Gonzálo Pimentel via The New York Times
Adam Gray/The New York Times
GOOD MORNING
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.
Advanced practice nurses insist they can prescribe medications
By THE STAR STAFF
Susan Figueroa González, president of the Nursing Professionals Association of Puerto Rico (CPEPR by its initials in Spanish), wrote to Alliance gubernatorial candidate Juan Dalmau Ramírez this week instructing him on the qualifications of the advanced practice nursing with a specialty in nurse practitioner, after he publicly opposed a bill allowing those professionals to prescribe medications on the island.
Figueroa González, who represents 40,000 nursing professionals, reacted with surprise and disappointment at Dalmau Ramírez’s position during the recent forum of candidates for governor on health proposals organized by the Physicians and Surgeons Association of Puerto Rico.
The pro-independence candidate stated that allowing nurse practitioners to prescribe medications “is an external concept that they want to bring to Puerto Rico, like so many others, and I do not agree that that is the case.”
“We assume, from your response, that you did not have the necessary information to answer adequately and correctly,” Figueroa González said. “Through this letter, we would like to advise you on who nurse practitioners are, their academic preparation, functions established by law and what was proposed in [Senate][ Bill 1390.”
According to Figueroa González’s letter, the measure filed during the most recent legislative session proposed amendments to Law 247-2004, known as the Puerto Rico Pharmacy Law, to recognize the figure of the nurse practitioner as a prescriber authorized to issue prescriptions.
“It is important that Dalmau and the other candidates for governor know that Law 254-2015, which regulates the practice of nursing, authorizes nurse practitioners to issue prescriptions and medication orders under a collaborative agreement with a duly licensed physician, as long as the medications are not listed under category I and II of the Controlled Substances Law,” she said. “However, the Pharmacy Law has never been tempered to recognize the statutory faculty of these health professionals.”
She added that the aforementioned nursing professionals,
as defined by law, have a license from the Nursing Examining Board in the generalist category and a doctorate degree in clinical nursing practice, a master’s degree in nursing with a focus on advanced practice, or a postgraduate certification, after having a master’s degree in nursing with a focus on advanced practice. This category includes practice specialties such as clinical specialist, obstetrics-midwifery, anesthesia, nurse practitioner and any other specialty that emerges within the concept of advanced practice.
“Advanced practice personnel must have academic training in pathophysiology, physical examination and advanced pharmacology, from an institution recognized by the Puerto Rico Education Council and the Nursing Examining Board,” Figueroa González said in her letter. “In addition, they must have passed a revalidation issued by the Board of Examiners, or have a certification from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, American Association of Nurse Anesthetists or another specialized association in the corresponding area recognized by the Board of Examiners of Nursing, to obtain a license in this category.”
The CPEPR president added that nurse practitioners can perform advanced physical examinations, issue orders for laboratories, sonograms, x-rays, nuclear medicine studies, electrocardiograms, pulmonary function tests, diagnostic tests, cervical cancer screening, prostate cancer and skin biopsy, among other studies. Likewise, they are authorized to establish treatment plans according to the needs of patients and previously approved by a physician through collaborative agreements between a physician and a nurse practitioner.
San Juan & comptroller sign transparency agreement
By THE STAR STAFF
The Autonomous Municipality of San Juan, under the administration of Mayor Miguel Romero Lugo, and the Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico, led by Comptroller Yesmín M. Valdivieso Galib, have signed a historic collaborative agreement for the exchange of data and access to public records, with the goal of strengthening oversight and transparency in the management of public funds and assets.
The agreement will allow shared and secure access to
the databases of both entities, in order to improve efficiency in the auditing processes and ensure compliance with legal and regulatory standards in the administration of public resources. The aim is to prevent and identify irregularities, fraud or loss of funds, ensuring that the use of public resources is aligned with the law and public policy.
According to the signatories, the agreement represents a significant step forward in the implementation of good governance policies, ensuring that the Municipality of San Juan and the Comptroller’s Office continue to work together to guarantee the efficient and responsible use of public funds.
Juan Dalmau Ramírez, the Alliance candidate for governor
SEC considers suing Center for Investigative Journalism over access to voter registry
By THE STAR STAFF
State Elections Commission (SEC) Alternate Chairwoman
Jessika Padilla Rivera says she does not rule out the possibility of filing legal action against the Center for Investigative Journalism for a report published on the voter registry.
Padilla Rivera said a potential lawsuit would be for “having had access to confidential and privileged information of citizens that is in the General Voters Registry.”
“The State Elections Commission is called upon to protect the information of voters in Puerto Rico, which is why, as stated in the report, the SEC did not authorize and much less share the document,” Padilla Rivera said in a written statement issued Wednesday night. “Clearly, Article 3.6 (4) of the Electoral Code of Puerto Rico establishes that ‘Registration documents will be considered private, confidential and only the registered voter, the Electoral Commissioners, the Commission and its official agencies or any court with jurisdiction in the performance of
its functions may request a copy of them, when dealing with matters of a specifically electoral nature or the configuration of the lists of candidates for jury members in judicial proceedings.”
UPR Medical Sciences Campus to partake in infectious disease study focused on treatments, vaccine development
By THE STAR STAFF
The Medical Sciences Campus (RCM by its initials in Spanish) of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) announced on Thursday its participation
in a research program with 17 academic institutions in the mainland United States to develop therapeutic interventions against dengue, chikungunya and other infectious diseases.
“The inclusion of the Campus in this program re-
“Given this, it is reasonable to conclude that the result of the search that led to the journalistic report is questionable, since, we reiterate, access to the Registry clearly deviates from the prohibitions contained in Law 58 of 2020,” she added.
On Thursday, Padilla Rivera reaffirmed the veracity of information shared with the media in an interview a week prior related to the number of deceased citizens remaining on the island’s voting rolls.
“Regarding the number of files of deceased citizens, at that time [it was] just over 16,000, on which the Commission was working in order to exclude those who, in fact, were deceased voters,” the official said.
“In fact, currently, as a result of the efforts made to this end, the number of files has been reduced to just over 13,500, a figure that continues to decrease thanks to the work of the employees in charge of this task and the collaborative agreements reached to make the work more efficient and safe,” Padilla Rivera said.
validates our position as the leading institution in health research in Puerto Rico,” RCM Chancellor Dr. Myrna Quiñones Feliciano said in a written statement.
The program is the largest funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health to develop treatments and vaccines for future epidemic or pandemic events.
Dr. Carlos Sariol, director of the RCM’s Comparative Medicine Unit, leads the UPR’s participation in the project, which includes collaboration with government agencies and pharmaceutical company Moderna in the clinical phase of the treatments.
Congress approves funding extension for historic preservation
By THE STAR STAFF
This week, the U.S. Congress considered the last package of measures before the election recess, including the continuing budget resolution (known as CR) that would prevent a federal government shutdown starting Oct. 1, when the 2025 federal fiscal year begins.
The U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation authored by Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón to honor the memory of maritime interdiction agent Michel Maceda, who died in the line of duty, as well as measures to promote coastal resources, improve disaster response and support domestic semiconductor production.
The CR provisions include language to earmark funds allocated under the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 for the National Park Service Historic Preservation Fund, which is available for two additional years, through fiscal year 2026, to settle valid obligations incurred during fiscal years 2018 and 2019.
“This will allow additional time for the Puerto Rico State Historic Preservation Office to spend the remaining
funds from its $12,847,318 allocation from the Emergency Supplemental Historic Preservation Fund (ESHPF) and complete its Hurricane Maria projects, including an ongoing project of approximately $6 million to repair nine historic properties across the island,” the resident commissioner said Thursday in a written statement. “Without this language, all remaining ESHPF funds would be canceled and no longer available after September 30, 2024.”
The CR also:
* Maintains government funding at current levels through Dec. 20, 2024, or until enactment of an appropriations bill for the fiscal year.
* Provides FEMA flexibility to obligate and expend Disaster Recovery Fund funds more quickly to address disasters during the CR term.
* Authorizes funding for planning and security for the 2025 Presidential Inauguration.
* Allocates an additional $231 million to the Secret Service for protective operations during the 2024 campaign and national security events under existing budget limits.
* Extends the National Flood Insurance Program.
* Allows the Department of Health and Human Services to continue providing Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits.
* Extends Department of Veterans Affairs programs to ensure veterans receive care and benefits.
* Extends federal health programs addressing rare pediatric diseases and autism support activities.
Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón on the floor of the U.S. Congress
State Elections Commission Alternate Chairwoman Jessika Padilla Rivera
US House subpanel criticizes federal policy to resolve Puerto Rico’s energy problems
Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón is vice chair of the Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources
By THE STAR STAFF
AU.S. House Natural Resources subcommittee examining the problems with Puerto Rico’s power grid criticized the federal government Thursday for pushing electric vehicles and rooftop solar panels, which most residents can’t afford, instead of permitting power plants that can run on cheap natural gas.
The Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs complained in a statement that federal agencies “have chosen to ignore the practical realities of the island and have instead prioritized renewable energy projects.”
“For example, Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority has proposed shutting down old fuel plants and replacing them with new natural gas plants, but the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau [PREB], the island’s regulator, rejected that proposal in favor of renewable energy projects and solar grids,” the subcommittee said.
The PREB has struggled to complete six proposed tenders for renewable energy projects.
“The practical reality is that the Biden-Harris administration’s prioritization of solar projects is neither feasible nor sustainable, as approximately 43 percent of Puerto Rico’s residents live in poverty,” the subcommittee said. “The initial cost of installing solar panels is $28,500 in cash. For context, the median household income in Puerto Rico in 2023 was $24,002.89. In addition to their high costs, solar panels are highly ineffective against severe weather, as storms can damage and remove residential and, in some cases, large-scale solar panels. The Biden-Harris administration has ignored this reality as it continues to champion rooftop solar projects as its solution to stabilize energy on the island.”
To further exacerbate the challenge, the subpanel said, the Biden-Harris administration’s push to purchase and use electric
vehicles has severely impacted the transformer supply chain. The growing demand for electric vehicles has led to an increase in electrification in the United States.
“This increase in demand has put further pressure on transformer supply, which is already taxed by ongoing efforts to replace outdated transformers across the country,” the subcommittee said.
Puerto Rico residents, the subcommittee said, deserve access to affordable, reliable and resilient energy, particularly since they pay one of the highest utility costs in the U.S. The continued instability of the power grid is an obstacle to short- and longterm economic growth.
The U.S. Department of Energy, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the Housing and Urban Development Agency, the leading U.S. agencies tasked with helping Puerto Rico rebuild its electrical grid, declined to testify Thursday before the subcommittee.
The subcommittee appeared to consider the transfer of the management of Puerto Rico’s electrical grid from the entity controlled by the island government, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), to the private utilities LUMA Energy (electricity transmission and distribution) and Genera PR (power generation) as a step in the right direction.
“However, LUMA and Genera are responsible for explaining the recent blackouts and must improve to increase transparency and communication,” the subcommittee said. “The Biden-Harris administration’s priority of renewables, such as solar and wind, over reliable sources of baseload power is unsustainable for Puerto Rico. The administration is placing its political agenda above the practical realities of the island and is putting the livelihoods of the 3.2 million residents at risk.”
LUMA Energy spokesperson Juan Saca said LUMA took over as transmission and distribution operator for Puerto Rico’s power grid in June 2021, just four years after the devastating impacts of Hurricane Maria. Even before Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico’s power grid was well below utility reliability standards.
“Our team works every day to replace outdated and faulty infrastructure that was neglected for decades with new, reliable equipment. These are long-term reliability investments, and making the necessary structural changes is a monumental and time-consuming task, but we are making significant progress,” Saca said. “To date, we have replaced more than 17,850 utility poles with new poles capable of withstanding 160 miles per hour winds and installed more than 9,000 automation devices to reduce the duration and impact of outages, which have already prevented more than 140 million minutes of service interruption.”
Regarding the consortium’s capital improvement projects, Saca said LUMA has initiated 460 FEMA-critical projects, with 171 approved and 87% of them, or 149 projects, already under construction or completed. This is a significant achievement, he said, considering PREPA did not move a capital project to construction.
Saca told the subcommittee that LUMA has launched an islandwide Vegetation Safety and Reliability Initiative, which will clear vegetation from more than 16,000 miles of power lines and reduce blackouts by up to 45% once completed.
It also plans to replace the 1.5 million power meters across Puerto Rico with new technology that will help detect blackouts faster, allow for a more timely response when they occur and
improve customer service, he said.
“Infrastructure modernization will take time – this is and will be a multi-year transformation that will require even greater cooperation with local and federal partners, who we hope will work with us to address these legacy challenges and help advance critical FEMA funding,” Saca said.
However, Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón, who is the vice chair of the subcommittee, said “the people are tired of you, I’m tired of you, LUMA has to go!”
The member of Congress and candidate for island governor told the LUMA CEO that the consortium was hired to provide better services, not excuses, and that before the hiring LUMA executives knew about the state of the network and the system’s challenges.
“LUMA wasn’t ready on day 1, they won’t be ready in a thousand years,” she said.
González Colón asked the subcommittee to ask LUMA for a list of permits they have requested from federal authorities. LUMA officials complained about the lack of waivers to perform certain grid repairs.
“If waivers are so necessary to speed up their work, why hasn’t LUMA taken any steps to obtain them?” González Colón said. “LUMA cannot come to Congress to ask for waivers without making the effort to submit them to the federal government officially. He [Saca] has not been able to answer us as to what permits he has requested and when he requested them. That is why I requested that they submit for the Committee’s record the list of permits requested at the moment.”
The resident commissioner also criticized federal agencies’ failure to appear at the hearing.
Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) chairs the House Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs. (Stephen Speranza/ The New York Times)
September 27-29, 2024 6
Can NYC Mayor Adams survive a foreign bribery scandal?
By EMMA G. FITZSIMMONS and JEFFERY C. MAYS
As the first sitting mayor in New York City history to be charged with a crime, Mayor Eric Adams found himself stranded in a bit of uncharted territory.
Calls for his resignation were piling up. Several of his most powerful appointees had fled the administration. Reliable allies were more circumspect in offering support.
And even a routine news conference outside Gracie Mansion, if anything could be considered routine given the circumstances, was turned upside down Thursday when Adams’ words of defense were sometimes drowned out by shouts of “you are a disgrace.”
A more significant warning sign soon followed, when the Rev. Al Sharpton, one of the mayor’s closest supporters, expressed concern Thursday that Adams’ aggressive self-defense could hurt Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats electorally, and said that he would be convening a meeting with Black leaders to chart a path forward.
the influx of migrants, while fighting the criminal case against him and the increasing number of vacancies in his administration.
Quality candidates for important leadership roles are not going to feel comfortable working for someone who is under federal indictment, Lander said.
“He can’t provide the leadership that the mayoralty demands,” he said. “The charges are really serious and they are going to take serious work, not just from his lawyer, but from him.”
Political consultants and former New York officials doubted that Adams would step aside, given his combative stance and personality.
Chris Coffey, a Democratic political strategist who ran Andrew Yang’s mayoral campaign against Adams in 2021, said that it was extremely unlikely that Adams would resign and that his fate would most likely be decided by a deal with prosecutors or at the ballot box next June in the Democratic primary.
Adams has vowed to continue on as mayor, fighting to keep a job he loves and one that he has said was ordained by God.
Adams acknowledged that it was a “painful day” and called for a speedy trial.
“I ask New Yorkers to wait to hear our defense,” he said.
The next few days could determine whether Adams can stay put and whether his administration will continue to descend into chaos. Another test may arrive quickly: Alex Spiro, a lawyer for Adams, asked that the mayor’s first appearance in court take place Friday or Monday, according to a court filing. Spiro told the federal judge in the case that prosecutors do not object.
The stunning 57-page indictment accusing the mayor
of bribery and of accepting $100,000 in travel benefits led to a wave of new calls for Adams to resign or to be ousted.
Two elected officials could be critical: Gov. Kathy Hochul, a political ally who has the power to remove him, and Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House minority leader. Both are deeply focused on the November election, and both declined, for now, to pressure Adams to step aside.
Jeffries called the indictment a “serious and sober moment for New York City” and said that Adams was entitled to the presumption of innocence.
“A jury of the mayor’s peers will now evaluate the charges in the indictment and ultimately render a determination,” he said. “In the meantime, I pray for the well-being of our great city.”
Addressing reporters Thursday, Hochul kept her thinking on the matter to herself, saying only that she would be thoughtful and deliberative about her next step. Even so, she appeared to recognize the responsibility — and opportunity — in the choice before her.
“I have a unique responsibility here to make sure I do right by all people in this great state,” she said, taking note of the city’s residents: “I also represent 8.3 million New Yorkers.”
There is another way to force Adams out, relying on a five-member “committee on mayoral inability” that has never been deployed.
But a growing number of the mayor’s rivals pressed him to resign for the good of the city.
While the mayor was sequestered for much of Thursday at Gracie Mansion, his home in Manhattan, Brad Lander, the city comptroller who is running for mayor, held a well-attended news conference in the rotunda of City Hall to assert that the management of the city would suffer under Adams.
The mayor, he said, cannot possibly handle the plethora of problems facing the city, such as the housing crisis and
“He’s not going to resign because of media or political pressure,” he said.
Former Gov. David Paterson said that it was difficult to face pressure to resign — something that happened to him in 2010 when he ended his campaign for governor. But he said he had known “spiritually that I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“It’s a very hard thing to do, and most times when you’ve seen an elected official resign, it’s because there is condemning evidence against them,” he said.
Indeed, during a defiant news conference in front of Gracie Mansion with a group of Black clergy and community leaders, the mayor somewhat mockingly referred to the charges as a “story,” much in the way that he had routinely referred to the federal investigation that resulted in his indictment as a “review.”
“The story will come from the federal prosecutors,” the mayor said.
He also pledged to continue running the city, saying, “my day-to-day will not change,” and promised that there would be no decline in the city’s quality of life or services.
“It’s an insult to the hardworking people of this city that anyone will say that they won’t do their jobs while this case proceeds in the background,” Adams said.
As he spoke outside Gracie Mansion, the symbolism of those he chose to surround him — a group of clergy and community leaders, almost all of them Black — could not be missed.
Adams has tried to make the case that he is being targeted because he is Black, even going so far as to compare himself to the city’s first Black mayor, David Dinkins, calling himself “Dinkins 2.”
But protesters at Gracie Mansion were not moved. They compared his rhetoric to that of former President Donald Trump and said he had brought shame to Dinkins’ legacy.
“Resign, resign, resign,” the crowd chanted as Adams ended the news conference.
City Hall in Manhattan, Sept. 6, 2024. Even before his indictment, Mayor Eric Adams was facing mounting calls for his resignation. (Juan Arredondo/The New York Times)
Helene bears down on Florida coast as a major hurricane
By PATRICIA MAZZEI, ISABELLE TAFT, ABIGAIL GEIGER and JUDSON JONES
The pounding rain now flooding cities in Hurricane Helene’s wide path portended record-breaking storm surge on the Big Bend coast of Florida later Thursday, forecasters said. Officials urged residents to flee before rising water, which they said could reach the height of a two-story building, swept over cars, homes and streets.
Rainfall before the storm, now a Category 3 hurricane with 120-mph winds, was outperforming forecasters’ expectations, which they said meant escalating potential for flooding throughout the Southeast. On the Florida coastline where Helene will come ashore, the surge could rise 15 to 20 feet above normal tide levels.
Here’s a look at the latest:
— Size and strength: Record-setting ocean temperatures
are acting like “high-octane jet fuel” for the intensifying storm, one researcher said, and excessive rain warnings included Atlanta and Asheville, North Carolina. States of emergency have been declared as far north as Virginia, and schools canceled classes for Friday across the Southeast.
— More evacuees: Some longtime residents of coastal Florida, seasoned hurricane veterans who said they had never before evacuated, were leaving home Thursday, faced with Helene’s size and strength. John Posey, 58, had never left because of a hurricane, he said — not for Dennis in 2005, nor for Michael in 2018. But Helene, he said, felt different, and he wasn’t sure he should stay.
— Staying put: Despite the warnings, some coastal residents accepted the risks of riding out the storm. In tiny Cedar Key, Florida, which was hammered by Hurricane Idalia last August, about 50 residents remained. Michael Bobbitt, a novelist among the holdouts, said worry had given way to calm: “There’s a resignation here, now.” — A rush to harvest: Southern farmers scrambled to salvage unharvested crops before wind and floods destroyed them. Most of the $400 million pecan crop in Georgia is in the southern part of the state, placing it in the direct path of the storm.
Many who used to stay put in Florida’s coastal areas are leaving for Helene
By PATRICIA MAZZEI, EMILY COCHRANE and ABIGAIL GEIGER
In his 58 years, John Posey, a lifelong resident of the Forgotten Coast of Florida on the remote eastern edge of the Panhandle, had never evacuated for a hurricane — not for Dennis in 2005, nor for Michael in 2018.
But on Wednesday, as he stood outside his namesake seafood restaurant in Panacea, Florida, a community of about 800 near the marshy shores of Ochlockonee Bay, he admitted that after decades of facing storms head-on, this one felt different. Helene was closing in, and for the first time, he wasn’t sure he could stay.
Across Florida’s Big Bend region, where residents are staring at the third named storm in 13 months, many more people appeared to be heeding evacuation orders, leaving the small towns that dot the coast eerily empty Thursday.
Wakulla County, where Panacea is, was under a mandatory countywide evacuation. So was neighboring Franklin County,
where the waterfront city of Carrabelle, with a population of about 2,600, appeared mostly deserted.
In Cedar Key, part of a conglomeration of islands off the northwest coast of Florida, the Florida National Guard arrived in the morning to assess the situation and alert the island’s residents of the coming storm.
“In the last storm here, people would walk by us with beer and we’d say, ‘There’s a hurricane here,’” said Capt. John Meacham. “They’d say, ‘We’ll stick it out.’”
He said that this storm seems different. Though there are still people who have wanted to “stick it out” in Cedar Key, he said, he noticed fewer people overall Thursday.
In Carrabelle, James and Maddie Burmeister finished boarding up the hardware store that he manages early Wednesday afternoon. Maddie Burmeister held a plywood sheet over the front doors as James Burmeister nailed it down using a cordless drill.
On Thursday morning, he made about 35 sales before closing the doors of the shop, which is across the street from a
marina. The couple is not sticking around. They live in Crawfordville, about an hour north but still in Wakulla County, which is under a mandatory evacuation. They planned to wait out the storm in Georgia.
“I’m glad we’re not going to be here,” Maddie Burmeister said.
To the east in Steinhatchee, Florida, a small coastal community of a few hundred, Tyler Rayborn, 31, bluntly summarized its state as he worked with a friend to anchor down the sign to his family’s hardware store: “It’s dead. Town’s dead.”
However, not everyone is planning to leave, Rayborn said, including himself. He said he would stay at his home, a short drive inland, before heading back to reopen so people could get supplies.
He said that while some of the people who left are weary of high waters, many of the people who own homes or live in the small coastal community were relatively new to the state, and spooked by the threat of the storm.
A mostly empty Dekle Beach, a small coastal community, near Keaton Beach, Fla., ahead of Hurricane Helene on Thursday morning, Sept. 26, 2024. (Paul Ratje/The New York Times)
Seguros Coop, Inc. #54918
With few wins to highlight, House Republicans head home to chase votes
By ANNIE KARNI
Rep. Chip Roy, the far-right Texas Republican and reigning king of the fervid floor speech, stood before the House last November and tore into his party.
“I want my Republican colleagues to give me one thing, one, that I can go campaign on and say we did. One!” He pressed someone — anyone! — to “come explain to me one material, meaningful, significant thing the Republican majority has done.”
It was not a helpful sound bite for his colleagues, but Roy had a point. After nearly 11 months in control, House Republicans had little to show for themselves beyond ousting their first speaker, Kevin McCarthy, and then making life miserable for his successor, Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., who won the job only because exhausted Republicans saw him as a compromise who had yet to offend any of the party’s warring tribes.
The party’s record has not grown more productive since Roy’s eviscerating speech.
On Wednesday, Johnson was forced to once again rely on Democrats to provide the bulk of votes to pass a stopgap spending bill in order to avert a government shutdown just weeks before the 2024 election. The bill passed in a lopsided vote of 341-82, with the majority of Republicans supporting it.
It left Johnson politically wounded in the eyes of his far-right members, who wanted to include in any agreement steep spending cuts and a measure requiring proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote.
With those goals scuttled, lawmakers scrambled to the airports with no plans to return to Washington until after the November election.
As they head home to make the case to voters for why they deserve to keep their dysfunctional House majority, Republicans have little to point to in terms of accomplishments. Must-pass legislation like raising the debt ceiling and spending bills to avoid ever-looming government shutdowns moved forward slowly, and only because Democrats supplied most of the votes to pass those bills. Their investigations into the Biden family failed to implicate the only Biden who mattered, the one who is the sitting president, and did not result in the impeachment many promised their voters two years ago on the campaign trail. Their inquiries became moot anyway, after President Joe Biden said in July that he would not seek reelection.
Since rising to the speakership last October, Johnson has had to look over his shoulder and take into account what former President Donald Trump and the Make America Great Again members in his conference demand. But those dictates often end up dividing Republican lawmakers, leading to failed votes, muddled messaging and internal power battles that have left Democrats more optimistic about recapturing control of the House in November.
“There is not an especially strong legislative record
for them to run on,” said Molly Reynolds, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution.
Consumed by intraparty warfare and personal disputes, Republicans have over and over again stood in the way of their own partisan messaging bills, blocking them from receiving votes on the floor. At various points over the past two years, GOP lawmakers have compared their own divided conference to a clown car. Some of them even tried a second time to jettison their own leader, moving unsuccessfully to oust Johnson from the role. He survived only because Democrats moved to save him when funding for Ukraine was at stake.
“The picture that comes across to voters who pay attention is that Republicans in Congress care more about fighting among themselves than getting things done for the American people,” said Geoff Garin, a Democratic pollster working for Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign. “The party is seen as being at the mercy of its extreme MAGA wing.”
There have been moments when the House got its act together to pass critical legislation — but then a conservative-led House majority often ended up fracturing the vote and delivering a Democratic agenda. When it came to extending an expiring warrantless surveillance law that national security officials say is critical to gathering intelligence and fighting terrorism, right-wing House Republicans blocked it after Trump urged them, in all caps on social media, to kill the bill. Johnson was able to move the bill forward after shortening the extension to two years from five.
Among the few other major pieces of legislation the House has passed, outside of its constitutional obligations to approve spending bills, was a $95 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. But after a long delay in bringing the bill to the floor, the vast majority of
Republicans voted against the Ukraine portion of the bill, too.
In a tribal moment in politics, the results of the upcoming House elections may have little to do with the congressional dysfunction of the past two years. The electoral focus for many voters is much more on the ideological differences between the parties on the issues they care about.
“‘Do voters care about individual accomplishments of a given Congress’ is a much harder question to answer,” Reynolds said. “So much of what happens in our congressional races is just driven by big partisan forces.”
And lawmakers benefit from the bar being very low: For years, the vast majority of voters have said they hold a dim view of Congress and think it is already broken, according to polls. That was true long before Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., led the charge to oust McCarthy less than a year ago.
“House Republicans have fought hard here,” Johnson told reporters Wednesday night. “You have all seen it. You watched it day by day, to secure the border, protect American elections from noncitizen voting, to protect Americans from criminals, to combat the Biden-Harris anti-American energy agenda, to counter China, Iran and Russia, and we have conducted crucial oversight.”
There are still outstanding issues Republicans have yet to address, like the farm bill, and the looming problem of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s major disaster aid program, which is in need of more money by the end of the year. Republicans also failed at priorities they set for themselves, like completing individual appropriations bills before the deadline.
On Tuesday afternoon, perhaps not wanting to further jeopardize the electoral chances of his more vulnerable colleagues, Roy was eating his own words from last year.
“There’s a lot of things we’ve been able to do when we unify,” he said when asked whether he still thought Republicans had no accomplishments to speak of. “What we have done is hold nondefense spending flat. We have been able to center the focus on border security in a way that the American people can understand what we stand for.”
Roy noted that Republicans recently passed a bill to impose sweeping sanctions on officials at the International Criminal Court, a rebuke of efforts by the court’s top prosecutor to charge top Israeli leaders with war crimes.
Not everyone was able to rattle off achievements they were proud of. Rep. María Elvira Salazar, a vulnerable Republican from Florida, would not answer when asked what she had to tell voters back home about Republican achievements in Congress over the past two years. At first, she told a reporter to wait for her outside the House chamber to chat after votes. But then she was out of time. “I have to run to a fundraiser,” she said, promising that a staff member would get in contact with a full answer to the question.
No answer ever came.
Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., addresses House members at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Oct. 20, 2023. Despite McCarthy’s forecast of a “red tsunami” in 2022 midterm elections, Republicans instead won control of the House with a tiny margin of four votes. (Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times)
Harris’ economic pitch: Capitalism for the middle class
By JIM TANKERSLEY
Vice President Kamala Harris wants voters to know that she is not a socialist.
That was the clear, unspoken theme of Harris’ nearly 40-minute economic policy speech in Pittsburgh earlier this week. It was why she paraphrased Warren Buffett, cited a survey of top economists and praised entrepreneurs in language that echoed Republican Sen. Mitt Romney’s presidential run a dozen years earlier.
Harris is locked in a tight presidential race with former President Donald Trump. Polls show that the economy remains the biggest issue in the race and that many undecided voters have concerns about Harris’ ability to make things better. Trump has tried to deride Harris as a socialist, if not a communist. Polls suggest those attacks have raised doubts in some swing voters’ minds about how Harris would wield government power to manage the economy.
And so, in what was billed as a major economic address with only weeks to go in the campaign, Harris sought to put those doubts to rest. In muted and technical language that seemed designed to court on-the-fence voters skeptical of the government’s ability to solve major economic problems, Harris embraced capitalism and called herself a pragmatist who would not govern by ideology.
Harris could have chosen a different path — one that many progressives have urged her to take. She could have more clearly delineated who she sees as the villains of the economy — namely big corporations.
trast her approach with Trump’s, and to cast his policy proposals as detrimental to workers and companies alike.
larly union workers — Harris focused more on removing what she calls the obstacles that people and companies face to get ahead in the economy. She has emphasized buying a home or starting a business as a way to build generational wealth. She makes clear concessions to industry concerns, like a line tucked into Wednesday’s speech praising blockchain innovation, which seemed tailored for cryptocurrency entrepreneurs.
“She’s an evolution of Bidenomics, in a lot of ways,” said Ernie Tedeschi, a former chief economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers under Biden. “Somebody summed it up as: middle-class capitalism,” he added.
The key word there, as Harris’ speech emphasized, is “capitalism.” It’s a word Biden uses, too. But it has become more urgent for Harris. She has tacked to the middle on economic issues since her short-lived campaign for the 2020 Democratic nomination, having disavowed support for her Medicare for All proposal in that race.
In front of an audience filled with business owners and entrepreneurs at the Economic Club of Pittsburgh, Harris promised to build an economy that gains strength from a growing middle class, grounded in “fairness, dignity and opportunity.”
“I promise you I will be pragmatic in my approach,” she said. “I will engage in what Franklin Roosevelt called bold, persistent experimentation. Because I believe we shouldn’t be constrained by ideology, and instead should seek practical solutions to problems, realistic assessments of what is working and what is not, applying metrics to our analysis, applying facts to our analysis and stay focused, then, not only on the crises at hand but on our big goals, on what’s best for America over the long term.”
A moment later, she added: “Look, I am a capitalist.”
Calling out economic villains is an approach that many Democrats begrudgingly credit Trump for taking, even as they disagree sharply with the groups he has chosen to cast as the bad guys, most notably immigrants. It is an approach that appears to resonate with some groups of swing voters, particularly men. Harris tried a version of it early in her campaign, blaming corporations for the elevated cost of groceries and proposing a federal ban on price gouging.
Harris is running to succeed President Joe Biden, whose approval ratings on economic issues plummeted after a surge of inflation early in his term. Her speech, and her overall economic platform, made few overt breaks from Biden’s agenda — a combination of robust public investment and other government intervention, meant to revitalize American industry and with it the middle class.
But while Biden’s speeches are built around empowering workers — particu-
She did not propose any “for all” programs in her speech Wednesday. She did say she wanted to help Americans afford vacations, and to buy Christmas presents without worry.
She drew a line between noble companies and the ones that rip people off, without exactly saying where that line was.
“I am a devout public servant,” she said early on. “I also know the limitations of government.”
She did not linger on those limitations, either. The San Juan Daily Star
The vice president mentioned that ban Wednesday, but she did not linger on it. It was one of a scattered selection of details from her campaign policy plans that she chose to highlight in her address.
Other plans seemed chosen to support her case that the best way to help Americans get ahead in the economy is by government empowering private companies. She reiterated plans to incentivize contractors to build more housing units to bring down the cost of rent. She proposed an expansion of a tax deduction for startup companies to encourage more business formation. She frequently sought to con-
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, boards Air Force Two at Pittsburgh International Airport in Pittsburgh, on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times)
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Wall Street strikes back against New York’s sovereign debt bill
Investors in emerging market sovereign bonds, alarmed by efforts to limit their debt restructuring options, are adding clauses to bond deals that would allow them to switch jurisdictions to avoid such curbs.
Two recent debt agreements, one pending in Sri Lanka and another agreed last year in Suriname, included clauses that would allow investors to change the location where potential disputes settle.
Such steps show that investors are mounting their defence against law changes that proponents say would help poor countries secure debt relief, but which financial firms argue could make emerging nations’ bonds too risky for investors or too expensive for borrowers.
“The ideas ...are not going to go away,” Andrew Wilkinson, senior restructuring partner at law firm Weil Gotshal said regarding proposed bills. “They will keep coming up, because there is a problem.”
Under the proposed changes to laws in New York state, which is the location for roughly half of international bond deals, commercial creditors could see their recoveries capped at the level of bilateral official lenders. They could also be forced into a preset formula to decide who gets what in a restructuring.
The rationale is that it would streamline the default process and spare the indebted nations lengthy and costly negotiations. But investors argue that they could be forced to take losses which might be manageable for government creditors but too steep for the private ones.
“You will be imposing (the same) haircut when you have two different lenders with two complete different reasons for lending,” said Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal, chair in banking and finance law at Queen Mary University of London.
“You are lending millions, and you have a fiduciary duty towards your investors.”
Creditors also warn that changes like those mooted in New York could backfire - making them avoid lending to poor countries or demand higher returns to justify the risk.
The New York bills did not pass this year or last, but amid what the World Bank describes as a silent debt crisis, with emerging nations’ external debt-servicing costs estimated to hit $400 billion this year, support for law changes is growing on both sides of the Atlantic.
A raft of recent defaults from Zambia to Ethiopia fuelled a debate about debt fairness - particularly as Zambia’s restructuring took three painful years.
Debt justice advocates including Ben Grossman-Cohen, director of campaigns for Oxfam America, have supported the New York bills and he said the Sri Lanka contract clause was “just an attempt to grab headlines.”
For others, like Olivares-Caminal, Sri Lanka’s bond provisions mark a watershed moment.
“In Suriname it was a technicality, and it went unnoticed. But Sri Lanka, I think will send a strong message,” Olivares-Caminal said.
He said the clauses were a direct reaction to “fires” in the two main jurisdictions - New York state and England, where similar proposals have gained renewed traction since
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the Labour party took power.
In Suriname’s case, negotiators inserted a clause allowing 50% of bondholders to seek a vote to change the jurisdiction underpinning the bonds, while giving the country the power to veto the request.
In Sri Lanka, just 20% of holders of any particular bond could force a vote to change the jurisdiction from New York to England or Delaware. The government has no veto right.
Even those who support changes to make debt reworks fairer to the developing world say lawmakers must tread carefully.
Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General of the UN Trade
and Development agency (UNCTAD), told Reuters several provisions introduced over the past decade already offer safeguards against rogue creditors holding up debt deals in pursuit of more generous returns.
Newer language, such as natural disaster clauses, is also protecting debtor countries, she said.
“Legal instruments are important but if we overdo it, the private sector will go somewhere else to issue debt,” she said.
Shifting from New York to English law would be relatively straightforward, restructuring experts say, given both locations have legal systems honed over decades to handle sovereign debt defaults and their legal complexities.
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US pushes cease-fire in Lebanon as Netanyahu says Israel will fight on
By LIAM STACK, PATRICK KINGSLEY and ADAM RASGON
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel instructed his military to keep fighting “with full force” on Thursday, as a high-stakes international diplomatic effort was underway to pause the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.
Netanyahu was heading to New York for the U.N. General Assembly, even as members of his government dismissed a cease-fire proposal that was put forward by the United States, European allies and several Arab nations and Israel’s military carried out new strikes in Lebanon, including one in Beirut, the capital, that targeted the commander of Hezbollah’s drone unit.
Israel’s foreign minister rejected the proposal in sentiments echoed by lawmakers across the Israeli political spectrum. The prime minister’s office declined to comment on it, but did not explicitly rule out a cease-fire. Hezbollah has not responded to the proposal, which analysts said would be hard for either side to accept because it falls short of their respective conditions for a truce.
However, senior Israeli officials, including Ron Dermer, the prime minister’s closest adviser, have privately discussed the possibility of a cease-fire with their U.S. counterparts, according to two Israeli officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.
The escalation of the conflict in Lebanon has raised international alarm. A French official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy, said the current escalation could evolve into a full-fledged war between Israel and Hezbollah and that France be-
An Israeli airstrike in Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, on Sept. 25, 2024. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel instructed his military to keep fighting “with full force” on Thursday, as a high-stakes international diplomatic effort was underway to pause the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel. (Diego Ibarra Sánchez/ The New York Times)
lieves there is only a “narrow window” for a cease-fire deal. The announcement of the proposal Wednesday, the official said, was the result of weeks of coordination between France — which was in touch with Lebanese parties — and the United States, which played the major role in talking to Israel.
Israel and Hezbollah, the powerful Iran-backed militia, have been trading fire since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip, but Israel has intensified its attacks over the last week, with one of the biggest bombing campaigns in recent military history. On Wednesday, Lt. Gen.
Herzi Halevi, the Israeli military chief of staff, suggested that it was preparing for the possibility of a ground invasion.
Here’s what else to know:
— Parties to the proposal: Hezbollah, which as a militant group does not have the same accountability as a state institution in Lebanon, would not be formally asked to accept the proposal. But it’s not always clear where Hezbollah ends and Lebanon begins. The group, which the United States and many other countries consider a terrorist organization, is a dominant political and military power in the country.
— Fresh strikes: Israel’s military said Thursday that it was striking targets in southern Lebanon in response to a wave of 45 rockets fired into northern Israel. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said 20 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Younine, a town in the Bekaa Valley, and that three people were killed in the Tyre district, on the country’s Mediterranean coast. The airstrike in Beirut, which targeted the drone unit commander, killed two people and injured fifteen more, according to the ministry.
— Panic and desperation: Israel’s strikes have killed hundreds of people in Lebanon and have spread panic and desperation. About 500,000 people have been displaced, according to Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry, and civilians have clogged the main roads leading to Beirut, the capital.
— Gaza fears: As world attention focuses on the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah tensions, some Palestinians in Gaza worry that efforts to end the war and humanitarian crisis there will wane. The families of Israeli hostages also worry that their loved ones will be forgotten as Israel’s attention turns to the north.
Desert racers demolish art carved by ancient people in Chile
By HUMBERTO BASILIO
Every year, hundreds of racers from around the world gather in northern Chile with their all-terrain motorcycles, jeeps, quads and buggies. They race in circuits for hundreds of miles around the Atacama Desert, carving tire tracks into one of the driest places on Earth.
What many of those racers potentially ignore is that the Atacama was once a canvas for ancient Indigenous peoples of South America. Starting 3,000 years ago, those Indigenous people carved vast figures of animals, humans and objects on the desert’s slopes. Known as geoglyphs, the specimens at Alto Barranco in the Tarapacá region stand out for their remarkable preservation. But it is in that very location that both authorized and illegal off-road racing has occurred.
Imagery made with drones and released this month by Gonzálo Pimentel, an archaeologist and president of the Fundación Desierto de Atacama, a Chilean nongovernmental organization, highlighted the accumulated damage to what he calls the “the desert’s history book.” Vehicles — also including trucks from mining operations — run roughshod over the geoglyphs in Alto Barranco and other zones of the desert, scarring them with hundreds of tracks.
“When we saw the drone footage, we couldn’t believe it,” Pimentel said, noting that several key figures were now barely recognizable. The worst part, he added, is that “the damage is irreversible.”
Faced with increasing destruction of Alto Barranco’s art from off-road drivers and other encroachments, and potential damage to other desert regions of archaeological importance, activists say governments at all levels
of the country are not doing enough to preserve them.
“It’s a tragedy,” said Luis Pérez Reyes, director of the Regional Museum of Iquique, who credits a love of the geoglyphs as a child with inspiring him to become an archaeologist.
The Atacama Desert receives rain only a few times a year. The intense sun and harsh conditions make plant and animal life almost nonexistent. That has left the desert virtually untouched, Pimentel said: “This landscape has stayed the same for 25 million years.”
Marcela Sepúlveda, president of the Chilean Society of Archaeology, noted that big signs had been placed around archaeological zones to prevent damage, meaning that drivers should be fully aware of what they’re heading into. “The geoglyphs are gigantic,” she said. “No one can claim they didn’t see them. That’s impossible.”
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Pérez Reyes began raising formal complaints in 2017 about the damage to geoglyphs caused by the rallies. Since then, he and residents of Tarapacá have gathered evidence, monitoring the riders who venture too close to the ancient figures. But he said the government continued to approve major racing events.
Organizers of one large race, the Atacama Rally, denied any responsibility for the damage to Alto Barranco, which they had last raced near in 2022. Gerardo Fontaine, director of the Atacama Rally, said that all participants knew their route, were tracked by GPS and were alerted if they went off course. He added that the race organizers set the routes, which were then approved by regional authorities.
“The real issue is with drivers who ride rented motorcycles in the desert without permission,” he said. “No one says anything to them.”
After the 2022 race, Pérez Reyes filed a complaint with judicial authorities in Tarapacá that claimed the rally’s route had overlapped with archaeological sites, along with photos of racers passing through dunes near legally protected areas. Since the complaint was filed, no one has been penalized.
The latest Atacama Rally, on Sept. 7, moved to Tierra Amarilla, which is about 600 miles from Tarapacá. In a statement sent to regional authorities a month before the event, the National Monuments Council warned that the rally route crossed 16 areas with important archaeological and paleontological sites. The council asked the race organizers and the regional authorities to provide more information on what measures would be taken to prevent damage to those areas.
Those who damage archaeological sites in Chile can face more than five years
in prison and fines equivalent to more than $14,500, according to the Ministry of National Assets. But José Barraza, the director of cultural heritage for the Tarapacá region, said that in many cases, complaints were dismissed or investigation files were left open because of lack of evidence, as catching someone in the act is a challenge in the vastness of the desert.
“There are no license plates, no faces,” Barraza said.
The latest drone images caught the attention of Chilean federal authorities. Marcela Sandoval, Chile’s minister of national assets, said officials had visited Alto Barranco to start an investigation. However, she noted that prosecuting those responsible would pose challenges, as many of the tire tracks on the geoglyphs had been present for years.
For now, the government is convening experts to develop strategies for raising awareness among desert rally enthusiasts, to protect the remaining undamaged geoglyphs and to improve signs around archaeological areas.
“The government’s responses have always been reactive rather than preventive,” Pérez Reyes said. Throughout the desert, he said, there are dozens of informal motorcycle and jeep rental businesses for racers who venture into the desert on their weekends with no supervision.
Pérez Reyes added that several of the geoglyphs that inspired his interest in archaeology as a child would soon no longer exist. But he said he believed that displaying the bleak images at his museum could help raise awareness of the enormous ancient treasure that lies in the Chilean desert dunes.
“The intention was never to do it this way,” he said, “to create a museum of ‘never again.’”
An image provided by Luis Pérez Reyes and C. Sandoval Tripailaf shows a digital restoration of what the geoglyphs at Alta Barranco in Chile looked like before the damage. Preservationists say governments at all levels have failed to prevent authorized and illegal off-road racers from driving through the ancient carvings, known as geoglyphs. (Luis Pérez Reyes and C. Sandoval Tripailaf via The New York Times)
Zelenskyy warns UN against ceding to Russia’s ‘insane’ desire for land
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR and FARNAZ FASSIHI
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine urged the United Nations on Wednesday to prevent Russia from freezing the war as it is now, saying that the Kremlin “still wants even more land — more land, which is insane, and is seizing it day by day while wanting to destroy its neighbor.”
Those nations pushing to end the conflict were ignoring the wishes of the Ukrainian people, he said in an address to the U.N. General Assembly, and were encouraging President Vladimir Putin’s expansionary aims.
“It not only ignores the interests and the suffering of the Ukrainians, who are affected by the war the most,” he said, “It not only ignores reality, but it also gives Putin the political space to continue the war.”
With Zelenskyy also using meetings at the United Nations and in Washington on Thursday to seek approval to strike deeper into Russia with Western missiles, Putin issued his own riposte.
The Russian leader, who was not attending the U.N. meeting and often rattles the nuclear saber when he feels that Russia is facing setbacks in the war, suggested Wednesday that Russia should be able to respond with nuclear weapons if it were attacked by a state supported by a nuclear power. Ukraine falls into that category.
Issues of war and peace have dominated discussion at this year’s General Assembly. “The prospect of an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah has heightened this sense of general fragility around the U.N.,” said Richard Gowan, the U.N. director for the International Crisis Group.
Yet a yawning gap between Western capitals and the rest of the world over the wars in Ukraine and elsewhere has been starkly evident throughout the annual U.N. gathering. Leaders from the Global South nations have taken little note of Ukraine, while devoting far more attention to the humanitarian crises in the Gaza Strip and Sudan. They have also criticized the United Nations for its inability to halt the wars there and in Lebanon.
Many of them noted that the death toll
and Russian representatives engaged in a verbal spat over the two wars at a special Security Council session, called to discuss the inability to resolve conflicts.
President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana, summarizing a theme broached by many leaders, said that the failure of the Security Council to stop the wars in Ukraine and Gaza underscored the need to change the structure, which gave the five main victors in World War II — the United States, Russia, China, England and France — veto power.
Africa, with 1.4 billion people, deserved a permanent voice on the council, he said. “Africa, Latin America and South Asia remain underrepresented, despite their significant influence on global affairs,” Akufo-Addo said. “This lack of representation undermines the legitimacy of the council’s decisions, and the use of veto power by a few permanent members often paralyzes its ability to act effectively during crises.”
of Palestinians in the nearly year-old war in Gaza has soared past 41,000, according to the Health Ministry there. In that light, the United States and other Western powers have been accused of hypocrisy by seeking broad condemnation of Russia for killing civilians in Ukraine while continuing to supply Israel with weapons.
On Wednesday evening, France’s foreign minister said that his country and the United States were working on a ceasefire proposal that would impose a 21-day pause in the recent deadly fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, hoping to avert a wider war and also bolster stalled negotiations in Gaza.
When the Security Council added an open discussion about Ukraine to its agenda at the last minute, about half the nations of the European Union spoke. But almost no country from the Global South attended the session, other than those that are rotating members of the council. “A lot of the non-Western members of the U.N. now let these Ukraine debates in the General Assembly and council wash over
them,” Gowan said.
By contrast, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey set the tone early by devoting much of his speech Tuesday to criticizing the world body for doing so little to halt the crisis in the Middle East.
“Not only children are dying in Gaza,” he said, “the United Nations system is also dying, the truth is dying, the values that the West claims to defend are dying, the hopes of humanity to live in a fairer world are dying, one by one.”
Russia, which has vetoed every attempt by the Security Council to bring an end to the war in Ukraine, made clear that it would not stop the war until the country was free from what Vassily Nebenzia, the Russian ambassador, called nationalism, Nazism and other discrimination. Among other false claims that Russia habitually makes against Ukraine, one is that Nazis dominate its government.
At the same time, the United States has vetoed three resolutions calling for a cease-fire in Gaza; Russia and China have vetoed a U.S.-backed resolution. U.S.
In his speech, President Emmanuel Macron of France said that Germany, India, Brazil, Japan and two African countries should be added as permanent members, and that the right of veto should be limited to matters of “mass crimes.”
The composition of the Security Council has been discussed for years at the United Nations, but the glaring inability to do anything about recent conflicts has prompted many more leaders to openly criticize the world body.
World leaders and senior diplomats held a special session on the sidelines of the main meeting to discuss the civil war in Sudan, with many stressing the need to open aid routes and contribute more. “Sudan is a country which has been abandoned,” said Abderaman Koulamallah, the foreign minister of Chad, a neighboring country that has taken in millions of refugees, among them an estimated 11 million Sudanese. “Sudan is not Ukraine,” he said. “Sudan is not Gaza. Sudan has been abandoned.”
There were also side meetings on key international issues like climate change and development, but there was a sense that those issues had slipped down the priority list in the face of so many conflicts.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine attends President Joe Biden’s remarks at the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times)
What we can learn from an orphan in Sudan
By NICHOLAS KRISTOF
My heart bleeds on this reporting trip as I see skeletal Sudanese children and interview survivors of massacres and mass rape targeting Black African ethnic groups. I keep thinking: It can’t get worse than this.
Then I realize: Oh, yes, it can.
The most brutal militia in Sudan (a high bar) is the Rapid Support Forces, which is now bombarding the city of El Fasher and gaining ground. El Fasher and the nearby Zamzam camp could fall at any time, with more than 1 million civilians vulnerable to the kind of atrocities that the militiamen have committed many times before.
President Joe Biden this week met the leader of the United Arab Emirates, the prime backer of the Rapid Support Forces as they commit atrocities. Biden praised the United Arab Emirates as a nation “always looking to the future” without offering a peep of public reproach for enabling a well-documented ethnic cleansing that at least one watchdog group has called a genocide.
The passivity of world leaders, even as they gather at the United Nations to celebrate their commitment to peace and justice, contrasts with the deep sense of moral responsibility of a Sudanese refugee child whom I met on the Chad-Sudan border. So let me share that girl’s story.
This girl, Safaa Khatir, was orphaned like so many others by the Sudanese civil war that began last year between the Rapid Support Forces and another odious military group, the
Sudanese Armed Forces. The Rapid Support Forces burned down her village, including her home, she said, and killed the men and boys.
“Boys who were just 10, 11 or 12 — they killed them all in front of me,” Safaa told me. “I saw them die.”
The militiamen, who are Arabs, were shouting racist epithets against Black people like her, she said. “Black people stink,” she quoted them as saying, adding that the gunmen said: “You’re slaves. We will kill you.”
The militia then rounded up the beautiful young girls, Safaa said. “They said they would rape them and make them their wives,” she added.
Several older women rescued Safaa: They gave her an abaya shawl to cover herself and helped her lift her younger sister onto her back so it would seem as if Safaa was a mother. It worked: The gunmen ignored her and instead seized a group of teenage girls and left.
Now homeless and penniless, the 16-year-old Safaa — whose father was murdered by the militia and whose mother had died earlier — was in charge of the family.
Safaa knew her only hope was to escape to Chad, but she didn’t have the $25 she would need to pay for a ride. So she did the only thing she could: She took a job in the city of Geneina, near her village, as a server in a tea shop, surrounded by the men who had murdered and raped her friends, scrimping on food for herself and saving every penny she could.
After a month, she had saved enough. She then led her sister and brother on the perilous journey to Chad and set up a hut in a refugee camp there.
Safaa Khatir, right, who now works in a teashop on the Chad-Sudan border, was orphaned like so many others by the Sudanese civil war that began last year between the Rapid Support Forces and another odious military group, the Sudanese Armed Forces. (Nicholas Kristof/The New York Times)
time as we spoke, and at another time in our conversation tears tricked down Safaa’s cheek. But the girls consoled each other and never broke down at the same time.
Safaa tries to play the role of substitute mother, guiding and disciplining Maqa when she misbehaves. “Sometimes I beat her, and sometimes I advise her that this was wrong and you shouldn’t do it,” she explained. “Mostly, I advise.” She is a child raising children, struggling to do her best. When Maqa has nightmares or cries in frustration or grief at lost parents or friends, Safaa comforts her. “I hug her,” she said. “And I explain, ‘This is life. Don’t cry.’”
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Biden has backed peace talks in Sudan, which offer a ray of hope for the best outcome: a deal that would end the civil war and restore civilian government. That’s important but a long shot. We may instead be twiddling our thumbs on a path toward a fragmented, failed state suffering one of the worst famines of modern times.
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So why is Biden unwilling to criticize the United Arab Emirates or apply leverage? Is it that he thinks the United Arab Emirates is too important in the Middle East? Is it that he believes quiet pressure is most effective? I’m not sure, but his approach has failed, and the upshot has been atrocities and worsening famine.
Rap star Macklemore recently canceled a show in Dubai over the Emirates’ role in Sudan. It’s striking when a rap musician provides greater geopolitical and moral leadership than the president of the United States.
While Safaa is still a child, she does take her responsibilities very seriously. To earn money to buy food for the family, she leaves at 4:30 each morning to work in a teahouse in her Chad refugee camp, returning at about 9 each evening, seven days a week. She earns the equivalent of about 50 cents a day.
Her 10-year-old brother, Musaab, works as well, taking whatever odd jobs he can find, and her 12-year-old sister, Maqa, fetches water, washes clothes, cooks and organizes the home. It’s lonely and overwhelming: Maqa cried for a
But this doesn’t have to be her life. It’s not inevitable that Sudanese endure massacres, mass rape and famine. May this exhausted teenager, hugging her sister and telling her not to cry, remind global leaders that they too can show some responsibility.
Contact Kristof at Facebook.com/Kristof, Twitter.com/ NickKristof or by mail at The New York Times, 620 Eighth Ave., New York, NY 10018.
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Cancelan vuelos a Tampa por el paso del huracán Helene en Florida
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SAN JUAN – Los vuelos de Southwest y Frontier con destino a Tampa fueron cancelados el jueves, según informó el presidente de Aerostar Puerto Rico, Jorge Hernández, debido al cierre temporal del aeropuerto de la ciudad por el paso del huracán Helene en Florida.
“Recomendamos a los viajeros con vuelos programados desde y hacia Tampa que se mantengan en contacto con sus respectivas aerolíneas para explorar vías alternas, en lo que se restituyen las operaciones en esta ciudad. La manera más efectiva de comunicarse con su aerolínea, en estas circunstancias, es a través de los dife-
ASORE impulsa desarrollo de la industria de restaurantes en BRS 2024
les”, dijo Carlos Budet, presidente de ASORE en declaraciones escritas.
rentes servicios alternos, como las aplicaciones móviles, los sistemas de notificación automáticas y web”, señaló el presidente de Aerostar en declaraciones escritas.
Hasta el momento, los vuelos cancelados incluyen Southwest WN3857, Frontier F92542 en la ruta de Tampa a San Juan, y Southwest WN1942 y Frontier F3979 de San Juan a Tampa, según detalló Aerostar.
Aunque Jetblue no ha emitido una notificación formal, se espera que también cancele sus vuelos directos a Tampa, según adelantó Hernández.
Los viajeros deben mantenerse en contacto con sus aerolíneas para obtener actualizaciones y explorar vías alternas, recomendó el presidente de Aerostar.
SAN JUAN – La Asociación de Restaurantes de Puerto Rico (ASORE) anunció el jueves su oferta de desarrollo y capacitación para la industria de restaurantes en el Bakery and Restaurant Show (BRS) 2024, con expertos locales e internacionales y diversos talleres educativos.
“En ASORE estamos comprometidos con el desarrollo continuo de nuestra industria. La oferta educativa de este año en el BRS proporciona el conocimiento necesario para que nuestros restaurantes prosperen frente a desafíos locales e internaciona-
El evento incluirá talleres sobre innovación tecnológica, cumplimiento de regulaciones y optimización financiera. Entre los más destacados se encuentran Revolución digital, ServSuccess™ Master Class, y Desde la administración hasta el recurso humano, entre otros.
Con más de 4,500 establecimientos y una contribución de 3.9 billones de dólares anuales a la economía de Puerto Rico, ASORE busca fortalecer el sector a través de la educación y profesionalización de sus miembros.
Turista muere ahogado tras rescatar a su hija en Playa Jobos de Isabela
POR CYBERNEWS
ISABELA – La Policía informó a principios de esta semana que Michael Collins Bodhy, de 59 años y residente de Missouri, Estados Unidos, murió ahogado tras rescatar a su hija de 12 años, quien fue arrastrada por la corriente en Playa Jobos de Isabela.
Según la investigación de la División de
Homicidios, el incidente ocurrió el miércoles mientras Collins Bodhy disfrutaba de un día de playa con sus hijos de 9 y 12 años. Tras rescatar a su hija, quedó atrapado en la corriente y fue llevado a la orilla por surfistas. Los paramédicos de Emergencias Médicas Estatales confirmaron la ausencia de signos vitales. El caso fue investigado por el agente Luis Sein Egipciaco, supervisado por el sargento
Carlos Hernández Minguela, y la fiscal Geisa González, quien ordenó el levantamiento del cadáver. El Departamento de la Familia se unió a la investigación debido a la presencia de los menores en el incidente.
Cualquier persona con información adicional puede comunicarse con la Policía al 787.343.2020 o a través de las redes sociales oficiales.
Red Sísmica invita al simulacro de terremoto ShakeOut 2024
MAYAGÜEZ – La Red Sísmica de Puerto Rico (RSPR) anunció la celebración del simulacro de terremoto El Gran ShakeOut de Puerto Rico el jueves, 17 de octubre de 2024, a las 10:00 de la mañana. Este será el decimotercer ejercicio nacional de
preparación ante terremotos.
“Participar en el ShakeOut es una oportunidad para fortalecer nuestra capacidad de respuesta y garantizar la seguridad de nuestras familias”, indicó el director de la RSPR, Víctor Huérfano en declaraciones escritas.
Huérfano recordó la importancia de los pasos de
agacharse, cubrirse y sujetarse como la forma más segura de protegerse durante un terremoto, según estudios de expertos en manejo de emergencias.
El simulacro, iniciado en 2008 en California, busca enseñar a la comunidad cómo reaccionar ante un terremoto. La RSPR invitó a inscribirse en shakeout. org/puertorico y participar en el ejercicio.
September 27-29, 2024 17
5 horror movies to stream now
By ERIK PIEPENBURG
This month’s picks include a silent killer, a demonically possessed painting and a hellish queer romance.
‘In a Violent Nature’
Lots of horror movies are told from a killer’s point of view, from “Peeping Tom” to “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.” But none of them ever made me wonder: What would a maniac do on his way to a slaughter? Now I know, thanks to Chris Nash’s glorious and genre-crushing take on the slasher film.
The story is as old as “Friday the 13th”: A masked hulk methodically stalks young campers through the woods and butchers them one by one in unthinkably gruesome ways. Here’s the twist: Nash tracks the silent monster’s steady strolls closely and almost entirely from behind, making the viewer complicit in the hunt and perversely giving evil no motive beyond a vague bloodthirst. The deaths are cartoonish, but because they take place in a verdant, tranquil landscape — a violent nature indeed — their absurd brutality bumps against serenity with shockingly formal elegance, hardly the stuff of typical slasher films.
The film’s unwillingness to play by horror rules makes it singular, and a must-see for adventurous horror fans. It is daring and assured, stomach-churning yet pastoral, and one of my favorite horror films of the year. (Stream it on Shudder.)
‘The Exorcism of Saint Patrick’
As in “Sheeps Clothing,” one of this year’s under-theradar horror gems, Quinn Armstrong’s “Exorcism of Saint Patrick” is a tender but unflinching examination of the relationship between a manipulative and unscrupulous Christian pastor and a trusting, vulnerable acolyte.
Pastor Pat (Steve Pinder) gets hired by religious parents to cure their 17-year-old son, Trick (Michael J. Cline), of homosexuality. The pastor’s conversion methods for the chubby and soft-spoken teen include prayer and hikes but also, in the film’s most horrific scene, aversion therapy using an emetic, gay porn and a bathtub. A jolting twist upends the pastor’s plans, but the devil steps in and finishes the job. Armstrong is a crafty storyteller here, layering science
fiction and sexual tension over exorcist conventions to deliver a sinister but thoughtful meditation on religious fanaticism and sexual repression. (Too bad the ending drips with excess syrup.) The film is part of Armstrong’s ambitious new three-feature anthology horror series, and if this small but powerful entry is any indication, he’s a talent to watch. (Rent or buy it on major platforms.)
‘Love Lies Bleeding’
In 2021, Rose Glass wowed me with “Saint Maud,” her chilling feature debut that explored the obsessive relationship between a dying dancer and her young nurse. In Glass’ latest film, she again explores a female bond. But here she calls on urgent Sapphic desire and the supernatural fantastic, tying them together with tumbleweed town eccentrics, roid rage and gun nuts in 1989 America.
Kristen Stewart stars as Lou, who runs a gym in smalltown New Mexico where she falls for Jackie (Katy O’Brian), a bodybuilder passing through town. As the lovers navigate their sizzling but doomed relationship — past traumas get in the way — Glass goes all out narratively and visually to explore what it means to live with monstrous love. (And I do mean a monster.) The result is a sensuous and combustible noir that feels like a throuple of “The Greasy Strangler,” “Blue Velvet” and “Desert Hearts.” Ed Harris gives a nutso supporting performance as Lou’s criminal father with badass bad hair. (Stream it on Max.)
‘The Well’ I don’t know if Federico Zampaglione intentionally made a campy horror movie about witchcraft and a cursed painting. If he did, bravo. If he didn’t? Bravo anyway.
Lisa (Lauren LaVera, the terrific final girl of “Terrifier 2”) is a young American art restorer who travels to the home of a wealthy duchess in a small Italian town to work on a medieval painting that was damaged during a fire. As Lisa carefully scrubs the blackened-over piece, the spirits of the small demonic figures that peek from under the paint come alive to haunt her and, in the film’s too-busy secondary story, a group of young travelers she befriends.
As in the recent paranoia thriller “Outpost,” the film tiptoes the line between being dead serious and deeply ton-
gue in cheek, coming this close to melodrama but maintaining an effective undercurrent of terror. There’s gore galore too, including flesh frying, organ extractions and a nasty eyeball gouging. If James Wan and Lucio Fulci had an awkward date that nonetheless ended in great sex: That’s the vibe. (Rent or buy it on major platforms.)
‘The Demon Disorder’
This breakneck Australian family drama centers on Graham (Christian Willis), who returns home to be with his two estranged brothers, Jake (Dirk Hunter) and Phillip (Charles Cottier), after learning that the bloodthirsty ghost of their father (John Noble) still haunts their rural home. Among the signs that Phillip, the youngest brother, might be possessed by his demonic dad is when he coughs up a wriggling, snailshaped tongue-looking creature that glistens with what looks like beef fat topped with dollops of marshmallow. That’s just the first of many creatures, and hand-to-hand battles, to come.
I wish the director, Steve Boyle, and his screenplay, written with Toby Osborne, had done a better job of nailing down the parameters and purpose of the possession at play. The why and what got muddled for me. The performances, though, are terrific, especially from Willis as a man trying to keep his sanity and fragile familial bonds intact.
The main reasons to watch this scrappy film are the Ozploitation-ish FX brought to life by Boyle’s own Formation Effects. (He has worked as an effects artist for decades.) Good luck keeping your stomach steady when a veiny, goooozing fist claws its way out of a chest to reveal a father figure monstrosity underneath. (Stream it on Shudder.)
“In a Violent Nature”
“The Demon Disorder”
A Summer of Fantasy with the Club Cívico de Damas
By JUDY GORDON-CONDE and JENNIFER CONDE-POWERS
Once again, the Club Cívico de Damas (CCDPR) created a special event, “A Summer of Fantasy,” to highlight its mission based on its 103-year history. The CCDPR tirelessly fosters projects that promote the community’s civic, social, cultural, philanthropic, and educational endeavors. In this case, a Summer of Fantasy held at Fogo de Chao brought approximately 200 impressive ladies and gentlemen together in a fun-filled atmosphere. The fantasy element was showcased in their colorful dresses, sparkly makeup, and masks, elevating the theme of ”Makeup for a Purpose.” At the event, the ladies participated in a fashion show to choose the best makeup and enjoyed courtesy champagne, a delicious buffet, and table service.
The projects that these types of events help with are the
donation of cradles for Hogar del Niño Ave María, reclining chairs for chemotherapy patients at the Hospital Oncológico (Oncology Hospital), servicing a kitchen for a school at the Fundación Brigadas de Amor Y Enlaces, as well as x-ray equipment at the Hospital Psiquiátrico (Psychiatry Hospital) for a dental clinic.
Maribel Aguayo, Maricarmen Aguayo
The San Juan Daily Star
Margarita Velasco, Enrique Rodríguez, Bryan Villarini, Petra “Tita” Sosa (Pres. Club Cívico of SJ), Ivonne Pounds Jurado
Margarita Velasco, Bryan Villarini, Mireya de Brito
Emmanuelle Bordas, Jennifer Conde
Enrique Rodríguez, Bryan Villarini, Petra “Tita” Sosa (Pres. Club Cívico of SJ), Ivonne Pounds Jurado
Maris Maldonado, Zadawa Colón, Gissely Urquía, Bryan Villarini, Petra “Tita” Sosa (Pres. Club Cívico of SJ), Margarita Velasco
Marilyn Batlle, Rosita Batlle Mireya de Brito, Caryn de Brito
María Beale, Mireya de Brito, Petra “Tita” Sosa (Pres. Club Cívico de Damas of PR) Zadawa Colón, Gissely Urquía
The San Juan Daily Star
September 27-29, 2024 19
What RFK Jr.’s alliance with Trump could mean for public health
By EMILY BAUMGAERTNER
“Make America healthy again!”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. looked out into the crowd in Glendale, Arizona, earlier this month at his first major campaign event for his onetime rival, former President Donald Trump, and talked up their future together — one he hopes will finally bring his long-held agenda for public health to fruition.
“He’s going to end the chronic disease epidemic,” said Kennedy, who has for years expressed doubts about the safety of vaccinating children and has pushed conspiracy theories about the inner workings of federal health agencies. “And he wanted my help to do it.”
As a candidate polling in the single digits, Kennedy had no path to the White House. But now, as an ally of Trump’s who has already been named to the transition team that would advise on personnel and policy priorities, he has very real opportunities to exert influence and gain power in a field where he has long been considered a fringe voice.
Historically, members of a winning candidate’s transition team often end up in prestigious positions themselves. Trump said in an interview with CNN that he “probably would” appoint Kennedy to a role in a second Trump administration.
In an interview Tuesday, Kennedy confirmed that Trump “asked me to be involved in the administration at a high level.” He said they had not discussed the specific role yet, given the “legal constraints” of doing so before the election.
“We’ve talked about the sort of general role in looking at corruption across the agencies, having some kind of portfolio that would look at unraveling corruption — and particularly in the agencies that I’ve had a lot of litigation experience with,” Kennedy said, citing several federal agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health, Environmental Protection Agency and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “And public health: in doing what needs to be done to end the chronic disease epidemic. So those are the two areas that he’s asked me to be involved with.”
Kennedy would likely struggle to achieve Senate confirmation for a Cabinet post, like secretary of health and human services, or to head an agency, like the CDC. But Trump could appoint him to a White House position, such as a seat on the domestic policy council, with no obstacles. The former president has already indicated that he would establish a panel of experts to work with Kennedy to investigate the “toxins” behind chronic health issues in children.
That prospect concerns many public health officials who are not themselves overtly political.
“For elected officials — or the people who are advising or are appointed by elected officials — we want to make sure they have the best interest of families and children at heart,” said Dr. James Campbell, an infectious disease physician and pediatric vaccine expert at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “My knowledge of statements made in the past — they make me concerned.”
Kennedy has promoted theories that suggest HIV is not the true cause of AIDS, that 5G networks are being used for mass surveillance and that Black Americans in particular should
that mRNA vaccines increase the risk of a COVID infection. It plans to release a new film on COVID vaccines this week titled “Vaxxed 3: Authorized to Kill,” which claims that COVID vaccines led to “tragic outcomes of either death or serious injury.” (Scientists say there is evidence of debilitating side effects that have evaded attention, but they are rare.)
A New York Times review of Kennedy’s statements found that he cast doubt on vaccine safety when speaking to sympathetic audiences, but struck a more centrist tone when speaking to mainstream groups.
In the Tuesday interview, Kennedy said that in a federal government role, he would not do away with all vaccine research funding, but he emphasized the need to prioritize chronic disease over infectious disease.
avoid being vaccinated.
Kennedy has also likened some COVID-19 policies to conditions experienced by Jewish people during the Holocaust and wrote a book arguing that Bill Gates and Dr. Anthony Fauci conspired with vaccine manufacturers for their own profit. These were among a multitude of other theories so robust that a social media research nonprofit called Kennedy one of the top 12 superspreaders of misinformation about COVID on the internet.
In a time when an array of pathogens — bird flu, mpox and new variants of COVID, among others — could potentially cause major disease outbreaks, health experts say confidence in vaccines and the agencies that oversee their approval is more important than ever.
But at the Saturday rally, Kennedy denounced the “corrupt murderous state of corporate power” that he said had given major pharmaceutical companies and other groups “control of the FDA.” He promised to “eliminate” the corruption inside the agencies.
Here is a look at Kennedy’s public health resume and views.
Children’s health and vaccines
Kennedy is on leave as the chair and chief legal counsel of Children’s Health Defense, an organization that falsely links vaccines to autism, developmental delays and even asthma. With roots in the environmental movement, he and the group refer to the vaccination of children as a “toxic exposure,” alongside true toxic threats (lead and pesticides) and others not proved (acetaminophen and 5G wireless).
The group promotes its own database of research to support the theories and encourages whistleblowers to reach out through encrypted messages about government efforts to cover up harm.
Last month, Kennedy lost a court bid to have two videos of his restored to YouTube that the platform removed after deciding that they violated rules protecting against misinformation.
Still, his organization’s website serves as its own platform; the next day, the group promoted new research suggesting
“I think we need to reallocate a lot of energy and resources toward eliminating the causes of chronic disease and studying the causes — identifying the etiology and the origins of chronic diseases — rather than focusing on cures and treatments which benefit the pharmaceutical industry. They may alleviate some suffering in people, but wouldn’t it be better to eliminate the disease altogether, rather than having them be dependent on pharmaceutical products for the rest of their lives?”
COVID
Some of Kennedy’s philosophies during the COVID pandemic were more mainstream: He opposed stay-at-home orders and mask mandates, expressed worry about children missing months of in-person schooling and even criticized Trump for his role as president in restricting those freedoms.
But to Trump and his followers, Kennedy embodies something of an anti-Fauci. And some of Kennedy’s other views around COVID are far more extreme than a mere difference in cost-benefit analyses of mandates and lockdowns. One of his books, “The Wuhan Cover-Up,” details an extensive conspiracy theory involving Bill Gates, medical journals and Chinese-engineered biological weapons.
On the campaign trail, Kennedy promoted several discredited COVID treatments including ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine. In the interview, he doubled down, saying that the two were “devastatingly effective” against COVID but were unfairly discredited because they could have threatened the emergency use authorizations for vaccines and because they had expired patents, making them much less expensive.
“Unfortunately, the regulatory agencies pay too much attention to the mercantile interests of pharmaceutical companies and too little to actual public health,” he said.
Kennedy has also claimed that COVID was engineered to target Caucasian and Black people and spare those of Chinese and Ashkenazi Jewish heritage. And he has said he would fight the next pandemic not by prioritizing the research and development of defenses, but instead by “building people’s immune systems.”
To many public health experts, that mission — laid out in no uncertain terms — is most worrisome.
“I’m going to say to NIH scientists, ‘God bless you all,’” Kennedy said in November. “Thank you for public service. We’re going to give infectious disease a break for about eight years.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during a rally in Aurora, Colo., May 19, 2024. Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has said that he “probably would” appoint Kennedy to a role in his administration if elected. (Rachel Woolf/The New York Times)
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA
SALA SUPERIOR DE ARECIBO
ANABELLE REYES CRUZ, ROBERTO REYES CRUZ, AUREA HILDA REYES
CRUZ, ADA NIVIA REYES CRUZ, Y ELDDA ESTHER REYES CRUZ
Peticionarios
EX-PARTE
Civil Núm.: AR2024CV01564.
Sobre: EXPEDIENTE DE DOMINIO. EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.
A: Todo aquél que tenga algún derecho real o interés sobre el inmueble descrito en la petición de Dominio que muestra el epígrafe; a las personas ignoradas a quienes pueda perjudicar la inscripción, a los anteriores dueños Diógenes Torres Pérez y Altagracia de la Cruz Tavarez y sus sucesores; a la anterior colindante Elizette Ocasio; ahora Sucesión Antonio Guitard Torres y sus sucesores; a Fidel Pastoriza Ruiz y sus sucesores y en general a toda persona que quiera oponerse a la pretensión de los promoventes: Por la presente se le notifica para que comparezcan si creyeren que les conviene, ante este Honorable Tribunal dentro de los VEINTE (20) DIAS a partir de la publicación de este edicto y exponer lo que a sus derechos convenga en el expediente promovido por los peticionarios para adquirir el dominio sobre la siguiente propiedad: RÚSTICA: radicada en el barrio Islote, sector Rincón Chiquito, del término municipal de Arecibo, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de MIL NOVECIENTOS SESENTA Y CINCO PUNTO TREINTA Y CUATRO SESENTA (1,965.3460) metros cuadrados de terreno, en lindes por el NORTE, antes con Elizette Ocasio, ahora Antonio Guitard Torres; por el SUR, con Sucesión de Fidel Pastoriza Ruiz; por el ESTE, con camino municipal; y por el OESTE, con Sucesión de Fidel Pastoriza Ruiz. Catastro número: 013-054-61420-000. Deben notificar con copia de sus alegaciones a la representación legal de los peticionarios: Lcdo. Fernando H.
Padrón Jiménez, PO Box 2833, Arecibo, PR 00613-2833. Tel. / Fax (787) 816-6732. En Arecibo, Puerto Rico a 27 de agosto de 2024. VIVIAN Y. FRESSE GONZÁLEZ, SECRETARIA. PILAR H. MERCADO GONZÁLEZ, SEC AUXILIAR.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA
SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN JUAN ENRIQUE QUIRÓS DELGADO Parte Promovente EX-PARTE
Civil Núm.: SJ2024CV07103. Sobre: EXPEDIENTE DE DOMINIO. EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.
A: Las personas ignoradas o desconocidas; Luis D Bonilla Alvarado a quienes pueda perjudicar la inscripción solicitada del dominio de la propiedad en el Registro de la Propiedad de San Juan Sección Quinta. Si los que hubieran de ser citados personalmente estuvieren ausentes de Puerto Rico y se supiere su paradero se citarán por medio del mismo edicto y al tiempo de hacerse la primera publicación del edicto se les enviará copia de la citación por correo certificado, a su dirección conocida. Si se ignorare su paradero y así quedase probado se les citará exclusivamente mediante el referido edicto. El presente edicto se publicará en tres (3) ocasiones dentro del término de veinte (20) días en un periódico de circulación general diaria en Puerto Rico, a fin de que comparezcan si quieren alegar su derecho. La descripción de la finca objeto del caso es: Propiedad situada en Calle Villa 7 #315 interior, Embalse San José San Juan Puerto Rico 00923. Consiste en un solar de aproximadamente doscientos diecisiete (217) metros cuadrados y una casa de Madera y Zinc ocupada por tres de las personas arriba nombradas. La ubicación del terreno y la vivienda corresponde en el Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico a SJ05 - San Juan, Sección Quinta (V), Sabana Llana San José, El Embalse (PRHA-20) Comunidad Rural. En el plazo improrrogable de veinte (20) días a contar de la fecha de la última publicación del edicto, los interesados y/o las partes citadas, o en su defecto los organismos públicos
afectados, podrán comparecer ante el tribunal, a fin de alegar lo que en derecho proceda. Representa a la parte peticionaria la abogada, cuyo nombre y dirección es:
Lcda. Edna Ivonne Beltrán Silvagnoli (T.S.P.R. 8487)
43 Zuania Urb Parque de Villa Caparra Guaynabo PR 00966
Cel: (787) 409-2713
E-mail: ivonbelsi@gmail.com
SE LE APERCIBE, que, si no compareciere usted a contestar o alegar sobre dicha demanda, dentro del término indicado podrá dictarse sentencia en rebeldía en su contra, concediendo el remedio solicitado en la demanda. En San Juan, Puerto Rico, a 6 de septiembre de 2024. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. GLORIAM MARTÍNEZ RIVERA, SECRETARIA DE SERVICIOS A SALA.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE PONCE
WILMINGTON SAVINGS FUND SOCIETY, FSB, NOT INDIVIDUALLY BUT SOLELY AS TRUSTEE FOR FINANCE OF AMERICA STRUCTURED SECURITIES ACQUISITION TRUST 2018-HB1
Demandante Vs. ABRAHAM GARCIA
ROMAN T/C/C ABRAHAM GARCIA; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA
Demandados Civil Núm.: PO2021CV02482.
Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EDICTO DE SUBASTA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. A: LA PARTE DEMANDADA, AL (A LA) SECRETARIO(A) DE HACIENDA DE PUERTO RICO Y AL PÚBLICO
GENERAL:
Certifico y Hago Constar: Que en cumplimiento con el Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que me ha sido dirigido por el (la) Secretario(a) del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Ponce, en el caso de epígrafe, venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor, por separado, de contado y por moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América y/o Giro Postal y Cheque Certificado, en mi oficina ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Ponce, el 9 DE OCTUBRE DE 2024, A LAS 1:45 DE
LA TARDE, todo derecho título, participación o interés que le corresponda a la parte demandada o cualquiera de ellos en el inmueble hipotecado objeto de ejecución que se describe a continuación: “URBANA: Solar ubicado en el Barrio Primero, Sector Mariani Antiguo, del término municipal de Ponce, Puerto Rico, con una cabida de 1097.50 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, al lado Norte colinda con el solar número 5137 y este solar esta ubicad en la Calle Lucas Amadeo. Le medida de esta colindancia Norte colindando con dicho solar por la Calle Lucas Amadeo es 30.020; por el SUR, ese es el frente y da a la Avenida Roosevelt, con número 2947. Por esta colindancia Sur en metros lineales tirando una línea desde el Oeste hacia el Este, mide 25.50 metros lineales. En dicha línea, ya llegando al Este, es esa colindancia Sur comienza un “corte o chaflán” que mide 7.062 metros; por el ESTE, El chaflán antes mencionado termina en la colindancia Este, que da a la Calle Lucas Amadeo. Al continuar la referida línea a partir de la terminación del chaflán ya en la colindancia Este, esta colinda este mide 31.973 metros lineales; por el OESTE, colinda con dos solares, mide 12.503 metros lineales con el solar número 1946 de la Calle Wilson. Eso así porque una parte de dicho solar en la Calle Wilson colinda por su parte Este en dichos 12.503 metros y que ahora es la colindancia Oeste de la nueva finca que aquí se agrupa. Esta colindancia Oeste de la finca que estamos agrupando mide también 24.00 metros lineales con el solar número 2951, que es un solar cuyo frente colinda con la Avenida Roosevelt. Total de metros lineales de la colindancia Oeste de la finca que aquí agrupamos es 36.703 metros lineales.” Finca número 65,025, inscrita al folio 83 del tomo 2123 de Ponce Norte, Registro de la Propiedad de Ponce, Sección I. Propiedad localizada en: 2947 AVE. ROOSEVELT, PONCE, PUERTO RICO 00717. Según figuran en la certificación registral, la propiedad objeto de ejecución está gravada por las siguientes cargas anteriores o preferentes: Nombre del Titular: N/A. Suma de la Carga: N/A. Fecha de Vencimiento: N/A. Según figuran en la certificación registral, la propiedad objeto de ejecución está gravada por las siguientes cargas posteriores a la inscripción del crédito ejecutante: Nombre del Titular: Secretario de la Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano. Suma de la Carga: $435,000.00. Fecha de Vencimiento: 10 de septiembre de 2090. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como
bastante la titularidad de la propiedad y que todas las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito ejecutante antes descritos, si los hubiere, continuarán subsistentes. El rematante acepta dichas cargas y gravámenes anteriores, y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Se establece como tipo de mínima subasta la suma de $435,000.00, según acordado entre las partes en el precio pactado en la escritura de hipoteca. De ser necesaria una SEGUNDA SUBASTA por declararse desierta la primera, la misma se celebrará en mi oficina, ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Ponce, el 17 DE OCTUBRE DE 2024, A LAS 1:45 DE LA TARDE, y se establece como mínima para dicha segunda subasta la suma de $290,000.00, 2/3 partes del tipo mínima establecido originalmente. Si tampoco se produce remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se establece como mínima para la TERCERA SUBASTA, la suma de $217,500.00, la mitad (1/2) del precio pactado y dicha subasta se celebrará en mi oficina, ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Ponce, el 24 DE OCTUBRE DE 2024, A LAS 1:45 DE LA TARDE. Dicha subasta se llevará a cabo para, con su producto satisfacer a la parte demandante, el importe de la Sentencia dictada a su favor ascendente a la suma de $193,520.99 por concepto de principal, más la suma de $119,465.50 en intereses acumulados al 11 de enero de 2022 y los cuales continúan acumulándose a razón de 5.060% anual hasta su total y completo pago; más la sumas de $35,312.23 en seguro hipotecario; $2,991.00 en seguro; $525.00 en tasaciones; $380.00 en inspecciones; más la cantidad de 10% del pagare original en la suma de $43,500.00, para gastos, costas y honorarios de abogado, esta última habrá de devengar intereses al máximo del tipo legal fijado por la oficina del Comisionado de Instituciones Financieras aplicable a esta fecha, desde este mismo día hasta su total y completo saldo. La venta en pública subasta de la referida propiedad se verificará libre de toda carga o gravamen posterior que afecte la mencionada finca, a cuyo efecto se notifica y se hace saber la fecha, hora y sitio de la PRIMERA, SEGUNDA Y TERCERA SUBASTA, si esto fuera necesario, a los efectos de que cualquier persona o personas con algún interés puedan comparecer a la celebración de dicha subasta. Se notifica a todos los interesados que las actas y demás
constancias del expediente de este caso están disponibles en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante horas laborables para ser examinadas por los (las) interesados (as). Y para su publicación en el periódico The San Juan Daily Star, que es un diario de circulación general en la isla de Puerto Rico, por espacio de dos semanas consecutivas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre ambas publicaciones, así como para su publicación en los sitios públicos de Puerto Rico. Expedido en Ponce, Puerto Rico, hoy 27 de agosto de 2024. JAVIER SEGARRA MALDONADO, ALGUACIL REGIONAL. MIGUEL A. TORRES AYALA, ALGUACIL AUXILIAR PLACA #560.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE MAYAGÜEZ PENTAGON FEDERAL
CREDIT UNION
Demandante Vs. SUCESION ERWIN ROLANDO BONILLA GARCIA COMPUESTA POR JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES
Demandados
Civil Núm.: MZ2023CV00383. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA Y COBRO DE DINERO. EDICTO DE SUBASTA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. A: LA PARTE DEMANDADA, AL (A LA) SECRETARIO(A) DE HACIENDA DE PUERTO RICO Y AL PÚBLICO
GENERAL:
Certifico y Hago Constar: Que en cumplimiento con el Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que me ha sido dirigido por el (la) Secretario(a) del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Mayagüez, en el caso de epígrafe, venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor, por separado, de contado y por moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América y/o Giro Postal y Cheque Certificado, en mi oficina ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Mayagüez, el 15 DE OCTUBRE DE 2024, A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA, todo derecho título, participación o interés que le corresponda a la parte demandada o cual-
quiera de ellos en el inmueble hipotecado objeto de ejecución que se describe a continuación: “RÚSTICA: Parcela marcada con el número 168 en el plano de parcelación de la Comunidad Rural Palmarejo del barrio Palmarejo del término municipal de Lajas, con una cabida superficial de 0.1582 cuerdas equivalentes a 621.69 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con terrenos propiedad de la Autoridad de Fuentes Fluviales; por el SUR, con la calle número tres de la comunidad; por el ESTE, con la parcela número 169 de la comunidad; y por el OESTE, con la parcela número 167 de la comunidad.” Finca número 5456, inscrita al folio 126 del tomo 158 de Lajas, Registro de la Propiedad de San Germán. La hipoteca antes descrita consta inscrita al Tomo Digital Karibe, finca 5456 de Lajas, Registro de la Propiedad de San Germán, inscripción 9ª. Propiedad localizada en: 168 JUAN CANCIO ORTIZ ST., PALMAREJO WARD, LAJAS, PR 00667. Según figuran en la certificación registral, la propiedad objeto de ejecución está gravada por las siguientes cargas anteriores o preferentes: Nombre del Titular: N/A. Suma de la Carga: N/A. Fecha de Vencimiento: N/A. Según figuran en la certificación registral, la propiedad objeto de ejecución está gravada por las siguientes cargas posteriores a la inscripción del crédito ejecutante: Nombre del Titular: N/A. Suma de la Carga: N/A. Fecha de Vencimiento: N/A. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad de la propiedad y que todas las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito ejecutante antes descritos, si los hubiere, continuarán subsistentes. El rematante acepta dichas cargas y gravámenes anteriores, y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Se establece como tipo de mínima subasta la suma de $88,000.00, según acordado entre las partes en el precio pactado en la escritura de hipoteca. De ser necesaria una SEGUNDA SUBASTA por declararse desierta la primera, la misma se celebrará en mi oficina, ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Mayagüez, el 22 DE OCTUBRE DE 2024, A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA, y se establece como mínima para dicha segunda subasta la suma de $58,666.67, 2/3 partes del tipo mínima establecido originalmente. Si tampoco se produce remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se establece como mínima para la TERCERA SUBASTA, la suma de $44,000.00, la
mitad (1/2) del precio pactado y dicha subasta se celebrará en mi oficina, ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Mayagüez, el 29 DE OCTUBRE DE 2024, A LAS 10:30 DE LA MAÑANA. Dicha subasta se llevará a cabo para, con su producto satisfacer a la parte demandante, el importe de la Sentencia dictada a su favor ascendente a la suma de $75,912.73 por concepto de principal, más la suma de $4,504.12 en intereses acumulados 31 de julio de 2023 y los cuales continúan acumulándose a razón de 3.750% anual hasta su total y completo pago; más la sumas de $346.60 en “escrow advances”; $32.60 en cargos por demora; $2,953.00 en adelantos ; más la cantidad de 10% del pagare original en la suma de $8,800.00, para gastos, costas y honorarios de abogado. A tenor con la Regla 44.3 de Procedimiento Civil se condena a la parte demandada a pagar intereses aplicables sobre el importe de la presente sentencia incluyendo costas y honorarios de abogado, desde esta fecha y hasta que sea satisfecha. La venta en pública subasta de la referida propiedad se verificará libre de toda carga o gravamen posterior que afecte la mencionada finca, a cuyo efecto se notifica y se hace saber la fecha, hora y sitio de la PRIMERA, SEGUNDA Y TERCERA SUBASTA, si esto fuera necesario, a los efectos de que cualquier persona o personas con algún interés puedan comparecer a la celebración de dicha subasta. Se notifica a todos los interesados que las actas y demás constancias del expediente de este caso están disponibles en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante horas laborables para ser examinadas por los (las) interesados (as). Y para su publicación en el periódico The San Juan Daily Star, que es un diario de circulación general en la isla de Puerto Rico, por espacio de dos semanas consecutivas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre ambas publicaciones, así como para su publicación en los sitios públicos de Puerto Rico. Expedido en Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, hoy 23 de agosto de 2024. JOSÉ LORENTE PLAZA, ALGUACIL REGIONAL. CALIXTO RIVERA GHIGLIOTY, ALGUACIL PLACA #283.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN.
FIRSTBANK PUERTO RICO
Demandante v. SOLOMON PROPERTY
adjudicación en moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de Norteamérica en efectivo, cheque certificado o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal, y para conocimiento de la parte demandada y de toda(s) aquella(s) persona(s) que tenga (n) interés inscrito con posterioridad a la inscripción de los gravámenes que se están ejecutando, que los mismos serán eliminados del Registro de la Propiedad, y para conocimiento de los licitadores y el público en general, y para su publicación en un periódico de circulación general, una vez por semana durante el termino de dos (2) semanas consecutivas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre ambas publicaciones, y para su fijación en tres (3) lugares públicos del municipio en que ha de celebrarse la venta, tales como, la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía, y se le notificará además a la parte demandada y a su abogado o abogada vía correo certificado con acuse de recibo siempre que haya comparecido al pleito. Si el (la) deudor (a) por Sentencia no comparece al pleito, la notificación será enviada vía correo certificado con acuse de recibo a las últimas direcciones conocidas. Se les advierte a todos los interesados que todos los documentos relacionados con la presente acción de ejecución de hipoteca, así como la de la subasta, estarán disponibles para ser examinados en la Secretaría del Tribunal. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titulación y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere al crédito de ejecutante, continuarán subsiguientes entendiéndose que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Y para conocimiento de la parte demandada, de los acreedores posteriores, de los licitadores, partes interesadas y público en general, expido el presente Aviso para su publicación en los lugares públicos correspondientes. Librado en Caguas, Puerto Rico, a 24 de septiembre de 2024.
MARIANGELY ROSADO ROMÁN, ALGUACIL PLACA #953.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA
CENTRO JUDICIAL DE BAYAMÓN SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN.
FABIOLA ELIZABETH
HENRIQUEZ BALAS
Demandante V. JORGE
SEGALES CASALS
Demandado( a) CARLOS GABRIEL GARCÍA MIRANDA CGARCIA@GARCIARIVERALAW. COM
Caso Núm.: BY2023CV05642
(SALÓN 506). Sobre: LIQUIDACIÓN DE COMUNIDAD DE
BIENES. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. A: JORGE SEGALES (Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 23 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024, 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 23 de SEPTIEMBRE de 2024. En BAYAMÓN, Puerto Rico, el 23 de SEPTIEMBRE de 2024. LAURA l. SANTA SANCHEZ, Secretario(a). . f/ MARILYN COLON CARRASQUILLO, Secretario(a) Auxiliar.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE PONCE SALA SUPERIOR DE PONCE REINALDO COLON DAVILA
Demandante V. PAULA PAREDES HERRERA Demandado(a) Caso Núm.: PO2024RF00350. (Salón: 404 - RF Y MENORES). Sobre: DIVORCIO - RUPTURA IRREPARABLE. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. ALBA MELÉNDEZ ROMEUALBAMROMEU@GMAIL.COM. A: PAULA PAREDES HERRERA PARA SER NOTIFICADO MEDIANTE EDICTO, P/C LCDA. ALBA MELENDEZ ROMEU. (Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 04 de septiembre de 2024, 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 17 de septiembre de 2024. En Ponce, Puerto Rico, el 17 de septiembre de 2024. Carmen G. Tirú Quiñones, Secretaria. Mary Ann León Rosario, Secretaria Auxiliar Del Tribunal.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA
CENTRO JUDICIAL DE CAGUAS SALA SUPERIOR DE CAGUAS
CARMEN JACQUELINE
GARZA T/C/C CARMEN JACQUELINE ORTIZ PIÑERO T/C/C
CARMEN JACKELINE ORTIZ PIÑERO T/C/C
CARMEN JACQUELINE RODRIGUEZ
Demandante V. FEDERAL DEPOSIT
INSURANCE COMPANY Y OTROS
Demandado(a)
Caso Núm.: CG2024CV02314.
(Salón: 801). Sobre: CANCELACIÓN O RESTITUCIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.
LAURA R. DOMÍNGUEZ LLERANDILDOMINGUEZLAW@GMAIL.COM.
A: JOHN DOE Y RICHARD DOE COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES DEL PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO.
(Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 18 de septiembre de 2024, 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 19 de septiembre
de 2024. En Caguas, Puerto Rico, el 19 de septiembre de 2024. Irasemis Díaz Sánchez, Secretaria. Sandra Trinidad Cañuelas, Secretaria Auxiliar Del Tribunal.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA
CENTRO JUDICIAL DE CAROLINA SALA SUPERIOR DE CAROLINA
BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO
Demandante V. MARJORIE JIMENEZ QUIÑONES
Demandado(a)
Caso Núm.: LO2023CV00031. (Civil: 404). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO - ORDINARIO Y OTROS. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. DUNCAN R. MALDONADO EJARQUE - EJECUCIONES@CMPRLAW.COM.
A: MARJORIE JIMENEZ QUIÑONES.
(Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto)
EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 19 de septiembre de 2024, 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 20 de septiembre de 2024. En Carolina, Puerto Rico, el 20 de septiembre de 2024. KANELLY ZAYAS ROBLES, SECRETARIA. LILLIAM ORTIZ NIEVES, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE HATILLO ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC COMO AGENTE DE ACE ONE FUNDING, LLC
Parte Demandante Vs. JORGE M. HUERTAS COLLAZO
Parte Demandada Civil Núm.: CM2023CV00788. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE
AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. A: JORGE M. HUERTAS COLLAZO - URB LINDA VISTA 12 CALLE B, CAMUY PR 00627; HC 4 BOX 18433, CAMUY, PR 00627-9514.
POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza y requiere para que conteste la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), la cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:/// www.poderjudicial.pr/index. php/tribunal-electronico, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda o cualquier otro sin más citarle ni oírle, si el tribunal en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. El sistema SUMAC notificará copia al abogado de la parte demandante, Kevin Sánchez Campanero cuya dirección es: P.O. Box 71418 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-8518, teléfono (787) 993-3731 a la dirección gabriel.ramos@orf-law.com y a la dirección notificaciones@orflaw.com. EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el sello del Tribunal, en HATILLO, Puerto Rico, hoy día 12 de agosto de 2024. Vivian Y. Fresse González, Secretaria. Brenda Liz Torres Muñiz, Secretaria Auxiliar.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE BAYAMÓN SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN
IGLESIA DE DIOS
PENTECOSTAL M.I.(MOVIMIENTO INTERNACIONAL)
Demandante V. BANCO DE SAN JUAN Y OTROS
Demandado(a)
Caso Núm.: BY2023CV06408. (Salón: 402 SUPERIOR CIVIL). Sobre: ACCIÓN CONTRADICTORIA DE DOMINIO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.
LIZANNETTE MORALES CRESPO - MORALESCRESPOLAW@GMAIL. COM.
A: JOHN DOE. (Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 18 de septiembre de 2024, este Tribunal ha dictadoSentencia, 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 los10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, SentenciaParcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 20 de septiembre de 2024. En Bayamón, Puerto Rico, el 20 de septiembre de 2024. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. NOELIA MATÍAS SALAS, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE BAYAMÓN SALA SUPERIOR DE VEGA BAJA. HACIENDA DEL MAR OWNERS’ ASSOCIATION, INC
Demandante v. ROBERT MC NALLY BATCHER Y OTROS
Demandado(a)
Caso Núm.: VB2024CV00398 (SALÓN 201 CD, CM, TR Y CR). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO - ORDINARIO. GETZEMARIE LUGO RODRÍGUEZ GLUGO@MPMLAWPR.COM
LUIS C MARINI BIAGGI LMARINI@MPMLAWPR.COM NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO A: ROBERT MC NALLY BATCHER T/C/C/ ROBERT MC NALLY, LESLIE TURNER MC NALLY Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES, COMPUESTA POR AMBOS
75 REDAN DR. SMITHTOWN, NEW YORK, EE. UU. 11787-4462 (Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto)
EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 16 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024, 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 repre-
sentando 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 de20 24. En VEGA BAJA, Puerto Rico, el 17 de SEPTIEMBRE de 2024. LAURA I. SANTA SANCHEZ, Secretario(a). f/MARITZA ROSARIO ROSARIO, Sec (a) Auxiliar del Tribunal.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE BAYAMÓN SALA SUPERIOR DE VEGA BAJA
HACIENDA DEL MAR OWNERS’ ASSOCIATION, INC
Demandante V. JOSEPH CARILLO Y OTROS
Demandado(a)
Caso Núm.: VB2024CV00403. (Salón: 201 CD, CM, TR Y CR). Sobre: COBRO DE DINEROORDINARIO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. GETZEMARIE LUGO RODRÍGUEZGLUGO@MPMLAWPR.COM.
LUIS C. MARINI BIAGGILMARINI@MPMLAWPR.COM. A: JOSEPH CARILLO, BEATRICE LAURA CARILLO, Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS - 243 LITTLE NECK RD. CENTERPORT, NEW YORK, EE. UU. 11721-114.
(Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto)
EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 17 de septiembre de 2024, 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 edic-
to. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha 18 de septiembre de 2024. En Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, el 18 de septiembre de 2024. Laura I. Santa Sánchez, Secretaria. Maritza Rosario Rosario, Secretaria Auxiliar Del Tribunal.
LEGAL NOTICE
EDICTO SOBRE RECUSACION DE ELECTORES POR MOTIVO DE DOMICILIO Y OTRAS CAUSALES SAN JUAN 003
CITACION A VISTA A LOS SIGUIENTES ELECTORES
A: Cordero Vázquez Stella, número electoral 6846141, número de recusación 24156, Cornejo Miranda Itza L, número electoral 6846159, número de recusación 24157, Estrella Curbelo Valeria, número electoral 6770059, número de recusación 24158, Nieves Pintado Esteban R, número electoral 6566419, número de recusación 24159, Perez Gonzalez Naiomi número electoral 6644068, número de recusación 24160, Rivera Abreu Glenis, número electoral 6692448, número de recusación 24161, Rodriguez Sebastian, número electoral 6840126, número de recusación 24162, Roman Santana Geraissa, número electoral 6464734, número de recusación 24163 y Velez Rodriguez Joel D, número electoral 6729005, número de recusación 24164.
POR LA PRESENTE, se notifica que ha sido presentada una solicitud de recusación de electores por motivo de domicilio y otras causales hacia su persona, y se ha señalado VISTA PARA EL MIERCOLES, 9 DE OCTUBRE DE 2024 A LAS 6:00PM EN LAS OFICINAS DE LA COMISION LOCAL, LOCALIZADAS EN: CALLE ARTERIAL B 550 DE HATO REY, PUERTO RICO. LA DIRECCION FISICA DE LA JUNTA DE INSCRIPCIO PERMANENTE ES CALLE ARTERIAL B 550 DE SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO. EL NUMERO DE TELEFONO DE LA JUNTA DE INSCRIPCION ES EL 787-7778682. SE APERCIBE A LOS ELECTORES QUE, DE NO COMPARECER A LA VISTA EN LA FECHA Y HORA SENALADA, SE PROCEDERA CON LA MISMA SIN MAS CITARLE, NOTIFICARLE, NI OIRLE. FIRMADA POR, REBECCA VERA RIOS, PRESIDENTE DE LA COMISION LOCAL EL 19 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2024.
‘Historic achievements’ complicate awards voting
By KEN ROSENTHAL / THE ATHLETIC
Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton, in stumping for Paul Skenes to win the National League Rookie of the Year award, offered a compelling argument when comparing his right-hander with San Diego Padres center fielder Jackson Merrill and Milwaukee Brewers center fielder Jackson Chourio.
“I respect what the two Jacksons are doing for sure, and they’re both really good players,” Shelton told reporters Sunday. “But I think when we start talking about guys
that are doing things that are historic, that’s why it puts him in that category for me. That’s why I feel that he deserves to be the winner.”
Shelton, of course, is biased, as are many others who participate in these discussions, including fans. My friend Joel Sherman, of the New York Post, put it best when breaking down the American League MVP race between New York Yankees center fielder Aaron Judge and Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.: “I don’t want to hear from Kansas City fans or New York fans,” Sherman said on the podcast he co-hosts with Jon Heyman. If Bobby Witt was the shortstop on the Yankees and Aaron Judge was the center fielder on the Royals, you people would vote a different way.”
Make no mistake, the “historic achievement” argument is a good one. Shohei Ohtani’s unprecedented season of 50 homers and 50 stolen bases elevates him in the NL MVP race.
Here’s the thing, though: Other awards contenders are making history, too. The achievements of Merrill and Chourio might not be as riveting as those of Skenes, who is the first pitcher in the modern era with 150 strikeouts and an ERA under 2.00 in his first 22 career games. And the achievements of Witt might not be as eye-popping as those of Judge, whose OPS+ entering Tuesday was the highest since Barry Bonds in 2004.
But the NL rookie and AL MVP races, are in the eye of the beholder, in part because the comparisons are not apples-to-apples. Skenes is a pitcher. Merrill and Chourio are position players. Judge derives most of his value from his offense. Witt not only leads the majors in batting average, but is also the game’s fastest player and a top defender.
In short, players in 2024 are doing a whole lot of cool things.
Go back to Skenes, whose ERA over 131 innings is 1.99. The only pitcher to record a lower ERA in his first 22 appearances, all of which were starts, was Steve Rogers, who spread his achievement with the Montreal Expos over two seasons, 1973 and ’74. Heady stuff, no doubt.
Merrill, though, counters with his six game-tying or goahead home runs in the eighth inning or later, tying him with Frank Robinson in 1956 for the most in a season by a player 21 or younger. Chourio, too, can boast of historic accomplishments. At 20 years and 185 days, he became the youngest player to produce a 20-20 season.
The separator among the three is volume. Merrill has appeared in 152 games, Chourio 143, Skenes just 22. Two years ago, the Atlanta Braves’ Spencer Strider threw approximately the same number of innings as Skenes, though his brilliance was not at the same level. Strider finished second to a candidate who was comparable to Merrill, his teammate Michael Harris II.
The last starting pitcher to win a Rookie of the Year Award, non-Ohtani division, was the Detroit Tigers’ Michael Fulmer in 2016. Fulmer threw more innings than Skenes (159), and the best of the position-player candidates that year was Yankees catcher Gary Sánchez, who played in only 53 games.
Jacob deGrom won the NL award in 2014 throwing
only 140 1/3 innings, but the second- and third-place finishers, Billy Hamilton and Kolten Wong, both had on-base percentages below .300. José Fernández won in 2013 with a 2.19 ERA over 172 1/3 innings. Yasiel Puig, the runnerup, had big offensive numbers but appeared in only 104 games.
So, what is the proper placement for Skenes? First because of his sheer dominance? Second behind Merrill and ahead of Chourio, with the argument against Chourio being that on June 1, he was batting only .207 with a .575 OPS? Or third behind the two Jacksons, both of whom are contributing as everyday players for postseason teams?
It comes down to subjective judgment. There is no right or wrong answer. All I know is that I disagree with my colleague Jim Bowden, who advocates for two rookie awards, one for position players, one for pitchers. No, thank you.
The beauty of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America awards is that they stimulate conversation. The lack of clarity over the meaning of “most valuable,” the different standards writers apply for manager of the year ... yes! Long live the ambiguity! Often, it leads to informed debate.
Consider the AL MVP race. Judge, in addition to his stunning advanced offensive metrics, also is only the fifth player to produce two or more seasons of at least 56 homers, joining Babe Ruth, Ken Griffey Jr., Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, the latter two of which either admitted to or were reported to have used performance-enhancing drugs. Yet, Witt is leaving his own distinctive mark.
Using FanGraphs’ version of wins above replacement, Witt has produced the fifth-best season by a shortstop and the best by any player in his age-24 season or younger since the expansion era began in 1961. The last 24-oryounger player with a better fWAR was Mickey Mantle in 1956, when he won MVP.
No other shortstop in AL or NL history has produced multiple 30-30 seasons. No other player, regardless of position, has produced multiple 30-30 seasons within his first three major league campaigns. And Witt also is only the second shortstop to go 30-30 with 100 runs and 100 RBI, joining Alex Rodríguez, who did it in 1998 with the Seattle Mariners.
Age should not factor into awards voting. Nor should multiyear accomplishments — Judge with his 56-homer campaigns, Witt with his 30-30s. Those numbers, however, provide context for the historical nature of each player’s performance.
MLB.com’s Mike Petriello put it well, writing that if Witt finishes second, his season will go down as one of the best ever by a player who did not win the MVP. And that he only might lose because it’s taking “one of the best seasons in baseball history” — Judge’s mammoth 2024 effort — “to top him.”
Historic achievements matter. Shelton had it right when talking about Skenes. The problem with both the NL rookie and AL MVP races, if you want to call it that, is that multiple candidates are doing things we’ve never seen before. Great for the game. Not so great for the voters who need to decide which ones are most worthy.
The San Juan Daily Star
Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. (Wikipedia)
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
Wordsearch
Aries (Mar 21-April 20)
With the planetary atmosphere today, your sensual nature is in full bloom. If there’s a romantic partner nearby, that person should be on guard! There may be a lot of other people around, so a chance to be alone probably won’t present itself until this evening. If you don’t connect with a potential partner, at least you’ll have a good time. Hang in there and be patient!
Taurus (April 21-May 21)
You might have to play nurse today, Taurus. A love partner could claim to feel unwell, and you might expend a lot of energy trying to make your friend feel better. Don’t overdo it. There may be psychological factors at work. Your friend could be jealous of the attention you’ve been giving family and friends. Be attentive, but within limits!
Gemini (May 22-June 21)
You’re generally focused on the material world, Gemini, but something about the energy generated by today’s planetary alignments causes you to look within. You might think about the joys and pains of past family gatherings and wonder how they affect your life now. This is a positive, healing process, so don’t fight it. It won’t interfere with what’s going on around you.
Cancer (June 22-July 23)
A virtual group event could put you in contact with a number of people interested in doing a healing meditation for the planet. This sort of activity can work wonders to strengthen the bond among those performing it. You might not talk much during the discussions, but you’re apt to be in total agreement with the idea. Enjoy your day.
Leo (July 24-Aug 23)
Happiness reigns in the home as everyone feels the energy changing, Leo. It seems that the end of one cycle brings closure, and now you’re free to start a new journey of rebirth. You, above all, are apt to feel a powerful rush of intuition, which could reveal positive events coming up for you and those close to you. A few doubts may cloud your impressions, but let them go.
Virgo (Aug 24-Sep 23)
Are you going to go away soon, Virgo? If not, you may be planning a trip for another month, perhaps going for educational purposes, such as to attend a workshop. You might have agreed to some overseas business travel. You should feel especially energetic, enthusiastic, and optimistic now. You’ve done well thanks to your diligent work, and you should continue on that path.
Libra
(Sep 24-Oct 23)
Instinct and determination drive you toward unconventional plans for making money, Libra. A finance counselor or other professional could be involved. You may see this as an opportunity to restore your ailing bank account. You may have future purchases in mind, perhaps even a new home. Consider your plans carefully before going ahead. You’ll want to be sure it’s what you need.
Scorpio
(Oct 24-Nov 22)
Today you may feel a passionate attraction for someone intelligent who perhaps makes a living in law, education, or publishing, Scorpio. Conversations with this person could touch on some deep issues, such as spiritual matters, the human psyche, or the nature of the universe. You should be deeply affected, not only by the person but also by the subjects. Take a walk later to clear your head.
Sagittarius
(Nov 23-Dec 21)
This could be a quiet day for you and your partner, Sagittarius. You could spend some time reflecting on past achievements and future goals. It’s important to get a clear picture about the past so you can draw conclusions and make workable plans. If you have a family, you’ll probably be interested in activities that everyone will enjoy. Make some time to get together when it’s possible. Leave tension behind.
Capricorn (Dec 22-Jan 20)
All the positive energy generated by the celestial atmosphere seems to come together today as you experience a rush of sensual passion for a romantic partner, Capricorn. An unexpected encounter could not only fulfill this desire but also bring you closer. If you aren’t already committed, expect to discuss it tonight. Be careful to exercise restraint. Your lover could panic if you push too hard.
Aquarius
(Jan 21-Feb 19)
A call form someone you haven’t heard from in a while could generate mixed feelings, Aquarius. On the one hand, you’re probably glad to resume contact with this person. On the other, because you weren’t expecting to hear from them, it could create extra emotions for you - as if you didn’t already have enough on your plate! Talk to another friend about how you feel so you can enjoy your evening.
Pisces (Feb 20-Mar 20)
Someone who’s been ill and perhaps undergone surgery might phone you today, Pisces. You could invite this person to join you for a little virtual social gathering. Several people could be involved. All of them will have some interesting and useful information to offer. Enjoy your day.
Answers to the Sudoku and Crossword on page 29
OFERTAS PRE-BLACK
