The exterior of the Kennedy Center is seen, Friday, July 31, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The battle over the Kennedy Center’s future escalated Thursday as President Donald Trump’s allies on the board took new steps to commemorate him with physical changes to the iconic performing arts institution that could defy a federal court order.

During an hourslong meeting that was conducted virtually, the board voted to add Trump’s name to the building’s facade so it would read “The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump.” The plaza in front of the building would be named after Trump and most of the space at the venue would be closed for two years to allow for substantial renovations.

The changes, described by Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat who is an ex-officio board member, and her lawyers, amount to a dramatic test of U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper.

He ruled in May that letters affixed to the building that spelled out Trump’s name were added illegally and he ordered their removal, a decision that the Republican administration failed to persuade courts to overturn. At the same time, Cooper blocked a two-year closure that was set to take effect July 5, saying an earlier board vote authorizing the shuttering was “ill-informed and seemingly preordained.”

“This latest development is a transparent effort to circumvent the Court’s ruling, and flies in the face of the statutes that Congress passed,” Beatty said in a statement. “I will continue to fight for this treasured national monument.”

A Kennedy Center representative did not respond to a request for comment.

Much of Thursday’s board meeting was expected to focus on the extent of closures required to allow for renovations that the Kennedy Center’s management says are needed to improve safety. In response to the judge’s criticism of the earlier vote, the institution’s leaders said they would provide the board with three options to consider.

They included a complete closure or a partial closure that would allow “some continued public access and limited programming in spaces unaffected” by the work. A third option would “consider a highly limited series of phased closures to address only the Center’s most serious infrastructure needs while scheduling and maintaining a full slate of programming.”

Ultimately, the board decided to close the building for two years while leaving the potential for some degree of programming to still happen in an outdoor space known as the Reach. The decision to move ahead with the two-year closure, in addition to the moves to memorialize Trump, could revive questions about whether the board seriously considered the full range of options, a point Democrats emphasized after the meeting.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat who is also an ex officio board member, criticized a “sham meeting.”

“What happened today was nothing more than a rubber stamp on a decision the President made months ago that the Board already tried to effectuate without doing proper due diligence,” he said in a statement.

The Kennedy Center has become a metaphor for presidential power

During Trump’s second term, the Kennedy Center has become an unlikely — and highly visible — metaphor for presidential power. While he largely ignored the institution during his first term in Washington, Trump moved quickly to oust its leadership when he returned to office in January 2025 and replaced it with a board of trustees that named him chairman.

His name was quickly added to the building, before coming down in June in response to Cooper’s order. The area where it once stood is now covered by a massive tarp.

The Kennedy Center moves are part of Trump’s broader push to reshape the physical landscape of the nation’s capital in ways that have few modern parallels.

He demolished the East Wing of the White House and is building a controversial ballroom in its place, though an appeals court ruled last week that construction should stop because Congress didn’t approve the project. Trump has said he will take the case to the Supreme Court.

His remodel of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has also stumbled after algae returned and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro refuted his claims that a vandal was responsible for the damage.

Meanwhile, Trump is planning extensive renovations of a golf course in East Potomac Park, which could significantly reduce the public’s access to running and biking paths. He is also moving forward with a triumphal arch that will sit near Arlington National Cemetery.

Trump has derided the Kennedy Center as “rusted, rotted, and rat and bug infested” and threatened to hand the building over to Congress after Cooper rejected the closure and the addition of the president’s name to the building.

The institution’s leadership has argued that it’s in genuine need of repair and updating.

Matt Floca, the Kennedy Center’s executive director and chief operating officer, guided a group of journalists through the building in April, highlighting severe water damage that he said corroded steel in some places as thin as tissue paper. Some pieces of equipment, including several 800-ton chillers that help cool the building, are decades old and in need of replacement.

At the time, Floca said he considered doing the repairs individually but insisted it was his recommendation to Trump to close the building and move forward with the renovation all at once.

“When the president asked, ‘How do you make these projects the best? How do you make them really excellent and deliver them efficiently?’ My recommendation was you close the building and you do everything over a definite period of time, two years,” he said.

More recently, the legal battles became the subject of barbs and jokes as comedian Bill Maher accepted the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in late June. At the start of the program, Pamella Roland DeVos, a Kennedy Center trustee appointed by Trump, described the institution as a “national cultural center open not just for some but for every American patron who wants to experience the greatest art and expression the world has to offer.”

“The responsibility that comes with it is one our board takes very seriously,” she said.

As children return to school, AAA East Central is launching its annual School’s Open-Drive Carefully campaign. The campaign encourages parents to talk about the importance of school zone safety with their children and teen drivers. It also advises motorists to take extra caution when traveling through school zones or near school buses especially during before-and after-school hours. Children are particularly vulnerable during the afternoon hours following their school day. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 64 percent of child pedestrians killed in traffic crashes occurred during the weekday (6 a.m. Monday to 6 p.m. Friday) in 2024.

“School zone speed limits and crossing guards are in place to save lives,” said Terri Rae Anthony, safety advisor, AAA East Central.  “Since children can move quickly and cross the road unexpectedly, it is important to obey speed limits and be ready to stop at a moment’s notice.”

Speed is a crucial factor in protecting the lives of students as they make their way to class. According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, a pedestrian struck by a vehicle traveling at 20 mph is about two-thirds less likely to be killed as compared to a pedestrian struck by a vehicle traveling at 30 mph. Moreover, nearly 1-in-5 children 14 and younger who die in traffic crashes are pedestrians.

In addition to slowing down, AAA offers the following advice for motorists to keep children safe as they navigate their way through school zones:

• Ditch distractions. Research shows that glancing away from the road for just two seconds doubles the chances of crashing.
• Stay alert. Don’t rush into and out of driveways. Expect pedestrians on the sidewalk, especially around schools and in neighborhoods. Mind vehicle blind spots, check for children on the sidewalk, in the driveway, and around the vehicle before slowly backing up.
• Brake for buses. It may be tempting to drive around a stopped school bus, but not only is it dangerous, it is against the law.
• Talk to your teen. Car crashes are one of the leading causes of death for teens in the United States. More than one-quarter of fatal crashes involving teen drivers occur during the after-school hours of 3 to 7 p.m.
• Come to a complete stop. Research shows that more than one-third of drivers roll through stop signs in school zones and neighborhoods. Always come to a complete stop, check carefully for children on sidewalks and in crosswalks before proceeding.
• Watch for bikes. Children on bicycles are often unpredictable, so expect the unexpected. Motorists should slow down and allow at least three feet of passing distance between their vehicle and bicyclists.
• Plan ahead.  Leave early and build in extra time for congestion. If possible, modify routes to avoid school zones.
• Look for AAA School Safety Patrollers. With more than 600,000 AAA School Safety Patrollers at 31,000 schools across the country, patrollers are a sure sign that school zone is approaching.

Luigi Mangione attends a pre-trial hearing at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (David Dee Delgado/Pool Photo via AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — Luigi Mangione is expected to plead guilty as early as Friday in the federal case accusing him of stalking and killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The person, who was not authorized to talk publicly about the case and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity, cautioned that Mangione could change his mind. If he follows through, it would be a stunning development in a case that rattled business leaders while galvanizing their critics.

Mangione’s lawyers, and spokespeople for the Justice Department and Manhattan federal prosecutors, declined to comment.

Mangione is accused of traveling to New York City to ambush Thompson, 50, then shooting him outside a Manhattan hotel on Dec. 4, 2024, as the executive walked to UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference.

Mangione is due in court on Friday for a hastily scheduled hearing in the federal case, which involves two counts of stalking. It wasn’t clear what charge or charges Mangione is expected to plead guilty to. The hearing, in Manhattan federal court, comes as his lawyers have been talking with federal prosecutors about a possible resolution to one of two criminal cases against Mangione in Thompson’s death. Previous talks in June broke down.

Mangione, 28, has been charged in both federal and state court in New York and still faces the possibility of a trial in his unresolved state case. Mangione’s state murder trial is set to begin Sept. 8. Both sets of charges carried the possibility of a life sentence.

Mangione has pleaded not guilty and has spoken out publicly against the prospect of two trials, telling a judge in February: “It’s the same trial twice. One plus one is two. Double jeopardy by any commonsense definition.”

Under New York law, a state prosecution could be barred if the federal case is resolved first, but it isn’t automatic.

The state’s double jeopardy protections kick in if a jury has been sworn in a prior prosecution, such as a federal case, or if that prosecution ends in a guilty plea. Mangione’s cases involve different charges arising from the same course of conduct.

Once Mangione pleads guilty, his lawyers could then ask the judge in the state case to throw out those charges on double jeopardy grounds. State prosecutors argue their case is distinct and double jeopardy shouldn’t apply.

Mangione’s federal charges allege that he traveled across state lines by bus to stalk and kill Thompson and that he used means such as a cellphone, the internet, interstate highways and staying at a hostel that serves out-of-state customers while planning and carrying out the attack. The state charges pertain to the killing itself, as well as firearms offenses.

In a letter last month, state prosecutors objected to the possibility of a guilty plea in the federal case wiping out the state case.

“Obviously, any guilty pleas in these matters must account for the seriousness of defendant’s offenses, the loss of an innocent life, the impact of those crimes on the victim’s family, and the other state interests that are implicated, including the sanctity of life principle that underpins the state homicide charges,” Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann wrote.

Mangione’s decision to plead guilty comes after a series of setbacks for his defense.

In January, U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett took the death penalty off the table but ruled that prosecutors could use items collected from Mangione’s backpack during his arrest as evidence against him.

They included a 3D-printed pistol that investigators said matched the one used to kill Thompson and a notebook in which authorities say Mangione described his intent to kill an insurance executive.

In June, Mangione’s lawyers said they would pursue a psychiatric defense in the state case but reversed course a day later. The defense, involving claims that he was suffering from extreme emotional disturbance at the time of the killing, isn’t allowed in federal court.

Surveillance video of the killing showed a masked gunman shooting Thompson from behind. Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.

Mangione, an Ivy League graduate from a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of Manhattan.

He has become a cause célèbre for people upset with the health insurance industry.

An online fundraiser for his legal defense fund raised more than $1.5 million, and several dozen supporters have shown up to his court appearances, some wearing green clothing — the color worn by the Mario Bros. video game character Luigi — and “FREE LUIGI” T-shirts.

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Durkin Richer reported from Washington.

Pittsburgh, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) is announcing preparatory work of the Route 65 bridge over the Connoquenessing Creek in North Sewickley and Franklin townships, Beaver County will begin Monday, August 17 weather permitting.

Single-lane alternating traffic restrictions controlled by flaggers will occur on Route 65 between Country Club Road and Mercer Road (Route 1006) weekdays from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM through mid-September. Crews from Swank Construction Company will conduct predrilling and installation of bridge foundation work in preparation for the full closure expected to occur mid to late September.

A full replacement of the existing three-span, steel multi-girder bridge will occur on this $9.45 million project. The bridge spans the Connoquenessing Creek between Mercer Road in Franklin Township and Country Club Drive in North Sewickley Township. A 33-day closure with a detour will occur for the demolition of the existing structure, the building of a new bridge, and intersection upgrades which are expected to reopen the bridge by the end of October 2026. Additional work includes drainage improvements, sign upgrades, pavement marking installation, and planting and seeding areas impacted by construction activities. The overall project is expected to finish in the spring of 2027.

Please allow extra time and use caution when traveling through the work zone.