By MARCIA DUNN (AP Aerospace Writer)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The sun produced its biggest flare in nearly a decade Tuesday, just days after severe solar storms pummeled Earth and created dazzling northern lights in unaccustomed places.

“Not done yet!” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced in an update.

It’s the biggest flare of this 11-year solar cycle, which is approaching its peak, according to NOAA. The good news is that Earth should be out of the line of fire this time because the flare erupted on a part of the sun moving away from Earth.

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the bright flash of the X-ray flare. It was the strongest since 2005, rated on the scale for these flares as X8.7.

Bryan Brasher at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado said it may turn out to have been even stronger when scientists gather data from other sources.

It follows nearly a week of flares and mass ejections of coronal plasma that threatened to disrupt power and communications on Earth and in orbit.

NASA said the weekend geomagnetic storm caused one of its environmental satellites to rotate unexpectedly because of reduced altitude from the space weather, and go into a protective hibernation known as safe mode. And at the International Space Station, the seven astronauts were advised to stay in areas with strong radiation shielding. The crew was never in any danger, according to NASA.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

A St. Paul man with a record of stealing copper wire from streetlights has avoided prison time for a January incident in the city’s Frogtown neighborhood.

E Xiong, 47, pleaded guilty to felony possession of burglary or theft tools after reaching an agreement with Ramsey County prosecutors last month. Judge Joy Bartscher followed the agreement on May 3, staying a 13-month prison sentence for three years, during which time Xiong will be on supervised probation.

E Xiong (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Xiong was ordered to pay the city of St. Paul $548 in restitution. The amount of restitution is based in part on a person’s ability to pay.

Xiong was arrested around 3 a.m. Jan. 18 after police were called to the 800 block of Sherburne Avenue, just north of University Avenue, on a report of people stealing wire from a streetlight. An officer saw a man riding a bike and tried to stop and question him, but he fled down an alley behind University Avenue, the charges say.

The bicyclist crashed and was identified as Xiong. He said he fled because he was wanted on a Ramsey County felony warrant for theft.

In Xiong’s backpack were wires, copper, a wire cutter, screwdriver and saw blade, the charges say. He said he found the wires, and that he uses the tools to fix his bike.

Officers located five damaged light posts in the area.

Previous cases

At the time of his arrest, Xiong had two open cases involving theft of wires from St. Paul streetlights, court records show. They’ve since been resolved.

In March, Xiong was convicted of gross misdemeanor theft and put on probation for three years after admitting to stealing wires last summer from three streetlights near Lorient Street and University Avenue.

Officers found bundles of wire in Xiong’s pockets. He told an officer he receives between $150 and $200 for scrapping the wire at a local company, the criminal complaint says.

St. Paul Public Works put repair and replacement at $4,000.

As part of an August plea deal, prosecutors agreed to dismiss a second case filed in May 2022. In that one, Xiong and another man were caught by police kneeling next to the base of a light pole with tools near Wheelock Parkway by Lake Phalen, the complaint says.

Growing problem

With prices rising, copper wire has become a more common target over the past year or more, leading to long strings of darkened streetlights throughout the city, especially in and around the city’s parks and river roads.

St. Paul spent $1.2 million last year on repair and replacement due to wire theft and accompanying damage to streetlights and traffic signals, compared with $250,000 in 2019, according to the city.

Two St. Paul legislators are sponsoring bills that would require anyone selling copper metal to have a state-issued license. Construction contractors, people who work in residential trades and other licensed workers would continue to be allowed to sell copper and wouldn’t need a separate license. The bills would still allow residents and businesses to recycle copper materials with scrap metal companies for free.

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NEW YORK — If every dog must have its day, one champion canine is about to have its year.

By the end of Tuesday night, one of the more than 2,500 hounds, terriers, spaniels, setters and others that entered this year’s Westminster Kennel Club dog show will be crowned best in show.

Will Comet the shih tzu streak to new heights after winning the big American Kennel Club National Championship last year? Or would a wise bet be Sage the miniature poodle or Mercedes the German shepherd, both guided by handlers who have won the big prize before?

What about Louis, the Afghan hound whose handler and co-owner says he lives up to his breed’s nickname as “the king of dogs”?

And that’s not all: Three more finalists are still to be chosen Tuesday evening before all seven face off in the final round of the United States’ most illustrious dog show.

In an event where all competitors are champions in the sport’s point system, winning can depend on subtleties and a standout turn in the ring.

“You just have to hope that they put it all together” in front of the judge, said handler and co-breeder Robin Novack as her English springer spaniel, Freddie, headed for Tuesday’s semifinals after a first-round win.

Named for the late Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury, the spaniel is currently the second-highest-ranked dog nationwide in The Canine Chronicle magazine’s statistics, and Novack was hopeful about his Westminster chances.

“He’s as good a dog as I can get my hands on, he’s in beautiful condition, and he loves to show,” Novack, of Milan, Illinois, reasoned as a sanguine-seeming Freddie awaited fresh grooming before it was game on again.

Dogs first compete against others of their breed. Then the winner of each breed goes up against others in its “group” — in Freddie’s case, “sporting” dogs, generally bird-hunters bred to work closely with people. The seven group winners meet in the final round.

Besides Freddie, other dogs in Tuesday’s semifinal group competitions include Monty, a giant schnauzer who is the nation’s top-ranked dog and was a Westminster finalist last year, and Stache, a Sealyham terrier. He won the National Dog Show that was televised on Thanksgiving and took top prize at a big terrier show in Pennsylvania last fall.

Monty is “a stallion” of a giant schnauzer, solid, powerful and “very spirited,” handler and co-owner Katie Bernardin of Chaplin, Connecticut, said after he won his breed Tuesday afternoon.

So “spirited” that while Bernardin was pregnant, she did obedience and other dog sports with Monty because he needed the stimulation.

While she loves giant schnauzers, “they’re not an easy breed,” she cautions would-be owners. But she adds that the driven dogs can be great to have “if you can put the time into it.”

A fraction of Monty’s size, Stache the Sealyham terrier showcases a rare breed that’s considered vulnerable to extinction even in its native Britain.

“They’re a little-known treasure,” said Stache’s co-owner, co-breeder and handler, Margery Good, who has bred “Sealys” for half a century. Originally developed in Wales to hunt badgers and other burrowing game, the terriers with a “fall” of hair over their eyes are courageous but comedic — Good dubs them “silly hams.”

“They’re very generous with their affection and their interest in pleasing you, rather than you being the one to please them,” said Good, of Cochranville, Pennsylvania.

Westminster can feel like a study in canine contrasts. Just walking around, a visitor could see a Chihuahua peering out of a carrying bag at a stocky Neapolitan mastiff, a ring full of honey-colored golden retrievers beside a lineup of stark-black giant schnauzers, and handlers with dogs far larger than themselves.

Shane Jichetti was one of them. Ralphie, the 175-pound (34-kg) great Dane she co-owns, outweighs her by a lot. It takes considerable experience to show so big an animal, but “if you have a bond with your dog, and you just go with it, it works out,” she said.

Plus Ralphie, for all his size, is “so chill,” said Jichetti. Playful at home on New York’s Staten Island, he’s spot-on — just like his harlequin-pattern coat — when it’s time to go in the ring.

“He’s just an honest dog,” Jichetti said.

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