– Since there’s some statistically small chance that one of you will read it here first, we will mention that Osama bin Laden was killed in an American raid on his Pakistani hiding place yesterday.
President Obama delivered a late-night speech announcing the matter, and in New York and Washington, D.C. citizens danced on the streets and sang “Na na na na, na na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye,” which kind of tampered my mood, at least.
– Some local agencies and businessfolk have put together a “Fly Humboldt Coalition,” with the aim of attracting new airline routes to our fog-shrouded airport. The dedicated push – which kicks off with a press conference at the Red Lion Inn this morning at 11 a.m. – comes after the county has lost its routes to Los Angeles and Salt Lake City.
– On the Tuesday public meeting circuit, the county is gonna start tackling its grim upcoming budget, and Eureka is going to talk weed.
– Your correspondent has taken an interest in the career of Steven Glazer, the Orinda-based political consultant who managed now-Gov. Jerry Brown’s most recent campaign and has been tied to Democratic campaigns since forever. If you recall, Glazer spent some time in the county a few years ago; local kazillionaire Rob Arkley hired him to run damage control after the former had an explosive encounter with then-Eureka City Councilmember Larry Glass at a well attended reception for the California Coastal Commission.
Well, long story short: On Saturday the governor appointed Glazer to the California State University Board of Trustees. Meaning, one hopes, that the fellow will still come and check us out up Humboldt way. His PR mojo is masterly and strange, and I wouldn’t mind taking another shot at cracking the code.
– And what of that other long-awaited gubernatorial appointment? Over the weekend, the T-S‘s Donna Tamulator let us know that the Brown administration has been interviewing candidates for the North Coast’s seat on the Coastal Commission, and expects to announce a choice sometime in the next two weeks.
– Over the weekend, the Press-Democrat‘s legendary Gaye LeBaron – kind of a matronly Herb Caen transplanted to the Rose City, if you’re unfamiliar – stood up and saluted the never-say-die spirit of the monied goofballs who, against all odds, champion the North Coast Railroad Authority.
If Mme. LeBaron’s reporting is accurate, looks like some people are still holding a torch for the great dream of opening a giant shipping facility on the Port of Humboldt Bay, if only to try to give the railroad something to ship. But of course all of that is officially denied.