In today’s Times-Standard, Supervisor Mark Lovelace, the chair of the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors, called out his fellow board members for their seeming reluctance to pull the trigger and pass a plan that would meet the state mandate to make more land available for construction of low-income housing. On his Facebook page, Lovelace was even more stern, and took special exception his colleagues’ alleged tendency to blame county planning staff for their own cold feet:

My Board needs to stop blaming staff for the difficult decision that’s before us. Staff has done everything we’ve asked of them and answered every question. Now we need to make a decision based on the information in front of us and recognize that we own the consequences of that decision. This is what we were elected to do. It’s time for my Board to do its job.

Early this afternoon, KHUM’s Mike Dronkers and your Lost Coast Outpost spoke to Lovelace about this gauntlet thrown, as well as related matters – the cost of inaction, the legal pressure on the county from both Housing for All and the Forster-Gill/Ridgewood Village developers, the looming possibility of a complete moratorium on all building in the county and much more.

Audio follows:

Lovelace

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We’ve not had time to digest it in full, but it seems worthwhile to mention that Gov. Jerry Brown unveiled a new jobs plan today. Seems to be pretty simple: A tax credit for small businesses, and the closing of a loophole that, in the governor’s estimation, penalizes companies for hiring workers in the state and rewards them for hiring out-of-state workers.

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What are you doing at 7 p.m. tonight? If you’re anything like me, the answer is probably: The dishes. So why not join your Lost Coast Outpost on KHSU’s “Thursday Night Talk” program? Guest host Rob Amerman and I will be talking about every media person’s favorite navel-gazer: “The State of the Media (in Humboldt County).” Representatives from other news organizations were invited to come on and chat, but let us just note, without naming any names, that they all wussed out hard.

So it’s the LoCO and Rob A., for the hour. That’s at 7 p.m. tonight on KHSU: 90.5 FM around Humboldt Bay, at other frequencies elsewhere, and streaming at khsu.org.

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If you know Randi Barton, a 25-year-old Eureka woman, tell her that people are concerned about her.

From the EPD:

The Eureka Police Department is requesting the public’s assistance in locating Randi Elizabeth Barton who was reported missing by her family on 08/23/11. The last date she was seen was on 08/22/11 at about noon when she left a family friend’s house in Eureka without saying where she was going. Barton is a white female adult, 5’04”, approximately 120 lbs., reddish brown hair, and green eyes. She has scars on both wrists. She was last seen wearing a light blue pajama type long sleeve shirt and checked white/black pajama type pants. If you have seen this woman or know where she may be staying please contact the Eureka Police Department’s Dispatch at (707)-441-4044 or PSO Mary Anderson at (707)-441-4300.