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Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and close ally of President Donald Trump, was shot and killed Wednesday at a Utah college event in an act that drew renewed attention to the threat of political violence across the United States. The death was announced on social media by Trump, who praised the 31-year-old Kirk, the co-founder and CEO of the youth organization Turning Point USA, as Great, and even Legendary. No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie, Trump posted on his Truth Social account. The suspected shooter has not been arrested, Orem, Utah, Mayor David Young said. A person who was taken into custody by law enforcement at the university where Kirk was speaking was not the suspect, according to a person familiar with the investigation who was not authorized to speak publicly. Videos posted to social media from Utah Valley University show Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone while sitting under a white tent emblazoned with the slogans The American Comeback and Prove Me Wrong. A single shot rings out and Kirk can be seen reaching up with his right hand as a large volume of blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators are heard gasping and screaming before people start to run away. The AP was able to confirm the videos were taken at Sorensen Center courtyard on the Utah Valley University campus. Kirk was speaking at a debate hosted by his nonprofit political organization. Immediately before the shooting, Kirk was taking questions for an audience member about mass shootings and gun violence. Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years? an audience member asked. Kirk responded, Too many. The questioner followed up: Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years? Counting or not counting gang violence? Kirk asked. Then a single shot rang out. Utah Valley University said the campus was immediately evacuated and remained closed. Classes were canceled until further notice. Those still on campus were asked to stay in place until police officers could safely escort them off campus. Armed officers walked around the neighborhood bordering the campus, knocking on doors and asking for information on the shooter. Officers have been seen looking at a photo on their phones and showing it to people to see if they recognize a person of interest. The event, billed as the first stop on Kirk’s The American Comeback Tour, had generated a polarizing campus reaction. An online petition calling for university administrators to bar Kirk from appearing received nearly 1,000 signatures. The university issued a statement last week citing First Amendment rights and affirming its commitment to free speech, intellectual inquiry, and constructive dialogue. Last week, Kirk posted on X images of news clips showing his visit to Utah colleges was sparking controversy. He wrote, Whats going on in Utah? The shooting drew swift bipartisan condemnation, with Democratic officials joining Trump, who ordered flags lowered to half-staff and issued a presidential proclamation, and Republican allies of Kirk in decrying the violence. The attack on Charlie Kirk is disgusting, vile, and reprehensible, Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who last March hosted Kirk on his podcast, posted on X. The murder of Charlie Kirk breaks my heart. My deepest sympathies are with his wife, two young children, and friends, said Gabrielle Giffords, the former Democratic congresswoman who was wounded in a 2011 shooting in her Arizona district. Though no motive has been disclosed, the circumstances of the shooting fueled concerns that it was part of a spike of political violence that has cut across the political spectrum. The attacks include the assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband at their house in June, the firebombing of a Colorado parade to demand Hamas release hostages, and a fire set at the house of Pennsylvanias governor, who is Jewish, in April. The most notorious of these events is the shooting of Trump during a campaign rally last year. Former Utah congressman Jason Chaffetz, a Republican who was at the event, said in an interview on Fox News Channel that he heard one shot and saw Kirk go back. It seemed like it was a close shot, Chaffetz said, who seemed shaken as he spoke. He said there was a light police presence at the event and Kirk had some security but not enough. Utah is one of the safest places on the planet, he said. And so we just dont have these types of things. Turning Point was founded in suburban Chicago in 2012 by Kirk, then 18, and William Montgomery, a tea party activist, to proselytize on college campuses for low taxes and limited government. It was not an immediate success. But Kirks zeal for confronting liberals in academia eventually won over an influential set of conservative financiers. Despite early misgivings, Turning Point enthusiastically backed Trump after he clinched the GOP nomination in 2016. Kirk served as a personal aide to Donald Trump Jr., the presidents eldest son, during the general election campaign. Soon, Kirk was a regular presence on cable TV, where he leaned into the culture wars and heaped praise on the then-president. Trump and his son were equally effusive and often spoke at Turning Point conferences.By Hannah Schoenbaum, Alanna Durkin Richer, and Mark Sherman Richer and Sherman reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Nicholas Riccardi in Denver and Michael Biesecker, Brian Slodysko, Lindsay Whitehurst, Michelle L. Price and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.
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Another week, another viral sports controversy. If you havent heard of the Phillies Karen, youre either living under a rock or simply not chronically online. The saga started when Philadelphia Phillies fan Drew Feltwell attended a game last week with his wife and two children. After fielder Harrison Bader launched a home run into the stands, several fans, including Feltwell, scrambled for the ball. After successfully securing the home run ball for his young son, Feltwell suddenly found himself on the receiving end of an outburst from a woman in a Phillies jersey, demanding the ball. The brief exchange, captured on video, quickly went viral. Eventually, Feltwell relented, taking the ball from his sons mitt and passing it to the woman, whom the internet promptly dubbed Phillies Karen. View this post on Instagram A post shared by NBC Sports Philadelphia (@nbcsphilly)
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A recall of frozen fruits and vegetables from a salmonella outbreak has gotten worse, as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced an expanded list of affected foods on Wednesday. A recall that began in July has expanded, and Chetak LLC Group has added dozens more frozen vegetables and fruit products under its Deep brand to the recall list. The frozen foods are linked to a salmonella outbreak that has sickened 11 people in 10 states, including the hospitalizations of four people. WHAT PRODUCTS AND BRANDS ARE AFFECTED? The latest recall affects more than 60 different Deep frozen foods that Chetak said were run on the same equipment as those products that salmonella was detected in previously. Out of an abundance of caution and given our commitment to public health and safety, Chetak has decided to expand its [voluntary] recall, the company said in a notification to customers. In July and August, Chetak recalled multiple lots of different frozen foods and urged retailers and consumers not to eat, sell, or serve the products. In total, Chetak has recalled about 70 products in the past two months after multiple people became sick with salmonella between October 2024 and June 2025. Several of the illnesses were linked to people eating frozen sprouted mat (moth) beans and frozen sprouted moong beans. Several different lots of the dozens of products are affected and they were sold nationwide at a variety of stores and online. EXTENT OF THE OUTBREAK This salmonella outbreak has been going on for nearly a year, as illnesses were reported as early as October 2024. Illnesses have been reported by people in Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington. Four people have been hospitalized as a result of this outbreak, though no deaths have been reported. If you feel like youve been hearing a lot about salmonella lately, you have: The frozen foods recall is one of a few that have recently been linked to an outbreak. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced today that certain Metabolic Meals home delivery foods were linked to a salmonella outbreak that has sickened 16 people in 10 states. Last month, the CDC announced that nearly 100 people have become ill in a salmonella outbreak thats been linked to recalled eggs. SALMONELLA SYMPTOMS Symptoms of salmonella illness include diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps, with illness typically occurring within 12 to 72 hours of eating contaminated food. Salmonella infections are the most frequently reported cause of food-bourne illness in the U.S., according to the Department of Agriculture. Each year, some 1.4 million people become ill and 400 people die from salmonella infections.
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