Erika Kirk walked onto the stage at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) Wednesday night to a packed house for her first Turning Point USA campus appearance since the murder of her husband, Charlie Kirk.

“It’s hard not to cry after watching,” she said of the video tribute that played before she took the microphone. “I haven’t seen that… that video since that day happened.”

“Being on campus right now for me is a spiritual reclaiming of territory,” she said. “There is a lot of symbolism in today. It’s Wednesday, seven weeks. And the more that I am coming to grips with the permanency of this nightmare, the more that I am starting to realize and witness that the enemy, he doesn’t want you.”

“He wants your territory. He wants your influence. And I could just hear Charlie in my heart. I could just hear him say, ‘Go reclaim that territory, babe. Go — the battles that God’s love conquers.’ And that’s why I’m here today,” she added.

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Erika thanked the students who filled the arena, many wearing “Freedom” T-shirts like the one she wore at the podium. “You have no idea how helpful it is to have all of you in my life, because you help me feel even more deeply connected to my husband,” she told them.

She recalled how Charlie made a point at every Turning Point USA event to stop and talk with student leaders. “He would ask you what your name is, what you’re studying, what issues are going on on campus,” she said. “He wanted you to know he was investing in you: into your chapter, into your school. That was a pulse point for him.”

“Earn your voice,” she urged. “You are the courageous generation. That’s what you are. All of you, Gen Z, you are the courageous generation. Make him proud.”

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“I lost my friend. I lost my best friend,” she said. “If you’re nervous about standing up for the truth, the murder of my husband puts into perspective all those fears. My husband never went with the flow. He believed the harder path was always the right one, because comfort doesn’t change the world.”

She shared for the first time with the audience present that for weeks after Charlie’s murder she avoided their bedroom at home.

“It took me a while to even just make it back into our bedroom,” she said. “I used to sprint from the opening door into the bathroom and sprint out. I was not ready to walk into our bedroom yet, and when I was finally able to sleep in our bed for the first time, I slept on his side of the bed.”

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From that spot, she said, she finally saw what Charlie saw every morning, the framed words on the wall: “They will be known by the boldness of their faith.”

“He saw that every single morning he woke up,” Erika said. “I didn’t, because I was on the other side, facing the window. But from his side, that’s what he saw first.”

On his desk, she added, were three questions Charlie had written out and asked himself each day: “What is something I can do for someone today? What is something I can do to add value to the world today? How can I honor God today?”

“Those were his action points for courage,” Erika said. “Ask yourself those questions every day, and I promise you, you will get courage. What death amplifies even more is that you only get one life. So live like it matters.”

“Love your family fearlessly. Love your spouse fearlessly. Love this country,” she said. “Defend her and serve our God. And don’t think that it’s someone else’s role to do it. You do it. You do it.” The audience broke into applause.

“This moment can either be your breaking point or your wake-up call,” she said. “Essentially, your turning point.”

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She then introduced Vice President JD Vance, a friend of her late husband, calling him someone who “understands the fight that we’re up against and can articulate that in a way that transcends race and background.”

“There will never be another Charlie,” she said, “but I know he’d be proud to see us here tonight.”

A group of news outlets has sued Tennessee prison officials, claiming the state’s execution rules block journalists from fully witnessing lethal injections and conceal key moments from public scrutiny. 

Under current procedures, reporters are only allowed to observe once the condemned inmate is already strapped to the gurney. 

In their filing, the outlets argue the state’s protocol violates “the public and press’s statutory and constitutional rights to witness the entirety of executions,” saying Tennesseans deserve transparency from the moment an inmate enters the chamber until the official pronouncement of death. 

The plaintiffs are seeking a judgment declaring the protocols unconstitutional and an injunction allowing reporters to see the full execution process. 

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The filing claims that the blackout “limits the public’s ability to receive information from independent observers” – effectively leaving executions shielded from outside scrutiny. 

The defendants are Kenneth Nelsen, warden of Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville – which houses Tennessee’s execution chamber – and Frank Strada, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Correction.

Reporters are kept behind blinds until the inmate is restrained and connected to IV lines. The exact timing of when lethal drugs are administered remains unknown, as the medical team operates from a separate room. 

Once the inmate is pronounced dead, the warden announces on the intercom system that the sentence was carried out, and witnesses are instructed to leave.

The lawsuit argues that the First Amendment of both the U.S. Constitution and Tennessee Constitution guarantee the public’s right to see capital punishment carried out in full view – not behind partial secrecy. Tennessee law requires that certain witnesses – including seven members of the media – be present. 

The plaintiffs cited the August execution of Byron Black, convicted of killing his girlfriend and her two young daughters in the 1980s. During Black’s execution, curtains in the witness room were only open for 10 minutes.

According to Black’s attorney, medical personnel had trouble finding veins in his arms, resulting in visible blood pooling on his right side. His attorney said it took 10 minutes just to attach the IV tubes. 

Black reportedly told witnesses he was “hurting so bad” during his lethal injection.

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“Make no mistake, we all saw with our own eyes that the pentobarbital did not work like the State’s expert testified that it would,” attorney Kelley Henry said in a statement at the time. “Mr. Black suffered.”

The lawsuit cites the state’s internal execution log and says media witnesses only saw fragments of the procedure – when blinds opened, when Black gave his final words, and when the view was cut off again. 

The closed-circuit camera, the filing notes, is reserved for the execution team, not the press. 

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As a result, the lawsuit contends, reporters “had no access to that stage of the proceeding to independently report on it, leaving the public with no firsthand account from a neutral observer.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The 18-year-old daughter of a former Kentucky sheriff charged with gunning down a small-town judge is lashing out at internet sleuths for spreading “gossip” about her father.

Lila Stines, daughter of ex–Letcher County Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines, took to TikTok last week to slam the online rumor mill that’s been churning since her dad was arrested for the 2024 courthouse killing of District Judge Kevin Mullins, 54.

“On September 19th, a little over a year ago, a lot of people’s lives changed forever, including mine. I’m not going to go into detail, I will not be talking about it, but I just have one question. Do you all not have anything better to do than to sit and gossip?” Stines railed in the now-viral video.

Stines, 44, was allegedly caught on security video storming into Mullins’ chambers before shooting him in an alleged courthouse ambush that rattled the Appalachian community. Stines has been charged with murder and remains in custody awaiting trial.

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Lila didn’t mention the case directly, but she had plenty to say to the “gossips” discussing the case.

“You are taking my pain and making it your pleasure,” she continued. “You’re taking our stories and turning them into big entertainment pieces, jokes.”

She then told spectators to “get a job” and “do something meaningful,” accusing true-crime creators and TikTok commentators of cashing in on her family’s “tragedy.”

“And for that matter, you’re making it, your income. Since when did that become OK? So my advice to the people doing that, get a job. Do something meaningful with your life, and contribute to society in a positive way.”

The clip struck a nerve among viewers, with some calling her “brave” and others dismissing it as an attempt to deflect attention from her father’s alleged crime.

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The shooting was caught on camera in the judge’s chambers and was first shown in Stines’ preliminary hearing in October 2024.

The video, with no audio, showed a man identified by police as Stines pulling out a gun and shooting the judge as he sat at his desk. The man walked around the desk, pointed the gun at the judge — who had fallen to the floor — and fired again.

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Mullins died from multiple gunshot wounds, Kentucky State Police said.

Stines has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges.