Kennedy Center says building closed temporarily due to 'acute risks to public safety'

WASHINGTON (AP) — A top official at the Kennedy Center said Thursday that he closed the iconic performing arts center temporarily due to “acute risks to public safety resulting from continued structural deterioration" of the aging building.

Matt Floca, the Kennedy Center's executive director and chief operating officer, said in a federal court filing that the building will be closed for at least seven days to "assess existing safety risks in those portions of the main building exhibiting severe structural deterioration.”

The temporary closure, which occurred without notice Wednesday, is separate from a vote Tuesday by the Kennedy Center's board to close the performing arts center indefinitely for repairs. It was based on an inspection of the roof terrace canopy and a partial ceiling collapse earlier this month, Floca said. The closure may be extended after evaluation next week, he said.

The announcement of the closure came in response to a court case filed by a Democratic congresswoman who is a trustee and sought an emergency court hearing to prevent what she called the building's “unlawful closing.”

Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and an ex-officio member of the Kennedy Center board, has led efforts to block President Donald Trump’s name from being added to the building. Beatty had a verbal confrontation with the Republican president Tuesday during a virtual board meeting.

The Trump-aligned board, chaired by the president, voted to close the center after a federal judge blocked the institution from returning Trump’s name to the building.

Trump, who was named the Kennedy Center’s chairman last year by loyalists on the board, said Wednesday that his efforts to restore the aging building deserve recognition, “because frankly, if we don’t do that, it’s going to close. It’ll end up being ripped down. It’s in very, very bad shape, very dangerous shape.”

Congress has allocated $257 million to cover the repairs, but Trump said they only would happen if the board was permitted to move forward with plans to add his name to the building.

On Thursday, Barbra Streisand, a Kennedy Center honoree in 2008, questioned the closing of the center for repairs and called the controversy surrounding its operation “galling and painful to witness.”

Of Trump’s attempts to add his name to the center, she said in a statement to The Associated Press: “You can easily imagine my indignation at seeing this revered institution become the subject of such a bitter struggle over one man’s name and unchecked ego.”

The Kennedy Center board voted in August to inscribe Trump's name on the Kennedy Center’s facade so it would read “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump.” If the Trump Kennedy Center Fund reached $100 million, another inscription would be added reading “Endowed by the Trump Kennedy Center Fund.”

The plaza in front of the Kennedy Center would also have been renamed in Trump’s honor.

All of those proposals were shot down Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, who ruled that nothing could happen “without Congress’s blessing.”

Cooper ruled in May that the Kennedy Center illegally added Trump’s name to the building, ordering it removed. The institution’s leaders complied in June but left a tarp and scaffolding in place where Trump’s name was once displayed.

Streisand told AP she was deeply honored to be included in the 31st annual class of Kennedy Center Honorees, adding, “for me, and for so many artists, that honor represented something larger than a career recognition. It represented a belief in the importance of art to the life of a democracy.”

Associated Press writer Glenn Gamboa contributed to this report.

Fencing is installed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Laura Bligh of Vienna, Va., holds a protest sign outside the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, and board member of the Kennedy Center, attends an event with fellow Democrats to denounce the economic policies of President Donald Trump, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

A tarp covers portions of the sign at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

Barricades are installed in front of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

President Donald Trump suggested that the European Union allowing Canada to become an associate member could be a “hostile act” and threatened to respond to the proposed move by imposing more tariffs on the bloc.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson sent lawmakers home to campaign for the midterm elections, but not without a scathing rebuke from Republican Rep. Thomas Massie for all the unfinished business. Massie’s resolution to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the war in Iran and his bipartisan effort to release more files in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation are being left behind.

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A top official at the Kennedy Center says he closed the iconic performing arts center temporarily due to “acute risks to public safety resulting from continued structural deterioration” of the aging building.

Matt Floca, the Kennedy Center’s executive director and chief operating officer, said in a court filing Thursday that the building will be closed for at least seven days to “assess existing safety risks in those portions of the main building exhibiting severe structural deterioration.”

The temporary closure, which occurred without notice Wednesday, is separate from a vote

Tuesday by the Kennedy Center’s board to close the performing arts center indefinitely for repairs. The closure may be extended after officials evaluate the center next week.

Human rights experts commissioned by the U.N.’s top human rights body say they’ve found “reasonable grounds” to believe the U.S. committed war crimes in two strikes in Iran, including one on a school in the southern city of Minab.

In a non-binding report published Thursday, they also accuse Iran’s theocratic government of carrying out crimes against humanity against its own people.

The report adds to international evidence gathered about possible crimes in the war in Iran, and could eventually be used in efforts to pursue justice in international courts.

The fact-finding mission was created by the Human Rights Council, the U.N.’s top human rights body. The grouping of independent experts is expected to present their findings next week to the council, which is made up of 47 U.N. member countries.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Hakeem Jeffries said Republicans have nothing left to offer voters than “trying to unload tens of millions of dollars” on the House, Senate and governors’ races.

“But they can’t even stick to their own brand,” he said.

Jeffries pointed out that the Trump-affiliated group is creating “all of these other entities,” which he suggested was so that they don’t have to disclose MAGA Inc. as the spender in the races.

“That should tell you a lot,” he said.

Jeffries said Democrats will have enough funding to defend their House incumbents and flip seats to take back the majority.

He also guided the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Kyl died Wednesday night from a neurological disorder, said Gordon James, a communications professional who is longtime friends with the Kyl family. Kyl had withdrawn from public life in December 2025 after announcing he’d been diagnosed with dementia.

Kyl spent almost three decades in Congress, serving in both chambers, and watched his party undergo a drastic transformation, with his career spanning Ronald Reagan’s presidency to President Trump’s first term.

Former Republican Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who considered Kyl a mentor, described the former senator in a February 2025 interview with The Associated Press as a true statesman and a “workhorse” among Washington, D.C.’s “showhorses.”

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Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries is blasting House Republicans for leaving Washington until the midterm elections rather than working to ensure the safety of artificial intelligence.

Some in the tech industry have expressed concerns that an AI unshackled from human control could be destructive — a concern President Trump has rejected as a hoax.

“The AI safety issue is very real,” Jeffries said at a news conference.

To help make his point, he’s noting that some industry leaders have called for the development of AI models to slow down.

“This is a serious issue. It requires serious engagement and serious and immediate action,” Jeffries said. “And we’re going to be here as House Democrats over the next several weeks working on this issue and other issues demanding that Republicans come back into town so we can take care of these very real concerns.”

U.S. stocks are rising Thursday and recovering most of their losses for the week.

Falling oil prices and easing pressure from the bond market helped Wall Street reverse many of its moves from the prior day, when the Federal Reserve hiked its main interest rate for the first time in years and suggested more may be ahead as it tries to get the nation’s high inflation under control.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.9% and was on track for just its second rise in the last nine days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 213 points, or 0.4%, as of 11 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.4% higher.

Stocks got a boost after the price for a barrel of Brent crude oil slid 2.3% to $103.38. That’s down sharply from the nearly $110 it reached earlier in the week on worries that the war with Iran will keep oil bottled up in the Middle East instead of going to customers worldwide.

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As concern rises over the risks of artificial intelligence, hopes for any kind of global approach depend on cooperation between the U.S. and China — superpowers that seem only to be more skeptical of each other’s AI strategy.

AI governance is expected to be on the agenda in a meeting planned for next week in Washington between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The topic has gained urgency in both countries, with American tech leaders saying that averting worst-case scenarios for rogue AI depends on a degree of cooperation with China.

But both countries are vying for a decisive advantage on AI, with Trump warning that any efforts to regulate the technology would help China. That sets up a meeting in which any agreements might be superficial but a possible start to something larger.

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U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, a Republican defending her seat in a competitive South Florida district, is out with a new ad criticizing Trump’s deportation campaign.

“Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far,” Salazar says in the ad. “The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.”

With just over six weeks left until Election Day, some Republicans have begun to subtly tweak their campaign messages to downplay their connection to Trump as they compete in close races against Democrats.

Salazar joins some GOP candidates in battleground districts who’ve taken a bolder approach — publicly breaking with the president. For example, two Iowa Republicans this week voted with Democrats and a few other dissident members of their party on an Iran war powers resolution.

Countries are embracing clean power and taking steps to use less energy because of the war against Iran, but it’s not yet enough to help address climate change.

When the U.S. and Israel launched the war in February, some backers of renewables opined it could drive a green transition as oil and gas prices spiked. So far, more than 30 governments have enacted policies to move away from fossil fuels or improve energy efficiency. Yet at the same time, global emissions of greenhouse gases increased slightly and investments in clean energy fell compared to the same period last year.

The Associated Press talked to a dozen experts who said that while the Iran war appears to be helping the adoption of clean energy, the world is still heavily dependent on fossil fuels. They said it will take more time for new policies to show results.

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Carney has repeatedly urged what he calls middle powers to resist economic coercion. At the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, he warned that when countries negotiate alone with a dominant power, “we negotiate from weakness. We accept what is offered.”

Trump rebuked him the next day.

Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada’s ambassador-designate to the EU, said Ottawa wants “to get as close as we possibly can” to Europe while increasing Canada’s independence.

While associate membership remains to be negotiated, Canada has already taken a major step. This year, it became the first non-European country to join the EU’s 150-billion-euro ($173-billion) SAFE defense procurement program, giving Canadian companies access to joint procurement as Europe increases defense spending.

The two sides have also discussed closer cooperation on energy, critical minerals, artificial intelligence and digital trade.

The unprecedented spate of mid-decade redistricting for the U.S. House has changed the congressional districts for one-tenth of Americans and significantly altered the makeup of at least one-fifth of districts, according to a new study.

A report by Protect Democracy found that 34.8 million people — about one in 10 Americans — now live in a different district than they did during the 2024 election cycle. And about one-fifth of all Americans now live in a district where more than a quarter of voters are new to the district compared with the last election cycle.

The findings display the stark overhaul that partisan redistricting fights kicked off by President Trump last year have caused for Americans across the country. The new congressional maps are increasingly drawn in ways that favor partisan politics over factors like geography and shared communities. That raises concerns among scholars about how the country’s hyperpolarized politics are affecting American democracy.

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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday embraced the prospect of his country becoming the European Union’s first associate member, saying closer ties with the continent would ensure no country could control Canada’s markets or undermine its sovereignty.

Carney’s speech to the European Parliament repeatedly extolled cooperation between Europe and Canada — but the relationship with the U.S., which has defined Canada’s economy for decades and has increasingly soured, hung over the address.

Trump’s tariffs, demands for economic concessions and repeated talk of making Canada the 51st state have pushed Ottawa to reduce its dependence on its neighbor and seek a far deeper economic, security and political relationship with Europe.

Carney told the parliament he welcomed European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s proposal, unveiled Wednesday, though he acknowledged that “associate membership” remains to be defined.

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The singer, a Kennedy Center honoree in 2008, questioned the closing of the performing arts center for repairs and called the ongoing controversy surrounding its operation “galling and painful to witness.”

The award-winning superstar said in a statement to The Associated Press that renaming the National Cultural Center after President John F. Kennedy in 1964, following his assassination the previous year was “a fitting choice, because he was a true champion of the arts.”

“Since then, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has stood as one of America’s great cultural venues,” she said. “I was deeply honored to be included in the 31st annual class of Kennedy Center Honorees. For me, and for so many artists, that honor represented something larger than a career recognition. It represented a belief in the importance of art to the life of a democracy.”

She opposes attempts to add President Trump’s name to the center, adding, “You can easily imagine my indignation at seeing this revered institution become the subject of such a bitter struggle over one man’s name and unchecked ego.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that if the United States impose additional sanctions on Russia, it would hinder the Washington-led effort to end the war in Ukraine.

Peskov’s remarks come after the U.S. House on Wednesday passed a broad package of sanctions targeting Russian officials and key pillars of the country’s economy as lawmakers look to deprive Russian President Vladimir Putin of the financial resources needed to wage the war against Ukraine.

The bill now heads to President Donald Trump to be signed into law. It represents the most ambitious effort to support Ukraine since Trump’s return to the White House.

“We are, of course, monitoring the passing of this document. This falls into the category of unfriendly actions. And, of course, the U.S. imposing some additional sanctions would definitely complicate the efforts to find a peace settlement in Ukraine,” Peskov told reporters during his daily conference call.

Fencing went up Wednesday around the main Kennedy Center building, a day after the Trump-aligned board voted to close most of the performing arts center for repairs. A Democratic congresswoman who is a trustee quickly sought an emergency court hearing to prevent what she called the “unlawful closing.”

The board’s vote Tuesday came after a federal judge blocked the institution from returning President Donald Trump’s name to the building.

The Republican president had said in a social media post that the closure was needed for safety repairs. But he said the repairs, which Congress has allocated $257 million to cover, would only happen if the board was permitted to move forward with plans to add his name to the building.

Activists who've opposed the closure said there's been no vehicle or pedestrian access to the building Wednesday. An Associated Press reporter who approached the main building was told by a security guard that it was closed.

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Speaker Mike Johnson is closing up the House early, sending lawmakers home Wednesday to campaign for the midterm elections after what he claims is the most productive Congress in decades.

But not without a scathing rebuke from GOP Rep. Thomas Massie for all the unfinished business.

Massie’s resolution to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the war in Iran and his bipartisan effort to force the release of more files in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation are all being left behind, blocked from votes.

“We’re calling off Congress? And we’re in the majority?” Massie railed from the House floor.

“I’m trying to get justice for the Epstein survivors,” he said. “I’m trying to stop a war.”

Massie, the renegade Republican from Kentucky, seized control of the chamber for a blistering hourlong speech criticizing Johnson, the Republican majority and the work he said the speaker is refusing to conduct to lower prices for Americans and hold the Trump administration accountable.

“Why would we be canceling days when the country is burning?” Massie said. “We should stay here for every day that’s on the calendar and we should debate.”

Johnson insisted “the House has done its job.”

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President Donald Trump suggested that the European Union allowing Canada to become an associate member could be a “hostile act” and threatened to respond to the proposed move by imposing more tariffs on the bloc.

Trump conditioned his threat Wednesday on the “intention” of European leaders, saying that, “If it’s a good intention, that’s fine. If it’s a bad intention, we’ll put very heavy tariffs on Europe.” He also suggested the U.S. could cut off trade with Europe in certain areas.

Trump called the prospect of Canada joining the EU “laughable” and called America’s neighbor a “terrible trade partner.”

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday embraced the prospect of his country becoming the European Union’s first associate member, saying closer ties with Europe were meant to ensure no country could control Canada’s markets, impair its sovereignty or undermine its freedoms.

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President Donald Trump waves as he arrives on Air Force One, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Gastonia Municipal Airport, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026, in Gastonia, N.C. (AP Photo/Matt Kelley)