeks earlier in a game that didn’t even count. That wouldn’t have made their injuries less devastating, personally or to their franchises, but that timing would also have made the news less immediate and dramatic.

The simple truth is that most football injuries are not caused by disruptions in conditioning routines or the friction coefficient of the playing surface, but by huge men crashing at full speed into one another. Lock, for example, was hurt when Pittsburgh Steelers defender Bud Dupree slammed his shoulder to the ground. Bosa’s leg twisted at an unnatural angle when he was driven backward by a blocker onto a pile. Nothing that happened in June or August could really have protected them.

The truncated offseason is a possible contributing factor in some cases, but the league’s pandemic procedures also mean that teams are more capable of coping with injuries

than they would be in a typical year.

Practice squads are expanded, injured reserve protocols are more flexible, and teams are (theoretically) ready to call upon free-agent reinforcements, whether to play through a coronavirus outbreak or a bunch of high ankle sprains.

So while the 49ers’ playoff hopes are in jeopardy, the Giants’ latest rebuilding plan is in peril, and many well-known players face weeks or months of challenging rehabilitation, the current NFL injury rash will have no more effect on the league itself than many others had in the past.

Meanwhile, the annual argument about whether the preseason is helpful or harmful will wage on until sports medicine discovers optimal practice procedures that get players fully ready to play without subjecting them to undue strain. NFL coaches will then reject those procedures because they sound too scientific and not enough like “real football.”

28

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, September 24, 2020

In these Stanley Cup finals, one coach can’t lose

By GARY SANTANIELLO

T

his year’s Stanley Cup finals features two head coaches who are very familiar with each other: The Dallas Stars’ interim coach, Rick Bowness, was an assistant for the Lightning’s coach, Jon Cooper, for five years at Tampa Bay. George Gwozdecky has shared a bench with both of them, having been an assistant coach for Cooper, and Bowness’ colleague, for two seasons starting in 2013.

Cooper, 53, had no NHL experience when he became the Lightning’s head coach late in the 2012-13 season. In the offseason, Bowness and Gwozdecky were added to his staff, largely because of the nearly 70 years of coaching experience they collectively had. Bowness, 65, now holds the NHL record for most games coached (2,473 entering the finals). Gwozdecky, 67, had been a college coach for 32 years before he joined the Lightning, winning two NCAA titles in 19 years at the University of Denver.

Gwozdecky has now been the head coach at Valor Christian High School in Highlands Ranch, Colo. for the past five years. The school had won just five games in two years when Gwozdecky took over. Last season, Valor won the state prep title in the fall and its first state championship in March.

“In the two years I was there, Rick was a huge, huge assist to Jon in figuring out how this whole thing worked,” Gwozdecky said, referring to the myriad issues facing a first-time coach in the NHL, like determining the travel schedule.

Cooper had a limited playing background and had been coaching professionally only since 2010, and Gwozdecky had never worked in the NHL. “We didn’t have a clue,” Gwozdecky said. “Rick was the guy who had to say, ‘This is the way it goes, boys.’”

Cooper took an unusual route to the NHL. He worked on Wall Street, then went to law school before becoming a public defender.

“As a coach, his courtroom is the locker room and the press conference

George Gwozdecky, a longtime college coach who was an N.H.L. assistant for two seasons, now coaches Valor Christian High School in Colorado.Credit…Daniel Brenner for The New York Times room,” Gwozdecky said. “He’s not a guy who will answer questions with the typical clichés. They’re all well thought out.”

Bowness was named Dallas’ interim coach Dec. 12 when the Stars fired Jim Montgomery for unprofessional conduct.

Starting with the original Winnipeg Jets in the 1988-89 season, Bowness has been an interim or head coach for six teams. Before Dallas, his last head coaching experience was with the Coyotes in 2004.

As assistants to Cooper, he and Gwozdecky bonded over their respective responsibilities — for Bowness, the defense and penalty kill, and for Gwozdecky, the forwards and power play — and their lifetimes in hockey. Gwozdecky said they often walked together to the rink from the team hotel.

“We’d go in the security door, and everyone in security knew Rick, and many of them knew him by name,” Gwozdecky said. “Everyone was always glad to see him again. He’s a salt-

of-the-earth guy.”

And he likes classic rock. When he’d return to his car after a practice or a road trip, Gwozdecky recalled, “as soon as the windows were down you could hear Led Zeppelin cranking out of the car.”

Gwozdecky said he did not expect Cooper and Bowness to surprise each other in this series, which was tied at one game apiece going into Wednesday night’s Game 3 in Edmonton, Alberta.

“When you’ve been around each other as much as the two of them have, you know how the other guy thinks, how he examines the game, what’s important to him, what his strengths and weaknesses are,” Gwozdecky said.

He added: “It’s going to be interesting for me to watch how both teams play against each other. Because of what each team has accomplished, there aren’t going to be dramatic changes to their game plan, but after Game 1, you’ll see some subtle adjustments here and there.”

But who is he rooting for?

“I’m torn because Rick and I, and our wives, became pretty darn close,” Gwozdecky said. “As a coach, he was put into some tough situations, but no matter where he went, he always got the most out of his teams. I’d love to see Rick get his name on the Stanley Cup, but at the same time, because of the Tampa players I worked with, and obviously the coaching staff, I’d like to see their names on the Cup as well.”

Gwozdecky said he had exchanged texts and an occasional phone call with Lightning players and staff throughout the playoffs. After Tampa Bay advanced to the finals, he teased the Lightning’s video coach, Nigel Kirwan, via text about jumping in front of players to get in the team picture.

“From a rational standpoint,” he continued, “you assume the younger guy” — referring to Cooper — “is going to have more opportunities to win it. Rick’s been around for such a long time, and helped so many organizations; for that reason I’d love for him to see his name on the Cup.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, September 24, 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

Thursday, September 24, 2020

(Mar 21-April 20)

A change of plans will annoy you. When normally you’re versatile and will go with the flow, you aren’t impressed when someone’s carelessness causes problems. Arrangements have to be postponed. It’s no use crying over spilt milk and after all, anger is a waste of energy. Instead, concentrate on fixing this problem.

Libra

(Sep 24-Oct 23)

A loved one is behaving strangely but they won’t admit to what’s bugging them. Since they’re adamant all is well even though you know this can’t be so, there is little you can do. If people won’t talk to you and reveal what is going on, how can you possibly help them?

Taurus

(April 21-May 21)

Scorpio

Gemini

(May 22-June 21)

Sagittarius

(Nov 23-Dec 21)

You’re telling yourself your hopes and dreams were too much to expect. A small disappointment is causing you to feel sorry for yourself. Have faith in your ability and keep trying.

If you give up, it won’t happen and this will turn into a self-fulfilling prophesy. Remember: where there’s a will, there’s a way.

You could be easily distracted and diverted when you should be keeping your mind on the job in hand. It’s inevitable you will make mistakes if you aren’t paying attention. Use common sense in all you do. Review your work carefully to check you haven’t missed anything important.

Cancer

(June 22-July 23)

Capricorn

(Dec 22-Jan 20)

People are paying close attention to you.

Those around you admire your ability to observe, consider and methodically decide what to do. You will be invited to join their team. The salary may not be great but this is your chance to do work you love. You are determined to get things done in the home.

You’re concerned a new project that’s about to start won’t come up to your expectations.

You will never find out if you don’t give it a try. Taking up a course of study will bring fulfilment. There are a massive range of courses being developed. Any education you can do and qualification gained will be a benefit.

Leo

(July 24-Aug 23)

You’ve been deliberately ignoring some queries and demands as you just haven’t been in the mood to deal with them. It is time to get these out of the way. You cannot move forward with so much hanging in the air. Besides, it will feel good to tie up these loose ends in order to move on.

Virgo

(Aug 24-Sep 23)

You can think of a number of good reasons to accept an offer that is made to you and equally, there are reasons why you shouldn’t.

Weigh up the pros and cons. Talk to someone who always gives good advice and make your mind up before the end of the day.

(Oct 24-Nov 22)

A challenge you accepted was exciting at first.

Now it is becoming time consuming and tedious. You have given it your best shot. Know when to call it a day. If you continue as you are doing, you will drop from exhaustion.

Take any opportunity to relax and rejuvenate.

It’s not as if you don’t deserve it.

You can avoid spending hours online and doing research if you speak to an expert. The quickest and easiest way to find out the information you need is to talk to those in the know. Pay attention to what an older colleague is talking about. They could know something you haven’t yet been told.

Aquarius

(Jan 21-Feb 19)

It still means a lot to you to be able to remain connected with your family and friends who live some distance away. Keeping in touch with elderly relatives who are still shielding and need to maintain social distancing gives you reassurance that they are coping. Are you single? Someone with a friendly nature who loved music and art wants to get to know you better.

Pisces

(Feb 20-Mar 20)

If you’re keen on an offer that is offered to you today, act now. Don’t delay. It’s unlikely you will get this chance again in a hurry. Any hesitation will be regretted. If you don’t take the initiative now, the chance will be lost. Take a leap of faith. Do something that makes you happy.

Answers to the Sudoku and Crossword on page 29

Thursday, September 24, 2020

31

CARTOONS

Herman

Speed Bump

Frank & Ernest

BC

Scary Gary

Wizard of Id

For Better or for Worse

The San Juan Daily Star

Ziggy

32

The San Juan Daily Star

Thursday, September 24, 2020

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