The World and Everything in It - January 20, 2026

Editor's note: The following text is a transcript of a podcast story. To listen to the story, click on the arrow beneath the headline above.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

Today: Women’s sports advocate Payton McNabb on what athletes like her face when forced to compete against men.

MCNABB: By our senior year, it was no secret that there was a guy on the other side of the court. He was absolutely hammering the ball.

NICK EICHER, HOST: That interview, ahead.

Also today the Supreme Court rules in a case on election integrity.

Later: what makes some artwork worth collecting.

LE: I personally call them collection factors.

And WORLD Opinions commentator Joe Rigney on the worship shutdown by a mob in Minnesota, at a church he helped start.

REICHARD: It’s Tuesday, January 20th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

REICHARD: Up next, Kent Covington with today’s news.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: DOJ investigating Minnesota church disruption » The Justice Department says it is taking action after anti-ICE protesters disrupted a church service this week in Minnesota.

 A group stormed into a Sunday church service shouting and reportedly getting into the faces of churchgoers.

Deputy Attorney General Blanche:

BLANCHE:  You are not allowed to stop people from worshiping and you're not allowed to intimidate or impede them. And so, and, and so the individuals that went in there and did that, and you could tell that they had a plan, you could tell that they had an agenda.

They reportedly targeted that church because of the pastor’s ties to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Department of Justice senior advisor Alina Habba says she expects that Attorney General Pam Bondi will hold them accountable.

HABBA:  She will come down hard. The Department of Justice will come down hard. Our civil Rights division will come down hard … on anybody who tries to impede or intimidate somebody in a place of worship or a police officer or a nice officer. It's just not gonna happen in this administration.

And U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon announced on social media that “the Civil Rights Division is investigating potential violations of the federal FACE Act by the people who stormed that service.

Greenland latest » On Capitol Hill, there is no consensus regarding President Trump’s strong push for the United States to acquire Greenland.

Many NATO allies are pushing back, saying Trump should respect Greenland’s sovereignty as a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark.

And Democratic Sen. Mark Warner agrees and says in his view, a takeover isn’t even needed.

WARNER:  We had 17 military bases there, we shut them down. They have said build them back up. You know, the, the, the groups that benefit most from this break with NATO is Vladimir Putin.

But some Republicans, like Congressman Mike Haridopolos argue that the president’s push is exactly the right move.

HARIDOPOLOS: This is a president who leads and he is willing to even buck some friends to make sure we make the right long-term strategic decisions.

The European Union held an emergency meeting on Sunday. EU leaders are hoping to convince Trump to back away from threatened tariffs against European countries that oppose his push to acquire Greenland.

Gaza latest » President Trump's peace board created to lead the post-war reconstruction of Gaza is taking shape but not everyone is on board with the plan.

The president reportedly sent invitations to some 50 world leaders to join the panel. A spokesman for the European Commission said yesterday that commission president Ursula von der Leyen is one of them.

GILL: At this stage, we can confirm the receipt of the invitation. We appreciate the receipt. The President is in close contact with EU leaders on all geopolitical matters, and discussions will continue on this topic, I'm sure, during the week.

One world leader who is not signing on is French President Emmanuel Macron. His office reportedly turned down a seat at the table...saying the peace board is ultimately designed to undermine the United Nations.

Others with invites include the heads of Belarus and Thailand...as well as one name that's raising eyebrows: Russian leader Vladimir Putin. A spokesman for the Kremlin says it's still looking at the offer.

Spanish train death toll update » The death toll from a deadly train crash in southern Spain has climbed to at least 40, and officials warn that number could rise. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin reports:

KRISTEN FLAVIN: The collision happened Sunday night when part of one high-speed train jumped the tracks near Adamuz and struck another train coming the opposite way. Several cars derailed and slid down an embankment.

Regional officials said Monday that recovery crews were still searching wrecked cars for victims while families waited nearby to identify loved ones.

Dozens of injured passengers remain hospitalized.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez declared three days of national mourning as investigators sift through clues to try and figure out what went wrong.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Eicher.

Chile wildfires update » Firefighters in Chile are battling wildfires that have killed at least 19 people and forced some 50,000 to evacuate.

Authorities warn that death toll could still rise.

President Gabriel Boric has declared a state of catastrophe in the hardest-hit regions, allowing the military to help with firefighting and evacuations.

Authorities estimate the fires have now burned roughly 75,000 acres, fueled by extreme heat, strong winds, and dry conditions.

Officials say more than a dozen fires remain active.

I'm Kent Covington. 

Still ahead: A female athlete discusses what it’s like being forced to compete against men. Plus, the Supreme Court rules in a case on election integrity.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Tuesday, the 20th of January.

This is WORLD Radio and we’re so glad you’ve joined us today. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

First up on The World and Everything in It: Supreme Court decisions. Later this morning, we are anticipating the court will announce other rulings, so we’ll catch you up on what we have to this point.

REICHARD: First, a unanimous decision that police officers may enter a home without a warrant so long as they have an objectively reasonable basis to think someone inside faces imminent threat or is seriously injured.

In Case v Montana, police received reports that William Case had threatened suicide. Police entered the home without a warrant and Case emerged with a gun. Police shot him, and Case was convicted of assault on an officer.

He argued the entry was unconstitutional, but the lower courts upheld the conviction under the “emergency aid” exception.

EICHER: The Supreme Court unanimously held officers do not need the traditional criminal sense of probable cause. But they must have specific facts to support a reasonable belief that immediate entry is needed to protect life or prevent serious injury.

You can hear the eventual ruling in this comment from Justice Samuel Alito during oral argument in October:

ALITO: He was screaming on the phone. He didn’t answer….they go to the house…They try knocking on the door and yelling. They get no response. They spoke to a neighbor…they shown a flashlight through the window. They saw his keys on the table alongside an empty holster and an apparent suicide note. What more would they need? …Do they need to be able to look through the window and see him with a gun pointed to his head?

The Court emphasized that this exception remains narrow, and cannot be used as a pretext for investigation.

The case now returns to the lower courts. They must now use the newly clarified “objectively reasonable basis” rule to review what happened and decide whether the entry was legal.

REICHARD: Alright, Barrett v US is another unanimous decision, dealing with overlapping federal gun laws.

It’s a win for Dwayne Barrett, who participated in several robberies in which a man was shot and killed in one of them. Prosecutors charged Barrett under two federal firearms provisions based on the same conduct: one for using or carrying a gun during a violent crime and also for a firearm offense that resulted in death.

EICHER: He argued that amounted to double jeopardy in violation of his Fifth Amendment rights.

The Court agreed, in that it concluded Congress did not clearly authorize stacking punishments in this scenario, so only one conviction may stand.

The case goes back for the lower courts to vacate one of the convictions.

REICHARD: Our last ruling in Bost v Illinois State Board of Elections says a political candidate has standing to sue over state election rules that govern how votes are counted in elections.

Representative Michael Bost sued over the rule in Illinois that allows mail-in ballots to be counted up to two weeks after Election Day, so long as they’re postmarked by that day. He argued that conflicts with federal laws establishing a uniform federal election day.

EICHER: Lower courts dismissed the case saying he had no Article III standing because he’d shown no concrete, personal injury.

His lawyer Paul Clement had the winning argument heard here in tk:

CLEMENT: Illinois is counting unlawful ballots. Those unlawful ballots could cost Congressman Bost the election or at least reduce his margin of victory, and he has to pay his campaign staff for two extra weeks. All of that means that Congressman Bost has standing three times over.

REICHARD: Reversed and remanded in a 7-2 ruling in judgment.

The Supreme Court sent the case back to the lower courts. Now that the plaintiffs are allowed to bring the lawsuit, they must decide the main issue. That is, whether the extra time Illinois allows to count ballots breaks federal Election Day law.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: Women’s sports for women.

You heard legal arguments yesterday. Today, a more personal story: the voice of a female athlete who had to go up against a man.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Payton McNabb was a three-sport high school athlete in North Carolina. Then in 2022 she was hit by a volleyball spiked by a male playing against her. It was devastating. She suffered whiplash, partial paralysis, vision trouble, cognitive issues, a concussion and a brain bleed. What happened three years ago set her on a path of fighting for fairness in women’s sports.

REICHARD: Payton McNabb joins us now to talk about her story and why she is fighting to make sure it does not become the same story for other girls. Payton, thanks for visiting our DC studio.

PAYTON MCNABB: Absolutely, Thank you for having me.

REICHARD: Well, take us back to the day you were injured. I know you've told this story a million times. What was your reaction and your teammates when you first saw that male athlete on the court?

MCNABB: I was trying to be as encouraging and motivating as I possibly could. I'd been playing against this guy for four years at this point, and of course, he didn't hit puberty until about junior year, and they tried to kind of hide it in the beginning, and then Covid happened. So it really wasn't the like top priority for us at the time, but by our senior year, it was no secret that there was a guy on the other side of the court. He was absolutely hammering the ball. And this wasn't like a great team or anything, so they were simply only winning because of him. So I'm one of the team captains. I'm a senior on the team, and we had a really young team that year, and they are just terrified to play because, like, we don't even think we're going to be able to receive it. We couldn't even run a play. We had to practice differently in order to prepare for this guy, and even our coach is like, just get a hand on it. Like you don't even have to return the ball. We don't even have to run a play. Just at least touch it like that was our goal because it was so impossible. So they're shaking. They don't want to play. One of the girls, one of the freshman girls’ moms even asked me, “which one is he? I can't tell,” because he had been transitioning since he was really little, so it was kind of hard to tell from a distance. And I said, “Just wait until they start warming up, and then you'll know, like, exactly what it is.” And he gets up there, and he slams the ball. I turn around, and that girl's mom's like, jaw was on the floor. She could not believe that her 14 year old daughter is about to go out there against this 18 year old guy, like, How insane is that? It's so scary. So I was trying to be motivating. I of course, was so livid, and my coach was mad, my administration was mad, and we just didn't know what to do. I'm from an area where I'd never seen that before, so we didn't know how to go about this. And of course, now we know exactly what we would have done, but when you're in the moment, it's kind of hard to make those decisions.

REICHARD: Did you ever have a discussion with a coach? Why do we have to do this? Isn't it obvious?

MCNABB: Yes, we did, and she agreed wholeheartedly with us. She said, Well, they're in our conference, and we have to play them. And if they were outside of our conference, it would have been so easy for us to just drop the game, which we would have done, but in our conference, it's like a lot more difficult in order to do that. So of course, now we're like we wouldn't have played whatever, but after that happened to me, my school district voted on us not playing them anymore, until after he graduated, and that's exactly what happened.

REICHARD: Did you ever get an apology from that boy or from his family, or any kind of acknowledgement that what he did was wrong?

MCNABB: No, not at all. I got one text message. He only reached out to me one time, and it was basically like he's living rent free in my head. So I'm obsessed with him. I'm obsessed with the situation. Like, that's how I felt about his comment towards me. He didn't say anything else, no apology whatsoever, like, just complete no remorse. I wasn't expecting an apology, but for you to go out of your way and say that it's just like I was the actual victim. And he said in those videos, I actually just released some videos with Megyn Kelly, like last month. And those were,

REICHARD: Right, yes.

MCNABB: Those were, you know, videos that he put out on the internet.

REICHARD: Let’s listen to that:

AUDIO: The girl you hit in the face goes to the North Carolina General Assembly and speaks about her experience trying to get anti-trans legislation passed. The whole situation of you hitting her in the face is brought back to life. Great. That is exactly what I needed in my senior year. Thank you, Payton.

I'm like, You think I wanted that for my senior year, either? Like, I couldn't even drive half of my senior year. You think I wanted that? So you're not the victim here. I'll continue to pray for him that he finds clarity and finds the Lord and finds truth, because that's what he truly, really needs.

REICHARD: That day when you were injured, what did the adults do? I mean, they should have been protecting the minors in the room, but they didn't. So what did they do? I'm talking about the the the audience as well as the adults in the game. Exactly.

MCNABB: Yes, everyone was just in shock after that happened to me. Everyone got so mad, and that was, coincidentally the only game that my parents couldn't make it to. So I think that was just, like a blessing in disguise. I don't know how they would have reacted to seeing that in real life, but, yeah, they, you know, just so much guilt and like, regret came about it, I guess, like, I can only imagine how they felt, and I don't know, I think you're just at this point where you're like, This is so insane. This happening everywhere else. This can't happen to me. This can't happen here. Like, there's no way. And like, this would ever, we'd ever allow this to happen? And then it happened, and it happened to me. So it was just like, I feel bad for all of them, because there's really nothing we could have done in the moment. I feel like, of course, now we know exactly what would have done, but it's kind of hard to do that at the time.

REICHARD: Yeah, that nobody had experienced this before. Let's talk about your faith. How would you describe your faith, and has this experience grown?

MCNABB: It absolutely I mean, I would not have been able to do any of this without him. I ask every single morning to please speak through me and give me the clarity and the knowledge to be able to keep standing up for. This, because this is completely a walk in my faith. I didn't want to do any of this. I didn't think this was going to be in my life whatsoever. But the Lord had a bigger plan for me, and I wanted to follow up the best I could. And I think it's been really hard, but just being able to have that trust in Him, I have the creator of all, the King of Kings on my side, and so literally, whom shall I fear? Genuinely, I do not fear anyone, because I know that I'm protected. And he wouldn't bring me to it if he couldn't bring me through it. And he's in every single step in my walk with me. And if I didn't have that, I wouldn't be able to do this the way I do. And that's what always makes me wonder, how, like the people that don't have that relationship with him, I don't know how you're doing it, because he's in every single walk with me. And I couldn't be more thankful to have such a gracious Father.

REICHARD: I love it. I love it. He brings you to it because he can bring you through it. Payton McNabb is a former high school volleyball player who now advocates on behalf of fairness in women's sports. Payton, thank you so much for joining us and God bless.

MCNABB: Thank you so much, God bless you.

REICHARD: Payton McNabb spent quite a while in our Washington bureau doing a longer interview we’ll air this weekend. She talked about the ramifications of the Supreme Court decision for girls and women and much more. That will be available Saturday on The World and Everything in It podcast feed.

NICK EICHER, HOST: A 45-minute hot pursuit last week gave one Florida sheriff’s deputy a story he’ll be able to tell the rest of his life.

KEISLER: He's running back south, down in the middle of the road.

It wasn’t that it was a dangerous pursuit.

The calm demeanor in his voice is the dead giveaway.

No, this was just a strange one.

KEISLER: I'm in pursuit of an emu. I'm currently behind the emu.

Yeah, one of those massive birds you might mistake for an ostrich, but still pretty fleet of foot.

Saint John’s County Corporal Keisler did ultimately get his bird.

KEISLER: Hey, don't bite me. Don't even think about it. Don't do it.

And then applied the cuffs—no kidding—cuffed the emu around the legs…

KEISLER: Are you done resisting? I don't want to have to charge you. Don't talk back to me now.

No back talk. No harm. And crucially: No charges. I’ve got to believe the paperwork would’ve been tough, just explaining this one more trouble than the arrest.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, January 20th.

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

Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

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

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: the value of art, and factors make it a good investment.

WORLD’s Emma Eicher has the story.

EMMA EICHER: If you’ve ever had oatmeal for breakfast, you’ve probably seen the artwork of Robert Rodriguez.

ROBERT RODRIGUEZ: Well, you know the Quaker on Quaker Oats boxes? That one's mine …

In the late ‘90s, Rodriguez illustrated the most recent iconic white-haired man with the pilgrim hat for the company.

And he’s done a variety of other projects. You might remember the 1985 poster for the sequel to Romancing the Stone:

RODRIGUEZ: I did a bunch of movie posters. I did Jewel of the Nile. I seemed to always do the sequels. I don't know why, but, yeah, it was fun.

Nowadays, Rodriguez focuses on fine art, rather than illustrations. When he made the switch six years ago, he painted a batch of posters that a collector found especially beautiful.

RODRIGUEZ: Some lady was standing there looking at these when I'd finished them, saying, ‘I can't decide, they're all nice. I can't decide which one to buy.’ She's like, ‘I guess I gotta buy all of them!’

That moment convinced Rodriguez to keep trying his hand at Western art, painting Native Americans and prairie buffalo. Almost every March, he hangs up his pieces here at the Out West Art Show in Great Falls, Montana.

It’s part of a larger event, called Western Art Week, where more than 750 artists converge to showcase their love for the West.

CHIP JONES: I'm Chip Jones, I’m a bronze sculptor from Stevensville, Montana …

Jones is the director of the show. He started coming here as a child, and became a sculptor 25 years ago. But it wasn’t a viable career—not at first.

JONES: I did this as a side gig for a long time because I couldn't make a living.

For most, the key to getting established is finding buyers. And not just one-off purchases, but people who keep coming back for more.

JONES: Many people have 15-20 pieces of mine over the years, and it's really fun. Warms your heart, because now they become friends, you know, and they come and they, a lot of times, just come in and say hello …

Artists of all kinds show off their craft here—from Native American jewelry to intricate woodcarving to fine art.

JONES: When patrons are buying your work, they're buying a piece of you, and they want to hear the story, they want to find out how you do it, why you do it, and I love to share that with them.

Like many artists, Jones and Rodriguez have collectors who pay top dollar for their artwork. Collectors make up a small—but mighty—percentage of customers at Western Art Week.

BUDDY LE: The value of the art really is derived from the notoriety of the artist…

Buddy Le is a gallery owner in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. He shops with an eye for beauty, but also for investment opportunities.

LE: It goes back to supply and demand. And so you'll see certain trends. I personally call them collection factors.

Standard rules of economics apply to the art world, too. Rising demand for an artist’s work—and limited supply—make it more valuable over time. Le finds those artists and keeps an eye on up-and-comers for future investments.

LE: People will buy decor for their homes, prints, you know, different things. And it's like, yeah, you're going to decorate your home, but you're not going to be able to resell it at all for anything. Whereas with original art, there's a higher probability of being able to actually sell it, and then if you're able to sell it for more than you buy it for, then, you know, that's just icing on a cake.

But isn’t art subjective? Le says, yes, but not exclusively.

LE: I have to say that quality still wins out, you know, and that's, that's the tough part, because everybody has a different eye. It's art, right? It's very subjective, but good quality art will always, will always sell.

Craftsmanship, scarcity, and popularity all drive the price of artwork up.

Still, most people aren’t looking to decorate their homes with expensive art investments. Instead, it’s more about personal enjoyment—whether it’s a digital print or an original work.

And Le says that makes art valuable in more ways than one.

LE: I have a fly fishing painting that I absolutely love, and I see it every morning when I come down the stairs, get my coffee, and it just, it just brings a smile to my face. It doesn't matter necessarily, what I paid for it. I have no intention of selling it. It just brings me a lot of joy when I look at it.

Ask an artist here if they’re also a collector, and the likely answer is yes. Bronze sculptor Chip Jones says he has around 80 original pieces in his home. But why?

JONES: I think it's always nice to have a piece that you really can share with your friends when they come and they see something up on your fireplace or something and you have a story behind it.

Whether it reveals a story, or a smile, it’s those elements which separate the true value of art from the price tag.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Emma Eicher in Great Falls, Montana.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

A Christian worship service in St. Paul, Minnesota, was disrupted and ultimately shut down this past weekend, after protesters entered the sanctuary and began shouting slogans and berating worshipers.

WORLD Opinions commentator Joe Rigney is one of the founding pastors of that church. He served there for many years, and he says this new moment calls for a clear response from Christians: prayer, for lawful authority, for courage to resist intimidation, and for comfort grounded in Scripture.

SOUND: [CLAMOR, RIOTING]

JOE RIGNEY: Sounds can be deceiving.

You’re not listening to a political rally. This is, or began, as a Christian worship service.

SOUND: [CHAOS IN CITIES CHURCH]

Leftwing Activists targeted Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, after finding out that one of their pastors worked for the local ICE office, Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

This past Sunday morning in St. Paul Minnesota, that service at Cities began as it always does each week with singing, prayer, and Scripture.

Protesters sat through the opening portion.

And then, on cue:

AUDIO: The protesters are confronting church members and leaders. They have stopped the service. A lot of people. Number of people have left. There are some who are still sitting here.

Former CNN anchor Don Lemon and his team recorded the entire disruption and streamed it live on YouTube.

He knew what was going to happen and when.

So he waited outside Cities, where I was a founding pastor and served for eight years.

When the planned moment came, I noticed several terrified worshipers fleeing by way of side doors and slipping on the snow-covered walkway.

They had no idea whether the agitators were armed.

Thankfully, I suppose, all they were there to do is shut down the service, and it worked.

They proudly filmed and posted themselves screaming at children. Harassing churchgoers. Demanding that they denounce ICE. Accusing them of being “fake Christians” for not “standing with their Latino and Somali neighbors.”

So who bears responsibility? Clearly, the agitators themselves.

But responsibility also rests with the politicians who have aided and encouraged this lawlessness—from Joe Biden, who willfully allowed the mass invasion of illegal migrants during his four years in office … to Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey.

Both have refused to cooperate with federal agents and instead have encouraged their activists to “protest loudly, urgently, but also peacefully.”

The last qualification is a vain and ineffectual attempt to contain the chaos and disorder that Walz’s rhetoric has unleashed. For the left, the only law is lawlessness.

One thing the worshipers and the protesters likely agree on is something the leader of the protest said afterward: this church will never be the same.

How to respond to this new day of chaos and disorder in our own cities, and now, in our churches?

First, we pray.

We pray that our government officials would uphold law and order, fulfilling their God-given mandate to punish evildoers, as laid out in Romans 13.

We pray that they would be a terror to evil conduct.

That they bear the sword righteously and purposefully, that they carry out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.

This includes praying for ICE as agents carry out their lawful mission to protect public safety and national security.

And it includes praying … and insisting … that those who invade worship gatherings to intimidate parishioners be held accountable.

Second, we ought to grow in our ability to resist intimidation.

We must recognize the schemes of the devil at play:

Appeals to Christian love to justify lawbreaking. Scripture twisted so that care for the foreigner and sojourner becomes a demand for open borders. Moral shaming—claiming obedience to God makes you a bad Christian if your refuse to submit to the left’s ideology of decay, disorder, and death.

Christians must learn the tactics of God’s enemies and resist them with fortitude and joy, refusing to appease a lawless mob.

Finally, take comfort from Scripture.

The book of Acts is filled with scenes like this: mobs shouting slanders, threats against Christian leaders, and authorities either complicit or paralyzed by fear.

The early church did not respond with panic. They prayed.

They recognized the sovereign hand of God in the chaos, and their prayer is recorded in the 4th chapter of Acts: “Now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness.”

And the living God answered that prayer.

May He do the same in our day.

For WORLD, I’m Joe Rigney.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: Much more on the protests in Minnesota. We’ll talk about it with Hunter Baker. And, how one family puts political differences aside. That and more tomorrow.

I’m Nick Eicher.

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

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

Psalm 19 records: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.” —Psalm 19:1-3

Go now in grace and peace.

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