By J. Holly McCall | Editor-in-Chief
Good morning and TGIF, Lookout readers.
First, today is Juneteenth. Juneteenth was recognized as a federal holiday in 2021, under the administration of President Joe Biden, and it’s likely many Americans don’t understand the origins of the day.
On June 19, 1865, months after the Civil War ended and more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation to free enslaved people, Union General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas. Granger, for whom Franklin, Tennessee’s Union outpost Ft. Granger is named, found enslaved people who knew nothing of the proclamation: he had the duty to inform them they were legally free people.
The holiday was celebrated in Black communities long before it gained wider recognition.
In other news:
U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn was named as a target of a foiled drone attack planned for last weekend’s UFC fight at the White House. The 19-year-old Ohio man who spearheaded the plot singled out Blackburn for her acceptance of donations from pro-Israel political action groups.
Endorsement alert: Columbia Mayor Chaz Molder, a candidate for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District, announced an endorsement from former U.S. Rep. John Tanner, who represented West Tennessee’s 8th District from his 1988 election until his 2010 retirement.
I hear you knocking. Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group that has advocated for school vouchers, announced organization volunteers have knocked on 100,000 doors across the state in support of Blackburn’s campaign.
The ice cream beat. Reader Sharon A. wrote in to recommend Clumpie’s Ice Cream Co. in Chattanooga, saying friends from Arkansas come for Clumpie’s, while Dawn H. wrote us about 421 Creamery in Mountain City.
THE LOOKOUT’S TOP STORY
The three major Republican gubernatorial candidates, U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, state Rep. Monty Fritts and U.S. Rep. John Rose are unlikely to appear in a forum together. (Photos: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
by Sam Stockard
With less than a month before early voting starts for the August primary elections, the chances for a forum or debate between leading Republican gubernatorial candidates look slim to none. A spokesperson for one, U.S. Rep. John Rose, is calling out another, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, saying Tennesseans “deserve a governor who doesn’t hide from the voters in their basement.”
NEWS AND NOTES
60-day clock starts for negotiations with Iran over strait, nuclear future | Ashley Murray, States Newsroom
Trump couldn’t send troops to the polls without approval of Congress under Dem bill | Jennifer Shutt, States Newsroom
FEATURED IN THE LOOKOUT
People shop the shelves at the Ritenour Co-Care Food Pantry just outside of St. Louis last week. The nonprofit has seen rising need as grocery prices soar and thousands of Missourians lose federal food assistance. (Photo courtesy of Ritenour Co-Care Food Pantry)
by Kevin Hardy, Stateline
Families are facing rising grocery prices at the same time that many of the most vulnerable are losing access to the nation’s largest food assistance program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. More than 4 million Americans lost SNAP benefits between February 2025 and this February, according to analyses of the most recent federal data.
ICYMI
Report: Tennessee sees decline in most measures of child well-being | Anita Wadhwani
Tennessee soybean farmers get morale boost from better prices, but future remains ‘daunting’ | Cassandra Stephenson
Tennessee pharmacies sell potent Ivermectin, led by anti-vaccine doctor who’s taken ‘bucketloads’ | Brett Kelman and Rachana Pradhan, KFF Health News
COMMENTARY
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