Walnut Creek Approves $210,000 Grant as Montana Fossils Make History

Local municipal infrastructure preparations in Contra Costa County are sharing the spotlight this week with two landmark paleontological announcements out of Montana's Hell Creek Formation: the discovery of the first known fruit-eating dinosaur and the $47.255 million auction of a virtually complete Nanotyrannus skeleton.

Walnut Creek Approves $210,000 in CDBG Funds and Stocks 75,000 Sandbags

According to the City of Walnut Creek — News Flash, the Walnut Creek City Council—comprising Mayor Kevin Wilk, Mayor Pro Tem Matt Francois, and Councilmembers Craig DeVinney, Cindy Darling, and Cindy Silva—approved up to $210,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding and authorized roadway pavement repairs in the Rudgear and Bancroft neighborhoods serving the Alamo border. Following its September 1 review of short-term rental rules and its October 6 review of the Shadelands Property and Business Improvement District (PBID) Management Plan, the council also evaluated accessory dwelling unit zoning and Housing Element implementation.

To prepare for wet weather beginning October 5, Public Works stocked municipal stations with 75,000 sandbags and 200 yards of sand while inspecting approximately 4,000 storm-drain inlets; residents can reach Public Works at 925-943-5854 or PG&E at 800-743-5000. For the November 3 election—after ballots mailed October 5 and an October 19 registration deadline—voters are considering Council candidates Cherise Khaund and Brendan Moran, City Treasurer candidate Ronald Cassano, Measure U, and Measure T, which would transition the City Treasurer to an appointed post by 2030, using 4 ballot drop boxes in Walnut Creek. Community calendar highlights also included the October 10 fire open house at 2945 Treat Boulevard (9 a.m. to 1 p.m.), an October 23 Civic Park event (3 to 4 p.m. and 4 to 6 p.m.), the Lesher Center celebration on October 23 (9:15 p.m. drone show with Nimesh Patel) and October 24 (noon to 5 p.m. at Rudney Plaza), Nicholas Payton on October 8, and the Diablo Improv Festival on October 16–18.

Paleontologists Identify First Known Fruit-Eating Dinosaur in Montana

In scientific research reported by Hoodline, an international team led by Stony Brook University paleontologist Greg Funston alongside Dr. David Evans of the Royal Ontario Museum and the North Dakota Geological Survey identified Infernogallus jamesi—a toothless, feathered caenagnathid oviraptorosaur collected in 2011 from Montana's Hell Creek Formation—as the first known fruit-eating dinosaur. Published online October 10 in Nature Communications, the study examined a nearly complete skull from the turkey-sized animal, which stood at roughly 12 kilograms (estimated at 25 or 26 pounds).

CT scans revealed that Infernogallus could slide its lower jaw forward and backward by up to 15 millimeters, pairing parrot-like jaw musculature similar to Pesquet's parrot to crush fleshy angiosperm fruits and drupes while discarding hard pits—evolving during a Late Cretaceous window when flowering plants produced large fruits nearly 75 million years ago, about 10 million years earlier than previously estimated, and 45 million years after the 120-million-year-old seed-swallowing bird Jeholornis.

Montana Nanotyrannus Skeleton Named Jodi Sells for $47.255 Million at Sotheby's

A second specimen from the Hell Creek Formation made auction history on Tuesday. According to KCBS Radio, an adult Nanotyrannus lancensis skeleton named Jodi—which roamed Earth 67 million years ago and was discovered in 2019 by Jodi Pierson on private land near Jordan in Garfield County, Montana, before being excavated with Clayton Phipps, Luke Phipps, Katie Busch, Nathan Cooper, Chris Morrow, and Kelly Pierson, featured on Discovery's Dino Hunters in 2020, and acquired for a private collection in 2021—sold for $47.255 million at Sotheby's after a 12-minute bidding war, second only to the $50 million sale of a T. rex named Gus in July.

Standing 9 feet 6 inches tall and 19.6 feet long with a 33 1/2-inch femur and 14 1/2-inch humerus, the mounted specimen comprises 191 fossil bone elements, including a skull with 53 bones and 50 teeth, 15 caudal vertebrae, 15 cervical ribs, 25 dorsal ribs, and 10 chevrons, restored with 3D-printed elements since researchers first studied Hell Creek fossils in the 1940s.