More than half of states will recognize Juneteenth as an official public holiday in 2023
More than half of states will recognize Juneteenth as an official public holiday in 2023
The newest federal holiday, Juneteenth National Independence Day, celebrates the end of slavery in the United States. But at the state level, governments vary considerably in whether they commemorate it as an official holiday, a day of observance or something in between.
This year, at least 28 states and the District of Columbia will legally recognize Juneteenth as a public holiday – meaning state government offices are closed and state workers have a paid day off – according to a Pew Research Center analysis of state human resources websites, state legislation and news articles. Connecticut, Minnesota, Nevada and Tennessee have made Juneteenth a public holiday at the state level starting this year.
In most of these states, Juneteenth is designated as a permanent state holiday and commemorated annually. In Alabama and West Virginia, Juneteenth has been authorized as a state holiday for this year by a governor’s proclamation; the holiday can become permanent in these states if their legislatures pass bills to make it so.
In addition to D.C. and the states where Juneteenth is an official public holiday, other states give certain government workers the day off but haven’t declared Juneteenth a holiday at the state level.
Starting this year, California state employees can choose to take Juneteenth off in lieu of a personal holiday. In Pennsylvania, the day is designated as an “official annual observanceâ€Â and a paid day off for state employees under the governor’s jurisdiction. And in North Carolina, some state workers can choose to take a floating holiday on a day of “cultural, religious or personal significance,†including Juneteenth.
Juneteenth is a combination of the words June and nineteenth. It commemorates the day more than two months after the end of the Civil War – and more than two years after Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation – when enslaved Black Americans in Galveston, Texas, were informed of their freedom.
It is one of 11 official federal holidays – or 12 for federal workers in the District of Columbia and surrounding areas during presidential inauguration years – meaning that federal workers get a paid day off and there’s no mail delivery. Most federal offices are closed on federal holidays, along with most banks and the bond markets that trade in U.S. government debt. The stock markets generally remain open, as do most retailers and other businesses, though these vary by federal holiday.
Most states where Juneteenth is a public holiday added it to their calendars in 2020 or later. The exception is Texas, where the holiday originated and where it is also known as Emancipation Day. Juneteenth has been celebrated locally in Texas since the 1860s and became an official state holiday there in 1980.
Public awareness of Juneteenth grew in 2020 amid nationwide protests after the police killings of several Black Americans, including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. President Joe Biden signed the legislation that made Juneteenth a federal holiday in June 2021.
Every state has at some point passed a resolution recognizing Juneteenth at least as a day of observance – even those that do not count Juneteenth among their official public holidays. An observance is a day of awareness that isn’t accompanied by a day off.
In fact, except for Texas, all states that currently recognize Juneteenth as a public holiday commemorated it as a day of observance years before it became an official state holiday. Florida, Oklahoma and Minnesota were the first states outside Texas to commemorate Juneteenth as a day of observance in the 1990s. New Mexico has recognized Juneteenth as a state holiday since 2006, observed on the third Saturday of June; it became a paid holiday for state workers for the first time in 2022.
South Dakota, North Dakota and Hawaii were the last states to give Juneteenth any formal recognition as an important date. The day was not observed in South Dakota until 2020, when the governor proclaimed it a state holiday. In Hawaii and North Dakota, Juneteenth has been a day of observance since 2022 but is not considered a state holiday.
Juneteenth is catching on as a holiday in major U.S. cities as well. Last year, cities including New York, Los Angeles and Phoenix declared the day an official paid holiday for city workers. In addition to Juneteenth, the District of Columbia celebrates Emancipation Day on April 16 in honor of the day Lincoln freed the enslaved people living in D.C., almost nine months before the Emancipation Proclamation.
“IS IT TRUE” JUNE 19, 2023
Any comments posted in this column do not represent the views or opinions of the City-County Observer or our advertisers.
News Organizations Collaborate To Fill In News Deserts Across Indiana
News organizations collaborate to fill in news deserts across Indiana
- By Kyra Howard, TheStatehouseFile.com
- Jun 19, 2023
Panelists discuss future plans to improve quality of journalism around the state.
Local news coverage is beginning to thrive in Indiana with several online news organizations taking root and a new newsroom to be opened by the end of the year.
VOX Indy and Chalkbeat Indiana hosted a panel Tuesday in Indianapolis that highlighted these changes in Indiana’s news market while discussing the future of local news.
Indianapolis journalists Camike Jones, Editor-in-Chief of the Indianapolis Recorder, MJ Slaby, Bureau Chief of Chalkbeat Indiana and Karen Ferguson Fuson, Board Chair of the Indiana Local News Initiative spoke on the panel. They discussed nonprofit outlets emerging in Indiana and what this means for media consumers.
The event began with time for attendees to network. The loud chatter declined as everyone sat down to hear other journalists share information about their organizations–Axios Indianapolis, Indiana Capital Chronicle and State Affairs Indiana. After the introduction of these nonprofit news outlets the panel discussion took place. It was guided by a moderator who asked a few questions before allowing the audience to jump in.
In response to the first question Fuson shared her perspective on the cutbacks of journalism positions, describing it as a ‘crisis’.
“I believe, and national research shows, that journalists and local news help connect people to their communities and help support our democracy,†said Fuson. “With such a significant decline in journalists, I believe information that we all need to live our day to day lives is not being provided to us. And so that, in my mind, is a crisis impacting our democracy.â€
Indiana has seen an uptick in nonprofit news organizations such as Axios Indianapolis, The Indiana Capital Chronicle, State Affairs Indiana, even as journalism employment continues to decline across the country. The Pew Research center found that U.S newsroom employment has fallen by 26% since 2008. A 2016 article from The Guardian explained the fall of US newspaper jobs by almost 60% from 1990-2016.
The Indiana Local News Initiative is another nonprofit newsroom that plans to launch later this year. The Initiative is a new nonprofit formed by a coalition of locally based organizations and the American Journalism Project, according to its website. Its mission is to provide residents with accessible local news that reflects the community’s needs.Through Indiana organizations and philanthropies the AJP raised $10 million to create the Indiana Local News Initiative.
The need for the Initiative was shown in a comprehensive study done by the American Journalism Project. The study found that ‘more than 1,000 Hoosiers across 79 counties said they needed more unbiased, fact based information about their communities’ according to the Indiana Local News Initiative site.
Speaking to The Statehouse File, Michael Ouimette, chief investment officer for the American Journalism Project and board member for the Indiana Local News Initiative, explained the steps AJP took to create the initiative after the study was complete.
“We partner to develop a set of solutions, in this case the Indiana Local News Initiative, and we work to rally interest from local philanthropists who see an incredible and urgent need for more local journalism in Indiana,†said Ouimette. “We recently announced our founding governing board. It is a really exceptional group of leaders who have come together to dedicate their time to local news. We’ve also made our first two staff hires and we’ll be hiring another 25 people or so by the end of the year.â€
The initiative has three main strategies–fill gaps in local news by launching nonprofit organizations, facilitate investments in partner news organizations and foster collaboration between local news outlets, said Ouimette.
TheStatehouseFile.com is one example of a partnership between the initiative and a local news outlet. TSF received a $180,000 grantfrom the Lumina Foundation. TSF was able to eliminate its paywall on its website, allowing anyone to read the content produced by student journalists every day. Additionally, any news outlet in Indiana is now able to run TSF content without paying any sort of fee.
They are also partnered with IndyStar, WISH-TV, WFYI, the Recorder, Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism, Chalkbeat Indiana, Hoosier State Press Association, The Indiana Citizen and more.
Ouimette said the Indiana Local News Initiative will keep working to fill gaps in local news so Hoosiers have access to important information.
“Local news is so important because it holds communities together. It equips residents with the information they need to engage in civic life and have information about what’s going on in their schools, gives them information to hold their government officials accountable for their roles and responsibilities in the community, it helps build empathy and community and celebrate the vitality of Indiana. That’s why it’s so important that we have more local journalists on the beat doing this great work,†said Ouimette.
Fuson said the Indiana Local News Initiative is committed to making communities feel heard. This means implementing the feedback Hoosiers give by creating a news room that represents the population, having reporters out in the community on a regular basis and including residents wherever possible.
The initiative has hired Ariana Beedie as the community journalism director. A journalist who most recently served as director of neighborhood engagement with the Indianapolis Neighborhood Resource Center, Breedie is currently recruiting Indiana residents for a paid program to attend public meetings and take notes for news outlets to use in stories.
“Her job is to create ongoing listening sessions with the community and understand what they’re interested in knowing, what they need to know and then delivering on that,†said Fuson. “It’s a circle. It’s a never ending circle. It’s not a straight line and I think the continuous feedback at all points in the process and then after is really important.â€
Ouimette said it is a unique time for Indiana journalism and is looking forward to the future of the local media organizations.
“There’s a national movement in communities across the country for philanthropy to play a catalytic role in building a much more robust local news sector in this country,†said Ouimette. “It’s really exciting that Indiana is playing a leading role in ensuring that in a generation from now, dozens and dozens of nonprofit news organizations play a vital role in the civic life of our communities.â€
FOOTNOTE: Kyra Howard is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
LINK OF THE ORDINANCE TRANSFERRING THE APPROPRIATION OF CITY FUNDS
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ORDINANCE TRANSFERRING THE APPROPRIATION OF CITY FUNDS SP0NSORED BY CITY COUNCILMAN RON BEANE LINK OF ORDINANCEÂ F-2023-08 Attachment An Ordinance of the Common Council of the City of Evansville Authorizing Transfers of Appropriations, Additional Appropriations, and Repeal and Re-Appropriation of Funds for Various City Funds. Â Sponsored by At-Large City Councilman Ron Beane. Discussion Led By: Finance Chair Beane Discussion Date: 6/26/2023 Notify–Russ Lloyd, Jr., Controller. |
Jagoe Homes Plans New Community in Evansville, IN Â
Evansville, INDIANA – Jagoe Homes has announced Goldfinch Cove, a new community on Evansville’s Northeast side.
Goldfinch Cove will be an excellent place to call home, offering the luxury of tranquil living with a sense of suburban life in Northeast Evansville. Area schools include the North High School District, along with shopping, restaurants, and Evansville Regional Airport nearby.
Traveling North on I-69, take the Boonville-New Harmony Road exit. Turn left (west) onto Boonville-New Harmony Road and continue to Green River Road. Turn left (south) onto Green River Road, and Goldfinch Cove will be located on the east side of Green River Road, north of Huebner Lane.
Your dream home will be just minutes away, with quick access to I-69 and Hwy. 57. Nearby activities include Deaconess Sports Park, McCutchanville Park, Vanderburgh 4-H Center, and Blue Grass Fish & Wildlife Area.
Jagoe Homes prides itself on providing an atmosphere of worry-free living, creating more time for relaxation, family, and all the other important areas of your life. All new Jagoe Homes are built ENERGY SMART and TECH SMART and include a 2/10 Home Buyers Warranty.
Prospective Homebuyers and Realtors interested in this new community are encouraged to sign-up for the Jagoe Homes priority email list to inform you first of:
- Updates on Community Progress
- Floorplans and Options
- Pricing
- Available Home Sites
Sign up for the Jagoe Homes priority email list by visiting JagoeHomes.com.
Life, Death, And John Mellencamp
Life, Death, And John Mellencamp
On the day my brother went into the hospital for the last time, I ran to the store to pick up some things for him.
John Krull, publisher, TheStatehouseFile.com
Among them was a CD of John Mellencamp’s album, “Strictly a One-Eyed Jack,†which was just out.
We both had been fans of Mellencamp and Bruce Springsteen for decades. The two singer-songwriters had been linked for 40 years, with Mellencamp at times being dismissed as the Midwestern—and therefore lesser—answer to the bard from New Jersey.
“Strictly a One-Eyed Jack†featured something new, the first collaborations of the two artists. My brother had been eager to hear the album.
I offered to play it for him on my phone with a portable sound system.
My brother, though, was old school. He never cared much for streaming and preferred to listen to his music the way he always had. He asked me to leave the CD at his home so he could enjoy it when he got out of the hospital.
He never made it back home.
He died before he got to hear it.
After my brother’s death, I listened to “Strictly a One-Eyed Jack†over and over, in an almost endlessly looping rotation. Many of the songs dealt with themes of reflection, regret and remorse, all of which suited and spoke to my mood.
Mellencamp’s music at times became the voice of my grief. Listening to his album became one way I came to terms with losing my younger brother.
The songs Mellencamp did with Springsteen—“Wasted Days†and “Did You Say Such a Thing?â€â€”received the most attention.
And deservedly so.
Both songs were poignant explorations of the ways life and experience mark us, how we are shaped by the things we touch and that touch us and how life often slips past us while we’re worried about other things.
I really liked those songs, but the one on the album that haunted me was “Gone So Soonâ€:
“Getting back close to you
“I always thought I’d be close to you
“I never dreamed I’d see the day
“That you would go away
“And be gone so soon
“And be gone so soon.â€
When my brother and I first started listening to Mellencamp all those years ago, his voice was a raspy tenor. Time and years of smoking had coarsened and deepened it, turning it into an earthy growl—the perfect instrument for communicating hurt, befuddlement and rage.
I’d talked with my brother about how odd it was that an artist I didn’t know somehow managed to sing, through the years, something resembling my autobiography.
Mellencamp’s early work captured the sense of my early manhood. He summed up all the questing, the confusion, and the sheer hunger to see and experience life that accompanied coming of age in the Midwest.
As Mellencamp and I both grew older, his music began to delve into more mature themes. He struggled to make peace with notions of responsibility—marital, familial, social and moral—in a world where many people had begun to believe they owed nothing to each other.
Not surprisingly, as my brother battled the cancer that would kill him, autumnal themes preoccupied him. He told me once as we ate dinner together that he thought about death all the time. It troubled him that so few people seemed willing to discuss the end that awaits us all.
He thought about the course of his life and talked with me about the choices he’d made, the twists and turns his path had taken.
After he died, among the myriad things I wished he’d lived long enough to experience was that of listening to Mellencamp’s album. The singer’s sometimes wry, sometimes rueful long view would have spoken to my brother.
But my brother didn’t have a chance to listen to it.
One thing I’ve realized in the aftermath of his passing is that those who survive owe a duty to the dead—a duty to remember, to reflect and at times just to experience.
John Mellencamp has a new album out. It’s called “Orpheus Descendingâ€â€”a reference to the poet in Greek mythology who almost rescues his departed wife from Hades through the enticing power of his art.
My brother won’t be able to hear that one, either.
I’ll do the listening for both of us.
FOOTNOTE: John Krull is director of Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students. The views expressed are those of the author only and should not be attributed to Franklin College.
Brahms and Otters shut down Grizzlies to secure series win
Parker Brahms earned his first win of the season, holding Gateway to just one run on three hits over six innings.
Kevin Davis and Jon Beymer continued the pitching dominance, closing out the series win.
Davis worked an inning and a third scoreless. Beymer found the last out of the eighth before earning his first professional save in the ninth.
Offensively, the Otters used the long ball. George Callil hit his second home run of the season in the third inning to give Evansville a 1-0 lead.
After a fourth inning Gateway homer, the Otters’ Ethan Skender responded with a solo blast off the second row of billboards in left field to retake the lead.
Evansville found insurance in the sixth on a Jomar Reyes RBI double down the left field line. The Otters added one more in the eighth as Kona Quiggle knocked a triple that bounced off the Grizzlies right fielders’ glove. Quiggle scored the Otters final run on a passed ball.
Evansville held Gateway, the top scoring offense in the Frontier League, to a season low six total runs over the three game series.
Reyes’ double extended his hit streak to 11 games, tied for the second longest streak of any Otter this season. Jeffrey Baez had his team leading 11th multi-hit game of the season.
After a scheduled Monday off day, Evansville continues the homestand opening up a three-game series against the Frontier League East first place Sussex County Miners on Tuesday as part of Fifth Third Bank Family Night.
Families of four can receive four general admission tickets, four hot dogs, four bags of chips and four drinks all for $40 ($55 value). First pitch is slated for 6:35 PM CT.
The Shield, The University Of Southern Indiana’s Student-Run Newspaper Awarded Multiple Honors By The ICPA
The Shield, the University of Southern Indiana’s student-run newspaper, was awarded multiple honors by the Indiana Collegiate Press Association (ICPA) as part of its 2023 Spring Contest. Â
Overall publication awards were determined by the results of individual award winners from each participating organization.Â
“The students of The Shield staff represent some of the hardest working, passionate and determined among us, and these awards speak to the fruits of that labor,†says Ben Luttrull, Student Publication Manager/Advisor and Instructor in Journalism. “Not only is this a celebration of their effort, it confirms the USI community benefits from high-quality, professional journalism and a robust, strong student press. I’m extremely proud of the entire staff and am thrilled to see them build on this for years to come.”Â
Listed below are Online, DII Newspaper and Advertising awards. Please note, ICPA does not use NCAA divisions for its awards. For the purpose of the Newspaper category, awards are based on enrollment. The Non-Newspaper categories (Online and Advertising) are not separated by division. All institutions compete in these categories. Â
OnlineÂ
Use of Social Media: Second PlaceÂ
Special Presentation, USI to go Division I: Second PlaceÂ
Online Publication of the Year: Third PlaceÂ
Online Publication of the Year: Third PlaceÂ
Email Newsletter: First and Third PlaceÂ
DII NewspaperÂ
Feature Page Design, Maliah White: First PlaceÂ
Sports Page Design, Maliah White: First PlaceÂ
Informational Graphic, Maliah White: First PlaceÂ
Cover Design, Maliah White and Quinton Watt: Second PlaceÂ
Overall Design, Maliah White: Second PlaceÂ
Feature Reporting, Tegan Ruhl: Third PlaceÂ
Staff Editorial, Shelby Clark: Third PlaceÂ
Editorial Cartoon, Elizabeth Harris: Third PlaceÂ
AdvertisingÂ
Display Ad, Kyla Dagaton: First PlaceÂ
Electronic House Ad, staff: Second PlaceÂ
General Media Kit/Marketing Package, The Shield Business Team and Shelby Clark: Second PlaceÂ
House Ad, staff: Third PlaceÂ
“The student staff at The Shield is so honored and proud to represent the University of Southern Indiana. Our mission, as The Shield, is to serve the students and the campus community with factual information, entertaining content and a forum for discussions that reflect their unique interests and ideas,†says Shelby Clark, Editor-in-Chief of The Shield. “As the University’s independent student publication, The Shield is completely student-led and operated. These awards are the direct result of student vision, labor and dedication to excellence and servitude. We are humbled and honored to serve the campus community.â€Â
For a full list of 2023 ICPA Spring Contest results, visit ICPAconnect.org.Â
###
Founded in 1965, the University of Southern Indiana enrolls nearly 9,200 dual credit, undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students in more than 130 areas of study. A public higher education institution, located on a beautiful 1,400-acre campus in Evansville, Indiana, USI offers programs through the College of Liberal Arts, Romain College of Business, College of Nursing and Health Professions, and the Pott College of Science, Engineering, and Education. The University offers study-abroad opportunities in more than 60 countries and hosts international students from around the globe. USI is a Carnegie Foundation Community Engaged University and offers continuing education and special programs to more than 15,000 participants annually through Outreach and Engagement. USI is online at USI.edu.Â
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