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September 25-27, 2020

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No Room for Another Closure Puerto Rico Hotel and Tourism Association: We Can’t Endure (Economically) Another Lockdown

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Poll: Trump Faces Challenges in Red States, as Women Favor Biden

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No Help, Not Even a Mask, for Shelter Protection Program

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The San Juan Daily Star

September 25-27, 2020

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September 25- 27, 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.

Hotel industry demands ‘balance,’ says another lockdown might collapse economy

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embers of the Puerto Rico Hotel and Tourism Association (PRHTA) demanded Thursday that the island government and law enforcement agencies be more strict with handling the COVID-19 pandemic because, they said, the industry cannot endure another lockdown, which could result in permanent closure for many enterprises.

During a press conference at the San Juan Marriott Hotel and Stellaris Casino in the Condado district of San Juan, entrepreneurs from the destination industry gathered, complying with safety measures against the coronavirus, to call on the government to “find a balance between health and the economy,” PRHTA Board Director Pablo Torres said.

Torres added that, according to data from the Puerto Rico Tourism Co., the public health emergency has caused the island’s tourism sector to lose as much as $231 million.

“We are on the verge of a total collapse of the economy if a total shutdown takes effect again,” Torres said as he requested that the government enforce the rules stated in the most recent executive order issued to address the public health emergency. “Our industry has already been affected enough in past months; layoffs have been in the thousands.”

Likewise, PRHTA President Clarisa Jiménez said the tourism sector has been “demonized” due to assumptions that COVID-19 hotspots are the result of their activities, even though a recent report from the Municipal Case Investigation and Contact Tracing System reported that 67 percent of the coronavirus outbreaks have been community-based.

Jiménez also urged the central government to enforce the laws and measures at the alternative independent accommodation enterprises and short-term rental apartments where both local and international visitors have stayed largely free of supervision while they fulfill quarantine requirements. She said the visitors gather in those places without taking any safety precautions and in some cases become infected with the coronavirus.

“We have said this before, but we want to be more energetic now in requesting that there has to be enforcement. We have an industry that is fully complying with all protocols locally and with the brands that the hotels work for,” Jiménez said. “We need the government to tackle where the actual problem is.”

In order to help both the public health and tourism sectors coexist, the PRHTA suggested increasing law

enforcement by activating the island National Guard, releasing a mass advertising campaign to call on citizens and visitors to comply with the rules from the executive order enacted in response to the pandemic, increase molecular screening tests and be expeditious with the results to determine the coronavirus’ behavior with accuracy and strengthen the case monitoring program to obtain precise and trustworthy data.

San Juan Water and Beach Club Hotel CEO Joaquín Bolívar III said that “when the … Health secretary [Lorenzo González Feliciano] announced considering another total lockdown, it drove my employees into a panic as another layoff was expected.”

“It will create an absolute crisis on this island, because we already know what’s happening with the government’s healthcare plan, 80,000 jobs might get lost, and once they lose their jobs, they will jam up the public healthcare system,” Bolívar III said.

Holiday Inn Developments President Miguel Vega said meanwhile that “public health experts, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have suggested the importance of mass testing and contact tracing [to control COVID-19].”

“If you don’t have that, you can’t make the right choices,” he said.

When a member of the press asked why, with Puerto Rico having the second-most COVID-19 cases and deaths in the Caribbean, according to the WHO, and being the U.S. territory with the highest rates of cases and deaths, according to the CDC, this data does not justify a total lockdown, Bolivar III responded that the government has not proved “with concrete data” that the island’s hotel and resort properties are the problem.

“The last thing we want is for our employees and guests to get sick. We have heads of households and family members that need to be safe,” he said. “Any businesses that belong to our association and that do not comply with safety measures against COVID-19, shut them down.”

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The San Juan Daily Star

September 25-27, 2020

Shelter network leader calls out lack of protections for youth

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

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his represents how vulnerable our system is for not having a plan or statistics in order to articulate a preventive response that educates and protects our youth.”

This is what Puerto Rico Domestic Violence Shelter Network President Vilmarie Rivera Sierra told the Star after she was asked for a response to the arrest of a man who kidnapped a 16-year-old girl and threatened a social worker in the southern San Juan district of Cupey.

“There’s lack of resources, there’s lack of plans and there’s a lack of commitment to educate and prevent,” Rivera Sierra said. “We have to let our youth know what measures they must take to protect themselves, the outlets they have available in case of any danger and how they can walk freely and ensure their physical safety whenever they face a threat alone.”

Meanwhile, she added, government agencies must sit down and discuss immediately which enforcement entities must be put in charge to protect citizens, and how to provide reliable data upon which to deliver effective public policies.

The Star reported back on Sept. 10 that island Health Secretary Lorenzo González said he has not seen or received a proposal from the Puerto Rico Domestic Violence Shelter Network for a special shelter for survivors with COVID-19. However, Rivera Sierra told the Star that the Network’s vice president, Lisdel Flores, delivered their petition to him personally.

“There’s no plan. We don’t even have accurately curated statistics, so that someone can carry out [policy based on] them, and all of a sudden, we don’t know who to blame, if it’s the [Puerto Rico] Police [Bureau], if it’s [the Department of] Justice, or [some other agency] that some say has an enforcement role, like the Women’s Advocate Office,” Rivera Sierra said.

“We must sit down and see who’s in charge because our youth are exposed to danger.”

Regarding the responses from Gov. Wanda

Vázquez Garced and Women’s Advocate Lersy Boria via Twitter on the alarming increase in cases of women, especially those under 30, being kidnapped, Rivera Sierra described them as disappointing because victims are the ones that end up with no choice or resources for help.

“Whenever we face situations like atmospheric events, natural disasters, or even in the midst of a pandemic, statistics have proven that gender violence cases increase, and that’s what we’re facing now, and it is disappointing that we, as a country, can’t get an articulate response,” she said. “There’s not a plan, and women don’t deserve to be caught in the middle of ego trips and quarrels. We need action.”

As for actions that should be taken, Rivera Sierra called on the government “to declare a state of emergency against gender violence and incorporate gender perspective within the schools’ curriculum,” something both her network and other non-profit organizations have been demanding since September 2019, to no avail.

Domestic violence shelters ‘have not received a face mask from any government agency’ The Star reported back on Sept. 10 that island Health Secretary Lorenzo González Feliciano said he has not seen or received a proposal from the Puerto Rico Domestic Violence Shelter Network for a special shelter

for survivors with COVID-19. However, Rivera Sierra told the Star that the Network’s vice president, Lisdel Flores, delivered their petition to him personally and that it had been put into effect since April 25.

“It was at his office,” she said. “They had a meeting with groups that help homeless people and our network fell under that category. She [Flores] was the one who took the opportunity to give him the petition.”

Rivera Sierra added that, as president of the Network, she never got a response from the Health Department. Moreover, she said, back in April she met with the Family Department and the Women’s Advocate Office via the First Lady’s Office at La Fortaleza, and that she presented the shelters’ concerns about COVID-19 testing and the lack of infrastructure for housing domestic violence survivors who had tested positive for the coronavirus.

“We knew that this was going to be an issue and that we had to assume responsibility and take the lead as community organizations have always done because of the government’s lack of action,” she said. “We haven’t received money from any agency. We haven’t gotten a face mask from any government agency.

Organizations had to cover [the costs of] testing and protective equipment with their operational funds.”

PIP gubernatorial candidate denounces gov’t inaction on gender violence

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

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uerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) candidate for governor Juan Dalmau Ramírez accused the island government on Thursday of abandoning women.

“Faced with the crisis of gender violence, painfully evidenced by recent statistics, the Government has chosen to abandon women,” Dalmau Ramírez said while presenting his plan to tackle gender violence, which is part of his “Patria Nueva” program.

Dalmau Ramírez stressed in a written statement that two years ago, women went to La Fortaleza to demand the declaration of a state of emergency. That year, 52 femicides were registered, 23 of which were committed by partners or ex-partners and 28 for causes “under investigation.”

So far in 2020, 18 women have disappeared, 11 of whom are 18 years old or younger, and three between 20 and 24.

“The Office of the Advocate for Women

has proven to be ineffective in its role, and the other agencies -- the Police, the Department of Health, the Department of the Family -- ignore their responsibility in this crisis,” the independence leader said.

“It is time to listen and respond to specific requests to address gender violence,” Dalmau Ramírez said. “For my part, and underlining the need for a frank and continuous dialogue with the organizations that have been the voice of women, I commit to the following: 1. Establish a gender perspective, not only in education, but in all government management.

2. Urgently initiate an evaluation of the role of each agency in the prevention of gender violence and care for its victims.

3. Carry out an in-depth review of the way in which statistics related to gender-based violence and other gender-related issues are collected, managed and published.

4. Promote rigorous documentation of the causes and circumstances in which incidents of gender violence are generated, so that a

sensible prevention plan can be designed.

5. Ensure adequate preparation of all personnel involved in the care of gender violence: police, judicial officials, social workers, medical personnel.

6. Implement our proposal for Comprehensive Clinical Services for survivors of sexual violence, which provides services beyond legal processes, combining health, academic, sociological and criminal perspectives.

7. Establish special protocols for exceptional situations, such as those that occurred after Hurricane Maria, the earthquakes and the [coronavirus] pandemic, in which the experiences imposed -- from life in shelters to being confined -- have had an impact on gender violence.

8. Recognize and assist the work carried out by non-governmental organizations, and manage the allocation of resources that correspond to the seriousness and urgency of the responsibility they have assumed in the face of the State’s inaction.”

“The light and belated reaction of both

the Governor and the [Women’s] Advocate demonstrate how much remains to be done on the issue of equity and justice for women,” Dalmau Ramírez said. “This has to be a priority issue in any public management agenda. Every woman must have her security guaranteed in our homeland.”

The San Juan Daily Star

September 25-27, 2020

5

Delgado to governor: Activate team of health experts, re-energize COVID-19 prevention efforts

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

F

aced with figures that point to 70 percent hospital occupancy and 708 new cases in a single day, Popular Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for governor Carlos “Charlie” Delgado Altieri asked Gov. WandaVázquez Garced to activate a team of health experts to establish new strategies for stopping the spread of COVID-19 on the island.

“I insist that the government has collapsed and has given up on the fight against COVID-19,” Delgado said. “The figures that have been offered in recent hours raise all the alarms in terms of the number of cases and also about hospital occupation. We cannot wait any longer to activate health experts and develop specific strategies to address this scenario that we are facing.”

The PDP candidate said it is important

to reach a balance between health and economic activity.

“As long as we are effective with a comprehensive action plan, we can con-

tain the spread of the virus and gradually re-establish various activities,” he said.

“What we cannot do is handle the matter irresponsibly. We need measures that are

in tune with the scenario we are living in and not with hypothetical pictures that are not related to the reality that the country is experiencing.”

Delgado added that the appropriate response to the spread of the coronavirus must include experts in mental health and domestic and family violence.

“My vision as governor is to have an advisory team in the areas of health and the economy to establish a balance,” Delgado said. “We have to remember that there is not yet a vaccine for this disease and we must continue with prevention campaigns, access to tests and adequate health services for all citizens, contact tracing and strengthening the hospital sector. In addition, it is necessary to provide economic aid to the sectors, to the workers who have seen their income affected as a result of the confinement measures that, although necessary, have had an adverse effect for many.”

Bond insurers: PR gov’t violated US Constitution by diverting revenues from taxes to banks instead paying debt

By THE STAR STAFF

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he Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico got into a heated exchange with bond insurers earlier this week at a court hearing over whether the island government violated a clause in the U.S. Constitution when it diverted revenues from taxes to bank accounts instead of using them to pay bonds issued by various entities.

U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain has yet to rule on the matter. The oversight board wants a summary judgment against the bond insurers’ claims.

At stake are billions of dollars the bond insurers want

the government to pay back.

At a hearing Wednesday, the oversight board told bond insurers that the commonwealth’s obligation to transfer funds to the Highways and Transportation Authority, Convention Center and District Authority and Puerto Rico Infrastructure Financing Authority, was preempted by the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA), which provides a bankruptcy process for Puerto Rico.

However, the bond insurers said the contracts clause of the Constitution prohibits states and territories from passing laws that interfere with contractual obligations.

They said the island government broke the contract clause when it diverted revenues from tolls, hotel room taxes and even rum taxes to government accounts instead of using them to pay debt.

Oversight board attorney Martin J. Bienenstock of Proskauer Rose LLP said the transfers were a matter of federal law because the oversight board, acting under PROMESA recommendations, oversaw and approved the budgets that withheld the funds for other government obligations.

The oversight board also disputed claims by Ambac Assurance Corp., Assured Guaranty, Financial Guaranty Insurance Corp. and bond trustee U.S. Bank National Association that they have secured claims.

Milbank LLP’s Atara Miller, a lawyer for Ambac,

accused the oversight board of using pre-emption as a tool to solidify its discretion regarding the Puerto Rico government’s practice of transferring funds to bank accounts or for other uses instead of paying bondholders.

Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP attorney Robert Berezin, who was representing bond insurer National Public Finance, said the text of PROMESA clearly avoids any pre-emption of laws directing the implementation of excise taxes to secure the bonds. He said fiscal plans and budgets must respect excise tax statutes.

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The San Juan Daily Star

September 25-27, 2020

Cantera community to meet with PREPA on collaborative agreement

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

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he Company for the Integral Development of the Cantera Peninsula (CDIPC by its Spanish initials) and the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) agreed to meet next Tuesday at CDIPC headquarters to refine the details of a collaborative agreement regarding the connection of residents to a new distribution system, in which the community already has invested $1.6 million, in order to improve deteriorating electrical service that in recent months has presented weekly interruptions of up to 56 hours.

The agreement was made during a public hearing held by the House of Representatives Capital City Development Committee andYouth Affairs Committee, chaired by Rep. Eddie Charbonier Chinea, who questioned the reasons for PREPA’s non-compliance with the residents of San Juan’s Cantera sector.

Charbonier Chinea was emphatic in pointing out that if a sector experiences so many interruptions “it must be on PREPA’s priority list of places to attend to,” so that the utility does not have to continually assign brigades to resolve the emergencies.

“Please make Cantera -- I say this as a personal request, not as a representative, but as a human being -- make them a priority in your shifts, in your offices, because this situation is unsustainable,” the legislator said in a written

statement, adding that in these communities elderly residents need electricity for connection to machines and for other health-related needs, so the lack of electricity negatively affects their health.

After a public hearing on Feb. 12, the participants determined that the agreement would be signed in a week, but that action was stopped when a flag was raised over two conflicting points related to the costs of the primary lines, which according to CDIPC Executive Director Francine Sánchez Marcano must be paid for by PREPA, the process of handling accounts that have debts and the informal use of electrical service.

Sánchez Marcano said that at that meeting the CDIPC proposed to discuss these necessary points for the signing of the agreement “and we made an investment of $1.6 million, which was not our responsibility; however, the community recognized that this was a priority, so that cost was assumed, but with the [outstanding] sum of $568,575, we cannot assume that, and it must appear in the collaborative agreement that PREPA is going to have a commitment to the community and that it is going to identify that money to correct it.”

The sum is for improvements that PREPA’s system needs, Sánchez Marcano said, pointing out that “it is very difficult to sign an agreement when they are treating us as if we were a private entity and we are another government agency, just like them.”

“So they have to take responsibility,” she

said.

The community leader added that they could be closer to reaching an agreement on the issue of accounts with debts, but because many of them are illegally connected to the grid they must be worked on individually.

Gertrudis Calderón Hernandez, president of the Cantera Peninsula Neighborhood Development Council, asked PREPA meanwhile for a certain date for the start of work to improve the system since “seven months have passed and the claim remains the same.”

“This time we feel hopeless, in complete distrust of any agreement that has been made previously,” she said. “Health continues to deteriorate, appliances continue to be damaged, complaints continue to be submitted and our electrical system worsens. We are here again in the same scenario as seven months ago. Our question is, what else can we expect?”

During the public hearing process, Rep. Manuel Natal Albelo, when requesting a breakdown of the $568,575 necessary to be able to start the connection to the new system, questioned the fact that since Feb. 12, when the understanding was reached to sign a collaborative agreement, PREPA signed 106 contracts in excess of $154 million, according to the island Comptroller’s Office website.

“What this community needs is half a million dollars and PREPA tells us that it does not have the money to do the work, but it also confirms that they have not made any efforts

to request that money from the government of Puerto Rico itself, or from federal entities that could have the money,” the legislator said, pointing out that if this situation occurred in a community with greater economic resources, it would have been resolved immediately.

Meanwhile, Sen. Henry Neumann Zayas of San Juan objected strongly to the fact that PREPA itself has for years perpetuated the situation with the electrical system in Cantera to the point that the community must request that an agreement be signed due to mistrust of the public corporation that is obligated to offer electrical service, for which the residents pay.

“That half a million dollars does not appear for this community, when they have already invested $1.6 million -- you owe them $1.6 million,” Neumann Zayas said. “Why? Because that is not part of what a community must do in order to have electricity. You owe it to them!”

The senator said that due to all the losses in household goods and quality of life that Cantera residents have sustained, “this has to be a clean slate, once you have the necessary infrastructure in place to provide a service this community deserves.”

“This has to be a priority,” Neumann Zayas said. “I recognize that there are fewer people [working] in PREPA, but this situation has been occurring in this area for the past 50 years. The situation is such that a director of that agency must order that until this problem is solved, the brigades must not leave the place.”

US Secretary of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service sued for not protecting endangered lizards

By THE STAR STAFF

T

he Center for Biological Diversity has sued U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to protect eight rare species of skink, a type of lizard found only in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, under the Endangered Species Act. The skinks face extinction because of introduced predators, habitat destruction and climate change.

The suit was filed Sept. 23 in Florida.

“Wildlife officials simply can’t put off endangered species protections for these rare and vulnerable lizards any longer,” said Elise Bennett, a Center attorney, in a statement. “Skinks have been driven from their limited habitat by rampant development and human-introduced predators until many can no longer be found.

Waiting much longer to protect these rare little animals would mean ratifying their extinction.”

Caribbean skinks, which can grow to be

about 8 inches long, are unique among reptiles in having reproductive systems most like humans, including a placenta and live birth. They have cylindrical bodies, and most have ill-defined necks that, together with their sinuous movements and smooth, bronze-colored skin, make them look like stubby snakes with legs.

The Tucson, Ariz.-based Center for Biological Diversity petitioned to protect the skinks in 2014 with Renata Platenberg, an ecologist specializing in Caribbean reptiles. In 2016 the Fish and Wildlife Service found the eight species might warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act, but the agency subsequently failed to make a determination within the required 12-month period. It has been more than five years since the agency missed this key deadline.

The skinks are threatened by habitat destruction, human-introduced predators like rats and mongooses, climate change and resulting sea-level rise and extreme storm events.

“These skinks are pretty special,” Platenberg said. “They’re long and cylindrical with a

metallic copper sheen, very different from the other lizards around them. They urgently need protection and recovery efforts to ensure they are still around even 10 years from now.”

Two of the skinks, the lesser Virgin Islands skink and Virgin Islands bronze skink, as well as the endangered Virgin Islands tree boa, are believed to occur on Great St. James, which Jeffrey Epstein, the now-deceased millionaire accused of rape, bought in 2016 to construct a sprawling compound with two homes, cottages and various other buildings connected by private roads.

At least some of the construction on Great St. James took place without government permits. Since Epstein’s death the fate of the island and the endangered animals is uncertain, the statement says.

Scientists identified the skinks as separate species in a 2012 study. All are considered critically endangered or endangered under the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species, and they are

absent or extremely rare across most of their former ranges.

In addition to habitat destruction and nonnative predators like cats and the aforementioned mongooses and rats, climate change is causing sea-level rise and extreme storm events like the deadly Category 5 hurricanes Maria and Irma in 2017, which damaged the limited habitat of these entirely island-dwelling species. As many of the skinks’ islands are small and low in elevation, they are particularly vulnerable.

U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt

The San Juan Daily Star

September 25-27, 2020

7

Trump faces challenges even in red states, poll shows, as women favor Biden

By ALEXANDER BURNS and JONATHAN MARTIN

P

resident Donald Trump is on the defensive in three red states he carried in 2016, narrowly trailing Joe Biden in Iowa and battling to stay ahead of him in Georgia and Texas, as Trump continues to face a wall of opposition from women that has also endangered his party’s control of the Senate, according to a poll conducted by The New York Times and Siena College.

Trump’s vulnerability even in conservative-leaning states underscores just how precarious his political position is, less than six weeks before Election Day. While he and Biden are competing aggressively for traditional swing states like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Florida, the poll suggests that Biden has assembled a coalition formidable enough to jeopardize Trump even in historically Republican parts of the South and Midwest.

A yawning gender gap in all three states is working in Biden’s favor, with the former vice president making inroads into conservative territory with strong support from women. In Iowa, where Biden is ahead of Trump, 45% to 42%, he is up among women by 14 percentage points.

Men favor Trump by 8 points.

In Georgia, where the two candidates are tied at 45%, Biden leads among women by 10 points. Trump is ahead with men by a similar margin of 11 percentage points.

Trump’s large advantage among men in Texas is enough to give him a small advantage there, 46% to 43%.

Men prefer the president to his Democratic challenger by 16 points, while women favor Biden by an 8-point margin.

There was a significant gender gap in the 2016 election, too, but at that time it tilted toward Trump because men supported him so heavily, according to exit polls. In the Times poll, Biden sharply narrowed Trump’s advantage with men while improving on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 lead with women in Texas and Iowa.

In Georgia, Biden’s lead with women essentially matched Clinton’s final advantage in the 2016 race. But where Trump carried Georgia men by 23 points four years ago, he was ahead by about half that margin with men in the state in the Times poll.

The overwhelming majority of voters — about 9 in every 10 in all three states — say they have definitely made up their minds about whom to vote for, leaving relatively little room for late developments to shift the overarching shape of the race.

The poll, conducted by phone among likely voters from Sept. 16-22, had a margin of sampling error of 4 percentage points for Texas and five in Iowa and Georgia.

Trump’s tenuous hold on some of the largest red states in the country has presented Biden with unexpected political opportunities and stirred debate among Democrats about how aggressively to contest states far outside the traditional presidential battleground. Biden has made efforts so far in a few states that voted emphatically for Trump four years ago, including Georgia and Iowa, but

President Trump refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power during a news conference on Wednesday. he has resisted pressure to compete for Texas, a huge and complicated state that Democrats believe is unlikely to furnish the decisive 270th Electoral College vote.

But the presence of competitive Senate races in many of those states has been a powerful enticement to Democrats, including Biden.

The lopsided gender dynamics of the presidential contest extend to Senate races in Iowa, Georgia and Texas, with Republican incumbents facing strong challenges from Democratic candidates favored heavily by women.

The gender gap is pronounced even in Iowa, where both Senate candidates are women. The Democratic challenger, Theresa Greenfield, has a 2-point lead over Sen. Joni Ernst and an 11-point advantage with women.

The poll partly coincided with Trump’s announcement that he would make a new Supreme Court nomination to fill the vacancy created by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but it was not clear from the survey whether voters had a particularly strong reaction to that possibility.

Mary McKinney, 48, of St. Charles, Iowa, said she supported Trump because of his plain-spoken manner but felt the Supreme Court process was moving “a little fast,” adding that she would not support efforts to outlaw abortion.

“I don’t like abortion, but I don’t like a woman being forced to carry a baby due to a traumatic incident, so I guess I’m kind of neutral on that,” said McKinney, who

works at home as a foster parent.

Reflecting the conservative tilt of the states polled, Trump and his party are in better shape than in most of the others recently polled by The Times, and he may ultimately carry all of them. The president’s approval rating is in positive territory in Texas, and voters are almost evenly split in Iowa and Georgia. That is markedly stronger than Trump’s standing in core swing states like Wisconsin and Arizona.

Trump has maintained an enduring advantage over Biden on economic issues, and that extends to all three states in the Times poll. And where voters elsewhere have heavily favored Biden over Trump on the issue of managing the coronavirus pandemic, voters in Texas and Georgia are closely divided on that score. Biden still holds a sizable advantage on the issue in Iowa.

In Georgia and Texas, the election is also split along racial lines. Trump is winning about two-thirds of white voters in both Georgia and Texas, while Biden leads by enormous margins with Black voters in both states. Hispanic voters in Texas favor Biden by 25 points, 57% to 32%.

Still, many of the same voters, in heavily white Iowa and two traditionally conservative Southern states, are not as dismissive of systemic racism as Trump is. In each state, half or more of those surveyed found racism in the country’s criminal justice system to be a bigger problem than rioting.

Continues on page 8

8

The San Juan Daily Star

September 25-27, 2020

From page 7 And as with The Times surveys of other competitive states from earlier this month, voters expressed little confidence in Trump’s ability to heal the country.

Jeff Secora of Mason City, Iowa, is the kind of voter Biden will have to keep in his camp to carry the state.

Secora, 63, an independent, said he had voted for Trump in 2016 but had grown fed up. He said he had reservations about Biden but preferred his “honesty and integrity” to the president’s character.

“He is polarizing, and he’s proud of it, and it just makes this country look weaker to our enemies,” Secora said of Trump, adding: “He lies all the time. He’s totally unpresidential. He makes Richard Nixon look like a choir boy.”

The Senate races in the three states also highlight the same forces that are propelling Biden’s candidacy. Democrats currently appear to have a good shot of achieving a 50-50 split in the Senate, but in order to win an outright majority they would have to push deeper into Republicanleaning states.

The party may have its best chance of such a pickup in Iowa, where Greenfield, the Democrat, is capturing 42% of the vote to 40% for Ernst, a dangerously low number for an incumbent this late in the race.

In addition to leading among women, Greenfield is ahead by 10 points among voters older than 65, a group that Ernst won overwhelmingly when she captured her seat six years ago.

In Georgia, where there are two Senate races on the ballot, Republicans appear better positioned but are still facing highly competitive campaigns. David Perdue is currently winning 41%, while his Democratic rival, Jon Ossoff, is taking 38%. Sixteen percent of Georgia voters said they were undecided, including a significant number of African Americans, who historically side overwhelmingly with Democrats.

The state’s other Senate race, to fill the unexpired term of former Sen. Johnny Isakson, is even more uncertain. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, the Republican appointed to replace Isakson, is in a multicandidate race with a host of other contenders.

If nobody gets 50%, the top two vote-getters would advance to a January runoff, which could prove pivotal in a narrowly divided Senate.

Loeffler is winning 23% of the vote, while her nearest Republican rival, Rep. Doug Collins, is garnering 19%. The top Democratic vote-getter is the Rev. Raphael Warnock, who’s also taking 19% of the vote. The highest vote share in the race, however, is not currently residing with any candidate: 27% of Georgians said they were undecided in the race.

Both Loeffler and Collins have tied themselves closely to Trump in the hope of gaining a decisive advantage with conservatives in the first round of voting. But in a runoff, either of them would be confronting a rising population of younger people and Black and Latino voters who reject the president.

One of those voters is Casey Andre-Lindsay, 41, of Roswell, who said she planned to vote for Biden. Andre-Lindsay,

who lost her job this year, said she saw Trump’s agenda as defined by turning back progress. Of Republicans, she said, “It doesn’t seem like they want it to be a democracy where people speak up anymore.”

“It’s going to take a decade to fix the things that he is trying to dismantle,” Andre-Lindsay said of Trump.

The Texas Senate race appears to be the best bet for Republicans among the three states. Sen. John Cornyn, who’s seeking a fourth term, is winning 42% of the vote, while M.J. Hegar, the Democrat, is taking 37%.

Still, that a long-serving official such as Cornyn is not more firmly in control of the race illustrates the increasingly competitive nature of Texas elections and the GOP’s struggles with suburban voters. Cornyn’s advantage is powered almost entirely by rural voters: he’s trailing significantly among those who live in cities and has just a 2-point advantage with suburbanites, 17% of whom said they were still undecided.

A significant danger looming for Texas Republicans is that Trump’s hard-line immigration policies are increasingly out of step with where the state is today and where it is heading.

Three-quarters of the state’s voters support a pathway to citizenship for immigrants in the country illegally, including 98% of Texans under 30. Just 20% of Texans overall opposed such a process.

Texans were closely split on Trump’s proposal for a border wall. But opposition to such a wall is overwhelming among younger voters and significant among independents and those living in the state’s cities and suburbs.

una sola muerte por no utilizar el asiento protector,

es demasiado.

787-721-4142 Autorizado por la Oficina del Contralor Electoral #OCE-SA-2020-611

The San Juan Daily Star

September 25-27, 2020

9

Ginsburg clerks remember her as a mentor who treated them like family

Fromer President Bill Clinton pays his respects to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the Supreme Court in Washington, Sept. 23, 2020.

By HAILEY FUCHS

F

or the birthdays of her Supreme Court clerks, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg would often bring a cake baked by her husband, Marty, a tax lawyer and deft chef, serving it at a celebration in her chambers.

When the clerks had children, the justice would send onesies or tiny T-shirts emblazoned with “R.B.G. grandclerk.�

She played matchmaker for a few, doled out job recommendations and medical referrals to many, and officiated some of their weddings.

As the nation and its leaders began a period of public mourning on Wednesday for Ginsburg — hailing her as a legal giant, a trailblazing woman and a fierce champion of equality — her former clerks, the exclusive group of people who worked by her side during her years as a judge and justice, remembered her in more personal ways, as an exacting mentor who treated them like family.

About 120 of the justice’s former law clerks, from the Supreme Court and U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, lined the steps of the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning as honorary pallbearers. Many traveled far to pay their final respects to a woman they revered. “It was our solemn duty to stand in honor of her and serve her this one last time,� said Amanda L. Tyler, a professor at the law school of the University of California, Berkeley, who served as an honorary pallbearer. “We came out en masse to help her one final time.�

Each year, Ginsburg selected about four or five people — who were usually not long out of law school — for the coveted privilege of serving as her clerks. Before their interviews, those vying for the post were often counseled to expect long pauses from the soft-spoken justice, who was known for her deliberateness with her words.

But those interviews often became informal and personal. Kelsi Corkran, who heads the Supreme Court practice

at the law firm Orrick, recalled that hers had touched on the paintings in Ginsburg’s office and Corkran’s children. “For me to show up with two young children and for the justice to not see that as an impediment for me to fully do the work was certainly a sign of the progress that she had brought forth through her work,� Corkran said, noting that Ginsburg had been rejected for a clerkship with Justice Felix Frankfurter because she was a mother.

Neil S. Siegel, a professor at the Duke University School of Law, recalled that during his interview with Ginsburg, he mentioned an author whom he had read and who happened to be speaking at the Supreme Court Historical Society that evening. Ginsburg invited Siegel to join her at the event with her husband, and at the end of the night, the justice offered Siegel the clerkship.

In the many hours she shared with her clerks, Ginsburg developed a personal bond that extended beyond their professional relationship. Many grew to know her husband well, too.

Paul S. Berman, a professor at the George Washington University Law School who clerked for Ginsburg beginning in 1997, remembered one day when she buzzed him on the intercom, which usually meant she had a request. Instead, she was calling because she had found out that Berman had begun dating a clerk who worked in another justice’s chambers. “I didn’t know you had a special friend at the court,�

Ginsburg told him. “You must have her up for tea.�

The next week, Ginsburg hosted Berman and his new girlfriend in her chambers for high tea, with a tablecloth and fine china. Naturally, he said, she officiated their wedding several years later.

The warmth and generosity came with high standards, former clerks said in interviews, recounting the professional rigor applied by Ginsburg, who was a stickler for detail. As part of their duties, clerks were expected to draft opinions with triple spacing, leaving ample room for her meticulous editing and handwritten comments. They often spent late nights at the justice’s elbow as she reviewed draft after draft. “Get it right and keep it tight� was one of the justice’s catchphrases, said Ruthanne Deutsch, an appellate lawyer who served as a clerk to Ginsburg from 2007 through 2008.

The job was a “master course in how to write,� she said. “It meant an excruciating attention to every word to make sure that there was no excess — that every word, every phrase, every paragraph in an opinion had a purpose,�

Deutsch added.

Some clerks stayed with the justice late into the night while she toiled over opinions. But Joseph Palmore, a clerk from 2001 to 2002, had a baby at home when he worked for Ginsburg; she often encouraged him to return home for dinner to spend time with his family.

Shortly after Trevor W. Morrison learned that he had been selected for a clerkship with Ginsburg, he mailed her a baby announcement. She responded by sending one of

her famous “R.B.G. grandclerk� outfits. “She treated her clerks and their families as an extended family,� said Morrison, who is now the dean of New York University School of Law.

GOBIERNO DE PUERTO RICO JUNTA DE CALIDAD AMBIENTAL

AVISO AMBIENTAL INTENCIĂ“N DE RENOVAR PERMISO DE INYECCIĂ“N SUBTERRĂ NEA El peticionario, Sr. Juan L. PagĂĄn Collazo, cuya direcciĂłn postal es Box 2030, Vega Baja, Puerto Rico 00694, ha solicitado al Departamento de Recurs os Naturales y Ambientales (DRNA) la renovaciĂłn del Permiso de OperaciĂłn UIC-10-74- 0012-RA para una facilidad de inyecciĂłn subterrĂĄnea (FIS) Clase VC-1, bajo las disposiciones del Reglamento para el Control de la InyecciĂłn SubterrĂĄnea (RCIS) y la Ley Federal de Agua Potable Segura, segĂşn enmendada 42 USC 300 f et seq.

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Luego de realizada la evaluaciĂłn correspondiente de los documento s sometidos, el DRNA tiene la, intenciĂłn de emitir el (los) intento de aviso pĂşblico para la instalaciĂłn ant es mencionada en, conformidad con los requisitos del RCIS y de la LFAPS. (VWD QRWLÂżFDFLyQ VH KDFH SDUD LQIRUPDU TXH HO '51$ KD SUHSDUDGR el borrador del permiso de, operaciĂłn de forma tal que el pĂşblico interesado pueda someter sus comentarios con relaciĂłn al, mismo.

El permiso contiene las condiciones y prohibiciones necesarias para cumplir con los, requisitos reglamentarios aplicables .

El pĂşblico puede evaluar copia de la solicitud de permiso que sometiĂł el peticionario ante el DRNA, el borrador del permiso y otros documentos UHOHYDQWHV HQ OD 2ÂżFLQD 5HJLRQDO GH $UHFLER GHO '51$ XELFDGD HQ Ave. San Patricio# 44, Carretera #2, Km. 80.6, Arecibo PR. Copia de dichos documentos pueden entre las 8:00 a.m. y las 4:00 p.m. de lunes a viernes o escribiendo a la siguiente direcciĂłn: Departamento GH 5HFXUVRV 1DWXUDO HV \ $PELHQWDOHV 2ÂżFLQD 5HJLRQDO GH $UHFLER PO Apartado 8568 Humacao, PR 00791.

Las partes interesadas o afectada s pu ede n envia r sus comentarios al Director Regional del DRNA en Arecibo a la direcciĂłn postal antes indicada o solicitar un a vista pĂşblica por escrito a la Secretario del DRNA, a la direcciĂłn postal: Departamento de Recursos Naturales y Ambientales PO Box 11488 San Juan PR 00910.

Los comentarios por escrito o la solicitud de vista pĂşblica deberĂĄn ser sometidos al DRNA no mĂĄs tarde de treinta (30) dĂ­as a partir de la fecha de publicaciĂłn de este aviso. La fecha lĂ­mite para someter comentarios puede ser extendida si se es tima necesario o apropiado para el interĂŠs pĂşblico. La solicitud para una vista pĂşblica deberĂĄ seĂąalar la razĂłn o las razones que en la opiniĂłn del solicitante ameritan la celebraciĂłn de la misma. De realizarse una vista pĂşblica, los interesados o afectados tendrĂĄn una oportunidad razonable para presentar evidencia o testimonio sobre si se emite o deniega el permiso, si la Secretario determina que dicha vista es necesaria o apropiada

Rafael A. Machargo Maldonado Secretario Junta de Calidad Ambiental Carr 8838 Km 6. Sector El Cinco, RĂ­o Piedras, PR 00926 / San Juan Industrial Park, 1375 Ponce de Leon, San Juan PR 00926

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10

The San Juan Daily Star

September 25-27, 2020

What to know about Newsom’s big climate plan

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday announced an executive order requiring the sale of all new passenger vehicles to be zero-emission by 2035.

By JILL COWAN

G

ov. Gavin Newsom has in recent weeks repeatedly promised major action to combat global warming as record-breaking wildfires have punished California.

On Wednesday, as my colleague Brad Plumer and I reported, he delivered on those pledges.

Standing before a half-circle of glittering electric cars, Newsom announced an executive order directing regulators to develop a plan that would require automakers to sell steadily more zero-emissions passenger cars in the state, such as battery-powered or hydrogen-powered cars and pickup trucks, until they make up 100% of new auto sales. This would

have to be done by 2035.

He framed the move as part of California’s work to at once be a leader in fighting climate change and to benefit economically from that foresight.

“This is the next big global industry,” Newsom said at a virtual news conference, referring to clean-energy technology, like electric vehicles. “And California wants to dominate it.”

The plan would also, among other things, set a goal for all heavy-duty trucks on the road in California to be zero-emissions by 2045 where possible. It also sets the goal of ending new permits for hydraulic fracturing by 2024.

The governor said he would work with the state’s Legislature to set rules that would better protect vulnerable

communities from nearby fossil-fuel extraction and help the state’s energy industry transition away from oil and gas.

Newsom said he lacked the authority to ban oil and gas drilling in the state on his own.

“None of us are naive. California is a fossil-fuel state,” he said. “We need to focus on a just transition.”

As you might imagine, the reaction to the order was swift and varied.

Some environmental justice advocates said the order didn’t go far enough.

Gladys Limon, executive director of the California Environmental Justice Alliance, said that while the move toward zero-emissions cars was laudable, anything short of halting new oil and gas extraction permits entirely — not just ending hydraulic fracturing — undercuts that work.

And she said that the governor’s announcement lacked urgency for protecting vulnerable communities.

“We urge our state’s leadership to move more quickly on identifying how our transition from a fossil-fuel-based economy will align with an equitable one,” she said, referring to the order’s plan to build a carbon-neutral California economy. “We look forward to working with the administration to center frontline communities and workers to ensure that they benefit from critically needed health and economic benefits.”

Oil and gas industry representatives criticized the order as job-killing and practically unfeasible.

Cathy Reheis-Boyd, president of the Western States Petroleum Association, said she believed the governor’s ambi-

tious plan did not include enough information about how the state would pay to build up infrastructure for electric vehicles, nor did it account for how expensive gas would become for people who can’t afford to buy a new electric car.

“I don’t see where A plus B equals C,” she said.

As for the transition of workers out of oil and gas production into green jobs, she said there needed to be a real discussion about relative pay.

“We don’t just have jobs; we have careers,” she said.

And then, there’s the fact that vehicle-emissions regulations have been at the center of one of many long-running fights between the Trump administration and California.

Mary Nichols, chairperson of the California Air Resources Board, said she expected the state to be taken to court over the regulations.

“We’ll get there eventually,” she said Wednesday at the news conference.

Paul Cort, a lawyer with the environmental group Earthjustice, said that in any case, the governor’s move sent a strong signal.

Although many of the commitments it laid out were already well underway, the rules, which will be enshrined by agencies like the air resources board, have been given a powerful boost.

“There will be those last gasp fights, for sure, but I think it is a signal to the manufacturers like Ford, which was highlighted today, that if they commit to this future, if they make those investments, there will be a market for them,” Cort said.

The San Juan Daily Star

11

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12

The San Juan Daily Star

September 25-27, 2020

Beyond TikTok, Walmart looks to transform

By MICHAEL CORKERY

res.

W

almart’s planned investment in TikTok is being called “transformative.”

Another analyst predicted the deal could “redefine retail” across the industry. “It is a bigger-picture opportunity,” said Oliver Chen, a retail analyst at Cowen.

Known for its homogeneous big-box stores in rural and suburban America, Walmart has turned more than a few heads with its newly announced multibillion-dollar stake in a video app that is synonymous with the fun digital lives of young people.

As in the early days of many tech investments by large corporations, the details of how Walmart will use TikTok are fuzzy. But one thing is clear: Walmart now has something that its rival Amazon does not. It can engage with consumers not just when they are buying something on the retailer’s website, but while they are creating and consuming viral videos.

The retailer could, for example, embed advertisements in the user-generated videos with links to the Walmart website or siphon data from the site’s tens of millions of users to glean their shopping habits based on the content they posted.

The intrigue surrounding the plan by Walmart and its co-investor in TikTok, Oracle, has been heightened by the geopolitics of the deal, which President Donald Trump threatened to block if China retains any ownership in the company.

But away from the world stage, Walmart has been making a series of moves that are already transforming the company and, by exten-

Vice President Mike Pence, second from left, during a tour of a Walmart Inc. distribution center, lead by the company’s chief executive, Doug McMillon, in Gordonsville, Va., on April 27, 2020. sion, the broader U.S. retail sector.

Most have involved groceries, a mundane business that seems a far cry from TikTok videos.

But it has helped Walmart gain one advantage over Amazon, particularly during the pandemic.

Online grocery pickup, which allows customers to order their food online and retrieve it outside the store, is at the center of this strategy.

This month, Walmart announced a new subscription delivery service, Walmart+, which some have billed as the company’s answer to Amazon Prime. For $98 a year and minimum

orders of $35, customers can have unlimited deliveries to their homes.

On Tuesday, UBS analysts predicted that Walmart+ would have 10 million subscribers by the end of 2021. Amazon Prime, which costs $119 a year, has about 150 million subscribers.

Walmart’s service is centered on using most of its 4,700 stores as miniature e-commerce warehouses. Because the stores are close to customers’ homes, that shorter delivery time should reduce costs for Walmart and keep food fresher.

Amazon has been offering similar services from its Whole Foods stores but does not have nearly the same footprint as Walmart.

“You see Amazon following behind Walmart on this,” said Edward Yruma, a retail analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Driven by online grocery sales, Walmart’s overall e-commerce sales nearly doubled in the latest quarter. It may be difficult to keep growing at that rate, though, as other large grocers like Albertsons and Kroger start to ramp up their online ordering and curbside grocery pickup.

Success in online grocery has led to more hiring, which is significant for Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer. The company’s head count had been relatively steady for several years. But the pandemic has required more help, as shoppers have come to stock up amid the lockdowns.

Walmart has increased its workforce by 14% since last year, according to Drew Holler, head of human resources at Walmart’s U.S. sto-

Last week, the company announced that it was overhauling management roles in its supercenters, a move that has big implications for how many of its 1.5 million employees are paid and promoted.

Some jobs overseeing traditional in-store departments are being phased out, while other store employees in departments like bakery and automotive care are receiving raises.

“We are repositioning our stores for what we think the future of retail is going to look like,” Holler said in an interview.

To that end, some analysts say, Walmart should be investing in the stores and e-commerce infrastructure rather than spending billions on investments like TikTok. Scott Mushkin, founder of consumer research firm R5 Capital and a longtime Wall Street analyst, said Walmart should be focusing more on automating its online grocery process to reduce costs or even bolstering its fresh food offerings.

Even with the subscription fees for Walmart+, Mushkin and other analysts calculate that the retailer will lose money on each home delivery.

“Maybe TikTok is a magic wand,” Mushkin said. “But why blow money on a deal like that when they could be investing in automation in the grocery-picking process?”

Other analysts say the Walmart+ offering, after much fanfare and anticipation, will never be able to compete with Prime, which has no minimum order and includes streaming entertainment.

The major Walmart+ perk is a 5-cent-agallon discount at affiliated gas stations.

“It is not as powerful as what we imagined,” analysts at Morgan Stanley wrote in a research note this week. In June, before the details of the services were announced, the investment bank had predicted that as many as 20 million people could sign up within a few months and that Walmart’s stock would soar in value.

In a statement this weekend, Walmart said TikTok would be “an important way for us to expand our reach and serve omnichannel customers as well as grow our third-party marketplace, fulfillment and advertising businesses.”

The proposed investment in TikTok sounds rather vague, but many analysts said they were willing to give Walmart time to work out the details.

“The future of retail is community engagement where users are creating content,” said Chen, the Cowen analyst. “Walmart is taking a very proactive stance.”

The San Juan Daily Star

September 25-27, 2020

13 Stocks

‘Healthy correction’ or something more? Stock swings keep investors on edge

A

barrage of worrisome news is rocking the U.S. stock market after a nearly six-month surge, leading some investors to question whether the recent selloff in equities heralds a longer period of volatility.

The S&P 500 index was on the verge of a correction, defined as a 10% drop from its all-time closing high, after ending 9.6% below its Sept. 2 record on Wednesday. The benchmark index was higher in Thursday afternoon trade after shuffling between gains and losses earlier in the session.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite confirmed a swift correction earlier this month, and remained down more than 10% from its Sept. 2 high even as the index was rising on Thursday.

The rapid selloff has occurred amid fading hopes of further coronavirus-related fiscal stimulus from Congress, looming political uncertainty over the U.S. presidential election and fears of a COVID-19 resurgence in the fall.

“The action that we have seen this week makes me less confident that this is a healthy correction,” said Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at Baird.

One source of unease has been the failure of lawmakers to agree on further fiscal stimulus to help the U.S. economy recover from coronavirus-fueled shutdowns earlier this year, despite Federal Reserve officials’ repeated calls for more aid.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs cut their forecast for fourth-quarter growth in gross domestic product (GDP) to 3% from 6%, based on an apparent lack of further fiscal support, which they said would reduce disposable income and weigh on consumer spending.

“The lack of stimulus, the uptick in coronavirus cases, the tension coming out of D.C. overall lends to an environment that is going to be a little bit harder for stocks to remain relatively sanguine through,” Delwiche said.

Earlier this month, Blackstone Executive Vice Chairman Tony James warned on CNBC that this could be a “lost decade” for equity returns as companies struggle to grow their earnings.

During the recent selloff, the focus has centered on large technology and growth stocks that have carried the market for much of the year, but have also been hit harder this month.

The S&P 500 technology sector had fallen 12.8% from the market’s Sept. 2 high as of Wednesday, while Amazon and Netflix each had declined about 15% over that time.

September has marked a reversal in stock market trends that have persisted for much of 2020. Without the performance of the tech sector, as well as Amazon and Netflix, the S&P 500 would have lost more than 9% of its market value as of Wednesday, as opposed to a 0.2% gain for the year, according to Refinitiv data.

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September 25-27, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

As virus cases surge in Europe, hospitalizations lag. But for how long?

By MARK LANDLER

I

n Munich, Germany, normally brimming with boisterous crowds for Oktoberfest this month, authorities just banned gatherings of more than five people. In Marseille, France, all bars and restaurants will be closed Monday. And in London, where the government spent weeks urging workers to return to the city’s empty skyscrapers, it is now asking them to work from home.

Summer ended in Europe this week with a heavy thud amid ominous signs that a spike in coronavirus cases may send another wave of patients into hospitals. Officials across the Continent fear a repeat of the harrowing scenes from spring, when the virus swamped intensive care units in Italy and Spain. Already in Spain, some hospitals are struggling with an influx of virus patients.

“I’m sorry to say that, as in Spain and France and many other countries, we’ve reached a perilous turning point,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Tuesday, as he imposed new restrictions — including shutting pubs and restaurants at 10 p.m. — to prevent Britain’s National Health Service from becoming overwhelmed.

But just how imminent is the peril?

As they weigh actions to curb a second wave of the virus, Johnson and other European leaders are dealing with a confusing, fastchanging situation, with conflicting evidence on how quickly new cases are translating into hospital admissions — and how severe those cases will end up being.

In Spain, where new cases have surged to more than 10,000 a day, hospitals in Madrid are close to capacity and the government said it was preparing to reopen field hospitals in hotels and in the city’s largest exhibition

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Medical residents protesting their working conditions on Tuesday in Barcelona, Spain. center. Yet in France, which reported 66,000 new cases over the last seven days, hospital admissions and deaths, while also rising, are going up more slowly.

There is a similar divergence between infection rates and hospitalizations in Germany and Austria. And in Britain, which reported 6,178 new coronavirus cases Wednesday — the highest figure since May 1 — just 134 patients were admitted to hospitals Monday, barely a tenth of those admitted in early May. Some experts argue that this shows the virus has lost potency since it first arrived in Europe, or that it is now infecting mostly younger people, who are less likely to experience severe symptoms. Others say it is a testament to social distancing, the widespread use of face masks, greater precautions for more vulnerable people and better medical treatment.

“It’s not going to be like the first time when we needed to stop everything,” said Dr. Karol Sikora, an oncologist and professor of medicine at the University of Buckingham Medical School. “It’s going to be a slow burn.”

He and 31 other doctors and scientists sent a letter to Johnson urging him to take a more targeted response to the spike in cases.

Other experts, however, warn against being lulled into complacency. The gap between case numbers and hospital admissions, they say, is mainly a reflection of the fact that more people are being tested, and more

quickly.

“Deaths and hospitalizations are a lagging indicator,” said Devi Sridhar, director of the global health governance program at the University of Edinburgh. “There was no lag back in March because we only tested people who were already in the hospital. At a certain point, your ICUs are going to fill up.”

The uncertainty about hospitalizations and deaths is another example of how mysterious the virus remains, even after 10 months of intense study. And that uncertainty complicates the task for political leaders who are balancing the need to protect their citizens with a desire avoid imposing more lockdowns.

In France, where the government has adopted a philosophy of learning to live with the virus, President Emmanuel Macron has bucked pressure to impose new national restrictions and left it to cities to impose tighter curbs on public gatherings.

“Many people told me, ‘Stop everything,’” he said Tuesday. “On the contrary, I believe that we must continue.”

France currently has more than 5,700 people hospitalized with COVID-19. Roughly 900 of them are in intensive care. That is more than during the summer, when hospitalizations dropped to about 4,500 people, and it is raising concerns about strained hospital staff. But it is far less than during the peak last April, when more than 32,000 were hospitalized.

And the rate of spread is slower this time around, which helps cushion the impact on hospitals, according to Dr. Yazdan Yazdanpanah, head of the infectious disease department at Bichat-Claude Bernard Hospital in Paris. In March, he said, the number of hospitalized patients doubled every three days. Now the rate is 15 days in Ile-de-France, the region that includes Paris.

Yazdanpanah attributed that difference to more people wearing masks and the fact that many, especially seniors, are more careful about social distancing. And while the patients arriving in hospitals fit the same profile as last spring — mainly older or high-risk — doctors have learned how to treat them more effectively, with techniques like highflow oxygen, which makes intubating less necessary.

“All of this has decreased the number of patients who have to go into intensive care by 60%, and the mortality rate by 50%,” he said.

The problems are greater in Spain, where more than 11,000 people are hospitalized with the virus, nearly 4,000 of them in Madrid. Coronavirus patients fill 25% of the available beds in Madrid and hospitals still have spare ICU capacity — a far cry from last spring, when they were so overcrowded that patients were forced to sleep in corridors.

But doctors said the influx of patients was crippling primary-care services because the hospitals have had to divert so many of their resources to deal with the virus. After months of strain, Spanish health workers are exhausted and demoralized.

“We’re definitely not yet in the MarchApril situation, but there are reasons to fear that we could get there again,” said Manuel Franco, a researcher and professor of epidemiology at the University of Alcalá de Henares.

On Monday, authorities in Madrid put parts of the capital region back in a lockdown that affects about 850,000 residents. That, as well as the resurgence of the virus, has provoked bitter recrimination, with critics saying the government squandered the hard-won achievements of its first lockdown by throwing open the country’s borders to revive its battered tourism industry.

“We didn’t do our homework,” Dr. Alberto Garcia-Basteiro, a prominent epidemiologist, told the Spanish newspaper El País.

He and other doctors have called for an independent investigation of the country’s response to the pandemic.

The San Juan Daily Star

September 25-27, 2020

15

Hong Kong police arrest activist for violating 2019 mask ban J

By ELAINE YU

oshua Wong, one of Hong Kong’s most visible pro-democracy activists, has been arrested multiple times for taking part in antigovernment protests that erupted over the past year and roiled the city for months before the coronavirus pandemic hit.

And when he walked into the Central Police Station on Thursday as part of a regular check-in, he was arrested again — this time, police said, not only for attending an unauthorized demonstration last October, but also for violating a government ban on wearing a mask during that gathering.

Wong suggested that authorities had political motives for charging him for wearing a mask at a pre-pandemic protest. The arrest came at a time when the outbreak has made mask-wearing ubiquitous in the Chinese territory.

“I believe an obvious reason is that the regime’s authorities are overlapping one case with another to try to confine all activists within Hong Kong’s borders,” he said outside the police station Thursday.

Other activists have fled the city or have tried to do so, fearing the loss of myriad freedoms and harsher crackdowns under a sweeping national security law imposed on Hong Kong in June to quell the continued protests.

“No matter what happens,” Wong said, “I will still continue to resist and hope to let the world to know how Hong Kongers choose not to surrender.”

Dixon Sing, a political scientist at the Hong Kong University

of Science and Technology, said that while the arrest came at a time when Hong Kong residents are legally required to wear masks in public to fight the pandemic, the government would argue that the context last year that led to Wong’s indictment Thursday was different.

But he added, “The message is very clear: Beijing is determined to exercise an iron first to try to stifle the local political opposition and also try to frighten people away from supporting their causes.”

In addition to Wong, another veteran activist, Koo Sze-yiu, was arrested Thursday in connection with the October protest, the League of Social Democrats said.

The police on Thursday confirmed, without naming them, per protocol, that two men, ages 23 and 74, had been arrested on suspicion of “unknowingly taking part in an unauthorized assembly” and would face formal charges in court Sept. 30.

The day before Wong attended the protest on Oct. 5, the Hong Kong government, using emergency powers, implemented the ban on masks. Protesters had begun wearing face coverings to protect their identities when they marched on the street. And Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing leader, deployed a rarely used colonial-era law in October to ban masks in an attempt to quell the anti-government protests. But protesters mostly ignored the rule. The ban further inflamed tensions in the city and set off more demonstrations, as well as violent clashes.

The mask ban came months before the coronavirus emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan and spread around the rest of the world.

A court later ruled that parts of the government’s mask ban were

unconstitutional. In April, Hong Kong’s Court of Appeal ruled that face coverings were permissible at protests approved by authorities, but backed the government’s right to ban masks at unauthorized gatherings.

Wong, 23, has already served two short prison sentences for his pro-democracy activities and is expecting to face two other trials related to a protest outside police headquarters last year and an annual vigil honoring victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.

He was among a dozen candidates barred from an upcoming legislative election, weeks after China imposed the national security law. Then the Hong Kong government postponed the election by one year, citing the coronavirus pandemic — a move that the prodemocracy opposition considered an attempt to thwart its electoral momentum and avoid the potential defeat of pro-Beijing candidates.

This summer, the city’s health authorities made masks mandatory in public places to fight a wave of coronavirus infections. The government, citing the pandemic, then extended its ban on public gatherings of more than four people to Oct. 1, China’s National Day. That is when an annual pro-democracy protest usually takes place.

Some have accused authorities of deliberately extending the limit to the politically sensitive anniversary to quell expected demonstrations. They noted that other social distancing rules had been lifted.

“Since the pandemic broke out, one can firmly say Hong Kong people haven’t had the right to march and assemble,” Jimmy Sham, a protest organizer with the Civil Human Rights Front, said Thursday.

Activists expect police to ban the Oct. 1 march.

16

September 25-27, 2020

Night images reveal many new detention sites in China’s Xinjiang region

By CHRIS BUCKLEY and AUSTIN RAMZY

A

s China faced rising international censure last year over its mass internment of Muslim minorities, officials asserted that the indoctrination camps in the western region of Xinjiang had shrunk as former camp inmates rejoined society as reformed citizens.

Researchers at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute on Thursday challenged those claims with an investigation that found that Xinjiang authorities had been expanding a variety of detention sites since last year.

Rather than being released, many detainees were likely being sent to prisons and perhaps other facilities, the investigation found, citing satellite images of new and expanded incarceration sites.

Nathan Ruser, a researcher who led the project at the institute, also called ASPI, said the findings undercut Chinese officials’ claims that inmates from the camps — which the government calls vocational training centers — had “graduated.”

“Evidence suggests that many extrajudicial detainees in Xinjiang’s vast ‘reeducation’ network are now being formally charged and

locked up in higher security facilities, including newly built or expanded prisons,” Ruser wrote in the report.

The Chinese government has created formidable barriers to investigating conditions in Xinjiang. Officials tail and harass foreign journalists, making it impossible to safely conduct interviews. Access to camps is limited to selected visitors, who are taken on choreographed tours where inmates are shown singing and dancing.

The researchers for the new report overcame those barriers with long-distance sleuthing. They pored over satellite images of Xinjiang at night to find telltale clusters of new lights, especially in barely habited areas, which often proved to be new detention sites.

A closer examination of such images sometimes revealed hulking buildings, surrounded by high walls, watchtowers and barbed-wire internal fencing — features that distinguished detention facilities from other large public compounds like schools or hospitals.

“I don’t believe this timing is merely coincidental,” Timothy Grose, an associate professor of China studies at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, who was not involved

in the ASPI project, said of the accumulating evidence of expanding incarceration sites.

“In my opinion, we are witnessing a new stage in the crisis,” he said. “Some detainees have been released, others have been placed in factories, while others still have been sentenced.”

China has repeatedly refused to disclose the number of detention sites and detainees in Xinjiang and elsewhere. ASPI researchers found and examined some 380 suspected detention sites in Xinjiang. At least 61 of them had expanded in area between July 2019 and July of this year, and of those, 14 were still growing, according to the latest available satellite images.

The researchers divided the sites into four security levels, and they said that about half of the expanding sites were higher-security facilities.

The researchers found signs that some reeducation camps were being rolled back, partially confirming government claims of a shift. At least 70 sites had seen the removal of security infrastructure such as internal fencing or perimeter walls, and eight camps appeared to be undergoing decommissioning, they wrote. The facilities apparently being scaled back were largely lower-security camps, they said.

Under Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader, authorities have carried out a sweeping crackdown in Xinjiang, with as many as 1 million or more people incarcerated in recent years, according to scholars’ estimates. The ASPI report was issued one day after the sixth anniversary of a key moment in the increasingly harsh campaign, the sentencing of Ilham Tohti, a prominent Uighur scholar, to life in prison.

Late last year, Shohrat Zakir, chairman of the Xinjiang government, told reporters in Beijing that the reeducation sites were now housing only people who were there voluntarily, and that others who had been in the facilities had “graduated.” Where to, he did not say.

The ASPI report builds on previous investigations that also pointed to explosive growth in the prison population in Xinjiang over recent years, even as the building of indoctrination camps appeared to peak.

Last month, BuzzFeed News found 268 detention compounds in Xinjiang built since 2017. The news organization identified the compounds with the help of spots blanked out of the online mapping service from Baidu, the Chinese technology company.

An investigation by The New York Times last year found that courts in Xinjiang — where Uighurs and other largely Muslim minorities make up more than half of the population of 25 million — sentenced 230,000 people to prison or other punishments in 2017 and 2018, far more than in any other period on record for the region.

Official sentencing statistics for 2019 have not been released. But a report released by authorities in Xinjiang early this year said that prosecutors indicted 96,596 people for criminal trial in 2019, suggesting that the flow of trials — which almost always lead to convictions — was lower than in the previous two years, but still much higher than in the years before the crackdown took off.

The United States has begun to take a more confrontational stance toward China over the repression in Xinjiang. This year, the Trump administration has imposed sanctions on officials responsible for policy in the region, as well as the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, which is both a farm conglomerate and a quasi-military security institution. It has also imposed restrictions on imports of clothing, hair products and technological goods from Xinjiang, but stopped short of banning all cotton and tomatoes, two of the region’s key exports.

This week, the House of Representatives passed legislation that would bar any imports from Xinjiang unless they were proven not to have been produced using forced labor.

The San Juan Daily Star

September 25-27, 2020

17

Trudeau promises bold plan to reset Canada, and his political career

By IAN AUSTEN and CATHERINE PORTER

A

brand-new Canada — greener, healthier, more compassionate, fairer.

That was the vision that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau outlined Wednesday when he revealed his much-anticipated legislative plan to a country grappling with rising coronavirus cases, fears of a second wave of the pandemic, and continuing economic woes because of shutdowns to fight the virus.

His plan, presented in the so-called throne speech to Parliament, included sweeping promises of new social programs to help working women and families; beefed-up financial support programs for businesses and workers hit by the economic downturn; and measures to combat climate change while leading the country to recovery.

“This is not the time for austerity,” the speech declared.

“It’s up to us to build the world of tomorrow,” Trudeau said later Wednesday evening in an unusual televised address to the nation, adding that the “government will have your back, whatever it takes, to get you through this crisis.”

He said that Canada was already in the midst of a second wave of infections and warned that “we’re on the brink of a fall that could be much worse than the spring” unless Canadians wear masks, avoid parties and other large gatherings and download tracing apps.

Trudeau’s proposals, though, were short on details. Much of the package was a reworking of earlier promises from his Liberal Party, but with measures tailored to fight the coronavirus and the economic woes it has brought the country. The plan was immediately criticized by his main political rivals in the Conservative Party, who said it lacked fiscal restraint.

“They’re still talking that budgets balance themselves,” Candice Bergen, the deputy Conservative leader, told reporters.

“It is another speech that is full of Liberal buzzwords and grand gestures.”

Jagmeet Singh, the leader of the leftof-center New Democratic Party, also a rival to Trudeau, called the speech “empty words.”

Kathy Brock, a professor in the policy

studies department at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, said the speech was so stuffed with promises, it may be difficult for the government to deliver.

“It was a speech of promises as opposed to a speech that leads to action,” she said. “It looks to me like it’s preparing the way for an election.”

Among the most expansive of Trudeau’s proposals were measures to work toward a national child care program, a plan to cover the cost of drugs through the health care system and new standards for long-term care homes, which have disproportionately been the source of Canada’s more than 9,000 deaths related to the virus.

The prime minister also proposed an economic recovery plan tied to dealing with climate change and other environmental issues as well as adding 1 million new jobs.

Since the coronavirus arrived in Canada earlier this year, the government has been grappling with high unemployment, a soaring budget shortfall and an uncertain future for many of Canada’s businesses particularly in the economically important oil and gas sector.

As coronavirus cases have increased in recent weeks, some provinces have revived restrictions, leading to worries about even more economic woes.

Last month, Trudeau suspended Parliament, saying his government was working on an ambitious legislative agenda to address these problems. “This is our moment to change the future for the better,” he said at the time.

It is also an opportunity for Trudeau to reset his political fortunes. Over the past few months, he has had to contend with his government’s decision to award WE Charity — which had paid Trudeau’s mother and brother to speak at events — a multimillion-dollar contract to administer a summer program for students.

The contract was ultimately abandoned and the charity recently announced it was shutting down operations in Canada.

Chief among Trudeau’s proposals was a revision of the unemployment insurance system to make qualifying easier and to include self-employed and contract workers. But his plan would not extend an emergency program that paid unemployed workers 2,000 Canadian dollars, about

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada listening to the national anthem before his legislative agenda was presented to Parliament in Ottawa on Wednesday. $1,500, every four weeks, an amount that in some cases was higher than what some recipients once earned.

Without offering details, Trudeau also promised to improve a wage subsidy program put in place earlier this year by extending it to next summer, and adding other supports for businesses.

To help women get back to work, Trudeau proposed that the government make a major long-term investment to create a Canada-wide early learning and child care system so that “no parent, especially no mother, will have to put their careers on hold.”

To make many of these proposals reality, though, Trudeau will need the approval of provincial governments, which have a history of bristling at federal intervention in social programs.

The speech hinted at the possible

difficulties with provinces in a section that pledged to work toward including the cost of drugs in public health care, noting that it will work “with provinces and territories willing to move forward without delay” rather than immediately attempting a national program.

Most economists agree that the government needs to keep spending on support programs because of the pandemic.

But some economists argue that Trudeau doesn’t have unlimited license.

“Households and businesses do still need ongoing support,” said Douglas Porter, the chief economist of the Bank of Montreal. “But I’m not convinced that this is the time for moving way beyond that and bringing in all kinds of new, big, bold policy initiatives that reshape the landscape when we’re not sure where we’re going to be in six months.”

18

September 25-27, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL

The Republican irritation Olympics

By GAIL COLLINS

S

o which Senate Republican do you find most irritating? Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell or Mitt Romney?I know there are lots of other contenders, but let’s stick with the men of the moment — the three stars of the Supreme Court follies! All famous for keeping their word except when it involves, you know, something they really want.

All currently supporting Donald Trump’s plan to get a new Supreme Court justice in place before the election. That’s just a little over a month, and far less time than it would normally take Congress to modify the rules on mackerel importation.

Of course, they all found it totally, deeply unacceptable when Barack Obama nominated a Supreme Court justice during his last year in office. McConnell, in fact, hated the idea of a Democratic president nominating judges at all. He dragged his feet so successfully that when Trump entered the White House, McConnell was able to go into a legislative closet somewhere and gift him with 105 moldering judicial vacancies. Probably the greatest achievement of the Senate majority leader’s career. Nothing Mitch cares about more than keeping Democrats off the court benches.

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the car.

Now, when Mitt voted to convict Trump I swore I’d never bring up the dog again. But a person has the right to change her mind, right?

Or would you prefer to present the blue ribbon for irritation to Lindsey Graham? He’s chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, so we’ll probably see a whole lot of him during this court appointment fight.

Which is wonderful, since I know there is nothing you like better than listening to Graham sound sincere.

“I want you to use my words against me. If there’s a Republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say Lindsey Graham said let’s let the next president, whoever it might be, make that nomination,” he said when he was trying to help McConnell ditch Garland.

Let voters decide who fills an election-year Supreme Court Well, sure. All together now: Lindsey Graham vacancy, Mitch McConnell says. Oh, no, he said that in said let the next president make the Supreme Court 2016. nomination. Until ... he didn’t.

Graham is one of Trump’s regular golfing partners. He has a long history of hanging out with the top McConnell’s absolute pinnacle was keeping Me- dogs — he was a permanent fixture on John McCain’s rrick Garland off the Supreme Court. Who did Obama campaign bus when McCain ran for president in 2008. think he was, trying to put a nominee on the highest He visited the Obama White House a lot. His initial court of the land less than a year before he was sche- relationship with Trump was rather rocky — Graham, duled to leave office? Totally unacceptable. who made a deeply unsuccessful try for the White Yeah, said Graham and Romney. Totally unac- House himself in 2016, called the future president a ceptable. And in no way related to Trump’s decision to “race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot.” nominate a replacement for Ruth Bader Ginsburg as he He also said that if Trump got the Republican was racing toward the end of his reelection campaign. nomination, “we will get destroyed ... and we will deRomney likes to present himself as the righteous, serve it.” stiff-spined defender of bipartisan principles. It is posAnd, hey, he said Joe Biden was “as good a man sible some of this backbone has to do with the fact as God ever created.” that he is a very wealthy 73-year-old with a very safe But who’s keeping track? Well, Graham is runSenate seat. But everybody remembers how he dared ning for reelection against Democrat Jaime Harrison, stand up as the only Republican senator voting to con- and apparently he now believes his winning strategy vict Trump on an impeachment charge. is hanging on to Donald Trump for dear life. There’s He argued then that Trump lacked the moral sta- speculation the Supreme Court dust-up might actually ture necessary to run the government. However, he help him generate a little more enthusiasm. Maybe. decided this week that Trump had more than enough (The Cook Political Report, which rates Senate races, spiritual wisdom to nominate a judge-for-life for the recently downgraded Graham’s reelection chances most critical court in the nation. from “likely” to “leaning.”)

In the uproar that followed, Romney seemed But the little things mean a lot, and Graham is reavery surprised that anybody was questioning his judg- lly good at tiptoeing carefully around White House miment. After all, he was a former presidential nominee nefields. Remember, when Trump was reported to have himself with terrific conservative creds, not to men- referred to American war dead as “losers,” Graham’s tion a terrific record for consistency. response was that he didn’t believe the president really We will pause here just for a moment to recall said it. God knows Trump’s not the kind of guy to ranthat Romney ran for governor of Massachusetts on a domly blurt out weird or offensive comments. pro-choice platform, then ran for president as “proud And Romney has been dodging questions about to be pro-life.” His explanation that he did not for- how he will vote if the Senate does take up Trump’s merly understand what an embryo was is one of my new Supreme Court nominee. Which is certainly a favorite Mitt stories. Second only to the time he drove smart approach, given the fact that for all we know, to Canada with the family dog strapped to the roof of Trump could be planning to put up Roger Stone.

The San Juan Daily Star

September 25-27, 2020

19

CEE recibirá primeras papeletas para elecciones generales Por THE STAR

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a Comisión Estatal de Elecciones (CEE), informó que el viernes, la compañía Printech hará entrega de 1,830,000 papeletas para las Elecciones Generales del 3 de noviembre de 2020.

“Todos los empleados, funcionarios y Comisionados Electorales de la CEE estamos contentos de poder garantizar al pueblo de Puerto Rico que, hasta el momento, no hay atrasos en los trabajos de cara a las elecciones generales. Estamos trabajando arduamente para completar todas las fases a tiempo y antes de la fecha establecida en nuestro ca-

lendario”, puntualizó el presidente de la comisión, el dijo el presidente de la CEE Francisco Rosado Colomer.

“Todo proyecta a que tendremos un evento seguro, transparente y confiable; y que podremos cumplir con el mandato de ley que fija el 3 de noviembre como el día de la celebración de las elecciones generales 2020”, añadió.

Informó que se espera que Printech entregue el primer cargamento de papeletas oficiales durante la mañana en el Coliseo Roberto Clemente en San Juan a la Junta Administrativa de Voto Ausente y Voto Adelantado (JAVAA), para que las procesen.

Presentan cargos contra menor de edad en caso relacionado a fondos PUA Por THE STAR

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a secretaria interina del Departamento de Justicia, Inés del C. Carrau Martínez y el director de la División de Delitos Económicos, fiscal Alexis Carlo, informaron el jueves, que se le radicaron cargos a un menor de edad por supuesta tentativa de apropiación ilegal agravada, fraude por medio informativo y cargo por falsedad ideológica con la finalidad de obtener los beneficios del Programa de Asistencia de Desempleo Pandémico, mejor conocido como PUA. Este caso a cargo de la Procuradora de Menores Marisol Flores Cortés, en coordinación con el agente Rafael Díaz Berrios de la División de Robo Bancos y Fraude a Instituciones Bancarias, Financieras y Cooperativas del Negociado de la Policía de Puerto Rico, es el primero que se radica a un menor de edad por fraude al Programa de PUA. Los cargos radicadoscontra el menor fueron: un cargo por violación al Artículo 182 – Tentativa de Apropiación Ilegal Agravada de Fondos Públicos; un cargo por el Artículo 203- Fraude por medio

informático y un cargo por el Artículo 212- Falsedad ideológica, del Código Penal de Puerto Rico.

Los hechos ocurrieron el 2 de septiembre de 2020, cuando supuestamente, el menor se personó a la sucursal del Banco Popular en Plaza Carolina, con la intención de cambiar un cheque por la cantidad de 8,058 dólares del Programa de PUA. Al ser identificado como menor de edad se activaron los protocolos de fraude de la sucursal y fue detenido por la Policía. Según la investigación el menor había sometido información falsa en cuanto a su edad, ocupación e historial de empleo para poder cualificar al beneficio.

El juez Jimmy Sepúlveda Lavergne del Tribunal de Primera Instancia de San Juan determinó causa en la vista quedando citado para la vista de causa para el primero de octubre de 2020.

El Departamento de Justicia continúa investigando todos los casos relacionados al Programa PUA en coordinación con el Negociado de la Policía de Puerto Rico. El Ministerio Público le radicará cargos a todos los que fraudulentamente han solicitado los beneficios del programa de PUA.

20

September 25-27, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

The Metropolitan Opera won’t reopen for another year The last time the Met sought major labor concessions, in 2014, a bitter battle ensued, and a lockout that would have closed the theater and cut off pay was averted only when the two sides agreed to more modest cuts. This time, negotiations will be held while the theater is already shut and many of its workers — both unionized and not — are not being paid.

Gelb told the company Wednesday that the Met would offer to begin paying its workforce again during the dark months ahead if the unions agree to “longer-term reductions that will allow the Met to recover in the future.” The disclosure earlier this week that James Levine, the company’s former music director, had received a $3.5 million settlement after the Met fired him in 2018, citing sexual misconduct, could complicate negotiations.

The Metropolitan Opera announced Wednesday that the still-untamed coronavirus The offer puts employees, who have pandemic has forced it to cancel its entire 2020-21 season, prolonging one of the gone without pay for nearly six months and gravest crises it has faced in its 137-year history and keeping it dark until next Sep- are dependent on the Met for their health intember. surance, in a difficult position.

The American Guild of Musical Artists,

By MICHAEL COOPER cluding by trying to curb the company’s high which represents the company’s choristers, labor costs. he Metropolitan Opera announced “The future of the Met relies upon it stage directors, dancers and others, said in a Wednesday that the still-untamed being artistically as powerful as ever, if not statement that “the Met seems uniquely decoronavirus pandemic has forced it to more so,” Gelb said in an interview. “The ar- termined to leverage this moment to permacancel its entire 2020-21 season, prolong- tistic experiences have to be better than ever nently gut our contract.”

“The Met cannot solve its difficult ing one of the gravest crises it has faced in before to attract audiences back. Where we problems by turning its back on the artists its 137-year history and keeping it dark until need to cut back is costs.” who have built it over generations,” the next September.

As he canceled the current season, The decision is likely to send ripples Gelb announced an ambitious lineup for committee said in the statement.

And the committee that represents the of concern through New York and the rest 2021-22 to reassure donors and ticket buymusicians in the orchestra warned that cuts of the country as Broadway theaters, sym- ers that the Met has robust plans. An even could jeopardize the quality of the compaphony halls, rock venues, comedy clubs, more difficult effort will play out offstage: dance spaces and other live arts institutions Gelb said he would ask the company’s pow- ny. “Simply stating that labor costs must be grapple with the question of when it will erful unions to agree to cost-cutting conces- cut is not a solution or plan for the future,” be safe again to perform indoors. Far from sions that he said would be necessary in the the orchestra committee said in a statement, being a gilded outlier, the Met, the nation’s post-pandemic world and which a number “especially in light of the fact that no labor largest performing arts organization, may of other prominent performing arts organiza- costs have been paid by the Met over the last six months.” tions have begun to implement. well prove to be a bellwether.

“With the Met at risk of artistic failure,” The Met plans to return to its stage The outbreak has kept the 3,800-seat the statement said, “we will insist on a conopera house closed since mid-March, sap- next September with Terence Blanchard’s ping it of more than $150 million in revenue “Fire Shut Up in My Bones,” the first time it tract that preserves the world-class status of and leaving roughly 1,000 full-time em- will mount an opera by a Black composer — the Met Orchestra so that when we are able ployees, including its world-class orchestra a long-overdue milestone, and part of a new to reopen, our audiences will be able to exand chorus, furloughed without pay since focus on contemporary works alongside the perience performances at the level that they April. Now, with the virus still too much of ornate productions of canonical pieces for expect and deserve.”

Gelb said in the interview that he a threat to allow for a reopening on New which the company is famous. The Met will hoped an agreement could be reached and Year’s Eve, as hoped, Peter Gelb, the Met’s also experiment with earlier curtain times, that some reductions could be restored as general manager, is making plans to adapt shortening some operas and offering more to a world transformed by the pandemic, in- family fare as it tries to lure back audiences. the box office returned to pre-pandemic lev-

T

els. “These are not normal times,” he said.

“These are pandemic times. There’s going to be a residual fallout from this that is going to go on for several years.”

The virus has already claimed at least two lives at the Met: Vincent Lionti, a violist, and Joel Revzen, an assistant conductor. Anna Netrebko — opera’s reigning diva, who is scheduled to star as Puccini’s Turandot at the Met next season — announced this month that she had been hospitalized with the virus after singing alongside an ill colleague at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow.

The Met, whose budget of roughly $300 million in a normal season makes it the biggest performing arts organization in the nation, is taking a series of steps to try to ensure its survival and adapt to a changed world. It is publicizing its entire 2021-22 season months ahead of schedule, partly in the hopes that people who bought tickets to canceled performances — roughly $20 million in tickets has already been sold — can be persuaded to exchange them for the newly announced operas.

“Fire Shut Up in My Bones” will be one of three contemporary works at the Met next season — the most since 1928. (The others are Matthew Aucoin’s “Eurydice” and Brett Dean’s “Hamlet.”) The Met will stage the original five-act, French-language version of Giuseppe Verdi’s “Don Carlos” for the first time, in a new production by David McVicar that will be conducted by the company’s music director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

There will also be new productions of Verdi’s “Rigoletto,” directed by Bartlett Sher, and Gaetano Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor,” directed by Simon Stone, whose staging of “Yerma” at the Park Avenue Armory caused a sensation in 2018. A veteran soprano, Nina Stemme, will star in Richard Strauss’ “Elektra” alongside a rising one, Lise Davidsen, who also appears in that composer’s “Ariadne auf Naxos” and Richard Wagner’s “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.” “Die Meistersinger” will be conducted by Antonio Pappano, the music director of the Royal Opera in London, returning to the Met for the first time in decades. And Susanna Malkki will lead Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rake’s Progress”; she is one of five female conductors scheduled to appear, the most in a season in Met history.

The San Juan Daily Star

September 25-27, 2020

21

Come to vote, stay for the art

By CAROL POGASH

W

hile many California museums are still shuttered because of the coronavirus, and others are opening slowly at limited capacity, the Institute of Contemporary Art San José has come up with an ingenious solution to open the museum, legally, for four days.

From Oct. 31 through Election Day, the museum will become a polling site. Alison Gass, the executive director, is hoping civic-minded citizens will stream through the museum to vote and take time to appreciate the art inside (an exhibition called “Personal Alchemy”) and out.

It will be hard not to notice.

A 50-foot vinyl mural by Iranian-born artist Amir H. Fallah will wrap around the museum’s facade, and two 6-foot circular paintings of his will slowly rotate in two windows.

In his mural, titled “Remember This,” messages in vibrant colors read: “Remember my child nowhere is safe,” “They will smile to your face” and “A borderless world,” along with other text. By “child,” Fallah means his younger self — by the age of 6, he had lived in four countries (Iran, Italy, Turkey and the United States) — and his 5-year-old son.

“In America, people have a false sense of security,” he said in a recent interview.

In late July, Gass, who also is the museum’s chief curator, asked Fallah to paint a mural that addressed “the social and political conditions happening in this election and beyond.” He told her that was what he was thinking about, too. His paintings would appear outside the institute, “because we wanted a safe way for people to see art,”

Artist Amir Fallah at his studio in Alhambra, Calif., his works, “Cowgirl,” left, and “Cowby,” right, Sept. 19, 2020.

Gass said.

A few days later, she met with her longtime collaborator, Florie Hutchinson, who was about to become the museum’s director of external relations. Hutchinson thought of a way for more people to see Fallah’s art: Make the museum a polling place.

“Many people in the past voted at their neighbor’s garage or in retirement homes,” said Alex Padilla, California’s secretary of state. That is no longer possible. California is promoting vote by mail “as a preferred option,” Padilla said. But for those wanting to vote in person, he said, counties have become “more creative.”

Santa Clara County, of which San Jose is the county seat, will be using libraries,

empty schools, City Hall council chambers, another museum and even a police department, said Paulo Chang, the county registrar of voters, election division coordinator.

As people enter the polling place, Fallah said, “I want them to think about what their vote means, how it affects everyone and everything around them.”

Fallah said his paintings for the museum are self-portraits with imagery from disparate cultures that express injustices all over the world. “This is a pretty political mural, but it doesn’t say to vote one way or another,” he added.

(California does not allow anyone within 100 feet of a polling place to engage in electioneering, which refers to

displays of a candidate’s name, likeness on buttons, hats or signs. It says nothing about art that addresses anxieties or calls for more empathy.)

A U.S. citizen, Fallah, 41, who lives in Los Angeles, said he has experienced what he calls the abuse of government power firsthand. In January 2017, when President Donald Trump closed the nation’s borders to refugees and suspended immigration from several predominantly Muslim countries, he was detained “in a basement room at Newark Airport with other brown people,” almost all of whom were citizens, he said.

He said his passport was taken from him.

Fallah’s paintings reflect his fears that “the world is getting darker and darker,” he said. His concerns include “the environment, the treatment of children by ICE, racism, social injustice, an almost war with Iran for no reason,” he said.

The museum, which used to be called the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art but was recently renamed, occupies a red brick, one-story building in downtown San Jose, the third-largest city in California, which Sam Liccardo, its mayor, has called “a city of immigrants.” As of 2014, 38% of residents were immigrants, including an Iranian community.

“Throughout my career I’ve been drawn to art that is about politics,” such as Fallah’s work, Gass said, “in which you begin to find meaning for yourself.” She chose an artist from an underrepresented group: “artists from countries not given a big platform in American museums.” His work “is bound up in American identity and the immigrant experience,” she added, calling it “beautiful and disturbing.”

22

The San Juan Daily Star

September 25-27, 2020

A September wine romance

By ERIC ASIMOV

I

t wasn’t much of a summer, I’m afraid.

The empty ballparks, the missing actors and musicians, the fraught travel, the social distancing — little was there to divert attention momentarily from the pitiless price of the COVID-19 pandemic and the destruction caused by climate change.

At least fresh summer fruits and vegetables were bountiful. But now that gift is nearing its end. If you’re like me, you’ve been eating tomatoes like crazy, and have maybe even considered preserving some for the winter.

As summer segues into autumn, the taste for wine begins a seasonal transition, too. It’s never as simple as white wines in the heat, reds in the cold. Though that formula at least has some logic to it.

Whites and rosés are often the best choices for fresh vegetable preparations and other seasonal dishes. As the weather cools and the oven is revved up once more, many of the roasts, stews and bean dishes will be better suited to reds. And, for wines of all colors, we’ll be looking for a little more body and weight.

Shopping online at New York City retail stores, I found a dozen wines that are great for this transitional season. I picked more reds than whites, though most of the reds are still rather light-bodied.

For this roundup, I restricted myself to bottles costing $20 to $30.

These wines — one pétillant naturel, one rosé, two whites and eight reds, presented in no particular order — all have a few things in common: They are refreshing, delicious, light enough for end-of-summer dining and substantial enough to take us into fall.

Montenidoli; Vernaccia di San Gimignano Fiore 2018; $26.99 Vernaccia di San Gimignano is one of those Italian whites that got a bad name in the old days of careless overproduction. But when made conscientiously, the wines befit a storied history that goes back at least to the 13th century. This wine, made by Montenidoli from organically grown grapes, is crisp, with floral and citrus aromas and flavors. It’s more concentrated than you might expect, and is just right for end-of-season caprese salads, fresh tomato sauces and pestos. (Artisan Wines, Norwalk, Connecticut) Scar of the Sea; Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir 2018; $27.99 Scar of the Sea, run by the husband-andwife team Mikey and Gina Giugni, makes an array of wines from the Central Coast of Cali-

fornia as well as a bunch of ciders. This bottle is an excellent introduction to the style: savory and restrained, floral, lightly fruity and resolutely expressive. It’s perfect for when the weather cools enough roast a chicken. Gina Giugni has her own label as well, Lady of the Sunshine, which makes very good sauvignon blancs and chardonnays.

Domaine Ilarria; Irouléguy Rosé 2019; $25.99 Who said you shouldn’t drink rosé after Labor Day? Even though this is a longtime favorite rosé, I’m still surprised by its quality each time I open a bottle. It’s much darker than a typical French rosé, more the ruby color of a Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo, made of tannat and cabernet franc grown in schist. The flavor is elemental, like something you might imagine concocted from rocks and blood, which, believe me, is a great thing. Peio Espil, the proprietor of Ilarria, practices hands-off farming, and works naturally. The wines get better and better. (A Thomas Calder Selection/Regal Wines Imports, Moorestown, New Jersey) Luis Seabra; Douro Xisto Ilimitado 2018; $26 The evolution of the Douro Valley of Portugal, famed for centuries for its fortified port wines, has been fascinating to watch. With a diminishing market for port, the region has produced more and more table wines, and they have become finer and more evocative. Luis Seabra makes state-of-the-art Douros: graceful, appetizing and elegant. Xisto Ilimitado is made with a typical blend of red port grapes grown in schist soils. It’s savory, complex, aromatic and thoroughly delicious. (Olé & Obrigado, New Rochelle, New York) Castro Candaz; Ribeira Sacra Mencía 2017; $22.99 Castro Candaz is one of the many projects of Raúl Pérez, one of Spain’s leading itinerant winemakers, who produces gems from all over the country and beyond. For Castro Candaz, Pérez, in partnership with another winemaker, Rodrigo Méndez, focuses on mencía grapes from the Chantada region of Ribeira Sacra in Galicia, an area where the hills are more sandy than is typical in the slate-rich Ribeira Sacra.

It’s a concentrated, earthy wine, with plenty of minerality. Try it with chili con carne. (Skurnik Wines, New York) Domaine Maestracci; Corse Calvi E Prove 2016; $24.99 Since Camille-Anaïs Raoust took over this estate in 2012 from her father, Michel Raoust, she has pushed to farm biodynamically and has improved the winemaking. It’s situated in

The end of summer has a particular feel to it as the bountiful fresh produce ebbs — these 12 wines can make the seasonal transition. the Calvi region in the northern part of Corsica, where the leading red grape is niellucciu, or sangiovese. In the south, the leading red grape is sciaccarellu, or mammolo, a lesser known Tuscan grape generally used for blending. This red combines both grapes, along with grenache and syrah, to create a gorgeous wine that is floral, focused, lightly tannic and thoroughly Corsican. (Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, Berkeley, California) Domaine de la Pépière; Muscadet Sèvreet-Maine Château Thébaud 2014; $27.99 This is one of my favorite muscadets from one of my favorite muscadet producers.

It’s made from a parcel of vines grown in a particular sort of fissured granite, and is aged for more than four years before it’s released. It’s dense, with great minerality, a creamy texture and incisive acidity, yet still light on its feet.

If you adhere to the old “R” month myth for eating oysters, this is your perfect September wine. It will also go beautifully with other shellfish and seafood preparations, and with creamy sauces. (Louis/Dressner Selections, New York) Goyo García Viadero; Ribera del Duero Joven de Viñas Viejas 2018; $24.99 Goyo García Viadero is dedicated to farming and making wine with minimal intervention. This absolutely delicious wine comes from old vines of tempranillo that are simply fermented in steel vats and bottled, without the addition of sulfur dioxide, an almost universally used stabilizer. The wine is vibrant and alive, with deep, pure flavors of dark fruits and flowers, just the bottle for a platter of sausages. (José Pastor Selections/Llaurador Wines) Manenti; Cerasuolo di Vittoria 2018; $26.99 Cerasuolo di Vittoria from the Vittoria region of southeastern Sicily combines the body and richness of nero d’Avola with the limber freshness of frappato. It’s almost always a winning combination, especially in the hands of sensitive farmers and producers like Marita and Guglielmo Manenti, a husband-and-wife team who farm organically. The result here is a sweet-

and-bitter, earthy wine with lively acidity. (Jan D’Amore Wines, New York) Anne-Sophie Dubois; Fleurie Les Cocottes 2019; $27.99 Anne-Sophie Dubois organically farms about 20 acres in Fleurie. She is one of a small number of Beaujolais producers who generally do not use semi-carbonic maceration, the typical winemaking method in the region. Instead, she makes her Fleuries in a method more typical in the rest of the winemaking world, destemming the grapes and fermenting them in the usual fashion. Those wines often require some aging. However, with this cuvée she does use the semi-carbonic technique, in which whole bunches of grapes are piled into large vats.

Those on the bottom are crushed and begin to ferment, producing carbon dioxide, which induces a different, intracellular fermentation in the bunches on top. The result is a Fleurie that is great to drink now: fresh, energetic and pretty, with an underlying earthy note. (Grand Cru Selections, New York) Division-Villages; Oregon Gamay Noir Les Petits Fers 2019; $23.99 This American gamay is fun to contrast with the Dubois Fleurie. Division-Villages is the easygoing, less-expensive label of Division Wine, and though this wine is modeled on a Fleurie, it is more akin to a Beaujolais-Villages, as the name Division-Villages suggests. Like the Dubois, this is made using the semi-carbonic method most common in Beaujolais. It doesn’t have the complexity or heft of the Fleurie, but it is delightful and insanely easy to drink. Serve lightly chilled.

Brand; Germany Pet-Nat 2019; $28.99 The young Brand brothers, Daniel and Jonas, work naturally in the north of the Pfalz region. I’ve had a number of their wines, and they are all unpretentious and delicious, including this pétillant naturel, made with silvaner and weissburgunder, otherwise known as pinot blanc. It’s not complex or contemplative. It’s just a wine full of citrus and herbal goodness, perfect to go with snacks and a football game.

(Vom Boden, New York)

The San Juan Daily Star

September 25-27, 2020

23

A solar forecast with good news for civilization as we know it

By KENNETH CHANG

T

he sun is beginning to perk up again.

An international panel of scientists announced last week that the sun had emerged from the quietest part of its 11-year sunspot cycle and had now entered the 25th numbered cycle. (The numbering of sunspot cycles goes back to 1755.)

The researchers predicted that the forthcoming cycle would be a pretty quiet one.

Solar scientists track the cycle through the ebb and flow in the number of sunspots, which reflects the level of ferocity in the sun’s magnetic fields. Sunspots can shoot out bursts of radiation called solar flares as well as giant eruptions of particles known as coronal mass ejections. If a giant coronal mass ejection hit Earth, it could upend modern civilization, knocking out satellites and inflicting continentwide blackouts.

Such a solar explosion in 1859, known as the Carrington event, disrupted telegraph systems. Today, the world is more electrically interconnected, and giant transformers that are part of power grids are thought to be particularly vulnerable.

A coronal mass ejection of the sun observed on July 28, 2017.

Just as economists wait months to declare the start or end of a recession, scientists delay such pronouncements for solar cycles, because they average the sunspot numbers over 13 months to avoid being fooled by short-term fluctuations in the sun’s activity. In December, the sunspot cycle reached its calmest state.

“Since then it’s been slowly but steadily increasing,” said Lisa Upton, a solar scientist at

the Space Systems Research Corp. and co-chair of Solar Cycle 25 Prediction Panel, which is sponsored by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Over the past half century, solar cycles have become progressively weaker, leading some scientists to speculate that the sun might be on the cusp of an extended quiet period. The last solar maximum, with an average sunspot number of 114, was the weakest since 1928 and the fourth weakest overall.

The prediction panel expects that activity during this solar cycle will be well below average, with a peak of 115 in the sunspot number, give or take 10. That would be about the same as the last cycle. The maximum is predicted to occur in July 2025.

“If this turned out to be true, this would make Cycle 25 almost identical to the Solar Cycle 24,” said Douglas A. Biesecker of the Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado, the other co-chair of the panel. A very active cycle reaches a sunspot number greater than 200, he said.

Forecasts by individual scientists still vary widely, with some predicting an even more quiet cycle and others foreseeing a rebound to higher

levels. But Upton and Biesecker said the panel reached a consensus fairly easily, relying on models that use measurements of the magnetic fields in the sun’s polar regions to infer what would happen in the coming years.

“We’ve gotten very good at modeling the evolution of the polar magnetic fields,” Upton said. “This is one of the best indicators for the amplitude of the coming cycle and was one of the main features that the prediction panel looked at.”

She said there were other indicators that this cycle would remain quiet, including a large number of spotless days during the solar minimum. But if in the coming months the sunspot cycle ramps up faster than expected, that will be a sign that perhaps the experts underestimated the coming cycle’s intensity, she said.

Even during weaker solar cycles, the sun can unleash gigantic explosions. In 2012, an eruption rivaling the Carrington event erupted off the sun’s surface — but fortunately it was not aimed at Earth.

Still, a quieter sun increases the odds that our planet will not be struck by a solar cataclysm in the next 11 years.

24

September 25-27, 2020

The perfect afternoon snack has arrived

With its sunny lemon glaze, this one-bowl carrot loaf cake is as easy to eat as it is to make

By YOSSY AREFI

C

omforting and cozy, but still light and bright, a carrot cake with a tangy lemon glaze is just the thing for when you want a bit of fall flavor but aren’t quite ready to break into the pumpkin.

This simple loaf can be whisked together in a single bowl and baked in just about an hour, so your cravings are never too far from being satisfied. You can make it on a whim, and don’t even have to mess up your whole kitchen to do it. (You may love an elaborate baking project as much as the next quarantined cook, but, be honest: The recipes you return to time after time are easy, taste great — and, more important, don’t require a lot of cleaning up.) It also keeps beautifully on the counter for a few days, making it perfect for an afternoon pick-me-up or morning treat.

Carrot cake lovers may have a lot of opinions about what should and shouldn’t be included: Nuts?

Raisins? Pineapple? Think of this loaf as a blank slate, with a moist, tender crumb and no nuts or fruit in sight, though you can always add some, if that’s more your speed.

Instead, there’s a pared-back mix of spices — cinnamon and cardamom — for a warmth that’s not too overpowering. Carrot cake is traditionally made with

oil, and you can use something neutral like canola or grapeseed. But, if you want to add a bit of savory flavor, substitute a mild olive oil, or a combination of the two.

Cream cheese frosting is the classic topper for carrot cake, but there is something irresistible about a confection topped with a crackly, citrusy glaze. It’s easier to make and lighter than frosting, and its tangy flavor still plays nicely off those warm spices and the earthiness of the carrot. There’s also a little bit of finely grated carrot in the finish, which tints it a gorgeous peachy color and adds a little sunshine and glamour.

The grated carrot is just for looks, but when the rest of the recipe is this easy, why not take another minute, and make it extra nice?

Carrot loaf cake with tangy lemon glaze Yield: 1 (9-by-5-inch) loaf Total time: 1 1/2 hours, plus cooling Ingredients: For the Cake: 3/4 cup/180 milliliters neutral oil or mild olive oil, plus

more for greasing the pan 1 cup/225 grams packed light brown sugar 2 large eggs 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1 3/4 cups/225 grams all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 1/2 packed cups peeled and grated carrots (about 6 ounces/165 grams, from 3 medium carrots) For the Glaze: 1 lemon 1 cup/100 grams powdered sugar 1 tablespoon finely grated carrot (optional) Preparation: 1. Make the cake: Heat the oven to 350 degrees and set a rack in the center. Oil a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan and line it with a strip of parchment paper that hangs over the two long sides. Oil the paper, too.

2. Add the light brown sugar and eggs to a large bowl and whisk vigorously until pale in color, about 2 minutes. Add the oil, cinnamon, cardamom and salt.

Whisk until well combined and smooth.

3. Add the flour, baking powder and baking soda, and whisk, starting slowly to incorporate the flour without spilling it, until well combined and smooth, switching to a rubber spatula if necessary.

Fold in the grated carrots. The batter will be very thick.

4. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to remove any big air bubbles.

5. Bake the cake until golden and puffed and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Set the pan on a rack to cool for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, use the parchment paper to lift the cake out of the pan and set on the rack over a baking sheet to cool completely.

6. When the cake is cool, make the glaze: Finely zest the lemon into a medium bowl. Juice the lemon, and set aside lemon juice. Add the powdered sugar and finely grated carrot (if using) to the bowl with the zest, along with 4 teaspoons of the lemon juice. Whisk vigorously until smooth. Add more lemon juice as needed to make a thick but pourable glaze. Pour the glaze over the cooled cake and let it set for a few minutes before slicing. Store the cake well wrapped at room temperature for 3 to 4 days.

The San Juan Daily Star Hipoteca, al no poder pagar las mensualidades vencidas corresESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO pondiente a los meses de junio DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL de 2017, hasta el presente, más DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CEN- los cargos por demora corresTRO JUDICIAL DE AGUADILLA pondientes. Además, adeuda a SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN SE- I parte demandante las costas, BASTIAN. gastos y honorarios de abogado en que incurra el tenedor del paFIRSTBANK garé en este litigio. De acuerdo PUERTO RICO con dicho Contrato de Garantía Parte Demandante Vs. Hipotecaria la parte DemandanLA SUCESION DE ISRAEL te d claró vencida la totalidad de MENDEZ MENDEZ la deuda ascendente a la suma de $51,594.96 de principal, más compuesta JUDITH ENID MENDEZ ROMAN, lo intereses sobre dicha suma 4.50% anual, así como todos JOSUE ANDRES MENDEZ alaquellos créditos sumas que ROMAN, ALEJANDRO surjan de la faz de la obligación MENDEZ ROMAN , hipotecaria y de la hipoteca que la garantiza, incluyendo la suma John Doe y Richard estipulada para costas, gastos y Roe como posibles honorarios de abogado. La parte herederos desconocidos; Demandante presentó para su Administración para el inscripción en el Registro de la Sustento de Menores, Propiedad correspondiente, un A Centro de Recaudación VISO DE PLEITO PENDIENTE Pendens”) sobre la propiede Ingresos Municipales; (“Lis dad objeto de esta acción cuya LILLIAM MORALES propiedad es la siguiente: RUSRIVERA por si y como TICA: Sito en el Barrio Aibonito miembro de la Sucesión de San Sebastián, Puerto Rico, de Israel Méndez Méndez con una cabida de ochocientos dieciséis pu to dos mil quinientos Parte Demandada diecinueve metros cuadrados.

CASO CIVIL NUM: Colindando por el Norte, con ÁnMZ2018CV00403.

SOBRE: gel Rosa; por el Sur, con carreEJEUCION DE HIPOTECA tera municipal; por el Este, con POR LA VIA ORDINARIA Y José Caban; y por el Oeste, con COBRO DE DINERO. EMPLAZ remanente de la finca principal.

MIENTO POR EDICTO. EstaEnclava una casa de concreto dos Unidos de América Preside una planta dedicada a viviendente de los Estados Unidos de da. Inscrita al folio 55 del tomo America Estado Libre Asociado 593 de San Sebastián, Registro de Puerto Rico. de la Propiedad, Sección de San A: JOSUE ANDRES Sebastián, finca número 20,619.

MENDEZ ROMAN por SE LES APERCIBE que de no si y como miembro de hacer sus alegaciones responsivas a la demanda dentro del la Sucesión de Israel aquí dispuesto, se les Méndez Méndez también término anotará la rebeldía y se dictará conocido como Irra Sentencia, concediéndose el reMéndez Méndez medio solicitado en la Demanda, POR LA PRESENTE se les em sin más citarle ni oírle. En San laza y requiere, ara que conteste Sebastian, Puerto Rico, a 31 de la demanda dentro de los treinta agosto de 2020. SARAHI RE(30) días siguientes a la publica- YES PEREZ, SECRETARIA(O). ción de este Edicto. Usted debe- CARMEN M. RODRIGUEZ rá radicar su alegación responsi- ACEVEDO, SUBSECRETARIA. va a través del Sistema Unificad LEGAL NOTICE de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMA!C), al cual puede Estado Libre Asociado de Pueracceder utilizando la siguien- to Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL te dirección electrónica: http:// DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Priunired.ramajudicial.pr/sumac/ mera Instancia Sala Superior salvo que se presente por dere- de CAGUAS. cho propio, en cuyo caso deberá TRANS LEASE, INC., radicar el original de su contesDemandante tación ante el Tribunal corresJONATHAN MARRERO pondiente y notifique con copia RIVERA, FULANA DE TAL a los abogados de la parte deY LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL mandante, Lcda. Marjaliisa Colón Villanueva, al PO BOX 7970, DE GANANCIALES Ponce, P.R. 00732; Teléfono: COMPUESTA POR 787- 43-4168. En dicha demanAMBOS da se tramita un procedimiento Demandado(a) de obro de dinero y ejecución de Civil: CG2019CV04802. Sobre: hipoteca bajo el número mencioCANCELACION DE PAGARE nado en el epígrafe. Se alega EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN en dicho procedimiento que la DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. parte Demandada incurrió en el incumplimiento del Contrato de A: JONATHAN MARRERO

LEGAL NOTICE

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Friday, September 25, 2020 RIVERA Y FULANA DE TAL, POR SÍ Y COMO MIEMBROS DE LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS H-C 03 BOX 15702, AGUAS BUENAS, PUERTO RICO 00703; Y #80 BARRIO JAGUEYES, SECTOR LA MESA, CARR. 795 KM. 7.7, AGUAS BUENAS, PUERTO RICO 00703

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que 16 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 18 de septiembre de 2020. En CAGUAS , Puerto Rico, el 18 de septiembre de 2020. F/CARMEN ANA PEREIRA ORTIZ, Secretario(a).

F/MARTA E. DONATE RESTO, Secretaria Auxiliar.

DE DINERO Y EJECUCION DE HIPOTECA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU. ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R. SS.

A: SUCESION DE CARLIXTO VILLAMAN RODRIGUEZ COMPUESTA POR SU VIUDA CARLITAHERNANDEZ; FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS Y/O PARTES CON INTERESEN DICHA SUCESION

Queda emplazada y notificada de que en este Tribunal se ha radicado una demanda de Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca en su contra. Se le notifica que deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la Secretaría del Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala de San Juan y enviando copia a la parte demandante: Lcdo. Juan Carlos Fortuño Fas, PO Box 9300, Santurce, PR 00908-3665, Teléfono: (787) 751-5290, Facsímil: (787) 751-6155, correo electrónico: ejecuciones@fortuno-law. com. Se le apercibe y notifica que si no contesta la demanda radicada en su contra dentro del término de treinta (30) días de la publicación de este edicto, se le anotará la rebeldía y se dictará sentencia concediendo el remedio solicitado en la demanda, sin más citárseles, ni oírseles .

Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, a 21 de febrero de 2020. GRISELDA RODRIGUEZ LEGAL NOTICE COLLADO, Secretaria RegioESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE nal. LUZ ENID HERNANDEZ PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE DEL VALLE, Secretaria Serv a PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA Sala.

SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN.

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

PARTE DEMANDANTE Vs.

SUCESION DE CARLIXTO VILLAMAN RODRIGUEZ COMPUESTA POR SU VIUDA CARLITA HERNANDEZ; FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS Y/O PARTES CON INTERESEN DICHA SUCESION

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

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante

DEBORAH AVILES CABRERA

Demandado(a) Civil: HA2019CV00223. Sobre: EJECUCION DE GARANTIAS PARTE DEMANDADA (“IN REM”) NOTIFICACIÓN DE CIVIL NUM: SJ2019CV11481. SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. SALA: 604. SOBRE: COBRO

staredictos@thesanjuandailystar.com

A: DEBORAH

(787) 743-3346

25 AVILES CABRERA

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que 1 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 14 de SEPTIEMBRE de 2020. En CAMUY, Puerto Rico, el 14 de SEPTIEMBRE de 2020. VIVIAN Y FRESSE GONZALEZ, SECRETARIA. SUHAIL SERRANO MOYA, Sec Auxiliar.

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

COOPERATIVA DE AHORRO Y CREDITO EDE COOP Demandante

ANA ARROYO TORRES

Demandado(a) Civil: SJ2020CV00404. SALA 903. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO (REGLA 60). NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: ANA ARROYO TORRES

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que 16 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 es-

tar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal, se le anotará la rebeldía y se dictará Sentencia concediendo el remedio así solicitado sin más citarles ni oírles. El abogado de la parte demandante es el Lcdo. Gerardo Ortiz Torres, cuya dirección física y postal LEGAL NOT ICE es: Cond. El Centro I, Suite 801, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE 500 Muñoz Rivera Ave., San PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE Juan, Puerto Rico 00918; cuyo PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA número de teléfono es (787) SUPERIOR DE TOA BAJA. 946-5268, y su correo electróniAMERICAS LEADING co es: gerardo@bellverlaw.com.

Expedido bajo mi firma y sello FINANCE LLC de este Tribunal, en Toa Alta, Demandante, v.

Puerto Rico, hoy día 15 de sepLEGAL NOTICE MARISOL ADORNO tiembre de 2020. LCDA. LARUA SOTO, SU ESPOSO ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE I SANTA SANCHEZ, Secretaria PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE FULANO DE TAL Y LA Regional. LIRIAM HERNANDEZ, Subsecretaria.

PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SOCIEDAD LEGAL SUPERIOR DE CAROLINA. tablecerse 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 18 de septiembre de 2020. En San Juan, , Puerto Rico, el 18 de septiembre de 2020. GRISELDA RODRIGUEZ COLLADO, Secretario(a). F/ MILDRED J. FRANCO REVENTOS, Secretario(a) Auxiliar.

ASOCIACION DE PROPIETARIOS Y RESIDENTES VISTAMAR MARINA ESTE, INC. Demandante, vs.

WANDA IVETTE HERNANDEZ DIAZ

Demandada.

CIVIL NUM.: CA2020CV01589.

SALA: SOBRE: INJUNCTION PERMANENTE; INCUMPLIMIENTO DE CONDICIONES RESTRICTIVAS. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R. ss.

A: WANDA IVETTE HERNANDEZ DIAZ 13626 Glynshell Drive, Winter Garden, FL 34787

Por Ia presente se les notifica que se ha radicado en este Tribunal una Demanda de Injunction Permanente bajo el numero del epígrafe. Representa a la parte demandante, el abogado CUyO nombre, dirección y teléfono se consigna de en adelante: Lcdo. Ivan López Irizarry Banco Cooperativo Plaza, Suite 205-B 623 Ave. Police de Leon HatoRey, PR 00917 (787) 239-3613 Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), aI cual puede acceder utilizando Ia siguiente dirección electronica: https://unired.ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en Ia secretarIa del Tribunal. Se le apercibe que si no compareciere usted a contestar dicha demanda dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de Ia publicación de este edicto, radicando el original de Ia contestación ante el Tribunal correspondiente, con copia a Ia parte demandante, se le anotaría Ia rebeldía y se le

dictará sentencia concediendo el remedio solicitado sin más citarle ni oIrle. Expedido bajo ml firma y sello del Tribunal, ho 11 de septiembre de 2020. Lcda.

Marilyn Aponte Rodriguez, Sec Regional. Rosa M. Viera Velazquez, SubSecretaria.

DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

LEGAL NOTICE

A: MARISOL ADORNO SOTO, SU ESPOSO FULANO DE TAL Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

JUAN ROCHA TERRERO 815 SCOTT AVE. UN RUSSELLVILLE, AL 35653

Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL Demandados DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de PriCIVIL NÚM.: TB2020CV00241. mera Instancia Sala de MAYASOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO GUEZ-SUPERIOR. POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA Y LAGUNA ARROYO, EJECUCIÓN DE GRAVAMEN ANGELITA MOBILIARIO (REPOSESIÓN Demandante DE VEHÍCULO). EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTA- ROCHA TERRERO, JUAN Demandado(a) DOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU. Civil: ISRF201900486. Sobre: IRREPARABLE. DE AMERICA EL ESTADO LI- RUPTURA BRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. RICO.

Quedan emplazados y notificados que en este Tribunal se ha radicado Demanda sobre cobro de dinero por la vía ordinaria y ejecución de gravamen mobiliario (reposesión de vehículo) en la que se alega que la parte demandada MARISOL ADORNO SOTO, SU ESPOSO FULANO DE TAL Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS, le adeudan solidariamente a AMERICAS LEADING FINANCE LLC., $9,269.38, más los intereses que continúa acumulando, más una suma razonable por concepto de honorarios de abogados, costas y gastos, según pactados. Se les advierte que este edicto se publicará en un periódico de circulación general una sola vez y que, si no comparecen a contestar dicha Demanda dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación del Edicto, a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial.pr/sumac/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presen-

EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que 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.

LIC. SANTOS MONTALVO, LUIS R LRSANTOS59@HOTMAIL.COM En MAYAGUEZ, , Puerto Rico, el 17 de septiembre de 2020.

LCDA. NORMA G SANTANA IRIZARRY, Secretario(a). F/NILDA IRIZARRY RODRIGUEZ, Sec Auxiliar.

26

The San Juan Daily Star

September 25-27, 2020

Basketball persists in Mexico amid the pandemic

By NATHANIEL JANOWITZ

T

he day before Antonio Álvarez’s home debut for the Astros de Jalisco, his hometown basketball team, the power forward waited in a hotel room in Guadalajara under strict isolation protocols, listening to occasional fireworks.

Outside, Mexican Independence Day celebrations raged for those ignoring the government’s social distancing guidelines. Álvarez said his family was at home, electing not to partake in the festivities because of the coronavirus outbreak.

His family often watched him compete on the court while he was growing up in Guadalajara, the Jalisco state capital.

But now, even though he was playing in Mexico’s highest professional basketball league and representing Jalisco, the coronavirus pandemic meant that his family couldn’t watch him in person, instead having to follow along from their home on the other side of Guadalajara.

“It’s a bit weird to be so close to my house, but I can’t go there,” Álvarez, 21, said in Spanish. He added, “To have my family close, but they can’t be there in the arena — it’s a difficult situation, but it’s the best that we can do at this time to keep our families and the team safe.”

In early September, the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional (LNBP) launched a shortened season, even though the country had been hit hard by the pandemic. While its popularity doesn’t come close to that of Mexico’s top soccer league, the LNBP’s top players are well-known figures, especially those who also play on the Mexican national team.

The league’s games are usually raucous events with near-full arenas.

As the league tipped off, Mexico had surpassed 650,000 confirmed coronavirus infections and 70,000 deaths related to the virus, the fourth-highest number of fatalities for any nation. But even that grim total was thought to greatly undercount the dead.

Despite these fraught circumstances, the league believes that it will crown a champion this season by following its health and safety protocols based on guidelines from FIBA, the international governing body for basketball, and the World Health Organization.

“In this atypical year, the LNBP has put forth a massive effort to roll out this season, with everything aimed toward

The Astros took on the Abejas de León on Sept. 17, winning 99-93 in an arena that was mostly empty because of the pandemic. giving a message of optimism and hope to all our fans, and all of Mexico,” said Alonso Izaguirre, the LNBP commissioner and a former player.

Izaguirre said team owners, staff members, players and coaches batted around ideas such as creating bubbles in cities like Guadalajara, Chihuahua and Monterrey. Five of the league’s 17 teams chose not to participate in the 2020 season — some felt it wasn’t economically feasible to participate without fans, and others decided that severe virus outbreaks in their regions would make it too dangerous to play — and the season was condensed to 20 games from 36. They will compete over two months, instead of the usual 4 1/2, with 12 teams playing in weekly back-to-back games.

Instead of creating one all-encompassing bubble environment with daily testing, as the NBA has done at Walt Disney World, the 12 LNBP teams create mini-bubbles in hotels for players and staff in each of their cities. They travel between cities on sanitized, private buses and are tested for the virus every 15 days unless they display clear symptoms during twice-daily checkups.

During the first two rounds of testing to begin the season, eight players tested positive on four teams. Seven have left

isolation and are playing, while one player remains isolated.

“It hasn’t been easy. The circumstances and the resources, the budgets of each of the teams here in Mexico are different than other leagues,” Izaguirre said. “We know we have limited resources. But if we’re all united in one cause, with one goal, I believe we can go forward amid this pandemic. In this way, we’re trying to supplement the lack of resources with awareness.”

The league is also relying on tight restrictions on the players’ and coaches’ movements.

Karim Rodríguez, a Mexican American player in the LNBP from San Diego, spends most evenings on FaceTime with his wife and two young children back in California, playing PlayStation, or watching the NBA playoffs. There’s not much else to do.

“Sometimes we want to play Hold ’Em or dominoes or something, but we can’t,” said Rodríguez, an eight-year LNBP veteran. “We’re not supposed to be in groups of more than two or three at a time so that no one gets infected.”

The team only leaves the designated floor of its hotel for games, twice-a-day practices, and to eat meals in a single quarantined restaurant. Unlike at the NBA’s

bubble, families will not be allowed to join the teams, there are no social events in the evenings, and players are not even allowed outside to take a walk.

Rodríguez considered sitting out the season, partly from fear of contracting the coronavirus, but more so because his family would have to face the ongoing isolation and risk of contagion without him.

He also wasn’t pleased about another stipulation of the season: Everyone, from the commissioner to the players and staff, had to take a pay cut.

“I’m not going to play any percentage less hard than the season before, so why does my salary have to be less?” Rodríguez said. “But I talked to some friends around the league, and their teams were doing it, too.”

He added that he also came to understand the decision because the games weren’t going to have fans, merchandise for sale or concession stands.

His teammate Héctor Hernández agreed.

“We’re grateful to have work when there’s a lot of people in Mexico who don’t,” said Hernández, a national-team player in his 13th LNBP season. “We as players have to sacrifice. Everyone in the league has to sacrifice to make this season happen.”

The Astros took on the Abejas de León on Sept. 17, the day after Independence Day, winning 99-93 in front of a mostly empty arena smattered with a few members of the news media, team staff and some sponsors. The ball echoed with each bounce, and every shout of “and one” carried throughout the arena.

While no fans had their faces displayed during the game, like the NBA has done, they were able to watch online for free on Facebook, and fill out online quizzes about the players and game to keep them engaged.

Even if the LNBP wanted to change its mind about having fans, it wouldn’t be possible for all of its teams. Mexico has a stoplight system of reopening, where each state is given a designation of red, orange, yellow or green to represent the level of coronavirus-related restrictions.

Jalisco remains in orange, while eight states have moved to yellow, which would allow events to open to attendees in a limited capacity. Some are inching closer to green, but public health officials remain concerned.

The San Juan Daily Star

September 25-27, 2020

27

James Rodríguez is here to entertain you

By RORY SMITH

C

arlo Ancelotti greets James Rodríguez, as he strolls off the field, with an embrace. He whispers a few kind words into his ear, congratulating his player on a fine afternoon’s work. Rodríguez smiles, thanking him, and then continues toward the bench.

As Rodríguez reaches down to select a water bottle, Ancelotti turns away from the game and gently places a hand on the player’s back. It is an almost paternal gesture, full of satisfaction and pride and affection. He leaves it there for a second or two: just long enough for Rodríguez to know that he is appreciated.

In the game’s afterglow — Everton has beaten West Bromwich Albion, 5-2, and will sit top of the nascent Premier League table for a few hours — Ancelotti is in a relaxed, contented mood, given to the warm nostalgia of the elder statesman, his mind fusing this happy afternoon to all of the heady days he has known.

As he conducts his news media conference on Zoom, though, the focus is not on the rich promise of Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who has scored a clinical, instinctive hat trick. The first few questions are Rodríguez, Rodríguez, Rodríguez. Ancelotti indulges them all with the air of a man expecting it.

The last few weeks at Everton have all been about Rodríguez. His face adorns the program before his home debut. Outside Goodison Park, all three of the club’s summer signings — Allan, Abdoulaye Doucouré and Rodríguez — have been emblazoned on a billboard. But it is the Colombian, Rodríguez, who is front and center.

On the day he signed, Everton arranged for the Colpatria Tower, Colombia’s tallest building, to be bathed in blue light. There were displays in New York’s Times Square and in Miami Beach, too. Richard Kenyon, the club’s director of marketing, said Rodríguez’s profile — he has, by the club’s estimate, the eighth largest social media following of any athlete on the planet — would help Everton fulfill its “global ambitions more quickly.”

No player, the cliché runs, is ever bigger than a club. That is true, of course, but there are times when it feels more tenuous, when it is almost possible to believe it is not. The arrival of Rodríguez, Colombia’s golden boy, a bona fide Galactico, the star of the 2014 World Cup, at Everton — a team tired of treading water, desperate for something more than nostalgia — is one of those moments.

The tyranny of the future At the turn of the year, rumors started to swirl in Spain that Barcelona — in dire need of attacking reinforcements as its season listed

Don’t think about the economics at play in the Colombian’s arrival at Everton. Just enjoy it. and turned — had approached Everton to see if the team would consider parting with its Brazilian forward Richarlison.

He had cost $40 million when he arrived from Watford 18 months earlier, and his return had been steady: 13 Premier League goals in an encouraging debut season, with eight more halfway through his second. That was enough, several outlets reported at the time, to persuade Barcelona to offer to buy him for $108 million: an eyebrow-raising price, and a mouthwatering profit.

Everton, the story went, had said no: the club had no intention of parting with a prized asset. A few weeks later, Richarlison himself would insist it was all smoke and vapor. Inundated with messages from friends in Brazil, he said, he had checked with his agent. There had been no offer, no confirmed interest.

As ever in the transfer market, though, what was true mattered less than what stuck.

To Everton fans, the club had taken a stand that it would not be bullied by the game’s superpowers, that — at last — it had the financial firepower and the concrete sense of purpose not to be used as a steppingstone.

In a different light, though, Everton’s decision appeared far riskier. Most clubs of Everton’s profile — not part of the established, 21st century elite, but determined to rectify

that — now actively advertise themselves as springboards. Young, gifted players arrive, excel, and are then sold on to one of the handful of destination teams in Europe: Barcelona, Real Madrid, Paris St.-Germain, Bayern Munich, Juventus and sundry members of England’s Big Six. When executed well, everyone benefits from this arrangement. The player has the stage on which to advertise his talents, a chance to build a data set. The club has access to a higher caliber of player — albeit in his formative years — than might otherwise be possible and, when a sale eventually goes through, can reinvest that money in its squad.

Signing Rodríguez at 29 runs contrary to that practice. Though Rodríguez’s case is a curious one, tangled up in the occasionally opaque world of Real Madrid’s inner logic, it is counterintuitive to try to catch up to the elite by signing players deemed not good enough to play for them.

More pertinently, when his contract expires in 2023, at the latest, his age means there will be little or no resale value, nothing to reinvest. When he leaves, Everton will be exactly where it was when he joined.

At a time when teams are told to think about the future, it is a signing for today, one that strikes at the heart of what has long held

Everton, and others, back: a pride that prevents a club from recognizing its place not in the historical order but in the current one, a refusal to think of itself as anything other than a destination, and an inability to see that the only way, ultimately, to rejoin that elite is to act first as a proving ground for it.

This is supposed to be fun Outside Goodison Park, a small group of fans has gathered an hour or so after the West Brom game. Most of them wear Everton’s royal blue, but at least one is in the bright canary yellow of Colombia. They are here to congratulate the players on a second consecutive win, on a promising start to this season, but there is one they want to see above all others.

After a while, he appears. As Rodríguez is driven past the Winslow pub, on Goodison Road, a couple of fans urge him to stop and lower his window. Smiling, he does so. For his trouble, he is handed a bottle of wine. He accepts it with a grin. The fans cheer in delight.

Even before he had trained, much less played, with his new teammates, the mere act of signing Rodríguez was enough to create a sense of optimism, of interest, of energy around Everton. Just the thought of a player of his reputation wearing blue was a consequential, almost tangible thing.

Two games in, that effect has been magnified. To his coach, Ancelotti, his gifts lie in his simplicity. “His football is not so complicated,” he said. “If he has space, he uses his qualities to play passes. If he is under pressure, he plays simple. This is what every player has to do.” To his captain, Seamus Coleman, it is the “calm” that comes from such a celebrated, high-pressure career.

But to an outside eye, it is the artistry with which he does it all: the flourish of his left boot as he plays a pass; the fade on a ball to make it fall just so for a teammate; the ingenuity with which he lofts a pass to Richarlison to create Calvert-Lewin’s second goal.

That he drifts in and out of games, in a way, only adds to his aura. Rodríguez plays like a star in an almost old-fashioned sense, not expected to dictate a game from start to finish but to influence it in moments. He makes fans believe that anything can happen at any second, that nothing is ever lost, that there is always reason for anticipation, for hope.

Ultimately, professional sports are not just about long-term aims and models of success and age profiles and philosophies. They are not entirely about economics, either. Strip away the tribalism and the emotion and they are, at their heart, a form of entertainment. They are supposed to be fun. That is what Rodríguez has done: allowed Everton to have fun again.

28

The San Juan Daily Star

September 25-27, 2020

Gale Sayers’s balletic runs obscure football’s brutal endings

Gale Sayers was known for his graceful style of running on the field. But his career was cut short by knee injuries, and years later the injuries to his brain became apparent.

By KEN BELSON

I

t is perhaps no small irony that in 1965, the year that the Chicago Bears chose running back Gale Sayers fourth overall in the draft, George Halas, the team’s longtime owner, picked linebacker Dick Butkus one spot ahead of him. The tandem defined the team and the league for most of a decade. Both players ended up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

But where Sayers was graceful, Butkus was brutal.

Sayers eluded tacklers, Butkus slammed into ball carriers and threw them to the ground with glee. Sayers spent his years avoiding collisions. Butkus, the most fearsome player of his time, seemed to live for them.

Both of them also had their careers cut short by knee injuries, a reminder that for all the grace football players can display, the game at its core is a bone-crunching, head-knocking, jaw-breaking showdown.

Sayers, who died early Wednesday at 77 from complications of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, is rightly remembered for his athletic artistry that some compared to dancing ballet. Footage of his games from the 1960s show him effortlessly slicing left and right, leaping like a hurdler and crisscrossing the field in search of slivers of space between defenders on his way to the end zone.

“There’s times I would make a move, and I couldn’t explain it,” Sayers once said, almost dumbfounded by his talents. “It’s a God-given instinct to do things like that.”

“Give me 18 inches of daylight,” he said another time. “That’s all I need.”

But NFL highlight reels are deceiving. They are long on acrobatics, often shown in slow motion and set to dramatic music. The game at that speed looks practically elegant. Odell Beckham Jr., reaching behind his head to make a one-handed grab. John Elway throwing a tight spiral 50 yards downfield into the outstretched hands of a receiver running full stride. Barry Sanders almost tiptoeing past charging linebackers.

Those same highlight reels are short on the tackles that leave ball carriers on the ground in a crumpled heap, or the jarring hits that were often addressed with smelling salts. Those videos omit the career-ending plays when injured players are taken off the field on stretchers.

Sayers’ brilliant but brief career hit the skids Nov. 10, 1968, when on a run to the left side of the field, he tore ligaments in his right knee after a 49ers defender slammed into it. Four Bears teammates carried him off the field. For a player who made his living by using his knees not just to run, but to cut in every direction, the injury was devastating, especially given the state of orthopedic surgery at the time.

Sayers, though, was determined to show that he could overcome the odds.

“I wanted to prove that one could come back from a serious knee injury in a year,” Sayers told NFL Films.

“People play with broken ribs, fingers, whatever it may be. But they never shed a tear. They went out there and played.”

Remarkably, the next season, Sayers finished with more than 1,000 yards rushing for the second time in his

seven-year career. But unable to glide through defenses the same way, he was never the same and played in just four more games the next two seasons before retiring in 1972.

Though Sayers’ failing knees ended his career, the invisible injuries to his brain may have been what led to his ultimate demise. In Sayers’ day, teams had full-contact practices nearly every day during the week and two, and sometimes three, times a day during training camp. During his football career, he likely absorbed thousands of hits.

In March 2017, Sayers’ family revealed that he had dementia after he had publicly displayed symptoms of it for years. He joins a growing list of hundreds of football players who are known to have developed dementia and other neurological disorders linked to brain trauma.

“Like the doctor at the Mayo Clinic said, ‘Yes, a part of this has to be on football,’” Ardythe Sayers, Gale’s wife, told The Associated Press. “It wasn’t so much getting hit in the head. It’s just the shaking of the brain when they took him down with the force they play the game in.”

Even before his diagnosis, Sayers was well known for avoiding the spotlight. NFL players are trained to be stoic, to never show weakness and to sacrifice their bodies for the good of the team. They want to be remembered for their athletic prowess. Many, as a result, suffer in silence for years after they leave the game and the cheering stops.

That’s what made Sayers’ admission of frailty so startling. In his understated way, Sayers joined other former NFL greats like Nick Buoniconti and Tony Dorsett who have spoken up about the toll football took on their bodies, and their minds.

“It’s not hard for me to go public like this because so many others depend on getting out there and not to be ashamed,” Buoniconti said in 2017, the same year Sayers’ family disclosed Gale’s dementia. “I never, never, never dreamed it would happen to me.”

It happened to Sayers, though. Fans and reporters could see his mind failing almost in slow motion, at testimonial dinners and autograph signings. NFL highlight reels rarely show that either.

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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

September 25-27, 2020

(Mar 21-April 20)

Get involved in new routines and projects. This is your chance to shake off the boredom that has been holding you prisoner. New methods will work better than old ones. This will come as a surprise to colleagues who were adamant their ways couldn’t be improved. Give them a chance to adapt.

Libra

(Sep 24-Oct 23)

You aren’t the only one whose life is likely to be affected by the choices and decisions being made today. If you have a say in the matter, be certain to take everyone else’s views and feelings into account before making a long-term commitment. You will want to make a big decision without regret.

Taurus

(April 21-May 21)

Scorpio

Gemini

(May 22-June 21)

Sagittarius

(Nov 23-Dec 21)

Capricorn

(Dec 22-Jan 20)

Determination is your strong point yet you’re almost ready to give up on a job that isn’t going well. What’s stopping you from asking for help? Admit that you could do with some support to finish this task. There are plenty of people around who are willing to give assistance. Share the work and share the glory.

An indecisive friend is living up to their reputation by taking ages to get back to you about a proposal you put to them. You may need to remind them that you are waiting for an answer. Send them a text or give them a call and let them know you can’t wait forever for them to make up their mind.

Cancer

(June 22-July 23)

The support you have been giving others is admirable but you need to take more interest now in your own health needs. This includes the necessity to exercise more. Even if you aren’t the sporty type you could be surprised by how much pleasure you get out of a new outside interest. In particular a one you can share with a group of friends.

Leo

(July 24-Aug 23)

(Oct 24-Nov 22)

Emotions are raw. Someone has hurt you and you feel they have let you down. Their apologies mean nothing while you feel so upset and you aren’t ready yet to forgive them, if you ever will. The future of this relationship is uncertain. Avoid making a big decision when you can’t think clearly.

A project you were excited about doesn’t mean as much to you now. You have waited so long for this moment you seem to have lost interest. You daren’t show others how you really feel. They’ve put a lot of effort into this and you don’t want them to think you don’t appreciate it.

Hard work will pay off sooner than you think.

Whether or not you are in the mood for it, there are jobs you need to get on with. You have no choice about it as the responsibility is yours and yours alone. This work will be timeconsuming and often boring but it will bring rewards.

Aquarius

(Jan 21-Feb 19)

A partner has opposing views to you on how joint finances should be handled. If you’re hoping to spend some cash on a project but there have been objections, be willing to talk it through. Hide your irritation, keep discussions calm and reasonable and a compromise will be reached.

It will feel good to throw yourself into new and unusual pastimes. Getting intellectual stimulation is critical to your happiness. Others will be inspired by your passion and enthusiasm but when it comes to money, a more cautious approach is recommended. It would be wise to discuss plans with a partner and avoid making impulsive purchases.

Virgo

Pisces

(Aug 24-Sep 23)

As a Virgo, you rarely take health matters lightly. There is a reason why you are feeling tired and irritable. Heed the signs and take the rest you need and deserve. Spending some time outside in the fresh air will be therapeutic. Don’t feel guilty if you decide to take the day off work.

(Feb 20-Mar 20)

Acting on a tip that a neighbour puts your way could earn you a little extra money.

Although you don’t like taking cash from others, if someone offers to pay you for your creative skills, seriously consider their offer carefully. This could be the start of a lucrative little business.

Answers to the Sudoku and Crossword on page 29

September 25-27, 2020

31

CARTOONS

Herman

Speed Bump

Frank & Ernest

BC

Scary Gary

Wizard of Id

For Better or for Worse

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Ziggy

32

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September 25-27, 2020

2020

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