News Cast for March 14th:
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission honored longtime biologist Don Fox with a lifetime achievement award.
Fox retired last year after 42 years with the commission with much of his work on Lake Okeechobee.
He was the lead biologist for the lake.
Fox said he was humbled by the honor, “I’m humbled and honored. I’m very thankful for the people I go to interact with. My grandma always told me to keep good company and I think I was keeping good company.”
Dr. Tom Renner presented the award. He said Fox has forgotten more about Lake Okeechobee than most people will ever know.
“Don has overseen the removal of literally millions of tons of organic muck from the lake bottom and restored native communities. He has personally planted thousands of native trees and shrubs on spoil islands to convert them into true wildlife islands. Over 70 species of birds have been documented on one island affectionately known as Fox Island.”
Two Senate committees have heard a bill that would make it legal for Utility Terrain Vehicles or UTVs to use certain state roads with speed limits of up to 55 miles per hour.
The bill would require operators to have a driver’s license or a learners permit with a licensed driver present.
The UTV would also have to be registered and insured.
UTVs are popular for farm work, hunting, and recreation.
The manufacturers of the UTVs are opposed to the legislation. They say the UTVs are not made for road use.
20 states have made UTVs legal on roadways.
The Recreation Off-Highway Vehicle Association also opposes the legislation.
Winn Peoples said the TVS do not handle paved roads and that puts operators at increased risk of losing control and crashing.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission said there were 2,178 deaths from ATVs, UTVs and other off highway vehicles between 2017-2019 in the US.
A convicted killer who was a teenager when he killed a close friend, was found dead in his cell at Okeechobee Correctional Institution Wednesday night.
An investigation is underway in the death of Pedro Bravo. He was convicted in Alachua County of killing his friend Christian Aguilar, 18, back in 2012.
Bravo was jealous that Aguilar was dating his ex-girlfriend.
The case was made into a documentary called The Fatal Obsession of Pedro Bravo.
Few details have been released by the Department of Corrections about the death.
Okeechobee Sheriff Deputies say they were able to intercept a small package of controlled substances headed into the jail.
Jose Angel Delacruz, Tyler Lytle and Vada Robinson were all charged with introduction of contraband into the county jail and conspiracy to introduce contraband into the jail.
The jail said they received an anonymous tip that Robinson would attempt to deliver the controlled substance buprenorphine to inmates.
The contraband was found in one of the inmates boxers that were dropped off at the jail for the inmate.
The jail said they intercepted two deliveries, one of two strips of the drug, and the second of eight grams of the drug.
A West Palm Beach man, Alan Jean Louis, was charged with trying to smuggle marijuana into the Everglades Youth Academy in Okeechobee County.
Guards searched Louis when he came to visit a juvenile.
The arrest report said the guards found a red zip lock bag in a sock in his pants pocket that contained marijuana.
Bond on the felony charge was set at $5,000.