RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina state lawmaker accused by authorities of sex-related crimes involving a 15-year-old resigned his legislative seat on Friday. His departure came just after the House speaker announced a committee to investigate his alleged misconduct.
The House clerk’s office received a letter signed by Democratic Rep. Cecil Brockman of High Point to resign effective immediately.
House leaders from both parties, as well as Democratic Gov. Josh Stein, had called on Brockman to resign since his arrest three weeks ago on two counts each of statutory sexual offense with a child and taking indecent liberties with a child.
Brockman, who had served in the House since 2015, wrote that he needed to focus on his defense given the serious allegations against him.
“As a result, I am currently unable to fulfill my duty and service to my constituents,” Brockman said. Democratic officials in Brockman’s Guilford County district will now choose someone to complete his two-year term through the end of 2026.
Republican House Speaker Destin Hall had announced earlier Friday a bipartisan House committee “to investigate the charges and recommend expulsion if necessary” from the chamber, a Hall news release said. The state constitution gives the House authority to remove its members. The full House last voted to remove a member in 2008.
Hall said later Friday that Brockman’s “departure spares the House from a difficult expulsion process and brings closure to this troubling chapter.”
Records show Brockman, 41, remained in jail Friday on a bond of just over $1 million. A court hearing on a request by Brockman’s attorney to reduce the bond is scheduled for Monday.
A bird sighting on New York’s Long Island has avian enthusiasts flocking to the region in hopes of spotting a feathered friend that has never been seen before in the state.
The common cuckoo is typically found from Europe to Japan, with the majority of the population wintering in Africa. But one was recently spotted in Riverhead — a town on the north shore of Long Island about 75 miles (120 kilometers) from New York City — by a golfer who snapped a photo and sent it to his nephew, a birding enthusiast.
The information eventually was shared with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York. Once the bird was confirmed as a common cuckoo, birders quickly shared the news in their communities.
The bird has since been spotted more than 200 times by enthusiasts who have noted their sightings on the birding site ebird.org and various social media sites, including the American Birding Association. Many people in other parts of the U.S. also have reported making special treks to the region in hopes of seeing it for themselves. The last confirmed sightings came late Sunday afternoon.
It’s not clear how or why the bird ended up in southern New York, or if it’s even still in the region. Experts say it’s a juvenile — meaning it hatched this spring or summer — so it’s reasonable to conclude it was trying to migrate for the winter but somehow got lost or blown off course.
The common cuckoo has been found only three other times in the eastern U.S. and Canada, experts said.
Jay McGowan, a curator at the Cornell Lab’s Macaulay Library, said Thursday that the bird may still be in the area, but if it has relocated, it may be unlikely anyone will happen across it again. He urged anyone who does see it to report their sightings to the birder community.
“This is definitely a major event for anyone birding in New York state, and unusual enough for the broader region,” McGowan said, adding that he’s not surprised to see many people are willing to make long trips to the area for a chance to see a bird they would otherwise be unlikely to see unless they went to Europe or Asia.
”If people see it, they shouldn’t approach too closely for photos, but otherwise it’s fairly tolerant of people and traffic,” McGowan said. “It looks a lot like a small hawk, like the common Cooper’s hawk, so don’t be fooled if you see one of those.”
By ARIEL FERNÁNDEZ, ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ and JOHN MYERS JR. Associated Press
SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba (AP) — The rumble of large machinery, whine of chain saws and chopping of machetes echoed through communities across the northern Caribbean on Thursday as they dug out from the destruction of Hurricane Melissa and surveyed the damage left behind.
In Jamaica, government workers and residents began clearing roads in a push to reach dozens of isolated communities in the island’s southeast that sustained a direct hit from one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record.
Stunned residents wandered about, some staring at their roofless homes and waterlogged belongings strewn around them.
Images from a helicopter over Black River, a coastal town of 5,000 in southwestern Jamaica, show the extent of the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa. Few houses seem to have escaped damage at some level from the force of the winds and rain of the Category 5 Hurricane that hit the island on Tuesday. (AP Video by Kirk Wright)
“I don’t have a house now,” said Sylvester Guthrie, a resident of Lacovia in the southern parish of St. Elizabeth, as he held onto his bicycle, the only possession of value left after the storm.
Emergency relief flights were landing at Jamaica’s main international airport as crews distributed water, medicine and other basic supplies. Helicopters dropped food as they thrummed above communities where the storm flattened homes, wiped out roads and destroyed bridges, cutting them off from assistance.
“The entire Jamaica is really broken because of what has happened,” Education Minister Dana Morris Dixon said.
Officials said at least 19 people have died in Jamaica, including a child, and they expected the death toll to keep rising. In one isolated community, residents pleaded with officials to remove the body of one victim tangled in a tree. On Thursday, dozens of U.S. search-and-rescue experts landed in Jamaica along with their dogs.
More than 13,000 people remained crowded into shelters, with 72% of the island without power and only 35% of mobile phone sites in operation, officials said. People clutched cash as they formed long lines at the few gas stations and supermarkets open in affected areas.
“We understand the frustration, we understand your anxiety, but we ask for your patience,” said Daryl Vaz, Jamaica’s telecommunications and energy minister.
Water trucks have been mobilized to serve many of Jamaica’s rural communities that are not connected to the government’s utility system, Water Minister Matthew Samuda said.
Slow recovery in Cuba
In Cuba, heavy equipment began to clear blocked roads and highways and the military helped rescue people trapped in isolated communities and at risk from landslides.
No deaths were reported after the Civil Defense evacuated more than 735,000 people across eastern Cuba ahead of the storm. Residents were slowly starting to return home Thursday.
The town of El Cobre in the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba was one of the hardest hit. Home to some 7,000 people, it is also the site of the Basilica of Our Lady of Charity, the patron saint of Cuba who is deeply venerated by Catholics and practitioners of Santería, an Afro-Cuban religion.
“We went through this very badly. So much wind, so much wind. Zinc roofs were torn off. Some houses completely collapsed. It was a disaster,” said Odalys Ojeda, a 61-year-old retiree, as she looked up at the sky from her living room where the roof and other parts of the house were torn away.
Even the basilica wasn’t spared.
“Here at the sanctuary, the carpentry, stained glass and even the masonry suffered extensive damage,” Father Rogelio Dean Puerta said.
A televised Civil Defense meeting chaired by President Miguel Díaz-Canel did not provide an official estimate of the damage. However, officials from the affected provinces — Santiago, Granma, Holguín, Guantánamo, and Las Tunas — reported losses of roofs, power lines and fiber optic telecommunications cables, as well as roads cut off, isolating communities, and heavy losses in banana, cassava and coffee plantations.
Many communities were still without electricity, internet and telephone service because of downed transformers and power lines.
In an unusual statement Thursday, the U.S. State Department said the United States was “ready to assist the Cuban people.” It said the U.S. “is prepared to provide immediate humanitarian assistance directly and through local partners who can deliver it more effectively to those in need.”
The statement did not specify how the cooperation would be coordinated or whether contact had been made with the Cuban government, with which it maintains a bitter conflict that includes six decades of economic and financial sanctions.
Death and flooding in Haiti
Melissa also unleashed catastrophic flooding in Haiti, where at least 30 people were reported killed and 20 others were missing, mostly in the country’s southern region. Some 15,000 people also remained in shelters.
“It is a sad moment for the country,” said Laurent Saint-Cyr, president of Haiti’s transitional presidential council.
He said officials expect the death toll to rise and noted that the government was mobilizing resources to search for people and provide emergency relief.
Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency said Hurricane Melissa killed at least 20 people, including 10 children, in Petit-Goâve, where more than 160 homes were damaged and 80 others destroyed.
Steven Guadard said Melissa killed his entire family in Petit-Goâve, including four children ranging in age from 1 month to 8 years.
Michelet Dégange, who has lived in Petit-Goâve for three years, said Melissa left him homeless.
“There is no place to rest the body; we are hungry,” he said. “The authorities don’t think about us. I haven’t closed my eyes since the bad weather began.”
When Melissa came ashore in Jamaica as a Category 5 hurricane with top winds of 185 mph (295 kph) on Tuesday, it tied strength records for Atlantic hurricanes making landfall, both in wind speed and barometric pressure.
Melissa was a Category 2 storm with top sustained winds near 105 mph (165 kph) Thursday night and was moving northeast at 32 mph (51 kph), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. The hurricane was centered about 260 miles (420 kilometers) west-southwest of Bermuda.
Melissa brushed past the southeast Bahamas on Wednesday, forcing officials to evacuate 1,400 people ahead of the storm.
Melissa was forecast to pass near or to the west of Bermuda late Thursday and may strengthen further before weakening Friday.
Bermuda’s international airport was to close Thursday evening and reopen Friday at noon, while all schools on the wealthy British territory were ordered closed.
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Rodriguez reported from Havana and Myers Jr. reported from Kingston, Jamaica. Associated Press reporters Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Evens Sanon in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and David Constantin and Odelyn Joseph in Petit-Goâve, Haiti, contributed to this report.
Sprinkles, candy eyes, or edible glitter (optional)
Instructions
1. Mix dry ingredients In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
2. Combine wet ingredients In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 2–3 minutes). Then, mix in the egg and vanilla extract until well combined.
3. Mix dry and wet ingredients Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture until dough forms. Shape into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for 30 minutes. *While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 350°F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
4. Roll and cut the dough Roll dough to about ¼ inch thick. Use Halloween cookie cutters (pumpkins, ghosts, bats, cats) to shape into cookies.
5. Bake and cool Bake 8–10 minutes or until edges are just golden. Cool completely before decorating.
6. Decorate! Now for the fun part! Divide icing into bowls and tint with food coloring. Pipe or spread on cookies to make spooky designs. Some ideas are: spiders, ghosts, skeletons, pumpkins, or bats. Enjoy the process, then enjoy your treat!
Ghosts are going to be crazy in 100 years from now, someone is going to say “I saw a little boy in the hallway doing the Macarena then just disappeared!!”
No. 8 Georgia Tech is a front-runner to reach the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game.
Staying on course will require the Yellow Jackets (8-0, 5-0) to avoid a misstep at N.C. State on Saturday night.
“We’re going into an environment up there that’s going to be an extremely challenging environment versus a challenging team,” Georgia Tech coach Brent Key said. “They haven’t gotten the outcome they’ve wanted the last few weeks. But if you turn the tape on and watch them play … you make a judgment based on the team and how they play.”
This is the sixth time in Georgia Tech history that the team is 8-0, and the first season since 1966. In each of those previous five situations, the Yellow Jackets won the next game to move to 9-0. Going back to last season, the Yellow Jackets own a program-tying seven consecutive ACC victories.
N.C. State (4-4, 1-3) has lost two in a row and four of its last five games. That includes giving up 89 points in losses at Notre Dame and Pittsburgh.
“Nobody’s given up,” Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren said. “We just got to play better and it starts with me. … (Our players are) frustrated, they’re mad, and they want to do something about it.”
Fit for a King
Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King is getting more attention with each win.
“He represents all that is great in college football,” Key said. “He is the best representative of any one individual for this entire sport that we play and we all love.”
Among King’s latest notable performances was completing 25 of 31 passes for 304 yards in last week’s 41-16 victory over Syracuse. That marked the highest single-game completion percentage in program history (.806) for a player with at least 30 attempts.
In last week’s game, he became the first Yellow Jacket to throw for three TDs and run for two more in the same game.
Taking notice
The rash of coaching firings at power conference schools hasn’t gone unnoticed in Raleigh. The Wolfpack will need a solid November to avoid back-to-back losing seasons for the first time under Doeren, who’s in his 13th season and is the program’s all-time winningest coach.
“I don’t worry about that,” he said. “I’ve got to worry about my players. I’ve got to worry about my staff, my wife, my children. Those decisions aren’t mine to make.”
We meet again
These teams were in opposite ACC divisions for years, so they seldom met.
The Yellow Jackets won 30-29 last November in Atlanta, where the teams combined for 36 fourth-quarter points. Georgia Tech’s last visit to Raleigh came in 2020, suffering a 23-13 loss. That marked N.C. State’s first home victory against the Yellow Jackets since a 2000 overtime win.
In a rush
Hollywood Smothers’ ACC-leading 825 rushing yards have come despite N.C. State’s last three Bowl Subdivision opponents holding him to less than 90 yards.
Smothers scored a touchdown last year at Georgia Tech, but quarterback CJ Bailey had three of the Wolfpack’s rushing scores in that game. Smothers ran for 86 yards last week on just eight carries in a game that saw Pitt build a big third-quarter lead.
Reversal?
This is the first meeting with either in the top 10 since 2002 — almost 23 years to the day — in a game that saw the Wolfpack holding a 9-0 record and a No. 10 national ranking entering a visit from Georgia Tech.
But the Yellow Jackets, who were just 5-3 at the time, derailed the Wolfpack’s perfect season with a 24-17 win in Raleigh that started a three-game skid for N.C. State.
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AP freelance writer Alan Cole in Atlanta contributed to this report.
By JOSH BOAK, CHRIS MEGERIAN and MARK SCHIEFELBEIN Associated Press
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AP) — President Donald Trump described his face-to-face with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday as a roaring success, saying he would cut tariffs on China, while Beijing had agreed to allow the export of rare earth elements and start buying American soybeans.
The president told reporters aboard Air Force One that the U.S. would lower tariffs implemented earlier this year as punishment on China for its selling of chemicals used to make fentanyl from 20% to 10%. That brings the total combined tariff rate on China down from 57% to 47%
President Donald Trump described his face-to-face with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday as a roaring success, saying he would cut tariffs on China, while Beijing had agreed to allow the export of rare earth elements and start buying American soybeans.
“I guess on the scale from 0 to 10, with ten being the best, I would say the meeting was a 12,” Trump said. “I think it was a 12.”
Trump said that he would go to China in April and Xi would come to the U.S. “some time after that.” The president said they also discussed the export of more advanced computer chips to China, saying that Nvidia would be in talks with Chinese officials.
Trump said he could sign a trade deal with China “pretty soon.”
Xi said Washington and Beijing would work to finalize their agreements to provide “peace of mind” to both countries and the rest of the world, according to a report on the meeting distributed by state media.
“Both sides should take the long-term perspective into account, focusing on the benefits of cooperation rather than falling into a vicious cycle of mutual retaliation,” he said.
Sources of tension remain
Despite Trump’s optimism after a 100-minute meeting with Xi in South Korea, there continues to be the potential for major tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Both nations are seeking dominant places in manufacturing, developing emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, and shaping world affairs like Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Trump’s aggressive use of tariffs since returning to the White House for a second term, combined with China’s retaliatory limits on exports of rare earth elements, gave the meeting newfound urgency. There is a mutual recognition that neither side wants to risk blowing up the world economy in ways that could jeopardize their own country’s fortunes.
When the two were seated at the start of the meeting, Xi read prepared remarks that stressed a willingness to work together despite differences.
“Given our different national conditions, we do not always see eye to eye with each other,” he said through a translator. “It is normal for the two leading economies of the world to have frictions now and then.”
There was a slight difference in translation as China’s Xinhua News Agency reported Xi as telling Trump that having some differences is inevitable.
Finding ways to lower the temperature
The leaders met in Busan, South Korea, a port city about 76 kilometers (47 miles) south from Gyeongju, the main venue for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
In the days leading up to the meeting, U.S. officials signaled that Trump did not intend to make good on a recent threat to impose an additional 100% import tax on Chinese goods, and China showed signs it was willing to relax its export controls on rare earths and also buy soybeans from America.
Officials from both countries met earlier this week in Kuala Lumpur to lay the groundwork for their leaders. Afterward, China’s top trade negotiator Li Chenggang said they had reached a “preliminary consensus,” a statement affirmed by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent who said there was “ a very successful framework.”
Shortly before the meeting on Thursday, Trump posted on Truth Social that the meeting would be the “G2,” a recognition of America and China’s status as the world’s biggest economies. The Group of Seven and Group of 20 are other forums of industrialized nations.
But while those summits often happen at luxury spaces, this meeting took place in humbler surroundings: Trump and Xi met in a small gray building with a blue roof on a military base adjacent to Busan’s international airport.
The anticipated detente has given investors and businesses caught between the two nations a sense of relief. The U.S. stock market has climbed on the hopes of a trade framework coming out of the meeting.
Pressure points remain for both US and China
Trump has outward confidence that the grounds for a deal are in place, but previous negotiations with China this year in Geneva, Switzerland and London had a start-stop quality to them. The initial promise of progress has repeatedly given way to both countries seeking a better position against the other.
“The proposed deal on the table fits the pattern we’ve seen all year: short-term stabilization dressed up as strategic progress,” said Craig Singleton, senior director of the China program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “Both sides are managing volatility, calibrating just enough cooperation to avert crisis while the deeper rivalry endures.”
The U.S. and China have each shown they believe they have levers to pressure the other, and the past year has demonstrated that tentative steps forward can be short-lived.
China had faced new tariffs this year totaling 30%, of which 20% were tied to its role in fentanyl production. But the tariff rates have been volatile. In April, he announced plans to jack the rate on Chinese goods to 145%, only to abandon those plans as markets recoiled.
Then, on Oct. 10, Trump threatened a 100% import tax because of China’s rare earth restrictions. That figure, including past tariffs, would now be 47% “effective immediately,” Trump told reporters on Thursday.
Xi has his own chokehold on the world economy because China is the top producer and processor of the rare earth minerals needed to make fighter jets, robots, electric vehicles and other high-tech products.
China had tightened export restrictions on Oct. 9, repeating a cycle in which each nation jockeys for an edge only to back down after more trade talks.
What might also matter is what happens directly after their talks. Trump plans to return to Washington, while Xi plans to stay on in South Korea to meet with regional leaders during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which officially begins on Friday.
“Xi sees an opportunity to position China as a reliable partner and bolster bilateral and multilateral relations with countries frustrated by the U.S. administration’s tariff policy,” said Jay Truesdale, a former State Department official who is CEO of TD International, a risk and intelligence advisory firm.
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Ken Moritsugu in Beijing and Seung Min Kim and Michelle Price in Washington contributed to this report. Boak reported from Tokyo and Megerian reported from Busan, South Korea.
This recipe is a classic treat with a Halloween twist!
Ingredients
1 pound fresh strawberries (washed and thoroughly dried)
8 ounces white chocolate chips or white melting wafers
Candy eyeballs (available at most grocery or craft stores)
1 teaspoon coconut oil or vegetable shortening (optional, for smoother melting)
Parchment paper
Instructions
1. Prepare strawberries Make sure the strawberries are completely dry and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Melt the white chocolate Place the white chocolate and coconut oil in a microwave-safe bowl and heat in 20–30 second intervals, stirring between each, until smooth and fully melted.
3. Dip the strawberries Hold each strawberry by the stem and dip it into the melted white chocolate, coating it almost to the top. Let the excess chocolate drip off, then set each strawberry on the parchment paper.
4. Add the eyes While the chocolate is still wet, gently press two candy eyeballs near the top front of each strawberry.
5. Chill and enjoy Place the tray of strawberries in the fridge for about 15–20 minutes, or until the chocolate is firm. Then, serve chilled and enjoy this Halloween-themed treat!
Naomi is a gentle 12-year-old tabby who came to us after her owner became homeless and wanted a better life for her. Now, Naomi is hoping to find a loving home where she can spend her golden years in comfort and peace.
She’s a sweet and affectionate girl who enjoys cuddles and the occasional playful moment. Naomi gets along well with other calm, friendly cats and would do best in a quiet home where she can relax and feel safe. A sunny windowsill or a cozy blanket would make her happiest spot in the world.
Naomi is healthy for her age, not on any medications, and fully litterbox trained. While she doesn’t have a favorite toy, she’s sure to bring warmth and companionship wherever she goes. She’d do well with gentle children who understand how to treat an older cat with kindness.
If you’re looking for a calm, loving companion to share your days with, Naomi might be your perfect match.
