In brief: Nursing home fire kills 12 in Taiwan

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Taiwanese officials say a midnight fire at a nursing home has killed 12 elderly patients and injured 70 others.

Hsinying Hospital official Tsai Ming-shih said the 12 patients died of smoke inhalation early today as fire tore through the nursing home located on the second floor of the hospital.

Tsai said the fire was put out in 40 minutes and rescuers quickly evacuated the patients. Seventy of them were later treated at nearby hospitals for burns or inhaling smoke.

Officials say they will investigate the cause of the fire.

CHICAGO – U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who covertly went on medical leave months ago and has given no sign of when he’ll return to work, seems to be in a “fragile state” and is heading back to the hospital where he was treated for bipolar disorder, a fellow Democratic Illinois congressmen said Monday.

U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush said Jackson looked well when he visited him at his home, but that he was going back to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., on Monday for what could be another extended stay. Jackson’s father, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, has characterized the Mayo visit as a checkup that could lead to further inpatient treatment.

Jackson went on medical leave in June, and his office released little information until confirming he was being treated at Mayo for bipolar disorder and gastrointestinal issues. He was released in September and returned to his Washington home.

Florida A&M death leads to probation

ORLANDO, Fla. – The first of a dozen defendants to be sentenced in last year’s hazing death of a Florida A&M drum major avoided jail time when he received his punishment Monday, but he will spend more than two years under close supervision.

Brian Jones was given six months of community control, which strictly limits his freedom with measures including frequent check-ins with probation officials. Following that, the 23-year-old will serve another two years of probation. He’s also required to perform 200 hours of community service.

Judge Marc Lubet said Jones’ role in the hazing death of Robert Champion was relatively minimal and that Jones did not beat or hit Champion. Champion died last November after being beaten by fellow band members during a hazing ritual aboard a bus parked outside an Orlando hotel after a football game.

Eleven other band members are awaiting trial on felony hazing charges, while another band member faces a misdemeanor hazing count.

Teen gets 20-year term for beating girl

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A teenager convicted of savagely kicking and stomping a 15-year-old girl in the head after the two got into an insulting and vulgar text message exchange was sentenced Monday to 20 years in prison despite evidence he suffers from severe mental illness.

Circuit Judge David Haimes imposed the sentence, rejecting Wayne Treacy’s request for a prison term of less than eight years because of the post-traumatic stress, depression and suicidal thoughts he has had after his older brother’s suicide. Treacy, 18, had faced a maximum of 50 years behind bars for the 2010 attack on Josie Lou Ratley, who has permanent brain injuries.

Treacy was wearing steel-toed boots that had belonged to his brother when he assaulted Ratley – boots the jury found amounted to a deadly weapon.

Pot ‘czar’ sent to juvenile prison

LEBANON, Ohio – A teenager convicted of selling up to $20,000 worth of high-grade marijuana a month to high school students in southwestern Ohio was sentenced Monday to serve six months to three years in a juvenile prison by a judge who called him “a pretty fine young person that went down a bad trail.”

Tyler Pagenstecher, of Mason, was taken into custody immediately after the hearing and will be turned over to Ohio’s Department of Youth Services. The agency ultimately will decide how long the Pagenstecher, 18, will be in prison, depending on his behavior.

The Associated Press is naming Pagenstecher because of the seriousness of the crimes and because the teen’s identity quickly became public following the announcement of the charges against him when he was 17.

Authorities say Pagenstecher was one of the most prolific drug dealers in the Cincinnati area, a “little czar” in charge of six teenage lieutenants who helped him sell the marijuana to well-to-do students at two high schools.