The World and Everything in It: November 12, 2024

PREROLL: Do faith-based organizations have the right to restrict who they hire based on their beliefs? I'm Steve West, and in a few minutes, I'll fill you in on one current religious liberty battle around that very question. Stay with us.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

Pro-abortion forces claimed victory in seven of the 10 states with ballot measures. But pro-lifers are taking solace in one result.

DANIEL: I think Nebraska shows a potential path forward.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Also today, we’ll take you to a surprising venue for art and music underneath Houston.

TABITHA: Man, I can't really explain it, it’s like you’re in a different world.

And WORLD commentator Janie B. Cheaney on the resentment of kids.

REICHARD: It’s Tuesday, November 12th. 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: It’s time for the news now with Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Trump appointments » President-elect Trump has named several new leaders for key posts in his administration.

They include former New York Congressman Lee Zeldin, who would head EPA with an eye on scaling back regulations in an effort to boost the economy.

ZELDIN:  I'm excited to get in a work to implement president Trump's economic agenda. And I think the American people are so hungry for it. It's one of the big reasons why they're sending them back to the white house.

The Senate will have to confirm Zeldin.

Trump has picked Congresswoman and House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stafanik as Ambassador to the UN. And he has reportedly offered the role of National Security Advisor to Florida Congressman Mike Walz.

The Senate would have to sign off on those picks as well. But a couple of other new appointments will not need its approval including his new border czar.

That will be former acting director Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Tom Homan, who said every day he feels anger.

HOMAN: … about what this administration did to the most secure board in my lifetime. So I'm going to go back and do what I can to fix it.

He’ll be tasked with overseeing what Trump has called the largest deportation of illegal immigrants in US history.

The president-elect is naming longtime adviser Stephen Miller to be the deputy chief of staff.

Miller was a senior adviser in Trump’s first term and was a central figure in many of his policy decisions.

GOP Senate leader race / House election update » President Trump will rely heavily on a new Republican-majority Senate to help carry out his agenda. And several lawmakers are vying to replace outgoing Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.

KENNEDY:  President Trump is going to do things differently, and we will pick, pick a leader who will help him do that.

Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana, is not running for the leadership post and hasn’t publicly endorsed anyone.

South Dakota Sen. John Thune might be the frontrunner right now, but there’s no consensus. He’s up against John Cornyn of Texas and Florida’s Rick Scott, who has the endorsement of numerous key figures within Trump’s inner circle.

SCOTT:  I'm very optimistic that I'm going to win because I'm representing Trump's agenda and what my colleagues want.

Republican senators will vote tomorrow by secret ballot.

Senator-elect Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania is not allowed into the freshman orientation until Democratic Sen. Bob Casey concedes. But Republicans will allow him to vote in the leadership race.

FEMA scandal » Republican lawmakers in both chambers are sounding off about a scandal within the ranks of FEMA.  In the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, a FEMA supervisor told relief workers in Florida to skip over houses that had Trump campaign signs in front of their homes.

Florida Congressman Greg Steube:

STEUBE:  If it was happening in Lake Placid, I can guarantee you it was happening in other places all across the great state of Florida and the country.

That supervisor has reportedly been fired, but Steube says he wants the Oversight Committee to subpoena her and ask her under oath whether those orders came from higher up the chain.

FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell says it was an isolated incident. She’ll be called to Congress to testify about the matter next week.

Israel-Hezbollah » Israel’s new foreign minister Gideon Saar says there has been some progress toward a cease-fire with Hezbollah. He says Israel is ready to halt the fighting, provided

SAAR:. If we'll know first of all, that Hezbollah is not on our border, is North and to Del Litani River and that Hezbollah will not be able to arm again. With new, uh, weapon systems.

But a spokesman for the Iran-backed terror group in Lebanon said it had not received any official proposal and was prepared to wage a long war.

President-elect Trump has reportedly spoken to multiple leaders here in the Middle East over the past couple of days, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about working toward ending conflicts in the Middle East. That according to Fox News.

Haiti Prime Minister » More upheaval in Haiti where lawmakers have ousted the country’s prime minister just six months after he was appointed. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin reports.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council on Sunday fired interim Prime Minister Garry Conille … and named businessman Alix Didier Fils-Aime to replace him.

Conille called his removal unconstitutional, saying only parliament has the authority to dismiss him.

The council currently exercises the powers of the president until one is elected and inaugurated.

An anti-corruption group last month accused three council members of demanding hundreds of thousands in bribes from a bank director.

Council members had appointed Conille in May … marking the second time he has held the position.

Conille previously served as prime minister in 2011 but resigned just four months later following tensions with then-President Michel Martelly.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

China aircraft carrier » China may be building its first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier as it works to build a navy capable of rivaling the US Navy.

The Chinese military appears to have completed a land-based prototype of a nuclear reactor that could be used to power carriers in the future.

The world’s second-most powerful military already has three conventionally-powered carriers.

But adding nuclear-powered vessels to its fleet would be a major step in realizing its ambitions to build a force capable of operating around the globe in a growing challenge to the United States.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: voters in seven states removed protections for the unborn in recent elections…what’s next for pro-lifers?

Plus, a trip underground in Houston, Texas.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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

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

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

First up on The World and Everything in It: Good news for Christian nonprofits.

This month, a federal district court in Washington state ruled in favor of a Christian ministry to the homeless.

Yakima Union Gospel Mission has operated there for almost 90 years.

The legal question is whether the mission can require its employees and all new hires to be Christians … despite a state anti-discrimination law?

REICHARD: Joining us now to talk about it is WORLD’s religious liberty beat reporter, Steve West.

Steve, good morning.

STEVE WEST: Good morning, Mary.

REICHARD: Well, let’s start with some background. What led up to the mission’s day in court?

WEST: Mary, it’s probably more accurate to point to the mission’s days in court, as this case is on its second go round in the district court after an initial unfavorable ruling that was overturned on appeal.

But the bottom line is that this ministry did its work without state opposition for over eight decades, as it provided all sorts of needed services: a homeless shelter, addiction-recovery program, outreach, meals, and medical and dental clinics. The state’s anti-discrimination law contained an exemption for religious organizations. That meant they could hire those who had the same religious beliefs—that is, until 2021, when the state’s Supreme Court limited the exemption to employees covered by the ministerial exception. So, at the time the lawsuit was filed in 2023, the mission had 14 positions it couldn’t fill because the state threatened fines for discrimination in hiring.

REICHARD: The term, “ministerial exception,” may not be a familiar one to everyone. I know you’ve spoken many times with the mission’s lawyer in this case—how does he describe it?

WEST: Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Ryan Tucker says the term “minister” does include pastors and clergy in the religious sense, but he believes it's much broader than that. 

TUCKER: About 12 years ago, there was a case that made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court where this individual had been fired and brought discrimination complaints against its religious employer, a school, and the school said, wait a second, this individual was a teacher. She taught the faith. She had a title. She had these other responsibilities within the organization, and we as an organization should have the right to discipline, to hire, to fire these individuals, and the government, or anyone really coming in and saying, ‘We can second guess you there’ — that should be a violation of the First Amendment. And so the Supreme Court looked at that case and decided the right to hire-fire-discipline ministers was embedded in the First Amendment.

WEST: So Mary, after that case was decided, there were a handful of others that followed where the courts had to figure out what that meant…the parameters. Does it just protect the pastor? Is it just for the school teacher? How far does it go?”

REICHARD: I know that some ministries believe that all employees are ministers—they all have to be prepared to share the gospel, to minister to those they serve—from the IT person to the receptionist to ministry heads. That leads me to think they are all covered by the ministerial exception. Am I right?

WEST: That’s exactly the question I had for Tucker. 

TUCKER: As a believer myself, I understand that argument, but secular courts haven't gotten to that, to that level or to that point, and I don't know if they will. So then the question is, what do you do with those individuals that courts deem to be “non-ministerial employees?”

REICHARD: So, Steve, where did the court land on that issue?

WEST: The judge did not directly address the co-religionist argument. That’s the argument that says churches and other religious organizations have a First Amendment right to employ only those who are like-minded on faith and practice. That they have a high degree of autonomy. What the judge ruled was that the state’s application of its law violated the First Amendment because it treated comparable secular organizations more favorable than religious organizations.

REICHARD: What would be an example of that?

WEST: The example the court used is the state completely exempted small businesses—those with eight employees or less—from the anti-discrimination law. But it did not exempt non-ministerial employees of religious organizations. And if there’s one thing the Supreme Court has made very clear in recent years it’s that governments cannot treat religious organizations less favorably than comparable secular organizations unless there is a very compelling reason and no less restrictive alternative.

REICHARD: So what now? Is there more to come?

WEST: Likely yes. State Attorney General Bob Ferguson—who is also governor-elect—has been very aggressive about enforcing the anti-discrimination law. And it appears the state will appeal the case, returning to the 9th Circuit. It’s the same court that in 2023 upheld the right of a Fellowship of Christian Athletes student group at a high school in San Jose, California, to require that its leaders be Christians. And it’s the same court that earlier this year said that the mission had standing to proceed on its claim. It means this case could also eventually wind up at the Supreme Court.

REICHARD: I want to ask about that in just a minute but first…Does this ruling affect other Christian nonprofits…or just the Yakima mission?

WEST: This ruling binds only Yakima Union Gospel Mission. Even another judge in the same district could rule differently. But it might have a persuasive effect on other courts in the state and around the country. And if it goes up on appeal, a ruling there would be binding—would be the law—in seven western states, Alaska, and Hawaii. Those make up the Ninth circuit.

REICHARD: Back to the Supreme Court. I know the justices have sidestepped this issue before…what do you think will happen if it reaches the Supreme Court?

WEST: If they take this case or another like it, I think the majority would side with religious organizations. ADF lawyer Ryan Tucker says “it’s just common sense.”

TUCKER: The mission has the right to hire, fire, discipline these employees. Because, look, if a religious organization doesn't have the right to do that, and they are forced to take in individuals that disagree with them, well, guess what's going to happen? Those organizations are going to become unraveled from the inside out.

WEST: And in fact, that’s exactly what Justice Samuel Alito said back in 2022, when the court declined to review a similar case involving Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission. He said, “If States could compel religious organizations to hire employees who fundamentally disagree with them, many religious non-profits would be extinguished from participation in public life—perhaps by those who disagree with their theological views most vigorously.

REICHARD: What can Christian non-profits do now to protect their organizations?

WEST: There’s no bullet-proof way to do it, but religious nonprofits can make sure that job titles, descriptions, and to the extent practical, employees’ actual work is imbued with the organization’s religious character and mission. Demonstrate how every employee and volunteer follows the Gospel imperative to minister in word and deed. As an organization, you may know that, but spell it out. That matters if you find yourself in a courtroom one day.

REICHARD: Steve West is a legal reporter for WORLD…and you can keep up with stories like this in his weekly Liberties newsletter. We’ve included a link in today’s show notes.

Steve, thanks so much!

WEST: My pleasure.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: a new pro-life strategy.

A week ago today, voters in 10 states considered ballot measures to put abortion into state constitutions. Seven states passed those measures; three states kept rights to abortion out of their constitutions.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Pro-life groups in one of those states employed a strategy some say could help defeat future abortion amendments. Here’s WORLD life beat reporter Leah Savas.

LEAH SAVAS: Leading up to Election Day, Nebraska Right to Life executive director Sandy Danek was nervous. Her group was a part of Protect Women and Children, the coalition opposing Nebraska’s pro-abortion ballot measure.

DANEK: You’re coming up against Planned Parenthood and ACLU, you know, some of the biggest pushback on the abortion issue that you can come up against.

Of the 10 states with abortion-related amendments on ballots, Nebraska was the only one where pro-life groups responded by backing an opposing amendment.

DANEK: The pro-life initiative that we were trying to pass, of course, didn’t have a total ban. It only allowed for protection for babies in the womb in the second and third trimester.

The amendment also allows for abortion after the first trimester in cases of sexual assault, incest, and medical emergencies.

DANEK: It was strategic that we do that, because we knew polling showed that that would be something that would likely pass, whereas the total ban would not.

Their work paid off. The alternative amendment passed while the Planned Parenthood-backed amendment fell short of majority support.

DANEK: The numbers essentially showed 48% support for them, 55% for us. That’s a pretty narrow win.

In South Dakota and Florida, voters narrowly rejected pro-abortion amendments.. But similar measures passed in seven states, including in Missouri. A law there currently protects unborn babies from abortion throughout pregnancy. But just under 52% of voters backed a constitutional right to what the amendment calls “reproductive freedom.” That means Missouri will likely become a destination for abortion seekers since it now effectively allows abortion on demand throughout pregnancy.

KEHR: I think that the Missouri result is a bit surprising because of what we have seen as far as a culture of life goes in the state of Missouri.

That’s Brad Kehr, the government affairs director at Americans United for Life, talking about Missouri’s pro-abortion amendment.

KEHR: It passed by about three and a half points, which means that if, potentially, if voters in Missouri had another place to land other than abortion on demand, they could have done that just like we saw in Nebraska.

He wonders if some Missouri voters had concerns with the pro-abortion amendment but backed it anyway because they didn’t have a more moderate option.

KEHR: We know from polling that not everybody is an extreme on abortion, meaning not everybody wants abortion on demand, but when given a binary choice between abortion on demand or not, they see that as their only place to land.

But with an alternative on the ballot in Nebraska, voters at the polls told WORLD that they were more comfortable supporting a moderate approach to abortion law.

FARMER: 434, I voted for…

Independent voter Doug Farmer in Lincoln said he supported the pro-life backed amendment. Initiative 434 was the amendment supported by pro-life groups.

FARMER: you could get one in the first but it has to be in the first trimester. That’s 434 right, okay, and 439 is you can get one any time.

DUNN: What was your reason for that?

FARMER: I just think the little boogers are too old once they get in the second, third semester.

Lincoln Republican Raymond Samuel voted against the pro-abortion initiative 439 because…

SAMUEL: I feel it extends it too far.

But he’s fine with the state’s current law allowing abortion until 12 weeks. So he backed 434, which would maintain that limit.

SAMUEL: I am very much for each state deciding where they want it. As far as pro abortion, I’m okay with abortions up to about 18, but much beyond that, and I feel with modern technology, you could probably if you really tried to get most of them to be able to be born through some other means.

Nebraska’s strategy to keep voters like that from supporting the pro-abortion amendment sparked a discussion among pro-lifers about how to combat other state pro-abortion ballot measures in the future. Here’s Katie Glenn Daniel, state policy director at Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.

DANIEL: I think Nebraska shows a potential path forward in some of these states where you've got a lot of voters who are saying we don’t want zero abortions, we also don’t want unlimited abortions, you know, where’s that middle ground?

Other pro-life Nebraskans see that middle ground as shaky. One of them is Jarrod Ridge, founder of End Abortion Nebraska.

RIDGE: Why did we not come out with a ballot measure that actually said abortion is illegal, and allow then the voting populace to decide, instead of offering something that really doesn’t protect the innocent.

Since many babies are aborted during the first trimester, Ridge says the 12-week limit leaves many unborn lives unprotected. He thinks Nebraska had a chance at defeating the pro-abortion amendment without the alternative.

RIDGE: I think we would have seen the pro choice one actually defeated, instead of getting a pro life amendment that puts legalized baby murder in our constitution all the same.

But for U.S. Senator from Nebraska Pete Ricketts, the new amendment will be something to build on.

RICKETTS: I know, I get it. Like I don't want any abortions. I believe that life begins at conception… What we put in certainly says, abortion after the first trimester is not allowed, but it doesn't say it's a fundamental right to abortion. So it doesn't open the door to things like funding abortions.

Senator Ricketts says that by not enshrining a right to abortion in the constitution, it’s possible to come back later and pass more protections for the unborn.

RICKETTS: I think part of the challenge is we've got a lot of work to do winning hearts and minds. Our 434 ballot initiative gives us that opportunity to be able to do that… I'd like to save some babies rather than no babies.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Leah Savas, with reporting from Lauren Dunn in Lincoln, Nebraska.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Some monkey business last week that had nothing to do with voting and everything to do with escaping.

In South Carolina, more than 40 macaques broke out of a research facility after an employee failed to do his job.

Evidently they went bananas!

ABC: They’ve all figured it out! There’s dozens of them!

Yeah, they figured it out … but authorities didn’t monkey around either and the most recent reports say more than half have been re-captured … but that leaves the rest still on the lam.

Matthew Garnes is administrator for the town:

GARNES: We're advising residents to keep your doors and windows secured and closed to prevent the primates from entering the home not because they're violent in nature, but because they're inquisitive.

It’s as if they were organized.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, November 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: an architectural marvel.

The quest to find and store water for survival dates to the beginning of human history. Archeologists have found evidence going back 5,000 years of structures called cisterns.

REICHARD: In Houston, Texas, they don’t go back that far.

But an old cistern left to decay is finding a second life as a cultural hotspot. Eerie acoustics and striking architecture make the cistern a place where history and art come together in unexpected ways.

Here’s WORLD’s Todd Vician.

AUDIO: [Sound of water trickling down stream near cistern]

TODD VICIAN: Buffalo Bayou is a 52-mile natural waterway that meanders from the Texas prairie to the Gulf of Mexico. It’s a source of transportation and trade that made Houston the largest port in Texas by 1900, but it has a history of wreaking havoc, too. After the great flood of 1935, business leaders created a comprehensive flood-control program to help tame the bayou. That ambitious plan included an underground cistern storing up to 15 million gallons of drinking water for a rapidly-growing population.

FLORES: The designer for the cistern was inspired by the Basilica Cistern in Istanbul, Turkey. So I think it's pretty similar. You know, we're just missing a couple medusa heads.

Lou Flores leads tours of the cistern that was completed almost a 100 years ago. It’s 87,000 square feet and made of reinforced concrete. More than 200 columns support an 8-inch-thick ceiling.

FLORES: Something that might surprise people is the fact that it took about 95 days to be built because it seems like something that might have taken years.

The cavernous water reservoir served residents well for almost a century, but in 2007 city officials determined there were too many leaks to keep it operating. So they drained and decommissioned it. But three years later, the public-private partnership that manages the 168-acre park along the bayou set about repurposing it.

FLORES: It's pretty much stayed the same way since 1926.The only thing that's been added has been the walkway, the LEDs. And the exits, of course.

The cistern opened to the public in 2016 for tours, art exhibitions, light shows, concerts, and even meditation sessions. The River Oaks Chamber Orchestra is heard here performing in 2022

AUDIO: [Orchestra music]

That’s an example of site-specific art, something created to incorporate the space where it’s performed. Digital artist Rachel Rossin displayed site-specific art this summer in the cistern. It used video-game-graphics to combine a light show, AI-animated holographic images, and sounds from a Houston musician to tell the children’s story of the Velveteen Rabbit.

AUDIO: [Sounds from art show in the cistern]

One Houston resident enjoyed it so much she returned with a friend to see it before the show ended this past weekend.

TABITHA: Man, I can't really explain it, it’s like you’re in a different world.

It was definitely different. The loud music combined with strobe lights piercing the darkness and reflecting off the watery floor was disorienting. But it was still easy to tell the bayou is nearby as water coming from the outside cascades down the cistern wall.

AUDIO: [Sounds of water coming down wall]

The underground cave is about the size of one and a half football fields and the acoustics attract performers of all calibers. Vocalists and musicians have performed songs specifically composed or arranged for the cistern.

And tour guide Lou is also a professional singer.

FLORES: I could give you a little demo if you'd like.

Listen for the 17-second echo.

AUDIO: [Flores singing, echoes]

Despite man’s best efforts over the years to tame the bayou, Hurricane Harvey flooded the decommissioned cistern about half way up the 25-foot tall columns in 2017.

FLORES: There was like water coming in from the doors, from the emergency exits and the fire hatches. And it took about two days for the water to be pumped out, because the park is designed to flood over and over again. So the power went out automatically, but once it was safe to turn it back on, it took about two days for the water to be pumped out.

After the flooding subsided, the cistern reopened for tours. Throughout the upcoming Christmas season, visitors can take in special performances by a downtown cathedral choir or see the annual Cistern Illuminated with an original soundtrack and synchronized light show.

AUDIO: [Sound of chimes and music]

This once-forgotten, man-made wonder that brings together sights, sounds and people is open for tours four days a week.

FLORES: It just became something else that kind of took a life of its own, something that's more communal now, and it brings people together from like all over the world, honestly.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, November 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. Up next, WORLD commentator Janie B. Cheaney says many couples today are skipping out on having families for all the wrong reasons.

JANIE B CHEANEY: Thanks to this election cycle, I’ve learned the difference between the terms “Childless” and “Child-Free.” J.D. Vance was apparently doing it wrong in that interview with Tucker Carleson three years ago. His reference to “childless cat ladies” came back to bite him later, after his new position as Trump’s running-mate set opponents digging through the internet. Childless, they claimed, was extremely callous toward those women who wanted children but for medical reasons couldn’t have them.

But Vance may have simply been a victim of galloping terminology. In 2021, he was talking about women who chose not to bear children, for reasons that had nothing to do with physical health—those who feared climate change, or political upheaval, or life disruption. The correct term for that lifestyle choice is now “child-free.”

In a pre-election article on the Atlantic website, staff writer Faith Hill hoped for what she called “A Turning Point for Child-Free Voters.” The ranks of the voluntarily childless have steadily grown to anywhere from one-fifth to one-fourth of adults under 50—but they feel unseen at best and judged at worst. The general population regards them negatively, as selfish or pitiable. Some hoped that if Kamala Harris, a woman with no biological children of her own, could be elevated to the presidency, child-free Americans might find an advocate and a rallying point for policy initiatives.

What policies? Unfettered abortion rights, definitely. Also free access to all forms of birth control—which some fear is threatened by a Trump presidency—and medical procedures like tubal ligation and vasectomy. Also so-called “workplace equity,” where employees without children are not burdened with extra work or hours because they are assumed to have less responsibility. Beyond that, it sounds like they just want respect, or what this generation labels “pride.”

All human beings are entitled to respect as divine image-bearers and appreciated for any positive contributions they make. We can grant that not all women take to motherhood and not all men regard progeny as proof of their manhood. Some adults, including Christians, are single and “child-free” in order to dedicate themselves to the Lord’s service or what they perceive as the common good.

Still, I sense a growing resentment of the messiness, loudness, and disruptiveness of little kids—the failure to regard children as children, rather than small adults who should adapt to adult expectations. As an example, J.D. Vance cited the insistence on masking children during the pandemic, even though impaired social development was a greater threat to them than COVID.

Child-free adults complain that they are perceived negatively for their choice. Sorry, but I believe it is a negative choice. It’s declining to have a personal investment in the next generation. It’s regarding children as lifestyle accessories, rather than vital links to the future. It’s refusing, in many cases, to grow up. And it contributes to the short-term, personal-gratification trend of American culture for the last six decades.

Children are a joy and a burden and a responsibility and sometimes a disappointment—all that. We can acknowledge their cost while still upholding their great value, which is inestimable in God’s sight.

I’m Janie B. Cheaney

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: our reporters met brand new US citizens exercising their right to vote. We’ll hear about the experience. And, Washington Wednesday President-elect Trump is preparing his return to office. What do we know about his new administration?

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: “[But] thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.” —II Corinthians 2:14

Go now in grace and peace.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.