Major league baseball’s World Series starts Tuesday night, and whichever team wins the best-of-seven series will end a long title drought. The Los Angeles Dodgers won it in 1988 but haven’t been back since. The Houston Astros joined baseball in 1962 as the Colt .45s and have never won the championship. Twelve years ago, Houston went to its first World Series as a National League team but lost to the Chicago White Sox and then didn’t make the playoffs again until two years ago. Meanwhile, being in the World Series is old hat for the Dodgers.

Star Parker is a conservative commentator, author, and founder of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education (CURE). Here are edited excerpts of our recent conversation at her Washington, D.C., office.

Tell us about your childhood.

President Donald Trump has announced he will appoint Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback as the next ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom.

The Wednesday evening statement caps weeks of hopeful speculation by advocates who said Brownback would bring unprecedented political muscle to the position.

A Wednesday deadline is pushing the Trump administration to decide whether to keep loosened Sudan sanctions or snap them back into place.

WASHINGTON—Human rights advocates are heaping praise on Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback as speculation grows that he will become the next ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom.

Jonathan Auxier is a husband, father, and New York Times best-selling author of young adult fiction, including Sophie Quire and the Last Storyguard. We recently discussed his childhood, writing philosophy, and the influence of his faith on his work.

Tell me about your childhood.

CONCORD, N.H., and WASHINGTON, D.C.—On a February morning at the U.S. Capitol, lawmakers, ambassadors, and advocates gathered to award the Lantos Human Rights Prize to Vian Dakhil, a young, articulate member of Iraq’s parliament whose 2014 cries for help drew the world’s attention to ISIS atrocities.

Dakhil’s advocacy for fellow Yazidis had made her ISIS’ most wanted woman, but her nationality almost kept her from attending the event in her honor: As an Iraqi national, she was barred from entering the United States under President Donald Trump’s recently issued travel ban.