WOKC Local News – June 16, 2026, 7:40 AM
Transcript
WOKC News. County administrative changes with WOKC News. I’m Charles Murphy with Deputy County Manager Denise Whitehead leaving the county to take over as city administrator next month. The county is making some restructuring of their top echelon of leadership. Justin Nelson will remain as the deputy manager. Jessica Becerras is county administrator. She says some changes were needed after this departure. This proposed structure is intended to maximize existing leadership capacity, balance executive span of control, and support fiscal stewardship without creating additional administrative layers and would be a net budget decrease of around $6,000 annually. Some of the commissioners hinted some departments in the county need some review and need to be more productive. They didn’t specify which. The Florida Highway Patrol says there are more and more high-speed chases. Drivers just aren’t pulling over like they used to, even for routine traffic violations. Lieutenant Quag Buena says the Highway Patrol policy is you will be stopped one way or another. I mean, the last thing we want to do as a law enforcement agency is engage in the pursuit. You know, it’s obviously puts our state troopers in a precarious position, and obviously it’s on public roadways shared by all of our families. They’ve been using helicopters and even drones to find these vehicles and drivers. Highlands County Fire Rescue named former state representative Dr. Carrie Pigman as their new medical director. He lives in Okeechobee. The director supervises the medical performance of paramedics and EMTs. Some good news for Glades County when it comes to finances. This, their lobbyist, Connie Van Asch. And the new Perry boat ramp project is in the budget for $2 million. He thinks the governor will sign the budget and include the fundings for the boat ramp improvements. Two parties say that firearms were brandished in the wake of a shooting in the Southeast. The sheriff’s office is now going to go for a noise complaint of loud music at the Douglas Brown Civic Center. Deputies investigated and did make no arrests. A dog was shot to death in the area of Southeast 22nd Court. It was about neighbors. One neighbor had her dog in the backyard. Another got under the fence from next door and attacked her dog. She got her gun and shot it. Florida officials concerned about teen takeovers are taking over other public venues, including the beach. There was even a shooting over in the Tampa Bay area. Attorney General James Oothmeyer says if you take over public places and streets, you could be run over. If you do that, people have the ability to run you over. If you do that, you’ll be arrested. If you do that, we will bring strong prosecutions. We will keep our streets safe. Another scam is an Okeechobee person defrauded out of money. They thought they had won a free cruise, got a phone call and says to redeem the tickets, they had to pay a deposit. They lost $800. I’m Charles Murphy, WOKC News.
Recorded from the WOKC daily newscast (Glades Media).