WOKC Local News – December 09, 2025, 7:40 AM
Transcript
W.K.C. News. Improving Internet service. With W.K.C. News, I’m Charles Murphy. Okeechobee community leaders embrace Comcast and they’re announcing more than 2600 homes and businesses getting high-speed Internet. Another 500 will be added in the next few months. Xfinity and Comcast Business Services coming to Okeechobee. Experts say it will help with education, economic growth and even working from home. Company Vice President Christy Cominello says this huge expansion is definitely needed. At Comcast, we believe that everyone deserves access to fast, reliable Internet. And today is proof of that commitment. The company donated some new U.S. flags to Florida Veterans Affairs and 25 new laptops to the Okeechobee Education Foundation along with $5,000 to career source Heartland to provide more job training. Okeechobee City honored two of its police officers who happened to be SWAT team members. Dalton Pitts and Sergeant Aurelio Amazon helped neutralize an active shooter who had killed two people in Brindaban Forest in July. Police Chief Donald Hagan spoke during that ceremony. The police department also announced that John Penfield had been promoted to sergeant. They’re planning to get a new K-9 at the city. K-9 Luna retired after over eight years of service. School superintendents around the state are wanting the state to end a requirement that third graders pass an English Language Arts assessment. In Martin County, Superintendent Michael Main is urging the state to not hold back these third graders because they may never catch up. Removal of the third grade retention requirement for students not earning a level two on the FAST assessment. Current state statute requires that all third grade students, as you know, who do not earn a level two or higher on the FAST English Language Arts assessment be retained. Fog contributed to a deadly crash in Eastern Highlands County on State Road 70 at 721. The victim, a 36-year-old man from Lake Placid, sounded a warning. Apparently another driver was passing in the fog, causing that collision. The other driver, a 27-year-old man from Maine, suffered serious injury. A Florida woman recovering after being shot by her own child. A two-year-old St. Lucie County Sheriff official say the Fort Pierce woman shot Thursday night after her husband had left a firearm in a bench and the toddler reached it and was able to pull the trigger. The bullet reportedly went through a wall and hit the woman in the leg. The woman’s husband may face a negligence charge. I’m Charles Murphy, WKC News.
Recorded from the WOKC daily newscast (Glades Media).