News Cast for February 25th:
A small plane suffered damage after a hard landing at the Okeechobee County Airport on Sunday night.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the accident occurred at 8:15 pm.
There was a pilot and passenger on board and neither were injured.
The preliminary report on the crash said the plane was enroute to Orlando.
The left landing gear on the plane, a Cubcrafters CCX-2000 collapsed, the report added.
The FAA said the investigation continued.
Governor Ron DeSantis is backing a Florida effort similar to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. DeSantis was in Tampa this morning to announce the creation of a state “DOGE” task force to eliminate “bureaucratic bloat” and modernize state government. DeSantis says he’s already looking at eliminating over 70 state boards and commissions. The governor also wants local and county government leaders to examine their spending.
Broward County Commissioners voted to delay until March a decision on a landfill expansion.
The story impacts Okeechobee because we are one of the main options to handle their trash and construction debris if the landfill is not expanded.
Broward Officials said an estimated 7500 trucks per month and 1.4 million tons of trash and construction debris could come to Okeechobee.
Waste Management has also agreed to reopen a compost facility at the Okeechobee landfill to handle Broward Food Waste if this option is chosen.
Neighboring cities have gone on record to oppose the expansion of the Monarch Hill landfill.
The proposed expansion would use another 24 acres and would raise the height limit from 225 to 325 feet.
Broward Commissioners want the Broward Solid Waste Authority to review the options first and make a report to them before they vote.
Broward Commissioner Steve Geller said he felt the neighbors won’t be easy to convince.
“Do I believe that people in that area will ever support a waste to energy facility in that area? Not a chance in hell.”
Vice Mayor Mark Bogen said the community thinks the landfill is unhealthy.
“Even though there is a liner, there is seepage. I want everyone to understand there is seepage into our ground water.”
Dr. Hillel Cowen said he felt there would be health threats from the landfill expansion.
“And just like big pharma, big tobacco, big garbage can hire experts to testify in support of their lies. The only thing they care about is profits even if it means sickness and death for their customers.”
Commissioner Chris Cary said there are not many options if the landfill is not expanded.
“Without this we have to start diverting waste from the landfill and the only place we can send it is the Okeechobee landfill 100 miles away.”
Glades County School Superintendent Dr. Beth Barfield fielded some questions about how they fund school athletic programs.
She said the district for years has relied on coaches and volunteers to do fund raisers to help pay for the team’s equipment, uniforms, pay referees, and also pay for transportation to and from games and matches.
“Part of the job of the coaches is to fund raise for their team and they do that. Those that don’t fund raise, their organization doesn’t have money.”
Barfield said the current school budget has no funding for athletics.
“There is only one pot of money and it comes down to providing transportation of giving people a raise. Where do you go with that?”
A coach had complained about the availability of school buses to take athletes to out of town sporting events.
The Highlands County Sheriff’s Office Dive team recovered a vehicle from the Kissimmee River in Highlands County on Monday.
The car was in the water off Dougherty Road in Cornwell.
The vehicle, a newer model sedan, had been reported stolen out of Okeechobee County.