NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-11-2025 7PM EDT

Episode Date: September 11, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dan Roran. As a manhunt continues for the shooter who killed right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, many who attended the Utah events say they're in shock. NPR's Kirk Ziegler reports from the campus of Utah Valley University. Elliot Thorne says he and his family were about 10 feet away from where Charlie Kirk was speaking when the bullet hit him. It took us about three, four seconds for us to register what happened. And then at that moment, I had to, excuse me, I had to dive on my seat. 16-month-old. And my wife, I didn't know if it was a mass shooter. Thorne came back to campus

hoping to get their stroller they left behind, but it's now an active crime scene. A self-described staunch conservative, he says he's devastated. You know, I just hope and pray during this experience across the country that we can start to really genuinely find a way to come together as a people. Vigils are occurring across the country, including one planned here Friday night. Kirk Sigler, NPR News, Orem, Utah. In lower Manhattan at Ground Zero dignitaries and families of the fallen mark 24 years since the 9-11 attacks killed nearly 3,000 people. To this day, the deadliest attack of terror on U.S. soil in the nation's history. NPR's Quill Lawrence reports from New York.

A somber ceremony is held each year at the site where the Twin Towers collapsed after being struck by hijacked airliners that morning in 2000. 2001. Loved ones read out the names of the people who died. Jeremiah Joseph Erhern. Joanne Marie Aladiotis. The current and several past mayors of New York attended, along with the governors of New York in New Jersey. This day also marks the beginning of a global war on terror, which has killed thousands of Americans of thousands, most of them civilians, in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. Quill Lawrence NPR News. Missouri lawmakers want to make it much harder for citizens to a

amend the state constitution. St. Louis Public Radio's reporter Jason Rosenbaum says the move from the GOP state legislature comes after voters approved a slew of progressive ballot items. Missouri Republicans want to require any constitutional amendment put on the ballot through the initiative petition process to pass in a statewide vote and in all eight congressional districts. State Senator Brad Hudson says the Constitution is too easy to amend. Missourians recently passed amendments protecting abortion rights, legalizing marijuana, and expanding Medicaid, which one with support in cities but not rural areas. I think you should have broad consensus throughout the state of Missouri before you amend the Constitution. Detractors of the plan say it will make it basically

impossible for most amendments to pass. If lawmakers pass it this week, it will go to the voters for their approval. For NPR News, I'm Jason Rosenbaum and St. Louis. And you're listening to NPR News. With home mortgage rates now edging down to 6.35% from more than 6.5% a year ago, the retail industries, I should say the real estate industry's mortgage bankers association says buyer demand is starting to pick up. The association says nearly half of all mortgage applications came from people seeking to refinance their mortgage to take advantage of lower rates and reduce their monthly mortgage payment. Sabrina Carpenter makes quite an impression on this week's Billboard Chart, NPR Stephen Thompson reports.

This week, the Billboard Albums Chart features just one debut in the top 10, Man's Best Friend by Sabrina Carpenter. The album Man's Best Friend debuts at number one, but Carpenter's success this week runs deeper than that. She also lands two songs in the top five. Manchild, which topped the chart earlier this summer, and her new single, Tears. Tears enters the Billboard singles chart at number three, but it's not alone. Thanks mostly to streaming all 12 songs from Man's Best Friend land in the top 40. Stephen Thompson, NPR News. 58-year-old Nadine Menendez, the wife of former U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, was sentenced today to

four and a half years in prison for bribery. At her sentencing, she blamed her husband, the former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, calling him a manipulative liar. I'm Dan Ronan, NPR News in Washington.