Letters: Best interest of country, world to fully fund WHO; WPSU-TV supports families, teachers during crisis

Best interest of country, world to fully fund WHO

On April 14th, President Donald Trump announced a hold on U.S. funding for the World Health Organization pending a review of actions related to the pandemic.

Such a move would endanger lives at home and around the world.

We have already seen COVID-19 overwhelm nations large and small, rich and poor, developed and developing. The world is facing a public health crisis unlike anything seen in over 100 years. This international crisis requires an international response.

And, WHO is the only global organization positioned to respond.

With 150 country offices and six regional offices around the world, WHO has relationships with nearly every national health ministry. This gives WHO the ability to monitor an outbreak that will be with us for many months or perhaps years. It can help coordinate the worldwide response as nations work to develop a vaccine, conduct clinical trials of new drugs or potential treatments, and help train medical personnel. And, it can coordinate lifesaving support for the world’s neediest peoples. Those efforts will save countless lives, including here in the U.S.

Regardless of the merits of President Trump’s criticisms, the board of directors of UNA Centre County believes believes it is in the best interest of our country and countries around the world to fully fund WHO. We are facing a once in a century pandemic. WHO is our best chance for an effective worldwide response.

Please let your congressman know you support fully funding WHO.

WPSU-TV supports families, teachers during crisis

Your PBS station, WPSU-TV, is providing emergency at-home learning services to assist students, families, teachers, administrators and school systems as our communities work to ensure social distance during the pandemic.

Public stations have served over a million elementary and secondary school teachers nationally for years through PBS LearningMedia, a collection of tens of thousands of interactive digital learning objects curated from the best of public television’s national and local programming. Our early childhood television programs help close the achievement gap between children in lower-income families and their more affluent peers.

During the pandemic, WPSU-TV and other public television stations across the country – working remotely and with un-budgeted resources – are pursuing our educational mission even farther, clearing our daytime schedules to broadcast instructional programming, and providing educational games and other online content. The station is working with the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Intermediate Units and local school districts to ensure that at least some of the established K-12 curriculum is covered in these unprecedented circumstances.

The WPSU Learning at Home initiative has three components:

• Television programming blocks on air organized by subject and grade level.
• Lessons and activities, coordinated with weekly programs tied to our content library and classroom curriculum, aligned to Common Core with in-depth lesson plans.
• A WPSU-TV portal to PBS LearningMedia, PBS Parents, and other resources.

We’re honored that our commitment to education can be of benefit in this crisis. Learn more online at wpsu.org

Will DeVos, Trump set an example?

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos called on elite colleges with large endowments to follow Stanford’s lead and forgo any relief under the CARES Act. I assume that means that elite individuals with billions in personal wealth like DeVos and Trump will follow the lead of Milton Hershey who during the Great Depression in the 1930s strategically kept employees on the payroll.