After another interesting week of compiling and reporting local news, Talkers were flabbergasted to discover that a construction project babysat from its underground infancy had apparently thrown a wild growth-spurt party while attention was diverted by rumbling buildings and ominous clouds. Right there for our tiny corner of the world to see, the concrete and steel monolith at ABB’s Commerce Station construction site was reportedly 20 feet higher than it’s supposed to be, 20 feet higher than it was when concrete stopped flowing, and 20 feet higher than the company investing $90 million in our community wants it to be.

Since Talkers had done the ground work, developed a working relationship with the people responsible for the tower’s construction and visited the site enough to know at least some of the folks and facts involved, they sprinted out, notepad and camera at the ready, to learn more about the rattling of the earth’s crust that somehow caused a nearly 5 percent increase in the tower’s height overnight.

A discussion with the appalled project supervisor, accompanied by a rattled, wide-eyed engineer who couldn’t believe his figures could be that far off, revealed, to Talkers’ relief — but unfortunately for some in the community who still look elsewhere for local information — that the alleged growth spurt was actually just yet another tall tale disguised as news.