Six minutes of news from around the nation.

Conservative activist Charlie Kirk fatally shot in act of 'political assassination' at Utah college; Utah officials move forward on redrawing congressional districts; White nationalist 'Active Clubs' growing in MS; WA groups decry 'abuse of power' against ICE protesters. 

TRANSCRIPT

The Public News Service daily newscast, September the 11th, 2025.

I'm Mike Clifford.

Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and close ally of President Trump, who played an influential role in rallying young GOP voters, was shot and killed Wednesday at a Utah college event in what the governor called a political assassination carried out from a rooftop.

FBI Director Kash Patel initially said a person of interest was in custody, but later said the subject had been released.

That from the Associated Press.

They quote Utah Governor Spencer Cox as saying, "This is a dark day for our state.

It's a tragedy for our nation."

Cox added, "I want to be very clear, this is a political assassination."

The AP notes the assassination drew a bipartisan condemnation, but adds a national reckoning over ways to prevent political grievances from manifesting as deadly violence seemed elusive.

Meantime, legal action is coming to a head this week on the court-ordered redrawing of Utah's four congressional districts.

A state district court ruled last week that the Utah legislature unconstitutionally repealed and replaced a 2018 voter-approved ballot to create an independent redistricting commission.

Elizabeth Rathmussen, with Better Boundaries, the group behind the initiative, says the GOP-controlled legislature was wrong to divide the state in ways that negated the voters' wishes.

We're not unique in the splitting of communities, but what we are unique on right now is that the courts have determined that the will of the people stands.

Legislative leaders have asked the state Supreme Court to stay the third district court's order to withdraw the districts, but Judge Diana Gibson has given both sides in the case a timeline to publish new maps by September 25th in order for them to be used in the 2026 midterm elections.

Mark Richardson reporting.

And experts say they're seeing a rise and white nationalist movements in Mississippi and across the country that are disguising themselves as fitness groups.

They're called active clubs and present themselves as sporting clubs or fighting clubs focused on brotherhood.

Art Gibson is a professor of sociology and criminology at the University of Dayton.

He says they recruit both online and in person, targeting young white men using shared interests as tools to gradually introduce and normalize racist ideologies.

You add to that the willingness to engage in violence against people of color, LGBTQ people.

There's a clear potential for violence here.

Gibson points out active clubs often meet in Christian churches and gyms, with recent activities showing multi-state coordination, such as a Mississippi active club regularly meeting with a neighboring state's club for family days.

They use distinctive symbols such as the Celtic cross, a well-known neo-Nazi symbol, and share content across social media platforms to maintain connections between chapters and other white supremacist groups.

I'm Tramiel Gomes.

This is public news service.

More than 60 organizations across Washington state have signed a letter demanding increased protections for immigrants from detention and the dropping of federal charges against ICE protesters.

Immigrant rights advocates say tactics by police and federal immigration officers are escalating after 37 people were arrested at a June protest in Spokane.

A month later, nine more activists were arrested from their homes and cars and hit with federal conspiracy charges.

Liz Moore of the Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane calls the arrests an abuse of federal power.

Both our neighbors are being terribly targeted because of the color of their skin or because of their status as immigrants.

And that targeting is expanding to include people who are showing up for our neighbors using our First Amendment rights.

The letter includes a call to use tax dollars to fund emergency aid for immigrant communities that are impacted by increased ICE activity in the state.

The Trump administration says it is following through with its promise to carry out the largest mass deportation in US history.

I'm Isabel Charlay.

And as cryptocurrency continues to rise in popularity, so do scams associated with the loosely regulated digital currency.

Cryptocurrency ATMs or BTMs allow people to buy digital currency using cash or a debit card.

Fraud complaints about them increased by 99 percent in 2024, according to FinCEN.

There are hundreds of them across the state, which are often referred to as federal safety locks by scammers.

Courtney Ann Clam with AARP Wisconsin emphasizes anyone can fall victim, and more often than not, those who do are losing thousands to tens of thousands of dollars.

You might get contacted saying that there was suspicious activity on your bank account.

You need to take all of your money out of your bank account because it's been compromised.

Put it in this machine, send it here, and then it will be protected.

And Clam says to bring more awareness to the issue, AARP Wisconsin is hosting two free fraud prevention events in Madison and Green Bay.

Registration is available online.

I'm Judith Ruiz Branch Reporting.

Finally, with the official end of summer less than two weeks away, medical experts encourage Coloradans to keep drinking water, not just to beat the heat, but to safeguard their heart health.

Dr. Manisha Kochar is a cardiologist with National Jewish Health in Denver.

She says the water you drink makes its way into your blood, and when you're dehydrated, your blood actually becomes thicker.

And if you don't have adequate blood volume, your heart has to work a lot harder to pump blood, and by pumping harder, it increases the demand for oxygen and puts more stress on your heart.

The amount of water needed to stay hydrated varies between people, but on average aim to drink around eight cups per day.

I'm Eric Galatas.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service, member and listener supported.

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