Monday Sep 28, 2020

Monday, September 28, 2020

San Juan The

50¢

DAILY

Pandemic Increases Importance of Filing Early for Financial Aid

Star

P11

We Have to Do Better Amid Scary Number of COVID-19 Cases and Health Secretary’s Lockdown Warning, Authorities Have Been Busy Scolding Business Owners for Violating Executive Order P4

PAN Beneficiaries to Receive Surplus Funds P3 NOTICIAS EN ESPAÑOL P 19

PDP Lawmaker, WIPR Employees Demand ‘Clear Agreement’ to Unite Station with DE

P5

2

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, September 28, 2020

Queremos ayudarte en la compra de tu nuevo hogar

EN COOP LAS PIEDRAS te lo podemos financiar... ¡Estamos aquí pa ti!

*Pregunta como puedes obtener hasta un 100% de financiamiento.

• RURAL • REHABILITACIÓN • TERRENO • COMERCIAL • CONVENCIONAL • VETERANO • CONSTRUCCIÓN COOP LP NMLS #787612

787.733.2821 EXT: 1918, 1223, 1224, 1231, 1251

CAGUAS • LAS PIEDRAS • SAN LORENZO • HUMACAO • TRUIMPH PLAZA • YABUCOA • HATO REY • CAROLINA Ciertas resticciones aplican. El financiamiento será basado en el tipo de producto hipotecario que aplique en la solicitud Los depósitos y acciones están asegurados por la cantidad de $250.000 por COSSEC. En caso de insolvencia, por estar asegurados con COSSEC estamos excluidos de todo seguro federal.

www.cooplaspiedras.com

GOOD MORNING

3

September 28, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star, the only paper with News Service in English in Puerto Rico, publishes 7 days a week, with a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday edition, along with a Weekend Edition to cover Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

PAN beneficiaries to get $59M surplus in funds that also mark end of cash benefits

Today’s

Weather

By THE STAR STAFF

Day

Night

High

Low

87ºF

80ºF

Precip 40%

Precip 20%

Rain Showers

Partly Cloudy

Wind: Humidity: UV Index: Sunrise: Sunset:

S

From E 14 mph 75% 10 of 10 6:14 AM Local Time 6:14 PM Local Time

INDEX Local 3 Mainland 7 Business 11 International 14 Viewpoint 18 Noticias en Español 19 Entertainment 20

Travel Health Legals Sports Games Horoscope Cartoons

22 23 24 26 29 30 31

ome 836,990 families in Puerto Rico currently benefiting from the Nutritional Assistance Program (PAN by its Spanish acronym) will receive $59 million in special payments starting today, Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced and Family Secretary Orlando López Belmonte announced Sunday.

However, the money marks the end of the regulation that allowed PAN beneficiaries to cash a portion of their benefits to buy whatever they want as all of the benefits in the PAN card must be used for food purchases exclusively starting Oct. 1.

“This special payment scheduled for this week is due to the redistribution of resources that are reserved for emergencies and available resources from other surplus items at the end of the federal fiscal year that ends this Wednesday, September 30,” the governor said in a statement. “All resources are always directed to benefit people who receive Family Department aid.”

The PAN is administered on the island by the Family Socioeconomic Development Administration (ADSEF by its Spanish acronym), which is part of the Family Department. The program receives a block allocation determined by the federal Agriculture Law that amounts to $1.9 billion. This year, the program received $298 million in additional funds through an appropriation from the U.S. Congress, through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and the Family First Act, in funds distributed in June, July and August of this year to participating families.

“The benefit that each participant in the household

will receive from this special payment is $39.40,” López Belmonte said. “This will be deposited on the Family Card, according to the last digit of the social security number of the head of the family identified in the program, so they do not have to do anything to receive it.”

ADSEF Administrator Alberto Fradera Vázquez noted that PAN participants whose social security number ends in 0, 1 or 2 will see the deposit reflected today. Meanwhile, beneficiaries whose social security number ends in 3, 4, 5 or 6 will receive the special payment Tuesday.

Finally, participants whose social security number ends in 7, 8 or 9 will be able to access the special payment Wednesday.

Fradera Vázquez pointed out that the issuance does not represent a fixed benefit and that it will only be reflected on the dates indicated above, but it represents relief from the reduction in benefits that participants experienced this month when they returned to the basic benefit.

“This is a special monetary issue that although it is received only once, represents a relief to the 836,990 participating families that this September saw their benefits reduced at the end of the funds received due to the pandemic in August,” he said.

Likewise, Fradera Vázquez reminded participants that this special issue of money marks the last time beneficiaries will be able to use a portion of their benefits as cash since access to cash ends on Oct. 1. From then on, the benefits will be 100 percent for the purchase of food.

As of Sunday, the PAN provided assistance to 836,990 families for a total of 1,503,093 participants throughout the island.

4

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, September 28, 2020

Health Dept. Investigations Office ensures enforcement of COVID-19 safety protocols

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

A

s Puerto Rico is about to surpass 23,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and Health Secretary Lorenzo González Feliciano warns of a possible return to lockdown if cases keep increasing, the island Health Department’s (DS by its Spanish initials) Investigations Office has been working nonstop to enforce the executive order enacted by Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced to prevent the coronavirus from spreading.

During the course of the weekend, DS Investigations Office Director Jesús Hernández announced a series of closures due to noncompliance with safety protocols. On Saturday, the DS announced that Kantares Restaurant Bar and Grill on Isla Verde Avenue was ordered to close as it did not comply with the 10 p.m. closing order for businesses.

Hernández said “it was not the first time that we have guided Kantares’ management on the provisions of the executive order.

“As this is the second time that we have intervened with the establishment for failing to comply with it and putting the

Last week, Health Secretary Lorenzo González Feliciano warned of a possible return to lockdown if cases keep increasing. lives of diners and employees at risk, we were forced to order its closure,” he said.

The Investigations Office also ordered the closure of Sabrina Bistro Bar on Loíza Street in Santurce because it didn’t comply with the established curfew, sold alcoholic beverages outside the allowed hours, had people crowded inside the establishment, and did not order visitors to use face masks.

Meanwhile, Investigations Office personnel visited retail store Costco, located near Plaza Escorial in Carolina, as they had received anonymous tips on violations of protective measures by both

employees and visitors. The big box store closed voluntarily and committed itself to sanitizing its premises according to DS parameters.

“It is unacceptable that, at this point, there are establishments that violate the law and put not only their licenses at risk but also the lives of the people who work at and visit their businesses,” Hernández said.

Another intervention at the Golden China Oriental restaurant in the island municipality of Culebra led to its closure due to non-compliance with the health protocols and regulations.

DS continues interventions to comply with executive order Investigations Office personnel also swooped in at a residence in Hacienda El Lago, Trujillo Alto, where a private party was being held. Hernández said that after receiving information about the invitation to the party through social media platforms, they proceeded to raid the residence, where a party called Stereo Nights Pool Party was being held.

The Health chief said the owner of the residence took responsibility for the situation and provided all the information that was required.

“During the intervention, which took

place after midnight, it was evidenced that the curfew was not being complied with, there were crowds of people gathered, without the proper use of masks and without physical distancing, putting the health of all attendees at risk,” said a DS press release.

Meanwhile, Zajorí Gastro Show restaurant on Loíza Street in Santurce was given an orientation by the Investigations Office on social distancing measures, compliance with the curfew and the use of face masks. Another establishment known as LiT, also on Loíza Street, was visited and found to be in compliance with all health and safety protocols, both for its employees and visitors.

“We will not rest on our commitment to ensure the health of citizens, but we need everyone’s cooperation,” Hernández said. “As I have said on other occasions, it is not only about enforcing the law, but also about saving lives.”

Regarding the case that has been reported on in the press involving a nightclub in Old San Juan where, apparently, minors were gathered, Hernández said “at the moment, the situation is under investigation, so we ask for the space to make a clear review of the scene and, if necessary, take the pertinent actions.”

Health professionals urged to report non-compliance with hospital regulations

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

H

ealth Secretary Lorenzo González Feliciano urged health professionals on Sunday to report any non-compliance with the regulations of hospital facilities in Puerto Rico, as well as the lack of protections in caring for COVID-19 patients.

“There are formal mechanisms for reporting situations that threaten the health and safety of health professionals,” González Feliciano said. “The Medical Licensing and Discipline Board, the Nursing Examining Board and the Auxiliary Secretary for Health Facility Regulation and Accreditation [SARAFS by its Spanish acronym] have mechanisms for investigating complaints and taking immediate action. We are committed to the first line of medical defense in facing this pandemic, so we want to guarantee that the protocols are complied with and that they feel safe in the exercise of their functions.”

Faced with complaints reported in the media in recent days by the Nursing Professionals Association and representatives of the Practical Nurses Association about the risks faced by these professionals in hospitals and emergency rooms, Norma Torres, executive director of the Licensing and Medical Discipline Board and the

Office of Regulation of Health Professionals, requested that the due complaints about irregularities be presented immediately, so that those regulatory bodies can carry out the process of evaluation and adjudication of responsibilities, and take appropriate action.

“It is extremely important that health professionals know that we have a responsibility to ensure compliance with regulations in their work centers,” said Torres, an attorney. “Safety is paramount for us, so we urge you to formally address your concerns, to take firm and immediate action.”

SARAFS Assistant Secretary Verónica Núñez reiterated that “every hospital must have assigned the nursing staff and other health professionals necessary for the proper functioning of all departments, including, but not limited to, the emergency rooms.”

“Likewise, you are required to have an employee health program designed to prevent disease transmission,” she said. “It is necessary to include sufficient protective equipment for staff, especially in these times of COVID. If any hospital facility does not comply with these regulations, we will take pertinent action, but we need the appropriate channels to be followed.”

The Office of Investigations also conducts interventions to ensure compliance with regulations by employers, Núñez added.

Nurses and other health professionals who want to report non-compliance with the aforementioned requirements can contact SARAFS at 787-764-2929 ext.

4701, 4702 and 4750. In turn, they can send an email to the following address: sarafsquerellas@salud.pr.gov.

WE BUY OR RENT IN 24HRS

787-349-1000

SALES • RENTALS • VACATIONS RESIDENTIAL • COMMERCIAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT (SOME RESTRICTIONS MAY APPLY).

FREE CONSULTS REALTOR

Ray A. Ruiz Licensed Real Estate Broker • Lic.19004 rruizrealestate1@gmail.com

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, September 28, 2020

5

PDP legislator demands ‘a clear agreement’ to unite WIPR with Education Dept.

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

E

ven though Puerto Rico Corporation for Public Broadcasting President Eric Delgado Santiago told The Star on Sept.

4 that he was hopeful that WIPR, as the public corporation is known by its Federal Communications Commission call sign, would operate as a public entity through independent income, both House Bill 2524 and Senate Bill 1640 say otherwise as they order the Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority (AAFAF by its Spanish initials) to create a non-profit corporation to transfer WIPR’s assets, which are valued at around $15-20 million.

Popular Democratic Party (PDP) Rep. Luis Vega Ramos, along with WIPR employees and actors, demanded Sunday that both legislative bills be halted because they are a “run-over attempt to wrap up million-dollar assets that the country has in WIPR to benefit and profit people whom [the government] has yet to introduce,” and called on Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced to bring WIPR back to the Department of Education (DE).

“At this moment, the people of Puerto

Rico are rediscovering the necessity of the government’s [broadcast] stations, particularly in their original function, which was to assist the DE in providing public education,” Vega Ramos said. “In the midst of a pandemic, during the disaster at the DE where computers and modules for students have not arrived, where there is no internet service in remote places, one of the options, which should be for a short, medium, and long term, is to broadcast educational programs for the students of the public education system.”

Vega Ramos added that turning WIPR into a non-profit organization might put at risk the television project “En Casa Aprendo,” which has provided the only source of independent income to the entity.

Both bills would let AAFAF put five members on the proposed non-profit corporation’s board of directors, which will be appointed by the governor. The board meanwhile could name six members to work for the Advisory Committee. The PDP lawmaker compared this issue to the development of the Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) at the Puerto Rico Tourism Co., where a separate agency was created with the intention of promoting the island as a premier destination for leisure,

business and events, about which Vega Ramos said “they filled it with people and supporters of the government’s party, and they gave away $25 million in public funds annually, for which the DMO does not want to be held accountable.”

Meanwhile, Vega Ramos said the WIPR’s operation issue can be solved with an order from the governor and DE Secretary Eligio Hernández to come to an interagency agreement with the corporation and provide $4-5 million, which he said would be easy to provide as DE’s annual budget goes up to $4 billion.

Furthermore, he said, if either bill is approved it would not guarantee employment for 120 WIPR workers, members of the Actors Asso-

ciation, and freelancers during the transition.

“We need to make a clear agreement to keep the [public broadcasting] corporation working for the rest of the year,” Vega Ramos.

“We’re in October, and it’s more than clear that the next semester in January will not have a complete in-person function at schools. I hope that the DE secretary recognizes that we need this asset in our hands, not only for this year, but for the following years too. Let’s design a new structure that lets the corporation have its structural, organizational, and fiscal autonomy, and preserves its academic and cultural offerings.”

Later in the day, Puerto Rican Independence Party Rep. Denis Márquez Lebrón expressed opposition to SB 1640 and called on the New Progressive Party majority in the Legislature to “desist from obeying the Financial Oversight and Management Board’s commands.”

“Once again, the government’s response to the fiscal and administrative crisis is privatization and the delivery of the country’s assets, on this occasion, to the detriment of artists, producers, technicians, and diversity of workers involved in the world of communications,” Márquez said.

Oversight board asks court to maintain debt deal suspension for PREPA

By THE STAR STAFF

T

he Financial Oversight and Management Board wants the U.S. District Court to maintain the suspension of the debt deal for the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) and allow it to provide an updated status report in December.

The oversight board cited the ongoing and potential future further effects of COVID-19, hurricanes, drought, earthquakes, membership turnover on the oversight board, political change within the commonwealth, and unforeseen future events, all of which “may cumulatively extend the timetable for reaching a confirmable plan of adjustment for PREPA.” “The government parties expect to make material progress on these analyses by the end of the calendar year, and the timing of the availability of a [COVID-19] vaccine might then be known and might further inform the analysis,” the oversight board said in a status report submitted Friday.

While PREPA’s restructuring support agreement (RSA) has been suspended more than 11 times, the oversight board insisted it has not been terminated and that the 9019

motion to approve it remains pending.

“The government parties seek to preserve the largely consensual posture of the case by evaluating the RSA in light of the changing economic landscape to determine whether the RSA needs to be renegotiated and, if so, how,” the oversight board said in the status report. “In either scenario, the court retains jurisdiction over the 9019 motion and the discretion to manage its docket to grant further adjournments.”

The Unsecured Creditors Committee (UCC) on Aug. 18 filed a motion to terminate the 9019 motion. The UCC motion was opposed by the island government on Sept. 1. In connection with its motion, the UCC filed a motion to compel discovery regarding “whether the RSA remains viable in its current form, and/or whether the RSA may be renegotiated by the parties.” That motion was also opposed by the government.

Magistrate Judge Judith Dein denied the discovery request for lack of relevance, holding that “the RSA’s status is not a matter of opinion or a subject of inquiry, it is an objective fact and, by its terms, the RSA remains in effect unless and until a termination right is exercised.”

After the UCC filed an objection to Judge Dein’s discovery order, the court adjourned the

hearing on the termination motion until after the Sept. 25 status report.

The oversight board says since the submission of the July 31 status report, the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect lives and livelihoods on the island, as it has across the globe. Currently, the date a vaccine will be available and administered to Puerto Rico residents remains unknown, the same as it is unknown for the balance of the United States and its territories. Therefore, the duration of a constrained economy is unknown.

In addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, severe drought conditions forced the Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced to declare a state of emergency on June 29. While drought conditions in Puerto Rico have subsided since peaking in July, PREPA spent substantial time preparing for, and now is in the midst of the Atlantic hurricane season, which has been one of the most active seasons in history.

In spite of the challenging conditions on the island, the commonwealth recently completed its primary elections and, following the upcoming November election, it will have a new governor, the oversight board said.

While conditions on the island remain

fluid due to both extreme weather conditions and the unprecedented nature of COVID-19, the government has not remained idle during the postponement of the proceedings on the 9019 motion.

“Since the last status report, the Oversight Board continues to conduct diligence into the RSA and the affordability and sustainability of electricity rates on the island given the still changing economic landscape and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to analyze the optimal means of implementing the RSA transactions,” the oversight board said.

In addition, the Federal Emergency Management Administration announced last week that it plans to award almost $13 billion to Puerto Rico, with some $9.6 billion dedicated to help rebuild Puerto Rico’s electrical grid to support the Hurricane Maria response and recovery. Federal funding will allow PREPA to repair and replace thousands of miles of transmission and distribution lines, electrical substations, power generation systems, and office buildings, and make other grid improvements. The government parties are in the process of reviewing the grant, the required cost share related thereto, and the impact on PREPA, the oversight board noted in the status report.

6

Monday, September 28, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

PDP candidates announce new web page to access House contracts data

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

P

opular Democratic Party (PDP) candidates for the Puerto Rico House of Representatives Manuel Calderón Cerame, Juan Torres Montalvo and Ángel “Tito” Fourquet announced on Sunday the creation of a website in which citizens can require their representatives to disclose information regarding contracts in their respective offices, a response, the candidates said, to the many cases of corruption that have arisen in the House.

“After receiving multiple complaints from citizens and reading the letters lodged with the House’s secretary in which they demand that House Speaker Carlos “Johnny” Méndez,make public the information on the contracts and payroll of this legislative body, we have created the web page transparencyenlacamara.com so that Puerto Ricans can submit their request for access to this public information,” Calderón Cerame said.

The candidate for San Juan District 4 said “this approach goes in the direction of knowing all the information concerning what the current NPP [New Progressive Party] legislative majority does with the funds from the budget of the House of Representatives.”

“In addition, one of the commitments that I have made as a candidate for representative is to disclose my entire legislative structure together with a breakdown of salaries and all hiring,” Calderón Cerame said. “This contrasts with the pattern of the current representative of District 4 and with the behavior of the speaker of the House, at a time when several representatives of the NPP have had to resign due to corruption.”

Torres Montalvo, the PDP candidate for District 14, said “there have been many citizens who have expressed

Candidate for San Juan District 4 Manuel Calderón Cerame said “this approach goes in the direction of knowing all the information concerning what the current NPP legislative majority does with the funds from the budget of the House of Representatives.” outrage and concern over the arrests of various members of the House of Representatives for alleged unlawful schemes to benefit themselves.”

“The people demand to know how each cent that they contribute as taxpayers is invested, so this website is one more tool so that they can request the disclosure of information about contracts,” he said.

Torres Montalvo acknowledged that “although each representative has the freedom to hire his or her office staff, it is worthwhile to address the direct and specific claim that the people made to House Speaker Johnny Méndez through a letter sent to the [lower] chamber’s secretariat in which was requested:

* “A list of all service providers contracted by the House * The hours billed by [the service providers] and if they render services directly or through a company * A list of people/individuals hired as providers of professional services by the House of Representatives * Salaries, authorized increases and time billed.”

Alleged fraud by NPP lawmakers denounced “The letter to which we have had access states that five elected representatives of the New Progressive Party defrauded the voters and militants of this organization, breaking the trust of a people who expected the most transparent administrative policies and anti-corruption measures on the part of the NPP-led Legislature,” added Fourquet. “Unfortunately, the actions of some members of the NPP leave much to be desired and are far from what an honest public servant should be.”

Fourquet, the PDP candidate for the 24th district of Ponce, said that in their request the citizens from various towns on the island claim to be supported by Law 122-2019 (Open Data Law of the Government of Puerto Rico) and Law 141-2010 (Law of Transparency and Expedited Procedure for Access to Public Information).

“The information that these local [citizens] request is public and is not covered by any reliability provision,” the PDP candidates said. “For this reason, we join this citizen effort and we demand that Speaker Johnny Méndez be transparent and open the books so that we can evaluate the veracity of the actions reported by the press in recent months and if there has been good management of public funds.”

The candidates were backed by several fellow PDP candidates for the House: Rosario “Tata” Ortiz Maldonado (San Juan Precinct 1), José “Pepe” Ortiz (San Juan Precinct 3), Noemí Andújar Torres (District 6), Janice “Nani” Nieves Díaz (District 7), Luis Collazo (District 33) and Ángel Osorio (District 37).

PIP San Juan mayoral candidate presents his gov’t plan

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

P

uerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) candidate for mayor of San Juan Adrián González Costa presented his government program for the capital city on Sunday, which he titled “the San Juan where you decide.”

“I propose a San Juan in which the communities themselves will have absolute power in making decisions regarding the administration of the municipal budget,” González Costa said in a written statement. “Currently that is the great problem of the municipality, which distributes $632 million without knowing the immediate needs of the communities.”

“That is why the starting point of this government program is the LIBRE Plan (Local Inclusive Plan for Well Being and Economic Redevelopment) as a model for the economic redevelopment of the city and the first proposal that I presented in June of this year, a proposal that is accompanied by the creation of the Municipal Development Bank, through a municipal company to make the money it contributes to

the municipality available to the people. Your money coming back to you,” the PIP candidate added.

González Costa’s program has 53 pages. It is divided into and addresses the following topics: Government Reform, Economic Development, Health, Equity and Equality, Environment and Natural Resources, Security, Education, Heritage, Community Affairs, Displacement of Communities, Río Piedras, Santurce and Youth and Sports.

González Costa specified that his government program includes many years of listening to various sectors and stressed that the concept of real participation arises from his experience as a municipal legislator in San Juan, which allowed him to know first-hand “how to run a budget allocation process.”

“There are very important elements in this program, such as having as a first approach a government reform that allows optimizing the human resources of the municipality while saving money, creating a disaster prevention plan, establishing protocols to prevent gender violence and discrimination in all areas of the municipality, the revitalization of Río Piedras, promoting the rescue of public spaces, guar-

PIP candidate for mayor of San Juan Adrián González anteeing the maintenance of taxiways, sidewalks and parks, but all from the perspective of citizens, who will have the decision-making power -- the San Juan where you decide,” González Costa said.

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, September 28, 2020

7

Trump announces Barrett as Supreme Court nominee

By PETER BAKER and NICHOLAS FANDOS

P

resident Donald Trump introduced Judge Amy Coney Barrett as his nominee to the Supreme Court on Saturday, presenting her as a champion of conservative judicial principles and igniting a partisan and ideological battle to confirm her before the election in just 38 days.

During an early evening ceremony in the Rose Garden with Barrett at his side and her husband and seven children in the audience, Trump said she would make decisions “based on the text of the Constitution as written” much as her mentor, Justice Antonin Scalia, the icon of legal conservatives for whom she once clerked, had done.

“She is a woman of unparalleled achievement, towering intellect, sterling credentials and unyielding loyalty to the Constitution,” Trump said, making his third Supreme Court nomination in his nearly four years in office. At stake in her nomination is the future of gun rights, religious liberty and public safety, he added, as he pressed for historically rapid action by the Senate. “This should be a straightforward and prompt confirmation,” he said.

In her own remarks, Barrett directly aligned herself with Scalia, who died in 2016 and whose widow, Maureen Scalia, was in the audience. “His judicial philosophy is mine, too — a judge must apply the law as written,” Barrett said. “Judges are not policymakers, and they must be resolute in setting aside any policy views they might hold.”

The president and Barrett herself emphasized her role as a mother in an effort to humanize her in anticipation of attacks on her philosophy and her religious convictions.

Trump noted that she would be “the first mother of schoolaged children ever to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court,” and Barrett called herself “a room parent, car pool driver and birthday party planner” who adopted two children from Haiti and, like so many in recent months, has had to learn the vicissitudes of online education.

She also sought to address “my fellow Americans” who might be concerned about her views, vowing to faithfully discharge her duties without personal bias. “If confirmed, I would not assume that role for the sake of those in my own circle, and certainly not for my own sake,” she said. “I would assume this role to serve you.”

Democrats wasted no time on Saturday announcing their opposition to Barrett. Responding to the president’s assertion earlier in the week that he wanted his choice on the court before the Nov. 3 election to rule on any challenges he might bring to the outcome, they took aim at both her judicial philosophy and the rushed process to force her confirmation.

“Justice Ginsburg must be turning over in her grave up in heaven, to see that the person they chose seems to be intent on undoing all the things that Ginsburg did,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader. In a separate statement, he said that making the nomination so close to the election a “reprehensible power grab” that was “a cynical attack

From left, President Donald Trump, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, his nominee to the Supreme Court, and first lady Melania Trump walk out to the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, for his public announcement, on Sept. 26, 2020. on the legitimacy of the court.”

In choosing Barrett to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the president opted for the candidate most likely to thrill his conservative base and outrage his liberal opponents, drawing sharp lines on some of the most divisive disputes in American life like abortion, religion, guns and health care at a time when voters have already begun to cast ballots in the contest for the White House.

Never in American history has a Supreme Court confirmation fight played out to conclusion so close to a presidential election, and the confluence of the debate in the halls of the Senate with the debate on the campaign trail injected further uncertainty into the fall. Trump hopes to galvanize conservatives and change the subject from the coronavirus pandemic that has killed 203,000 Americans while his adversaries seek to rally liberals over the prospect of the Supreme Court turning further to the right.

Barrett’s nomination could arguably be the most consequential since President George Bush appointed Judge Clarence Thomas to succeed Justice Thurgood Marshall in 1991, replacing the court’s most liberal member at the time with a jurist who would prove to be its most conservative.

Barrett, who was seen as the most committed conservative on Trump’s list of finalists, would similarly take the seat of a liberal justice in a sharp philosophical shift.

Barrett, 48, would be the youngest member of the current court and could serve for decades, underscoring the stakes. Trump has long believed that one reason he won in 2016 was conservative eagerness to fill the seat that had been held open after Scalia’s death that February

by Senate Republicans who refused to consider President Barack Obama’s nominee in an election year.

Educated at Notre Dame Law School, Barrett served on its faculty for years before Trump appointed her in 2017 to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. During her confirmation hearings to that post, Democrats questioned

her public statements and the influence of Catholicism on her work, making her a hero to religious conservatives who denounced what they called unfair attacks on her faith.

Barrett belongs to People of Praise, a small and relatively obscure Christian group that has adopted Pentecostal practices such as speaking in tongues, belief in prophecy and divine healing.

At Saturday’s ceremony, Trump urged lawmakers and the news media to “refrain from personal or partisan attacks” against Barrett, making no mention of his history of personal and partisan attacks on his own adversaries.

But liberals pointed to Barrett’s writings to say they feared she would undo Roe v. Wade and rulings on gay rights, health care and other issues.

To confirm her by the election as the president wants would require a five-week sprint through a process that since 1975 has typically taken twice as long, all at the same time many senators want to be in their home states to campaign. No seriously contested Supreme Court nominee has been confirmed so quickly since 1949. Most Americans believe that the winner of the Nov. 3 election should fill the seat, and not Trump beforehand, according to polls.

Republicans on Saturday quickly rallied around Barrett. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, said that Trump “could not have made a better decision.” Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called her an “outstanding” selection.

Graham, whose committee will consider the nomination, has circulated a schedule to Republicans allowing significantly less time than usual for lawmakers to meet with and vet Barrett than with other recent nominees, cutting to about two weeks a stage that has typically lasted six.

With little chance of stopping Barrett’s confirmation, Senate Democrats hoped to stir public outrage over what they called an election-season power grab by Republicans.

For now, the fight appeared to have unified Senate Democrats in opposition — no small feat given the handful of moderates in their ranks. And Democrats have made clear in recent days that they intend to hammer away at Barrett’s views on abortion and the Affordable Care Act. “You’ll find there will be a wall of opposition, pretty unyielding, based on the rush to confirm a justice before the inaugural, denying the American people any voice in choosing the next justice,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who sits on the Judiciary Committee. Blumenthal and other Democratic senators plan to refuse to meet with Barrett, arguing doing so would give the process legitimacy it does not deserve.

Even Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a moderate and the only Democrat to vote for Trump’s two previous Supreme Court nominees, said he would oppose Barrett if the Senate voted before Election Day, warning that rushing through her confirmation would “only fan the flames of division at a time when our country is deeply divided.”

8

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, September 28, 2020

Trump says Court and Congress give him ‘advantage’ if election is disputed

By MICHAEL D. SHEAR and MICHAEL CROWLEY

P

resident Donald Trump sought again on Saturday night to cast doubt on the integrity of the presidential election, telling supporters that the only way Democrats can win in Pennsylvania is to “cheat on the ballots” and raising the prospect that a disputed election could be decided by Congress.

Pressing his baseless case that the election in November will be a “disaster,” Trump said at a rally just outside a hangar at the Harrisburg airport that he would have “an advantage” if Congress were to decide.

The comments, delivered in drizzling rain, were part of the president’s continuing effort to discredit the United States’ election process as he trails former Vice President Joe Biden, his Democratic rival.

“I don’t want to end up in the Supreme Court, and I don’t want to go back to Congress, even though we have an advantage if we go back to Congress.

Does everyone understand that?” Trump told supporters. “I think it’s 26 to 22 or something.”

“It’s counted one code per state,” he

said. “So we actually have an advantage.

Oh, they’re going to be thrilled to hear that. I’m sure they’re trying to figure out, ‘How can we break that one?’”

Trump appeared to be referring to what is known as a contingent election, in which the House of Representatives chooses the next president if no candidate wins an absolute majority of votes in the Electoral College — an outcome that would be more likely if the results in key states were in dispute. In that case, each state’s House delegation is given one vote, with 26 votes required to win.

Trump is correct that Republicans currently control 26 state delegations and Democrats 22, with two effectively tied — although the vote occurs after a new Congress is seated in early January, so those totals could change. (The Senate would choose the vice president separately.)

With less than six weeks until Election Day, Trump has continued to suggest that he will challenge any outcome that is unfavorable to him, and his campaign and its allies are engaged in legal fights in several battleground states, including Pennsylvania, over the rules governing mail-in voting, which could complicate and slow the count in those states.

Trump is hoping that his new nominee for the Supreme Court, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, will be confirmed before the election on Nov. 3.

Trump is hoping that his new nominee for the Supreme Court, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, will be confirmed before the election on Nov. 3, guaranteeing him a conservative majority on the court in the event that it decides the outcome, as it did in 2000.

Trump has repeatedly declined to say whether he would support an orderly transfer of power if he does not win reelection, and he has spent months stoking doubt in the election process by falsely insisting — against evidence offered by his own government officials — that mail-in ballots are subject to widespread fraud.

At the rally Saturday, he referred to several recent cases in which ballots have been misplaced or lost, including a handful of ballots in Pennsylvania.

“Look, you know, what they are doing is not right,” he said.

Shortly after announcing Barrett’s nomination in a Rose Garden event on Saturday at the White House, Trump flew to the Harrisburg airport to speak to an outdoor crowd of perhaps a few thousand — far fewer than the “tens of thousands” he claimed from onstage. It was the latest of several rallies he has held in which his supporters packed together, mostly without face masks.

Flanked by a huge television screen displaying the words “FILL THAT SEAT!” Trump used the announcement to whip up his supporters, eliciting roars of applause and chants of “USA, USA,” when he predicted that Republicans in the Senate would quickly confirm Barrett.

“She will defend your God-given rights and freedoms,” Trump said, accusing Biden of refusing to provide the names of potential nominees to the Supreme Court because his “names will be hand-picked by socialists.”

Trump and his campaign are betting that the opportunity to cement a conservative majority on the court for decades to come will underscore for his supporters the need to return him to the Oval Office for another four years.

But the president did not dwell exclusively on Barrett. In a speech that lasted more than an hour, Trump railed against Biden and exaggerated his own record during his time in office.

He lashed out at other Democrats, too. When the crowd started chanting “Lock her up!” at his mention of Hillary Clinton, he said, “I agree.”

“Now, she’s crazy,” he said, adding, in a reference to former President Bill Clinton, her husband, “Bill is stone cold afraid of her.”

He defended his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 203,000 people in the United States. He bragged about the speed with which a vaccine was being developed amid widespread criticism that he was politicizing the process in the interests of being able to announce one before Election Day. “We will crush the virus,” he said.

“Our opponents will crush America.”

The rally was interrupted twice by protesters who were booed by the crowd and swiftly removed.

Trump will face Biden in Cleveland on Tuesday in the first of three scheduled debates before the election. The president’s rally — which featured his typical, rambling style in which he bounced from topic to topic — offered a preview of his likely approach next week.

He hammered Democrats for allowing violence in cities, characterizing as “anarchists” the people protesting police killings of African Americans. He lashed out at what he called the “fake” news media, accusing journalists of promoting the Democratic agenda.

The president repeatedly denounced Biden’s approach to China, saying his rival would be weak on trade with Beijing. He also mocked Biden’s son, Hunter, once again tying the younger Biden to conspiracy theories that have been repeatedly debunked.

Despite steady rain throughout much of the night, Trump seemed animated by the crowd, an advantage that he will not have during Tuesday’s debate.

One attack that the president seems certain to reprise next week is his criticism of Biden’s stamina. He repeatedly called him “Sleepy Joe” and rebuked Biden for not campaigning at more events around the country.

“He’s a low-energy individual,” Trump said.

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, September 28, 2020

9

Top U.S. Lands official served unlawfully for over a year, a federal judge rules

By MARIA CRAMER

A

federal judge in Montana has ordered William Perry Pendley, the acting director of the Bureau of Land Management, to leave the position after finding that he had served unlawfully as acting director for 424 days.

Pendley, who had held the job since he was “temporarily” appointed in July 2019, was also prohibited from using any authority to make decisions about federal lands. President Donald Trump nominated Pendley to fill the position on a permanent basis in July 2020 but withdrew the nomination this month.

“Pendley has served and continues to serve unlawfully as the Acting BLM director,” the judge, Brian Morris of the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, wrote in a 34-page ruling he issued Friday.

Morris added that Pendley’s ascent “did not follow any of the permissible paths set forth by the U.S. Constitution.”

The ruling also prevented Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, who appointed Pendley, from picking another person to run the bureau.

Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana, who filed a lawsuit in July against Pendley and Bernhardt, called the ruling “a win for the Constitution, the rule of law, and our public lands.” Former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee for president, cheered the decision Saturday, National Public Lands Day. The ruling was a significant victory for Bullock, a former presidential candidate who is running for the U.S. Senate in a tight race against Steve Daines, the Republican incumbent.

The Bureau of Land Management has been without a Senate-confirmed director since Neil Kornze left in January 2017. Since then, five people have been appointed to the position — and none received Senate approval.

Conner Swanson, a spokesperson for the Interior Department, said the ruling was “an outrageous decision that is well outside the bounds of the law.”

“It betrays long-standing practice of the department going back several administrations,” he said in an email. “We will

William Perry Pendley, acting director of the Bureau of Land Management, spoke to reporters last month about the Grizzly Creek Fire in Eagle, Colo. be appealing this decision immediately.”

The department noted that under President Barack Obama’s leadership, Mary L. Kendall, the department’s former deputy inspector general, served as acting inspector general for years even though the Senate never confirmed her appointment. Kendall resigned in 2019, shortly after her office opened an investigation into ethical complaints about Bernhardt, a former lobbyist for the oil and agribusiness industries.

“The department is unaware of any Democrat voicing similar concerns related to this issue during the Obama administration,” the department said.

Morris, who was appointed by Obama, said that Pendley, by staying on as acting director while his nomination was pending, had violated the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, which limits how long an official can remain in a vacant position without Senate confirmation. The vacan-

cies act prohibits people from serving as an acting officer in a position they have been nominated to hold permanently or if they held the acting position for more than 210 days, according to Morris.

The bureau manages 245 million acres of federal public lands and 700 million acres of subsurface acreage, which holds 30% of the country’s minerals, according to the bureau. Nearly a third of the land in Montana is owned by the federal government, according to the lawsuit filed by Bullock.

Former directors of the agency have criticized the appointment of Pendley, who has been public about his disdain for preserving federal land. In 2016, he wrote in National Review that “the Founding Fathers intended all lands owned by the federal government to be sold.”

In the same magazine, he expressed sympathy for Cliven Bundy, the rancher who led an armed standoff with the federal government over the bureau’s seizure of

his cattle in an attempt to force him to pay decades of back fees for grazing his cattle on federal land.

Pendley has also mocked court rulings that sided with Native Americans on their religious claims to sacred sites on federal land.

The lawsuit filed by Bullock said that under Pendley’s leadership, the bureau had walked away from a previous agreement to protect sage brush habitat, which is vital to the conservation of sage grouse.

Under Pendley, the bureau also pushed plans that would reduce protections for fish and wildlife habitats, cultural resources and recreational uses of federal lands in Montana, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit also said: “Over the last three years, in which the bureau has had no Senate-confirmed director, the agency has offered hundreds of oil and gas leases on land designated as priority habitat and general habitat.”

10

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, September 28, 2020

A day of protest in Portland as ‘Proud Boys’ converge on the city

Members and supporters of the Proud Boys gather for a rally in Portland, Ore., Sept. 26, 2020. Gov. Kate Brown had declared a state of emergency in advance of the arrival of the Proud Boys, an all-male group whose members — many of whom support President Trump — often engage in provocations, threats or fighting with opponents at their events.

By MIKE BAKER, NICHOLAS BOGEL-BURROUGHS and KAITLIN GILLESPIE

H

undreds of law enforcement agents swept across Portland on Saturday, making targeted arrests, shutting down intersections and seizing weapons in a largely successful effort to keep opposing political rallies across the city from erupting into violent conflict.

A rally organized by the Proud Boys — a far-right group notorious for engaging in brawls — had led Gov. Kate Brown to declare a state of emergency before the events, which also included rallies organized by local protest groups whose members had announced that the outside group was not welcome.

At the Proud Boys gathering, where some people wore tactical gear and carried weapons, there was some brief conflict when a handful of outsiders arrived and were quickly surrounded by a crowd. Video posted by a local journalist showed a man kicking someone who had been knocked to the ground. Police said they were investigating the assault.

About half a mile away, on the other side of Interstate 5, about 200 people gathered peacefully with Black Lives Matter flags and made presentations about the history of

that corner of the city, where many Black families first established roots during World War II. Dre Miller, an activist with one of the organizing groups, said the groups had been approached by city officials asking them not to go forward because of the possibility of conflict. But he said the group took precautions, including setting up a car caravan to minimize chances of conflict as ralliers departed. And by sticking to their goals of highlighting the history of racism in the neighborhood where the Proud Boys had scheduled their rally, he said, the gathering was one of the most peaceful he had been to in recent weeks.

“Our Black organizers are going to stick together and stick to the message,” he told the crowd.

The Proud Boys chairman, Enrique Tarrio, said he was grateful that the police presence — estimated by the Oregon State Police at 500 officers — had kept the groups apart.

“We got all of our speakers on stage, we got to say what we wanted to say, we did what we wanted to do, and now we’re out of town,” Tarrio said Saturday afternoon.

Political and law enforcement officials had expressed fears that Saturday’s competing events could become violent, as they

have in weeks and years past, especially with gunshots fired recently by both sides on the streets of Portland and the tensions of a presidential campaign.

But what was setting up to be a violent showdown in the middle of downtown Portland began to change when the Proud Boys altered their plans, moving their rally to a relatively remote park on the northern edge of the city, while groups such as Rose City Antifa announced that they would gather at a different park miles away.

Portland has not been the only scene of unrest across the country. Demonstrations across the country kicked up after a grand jury in Kentucky decided not to indict either of the Louisville police officers who shot Breonna Taylor, a Black emergency room technician, in her own apartment.

The protests continued Saturday in Louisville, though they were somewhat subdued. Shortly before the 9 p.m. curfew there, protesters cleared out of the downtown square that has been a central gathering point for demonstrations. Some went to a nearby church, where they ate dinner, listened to music and talked.

Police arrested a handful of protesters as they attempted to leave downtown, and were planning to march again later in the evening.

The Proud Boys had billed their gathering in Portland as an opportunity to counter the city’s long-running racial justice protests, with Tarrio posting online that “antifa is in for a bad time” if law enforcement was not present.

Several hundred people gathered at Delta Park on the city’s north edge, mingling, drinking and shouting. Some in the crowd broke into expletive-filled chants against antifa, the loose group of activists who sometimes use violence to stop people from promoting views they deem fascist or racist.

In addition to the assault reported by the police, there were several other confrontations when people suspected by members of the crowd of being antifa activists walked into the area.

A few Portland police officers, who had largely stayed away from the center of the event, briefly entered the park and tried to defuse the skirmishes. A helicopter circled overhead as the proceedings began with the national anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance, and a host of speakers began condemning the racial justice protes-

ters who have gone nightly into Portland’s streets, as well as the city’s leaders.

Along with the Black-led gathering nearby, hundreds of other local protesters gathered a few miles away at Peninsula Park for a day of crafts and other activities.

A group of black-clad demonstrators loaded their own makeshift plastic shields from a bus on their way to the rally, while medical crews set up tents.

Doreen McGrath, a 63-year-old activist, said she had driven in with a group of about 25 people from Seattle. Their group stood on the outskirts of the gathering, chanting and waving signs. “Hey there, Proud Boys, you better hide,” they chanted.

“We can see your fascist side.”

Authorities reported arresting three people, and officers also confiscated at least two hardened shields. “We will seize weapons and shields as can be done safely and as resources allow,” a spokesman said.

The scene was different at the Proud Boys venue, where a man told those who had come together in the early afternoon that he had 30 shields to give out. The man arrived at the gathering with vehicles emblazoned with the words “American Wolf,” seemingly referencing an armed civilian militia-like group based in Washington state.

Later, the Portland Police pulled over a truck carrying Proud Boys supporters as they were leaving and seized guns, baseball bats and several shields.

The Proud Boys group has strongly criticized Mayor Ted Wheeler of Portland for not taking a stronger line against the protesters who clashed with agents outside of a federal courthouse downtown in nightly confrontations over several weeks. The Proud Boys welcomed Brown’s emergency order, which also allowed state and local police to use tear gas, which the mayor had banned city police officers from using.

In Philadelphia on Saturday, dozens of Proud Boys marched through downtown city streets, followed by police officers on bikes. Some carried American flags and Trump 2020 flags while chanting derogatory comments about antifa, videos on social media showed. Some onlookers heckled them, mocking their appearance and clothing.

As the Proud Boys rally came to an end in Portland, police directed traffic out of the park, funneling motorists directly onto a freeway that would take them over the Columbia River — out of the city and out of the state.

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, September 28, 2020

11

Pandemic increases importance of filing early for financial aid

By ANN CARRNS

I

t’s especially important to apply early for financial aid this year, college experts say, because many families have suffered economically during the coronavirus pandemic and may have to take extra steps to qualify for maximum help.

That means families should complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid — the form known as FAFSA — as soon as they can. The form is a major gateway for financial help from the federal government as well as from many states and colleges. The FAFSA for the 2021-22 academic year is available starting Thursday.

Completing the form early is always a good idea in order to meet varying deadlines for scholarships. But this year, college students or prospective applicants who have been affected by the pandemic may need to submit extra documents to their colleges.

Here’s why: The upcoming FAFSA will use financial information from the 2019 tax year to determine a family’s expected out-of-pocket payment for college.

(Families often complain that the form’s calculations overstate their ability to pay.)

But Kim Cook, executive director of the National College Attainment Network, a nonprofit advocacy group, said many students and families had been affected by the health crisis this year, suffering job losses, catastrophic medical bills and even deaths. Tax returns filed this year won’t accurately reflect a student’s current financial picture, diminishing his or her eligibility for need-based grants and scholarships.

“Families may have had significant change in circumstances,” Cook said. “It means many students have had a loss of income.”

If that’s the case, students must still use the required, older tax information to complete the FAFSA, she said. But, she advised, they also should immediately contact college financial aid offices to alert them to their situation and request a review known in college aid lingo as “professional judgment.”

A professional judgment review involves submitting new information — like layoff notices, unemployment checks or medical bills — to give financial aid offi-

The new Free Application for Federal Student Aid — the form known as FAFSA — requires last year’s tax data, but families that have lost income this year may need to take extra steps to qualify for help. cials a more accurate picture of a student’s current finances. With that review, financial aid administrators have discretion to make adjustments to the FAFSA so that students can qualify for more aid.

The process can be time-consuming, as students must contact the financial aid office of each college they’re applying to.

(Students who are already enrolled in college can contact that school’s office.) Most colleges won’t take formal action until after a student is admitted, but students should get in touch right after filing the FAFSA anyway, Cook said.

“You can often get a sense of what they’ll require,” she said, so you can begin compiling necessary documents.

Requests for professional judgment reviews typically rise during a recession, and many colleges indicated in May that

they were seeing a significant increase in requests, said Justin Draeger, president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.

The pandemic has also forced high schools to change their annual FAFSA completion events. Educators and student advocates hold the sessions to encourage students to complete and file the complex form because those who do are much more likely to continue studies after high school. An analysis by NerdWallet found that $2.6 billion in federal need-based Pell grants went unclaimed in 2018 because eligible students failed to file the form.

This year, most help is happening virtually, and high school counselors may be stretched, said Michele Streeter, senior policy analyst with the nonprofit Institute

for College Access & Success. “The resources available are diminished,” she said, so students may have to take more initiative to find help. They should start by contacting their high school’s counseling office, Streeter said.

Some states are gearing up to meet the challenge. Louisiana, which has made a successful push in recent years to increase the number of students filing the financial aid form, has already begun a FAFSA Now campaign to encourage high school seniors to seek help. Families can sign up for virtual appointments or speak with a counselor by phone, if they prefer, to get step-by-step help with the form.

Here are some questions and answers about the FAFSA: Q: Do I have to file the FAFSA online?

A: While you can still file a paper version of the FAFSA, student aid advocates recommend filing online. Filling out a digital version allows you to use the IRS’s data-retrieval tool to transfer your tax information. The tool can in turn help minimize the risk of errors that can cause delays in processing aid packages.

Q: I may not attend college next year. Can I skip the FAFSA? A: It’s best to submit it anyway if you think there’s a chance you’ll want to attend. “We strongly encourage students to file the FAFSA even if they’re uncertain of their college plans,” Streeter said. Even if students think they may take time off or are unsure if they can afford college because of a job loss, “just file it,” she said, to keep your options open.

Q: Have efforts to simplify the FAFSA paid off?

A: In recent years, improvements have been made to make the form easier to complete and file. The Department of Education now offers a version that can be completed on a mobile app. And in December, Congress passed legislation that eliminated some questions and approved changes to make it easier to transfer financial information directly between the IRS and the Education Department.

But the transfer upgrades probably won’t occur for a few more years, partly because new security protocols have to be adopted to safeguard tax information, advocates say.

12

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, September 28, 2020

Japan is paying firms to make things at home. But China’s pull is still strong.

By BEN DOOLEY and MAKIKO INOUE

U

ntil July, Japanese household goods company Iris Ohyama had always made its line of masks at its two factories in China.

But early this year, as the coronavirus was spreading around the world, Japanese authorities approached the company with an urgent problem. In China, the government had locked down factories that produce most of the planet’s masks and commandeered supplies. With global demand soaring, stocks in Japan were dangerously low.

Could Iris Ohyama start production at home?

Nearly $23 million in government subsidies later, the company is at the leading edge of a push to encourage Japan’s manufacturers to diversify their supply chains out of China.

The pandemic — and Beijing’s increasingly combative behavior during it — has driven home the risks of overreliance on China for the production of a broad range of goods. Japanese policymakers, long wary of Beijing’s economic overreach, are powering up incentives for firms to expand manufacturing at home and in other countries after years of stop-and-go efforts.

Manufacturers are lining up for the subsidies, which are intended to protect important industries and to ensure access to crucial supplies during crises. But the government’s challenge is vast: It is as if Japan is tossing pennies to hold back economic tides.

The allure of China remains hard to resist for companies dependent on its enormous market, cheap but well-trained labor and efficient infrastructure. When the Trump administration tried to overcome these advantages by raising tariffs on Chinese products, few if any American companies moved production home.

It’s not just the United States. Japan’s own growth has been fueled by a booming China. Chinese factories have scooped up Japanese machine tools, high-tech components and know-how. And Chinese tourists eager to spend their newfound prosperity have flooded Japanese stores, hotels and restaurants, adding to Japan’s wealth.

While the U.S. has responded to its own concerns about China with an increasingly hard-line policy, the idea of an economic “decoupling” is a nonstarter for Japanese policymakers and companies alike.

For Tokyo, “it’s more about how you

Akihiro Ohyama, president of Iris Ohyama, which established a plant to make face masks with the help of a government subsidy, in Miyagi, Japan, Sept. 18, 2020. manage the risk of that relationship than whether you can orchestrate an economic divorce of sorts,” said Mireya Solís, a director of the Center for East Asia Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

China’s more belligerent regional military presence has not helped matters. Increased patrols by Chinese forces near Taiwan and around islands contested by Tokyo and Beijing have drawn rebukes from the U.S. and have made it harder to keep economic and geopolitical concerns separate.

“In one sense, the Japanese government tried to expand the room for business cooperation with China, but as the most important ally of the U.S. in the Asia-Pacific, Japan must follow American strategic trends,” said Masayuki Masuda, a senior fellow at Japan’s National Institute for Defense Studies.

That means “trying to keep a balance between China and the U.S.,” he said. “If we restrict normal business activities with China, the damage would be very big. So, where is the red line?”

Even Japanese businesses seem more

willing than ever to push that line. According to a July survey of 3,000 businesspeople by economic newspaper Nikkei Shimbun and the Japan Center for Economic Research, more than 46% of respondents said that Japanese companies should do less business with China. About 18% said the opposite.

“Public and political sentiment in Japan has been turning against China for years, and I think that’s an entirely organic process,” said Kristin Vekasi, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Maine who has studied how Japan has managed economic risk toward China.

Japan has rolled out a number of measures, to mixed success, in an effort to blunt Beijing’s reach.

The country has put strict limits on foreign participation in government procurement projects, throttled foreign investment in publicly traded domestic companies and set up a Cabinet-level division tasked with monitoring threats to the country’s economic security.

Japan also tightened rules requiring foreign entities to seek government permission before investing in publicly listed companies that touch on national security, lowering the threshold to 1% from 10% of a company’s shares.

Conservative Japanese politicians in the governing party believe the measures aimed at China have not gone nearly far enough. Legislative study groups in Japan’s Parliament are considering restrictions on foreign investment in real estate and on Chi-

nese apps like TikTok. Still, even some of the most vocal advocates are cautious about calling out Beijing by name.

In a recent interview, Akira Amari, a member of parliament and former trade minister who leads a legislative group on economic security, said that the measures under consideration were not aimed at any one nation, but were intended to reduce economic security risks across the board.

Even so, Amari allowed that concerns about China had been a major factor in shaping the policies, citing actions in the U.S., Britain and India as informing Japan’s thinking. Those countries have expressed security fears over issues like TikTok and Chinese companies’ role in building out 5G networks.

Japan tried having a more open economic relationship with China, and it did not work, Amari said. If China “had the same values as Japan,” he added, “we would have taken a completely different response.”

The repercussions may be less than feared — at least for now. With Washington and Beijing locked in a great-powers struggle, China may need Japan as much as Japan needs it.

“China and the U.S. have been involved in a hegemonic war, so China needs a friend,” said Shujiro Urata, a professor of economics at Waseda University in Tokyo.

“Japan cannot be that friendly to China, the Chinese know that, but they don’t want to jeopardize their relationship with Japan,” he added.

A plant that produces face masks, established with the help of government subsidies to the Iris Ohyama company, in Miyagi, Japan, Sept. 18, 2020.

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, September 28, 2020

13 Stocks

Wall Street ends higher as tech rally squashes virus fears, but S&P down for week

T

echnology stocks again rode to Wall Street’s rescue on Friday, lifting the main indexes more than 1%, but the Dow and the S&P 500 still posted their longest weekly losing streaks in a year as fears of a slowing economy sparked an almost month-long rout.The past week has seen roughly $42 billion of high-grade debt come to market in 39 deals, most of which were small and offered by first-time issuers.

Investors started buying beaten-down shares after the Nasdaq confirmed a corrective phase earlier this month and the S&P 500 on an intra-day basis briefly broke that barrier this week.

Both the Dow and S&P 500 notched their fourth straight weekly declines, the longest weekly losing streak since August 2019. The Nasdaq closed higher for the week after falling the previous three, and is now up 22% for the year. The S&P 500 is up a bit more than 2% for the year.

Investors are looking at the long term and believe technology remains the investment of choice, said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA in New York.

“It’s dip buying,” Moya said. “When you look at the correction that we’ve seen in these tech giants, people are still going to want to hold U.S. equities. The reality is that 2021 is going to be a much higher stock market and you’re probably going to see tech still lead the way.”

Shares of tech mega-caps Apple Inc AAPL.O, Microsoft Corp MSFT.O and Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O led the way, followed by Nvidia Corp NVDA.O and Facebook Inc FB.O, rising at least 2.1%.

The information technology index .SPLRCT jumped 2.4% as investors ditched value-linked stocks .IVX on signs of a slowdown in the broader economic recovery.

Growth-oriented shares .IVX gained at a rate almost twice that of value stocks.

Volatility .VIX has also shot up as investors look for clarity on whether Congress will approve more stimulus ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election, which now appears unlikely.

The CBOE Market Volatility Index .VIX, known as Wall’s fear gauge, fell 7.68%.

“You’ve had this nice recovery through the summer, and coming into the fall the economy is just a little bit more vulnerable, particularly with a lot of the stimulus that we had starting to taper off now,” said Mike Dowdall, portfolio manager at BMO Global Asset Management in Chicago.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 358.52 points, or 1.34%, to 27,173.96. The S&P 500 .SPX gained 51.87 points, or 1.60%, to 3,298.46 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 241.30 points, or 2.26%, to 10,913.56.

MOST ASSERTIVE STOCKS

PUERTO RICO STOCKS

COMMODITIES

CURRENCY

LOCAL PERSONAL LOAN RATES Bank

LOCAL MORTGAGE RATES Bank

FHA 30-YR POINTS CONV 30-YR POINTS

BPPR Scotia CooPACA Money House First Mort Oriental

3.00% 0.00 3.50% 0.00 3.50% 2.00 3.75% 2.00 3.50% 0.00 3.50% 0.00

3.50% 000 4.00% 0.00 3.75% 2.00 3.75% 2.00 5.50% 0.00 3.75% 5.50

PERS.

CREDIT CARD

AUTO

BPPR --.-- 17.95 4.95 Scotia 4.99 14.99 4.99 CooPACA

6.95 9.95

2.95

Reliable

--.-- --.--

4.40

First Mort 7.99 --.-- --.-Oriental 4.99 11.95 4.99

14

Monday, September 28, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

Pandemic will ‘take our women 10 years back’ in the workplace

Miriam Flores works with children at a free day care she offers to single mothers who have nowhere to bring their children while schools were closed in Lima, Peru, on Aug. 12, 2020.

By AMANDA TAUB

A

s if working mothers did not have enough to worry about, experts are now sounding the alarm that progress toward gender equality may be the latest in a long list of casualties of the coronavirus pandemic.

Substantial research has shown that most professional gender gaps are in fact motherhood gaps; women without children are much closer to parity with men when it comes to salaries and promotions, but mothers pay a large career penalty.

Women tend to take on more of the burdens of caring for children and the family. To go to work, they need someone to help with that care. But fathers have been slow to change their behavior. And without subsidies, private child care can be prohibitively expensive.

Workplaces already tend to penalize women who choose to work fewer hours or need more flexibility, and that, too, is proving to be exacerbated in the pandemic.

“The bottom line is that, based on decades of research, we know that there was one institution that was effective at limiting gender inequality and encouraging women’s participation in the workplace, and it was early childhood education,” said Claudia Olivetti, an economist at Dartmouth College.

Now the pandemic — and its hobbling of schools and child care providers — is tak-

ing that away, too, piling pressure on working mothers, like me.

Around the world, working women are facing brutally hard choices about whether to stay home if they haven’t already been laid off. And the effect may be particularly severe in countries like the United States, where the pandemic is compounding inequalities that women already faced as a result of the lack of guaranteed paid maternity leave and affordable child care.

“The question,” said Olivetti, who studies gender inequality, “is, how far back do we go?”

‘I tried for a week, and I just couldn’t do it.’

Israel is both an example of subsidized child care’s power to narrow gender gaps at work and a cautionary tale about how easily the pandemic can shatter that fragile progress.

The Israeli government provides free early childhood education from age 3 and meanstested day care for many babies and younger toddlers. As a consequence, before the pandemic, women’s overall labor force participation had reached 74%, significantly higher than the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development average of 66%, according to a recent report from the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies, an Israeli think tank. The gender wage gap, though persistent, was narrowing.

Then came COVID-19. Schools and day care centers closed in mid-March, and the

child care that had allowed so many mothers to work was gone.

Women already held more precarious positions in the workforce — working fewer hours, for less money, with shorter tenures and in lower-ranking jobs than men. The loss of child care limited many working mothers’ hours and availability even further, meaning they were often the first to be selected for layoffs and unpaid leave, the report concluded.

And it noted that many families appear to be deciding that if they need one parent to give up a job and prioritize child care, it should be the lower-paid parent — usually the mother.

Sveta Skibinsky Raskin, a mother of five who lives in Jerusalem, worked as a writer while her children were in school and day care.

But when the schools closed, she had to stop.

“I tried for a week, and I just couldn’t do it,” she said. “I can’t work in an environment that constantly requires my attention.”

Even when schools reopened in May, they were too unpredictable to rely on, she said. As we spoke, her two oldest children were self-isolating at home after some classmates tested positive for the virus. Now, with the country back in lockdown to combat a second wave and schools closed once again, “a lot of women are having to make difficult choices,” she said.

It is likely to be worse in the United States.

Before the pandemic, many American mothers were effectively forced to stop working for some period of time because they could not afford paid child care. And research shows that the longer a woman is out of the workforce, the more severe the long-term effects on her earnings will be.

A 2018 study by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research found that an employment gap of four years or more leads to a whopping 65% reduction in annual earnings, compared with a 39% decrease after a one-year break. As school closures force women out of the workplace for a year or two more than planned, that will have lifelong consequences for their financial stability.

A July report from McKinsey Global found that in the United States, where women made up 43% of the workforce, they accounted for 56% of COVID-related job losses — though it is unclear how much of that is specifically because of day care and school volatility.

By contrast, Sweden, which heavily subsidizes day care and has one of the highest rates of female labor participation in the developed

world, has kept schools and day care centers open throughout the pandemic. Although this has been questionable as a public health strategy — Sweden’s death rate from the virus has been higher than its neighbors — it has allowed working parents to avoid the burdens of lockdown.

Although data is scarce, the government predicts that Swedish men are more vulnerable to COVID-related unemployment than women.

Hard choices for rich women. Impossible ones for the poor.

As with most social phenomena, this plays out differently for wealthy women than for poor ones. Research shows that when highearning couples have children, they tend to divide responsibilities, with one parent stepping back from a career to take on the increased care duties, and the other making work a priority — and in heterosexual couples, it is usually the mother who steps back.

Once on the “mommy track,” women make less money and have fewer opportunities for advancement. “If the woman is the secondary earner, then it is less costly at the margin to cut her hours” when a crisis like the pandemic hits, Olivetti said.

Poorer families tend to have more parity between the parents’ earnings, but they rely on both incomes to survive and are also more likely to have jobs that must be done in person rather than remotely. When schools and day cares close, there is no one to care for young children or supervise older ones’ remote schooling if both parents work. But if one stays home, the family faces financial catastrophe.

“Trying to help working families ease this child care constraint — it’s not just a gender inequality issue; it’s also an income inequality issue,” Olivetti said.

Women from minority and immigrant backgrounds are even more vulnerable to the pressures of lockdown, said Zinthiya Ganeshpanchan, who runs the Zinthiya Trust, a charity serving disadvantaged women in Leicester, England.

“They are often living in overcrowded living situations. Many had three, four children living in just a two- or three-bedroom flat with extended family,” she said. “Many were also dealing with domestic violence.”

The loss of school and day care, Ganeshpanchan said, “is going to take our women 10 years back because the only way for women to improve their public participation is by reducing the extra burden of caring responsibilities they have.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, September 28, 2020

15

China gives unproven COVID-19 vaccines to thousands, with risks unknown

By SUI-LEE WEE

F

irst, workers at state-owned companies got dosed.

Then government officials and vaccine company staff. Up next: teachers, supermarket employees and people traveling to risky areas abroad.

The world still lacks a proven coronavirus vaccine, but that has not stopped Chinese officials from trying to inoculate tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of people outside the traditional testing process. Three vaccine candidates are being injected into workers whom the government considers essential, along with many others, including employees of the pharmaceutical firms themselves.

Officials are laying out plans to give shots to even more people, citing emergency use, amounting to a big wager that the vaccines will eventually prove to be safe and effective.

China’s rush has bewildered global experts. No other country has injected people with unproven vaccines outside the usual drug trial process to such a huge scale.

The vaccine candidates are in Phase 3 trials, or the late stages of testing, which are mostly being conducted outside China. The people in those trials are closely tracked and monitored. It is not clear that China is taking those steps for everyone who is getting the shots within the country.

The unproven vaccines could have harmful side effects. Ineffective vaccines could lead to a false sense of security and encourage behavior that could lead to even more infections.

The wide use of vaccines also raises issues of consent, especially for employees of Chinese vaccine makers and state-owned companies who might feel pressure to roll up their sleeves. The companies have asked people taking the vaccines to sign a nondisclosure agreement preventing them from talking about it to the news media.

“My worry for the employees of the companies is it may be difficult for them to refuse,” said Dr. Kim Mulholland, a pediatrician at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia, who has been involved in the oversight of many vaccine trials, including those for a COVID-19 vaccine.

While China is racing the United States and other countries to develop a vaccine, its rivals are moving more cautiously. American companies have pledged to thoroughly vet a vaccine before wide use, despite pressure from President Donald Trump to go faster. In Russia, the first country to approve a vaccine even before trials were completed, authorities have yet to administer it to a large population, according to health officials and experts.

It is not clear how many people in China have received coronavirus vaccines. Sinopharm, a Chinese state-owned company with a vaccine candidate in late-stage trials, has said hundreds of thousands of people have received its shots. Sinovac, a Beijing-based company, said more than 10,000 people in Beijing had been injected with its

vaccine. Separately, it said nearly all its employees — around 3,000 in total — and their families had taken it.

On Friday, Zheng Zhongwei, an official with China’s National Health Commission, said the government had “gained the understanding and support” of the World Health Organization after China’s Cabinet approved the emergency use program. A spokesperson for the WHO said Saturday that China had issued a “domestic emergency use authorization,” which are issued at the discretion of countries and are not subject to WHO approval.

The vaccine candidates in Phase 3 trials have been previously tested on smaller groups of people. Phase 3 involves administering a candidate and a placebo to hundreds more, to see whether they are safe to take and effective in stopping the coronavirus. Roughly 100,000 people are involved in those trials, based on Chinese company disclosures. Virtually all of them are in other countries, however, because the coronavirus has been largely tamed in China.

Still, the Chinese government had already approved three vaccines for emergency use on others at home. In July, it said it would prioritize medical workers, epidemic prevention personnel, border inspection officials and people who “ensure basic city operations” to receive vaccines.

Now, it appears that those groups could be expanding.

This month, the government of Shaoyang, a city in Zhejiang province, asked local officials to identify more people who could qualify as “emergency users.” People in schools, kindergartens and nursing homes were recommended for inclusion, as well as travelers heading to “medium- to high-risk areas.”

Other government notices have asked local officials to identify people as candidates for getting vaccinations, though it was not always clear whether they would be inoculated before or after vaccines had cleared Phase 3 trials.

A senior Chinese official said this month that a vaccine could be made available to the public as early as November. That same day, a spokeswoman for the United Arab Emirates’ Foreign Ministry said on Twitter that the government had authorized the Sinopharm vaccine to be given to its frontline workers after successful Phase 3 trials in the Emirates.

Raina MacIntyre, who heads the biosecurity program at the Kirby Institute of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, said she would not recommend the emergency use of vaccines before the conclusion of Phase 3 trials. AstraZeneca, the British-Swedish company, halted late-stage testing in the United States on a vaccine candidate this month after one volunteer fell seriously ill for unknown reasons.

Sinovac, a drug maker in Beijing, said more than 10,000 people in the city had been injected with its Covid-19 vaccine candidate.

16

Monday, September 28, 2020

For U.K.’s Boris Johnson, hardball tactics seem the only way to a Brexit deal

By STEPHEN CASTLE

B

ritain was at sea, lost in a “fog of selfdoubt.” It had dithered only to retreat.

And in its pursuit of Brexit, it exuded a “conspicuous infirmity of purpose.”

When Boris Johnson, now prime minister, resigned as foreign secretary in 2018, he was brutal in his critique of the government he had quit and of its leader, Theresa May. Now, more than a year after her ouster, trade talks with the European Union are deadlocked, the mood is poisonous, and there are only weeks left to salvage a deal as Britain prepares to leave the bloc’s economic zone in January. But Johnson has already achieved what some analysts say is his one overriding objective: to avoid any comparisons of his negotiating style to that of his predecessor, May. While critics lampooned her as weak and risk-averse, Johnson has gone to the other extreme, most recently by threatening to walk away from parts of a Brexit withdrawal agreement that he struck with the EU only last year.

That prompted outrage, threats of legal action and speculation that the trade negotiations could collapse. But many analysts say this is just another move from Johnson’s hardball Brexit playbook.

“He absolutely had to have a bust-up to prove he wasn’t Theresa May,” said Anand Menon, a professor of European politics at King’s College, London, referring to the government’s threat to override parts of an agreement that was designed to prevent the creation of a hard border between Ireland, an EU member, and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom.

Menon puts at 50-50 the odds of Britain’s leaving the EU’s economic zone in January with no trade deal at all.

But in stating this month that this would still be a “good outcome,” Johnson made a blunt point that, unlike May, he has a solid majority in Parliament and the power to take an economic risk by leaving the bloc without a trade agreement.

“There is a clarity about what Boris

ro-Brexit demonstrators gather in front of the state of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square in London on Friday evening, Jan. 31, 2020.

Johnson is doing that was lacking under Theresa May,” Menon said, “so to that extent, he can still bask in the glow of doing better than she did.”

Whether that will translate into a deal will be tested in the coming weeks as the Brexit negotiations reach a climax with just a little cautious optimism in the air.

The backdrop to those talks is one of acute mistrust, worsened when Johnson threatened to walk back part of the withdrawal agreement that he struck last year. But the main theory in Brussels is that this was designed to raise the stakes in the negotiations, gain diplomatic attention and accelerate engagement at the highest political level.

These discussions are stuck on the issues of fisheries quotas and, most seriously, on Britain’s reluctance to agree on a set of antitrust rules with the EU that would limit London’s ability to subsidize its own companies (and therefore, Brussels fears, dump cheap goods in continental Europe).

Historically, British governments — and particularly ones under the Conservative Party, which Johnson now leads — have tended to spend less cash this way than many of their continental counterparts, making this an odd issue on which to torpedo an agreement.

The blockage seems to come from Johnson’s powerful adviser, Dominic Cummings, who sees no need for Britain to tie itself to any European rules and wants the freedom to subsidize the high-tech industries of the future, said Charles Grant, director of the Center for European Reform, a research institute.

The combative Cummings appears content to do without any trade deal with the EU, and, in line with its hardball approach, the British government has gone into battle over an issue that few Britons care about. But there are differing shades of opinion and priorities in Downing Street.

“Ultimately I think Boris Johnson wants a deal,” Grant said.

True, Britain is now asking for a much

more basic agreement than May sought, and the economic gains of striking one are correspondingly lower. But the economy is more important now because the coronavirus has left British businesses reeling and in a weaker position to cope with the fallout of a “no deal” exit.

For many supporters of Brexit, May’s government was nothing short of a humiliation, with Parliament paralyzed, Britain missing deadlines for leaving the EU and their project ridiculed. Some also felt that their warnings had been ignored because, while May insisted that having no Brexit deal would be better than getting a bad one, few felt that she meant it.

“Any negotiator knows that you can only obtain a good outcome if you are willing to walk away from a bad one,” Peter Lilley, a former minister who supports Brexit, wrote in 2017.

When Dominic Raab, who is now foreign secretary, resigned as Brexit secretary the following year, he repeated the argument, insisting, “To be taken seriously, we must be willing to walk away.”

Johnson, having threatened to do exactly that — and having distanced himself so thoroughly from his predecessor — has given himself the political space with Brexit supporters to compromise should he opt to do so.

“Ultimately, if Boris Johnson wants a deal, he can overcome any opposition in the Conservative Party; it will take what it is given,” said Grant, who worked as a journalist in Brussels at the same time as Johnson in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

“It’s theater, and it might work,” Grant said of Johnson’s aggressive style — although he added that, as with any high-wire act, it can always go wrong, particularly with this political performer.

“Boris Johnson doesn’t necessarily have a strategy for delivering what he wants,” Grant said. “He lives from week to week.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, September 28, 2020

17

Brushing off criticism, China’s Xi calls policies in Xinjiang ‘totally correct’

By CHRIS BUCKLEY

B

rushing aside condemnation from Western powers, China’s leader, Xi Jinping, called his policies in the ethnically divided region of Xinjiang a “totally correct” success, and vowed more efforts to imprint Chinese national identity “deep in the soul” of Uighurs and other largely Muslim minorities.

Xi made the remarks during a two-day conference that ended Saturday, which is likely to set the direction of Chinese policy in Xinjiang for years to come. While the initial official summary of the meeting gave few details, Xi’s unyielding words signaled that condemnation from the United States, the European Union and other powers has not shifted his determination to subdue Xinjiang’s Muslim minorities through a dual strategy of political indoctrination and state-driven demographic change.

“Viewed overall, Xinjiang is enjoying a favorable setting of social stability with the people living in peace and contentment,” Xi told the meeting, according to the summary issued by Xinhua News Agency. “The facts have abundantly demonstrated that our national minority work has been a success.”

Xi’s speech was revealed at the end of a week that exposed the stark costs of China’s security strategy in Xinjiang, as well as continued international ire over the indoctrination camps and detention sites that have held hundreds of thousands — and possibly 1 million or more — Muslim minorities in Xinjiang. But Xi gave no signs of markedly softening his policies there.

The Chinese Communist Party’s strategy in Xinjiang had been proved “totally correct,” Xi said, adding that “it must be held to for the long term.”

The implications of Xi’s latest comments on Xinjiang may take months, even years, to become clear.

Xi used a similar meeting in 2014 to demand a much tougher approach to unrest, resistance and separatist violence in the region.

Ever since Chinese Communist Party forces took over Xinjiang in 1949, the authorities have struggled to establish lasting control over the region’s Uighurs, Kazakhs and other minorities. Their Turkic language and Muslim traditions have set them apart from China’s Han majority, and many members of these minorities have resented the expanding presence and power of the Han Chinese majority.

After a string of attacks and protests by Uighurs, Xi set policy in Xinjiang on a more radical course after 2014, leading to the construction of hundreds of indoctrination camps intended to weaken Uighur and Kazakh adherence to Islam, and to turn them into loyal citizens who disavow separatism. At the same time, the Chinese government has tried to uproot hundreds of thousands of Uighurs from villages and assign them urban and factory jobs, where officials hope they will

A lone Uighur man heading to a mosque in Kashgar, Xinjiang, on Aug. 9, 2019. Thousands of mosques, shrines and other Islamic religious sites have been demolished in Xinjiang since 2017. earn more and cast aside their traditional lifestyles.

The Chinese government has kept building detention facilities in the region, including hulking prisonlike complexes hemmed by high walls, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said in a report released on Thursday. Separately, another report released by the Institute, and a parallel investigation by The New York Times, found that thousands of mosques, shrines and other Islamic religious sites have been demolished in Xinjiang since 2017.

In his published remarks, Xi did not expressly mention the indoctrination camps, which Chinese government officials have defended as a friendly vocational training centers. Even so, Xi’s broad comments suggested that he wants the government to continue indoctrination efforts across Xinjiang, even if the camps play a reduced role in that campaign.

“Incorporate education about a shared awareness of Chinese nationhood into education for Xinjiang cadres, youth and children, and society,” Xi said. “Make a shared awareness of Chinese nationhood take root deep in the soul.”

A Times investigation last year cited internal speeches by Xi in 2014, when he called for all-out “struggle against terrorism, infiltration and separatism” in Xinjiang using the “organs of dictatorship,”

and showing “absolutely no mercy.” But it took years for his broad demands to lead to mass detentions into the new camps.

At his latest meeting, Xi’s published remarks sounded less alarmed than he did in 2014, suggesting that his government feels it has a firmer grip on Xinjiang.

The published remarks did not mention terror threats but focused on what he said were rising incomes of the people of Xinjiang and government spending.

Xi’s latest speech appeared to signal that the Chinese government would continue investing heavily in industrial and urban development in Xinjiang. In a recent government white paper, Beijing defended labor allocation programs for rural Uighurs in Xinjiang that many international experts say rely on pressure and coercion to keep the job recruits in their posts.

But products from Xinjiang are increasingly shunned by Western companies, worried that they may be implicated in accusations of using forced labor.

On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation that would bar imports from Xinjiang unless they were proven not to have used forced labor. The Trump administration has imposed sanctions on officials deemed responsible for policy in Xinjiang, and imposed restrictions on imports of clothing, hair products and technological goods from that region.

18

Monday, September 28, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL

To beat Trump, mock him

By NICHOLAS KRISTOF

C

an critics of President Donald Trump learn something from pro-democracy movements in other countries?

Most Americans don’t have much experience confronting authoritarian rulers, but people around the globe are veterans of such struggles. And the most important lesson arguably is “laughtivism”: the power of mockery.

Denouncing dictators has its place, but sly wit sometimes deflates them more effectively. Shaking one’s fist at a leader doesn’t win people over as much as making that leader a laughingstock.

“Every joke is a tiny revolution,” George Orwell wrote in 1945.

American progressives have learned by now that frontal attacks aren’t always effective against Trump. Impeaching Trump seemed to elevate him in the polls. A majority of Americans agree in a Quinnipiac poll that Trump is a racist, yet he still may win reelection. Journalists count Trump’s deceptions (more than 20,000 since he assumed the presidency) and chronicle accusations of sexual misconduct against him (26 so far), yet he seems coated with Teflon: Nothing sticks.

America has had “Baby Trump” balloons, “Saturday Night Live” skits and streams of Trump memes and jokes. But all in all, Trump opponents tend to score higher on volume than on wit.

So, having covered pro-democracy campaigns in many other

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

Dr. Ricardo Angulo Publisher Manuel Sierra

Ray Ruiz

General Manager

Legal Notice Director

María de L. Márquez

Sharon Ramírez

Business Director

Legal Notices Graphics Manager

R. Mariani

Elsa Velázquez

Circulation Director

Editor / Reporter

Lisette Martínez

María Rivera

Advertising Agency Director

Graphic Artist Manager

countries, I suggest that Americans aghast at Trump absorb a lesson from abroad: Authoritarians are pompous creatures with monstrous egos and so tend to be particularly vulnerable to humor. They look mighty but are often balloons in need of a sharp pin.

Even before it collapsed, the moral authority of the Soviet Union had been hollowed out by endless jokes. In one, a secret policeman asks another, “What do you think of the regime?”

Nervously, the second policeman replies, “The same as you, comrade.” At that point the first one pulls out handcuffs and says, “In that case, it is my duty to arrest you.”

Are the stakes too serious to laugh? Does cracking jokes devalue a democracy struggle? I don’t think so. One of the most successful examples of laughtivism came two decades ago when university students took on the regime of Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia. Milosevic committed genocide and isn’t an obvious target of humor — but the students’ wit helped topple him.

A typical stunt: They taped a picture of Milosevic on the side of a barrel and invited passersby to take a swing at it with a baseball bat. The resulting photos of the police “arresting” the barrel and hauling it away were widely publicized and made Milosevic seem less mighty and more ridiculous. In 2000, Milosevic was ousted and handed over to an international tribunal to be tried for war crimes.

Here in the United States, we’ve also seen the power of wit. One of the most effective critics of “Boss Tweed” and Tammany Hall in the 19th century was Thomas Nast, the cartoonist.

And Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s nemesis, and the man who coined the term “McCarthyism,” was cartoonist Herblock.

(Don’t tell my editors, but cartoonists, now an endangered species, are often more incisive social and political critics than columnists.)

In South Africa, cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro skewered President Jacob Zuma so deftly and often that he was arguably one reason that Zuma was forced to resign in 2018. Zuma sued Shapiro, whose response was a cartoon in which Zuma rages that he will sue for “damage to my reputation.” Shapiro coolly responds, “Would that be your reputation as a disgraced chauvinist demagogue who can’t control his sexual urges and who thinks a shower prevents AIDS?” In Malaysia, Prime Minister Najib Razak was toppled the same year in part because of the work of another cartoonist, Zulkiflee Anwar Haque, who persevered despite prosecutions and physical attacks.

That’s one gauge of the power of humor: Dictators fear mockery. The Committee to Protect Journalists says it has intervened this year alone to defend seven cartoonists around the world who were arrested, threatened with prosecution or threatened with death.

In Russia, dissident Alexei Navalny uses withering sarcasm in his efforts to bring democracy to Russia. Navalny, now recovering in Germany from what apparently was an attempt

by Russian officials to murder him with Novichok nerve gas,

responded to Russian suggestions that he had poisoned himself: “I boiled Novichok in the kitchen, quietly took a sip of it in the plane and fell into a coma,” he wrote on Instagram. “Ending up in an Omsk morgue where the cause of death would be listed as ‘lived long enough’ was the ultimate goal of my cunning plan. But Putin outplayed me.”

Leaders like Trump who pose as religious are particularly easy to skewer, as Iranians have shown in their use of humor to highlight the hypocrisy of their own mullahs. Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi is still nicknamed “Crocodile” because of a cartoon many years ago by Nik Kowsar, who now lives in exile in America because hard-liners arrested him and threatened to murder him.

No, I won’t be drawing cartoons or trying stand-up. I know my limitations. But I’m frustrated by the lack of traction that earnest critiques of Trump get, and I think it’s useful to learn lessons about how people abroad challenged authoritarians and pointed out their hypocrisy with the simple precision of mockery.

I’m also frustrated that some forceful criticisms of Trump sometimes come across to undecided voters as strident or over the top. People like me are accused of suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, and our arguments are dismissed precisely because they are so fervent.

Something similar happens in many countries. Citizens who aren’t political are often wary of pro-democracy leaders who are perceived as radical, as irreligious or as overeducated elitists. But those ordinary citizens appreciate a joke, so humor becomes a way to win them over.

“The grins of the people are the nightmares of the dictators,” wrote Liu Xiaobo, the Chinese dissident who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010 while in prison. He is best-known for his eloquent essays calling for democracy, but he argued that humor is also essential in undermining authoritarian rulers.

Liu generously added — and this may be relevant to a polarized country like the United States — that satirizing an authoritarian is good for the nation because it makes the eventual downfall and transition softer and less violent.

“A clown needs less revenge than a monster does,” he observed.

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, September 28, 2020

19

Sobre 100 mil afiliados al PNP solicitan votar por adelantado Por THE STAR

E

l comisionado electoral del Partido Nuevo Progresista (PNP), Héctor Joaquín Sánchez Álvarez y el coordinador electoral Edwin Mundo Ríos anunciaron este domingo que sobre 100 mil electores afiliados a esa colectividad solicitaron voto adelantado.

“Debido a la pandemia por el COVID-19 se ampliaron las categorías para que más electores pudieran solicitar el voto adelantado. El presidente del PNP, Pedro Pierluisi, nos instruyó a realizar toda la movilización necesaria para orientar e instar a electores que ante el panorama de una pandemia no iban a acudir a votar, a que podían hacerlo en la seguridad de su casa, por correo o en el voto adelantado en el precinto con menor cantidad de personas. Con gran satisfacción podemos decir que el esfuerzo del PNP ha sido exitoso y que 111,625 podrán ejercer su derecho al voto”, expresó Sánchez Álvarez en declaraciones escritas.

El comisionado electoral sostuvo que, “ya el PNP cuenta con la estructura necesaria para preparar los ma-

letines de esos votos adelantados, y dar el seguimiento correspondiente para ayudar a los electores a que culminen su proceso. Tenemos todos los funcionarios que van a trabajar en los 713 colegios de voto presencial el 31 de octubre, así como todos los funcionarios para el voto a domicilio, los que van a trabajar en las cárceles el 1 de noviembre y en los hospitales el 2 de noviembre. Además, contamos con el 100 por ciento de los coordinadores y subcoordinadores de las 1,365 unidades”.

Por su parte, el coordinador electoral de la campaña de Pierluisi, Edwin Mundo, expresó que el PNP ha tenido mayor movilización para buscar los votos de camino a las elecciones del 3 de noviembre. “De las 175,532 solicitudes radicadas y grabadas hasta el momento en la Comisión Estatal de Elecciones, 111,625 son de electores afiliados al PNP. Esto lo que significa es la sólida estructura que tiene Pedro Pierluisi y el PNP, que ha permitido que arranquemos en ventaja con este voto”.

“El Partido Popular ha demostrado que no tiene los funcionarios, no tiene movilización y no tiene estructura electoral, mientras que el PNP ya cuenta con el total

de sus funcionarios para el voto adelantado y el 80 por ciento para los 4,524 colegios regulares en las elecciones generales”, señaló Mundo Ríos.

Sánchez Álvarez concluyó diciendo que, “queremos garantizar el éxito de este voto adelantado y de las elecciones generales, por eso ha sido bien importante la organización y el trabajo en equipo. En el PNP estamos listos”.

Senador presenta resolución para lograr una expresión afirmativa del Congreso a favor de incentivos contributivos Por THE STAR

E

l Senador por acumulación por el Partido Popular Democrático (PPD), José Nadal Power, radicó recientemente la RS 1379 para apoyar los esfuerzos de congresistas federales para brindar incentivos contributivos a compañías manufactureras y farmacéuticas que inviertan en Puerto Rico.

“Hay un esfuerzo encaminado hace varios meses, y liderado en la Cámara de Representantes Federal por la delegada de las Islas Vírgenes Americanas, Stacey E. Plasket y en el Senado Federal por Senador Roger Wicker de Misisipi, que propone brindar un incentivo contributivo a las compañías manufactureras y farmacéuticas que inviertan en Puerto Rico y en otras jurisdicciones dentro de Estados Unidos. En la coyuntura histórica en la que nos encontramos con un Gobierno en crisis fiscal y una Junta de Supervision Fiscal autorizando los gastos de la Administración del País, se hace meritorio que la Legislatura de

Puerto Rico se exprese a favor del esfuerzo, expresión que debió hacerse hace meses y aún no se realiza”, dijo Nadal Power en declaraciones escritas este domingo.

“Todo el mundo sabe que la aprobación de la Reforma Contributiva Federal de 2017, fue nefasta para Puerto Rico, ya que le dio un trato a la Isla y demás jurisdicciones como un país extranjero, impactando la inversión privada y la creación de empleos. Precisamente estos proyectos, pretenden excluir parte del ingreso generado en Puerto

Rico y otras jurisdicciones del impuesto establecido en la mencionada reforma”, añadió el senador.

El también ex presidente de la Comisión de Hacienda del Senado añadió que “como resultado de la Autonomía Fiscal del Estado Libre Asociado, la Isla está preparada para esta oportunidad de negocio y de desarrollo económico, pues cuenta con la infraestructura, la mano de obra capacitada y el conocimiento experto para satisfacer la demanda de las industrias que deseen iniciar negocios en nuestro suelo. Estudios afirman que Puerto Rico es el mayor exportador de estudios médicos en los Estados Unidos, ya que en el 2019 la isla exportó más de $53 millones, lo que nos hace la jurisdicción idónea para la inversión en todos los Estados Unidos”.

“De ser aprobadas estas medidas, indudablemente serán de beneficio para la fuerza laboral de Puerto Rico en la industria farmacéutica, así como para los servicios que requieren de ordinario estas empresas”, concluyó Nadal Power.

20

Monday, September 28, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

‘Father of the Bride,’ the pandemic and me

Diane Keaton and Steve Martin in the first movie in the series.

By NANCY MEYERS

I

thought I was retired. After 40 years of making movies, I felt done. I was planning to travel more, start reading more.

I wanted to buy a hammock. You know, all the regular stuff retired people want to do. Then COVID-19 came to America.

I recognized how lucky I was to be able to stay home while others couldn’t.

On the news, there were families waiting in line for food in 2020 America. It was heartbreaking. What could I do?

What can I do? I wondered. That’s when I emailed Steve Martin and asked him if he had time to chat. He wrote back, “I have nothing but time.”

I told Steve I had an idea to write a short Part 3 to “Father of the Bride,” a movie my former partner, Charles Shyer, and I had made with Steve nearly 30 years ago (followed by a sequel, “Father of the

Bride Part II”). Steve played the title role of a father who resisted letting go of his daughter and misplaced all of those difficult emotions into fighting the cost and hullabaloo that goes into making a wedding. At least, that’s how I always saw it. I told Steve I thought his character, George Banks, a self-admitted overreactor, was ripe to revisit during the pandemic. I explained I’d like to make the film as a fundraiser for World Central Kitchen to help those who were struggling.

I said all the actors would shoot from home, and I would direct from my computer and we’d get it online somehow. At the time, I wasn’t sure how to do any of that, but I asked Steve if I could figure it out, would he do it? Without hesitation he said yes. So did Martin Short, Diane Keaton and the rest of the cast.

I hadn’t written the “Father of the Bride” characters in decades. I was a lit-

tle nervous. I watched both movies, made some notes and got that excited feeling in my stomach that I hadn’t felt in a long time.

It was fun and comforting to think about the Banks family and where they might be today. George and his wife, Nina (Keaton), would now be in their 70s. I wondered what they were like 50 years into their marriage. Did they still live in the big white house? And how did their son, Matty (Kieran Culkin), turn out?

We last saw him at 12 years old. Then I thought about “Father of the Bride Part II” and the two babies born on the same day — one to George and Nina and the other to their daughter, Annie (Kimberly Williams-Paisley), and her husband (George Newbern). When I realized those babies would now be 25, I thought I must’ve done the math wrong. It felt like when you see friends’ kids you haven’t seen in a while, and you can’t believe they’re

grown-ups. I couldn’t wait to get started.

I gave all of my worries and concerns about the pandemic to Steve’s character, and by channeling myself into his naturally over-the-top personality I could finally laugh at some of what I was putting myself through. I mean, I was using up 50 pairs of disposable gloves a month, and I never left my house. I was forwarding so many emails about the virus to my kids that they finally stopped answering me. I decided this was how I was going to write George Banks. There would be a bigger piece of me in him this time.

Another part of my life made its way into the plot when my daughter’s July wedding was postponed. Matty would be 37, and just the right age to be engaged and have his wedding canceled. I had my third act.

Now I had to figure out how to make a short movie without any of us leaving home. In the summer, I put together a small crew and stepped into the world of remote filmmaking.

The actors recorded themselves while I watched their slightly blurry iPhone images via Zoom. They couldn’t easily see one another, but they could hear each other. At one point, there were 10 blurry actors on my computer screen.

I couldn’t tell if a hair was out of place or if someone had tears in her eyes, so I did enough takes to cover all of the “just in cases.”

It was challenging to say the least, but it was a fun challenge. I think the actors would agree. We had none of the usual crew or tools at our disposal. No one was there to touch up their makeup, fix their hair, move a light, adjust their mic or straighten their wardrobe. We had no monitor to play anything back to see how something worked.

Even editing was a unique experience. We had the same amount of footage as on a small film. After all, there were 10 cameras rolling for almost four days. My film editor worked in his home and shared his screen with me in mine.

As I think about it, this unusual process reduced filmmaking to what it ultimately comes down to: performance and telling our story.

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, September 28, 2020

21

Dance on film is the only game in town. BalletX takes the field.

An image provided by Elliot deBruyn/BalletX, Roderick Phifer, left, and Stanley Glover in “Love Letter” with choreography by Caili Quan. The Philadelphia company BalletX has released four new works that engage the medium by pairing choreographers with filmmakers.

By BRIAN SEIBERT

T

his much we know: Another fall season of ballet is beginning, and almost none of it will take place in person. Ballet companies need to make dance films, and they need to be better than the forgiveably slapdash “we’re still here” video postcards of the early pandemic period.

The big guns, like New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theater, have announced plans for premieres in the coming months. But a much smaller troupe, BalletX in Philadelphia, is ahead of the game. On Wednesday night, it released four new works.

These works will remain available indefinitely, but they aren’t free. To watch them, you have to subscribe to BalletX Beyond, which also gives you access to premieres later in the season, along with extras like interviews and making-of documentaries. The cheapest plan is $15 a month — less than a ticket to a live show but almost as much as premium Netflix. It’s a necessary experiment, especially for companies without huge endowments. Somebody has to figure out how to get people to pay for digital dance.

One enticement is to offer films that at least look professional and try to take advantage of the medium. On this score, the new BalletX

films succeed. The choreographers have collaborated with skilled filmmakers. And while not ranging far from Philadelphia, the locations suggest a world much wider, varied and visually exciting than a dance studio or the inside of a dancer’s apartment.

“Scribble,” which Loughlan Prior choreographed and directed remotely from New Zealand, experiments with animation. As dancers move in a black void, their figures are traced in bright lines — hand-drawn by the artist Glynn Urquhart. It’s a cool effect, especially when the dancers seem to be doing the drawing themselves.

But in terms of choreography, the title is all too accurate. Even if the film weren’t hobbled by a terrible score (it reminds me of lounges in urban-chic hotels), it would be more of a demo reel for a technique than a finished work of art. It seems to have very little to say.

That’s not a problem with Penny Saunders’ “Ricochet.” This film has a subject: the archetype of the American cowboy. More specifically, it’s about how the myth is handed down, generation to generation, as a boy’s dream. It means to make you think about what’s left out and the damage done.

The images — of fields and corrals, captured by Quinn Wharton’s mobile camera, flying above and swooping in close — bring us

into the subject quickly and vividly. The revisionism is largely implicit, intimated by the casting (some dancers are Black) or by the presence of Charley Pride, the Black country singer, on the soundtrack.

Sometimes, the dancers lip sync to old cowboy-movie dialogue. The technique, with its distancing effect, helps question the myth, even as it draws unflattering attention to how we’re watching dancers trying to act. Again, the film’s greatest shortcoming is the choreography.

Apart from a tender yet tense same-sex duet for Stanley Glover and Roderick Phifer, few moments pierce the skin as dance.

Rena Butler’s “The Under Way (working title)” is also stronger on concept than on choreographic substance. Conceptually, there’s a lot going on. Ostensibly, the film is about the Underground Railroad, yet it’s actually more topical and complicated, folding in Plato’s allegory of the cave to suggest, with skeptical hope, how recent events may have woken white people up to the realities of racism.

Butler, directing with Tshay Williams, had the dancers film themselves, mostly in their own apartments, though this handicap is offset by playful camera angles that direct attention, metaphorically, to point of view. The setting of the final section, in the living room of the danc-

er Blake Krapels, underlines his realization of white privilege. Bouncing off the furniture, Krapels, who is white, recites in voice-over a list of things he’s free to do, like go birding or jogging.

But the most powerful part benefits from a more striking setting: in front of a statue of the former mayor Frank Rizzo, filmed before it was removed as symbol of racism. The vocabulary of the duet (again for Glover and Phifer) isn’t revolutionary (hands-up, running in place), yet combined with the setting it has force.

That is, it has force as dance. Isn’t that the goal, even on film? In a sense, Caili Quan’s “Love Letter” is the least ambitious of this crop.

It is what it says it is: a love letter to her home country of Guam, sent from afar, embodying the happy-sad longing of the Chamorro word “Mahalong.” It expresses this emotion — and does so through dance.

The music helps: a ukulele tune, a Harry Belafonte novelty track, Tahitian chanting. It inspires dancing that the performers seem to relish, dancing that makes you want to move.

The editing, by Elliot deBruyn, is in tune with that energy. The concluding section cuts between a man on a city roof and a woman at the beach, their separation both emphasized and collapsed by editing. As a film concept, this is nowhere near original. As dance on film, it works.

22

Monday, September 28, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

The flight goes nowhere. And it’s sold out.

In an undated image provided by Royal Brunei Airlines, flying above Brunei on Royal Brunei Airlines.

People who miss flying are rushing to buy tickets for flights that land in the same place they depart from.

By TARIRO MZEZEWA

I

n August, Nadzri Harif, a DJ at Kristal FM radio station in Brunei, set foot in an airport for the first time in six months.

The experience, he said, was exhilarating. Sure, moving through Brunei International Airport was different, with masks, glass dividers and social-distancing protocols in place, but nothing could beat the anticipation of getting on a plane again.

His destination: nowhere.

Harif is one of thousands of people in Brunei, Taiwan, Japan and Australia who have started booking flights that start and end in the same place. Some airlines call these “scenic flights”; others are more direct, calling them “flights to nowhere.”

“I didn’t realize how much I’d missed traveling — missed flying — until the moment the captain’s voice came on the speaker with the welcome and safety announcement,” said Harif of his 85-minute experience on Royal Brunei Airlines.

On its flight to nowhere, which the airline calls the “dine and fly” program, Royal Brunei serves local cuisine to passengers while flying over the country.

At a time when most people are stuck at home and unable to travel, and the global airline industry has been decimated by the pandemic, flights that take off and return to the airport a few hours later allow airlines to keep staff working.

The practice also satisfies that itch to travel — even if it’s just being on a plane again. Although most people may think of flying as a means to an end, existing solely to get them from one place to the next, some say that it is an exciting part of the travel experience. For those people, flights to nowhere are the salve for a year in which just about all travel has been canceled and people have been fearful of airlines not enforcing social distancing and mask-wearing rules.

Royal Brunei has run five of these flights since mid-August, and since Brunei has had very few cases of the coronavirus, the airline is not requiring passengers to wear masks, but staff members are. Earlier in the month, the Taiwanese airline EVA Air filled all 309 seats on its Hello Kitty-themed A330 Dream jet for Father’s Day in Taiwan, and Japan’s All Nippon Airways had a Hawaiian-resort-themed, 90-minute-flight with 300 people on board.

On Thursday, Qantas announced a flight to nowhere

over Australia. That flight sold out in 10 minutes.

“So many of our frequent flyers are used to being on a plane every other week and have been telling us they miss the experience of flying as much as the destinations themselves,” Alan Joyce, the chief executive of Qantas Airways, said in a statement this week, when that airline announced its sevenhour flight in October that would depart and land in Sydney.

Tickets for that flight ranged in price from 787 to 3,787 Australian dollars, or about $575 to $2,765. It will take travelers around Australia, flying over the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales. The airline also recently brought back its popular sightseeing flights to Antarctica that don’t actually land in Antarctica, but allow passengers to walk around and have different views of the continent. The tour company Antarctica Flights charters Qantas to operate the flights. Dozens of Australians took to the airline’s Instagram to express a desire for more of these kinds of trips to be added.

A handful of travel agents in India, Australia and the United States said that their clients have been asking about flights to nowhere in the past two months as the reality that travel will not return to normal for some time has sunk in.

Loveleen Arun, a Bangalore-based travel agent who designs luxury trips mostly for Indian travelers, said that she has been hearing from antsy clients who wish there were such flights in India.

“One of my clients said just a few days ago, ‘all I want is to be in a window seat and see clouds go by. I miss that sight. I just want white fluffy clouds!’ ” Arun said. “Some people just want to drag their bags through the airport and go check them in.”

When Nadiah Hamid’s parents forced her to join them on Royal Brunei’s flight to nowhere, she thought the idea of flying above her home was “ridiculous,” she said, but she had a change of heart just a few minutes into the trip because it allowed her to see her home in a new way.

“Normally when you’re flying you don’t really know where you are, so it was nice to have someone contextualize things in our country and in Malaysia, and the views were really beautiful,” Hamid, 22, said.

Criticism of these flights has been intense, with environmental groups and travelers taking to social media to express their frustrations. They argue that an industry that had already negatively affected the environment before the pandemic is continuing to do so with these unnecessary trips.

In 2018, global civil aviation accounted for 918 million tons of carbon dioxide — equal to the combined annual emissions from Germany and the Netherlands. Rob Jackson, an earth scientist at Stanford University, estimated that global emissions could fall 7% if lockdowns persist in parts of the world for the rest of the year.

A spokeswoman for Qantas said in an email that it purchased carbon offsets to alleviate the impact of the sevenhour flight, and Royal Brunei Airlines said it is using an Airbus A320neo, which has fewer emissions than many other planes.

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, September 28, 2020

23

Is coronavirus affecting the hearts of college athletes?

By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS

I

n a new study of 26 college athletes who tested positive for the coronavirus, four later showed signs of inflammation in their heart muscles. The study, published in JAMA Cardiology, was small and limited but tees up the issue of whether COVID-19, although primarily a respiratory disease, might also affect the hearts of infected people, even if they are young, strapping and otherwise healthy.

As most of us are aware, many aspects of the novel coronavirus and its pathological impacts remain uncertain, even now, more than six months into the pandemic. It’s thought that the virus enters the body primarily through the nose, where it replicates and spreads down the respiratory tract and to the lungs. But it can also affect other parts of the body, including the gastrointestinal tract, blood vessels, kidneys and even the brain.

The heart is not impervious, either. For a wellpublicized study published in July in JAMA Cardiology, German researchers scanned the hearts of 100 middleaged men and women who had developed moderate or severe COVID-19 illness and found “cardiac involvement” among 78% of them. Compared with the hearts of healthy people in a control group, their cardiac muscles showed inflammation or high levels of substances that indicate tissue damage.

Concerns about COVID-19 and the heart have become widespread enough that the American College of Cardiology’s Sports & Exercise Cardiology Council released a consensus statement in May advising healthy athletes who develop COVID-19 to rest for at least two weeks after their first symptoms and consult with a physician if they notice subsequent worrying symptoms, such as chest pain or shortness of breath.

But the worry about COVID-19 and athletes’ hearts relied on conjecture, since, at that point, scientists had not examined the hearts of infected athletes, to see if there might be hints of viral involvement there.

So, for the new study, physicians and researchers at the Ohio State University decided to scan the hearts of collegiate athletes who had tested positive for the virus.

The scientists, most of them cardiologists, are affiliated with a sports medicine clinic at the university that treats and clears athletes after injuries and medical concerns.

So far this year, 26 male and female college athletes, representing sports including football and track, had been referred to the clinic after testing positive for the coronavirus. None had developed serious illness.

In fact, most had been asymptomatic and, after isolating themselves for several weeks, reported feeling fine when they showed up at the clinic.

To see if this exuberant vigor extended to their cardiac systems, the scientists scanned each athlete’s heart,

using magnetic resonance imaging, which can pick up subtle signs of inflammation, scarring and other heart problems, said Dr. Saurabh Rajpal, an assistant professor of cardiology at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and the lead author of the new study.

Afterward, the researchers analyzed the scans and, using widely accepted diagnostic criteria, concluded that four of the young athletes, representing 15% of the group, displayed symptoms of myocarditis, which is an inflammation of the heart muscle known, occasionally, to be triggered by viral infections. In severe cases, myocarditis causes permanent heart damage, but it also may resolve without lingering problems.

The four athletes were men, and two had experienced mild symptoms during their coronavirus infection; the other two had been asymptomatic. None reported any symptoms of cardiac concerns.

The hearts of another eight of the athletes, mostly men, contained slight signs of scarring or other abnormalities, Rajpal said.

It is “impossible to know,” though, whether the athletes’ COVID infections caused any of these seeming cardiac glitches, he points out, since the researchers did not have baseline heart scans from before their illnesses.

There are other reasons, too, to be cautious about linking coronavirus infections to any possible issues on the athletes’ heart scans, said Dr. Aaron Baggish, a sports cardiologist at Harvard University, director of the Cardiovascular Performance Program at the Mas-

sachusetts General Hospital Heart Center and medical director for the Boston Marathon, who has extensively researched athletes’ hearts. He was not involved with the new study, but familiar with it.

Competitive athletes’ hearts tend to look and function differently than the hearts of other people, Baggish said. So, these athletes’ hearts may be perfectly normal for competitors in their sports, apparent blips and all.

To know if the coronavirus may somehow have affected their cardiac muscles, the athletes’ heart scans would need to be compared with those of a control group of uninfected collegiate athletes. The current study did not include a control group.

Baggish is starting a national registry of cardiac issues among collegiate athletes that may be related to COVID infections, he said. The registry will be housed at Harvard and cover Division I athletes nationwide. The resulting data should help researchers and clinicians to better understand whether and how COVID infections affect athletes’ hearts, he said.

In the meantime, Rajpal said that anyone who has tested positive for the coronavirus, including athletes, should be aware of the possibility, however slight, of cardiac involvement. Most people will be able to return to exercise and sports after several weeks of rest (and isolation, of course) without any problems, he said. But if you notice symptoms of potential heart involvement, such as chest pain or shortness of breath, obviously, consult a doctor.

24 LEGAL NOTICE COMMONWEAL TH OF MASSACHUSETTS, BRISTOL, SS. SUPERIOR COURT.

COMMONWEALTH v.

ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS ($100,000.00)

DOCKET NO. 2073CV00015 ORDER OF NOTICE BY PUBLICATION

To: All interested persons who own or may have an interest in the defendant monies seized by the Massachusetts State Police on June 4, 2019, in Dartmouth, Massachusetts.

GREETINGS: WHEREAS a civil action has been filed against the defendant monies in our Superior Court by and through Thomas M. Quinn, III, District Attomey for the Bristol District, and counsel for the Plaintiff, Michael G. Scott, Assistant District Attomey, 218 South Main Street, Fall River MA 02721.

WE COMMAND YOU if you intend to intervene and assert a claim to the defendant monies, that on or before OCTOBER 14 • 2020 or within such further time as the law allows you do cause your written pleadings to be filed in the Of:fice ofthe Clerk of Court at New Bedford in the County of Bristol, in said Commonwealth. Hereof fail not, at your peril, as otherwise said suit may be adjudged and orders entered in your absence. It appearing to this Court that no personal service of the Complaint has been made on all potential interested parties, it is ORDERED that notice of this suit be given by publishing this Order ofNotice in (1) Toe Herald News ofFall River MA; and (2) Toe San Juan Daily Star of Caguas, Puerto Rico once a week for three consecutive weeks, the last publication to be at least 20 days before said return date of OCTOBER 14, 2020. By the Court, ( YESSAYAN, . J.) Jennifer L. Sullivan, Assistant Clerk - Magistrate.

Dated: AUGUST 20, 2020 ****

LEGAL NOTICE

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

SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: LEYDA BATIZ RUIZ

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que 30 de octubre de 2019, , 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 21 de septiembre de 2020. En Guaynabo, , Puerto Rico, el 21 de septiembre de 2020. LCDA. LAURA I SANTA SANCHEZ, Secretario(a). F/ SARA ROSA VILLEGAS, Sec del Tribunal Conf I.

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

NELLY CRUZ MARTINEZ Demandante

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Y OTROS

Demandado(a) Civil: CA2020CV00046. SALA 409. Sobre: CANCELACION DE PAGARE EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

@

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

DLJ MORTGAGE CAPITAL, INC. Demandante

EDWIN MILLÁN FLORES, PAN AMERICAN FINANCIAL CORPORATOIN, CITIBAN,K N.A., JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO POSIBLES TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS DEL PAGARÉ

Demandado(a) Civil: SJ2019CV00992 (604).

Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA; SUSTITUICÓN DEL PAGARE ÉXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: JUAN DEL PUEBLO Y JUANA DEL PUEBLO A: EDWIN MILLÁN COMO POSIBLES FLORES, PAN TENEDORES Y AMERICAN FINANCIAL CUALESQUIER PERSONA CORPORATION, JOHN DESCONOCIDA CON DOE Y JANE DOE COMO POSIBLE INTERES EN POSIBLES TENEDORES LA OBLIGACION CUYA DESCONOCIDOS DEL CANCELACION POR PAGARÉ DECRETO JUDICIAL SE (Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) SOLICITA. EL SECRETARIO(A) que sus-

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que susDemandante cribe le notifica a usted que 18 LEYDA BATIZ RUIZ de septiembre de 2020, , este Demandado(a) Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Civil: GB2018CV00604. SALA Sentencia Parcial o Resolución 201. Sobre: COBRO DE DIen este caso, que ha sido debiNERO Y EJECUCION DE HIdamente registrada y archivada POTECA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE en autos donde podrá usted

ORIENTAL BANK

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 21 de septiembre de 2020.

En CAROLINA , Puerto Rico, el 21 de septiembre de 2020.

LCDA. MARILYN APONTE RODRIGUEZ, Secretario(a).

MARICRUZ APONTE ALICEA, Sec del Tribunal Conf I.

cribe le notifica a usted que 17 de SEPTIEMBRE de 2020, , este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de

staredictos@thesanjuandailystar.com

Monday, September 28, 2020

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 21 de SEPTIEMBRE de 2020. En SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, el 21 de SEPTIEMBRE de 2020. GRISELDA RODRIGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. MILDRED MARTINEZ ACOSTA, Sec del Tribunal Conf I.

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

ORIENTAL BANK Demandante

JOSE ALBERTO ROQUE TORRES; JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE

Demandado(a) Civil: GB2020CV00423. SALA 201 Sobre: SUSTITUCION DE PAGARE HIPOTECARIO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que 16 de septiembre de 2020, , este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de

(787) 743-3346

este caso, con fecha de 21 de septiembre de 2020. En GUAYNABO , Puerto Rico, el 21 de septiembre de 2020. LCDA. LAURA I SANTA SANCHEZ, SEC REG II. F/SARA ROSA VILLEGAS, Sec del Trib Conf I.

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

ROSA MARIA VELEZ RODRIGUEZ Demandante

FAYEK SALEM KURIEH

Demandado(a) Civil: GM2020CV00231. Sobre: CANCELACION DE PAGARE. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que 16 de septiembre de 2020, , este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 23 de septiembre de 2020. En GUAYAMA, Puerto Rico, el 23 de septiembre de 2020. MARISOL ROSADO RODRÍGUEZ, SEC REG II. F/ ILEANA CRUZ VAZQUEZ, Sec Auxiliar.

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

YASHIRA N. BURGOS CORTÉS Demandante

JOSÚE O. FIGUEROA RODRÍGUEZ

Demandado(a) Civil: SJ2020RF00677. Sobre: DIVORCIO, RUPTURA IRRE-

The San Juan Daily Star

PARABLE. NOTIFICACIÓN DE sujeta a los términos de la SenSENTENCIA POR EDICTO. tencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede esA: JOSÚE O. FIGUEROA RODRÍGUEZ tablecerse recurso de revisión (Nombre de las partes a las que se o apelación dentro del término le notifican la sentencia por edicto) de 30 días contados a partir EL SECRETARIO(A) que sus- de la publicación por edicto de cribe le notifica a usted que 22 esta notificación, dirijo a usted de septiembre de 2020, , este esta notificación que se consiTribunal ha dictado Sentencia, derará hecha en la fecha de la Sentencia Parcial o Resolución publicación de este edicto. Coen este caso, que ha sido debi- pia de esta notificación ha sido damente registrada y archivada archivada en los autos de este en autos donde podrá usted en- caso, con fecha de 5 de AGOSterarse detalladamente de los TO de 2020. En BAYAMON, términos de la misma. Esta no- Puerto Rico, el 5 de AGOSTO tificación se publicará una sola de 2020. LCDA .LAURA I SANvez en un periódico de circula- TA SANCHEZ, SECRETARIA. ción general en la Isla de Puer- LYREIMY ALICEA GONZALEZ, to Rico, dentro de los 10 días Sec Auxiliar. 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 22 de septiembre de 2020. En SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, el 22 de septiembre de 2020. GRISELDA RODRIGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA. YMALISA IRIZARRY CARDONA, Sec Auxiliar.

LEGAL NOTICE

de 2020. LCDA .LAURA I SANTA SANCHEZ, SECRETARIA. F/EDNA ROSARIO TORRES, Sec Auxiliar.

LEGAL NOTICE

GOBIERNO DE PUERTO RICO. NOMBRE COMERCIAL PARA REGISTRAR. AVISO. A QUIEN PUEDA INTERESAR: De acuerdo con las disposiciones de la Ley Núm. 75 del 23 de septiembre de 1992, según enmendada, mejor conocida como la Ley de Nombres Comerciales del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico y la Sección 24 del Reglamento promulgado bajo la ley citada anteriormente, el siguiente nombre comercial ha sido preLEGAL NOTICE sentado en el Departamento de Estado Libre Asociado de Estado de Puerto Rico para su Puerto Rico TRIBUNAL GENE- archivo y registro RAL DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de JEFF GOOD GOOD LIFE Primera Instancia Sala Supe- Número de Expediente: rior de BAYAMON. 235338-99-0. Propietario: Mr.

ALEXIS E. CORTES NORIEGA Demandante

BANCO SANTANDER PUERTO RICO Y OTROS

Demandado(a) Civil: BY2019CV07044. SALA: 501. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN O RESTITUCION DE PAGARE EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE o sea, las personas ignoradas que puedan ser tenedores del pagaré extraviado

Estado Libre Asociado de (Nombre de las partes a las que se Puerto Rico TRIBUNAL GENEle notifican la sentencia por edicto) RAL DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de EL SECRETARIO(A) que susPrimera Instancia Sala Supecribe le notifica a usted que rior de BAYAMON. 17 de SEPTIEMBRE de 2020, COOPERATIVA DE , este Tribunal ha dictado SenAHORRO Y CREDITO tencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha EDECOOP sido debidamente registrada Demandante JOSE ALICEA RIVERA y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detaDemandado(a) Civil: NJ2019CV00143. SALA: lladamente de los términos de 500. Sobre: COBRO DE DI- la misma. Esta notificación se NERO REGLA 60. NOTIFICA- publicará una sola vez en un CIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro EDICTO. de los 10 días siguientes a su A: JOSE ALICEA RIVERA notificación. Y, siendo o repre(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) sentando usted una parte en EL SECRETARIO(A) que sus- el procedimiento sujeta a los cribe le notifica a usted que términos de la Sentencia, Sen24 de JULIO de 2020, , este tencia Parcial o Resolución, Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, de la cual puede establecerse Sentencia Parcial o Resolución recurso de revisión o apelación en este caso, que ha sido debi- dentro del término de 30 días damente registrada y archivada contados a partir de la publicaen autos donde podrá usted en- ción por edicto de esta notificaterarse detalladamente de los ción, dirijo a usted esta notificatérminos de la misma. Esta no- ción que se considerará hecha tificación se publicará una sola en la fecha de la publicación vez en un periódico de circula- de este edicto. Copia de esta ción general en la Isla de Puer- notificación ha sido archivada to Rico, dentro de los 10 días en los autos de este caso, con siguientes a su notificación. Y, fecha de 23 de SEPTIEMBRE siendo o representando usted de 2020. En BAYAMON, Pueruna parte en el procedimiento to Rico, el 23 de SEPTIEMBRE

Jeff Labs S.L. Dirección: Cronistas Carreres, 13 Entresuelo, Local 2, Valencia, España. Actividad Empresarial: Cualquier fin licito bajo las leyes del Estado Libre Asociado de P.R., en especial, pero sin limitarse a servicios y venta de productos para el cuidado personal, entre otros relacionados y no relacionados. Renuncia a elementos no registrables: NOTIFICACIÓN: Cualquier oposición a este registro deberá presentarse en el Departamento de Estado de Puerto Rico dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este aviso.

LEGAL NOTICE GOBIERNO DE PUERTO RICO. NOMBRE COMERCIAL PARA REGISTRAR. AVISO. A QUIEN PUEDA INTERESAR: De acuerdo con las disposiciones de la Ley Núm. 75 del 23 de septiembre de 1992, según enmendada, mejor conocida como la Ley de Nombres Comerciales del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico y la Sección 24 del Reglamento promulgado bajo la ley citada anteriormente, el siguiente nombre comercial ha sido presentado en el Departamento de Estado de Puerto Rico para su archivo y registro

MR. JEFF

Número de Expediente: 234692-99-0. Propietario: JEFF PUERTO RICO LLC. Dirección: 55 Calle Esteban Padilla, BAYAMON, PR 00959. Actividad Empresarial: Venta de franquicias de lavanderías, equipos, productos y servicios de lavanderías, y cualquier otro fin licito bajo las leyes del E.L.A. Renuncia a elementos no registrables: NOTIFICACIÓN: Cualquier oposición a este registro deberá presentarse en el Departamento de Estado de Puerto Rico dentro de los trein-

The San Juan Daily Star ta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este aviso.

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

AMANDA AMY JIMENEZ SANTOS

PARTE DEMANDANTE VS.

CHI-OORN JAKOB SAECHAO

PARTE DEMANDADA CIVIL NÚM.: SJ2020RF00013.

SALA: 705. SOBRE: CUSTODIA Y PRIVACIÓN DE PATRIA POTESTAD. EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU. ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R. SS.

A: SR. CHI-OORN JAKOB SAECHAO 3020 ARLIGTON DR. PRINCETON, IL 61356

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

Edgar A. Molina Jorge, Po Box 733, Sabana Seca, P.R. 00952, Tel. (787) 472-3444 con el correo electrónico emolinalaw@ gmail.com, dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto. Si dejare de hacerlo, podrá dictarse contra usted sentencia en rebeldía concediéndose el remedio solicitado en la demanda. EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal Superior de Puerto Rico, Sala de San Juan, a 11 de septiembre de 2020.

SRA. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL.

LEGAL NOTICE IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, acting through the United States Department of Agriculture (Farm Service Agency), Plaintiff, v.

Monday, September 28, 2020 JUAN REYES-FLORES Buzón C-9 Parcelas Las Carolinas Caguas, PR 00625 HC-6, Box 70160 Caguas, PR 00727 Calle Marginal Sector Las Carolinas Bairoa Ward Caguas, PR 00727 203 Victoria Drive Montgomeryville, PA 18936

Pursuant to the Order Authorizing Service of Process by Publication entered on September 10, 2020 by the Court, (Docket No. 24), you are SUMMONED to appear and answer the Complaint, no later than thirty (30) days after publication of this Summons, by filing your answers in the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, and serving a copy on counsel for plaintiff: Attorney Juan C. Fortuño-Fas, at P.O. Box 13786, San Juan, PR 00908, telephone numbers 787-751-5290 and 787-7515616. This Summons shall be published only once in a newspaper of general circulation in Puerto Rico. Within ten (10) days following publication of this Summons, a copy of this Summons and the Complaint will be sent to defendants Wilma Reyes-Flores, Ángel Reyes-Flores, Rafael ReyesFlores, and Christy Reyes, by certified mail/return receipt requested, addressed to their last known addresses. Should you fail to appear and answer the Complaint as ordered by the Court and notified by this Summons, the Court will proceed to hear and adjudicate this case against you based on the relief demanded in the Complaint.

BY ORDER OF THE COURT, summons is issued pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(e) and Rule 4.6 of the Rules of Civil Procedure for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. In San Juan, Puerto Rico, September 14, 2020.MARIA ANTONGIORGIJORDAN, ESQ., CLERK OF THE COURT. By: Vivian DiazMulero, Deputy Clerk.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSDefendants.

TANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE Civil No. 19-1949 (FAB). SUM- ARECIBO. MONS. LIZANDRO

ESTATE OF JUAN N. REYES- RODRÍGUEZ, et al.,

TO: WILMA REYESPÉREZ MARTÍNEZ; FLORES, ÁNGEL LUIS VELEZ ROSARIO REYES-FLORES, RAFAEL DEMANDANTE vs .

REYES-FLORES, AND SANTA ANETTE CRUZ CHRISTY REYES; VELEZ, ELIEZER CRUZ AND JOHN DOE AND CRUZ, YAZMIN MICHELLE RICHARD ROE, AS CRUZ CRUZ DEMANDADOS UNKNOWN HEIRS OF THE ESTATES OF JUAN CIVIL NUM.: AR2020CV10077.

SOBRE: ACCIÓN CIVIL. EMN. REYES, CARMELA PLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. FLORES- RIVERA, AND ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AME-

RICA EL PRESIDENTE DE Se ha radicado una Demanda LOS EEUU EL ESTADO LIBRE en el Tribunal de Primera InsASOCIADO DE PR. tancia, Sala Superior de AreciA: Yasmin M. Cruz Cruz bo sobre Acción Civil. La abo1233 Floating Fountain gada de la demandante es la LCDA. CARMEN N. HERMINA Circle, Apt. 204 GONZALEZ, TS NÚM. 8950, Tampa, FL 33612 cuya dirección es la siguiente: Se ha radicado una Demanda PO BOX 1065, CAMUY PR en el Tribunal de Primera Ins- 00627, TEL: (787) 262-2439 tancia, Sala Superior de Areci- y, correo electrónico soto.herbo sobre Acción Civil. La abo- mina1065@yahoo.com. Por la gada de la demandante es la presente SE LE EMPLAZA y LCDA. CARMEN N. HERMINA requiere presentar su alegación GONZALEZ, TS NÚM. 8950, responsiva a través del Sistema cuya dirección es la siguiente: Unificado de Manejo y AdminisPO BOX 1065, CAMUY PR tración de Casos (SUMAC), la 00627, TEL: (787) 262-2439 cual puede acceder utilizando y, correo electrónico soto.her- la siguiente dirección electrónimina1065@yahoo.com. Por la ca: https://unired.ramacjudicial. presente SE LE EMPLAZA y pr, salvo que se represente por requiere presentar su alegación derecho propio, en cuyo caso responsiva a través del Sistema deberá presentar su alegación Unificado de Manejo y Adminis- responsiva en la secretaría del tración de Casos (SUMAC), la tribunal y remitir copia a la Abocual puede acceder utilizando gada de la parte demandante la siguiente dirección electróni- dentro de un plazo de treinta( ca: https://unired.ramacjudicial. 30) días de haberse publicado pr, salvo que se represente por este Edicto. De usted no prederecho propio, en cuyo caso sentar su alegación responsiva deberá presentar su alegación a través del Sistema Unificado responsiva en la secretaría del de Manejo y Administración de tribunal y remitir copia a la Abo- Casos (SUMAC) si está por gada de la parte demandante derecho propio presentar origidentro de un plazo de treinta( nal de la contestación ante el 30) días de haberse publicado Tribunal correspondiente con este Edicto. De usted no pre- copia a la Abogada de la parte sentar su alegación responsiva demandante en dicho término a través del Sistema Unificado se le podrá anotarla rebeldía y de Manejo y Administración de se dictará Sentencia, sin más Casos (SUMAC) si está por citarle ni oírle, concediendo derecho propio presentar origi- el remedio solicitado en la denal de la contestación ante el manda. Extiendo bajo mi firma Tribunal correspondiente con y sello del Tribunal, en Arecibo, copia a la Abogada de la parte Puerto Rico a 24 de septiemdemandante en dicho término bre de 2020. Vivian Y Fresse se le podrá anotarla rebeldía y Gonzalez, Secretaria Regional. se dictará Sentencia, sin más Brunilda Hernandez Mendez, citarle ni oírle, concediendo Secretaria Auxiliar. el remedio solicitado en la deLEGAL NOTICE manda. Extiendo bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, en Arecibo, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO Puerto Rico a 24 de septiem- DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUbre de 2020. Vivian Y Fresse NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA Gonzalez, Secretaria Regional. CENTRO JUDICIAL DE CAROBrunilda Hernandez Mendez, LINA. Secretaria Auxiliar.

WILMINGTON SAVINGS

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE ARECIBO.

LIZANDRO PÉREZ MARTÍNEZ; LUIS VELEZ ROSARIO DEMANDANTE vs .

SANTA ANETTE CRUZ VELEZ, ELIEZER CRUZ CRUZ, YAZMIN MICHELLE CRUZ CRUZ

DEMANDADOS CIVIL NUM.: AR2020CV10077.

SOBRE: ACCIÓN CIVIL. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EEUU EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PR.

A: Eliezer Cruz Cruz 1233 Floating Fountain Circle. Apt. 204 Tampa, FL 33612

FUND SOCIETY, FSB, d/b/a CHRISTIANA TRUST, as indenture trustee, for the CSMC 2015-PR1 Trust, Mortgage Backed Notes, Series 2015-PR-1, Demandante vs.

Dominick Santiago por sí; Blanca Torres Santiago por sí y la Sociedad Legal de Gananciales compuesta por ambos,

Demandados Civil Núm.: CA2019CV04352.

Sobre: Accion in rem de ejecucion de hipoteca. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. Estados Unidos de América Presidente de los Estados Unidos Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico. S. S.

A: Dominick Santiago por sí; Blanca Torres Santiago por sí y la Sociedad Legal de Gananciales compuesta por ambos.

Por la presente se le emplaza y notifica que debe contestar la demanda dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación del presente edicto.

Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Se le apercibe que, de no contestar la demanda dentro del término aquí estipulado, se le anotará la rebeldía y se dictará sentencia sin más citarle ni oírle. La parte demandante ha radicado una acción de cobro de dinero y ejecución de hipoteca por deuda vencida y la misma está garantizada sobre la siguiente propiedad: URBANA: Horizontal property: Individualized two (2) bedrooms apartment of reinforced concrete, concrete blocks and for residential use, situated in the Municipality of Carolina, Puerto Rico, identified with number Four Hundred Sixty-Eight (468), located at the North part of the fourth (4th) floor of the building known as E.S.J. Towers Condominium.

This apartment has an area of approximately one thousand one hundred twenty-four point zero six (1,124.06) square feet and is bounded on the NORTH, by the interior wall which separates it from the apartment number Four Hundred Seventy (470); on the WEST, by the interior wall which separates it from the common hallway; on the SOUTH, by the interior wall which separates it from the apartment number Four Hundred Sixty­Six (466); and on the WEST, by the exterior wall of the building. The entrance to this apartment communicates with a common use hallway and the common use stairways, elevators and ground, that gives access to State Road Number One Hundred Eighty-Seven (187). Se le asigna un área de estacionamiento marcado con el número del apartamento.”

Inscrita como finca número treinta y un mil setecientos cincuenta (31,750), al folio ciento veinte (120) del tomo seiscientos uno (601) de Carolina, Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección Primera (lra) de Carolina.

Los abogados de la parte demandante son: García-Chamorro Law Group, P.S.C., 1606 Ave. Ponce de León, Edif. Julio Bogoricin, Ste. 900, San Juan, PR 00909, Tel. (787) 977-1932, Fax (787) 722-1932 Expido este edicto bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal, hoy 9 de septiembre de 2020. Lcda.

Marilyn Aponte Rodriguez, Secretario Regional. Por: Myriam I Figueroa Pastrana, Secretaria Auxiliar.

25

San Juan Star The

DAILY

El mejor lugar para publicar SUS EDICTOS! Implementamos una forma nueva e innovadora de trabajar la publicación de edictos...

“Tarifas Fijas” en todas las publicaciones.

No más cuenta de palabras, pulgadas o largas esperas!

NOTIFICACIONES SUBASTAS EMPLAZAMIENTO MARCAS EXP. DOMINIO

$60 $195 p/p $95 $60 $85 p/p

Porque estamos conscientes de la importancia de estas publicaciones, ponemos especial atención en los detalles y cumplimos con todas las regulaciones establecidas por los Tribunales en Puerto Rico.

Además...Tenemos los mejores precios!

Garantizado!

(787) 743-3346 • staredictos@thesanjuandailystar.com •

26

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, September 28, 2020

How a baseball outsider became the Yankees’ pitching guru

By JAMES WAGNER

T

he man who led the New York Yankees’ pitching staff through the seesaws of this truncated regular season, and who will soon guide them into a unique postseason, never played professional baseball. The highest level he reached was pitching for the College of the Holy Cross. His earned run average over four years there: 6.54.

His degree is in psychology and philosophy. His first foray into learning about the intricacies of the body’s movement came from online forums, books and DVDs. Before Matt Blake became a self-taught pitching instructor just over a decade ago, he was a salesman for a marketing company in his hometown, Concord, N.H. As recently as five years ago, he was coaching high school baseball, and now he is the Yankees’ pitching coach.

“It’s for the better,” Yankees reliever Adam Ottavino said of Blake’s background.

Baseball can be a slow-moving, ritualistic sport. Things are done a certain way because they always have. In recent years, though, some of the most innovative work in the sport has come from outside the professional ranks, so clubs have snatched up coaches from colleges and private training facilities, like Driveline Baseball or Cressey Sports Performance.

“When you’re in the private sector, you’re a speedboat,” Blake said in an interview earlier this year. “You can go wherever you want as fast as you want and it’s your decision how much you want to spend and who you want to learn from and where you want to go and what you want to do.”

But professional baseball, he said, is “a tanker in the middle of the ocean. If they want to go a different direction, they have to turn 150 employees around, and a lot of them have been doing it a long time.”

The Yankees may be a tanker, but they were already turning when Blake arrived.

Over the past two years, they hired several people from outside professional baseball to help them with what general manager Brian Cashman often calls the “new world order” of Major League Baseball.

Sam Briend (the director of pitching) and Daniel Moskos (a minor league pitching coach) were lured from Driveline. Desi Druschel (manager of pitch development) came from the University of Iowa. Three other mi-

Just five years removed from coaching high school baseball, Matt Blake is now the Yankees’ pitching coach. nor league pitching coaches — Dustin Glant, Ben Buck and Brett DeGagne — also jumped from the college ranks.

When the Yankee set out last winter to replace Larry Rothschild, their longtime pitching coach who skewed old-school in his coaching style, they interviewed two college coaches. But Blake, 35, the Cleveland Indians’ director of pitching development, set himself apart with his resume and ideas.

In 2016, he jumped from baseball’s private sector — he was the pitching coordinator at Cressey Sports Performance — to Cleveland. There, he became an important piece of their envied pitching factory, helping develop standouts like Shane Bieber, Mike Clevinger and Zach Plesac, until the Yankees lured him away in November. Blake is now one of four pitching coaches in the major leagues without professional playing experience.

Sitting in an office at the Yankees’ spring training facility in Tampa, Fla., before the pandemic struck, Blake acknowledged that it had been a wild journey from leaving his sales job to setting up his own pitching instruction business to becoming a sought-after pitching guru who landed with the Yankees.

“But on the other hand, every step made

sense,” he said. He developed a unique skill set, he said, that combined an understanding of the movement of the body, video analysis, analytics, pitching strategies and strength and conditioning.

In other words, Blake became the epitome of a modern pitching coach. He grew up understanding the needs of the contemporary pitcher, from using weighted balls to high-tech cameras. In Cleveland, he was known for his ability to translate advanced data into usable instruction.

“He’s extremely intellectual in regards to baseball, pitching, people and personalities,” Bieber, the leading contender for the 2020 American League Cy Young Award, said earlier this year. “We loved having him here.”

While Blake may not have as much experience with mound visits or in-game management, the Yankees’ ace Gerrit Cole said Blake had caught up quickly this season.

Blake arrived, Cole said, with “a large tool belt.”

“He’s been around enough people to talk simple pitching, like ‘stay back’ or ‘get through the baseball,’” Cole said, adding: “He touches all parts of the realm.”

From a young age, Blake gravitated

toward his coaches. While working a sales job for nearly two years after graduating from college in 2007, he was earning more money teaching pitching to youth players on weekends. He was also devouring coaching resources, from books to online forums to videos, of pitching instruction from experts like Ron Wolforth and Paul Nyman.

Fascinated by a DVD in which Eric Cressey broke down the movements of a player joint by joint, Blake reached out to him in 2009 through a mutual friend. Cressey introduced Blake to the head coach of LincolnSudbury Regional High School in Massachusetts. Blake became the school’s pitching coach for six years, winning a state title in 2011.

At the same time, Blake was building the pitching arm of Cressey’s training business into one that attracted the two-time Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber, then with Cleveland, during offseasons.

Blake’s even-keeled nature during his first season with the Yankees — in a pandemic-shortened season, no less — has impressed Manager Aaron Boone, though he acknowledged that Blake was still learning the intricacies of a major league season and communicating daily with a sprawling staff like the Yankees’.

“Everything I’m seeing is that he’s going to be really good at this,” Boone said recently.

From the beginning, in his first meetings with players in spring training, Blake emphasized that he hoped his expertise would be a supplement, not a replacement, to theirs or other coaches’.

“There’s definitely a level of respect for the talent that you’re coaching,” he said. “I have not played the game at that level. But if you’re upfront and authentic about that and not try to pretend that you did, I don’t think players care anymore.”

JOSÉ BURGOS Técnico Generadores Gas Propano

787•607•3343

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, September 28, 2020

27

New for this pandemic French Open: Fall weather and lights

By CHRISTOPHER CLAREY

T

he official poster for the 2020 French Open shows a view of a sunlit clay court through a dense ring of green leaves.

But that poster was commissioned long before the start of this year’s tournament was postponed from May to September because of the coronavirus pandemic.

If it were being painted for the French Open’s new dates, falling red and yellow leaves would be more appropriate.

“The trees are shedding,” said Sven Groeneveld, a veteran coach. “On court you have plenty.”

Roland Garros, synonymous with Paris in the spring, has turned autumnal this year. Put away your Panama hats and bring on your pumpkin-spiced lattes.

“So, so cold,” said Rafael Nadal, who is usually the one sending shivers through the draw.

Nadal was speaking on Friday after his latest practice session in temperatures in the 50s that he termed “a little bit extreme” for an outdoor tournament.

“Conditions here probably are the most difficult conditions for me ever in Roland Garros for so many different facts,” Nadal said.

Nadal, it should be noted, has made a career out of downplaying his chances just about everywhere, including the French Open, where he has won a mind-boggling 12 singles titles.

That is — no surprise — a record, and he remains the oddsmakers’ favorite to extend it to 13 this year despite the presence of No. 1 Novak Djokovic and No. 3 Dominic Thiem, the 2020 U.S. Open winner.

Both are phenomenal clay-court players themselves.

“Clay is Rafa’s domain,” said Paul Annacone, a former coach of Roger Federer who is now working with the American Taylor Fritz. “I will be shocked if Rafa is not holding the trophy on Sunday, Oct. 11.”

Yet it remains true that this is a French Open like no other, and that Nadal is not only a born competitor but also a creature of habit. Luckily, there is no ban on lining up his water bottles or sweeping the lines with the soles of his sneakers.

“He does like his routines,” said James Blake, the former American star who was

Chestnuts covered the ground in front of the tournament board at the French Open on Saturday.

3-4 against Nadal and is now an ESPN analyst. “I know they are limiting the size of the teams, and he’s used to the same team in the same restaurant doing the same things. You wonder if any of that will throw him off.”

This is not the first time a major tennis event has been played at Roland Garros in the autumn. France played Davis Cup matches there in 1981 versus Japan, in 2002 against the United States and in 2014 against the Czech Republic.

The French women lost to Russia in the 2005 Fed Cup final at Roland Garros with 15,000 people in the stands.

But none of those events ended in mid-October, and none of them had to deal with the coronavirus, which is on the rise again in France and in the Paris region. The second wave forced organizers to scale back their grand plans for a nearly full house to a meager 1,000 spectators per day on the entire grounds.

“That represents the equivalent of 120 square meters per person, which is 30 times more than the normal requirement,” said Bernard Giudicelli, the president of the French Tennis Federation, upset by the government-mandated reductions.

A happier change is the new retractable roof over the main Philippe Chatrier Court, which will allow play to continue

on at least one court if the forecast of frequent rain for Week 1 turns out to be correct.

The French Open is the last of the four Grand Slam tournaments to have a roofed stadium, and the others — Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open — all have at least two.

The French Open was a laggard in part because tennis can be played on its clay-court surface in light rain and in part because of legal disputes that delayed the modernization of the stadium by several years.

“We were behind, but the whole process took so long,” said Guy Forget, the French Open tournament director. “But finally we have it, and we will probably have another one a few years down the road.”

The structure is more canopy than roof. It covers the court but leaves a gap for air circulation rather than creating a true indoor environment. If it is rainy and chilly outside, it will be dry but still chilly on the court with the canopy closed.

The Chatrier court and the 11 other courts at Roland Garros also have been equipped with lights for the first time, which will allow play to continue after dark. There are no U.S. Open-style night sessions on the schedule, at least not this

year, but matches that begin on one of the lighted courts will be played to their completion instead of being stopped and resumed the following day.

The lights were set to be installed on the main show courts even before the pandemic, but they should play an essential role with the move to the autumn.

With earlier nightfall comes cooler temperatures, which generally make for heavier, lower-bouncing conditions on clay. That is not considered ideal weather for Nadal because it keeps his whipping topspin forehand from doing maximum damage. But though the weather forecast for Week 1 is gloomy, there can also be clear, warmer days in late September and early October in Paris that would bring livelier conditions.

But Nadal, who has won clay-court titles in all kinds of weather, also expressed concern on Friday about the new brand of ball being used at the tournament this year: Wilson instead of Babolat, which is one of Nadal’s sponsors.

Nadal said the new balls were “slow” and “heavy.”

“But this year is what we have,” he said. “I am just staying positive with this.

I know we are going to have to play with this ball, so I need to find the best feelings possible with these conditions.”

28

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, September 28, 2020

Miro Heiskanen is Dallas’s do-everything defenseman

By ANDREW KNOLL

D

allas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen may be understated, but his play speaks for him with all the force, dynamism and range of a concert choir.

During these playoffs, he has some of the most prominent voices in hockey singing his praises.

Heiskanen, a 21-year-old Finn, is in his second NHL season and his first Stanley Cup Final, having led the surprising Stars to their matchup against Tampa Bay with contributions up and down the 200-foot length of the ice. His impact in Dallas’ defensive structure and transition game has been immeasurable. But his 25 points in 25 games can be quantified easily: He leads the team and has accrued more points than any other defenseman this postseason. That represents a leap from the regular season, in which he posted 35 points in 68 games.

“You’re very impressed seeing how quickly he’s developed into one of the top D in the league; there’s no question about it,” said Victor Hedman, the Lightning’s top defenseman and a Conn Smythe Trophy candidate as the second-highest scoring defenseman this postseason.

In Game 4, Heiskanen set up two one-timers in the third period, including one for Alexander Radulov where the pass traveled diagonally across most of the offensive zone, and he played a vital role in the tying goal. His well-timed pinch sustained an attack that culminated in Joe Pavelski’s equalizer, which he assisted.

He also had one of the most dangerous chances in overtime, a rising shot to the top left corner. But Tampa Bay scored on a power play to win, 5-4, and take a three games to one lead in the series after a penalty to Jamie Benn that the Stars considered questionable.

In Saturday’s Game 5, Heiskanen again assisted on a Pavelski equalizer in the third period and the Stars went on to win 3-2 in double overtime to cut Tampa Bay’s series lead to 3-2. Game 6 is tonight at 8.

Heiskanen’s jump in scoring has spearheaded a Stars offense that was the focus of the unexpected second training camp this season. These finals started more than a year after the 2019-20 preseason began, and the Stars used the pause in the season forced by the coronavirus pandemic to shuffle their lines and add strategies to

“If you need a big play, he makes it,” Dallas Coach Rick Bowness said of Miro Heiskanen, right. bolster an offense that scored the fewest goals during the regular season among the 24 postseason qualifiers. Heiskanen, who shoots left-handed and can play on either side of the ice, said his own approach had not been affected by the changes.

“I just try to play a similar game every night,” Heiskanen said before the start of the finals. “Of course the whole team is playing really good right now, so that helps me a lot, too. But yeah, I just try to play the same way every night and try to help my team every night.”

Rick Bowness, a veteran coach who has been behind the bench in five different decades, was more effusive about Heiskanen’s utility and versatility. Bowness marveled at Heiskanen’s hockey sense and his ability to process new information quickly and comprehensively.

He also described Heiskanen as an “elite athlete” but was equally impressed by his drive to succeed.

“If you need a big play, he makes it,”

said Bowness, who later responded to a question about what Heiskanen does for his team by saying, “Everything.”

Heiskanen has drawn few direct comparisons, with many instead describing him as a composite of some of the greatest defensemen. Seven-time Norris Trophy winner Nicklas Lidstrom recently compared Heiskanen with the standardbearer for offensive defensemen, Hall of Famer Paul Coffey, in terms of his speed, acceleration and effortless skating ability, as well as his penchant for beating opponents without stick handling.

“It looks like he’s played a lot more years in the league than he really has,” Lidstrom said. “You usually need a few years of making mistakes to understand how to be better at decision making. His game is already there and that is what impresses me.”

Jere Lehtinen, a former Dallas wing and a three-time Selke Trophy winner, saw Heiskanen up close as the general

manager of the Finnish national team and compared his instincts, reads and ability to control the game to those of Lidstrom.

Lehtinen said that Heiskanen had an ability to skate into plays similar to that of Scott Niedermayer, who won four Stanley Cups and molded an archetype for the roving No. 1 defensemen of successive generations.

Lehtinen said that Heiskanen would similarly “leave a mark” and potentially be a player to whom great defensemen are compared in the future. All that was left was filling out his physique, which Lehtinen said would make Heiskanen “unstoppable.”

Heiskanen starred in Finland, first at the top junior level and then at the senior level. In his first senior season, Lehtinen said, Heiskanen “jumped out every game,” and in his second year he won the top league’s award for its best defenseman.

An injury before the Stars’ training camp factored into the team’s decision to loan him to his Finnish club for that second campaign, in 2018. That also allowed him to participate in all three of hockey’s top international tournaments: the world junior championships, the world championships and the Olympic Games.

Those high-stakes games helped season Heiskanen for the playoff stage, where his ranginess has been on full display. Heiskanen changes gears fluidly and awaits the right moment to unleash his top velocity.

“He manages his speed effectively up the ice,” Lehtinen said. “He can join the rush and still be the first guy back in his own end.”

So far in his career, Heiskanen’s profile has been remarkably low. He was not a finalist for rookie of the year last season, despite being Dallas’ lone All-Star. This season, he finished 12th in the Norris Trophy voting, tied with the New York Rangers’ Tony DeAngelo.

“Everyone you talk to on the opposition, when you talk to other coaches after games — ‘Wow, that kid can fly; that kid does this, he does that.’” Bowness said.

“Yeah, we see it every night. When he’s that low in the rankings, that just tells me that not enough people are watching our team closely. It’s as simple as that.”

Such snubs seem unlikely to affect Heiskanen, even less so as he pursues the Conn Smythe Trophy as the postseason’s MVP and the unparalleled thrill of hoisting the Stanley Cup.

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, September 28, 2020

Sudoku

29

How to Play:

Fill in the empty fields with the numbers from 1 through 9.

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

Crossword

Answers on page 30

Wordsearch

GAMES

HOROSCOPE Aries

30

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, September 28, 2020

(Mar 21-April 20)

You’re regretting a recent disagreement. You miss someone you’ve been seeing regularly and you wish you hadn’t said something that has clearly hurt them. This would be a good time to bury the hatchet. It will be a relief to cease hostilities and get this friendship back onto a more harmonious footing.

Libra

(Sep 24-Oct 23)

An extravagant gift will receive a grateful response. It gives you great pleasure to be able to give someone something they need that they cannot afford themselves. Friction in the family will get you down at times. Not so bad is life at work and if you’re unemployed and looking for a job, news about a recent application should be good.

Taurus

(April 21-May 21)

Scorpio

Gemini

(May 22-June 21)

Sagittarius

(Nov 23-Dec 21)

You’ve always needed some variety and if life and everyday routines are growing boring, now is the time to make some changes. Put your imagination to work. You can and will find happiness and stimulation if you go out and look for it. Make an effort to change your life for the better.

Check what you have agreed to do, who with and where before agreeing to anything else today. If you forget an arrangement already made with a friend they aren’t going to be happy about it. A generous gift, impulsively purchased, that seems like a good idea at the time could leave you strapped for cash.

Cancer

(June 22-July 23)

Capricorn

(Dec 22-Jan 20)

Avoid any form of financial risk. Read the small print before agreeing to a long-term investment or any other money arrangement.

Check you are being advised correctly by asking for a second opinion. Even experts have been known to get it wrong. Delay important decisions until you’ve researched further.

(Oct 24-Nov 22)

Your hope is that a heart to heart conversation with a partner will clear the air. Something you have heard needs to be addressed. A secret is out and you cannot bury your head in the sand any longer. Neither can you avoid discussions that are necessary to bring harmony to this relationship.

Say nothing to encourage a gossipy colleague. It’s a shame they couldn’t spend as much time concentrating on their work as they do spreading rumours. The best way to handle the situation is to keep your own thoughts to yourself. Keep to the background until the excitement dies down.

You don’t want to feel as if you’re standing still for long. Although familiar places and steady routines always make you feel comfortable and secure, you can’t learn and grow by getting stuck in a rut. The chance to learn new skills or gain fresh experiences should be seriously considered.

Leo

Aquarius

(July 24-Aug 23)

(Jan 21-Feb 19)

Keep an eye on your team if you are working with a new group of people. If you are in charge of what others are supposed to be doing, make sure everyone knows what is expected of them. Someone may have picked up instructions wrongly and they’re working away on all the wrong things.

You understand the meaning of unconditional giving. If you are able to help out a friend, neighbour or colleague, you will do so without expecting anything back in return.

Someone is grateful for all you are doing for them. They will be offended if you don’t let them show their gratitude by paying you back in some small way.

Virgo

Pisces

(Aug 24-Sep 23)

Before making a promise check you will be able to keep to it. There may be various reasons why you cannot fulfil obligations you are making today. Once you have given your word, people will be expecting you to keep it.

Be honest about what you can and can’t do from the start if you value your relationships.

(Feb 20-Mar 20)

If you’re willing to work with new ideas and suggestions, you will see an improvement in jobs carried out regularly. You might also enjoy experimenting with new routines. An elderly relative will receive news about an issue that causes them some confusion. They would welcome your help in making an important decision.

Answers to the Sudoku and Crossword on page 29

Monday, September 28, 2020

31

CARTOONS

Herman

Speed Bump

Frank & Ernest

BC

Scary Gary

Wizard of Id

For Better or for Worse

The San Juan Daily Star

Ziggy

32

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, September 28, 2020

DESPIDETE DEL CALOR CON NUESTRAS CONSOLAS DE AIRE ¡Disfruta el mejor Perfortmance!

Desde

$589.00

Microwave Oven

$89.00

Estufa de gas 2 hornillas .00

$129

Licuadora OSTER

$49

.00

Cafetera Oster .00

$29

$449

Samsung A10s

$149.00

Freezer Commercial con Ruedas .00

$449

Learning Tab

$169

.00

Portable Ice Maker

$289.00

Samsung Galaxy Tab A .00

$489.00

$29 Water Dispenser

$169.00

Electric Instant Hot Water Heater .00

$489

Super Sonic 32”

QFX Remote Controlled Motorized 360 Rotating Outdoor Antenna

Lavadora GE Comercial .00

Silla Metal Estudiantes .00

Ipad 7 .00

$189

$189.00

$29.00

$589

Nevera Mabe 10pc.

$749

$18

$20

Tope de Gas Mabe 20” .00

Estufa Mabe 30” .00

Plancha Oster Ceramica .00

Pulsar 2300 .00

Bitz Stand Fan Turbo 5 aspas

Abanico recargable

$69.00

Smart-tv-kit

$99.00

$29.00

$130

DEALER AUTORIZADO EN PIEZAS Y SERVICIO

Sony. CDF-S70

$79.00