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Minneapolis, MN

What’s holding Minnesota kids’ attention these days? Surprise, it’s chess.

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What’s holding Minnesota kids’ attention these days? Surprise, it’s chess.


The volunteers tried to shush the students huddled over chess boards recently in a Minneapolis middle school gym. But the enthusiastic chatter of more than 200 young chess players plotting their moves won out — and that was just fine.

“It’s so fun to see them get into it,” said Janae Krantz-Odendahl, a student engagement program coordinator for Minneapolis Public Schools, which put on the free tournament that has seen participation surge. “The interest has just exploded.”

School chess clubs are popping up and growing across Minnesota at all levels, from elementary through college. Students and their club advisers see the boom as one of the more positive and lasting effects of the pandemic, when kids and teenagers turned to online chess games as a way to pass the time. Around the same period, chess content creators like GothamChess grew popular on YouTube and Twitch by finding funny and engaging ways to teach the game’s strategy. The television show “The Queen’s Gambit,” as well as a 2022 headline-making cheating scandal among chess grandmasters, also helped bring renewed attention to chess.

Another boost could soon be coming: three American grandmasters — including a popular chess YouTuber — are set to compete in April for the top spot to play against the reigning world champion from China. If one of them goes on to win, they will be the first American to take the title since Bobby Fischer claimed it in 1972. Young chess players across Minnesota say they’ll be watching.

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“There used to be this stigma that chess was just this nerdy thing,” said Dojin Wells, a seventh grader at Anthony Middle School who played at the recent Minneapolis Public Schools tournament. “I wouldn’t necessarily say chess is cool yet, but it’s definitely gotten cooler.”

The Minnesota State Chess Association has seen the number of players at its events double since 2021, and nearly half of its members are scholastic players, meaning they are K-12 students. Association tournaments that typically drew 150 players are now seeing more than 200, said Scott Carpenter, board member for the association.

Bob Dettmer, the chess team adviser at Eastview High School in Apple Valley, hopes those numbers can continue to rise as more young people see how easy and affordable playing chess can be. It doesn’t require expensive coaching, lessons or equipment like so many other activities.

“Honest to goodness, it is accessible to everyone, and you can’t say that about many things,” he said, adding that the game attracts a diverse group of students.

Lured in by strategy

Simon Vergara, a senior biochemistry major at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, agrees and sees the game as a way to bring people together.

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As the founder of a new student club called Chill Chess & Coffee Club, Vergara hopes the trend of playing chess can have staying power. So far, the club has drawn a couple dozen students each week to play casually, and a recent event drew in nearly 30 interested students. Many of them, like him, started playing during the pandemic.

“Before college in 2020, I saw chess as a nerdy, boring game for older people,” he said, adding that he doesn’t remember any of his childhood friends playing chess. “I can now say that I love chess and I don’t feel that stereotype anymore. It’s been a quick change.”

A separate club at the U, called the University of Minnesota Chess Club, has also seen an uptick in interest and said most of the players started playing online in the last couple of years. That club’s president, Samrug Narayanan, said once students realize the game is fun and strategic, it’s a pretty easy sell.

That’s what hooked Seward Montessori fifth-grader Jasper Benson Loesch, who said he enjoys the mental challenge of planning his next move.

“He loves it and it’s done a lot for his concentration,” said his mom, Abby Loesch, while watching him play in the Check it Out tournament. “It’s a really special thing.”

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Concentration required

Dettmer, who has coached the Eastview chess team for more than 20 years, calls chess “the antithesis to the iPhone” — though sometimes teachers at the school catch students playing chess on their phones during class. That’s because it forces students to concentrate, to plan ahead and think critically.

“With their phones and TikTok, you see these young people’s attention span being drained away, but you can watch chess build it back up,” he said. “Maybe chess is a fad now but I sure hope it’s a continuing trend.”

Paul Sackaroff, the coach for Osseo Senior High School’s chess club, thinks the game’s popularity will continue to grow.

“I think that the enthusiasm and staying power of chess has already stood the test of time,” he said.

After all, the game is more than 1,500 years old.

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And if schools continue to encourage it and make it accessible, he said, “the sky’s the limit.”



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Minneapolis, MN

Man dead, 2 others hurt in overnight shooting in Minneapolis

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Man dead, 2 others hurt in overnight shooting in Minneapolis


Police say two people were hurt and one other man died.

A homicide investigation is underway in Minneapolis after a shooting early Friday morning killed one man and hurt two others.

Minneapolis police were called to the area of East Franklin Avenue and Chicago Avenue at around 12:30 a.m.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS cameras caught more than 65 evidence markers scattered across the ground in the area and shattered glass at a bus shelter. Some nearby businesses also appeared to have some damage.

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Minneapolis police are still working to determine what led up to the shooting and who was involved but investigators say first responders found the three men suffering from gunshot wounds.

One injured man is in his 40s, the other in his 50s, police say. Both were taken to a hospital by ambulance.

The third man died at the scene. His name and age haven’t yet been publicly released.

Police say early information suggests the men were on a sidewalk when at least one person opened fire, then fled in a vehicle.

So far, no arrests have been made.

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Anyone with information about what happened is asked to call police at 612-673-5845 to leave a voicemail or email policetips@minneapolismn.gov.

“This is a tragic and deeply disturbing act of violence that has taken a life, and left others seriously injured,” MPD Chief Brian O’Hara said. “This kind of violence is unacceptable, and we are committed to identifying those responsible and holding them accountable.”

Minneapolis police investigating alleyway shooting near East Franklin Avenue

It comes less than 30 hours after another serious shooting along East Franklin Avenue, just a half-mile west of Friday’s scene. That incident left a man hospitalized with a potentially life-threatening gunshot wound. No arrests have been announced in that case either.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS is still working to learn more about this shooting. Stay with KSTP-TV for the latest updates on air and on the KSTP app.

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Minneapolis, MN

A Minneapolis woman recounts death of Alex Pretti as lawyers eye a class action lawsuit

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A Minneapolis woman recounts death of Alex Pretti as lawyers eye a class action lawsuit


MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minneapolis woman who confronted federal immigration officers alongside Alex Pretti in January was among a group of potential litigants who spoke out Thursday about alleged excessive force against people protesting or monitoring the enforcement surge in Minnesota.

Georgia Savageford, who introduced herself as Wynnie at a news conference, said she was inside an officer’s vehicle when she saw federal agents shoot Pretti.

“That day has changed me forever,” she said. “The trauma will haunt me for the rest of my life, and I will never be the same.”

Savageford said she had been legally observing the actions of federal officers in Minneapolis ever since the shooting death of Renee Good by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on Jan. 7. She said she was doing so again on the morning of Jan. 24 when an agent pushed her twice and caused her to fall.

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“As I was going down, three agents proceeded to tackle me and drag me face-down into the middle of the street. They knelt on my back, twisted my arms and my legs to the ground, and handcuffed me. The cuffs were so tight I lost feeling in my hands, which resulted in temporary nerve damage,” she recounted.

Officials with the Department of Homeland Security and ICE did not immediately respond Thursday to emails seeking comment. Minnesota officials sued the Trump administration on Tuesday for access to evidence they say they need to independently investigate the killings.

Savageford said Pretti recorded video of her arrest and yelled at agents to leave her alone.

She said the officers put her in the back of a vehicle, from which she saw agents shoot and kill Pretti on the other side of the street.

“At that moment, I thought I was going to die too. I pleaded with the agents to understand why another life was taken, and to not take mine,” she said.

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She added that they told her to shut up and to stop being hysterical. She said they then took her to an ICE holding facility where she was held for 12 hours in a cold cell without ready access to food, water or the bathroom until she was released without being charged.

“I did not know him, but I knew he had my back,” she said of Pretti. “I know the kind of heart he had. One that loves and protects without limits.”

Savageford shared her story at a news conference where civil rights attorney John Burris, of Oakland, California, and other lawyers laid out how they’re paving the way for potential class-action lawsuits over alleged excessive force used against protesters and monitors.

Burris, who specializes in police misconduct, helped win an $11 million settlement against the Oakland Police Department in 2003, and helped win a civil jury verdict of $3.8 million for the late motorist Rodney King, who was beaten by Los Angeles police officers in 1991.

He said he and his colleagues have filed complaints with federal agencies involved in the Minnesota enforcement surge on behalf of 10 people, including Savageford, as the first step in a process that’s likely to lead to a larger class-action lawsuit.

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“We have many others that are under investigation that have not completed the process. But I thought it was important for us to start this process now. Put the government on notice that we’re here,” Burris said.



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Minneapolis, MN

Boy who shielded classmate during school shooting receives Medal of Honor

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Boy who shielded classmate during school shooting receives Medal of Honor


A fifth grader from Minneapolis received the Citizen Honor Award from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.

Victor Greenawalt jumped in front of his friend during a mass shooting at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis.

Weston Halsne told local station KARE 11 that Greenawalt saved his life.

“It was really scary,” Halsne told KARE 11. “My friend Victor, like, saved me, though. Because he laid on top of me. But he got hit.”

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Two students were killed and several were injured after a shooter opened fire through the windows of the church last year. The shooter died on the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The Congressional Medal Society said in a statement that Greenawalt showed “extraordinary bravery far beyond his years.”

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – SEPTEMBER 3: Flowers line a pathway to Annunciation Catholic Church as U.S. Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance visit to pay their respects to victims of the shooting there on September 3, 2025 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The shooting left two students dead and many more wounded. (Photo by Alex Wroblewski-Pool/Getty Images)

“Instinctively, Victor protected a classmate with his own body, directly saving their life during the attack,” the society said in a written statement. “His courage and selflessness became a powerful symbol of hope and humanity for a community in crisis.”

Greenawalt was hospitalized following the shooting, according to a verified GoFundMe page. His sister was also injured.

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He flew to Washington with his family on Wednesday to accept the award.

Greeenawalt met with Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., while on Capitol Hill. The ceremony also included a wreath-laying at Arlington National Cemetery.

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He received the Young Hero award, which honors individuals age 17 or younger for their courage.

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