WOKC Local News – April 27, 2026, 7:41 AM
Transcript
WOKC News. Governor pulls plug on data center with WOKC News. I’m Charles Murphy. The Okechobee School for Boys campus will remain vacant for now after the Indian River State College plan to develop a data center there was scrapped on Thursday. The Department of Commerce had questions about the grant they gave for the college and said they were misled. The state legislature conveyed the property back to IRSC last year. County Commissioner Terry Burroughs says he spoke directly to the Department of Commerce. They had some issues with the contract between IRSC and themselves. And some of the issues in that kind of violated the contract or some of the things that’s been going on to violate their contract. So they are going to shut down the grant and that data center will not be built there. The announcement came after an hour of public comment of residents who live near the data center who were opposed to it, citing concerns about electric use, noise and water usage. The Okeechobee Narcotics Task Force and another drug bust. They serve a warrant at the Big Water RV Park on 441 Southeast this week and arrest Richard Peacock Jr., holding him on a $46,000 bond. The search allegedly found some fentanyl, some crack cocaine, drug paraphernalia and some ammunition. They note Peacock is a convicted felon. The Highlands County sheriff alarmed by an uptick of reckless operation on jet skis and boats in canals, lakes and rivers. There’s some video of a full speed jet skier going down a canal. The sheriff says that speeding will not be tolerated. As we get deeper into springtime, more and more of our residents are spending time on our county’s many lakes and canals. We want everyone to have fun, but not at the expense of safety. Western St. Lucie County’s roadway system expanding. There’ll be a 10-mile stretch of Glades Road widened to four lanes with new intersections at Range Line Road, Burnside Drive, Reserve Boulevard, LTC Parkway and Jenkins Road. They’re looking at four 12-feet lanes and also a 12-foot shared use path for bicyclists. Lisa Stone with St. Lucie County says they’ve had more crashes in the past five years on that road. During the five-year study period, a total of 94 crashes were recorded along the corridor. In terms of severity, the majority of crashes involved property damage only, with 61 reported crashes. There were 32 injury crashes and one fatal crash during the study period. A 15-year-old Okeechobee boy is facing a serious charge of sexual battery of a victim under 12. The allegations are that the teenager committed the crime on January 14th of this year. A 911 caller in Okeechobee didn’t want emergency response, but wanted a divorce. The husband threatening to shoot the TV set so he could get some sleep, a 911 dispatcher calmly and efficiently spent 17 minutes over the phone talking to him before deputies could arrive and resolve the situation without an arrest. I’m Charles Murphy, WOKC News.
Recorded from the WOKC daily newscast (Glades Media).