The World and Everything in It: March 28, 2023

PREROLL: The World and Everything in It is made possible by listeners like me. Hi, my name is Alexandra Presta and I’m a 2022 World Journalism graduate working as a multimedia journalist in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. The deadline to apply to this year’s fully-funded WJI college course is March 31st. So if you want to learn the tools of the trade go to WJI.world and start your application. I hope you enjoy today’s program.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning! Today: news of another mass shooting, this time in Nashville. This time at a private Christian school.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Also abortion battles at the most local level, counties, cities, even small towns.

Plus what happens to a community when the main industry closes:

And World Opinions commentator A.S. Ibrahim on communist China’s aggressive steps to lead the world.

RIECHARD: It’s Tuesday, March 28th. 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: Now the news with Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: School shooting » Police are still putting clues together in Nashville after a mass shooter opened fire at a Christian grade school on Monday, killing six people including three 9-year-old students.

Nashville Police Chief John Drake identified the shooter as 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale and said she meticulously planned the shooting.

JOHN DRAKE: There were maps drawn of the school in detail, surveillance, entry points, etc. Entry was gained through shooting through one of the doors.

Authorities say Hale was a woman who identified as a man. She was a former student at the school at Covenant Presbyterian Church where she opened fire.

Nashville Police spokesman Don Aaron on Monday identified the children killed by the shooter:

DON AARON: Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kinney, Hallie Scruggs.

The three adult victims were 60 to 61 years of age.

Tornado aftermath / weather » Families are also grieving in Mississippi today, and hundreds of residents are sifting through what’s left of their homes after a massive tornado ripped through the state.

The EF-4 twister killed at least 21 people and devastated several towns.

RESIDENT: It’s like a war zone. Everything’s tore to pieces.

A resident of the town of Rolling Fork heard there.

Jared Guyer with the National Weather Service says by the end of the week more severe storms could hit.

JARED GUYER: This kind of setup could produce severe storms capable of large hail, damaging winds, and tornados.

Guyer said on Thursday, severe weather will threaten the Southern Plains and then shift northward into the Midwest on Friday.

Israel protests » Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing the pause button on a controversial plan to overhaul the nation’s court system.

NETANYAHU: [Speaking Hebrew]

In a televised address Monday, the prime minister said he’ll hold off on implementing the changes until next month to—quote—“avoid a civil war.”

SOUND: [PROTEST]

Critics say the overhaul is a power grab by Netanyahu’s government that threatens the independence of the judiciary.

But the prime minister told Piers Morgan that he’s trying to rein in a judiciary that has become too powerful.

NETANYAHU: It can nullify any decision of the government, and it often has. It can nullify any appointment of the government. It can intervene in military matters.

Netanyahu fired his defense minister this week after he spoke out against the overhaul. That move sparked a new wave of protests.

Israel’s largest trade union staged a nationwide strike today in opposition to the proposal.

 DeSantis / Trump » Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a bill into law expanding school vouchers in his state. He told reporters on Monday:

DESANTIS: We will be signing legislation, which will represent the largest expansion of education choice, not only in the history of this state, but in the history of these United States.

The legislation makes school vouchers available to every Florida K-through-12 student. It removes the income-eligibility rules to receive vouchers, though it does prioritize low-income households.

DeSantis is expected to announce a presidential bid later this year. Polls show he is former President Donald Trump’s stiffest competition for the GOP nomination.

Trump held a campaign rally in Waco, Texas over the weekend as he awaits word on whether a Manhattan grand jury will indict him.

TRUMP: The district attorney of New York under the auspices and direction of the department of injustice in Washington DC was investigating me for something that is not a crime.

The probe stemmed from payouts he allegedly made to silence claims about extramarital affairs

Warren no WH bid » Meantime, a potential challenger to President Biden for the Democratic nomination is putting rumors to rest. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren told NBC that she’s running for reelection in the Senate.

WARREN: That’s where I’m focused. That’s where I’m gonna stay focused. I’m not running for president.

As of now, Biden’s only primary challenger is self-help author Marianne Williamson. Though, the president himself has not yet officially declared his reelection bid.

I’m Kent Covington. 

Coming up: more on the mass school shooting in Nashville.

Plus abortion battles at the most local level: counties, cities, even small towns.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Tuesday, the 28th day of March, 2023.

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

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

First up: the Christian school at the center of a shooting in Nashville, Tennessee.

Well, as you already know, a deadly shooting claimed the lives of three elementary school children, three adults employed at the school, and last of all, the shooter herself.

REICHARD: While we wait for authorities to sort through clues looking for a motive, we thought it would be helpful to tell you more about the school and the church it’s connected to.

The Covenant School serves about 200 students from preschool through 6th grade. It was founded in 2001 by Covenant Presbyterian Church. Here’s school administrator Katherine Koonce in a video from 2020.

KATHERINE KOONCE: We do life together at Covenant, you see. We love big, and we love well, through laughter and tears, our faith woven through every lesson, every moment.

REICHARD: On Monday, Police Chief John Drake confirmed that Koonce was among the victims killed by the shooter.

WORLD writer Emily Whitten attends Covenant Presbyterian Church, and she says that processing this tragedy will take time.

EMILY WHITTEN: It’s going to take a while for this, for us to get our minds around what has happened. And our hearts are just really aching and hurting for the people who are dealing with this grief and trauma.

REICHARD: Emily says that she’s comforted knowing that the church’s pastors focus on the gospel, regardless of circumstances. Chad Scruggs, one of Covenant Church’s pastors since 2018, was among those hit with bitter news yesterday. His 9-year-old daughter, Hallie, was killed in the shooting.

WHITTEN: The thing that kept running through my mind as I was processing this today was, ‘Thank You, Lord, that You’re there, thank You that the gospel is paramount is just at the center of everything that we want to do. His Name is going to be exalted through the midst of this. That’s my prayer. And that is my belief. And that is my joy. And I’m just so grateful that we have a good, good God who is over death.

Back at the beginning of March, Pastor Scruggs preached a sermon from John 11 about the resurrection of Lazarus. Towards the end, Scruggs pointed out that the middle of a hard story looks different when you know how the story ends.

CHAD SCRUGGS: The whole time Jesus knew how the whole thing would go down and yet what are the most remarkable things about this story, it always gets me, is that knowing exactly what he's about to do Jesus sits down and does what? He weeps. Do you see that a strong confidence in the end of the story does not undo or justify the absence of grief in the middle. A mature faith adds its tears to the sadness in our world Jesus says blessed are those who mourn all the while not losing confidence and how that sadness will eventually be overcome in him

If you're doubting the love of Jesus, you try to work it out through your circumstances. No, you never read your circumstances and then read the Love of Jesus. You read the Love of Jesus towards your circumstances. If you are doubting his love for you, if you are struggling with his authority in the midst of sadness and confusion, let the cross speak to you again. Look there so that you might say confidently, ‘see how he loves me. This is the one man given for me.’

REICHARD: WORLD’s reporters are on the ground in Nashville and will bring us further news later in the week. For now, we can rest in the fact that the God who made the world and everything in it is working even in this tragic situation.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: abortion battles at the local level.

From the time the Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs, overturning Roe versus Wade, and making abortion a local issue, we’ve seen a lot. Ballot initiatives, amendments to state constitutions, and a variety of laws both in support of and against protection of the unborn.

But the decision to return abortion to the states doesn’t stop at the state capitol. Governments at the county, city, even the smallest communities are involved, too.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: One of those communities is the town of Bristol, right on the border between Tennessee and Virginia. The state line runs right through the middle of town. An abortion center had been on the Tennessee side of town before the Dobbs decision. When Tennessee passed a law to protect life, the center had to close. When an abortion business popped up on the Virginia side of Bristol, the town’s response sparked a conflict.

WORLD’s Life beat reporter Leah Savas explains.

LEAH SAVAS: The reaction included local governing officials looking at language for a city ordinance that would prevent that abortion facility from expanding inside of the city limits or from moving to a new location. And then there was a lawsuit from the landlords of this abortion facility who argued that the owners of the abortion facility hadn't told them that it was going to be an abortion facility. And meanwhile, all these nearby counties in Virginia near the Tennessee border, start working on different ordinances that would also prevent abortion facilities from moving into their counties. Because they see that if this abortion facility is forced out of the city of Bristol, Virginia, the next option for these abortion businesses is Washington County or Russell County right next door.

EICHER: For Board of Supervisors Chairman Saul Hernandez, the controversy is a new experience.

SAUL HERNANDEZ: “We typically deal with zoning and school funding and taxes, and providing fire and EMS services and, you know, law enforcement, you know, funding the sheriff's office and parks and recreation. So typically, we are not, you know, we don't deal with these hyper partisan, hyper political, hyper, emotional issues. But, you know, this one fell in our lap, and we had to deal with it. That's what we were elected to do.”

Back in February, Hernandez and his fellow board members evaluated an ordinance that would, quote, “facilitate the creation of attractive and harmonious community,” by changing zoning rules to prevent abortion facilities from being established within a certain distance from institutions like churches, parks, and schools. Given the layout of the town, this ruled out all available lots.

During the meeting’s public comment period, several people spoke favorably of the measure.

But others, like local attorney Heather Howard, warned the board that it was stepping into dangerous territory by taking this action.

HEATHER HOWARD: If you want to exceed your authority as a board, a local board of supervisors, when you exceed your authority, you subject our county and yourselves to a civil rights violation lawsuit. And if you think that there are not lawyers here in Washington County that will sue the pants off you, well, you are wrong.

REICHARD: WORLD’s Leah Savas explains that this isn’t an idle threat since abortion proponents claim that state law is on their side.

SAVAS: It's called the Dillon rule, which says that local governments can only legislate areas in which the state gives express authority. And the argument is that since abortion is legal through the first two trimesters in Virginia, then that's the legislature's way of saying that local governments can’t make it any different. You know, that's the legislature's way of not allowing local governments to pass these sorts of ordinances.

EICHER: But others, including Family Foundation attorney Josh Hetzler, note that it is perfectly legal for the zoning board to pass an ordinance excluding abortion businesses from setting up shop in town.

JOSH HETZLER: But on certain things local governments get to decide we're not going to have that here. Certain gambling institutions or strip clubs, that you know that they could say, we don't want them here. And so I think they could just write it out and say, you can't have abortion facilities in this county. I think the reason why that approach wasn't taken is probably as much a political consideration as anything. We've got to figure out what we have the votes to do, and what the political will is.

REICHARD: Over in New Mexico, the political will turned out to be quite different. On March 16th, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed a law that, according to the language of the bill, “protects access to reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare.” Governor Grisham explains her vision for New Mexico in a roundtable with Face the Nation.

Back in August, at a signing ceremony for an executive order designed to mandate access to abortion, Grisham explained her vision.

MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM: As long as I'm governor, everyone in the State of New Mexico will be protected. Out of state residents seeking access will be protected. Providers will be protected and abortion is and will continue to be legal, safe and accessible, period.

EICHER: But several New Mexico towns along the border with Texas had no interest in becoming destination cities for Texans seeking abortions, and so they passed ordinances similar to those in Bristol to prevent abortion businesses from moving into their jurisdiction. The state’s response was swift.

SAVAS: The state attorney general actually filed a lawsuit against two of the counties and two of the cities over their ordinances. And then the legislature also passed a bill that prohibits public entities, like these local governments, from enforcing ordinances having to do with abortion, restricting abortion access, or preventing other cities and counties from passing other ordinances like that. And the governor signed that into law.

REICHARD: While New Mexico takes steps to require cities and counties to conform with state-level policy, dozens of other cities across the country have passed their own ordinances raising barriers to abortion businesses expanding into their jurisdictions.

SAVAS: It is interesting seeing how even these local elections that sometimes people don't pay attention to really do make a big difference on what's going to happen with your city, even on the abortion issue in certain areas.

EICHER: Leah Savas is WORLD’s Life beat reporter. If you’d like to read her article on this story, we’ve included a link to it in today’s transcript.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, March 28th. 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: what happens when a mill town loses its mill. Earlier this month, a packaging company announced that it would be shutting down its pulp and paper mill in Canton, North Carolina.

REICHARD: The mill’s been a fixture of Canton for more than a century. Now, the people who live there are going to have to learn how to build a future without it. WORLD Correspondent Caleb Bailey has the story.

JOSH EVANS: The paper mill, in my opinion, is the identity of Canton, North Carolina.

CALEB BAILEY, REPORTER: Josh Evans is the pastor of Crabtree Baptist Church, 12 miles northwest of Canton, North Carolina. The town is nestled into the Appalachian Mountains, just off of highway 40. Even from five miles out, you can see smoke billowing up from behind green mountains. Located at the entrance to Canton, the papermill towers over the small mountain town.

SOUND: WHISTLE

Its low horn—what locals call the whistle—sounds three times a day. 7 am. Noon. And 3pm. Why those times? That’s debated, but the town expects those whistles, every day.

EVANS: It brands everything the football team, you know, wears, you know, mill town on their jerseys and on their helmets.

Most businesses in town capitalize on this. Papertown Coffee. Papertown Billiards. Milltown Furniture.

At 32 years old, Evans has spent most of his life in Haywood County. His family moved to Canton to work at the mill when it opened in 1908.

In the century or so since its opening, the mill has seen a lot.

Balsam Range, a bluegrass group from Haywood County, wrote a song about Canton’s landmark. It’s called “Papertown.”

MUSIC: [PAPERTOWN BY HAYWOOD COUNTY]

Even as the town and nation grew and changed, the mill’s distinct smell never did. Sharp and foul, similar to sulfur.

EVANS: People in Canton say, that's the smell of money.

The mill employs about a quarter of Canton’s population of 4500. That means when the mill closes in June, a quarter of the town will be out of a job.

Zeb Smathers took over as town mayor in 2017

ZEB SMATHERS: This is family. And we've suffered a death in the family.

At the heart of Papertown is an old one-story brick building: Smathers and Smathers Attorneys at Law. Zeb Smathers and his dad, Patrick, run the firm.

Patrick served as mayor from 1999 to 2011. And in 2017, Zeb followed in his dad’s footsteps.

Since his election, Zeb Smathers has braved COVID, a city-wide flood, and now the shutdown of its largest industry.

SMATHERS: I think that could have been handled better.

Most mill workers found out from a Facebook post or news release. Not from the company that owns the mill, Evergreen Packaging.

SMATHERS: and out of the gate that really did not sit well with people when you learned about your job closing on social media. Not the best way to do it.

Smathers now has to ask, what’s next?

SMATHERS: The most important thing we're doing right now is that we're huddling around these families giving them love and giving support.

In the weeks following the announcement, job fairs popped up around Canton featuring a whole range of industries, from the police force to other manufacturing plants. Smathers says Canton won’t leave the millworkers in the dust.

SMATHERS: At the very least, I can stand with them, and fight for them, and demand their respect and build a future that is worthy of them.

Jason Edwards works as the mill shipping inventory coordinator. He’s been at the paper mill for four years.

EDWARDS: My wife called me and asked me if I still had a job. I said what do you mean do I still have a job? She said, people have already been calling me, they said the plant’s shutting down.

Edwards and his wife Roberta have been married for seven years. They have four kids.

EDWARDS: the next thing run through my mind, I was like, Man, I really love this job. It's given me an opportunity to do stuff with my family that I would never normally get to do like, I can pick up my little boy every day now I'm never going to find another job like this.

Edwards says his department is typically lighthearted, lots of jokes and laughing. But the past month has looked and sounded a lot different.

EDWARDS: There were people were like, I'm gonna lose my house, I'm gonna lose my car. Because people make a good amount of money at the mill, but they also work lots of hours.

Canton’s paper mill doesn’t only pay the bills of its workers. A large portion of the restaurant clientele are workers on their daily break.

Nathan and Michaela Lowe opened Southern Porch 7 years ago. It’s right across the street from Smather’s law office.

MICHAELA LOWE: I think the whistle for sure is gonna be missed.

The sight, smell, and sound of the mill mean success for other businesses too.

LOWE: I mean, the change is unsettling for us, too. I think for a lot of people in this town that aren't just the mill workers, every business who we're friends with, or who we partner with, they're all being impacted in some way. Because, you know, mill workers are part of all of our everyday lives.

The future of the mill is uncertain. But Pastor Josh Evans says that the closing of such a monument might raise deeper questions beyond getting food on the table.

EVANS: thought a lot about the steam rising from the paper mill the paper mill is pretty much just like that it is the steam that rises and, and dissipates very quickly. I mean, it's not eternal, it's not going to be there forever. And other things are going to pass away. What does last? What is eternal? What is not fading away?

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Caleb Bailey in Canton, North Carolina.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, March 28th. 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.

The Chinese Communist Party has earned a new nickname for its often anti-American diplomacy–it’s known as “wolf-warrior diplomacy.”

Today, WORLD Opinions commentator A.S. Ibrahim explains China’s latest diplomatic foray into the Middle East.

A.S. IBRAHIM, COMMENTATOR: Once again, China shocks the world.

In a momentous sign of strength, assertiveness, and influence, Chinese diplomats supervised an unexpected deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Within two months, the two rival Muslim nations will reopen their respective embassies and restore their diplomatic relations after seven years of tension and isolation. The details of the deal—besides the exchange of diplomats—are ambiguous, but its message is loud and clear: China is a major leader in Middle Eastern politics.

The two Muslim nations clearly sought to send a message to the West.

Traditionally, these kinds of diplomatic super deals have been cut under the patronage of global Western titans like the United States, United Kingdom, and France. But now, the Muslim nations made a calculated step to grant China a major diplomatic victory. Muslim signers paved the way for China to emerge as a giant of Middle Eastern diplomacy.

The deal also clearly serves as a testimony of the severe failure of U.S. foreign policy under President Joe Biden, particularly in the Middle East, especially as compared to his predecessor.

Unlike Biden, former President Donald Trump was clear about his disposition towards the Middle East. In his first international trip to the region, Trump visited Saudi Arabia, treating it as his major ally against radical Islamist movements and thus consolidating efforts against al-Qaeda and ISIS. He also sharply isolated Iran by withdrawing from Obama’s nuclear deal.

Despite all allegations against Trump as anti-Muslim, Saudi Arabia—as the major Sunni Muslim power worldwide—valued his leadership and showed interest in his policies. Eventually, the Kingdom granted the green light for the Abraham Accords, opening the doors for many Arab nations to normalize relations with Israel.

When Biden took office, U.S.-Saudi relations deteriorated severely, because he floundered. Lacking the charisma of Obama and the determination of Trump, Biden’s policies resulted in the United States losing the enthusiastic support of one of her major allies in a socio-politically complex region.

While many Arab countries have voiced their concerns about Iran’s threats, Biden showed reluctance to clearly condemn the Shiite regime, thus confusing the Arab nations. For at least a year into his presidency, Biden entertained the very bad idea of reviving Iran’s nuclear deal. Attempting to appease his political base, Biden sought to marginalize Saudi Arabia, only to discover he chose a truly bad direction.

Biden’s decisions—or their lack thereof—forced the Arab nations to seek other strategic allies. China was ready and seized the opportunity. The discreet China-led negotiations between Saudi Arabia and Iran took over a year and occurred in various places. In the absence of visionary and assertive U.S. leadership, Chinese President Xi Jinping presented himself as a strong alternative leader in Middle Eastern affairs.

There is more to cover on this deal, but one question and answer are clear: Who is the major winner of floundering and indecisive U.S. foreign policies? The Beast of the East, China.

I’m A.S. Ibrahim.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: Washington Wednesday and our weekly roundup of international headlines on World Tour.

Also, what do women find when searching for pregnancy resources on Google? That and more tomorrow. I’m Nick Eicher.

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

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