WOKC Local News – December 11, 2025, 7:40 AM
Transcript
WOKC News. Schools approve union contracts. With WOKC News, I’m Charles Murphy. Yogo-Shubi classified employees at the school district were almost unanimous in approving their contract this year by nearly 99 percent. However, the teacher’s contract only passed by four votes, 115 to 111, and was a low voter turnout. It only brings a 1 percent salary hike, but the district will pick up most of the cost of benefit increases. Superintendent Dylan Tedders addressed the poor teacher turnout for the vote. We have 450 employees that can vote. Only 226 did. So then if you didn’t vote no, then that must mean you understood that all districts are dealing with this right now. He says negotiations with the teachers went smoothly. They understood, and we shared with them everything we had. We shared with them data from the state, we shared with them enrollment numbers, everything we have. So we put it all out on the table. But again, they went to bat for their teachers, and we tossed some proposals back and forth, and we ended up to the point where we were just where we were budget-wise. We had to stay within that budget. Candidate for Florida governor, Republican Paul Renner, the former House speaker, says he will support the environmental agenda to restore the Everglades and Lake Hookah-Shubi. He notes that farmers are not the only problem with water quality. Farmers are the original environmentalists, right? If the land goes bad, if the land is polluted and it won’t grow crops or won’t support cattle, then go out of business. He supports the Rural and Family Lands Program and wants to preserve land in Florida that keeps farmers farming and ranchers ranching. The Florida Highway Patrol is stressing again the move-over law after some close calls, and our area is dangerous to pull some motorists over on state roads because there’s a lack of shoulder. Lieutenant Quake Buenos says the troopers do a good job learning the roads and where it is safe to pull people over. We’re aware that this is our wheelhouse of what we work in. Each and every day we try to do our job and train our troopers to do their job as safely as possible. The town of Lake Placid approves a new police station. It will cost over $2 million. It was a three-to-two vote. Businesses wanted the police station downtown. They currently share Town Hall with other government offices. There was some opposition due to the costs. Colleen Charles, one of their town board members, says they must keep their priorities straight. Number one priority is public safety. And if we don’t keep that in mind, that number one has to be public safety, then I’m afraid our happy little town is not going to be a happy little town anymore. The town is hoping to get some financial help from the state for the new station. I’m Charles Murphy, WOKC News.
Recorded from the WOKC daily newscast (Glades Media).