First, the idiocy of the double-helix structure is once again in the news as Missoula County seeks to BURN CASH in order to sue “Process Curiosity” for fucking this up and highlighting why you shouldn’t spend six figures on dumb shit like a double-helix sculpture.
On Wednesday, county risk and benefits department director Erica Grinde asked the Missoula County commissioners to authorize the county to engage in litigation against the company, called Process Curiosity.
“To date the county has invested just shy of $300,000 in both legal fees and vendor costs,” Grinde said.
The structure, called the DNA tornado or the DNA climber (meant to show kids the structure of DNA while they climb from one floor to another inside the library), has been a source of contention for some time.
The figure cited by Grinde is confusing to me because the next paragraph cites the original cost of $365,000 for this structure.
In 2019, the City of Missoula was awarded a large federal grant. At least $365,000 of that money was used to build the structure. Process Curiosity was selected to build the structure. It was completed in 2022, and then the county took over management of the structure because the county manages the library.
So, are we talking about $665,000 dollars here? Maybe, if David Erickson could write a less confusing article, I wouldn’t be left with MORE questions than answers.
Moving on to the VIPs, Missoula has been buzzing since news started percolating about Elon Musk’s plane being tracked to Missoula last weekend. Now we’re being told a VIP will be needing some BIG SKY privacy starting June 7th. Hmmm.
The Federal Aviation Administration has announced airspace restrictions from June 7 to 10 for an unnamed “VIP,” a move generally reserved for people like the President of the United States or other high-ranking government officials.
The FAA announced the restriction on Tuesday, which will temporarily close parts of the Missoula airspace and airport “in conjunction with VIP movement.” Additional details from the FAA were unavailable.
According to airport director Brian Ellestad, the airspace restrictions will not be a blanket closure for flying over Missoula, Montana. He added that passenger aircraft could experience “minimal delays” of 5 to 10 minutes.
Further down in the article, Musk’s unconfirmed presence in Missoula was included.
The announcement of the flight restriction comes on the heels of unconfirmed reports that billionaire Elon Musk’s plane landed in Missoula last weekend. An anonymous reddit account that track’s Musk’s jets alleged his plane landed in Missoula on Friday and took off on Saturday. The social media account also alleged Musk’s plane landed again in Missoula for one hour on Sunday.
As of Wednesday evening, the Missoulian was unable to confirm whether Musk’s plane had landed or whether he was on the aircraft.
What could be happening in our little mountain town that would draw such VERY IMPORTANT PEOPLE? I have some ideas, but I’m saving ’em for the writing I do NOT immediately publish for readers to read for free.
Needless to say, I think something big might be brewing, so stay tuned for whatever curious tidbits I turn up.
Thanks for reading!