WOKC Local News – February 10, 2026, 7:40 AM
Transcript
WOKC News. Another fatality, a dangerous intersection. With WOKC News, I’m Charles Murphy. A Saturday night crash just after 10 p.m. at State Road 70 and Route 721, the 9-mile grade in Highlands County, took the life of an 18-year-old Uga Chilby driver. He was not at fault. It was a three-vehicle crash with all vehicles being pickup trucks. A 19-year-old man from St. Cloud was attempting a left turn onto the 9-mile grade and drove into the path of a westbound pickup. The victim was in another vehicle following the westbound pickup and died after a rear-end collision. Three people in the second vehicle were hospitalized, as well as the teen from St. Cloud. Troopers are still investigating. Florida lawmen now have over 22,000 unsolved homicides on their hands. Uga Chilby County has its share with unsolved crimes dating back to the 70s and 80s. The names people might remember, Nadine Dennis, Brian Vaughn, Margaret Burnham, David Everett, Kenneth McBride, Larry Greenberger, Robin Flynn, to name a few. Sheriff Noel Stevens says they don’t ever give up trying to solve these crimes. He’s had them looked at by the Florida Sheriffs Association and a group of former prosecutors on the Treasure Coast. A recent shooting death is also an active investigation. 40-year-old Santos Gossine was found shot to death in a crashed car in the 400 block of Northeast 31st Terrace October 19th. Sheriff Noel Stevens gave out what he could on that investigation. We’ve got a suspicion. We feel that we know who’s involved, but trying to prove that’s beyond a reasonable doubt is another hurdle that we have. Indian River State College will be adding athletic and recreation facilities at Indian Town High School. The total campus will measure 55 acres. Martin County approved a lease for an additional 30 acres for the athletics. County Commissioner Stacey Harrington says they need that facility. And our young people need this kind of interaction to grow into young leaders and to keep their minds out of social media and digital. And so I would gladly support this and I thank you for investing and for taking good care of all of your investments in our community and investing in our young people. State lawmakers are hearing a lot of priorities from law enforcement this year. One is increasing penalties for those that assault and batter lawmen while on duty. Another is if a lawman dies in a manslaughter case, the killer would automatically get life in prison. It’s named after Officer Jason Rayner, who was shot to death in 2023. His killer received 30 years. There’s also a priority to help fight the plague of police officer suicide. Police officer suicides average 44 deaths per year. Police Chief from Daytona Beach Lawrence Revel says they must have more assets to stop these suicides. And we appreciate the funding that the state has put into this, but we know that only goes so far. And we should be doing more. St. Lucie County issued a burn ban due to dry conditions this weekend. Okeechobee County Fire Rescue had two large brush fires, one near the Kissimmee River on 98th and the other on Northwest 160th Street. I’m Charles Murphy, WOKC News.
Recorded from the WOKC daily newscast (Glades Media).