The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a recently defunded nonprofit corporation that distributed federal money to U.S. public media stations, is warning that its shutdown next month could jeopardize the resilience of the nation’s emergency alert systems, the Associated Press reports.
One of these is the Next Generation Warning System grant program, which was created by Congress in 2022 to help stations in rural, tribal and otherwise underserved communities repair and enhance warning systems that broadcast evacuation orders, Amber alerts, tornado warnings and more.
Congress authorized $136 million over three years for the program, but its grant money is managed by CPB, which is set to shut down Sept. 30 after Congress and President Donald Trump defunded it in July.
The shutdown could leave millions in already-awarded grant dollars unspent and imperil dozens of projects meant to save lives in emergencies.
