Deepti Hajela.

Sisters Clara Hetland, 4, left, Haddie Hetland, center, 9, and Audra Hetland 6, of Surprise, Ariz., spend time at a makeshift memorial set up at Turning Point USA headquarters after the shooting death at a Utah college on Wednesday of Charlie Kirk, the co-founder and CEO of the organization, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Kids and current events: How to help them deal with what they see around them

In hardly any time at all, the footage of the horrifying moment when a bullet hit conservative activist Charlie Kirk in the neck ricocheted across the internet. Whether seeing it inadvertently or seeking it out, onlookers far from the crowd at a Utah college could be exposed to disturbingly close and potentially bloody glimpses of his shooting and the resulting chaos. It’s the product of a digital-first world. And, of course, among those seeing it were kids, teens and other young people — those who live with their phones practically attached. It raises a question that modern-day parents are sadly having to ask more frequently: How do you talk to your kids about what’s going on?

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FILE - Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents escort a detained immigrant into an elevator after he exited an immigration courtroom, Tuesday, June 17, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Olga Fedorova, file)

In American life, a growing and forbidding visual rises: The law-enforcement officer in a mask

Immigration enforcement agents are detaining people and taking them into custody, at times under public anger and outcry. What’s often not visible are the agents’ faces, covered by caps, sunglasses, pulled-up neck gaiters or balaclavas, effectively rendering them unidentifiable. The increase in high-profile immigration enforcement was already contentious between those opposed to the actions of President Donald Trump’s administration and those in support. The sight of masked agents carrying it out is creating a whole new level of conflict in a way that has no real corollary in the U.S. history of policing.

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