The World and Everything in It: February 27, 2025

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

Protecting female athletes. Do recent policy changes do enough to protect their rights?

AUDIO: It's a far worse policy than what we had before, because now there's no method of questioning, there's no method of oversight.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Also pro-lifers push for clarity as states race to safeguard IVF access.

And a small-town police chief’s worst fear comes true when tragedy hits his department.

MILLER: My lieutenant was in the front. He's leaning over the seat doing lifesaving measures, and we're trying to just keep him with us.

REICHARD: And WORLD commentator Cal Thomas on the Biblical truth that pride goes before a fall.

BROWN: It’s Thursday, February 27th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

REICHARD: And I’m Mary Reichard. Good morning!

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

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Trump cabinet meeting » Senior Trump administration leaders gathered at the White House on Wednesday.

TRUMP: Okay, thank you very much. We have put together a great cabinet…

The president heard there kicking off the first cabinet meeting of his second term.

And the secretaries and agency heads got a little face time with the man Trump has tasked with rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse … in the agencies they oversee.

Elon Musk, who heads DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, said eliminating overspending in Washington is not an option.

MUSK:  Just the interest on the national debt now exceeds the Defense Department's spending. We spend a lot on the Defense Department, but we're spending like over a trillion dollars on interest.

He said if that continues, America will effectively go bankrupt.

President Trump signed an executive order compelling agencies to end unnecessary contracts and justify what remains.

Federal workforce cuts » And the Office of Management and Budget sent out a memo that directs department and agency heads to prepare for a large-scale reduction of the federal workforce. The memo also instructs them to develop reorganization plans by March 13th.

President Trump said the cuts are needed to deliver an efficient government for American taxpayers, and to address a growing federal debt crisis.

TRUMP: We're cutting down government. We're cutting down the size of government. We have to. We're bloated. We're sloppy.

The president says the head of the E-P-A believes nearly two thirds of the agency’s employees could be let go.

Starmer White House visit today, Zelenskyy tomorrow / mineral deal » The president also confirmed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be at the White House tomorrow.

The two leaders will sign a big new economic deal between the two countries that will include U.S. access to rare earth minerals in Ukraine.

Zelenskyy says he also plans to discuss his country’s “position” with Trump and has a list of questions:

ZELENSKYY:  Can we buy weapons directly from the United States? Can we work with frozen assets for buying weapons, for example …

Zelenskyy referring to Russian assets frozen under sanctions.

Trump said he’s not keen on providing security guarantees to Ukraine in the deal. He said Europe should be doing that.

And British Prime Keir Starmer says Europe is willing to do that, and he’ll discuss that with Trump in a meeting today at the White House.

Agriculture secretary on egg shortages, prices » American consumers are facing egg shortages nationwide, as bird flu continues to take a heavy toll.

But Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says her department’s working on a plan to increase supply and lower costs.

ROLLINS:  We're looking at bringing in some eggs, importing some eggs in the short term. We're talking to several countries around the world that can get us eggs right away. This would not be a long term fix, but to immediately begin to bring those prices down.

The average price of a dozen eggs reached almost $5 dollars in January, surpassing the previous record from two years ago.

Kentucky flood recovery » In Kentucky, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem joined Gov. Andy Beshear to tour parts of the state shredded by floodwaters earlier this month.

As the long road to recovery begins, Noem said she wants to make sure everyone is on the same page.

NOEM:  A lot of what we can do is put out a blueprint for how we communicate, um, between the local, the state responders with the federal responders.

She said FEMA is drafting a new blueprint for response communication.

President Trump issued a major disaster declaration, paving the way for federal aid. Authorities said the storm was to blame for nearly two-dozen deaths.

Israel latest » The terror group Hamas handed over the bodies of four more dead Israeli hostages last night.

SOUND: [Singing]

That came as Israel mourned the deaths of three hostages whose bodies were returned last week. Funeral services were held for Shiri Bibas and her two children...four-year-old Ariel and nine-month-old Kfir. All three were killed while being held hostage by Hamas.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: the NCAA looks like it’s changing its mind about men in women’s sports. Plus, pro-life groups expand their focus.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Thursday the 27th of February. Thanks for joining us today. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

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

First up on The WORLD and Everything in It: women’s sports. Earlier this month, President Trump signed an executive order designed to keep men out of women’s sports.

TRUMP: I wanna make this is a really good one. Cause it’s a big one, huh?

The NCAA quickly issued a new policy on transgender athletes that seemed to do the same.

REICHARD: But some say college athletes are still at risk. WORLD’s Lindsay Mast explains.

LINDSAY MAST, REPORTER: Kim Jones has a heart for women’s sports.

KIM JONES: Sports was a wonderful place for me to develop as as a complete person, and it's a passion that I wanted to pass on to my kids and actually share with everyone who loves sports.

She became an All-American tennis player at Stanford, then played on the women’s tour. Her kids loved swimming, and in 2018, her daughter made the team at Yale. During her junior year, though, the team faced an unexpected challenge.

CBS: Nobody will touch Lia Thomas.

During the 2021-2022 season, Jones’ daughter, her teammates, and competitors from other teams lost spots in competition to Will “Lia” Thomas.

ANNOUNCER: Lia Thomas is sometimes so far ahead, she’s seen waiting for her competitors to catch up.

After three years of swimming on the University of Pennsylvania men’s team, he spent that year on the women’s team.

Kim Jones started speaking out soon after, and hasn’t stopped.

KIM JONES: Watching sports become a tool to silence and humiliate women was something I was unwilling to let sit still and not a legacy I was willing to leave for the next generation coming up.

She co-founded the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, or ICONS. It’s an advocacy group focused on the protection of female athletes. And she says despite President Trump’s recent executive order on transgender athletes in sports, girls and women still remain at risk.

The NCAA issued its new policy shortly after the President signed the order.

Audio from CBS:

CBS: The NCAA is banning transgender women from playing on women’s teams. This follows an executive order from President Trump that calls for penalties against schools and leagues that allow transgender women to compete in women’s sports.

The policy says that student-athletes assigned male at birth may not compete on women’s teams. Jones says that language— “assigned male at birth”—lacks clarity.

JONES: Instead of defining sex and saying that the women's category in collegiate sports is for female athletes, they have said, they defined a term called sex assigned at birth, which is a designation on a birth record.

Forty-four states currently allow for changes to the sex or gender marker on a birth certificate. Some other countries also allow changes.

While the NCAA says it will not accept amended birth certificates, it leaves the process of certifying athletes up to the schools.

Jones says that’s an ineffective way of keeping men off the women’s teams at the 1100 schools governed by the NCAA.

JONES: It's just a haphazard way of saying we don't want to know. We're just going to take a piece of paper, everything's going to be hidden, and it's up to the schools to make sure that the documents are in order. It's a far worse policy than what we had before, because now there's no method of questioning, there's no method of oversight.

When WORLD emailed the NCAA asking how they would enforce the new policy, they responded but did not answer that question.

Jones says a genetic test involving a cheek swab would be a more accurate way to determine a person’s sex, and therefore eligibility. World Athletics, which governs track and field and running events, is currently considering using such a test, with additional follow-up testing if needed. Similar testing was required at the Olympics for nearly thirty years, until 1998.

Those who favor allowing transgender athlete participation say there are so few of them that the impact is minor. In December, the NCAA President told a Senate Judiciary hearing that he knew of only 10 transgender athletes in the organization. That’s out of more than 500,000 players.

But Kim Jones says participation numbers don’t capture the scope of the impact a male athlete has in female sports.

She illustrates it using a high school boy.

JONES: It pulls down someone in the standings and ability to access a championship meet, to move to the next level, to earn their first spot on a JV team or on a travel squad. It's impacting record boards, finishes. It impacts all the young women watching and on the sidelines recognizing that their teammates or their peers aren't important enough to stand up for. Aren’t important enough for fair and safe rules.

It’s a uniquely unifying issue. A January New York Times/Ipsos survey found nearly 80% of Americans oppose allowing biological males in women’s sports.

JONES: It's the public arena of the difference of the sexes. So you watch absurdity play out right in front of your nose, and injustice happen right in front of your eyes, seeing people applaud it, not willing to change it, it. You're watching something happen in front of you that is so obviously wrong. You can no longer deny it.

But solving the problem will take more than recognition of it. Policies and executive orders can change. Until laws are on the books she says female athletes will remain vulnerable.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Lindsay Mast.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Some judges are no-nonsense. Others, law-and-order—the kind who’ll throw the book at you. But one judge in a Michigan town says, you shoplift, I’ll throw the bucket at you. 

Soap, water, and sponge too.

Judge Jeffrey Clothier is sentencing misdemeanor shoplifters to weekends washing cars in the Walmart parking lot this spring.

The idea is to make offenders think twice about a life of crime—while giving back to the very shoppers paying the price for retail theft. 

It all seems win-win: cleaner cars for the public … scrubbed rap sheets for the perps. What’s not to like?

Walmart says it’ll supply the soap and water. As for the judge? He’s not just handing down sentences—he’ll be hand-washing right alongside.

So there’s a fresh take on crime and punishment—where the guilty wash away their debt.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It… pro-life groups take on in vitro fertilization.

For years, the pro-life movement has focused on protecting the rights of unborn children killed in abortion. But in the past year, IVF has emerged as a new front in the national debate.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Both Democrat and Republican lawmakers are advocating for the reproductive technology. That demands a response from pro-life leaders and voters alike.

WORLD’s Leah Savas brings us a story on pro-life groups working to raise awareness about the risks and the ethical concerns.

NARRATOR: Welcome to build a baby, where anyone who wants a baby can build one.

LEAH SAVAS, REPORTER: That’s the opening of a satirical YouTube short film about IVF. In the video, a crane slowly lowers the smiling face of a baby onto an infant’s chubby headless torso as smokestacks puff out small clouds. 

NARRATOR: In our state-of-the-art facility, using state-of-the-art technology, we can build your state-of-the-art baby!

In the next scene, a conveyor belt of babies scrolls across the screen. In less than three minutes, the video describes the IVF process. It involves fertilizing human eggs in a lab and transferring some of the resulting embryos back into a woman’s uterus. In a tongue-in-cheek way, the video critiques some of the factors that give pro-lifers pause about the technology.

NARRATOR: All embryos will be graded, and we’ll discard any defective or genetically imperfect babies before you even know it.

The video is from the Christian media group Choice 4-2. They’re known for videos critiquing abortion, like this one from 2018.

LAURA KLASSEN: Human rights. You make think you’ve always had yours. But you would be wrong. So how did you get your human rights? From the magical birth canal, of course!

Texas pastor Jon Speed helped research for the Build-a-Baby video before its original release in 2023.

JON SPEED: we've always felt that the video, when we released it was, didn't really get the play that it should have to begin with.

So when national news on IVF broke last week, it seemed like the perfect time to re-release the video.

ANCHOR: President Trump has signed an executive order calling for lower costs and expanded access to in vitro fertilization, or IVF.

Here’s Speed again.

SPEED: He's been a dilemma for the entire pro life movement, … because he just completely dropped the life issue from his campaign. … And now with this … He clearly doesn't understand or doesn't care, one or the other about the human lives that are lost in IVF.

Before researching for the Build-A-Baby video, Speed didn’t know much about the IVF process.

SPEED: I didn't hardly know anything, but the main thing was that I did not understand how much human life we were talking about. … The scope of it is shocking.

According to WORLD's estimates based on national data from 2022, there were more than 160,000 IVF cycles that involved extracting eggs that year. Each likely involved conceiving an average of nine embryos each, which is an estimated total of 1.4 million embryos created. But fewer than one hundred thousand infants were born through IVF that year. That means roughly 1.3 million other embryos were either frozen, destroyed, or discarded… or died in some other way. And that's just 2022. ***

NARRATOR: Contact us, and build your baby today. Choice for Two is not the only pro.

Choice4-2 is not the only pro-life organization speaking out against President Trump’s order calling for the expansion of IVF.

HAMRICK: Students for Life of America and Students for Life Action, has taken a position of tremendous concern and reluctance and great reserve about IVF for at least six years... It's not a new development for us.

Kristi Hamrick is vice president of media and policy at Students for Life.

HAMRICK: That's part of the thing that we'd like to President Trump about. When he says he supports IVF, what exactly does he mean? Because there needs to be more regulation. I don't believe that he supports a sloppy business that allows preborn children to be destroyed accidentally. I'm sure he does not support all the mistakes that are being made.

One of the mistakes she’s referring to also hit the news last week, the day President Trump signed his executive order.

ANCHOR 1: Alright, a wild story now at noon. A Georgia woman suing a fertility clinic that she used to help her get pregnant.

ANCHOR 2: Yeah, she claims the staff workers implanted the wrong embryo in her and she gave birth to a baby that was not biologically hers.

KRISTI HAMRICK: This industry is so full of stories like that, of horror stories where people lose children, where mistakes are made, where the wrong sperm is used. There's a failure to be willing to discuss everything that's going wrong, the lack of safeguards.

At the same time, lawmakers in Georgia are considering a bill that would codify a right to IVF. Six Republicans are listed as cosponsors on the bill, and it has the support of the Republican Speaker of the Georgia House.

The pro-child organization Them Before Us has been working with pro-life groups in the state to oppose the bill. Here’s engagement director Patience Sunne.

SUNNE: So when something gets framed as a right, you know, something that we saw when abortion was considered a right was that regulation on a right is very difficult, and that expansion of a right is almost inevitable.

Sunne is concerned that legislation like this would prevent pro-lifers from effectively regulating the industry—such as by limiting the number of embryos an IVF provider can create or by prohibiting genetic screenings.

SUNNE: I think any of those regulations and limits would be framed and approached as a threat to that right.

Back in Texas, Jon Speed with Choice4-2 used to stand outside of abortion facilities to try to talk women out of getting abortions. Now that abortion facilities are closed in his state, he spends a couple hours each week standing outside of fertility clinics, trying to talk couples out of pursuing IVF. He said he sometimes runs into pro-life people who are going through the process.

SPEED: I've asked them, Do you believe that life begins at fertilization? 99% of the time? They agree. Yes, it does. And then when I start walking them through each stage, I've had them, you know, real, I think they're real Christians, you know that they break down in tears because you're just by asking questions, you're bringing it to their front of their conscience,

But his hope is to catch people before they’ve started, since many people have no idea what’s actually involved in IVF until they’re already in the middle of it. Just last week, he spoke to a young woman who he said soaked up what he was saying like a sponge.

SPEED: She had very gentle spirit. She wasn't argumentative. She just nodded her head a lot and listened quietly and said, thank you for talking to me. You know, you know, I'll look into this. I'll read this stuff, you know.

Speed wants her and others to understand what’s at stake for tiny humans in the IVF process.

SPEED: I look at it from a Christian perspective, and I look at it from a child sacrifice perspective.  That's worse than abortion, and it's really it's devastating.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Leah Savas.

*** Editor's note: our original story reported numbers of all reported IVF cycles. That number included cycles that didn't involve creating new embryos as well as cycles that did not successfully extract any eggs. We have updated the story with a much lower estimated number.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, February 27th.

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: A young police chief faces tragedy in a small town.

The U.S. has nearly 4,000 police chiefs. It’s always been a tough job—especially since the social unrest and calls for defunding the police in 2020.

BROWN: What’s it like for the highest-ranking officer when his small department suffers in a new way?

WORLD Senior Writer Kim Henderson brings us this report.

AUDIO: [Phone rings] HENDERSON: You take that.

KIM HENDERSON: Alex Miller is a busy man.

MILLER: I don't know yet, brother, I think we're gonna barely have to push that back because Sean's out of town.

At 37, Miller took the reins as police chief in his hometown—Summit, Mississippi. That was two years ago. Miller had been in law enforcement for more than a decade, and he had a big goal for his new department. Visibility.

MILLER: My uncle just loved the yard, and they loved the community. When they got to the point where you don't want to sit on your porch due to the lack of police presence…

One of the ways his department shows their presence is through traffic details, license checkpoints.

MILLER: …anything that just can show your face, let the community know we're here. If a mom is having trouble bucking up her child's restraint seat. We showed a proper way to get that done.

But visibility is challenging when you’re chronically understaffed. That’s why Miller was interested when a seasoned officer named Troy Floyd stepped into his office. Floyd was looking for a change.

MILLER: We sat here, and the conversation went on and on, and then he decided that he wanted to pray for me in my office. It surprised me.

Floyd joined the department. As a Christian, he offered good counsel to the young chief.

MILLER: …helped me understand why I was here. And it wasn't just because of a promotion, it was a calling.

Floyd had skills that benefited the other officers, too.

MILLER: He knew narcotics, and some things that he just had to feel for a lot of us didn't.

Like what to look for during a traffic stop. How to tell when someone is lying.

MILLER: A lot of younger guys look over things, and that's just training and that's growth and development. But when you've been in it for so long, and you know people, it comes natural. It came natural for Troy.

Floyd had an immediate effect on the department.

MILLER: Those guys started reporting to work early, all because of Troy.

It’s a pattern of encouragement Floyd established early in his career. Here’s a 2018 voicemail that Floyd sent an officer after a major drug bust.

FLOYD: That dope you got last night didn’t get into some of our babies' hands. Took it off the street. That money was dope money. That dope money was going to buy more dope. So thank you. Thank you. Not only as a cop, but also as a citizen of this county. I love you, brother.

On August 8th, Floyd and a fellow officer set up an afternoon license checkpoint near the railroad tracks in downtown Summit. Chief Miller was right up the street in his office when his police radio sounded.

MILLER: All we hear is, you know, “Summit 1, shots fired.”

They rushed to the scene and found Floyd lying on the ground. He’d been shot.

MILLER: My lieutenant started to do chest compressions. I used my middle and index fingers to try to stop the bleeding.

They couldn’t wait for an ambulance. They loaded Floyd into their cruiser.

MILLER: My lieutenant was in the front. He's leaning over the seat doing lifesaving measures, and we're trying to just keep him with us as we were probably four minutes away from Southwest Regional Medical Center.

But despite all they did and all the hospital staff did, Floyd died. And a dreadful new task fell on Miller. He had to tell Floyd’s wife.

MILLER: Once she arrived at the hospital, I met her at the car. We went to the family room. I can't stand behind anybody and let them tell her.

It was the first officer death in Summit. Ever. Miller has wrestled with that.

MILLER: It was more of my vision that drew him to me, of being more proactive and getting these guys trained. I feel like my vision created the worst day ever.

But Summit’s mayor reminded reporters that evil can be found everywhere.

MAYOR: Even though we’re a small town, we’re not immune from having these types of events happen here.

Today, a large, framed photograph of Floyd sits across from Miller’s desk. He looks at it everyday.

MILLER: I thought I knew, but now I know that this seat, carries a lot of weight.

In May, he’ll travel to Washington, D.C., to see Floyd’s name on the Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. Miller says the thought of it puts a knot in his stomach.

MILLER: This is probably going to be the last memorial. I'm going to have to just really just walk up to that monument and tell him bye.

Most small town police chiefs will never navigate the kind of tragedy Miller has. He says it’s taught him a lot. One truth, in particular.

MILLER: You can't replace a Troy Floyd.

But the department still conducts traffic details. The chief has held events that help children get to know his officers. Visibility is still his goal.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kim Henderson in Summit, Mississippi.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, February 27th. 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. Up next, WORLD commentator Cal Thomas shares a timely reminder from Scripture—one that applies to everyone, all the way to the top.

CAL THOMAS: President Trump is on a roll, claiming victory after victory against the “swamp.” Some of his decisions are being challenged in court, but others like closing the border and deporting migrants with criminal records are likely to be sustained. Polls show they are popular. Foreign policy is another matter, but we’ll see whether the president’s “art” of deal-making works to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.

There is one enemy that is far more dangerous than any foreign threat or the high price of eggs. That enemy is pride, which Solomon warns in Proverbs 16:18 “goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before the fall.”

Perhaps the most famous validation of that ancient truth in modern times and an example of pride’s self-destructive inner nature is the collapse of the Nixon administration over the Watergate scandal. Richard Nixon had scored a resounding victory for a second term in the 1972 election, but his pride and that of especially his chief counsel, Charles W. Colson, brought them down.

I have been re-reading Colson’s best-selling 1976 book “Born Again.” It’s about how his extreme loyalty to Nixon and the “dirty tricks” unleashed against Democrats by people hired by members of the administration, resulted in his conviction and ultimate spiritual transformation.

The story will be familiar, especially to Christians of a certain age. As the “gate” began to close on the administration, Colson visited his old friend, Tom Phillips, president of Raytheon Corporation in Boston. He noticed a difference in the man he had known in the past. Colson writes that Phillips explained to him his life had been transformed after accepting Jesus Christ and suggested Colson read C.S. Lewis’ classic “Mere Christianity.”

Taking no chance he might not, Phillips read Colson the chapter about pride in which Lewis wrote, “There is one vice of which no man in the world is free. … Pride (or self-conceit) leads to every other vice…”

Phillips added that he and the Nixon administration had brought all their troubles on themselves.

When Colson got into his car to leave, he described himself breaking down in tears because he knew Phillips was right. Pride was leading to his downfall. He eventually accepted Christ as his Savior.

Later in court, Colson pleaded guilty to this charge: “On or about June 28th, 1971, and for a period of time thereafter, in the District of Columbia and elsewhere … (the defendant) unlawfully, willfully and knowingly did corruptly endeavor to influence, obstruct and impede the due administration of justice in connection with the criminal trial of Daniel Ellsberg.”

Colson went to prison, but out of that experience came a vision to establish a ministry to inmates he called “Prison Fellowship.” The organization helps prisoners and their families. It still endures following his death in 2012.

History is replete with leaders who have been consumed with and destroyed by pride. Let this serve as a warning, Mr. President. The best friends are those who speak the truth, disregarding the effect it might have on their own positions. Will you listen and avoid the fate of others who traveled down this dead-end road and learned too late to regret it?

I’m Cal Thomas.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Tomorrow: John Stonestreet is back for Culture Friday. And, Colin Garbarino reviews a movie based on a true disaster story. Plus, your listener feedback. 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.

Jesus said: “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” —Luke 18:14

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.