2nd Suspect Arrested in CarjackingKilling of Young Woman in Santa Isabel
Fiscal Board Official Was Assured That NFE’s Stoppage of Fuel Deliveries Was Pressure Tactic
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Fiscal board says its presence has prevented PR from falling into deficit
By THE STAR STAFF
The Financial Oversight and Management Board said Wednesday that its presence in Puerto Rico is the only thing that has prevented the U.S. territory from falling into a deficit.
“At present, only the Oversight Board’s presence prevents Puerto Rico from falling back into budget deficits,” Robert Mujica, the oversight board’s executive director, said in a congressional hearing before the House Committee on Natural Resources’ Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs. “By the time the Oversight Board terminates, the government must be able to enact and maintain a balanced budget throughout the fiscal year. Otherwise, Puerto Rico will end up with deficits and the kind of painful adjustments so difficult to implement by any government.”
Similarly, Mujica used the recent example of fuel contracts that power Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) generation plants to justify its presence. The oversight board recently paralyzed a $20 billion contract awarded to New Fortress Energy, the parent company of Genera PR, which operates PREPA’s legacy power plants.
“The Oversight Board continues to review energy contracts between the government and private providers to ensure that they promote market competition and are not inconsistent with the fiscal plan,” Mujica said. “In addition, the Oversight Board is working closely with the government to expedite federal disbursement and government use of appropriated FEMA funds for investment in the electrical grid. The most pressing energy issue before the Oversight Board is the debt restructuring of PREPA.”
The poor condition of PREPA and the Puerto Rico energy system (both the dilapidated grid and the aged and outdated power plants) require substantial expenditure for
maintenance and repair well beyond funds made available by the federal government for disaster recovery, Mujica insisted.
“A specific group of bondholders is demanding full payment in the amount of $8.5 billion of principal plus years of accrued interest, a total of about $12 billion – a recovery level grossly above and beyond what PREPA’s customers can afford and what is legally defensible,” he told the House subcommittee. “Those bondholders’ demand would equate to a su–rcharge of 8 cents per kWh [kilowatt-hour] for 50 years for the principle alone, effectively saddling families and businesses with rates that stifle the economy and limit the ability to repair and maintain a Puerto Rico electrical grid already in severe need of investment. Puerto Rico has among the highest electricity rates in the U.S. and the worst records of performance, the result of decades of rampant mismanagement and neglect.”
On March 28 of this year, the oversight board filed PREPA’s Fifth Amended Plan of Adjustment to reduce payment to creditors by more than $10 billion, excluding claims of pension holders. The plan would cut PREPA’s debt by almost 80%, to $2.6 billion, excluding pension liabilities. Holders of approximately 44% of the debt have agreed to the proposal. The oversight board will be working with the government to identify the source of funds to support the recovery for creditors proposed in the plan to avoid additional electricity rate increases, Mujica noted. Together with the government, the board will have to make the difficult decision to identify the funds, but the board firmly believes that it is critical to Puerto Rico and its economic recovery to end PREPA’s Title III case as soon as reasonably possible, he said.
While the oversight board is committed to concluding that final bankruptcy, its overarching objective remains to ensure that the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and its instrumentalities exit their restructuring processes as viable, fiscally responsible entities, Mujica said.
“The Oversight Board is not a permanent institution,” he said. “Congress defines when it terminates. PROMESA [the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act] requires that before the Oversight Board terminates, the government must balance its budget for at least four consecutive fiscal years in accordance with modified accrual standards, and Puerto Rico must have adequate access to short-term and long-term credit markets at reasonable interest rates. The Oversight Board has worked diligently toward those goals, and, together with the government, has recently reached an important milestone: on June 27, 2025, the Oversight Board certified the fiscal year 2026 budget for the Commonwealth that is consistent with the fiscal plan. It had been developed jointly with the administration of Governor Jenniffer González Colón and the Legislative Assembly. This budget could qualify as the first of four consecutive balanced budgets for the Commonwealth under PROMESA and represents major progress from the prior years.”
PR gov’t takes a first step in its AI transformation
By THE STAR STAFF
With the aim of advancing the digital transformation of the Puerto Rico government, the General Services Administration (GSA) opened the formal request for information (RFI) process on Wednesday to receive proposals for the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies into government applications and processes.
“The world has changed, and the government must be at the forefront,” GSA Administrator and Chief Government Procurement Officer Karla Mercado said. “The goal of this call is to hear directly from experts in the technology sector to identify artificial intelligence solutions that drive operational
efficiency, citizen access, and data-driven decision-making.”
The call is aimed at suppliers with proven experience and capacity to implement modern technological solutions in agencies, public institutions and municipalities. The objective of the initiative is to explore alternatives that improve efficiency, interoperability and access to government services.
Mercado said the process seeks to identify companies that offer services ranging from virtual assistants for citizen guidance to predictive models, process automation, intelligent data analysis and computer vision solutions that can be integrated into current government platforms.
“Artificial intelligence is not a passing trend; it’s a real tool that can help us simplify
processes, prevent errors, and better utilize public resources,” the official said. “We want to identify viable, safe, and ethical alternatives aligned with the government’s transparency and efficiency standards. This way, we will be prepared and informed to execute the upcoming competitive processes and procurement processes.”
Mercado emphasized that the current exercise does not constitute a formal contracting process, but rather a critical exploratory phase in which to define possible paths and work plans for future bidding processes.
“We are interested in learning about what the private sector can offer, including new technologies, sustainable architectures, previous experiences, and even pilot proposals,” the GSA administrator said.
Another suspect arrested in connection with carjacking-killing of young woman in Santa Isabel
By THE STAR STAFF
FBI Special Agent in Charge Devin Kowalski announced Wednesday the arrest of Javier Santos Alejandro, who is implicated along with Johnnuel Rodríguez Márquez in the death of Natalia Aileen Santiago Rivera in Santa Isabel.
“Today’s arrest is an important step on the path to justice for Natalia’s family,” Kowalski said in a written statement. “I am proud and grateful for the dedicated work
of our FBI special agents, intelligence personnel, and professional staff, as well as our incredible colleagues at the Puerto Rico Police and the federal Attorney’s Office, who have tirelessly worked on this case. But this is not over, and you can expect us to continue to investigate this tragedy with persistence until all those responsible are held accountable. My advice to those who think they can get away with it: you won’t, so turn yourselves in.”
Santos Alejandro was charged with
Fishermen busted for illegal use of live bait
By THE STAR STAFF
Natural and Environmental Resources
(DNER) Secretary Waldemar Quiles
Pérez announced on Wednesday that Ranger Corps personnel carried out several interventions over the weekend in the Carraízo Reservoir for the illegal use of live bait for fishing.
“Personnel from the Ranger Corps carried out several interventions in Carraízo Reservoir as part of the preventive rounds to supervise fishing in the reservoir and ensure compliance with current laws and regulations,” Quiles said
in a written statement.
During Sunday’s patrol, the watchstanders detected fishermen using live aquatic organisms as bait, which is prohibited by Administrative Order 2013-17. In one of the interventions, two men were caught fishing illegally. One tried to flee, but then returned for his partner and both were arrested.
In another intervention, in an area of the reservoir near Caguas, the agents surprised two additional fishermen who were using the same illegal tactic to capture species such as guapote (jaguar cichlid) and tucunaré (peacock bass).
aggravated carjacking, exhibition of a firearm in aid of a violent crime, and attempted carjacking resulting in death.
Rodríguez Márquez, 18, was arrested last Thursday and confessed to killing Santiago Rivera, 25, in an armed carjacking.
According to federal prosecutors, Rodríguez Márquez is linked to three incidents: the first carjacking occurred on July 2 in Juncos, where he managed to steal a Nissan Versa. That same vehicle was used on July 5 in an unsuccessful carjacking attempt in Juana Díaz, and was later seen in the area where Santiago Rivera was slain.
Rodríguez Márquez faces a possible death penalty for the attempted carjacking resulting in death. He also faces up to life in prison for the remaining charges, U.S. Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow said.
In this case, the fishermen involved managed to escape.
All subjects of the intervention were given guidance on the violations committed, and the cases will be referred to the DNER’s Office of Legal Affairs for evaluation.
During a patrol on Lake Carraízo on Sunday, Department of Natural and Environmental Resources Ranger Corps personnel detected fishermen using live aquatic organisms as bait, which is prohibited by an agency administrative order. In one of the interventions, two men were caught fishing illegally and both were arrested after one of them attempted to flee but returned.
The San Juan
Karla Mercado, head of the General Services Administration and chief government procurement officer
Natalia Aileen Santiago Rivera (Instagram via Noticias Boricuas PR)
Fiscal board official was assured that NFE’s stoppage of fuel deliveries was pressure tactic
By THE STAR STAFF
Robert Mujica, the executive director of the Financial Oversight and Management Board, provided significant testimony before a congressional subcommittee on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday regarding the recent actions of New Fortress Energy (NFE) in relation to liquefied natural gas supplies for Puerto Rico.
Mujica revealed that NFE’s abrupt decision to suspend liquefied natural gas (LNG) deliveries to the island last Saturday was not merely a business move, but rather part of a coordinated threat against the Puerto Rican government. The action was reportedly intended to exert pressure on government officials to approve a highly lucrative contract that would grant NFE exclusive rights to supply gas to Puerto Rico for a period of 15 years.
Mujica’s statements were informed by his discussions with various government officials who have been directly involved in the negotiations concerning the contract. Among those officials were Josué Colón Ortiz, the island’s energy czar, who oversees energy policy for Puerto Rico, representatives from the Public-Private Partnerships Authority (P3A), which manages public-private initiatives on the island, and members of the Regulatory Compliance Services Corp. (RCSC), the organization responsible for negotiating contracts with private operators of Puerto Rico’s electricity grid.
During his testimony, Mujica emphasized the urgency of the situation.
“In our thorough evaluation of the proposed contract, we requested additional time for further analysis and consideration,” he said. “Unfortunately, our request for more time was denied. Instead, we were informed that the terms of the
contract had been negotiated under the intimidating threat that fuel would not be supplied to the power generation units that had existing contracts if the new 15-year agreement was not ratified. If these statements hold true, it constitutes a reprehensible violation of ethical conduct that endangers the welfare of the people of Puerto Rico, as it deprives them of essential fuel resources necessary for their energy needs and attempts to manipulate our negotiations for this critical contract.”
Mujica’s testimony came during a hearing of the Subcommittee on Indigenous and Insular Affairs, which had been convened to review and assess the oversight board’s management and oversight capabilities under the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act,
U.S. Coast Guard Sector San Juan)
commonly known as PROMESA.
Separately on Wednesday, Gov. Jenniffer González Colón said her government is in negotiations with NFE to grant them an emergency contract to supply gas to the terminals the company unilaterally decided not to service.
“They unilaterally canceled the service contract for the 14 temporary emergency generation units. So, out of 14, we were able to convert five to diesel, meaning we only have five of those plants operating,” the governor said at a press conference. “What this means is that we have nine plants that are currently shut down because we don’t have natural gas [for them]. We are, yes, in talks, being very proactive, to reach an agreement through an emergency contract with this company that has the ship there, that has the gas there, and that before Tuesday was regularly supplying them with the existing contract, which they canceled last Thursday.”
“We are waiting for the fiscal board to approve an emergency contract so that New Fortress and [NFE subsidiary and power plant operator] Genera can review the terms and, at the very least, supply us with this natural gas for these 14 plants, and thus not shut down Puerto Rico,” she added.
González Colón said signing the emergency contract does not imply that NFE will indirectly collect the $12 million the company claims the government owes it, which was the excuse for canceling the gas supply last weekend.
“The emergency contract is for the purpose of ensuring that we cannot receive supplies and cannot pay for anything without a contract,” she said. “... In reality, at this time, they are the only ones who can supply us in an emergency situation. The vessel is there, but the prices aren’t like they’re going to charge me 10 or two times the value; we’re talking about the same terms and conditions as the previous contract.”
UPR president launches ‘Utuado Flourishes’ initiative
By THE STAR STAFF
University of Puerto Rico (UPR) President Zayra Jordán Conde announced on Wednesday the launch of the “Utuado Florece” (Utuado Flourishes) initiative to transform the academic, structural, and community aspects of the UPR-Utuado campus.
The idea is to position UPR as a catalyst for economic and social development in the central region of the island.
The move comes after she fired Utuado Chancellor Luis Tapia Maldonado, according to sources close to the issue.
In the past, several UPR officials have expressed the need to close the Utuado campus because it has very few students. Tapia Maldonado has objected to the move.
Jordán Conde said the initiative reflects a commitment to revitalizing UPR’s institutional capacities by aligning them with the contemporary challenges of the labor market, agricultural innovation, local entrepreneurship, and sustainability.
“With this innovative project, we are embarking on a
profound transformation at the University of Puerto Rico,” she said. “Each academic unit will strengthen its unique identity and respond to the needs of our country through its distinct focus. In Utuado, this entails renewing our agricultural tradition with a modern vision: promoting sustainable agriculture, led by entrepreneurs dedicated to innovation, environmental conservation, and local economic development. The 21st-century jíbaro is a well-prepared, visionary professional rooted in their land, working for the well-being of their community and all of Puerto Rico.”
Jordán Conde stressed that “Utuado Florece” seeks to enhance UPR’s role in fostering the island’s economic and social growth by adapting to market and industry needs.
“From the presidency, we are promoting this project with the firm goal of optimizing UPR’s academic, research, and community capabilities in Utuado,” she said. “We want our offerings to be aligned with the real needs of the country, especially those of the central region, making it a model for applied education, knowledge transfer, and human capital development for regional progress.”
A New Fortress Energy liquefied natural gas supply ship returns to port in San Juan on Tuesday. (Facebook via
University of Puerto Rico President Zayra Jordán Conde
AVISO AMBIENTAL
INTENCIÓN DE MODIFICAR Y RENOVAR PERMISO DE INYECCIÓN SUBTERRÁNEA
El peticionario, AIAC International Pharma, LLC (h/n/c AVARA Pharmaceutical Services) (AVARA), cuya dirección postal es PO Box 6060, Barceloneta, Puerto Rico 00617-6060, representado por el Sr. Carlos W. Martínez, Director de Ingeniería, Seguridad y Ambiental, ha solicitado al Área de Calidad de Agua (ACA) del Departamento de Recursos Naturales y Ambientales (DRNA) la modificación y renovación del permiso de operación UIC-84-07-0191, para un (1) sistema de inyección subterránea (SIS) Clase VI, bajo las disposiciones del Reglamento para el Control de la Inyección Subterránea (RCIS) y la Ley Federal de Agua Potable Segura, según enmendada 42 USC 300f et seq. (LFAPS).
El SIS consiste en un (1) sumidero natural para la disposición de aguas de escorrentía pluvial, así como descargas incidentales de aguas de enfriamiento, lavado de superficies exteriores (que incluyen calles, aceras, cunetones y edificios) sin detergentes, aguas subterráneas no contaminadas (incluyendo pero no limitado a aguas subterráneas extraídas durante trabajos de construcción y/o mantenimiento de pozos), aguas de manantial, drenaje de cimientos o excavaciones que no esté en contacto con aguas de proceso, descargas de sistemas de control de incendios, aguas de actividades de control de incendios, agua potable y/o agua de irrigación, generadas de AVARA. El referido SIS está ubicado en la Carretera PR-2, Km 60.3, Barrio Sabana Hoyos, Arecibo, Puerto Rico.
Luego de realizada la evaluación correspondiente de los documentos sometidos, el DRNA tiene la intención de modificar y renovar el permiso de operación para la instalación antes mencionada en conformidad con los requisitos del RCIS y de la LFAPS.
Esta notificación se hace para informar que el DRNA, ha preparado el borrador de permiso de operación de forma tal que el público interesado pueda someter sus comentarios con relación al mismo. El permiso contiene las condiciones y prohibiciones necesarias para cumplir con los requisitos reglamentarios aplicables.
Copia de la solicitud del permiso de operación que sometió el peticionario ante el DRNA, el borrador del permiso y otros documentos relevantes estarán a la disposición del público para ser examinados, a petición del interesado mediante el envío de un correo electrónico a la siguiente dirección: hectorarroyo@drna.pr.gov o visitando el ACA, cuya oficina está localizada en el Piso 3, Ala A del Edificio de Agencias Ambientales Cruz A. Matos, Carretera PR-8838, Km 6.3, Sector El Cinco, Río Piedras, Puerto Rico. Copia de dichos documentos pueden adquirirse en el ACA, entre las 8:00 a.m. y las 4:00 p.m. de lunes a viernes o escribiendo a la siguiente dirección: Departamento de Recursos Naturales y Ambientales, San José Industrial Park, 1375 Avenida Ponce de León, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00926. Las partes interesadas o afectadas pueden enviar sus comentarios por escrito a la Sra. Vanessa Del Moral Rosario, Secretaria Interina de la Secretaría Auxiliar de Cumplimiento Ambiental o solicitar una vista pública por escrito al Secretario del DRNA, a la dirección antes indicada. Los comentarios por escrito o la solicitud de vista pública deberán ser sometidos al DRNA no más tarde de treinta (30) días a partir de la fecha de publicación de este aviso. La fecha límite para someter comentarios puede ser extendida si se estima necesario o apropiado para el interés público. La solicitud para una vista pública deberá señalar la razón o las razones que en la opinión del solicitante ameritan la celebración de esta. De realizarse una vista pública los interesados o afectados tendrán una oportunidad razonable para presentar evidencia o testimonio sobre si se emite o deniega el permiso, si el Secretario del DRNA determina que dicha vista es necesaria o apropiada.
En San Juan, Puerto Rico, hoy 14 de julio de 2025.
Waldemar Quiles Pérez
Secretario
Este anuncio se publica conforme a lo requerido por la Ley Núm. 416-2004, según enmendada, conocida como “Ley sobre Política Pública Ambiental”, los reglamentos aprobados a su amparo; y las leyes y reglamentos federales aplicables. El costo del Aviso Público es sufragado por la entidad peticionaria.
Thursday, July 17, 2025 6
HHS finalizes thousands of layoffs after Supreme Court decision
By CHRISTINA JEWETT and BENJAMIN MUELLER
The Department of Health and Human Services finalized the layoffs of thousands of employees after a Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for the Trump administration to proceed with mass firings across the government.
Employees received notice of their termination late Monday, marking a turning point in the reshaping of the nation’s health care workforce. Those let go included people who coordinated travel for overseas drug facility inspectors, communications staff members, public records officials and employees who oversaw contracts related to medical research.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced 10,000 layoffs late in March, cutting workers across the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other federal health agencies. Some workers who received the initial layoff notices on April 1 found out only when their badge to enter a building did not work.
Still, many of them remained on the federal payroll until Monday at 5 p.m., when a message went out citing last week’s Supreme Court decision that allowed Trump officials to significantly slash the size of the federal payroll even as court challenges to the administration’s plans play out.
“Thank you for your service to the American people,” the email said.
While many of the workers were described by the Trump administration as redundant or duplicative, critics have compared the cuts to leaving only doctors — and no support staff — to operate a hospital.
The result is a hobbled workforce, said Dr. Ashish Jha, the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health and a former Biden administration health official.
“What I have seen is some of the very best people, people who have alternatives, who have choices, have decided they just don’t want to stay in this limbo land,” Jha said. He added that those who survive the layoffs may look elsewhere, because “they don’t want to be in an organization that’s under such upheaval.”
In March, Kennedy announced a “dramatic restructuring” of the federal health workforce, with a total of 20,000 jobs pared from the health department through a February round of layoffs, early retirements and buyouts. The plan also called for paring the department’s 28 divisions to 15.
Although Kennedy cited the department’s $1.8 trillion budget at the time, experts on federal spending said less than 1% of that funding went to payroll, with the vast majority of the money covering medications, and hospital and nursing home bills for Medicare and Medicaid patients.
A federal lawsuit filed in Rhode Island by 19 states and the District of Columbia challenged the firings and reorganization, saying they had detrimental effects on states where crucial services were abruptly halted, including specialized testing for sexually transmitted infections and management of help lines that assist people who want to
quit smoking. An HHS spokesperson said workers cited in that ongoing lawsuit were not given notices Monday. This month, a judge in the Rhode Island case ruled that the cuts and reordering of services approved by Congress were most likely unlawful.
Firings at the National Institutes of Health included officials responsible for releasing public records, raising concerns within the agency about its commitment to transparency, said an NIH official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss details of the layoffs.
They also included officials who worked on agency contracts related to medical research materials and studies. Many of those workers had been asked to work while on administrative leave in recent months, the official said, suggesting that the agency had struggled to make do without them. At the FDA, similar callbacks went out to staff members who coordinate travel for foreign inspections, though some were let go Monday.
A number of workers were offered their jobs back since April 1, including many who worked in occupational health, lead poisoning response and other roles at the CDC. Others who were rehired included food safety lab professionals and generic drug approval experts at the FDA. Responding to questions from lawmakers in late June, Kennedy said he brought back hundreds of workers who left “gaps in our ability to perform our duties.”
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during a “Make America Healthy Again” roundtable on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 15, 2025. Kennedy announced 10,000 layoffs late in March, cutting staffing across the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other federal health agencies. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times)
The San Juan Daily Star
A scion of Democratic politics defeats the upstarts in an Arizona primary
By JACK HEALY
The Mamdani momentum withered in the deserts of southern Arizona on Tuesday night.
In a Democratic primary election that pitted continuity and experience against generational change, voters decided to stick with what they knew, nominating Adelita Grijalva, the oldest daughter of Rep. Raúl Grijalva, to fill the House seat of her father, who had held it for more than 20 years until his death in March.
The Associated Press called the race for Grijalva, who was winning more than 60% of votes counted. Deja Foxx, a Gen Z activist who tried to recreate the youthful magic of Zohran Mamdani’s campaign for New York City mayor, attracted millions of fans on social media. But with about 20% of votes, the 25-year-old was not able to translate viral support into victory at the polls.
Daniel Hernandez, a former state lawmaker who ran as a moderate, won 14% of the vote. He had made the pitch that Democrats needed to move away from social issues and focus on economic struggles in order to win back Hispanic men who moved dramatically toward President Donald Trump in 2024.
Grijalva is all but guaranteed victory in the special election on Sept. 23, when she will face the Republican primary winner, Daniel Butierez, in a heavily Democratic district.
Grijalva’s win showed the limits of anti-establishment energy in a heavily Latino district where many voters are still fond of Raúl Grijalva and his staunchly liberal support for immigrants and the environment.
Young progressives and frustrated Democrats wanted a change of face, if not necessarily of policies. They had hoped the anti-establishment fervor that helped Mamdani defeat former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other better-known rivals in New York’s mayoral primary would also defeat the Grijalva name in Arizona’s heavily Democratic 7th Congressional District.
They criticized Grijalva as a “legacy last name,” and argued that her campaign to replace her father reflected a sclerotic Democratic Party’s reliance on uninspiring, familiar candidates over fresh voices.
Grijalva unabashedly embraced her
father’s legacy, saying she was proud to be his daughter and would carry on his liberal policies. During the campaign, she talked about how her time as a school-board member and Pima County supervisor had mirrored her father’s own political career, and how he had discussed the possibility that she would one day run for his seat.
Despite the country’s distaste for establishment Democrats, Grijalva benefited from her family’s deep ties with southern Arizona. She was endorsed by Arizona’s two Democratic senators as well as prominent progressives including Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez of New York, who was Foxx’s model, if not her ally.
A host of unions, immigrant-rights groups and other progressive groups offered her support and help knocking on doors and goading voters to participate in a lowturnout summertime special election.
Adelita Grijalva, a Democratic candidate for the House, at her campaign office in Tucson, Ariz., June 27, 2025. Grijalva beat back charges of “legacy” and embraced the memory of her father, Raúl Grijalva, to win the Democratic primary for the House seat opened by his death. (Cassidy Araiza/The New York Times)
Rising inflation underscores risks in Trump’s new tariff threats
By TONY ROMM and COLBY SMITH
President Donald Trump’s steep tariffs have started to weigh on consumers’ wallets, sending prices higher as the White House readies a more drastic — and potentially costly — expansion of its global trade war.
The risks in Trump’s economic strategy began to show Tuesday, with the release of data that found inflation had accelerated in June. Prices rose noticeably on appliances, clothing and furniture, products that are all heavily exposed to the president’s taxes on imports from Canada, China and other major trading partners.
The inflation report undercut Trump’s continued assertions that Americans would not face financial repercussions from his increasingly aggressive trade brinkmanship. Since taking office, the president has imposed withering duties on allies and adversaries alike, with additional taxes on a range of products such as cars and steel.
The latest reading of the consumer price index recorded the first signs of what economists had predicted all along, with U.S. businesses and consumers shouldering a growing share of the burden from the taxes Trump has imposed on imports.
The data also carried perhaps a new warning for the president as he prepares another round of tariffs on dozens of countries in about two weeks, including a 30% tax on the European Union. Some experts said that an uptick in inflation could foreshadow more significant price increases later, especially if Trump proceeds as planned.
“Up until this report, you could have argued that inflation is on a journey lower,” said Padhraic Garvey, who leads ING’s research team for the Americas. “Now we are on a journey higher.”
The report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics was not immediately “damning” for the Trump administration, Garvey said. But he added that the trend did not bode well for the White House and that it would become harder for Trump to deny his policies were affecting prices.
The White House opted to try to downplay the latest inflation gauge, which showed that prices overall rose 2.7% from a year ago, the swiftest pace since February.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, focused on only one component of the report — a measure of consumer prices that excludes volatile products like food and energy — when she said Tuesday that inflation had remained in
Jerome Powell, chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, appears before a House committee in Washington on June 24, 2025. President Donald Trump renewed his demand that Powell lower interest rates. (Eric Lee/The New York Times)
line with analysts’ expectations.
“The numbers were very good, very much inside the margin,” Trump later told reporters. “So we’ve had no inflation. All we have is, we’re making a fortune.”
Economists have predicted for months that the president’s tariffs could destabilize the U.S. economy, rattle financial markets, constrain the nation’s growth and upend a healthy job market — all while causing prices to increase. But Trump has repeatedly dismissed those warnings while celebrating that his tariffs have helped to generate billions of dollars for the government.
The prospect of severe blowback initially prompted Trump to suspend his first set of eye-watering tariffs days after he announced them in April. But the pause, which aimed to buy time for the administration to broker trade deals, resulted in few agreements. Frustrated with the pace of talks, Trump began to revive his tariff threats this month in a series of letters that set a new Aug. 1 deadline.
Along with the European Union, major U.S. trading partners could face sharp increases in taxes on their imports starting in a matter of weeks. Tariffs on some Canadian goods would rise to 35%, and taxes on select Mexican products would be set at 30%. Additional steep duties are slated for other countries, including Brazil, Japan, South Korea and Thailand.
Gregory Daco, the chief economist for the consulting firm EY-Parthenon, estimated that the average tariff rate could increase to about 21% after Aug. 1. That could result in a “major risk for the economy,” he said.
On Tuesday, some of those risks started to become clearer. While overall prices rose only slightly last month, some of the increases were more pronounced for specific products that tend to be vulnerable to tariffs. Prices for household furnishings jumped 1%, significantly higher than the 0.3% increase in May. Appliance prices rose about 1.9%, up from 0.8%. Prices on apparel, which had been declining, snapped back and increased by 0.4% in June.
Daniel Hornung, who served as deputy director of the National Economic Council for President Joe Biden, said the
data showed the “clear, initial signs of tariff effects.” He added that, “looking ahead, it’s likely those impacts will grow.”
Analysts at Goldman Sachs similarly found this month that consumers could tolerate a greater share of the costs of the president’s tariffs as they were fully carried out. By December, the trend could cause the inflation rate — as measured using a key gauge preferred by the Federal Reserve — to be a percentage point higher year over year than it would have been without steep taxes, according to the report.
Trump nonetheless appeared to ignore that data when he took to social media Tuesday to assert one point: “Consumer Prices LOW.”
He coupled the comment with a renewed demand that the Fed immediately lower interest rates, which the central bank has left unchanged as it seeks to ensure the president’s tariffs do not worsen inflation. The Fed has remained cautious in the years after the coronavirus pandemic, when inflation reached a four-decade high of 9%.
But the wait-and-see approach has enraged Trump, who has savaged the Fed’s chair, Jerome Powell, in recent months. The president repeated many of those attacks Tuesday, telling reporters that Powell had done a “terrible job” as he demanded lower interest rates.
Earlier in the day, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the White House had begun the process to identify Powell’s replacement, even though his term does not end until May. Bessent is seen as one of the candidates for the position.
Even some of the president’s allies conceded that a rate cut seemed unlikely at the Fed’s next meeting this month, now that there is evidence that Trump’s tariffs have affected prices throughout the economy. Stephen Moore, a conservative economist and former adviser to Trump, said the inflation report was “fine” but still showed that “the fight against inflation isn’t over, either.”
Moore predicted that the Fed was likely to “stand pat” at its next meeting, a move that could anger the president anew. But Moore said the White House needed to tread carefully, since a further acceleration in inflation could leave consumers and investors “nervous.”
“I think Trump and this White House have to be totally attentive to making sure inflation doesn’t go to 3 or 4%, or people will start to think, ‘Oh, these policies are a failure’,” Moore said.
Alan Detmeister, an economist who was formerly at the Fed, said he expected price pressures to intensify through the summer, though he noted that there was always volatility in monthly data like the government’s regular inflation report. One benchmark of inflation, the personal consumption expenditures index preferred by the Fed, was likely to eventually rise to about 3.4% once food and energy prices were removed, Detmeister said.
But his projection assumes that Trump’s tariff threats from the past week are not implemented. If those are indeed put in place, that could push up “core” inflation beyond 4% by the second quarter of next year, Detmeister warned.
“It could have a very big impact,” he said, “and it’s likely to continue for quite a while.”
The San Juan Daily Star
Wall Street ends higher after brief slump on Powell firing confusion
Wall Street benchmarks ended modestly higher on Wednesday, with the Nasdaq Composite posting its latest record finish, despite a chaotic half hour when news reports suggested U.S. President Donald Trump was set to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
Shortly before midday, the main U.S. stock indexes fell sharply, the dollar plunged and Treasury yields rose after Bloomberg News reported the possibility of replacing Powell, citing an unidentified White House official.
Separately, Reuters News reported, citing a source, that Trump was open to the idea of firing Powell.
Trump was quick to deny the reports, even as he unleashed a new barrage of criticism against Powell for not cutting interest rates.
“The Fed’s independence is hugely important to our overall economy, so you saw the market react when that initial headline came out,” said Dylan Bell, chief investment officer at CalBay Investments.
Trump’s denial revived equity markets after the benchmark S&P 500 fell as much as 1% and the Nasdaq dropped as much as 1.1%.
According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 (.SPX), gained 19.65 points, or 0.31%, to end at 6,263.41 points, while the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), gained 51.82 points, or 0.25%, to 20,729.62. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI), rose 220.61 points, or 0.50%, to 44,243.90.
It was the fifth session in six that the technologyheavy Nasdaq index has posted a record close.
Since Trump’s April tariff announcement, which initially sent U.S. equities into a spin, U.S. stock markets have been on a tear. The S&P 500 most recently posted a record finish last week.
Amid this buoyancy though has been investor angst about the prospect of Powell being removed from his job before his term ends next May, as Trump has repeatedly criticized him for not cutting U.S. rates quickly enough.
The CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX), opens new tab, Wall Street’s “fear gauge,” hit a more than three-week high in the wake of the initial Powell reports, but eased from those levels.
Despite Trump’s demands for easier credit, Fed officials have resisted cutting rates until there is clarity on whether his tariffs on U.S. trading partners reignite inflation.
The chance of a rate cut in September was viewed around 56% earlier in the day, according to CME FedWatch.
Before the Bloomberg report, the session was choppy as investors were on edge after a mixed bag of inflation data muddied the economic outlook. Producer prices flatlined in June, as tariff-driven goods costs were
CURRENCY MOST ASSERTIVE STOCKS
balanced out by weaker service prices.
Just a day earlier, unexpectedly strong consumer inflation had already dented hopes for deeper Fed rate cuts, with Trump’s tariffs partly fueling the uptick in prices.
On Wednesday, the second day of this earnings season, another round of stronger profits from Wall Street’s big banks failed to ignite their own stock prices.
Goldman Sachs (GS.N), inched higher after notching a 22% earnings surge.
Both Bank of America (BAC.N), and Morgan Stanley (MS.N), joined the trend of higher profits fueled by trading desks navigating market turbulence in the second quarter. Their shares both declined though.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N), opens new tab soared, and was one of the best performers on the S&P 500, after halving its expectations for
costs this year related to new tariffs and raising its fullyear sales and profit forecast.
Semiconductor stocks were sluggish after news that Nvidia (NVDA.O), would be allowed to sell its H2O chips in China had fueled gains in the previous session. The semiconductor index (.SOX), slipped from the 12-month high recorded on Tuesday.
July 17, 2025
Israel strikes Syrian capital, sending warning to government
By EUAN WARD and AARON BOXERMAN
Israel launched deadly airstrikes on Syria’s capital Wednesday, damaging a compound housing the Defense Ministry and hitting an area near the presidential palace, according to the Israeli military and Syrian authorities.
The bombardment in central Damascus, the capital, followed days of deadly clashes involving Syrian government forces in the southern region of Sweida, the heartland of the country’s Druze minority.
The Israeli government, which has pledged to protect that minority, warned Wednesday that it would intensify strikes if Syrian government forces did not withdraw from the region, a strategically important province near Israel and Jordan. Israeli officials have said previously that they want to prevent any hostile forces in Syria from entrenching near their borders.
The escalating tensions between Israel and the Syrian government threaten to derail their tentative steps toward warmer ties after decades of hostility. Syria’s new president, Ahmad al-Sharaa — a former Islamist rebel leader — has tried to stabilize the country since overthrowing dictator Bashar Assad in December. He has also forged closer relations with the United States.
Assad was a loyal ally of Iran and a sworn enemy of Israel. But the rebels who ousted him have opened contacts with Israel in recent months, mediated by the United States, in a bid to lower cross-border tensions.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a
(David Guttenfelder/The New York Times)
statement Wednesday, described the violence as “a direct threat to efforts to help build a peaceful and stable Syria,” adding that Washington was in talks with both Israel and Syria on the issue.
The clashes in recent days marked Sweida’s deadliest spell of unrest in recent memory. More than 200 people have been killed in four days, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor based in Britain.
Electricity and internet outages are widespread. Hospitals are facing shortages in medical supplies. Many civilians are unable to flee and sheltering at home.
The fighting in Sweida erupted Sunday after armed members of a Bedouin tribe attacked and robbed a Druze man along a main highway, the observatory said. As the unrest escalated, al-Sharaa’s government deployed its military forces to the province Monday to quell the conflict, Syrian officials said.
But given deep-seated mistrust of the new government, some members of Druze militias in Sweida thought that the government forces were coming to aid the Bedouins and to attack the Druze, according to Druze militia leaders.
A ceasefire announced Tuesday broke down, and clashes erupted again Wednesday between Syrian government forces and Druze fighters in Sweida.
The latest flare-up of unrest in Syria underscored the deep challenges Damascus faces in trying to reassert authority across a country still fractured by a complex web of armed groups left over from the nearly 14year civil war.
Despite assurances from Syria’s new
leadership, many of the country’s religious and ethnic minorities remain skeptical of al-Sharaa, who once led a rebel group that pledged fealty to al-Qaida.
The Israeli airstrikes in the capital Wednesday caused “extensive” damage in the heart of Damascus, according to the observatory, sending thick plumes of smoke rising above the skyline. At least one civilian was killed and 18 were injured, according to Syria’s Health Ministry.
Syrians described scenes of chaos as Israeli fighter jets pierced the capital’s sky, raining down missiles as workers sat at their desks or commuted.
“We were inside the ministry when the first airstrike hit,” said Abu Musab, 30, an employee at the Defense Ministry. “Then a second strike followed. Later, the aircraft came back and carried out four strikes in a row,” he added.
“There are still people trapped under the rubble,” he said.
The Israeli military attacked the Syrian military’s general staff compound where it said Syrian commanders were directing government forces in Sweida. The Defense Ministry is housed in the same complex.
Israeli strikes also targeted an area near the presidential palace in Damascus, the president’s seat of power, the military said.
Israel also struck near the Damascus palace in May during a previous bout of sectarian violence involving the Syrian Druze.
An Israeli military official told reporters that Israel was conducting dozens of airstrikes against Syrian forces in Sweida — including targeting Syrian soldiers. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to comply with military protocol, said Israel was acting to prevent a buildup of hostile forces near its borders, as well as to prevent attacks on Druze civilians.
Shortly after the Israeli airstrikes on Damascus, Syrian authorities announced that a new ceasefire had been reached in Sweida.
The agreement, which the country’s Interior Ministry said had been brokered with local leaders in Sweida, called for an “immediate and comprehensive cessation of all military operations,” the reestablishment of state authority in the area and the integration of the region into the Syrian state.
Armed Druze men sing and dance outside the offices of the Mountain Brigade, a Druze militia, in the southwestern Syrian province of Sweida on Jan. 15, 2025. Israel’s bombardment in central Damascus, the Syrian capital, on Wednesday followed days of deadly clashes involving Syrian government forces in Sweida, the heartland of the country’s Druze minority.
The San Juan Daily Star
The San Juan Daily Star
Club drugs strain health system on Ibiza, Spain’s party island
By JONATHAN WOLFE
The emergency calls arrive at all hours, especially in the summer. Pablo Roig weaves his ambulance through heavy traffic and past crowded beaches. He arrives at an increasingly familiar scene on Ibiza, Spain’s famed party island: drug-related distress at a nightclub.
“There are days when we’re so busy you can barely even stop to eat or have a coffee,” Roig, a 47-year-old ambulance technician, said.
Emergency calls involving partygoers at Ibiza nightclubs have become so frequent that the island’s public ambulance service is at risk of collapse, the local health technicians union said. During peak season, more than a quarter of all calls for ambulances are to nightclubs, and they often involve foreign visitors, straining resources for the island’s 160,000 full-time residents, the union said.
“Sometimes we go to the same nightclub three or four times in one night,” said José Manuel Maroto, a representative for the union. “There are nightclubs where we have to go to pick up an intoxicated patient every day.”
The ambulance crisis in Ibiza, one of the engines of Spain’s tourism industry with around 3.3 million visitors last year, is the latest example of tensions in Europe over foreign travelers as summer crowds peak. Anti-tourism protests have erupted recently in Spain, Italy and Portugal, with demonstrators complaining that overtourism is stretching public resources and driving up the cost of living.
Ibiza, a Mediterranean island off Valencia, has been a magnet for clubbers since at least the 1970s, when its first nightclubs were built on a hippie culture that thrived in the shadow of the Francisco Franco dictatorship.
The vibrant nightlife and good-vibes image have long come with drug use. But Matoro, 52, who was born on the island and has worked in ambulances for 32 years, said that soaring prices for admission to Ibiza’s so-called “superclubs” and the growing availability of cheap experimental drugs have contributed to a crisis.
General tickets to the superclubs, which can hold up to 10,000 people, go for upward of 100 euros ($116), and drinks there can cost 25 euros apiece. Drugs, Matoro said, are a more affordable alternative to alcohol on what can be an expensive night out.
Drugs are illegal on the island but all manner of them are used, Matoro said, including Ecstasy, cocaine, tusi (also known as pink cocaine), amphetamines and psychedelics —
and they fall in and out of fashion. “Right now, ketamine is popular,” Matoro said.
Each year before the summer party season, he said, the island’s health workers try to predict which drugs will be most in use, so they can be prepared with the right medications.
“It’s a bit of a game of cat and mouse,” Matoro said. “They’re ahead of the curve, and we’re lagging behind, trying to figure out how to provide health care solutions for these types of patients.”
Eight ambulances and mobile intensive care units typically work every night, and field an average of about 70 emergency calls, Matoro said.
Ambulance workers say emergency calls from nightclubs are particularly challenging because they often involve an unconscious person, making them a “priority alert” because of the risk that the patient could go into cardiac arrest or die.
But when emergency workers respond at clubs and try to figure out if a person was sickened by drugs, their questions are not always welcomed by partygoers who fear getting caught breaking the law, said Roig, the ambulance technician.
“Sometimes we’re met with aggression, both physical and verbal,” he said.
A typical drug-related call takes an hour to an hour and a half to resolve, emergency workers said, as the patient is treated and stabilized before being transferred to one of the island’s two hospitals. During the summer, residents of Ibiza regularly complain to ambulance employees about long waits, workers said.
The state broadcaster, Televisión Española, recently aired a story on the issue in which several residents grumbled about the wait times. “It feels pretty bad — sometimes ambulances aren’t available,” one said.
The government health service responsible for the Balearic Islands, which include Ibiza, did not respond to a request for comment.
Virtually all health care in Spain is free for residents, and for years foreign patients have often managed to be treated without paying.
Ibiza’s nightclubs are legally required to have medical workers on staff, including nurses. Now the health services union is demanding that nightclubs be required to contract private ambulances to handle distress calls in order to relieve some of the strain on public services.
“It’s unfair that nightclubs that earn millions of dollars per year are dumping this problem on the public health system,” Maroto said. “In the end, the bill is paid by residents
on the island.”
Amnesia Ibiza, one of the oldest clubs on the island with a capacity of 5,000, said in a statement that it employed health professionals “who are prepared to handle any incidents that may arise within the club.” Last year, it said, the club had to call a public ambulance “on only 19 occasions.”
Pacha, which can hold 3,000 people, said in a statement that “just two” medical cases had required public ambulance services so far this summer, and that it was “committed to easing the pressure on public services.”
For Roig, the difference between drugrelated calls and other emergencies is simple. “One is completely preventable,” he said.
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Tengo cliente Cualificado y con dinero en mano para comprar en área de Juncos
Stone-paved alleyways in the Old Town section of Ibiza, Spain, May 1, 2022. Health workers say that drug-related calls from nightclubs in Ibiza, known as a destination for partying, is driving its ambulance services to collapse — the latest example of tensions in Europe over tourism.
(Samuel Aranda/The New York Times)
What do conservatives offer universities?
By ROSS DOUTHAT
Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Harvard University, searching after greater ideological diversity, is considering creating some kind of institute with a mandate to hire faculty members with nonprogressive perspectives on the world.
Around the same time novelist Joyce Carol Oates published a post making sport of these sort of efforts, whose argument I will reproduce in full:
most universities & colleges surely have faculty members who are contrarians? liberals & progressives are always quarreling with one another; “the left eats its own”; hiring conservatives per se will result in very lopsided résumés especially in the sciences. really, research universities should hire physicists who disbelieve in modern physics? anthropologists who believe that “Aryans” are the master race? poets who believe in Rhyming? philosophers who are staunch Thomists, or believe in the Creation? historians who don’t acknowledge slavery in the US? what a clown show, a sort of campus “Book of Mormon.”
The exterior of Harvard University is seen as people walk through Harvard Square in Cambridge, Mass., July 2, 2025. (Sophie Park/ The New York Times)
You can play the contrarian and the heretic, even develop blood feuds and ruthless personal rivalries, without straying too far outside the safety of received opinion. The interpretive battle rages fiercely but the normative perspectives remain carefully constrained.
Another way that contrarianism constrains itself is by showing a certain intellectual curiosity about the distant past, a territory in which forbidden authors or dangerous ideas can be encountered from a purely historical perspective — and then returning to the safety of conformism once it comes to deal with the controversies of today.
That’s what you see at work in the syllabus of Columbia University’s core curriculum, which I wrote about last year. The assigned readings for the world before the 20th century represent a reasonable diversity of worldviews and opinions. But once you reach contemporary controversies, the core’s perspective narrows to a frankly insane degree, with almost exclusively environmentalist, degrowth and anticolonial texts assigned to help students understand “the insistent problems of the present.”
them are given only one perspective: that of Alexander’s book and the received wisdom that took shape around its argument. Then a lucky minority are actually taught the controversy — but even there the teaching mechanism gives them to understand that there is an orthodoxy and a heterodoxy, a consensus and critiques, rather than offering a completely different starting place.
Obviously a database can’t capture what happens in a classroom, where a teacher can introduce debate in discussion as well as through the reading list.
But there’s still a baseline reality on display here: An academic world that lacks serious political diversity will generate, first, a stultifying degree of conformity on contestable contemporary issues and second, a contrarianism that even at its best still struggles to fully escape the dominant paradigm.
For a full escape to be on offer, you would need either a deep shift in human nature or more plausibly, more people involved in the academic project who start from outside its existing orthodoxies. Cultivating contrarianism is healthy; teaching controversies from a neutral standpoint is an important aspiration. But by far the easiest way to give students a sense of the diverse perspectives of the world is just to have people who actually hold those perspectives teaching on your campus.
I love, indeed adore, the idea that “poets who believe in Rhyming” and students of Thomas Aquinas — two categories distinguished by their unusual rigor, in my experience — are from the Oatesian perspective the equivalent of Aryan supremacists and some imagined set of “historians who don’t acknowledge slavery.”
But the first part of the post asks a question that deserves a serious response. Why don’t academic contrarianism and quarrelsomeness alone suffice to introduce students to diverse perspectives on the world? Why can’t we just rely on the intelligence and curiosity of good professors, even if almost all of them happen to lean leftward, to deliver a complete portrait of intellectual debate?
The simplest answer is that contrarianism is quite unnatural to human beings, and only slightly less unnatural among people theoretically trained in rigorous intellectual work. Indeed sometimes a life spent in intellectual work can make conformity seem more natural. After all, if everyone around you is a professional scholar and everyone tends to agree about certain crucial questions, shouldn’t you be deferential to this shared expertise?
Of course nobody wants to imagine himself to be boringly orthodox in every way. But even an impulse toward openmindedness and heterodoxy still tends to be constrained and channeled into safe territory.
Oates’ own post suggests one way that this happens. “‘The left eats its own,’” she writes, describing the climate of fervent enmity that often exists within left-wing factions that seem from the outside to basically agree. But of course it’s precisely that agreement that makes it feel safe to have the angry arguments!
There are certainly left-leaning teachers and intellectuals who manage to do better than the Columbia core, who actually try to do real justice to contemporary controversies, who are willing to give not just centrist or classically liberal but even conservative and reactionary ideas their due. But in the current academic landscape, even the successful teaching of controversy still tends to confirm progressivism as a default perspective.
For a sense of how this works, it’s worth reading a working paper from three academics at Claremont McKenna College and Scripps College, who use a database of college syllabuses from around the English-speaking world to assess how frequently contrasting perspectives on high-profile issues are assigned in college classrooms.
One of their examples is Michelle Alexander’s “The New Jim Crow,” a famous and influential but also highly contestable interpretation of mass incarceration and racism in America. In the database, it appears on over 5,000 syllabuses — more than “Hamlet” or “The Federalist Papers.”
Then the authors look at the most prominent critiques and alternative perspectives on the subject, works by academic authors like James Forman Jr., John Pfaff and Patrick Sharkey. These appear on just a few hundred syllabuses; in an overwhelming majority of cases, “The New Jim Crow” is assigned alone, without a countervailing perspective. At the same time the leading alternatives are almost never taught alone; they enter the discussion as “conversation-wideners” but they aren’t presented as potential defaults in their own right.
So two things seem to happen when college students encounter debates about crime and race and prison. Most of
Whether Harvard or any other liberal university can really pull off such a diversification is a different question, suited to a future column. But that these schools would benefit from such a change seems obvious. Arguments carried out exclusively among liberals and leftists can be stimulating, engaging, important, revelatory. But they will always be insufficient to the professed task of the university, the understanding of reality in full.
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Gobierno amplía oportunidades de trabajo a confinados en sector privado con nueva ley
POR CYBERNEWS
BAYAMÓN – La gobernadora Jenniffer Aidyn
González Colón firmó el miércoles la Ley 60-2025 para ampliar las oportunidades de rehabilitación a confinados mediante su integración a tareas laborales en el sector privado, en áreas como agricultura, construcción y otros oficios esenciales.
“Al extender las experiencias de trabajo de nuestros confinados al sector privado ampliamos las oportunidades de rehabilitación de esta población”, expresó González Colón durante la ceremonia de firma en el Complejo Correccional Bayamón 501.
La medida, de la autoría del presidente del Senado, Thomas Rivera Schatz, enmienda la Ley 166-2009 para permitir que los confinados puedan integrarse a proyectos de entidades gubernamentales, municipales y también de empresas privadas, con o sin fines de lucro.
“Esta ley apuesta por la rehabilitación efectiva y la reducción de la reincidencia, permitiendo que los confinados adquieran destrezas, hábitos laborales y un sentido de responsabilidad que les permita integrarse con éxito a la sociedad”, afirmó Rivera Schatz en declaraciones escritas.
El secretario del Departamento de Corrección y Rehabilitación, Francisco Antonio Quiñones Rivera, destacó que con esta ley se reconoce la capacidad de los confinados para aportar al desarrollo del país y se refuerzan los esfuerzos de reinserción social con tareas productivas que ayuden a cubrir la necesidad de mano de obra en sectores clave de la economía.
La ley establece que los ingresos generados por los confinados se depositarán en cuentas individuales, y el Departamento de Corrección podrá retener hasta un 20 por ciento para gastos administrativos y de seguridad. Además, se requiere un informe anual al Senado y la Cámara sobre el cumplimiento de esta política pública.
Amplían Banco de Radioaficionados para emergencias en temporada de huracanes
POR CYBERNEWS
SAN JUAN – El presidente del Negociado de Telecomunicaciones, Osvaldo Soto García, anunció el miércoles la firma de un nuevo acuerdo de colaboración para ampliar el Banco de Radioaficionados y fortalecer su activación durante situaciones de emergencia, especialmente en la actual temporada de huracanes.
“El NET mantiene un Banco de Radioaficionados cuya función es ser activado en situaciones de emergencia donde las comunicaciones tradicionales puedan verse afectadas”, expresó Soto García en declaraciones escritas.
El acuerdo reconoce oficialmente a los radioaficionados como primeros res-
pondedores y les otorga credenciales preferenciales para facilitar su movilidad y coordinación durante eventos críticos. Además, cada Centro de Operaciones de Emergencia municipal contará con equipos de radio que operarán miembros del banco con licencia vigente de la FCC. Durante el huracán María, los radioaficionados jugaron un rol clave al establecer comunicaciones en zonas incomunicadas. Actualmente, el banco cuenta con más de 200 voluntarios activos en toda la isla, quienes recibirán adiestramientos y recursos a través del NET.
En la firma del acuerdo participó el presidente de la Federación de Radioaficionados, Germán Acevedo Soto, junto a integrantes de la directiva.
Mujer muere ahogada en Salinas
POR CYBERNEWS
S
ALINAS – Una mujer murió ahogada a eso de las 4:53 de la tarde del martes, en la playa Politas en Salinas.
Según el reporte de la Policía, una llamada al Sis-
tema de Emergencias 9-1-1, alertó a la policía sobre una persona ahogada en el lugar. Al llegar, Rosa A. Apellaniz de 33 años fue transportada al Hospital Sur Med, donde se certificó la ausencia de signos vitales. El caso fue referido al Cuerpo de Investigaciones Criminales de Guayama para su investigación.
‘Apocalypse in the Tropics’: A passionate take on Brazilian politics
By ALISSA WILKINSON
Here is one thing that makes Petra Costa’s new documentary, “Apocalypse in the Tropics” (in theaters and streaming on Netflix), so powerful: It is very precisely not about American politics. Yet the temptation for a segment of viewers to see it as being about that will, I suspect, be insurmountable. But Costa is here to tell a bigger story.
She begins with the extraordinary shift in her homeland of Brazil toward evangelical Christianity — over the past 40 years, the percentage of Brazilians identifying as evangelical has grown to 30% from 5%, by some estimates. That’s an immense, almost unprecedented change.
What’s more, it’s had radical effects on that nation’s politics, leading directly to the election of former President Jair Bolsonaro. Costa wasn’t raised to be particularly religious, so she approaches the subject as something of an anthropologist who knows Brazil well. (Her parents are left-wing Brazilian activists who opposed the military dictatorship that ruled from 1964 to 1985, and her fiery 2019 film, “The Edge of Democracy,” explored both
her and her country’s political past.) Instead of focusing solely on Bolsonaro and his electoral battle with Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the current president, Costa ho -
nes in on something else: the way Pentecostal televangelist and celebrity Silas Malafaia has operated at the core of politics.
‘Rage’ is a wild Spanish
By MARGARET LYONS
The Spanish dramedy “Rage” (in Spanish, with subtitles), which debuted earlier this month on HBO Latino, is a distinctive anthology of female anger. Each episode includes a true plate-smashing meltdown, the culmination of decades of frustration and neglect. People rip cabinets off the wall, light fires, destroy entire kitchens. And while the show has an amped-up soapy lilt, all the indignation is grounded in real despair and grief. The stories connect and coincide; some of the women are neighbors, or catch glimpses of each other on television. Some of the women are rich and impulsive while others scrounge for each rent check, but disappointment knows no tax bracket.
dramedy about women
A prized pig wanders through the chapters connecting the arcs, too.
Marga (Carmen Machi) is a visual artist and hobbyist markswoman whose slick husband is sleeping with their housekeeper, Tina (Claudia Salas). Tina’s mom, Adela (Nathalie Poza), struggles to make ends meet while taking care of her own ailing mother. Nat (Candela Peña), prim and stylish, loves her job at a high-end department store ... until she is forced out by a blase boss who prefers to hire lessqualified Instagram influencers.
Vera (Pilar Castro), a celebrity chef, vents to her pal Marga about how hopeless she feels, how sinister the world seems to her. But it isn’t just perception, it is also projection: She winds up torturing a journalist who antagonizes her. “We’re all just
She suggests that Malafaia, with the money and influence he wields, was extremely consequential in the rise and popularity of Bolsonaro. In other words, she argues that his media savvy, tied to capitalism and a certain strain of apocalypticism, accounts for the rightward lurch in Brazil’s politics.
What she’s pointing out is how these three things — the lure of money, the lure of celebrity and the lure of power — constitute an unholy trinity, especially when held and venerated by a figure like Malafaia, who can dole them out. That has always been true. Humans love to be rich, popular and important, and a lot of the time those things can be woven into people’s religious beliefs, making those convictions even stronger.
But it may be that elements of the present, like social media, internet misinformation and extinction-level threats to human life make that combination more potent than ever. That’s what “Apocalypse in the Tropics” draws out so well: This pattern in Brazil is infinitely repeatable. If you recognize it, well, it’s not because your country’s leaders are unique. It’s because while history may not repeat itself, it certainly rhymes.
who are pushed too far
selfishness, meanness and madness,” she tells him while he’s tied to a table.
When Victoria (Cecilia Roth) realizes the award she is getting is sponsorship nonsense and not a belated recognition of her work, the humiliation overwhelms her, and we watch this tidal wave of selfrecrimination crash on shore. Have I been a fool this whole time? How much of my life have I wasted operating under these misapprehensions about myself, about the world?
Everything on “Rage” escalates, quickly, and the behaviors are extreme — and exciting. While the characters are motivated by pain, the show itself is bright and funny, colorful and surprising. Two episodes aired July 11 and the remaining six air weekly.
“Apocalypse in the Tropics”
“Rage”
DA RODRÍGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIA REGIONAL. EDNIRIS LANZÓ OLIVERO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL I.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA
TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE HUMACAO
ZENAIDA CUBAS
SAAVEDRA Y OTROS
Demandante V. FIRSTBANK PUERTO RICO Y OTROS
Demandado(a)
Civil: HU2025CV00600. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN O RESTITUCIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.
A: FULANO DE TAL Y MENGANO DEL CUAL, O SEA LAS PERSONAS DESCONOCIDAS QUE PUEDAN SER TENEDORES DEL PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO, DIRECCIONES DESCONOCIDAS.
(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 27 de junio de 2025, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 14 de julio de 2025. En Humacao, Puerto Rico, el 14 de julio de 2025. EVELYN FÉLIX VÁZQUEZ, SECRETARIA. ARSENIA MARTÍNEZ SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA
SALA SUPERIOR DE HUMACAO 1. NILSA VELÁZQUEZ
SANTIAGO; 2. GLADYS
VELÁZQUEZ SANTIAGO; 3. MARÍA VELÁZQUEZ
SANTIAGO;4. LETICIA VÁZQUEZ VELÁZQUEZ,
IVETTE VÁZQUEZ
VELÁZQUEZ Y MARISOL VÁZQUEZ VELÁZQUEZ, HEREDERAS DE LA SUCESIÓN DE CARMEN DELIA VELÁZQUEZ
SANTIAGO; 5. VIRGEN VIOLETA VELÁZQUEZ SANTIAGO; 6. ORLANDO VELÁZQUEZ COLÓN; JOSEPH VELÁZQUEZ COLÓN; ALEJANDRO G. VELÁZQUEZ PÉREZ Y ORLANDO VELÁZQUEZ PÉREZ HEREDEROS DE LA SUCESIÓN DE JACINTO VELÁZQUEZ SANTIAGO; 7. MARÍA TERESA VELÁZQUEZ SANTIAGO; 8. SATURNINO VELÁZQUEZ SANTIAGO. Demandantes V. 1. ANA MARÍA VELÁZQUEZ SANTIAGO; SUCESIÓN DE ANA MARÍA VELÁZQUEZ; 2. ARCADIO VELÁZQUEZ SANTIAGO; SUCESIÓN DE ARCADIO VELÁZQUEZ SANTIAGO; 3. CATALINA SANTIAGO RODRÍGUEZ; SUCESIÓN DE CATALINA SANTIAGO RODRÍGUEZ; 4. EUSTAQUIA SANTIAGO RODRÍGUEZ; SUCESIÓN DE EUSTAQUIA SANTIAGO RODRÍGUEZ; 5. PEDRO JOSÉ VELÁZQUEZ SANTIAGO; 6. FULANO DE TAL, SU ESPOSA FULANA DE TAL Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS; 7. PERSONAS NATURALES O JURÍDICAS DE NOMBRE DESCONOCIDO DENOMINADAS A, B Y C; 8. PARTES IINTERESADAS Demandados Civil Núm.: HU2024CV01748. Sobre: USUCAPIÓN. CITACIÓN POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PR.
A: Antolina Algarín, Sabina Velázquez, Agustín Velázquez, Jesús Diaz, Joaquín Diaz, Úrsula Rodríguez, Antonio De Santiago, Agapito Medina, Isabelino Medina, Sucesión Juan De Jesús, Basilio Lozada, Sebastián Velázquez, Sucesión Pilar De Santiago, Justa Velázquez, Mariano Soto, Gabriela Velázquez, sus herederos, causahabientes o cesionarios, con paraderos y/o direcciones
desconocidas, a Johanna Velázquez Rodríguez con dirección física Carr 914 KM 1.1 Sector Asturianas Humacao, PR 00791, y, asimismo, a todo el que tenga algún interés o derecho real sobre el inmueble descrito en la Demanda de Dominio-Usucapión del caso de epígrafe, a las personas ignoradas, a quienes pueda perjudicar la inscripción, a los anteriores dueños, o sus herederos y, en general, a toda persona que desee oponerse.
POR LA PRESENTE: se les notifica que los Peticionarios de epígrafe han presentado una Demanda para que se declare probado a favor de ellos, el dominio por usucapión que tienen sobre la siguiente propiedad: Número 628 inscrita al Folio
176 de Tomo 13 Demarcación de Las Piedras, Registro de la Propiedad de Humacao con siguiente descripción registral:
“Rústica: BARRIO MONTONES de Las Piedras. Lote: Cabida: 47 Cuerdas. Linderos: Norte, con Antolina Algarín. Sur, con Sabina Velázquez. Este, con Agustín Velázquez y Joaquín Díaz. Oeste, con Úrsula Rodríguez, Antonio de Santiago y Agapito Medina. TRACTO: Se inmatricula por Expediente de Dominio.” Este Tribunal ordenó que se publique la pretensión por tres (3) veces durante el término de veinte (20) días en un periódico de circulación general diaria, para que todas las personas arriba mencionadas y todas aquellas desconocidas a quienes pueda perjudicar la inscripción o deseen oponerse, puedan así hacerlo dentro del término de veinte (20) días a partir de la última publicación del presente edicto. Por tanto, firmo expido la presente en Humacao, Puerto Rico, a 30 de junio de 2025. EVELYN FÉLIX VÁZQUEZ, SECRETARIA. DALISSA REYES DE LEÓN, SUBSECRETARIA.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA
CENTRO JUDICIAL DE BAYAMÓN SALA SUPERIOR EMILIO RUBÉN
PIZARRO CABRERA
Peticionario V. EX PARTE Civil Núm.: BY2023CV03678. Sala: 705. Sobre: PROCEDIMIENTO EN AUSENCIA DE EMILIO PIZARRO SOLÍS. RESOLUCIÓN. El señor Emilio Rubén Pizarro Cabrera, sometió una petición jurada para establecer la ausencia y posterior presunción de muerte de su padre, Emilio Pizarro Solís, a tenor con los artículos 182 y siguientes del Código Civil de Puerto Rico. El Ministerio Públi-
co estuvo representado por la Procuradora Amarilis Acevedo Vera, quien, mediante moción informativa del 15 de septiembre de 2023, manifestó no tener objeción a lo solicitado por la parte peticionaria y solicitó que fuese relevada de comparecer en el presente caso a lo cual accedió el Tribunal mediante Orden del 31 de octubre de 2023, notificada el 1 de noviembre de 2023. Se recibió la prueba documental consistente de: Certificación Negativa del Registro de Testamentos de Emilio Pizarro Solís: Certificación Negativa de Asuntos no contenciosos de Emilio Pizarro Solís; Certificación de Nacimiento del ausente y presunto fallecido, Emilio Pizarro Solís: Certificación de Nacimiento de Emilio Rubén Pizarro Cabrera, hijo del ausente y presunto fallecido; Certificación de Matrimonio de Emilio Pizarro Solís y Lourdes Cabrera Lugo y el Informe de lncidente policiaco de fecha de 23 de abril de 2002. Evaluada la prueba documental se concluye que Emilio Pizarro Solís se ausentó de su entorno habitual desde hace más de veintiún (21) años sin haber nombrado apoderado o administrador de sus bienes y desde entonces se desconoce su paradero, puesto que no se ha comunicado con nadie que se conozca ni con las personas que son sus parientes más cercanos y con quienes se esperaría que hiciera algún contacto ocasional. El ausente esta casado con Lourdes Cabrera Lugo y tiene un hijo que es el peticionario, Emilio Rubén Pizarro Cabrera. Desde la desaparición del ausente, el peticionario y su madre se han encargado de la administración de las bienes dejados por él.
Concluimos que el Sr. Emilio Pizarro Solís esta ausente desde hace más de diez (10) años y que no se hubiera ausentado sin notificarlo a sus parientes y allegados por lo que se establece su presunción de muerte desde el 23 de abril de 2012, esto es diez años transcurridos desde que se declaró su ausencia a las autoridades. Habidas cuentas de que el peticionario y su madre han estado haciéndose cargo de la administración de las bienes del ausente por más de quince años y de igual modo han transcurrido al presente más de quince años y de igual modo han transcurrido al presente más de diez años de su ausencia, conforme al artículo 199 y 201 del Código Civil vigente se activa la disposición del artículo que establece la presunción de muerte de dicho ausente. En vista de las anteriores conclusiones de hechos y determinaciones de Derecho, se declara la presunción de muerte del señor Emilio Pizarro Solís. Conforme a lo dispuesto en las artículos del Código Civil de Puerto Rico antes identificados, esta presunción de muerte
se ejecutará al transcurrir seis meses contados desde la publicación de la misma en un periódico de circulación general. Una vez se cumpla con tales procedimientos se podrá decretar final y firme esta Resolución y se podrá tramitar la sucesión del ausente. Dada en Bayamón, Puerto Rico, a 30 de junio de 2025. MARÍA T. RIVERA CORUJO, JUEZA SUPERIOR. LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE ARECIBO SALA SUPERIOR DE HATILLO LLACG COMMUNITY INVESTMENT FUND
Demandante V. SUCESION GERMAN LUCIANO MALAVE Y OTROS
Demandado(a) Caso Núm.: HA2024CV00288. (Salón: 101 CIVIL - CRIMINAL). Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA: PROPIEDAD RESIDENCIAL. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. FRANCES L. ASENCIO GUIDOFRANCES.ASENCIO@GMLAW.COM. A: SUCESION GERMAN LUCIANO MALAVE T/C/C GERMAN LUCIANO COMPUESTA POR JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS. (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 julio de 2025, 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 10 de julio de 2025. En Hatillo, Puerto Rico, el 10 de julio de 2025. VIVIAN Y. FRESSE GONZÁLEZ, SECRETARIA. BRENDA L. TORRES MUÑIZ, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA
CENTRO JUDICIAL DE BAYAMÓN SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN COMPU-LINK CORPORATION, D/B/A CELINK Demandante V. CONCEPCION VALENCIA PIRES Y OTROS Demandado(a) Caso Núm.: BY2025CV0124. (Salón: 703). Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA: PROPIEDAD RESIDENCIAL. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. FRANCES L. ASENCIO GUIDOFRANCES.ASENCIO@GMLAW.COM. A: AGUSTIN MAISONET VALENCIA, ELIEZER MAISONET VALENCIA, JERAMIL MAINSONET GARCIA; JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO POSIBLES MIEMBROS DESCONOCIDOS DE LA SUCESION AGUSTIN MAISONET CAMACHO. (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 julio de 2025, 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 10 de julio de 2025. En Bayamón, Puerto Rico, el 10 de julio de 2025. ALICIA AYALA SANJURJO, SECRETARIA. CARMEN M. PINTADO NIEVES, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE CAROLINA SALA SUPERIOR DE CAROLINA
ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC
COMO AGENTE DE FAIRWAY ACQUISITIONS FUND, LLC
Demandante V.
YADILL E. RODRIGUEZ RIVERA
Demandado(a)
Caso Núm.: TJ2024CV00506.
(Civil: 406). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO - ORDINARIO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. Osvaldo L. RODRÍGUEZ FERNÁNDEZ - NOTIFICACIONES@ ORF-LAW.COM.
A: YADILL E. RODRIGUEZ RIVERA. (Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 08 de julio de 2025, 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 09 de julio de 2025. En Carolina, Puerto Rico, el 09 de julio de 2025. KANELLY ZAYAS ROBLES, SECRETARIA. MARICRUZ APONTE ALICEA, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE AGUADILLA SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN SEBASTIÁN ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC
COMO AGENTE DE FAIRWAY ACQUISITIONS FUND, LLC
Demandante V. SAUL ROMAN SANTIAGO
Demandado(a)
Caso Núm.: SS2024CV00276. (Salón: 0002 DISTRITO Y SUPERIOR). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO - ORDINARIO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. Osvaldo L. RODRÍGUEZ FERNÁNDEZ - NOTIFICACIONES@ ORF-LAW.COM. A: SAUL ROMAN SANTIAGO. (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 julio de 2025, 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 no-
tificación 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 09 de julio de 2025. En San Sebastián, Puerto Rico, el 09 de julio de 2025. SARAHÍ REYES PÉREZ, SECRETARIA. LAURA LUGO CRESPO, SECRETARIA AUXILIAR DEL TRIBUNAL.
LEGAL NOTICE
ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE CAGUAS
AB INTESTATO: EDWIN IVÁN ORTIZ DELGADO Causante Civil Núm.: AB2025CV00135. Sala: 803. Sobre: DECLARATORIA DE HEREDEROS. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS. A: EDWIN ALEXIS ORTIZ MELÉNDEZ, EN DIRECCIÓN DESCONOCIDA; Y MIOSOTIS DINELIA ORTIZ MELÉNDEZ, A SU ÚLTIMA DIRECCIÓ CONOCIDA ES 1611 N. PAGE DR., DELTONA, ESTADO DE LA FLORIDA, ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA 32725.
POR LA PRESENTE, se les emplaza y requiere para que presente al Tribunal sus alegaciones responsivas a la presente DEMANDA dentro de los treinta (30) días siguientes a la publicación de este edicto, excluyendo el día de su publicación, notificando copia de la misma al Lcdo. Rafael Pagán Colón, abogado de la Demandante, a la siguiente dirección postal y/o correo electrónico: P.O. Box 368122, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936-9122; Correo electrónico: rafael.pagan-
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July 17, 2025 22
No team has yet qualified for Carnival of Champions semifinals
By THE STAR STAFF
After the first two weekends of the Superior Double A Baseball League (Béisbol Superior Doble A) Carnival of Champions, all eight teams in the field remain in contention, with no teams qualifying for the national semifinals or eliminated, the league reported Tuesday.
San Sebastián leads the standings with a 4-1 record and needs one more win to secure its direct qualification, although its worst-case scenario would be a tie, according to the tournament’s tiebreaker criteria.
Camuy faces the toughest situation, with a 1-4 record and needing two wins to stay in
the playoffs. However, even if the Arenosos win both games, their qualification will depend on the results of other teams.
The format establishes that any team with five wins secures a direct qualification, while those with five losses are eliminated. The possibility of a playoff round remains open, as was the case in 2023.
The standings show San Sebastián leading with a 4-1 record. Patillas, Dorado and Salinas follow at 3-2, while Juncos, Comerío and Peñuelas are at 2-3. Camuy occupies the cellar with a 1-4 record.
The final round-robin games will be played this Friday and Saturday. If necessary, playoff games will be held on Sunday.
Dan Serafini, former major league pitcher, is convicted of murder
By NEIL VIGDOR
Dan Serafini, a former pitcher and first-round pick of the Minnesota Twins, was convicted earlier this week in the 2021 execution-style shootings of his wealthy in-laws at their home at Lake Tahoe in California.
On the third day of deliberations in the high-profile case, a jury in Placer County, California, on Monday convicted Serafini, 51, of first-degree murder in the killing of his father-in-law, Gary Spohr, 70, and attempted murder of his mother-in-law, Wendy Wood, who survived being shot in the head. She died by suicide in 2023 at age 70, according to her family.
Serafini, who has denied being involved in the shootings, was also found guilty of special circumstance allegations of lying in wait and first-degree burglary.
He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 18.
During his six-week trial in Superior Court in Auburn, California, prosecutors described Serafini as having had an acrimonious relationship with his in-laws, who were worth millions, and said that he had once been overheard offering $20,000 to have them killed.
The prosecutors presented testimony from Samantha Scott, the family’s former nanny, with whom they said that Serafini was having an affair and who helped commit the crime. Scott, who was initially charged with murder and attempted murder, pleaded guilty in February to being an accessory to a felony and is awaiting sentencing.
Jurors also viewed security camera footage from June 5, 2021, the day of the shootings. The recordings showed a masked and hooded man, who prosecutors said was Serafini, waiting for his in-laws, who were out boating, to return to their home. Both of the victims were shot in the head at close range, execution style, authorities said.
Rick Miller, assistant chief deputy district attorney for Placer County, said during his closing arguments that there was a “mountain” of corroborating evidence connecting Serafini to the shootings.
“You know why he did it,” Miller said. “You know he did it. You know his motive. You know his opportunity.”
Serafini’s lawyer, David Dratman, did not immediately respond on Tuesday to a request for comment about the verdict.
In his closing arguments, Dratman had argued that an analysis by an FBI expert had determined that the person on the
surveillance video was 6 feet, 2 inches tall, accounting for shoes and hood, which he said was shorter than Serafini’s height as measured by investigators.
“There is no way a 6-foot-3-inch man is the person on the video,” Dratman said.
During the trial, Serafini’s wife, Erin Spohr, testified that she and her husband had an open marriage and that she still supported him, the television station KCRA reported. Spohr also acknowledged how her mother had wanted Serafini to sign a postnuptial agreement while she and her husband were having marital issues.
After the jury reached its verdict on Monday, Adrienne Spohr, another daughter of the victims, told the news media outside the courthouse that she was relieved by the trial’s outcome.
“It’s been four years of just hell,” she said. “Today, finally, justice was served.”
Serafini, who was arrested in 2023, is being held at a county jail.
During his Major League Baseball career as a left-handed pitcher, he played for six teams, making his debut with the Twins in 1996. In 1992, he was selected in the first round of the amateur draft, the same round that included Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon.
Serafini struggled to live up to his high
draft position, finishing his career with 15 wins and 16 losses. In 2007, he was suspended for 50 games after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug. In 2009 and 2013, he was a member of the Italian team during the World Baseball Classic. His grandparents were born in Italy, SFGate.com reported.
Yadiel Rivera and the Pescadores del Plata de Comerío are 2-3 entering the final weekend of round-robin games in the Superior Double A Baseball League Carnival of Champions. (José Espinal)
Dan Serafini’s 1993 Bowman baseball card (amazon.com)
