April 15, 2024
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. Wind:
By THE STAR STAFF
The Puerto Rico Energy Bureau (PREB) has postponed the utility rate review process, arguing that if the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s (PREPA) debt adjustment plan is confirmed, the energy regulator will have to include charges in customers’ rates to pay the utility’s debt and pension obligations.
“The Title III Court’s final decision on the amended plan will directly affect this proceeding because, once confirmed, future electricity rates will need to incorporate a Legacy Charge, while also funding the operators of Puerto Rico’s electricity system -- PREPA, LUMA, and Genera -- and PREPA’s pension obligations,” the PREB said in a ruling issued last Friday. The PREB said all parties will continue to use the rates approved in 2017.
affects the rate proceeding.
The PREB also said the bankruptcy case has an impact on the contract with LUMA Energy to operate PREPA’s transmission and distribution system because the contract is not truly effective until all conditions have been met including the exit of PREPA from the Title III bankruptcy process.
In the amended debt adjustment plan, “the Financial Oversight and Management Board has proposed a ‘Legacy Charge’ -- defined as a hybrid fixed monthly customer volumetric charge, to be included in PREPA’s rates to pay principal and interest of bonds that shall be issued under the amended plan. The Amended Plan requires the PREB to review and approve the Legacy Charge,” the PREB said.
PREPA’s pension obligations will also be addressed in the amended plan.
PREPA has been in bankruptcy since 2017 to restructure some $9 billion in debt. The Financial Oversight and Management Board has proposed a plan that would reduce the utility’s debt by about 80% to $2.5 billion. The plan would raise electricity rates for 35 years or more to pay debt service on bonds and other payments to bondholders. It imposes a legacy charge on customer bills to pay off the debt.
PREB began a rate review process in June 2023, and in March of this year divided the process into stages. Phase II of the rate review process was divided into a two-step review of revenue requirements and rate design and established milestones for the rate review process. Additionally, the PREB gave PREPA, LUMA Energy and Genera PR instructions on the fiscal year 2025 budget.
After LUMA Energy requested the cancellation of an April 17 technical conference on the rate, the PREB said it recognized that PREPA’s ongoing Title III case directly
“As such, any information about the inclusion of charges in customer bills designed to collect revenues for payment of PREPA’s Legacy Debt and pension obligations is subject to the confirmation of the amended plan,” the PREB said.
The PREB will need to review the revenue requirement including the legacy charge and PREPA’s pension obligations along with the rest of the revenue requirement components, including the rate design, as part of the rate review request.
From March 4 to March 18, the federal Title III court held hearings in which it considered evidence and arguments to determine whether to confirm the amended debt plan. The court considered the matter, required all stakeholders to file updated findings of facts and conclusions of law in support of or opposed to the confirmation of the debt adjustment plan on April 1 and objections on April 5.
“Based on available information, it is expected that the Title III Court will issue its decision on the Amended Plan soon,” the PREB said. “While the timing of the conclusion of PREPA’s Title III proceeding remains uncertain, the Energy Bureau determines that to have an integral handling of the rate case it is in the best interest of ratepayers, when considering procedural economy and use of resources, to modify the timeline of this proceeding.”
Resident commissioner candidate Pablo José Hernández Rivera on Sunday celebrated the announcement at the Popular Democratic Party (PDP) convention about the party’s chosen candidate in the Ponce mayor’s race after the suspended mayor of the southern coastal city, Luis Manuel Irizarry Pabón, announced he would not seek re-election.
“The great news of this meeting, beyond its organizational success and massive attendance of delegations from all municipalities, was the agreement for the interim mayor of Ponce, Marlese Sifre, to be the official candidate and Representative [Ángel] Fourquet to continue his excellent legislative work,” Hernández Rivera said in a written statement. “Once again, the Popular Democratic Party is teaching unity of purpose and focus on the future. Unlike the New Progressive Party’s gubernatorial campaigns, where they are accused of bribery and treason, the PDP is on the same page working to win.”
Party president Jesús Manuel Ortíz González said in another written statement earlier in the day: “I thank Dr. Irizarry Pabón for making the right decision for him and for the PDP.”
“This way he will be able to concentrate on his defense and it allows us as an institution to focus on working together to win in November,” Ortíz González said. “To that end, in the coming days we will announce
“This way [outgoing Ponce Mayor Luis Manuel Irizarry Pabón] will be able to concentrate on his defense and it allows us as an institution to focus on working together to win in November,” Popular Democratic Party President Jesús Manuel Ortíz González said. (Popular Democratic Party/Facebook)
the start of the substitution process in accordance with the electoral calendar. We are confident that after all this process, the PDP in Ponce will continue to work together. We reiterate our desire that the process that Dr. Irizarry Pabón will face will be a just one.”
PDP Electoral Commissioner Karla Angleró
González said in a radio interview that Irizarry Pabón must provide an affidavit to make the candidacy available and that the party can then open a process to fill the vacancy.
Late last week a judge found cause for trial against Irizarry Pabón in a preliminary hearing process in which he was accused by the Special Independent Prosecutor Panel of allegedly soliciting trust employees to repay a personal loan of his.
The outgoing mayor was charged with unjustified enrichment and violations of the Government Ethics Act.
Also participating in the PDP convention held at the Ponce Hilton, San Juan mayoral candidate Terestella González Denton expressed confidence on Sunday that the enthusiasm at the event “is a great predictor.”
“Without a doubt we are going to win in Ponce and also in San Juan, because the organizational, electoral and collection work is being done,” said the president of the PDP municipal committee of San Juan.
Regarding her campaign, the former director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company said that “in San Juan we are facing a totally different scenario, because we are meeting the goals that we set monthly in terms of electoral work.”
“It gives me great satisfaction that many people who have been away from partisan politics for years are coming and are contributing and collaborating,” she said.
Rep. Víctor Parés Otero urged Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia on Sunday to go to court to defend Act 102024, which sets aside power hikes until 2030 for net metering consumers, after objections to the law were raised by the Financial Oversight and Management Board. “The Board alleges that Act 10-2024 is contrary to
the Debt Adjustment Plan (PAD) of the Electric Power Authority (PREPA) and that it binds the government,” the legislator said in a written statement. “However, net metering has succeeded in Puerto Rico, promoting the switch to solar energy faster than in some jurisdictions nationwide. Changing the rate, which is nothing more than increasing it, as the Board essentially wants, will have a devastating effect on our island and will perpetuate the use of oil as the main source of energy generation, which is unacceptable.”
Last week, the oversight board told the government to refrain from executing Act 10 because it is inconsistent with the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act, commonly known as PROMESA, and the certified fiscal plan. The law would prevent the Puerto Rico Energy Bureau (PREB) from changing the commonwealth’s net metering and energy distribution policy until at least 2031. Act 10 is inconsistent with the fiscal plans’ requirement that the PREB be able to operate independently and “free from any direct or indirect political influence or interference,” the oversight board said. The board said net metering programs can effectively encourage individual consumers to invest in green energy.
Therefore, they require careful study and calibration by an experienced regulator insulated from political influence that compromises the objective evaluation of the policy.
Parés Otero alleged that if Act 10 is not executed, consumers with renewable energy systems, particularly photovoltaics, will suffer a “devastating” impact.
“We are urging the governor to take all necessary measures, as a matter of urgency, to stop the Board from implementing a new charge for people with solar panel systems,” the lawmaker said. “That includes action in court, something that must be thought about quickly and acted upon quickly. If Judge Laura Taylor Swain confirms the debt adjustment plan, it will be much more difficult to avoid the solar charge, as some have called it.”
The oversight board rejected waiting for the PREB to conduct a net metering study in or before 2030, as established by statute.
Act 10 changed the deadline for the PREB to complete the net metering study. Under the new provisions of Article 4 of Law 114-2007, the PREB must begin the study in January 2030.
Pierluisi said over the weekend that he was unsure about defending the law.
By THE STAR STAFF
The island House of Representatives has approved legislation that would broaden alternatives for drivers to pay for their delinquent highway tolls.
Joint Resolution 627 gives various public agencies and private entities about 90 days to establish the mechanisms and adopt the necessary regulations for interconnection of the computerized systems of the vehicle inspection centers, collectors, and the digital Driver Services Center (CESCO by its Spanish acronym) system.
The idea is to allow drivers who own money on tolls to pay them when they renew their automobile registration every year.
The measure mandates the integration of systems and regulation of key entities involved in toll collec-
As part of his commitment to volunteerism and direct support to the minority leader for the communities, Rep. Carlos “Johnny” Méndez Nuñez late last week recognized more than 40 outstanding community leaders for the impact they make on behalf of the most disadvantaged. “Volunteer work in favor of the communities of Puerto Rico is one of the highest expressions of selflessness; we saw it when they were hit by Hurricanes Irma and Maria in September 2017 and we see it every day in the work carried out by these extraordinary volunteers who are dedicated to improving the quality of life of their communities,” said Méndez Nuñez, the New Progressive Party minority leader in the island House of Representatives. “Recognizing their work is important to carry a message of the importance of what they do, and to encourage more people to get involved in volunteerism.”
During the event, held last Friday in the rotunda at the Capitol, the former House speaker added: “There is no feeling
more important to a human being than the knowledge that he helped his fellow man.”
“Encouraging volunteerism is essential to Puerto Rico’s social development,” he said. “Events like this underscore the need for more people to get involved in serving others. These citizens that [...] we are recognizing are an example of how volunteerism continues to be the key to success in the third decade of the 21st century.”
Among the volunteers honored were Alexis Rivera, Tibilian Sánchez, Reyes Rivera, Victoria Machado, Agnes Vázquez, Luis Alvira, Johanny Llabres, Marisol Meléndez, Miguel Serrano, Astrid Morales, Minelis Mulero, Lialian Díaz, Sandra Guzmán and Pastor Dolly Rodríguez; all from the municipality of Fajardo.
Also recognized were Wanda Nieves, Evelyn Fragosa, Ángel Correo, Antonio Rodríguez and Migdalia Rosario of Luquillo. Denise Torres and Marlene Velázquez, both from Río Grande, also received a motion of recognition.
From Ceiba were Evelyn Rivera, José Soto, DannyVelázquez, Paul Martínez, Aleida Cotto, Ignacio Reinoso, Wilfredo Mon-
The island police are investigating the discovery on Saturday night of a cadaver in a state of decomposition in a residence on Unión Final Street in Fajardo’s Santa Isidra 1 Urbanization.
According to the authorities’ report, a woman alleged that she returned to her residence after several months of not living there and found a decomposing body lying in a fetal position on a bed in the home.
Officer Giovanni Cantres of the Fajardo Criminal Investigations Corps carried out the preliminary investigation along with prosecutor
Félix Sánchez, who ordered the removal of the body and its transfer to the Institute of Forensic Sciences for the cause of death and identification.
Servicio
tion, including the Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTOP), the Highways and Transportation Authority (ACT), the Puerto Rico Innovation and Technology Service (PRITS), the Treasury Department, and Professional Account Management LLC (PAM), to streamline the toll payment process.
Rep. José Hernández Concepción, the legislation’s author, said the aim is to prevent long lines at the AutoExpreso office that occur when drivers are delinquent in their toll payments.
He said the opportunity to pay the debts at inspection centers, collection shops and CESCO Digital will facilitate the payment process and add alternatives for overcoming drivers’ difficulties with the AutoExpreso system.
The measure, which was approved without amendments, received 39 votes in favor and no votes against it. Two lawmakers abstained from voting. It must now go to the Senate for consideration.
tes, Ruth Torres, Migdalia Marrero, Bryan Lee Santos, Norma Amaro and Ángel Sandoz.
In Culebra, Carlos Carrión and Benjamín Pérez stood out. From Vieques, Iris Sanes and Nathanael Velázquez were recognized.
The body was ordered removed from the Fajardo residence for transfer to the Institute of Forensic Sciences to determine the cause of death and identification.
When Sen. Bob Menendez was charged last year with corruption after investigators found $486,000 in cash stashed around his house in New Jersey, he offered a simple, “old-fashioned” explanation: It had been his custom to withdraw cash from a personal savings account to keep at home, a habit he learned from his Cuban immigrant parents.
But federal prosecutors, in papers filed late Friday, presented fresh details that they suggested undercut Menendez’s claim. Some of the cash was wrapped in bands showing it had been withdrawn, at least $10,000 at a time, from a bank where Menendez and his wife “had no known depository account.” This, prosecutors said, indicated “that the money had been provided to them by another person.”
Recently, Menendez’s lawyers had asked a judge to exclude much of the cash discovered in the home as evidence when the senator’s trial in New York City starts next month, arguing that there was no proof the money was linked to a crime. The prosecutors’ Friday filing was in response to this request.
The issue of the cash cuts to a critical theme of the government’s case: that the senator and his wife, Nadine Menendez, had a lifestyle that was above their means and funded by bribes.
A federal indictment says that the cash, along with gold bars and other valuable items, were “fruits” of a bribery scheme. Much of the cash found in the couple’s house in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, was discovered in a bedroom closet, prosecutors said in their filing. Additional cash was found in a duffel bag in an office, in a bag on a shelf above a coat rack in the basement, in the pockets of men’s jackets hanging on the coat rack, and inside footwear under jackets. In addition, more than $70,000 was found in a safe deposit box maintained by Nadine Menendez, the government said.
Bob Menendez, 70, a Democrat, and his wife are accused of accepting bribes in exchange for the senator’s willingness to use his political influence to disrupt criminal investigations in New Jersey and to help the governments of Egypt and Qatar. The Menendezes and two New Jersey businesspeople charged in the scheme have all pleaded not guilty.
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) departs the Capitol in Washington after a vote on Feb. 27, 2024. The senator has said that money found in his house was from his own savings account.
But prosecutors submitted evidence that at least $80,000 came “from another person.”
(Kent Nishimura/The New York Times)
Menendez, the former chair of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the two businesspeople are expected to be tried together, starting May 6 in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. The senator has refused widespread calls for his resignation and has said that he hopes to run for reelection in November as an independent if he is exonerated.
Prosecutors have said that at least 10 envelopes of cash found in searches of the senator’s house and a safe deposit box, containing more than $80,000, bore the fingerprints or DNA of one of the businesspeople also charged in the case. They said gold bars had also been tied to the businesspeople.
Bob Menendez’s lawyers had no comment Saturday. But in court papers, they have said they were trying to bar prosecutors from telling the jury only about cash that had no clear link to an alleged co-conspirator. “The government should not be permitted to try to sway the jury with dramatic presentation of valuable items bearing only a speculative connection to any charged offense,” they wrote.
The judge, Sidney Stein, ruled Thursday that Nadine Menendez, 57, will be tried separately, after her lawyers said she had a newly diagnosed medical condition that will require a surgical procedure and
possibly a lengthy recovery. The judge set a tentative July trial date for her.
Last September, the senator, who was born in the United States, offered an explanation for at least some of the money found in their home, tying it to his family’s roots in Cuba in the years before Fidel Castro seized control.
For 30 years, Menendez said, he had withdrawn thousands of dollars in cash from his personal savings account, keeping it “for emergencies.” He said the habit stemmed from a “history of my family facing confiscation in Cuba.”
“This may seem old-fashioned,” he added, “but these were monies drawn from my personal savings account based on the income that I have lawfully derived over those 30 years.”
The next month, in an interview with PBS, Menendez elaborated, stating that he had withdrawn $400 in cash every week for “the better part” of three decades.
Two days before his first criminal trial was set to begin in Manhattan, former President Donald Trump on Saturday again framed the charges he faces as a broad attempt by Democrats to keep him from the White House, and he criticized a gag order placed on him by the judge in the New York case.
“Two days from now, the entire world will witness the commencement of the very first Biden trial,” Trump said at a rally in eastern Pennsylvania, alluding to his frequent and false assertion that President Joe Biden orchestrated the New York case.
The case, which Trump also called a “communist show trial,” was brought by the Manhattan district attorney’s office and has nothing to do with Biden.
As he often does, Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, cast himself as a victim of political persecution who is protecting his followers from a similar fate.
“I’m proud to do it for you,” he said of going on trial, speaking to a large crowd of his supporters who had waited for hours before gathering in a windswept field in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania. “Have a good time watching.”
There will not be television cameras in the courtroom. But Trump has sometimes held news conferences after his court dates, using them as an extension of the campaign trail, and he is expected
to continue holding rallies on weekends, as he has for months.
Trump’s rally Saturday began as Iran was launching an aerial attack on Israel in retaliation for a deadly Israeli airstrike two weeks ago.
The former president, who often portrays himself as Israel’s staunchest ally, offered prayers and support for the country. Then, as he often does, Trump effectively blamed Biden for the conflict in the Gaza Strip and insisted it would not have happened if he had won in 2020.
“They’re under attack right now,” Trump said of Israel. “That’s
because we show great weakness.”
Several minutes later, members of the crowd began chanting, “Genocide Joe,” a phrase more commonly associated with progressives protesting Biden’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza.
Trump has repeatedly said that he backed Israel’s right to defend itself after a Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7. But, as the chants died down, he seemed to agree with them. “They’re not wrong,” he said.
Trump repeated his false claims that he won the 2020 election and that Democrats cheated him out of a victory several times. Biden won Pennsylvania in 2020 by more than 80,000 votes.
“They cheat like hell,” Trump said of his political opponents, an allegation of voter fraud that has not been supported by evidence. He continued by sowing doubts about the integrity of the election in November, telling his supporters: “When you see them cheating, you get out there and start screaming. Start screaming.”
Trump also criticized a gag order imposed on him in the Manhattan case, in which he has been accused of covering up a sex scandal surrounding the 2016 campaign.
That order prevents Trump from publicly attacking witnesses, jurors, court staff and prosecutors, though not the judge or Manhattan’s district attorney.
“I will be forced to sit fully gagged. I’m not allowed to talk,” Trump said. “Can you believe it? They want to take away my constitutional right to talk.”
The House last Friday passed a twoyear reauthorization of an expiring warrantless surveillance law known as Section 702, reversing course after the bill collapsed days earlier when former President Donald Trump urged his allies to “kill” it.
But disappointing privacy advocates, the House narrowly rejected a long-standing proposal to require warrants to search for Americans’ messages swept up by the program.
Here is a closer look.
What is Section 702?
It is a law that allows the government to collect — on domestic soil and without a warrant — the communications of targeted foreigners abroad, including when those people are interacting with Americans.
Under that law, the National Security Agency can order email services like Google to turn over copies of all messages in the accounts of any foreign user and network operators like AT&T to intercept and furnish copies of any phone calls, texts and internet communications to or from a foreign target.
Section 702 collection plays a major role in the gathering of foreign intelligence and counterterrorism information, according to national security officials.
Why was Section 702 established?
After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, President George W. Bush secretly ordered a warrantless wiretapping program codenamed Stellarwind. It violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, or FISA, which generally required a judge’s permission for national security surveillance activities on domestic soil.
The main rationale was that when Congress enacted FISA, lawmakers had relied on geography to require warrants for domestic wiretapping while keeping overseas spying unfettered. But technological advances — the internet and fiber-optic lines — made foreigners’ messages available on domestic networks, where FISA’s warrant rule applied.
Stellarwind was based on a disputed assertion of executive power. Congress later legalized a form of that program by carving out an exception, now known as Section 702, to the warrant rule in FISA.
Why is Section 702 controversial?
Privacy advocates have criticized Section 702 because it sometimes enables the government to collect Americans’ messages without a court order. While the law forbids using Section 702 to target Americans, when a foreign target communicates with an American, the government incidentally collects that American’s messages to and from its target.
Analysts at several agencies, including the FBI, can search the repository of messages by using Americans’ identifiers — like names, Social Security numbers, passport numbers, phone numbers and email addresses — as search terms. Critics call such queries a “backdoor search loophole” to the Fourth Amendment and have long wanted Congress to require the government to get warrants before seeking out Americans’ private communications.
The repeated disclosure in recent years that FBI analysts have violated standards for when they search for information about Americans has only heightened tensions. That includes analysts who improperly queried for information about Black Lives Matter protesters and people suspected of participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. The FBI has since tightened restrictions to reduce the risk of such misuses.
What would happen if Section 702 lapses?
Even if the law were to expire next Friday, the program could continue operating until April 2025 because last week the FISA court granted a government request authorizing it for another year. Under the law, surveillance activity can continue so long as there are active court orders allowing it, even if the underlying statute expires.
Even so, the intelligence community has urged Congress to reauthorize the program before it enters that sort of legal limbo, raising the possibility that providers might balk at continuing to cooperate and leading to gaps in collecting intelligence. It is also unlikely the FISA court could order new companies to start participating in the program if the underlying statute has expired.
Why did Trump want to kill it?
For political reasons that are incoherent as a matter of law and policy, as the House prepared to take up the legislation this week, Trump weighed in, urging supporters to “KILL FISA, IT WAS ILLEGALLY
Trump’s blast was part of his yearslong effort to stoke grievances about national security agencies. His dissatisfaction stems from an inspector general’s finding that the FBI botched applications for FISA warrants to target a former campaign adviser as part of the investigation into ties between his 2016 campaign and Russia. (A follow-up report found systemic sloppiness in unrelated applications.)
But Trump was mixing up which part of FISA he takes issue with from the Russia investigation. (The part in question involves warrants and is not expiring; it was not, in fact, Section 702.) Still, after his plea, 19 hard-right Republicans blocked the House on Wednesday from taking up the legislation — delivering a blow to the national security officials who say Section 702 is a crucial tool to protect the country.
How did Speaker Johnson resuscitate the bill?
Speaker Mike Johnson cut the extension to two years from five, allowing the hard-right Republicans to claim victory. Among other things, if Trump wins the 2024 election, he would be in office when the law next comes up for renewal. All 19 of the Republicans who had blocked con-
sideration of the bill Wednesday voted to bring it up Friday.
What happened to the warrant proposal?
An amendment to add it to the bill failed on a dramatic 212-212 vote — under House rules, a tie means a measure fails.
National security officials from the Biden administration had lobbied Congress heavily not to pass the amendment. They argued that it would cripple the program because they typically use it before there is enough evidence to meet a standard of probable cause for a warrant, like early in investigations when they are trying to learn more about a phone number or an email account found to be in contact with a suspected foreign spy or terrorist.
The close vote deeply disappointed privacy advocates, who instead see a warrant requirement as necessary to uphold constitutional principles. They came much closer to succeeding this cycle than they had in previous ones.
What happens next?
The House must formally transmit the bill to the Senate. There is sure to be further debate in the upper chamber, where privacy-minded lawmakers like Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., are likely to try again to attach new limits to the legislation.
A person on their phone at a subway station in New York, Nov. 24, 2019. The House on Friday, April 12, 2024 passed a two-year reauthorization of an expiring warrantless surveillance law known as Section 702, reversing course after the bill collapsed days earlier when former President Donald Trump urged his allies to “kill” it. (Karsten Moran/The New York Times)
The economic news of the past two weeks has been enough to leave even seasoned observers feeling whipsawed. The unemployment rate fell. Inflation rose. The stock market plunged, then rebounded, then dropped again.
Take a step back, however, and the picture comes into sharper focus.
Compared with the outlook in December, when the economy seemed to be on a glide path to a surprisingly smooth “soft landing,” the recent news has been disappointing. Inflation has proved more stubborn than hoped. Interest rates are likely to stay at their current level, the highest in decades, at least into the summer, if not into next year.
Shift the comparison point back just a bit, however, to the beginning of last year, and the story changes. Back then, forecasters were widely predicting a recession, convinced that the Federal Reserve’s efforts to control inflation would inevitably result in job losses, bankruptcies and foreclosures. And yet, inflation, even accounting for its recent hiccups, has cooled significantly, while the rest of the economy has so far escaped significant damage.
“It seems churlish to complain about where we are right now,” said Wendy Edelberg, director of the Hamilton Project, an economic policy arm of the Brookings Institution. “This has been a really remarkably painless slowdown given what we all worried about.”
The monthly gyrations in consumer prices, job growth and other indicators matter intensely to investors, for whom every hundredth of a percentage point in Treasury yields can affect billions of dollars in trades.
But for pretty much everyone else, what matters is the somewhat longer run. And from that perspective, the economic outlook has shifted in some subtle but important ways.
Inflation is stubborn, not surging.
Inflation, as measured by the 12-month change in the consumer price index, peaked at just over 9% in the summer of 2022. The rate then fell sharply for a year, before stalling out at about 3.5% in recent months. An alternative measure that is preferred by the Fed shows lower inflation — 2.5% in the latest
Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, testifies before the House Financial Services Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 6, 2024. Powell and his colleagues have taken an increasingly cautious tone when they talk about when and how much they might lower borrowing costs. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times)
data, from February — but a similar overall trend.
In other words: Progress has slowed, but it hasn’t reversed.
On a monthly basis, inflation has picked up a bit since the end of last year. And prices continue to rise quickly in specific categories and for specific consumers. Car owners, for example, are being hit by a triple whammy of higher gas prices, higher repair costs and, most notably, higher insurance rates, which are up 22% over the past year.
But in many other areas, inflation continues to recede. Grocery prices have been flat for two months, and are up just 1.2% over the past year. Prices for furniture, household appliances and many other durable goods have been falling. Rent increases have moderated or even reversed in many markets, although that has been slow to show up in official inflation data.
The rest of the economy is doing well.
The recent leveling-off in inflation would be a big concern if it were accompanied by rising unemployment or other signs of economic trouble. That would put policymakers in a bind: Try to prop up the recovery and they could risk adding more fuel to the
inflationary fire; keep trying to tamp down inflation and they could tip the economy into a recession.
But that isn’t what is happening. Outside of inflation, most of the recent economic news has been reassuring, if not outright rosy.
The labor market continues to smash expectations. Employers added more than 300,000 jobs in March and have added nearly 3 million in the past year. The unemployment rate has been below 4% for more than two years, the longest such stretch since the 1960s, and layoffs, despite cuts at a few high-profile companies, remain historically low.
Wages are still rising — no longer at the breakneck pace of earlier in the recovery, but at a rate that is closer to what economists consider sustainable and, crucially, that is faster than inflation.
Rising earnings have allowed Americans to keep spending even as the savings they built up during the pandemic have dwindled. Restaurants and hotels are still full. Retailers are coming off a record-setting holiday season, and many are forecasting growth this year as well. Consumer spending helped fuel an acceleration in overall econo -
mic growth in the second half of last year and appears to have continued to grow in the first quarter of 2024, albeit more slowly. Interest rates are going to stay high for a while.
So, inflation is too high, unemployment is low and growth is solid. With that set of ingredients, the standard policymaking cookbook offers up a simple recipe: high interest rates.
Sure enough, Fed officials have signaled that interest rate cuts, which investors once expected early this year, are now likely to wait at least until the summer. Michelle Bowman, a Fed governor, has even suggested that the central bank’s next move could be to raise rates, not cut them.
Investors’ expectation of lower rates was a big factor in the run-up in stock prices in late 2023 and early this year. That rally has lost steam as the outlook for rate cuts has grown murkier, and further delays could spell trouble for stock investors. Major stock indexes fell sharply Wednesday after the unexpectedly hot CPI report; the S&P 500 ended the week down 1.6%, its worst week of the year.
Borrowers, meanwhile, will have to wait for any relief from high rates. Mortgage rates fell late last year in anticipation of rate cuts but have since crept back up, exacerbating the existing crisis in housing affordability. Interest rates on credit card and auto loans are at the highest levels in decades, which is particularly hard on lower-income Americans, who are more likely to rely on such loans.
There are signs that higher borrowing costs are beginning to take a toll: Delinquency rates have risen, particularly for younger borrowers.
In the aggregate, however, the economy has withstood the harsh medicine of higher rates. Consumer bankruptcies and foreclosures haven’t soared. Nor have business failures. The financial system hasn’t buckled as some people feared.
“What should keep us up at night is if we see the economy slowing but the inflation numbers not slowing,” Edelberg said. So far, though, that isn’t what has happened. “We still just have really strong demand, and we just need monetary policy to stay tighter for longer.”
U.S. stocks sold off on Friday after major U.S. banks’ results failed to impress, capping a week marked by market-moving inflation data, evolving expectations for U.S. Federal Reserve policy, and looming geopolitical tensions.
All three major indexes fell more than 1%, and registered losses on the week.
The S&P 500 index notched its biggest weekly percentage loss since January, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s weekly loss was its steepest since March 2023.
“When we look at what’s happened in the macro space, inflation has taken a turn for the worse and that has put more pressure on companies to deliver this earnings season,” said Mike Dickson, head of research at Horizon Investments in Charlotte, North Carolina. “Everyone’s a bit jittery with intense focus on how good earnings need to be.”
Results from a trio of big banks marked the unofficial launch of first-quarter earnings season.
JPMorgan Chase & Co, the biggest U.S. bank by assets, posted a 6% profit increase but its net interest income forecast fell short of expectations. Its shares slid 6.5%.
Wells Fargo & Co’s stock inched lower after profits fell 7% as net interest income dropped on weak borrowing demand.
Citigroup posted a loss after spending on employee severance and deposit insurance. Its stock dipped 1.7%.
Economic data this week, particularly Wednesday’s hotter-than-expected Consumer Price Index report, has suggested that inflation could be stickier than previously thought, prompting investors to reset expectations about the timing and extent of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s rate cuts this year.
“It’s a very real risk that we won’t get any rate cuts this year,” Dickson said, adding that while he does not expect a hike, the Fed would probably prefer to keep rates higher for longer.
“There’s just no data point that you can actually look at right now that says the Fed should cut rates.”
Boston Fed President Susan Collins said she expects a couple of rate cuts this year, even though it could take inflation some time to return to its targeted level.
Austan Goolsbee, president of the Chicago Fed, said he remains focused on the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report due on April 26 for a clearer picture of inflation’s progress toward the central bank’s target.
Geopolitical tensions continue to simmer as Iran threatened to take revenge on Israel for the April 1 airstrike on its embassy in Damascus, adding momentum to the sell-off.
“Geopolitical risks are difficult to nail down but they could keep energy prices elevated, which would not be
helpful to for the CPI situation.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 475.84 points, or 1.24%, to 37,983.24. The S&P 500 lost 75.65 points, or 1.46%, at 5,123.41 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 267.10 points, or 1.62%, to 16,175.09.
All 11 major sectors in the S&P 500 closed in the red, with materials suffering the steepest percentage loss.
Advanced Micro Devices and Intel fell 4.2% and 5.2%, respectively, following a report that Chinese offi-
cials told the country’s largest telecom firm earlier this year to phase out foreign chips by 2027.
U.S. Steel slid 2.1% after shareholders voted to approve a proposed merger with Nippon Steel Corporation.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by a 4.19-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 3.16-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 12 new 52-week highs and nine new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 35 new highs and 211 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 11.67 billion shares, compared with the 11.41 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.
Iran has retaliated directly against Israel for the killings of its senior generals in Damascus, Syria, with an onslaught of more than 300 drones and missiles aimed at restoring its credibility and deterrence, officials and analysts say.
That represents a moment of great risk, with key questions still to answer, they say. Has Iran’s attack been enough to satisfy its calls for revenge? Or given the relatively paltry results — almost all of the drones and missiles were intercepted by Israel and the United States — will it feel obligated to strike again? And will Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, see the strong performance by his country’s air defenses as a sufficient response? Or will he choose to escalate further with an attack on Iran itself?
Now that Iran has attacked Israel as it promised to do, it will want to avoid a broader war, the officials and analysts say, noting that the Iranians targeted only military sites in an apparent effort to avoid civilian casualties and advertised their attack well in advance.
“Iran’s government appears to have concluded that the Damascus strike was a strategic inflection point, where failure to retaliate would carry more downsides than benefits,” said Ali Vaez, Iran director of the International Crisis Group. “But in doing so, the shadow war it has been waging with Israel for years now threatens to turn into a very real and very damaging conflict,” one that could drag in the United States, he said.
“The Iranians have for now played their card,” said Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House. “They made a choice to call Israel’s bluff, and they felt they needed to do so, because they see the last six months as a persistent effort to set them back across the region.”
On Sunday, Iranian leaders said the military operation against Israel was over but warned that they could launch a bigger one depending on Israel’s response.
Brig. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, Iran’s top military officer, said the “operation yielded its complete result” and “there is no intention to continue it.” But, he added, if Israel attacked Iran on its own soil or elsewhere, “our next operation will be much bigger than this.”
For years, Iran took blow after blow from Israel: assassinations of its nuclear scientists and military commanders,
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President Joe Biden arrives back at the White House in Washington, ending his weekend in Delaware a day earlier than planned, on Saturday, April 13, 2024. Iran launched drones from its territory toward Israel on Saturday, in retaliation for a deadly Israeli airstrike in early April on the Iranian Embassy complex in Damascus, the Israeli and Iranian militaries said. (Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times)
explosions at its nuclear and military bases, cyberattacks, intelligence infiltrations, an embarrassing theft of nuclear documents and recent attacks on its critical infrastructure.
But since the Hamas-led assault of Oct. 7 prompted Israel to go to war in the Gaza Strip, Israel has intensified its attacks on Iranian interests and commanders in Syria. In a series of strikes from December onward, Israel has assassinated at least 18 Iranian commanders and military personnel from the Quds Force, the elite unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard that operates outside Iran’s borders, Iranian media said.
Iran’s government has been criticized by hard-liner supporters for its cautious posture during the war in Gaza.
With the attacks this weekend, Vakil said: “I think Tehran saw a need to draw this red line and make it clear to Israel that Iran does have red lines and would not continue to tolerate the slow degradation of its position.”
Tehran felt it had to respond, even if its attack prompted firm American backing and widespread Western diplomatic support for Israel, taking some of the heat off Israel over its war in Gaza, at least temporarily, and again isolated Iran.
Now, Vakil said, the two sides were in a standoff in which both were prepared for escalation despite knowing it would cause huge damage to themselves.
At the same time, the old equation has changed, with Israel and Iran hitting each other directly, on each other’s territory, and not through Iranian proxies abroad.
The Israeli strike on Iran’s Embassy compound in Damascus, followed by a direct Iranian strike on Israel, represents a
dangerous new chapter in the long, sometimes hidden war between Israel and Iran, which has said it wants Israel to be wiped off the map. Sometimes known as “the shadow war,” the conflict has been carried out mainly between Israel and Iran’s allies and proxies — in Gaza, southern Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen and Syria.
Both sides claim they are acting in national self-defense — Israel against groups committed to its destruction, with Iran as their prime ally and controller, and Iran against any potential Israeli war against it, often in the name of the Palestinians.
Iran’s reach for regional hegemony, enhanced by its proxies and its nuclear abilities, has antagonized the traditional Sunni Arab governments of the region, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Gulf nations. The Islamic Revolution that overthrew the monarchy in 1979 was at its start aimed at regional revolution, overthrowing these governments, most of which are monarchies or military dictatorships, so Israel’s efforts to limit the power of Iran, a non-Arab Shiite nation, have had quiet support from Arab countries, including Israel’s war against Hamas.
Now the risks of regional escalation have gone up considerably. Iran has been careful during the war in Gaza to restrain its proxies surrounding Israel against major strikes and to avoid major Israeli retaliation against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon in particular. Hezbollah, with its many thousands of rockets aimed at Israel, is considered a major deterrent preventing Israel from directly attacking Iran and especially its nuclear and missile program.
Given Iran’s new isolation after this attack, Israel should not respond, said Bruno Tertrais, deputy director of the Foundation for Strategic Research in France. “But a threshold has been crossed,” he said. And the threshold for “a massive Israeli attack on Iranian territory,” he continued, “always an extreme option for Israel whatever the commentators say — is now lowered.”
Netanyahu, who has been warning of the threat from Iran for two decades and faces severe pressure to respond from within his shaky far-right coalition, may choose to riposte with more force, either at Iran directly or at Hezbollah. But the U.S., not having been warned of the Damascus attack, is likely to insist on prior consultation now.
But the modest outcome of the Iranian attacks “may strengthen an Israeli perception that Tehran is on the back foot, lacking the willpower and capacity for deeper engagement, and that now is the moment for Israel to inflict a longsought-after, deeper blow on Iran and its regional proxies,” said Julien Barnes-Dacey, director of Middle East and North Africa for the European Council on Foreign Relations.
Israel’s challenge was always “to thwart the main thrust of the attack while still leaving an opening that will enable the Iranians to say that they achieved their goal,” wrote Nahum Barnea, a commentator for Yedioth Ahronoth, an Israeli daily. The danger is from the two extremes, he continued: “An overly successful Iranian operation is liable to devolve into a regional war; an overly failed Iranian operation will invite another Iranian operation.”
In
Twest, draft dodgers run, and swim, to
he roiling water can be treacherous, the banks are steep and slick with mud, and the riverbed is covered in jagged, hidden boulders.
Yet Ukrainian border guards often find their quarry — men seeking to escape the military draft — swimming in these hazardous conditions, trying to cross the Tysa River where it forms the border with Romania.
Lt. Vladyslav Tonkoshtan recently detained a man on the bank, where he was preparing to cross the river in the hope of reuniting with his wife and children, whom he had not seen in two years since they fled to another country in Europe.
That thousands of Ukrainian men have chosen to risk the swim rather than face the dangers as soldiers on the eastern front highlights the challenge for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as he seeks to mobilize new troops after more than two years of bruising, bloody trench warfare with Russia.
“We cannot judge these people,” Tonkoshtan said. “But if all men leave, who will defend Ukraine?”
With Russia having seized the initiative on the battlefield in recent months, Ukraine’s ability to defend itself hinges on replenishing its arsenal of weaponry, a matter largely up to allies, and mobilizing troops at home.
But getting more men to enlist has been particularly difficult and politically fraught. After months of delays and debate, Ukraine’s parliament on Thursday passed a law to expand the draft by eliminating some medical and other exemptions, increasing soldier pay and stiffening penalties for draft dodging. Zelenskyy separately signed a law lowering the draft age, to 25 from 27.
Ukraine’s shortage of soldiers has become acute, generals say. In a speech in parliament on Thursday, the commander of Ukrainian forces in the east, Gen. Yurii Sodol, said Russians in certain sections of the front outnumber Ukrainians by more than 7-1.
It was among the first public assessments of the balance of forces in the east by a senior Ukrainian military commander. Ukraine, Sodol told members of parliament, requires one soldier for every 10 yards of trench work stretching along the 600-mile front.
Many Ukrainians who rushed to volunteer in the first days of the war have fought continually since, with only two weeks of leave once a year. Soldiers are enlisted until the end of hostilities, with no defined date for release from their obligation to serve. With casualty rates high, being drafted, soldiers
A Ukrainian border guard operates a drone over the Mala Tysa River where it runs on a border with Romania, whose authorities say that more than 6,000 Ukrainian men have swam across to evade the military draft, in Tyachiv, Ukraine, April 10, 2024.(Nicole Tung/ The New York Times)
say, is like getting a one-way ticket to the front.
As Ukraine’s battlefield prospects have sagged, draft dodging has been on the rise.
In the hills and river valleys of western Ukraine’s border regions, men from elsewhere in the country have been seeking to avoid enlistment by crossing into European countries, where they seek refugee status.
Romanian authorities say more than 6,000 men have turned up on their side of the Tysa River since Russia’s invasion. Not everyone makes it. The bodies of 22 men have washed up on both banks, said Lt. Lesya Fedorova, a spokesperson for the Mukachevo border guard unit.
More have most likely drowned, officials say, though their bodies have never been found. The fatalities have earned the river a grim nickname, Death River, though it is hundreds of miles from the violence along the front.
Men also slip across the border on mountain paths or try to exit through border crossing points with counterfeit documents.
The exodus has shifted the nature of smuggling in Ukraine’s Carpathian Mountains, which border four European Union countries: Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. Smuggling that once revolved around counterfeit cigarettes has pivoted almost
completely to the business of guiding draft dodgers, border guards and local officials say.
Border guards say they detain men trying to cross the border illegally and cannot specify in any particular case whether a man was dodging the draft, a determination that is left to a court. But the trend of men crossing is clear.
Last year, the Mukachevo Border Guard Detachment broke up 56 criminal gangs helping Ukrainian men illegally leave the country during wartime, Fedorova said. Prices for help crossing the border, she said, have risen to as much as $10,000 today from $2,000 per person soon after the invasion. Smuggling a backpack of cigarettes, in contrast, pays as little as $200.
Checkpoints have gone up on highways near the border, where cars are checked for men who might be trying to leave the country. And along the border, guards have put up additional infrared cameras and sensors triggered by footsteps, Fedorova said.
The flow of draft dodgers in the west is a reflection of how large the specter of war looms over the lives of Ukrainian men, who by law are required to stay in the country.
Most men turn up when summoned for military service rather than flee, said Sgt. Mykhailo Pavlov, the commander of a military recruitment office in the western city of Uzhhorod. A veteran of the fighting, he was wounded before serving as a recruitment officer.
He said he talks to the men he drafts, describes the front and assures them they can improve their chances if they train well.
“Everybody is afraid to die, but we try to make them look at it from a different perspective,” he said — the perspective of survival. He also describes frankly the random risk of artillery shelling.
Still, the efforts to avoid the draft can be elaborate. On a recent morning, within minutes of officials beginning a patrol to check papers, posts on the Telegram social networking site were tracking their movements, alerting men who want to avoid the draft.
“Petofi Square,” warned a post in the channel, called Uzhhorod Radar, that tracks the recruitment officers as they walk through Petofi Sandor Square. In Kyiv, a similar site, Kyiv Weather, posts the risk of draft officer patrols in neighborhoods as sunny, cloudy and raining.
Vitaly Semon, 30, a welder, nervously fished his passport from a pocket for soldiers checking documents one recent morning, and described his two exemptions, for a back ailment and as a caregiver for an elderly fa-
ther. His papers checked out. “It’s our reality now,” he said of the document checks.
In nearby villages, closer to the border, cars from other regions of Ukraine frequently cruise the streets and highways as men look for opportunities to cross out of the country, said Koval Fedir, the mayor of Tornivtsi, a village whose last houses overlook the fence along the border with Slovakia.
Before the Russian invasion, cigarette smuggling — done to avoid high European Union taxes — infused many aspects of life in the village, he said, financing some lavish homes and new cars in the driveways.
“It was profitable for everybody,” he said. Drones carrying boxes of cigarettes buzzed over the village and toward the Slovak border, sometimes crashing on the streets. Some smugglers used catapults to hurl cigarettes over the border fence.
But it has all but faded as a business, since moving draft dodgers is more lucrative. Smugglers have taken to hiring Roma guides to steer men out of Ukraine, Fedir said.
Andriy Benyak, who is Roma, said in an interview that he had been arrested while guiding two Ukrainian men toward a loosely guarded section of the border between Ukraine and Slovakia. He said he had been trying to earn money to buy food for his children. He spent a week in jail and paid a fine.
On the banks of the Tysa River at night, when most crossings are attempted, the speed of the current and breadth of the river are harder to gauge, border guards say. The guards last year took to publishing videos online of rescues and recoveries of bodies to discourage men from risking the swim.
In one video, a man standing precariously in the swirling water yells for help. The guards yell back, “Don’t slip; hold on!”
In that case, he lost his grip and was swept away before rescuers could reach him. No body was found, officials said.
The man apparently had tried to avoid the risk of dying in the war, but “he died anyway” in the river, Fedorova said. Of draft dodgers, she said, “They see the river as their chance to live because so many soldiers die on the front line.”
Anew transitional ruling council was finalized in Haiti on Friday to try to bring political stability to a country wracked by escalating gang violence and a worsening humanitarian crisis.
The council’s formation, announced in an official state-run bulletin, comes after gangs who have a brutal grip on much of the capital prevented Prime Minister Ariel Henry from returning to the country after a trip overseas and ultimately pushed him to announce his resignation.
The presidential transition council is tasked with restoring law and order through the appointment of an acting prime minister to head a new government as well as to pave the way for the election of a new president.
A coalition of armed gangs has had control of most of the capital, Port-au-Prince, since it launched an offensive in late February, destroying police stations and government offices, looting banks and hospitals and killing and kidnapping hundreds of people.
The establishment of the council was hashed out in Jamaica last month by a regional Caribbean Community bloc, CARICOM, along with the United States, France and Canada after it became clear that Henry would no longer be able to govern Haiti.
But the selection of the body’s members was delayed after several names were withdrawn out of safety fears or because ethical issues had become a concern.
Henry left Haiti for Kenya in early March to finalize an agreement for a 2,500-member multinational force, led by the East African
nation, to deploy and take on the gangs. The council includes members of Haiti’s main political parties and coalitions as well as representatives of the private sector, civil society, the Haitian diaspora and religious leaders. The council’s mandate says a new president is expected to take office in February 2026, but does not specify when elections would be held.
As a condition for joining the body, all members agreed to back deployment of the Kenya-led mission. Anyone under indictment, facing sanctions by the United Nations or intending to run in the next election was excluded from the council.
One gang leader, Jimmy Chérizier, known as Barbecue, had threatened to attack anyone who signed on to the new government, describing the transition as an illegitimate concoction of Haiti’s corrupt political system.
“Cut off their heads and burn down their houses,” he told his gang members, using a 19th-century war cry for Haitian independence.
While the installation of the council is widely considered to be a positive step, many challenges remain, experts say.
“Will it have the capacity to silence the guns of the armed men?” asked Robert Fatton, a Haitian-born political scientist at the University of Virginia. “How can it be installed safely, and how can it start governing in an environment of widespread insecurity?”
Some Haitians have questioned the council’s constitutional legitimacy, and protesters tried to prevent the official announcement from being printed Thursday at the offices of Le Moniteur, the official state bulletin.
The council must first be sworn in at the National Palace in downtown Port-au-Prince, the scene of some of the heaviest clashes between gang members and Haitian police.
The multinational security force meant to take on the gangs still lacks funding, despite a pledge of $300 million by the Biden administration. So far Congress has approved only $10 million of that commitment. After the
transition announcement, President Joe Biden moved quickly to announce the disbursement of $60 million in funding for the multinational force and for Haitian police, consisting of equipment and training.
“We are at a tipping point, and we need a solution now,” U.S. Rep. Sheila CherfilusMcCormick, D-Fla., the only Haitian American in Congress, said on the floor of the House this week. “Haitians cannot wait any longer for the multinational security mission.”
The Biden administration pushed hard for the installation of the transition council, which comes days after the arrival of a new U.S. ambassador, Dennis Hankins, an experienced diplomat who served previously in Haiti.
“I recognize that these are difficult times for the Haitian people,” he said in a statement. “Haitians deserve to be represented by elected officials who are accountable to the people.”
The United Nations’ human rights office reported this month that more than 1,500 people had been killed in Haiti so far this year, the result of what it described as a “cataclysmic situation” in the country.
Corruption, impunity and poor governance, together with increasing levels of gang violence, have brought the Caribbean nation’s state institutions “close to collapse,” the agency said.
Local humanitarian agencies have also reported a shortage of food and fuel after the capital’s main port was shut down. Several countries, including the United States, Canada and France, have evacuated hundreds of stranded citizens on emergency flights and by helicopter.
The World Food Program said Haiti was suffering its worst levels of food insecurity on record after gangs took over farmlands and blocked the roads in and out of the capital, extorting buses and trucks delivering goods.
On Thursday, the program, which is a U.N. agency, warned that its stocks in Haiti could run out by the end of the month.
“We can only hope the transition council is ready to deliver,” said Reginald Delva, a Haitian security consultant and former Haitian government minister. “The population can no longer wait.”
“We are facing the worst humanitarian and sanitarian crisis,” he added. “A new Cabinet is a priority to get the ball rolling. Political leaders need to put their differences aside, make the population a priority.”
When Jimmy Buffett was dying last August, Paul McCartney came to Buffett’s house in Sag Harbor to sing to him.
“He was in a pretty bad way but he still had a twinkle in his eye,” McCartney recalled. One of the songs was “Let It Be.” And on Thursday night, Sir Paul came to the Hollywood Bowl to play the piano and sing the song about an “hour of darkness” to more than 15,000 parrot heads who came together for a pirate’s wake.
Hawaiian shirts and grass skirts as far as the eye could see. Buffett’s music echoed through the Hollywood Hills, a celebration of oysters and beer, surf and sailing, drinking and, well, let’s call it bold barroom flirtation. “Why Don’t We Get Drunk and ...” Not to mention margaritas. (Including a giant green one slurped by the former Beatle onstage.)
A wild mélange of musical and Hollywood royalty showed up to honor their friend precisely because he refused to allow any hours of darkness if he could
help it. Don Johnson, who hung out with Buffett in Aspen, Colorado, in the cocaine-fueled “Miami Vice” days, choked up as he read a Jimmy quote about making life a magical voyage. Even though there were storms and he “bounced across the bottom on occasion,” Jimmy said he relished the thousand ports of call behind him and wanted a thousand more.
Jimmy Buffett at the Marquis Theatre, to promote his musical “Escape to Margaritaville” in New York, Dec. 8, 2017. At a rollicking requiem for a pirate, Buffett’s music echoed through the Hollywood Hills, a celebration of oysters and beer, surf and sailing, drinking and, well, let’s call it bold barroom flirtation, Maureen Dowd writes. (Aaron Richter/The New York Times)
Jane Fonda said that “Jimmy has the ability, like Tinker Bell, to spread happiness all over” — his generosity of heart and spirit always at the fore. She, John McEnroe and others paid homage to Jimmy’s love of weed with a running gag about smoking joints with him in outlandish places like the roof of the Vatican and center court at Wimbledon.
The Emperor of Key West, as he was known, was a sunny, magnetic presence in a world where the algorithms are always torquing up conflict and hatred, in a country where no one can seem to get along or even talk to one another.
Harrison Ford shared the story of a “boozy lunch” with Buffett and the “60 Minutes” correspondent Ed Bradley. “I saw both of them had earrings, so right after lunch I got my ear pierced,” Ford said of his infamous piercing in his 40s. “That’s how infectious Jimmy’s
coolness was.”
Dolly Parton, beaming in on video, reminded everyone that Buffett was more than just a guy in flipflops. He wrote books and stuff, she said.
That stuff made him rich but he always kept the vibe of a lucky dude from the Gulf Coast who happened to busk his way to monumental success.
Profesionales de la Salud participan de adiestramiento en el tema: La sensibilidad con la comunidad LGBTQ+
SAN JUAN – Como parte del compromiso con la salud mental de Puerto Rico y la diversidad, el Sistema San Juan Capestrano desarrolló un taller para profesionales de la salud cuyo tema central fue “Creando Espacios Seguros Sensibilidad y competencia en el servicio a personas de la comunidad LGBTQ+.
“La salud mental es el pilar fundamental en el bienestar integral de todas las personas, y es esencial que los profesionales en este campo estén debidamente preparados para brindar una atención inclusiva y sensible a todos los individuos, incluyendo a la comunidad LGBTQ+. Es importante concientizar a los profesionales en el campo de la salud mental para que entiendan que la sensibilidad y la competencia cultural son fundamentales para brindar una atención de calidad y respetuosa a todos los individuos. La comunidad LGBTQ+ abarca una amplia gama identidades de género y orientaciones sexuales, cada una con sus propias experiencias, desafíos y fortalezas. Es fundamental que los profesionales de la salud mental reconozcan y respeten esta diversidad para ofrecer un ambiente terapéutico seguro y acogedor para todas las personas, independientemente de su orientación sexual o identidad de género”, señaló la licenciada Marta Rivera Plaza, principal oficial eje-
cutiva del Sistema San Juan Capestrano. El taller celebrado en la Clínica Parcial de San Juan Capestrano de San Juan tuvo como conferenciante a la conocida psicóloga clínica, Dra. Yari Colón Torres; quien discutió las estrategias para mejorar la relación de la comunidad LGBTQ+ con la sociedad en conjunto, fomentando la aceptación, la igualdad y el respeto hacia todas las personas. El objetivo de este esfuerzo es la capacitación en sensibilidad y competencia cultural no solo para beneficiar a los pacientes LGBTQ+ sino que también que se enriquezca la práctica clínica de los profesionales de la salud mental. La educación sobre este tema amplía la comprensión de la diversidad humana, los profesionales pueden mejorar
sus habilidades de comunicación, empatía y adaptación, lo que les permite ofrecer un cuidado más efectivo y centrado en las personas a todos sus pacientes, sin importar su identidad de género u orientación sexual.
“Los talleres creados por los profesionales del Sistema San Juan Capestrano tienen la misión de poder construir puentes de sensibilidad y apoyo que fortalezcan la salud mental y el bienestar de toda la comunidad LGBTQ+. Es necesario compartir con los profesionales las habilidades clínicas efectivas de identificar estrategias individuales y organizacional para brindar servicios a la población. Desde nuestra creación hemos tenido un serio compromiso con la Salud Mental de los puertorriqueños, lo que nos obliga a continuar educando para así eliminar estigmas y generar nuevos enfoques terapéuticos para todos. La combinación de educación, apoyo, activismo y colaboración ayuda a crear un entorno más inclusivo y acogedor para todos. La falta de sensibilidad y conocimiento en la atención a la comunidad LGBTQ+ puede tener consecuencias negativas en la salud mental. El estigma y la falta de comprensión pueden obstaculizar la búsqueda de ayuda y el acceso al servicio adecuado, lo que a su vez puede contribuir al desarrollo de problemas de salud mental como la depresión, ansiedad o el estrés postraumático”, informó la directora del Sistema San Juan Capestrano.
SAN JUAN – La refuerzo estadounidense de las Cangrejeras de Santurce, Carli Lloyd, fue seleccionada el domingo como la “Acomodadora del Año” del torneo 2024 de la Liga de Voleibol Superior Femenina (LVSF).Lloyd dominó ampliamente la votación de los Valores del Año de la LVSF de la Federación Puertorriqueña de Voleibol (FPV).
La experimentada colocadora, quien formó parte de la Selección Nacional de Estados Unidos y ganó la medalla de bronce en los Juegos Olímpicos de Río 2016, recibió 82 votos para quedarse con el galardón.
La nativa Julianna Askew, de las bicampeonas Pinkin de Corozal, recibió 52 votos para ocupar la segunda posición; y la colocadora de las Va-
lencianas de Juncos, Isabelle Morgan, fue la tercera con 10.
Otras jugadoras que también recibieron votos fueron Andrea Fuentes (Changas de Naranjito), Nicole Drewnick (Atenienses de Manatí), y Savannah Vach (Mets de Guaynabo).
Lloyd, de 34 años de edad, fue la segunda mejor colocadora de la temporada con un total de 446 acomodos en 91 parciales jugados para un promedio de 4.90 por set. Su mejor noche en la serie regular fue el 22 de enero de 2024, ante Manatí con 31 asistencias.
Además, la colocadora que fue nombrada Jugadora Más Valiosa en el torneo de voleibol de los Juegos Panamericanos en Toronto 2015, donde Estados Unidos se alzó con la medalla de oro, fue la octava mejor bloqueadora en la LVSF con 55 aciertos para un promedio de 0.60 por parcial.
By JASON BAILEY
“I
like the zombies,” George A. Romero said in 1977, in one of the many conversations with various publications collected in the book “George A. Romero: Interviews.” “You have to be sympathetic with the creatures because they ain’t doin’ nothin’. They’re like sharks: They can’t help behaving the way they do.”
Romero had good reason to like the zombies — they gave him a career and a legacy. He memorably dramatized the exploits of the undead in the 1968 chiller “Night of the Living Dead,” the first of six films in his “dead” cycle (which continued through his final film, “Survival of the Dead” in 2010). The second of those films, “Dawn of the Dead,” was released in the United States 45 years ago this month, an anniversary being celebrated with revival screenings at theaters and drive-ins around the country (including the New York outposts of the Alamo Drafthouse and both Nitehawk Cinema locations). It remains one of the most influential (and profitable) horror films of all time, prompting a slew of imitators here and abroad, as well as a hit 2004 remake that led to another zombie boom (still underway, via “The Walking Dead” and its endless spinoffs).
As identifiable as he would become with genre movies, Romero — a Pittsburghbased filmmaker who funded his projects by producing industrial films and commercials — went through what he called “a pa-
ranoid phase of not wanting to be a horror moviemaker” after the success of his first zombie feature. But, “gradually, as I became comfortable with what ‘Night of the Living Dead’ was, and with what my reputation was, I finally got the idea” for a “Living Dead” sequel.
The fuse for the production was lit by Italian horror filmmaker Dario Argento (“Suspiria”). “He was a fan of ‘Night of the Living Dead’ and knew that I was contemplating doing Part II,” Romero explained in 1982. “We showed him the script, and he offered half the budget up front in exchange for the non-English language world.” It would be Romero’s largest budget to date; he secured the rest from private investors stateside.
What really sparked Romero’s imagination, however, was the location. He was friends with Mark Mason, one of the owners of the Monroeville Mall, east of Pittsburgh — then one of the largest shopping centers in the country. It would make for a perfect expansion of the isolated farmhouse location in the first film, a place where his heroes could hunker down with supplies to wait out, or fight off, the zombie apocalypse. Romero worked out a deal to shoot overnight, starting when the mall closed at 11 p.m. and stopping when cleaning crews (and cardiac patients on therapeutic mall walks) arrived at 7 a.m.
“I wrote a treatment, and it was very heavy, ponderous, possessing roughly the same attitude as ‘Night of the Living Dead’,” he said. “But then I realized that the place
itself, the mall, was too funny to serve for a nightmare experience.” And thus, “Dawn of the Dead” became a consumerist satire, with zombies shuffling mindlessly through the mall and up the down escalators as bland Muzak blares through the shopping center’s loudspeakers. (They came there, one of the survivors surmises, because of the “memory … of what they used to do. This was an important place in their lives.”)
Romero wasn’t only infusing his horror picture with sly satire and social commentary. “I’m also a sucker for high adventure,” he said. “The mall in ‘Dawn of the Dead’ struck me as a high-adventure area; there are even jungles in it! And all those guns and weapons and using the car in it — it’s ‘The Dirty Dozen’ coming to Monroeville.”
To provide the film’s considerable gore, he called upon his frequent collaborator Tom Savini, the makeup man whose experience as a Vietnam combat photographer informed his grisly and convincing effects.
There was so much bloodshed, in fact, that when the Motion Picture Association reviewed “Dawn of the Dead,” they slapped it with an “X” rating for extreme violence — which for most mainstream distributors would make it unreleasable, as that rating restricted its play dates and advertising (many major chains would not show X-rated pictures, and most newspapers and television stations refused ads for them). Luckily, Romero and his producer Richard P. Rubinstein were independents, so they could release “Dawn” unrated instead.
“We couldn’t get U.S. distribution, even though we had automatic European
distribution, and so we made a print and that was it,” Romero explained in 1999. “We rented a theater in New York and took an ad in the paper and said we were showing it, and a few distributors came and saw the audience reaction, and that’s how UATC picked it up,” he said, referring to the distributor United Artists Theater Circuit Inc. The film opened in New York and other major markets April 20, 1979, and became one of the year’s runaway commercial hits, with worldwide grosses of $55 million, unadjusted for inflation.
Though some mainstream critics appreciated “Dawn” at the time (Roger Ebert called it “one of the best horror films ever made”), The New York Times’ Janet Maslin was not among them. “I have a pet peeve about flesh-eating zombies who never stop snacking,” she wrote in her review. “Accordingly, I was able to sit through only the first 15 minutes of ‘Dawn of the Dead.’” Her colleague Vincent Canby would subsequently review the film in its entirety (negatively). But in 2020, Maslin posted on Twitter, “Walking out of ‘Dawn of the Dead’ was an unprofessional and stupid thing to do, and anyone offended by my review is right. It’s a mistake I never made again.”
Not that Romero probably minded much. The commercial success of “Dawn” ensured his financial stability and artistic freedom in the years to come, and though he would later acknowledge the film’s messaging — which can be read as anti-government, anti-colonialist or anti-capitalist — he knew what to say in 1979 to get butts in seats. “It’s really meant to be a schlock film,” he told Variety, “and that’s what it is.”
A scene from George A. Romero’s 1978 horror classic “Dawn of the Dead” (United Film Distribution Company)Growing up in the Netherlands, Henriette van Praag had always been active, playing sports and riding her bike to school every day. Then, in the late-1990s, while working as a staff scientist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, she discovered that exercise can spur the growth of new brain cells in mature mice. After that, her approach to exercise changed.
“I started to take it more seriously,” said van Praag, now an associate professor of biomedical science at Florida Atlantic University. Today, that involves doing CrossFit and running five or six miles several days a week.
Whether exercise can cause new neurons to grow in adult humans — a feat previously thought impossible, and a tantalizing prospect to treat neurodegenerative diseases — is still up for debate. But even if it’s not possible, physical activity is excellent for your brain, improving mood and cognition through “a plethora” of cellular changes, van Praag said.
What are some of the benefits, specifically?
Exercise offers short-term boosts in cognition. Studies show that immediately after a bout of physical activity, people perform better on tests of working memory and other executive functions. This may be in part because movement increases the release of neurotransmitters in the brain, most notably epinephrine and norepinephrine.
“These kinds of molecules are needed for paying attention to information,” said Marc Roig, an associate professor in the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy at McGill University. Attention is essential for working memory and executive functioning, he added.
The neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin are also released with exercise, which is thought to be a main reason people often feel so good after going for a run or a long bike ride.
The brain benefits really start to emerge, though, when we work out consistently over time. Studies show that people who work out several times a week have higher cognitive test scores, on average, than people who are more sedentary. Other research has found that a person’s cognition tends to improve after participating in a new aerobic exercise program for several months.
Roig added the caveat that the effects on cognition aren’t huge, and not everyone improves to the same degree. “You cannot acquire a super memory just because you exer-
cised,” he said.
Physical activity also benefits mood. People who work out regularly report having better mental health than people who are sedentary. And exercise programs can be effective at treating people’s depression, leading some psychiatrists and therapists to prescribe physical activity. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendation of 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity per week is a good bench mark.
Perhaps most remarkable, exercise offers protection against neurodegenerative diseases. “Physical activity is one of the health behaviors that’s shown to be the most beneficial for cognitive function and reducing risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia,” said Michelle Voss, an associate professor of psychological and brain sciences at the University of Iowa.
How does exercise do all that?
It starts with the muscles. When we work out, they release molecules that travel through the blood up to the brain. Some, like a hormone called irisin, have “neuroprotective” qualities and have been shown to be linked to the cognitive health benefits of exercise, said Christiane Wrann, an associate professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School who studies irisin. (Wrann is also a consultant for a pharmaceutical company, Aevum Therapeutics, hoping to harness irisin’s effects into a drug.)
Good blood flow is essential to obtain the benefits of physical activity. And conveniently, exercise improves circulation and stimulates the growth of new blood vessels in the brain. “It’s not just that there’s increased blood flow,” Voss said. “It’s that there’s a greater chance, then, for signaling molecules that are coming from the muscle to get delivered to the brain.”
Once these signals are in the brain, other chemicals are released locally. The star of the show is a hormone called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF, that is essential for neuron health and creating new connections — called synapses — between neurons. “It’s like a fertilizer for brain cells to recover from damage,” Voss said. “And also for synapses on nerve cells to connect with each other and sustain those connections.”
A greater number of blood vessels and connections between neurons can actually increase the size of different brain areas. This effect is especially noticeable in older adults because it can offset the loss of brain volume that happens with age. The hippocampus, an area important for memory and mood, is particularly affected. “We know that it shrinks with age,” Roig said. “And we know that if we exercise regularly, we can prevent this decline.”
Exercise’s effect on the hippocampus may be one way it helps protect against Alzheimer’s disease, which is associated with significant changes to that part of the brain. The same goes for depression; the hippocampus is smaller in people who are depressed, and effective treatments for depression, including medications and exercise, increase the size of the region.
What kind of exercise is best for your brain?
The experts emphasized that any exercise is good, and the type of activity doesn’t seem to matter, though most of the research has involved aerobic exercise. But, they added, higher-intensity workouts do appear to confer a bigger benefit for the brain.
Improving your overall cardiovascular fitness level also appears to be key. “It’s dosedependent,” Wrann said. “The more you can improve your cardiorespiratory fitness, the better the benefits are.”
Like van Praag, Voss has incorporated her research into her life, making a concerted effort to engage in higher intensity exercise. For example, on busy days when she can’t fit in a full workout, she’ll seek out hills to bike up on her commute to work. “Even if it’s a little,” she said, “it’s still better than nothing.”
The total solar eclipse visible Monday over parts of Mexico, the United States and Canada was a perfect confluence of the sun and the moon in the sky. But it’s also the kind of event that comes with an expiration date: At some point in the distant future, Earth will experience its last total solar eclipse.
That’s because the moon is drifting away from Earth, so our nearest celestial neighbor will one day, millions or even billions of years in the future, appear too small in the sky to completely obscure the sun.
“We’ll only ever have annular eclipses,” said Noah Petro, a planetary scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, referring to “ring of fire” eclipses like the one that crossed the Americas in October.
But putting an exact date on Earth’s final total solar eclipse is a serious computational challenge involving a variety of scientific disciplines.
Ever since the moon formed more than 4 billion years ago, it has been spiraling away from Earth. The moon’s retreat results from its gravitational interactions with our planet. Tides raised by that gravity send the water in our planet’s oceans sliding over the seafloor and along the edges of
continents. That creates friction that causes Earth to spin more slowly on its axis, said Mattias Green, an ocean scientist at Bangor University in Wales.
The moon moves outward in its orbit in response to the slowing of the Earth. Imagine a figure skater extending her arms and slowing down, Green said. “It’s the same physical principle but backwards.”
One of the first people to predict the expanding orbit of the moon was George Darwin, one of Charles Darwin’s sons. But his hypothesis, published in 1879, would not be verified until American astronauts and Soviet robotic rovers left devices known as retroreflectors on the moon’s surface. Researchers could fire laser pulses at mirrors on those suitcase-size instruments and time how long it took the light to make a round trip. That gave scientists a way of precisely measuring the distance to the moon. By the early 1970s, researchers had discovered that the moon was receding from Earth by about 1.5 inches each year.
That’s about the rate at which human fingernails grow. “We’re dealing with extremely small changes,” said Robert Tyler, a planetary scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
But over hundreds of millions of years, the moon will become perceptibly smaller in the sky as it grows more distant.
At some point, it will appear too small to completely blot out the sun, and total solar eclipses will become a thing of the past.
To calculate the date of the last total solar eclipse, it is important to remember that both the moon’s orbit around the Earth and Earth’s orbit around the sun are elliptical. That means that the distances between Earth and the moon and between Earth and the sun are not constant. The apparent sizes of the moon and the sun as seen from Earth vary accordingly; the largest- and smallest-looking moons differ in size by about 14%, while the corresponding difference for the sun is about 3%.
The last total solar eclipse will occur when the largest-looking moon just barely covers the smallest-looking sun. A bit of math involving the diameter of the moon and the apparent sizes of the moon and the sun yields an estimate for that eventuality of approximately 620 million years.
But there is uncertainty in that number, researchers caution. It assumes, for
starters, that the moon will recede from Earth at its current rate. And that almost certainly won’t happen, Green said.
The moon’s recession rate is affected by a slew of parameters, he said, including the length of a day on Earth, the depth of the ocean basins and the arrangement of our continents. Those things change over time, Green said, so it is too simplistic to presume that the moon will always retreat at the same pace.
If Tyler’s simulations are correct, total eclipses will remain visible for about 3 billion years. He cautioned that there is significant uncertainty in that estimate.
And though we likely have eons left to experience total eclipses, that’s no excuse for not seeking out their splendor, Petro said. After all, they’re a celestial phenomenon that’s unique to our Earthly existence.
“No other planet in our solar system has total solar eclipses,” Petro said. “We have this wonderful opportunity.”
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The moon will drift far enough from Earth that it no longer fully obstructs the sun. But predicting when this will happen poses numerous challenges. (Richie Pope/The New York Times)LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO
DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA
SALA SUPERIOR DE HUMA-
CAO
ELIEZER ORTIZ
SANTIAGO, SU ESPOSA AIDA VIOLETA BURGOS PERELES Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS Y GLADYS MUÑIZ AYALA
Peticionarios
EX- PARTE
Civil Núm.: LP2020CV00228.
Sobre: EXPEDIENTE DE DOMINIO. CITACIÓN POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PR.
A: SANTOS VELÁZQUEZ LEBRÓN, RUFINO MEDINA, JESÚS HERNÁNDEZ, JUAN DE JESÚS VELÁZQUEZ, CRISTINO PIÑERO
HERNÁNDEZ, SALVADOR VELÁZQUEZ
Y MIGUEL CRUZ; SUS RESPECTIVOS HEREDEROS, CAUSAHABIENTES O CESIONARIOS, CON PARADEROS Y/O DIRECCIONES DESCONOCIDAS; SANTIAGO VELÁZQUEZ BÁEZ, CON ÚLTIMA DIRECCIÓN CONOCIDA EN 298 LANE SCHOOL ROAD, WEST VIRGINIA, 25976-000; WILMINGTON
SAVINGS FUND
SOCIETY FSB, CON ÚLTIMAS DIRECCIONES CONOCIDAS EN 8023 EAST 63 RD. PLANE, SUITE 700, OK 74133
Y 3900 CAPITAL CITY BLVD., LANSING, MI 48906 Y ALINEYRIS E. SEPÚLVEDA RAMOS, CON PARADERO Y DIRECCIÓN
DESCONOCIDOS, JANE DOE, RICHARD POE Y JAMES ROE, MIEMBROS DE LA SUCESIÓN DE ANATALIO VELÁZQUEZ
SANABRIA Y, ASIMISMO, A TODO EL QUE TENGA
ALGÚN INTERÉS O DERECHO REAL SOBRE
EL INMUEBLE DESCRITO EN LA PETICIÓN DE
DOMINIO DEL CASO DE EPÍGRAFE, A LAS PERSONAS IGNORADAS, A QUIENES PUEDA PERJUDICAR LA INSCRIPCIÓN, A LOS ANTERIORES DUEÑOS, O SUS HEREDEROS Y, EN GENERAL, A TODA PERSONA QUE DESEE OPONERSE.
POR LA PRESENTE: se les notifica que los Peticionarios de epígrafe han presentado una Petición para que se declare probado a favor de ellos, el dominio que tienen sobre la siguiente propiedad: “RÚSTICA: Parcela de terreno radicada en el barrio Montones de Las Piedras, compuesta de once cuerdas con veintisiete centavos de otra (11.27) que colinda por el Norte, con Rufino Medina antes, ahora Santos Velázquez Lebrón; por el Sur, con Rufino Medina; por el Este, con Juan De Jesús Velázquez y por el Oeste, con Jesús Hernández.” Sobre la misma enclava una vivienda.” Este Tribunal ordenó que se publique la pretensión por tres (3) veces durante el término de veinte (20) días en un periódico de circulación general diaria, para que todas las personas arriba mencionadas y todas aquellas desconocidas a quienes pueda perjudicar la inscripción o deseen oponerse, puedan así hacerlo dentro del término de veinte (20) días a partir de la última publicación del presente edicto. Por tanto firmo expido la presente en Humacao, Puerto Rico, a 09 de noviembre de 2023. IVELISSE C. FONSECA RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA. MICHELLE GUEVARA DE LEÓN, SUBSECRETARIA.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE HUMACAO
EX PARTE
HERMAN W. COLBERG PÉREZ; MARIA CELESTE GUERRA-MONDRAGÓN
CASALDUC Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS; RAMÓN MELLADO GONZÁLEZ; AMPARO VILLAREAL RINCÓN Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS Civil Núm.: YB2023CV00237.
Sobre: EXPEDIENTE DE DOMINIO - INMATRICULACIÓN DE FINCA. EMPLAZAMIENTO
POR EDICTO E INTERPELACIÓN. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. A: “JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE” COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LAS SUCESIONES DE IVAN REICHARD Y ELIZABETH MCKENSIE Y A ÁNGEL LUIS ARROYO MORALES.
POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza en relación a una Petición de Expediente de Dominio con el propósito de inmatricular en el Registro de la Propiedad, Sección de Humacao, un predio del Barrio Camino Nuevo del término Municipal de Yabucoa conforme al Artículo 185 de la Ley del Registro de la Propiedad Inmobiliaria del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico. 30 LPRA sec. 6291(3). Dicha parcela se describe a continuación: RÚSTICA: Predio de terreno radicado en el Barrio Camino Nuevo, Sector El Guano de Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, con una cabida aproximada de 3.78 cuerdas, que colinda con el NORTE con Marcelino Morales, hoy su Sucesión, por el SUR con el Mar Caribe, por el ESTE con terrenos del Fideicomiso de Conservación de Puerto Rico y por el OESTE con el Cocal Country and Beach Club. Enclava casa mixta de madera y concreto, techo de panel y cartón. En el plazo improrrogable del término de viente (20) días a contar de la fecha de la última publicación del edicto, podrán comparecer al tribunal, a fin de alegar lo que en derecho proceda.
ABOGADA DE LA PARTE
PETICIONARIA:
Lcdo. María Celeste Colberg Guerra
RUA NÚM.: 16,394
BERMUDEZ & DIAZ LLP
Attorneys at Law Suite 209 500 Calle de la Tanca San Juan, Puerto Rico 00901 Tel.: (787) 523-2670; (787) 565-9291
Fax: (787) 523-2664
mccolberg@bdprlaw.com
EXTENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el Sello del Tribunal, hoy 26 de marzo de 2024. EVELYN
FÉLIX VÁZQUEZ, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. LISA M. FIGUEROA RUIZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA
SALA DE HUMACAO
ORIENTAL BANK
Demandante V. JORGE LUIS
LAO ROMERO
Demandado
Civil Núm.: HU2018CV00617.
Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU., EL ESTADO
LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R.,
SS. AVISO DE PÚBLICA SUBASTA. El que suscribe, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de HUMACAO, hago saber a la parte demandada, JORGE LUIS LAO ROMERO y al PÚBLICO EN GENERAL; que en cumplimiento del Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia expedido el 22 de septiembre de 2023, por la Secretaría del Tribunal, procederé a vender y venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor pagadero en efectivo, cheque de gerente o giro postal, a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal, la siguiente propiedad: URBANA: Solar marcado con el número Dos (2) de la manzana “AB” del Plano de Inscripción de la Urbanización Mansiones del Caribe, localizado en el Barrio Río Abajo del término municipal de Humacao, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de TRESCIENTOS CINCUENTA
Y CINCO PUNTO OCHENTA
Y OCHO METROS CUADRADOS (355.88 M.C.). En lindes por el NORTE, en dos (2) alineaciones de siete punto setenta y nueve metros (7.69 m) y siete punto setenta y tres metros (7.73 m) con la Calle Ópalo; por el SUR, en trece punto treinta metros (13.30 m) con el solar cuarenta y siete (47) de la manzana “AB”; por el ESTE, en veintitrés punto ochenta y dos metros (23.82 m) con el solar número uno (1) y sesenta y cuatro (64) de la manzana “AB”; y por el OESTE, en veinticinco metros (25.00 m), con el solar número tres (3) de la manzana “AB”. Enclava casa. Inscrito al tomo móvil 550 de Humacao, finca número 24773, Registro de la Propiedad de Humacao. La finca antes descrita se encuentra afecta a los siguientes gravámenes: (i) HIPOTECA constituida por Jorge Luis Lao Romero, soltero, a constituir hipoteca en garantía de un pagaré, Aff. #3700, a favor de Oriental Bank & Trust, o a su orden, por $174,800.00, al 3.50%, vencedero el 1 de mayo de 2041, según Escritura 148, en Humacao, el 22 de abril de 2016, ante Frank M. Norris Agosto, finca número 24773 de Humacao, inscrita en el Sistema Karibe el 3 de abril de 2019, inscripción quinta (5ta). La hipoteca objeto de esta ejecución es la que ha quedado descrita en el inciso (i). Será celebrada la subasta para con el importe de la misma satisfacer la sentencia dictada el 5 de junio de 2023 y notificada el 7 de junio de 2023,
mediante la cual se condenó a la parte demandada pagar a la parte demandante la cantidad adeudada y vencida desde el 1 de noviembre de 2017 ascendiente a $168,443.60 de principal, más $4,168.35 a intereses acumulados que continuarán acumulándose al 3.50% anual hasta el saldo total de la deuda, más $1,005.27 de balance en la cuenta “escrow”, más $10.40 a otros cargos, más $17,480.00 en costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado, según pactado, más cualquier otro desembolso que haya efectuado o efectúe la parte demandante durante la tramitación de este caso para otros adelantos de conformidad con el Contrato Hipotecario. La PRIMERA SUBASTA será celebrada el 23 DE ABRIL DE 2024, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de HUMACAO, Puerto Rico. Servirá de tipo mínimo para la misma, la cantidad de $174,800.00 sin admitirse oferta inferior. De no haber remate ni adjudicación, celebraré SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 30 DE ABRIL DE 2024, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en el mismo lugar, en la que servirá como tipo mínimo, dos terceras (2/3) partes del precio pactado para la primera subasta, o sea, $116,533.33. Si no hubiese remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, celebraré TERCERA SUBASTA el día 7 DE MAYO DE 2024, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en el mismo lugar en la que regirá como tipo mínimo, la mitad (1/2) del precio pactado para la primera subasta, o sea, $87,400.00. El Alguacil que suscribe hizo constar que toda licitación deberá hacerse para pagar su importe en moneda legal de los Estados Unidos de América, de acuerdo con la Ley y de acuerdo con lo anunciado en este Aviso de Subasta. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante horas laborables. Se entiende que todo licitador que comparezca a la subasta señalada en este caso acepta como bastante la titulación que da base a la misma. Se entiende que cualquier carga y/o gravamen anterior y/o preferente, si la hubiere al crédito que da base a esta ejecución continuará subsistente, entendiéndose, además, que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de estos, sin destinarse a su extinción cualquier parte del remanente del precio de licitación. La propiedad para ejecutar será adquirida libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Por la presente se notifica a los acreedores que tengan inscritos o anotados
sus derechos sobre los bienes hipotecados con posterioridad a la inscripción del crédito del ejecutante o acreedores de cargas o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuesto a la hipoteca ejecutada y las personas interesadas en, o con derecho a exigir el cumplimiento de instrumentos negociables garantizados hipotecariamente con posterioridad al crédito ejecutado, para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si les convenga o satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, costas y honorarios de abogados asegurados, quedando subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante. Vendida o adjudicada la finca o derecho hipotecado y consignado el precio correspondiente, en esa misma fecha o fecha posterior, el alguacil que celebró la subasta procederá a otorgar la correspondiente escritura pública de traspaso en representación del dueño o titular de los bienes hipotecados, ante el notario que elija el adjudicatario o comprador, quien deberá abonar el importe de tal escritura. El alguacil pondrá en posesión judicial al nuevo dueño, si así se lo solicita dentro del término de veinte (20) días a partir de la confirmación de la venta o adjudicación. Si transcurren los referidos veinte (20) días, el tribunal podrá ordenar, sin necesidad de ulterior procedimiento, que se lleve a efecto el desalojo o lanzamiento del ocupante u ocupantes de la finca o de todos los que por orden o tolerancia del deudor la ocupen. Y PARA CONOCIMIENTO DE LOS LICITADORES Y DEL PUBLICO EN GENERAL y para su publicación de acuerdo con la Ley, expido el presente Edicto bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal. En HUMACAO, Puerto Rico, hoy 18 de marzo de 2024. JENNISA GARCÍA MORALES, ALGUACIL REGIONAL, TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE HUMACAO.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE CAGUAS.
CASITAS BLANCAS, LLC
Parte Demandante v.
CARLOS VELEZ PULLIZA, CARMEN LEÓN MUÑOZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES
COMPUESTA POR AMBOS
Parte Demandada CIVIL NÚM.: CG2022CV00112. Sobre: Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca. LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU. EL ESTADO LIBRE
ASOCIADO DE P.R. SS. AVISO DE PÚBLICA SUBASTA. El que suscribe, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Caguas, hago saber a la parte demandada, CARLOS VELEZ PULLIZA, CARMEN LEÓN
MUÑOZ Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS; Y AL PÚBLICO EN GENERAL; que en cumplimiento del Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia expedido el 18 de marzo de 2024, por la Secretaría del Tribunal, procederé a vender y venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor pagadero en efectivo, cheque de gerente o giro postal, a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal, la siguiente propiedad con dirección física: Condominio Vistas del Valle #2 101, Caguas, PR 00725 y que se describe como sigue: URBANA: Propiedad Horizontal: Apartamento #2-101. Apartamento residencial de forma irregular localizado en la primera planta del Edificio 2 del Condominio Vistas del Valle en la Carretera Estatal Puerto Rico 7784, Barrio Turabo de Caguas, Puerto Rico. Área aproximada de 1,334.33 pies cuadrados, equivalentes a 124.96 metros cuadrados. Colinda por el NORTE, en 14.74 metros con el Apartamento #2-102 y el “Lobby”; por el SUR, en 14.74 metros con un área comunal; por el ESTE, en 10.59 metros con un elemento común limitado (patio); y por el OESTE, en 10.59 metros con un elemento común general y el ‘Lobby’. La puerta principal de entrada está situada en su lindero Oeste, a través de la cual se llega al Lobby del Condominio. Consta de sala, comedor, cocina, balcón, “laundry”, ‘foyer’, 3 dormitorios, “walk-in-closet” y dos y medio (2 1/2) baños. Este apartamento goza del uso exclusivo de un patio que es un elemento común limitado localizado en su lado Este con un área superficial de 36.53 metros cuadrados. Este apartamento tiene una participación en los elementos comunes generales de 0.0116136. Finca 62872, Inscrita al Sistema Karibe de Caguas. Registro de la Propiedad de Caguas, Sección I. La finca antes descrita se encuentra afecta a los siguientes gravámenes: (i) HIPOTECA constituida en garantía de un pagaré, aff. #284, a favor de Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria Puerto Rico, o a su orden por $171,500.00, al 7.125%, vencedero el 1 de junio de 2037, Esc. #13, en Caguas, el 31 de mayo de 2007, ante Miguel A. Santiago Rivera, inscrita al Sistema Karibe de Caguas, finca #62872, inscripción 4ta., el 4 de diciembre de 2023. Modificada la hipoteca de la inscripción 4ta, por $171,500.00. Se
cancela parcial por $7,193.40 para un nuevo principal de $164,306.60, al 4.50% los primeros 60 meses y al 7.125% los últimos 420 meses, vence 1 de septiembre de 2054, según Esc. #151, en San Juan, el 27 de agosto de 2014, ante Ignacio José Gorrín Maldonado, inscrita al Sistema Karibe de Caguas, finca 62872, inscripción 5ta y última, el 8 de febrero de 2024. La hipoteca objeto de esta ejecución es la que ha quedado descrita en el inciso (i). Será celebrada la subasta para con el importe de la misma satisfacer la sentencia dictada el 2 de diciembre de 2022, mediante la cual se condenó a la parte demandada pagar a la parte demandante la cantidad ascendiente a $163,291.88 de principal, más intereses acumulados que continuarán acumulándose hasta el saldo total de la deuda o la reinstalación del préstamo, más cargos por demora, más costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado, según pactado, más cualquier otro desembolso que haya efectuado o efectúe la parte demandante durante la tramitación de este caso para otros adelantos de conformidad con el Contrato Hipotecario. La PRIMERA SUBASTA será celebrada el día 22 de abril de 2024, a las 9:00 de la mañana en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de CAGUAS, Puerto Rico. Servirá de tipo mínimo para la misma, la cantidad de $171,500.00 sin admitirse oferta inferior. De no haber remate ni adjudicación, celebraré SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 29 de abril de 2024, a las 9:00 de la mañana, en el mismo lugar, en la que servirá como tipo mínimo, dos terceras (2/3) partes del precio pactado para la primera subasta, o sea, $114,333.33. Si no hubiese remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, celebraré TERCERA SUBASTA el día 6 de mayo de 2024, a las 9:00 de la mañana, en el mismo lugar en la que regirá como tipo mínimo, la mitad (1/2) del precio pactado para la primera subasta, o sea, $85,750.00. El Alguacil que suscribe hizo constar que toda licitación deberá hacerse para pagar su importe en moneda legal de los Estados Unidos de América, de acuerdo con la Ley y de acuerdo con lo anunciado en este Aviso de Subasta. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante horas laborables. Se entiende que todo licitador que comparezca a la subasta señalada en este caso acepta como bastante la titulación que da base a la misma. Se entiende que cualquier carga y/o gravamen anterior y/o preferente, si la hubiere al
Claims pursuant to the procedure described herein;
d.Administrative Expense
Claims of any professional retained and employed by Debtor or the Unsecured Creditors’ Committee pursuant to 11 U.S.C. §§ 327, 328, or 1103, including any ordinary course of business professionals retained, pursuant to an order of this court approving the employment of ordinary course business professionals, for compensation, indemnification, or reimbursement of costs and expenses relating to professional services performed and expenses incurred on and after the Petition Date; e.claims for fees payable to the Clerk of this court; f.fees payable to the Office of the United States Trustee under 28 U.S.C. § 1930(a)(6) or accrued interest thereon arising under 31 U.S.C. § 3717; and
g.Administrative Expense
Claims arising after April 1, 2024.
A CLAIMANT OR REPRESENTATIVE OF THE CLAIMANT SHOULD CONSULT HIS OR HER ATTORNEY IF THE CLAIMANT HAS ANY QUESTIONS, INCLUDING WHETHER SUCH CLAIMANT SHOULD FILE A PAYMENT REQUEST. NEITHER DEBTOR’S ATTORNEYS, NOR THE CLERK OF THE COURT CAN ADVISE THE CLAIMANT WHETHER THE CLAIMANT SHOULD FILE A REQUEST FOR PAYMENT.
All Payment Requests for Administrative Expense Claims that arose between the Petition Date and April 1, 2024, must be filed so as to be actually received by Debtor, at the following addresses on or before the Administrative Expense Bar Date: By paper: At the Bankruptcy Clerks Office José V. Toledo Federal Building & US Courthouse 300 Recinto Sur Street Suite 109 San Juan, PR 00901-1964
Via Electronic Filing:
Either by accessing the CM/ ECF or at the court’s website at https://www.prb.uscourts. gov/?q=electronic-proof-claimand-related-documents
Each Payment Request must:
(i) be signed by the claimant or, if the claimant is not an individual, by an authorized agent of the claimant; (ii) be written English; (iii) denominate the claim in lawful currency of the United States as of the Administrative Expense Bar Date; and (iv) include supporting documentation (or, if such documentation is voluminous, include a summary of such documentation) or an explanation as to why such documentation is not available. Documentation should include both evidence of the nature of the administrative expense claim asserted as well as evidence of the date on which the administrative expen-
se claim arose. ANY PARTY PURPORTEDLY HOLDING AN ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSE CLAIM AGAINST DEBTOR THAT IS REQUIRED TO FILE A PAYMENT REQUEST, BUT FAILS TO DO SO PROPERLY OR TIMELY IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSE BAR DATE ORDER, SHALL NOT, ABSENT FURTHER ORDER OF THE COURT, PARTICIPATE IN ANY DISTRIBUTION IN THIS CHAPTER 11 CASE ON ACCOUNT OF SUCH ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSE CLAIM OR, IN THE EVENT THAT THE CHAPTER 11 CASE IS CONVERTED, TO A CASE UNDER CHAPTER 7 OF THE BANKRUPTCY CODE.
Debtor reserves its rights to dispute, or to assert offsets or defenses against, any Administrative Expense Claim and nothing contained in the Administrative Expense Bar Date Order or this Notice shall preclude Debtor from objecting to any filed claim on any grounds.
THE FACT THAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED THIS NOTICE DOES NOT MEAN YOU HAVE AN ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSE CLAIM OR THAT DEBTOR OR THE COURT BELIEVE YOU HAVE AN ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSE CLAIM. This Notice is only a summary of the Administrative Expense Bar Date Order. All parties in interest should carefully review the Administrative Expense Bar Date Order itself and the Bankruptcy Code, the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, and the Puerto Rico Local Bankruptcy Rules for additional information regarding the filing and treatment of Administrative Expense Claims in the Chapter 11 Case.
Dated: April 12, 2024, San Juan, Puerto Rico Respectfully submitted, Lugo Mender
Parte Demandada
CIVIL NUM. PO2019CV00972
SOBRE: EJECUCION DE HI-
POTECA POR LA VIA ORDINARIA Y COBRO DE DINERO.
ANUNCIO DE SUBASTA. El suscribiente, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia de Puerto Rico, Sala de Ponce, a los demandados de epígrafe y al público en general hace saber que venderá en pública subasta en la Oficina de Alguaciles, sita en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Humacao, al mejor postor, en moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América en efectivo, cheque certificado, o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, el derecho que tenga la parte demandada en el inmueble que se relaciona más adelante para pagar la SENTENCIA por $88,758.85 de balance principal, los intereses adeudados sobre dicho principal y computados al 6 ¾ % anual hasta su total pago y completo pago desde el primero de abril de 2018; cargos por demora devengados, más la suma de $9,600.00 estipulada para honorarios de abogado pactada en la escritura de hipoteca y cualesquiera otras sumas que por cualesquiera concepto legal se devenguen hasta el día de la subasta. La propiedad a venderse en pública subasta se describe como sigue: URBANA: Solar número diez (10) del bloque A de la Urbanización Villa Grillasca del Barrio Canas de Ponce, Puerto Rico, con un área de doscientos treinta y siete metros y medio cuadrados. En lindes por el Norte, en nueve metros y medio, con el solar quince guión B (15-B); por el Sur, en nueve metros y medio, con la calle dieciséis (16); por el Este, en veinticinco punto cero cero (25.00) metros, con el solar diez guión B (10-B); y por el Oeste, en veinticinco punto cero cero (25.00) metros, con el solar nueve guión B (9-B) del mismo bloque de la Urbanización. Inscrita al Folio doscientos treinta y cinco (235) del Tomo ochocientos noventa y uno (891) de Ponce, Finca mil novecientos sesenta y cuatro (1,964), Registro de la Propiedad de Ponce, Sección
II. Dirección Física: Urb. Villa Grillasca, 2241 (10-A), Ponce, P.R. 00731. La primera subasta se llevará a cabo el día 15 de mayo de 2024, a las 10:00 de la mañana y servirá de tipo mínimo para la misma la suma de $96,000.00 sin admitirse oferta inferior. En el caso de que el inmueble a ser subastado no fuera adjudicado en la primera subasta, se celebrará una segunda subasta el día 22 de mayo de 2024, a las 10:00 de la mañana, y el precio mínimo
para esta segunda subasta será el de dos terceras partes del precio mínimo establecido para la primera subasta, o a sea la suma de $64,000.00. Si tampoco hubiera remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se celebrará una tercera subasta el día 30 de mayo de 2024, a las 10:00 de la mañana, y el tipo mínimo para esta tercera subasta será la mitad del precio establecido para la primera subasta, o sea, la suma de $48,000.00. El mejor postor deberá pagar el importe de su oferta en efecto, cheque certificado o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal. Si se declarase desierta la tercera subasta, se dará por terminado el procedimiento, pudiendo adjudicarse el inmueble al acreedor hipotecario dentro de los diez días siguientes a la fecha de la última subasta, si así lo estimase conveniente, por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada conforme a la sentencia, si ésta fuera igual o menor que el monto del tipo de la tercera subasta y abonándose dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si ésta fuera mayor. Se avisa a cualquier licitador que la propiedad queda sujeta al gravamen del Estado Libre Asociado y CRIM sobre la propiedad inmueble por contribuciones adeudadas y que el pago de dichas contribuciones es la responsabilidad del licitador. Que se entenderá por todo licitador acepte como suficiente la titulación y que los cargos y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes en entendiéndose que el rematador los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse su extinción al precio rematante. Todos los nombres de los acreedores que tengan inscritos o anotados sus derechos sobre los bienes hipotecados con posterioridad a la inscripción del crédito del ejecutante, o de los acreedores de cargas o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuesto a la hipoteca ejecutada y las personas interesadas en, o con derecho a exigir el cumplimiento de instrumentos negociables garantizados hipotecariamente con posterioridad al crédito ejecutado, siempre que surgen de la certificación registral, para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si les convenga o satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, costas y honorarios de abogados asegurados, quedando entonces subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Y para conocimiento de licitadores, del público en general y para su publicación en un periódico de circulación general diaria en Puerto Rico y en los sitios públicos de acuerdo a las disposiciones de la Regla 51.7
de las de Procedimiento Civil, así como para la publicación en un periódico de circulación general diaria y en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, por espacio de dos semanas con antelación a la fecha de la primera subasta y por lo menos una vez por semana. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento indicado estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante las horas laborables. (Art. 102 (1) de la Ley núm. 2102015). Expedido el presente en Ponce, Puerto Rico, a 23 de febrero de 2024. Juan Rolando Cruz Román, #965. ALGUACIL DEL TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE PONCE.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE CAGUAS
REVERSE MORTGAGE
FUNDING LLC
Demandante Vs.
SUCESION WILFREDO ROSADO BATISTA
COMPUESTA POR
WILFREDO ROSADO
BERRIOS, LUZ
DINELY ROSADO
BERRIOS, JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO
POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; SUCESION ANDREA BERRIOS RIVERA COMPUESTA POR WILFREDO ROSADO BERRIOS, LUZ DINELY ROSADO BERRIOS, JOHN ROE Y JANE ROE COMO
POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES
Demandados
Civil Núm.: CG2023CV00384. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EDICTO DE SUBASTA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.
A: LA PARTE DEMANDADA, AL (A LA) SECRETARIO(A) DE HACIENDA DE PUERTO RICO Y AL PÚBLICO
GENERAL:
Certifico y Hago Constar: Que en cumplimiento con el Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que me ha sido dirigido por el (la) Secretario(a) del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Caguas, en el caso de epígrafe, venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor, por separado, de contado y
por moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América y/o Giro Postal y Cheque Certificado, en mi oficina ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Caguas, el 29 DE ABRIL DE 2024, A LAS 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA, todo derecho título, participación o interés que le corresponda a la parte demandada o cualquiera de ellos en el inmueble hipotecado objeto de ejecución que se describe a continuación: “URBANA: Solar cuarenta (40) del bloque “AA” de la Urbanización Boneville Heights situada en el Barrio Cañabón de Caguas, con un área de trescientos diez punto quinientos ochenta y siete (310.587) metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, en una distancia de 12.500 metros con la Calle 19 de la Urbanización; por el SUR, en una distancia de 12.500 metros con los solares 28 y 29 del bloque “AA” de la Urbanización; por el ESTE, en una distancia de 24.847 metros; con el solar 39 del bloque “AA” de la Urbanización; por el OESTE, en una distancia de 24.847 metros con el solar número 41 del bloque “AA”de la Urbanización. Enclava una casa de concreto reforzado con techo del mismo material consistente principalmente de sala, comedor, cocina, dos cuartos dormitorios, un baño, balcón y marquesina.” Finca número 18855, inscrita al folio 226 del tomo 575 de Caguas, Registro de la Propiedad de Caguas, Sección I. La Hipoteca Revertida consta inscrita al Tomo Karibe, finca 18855 de Caguas, Registro de la Propiedad de Caguas, inscripción 4ª. Propiedad localizada en: URB. BONNEVILLE HEIGHTS, 11 (40-AA) CALLE YABUCOA, CAGUAS, PR 00727. Según figuran en la certificación registral, la propiedad objeto de ejecución está gravada por las siguientes cargas anteriores o preferentes: Nombre del Titular: N/A. Suma de la Carga: N/A. Fecha de Vencimiento: N/A. Según figuran en la certificación registral, la propiedad objeto de ejecución está gravada por las siguientes cargas posteriores a la inscripción del crédito ejecutante: Nombre del Titular: Secretario de la Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano. Suma de la Carga: $240,000.00. Fecha de Vencimiento: 3 de marzo de 2095. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad de la propiedad y que todas las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito ejecutante antes descritos, si los hubiere, continuarán subsistentes. El rematante acepta dichas cargas y gravámenes anteriores, y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Se establece como tipo de mínima subasta la suma de $240,000.00, según acordado entre las partes en el precio pactado en la escritura
de hipoteca. De ser necesaria una SEGUNDA SUBASTA por declararse desierta la primera, la misma se celebrará en mi oficina, ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Caguas, el 6 DE MAYO DE 2024, A LAS 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA, y se establece como mínima para dicha segunda subasta la suma de $160,000.00, 2/3 partes del tipo mínima establecido originalmente. Si tampoco se produce remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se establece como mínima para la TERCERA SUBASTA, la suma de $120,000.00, la mitad (1/2) del precio pactado y dicha subasta se celebrará en mi oficina, ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Caguas, el 13 DE MAYO DE 2024, A LAS 9:00 DE LA MAÑANA. Dicha subasta se llevará a cabo para, con su producto satisfacer a la parte demandante, el importe de la Sentencia dictada a su favor ascendente a la suma de $121,733.77 por concepto de principal, más la suma de $28,818.06 en intereses acumulados al 22 de noviembre de 2023 y los cuales continúan acumulándose a razón de 2.71% anual hasta su total y completo pago; más la sumas de $7,006.03 en seguro hipotecario; $6,300.00 en cargos por servicio; $583.44 de contribuciones; $2,007.76 de seguro; $875.00 de tasaciones; $280.00 de inspecciones; más la cantidad de 10% del pagare original en la suma de $24,000.00, para gastos, costas y honorarios de abogado. A tenor con la Regla 44.3 de Procedimiento Civil se condena a la parte demandada a pagar intereses aplicables sobre el importe de la presente sentencia incluyendo costas y honorarios de abogado, desde esta fecha y hasta que sea satisfecha. La venta en pública subasta de la referida propiedad se verificará libre de toda carga o gravamen posterior que afecte la mencionada finca, a cuyo efecto se notifica y se hace saber la fecha, hora y sitio de la PRIMERA, SEGUNDA Y TERCERA SUBASTA, si esto fuera necesario, a los efectos de que cualquier persona o personas con algún interés puedan comparecer a la celebración de dicha subasta. Se notifica a todos los interesados que las actas y demás constancias del expediente de este caso están disponibles en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante horas laborables para ser examinadas por los (las) interesados (as). Y para su publicación en el periódico The San Juan Daily Star, que es un diario de circulación general en la isla de Puerto Rico, por espacio de dos semanas consecutivas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre ambas publicaciones, así como para su publicación en los sitios públicos de Puerto Rico. Expedido en Caguas, Puerto Rico, hoy 21 de marzo de 2024. CARLOS
DELGADO CRUZ, ALGUACIL REGIONAL. ÁNGEL GÓMEZ GÓMEZ, ALGUACIL PLACA #593.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA REGIÓN JUDICIAL DE PONCE FIRSTBANK PUERTO RICO
Parte Demandante Vs. OIGIMER TORRES HERNANDEZ, LA SUCESION DE LUCIA SANCHEZ PEREZ
COMPUESTA POR DAVID TORRES SANCHEZ, ISMAEL TORRES SANCHEZ, EDUARDO LIZARDI SANCHEZ Y OIGIMER TORRES HERNANDEZ; JOHN DOE COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESION DE LUCIA SANCHEZ PEREZ; ADMINISTRACION PARA EL SUSTENTO DE MENORES Y EL CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES
Parte Demandada Caso Civil Núm.: PO2024CV00426. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. EMPLAZAMIENTO Y NOTIFICACIÓN DE INTERPELACIÓN POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.
А: ISMAEL TORRES SANCHEZ COMO HEREDERO DE LA SUCESIÓN DE LUCIA SÁNCHEZ PEREZ; JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LUCÍA SÁNCHEZ PEREZ. POR LA PRESENTE se les emplaza y requiere para que conteste la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este Edicto. Usted deberá radicar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: http://unired.ramajudicial.pr/sumac/, salvo que se presente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá radicar el original de su contestación ante el Tribunal correspondiente y notifique con copia a los abogados de la parte demandante, Lcdo. Orlando Camacho Padilla, al PO BOX 7970, Ponce, P.R. 00732; Teléfono: 787-843-
Twenty years ago, the Ultimate Fighting Championship was on life support.
Broadcasters scoffed at the idea of televising half-naked men pummeling each other inside a caged octagon, engaged in a sport where broken bones and dislodged teeth were common. Venues closed their doors and advertisers their wallets.
The extreme violence meant there was no way to monetize the mixed martial arts promotion, Kevin Kay, who was then an executive at Spike TV, explained to the UFC’s owners and its president, Dana White, in a 2004 meeting.
“I really like it but I don’t see how I’m going to get Budweiser to put their logo on the mat when there’s blood on it,” Kay recalled saying.
This weekend, T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip will host UFC 300, a payper-view milestone for a sport that was once effectively banned from television. And it has television to thank for its longevity.
After being spurned by networks large and small, UFC leadership devised a lastditch plan to become profitable: a reality TV show in which 16 athletes would live together in a Las Vegas house, training and fighting one another with a six-figure contract on the line.
If it did not work, the UFC would crater.
But the first season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” which aired on Spike TV in 2005, succeeded in humanizing the athletes as actual people instead of mindless punching bags. Viewers appreciated the behind-thescenes looks at training regimens and cutting weight.
“It gave the sport a face and an emotion that most people didn’t know it had,” said Craig Piligian, an executive producer on “Survivor” who helped the UFC refine its premise for “The Ultimate Fighter.” “That’s what really turned the tide.”
The UFC is now a lucrative live event and entertainment entity — it was purchased for $4 billion in 2016 — and has sold out arenas including Madison Square Garden and the O2 in London. It is expected to command billions of dollars in negotiations next year as its media rights agreement with ESPN expires. ESPN will begin airing the 32nd season of “The Ultimate Fighter” in June.
It was a long journey to UFC 300, however, for a sport that was once the scourge of politicians and considered too risky for television networks.
In 1996, three years after the UFC’s first event, Arizona Sen. John McCain called mixed marital arts “human cockfighting” and sent letters to all 50 state governors imploring them to prohibit it. Most states instituted bans, and many major cable providers refused to air the fights. The UFC withered as it relied on venues in smaller metros including Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Nearing bankruptcy in 2001, its owners sold the company to Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, who grew wealthy as casino operators, for $2 million. They gave White, their longtime friend and a former boxing manager, a 10% ownership stake and installed him as president.
Later that year, New Jersey adopted a unified rule set, banning blows to the back of the head and spine or strikes to the throat, and other states followed suit. The Fertittas estimated that their investment in the company was nearly $40 million, yet it remained unprofitable. Television networks still turned up their noses.
“It just was seen as alternative, overthe-top and not the usual conservative stick-and-ball movement we had been accustomed to airing on our platforms” said Mark Shapiro, an executive at ESPN in the early 2000s who is now president of TKO, the UFC’s parent company. “It wasn’t ready for prime time. It wasn’t critical mass.”
Quickly losing options, the Fertittas and White met with Spike TV, a niche channel whose programming targeted male viewers. White was energetic during an hourlong
meeting, Kay said, “pounding on the table” and saying that the UFC would be bigger than the NFL. But they left without a deal.
Frustrated, the UFC’s leadership enlisted Piligian, who had worked with the Fertittas on the Discovery Channel series “American Casino.” He had discussed a fighting reality show concept with them in the past and helped develop a format similar to “Survivor.”
The contestants would live together in close quarters for nearly 60 days, and compete in challenges such as obstacle races before fighting one another. Two of the UFC’s biggest stars, Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture, would serve as coaches.
“These guys wake up in the morning and are across the table from each other eating Rice Krispies, and then they have to fight in the afternoon — that’s difficult,” said Piligian, now the managing director of Lionsgate’s alternative television division. He added, “It was a tried-and-true format we knew would be a pressure cooker.”
Piligian and UFC leadership pitched the revised idea to Spike TV executives in Los Angeles. Kay said the format was appealing to the network because it would teach the audience about mixed martial arts, which combines unarmed combat forms including boxing, wrestling and jujitsu.
The show was a success, averaging at least 1.9 million
viewers weekly from its inception through 2008. Some fighters inside the home drunkenly bickered with each other, similar to reality shows such as “The Bachelor.” Contestants fought on a blue canvas devoid of sponsorships, a stark contrast to the Monster Energy, Modelo and DraftKings logos now emblazoned inside UFC octagons.
Forrest Griffin had quit his job in law enforcement to join the first season of “The Ultimate Fighter” and won the final fight against Stephan Bonnar in a unanimous decision. White still gave both men contracts, and Griffin participated in the UFC until 2012.
Although he became a light-heavyweight champion in 2008, he says the most important fight of his career was the finale of “The Ultimate Fighter.”
“That night I won that fight, I was a professional fighter,” Griffin said. “I wasn’t a part-time bouncer. I wasn’t a police officer who just happened to fight.”
White declined to comment for this article, but he has previously credited the finale of the first season of “The Ultimate Fighter” as the moment that salvaged the UFC. On a podcast last month, White called it “the most perfect fight at the most perfect time.”
The bout catapulted the expansion of the UFC, which soon bought rival companies and in 2011 signed a $700 million contract with Fox Sports. The UFC aggressively lobbied state politicians to regulate the sport, and in 2016, New York became the last state to lift its ban on mixed martial arts. Two years later, ESPN signed a $1.5 billion agreement with the
Matt Kenny, vice president of programming and acquisitions for ESPN, said in an email that the network partnered with the company to bolster its young ESPN+ streaming service, and to capitalize on the UFC’s “diverse, affluent and digitally native” fan base.
Decades earlier, that fan base was irrelevant to the same television channel.
In the clubhouse after the Los Angeles Dodgers won their season opener in Seoul, South Korea, last month, Shohei Ohtani’s longtime interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, made a stunning admission to the team: He was a gambling addict, and Ohtani had paid his debts to a bookmaker.
Ohtani, who is not fluent in English, listened but failed to fully grasp what Mizuhara said. He knew enough to grow suspicious, however, and he wanted answers.
A couple of hours later, around midnight, Ohtani finally had the chance to pull Mizuhara into a conference room in the basement of the Fairmont Ambassador Hotel in Seoul.
With just the two of them there, Mizuhara leveled with his boss: He had accrued enormous debts to the bookmaker and had been stealing the baseball star’s money to pay them off.
In coming clean, though, Mizuhara made one last effort to protect himself from the law, according to two people familiar with the conversation, who asked for anonymity to discuss a private matter. He asked his patron to go along with the story that he had just told Ohtani’s teammates, his advisers and a reporter for ESPN who had made inquiries about $4.5 million in wire transfers from Ohtani’s account to an illegal bookmaker in California.
Ohtani refused and called his agent, Nez Balelo, into the conference room. Balelo then had several other people dial in as they managed the crisis: a lawyer in Los Angeles; Matthew Hiltzik, a crisis communications executive in New York; and a new interpreter whom Ohtani’s inner circle could trust. Mizuhara’s wife also joined the meeting.
Shortly after, Ohtani’s advisers issued a statement to reporters, alleging that Ohtani was the victim of a multimillion-dollar theft.
Superstar player and new Dodger Shohei Ohtani during the team’s opening day game against the St. Louis Cardinals, at Dodger stadium in Los Angeles, March 28, 2024. (Sinna Nasseri/The New York Times)
Soon headlines connecting Ohtani to illegal gambling spread around the world.
It was a story that would set off a dizzying three weeks, moving from South Korea to Los Angeles, from ballparks to hotels to airports, to meetings with lawyers and federal agents. At times, it seemed that baseball’s biggest star was in danger of being tainted by a gambling scandal, echoing painful episodes from the sport’s past. It culminated last Thursday when prosecutors charged Mizuhara with bank fraud and released a criminal complaint alleging a lavish embezzlement in which he stole $16 million from Ohtani, whom they firmly stated was the victim in the case.
The formal charge and complaint were announced a day after The New York Times reported that Mizuhara and his lawyer, Michael Freedman, a former prosecutor who specializes in white-collar criminal defense, were negotiating a plea deal. On Friday, Mizuhara surrendered to law enforcement in Los Angeles and made an initial court appearance, wearing street clothes and shackles. He did not enter a plea, and was released on a $25,000 bond. The conditions of his release require him to submit to drug testing and seek treat-
ment for a gambling addiction.
Freedman issued a statement Friday saying Mizuhara “is continuing to cooperate with the legal process and is hopeful that he can reach an agreement with the government to resolve this case as quickly as possible so that he can take responsibility.” He added that Mizuhara apologized to Ohtani and the Dodgers and was “eager to seek treatment for his gambling.”
The trip to Seoul seemed like a triumphant moment for Major League Baseball. Ohtani’s emergence as a transcendent star in the United States, one whose on-field exploits evoked comparisons to Babe Ruth, had given the league fresh cultural relevance around the world. And now Ohtani and his new team, which signed him to a 10-year, $700 million contract in December, were in Asia to open a new season with two games against the San Diego Padres. Excitement could not have been higher.
But once the Mizuhara news broke, the MLB realized it had a problem on its hands. It announced that it was investigating the matter. And the Los Angeles field offices of the IRS’s criminal division and the Department of Homeland Security uncharacteristically went public with news that they, too, had opened an inquiry. The saga of Pete Rose, MLB’s career hits leader, who was barred from baseball in the 1980s for betting on the sport, was on everyone’s mind.
After the meeting at the hotel, the Dodgers promptly fired Mizuhara. He was soon on
a plane back to Los Angeles, where Homeland Security agents met him at the airport. He refused to submit to an interview, but he gave the agents access to a gold mine of information that would prove crucial to their investigation: He signed a form giving his consent to search his cellphone.
Ohtani also flew back to Los Angeles under a cloud. When he arrived, he gave investigators access to his electronic devices, too.
Working with a Japanese linguist, investigators pored over about 9,700 pages of text messages between the two men and found no mentions of sports betting or any of the bookmakers Mizuhara had been dealing with.
Over two days this month, Ohtani met with investigators in Los Angeles — on one of the days he hit his first home run as a Dodger, hours after an interview with the agents — and described his relationship with Mizuhara, whom he first met in 2013 while playing professional baseball in Japan.
Crucially, for Ohtani and for MLB, prosecutors said none of Mizuhara’s bets had been on baseball.
When news of the story broke in South Korea, the MLB was alarmed by the shifting narratives, two people familiar with the matter said, and worried that Ohtani could somehow be entangled in a gambling scandal that had the potential to tarnish the entire sport.
Those worries dissipated a week later when Ohtani offered a detailed account to reporters at Dodger Stadium, saying Mizuhara stole from him and pledging to cooperate with any investigations. Baseball officials were doubtful, the people said, that Ohtani would make up such a story knowing that both the federal authorities and the league would investigate it. When authorities charged Mizuhara and detailed the allegations against him, any remaining suspicions were cleared.
As for the Dodgers, they are leading their division early in a season that many fans will declare a failure if it does not end with a championship. Ohtani’s bat is heating up. Inside the clubhouse, players say Ohtani, without Mizuhara as a buffer, has made more of an effort to get to know his teammates.
“You know, the last couple of days, I think Shohei has been even more engaging with his teammates,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters after Ohtani addressed the matter for the news media in Los Angeles two weeks ago. “And I think there’s only upside with that.”
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
Answers on page 30
Word Search Puzzle #Q403UW
S Z S M E T O T S E V A R B
E S K C A U Q D A U G U S T
M V E C T R E N D S E M I L
A D A D S N O L E M T U S S
N R O T I N C O N G R E S S
H S E A S H A S N F U S U R
O R T E S S N C G S S O E E
O E N O T O O R N H T I M S
D S H O S S E E I U F L W U
E T I I E K D A D N U O F B
E R A U W N H S I S L P U M
H I L L S I D E T L O B S I
L C O U C H E S O A K S E T
T T D I T T Y F E E B A S X
August Beefy Bolted Bravest Canoed Clues Congress Couches Creases Detained Ditty Ethos Follows Fruit Fuses Hides Hillside Issue Liaisons Limes Manhood Maroons Melons Names Nonsense Outdo Polios Quacks Rends Restrict Resubmit Riots Shuns Smith Soaks Stave Steer Thinks Tiding Totems Trustful Wests
Aries (Mar 21-April 20)
This could be a tough day for you emotionally. It might surprise you to find that some very old, deepseated feelings get churned up in the course of investigating a subject of keen interest to you. It might be difficult to process these feelings. Don’t try to intellectualize them too much, Aries. At the same time, be wary of situations that could trigger an emotional cyclone. Some words can be brutally painful. Try to avoid this at all costs.
Taurus (April 21-May 21)
Things could be up and down for you today, Taurus. You might experience some confusion as a result of communication snafus or computer glitches that affect financial issues you’re trying to solve. Persevere and you’ll succeed. Don’t be surprised if you’re recruited to join a project that is totally new to you. You may be apprehensive at first, but you’ll do just fine. Go ahead and say yes.
Gemini (May 22-June 21)
Things could be up and down for you today, Taurus. You might experience some confusion as a result of communication snafus or computer glitches that affect financial issues you’re trying to solve. Persevere and you’ll succeed. Don’t be surprised if you’re recruited to join a project that is totally new to you. You may be apprehensive at first, but you’ll do just fine. Go ahead and say yes.
Cancer (June 22-July 23)
This will be an exciting day for you intellectually, Cancer. A number of intriguing concepts will catch your fancy, and you’ll be hungry to learn more about them right away. Your research could take you to a library or onto the Internet. The topics might relate to social or political issues. As irresistible as these new ideas are, don’t forget to tend to the business of everyday life.
Leo (July 24-Aug 23)
This will be an exciting day for you intellectually, Cancer. A number of intriguing concepts will catch your fancy, and you’ll be hungry to learn more about them right away. Your research could take you to a library or onto the Internet. The topics might relate to social or political issues. As irresistible as these new ideas are, don’t forget to tend to the business of everyday life.
Virgo (Aug 24-Sep 23)
This will be an exciting day for you intellectually, Cancer. A number of intriguing concepts will catch your fancy, and you’ll be hungry to learn more about them right away. Your research could take you to a library or onto the Internet. The topics might relate to social or political issues. As irresistible as these new ideas are, don’t forget to tend to the business of everyday life.
Libra (Sep 24-Oct 23)
Cool heads will be needed today, Libra, as tempers may flare at work because of frustration with ongoing problems. You might need to take the lead in keeping everyone calm by facilitating clear and open communication. It will be important to keep emotions in check or words will fly that people may regret. This is a temporary situation. Everyone should be back on an even keel as soon as issues get properly aired.
Scorpio (Oct 24-Nov 22)
If you find yourself second-guessing plans you made earlier, Scorpio, perhaps for a plane trip, try to look objectively at your concerns. You don’t have to cancel everything if you have money worries. Your fears will probably turn out to be unfounded. This could be a good time to look into learning more about modern technology, either by enrolling in a class or attending a lecture. Evaluate vacation plans or a class with an analytical eye.
Sagittarius (Nov 23-Dec 21)
You might find yourself wrestling some ongoing, unresolved issues that could interfere with your ability to do your job. Be mindful that you’re a bit brittle today, particularly if you’re working on financial matters, Sagittarius. The last thing you want is a major battle with those around you, so do your best to keep a cool head. Don’t let uncontrolled emotions rule the day.
Capricorn (Dec 22-Jan 20)
There is a possibility that you’ll fall into a bit of a regression today as old feelings of anxiety or inadequacy surface. Although you’ve reached a good place in terms of self-confidence, some old childhood fears could resurface. The old emotions that bubble up could impede your interactions with your co-workers or friends today, so be mindful of what lies under the surface for you, Capricorn.
Aquarius (Jan 21-Feb 19)
There is a possibility that you’ll fall into a bit of a regression today as old feelings of anxiety or inadequacy surface. Although you’ve reached a good place in terms of self-confidence, some old childhood fears could resurface. The old emotions that bubble up could impede your interactions with your co-workers or friends today, so be mindful of what lies under the surface for you, Capricorn.
Pisces (Feb 20-Mar 20)
There is a possibility that you’ll fall into a bit of a regression today as old feelings of anxiety or inadequacy surface. Although you’ve reached a good place in terms of self-confidence, some old childhood fears could resurface. The old emotions that bubble up could impede your interactions with your coworkers or friends today, so be mindful of what lies under the surface for you, Capricorn.
Answers to the Sudoku and Crossword on page 29
