WOKC Local News – September 02, 2026, 7:40 AM
Transcript
WOKC News. More and more gun permits. With WOKC News, I’m Charles Murphy. Okeechobee County tax collector during county commission budget workshop says her office remains very busy. Celeste Watford says concealed handgun permits are keeping her staff busy. We did 694, but that’s just a total of, it was one total. That includes renewals, new ones, fingerprints only, pictures only, replacements. We do all that services for concealed weapons, but they all total about 694 of them in a year’s time. They also continue to add more driver’s licenses and vehicle registrations. Congressman Darren Soto hoping to represent Okeechobee County in the next Congress. He must be elected in November against Republican Dan Green. He says he has plenty of experience supporting agriculture and farmers and voted for this year’s farm bill. Farmers and ranchers are under siege. We had a freeze this year, a long-term struggles with citrus greening. We have the potential of a screw worm epidemic as well as mealy bug. And so our folks, gosh, they need our help. And so I was proud to vote for it. It’s still stalled in Congress with the main concerns being cuts to food stamps or SNAP. Martin County may impose a moratorium on data centers. Attorneys and staff will look into that. James Fishback, the former candidate for governor, visited Stewart to chime in. He says counties and governments need to really get the truth about these data centers. But the upsides that are being spun by both the left and the right on a data center being necessary when we already have 12 times as many data centers in this country than China does. The county sheriff’s office working traffic enforcement over the summer, thanks to Florida Department of Transportation grants, they had a 32-hour effort of targeted enforcement on three occasions during the summer. Deputies made 40 citizens contacts and issued 18 warnings for unlawful speed, 19 citations written for unlawful speed, three citations for illegal passing, two citations for running a red light or a stop sign, and one for driving while license suspended. They also had 26 DUI investigations. The Florida Highway Patrol is seeing a problem on 68 West. They issued 15 moving citations in less than a day. They also issued four at Berman Road and Northeast 128th Avenue and also State Road 710 and Berman Road in that same time period. The sheriff says you need to slow down, put the phone down, never drive impaired, strap your kids in, buckle up, pay attention. An 18-year-old from Moorhaven is charged with shooting at rabbits from the side of the road. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission arrested the teen at the area of Pollywog Road and Walter Greer Road. A complaint was issued after a neighbor continued to throw nails into his neighbor’s driveway and driving recklessly by the home. The incident on Southwest 11th Way. Verbal warnings were issued. Two women were threatened after they moved from Port St. Lucie to Okeechobee. The alleged suspect is a felon and owns a handgun. She threatened to kill the pair for breaking off their friendship. A wife got a text message that she was cheating and that her husband was going to learn about it. Making other threats, the husband didn’t pick up the phone. The victim says the sender used multiple derogatory names referring to her. The sheriff’s office called that number, but no one answered. I’m Charles Murphy, WOKC News.
Recorded from the WOKC daily newscast (Glades Media).