Your daily glance at what's news in South Florida:
- More friction between Palm Beach County teachers and district Superintendent Art Johnson. The union is threatening a work slowdown, asking its members to work only the seven and a half hours called for in the contract rather than the extra unpaid hours teachers say Johnson expects. [Palm Beach Post]
- To keep pace with a state mandate for class sizes, the Broward County School District would have to hire 752 new teachers by next year at a cost of more than $50 million, which school officials say is virtually impossible. The Florida Senate will ask the state's voters to rescind the class-size amendment. [Sun-Sentinel]
- She didn't get a speeding ticket Wednesday morning on Tamarind Avenue, but now West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel is catching flak for what looks like special treatment. She told a TV camera that she wants to be treated like an "ordinary citizen." [WPBF-25]
- Alleged Sicilian mobster Roberto Settineri was arraigned
Thursday in federal court. Bob Norman was there, and he sets the stage
for some questions that will be answered during a case in which Ponzi
schemer Scott Rothstein will be a star witness. [Daily Pulp]
- Poor David Booth. No sooner does the Florida Panthers winger emerge as a star then he falls victim to brain-rattling hits. The first one cost him 45 games, and even after it became the catalyst for a league rule against head shots, Booth was decked again last night by Montreal Canadien Jaroslav Spacek and had to leave the game. Is Booth cursed? Or is the franchise? [Miami Herald]
- In considerably more upbeat sports news, the Heat waxed the Bulls last night in Chicago, moving into sixth place in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt. But the real battle between these two teams will take place in the offseason, when both franchises bust out a checkbook for All-Star free agents. [NBA.com]
