The World and Everything in It - November 8, 2022

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

School closures during the pandemic left students lagging in academics, especially in math.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Also today, voters in five states are considering ballot initiatives affecting the unborn. You’ll hear what each one of those is about.

Plus voting far from home.

And one woman’s story of prayer.

REICHARD: It’s Tuesday, November 8th. 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. Here’s Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Election 1 » Voters are heading to the polls across the country today--that is, those who didn’t already vote early. And in Georgia, that’s a record number of people. More than 2 million.

Republican Governor Brian Kemp says today is still crucial.

KEMP: We are targeting every voter in the state, including the suburbs, and a lot of other voters that traditionally haven’t voted Republican in the last cycle or two.

Kemp says the early turnout has shot holes in allegations of voter suppression by Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams. Kemp holds a comfortable 8-point lead in a final average of polls.

But the battle over a Senate seat in Georgia is much tighter. Incumbent Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock says he knows inflation is weighing heavy on the minds of voters.

WARNOCK: I have been sharply focused on economic issues from day-one.

The last several polls suggest Republican Herschel Walker holds a thin lead of less than 2 percentage points.

Election 2 » Meantime in Nevada, former President Bill Clinton campaigned for Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto on Monday.

CLINTON: She is a magnificent public servant. She has earned another term. And I hope every single one of you will vote, if you haven’t already, or talk to other people and vote.

But the final polls out of Nevada suggest Republican challenger Adam Laxalt has opened up a lead of at least 3 points over Masto.

Another key Senate battle to keep an eye on out west is in Arizona. According to the polls, it may be the tightest race of them all. It’s a dead heat between Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly … and GOP rival Blake Masters, who claimed Kelly hasn’t kept his promise to be an independent-minded Senator.

MASTERS: You know what? Mark Kelly votes like Bernie Sanders in the U.S. Senate. Here’s the difference between them. Bernie Sanders will look you in the eye and tell you what he is.

Election 3 » In Pennsylvania, Republican Senate candidate Mehmet Oz appears to hold a 1-to-2 point edge over Democrat John Fetterman.

Republicans need a net gain of one seat to reclaim control of the Senate.

Elections analysts at 538 give Republicans a 58 percent chance of winning control of the Senate … and an 84 percent chance of retaking the House.

Zelenskyy warns of more blackouts » Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this week that about 4.5 million people were without electricity.

ZELENSKYY: SPEAKING UNKRAINIAN

And it could be a rough winter ahead. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown reports.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN, REPORTER: Zelenskyy called on Ukrainians to endure the hardships. He said, “We must get through this winter and be even stronger in the spring than now.”

Russian attacks have forced rolling blackouts nationwide.

The mayor of Kyiv is warning that residents must prepare for the worst this winter if Russia keeps striking the country's energy infrastructure. That could mean having no electricity, water, or heat in the freezing cold.

For WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

Putin ally admits interference in US elections » A Russian businessman linked to the Kremlin admitted Monday that he interfered in U.S. elections would continue to do so.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said he’s simply saying out loud what the U.S. government has known for years.

PRICE: We have sanctioned this individual Yevgeny Prigozhin since 2018 for his interference with our election processes and institutions.

Prigozhin boasted on social media about interfering with US elections.

NoKo says missile tests were US/SoKo practice » North Korea’s military said Monday its recent barrage of missile tests was practice for possible future attacks against South Korea or the United States. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER, REPORTER: Pyongyang said it was rehearsing to “mercilessly” strike key South Korean and U.S. targets like air bases and command systems including with nuclear-capable weapons.

Pyongyang has voiced anger over ongoing joint U.S. and South Korean military drills.

North Korea last week flew warplanes toward the sea and fired dozens of missiles.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

UN sec-general climate change » UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres took aim at the United States and China over climate change Monday. He said those countries …

GUTERRES: Have a particular responsibility to join efforts to make this pact a reality. And this is our only hope of meeting our climate goals.

At the UN Climate Summit in Egypt, he called on the world’s two largest economies to pick up more of the tab for poorer countries to transition to cleaner energy.

And he called on all nations to tax the profits of fossil fuel companies and to redistribute that money to poorer countries that he says are disproportionately suffering from climate change.

He said—his words—“The clock is ticking” as greenhouse emissions keep growing.

GUTERRES: I am asking that all government tax the profits of fossil fuel companies. Let’s redirect that money to people struggling with rising food and energy prices.

I'm Kent Covington. Straight ahead: School closures during the pandemic left students lagging in academics, especially in math.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Tuesday, the 8th of November, 2022.

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

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

Well, it’s Election Day, finally. And we should have results over the next many hours. Here’s hoping it won’t be weeks or months. But as we wait, I do want you to know about an exciting project we have planned.

We’re working on our first-ever WORLD Opinions panel discussion on Thursday night.

We’ll be livestreaming video on Facebook Live and YouTube. This is for WORLD readers and listeners, so we’ll be providing details on how you can access this special livestream.

Editor Albert Mohler will moderate the WORLD Opinions panel which will include managing editor Andrew Walker and WORLD Opinions columnists Allie Beth Stuckey, Erick Erickson, and Hunter Baker.

Should make for a lively conversation on the meaning of the midterms. Thursday night. Again, details to come on how you can view that panel discussion.

REICHARD: Perspicacious opinions to ponder possibly! Count me in.

Well, first up today, maybe you’re not a word person. Maybe you’re a math person!

The latest national test results show how far K-12 students fell behind during the lengthy school shutdowns. Math scores dropped the most. How to fix it? Here’s WORLD reporter Lauren Dunn.

LAUREN DUNN, REPORTER: Rick Conklin owns two Mathnasium tutoring centers in Wichita, Kansas.

CONKLIN: We're seeing significant gaps – with some students, some younger students – basic adding and subtracting.

Conklin says more students are struggling with math skills they should have learned years earlier.

CONKLIN: Math is something that needs to be reinforced. There's so many building blocks in math – probably more than any other subject. If a student is behind in reading, it takes some catch up. But because math has so many building blocks, it's tougher t o catch up. You can't catch up overnight.

According to the latest 4th and 8th-grade test results from the National Center for Education Statistics, math and English scores declined. Compared to 2019, student scores dropped an average of 3 points in English. But in math, scores dropped even further: 5 points for 4th-graders and 8 points for 8th-graders. Math scores haven’t dropped that far since the test was first administered in 1990.

Michael J. Petrilli is president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

PETRILLI: We saw declines in almost every state and almost every district that took the test at almost every achievement level. In other times when we've seen even some of the modest declines, you know, maybe you see certain subgroups do better than others. Not now. This was across the board.

But Petrilli warns that these test scores may point to years of challenges ahead.

PETRILLI: Kids who do not learn as much in math or in reading do not go on to succeed in higher education, at the same rates. They're less likely to go to college, or even to trade schools and to complete those schools, and they don't earn as much in the workforce. When these kids grow up, I mean, sure, a lot of their peers have gone through this pandemic, too. But they're going to be competing against kids, young adults who are older than them and eventually younger than them.

In the wake of the scores’ release, some companies and nonprofits are announcing math-focused projects. The popular language learning company Duolingo released a math skills app. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said it will funnel just over $1 billion toward math-related grants, taking some of the funding away from grants for teaching other subjects.

Petrilli says that schools may need to consider longer school days or school years to make up for missed instructional time during the pandemic.

PETRILLI: For younger kids that could mean repeating a grade. Or it could mean saying, Look, we're going to take a whole group of kids that really missed a big chunk of their instruction, and we're going to go back and do that instruction over again, before moving them forward.

In New Jersey, state Senator Shirley Turner introduced a bill last month that would set aside funding for up to 20 districts to increase the school year or school day. But the pilot program may not start for two more years, overlooking many students’ current needs.

Even if school districts don’t lengthen the school year, there are other ways to help students gain math skills. Some math enthusiasts hope today’s challenges will prompt schools to find ways to teach the fun and excitement of math.

Dan Finkel is the founder and director of operations for Math for Love.

FINKEL: It's as if we didn't ever let kids listen to music, we only taught them how to transpose notes on a page and they never knew what the notes meant. There's something similar that happens in mathematics, where we're actually playing with number and shape and pattern and developing deep connections and deep understandings. But what gets given to students is just a series of kind of dead facts to memorize.

Math for Love designs math games with names like Prime Climb and Multiplication By Heart. Finkel says they saw an uptick in interest as schools shut down in spring 2020, and again last summer.

The company represents one of many efforts to show students how math can be fun.

In late October, 16 elementary students met at the local library in Sullivan, Illinois – a town of about 4,000 people. It was the first meeting of this season’s Crazy 8s Club at the library. Children’s librarian Laura Davison leads the club.

DAVISON: We played a life size bingo game, where the children were the chips. I set down a grid on the floor, and instead of calling out the numbers, they rolled the dice, added them together. Sometimes we multiplied to make it a little bit harder. And then they went and stood in that spot until they recognized that they had a bingo. And it took a little bit of strategy on their part to find, because another time we played, I let them choose what operation they wanted to do. And that way, you know, addition, subtraction, multiplication or division, so they could kind of see what number was needed to get closest to the bingo. And then they could choose that number.

Crazy 8s Club is a project of the Bedtime Math Foundation, an organization that wants to help parents work with their kids on math as much as they do on reading. Despite the fun name, Davison says many students complain about joining a math club—at first.

DAVISON: One question I always wait for, and it's usually in the first class is, I thought we were gonna do math. And then I get to tell them that they were doing math and explain it all to them. So the second class they come in, and they're usually pretty excited and ready to go.

Back in Wichita, Rick Conklin looks for that same renewed interest in students who come for tutoring. Last year a freshman in high school came in. She understood so little math that she sometimes had to count on her fingers.

CONKLIN: We helped her know and understand – not just memorize – adding, subtracting facts, but understand them. She moved into multiplication, moved into higher math. And she kind of graduated out. She's got a part time job now that requires math…Before she came here. I don't think she had the confidence to try a job that would involve math. And now she can.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Lauren Dunn in Wichita, Kansas.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It:

It’s Election Day, and voters in five states will weigh in ballot measures related to abortion. This morning, we have WORLD’s reporter on the life beat to answer some questions about them.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: That would be Leah Savas! Good morning, Leah.

LEAH SAVAS, REPORTER: Good morning.

REICHARD: Well, first off, which states have abortion related measures on the ballot?

SAVAS: The states are Michigan, California, Vermont, Kentucky and Montana.

REICHARD: Okay, so tell us what each ballot measure would do.

SAVAS: Well, three are pro-abortion. They all propose constitutional amendments to make abortion a right in the state constitutions. Michigan has Proposal 3, California has Proposition 1, and Vermont has Proposal 5.

REICHARD: And what about the pro life ballot measures?

SAVAS: Two states have pro-life measures on the ballot: Kentucky and Montana. Kentucky’s is a constitutional amendment. It's Amendment 2: to clarify no right to abortion or funding of abortion in the state constitution. And Montana's doesn't have such a catchy name. It's just LR 131. And it's the only one that's not a constitutional amendment. It would require doctors to give life saving care to babies born alive, including after abortions.

REICHARD: All right, you know, I thought Kentucky already had a trigger law that said if Roe was overturned, abortion would be illegal there except for the life of the mother or to prevent severe physical impairment of the mother. Leah, why isn't that enough? Why have an amendment?

SAVAS: Kentucky does have that abortion ban that you mentioned. And it went into effect when the Dobbs ruling came down, but has faced legal challenges from pro abortion groups. And at one point a court actually blocked its enforcement. It is currently in effect but the lawsuits against it argue that the law violates rights in the state constitution. They're all arguing for a state level version of Roe v Wade. So this amendment in Kentucky would be a big pro-life win because it would act as a shield against future state Supreme Court rulings declaring a right to abortion. So a note about Kentucky's amendment, though. It's actually very similar to the pro-life amendment that failed in Kansas this August during the primaries. But the benefit of this Kentucky amendment, according to some people I've spoken with, is that it's shorter than the Kansas one. So it's not as easy to misconstrue. Shorter ballot measures tend to do better at the ballot box because voters have an easier time understanding what they're reading.

REICHARD: Right, it makes sense. I know pro-abortion groups are advertising their proposed amendments. How do the ads compare to what the amendments will actually do if they pass?

SAVAS: Yeah, these groups are advertising these amendments as amendments that would restore the rights that women had under Roe v. Wade. That's the hot topic right now. So that's the issue they're really focusing on. But in reality, the Vermont and California measures wouldn't really change the abortion laws there at all. Vermont already allows abortion at any stage for any reason. And California has a broad mental health exception after viability that basically allows abortion in any case as well.

REICHARD: And then Michigan also has a pro-abortion amendment. Tell us about that one.

SAVAS: So yeah, the one in Michigan would expand legal abortion past the current limit. Right now in the state, you can't get an abortion past viability unless your life's in danger. But this law would allow for abortions after that for broad mental health reasons. But, you know, since the language of reproductive freedom is pretty broad and largely undefined in these proposals, they have the potential to influence things far beyond the abortion issue.

REICHARD: Leah, can you give us some specific examples of how Michigan's Proposal 3 we would do that?

SAVAS: Yeah. So in Michigan, the amendment would invalidate state laws that conflict with this new right of reproductive freedom. But the concern is that it doesn't list which laws exactly. So pro-lifers are asking, you know, does that mean it will invalidate health code requirements for abortion facilities? Will that throw out parental consent for minors to get abortions and sterilizations?

I've even heard the concern that it would invalidate the state laws prohibiting statutory rape, since that could be construed as part of reproductive freedom. And abortion groups deny a lot of these things. The reality is that if the amendment passes, it wouldn't be an automatic trigger to nix all those laws, but the courts will have to work out specific applications of the amendment as cases arise. So it could be some time until we see just how things fall.

REICHARD: Leah, have these three proposed amendments that are pro-abortion, which one would you say is the most extreme?

SAVAS: I've heard the most about the one here in Michigan since I live here. And pro-life groups are saying that it has the potential to make Michigan the most extreme pro-abortion state in the country, which is really saying something for Michigan since we're not California. We're not a liberal New England state. I talked to a couple pro life legal experts about this, including Steve Adan at Americans United for life.

STEVEN ADEN: Which one is worst in this race to the bottom? I'd have to say it's a dead heat. All three are trying to find and create an absolute right to abortion. Choose your poison. But all are bad in different ways.

SAVAS: So basically, it's hard to pick the worst one. But the biggest concern for pro-life groups is that these amendments would essentially prevent the states from passing and enforcing new laws that would protect unborn babies. We've seen what a difficulty state level right to abortions have proven for states like Kansas in their attempts to pass pro-life laws. And specifically here in Michigan, it would prevent our currently unenforceable pre-Roe law protecting babies from ever taking effect. And that alone would be a major setback for the pro-life movement in the state.

REICHARD: So much is at stake and today's elections. Thanks so much for joining us today Leah. I appreciate all your hard work.

SAVAS: Thanks for having me.

NICK EICHER, HOST: When you think of polling places, you probably think of schools or libraries. I’ve voted in both.

But this is America where we do things uniquely.

Smithsonian Magazine compiled a really great list of unusual polling places, such as these in Philadelphia: Mummers Museum, Saigon Maxim Restaurant, the ​​Water Department Laboratory.

Then my favorite: Ray Lounsberry’s tractor shed in Nevada Township Iowa.

Also on the Smithsonian list, these Chicago polling places: The Pressure Billiards Cafe, the Lawn Lanes Bowling Alley, and the Su Nueva Laundromat.

Here’s to a clean election!

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST:  Today is Tuesday, November 8th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to 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: Absentee Voting.

It’s easy enough for those of us stateside, here in the United States to cast our ballots. But it’s not so easy for military servicemembers stationed oceans away, more than a million of them. For them, voting can be complicated.

REICHARD: The 2020 elections are an example of just how complicated. A government survey showed that one out of five of our soldiers, sailors, and Marines couldn’t complete the voting process. WORLD Senior Writer Kim Henderson brings us this report.

CLIP: CADENCE

KIM HENDERSON, SENIOR WRITER: Greg Marlow signed up to serve his country before he signed up to vote.

MARLOW: I had just gotten to Fort Knox, Kentucky. I was 19 years old. My friend and I were at the PX, and there was a guy standing up front, registering people to vote.

Marlow says he was surprised to learn he could vote—while serving away from home—using an absentee ballot. He registered on the spot. 

MARLOW: I get this little packet in the mail, open it up. And I had like two days to get this thing mailed in.

Marlow was excited to be voting in a presidential election—Jimmy Carter against Ronald Reagan.

CARTER CAMPAIGN AD: I felt that Ronald Reagan wasn’t too good for education when he was governor of California. On November 4th, reelect President Carter.

That was a long time ago, but throughout his military career, Marlow continued to vote. And he encouraged his fellow soldiers to vote, too. 

MARLOW: As a service member, you're not really able to speak your mind on politics and what you think is going on in the world. But you can voice your opinion when you vote.

Donald Inbody is a retired Navy captain. He says there’s a misunderstanding about voting in the military. 

INBODY: . . . that somehow military personnel who are stationed overseas simply go to some voting booth on their base and cast their ballot. There's no such thing. The only way anyone overseas votes, military or civilian, is by absentee ballot, period.

That can be paper ballots, or for 33 states, electronic ones. Inbody says the main problem is getting the absentee ballots back in time. Other barriers come into play as well.

INBODY: It's not the commander's primary job to manage an election. I mean, that's not their main job. And also the soldiers, sailors, Marines, they're just not, they're busy. And then you add that to the fact that since the majority of the military is under the age of 30--the group that nationwide tends to not vote anyway.

Top that off with being stationed on a ship or in a combat zone with limited access to internet and mail. It makes voting tough. 

INBODY: I don't think there is any nefarious effort out there to prevent military personnel from voting. It's just harder.

CLIP: CAMP SHELBY 

Over in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, soldiers come from all across the United States to train at Camp Shelby. 

COOKSEY: We call it the schoolhouse. So they'll come here for their continuing education.

That’s Lt. Col. Christopher Cooksey. He says soldiers at Camp Shelby this week were encouraged to cast their ballots early.

COOKSEY: We know something is important to the Army when they create a regulation, and the Army actually has a regulation, its army regulations. 608-20, which is called the Army Voting Assistance Program.

The regulation requires Army leadership to promote voting among the ranks and to assist soldiers in their voting efforts. Even so, reports show that only half of active duty military members voted in the last major election. Cooksey has served on ships as a young Marine, and on other continents as a soldier. Voting in those spots took special effort. 

COOKSEY: We joke when we're overseas, there's really never a day off, and you're going real fast. And you want it that way, because it makes the time pass. But you can lose sight of the elections and the politics.

He remembers being in Kuwait. The chow hall was full of signs: wash your hands, cover your mouth. He wonders if they put up signs to promote voting in this election cycle. 

COOKSEY: I hope commanders did because it's important. We really have to stress to them, “Hey, this is what you're here for. This is what you fought for.”

The Defense Department provides free expedited mail service for military ballots. A special blue express label gives voters the opportunity to track delivery all the way to their county election office.

The Federal Voting Assistance Program offers voting assistance officers and phone alerts with deadline reminders.

But Cooksey says none of those efforts can compete with the military’s best way of encouraging its members to vote. And that’s the opportunity it gives servicemen and women to see up close what voting means to citizens of other countries. 

COOKSEY: I was there when the Iraqi people had their first, probably, fair and free election. And watching those people come out with that blue ink on their finger. That was one of the proudest moments of my career. And I think that we lose sight of how valuable the right to vote is in this country sometimes.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kim Henderson in South Mississippi.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, November 8th. 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. Most of us know the experience of praying  and not getting the answer we want. That promotion at work goes to someone else. That last ditch operation fails. The results can be heartrending.

EICHER: But sometimes, God says yes. Here now is WORLD commentator Whitney Williams, recalling a time when God said yes to her prayers in a way that startled her. Her true story of God’s grace.

WHITNEY WILLIAMS, COMMENTATOR: I had a word with the Lord on July 18, 2014. I still remember the date because it’s etched into the margin of my Bible alongside a bold, vigorously written prayer. Looking back now and remembering the intensity of the moment, I’m surprised the tip of my pen didn’t slash a hole in the page.

For those of you who don’t know, havin’ words with God is different than praying. Praying is proper. Havin’ words is dogged, desperate. And that day, my dam broke.

The pressure started building a year prior when our prayers for a healthy baby were answered with a surprise, rare, and horrific genetic disorder. Our first child came into this world in terrible pain with no skin on his feet, blisters in his mouth and under his fingernails, and a diagnosis that shattered our souls—recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa. In the more severe forms, which doctors believed our son had based on the severity of his feet, the person’s skin, internally and externally, shears off with the slightest friction—acting kind of like wet toilet paper might; think a lifetime of daily wound care, wrapping one’s entire body like a mummy to try to protect the delicate skin, huge open wounds all over the body—yes, the skin starts to grow back, but only to shear off once again, fingers and toes fusing into nubs due to continual trauma and scarring, esophageal strictures. No treatment, no cure. Wheelchairs, g-tubes, continual infections, and unending pain.

The neonatologist told us, “The good news for your son is that he has parents who love him.” That “good news” ripped our guts out and threw them across the floor.

A year (and thousands of prayers) later, I was done with religious propriety, desperate, determined. “Lord,” I wrote through tear-filled eyes next to a hastily underlined Psalm 18:30, which says “The word of the Lord proves true.” “Lord, your Word says it pays off to be persistent in prayer—the unrighteous judge granted the persistent widow’s request and the earthly father did not give his son stones when the son asked for bread. Lord, you are to be better and more compassionate toward your children and their prayers than earthly men would be, and earthly men would give my son complete healing if they could because I’d be beating down their door. Lord, I’m beating down your door, begging for healing. Honor your word.”

Now, I know what some of you are thinking: “Wow. Whitney, how does it feel to get struck by lightning and live to tell about it?”

But God didn’t send down His heavenly wrath that day. Instead, He welcomed His desperate daughter’s boldness and returned it with undeserved grace and mercy, giving my son miraculous healing and a quality of life that defies his DNA and diagnosis.

Power of prayer or always in God’s plan? I really don’t know. Maybe both. But I’m confident of this: We’re welcome to beat down the door.

I’m Whitney Williams.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow, a first-hand account of what voters are saying about new voting procedures. Our reporters across the country will fill us in.

And expert analysis of how this year’s election process works or doesn’t.

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, "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:16)

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.