Marine Diver. The San Juan Daily Star. Tuesday, February 9, Self-winding movement. Water-resistant to 300m.

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1 2 Tuesday, February 9, 2016 Marine Diver Self-winding movement. Water-resistant to 300m. 18 ct rose gold case. Also available in stainless steel. U LY S S E - N A R D I N. C O M

2 GOOD MORNING, the only paper with 3 February 9, 2016 News Service in English in Puerto Rico, publishes 7 days a week, with a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday edi on, along with a Weekend Edi on to cover Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Puerto Rico in Line for $250 Million Medicaid Injection to Fight Zika Local Mainland Business Interna onal Viewpoint Pets Entertainment INDEX No cias en Español Legal No ces Sports Games Horoscope Cartoons By MARIA MIRANDA SIERRA mmirandasanjuanstar@gmail.com After several weeks in talks with federal government officials requesting special attention for Puerto Rico to address the threat of the Zika virus, Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi announced Monday that the island stands to receive a $250 million allocation through a one-year temporary increase in Medicaid funds. The assignment, to be made through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is part of some $1.8 billion in emergency funding President Barack Obama is requesting from Congress to combat the virus nationwide. I am pleased that Puerto Rico will receive some $250 million in additional federal assistance to support health services for pregnant women at risk of infection or diagnosed with the Zika virus and for children with microcephaly, and other health care costs, Pierluisi said. The allocation also includes funds for prevention, detection, and treatment services for the Zika virus in community health centers in Puerto Rico, expanded home visit services to low-income pregnant women who are at risk of contracting the Zika virus, and other [services]. The island has 22 confirmed cases of the mosquitoborne virus. Among them is a pregnant woman in her first trimester and a man who developed a temporary paralysis condition known as Guillain-Barre. Researchers have tentatively linked the virus to birth defects. In an announcement Monday, the White House said the money would be used to expand mosquito control programs, speed development of a vaccine, develop diagnostic tests and improve support for low-income pregnant women. Like dengue and chikungunya, Zika is a mosquitoborne virus. The most common symptoms are fever, rash and joint pain. Pregnant women who contract Zika are at risk of complications and a link to Zika is strongly suspected in babies who have been born with microcephaly, a condition characterized by an abnormally small skull and incomplete brain development. Pierluisi added that since the end of last year, when the first locally transmitted case of Zika in the U.S. was confirmed in Puerto Rico on Dec. 31, he has been in nearly constant communication with Centers for Disease Control (CDC) officials since that date. The CDC is providing ongoing support to Puerto Rico. On the testing front, officials from the CDC s Dengue Branch -- which is located in San Juan -- have trained officials from the Puerto Rico Department of Health on how to conduct laboratory tests for Zika, and the CDC is also conducting testing itself in Puerto Rico. As recently as last week, Pierluisi spoke with CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden to follow up on the steps the agency is taking to request more resources to combat the virus on the island. In addition, together with other members of Congress, we urged President Obama that his administration take additional measures to combat Zika, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) acting commissioner to expedite the process of approving vaccines and treatment for Zika, Pierluisi said. We also met with Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois and Senator Charles Schumer of New York and senior CDC officials to discuss a strategy to ensure that Puerto Rico receives the federal funding it needs to combat Zika. Today we see the positive outcomes of our efforts. Pierluisi once again called on local officials to discuss Zika in a clear, calm and competent way, educating the public about the potential risks associated with the virus without causing unnecessary alarm. The public should continue to take commonsense steps to avoid mosquito bites, including by removing stagnant water where mosquitoes breed and wearing repellent and long sleeves. For my part, I will continue to work with the CDC and my colleagues in Congress to ensure that Puerto Rico receives all the federal support it needs to combat this virus, Pierluisi added. Meanwhile, the White House issued a fact sheet on the Zika virus Monday morning stating that the Pan American Health Organization has reported 26 countries and territories in the Americas with local Zika transmission. While we have not yet seen transmission of the Zika virus by mosquitoes within the continental United States, Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories in warmer areas with Aedes aegpyti mosquito populations are already seeing active transmission, reads the fact sheet. In addition, some Americans have returned to the continental U.S. from affected countries in South America, Central America, the Caribbean and the Pacific Islands with Zika infections.

3 4 Tuesday, February 9, 2016 PREPA Restructuring Bill Slated for Passage This Week By JOHN MCPHAUL This week, possibly in Wednesday s Senate session, the bill to revitalize the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) will be passed, according to reports. On Monday morning, Gov. Alejandro García Padilla, House Speaker Jaime Perelló and Senate President Eduardo Bhatia met to discuss the bill, Inter News Service reported. Part of the leaders agenda was to discuss amendments that the Senate and the House have made to the bill that the governor sent to the Legislative Assembly at the end of Eduardo Bhatia the last congressional session that ended in November. Under a deal PREPA made with its creditors, the bill was to have been signed before Jan. 22. PREPA renegotiated the deal with creditors, whom the power authority owes more than $8 billion. At Monday s meeting technical teams from both legislative chambers participated. Bhatia is reportedly moving to protect the powers of the recently created Energy Commission, which include, among others, the right to decide rate increases. The Senate has worked on the amendments in concert with the House, so once the Senate approves the bill, the House would rubber stamp the new law. The bill, promoted by PREPA s restructuring official Lisa Donahue, has been resisted by various sectors with interests in the energy sector, including PREPA s union, the Union of Electric Industry and Irrigation (UTIER by its Spanish acronym). The minority opposition New Progressive Party is divided over the bill, while the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) opposes the bill. The PIP has taken the position that Puerto Rico should renounce its $70-plus billion debt as a means of forcing a reckoning with the U.S. Congress over Puerto Rico s political status. Also at Wednesday s Senate session, the body will pay homage to American League Rookie of the Year Carlos Correa of the Houston Astros. Correa is a native of Santa Isabel. Hearings to Explore Ways to Improve Agricultural Education in PR By MARIA MIRANDA SIERRA mirandasanjuanstar@gmail.com Popular Democratic Party (PDP) Sen. Ramón Ruiz Nieves announced Monday that the public hearing process on the island s public agricultural schools and vocationalstyle institutions preparing students for various areas of agricultural production will kick off Wednesday at the Capitol building in the Puerto de Tierra sector of San Juan. We have a very important angle here to promote agricultural education and the development of micro-enterprises. Puerto Rico has the climate, the conditions and the human resources to produce for local consumption and eventually export, Ruiz Nieves said. But to get there we must first improve our agriculture schools. Ruiz, who chairs the Senate Agriculture, Food Security and Sustainability Committee, said there are three agricultural schools in Puerto Rico: Soller School in Camuy, Bucarabones School in Toa Alta, and José B. Barceló Oliver School in Adjuntas. He said the public hearings will examine a plan to address the lack of staff and agricultural equipment and technology at the agriculture schools. We will also examine the efficient development of the curriculum, the physical plants at the schools and the allocation of funds, the senator said. We will also, in order to promote partnerships, invite the municipalities to see the alternatives for managing the schools. The investigation stems from Senate Bill 992, a bipartisan bill authored by Sens. Ángel Martínez and José Pérez Rosa, Ruiz added. The hearing will begin at 10:30 a.m. in the Rexach Benítez Room in the Senate s Annex Building.

4 Tuesday, February 9, SJ Mayor s Proposed Alternative to Federal Control Board Draws Fire from PIP Rival By JOHN MCPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto presented a proposal to avoid the creation of a fiscal control board to deal with Puerto Rico s $7 billion dollar debt and immediately drew fire from her Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) opponent Adrián Gónzalez Costa. If the United States wants do something -- and it must do something from Puerto Rico -- there are four things that it must do immediately, Cruz Soto said. The mayor said the United States should return Section 936 of the U.S. tax code to Puerto Rico, which gave U.S. companies tax breaks to set up shop in Puerto Rico; give Puerto Rico the right to declare bankruptcy to restructure the island s debt; eliminate the cabotage law that requires Puerto Rico to exclusively use the U.S. merchant marine fleet; and begin a process of decolonization and free determination for Puerto Ricans, Cruz Soto said, according to CyberNews. I believe that accepting a control board or a supervisory board is telling the world that we can t do it, she said. And in Puerto Rico we can do it. PIP mayoral candidate González Costa called the San Juan mayor s proposal contradictory and offensive, according to Inter News Service. It is highly contradictory to be included in the federal bankruptcy code and return to 936, while at the same time calling for the elimination of the cabotage law and a process of decolonization, and for free determination for Puerto Rico, said González Costa, who is also a PIP member of the San Juan municipal assembly. The mere fact of proposing as an alternative mechanisms in which Puerto Ricans would not have control or participation in the decision making over goods and assets that are national patrimony is offensive, González Costa said. To suggest the return of some laws that had no real effect on the economy of Puerto Rico and its permanence and would also depend on Congress is to continue consenting to colonialism, which is the cause of all our ills. González Costa said Puerto Rico needs political leaders who grasp the concept of the existing colonial regime and called it a fact that the island is a colony and that it needs the tools that the colonial regime called commonwealth prevents it from having. The colony no longer can stand more makeup, he said. The pro-independence politician said the most sensible thing is to act in benefit of the people and pursue the proposal of the PIP to confront President [Barack] Obama regarding the subject of status and the debt of the country and not put off the discussion of status any longer, as suggested by the mayor.

5 6 Tuesday, February 9, 2016 Analyst Sees Fiscal Control Board for PR Gathering Support in Congress By MARIA MIRANDA SIERRA As Puerto Rican officials, creditors, and other stakeholders have been aggressively lobbying the U.S. Congress regarding what is the best way to help the island, and some discussions have emerged that could indicate how a final package could be passed into law, perhaps as soon as early-to-mid second quarter calendar year 2016, financial analyst Daniel Hanson said Monday that the signs point toward a fiscal control board with only partial bankruptcy protection. The Commonwealth is likely to have a strong fiscal control board imposed, and while some bankruptcy protection may be likely, the notion that all of Puerto Rico s credits will be included in any bankruptcy protection We Steam Clean.. 2 Matresses - Any Size! is steeply misguided, said Hanson, a financial analyst at Washington, D.C.- based Height Securities. He said Congress might surprise creditors, however, by offering some kind of assistance to Puerto Rico s failing pension systems, as members of Congress are increasingly concerned by the severe underfunding of future pension benefits. We [Height Securities] continue to believe that Congress will act in a manner that is generally (and perhaps significantly) positive for creditors, though lawmakers motivation for doing so is likely driven more by ideological considerations about government size and accountability than it is by a Wall Street-friendly posture, Hanson noted. He reiterated that Congress remains unimpressed by the Commonwealth s lack of audited financial CARPET WE ARE YOUR INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANING SOLUTION RESIDENTIAL COMMERCIAL INDUSTRIES lncluded dust mite anti allergent for only $ regular price $ save $ sofá 1 love seat for $ regular price $ save $50.00 (dry time 45 minute) Metro Area Only Special until February 15, 2016 Dust Mites is one of ASTHMA sufferers worst enemies!! CARPET Sale Commercial/ Residential 10% Off Discount - Only in Cleaning Services For More Information Call Us (787) (787) (787) Daniel Hanson data, and because of this lack of information, the terms of any eventual aid package will likely be conditioned on better data and heavy-handed fiscal oversight. The pension problem in Puerto Rico is quite large, and Congress seems to be more concerned about the medium-term implications for the Puerto Rico budget than are local politicians, Hanson added. Congress may actually agree to commit real federal tax dollars to funding the systems in the territory. Hanson said the island could receive some economic growth incentives through the tax code, but it will be limited by broader tax reform discussions. We do not believe Puerto Rico will receive Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) access or confirmation of [the] Act 154 [excise tax on manufacturers], he said. The Washington-based financial analyst noted further that as Puerto Rico s debt crisis continues to unfold, investors and politicians alike continue to look to Washington for signs of where and how aid may be deployed to the Commonwealth. The narrative in the market that has developed around a potential aid plan has begun to imply that Congress will certainly provide Chapter 9 access and may even provide some kind of larger-than-chapter 9 exemption for territories that would enable PR to restructure any of its bonds, he said. Hanson said that there is not yet a prevailing view among congressional Republicans about how to handle Puerto Rico, and the only prevailing sentiment is that the island should not be trusted to handle its own finances for some period of time. In events last week, high-profile members of the Commonwealth s fiscal team, including Government Development Bank (GDB) President Melba Acosta and senior adviser Jim Millstein, pressed congressional staffers on a variety of issues related to restructuring, Hanson said. He said that in his estimation, Congress is very likely to enforce on Puerto Rico a strong fiscal control board, though it may be called by some other name. The board will likely have members appointed by the president with congressional approval, and it will likely be given wide-ranging powers to set budget policy, amend government policy, and overrule both the Legislature and governor. While Democrats, the U.S. Treasury Department, and a group of Puerto Rican officials have opposed such a strong control board, all parties appear to have warmed modestly to the notion of some kind of oversight council, and Republicans, who control the legislative process, firmly believe Puerto Rico has been irresponsible in the administration of its budgets through both parties for many years, Hanson added. Perhaps more importantly, rank-and-file GOP voters are staunchly opposed to any kind of material aid for PR, including bankruptcy access, so a firm control board is a necessary precondition for other policies the GOP may try to sell to their base, Hanson said. The mechanics of the control board appear to still be under discussion in various committees, but the blueprint will likely be similar to the Washington, D.C. control board from the 1990s, though with more direct authority over the budget process.

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7 8 Tuesday, February 9, 2016 Coalition Protests Moves by Arecibo WTE Plant Developer By JOHN MCPHAUL A coalition of citizens groups opposed to a waste-to-energy project, which it terms an incinerator, in Arecibo demonstrated in front of the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DNER) on Monday, alleging that the company promoting the project, Energy Answers, is trying to bypass the formal permitting process in an attempt to reverse the denial of a water franchise. The demonstrators allege that Energy Answers is pressuring the DNER to reverse a decision turning away a petition to be able to draw more than two million gallons of water a day from the Caño Tiburones de Arecibo- Barceloneta water system. The DNER denial document establishes a series of facts that justify its decision, said coalition spokeswoman Myrna Conty. It said Energy Answers submitted different data on the availability of water to try to obtain the permit. Conty said Energy Answers wrote to Deputy DNER Secretary Julio Méndez suggesting that the water issue be resolved informally. Energy Answers writes directly to the new deputy secretary of the DNER, going around the official examiner and the DNER legal team, avoiding the communities, intervening parties, Conty said. It says it wants to fix the permit refusal in an informal manner and requests Méndez s assistance in an opportune matter. Energy Answers attorney Lillian Mateo Santos acknowledged that she sent a letter to Méndez requesting a meeting to sit down with technical personnel to address the DNER s concerns. Regulations state that issues be addressed in an informal manner to begin the regulatory process. Mateo Santos said the water franchise was granted in 2010 and that the company had an agreement with the DNER to sustain the franchise since under regulations the franchise runs out after a year if it is not used. When the new governing administration took over in 2012, the DNER refused the franchise. Mateo Santos said the Caño Tiburones wetland is fed by an underground aquifer and that the government has to pump out 5 million gallons an hour to avoid flooding of roads and other infrastructure. Energy Answers is seeking to pump 2.1 million gallons of brackish water -- not good as potable water or for agricultural purposes -- a day, a fraction of the 169 million gallons of water that the system naturally disgorges into the ocean every day, the attorney said. We re not extracting any new water, period, Mateo Santos said. Conty said the assertion that millions of gallons of water go naturally back into the ocean is not supported by the data. Conty said the DNER submitted a document on Dec. 23, 2015 to the examining official requesting that the water permit denial be set aside and the water permit petition be shelved. This would permit the corporation to request the permit anew in the future starting from zero, Conty said. This is very suspicious. We do not understand how it s going to be possible to change data that justified the refusal, especially when the situation of scarcity of water in the country has been worsening. We also denounce the position of the DNER, directed by the deputy secretary, to ask for a new slate even despite the fact that the agency proved that Energy Answers submitted a request full of false data. The coalition demanded that the refusal be reiterated as final. The plant proposed by Energy Answers for Arecibo would have the capacity to process some 2,100 tons of garbage a day and produce about 80 megawatts of electricity. According to the company, the plant would represent 4,000 direct jobs during the 36 months of construction and 150 direct jobs once it is in operation. Coast Guard Calls for End to Aguadilla Pier Diving After Rescue of Injured Man By The STAR Staff The U.S. Coast Guard on Monday called on all swimmers to stop diving into the water from the former sugar pier facility in the northwest coastal town of Aguadilla. The safety warning comes after a Coast Guard rescue helicopter lifted one of two men who had sustained serious injuries after diving from the industrial structure Sunday afternoon. The men reportedly dove into the water from an altitude of around 100 feet. One of the men injured his back and resurfaced motionless in the water, while the other man was able to reach shore and receive medical assistance from Emergency Medical Service personnel at the scene. People diving into the water from the sugar pier in Aguadilla are putting their lives at risk, said Capt. Robert Warren, commander of U.S. Coast Guard Sector San Juan. This is an unsafe and dangerous practice that will only continue to generate more victims, who could suffer from broken bones, paralysis or even death. Coast Guard watchstanders in Sector San Juan received a call from a 911 Emergency operator, reporting the incident to the Coast Guard as it was relayed by a ranger from the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DNER) Aguadilla Maritime Unit on scene. The reporting source requested Coast Guard air support to remove the immobilized person from the pier. A Coast Guard helicopter and rescue crew was launched from Air Station Borinquen in Aguadilla to provide rescue assistance. Upon arriving on scene, the crew of the first Coast Guard helicopter deployed their rescue swimmer, who with the assistance of EMS personnel stabilized and secured the man on the aircraft litter. The man was lifted on board the helicopter and transported to the Aguadilla Medical Center to receive further medical care. Puerto Rico and Aguadilla Municipality Emergency Management personnel, a Puerto Rico Police Joint Forces of Rapid Action FURA marine unit, and rangers from the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources Aguadilla Maritime Unit in Aguadilla also responded.

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9 10 Tuesday, February 9, 2016 US Treasury Analysis of PR s Fiscal Woes Is Focus of Next Hearing By JOHN MCPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com Rob Bishop The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources will hold an oversight hearing on The U.S. Department of Treasury s Analysis of the Situation in Puerto Rico on Thursday, Feb. 25, Committee Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) announced Monday. Antonio F. Weiss, counselor to the secretary of the Treasury, will testify at the hearing, where the commonwealth s audited financial statements are expected to be a topic of discussion. The hearing will be the latest on Capitol Hill to discuss the crisis surrounding the inability of Puerto Rico to pay its $70- plus billion public debt. The entire list of officials testifying at the hearings had not been announced as of Monday afternoon, but Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi, a member of the panel s Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs, said he will participate and welcomed the news. Congress continues moving in the direction of approving legislation to help Puerto Rico emerge from the crisis it confronts, Pierluisi said in a statement. The hearing before the federal House Natural Resources Committee is the next step. I will be there again to request action instead of merely criticizing past administrations. Pierluisi also said he would defend Puerto Rico s right to self-governance faced with the probability that at some point in the near future Congress appoints a fiscal control board to oversee Puerto Rico s finances in an effort to come to an agreement with its creditors. It is important that my colleagues on this committee realize that the only democracy that exists in Puerto Rico is the right of our people to elect our governors, legislators and mayors, and that it is they who have to respond to our people every four years, Pierluisi said. A federal board or authority that helps us to discharge this responsibility will always be welcome, but not any organization that tries to supplant them. Last week, the resident commissioner, before a U.S. House subcommittee on insular affairs, warned that he would oppose a bill that didn t respect Puerto Rico s democratic institutions. We don t have democracy at the national level, Pierluisi told the subcommittee. If a bill seeks to extinguish our democracy at a local level, I will do everything in my power to defeat it. In his statement released Monday, the resident commissioner said that everyone, including all members of the U.S. Congress, has to recognize that Puerto Rico confronts a fiscal crisis without precedent and that it needs some kind of tool that allows it to refinance a great part of its debt. In the hearing, I will have the opportunity to reiterate this reality and in the same way maintain that the moment has already arrived to treat the U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico with respect. Pierluisi supports giving Puerto Rico access to Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection, something opposed by many Republican members of Congress as well as Puerto Rico s creditors, who stand to receive a substantial haircut with any bankruptcy action. Zika Virus Discourages Many Americans From Latin America Travel The rapidly spreading Zika virus is discouraging many Americans from traveling to Latin America and the Caribbean, with 41 percent of those aware of the disease saying they are less likely to take such a trip, a Reuters/Ipsos poll shows. The poll is the latest sign the virus, suspected to be linked to thousands of birth defects in Brazil, could depress travel to popular cold-weather getaways in the coming months. Airlines and cruise ship operators have yet to report drops in bookings because of Zika, and analysts have downplayed the impact that newly sedentary parents-to-be could have on their revenue. Still, awareness of the mosquito-borne virus has surged to nearly two-thirds of Americans, according to the poll of 1,595 adults in the United States conducted Feb That compares with 45 percent who had heard of Zika in a Reuters/Ipsos poll from late January. I am actively trying to get pregnant with my husband, so I am a little bit concerned, said Erica, a respondent who said she was bitten by a mosquito during a January trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Zika has been reported. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has advised pregnant women to avoid travel to areas with an active outbreak of Zika, and the World Health Organization has declared an international emergency over the disease. Erica, who asked only to be identified by her first name for personal reasons, said she no longer plans to visit Jamaica this summer to celebrate her wedding anniversary. We ve definitely gone back to the drawing board on that, she said, referring to the island, which is on the CDC warning list. Of those aware of the virus, 41 percent said they were less likely to travel to Puerto Rico, Mexico or South America in the next 12 months because of Zika, the poll found. Some 48 percent said Zika had not changed the likelihood of their visiting those destinations, while others did not know. Six out of 10 Americans aware of Zika said the virus concerned them, including 18 percent who said they were very concerned, according to the poll. It s contagious, and it s new, said respondent Toni Brockington, 42, who lives near Fort Bragg, California, and had considered visiting Mexico before learning about the outbreak. The virus, along with the reports of violence and drugs and tourist ransoms, is making it less and less attractive. Much remains unknown about Zika, including whether the virus actually causes the birth defect microcephaly. Brazil is investigating the potential link between Zika infections and more than 4,000 suspected cases of microcephaly, a condition marked by abnormally small head size that can result in developmental problems. Researchers have identified evidence of Zika infection in 17 of these cases, either in the baby or in the mother, but have not confirmed that Zika can cause microcephaly. The poll of Americans concerns and travel plans have a credibility interval - a measure of accuracy - of 3.8 percentage points.