via Puerto Rico Daily Sun - Timely news about Puerto Rico, the Caribbean and the world on 4/3/12
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
http://www.prdailysun.com/news/Municipalities-slow-to-accept-Internet-gift
Municipalities slow to accept Internet gift – Puerto Rico Daily Sun – April 3, 2012
By John McPhaul
Of the Daily Sun staff
Despite the importance of technological development to the economic future of the island, the great majority of mayors in Puerto Rico are dragging their feet in accepting a gift from the island’s Telecommunications Regulations Board of free Internet centers and Wi-Fi (wireless Internet access), said Sandra Torres, the board’s president.
The problem appears to be a lack of vision of many of the island’s mayors, said Torres.
“The mayors do not act rapidly, not even giving them something for free,” she said. “This has been like a plea on our part.”
Conscious of the value of broadening Internet access to Puerto Rico’s economic development, the Legislative Assembly passed Law 101 in July of 2010 to provide each municipality with an Internet center where the public can go online free and use Wi-Fi (wireless Internet access) in every public central plaza on the island.
In order to close the “digital divide” between low-income families and families who can afford Internet service in the home, the law intends to extend easy Internet access to every corner of the island.
“Unfortunately, in Puerto Rico many families, especially those of scarce economic resources, don’t have the necessary capital to afford the provision of technology or information equipment in their homes,” the law states.
The penetration of the Internet in Puerto Rico at 35 percent lags well behind the United States at 70 percent and some European countries which have up to 90 percent, said Torres
The Telecommunications Regulations Board earmarked $3 million for the purpose of preparing and equipping the centers and providing the Wi-Fi, giving the board $40,000 to $45,000 dollars per municipality, said Torres.
The only thing that the municipalities have to do is to provide space for the Internet center with water, lights and bathrooms, she said.
Administration of the centers would initially fall on the municipalities to later be handed over to nonprofit organizations.
The board provides everything else for the center: a minimum of 10 computers (depending on the population of the municipality) equipped with content filters, printers, security cameras, furniture and materials for small repairs; and for the Wi-Fi: wireless Internet antennae and content filter.
The board even provides model letters which municipalities can use to request the service.
“If they have problems with the paint, we will paint the center. If they have electrical problems, we’ll send an electrician. If they have problems with cement we’ll send a contractor,” said Torres. “I don’t know what else they want. The issue with them is a lack of interest.”
Torres noted that the Wi-Fi would cover areas in the close vicinity of the public plazas in addition to the plaza themselves, posing the possibility of creating businesses which cater to laptop-carrying students and professionals in a manner done with great success by Starbucks.
Meanwhile the mayors, it appears, are stuck in the last century.
“There are mayors who send everything by fax. They refuse to use technology,” said Torres. “They don’t see the opportunity they have for their constituents and for themselves in the use of technology.”
The municipalities which currently have Internet centers are Moca, Toa Alta, San Sebastian, Manati, Aguada and Gurabo.
The center in Loiza is ready for inauguration.
The rest of the municipalities are in at various stage of the process of fixing up centers, installing the Internet and choosing the locale of the centers, among others.
The sluggishness of the mayors contrasts with the advance the central government in providing Internet access to various commonwealth agencies.
On the Internet citizens can look up tax debts, pay taxes, obtain birth certificates, obtain penal records and pay water and electric bills, among other services.
Robert McCarroll
![Bob%20jpeg[1]](http://lh3.ggpht.com/--ucJcYr68Ok/T3ZYVto2mxI/AAAAAAAAAw4/aKCZ63k26fA/s1600-h/Bob%252520jpeg%25255B1%25255D%25255B2%25255D.jpg "Bob%20jpeg[1]")
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“Maybe it is time to throw the uncaring, selfish, incompetent bums out of office.... ???? ....” – Bob
Robert McCarroll also recommends this site and articles:
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Robert McCarroll
Keeping the focus on ourselves....
If any of my friends in the fellowship has Felix’s email address,
please forward this to him. This question of being bothered by
people not worth wasting our time on has been a topic at a lot
of meetings this month.
A lady who had Dr. Bob as her sponsor often visited the
Mustard Seed back in the 1970’s. She was wonderful. I
one day asked her what is the greatest advice she could
give me. Here is her advice:
“Mind my own business and it is not my business if others
are trying to mind my business.”
-- Bob McC.
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Humping on deck dock side instead of ocean side.... How stupid!!!
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http://www.caribbeanbusinesspr.com/news03.php?nt_id=69916&ct_id=1&ct_name=1
Issued : Monday, April 2, 2012 05:34 PM
PR autism rates outpace mainland – Caribbean Business online
By CB Online Staff
cbnews@caribbeanbusinesspr.com
The Puerto Rico Autism Center will officially open its doors in San Juan this week to serve young children on an island where the prevalence of the disorder outpaces rising rates in the U.S.
Gov. Luis Fortuño and first lady Lucé Vela cut the ribbon on the facility near the Río Piedras Medical Center on Monday. The center will start operations on Tuesday, serving children up to five years old who have been diagnosed with autism or shown signs of the disorder.
“This ailment touches everyone at some point and it is up to all of us to be part of the solution,” Fortuño said. “As a father, I know that there is nothing tougher than having a child who is suffering and not knowing why.”
A recent survey found that 1 in 62 children in Puerto Rico suffer from autism or a related disorder. The rate of U.S. cases rose to about 1 in 88 children, federal health officials said last week. The previous estimate was 1 in 110.
The rise is largely due to wider screening and better diagnosis, health officials said.
“Our situation is more severe than in the U.S. Fortuño said.
The center will initially focus on early intervention to be able to diagnose potential autism cases and provide educational services to parents. Future plans call for the establishment of longer term care.
“We want to develop a research center. We are committed to understanding the neefds of these children and their families to be able to find solutions,” said Annie Alonso, director of the Developmental Deficiencies Institute at the University of Puerto Rico’s Medical Sciences campus.
Parents welcomed the opening of the new center, which fills a gap in Puerto Rico’s health care system.
Comptroller Yezmín Valdivieso recounted how she felt compelled to move to Florida to get care for her autistic son, who is now 20.
“Autism will eventually reach your door because it is on the rise,” event producer Martiza Casiano said. “This is not the neighbor’s problem, it is everyone’s fight.”
The government-funded Mi Salud (Medicaid) health care covers autism treatments, as do many private insurance plans.
The new federal figure is from the latest in a series of studies that have been steadily increasing the U.S. government’s autism estimate. This new number means autism is nearly twice as common as officials said it was only five years ago, and likely affects roughly 1 million U.S. children and teens.
Health officials attribute the increase largely to better recognition of cases, through wide screening and better diagnosis. But the search for the cause of autism is really only beginning, and officials acknowledge that other factors may be helping to drive up the numbers.
“We’re not quite sure the reasons for the increase,” said Coleen Boyle of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Autism is diagnosed by making judgments about a child’s behavior; there are no blood or biologic tests. For decades, the diagnosis was given only to kids with severe language and social impairments and unusual, repetitious behaviors. The definition of autism has gradually expanded, and “autism” is now shorthand for a group of milder, related conditions, including Asperger’s syndrome. Meanwhile, there’s been an explosion in autism-related treatment and services for children.
As in the past, advocacy groups seized on the new numbers as further evidence that autism research and services should get greater emphasis. The new figures indicate “a public health emergency that demands immediate attention,” said Geraldine Dawson, chief science officer for the advocacy group Autism Speaks.
The CDC study released last week is considered the most comprehensive U.S. investigation of autism prevalence to date. Researchers gathered data from areas in 14 states — Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah and Wisconsin.
They looked specifically at 8-year-old children because most autism is diagnosed by that age. They checked health and school records to see which children met the criteria for autism, even if they hadn’t been formally diagnosed. Then, the researchers calculated how common autism was in each place and overall.
An earlier report based on 2002 findings estimated that about 1 in 150 children that age had autism or a related disorder such as Asperger’s. After seeing 2006 data, the figure was revised to about 1 in 110. The estimate released Thursday, based on 2008 data, is 1 in 88.
The study also found that autism disorders were almost five times more common in boys. And that an increasingly large proportion of children with autism have IQs of 85 or higher — a finding that contradicts a past assumption that most autistic kids had IQs of 70 or lower.
Also, higher autism rates were found in some places than others. For example in Utah, as many as 1 in 47 of the 8-year-olds had an autism spectrum disorder. In New Jersey, 1 in 49 did.
Alabama was at the other end the scale, with only about 1 in 210 identified as autistic. The difference was attributed to less information out of Alabama. Researchers were not able to access school information in that state and a few others, and as a result believe they have a less complete picture.
That’s a reasonable explanation, said Zachary Warren, director of an autism treatment and research institute at Vanderbilt University.
“How you go looking for something is going to affect what you find,” he said.
In the early 1990s, only a few out of every 10,000 children were diagnosed with the condition, based on some small studies in individual states or cities. But the numbers began to change dramatically after 2000, when Congress directed federal health officials to do more autism research, and CDC started the larger study to see how common autism is.
CDC is also studying the cause of autism, which has remained a mystery.
Genetics is believed to play a role. Some parents and others have believed childhood vaccines trigger autism, even though many studies have not found a connection.
CDC researchers are looking at other possible factors, including illnesses that mothers had while they were pregnant with children who later were diagnosed as autistic. The researchers also are looking into medications that the pregnant women took and those given to their children took when they were young. The first results of that study are expected next year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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http://www.topix.com/world/puerto-rico
Puerto Rico News
News on Puerto Rico continually updated from thousands of sources around the net.
5 min ago | | Upfront Yankee
Are both Romney and Fortuño Etch-A-Sketch candidates? – Puerto Rico Daily Sun – 01/04/12
It has become obvious to most astute voters that Willard Mitt Romney is an Etch-A-Sketch candidate. All over the United States, he has been trying to convince voters in the local primaries that he is a “conservative” totally against Obama care and other liberal programs for the middle and working class. When he arrived in Puerto Rico, he tried to give the impression that he is a moderate or even liberal. He wanted Puerto Ricans to view him as being for the kinds of liberal programs the Democrats made possible stateside and here in Puerto Rico. Local Republican leaders in Puerto Rico promoted what he had done while Governor of Massachusetts years ago and not the far right-wing Republican image he is now giving when campaigning in the states.
Romney’s sketch changes with locations and time periods. When he arrived in Puerto Rico, he shook his Etch-A-Sketch image from being conservative tea party to being more for the working people. When he returned to the mainland, he shook his image board again back to be a way-to-the-right conservative. If he is nominated and runs against liberal Democrat Barack Obama, he will shake his image board to be more liberal and mainstream. He is always changing images and with no permanent or long lasting convictions. He is constantly shaking his Etch-A-Sketch to get votes and not for what is right for the people.
Puerto Rico Luis Fortuño is most certainly an Etch-A-Sketch candidate like Willard Mitt Romney. When among the voters of Puerto Rico, Fortuño sounds a lot like Obama. He is for all those Democrat liberal programs. When he gets on the plane to visit his GOP cohorts in the states, he shakes his Etch-A-Sketch to become as conservative, tea party as Romney. On the return trip to the Enchanted Island. Forfuño needs to shake his image board again to come across to Puerto Rican voters as being more liberal and for the working people.
Unfortunately for Fortuño, in some areas of being a leader, he is so right-wing and cannot change no matter how much he shakes his image board. For example, he is not for separation of church and state or for gay rights. Thank God, unlike Heir Schatz of the Puerto Rico Senate, he does not give a duck quacking sound to insult his political opponents. It is obvious that Schatz has no Etch-A.Sketch board. But we all know who Schatz is and wonder exactly who is Luis Fortuño.
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Robert McCarroll – Carolina, Puerto Rico:
--- Wait!!! Fortuño is shaking his board again to get more votes or to be liked by mainland right-wingers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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I posted this on Sep. 24, 2011. The Rum Diary is really about me as an always drunk public relations want-to-be novelist getting chased because of my nasty mouth. I have more lives than the nine Lives Ever Ready Cat. -- Bob
Sep 24, 2011 | Posted by: Upfront Yankee
'The Rum Diaries' poster: Johnny Depp shows 'The Hangover' boys how it's done
Full story: insidemovies.ew.com
Enterainment Weekly – September 24, 2011
Bruce Robinson’s adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s novel The Rum Diary won’t hit theaters until Oct. 28, but the newly released poster will prepare you for what is sure to be a wild ride. The film chronicles the drunken life of journalist Paul Kemp (Johnny Depp) while he works and lives in San Juan, Puerto Rico during the 1950s, and the poster perfectly captures his chaotic trip. Depp’s face isn’t shown, as it’s too busy adjusting to the sunlight after stumbling through what looks to be a very drunken night. We do get to see his sculpted back and trashed hotel room, which is completely littered with things like broken bottles, a gun, bowling pins, and a goldfish. Welcome to Puerto Rico! [Open above link to view original source and comments from EW.com readers.]
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I wrote this on Sep. 27, 2011 --- Bob
http://www.topix.com/forum/world/puerto-rico/TU5J69GA832TOD96P
Sep 27, 2011 | Posted by: Upfront Yankee
The San Juan Star returns in time for “The Rum Diary'” movie...
The main filming location of the tape film "The Rum Diary," which was shot in Puerto Rico with Johnny Depp starring in a building is decorated and labeled with the name "The San Juan Star" which is located in Old San Juan, off the premises of the Office of Management and Budget (OGP).
“The Rum Dairy” movie is about journalists who worked for the San Juan Star in the 1960’s. I am wondering if there is a relationship between the San Juan Star being published again October 4th and the movie being released October 28.. What great publicity if Johnny Depp visited the production line of the revived San Juan Star and said “roll the presses” while the publisher of the San Juan Star visited a Caribbean Cinema and said “turn on “The Rum Diary” projectors”.
It would have been strange to have the movie open here and the paper was dead. It could be a celebration that the film is finally released and the San Juan Star is again hot off the press.
Why does nothing come up when I Google: “San Juan Star returns October 4, 2011”? There have been advertising on the English-language Radio Station WOSO that the San Juan Star will be published Monday through Fridays starting October 4. For now, it seems it will not publish on weekends.
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Santero priest targeted in PRico drug operation
via Puerto Rico Newswire on 4/3/12
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A Santeria leader charged with helping run an organization that allegedly smuggled drugs bound for the U.S. and rigged Puerto Rico's lottery system to launder money was among dozens of suspects arrested Tuesday, according to federal agents.
US agents dismantle Puerto Rico drug organization led by Santero priest - Washington Post
via puerto rico - Google News on 4/3/12
US agents dismantle Puerto Rico drug organization led by Santero priest
Washington Post
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A Santeria leader charged with helping run an organization that allegedly smuggled drugs bound for the US and rigged Puerto Rico's lottery system to launder money was among dozens of suspects arrested Tuesday, according to ...
and more »
US agents dismantle Puerto Rico drug organization led by Santero priest
By Associated Press, Updated: Tuesday, April 3, 5:21 PM
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A Santeria leader charged with helping run an organization that allegedly smuggled drugs bound for the U.S. and rigged Puerto Rico’s lottery system to launder money was among dozens of suspects arrested Tuesday, according to federal agents.
Orlando Robles Ortiz is accused of helping the group transport U.S.-bound cocaine from the Dutch Caribbean island of St. Maarten to Puerto Rico and of consulting with a spirit named “Samuel” on which days were best to do so, officials said.
Robles also would consult the spirit before accepting new members to the organization, said Pedro Janer, acting special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Caribbean division.
He noted that while Afro-Caribbean religions have played an important role in drug trafficking here, it is unusual for a Santero priest to help lead such an organization.
By Tuesday afternoon, at least 18 of the 22 suspects had been arrested in San Juan and in New York following a seven-month investigation named “Voodoo Sam.”
“It appears the spirit was on vacation thanks to Holy Week,” Janer said about the group’s failure to recognize that federal agents were closing in thanks to a tip received from authorities in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
The organization had operated since 2003 and is accused of earning $127 million distributing at least 840 kilograms (1,850 pounds) of cocaine a year across Puerto Rico and to Connecticut and New York aboard commercial planes, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Mariana Bauza.
Among those accused is a former stewardess for American Airlines, a former local basketball player and the former owner of a local baseball team.
The organization also had developed a contact within Puerto Rico’s lottery office that would give them winning numbers that had not been claimed so they could hide their earnings, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Jose Capo.
The group bought at least 33 tickets for their actual price plus 20 percent commission and then present the ticket as if it were theirs, he said. The lottery office would then write a check for the winning amount, helping the organization launder more than $1.4 million, he said.
The suspects face a maximum of life in prison if found guilty of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
HSI arrests *Puerto Rican* community leader for production of child *...*
via puerto rico - Google Blog Search by webmaster@ice.gov (ICE) on 4/2/12
HSI arrests Puerto Rican community leader for production of child pornography. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – A community leader in charge of managing the girls' volleyball team at Residencial Alturas de Isabela was arrested at ...
Juan Manuel Lopez loses license - ESPN
via puerto rico - Google News on 4/3/12
Juan Manuel Lopez loses license
ESPN
AP SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- The commonwealth's professional boxing commission has suspended the license of former WBO featherweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez for one year for criticizing a referee after his March 10 loss to Mexico's Orlando Salido.
Juanma is Suspended For One Year, Plans To AppealBoxingScene.com
Juan Manuel Lopez loses boxing license fFOXSports.com
Juan Manuel Lopez loses boxing license for one yearMiamiHerald.com
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