It is a very special day for many of our Livingston families. Today, Thursday, June 20, students from Livingston High School’s Class of 2024 are attending their graduation ceremony and receiving their diplomas.
For many, high school graduation marks the transition to secondary education, with students taking what they have learned in Livingston and applying it in the greater world. High school graduations are a bridge from one part of life to the next, whether it is to college, directly to the workforce, to military service, or a gap year. We wish our seniors luck in wherever their respective bridges take them. We eagerly look forward to seeing all that this class will accomplish.
So, a heartfelt congratulations, once again, to Livingston High School’s Class of 2024! We hope everyone takes time to enjoy our special graduation section in the June 27 edition of the Tribune. It is one of our favorite special sections to present each year, featuring photos, well-wishes, and more.
And graduates, don’t forget to smile today, because there is a good chance you will make it into the paper next week when we share candid photos from the graduation ceremony!
Throw those caps high, Class of 2024, you did it!
Juneteenth
After becoming a federal holiday three years ago, Juneteenth was once again observed yesterday, Wednesday, June 19. In Livingston, the Committee for Diversity and Inclusion held a flag raising at Town Hall in honor of the holiday. Many people will have a day off work tomorrow, Friday June 21, which is 2024’s federally recognized date of observation.
For millions of non-Black Americans, observance of this holiday may still be very new. Juneteenth is a celebration of June 19, 1865, the date that a Union Army general arrived in Galveston, Texas to inform enslaved African Americans that the Civil War had ended, President Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation, and they were free.
Though it has been celebrated across the country for more than 150 years, the bill designating the holiday wasn’t signed into law until 2021. President Joe Biden approved the legislation on the week of Juneteenth that year; with limited time between the signing of the bill and the actual holiday in 2021, 2022 was the first year that much of the country recognized Juneteenth, June 19, as a federal holiday.
In Livingston, township offices will be closed tomorrow, Friday, June 21, in observation of Juneteenth (Garbage and recycling will be collected according to the normal Friday schedule). Because it is a federal holiday, banks, post offices, the stock market, and several other businesses and services will also be closed, as well. Not all states granted their employees days off. According to reports, fewer than half of states recognize Juneteenth as a paid day off for workers; we are proud that New Jersey is one of them.
OPRA Bill
We are, to put it mildly, very disappointed with Governor Phil Murphy’s decision to sign a bill that will dismantle the Open Public Records Act (OPRA) in New Jersey – S2930/A4045 – into law earlier this month.
The bill, which many advocacy groups had called a major blow to government transparency in New Jersey, was signed just weeks after it passed through the state legislature in May. That version of the bill was revised from when it was first introduced in March and fast tracked through the system before many relevant parties even had time to review it and offer comments and suggestions. After several notable organizations denounced it – including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the League of Women Voters, as well as the editorial boards of the state’s largest newspapers – the vote was put on hold as officials gathered more information and considered amendments. Yet, here we are three months later, with a nearly identical bill signed.
We had hoped that the governor would veto the bill once it reached his desk, or, at the very least, sit with it for some time and add some conditions to it. Instead, it reached the endpoint that seemed predetermined for the last few months.
The bill was not without controversy – while it had enough support to pass, it was not in a landslide, and politicians on both sides of the aisle opposed it. The public was against it, as well. A Fairleigh Dickinson poll said that an overwhelming 81 percent of state voters were opposed to changes to OPRA. The governor had more than enough latitude to veto this bill if he so chose. Unfortunately, these voices were not ultimately heard, or at least not valued.
Governor Murphy has said that he does not believe the bill will harm transparency in the Garden State. One would have hoped, however, that a foundation of our democratic government would rely on something stronger than trust in a system that has – time and time again – necessitated the essential check on power that OPRA has provided New Jersey’s citizens for over two decades. The previous OPRA laws did not rely on hope to work as intended. Now, we are back to operating on the “honor system” with officials in positions that, historically, have not proven deserving of that benefit of the doubt.
