Today marks one year since the Plaça del Born in Ciutadella became pedestrianized. An emblematic public space practically free of cars and reclaimed for the citizens, but which is still being challenged in the courts of justice. The lawsuit filed by a group of 22 business owners and private individuals grouped as Ciutadella Viva and, above all, the unexpected ruling by the High Court of Justice (TSJIB) which partially accepts the precautionary measures they were requesting and orders the City Council to "restore" the square to the state it was in a year ago, with cars, keeps the entire municipality in suspense.

The Hauser & Wirth art center, inaugurated five years ago in Menorca with an exhibition by Mark Bradford, now opens its sixth season on Illa del Rei in the port of Maó. It does so alongside Rashid Johnson, a multidisciplinary artist born in Chicago who lands in Menorca with Directionless, a large collective exhibition that he wanted to share with Charles Gaines, Firelei Báez, and Cristina Iglesias so that they could bring the work of artists external to the gallery. Up to 28 creators from ten different countries are represented. Together they shape the largest exhibition ever mounted in this emblematic location, as it occupies both the galleries and the outdoor space of the islet.

The Sant Joan festivals of Ciutadella lowered the curtain this Wednesday evening with the celebration of the traditional Jocs del Pla, the event that puts an end to two intense days of horses, crowds, and emotion. More than 25,000 people filled the old port's basin to closely follow one of the most emblematic and spectacular moments of the Minorcan festive calendar.

The Sant Joan de Ciutadella festivals are experiencing their last big day this Wednesday with the Jocs del Pla as the culmination of the main events, although the program will still extend until Thursday with Sant Joanet. The celebration reaches this final stretch after a night marked by several injuries, a mass brawl during the hazelnut throwing, and sanctions for individuals acting as pirate taxis.

The festival has already broken out in Ciutadella. The first call once again marked this Tuesday the official start of the Sant Joan festivities with a packed Cathedral square and thousands of people waiting for one of the most anticipated rituals of the Menorcan calendar. The contained emotion of the previous hours turned into euphoria when the piper, Sebastià Salort, made his usual tour through the streets of the historic center until he reached the stately home of the Olivar Despujol family, the starting point of a tradition that mobilizes the entire city every year.

Two people were injured, one of them seriously, during the Caragol del Born of the Sant Joan de Ciutadella festivities this Tuesday afternoon, which, once again, brought together thousands of people for one of the central events of the celebration.

In Ciutadella, this year there has been no controversy about Sant Joan. Not even the public defense by the Councilor of Festivities, Esther Mascaró, in favor of female participation in the procession has caused a stir. The debate opened by the unexpected court ruling that forces the City Council to reverse the pedestrianization of the Plaça del Born has overshadowed everything.

The Ciutadella City Council will maintain the legal battle to prevent the return of cars to Plaça del Born. The Council has stated that it will "exhaust all judicial options" after learning of the order for the immediate execution of the precautionary measure that requires the restoration of vehicle access to this central area of the city.

The new Ports Law, which plans to extend the private management of some marinas and sports ports in the Balearic Islands until the age of 75, has coincided with the abrupt end of the concession of the 270 moorings at Lago Resort in Cala en Bosc, Ciutadella, the only one that had been in force for 30 years without any economic consideration from the company to the Administration.

The rise of artificial intelligence as a tool for planning trips is not only changing how vacations are decided, but is also beginning to have a direct effect on which territories receive more tourist pressure. A study on tourist consumption trends points out that Sant Antoni de Portmany, in Ibiza, and Ciutadella in Menorca, are among the destinations recommended by AI agents to travelers, a fact that places the Balearic Islands within a new ecosystem of automated recommendations that may end up conditioning tourist flows even further.

The Ciutadella City Council will file an appeal against the ruling by the Superior Court of Justice of the Balearic Islands (TSJIB) ordering the reversal of the pedestrian zone planned for Plaça del Born. The City Council has stated that it respects the judicial resolution which partially upholds the precautionary measures requested by 22 merchants and individuals and orders cars to return to the square, but has assured that it will exhaust all legal avenues to maintain the current urban planning pacification model and preserve the pedestrian use of the space.

Judicial blow to Ciutadella. The Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice has annulled the political decision to clear cars from Plaça del Born, which the City Council carried out on July 1st, just after the motion of no confidence that returned the government to the left was consummated. In a forceful ruling, the court presided over by Judge Fernando Socias contradicts the first-instance decision and orders the City Council to restore the square to its previous state.

Three women were injured this Sunday morning in Ciutadella after several fragments of a decorative marés stone border detached from the facade of a building located in Plaça Nova.

The residential market in Menorca is increasingly out of reach for those who live there year-round. However, for the first time, proposals and measures are being put on the table that do not consist solely of ceding land to Ibavi for it to promote social housing. The island's Council is promoting the purchase of unoccupied private buildings, and experts and business people suggest that land be reserved for residents to separate this offer from the one that now dominates the market, aimed at attracting the attention of the wealthy.

The National Police have arrested three people in Ciutadella de Menorca —including a father and son— accused of violently assaulting a man, shooting him in the face with a pellet gun, and threatening him with potentially dangerous breed dogs. As reported by the Superior Headquarters of the Police of the Balearic Islands, the events occurred in the early hours of Sunday to Monday, when several patrols from the Citizen Assistance Group were alerted to an assault outside a leisure venue in the municipality.

The Ciutadella City Council has demanded this Tuesday that Ports de les Illes Balears (Ports IB) assume its responsibility and immediately remove the residue of supposedly polluting sludge from the dredging of the port, which has been dumped in the colàrsega.

She is the third mayor of Ciutadella in this term and the fifth woman to occupy the mayor's office since the beginning of democracy. A protégé of current Member of Parliament Joana Gomila (Más por Menorca), with whom she entered the City Council in 2019, Maria Jesús Bagur (1979) takes on the challenge of completing the changes that will transform the city over the next decade.

The presiding judge of Court Number 2 of the Civil and Preliminary Investigation Section of the Ciutadella Court of First Instance has ordered the provisional detention without bail of the two individuals arrested in connection with the violent events in Cala en Blanes, which resulted in the death of a man. The suspects ran over two men in this Menorcan municipality. The magistrate is initially investigating them for the crimes of completed homicide, attempted homicide, and failure to render aid. The case remains under seal, and further investigative procedures are expected in the coming days. The events date back to last Thursday, when a vehicle intentionally ran over two men at the entrance to the residential complex. One of the injured, a 51-year-old man, suffered a severe traumatic brain injury and died the following day in the hospital after being admitted in critical condition. According to the police investigation, the hit-and-run may be related to a previous knife fight between several men that occurred the day before at a local hotel, an incident that also left others injured and has triggered an investigation to clarify the origin of the conflict.

The lead candidate for PSM-Més per Menorca, Maria Jesús Bagur (1979), was sworn in at 1:09 p.m. as the new mayor of Ciutadella. She is the third mayor in two and a half years and the fourth woman to hold the position among the 15 mayors the municipality has had since the beginning of democracy. Visibly moved, the former deputy mayor received the support of 11 of the 21 council members and, amidst applause from citizens and left-wing officials who filled the Can Saura plenary hall to capacity, received the mayoral staff from her predecessor, who had held the position for the past year and a half since the successful vote of no confidence on July 19, 2014, which ousted the People's Party (PP) from the municipal government. On a rainy and windy Saint John Bosco Day, a day of great significance for the city's Salesian community, the PSOE, PSM-Més per Menorca, and Ciutadella Endavant parties fulfilled their governance agreement and carried out the agreed-upon transfer of the mayoralty with the aim of continuing the transformation of Plaça del Born into a vibrant pedestrian space. In her address, the new mayor emphasized municipal politics as a vocation of service and stressed the importance of building partnerships with other administrations, especially the Consell Insular and the Balearic Government, to address the needs of the population. Maria Jesús Bagur wants to create a more sustainable and accessible Ciutadella where no one is left behind and where the elderly are cared for with respect and fairness. The renovation of the nursing home will, in fact, be one of the priorities of her term, along with the renovation of the Born cultural center and the construction of the new Music School, which she has been able to process in recent months through the Culture Department. She has also pledged to take steps to facilitate access to housing, aware that the land transferred to the Balearic Housing Institute (Ibavi) for new developments "is not enough," and has made a public appeal to combat political disaffection. Married and a mother of two, the new mayor is a businesswoman. She has been with the City Council since 2019, when she joined the team led by then-mayor Joana Gomila, who was present at the event. Also in attendance were the regional ministers and the other mayor from the Menorcan party, Joan Manel Palliser (Es Mercadal), who were the only ones who remained standing throughout her speech. Also in attendance were key figures from other parties, such as the PSOE, represented by State Deputy Pepe Mercadal, regional deputies Marc Pons and Pilar Carbonero, island councilors, and the mayor of Maó, Héctor Pons. More than fifty guests, mostly politicians, journalists, and family members, were the only ones able to attend the proceedings in person in the small plenary hall, as the historic Gothic Hall has been under construction for months. This meant that another hundred or so attendees had to watch it on the giant screen installed on the first floor of Can Saura. The event started twenty minutes late because, due to the storm, the Wi-Fi connection was down, and a live broadcast of the plenary session could not be guaranteed. It could also be followed live online. "A team of people, not parties."

The session was opened by the outgoing mayor, the Socialist Llorenç Ferrer, who emphasized the responsibility, the "immense privilege" he had felt, and the "teamwork" that had taken place. His leadership was acknowledged by all his fellow council members, especially the spokesperson for Ciutadella Endavant, Carla Gener, who praised his leadership "of people, not parties." In fact, at the end of the session, the eleven councilors who share management responsibilities embraced in a circle, like a football team, to demonstrate that, 30 months after their failed negotiations for the pact that gave the PP the government for the first year, they had finally closed ranks.

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