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When President Donald Trump announced on social media February 1 that the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. would close for two years of “construction, revitalization, and complete rebuilding,” many observers were dismayed that the politicization of the center has gone this far. Among them is famed architect Steven Holl whose firm Steven Holl Architects designed a $250 million expansion of the Kennedy Center called the REACH that opened less than seven years ago. In an email to Fast Company, Holl expresses skepticism about the nature of Trump’s plan. “The REACH Expansion of the Kennedy Center, which opened in 2019 under the direction of Deborah Rutter and David Rubenstein, is a much loved and needed facility for the practice of artists in all cultural activities. We hope they will allow it to remain open if they are closing the main building. As a living memorial to John F. Kennedy, the Kennedy Center was the soul of culture in Washington DC its manipulation today is absurd,” Holl writes. Both Rutter, the former president of the Kennedy Center, and Rubenstein, its former board chair, were ousted from the organization in February 2025 by Trump, along with half of the board. His appointed replacements then elected him the new chair. In the months since, the Kennedy Center has become increasingly politicized. Trump had his own name added to the facade of the building. Meanwhile, a long line of artists have cancelled planned performances, audiences have shrunk, and notable officials have resigned. Does the Kennedy Center need a renovation? The two-year closure Trump proposes would be used to fix what he calls a “tired, broken, and dilapidated” facility. In a 2025 dinner with his newly installed board, Trump bemoaned the conditions of the Kennedy Center, claiming the previous board misspent millions in funding. “They certainly didn’t spend it on wallpaper, carpet or painting,” he said at the time. Shortly after her ouster, Rutter countered these assertions, blaming any perceived shabbiness on a lack of federal support. “Due to the limited and decreased funding from the federal government, there is a backlog of maintenance that has been prioritized to mirror the appropriated funding,” she said in a statement to NPR. Originally opened in 1971, the Kennedy Center is, like many half-century-old buildings, in need of regular maintenance. And as host to more than 2,200 performances and events per year, it is a heavily used facility. The REACH Expansion project, and Holl’s design, were intended to lessen the burden on the historic building by adding new rehearsal rooms, education areas, and performance spaces both inside and outside of the 72,000-square-foot, multi-pavilion complex. Natural light filters into the performance and practice rooms, and the sculptural forms of the pavilions turn them into backdrops for outdoor performances and events overlooking the Potomac River. The project was seen as an investment in the future of the Kennedy Center, and a way to augment the existing facility while reducing the toll of its heavy use on the aging central building. “More and more, today’s audiences crave connectionwith art and with each otherwhile artists and arts organizations desire customized spaces that nurture their creative endeavors. The REACH will fulfill many of those needs, all within a one-of-a-kind design that is a work of art in and of itself,” Rutter said at the time of its opening. Under Trump’s plan, the Kennedy Center would close on July 4. No detailed plans have yet been announced, and the White House did not respond to a request for additional information, so the extent of this proposed closure and reconstruction is unclear. Whether it would affect Holl’s still-new addition remains to be seen.
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E-Commerce
Its fair to say that Minneapolis-based Target is going through a rough patch as a result of declining sales and customers. After facing boycotts, tariffs, and a massive surge of federal U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in its hometown, Target, long overdue for a big change, made one this weekendappointing a new CEO. Michael Fiddelke, who began his career at Target more than two decades ago, officially took over as chief executive officer on Sunday. He was previously Targets chief operating officer and its former chief financial officer. (Last summer, the retailer announced he’d be succeeding longtime CEO Brian Cornell.) “While we have real work to do, we are clear on who we are, our unique place in retail and in the hearts of our guests,” Fiddelke said in a statement on Monday, acknowledging the long road ahead. We are equally clear on the opportunity in front of us . . . its what grounds the important work in front of us now.” Target CEO Michael Fiddelke [Photo: Target] Fiddelke said he’ll focus on four priorities: “bringing together design, style and value”; making store visits and digital interaction “easier and more welcoming”; “accelerating technology” to remove friction and to create a more personalized experience; and “strengthening the team by building future-ready skills” alongside the communities they serve. Shares of Target (NYSE: TGT) were up over 3% in midday trading Monday at $108.75, at the time of this writing. Target financials Target Corp. reported third-quarter earnings results of $25.27 billion in revenue, just short of analyst expectations of $25.32 billion, and adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.78, beating expectations of $1.72. Its sales have been roughly stagnant for four years due to a number of factors, including higher inflation, changing consumer habits, concern about the economy, and boycotts triggered by its rollback on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies.
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William Mays home in Pacific Palisades was destroyed in the L.A. wildfires in January 2025. Hes still haunted by the memory of the fireball burning everything in its path on that hellish day. And all he wants to do is rebuild his beautiful home, where the retired pediatrician lived with his wife. Since then, hes been fighting with State Farm, his property insurer, to get the money he said he needs to rebuild his home. Back in 2017, when he bought the two-story home, he said it was valued at $1.7 million. But the insurer gave him an estimate of only $1.35 million after the fire, and May said hes driven himself into debt trying to rebuild the couples home while they wait for State Farm to reassess their claim. Property values in the neighborhood have increased 50% from $2.1 million on average in December 2017 to $3.076 million in December 2025, according to Zillows Home Values Index. How can it be worth less now than it was when it was new? May blames State Farms use of an AI-powered software called Xactimate, which the insurer employs to estimate property repair, rebuilding, and cleaning costs. They use this reductive method. Its a phony way of calculating every screw, every bolt, and coming up with a profit for State Farm by undervaluing the house. May considers himself lucky, since he has the resources to rebuild, noting that many of his neighbors cant afford to do that and face similar problems with their insurers. He also blames Verisk, the data analytics company that makes Xactimate. Im pretty sure these companies make these programs just to sell to insurance companies so that they can lowball people because the insurers are interested in squeezing people for profit, he said. A spokesperson for State Farm told Capital & Main: State Farm remains committed to helping our customers throughout the entire recovery process and paying them all benefits available under their policies. So far, weve issued over $5 billion in payments to families whose homes, cars, and property were damaged or destroyed in the fires. We encourage any customer with questions or concerns to reach out to us. A spokesperson for Verisk said that Xactimates AI capabilities support tasks such as summarizing information or labeling photos and always operate under human review and control. She added that Xactimate does not generate repair costs using AI, and AI does not determine the price of materials, labor or reconstruction. Xactwares construction cost database is market-based, transparent and rooted in human-validated data. It is intended as a flexible benchmark that users can adjust for specific jobs and local conditions. State Farm, along with other major property insurers, is increasingly turning to artificial intelligence to increase efficiency and improve risk modeling. The insurer posted a net income of $5.3 billion in 2024, a turnaround from a $6.3 billion loss in 2023. In late 2024, the companys former vice president of innovation and venture capital, Haden Kirkpatrick, said in an interview that AI and other emerging technologies will help the industry better predict and prevent losses. As the insurance industry grapples with the climate crisis more extreme weather events destroying homes, leading to greater losses and skyrocketing premiums AI has been touted as a game-changing asset. By analyzing vast datasets, the technology has the potential to predict and manage risk more accurately, improving underwriting efficiency and even enabling insurers to offer coverage in areas that otherwise would be considered uninsurable due to climate volatility. Yet AIs performance in recent years has been criticized for inaccurate predictions when it comes to climate change, algorithmic bias, privacy concerns, lack of transparency, and incorrect outputs such as hallucinations. Industry watchdogs have raised concerns that insurers could rely on the technology to make quick decisions in the name of cost efficiency with complicated claims that require human analysis. From California to Alabama to Illinois, policyholders and prosecutors have filed lawsuits claiming that property insurers use of AI has allowed them to underpay claims, discriminate against nonwhite customers, and drop coverage altogether. The class-action suits have focused on whats called AI-washing when the technology is misapplied to manage risk in a way that hurts policyholders. In the wake of complaints by homeowners like May, Los Angeles County recently announced a probe into State Farms use of AI tools that allegedly delayed or denied claims. The countys counsel sent a letter to the insurer in November seeking documents related to the L.A. wildfires: Any and all documents, including but not limited to memoranda, bulletins, manuals, training materials, policy statements, guidelines, or directives that reflect, describe, or constitute State Farms use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in the claims review process. State Farm announced in March 2024 that it would not renew about 72,000 California property insurance policies through 2025, citing wildfire risks and associated costs. The insurer said in an online update on its California recovery response: Recovery, following a catastrophe, doesnt move in a straight line. It added that many families are engaged in the process of rebuilding and recovering from the devastation and that many families continue to navigate through parts of the claims process, with State Farm trying to address the needs of their unique circumstances. The insurance industry touts AI as a tool to help it with risk modeling as climate change increases in severity. Its also optimistic that the technology will help it curb losses and improve its bottom line. In a policy paper by Bain & Co., consultants said they anticipate that generative AI will lead to a 30% to 50% decrease in total leakage the difference between what is paid vs. what is owed per the contract, which occurs when adjusters deviate from policy guidelines or when supply chain problems cause unanticipatedcosts. In a recent white paper by CAPE Analytics, which specializes in AI-powered property risk intelligence it sells to insurers, the company noted several reasons why the technology is needed to sift through a mountain of contradictory data, and noted that it can help insurers avoid providing too much coverage at low rates. Without AI, The consequences of operating with raw data or drawing the wrong conclusions from it can lead to excessive exposure when quotes are too low and premium loss when theyre unnecessarily high. To insurance professionals and advocates for policyholders, that raises concerns that insurers will rely on the technology to make hasty decisions in often-complicated claims processes. For example, there is the potential for AI systems to make decisions based on incomplete or biased data, leading to unfair treatment of policyholders, noted Chip Merlin, a Florida lawyer who has represented policyholders. He cited a 2022 class-action suit brought by homeowners in Illinois who claimed that State Farms use of algorithms in its claims-processing methods disproportionately impacts Black policyholders, causing delays in repairs and the payment of benefits. The case is pending, and the insurer insists that its practices do not violate federal law. The biggest factors impacting the affordability and availability of insurance are climate change and technology like AI, said Amy Bach, the executive director of United Policyholders, an advocacy group. Now theyre no longer willing to insure many people, and a lot of that is because of data and the use of AI in predictive analytics, as well as aerial surveillance. When people ask me, What benefits are consumers getting from AI? Im like, in the insurance context, none. Monica Palmeira, associate director of economic equity at the nonprofit Greenling Institute, said that AI could be used to increase bluelining a modern version of redlining, describing a practice in which financial institutions and insurers withdraw from poor neighborhoods or dramatically hike rates in areas considered high risk for climate change. When Palmeira and her colleagues started studying communities considered vulnerable to climate impacts, We saw this pattern of the same communities that were excluded from financial services in the past continue to come up for exclusion today. Insurance, she said, is one of the first ways that communities experience that withdrawal of financial services and now its starting to be whole areas that cant get insurance and that means they cant get mortgages. So this contagion starts to happen. To address such concerns, states are taking action to protect consumers. One of the common themes of such measures is greater transparency requiring that consumers be informed when AI is used in decision making, that companies maintain guidelines for the responsible use of AI, and make their policies and procedures for the use of AI publicly accessible. Those requirements are included in a guidance from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, which provides a framework for the responsible use of AI. At the same time, some lawmakers are pushing for human review in decision making by insurers. State Rep. Hillary Cassel, a Florida lawmaker, recently sponsored legislation that seeks to ensure humans make the ultimate decisions when it comes to insurance claims. I think insurance companies should be allowed to use AI as a tool because premiums are very high across the country, especially here in Florida, and if insurance companies can use it to aggregate their resources and pass that savings on to consumers by using those types of tools, she told Capital & Main. But we also know that AI can be used for nefarious reasons, and I thought it was really important that in the space of dealing with denials that computers dont always get it right. The state-level action gives hope to Palmeira that consumers will start to see the level of review and transparency that they really deserve. She noted that the National Association of Insurance Commissioners experienced protests by consumers at a meeting, shortly before it announced its guidance on AI. The way the insurance industry has been able to exert its power over insurance regulation has been so dominant for so long that were finally maybe starting to see a small shift in the tide. Palmeira acknowledged that climate change might make certain parts of the country uninsurable and that AI can be utilized in beneficial ways by insurers to improve their risk modeling and predictive analytics. But it shouldnt be black box models without a human check on their decisions or without working with communities to make informed decisions about their livelihoods and wellbeing. One potential tool is parametric insurance which utilizes data such as satellite imagery, IoT (Internet of Things) sensors that detect changes in the environment and weather feeds to trigger automated payments to policyholders when specific weather conditions are met for a particular home. It can be a really useful tool to make sure folks have some kind of baseline coverage in a way that can be deployed very efficiently, Palmeira said. In addition, she suggests more community-based measures such as a local government purchasing an insurance policy for an entire neighborhood or where there needs to be more sensitive and serious conversations about relocation in very defined areas. Marcus Baram
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