WAFC Local News – November 25, 2025, 8:34 AM
Transcript
I’m Charles Murphy reporting. The Florida Highway Patrol says a 12-year-old boy from Miami was killed in a golf cart accident in southern Henry County. It happened at 34200 Doctors Hammock Road. On Monday afternoon, just before 5 p.m., a nine-year-old boy was seriously injured and hospitalized. The John Deere side-by-side was traveling east on a private dirt road, traveled off the road, overturned. The 12-year-old died at the scene. Henry County commissioners learned they’ve received less than $20,000 from school zone cameras in the past year. There were 6,951 violations, with fines of close to $396,000 countywide. Of that amount, Henry County received $19,118. Money for the crossing guards was just under $20,000, the state got just over $91,000, and the private company took home $219,000. Commissioner Raymond Iglesias expected more citations in school zones. I think what’s happening is people are self-correcting. I was on Francisco and Sonora here about two weeks ago, and I was like, I saw all the vehicles on Sonora, and it was like immigration wasn’t even in town, and everybody was going slow, and I was like, what’s going on? And then I realized because of the zone, people are just self-correcting. Jennifer Davis says the county could appoint an advisory board to decide how to best spend the money. We haven’t spent any of those dollars. We just have the $19,000 right now. We thought we were going to get a lot more, and that could change. It may not change. The Pahokee City Commission approved their annual budget of $7.63 million. It will increase property taxes collected by just under 6%. Everglades Townhomes are close to completion. The developer expects work to be done by the end of the year. Michael Sodgrass says they’re eyeing more land at the former hospital for more housing. The site of the project, the former Everglades Regional Medical Center, was closed in 1998 due to financial problems. Sodgrass says once they open these units, they will prioritize farm workers. The first priority is going to be the farm labor. Anybody that’s working at any of the sugar mills or any of the farm-related activities, which will cover a wide variety. If those are not identified, then it’s open up to the public. Family broken over death. A speeding ticket turned into a fatal crash in January near Lake Placid. The 18-year-old driver was sentenced to seven years in prison and 10 years probation at a hearing last week in Highlands County. DeAnthony Torres was behind the wheel, and his brother, a 13-year-old boy, was killed in the crash. Torres also lost his driver’s license for five years. His mother expressed that her family has lost two sons, one of the crash and one to prison. U.S. Senator Ashley Moody promoted her Safer Trucker Act in Sarasota. This is in response to illegal truckers who can’t read English and thus road signs and traffic control devices. Major Gary Howes of the Florida Highway Patrol had some statistics about how many truckers they have found that can’t read. Just since August, your Florida State Troopers have taken 400 commercial truck drivers off the road, put them out of service for not being proficient in English, not being able to understand English road signs. Glades County Schools announced that Sam Thomas is a new principal now at Moorhaven Middle High School. He’d been at the elementary. Jackie Pollard named to replace him. Henry County Schools announced their employees of the year. They include Dolly Burke, Alexis Arrieta, Stephanie Gujoisa, Brandyann Arrieta, David Villareal, Ariel Artiles, Pauline Almeida, Edwin Prusendio-Martinez, Crystal Figueroa, Diane Rollerson, Courtney Inman, Tina Blevins, Shilah Timms, Miley Desmederos, Maria Prevat, Erika Vasquez, Maria Salguero, Jessica Vasquez and Suzanne Specht. I’m Charles Murphy, WAFC News.
Recorded from the WAFC daily newscast (Glades Media).