Act to protect local public broadcasting

Wait! Wait! — Don’t tell me! So your kids grew up watching Sesame Street or Daniel Tiger? Did you look forward to those weekly episodes of Downton Abbey? Have you learned a lot from Ken Burns documentaries? These queries and similar ones could fill pages.

Our kids learned their alphabet and letter sounds and important tips like “to look for the helpers” before they entered kindergarten. Wasn’t that a great start?

We have looked forward to and been deeply engaged by evolving dramas.

We have visited peoples and places around the globe and been immersed in issues that raised our consciousness.

Essential news broadcasts, interviews, soul-lifting poetry, prose and music filled our cars and kitchens. We have had immediate emergency broadcasts that may have saved our lives.

The Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio have truly fulfilled their mission of being “America’s largest classroom, biggest stage and window to the world” and now they are threatened with elimination.

The House has already passed legislation to claw back $1.1 billion in funds already allocated to PBS and NPR. Senate consideration is pending this month. If passed, hundreds of stations will be threatened with closure, and this will have a serious impact on rural communities.

I encourage you to reflect on the benefit you and your family have enjoyed because of public media. Don’t you want it to continue?

I implore you to let your senator know that you value these programs and that you want them to continue to receive federal dollars.

I’d also ask you to make a contribution to your local NPR and PBS stations. They need your support now more than ever.

Candace Moline

Geneva