WOKC Local News – February 05, 2026, 7:40 AM
Transcript
WOKC News. Traffic fatality on 78 with WOKC News. I’m Charles Murphy. A Volvo tractor trailer and a Ford pickup truck collided on 78 at the Big O RV Park. It happened just before 1 p.m. yesterday. A 65-year-old woman driving the pickup was killed. The other driver, a 27-year-old man from Okeechobee, was at fault. Troopers say the semi was headed eastbound, approaching a vehicle that was making a left turn. It tried to stop but locked up its brakes, crossed the center line onto the westbound grass shoulder and struck the pickup truck. The woman died at Lawnwood Hospital just before 2 p.m. Troopers continue to investigate. Sheriff Noel Stephen does not believe the claims that property tax elimination or reduction will have no impacts on first responders. He notes that taxpayers may end up paying more for assessments for law enforcement like EMS and fire the county already has. Raising the minimum wage to $15 on the surface is a great idea, you know, but that raises the cost of everything associated and look at our grocery bill today compared to a year ago. The Tourist Development Council would like more use of hotels and motels by those that attend Florida Youth Rodeos at the AgCenter. They sponsored those events for $6,000 this year. TDC member Rebecca Marsocki says they paid out only $45 in bed taxes from visits on these youth rodeos. 70% of the people are from out of the county so I think that’s something we should keep in mind whenever we’re reviewing these applications for next year. I think we can hopefully maybe encourage them to promote our hotels a little bit more so we can kind of increase that dollar in comparison to some of the other ones. A low of 16 degrees reported in Highlands County this weekend doing havoc on agriculture over there. County Commissioner Don Elwell had the weather forecast. Over the weekend Highlands County experienced notably cold and windy conditions across multiple observation sites. The lowest temperature recorded was 16 degrees in Highlands Sebring South with other locations reporting minimum temperatures generally in the mid-20s. Agriculture could see damage to citrus, tomatoes, watermelon and other crops over there. In Okeechobee, Lauren Butler with the IFAS Extension says some vegetable damage is reported to our north. I’ve seen some instances of loss especially with blueberries up north in say like Henansville but I haven’t heard any reports on vegetables down in the Palm Beach area yet. But mostly cattle ranchers and dairy farmers made out okay. She is concerned about the impacts on pastures, saying they will bloom later this year. The state could use Hillsborough College to put in a stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays in Tampa. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred was in Florida yesterday. He says he’s committed to keeping the Rays in the region. It’s a great group. It’s a big group. It’s a Florida and Tampa rooted group. Really important in terms of the local presence here. An incident of shoplifting at Walmart led to a chase up 441 to the main light. Okeechobee police had to draw their weapons to arrest Alejandro Saucedo. He’s facing charges that include petty theft, operating a vehicle without a valid driver’s license and fleeing and attempting to elude. I’m Charles Murphy, WOKC News.
Recorded from the WOKC daily newscast (Glades Media).