Politics and views in the United States.

Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk killed while speaking at Utah Valley University. A government shutdown looms as Dems and the GOP hit an impasse and the Senate considers a rule change to speed up nomination votes.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2025 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

This is a political assassination.

We are celebrating 250 years of the founding of this great nation.

We are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights.

The first one of those is life.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox calls the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on a university campus a dark day for his state. a tragic day for the nation, and a direct attack on democratic values.

Authorities continue to search for the shooter who struck while Kirk was engaging students in debate.

One former Utah governor calls the shooting, quote, "Jarring, saying it cuts to the heart of a typically peaceful community."

Several historically black colleges received threats and went into lockdown after Kirk's death.

Purdue sociology professor Marcus Mann says consumption of media full of virulent rhetoric has made political polarization more extreme and potentially more violent. that kind of us versus them mentality is incredibly compelling.

And it's very powerful for fostering strong in-groups and making you feel part of a strong community.

And we see media outlets gaining audience share through this kind of thing. - After the attempted assassinations of President Donald Trump, some Republicans blamed Democrats for calling Trump a Nazi.

Democrats responded that many on the right even call vaccine and campus speech policies fascist.

Trump himself described his political opponents as quote, "vermin," called them far more sinister than international enemies and said they would have to be totally rooted out.

Colorado officials say a 16-year-old student who opened fire at Evergreen High School was radicalized by an unnamed extremist network.

Two classmates remain in critical condition.

New York advocates are pushing Governor Kathy Hochul to call a special legislative session to respond to deep cuts from the federal tax and budget mega-bill.

Rebecca Garrard with Citizen Action of New York warned slashing Medicaid could overwhelm the healthcare system. hospital closures, health care staff, job losses.

In the most immediate term, there should be emergency relief for rural hospitals and for the ability to maintain staffing.

The state faces a $3 billion shortfall from Medicaid to Head Start and SNAP.

Advocates also want lawmakers to pass a long-stalled proposal to restrict cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration agents.

A debate is brewing in Congress over the fate of barred owls.

Wayne Peselli with Animal Wellness Action says lawmakers are moving to review a Fish and Wildlife Service plan to shoot nearly half a million birds to protect an endangered species they compete with, the northern spotted owl.

If we don't stop it, it will be the largest slaughter of birds of prey that any government has ever initiated in the world.

And we think it's inhumane, it's unworkable, and it has a price tag of $1.35 billion. dollars.

I'm Farah Siddiqi for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.