WAFC Local News – April 24, 2026, 8:32 AM
Transcript
I’m Charles Murphy reporting. The LaBelle Planning Commission put off the proposed Wawa planned unit development on State Road 80. It will be built on a vacant lot on the north side of the highway just west of the Family Dollar Grocery Plaza. The commission had concerns about closing a city street to allow the project at the back of the vacant lot. Many residents currently use the street. The company wants to put in a 7,000 square foot building on 1.6 acres. The city would like eight gas pumps. The company is requesting 12. Planner Dan DeLisi doesn’t want a vacant lot. A vacant lot is probably the worst thing that can happen in a city. Not only does it not generate tax revenues or provide any benefit to the city, but it creates blight. I mean, there’s a lot of stuff that happens on vacant lots that aren’t good things. Dan Sokolas says Wawa will be a community servant. So any way we can get involved with the community is imperative to us. City Commissioner Bobbi Spratt had these concerns about Wawa. I’ve never heard anybody say anything bad about Wawa. So please, it’s about our city. It’s not about Wawa. The Glades County School Board continues to battle with the Internal Revenue Service. They garnered their savings account for a minor offense of nearly $270,000 after the district had paid the penalty. School Board member Crystal Drake says the IRS is basically thieves. It’s the district’s money, it’s public funds, and they need to give it back. Palm Beach County schools may try to use their school television channel as their pre-K program. School Board member Edwin Ferguson says it would be cost-effective and reach a lot of at-risk kids in making the proposal. He says public education is under a lot of criticism and must fight back. There’s an assault on public education. I don’t take it in the teeth. As far as that goes, I didn’t even say that to Superintendent Burke. We’ve got to stop taking it in the teeth. We have a bunch of morons in some areas of high influence politically that are saying things and putting out narratives out there to the detriment, ultimately, of our children. Ferguson hints that only morons support private schools. Push back against this absurdity, which is that public education, two thumbs down, privatization, two thumbs up, and that if we privatize, that that somehow is going to improve the overall quality of our students, our future workforce, our future leaders, and things of that nature. School Board Chairwoman Karen Brill says she was not sure if this program would be successful. The School Board could discuss it further. A lot of the younger parents are not big fans of television anymore. Henry County Sheriff’s Deputies will take part tomorrow in the annual Special Olympics Torch Run in LaBelle. It will begin at the American Legion Post in LaBelle and go to the Henry County Sheriff’s Office. Also participating will be their K-9 unit, Seminole Police, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The event tomorrow starts at 8.30 a.m. I’m Charles Murphy, WAFC News.
Recorded from the WAFC daily newscast (Glades Media).