WOKC Local News – February 03, 2026, 7:40 AM
Transcript
WOKC News. Still dealing with the cold with WOKC News. I’m Charles Murphy. Lows of 26 degrees this morning, 28 on Sunday in Okeechobee. Extremely cold temperatures. The wind chill made it feel even colder. Okeechobee schools allowing student absences to be excused today due to the cold weather. The same with Glades County schools. Lakeport got a little cold as power lines were knocked down On 78 on Sunday morning, causing a power outage. They did get the power on pretty quickly at 11 a.m. Over 2,000 customers were impacted by that outage. Cold stunned iguanas littered South Florida yards over the weekend and FWC collected more than a thousand across the state. There were flurries reported in Tallahassee, Jacksonville, Orlando and Naples. St. Petersburg, Inverness, Wesley Chapel and Palm Harbor also reported some rare flurries. Former County Commissioner Clovis Harvey has passed away. She served as a District 5 commissioner after the death of her husband Charlie from May 25, 1995 through 2004. Patrick Smith’s A Land Remembered made into a TV series this year. The state provided a $500,000 grant to Tampa moviemaker Todd Wiseman Jr. He says actors and crews were on the just-completed Great Florida Cattle Drive that took place in Okeechobee last week. Feral boss Travis Brown says some of the actors and crew were on hand and they were filming and learning more about the cattle industry. Wiseman says he wants to depict history accurately as he spoke with National Public Radio. Basically, there are very detailed records of Florida and the New World dating back to the European Explorers. And while some of the accounts may differ, I think the essence of what they found and the history of Florida is pretty well documented. Martin County approved a lease with the Fair Board to lease 30 acres in Indiantown for the County Fair. Not all were happy about it. Commissioner Eileen Vargas blasted the Fair Board. She says they violated their lease in Stewart by leasing land to a Buick dealer. Michael Parsons admitted they got some revenue from advertising at the Martin County facility. It was half of it, about $21,000. Okay, that’s $21,000 that belongs to the taxpayers of Martin County. It was also $21,000 that supported the operations of the Fair. Well, you know what? That is a management thing, not ours. You violated the lease. This lease, I would never sign it. I wouldn’t have anybody else sign it either. There was also some concerns about allowing camping long-term at the Fair grounds. Okeechobee Fire Chief Earl Wooten announced he’s resigning effective March 6th. He told that to County Commissioners at their last meeting. I’ve decided to conclude my career with Okeechobee County and step in the next chapter of my life. My last day will be March 6th. I submitted my resignation yesterday. So over the next month, I’ll remain fully committed to ensure a smooth transition throughout this process. I’ll do everything I can to support the continuity of this during this period. I’m Charles Murphy, WOKC News.
Recorded from the WOKC daily newscast (Glades Media).