WOKC Local News – April 13, 2026, 7:41 AM
Transcript
WOKC News. The rain is helping with WOKC News. I’m Charles Murphy. Farmers south of Lake Okeechobee are raising awareness about the water shortage, even though we’ve had the recent rains. They wonder if they can get enough water to keep crops growing. Jake Voitek with the Florida Farm Bureau urged the South Florida Water Management District to make them a priority. Farmers did thank the district for providing needed water during the freeze so they could protect their crops. Governing Board member Ben Butler says farmers are tenacious when it comes to protecting their own. Some of the harm hadn’t even showed up yet. But you talk to some farmers, complete losses of green beans, complete losses of corn, sweet corn, field corn. You know, you’ve got sugarcane that’s been damaged. You’ve got celery sustained some damage. You’ve just got a whole host of vegetables and the talk of replanting. You lose one crop, well, you’re expecting that crop to help make you through and you lose it and you have all the expenses going to it. You’ve got to replant it. You’ve got to keep going. Butler also made remarks to congratulate two agriculture legends from the Big Lake region. Dennis Wedgworth of Belk Laid and Woody Larson of Okeechobee were recently inducted into the Florida Agriculture Hall of Fame. The city of Okeechobee being sued by former Central Elementary Principal Cynthia Kubit in a negligence lawsuit. She claimed she was injured at work. She filed the lawsuit in February after she tripped in a sidewalk on Southwest 6th Street between Southwest 2nd and 5th Avenue. The incident happened on a field trip on February 9th, 2024 as she was supervising 20 children. The lawsuit claims include poor maintenance on the city and the Florida Department of Transportation’s part, failure to protect the public, allowing a risk to exist and other claims. An Okeechobee man gets nearly 20 years in prison for child pornography possession. Robert Middleton pled no contest to two charges at a hearing earlier this year. He will also pay close to $1,900 in court costs and fees. He’s already served nearly two years behind bars. The investigation dated back to January of 2023. It led to a search warrant in a residence in the 8,000 block of 441 Southeast where the alleged child pornography was located. Osceola County Commissioners are supporting the Pole Barn Facility for Education of the Future Farmers America Program at Harmony Middle School. Students from both rural and Southern Osceola County attend that school. Superintendent of schools, Dr. Mark Sharanoff, wants to get CTE, Career and Technical Education programs into elementary, including this agriculture program. But there are two economies that will always be part of what we do. One will be tourism and hospitality, and the other will be the strong agricultural roots that are here. Osceola County agreed to provide a $200,000 betterment grant to build the Education Agriculture Barn. They’ll be studying things there like animal care, plant science, sustainability, and modern agriculture practices. I’m Charles Murphy, WOKC News.
Recorded from the WOKC daily newscast (Glades Media).