The World and Everything in It: April 3, 2025

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

Outside the Supreme Court yesterday—chants, prayers, and signs as justices decide whether South Carolina can cut ties with Planned Parenthood.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Also a new college test is gaining traction. We’ll tell you about it.

And keeping alive an ancient language and faith.

GÜVEN: There is a little minority speaking the language of Jesus, preserving their ancient tradition…

And WORLD commentator Cal Thomas on a death penalty case in Tennessee.

REICHARD: It’s Thursday, April 3rd. 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: Now news. Here’s Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Tariffs: Trump announcement » In the White House Rose Garden:

TRUMP: Thank you very much. What a good looking group of people. Well, we have some very, very good news today.

President Trump addressed a crowd of supporters on what he dubbed “Liberation Day.” He called it a “declaration of economic independence,” as he announced sweeping new tariffs.

TRUMP:  April 2nd, 2025 will forever be remembered As the day American industry was reborn, the day America's destiny was reclaimed.

The president said for decades, other nations, friend and foe alike, have taken advantage of the United States with unfair trade practices.

The U.S. will charge a 10% tariff on all foreign imports, with higher reciprocal tariffs to be added to goods from about 60 different trading partners.

TRUMP:  We will calculate the combined rate of all their tariffs, non-monetary barriers, and other forms of cheating.

The EU will see a 20% reciprocal tariff. Taiwan, where most computer chips are made, will face a 32% import tax.

The US is also imposing new 25% tariffs on many imports from Canada and Mexico.

President Trump predicts the new tariffs will supercharge American manufacturing.

Tariffs: Reaction and Senate bill » Democrats, though, have a very different take. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries:

JEFFRIES:  This is not Liberation Day. It's recession day in the United States of America. That's what the Trump tariffs are going to do, crash the economy.

And the Senate just signaled strong reservations about Trump’s tariffs plans.

AUDIO (vote count): The yeas are 51. The nays are 48. The joint resolution is passed.

Four Republicans joined all Democrats to pass a bill to repeal the emergency declaration that allowed President Trump to impose tariffs on Canada.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul was one of those four Republicans. He said his vote was more about how the import taxes were imposed than the tariffs themselves.

PAUL:   We should not live under emergency rule. The Constitution said taxes are raised by Congress. Most specifically, taxes originate in the house and come to the Senate.

While the Senate bill garnered a handful of GOP votes, it faces long odds of passing in the Republican-controlled House.

Israel latest » In the Middle East:

SOUND: [Missile alert sounding]

Recorded missile alert warnings sounding out over southern Israel Wednesday … followed by:

SOUND: [Loud thud]

Reuters captured what appeared to be rockets launching from the Gaza Strip toward Israel. It comes after Israel announced a major expansion of a military operation in Gaza.

NETANYAHU: [Speaking Hebrew]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is keeping the pressure on Hamas, with the terror group still holding dozens of Israeli hostages.

He says the military is seizing a new security corridor in Gaza, one analysts say would allow Israel to isolate the southern city of Rafah. Israel has already ordered the evacuation of Rafah.

Eric Adams corruption case dismissed  » A federal judge has dismissed a corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who told reporters in Manhattan:

ADAMS:  I'm now happy that our city can finally close the book on this and focus solely on the future of our great city.

Judge Dale E. Ho granted a request by the Justice Department to set aside criminal charges. And he dismissed them with prejudice, meaning prosecutors cannot revive the case later.

Adams maintained that the accusations against him were false.

He had pleaded not guilty to bribery and other charges.

California trans sports » California lawmakers have rejected proposals to bar males from women and girls’ spaces and sports teams. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN:The state assembly committee rejected two proposals to protect girls’ sports and private spaces.

The Democratic majority shot down a pair of measures.

One of those would have prevented boys from playing on girls’ sports teams. The other … would have changed state law to determine access to private spaces like bathrooms and locker rooms … by biological sex, rather than gender identity.

Governor Gavin Newsom recently said on his podcast that biological boys playing in girls’ sports was unfair. But according to KCRA news, Newsom’s office refused to comment on the now-dead legislation.

The Trump administration recently warned that California could lose federal education funding if the state continued to allow males in females’ sports.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Myanmar update » Myanmar’s ruling military has declared a temporary ceasefire in the country’s civil war amid ongoing relief efforts in the wake of last week’s devastating earthquake.

The quake is now blamed for more than 3,000 deaths.

State-controlled media said the truce would run until April 22nd.

That followed unilateral temporary ceasefires announced by armed resistance groups opposed to military rule.

I'm Kent Covington.

Still ahead, the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether South Carolina can cut ties with Planned Parenthood. 

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Thursday, the 3rd of April.

Thank you for listening to WORLD Radio! Good morning, I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

Up first, taxpayer dollars and abortions.

Thousands rallied in front of the Supreme Court yesterday… pro-lifers on one side, supporters of abortion giant Planned Parenthood on the other. Inside the court, the justices heard arguments in a case out of South Carolina.

BROWN: Back in 2018, South Carolina barred Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funds, saying the organization violates state policy because abortion is a major part of what it does. Planned Parenthood sued, and a lower court sided with it.

Now the Supreme Court will decide: Can individual Medicaid recipients override a state’s decision about which providers receive public funding?

REICHARD: We will cover the legal arguments in Monday’s Legal Docket, but today, what the case means for Americans who showed up to make their voices heard.

Here’s WORLD Reporter Josh Schumacher.

SOUND: [Chatter ahead of rally]

JOSH SCHUMACHER: Mayra Rodriguez worked for Planned Parenthood for 17 years in Arizona.

MAYRA RODRIGUEZ: I once came to DC to advocate for them not to be defunded, right? I told people, hey, no, we do more than abortions, but the reality is that Planned Parenthood's only concentration, it's abortion.

After she became facilities director, Rodriguez discovered some troubling things.

RODRIGUEZ: I saw how those facilities were misusing the funds, our tax money, they were misbilling insurance to commit fraud purposely.

She reported the mismanagement, as well as harm to women receiving abortions, but instead of fixing the problems, her employer fired her.

RODRIGUEZ: A multi-billion dollar organization is not for the people. They're a corporation.

The Supreme Court is considering whether patients have the right to sue South Carolina for disqualifying Planned Parenthood. But supporters and opponents of the company are debating a more fundamental question: Does the organization provide qualified medical care?

CHELSEA ALIONAR: It supports basic preventative care. We're not talking abortions.

Chelsea Alianor works with the group Rise and Resist in Oregon. She says the years-long case about funding Planned Parenthood is now connected to efforts by the Trump administration to cut back Medicaid.

ALIONAR: We're talking about 30 million Americans who potentially will go without health insurance, it's not okay.

On Monday, the Trump administration paused grants for family planning services while it investigates how the funds are being spent.

Another volunteer, Shayna Nash, told WORLD she regularly goes to Planned Parenthood for cancer screening pap smears.

SHAYNA NASH: I'd rather go to somebody who I trust and believes in the same things I do, so I have all my life, you know, tend to go to a Planned Parenthood facility. In a lot of rural communities, Planned Parenthood is typically the only facility in the area that provides reproductive or sexual health care.

But others say the math tells a different story.

HANNAH LAPE: There are 600 Planned Parenthoods in the United States…but there are 19,000 federally qualified health centers that don't offer abortions…

Hannah Lape leads a chapter of Students for Life at Wheaton College in Illinois. She points out that Planned Parenthood is far from the only option available for many communities.

LAPE: So I think we should be focusing on shifting our attention and our funding to those federally qualified health centers that already exist and are already funded by the government. We don’t need Planned Parenthood.

In South Carolina’s brief, Health Department Director Eunice Medina points out that there are 140 federally qualified health clinics in her state, but only two Planned Parenthood affiliates. And they don’t provide a variety of the preventative services proponents say they do. So blocking funds will not substantially reduce access to services like breast exams and STD testing. Add to that Planned Parenthood’s track record of questionable business practices.

MAT STAVER: The fact of the matter is this provider is unqualified because of its lurid history with regards to this human trafficking of aborted baby body parts.

Mat Staver is Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel, a non-profit law firm and ministry focused on issues of life, family, and religious freedom. His firm represented investigative reporter Sandra Merritt after her 2015 exposé on the sale of baby body parts landed her in court.

STAVER: As a result of Sandra Merritt there were several states in the country that began to defund Planned Parenthood, the first of which was Texas. And there is a case that was actually upheld by the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, citing specifically the videos of Sandra Merritt and David DeLyden with regards to Planned Parenthood.

California reached a deal to drop criminal charges against Merritt earlier this year. Now Liberty Counsel has submitted a friend of the court brief supporting South Carolina.

STAVER: There's a lot of reasons why Planned Parenthood is not qualified and that South Carolina is correct in saying that Planned Parenthood cannot be a qualified provider for the state's Medicaid funds.

The law authorizing Medicaid says states will provide federal and state funds for low-income patients to receive care from any qualified provider. Planned Parenthood argues that patients have the right to sue the government for blocking funds from going to the provider of their choosing. But South Carolina and supporters like Staver say no such right exists in the law.

STAVER: The statute needs to give you that and explicitly grant that kind of right for an individual or an individual entity to sue. Absent that, you can't just simply infer that everybody has this individual right to sue.

Even so, the courts are split on whether states can block Medicaid funds from going to the abortion provider.

STAVER: There are five courts of appeal that say Planned Parenthood should win. There are two courts of appeal that say no, the state should win. That's why I think the Supreme Court took up this case.

SOUND: [Chanting outside the court.]

Planned Parenthood’s supporters outnumbered pro-life advocates in front of the court on Wednesday. But advocates like former facility director Rodriguez are hopeful the court—and lawmakers—will put Planned Parenthood on notice.

RODRIGUEZ: They're not only misusing our tax money in our country, but they use it to kill babies in every other country, too. So it's time for us to say enough.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher in Washington.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Up next: a new kind of college test based on ancient ideas

It’s called the Classic Learning Test or CLT. It measures skills usually highlighted in classical education programs. It’s gaining traction as an alternative to the ACT or SAT, and several states are considering it.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: On March 11, Oklahoma’s House of Representatives passed a bill that would let students use CLT scores to qualify for in-state scholarships.

But, how does the CLT compare to other standardized tests?

WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown has the story.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN: Sarah Catherine Grace took the SAT twice in high school. Then she applied to New College Franklin, a private Christian university in Tennessee. And learned she’d need to take a different entrance exam: the Classic Learning Test.

SARAH CATHERINE GRACE: But the nice thing was that I had gone through a lot of this with my schooling, because classically educated and kind of was how it progressed anyway, so I just kind of had to brush up on a few things.

New College Franklin is one of more than 280 universities that accept the CLT. The test first rolled out in 2015 and covers subjects like reading, writing, and arithmetic. But unlike modern standardized tests, the CLT uses classic texts from authors like Charles Dickens and Voltaire.

GRACE: I think in the SAT, it was a lot of like, we just kind of picked this passage, or it was very generic, whereas here it was a lot of primary sources of philosophers and different correspondence between two main political figures.

That emphasis on critical thinking is part of the reason Arizona Christian University accepts the CLT. Here’s Dean of ACU’s College of Arts and Humanities, Adam Rasmussen:

ADAM RASMUSSEN: That differentiates them from students who maybe have had more bland education that's more one size fits all across the nation type of education. And maybe that education is not exploring some of the greater questions that we explore at our school … what does it mean to be human? What does it mean to flourish?

Rasmussen says public education doesn’t usually ask those fundamental questions. About a decade ago, the SAT and ACT began using Common Core Standards … which set benchmarks for student progress. But Rasmussen points out an annual college dropout rate of more than 30%. And says Common Core-based assessments aren’t reliable indicators of student success.

RASMUSSEN: So when we say we’ve got a system that is creating people that are college ready, I would question that. I would say, maybe they’re not ready for college.

Problems with modern standardized tests existed long before Common Core benchmarks.

PEPPER STETLER: SATs and ACTs grew out of intelligence tests, basically starting around the late 19 teens and into the 1920s.

Pepper Stetler is the author of A Measure of Intelligence, a book exploring the history of IQ tests.

STETLER: In World War I, there were efforts to create a kind of intelligence test that could be standardized and given to thousands and thousands of army recruits.

Stetler says some standardized tests ignore an important distinction.

STETLER: And intellectual capacity is kind of like a biologically ingrained trait, whereas education is like testing whether you have been to school and you have received a quality education and those things aren’t necessarily the same.

The CLT might be a better metric of what classically educated students have learned. But it could put some students at a disadvantage.

KEITH NIX: If they've gone to a school, public or not, where they haven't been asked to read difficult texts and do a lot of writing and thinking, critical thinking, reading, writing. Then yeah, I think the CLT is going to feel very tough.

Keith Nix serves on the advisory board for the CLT. He’s also the head of Veritas School in Richmond, Virginia. It’s a K through 12 program he says pairs well with the CLT assessment.

NIX: Our students don’t need to do a lot of independent study just to take a test. They can just come to school every day and read what we read and do the writing, do what's expected of them.

According to the creators of the CLT, a new standardized test might not only benefit homeschooled and private school students, it could eventually influence what gets taught at the public school level. But that depends on whether states decide to teach to a classically-based test. CLT Chief Financial Officer Noah Tyler:

NOAH TYLER: But the College Board has enjoyed a position of prominence. They have been the silent shadow department of education, like, curriculum setter.

That might explain why the College Board—which administers the SAT—has targeted the CLT. Last year, the College Board issued a statement saying the CLT hasn’t been around long enough to be reliable. The board also said the study comparing the CLT to the SAT did not meet industry standards.

Tyler says that at the legislative level, the Board has exercised some leverage.

TYLER: College Board has a lobbying budget that’s north of a million dollars.

According to RealClearInvestigations, the board spent around $830,000 on lobbying in 2023. Lobbying efforts may continue, especially as testmakers vie for a diminishing market share.

TYLER: The thing that may be more difficult for the standardized tests and the admissions departments generally is what's called the demographic cliff, where there just may not be enough students for all of the colleges in our country to survive.

Despite a dwindling number of college students, the CLT is growing. Between 2016 and 2023, roughly 21,000 high school juniors and seniors took the alternate test. Last year alone, students took ten times that many. The number of students considering the CLT may increase, thanks to bills in Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Iowa—adding the CLT at publicly funded universities.

For now, the Classic Learning Test remains most popular among members of its original target audience: private and homeschooled students like Sarah Catherine Grace.

GRACE: It didn't feel like you're reading about Jane and Jack throwing around the ball. It was very much like thinking through it critically. And that was another thing, was they really wanted to tackle how you thought through things ... and you're not just memorizing a bunch of random facts for a test to get a good grade.

For WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Here’s to a reunion 11 years in the making!

Melanie Epperson of Buffalo, New York never thought she’d see her loveable pup Snuggles ever again. He’d disappeared during the chaos of a move more than a decade ago.

But then: a call from the city animal shelter. Sound from WKBS Buffalo:

EPPERSON: When I got that call? At first, I thought my daughter was joking, like, Chantelle, stop playing.

Turns out, a good Samaritan brought Snuggles in for a microchip scan. That scan led to Epperson’s daughter Chantel, who took the call.

Now after all this time, Snuggles is back home.

EPPERSON: Here we are, me and Snuggles. He could live up to 18 years old. So I got at least another good four to five years to snuggle Snuggles.

So this “tail” has a happy ending with plenty of wag left in it!

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Thursday, April 3rd.

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

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

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

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: keeping an ancient language and heritage alive.

For centuries, Christian communities thrived in Turkey’s southeast region of Tur Abdin . It’s home to the Syriac Orthodox Church—also known as the Arameans. They’ve practiced their faith there for more than 1500 years.

Their spiritual roots go back to the church at Antioch—the place the book of Acts tells us where “the disciples were first called Christians.”

REICHARD: But waves of persecution drove most from their homeland. Today, nearly all of the world’s five million Syriac Orthodox Christians live in diaspora—scattered far from where their story began.

WORLD’s Grace Snell visited an Aramean community keeping that story alive. She met a teacher working to pass on faith to the next generation.

AUDIO: [Students chanting the Lord’s Prayer]

GRACE SNELL: In a classroom in southern Germany, two dozen students stand beside their desks—facing East and chanting the Lord’s Prayer in unison.

AUDIO: [Students chanting the Lord’s Prayer]

They’re speaking Aramaic—the language most scholars agree Jesus spoke.

It’s the language Mark used to record Jesus’ anguished last cry from the cross.

And it’s the language Syriac Orthodox Christians still use in their liturgical worship. But, Aramaic is in danger of dying out as believers raise their children far from their original homeland.

LINDA GÜVEN: Okay, meine lieben Schüler…

Linda Güven is on a mission to change that. Güven is Germany’s first state-approved high school teacher of Syriac Orthodox theology, and she’s fighting to keep her students’ language—and their faith—alive.

GÜVEN: The most important thing in teaching is to make the students understand why. If they don’t understand the meaning behind the thing or the intention of then it’s always difficult to live it, to feel it.

AUDIO: [Students pulling their chairs back]

At the front of the room, Güven directs her students to take their seats.

AUDIO: [Students open their textbooks]

Today, they’re learning about Jesus, the Bread of Life from John chapter six.

GÜVEN: Das Brot des Lebens…

Güven’s students mostly come from Turkey and Syria. Most of their parents or grandparents moved to Germany decades ago. But some arrived with their parents as toddlers.

Before that, their roots run deep in one special corner of southeast Turkey.

GÜVEN: Originally, we are all from Tur Abdin, Turkey.

Tur Abdin is a mountainous plateau whose name means, “Mountain of the servants [of God].” And it’s the historic homeland for Syriac Orthodox Christians. Monasteries and churches here date back to at least the 6th century.

After the Council of Chalcedon in 451 A.D., the Syriac Orthodox Church split from the Greek and Latin churches. They disagreed over the nature of Christ—whether Jesus had two distinct, united natures: divine and human—or one incarnate divine-human nature.

GÜVEN: Weiss ist immer Gottheit, Reinheit. Und die Farbe Rot…

In 1915—the same year as the Armenian genocide—the Ottoman empire carried out a sweeping massacre of Syriac Orthodox Christians.

It’s a time Arameans remember as the “Sayfo” —literally, the “sword.” Although exact numbers are not known, historians estimate Ottoman troops murdered over 90% of the Christian population in some places.

After that, the remnant of Syriac Orthodox believers started leaving in search of a better life. Today, only about 25,000 still remain in Turkey. The rest are scattered abroad.

An estimated 100,000 live in Germany. And Güven said the community is growing.

GÜVEN: The Christians in the Middle East are still suffering. So there’s a growth in the community, like people from Syria are coming and Iraq.

In 2022, she started teaching a class of about 50 students. Since then, the student body has doubled.

Güven’s students say they’re grateful for the country’s religious freedom…

ELENA: I think we are very lucky to live here in Germany that we can live our religion, our faith and like we want to and don’t like have problems with that.

But Güven says her students still have to navigate life between two cultures.

GÜVEN: Migrating splits your heart in half, makes you foreign for the country you left, and you’re too foreign for the country or homeland you found. You’re in between.

Güven’s students are hungry to understand who they are and where they came from.

ELENA: Frau Güven tells us very beautiful parts about our traditions and something like that, and we can hold on to them.

RAHM: I get to learn things about my background and about my ancestors, and, yeah, I really enjoy it.

AUDIO: [Dismissing students]

After class, Güven dismisses her students and dashes off to an evening prayer service.

AUDIO: [Hurrying footsteps]

On her way in, she tugs a lacey white veil over her dark curls. Syriac Orthodox women cover their heads during service as a sign of reverence.

AUDIO: [Responsive prayer]

Under the church’s high ceiling, the congregation worships as their ancestors have for more than a millennium.

AUDIO: [Choral chanting]

Two groups of men stand chanting at the front. Afterwards, everyone files by and kisses an ornately decorated Bible.

Numan Acar is the church’s former chairman.

ACAR: [Congregant speaking German]

He says he’s thankful for a teacher like Güven. And he hopes the next generation will stand firm in their faith.

Standing in the church annex, priest Saliba Dag agrees.

DAG: [Speaking German]

Dag says if the church loses their language, they lose their children.

Güven says that’s the reason she does this job.

GÜVEN: Since we don’t have a country, a homeland, we the only thing we have is the church and our faith. I just want to give them a place where they can grow and find their identity. And as I said, language is a part of their identity.

She says that’s something she wants the wider Christian community to know.

GÜVEN: There is a little minority speaking the language of Jesus, preserving their ancient tradition…

And that’s the way Güven intends to keep it.

AUDIO: [Choral chanting]

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Grace Snell in Bietigheim-Bissingen, Germany.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, April 3rd. 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. A man’s on death row in Tennessee and WORLD Commentator Cal Thomas weighs in on his case.

CAL THOMAS: In Martin Luther King Jr. 's Letter from Birmingham Jail, he wrote:“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

There is a man who has spent nearly 30 years on death row in a Nashville prison for murders that substantial evidence shows he did not commit.

His name is Kevin Burns—or “KB” as he’s known. He has written a book with the surprising title “The Best Day of My Life,” co-authored by a fellow pastor, Kevin Riggs. I say “fellow pastor,” because while in prison “KB” became an ordained minister.

KB’s story will be a familiar one to many. A Black man who could not afford adequate representation received a court-appointed attorney. According to the book, the lawyer did a poor job in KB’s defense. KB says he got in a car with a group of friends and thought he was going to record rap music with them. Instead, they drove to a neighborhood where one of the men had a grievance against another. The men in the car pulled out guns and shot two of the men sitting in a parked car. Both died.

KB insists he didn’t shoot anyone. His fingerprints weren’t on the murder weapons. Yet he was charged with two counts of felony murder and two counts of attempted felony murder…and sentenced to death. Sometime after his sentencing, witnesses came forward and said the description of the killers did not match KB, but it was too late. Other witnesses changed their stories—one twice and the other three times. During the appeals process, lawyers could only argue what was on the existing court record. New evidence was prohibited.

When his case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, the justices voted 6-3 to deny KB’s appeal. Justice Sonya Sotomayor wrote in dissent: “The Court’s decision to deny certiorari means that Burns now faces execution despite a very robust possibility that he did not shoot (the victims), but that the jurors, acting on incomplete information, sentenced him to death because they thought he had…”

That alone should be grounds for overturning Burns’ conviction…either releasing him or giving him a new trial. One that includes evidence and cross examination of witnesses that was not properly done at the original trial. Not to mention making sure he has a better lawyer.

According to a 2014 study by the National Academy of Sciences, at least 4 percent of defendants sentenced to death are innocent. While not all are executed, most are sent to death row where they remain for years without an execution date. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, “Death-sentenced prisoners in the U.S. typically spend more than a decade on death row prior to exoneration or execution. Some prisoners have been on death row for well over twenty years.”

This is indefensible, even by people who favor capital punishment.

The only person who can now save KB is Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Lee. It is a heavy responsibility to hold the life of another person in one’s hands, especially when there is substantial evidence that the condemned man is innocent. Gov. Lee has spoken publicly about his strong Christian faith. Part of that faith includes the type of mercy God extends to everyone who truly seeks him.

KB says he has sought and found God. According to guards and all who have met with him his behavior on death row has been exemplary. Gov. Lee should extend the same mercy he has received to KB and pardon him.

I’m Cal Thomas.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Tomorrow: Katie McCoy is back for Culture Friday. And Collin Garbarino reviews a quirky British comedy about an estranged music duo who reunite to perform a concert for one man. And, Ask the Editor with our Editor in Chief. That and more tomorrow.

I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard:

WORLD’s Bekah McCallum wrote today’s story about the Classic Learning Test. And Harrison Watters wrote our report on the Planned Parenthood case before the Supreme Court.

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 Bible records “[that Saul fell] to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ And he said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.’ The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.” —Acts 9:4-8

Go now in grace and peace.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.