State briefs

A woman was arraigned Wednesday in Duluth on charges she endangered the health of a child in her home by mistreating dogs, horses, a parrot and other animals.

Melanie Sue Johnson, 36, of Kelsey, is charged in St. Louis County with gross misdemeanor neglect of a child and three counts of mistreating animals by depriving them of food, water or shelter.

ER won't give medical advice

Beginning this week, the North Country Regional Hospital emergency room in Bemidji will no longer offer medical advice to telephone callers.

"In the past, we've tried our best to answer some questions," said Tim Hall, a registered nurse and emergency department director. But he said that offering medical advice without seeing a patient is a safety concern.

"It's really kind of risky to the patient to make medical decisions based on a real brief telephone call," Hall said.

Counties sharing county officials

Swift and Yellow Medicine counties already share a highway engineer, and Wednesday they began sharing a county administrator as well.

Swift County Administrator John Chattin says sharing his duties with Yellow Medicine County is an example of governmental resource sharing.

Swift and Yellow Medicine counties are separated by Chippewa County but Chattin says the county seats of Benson and Granite Falls are only 39 miles apart. Under the agreement, Chattin will split his time evenly between the counties, and Swift County will bill Yellow Medicine County for Chattin's expenses.