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.
Puerto Rico Integrated Transit Authority (PRITA) Executive Director Josué Menéndez Agosto said Monday that the free-fare initiative at the Urban Train has not had a negative fiscal impact and that PRITA delivered information on the matter to the Financial Oversight and Management Board.
The oversight board gave the government until May 28 to provide information about the PRITA free-fare initiative because an economic analysis was not discussed nor approved by the entity.
Menéndez Agosto said on a radio program that officials decided to launch the free-fare initiative to improve the transportation system between March and August after a contract was signed in 2021 for such purposes, which would allow the granting of federal aid to cover the loss of income.
He said the oversight board is “pointing out that there is a loss, and that is why the fiscal plan is affected.”
“The fiscal plan is not affected because we have a federal subsidy,” Menéndez Agosto said. “Not only that, but since March 7, we have been in communication. We gave [the board] everything that they are asking us for in the letter and we gave it to them,” he said, appearing surprised.
Oversight board spokeswoman Sylvette Santiago said that when a fiscal plan is impacted, by whatever decisions there may be, the board must be notified.
affected by the arrival of specific federal aid to address the loss of income with the free rate.
“I am going to answer the letter because I disagree with it,” Menéndez Agosto stated, adding that on Wednesday he will formally respond to the entity.
PRITA expects up to a million passengers by the end of May.
“We have been surprised by this communication for several reasons, first, because Section 204D of the PROMESA law clearly establishes that this federal statute does not apply to mass transportation, which gives us the power to make these types of decisions without the need to consult with the Fiscal Oversight Board [sic],” he said. “It should be noted that the FTA [Federal Transit Administration], specifically, has a provision in its regulations that allows this type of measure [free rate] in all states and territories of the United States.”
The free-ride initiative will give citizens the time necessary to learn about and test the system of ticket offices and automated access doors while the installation is completed at each of the stations, PRITA said. The new system is intended to provide stability to a system that is made up of both trains and buses, and having multiple fares or access and payment systems would have been disastrous for its patronage, the authority said. More importantly, it noted, the initiative will allow more people to see the benefits of using the collective transportation system.
“The board is not saying, don’t implement it. What the board is saying is ‘I need you to tell me, under section 104 of PROMESA [the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act], how you implemented it, how you reached this decision,’” she said. “Give me evidence of how you decided that you have all the resources to implement it and then tell me what measures or plan you will use to reinstate the rates when this six-month period ends.”
When asked why the oversight board waited until May 10 to send the letter to PRITA, Santiago stressed that it is just a way to request what they are looking for. She disputed Menéndez Agosto’s remarks to the effect that PRITA has provided the information the board requested.
There would be no problems if the fiscal plan is not
At the end of April, PRITA said its ridership had exceeded 709,000 passengers, “and everything indicates that it will exceed one million at the end of May,” the entity said.
The Puerto Rico government has given permanent job status to well over 1,500 temporary teachers in the public education system, Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia and Education Secretary Yanira Raíces Vega said Monday.
The teachers join the more than 3,500 who have received permanency during the current administration.
“During these last three years and five months, there have been many measures that have supported our teachers in the public education system, which in turn resulted in a better education for our students,” the governor said. “My administration has distinguished itself by expediting this status change process. In fact, on three previous occasions, I have granted permanence to 1,321 in 2021, 954 in 2022, and 1,249 in February of last year. This greatly benefits our public education system because we provide stability to the department and security to our teachers.”
“Today I announce that we will be impacting the educational regions of Arecibo, Bayamón, Caguas, Humacao, Mayagüez, Ponce and San Juan, granting permanence to 1,570 additional temporary teachers in the Department of Education starting next
Public school teachers celebrate at the announcement of the granting of permanent status to 1,570 temporary educators on Monday. (Puerto Rico Department of Education/Facebook)
school year,” Pierluisi said.
Among the categories of teachers who will receive permanence are English teachers from kindergarten to 12th grade, school librarians and secondary education teachers in various subjects such as
Spanish, mathematics, social studies and history, chemistry, physics, general science, environmental sciences, earth sciences and biology.
Also included are bilingual teachers, teachers of foreign languages such as
French, Italian and Portuguese, special education teachers in various areas, school social workers, school counselors, occupational teachers in different fields and teachers and professors under the Assistant Secretariat of Occupational and Technical Education.
Likewise, teachers from schools under the Montessori modality were given permanence, as were teachers in other areas such as early education, physical education, health, fine arts and computer resources.
The Education lauded the increase in teachers in regular positions, especially in areas that are difficult to recruit for.
“I congratulate all the teachers, and I am very proud of this recognition that rewards their excellent work,” Raíces Vega said. “For you and us it represents stability in our schools and guarantees that each child or young person who arrives at their school in August has a teacher who receives them and is available to continue their educational process.”
During the past three years and five months, the Pierluisi administration has also granted the largest salary increase in history at $12,000 annually, along with bonus payments for the sacrifices made by teachers during the COVID pandemic.
As part of Puerto Rico’s resilient recovery from future disasters, strategic planning and reconstruction projects take on greater importance, especially for municipalities with limited resources and grassroots nonprofits.
To help expand the technical knowledge of municipalities and those organizations, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) conducted participatory mapping exercises in municipalities around the island to help them identify solutions in their disaster recovery efforts.
Many municipalities lack geographic information systems or need high-resolution printed maps to carry out their planning efforts more effectively. Participatory mapping exercises allow municipal officials to better observe the potential risks and vulnerabilities that exist in the environment of their municipalities and visualize their recovery plans.
“Part of FEMA’s role is to support municipalities and grassroots organizations to strengthen their development and capacity. Mapping exercises are a tool that helps them be better prepared and more resilient,” said Federal Disaster Recovery Coordinator José G. Baquero.
In Ciales, the municipal mapping exercise was essential to identify opportunities that help improve urban and community planning in city revitalization and municipal recovery projects, planner Aner Cosme Maldonado said.
The mapping initiative helped reveal that all communities in
Ciala experienced vulnerability, particularly the neighborhoods of Posas, Cialitos, Toro Negro, Pesas and Frontón.
Cosme Maldonado said the solutions vary according to the needs of each community, which has led to the development of projects to rebuild critical infrastructure, communal areas and basic water services in all affected areas.
“This has made it possible to make informed decisions on how to improve the quality of life of the people of Cialeños, promoting sustainable growth and resilience to disasters, and fostering economic development in the municipality,” Cosme Maldonado said. “We have been able to visualize together with the mayor the needs and potential solutions of each community, facilitating collaboration between different actors and the effective implementation of revitalization projects.”
During the mapping exercise, FEMA works with two maps of the municipality or community. Maps by neighborhoods and municipal sectors offer a spatial view of the territory, allowing officials a holistic view of their municipality. Then, on a second map, the image is enlarged to the urban center, which makes it possible to identify revitalization projects with potential for economic and social development.
As a result of the needs identified by municipalities and organizations, FEMA develops follow-up activities, where municipal officials and experts address problems such as the management of stormwater runoff; coastal erosion, riparian flooding, erosion and undermining of rivers and streams; and the processes that must be carried out to identify, designate,
and dispose of structures and lots of land that can be declared public nuisances.
FEMA’s Community Assistance unit has visited more than 50 municipalities since 2018 to provide participatory mapping exercises to city officials and members of nonprofit organizations.
Personnel from the Federal Emergency Management Agency conduct mapping exercises with municipal personnel from Ponce to help them identify solutions in their disaster recovery efforts. (FEMA)
At-large Rep. José “Che” Pérez Cordero asked the island House of Representatives on Monday to approve House Bill 709, which creates the Domes Beach Nature Reserve in Rincón with the aim of promoting the conservation of the environment for future generations.
The measure, filed on May 3, 2021, has been in the House Natural Resources, Environmental Affairs and Recycling Committee since May 11, 2021. The lawmaker called on the committee to send the bill to the House floor for evaluation.
“This is a bill of great interest for the conservation of Puerto Rico’s environment,” Pérez Cordero said. “This reserve is located in an ecologically sensitive area that deserves this type of protection. The area is characterized by an extensive development of maple horn coral, in addition to being a nesting place for sea turtles, such as the leatherback and the hawksbill, among others. It is also the
mating and lactation site for humpback whales and fin whales, and includes sandy beaches, pristine valleys and one of the best places for surfing. That is why we urge that the measure be approved.”
The proposed reserve is located immediately off the coast of Rincón to the west of the island. It includes land owned by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, which has about 400 acres where the former BONUS nuclear plant is located.
The reserve would be demarcated by a reef zone which would require the highest degree of protection for the conservation of its biodiversity and its proper management, as provided for in the management plan to be adopted. It extends up to half a nautical mile of territorial waters from the interior limit of the maritime-terrestrial zone at Domes Beach.
Also on Monday, the House Natural Resources Committee held a public hearing to address another measure that aims to establish the “Underwater Gardens of Vega Baja and Manatí Natural Reserve” off the island’s northern coast.
The proposed reserve off Domes Beach in Rincón is characterized by an extensive development of maple horn coral, in addition to being a nesting place for sea turtles, such as the leatherback and hawksbill, among others.
ieques Mayor José “Junito” Corcino Acevedo and Carolina District Sen. Marissa “Marissita” Jiménez Santoni traveled to the city of Morgan, Louisiana
recently to evaluate the construction of a new cargo and passenger ferry for maritime transportation between the Ceiba terminal and the offshore island municipalities of Vieques and Culebra.
“As part of our commitment to constantly improving passenger and cargo transportation between Vieques and the marine terminal at the former Roosevelt Roads Naval Base, we traveled to the City of Morgan to evaluate the construction of the first of four ferry vessels,” the mayor said. “This vessel, with capacity for 393 passengers in addition to cargo, will be ready by the end of this year for the benefit of our people.”
Louisiana-based Conrad Shipyard is in charge of building the four new vessels at a cost of $70 million, from federal funds.
The new ferry is to be powered by MTU 4000 engines that will provide a sailing speed of around 15 knots. It will also have the capacity to transport 300 tons of cargo.
Louisiana-based Conrad Shipyard is in charge of building the four new vessels at a cost of $70 million, from federal funds. When the new boats enter service, the transportation fleet serving Vieques and Culebra will increase to nine.
“The new boat will be ready in December of this year, and then, every six months, they will deliver a vessel to us until the four new ones that will be the backbone of the maritime transportation service are completed, thus further improving the service,” Corcino Acevedo said.
Jiménez Santoni added that the inspection visit was “important as part of the evaluation processes for the Conrad Shipyard company to comply with the parameters established in the contract.”
“The visit to the shipyard highlighted that the first of these four vessels will be ready by the end of 2024 and entering service, [once] passing the Coast Guard tests, very soon after,” she said.
Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia participated Monday in the announcement of the expansion of Campo Caribe, a hydroponic farm in Barranquitas dedicated to the production of various types of lettuce in its 5.5 acres of greenhouses.
“The hydroponic industry in Puerto Rico has progressed significantly in recent years. Currently, we have about 170 farmers in this sector with an estimated value of more than $10 million,” Pierluisi said. “Among the most produced crops, sweet chilies, cilantro, lettuce, cucumbers,
peppers and recao stand out. In fact, the Department of Agriculture has approved an investment of over $370,000 to support and continue growing the hydroponic industry on the island.”
The governor was accompanied by Agriculture Secretary Ramón González Beiró, Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC) Secretary Manuel Cidre Miranda and Barranquitas Mayor Elliot Colón Blanco.
“Campo Caribe is a great example of the great potential of our agricultural industry,” Pierluisi added. “Our agriculture is instrumental in continuing to rebuild our economy, and Campo Caribe is committed to Puerto Rico because
it is aware of the opportunities and has faced challenges with innovation and determination. I congratulate the staff of Campo Caribe, its general manager Zuleyka Mendoza, and its entire work team for continuing to trust Puerto Rico and the development of local agriculture. Know that we will continue to support our local farmers, always helping the industry.”
Cidre Miranda noted that various types of lettuce produced by Campo Caribe will be available in supermarkets and restaurants on the island and at the farm facilities in Barranquitas. The surplus will be imported to other parts of the United States, he said.
The San Juan Daily Star
Tuesday, May 14, 2024 5
Jury selection for U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez’s corruption trial started Monday in a federal courthouse in Manhattan, a 20-mile drive from Menendez’s home in northern New Jersey, where for decades he has been a well-known Democratic political leader.
His efforts to move the trial to his home turf had failed. Jurors picked to decide the case will be from Manhattan, the Bronx or one of several New York counties north of the city.
Prosecutors with the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York have said they expect to take as many as six weeks to present their case against Menendez, who is accused of being at the center of an international bribery scheme involving more than $100,000 in gold bullion, an Egyptian halal meat monopoly and a Qatari sheikh.
Menendez, 70, will be tried with two New Jersey businesspeople: Fred Daibes and Wael Hana.
All three sat in the court for more than two hours Monday morning, quietly talking with their lawyers while the judge, Sidney Stein, questioned prospective jurors who said they would be unable to serve for the duration of the trial.
The senator appeared relaxed, his hands clasped either at his waist or near his chest, fingers tented.
His wife, Nadine, 57, was also charged in the bribery scheme but will be tried separately, in July. A judge granted her request for a delay after her lawyers said she had a serious medical condition that required prompt treatment and, possibly, a lengthy recovery.
All four defendants have pleaded not guilty, and Menendez has said he will be exonerated at trial, leaving open the possibility that he might run for reelection as an independent in November.
A key government witness in the trial could be Jose Uribe, another businessperson who was charged with Bob Menendez but who has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with prosecutors. At his guilty plea in March, Uribe admitted that he gave Nadine Menendez a $60,000 Mercedes-Benz convertible “in return for influencing a United States senator to stop a criminal investigation.”
Here are the central claims outlined by prosecutors, who will be trying to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Bob Menendez, Daibes and Hana participated in a sprawling bribery conspiracy that lasted nearly five years:
Aiding Egypt
Menendez is charged with using his “in-
New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, arrive at Federal District Court in New York on March 11, 2024. Prosecutors have depicted Senator Robert Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, as collaborators who took bribes in exchange for the senator’s willingness to steer weapons and aid to Egypt and meddle in criminal investigations involving allies. (Jefferson Siegel/The New York Times)
fluence and power” as a senator in ways that benefited the government of Egypt and Hana, an American citizen who emigrated from Egypt and was trying to get a halal meat certification company off the ground in New Jersey.
For example, after meeting with Hana in May 2018, prosecutors say, Menendez obtained nonpublic information from the State Department about the number and nationality of employees at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo. The information was relayed to an Egyptian official through Nadine Menendez and Hana. Prosecutors noted that the information was not classified but was considered highly sensitive and could pose “significant operational security concerns” if disclosed.
The senator, a former leader of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is also accused of steering weapons and aid to Egypt in exchange for bribes. In May 2018, he secretly helped to write and edit a letter from Egyptian officials who were lobbying other U.S. senators to release $300 million in additional aid, according to the indictment.
Halal meat monopoly
To help Hana’s business, IS EG Halal, the senator pressured a high-level U.S. Department of Agriculture official, prosecutors claim. The official had objected to Egypt’s plan to make Hana’s company the sole entity authorized to certify that meat imported to the country from
the United States had been prepared according to Islamic law. (Until then, at least four U.S. companies had divided the work, and the sudden shift caused prices to skyrocket.)
According to the indictment, Menendez called the official to demand that the USDA “stop interfering with IS EG Halal’s monopoly.”
The official refused, but the business arrangement, which the United States had no power to block, remained in place, enabling IS EG Halal to thrive.
Bob Menendez is also charged with trying to use his clout to quash criminal cases in New Jersey — two involving associates of Uribe’s and one against Daibes, a real estate developer and longtime friend of the senator’s who had donated to his campaigns.
Uribe had been implicated in an insurance fraud investigation by the New Jersey attorney general’s office that involved two of his associates, according to the indictment. “The deal is to kill and stop all investigation,” Uribe wrote to Hana in April 2018.
The senator called and then met in September 2019 with officials from the attorney general’s office in an effort to scuttle the inquiry, according to the indictment. In exchange, Uribe told a judge at his recent guilty plea, he had provided the Mercedes-Benz to Nadine Menendez in April 2019 and arranged to cover its monthly payments.
Seeking a new U.S. attorney
Daibes is accused of giving the Menendezes bribes of furniture, gold bars and cash.
Investigators found 11 gold bars linked to Daibes during a June 16, 2022, search of the couple’s home. Daibes’ fingerprints or DNA were also found on 10 envelopes, containing more than $80,000, during the search, according to a court filing.
Less than three months before the search, the senator’s wife sold two 1-kilogram bars of gold that were traced to Daibes and worth about $120,000, prosecutors have also said.
The payments were provided, in part, in exchange for the senator’s efforts to resolve federal bank fraud charges that Daibes faces in New Jersey, according to the indictment.
Daibes was charged in October 2018 with obtaining loans under false pretenses from a bank he had founded years earlier, Mariner’s.
Qatar connection
All of this was occurring as Daibes was preparing to build a high-rise apartment complex along the Hudson River in Edgewater, New Jersey.
In January 2023, Heritage Advisors, a firm founded by a Qatari sheikh, finalized a $45 million shared ownership agreement for the Edgewater project with a company controlled by Daibes, New Jersey property records show. Daibes gave the senator “at least one gold bar” after a draft of the real estate deal was firmed up, prosecutors said.
An official with the Qatari investment firm told prosecutors in December that the company considered the high-rise complex a “trophy project” because it faced the Manhattan skyline. The investors also said they were able to negotiate favorable terms because Daibes was “unbankable,” leaving him few lending options, according to a filing last month by Avi Weitzman, one of the senator’s lawyers.
“The decision to invest in the Edgewater development project,” Weitzman wrote, “had nothing to do with Senator Menendez or the government of Qatar.”
Rep. Jasmine Crockett was sitting in a House Oversight Committee hearing last fall, growing increasingly frustrated as she listened to Republicans accuse President Joe Biden of impeachable offenses without producing any evidence, when she had an idea.
Crockett, a freshman Democrat from Texas and former defense attorney, summoned an aide and asked them to quickly print out a stack of photos showing the boxes of sensitive government documents stashed by a toilet at Mar-a-Lago, former President Donald Trump’s club in Palm Beach, Florida.
Moments later, Crockett was brandishing the photos above her head, accusing Republicans of ignoring clear evidence that Trump had violated the law while pushing allegations against Biden for which they had shown no proof.
“When we start talking about things that look like evidence, they want to act like they blind,” Crockett said of Republicans, spitting her words with a mix of outrage and bemusement. “These are our national secrets,” apparently in a toilet, she added, using an expletive to describe the plumbing.
The moment circulated widely on social media. The White House took notice. So did senior House Democrats. Suddenly, it was Crockett, not the Republicans pursuing Biden, who was capturing the public’s attention.
The performance has become something of a hallmark of the sputtering Republican effort to impeach Biden, which has faltered in recent weeks as the GOP has come up empty in its efforts to back up its claims of wrongdoing by the president.
As the Republicans have pressed their case against Biden, Democrats on the Oversight panel — including an unusually large crop of freshman — have matched them sound bite for sound bite and stunt for political stunt, establishing themselves as feisty defenders of the president.
It’s a strategy that Democrats began planning out more than a year ago. Back in January 2023, they selected seven freshmen to sit on the Oversight panel, the most of any committee. The group included lawyers with debate experience and members who had a sense for how to communicate in a way that could catch fire on social media and break through the noise of a highly polarized environment.
The result has been that the impeachment proceedings that were designed by Republicans to damage Biden politically have instead elevated the profiles of a group of battle-ready first-term Democrats who have become fixtures of the partisan scrum that is the House Oversight Committee.
In addition to Crockett, there is Rep. Dan Goldman, a former federal prosecutor from New York, who has made it his mission to beat Republicans to the microphones outside of
closed-door interviews, framing the testimony before his GOP rivals can.
Rep. Robert Garcia of California has peppered his remarks with sassy pop culture references that have gained traction on social media, drawing attention to the Democrats’ defense.
And Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Florida has gained a reputation as the chief antagonist of Rep. James Comer, who as chair of the committee is leading the investigation. Moskowitz has repeatedly gotten under Comer’s skin with irreverent tactics, including once wearing a mask of President Vladimir Putin to a hearing to mock him as a puppet of Russia.
Even without a concerted campaign by Democrats, the Republican drive to impeach Biden would likely have struggled to gain momentum. Its leaders have never been able to establish the kind of evidence needed to convince mainstream and swing-district members to move forward with impeachment, a critical task given their tiny majority. And their investigation was dealt a near-fatal blow when a key informant was charged with fabricating his story of Biden accepting bribes.
Many Republicans are now conceding that their push to impeach Biden is all but dead, and Comer has pivoted to exploring possible criminal referrals instead, which he has called “the culmination of my investigation.”
Democrats argue their strategy has been critical to derailing the enterprise. They battled Republicans on the facts, sought to shift the focus to Trump’s misdeeds and — perhaps most importantly — mirrored the GOP’s incendiary tactics.
“I think it’s clear that we out-messaged them, which is why now they’re coming out and admitting that they’re not going to be impeaching Joe Biden,” Moskowitz said.
Garcia’s moment of social-media fame — planned in advance, by his own admission — came during a January hearing in which he mocked Republicans’ Biden impeachment drive by quoting, nearly verbatim, a famously dramatic and detailed takedown from an episode of the “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” reality television show.
Democrats, Garcia said from his seat on the dais on Capitol Hill, “have receipts. Proof. A timeline. Screenshots. We have everything we need to prove conclusively that foreign governments were funneling money through Trump properties and into Donald Trump’s pockets, all in violation of the Constitution.”
Trump has denied any wrongdoing in his dealings with foreign governments. But the moment had its intended effect. The “Real
Housewives” delighted over Garcia’s remarks and circulated them widely on social media, and Bravo host Andy Cohen featured them on his popular nightly “Watch What Happens Live” program.
Goldman has taken a different approach. As the lead counsel for the first impeachment inquiry against Trump, Goldman knows the evidence on Ukraine and Hunter Biden better than most.
He has made it his business to publicly push back against Republican efforts to twist facts to fit their allegations of wrongdoing by the president and members of his family.
“I knew that the Republicans were going to have closed-door depositions, and then selectively leak parts of those out to try to frame a false narrative. And so I was not going to allow them to do that,” Goldman said.
It is clear that Comer has lost patience with the Democrats and their tactics.
He has complained about the freshmen, saying that they intimidate his witnesses. He has called Moskowitz a “Smurf,” prompting the freshman to dress like one, wearing blue shoes and a Smurf tie to the next hearing.
Crockett is no stranger to partisan battles. She came out of the Texas state House, where, at one point, Republicans issued a warrant for her arrest amid a dispute over Texas voting laws. (The framed warrant now hangs in her Dallas office.)
She and other freshmen have found themselves frequently in battle with Republican bomb throwers, such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. One of the first assignments Crockett and Garcia got was to tour the D.C. jail with Greene to counter her narrative that the rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 were political prisoners being held in inhumane conditions.
Then Crockett found herself seated near Greene at a congressional hearing as the Georgia congresswoman displayed naked photos of the president’s son Hunter Biden engaging in sex acts.
“It was one of those ‘We’re frozen’ moments. Like, what do we do?” Crockett recalled. “We were all looking at each other, like, did that just happen? We were all in shock and awe.”
But Crockett is almost never at a loss for words. Her committee speeches have repeatedly made headlines in left-leaning outlets.
“With all the viral moments and all of the antics, people assume, ‘Oh she wanted that.’ Actually I did not,” Crockett said of her assignment on the Oversight Committee. “But it’s worked out for sure.”
Reps. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), center, and Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), on Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb. 13, 2024. Garcia peppers remarks with sassy pop culture references; Goldman regularly beats Republicans to the microphones outside of closed-door interviews.Apple’s top software executives decided early last year that Siri, the company’s virtual assistant, needed a brain transplant.
The decision came after executives Craig Federighi and John Giannandrea spent weeks testing OpenAI’s new chatbot, ChatGPT. The product’s use of generative artificial intelligence, which can write poetry, create computer code and answer complex questions, made Siri look antiquated, said two people familiar with the company’s work, who didn’t have permission to speak publicly.
Introduced in 2011 as the original virtual assistant in every iPhone, Siri had been limited for years to individual requests and had never been able to follow a conversation. It often misunderstood questions. ChatGPT, on the other hand, knew that if someone asked for the weather in San Francisco and then said, “What about New York?” that user wanted another forecast.
The realization that new technology had leapfrogged Siri set in motion the tech giant’s most significant reorganization in more than a decade. Determined to catch up in the tech industry’s AI race, Apple has made generative AI a tent pole project — the company’s special, internal label that it uses to organize employees around once-in-adecade initiatives.
Apple is expected to show off its AI work at its annual developers conference June 10 when it releases an improved Siri that is more conversational and versatile, according to three people familiar with the company’s work, who didn’t have permission to speak publicly. Siri’s underlying technology will include a new generative AI system that will allow it to chat rather than respond to questions one at a time.
The update to Siri is at the forefront of a broader effort to embrace generative AI across Apple’s business. The company is also increasing the memory in this year’s iPhones to support its new Siri capabilities. And it has discussed licensing complementary AI models that power chatbots from several companies, including Google, Cohere and OpenAI.
An Apple spokesperson declined to comment.
Apple executives worry that new AI technology threatens the company’s domi-
Apple plans to announce that it will bring generative A.I. to iPhones after the company’s most significant reorganization in a decade. (Amy Matsushita-Beal/ The New York Times)
nance of the global smartphone market because it has the potential to become the primary operating system, displacing the iPhone’s iOS software, said two people familiar with the thinking of Apple’s leadership, who didn’t have permission to speak publicly. This new technology could also create an ecosystem of AI apps, known as agents, that can order Ubers or make calendar appointments, undermining Apple’s App Store, which generates about $24 billion in annual sales.
Apple also fears that if it fails to develop its own AI system, the iPhone could become a “dumb brick” compared with other technology. While it is unclear how many people regularly use Siri, the iPhone currently takes 85% of global smartphone profits and generates more than $200 billion in sales.
That sense of urgency contributed to Apple’s decision to cancel its other big bet — a $10 billion project to develop a selfdriving car — and reassign hundreds of engineers to work on AI.
Apple has also explored creating servers that are powered by its iPhone and Mac processors, two of these people said. Doing so could help Apple save money and create consistency between the tools used for processes in the cloud and on its devices.
Rather than compete directly with ChatGPT by releasing a chatbot that does things like write poetry, the three people familiar with its work said, Apple has focused
on making Siri better at handling tasks that it already does, including setting timers, creating calendar appointments and adding items to a grocery list. It also would be able to summarize text messages.
Apple plans to bill the improved Siri as more private than rival AI services because it will process requests on iPhones rather than remotely in data centers. The strategy will also save money: OpenAI spends about 12 cents per 1,000 words that ChatGPT generates because of cloud computing costs.
(The New York Times sued OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, in December for copyright infringement of news content related to AI systems.)
But Apple faces risks by relying on a smaller AI system housed on iPhones rather than a larger one stored in a data center. Research has found that smaller AI systems could be more likely to make errors, known as hallucinations, than larger ones.
“It’s always been the Siri vision to have a conversational interface that understands language and context, but it’s a hard problem,” said Tom Gruber, a co-founder of Siri who worked at Apple until 2018. “Now that the technology has changed, it should be possible to do a much better job of that. So long as it’s not a one-size-fits-all effort to answer anything, then they should be able to avoid trouble.”
Apple has several advantages in the AI race, including more than 2 billion de-
vices in use around the world where it can distribute AI products. It also has a leading semiconductor team that has been making sophisticated chips capable of powering AI tasks like facial recognition.
But for the past decade, Apple has struggled to develop a comprehensive AI strategy, and Siri has not had major improvements since its introduction. The assistant’s struggles blunted the appeal of the company’s HomePod smart speaker because it couldn’t consistently perform simple tasks like fulfilling a song request.
The Siri team has failed to get the kind of attention and resources that went to other groups inside Apple, said John Burkey, who worked on Siri for two years before founding a generative AI platform, Brighten.ai. The company’s divisions, such as software and hardware, operate independently of one another and share limited information. But AI needs to be threaded through products to succeed.
“It’s not in Apple’s DNA,” Burkey said. “It’s a blind spot.”
Global stock indexes were little changed on Monday while the U.S. dollar index eased as investors awaited this week’s U.S. inflation data that is expected to be key for the outlook for U.S interest rates.
While the U.S. consumer prices report will likely take center stage, U.S. producer price data is also due this week, along with final reports on European inflation that should reinforce expectations for a June rate cut from the European Central Bank.
Chinese retail sales and other data are expected as well.
This week brings comments from a host of Federal Reserve speakers, including Fed Chair Jerome Powell.
Investors have been focused on inflation as they weigh how soon the U.S. central bank is likely to cut rates. Markets are pricing in around an 80% chance of a rate cut by the Fed’s September meeting, with almost 44 basis points (bps) of reductions in total expected in 2024, LSEG data showed.
Economists polled by Reuters expect the closely watched core CPI to rise by 0.3% in the month, down from 0.4% in March, for an annual gain of 3.6%, down from 3.8%.
Paul Nolte, senior wealth adviser and market strategist for Murphy & Sylvest in Elmhurst, Illinois, said both CPI and PPI reports will be important to investors, but added that “there’s been so much discussion about the consumer. Is the consumer tapped out? And can the consumer still afford to spend? CPI is going to encapsulate a lot of that.”
The first-quarter U.S. earnings season is winding down, but investors will see reports this week from some big U.S. retailers including Walmart and Home Depot.
“Earnings from Walmart and Home Depot will be interesting to get a gauge on how the consumer is doing” as well, Nolte said.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 71.25 points, or 0.18%, to 39,441.59, the S&P 500 lost 2.30 points, or 0.04%, to 5,220.38 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 37.45 points, or 0.23%, to 16,378.31.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe rose 0.47 points, or 0.06%, to 782.53, and the STOXX 600 index edged up 0.02%.
Chinese stocks eased. China’s finance ministry said on Monday it will start the long-awaited sales of 1 trillion yuan ($138.23 billion) of long-term treasury bonds that Beijing
Horario: Lunes a Viernes de 7:30 am a 4:00 pm
Gautier Benitez Consolidated Mall Suite 70 Caguas, P.R.
hopes will help stimulate key sectors of a flagging economy this week.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, eased 0.1% to 105.21.
The relative outperformance of the U.S. economy continues to underpin the dollar, while only the threat of Japanese intervention is stopping it from re-testing the 160 yen barrier.
The Bank of Japan on Monday sent a hawkish signal to markets by cutting the amount of Japanese government bonds it offered to buy in a regular operation.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar was up 0.3% at 156.20, and the euro was up 0.19% at $1.0789.
The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes fell 2.3 basis points to 4.481%, from 4.504% late on Friday.
U.S. crude rose 86 cents to settle at $79.12 a barrel, and Brent gained 57 cents to $83.36. Spot gold fell 1% to $2,336.76 per ounce.
(Additional reporting by Amanda Cooper in London and Wayne Cole in Sydney; Editing by Shri Navaratnam, Sam Holmes, Kevin Liffey, Will Dunham and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
In a sandy clearing near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip, soldiers, civilians and tourists wandered silently through a dense thicket of poles. Affixed to the poles were portraits of the hundreds of people who came there to dance late one night last October and never made it home.
As Israelis observed Memorial Day, the country’s annual commemoration for fallen soldiers and victims of terrorist attacks, many were drawn to the site of the Tribe of Nova music festival, a rave dedicated to peace and love that was interrupted around sunrise Oct. 7 by a barrage of rockets from Gaza, signaling the start of the Hamas-led cross-border assault.
In the horror that followed, at least 360 festivalgoers were slain — nearly one-third of the roughly 1,200 people killed in southern Israel that day, according to Israeli authorities. Militants who surged across the border su-
An aerial view of the Tribe of Nova festival site four days after it was attacked by Hamas-led terrorists, near Re’im, Israel, Oct. 11, 2023. (Sergey Ponomarev/The New York Times)
rrounded the Nova site, ambushed people as they tried to escape in their cars and hunted them down in bomb shelters along the road or as they fled across furrowed fields.
Observing Israel’s first national day of mourning after the deadliest day in the 76year history of the state, and with the country still at war in Gaza, many people came to
the Nova memorial site beginning Sunday to remember the dead and those festivalgoers who were taken hostage to Gaza and are still being held there.
On Sunday, a solemn hush was broken at times by Israeli flags snapping in the wind, and by the sharp cracks of artillery fire from Israeli troop positions nearby.
“The earth is crying out,” said Eliran Shuraki, 39, a resident of central Israel who had come to the Nova site for the first time Sunday with a friend. “Our hearts are broken,” he added.
They had first visited Be’eri, one of the border communities worst affected on Oct. 7, and where one of Shuraki’s colleagues lost three generations of relatives, he said. Shuraki’s brother lost a brother-in-law, a police officer, at the Nova festival, he said.
Nicole and Guy Peretz, a couple in their early 30s, had come from Ashqelon up the coast. Both are former police officers, and several of their former colleagues were ki-
Israel’s Memorial Day is normally one of the most somber on the country’s calendar, a date when Israelis put aside their differences to grieve fellow citizens killed in war or terrorist attacks.
But as Israelis gathered across the country Monday for the first national day of mourning since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks, protesters disrupted several ceremonies by heckling government ministers. Their interventions underscored how feelings of wartime unity have given way to deep disputes over the war in the
Gaza Strip, the fate of hostages taken Oct. 7 and domestic politics.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was heckled by critics as he attended a memorial at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, the site of Israel’s national cemetery. One person was heard shouting, “Garbage.” Another said, “You took my children.”
At a ceremony in Ashdod, in southern Israel, bystanders shouted at the national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, calling him a “criminal,” before his supporters tried to drown them out.
Such disruptions have precedent. Protes-
ters taunted Ben-Gvir and other ministers last year, before the war began, when anger over the government’s efforts to overhaul the judicial system were the most prominent source of social division.
This year’s protests reflected growing anguish among parts of the population about the way Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition government has handled the war. While Israeli society closed ranks immediately after the Hamas-led attack and the Israeli military offensive in Gaza that followed, critics increasingly blame Netanyahu for failing to prevent the atrocities Oct. 7. Israeli authorities say that
lled at the site, they said.
“Until you come here yourself and see the incomprehensible number of people with your own eyes, you cannot absorb it,” Nicole Peretz said.
More makeshift memorials dot the roadsides, orchards and meadows for miles around, made up of portraits and piles of stones, handwritten notes and candles, and wreaths that have withered under the beating sun.
In a field nearby, hundreds of incinerated cars gathered from the roadsides after the Oct. 7 attack are piled up in a graveyard of metal.
Even the bomb shelters where so many sought protection that day, only to be killed as they huddled inside, have turned into shrines. Their charred and blood-spattered interiors have been whitewashed. The stench has gone. Their walls are now covered with graffiti: searing messages, photographs and prayers memorializing those who were there but are no longer.
roughly 1,200 people were killed and some 240 others abducted in the attack.
While the government has managed to secure the release of more than 100 hostages, at least half are dead or are still in captivity. Many of their loved ones want the government to agree to an immediate cease-fire with Hamas that would allow for the remaining captives to be released, even it means leaving Hamas in control of parts of Gaza.
A poll conducted this month by the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem-based research group, suggests that a majority of Israelis see a hostage deal as a priority over a military operation in Rafah. Israel calls the city, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought shelter from fighting elsewhere, Hamas’ last major stronghold in Gaza.
Spain’s governing Socialist party emerged Sunday as the winner of regional elections in Catalonia that had been widely seen as a litmus test for Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s polarizing amnesty measure for separatists.
The Socialists are celebrating what they claim is a momentous victory, though they did not clinch enough seats to govern on their own. They most likely face weeks of bargaining, and possibly a repeat election if no agreement is reached. But for the first time in more than a decade, they may be able to form a regional government led by an anti-independence party.
Addressing supporters late Sunday night at Socialist headquarters in Barcelona, the party leader, Salvador Illa, declared: “For the first time in 45 years, we have won the elections in Catalonia, in terms of both seats and votes. The Catalans have decided to open a new era.”
Still, Illa, who has promised improvements in social services, education and drought management, will need 68 of the Catalan Parliament’s 135 seats to form a government. On Sunday, his party got only 42, meaning he will have to seek support from the pro-independence party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (Catalan Republican Left) and the left-wing Comuns.
“Winning does not mean governing,” Toni Rodon, a professor of political science at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, said before the results were in. While Esquerra has supported Sánchez in the Spanish Parliament, he said, negotiations in Catalonia are not expected to be easy.
The Socialists’ main rival was the proindependence Junts per Catalunya (Together
for Catalonia), led by Carles Puigdemont, who campaigned from exile in France. Junts came a close second, but with 35 seats would not be able to form a government with other pro-independence parties, which performed badly.
The leader of Esquerra, Pere Aragonès, who is also the departing president of the Catalan government, called the snap election after failing to garner enough support to pass a regional budget. After winning only 20 seats Sunday, his party now faces a reckoning.
On Sunday night, Aragonès attributed Esquerra’s poor results to the party’s policy of making agreements with the Socialists, which he said, “have not been valued by the citizens.” From now on, he said, “Esquerra will be in the opposition.”
215-70-R16 4x- $336 .00
235-70-R16 4x- $388 .00
205-40-R17 4x- $295 .00
235-35-R19 4x- $369 .00
235-55-R19 4x- $556 .00
235-40-R19 4x- $392 .00
$212 .00
185-65-R15 4x- $218 .00
195-50-R15 4x- $232 .00
195-65-R15 4x- $259 .00
235-75-R15 ...... 4x- $359 .00
265-70-R15 4x- $509 .00
205-55-R16 ...... 4x- $269 .00
195-45-R16 4x- $279 .00
205-60-R16 ...... 4x- $289 .00
205-50-R17 4x- $300 .00
205-45-R17 4x- $299 .00
215-45-R17 4x- $309 .00
235-45-R17 4x- $349 .00
225-65-R17 4x- $356 .00
225-60-R17 4x- $354 .00
225-50-R18 ...... 4x- $456 .00
225-55-R18 4x- $464 .00
225-40-R18 ...... 4x- $349 .00
225-45-R18 4x- $348 .00
225-40-R19 ...... 4x- $449 .00
225-30-R20 4x- $392 .00
225-35-R20 4x- $396 .00
265-45-R21 4x- $698 .00
305-40-R22 4x- $792 .00
285-45-R22 4x- $656 .00
Baterias desde $ 49. 95
It was a clear indication that he is not willing to negotiate with Illa, and without the support of Esquerra, Catalonia could be “looking at a new election in October,” Rodon said.
According to Ignacio Lago, a professor of political science at Pompeu Fabra University, even if no agreement is reached and the elections need to be repeated, “for the first time in years, the pro-independence parties do not hold the majority.”
The issue of an amnesty for separatists has been divisive for years.
When Sánchez first rose to power in 2019, he said he would not drop pending legal action against Puigdemont or others accused of separatist activity.
But Sánchez reversed himself after Spain’s general election in July, when his only chance for a second term required acceding to the demands of Puigdemont’s party, which had become kingmaker overnight by winning seven parliamentary seats. Sánchez, who is known as a political survivor, brokered an amnesty deal with Junts, calling it the best way forward for peaceful coexistence in Catalonia.
The amnesty proposal was wildly unpopular in Spain. Two rival parties organized an immense demonstration against the deal in November in cities around the country, and other protests not officially supported by the parties surged for nights on end outside the Socialist headquarters in Madrid.
At one point, a larger-than-life effigy of Sánchez with a long Pinocchio-style nose was beaten to smithereens by a mob.
The amnesty bill has stalled in the lower
house of the Spanish Parliament after being approved by its Senate in March. Legal challenges could also still delay the measure.
Isabel Díaz Ayuso, head of the Madrid regional government and a member of the center-right People’s Party, has called the amnesty “the most corrupt law of our democracy.”
Historically, support for Catalan independence was no greater than 20%, according to a report published by the Elcano Royal Institute, an international affairs research group based in Madrid. That changed in 2010, after the financial crisis in the eurozone and austerity policies forced on Spain by the European Union encouraged “populist messages of fiscal rebellion” in Catalonia, the report said.
The British government’s decision in 2012 to allow an independence referendum in Scotland bolstered separatists in Spain.
Tensions in Catalonia came to a head in 2017, when the separatist government led by Puigdemont ignored Spanish courts and moved ahead with an illegal independence referendum. A declaration of independence followed, as did a crackdown on the separatists by the Spanish government, which fired the Catalan government and imposed direct control. Nine political leaders were jailed for crimes including sedition, while Puigdemont fled to France, narrowly avoiding arrest.
Successive Spanish leaders, including Sánchez in his first term, have tried and failed to have Puigdemont extradited.
In 2021, Sánchez’s administration took a more conciliatory approach to Puigdemont’s allies still in Spain, pardoning the nine in prison.
The key question today, according to Cristina Monge, a professor of political science and sociology at the University of Zaragoza, is whether “the spirit” of the Catalan independence movement remains alive.
The positive election results for the Socialists in Catalonia on Sunday would suggest that the prime minister’s high-risk gamble to grant amnesty has paid off, reducing separatist tensions in the region and helping to normalize Spanish-Catalan relations.
“We have turned the page on the independence movement of 2017,” Lago said.
A study conducted by the regional government’s Center of Opinion Studies shows that a rising share of Catalans — 51.1% in February, compared with 44.1% in March 2019 — support remaining in Spain.
Independence is no longer “a top priority for many voters,” Rodon said, adding that the shift may reflect a general disenchantment with pro-independence parties rather than waning interest in separatism.
Foreign policy can make a mockery of moral certitude. You’re trying to master a landscape of anarchy policed by violence, where ideological differences make American polarization look like genial neighborliness, where even a superpower’s ability to impose its will dissolves with distance, where any grand project requires alliances with tyranny and worse.
This seems clear when you consider the dilemmas of the past. It’s why the “good war” of World War II involved a partnership with a monster in Moscow and the subjection of half of Europe to totalitarian oppression. It’s why the “bad war” of Vietnam was only escaped at the cost of betraying the South Vietnamese and making a deal with yet another monster in Beijing.
But in active controversies the tragic vision can seem like a cold way of looking at the world. Lean into it too hard, and you get accused of ignoring injustice or recapitulating the indifference that gave cover to past atrocities.
Sometimes those accusations have some bite. A “realist” foreign policy can slide from describing power to excusing depredations. It can underestimate the power of a righteous cause — as I underestimated, for instance, Ukraine’s capacity to defend itself in 2022.
But seeing statecraft as a tragic balancing of evils is still essential, especially amid the kind of moral fervor that attends a conflict like Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip. The alternative is a
PO BOX 6537 Caguas PR 00726
Telephones: (787) 743-3346 • (787) 743-6537 (787) 743-5606 • Fax (787) 743-5100
Dr. Ricardo Angulo Founder
Manuel Sierra General Manager
María de L. Márquez
Business Director
R. Mariani
Circulation Director
Lisette Martínez
Advertising Agency Director
Ray Ruiz Legal Notice Director
Sharon Ramírez
Legal Notices Graphics Manager
Aaron Christiana Editor
María Rivera Graphic Artist Manager
form of argument in which essential aspects of the world, being inconvenient to moral absolutism, simply disappear.
For example, reading the apologia for pro-Palestinian protests from certain left-wing intellectuals, you have a sense of both elision and exaggeration, a hype around Israeli moral failures — it’s not enough for a war that yields so many casualties to be unjust, if it’s wrong it must be genocide — that ends up suppressing the harsh implications of a simple call for peace.
A representative passage, from Pankaj Mishra in The London Review of Books, describes many protesters as “motivated by the simple wish to uphold the ideals that seemed so universally desirable after 1945: respect for freedom, tolerance for the otherness of beliefs and ways of life; solidarity with human suffering; and a sense of moral responsibility for the weak and persecuted.”
No doubt many campus protesters have these motivations. The difficulty is that liberal “freedom” is on offer almost nowhere in the Middle East, certainly not in Gaza under Hamas’ rule, and the most challenging “otherness of beliefs” in this situation are the beliefs that motivated the massacres of Oct. 7.
Another difficulty is that some instigators of the protests, including some of the student groups that were at work immediately after Oct. 7, seem untroubled by this fact, and perfectly comfortable with supporting not just peaceful negotiation but a revolutionary struggle led by Islamist fanatics.
Which yields the moral dilemma the protests don’t acknowledge: Ending the war on the terms they want could grant a major strategic victory to the regional alliance dedicated to the murder of Israelis and their expulsion from the Middle East.
Maybe the Israel-Hamas war is unjust enough, and Israeli goals unachievable enough, that there’s no alternative to vindicating Hamas’ blood-soaked strategy. But you have to be honest about what you’re endorsing: a brutal weighing-out of evils, not any sort of triumph for “universally desirable” ideals.
Then a similar point applies to supporters of the Israeli war, for whom moral considerations — the evil of Hamas, the historical suffering of the Jewish people, the special American relationship with Israel — are invoked as an argument-ender in an inflexible way. We are constantly urged to “stand with Israel” when it’s unclear if Israel knows what it’s doing. Joe Biden’s administration is chastised for betrayal when it tries to influence Israel’s warmaking, even though the Israeli government’s decisions before and since Oct. 7 do not inspire great confidence.
Biden’s specific attempts to micromanage the conflict
may be misguided or hamfisted. But it’s not misguided for America, an imperium dealing with multiplying threats, to decline to write a blank check for a war being waged without a clear plan for victory or for peace.
The alternative articulated by, for instance, Mitt Romney — “We stand by allies, we don’t second-guess them” — is not a serious policy for a hegemon balancing its global obligations. And the religious vision of House Speaker Mike Johnson and other Christian Zionists, where Israel’s re-founding is evidence of a providential plan, does not imply that Israeli governments are immune from strategic blunders. Go read the Book of Kings! In each case, you have a desire that mirrors the impulse of the left-wing intellectuals — to make foreign policy easy by condensing everything to a single moral judgment. But the problems of the world cannot be so easily reduced.
Being cold-eyed and tragic-minded does not mean abandoning morality. But it means recognizing that often nobody is simply right, no single approach is morally obvious, and no strategy is clean.
POR CYBERNEWS
– Luego de ser pospuesto el Festival del Fricasé el pasado 5 de mayo por el paso de una vaguada por la isla, la Administración Municipal de Naranjito informó que llevará a cabo el evento en la plaza pública, este domingo, 19 de mayo de 2024, a partir de las 12:00 del mediodía.
La actividad gastronómica y cultural, en el municipio conocido como la “Puerta de la montaña”, se confeccionará el tradicional fricasé de pollo más grande de Puerto Rico gratis para los asistentes. Asimismo, los visitantes podrán degustar desde fricasé de cabro y pavo hasta el clásico de pollo.
“Esperamos el mismo entusiasmo de participación al Festival como en los pasados años. Este cambio de fecha se realizó con el objetivo de salvaguardar la vida de nuestros ciudadanos ante el paso de las incesantes
POR EL STAR STAFF
SAN JUAN – El representante por el Distrito #4 de San Juan, Víctor Parés, anunció el inicio de los trabajos de remodelación de las facilidades deportivas de la urbanización Sagrado Corazón, incluyendo las canchas de baloncesto, tenis y parque de pelota, así como el desarrollo de dos canchas nuevas de pickleball.
“Continuando nuestro compromiso con el deporte y la recreación en San Juan, luego de extensas reuniones con personal del Departamento de Recreación y Deportes, incluyendo el secretario, Rey Quinones, y con el apoyo y gestión de nuestro alcalde Miguel Romero, hoy podemos decir que la reconstrucción de las facilidades deportivas de Sagrado Corazón, una de las más utilizadas en la ciudad capital, ya fue adjudicada y se encuentra lista para comenzar”, comentó el Representante del Partido Nuevo Progresista.
lluvias. De otra parte, la agenda de entretenimiento no tendrá ningún cambio, así que contamos con la asistencia de nuestros naranjiteños y visitantes de todo Puerto Rico”, expresó Orlando Ortiz, alcalde de Naranjito. Como parte de las actividades, habrá exhibición y venta de artesanías, presentación de la Banda Municipal, Grupo de Niños Trovadores y baile del Programa de Bellas Artes naranjiteño, show de LímiT21, la presentación del reconocido cuatrista naranjiteño Christian Nieves con su trío Herencia Musical, Plenéalo, y para los salseros, Tributo al Gallo.
Los asistentes podrán dejar sus autos en el estacionamiento municipal, ubicado detrás de la alcaldía cerca de la plaza pública. Asimismo, para facilitar la entrada al evento, se organizó un servicio de “trolley” para los que estacionen fuera del área de la actividad.
Para más información sobre el Festival del Fricasé acceda a la página de Facebook @municipiodenaranjitopr.
La empresa Bayside Group, LLC se llevó el proceso de subasta para la obra con un costo de $1,188,724.00.
Entre los trabajos a realizarse se encuentran la instalación de verjas de aluminio nuevas en todo el complejo, la reconstrucción de columnas y muros de contención, la rehabilitación de la cancha bajo techo, tanto el tabloncillo como el techo, instalación de luminarias en la cancha de baloncesto, las de tenis y el parque de pelota, reemplazo de la caja de bateo, la instalación de dos goles de balompié y mejorar las facilidades de las gradas, entre otros.
“Estos trabajos son de gran envergadura y cuando terminen los trabajos, que incluye una garantía de hasta 5 años, este complejo será parte esencial del despunte de la recreación comunal que nuestro Alcalde ha impulsado como parte de mejorar la calidad de vida de nuestros residentes. La creación de dos canchas de pickleball, un deporte que está en auge entre
jóvenes y adultos, también proveerá una mayor oferta deportiva en San Juan”, añadió Parés.
POR CYBERNEWS
ADJUNTAS – Un incidente de tráfico fue reportado a las 11:39 de la mañana del lunes en la carretera 10 final, intersección con la carretera 123 en el barrio Juan González, en Adjuntas.
Según la Uniformada, Anthony Cortés Reyes, de 43 años y residente en Hatillo, conducía un camión MAC 600, color blanco, del año 1995, cuando se quedó sin frenos. En un
intento por salvar su vida, Cortés Reyes se lanzó del camión en movimiento, por lo que resultó con traumas en diferentes partes del cuerpo.
Fue transportado de emergencia por Aeromed al Centro Médico de Río Piedras, donde su condición ha sido descrita como de cuidado.
El agente Daniel Barreiro, adscrito al Distrito de Adjuntas, está a cargo de la investigación de los hechos. Las autoridades evalúan la situación.
Roger Corman, who for decades dominated the world of B movies as the producer or director of countless proudly low-budget horror, science fiction and crime films, has died. He was 98.
He died Thursday at his home in Santa Monica, California, his family said in a statement posted late Saturday on his official Instagram page. The statement did not specify the cause of death.
Corman produced more than 300 films and directed roughly 50 of them (the exact number is hard to determine, because he directed or helped direct some without a credit), including cult classics like “A Bucket of Blood” (1959), “The Masque of the Red Death” (1964), “The Wild Angels” (1966) and the original “The Little Shop of Horrors” (1960), which he shot for $35,000 in two days on a set left over from somebody else’s movie. When he got tired of directing, he opened the door to Hollywood for talented young proteges like Francis Ford Coppola (“Dementia 13”), Martin Scorsese (“Boxcar Bertha”), Jonathan Demme (“Caged Heat”), Peter Bogdanovich (“Targets”) and Ron Howard (“Grand Theft Auto”).
Corman “was able to nurture other talent in a way that was never envious or difficult, but always generous,” Scorsese said of him. “He once said: ‘Martin, what you have to get is a very good first reel, because people want to know what’s going on. Then you need a very good last reel, because people want to hear how it all turns out. Everything else doesn’t really matter.’ Probably the best sense I have ever heard about the movies.”
Among the others Corman nurtured was Jack Nicholson, who was 21 when Corman gave him his first movie role, the lead in “The Cry Baby Killer” (1958), and 23 when he had a small part as a masochistic dental patient in “The Little Shop of Horrors.” Before he went on to stardom, Nicholson acted in eight Corman movies and wrote three of them, including “The Trip,” an uncautionary tale about LSD.
Bruce Dern and Peter Fonda were also part of the Corman repertory company, working together in “The Trip” and “The Wild Angels.” An unknown Robert De Niro played Shelley Winters’ heroin-addicted son in “Bloody Mama” (1970). The first script by Robert Towne, who later went on to write the Oscar-winning screenplay for “Chinatown,” was Corman’s nuclear-catastrophe love triangle, “The Last Woman on Earth” (1960). In order to earn his fee, Towne was also required to play the movie’s second lead, a handsome young man who is killed by the Last Woman’s jealous husband.
In addition to being remembered for the opportunities he gave young filmmakers, Corman was renowned for his ability to make movies with almost no money and even less time. In 1967, for example, Boris Karloff owed Corman two days’ work. According to Bogdanovich, “Roger said: ‘I want you to take 20 minutes of Karloff footage from “The Terror,” then I want you to shoot 20 more minutes with Boris, and then I want you to shoot another 40 minutes with some other actors over 10 days. I can take the 20 and the 20 and the 40, and I’ve got a whole new 80-minute Karloff film.’”
The result was the critically praised “Targets,” in which
Karloff played an aging horror film star who confronts a deranged Vietnam veteran on a murderous rampage at a drive-in theater where one of his movies is playing.
From 1954 to 1970, Corman produced or directed dozens of movies for American International Pictures, most of them on a handshake deal with the fabled B-movie impresario Samuel Z. Arkoff. Budgets started at $29,000. “The Wild Angels,” considered a big movie, cost $360,000.
Bringing Bergman to the drive-in
In 1970 Corman formed his own production and distribution company, New World Pictures. What he did next surprised Hollywood: He became the American distributor of Ingmar Bergman’s “Cries and Whispers.” The film earned Bergman nominations for Academy Awards in 1974 as writer and director; the film’s cinematographer, Sven Nykvist, won an Oscar.
In his autobiography, “How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime” (1990, written with Jim Jerome), Corman explained that he did not want his new company “to be identified, even stigmatized, by exploitation filmmaking.” So he booked Bergman into drive-ins, and New World went on to distribute films by Akira Kurosawa, François Truffaut and Federico Fellini.
“Cries and Whispers” made a profit of more than $1 million in American theaters. Nonetheless, the name Roger Corman forever remained, in the words of film critic David Thomson, “a synonym for blithe exploitation.”
Roger William Corman was born April 5, 1926, in Detroit. The son of an engineer, he assumed that he would be an engineer, too.
Even during the Depression, his parents, William and Anne (High) Corman, and their two sons — Roger was 18 months older than his brother, Gene — lived comfortably. But his father had to take a major cut in pay, and to Roger it was obvious that the wolf was lurking around the next corner.
“I have always assumed that somehow shaped my attitude toward money,” Corman reflected in his autobiography.
Driven west by the harsh Michigan winters, the family moved to Southern California. After excelling at Beverly Hills
High School, Corman spent a year as an engineering student at Stanford University in the middle of World War II, then spent his sophomore and junior years at the University of Colorado as a cadet in a Navy program.
He returned to Stanford when the war ended, graduating in 1947 with a degree in industrial engineering. But after working for just four days as an electrical engineer, he quit engineering forever.
He was hired as a messenger at 20th Century Fox for $32.50 a week and eventually rose to story reader. But, he wrote in his memoir, “I knew I was going to be a writer, producer or director of motion pictures, and I needed more background in the arts of the 20th century,” so he enrolled at the University of Oxford on the GI Bill to study the work of T.S. Eliot and D.H. Lawrence.
After six months at Oxford and six months in Paris, he came home and sold a chase-across-the-desert script to Allied Artists for $3,500. He was so unhappy with the finished film, “Highway Dragnet,” directed by Nathan Juran, that he decided to become his own producer.
By 1970, Corman was burned out by directing and by his peripatetic bachelor life. That summer he completed the last movie he would direct for 20 years, “Von Richthofen and Brown,” about the World War I German flying ace known as the Red Baron and the Allied pilot who shot him down. (His next directorial effort, the 1990 science fiction-horror hybrid “Frankenstein Unbound,” was also his last.)
On Dec. 26, 1970, at the age of 44, Corman married Julie Halloran, a former Los Angeles Times researcher whom he had been dating off and on for six years. With his wife and his brother as co-producers, he formed New World Pictures.
At New World, he was responsible for “The Student Nurses,” “Private Duty Nurses” and “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden,” an intelligent and disturbing adaptation of Hannah Green’s semi-autobiographical novel about a teenage girl with schizophrenia, which received an Academy Award nomination for its screenplay, by Gavin Lambert and Lewis John Carlino.
He sold New World in 1983, keeping the valuable film library, and promptly created a new production and distribution company, Concorde-New Horizons. In 1997 he sold ConcordeNew Horizons and its library for $100 million.
He is survived by his wife Julie and his daughters Catherine and Mary, according to the statement from his family.
Roger Corman on the set of “The Trip” in 1967 (Wikipedia)
Soon after their arrival in late December 2020, the COVID-19 vaccines turned the pandemic around and opened a path back to normalcy. They prevented about 14.4 million deaths worldwide, according to one estimate.
In a small percentage of people, they also produced side effects.
Over the course of more than a year, The New York Times talked to 30 people who said they had been harmed by COVID vaccines. Their symptoms may turn out to be unrelated to the shots. But they — along with more than a dozen experts — felt federal officials are not doing enough to investigate their complaints.
All vaccines carry some risk of side effects. More than 270 million Americans received about 677 million doses of the COVID vaccines, and even rare side effects — occurring, say, in just 0.001% of patients — might mean thousands of recipients were affected.
Indeed, more than 13,000 have submitted claims to a government fund that compensates people for COVID vaccine injuries. So far, however, only a dozen people have been compensated, nearly all of them for a heart problem caused by the vaccines.
Here are four takeaways from our investigation.
For most people, the benefits of COVID vaccines outweigh any risks.
Even the best vaccines and drugs have some side effects. That does not negate their benefits, nor does it suggest that people should stop taking them.
The rotavirus vaccine, for example, is an unmitigated success, but it can lead to intussusception — a life-threatening condition in which the intestine folds in on itself — in about 0.02% of children who are va-
nesses. How to distinguish illnesses caused by the vaccine from those that would have happened anyway?
The rarer the condition, the harder it is to answer this question.
Merely judging by the timing — the appearance of a particular problem after vaccination — can be misleading. Most famously, childhood vaccines were mistakenly linked to autism because the first noticeable features often coincided with the immunization schedule.
Serious side effects may first turn up in animal studies of vaccines. But few such studies were possible, given the nation’s desperate timeline in 2020. Clinical trials of the vaccines were intended to test their effectiveness, but they were far from big enough to detect side effects that may occur only in a few people per million doses.
ccinated.
Some side effects caused by the COVID vaccines may be equally rare. Researchers in Hong Kong analyzed that area’s health records and found that about 7 of every 1 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine triggered a bout of shingles serious enough to require hospitalization.
Other side effects are slightly more common. The COVID vaccines may lead to myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart, in 1 of every 10,000 adolescent males. (Myocarditis is one of the four serious side effects acknowledged by federal health officials.)
Deaths from the vaccines are vanishingly rare, despite claims from some conspiracy theorists that vaccines have led to a spike in mortality rates.
More intensive analysis may indicate that in some groups, like young men, the benefit of COVID shots may no longer outweigh the risks. But for the majority of Ame-
ricans, the vaccines continue to be far safer than contracting COVID itself.
Federal surveillance has found some side effects but may miss others.
To detect problems with vaccines, federal agencies rely on multiple databases. The largest, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, is useful for generating hypotheses but contains unverified accounts of harms. Other databases combine electronic health records and insurance claims.
These systems spotted blood-clotting problems associated with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and a potential risk of stroke after mRNA immunizations, which is still under investigation. But federal researchers trailed Israeli scientists in picking up myocarditis as a problem among young men.
The U.S. health care system is fragmented, with medical records stored by multiple companies that do not collaborate. Electronic health records do not all describe symptoms the same way, making comparisons difficult. Insurance claims databases may have no record of shots administered at mass vaccination sites.
Federal systems may also miss symptoms that defy easy description or diagnosis.
Proving vaccination led to an illness is complicated.
Among the hundreds of millions of Americans who were immunized against COVID, there were deaths, heart attacks, strokes, miscarriages and autoimmune ill-
Most independent studies of side effects have not been large enough to detect rare events, nor to exclude their possibility; others have looked only for a preset list of symptoms and might have missed the rare outliers.
An expert panel convened by the National Academies concluded in April that for most side effects, there was not enough data to accept or reject a link to COVID vaccination.
Understanding the full range of side effects may take years.
Federal health officials acknowledge four major side effects of COVID vaccines — not including the temporary injection site pain, fever and malaise that may accompany the shots.
But in federal databases, thousands of Americans have reported that COVID vaccines caused ringing in the ears, dizziness, brain fog, sharp fluctuations in blood pressure and heart rate, new or relapsed autoimmune conditions, hives, vision problems, kidney disorders, tingling, numbness and a loss of motor skills.
Some studies have examined reports of side effects and largely concluded that there was no link. Closer scrutiny may reveal that many, perhaps most, of the other reported side effects are unrelated to immunization. Most of them are also associated with COVID and may be the result of undiagnosed infections. But without in-depth studies, it is impossible to be sure, experts said.
NASA astronauts will have to wait until at least the end of this week to launch to orbit in the Boeing Starliner spacecraft. The planned launch was called off the night of Monday, May 6 because of a problem in the Atlas V rocket that was to send them to space.
Early the next day, NASA announced that the two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, would remain on the ground until May 17 at the earliest. Earlier in the day, the agency had said a launch later last week, perhaps on Friday, might be possible.
United Launch Alliance, the maker of the Atlas V, said the rocket would be rolled back from the launchpad to replace a valve that regulates pressure in the oxygen tank in the second stage.
That further postponed the first ever crewed flight of Starliner, a ride for NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Space Station, which has experienced a series of costly delays over the past several years.
About three hours before the scheduled launch time of 10:34 p.m. Eastern time, just as the astronauts arrived at the launchpad, the valve started to buzz at a rate of about 40 times a second. Crews at the launchpad described hearing an “unusual audible” to flight controllers.
The flight preparations continued with Wilmore and Williams boarding the spacecraft. But at 8:34 p.m. Eastern time, two hours before the scheduled liftoff,
United Launch Alliance, the company that builds and manages the rocket, called off the flight.
Tory Bruno, the CEO of ULA, said this behavior had been observed previously during some other Atlas V launches, and opening and closing the valve typically stops the buzzing.
But for a launch of astronauts, ULA had made a rule not to do anything that might change the status of the rocket when the astronauts were present, including opening and closing a valve. That was not by itself a dangerous action, but it still would have added uncertainty.
“Our philosophy is we don’t have to change the state of the vehicle when the people are there, so we won’t,” Bruno said in a Monday night news conference along with officials from NASA and Boeing.
After the astronauts exited Starliner and returned to their crew quarters, the valve was closed and the buzzing stopped. But the oscillations recurred twice as propellant was drained from tanks.
After reviewing the data, ULA’s engineers concluded that the valve had exceeded the limit of the number of times it could be reliably opened and closed and that it needed to be replaced.
Boeing was one of two companies that won a contract to build a spacecraft to fly astronauts to and from the space station several years after NASA retired its space shuttles in 2011. For nine years, astronauts could get to the International Space Station only aboard Russia’s Soyuz rockets.
The other company was SpaceX.
In May 2020, two NASA astronauts, Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, flew to the ISS in SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. That capsule has since become the only way to get to orbit from the United States.
The development of Starliner took Boeing far longer than it had expected. Technical pitfalls included inadequate software testing, corroded propellant valves, flammable tape and a key component in parachute system that turned out to be weaker than designed. Boeing fixed the problems, and it was finally ready to launch. The de-
lays have left Boeing facing more than $1.4 billion in unexpected charges.
While Monday’s scrubbed flight was caused by the rocket, the postponed launch attempt comes during a tough 2024 for the aerospace giant. Just days into the year, a panel on the body of a Boeing 737 Max 9 blew off during an Alaska Airlines flight. The pilots were able to safely land the plane, and there were no major injuries, but the episode has had widespread repercussions for the company, particularly its aviation division.
In a photo from NASA, the Starliner spacecraft atop an Atlas 5 rocket at a launchpad in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Aug. 2, 2021. Problems with the capsule’s propulsion system require more troubleshooting, a setback for a program to carry NASA astronauts to the space station. (NASA via The New York Times)
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE VIEQUES SALA
SUPERIOR BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO
Demandante V. LA SUCESIÓN DEL FINADO SALOMON
RIVERA SANCHEZ ET ALS
Demandados
CIVIL NUM.: N2CI2016-00029
SOBRE: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA IN REM. AVISO DE SUBASTA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA. EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO. SS. El que suscribe, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Vieques, Vieques, Puerto Rico, hago saber, a la parte demandada y al PÚBLICO EN GENERAL: Que en cumplimiento del Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia expedido el día 18 de enero de 2024, por la Secretaría del Tribunal, procederé a vender y venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor la propiedad que ubica y se describe a continuación: RUSTICA: Parcela marcada con el #514, en el plano de parcelación de la Comunidad Rural Esperanza del Barrio Puerto Real, del término municipal de Vieques, con una cabida superficial de 344-49 metros cuadrados, en lindes por el NORTE, con la parcela #515 de la comunidad; por el SUR, con la parcela #513 de la comunidad; por el ESTE, con la calle #13 de la comunidad; y por el OESTE, con la Autoridad de Tierras. Inscrita al folio 82 del tomo 83 de Vieques, finca #2734, inscripción 9na, del Registro de la Propiedad de Fajardo. Además, el Alguacil que suscribe, hago saber a todos 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 surjan 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: a. Hipoteca en garantía de un pagaré a favor de la Autoridad para el Financiamiento de la Vivienda de Puerto Rico, o a su orden, por la suma principal de $15,000.00, sin intereses, vencedero el día 1 de agosto de 2011, constituida mediante la escritura número 700, otorgada en Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, el día 9 de julio de 2003, ante el notario Pedro Mario Rivera Matos, e inscrita al folio 82 del tomo 83 de Vieques, finca número 2,734, inscripción 10ma. Condiciones restrictivas bajo el “Programa La Llave para tu Hogar” por el período de 8 años. b. Aviso de Demanda de fecha 16 de agosto del 2017, expedido en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Vieques, Caso Civil número N2CI-2016-00029, por concepto de Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Hipoteca, por la Vía Ordinaria, seguido por el Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, versus Salomón Rivera Sánchez y su esposa Noemí Coronel Rosado, por la suma de $44,859.77 más intereses y otras sumas, anotado el día 18 de enero de 2018, al tomo Karibe de Vieques, finca número 2,734, Anotación A. El producto de la subasta se destinará a satisfacer al demandante hasta donde alcance, la SENTENCIA dictada a su favor el día 15 de noviembre de 2023, notificada el 15 de noviembre de 2023, a saber la suma de $44,859.77 por concepto de principal; generando intereses a razón de 6.50% desde el 1ro de octubre de 2015; cargos por demora los cuales al igual que los intereses continúan acumulándose hasta el saldo total de la deuda reclamada en este pleito, y la suma de $5,610.00 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado; y demás créditos accesorios garantizados hipotecariamente. La adjudicación se hará al mejor postor, quien deberá consignar el importe de su oferta en el acto mismo de la adjudicación, en efectivo (moneda del curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América), giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del alguacil del Tribunal. La PRIMERA SUBASTA se llevará a efecto el día 3 DE JULIO DE 2024 A LA 1:00 DE LA TARDE, en el Tribunal Superior de Vieques, Vieques, Puerto Rico. Que el precio mínimo fijado para la PRIMERA SUBASTA es de $56,100.00. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una SEGUNDA SUBASTA la misma se llevará a efecto el día 10 DE JULIO DE 2024 A LA 1:00 DE LA TARDE en la oficina antes mencionada del Alguacil que suscribe. El precio mínimo para la EGUNDA SUBASTA será de $37,400.00, equivalen-
tes a dos terceras (2/3) partes del tipo mínimo estipulado para la PRIMERA subasta. Que de ser necesaria la celebración de una TERCERA SUBASTA la misma se llevará a efecto el día 17 DE JULIO DE 2024 A LA 1:00 DE LA TARDE en la oficina antes mencionada del Alguacil que suscribe. El precio mínimo para la TERCERA SUBASTA será de $28,050.00, equivalentes a la mitad (1/2) del tipo mínimo estipulado para la PRIMERA subasta. Si se declarase desierta la tercera subasta, se adjudicará la finca a favor del acreedor por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada si ésta es igual o menor que el monto del tipo de la tercera subasta, si el Tribunal lo estima conveniente; se abonará dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si esta es mayor, todo ello a tenor con lo dispone el Articulo 104 de la Ley Núm. 210 del 8 de diciembre de 2015 conocida como “Ley del Registro de la Propiedad Inmueble del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico”. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquiere libre de toda carga y gravamen que afecte la mencionada finca según el Artículo 102, inciso 6. Una vez confirmada la venta judicial por el Honorable Tribunal, se procederá a otorgar la correspondiente escritura de venta judicial y se pondrá al comprador en posesión física del inmueble de conformidad con las disposiciones de Ley. Para conocimiento de la parte demandada y de toda aquella persona o personas que tengan interés inscrito con posterioridad a la inscripción del gravamen que se está ejecutando, y para conocimiento de todos los licitadores y el público en general, el presente Edicto se publicará por espacio de dos (2) semanas consecutivas, con un intervalo de por lo menos siete días entre ambas publicaciones, en un diario de circulación general en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico y se fijará además en tres (3) lugares públicos del Municipio en que ha de celebrarse dicha venta, tales como la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía. Se les informa, por último, que: a. Que los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la secretaría del tribunal durante las horas laborables. b. Que se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere, al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes. Se entenderá, que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el
precio del remate. EXPIDO, el presente EDICTO, en Vieques, Puerto Rico, hoy día 6 de marzo de 2024. Mildred I. Toro Colón, Alguacil Auxiliar P 197, División de Subastas Tribunal de Primera Instancia Sala Superior de Vieques.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE MAYAGÜEZ BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO
Demandante V.
LYDELISSE PADILLA PACHECO
Demandada
Civil Núm.: ISCI2016-00645. Sala: 207. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PR, SS. AVISO DE VENTA EN PÚBLICA SUBASTA. El que suscribe, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Mayagüez, a la parte demandada y al público en general les notifico que, cumpliendo con un Mandamiento que se ha librado en el presente caso por el Secretario del Tribunal de epígrafe con fecha 14 de noviembre de 2023 y para satisfacer la Sentencia dictada en el caso de autos fechada 8 de diciembre de 2016, notificada el 23 diciembre de 2016, procederá a vender el día 28 DE MAYO DE 2024, A LAS 11:30 DE LA MAÑANA, en mi oficina, localizada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Mayagüez, la adjudicación se hará al mejor postor, quien deberá consignar el importe de su oferta en el acto mismo de la adjudicación, en efectivo (moneda del curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América), giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del alguacil del Tribunal todo título, derecho o interés de la parte demandada sobre la siguiente propiedad: RÚSTICA: Solar número 10 del Bloque “A”, sito en el Proyecto de Viviendas conocido como Palmas del Valle, en el Barrio Parguera del término municipal de Lajas, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de 256.4219 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE, con solar número 11 del Bloque “A”; por el SUR, con el solar número 9 del Bloque “A”; por el ESTE, con Luis A. Piñeiro y por el OESTE, con la Calle Real de la Urbanización. Para entrada En dicho solar enclava una casa diseñada para fines residenciales para una familia, construida de acuerdo a los planos y especificaciones aprobadas por ARPE. Este solar esta
afecto en su colindancia Oeste, a servidumbre a favor de la Junta Reglamentadora de Telecomunicaciones de Puerto Rico. Finca número 17,628, inscrita al folio 172 del tomo 410 de Lajas, Registro de la Propiedad de San Germán. Que con el importe de dicha venta se habrá de satisfacer a la parte demandante las cantidades adeudadas, según la Sentencia dictada en el caso de epígrafe, por el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Mayaguez. El remate comenzará por las sumas adeudadas declaradas en la Sentencia, y se llevará a cabo para con su producto, satisfacer dichas sumas. Las cuantías de la sentencia se describen de la siguiente manera, la parte demandada adeuda las siguientes cantidades a la parte demandante: $79,384.18 por concepto de principal; $558.50 por concepto de intereses acumulados; $201.12 por concepto de cargos por demora; los cuales al igual que los intereses continúan acumulándose hasta el saldo total de la deuda reclamada en este pleito, $133.95 por concepto de ‘’Escrow Advances’’ y la suma de $8,836.00 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado. Debido al incumplimiento de la parte demandada, con los términos de contrato habido entre las partes se declara con lugar la demanda y se ordena la ejecución de hipoteca y venta en pública subasta de la propiedad objeto de este pleito, declarando vencida la suma de $79,384.18 por concepto de principal; $558.50 por concepto de intereses acumulados; $201.12 por concepto de cargos por demora; los cuales al igual que los intereses continúan acumulándose hasta el saldo total de la deuda reclamada en este pleito, $133.95 por concepto de ‘’Escrow Advances’’ y la suma de $8,836.00 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado. La subasta se llevará a cabo el día 28 DE MAYO DE 2024, A LAS 11:30 DE LA MAÑANA. La venta de la propiedad será realizada para cubrir el importe adeudado a la demandante, el cual al momento de la Sentencia ascendía a la suma de $79,384.18 por concepto de principal; $558.50 por concepto de intereses acumulados; $201.12 por concepto de cargos por demora; los cuales al igual que los intereses continúan acumulándose hasta el saldo total de la deuda reclamada en este pleito, $133.95 por concepto de ‘’Escrow Advances’’ y la suma de $8,836.00 para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado. Se le advierte a los licitadores que la adjudicación se hará al mejor postor, quien deberá consignar el importe de
su oferta en el mismo acto de la adjudicación en moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de Norteamérica, efectivo, giro y/o cheque de gerente a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal, y para conocimiento de la parte demandada y de toda(s) aquella(s) persona(s) que tenga (n) interés inscrito con posterioridad a la inscripción de los gravámenes que se están ejecutando, que los mismos serán eliminados del Registro de la Propiedad, y para conocimiento de los licitadores y el público en general, y para su publicación en un periódico de circulación general, una vez por semana durante el termino de dos (2) semanas consecutivas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre ambas publicaciones, y para su fijación en tres (3) lugares públicos del municipio en que ha de celebrarse la venta, tales como, la Alcaldía, el Tribunal y la Colecturía, y se le notificará además a la parte demandada y a su abogado o abogada vía correo certificado con acuse de recibo siempre que haya comparecido al pleito. Si el (la) deudor (a) por Sentencia no comparece al pleito, la notificación será enviada vía correo certificado con acuse de recibo a las últimas direcciones conocidas. Se les advierte a todos los interesados que todos los documentos relacionados con la presente acción de ejecución de hipoteca, así como la de la subasta, estarán disponibles para ser examinados en la Secretaría del Tribunal. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titulación y que las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes, si los hubiere al crédito de ejecutante, continuarán subsiguientes entendiéndose que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de gravámenes posteriores. Y para conocimiento de la parte demandada, de los acreedores posteriores, de los licitadores, partes interesadas y público en general, expido el presente Aviso para su publicación en los lugares públicos correspondientes. Librado en *, Puerto Rico, a 10 de abril de 2024. Calixto Rivera Ghigliotty, Alguacil Placa #283, Tribunal De Primera Instancia, Salsa De Mayagüez.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN MORTGAGE ASSETS MANAGEMENT,
Demandante V. ANA HILDA NEGRON NEGRON; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA
Demandados
Civil Núm.: BY2022CV01928. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. 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 Bayamón en el caso de epígrafe procederá a vender en pública subasta al mejor postor en efectivo, cheque gerente, giro postal, cheque certificado en moneda legal de los Estados Unidos de América al nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, en mi oficina ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Bayamón, el 30 DE MAYO DE 2024 A LAS 10:15 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: RÚSTICA: Lote número nueve (9) en el Barrio Palmarejo del término municipal de Corozal, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de setecientos veinte y seis punto ochenta y tres metros cuadrados (726.83 mc), equivalentes a siete (7) áreas, veinte y seis centiáreas (26) y ochenta y tres miliáreas (83). En lindes por el NORTE, con el lote número diez (10), distancia de treinta y cinco punto ochocientos treinta y siete metros (35.837 m); por el SUR, con el lote número ocho (8), distancia de treinta y seis punto ochocientos dieciséis metros (36.816 m); por el ESTE, con la Calle A, que le da acceso, distancia de veinte metros (20.00 m); y por el OESTE, con Román Negrón, distancia de veinte punto cero veinte y dos metros (20.22 m). Enclava una casa de concreto y bloques de cemento para una familia. Consta inscrita al Folio 102 del Tomo 135 de Corozal, finca número 7,389, Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección de Barranquitas. La hipoteca revertida consta inscrita al Folio 87
del Tomo 299 de Corozal, finca número 7,389, Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección de Barranquitas. Propiedad localizada en: SR 164 KM 12.9 LOT 9 PALMAREJO WD., COROZAL 00783. Según figuran en la certificación registral, la propiedad objeto de ejecución no está gravada por cargas posteriores o preferentes a la inscripción del crédito ejecutante. 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 mínimo de subasta la suma de $157,500.00, 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 Bayamón, el 6 DE JUNIO DE 2024 A LAS 10:15 DE LA MAÑANA, y se establece como mínima para dicha segunda subasta la suma de $105,000.00 dos tercios (2/3) partes del tipo mínimo establecido originalmente. Si tampoco se produce remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se establece como mínima para la TERCERA SUBASTA, la suma de $78,750.00 la mitad (1/2) del precio pactado y dicha subasta se celebrará en mi oficina, ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Bayamón, el 13 DE JUNIO DE 2024 A LAS 10:15 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 $56,223.67 por concepto de principal, más la suma de $72,475.67 en intereses acumulados al 26 de octubre de 2023 y los cuales continúan acumulándose a razón de 6.00000% anual hasta su total y completo pago; y otros gastos acumulados; más la cantidad de 10% del pagaré original en la suma de $15,750.00, para gastos, costas y honorarios de abogado. 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
FAIRWAY ACQUISITIONS FUND, LLC
Demandante V. JOSEPH L. SALGADO CORREA
Demandado(a)
Caso Núm.: NJ2023CV00143.
(Salón: 701). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO - ORDINARIO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. KENMUEL JOSÉ RUIZ LÓPEZKENMUEL.RUIZ@ORF-LAW.COM.
A: JOSEPH L. SALGADO CORREA.
(Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto)
EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 06 DE MAYO DE 2024, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 07 de mayo de 2024. En Bayamón, Puerto Rico, el 07 de mayo de 2024.
LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. MARÍA COLLAZO FEBUS, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO
JUDICIAL DE SAN JUAN SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN EDWIN GREGORIO RODRIGUEZ LEON
Demandante V. MIGUEL ANGEL
RODRIGUEZ LEON Y OTROS
Demandado(a)
Caso Núm.: SJ2023CV08645. (Salón: 908). Sobre: USUCAPIÓN. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.
LIZANNETTE MORALES CRESPO, MORALESCRESPOLAW@GMAIL. COM.
A: MIGUEL ÁNGEL
RODRÍGUEZ LEÓN; JOHN DOE.
(Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto)
EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 07
de mayo de 2024, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha 08 de mayo de 2024. En San Juan, Puerto Rico, el 08 de mayo de 2024. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA. ELSA CANDELARIO CABRERA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE SAN JUAN SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN BANCO POPULAR
Demandante V. ABELARDO COLLAZO
GONZALEZ Y OTROS
Demandado(a)
Caso Núm.: SJ2019CV03101. (Salón: 604 CIVIL). Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. ALEJANDRO BELLVER ESPINOSAALEJANDRO@BELLVERLAW.COM.
A: ABELARDO COLLAZO
GONZALEZ; PURA GONZÁLEZ MARENGO. (Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 09 de abril de 2024, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se
considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha 06 de mayo de 2024. En San Juan, Puerto Rico, el 06 de mayo de 2024. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ
COLLADO, SECRETARIA. RAQUEL DÍAZ LÓPEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE SAN JUAN SALA
SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN MASSACHUSETTS
MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY
Demandante V. SUCESION DE CARMEN LYDIA OTERO GARCIA T/C/C CARMEN L. OTERO GARCÍA Y OTROS
Demandado(a)
Caso Núm.: SJ2023CV10026. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA: PROPIEDAD RESIDENCIAL. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. ANDRÉS SÁEZ MARREROPRSERVICE@TMPPLLC.COM.
A: SUCESION DE CARMEN LYDIA OTERO GARCÍA T/C/C CARMEN L. OTERO GARCÍA; JOSE NEGRON OTERO; DALILA CRUZ OTERO; CARMEN CRUZ OTERO; FULANO DE TAL Y FULANA DE TAL. (Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto)
EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 02 de abril de 2024, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha 06 de mayo de 2024. En San Juan, Puerto Rico, el 06 de mayo de 2024. GRISELDA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA. RAQUEL DÍAZ LÓPEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE AGUADILLA ARLENE MONTALVO HERNANDEZ
Demandante Vs. YAMIL KHENAYZIR ESPINOSA
Demandado
Civil: AG2024RF00289. Sobre: DIVORCIO POR RUPTURA
IRREPARABLE. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU., ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R..
A: YAMIL KHENAYZIR ESPINOSA - 2000 WESTBOROUGH DR. APTO 1121, KATY, TX, 77449.
Por la presente se le notifica que la parte demandante ha presentado ante el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Aguadilla, una demanda de la cual podrá usted enterarse en la Secretaría del Tribunal. Por el presente edicto se emplaza y requiere que conteste la Demanda radicando el original de su contestación ante el Tribunal de Primera Instancia de Puerto Rico, a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:// unired.ramajudicial.pr/sumac/, salvo que se presente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaria del Tribunal, con copia de dicha contestación al abogado de la parte demandante, cuyo nombre y dirección se indican a continuación: LCDA. LOURDES I. MÉNDEZ ORTIZ P.O. Box 375 Quebradillas, PR, 00678 Correo electrónico: lcdamendezortiz@gmail.com
Se le apercibe que si no comparece usted a contestar dicha demanda dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación del edicto, podrá dictarse Sentencia en rebeldía en su contra, concediendo el remedio solicitado en la Demanda sin más oírle ni citarle. En Aguadilla, Puerto Rico a, 3 de marzo de 2024. SARAHÍ REYES PÉREZ, SECRETARIA. MARÍA VALENTÍN RAMÍREZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA centro judicial de BAYAMón sala superior de bayamón
MARIA LUISA RIVERA
ROSA Y OTROS
Demandante V.
LUZ TERESA
COSME FIGUEROA
Demandado(a)
Caso Núm.: BY2023CV06241. (Salón: 403). Sobre: DIVISIÓN O LIQUIDACIÓN DE LA COMUNIDAD DE BIENES HEREDITARIOS. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. OSVALDO APONTE DEL VALLE, LCDOOSVALDOAPONTE@GMAIL. COM.
A: LUZ TERESA COSME FIGUEROA T/C/C LUZ TERESA QUINTERO FIGUEROA - 217 LINCOLN AVE, SYRACUSE NY 13204. (Nombre de las partes que se notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 07 de mayo de 2024, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha 08 de mayo de 2024. En Bayamón, Puerto Rico, el 08 de mayo de 2024. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. KATHERINE SANTIAGO RODRÍGUEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
LEGAL NOTICE
TRIBUNAL DE SUCESIONES - CONDADO DE NASSAU. CITACION TESTAMENTARIA COMPLEMENTARIA. EL PUEBLO DEL ESTADO DE NUEVA YORK. Por la Gracia de Dios Libres e Independientes. Expediente n.º 2010-362990.
PARA:
CHRISTOPHER MARK y toda persona desconocida cuyo nombre o partes de sus nombres y cuyo lugar o lugares de residencia se desconocen y no pueden determinarse tras una investigación diligente, los herederos instituidos en el testamento, los herederos legítimos y los parientes mas cercanos de dicho difunto, Vincent O’Neill y, en el caso de que alguno de los herederos instituidos en el testamento nombrados específicamente o como grupo hubiera fallecido, sus representantes legales, cónyuges, si los hubiera, herederos y sucesores, cuyos
nombres o lugares de residencia y direcciones postales se desconocen y no pueden determinarse tras una investigación diligente. SALUDA Y HACE SABER: Habiendo sido debidamente presentada una solicitud por Barbara Curry, con domicilio en 29 Michel Avenue, Farmingdale, NY 11735, el Tribunal de Sucesiones, Condado de Nassau, ubicado en 262 Old Country Road, Mineola, Nueva York, LO CITA A PRESENTARSE el 17 de julio de 2024 a las 9:30 de la mañana para fundamentar por que no se debe dictar una sentencia en la sucesión de Vincent O’Neill (con Ultimo domicilio en 41 Harrison Avenue, Massapequa, New York 11758) admitiendo para su aprobación un testamento con fecha de 15 de julio de 2009, cuya copia se adjunta, como el testamento del fallecido Vincent O’Neill, relativo a bienes muebles e inmuebles, y ordenando que se emita una: • Carta de autorización y designación de albacea a favor de Barbara Curry
• Otras medidas solicitadas (si corresponde): que se prescinda de fianza.
HON. MARGARET C. REILLY Jueza en materia de sucesiones Dado, firmado y sellado 7 de mayo de 2024 Debra Keller Leimbach, Secretaria en jefe La presente citación se le envía en cumplimiento de la ley, No esta obligado a comparecer en persona. Si no comparece, se entenderá que consiente el procedimiento, salvo que presente un escrito con objeciones verificadas al respecto. Tiene derecho a que comparezca un abogado en su nombre. Nombre de los abogados: Kevin M. Berry, Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer Dirección: 14 Wall Street, Suite 6B, New York, New York 10005 Tel.: (212) 267-3091
DEBE ADJUNTARSE A ESTA CITACION UNA COPIA AUTENTICA DEL TESTAMENTO OFRECIDO PARA SU LEGALIZACION.
Notificación: 22NYCRR 207.7c: La prueba de la notificación deberá presentarse a más tardar el segundo día anterior a la fecha de devolución.
SURROGATE’S COURT - NASSAU COUNTY. SUPPLEMENTAL PROBATE CITATION. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. By the Grace of God Free and Independent. File No. 2010-362990. CHRISTOPHER MARK and any and all unknown persons whose names or parts of whose names and whose place or places of residence are unknown and cannot after diligent inquiry be ascertained, distribu-
tees, heirs-at-law and next-of-kin of Vincent O’Neill, deceased, and if any of the said above distributees named specifically or as a class be dead, their legal representatives, their husbands or wives, if any, distributees and successors in interest whose names and/or places of residence and post office addresses are unknown and cannot after diligent inquiry be ascertained.
GREETINGS A PETITION having been duly filed by Barbara Curry, residing at 29 Michael Avenue, Farmingdale, New York 11735.
YOU ARE HEREBY CITED TO SHOW CAUSE before the Surrogate’s Court, Nassau County, at 262 Old Country Road, Mineola, New York, on July 17, 2024 at 9:30 o’clock in the fore noon of that day, why a decree should not be made in the estate of Vincent O’Neill, lately domiciled at 41 Harrison Avenue, Massapequa, NY 11758 admitting to probate a Will dated July 15, 2009 a copy of which is attached, as the Will of Vincent O’Neill, deceased, relating to real and personal property, and directing that • Letters Testamentary to Barbara Curry
• Further relief sought (if any): That a bond be dispensed with. HON. MARGARET C. REILLY, Surrogate
Dated, Attested and Sealed, May 7, 2024
Debra Keller Leimbach, Chief Clerk
This Citation is served upon you as required by law. You are not obliged to appear in person. If you fail to appear, it will be assumed that you consent to the proceedings, unless you file written verified objections thereto. You have a right to have an attorneyat-law appear for you.
Name of Attorney: Kevin M. Berry, Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer
Address: 14 Wall Street, Suite 68, New York, NY 10005 Phone No. (212) 267-3091
A TRUE COPY OF THE WILL OFFERED FOR PROBATE MUST BE ATTACHED TO THIS CITATION
Notice: 22NYCRR 207.7c: Proof of Service should be filed on or before the second day preceding the return date
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO
Demandante Vs. MARIA NORA OCHOA HENAO T/C/C MARÍA
NORA OCHOA
Demandada
Civil Núm.: BY2024CV01730. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA.
EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R., SS. A: MARÍA NORA OCHOA HENAO T/C/C MARÍA NORA OCHOA - URB. LEVITTOWN #1084 CALLE PASEO DAMASCO, TOA BAJA, PR 00949. DIRECCIÓN POSTAL: #106 HEATHER AVE. ROCKINGHAM, NC 28379-9533.
POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los 30 días a partir de la publicación de este edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Representa a la parte demandante, la representación legal cuyo nombre, dirección y teléfono se consigna de inmediato:
BUFETE FORTUÑO & FORTUÑO FAS, C.S.P. LCDO. JUAN C. FORTUÑO FAS RÚA NÚM.: 11416 PO BOX 3908, GUAYNABO, PR 00970 TEL: 787- 751-5290, FAX: 787-751-6155 E-MAIL: ejecuciones@fortuno-law.com En Bayamón, Puerto Rico a 8 de mayo de 2024. LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARITA. NEREIDA QUILES SANTANA, SUB-SECRETARIA. LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE BAYAMÓN SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN CASCADE FUNDING MORTGAGE TRUST HB2
Demandante V. MERARI DIAZ SANTANA, POR SI Y LA CUOTA VIUDAL USUFRUCTUARIA Y OTROS
Demandado(a)
Caso Núm.: TA2022CV00336. (Salón: 503). Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA: PROPIEDAD RESIDENCIAL. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. ANDRÉS SÁEZ MARREROPRSERVICE@TMPPLLC.COM. A: LA SUCESION DE
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
Weeks before opening day this season, Major League Baseball sent a memo to all 30 clubs highlighting a rise in catcher’s interference. The instances of catchers being struck by the bats of opposing hitters were rising rapidly. Catcher’s interference was called 94 times in 2023, nearly 20 more times than in 2022.
What was causing the increase? Catchers kept moving closer to the plate. In the era of pitch framing, teams deduced that the closer a catcher is to receiving a pitch, the better chance he has to “steal” a strike.
It worked well enough that catchers kept shifting closer to the batter’s box. The memo this spring essentially warned teams to cut it out and move catchers farther behind the plate to minimize risk.
But anyone who saw St. Louis Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras fracture his left arm last Tuesday knows that the risk remains ever-present. The average catcher’s interference total from 2010 to 2018 was 31. This year, it has been called 33 times less than two months into the season.
There are more than double the interferences in 2024 compared with 2022 at the same point (15). The league is on a pace for a record 148 catcher’s interferences this season. The push to frame the lower strike has inadvertently put the safety of catchers in jeopardy.
“The risk is high,” Cardinals manager Oli Marmol said. “We just experienced it.”
Contreras was struck by the swing of New York Mets designated hitter J.D. Martínez. The catcher underwent surgery Wednesday and will miss a minimum of six to eight weeks. Contreras was one of baseball’s worst framers last year on borderline pitches below the zone. The Cardinals, a defenseoriented club, worked extensively with him to improve in that regard.
In 2023, his first year in St. Louis, the Cardinals overhauled Contreras’ approach, including how he set up behind the plate. (Contreras ditched the traditional crouch behind the plate in favor of the one-knee down method.) They also moved Contreras closer to the plate.
The Cardinals are hardly the only team in baseball to deploy this method, but they were the first to pay the price for it this season.
“The more catchers are evaluated on framing, the closer they’re getting to the hitter in order to get to that low pitch,” Marmol said. “You’re seeing more catchers do that based on being able to get the low pitch, but you’re also seeing more
catcher’s interference and backswings getting guys based on them being closer. Sometimes, the catcher unknowingly could get closer and closer from hitter to hitter without noticing.”
That seems to have been the case for Contreras, who was caught by the swing of Martínez, who has a naturally deep swing and sets up as close to the back of the batter’s box as possible. Replays showed the head of Martínez’s bat hitting Contreras’ left arm square. It also showed just how far Contreras had reached in his attempt to frame the pitch.
“There’s always a risk being a catcher,” Contreras said after the injury. “Could have been something different. It could’ve been off my knee. It could be a concussion. That risk is always going to be there. I’m not blaming any part of my game because this happened tonight.”
Perhaps that is the problem. No position player in baseball takes a more constant beating than the catcher. And as teams across the league covet the low-strike call, catchers take the brunt of the consequences.
“We used to always talk about catcher interference being long strings on your glove or ticking your glove,” said Detroit Tigers manager A.J. Hinch, who caught seven seasons in the major leagues. “Then it turned into the glove in its entirety. He is one of the first I’ve seen on a limb.
“That is risky,” Hinch added. “The closer we get to the plate, the more strikes we can grab at the bottom rail. Catchers are getting evaluated. They’re getting paid on how well they can control the bottom rail. That’s led to more and more catcher interferences.”
Some teams emphasize the low strike more than others. Philadelphia Phillies manager Rob Thomson was a catcher in the Tigers organization for four seasons. He was taught that as the bat comes through the zone, the glove should follow.
“You’re going to catch more foul tips,” Thomson said. “You’re closer to the plate, you’re closer to the strike zone. It’s a better presentation for the umpire.”
Still, Thomson prefers his catchers keep some distance from the plate.
“We keep our eye on guys that do that and remind the catcher, ‘You got to back up a little bit,’” he said.
The happy medium for some teams seems to be selfmonitoring. The Minnesota Twins, for example, monitor their catcher every pitch. It is one of the in-game responsibilities of Hank Conger, the first-base and catching coach.
The Atlanta Braves have two coaches assigned to catching duties. Sal Fasano is the catching coach. He is assisted by Eddie Pérez, who spent nine of his 11 major league seasons catching for Atlanta. Pérez certainly understands the strategy behind being close to the plate, but he thinks the responsibility to inform the catcher that he is too close falls on those watching the game from the dugout.
“It’s always a good idea to be closer to the hitter,” Pérez said. “It’s thought that if you’re closer to the hitter, you’re going to get more calls.”
He added: “As a catcher, they’ve got to tell you from the side how close you are to the hitter.”
But the accidental blows behind the plate can sometimes be a two-way street. Catchers are frequently clipped by hitters’ swings regardless of where they are positioned. With the average bat speed registering roughly 75 mph, some argue the responsibility lies on the batter to ensure that not just their physical body remains within the parameters of the batter’s box, but their swing as well.
“The thing I don’t necessarily agree with is it can be the way people are swinging, too,” Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “It can be the way catchers are setting up, yes. But it also can be kind of the way some people are swinging. And it’s dangerous.”
With the league on notice and MLB aware of the risks, what can be done to cut down catcher’s interference — and the inherent injury risk? Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas suggested a physical line behind the plate that catchers cannot cross, a box of their own in a way. Could the automated ballstrike system, which theoretically eliminates the value of framing, be the answer? Possibly, but it’s an imperfect system in the minor leagues and is far from being a major league product.
“I don’t know what they could possibly do other than reward the hitter with more bases, put him on second base,” Hinch said. “There are things you could probably do to make it super impactful to the game, but I don’t know if anything can be more impactful than losing one of your best players for six to eight weeks, 10 weeks, whatever it’s going to be.”
The Cardinals now know how severe that impact can be. The bigger question looms: Does baseball?
St. Louis Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras (Wikipedia)
Answers to the Sudoku and Crossword on page 21
