WOKC Local News – January 09, 2026, 7:40 AM
Transcript
WOKC News. Judge tosses jail lawsuit with WOKC News. I’m Charles Murphy. A litigation over an inmate’s death at the Yoshiba County Jail thrown out by a U.S. District Court judge. The litigation claimed jailers failed to render appropriate medical care to Michelle Lynn Huff on July 13, 2022. She was found hanging in a jail cell. The lawsuit also alleged medical malpractice. The court ruled that jail staff was not aware of any imminent risk of suicide or self-harm for Huff. The court ruled the litigant failed to provide notice of the claim and the case has to be amended. The defense claims they did everything right with guards summoning assistance immediately from fire rescue, CPR beginning immediately, and that all Florida model jail standards were followed. The woman was found unresponsive in her cell and died later at a hospital. The Seminole and Miccosukee Indian tribes both support the cleanup of Lake Oogachobee. They made addresses at a recent Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission meeting in Belle Glade. Chairman of the Seminoles, Marcellus Asciola, doesn’t blame anything else but man for the pollution problems in the lake. It’s not in the lake. The problem collects in the lake. The problem starts up past Mickey Mouse. Everybody up there who’s on a drain field septic tank, anybody who’s running cattle, anybody who’s doing agriculture, man itself, modern. We’re bringing more people into the state of Florida, which is great, but it’s bad for our ecosystem. He says the problem begins just past Mickey Mouse. We’re flushing all this water down the center of the state. No filtration. Not enough STAs, not enough watershed is what is needed. Watershed through pastures, watershed through new home projects. That’s the issue that we face is that there’s not enough watershed. The Megisuke Indians claim they’ve been told not to consume as much wild game or fish in the Everglades because of poor water quality. Construction long has been sought to improve our roads, but there were too many road projects at once, according to county commissioners in late 2025. Commissioner Terry Burrows says there were projects in 78, 70 and 441, and that was causing traffic headaches. He says he recalls a backup for even for over a mile on 441 North. It’s at the intersection of 441 and 78 that traffic was backed up almost to pass with the little fishing market garage. He said that also interfered with first responder response times. Residents are battling over chickens and domestic animals in the equestrian community on Martin Grade, known as Stewart West and Cobblestone. The county has not gotten an application to review. The county did approve funding for a conservation agreement through the Florida Rural Family Lands Program and the Department of Agriculture for the Barbie Ranch north of Indiantown. Michael Eustid says it’s a great purchase for Martin County. I think it’s an amazing opportunity. I don’t think we get many opportunities to set aside large tracts of land anymore. And the fact that we can do it out of conservation with the conservation easement and only spend five million of our taxpayer dollars to lock up a property of that size is quite the opportunity that doesn’t come around very often. Florida Fish and Wildlife will host two public listening sessions this month to gather community input on the management of wildlife, fish and habitat on Lake Okeechobee. It provides residents, anglers, stakeholders and community partners the opportunity to share their perspective and ask questions. The meeting in Okeechobee will be Tuesday, January 20th at 6 p.m. at C. Scott Driver Center. There will be a meeting in Clewiston the next night, January 21st to Wednesday at 6 p.m. at John Boyd Auditorium. I’m Charles Murphy, WOKC News.
Recorded from the WOKC daily newscast (Glades Media).