The World and Everything in It: April 10, 2025

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

Utah pulls the plug on fluoride in tap water. It’s the first state to do it. What’s driving the decision?

KALL: Dentistry is always attempting to control the rate of decay. Unfortunately, using a neurotoxin to do that has some disadvantages and concerns.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Also a freedom of expression showdown in Australia after a man known as “Billboard Chris” speaks out to help kids.

And lost luggage! Where do all those orphaned suitcases go? We follow the trail.

OWENS: We have tractor trailer loads of bags that come through. Every week it’s packed to the gills.

And WORLD commentator Cal Thomas on politics and tariffs.

REICHARD: It’s Thursday, April 10th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

BROWN: And I’m Myrna Brown. Good morning!

REICHARD: It’s time for news now with Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Trump pauses tariffs » Stocks rallied in a big way Wednesday after President Trump announced that he is pausing most wide-ranging tariffs for 90 days, replaced by a 10% tariff on all imports.

The president said he and his top advisers had been considering the move for days.

TRUMP:  And we decided to, uh, pull the trigger how we did it today, and, and we're happy about it.

The Dow added nearly 3,000 points for its best day in five years.

The president acknowledged that the tariffs had spooked the markets, but he said America was, in his view, being taken advantage of by just about everyone.

TRUMP:  Somebody had to do that with, uh, we had to take the medicine, we had to go through the operation, and that's what we've been through. And a lot of presidents would not have done it. No president would've done it, I think, but it had to be done. 

Trump said the 90-day pause will allow time to negotiate fairer trade deals with the many countries around the world that have reached out to the White House in recent days.

China trade war » But there will be no immediate ceasefire in a mounting trade war with China.

After Beijing announced a new retaliatory tariff on US goods of 84%. President Trump said the US will raise the tariff on Chinese imports to 125%.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says Beijing is the worst offender in the global trading system.

BESSENT:  They have the most imbalanced economy in the history of the modern world. And you know, I can tell you that this escalation is a loser for them.

Even some Democrats critical of Trump’s tariffs overall support tariffs against Beijing.

With regard to tit for tat escalations of the trade war, the Trump administration is effectively telling Beijing we can do this all day.

BESSENT:  They are the surplus country that their exports to the US are five times our exports to China. So, you know, they can raise their tariffs, but so what?

China, though, says it will fight a trade war to the very end.

Still, President Trump voiced optimism yesterday. He said Chinese leader Xi Jinping is a very smart guy, and he believes the two sides will eventually strike a deal.

GOP budget bill » House Speaker Mike Johnson was planning to hold a vote last night in hopes of approving the framework for a massive budget bill to come later. It would have been a big step toward advancing President Trump’s agenda.

But some Republican holdouts scuttled those plans, forcing Johson to postpone the vote. The speaker said he understands where they’re coming from.

JOHNSON:  Their concerns are real. They, they really want to have true budget cuts and, and to change the debt trajectory that the country's on. So do I.

The holdouts say to avoid piling onto the national debt steeper cuts are needed to go along with the tax cuts in what President Trump calls the “big, beautiful bill.”

Johnson said he’s hopeful that the House will try again today to move forward on a vote.

Trump on Iran military action » At the White House on Wednesday, President Trump also spoke to reporters about top concerns overseas beginning with Iran.

U.S. and Iranian negotiators are slated to gather in Oman, Jordan on Saturday to restart nuclear talks.

But one reporter asked: if those talks fail, is the US prepared to take military action?

TRUMP: Oh, if necessary? Absolutely.

The president expounded, saying that IF it comes to that, the US would not be alone.

TRUMP:  Israel will, uh, obviously be very much involved in that. He'll be the leader of that, but nobody leads us. We do what we want to do

But the president stresses that he prefers a diplomatic solution.

Ukraine latest » Trump said a peace deal in Ukraine remains a top priority.

TRUMP: They gotta make a deal. When schools get blown up and bad things happen like I'm hearing about. So I hope we're gonna make a deal with Russia and Ukraine.

But to date, Russian leaderVladimir Putin has flatly rejected a U.S. and Ukrainian-backed proposal for a full and unconditional ceasefire. And he has placed conditions on other more limited ceasefires that have stalled those talks.

And Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv:

SOUND: Fires in Kharkiv

Firefighters picked through rubble and battled flames yesterday after Russia launched a massive drone attack.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also says large numbers of Chinese nationals have joined Russian soldiers on the battlefield. He accused Moscow of recruiting them on social media.

Weather, flood recovery » Some residents in Kentucky evacuated amid massive flooding are beginning to return home — or in some cases, to businesses they left behind.

David Meier is the owner of Glenns Creek Distillery. He says he has no idea what he’ll find or what the financial impact will be.

MEIER:  I can only imagine, which I don't really want to do. Uh, we've got a lot of equipment, forklifts and things like that, lawnmowers, things that are completely underwater.

While some are returning home, other residents are being urged to wait until the waters recede further.

The Ohio River is still causing headaches, with flood warnings in effect until Sunday afternoon

I'm Kent Covington. 

Straight ahead: Utah pulls the plug on fluoride in tap water. Plus, freedom of expression in Australia. 

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Thursday the 10th of April.

This is WORLD Radio and we thank you for listening. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

Up first, a debate bubbling up in America’s tap water.

For 80 years, communities have added fluoride in their water to strengthen tooth enamel, starting with Grand Rapids, Michigan back in 1945. But now, concerns about the side effects of fluoride are turning some people against that long-standing policy.

REICHARD: This week, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he will call on the CDC to stop recommending fluoride. And in March, Utah became the first state to ban it altogether. Other states may soon follow.

World Journalism Institute Mid-career graduate Rachel Leland wrote this story. WORLD’s Travis Kircher narrates:

TRAVIS KIRCHER: Dr. Kirby Hoetker did not think much about the significance of fluoride in dental health, until she got involved in medical mission trips to Guatemala.

HOETKER: It took me until my third year to realize, ‘Oh my gosh! These people don’t have community water. They don’t have fluoride in their water…

The pediatric dentist practices in Shelbyville, Kentucky. When families fill out forms in the brightly decorated waiting room, Hoetker asks about the water they drink.

HOETKER: Do you use city water or do you use well water or what kind of water do you get?

Dr. Hoetker realized she was seeing similar problems in Kentucky to what she saw in Guatemala, some children drinking well water had softer teeth.

HOETKER: It took me several years in my practice to start believing and seeing the difference and then once I did, I was like ok, so there is a difference.

Fluoride does naturally occur in some groundwater, and helps reverse tooth decay. But since the 1940s, local water operators have added fluoride to the tap. The Centers for Disease Control calls it a top 20th-century public health achievement and estimates that 63% of Americans have access to fluoridated water. But fluoride has its critics, and they are gaining traction.

KALL: So, you know, dentistry is always attempting to control the rate of decay.. I certainly support that. Unfortunately, using a neurotoxin to do that has some disadvantages and concerns…

Dr. Jack Kall is a dentist in Louisville. As a member of the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology, Dr. Kall is concerned about how fluoride affects brain development as a neurotoxin.

KALL: That type of toxin in the body just means that it interferes with the proper function of our neurological system, particularly the brain. And then particularly with the fetus and infants, because their brains are just in the very initial stages of formation and development, that the fluoride can interfere with that.

Dr. Kall compares fluoride to fillings made with mercury, another neurotoxin that has been falling out of favor in recent years.

KALL: The use of mercury fillings has gone down some but it’s still being used. Fluoride use in dentistry, if anything, just continues to skyrocket because unfortunately, our society, most modern societies are so addicted to the use of sugar everything is sweetened.

But a growing number of communities are questioning the use of fluoride.

Last year, a federal judge in California ruled the Environmental Protection Agency must reevaluate fluoride’s health risks—particularly its impact on children’s brain development. The EPA is appealing that decision…but the ruling concerned officials in nearby Utah.

PAXMAN: We've always touted that we've got safe drinking water and that just really bothered me.

Scott Paxman is CEO of the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District in Utah. His team lowered fluoride levels from 0.7 to 0.5 parts per million in January. Two months later, Utah’s governor signed a law banning fluoride in statewide public water systems. The ban goes into effect on May 7th.

PAXMAN: So we’ve kept our fluoridation levels at 0.5, we haven’t ordered new fluoride, so we’re basically hoping to run close to being out.

Lawmakers in other states like Florida, Ohio and Kentucky have proposed similar rollbacks.

Many dentists are pushing back against what they see as misguided attempts to tear down an effective public health measure. At an April 1st Miami-Dade County Commission meeting, American Fluoridation Society president Dr. Johnny Johnson urged lawmakers not to drop fluoride.

JOHNSON: There is no credible evidence that there are neurotoxic effects from fluoridated water. No country is stopping it. Please keep fluoridation in your water. Thank you very very much.

The commissioners voted 8-2 to stop adding fluoride to the water, but Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava can veto the decision by April 11th.

The CDC maintains that community water fluoridation is a safe, cost-effective measure to prevent tooth decay. Though that could change if health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s request to stop recommending fluoride becomes agency policy.

Dr. Hoetker in Kentucky says if parents are concerned about the toxicity of fluoride, they should be less concerned about their water and more focused on teaching their children to spit when they brush their teeth.

HOETKER: Like eating a tube of toothpaste or eating fluoride supplements that that's where you're getting to the toxic levels.

Dr. Hoetker and others fear that without at least some fluoride in community water, many children will grow up with teeth more susceptible to cavities. At the same time, she recognizes fluoride is not the decisive factor.

HOETKER: I'm not really going to be as worried about pushing the fluoride as I am going to be about pushing the better hygiene and not giving my kid a taste for sugar every time, you know, I mean, that's so important to grow up with like understanding that water is a healthy alternative and not soda.

For WORLD, I’m Travis Kircher.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Free speech or government overreach?

A viral post, followed by an order to take it down. And now, a courtroom battle, in Australia.

Elon Musk and a Canadian activist are calling out Australia’s attempt to censor a social media post.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: WORLD correspondent Amy Lewis attended the trial in Melbourne and has the story.

AMY LEWIS: Canadian Chris Elston is known across the western world as Billboard Chris.

VIDEO CLIP: Hundreds of thousands of children have been indoctrinated to believe that they were born in the wrong body …

He was in Australia last week for a tribunal hearing about one of his tweets from last February. While he was in town he also took the opportunity to live up to his name—he stood in a public space wearing a large sandwich board that declared, “Children cannot consent to puberty blockers.”

ELSTON: I just kept learning more and more about this, starting in 2019 and couldn't believe what I was reading, and I considered this to be the greatest child abuse scandal in the history of modern medicine.

He only engages in conversation with people who approach him, and he believes in freedom of speech.

ELSTON: Well, if we can't talk about this issue, for example, if we can't even discuss child abuse going on, how are we supposed to stop it?

Last year, Elston tweeted his objection to Australian transgender-activist Teddy Cook’s appointment to a World Health Organization panel. The topic? Caring for children struggling with their sexuality. Elston posted a link to a Daily Mail article. It included photos that Cook shared publicly on social media. Cook takes male hormones and advocates for taxpayer-supported trans surgery for any aged child. She also promotes a wide range of sexually deviant behaviors.

Cook asked Australia’s online regulator to remove the photos but made no objection to Elston’s words. But the commissioner went a step further and insisted X geoblock the entire post for Australians or be fined $470,000. X agreed but promised to appeal the decision.

Last week X and Elston joined forces at the Administrative Review Tribunal in Melbourne, Australia, to fight the commissioner’s overreach.

The trial was open to the public—and the public showed up. At least a dozen free speech advocates crowded into the room while more than a hundred viewers watched online. Not all were supportive. A Canadian transgender activist disrupted the proceedings early on and was blocked from attending the first session.

One woman on Elston’s side is Jasmine Sussex:

SUSSEX: So why do I support him? Because we need more men to get involved and stand up for children…

She calls herself another eSafety Commissioner victim. The commissioner geoblocked one of her tweets criticizing men’s attempts to breastfeed using a cocktail of lactose-inducing drugs.

SUSSEX: I can support Chris to do that good work, you know. And men bring a different kind of energy and experience to this as well.

Another supporter flew over from New Zealand. Two years ago Judith Hobson was attacked by a man at a free speech rally for women. Her attacker went free.

HOBSON: And yet they're even stopping us from speaking online. Now that should be a free forum. I hope the court will uphold the right to free speech and say that the E-commissioner has gone too far.

The middle of the tribunal room was filled with attorneys. Some for the commissioner, others for X Corp, and Elston. Alliance Defending Freedom International and Australia’s Human Rights Law Alliance partnered in backing Elston’s case.

Australian John Steenhof was part of the HRLA team.

STEENHOF: This is an issue that's important for all Australians. This is not just a case for Chris. This is a case for everybody who wants to participate in the public square on contentious issues and not get shut down by the government.

Lois McLatchie Miller represented ADF International.

MILLER: I come from the UK, and more and more frequently, we're seeing tweets shut down, posts shut down, people silenced for speaking out in the truth. And as a global organization, we see this really a pattern of censorship emerging across the globe, whether that's blasphemy laws in the Middle East or censorship laws in the west.

The commissioner’s attorneys argued that Elston’s post qualifies as cyber abuse and breaches Australia’s Online Safety Act. That law states that censorship is allowable if an “ordinary person” would think the post could lead to serious harm. The government’s attorneys tried to characterize Teddy Cook as the ordinary reasonable person.

Elston’s lawyers, however, argued that Teddy Cook, like Elston, is an activist and not a private person doing things in private.

Elston says online platforms have become a global town square that should allow for public discourse.

ELSTON: But as we've seen here in Australia, they’re trying to censor me on the digital Town Square and in the public town square, both in Brisbane and Melbourne the other day.

The outcome is uncertain, but the weeklong trial left the Australian public footing the bill for 8 lawyers to shut down one tweet. They contend Elston mocked Cook’s gender identity and intended serious harm because he shared Cook’s workplace and personal photos by sharing the Daily Mail article.

The trial was not only about whether or not a particular tweet about Teddy Cook should be available to Australians.

MILLER: So this is a critical case for pushing back on censorship. It’s the tip of the spear when considering that assumption that the government can control what its citizens think, what its citizens can discuss, and what the citizens can believe.

It’s also about whether Chris Elston—and by extension Australians, Americans, Brits, or anyone else—has the freedom to express contrary views. For that, Elston is willing to make sacrifices.

ELSTON: I'd rather be playing Settlers of Catan right now with my family. But yes, of course, it's a sacrifice, but this is a war for the safety of our kids. In generations past, we flew overseas to fight actual wars with guns and bayonets. This is a new type of war. It's information warfare, it's psychological warfare, but we have to fight it, and sacrifices have to be made, because if someone doesn't fight back, we lose.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Amy Lewis in Melbourne, Australia.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s not every day a kidney transplant turns into a love story. But for Mark Maggio of Virginia, it did.

Back in 1988, Mark received his first kidney transplant. It saved his life. And introduced him to his transplant nurse Anna Marie. She’d donated her kidney to her father before Mark became her patient.

One thing led to another: dinner, dating, marriage, three daughters.

Well, fast forward 36 years, and Mark needs another kidney transplant. And guess what? One of their daughters is the perfect match for dear old dad.

A kidney gave Mark Maggio life, twice.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And love for a lifetime.

REICHARD: It’s The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, April 10th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Lost Luggage!’

Two words that can spark instant stress, even for the most seasoned traveler.

In 2023, nearly three million checked bags went missing, got damaged, delayed, or stolen on domestic flights. World wide? Ten times that.

BROWN: And during peak travel seasons like the one we’re in now, the odds get even worse.

So, how do you avoid ending up empty handed at the luggage carousel? And where do those unclaimed bags eventually end up?

SOUND: [Wheels of luggage on pavement]

When you're airport-bound, three questions often scream louder than the wheels on your luggage: How long will I have to stand in line? Did I overpack? And will my luggage make it to my destination? Brittany Cody Hernandez has been there. The year was 2013.

HERNANDEZ: I flew in from Houston and it was a very late flight. And it said that my luggage was here but nobody’s luggage was here. And they ended up driving my luggage to my apartment the next morning. Everything was there. It just wasn’t there when I wanted it to be.

The 34-year-old is a wife and mother of three.

HERNANDEZ: All under ten…yes ma’am. [giggles]

While her kids are in school Hernandez also works as an independent travel advisor.

HERNANDEZ: I help people with travel from beginning to end.

AUDIO: I appreciate y’all taking the time to hop on…

Every Thursday her two worlds intersect in a chat with an online group she started with moms from around the country. She’s sitting on a bench outside the Pensacola International airport in Florida. You can hear planes arriving and departing in the distance. Today’s topic: making your bags stand out so that they are easier to find and identify if lost.

AUDIO: (Facebook Live call) I usually have a lot of ribbons. Oh you use a black suitcase but you wrap it in ribbons? I like that. Ok. Ribbons! I brought my polka dot colored bag. That’s always a standout.

But most bags get lost due to a lack of identification. The Department of Transportation encourages travelers to label luggage…inside and out, with your name and number, as well as the contact information of someone at your destination.

AUDIO: (Facebook Live call) I hope you have a great rest of the afternoon…

Hernandez has one more tip before she ends her call.

HERNANDEZ: Make sure you get a picture of your luggage, what it looks like. If there’s something specific in there you know is costly, make sure you get a picture of it so if it is lost you’ll be able to have some type of photo or information on it so they can track it and know that it’s yours.

The tag airlines attach to the handle of your suitcase has tracking technology that gets your luggage to the right place at the right time…most of the time. But if the system fails or if human error is involved after a three-month extensive search, your luggage and its contents could end up in Scottsboro, Alabama, a little town in the northeast corner of the state.

OWENS: We have tractor trailer loads of bags that come through. Every week it’s packed to the gills.

That’s Bryan Owens, CEO of Unclaimed Baggage, a family-owned business that repurposes lost luggage. His father Doyle Owens started the company in 1970. He overheard a group of bus drivers complaining about unclaimed bags left on their buses.

OWENS: And one guy said, I don’t know what to do with them. And that was the eureka that my dad had. And so he borrowed $300 from one of my grandfathers and bought a 1965 Chevy pick up truck from my other grandfather and went off and bought his first load of bags.

Owens says he was in sixth grade when his dad purchased those bags from the buslines and brought them home to resell them.

OWENS: The guys in the family, we unloaded the trucks and helped open bags up. And my parents would put prices on things. And we had a little makeshift store that we started out with.

In 1978, the older Owens started landing contracts with domestic airlines. Today, Owens says his company is the country’s only lost luggage retailer.

SOUND: [Bag unzipping]

Everyday, teams of bag openers unpack, sift and sort through countless suitcases from airports around the country. In 2023 workers uncovered more than two million items: clothing that has to be laundered and dry cleaned, electronics that are tested and cleared of personal data, and jewelry that’s cleaned and appraised.

About one third of those items are sold in the 50,000 square foot retail store. Items that are not salvageable are recycled. Then there are those fascinating finds. In 2023 those included two live snakes, a jar full of shark teeth and a mounted ram head.

OWENS: We say that when you open a bag, it’s a bit like an archaeological dig. I vicariously in some ways learn a lot about the world through the lens of an unclaimed suitcase.

Owens says he hopes the world can learn a few things from his father. In 1995, Owens launched a charitable arm of the company that invites local students and volunteers to decorate found luggage. Then, the charity delivers the brightly-colored, hand-painted suitcases to children in foster homes. The once lost, now personalized luggage replaces the garbage bags many foster kids use to transport their belongings.

OWENS: We think about it from a redemption point of view. Our purpose is to redeem the lost, unclaimed and rejected for the glory of God.

Reporting WORLD, I’m Myrna Brown in Pensacola, Florida, with reporting in Scottsboro, Alabama.

SOUND: [Luggage unpacking sounds]

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, April 10th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. The White House announced yesterday a 90-day pause on most of the recent tariffs, though the trade war with China continues. Here’s WORLD commentator Cal Thomas.

CAL THOMAS: Guess who said this: “China takes total advantage of the United States. They steal our intellectual property using cyber theft. Not only do they steal our intellectual property, they keep our good companies out, and say the only way you’re going to be able to sell your American products in China … is if you come to China, make them there, and give us the techniques and intellectual property.”

Was that Elon Musk? Nope. President Trump? Wrong again. That was then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in a 2018 radio interview. On another occasion that same year, the democrat from New York said the US needed to get “tough with China.” Adding that he was much closer to President Trump on this than he had been with Republican President Bush and Democrat President Obama. In Schumer’s words: “they let China get away with everything.”

Speaking of former president Barack Obama, he said this in 2018 while in Johannesburg, South Africa:

OBAMA: It’s also proper for advanced economies like the United States to insist on reciprocity from nations like China.

More than twenty years earlier, Democrat representative from California Nancy Pelosi said this about China and it’s Most Favored Nation status in 1996:

PELOSI: In terms of tariffs, I think it’s interesting to note that the average MFN tariff on Chinese goods coming into the United States is two percent. Whereas the average Chinese MFN tariff on US goods going into China is 35%. Is that reciprocal?

What changed and caused many Democrats who previously favored tariffs to now excoriate Trump over the tariff policies they once supported? Why, politics, of course. Politicians can change positions faster than they can change lanes. The efficacy of tariffs can—and should—be debated, but we need to remember that both sides of the aisle have threatened to use them.

On Wednesday the president announced a 90-day “pause” in his implementation of tariffs. China was the lone exception as the trade war with that communist country continues.

The stock market reacted swiftly. The Dow Jones Industrial Averages immediately jumped by 2500 points. NASDAQ rose ten percent. The Dow is still two thousand points under where it was when Trump first announced his tariff regime, but the market’s quick response should calm especially retirees with modest investments in their 401k accounts.

Some financial analysts believe Trump has the upper hand with China as that country’s economy is anything but strong. China’s leaders don’t want to lose face with the U.S. and if President Xi Jinping mishandles this war his leadership could be threatened.

President Trump might consider a nationally televised address in which he would explain in simple terms his goals and how all of this will play out.

So far all this razzle-dazzle hasn’t resulted in any foreign nations – especially members of the European Union – reducing or dropping their tariffs against U.S. products. They appear to be waiting and seeing what develops. They are not alone.

I’m Cal Thomas.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Tomorrow: ethics professor and WORLD Opinions managing editor Andrew Walker joins us to talk faith and culture on Culture Friday. And, music reviewer Arsenio Orteza dusts off the classics to reintroduce us to a couple of legendary voices. You won’t want to miss it! That and more tomorrow.

I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio. WORLD’s mission is Biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

The Psalmist writes: “The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.” —Psalm 92:12-15

Go now in grace and peace.

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