Star Tribune
St. Paul students return to Harding High after fatal stabbing
Students trickled back into St. Paul’s Harding High School on Friday, returning to class as a district administrator held a briefing outside to note new security measures — and amid calls from educators for more action on school safety concerns.
Students had been out since sophomore Devin Scott, 15, was stabbed Feb. 10 by another student in a hallway. It was the middle of his first day at the East Side school.
Scott died a short time later at Regions Hospital. On Tuesday, Nosakhere K. Holmes, 16, was charged in Ramsey County District Court with second-degree unintentional murder.
District officials responded to last week’s stabbing by having police officers stationed outside five high schools and adding a third school support liaison to Harding’s security team. On Thursday, the district also announced new rules limiting how kids enter and move about a building that holds more than 1,700 students and staff members.
As students returned Friday, Assistant Superintendent Nancy Paez reiterated some of the new procedures at a news conference.
“This is going to be a good day at Harding,” she said.
The St. Paul Federation of Educators (SPFE) posted a letter on Facebook Thursday stating that board members and administrators had been made aware of issues involving the school’s safety climate by parents and educators, and that many of those calls and emails went unanswered.
“These events are the tragically avoidable and inevitable result of inadequate SPPS school climate policies and the refusal to listen to staff and community on how to address problems before they escalate,” the union said in its letter. It urged the school board to call an emergency meeting to hear from students, staff and community members.
When asked to comment Friday on the union’s contention that the tragedy could have been avoided and more done at Harding, Paez declined, saying, “Not at this time.”
Louis Francisco, an instructional coach who has been at Harding for 31 years, and is a graduate, too, said it had been a tough six days and there was no blueprint for how to cope with the aftermath of such violence.
“Teachers came together,” he said, “planning and grieving at the same time.”
The state’s second-largest district cut ties with school resource officers (SROs), in 2020 after George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis police. They were replaced with 38 school support liaisons who are not armed but carry pepper spray and handcuffs. This week, Superintendent Joe Gothard said he is open to discuss adding SROs in new roles.
In its announcement Thursday night, the district said Harding’s new protocols are designed to “create a safe environment for all.” The rules state:
- Students who are late must enter through the main entrance, where they will receive a pass and will have five minutes to report to class.
- Increased hallway supervision will be in place, and students cannot access hallways during class time without a chaperone.
- Students will be escorted to the bathroom and bathrooms will be supervised.
Paez said the new measures would be enforced through at least the coming week.
“If we are obtaining the outcomes that we want for the changes, we will adjust as necessary or extend [them],” she said.
At the end of the day, a district spokeswoman said just over half of Harding’s students attended school Friday, and staff reported that those who were there were glad to see their friends and teachers again. The shortened school day focused more on support for students than academics, she said, and additional staff will be at Harding through next week.
Last week’s fatal encounter occurred in a hallway between classes. According to the juvenile petition filed Tuesday, Holmes had words with Scott, the two started fighting, and a third student punched Holmes, too, before staff members intervened. Then, Holmes advanced toward Scott, swinging a knife at least twice, the petition said.
In its letter, signed by more than 600 educators before it was posted, SPFE said board members had been silent on climate issues since they learned in November of a $1 million federal grant aimed at identifying the root causes of school violence — and, in turn, get students the help they need before they harm themselves or others.
The grant application cited an increase in the “prevalence and seriousness” of violent incidents in St. Paul schools in 2021-22 but gave no specifics.
At Harding on Friday, students met in grade-level assemblies and were to remain in their advisory class for most of the day. Members of the district’s crisis team also were on hand to support students. Harding will resume its normal schedule Tuesday.
Northern State 35, Concordia (St. Paul) 34: Wyatt Block’s 2-yard TD run and the PAT with 10 seconds remaining lifted the Wolves past the host Golden Bears. Block’s touchdown capped an 11-play, 72-yard drive by the Wolves, who trailed 24-7 in the second quarter. Jeff Isotalo-McGuire’s 34-yard field goal with three minutes, 32 seconds remaining gave the Golden Bears a 34-28 lead.
Winona State 31, Bemidji State 28: Cade Stenstrom rushed for two TDs and passed for 150 yards and a TD to help the host Warriors outlast the Beavers. Stenstrom’s 1-yard TD run and the PAT with two minutes, 10 seconds remaining gave the Warriors a 31-21 lead. The Beavers responded with an 11-play, 93-yard drive to pull within 31-28 with 18 seconds remaining but the Warriors recovered the ensuing kickoff.
Div. I-AA
North Dakota State 59, Murray State 6: The top-ranked Bison built a 42-3 lead in the first half and went on to defeat the host Racers in Murray, Ken. CharMar Brown ran for 97 yards and three TDs for the Bison.
South Dakota State 20, South Dakota 17 (OT): Amar Johnson’s 3-yard TD run in overtime lifted the host Jackrabbits to the victory. The Coyotes opened the OT with a 40-yard field goal.
Youngstown State 41, North Dakota 40 (OT): The host Penguins went first in OT and scored and then stopped North Dakota’s two-point conversion to hold on for the victory. The Penguins sent the game into OT on a 35-yard field goal with 12 seconds remaining.
Div. III
Augsburg 35, St. Olaf 34 (OT): The host Auggies stopped a two-point conversion in overtime to outlast the Oles. The Auggies went first in the overtime and scored on a 25-yard pass from Ryan Harvey to Tyrone Wilson. It was Harvey’s fifth TD pass — the fourth to Wilson. After the Auggies’ PAT, the Oles scored on a 25-yard TD pass from Theo Doran to Braden Menz. But the Oles’ pass attempt for the conversion failed.
After splitting their two-game West Coast trip to begin the season, the Wolves improved to 2-1 with a 112-101 win over Toronto in their home opener. It was a wire-to-wire win that featured some strong bursts of play from the Wolves and other times when their decision-making was suspect. But those moments when they were on, specifically the start of the game and most of the third quarter, were enough to carry them against a shorthanded Raptors team that was without RJ Barrett, Bruce Brown and Immanuel Quickley.
Julius Randle had 24 points while Anthony Edwards had 24 on 21 shot attempts. Donte DiVincenzo had 16 off the bench. Nickeil Alexander-Walker left the game in the fourth quarter and did not return, though he was in the bench area for the final minutes after going to the locker room briefly.
The Wolves’ starting lineup had its best stretch of basketball on the season after that unit started off sluggish in the first two games. Mike Conley, who was 3-for-16 to open the year, hit two early threes to set the tone, though Conley would finish 2-for-8.
Donte DiVincenzo replaced him at point guard halfway through the quarter and continued the hot shooting from the point guard slot with three threes of his own. The Wolves forced five Toronto turnovers and had a 32-18 lead after one.
Coach Chris Finch toyed with some different lineup combinations in the first half as he had Conley and DiVincenzo begin the quarter together while having Joe Ingles run the point later in the quarter. It led to an uneven second, and the Wolves led 56-44 at halftime.
But the Wolves played inspired coming out of the break. Jaden McDaniels, who didn’t take a shot in the first half, had nine points in the opening minutes of the third. Edwards hit a pair of threes as they pushed their lead to 22. The Wolves weren’t sharp closing the night, and the Raptors had the game within right inside of two minutes, but the Wolves had built enough of a cushion.
Rudy Gobert. Gobert had 15 points and 13 rebounds and was the beneficiary of some lobs from his teammates like Edwards, Conley, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Joe Ingles. Gobert also finished with four blocks.
Gobert had two blocks on one possession in the fourth quarter that got the crowd off its feet and Gobert pounding his chest. Gobert blocked D.J. Carton and Jamison Battle.
Star Tribune
Trump denigrates Detroit while appealing for votes in a suburb of Michigan’s largest city
NOVI, Mich. — Donald Trump further denigrated Detroit while appealing for votes Saturday in a suburb of the largest city in swing state Michigan.
”I think Detroit and some of our areas makes us a developing nation,” the former president told supporters in Novi. He said people want him to say Detroit is ”great,” but he thinks it ”needs help.”
The Republican nominee for the White House had told an economic group in Detroit earlier this month that the ”whole country will end up being like Detroit” if Democrat Kamala Harris wins the presidency. That comment drew harsh criticism from Democrats who praised the city for its recent drop in crime and growing population.
Trump’s stop in Novi, after an event Friday night in Traverse City, is a sign of Michigan’s importance in the tight race. Harris is scheduled for a rally in Kalamazoo later Saturday with former first lady Michelle Obama on the first day that early in-person voting becomes available across Michigan. More than 1.4 million ballots have already been submitted, representing 20% of registered voters. Trump won the state in 2016, but Democrat Joe Biden carried it four years later.
Michigan is home to major car companies and the nation’s largest concentration of members of the United Auto Workers. It also has a significant Arab American population, and many have been frustrated by the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s offensive in Gaza after the attack by Hamas against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
During his rally, Trump spotlighted local Muslim and Arab American leaders who joined him on stage. These voters ”could turn the election one way or the other,” Trump said, adding that he was banking on ”overwhelming support” from those voters in Michigan.
“When President Trump was president, it was peace,” said one of those leaders, Mayor Bill Bazzi of Dearborn Heights. ”We didn’t have any issues. There was no wars.”
While Trump is trying to capitalize on the community’s frustration with the Democratic administration, he has a history of policies hostile to this group, including a travel ban targeting Muslim countries while in office and a pledge to expand it to include refugees from Gaza if he wins on Nov. 5.
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