Several players from Hampton Roads earned berths in the VHSL tennis singles finals, thanks to Friday morning triumphs at Huntington Park in Newport News.

Defending Class 4 champion Kayla Kennedy of Great Bridge and Class 5 Region B champion Tori Epps of Menchville, a pair of sophomores, rolled in girls semifinals. On the boys side, reigning Class 5 champ Harrison Lee of Princess Anne advanced and Class 4 Region A winner Rainer Christiansen, a Grafton junior, earned his first berth in the final.

All of them will play for championships at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.

Kennedy, a sophomore, outplayed the Salem Spartans’ Claire Rawlins 6-2, 6-0 to move into the title match against Northern Virginia standout sophomore Izzy Rotaru of Broad Run.

Epps breezed to a 6-1, 6-0 triumph against Douglas Freeman’s Paige Suter and will take on Ana Maria Rincon from Roanoke’s Patrick Henry High. Rincon shut out Region A champion Ashton Dillman of Princess Anne 6-0, 6-0.

Lee, a Princess Anne senior who soon will play for James Madison, won a 6-2, 6-3 baseline duel against Riverside’s Aarush Rajalana. Lee will take on his good buddy and occasional doubles partner in USTA events, Dylan Chou of Douglas Freeman.

Chou, the son of former Hampton Roads Academy standout and Wake Forest starter Jimmy Chou, defeated Menchville’s Matthew Onoff 6-0, 6-1.

Christiansen, a three-time region champ who had lost in the state semifinals the past two years, got over that hump with a 6-2, 6-1 victory against Gordon Fairborn of Western Albemarle.

In the final, Christiansen will take on the player who ousted him last season, Lightridge’s Sid Dabhade.

In Class 6 boys singles, second-time semifinalist Vincent Yi, an Ocean Lakes junior, lost 6-4, 6-3 to Rayan Elkhalifi, a left-hander from Northern Virginia’s Yorktown High.

The doubles championship matches in Classes 6, 5 and 4 are set for 1 p.m. Friday at Huntington Park.

Meanwhile, at Virginia Tech, the singles semifinals and doubles finals are underway in Classes 3, 2 and (for girls only) 1.

By ERIC TUCKER, JILL COLVIN and MICHAEL BALSAMO (Associated Press)

MIAMI (AP) — The historic federal criminal case against Former President Donald Trump has been initially assigned to a judge he appointed who faced criticism over her decision to grant the Republican’s request for an independent arbiter to review documents obtained during an FBI search of his Florida estate.

A person familiar with the matter says the case has been assigned to Judge Aileen Cannon, a former federal prosecutor who was nominated to the bench by Trump in 2020 and sits in Fort Pierce.

The move seems a rare bit of good news for Trump given rulings last year she issued in his favor and in opposition to the Justice Department.

Cannon’s profile was thrust into the spotlight when she issued what many legal experts saw as an extraordinary decision to approve a so-called special master to review the documents seized by the FBI. Some experts said the judge gave undue deference to the former president and and unnecessarily put on hold certain investigative work by the Justice Department.

As part of that case, Cannon temporarily barred federal agents and prosecutors from reviewing a batch of classified documents seized during the search. Her order was ultimately thrown out by a federal appeals court, which found she overstepped. The federal appeals court ended the independent review of documents.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

MIAMI (AP) — Donald Trump has been indicted on felony charges of mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate, a remarkable development that makes him the first former president in U.S. history to face criminal charges by the federal government that he once oversaw.

The Justice Department was expected to make public an indictment ahead of a historic court appearance next week in the midst of a 2024 presidential campaign punctuated by criminal prosecutions in multiple states. Trump’s indictment carries unmistakably grave legal consequences, including the possibility of prison if he’s convicted.

But it also has enormous political implications, potentially upending a Republican presidential primary that Trump had been dominating and testing anew the willingness of GOP voters and party leaders to stick with a now twice-indicted candidate who could face still more charges. And it sets the stage for a sensational trial centered on claims that a man once entrusted to safeguard the nation’s most closely-guarded secrets willfully, and illegally, hoarded sensitive national security information after leaving office.

The Justice Department did not immediately confirm the indictment publicly. But two people familiar with the situation who were not authorized to discuss it publicly said that the indictment included seven criminal charges. One of those people said Trump’s lawyers were contacted by prosecutors shortly before he announced Thursday on his Truth Social platform that he had been indicted.

Within minutes of his announcement, Trump began fundraising off it for his presidential campaign. He declared his innocence in a video and repeated his familiar refrain that the investigation is a “witch hunt.” He said he was due in court Tuesday afternoon in Miami, where a federal grand jury had been hearing testimony as recently as this week.

The case adds to deepening legal jeopardy for Trump, who has already been indicted in New York and faces additional investigations in Washington and Atlanta that also could lead to criminal charges. But among the various investigations he has faced, legal experts — as well as Trump’s own aides — had long seen the Mar-a-Lago probe as the most perilous threat and the one most ripe for prosecution. Campaign aides had been bracing for the fallout since Trump’s attorneys were notified that he was the target of the investigation, assuming it was not a matter of if charges would be brought, but when.

Appearing Thursday night on CNN, Trump attorney James Trusty said the indictment includes charges of willful retention of national defense information — a crime under the Espionage Act, which regulates the handling of government secrets — obstruction, false statements and conspiracy.

The case is a milestone for a Justice Department that had investigated Trump for years — as president and private citizen — but had never before charged him with a crime. The most notable investigation was an earlier special counsel probe into ties between his 2016 campaign and Russia, but prosecutors in that probe cited Justice Department policy against indicting a sitting president. Once he left office, though, he lost that protection.

The inquiry took a major step forward last November when Attorney General Merrick Garland, a soft-spoken former federal judge who has long stated that no one person should be regarded as above the law, appointed Jack Smith, a war crimes prosecutor with an aggressive, hard-charging reputation to lead both the documents probe as well as a separate investigation into efforts to subvert the 2020 election.

The indictment arises from a monthslong investigation into whether Trump broke the law by holding onto hundreds of documents marked classified at his Palm Beach property, Mar-a-Lago, and whether Trump took steps to obstruct the government’s efforts to recover the records.

Prosecutors have said that Trump took roughly 300 classified documents to Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House, including some 100 that were seized by the FBI last August in a search of the home that underscored the gravity of the Justice Department’s investigation. Trump has repeatedly insisted that he was entitled to keep the classified documents when he left the White House, and has also claimed without evidence that he had declassified them.

Court records unsealed last year showed federal investigators believed they had probable cause that multiple crimes had been committed, including the retention of national defense information, destruction of government records and obstruction.

Since then, the Justice Department has amassed additional evidence and secured grand jury testimony from people close to Trump, including his own lawyers. The statutes governing the handling of classified records and obstruction are felonies that could carry years in prison in the event of a conviction.

Even so, it remains unclear how much it will damage Trump’s standing given that his first indictment generated millions of dollars in contributions from angry supporters and didn’t weaken him in the polls.

The former president has long sought to use his legal troubles to his political advantage, complaining on social media and at public events that the cases are being driven by Democratic prosecutors out to hurt his 2024 election campaign. He is likely to rely on that playbook again, reviving his longstanding claims that the Justice Department — which, during his presidency, investigated whether his 2016 campaign had colluded with Russia — is somehow weaponized against him.

Trump’s legal troubles extend beyond the New York indictment and classified documents case.

Smith is separately investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. And the district attorney in Georgia’s Fulton County is investigating Trump over alleged efforts to subvert the 2020 election in that state.

Signs had mounted for weeks that an indictment was near, including a Monday meeting between Trump’s lawyers and Justice Department officials. His lawyers had also recently been notified that he was the target of the investigation, the clearest sign yet that an indictment was looming.

Though the bulk of the investigative work had been handled in Washington, with a grand jury meeting there for months, it recently emerged that prosecutors were presenting evidence before a separate panel in Florida, where many of the alleged acts of obstruction scrutinized by prosecutors took place.

The Justice Department has said Trump repeatedly resisted efforts by the National Archives and Records Administration to get the documents back. After months of back-and-forth, Trump representatives returned 15 boxes of records in January 2022, including about 184 documents that officials said had classified markings on them.

FBI and Justice Department investigators issued a subpoena in May 2022 for classified documents that remained in Trump’s possession. But after a Trump lawyer provided three dozen records and asserted that a diligent search of the property had been done, officials came to suspect even more documents remained.

The investigation had simmered for months before bursting into front-page news in remarkable fashion last August. That’s when FBI agents served a search warrant on Mar-a-Lago and removed 33 boxes containing classified records, including top-secret documents stashed in a storage room and desk drawer and commingled with personal belongings. Some records were so sensitive that investigators needed upgraded security clearances to review them, the Justice Department has said.

The investigation into Trump had appeared complicated — politically, if not legally — by the discovery of documents with classified markings in the Delaware home and former Washington office of President Joe Biden, as well as in the Indiana home of former Vice President Mike Pence. The Justice Department recently informed Pence that he would not face charges, while a second special counsel continues to investigate Biden’s handling of classified documents.

But compared with Trump, there are key differences in the facts and legal issues surrounding Biden’s and Pence’s handling of documents, including that representatives for both men say the documents were voluntarily turned over to investigators as soon as they were found. In contrast, investigators quickly zeroed on whether Trump, who for four years as president expressed disdain for the FBI and Justice Department, had sought to obstruct the inquiry by refusing to turn over all the requested documents.

_____

Tucker reported from Washington. Colvin reported from Des Moines, Iowa.

By JESSICA DAMIANO

Years ago, when my now-grown daughter Justine was a toddler, we visited a U-pick farm where she plucked plump, ripe strawberries from a field of sprawling plants. Some made it into the basket on that sunny June day; others went directly into her mouth.

That’s when she learned that June is for strawberries. It’s for roses, too, which makes sense when you consider that both plants are members of the Rosacea family.

And, as I learned at the farm that day, June is also for rhubarb, which I had never seen before.

Following the lead of other strawberry pickers waiting to pay for their loot, I added a bunch of rhubarb to my cart, wondering aloud what I would do with it. My fellow shoppers educated me about pies and jams, so I went home with a mission to prepare and learn how to grow the alien, red, celery-like stalks.

I’ve since learned that rhubarb is a popular June harvest in New England and some north-central and Midwestern states, where strawberry-rhubarb pie reigns supreme. It’s not quite as uncommon in my New York home as it was all those years ago, but I would hardly call it a staple.

The good news is that for those who have difficulty finding it at the supermarket – or simply want to grow their own – adding rhubarb to the garden is a worthwhile endeavor, albeit one that requires patience.

Perennial in horticultural zones 3-8, rhubarb can be expected to return and produce for up to 10 years. Plant their crowns, which are bare-roots, in fall or in spring when the weather is still cool. They will spread, so give them room by setting them 3-4 feet apart in similarly spaced rows. Bury their buds, or “eyes,” 2 inches below the soil line, ensuring they face upward in compost-enriched soil.

Keep plants well-watered and, when the weather warms up, apply 2 inches of mulch to retain moisture, discourage weeds and regulate soil temperature. Then apply a slow-release, balanced fertilizer with a 10-10-10 ratio of nutrients.

Do not harvest any stalks during rhubarb’s first year in your garden. Doing so would imperil the plant’s longevity. But remove flowers and their stems so the plant can channel its energy into root growth instead of seed production. Replenish mulch in late fall, after temperatures drop.

You can start harvesting – sparingly – in the plant’s second year, removing no more than four stalks per plant when they are red (unless you’re growing a pink or green variety) and between 12-18 inches long. Taking more would risk sapping the plant of energy, which would reduce future output, so practice restraint.

You may harvest freely during and after the third year, but never remove more than two-thirds of a single plant.

Rhubarb leaves are poisonous, so remove and discard them before slicing the stalks into 1-inch pieces for cooking.

I repeat: Do not eat the leaves.

Admittedly, I was skeptical after my first tasting of a raw, sour-bitter rhubarb stalk all those years ago. But, with my mouth still puckered and fingers crossed, I went ahead and added chunks of it to my strawberry pie filling. The pie was delicious, of course; its sweet berries offset and perfectly complemented by the acidic tang of the rhubarb. I was an instant – and astonished — convert.

The vegetable, regarded as a fruit just as tomatoes are fruits commonly regarded as vegetables, isn’t a one-trick pony, either. It works equally well in jams, relish, muffins and even simmered for 10 minutes, then blended with fruit into smoothies. Try roasting, stewing, sautéing and serving over ice cream, or adding it to apple sauce recipes. Just don’t forget the sweetener.

NORFOLK — A Virginia Beach plastic surgeon was found guilty Thursday of illegally possessing two highly addictive prescription painkillers, but acquitted of more serious charges accusing him of stealing pills from patients.

A jury in U.S. District Court in Norfolk issued its verdict in the case of Dr. John Stuart Mancoll after about three hours of deliberations. Mancoll, 59, the owner of Mancoll Plastic Surgery, could get up to two years in prison when he’s sentenced Oct. 20 for the misdemeanor convictions.

The longtime cosmetic surgeon had faced five charges: two misdemeanor counts relating to prescription drugs found in his possession, and three felony counts accusing him of stealing medications from patients.

Mancoll was already under investigation when two Virginia Beach police officers pulled him over in August 2021 for driving erratically in his Porsche Panamera sedan.

He consented to a search of his vehicle, where the officers found three pill bottles in his backpack. One contained Percocet and Dilaudid tablets that investigators determined didn’t match any of his past prescriptions, but did match prescriptions given to his patients.

Investigators then conducted a search of his medical office, where they found a box under his desk containing painkillers that had been returned by his patients.

Mancoll testified he asked patients to bring back pills they hadn’t used — or had had an adverse reaction to — so he could properly dispose of them. He said he either flushed them down the toilet or disposed of them at the hospital. Three other doctors who testified during the trial, including a longtime friend of Mancoll’s, said they’d never heard of a doctor asking patients to return pills.

Several patients who gave pills back testified they’d either used none, or just one, yet more than 100 were missing from the bottles when investigators seized them.

Prosecutors John Butler and Rebecca Gantt argued Mancoll, who suffers from various ailments and had been getting painkillers prescribed to him for years, was an addict who relied on patients’ pills when he couldn’t obtain them legally.

“You may believe that he’s a nice man. You may believe he’s charming,” Butler said in his closing arguments. “As nice of a guy as he may be, it still doesn’t take away from the fact that he violated the law.”

One former patient, and the parents of another patient, testified they saw Mancoll pocket pills he’d prescribed to them. In both instances, they said the doctor poured pills from a bottle onto his ungloved hand to show them how they could be cut in half if needed, then returned some — but not all — to the bottle.

In his testimony, Mancoll denied being an addict or stealing from patients. As for the drugs found in his car, he said someone must have planted them.

Defense attorneys James Broccoletti and Mario Lorello suggested in their arguments that two former employees who were angry with Mancoll for not letting them out of their no-compete contracts had placed the pills there. The employees had been cooperating with investigators and telling them about the doctor’s movements, including the day he was stopped.

Mancoll has continued working as a plastic surgeon during the nearly two years his case has been pending. It was unclear Thursday what impact his misdemeanor convictions will have on his ability to continue practicing.

Jane Harper, [email protected]

COLLEGE BASEBALL

Lynchburg captured its first NCAA Division III title, defeating Johns Hopkins 7-6 Thursday in a decisive Game 3 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Jackson Harding’s three-run double in the fifth inning gave the Hornets (48-9) a lead that the Bluejays couldn’t overcome.

Hopkins went ahead 4-0 in the top of the first, but Lynchburg pulled even in the bottom of the second. Harding’s hit put the Hornets ahead 7-5.

Lynchburg won Game 1 but, earlier Thursday, lost 11-6 in Game 2.

The Hornets’ roster has nine players from Hampton Roads, though none played in the decisive game.

UVA’s Super Regional on as scheduled

Despite concerns about air quality, Virginia’s Super Regional game against Duke will be played as scheduled at noon Friday. Officials have been monitoring air quality in Charlottesville and will continue to do so throughout the weekend.

UVA coach Brian O’Connor said Nick Parker will start Game 1. He was effective last weekend in the regional against East Carolina.

LOCAL BASEBALL

Pilots drop to 0-5 with home defeat

The Peninsula Pilots’ early-season frustration continued Thursday night with a 2-1 loss to the Tri-City Chili Peppers at War Memorial Stadium in Hampton. The Pilots, historically one of the Coastal Plain League’s better franchises, fell to 0-5.

Both teams scored in the second inning. Tri-City (7-1) went ahead 1-0 when Krew Bouldin singled, his first of three hits, and scored on Alex Christie’s single.

The Pilots’ Hunter Cole, a Randolph-Macon standout from Granby High, singled to right to bring home Henry Garcia with the tying run.

The Chili Peppers went ahead in the ninth, handing reliever Olvis Genao a defeat. Bouldin doubled before pinch runner Michael Dolberry stole third base and scored on Henry Cooke’s sacrifice fly.

Pilots starter Trey Morgan struck out six in four innings, giving up one run. Todd Mozoki pitched one scoreless inning before Sam Rochard, a Warhill High alum, threw three shutout innings.

Mason Dunaway and Christopher Martinez each had two of the Pilots’ eight hits.

Tri-City used six pitchers. Marcus Van Alstine — Morgan’s VMI teammate — pitched a scoreless eighth for the victory, and Wyatt Stanley worked the ninth for the save. Those two struck out a pair apiece.

The Pilots will get a rematch Friday with the Chili Peppers at 7 p.m. at Shepherd Stadium in Colonial Heights.

COLLEGE MEN’S BASKETBALL

ODU signs Dayton transfer

Old Dominion announced the signing of Dayton transfer R.J. Blakney, a 6-foot-6 guard from Baltimore.

Blakney played 85 games in three seasons with the Flyers. Last season, he was third on the team in blocked shots and fourth in steals, appearing in 30 games and starting 20. He scored a season-best 19 points against St. Joseph’s and 17 against Duquesne.

Blakney joined Tyrone Williams, Yamari Allette, Vasean Allette, Devin Ceaser and Daniel Pounds as new Monarchs for next season.

MORE COLLEGES

JMU tops ODU for year in Royal Rivalry

James Madison won the inaugural Royal Rivalry Challenge over Old Dominion with a score of 16.5to 7.5, JMU announced.

The trophy will be presented at JMU’s football home game against the Monarchs on Oct. 28.

GOLF

US team trails at Palmer Cup

Team International leads Team USA 6.5-5.5 after the first 12 matches of the Arnold Palmer Cup at Laurel Valley Golf Club in Ligonier, Pennsylvania.

UVA’s Ben James and Amanda Sambach both lost their mixed fourball matches. James, teaming with Oregon’s Ashleigh Park, fell 4 and 3, while Sambach and North Carolina’s David Ford lost 4 and 3.

Rounds 2 and 3 are set for Friday.

COLLEGE TRACK AND FIELD

HU runner earns All-America honor

Hampton sophomore Dugion Blackman earned second-team All-America honors at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Austin, Texas.

The Kingston, Jamaica, native placed 11th in the 800 meters at 1 minute, 48.65 seconds, his second-best time of the season. The Colonial Athletic Association champion was fourth in his heat, though he missed the cut for the final by about six-tenths of a second.

**Virginia’s Ethan Dabbs won silver in the javelin for the second consecutive season.

The four-time ACC champion’s best throw came on his fourth attempt of the competition: 260 feet, 1 inch. It was less than two feet short of winner Tzuriel Pedigo of LSU (261-9).

Also for UVA, Nate Mountain (8:38.31) and Derek Johnson (8:35.85) qualified for Friday’s final of the 3,000-meter steeplechase, and Conor Murphy reached the 800-meter final (1:48.00).

**Virginia Tech senior Cole Beck clocked a school-record time of 9.97 in the 100-meter semifinals to earn a spot in the final.

CNU gains C2C track honors

Christopher Newport’s Alyssa Roach repeated as the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Athlete of the Year, adding to the indoor honor she won for 2022-23.

CNU’s Adrianna DeSantis was the Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the second season in a row, while the Captains’ Tyler Wingard repeated as the league’s top coach.

By AAMER MADHANI and SEUNG MIN KIM (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Thursday reiterated their commitment to help Ukraine repel Russia’s ongoing invasion, while agreeing to step up cooperation on challenges their economies face with artificial intelligence, clean energy, and critical minerals.

The leaders said the “first of its kind” agreement—what they are calling the “Atlantic Declaration”—will serve as a framework for the two countries on the development of emerging technologies, protecting technology that is critical to national security and other economic security issues.

“We will put our values front and center,” Biden said as the two leaders started talks in the Oval Office. He later added at a joint news conference that the agreement will help both nations “adapt and upgrade our partnership to ensure our countries remain on the cutting edge of a rapidly changing world.”

As part of the declaration announced Thursday, the two sides will kick off negotiations on the use of minerals from the U.K. that are critical in the production of electric vehicles that are eligible for U.S. tax credits. The administration has also opened talks with the European Union and forged a deal with Japan that allow certain critical raw materials for EVs to be treated as if they were sourced in the United States.

Allies have raised concerns about incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act favoring the North American auto industry. The legislation — one of Biden’s key policy victories — invests some $375 billion to transition the United States to cleaner cars and energy sources.

Biden and Sunak have already had four face-to-face meetings since Sunak became prime minister in October, but the talks in Washington offered the two leaders a chance for their most sustained interaction to date.

Sunak reflected on the significant conversations their respective predecessors have had over the years in the Oval Office and acknowledged that both he and Biden were facing their own daunting moment. The visit to Washington is Sunak’s first since becoming Britain’s prime minister in October.

“Our economies are seeing perhaps the biggest transformation since the Industrial Revolution as new technologies provide incredible opportunities, but also give our adversaries more tools,” Sunak said.

The 15-month-old Russian invasion of Ukraine was high on the agenda. The U.S. and U.K. are the two biggest donors to the Ukraine war effort and play a central role in a long-term effort announced last month to train, and eventually equip, Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets.

Biden reiterated confidence that Congress would continue to provide Ukraine funding as needed despite some hesitation among Republican leaders at the growing cost of the war for American taxpayers.

“The U.S. and the U.K. have stood together to support Ukraine,” Biden said at the start of their meeting.

Sunak also made the case to Biden for U.K. Defense Minister Ben Wallace to succeed outgoing NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who is set to end his term leading the 31-member alliance in September. Stoltenberg is slated to meet with Biden in Washington on Monday, and leaders from the alliance are set to gather in Lithuania on July 11-12 for their annual summit.

Asked if it was time for a U.K. leader for NATO, Biden said “it may be” but “that remains to be seen.”

“We’re going to have to get a consensus within NATO,” he said.

Biden also reflected that the two countries have worked through some of the toughest moments in modern history side-by-side, recalling the meetings that Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt held in the White House.

“You know Prime Minister Churchill and Roosevelt met here a little over 70 years ago and they asserted that the strength of the partnership between Great Britain and the United States was strength of the free world,” Biden told Sunak. “I still think there’s truth to that assertion.”

Sunak is keen to make the U.K. a key player in artificial intelligence, and announced that his government will gather politicians, scientists and tech executives for a summit on AI safety in the fall.

He said it was vital to ensure that “paradigm-shifting new technologies” are harnessed for the good of humanity.

“No one country can do this alone,” Sunak said Wednesday. “This is going to take a global effort.”

Biden said the challenges that comes with the advancement of AI technology are “staggering.”

“It is a limitless capacity and possibility but we have to do it with great care,” said Biden, who added that he welcomed the U.K.’s leadership on the issue.

Sunak’s visit comes as U.S. and British intelligence officials are still trying to sort out blame for the breaching of a major dam in southern Ukraine, which sent floodwaters gushing through towns and over farmland. Neither Washington nor London has officially accused Russia of blowing up the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam.

Sunak said Wednesday that U.K. intelligence services are still assessing the evidence, but “if it does prove to be intentional, it will represent a new low … an appalling barbarism on Russia’s part.”

“Russia throughout this war has used as a deliberate active strategy to target civilian infrastructure,” he told broadcaster ITV in Washington.

The two sides looked to demonstrate that the U.S.-U.K. relationship remains as strong as ever despite recent political and economic upheaval in the U.K. Sunak is one of three British prime ministers Biden has dealt with since taking office in 2021, and the administrations have had differences over Brexit and its impact on Northern Ireland.

Nonetheless, there’s a sense in the Biden administration that the U.S.-U.K. relationship is back on more stable footing after the sometimes choppy tenure of Boris Johnson and the 45-day premiership of Liz Truss.

“I think there’s a sense of relief to some degree, not just in the White House, but throughout Washington, that the Sunak government has been very pragmatic and maintained the U.K.’s robust commitment to Ukraine and to increasing defense spending,” said Max Bergmann, director of the Europe, Russia and Eurasia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He added that with Sunak, there’s also been “somewhat of a return to pragmatism” on economic issues and relations with the European Union post-Brexit.

Sunak at the press conference sought to hammer home that the U.K. remains “as reliable an ally as ever.”

“I know some people have wondered what kind of partner Britain would be after we left the EU,” Sunak said. “I’d say judge us by our actions.”

Biden invited Sunak to stay at Blair House, the official presidential guest residence on Lafayette Square. Before the U.S. government purchased Blair House in 1942, foreign leaders visiting the president often stayed at the White House.

In a lighter moment, the president began telling the story of how in the pre-Blair House days Churchill wandered toward the president’s family quarters in the wee hours to rouse the sleeping Roosevelt for conversation. First lady Eleanor Roosevelt was said to have cut off Churchill before he could make it to the president.

“Don’t worry,” Sunak interjected. “You won’t see me bothering you and the first lady.”

—

Associated Press writers Jill Lawless in London and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

Heston Kjerstad collected his first Triple-A hit Thursday night and scored the eventual winning run on Jordan Westburg’s triple as the Norfolk Tides beat the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders 5-3 before 3,226 fans Thursday night.

The International League-leading Tides (41-17) hadn’t played since Sunday. They were off Monday, and games were postponed Tuesday and Wednesday because of poor air conditions stemming from Canadian wildfires. Thursday’s game was delayed for 27 minutes because of rain, but since it helped the smoke clear, the precipitation was somewhat welcomed.

Kjerstad, a Baltimore prospect summoned Monday from Double-A Bowie, was 0 for 4 with two strikeouts and had stranded five runners in his Tides debut before cracking a long single off Greg Weissert with one out in the ninth inning in a 3-3 game.

He then scored on a triple to center by Westburg, who came home for the night’s final run on a Joey Ortiz single.

Norfolk left-hander DL Hall shut out the RailRiders for 3 1/3 innings and struck out three in his start, though he walked four.

Reed Garrett (5-1), a Richmond native, pitched two shutout innings for the victory. He lowered his earned-run average to 1.66.

Home runs by Ortiz and Hudson Haskin gave Norfolk a 2-0 lead in the fourth. Elijah Durham’s two-run single to right in the fifth off reliever Eduard Bazardo tied the game at 2 for Scranton, the New York Yankees’ top affiliate.

The RailRiders went ahead on former MLB regular Franchy Cordero’s RBI single in the sixth, but Jose Godoy — recently traded by the Yankees to Baltimore — brought home Daz Cameron with the tying run by singling in the eighth.

The series’ second game is set for 6:35 p.m. Friday.