The Kennedy Center is temporarily suspending free public tours of the performing arts venue after a volunteer tour guide spoke with the New York Times about President Donald Trump‘s efforts to gut the cultural institution.
An internal memo said the center was placing a “temporary pause” on the tour program, starting Friday. Brooks Boeke, director of the Friends of the Kennedy Center volunteer program, wrote the memo as reported by the New York Times. However, she later backtracked on the severity of the tour program’s suspension, saying it would only last a few days. Boeke’s statement of clarification was reported by the Washington Post.
The pause affects tour guides, who were instructed to stop handling the free tours “until further notice.” The memo was sent to the entire volunteer corps at the center as its future remains uncertain.
It is unclear why the free public tours were halted in the first place, as the memo did not mention a reason. A Kennedy Center spokesperson said the move is part of a “review of campuswide tour routes to ensure they provide the best possible experience for our visitors.”
The tour program has run continuously almost every year since the Kennedy Center’s opening in 1971, except for a one-year hiatus in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Three volunteers at the Kennedy Center reportedly worried that the Trump administration may retaliate against the tour program in response to a critical interview that a volunteer tour guide granted to the New York Times.
In the profile piece, Sandy Weiswasser, 87, told the newspaper that the performing arts center has become quieter than in previous years, suggesting she doesn’t like what the president has done to remake the venue’s leadership and programming.
“This place used to be really thriving and busy and crowded,” said Weiswasser, who has guided tours at the center for 18 years. “Now it’s a black hole.”
The article was published on Monday, three days before Boeke penned the initial memo about the tour program’s suspension.
The new development comes amid a legal battle that effectively halted Trump’s plans to close the Kennedy Center for two years to make way for extensive renovations. The administration is fighting the court order, but it acquiesced to the federal judge’s demand that Trump’s name be removed from the center.
KENNEDY CENTER TRIES TO REGAIN UPPER HAND IN RENOVATION WAR: ‘HAS INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT’
The Kennedy Center board of trustees is expected to meet in the first half of August to discuss next steps as to how it’s handling the court case. The board needs to provide operational and construction updates to the judge by Aug. 20 or within five days of its August meeting, whichever comes first.
Trump believed a two-year renovation period was necessary to address the Kennedy Center’s structural disrepair and water damage. The judge said the decision to close the center for that amount of time was “ill-informed and seemingly preordained” and based on an “insufficient, one-sided presentation of information” that ignored the center’s statutory obligations under federal law. The Kennedy Center’s programming has largely been scaled back until the legal turmoil is resolved.
The 2026 college football season is so close you can almost taste it at this point.
As the calendar flips from July to August, teams will start fall camp in the coming days and with that, all the familiar sensory cues will signal that we’ve nearly made it to the start of another year of football.
The sight of the ball flying through the air, the sound of pads popping in the hot sun, and the smell of freshly cut grass are all reminders of how lucky we are to be alive at a time when college football exists.
ONE OF THESE EIGHT COLLEGE FOOTBALL TEAMS WILL BE HOISTING THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY IN 2026
Oregon Ducks quarterback Dante Moore (5) looks to pass against the Indiana Hoosiers in the first half of the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, a College Football Playoff semifinal, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, on Jan. 9, 2026. (Brett Davis/Imagn Images)
Speaking of smells, Oregon tight end Jamari Johnson was at Big Ten Media Days earlier this week, and when asked by KOIN News’ Brenna Greene about how quarterback Dante Moore likes to keep things light in the huddle, the rising sophomore revealed some rather stinky information regarding the Ducks’ signal caller.
Pardon me?
“Alright guys big fourth down coming up here, we’re going hard count so don’t false start and also remember, he who smelt it dealt it. Okay, BREAK!”
THREE INTRIGUING QUARTERBACK BATTLES TO WATCH DURING COLLEGE FOOTBALL OFFSEASON CAMPS
Sounds like Moore is channeling his inner Steamin’ Willie Beamin and making bodily functions in the huddle cool again.
Dante Moore of the Oregon Ducks gestures after a touchdown during the fourth quarter of the game against the Washington Huskies at Husky Stadium on Nov. 29, 2025 in Seattle, Washington. The Oregon Ducks won 26-14. (Alika Jenner/Getty Images)
When it was relayed to Moore that Johnson was speaking out of turn and ruining the sanctity of what happens in the huddle, the Heisman hopeful was less than pleased.
“You gotta find ways to connect with the team, so we do that,” said a clearly embarrassed Moore.
He added that “too much stuff is getting leaked out,” which is a very poor choice of words on his part, given the context of the conversation.
What’s even funnier is that Oregon is historically known for running an up-tempo, no-huddle offense dating all the way back to the Chip Kelly era, and it sounds like head coach Dan Lanning should think about keeping it that way.
If what Johnson says is true, and his players are in the huddle trying to one-up each other in a flatulence competition, it’s a miracle they’re able to get any of the play calls in on time.
Plus, what if one of those farts turns into something extra? You can’t be wasting timeouts for wardrobe changes when you’re down three late against Ohio State all because your star quarterback soiled his jock.
Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning reacts during the first half of the 2025 Peach Bowl and semifinal game of the College Football Playoff against the Indiana Hoosiers at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Jan. 9, 2026. (Brett Davis/Imagn Images)
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Then again, Oregon finished tied for tenth in the nation with 37 points per game, and Moore is on everyone’s short list of Heisman candidates, so maybe stick to what’s working.
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If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Go Ducks, fart on!
The Indiana Republican leader in the state Senate announced on Friday that he will not seek reelection to his leadership position after President Donald Trump successfully primaried several of his colleagues to buck his redistricting agenda.
Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray’s defiant opposition to Trump’s mid-decade redistricting agenda attracted the president’s full fury last year, when the White House pushed the Hoosier state to redraw its political lines, a move he hoped would bolster Republicans’ majority in the House of Representatives. The president vowed to back primary challengers to senators who killed the gerrymandering push, with six incumbent state senators later losing to Trump-endorsed challengers.
Bray, described by Trump as a “total loser,” did not face the full extent of Trump’s wrath as he is not up for reelection this year. But he said this week he will not seek reelection to his leadership post when Senate Republicans choose their leaders in November, a move that could be aimed at pacifying Trump and averting further losses.
Trump hailed Bray’s announcement in a Truth Social post ridiculing the Indiana Senate leader.
“I am pleased to announce that the man who so foolishly led the Indiana State Senate, with almost every Candidate losing their Race, many of them in Office for years, will not be seeking Re-Election as Senate President because he wouldn’t have had a chance to be elected — Better yet would be if he would resign from Office, completely, but he will be met by us at the Indiana Polls,” the president wrote.
“Rodric Bray should be ashamed of himself for costing our Country, mainly the Republican Party, two U.S. House Seats, and for costing all of his colleagues who went along with him, an Election loss!” the president continued. “Isn’t it amazing how Politics works? I want to thank the Great State of Indiana for your support, not only in my Presidential Election, which we won with the Highest Vote in the History of the State, but also for your support in getting rid of wayward Senators, led down the Path of Destruction by a FOOL named Rodric Bray.”
INDIANA GOVERNOR VOWS TO PRIMARY REPUBLICANS WHO VOTED AGAINST REDISTRICTING — BUT IT WON’T BE EASY
Bray helped vote down the gerrymandering measure in December, opposing a new political map that would likely have given Republicans two more seats in Indiana, giving them all nine in the state. Bray, who was first elected to the state Senate in 2012, rallied 21 of the state Senate’s 40 Republicans against redistricting, leading Trump to issue repeated messages of outrage.
“Headed by a total loser named Rod Bray, every one of these people should be ‘primaried,’ and I will be there to help!” the president wrote on December 13.