WOKC Local News – August 20, 2026, 7:40 AM
Transcript
WOKC News. Election results are in with WOKC News. I’m Charles Murphy. 28% of registered voters cast ballots in Okeechobee for the primary election. The one local race of note was for Congress in District 9, the Republican primary. It was won by Dan Green by less than 500 votes. Ben Butler of Okeechobee carried Okeechobee well with nearly 70% of the vote. Indiantown returned two council members, Anthony Dowling and Janet Hernandez, and also elected newcomer Krista Miley. Glades County elected two new school board members and re-elected County Commissioner Hattie Taylor. In the courts, death row inmate Michael Woodbury has lost two appeals before the Florida Supreme Court this year. One centered around the trial jury seeing Woodbury in prison clothes and shackles and if it prejudiced their verdict. He also denied an appeal based on his mental health condition. The defense claims the state hid evidence of mental illness on the part of the suspect. Woodbury killed his cellmate at Okeechobee Correctional, Antony Haynes, barricading the cell and beating the man with his fist, boots and improvised weapons. Woodbury also shot and killed three people during a robbery in Conway, New Hampshire in 2007. His defense attorney, Marie Louise Palmer, says the court erred by letting the jury see his shackles and prison garb. The requirement that the court follow the law is even more important in cases exactly like this where the defendant is charged with a heinous crime because it’s in cases like this where emotions can run high, where failures can happen because of the desire for punishment, rightly so. An Okeechobee man, 22-year-old Kyler Morgan was sentenced to two years in prison and three years sex offender probation. He’ll also have to register as a sex offender. He had no prior criminal record. His court cost total over $1,100. He pled no contest to two counts of possession of child pornography and one count of transmission of material harmful to minors by an electronic device. He allegedly contacted a 14-year-old girl in Georgia and convinced her to send him child sexual abuse materials. Indian Hill Village Council purchasing some property in Booker Park, formerly owned by Martin County. It’s the CRA property at 16870 Southwest Charleston Street. Resident Martha Esteban appealed to the council to allow chickens in residential areas. We currently do have some chickens and we will comply with the law and get rid of them. My mom loves chickens and we honestly, like they provide source of eggs and food and stuff like that. And we just have sentimental value for them. So I just requesting guidance to maintain at a minimum of five. I’m Charles Murphy, WOKC News.
Recorded from the WOKC daily newscast (Glades Media).