Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Israel, Iran trade strikes as Trump weighs U.S. involvement in conflict; Challenge to ND gender-affirming care ban in play, despite SCOTUS ruling; 'Jubilee Day' was honored before Juneteenth in 1800s Indiana; Ohio urged to restore $61M for foster care in final budget talks.

Transcript

The Public News Service Newscast for June 19th, 2025.

I'm Mike Clifford.

A Situation Room meeting called by President Donald Trump to discuss U.S. options in the Israeli-Iran conflict ended.

A few hours earlier, Trump, who indicated his patience has already run out with Tehran, said he has not yet made a final decision on whether the U.S. would get involved.

That from CNN.

They report Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khomeini in a national address warned that any U.S. military intervention would result in irreparable damage.

He also criticized Israel for launching its military campaign while Iran was engaged in nuclear talks with the U.S.

CNN notes that Israel and Iran continue to trade strikes.

Iran is also experiencing a near-complete internet blackout, according to a watchdog organization.

Meantime, the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday released an opinion that allows Tennessee to keep in place a ban on gender-affirming care for minors.

While seen as a setback for trans youth, a legal challenge in North Dakota is still active.

The North Dakota case, which seeks to overturn a 2023 ban adopted by the legislature, is moving through the state-level courts.

Attorney Brittany Stewart, with the legal non-profit Gender Justice, says proceedings in the bench trial are winding down.

She says parents of transgender youth in this region might think the Supreme Court outcome permanently cuts off similar cases, but stresses they shouldn't jump to conclusions.

Especially folks who are parents of kids who might be suffering from gender dysphoria.

Not to give up hope, this is just one case on one specific issue.

The Tennessee case focused solely on the U.S. Constitution's Equal Protection Clause.

Stewart says their case has other legal aspects to it.

I'm Mike Mowen.

And today is Juneteenth, the national holiday dating back to 1865.

This was the day when freedom was granted to enslaved Texans more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

Juneteenth is a combination of the month and date when Union Army General Gordon Granger made the announcement in Galveston.

Eunice Trotter is the director of the Indiana Landmarks Black Heritage Program at the Indiana Historical Society.

She says freed slaves had lived in Indiana since the 1830s and created their own names for the celebration.

It was called Jubilee Day, Freedom Day, different things in different parts of the state.

And it was a celebration like we celebrate the Fourth of July.

It was a celebration that was not connected statewide.

It was individually celebrated around the state.

One of several groups in the U.S. military sent to Galveston to carry out Lincoln's order was the United States Colored Troop Number 28 from Indiana.

They were needed because some Texas slaveholders did not want to abide by the Emancipation Proclamation.

I'm Terry Dee reporting.

According to the Pew Research Center, as of 2023, at least 38 states, including Indiana, observed Juneteenth as either a holiday or day of observance.

This is Public News Service.

Next to Ohio, where child welfare advocates are urging lawmakers to restore more than $60 million in funding to address the state's ongoing foster care placement crisis.

Governor Mike DeWine and state House leaders included funding in the budget to expand the state child protective allocation and create new child wellness campuses.

But the Ohio Senate removed both investments.

Scott Britton, assistant director of the Public Children's Services Association of Ohio, says counties can't manage this crisis alone.

Children deserve a safe place to sleep that meets their behavioral health and their well-being needs.

The cost of foster care placements is outpacing inflation. 68 percent or $158 million more today than just five years ago.

And federal reimbursement is declining.

The Senate cut $61 million from the House budget, $31 million from county child protection funds, and $30 million from proposed wellness campuses.

Conference committee members are working to finalize the budget by June 30th.

Farah Siddiqui reporting.

And community college programs in Maine are helping the state meet its ambitious climate goals while creating good-paying jobs.

Governor Janet Mills wants 30,000 clean energy workers in the state by 2030, including those trained in home heat pump installation.

Kim Wilson-Roy, dean of workforce and professional solutions at Eastern Maine Community College, says students can earn their heat pump certification in just 40 hours, often through more accommodating evening courses.

In general, these kinds of programs are offering great job prospects.

And most students that are coming through that program are landing jobs well before they graduate.

She says some participants are already working as technicians and are looking to upgrade their skills or earn better pay.

State officials are aiming for an additional 175,000 home heat pumps to be installed by 2027 to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

I'm Catherine Carley.

Finally, the U.S. Senate's answer to the House Republicans' One Big Beautiful Bill Act includes proposals that advocates for public lands say would decimate the National Park Service and those that rely on it, including some towns in Montana.

The reconciliation bill proposes dropping nearly $270 million earmarked for the National Park Service in the Inflation Reduction Act.

That comes in the wake of a 17 percent reduction in collective park staff since 2023.

Michelle Yubaraga with the National Parks Conservation Association says stress is high in her Yellowstone-centric town.

Little rural gateway communities like ours not only are really dependent upon Yellowstone for our economy, but our friends and neighbors are employed in the parks on public lands.

So yeah, people are really concerned and upset.

In a letter to the Montana congressional delegation, the Gardner Chamber of Commerce noted that tourism brought in more than $260 million in non-resident spending to Park County in 2023.

I'm Kathleen Shannon.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

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