By SUSIE BLANN and MATTHEW LEE (Associated Press)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that a cease-fire in the war in Ukraine could not be declared unless it was part of a “just and lasting” peace deal that included Russia’s military withdrawal.

Blinken said that “a cease-fire that simply freezes current lines in place” and allowed Russian President Vladimir Putin “to consolidate control over the territory he has seized, and rest, rearm, and reattack — that is not a just and lasting peace.”

Russia must also pay a share of Ukraine’s reconstruction and be held accountable for launching its full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022, Blinken said in a speech during a visit to Finland, which recently joined NATO and shares a long border with Russia.

Allowing Moscow to keep the one-fifth of Ukrainian territory it had occupied would send the wrong message to Russia and to “other would-be aggressors around the world,” according to Blinken.

Russia, however, wants any talks to address Ukraine’s request to join NATO. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pushed for the country’s membership in the Western military alliance that the Kremlin sees as a threat.

“Naturally, this (issue) will be one of the main irritants and potential problems for many, many years to come,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday.

Blinken said Washington was ready to support peace efforts by other countries, including recent overtures from China and Brazil. But any peace agreement must uphold the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence.

The United States is a leading Western ally and supplier of arms to Kyiv to help it push back against the Kremlin’s forces.

China, which says it is neutral and wants to serve as a mediator but has supported Moscow politically, on Friday urged countries to stop sending weapons to Ukraine.

In Kyiv, air defenses shot down more than 30 Russian cruise missiles and drones Friday in Moscow’s sixth air attack in six days, local officials said.

The Ukrainian capital was simultaneously attacked from different directions by Iranian-made Shahed drones and cruise missiles from the Caspian region, senior Kyiv official Serhii Popko wrote on Telegram.

A 68-year-old man and an 11-year-old child were wounded in the attack, with private houses, outbuildings and cars sustaining damage from falling debris, according to Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office.

A recent spate of attacks on the capital has put strain on residents and tested the strength of Ukraine’s air defenses while Kyiv officials plot what they say is an upcoming counteroffensive to push back the Kremlin’s forces 15 months after their full-scale invasion. Kyiv was the target of drone and missile attacks on 17 days last month, including daylight attacks.

Moscow’s strategy could backfire, however, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank.

The air campaign aims to “degrade Ukrainian counteroffensive capabilities, but … the Russian prioritization of Kyiv is likely further limiting the campaign’s ability to meaningfully constrain potential Ukrainian counteroffensive actions,” it said in an assessment late Thursday.

Ukrainian air defenses intercepted all 15 cruise missiles and 21 attack drones targeted at Kyiv on Thursday night, Ukraine’s chief of staff, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, said.

Ukraine’s presidential office said Friday that at least four civilians were killed and 42 wounded over the previous 24 hours.

The Moscow-appointed governor of Ukraine’s occupied Donetsk province, Denis Pushilin, claimed Friday that three people had been killed and four wounded, including a 3-year-old-girl, by Ukrainian strikes on the region.

The previous day, Ukraine said a 9-year-old and her mother were killed in Kyiv by a Russian pre-dawn missile barrage.

Meanwhile, border regions of Russia once again came under fire from Ukraine. Recent cross-border raids have also rattled those regions of Russia and put the Kremlin on guard.

That could be a Ukrainian strategy to disperse Russian forces before a counteroffensive begins.

“Russian commanders now face an acute dilemma of whether to (strengthen) defenses in Russia’s border regions or reinforce their lines in occupied Ukraine,” the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Friday.

Air defense systems shot down “several Ukrainian drones” overnight Thursday in Russia’s southern Kursk region, which borders Ukraine, regional Gov. Roman Starovoit wrote on Telegram.

In the neighboring Bryansk region, which also borders Ukraine, regional Gov. Alexander Bogomaz said that Ukrainian forces shelled two villages on Friday morning. No casualties were reported.

Two drones also attacked energy facilities in Russia’s western Smolensk region, which borders Belarus, in the early hours of Friday, officials said.

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Matthew Lee reported from Oslo, Norway. Karl Ritter contributed to this report from Stockholm.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

The innately ambiguous connection between poets and those in the political realm was transformed when Robert Frost recited a verse at John F. Kennedy’s presidential inauguration over six decades ago.

The power of the spoken and written word sparked the beginning and also the abrupt ending of the dramatic relationship between the aging man of letters and the nation’s newly elected young leader.

When the lives of these two 20th century American icons briefly intersected, history was made.

While he was known as a poet of New England, Robert Lee Frost was born in San Francisco in 1874, nine years after the end of the Civil War. His father, a Confederate sympathizer, named him after the general who led the South in the conflict. After his Dad’s death, 11-year-old Robert, his younger sister and mother moved to Lawrence, Massachusetts. Here, he completed his secondary education. 

Frost studied at both Dartmouth and Harvard but did not graduate. Subsequently, he spent nine years on a farm in Derby, New Hampshire. “Frost lived in a corner of rural New England among farmers and small villagers whose speech fascinated him and whose difficulties became material for his poetry,” according to author Alfred Kazan.

During this time, Frost only had a few verses appear in a local paper. This all changed when he traveled to Great Britain in 1912 where his initial book of poetry, “A Boy’s Will,” was published. Back in America three years later, he began his remarkable career as an author, teacher and orator.

Over the next four decades, Frost taught at a variety of universities, received 40 honorary degrees, four Pulitzer prizes and a Congressional Gold Medal. For years his summers were spent in Vermont and winters in Florida. His home in the sunshine state was called “Pencil Pines” because Frost said,  he had never made a penny from anything that did not involve the use of a pencil.”

Frost had a penchant for politics.

Although he developed friendships with liberal Democrats, he distrusted abstract labels saying, “I never dared to be radical when young, for fear it would make me conservative when old.”  Historian Andy Moore writes: “His basic political philosophy was rooted in his intense belief in the individual, believing every person must make up his mind for himself.”

At his 85th birthday celebration in March 1959, Frost broke his long-standing custom of avoiding any direct political action. In response to a question about the decline of New England, he quipped “the next president of the United States will be from Boston. He’s a Puritan named Kennedy.”  

Massachusetts’ junior senator, who had yet to announce his presidential candidacy, was pleased with the early endorsement. Frost continued to praise Kennedy as he traveled around the country. JFK reciprocated by using the final stanza of Frost’s poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” to close his campaign stump speeches: “I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.”

Frost proved to be an excellent prognosticator of the 1960 election. 

In appreciation of his early support, Kennedy extended an invitation to him to become the first poet to participate in a presidential inauguration. He accepted saying, “If you can bear at your age the honor of being made president, I ought to be able at my age to bear the honor taking some part in your inauguration … the arts, poetry, are now for the first time taken into the affairs of statesmen.”

The president-elect wanted a new poem for the occasion, but Frost rebuffed the idea. Kennedy then suggested a reading of “The Gift Outright” — the poet agreed. The ode is a 16-line blank verse about American exceptionalism that Frost originally read before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of William & Mary on December 5, 1941, two days before Pearl Harbor.

Despite his earlier reluctance, Frost decided to compose a fresh work titled “Dedication.” On the ride to the Capitol with Congressman Stewart Udall, Frost told him about the new lyric that he was going to read before reciting “The Gift Outright.” Udall cautioned him to be brief. 

It was a bitterly cold clear January day. Frost shivered for nearly an hour before he was called to the podium. He stumbled while reading “Dedication” because the sun was “too bright for a pair of 86-year-old eyes.” Abandoning the new verse, he firmly recited “The Gift Outright” from memory. The audience enthusiastically applauded.

Two days later, Frost had a genial visit with the new president at the White House. The following year their relationship soured. 

In August 1962, JFK authorized a cultural exchange with Russia in which Frost, accompanied by Udall, would promote friendship through the arts. The two had an affable meeting with Soviet Premier Khrushchev at his Black Sea vacation home for five hours over two days.

On his return, Frost publicly misrepresented Khrushchev’s position about his cooperation with the U.S. by using the wrong words to characterize the Russian leader’s conversation. Kennedy felt  embarrassed and betrayed by the poet’s widely reported comments. 

JFK never contacted Frost again even when he was hospitalized just before his death on January 2, 1963. But in a quirk of history, the 35th president’s last major speech on October 26, 1963, 27 days before being assassinated, was about Robert Frost.

After Udall ameliorated Kennedy about Frost’s Khrushchev blunder, JFK accepted an invitation to speak at the dedication of Amherst College’s new Robert Frost Library. Author Robert Strong notes “the tables were turned, the president was the guest speaker to honor the poet who helped him celebrate his inauguration.”  

JFK’s remarks about the role of the artist in the nation were a fitting tribute to Frost who like Kennedy often “took the road not taken.”

Jonathan L. Stolz is a resident of James City County.

Some sayings ring true, even across species — including mythical ones. Just as the Little Mermaid wanted legs, sometimes we humans desire sparkly-scaled, fishy tails.

Ocean View’s first Mermaid Festival, on Saturday, invites land-dwellers to get their “Mermaid Wiggle on” and dress up like a mermaid, merman or any other type of merfolk in a bid to break the world record for largest-ever assembled congregation of mermaids.

The festival will start with open water swim races off Ocean View Park at 9 a.m., followed by a parade and costume contest with prizes awarded in multiple categories:

• Mermaids
• MerBabes
• MerKids
• MerFamilies
• MerTeams
• Aquamen

One- and 2-mile swim races will be held from 9 to 10:30 a.m. along a triangle course. Next, teams of four will begin relay races at 10:45 a.m.; the award ceremony will be later in the day.

Festival goers can expect lots of face painting opportunities and plenty of stages and stands with live music, local artists, food and beverages.

Colin Warren-Hicks, 919-818-8139, [email protected]

___

When: 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, open water swim; mermaid parade and costume contest, noon to 3 p.m.

Where: Ocean View Park, 100 W. Ocean View Ave., Norfolk

Tickets: $45 to enter swim race. Parade and costume contest are free.

Details: oceanviewsports.net

By MICHELLE L. PRICE, STEVE PEOPLES and THOMAS BEAUMONT (Associated Press)

GRIMES, Iowa (AP) — Former President Donald Trump kept up a steady drumbeat of criticism of his chief rival Ron DeSantis on Thursday, jumping immediately on remarks by the Florida governor on the campaign trail to try to highlight his own strength as the leading GOP presidential candidate.

Trump, appearing in Iowa as DeSantis campaigned in New Hampshire, made a point of telling about 200 members of a conservative club gathered at a Des Moines-area restaurant that they could ask him questions — an offer that came not long after DeSantis snapped at an Associated Press reporter who asked him why he wasn’t taking questions from voters at his events.

“A lot of politicians don’t take questions. They give a speech,” Trump said to audience members, many of whom wore red “Make America Great Again” hats espousing his political movement.

Trump, throughout the day, also repeatedly pushed back against DeSantis’ argument that it will take two terms in the White House to implement an agenda — a veiled reference to Trump, who can only serve one additional term.

“Who the hell wants to wait eight years?” Trump said, claiming it would only take him six months to unwind President Joe Biden’s policies.

DeSantis, asked about the former president’s comment while leaving a voter event in Rochester on Thursday afternoon, noted that Trump had already had a chance to fix the nation’s problems in his first term in office. “Why didn’t he do it in his first four years?” he asked.

Their campaign appearances displayed an early tableau of the Republican primary that’s just getting underway: Trump hammering DeSantis and promising to use a return to the White House to quickly undo his successor’s work, while the governor limits his replies and direct critiques, pitching instead to nationalize his aggressive governing style.

Both men are portraying themselves as the stronger fighter for conservative causes and their party’s best chance to block Biden from reelection next year. Thursday was the first time both were on the campaign trail meeting with voters since DeSantis announced his candidacy for president last week.

At all four of his events in New Hampshire, DeSantis left the stage without inviting any questions from voters, which is typically expected of presidential candidates competing in the first-in-the-nation primary state. DeSantis also didn’t take any questions on stage from voters in Iowa during his time in the state earlier in the week.

While posing for pictures and shaking hands with voters after speaking at his first event in Laconia, DeSantis was asked by the AP reporter why he wasn’t taking questions from people in the audience.

“People are coming up to me, talking to me. What are you talking about? Are you blind?” he said. “Are you blind? People are coming up to me, talking to me whatever they want to talk to me about.”

Alan Glassman, treasurer of the state GOP, attended the event and said he was disappointed that the Florida governor didn’t include a question-and-answer period. Glassman and his wife decided to skip any subsequent events of the day given that DeSantis wasn’t likely to take unscripted questions.

“This is New Hampshire. The reality here is the vast majority of political people here in New Hampshire, we do our due diligence. We want to know where these people stand. And a lot of that is hearing from them and then asking them questions,” Glassman said.

“I’m just hoping that next time the governor does show up here, he’ll actually be doing some more interaction with the people,” Glassman said.

In addition to his subtle jabs at Trump, DeSantis in New Hampshire turned his focus to Biden, criticizing him for championing a move to demote the early-voting state from its prominent role picking presidential candidates. He said the president was wrong to back a Democratic National Committee move to have New Hampshire hold its Democratic primary the same day as Nevada as part of a major shakeup meant to empower Black and other minority voters critical to the party’s base of support.

The Republican Party’s calendar is decided separately, but the Democrats’ changes have irked members of both parties in New Hampshire.

“I’m glad Republicans are holding the line and committed to New Hampshire,” DeSantis said.

Matt Johnson, a 55-year-old consultant from Windham, New Hampshire, who attended DeSantis’ third event of the day in Salem, said Trump and DeSantis present voters with a real choice but he liked that DeSantis “has proven he actually can get stuff done in government.”

Trump “talked a lot and he got some stuff done but he didn’t really get a lot of things done that he probably should have,” Johnson said. “As for the cult of personality thing, I’ve had enough of that.”

But Walter Kirsch, 64, of Warner, New Hampshire, said Republicans must realize that, despite being “gruff” at times, Trump will ultimately be the party’s nominee in 2024. Warner, who was among several dozen supporters waving Trump flags outside a DeSantis event Thursday evening in Manchester, said he hoped DeSantis “will think about what he’s doing and bow out of this and give it to the man who’s earned it.”

“Ron DeSantis has been doing an amazing job in Florida. He should stay there. I feel he may be destroying his political career,” Kirsch said.

Seeking to draw a contrast with DeSantis, Trump took questions from voters at all of his Thursday events, which included a breakfast meeting in Urbandale, a Trump team volunteer leadership training event outside Des Moines in Grimes and a private meeting with about 50 pastors at a Des Moines church, though the last event was closed to the media.

He later recorded a town hall with Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity in the Des Moines suburb of Clive that aired Thursday evening, telling the host DeSantis had “had a very bad day today. He got very angry at the press.”

As Trump and DeSantis make their pitch to GOP voters, the Republican presidential field is shaping up to become even more crowded.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is expected to launch a Republican presidential campaign June 6 in New Hampshire. The next day, both Mike Pence, Trump’s former vice president, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum are expected to announce campaigns of their own.

U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and biotech entrepreneur and “anti-woke” activist Vivek Ramaswamy are among the other candidates already in the race.

During the town hall, Trump called the ballooning field — which critics worry will split the anti-Trump vote — a “good thing” for his candidacy, but wondered why some long-shot candidates are bothering.

“What’s the purpose?” he asked. “I don’t understand what they’re doing.”

___

Price reported from New York and Peoples reported from Laconia and Rochester, N.H. Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in New York and Steve LeBlanc in Salem, N.H., contributed to this report.

By LISA MASCARO, KEVIN FREKING, STEPHEN GROVES, FARNOUSH AMIRI and MARY CLARE JALONICK (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fending off a U.S. default, the Senate gave final approval late Thursday to a debt ceiling and budget cuts package, grinding into the night to wrap up work on the bipartisan deal and send it to President Joe Biden’s desk to become law before the fast-approaching deadline.

The compromise package negotiated between Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy leaves neither Republicans nor Democrats fully pleased with the outcome. But the result, after weeks of hard-fought budget negotiations, shelves the volatile debt ceiling issue that risked upending the U.S. and global economy until 2025 after the next presidential election.

Approval in the Senate on a bipartisan vote, 63-36, somewhat reflected the overwhelming House tally the day before, relying on centrists in both parties to pull the Biden-McCarthy package to passage — though Democrats led the tally in both chambers.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said ahead of voting that the bill’s passage means “America can breathe a sigh of relief.”

Afterward he said, “We’ve saved the country from the scourge of default.”

Biden said in a statement following passage that senators from both parties “demonstrated once more that America is a nation that pays its bills and meets its obligations — and always will be.”

He said he would sign the bill into law as soon as possible. “No one gets everything they want in a negotiation, but make no mistake: this bipartisan agreement is a big win for our economy and the American people,” the president said. The White House said he would address the nation about the matter at 7 p.m. EDT Friday.

Fast action was vital if Washington hoped to meet next Monday’s deadline, when Treasury has said the U.S. will start running short of cash to pay its bills, risking a devastating default. Raising the nation’s debt limit, now $31.4 trillion, would ensure Treasury could borrow to pay already incurred U.S. debts.

In the end, the debt ceiling showdown was a familiar high-stakes battle in Congress, a fight taken on by McCarthy and powered by a hard-right House Republican majority confronting the Democratic president with a new era of divided government in Washington.

Refusing a once routine vote to allow a the nation’s debt limit to be lifted without concessions, McCarthy brought Biden’s White House to the negotiating table to strike an agreement that forces spending cutbacks aimed at curbing the nation’s deficits.

Overall, the 99-page bill restricts spending for the next two years, suspends the debt ceiling into January 2025 and changes some policies, including imposing new work requirements for older Americans receiving food aid and greenlighting an Appalachian natural gas line that many Democrats oppose.

It bolsters funds for defense and veterans, cuts back new money for Internal Revenue Service agents and rejects Biden’s call to roll back Trump-era tax breaks on corporations and the wealthy to help cover the nation’s deficits. It imposes automatic 1% cuts if Congress fails approve its annual spending bills.

After the House overwhelmingly approved the package late Wednesday, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell signaled he too wanted to waste no time ensuring it became law.

Touting its budget cuts, McConnell said Thursday, “The Senate has a chance to make that important progress a reality.”

Having remained largely on the sidelines during much of the Biden-McCarthy negotiations, several senators insisted on debate over their ideas to reshape the package. But making any changes at this stage would almost certainly derail the compromise and none were approved.

Instead, senators dragged through rounds of voting late into the night rejecting the various amendments, but making their preferences clear. Conservative Republican senators wanted to include further cut spending, while Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia sought to remove the Mountain Valley Pipeline approval.

The energy pipeline is important to Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and he defended the development running through his state, saying the country cannot run without the power of gas, coal, wind and all available energy sources.

But, offering an amendment to strip the pipeline from the package, Kaine argued it would not be fair for Congress to step into a controversial project that he said would also course through his state and scoop up lands in Appalachia that have been in families for generations.

Defense hawks led by Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina complained strongly that military spending, though boosted in the deal, was not enough to keep pace with inflation — particularly as they eye supplemental spending that will be needed this summer to support Ukraine against the war waged by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Putin’s invasion is a defining moment of the 21st century,” Graham argued from the Senate floor. “What the House did is wrong.”

They secured an agreement from Schumer, which he read on the floor, stating that the debt ceiling deal “does nothing” to limit the Senate’s ability to approve other emergency supplemental funds for national security, including for Ukraine, or for disaster relief and other issues of national importance.

All told, most of the Democratic senators voted for the package, while most of the Republicans opposed it. The tally was 46 Democrats and 17 Republicans in favor; 31 Republicans along with four Democrats and one independent who caucuses with the Democrats opposed.

For weeks negotiators labored late into the night to strike the deal with the White House, and for days McCarthy had worked to build support among skeptics.

Tensions had run high in the House the night before as hard-right Republicans refused the deal. Ominously, the conservatives warned of possibly trying to oust McCarthy over the issue.

But Biden and McCarthy assembled a bipartisan coalition, with Democrats ensuring passage on a robust 314-117 vote. All told, 71 House Republicans broke with McCarthy to reject the deal.

“We did pretty dang good,” McCarthy, R-Calif., said afterward.

As for discontent from Republicans who said the spending restrictions did not go far enough, McCarthy said it was only a “first step.”

The White House immediately turned its attention to the Senate, its top staff phoning individual senators.

Democrats also had complaints, decrying the new work requirements for older Americans, those 50-54, in the food aid program, the changes to the landmark National Environmental Policy Act and approval of the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline natural gas project they argue is unhelpful in fighting climate change.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the spending restrictions in the package would reduce deficits by $1.5 trillion over the decade, a top goal for the Republicans trying to curb the debt load.

In a surprise that complicated Republicans’ support, however, the CBO said their drive to impose work requirements on older Americans receiving food stamps would end up boosting spending by $2.1 billion over the time period. That’s because the final deal exempts veterans and homeless people, expanding the food stamp rolls by 78,000 people monthly, the CBO said.

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AP White House Correspondent Zeke Miller contributed to this report.

By KEN SWEET (AP Business Writer)

NEW YORK (AP) — Customers of Venmo, PayPal and CashApp should not store their money with those apps for the long term because the funds might not be safe during a crisis, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warned Thursday.

The alert comes several weeks after the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank, which all experienced bank runs after fearful customers with uninsured deposits pulled their money en masse.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insures bank accounts up to $250,000. But money stored in Venmo or CashApp or Apple Cash is not being held in a traditional bank account. So, if there is an event similar to a bank run with those payment apps, those funds may not be protected.

Some of the funds may be eligible for pass-through insurance coverage if customers do certain activities with the apps, the CFPB said, but generally by default the apps are not covered by deposit insurance. For example, if a customer opened a PayPal Savings account, it would have deposit insurance through PayPal’s partner bank, Synchrony Bank. But the general PayPal account is not covered by insurance. For Apple Cash, which can be insured through Green Dot Bank, it requires a user to verify their identity to get deposit insurance.

“We find that stored funds can be at risk of loss in the event of financial distress or failure of the entity operating the nonbank payment platform, and often are not placed in an account at a bank or credit union and lack individual deposit insurance coverage,” the CFPB said in its report.

“Consumers may not fully appreciate when, or under what conditions, they would be protected by deposit insurance,” the agency added in its report.

Peer-to-Peer payment apps and non-banks offering bank-like services have exploded in popularity in the last decade. Venmo now has more than 90 million customers and recently announced it was going to allow parents to create accounts for their teenage children, potentially bringing in tens of millions of new customers for the app.

Apple recently announced a savings account tied to its Apple Card that is operated by Goldman Sachs. The savings account took in billions of dollars in deposits within days of its launch.

The Financial Technology Association, an industry group that represents PayPal as well as Cash App’s owner Block, emphasized in a statement that those products are safe.

“Tens of millions of American consumers and small businesses rely on payment apps to better spend, manage, and send their money. These accounts are safe and transparent, with users receiving FDIC Insurance on their accounts depending on the products they use,” the association said.

A Suffolk man was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison for his role in a string of 7-Eleven robberies that ended with him and an accomplice getting shot by a customer. The accomplice died at the scene.

U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith issued the sentence to Ronald Lee Brookins Jr. during a hearing in Norfolk federal court. Brookins, 22, pleaded guilty earlier this year to multiple robbery, firearm and conspiracy charges. Federal law required that he receive at least 21 years.

Brookins was 18, a high school graduate and had recently completed basic training with the Navy when the robberies occurred, according to defense attorney Richard Doumar. He had no criminal record. Multiple friends, family members and former Navy co-workers wrote letters to the court on his behalf, describing him as a smart young man from a good family.

“This case is just baffling to the court,” the judge told Brookins after reading excerpts from the letters out loud. “There was no reason for you to do what you did. Endangering other people’s lives and terrorizing them for what? Some cigarettes and a few bucks.”

Brookins apologized to the court, the robbery victims and his family before the sentence was handed down. He told the judge he also struggled to understand why he would take part in something so “stupid and selfish.”

The five armed robberies occurred in July 2019 at 7-Eleven stores across Hampton Roads, and the spree ended at a store on South Newtown Road in Virginia Beach.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristin Bird played surveillance footage from each of the robberies during Thursday’s hearing but didn’t show the part where the customer with a concealed handgun fired at the robbers. The customer’s actions were later determined to be justified, and he wasn’t charged.

The video clips showed Brookins and friends Michael Moore III and Deric Simons entering the stores armed with guns and wearing hoodies pulled over their heads and around their faces. One robbery took place in Newport News, two were in Norfolk and two in Virginia Beach. The spree lasted a little over two hours.

The customer who fired the shots, who was 37 at the time, didn’t attend Thursday’s hearing. He later said he had gone to the store to get a Big Gulp and was walking to the cash register to pay when the robbers rushed in and pointed guns at him, the store’s clerk and two customers standing at the counter. The customer said he fired at the robbers because he feared for his own life as well as the other customers and clerk.

Jane Harper, [email protected]

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE (Associated Press)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — President Joe Biden quipped that he got “sandbagged” Thursday after he tripped and fell — but was uninjured — while onstage at the U.S. Air Force Academy graduation.

Biden had been greeting the graduates in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at the front of the stage with salutes and handshakes, and turned to jog back toward his seat when he fell. He was helped up by an Air Force officer as well as two members of his U.S. Secret Service detail.

Onlookers, including some members of the official delegation onstage, watched in concern before Biden, who at age 80 is the oldest president in U.S. history, returned to his seat to view the end of the ceremony.

“I got sandbagged,” the president told reporters with a smile when he arrived back at the White House on Thursday evening before pretending to jog into the residence. Two small black sandbags had been onstage supporting the teleprompter used by Biden and other speakers at the graduation.

“He’s fine,” White House communications director Ben LaBolt tweeted after the incident. “There was a sandbag on stage while he was shaking hands.”

Biden has been dogged by questions about his age and his fitness to serve, and his missteps have become fodder for political rivals as he campaigns for a second term in 2024. He has stumbled before going up the stairs and onto Air Force One and he once got caught up in his bike pedals while stopping to talk to reporters near his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

Biden’s personal doctor said after the president’s most recent physical exam in February that Biden “remains a healthy, vigorous 80-year-old male, who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency.” Dr. Kevin O’Connor also documented the president’s stiffened gait, which O’Connor said was the result of spinal arthritis, a previously broken foot and neuropathy in the Biden’s feet.

Biden is far from the first national political figure to stumble in public.

President Gerald Ford fell down while walking off Air Force One in 1975. GOP Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas, the GOP presidential nominee at the time, fell off the stage at a campaign rally in 1996. President Barack Obama tripped walking up the stairs to a stage at a 2012 event. “I was so fired up, I missed a stair” he told the crowd.

President Donald Trump’s gingerly walk down a ramp at the 2020 West Point commencement also sparked concerns about his health.

Trump, 76, was campaigning in Iowa when he heard about Biden’s stumble and alluded to his own episode.

“He actually fell down? Well I hope he wasn’t hurt,” Trump said after an audience member told him about what had happened to Biden. “The whole thing is crazy. You gotta be careful about that … ’cause you don’t want that, even if you have to tiptoe down a ramp.”

The audience laughed as Trump recounted slowly inching his way down what he said had been a slippery ramp at the U.S. Military Academy graduation.

“If he fell, it’s too bad,” the former president said. “We gotta just get this thing back on track. That’s a bad place to fall when you’re making, I think it was the Air Force Academy, right? That’s not inspiring.”

Meanwhile, GOP presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis used the opportunity to take a political shot at Biden while at a campaign event in New Hampshire.

“We hope and wish Joe Biden a swift recovery from any injuries he may have sustained,” he said, “but we also wish the United States of America a swift recovery from the injuries it has sustained because of Joe Biden and his policies.”

LOCAL SOCCER

Lionsbridge shuts out foe in Winchester

Lionsbridge FC stayed unbeaten in the USL League Two season, earning a 3-0 road victory Wednesday night over the Virginia Marauders in Winchester.

The Marauders (0-3) were assessed a red card in the 31st minute, giving Lionsbridge more room to attack. The Lions (5-0 overall, 4-0 in the league) had 10 first-half corner kicks, though they did not score.

But in the 47th minute, moments after halftime, Tai-Reece Chisholm scored off David Wrona’s assist. Harri Rowe netted a free kick in the 56th, and Celestin Blondel made it 3-0 in the 83rd.

Goalkeeper Tyler Hogan earned his third shutout in four league games. The Lions lead the Chesapeake Division by six points (two victories) entering Saturday’s home game at TowneBank Stadium against second-place Virginia Beach United (2-0-1).

INTERNATIONAL SOCCER

UVA players on US U20 semifinal team

Forward Maggie Cagle and midfielder Jill Flammia, a pair of rising sophomores on the Virginia women’s team, could play in a CONCACAF U20 semifinal at 6 p.m. today when the United States takes on Costa Rica in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

In group action, the U.S. defeated Panama 6-0 before taking a 4-0 victory over Jamaica and a 5-2 win over Canada.

Cagle played in all three matches and started against Jamaica. Flammia saw action against Panama and Canada, but did not play versus Panama.

The winner will advance to the final against either Canada or Mexico at 3 p.m. Sunday.

COLLEGE MEN’S SOCCER

W&M reveals schedule

William & Mary announced a schedule that will include 16 matches, eight at home.

The Tribe will open its regular season at 5 p.m. Aug. 24 at home against Binghamton. W&M will play host to Old Dominion on Sept. 12 and will play at Virginia Tech on Oct. 10 and at North Carolina on Oct. 17. The Tribe hopes to earn one of the six tournament spots in the 11-team Colonial Athletic Association.

COLLEGE MEN’S BASKETBALL

Beekman will return for UVA senior season

Virginia guard Reece Beekman announced Wednesday night, just a few hours before the deadline, that he would withdraw his name from the 2023 NBA draft pool and return to the Cavaliers for his senior season.

He reportedly had a strong showing in the draft combine, and one mock draft had him being selected at No. 43 if he had stayed in — four spots ahead of National Player of the Year Zach Edey of Purdue.

Beekman, one of the ACC’s top defenders, should join fellow returnees Ryan Dunn and Isaac McKneely on what is likely to be a roster with plenty of newcomers, including transfers.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

W&M ranked No. 7 in Hero Sports poll

William & Mary was ranked seventh in the Hero Sports FCS preseason poll, joining its No. 4 ranking by Athlon Sports.

Led by 2022 Eddie Robinson National Coach of the Year finalist Mike London, the Tribe is expected to return 15 starters from last season’s FCS quarterfinalists, highlighted by Buck Buchanan Award runner-up John Pius and five first-team All-Colonial Athletic Association performers. W&M will open its season Aug. 31 at Campbell.

Other CAA teams in the Hero poll are No. 8 New Hampshire, No. 18 Rhode Island, No. 21 Richmond and No. 25 Delaware.

COLLEGE SOFTBALL

R-MC’s Ellis named All-American

Randolph-Macon sophomore pitcher Gracie Ellis, a former New Kent High star, was named a third-team Division III All-American by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.

She set R-MC single-season records with 25 wins and 234 strikeouts, posting a 1.33 earned-run average in 199 2/3 innings. Her team, which set a school record with 42 victories, was eliminated by Rowan last week in an NCAA Super Regional.

COLLEGE MEN’S GOLF

UVA’s James named nation’s top freshman

Virginia’s Ben James was named the winner of the 2023 NCAA Division I Phil Mickelson Outstanding Freshman Award. He became the second UVA golfer to gain that award, joining Jimmy Flippen in 1992.

James was also named to the GCAA’s All-Freshman team.

In 13 tournaments, he posted a school-record stroke average of 69.0 for 40 rounds. He posted 11 top-six finishes, had 24 rounds in the 60s and 33 rounds of par or better. His sixth-place finish at the NCAA Championships tied as the second-best by a Cavalier.

COLLEGE WOMEN’S LACROSSE

CNU players named to senior all-star game

Christopher Newport players Riley Rafterry-Lee and Kendall Krause were named to play in the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association Division III all-star game in Sparks, Maryland, at 12:15 p.m. Saturday.

Virginia teammates Ashlyn McGovern and Annika Meyer were named to the Division I game, which will follow on the same field at 2:30 p.m.