News Cast for January 16th:
Okeechobee County received the updated five-year work plan from the Florida Department of Transportation.
Highlights include $108.3 million to add new road construction called the bypass road east.
It would connect 710 with 441 north and end at the L-63 canal in 2029.
Other funding includes $16.5 million to improve the new intersection of SR 710, Martin Grade, and SE 126th Boulevard in 2030.
The county will also have several resurfacing projects that include $5 million on NE 144th Street from US 441 to NE 56th Avenue in 2027 and another $3 million to reconstruct NE 56th Avenue between NE 120th Street and NE 144th Avenue in 2027.
The FDOT also plans to add lanes between SE 126th Blvd and the Martin County line on route 710 in 2030 for $2.7 million.
Other dollars will resurface segments of Dark Hammock Road and Cemetery Road in Fort Drum.
The airport work plan includes over $10.6 million to work on taxiway B, runway 14/32, the airport apron and expand the fuel farm in the next three to four years.
The Seminole Tribe of Florida has created the red exhibit. It combines art, educational resources and personal stories to
evoke emotion and action to the problem of missing and murdered indigenous women.
Owachige Osceola, a native of Florida, who lived on the Big Cypress Indian Reservation was murdered at her apartment in Norman, Oklahoma in 2013 and there has never been an arrest.
The homicide is now being looked at by the Oklahoma Attorney General. The District Attorney has refused to issue warrants for a suspect in the case.
Detective Jim Parks said part of the problem is two opinions on the manner of death from the medical examiner in Oklahoma and one from the US Military. The Oklahoma medical examiner listed the cause as unknown while the military called it homicide.
Parks said they do have a good suspect. This man knew the victim and had a sexual relationship with her, Parks said. He said drug use was likely a factor in the death.
The Attorney General sent an attorney to pick up the case file in 2023, but soon afterward, the attorney quit her job and the case languished on a desk at the capital.
“It doesn’t matter how cold the case is, if there is evidence there, it can and should be prosecuted,” Parks added.
“If a jury decides that the guy is not guilty, we’ve done all we can and we’ve done our best. The family deserves at least that chance because it’s the right thing to do.”
The case has drawn attention from the Seminole Tribe President Marcellus Osceola.
Tribe spokesperson Jim Bittner said the tribe is doing everything it can to support the victim’s family members as they seek justice for her.
Detective Parks said letters to the attorney general in Oklahoma could make an impact.
“Any encouragement they can get from outside sources to do the right thing and get this guy charged would be a blessing and hopefully move this case forward.”
Glades County Commissioners approved a resolution that allows them a process to impose a fire assessment. They have never adopted the ordinance creating the assessment but have held public hearings in the past. At most hearings, the majority of public speakers are opposed to the assessment.
Commissioner Jerry Sapp said he thinks ultimately it will come to a public vote.
“I agree with the public voting. They come in here crying and complaining and we say no.”
The Seminole Inn in Indiantown, opened in 1926, is for sale.
The asking price is $4 million.
The Inn is on the National Registry of Historic Places.
The state listed four manatee deaths in Okeechobee County in 2024. The report said a female manatee died perinatally in Eagle Bay, a male died in Taylor Creek, a male died or natural causes in Government Cut, and a female died Dec 26 in Taylor Creek after being struck by a watercraft.