News Cast for August 19th:
Give them a second chance
Okeechobee County has saved an estimated $1.1 million through mental health services in the community.
That the estimate from the Sheriff Noel Stephen as he tries to reduce repeat offenders and lower the jail population.
Stephen has partnered with some local agencies including Our Village to give inmates the tools to succeed on the outside, without returning to crime.
“We are trying to reduce our recidivism rate down. I’m proud that We try to keep the jail costs down but having them return in a short period of time is not cost-effective.”
Commissioner Terry Burroughs said they have to get housing for released inmates and also find them steady jobs and a regular income.
He said they have obstacles to overcome.
“A lot of employers are hesitant to hire people who have just gotten out of jail. The two problems are housing, a huge problem, and the issue of employment.”
The county also introduced a new Director of Human Resources and Risk Management Lisa Ridley.
The Village of Indiantown is closer to a deal with Sedron Technologies to build a waste management processing facility. The company plans to bring in waste from several South Florida waste water facilities so that they don’t just dump the stuff on pasture land.
Tim Evenson said these plants have no place to bring this stuff anymore.
“The problem is the population is growing very rapidly and the options of disposing sewage and bio solids are disappearing. That is what made Indiantown attractive to us.”
He noted it is strategically located to serve plans from Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade.
The only concerns raised by the public so far is trucks doing damage to village roads and disrupting traffic, and the possible odors coming from the plant.
They are planning to use the village sewer treatment plant for the land needed and would produce concrete and fertilizer.
A California-based producer of lab-grown poultry filed a federal lawsuit challenging a new Florida ban on selling or manufacturing “cultivated” meat.
UPSIDE Foods, Inc., contends, in part, that the law violates a constitutional prohibition on favoring in-state businesses over out-of-state competitors.
The lawsuit, filed in the federal Northern District of Florida, names as defendants state Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, Attorney General Ashley Moody and four state attorneys.
Simpson, a key supporter of the law, called the lawsuit “ridiculous” and said “lab-grown meat is not proven to be safe enough for consumers.”
Simpson said this is a matter of national security as we can’t afford to have all of our meat products grown in laboratories in China.