WOKC Local News – August 31, 2026, 7:40 AM
Transcript
WOKC News. No problem with school water with WOKC News. I’m Charles Murphy. Okeechobee County Schools announced recent water testing at school sites found no elevated lead levels of concern. The testing conducted following a recommendation earlier from the Okeechobee Utility Authority that all structures residential and commercial built before 2014 be tested for lead in the water. Every school site was tested and all met those criteria. The Coquina Water District Board of Supervisors hopes to have a new superintendent on the job soon. He’s the old superintendent, Howard Sensaboy, who spent about two decades in the district. Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, Sean Wilcox, says the superintendent needs a contract and some job security. Listen, you’ve seen the board members here. They fired people on a whim. It’s happened to one of my best friends twice for not cause. And I don’t want to see that happen to the next person coming in. I want us to have some stability here and make it a little bit harder for somebody just because Butch didn’t smile at him when he drove down the road, got fired. I just don’t want to see that. Governor Ron DeSantis says he’s worried Florida could become a surveillance state. He says limiting flock cameras to state right of ways like New Hampshire has done might be a good way to start. He vowed to not have Florida become a surveillance state. Go after criminals. Great. Let’s all do that. But surveilling just regular Floridians movements and how that data is used, you know, that’s a bird of a different feather. The water management heard an update on a successful muck removal project on Lake Okeechobee that continues throughout the summer with lake levels so low. Activist Newton Cook, while impressed with the effort, says there isn’t enough money in Washington, D.C. to clean up Lake Okeechobee. We’re not doing one one thousandth of what is needed. He says we may see some improvement in 20 years. You can’t fix it until you stop the junk coming into the lake. You just can’t. It’s impossible. You’re wasting your time and money. A Texas man who secretly recorded two minor children or hidden cameras in Okeechobee in the bedroom and bathroom of his condo has pled guilty to some nine felony charges in U.S. District Court. Thirty eight year old Michael Branham of Katy, Texas, faces 30 years in prison for seven of those counts. He lived here between February of twenty three and August twenty five. During that time, two minor children regularly visited the residence. Authorities allege Branham put cameras in the bathroom and bedroom. U.S. Attorney Jason Quinonez says it was a deliberate creation of child sexual abuse material through a calculated betrayal of children who trusted they were safe. The city of Pahokee is urged to hire a forensic audit specialist to look at their finances. Their finance advisor, Angela Reyes, recommended some 10 city finance policy changes, answering 14 concerns raised by the Palm Beach Inspector General. Reyes says she expects her recommendations to be carried out. I’m confident that your current administration will comply with what the OIG is looking for and they’re looking for the action. They’re not just looking for the paper, they’re looking for the action and they want to see that these compliance issues have been addressed. I’m Charles Murphy, WOKC News.
Recorded from the WOKC daily newscast (Glades Media).