WAFC Local News – November 04, 2026, 8:06 AM
Transcript
I’m Charles Murphy reporting. Clewison Mayor Jimmy Pittman wants the city to address concerns in the state attorney’s report into city activity. He says they need policies to make sure they don’t have future problems. The mayor challenged his colleagues to be more involved and ask more questions of city department heads. I also agree with the state attorney that commission oversight has been very weak in our city. And I think we need to beef it up on the commission, ask more questions. He says they need regular updates. He says he wants the city to be transparent. On the lawsuit, we can’t make any comments, but we can make comments on the report. Parts. On the other items in the report. Parts of it. And I think it’s our duty to do that. I think we owe it to our citizens and we owe it to our employees. City Commissioner Molly Gardner says it’s best if the city keeps their mouth shut. Today we were given advice by our council not to make any comments on the allegations until we get clear directions from our attorneys. I’m not going to make any comments. Pittman insists that the city needs to change policy on liens and that the commission be the only one that can lift them. We might need to put some policies in place to prevent some of the events that happen from happening again, such as moving, changing insurance agents or moving retirement funds. All that, in my opinion, should be done with commission approval. Affordably Lavish, a non-profit developer of affordable and workforce housing, is interested in doing a project in Pahokee. They’re based in West Palm Beach. They’ve gotten a grant from the USDA to look into projects across the state. Christina Anthony said it would be very affordable housing for Pahokee residents. The total cost would actually come out at a monthly lower than what they would spend in rental income. She says they would even use local students to help with the labor. Students from West Tech to contribute building the construction of the home. So that would significantly offset the construction cost for the project. They don’t want the city to donate some land or individual lots where they can build homes. A homestead man died in a head-on collision on US 27 in Belle Glade. The accident occurred Monday morning just after 5.40 in the morning. The victim identified as 43-year-old Humberto Cruz. He was in a Chevy Malibu southbound, somehow crossed over the median and collided head-on with the northbound tractor-trailer. A juvenile was accidentally injured and was treated by Palm Beach County Fire Rescue at 1400 North Main Street in Belle Glade. The youth was going down to make a tackle during football practice when he was hit in the head. He felt woozy and could not get up or move after being hit and was taken to the hospital via helicopter to St. Mary’s Medical Center for further treatment and evaluation. More details have been released on the murder charges against 18-year-old David Martinez Reyes, the shooting on October 13 near a church, El Faro Assembly of God at 431 Bryan Avenue. When deputies arrived, they found a young Hispanic male performing CPR trying to save the victim. He was shot in the chest. He was later declared deceased by Henry County EMS. They found a total of five gunshot wounds. It’s alleged that two people agreed to fight in the church parking lot. While they were fighting, several gunshots rang out and the youth ran from the scene for their safety. Henry County deputies responded to find a vehicle that matched the description of the suspect vehicle. Other witnesses say the suspect had a rifle and it was common for him to carry rifles. Martinez allegedly told investigators that he was helping out his friend who was getting beat, saying, if your boy was getting beat, what would you have done? Investigators responded, not kill someone.
Recorded from the WAFC daily newscast (Glades Media).