8.10.26 States’ religious liberties, current economic mood, and the 1994 baseball strike

**Mary Reichard** (0:05)
Good morning. A new report warns religious liberty is eroding in some states.

**Paul Mueller** (0:10)
And you can really feel it because it gives those who want to a lot more leeway to persecute people of faith.

**Lindsay Mast** (0:17)
That's ahead on Legal Docket. Also on the Monday Moneybeat, what young people often get wrong about the American economy, and later, the World History Book.

**SPEAKER_4** (0:25)
There will be no more baseball in 1994, and for the first time in 90 years, there will be no post-season play.

**Lindsay Mast** (0:31)
The baseball strike that changed everything for an all-star caliber team.

**Mary Reichard** (0:43)
It's Monday, August 10th. This is The World and Everything In It from listener-supported World Radio. I'm Mary Reichard.

**Lindsay Mast** (0:49)
And I'm Lindsay Mast. Good morning.

**Mary Reichard** (0:53)
Time for the news. Here's Kent Covington.

**Kent Covington** (0:56)
Iran issued new public demands over the weekend for Washington. Tehran says it wants the US to lift its blockade of Iranian ports, withdraw its forces, drop sanctions, and pay damages for the war before the Strait of Hormuz fully reopens.
US. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee says Tehran is acting against its own best interests.

**Mike Huckabee** (1:17)
Iran is not seeming to learn what they need to be learning after two different iterations of conflict with the United States and Israel.

**Kent Covington** (1:26)
Vice President JD. Vance said US forces have already devastated Iran's conventional military and We've radically reduced their, what you might call their asymmetric military abilities.

**JD Vance** (1:37)
And right now we're trying to see if they're willing to make the kind of long-term changes that would be necessary to have a better relationship with the United States. And if not, that's fine too.

**Kent Covington** (1:47)
Iran's foreign minister said Sunday that his government is close to striking a temporary deal with Oman to allow a limited route through the Strait of Hormuz for commercial ships. But Iranian leaders still seek to largely control the strait. And Ambassador Huckabee says if they're allowed to do that, that would change the global energy market. And he says that is one reason to keep the pressure on Tehran.

**Mike Huckabee** (2:09)
That means prices go up. It means alignments change. That's dangerous. But the big reason is because Iran has been threatening us for 47 and a half years telling us they're going to kill us.

**Kent Covington** (2:21)
The United Arab Emirates says an Iranian missile hit one of its ships on Saturday.
President Trump has continued to keep pressure on Republicans to pass the Save America Act, which would tighten verification standards for voting. And he says if they have to change the rules in the Senate to end the filibuster to get it done, they should. But many GOP senators oppose ending it. Iowa Senator Joni Ernst explained on Sunday why she is one of them.

**Joni Ernst** (2:46)
If we did that, when we'd become a glorified house, truly, and we would give our country whiplash, our economy could truly suffer if you move from administration to administration.

**Kent Covington** (3:01)
In the House, a bill can pass with a simple majority, while in the Senate, the filibuster means 60 votes are needed out of 100 seats for most legislation. But there are some Republicans who agree with the president that the filibuster needs to go to get more accomplished, and some Democratic lawmakers want their party to do exactly that at their next opportunity.
Former President Joe Biden's son Hunter provided an update over the weekend on his father's health. The former president was diagnosed with prostate cancer last year.

**Hunter Biden** (3:31)
The only thing that I say about my dad about his health right now is I wish he would complain more because it's not good.
The cancer has spread and metastasized into his bones and further. It's very painful and it's very debilitating in many respects.

**Kent Covington** (3:49)
He called his father's condition very sad to watch. The now 83-year-old Biden was the oldest man to serve as US president and his age was a concern for much of his four years in office.
More than 20,000 people in western Canada still cannot go home. A wildfire tore across 40 square miles of British Columbia, emptying Summerland and part of neighboring Peachland. Police are investigating a possible death. Premier David Eby announced a province-wide emergency on Saturday with more than 100 fires burning. Meantime, south of the border, three fires are still burning near Spillcan, Washington and a new fire north of Reno, Nevada was burning on Sunday with no containment.
At the weekend box office, Spider-Man is still doing historic numbers.

**Lauren Smith** (4:37)