The World and Everything in It: October 11, 2022

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

Teen employment is about a whole lot more than just earning a little pocket money.

NICK EICHER, HOST: We’ll consider some of the other benefits and drawbacks of youth and part-time jobs.

Also what’s ahead at the U.S. Supreme Court. 

And, honoring veterans:

And WORLD’s Emily Whitten reviews a couple science fiction novels.

REICHARD: It’s Tuesday, October 11th. 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: Time for news with Kent Covington.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Russia hits more civilian targets » Russian missiles rained down on cities across Ukraine on Monday.

AUDIO: [Kyiv rocket]

A rocket heard there striking a residential building in Kyiv.

At UN headquarters in New York, Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said missile strikes killed at least 14 civilians, and wounded roughly 100 others.

KYSLYTSYA: By launching missile attacks on civilians sleeping in their homes or rushing to work, children going to schools, Russia has proven once again that it is a terrorist state that must be deterred.

The lethal barrage against multiple cities smashed civilian targets, knocking out power and water, shattering buildings.

Though some missiles apparently targeted energy facilities, others struck civilian areas during the morning rush-hour. One hit a playground in downtown Kyiv.

Vladimir Putin said the attacks were payback for an explosion that damaged a key bridge linking Crimea to Russia.

Hurricane recovery » In Florida, an army of 42,000 utility workers has restored electricity to more than 2.5 million homes in businesses in the wake of Hurricane Ian.

Gov. Ron DeSantis…

DESANTIS: There still a couple of pockets of Lee County with the Lee County Electrical Cooperative. But all other providers are basically at 100%.

Lee County is home to Fort Myers and Fort Myers Beach, ground zero for Hurricane Ian, with some neighborhoods almost entirely washed away.

The storm killed more than 100 people in Florida.

Nine dead as Julia drenches Central America » Meantime, in Central America, the remnants of Hurricane Julia have continued drenching Guatemala and El Salvador with torrential rains.

The Guatemalan government said five people died after a hillside collapsed on their house. And authorities in El Salvador said a wall collapsed, killing five army soldiers at a house where they sought refuge.

Officials also reported deaths in Nicaragua and Honduras. The storm has killed at least 19 people in total.

CA abortion ads in Texas » California Gov. Gavin Newsom is running a new series of out-of-state ads encouraging women to come to his state for an abortion. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER, REPORTER: A billboard towering over a highway in Austin texas depicts a young woman with her arms crossed and the words: “Need an abortion? Calfornia is ready to help.”

Newsom has purchased billboards in other Republican-led states, including one that shows a woman in handcuffs with the caption: “South Dakota doesn’t own your body. You do.”

He’s also running TV ads in other states.

And he’s paying for it with campaign dollars as he runs for reelection in California. The plan could raise his national profile in the Democratic party ahead of a possible presidential bid.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

Former Fed Chair Bernanke shares Nobel » Former Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke won the Nobel Prize in economics Monday for research into bank failures.

Bernanke’s study of bank failures during the Great Depression helped to shape America’s response to the Great Recession in 2007-2008.

Bernanke says the Nobel committee cited a paper he wrote nearly 40 years ago.

BERNANKE: The simple idea that the financial system can be a driver of economic activity and unemployment was something that this paper emphasized was not conventional wisdom in 1983.

He’s sharing the prize with Douglas W. Diamond and Philip Dybvig on Monday for research that shows—in their words, “why avoiding bank collapses is vital.”

NoKo drills » North Korea says its recent barrage of missile launches simulated nuclear strikes against US targets. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: Leader Kim Jong Un says the ballistic missile tests show that his military could—his words—“hit and wipe out” potential South Korean and U.S. targets.

Pyongyang released a statement on state media Monday, saying leader Kim plans more provocative missile tests.

The announcement is seen as an attempt reenforce Kim’s image as a strong leader at home. He also wants to extract concessions in nuclear talks with the United States.

State media said the missile tests were in response to recent naval drills between U.S. and South Korean forces.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

I’m Kent Covington. Straight ahead: the pros and cons of teen employment.

Plus, honoring our veterans.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Tuesday the 11th of October, 2022. This is 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. First up on The World and Everything in It: Young people and jobs.

Teen employment dipped in the early days of the pandemic but has nearly returned to its pre-pandemic level. But do high school students benefit from after-school jobs? Lauren Dunn talks with experts and teens to find out the pros and cons of high school employment.

LAUREN DUNN, REPORTER: DJ Cain filled out a job application for a Chick-fil-a in Wichita, Kansas, early last year, on his 14th birthday.

CAIN: My parents were both managers there. And you know, just them coming home and talking about it. It really just intrigued me and you know, grabbed my interest.

Cain knew that, as a 14-year-old, he could only work limited hours and jobs – no working with pressure fryers, for example. But he wanted to master beginner tasks and be ready for more responsibility as soon as he was old enough. Now 15, Cain is already a team trainer for new employees.

The high school sophomore gave up participating in track and field and baseball in order to work. Child labor laws prevent him from working later than 7 pm on week nights until he turns 16, so his work schedule clashed with team practice. To keep up his schoolwork, he often brings his books to the job.

CAIN: One of the things I like to do is I stay after work when I get off at seven and just do my homework before I go home. And that's one of the things that helps me keep up in school.

Nearly half of all teens ages 16-19 held jobs in 1990. In February 2020, 1 in 3 youth those ages had jobs. Just two months later, only 1 in 5 teens worked as COVID-19 restrictions shuttered many businesses. In August of this year, the numbers squeaked just past pre-pandemic levels to nearly 34 percent.

Chelsea Daniel oversees the Youth Employment Project at the Workforce Centers of South Central Kansas in Wichita. She says that in addition to the obvious benefit of earning money, students can learn a lot on the job.

DANIEL: Those interpersonal skills, those abilities – communicate, and think outside the box to problem solve with other generations – is a great way to do things. Because that's what ties a strong workforce together is the ability to work over generational gaps.

Daniel says early work experience can help a student make more informed decisions on what they want to do after graduation.

She adds that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to teen jobs.What is the student interested in? What other extracurricular activities do they want to do? Daniel suggests students look at their course schedule and their extracurricular activities before deciding whether to work—or how much to work.

DANIEL: One of the things about working through high school is that you really have to find that sweet spot of balance that works for you…I don't want somebody to go into work and then work, work, work, go to school, school, school and then be burnt out.

Like DJ Cain, many students find that their schedule can’t accommodate extracurricular activities, school, and a job. During the pandemic, some students began working - and didn’t come back to class.

Sandy Addis is the chairman of the National Dropout Prevention Center.

ADDIS: We may not have lost a lot of ‘em to jobs – we probably did lose some to employment – but students who are at risk and who are disengaged and disenchanted with school anyway, they look for an opportunity to drop…And the pandemic and going virtual gave them a perfect opportunity to disappear.

Jobs don’t have to work against school. Addis points to studies that show career development is a top predictor for students staying in school.

ADDIS: If the hours and the time commitment are school-friendly, and if the educators and the employers connect, and if there's a connection between the content of the work and the task, and the content of the instruction, it's a huge plus.

Addis encourages employers to use their influence in a teen’s life to encourage them to take school seriously.

ADDIS: Coaches have done this for years. You don't attend, you don't pass – you don't play. You know, same thing works for employers: you don't attend, you don't pass – you don't work. You know, and kids will get that message in a hurry.

Matt Tompkins is one of DJ Cain’s supervisors. He estimates that at least 80-85 percent of the franchise location’s employees are high school students.

TOMPKINS: We like to pick kids who are involved in their community or involved in their school. We love to hear that they're in the play, or they're in sports or things like that. So it shows some level of ambition, even at this early age in life.

Teens who are involved in other activities often want to stay involved. That can cause scheduling challenges for employers. Tompkins tries to prepare by hiring more employees than the restaurant technically needs. And sometimes there are teachable moments.

TOMPKINS: If they've got a football game coming up on a Friday night, in two weeks, well, they need to make sure they request off for that. But sometimes they don't do that and they forget – last minute they say oh I need to because somebody picked up my shift for tomorrow night I forgot I have a school event, something like that. And so they're learning you know, some of those components and those skills of for example, being responsible with your life schedule.

Cain wants to try out for sports again once he turns 16 and can expand his available work hours. He stays ready by working out in his free time.

CAIN: I feel like when I'm going to come back these next seasons, I'm going to be so much more of a team player instead of “it's all me” but instead a “we over me” mindset.

Cain plans on continuing his education through college. He’s also considering a career at Chick-fil-a. In the meantime, he’s going to keep putting in time on the job. And learning.

CAIN: Sometimes I can get frustrated with work. Let's face it, we all do. You know, if someone's not up to par with what we want, we just need to humble ourselves. And sometimes, you know, I just let that slide. I'm still young, and I'm still learning. And sometimes I just become less humble and frustrated myself. But I usually take a pause, and humble myself and get back on pace.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Lauren Dunn.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, October 11th. 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: the conclusion of Legal Docket Podcast Season 3! Mary, how are you doing?

REICHARD: You know, it’s a little like how I imagine running a marathon might feel. Not that I’ll ever really know! But I was at the Chicago Marathon on Sunday to encourage a friend who ran in it. At the finish line he was caked with salt from sweat and looked tired, yet so relieved! That’s sort of how I feel finishing up this season’s Legal Docket Podcast. And it’s not just me! Jenny Rough is my partner in writing and hosting, so let’s bring her in. Hey there, Jenny!

JENNY ROUGH: Good morning!

EICHER: Episode 10 of Legal Docket Podcast drops this week, the last one. How are you feeling, Jenny?

ROUGH: Exactly what Mary said!

EICHER: Some of you may have noticed that Episode 10 isn’t in the Legal Docket Podcast feed yet this morning, Mary and Jenny recorded the tracks yesterday afternoon and the technical team is hard at work finishing it up today, but it should be online sometime in the next 24 hours.

Jenny, this is one you took the lead on. Tell us what case it is and what stood out to you about it?

ROUGH: Well, we have a marathon theme going on here, but this time, it’s serious and sad. Has to do with the Boston Marathon. You’ll remember nine years ago. That’s when two brothers set off home made bombs right near the finish line.

REICHARD: We cover two legal questions. One deals with jury bias. In this case, members of the jury pool saw a lot of media coverage before the trial. The defendant wanted the court to allow his lawyers to ask prospective members of the jury about media bias. The idea was to see if they’ve already made up their mind about some aspect of the case.

EICHER: Here’s a short clip from Episode 10: Mayhem at the Marathon.

CRAIG WOOD: Now, in these high profile cases, media bias is always a big area of questioning because people have watched the television coverage … So they had their own ideas about the cases, and the lawyers are really going to be interested in that because they lawyers are going to want to know whether they’ve already made up their minds about, you know, in the Boston case, it would be very easy to contemplate that there are people that had been called to serve on this jury who watched the whole thing on television live when the boat was being searched, and everybody knew that he was in the boat, you can imagine the drama of that.

I know that you both spend a lot of time on each case, not only listening to the arguments, but also reading the briefs, interviewing parties and experts, sometimes traveling to get that, understanding the history and legal analysis and so forth. But I know that Jenny went even a step further in her research for this episode…actually running the Boston Marathon. How did that help inform you in writing this story?

ROUGH: I wanted to experience this great event, to walk—or rather, run—26.2 miles in those shoes. Be a part of the story in a real, genuine way.

EICHER: That’s impressive and I can’t wait to hear the finished episode. Well the Supreme Court started hearing arguments for this newest term. We talked about two of them yesterday, Jenny. But talk about some of the cases that the Supreme Court will hear this term you might include for next season?

REICHARD: One that caught my eye is called National Pork Producers Council v Ross, being argued today. There’s a movement to treat farm animals humanely, and California’s rules are especially stringent. But the people who raise the animals argue the rules raise costs too much and aren’t necessary. So here the question is whether California’s rules on how farm animals in other states are to be housed can dictate sales of meat within California.

ROUGH: Mary, let me add another biggie, it’s Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard. That’ll be argued at the end of the month. I’ve got some notes on this one: It asks whether race should be considered at all in admission policies of universities. This is one where Asian students say they are being discriminated against as Harvard says it tries to achieve racial balance in its student body, what it calls a “holistic” admissions policy. Asian American applicants argue that violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by penalizing them according to their race.

REICHARD: Then later on this term, a case that may resolve litigation that pits religious freedom and LGBT demands against each other. You may remember that five years ago, the court handed a very narrow victory to Jack Phillips. He is the Colorado baker who declined on religious grounds to create custom wedding cakes for same sex couples. But that narrow victory didn’t resolve the bigger issue of how far laws that protect LGBT rights can go to force religious people to say things they don’t believe.

In this case, Lorie Smith creates websites for people and she wants to do wedding announcement websites. She is a practicing Christian who believes marriage biblically is between one man and one woman. So Smith wants to put a notice about this on her business website. Which she is well aware will put her in the LGBT crosshairs saying she is violating Colorado’s anti-discrimination laws.

EICHER: Lots to look forward to, and I’ll add that the court’s calendar isn’t yet filled so many more disputes will be added in the months to come. Mary and Jenny, preparations for Legal Docket Season Four is ready to begin!

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, October 11th. This is WORLD Radio and we’re glad you’re here.

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Honoring our Veterans. 

You may already be thinking about how you’ll pay tribute this year to the men and women who have served our country.

November 11th is Veterans Day. But WORLD’s Myrna Brown met a group of volunteers committed to serving military heroes and their families—year round.

MYRNA BROWN CORRESPONDENT: Other than the occasional hum from the cicadas, it's a quiet morning at the Alabama State Veterans Memorial Cemetery.

HOWTON: I don’t see 5-A…

Two months ago, Diane Howton buried her husband here, United States Navy Veteran, Burl Huit Howton, Jr.

HOWTON: He was aboard the USS Hornet and had two tours in Vietnam.

The slender, 73-year-old grandmother is anxious to see her late husband’s new burial plaque. As she searches for his name etched in marble, sweet memories from several weeks earlier flood her thoughts: Fellow vets standing sharp and crisp at the Veterans Memorial Cemetery, in shiny shoes and dark blues.

XO OFFICER: Honor Guard Ten Hut

DIANE HOWTON: I told my grandson. I said the honor guard is here.

XO OFFICER: Present Arms

DIANE HOWTON: And it made me cry. I thought, my sweet man is being honored by the military.

XO OFFICER: Half Right Face Ready, Aim, Fire, Aim, Fire, Aim…

DIANE HOWTON: I had tears just rolling down, when they did their 21 gun salute.

XO OFFICER: Recover. Present Arms (taps plays)

DIANE HOWTON: Oh my, when the bugle was played I don’t think there was a dry eye. I wanted to hug every one of them.

Navy Veteran Henry Sowell remembers that day well.

HENRY SOWELL: First of all, we’re honored to be there. It’s a privilege that none of us take for granted.

Sowell is one of the founding members of the Armed Forces Honor Guard. It’s a private, Army-certified organization. Its members are all veterans, representing the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard. And they all get along!

SOWELL: We cut up, we clown and we carry on. But when it’s time to perform our service, we’re dead serious about what we do.

The group promotes patriotism and provides color guards for various events. But its primary mission is to serve other veterans and their families during their times of greatest need.

SOWELL: I’ve done as many as nine funerals in a week and then we’ll have a week or a week and a half where we won’t have anything.

Last year they served in 176 local military funerals. Today is their training day.

SOWELL TO MEMBERS: It’s like this…You want one star at the top, three across the middle and five across the bottom. That’s what they call a perfect flag. Ok, let’s go ahead and get started.

Twice per month, team members hone their skills. There’s bugle training, rifle volley drills, and what some consider the most difficult task: the folding and presentation of the flag. The flag is one of the highest honors bestowed on a veteran for honorable and faithful service to our country. Facing each other with about 11 feet between them, Larry Rutherford and Len Barker start folding and tucking.

LARRY TO SOWELL: Ok, now hold on just a second. You do a flip to come down…

Rutherford served in the Air Force. He’s the stuffer, the person responsible for tucking the flag. Barker, a Marine, is the flag folder. To present a perfect flag, the two must work together. Everything matters. Where you put your hands…

SOWELL INSTRUCTION: Don’t pull your hand out too fast because you’ll take the flag out with you.

Your feet…

AUDIO: [Both of you take a half step back now]

Even your eyes give your partner important clues.

TRAINING: He’s looking at my eyes and I’m looking at where I think he needs to fix it.

Twenty-three men and women serve as volunteers on this honor guard. Most are retired. The youngest is 51 and the oldest is Army veteran, Randall Ware. He’ll be 92 in November.

RANDALL WARE: And I love to serve the country.

Ware and his comrades are praying younger veterans with flexible schedules will step up to the honor guard. It’s an opportunity for them to once again serve their country by serving families like Diane Howton’s. Here’s retired Air Force pilot, Don Stuart.

DON STUART: Our idea is that when they see us trying that hard, that will translate into a sense that we really appreciate what their loved one did.

Diane Howton says mission accomplished!

HOWTON: How precious that was to my family. And when they folded the flag and handed me the flag…I had his flag framed. And it will be in his study with all of his military things.

Back at the cemetery, she finally spots the marker bearing the name of her beloved husband of 56 years.

HOWTON: (Gasps)... oh… oh… oh….oh…(sobs) oh my sweet boy…

AUDIO: [TAPS]

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Myrna Brown in Spanish Fort, Alabama.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, October 11th. 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. Next up: what are the limits of science when it comes to human intelligence? 

WORLD’s Emily Whitten says two recent books help Christians think through that question.

AUDIOBOOK: If you memorized all of Wikipedia, would you be more intelligent? It depends on how you define intelligence.

EMILY WHITTEN, REVIEWER: That’s a clip from the audiobook version of Robert J. Marks II new book, Non-Computable You: What You Do that Artificial Intelligence Never Will. Marks has thought a lot about how to define intelligence as an electrical engineer, computer engineer, and Distinguished Professor at Baylor University. He’s also spent his career creating computer programs that mimic human thinking. And while computers can do amazing things–he says they’ll never become human.

AUDIOBOOK: Basically, for computers or artificial intelligence, there’s no other game in town. All computer programs are algorithms. Anything non-algorithmic is non-computable and beyond the reach of AI.

Marks takes readers deep into the science to prove his point, and casual readers may find his reasoning hard to follow at times. But he does aid readers with pop-culture references and a chapter on real world implications—I found the section on killer robots especially intriguing.

Another new book that deals with similar themes in a more exciting way–Blake Crouch’s sci-fi novel, Upgrade. Here’s a FanfiAddict interview with Crouch.

CROUCH: This is about genetic engineering and what that means for humanity. It’s about a guy named Logan Ramsay, it’s set in the near future. He’s with an agency called the Gene Protection Agency….

In the opening pages, Ramsay and his GPA partner track a potential criminal, Henrik Soren, to an airport in Denver.

AUDIOBOOK: ‘My flight’s about to board.’ ‘You aren’t going to Tokyo, not tonight.’ See the woman sitting at the high top behind us? That’s my partner, Agent Netman. Airport police are waiting in the wings. I can drag you out of here or you can walk on your own steam, but you have to decide right now.

The intel Ramsay gets from Soren leads to a secret lab, and there - in a powerful explosion - Ramsay gets exposed to a gene editing virus.

AUDIOBOOK: We know that someone infected me with a package designed to alter my DNA. We assumed, big mistake, it didn’t work. But it was obviously a sleeper package remaining dormant for the first month or so.

Soon, Ramsay becomes stronger and sharper in nearly every way. This genetic “upgrade” opens new doors–but it also isolates him from his family and makes him the enemy of those who want to force their upgrade on the rest of humanity.

Like a Jason Bourne movie, Crouch provides plenty of action–with daring escapes and fights. Unfortunately, his characters use offensive language, and they think and live within an evolutionary framework that leads them to terrible misjudgments.

Still, read carefully, both Non-Computable You by Robert J Marks and Upgrade by Blake Crouch can help us think through important scientific and ethical challenges in our day–and the days to come.

I’m Emily Whitten.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: The Biden administration and the conflict in Ukraine. Join us for Washington Wednesday and World Tour.

Plus, one girl’s story on coming to terms with a disability.

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. (Heb 4:16 ESV)

Go now in grace and peace.

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