A grieving family is seeking economic help to bring the body of their loved one home.

Stephany Gradys Artola was a special education teacher in Barcelona, Spain. She was also part of the choir of the Sagrada Familia temple. The 27-year-old died this weekend after eating. She died by asphyxia but the cause is still unclear.

Her mother and two sisters traveled to Barcelona after hearing the news. They have the intention of repatriating her body but this costs ¢6.2 million. The option to cremate the body is also costly, ¢3.1 million. They must also cover the three round-trip plane tickets.

Stephany is remembered as a woman of faith who had clear objectives and was dedicated to her dreams. She was happy, optimistic and full of hope.

Contributions can be deposited in the account in colones of the BAC in the name of Andrés Arturo Barquero Torres, identity card 1-1340-0758.

SINPE account: 10200007000184356.

Client Account: 700018435

The CCSS funded 15,000 prostheses to help those hard of hearing. This sounds good on the surface but the Costa Rican Association of Therapists is against this move. Let’s look into the issue.

The Caja believes that this decision will maintain the quality of appliances and that the attention will improve. It points out that more expensive options are now available at now cost to the patient.

The CTCR believes this will actually negatively affect service to 15,000 patients. This is because the old model of service was that the CCSS funded the hearing aids and the patients were able to choose the one they wanted as well as the private practice to receive care but through the new consolidated public purchase the available devices will come from only 9 of the current 45 companies in the country, limiting the patient’s options.

They also ask how control will be handled for the entire population by only 30 audiologists when the wait list is already 1-3 years long.

Should the Government save Recope and to what end and at what cost? These are doubts some deputies have. There is an initiative to save it almost at any cost by changing it into an entity that ventures into alternative energies.

The bill in question would change the name of Recope to the Costa Rican Company of Fuels and Alternative Energies, Sociedad Anónima (Ecoena) and dedicate it to the research, development and sale of alternative energies.

It is not well received because it is a way to finance an institution that has already been inefficient for such a long time, a risk to public finances. Additionally, it would be doing a job that the private sector already does well.

An additional problem seen with the idea is that it focuses on hydrogen energy, an energy type not yet proven. Costa Rica should be focused on solar power because of the solar energy to spare.

A tourist bus caught on fire but none of the 52 passengers were injured. It happened on route 32 in a restaurant parking lot while the group was eating breakfast in the restaurant.

This happened yesterday morning about 150 meters before the crossing to Rio Frio de Sarapiquí. The tour bus was headed to thermal springs in San Carlos.

It is not immediately clear what caused the fire but it is believed to have been an engine failure. The driver heard a detonation similar to a tire exploding and then saw smoke from the engine and a spreading fire.

The bus was completely consumed by flames but they were put out with two fire extinguishers. The bus has been declared a total loss.

During Holy Week, a fire emergency was attended to on average every 9 hours. The population is urged to strengthen preventive actions to avoid further emergencies.

The Minister of Education, Edgar Mora, stated that he suspects corruption schemes related to school construction. He has found irregularities in the office that plans and maintains the construction of schools in Costa Rica.

The problems were apparent since almost a decade ago. They have been referred to as a management crisis that has become chronic. Moreover, they are aggravated by means to disguise corruption schemes.

Some of the problems include delivering materials before having a project to do at the school, using materials designated for sanitary projects to instead create a new building, and overvaluation of projects.

Mora seeks to change the model of leadership in the Directorate of Infrastructure and Educational Equipment (DIEE) in order to correct the problems. He wants to centralize who is in charge so there are not so many people (5,000) involved in making decisions about administrative contracting.

There have been positive changes in Manuel Antonio recently allowing for an increase in the daily limit of visitors to the national park. It is already the most visited national park in the country.

That being said, many complaints were made by tourists and the community about deficiencies in services. There was a sanitary restriction that has now been lifted thanks to improvements in sanitary conditions.

Starting this month, 2,700 people can enter per day instead of the 1,700 when the restriction was in place. The Ministry of Environment and Energy was behind the improvements in the wastewater treatment system at beach 3. Additional portable toilets were also added.

The National System of Conservation Areas, the Costa Rican Tourism Institute, as well as community institutions and private companies are to thank for their involvement in bettering the park.