The San Juan Daily Star March 4-6, 2016 15 16 March 4-6, 2016 The San Juan Daily Star Chamber of Commerce Opposes Consumer Bill By JOHN MCPHAUL [email protected] ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO JUNTA DE CALIDAD AMBIENTAL AVISO AMBIENTAL INTENCIÓN DE RENOVAR PERMISO DE INYECCIÓN SUBTERRÁNEA El peticionario, Sr. Ricardo Román Rivera, cuya dirección postal es PO Box 343, Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico 00703, ha solicitado a la Junta de Calidad Ambiental (JCA) la Renovación del Permiso de Operación UIC-94-650010, para un sistema de inyección subterránea (SIS) Clase VII, bajo las disposiciones del Reglamento para el Control de la Inyección Subterránea (RCIS) y la Ley Federal de Agua Potable Segura, según enmendada 42 USC 300f et seq. (LFAPS). El SIS consiste de un tanque de retención de 11.16 pies de ancho por 11.16 pies de largo por 7.16 pies de profundidad líquida con una capacidad de 6,670 galones, para el almacenamiento de aguas de lavado de los tanques de manufactura. El referido SIS está ubicado en las instalaciones de Borinquén Cones, Inc., localizado en la Carretera PR-873, Km 0.2, Barrio Tortugo, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Luego de realizada la evaluación correspondiente de los documentos sometidos, la JCA tiene la intención de renovar el Permiso de Operación para la instalación antes mencionada en conformidad con los requisitos del RCIS y de la LFAPS. Esta notificación se hace para informar que la JCA, ha preparado el borrador del permiso de forma tal que el público interesado pueda someter sus comentarios con relación a los mismos. El permiso contiene las condiciones y prohibiciones necesarias para cumplir con los requisitos reglamentarios aplicables. El público puede evaluar copia de la solicitud de permiso que sometió el peticionario ante la JCA, el borrador del permiso y otros documentos relevantes en el Area de Calidad de Agua de la JCA, cuya oficina está localizada en el Piso 3 Ala A del Edificio Agencias Ambientales Cruz A. Matos, Urbanización San José Industrial Park, Avenida Pone e de León 1375, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Copia de dichos documentos pueden adquirirse en la Oficina de Secretaría, entre las 8:00 am y las 4:00 pm de lunes a viernes o escribiendo a la siguiente dirección: Junta de Calidad Ambiental, PO Box 11488, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00910. Las partes interesadas o afectadas pueden enviar sus comentarios por escrito a la Gerente Interina del Area de Calidad de Agua o solicitar una vista pública por escrito al Director Ejecutivo de la JCA, a la dirección antes indicada. Los comentarios por escrito o la solicitud de vistas públicas deberán ser sometidos a la JCA, no más tarde de treinta (30) días a partir de la fecha de publicación de este aviso. La fecha límite para someter comentarios puede ser extendida si se estima necesario o apropiado para el interés público. La solicitud para una vista pública deberá señalar la razón o las razones que en la opinión del solicitante ameritan la celebración de la misma. De realizarse una vista pública los interesados o afectados tendrán una oportunidad razonable para presentar evidencia o testimonio sobre si se emite o deniega el permiso, si el Director Ejecutivo determina que dicha vista es necesaria o apropiada. Weldin F. Ortiz Franco Director Ejecutivo Edificio de Agencias Ambientales Cruz A. Matos Carretera Estatal 8838, Sector el Cinco, Río Piedras, PR 00926 PO Box 11488, Santurce, PR 00910 Te!. 787-767-8181, Fax 787-767-4861 www.jca.gobierno.pr JCA JUNTA DE CALIDAD AMBIENTAL Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico T he Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce expressed its opposition Thursday to a bill that would prohibit businesses from including in their bills of sale any service charge that does not detail its origin, saying that the Department of Consumer Affairs (DACO) already covers that eventuality. Senate Bill 1557 was filed by Sens. Luis Daniel Rivera Filomeno and Eduardo Bhatia at the end of last month after press reports revealed the existence of restaurants that include services charges in the bill and don’t specify what the charge is for. The measure would create the “Law for Transparency in the Sales Receipt.” Héctor Mayol, interim executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, said the objective of the measure is already contained in the Regulations Against False Practices and Announcements administered by DACO. Mayol cited Rule 7, specifically section B point 14 of the rule, which provides language almost identical to the bill currently under analysis by the Labor Relations, Consumer Affairs and Creation of Employment Committee of the Senate presided over by Rivera Filomeno. In essence, DACO prohibits charging for services “when said services are nonexistent or not susceptible to being corroborated.” “For the business, the dispositions of the rule are clear and you have to comply with them,” Mayol said during a public hearing before the Senate committee. “That being the case, it doesn’t seem to us necessary to attend to this matter in Senate Bill 1557.” “The Legislative Assembly must continue to leave the practices between businesses and consumers in DACO’s hands and allow it the flexibility to regulate,” he added. Mayol noted further that the Chamber of Commerce rejects the practices attributed to certain restaurants and affirmed that the chamber advocates greater transparency in commercial transactions. “You can look at what [DACO] is doing and look at the charter of the agency to see if this law needs amending, because there is a process established in administrative law to deal with these situations,” Mayol said. Disney Plans to Build 2 New Cruise Ships D isney Cruise Line announced Thursday that it is building two new ships. The new vessels are scheduled to be completed in 2021 and 2023. They will be built at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Germany. The new ships will each have about 1,250 staterooms, and will be slightly larger than Disney’s newest ships, Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy. The company has two other ships as well, Disney Magic, and its first ship, Disney Wonder, which launched in 1998. Design plans, ship names and itineraries for the new vessels are still in development. The announcement was made Thursday by Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger in Chicago at the annual meeting of company shareholders. The new vessels will be Disney’s first ships since Disney Fantasy launched in 2012. Disney ships are loaded with company branding, including activities, shows, decor and venues all themed on Disney characters and story lines. But they’re also known for innovation, like virtual portholes in windowless staterooms that provide real-time views of the sea using video technology. That concept has since been copied elsewhere in the cruise industry. And while families are the cruise line’s natural fan base, the ships also attract cruisers traveling without children. In the most recent batch of annual awards from CruiseCritic.com, Disney Cruise Line won 11 first-place awards, including, for Disney Dream, wins in the categories of best overall large ship, best for families, best cabins and best public rooms. ‘‘Disney is consistently rated one of the top cruise lines on Cruise Critic by our members, and it’s a line known for moving the needle with new and state-of-the-art features, so we expect the same high quality touches and focus on innovation will be incorporated on the new ships as well,’’ said Colleen McDaniel, managing editor of CruiseCritic.com. The San Juan Daily Star March 4-6, 2016 17 Apple Gets Tech Industry Backing in iPhone Dispute, Despite Misgivings By NICK WINGFIELD and MIKE ISAAC Yet whatever doubts Apple’s allies voiced privately, they were in the end insufficient to keep a large number of big companies from signing on to the cause. Dropbox’s general counsel, Ramsey Homsany, said in a statement, “We stand against the use of broad authorities to undermine the security of a company’s products.” Bruce Sewell, Apple’s general counsel, said in a statement, “We are humbled by the outpouring of support we’ve received from our customers, our colleagues in business, nonprofit organizations, the security community and many others.” He added, “The groups filing briefs with the court understand, as more and more people have come to realize, that this case is not about one phone — it is about the future and how we protect our safety and our privacy.” On Tuesday, Apple filed its formal objection to the government order to open up the iPhone, citing the reasons set forth in a previously filed motion. For many tech companies that were initially concerned by Apple’s opposition to opening up the iPhone in the San Bernardino case, the worries centered not only on whether this was the right case for challenging the government but also on how public perceptions of the fight might reflect on the rest of the industry, according to tech executives involved in the discussions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. A report by Pew Research Center last week said 51 percent of Americans believed that Apple should unlock the iPhone to assist the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the case, while only 38 percent found Apple in the right. Some of the companies were also concerned that the relationships they had forged with the government might degrade because of Apple’s battle, according to the people involved in the tech industry discussions. In the years since the disclosures by Edward J. Snowden, the former intelligence contractor who released a trove of details on United States government surveillance tactics, some tech companies have been trying to educate members of Congress about online privacy practices. Others were also anxious that Apple’s defiance of the government could lead to congressional efforts to reshape, in ways unfavorable to the tech industry, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which privacy advocates and tech companies have long claimed needs an overhaul. And these companies are watching what effect the fight could have on a proposal to establish a national commission that would explore ways to obtain encrypted data from consumers while working to safeguard users’ privacy. The proposed commission, the bill for which was introduced on Monday, would be led by the House Homeland Security Committee chairman Michael McCaul, Republican of Texas, and Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia. APARTMENT FOR SALE CONDADO OFFICE FOR SALE I t is a remarkable moment for the technology industry, with many different companies and organizations rallying around a single company — Apple — in a major legal case against the United States government over privacy and security. Yet behind the scenes, it took time for some of the tech companies to make the decision to support Apple. Several feared the showdown with the government was too risky and could have far-reaching implications for the tech industry if Apple lost. Those misgivings ultimately did not win the day. About 40 companies and organizations are expected to file court briefs on Thursday backing Apple as it fights a judge’s order to help law enforcement break into an iPhone used by a gunman in the San Bernardino, Calif., terrorist attack last year. Dropbox, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Snapchat and Yahoo are among the tech companies expected to sign on to briefs in the case, according to people with knowledge of the plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity. More than 40 individuals, including prominent security experts and academics, are also planning to sign briefs, which will focus on themes like free speech, the importance of encryption and concerns about government overreach. The show of support — including briefs filed on Wednesday by groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and Access Now — is unusual in its breadth, showing that many in Silicon Valley believe that it could have profound implications on the trustworthiness of their products. “Given the years of companies’ reluctance to be at the barricades around intelligence discussions, this is significant,” said Jules Polonetsky, chief executive of the Future of Privacy Forum, an industry-financed think tank in Washington. Still, several executives at tech companies supporting Apple said they were worried that Apple had picked a fight that could end up backfiring on the rest of the industry. In the days since a magistrate judge in California ordered Apple to bypass security measures on the iPhone, lawyers in some of the companies debated these issues with one another and peers at other firms. All of the executives asked to remain anonymous because their deliberations were private, but their views are shared among others in Silicon Valley. Keith Rabois, a venture capitalist with the firm Khosla Ventures, said he was a strong believer in privacy and encryption — “all the normal Silicon Valley views,” he said — but worried that Apple could lose the case, setting a legal precedent that could force other companies to compromise the security of their products for law enforcement. “In my view, this is the wrong case to fight,” Mr. Rabois said. “There are plenty of other cases with a lot less sympathetic case for the government.” For Mr. Rabois and others, the circumstances working against Apple include the iPhone’s connection to a terrorist attack that left 14 people dead, rather than to a less highly charged crime. Furthermore, the iPhone was owned by the employer of the gunman, Syed Rizwan Farook, which consented to a search of the device. Apple’s defenders said the company did not pick this fight — the government did. Critics of Apple’s approach believe that the company could have quietly complied with the government’s request to help break into the iPhone and then taken a public stand in a more favorable case. But Apple has said that once a tool exists for extracting data from the phone, that tool cannot be made to disappear. Satya Nadella, chief executive of Microsoft, which is expected to side with Apple in its privacy case against the federal government. COND. ATLANTIC PLAZA COND. SAN MARTIN PONCE DE LEON AVE.SANTURCE JUST FEW STEPS TO THE BEACH, PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL, MEDICAL OFFICES, SCHOOLS, RESTAURANTS, DRUG STORES, 3 BEDROOMS, 3 BATHROOMS, PARKING FACILITY IN GOOD CONDITION, APROX. 450 SQ.FT., READY TO MOVE IN, 2 BRAND NEW ELEVATORS. PARKING FACILITIES. ADJACENT TO COBIAN PLAZA. For Information For Information 787-616-1038 787-616-1038 18 March 4-6, 2016 Stocks The San Juan Daily Star Market Inches Upward, p but Earnings g Disappoint pp S tocks made modest gains on Thursday as the market once again turned higher late in the day. Energy stocks led the way as investors continue to hope that oil prices have stabilized after almost two years of steep declines. For the second day in a row, stocks opened with small losses and gradually rose during the afternoon. Energy companies surged and are now slightly higher for the year. Industrial companies like Caterpillar and Deere also rose. Drugmakers led a decline in health care stocks. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index edged up 6.95 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,993.40. Tech stocks lagged, and the Nasdaq composite index added 4 points, or 0.1 percent, to 4,707.42. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 44.58 points, or 0.3 percent, to 16,943.90. Stocks have eked out small gains over the last two days, aided by steady oil prices and reports showing the U.S. economy is on solid footing. After a big jump on Tuesday, and the market is on target for its third consecutive weekly gain. The price of U.S. crude wavered between small gains and losses, finally closing down 9 cents at $34.57 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the benchmark for international oils, added 14 cents to $37.07 a barrel in London. The price of U.S. oil has risen more than 30 percent in three weeks, and Brent crude has erased its losses for the year. ConocoPhillips rose $2.07, or 5.7 percent, to $38.56 and Southwestern Energy jumped $1.13, or 18.2 percent, to $7.34. Chesapeake Energy continued to skyrocket after the company said it does not expect to be prosecuted or fined as part of a federal investigation into the company’s founder and former chief, Aubrey McClendon, who died in a car accident on Wednesday. Mr. McClendon had been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of rigging gas-lease bids. Shares of Chesapeake jumped 23 percent and added another 87 cents, or 25.6 percent, to $4.27. J.J. Kinahan, chief market strategist for TD Ameritrade, said that investors seemed to be waiting for good news about the economy. That could come Friday morning, when the government reports its latest employment figures. Mr. Kinahan said investors will be looking for signs of growth in better-paying jobs, possibly in the manufacturing or health care industries, as opposed to restaurants and hotels. “We know we’re not going to be a manufacturing economy again,” he said, but investors hope to see some growth in manufacturing jobs instead of losses. The Commerce Department said orders to U.S. factories grew 1.6 percent in January, the biggest gain in seven months. A category that measures business investment rose by the largest amount in 19 months. Mining equipment maker Joy Global climbed $2.77, or 20.8 percent, to $16.09 after its first-quarter sales were stronger than expected. 3D printer maker Stratasys rose $3.64, or 17.4 percent, to $24.53. The company’s fourth-quarter results were better than expected and it gave a strong forecast for 2016. MOST ASSERTIVE STOCKS PUERTO RICO STOCKS COMMODITIES CURRENCY LOCAL PERSONAL LOAN RATES LOCAL MORTGAGE RATES Bank FHA 30-YR POINTS CONV 30-YR POINTS BPPR Scotia CooPACA Money House First Mort Oriental 3.00% 3.50% 3.50% 3.75% 3.50% 3.50% 0.00 0.00 2.00 2.00 0.00 0.00 3.50% 4.00% 3.75% 3.75% 5.50% 3.75% 000 0.00 2.00 2.00 0.00 5.50 Bank PERS. CREDIT CARD AUTO BPPR --.-- 17.95 4.95 Scotia 4.99 14.99 4.59 CooPACA 6.75 9.95 2.95 Reliable --.-- --.-- 4.40 First Mort 7.99 --.-- --.-- Oriental 4.95 9.99 7.09
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