NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-17-2025 9PM EDT

Episode Date: September 18, 2025

NPR News: 09-17-2025 9PM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jail Snyder. ABC has announced at its late-night talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, has been suspended. The move comes after Kimmel made comments on Monday about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Here's reporter Steve Futterman. The Kimmel comments suggested that conservative groups in Kimmel's words were trying to score political points over Charlie Kirk's death. These are some of the comments. We hit some new lows over the weekend with the magazine. a gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other

than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from. In a brief written statement, ABC said that the show will be preempted indefinitely. Just prior to the announcement, Next Star, which owns 200 TV stations, said it was taking Kimmel off of its 32 stations, which are ABC affiliates. Kimmel's comments have also been criticized by the chairman of the FCC. For NPR news, I'm Steve Futterman in Los Angeles. The suspension of Kimmel's show, drawing comparisons to CBS's decision to discontinue Stephen Colbert's late-night show. CBS cites financial reasons.

Both Kimmel and Colbert, though, have been critical of President Trump. Three law enforcement officers are dead, two others wounded after a shooting in south central Pennsylvania. NPR ship Brady reports a suspect is also dead, and authorities say there's no danger to the nearby community. The police officers were investigating. a case that authorities say was domestic-related along a rural road south of Harrisburg. Colonel Christopher Paris, Commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police, mourned the dead officers. The grief will be unbearable, but we will bear it. And we will not rest until we've conducted a full, fair, competent, and thorough investigation. Paris says a suspect also is dead,

shot by police. The two wounded officers are listed in critical but stable condition at a hospital in York, Pennsylvania. Students and staff at a nearby school sheltered in place as classes were ending, that order has been lifted. Jeff Brady, NPR News, Philadelphia. South Carolina state Supreme Court has denied a request to strike down a congressional district map designed to help Republicans win elections. MPR's Hansi-Lowong reports that South Carolina's high court has ruled that the state courts cannot review claims of partisan gerrymandering. The League of Women Voters of South Carolina argued this congressional map violates the state's constitution. by not giving South Carolina's voters their equal right to elect members of the U.S. House representatives.

The South Carolina Supreme Court found the state has no laws or redistricting standards against the redrawing of voting districts to make congressional elections less competitive and help a particular political party win. A similar ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court has cut off federal courts from reviewing partisan gerrymandering claims. The new South Carolina ruling comes after President Trump's push for Texas, Missouri, and other Republican-led states to draw new maps that could help the GOP keep control of the House after next year's mid-term. term election. On Zila Wong, NPR News. This is NPR News. The fired Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director, Susan Minares, was on Capitol Hill today, telling a Senate panel that the public health system in the U.S. is heading to what she called a dangerous place under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. She told the Senate Health Committee that Kennedy dismissed data supporting vaccine safety and efficacy and said Kennedy demanded she pre-approved recommendations made by the

CDC panel he revamped. The panel is expected to vote on new vaccine guidelines this week. President Trump has wrapped up the first day of his state visit to the U.K. He and first lady, Melania Trump, retreated to a lavish state dinner at Windsor Castle. Trump is to meet with British Prime Minister Kirstarmer tomorrow. Mexico kicks off its holiday season with a traditional stuffed pablo peppers, but there's a big problem. One important ingredient made from a cactus is nearly extinct, as NPR's Ader-Per-Alta reports. Even though it's illegal, Acetron is sold openly at markets in Mexico City.

It's a barrel cactus that is chopped up and then seeped in vats of sugar until it's crystallized and then cut into yellow bars. I ask Edith Hernandez-Dorres who sells it if she doesn't feel guilty and she shrugs. Well, our whole planet is going extinct, she says. Biologists say the problem is that the barrel cactus, grows incredibly slow.

It can take 40 years for one to reach your knees, so farming it is impractical and unprofitable. They warn, if Mexicans keep eating it, there may soon be none left in the wild. Eidapralta, NPR News, Mexico City. And I'm Jail Snyder. This is NPR News.