News Cast for June 5th:
Congressman Scott Franklin ® in Florida’s 18th District said he supports the tariffs being imposed on foreign goods and the ongoing trade deal negotiations.
Tariffs are a tax placed on goods imported into the United States.
At one time tariffs generated the lions share of federal government revenue.
That changed when the government implemented the income tax in 1913.
President Donald Trump said he wants to incentivize domestic manufacturing and agriculture and reduce the reliance on foreign goods we can produce ourselves.
He contends that measures need to be taken to protect American farmers from unsafe trade practices.
“We really have not had free and fair trade in our country for a long time. I think what the president is trying to do is try to restore a sense of fairness nad balance in how we trade with foreign countries.”
Franklin said the residents need to give Trump some time to iron out these deals.
“We need to manage expectations. Trade deals take a long long time to negotiate and the idea that we are going to fix all our trade imbalances in a few short months is not realistic and we shouldn’t be leading people to believe that.”
The Okeechobee Utility Authority Board learned they have had six crashes involving OUA vehicles and employees during the first four months of the year.
All of them have been property damage crashes with no reports of serious injury.
OUA Executive Director John Hayford said he worries there could be a really bad accident.
“We have got to get a handle on this, because this is way too many.”
Hayford said they might want to look at the personnel manual and add to the penalties for accidents for employees.
“Maybe we made them too lax.”
Hayford said whether employees were cited, he firmly believes in defensive driving.
“There is something they could have done better to not have the accident at all.”
The Osceola County Development Review Committee approved a change in zoning for the former Desert Inn property in Yeehaw Junction.
The proposal is to change the zoning from commercial restricted to commercial general at the north west corner of the intersection of State Road 60 and South Kenansville Road (441).
The motel and restaurant/bar was nearly totally destroyed by a tractor trailer crash which resulted in lengthy litigations.
What was left of the building was demolished last year.
The property is surrounded by mostly pasture land and vacant property.
The Planning Commission holds a hearing on the proposed rezoning at 6 pm tonight in Kissimmee.