A slew of media vehicles in the parking lot of the Livingston County EMS building signaled that Monday’s press conference would be about more than the reason for which it was scheduled, which was to spotlight the four local projects for which U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin helped secure federal funding.
Totaling over $3.5 million, the projects — each full of wonderful opportunity for the community — set the tone for a festive atmosphere among those in attendance.
Each project is of great benefit to the community, albeit in different ways: There’s $750,000 toward developing the area around Howell’s Depot Museum into a community space with an ice rink; there’s $750,000 for a new aerial ladder fire truck in Green Oak Township; the Metroparks system is getting $900,000 to help develop county trail connections that include a very cool pedestrian bridge over U.S. 23; and the $1.1M Livingston County EMS is getting will make it the very first agency in the state to put power-lift ambulance equipment into service.
It’s all wonderful, exciting news for the community, but when Slotkin opened up the press conference to questions, it was apparent what has been on our minds — and, literally, over our heads — for the past week-and-a-half.
What we learned is that no one knows much yet.
The object shot down on Sunday over Lake Huron after traversing Michigan was on everyone’s mind. When asked about rumors that the object was a UFO, Slotkin said that she’s heard a lot of talk about that, and cautioned that we have to let the “military do their job”; the decision to shoot it down over Lake Huron gives investigators a good chance to collect and exploit it.
“We do not know what it is right now,” Slotkin said. “We’ve seen all sorts of speculation, from another Chinese object to an academic who put up some sort of sensing device. We don’t know yet. That’s why we like to collect things.”
She added that she has “no reason to believe this is a UFO.”
Slotkin, a former CIA officer, said chances are good that it’s a “normal, run-of-the-mill thing” that the intelligence community will know how to exploit.
“That’s what I expect to learn in the next couple days,” she said.
We’ll stay tuned. The truth is out there.
