WAFC Local News – April 17, 2026, 8:32 AM
Transcript
I’m Charles Murphy reporting. Three Clewison residents have sued Club Gossip for injuries during a shooting on October 19th of last year. J. Cyrus Hudson was killed and two women were injured. Tidarius Williams is facing homicide charges in criminal court. The main claim of the civil lawsuit is negligence, with a lack of security and a lack of lighting mentioned. One woman was pistol whipped, and the second was assaulted by a group of people. The suit claims a number of assaults, batteries, and shootings have taken place at Club Gossip in the past five years. The lawsuit has nine separate claims against the club and its two owners individually. They seek damages of over $50,000, and the three have demanded a jury trial. A Belgrade man is out of jail after prosecutors dropped three attempted murder charges. Jamari Hughes ended up serving 414 days in the Palm Beach County Jail. He will serve 18 months on probation. He pled guilty to shooting into a building charges. He only had a minor criminal history for resisting arrest and marijuana possession. Hughes was charged with a May 11, 2024 shooting in Pahokee. Two men at the location were not hurt, but 48 shell casings were collected. Palm Beach detectives say the shooting was related to a shooting in Belgrade of Ticarius Fitzgerald, who was shot on Vaughn Circle in Belgrade earlier that day. Hughes is the victim’s brother. Hughes drove the victim to St. Mary’s that day for treatment. License tag readers were able to lead detectives to the suspect’s vehicle. The Moorhaven City Council decided to keep the policy of closing City Hall each workday from 1 to 2 p.m. City Manager Larry Tibb says that schedule benefits both customers and staff. The city will review periodically to see if any changes are needed. The city continues to make technological upgrades. There are questions about purchase orders and work orders being put out timely. City Clerk Ashley Wills says the technology improvements are helping staff. Nothing high-tech happened in this building for many years, so we’re just now trying to catch up with times. And it takes time. It takes time to implement those new systems. It takes time for each section in that system to go online and be working up and running. A 25-year-old Henry County woman is charged with child neglect after a two-month-old infant was found with four skull fractures. Patricia Closs was held on a warrant after an investigation that began in late January. The Department of Children and Families says the child appeared to be abused. It was examined at a children’s hospital. A skeletal survey found four fractures. Doctors say the injury could be caused by violent shaking, pulls, or twisting. Palm Beach County Vice Mayor Marcy Woodward has sent letters to the Governor asking him to allow local governments the ability to pause gas taxes. She got this reply. We got information back from our legal department that the state of Florida actually does not allow for local governments to do a pause on any local taxes. We would have to rescind it. So I just wanted everyone to know I did write a letter to the Governor and to our representatives in Tallahassee asking them to address this in a legislative session because that’s what it would require in order for us to do that. Palm Beach County has a 12-cent-per-gallon gas tax. I’m Charles Murphy, WAFC News.
Recorded from the WAFC daily newscast (Glades Media).