– The Redding Record-Searchlight ‘s great Bruce Ross has energetically revived his long-standing quest to inject some Humboldt County lefties into his own Upper Central Valley congressional and legislative districts, which currently run deep scarlet.

First introduced on his own blog, with maps and everything , Ross is currently workshopping this cagey scheme over at Eric Kirk’s . The idea, as the map above indicates, is to reorient the upper end of the state along east-west rather than north-south lines. Predictably, true Humboldtians are reacting with horror. Nevertheless, we stand by a tweet we tweeted back in a previous lifetime:

– Kym Kemp can get way deep on the history of the Dobbyn Creek slide. Bottom line: If it this were a fire, we would be near calling it 100 percent contained. Facebook friend o’ the LoCO Jesi Newman Elmore sends along this slideshow:

Dobbyn Creek .

– Redundant fiber? It’s on! Last week we were telling you that the death of IP Networks’ founder and main man had left locals uncertain about whether the company would follow through with its commitment to run another fiber optic cable along PG&E right-of-way near Highway 36.

But apparently they have been reassured. Gregg Foster of the Redwood Region Economic Development Corporation sent out the following message to members of the Redwood Technology Consortium today:

Late last night I received an update from IP Networks on the status of the alternate fiber that they are building between Humboldt County and Cottonwood along Highway 36.

I won’t go into all of the details, but can report that they are now projecting a start of construction in May with completion by September 30. We’ll continue to share updates on the progress, including pictures I hope, as events unfold.