Category: National

(NEW YORK) — Immigration can be a hot-button topic, something frequently discussed on cable news and splashed across the headlines. But to one enterprising young author, it’s also the perfect material for a children’s book that helps young people understand each other’s roots.

Last month, Scarsdale, New York, high school senior Max Reddy Spencer wrote and self-published a children’s book titled “We Are All Immigrants.”

Spencer, the son of an Indian American mother and a white American father, said he was motivated to share the message that we are all more alike than different.

“We Are All Immigrants” follows the story of a young boy with a very similar background as Spencer’s. But he said he wanted the character to stand in for every child.

“I didn’t name the protagonist in the book,” he told ABC News. “I did that intentionally, actually, as a way to try to make the boy represent all of us and also not be the highlight of the story … I wanted the characters he interacted with to be the center of focus and attention.”

Through the boy’s journey in the book, he discovers that most people in his life who live in the United States are, in fact, immigrants. Whether it be his Venezuelan American neighbor, his Taiwanese American teacher, or his Italian American lunch cook, he begins to understand the fabric of his community is woven from different, diverse backgrounds.

Spencer said his book aims to make conversations about immigration more accessible to children, and it doubles as a coloring book with illustrations generated by artificial intelligence.

For Spencer, immigration is deeply personal, he said. His maternal grandparents immigrated from India. His grandfather was from a tiny, rural village in south India called Pathur, in Andhra Pradesh, India. His grandmother’s hometown was called Madanapalle.

Spencer said he grew up understanding America is built on immigration and that his goal in writing the book was to teach children about immigration, while also encouraging people to reflect on their similarities.

“I am very much pro-immigration from an economic and cultural perspective, but I am mostly just trying to remind our country that we are all far more similar than we are different,” he said. “I know that is obviously far more than my little book can do. But that was a big piece of what I was trying to share.”

Previously, Spencer started an initiative called the Inspiration Project, which collects and distributes free children’s books to underserved communities. His goal is to collect more than 3,000 children’s books to redistribute before he graduates high school. He estimated he’s collected at least 2,000 so far.

Spencer said he is donating all the proceeds from “We Are All Immigrants” to the organization Hearts & Homes for Refugees, a New York-based organization that helps resettle refugee families.

“We Are All Immigrants is available” online.

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(NASHUA, N.H.) — One man was killed and several people were wounded after a shooting at a New Hampshire country club Saturday evening, authorities said.

It happened at the Sky Meadow Country Club in Nashua when a man entered the club and fired several gunshots, according to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office.

A “person of interest” in the shooting was detained at the scene by police officers, according to Peter Hinckley, senior assistant attorney general, who spoke to reporters during a news conference Saturday night.

Authorities said there was no further danger to the public.

Attorney General John M. Formella and Nashua Police Department Chief Kevin Rourke later released a statement naming the suspect as Hunter Nadeau, 23.

The victim was named as Robert Steven DeCesare, 59. Two other adults were shot and wounded, the statement said. There is “no known connection” between the suspect and the victim, Formella and Rourke said.

Nadeau was charged with one count of second-degree murder, the statement said. “Additional charges likely will be brought, including for the additional shooting victims,” the statement added.

Nadeau is expected to be arraigned in Nashua on Monday, Formella and Rourke said.

Initially, Nashua police said two armed suspects fled the scene of the shooting and that one was at large, but they later said surveillance video confirmed there was only one shooter.

The country club contains a golf course, a wedding venue and a restaurant. Authorities did not specify the exact location of the shooting.

A nearby Sheraton Hotel was being used as a unification site.

Nashua Mayor Jim Donchess said he was saddened by the shooting and thinking of the families affected.

“I’ve heard from other mayors in other places of course … It had always crossed my mind, ‘Well, it’s unlikely ever to happen in Nashua.’ But now it has,” he told reporters during the news conference. “And I think the message is for every community out there: No matter how unlikely it seems, it can happen. It can happen where you live.”

Nashua is a city of about 92,000 people in southern New Hampshire near the border with Massachusetts.

“As we learn more about tonight’s shooting in Nashua, my heart goes out to the families of those impacted,” New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan said in a post on social media. “And I’m grateful for the work of the law enforcement officers and first responders at the scene.”

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(GLENDALE, Ariz.) — A man has been arrested and charged after he allegedly impersonated a law enforcement officer and brought a weapon to the stadium where Charlie Kirk’s memorial service will be held on Sunday, according to officials.

Joshua Runkles, 42, was booked on charges of carrying a weapon into a prohibited place and impersonating a police officer, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

Runkles was arrested at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, after showing “suspicious behavior,” according to Arizona DPS.

Runkles is not a law enforcement officer, according to DPS. He was taken into custody by the DPS and booked into the Maricopa County Jail.

“An investigation is ongoing to determine his intent and purpose at the stadium. Runkles has since been released on bond,” according to Arizona DPS.

Later, in a statement posted on X, Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet said the individual “was doing advance security for a known guest planning to attend the memorial service tomorrow. We do not believe this person was attempting anything nefarious, however the advance was not done in proper coordination with the TPUSA security team or US Secret Service.”

Kolvet said the arrest came before the site had been fully sealed and locked down.

The U.S. Secret Service said it was investigating in coordination with local law enforcement an “individual who was observed exhibiting suspicious behavior” at State Farm Stadium.

The individual was approached by Secret Service agents and said during the encounter that he was a member of law enforcement and that he was armed, a Secret Service spokesperson told ABC News.

This individual was not a member of authorized law enforcement working the event and an investigation is ongoing as to why he was there, the spokesperson said.

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(NEW YORK) — The federal indictment that makes Luigi Mangione eligible for the death penalty if he’s convicted of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson should be dismissed because a “torrent of prejudice from multiple public officials” violated his constitutional rights and made it impossible for him to receive a fair trial, defense attorneys argued in a new court filing Saturday.

Mangione has pleaded not guilty to four federal charges, including one death-eligible count of using a firearm to commit murder, that accused him of tracking Thompson’s whereabouts, traveling to New York where Thompson was attending an investor conference, stalking him on the street and then firing several shots from a 9mm pistol.

The defense conceded there is a high bar to dismiss an indictment due to pretrial publicity but argued, “there has never been a situation remotely like this one where prejudice has been so great against a death-eligible defendant.”

Defense attorneys pointed to what they called a “dehumanizing, unconstitutional” perp walk in New York, during which Mangione was televised clambering out of a helicopter in shackles.

“This was done solely to prejudice him and without the slightest legitimate law enforcement objective,” defense attorneys Karen Friedman Agnifilo and Avi Moskowitz argued.

“The United States Attorney General as well as law enforcement personnel and the highest New York City elected official took every opportunity to prejudice Mr. Mangione’s chances of having a fair grand jury hearing and fair legal proceedings in this death penalty case,” the defense’s filing said. “Placing their own, and their administration’s, political agendas above the constitutional safeguards assured to every criminal defendant, and especially one facing a death sentence, they serially violated the constitution, the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, this court’s local rules and traditional notions of fairness.”

The defense pointed to public statements, social media posts and television appearances by Attorney General Pam Bondi that they said made clear the decision to seek the death penalty was based on politics and not merit.

In April, Bondi directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for Mangione if he is convicted of Thompson’s murder.

“Mangione’s murder of Brian Thompson — an innocent man and father of two young children — was a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America,” Bondi said in a statement at the time.

“The Attorney General of the United States is telling the public that based on her personal experience as a capital prosecutor who tried death penalty cases throughout her career that Mangione is guilty and should be executed,” the defense said. “In addition, she also called the incident ‘an act of political violence’ even though Mr. Mangione was charged in a complaint with stalking a single person who was not a politician, or an activist, and who was not otherwise engaged in politics.”

Meanwhile, a judge this week dismissed two state murder charges related to acts of terrorism as Mangione made his first Manhattan courtroom appearance in five months.

Judge Gregory Carro tossed out first and second-degree murder charges that accused Mangione of murder as a crime of terrorism. The judge said the evidence presented to the grand jury was insufficient to support the terrorism charge.

The rest of the indictment remains, with the judge refusing to dismiss another second-degree murder charge, to which Mangione has pleaded not guilty.

“We respect the Court’s decision and will proceed on the remaining nine counts, including Murder in the Second Degree,” the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said in a statement following the ruling.

Mangione’s next court appearance is in December.

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(NEW YORK) — Some pop-up showers and thunderstorms are possible on Saturday, mainly to the north of areas hit hardest by flash flooding recently, but there is no organized threat of flash flooding today as tropical moisture begins to thin out. No flood alerts are currently in effect.

However, another burst of monsoonal moisture will bring a low threat (Level 1 of 4) of flash flooding to parts of the Desert Southwest Sunday into Monday.

Isolated downpours and thunderstorms could bring localized areas of flash flooding to parts of far southern California and Arizona for Sunday.

For Monday, the low flood threat shifts east into parts of New Mexico.

Any burn scar areas will be especially prone to dangerous flash flooding which could trigger debris flows and mudslides. Burned soil lowers the threshold for flash flooding, meaning even lower rainfall totals can lead to significant flash flooding and other impacts, which unfold quickly.

Into the rest of next week, dry and quiet weather is forecasted for much of the Southwest.

Over the last couple of days, heavy rain and flash flooding drenched the Southwest and even became deadly in one instance.

In Barstow, California, a 2-year-old was swept away after their family’s car was swept off a road and overtaken by floodwaters. The City of Barstow announced on Friday that “After more than 20 hours of extensive search and rescue operations, emergency responders located the child’s body.”

Flash flooding occurred in other parts of the Southwest as the heaviest downpours dropped 1 to 2 inches of rain in around an hour for some spots, causing some roads to be washed out and anything in the way of rushing floodwaters to be swept away.

Tropical Storm Gabrielle
Tropical Storm Gabrielle continues to churn in the central Atlantic, fighting off unfavorable atmospheric conditions.

Gabrielle is slowly improving in structure late Saturday morning but continues to deal with wind shear and dry air, all conditions that tropical cyclones struggle to survive in.

The storm is expected to move into an area with less wind shear and dry air, as well as warm water, allowing it to likely become a hurricane by late Sunday.

However, it will not bring any direct impacts to land as it stays east of Bermuda early next week and eventually turns northeast across the north-central Atlantic by the middle of next week.

If it does become a hurricane, Gabrielle would become the 2nd hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season. On average, the 2nd hurricane forms around August 26, making this hurricane almost a month later than normally expected.

Hurricane hunter flights are scheduled to fly into Gabrielle to get a better idea of the storm’s current structure and strength.

The National Hurricane Center is also watching a weak tropical wave located off the west coast of Africa as it produces some disorganized thunderstorms.

It has a 20% chance of development in the next seven days as it slowly treks across the central Atlantic. If it does become more developed, it would likely take the same track as Gabrielle, avoiding any direct impacts for land.

Tropical activity in the Atlantic is forecasted to slowly ramp back up over the next few weeks as conditions gradually become more favorable for development.

The Atlantic hurricane season runs through Nov. 30.

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(NEW YORK) — Two NYPD officers will face departmental misconduct charges in the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Win Rozario after he had called 911 during what his family said was a mental distress episode, a police department spokesman confirmed to ABC News.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch is charging officers Salvatore Alongi and Matthew Cianfrocco with using excessive force against Rozario when they shot him five times after they say he lunged at them with a pair of scissors in his home in the Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens in March 2024.

Alongi and Cianfrocco were responding to a 911 call from Rozario, who was experiencing what his family said to be a mental distress episode, according to released body camera footage.

The officers entered the apartment, and Rozario at one point grabbed a pair of scissors from a chair in the kitchen and ran at the officers, as his mother, Notan Ava Costa, tried to restrain him, according to police body cam footage. Alongi and Cianfrocco tased Rozario before shooting him five times.

“They shot him with the tasers, and my brother didn’t really go down,” Utsho Rozario, Win Rozario’s younger brother, who was present at the shooting, said in an interview. “So one of the cops pulled out a gun and shot him as my mother was still hugging him.”

Initially, police leaders said the officers’ actions had been within departmental guidelines, as found by an investigator in the Civilian Complaint Review Board, the oversight agency that reviews complaints against NYPD officers.

John Chell, the department’s chief of patrol at the time of the shooting, said the situation was “quite hectic, chaotic and dangerous right away,” and the officers were within their authority to tase and shoot Rozario to de-escalate the situation.

However, last week, the Civilian Complaint Review Board voted to overrule the investigator who found Alongi and Cianfrocco innocent, finding the pair of officers in violation of using excessive force and abusing their authority.

Patrick Hendry, the president of the Police Benevolent Association, the union that represents NYPD officers, believes the charges against Alongi and Cianfrocco are unjustified and unfair.

“The board simply rubber-stamps its investigators’ findings in almost every other case. But in this case, they threw those findings away because they didn’t fit a predetermined outcome. The data shows that there are only a few board members who are ever willing to stand up and make an independent decision based on the facts and the law. The rest are either too afraid of the anti-police extremists, or they are extremists themselves. Either way, they have deprived these police officers and all police officers of the fairness guaranteed by the (City) Charter,” Hendry said.

An inquiry into the shooting by New York Attorney General Letitia James’s office is ongoing; there have been no criminal charges filed against them.

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(NEW YORK) — A new book by two artificial intelligence researchers claims that the race to build superintelligent AI could spell doom for humanity.

In “If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All,” authors Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares claim that AI development is moving too fast and without proper safety measures.

“We tried a whole lot of things besides writing a book, and you really want to try all the things you can if you’re trying to prevent the utter extinction of humanity,” Yudkowsky told ABC News.

Yudkowsky says major tech companies claim superintelligent AI — a hypothetical form of AI that could possess intellectual abilities far exceeding humans — could arrive within two to three years. But he warns these companies may not fully understand the risks they’re taking.

Unlike the chatbots many people use today, superintelligent AI could be fundamentally different and more dangerous, according to Soares.

“Chatbots are a stepping stone. They [companies] are rushing to build smarter and smarter AIs,” he told ABC News.

The authors explain that modern AI systems are “grown” rather than built in traditional ways, making them harder to control. When these systems do unexpected things, developers can’t simply fix the code.

“When they threaten a New York Times reporter or engage in blackmail … that’s just a behavior that comes out of these AI’s being grown. It’s not a behavior someone put in there on purpose,” Soares said.

Soares compared AI abilities to human abilites as a professional NFL team playing against a high school team.

“You don’t know exactly what the plays are. You know who’s going to win.” He suggested AI could potentially take over robots, create dangerous viruses or build infrastructure that overwhelms humanity.

While some argue AI could help solve humanity’s biggest challenges, Yudkowsky remains skeptical.

“The trouble is, we don’t have the technical capacity to make something that wants to help us,” he told ABC News.

The authors advocate for a complete halt in superintelligent AI development.

“I don’t think you want a plan to get into a fight with something that is smarter than humanity,” Yudkowsky warned. “That’s a dumb plan.”

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(BARSTOW, Calif.) — A desperate search is underway in Barstow, California, for a 2-year-old boy who was swept away by floodwaters Thursday evening, authorities said.

Xavier Padilla Aguilera was traveling with his father, Brandon Padilla Aguilera, 26, when their vehicle was swept off a main road in Barstow, California, about 115 miles northeast of Los Angeles, by rushing flood waters around 7:14 p.m., according to Barstow Police.

The father and son became separated from their vehicle as flood waters carried them northward, police said. Brandon was later rescued and taken to Barstow Community Hospital, where he was treated and released.

Xavier, who his family told ABC News station KABC-TV has autism and is nonverbal, was last seen wearing black pants, a black shirt, and black and white Nike shoes.

The incident occurred during a day of severe weather that brought powerful thunderstorms to Southern California. In Oak Glen, dramatic video obtained by ABC News showed a massive mudslide cascading down a hillside, destroying everything in its path.

A massive multi-agency response was launched, including teams from the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Police, California Highway Patrol, and San Bernardino County Fire’s Swift Water Rescue Team. Local volunteers from the Desert Recovery Group and community members joined the search effort, according to authorities.

“We have a bunch of volunteers out here who are still looking,” Xavier’s aunt, Leanna, told ABC News station KABC-TV. “If you guys can, if you live in the area, if you have bright lights… anything that can help us look through the dirt, the mud – anything to help us find him, we greatly appreciate it.”

Police suspended the official search until daylight Friday, according to KABC-TV.

Anyone with information about Xavier’s whereabouts is urged to contact local authorities immediately.

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(NEW YORK) — A federal judge has tossed President Donald Trump’s $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times and Penguin Random House, calling the complaint “decidedly improper and impermissible.” 

U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday on Friday struck the complaint and gave the president’s lawyers 28 days to refile their lawsuit. 

“A complaint is not a megaphone for public relations or a podium for a passionate oration at a political rally or the functional equivalent of the Hyde Park Speakers’ Corner,” Merryday wrote. 

In the lawsuit, which was just filed on Tuesday, Trump’s attorneys alleged that the Times has become a “leading, and unapologetic, purveyor of falsehoods,” arguing that a series of articles about Trump — including a report that Trump’s former chief of staff John Kelly warned the president would rule like a dictator, an article about the making of “The Apprentice,” and a report about the controversy that has followed Trump — amounted to libel. 

Judge Merryday, in a blistering four-page ruling, said he was throwing out the suit because it “unmistakably and inexcusably” violates the rules that govern civil lawsuits. 

“A complaint is a short, plain, direct statement of allegations of fact sufficient to create a facially plausible claim for relief and sufficient to permit the formulation of an informed response,” he wrote. “Although lawyers receive a modicum of expressive latitude in pleading the claim of a client, the complaint in this action extends far beyond the outer bound of that latitude.”

In tossing the suit because Trump’s complaint was procedurally improper, the judge did not weigh in on the merits of Trump’s defamation claim, giving his lawyers 28 days to refile it in a “professional and dignified manner.”

Merryday, who was appointed by President Geroge H. W. Bush, said the complaint contains eighty pages of repetitive claims and praise for President Trump, but fails to establish the two counts of defamation alleged. He lambasted Trump’s lawyers for forcing him to “labor through” the “superfluous” praise about Trump’s show “The Apprentice,” as well as the size of his real estate empire and the “historic fashion” of Trump’s 2024 presidential victory.  

“Even assuming that each allegation in the complaint is true … a complaint remains an improper and impermissible place for the tedious and burdensome aggregation of prospective evidence, for the rehearsal of tendentious arguments, or for the protracted recitation and explanation of legal authority putatively supporting the pleader’s claim for relief,” the judge wrote. “As every lawyer knows (or is presumed to know), a complaint is not a public forum for vituperation and invective — not a protected platform to rage against an adversary.”

Filed in the Middle District of Florida, the lawsuit named The New York Times and Times reporters Peter Baker, Russ Buettner, Susanne Craig, and Michael Schmidt as defendants. The lawsuit also named as a defendant Penguin Random House, the publisher of Craig and Buettner’s book “Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success.”

“Today, the Times is a fullthroated mouthpiece of the Democrat Party. The newspaper’s editorial routine is now one of industrial-scale defamation and libel against political opponents,” the lawsuit claimed. 

Trump’s lawyers allege that The New York Times and Penguin Random House sought to not only damage the president’s “hard-earned and world-renowned reputation for business success,” but also hurt his chances of winning the 2024 election.

A New York Times spokesperson said Tuesday that the suit had no merit.

“It lacks any legitimate legal claims and instead is an attempt to stifle and discourage independent reporting,” the Times spokesperson said. “The New York Times will not be deterred by intimidation tactics. We will continue to pursue the facts without fear or favor and stand up for journalists’ First Amendment right to ask questions on behalf of the American people.”

“This is a meritless lawsuit,” said a Penguin Random House spokesperson. “Penguin Random House stands by the book and its authors and will continue to uphold the values of the First Amendment that are fundamental to our role as a book publisher.”

In July, Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal  after the Journal reported that Trump allegedly sent disgraced financier Jeffery Epstein a bawdy letter in 2003 that was included in a book made for Epstein’s 50th birthday, which Trump has denied. 

In response to that suit, a spokesperson for Journal owner Dow Jones said, “We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.” 

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(WASHINGTON) — Days before a memorial service for Charlie Kirk, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives passed a “National Day of Remembrance” for the conservative influencer after he was killed on Sept. 10.

The Senate on Thursday unanimously approved a resolution marking Oct. 14, 2025 — Kirk’s birthday — a “National Day of Remembrance for Charlie Kirk.”

While on the Senate floor, Sen. Rick Scott, the Florida Republican leading the passage of the resolution, said he is “proud to have the support of more than 20 of my colleagues to honor Charlie by dedicating his birthday” as this day of remembrance.

“Charlie was a good man — a devout husband, father, and friend. His life was shaped by his faith and the idea that in America, debate and discussion are crucial to the betterment of our country,” Scott said on Thursday.

In the approved resolution, the Senate “recognizes Charlie Kirk for his contributions to civic education and public service” and “encourages educational institutions, civic organizations and citizens across the United States to observe this day.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Thursday that the House of Representative will “soon pass a resolution honoring the life and legacy of our friend Charlie Kirk, and condemning the political violence that led to his untimely passing.”

On Friday, the House also approved the resolution, despite 96 Democrats declining to support it.

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose husband Paul was the victim to political violence himself, was among the 22 Democrats who walked out without voting on the Kirk resolution, but did vote on the short-term government funding bill. Four Republicans also skipped the vote.

“We passed a resolution to honor the life and legacy of Charlie Kirk, my late friend, the friend of so many in this chamber, and we called out political violence in America,” Johnson told reporters following the vote.

The conservative influencer was shot and killed on Sept. 10 while speaking at an outdoor event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.

After a two-day manhunt, Tyler Robinson, 22, was arrested for allegedly shooting Kirk and charged on Tuesday with a slew of offenses, including aggravated murder, with prosecutors announcing the intent to seek the death penalty.

He was also charged with felony discharge of a firearm causing serious body injury, obstruction of justice, two counts of witness tampering and commission of violent offense in the presence of a child, Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray announced on Tuesday.

Robinson made his first court appearance on Tuesday. His next hearing is scheduled for Sept. 29.

Before he turned himself in to authorities, Robinson’s parents asked him why he committed this crime, to which he allegedly said “there is too much evil and the guy [Charlie Kirk] spreads too much hate,” according to charging documents.

The suspect also allegedly texted his roommate after the shooting that he “had enough of this hatred.”

“Some hate can’t be negotiated out,” one of the messages read, according to the charging documents.

FBI Director Kash Patel said the FBI is investigating “anyone and everyone” involved in a chat on Discord — a group chat messaging platform — where the suspect allegedly sent messages two hours before he was taken into custody, admitting he shot Kirk.

“Hey guys, I have bad news for you all…It was me at UVU yesterday. im sorry for all of this,” one of the messages allegedly read.

Patel said there are “a lot more” than 20 people linked to Robinson on Discord and that the FBI is “running them all down. He added that a “number of individuals” are currently being investigated.

Kirk’s memorial service will take place on Sunday in Glendale, Arizona. President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and members of the Kirk family are expected to attend.

Erika Kirk, the activist’s widow, is expected to speak on Sunday. On Thursday, she was “unanimously elected” as the new CEO and chair of the board for Turning Point USA, the organization her late husband founded.

The Department of Homeland Security has designated Charlie Kirk’s memorial service as a Special Event Assessment Rating Level 1 event, which is “reserved for events of the highest national significance,” a department official said.

ABC News’ John Parkinson contributed to this report.

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