By Aleena Fayaz, CNN

(CNN) — The host of the Kennedy Center’s annual Christmas Eve jazz performance said he canceled Wednesday’s concert following the board of trustees’ move to rename the facility for both the 35th president and President Donald Trump.

“I did choose to cancel our Kennedy Center Christmas Eve Jazz Jam when I saw the name change happening last Friday,” Chuck Redd, a drummer and vibraphonist, said in a statement to CNN.

The cancellation marks the latest backlash after the board of trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts voted last week to rename the facility the “Trump Kennedy Center.” The move quickly sparked outrage from the former president’s family, lawmakers and patrons of the historic center and concerns about legality.

In the hours after the vote, the Washington, DC, performing arts center updated its website and the following day installed new signage to the facade of the building bearing Trump’s name.

The jazz performance is a yearly holiday tradition held at the Kennedy Center. Prior to its cancelation, the concert offered both an in-person and a livestream option for spectators looking to share in holiday cheer.

Redd, a longtime member of the DC music scene, said there is currently no plan to reschedule the performance.

CNN reached out to the Kennedy Center for comment. The Associated Press previously reported on the cancelation.

The effort to rename the building has raised legal concerns as to whether the board has the authority to rename the arts institution, which Congress designated in 1964 as a memorial to the assassinated Democratic president.

Rep. Joyce Beatty, an Ohio Democrat and an ex-officio trustee of the center, brought a lawsuit challenging the board of trustees’ move on Monday.

Beatty alleges the vote by the center’s board of trustees to add Trump’s name went beyond the authority given to the board by Congress.

Trump, who was elected chair by a newly constituted board in February, has frequently joked about calling the performing arts center the “Trump Kennedy Center.” The president’s handpicked board approved his wishes at a board meeting last week, according to a source familiar with the matter, during which Trump also called in.

Days after returning to office, Trump announced an aggressive plan to gut the existing board of trustees and oust its chairman, the billionaire philanthropist David Rubenstein. Since then, he’s led an effort to reshape the institution to his taste: reshaping its leadership, securing multimillion-dollar congressional funding for renovations, and reimagining its programming.

CNN’s Betsy Klein and Tierney Sneed contributed to this report.

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CNN

By Kevin Liptak, CNN

(CNN) — The phone rings. Would your 10-year-old like to speak with the president? He’s tracking Santa Claus from his living room in Palm Beach.

“Santa is a very good person,” President Donald Trump, in a suit and gold tie, tells Jasper in Tulsa. “We want to make sure that he’s not infiltrated, that we’re not infiltrating into our country a bad Santa. So we found out that Santa is good. Santa loves you. Santa loves Oklahoma, like I do. You know Oklahoma was very good to me in the election. So I love Oklahoma. Don’t ever leave Oklahoma, okay?”

Okay, Jasper says.

Next one, general.

Trump is speaking to children whose calls to NORAD to track Santa have been patched through to Mar-a-Lago. It’s a presidential tradition.

“I figure you should hear all of this,” he tells his audience of reporters, who are watching from beside the Venetian silk panels and Romanesque columns at Trump’s gilded Florida resort. His speakerphone is on, but his wife’s is not.

“She’s very focused. The first lady’s very focused,” he said, peering around the Christmas tree to where Melania Trump is sitting, receiver to ear.

She doesn’t look up.

“I think it’s best if they go to sleep,” the first lady says into her receiver, with her back to the president. “And then Santa will arrive to your house.”

“She’s able to focus totally without listening to this,” the president says. “At least you know what’s happening.”

An 8-year-old in North Carolina is next.

“You sound so beautiful and cute! You sound so smart,” the president tells Savannah, who is wondering: “Will Santa ever get mad if we don’t leave him out any cookies?”

“He won’t get mad,” Trump replies, after asking Savannah to repeat her question. “But I think he’ll be very disappointed. You know, Santa, he tends to be a little bit on the cherubic side. You know what cherubic means? A little on the heavy side.”

Another glance over to the first lady, engrossed in conversation.

“This way you can hear what’s going on. I think it’s a little bit better,” he says, pointing to his speakerphone. “One-sided calls are never good, but they’re less much less dangerous.”

The military is tracking Santa over Sweden, the general informs Trump.

“So Santa’s got quite a trip to get to your part of the world,” he tells Amelia in Kansas. “Five hours from now, Santa will be coming down your chimney.”

Amelia is worried about coal in her stocking.

“You mean clean, beautiful coal?” Trump asks. “I had to do that, I’m sorry.”

Next one, general. The line is quiet.

“You like the room everybody? No ceiling height problem,” the president says to fill the silence, glancing up toward the gold-leaf coffering. “Hey general?”

A five-year-old in Pennsylvania is standing by.

“Pennsylvania is great. We won Pennsylvania actually, three times, but we won Pennsylvania. We won it in a landslide. So I love Pennsylvania,” Trump declares.

Santa is now above Copenhagen.

“Co

* WHAT…Flooding caused by excessive rainfall is expected.

* WHERE…A portion of southwest California, including the following
counties, Central and Northern Los Angeles, Central and Northern
Ventura, and East-Central Santa Barbara.

* WHEN…Until 600 AM PST Thursday.

* IMPACTS…Flooding of rivers, creeks, streams, and other low-lying
and flood-prone locations is imminent or occurring. Several
structures are flooded. Numerous roads remain closed due to
flooding. Streams continue to rise due to excess runoff from
earlier rainfall. Low-water crossings are inundated with water and
may not be passable. Expect many areas of slow moving or standing
water. It will take several hours for all the water from the
earlier rain to work through local drainage systems in urban
areas. Local media have reported water rescues.

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS…
– At 530 PM PST, widespread flooding, rock slides, and mud
slides were ongoing.
– Some locations that will experience flooding include…
Simi Valley, Fillmore, Acton, Ojai, Wrightwood, Santa
Clarita, Chatsworth, Northridge, Woodland Hills, Van Nuys,
Encino, North Hollywood, Burbank, Universal City, Beverly
Hills, Hollywood, Griffith Park, Lancaster, Palmdale and
Pasadena.
– http://www.weather.gov/safety/flood
Avoid flooded roads. Be aware of rock slides, mudslides, and
possibly debris flows.

The post Flood Warning issued December 24 at 5:30PM PST until December 25 at 6:00AM PST by NWS Los Angeles/Oxnard CA appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) – The County of Santa Barbara Health Department has closed East Beach both east and west of the Mission Creek outfall after about 4,500 gallons of sewage spilled during heavy rains Wednesday.

The 4,500 gallons of sewage spilled in the 2700 block of De la Vina Street after a pump bypass failure shared the County of Santa Barbara in a press release Wednesday.

Specifically, the closure is from one-quarter mile east to one-eighth of a mile west of where Mission Creek meets the open ocean and signs have already been posted in the area detailed the County Health Department.

Contact with sewage-contaminated water increases the risk of illness and untreated rainwater runoff within three days after any rain event can increase the risk of illnesses including rashes, fever, ear infections, vomiting, and diarrhea explained the County Health Department.

Beachgoers are advised to avoid swimming in local waterways in the days after rains to avoid untreated runoff added the local health agency.

The post East Beach closed around Mission Creek outfall due to storm-related sewage spill appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

By Taylor Romine, CNN

(CNN) — A traffic stop outside of Baltimore Wednesday ended with an undocumented man shot and another injured after US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents allege the driver of a van drove directly at officers, prompting them to open fire.

It is the second incident publicized this week where ICE agents shot at an undocumented person during an operation after the person allegedly attempted to hurt agents, although that person wasn’t hit by gunfire.

In Wednesday’s incident, the driver of the van was shot and another undocumented migrant in the van was injured, but both are in stable condition and are expected to recover, the Department of Homeland Security said.

After a year of violent encounters between DHS and the public, the confrontation provides another example of how car crashes and rammings are taking center stage in encounters with federal agents as immigration enforcement has ramped up across the country.

Stop by ICE agents leads to shooting

ICE officers were in Glen Burnie, Maryland, Wednesday conducting “a targeted immigration enforcement operation” when they attempted to stop the two men, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

The undocumented migrants were identified as Tiago Alexandre Sousa-Martins, a Portuguese man who was driving the van, and Solomon Antonio Serrano-Esquivel, a man from El Salvador who was a passenger, McLaughlin said.

Officers approached the van and asked Sousa-Martins to turn off the engine, but he refused and attempted to leave the scene, she said. He started ramming ICE vehicles and “then drove his van directly at ICE officers” as “it appeared he was trying to run them over,” McLaughlin said.

“Fearing for their lives and public safety, (officers) defensively fired their service weapons, striking the driver,” she said. Sousa-Martins then wrecked his car between two buildings, McLaughlin said, although photos shared by the agency on X show a white van crashed into a tree. CNN has reached out to DHS for clarification.

In the process of the crash, Serrano-Esquivel was also injured, she said.

Officers immediately gave medical care to the two men and took them to the hospital, McLaughlin said, adding no ICE agents were injured.

Sousa-Martins came to the US from Portugal in December 2008, but didn’t leave the country when his visa expired in February 2009, DHS said. The agency didn’t provide additional information on Serrano-Esquivel’s immigration history.

It is not immediately clear if the two men obtained legal representation.

CNN has reached out to local law enforcement in the area to see if they responded to the incident.

Rising car incidents over the last year

As images of dramatic immigration operations have risen across the country over the last year, incidents involving cars has become a common occurrence.

“Aggressors are now purposefully running into officers, boxing in law enforcement vehicles, running ICE law enforcement off the roads, and ramming their cars into law enforcement vehicles,” Emily Covington, ICE Assistant Director of Public Affairs, told CNN in October.

But the agency has been criticized for using the tactic itself, including controversial “precision immobilization technique” or “PIT” maneuvers, which force a car to spin out and stop. Experts have told CNN the maneuver is considered a use of deadl