WAFC Local News – January 09, 2026, 8:32 AM
Transcript
I’m Charles Murphy reporting. The most powerful seminal on the state, Chairman Marcellus Osceola, is supporting the cleanup of Lake Okeechobee. He admits he’s not happy with the health of Lake Okeechobee declining. It is disheartening to see what’s going on the lake. I see the presentation that’s given, but those are all nice pictures, but that’s not the reality on the lake. He says the low water may help, but it also hurts anglers and fishing. The lake was, I would say, devastated by a drop of four feet over the 60 days. People grounding their boats, not able to fish the areas that they used to. You see the amount of sediment that’s on the bottom of the lake. Osceola’s take is the lake is not in good shape, and now is the time to act. You can’t see the bottom of those waters anymore, on any of these lakes, canals, waterways. And we flush it east and west, and we flush it south, to the Everglades, through the Big Cypress Reservation, held up near the Brighton Reservation, where we all live. We’ve got to do something better. We’ve got to do it now before it’s too late. We’re wasting time sitting here talking about it, and not doing something about it. He blames overgrowth, agriculture, Disney World, septic tanks, and the spraying programs for the poor water quality. There’ll be a public meeting in Clewiston this month on the management of Lake Okeechobee, including its habitat and wildlife and fish. It’ll be on Wednesday, January 21st, at 6 p.m., at the John Boy Auditorium. Florida has launched a free nurse hotline this week. There’s help for folks who are experiencing flu-like symptoms. There’s been a great increase in recent weeks of those with the flu. HCA Florida launched a free hotline. The Consult-a-Nurse hotline is designed to help callers manage their symptoms at home, on their own, without visiting urgent care. It’s 844-706-8873. 844-706-8873. Another push for hands-free cell phone bans in Florida. Republican Senator Erin Graw will revive her effort to ban drivers from holding their phones on the road again this year. Demetrius Branca lost his teenage son to a distracted driver in a crash in Tallahassee 11 years ago. He says distracted drivers account for about 10 accidents per day in the state. He says this is a common-sense law and a no-brainer to get approved. If we can get this over the line this year, we’re looking at saving literally two lives a day. Senator Graw represents Glades County in Tallahassee. Hendry County Commissioners approved a rezoning and comprehensive plan amendment for 1,100 acres of the old Hendry Correctional Institution property. The project will include 350 homes, a golf course, and commercial and recreational uses. Planner Ryan Alexander raised some concerns. This is taking old prison and farmland in an area that does not have planned services or existing services in place and it’s asking us to move them out there for their specific use. Resident Kate English also had some concerns about the changes to the agriculture area. There was no way to know that we were going to get a disease that was going to wipe out the citrus industry, that we were going to have state and federal programs that bought 25% of Hendry County and damaged 26% of your property taxes. County Commissioner Mitchell Wills also had traffic concerns about State Road 29 and even County Road 846. He says they need to be careful with what they allow down there. I love the idea that we have some stuff coming, but I want it to be beneficial to the people of Hendry County. I’m Charles Murphy, WAFC News.
Recorded from the WAFC daily newscast (Glades Media).