TPUSA chapter doubles membership since Charlie Kirk's death

Author

Carly Heltzel
September 24, 2025

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, and I’m reading about Jimmy Kimmel tearing up during his opening monologue back. Onto the five Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and California stories you need to know for today.

1.

Cal Poly’s chapter of Turning Point USA more than doubled its membership since the death of the national conservative organization’s founder, Charlie Kirk, was shot and killed in Utah earlier this month. The membership jumped up to 80 students from 40 just a week after his death, and it received 98 new sign-ups during the club fair, even after forgetting to sign up for a booth. 

2.

U.S. News and World Report ranked Cal Poly as the best regional university in the West for the third year in a row, beating out over 100 other universities on the list. The No. 2 spot went to University of Portland and Cal Poly Pomona ranked No. 3. Cal Poly also ranked as the most innovative school, top public school and the best college for veterans.

3.

The YTT Northern Chumash Tribe has a shot at acquiring 350 acres of land in Cayucos. Normally, non-federally-recognized tribes aren’t able to own land as an entity, but since the YTT Tribe is registered as a nonprofit, it holds that power. The Cayucos Abalone Farm lies one mile off the coast and is listed at $18.2 million. The current owner is working with the tribe to allow them time to gather the money, some in grants from the governor, so the tribe can own a piece of their ancestral homeland.

4.

In a reversal, Gov. Gavin Newsom dropped his pledge to replace a federal electric vehicle credit that the Trump administration promptly cut with a state version of his own. Now, it looks like EV owners will be hung out to dry come Sept. 30 when rebates for purchasing EVs will no longer be in effect. Newsom had an uphill battle from the start since he would have needed legislative approval and a massive amount of cash to dedicate, as the state faces a daunting budget deficit.

5.

San Francisco killed an app after just four hours of it being online. The app, named “Find My Parking Cops,” showed people where the city’s metermaids were in real time to assess the risk of illegal parking and answer the age old question: do I really need to pay? It also showed how big of bills individual cops racked up during that time, with one officer reaching $15,000 before the app was shut down by the city. If any computer science majors are reading this, consider coding one for Cal Poly’s campus.