The World and Everything in It: July 20, 2023

PREROLL: The World and Everything in It is made possible by listeners like us. My name is Kevin Halloran. I live in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, and I work at Open the Bible. I hope you enjoy today's program.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

Prescription drug shortages in the U.S. are worrying patients and providers. Why the shortages?

AUDIO: We still need the basics, you know, and, and when you look at when I say basics, I really mean basics.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Also, California is moving ahead on transgender treatments for minors, but not all Democrats are on board. We’ll hear from one of them.

And searching for those who die trying to cross the southern border, part three in our series.

AUDIO: This is a person see and you need to treat that person with dignity. So instead of having them in a freezer I think it's better for them to be buried.

And that bag of cocaine found at the White House? WORLD commentator Cal Thomas says it’s a symptom of an even bigger problem.

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

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

REICHARD: It’s time for news. Here’s Kent Covington.

AUDIO: Do you solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God? I do.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Hunter Biden hearing » Up till now, IRS criminal investigator Joseph Zeigler was only known as “X,” an anonymous whistleblower who ran point on the agency’s Hunter Biden investigation.

But on Wednesday, he testified publicly on Capitol Hill that the IRS recommended serious charges against Hunter Biden.

ZIEGLER: Felony and misdemeanor charges for the 2017, 18, and 19 tax years. That did not happen here, and I am not sure why.

Hunter Biden was allowed to plead down to misdemeanor charges only, likely avoiding jail time.

Another IRS investigator Greg Shapley, said this case was handled differently from any other case he’d ever seen.

SHAPLEY: At every stage, decisions were made that benefited the subject of this investigation.

Shapley also said investigators were not allowed to follow up on text messages from Hunter Biden that mentioned his father. And …

SHAPLEY: Prosecutors instructed investigators not to ask about the Big Guy, or dad, when conducting interviews.

Republicans say the evidence points to a massive bribery scandal in which the Biden family received millions in illicit payments from foreign nationals. Democrats claim the probe is a politically motivated farce.

Herzog » A short time before that hearing …

SOUND: Mr. Speaker, the president of the states of Israel!

Israeli President Isaac Herzog addressed a joint session of Congress telling lawmakers, his country’s bond with the U.S. is unbreakable, despite recent verbal attacks from a small group of Democratic U.S. lawmakers.

HERZOG: Questioning the Jewish people's right to self-determination is not legitimate diplomacy. It is antisemitism.

Herzog also acknowledged division in his country over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to overhaul Israel’s judicial system.

HERZOG: I am deeply mindful of the challenge which this moment presents to Israeli society, and I have made it the priority of my presidency to play a leading role in this critical and emotional public discussion.

Israeli lawmakers are expected to vote next week on the plan, which would grant parliament more power over judicial appointments and decisions.

Ukraine grain » Russia unleashed intense drone and missile attacks again on Wednesday, damaging critical port infrastructure in southern Ukraine.

Officials in Kyiv said the strikes hit grain and oil terminals, destroyed 60,000 tons of grain, and wounded at least 12 people.

Zelenskyy: [Speaking Ukranian]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russian attacks on the grain stores are an attack on the entire world’s food supply.

The Black Sea ports hold about one million tons of grain bound for countries across Africa and Asia.

Kentucky Floods » Western Kentucky is recovering from flooding today after torrential rains lashed parts of the state. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER: High-water rescue teams pulled people from flooded homes and vehicles Wednesday.

Firefighters responded to two 9-1-1 calls from people trapped in their homes in a flood-prone area of Mayfield.

Police restricted travel in the area because numerous roads were underwater. No injuries or deaths have been reported.

For WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

SOUND: [Women chanting in Arabic]

Taliban » In Afghanistan, more than 60 women gathered outside of a beauty salon to protest a new ban on salons.

SOUND: [Crowd dispersed]

The Taliban recently banned beauty salons, saying they offer services forbidden by Islamic law.

The ruling is the latest in a series of edicts restricting Afghan women’s rights and freedoms.

CDC Chestfeeding Guidance » A pair of senators are criticizing new CDC guidance on transgender people attempting to breastfeed infants. WORLD’s Lauren Canterberry has more.

LAUREN CANTERBERRY: Senators Roger Marshall and Bill Cassidy sent a letter Tuesday to CDC Director Mandy Cohen saying the new guidance did not acknowledge the limited research on transgender individuals breastfeeding babies.

The CDC said transgender people can, quote, “chest-feed” their infants and may need their healthcare provider to prescribe medication to induce lactation.

The senators, who are both physicians, said the Food and Drug Administration has not approved any medication that would allow men who identify as women to safely “chest-feed.”

Two drugs that are often prescribed off-label for inducing lactation have significant FDA complication warnings.

The senators are requesting a response by August 1st, and any peer-reviewed data on the safety of transgender chest-feeding.

For WORLD, I’m Lauren Canterberry.

I'm Kent Covington. 

Straight ahead: Drug shortages near record highs. Plus, how funeral homes are bearing the burden of putting the remains of migrants to rest after fatal border crossings.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Thursday, the 20th of July, 2023.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Myrna Brown

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. First up: prescription drug shortages.

People across the United States are having trouble filling prescriptions for everything from cancer drugs to asthma and heart medications. It’s not unusual for some drugs to be challenging to find, but many of the drugs on the shortage list right now don’t have easy substitutes.

WORLD’s Mary Muncy reports.

MARY MUNCY, REPORTER: Karen Allen went to get her second chemo treatment for ovarian cancer two months ago.

She got all of her bloodwork done and then she and her husband went over everything with the nurse practitioner.

KAREN ALLEN: Then at the last minute, they're like, oh, by the way, we don't have any carboplatin.

Carboplatin is part of the two-drug regimen she was supposed to take six times.

ALLEN: So my husband and I just kind of looked—I mean, we didn't know what to say. I think we were both kind of just in shock.

She’s not the only one concerned.

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists curates a running list of drug shortages in the U.S. Drugs are constantly moving on and off of it. Some are there for a few days, others for months or years.

MICHAEL GANIO: I’m Michael Ganio. I'm Senior Director of pharmacy practice and quality with the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.

He says oncology drugs are likely the most critical on the list right now… but over the past year, they’ve seen shortages in ADHD medications, oral opioids, and antibiotics—some of them for children. He says even saline, a mix of sterile salt and water experienced a shortage over the last few years.

GANIO: We still need the basics, you know, and, and when you look at when I say basics, I really mean basics.

Ganio says the U.S. is at a ten-year high for active ongoing shortages, and it’s getting close to an all-time high.

GANIO: So as of the end of June, we were at 309 active shortages, the all-time high is 320.

Not every drug on the list will have a severe impact and there may be drugs that can be easily substituted for one that’s available.

GANIO: But when they are something that is very difficult to substitute, like these ADHD meds, or these oncology drugs, it's really, it can be devastating to a patient, you know, if your livelihood depends on your ability to function.

The shortage doesn’t mean there is none of the drugs, just that they can be harder to get and you might not have the dosage you need. It also means that doctors have to decide who gets what medication when. Most of the time, it’s a relatively simple process. Other times, it requires an ethics board.

The reasons for the shortage range from quality control problems, to supply chain issues, to harsh weather.

SOUND: [Tornado]

Just yesterday, a tornado severely damaged a Pfizer pharmaceutical plant in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. While there were no reported fatalities, the real damage is the cost in the facility’s capacity to produce important drugs. According to Pfizer’s website, the factory supplies 25% of the country’s injectable materials, including anesthesia.

Natural disasters like this compound existing problems with importing drugs from other countries where many companies can’t afford to meet the U.S.’s high quality standards.

RENA CONTI : My name is Rena Conti and I am Associate Professor at Questrom School of Business in Boston University.

Conti, a health economist, says companies need to be incentivized to produce high-quality products.

CONTI: And frankly, what that means is that U.S. payers should pay more to these manufacturers to make these products.

She says that payment could come in the form of policies created in Washington, or private consumers out of pocket, or additional payments to middlemen. Medical facilities could also create artificial demand by creating stockpiles of certain drugs.

CONTI: If prices rise, we will see both more investment in quality. And also potentially more suppliers willing to make these products and that will increase resilient supply over time.

Paying extra for a stable drug supply may also reduce costs in the long run. A report from 2019 shows that facilities spent an extra 360 million dollars a year on labor for managing drug shortages.

Here’s Ganio, who helps track pharmaceutical shortages.

GANIO: So there is a high cost to these drug shortages. And, you know, any sort of investment to mitigate them, should be looked at as potentially cost avoidance as well.

Conti says the biggest piece of advice she can give is that if a patient hears his drug is part of the shortage. He should talk to his doctor sooner rather than later.

By the time cancer patient Allen learned there was a shortage, she was already hooked up and ready to start her second treatment, so she went ahead and did it.

She’s not sure if skipping that dose of carboplatin had any effect, but she transferred to a private clinic that has a steadier supply of it.

So far, she hasn’t had to skip any more doses.

ALLEN: In our eyes, we figured well, the Lord, you know , it's out of our hands. So the Lord's—evidently I didn't need it or I wasn't supposed to have it because that’s really the only way we can look at it.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Mary Muncy.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: Democrats divided over transgenderism for kids. 

On Friday, California added three more states to its sponsored travel-ban list. California’s Attorney General, Rob Bonta, said in a statement that Missouri, Nebraska, and Wyoming have joined 21 other states putting transgender youth in harm’s way.

How? By requiring children to play on sports teams that align with their biological sex…and by preventing them from accessing hormone injections and surgical procedures. Such laws, according to AG Bonta, “contradict the values of inclusivity and diversity.”

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: But not all Democrats in California agree inclusivity and diversity require promoting life-altering interventions. Some life-long Democrats are worried that leaders are pulling the party into dangerous territory, and leaving parents out of the conversation.

REICHARD: One of those Democratic parents is Erin Friday. She’s a licensed attorney and co-lead of OurDuty-USA, an international group of parents and advocates committed to protecting children and vulnerable adults from gender ideology.

A quick disclaimer before jumping in: Erin supports same-sex marriage and describes herself as non-religious. But her perspective offers helpful clues for understanding what’s happening in California, and what might be next.

 BROWN: With that, good morning, Erin!

ERIN FRIDAY: Thank you so much for having me on your show.

BROWN: Thanks for being here. I know you're a parent, and this is personal for you. Are you at liberty to talk about why?

FRIDAY: Yes. My daughter came out as a transgender boy right before ninth grade. Ninth grade started over the pandemic, and that was my first entry point to understand how pervasive the transgender ideology is in our public schools, and how the internet, uh, is pushing this agenda on these kids to, and how it really goes after the kids who are vulnerable. Not one of the children in our parent group, and I deal with thousands. Not one of these children don't have a comorbid mental health issue. And we're taking these kids who are depressed and anxious with ADHD, OCD, um, autism, and we're telling them that their distress will disappear if they just transition. And these are just lies. This ideology is attacking the most vulnerable kids.

BROWN: Erin, you're also a Democrat living in California. You’ve said you’re not religious or part of a right-wing movement. But you are concerned about what the party leadership is doing to your party. The Democratic party updated its platform to include a guarantee that Americans have full access to “hormone therapy” and “gender confirmation surgery.” Now, if the media is to be believed, most Democrats don’t have a problem with gender fluidity and different sexual identities. How would you respond to that?

FRIDAY: Well, I can't speak for all Democrats, but I can say that most democratic families in California are opposed to gender affirmative care on minors and young adults. What they are opposed to is pumping young children with puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgeries, and the Democratic party in California wants to ignore the masses of parents that are now showing up at these hearings and voicing their concerns about what is being taught to their children, both at school and then being foisted on them through laws and required, uh, of medical providers that they just merely affirm these gender identities. If we go back in time, there was no such thing as a trans child. This is a new terminology. There were kids that were gender confused, but there were not trans children. And we have to unravel that first and foremost, no child can be born in the wrong body. This is very different from a child being same sex attracted. These two things are very different. 

BROWN: Let’s talk about what California is doing right now. Back in June, the State Senate passed Assembly Bill 665 that would expand on a law allowing children ages 12 and up to get mental health counseling without parental consent. Fact-checkers from Reuters and AP have been quick to say this bill is not about removing kids from parents who oppose transgenderism, but you have said it’s not so benign. What’s going on here?

FRIDAY: There's nothing benign about this bill. Even if we take it out of the transgender milieu, 665 says that a 12 year old in conjunction with a mental health provider or even an administrator can go into a residential shelter without any provocation. That means even if the child is not in, in danger at home for abuse or self-harm or harm to others, that 12 year old and that sixth grade can be moved into a residential shelter without any parental consent and no due process to the parents. Now, in the realm of transgenderism, the way this is going to work is that if a child is gender confused and goes to their school counselor and says, I'm trans and I don't think my parents are going to be happy about that, that school counselor can say, well, why don't we send you to this shelter? And this child can be whisked off to a residential facility again with no parental knowledge, and those parents will have to get that child back. It's a massive infringement on parental rights, and it's assuming that all parents are horrible humans, and that if a child comes out as trans, that these parents are going to not only reject their child, but abuse them. And that's just not the case, especially here in California. Look, we don't care if our children come home and tell us that they're gay, we're over that. We will love our children even more if they tell us that they are gender confused. It's a terrifying bill. And in conjunction with another bill, which is AB 957, which is redefining the health, welfare and safety of a child, to be that a parent must affirm the gender identity of the child.

BROWN: Erin, you mentioned earlier that parents are showing up to hearings voicing their concerns about this legislation. How have lawmakers and the media responded?

FRIDAY: That's a very interesting question. So the lawmakers are dismissing us. They're acting as if we're not there. They're disbelieving us. They even, you know, essentially call us liars when we tell them what is happening at our schools and what books are being read to our children. And that c p s is Child Protective Services is showing up at our houses. If we do not affirm our kids, they're disbelieving detransition who come in and say, I went to Planned Parenthood, and after a 30 minute visit with no mental health assessment whatsoever, I walked out with syringes of testosterone. They're, they're disbelieving us.

BROWN: Zooming out a bit, what are you seeing in other states that you think could provide a template for protecting children from these life-altering procedures…and do you see a path forward for bringing some of those protections home to your state?

FRIDAY: Well, the, uh, Republican states have been passing bills to ban gender interventions on minors, and I think that's a huge step. I think now there's over 20 states that have done that, and that needs to continue, and it needs to happen in California. I am somewhat optimistic for the first time in two years since I've been doing this, the, some of the democratic legislators are, are listening. They're asking more questions than they ever did before. So I'm hopeful that eventually we'll turn this ship around in California, which is a must. California started this, it needs to end in California. Otherwise it will keep regrowing and regrowing. I know people say, flee California, you need to just get out of there, but we can't. We actually have to kill it in California, so it doesn't keep spreading. 

BROWN: Erin Friday is a licensed attorney and co-lead of OurDutyUSA. Erin, thank you for joining us.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Airlines lose luggage more than they should. And this week United Airlines lost something of its own during the flight: the emergency evacuation slide!

On Monday a flight from Zurich was coming in to land at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. Video shows the folded up slide falling from the plane. Patrick Devitt lives nearby, telling ABC News 7:

PATRICK DEVITT: I was like, wow, this really happened. Like this fell off of an airplane and landed in our backyard.

Thankfully no one was hurt, but it definitely rattled the neighborhood. This has happened twice before in other places: and everytime, it’s a Boeing 767.

The slide’s designed to help passengers exit the plane quickly and safely...

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: I’m pretty sure the slide needs to be attached to the plane to work best.

REICHARD: Ya think? It’s The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Thursday, July 20th. 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: the border.

Since the end of Title 42, illegal crossings at the Southern Border are down, compared to last year. But they are still at historically high numbers. That means more migrants die along the way.

REICHARD: When a migrants’ remains are found, local, county, and federal authorities and volunteers collaborate on the identification process. But without a unifying protocol coordinating their efforts, progress is slow, even counterproductive.

BROWN: WORLD Correspondent Bonnie Pritchett brings us this third and final installment about death on the border.

BONNIE PRITCHETT, REPORTER: Just outside the fence surrounding the Brooks County detention center sits a white shipping container. Motors on one end constantly drone. It’s a portable morgue, provided by the State of Texas.

AUDIO: [SOUND OF MOTORS]

Don White volunteers with the local sheriff’s department, searching for migrants who have disappeared on the vast ranches. White says many venture into arid scrubland to avoid border checkpoints…and he says the consequences are inevitable.

WHITE: And that means more people I have to find. And more people that will Border Patrol will find them. Ranchers will find them, I find them.

He brings those remains to this morgue.

WHITE: If it's just skeletal then they'll go into evidence room full bodies come in here…

White unlocks the padlock and swings open the morgue door, releasing a blast of cold air. Mingled with it is the whir of refrigeration fans and an underlying tang of decomposition. The cold air—just above freezing—slows the decay process.

WHITE: These racks are custom built…

Like shiny bunk beds stacked five high, two rows of steel racks line either side of the 40-foot container. Black body bags occupy 10 of the bunks. There’s room for at least 20 more.

Most, if not all, died in the deserts of Brooks or Zavala Counties.

That’s not always the case in the regions bordering the Rio Grande.

REPORTER: Four migrants including an infant have drowned in the Rio Grande river in a 48 hour span…

That’s how July began in Maverick County.

Last fall, in the span of a few weeks, at least 25 migrants died there. Nine of those drowned in one day.

The death rate was too many. Too fast. And the county’s state-supplied portable morgue reached capacity. Rito Valdez and his family’s funeral service couldn’t keep up with the demand to retrieve remains.

VALDEZ: We got to a point for us that no one was taking cases. Okay? And we had 10 bodies in our freezer…

That maxed out their storage capacity. So, after a Border Patrol agent with the Missing Migrant Program took fingerprints—if possible—and documented other identifying characteristics, the funeral home resolved the capacity problem on their own.t

VALDEZ: With that, the body was kind of identified. So, then we were storing them, burying them on the county cemetery in order for us to have a place for them. So, by doing that, the way of us thinking if it was right or wrong, I don't know. But it was the only option we had because no one was helping us.

Over in Brooks County, Eddie Canales criticized that decision.

EDDIE CANALES: What happened in Maverick County, you know, we found out that they were burying people without the DNA taken…

A decade ago, after discovering his county was the deadliest region for migrants entering the United States, Canales founded the South Texas Civil Rights Center.

EDDIE CANALES: And we quickly discovered that they were not taking DNA from the bodies that they encountered in the brush. And that's in violation of state law…

Until 2013, Brooks County buried scores of migrants without obtaining the required DNA sample. Then, staff and volunteers from Texas State University’s forensic anthropology department began exhuming bodies to collect the samples. The county still partners with the university. If the deceased can’t be identified within 30 to 60 days, the bodies are sent to the school for analysis and storage.

Other South Texas counties contract with the Webb County coroner to collect DNA.

But, when DNA isn’t collected before burial…

CANALES: So we had to do an exhumation. We did an emergency exhumation there in Maverick County.

The Maverick County Cemetery tombstones are awash with brilliantly colored flowers. Most of them are fake but serve as a real testament of the living’s care for the dead.

Some of those flowers adorn temporary grave markers. They have names like “Jane Doe,” and “Baby John MC22002946 Doe.” The infant’s middle name is his Maverick County case number.

Cemetery caretaker Valentin Guerra describes who’s buried in this corner lot.

VALENTIN GUERRA: Some of them are like, people there are live here, but they have no family…

Among the dead are those hastily buried last fall by Memorial Funeral Services. Despite the criticism, Rito Valdez defends his decision to bury the bodies before DNA testing.

VALDEZ: This is a person see and you need to treat that person with dignity. So that's why I thought well, let's bury them. And then, if they find a relative, then they can disinter and do the final disposition on him the way they should. But right now instead of having them in a freezer, I think it's better for them to be buried.

AUDIO: [MORGUE MOTOR]

As of July 11, Jane Doe was still resting in the Maverick County portable morgue. The woman found alone on a South Texas ranch with a backpack, a bottle of water, and a bag of chips. No one knows who she is. And the effort to find out seems to have stalled. A Border Patrol agent with the Missing Migrant Program couldn’t get fingerprints because of the state of decomposition. And DNA samples have not yet been requested.

Across the US southern border, a ragtag group of volunteers and professionals are working to find and identify migrants’ remains. Some counties have learned hard lessons. Others are still trying to figure things out.

And the payoffs are slim. Volunteers like Don White in Brooks County have nothing to gain but the bittersweet satisfaction of replacing a case number with a name.

When White does find remains - and they’re identified - he knows it means a family’s search has ended. So too has hope.

WHITE: There's always that little shred of hope. So, if I'm successful, I shred that. But now they have confirmation for sure their loved ones have been found and gets coming back home. Simple as that.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Bonnie Pritchett in South Texas.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, July 20th. 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: illegal drugs at the White House. WORLD commentator Cal Thomas says the recent discovery of cocaine by the Secret Service is a symptom of bigger problems for the country.

CAL THOMAS, COMMENTATOR: Irving Berlin’s last musical was a largely forgotten show called “Mr. President”. One of the silly songs below his usual high standards included the lyric “The Secret Service makes me nervous.”

That’s how I felt after the agency, charged with protecting the president, delivered a report that said it could not find the person responsible for bringing cocaine into the White House. No fingerprints on the plastic bag. No DNA. No video of someone who might have placed it in a small locker in a visitors’ area where cellphones and other prohibited items are stored until one departs. In one of the most secure buildings in the world.

NBC News reported the agency failed to interview anyone about the incident.

The Secret Service managed to find marijuana in the White House last year. Twice. No one was arrested because the amount was under the legal threshold for federal charges, nor did it rate as a misdemeanor under D.C. law. Drugs alter the mind. Perhaps we should call it real artificial intelligence. It might explain some of the bad policies of this, and previous, administrations.

My family has been attending various White House functions since the Coolidge administration. My maternal grandfather and first lady Grace Coolidge were first cousins. A picture I treasure is of my mother (age 9), grandmother and great-grandmother standing in the White House driveway next to President Warren Harding in 1922. Harding died the following year and Vice President Coolidge became president.

I suspect if any of them had been asked where they could find drugs they would have said a nearby pharmacy. That addictive drugs are now found in a hallowed building where great presidents once served and saved the nation is another indication of how far we have sunk when it comes to what used to be called standards.

Predictably, but not without cause, some Republicans and conservative media are crying “cover-up” and wondering why no scandal has touched the Biden family. They want to know if Hunter Biden is living in the White House and whether, given his problems with drugs, there might be a connection between him and the cocaine? Clear answers to these and other questions have not been forthcoming from the press office, or anywhere else.

Like so many other accusations of alleged scandal when it comes to the Biden administration, expect this one to be swept under the rug. If the White House press secretary is again asked about it, expect her to say reporters should address inquiries to the Secret Service, or “that issue has been settled.”

If this were a one-off, it might … might … be excused, but it seems part of a pattern when it comes to dishonesty and lack of transparency. In the past few weeks, Hunter Biden’s character flaws led to a plea deal with the Justice Department, and House GOP leaders released evidence they say points to money laundering and dealings with foreign entities in possible violation of the law.

In Washington, it seems everybody has something on somebody else. That’s why one hardly ever sees an apology, a resignation, a firing, impeachment and conviction, or jail time for any misdeeds. Well, ok, Donald Trump could be an exception.

And people wonder why the trust level in our institutions is low and falling.

I’m Cal Thomas.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Tomorrow: Culture Friday with John Stonestreet.

And, kids toys on the big screen is the new Barbie movie worth taking your daughters to see? WORLD’s Collin Garbarino weighs in.

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.

A lawyer asked Jesus what is the great commandment in the Law. Jesus said: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.” Matthew 22, verses 37 and 38.

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.