NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-13-2025 11PM EDT

Episode Date: September 14, 2025

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Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and Eric and Wendy Schmidt through the Schmidt Family Foundation, working toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all. On the web at theshmit.org. Live from NPR news, I'm Dale Wilman. State prosecutors in Utah say they plan to file aggravated murder charges against the man who fatally shot conservative activist Charlie Kirk. NPR's Bobby Allen reports. Utah authorities say 22-year-old. Tyler Robinson will be facing murder, firearm, and other charges as early as Tuesday. Robinson has been detained in a county jail since he turned himself over to authorities in connection with the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk. The Department of Justice is expected to file separate federal charges against Robinson.

President Trump has called Kirk's death a dark moment for America. Speculation has swirled online about Robinson's exact motivation and political ideology, but so far investigators have not elaborated, beyond saying, Robinson knew Kirk was going to be in Utah and that he thought Kirk was full of hate and spreading hate. A memorial and funeral service for Kirk has been set for later this month in Arizona. Bobby Allen and PR News, Salt Lake City. President Trump is calling on NATO member states to collectively stop buying Russian oil exports. In a post to social media, Trump argued such moves could quickly force an end to Russia's war in Ukraine. From Moscow, NPR's Charles

Mains reports. Trump called for a collective NATO ban on Russian oil, arguing some member states continued purchase of Russian crude was undermining NATO's bargaining power over Moscow. NATO member Turkey is the third largest buyer of Russian oil after China and India. Trump also called on alliance members to impose steep tariffs on China up to 100 percent, so long as Beijing's purchases of Russian petroleum continue to help fund the war. It comes just days after an incursion by Russian drones into Poland's airspace, an incident that alarmed most NATO members, but Trump dismissed as possibly an accident. It also comes as Trump-led peace efforts have stalled, with the Kremlin on Friday saying U.S.-backed negotiations

between Russia and Ukraine were now on pause. Charles Mainz, MPR News, Moscow. COVID vaccines are starting to become available, but because of rule changes this year, they're not so easy for everyone to get. MPR's Ping Huang has the story of what it took to get one in Georgia just this week. Kathleen Ethier is traveling to California next week, a state in the middle of a COVID surge, and she has a spouse who survived cancer. I shouldn't be bringing COVID into the house. Ethier is under 65 years old, so she doesn't automatically qualify for a COVID booster, since the FDA approved it with restrictions last month. She couldn't get a prescription from her primary care provider who retired.

Another doctor suggested the CVS Minute Clinic. Ethier went twice, but it was randomly closed. Then she got an online appointment and went back a third time to get the shot. All is well that ended well. Still, it took a lot to get it. I had time and insurance, a car, like the ability to go back multiple times. Ether worries that the kinds of barriers she encountered will discourage others from getting the vaccine. Ping Huang, NPR News.

I'm Dale Wilman, and you're listening to NPR News. The Taliban says it's reached an agreement with the U.S. over an exchange of prisoners. The deal would be part of efforts to normalize relations. between the U.S. and Afghanistan. No details about an exchange were provided, and so far the White House has not commented on the meeting in Kabul. A former college president who led a lawsuit that changed historically black colleges and universities has died. Earl Richardson was president of Morgan State University in Baltimore

and put a spotlight on funding disparities for HBCUs. M.P.R. Joseph Shapiro has this remembrance. Earl Richardson's death at age 81 was announced by Morgan State University. During the time he led the school in Baltimore from 1994 to 2010, student enrollment doubled and the campus expanded. Richardson is known for the lawsuit he helped lead that gets compared to Brown versus the Board of Education. The lawsuit in Maryland argued that the state had failed to provide adequate funding to the state's HBCUs and had instead started and boosted competing programs at nearby majority white schools. The lawsuit took 15 years. In 2021, Maryland agreed to add more than a half billion dollars for the state's black colleges and universities. Joseph Shapiro, NPR News.

Charlie Hull has taken a one-stroke lead over top-ranked Gino Titical after three rounds and the LPGA Golf Championship underway in Ohio this weekend. She birdied four of her final eight holes to post to 16 under 200. Hull was a runner-up earlier this month in a tournament in Houston. I'm Dale Wilman, NPR News. This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe. When you manage your money with Wise, you'll always get the mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit Wise.com.

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