The World and Everything in It - July 12, 2022

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

More than a million people want green cards to allow them to work and live permanently in the United States. It’s a real logjam.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Also today the EPA’s Clean Power Plan is back to the drawing board after the U.S. Supreme Court pulled back the agency’s power. We’ll tell you EPA’s next move.

Plus leaving the Amish community. And lessons from the speedway.

REICHARD: It’s Tuesday, July12th. 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, Kristen Flavin with today’s news.

1. Biden White House gun law event »

SOUND: [Hail to the Chief NATS]

President Biden stepped to a podium on the South Lawn of the White House on Monday in front of rows of folding chairs.

BIDEN: Good morning everyone.

Facing a crowd of lawmakers, community leaders and those affected by gun violence, Biden celebrated a new bipartisan gun safety law.

BIDEN: We can't just stand by. We can't let it happen any longer. With rights come responsibilities. Because of your work, your advocacy, your courage, lives will be saved today and tomorrow because of this.

The new law funds mental health and school safety programs and expands background checks for gunbuyers under the age of 21. It also provides funds for so-called “red flag” laws, which allow police to remove guns from potentially violent people.

The White House ceremony came one week after the country’s most recent mass shooting at a July 4th parade near Chicago.

2. Blinken pays Abe condolences in Japan » In Japan on Monday, Secretary of State Tony Blinken delivered the condolences of the U.S. government, days after a gunman assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

BLINKEN: We simply want them to know that we deeply feel their loss on a personal level as well.

Blinken said the United States and Japan are more than just allies, they are friends and that Abe played no small part in that friendship.

BLINKEN: In his time in office, Prime Minister Abe did more than anyone to elevate the relationship between the United States and Japan to new heights.

Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party has vowed to use its victory in Sunday’s parliamentary election to achieve Abe’s unfinished goals. Those include strengthening the military and revising the country’s pacifist constitution.

3. French birth control drug » Birth Control pills might soon be sold over the counter without a prescription at a pharmacy near you. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher reports.

JOSH SCHUMACHER, REPORTER: A French pharmaceutical company is asking the FDA to approve its application to sell birth control without a prescription in the United States.

HRA Pharma says the timing of its application has nothing to do with the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson decision.

The company presented years of research to make the case that women can assess the risks for themselves and don’t need physician to prescribe the pills.

Last year, the FDA loosened restrictions on abortion pills. And in 2006, the agency approved the “Plan B” pill, which can act as an abortifacient. Abortion rights advocates are pressing for contraceptives—and, eventually, abortion pills—to be sold over the counter.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

4. Yosemite wildfire » A wildfire is inching closer to the thousand year old sequoias in Yosemite National Park.

The flames blanket more than three-and-a-half miles, and firefighters have it 25 percent contained. Cal Fire spokesman Marc Peebles told reporters,

Peebles: Fighting fires in those conditions and steep rugged terrain is difficult and it’s very labor intensive and so firefighters are doing that, but it’s not a fast process.

The southern portion of the park is closed to visitors. Authorities are investigating the cause of the fire.

5. UK prime minister contenders lineup to replace Johnson » In the UK, contenders are lining up to replace outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

At a conservative gathering on Monday, former health secretary Sajid Javid vowed to bring integrity to the office.

JAVID: The British people are looking for competence in our leaders. And if they can’t find it in our party, they’ll tell us using the most powerful language in any democracy, the vote.

And Attorney General Suella Braverman told fellow conservatives...

BRAVERMAN: We need a pro-family, pro-community agenda if we are to help people cope with the crisis that we face.

Party officials set out rules to narrow the crowded field of almost a dozen candidates to just two contenders by next week. The final pair will be put to a ballot of party members across the country. Under Britain’s parliamentary system, the new Conservative leader will automatically become prime minister without the need for a general election.

6. Fast-track Russian citizenship » Vladimir Putin is speeding up the application process for all Ukrainian citizens to become Russian citizens. WORLD’s Mary Muncy has that story.

MARY MUNCY, REPORTER: Before Monday, only Ukrainians in the country’s eastern and southern regions could fast-track their passports. Now, everyone, including non-residents, have access to the program.

Ukraine’s government warns that this may give Russia an excuse for its attacks claiming they are an attempt to protect Russian citizens within Ukraine.

Meanwhile, in eastern Ukraine, rescuers are still searching for survivors in the rubble of an apartment building destroyed by a Russian rocket. At least 30 people died in that attack in the city of Chasiv Yar over the weekend.

And on Monday, Russian missiles killed at least six people in a residential neighborhood in Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Mary Muncy.

And I’m Kristen Flavin.

Straight ahead: the new future for the EPA.

Plus, leaving behind the Amish life.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST:  It’s Tuesday the 12th of July, 2022.

You’re listening to World Radio and we’re so glad to have you along today. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

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

Each year, the U.S. government issues about 140,000 green cards. They are what allow migrants to work and live permanently in this country. Right now nearly one and a half million people are waiting for their green cards.

REICHARD: That means those migrants are living in a legal limbo that threatens to split up families as well as make the labor shortage worse. WORLD’s Addie Michaelian reports.

ADDIE MICHAELIAN, CORRESPONDENT: On a steamy evening in Leander, Texas, about 25 men, women, and children gather in a home for a weekly Wednesday-night worship and prayer meeting. The group sits in a circle on leather couches, wooden chairs, folding chairs, and the wood floor. After two songs and a Scripture reading, participants read church prayer requests aloud.

Attendees Samrajkumar Veeraraj and his wife Anitha Samrajkumar share their own prayer request: Anitha’s mom is in the hospital in India for surgery. Anitha is worried about who will care for her. She hasn’t been able to travel because of the family’s green card application.

ANITHA: When we initiate the green card process, we are basically letting the government know that we intend to pursue your green card so we are planning to change into an immigrant now.

Right now, Samrajkumar and Anita are on temporary H-1B visas for specialized employment. Anitha left Chennai, India, for a job in the United States in 2005. Samrajkumar followed with 2-year-old Jedidiah, Anitha and Samrajkumar’s oldest child, in 2006. Now, Jedidah is a sophomore at Texas A&M university.

SAMRAJKUMAR: Once he turns 21, he has to leave the country, or he has to start a brand new fresh process, which might take decades for him to get a green card.

Jedidiah is one of 90,000 young adults in that situation. As of July 1st, the family of five is finally eligible to apply for a green card. But they expect to wait two to three more years before they get approved. If they leave the country before submitting the application, they will lose their place in line—which could mean another decade of waiting.

ANITHA: So if I travel out of the country right now, basically we are abandoning the application. And so when I come back, whenever that is, it could be that our turn has been lost.

Federal rules say immigrants from one country cannot receive more than 7 percent of all employment-based green cards. About 80 percent of migrants stuck in the backlog are from India. A CATO institute says Indian migrants face waits of up to 90 years, and about 200,000 may die before ever receiving a green card. Pandemic delays haven’t helped.

To help solve the problem, advocates are asking Congress to eliminate those caps.

KAPOOR: And so we are saying, Congress ought to remove a country limit so that when immigrants come in, they should be given a green card or allocated green card based on the merit not based on country of birth. And so that people are treated equally rather than, you know, green cards in the merit based category being given based on country of birth.

That’s Aman Kapoor, founder of the nonprofit Immigration Voice that represents high-skilled immigrants stuck in the backlog.

Companies like Amazon.com and Uber Technologies are also lobbying Congress to take action. David Bier is the associate director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute. He says the logjam will make the worker shortage worse over the long term.

BIER: And so it really green cards about employee retention and keeping workers from you know, giving up on the process and going to some other country.

Some immigration advocates say the solution is to increase the number of employment-based green cards available. But critics say that could mean fewer jobs for American workers.

BIER: There's very little support for doing that. I mean, that's not even something that most Democrats are proposing just overall for any employment based applicant.

Last year, Rep. Zoe Lofgren-D-Calif introduced the Equal Access to Green Cards for Legal Employment Act or the EAGLE Act in the House of Representatives.

Here’s Rep. Lofgren:

LOFGREN: So when I hear people say “Get in line,” well, the people in line are going to be dead before the visa number comes up …

The act aims to shorten backlogs by phasing out the country limits and preventing children from aging out while their parents wait for a green card. But it would keep the total number of H1-B visas and employment-based green cards the same.

In the meantime, families like Samrajkumar and Anitha’s continue to wait. Anitha stays up late to ask her brother in India about her mom’s condition because of the 10½ hour time difference. She hasn’t seen her family in eight years. For Samrajkumar, it’s been more than 10. Their two younger daughters haven’t met any of their family. Anitha says their church has stepped in to fill the gap.

ANITHA: So many people are becoming grandparents, uncles and aunts, and brothers and sisters. So to the point, that even though we are not with our actual family, we don't feel so much of the brunt of it. Because our church family has always been there for us.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Addie Michaelian in Leander, Texas.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: the coal industry.

The EPA wants to shut down coal for good, but the Supreme Court just limited the power of the EPA to make sweeping changes without permission from Congress.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Joining us today, a new voice at WORLD. Leo Briceno started as a reporter in WORLD’s Washington Bureau on July 1. Welcome, Leo!

LEO BRICENO: Thanks, Mary, I’m so glad to be here.

REICHARD: Well, you covered the Supreme Court’s decision in West Virginia v. the Environmental Protection Agency. Tell us what this case is about?

BRICENO: Yeah, well, it's about a lot. But this case originally started out as a question of energy regulation, who gets to make energy, how they get to make it. But its impact is actually primarily one about the scope of federal agencies and the amount of power they have to control swathes of the American industry.

REICHARD: And how did this case start?

BRICENO: So back in 2015, the EPA, or the Environmental Protection Agency adopted something called the Clean Power Plan. This was a regulation that, among other things, would have essentially forced coal power production out of operation. And the way they did that was by imposing impossibly high emission standards. In last week's decision, the Supreme Court said that well, this was a little too far for a regulatory agency. Chief Justice Roberts, in his majority opinion said that that was a job for Congress. He said, essentially, look, EPA, we gave you the power to regulate specific types of technologies to help them make them more efficient to help them prevent the amount of emissions they produce, not to just remove them entirely. Whenever you, you know, feel like that's necessary decision to make. And Justice Kagan, in her dissenting opinion, disagreed, saying, Well, yes, the EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency did actually have the authority to regulate the industry to that, to that degree, and therefore the agency hadn't stepped out of the bounds of what the power had been given by Congress.

REICHARD: Why did the EPA want to impose these regulations on coal power producers?

BRICENO: That's a big picture question. In 1970, Congress instructed the EPA to figure out the best practices in order to reduce pollution, there's something called the Clean Air Act. Under that mandate, the EPA was instructed to go out and find technologies that could be applied standard practices that can be applied in order to bring co2 emissions down. Coal actually makes more co2 emissions than just about any other power source that we use other sources like gasoline, natural gas, diesel, because of that, the EPA said okay, well, this source of power produces a lot of co2, instead of trying to make it cleaner, we should just replace it entirely, swap it out, get rid of it. Part of the reason the EPA arrived at that conclusion was because coal has been on a downward trajectory for well over a decade, the US has gone from consuming about a million 1000 short tons to about half that transitioning the country to other forms of energy, like natural gas. The EPA argued that the regulations that they had put in place, hadn't really forced the industry to change at all. Instead, they just kind of reinforced a trajectory that was already in place. But instead of actually imposing that regulation and mandating that change, almost as soon as it was announced, it was kind of stopped dead in its tracks, because it received a number of legal challenges, one of which ended up in front of the Supreme Court.

REICHARD: Leo, what would have been the effect if the regulation had been put in place?

BRICENO:Well, it definitely would have done what you kind of see today, which is a reduction in the amount of coal used, maybe a little bit more quickly, maybe a little more forcefully than it would have otherwise happened. But in her dissenting opinion, Justice Elena Kagan said the regulation would have more or less mirrored the trajectory of today's energy market. She says that it would have, quote, little to no change. But in some ways, that's kind of you know, besides the point, the regulation would have gone beyond what Congress specifically said it could do, and it did so in a way that would change the way Americans produce and consume energy. So the court found the change was a little too big for the EPA to dictate, even if it did, mirror the way the market would ultimately go.

REICHARD: Why are environmentalists upset about the decision?

BRICENO: Well, because it's difficult for change that the EPA wanted to mandate to come from Congress. The Supreme Court's decision essentially forces regulatory agents is to display that they have a specific mandate from Congress in order to make a substantive change to the industry. That means that Congress will have to be involved in some way, shape or form, if the EPA gets to do something like this, in other words, they have to receive specific authority from Congress or Congress has to pass a piece of regulation, empowering the EPA to do just that. But with the sharp congressional divide on the matter of the environment and on the matter of coal, that's really unlikely to happen. Many environmentalists look to the EPA as regulation as a way to bypass or to go around Congress entirely. The Supreme Court's ruling makes that very unlikely to happen.

REICHARD: Leo Briceno is a reporter with WORLD’s Washington bureau. Thanks, Leo!

BRICENO: Of course, thanks for having me.

NICK EICHER, HOST: You know what people say when you buy an expensive piece of jewelry:

Don’t lose it!

Easy to remember. Hard advice to follow.

Just ask Lynn Andrews who has a harrowing story about her beloved jewelry and a body of water known as the Charles River in Massachusetts.

The audio from WCVB in Boston.

ANDREWS: I decided that I'm going to put some sunscreen on and I asked my husband to hold my rings and I just put them in the pocket of his shirt.

But it was a hot day. She and her husband were out on the piers at their local yacht club, and before long Mr. Andrews decided he was going to take a swim.

ANDREWS: And as he took his shirt off, the rings went flying out of his pocket.

And into the water it fell.

Providentially, the Cambridge Fire Department’s dive team was practicing nearby, and they decided to help the couple out.

They found the ring in under five minutes.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, July 12th.

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

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

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

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Understanding the Amish.

A study from Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania estimates the Amish population in this country at more than 350,000. If current trends continue, they’ll hit the one million mark in a couple of decades.

REICHARD: But not everyone born into an Amish family stays Amish. WORLD Senior Writer Kim Henderson recently spent time talking with former members of Amish communities in Ohio. She brings us this report.

HENDERSON: This is a county road, is that right?

LEVINA: This is Cherry Street . . .

KIM HENDERSON, SENIOR WRITER: It’s not everyday you take a ride with someone like Levina Hershberger. Someone who used to be Amish but left that community to follow Christ.

We’re driving through the area where she grew up. She’s showing me things like the one-room schoolhouse she attended. She used to walk there in the snow.

LEVINA: We’d turn our back and just kind of back up the road because it was so cold.

And then we pass by the house where she grew up.

LEVINA: My mom lives there in a little house. And my brother lives over here in a big house. That's one of my nieces standing there on the porch.

Yes, Levina’s niece is standing on the porch, but she doesn’t wave. She really doesn’t know her aunt because Levina isn’t welcome in the Amish world. She’s been shunned for more than 10 years.

HENDERSON: Does your stomach do a flip up or anything when you come by here?

LEVINA: No more. It used to. It was three or four years that we left the Amish before I would even drive through here.

The shunning happened because Levina’s husband, Andrew, started reading his Bible in earnest. He began to question his Amish beliefs.

ANDREW: You just go to church, you do your thing, you do what the preachers tell you, and you know, and then you don't have assurance of salvation. You just hope it you know, at the end of life, one way or the other, hopefully you make it to heaven.

He says there’s a lot of emphasis on good works.

ANDREW: Try to do as good as you can and and if you fail, you make confession in the church, you do. You go all through all those rituals all the time, and there's no victory . . .

He watched people living in defeat. Hopeless. So he spent two years digging deep into God’s word.

ANDREW: I wanted to fix my Amish . . . the cry on my heart was revival, revival among the Amish.

But his newfound faith couldn’t mesh with his Amish beliefs.

ANDREW: All of a sudden, I realized that it's, you don't revive something that isn't there. And I realized that you need transformation. I made a made an audible commitment to Christ that night, right around 12 o'clock. I will follow you no matter what. No matter what the cost.

Their Amish family didn’t like what was happening with the Hershbergers. They searched their home and found preaching tapes inside a cassette player. They pled with them to return to the beliefs of their forefathers.

LEVINA: They really tried again to get me to go home with them, just leave my husband and please come home with them.

The cost has been great for the Hershbergers. The loss of family relationships, Andrew’s construction business, their home. But they have a real desire to show the Amish what Christianity is all about.

ANDREW: They are very closed people. It's really hard to just walk up to an Amish person person and say, “Hey, do you have peace with God?” He will he will close the door right in your face.

That’s why the Hershbergers purposefully go to places where they will rub shoulders with the Amish, like the local auction spot.

Recently, something special was on the auction block. Levina’s brother—who usually doesn’t talk to her—let her know he was selling their father’s buggy.

ANDREW: My husband didn't talk about it at all till he walked away, and we looked at each other and it's like, let's go look at that buggy.

Levina’s father had just died that spring. This buggy was a tie to him. It had been in the family for three generations.

ANDREW: We went out looking at it and decided okay, we're that's one thing I can get from Dad because we are not going to get anything else because we're no more Amish.

So she and Andrew decided to go for it.

LEVINA: This was at an auction, so they couldn't do anything to keep us from buying it.

They bought it. When you pull up to the Hershbergers’ driveway today, it’s front and center in the yard.

LEVINA: We said we're going to give it a final resting place here. Put flowers on it and have a good memory from Dad.

HENDERSON: So these are the roads that you would go down in the buggy…going where?

LEVINA: Mostly to town…

After a car ride through Amish country, Levina and I pull up to her house. I ask her if she thinks her mother will notice the buggy in their driveway?

HENDERSON: But she would never pull up the driveway.

LEVINA: No, she will not, mostly because of man fear. What the people would say if she would.

But recently Levina saw her mother. Spoke to her mother. Became hopeful.

SOUND: She looked at me and said, “You know what, right? We all want to go to heaven.” And I say, “Yes. That's where we want to go. Make sure you will go there before you die.” And she looked at me and just smiled. Nodded her head. But that's kind of all we can do. But at least we can do that much. Just talk a little bit.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kim Henderson in West Salem, Ohio.

REICHARD: The Hershbergers are just one of many families who’ve made the difficult decision to leave the Amish. Tomorrow we’ll hear from others who tell us why they left—and what they like most about their new way of life.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, July 12th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST:And I’m Mary Reichard. Here’s WORLD commentator Whitney Williams on lessons she learned from the speedway.

AMBI: SPEEDWAY SOUNDS

“Here it is, boys, the Big O Speedway,” my husband announces.

We pull our dirty blue Chevy truck off of a quiet country highway in Ennis, Texas and make our way past a pond up a long gravel drive. About a hundred yards to our right sits an oval dirt racetrack, holding the promise of a redneck good time, my husband teases.

Colorful cars littered with racing decals lure our three little boys toward the pits. Kind drivers invite them to funnel down through rooftop hatches and driver-side door windows.

Inside, my boys find the cars stripped down to the metal, gutted to their bare bones. They ask why, of course, and the drivers oblige, teaching them about the need to get rid of excess weight in order to race more efficiently. And how’d they figure that out? Why, from their racing predecessors, of course.

We take out our Bibles and turn to Hebrews 12:1-3. Not really, but I do turn my mind there. The Message paraphrase says it this way: “Do you see what this means—All these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed.”

Cries of hunger pull my thoughts out of Hebrews, so we walk to the concessions area, load up on popcorn, soft pretzels, and overpriced Dr. Pepper, and head to the stands.

An hour or so later, under the glow of a lighted Sunoco fuel sign, the gentlemen officially start their engines, inspiring my husband and I to emit our best Tim-the-Tool-Man-Taylor grunts.

SOUND: GRUNTS

We laugh together at our silliness, a green flag flies, and the cars are off at break-neck speed …

Until they’re not.

A few laps into the race, two drivers, each fighting for the win, take the corner a little too tightly. Their cars fishtail, slam into one another, and spin out. Parts fly, as does the yellow flag, signaling a caution period.

Now the other drivers have to slow down and stay alert, we explain to our boys about the caution … there’s destruction up ahead, you see, and if they want to finish well, they don’t need to get wrapped up in it.

“That’ll preach!” I think to myself, as I consider all of the yellow flags of scripture and the blessings that come from taking heed.

I semi-shout my thoughts to my husband over the roar of the motors: “Not many wrecks happen under a caution flag, you know?”

I’m Whitney Williams.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: The Biden administration’s executive order on abortion. We’ll hear what’s in it.

And World Tour.

Plus another visit to Amish country.

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.

The Bible says, "Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy." (Proverbs 28:13)

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.