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Kennedy Center will close for renovations after judge blocks returning Trump's name to building
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Trump-aligned Kennedy Center board voted Tuesday to close most of the iconic performing arts venue just hours after a federal judge blocked the institution from returning President Donald Trump's name to the building.
In a social media post, Trump said 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 allowed to move forward with plans to add his name to the building. A federal judge has twice said that can't happen without the approval of Congress.
"Simply put, Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress's blessing," U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper said in the latest ruling Tuesday.
The Justice Department appealed the ruling. Trump, who was named the Kennedy Center's chairman last year by loyalists on the board, participated in the virtual board meeting and said on social media he'd given $17 million to an endowment intended to support the institution.
The meeting included testy exchanges at points between Trump and Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat who has led the campaign to block efforts to memorialize the president at the Kennedy Center. At one point, Beatty referred to Trump as someone who caused "extreme harm," according to a participant in the meeting who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.
Trump said Beatty was "incompetent" and "holding up everything."
"You're holding up the whole country," she responded.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle said, "Trump-deranged Dumocrats like Joyce Beatty oppose anything that celebrates the greatness of our country because they put America Last."
The developments threw into limbo the fate of one of the nation's most prominent cultural institutions, a place where presidents, lawmakers and celebrities of all political ideologies have gathered for decades to recognize and celebrate the best in American arts and culture.
The venue's leaders have argued that the massive building, which began construction in 1965, was in dire need of renovations. A partial ceiling collapse in the building's main hallway earlier this month intensified the calls for renovations.
"The building is not currently built to last, the chairman knows that because he is among the best builders in the world," Brian Ballard, Kennedy Center board member, said in a statement.
FBI chief Kash Patel defends hiring policy changes on prostitution, bestiality at fiery hearing
WASHINGTON (AP) -- FBI Director Kash Patel defended Tuesday a recent policy change to allow some applicants who have engaged in prostitution and bestiality to be considered for employment, insisting that the move was made to enable victims of those acts to apply for a job without fear of automatic disqualification.
The subject arose during a fiery Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in which Patel clashed with Democrats over his firing of agents who participated in investigations of President Donald Trump and suggested that agents might be dispatched to the polls on Election Day amid Justice Department and White House concerns about voter fraud.
The hours-long hearing featured the name-calling and bitingly personal exchanges that have come to define Patel's appearances on Capitol Hill, with Democrats characterizing the Trump appointee as unqualified, criticizing him for politically charged investigations into Trump's enemies and highlighting travel that has included a trip to the Winter Olympics in Italy in which he partied with U.S. hockey players and a snorkeling excursion at the Pearl Harbor memorial in Hawaii.
"He's an incompetent lackey. He's like an 18-year old-kid who wants to join a fraternity that he could never be a member of, doing keg stands and chugging with friends. He's an embarrassment to the agency and wouldn't qualify even to be an FBI agent," said an exasperated Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, his voice rising in anger.
"What a mockery you are," he added.
Patel shot back, "You are the biggest mockery in the United States Senate, and you're sitting next to Schiff." That was a reference to Sen. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat and outspoken Patel critic.
The FBI quietly issued guidance this past spring lifting a categorical hiring restriction on applicants who had previously participated in prostitution. The bureau made a similar change with regard to childhood experience in bestiality.
Under questioning, Patel denied that the changes reflected a lowering of employment standards and insisted they were designed to prevent victims who'd been forced to engage in that conduct from being automatically disqualified.
"We did not want to punish victims of bestiality, victims who were trafficked. We did not want to make it an automatic disqualification for the FBI to consider you if you were a victim of these awful, heinous acts," Patel said. "We are not going to target victims and prevent them from serving in their capacity to serve this country."
US acknowledges for the first time that it has deployed weapons in space
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States has confirmed for the first time that it has deployed weapons in space, a remarkable revelation after previous warnings about countries such as Russia possibly weaponizing a global frontier long agreed in treaties to be used for only peaceful purposes.
Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told the Air and Space Cyber Conference in Maryland on Monday that the U.S. has fielded "on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the Joint Force against hostile adversary action."
Meink did not detail what the weapons were, how they work or if they were targeting other objects in space or on Earth. The U.S. had warned two years ago that Russia was developing a new space-based, anti-satellite weapon, though the White House said the danger wasn't imminent at the time.
But reports of the anti-satellite weapon reflected longstanding worries about space threats from Russia and China, given that much U.S. infrastructure is dependent on satellite communications. The U.S. has also previously demonstrated its own abilities to shoot down satellites from Earth.
In his remarks, Meink also said the Air Force was adding more autonomous systems to its capabilities and predicted the service would look "radically different" by 2032. For example, he foresaw one-way attack drones replacing artillery as the "primary killer."
"We are increasing readiness against existing threats," he said.
The revelation comes as the Trump administration puts a growing focus on space.
In 2019, during his first term, Trump created the Space Force as a separate military branch. In his second term, he has announced the "Golden Dome" missile defense system, which includes plans to put U.S. weapons in space.
Trump said last year that he expected the system would be "fully operational before the end of my term," which ends in January 2029, and have the capability of intercepting missiles "even if they are launched from space."
Trump also has directed the Pentagon to pursue the space-based interceptors, in an executive order during the first week of his presidency.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated that just the space-based components of the Golden Dome could cost as much as $542 billion over the next 20 years.
A fourth measles death is reported in Pennsylvania
NEW YORK (AP) -- Pennsylvania officials have reported a fourth measles-associated death.
The latest death involved an 18-year-old resident of Mifflin County, in the center of the state, the county coroner's office said in a Facebook post. The cause was acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, a rare and severe neurological complication of measles, it said.
On Saturday, a 40-year-old woman from Jefferson County, a rural area in western Pennsylvania, died of measles complications. And last month, two measles-infected infants died in Lancaster County, in the southeastern part of the state.
None of the four were vaccinated, according to the state health department. The infants were too young for vaccinations, according to current recommendations.
The U.S. is enduring its worst year for measles since 1991 and has seen seven reported measles-associated deaths in the last two years -- more than the combined total of reported deaths over the previous three decades.
Pennsylvania's measles outbreak continues to grow, with nearly 700 illnesses reported so far this year across 38 counties, including about 100 cases in the last seven days. The measles-associated deaths are the first reported in the state in 35 years, state officials say.
"My thoughts are with the two families who lost loved ones to this highly contagious virus, as Pennsylvania faces the worst measles outbreak in more than three decades," the state's health secretary, Dr. Debra Bogen, said in a statement Tuesday, referring to the two most recent deaths -- those of the adults.
"We remain committed to working with our partners across Pennsylvania to stem this outbreak and prevent more deaths. That means ensuring people have the facts about measles and access to the MMR vaccine, which kept measles outbreaks at bay for decades."
The nation eliminated the domestic spread of measles in 2000 by maintaining high vaccination rates, but they have fallen in recent years to below the 95% coverage needed to prevent outbreaks. Meanwhile, measles infections have been surging in recent years.
In November, international health officials will meet to determine if the U.S. and Mexico have lost their measles-free status.
The problem has been years in the making, as fewer kids get routine vaccines due to parental waivers, health care access issues and rampant disinformation. More recently, Trump administration health officials, including Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have questioned and sown doubt about the established safety of vaccines at an unprecedented level while also defunding local efforts to improve vaccination rates.
Nick Reiner avoids death penalty over his parents' killings but still faces life in prison
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Hollywood filmmaker Rob Reiner 's son will not face the death penalty on charges he fatally stabbed his parents after lying in wait at their home in Los Angeles late last year, prosecutors said Tuesday.
If convicted, the maximum sentence 33-year-old Nick Reiner could get is life without the possibility of parole, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said at a news conference. Before reaching its decision, Hochman said his office did a thorough review, including speaking to Rob and Michele Singer Reiner's families and evaluating mitigating factors in Nick Reiner's favor.
Nick Reiner, who briefly appeared at a court hearing Tuesday morning, has twice pleaded not guilty. The death penalty had been on the table because of the lying-in-wait allegation, the fact that multiple people were killed, and the use of a knife, which is considered a dangerous weapon. However, it's been two decades since California's last execution, and Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a moratorium on the practice in 2019.
Reiner's attorney, Deputy Public Defender Kimberly Greene, said prosecutors made the right decision.
"Nick has a serious mental illness and a long history of struggling with self-medication. His circumstances are a tragic example of how difficult it can be for people experiencing significant mental health challenges to access and navigate the treatment and support they need," Greene said in a statement. "Nothing can undo the profound loss experienced by the Reiner family and those who loved them. Our hearts remain with the family."
Nick Reiner was charged with first-degree murder on Dec. 16, two days after the stunning killings. Reiner's former defense attorney, Alan Jackson, adamantly insisted that "pursuant to the laws of California, Nick Reiner is not guilty of murder."
Jackson had to withdraw for undisclosed reasons that he said were beyond his and the client's control, and a public defender took over for him.
A grand jury indicted Reiner in July. The judge in the case was deciding whether to make public the transcripts of those secret grand jury proceedings, a move that would likely reveal many key details about the killings.
Hochman said his office will not oppose the transcripts' release, but Nick Reiner's siblings Jake and Romi Reiner were adamantly opposed, saying it would add to their trauma and harm.
At Tuesday's hearing, Judge Sam Ohta said he will hear arguments on the issue next month.
Aw shucks: Dolly Parton corn mazes crop up in fields nationwide
BROOKFIELD, Conn. (AP) -- Dolly Parton 's megawatt smile and big wavy locks are gracing fields across the U.S. and Canada this fall.
Twenty farms have carved out large corn mazes to honor the late country music icon, actor and philanthropist and raise money for her Imagination Library, which provides free books to children.
The "Jolene" crooner's death due to cancer on Aug. 25 in Nashville at age 80 brought an outpouring of tributes. They ranged from a drive to rename the country music capital's airport in Parton's honor to a surge in online streams of "9 to 5," "Islands in the Stream" and her many other hit songs.
Now she is being immortalized in corn, with the mazes located in about a dozen states and two provinces, from Alabama to California and Ohio to Texas. Most also feature a Parton-themed trivia game, photo ops and other offerings.
Mazes were planned months before her death
Brett Herbst, founder of The Maize Inc., the Utah-based consulting company that designed the mazes, called Parton a "true American treasure."
"Dolly's impact on the world and her love for farming is immeasurable, and our corn maze tributes now take on new meaning and significance," Herbst said.
The company said the mazes were in the works months before Parton died and are part of its annual campaign honoring country music's brightest stars. Previous honorees included Reba McEntire in 2023, Luke Bryan in 2024 and Lainey Wilson in 2025.
Parton, who famously grew up poor in rural Tennessee, thanked organizers for supporting her charity before to her death. In a statement provided by The Maize Inc., she encouraged people to "get lost in this year's country music corn maze for a little fun, laughter and a real good reason to get lost."
One of the mazes is in an expansive cornfield next to Twins BBQ in Brookfield, Connecticut, about 55 miles (90 kilometers) northeast of New York. The likeness of Parton beams skyward, ringed by the words "Dolly" and "An American Treasure" and a series of stars.
Danielle Gallop, who co-owns the business with her husband, admits to not knowing much about Parton before attending last year's corn maze convention at Dollywood, the Tennessee theme park Parton co-owned. But she came away impressed.
"They told us all about her integrity and how she ran all of her businesses and how smart and generous and kind and just really ethical and humble" Parton was, Gallop said, "which is all the things that we aspire to be as business owners."
Parton's passing "made it exponentially more meaningful" to be honoring her this year, Gallop added. "She was such an icon."