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The Daily Mail Copyright 2020, Columbia-Greene Media Volume 228, No. 133
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Dire prediction Second half of 2020 could be worse than the first, A2
The nation’s fourth-oldest newspaper • Serving Greene County since 1792
TUESDAY, JULY 7, 2020
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Cliff jumper makes leap of faith
n FORECAST WEATHER FOR HUDSON/CA TODAY TONIGHT WED
By Sarah Trafton Columbia-Greene Media Not as warm with some sun
A t-storm in spots early
Humid with clouds and sun
HIGH 81
LOW 69
84 68
Complete weather, A2
n SPORTS
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Hassan Basagic of Hunter cliff jumps at Fawn’s Leap. Basagic, now 75, says the environment and image of the mountaintop are at stake because of COVID-19 and overcrowding. Basagic was a subject of a Travel Channel documentary on cliff divers in 2016.
Tanaka released from hospital Yankees’ Tanaka took line drive to the head PAGE B1
n LOCAL
HUNTER — Hassan Basagic, 75, is not letting anything get in his way. In 2016, at 71, Basagic was featured in an episode of The Travel Channel about the daring stunts of cliff diving. Videos of the Hunter resident, who also happens to be one of four Greene Count coroners, climbing trees and making 60-75 foot jumps into Fawn’s Leap have made international news. “I won’t be able to jump
forever, but I don’t see it ending soon,” Basagic said. “I’m still in good health. At 75 I’m pretty lucky to be able to do 60-, 75-foot jumps.” Despite his position as a county coroner, Basagic said his hobby is not inspired by a heightened comfort or acceptance of his own mortality — he is well aware of the risks. “I do warn people about the dangers,” he said. “You can have a slip and a fall if you’re not careful. It can be dangerous. We had our first fatality [at Fawn’s Leap] on
Aug. 31, 2019. It was a very sad situation. He was scaling down underneath the waterfall and he grabbed hold of a rock underneath and pulled it down on top of him. It was very sad.” Basagic has recently become aware of other dangers at the falls, he said. “There’s a problem there now,” he said. “Local people are not happy with the volume of traffic and illegal parking and the refuse left See CLIFF A8
Report: Staff, visitors caused NY nursing home deaths
Destroyer sails down Hudson The USS Slater passes Greene, Columbia PAGE A3
n OBITUARY COURTESY OF THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
State Health Department Commissioner Howard Zucker delivers a briefing in Manhattan on Monday on the department’s report following an investigation into controversy surrounding the state’s COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes and adult-care facilities.
By Kate Lisa Johnson Newspaper Corp.
Famed movie composer dead Award-winning Ennio Morricone dies at 91 PAGE A5
n INDEX Region Opinion State/Nation Obituaries Sports Classified Comics/Advice
A3 A4 A5 A5 B1 B4-5 B7-8
NEW YORK — Staff and visitors brought COVID-19 into New York nursing homes, health officials said Monday, citing a report following an investigation into controversy surrounding coronavirus fatalities in adult-care facilities statewide. Thousands of COVID-19 deaths inside New York nursing homes stemmed from infected
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See NURSING A8
FILE PHOTO
The outside of The Pines at Catskill Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in Catskill. The state Department of Health released a report Monday following an investigation into controversy surrounding the state’s COVID-19 nursing home fatalities.
NY schools to draft reopening plan By Kate Lisa Johnson Newspaper Corp.
www.HudsonValley360.com
workers and visitors introducing the coronavirus into the vulnerable facilities. To date, at least 6,281 people have died inside New York nursing homes in connection to COVID-19, or about 25% of the state’s more than 24,900 overall deaths. More than 101,000 residents live in one of 613 nursing-home or adult-care facilities in the state. Nursing-home staff and
NEW YORK — School districts must come up with a plan to safely resume in-person classroom instruction in case New York officials decide to reopen schools and universities amid the COVID-19 pandemic this fall, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday. The state directed New York’s 713 public school districts to devise a plan for students, faculty and staff to safely reopen and return to the classroom setting. Cuomo and his top aides have
not decided when, or if, New York schools and universities will reopen this fall outside online-learning models. “We obviously would very much like to,” Cuomo said during a pandemic briefing Monday in his Manhattan office. “We’re not going to say children should go back to school until we know it’s safe. We have some time. This is a very fluid situation.” Districts must come up with a plan to reopen in the meantime, Cuomo said, in case New York’s COVID-19 numbers remain low and the decision is feasible later this
summer. The Great New York State Fair is canceled for 2020 because of the coronavirus, Cuomo announced Monday. The 18-day fair, which draws more than 1 million visitors to the Syracuse area each year, was scheduled for Aug. 21 through Sept. 7 at the State Fairgrounds in the town of Geddes, Onondaga County. “This is a really tough one,” Cuomo said of the decision, which was not unexpected. On April 28, the governor suggested the fair was unlikely to proceed this year, See SCHOOLS A8
COURTESY OF GOV. ANDREW CUOMO’S OFFICE
The state’s 713 public school districts must come up with a plan to reopen this fall amid the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic in case state officials decide schools can resume in-person classroom instruction, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday during a pandemic briefing in Manhattan.
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