← The World and Everything In It
The World and Everything In It
2.24.25 The Supreme Court considers retirement security, David Bahnsen on return-to-work mandates, and Alaska’s serum run of 1925
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- [00:06]
Jenny Ruff
Good morning. Today on legal docket, retirement security for university employees or job security for lawyers.
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Justice Kavanaugh
You know, you file all these lawsuits and maybe the universities are going to say, look, we're just going to settle. So there's a payday for the law firm.
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Nick Iker
Also today, the Monday money beat. Speaking of paydays, I'll talk with economist David Bonson about the so called Doge dividend. He'll have a lot to say about that and the world history book. 100 years ago, a dog sled relay delivered life saving medicine and inspired an annual sporting event.
- [00:47]
Jenny Ruff
It's Monday, February 24th. This is the world and everything in it from listener supported World Radio. I'm Jenny Ruff.
- [00:54]
Nick Iker
And I'm Nick Iker. Good morning.
- [00:58]
Jenny Ruff
Up next, Kent Covington with today's news.
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Kent Covington
Air raid sirens sounding last night in Kyiv amid a massive Russian drone attack. It is an all too familiar sound in Ukraine exactly three years after Russia's full scale invasion. Officials say Moscow's forces launched the largest number of attack drones since the start of the war, almost 270, damaging cars and buildings. Those attacks come as both sides look for bargaining power with US Officials launching peace talks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that today Kyiv will host a high level meeting with dozens of leaders from allied nations. The U.S. however, was not expected to participate. Zelenskyy is leaning heavily into support from European leaders amid a severely strained relationship with President Trump. He said he believes today's meeting could be a possible turning point with regard to strengthening Ukraine's hand. But of course, support from Washington is still crucial. And one key to that could be a partnership on rare earth minerals in Ukraine. U.S. treasury Secretary Scott Besant it is a win, win.
- [02:10]
Justice Kavanaugh
We make money if the Ukrainian people make money. And I believe that with the United States of America, our know how our our businesses willing to come in and provide capital that we can accelerate the Ukrainian growth trajectory.
- [02:25]
Kent Covington
And zelenskyy says a U.S. proposal that would have seen a half trillion dollars worth of profits from Ukrainian minerals given to the US as compensation for its wartime aid has been taken off the table. Ukraine had objected to the proposal largely because it did not include security guarantees. Zelenskyy's remarks on Sunday led many to believe that the two sides may be drawing closer to a deal on rare earth minerals that would give the United States a greater vested interest in Ukraine. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is defending President Trump's firing of the nation's top general amid a major shakeup at the Pentagon.
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Kelly Loeffler
The president deserves to pick his key national security and military advisory team.
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Nick Iker
There are lots of presidents who've made changes from FDR to Eisenhower to H.W.
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David Bonson
Bush to Barack Obama.
- [03:15]
Kent Covington
President Trump on Friday night dismissed Air Force General C.Q. brown as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Exith said, quote, nothing about this is unprecedented. But Democratic Congressman Adam Smith had a very different take.
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Kelly Loeffler
Well, it's deeply concerning. I know CQ Brown quite well. He's an incredibly capable, intelligent person and there seems to be no particular reason to remove him. And it's disruptive.
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Kent Covington
The Trump administration did not publicly state a reason for General Brown's removal, but it came amid a broader purge of senior military officials linked to Biden era DEI efforts. On Capitol Hill, the House Budget Committee has advanced a budget resolution for a full vote. That is one huge bill that would address President Trump's priorities on national and border security as well as tax cuts. The Senate has advanced its own legislation, opting for an alternative strategy of splitting those priorities up into multiple bills. GOP Senator Marcia Blackburn we in the.
- [04:15]
David Bonson
Senate think that we can reduce more and remove outdated agencies doge more if we do three bills.
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Kent Covington
Some Republicans say separate bills would be the fastest path to pass President Trump's agenda. But others argue that a single bill strategy is the surest path to success. A government shake up In Germany, supporters of opposition leader Friedrich Mears celebrated last night after projections showed that his center right party ousted Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his left of center Social Democratic Party from power. Mears thanked supporters but acknowledged a tough task ahead to form a governing coalition. Scholz, for his part, took responsibility for the defeat and he added.
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Nick Iker
It is first and foremost important to congratulate the CDU chairman Friedrich Merz. From here on the mandate to form the next government.
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Kent Covington
The election was dominated by worries about the years long stagnation of Europe's biggest economy and pressure to curb migration. I'm Kent Covington. And straight ahead, protecting retirement funds on legal docket plus, the Monday Money beat with David Bonson. This is the World and Everything in it.
- [05:53]
Nick Iker
It's Monday, February 20. Glad to have you along for today's edition of the World and Everything in It. Good morning, I'm Nick Iger.
- [06:01]
Jenny Ruff
And I'm Jenny Ruff. Time now for Legal Docket. About a week and a half ago, I went up to the Library of Congress. The Supreme Court Fellows program hosts an annual lecture that typically features a Supreme Court justice. This year was Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Her lecture began with a reading from from her memoir. Are you prepared to take the oath, he said, his tone more formal than it had been a moment before. I am, I responded in a voice that sounded firmer than I felt. As she continued, one part caught my attention. It was about the Bibles she used when she took her Supreme Court oaths. Two Bibles on top, a cherished family Bible underneath, a Bible known as the Harlan Bible. In speaking with the court's public information office, I found out it's a King James version, it's printed by Oxford University Press, and it's bound in black leather. Donated to the Court in 1906 by Associate Justice John Marshall Harlan, this tome had been used for the oath taking by every Supreme Court appointee. Since then, each new justice had also signed one of the book's fly leaves after being sworn in As a footnote here. Justice Harlan was a Presbyterian and a Calvinist. One legal scholar said the argument that Harlan's Calvinism contributed to his distinctiveness as a judge is grounded in the unusual intensity of Harlan's beliefs. That unusual intensity shows itself in the nickname Harlan earned the great dissenter for his lone dissent in the case Plessy vs Ferguson. That landmark 1896 decision approved the principle of separate but equal. Harlan objected, writing the famous line that the Constitution ought to be colorblind.
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Nick Iker
Those are the famous Cornell Chimes, a 21 bell chorus in McGraw Tower on the Cornell campus in Ithaca, New York. When the university opened its doors in 1868, there were just nine bells. But like a good investment, they've more than doubled over time, filling the air with even richer music. Today, on legal docket a case involving Cornell's management of investments of a different sort, its employee retirement plans, a group of current and former employees is suing Cornell. Those employees say the university let outside companies nibble at their nest eggs.
- [08:46]
Jenny Ruff
They claim the university violated a federal law that protects people who invest in employer based plans. That law is known by the acronym erisa. You'll hear it quite a bit today as we listen to the arguments. ERISA stands for Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Under erisa, Cornell is a fiduciary. That just means the school is responsible for using care and skill in managing employees funds.
- [09:09]
Nick Iker
And that's why employees sued. They say Cornell didn't exercise proper care and skill. Instead, it allowed investment companies Fidelity and TIAA to charge excessive fees on their retirement accounts and that eroded their savings over time. ERISA contains a list of prohibited transactions. Generally, employers are not allowed to outsource certain plan like record keeping. There is an exception if the service is necessary and the fees reasonable, then it's okay. But the employees say Cornell failed that test and ought to be held liable.
- [09:47]
Jenny Ruff
Let me add here. I spoke with an ERISA lawyer who has served as an expert witness in cases just like this, and she said, as a practical matter, all plans have some sort of service provider. You can't maintain a plan without one. But the way the provisions work has been the subject of many lawsuits. They're not easy to judge. Different appeals courts have ruled differently, and the resulting circuit split is a virtual guarantee that the Supreme Court is going to have to get involved.
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Kelly Loeffler
Will her argument next? In case 2310 oh7, Cunningham v. Cornell.
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Nick Iker
University, the legal issue centers on the pleading standard, meaning what must a plaintiff allege in the complaint to make the lawsuit valid? Some circuits say all you have to allege is, hey, Cornell, you h outside provider for the plan, and that's enough. You simply point to the prohibited transaction. The employer then has to prove it's covered by the exception, namely that the fees were fair and the services were needed. But the burden is on the employer. Other circuits say, not so fast. You can't sue just because a plan uses an outside provider. Everyone does that. You also have to claim something was truly off about the arrangement, like unreasonably high fees.
- [11:01]
Jenny Ruff
And that's the question before the Supreme Court. How much detail must plaintiffs include in their lawsuit to survive an early dismissal? This is no small issue. Plaintiffs have to get the allegations right because if a complaint doesn't state a valid claim, the court will dismiss it. Xiao Wang represented the planned participants at oral argument. He said the statute's plain text and structure supports his client's position.
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Justice Kavanaugh
Congress frequently writes laws where it puts liability in one part of the statute and exceptions to liability in another. And when it does so, this court has time and again held that plaintiffs plead and prove liability, and defendants plead and prove exceptions to liability. Your theory means, I think, or at least the other side says, that it's a prohibited track transaction just to have record keeping services correct, Justice Kavanaugh, I think that seems nuts, right? That's what they say, and it does to me seem nuts, too.
- [11:58]
Jenny Ruff
The whole game for plaintiffs here is to get the case to discovery. That costs time and money and lots of both. If the plaintiffs can escape a motion to dismiss and move the case to discovery, well, that may motivate the university to settle. That might be the cheaper route, even if down the road it might be able to show the fees were not excessive or unreasonable.
- [12:21]
Justice Kavanaugh
You're not alleging excessive or unreasonable Amounts paid for these record keeping services. You're just alleging that we had them. Well, of course we have them. Right? Everyone has them. You have to have them. So it's, it's an automatic ticket pass, go, go immediately to discovery, summary judgment. Huge expense, these universities. Other defendants are saying that's just completely absurd and ridiculous, which is, you know, the starting point.
- [12:50]
Nick Iker
It's worth noting here, the same law firm that represents the retirement plan participants here has filed similar cases across the country, cases against school, schools like Duke, Vanderbilt and Penn. Justice Samuel Alito wanted to hear more about that.
- [13:06]
Justice Kavanaugh
And then, you know, how many, how many lawsuits just like this one, did the Schlichter Bogard law firm in St. Louis file against universities? How many lawsuits just like this did that law firm file against different universities? I think it's filed a certain significant number. I don't have the specific number off the top of my head, but I would say that 12. Excuse me. And, but I would say in the confession, I thought it was 20, but it doesn't matter. So, you know, you file all these lawsuits and maybe the universities are going to say, look, it's going to cost us a lot of money to go through the discovery. We're just going to settle. And so there's a payday for the law firm.
- [13:48]
Kelly Loeffler
Now maybe this.
- [13:49]
Nick Iker
Nicole Zaharski argued for Cornell. She called the plaintiff's lawsuit too thin. Her point is that the ERISA section on prohibited transactions leads directly to the exception that allows outsourcing if the fees are fair. In Zaharski's view, that means the plaintiffs have to claim something was actually wrong before they can sue. The burdens on the plaintiffs to show the fees are unreasonable or the service is unnecessary. Justice Clarence Thomas pressed Zaharski to explain exactly what a valid lawsuit ought to say be planned.
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Jenny Ruff
So here it's the, that the fiduciary caused the plan to enter into a transaction with a party in interest, which a service provider is, and either that the services were unnecessary or that the fees are unreasonable. So, you know, it's just a question of can they just come to court and say service provider transaction with nothing wrong with it, as opposed to service provider transaction with some kind of wrongdoing. If you come to court, you've got to have done some investigation and have done some, you know, have some plausible allegation of wrongdoing. We've got a retirement crisis in this country. People are living longer, but they're not saving enough. And it's harder for many people to keep working as they age. That's why it's so important to protect their retirement accounts from mismanagement. On the other hand, if the courts allow every ERISA lawsuit to go forward, even ones with weak claims, that's a different kind of mismanagement. It could be a waste of time and money that could have helped these same planned participants. So there's a balance to strike, and I'm curious to see how the justices handle it.
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Nick Iker
All right, along with hearing this Cornell case, the Supreme Court handed down three opinions on Friday. First, the court held that Hungarian Holocaust survivors did not meet the exception allowing them to sue Hungary in US Courts. Second case involves a whistleblower. The court agreed a telecom fraud case under the False Claims act can proceed. And third, a 5 to 4 ruling that says unemployed workers can sue the state of Alabama for long wait times on benefits.
- [16:01]
Jenny Ruff
And that's this week's legal docket.
- [16:11]
Nick Iker
Additional support comes from Compelled Podcast. Ron Husband was a legendary Disney animator.
- [16:19]
Kent Covington
Before that, he explored UFOs, lost cities, and Jesus. Compelledpodcast.com from Dort University, student musicians at Dort enjoy opportunities to discover, develop and.
- [16:36]
Nick Iker
Share the gift of music and bring glory to God until all is made new. And from the Joshua program at St. Dunstan's Academy in Virginia, a gap year shaping young men through trades, farming, prayer, St. Dunstansacademy.org.
- [17:07]
Jenny Ruff
Coming up next on the world and everything in it, the Monday Money Beat.
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Nick Iker
Time now to talk business, markets and the economy with financial analyst and advisor David Bonson. David heads up the wealth management firm the Bonson Group, and he is here now. David, good morning.
- [17:25]
Kelly Loeffler
Well, good morning, Nick. Good to be with you.
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Nick Iker
Well, it is Monday morning, David. That means full offices, at least for now, at the Small Business Administration. Here is the new head of the sba, former Senator Kelly Loeffler.
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Kelly Loeffler
Hi, everyone.
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David Bonson
Kelly Loeffler, it's my second day here at the sba. I could not be more excited to be here, so I thought I'd take a walk. And what I found is that exactly what's been said is true. About 90% of our employees are working from home. Home. Well, that ends Monday with President Trump's order to return to work. It's a.
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Nick Iker
Well, David, with President Trump's order for federal employees to return to the office and seeing that many private businesses have already done so, do you view this mandate as a genuine effort to boost productivity and reduce waste and government spending, or do you see it mainly as a political statement?
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Kelly Loeffler
No, I think it's meaningful, of course. I think it's meaningful in the private sector. And if we're going to pay governmental employees to do some work, then I think they should go to work. And one of the things that Kelly did in that video that went viral on social media that you're referring to is point out that her particular governmental agency is the Small Business Administration. So I would like to know, of all these small businesses that they are out there to serve, how many of them have a bunch of people not working? See, the fact of the matter is most of these businesses have gone back to work a long, long time ago. And the fact that the governmental employees Doge's estimate that 92% were not going back to work, that's a completely unacceptable metric. And so again, if there's certain government employees that want to take retirement, want to leave, if they're going to be cut out because they aren't producing or whatnot, that's a different story. But those that want to stay and have a job and get paid for a job, they need to go do their job, right?
- [19:25]
Nick Iker
Well, David, some of our listeners have shared personal experiences where Doge's cost cutting measures seem to have led to indiscriminate layoffs. How do you differentiate between necessary efficiency driven terminations and and unjust workforce reductions and what should be the criteria for decisions like those?
- [19:49]
Kelly Loeffler
You know, Nick, this issue about DOGE and terminations and retirement offers, it's very important that we look at these things by different category because offering people eight months of pay to leave is very different than a termination. And so some people are being let go of. Cause I'm sure that there are some government employees out there who have worked hard and are losing their job and that they're unfortunate circumstances. You know, we know those things happen in the private sector from time to time. They don't happen very often, but they can happen in the public sector too, including in what is essentially right now a rif. You know, sometimes companies go in and have to do what's called a RIF where for financial reasons they have to let 10% or 15% of workers go.
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Nick Iker
Reduction in force riff Right?
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Kelly Loeffler
A reduction in force. That's right. Is a very difficult thing on a human level, but we understand it is unfortunately part of what takes place at times. And people find new work, they find new opportunities, sometimes better opportunities. And so I don't say it without compassion for those that are going through it. But that is not the majority of what's happening. The majority of it is an offer being made to people that they can either Take eight months of pay to go away. Or in some cases, there is waste and pushback. Look, I'm very happy to criticize some of the things that have happened, okay? I think that what they did with, for example, the prosecutor who had conscience objections to the dropping of the Eric Adams case, I think that was, you know, very problematic. But when you're talking about the bulk of the work Doge is doing and none of us are privy to all of the specifics, I'm very confident that they're mostly trying to eliminate waste. And those things, unfortunately, have to be done in a government that's spending $2 trillion more than it brings in.
- [21:44]
Nick Iker
Well, David, there is an idea bouncing around in there provoking a lot of discussion. I would like to get your thoughts on the Doge dividend proposal. The idea of a portion of government savings being returned to the taxpayers. It looks like you're ready to jump on in, so go ahead.
- [22:04]
Kelly Loeffler
Sometimes I wish our listeners could see the video so they could just get my answer from my facial expressions instead of, instead of what I'm about to say. I'm always for the idea of taxpayers receiving money back, paying less taxes, things like that. That is not what we are talking about here. And I want to make this analogy I presented on Fox the other day, because it is a pretty good analogy. If your credit card company accidentally charges you $5,000 for something they weren't supposed to, and you uncover it later, and then they send you a check for $5,000, you don't go, well, hey, I'm going to leave the debt there and then I'm going to deposit the 5,000. All that means is you basically took a cash advance on the credit card. Okay? If we uncover money with Doge that was from inefficiencies, that gives us the opportunity to reduce the money we're leaving in debt for our children and our grandchildren. No entity with $36 trillion of national debt, when we're talking about money raised from uncovering inefficiency that helped create the 36 trillion of debt, all right, we're not talking about our taxpayer money and it's a refund owed. We paid in more than than we owed on an individual basis. This Doge dividend is obviously a political idea. To put cash in people's pockets is going to make them feel good. And my critique is not that it's inflationary. It isn't creating new money supply. It would create more demand than there is new supply. And so you'll live with higher prices, but that's not the inflationary critique. The critique is it belongs to the creditors. Reduce the debt. And that is the responsible thing to do, which is what they said they were creating doge for.
- [23:57]
Nick Iker
You know, David, I am more of a voice inflections guy than facial expressions. And I have to congratulate you. Matching the face to the voice. I think you did that just perfectly. Good job.
- [24:11]
Kelly Loeffler
Well, thank you.
- [24:12]
Nick Iker
All right, well, David, before we go speaking of inflation and inflation expectations, I would like for you to take a moment and elaborate on your discussion from Dividend Cafe on the differences between core inflation and headline inflation, especially in light of oil price fluctuations and housing supply issues.
- [24:37]
Kelly Loeffler
Yeah, you know, I think there's been times in the past that we've discussed why there's a difference between core inflation and headline inflation. And headline kind of includes all components of the price level and core strips out energy and food. And the reason is I tried to lay out in Dividend Cafe that there's such thing as monetary inflation that raises the whole price level when the money supply goes up more than the supply of goods and services. And in the case of oil, oftentimes gas prices go up. And it has nothing to do with monetary inflation. But there are all kinds of geopolitical things and supply shocks and there's various commodity complexities that can exist, you know, on a particular commodity. Cocoa has been an example over the last eight months. People are aware of the bird flu ramifications with egg prices. So yes, the price of eggs inflated, meaning went higher, but that wasn't from inflation. With oil, I think it's been incredibly stable for a little while. It's gone up near 80. It's come down in the mid six. It stayed right around the 70ish level since the big spike that had happened in 2022. But you know, there are things that affect oil prices with Iran either getting taken off the global market or being put back on the global market as the Biden administration unfortunately let happen. The Russia, Ukraine war had implications in 2022. An end to the war maybe could end up having implications. But opec, which Russia is a member of, they're kind of holding their production down. So my point is that oil prices are a really important thing to how people feel about prices. What you're paying at the gas pump, especially people that have long commutes to work and it's a big part of what they spend money on is putting gas in the car. Middle class people and lower income people, it's sometimes one of their biggest expenditures outside of the rent or their mortgage. But I don't think that's really the same as the inflation level. And we have to understand housing prices have a supply component. Oil is complicated. That's the stuff we got to be thinking about here. It's going to affect markets in a different way and it's going to affect the economy in a different way.
- [26:55]
Nick Iker
David Bonson is founder, managing partner and chief investment officer of the Bonson Group. David Wright's a dividend capital and regularly for World Opinions. David, thank you and I hope you have a great week.
- [27:09]
Kelly Loeffler
Well, thanks so much. Great to be with you.
- [27:30]
Jenny Ruff
Today is Monday, February 24th. Good morning. This is the world and everything in it. From listener supported world radio. I'm Jenny Ruff.
- [27:38]
Nick Iker
And I'm Nick Iker. Time now for the world history book. Last month was the 100th anniversary of the great serum run in Alaska. It was a race against time to transport the antidote to a deadly disease from one side of a vast state to the other before an outbreak could wipe out an entire community. World's Mary Muncie has the story.
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David Bonson
In January of 1925, children in Nome, Alaska, began complaining of sore throats and a nasty cough. At first, the town doctor thinks it's just a normal cold going around, but soon.
- [28:22]
Jenny Ruff
What killed that little girl?
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Nick Iker
She died in the dark.
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David Bonson
A bacterial infection that creates a gray mucus that clogs a person's airways. It's highly contagious and kills about 30% of infected children. Sound from the Great Alaskan Race movie released in 2019.
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Jenny Ruff
But don't we have the antitoxin?
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Kelly Loeffler
Yes, we do, but it's expired, and.
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David Bonson
Not just by a few days. It's about five years old. The doctor doesn't know if administering it will cause an adverse reaction. And even if it does work, he doesn't have enough for all the sick.
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Nick Iker
We need help.
- [28:57]
David Bonson
The doctor telegraphs health officials in D.C. shuts down the town and waits. Former known resident Gene Summers Wolf told the BBC that big red cards were posted on quarantined people's front doors and.
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Kelly Loeffler
We would hold our breath and walk real fast or run past that house.
- [29:15]
David Bonson
About five days after the first diphtheria diagnosis, government officials find a small supply of the antidote at a hospital in Anchorage. The problem? It's over 1,000 miles away in the dead of winter. And if the serum freezes, it may no longer work. Historian Stephen Haycox.
- [29:33]
Kent Covington
The challenge was, can we get the.
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Nick Iker
Serum over to Nome in time?
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David Bonson
In 1925, there aren't any roads or trains to the town. Ships only come to Nome in the summer and aviation is is still in its infancy. The only way to get goods to and from Nome between October and June is by dog sled.
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Nick Iker
Transportation by dog team is reliable, but how long is it going to take?
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David Bonson
Usually about 30 days at least for a mail run. Normally a train brings the mail north from Anchorage to Nenana. Then a dog team takes it the rest of the way.
- [30:08]
Justice Kavanaugh
One musher can never make it there and back.
- [30:10]
Kelly Loeffler
It's 700.
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Nick Iker
Not one musher, a relay.
- [30:14]
David Bonson
There are cabins about every 30 miles along the route from Nenana to Nome, where the mail carriers usually stop and rest.
- [30:21]
Kelly Loeffler
We station men at every roadhouse along.
- [30:24]
Nick Iker
The way from here to Nenana.
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David Bonson
Men agree to the plan and two days after officials find the serum in Anchorage, it arrives in Nenana. Musher Wild Bill Shannon meets the train, strapped the serum to his dog sled and takes off into negative 54 degree temperatures.
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Kelly Loeffler
Let's go, Jogo.
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David Bonson
Wild Bill travels about 50 miles before stopping at a cabin, warming himself and the serum and passing it off to the next musher. Three of his dogs had died on the way. As the serum is on its way from Nenana to Nome, Leonard's Seppala, or Sepp, takes off from Nome. He's an immigrant from Norway and a well known dog sled racer. He heads for a town about halfway between Nome and Nenana to retrieve the serum and return a 600 mile round trip run. When Leonard Seppala left Nome, he thought that he was doing this whole halfway distance and back on his own. And he hears this shouting and he sees a man, you know, waving his arms. Historical author Debbie Miller telling the BBC that it's Henry Ivanov with the serum, the 17th musher in the relay. They're about 150 miles from Nome and it's near blizzard conditions. They passed each other, but Ivanov heard Seppala's bells and yelled him down. Ivanov gives Seppala the bundle and Seppala turns around and heads back towards Nome. Just a few miles in, he comes to the shore of the Norton Sound resident Summers Wolf.
- [32:00]
Kelly Loeffler
They were given orders, go on land.
- [32:03]
Justice Kavanaugh
Do not cross Norton Sound because it's.
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David Bonson
High risk and a storm is rolling in, meaning Seppala won't be able to hear or see if the ice starts cracking. He would have to trust his lead dog Togo to get them to the other side. But he takes off across the ice anyway. A few hours later they make it across and make camp.
- [32:24]
Kent Covington
When they woke up in the morning.
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David Bonson
All that ice that they had crossed was gone, had all floated out to sea. The storm continues getting worse, but Seppala breaks camp and mushes for another 13 hours until he meets Charlie Hurley Olsen and hands off the serum. After about 25 miles, Olson delivers it to Gunner Cassan, who's supposed to be the second to last musher in the chain. But when Cassan arrives at the last stop, he doesn't see lights in the cabin and thinks the other musher isn't ready to leave. So Cassan keeps going and at 5:30 in the morning, he pounds on the doctor's door holding the serum.
- [33:09]
Nick Iker
Incredible.
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Kelly Loeffler
They're all intact.
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Nick Iker
Not a single vial broken.
- [33:12]
David Bonson
They're frozen, but they still work and are quickly thawed and injected.
- [33:17]
Kelly Loeffler
Let's go to work.
- [33:18]
David Bonson
The mushers had turned a 30 day journey into a six day sprint. But the town isn't out of the woods yet. The shipment is enough to slow the spread of diphtheria. But more mushers do another run the very next week to bring a second shipment to the town. Six days after that shipment arrives, the doctor lifts the quarantine. About a month after the first diagnosis. The media coverage of the serum run lifts Kasson and his lead dog Balto to national fame. We know from historical documents that at least five people died of diphtheria before the antidote arrived, though some historians believe that there were likely more since Inuit deaths were usually under reported, if they were reported at all. Today, planes, trains and automobiles have mostly replaced the sled dog in the Alaskan wilderness. But every year the state holds a race called the Iditarod sled dog Race that follows a similar route as the serum run. The ceremonial start of the race begins Saturday. More than 30 mushers and their dogs will compete to see who has the stamina to make the 1000 mile journey and join people like Seppala in Khe San in musher history. Reporting for World I'm Mary Muncie.
- [34:48]
Nick Iker
Tomorrow, a firsthand report on the German election over the weekend. And some states are trying to make divorce more difficult. But that may come with unintended consequences. We'll explain that and more tomorrow. I'm Nick Iger.
- [35:03]
Jenny Ruff
And I'm Jenny Ruff. 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 records that the Pharisees grumbled about Jesus eating with sinners. Jesus said, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance. Verse 7 of Luke chapter 15. Go now in grace and peace.