they did their homework last night

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Grammar: When to Use Do, Does, and Did

3-minute read

• 12th August 2022

Verbs are essential to creating complete sentences, as they help us express physical actions ( She jumped in the puddle) , mental actions ( He thought about puppies) , and states of being ( I am hungry) .

There are several types of verbs that can each be written in different tenses, so they can be tricky to work with, especially if English isn’t your first language . We’ve put together a guide to help you use one of the most common verbs, do , in your writing . Read on below to learn more!

Action Verbs

As the name suggests, action verbs are used to express actions completed by the subject of a sentence. The base verb do is conjugated according to the tense:

1. Present Tense

In the present tense, do takes the form do or does, depending on the subject:

Consider the following examples:

We do our homework every night.

   She does her homework every night.

2. Past Tense

In the simple past tense , the base verb do takes the form did with all subjects:

   We did our homework last night.

   She did her homework last night.

Auxiliary Verbs

Auxiliary , or helping verbs, are used with another base verb to create negative sentences, questions, or add emphasis. Here’s how do should be used as an auxiliary verb:

1. Negative Sentences

Following the same subject–verb pairings introduced above, we combine the auxiliaries do , does , and did with the adverb not to create negative sentences:

   We do not do our homework every night.

   She did not do her homework last night.

Note that we can combine the auxiliary and the adverb to create the contractions don’t , doesn’t , and didn’t . You simply remove the space between the two words and replace the letter o in not with an apostrophe (’).

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Contractions are more common in conversations and informal writing and typically shouldn’t be used in formal writing (e.g., academic or business).

2. Questions

To create questions, the auxiliary is combined with the infinitive of another verb in this way: auxiliary verb + subject + infinitive verb .

●  Simple present questions:

Do they sell children’s books?

Does he speak English?

Note that the third person verb speaks isn’t spelled with the s when paired with the auxiliary to form a question.

●  Simple past questions:

Did you buy anything at the bookstore?

Did he learn how to speak English?

Note that did indicates the past tense, so the main verbs don’t also take the past tense (i.e., bought and learned ).

3. Emphasis

In positive sentences, we can also combine the auxiliaries do , does , and did with the main verb to emphasize that something is true:

   We do sell children’s books.

   He did learn to speak English.

Try saying these sentences aloud and adding emphasis to the auxiliary terms with your tone. It adds a dramatic effect!

Proofreading and Editing Services

Hopefully, this guide will help you feel more confident when using different forms of the verb do in your writing. If you’re still learning or want to be sure your work is error-free, our editors are ready to help. You can upload a free trial document today to learn more!

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did + not + main verb

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[Bài tập ngữ pháp] Động từ bất quy tắc – Thì quá khứ đơn [Phần 2]

Make the past simple:

1. I _________________ (come) to England in 1993. 2. She _________________ (stand) under the tree to shelter from the rain. 3. They _________________ (do) their homework yesterday. 4. We _________________ (sing) too much last night, I have a sore throat! 5. He already _________________ (eat) all the cake. 6. The child _________________ (fall) off his bicycle. 7. It _________________ (take) three hours to drive to Paris. 8. I _________________ (find) your keys under the table. 9. She _________________ (get) a new bike for her birthday. 10. She _________________ (sell) her house last year. 11. We _________________ (go) to New York in January. 12. Finally my mother _________________ (let) me go to a party. 13. It _________________ (be) cold last night. 14. I _________________ (meet) John at the weekend. 15. Lucy _________________ (pay) the bill, before leaving the restaurant. 16. We _________________ (see) the new film yesterday. 17. She _________________ (wear) her new coat to the party. 18. I _________________ (think) my football team would win. 19. They _________________ (put) their bags in the bedroom. 20. Billy _________________ (run) after the bus. 21. She _________________ (say) that she would come later. 22. I _________________ (buy) some books this morning. 23. We _________________ (make) a cake, it was delicious. 24. He _________________ (sit) on the old chair, and it broke. 25. They _________________ (write) a letter to their parents.

[sociallocker]

1. I came to England in 1993. 2. She stood under the tree to shelter from the rain. 3. They did their homework yesterday. 4. We sang too much last night, I have a sore throat! 5. He already ate all the cake. 6. The child fell off his bicycle. 7. It took three hours to drive to Paris. 8. I found your keys under the table. 9. She got a new bike for her birthday. 10. She sold her house last year. 11. We went to New York in January. 12. Finally my mother let me go to a party. 13. It was cold last night. 14. I met John at the weekend. 15. Lucy paid the bill, before leaving the restaurant. 16. We saw the new film yesterday. 17. She wore her new coat to the party. 18. I thought my football team would win. 19. They put their bags in the bedroom. 20. Billy ran after the bus. 21. She said that she would come later. 22. I bought some books this morning. 23. We made a cake, it was delicious. 24. He sat on the old chair, and it broke. 25. They wrote a letter to their parents.

[/sociallocker]

BÀI VIẾT LIÊN QUAN XEM THÊM

Irregular verbs past participle (part 2) [grammar exercise], irregular verbs past participle (part 1) [grammar exercise], irregular verbs past simple (part 1) [grammar exercise], reported speech: present simple [grammar exercise], articles 2 [grammar exercise], bình luận cancel reply.

• 📝 VOCABULARY
• 🚀 GAMES/ACTIVITIES

Simple Past Tense (Did) – With Explanations Pictures and Exercises

Simple past tense (past simple tense) is a verb tense that describes completed actions or past habits before now. It is also used to talk about a series of events in the past. “Did” is the helping verb of simple past tense. For affirmative (positive) sentences we use past simple form of a verb.

⬤ Formation of simple past tense

For affirmative sentences we use the formation of “verb + ed” . For negative sentences and questions we use the auxiliary “did” or “did not”. See the chart below to learn the structure of simple past tense.

Examples with Pictures Dialogue exercise Sentence scramble game Translation exercise

⬤ Which auxiliary (helping verb) to use for simple past tense?

The auxiliary verb in simple past tense is “ did “. However we use “ was-were ” to talk about a state in the past. Examples:

• I walked in the park.
• I didn’t walk in the park.
• Did you walk in the park?
• I was in the park.
• I wasn’t in the park.
• Were you in the park?

⬤ Positive (Affirmative) sentences

For the formation of positive sentences in simple past tense we add “ -ed “, “ -ied ” or just “ -d ” to the verb. We do not use “ did ” for the positive sentences.

• I asked a question.
• She studied maths.
• She cleaned her room.
• Jack repaired the car last week.
• A traffic accident happened yesterday.

⬤ Negative sentences

For the formation of negative sentences in simple past tense we use “ not ” together with “ did “. The short form is “ didn’t ”

• He did not want tea.
• We didn’t wait for the bus.
• I didn’t use your pen.
• Susan didn’t lie.

⬤ Interrogative sentences

For the formation of question sentences (interrogative) in simple past tense we put “ did ” before the subject.

• Did you enjoy your holiday.
• Did she write an email.
• Where did Yuto go?
• What did Ali want?

⬤ Sentence forms in simple past tense

⬤ what are the regular verbs.

Regular verbs are the verbs that gets “ -ed “, “ -ied ” or “ -d ” for the the past simple forms.

⬤ What are the irregular verbs?

Irregular verbs are the verbs which don’t get “ -ed “, “ -ied ” or “ -d ” to form past simple form or past participle form. There are a number of irregular verbs which needs to be memorized. Because the formation has no standard rule. Some verbs have the same form as bare form, past simple form or past participle form. For example “cut, put, let, hit”.

• (+) I  visit ed  my uncle. 
• (-) I  didn’t visit  my uncle yesterday. 
• (?) Did you visit your uncle yesterday? 
• (+) They found the cat.
• (-) They didn’t find the cat.
• (?) Did they find the cat?

SIMILAR PAGES: ❯❯ Learn verb to be here ❯❯ Learn simple present tense here ❯❯ Learn present continuous tense here ❯❯ Learn future simple tense (will) here ❯❯ Learn be going to future tense here ❯❯ Learn past continuous tense here ❯❯ Learn present perfect tense here

⬤ Explanations and usages of Simple Past Tense

Let’s go on with the explanations, usages and time adverbs of simple past tense:

⬤ 1- Finished actions in the past

Simple Past Tense is used to describe a finished action in a specific time in the past. Examples: I  watched  a film yesterday.  I  did n’t watch a film yesterday.  Last year, I  traveled  to Italy.  Last year, I  did n’t travel to Italy.  She  washed  her hands.  She  did n’t wash her hands.  I bought a hat yesterday. Did you like your cake? Where did you go? What did Ethan say? How did she get 100 points in the exam?

⬤ 2- A series of finished actions.

Simple Past Tense is also used to describe past actions that happen one after the other. The series of actions are all expressed in simple past tense. Examples: I  went out,  walked  to the park, and  watched  the sky silently.

He  arrived  from the airport at 11:00,  looked  for someone to ask the way, and called  a taxi.

⬤ 3- Past habits

We can also use simple past tense to talk about habits in the past. Examples: I  always played  basketball when I was a child. He  often played  the guitar. They never  went  to school, they always  skipped . She  worked  at the hospital after school.

⬤ Using “was”, “were” to talk about past states.

If you want to talk about a past state or condition we use “was, were”. The negative form is “was not, were not” or “wasn’t weren’t”. To make questions we use “was/were” before the subject.

⬤ I lived in London. ⬤ I was in London.

Examples (did) Sally worked at the hospital. Sally didn’t work at the hospital. Did Sally work at the hospital? Where did Sally work?

Examples (was-were) Sally was at the hospital. Sally wasn’t at the hospital. Was Sally at the hospital? Where was Sally?

⬤ What are the time expressions in simple past tense?

⬤ yesterday   I went to the cinema yesterday.  ⬤ last  week, last  year, last  Sunday, last month etc. He bought a car last week.  ⬤ two years ago , four days ago , three minutes  ago etc. I saw her five minutes ago. ⬤ in 1995, in 2003 etc. I had an accident in 2014.

⬤ Time adverbs exercise

You can see the simple past tense time adverbs below. Click on the cards and tell the meaning of them in your native language..

⬤ Images and example sentences

You can learn simple past tense with images and example sentences below.

⬤ A conversation example

Here is a dialogue to learn simple past tense. You can make similar conversations.

Did you win the match yesterday?

Yes, we did.

How was the game?

I don’t know.

What do you mean?

Didn’t you play?

Actually I didn’t.

I had a traffic accident

so I spent the night at a hospital.

We won the match.

My teammates dedicated the goals to me.

Well. Your team needs you. Get well soon.

⬤ Translate these sentences

You will see random examples of simple past tense below. Try to translate them into your own language.

⬤ Sentence scramble game

You will see scrambled words of simple past tense sentences. Click on them in order to make a sentence.

⬤ Example sentences about simple past tense

You can see many sentences below to learn simple past tense.

➔ 10 examples of about simple past tense

• I listened to the new pop album yesterday. It’s great.
• She liked the film but she didn’t like the music.
• There was a problem with the plug.
• I was happy to see her with a smile in her face.
• Her parents travelled by train from Istanbul to Moscow.
• I phoned you four times last night but you were out.
• There were many workers waiting outside.
• We walked along the beach yesterday. It was lovely.
• I had a problem. So I asked to my mother about it.
• Last week I was in Paris. I stayed in a hotel.

⬤ Questions and with answers

Read the questions and the answers below to learn how to use about simple past tense.

➔ 10 questions and answers about simple past tense

• Did you like the film? Yes, I liked it very much.
• Did they give her a present after the ceremony? Yes, they gave her a new camera.
• When did you start playing the guitar? I started playing the guitar when I was nine.
• Was there a guard at the door? No. They let us in.
• When did you leave school? I left school when I was sixteen.
• Who invented the radio? Guglielmo Marconi invented it.
• When did you give your first concert? We gave our first concert in a wedding in Liverpool.
• How many sandwiches did he eat? He ate 3 sandwiches.
• Were you with Sally when she had an accident? Yes, I was.
• What did she do with the book? She sat on a bench and started reading.

External resources: You can go to British Council page and study simple past tense , or watch a video from the popular movies about past simple tense .

related pages

Fill in the blanks quiz for simple past tense, sentence scramble game for simple past tense, accessories vocabulary 👓 exercises pictures audio, body parts in english 👨 with games and listed images, classroom objects vocabulary in english 📕 with games, clothes vocabulary in english 👕 learn with images and flashcards, colour names in english 🎈 with tests and images, computer parts (hardware) vocabulary: pictures audio, verb to be (am, is, are) – with examples and online exercises, modal “can” – with explanations exercises and activities, present continuous tense – with usage examples and pictures, simple present tense (do-does) – with usage, pictures and example sentences.

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English Conversational Class

Wednesday, september 5, 2012, past tense verbs, 3 comments:.

PAST TENSE VERBS 1. He (walked) to school yesterday. 2. They (did) their homework last night. 3. You (are) lazy last week. 4. That woman (bought) a new book this morning. 5. The janitor (cleaned) the blackboard yesterday. 6. My mother (cooked) food yesterday. 7. This morning my teacher (teached) English. 8. I (am) hungry yesterday. 9. The gardener (cut) the trees last month. 10. She (drinked) milk this morning. 11. Last month the man (rode) a horse. 12. Sakda (went) to Hong Kong last year.

Past Tense Verbs 1. He walked (walk) to school yesterday. 2. They did (do) their homework last night. 3. You were (are) lazy last week. 4. That woman bought (buy) a new book this morning. 5. The janitor cleaned (clean) the blackboard yesterday. 6. My mother cooked (cook) food yesterday. 7. This morning my teacher taught (teach) English. 8. I was (am) hungry yesterday. 9. The gardener cut (cut) the trees last month. 10. She drinked (drink) milk this morning. 11. Last month the man rode (ride) a horse. 12. Sakda went (go) to Hong Kong last year.

Past Tense Verbs 1. He (walked) to school yesterday. 2. They (did) their homework last night. 3. You (were) lazy last week. 4. That woman (bought) a new book this morning. 5. The janitor (cleaned) the blackboard yesterday. 6. My mother (cooked) food yesterday. 7. This morning my teacher (taught) English. 8. I (was) hungry yesterday. 9. The gardener (cut) the trees last month. 10. She (drank) milk this morning. 11. Last month the man (ride) a horse. 12. Sakda (went) to Hong Kong last year.

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Mike Vaccaro

Everyone did their part in this impressive, high-stakes win for knicks as they take series lead.

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There’s no sentence in the King’s English that contains less truth than this: “Sports is fun.”

You know better. You know sports is a lot more agony of defeat than thrill of victory. You know the highs rarely outpace the lows. You don’t watch playoff games — any sport — as much as endure them. Sleep? No shot. Not when the games mean this much.

But sometimes you get a night like this one at Madison Square Garden. Sometimes you really do feel like everyone is in this together: players, coaches, ushers. And fans. Of course, the fans. Sometimes you get a game like Knicks 121, Pacers 91 — a game in which the Knicks, with only a few exceptions, led comfortably across the final 30 minutes or so.

A game in which 19,812 customers cleared their throats early, then emptied the tank across the next 2 ¹/₂ hours. None of you who were there will claim you were more important than Jalen Brunson — 44 points, seven rebounds, plus-31 for the night. Or Josh Hart (18, 11 and plus-21). Or Isaiah Hartenstein (17 rebounds, 12 of them on the offensive glass).

Don’t take my word. Asked about the 62-point turnaround — !!! — between Games 4 and 5, Brunson offered an explanation: “Maybe the home crowd. They were phenomenal.”

For one night, this really was about everyone doing their part. This was about the Knicks on the floor coming through in a must-have game with as impressive a win as any of the 56 that preceded it. It’s about Tom Thibodeau, who brilliantly slotted Deuce McBride into the starting five and was rewarded with 17 points, a plus-26, with terrific defense.

And, yes, this was about the fans in the stands, all way from the floor to the bridge and everywhere in between, refusing to halt the tumult even as the lead approached 30 at the end. You’ve earned that much. Hell, at these prices, sports owes you a lot more.

But this one’ll have to do. This is one you can savor for an extra day, since this increasingly contentious series won’t resume until Friday night in Indianapolis — where the Pacers, undefeated at home in the playoffs, will try to buy themselves at least an extra weekend of basketball season.

The Pacers came out hot, hitting everything they took beyond the 3-point line. Brunson missed a few shots. There were some pockets of quiet despair at the start, when it looked like the Pacers might’ve brought Sunday’s Game 4 momentum with them on the team plane, loaded in the overhead bins. It was 16-9, Indiana, with 5 ¹/₂ minutes gone.

It was 112-75, Knicks, over the next 42 ¹/₂.

They’ll be sore Wednesday morning. You’ll be hoarse. Everybody doing what they had to. Outsiders wants to know why the Knicks — not just Thibodeau, the whole team — worked like lunatics to inch their way into the 2-seed? This is why. For a night like this. For a game like this. For a blending of soul and sound and savagery you would’ve heard on both ends of Manhattan if they’d opened the doors.

“A hard lesson,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “They have a cold-blooded desire to get the ball.”

Follow The Post’s coverage of the Knicks in the NBA playoffs

• Knicks down to final chance after Pacers’ Game 6 rout
• Josh Hart asked out of Game 6 in apparent Knicks injury concern
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• Knicks have Game 7 Garden history on their side going into win-or-go-home Pacers matchup

Donte DiVincenzo agreed: “That,” he said, “is who we are.”

The Knicks? Cold-blooded is an apt description. For two days the narrative was simple: The Pacers were younger, faster and had seized their confidence last weekend in Indiana. The Knicks had reached a point where they’d achieved something almost no New York team ever does: Some had actually started to pity them.

The Knicks refused that largesse. They simply came out and maximized the essence of what makes them who they are. They outrebounded the Pacers 53-29. They limited Tyrese Haliburton to nine shots and 13 points, a stark contrast to the way he chewed through Games 3 and 4, leading with his mouth.

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“It’s always defense first,” McBride said. “Whatever comes on offense comes from how we play on defense.”

In the third, when Myles Turner knocked down three straight 3s to single-handedly trim a 16-point lead to seven, the Knicks barely blinked.

It helps to have Brunson on your team, of course, and Brunson looked as healthy as he’s been since banging up his ankle in Game 2.

“As much as you talk about him,” Thibodeau said, “it’s never enough.”

Lately it’s also been nice to have Alec Burks on the team, a third straight double-digit output straight out of witness protection, 18 points and five 3s.

“They’ve shown it all year,” Thibodeau said. “That’s who we are. This is our way. We have to play hard every possession and keep doing it. When we do, it’s enjoyable for everyone.”

There was fun in full supply Tuesday night, and now there will for sure be at least one more basketball gathering at the Garden in 2024. And by the time you digest what you saw, you can start to hope that maybe that won’t be Game 7 on Sunday, but Game 3 of the conference finals next week. You’ve earned the right to dream, too.

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State Government

State lawmakers wrapped up their four-month session last night. Here’s what they did.

May 16, 2024 by Eric Stone, Alaska Public Media - Juneau

After 121 days in Juneau, state lawmakers have concluded their work. That’s after passing dozens of bills and finalizing the state’s operating budget for the fiscal year that begins this July.

The budget, if signed into law by the governor, would provide Alaskans a payment of roughly $1,655 this fall, including a $1,360 Permanent Fund dividend and an energy relief check of $295.

Lawmakers also passed bills that they say would address a number of pressing issues, from high energy costs and declining natural gas production to uncertainty in the homeschool system brought about by a recent court ruling. Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, said he’s proud of what he and his colleagues in the bipartisan majority caucus accomplished.

“It’s been a pretty successful two years, I believe, in so many ways, whether it’s in the budget issues that our committees have been working on, whether it’s in energy or in education, all of those areas we’ve worked forward, and I think we’ve made some great successes,” Stevens said.

Several high-profile bills did not make it across the finish line, including royalty cuts for natural gas producers in Cook Inlet and a controversial elections bill that saw a late push for passage.

House Speaker Cathy Tilton, R-Wasilla, said she expects lawmakers to continue to work on royalty relief proposals before the next legislative session, or possibly in a special session. Like Stevens, Tilton said legislators took great strides on a wide array of issues over their four months in Juneau.

“I think it was a great session. There was a lot of things that were taken care of,” Tilton said. “We’ve taken some starts in energy, we were able to take care of the correspondence folks and we had a great crime bill that we passed, so I think it was a great session. We got a lot done for the people of Alaska.”

House Minority Leader Calvin Schrage, I-Anchorage, said he was glad to see some of the minority coalition’s priorities included in the state budget. But he said several things — among them, a fiscal plan, a pension plan for public-sector workers and a long-term increase in education funding — were missed opportunities.

“Those were all things that Alaskans were really clamoring for, and it’s disappointing to see that we weren’t able to take action,” Schrage said.

The Senate adjourned shortly before midnight. The House, however, continued past the midnight deadline in an effort to pass additional bills before gaveling out at 1:22 a.m.

Here’s some of what the Legislature passed to the governor’s desk.

Correspondence schools

Lawmakers approved a measure that would address the result of a recent court ruling that found two statutes underpinning Alaska’s homeschool system violate a section of the Alaska Constitution barring the use of state funds for private or religious education. It’s a temporary fix aimed at ensuring homeschooling under the state’s correspondence school programs can continue despite the court decision, said Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, R-Nikiski.

“It gives some certainty and surety that our Alaskan families, Mr. President, that value their freedom and their educational choice, can use those homeschool allotment monies as they have for a decade,” he said.

The two laws ruled unconstitutional outlined individual learning plans for homeschool students and cash payments to homeschool families, known as allotments, used to purchase curriculum and other materials — but Anchorage Superior Court Judge Adolf Zeman ruled that the laws unconstitutionally allowed families to use their allotments to pay for private school classes. The state has appealed the ruling to the Alaska Supreme Court.

The language approved by the House and Senate would require the Department of Education and Early Development to monitor and report to the Legislature how allotments are spent. That requirement would expire with the rest of the temporary bill in July 2025.

“It’s providing an accountability measure that this is in place until the court case is resolved,” said Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer. “Hopefully, by next summer, we’ll have some more clear answers.”

The homeschool language was added as an amendment to House Bill 202, which would require schools to carry opioid overdose reversal drugs like naloxone.

School funding

Lawmakers approved $175 million in additional one-time funding above the traditional formula for public schools. That’s roughly equivalent to a $680 increase in the base student allocation, which provides the basic state funding for Alaska’s public schools. Gov. Mike Dunleavy has said he does not plan to reduce the amount with a line-item veto.

At the beginning of the session, lawmakers from both parties in the House and Senate said they would prefer an ongoing increase in school funding through the base student allocation, rather than another round of one-time funding. But after Dunleavy vetoed a compromise bill that would have boosted the base figure by $680, and the Legislature failed to override it, lawmakers settled on a one-time boost.

That’s left districts around the state unsure of how much money they’d receive, leading some to lay off teachers and cut school programs. Citing the funding uncertainty, Ketchikan’s school district notified more than 50 teachers and administrators they’d be laid off on Wednesday, the  Ketchikan Daily News reported , though as many as 30 could be given their jobs back if the one-time boost is not vetoed.

House Bill 230: Teacher pay

One bill that passed the House and Senate would lift a cap on the number of years of out-of-state experience used to calculate teacher salaries. It would also allow districts to provide $5,000 yearly bonuses if they complete a certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

“I think we would come out ahead by retaining the more qualified teachers,” Rep. Mike Prax, R-North Pole said of House Bill 230.

Energy bills

With gas producers in Cook Inlet warning that production is dwindling, energy — both from fossil fuels and renewable energy — was a key policy priority for members in both bodies this session. And in the end, the Legislature passed several proposals aimed at lowering costs, expanding gas supplies and boosting renewable energy.

House Bill 50: Carbon Storage

House Bill 50 would authorize the storage of carbon dioxide deep underground in what’s known as “pore space,” including things like depleted oil and gas reservoirs, salty aquifers and unmineable coal seams.

Backers, including Gov. Mike Dunleavy, have pitched it as a source of state revenue. The state would charge a minimum royalty of $2.50 for each ton of carbon dioxide injected underground, plus $20 per acre of land leased from the Department of Natural Resources. The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission would be tasked with coming up with regulations.

“Carbon capture, utilization and storage is an expanding industry that companies are beginning to commit billions of dollars to invest in,” Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, said. “HB 50 will allow Alaska to take part in that.”

Part of the reason for the investment Stedman mentioned is the Inflation Reduction Act’s inclusion of significant tax credits for geologic carbon storage.

That carbon could come from abroad and be stored in depleted gas fields in Cook Inlet — the Biden administration is studying whether Japanese carbon emissions could be liquefied and shipped to Alaska. But that’s likely a ways off.

It could also come from within Alaska. Maybe from a regional power plant on the Railbelt, or perhaps from operations on the North Slope, which comprise 62% of the state’s total carbon emissions, according to Nicholas Fulford, a consultant with GaffneyCline who evaluated the proposal for the Legislature.

That could mean using carbon dioxide injection to squeeze more oil out of existing wells, a practice known as “enhanced oil recovery” incentivized by the Inflation Reduction Act. Decarbonizing North Slope production could also make Alaska oil more competitive on the global market, the state Department of Natural Resources said.

But as the bill worked its way through the Legislature, lawmakers added several other proposals to it. One would create a reserve-based lending program for Cook Inlet oil and gas within the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority. That’d allow AIDEA to loan money to gas producers struggling to find investors.

Another provision would allow the Regulatory Commission of Alaska to regulate the price of natural gas storage in an effort to expand storage capacity and keep costs down.

House Bill 307: Integrated Transmission Systems

House Bill 307 was another priority for Gov. Dunleavy. The bill reduces the cost of moving power along the Railbelt, provides property and income tax breaks for new power plants and sets up a new Railbelt Transmission Organization tasked with governing the backbone of the Railbelt grid. It’d be led by the five utilities that contributed to the Bradley Lake hydroelectric project in Homer and housed within the Alaska Energy Authority.

“After moving through the legislative process, the bill that stands before you today is something that still achieves the governor’s policy goals,” Sen. Click Bishop, R-Fairbanks, said. “We all want affordable and cheap energy.”

But the Senate stripped out an earlier provision added in the House that would prevent utilities from incorporating the cost of building a liquefied natural gas import terminal into their rates. That led to pushback from Kenai Peninsula legislators, who said they feared large-scale LNG imports — which utilities have discussed as a response to falling gas production — could make Cook Inlet drilling uneconomic.

But will it be enough to keep energy prices down? Tilton, the House speaker, said residents shouldn’t expect immediate relief, but she said she’s optimistic.

“I’m not sure they’re going to see a reduction in their energy rates right away. But I think that over time, there will be a reduction,” Tilton said. “I know that that is our goal, to be able to provide low-cost energy throughout the state.”

Sen. Bill Wielechoski, D-Anchorage, said the gas storage provisions should help ensure supplies stay healthy enough for cold winter days in the short term. He said the reserve-based lending program could prove helpful in the next year or two. And he said the renewable energy initiatives, including bills authorizing community solar projects and a fund dedicated to supporting renewable energy projects, could also keep costs down.

“The Railbelt is going green, and that’s out of necessity,” he said.

Lawmakers also approved House Bill 66, a sprawling crime bill touching on many elements of the justice system. The bill, originally introduced by the governor, would allow sellers and manufacturers of fentanyl, methamphetamine and other drugs listed on the state’s Schedule IIA to be charged with murder if someone dies from taking their drugs. The administration pitched it as a response to a sharp increase in overdose deaths.

Other provisions would expand involuntary civil commitments to include people who are found incompetent to stand trial on violent felonies if they have a violent history and pose a risk to the public, allow police officers to present hearsay to grand juries and close a loophole in an earlier bill that allowed some sex offenders to avoid registering after moving to Alaska.

“I think these are all positive steps to improve public safety and make wise use of our public safety resources,” said Sen. Matt Claman, D-Anchorage.

The fentanyl bill was a priority for the Republican-led House majority caucus. Rep. Craig Johnson, R-Anchorage, spoke in support on the House floor. The crime bill package also renames “child pornography” to “child sexual abuse material” in state law, also backed by the House majority.

“We spend a lot of time in this body — iPads for prisoners, upgraded food — basically coddling criminals. This is the first bill that I’ve seen in my tenure that actually protects victims. This is one that people can reach out and feel safer about. There are things in here that will save lives,” Johnson said.

But some lawmakers said they had reservations. Sen. Forrest Dunbar, D-Anchorage, said he wasn’t convinced upgrading drug penalties would make a difference.

“It upsets me that, rather than do something genuine that we know could work, like treatment, like mental health, those kinds of approaches, we are taking this thing we’ve been trying now for decades of ratcheting up these drug charges when it has failed to produce the results we want,” Dunbar said. He voted for the bill, saying other provisions were worth supporting.

The ACLU of Alaska  said  the bill threatened Alaskans’ constitutional rights and would likely be ineffective at addressing the opioid crisis.

Sen. Löki Tobin, D- Anchorage, was the lone Senate vote against the crime bill. She expressed similar concerns to Dunbar, saying she did not expect prison time to meaningfully help people addicted to drugs.

“That was not a hard vote for me,” she said.

The bills passed by the House and Senate now head to the governor’s desk. Once they’re checked for errors and officially transmitted to him, Dunleavy will have 20 days, excluding Sundays, to sign, veto, or allow them to become law without his signature.

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These teens were missing too much school. Here's what it took to get them back

Leigh Paterson

Elizabeth Miller

Sophomore Neomi sits quietly in an office at her high school in a Colorado mountain town west of Denver. It's a cold December morning and she's wearing gold and black Nikes and a gray hoodie, pulled up.

She's surrounded by school staff and her mom.

"I just wanna be really clear about the intention of this meeting. It's not to make you feel bad," says Dave, a school administrator.

"What's going on?" he asks Neomi. "Why aren't we coming to school? Because you were coming to school quite a bit, and then all of a sudden..."

As Neomi listens, tears roll down her cheeks.

"Do you not feel safe? Are you stressed?" Dave asks softly.

Finally, in a quiet voice, the teen says, "I don't have friends. I don't have any people."

Listen: How one school is trying to improve attendance of chronically absent students

How one school is trying to improve attendance of chronically absent students.

Neomi has been chronically absent, which means, at the time of this meeting, she had already missed 10% or more of the school year. The teen is part of an alarming trend among the country's K-12 students.

Chronic absenteeism skyrocketed nationwide during the pandemic. In the 2022-'23 academic year, 26% of U.S. students were chronically absent, according to research from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). Before the pandemic, only 15% of students were regularly missing school.

In some places, like Colorado and Oregon, the rates of chronic absenteeism are even higher.

Research has shown there's a link between irregular attendance and not graduating – and attendance can be a better predictor of a student's drop-out risk than test scores.

"The flip side of it [is] kids with high attendance are much more likely to stay on track and graduate with their peers," says Johann Liljengren, director of dropout prevention for the Colorado Department of Education.

Going beyond academics to help solve absenteeism

Getting chronically absent students back to class is a priority for schools. It requires support from families and teachers, as well as difficult, personal conversations – like the kind Dave and Neomi are having in Colorado.

NPR is only using the teen's middle name so this conversation about her attendance doesn't hurt future job or academic prospects. To further protect her identity, we aren't naming her school or her mom, and we're only using the administrator's first name.

K-12 students learned a lot last year, but they're still missing too much school

Neomi and her family came to Colorado from El Salvador. At the December meeting, a school staffer interprets for Neomi's mom, who has been listening quietly.

When Dave points out that the teen hasn't been in school much since Thanksgiving, Neomi's mom speaks up to explain what her daughter has been going through.

"She doesn't want to come here because she was dating this kid and they broke up," she says through the interpreter. "Everybody is bullying or laughing or talking: 'Well, after being the perfect couple, look at you.' "

Neomi's mom tried to get help for her daughter.

"I was trying to find resources to try to find a therapist," she says through the interpreter.

Dave tells her he can help with that. He knows, through student interviews, that health, including mental health, was among the top reasons around half of all students in this rural district were chronically absent during the 2022-'23 school year.

Other reasons include family responsibilities, transportation issues and jobs.

"So everything from working at, you know, Walmart to helping parents with their cleaning businesses," Dave explains. "They're working till really late at night. And then, you know, getting up in the morning is tough."

For Neomi, the hardest part of coming to school is running into students in the hallways and at lunchtime. With this key information, staffers get to work on some solutions that could help bring the teenager back.

They offer to give her a pass to leave class early so she can avoid the students who have been teasing her.

Dave suggests finding a classroom where she can eat lunch, and school staff offer to stay in touch over a messaging app.

They try to get Neomi to stay for the rest of the school day, but she says she isn't ready. Though she promises to come back on Monday, after the weekend.

What it looks like to come back from absenteeism

Anais and her mom agree Anais' sophomore year was a low point in her high school career: She missed more than a month of classes, which set her back academically and put her at risk of not graduating on time, a common consequence of chronic absenteeism in Oregon .

Anais is currently a junior at David Douglas High School in southeast Portland, Ore.

Battling student absenteeism with grandmas, vans and a lot of love

On a Friday after school back in February, the bubbly 17-year-old and her mom, Josette, are outside, in front of their apartment complex, joking around.

She and her mom go back and forth on how they'd grade Anais' attendance last year.

Josette gives her daughter a D.

"From January to June, you were not there a lot," she says.

Anais is harder on herself: "I would say a D-minus."

Last school year, Anais was sick a lot, but, like Neomi, she was also going through a breakup. Both kept her from school for days at a time.

NPR is not using Anais' full name so she can talk openly about her attendance without hurting future academic or job prospects. To further protect her identity, we also aren't fully naming her mom, Josette.

Chronic absenteeism at Anais' high school was at 44% in 2023, well above AEI's national average.

For Anais, missing so much school hurt her grades and changed her friendships. She says her teachers tried to help – "The teachers really did try their best with me with not showing up" — but there wasn't much they could do.

But this year has been different. Her attendance is back up, and Anais has been working on her grades.

What changed? She hasn't been sick as much this year – and she also got back together with her boyfriend.

Josette doesn't love that the boyfriend continues to play a role in her daughter's attendance. She's quick to remind Anais that school is a priority.

"I do talk to her about not letting things get in the way of her education," Josette says.

After so many absences, getting back on track to graduate goes beyond just showing up. Anais has been taking a credit recovery class after school to make up for what she missed during her sophomore year. She plans to attend summer school too, if that's what it takes to finish on time.

Josette has faith her daughter will pull it off. If she does, Anais would be the first of her five siblings to graduate from a traditional high school.

At that point, Anais jokes, "You're pretty much a grown adult."

Back on track

One thing both Anais and her mom can agree on is how they'd grade Anais' attendance this school year: Both give it an A.

As the school year winds down in Colorado, Neomi's attendance has also turned around. Dave says she missed school the Monday after the meeting, but she did make it on Tuesday. Since then, she's been coming to school a lot more. Recently the teenager had a two-week stretch of perfect attendance. Dave says school staff did a celebration dance in the hallway.

Leigh Paterson covers youth mental health for KUNC in Northern Colorado, and Elizabeth Miller covers education for OPB in Portland, Ore.

Digital and audio stories edited by: Nicole Cohen Audio stories produced by: Lauren Migaki Visual design and development by: LA Johnson

Imagine Your Last Day of Work Ever. Here’s Theirs.

American culture has no set ritual to mark retirement. They created their own.

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Photographs by Victor Llorente

Text by Charley Locke

Victor Llorente sampled work lives around the country over the course of a month for this assignment. While following a firefighter’s final 24-hour shift, he went on calls in a firefighter coat and even slept at the fire station during breaks.

• May 11, 2024

Among life’s major milestones — think graduations, weddings, even annual events like birthdays and anniversaries — the retirement day is notably lacking in cultural convention, shared ritual. (Even the ceremonial gold watch today seems more the stuff of myth than reality.) It mostly tends to fall to co-workers, family, even retirees themselves to conjure, ad hoc, a celebratory send-off. Here’s a look at how a range of new retirees marked the end of their working days.

Fabric-store owner, 82, St. Petersburg, Fla.

Arthur Jay didn’t think he would spend his life running the family business. After growing up around his parents’ first fabric store on Long Island, he left to attend college and then to pursue a career in management at Kmart. But when Jay was 27, his father died unexpectedly, so he had to take over at Jay’s Fabric Center in St. Petersburg. Jay still wonders about what could have been, but over the last 54 years, he found his way to quiet moments of job satisfaction: helping someone pick out colors for a bedspread, planning custom draperies. “For me, every customer that came in was a different opportunity,” he says. “If you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, getting up every day would be a drudgery.”

Jay outside his store.

Taking down an old photo to keep.

Opening a cake to share with staff and customers.

Locking the front door for the last time.

As a small-business owner who is closing his store, Jay is practical about the transition into retirement. Even after helping his last customer, he still had to ship the last orders, sell off the remaining inventory and pay the bills. But he was glad to have a last day of business, when longtime customers came by to thank him and his employees over slices of vanilla cake with vanilla frosting. “I’m sorry, but I like vanilla,” Jay says. “That’s one thing I got to do, because it was my cake.” He ate two pieces.

Juliane Bingener-Casey

Surgeon, 61, rochester, minn..

Before her last day in the operating room, Dr. Juliane Bingener-Casey, a surgeon and professor of surgery at the Mayo Clinic, experienced a series of lasts. “I knew when I did my last stomach case, my last small bowel,” she says. “You want them to go spectacularly well, with a cherry on top.” When she successfully finished her final operation, she was unsentimental, ready to put the scalpel down. “I felt like I was done,” Bingener-Casey says.

Preparing for surgery.

Tossing her final scrubs.

Cleaning out her office.

Celebrating with colleagues at a dinner in her honor.

Over thousands of complicated cases on the operating table, Bingener-Casey learned to separate her feelings and her work. “You have to have very good control of your emotions, meaning you bury them,” she says. She did feel those emotions at her retirement reception, when the microphone was opened up to her colleagues after dinner. “I didn’t know I’d need so many tissues — one of my friends said I hadn’t cried like that in a long time,” Bingener-Casey says. “Hearing out loud that you’re appreciated and that people feel you’ve added value, in otherwise a very matter-of-fact surgical world, it’s just beautiful.”

TV-news traffic anchor, 66, Chicago

Over 35 years of reporting for ABC7 Chicago, Roz Varon has seen her city from some unique vantage points. She has reported from the roof of the 110-story Willis Tower, the dinosaur-fossil storage room at the Field Museum, inside Glinda’s bubble onstage at a production of “Wicked” and atop a bull at the rodeo. “When I would drive into work every morning, I would look at the Willis Tower and think: I stood up there. Who gets to do that?” Varon says. “I would think to myself, Chicago is my city.”

Finishing her makeup at 3:45 a.m.

Old colleagues came back to surprise her.

Cutting a celebratory cake.

Greeting her fans, human and canine.

Varon has been a familiar face for generations of Chicagoans, offering no-nonsense traffic reports ever since the ABC7 morning show debuted in 1989. So when it came time for her to retire, her city showed up. A partial list of the fans who congratulated her on her last day: Girl Scouts from Illinois and Indiana; members of the Chicago Department of Transportation, who gave her a Roz Varon Way street sign; Alan Krashesky, the first morning anchor at ABC7; her former journalism students; fellow breast-cancer survivors; and puppies from the anti-cruelty group she supported. Her co-workers presented her with a proclamation from the City of Chicago, declaring it Roz Varon Day. “It was mind-blowing, one thing after another after another,” Varon says. “It was like there was no other news, just special surprises for me!”

Latin-dance-music D.J., 60, Cincinnati

There has always been a certain feeling of euphoria that comes to Tony Pabón as he looks out at the dance floor from his D.J. table at Salsannati Dance Company. “To play music and have people start to clap or move their body or dance — that’s powerful,” he says. “I have to pinch myself sometimes.” So when his job started to feel more like a chore than a joy, Pabón knew it was time to retire. (He will continue working a day job at a bank.) “Lately, I’m not having the passion,” he says. “I’m doing it because it’s my duty.” Besides, standing for four-hour sets was taking a toll on his knees.

D.J.ing for the final time.

Dancing with his wife.

A toast to ends and beginnings.

But first, there was his last show at Salsannati. Over decades of D.J.ing at restaurants, for parties and on river cruises, Pabón had become a fixture of Cincinnati’s Latin-music scene. Regulars packed the floor for the last night with D.J. Tony; the studio owner made a speech and gave Pabón a bottle of bourbon. “I like to talk a lot, but I found myself without words to say, because it was so overwhelming,” Pabón says. “I was on cloud nine for the whole night of dancing, even though I had the worst knee pain.”

Pabón is selling his D.J. equipment as he focuses on his other interests: leading a marriage group at church with his wife, painting and spending time with his grandchildren. Part of his identity will always be tied to music, which it has been ever since his first disco sets as a teenage D.J. in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico. “At the end of the day, when you’re tired and frustrated, you put on that vinyl and drop that needle,” he says. “The sound comes out of the speakers, and you’re a brand-new person.”

Frances Fotia

Church organist, 83, ellwood city, pa..

When Frances Fotia was in the fifth grade, the nuns heard that she took piano lessons and asked if she would like to learn how to play the organ. She said yes and, soon after, started to play at Mass every day. “I kept doing that practically for the rest of my life,” Fotia says. She played as she raised her four daughters, and as they grew up and she became a grandmother. She played the organ at the funeral Masses for both of her parents; she played at friends’ weddings, and then at the weddings of their children. “I loved playing for the people for their sung prayer,” she says. “That’s basically what it was all about.”

Adjusting the stops to prepare the organ.

Directing the choir.

Celebrating with her family at home.

In recent years, she shifted to weekly services. Easter Mass was her last day both playing the organ and directing the choir, which includes singers she has known since she was a girl. They sang “God’s Right Hand,” one of her favorites — and then surprised her with the song they sing at the end of choir practice, “May God Bless and Keep You.”

Fotia now sits in the pews, not at the organ bench. But she still thinks about the connection she has felt with the organ since she started playing Mass more than 70 years ago. “When I sat down at that console,” she says, “it was like putting on a pair of slippers.”

Sheila Giuntoli

Letter carrier, 58, bakersfield, calif..

As Sheila Giuntoli made her daily journey along her postal route, she delivered to homes where she witnessed children grow up and houses where she made peace with the family dogs. She passed homes where she attended baby showers and birthday parties. She delivered mail to one yard where, six years ago, a customer asked her out; their four-hour first date at Denny’s led to a backyard wedding and a happy marriage. “It really was a blessing to me,” Giuntoli says about working at the post office. But after 30 years and two hip replacements, it was finally time to retire.

On her route for the final time.

Hugging a customer during her final delivery.

With her husband at the office party.

Posing at the big party.

Her last day began with celebration. There was a speech from a post-office official; a Million Mile plaque honoring her 30 years of service driving without an accident; and a potluck with co-workers. Then she set off on her route, where she said goodbye to customers she had known for a decade. “It made me real emotional,” Giuntoli says.

The bigger celebration came that Sunday night, when her children threw her a retirement party. Co-workers past and present danced, took photos in a photo booth and told stories about the old days, before electronic scanners and Amazon packages. Retirement “made me feel like I lost a family member,” says Giuntoli, who plans to keep in touch with people on her old route. “But I know I have to move on and start a new chapter in my life.”

David DuVall

Firefighter, 54, dolton, ill..

For 30 years, David DuVall worked 24 hours on, 48 hours off at the fire station. During those long shifts, his fellow firefighters were his second family: Every third day they would watch the morning news, shop for groceries, play cards, cook chicken Parmesan and grill steak, watch Bears and Blackhawks games — and, of course, fight fires. “It’s the only thing I know,” he says, “so to say I’m gonna be giving it up is a big unknown. Frankly, it’s a little scary.”

Outside the firehouse.

Taking down his nameplate.

Out on a final call.

Celebrating with beers starting at 8 a.m.

After his final shift ended at 7 a.m., DuVall heard one last call over the radio, announcing his retirement. Then he and his wife stepped out of the station together, preceded by a fellow fireman playing the bagpipes. Before them stood a cheering crowd, full of loved ones and firefighters from Dolton and neighboring villages. “I was very humbled by it,” DuVall says.

By 8 a.m., DuVall and his entourage headed to a local bar for drinks, pizza and old stories. After a few hours, the stalwarts headed to another bar near DuVall’s home; he and a few friends closed out the celebrations at a third bar at 12:30 a.m. “It was 16 hours of having a good time,” he says — almost (but not quite) a full firefighter’s shift.

Charley Locke is a writer based in Portland, Ore. She often works on special projects for the magazine, most recently about low-Earth orbit, and generally writes about children and elders.

Advertisement

The northern lights danced across the US last night. It could happen again Saturday.

Amazing auroras sparked by a massive solar storm — the strongest in decades — set the world abuzz Friday night as colorful glowing light radiated into the skies as far south as Florida and the Bahamas, to the surprising delight of many who waited up and kept watch.

And good news for anyone who missed it: You may get another chance Saturday night or Sunday.

"Overnight, aurora were visible across much of the United States. Weather permitting, they may be visible again tonight," the Space Weather Prediction Center said in a Saturday morning update . A later update suggests the possibility of widespread viewing in the U.S. on Sunday too.

(A word of caution, experts have previously told USA TODAY that forecasting space weather is difficult . Researchers must rely on observations of the 93-million-miles-away sun to make their predictions.)

Northern lights are only visible at night time, and experts say it's best to view them away from the hustle and bustle of city life to get the best show. Still, Americans in cities said they could see the lights overnight, including in metro Detroit .

Wisconsinites got to see the lights dance across the sky in green and purple hues. Even residents of downtown Milwaukee caught a glimpse despite the bright city lights obstructing the view.

See photos: Northern lights on full display across US, Europe on Friday

Will the aurora be visible this weekend?

It could be.

The Space Weather Prediction Center offers an experimental forecast map that showed on Saturday the aurora may be visible Saturday in a wide swath of the U.S., possibly in states including Oregon, Nebraska, Indiana, Pennsylvania and New York. But visibility will depend on shifting factors that include weather.

For Sunday, space weather forecasters said the aurora could become visible again over the northern half of the country, with sights extending as far south as Alabama and northern California. The effects of that storm are expected to arrive Sunday morning ET.

What is the cloud forecast Saturday night? Will clouds block the northern lights?

If you missed the aurora borealis Friday night, you might still catch a glimpse on Saturday or Sunday, depending on where you live. But not if clouds get in the way.

The cloud forecast for Saturday night is generally good for most of America, but some of the people who missed their chance last night due to clouds may have a similar problem Saturday, said AccuWeather senior meteorologist Tom Kines. Areas that are likely to be cloudy include New England and Mid-Atlantic regions, as well as parts of the Southern Plains, including Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado.

“Even just a few breaks in the clouds will allow the aurora to be visible,” Kines said. “There’s always hope.”

Peak visibility time Saturday night will be between 9 p.m. and midnight, with some chance until 2 a.m., Kines said. The best views will be in dark areas away from the light pollution of cities, he said, though some reported seeing the auroras Friday night from metro areas like Milwaukee and Detroit.

Sunday night, if there is any aurora to see, those in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic can rejoice, because Kines said the skies should be clearer.

What is causing the northern lights this weekend?

The spectacle is being caused by geomagnetic storm that erupted from a sunspot cluster on the sun.

The storm was unusually strong — classified as "extreme" (or a G5) storm, the highest level, the  Space Weather Prediction Center  said Friday evening. It's the first G5 storm to hit our planet since 2003.

The geomagnetic storm's effects (which aren't all as pretty as the northern lights) are likely to linger through the weekend. The  Space Weather Prediction Center  said the storm is likely to continue through Sunday.

"There have been reports of power grid irregularities and degradation to high-frequency communications and GPS," the Space Weather Prediction Center said in a Saturday morning update.

Where were the northern lights seen on Friday night?

Across much of the United States and Europe where skies were clear — as far south as Florida, Oklahoma, Texas and Arizona.

To the great disappointment of many in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, cloud cover dimmed or obstructed the stunning display altogether.

Although it's unusual, auroras have been seen in the far southern United States in the past. This happens when a particularly large coronal mass ejection arrives in the Earth's outer atmosphere, triggering a geomagnetic storm, NOAA reports.

On the night of Nov. 5-6, 2001 , aurora displays were seen in Texas and Arizona.

What causes the aurora?

NASA describes an aurora as an "intricate dance of particles and magnetism between the Sun and the Earth."

The Sun's activity creates strong electrical currents known as geomagnetic storms.

These eruptions are mostly happening at a large, complex sunspot cluster, NOAA'S Space Weather Prediction Center said. Sunspots, which increase and decrease on a 11-year cycle, are areas where the magnetic field is about 2,500 times stronger than Earth's.

The reason the auroras move is because of how the Sun's ionized gases interact with the Earth's magnetic field.

If you took a great photo, NASA wants to know

In a collaboration with the National Science Foundation and the New Mexico Consortium aurora sightings and photos are being collected at the Aurorasaurus web page.

Why was the aurora borealis so red on Friday?

Mike Theiss, an extreme nature photographer and hurricane storm chaser, who lives in Florida was shocked to see posts Friday night about how far south people were seeing the auroras. To his amazement, he was able to step out of his front door in Key Largo in the Florida Keys and see and photograph the aurora. Hours later he was still incredulous, and surprised at the colors in the aurora.

"I’ve documented the Northern Lights in Iceland, North Dakota, Arctic Circle in Canada but never this red color," Theiss said. "This is the first time I’ve seen red."

The multiple colors seen in auroras are related to the types of gas being bombarded at various levels above the Earth. Auroras occur within one of Earth's upper atmosphere layers, the thermosphere, according to the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research.

Solar particles trapped there interact with various gas molecules, such as nitrogen and oxygen, according to the research corporation's website. Oxygen gives off green and red lights, while nitrogen glows blue and reddish purple. For example, nitrogen gas glows blue at 75 to 110 miles altitude.

The less common red auroras form from interacting with higher altitude oxygen molecules, the website explains.

'Two incredible spectacles of the universe': Northern lights come about a month after eclipse

Seeing the aurora amazed Antonella Fruscione, an astrophysicist at Harvard University. She sent photos of the sight as well as the April total solar eclipse to her friends in Italy.

"And I sent them the picture that I took at the solar eclipse and I said, 'Can you imagine how fortunate I was this year, one month apart, I see these two incredible spectacles of the universe,'" she recalled telling them.

The phenomena seen Friday and possibly Saturday night is unusual, she said.

"It's a very rare occurrence, especially because last night it was really visible," Fruscione said.

What was the Halloween storm in October 2003?

Over two decades ago in late October 2003, three massive sunspot groups appeared on the sun's surface with little warning, accompanied by 17 major solar flares, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information.

Satellites, radio and GPS systems went on the fritz around the world, causing some major disruptions. But it also offered a stunning view of the auroras as far south as California and Florida. People in Australia and Mediterranean countries even caught a glimpse.

Contributing: Doyle Rice and Krystal Nurse , USA TODAY