U.S. and world news for Sept. 18

Jimmy Kimmel taken off the air following pressure from Trump’s FCC commissioner

Disney’s ABC abruptly took Jimmy Kimmel’s late night talk show off the air last night and plans to keep it off indefinitely. The move followed public threats from Donald Trump’s FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr that they could do it the easy way or hard way. ABC owns TV stations that are licensed by the FCC. Carr objected to comments Kimmel had made about MAGA Republicans following the killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. “The MAGA Gang (is) desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it,” Kimmel said. He also ran a video of Donald Trump speaking about construction at the White House in response to a question from a reporter about his personal feelings following the Kirk killing. Trump has been publicly criticizing Kimmel for a long time and previously urged that he be taken off the air, just as he called for Trump critics Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon to lost their late-night TV shows.

Vaccine advisors meet

A group of advisers selected by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to make recommendations on the use of vaccines in the United States is meeting today and tomorrow, and they are expected to make changes to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) childhood vaccine schedule. In testimony before a Senate committee on Wednesday, Dr. Susan Monarez, who Kennedy fired as CDC director, said that part of the reason for her removal was her refusal to promise she would approve whatever the advisers recommended in advance even before knowing what the new recommendations are. “He said that the childhood vaccine schedule would be changing starting in September, and I needed to be on board with it,” Monarez said. “I refused to do it.” Thus summer, Kennedy fired everyone on the advisory panel and brought in his own choices who are vaccine skeptics.

Three policemen killed in Pennsylvania shooting

Three officers were killed and two were seriously injured after a suspect opened fire while law enforcement officials attempted to serve a warrant on Wednesday in central Pennsylvania. The officers were headed to arrest the man on stalking and trespass charges when he began shooting, officials said. The incident happened in North Codorus Township, a rural area about 2½ hours west of Philadelphia. Authorities said the suspect is dead after being shot by police. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro denounced the shooting and addressed the ongoing issue of gun violence in the US, saying, “We need to do better as a society.” So far this year, 37 law enforcement officers have been killed in the line of duty, according to data from the FBI.

Interest rates cut by 0.25%

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday lowered interest rates for the first time since December and signaled more cuts are likely this year. President Trump has been pushing for the central bank to reduce borrowing costs to juice economic growth, but Fed Chair Jerome Powell made it clear during a news conference that the decision was based on the need to support America’s faltering job market. The Fed specifically cut its benchmark lending rate by a quarter point to a new range of 4% to 4.25%. The move follows a nine-month pause prompted by the uncertainty surrounding the Trump administration’s major policy shifts. Stocks initially moved higher on the news before falling into the red across all three major indexes.

Tropical Storm Gabrielle

Tropical Storm Gabrielle has formed in the central Atlantic Ocean and could strengthen into a hurricane over the next few days. As of Wednesday evening, Gabrielle was churning nearly 900 miles from the Caribbean’s northern Leeward Islands with sustained winds of 50 mph. The U.S. is not expected to see direct impacts from this system, but it might churn up surf on the East Coast next week. On the heels of Tropical Storm Gabrielle, the National Hurricane Center is also monitoring another area of showers and storms for development near the Cabo Verde Islands in the far eastern Atlantic. That system will not be a threat to land for at least the next week.

Protests of Trump’s state visit

Four people were arrested in Britain for projecting photos of President Trump with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein on Windsor Castle as a banquet honoring Trump was underway inside. During the day, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of London in opposition to Trump. Trump today was meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who hoped to convince Trump to drop the barriers to free trade Trump has erected. In a speech, King Charles III hailed the historic bond between the UK and the U.S. and heaped praise upon Trump.