Latest on the Kirk Investigation, Who Was Charlie Kirk?, Russian Drones Over Poland

Up First from NPR

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Daily News, News

4.5 • 52.8K Ratings

🗓️ 11 September 2025

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Police are still searching for the gunman who killed right-wing activist Charlie Kirk during a speech at a Utah college campus. We look back at Kirk’s rise in conservative politics through Turning Point USA and the controversies that defined him. And in Europe, Russian drones crossing into Poland are testing NATO’s limits and raising fears of a wider war.

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Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Eric Westervelt, Megan Pratz, Kate Bartlett, Mohamad ElBardicy and Alice Woefle.

It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas.

We get engineering support from Zo van Ginhoven. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The governor of Utah addresses the person who fired the shot that killed Charlie Kirk.
0:07.0	To whoever did this, we will find you and we will hold you accountable.
0:13.1	Where does the investigation lead?
0:14.7	I'm Michelle Martin with Steve Inskeep, and this is up first from NPR News.
0:20.8	Coming up, how did Charlie Kirk build a right-wing youth movement?
0:24.2	We hear the background of a social media figure who also had a real-world presence.
0:28.5	He publicly debated critics and made polarizing statements.
0:31.5	His group, Turning Point USA, had chapters on hundreds of campuses, including the one where he was shot.
0:36.8	Also, why did so many
0:38.1	Russian drones fly into Poland's airspace? Fighter jets from an NATO ally scrambled to shoot down
0:44.2	the intruding aircraft. Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day.
1:12.9	What's made you happy as of late? On Pop Culture Happy Hour, we've been talking about the things that have made us happy in the pop culture universe for the past 15 years. Whether it's a blockbuster or deliciously bad reality TV, the newest shows, dramas, and reboots, we're here to keep your spirits high.
1:17.6	Listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:24.6	Hey, it's Rachel Martin. I'm the host of Wildcard from NPR. For a lot of my years as a radio host, silence sort of made me nervous.
1:31.9	That pause before an answer, because you don't know what's going on on the other side of the mic.
1:34.1	But these days, I love it.
1:36.6	Hmm. Oh. Gosh.
1:38.2	Give me a minute.
1:39.1	Yeah, yeah. Think.
1:42.3	Listen to the Wild Card podcast only from NPR.
1:48.3	World News is important, but it can feel far away, not on the state of the world podcast.
1:53.9	With journalists around the world, you'll hear firsthand the effects of U.S. trade actions in Canada and China and meet a Mexican street sweeper who became a pop star.
	...

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