NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-11-2025 8AM EDT

Episode Date: September 11, 2025

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Hey, it's Rachel Martin. I'm the host of Wildcard from NPR. For a lot of my years as a radio host, silence sort of made me nervous. That pause before an answer, because you don't know what's going on on the other side of the mic. But these days, I love it. Hmm. Ah. Gosh. Give me a minute. Yeah, yeah. Think. Listen to the Wild Card podcast, only from NPR.

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. Authorities in Utah are calling the killing of right-wing. activist Charlie Kirk Kirk Kirk Cigler reports two people initially taken into custody in connection with the shooting have been released. Wednesday's shooting here at Utah Valley University is still an active investigation as a manhunt continues. The large sprawling campus north of Provo is closed and police were seen barricading all the entrances. Details are few, but police say they're working multiple active crime scenes. The shooter is believed to have fired down from the roof of a building to the outdoor event where Kirk was speaking.

Graphic video posted to social media shows a chaotic scene as people ran for cover. There were an estimated 3,000 people in attendance and six police officers. Kirk Sigler, NPR News, Orem, Utah. Colorado authorities say a teenager shot and wounded two other students yesterday at his high school outside Denver. He then took his own life. One of the wounded students is in critical condition. There's no word of a possible motive for the shooting. Opening statements are set for next hour in Florida in the trial of the man charged with attempting to assassinate Donald Trump last year.

NPR's Greg Allen reports the judge hearing the case is allowing the defendant Ryan Ruth to represent himself. Ryan Ruth was arrested in September after a secret service agent said he spotted him holding a rifle near where Trump was golfing in West Palm Beach. Ruth is a former contractor, not a lawyer. But in a series of hearings, he told U.S. District Judge Eileen Cannon, he was dissatisfied with his federal public. defenders and wanted to represent himself in court. He'll be delivering an opening statement in his own defense today. Judge Cannon has ordered his former attorneys to remain on standby. Most of the people he wants to call as witnesses are friends and co-workers, people who are being called to testify on his character. If convicted, he faces a potential life sentence. Greg Allen, NPR News, Fort Pierce,

Florida. As fall draws nearer, many people are thinking about vaccinations for flu and COVID. But NPR Sidney Lubkin reports it may be harder to find COVID. COVID shots this year. The Food and Drug Administration's approvals for this year's COVID boosters are narrower, but drug companies say they're still making similar volumes of the jabs as last year. Claire Hannan is the executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers. She says pharmacies are able to order the shots and they've been shipped out. I think it's going to be harder to access, but I think anybody that wants it, you know, we'll be able to get it, but they're just going to have to work hard to find it. She says patients,

can use vaccine finders, which Pfizer and Moderna both have up and running, to find pharmacies with COVID shots in their area. Sydney Lubkin, NPR News. Members of Congress will hold a moment of silence later this hour. It's to commemorate the nearly 3,000 victims who died on September 11th, 24 years ago. Later this morning, President Trump will attend a memorial ceremony at the Pentagon. You're listening to NPR. The British government has dismissed its ambassador to the States, Peter Mandelson. Leaked emails have disclosed. Mandelson expressed close support for late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. This comes after Senate Democrats lost a vote yesterday. Senate Republicans rejected the Democrats' effort to force the Justice Department to release all information

into the Epstein investigation. Smoke from the Canadian wildfires in 2023 poured into the U.S. for weeks. A new study reports more than 300 million people were affected by that smoke. as Alejandro Barundo reports, it contributed to at least 5,000 deaths. That was a summer when New Yorkers woke up to orange skies. People in Minnesota, New Hampshire, and even Georgia got hit with haze and ash. For many, it was the first real experience dealing with wildfire smoke. A study now published in the journal Nature calculated the impacts. It found smoke from those Canadian wildfires affected millions of people across North America and even Europe.

And because wildfire smoke hurts people's lungs, hearts, and even brains, the study found that it contributed directly to at least 5,000 deaths and played a smaller role in some 64,000 more. Scientists determined before that climate change played a role in making the 2023 wildfires worse. More major wildfires have plagued Canada again this summer. Alejandro Burunda, MPR News. The star of the next season of ABC's The Bachelorette will be influencer Taylor-Frank. Paul. Paul is also the star of the series The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. I'm Corva Coleman, NPR News.