WOKC Local News – April 08, 2026, 7:41 AM
Transcript
WOKC News. They’re finding the wanted with WOKC News. I’m Charles Murphy. Okeechobee County Sheriff Noel Stephens says his new program, Warrant Wednesday, has had a high success rate. He gives out rewards to help find people that are wanted by the law, putting out their photo on Facebook. Stephens says it’s not about embarrassing people. He just wants people to turn themselves in where it’ll be a lot safer and efficient. Not to embarrass them or anything, but you’ve got a situation that you need to address and take care of. And there’s a lot of people that are taking advantage of the Crimestoppers’ ability to pay them for giving us information that leads to the arrest of these individuals. And if you’re gonna play, you need to pay. President Donald Trump hosted the largest ever gathering of farmers and ranchers at the White House. Any farmer that votes for a Democrat is crazy. They are brutal on the farmers. Trump and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins spoke on things the Trump administration is doing. He noted beef prices have started to decline and grocery prices have stabilized. He says taxes and regulations on agriculture have been reduced. Trump says farmers really don’t ask for much, just a level playing field. Sir, please just give us a level playing field. Others want more than that. They want everything. The farmers want a level playing field. He’s approved some tax incentives for purchasing tractors and farm equipment and ended the estate tax he’s hoping to get the farm bill through too. Martin County has lifted their burn ban in the Indiantown area due to the recent rains. 5,700 acres annexed into the village of Indiantown by FPL, no specific project, but residents are concerned it’ll be a data center. Realtor Kevin Powers says Indiantown took a big hit when Louis-Dreyfus closed and this new industrial land will help. They closed down. They didn’t get acquired by somebody else. They shut the facility down. There wasn’t, they didn’t move. They didn’t go anywhere else. They shut down. It went to zero. And it really dawned on me when you realize those are people in our community. These are folks that, you know, we work with, we play with, we worship with, and they’re out of a job. A lot of rain in the forecast, rainfall about 50% below normal in 2026. The lake has hovered around 12 feet. The locks at Port Myakka recently celebrated a one-year anniversary of being closed on March 29th. Luis Alejandro of the Corps of Engineers says they will use the most conservative approach focused on water conservation this spring. We continue to operate with a water conservation mode mindset, entering April, which is typically the driest month of the year. Congressman Scott Franklin says you shouldn’t take the president seriously on his stance about Greenland. He says Trump made similar comments about the Panama Canal when China wouldn’t leave and were blocking US ships. A lot of this is kind of his way of being provocative and starting conversations. And it’s one of those things where I’d tell people, you know, take him seriously, but not literally. I’m Charles Murphy, WOKC News.
Recorded from the WOKC daily newscast (Glades Media).