Trump makes Kennedy Center Honors announcement. It caught the staff off guard
President Trump’s announcement on Truth Social that the 48th annual Kennedy Center Honors recipients would be announced tomorrow caught Kennedy Center staff off guard, according to a person familiar with the situation who requested anonymity because they fear professional repercussions for speaking out. They told NPR the staff is often “out of the loop” and “worried they won’t have enough time to sell tickets and sponsorships.”
Trump posted the announcement Tuesday morning. It said in part: “GREAT Nominees for the TRUMP/KENNEDY CENTER, whoops, I mean, KENNEDY CENTER, AWARDS,” which alludes to a bill in Congress that would rename the performing arts venue after him.
Trump continued, “Tremendous work is being done, and money being spent, on bringing it back to the absolute TOP LEVEL of luxury, glamour, and entertainment.”
The Kennedy Center Honors, awarded at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., have long been considered prestigious, lifetime achievement awards with the main criterion being “artistic excellence.” Past honorees include Steven Spielberg, Quincy Jones, Rita Moreno, Herbie Hancock, Dick Van Dyke, Renee Fleming and Francis Ford Coppola.
While Honorees are usually living artists, Trump has floated the names Babe Ruth and Elvis Presley as possible recipients.
The Kennedy Center Honors has traditionally been the performing arts venue’s biggest fundraiser.
In February, Trump led an overhaul of the Kennedy Center’s leadership by dismissing the previously-appointed Board of Trustees, along with longtime Kennedy Center chair David Rubenstein. Deborah Rutter, who served as president of the cultural center for over a decade, was also ousted.
Under President Trump’s domestic spending agenda passed by Congress, the Kennedy Center will receive $257 million. That is six times what it normally gets from Congress annually.
Jennifer Vanasco edited this story for air and web.
Judge orders new Alabama Senate map after ruling found racial gerrymandering
U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco, appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term, issued the ruling Monday putting a new court-selected map in place for the 2026 and 2030 elections.
Construction on Meta’s largest data center brings 600% crash spike, chaos to rural Louisiana
An investigation from the Gulf States Newsroom found that trucks contracted to work at the Meta facility are causing delays and dangerous roads in Holly Ridge.
Bessemer City Council approves rezoning for a massive data center, dividing a community
After the Bessemer City Council voted 5-2 to rezone nearly 700 acres of agricultural land for the “hyperscale” server farm, a dissenting council member said city officials who signed non-disclosure agreements weren’t being transparent with citizens.
Alabama Public Television meeting draws protesters in Birmingham over discussion of disaffiliating from PBS
Some members of the Alabama Educational Television Commission, which oversees APT, said disaffiliation is needed because the network has to cut costs after the Trump administration eliminated all funding for public media this summer.
Gov. Kay Ivey urges delay on PBS decision by public TV board
The Republican governor sent a letter to the Alabama Educational Television Commission ahead of a Nov. 18 meeting in which commissioners were expected to discuss disaffiliation.
A proposed Bessemer data center faces new hurdles: a ‘road to nowhere’ and the Birmingham darter
With the City Council in Bessemer scheduled to vote Tuesday on a “hyperscale” data center, challenges from an environmental group and the Alabama Department of Transportation present potential obstacles for the wildly unpopular project.
