LINCOLN, Neb. (AP and KMTV) — Nebraska state offices will close Friday in anticipation of a new federal law that will establish Juneteenth as a recognized government holiday.
Gov. Pete Ricketts ordered the closure to comply with a state law that grants the same paid holiday benefits to state employees. State employees will receive a paid day of leave.
Exceptions may include law enforcement, security, military and state employees engaged in other essential functions. The governor's office said in a press release that all workers should receive official instruction from their agency director or personnel representative.
Juneteenth is a holiday commemorating the date when enslaved people in Texas received the news of the Emancipation Proclamation on June 19, 1865, two years after President Lincoln signed it.
