Tuesday Sep 2, 2025

2 GOOD MORNING

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

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US Fish & Wildlife to declare 3 beaches protected areas for leatherback turtles

By THE STAR STAFF

As a result of a petition filed by conservation groups, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced it will declare three beaches in Puerto Rico as protected areas for leatherback sea turtles.

The decision, known as a 90-day finding, is the first procedural step toward protecting leatherback nesting beaches on Puerto Rico’s California Beach in Maunabo, Tres Hermanos Beach in Añasco and Grande Beach in Arecibo. The Fish and Wildlife Service must now conduct a thorough review of the best available science before determining whether to increase habitat protections under the Endangered Species Act.

Amigos de las Tortugas Marinas, Vida Marina Center for Conservation and Ecological Restoration, Yo Amo el Tinglar and the Center for Biological Diversity submitted the petition in February 2024.

“After 25 years of hard work and community collaboration to protect leatherback turtles and the California beach in Maunabo, we are proud that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has recognized the importance of this beach for the species,” said Luis Crespo, president of Amigos de las Tortugas Marinas and Puerto Rico WIDECAST country coordinator. “We are deeply grateful to all the volunteers who have worked with us over the years — this achievement belongs to all of you. Special thanks to the Center for Biological Diversity, Mr. Carlos Diez from Puerto Rico’s Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, and Dr. Jessica Castro for their invaluable support.”

Mariela Muñoz, director of Vida Marina Center for Conservation and Ecological Restoration at the University of Puerto Rico, expressed excitement at the federal recognition of “the significance of our local nesting beaches for leatherback sea turtles.”

protection of the beaches involved.”

“For over 10 years Yo Amo el Tinglar has been collecting data across multiple nesting beaches, with Playa Grande consistently documented as the most used nesting site by leatherbacks, yet it remains the most vulnerable to habitat loss due to the sale of adjacent lands and habitat destruction,” Concepción noted. “For this reason, we deeply value the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to launch a biological status review and consider the revision of critical habitat. We also recognize the importance of providing supplementary information during this process and will gladly contribute any relevant data to support the agency’s efforts.”

Carlos E. Diez, the Sea Turtle Project coordinator at the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources and a member of the IUCN Sea Turtle Specialist Group said the federal action “encourages us to continue our management and conservation efforts to help recover this endangered species.”

Leatherback sea turtles are the largest turtles in the world and existed at the same time as dinosaurs. They are highly migratory, travelling thousands of miles a year, and they can dive to great depths — nearly 4,000 feet.

“This consideration for nesting critical habitat is crucial for the protection of these endangered turtles in Añasco and the other areas,” she said. “We are dedicated to enhancing our conservation efforts and collaborating with the community to ensure these vital habitats are preserved for future generations.”

Myrna Concepción, project leader from Comité Arecibeño por la Conservacion de las Tortugas Marinas, known as “Yo Amo el Tinglar,” expressed gratitude “for this advancement in the process” and said the organization “truly believe[s] it will play an important role in ensuring the safety and

The decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, known as a 90-day finding, is the first procedural step toward protecting leatherback nesting areas on Puerto Rico’s California Beach in Maunabo, Tres Hermanos Beach in Añasco and Grande Beach in Arecibo.

September 2, 2025 3

Lawmakers seek to create lieutenant governor post

By THE STAR STAFF

Popular Democratic Party Rep. José “Conny”

Varela Fernández and New Progressive Party (NPP) Rep. José “Pichy” Torres Zamora have introduced a measure that would create the position of lieutenant governor in Puerto Rico, to be elected by direct popular vote.

If the concurrent resolution is approved, the question of whether a lieutenant governor should be elected will be presented to voters in a referendum. The lieutenant governor must be a member of the same party as the governor. In the case of independent candidates for governor, the candidate would also need to name a running mate for the lieutenant governor position.

“After the crisis we faced in 2019, when Governor Ricardo Rosselló resigned and there

was no Senate-confirmed secretary of state, the need for a swift and smooth succession to the governorship became clear,” Varela said. “Our experience during the summer of 2019 showed us that when the secretary of justice, who had not been vetted by voters or elected to any position, became governor, we needed to ensure that anyone who occupies the governorship would be vetted by voters and committed to the platform of the party that elected them.”

Torres Zamora, the NPP majority leader in the House of Representatives, said he is “convinced that creating the position of an elected lieutenant governor alongside the governor is necessary to modernize the Constitution.”

“If the position of governor were to become vacant, the public would feel more assured knowing that the successor is someone who has

also gone through a rigorous election process,” he said. “Additionally, the possibility of separating the election of the resident commissioner into a single ballot could be considered.”

The proposed amendment would assign the elected lieutenant governor the leadership of the Department of State, along with all the powers and responsibilities associated with it, as well as any other duties or functions designated by the governor. Electing a lieutenant governor would align Puerto Rico with at least 42 U.S. states that elect their own lieutenant governors. If the concurrent resolution is approved, the amendment will be submitted to the public in a referendum to be held by Dec. 31, 2026, at the latest.

“By creating the position of lieutenant governor, we can also avoid the situation we

recently encountered, where there was a vacancy in gubernatorial succession, and the Senate refused to confirm the governor’s nominee for secretary of state,” noted Varela, a former vice speaker of the House. “The second nominee was not confirmed until the last day of the legislative session. We believe this amendment would benefit the country by preventing such controversies in the future.”

DNER renews permit for Carolina landfill despite opposition

By THE STAR STAFF

Carolina Mayor José Carlos Aponte Dalmau announced over the weekend that the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DNER) has agreed to renew the operating permit for the Carolina Landfill System.

The renewal ensures the continuation of a service that is vital for public health in the city, the mayor said.

Aponte Dalmau emphasized that the decision reflects the legitimacy and strength of the municipal defense for a system that has been fundamental in protecting the well-being of all families in Carolina.

“Today, we can say with pride and satisfaction that residents of Carolina can feel assured,” he said. “The approval of the operating permit for our Landfill System validates the efforts of our administration and the collective voice of a city that firmly defended this essential service

for public health, environmental safety, and the quality of life of all who call Carolina home. In Carolina, we will always stand at the forefront of just causes, proudly defending what has

The renewal of the operating permit for the Carolina Landfill System ensures the continuation of a service that is vital for public health in the city, Mayor José Carlos Aponte Dalmau said. (www.municiopiodecarolina.com)

benefited our people for years.”

During a public hearing on June 30 at the DNER, citizens, community leaders and representatives from the religious sector expressed their support for the sanitary landfill system.

The municipality, meanwhile, reaffirmed its commitment to the landfill system despite past attempts to halt its operation. The municipal administration remained resolute in defending Carolinians’ right to a system that responsibly manages solid waste and safeguards public health.

“This triumph belongs to all Carolinians,” Aponte Dalmau said. “Our people spoke with a clear and powerful voice, and today we celebrate a result that ensures peace of mind and continuity of services. The Carolina Landfill System is not just an infrastructure project; it symbolizes safety, cleanliness and well-being for our community.”

The renewal came despite allegations that

the Municipality of Carolina did not disclose the existence of environmentally sensitive areas during its permit renewal application to expand the city’s landfill.

The Caribbean Golf Academy, which is located adjacent to the landfill, alleges that the city misrepresented and omitted important information regarding the San José mogotes mountain range, an aquifer, a system of caves and caverns, and other valuable natural resources native to the karst zone during the permit renewal and landfill expansion process, which received approval from the DNER.

The Caribbean Golf Academy is part of Hacienda Campo Rico, and both entities are neighboring businesses that claim they are negatively impacted by the landfill’s planned expansion into the designated “Buffer Zone” -- an area that the municipality itself asked the Puerto Rico Planning Board to designate for resource conservation due to its high ecological value.

Women’s advocate, 9-1-1 systems partner to improve response to gender-based violence

By THE STAR STAFF

Women’s Advocate

Astrid Piñeiro

Vázquez and José Reyes, the executive director of the 9-1-1 Emergency Systems Bureau, signed an interagency agreement on Monday that seeks

to transform the care provided to victims of gender-based violence in Puerto Rico.

The agreement includes the integration of technological equipment to strengthen the Women’s Advocate Office’s 24/7 hotline of and improve interoperability between the two agencies. The measure will optimize

resources, streamline emergency dispatch and facilitate geolocation in incidents of violence.

“The integration of our systems is crucial to ensuring an effective response to emergency situations,” Piñeiro Vázquez said in a written statement. “This agreement not

only optimizes resources but also ensures that victims receive the assistance they need in a timely manner.”

The initiative seeks to establish a replicable model for emergency response, with the aim of saving lives and ensuring effective support in critical moments.

In the hills of western Puerto Rico, feasting on a very smelly fruit

By THOMAS FULLER

“Idon’t like to use the word ‘smell,’” said Juan Miranda Colón, a self-described fanatic of the world’s most odoriferous fruit. “I prefer to say it has an aroma.”

Miranda, a farmer in Puerto Rico, was minutes away from feasting on the fruit, durian, and as its stink wafted through the humid, sticky air of the rainforest around him, he said his tongue tasted sweet with anticipation.

“I consider it the No. 1 fruit on the planet,” he said resolutely as he watched others messily shove gobs of custardy durian flesh into their mouths. “I start eating, eating, eating. I can’t control myself. I wish I had a second stomach.”

It was early August, and Miranda was taking part in an annual ritual at Panoramic Fruit, a farm 30 dizzying minutes up a potholed, zigzagging road from the western Puerto Rican city of Mayagüez. A multinational collection of durian fanatics had gathered for the harvest.

An electrician had trekked from Tennessee to get his fix. A doctor had flown in from central California. There was a couple from Florida and a family from Texas. Desperate wouldbe buyers from the other side of the island had also come, unannounced and imploring the farm manager for durian.

“I call them the rare-fruit nuts,” said Ian Crown, the owner of the 94-acre farm, who lives most of the year in Massachusetts but treasures his trip to Puerto Rico for the summer harvest of tropical fruits obscure to most Americans: rambutan, mangosteen, pulasan, cupuaçu and many others.

But it’s durian, unlike perhaps any other fruit, that grips its enthusiasts with obsession.

Much is made of durian’s odor, which Anthony Bourdain, the food adventurer, compared to that of a dead body left out in the sun, but the fruit’s appearance is also particular and somewhat otherworldly. Covered in very sharp and dangerous spines, the fruit looks like a giant puffer fish tethered to a tall tree.

Calling it rare is of course relative. Durians are plentiful in their native Southeast Asia, and in recent years the fruit has exploded in popularity in China, which last year imported $7 billion worth.

But in North America, fresh durian is hard to come by, not least because the odor makes it difficult to transport. H Mart, a chain specializing in Asian foods, recently posted a sign on a bin of durian at one of its stores in New York. “DO NOT WORRY IT IS NOT A GAS LEAK,” the sign said.

Yen Vu and Gleb Chuvpilo, a couple who drove to the farm from their home in San Juan, bought eight medium-size durian at $5 per pound. It was enough to feed a large, hungry family for a week, but the couple said they would probably polish them off in a weekend. Their love for the fruit has taken them on much longer journeys: Twice they have traveled to Borneo just to gorge on it.

Vu said durian was an early litmus test in their relationship. After meeting at a salsa lesson in New York, she queried Chuvpilo, an entrepreneur and venture capitalist born in Ukraine, on whether he had tried the fruit. He liked it. But what if he had hated it?

“It definitely would have put a strain on the relationship,” said Vu, who is originally from Vietnam and has enjoyed durian since she was a child.

Many of those who gathered for the durian feast in Puerto Rico have family roots in East Asia. Durian, for them, evokes childhood memories.

Teresa Chang, a family doctor who lives in Santa Ynez, California, remembers excitement growing up in western New York when someone came into the house with a haul of durian. “Oh, my God! Get the cleaver!” someone would yell before attacking the thick olive-green husks that surround the flesh. “They would eat it and then dance through the living room,” Chang said.

For the uninitiated, the taste of durian is difficult to describe, partly because even when they’re from the same tree, durians can have such a variety of flavors.

Chang bit into the ocher-yellow flesh of one durian and paused to consider what she was tasting. A hint of graham crackers, she concluded. Someone else mentioned burned sugar. Durian can be bitter or bubble-gum sweet. With the texture, and sometimes the taste, of creme brulee, they re-

semble dairy products that happen to grow on a tree, said Crown, the farm owner.

He cut a small sample of one durian with the tip of his knife and dabbed the flesh into his mouth. “It’s like a kick in the head with a creamy, delicious, sweet taste on the back end,” he said.

Crown, a former commodities trader with a degree in agriculture and a curiosity about Southeast Asian fruits, bought the farm in 1994 after spending years scouting for a place that had the right climate and soil. It had over the decades been a cattle ranch, a coffee and citrus farm, and a sugar cane plantation.

The first trees Crown planted were rambutan, a hairy, walnut-size fruit similar to lychees. Then he put in mangosteen trees, which produce sweet, bright white fruit encased in purple orbs.

But his rare-fruit friends insisted that he was missing a key crop.

“Everybody said, ‘You have to have durian!’” Crown recalled. So before even tasting it, he planted the trees. Fortunately, he doesn’t mind the strong smell. “I have some cheese experiments in my fridge that would frighten the board of health,” he said.

The manager of the farm, Roberto Luciano, had never seen a durian either. And when the trees finally bore fruit, he was revolted.

“I have a very weak stomach,” he said.

Many of the durian fans who flew to the island from the mainland came with Gerry Grunsfeld, a lawyer who lives in New York and who runs a Facebook group called “fruit 4 sale,” which hosts buyers and sellers of fruit in the United States.

At the farm, Grunsfeld tasted rambutan, mangosteen and other fruits. But he drew the line at durian, recalling a previous attempt when he had tried a tiny morsel and said it tasted like “spoiled onions.”

“I was burping onion for an hour or two,” he said.

“It’s a fruit I really want to like,” Grunsfeld said. “People get such incredible pleasure from it. And if there is pleasure to be had, I want to have it.”

By the end of a morning of fruit tasting, as he watched his friends devour gobs of durian, he was goaded into trying it again. He sniffed at a sliver of oozing durian flesh pinched in his fingers and after much hesitation took a nibble.

Then he spat it out.

“Onions,” he said, a flavor that none of the other durian tasters had evoked. “I like onions — but not in a fruit.”

Judge halts US effort to deport Guatemalan children as planes sit on tarmac

By MIRIAM JORDAN and AISHVARYA KAVI

With children already loaded onto planes, a federal judge Sunday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting dozens of Guatemalan minors and demanded assurances that they would remain in shelters until a more permanent ruling.

The order brought to a close, for now, another last-minute flurry of court action in the administration’s mass deportation drive. Lawyers for the children said that they would face peril if they were sent to Guatemala and that doing so would deny them due process. They also argued that the government had ignored special protections for minors who cross the border alone.

In the early hours Sunday, Judge Sparkle Sooknanan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a temporary restraining order forbidding the administration from deporting the children after the National Immigration Law Center filed an emergency request.

Sooknanan’s order was intended to be in place until an emergency hearing could be held in the afternoon. But there was initial confusion among lawyers whether the order applied to a limited number of children.

Dozens of children were then removed by immigration authorities from shelters overnight and boarded onto chartered planes. After lawyers for the children notified the judge, the emergency hearing was moved up to midday, and with planes awaiting takeoff in Texas, the judge clarified her order to apply to all Guatemalan children in the custody of the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement for the next 14 days while the case is pending. She directed the government to take the children off the planes, and in a court document on Sunday evening, the government confirmed that was done.

About 2,000 children, a majority of them from Guatemala, are currently being held in dozens of shelters.

“I don’t want there to be any ambiguity about what I am ordering,” said the judge. “You cannot remove any children” while the case proceeds.

In the hearing, the judge expressed frustration with the government and her inability to reach its representatives in the early hours of Sunday, before issuing her initial order.

“I have the government attempting to remove minor children from the country in the wee hours of the morning on a holiday weekend, which is surprising,” she said.

The government’s lawyer, Drew Ensign, said that the repatriations had been requested by the Guatemalan government and that the children were to be reunited with parents and guardians in their home country.

“The United States government is trying to facilitate the return of these children to their parents or guardians,

from whom they have been separated,” Ensign said.

But Efrén Olivares, the lawyer representing the children, disputed that argument. At least some of the children “have not requested to return,” he said. “They don’t want to return.”

He added that the law prevents children from being removed expeditiously from the United States until a judge has assessed the safety of their return. Many of the children have cases that are still pending, he said.

Carlos Ramíro Martínez, Guatemala’s minister of foreign affairs, said Friday that his country had been coordinating with the United States and expected to receive more than 600 minors. In an interview Friday, he told The New York Times that he hoped that the repatriations would happen in a gradual, organized manner. He added that the initiative began when Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, visited Guatemala in July.

Sooknanan’s order at least temporarily hamstrings the federal government’s attempts to return to Guatemala hundreds of unaccompanied minors who have been in U.S. custody after crossing the southern border.

The judge, who was nominated to the bench by President Joe Biden, granted a request by the government lawyer to file a response opposing the order Friday.

On the social platform X, Stephen Miller, a White House official and architect of Trump’s immigration crackdown, blamed the Biden administration for children being in the United States without their parents, saying they were “orphaned in America” by that administration. He added that “a Democrat judge is refusing to let them reunify with their parents.”

Though the judge’s order is temporary, it is the second

recent setback for President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. On Friday, another judge blocked the administration from carrying out rapid deportations far from the border, a cornerstone of the White House’s immigration policy.

The lawsuit over the Guatemalan children was filed in the early hours of Sunday after staff members at shelters that were holding the children were notified by email Saturday that they should prepare some of them to be sent back to Guatemala. Lawyers representing some of the children received a similar email.

In its lawsuit, the National Immigration Law Center said that the children’s repatriation would violate federal law and the Constitution. It called the government’s actions “unlawful and reckless.”

Ten children, between the ages of 10 and 16, are identified by their initials in the lawsuit. They have told judges that they are afraid to return to Guatemala, the lawsuit says.

The number of unaccompanied minors entering the United States has plummeted since Trump began his second term.

Migrant children have posed a particular challenge to the Trump administration’s immigration agenda because they are entitled to special protections.

Hundreds of thousands of children, mainly from Central America, have crossed the southern border into the United States in the past decade, often seeking to join friends or relatives. Many of the minors have won the right to remain in the United States permanently by proving that they were abandoned or persecuted in their home countries.

When unaccompanied children entering the United States are taken into custody, they typically remain in shelters until they are released to sponsors or guardians who have been vetted. The children the Trump administration was seeking to deport have been awaiting release from the shelters.

“We are very concerned that our clients could be returned to unsafe situations,” said Alexa Sendukas, a managing attorney with the Galveston-Houston Immigrant Representation Project.

Firefighter detained while working a fire in Washington State entered US at age 4

By GLENN THRUSH

Afirefighter arrested by the Border Patrol last week while he was working at a wildfire in Washington state has lived in the United States since he was 4 and has a visa application pending, his lawyers said.

The names of the firefighter, who is 23, and a colleague who was detained at the same time have not been released. Both were charged with illegally entering the country, the Border Patrol said.

The case has attracted attention because of the circumstances of the arrests, with Border Patrol agents traveling into a fire zone to check the identities of crews fighting the 9,000-acre Bear Gulch Fire in the Olympic National Forest. The fire was 13% contained as of Sunday afternoon.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that the people who were detained were not assigned to actively fight the fire but were in a support role cutting logs into firewood.

Jordan Cunnings, legal director at the Innovation Law Lab, which represents the 23-year-old, said he entered the United States 19 years ago, has worked as a firefighter for the past three years and lives in an Oregon suburb with his family. The firefighter had been the victim of a federal crime and

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had cooperated with law enforcement’s investigation of the crime, Cunnings said, which qualified him to apply for a special type of visa for victims of criminal activity. He applied in 2018 and has been waiting for a decision from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services since then.

“Oregon is the only home he’s ever known,” Cunnings said.

She added, “This is just one of the more egregious and recent examples where the federal government is just targeting the most brave members of our community, who are literally risking their lives to protect all of us,” she said.

Both firefighters are being held at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Tacoma, Washington, according to a statement from Rep. Emily Randall, a Democrat whose district includes the detention facility and the fire area.

Before President Donald Trump resumed office in January, the federal government had a policy not to conduct immigration enforcement at emergency response locations including wildfires. And federal immigration agents have sometimes assisted firefighters with evacuation efforts prompted by wildfires.

“Fire is a really serious issue in the Pacific Northwest, and we’re just hoping that we can vindicate his rights and get him back on the front line soon,” Cunnings said of her organization’s client.

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The two detained firefighters worked for private firefighting contractors, the Border Patrol said in a statement Thursday. It said the Bureau of Land Management, which hired the contractors, had asked the Border Patrol to check the crews’ identities and status.

After the two firefighters were detained, the other 42 workers at the site were escorted out of the fire area. Border Patrol said contracts with the contractors have been canceled.

The Innovation Law Lab has called for its client’s immediate release and has claimed in a letter to Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., that he had been wrongfully arrested and charged.

The Border Patrol said Thursday that the arrests “did not interfere with firefighting operations or the response to any active fires in the area” or “pose any danger to the surrounding community.”

But some officials disagreed. Gov. Bob Ferguson of Washington, a Democrat, said he was “deeply concerned” that the Trump administration was targeting firefighters. Fifty Democratic members of Congress wrote to federal officials Friday expressing concern and seeking information about the arrests.

Randall said in a statement that she tried to visit the two firefighters at the detention facility Saturday under her authority as a member of Congress but was turned away. The San

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Israel’s Gaza media ban is indefensible NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD

All wars are dangerous to cover, but the Gaza Strip holds a place of its own among modern conflicts for the peril faced by journalists. Some 200 journalists have been among the estimated 63,000 people killed since the war in Gaza began — an overwhelming majority killed by the Israeli military. Those deaths have helped make the past two years the deadliest period for journalists since the Committee to Protect Journalists, a nonprofit organization, started keeping records in 1992.

The deaths are one more layer of the agonizing human tragedy in Gaza. Families and neighborhoods have been destroyed, and many brave journalists have lost their lives while attempting to help the world understand the war. Nearly all of these journalists have been Palestinian because Israel has barred outside members of the media from entering Gaza. That ban on outside media is both outrageous and selfdefeating. Israel’s leaders and defenders often argue that they are held to a different standard during wartime from other nations, and they are sometimes correct about that. But the refusal to allow international journalists to cover the war on the ground is an example of the Israeli government failing to follow a standard that many other governments, especially democracies, follow. The United States allowed reporters to cover the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Ukraine allows

Dr. Ricardo Angulo

María de L. Márquez

R. Mariani

Lisette Martínez

journalists in to cover its war with Russia.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government seem to believe that keeping foreign journalists out of Gaza advances their narrative. In Israel it may help serve that purpose by giving some Israelis an excuse to dismiss coverage of the suffering in Gaza as Palestinian propaganda. Globally, though, the policy has spectacularly failed: Thanks to social media and the work of those brave Palestinian journalists, people can see the mass killing, severe hunger and wholesale destruction in Gaza, and it has prompted an outcry. Keeping out the international media indicates that Israel’s leaders are trying to conceal the war’s full horror. It evokes the failed attempts by American leaders to bury the truth during the Vietnam War.

The ban also seems to be contributing to the Israeli government’s callousness toward the journalists who are covering the war. Often, war-fighting governments take steps to reduce the risks to journalists covering the conflict. Yes, onthe-ground reporting remains dangerous, but military planners nonetheless take account of where journalists are operating and how they might be protected. Israel has failed in this regard. It seems likely that Israel would have tried harder if the journalists in question included more Americans and other nationalities. (The New York Times was among more than 100 news organizations to sign a letter in February 2024 calling on Israel to live up to international law and protect Palestinian journalists who continue to report, “despite grave personal risk.”)

An attack last week offered a terrible and telling example. Israel has sometimes used so-called double-tap strikes in Gaza, in which an initial strike is followed by another, with the purpose of maximizing damage to the enemy. Yet journalists and emergency medical personnel are often first to the scene. On Monday the Israeli military shelled Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, later saying that it had targeted what it thought was a Hamas surveillance camera. Moments after the first attack, a second occurred. In all, at least 20 Palestinians were killed, including five journalists from The Associated Press, Reuters, Al Jazeera and Middle East Eye. Most of the casualties came from the second strike.

Netanyahu called it a “tragic mishap,” said that Israel values journalists and promised a military investigation. But Israel’s use of the double-tap tactic in urban warfare is a sign of its disregard for civilian life and for the people trying to ascertain the truth of the war.

To be clear: Hamas is hardly a model of open information. It has long behaved as a brutal totalitarian government in Gaza that threatens, punishes and sometimes kills people who attempt to speak the truth. Ibrahim Muhareb, a journalist who was beaten unconscious by men who said they were from Gaza’s police investigations department, told the Committee to Protect Journalists that one of them said, “The spy and the journalist are one and the same.” The Gaza of the future

deserves a free press wholly different from what Hamas and Israel have permitted.

Israel has responded to criticism of the deaths of Gaza’s journalists by arguing that some of them are Hamas agents. At the very least, some media outlets are affiliated with Hamas or other extremist groups, such as Islamic Jihad. But it is unacceptable for Israel to smear the many courageous journalists doing vital work under almost impossible circumstances — including some for the Times — by suggesting that they are combatants. Israel has offered little, if any, evidence for its claims, while cynically keeping out international journalists.

In August, 28 countries, including Britain, France and Germany, called on Israel to give immediate media access to Gaza, saying that journalists “play an essential role in putting the spotlight on the devastating reality of war.” In refusing the independent media’s demands for access, Israel has focused on concern for their safety. That notion is largely an excuse. The world’s journalists stand ready to cover the war. More than 70 international media and civil society organizations, including the Times, declared in another letter that they “fully understand the inherent risks in reporting from war zones.”

Israel’s government has often complained that the world has relied for information on the Gaza Health Ministry and other agencies controlled by Hamas. But what do Netanyahu and his officials expect to happen when they are banning outside witnesses from Gaza? If the Israeli government wants to let the world judge for itself, it should let in the media.

Palestinian families flee their homes in the Jabalia al-Balad and Abu Iskandar areas north of Gaza City, after the Israeli army announced its intention to expand the scope of the military operation and focus on Gaza City, on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025. The “ban on outside media from entering Gaza is both outrageous and self defeating,” The New York Times editorial board contends. (Saher Alghorra/The New York Times)

Tuesday, September 2, 2025 8

The San Juan Daily Star

Departamento de Estado abre convocatoria para el Programa de Internado Baltasar Corrada del Río

POR EL STAR STAFF

SAN JUAN – La secretaria de Estado, Rosachely Rivera Santana, anunció el lunes la apertura de la convocatoria para el Programa de Internado Baltasar Corrada del Río, que se llevará a cabo entre septiembre y diciembre de este año.

“Queremos que los jóvenes vivan una experiencia laboral real que los inspire, que les provea herramientas prácticas y que los conecte con el valor del servicio público. Estos espacios complementan su formación académica y también fortalecen su compromiso con Puerto Rico”, explicó Rivera Santana, al señalar que este programa representa una experiencia única para los universitarios que buscan insertarse en el servicio público. Destacó, además, que el internado es un puente entre la universidad y la práctica gu-

bernamental.

“Los participantes trabajarán en proyectos sustantivos del Departamento de Estado, acompañarán a nuestros equipos en reuniones y actividades, además recibirán mentoría directa. Es una experiencia formativa que puede marcar el rumbo de su carrera profesional”, sostuvo.

Las plazas son limitadas y los candidatos serán evaluados mediante entrevista formal con el Comité de Internados. Los requisitos de participación son los siguientes:

* Tener entre 18 y 29 años (menores de 21 deberán presentar autorización de padres o tutores)

* Ser estudiante activo de una institución de educación superior

* Promedio mínimo de 3.00

* Completar el formulario de solicitud con firma del profesor enlace

* No ser empleado de agencia o corporación pública

* Presentar certificado de nacimiento y certificado negativo de antecedentes penales

* Poseer dominio básico del inglés (oral y escrito)

* Incluir una carta de recomendación académica

* Entregar un ensayo (3 a 5 páginas) contestando: ¿Por qué interesa hacer un internado en el Departamento de Estado?

* Someter resumé y transcripción de créditos (puede ser copia estudiantil)

* Radicar todos los documentos al correo: internados@estado.pr.gov.

La fecha límite para solicitudes es el 9 de septiembre de 2025. Las solicitudes incompletas o fuera de término no serán evaluadas, apuntó la funcionaria.

Los documentos deben dirigirse a Nicole M. Ross Torres y/o Ivette D. Montañez a la siguiente dirección: Departamento de Estado P.O. Box 9023271 San Juan, Puerto Rico 00902-327. Para más información, los interesados pueden comunicarse al (787) 7222121, extensiones 3102 y 3108, o escribir a internados@estado.pr.gov.

Escuela de Derecho de la UPR premiada con fondos para restaurar el tapiz

POR CYBERNEWS

SAN JUAN – La Escuela de Derecho del Recinto de Río Piedras de la Universidad de Puerto Rico (UPRRP) recibió una subvención de $10,000 del Premio Abbey Mural 2025 de la Academia Nacional de Diseño, destinada a la restauración del icónico tapiz “Madrugada”, obra de Guillermo Rodríguez Benítez con el poema homónimo de Luis Lloréns Torres. La pieza, que forma parte del atrio de la biblioteca de la Escuela de Derecho, sufrió daños tras el huracán María en 2017 debido a humedad, hongos y falta de control climático, lo que provocó pérdida de color, deformaciones y debilitamiento de fibras. El conserva-

dor de arte Luis F. Larrazábal Mejías será el encargado del proceso de restauración.

“En nuestro recinto y en nuestra Escuela de Derecho apreciamos profundamente el honor que se nos confiere con este premio destinado a salvar una de las emblemáticas obras de arte que este centenario campus alberga. Nuestro acervo plástico es parte sustancial del patrimonio del que somos salvaguardas y este premio nos permitirá devolverle al tapiz ‘Madrugada’ su belleza y valor estético”, expresó en declaraciones escritas la rectora de la UPRRP, Angélica Varela Llavona, quien felicitó a la decana de la Escuela de Derecho, Vivian I. Neptune Rivera, y a su equipo de colaboradores.

“Madrugada”

Por su parte, la decana Neptune Rivera destacó que para la Escuela de Derecho el tapiz “es parte de la historia de nuestra centenaria biblioteca y símbolo de nuestra institución”. Añadió que la obra refleja “la fusión de la poesía, el derecho y la belleza al capturar las letras del poema de Lloréns Torres en una estampa emblemática de nuestro país”.

El Premio Abbey Mural es un reconocimiento anual que respalda la creación o restauración de murales públicos en Estados Unidos y sus territorios. Para la edición de 2025, el jurado seleccionó proyectos en bibliotecas, museos y espacios públicos afectados por vandalismo y desastres naturales, así como nuevas propuestas de arte comunitario.

September 2, 2025 9

After Katrina’s deadly waters, therapists brought watercolors

By MICHAELA TOWFIGHI

With Popsicle sticks and pipe cleaners, 10-year-old Justin Nicholson made grave markers for an extensive cardboard city that included a mayor’s office and a church.

Vivian Nicholson, his 14-year-old sister, drew swirls and painted rivers in shades of blue. It was all she could think about. Vivian and Justin had fled New Orleans with most of their family as Hurricane Katrina approached, but their mother had stayed behind and was now missing in a flooded city.

“My whole life was affected by water,” Vivian said 20 years later. “It was surreal.”

After Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29, 2005, killing nearly 1,400 people and devastating the birthplace of jazz, art therapists from across the country descended on Louisiana. Bearing crayons, paint and sheets of white paper, they hoped that children would begin to draw what was too difficult to say aloud.

“They couldn’t talk about it because it would retraumatize them,” said Karla Leopold, an art therapist who had traveled from California. “The fact that they can put something on paper and choose to tell you or not is safe.”

Their drawings of houses had recognizable doors and windows, but one of the most striking differences Leopold noticed was that the walls had been rendered as large triangles, not the square bases with pointed tops you would typically see in a kindergarten classroom.

The children who lived through Katrina were simply drawing roofs. The rest of the house was flooded in their minds.

Soon after, their depictions became long rectangles on wheels. The concept of a home had morphed into the trailers in Renaissance Village, the largest temporary trailer park that the Federal Emergency Management Agency built in Louisiana after the storm. For almost three years, nearly 600 mobile homes filled with evacuees lined a gravel pasture.

Shaniah Twohearts was 9 when her family spent hours in traffic escaping New Orleans, first landing in a shelter before settling into a trailer in Renaissance Village, north of Baton Rouge. She slept in a bunk bed with one brother while her parents shared a bed with another. In art therapy, she constructed her model home out of a cardboard box, with cutout pink hearts on the wall.

Twenty years later, Twohearts cannot remember whether a different art project, an all-red painting, was a nod to the pet her family left behind in New Orleans or a new one it got in Renaissance Village. But given the chance, she painted a girl with a long ponytail who stood under the sun next to her dog.

Sister Judith Brun, a nun from the Baton Rouge area, helped coordinate relief programs for families after Katrina. Charitable organizations descended on the trailer park to

support those who had lost everything aside from what they carried away in garbage bags.

But children were often forgotten, Brun said: “These families went through trauma after trauma, and the children tell the story.”

Brun remembers one drawing with a house and a blue line that marked the rising water. Stick figures were holding blue rectangles out a window. There was a snake in the water. A helicopter hovered above.

It was a depiction of how a 15-year-old boy had escaped his New Orleans house during Katrina. His father had guided the family onto the roof and instructed his siblings to wave T-shirts to get the attention of rescue services.

A handful of pieces from the therapy program later went on display at the New Orleans Museum of Art. Brun and Leopold rented buses so the children could see their framed work hanging in a professional museum.

“That was beautiful,” Vivian Nicholson recalled. “I guess sometimes you never realize that you have such talent in you until something life altering happens.”

Nicholson, now 34, still chokes up when she thinks about New Orleans. She lived in Tremé, in a sixth-floor apartment. When she started her first day as a freshman at Sarah T. Reed High School, she was hoping to join the band.

There was no second day.

Instead, her family packed up a van and started driving west toward Baton Rouge, sitting in traffic for 20 hours. When they arrived at a family friend’s house and turned on the television, New Orleans was under water. Much of the city is below sea level, and some of the

parish’s levees had broken.

Nicholson’s mother had chosen not to evacuate with the family, so while Nicholson was staying in Renaissance Village, she regularly checked the Red Cross logs of missing people, hoping to find her mother.

It took three months to learn her mother was alive. She had been airlifted off the roof of her house and temporarily slept inside New Orleans’ convention center before evacuating to Texas.

That harrowing experience has kept Nicholson from returning to her hometown. For the past few years, she has lived an hour’s drive away, in Gonzales, Louisiana.

“What if that happens again and it’s worse?” she said. “I have kids now, so it is just scary.”

The power of expressing yourself through art still rings true for Twohearts, now 29. During the coronavirus pandemic, when she was out of work and stuck at home, she turned to making digital images online. The surrealist pictures of skeletons and eyeballs rest on galactic backgrounds.

“I was called right back to art,” she said. After Katrina, Twohearts and her family returned to New Orleans just in time for her to start high school. She has stayed close by ever since, now living just across Lake Pontchartrain in Slidell with her 6-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter. Her memory of the hurricane is spotty. But she recalls that the art therapy program was something to look forward to and that it provided a new avenue of self-expression.

“We loved it,” Twohearts said. “And we just released as much as we could through it.”

The experience has also stuck with Leopold, the art therapist. After fires ravaged Los Angeles neighborhoods this year, she contacted her local Red Cross branch to help people who were displaced.

Shelters across the area were assembling recovery boxes. With her assistance, many of them included a simple set of art supplies so children could draw as they were resettled.

“Give them a piece of paper and a pencil; they’ll do what they need to do,” she said.

Stocks

Europe stocks steady, bonds struggle ahead of crucial US data this week

Aholiday on Wall Street left shares around the world free to go their own ways on Monday, with Chinese tech names surging and Europe steady, while European long-dated bonds remained under heavy pressure.

Europe’s broad STOXX 600 was last up 0.1% as initial positivity on improved manufacturing data petered out. There was more excitement in Asia, where Chinese tech giant Alibaba’s Hong Kong shares rose 18.5% after it said AI drove a surge in revenue to its cloud business. [.EU] [.SS]

U.S. share futures were up marginally.

The U.S. is likely to be the main focus of the rest of the week, with a raft of data there including surveys of manufacturing and services, and labour numbers culminating in the August payrolls report on Friday.

Median forecasts are for employment to have climbed by 75,000 jobs, though estimates range widely from zero to a 110,000 gain amid uncertainty caused by July’s surprisingly weak report. The jobless rate is seen ticking up to 4.3%.

“The jobs market is the number one factor for the Federal Reserve’s policy path. There’s lots of talk from the Fed and from market commentators that labour markets are cooling, leading to a rate cut in September, but it’s not a clear-cut situation,” Samy Chaar, chief economist at Lombard Odier, said.

“So it’s a ‘make or break’ week.”

The prospect of lower borrowing costs has kept Wall Street near record highs, and would be timely given September has been the worst performing month of the year for the S&P 500 over the past 35 years.

U.S. tariff policy also remained a concern after a Court of Appeals ruled that many of President Donald Trump’s sweeping import levies were illegal, but left them in place until midOctober awaiting an appeal to the Supreme Court.

The White House has other means to apply sectoral levies, but it puts a question mark over trade agreements already reached or being negotiated. Talks with Japan have hit a stumbling block over rice, while negotiations with South Korea have become bogged down.

Investors will also be wary of Trump’s attacks on the independence of the Fed, with Fed Governor Lisa Cook set to file fresh arguments against her firing on Tuesday.

BOND SELLOFF

The other focus for European investors was France, where Prime Minister Francois Bayrou will kick off a series of talks with France’s political parties, seeking to stave off the collapse of his government in a confidence vote next week that opposition leaders said is bound to fail.

Markets have stabilised after selling off on the announcement of the confidence vote, but further developments could drive renewed focus on France’s embattled finances.

The gap between French and German 10-year yields widened sharply last week, but was last steadier at 79 basis points.

“We see more than even odds that the government fails the

no confidence vote. It is likely to lead to a period of political uncertainty and a possibility of early elections. We retain our negative view on France and see France spreads moving towards 90bp level,” Mohit Kumar, chief European economist at Jefferies, said.

Worries about the fiscal situation in many countries around the world have been sending long-dated bond yields higher.

German 30-year yields hit a fresh 14-year high of 3.38% on Monday and benchmark 10-year yields rose 3 bps to 2.76%.

[GVD/EUR]

With Treasury markets closed for the holiday, the higher Eu-

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ropean yields drove the euro higher. The euro was last up 0.25% at $1.1711. [FRX/]

In commodity markets, gold benefited from the dollar’s decline and the outlook for lower rates to rise 2.2% last week. The metal added as much as 1.1% to a four-month top of $3,489.5 an ounce. [GOL/]

Oil prices edged up on Monday as worries about rising output and the impact on demand from U.S. tariffs offset supply disruptions stemming from intensified Russia-Ukraine airstrikes and pressure from a weaker dollar.[O/R] Brent was up 1% at $68.2 a barrel. The

Earthquake in Afghanistan leaves more than 800 dead

By ELIAN PELTIER, SAFIULLAH PADSHAH and ZIA UR-REHMAN

Rescue workers on Monday scrambled to reach mountainous areas in eastern Afghanistan hit by a 6.0-magnitude earthquake that killed more than 800 people overnight, Afghan officials said, warning that the death toll would probably rise.

Recovery efforts were complicated by landslides that stranded devastated villages already barely accessible by road. And so far, only a handful of countries have offered relief assistance to the Taliban government.

Most of the destruction from the earthquake, which struck just before midnight Sunday, took place in the province of Kunar, where dozens of villages of mud and brick houses were hit.

“The area is very steep and narrow and most of it is inaccessible because of landslides and rains that fell over the past few days,” said Kate Carey, a Kabul-based officer with the United Nations’ Office for humanitarian affairs.

The quake hit Afghanistan as the South Asian nation has been battling a series of overlapping humanitarian, economic and geopolitical crises.

Hundreds of hospitals and health care centers have shut down since the Trump administration suspended U.S. foreign aid this year. More than 2.3 million Afghan nationals have returned to Afghanistan this year, in some cases by force, after being expelled from Pakistan or Iran amid a wave of xenophobia and political pressure in those countries.

And four years into power, the Taliban have struggled to shed Afghanistan of its pariah status and attract foreign investments despite timid engagement with Russia and China in recent months.

As of Monday afternoon, Iran, India, Japan and the European Union had committed support to the victims of the earthquake, the spokesperson for the Talibanrun Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hafiz Zia Ahmad Takal, told The New York Times. It stood in sharp contrast with the assistance offered in 2023 after a devastating earthquake killed more than 1,300 people in western Afghanistan.

“We were already unable to meet

Most of the destruction from the earthquake in eastern Afghanistan, which struck just before midnight Sunday, took place in the province of Kunar, where dozens of villages of mud and brick houses were hit. (YouTube via KHOU 11)

existing needs, and I’m not even talking about the new needs created by this earthquake,” said Sherine Ibrahim, the country director for Afghanistan for the International Rescue Committee, a nonprofit. “We’re making a plea to all donors to set aside politics to relieve populations.”

The United States and other foreign donors have grown reluctant to provide humanitarian or development aid to Afghanistan in recent years. The Taliban have remained unflinching on draconian restrictions they have imposed on women and girls, and widespread allegations have spread that the group diverts humanitarian aid to their fighters and some communities at the expense of others.

Last month, a report by the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction found that the Taliban denied nonprofits the right to operate unless they hired Taliban-affiliated businesses or individuals, and redirected aid to Pashtun communities — the group’s dominant ethnicity.

“The Taliban use every means at their disposal, including force, to ensure that aid goes where they want it to go, as opposed to where donors intend,” said Gene

Aloise, the acting special inspector general, said in the report.

The quake in eastern Afghanistan was a shallow one, just 5 miles from the earth’s surface. This made it more likely to be destructive, because shallower waves retain more of their power when hitting the surface. Less than 100 miles away, residents of Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, felt the aftershocks across the city, but no major damage was reported.

Road access was difficult for rescue workers in the area’s steep terrain, where landslides had struck. Homa Nader, the acting head of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in Afghanistan, said it took Red Cross teams four hours overnight to reach the most affected area, in Nur Gal district, from Jalalabad, the closest large city just 35 miles away.

By Monday afternoon, the road linking Jalalabad, one of Afghanistan’s largest cities, to Kunar province had reopened, and a steady stream of ambulances were rushing to the affected areas while on the other side, dozens were ferrying victims back to the city.

Hospitals were operational in both

Kunar and Nangarhar with no significant damage, Nader said, while health centers in three districts of Kunar reported minor structural damages. But one village, Maza Dara, was completely blocked and victims could only be carried out by helicopter, she said in a text message.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s chief spokesperson, said at a news conference in Kabul on Monday that 800 people had been killed and 2,500 injured in Kunar province alone. In Nangarhar province, he said, at least 12 people were killed and 255 were injured.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres expressed his condolences to the victims’ families, adding, “The U.N. team in Afghanistan is mobilized and will spare no effort to assist those in need in the affected areas.”

But U.N. agencies and humanitarian organizations in Afghanistan have had to deeply cut their assistance efforts since the Trump administration, which provided 45% of the aid supplied to Afghanistan, suspended or eliminated nearly all of its contributions. Several European countries, including Britain, France and Sweden, followed.

Less than 30% of humanitarian needs for Afghanistan have been covered for 2025, according to the U.N. office for humanitarian affairs. That was before Sunday’s earthquake.

“Domestic governance structure and international aid are very critical in a moment like the aftermath of this earthquake, and both are at a low point in Afghanistan at the moment,” said Daniel Aldrich, the director of the Resilience Studies Program at Northeastern University.

More than half of the country’s 42 million people are in need of aid, according to U.N. officials, and humanitarian organizations were bracing for a painful winter amid dwindling funds and the return of more than 2 million Afghans forcibly returned from neighboring Pakistan and Iran.

More are scheduled to arrive in the coming days: The earthquake hit while many Afghans living in Pakistan were on their way to Afghanistan, before a Monday deadline set by the Pakistani government for them to leave or face arrest and deportation.

Deadly floods in Punjab devastate Pakistan’s breadbasket

By ELIAN PELTIER and ZIA UR-REHMAN

Madeeha Bawar Ali sobbed quietly on the rooftop of her neighbor, as men gathered around to look out over the devastation brought by floods that their city in Pakistan had not seen in nearly 40 years.

“We built our house with our own hands, and now it’s gone,” said Ali, 25, as her husband and two boys, ages 2 and 6, ate a meager lunch of lentils in silence one morning last week. A fan, a television screen and a few other hastily gathered belongings sat nearby in metal boxes — a life’s worth of savings now cluttered on a roof battered by the heavy rains that triggered deadly flooding and submerged large parts of Punjab province.

The Punjab floods are the latest in a string of extreme weather events this year that have wrought devastation across Pakistan, a country of 250 million people. Overflowing rivers turned villages into islands; urban flooding forced residents to trudge the streets of Karachi through waist-high water; and glacial outbursts swallowed entire communities in the country’s mountainous north.

“There have been so many extreme weather events at once — the urban floods, the cloudbursts, the glacial outbursts and now these floods in Punjab,” said Umair Afzal, a deputy manager for hydrology at Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Agency. “It’s overwhelming.”

Pakistan has endured heavier rain during monsoon seasons, which scientists have attributed to climate change. But the floods this summer have hit many parts of the country, from the mountains to the plains, and more than 850 people have died in rain-related incidents since the monsoon season began in late June, according to the disaster management agency.

Punjab, Pakistan’s largest province and the country’s breadbasket, has suffered the second highest death toll in the country — 209 people as of Sunday. The floods are likely to have a devastating impact on hundreds of thousands of people and businesses that rely on agriculture but have seen their impending harvest, just a few weeks off, washed away.

In Lahore, the provincial capital and Pakistan’s second largest city, the roaring Ravi River overflowed housing communities, both affluent and poor, built on its banks.

Nawaz Ali, the neighbor who welcomed the Ali family on his rooftop, had initially ignored evacuation instructions issued as heavy rains caused the Ravi to swell last week. But as water crept into his single-story house on the outskirts of the city, he brought the family’s washing machine, mattresses and cook-

ing gas canisters to the roof in a frantic attempt to save as much as he could.

“Financially we’ve lost everything but at least we’re still here,” Nawaz Ali said one morning last week as he scanned what little was left of his neighborhood — lemon and mango orchards engulfed by muddy waters, grazing fields for livestock turned into pools, crumpled walls that marked where houses once stood.

The two Ali families, who are not related, were evacuated to a nearby school along hundreds of others. But Nawaz Ali had come back: his house was still standing, and he had to protect his belongings.

Many others had no such luck. At a nearby camp set up by a religious charity, hundreds of families who had lost their homes rested under white tents. But their respite was short-lived. The tent camp where they sought refuge itself flooded on Saturday as rains kept battering the city.

In Punjab overall, the deluge has forced more than 750,000 people to evacuate their homes, and submerged the crops of rice, maize and other vegetables dotting once lush banks of rivers and canals.

Muhammad Nawaz, a farmer in the village of Ganda Sindh Wala, 35 miles south of Lahore and a few miles from the border with India, had been looking forward to his October harvest.

Like many farmers in Pakistan, Nawaz had borrowed money — in his case, around $730 — to buy seeds and fertilizers on credit. He had planned to repay the loan after selling his harvest, but “now I am deep in debt,” he said as he inspected his fields of paddy rice and corn, which were soaked in muddy waters one recent morning.

Farming livestock also constitutes a major source of income for villagers in Punjab. In recent days, wooden barges with rescued families and cattle on board moved slowly through floodwaters, sailing down what had been roads cluttered with cars and rickshaws. Even the barbed wire marking the border between Pakistan and India — where dozens have also died in floods this summer — was submerged.

The floods have added to the tensions between the two countries. Pakistan has accused India of “weaponizing water” and worsening the impact of the floods in Punjab by releasing water from dams upstream without providing details on how much or when those releases would occur. India has not commented publicly on the accusations.

Coming just three years after record floods in

2022 submerged a third of Pakistan, the heavy rains have underscored just how devastating and intense rainfalls have become the norm, rather than the exception, for the country. They have also raised questions about preparedness and provoked criticism of the authorities for failing to warn residents early enough or for letting deforestation go unchecked.

Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has argued that not enough lessons were learned from the 2022 floods. Climate researchers have concurred, arguing that human error, such as construction near rivers and late warnings from authorities, had worsened the impact of the heavy rains.

“Many of the catastrophes we have seen this summer — the floods in the north and in Punjab now — all have a common phenomenon: communities were in the way of the rivers and interfering with nature,” said Fazilda Nabeel, a climate and water governance expert and professor at Lahore University of Management Sciences.

Park View City — a high-end residential area that flooded in Lahore — was built recently, with the government’s approval, on the banks of the Ravi River, despite repeated warnings from environmental activists and experts.

“Everyone knows about the risk of flooding because when you start construction here, engineers will tell you that it’s on the river bed,” Ahmed Akhbar, a retired banker living in Park View City, said last week as he tried to reach his house at the end of a flooded street.

Still, Akhbar said he had bought his plot because the land was inexpensive and ownership in the area came with lots of services. “The government did their best,” he said about efforts to buffer Park View City from the Ravi, “but you can’t fight nature.”

Trump’s plan to pack the Fed with loyalists

By COLBY SMITH

Awatershed legal battle over the White House’s attempt to oust a sitting Federal Reserve governor has only just begun, but if President Donald Trump gets his way, it could leave him with much more latitude to steer the central bank’s decisions on interest rates and its oversight of Wall Street.

Trump is already relishing the idea.

“We’ll have a majority very shortly,” Trump said at his latest marathon Cabinet meeting about the Fed’s powerful sevenperson Board of Governors. “So that’ll be great.”

Trump plans to appoint loyal individuals to that board, and he would need to fill just one more seat for the balance of power to tip further in his favor. If that happens, it would give the president immense sway over an institution that is supposed to operate independently from the White House.

The president could also gain substantial leverage over another part of the Federal Reserve system — the 12 regional banks whose officials take turn voting on policy matters. The central bank’s staff are vulnerable, too.

“With four on the board, the president and his administration can have a big influence,” said Gary Richardson, a professor of economics at the University of California at Irvine. “It gives them ways to push.”

That kind of power is desired by Trump, who has for months harangued the Fed to lower borrowing costs and has made little secret that he would like Jerome Powell, the Fed’s chair, to resign. But until August, the chances that Trump could so swiftly gain a majority of support on the board seemed far-fetched.

The president’s first big break came when Adriana D. Kugler hastily stepped down months before her term as a governor was set to end. The president tapped Stephen I. Miran, a vocal critic of the Fed who most recently served as one of Trump’s top economic advisers, to take Kugler’s place. He could be confirmed by the Senate in time for the Fed’s next policy meeting in September.

Trump’s second break could come if the courts are persuaded that he is allowed to remove Lisa Cook, a governor, over allegations that she committed mortgage fraud. The law stipulates that a president can fire a member of the board only “for cause,”

which is interpreted to mean professional neglect or malfeasance. Cook, who has not been charged with any crime or convicted of any wrongdoing, filed a lawsuit Thursday against Trump seeking to retain her position. Her lawyers have argued that the allegations are not enough to meet the “for cause” test.

If the courts disagree, Cook’s departure would allow Trump to put forward yet another nominee. In his first term, he appointed Christopher J. Waller and Michelle W. Bowman to the board. He also elevated Powell to become the chair. Trump will get a chance to name a new chair soon given that Powell’s term ends in May.

Selecting who is in the top job will only bolster Trump’s grip on the institution.

What the president wants most is borrowing costs that are substantially lower. However, that may be the area he will face the biggest hurdles to control — even with a majority of the board in his corner.

Interest rate decisions are made by a 12-person Federal Open Market Committee, which is comprised of all seven governors as well as a rotating cohort of five presidents from the regional reserve banks.

Still, there are ways that four governors can significantly impact the debate. In recent decades, the policy-setting committee has governed as a cohesive group, meaning there have been few dissents, especially from members of the board. That changed notably last month when Waller and Bowman voted against the Fed’s decision to hold interest rates steady in what was the first double dissent from officials of that stature since 1993.

If four governors are consistently dissenting and advocating instead for policy moves that comply with what the president wants, that will inherently shape the contours of the debate around what is best for the economy. At the same time, it risks creating a lot of noise around those decisions, potentially sowing confusion about the path forward for interest rates.

One of the most powerful things that a majority of governors could do affects the presidents of the reserve banks. Every five years, the Fed’s board must vote to approve the reappointment of all 12 policymakers. This is typically a routine matter, but the looming March deadline has now taken on new significance. If Trump has enough governors willing to do so, they could decline

President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. The president wants to pack the central bank’s Board of Governors with loyalists, which would grant him greater sway over an institution that is supposed to be independent from the White House.(Doug Mills/The New York Times)

to reappoint the policymakers.

“Gaining control of the board by that time could result in an attempt to displace some of the presidents,” warned Janet Yellen, who was Powell’s immediate predecessor as Fed chair and later served as treasury secretary under President Joe Biden.

In 2022, Waller and Bowman abstained from voting to approve Austan D. Goolsbee to lead the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Goolsbee, who previously served in the Obama administration, assumed office early the subsequent year.

There are limits to this strategy, however. Regional presidents are not nominated by the president and do not need Senate confirmation like members of the board do. Rather, presidents of the reserve banks are selected by local directors. The Fed’s board can ultimately veto who is picked for those positions, but they are not the only ones involved in the selection process.

Kathryn Judge, a professor at Columbia Law School who focuses on financial

regulation, said the Fed’s board was also likely to have the authority to adjust how geographic lines were drawn separating the regional banks, but it was unclear whether a district could be completely eliminated.

A compliant majority could also have influence over other big decisions related to the Fed’s huge balance sheet or its provision of dollars during times of crisis via socalled swap operations with other central banks around the world. Rulings related to the regulation and supervision of the country’s biggest banks are made solely by the board, meaning a simple majority would clear the way for any changes the president wants made.

The Fed meets eight times a year to decide on interest rates, but it takes only three members of the FOMC to call for an official gathering. Graham Steele, a longtime financial regulation lawyer and former Treasury Department official, warned that this rule could be used to make “additional mischief that could really affect the substance of monetary policy,” if Trump’s allies called for those meetings to push for actions endorsed by the president.

Yellen also worried that Trump-appointed governors could seek to oust the Fed’s staff. Before his nomination to the Fed, Miran advocated for more direct political control over personnel.

“It seems to me that you could see some substantial personnel changes at the board, getting rid of people with expertise who have always supported independence and careful analytic and data work, the core professional staff,” Yellen said, noting that Trump had done so at other agencies. The loss of such people at the Fed, she said, would have “profoundly negative consequences on monetary policy.”

If these changes transpire, the worry that economists most often cite is that the world will start to question whether the Fed is indeed the credible organization that has served as the foremost pillar of not only the U.S. economy but also the global financial system.

“All of this is not only unprecedented but also unconstructive,” said Douglas Rediker, a former U.S. representative at the International Monetary Fund and a founder of International Capital Strategies, an advisory firm. “It sends a message that is more akin to a chaotic, dysfunctional system than what the markets in the U.S. and globally have always assumed of the Fed, which is that it is the gold standard for governance, for independence, for prudence and for policymaking.”

By KATRINA MILLER

Zenghua Zhang, an astronomer at Nanjing University in China, and his colleagues were combing through catalogs of stars in search of cold brown dwarfs, interstellar objects that fall somewhere between planets and stars.

They found something odd, and rare, in the Milky Way.

First, the astronomers identified what they believed was a lone brown dwarf orbiting a bright single star. Further investigation revealed that the brown dwarf was actually two. After submitting a paper about the discovery, Zhang said, they realized that the bright companion was a pair of stars, too.

“I like to call this a double-double,” said Adam Burgasser, an astrophysicist who leads the Cool Star Lab at the University of California, San Diego, and was involved in the discovery.

A study describing the quadruple star system — a brown dwarf dancing around another, locked in an orbit with two brighter stars also circling each other — was published by the Monthly Notices of Royal Astronomical Society this summer.

The discovery will help scientists untangle the properties of brown dwarfs. These objects form like stars but have too little mass to consistently fuse hydrogen, a process that heats a star and makes it shine. Brown dwarfs have atmospheres similar to

Star Tuesday, September 2, 2025 14

The

Scientists find a quadruple star system in our cosmic backyard

gas giant planets, like Jupiter or Saturn.

But because they are cold and faint, brown dwarfs can be difficult to study. Astronomers typically search for brown dwarfs orbiting companion stars, which often burn brighter and are easier to measure.

According to Burgasser, these binaries of brown dwarfs and brighter stars often formed out of the same material, at the same place and time. Measuring the brighter stars, then, can be useful for estimating the properties of the fainter brown dwarfs, like their age, temperature and composition.

Such systems become benchmarks for understanding lone brown dwarfs across the galaxy, and the formation and evolution of the least massive stars. Finding two brown dwarfs around two brighter stars “helps twice as much,” Burgasser said. “It becomes kind of like a super benchmark.”

To hunt for brown dwarfs orbiting companion stars, Zhang and his team scanned stellar databases made with data from two retired space missions, NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer and the European Space Agency’s Gaia telescope.

They found a brown dwarf and a brighter stellar companion about 82 lightyears from Earth, in an orbit more than 1,600 times as wide as the distance between our planet and the sun. But both the brown dwarf and the star were brighter than expected. Measurements of their spec-

An artist’s impression of a star system, UPM J1040−3551, against the backdrop of the Milky Way as observed by Gaia, provided by Jiaxin Zhong/Zenghua Zhang. Scientists find a quadruple star system in our cosmic backyard; two of the objects in the arrangement are cold brown dwarfs, which will serve as a benchmark for others throughout the Milky Way. (Jiaxin Zhong/Zenghua Zhang via The New York Times)

tra, taken with the Southern Astrophysical Research telescope in Chile, helped the astronomers confirm that both were actually pairs.

The brighter pair consists of two red dwarfs, the most common type of star in the Milky Way, both about 17% the mass of the sun. Their combined brightness is 100,000 times as faint as the North Star in visible light, Zhang said.

The brown dwarfs, by contrast, emit almost no visible light. They are both about

the size of Jupiter and have detectable methane in their atmosphere. According to Burgasser, there are most likely billions of brown dwarfs like this in our galaxy — though only about 30 have been found orbiting brighter companions.

Future observations, possibly with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, will help the team take sharper images of the two brown dwarfs and nail down their exact masses, which can then be used as a benchmark for similar objects elsewhere in the galaxy.

Upcoming star surveys, including with the Euclid space telescope and the ground-based Vera C. Rubin Observatory, will allow astronomers to probe ever deeper for more faint brown dwarfs across the Milky Way.

Quadruple star systems are not unheard of — astronomers have discovered arrangements with as many as seven stellar objects. That they exist indicates that such systems are able to survive the processes involved in early stellar formation. Stars that form too close together, by contrast, may gravitationally knock one another away and scatter at hyperfast speeds through the Milky Way.

“These are the kinds of clues that we’re seeing, the output of multiple star formation,” Burgasser said. “But we’re still interested in what got it there in the first place.”

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

CENTRO JUDICIAL DE CAGUAS SALA SUPERIOR AURELIO

COTTO TRINIDAD

Peticionarios EX-PARTE

Civil Núm.: CG2025CV01555.

Sobre: EXPEDIENTE DE DOMINIO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.

A: Todos los que tengan cualquier derecho real en la finca que más adelante se describe, las personas ignoradas, naturales o jurídicas, a quienes pueda perjudicar la inscripción de dicha finca a favor de los Peticionarios y a las personas desconocidas, naturales o jurídicas, que tuvieren derecho a oponerse o se creyeron con derecho a oponerse a la inscripción del inmueble que se describe más adelante.

POR LA PRESENTE se le notifica que se ha presentado ante este Tribunal el expediente arriba mencionado con el fin de justificar el dominio a favor de los Peticionarios de la siguiente entidad registral: “RUSTICA:

Parcela radicada en el Barrio Cañaboncito, de Caguas Puerto Rico. Mide veinte metros de frente por veinticinco metros de fondo, iguales a una superficie de quinientos metros cuadrados. Colinda por el Norte con Blas Cotto, separado por camino; Sur con Juan Cotto Rivera; Este con Juan Cotto Rivera; y Oeste con Luis Cotto Trinidad. El Peticionario adquirió la propiedad antes descrita por compraventa de Juan Cotto Rivera desde el 1968. Al momento de la adquisición de la propiedad objeto de la presente petición el Peticionario era mayor de edad, casado bajo el régimen de la sociedad legal de gananciales con Angelina Hernández Sánchez, ya fallecida, obrero y vecino de Cidra, Puerto Rico. El Peticionario adquirió la antes descrita propiedad Compraventa de Porción de Finca Rústica, según surge de la afidávit 7786 otorgada el cinco (5) de agosto de 1968, otorgada ante el Notario Manuel S. Santiago Álvarez. Y SE LE NOTIFICA A USTED que este Tribunal ha ordenado que se le cite como persona que está en posesión de parte o todos los predios colindantes de la finca descrita, o tenga interés para que haga oposición a este expediente, si se viere

perjudicado con la inscripción solicitada; advirtiéndole que de no hacer oposición dentro del término de veinte (20) días a contar desde que fuera notificada esta citación, los Peticionarios podrán obtener que se apruebe este expediente y se mande a inscribir a su nombre la finca antes descrita en el Registro de la Propiedad, sección de Caguas. 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:// tribunalelectronico.ramajudicial.pr/sumac2018 salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del Tribunal, notificando a la representación legal en la dirección de récord.

LCDA. XIOMARA MENDEZ BAEZ PO BOX 6463 CAGUAS, PR 00726-6463 TEL. 787-286-6666

EMAIL: lcdaxiomaramendez@ yahoo.com

POR ORDEN DEL HONORABLE HON. ANTONIO NEGRÓN VILLARDEFRANCO, Juez de este Tribunal, expido la presente en Caguas, Puerto Rico, hoy a 13 de agosto de 2025, bajo mi firma y sello oficial. IRASEMIS DÍAZ SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA TRIBUNAL SUPERIOR.

LIZ WHARTON ROSA, SUBSECRETARIA TRIBUNAL SUPERIOR.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE UTUADO LLACG COMMUNITY INVESTMENT FUND Demandante Vs. SUCESION JUDITH VEGA RUIZ T/C/C JUDITH VEGA RIVERA T/C/C JUDITH O’NEIL RIVERA T/C/C JUDITH O’NEIL T/C/C JUDITH O’NEIL VEGA COMPUESTA POR KIM DAVID MCDONALD VEGA, JUDITH ZAMBRANA VEGA; JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES Demandados Civil Núm.: UT2024CV00482. Sobre: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EDICTO DE SUBASTA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO, SS.

A: LA PARTE DEMANDADA, AL (A LA) SECRETARIO(A) DE HACIENDA DE PUERTO RICO Y AL PÚBLICO

GENERAL:

Certifico y Hago Constar: Que en cumplimiento con el Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia que me ha sido dirigido por el (la) Secretario(a) del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Utuado, en el caso de epígrafe, venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor, por separado, de contado y por moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América y/o Giro Postal y Cheque Certificado, en mi oficina ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Utuado, el 25 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2025, A LAS 1:30 DE LA TARDE, todo derecho título, participación o interés que le corresponda a la parte demandada o cualquiera de ellos en el inmueble hipotecado objeto de ejecución que se describe a continuación: “URBANA: Solar #29 de la Urbanización Vega Linda, radicada en el Barrio Jayuya Arriba del Municipio de Jayuya, compuesta de 325.00 metros cuadrados. En lindes por el NORTE y por el SUR, en 13.00 metros, por cada lado respectivamente, con la calle #2 y con el solar #42; por el ESTE y OESTE, en 25.00 metros, por cada lado respectivamente, con los solares #30 y 28 de la Urbanización. Contiene una casa de concreto.” Inscrita al folio 55 del tomo 144 de Jayuya, finca número 2267, Registro de la Propiedad de Utuado. La Hipoteca Revertida consta inscrita al folio 55 del tomo 144 de Jayuya, finca número 2267, Registro de la Propiedad de Utuado, inscripción 6ª. Propiedad localizada en: URB. VEGA LINDA, #29 CALLE SIDNEY EDWARDS, JAYUYA, PR 00664. Según figuran en la certificación registral, la propiedad objeto de ejecución está gravada por las siguientes cargas anteriores o preferentes: Nombre del Titular: N/A. Suma de la Carga: N/A. Fecha de Vencimiento: N/A. Según figuran en la certificación registral, la propiedad objeto de ejecución está gravada por las siguientes cargas posteriores a la inscripción del crédito ejecutante: Nombre del Titular: Secretario de la Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano. Suma de la Carga: $189,675.00. Fecha de Vencimiento: 9 de abril de 2093. Se entenderá que todo licitador acepta como bastante la titularidad de la propiedad y que todas las cargas y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito ejecutante antes descritos, si los hubiere, continuarán subsistentes.

El rematante acepta dichas cargas y gravámenes anteriores, y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse a su extinción el precio del remate. Se establece como tipo de mínima subasta la suma de $189,675.00, 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 Utuado, el 2 DE OCTUBRE DE 2025, A LAS 1:30 DE LA TARDE, y se establece como mínima para dicha segunda subasta la suma de $126,450.00, 2/3 partes del tipo mínima establecido originalmente. Si tampoco se produce remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se establece como mínima para la TERCERA SUBASTA, la suma de $94,837.50, la mitad (1/2) del precio pactado y dicha subasta se celebrará en mi oficina, ubicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de Utuado, el 9 DE OCTUBRE DE 2025, A LAS 1:30 DE LA TARDE. Dicha subasta se llevará a cabo para, con su producto satisfacer a la parte demandante, el importe de la Sentencia dictada a su favor ascendente a la suma de $189,570.19 por concepto de principal, más la suma de $5,777.95 en intereses acumulados al 31 de enero de 2025 y los cuales continúan acumulándose a razón de 5.250% anual hasta su total y completo pago; más la sumas de $5,714.02 en seguro y contribuciones; más la cantidad de 10% del pagare original en la suma de $18,967.50, para gastos, costas y honorarios de abogado, e intereses al tipo legal a razón de 8.75% a computarse sobre la cuantía de la sentencia desde la fecha en que se dicte la sentencia y hasta que ésta sea satisfecha. La venta en pública subasta de la referida propiedad se verificará libre de toda carga o gravamen posterior que afecte la mencionada finca, a cuyo efecto se notifica y se hace saber la fecha, hora y sitio de la PRIMERA, SEGUNDA Y TERCERA SUBASTA, si esto fuera necesario, a los efectos de que cualquier persona o personas con algún interés puedan comparecer a la celebración de dicha subasta. Se notifica a todos los interesados que las actas y demás constancias del expediente de este caso están disponibles en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante horas laborables para ser examinadas por los (las) interesados (as). Y para su publicación en el periódico The San Juan Daily Star, que es un diario de circulación general en la isla de

Puerto Rico, por espacio de dos semanas consecutivas con un intervalo de por lo menos siete (7) días entre ambas publicaciones, así como para su publicación en los sitios públicos de Puerto Rico. Expedido en Utuado, Puerto Rico, hoy 16 de junio de 2025. JOSÉ F. RIVERA PÉREZ, ALGUACIL REGIONAL. RICARDO ACEVEDO RIVERA, ALGUACIL #414.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA REGIÓN JUDICIAL DE SAN JUAN ORIENTAL BANK

Demandante V. SANTA IVELISSE LUCENA PAGAN

Demandada OSIRIS YAMIL ROQUE FLORES

Parte con interés Civil Núm.: SJ2025CV01144. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R., SS. AVISO DE PÚBLICA SUBASTA. El que suscribe, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de SAN JUAN, hago saber a la parte demandada, SANTA IVELISSE LUCENA PAGAN, OSIRIS YAMIL ROQUE FLORES y al PÚBLICO EN GENERAL; que en cumplimiento del Mandamiento de Ejecución de Sentencia expedido el 21 de julio de 2025, por la Secretaría del Tribunal, procederé a vender y venderé en pública subasta y al mejor postor pagadero en efectivo, cheque de gerente o giro postal, a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal, la siguiente propiedad con dirección física: Cond. Puerta del Sol, Apt. 401, San Juan PR 00926 y que se describe como sigue: URBANA: Apartamento residencial #401 de forma rectangular localizado en el piso #4, del Condominio Puerta del Sol, que ubica en la Carretera Estatal #181, del barrio Sabana Llana de Rio Piedras, Municipio de San Juan, Puerto Rico, con una cabida superficial de 679.88 pies cuadrados, siendo sus medidas lineales 32’10”, por 22’8”, en lindes por el NORTE, en una distancia de 18’4”, con terrenos donde enclava el edificio, por el SUR, en una distancia de 19’8”, con el apartamento #402, por el ESTE, en una distancia de 32’10”, con terrenos donde enclava el edificio y por el OESTE, en una distancia de 32’10”, con el pasillo central del piso. Esta unidad residencial consta de lo siguiente: Sala-comedor, cocina, baño, pasillo con closet, y 3 cuartos dormitorios con su clo-

set cada uno. El apartamento tiene un porciento de participación en los elementos comunes generales de .0043757%. A este apartamento le corresponde como elemento común limitado el estacionamiento #130. Finca 35803, inscrito en Karibe de Sabana Llana, sección V, Registro de la Propiedad de San Juan. La finca antes descrita se encuentra afecta a los siguientes gravámenes: (i) HIPOTECA constituida en garantía de un pagaré a favor de Oriental Bank and Trust, o a su orden, por la suma principal de $50,700.00, con intereses al 7.125% anual, vence el 1ro de agosto de 2031, según consta de la escritura #398, otorgada en San Juan, el día 18 de julio de 2001, ante el notario público Laura I. Santiago Loperena, inscrita en Karibe, el día 15 de mayo de 2020, finca #35803, inscripción 2da. (ii) Aviso de Demanda: del 11 de febrero de 2025, radicada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de San Juan, en el caso civil 2025CV01144, sobre cobro de dinero, ejecución de hipoteca, por Oriental Bank versus Santa Ivelisse Lucena Pagán y Osiris Yamil Roque Flores, por $22,329.26, más otras sumas, anotado el 14 de febrero de 2025, finca #35803 de Sabana Llana, anotación A y última. La hipoteca objeto de esta ejecución es la que ha quedado descrita en el inciso (i). Será celebrada la subasta para con el importe de la misma satisfacer la sentencia dictada el 3 de junio de 2025, mediante la cual se determinó que la deuda esta vencida desde el 1 de octubre de 2024 y condenó a la parte demandada de epígrafe, a pagar a la parte demandante una cantidad ascendiente de $22,329.26 de principal, más – calculado hasta enero de 2025- $656.72 de intereses acumulados que continuarán acumulándose al 7.125% de interés anual, hasta el saldo total de la deuda. Se adeuda, además, $104.32 como cargos por demora y otros cargos, $90.07 de escrow, más costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado, según pactado, y cualquier otro desembolso que haya efectuado o efectúe la parte demandante durante la tramitación de este caso de conformidad con el Contrato Hipotecario. La PRIMERA SUBASTA será celebrada el día 15 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2025, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala de SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico. Servirá de tipo mínimo para la misma, la cantidad de $50,700.00 sin admitirse oferta inferior. De no haber remate ni adjudicación, celebraré SEGUNDA SUBASTA el día 22 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE

2025, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en el mismo lugar, en la que servirá como tipo mínimo, dos terceras (2/3) partes del precio pactado para la primera subasta, o sea, $33,800.00. Si no hubiese remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, celebraré TERCERA SUBASTA el 29 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2025, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA, en el mismo lugar en la que regirá como tipo mínimo, la mitad (1/2) del precio pactado para la primera subasta, o sea, $25,350.00. El Alguacil que suscribe hizo constar que toda licitación deberá hacerse para pagar su importe en moneda legal de los Estados Unidos de América, de acuerdo con la Ley y de acuerdo con lo anunciado en este Aviso de Subasta. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante horas laborables. Se entiende que todo licitador que comparezca a la subasta señalada en este caso acepta como bastante la titulación que da base a la misma. Se entiende que cualquier carga y/o gravamen anterior y/o preferente, si la hubiere al crédito que da base a esta ejecución continuará subsistente, entendiéndose, además, que el rematante los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de estos, sin destinarse a su extinción cualquier parte del remanente del precio de licitación. La propiedad para ejecutar será adquirida libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Por la presente se notifica a los acreedores que tengan inscritos o anotados sus derechos sobre los bienes hipotecados con posterioridad a la inscripción del crédito del ejecutante o acreedores de cargas o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuesto a la hipoteca ejecutada y las personas interesadas en, o con derecho a exigir el cumplimiento de instrumentos negociables garantizados hipotecariamente con posterioridad al crédito ejecutado, para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si les convenga o satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, costas y honorarios de abogados asegurados, quedando subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante. Vendida o adjudicada la finca o derecho hipotecado y consignado el precio correspondiente, en esa misma fecha o fecha posterior, el alguacil que celebró la subasta procederá a otorgar la correspondiente escritura pública de traspaso en representación del dueño o titular de los bienes hipotecados, ante el notario que elija el adjudicatario o comprador, quien deberá abonar el importe de tal

escritura. El alguacil pondrá en posesión judicial al nuevo dueño, si así se lo solicita dentro del término de veinte (20) días a partir de la confirmación de la venta o adjudicación. Si transcurren los referidos veinte (20) días, el tribunal podrá ordenar, sin necesidad de ulterior procedimiento, que se lleve a efecto el desalojo o lanzamiento del ocupante u ocupantes de la finca o de todos los que por orden o tolerancia del deudor la ocupen. Y PARA CONOCIMIENTO DE LOS LICITADORES Y DEL PUBLICO EN GENERAL y para su publicación de acuerdo con la Ley, expido el presente Edicto bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal. En SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, hoy 8 de agosto de 2025. Pedro Hieye González, Alguacil, Tribunal De Primera Instancia, Sala De San Juan.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante Vs. RUBEN RENE RIVERO LIANTAUD Demandado Civil Núm.: SJ2022CV09166. (508). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO (EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA). EDICTO DE SUBASTA. Al: PÚBLICO EN GENERAL. A: RUBEN RENE RIVERO LIANTAUD; BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO POR TENER SENTENCIA ANOTADA A SU FAVOR POR LA SUMA DE $75,970.88. Yo, PEDRO HIEYE GONZÁLEZ, ALGUACIL, Alguacil de este Tribunal, a la parte demandada y a los acreedores y personas con interés sobre la propiedad que más adelante se describe, y al público en general, HAGO SABER: Que el día 16 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2025, A LAS 10:00 DE LA MAÑANA en mi oficina, sita en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de San Juan, San Juan, Puerto Rico, venderé en Pública Subasta la propiedad inmueble que más adelante se describe y cuya venta en pública subasta se ordenó por la vía ordinaria al mejor postor quien hará el pago en dinero en efectivo, giro postal o cheque certificado a nombre del o la Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento incoado, estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal de San Juan durante horas laborables.

narse a su extinción el precio de remate. La propiedad no está sujeta a gravámenes anteriores ni preferentes según las constancias del Registro de la Propiedad. Surge de un estudio de título que, sobre la finca descrita anteriormente, pesan los gravámenes posteriores a la hipoteca que se ejecuta mediante este procedimiento que se relacionan más adelante. A los acreedores que tengan inscritos o anotados sus derechos sobre los bienes hipotecados con posterioridad a la inscripción del crédito del ejecutante o acreedores de cargos o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuesto a la hipoteca del actor y a los dueños, poseedores, tenedores de, o interesados en títulos transmisibles por endoso, o al portador, garantizados hipotecariamente con posterioridad al crédito del actor por la presente se notifica, que se celebrarán las subastas en las fechas, horas y sitios señalados para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si les conviniere o se les invita a satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, otros cargos y las costas y honorarios de abogado asegurados quedando subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante. Hipoteca a favor del SECRETARIO DEL DEPARTAMENTO DE DESARROLLO URBANO Y VIVIENDA DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS a su orden, por la suma principal de $150,000.00 más intereses a razón de 5.560% de interés anual sobre el balance adeudado según la escritura número 17, otorgada el día 3 de febrero de 2010, ante el Notario Ileana Corral Lizardi. Inscrita en Cayey, Registro de la Propiedad de Caguas, Sección Primera, finca número 5,922, inscripción octava. AVISO DE DEMANDA relacionado al pleito de referencia Inscrito en Cayey, Registro de la Propiedad de Caguas, Sección Primera, finca número 5,922, anotación A. Y para conocimiento de licitadores del público en general se publicará este Edicto de acuerdo con la ley por espacio de dos semanas en tres sitios públicos del municipio en que ha de celebrarse la venta. Este Edicto será publicado mediante edictos dos veces en un diario de circulación general en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, por espacio de dos semanas consecutivas. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores sujeto a lo dispuesto en los Artículos 113 al 116 de la Ley 210 del 8 de diciembre de 2015, según aplique. Expido el presente Edicto de subasta bajo mi firma en Caguas, Puerto Rico, hoy día 27 de agosto de 2025. FDO. MARIANGELY ROSADO ROMAN, ALGUACIL. LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

CENTRO JUDICIAL DE BAYAMÓN SALA SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN. ISLAND PORTFOLIO SERVICES, LLC COMO AGENTE DE ACE ONE FUNDING, LLC

Demandante v. RODOLFO A RIVERA DAVILA

Demandado(a)

Caso Núm.: TB2024CV00120 (SALÓN 500-A). Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO - ORDINARIO.

NATALIE BONAPARTE SERVERA NATALIE.BONAPARTE@ORF-LAW. COM NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO A: RODOLFO A. RIVERA DAVILA- URB LEVITTOWN LAKES JU7 CALLE LIZZIE GRAHAM, TOA BAJA PR 009493639. (Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto)

EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 22 DE AGOSTO 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 25 de AGOSTO de 2025. En BAYAMÓN, Puerto Rico, el 25 de AGOSTO de 2025.ALICIA AYALA SANJURJO, Secretario(a). f/SANDRA BAEZ HERNANDEZ, Secretario(a) Auxiliar del Tribunal.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE AIBONITO.

COOPERATIVA DE AHORRO Y CREDITO LA COMERIEÑA

Demandante Vs. JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE

Demandados

Civil Núm: CR202SCV00353. Sobre: Cancelación de Pagaré Extraviado. EDICTO DE EMPLAZAMIENTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU.

EL ESTADO UBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R. SS. A: JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE

Quedan ustedes emplazados y notificados que en este Tribunal la parte demandante ha radicado la acción de epígrafe alegando, en síntesis, que un Pagaré suscrito a favor de la COOPERATIVA DE AHORRO Y CREDITO LA COMERIEÑA, o a su orden, por la suma principal de $45,000.00, con intereses al 7.50% anual y vencedero el día 1ro. de julio de 2031, bajo el bajo Affidávit #11,764, el cual fue garantizado con hipoteca según consta de la escritura #46, otorgada en Comerlo, Puerto Rico el 22 de junio de 2001, ante el Notario Santos Manuel Rivera Estrella, sobre la siguiente propiedad: URBANA: Solar radicado en el Barrio Piñas del término municipal de Comería, Puerto Rico, que mide 264.00 metros cuadrados, o sean 25 metros por el Norte, con terrenos de los esposos vendedores; por el Este, en 11 metros con frente a la carretera de Piñas y colinda con esta carretera por el Sur, en 23 metros colinda con Julián López, y por el Oeste en 11 metros colinda con la Quebrada Piñas. Ubica una casa de 2 plantas techada de zinc y construida de concreto. Inscrita al Folio 134 del Tomo 136 de Comería, Finca #1,971, Registro de la Propiedad, Sección de Barranquitas, fue totalmente satisfecho, que el mismo se ha extraviado y que ustedes podrían resultar ser tenedores del mismo, por lo que se les advierte que si no radican su contestación a la demanda dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación de este Edicto a: LCDO. ORLANDO MALDONADO RIVERA

COND. TORRELINDA

85 CALLE MAYAGUEZ, APT. 504 SAN JUAN, P.R. 00917

TELEFONO(:7 87) 450-0077

E-mail: lic.omaldonado@gmail.com se les anotará la rebeldía y se dictará sentencia en su contra concediendo el remedio solicitado por la parte demandante, sin más citarles ni oírles. Expedido bajo mi firma y sello de este tribunal hoy dia 20 de agosto de 2025. Mayra L Cabrera García, SECRETARIA. Carmen L Aponte Flores, Sec del Tribunal Int.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE CAGUAS. BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

DEMANDANTE vs. RAÚL ANTONIO GARCÍA PONS, SU ESPOSA RELINDA LUZ DÍAZ ZAPATA Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR

AMBOS

DEMANDADOS CIVIL NÚM.: CG2025CV02459. SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. SALA 703. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R. ss. A: RAÚL ANTONIO GARCÍA PONS, SU ESPOSA BELINDA LUZ DÍAZ ZAPATA Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

- URB. RESIDENCIAL BAIROA, SOLAR C-E5 CALLE CACIQUE, CAGUAS PR 00725-1463. DIRECCION POSTAL: PO BOX 7231, CAGUAS PR 00726; 843 N 5th St

Allentown, P A 18102. POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los treinta (30) días de haber sido diligenciado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día del diligenciamiento. 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://www. poderjudicial.pr/index.php/ tribunal-electronico/, salvo que el caso sea de un expedíente físico o que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la Secretaria del tribunal y notificar copia de la misma al (a la) abogado(a) de la parte demandante o a ésta, de no tener representación legal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá díctar 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. Además, se le apercibe que, en los casos al amparo de la Ley Núm. 57-2023, titulada Ley para la Prevención del Maltrato, Preservación de la Unidad Familiar y para la Seguridad, Bienestar y Protección de los Menores, entre los remedios que el Tribunal podrá conceder se incluyen la ubicación permanente de un (una) menor fuera del hogar, el inciso de procesos para la privación de patria potestad, y cualquiera otra medida en el mejor interés del (de la) menor. (Articulo 33, incisos by f de la Ley Núm. 57-2023). Se le advierte de su derecho a comparecer acompañado(a) de abogado(a) en los casos que proceda. Se le advierte de su derecho a comparecer acompañado(a) de

abogado(a) en los casos que proceda. 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 RUA NUM.: 11416 PO BOX 3908, GUAYNABO, PR 00970 TEL: 787- 751-5290, FAX: 787-751-6155 E-MAIL:

ejecuciones@fortuno-law.com Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, hoy 26 de AGOSTO de 2025. IRASEMIS DIAZ SANCHEZ, Secretario(a). SANDRA J. TRINIDAD CAÑUELAS, SEX AUX.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE CAGUAS.

ORIENTAL BANK

DEMANDANTE vs. JOSÉ RAMÓN RIVERA ORTIZ T/C/C JOSÉ RAMÓN RIVERA Y SU ESPOSA DOMINIQUE FRANCHESKA

ESPAILLAT REINA T/C/C DOMINIQUE F. ESPAILLAT REINA

DEMANDADOS

CIVIL NÚM.: CG2025CV02323. SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. SALA 703. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R ss.

A: JOSÉ RAMÓN RNERA ORTIZ - URB. ALTURAS DE CAGUAS, K-11 CALLE PALMA REAL, CAGUAS PR 00725. DIRECCION POSTAL: URB. INTERAMERICANA, AD3, CALLE 15, TRUJILLO ALTO PR 00976-3407. POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los treinta (30) días de haber sido diligenciado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día del diligenciamiento. 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://www. poderjudicial.pr/index.php/ tribunal-electronico/, salvo que el caso sea de un expedíente físico o que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la Secretaria del tribunal y notificar copia de la misma al (a la) abogado(a) de la parte demandante o a ésta, de no tener representación legal. Si usted deja de presentar

su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá díctar 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. Además, se le apercibe que, en los casos al amparo de la Ley Núm. 57-2023, titulada Ley para la Prevención del Maltrato, Preservación de la Unidad Familiar y para la Seguridad, Bienestar y Protección de los Menores, entre los remedios que el Tribunal podrá conceder se incluyen la privación permanente de un (una) menor fuera del hogar, el inciso de procesos para la privación de patria potestad, y cualquiera otra medida en el mejor interés del (de la) menor. Articulo 33, incisos by f de la Ley Núm. 57-2023). Se le advierte de su derecho a comparecer acompañado(a) de abogado(a) en los casos que proceda. Se le advierte de su derecho a comparecer acompañado(a) de abogado(a) en los casos que proceda. 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

RUA NUM.: 11416 PO BOX 3908, GUAYNABO, PR 00970 TEL: 787- 751-5290, FAX: 787-751-6155 E-MAIL: ejecuciones@fortuno-law.com

Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, hoy 26 de AGOSTO de 2025. IRASEMIS DIAZ SANCHEZ, Secretario(a). SANDRA J. TRINIDAD CAÑUELAS, Secretario(a) AUX.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE CAROLINA SALA SUPERIOR DE CAROLINA. BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

Demandante v. ORIENTAL BANK COMO SUCESOR EN DERECHO DE SCOTIABANK DE PUERTO RICO ANTES RG PREMIER BANK OF PUERTO RICO Y OTROS

Demandado(a) Caso Núm.: CA2025CV01639 (CIVIL 409). Sobre: CANCELACION O RESTITUCION DE PAGARE EXTRAVIADO. ANTONIO A HERNANDEZ ALMODOVAR AHERNANDEZ@RMMELAW.COM

NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO A: APEX BANK, JOHN DOE, RICHARD ROE

(Nombre de las partes que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 27 DE AGOSTO 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 28 de AGOSTO de 2025. En CAROLINA, Puerto Rico, el 28 de AGOSTO de 2025. KANELLY ZAYAS ROBLES, Secretario(a). f/IDA L FERNANDEZ RODRIGUEZ, Secretario(a) Auxiliar del Tribunal.

LEGAL NOTICE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA

SALA SUPERIOR DE HUMACAO.

Estrella Homes II LLC

Parte Demandante vs. Julio Enrique García Rivera, Elaine Rodríguez Pastrana y la Sociedad Legal de Bienes Gananciales compuesta por ambos

Parte Demandada CIVIL NÚM.: HU2022CV01263. SOBRE: EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA EN COBRO DE SENTENCIA. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PR. SS. AVISO DE VENTA EN PÚBLICA SUBASTA. Yo, Raquel Quiñones Soto, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Humacao, 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 16 de julio de 2025, y para satisfacer la Sentencia dictada en el caso de autos fechada 2 de junio de 2025, notificada el 3 de junio de 2025, procederé a vender el día 7 de octubre de 2025, a las 11:00 de la mañana, en mi oficina, localizada en el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Humacao, al mejor postor en pago de contado y en moneda de los Estados Unidos de América, cheque certificado y/o giro postal, todo título, derecho o interés de la parte demandada sobre la siguiente propiedad: URBANA:

HORIZONTAL PROPERTY: Apartment Number 155 of Málaga Building, which forms part of The Marbella Club III Condominium Regime, located in The Marbella Club at Palmas del Mar, Candelero Abajo Ward, Humacao, Puerto Rico. Irregular shaped one story, two bedroom unit, with a total construction area of 102.93 square meters equivalent to 1,108 square feet. Entrance: The main entrance is located on the side of the apartment leading to common areas of the Condominium surrounding the interior open courtyard of the Málaga Building. This apartment occupies part of the fifth floor of the Málaga Building. Its boundaries are described as approved by ARPE: by the SOUTHEAST, with exterior elements of the Condominium; by the NORTHWEST, with stairs and exterior elements of the Condominium; by the SOUTHWEST, with interior courtyard; and by the NORTHEAST, with exterior elements of the Condominium. Structure: This unit contains a vestibule with laundry closet and bathroom, a living/dining room, a balcony, a kitchen, a master bedroom with walk-in closet and bathroom, a bedroom, and a trellis terrace. Limited Common Elements: This unit has the exclusive use and enjoyment of the following limited common elements of The Marbella Club III Condominium: Storage Cage identified with the number 155 located in the basement floor of the Málaga Building, with a total area of 16 square feet; and Hallway Area located in front of the entrance of the unit, with a total area of 105.2254 square feet. Elementos Comunes: Este apartamento tiene una participación en los elementos comunes generales del condominio de 2.17 %. Inscrita al Tomo Karibe de Humacao, Registro Inmobiliario Digital del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, Sección de Humacao, Finca Número 26,790. Dirección Física: Cond. The Marbella Club III, Apartmento 155 Malaga, Humacao, PR 00791. Con el importe de dicha venta se habrá de satisfacer a la parte demandante las cantidades adeudadas, o sea, la suma principal de $460,097.22 más intereses al tipo convenido y demás términos y condiciones, según la Sentencia dictada en el caso de epígrafe, por el Tribunal de Primera Instancia, Sala Superior de Humacao. La primera subasta se llevará a cabo el día 7 de octubre de 2025, a las 11:00 de la mañana, en la cual el tipo mínimo será de $474,989.00. De no haber adjudicación en la primera subasta, se celebrará una segunda subasta, el día 14 de octubre de 2025, a las 11:00 de la mañana, en el mismo lugar, en la cual el tipo mínimo será de dos terceras (2/3) partes del tipo mínimo fijado en la

Sudoku

How to Play:

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

Sudoku Rules:

Every row must contain the numbers from 1 through 9

Every column must contain the numbers from 1 through 9

Every 3x3 square must contain the numbers from 1 through 9

Crossword

Jeremy Lin retires after 15 years that included ‘Linsanity’ with the Knicks

By ANDRÉS R. MARTÍNEZ

Jeremy Lin may have never won a ring for the New York Knicks. And his star turn at Madison Square Garden lasted mere months. But in that stretch, his electric play propelled a moribund team into the playoffs, rejuvenated bored fans and started a craze: “Linsanity.”

On Saturday, Lin’s career came to an end. The journeyman, who spent 15 years on NBA teams and in leagues in Asia, announced his retirement from professional basketball on his Instagram account.

The unlikely star, a walk-on at Harvard University who went undrafted, outshined the league’s biggest names in 2012. Few had heard of Lin, a bench player who joined the NBA in 2010, when the Knicks picked him up a year later. And even fewer expected him to stand out.

But by February 2012, Lin was squarely in the spotlight.

That year’s season started the way it often had for the Knicks. Fans were demanding that Mike D’Antoni, the coach, resign; the offense was a mess; and the Knicks appeared destined for another losing season. That’s when D’Antoni decided to give Lin a chance.

The improbable starter led the team on a seven-game winning streak and averaged 22 points a game before the All-Star break. Madison Square Garden was alive again, brimming with the usual fans, such as Spike Lee, and the casual fans, many of whom had lost faith in the perpetual losers.

Scalpers got in on the action as demand for tickets soared, with seats in the upper level going for $150, The New York Times reported. Fans wore masks with Lin’s face, while holding up signs that said “Madison Square Guard-Lin.”

As Lin’s jerseys sold out and the Knicks dominated sports headlines, fans and commentators began to describe the mania surrounding him as Linsanity.

With the Los Angeles Lakers, led by Kobe Bryant, set to play at Madison Square Garden, Bryant — never shy about taunting opponents — weighed in on the frenzy. “Who is this kid?” the five-time champion said on the eve of the matchup.

The next night, Lin dropped 38 points on Bryant in a stunning Knicks win. D’Antoni later remembered Lin coming up to him after the win and saying, I guess Kobe knows my name now.

Harvey Araton, a Times columnist, mused the next day that Lin was “the Knicks’ grandest stroke of fortune” since signing Knicks legend Patrick Ewing in 1985. One fan, the Times reported, said he had not seen a mood like the one Lin inspired since 1955, when he first started attending games.

By the time Lin led his team to victory over Bryant’s Lakers, he had already become a New York icon and had inspired a new generation of young Asian American basketball fans. His status as a role model, he would later say, took him years to embrace.

And the fame came with a dark side. While he rarely discussed the phenomenon of Linsanity, Lin did speak out about the racism he faced after President Donald Trump called the coronavirus the “China virus,” and the prejudice he had to overcome as the NBA’s first Asian American superstar.

“It was a tornado of emotion because there’s so much that was happening,” Lin, who is Taiwanese American, told the Times in 2022, before the release of “38 at the Garden,” an HBO documentary. He added, “I didn’t

even know what to feel like.”

Within a year, Lin had gone from sleeping on a teammate’s couch to gracing the cover of Sports Illustrated (twice) and being named to the list of Time magazine’s most influential people of 2012.

But almost as quickly as it began, Linsanity in New York came to an end. The Knicks lost in the first round of the playoffs, and Lin began a journeyman career during which he fell back to the development leagues, played for a total of eight teams in the NBA and finished his career overseas, in the Chinese

professional league, and then for a team in Taiwan.

Along the way, Lin spent a year with the Lakers, where he rejoined Bryant on the court, this time as a teammate.

Perhaps his greatest career accomplishment, though less sensationalized than the Linsanity year, came in 2019. After half a decade bouncing between teams, he landed on the Toronto Raptors roster, joining the team on its historic and singular championship run, and becoming the first Asian American player to win a ring.

Lin, center,

by Steve Blake, left, and Andrew

of the Lakers, when the Knicks’ sensation scored 38 points on Feb. 10, 2012. Jeremy Lin may have never won a ring for the New York Knicks. And his star turn at Madison Square Garden lasted mere months. But in that stretch, his electric play propelled a moribund team into the playoffs, rejuvenated bored fans and started a craze: “Linsanity.” (Richard Perry/The New York Times)

September 2, 2025 23

Answers to the Sudoku and Crossword on page 21