It’s Tuesday, September 8. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Mike Doran asks, what is Trump thinking about Iran? Arthur Brooks tells students how to be happy at college. Why did a woman get convicted for letting her son go on a walk? And more.
But first: Inside the day Charlie Kirk was killed.
A year ago this week, on September 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk was speaking onstage at Utah Valley University when a crack splintered the air. A 31-year-old father of two was shot dead in front of millions.
Most of us remember where we were that day, but few know the behind-the-scenes story of what happened next. Spencer Cox does. The Utah governor was at the scene just hours after the shooting, and at the center of the effort to find the man responsible. He emerged as a powerful voice after the tragedy, calling on Americans to mend a politics that sometimes feels broken.
In an interview with our Peter Savodnik days after the shooting, Cox spoke about “which direction he thought Americans, and America, would choose” in the aftermath of the murder. Today, we know something about the answer: Kirk’s death was not the wake-up call some hoped it would be. Instead, the killing unleashed deranged conspiracy theories, fueled radicalization, and deepened the rage that threatens to define our politics.
That’s why, as we approach the anniversary of the murder, it’s worth returning to what actually happened that day, and what Cox saw firsthand. In today’s lead story—an exclusive excerpt from his new book, Off Ramp: How to Be a Peacemaker in an Age of Contempt—Cox pulls back the curtain on those 48 hours. It’s a gripping account of a moment that changed the country—and a reminder of just how far we still have to go to find our way back.
—The Editors
|
|
Trump Is Charting a New Course on Iran |
|
 |
|
The war with Iran has now passed its six-month mark. Hostilities abate, then flare up again—most recently over the weekend, with American forces striking two Iranian tankers in the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for attempted attacks on U.S. ships. As the war turns hot, then cold, then hot again, one question is on everyone’s minds: What is the president thinking? Today, Michael Doran offers an incisive answer: Trump is not attempting retreat or conquest in Iran, he writes, but a siege. Read Michael on the president’s strategy—and its chances of success. | |
|
|
|
Arthur Brooks: How to Be Happy at College |
|
 |
|
Right now, across America, 2.7 million adolescents are leaving their families to be raised instead by other adolescents. It’s called “going off to college,” and many parents consider it one of the most exciting and happiest moments of their children’s lives. The problem is, the data doesn’t bear that out. College students are struggling with unprecedented rates of depression, anxiety, and loneliness, and nearly a quarter drop out during their first year. So, what gives? In his latest column, Arthur Brooks explains the gap—and offers students (and their parents) a blueprint for flourishing in college. | |
|
|
|
She Let Her Son Go for a Walk. Now She’s a Convicted Criminal. |
|
 |
|
On a sunny day in June, Karyann Parkinson made a fateful choice that could affect her life for years to come: She let her 5-year-old son, Sam, walk alone to a neighborhood pond to collect goose feathers. Two months later, she was convicted of a first-degree misdemeanor. “How, exactly, can a mother be given a suspended jail sentence for simply letting her son go for a walk?” asks Jonathan Adler, a law professor and friend of Parkinson’s, who sat in on her trial. Read his piece to understand the controversy—and what it reveals about how the state can stifle parental freedom. | |
|
MORE FROM THE FREE PRESS
