A glass of what's-goin'-on in South Florida news:
- Ana Gardiner, the former Broward judge who resigned rather than face possible penalties for judicial misconduct, awarded $600,000 in legal fees last summer to an attorney, Richard Cole, who has recently hired Gardiner at his firm. Cole denies a quid pro quo, but the plaintiff in the case that Cole tried before Gardiner says that the judge -- who was new to civil matters -- deferred to Cole as a "resource" and was "flirtatious" with another defendant's attorney. [Daily Pulp]
- A baby-faced 22-year-old named Guerdwich Montimere, who graduated from Fort Lauderdale's Dillard High in 2007, has reportedly been posing as a high school sophomore at famed Permian High School in Texas, where he starred on the basketball court. Authorities got a break in the case thanks to anonymous tips, as well as the recent arrest of Montimere's fraternal twin, who's at the Broward County Jail. [Sun-Sentinel]
- Three prison escapees from Louisiana have been arrested in the murder of Vincent Binder, a 29-year-old from Jupiter who was in grad school at Florida State. According to what a suspect told police, Binder approached the three men on April 2 and asked to buy pot. They then kidnapped him and killed him. [Palm Beach Post]
- A 44-year-old Broward County School District teacher, Sheyla Diaz, has entered a guilty plea to charges that she stole the identities of seven people, six of whom were her students at Monarch High School and Plantation High School. [Miami Herald]
- The formerly floundering Marlins have gotten hot at the expense of this writer's beloved Chicago Cubs, winning last night 3-2 at Wrigley Field. The Fish go for the sweep this afternoon. A win gets them back to the .500 mark. [ESPN]
