The Cooler

Here's an interesting collection of news stories for you this morning. Enjoy.

A- Palm Beach Post: The harder they fall...

A spike in Palm Beach County home prices last month landed it in the top spot nationally for price gains, but some analysts tempered the achievement, noting the dramatic free fall of the housing crash leaves lots of room for improvement.

B- Palm Beach Post: Why insurance is so expensive.

WEST PALM BEACH — Two West Palm Beach women have been sentenced to prison for using their children to stage traffic accidents to rip-off insurance companies.

Ana Ovando, 42, was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison and ordered to pay $71,300 in restitution. Janice Velez, 39, received a two-year sentence and was ordered to pay $32,500 in restitution.

[...]

Prosecutors said Ovando and Velez and others submitted fraudulent personal injury protection insurance claims for chiropractic and massage therapy treatments for themselves and their children. Ovando took her children to New York Medical and Rehab Center. Velez took her children to Karow Chiropractic Center. Massage therapists at the West Palm Beach clinics admitted that Ovando and Velez signed blank treatment sheets. Later, the massage therapists completed the forms and submitted them to insurance companies for reimbursement.

C- CBS4: Video, more Second Saturday Art Walk angst.

D- CBS4: Family tragedy continues.

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Martha Ryce, a Redland native who dedicated her life to advocate for missing children after the murder of her brother Jimmy Ryce, has died at the age of 35.

Ryce committed suicide on December 30th in Atlanta, according to CBS4 News partner The Miami Herald.

E- WPLG: Life in South Florida.

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - Hollywood police are investigating a shooting at an Exxon gas station after they say a clerk killed a man who was attempting to rob the store off State Road 7, near the Seminole Hard Rock Casino.

Detectives say a pair of robbers stormed the station just before midnight, firing their guns.

[...]

"He was prepared, multiple gun shots that were exchanged, they were coming in to do what they were going to do," said Sgt. Pablo Vanegas.

F- WPLG: Stay classy.

COOPER CITY, Fla. - Gladys Wilson thought she'd seen just about everything at city hall in Cooper City. She was wrong.

And she got a lesson in how low the level of civil discourse can go. .

The 81-year-old former commissioner and activist was caught off guard when a Cooper City Commissioner said a couple of words to her while Mallozzi was on the dais at the January 8 commission meeting.

"I could hear 'blow me' just as loud as possible," said Wilson. "It was uncalled for."

G- WPTV: Seems to be a trend in the news this morning...

A Palm Beach County middle school teacher who was charged with DUI allegedly offered sexual favors to a police officer in exchange for letting her go.

Mary Maloney, 53, a 7th grade math teacher at Palm Springs Middle, was arrested Sunday by Greenacres police after a report of a hit-and-run crash at Purdy Lane and Jog Road.

"How much do I need to pay you to just let me go? Don't you understand I am a school teacher?" Maloney allegedly said to the police officer driving her to the jail.

The Lake Worth woman then allegedly offered the officer oral sex and invited him to grope her breasts, according to the arrest report.

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