News Cast for March 14th:
Unemployment remains low
It is still easy to find a job in Okeechobee.
The state monthly report for January showed 3.4 percent unemployment in Okeechobee County.
The county had 17,597 people employed.
The total work force did drop by 86 workers in Okeechobee in January.
Glades County saw a decline in the workforce of 131 people in January. They had 4,979 employed, down from 5,140 in December.
Labor economist Jimmy Heckman said in the state there were more people in the workforce in January, 243,000 or 2.2%.
The construction industry has seen a 4.4 percent increase in jobs in the past year.
Okeechobee had the lowest rate in the Heartland Region.
Around the area Martin County had 3.3 percent, St. Lucie 3.8 percent, Osceola 3.7 percent, and Highlands 4.7 percent.
Charges of drug trafficking were dropped against Hialeah resident, Daniel Lugo Murcia in Okeechobee.
He claimed he was only driving a friend to Okeechobee and had no idea he planned to sell a trafficking amount, 28 grams of MDPV.
Nicolas Hirrira was convicted and received three years in prison and $53,000 in fines and court costs.
The drug deal went down in Posey’s Corners on February 23, 2023.
Local congressman Scott Franklin said he won’t support any raise in income taxes on the rich or on businesses.
“Tax hikes are not going to happen. We have proven in the past that the best way to unleash the US economy is to get out of the way and allow job creators to put people to work and grow revenues. Government never created anything, they only funds they have are something they took from someone else who created it. The solution is not to confiscate more of the taxpayers money and redistribute it inefficiently.”
Franklin said he remains concerned about a sluggish economy and high inflation.
FDLE agents arrested an Okeechobee man for alleged possession of child sexual abuse materials.
60-year-old Wayne Adams is facing 10 felony counts.
Agents served a search warrant on his home on February 13 and seized electronic devices for forensic analysis and allegedly found the images.
Bond in the case was set at $500,000.