It’s Thursday in a four-day workweek, so technically speaking, for many of us, it’s Friday.
This is a good segue for a programming note, which is that there will be no “Rise and Shine” tomorrow due to the Juneteenth holiday. As such, we’re going to bump things up a day from a content perspective.
As of 2021, Juneteenth National Independence Day has been a federally recognized holiday, thanks to President Joe Biden. That means that federal government employees automatically get the day off, as do state government employees in the 30 states that recognize the holiday (including New York).
Private employers, however, are not required to offer the day off, but many opt to offer it as a floating holiday or a paid holiday.
The name “Juneteenth” is a portmanteau (a new word formed by combining two other words; other examples include “brunch” (breakfast + lunch), “smog” (smoke + fog), and “spork” (spoon + fork) of the words “June” and nineteenth”. It refers to June 19, 1865, when Union troops arrived in Galveston, TX, to announce that the last remaining enslaved people in the state were officially free.
This occurred two-and-a-half years AFTER after the Emancipation Proclamation officially went into effect, declaring all slaves in the Confederate states legally free.
However, the impact of this document was limited in states that remained under Confederate control, which delayed the arrival of freedom for many people. Texas was a particularly staunch holdout, in part due to its geographical isolation (remember, this was long before modern communication, so word didn’t travel especially quickly), but also because there weren’t a lot of Union troops around, so enslavers basically just ignored the new law.
A year after 1865, newly freed people started organizing June 19 celebrations that were known at the time as Jubilee Day or Emancipation Day. The observance has been called the longest-running African American holiday and also in some corners is referred to as the country’s Second Independence Day.
There was never an official replacement of Jubilee and/or Emancipation Day with Juneteenth, but rather a natural interchangeable use of the terms until the latter sort of started to become more standard than the former. In 1980, Texas became the first state to formally recognize the holiday.
Juneteenth celebration are traditionally outdoor affairs, with cookouts and barbecues as well as sporting events (fishing, rodeos, baseball etc.) – all while wearing celebratory attire – on the list of festive options.
The weather outlook for the long weekend (if you’ve got one) isn’t looking too bad. Today, Thursday, will be the worst of the lot, with showers and the potential for severe thunderstorms and high temperatures in the low 80s. Tomorrow, Friday, will be fantastic, it looks like, with bright and sunny skies and highs in the high 70s.
Saturday and Sunday will bring a mix of sun and clouds and highs in the mid-to-high 70s – still on the cooler side for this time of year. Rain will be developing again Sunday night.
In the headlines…
President Trump signed an agreement with Iran that U.S. officials say calls for Tehran to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium and waive sanctions on the country, immediately allowing Iran to sell its oil freely in a major concession from Washington.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who helped mediate the initial deal to end the war, said it is taking ‘immediate effect’ after leaders from both countries signed it, but that there will still be a formal signing ceremony on Friday.
Trump’s agreement with Iran opened new fissures in his party, with Republicans on Capitol Hill and beyond questioning whether his administration had secured adequate concessions from Iranian leaders after months of a costly and unpopular war.
The average price of U.S. gasoline fell below $4 a gallon today for the first time in months, after Iran and the United States signed a preliminary agreement to cease hostilities for 60 days and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Fewer Americans say they are proud of being from their country ahead of America’s 250th anniversary, according to a new poll.
From the moment Kevin M. Warsh stepped to the lectern for his first news conference as chairman of the Federal Reserve on yesterday, he sounded less like the head of the central bank and more like a politician.
The Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged at Warsh’s first rate-setting meeting as the central bank’s leader.
The Interior Department said it would pay the energy developer Invenergy hundreds of millions of dollars to abandon plans to build wind farms in the Atlantic and Pacific – the third such deal struck by the Trump administration to cancel offshore wind leases.
Under the agreement Invenergy will voluntarily surrender four leases in federal waters for wind farms that would have been located in the New York Bight, off the Central Coast of California and in the Gulf of Maine.
Vice President JD Vance visited Long Island yesterday and urged voters not to re-elect Congressman Tom Suozzi, describing the Democrat as “a disaster.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul celebrated the completion of the Champlain Hudson Power Express on Tuesday, but New York City has received very little juice from the new transmission line since it was connected earlier this month.
Hochul announced that nearly $140 million in federal funding is available to support counterterrorism and emergency preparedness efforts statewide.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani emerged from Albany with billions of dollars in cash to help close a historic budget gap and partially fulfill a key campaign pledge. Pulling off a repeat next year will likely be more difficult.
Mamdani and his allies have already begun to discuss another big push Albany for aid and new taxes. The mayor still needs more money to implement big campaign promises like universal child care. More urgently, the city faces big future budget gaps.
When you visit Mamdani’s campaign website, digital confetti rains down, a slogan “A New Era for New York City” appears and invites visitors to donate. What you will not find is his campaign platform on housing, affordability, safety, healthcare or any other topic.
Millions of jubilant fans are expected to congregate in Lower Manhattan this morning for the Knicks championship parade, a celebratory coda to a postseason run that united New York City like no other event in recent memory.
More than 10,000 cops — the largest NYPD deployment ever for a planned event — will be securing today’s Knicks ticker-tape parade up the Canyon of Heroes, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
Many of the millions of fans expected to flood Lower Manhattan for the Knicks’ ticker-tape parade won’t make it in, Tisch warned.
New York Knicks owner James Dolan said during an appearance on WFAN radio that the Trump administration has invited the team to celebrate its 2026 NBA championship at the White House and that the franchise has accepted.
“Look, I invited the president to come down for the game,” Dolan said. “He is a friend. I’ve known him for 30 years and I’m very proud to bring the team to the White House.”
GoFundMe donors, many still giddy over the Knicks championship run, have nearly reached their goal in a fundraiser to help an immigrant cab driver whose taxi was demolished near Madison Square Garden last week during a raucous post-game celebration.
New York City’s last remaining emergency migrant shelter held a watch party for the France versus Senegal World Cup match on Tuesday, with a special appearance by Mamdani.
A DOT spokesman confirmed the Mamdani administration is withdrawing a request for proposals seeking a company to equip city school buses cameras that would automatically issue tickets to cars if they passed the bus while its stop-arm was out.
Young New York City voters flocked early to the polls in June 2025. This year, not so much. Early voting turnout is down more than 50% compared to this time last year despite several competitive congressional and state legislative primary contests.
Abetting two recently created PACs that are spending millions in an effort to defeat two Mandani-backed congressional candidates is former mayoral contender and ex-New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer.
Mamdani is testing the limits of his newfound political muscle in a bid to reshape the Democratic Party, even if it means challenging his own party’s leadership.
Mamdani and NYC Small Business Services (SBS) have announced a new workforce development initiative at CUNY colleges across the city that aims to provide new opportunities in the media and entertainment industries.
A family of tourists’ outing in a Central Park carriage turned into a nightmare when an 18-year-old from India died after an out-of-control carriage horse suddenly bolted, sending the carriage careening onto its side as onlookers watched in horror.
The incident comes amid an ongoing dispute pitting animal rights advocates, politicians and the Central Park Conservancy against the union representing carriage horse drivers.
Luxury clothing brand Salon 1884 describes itself as “responsibly made with environmentally conscious materials” on its website. But the Manhattan DA is accusing the label’s owner, Andrea Marshall, of running a sweatshop in the Garment District.
Attorneys for Luigi Mangione will pursue a mental health defense at his upcoming murder trial in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, the judge overseeing the case revealed at a pretrial conference yesterday.
Justice Gregory Carro ordered material be unsealed related to Mangione’s defense that he was extremely emotionally disturbed when he allegedly shot and killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Midtown in 2024.
Tube No. 2 of the East River Tunnel — which carries Amtrak, LIRR and NJ Transit trains bound for Penn Station — will stay closed for another month, as work crews address newfound flaws in its concrete ceiling, Amtrak officials said.
City officials are urging New Yorkers to be vigilant for signs of human trafficking over the next few weeks, as major events like the FIFA World Cup converge and heighten the risk of exploitation.
The Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on Long Island earns millions when it hosts the U.S. Open. But the nearby Indian tribe has for years only received a fraction of that.
Rex Heuermann, the serial killer on Long Island who admitted to murdering eight women in the so-called Gilgo Beach killings, was sentenced to life in prison.
A political event featuring both GOP candidates for NY-21 spiraled into chaos this week as supporters of Anthony Constantino shattered any facade of decorum by breaking into sustained jeering, cursing and shouting at his opponent, Robert Smullen.
Danfoss Power Systems, a Danish company that specializes in hydraulic technologies, is adding 300 jobs at the Marcy Nanocenter, a tech park in Oneida County owned by NY Creates, the entity that operates Albany NanoTech.
A Dutchess County equine rescue is seeking sponsors for more than a dozen horses recently displaced from their home after the closure of the Jamaica Bay Riding Academy in Brooklyn.
In the wake of concerns over hazardous compounds found in its well water five years ago, Algonquin Middle School, part of the Averill Park school system, installed a water treatment system.
A 20-year-old who pointed a laser into the cockpit of a State Police helicopter in Saratoga Springs faces a felony charge, the troopers said.
Matthew Merriman, of Rotterdam, pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide, admitting he was driving drunk when his car slammed into Matthew Mardon’s car and killed the local accountant who was driving to a kickball game, the Albany County DA said.
A $5.9 million bond measure the North Greenbush Town Board is putting to a public vote would in part fund EMS infrastructure improvements and an ambulance station in the burgeoning Defreestville hamlet.
For a second time, voters rejected the Cambridge Central School District’s budget for the coming year – this time by a margin of just 15 votes. As a result, busing will end for students who live within a mile of their school and jobs will likely be cut.
The City of Mechanicville lifted its latest boil-water advisory Tuesday morning, ending yet another chapter in its ongoing water issues.
By early 2027, the McKownville Fire District expects to complete the construction of its new firehouse at 1250 Western Ave. in Guilderland.
After five crash deaths in three years and months of study, a traffic light and a crosswalk will be installed on a deadly stretch of Route 7 in Niskayuna — but not until next spring.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
