The Pilot keeps dishing out yummy local stories, so get ready for another serving of Jill McGlone pie. And, a little Sharktopus for desert.

No-Show McGlone Had a Weapon?!

We love to watch.

Trying to parse the new information out of the Pilot‘s continuing investigation of the Jill McGlone fiasco can be a challenge. In today’s installment, one new tidbit is that someone inside City Hall may have known of McGlone’s situation. This would be significant because earlier reports suggested that only the five people who were fired from the Community Services Board (CSB) earlier this month knew of the employee who was on paid leave for 12 years. If someone in the HR department at City was aware of McGlone, then this investigation is not over.

There’s also the fact that some of the fired employees are saying they did raise the issue to their superiors, only to be told not to worry about it. They want to know why they were fired. One employee provided the Pilot with a series of emails with her boss where they discussed removing McGlone from the payroll. These are also the emails the mention that a City HR employee is involved.

Finally, another new juicy detail: although earlier reports suggested that McGlone was originally suspended for revealing confidential information about a patient at a CSB methadone clinic, the original letter of her suspension has surfaced. According to the letter, McGlone was suspended because she brought a weapon to work. It’s officially time to ask WTF. Were the CSB and the City cowering for 12 years, afraid that that perpetually unhinged McGlone might show up to stab or shoot them? This whole story is shameful and silly, but also just a little bit fun in a small-town-drama sort of way. Watching it unfold is like spectating at the proverbial train wreck–I just can’t look away.

Mistrial for Drotleff and Cannon

The jury couldn’t decide whether to acquit or condemn two Blackwater employees accused of murdering civilians in Iraq. The testimony from witnesses was all over the place. Some said the two men were drunk, some said they weren’t. Some said the shooting was justifiable as self-defense, some said they attacked without sufficient provocation. The case highlights the extreme difficulty in prosecuting a charge for an alleged crime that took place in a foreign country–witnesses must be flown in. Testimony is often conflicting. It feels to me that most people are trying to to the right thing here, trying to use our existing judicial system to get to justice in this case. That the prosecution failed to convince a jury that these two men are guilty means the case wasn’t convincing. They now have until March to dig deeper to see if there is any more evidence to bring against Drotleff and Cannon. If not, they are likely to get out of jail. That’s what happened, right or wrong, when a judge dismissed another group of Blackwater contractors accused of killing 17 civilians in Nisoor Square. It takes a lot of evidence to get someone convicted of murder, and that evidence is hard to gather when the actions took place in Iraq.

Waterside Christmas Present

We’ll know by Christmas just what the City plans to do with Waterside. For this final stage of the process the City has appointed a “panel of experts, including urban planners and real estate specialists,” to recommend a course of action for the site. They will “be guided by” the City’s recent online survey of residents.

On its face, this seems like a fine plan, but its effectiveness will of course be limited by the talents of the actual experts appointed to the panel. Their names were not included in this story.

AltDaily has made the fate of Waterside into one of our pet concerns. We’ve offered suggestions for how to improve it, and protestations against tearing it down. We believe it’s an iconic and potentially awesome facility, and we are looking forward to the outcome of the panel discussion. Personally, I’ll be happy to accept their findings, as long as it preserves the building and adds a bunch of fun. Norfolk has a lot at stake here. I’m going to hope for a shiny Christmas present.

Oops.

Jimi Heseldon, the guy who bought the Segway company 10 months ago, rode a Segway over a cliff and died on Sunday. That’s all I have to say about that.

Something to Read

The Pilot is doing a four-part series on the Human Terrain System, a “new weapon” in the war in Afghanistan. I’ll admit up front that I have not read the stories in this series yet, mostly because they are not directly about Norfolk and my own focus is unwaveringly local. But the HTS is a program based in Hampton Roads, so there’s a local angle and actually these look like good stories. Here’s a pull-quote from today’s installment: “It’s like using a napkin on a sucking chest wound.” That sounds pretty gripping, right? Maybe I’ll read them on Wednesday, Sept 29, when they are released online. Maybe you will too.

Something to Watch

What has bikinis, tentacles, and its very own surf rock anthem? Sharktopus, the movie, of course! I don’t really watch TV, but I do occasionally watch YouTube, where this video trailer has been making the rounds. The movie debuted in full on SyFy last weekend. Did anyone actually watch it?