Winner of Vol. 72, No. 4
What’s inside?
the Pulitzer Prize
Thursday, March 4, 2021
$1.00
NURSING HOME DEATHS
Biaggi wants answers from Cuomo
n State lawmakers introduce bills to strip governor of his emergency pandemic powers By ETHAN STARK-MILLER estarkmiller@riverdalepress.com
Zoom in to read Pediatricians help their young patients outside the office with a prescription of a good book. Page A3
This time last year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo could seemingly do no wrong. The coronavirus was rapidly spreading around the country, and New York had become the epicenter of the pandemic. It didn’t help there was a leadership void at the highest level as the Trump administration publicly downplayed the severity of the crisis. In all of this chaos and uncertainty, Cuomo provided a powerful counterweight. With his daily news conferences, the governor presented the image of a competent leader driven by data and science who understood the danger of the virus, and was actively fighting it. It provided a sense of calm and comfort to people not only in New York, but across the country. A year later, however, major cracks in Cuomo’s shiny image are starting to show. In recent days, the governor has been hit with at least two allegations of sexual harassment from former members of his administration team. But even before those women stepped forward, Cuomo was under fire for allegedly hiding data on coronavirus deaths in nursing homes.
The smoking gun?
Wellness writing Author finds way to cut through the anxieties of a pandemic with novel inspiring us to ‘Continue Breathing.’ Page A7
State Attorney General Letitia James unveiled a report last month showing COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes may have
Courtesy of Darren McGee/Office of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo
Courtesy of NYS Senate Media Services
Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a directive last year that nursing homes must take back coronavirus-positive patients from hospitals because of the limited number of hospital beds available in the wake of the pandemic. Claims Cuomo may have under-reported the number of deaths in nursing homes have fueled efforts by those like state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi to strip the governor of his emergency pandemic powers and a full investigation into what happened last year. been 50 percent higher than what Cuomo originally released. More than 15,000 people have died from the coronavirus in New York’s nursing homes to date. Soon after, news reports surfaced that Melissa DeRosa, Cuomo’s top aide, admitted to Democratic lawmakers the administration hid the full nursing home death toll as a way to prevent Trump’s Justice
Department from opening what she said was a politically motivated investigation into the state. All of this has been more than enough for state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, a regular Cuomo critic. She didn’t hesitate to call out the governor over the nursing home data, and introduced legislation she said would hold Cuomo accountable while addressing
other underlying problems within nursing homes. “There are things that the governor has done well, and then there are things that the governor failed at,” Biaggi said. “And the nursing home scandal is something that he failed at. He and his administration kept those numbers of deaths from CUOMO, page A4
Sex work: Is it up next for the state agenda? n More of a state issue, but candidates for city council offer their two cents By ROSE BRENNAN & ETHAN STARK-MILLER of The Riverdale Press
Class of the lost They’ve waited a year, yet all these graduates will get is the same online ceremony they could’ve had last year. Page A9
When people talk sex work, many immediately think of the world’s oldest profession. Yet prostitution is just one part of a much larger industry that includes exotic dancers and adult film actors. Among the many differences between the two sides, the biggest is probably the most important: Prostitution remains illegal. It’s seemingly the final frontier in society’s full acceptance of sex work. And because no laws appear capable of making this at times dangerous profession go away, some advocates believe it’s time to decriminalize or even legalize prostitution once and for all. But even among those seeking to change how laws approach prostitution, the divide between legalization and deJARED criminalization remains deep. TRUJILLO There’s a clear difference between the two, says Jared Trujillo. He’s an attorney with the Legal Aid Society who works with DecrimNY, a coalition of advocacy groups fighting the stigmatization of those in the sex trade while working to not only decriminalize the industry, but to reduce — if not outright eliminate — the number of people in jail because of it. Decriminalization is just the removal of criminal penalties for prostitution, Trujillo said, while legalization would SEX WORK, page A4
Courtesy of DecrimNY
There’s been a lot of debate surrounding sex work in New York over the past few years — whether among the local city council candidates or lawmakers up in Albany. Some, like sex work advocacy group DecrimNY, argue the practice should be decriminalized, while others think it should be fully legal and subject to government regulation.
Special election then primary creates a ‘double-marathon’ n City council candidates face both financial and logistical challenges in the coming weeks and months By ETHAN STARK-MILLER estarkmiller@riverdalepress.com
HIRAM ALEJANDRO DURÁN
Doug Muzzio, a political science professor at Baruch College, thinks the winner of the March 23 city council special election will have an advantage in the June primary. Being the incumbent could make it much easier to raise money from scratch in the primary, a challenge all of the special election candidates will face.
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Most would say running in just one election is tough. Even at the local level, candidates need to raise and spend tens of thousands of dollars to get their message out to voters. In addition to money, time, manpower and a lot of conviction are required to win. If it takes all of this to campaign in one election, then it’s not a stretch to say that running in another
immediately after is an almost Herculean challenge. But this is the challenge many of the candidates running to replace Andrew Cohen on the city council face. Whoever wins the March 23 special election will only serve out the remainder of Cohen’s term — about nine months — and will have to win the Democratic primary in June in order to hold the seat for the next two years. The winner of the Democratic primary in this part of the Bronx is almost assured a general election win in November because, well, the borough is solidly blue ideologically.
Earning home court advantage
The primary is set June 22, only about three months after the March special election. The proxELECTION MARATHON, page A4