NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-16-2025 4AM EDT

Episode Date: September 16, 2025

NPR News: 09-16-2025 4AM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens. Former U.S. prosecutor Maureen Comey is suing the Justice Department. As NPR's Kerry Johnson reports, Comey says the DOJ illegally fired her without cause. Maureen Comey spent nearly 10 years in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan, leading the prosecutions against music mogul Sean Diddy Combs and the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. The new lawsuit says Comey received outstanding performance

evaluations and had been put in charge of a major public corruption case only hours before she was let go in July. Comey says she thinks she was fired because she's the daughter of former FBI director Jim Comey, a vocal critic of President Trump. The U.S. Attorney in New York told her the decision came from Washington. Trump ally Laura Lumer had pressured the administration to dismiss Maureen Comey. She's asking for reinstatement to her job and back pay. The DOJ declined comment. NPR News, Washington. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in Qatar in wake of the Israeli attack on Hamas leaders there. Rubio met with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on Monday in Jerusalem,

where he called for a diplomatic end to the war in Gaza. Netanyahu says Hamas must first surrender and release all remaining hostages. The Trump administration has carried out another deadly strike in international waters of the Caribbean. In both incidents, a boat allegedly heading to the U.S. was carrying drugs from Venom. Venezuela. Families of the children injured in last month's school shooting in Minneapolis are calling for new restrictions on firearms. More from Minnesota Public Radio's Dana Ferguson. Parents of children who survived the mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church filled a State Senate Working Group meeting. Carla Maldonado said she and her husband ran toward the church when they heard gunshots ring out.

Their two children survived the shooting. Maldonado asked legislators to pass restrictions on assault-style weapons. Do not wait for another child to die. Do not wait for another mother to be sitting here again telling you their story of fear, sorrow, and grief. Because the mothers, we will keep coming. Lawmakers could be called into a special session to take up this proposal and others. For NPR news, I'm Dana Ferguson in St. Paul. Fans of Charlie Kirk continued to celebrate the conservative activist life days after he was shot to death at a college. in Utah. At a Capitol Hill vigil, House Speaker Mike Johnson remembered Kirk as a key member of the Republican Party. This has been a very difficult week in America. There's a wide range of emotions

that have been felt by the American people and, frankly, by leaders in the nation's capital. 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, the man accused of murdering Charlie Kirk, could appear in court as soon as today. Robinson surrendered to authorities a day after the killing. This is NPR. President Trump says he's sending National Guard troops and federal officers to Memphis to help police there deal with violent crime. Some Tennessee officials are welcoming the move as part of a larger law enforcement surge. Trump says the effort will be similar to the crackdown on Washington, D.C. He says he plans to do the same in several U.S. cities, and that Chicago is likely next.

The CDC's Vaccine Advisory Committee is getting five new members ahead of the group's meeting this week. As NPR's Ping Wong reports, they are replacements for the panel that was fired in June. The new members include a pediatric cardiologist associated with a group that discouraged people from getting COVID vaccines and an epidemiologist who was claimed that the government overstated COVID's harms. They add to the seven members appointed by Kennedy in June after he fired the previous members, which he said he did to restore public trust. The committee meets on Thursday and Friday in Atlanta. They're expected to vote on policy changes to COVID vaccines, along with routine childhood vaccines for hepatitis B and for measles and chicken pox. As health secretary,

Kennedy has stacked this panel with people who question the safety and need for vaccines. The panel helps determine which vaccines are covered by insurance or offered for free to many children. Ping Huang, NPR News. President Trump says public companies should not have to issue quarterly earnings reports. In a post on his social media site, Trump said, the Securities and Exchange Commission should require corporate earnings reports twice a year instead of every three months. U.S. futures are higher in after-hours trading on Wall Street following Monday's gains. This is NPR News.