WOKC Local News – March 10, 2026, 7:40 AM
Transcript
WOKC News. Man charged with manslaughter with WOKC News. I’m Charles Murphy. The Florida Highway Patrol says a motorcycle accident last month in eastern Highlands County could have been avoided. A 23 year old Avon Park woman, Jasmine Gomez, fell off the back of the bike as it accelerated on US 98 headed toward Cornwell. Crash was just about a half mile east of County Road 621. Last week came word that 33 year old Jorge Pujols of Sebring was charged with DUI manslaughter. Troopers say he had obvious signs of impairment and did poorly in field sobriety tests. Lieutenant Greg Buenos says on any motorcycle, the passenger has to be secure. And that simple acceleration or maybe catching them off guard can lead to a tragedy, as we saw, and preventable. Didn’t have to happen. Certainly something that everybody involved needs to go back and kind of do some self-checking of how that occurred. Cyber crimes continue to increase in Florida. Criminals have been targeting children more and more. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children saw reports surge with online enticement reports rising dramatically over 300% in recent years. Sheriff Noel Stephen says you need to know what your child is doing online. It’s just as important to lock your your doors and windows as it is to check your young’s phone and see where they’re where they’ve been on the on the Internet and just to make sure that they’re they’re not being preyed upon. The Okeechobee School Board honored staff with 35 years of service. Lisa Harwas, Wendy Coker and Melanie Stennett. 25 years of service. Tammy Collier, Sue Ng, Brian King, Rebecca Maxwell, Hilda Morris, Rebecca Rawlerson, Dolores Torres and Patience Washington and several staffers with 15 years of service. The city of Stewart has been having a revolving door at the manager position. They fired Michael Mortel in October, named the finance director, interim manager, and then he’s leaving. Louis Bogoli gave 90 day notice, but then was fired two days later. Mayor Chris Collins says there’s no conspiracy and Bogoli wanted to retire. He lives in Alabama and was working remotely some of the time. Council member Laura Okeechobee was opposed to doing an investigation into the matter suggested by former Mayor Campbell Rich. He says Rich is always negative about what the city is doing. And what was your concern today was to bring up past items that really at this point we’re moving forward and you wanted to put a positive and you want to put a negative spin on it. So I have to address you’re the person who said it. And don’t you ever dare say that you don’t care what I have to say. It was my time to speak. A 3000 acre brush fire Sunday in Glades County. It was reported east of State Road 78 in the Fish Eating Creek area. I’m Charles Murphy. WOKC News.
Recorded from the WOKC daily newscast (Glades Media).