REGIONAL BRIEFS: Man charged in child porn case

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Credit Forum News Service

Thune, Klobuchar reintroduce telehealth bill

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Sens. John Thune, R-S.D., and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., reintroduced legislation this week to expand the use of telehealth technology under Medicare to reduce hospital readmissions in rural and underserved communities.

The Fostering Independence Through Technology Act would create a pilot program to provide budget-neutral incentives for home health agencies across the country to use remote patient monitoring to better monitor Medicare beneficiaries, improve health outcomes and reduce Medicare expenditures.

The bill would require the health and human services secretary to create pilot projects providing incentives for home health agencies to purchase and use remote patient monitoring and communications technologies. The technology would establish performance targets based on historic Medicare spending. The performance targets would measure success through health outcomes for Medicare beneficiaries and savings under Medicare due to the technology.

(DR)

North Dakota

Movie about Fargo judge debuts in Ark.

LITLLE ROCK, Ark. -- A movie produced in Fargo and based on the role U.S. District Judge Ronald Davies played in desegregation was set to debut here Tuesday.

The movie, “The Road to Little Rock,” is part of a two-year research and documentary project initiated by Fargo Public Schools. A curriculum that corresponds with the movie is being written for grades four, eight and 11 and will be made available to Arkansas classrooms in 2014.

“The Road to Little Rock” was produced by Fargo-based Video Arts Studios. The 30-minute movie focuses on Davies’ role in desegregating Little Rock Central High School.

Davies, an 8th Circuit judge, was called to Arkansas to help with a backlog of federal cases in August 1957 and led the charge to reaffirm the Supreme Court ruling that desegregated schools.

The movie was slated to debut Tuesday night at the campus of Philander Smith College in Little Rock, followed by a panel discussion with director Art Phillips, Arkansas District Court Judge William Wilson and Robin Woods Loucks, a Central High School Student in 1957.

(FF)

Spirit Lake official pleads not guilty in GF case

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Mark Little Owl, director of Tribal Social Services at Spirit Lake Nation, pleaded not guilty in state district court here Tuesday to three charges stemming from an Aug. 21 incident at his former wife’s apartment in town.

He is charged with theft of property, a felony, for allegedly taking a cell phone belonging to his former wife, Phyllis Roberts. He also faces two misdemeanor counts for allegedly assaulting Roberts and throwing one of their two young sons from a room during the incident.

District Judge Sonja Clapp set trial for April 25. Little Owl remains free on bond.

The maximum penalty for the Class C felony theft charge is five years in prison and a fine of $5,000.

(GFH)

Wisconsin

Man charged in child porn case

ELLSWORTH, Wis. -- A Red Wing, Minn., man has been charged in Pierce County Circuit Court with exposing genitals and possession of child pornography.

Anthony Eugene Johnson, 25, is facing penalties of $10,000 and/or 42 months prison if found guilty of the Class I felonies. His first court appearance is scheduled for April 1.

According to the criminal complaint, an FBI agent met with Ellsworth police last March and said Johnson had sent and received nude photographs in August 2011 to a person he thought was a 13-year-old girl living in Michigan. The FBI was posing as the girl.

When Ellsworth police interviewed Johnson in March 2012, Johnson said remembered receiving explicit pictures from the girl. In response, he sent back pictures of his face, chest and genitals to her. He said he knew she was 13, but he still sent the images.

Police then searched his phone and found several images of young females in complete nudity or wearing little clothing, according to the complaint.

(PCH)

Minnesota

Income tax software issues resolved

ST. PAUL -- The Minnesota Department of Revenue has reported that issues with tax preparation products such as TurboTax, Lacerte, Intuit online and ProSeries have been resolved.

The department announced last week that taxpayers who used these programs may receive tax returns later than usual this year because a handful of communication errors with the software resulted in inaccurate information being sent to the state.

The errors appear fixed and taxpayers can resume using the products, state officials said Tuesday in a news release.

(FF)

Tags: crime, wisconsin, minnesota