Recently, yet another Apollo astronaut, Jim Lovell, passed on. Lovell’s fame was as defined by his role as a pop culture icon as it was by his astronaut heroics.

Everybody who came of age during the Apollo race to the moon knows the name of Captain Jim Lovell. He flew on the missions of Gemini 7, Gemini 12, Apollo 8 and Apollo 13.

Apollo 8 was the first crewed orbit of the moon, which featured the famous Christmas Eve 1968 reading from the book of Genesis as the Earth rose over the surface of the moon. The mission, the first beyond low Earth orbit, provided a beautiful cap to what was otherwise a horrible year.

But Lovell is most famous for being the commander of Apollo 13, the 1970 mission meant to land on the moon, but which instead became a harrowing drama, thanks to an explosion in the Apollo spacecraft service module, in which the crew may not have made it back alive. 

That they did was a great credit to Lovell, the other two crewmen of Apollo 13, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert, and the people in Mission Control in Houston.

Twenty-five years later, it was only natural that Ron Howard chose the Apollo 13 mission as a subject to put to film about space exploration. 

The movie starred Tom Hanks as Lovell and featured Lovell himself in a cameo appearance as a Navy admiral. The mission had all the drama that a movie could wish for.

Apollo 13 the movie is one of the best space films of all time. It had danger, high adventure and problem solving under pressure. 

The film provided a look into an era when space adventures were a boon to human civilization, though, as historian Roger Launius has noted, they did not poll well. The movie depicts public disinterest in trips to the moon, until the Apollo 13 accident proved that they could be dramatic indeed.  

The movie ends with Tom Hanks as Lovell safe on the deck of the recovery carrier, musing about his experience and the immediate aftermath, and with a wistful question. 

“I sometimes look up at the moon and wonder when we will be going back and who will that be?”

The question which the screenwriters put into the mind of Lovell was an interesting one. Just two years before the movie premiered, President Bill Clinton effectively canceled the Space Exploration Initiative via budget cuts.  

The initiative had been proposed by his predecessor, President George H.W. Bush and would have taken Americans back to the moon and on to Mars.

Less than nine years later, President George W. Bush, in the wake of the space shuttle Columbia disaster, proposed his own Vision for Space Exploration program, dubbed Constellation. That program was also canceled in 2010 by the president who followed the younger Bush, Barack Obama.

President Obama’s decision caused Lovell, along with the first man to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong, and the last man to walk on the moon, Gene Cernan, to come out in opposition. They also criticized the plan to commercialize crewed space travel that was also proposed by Obama.

“The availability of a commercial transport to orbit as envisioned by the president’s proposal cannot be predicted with any certainty, but is likely to take substantially longer and be more expensive than we would hope,” they said in a joint statement.

While the commercial crew program is now wildly successful, thanks to the SpaceX Crew Dragon, it did take another 10 years to become operational, partly thanks to political and funding issues, proving the criticism to be correct in the short term but wrong in the long run.

Lovell did live to see President Trump propose the third attempt to send Americans back to the moon and on to Mars. He also lived to see Project Artemis, as it was called, gain widespread political and public acceptance. 

A recent CBS News poll not only showed increased appreciation of the Apollo program since the 1960s but also indicated 3 to 1 public support for Artemis, across all age groups.

Sadly, Lovell will not live to see Artemis II, which will replicate his Apollo 13 flight around the moon, hopefully without the drama and danger the earlier mission experienced. He will not live to see Americans return to the lunar surface on Artemis III.

Only five Apollo astronauts are still living. Will any of them be left alive to see people walk on the moon again?

God speed, Jim Lovell. May his memory be a blessing and an inspiration.

Mark R. Whittington, who writes frequently about space policy, has published a political study of space exploration entitled “Why is It So Hard to Go Back to the Moon?” as well as “The Moon, Mars and Beyond” and, most recently, “is America Going Back to the Moon?” He blogs at Curmudgeons Corner.

(NEXSTAR) — In a year full of store closures, you may be shocked to hear of a retailer other than Spirit Halloween opening new locations. One off-price retailer is preparing to open dozens of locations over the next two months. 

Burlington already has more than 1,100 stores in the U.S., covering nearly every state. The discount retailer announced plans in 2020 to open 2,000 stores long-term. Since then, the company has opened several smaller format stores, mimicking moves by other retailers. 

Through October, Burlington says it is opening 60 new stores across 26 states and three in Puerto Rico.

Three opened on Friday: on St. Georges Avenue in Woodbridge, New Jersey; on Sunrise Highway in Massapequa, New York; and on Pecan Park Boulevard in Cedar Park, Texas.

With a few exceptions, the remaining stores will open in October. Below is a list of stores Burlington expects to open in the coming weeks, as well as their scheduled grand opening dates.

Arizona

• Phoenix, 7333 W Thomas Road, Oct. 10
• Phoenix, 4255 W Thunderbird Road, Oct. 17

California

• North Highlands, 3615 Elkhorn Boulevard, Sept. 19
• City of Industry, 21640 Valley Boulevard, Oct. 3
• Fresno, 4895 E Cesar Chavez Boulevard, Oct. 10
• Merced, 3138 R Street, Oct. 10
• Visalia, 720 W. Riggin Avenue, Oct. 10
• Colton, 1080 S. Mount Vernon Avenue, Oct. 24
• Montclair, 5200 Moreno Street, Oct. 24
• Lancaster, 1070 W Avenue K, Oct. 31

Connecticut

• East Haven, 78 Frontage Road, Oct. 17
• North Haven, 380 Universal Drive N, Oct. 24

Florida

• Tampa, 13123 N Dale Mabry Highway, Sept. 19
• Orlando, 7873 S Orange Blossom Trail, Oct. 17
• Coconut Creek, 4847 Coconut Creek Parkway, Oct. 31

Georgia

• Fort Oglethorpe, 2625 Battlefield Parkway, Oct. 10
• Atlanta, 3303 Buford Highway NE, Oct. 17
• Lawrenceville, 860 Duluth Highway, Suite 110, Oct. 17
• Dalton, 1335 W Walnut Avenue, Oct. 24

Idaho

• Idaho Falls, 3011 S 25th Street East, Oct. 24

Illinois

• Algonquin, 175 Randall Road, Oct. 3
• Chicago, 7507 N Clark Street, Oct. 24
• Chicago, 2554 N Narragansett Avenue, Oct. 31

Kentucky

• Louisville, 6801 Dixie Highway, Oct. 3

Louisiana

• Baton Rouge, 10505 S Mall Drive, Oct. 24
• New Orleans, 500 Port of New Orleans Place Suite 128 and 124, Oct. 24

Maine

• Bangor, 6 Bangor Mall Boulevard, Sept. 26

Maryland

• Parkville, 1959 E Joppa Road, Oct. 31

Massachusetts

• Revere, 151 VFW Parkway Suite 50, Oct. 31

Michigan

• Grandville, 4655 Canal Avenue SW, Oct. 3
• Ypsilanti, 3150 Carpenter Road, Oct. 10
• Livonia, 13477 Middlebelt, Oct. 24

Minnesota

• St. Paul, 2089 Old Hudson Road, Oct. 31

Missouri

• Wentzville, 1927 Wentzville Parkway, Oct. 17

Nevada

• Las Vegas, 5055 W Sahara Avenue, Oct. 17
• Reno, 1901 Silverada Boulevard, Oct. 31

New Jersey

• North Bergen, 3129 John F. Kennedy Boulevard Space, Oct. 10

New Mexico

• Albuquerque, 9500 Montgomery Boulevard NE, Suite A, Oct. 31

New York

• Irondequoit, 2255 East Ridge Road, Oct. 3
• Rego Park, 61-35 Junction Boulevard Suite A302, Oct. 3
• Bay Shore, 1851 Sunrise Highway, Oct. 10

North Carolina

• Arden, 11 McKenna Road, Oct. 31

Ohio

• Warrensville Heights, 4063 Richmond Road, Oct. 3

Pennsylvania

• Warrington, 1015 N Main Street Space 1015, Sept. 19
• Glenolden, 20 N MacDade Boulevard, Oct. 24
• Allentown, 3300 Lehigh Street, Oct. 31

Puerto Rico

• Los Colobos II Carretera 3 KM 14.1, Carolina, Oct. 31
• Juncos, 1 State Road 31, Oct. 31
• Mayaguez, 975 Eugenio María de Hostos Avenue Suite 114, Oct. 31

South Carolina

• Columbia, 6880 Garners Ferry Road, Oct. 31

Tennessee

• Kingsport, 2626 East Stone Drive Unit 170, Oct. 10
• Antioch, 5305 Hickory Hollow Parkway, Oct. 17

Texas

• Laredo, 2420 Bob Bullock Loop, Sept. 26
• Houston, 4743 Highway 6 N, Oct. 3
• Houston, 8210 Kirby Drive, Oct. 24
• McAllen, 3300 W Expressway 83 Unit 200, Oct. 24
• Arlington, 5781 SW Green Oaks Boulevard, Oct. 31
• Brownsville, 1601 E Price Road, Oct. 31
• Lake Jackson, 125 Highway 332 W, Oct. 31

Washington

• Puyallup, 120 31st Avenue SE, Sept. 19

Burlington lists job openings for these stores online.

At least 11 of the new Burlington stores — North Highlands, Fresno, North Haven, Dalton, Revere, Las Vegas, North Bergen, Arden, Columbia, a Houston store, Arlington — appear to be a former home to Big Lots, which shuttered all of its stores after filing for bankruptcy last year (some have since reopened under new ownership). 

Five others — City of Industry, Tampa, Idaho Falls, Baton Rouge, Warrington — previously had Bed Bath & Beyond locations. The retailer filed for bankruptcy in 2023 and closed all of its stores, though it did recently reopen a brick-and-mortar store. 

Two additional Burlington stores — a Chicago location and Livonia — are opening in buildings that used to be Party City stores. The party goods retailer announced late last year that it was going out of business. Numerous companies were quick to snap up its abandoned storefronts.

At a recent Senate hearing, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) asked Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. whether he accepted the fact that COVID vaccines had saved the lives of almost 2 million Americans.

“I don’t think anybody knows,” Kennedy replied, “because there was so much data chaos coming out of the CDC.” Aware of multiple studies confirming this assessment, Warner shot back, “How can you be so ignorant?”

In an exchange with Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Kennedy — who has frequently propagated discredited claims that childhood vaccines cause autism, which he now says is a “preventable disease” brought on by an “environmental toxin” — opined, without evidence, that mRNA vaccines produce “serious harm, including death, especially among young people.”

After listening to the testimony, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), a physician, stated he had “grown deeply concerned” about Kennedy’s leadership of HHS, because Americans now “don’t know who to rely on.”

The combative Senate hearing demonstrated that an infectious disease — one that rejects scientific expertise, metastasizes conspiracy theories and contaminates programs that track and treat illnesses — has entered the body politic of America’s public health agencies.

“In terms of working scientists,” Kennedy announced in May, “our policy was to make sure none of them were lost and that research continues.” A comprehensive study by ProPublica, however, reveals that more than 3,000 scientists and public health officials and 1,000 health and safety inspectors have resigned or been fired from the CDC, National Institutes of Health and FDA this year. That does not include those placed on administrative leave.

Reductions of 20,000 staff — 18 percent of the HHS’s allegedly “bloated bureaucracies” — have resulted in fewer clinical trials of new drugs; fewer specialists planning for the next outbreak of a deadly virus; fewer inspections of egg farms, seafood processers, drug manufacturers and blood banks; and less monitoring and development of treatments to prevent heart disease, strokes and HIV/AIDS, maternal and infant health problems and oral hygiene issues of children whose parents can’t afford to pay a dentist.

Draconian cuts in NIH and National Science Foundation grants have slowed or stopped vitally important research and may well end the careers of the next generation of first-rate scientists.

In late August, without consulting the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, Kennedy limited the approved cohort for updated COVID-19 vaccines to people 65 or over, anyone older than six months who has an underlying condition, and patients who get a recommendation from their doctor.  

Although he had assured Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a physician, during his confirmation hearings that he would make no changes in the composition of the Advisory Committee, Kennedy then fired all 17 of its members. The director of the CDC was fired as well, after less than a month in office.

This infectious disease is now spreading to public agencies in the states. In April, Idaho Gov. Brad Little (R) signed legislation banning schools from mandating vaccines. Earlier this month, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced that he would work with the state legislature to repeal all vaccine requirements, including the immunization of public school students against diphtheria, measles, rubella, mumps, tetanus and hepatitis B.

“Every last one of them is wrong and drip with disdain and slavery,” Ladapo proclaimed. Vaccine mandates “take away your ability to choose what you put in your body and what you as a parent put in your child’s body.”

Until now, all 50 states and D.C. have mandated childhood vaccines. Many of them, including Florida, allow parents to request exemptions on religious grounds. In the 1905 case Jacobson v. Massachusetts, the Supreme Court ruled that compulsory vaccination laws do not violate the Constitution, stating that liberty “is not absolute in each person to be at all times and under all circumstances wholly freed from restraint.” The decision has been upheld several times since.

Vaccines “are among the most studied and scrutinized medical interventions in history,” the University of Florida Academic Health Center recently emphasized. “They are proven to be safe, effective and essential in the spread of many infectious diseases. Public safety is a shared responsibility.”

Since contact among children accelerates the spread of contagious diseases and the risk of serious side effects or death from vaccines is very small, removing the mandates, according to Lisa Gwynn, former president of the Florida chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, “could lead to a resurgence of preventable diseases, putting countless lives at risk.”

Florida may already be on the cusp of a resurgence. People with a “conspiracy mindset,” a recent study by the Annenberg Public Policy Center concluded, are more likely to believe misinformation about vaccination. Perhaps for this reason, 5 percent of Florida’s parents requested vaccination exemptions for their children last year, above the national average. 88.1 percent of children in the state have been vaccinated for tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (whooping cough), less than the 92 to 94 percent required to reach herd immunity for pertussis. In 2024, reported cases of the illness in Florida skyrocketed from 85 to 715.

The recent outbreak of measles in Texas — which, with few exceptions, was confined to unvaccinated children — could make its way to the Sunshine State. All the more so, since Kennedy, ignoring the danger the disease poses to children, believes that catching measles to get “lifetime protection” is better than vaccination, which he asserts “does cause death every year.”

For the record: Before 1963, about 500,000 Americans contracted measles each year, 500 of whom died. Following the introduction of vaccines, incidences declined by 95 percent and death became a very rare event.

President Trump promised to let RFK Jr. “go wild” on health and medicine. He has, alas, kept that promise. The result is that HHS agencies — once the envy of the world — and their counterparts in some states can no longer be relied upon to collect and disseminate accurate data, sponsor first-rate research, or implement policies to keep us healthy.

Glenn C. Altschuler is the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Emeritus Professor of American Studies at Cornell University.

An effort by President Trump’s administration to curb advertising for pharmaceutical drugs on television is posing a potential marketing hurdle for some of the country’s largest drugmakers while threatening a key revenue stream for media companies.

Advertising and pharmaceutical industry experts say an executive order Trump signed this week could pose an existential threat to the business model of both drugmakers and the media companies which raked in an estimated $5 billion in advertising revenue from pharmaceutical companies in 2024.  

The order instructs the Department of Health and Human Services to ensure “transparency and accuracy” in direct-to-consumer advertising, including requiring greater disclosures of side effects in television and other ads.  

The order stops short of directing an outright ban on drug advertisements, though HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has called for a wholesale end to direct-to-consumer advertising for prescription drugs. 

“This is a shot across the bow from the administration telling these companies we’re watching you, get your act together or we’re going to come after you,” said Robin Feldman, an expert in health law and a professor at the University of California. “The tone of the message matters as much as the language here.”  

The administration has sent firm cease and desist letters to some of the country’s largest drug manufacturers in recent says, warning scrutiny of the content in its advertisements is part of a broader push to combat “egregious violations demonstrating harm” in the marketing of high-cost prescription drugs.  

The action is seen as an about-face from previous administrations, which thanks to a powerful healthcare lobby loosened restrictions on how drug makers market and sell their products, leading to a boom in Big Pharma ads on television in recent decades.  

Chris Meekins, a healthcare lobbyist in Washington, in a memo to clients this week obtained by The Hill sought to provide assurances.

Meekins wrote that although Trump “does not have authority to outright ban pharmaceutical advertising, his administration seems to be trying to make it death by disclosure and rulemaking.”  

“Whether it can survive legal challenges is very much an open question,” he added.  

But Meekins suggested companies will have to closely consider whether they want to challenge Trump on the matter.

“Do you sue and risk the Trump administration’s wrath?” Meekins asked. “If a company sues over this, they could become a target of greater focus related to most favored nations actions and in Medicare drug negotiation (if they have a drug selected). No company wants to be the next Harvard.”  

Regardless of those consequences, some sources said some company is likely to challenge the order in court.

“One of these companies is in all likelihood going to sue over this,” predicted Roy Gutterman, director of the Syracuse University Newhouse School’s Tully Center for Free Speech. “But commercial speech is protected, less so than political speech, which means the government can enforce reasonable regulations to support an important government interest … and public health is a reasonable government interest.”  

White House officials have insisted they are not interested in pursuing an outright ban on direct-to-consumer drug ads but are instead interested in greater transparency and a more informed public on medicine and its side effects.  

“Our goal is not to see a certain numeric reduction in ads,” a senior administration official told reporters during a background call this week. “Our goal is to ensure that patients have proper information about drugs that have potential harms, and it’s to rebuild public trust.”  

There could be major downstream impacts for media companies of drug manufacturers either spending less on advertising or placing greater scrutiny on how a drug commercial gets made.  

Many of the nation’s leading newscasts and daytime cable news shows feature wall-to-wall ads for drugs to combat conditions ranging from obesity to eczema and crones’ disease.  

Advertising executives and broadcast television insiders meanwhile warn big pharma ads are a key underpinning for the industry’s increasingly shaky financial foundation.  

The Trump administration’s scrutiny of Big Pharma, these people say, comes at a time of widespread uncertainty over the financial future of linear broadcast channels and news providers.  

“Big pharma plays a big role in supporting the news we see on TV,” Gutterman said. “There are copywriters and cinematographers and a whole segment of media professionals who risk being cut back if these ad budgets tighten or the drug companies try to market their product by other means.”   

Others say a more honest advertising strategy by some of the nation’s largest drug makers would be a welcome development in the interest of public health.   

“It’s very hard to present a complete nuanced picture of a drugs benefits and risks in a 30 second TV spot at the same time you’re also trying to make it entertaining and consumable for a mass audience,” said Aaron Kesselheim, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and an expert in Pharmacoepidemiology.

“Drug ads aren’t a good way to inform people about their options, but they are very prevalent so I can understand if some people feel tired of them.”  

Nathaniel Weixel contributed reporting

President Trump was meeting with architects about plans for a White House ballroom when staff interrupted to inform him that Charlie Kirk, the prominent conservative activist, had been killed.

“I didn’t know what they meant. I said, ‘What do you mean, dead?'” Trump recounted Friday, two days after the shooting. “‘Charlie Kirk was shot.’ They thought he was dead because it was so horrific.”

The president’s shock at the news reflected the widespread feelings at the White House in the aftermath of Kirk’s death: Shock, anger and disbelief that someone many considered a personal friend had been shot during an appearance at Utah Valley University.

Staffers and officials close to the administration — including Vice President Vance — have publicly recounted how they got to know Kirk and how he impacted them personally and politically. And, in a sign of how closely intertwined the Turning Point USA founder was with Trump and his orbit, the White House has played a central role in providing updates after Kirk’s death.

It was the president who announced Kirk had died. Vance flew to Utah to transport Kirk’s casket on Air Force Two. Trump broke the news that the suspected shooter was in custody, and he has said he plans to attend Kirk’s funeral and posthumously honor him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

“Charlie was very much a part of this family, and maybe the highest profile MAGA person outside of those that are working here,” White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said Thursday on “The Scott Jennings Radio Show.”

“So, I think it shook everybody to their core, and for many of us, it brought back the memories of last July 13th in Butler with the president,” she added, referencing the assassination attempt that left Trump bloodied at a 2024 campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

White House staff who spoke with The Hill following the shooting said the mood inside the building was somber and there was a sense of shock among many officials. Many in the building, particularly younger staff members, had gotten into politics and the MAGA movement at a time when Kirk was a rising voice, and many had met him personally.

Most in Trump’s orbit came to know Kirk, 31, through his work building Turning Point USA into a grassroots powerhouse that launched chapters on hundreds of college campuses. Kirk’s work organizing, fundraising and registering young people to vote helped lay the foundation for the GOP’s gains with young voters, and young men in particular, in the 2024 election.

The president was a regular speaker at Turning Point events in recent years. Kirk was a staunch Trump supporter even after his 2020 election defeat, echoing the baseless claims of voter fraud that Trump was pushing in the wake of his loss.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. formally endorsed Trump in the 2024 race at a Turning Point Action event in Arizona. Kirk was an early advocate of Vance, both as a Senate candidate in 2022 and later as a potential running mate for Trump, and the commentator was spotted at the White House on multiple occasions during Trump’s second term.

But the relationship between Trump’s team and Kirk grew in recent years to become more than a political alliance.

“You know, [Donald Trump Jr.] said to me, ‘He’s sort of like a son to you,’” the president said Friday on “Fox & Friends.”

Kirk first entered Trump’s circle through his friendship with his eldest son. The two met during the 2016 campaign and became close professionally and personally. Trump Jr. described Kirk as a “little brother” in the wake of his death.

Kirk shared a similarly close relationship with Vance, who canceled a planned appearance in New York City to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks to instead fly to Utah and be with Kirk’s family and friends. Vance then flew with his casket to Arizona.

In a lengthy tribute on X, Vance recounted how he first connected with Kirk after a Fox News appearance in 2017. Vance credited Kirk with introducing him to Trump Jr. and others in the president’s orbit as he mulled a Senate campaign, and with publicly and privately lobbying for Vance as a vice presidential candidate.

“Charlie Kirk was a true friend. The kind of guy you could say something to and know it would always stay with him… And because he was a true friend, you could instinctively trust the people Charlie introduced you to,” Vance wrote.

Several other top White House officials shared similar stories, underscoring Kirk’s reach across the Trump administration.

White House communications director Steven Cheung called Kirk a “dear friend who would drop everything if you needed him.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt noted Kirk was one of the first figures to endorse her congressional campaign in New Hampshire in the 2022 midterms.

Kaelan Dorr, White House deputy communications director, recounted speaking with Kirk during one of their last in-person meetings about the challenges of being a new parent.

Kirk’s funeral will take place in the coming days, and the White House will likely be well-represented, led by Trump and Vance.

The country will also be watching to see how those in the White House respond to Kirk’s gruesome and public death, amid calls from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to condemn political violence and lower the temperature.

Trump has offered mixed messaging in the immediate aftermath of Kirk’s death, something that was on display during the sit-down with “Fox & Friends.”

Asked what his message to the right is for those who want revenge, Trump said Kirk would “want revenge at the voter box.”

But when co-host Ainsley Earhardt asked Trump how the country can come together, noting there are “radicals” on both the right and the left, Trump suggested the blame went in one direction.

“I’ll tell you something that’s going to get me in trouble, but I couldn’t care less. The radicals on the right oftentimes are radical because they don’t want to see crime,” Trump said. “They don’t want to see crime. They’re saying we don’t want these people coming in, we don’t want you burning our shopping centers, we don’t want you shooting our people in the middle of the street.

“The radicals on the left are the problem,” he continued. “And they’re vicious, and they’re horrible, and they’re politically savvy.”

Young conservatives and activists are determined to let the late Charlie Kirk’s principles guide their movement on college campuses and be more active than ever in honor of his memory.   

The assassination of the founder of Turning Point USA, which has clubs on more than 850 campuses, has saddened but sharpened its followers and allies, who believe more speakers and individuals will stand up now than ever before. 

Kirk, who dropped out of college, built a movement mobilizing thousands of students, sending them to conferences and getting them out to vote. He is considered one of the forces behind the relative success President Trump saw with young voters last November.

Since his death, those same students have posted stories of Kirk’s impact in their lives and vowed it will not deter them from activism on campus.  

“We continue his legacy by doing what he did, showing up, showing out and being unafraid,” said JT Marshburn, the national chairman for College Republicans.  

“I honestly think that more Republican speakers will actually be more inclined to come to campus because of this. It shows the conservative movement that we need to continue to show face on these college campuses. … The left is controlling college campuses, and when Republicans come in, they’re typically met with not the best outcomes,” he added, such as speeches protested or interrupted. 

Marshburn did recognize more security may need to be considered at future speaking events after Kirk was shot to death Wednesday in Utah at a public debate event that was part of his “American Comeback Tour.”

Turning Point USA did not respond to The Hill’s request for comment. 

Some students have already begun showing they will move forward with Kirk’s example in mind. Members of Students for Life, a pro-life group that worked with Kirk in the past, say wore red shirts on campus this week in honor of his memory.  

“If you want to best honor Charlie Kirk’s legacy, you’re going to keep speaking up, and you’re going to actually be louder than you’ve ever been before … That’s what Charlie was doing every day. That’s what he was inspiring tens of thousands of millions of young people to do. Because we win when we debate, when we have conversations. We all lose when we stop having conversations, and we’re not going to let this tragic act of senseless violence stop that conversation,” said Kristan Hawkins, CEO of Students for Life.  

Tensions are high on campuses after the assassination, with some professors getting fired or reprimanded for celebrations of the conservative commentator’s death.  

“Yesterday, a University of Mississippi staff member re-shared hurtful, insensitive comments on social media regarding the tragic murder of Charlie Kirk. These comments run completely counter to our institutional values of civility, fairness, and respecting the dignity of each person,” University of Mississippi Chancellor Glenn Boyce said in a statement posted Thursday afternoon to social platform X.  

“We condemn these actions, and this staff member is no longer employed by the university,” he added. 

And the University of Louisville is investigating a poster hung on campus with the words “Debate this,” along with an illustration of Kirk getting hit by the bullet.  

The temperature has been turned up among some conservatives as well, who have posted on social media they feel “radicalized” after the assassination and the mocking from others that have followed it.  

“You can find far too many examples online of young progressives celebrating his murder … I’m worried that it sends an incredibly unhealthy message to the to the young people inspired by Charlie that he was wrong about the promise of engagement and respectful debate,” said Rick Hess, senior fellow and the director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.    

“My biggest concern is that so many of his followers will forget the lessons he taught in their grief and frustration,” he added.  

Leaders of the conservative movement are encouraging young people on campus to push back, but in the spirit of open debate.  

“The best way to handle those truly vile and disgusting comments, not just by students, but by adults, some of them are professors and even administrators of universities, is to channel our righteous anger about those evil comments into positive action, and the best positive action that we can take right now to honor Charlie’s legacy,” said Kevin Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation. 

“And to speak up, not by screaming at other people, not with vitriol — that would be an example of stooping to the level of the radical left — but rather standing up as Charlie did, cheerfully with a broad smile, with a belief, not only in the American future, but also because of Charlie’s faith inspiring us a belief in living this life well, and I think that that’s how we can harness the energy,” Roberts added.  

As other high-profile, right-leaning college speakers vow to press on, young conservatives see the next steps forward without Kirk as movement-defining. 

“I think that we can choose at this point the way that we respond, [which] will really define how we move forward,” said Liana Graham, a recent college graduate and research assistant at Heritage.  

Tyler Robinson, the suspect accused of fatally shooting conservative activist Charlie Kirk this week, had left-leaning political views, according to Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R).

“It’s very clear to us and to the investigators that this was a person who was deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology,” Cox told The Wall Street Journal in an article published Saturday morning. 

Cox said at a Friday morning press conference that a family member of Robinson told investigators that the suspect “had become more political in recent years.”

The family member, according to the Utah governor, said Robinson recently mentioned at a dinner that Kirk was scheduled to speak at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. 

“They talked about why they didn’t like him and the viewpoints that he had,” Cox said Friday morning. “The family member also stated Kirk was full of hate and spreading hate.”

Robinson is registered as an unaffiliated voter in Utah. 

Authorities recovered the alleged rifle, a Mauser 98 .30-06 caliber, with a scope mounted on top of it. 

The unfired casings had inscriptions, Cox said. The first one said, “Hey fascist!” The second unfired casing had the lyrics of the Italian folk song “Bella Ciao.” The third one said “if you read this, you are gay, lmao,” according to Cox.

Cox said Friday morning that Robinson’s family member got in touch with a family friend Thursday night, who then contacted the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, stating that the suspect had “confessed to them or implied that he had committed the incident.”

Robinson is a third-year student in the electrical apprenticeship program at Dixie Technical College, per the Utah Board of Higher Education. 

Robinson was arrested on suspicion of aggravated murder and two other state felony charges.