WAFC Local News – March 03, 2026, 8:32 AM
Transcript
I’m Charles Murphy reporting. The Florida Agriculture Commissioner says that approximately $1.15 billion in damage was done to the sugarcane crop by the hard freeze. The freeze last month came as far south as Clades and Hendry County. They expect a production loss of 35% this year and as much as a 20% impact in next year’s crop. Meanwhile, for citrus, the estimated damage was $675 million with 15% tree loss. A legal settlement last week took a massive bite out of a controversial rock mining plan in western Palm Beach County. The size of the mine was reduced from 8,000 to 2,200 acres. Conservation groups and other local officials have warned the excavation could jeopardize the Everglades restoration projects. U.S. Sugar had pitched the plan as a source of future water storage. A 20-year-old Clewiston man got into a chase in a rented car on I-95 in Palm Beach County. The Florida Highway Patrol chased after him with speeds of 100 mph or more. One estimate was 135 mph. The Broward Sheriff’s Office helicopter participated in the chase. The vehicle had a live GPS tracker and they were able to find it in Pompano Beach. Alexander Rivera is facing charges that include reckless driving and fleeing and eluding police. Seminole Police found a man who had been trespassed for nearly five years on the Brighton-Seminoe Indian Reservation in an alleged stolen car. Irvi Ponce was booked into the Glades County Jail on a charge of trespass after warning. Republicans in Congress want the Senate to take up the SAVE Act. Legislation would require Americans to prove their citizenship when they register to vote and also to show photo ID at the polls. Our Congressman Scott Franklin supports the idea. If nothing else, I know in rural America we own a lot of guns and you can’t get a gun without a voter ID or without some sort of photo ID. I gotta show a photo ID to get on the airplane every time I come up here to D.C. If you’re gonna buy a beer or pick up a prescription or rent a car or even buy cold medicine, you’ve gotta have a photo ID. So I don’t know where they’re getting off on that. He says most Democrats are against photo IDs. And he was leading this chant saying that the SAVE America Act is Jim Crow 2.0, that it’s racist, which I thought was really ironic because you had to show a photo ID to get into his campaign rally. The Florida Legislature considering a new license plate bill to help raise funding for the families of fallen police officers. Lisa Henning says in the past these plates were only available to families of these officers. For over 30 years now, this has been a memorial that has been financially supported by the TAG but the TAG was only purchased by just law enforcement officers and this opens it up. And it will hopefully open up the project for even more benefits that we can give to the fallen officers’ families. A Clewiston man who acted up at a lawful traffic stop is facing felony charges. 32-year-old Kevin Lopez reportedly repeatedly cursed out the Clewiston police officer that had pulled him over in the city limits in the area of US 27 and North Francisco Avenue. Charges include resisting an officer without violence and battery on a police officer. I’m Charles Murphy, WAFC News.
Recorded from the WAFC daily newscast (Glades Media).