JQJO — Your world, one story at a time · Page 1186

In Heflin, Alabama, a seasonal toilet paper prank escalated when Cleburne County High School students rolled not only homes but nearly every business and the police station. Police Chief Ross McGlaughn answered with a playful warning on social media and, with parental approval, led a multiagency, toilet paper armed response. He says the pranks keep kids out of other trouble, and local businesses now supply free rolls. Students even sell cleanup insurance through a Toilet Paper Rapid Response Team. The town, and its chief, are enjoying the lighthearted prank war.

Blue states are pushing back over the shutdown’s fallout, posting alerts that blame President Donald Trump and Republicans for an expected pause or cut to November SNAP benefits. Massachusetts, California and Illinois published notices saying federal officials won’t fund food aid if the Republican shutdown continues, contrasting with the 2018–2019 lapse when payments were protected. The article says health care is at the center of the standoff, as Democrats seek to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies while Republicans allege Democrats want free care for undocumented immigrants. Sen. Ruben Gallego criticized Trump in an interview with Stephen Colbert.

Kayla Nicole celebrated Halloween by channeling Toni Braxton, recreating the He Wasn't Man Enough video in an Oct. 31 Instagram post and calling Braxton an icon and a legend. Fans praised the choice, while some read the lyrics as a pointed nod to ex Travis Kelce, now engaged to Taylor Swift. Nicole hasn't commented on the engagement; at a Sept. 11 New York Fashion Week event, she brushed off a question, later telling People that the opinions of others only matter if she lets them. Last year, she dressed as Ciara.

Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia has become the world’s tallest church after a section of its central tower was lifted into place Thursday, pushing the basilica to 162.91 meters and overtaking Ulm Münster at 161.5 meters. The central tower is slated to be finished next year at 172 meters, marking the 100th anniversary of architect Antoni Gaudí’s death. Construction, which began in 1882, will continue for years, with full completion expected within the next decade. Last year, 4.9 million visitors paid to enter, 15% from the United States.

Prime Minister Mark Carney accepted President Xi Jinping’s invitation to visit China after their 40-minute APEC meeting, calling it a turning point in Canada-China ties and tasking officials to quickly tackle trade frictions. It was their first leader-level meeting since 2017, amid a dispute that erupted after Canada’s 2024 tariffs on Chinese EVs, steel and aluminium and China’s steep levies on canola, hurting western farmers. Facing rising U.S. tariffs and suspended talks under Donald Trump, Carney is pushing to diversify exports. Xi separately met Trump, with both signalling steps to cool their trade war.

The U.N. Security Council approved a U.S.-sponsored resolution endorsing Morocco’s plan for Western Sahara, offering its strongest backing yet despite a divided vote. Russia, China and Pakistan abstained; Algeria did not vote. The text names Moroccan autonomy as a basis for talks and omits a referendum, prompting praise from King Mohammed VI and protests and objections from the Polisario Front and Algeria, which stressed it doesn’t recognize Moroccan sovereignty. The measure renews the peacekeeping mission, urges parties to seize an unprecedented opportunity for peace, and asks the secretary-general to review the mandate within six months.

Cursor introduced Composer, its first claimed competitive coding model, alongside Cursor 2.0, an IDE modeled after Visual Studio Code. Composer, built with reinforcement learning and a mixture-of-experts architecture, is pitched as a frontier model “4x faster than similarly intelligent models.” Cursor’s internal benchmarks suggest it trails the best frontier models in intelligence, tops open and speed-oriented rivals, and far outpaces them in speed. A new multi-agent interface lets developers run many agents in parallel via git worktrees or remote machines to compare results. Early reactions in a small sample cite high cost and a perceived capability gap.

George Springer, who left Game 3 clutching his lower right side, will return atop the Blue Jays order for World Series Game 6, batting leadoff as the DH. His comeback moves Bo Bichette, also dealing with injury, back to second base and the cleanup spot after two games at DH. Toronto must face Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who threw a complete game in Game 2. Springer hit .309/.399/.560 with 32 homers and a team-best 4.8 bWAR this season, and has four postseason homers, including the ALCS Game 7 winner.

As off-year contests open the midterm season, President Trump has mostly looked elsewhere, touring Asia and offering only a late, lukewarm nod in Virginia. Yet his shadow looms. In New Jersey, Republican Jack Ciattarelli has recast himself with Trump-style appeals, betting 2024 gains — including sharp shifts in majority-Hispanic townships — will hold without Trump atop the ticket. In New York City, Trump has weighed in on the mayor’s race, even threatening funding cuts if Zohran Mamdani wins. And in California, Gavin Newsom’s likely redistricting win and $114 million haul could flip five House seats and build a 2028 foundation.

LSU women’s coach Kim Mulkey skipped her postgame news conference and was “heartbroken,” assistant Bob Starkey said, after athletic director Scott Woodward’s ouster. The upheaval followed LSU’s firing of football coach Brian Kelly despite a $54 million buyout and Governor Jeff Landry’s unusually direct role, including declaring Woodward would not select the next coach and invoking Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher buyout. Woodward, who hired Mulkey for the Tigers’ 2023 title, left despite a buyout exceeding $6 million. Starkey praised Woodward’s longtime support for coaches and student-athletes at LSU and Texas A&M.