WAFC Local News – April 13, 2026, 8:32 AM
Transcript
I’m Charles Murphy reporting. The city of Clewiston could review their policy at the animal shelter and not euthanize animals. There have been several reports recently of cats, both house and feral, being killed by coyotes in the city limits. Resident Stephanie Buesen called it a tough time for cats in her neighborhood. There has been an epidemic of cats belonging to taxpayers and residents being slaughtered by coyotes, as well as cats that have come up missing since the city has allowed this directive to be implemented. She says some ring doorbell cameras have been catching these cat attacks by coyotes. I’m ashamed to say I didn’t speak up at first because it wasn’t happening in my neighborhood. I even justified that it was only occurring in neighborhoods that bordered Canfields or the lake and that coyotes would never come to my neighborhood in the middle of town and I was very, very wrong. The Palm Beach County School Board honored Assistant Principal of the Year for the District Cyrenthia Bolden of Pahokee Elementary School and several other award winners this year. The event was called Celebrate the Great. Bolden, accepting the Assistant Principal Award, was very grateful. But we never carried it alone. We serve as one another’s strength and sanctuary, holding each other up so that we can in turn hold up the students. Superintendent Michael Burke says all the educators need to be honored. School Board member Arsha Andrews was excited about the local talent getting honored. Visiting with the winners and the finalists, Mr. Burke from Celebrate the Great, Cyrenthia Bolden, Pahokee Elementary School Assistant Principal, and Myra Ortega from Glades Central Community High School, Teacher of the Year from the Glades region. Now I recruited Myra, she’s gone right now from the screen, 25 years ago from the Philippines. Farmers south of Lake Okeechobee are raising awareness about the water shortage. Jake Voitek says they supported the Lake Okeechobee drawdown, but now there is a shortage. While these actions support ecological recovery, they’ve also increased risks to regional water supplies for both agriculture and public use. He says water sure came in handy during freeze as it protected some of our crops. I also want to briefly share that recent cold weather across South Florida has created additional stress for our agricultural producers, with much damage still yet to be determined. Many operations have relied heavily on irrigation for freeze protection and crop recovery, which underscores how critical reliable water supply is during extreme weather events. An arrest made after a shooting in Belle Glade. The incident happened on March 27th in the area of Southwest Avenue C and the 600 block. The charge was aggravated assault, a first degree felony. The victim, Jarell Pierre, was willing to prosecute. He is a 36-year-old Belle Glade resident. A Glades County man was sentenced to one year probation and no contact with his neighbor along with a mental health evaluation. The neighbors had filed an injunction against the subject. They got up one morning to go hog hunting and the neighbor reportedly made several threats, saying they were doing animal cruelty, making threats to place the neighbor in a cage and kill him and his family. It happened in the Mews area. The subject pled no contest to violating a court order. A Florida man, 40-year-old Jose Saperet, was charged with organized dealing in stolen property and coordinated theft. Henry County deputies say Saperet sold a stolen vehicle online to a victim in Clueston. A tow truck driver took the vehicle to Savannah, Georgia to a shipping port. He reportedly sold the stolen Chevrolet Colorado pickup for $8,000. I’m Charles Murphy, WAFC News.
Recorded from the WAFC daily newscast (Glades Media).