Part of the ceiling in the Kennedy Center's Grand Foyer collapsed during a storm on Friday evening, and the center cited the damage in renewing its call for a closure backed by 
Donald Trump. No one was injured, said Roma Daravi, the center's vice president for public relations. The collapse prompted officials to temporarily close the main building, The Hill reported.
What did the center say? The partial collapse was "another example of the urgent need to close for renovation and revitalization, as our Chairman President Trump has championed," Daravi said. "This structural failure stems from decades of neglect and deferred maintenance by the previous leadership, and there's no justification for further delays in restoring America's cultural center," she said in a statement. Photos provided by the center showed a large hole in the high ceiling and debris littering the red carpet in part of the hallway that connects its three main performance auditoriums, PBS NewsHour reported.
Where does the court fight stand? The center's board, which PBS NewsHour reported is aligned with Trump, is fighting in court to close the venue for two years during $250 million in renovations and to add his name to the building's facade. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled in May that the name had been added illegally, ordered it taken down and blocked the administration from closing the venue for renovations. Now before the judge is an August board vote to return the name to the facade, reading "The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Restored and Renovated By President Donald J. Trump." Justice Department lawyers have said donations for the renovations will dry up without the name on the building.
What do opponents say? Grace Terpstra, founder of Keep the KC, a community group fighting the closure, said she suspects the board will seize on what appears to be limited ceiling damage "to make the point that the whole thing needs to be shut down, that it's going to fall on everybody." "I think they'll try to make it into a bigger thing and show that they've found a lot of other things," she said.
Figures referenced: Donald Trump. — JudgeMarket.
