WORLD Radio Rewind

LEIGH JONES: This is WORLD Radio Rewind: a 10-minute review of some of our news coverage and features from the past week on WORLD Radio. I’m managing editor Leigh Jones.

First up, gambling. On Tuesday’s program, Bonnie Pritchett reported on the influence online sportsbooks are having on professional sports.

BONNIE PRITCHETT, REPORTER: According to the American Gaming Association, 29 states and the District of Columbia have legal sports betting. Five other states have passed or drafted legislation to legalize it.

MILLER: I think that people thought it would explode if the Supreme Court issued the decision that it did.

That’s Keith Miller. He’s a law professor at Drake University. He’s also a visiting professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, where he teaches on gaming law and sports betting.

MILLER: However, I don't think people really measured the the mega tonnage of the explosion ahead of time very accurately…

The onslaught of advertising shows just how explosively popular sports betting has become.

John Sweeney is the head of advertising specialization and director of the Sports Communication Program at the University of North Carolina. He called the scramble to gain market share a modern-day Gold Rush.

SWEENEY: What you're seeing is major players saying we're going to establish a beachhead. And will it end up with five of them each having 20 percent and blasting each other all the time? Or will it end up that Bet MGM has a particularly easy way of working, plus a particularly memorable campaign…

Viewers could once tune out annoying ads. Not anymore. And that’s a problem for some sports fans. Keith Whyte is director of the National Council on Problem Gambling. He expects calls to its help center to double by next year.

WHYTE: We believe that the rate and severity of problems is going to increase in the United States due to this expansion and due to the lack of prevention mechanisms built in…

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Bonnie Pritchett.

LJ: Next up, rising energy prices. On Wednesday’s program, Mary Reichard talked to energy policy analyst Katie Tubb about the factors driving up the cost of fuel and natural gas.

REICHARD: How much do the president’s policies factor into this vs things that are outside of his control?

TUBB: Well, I think you're right to caveat by saying that there are circumstances outside of a president's control. That said, you know, President Biden has not allowed any coal, oil, or natural gas leasing activity on federal lands. One of his first decisions was to cancel the Keystone XL Pipeline presidential permit from Canada and the United States that would have brought Canadian oil into U.S. markets. And he's continuing to push a regulatory agenda that basically targets every aspect of coal, oil, and natural gas exploration, production, and even use it at this point, whether we're talking about the actual processes of producing energy, or we're talking about financial markets and raising capital for these businesses. So I do think that has an impact as far as what people are willing to invest in and continue pursuing. And those decisions have consequences months and years out ahead of us. But I think another useful contrast point is what's happening in Europe. You know, Europe has made policy decisions years ago, not to pursue robust energy exploration and production. And I think they're reaping the consequences for that now. And so that's, I think, a good lesson learned for the United States to watch what is happening in Europe as a result of policies that were made years ago, and I think they're much less resilient because of those policy decisions.

REICHARD: Katie Tubb is energy and environmental analyst for the Heritage Foundation. Katie, thanks so much!

TUBB: Thanks very much for having me on.

LJ: Next, homeschooling. On Thursday’s program, Lauren Dunn reported on the reasons why so many more African-American families are choosing to teach their children at home.

LAUREN DUNN, REPORTER: Jasper and Deah Abbott’s son attended a public pre-k during the 2019-2020 school year. When schools went virtual in March 2020, Abbott said it was “kind of chaotic.” She and her husband prayed about what to do for their son’s kindergarten year.

ABBOTT: I'm white, my husband is black. And so our son is mixed, but he also identifies as black.

Abbott had already planned to supplement her son’s education around his heritage if he went to public school. But with homeschooling, she found even more opportunities.

ABBOTT: I love imbuing heritage into what we're doing… He knows a little bit about every country in Africa, and he doesn't really know about Europe yet. And I love that that's an option because that's not necessarily the way a school system is normally set up.

Homeschool mom Amber O’Neal Johnston said she has seen more black families involved since she started homeschooling about seven years ago. But the growth has really exploded in the past two years. In 2016, Johnston started Heritage Homeschoolers, a group for African American homeschoolers in the Atlanta area.

JOHNSTON: So it wasn't just my daughter who had this need. And since then I found that many of the black families in our community or families with black children in our community, also were experiencing similar problems and had a similar need.

Amber O’Neal Johnston believes the uptick in homeschooling will continue, especially now that there are more support groups and options for single or working parents.

JOHNSTON: Parents have had an opportunity to see their children just flourish at home. So when everyone was forced to bring the kids home, black families in large numbers, saw how beautiful it was, and what it could look like, what life could be like. And also how happy the children were to be home with their parents.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Lauren Dunn.

LJ: And finally, a story of power, betrayal, and abuse. On Thursday’s program, Kim Henderson previewed a four-part special series called Truth be Told about a criminal case that rocked a small Mississippi town.

KIM HENDERSON, REPORTER: It’s the last week of February 2001. Dark has fallen, and even though daffodils have decided it’s time to bloom, winter’s cold still lingers. Maybe that’s why Nathaniel Lamb is shivering. Or maybe it’s something else.

He’s barely 14, an eighth-grader with sandy hair, wire-rim glasses, and size 13 sneakers. Unlike other kids his age, Nathaniel has never seen Jurassic Park or any of the Star Wars thrillers, but right now a real drama is unfolding, and he’s at the center of it . . . Nathaniel Lamb is living moments he’ll have on instant recall for the rest of his life.

NATE: Dad, Mom—got us all into a room, the furthest room that had the most walls that would protect us. And we feared that bullets would come through the wall and that we would not make it out alive that night.

The Lambs live in Jayess, Mississippi, a sparse community built around railroad tracks laid to transport timber a hundred years ago. Their frame house sits close to the road on 16th section land. An open pasture stands between the back door and woods Nathaniel likes to explore. The closest house is a half a mile away.

NATE: I remember (pause with emotion) my dad gathering us around in a circle in that living room that night crying out for help to our God. We turned off all the lights, locked all the doors. We didn't want no evidence that we were in the house. . .

LJ: Listen to the first part of Kim’s story today. You can find that on The World and Everything in It podcast feed or at wng.org/truthbetold. That’s it for this edition of WORLD Radio Rewind. We’ve posted links to each of the stories we highlighted today in our transcript. You can find that on our website.

Next week, we’ll find out why our favorite tech devices never seem to last as long as we think they should. And we’ll talk to shoppers and retail analysts about their expectations for Black Friday. For the latest news, features, and commentary from WORLD News Group, visit wng.org. For WORLD Radio, I’m Managing Editor Leigh Jones.

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.