An ill-advised amendment effort to reduce school public notices is a direct assault on the transparency of Minnesota’s public schools. This move not only undermines the spirit of Minnesota’s open government but also threatens to obscure crucial information from the public eye.

If passed, the omnibus education bill (SF3567) in the Minnesota Senate would grant all school districts the authority to remove their public notices from widely circulated newspapers, heavily visited websites and the Minnesota Newspaper Association’s public notice website. This means the majority of school districts’ websites, which are often underutilized, poorly structured and difficult to navigate, would become the primary source of school districts’ public notices.

The Minnesota School Boards Association is leading this proposal to reduce the transparency of local school boards in Minnesota. Yes, this bill would save school boards some public-notice spending, but it would significantly decrease access for school district residents.

Shame on the Minnesota School Boards Association.

If this bill is enacted, Minnesota newspapers will lose some revenue, but the bigger losers would be residents and taxpayers. While newspapers will continue to cover local school board meetings and school athletics and activities, the public notices will be published on school websites with little web traffic and remain solely within the control of school officials and board members.

Who will be watching those school board officials? After significantly increasing school funding last year, does the Legislature really trust all school boards to fiscally and effectively control spending? More importantly, can taxpayers trust their school boards to manage their budgets effectively without transparent public notices?

Those public notices include the school board meeting minutes and financial statements. Taxpayers would lose quick, easy and familiar access to those public notices.

One wonders what exactly is the Minnesota School Boards Association trying to hide?

The School Boards Association claims that some newspapers have closed or reduced their reach in recent years and that publishing public notices on their own websites will save money. However, school websites and social media often have minimal traffic compared to local newspapers.

The Minnesota Newspaper Association supports a House-passed bill that allows for a temporary exception to school districts where local newspapers have closed, such as Scott County, where several newspapers cease operations this week. Newspapers believe that is a reasonable approach to temporary news desert situations.

In addition, the public notices published in Minnesota newspapers are also published on the Public Notice Minnesota website (mna.org/mnpublicnotice) free of charge by your local newspaper and the Minnesota Newspaper Association.

The Minnesota Newspaper Association is fighting this proposal in the Minnesota Legislature. SF3567 goes too far and “is contrary to the spirit of transparency that underpins democracy and Minnesota’s open-government history.” In addition, the newspaper association believes this proposal “has not been thoroughly vetted or discussed by the Legislature.”

This newspaper, the FCC Editorial Advisory Board and Forum Communications Co. management urge local superintendents, their local school boards and the Legislature’s conference committee to reject the idea of reducing public access to public notices by Minnesota school boards.

— This editorial is the view of the FCC Editorial Advisory Board and Forum Communications management.

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Rochester reliever Rico Garcia pitched into and out of trouble in the ninth inning of the Red Wings’ 7-5 win over the St. Paul Saints on Wednesday night at CHS Field.

Garcia gave up a double to Anthony Prato and then walked DaShawn Keirsey Jr. to bring the potential winning run to the plate in Jair Camargo, who was 3 for 4 with a home run and a double. The 30-year-old right-hander struck out Camargo on a 3-2 fastball, then struck out Matt Wallner and Yunior Severino to end the game.

St. Paul starting pitcher Joe Gunkel allowed seven runs on nine hits with one walk and two strikeouts over 4 1/3 innings.

Prato went 3 for 3 with three doubles.

Joe Ryan picked up his first win of the season for the Twins on Wednesday night at Target Field, and he did it with flair.

Making his fifth start of the season, the 27-year-old right-hander struck out eight over six innings as the Twins beat the Chicago White Sox 6-3 before an announced crowd of 12,546.

The Twins go for a sweep of the four-game series on Thursday afternoon before beginning a three-game series against the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, Calif., on Friday.

Ryan (1-1) recorded a career-high 12 strikeouts on April 13, a no-decision against Detroit, when he allowed three runs in six innings of work. He entered Wednesday’s game with a strikeout rate of 11.91 per nine innings, second in the American League to his opponent on the mound, the White Sox’s Garrett Crochet.

The Twins set a season high with 13 hits.

Ryan was staked to a 4-0 lead in the second inning. After Christian Vazquez brought in a run on an RBI single to right, Willi Castro lined a three-run home run into the left-field stands.

Carlos Santana #30 of the Minnesota Twins scores a run at home plate against Korey Lee #26 of the Chicago White Sox on an RBI single by Christian Vázquez #8 of the Minnesota Twins in the second inning at Target Field on Wednesday, April 24, 2024 in Minneapolis. (David Berding/Getty Images)

It was Castro’s second home run of the season, and it came on his 27th birthday.

Ryan retired the first six batters he faced, including the first three on strikeouts, before Kevin Pillar led off the third inning with a home run to left. One out later, White Sox catcher Korey Lee homered into the second deck in left to cut the Twins’ lead to 4-2.

The White Sox stole a run in the fifth inning to cut the Twins’ lead to 4-3. Braden Shewmake reached on a one-out bunt single and moved to second on a walk to Lee. Ryan then had Shewmake picked off second, but his throw to third was late.

Shewmake was then credited with a steal of home when Vazquez was unable to throw out Lee on a steal of second.

The Twins added to their two-run lead in the bottom of the fifth. Manny Margot led off the inning with a double, and two outs later, pinch-hitter Max Kepler drove him in on a bloop single to left.

Kepler moved to third on a single by Vazquez — his third hit of the game — and scored on a wild pitch.

Matt Bowman, Brock Stewart and Griffin Jax each followed Ryan with a shutout inning.

A series sweep would be a first for the Twins this season. They have been swept twice. Bailey Ober (1-1, 4.91 earned-run average) will pitch for the Twins against Michael Soroka (0-3, 7.50 ERA).

The White Sox (3-21), already guaranteed to lose their seventh series of the season, have lost six in a row and 10 of their last 11.

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Naz Reid went undrafted in 2019 after his freshman season at LSU. He spent much of his first professional season in the G-League. He was out of Minnesota’s rotation as recently as the start of last season.

But every time a challenge hit, he pushed forward and adapted.

He got leaner and more athletic. He honed his jumper. He developed as a defender.

Ask him to play center, and he’ll do that. Small forward? He can do that, too. He may have to guard Anthony Davis on the interior one night and chase Grayson Allen around the perimeter on the next. He might play 30 minutes one night and 15 the next. But rest assured, whenever he is on the floor, he’ll give you his best effort.

Whatever Minnesota has needed from the 24-year-old in his young career, Reid has provided. He’s everything a team could ask for in a sixth man, which made Wednesday’s announcement so fitting.

Reid was named the NBA’s 2023-24 Sixth Man of the Year. The honor was announced on TNT’s pregame show ahead of the evening playoff action. Reid averaged 13.5 points and 5.2 rebounds this season while shooting a blistering 41 percent from 3-point range.

He played in 81 games and was highly productive in 14 starts late in the season when he filled in for the injured Karl-Anthony Towns. Reid’s play down the stretch run of the season kept Minnesota alive in the race for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.

Reid is the third undrafted player to win the honor, joining Darrell Armstrong and John Starks. He edged Sacramento guard Malik Monk by 10 points — two first-place votes — for the award, making it the closest Sixth Man of the Year race since the current voting system was put into place for the 2002-03 season.

After the award was announced, Timberwolves fans and players alike raced to social media — all to say the same thing.

“Naz Reid.”

The franchise’s cult hero is now an award winner.

In a statement, Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said the team “couldn’t be more proud” of Reid.

“His contributions to our team this year were a key reason for our team’s success,” Finch said. “His growth this season and attention to detail to improve his game in the offseason were a main factor in Naz becoming the best reserve man in the NBA.”