Gotcha! One Terrence McNatt has been convicted on two counts of robbery and “admitted that he was a member of the ‘Swisha Splash Boys,’ a group that robs Metro passengers of their iPhones.” McNatt’s repeated snatching of the shiny Apple devices landed him six years in prison. It’s probably safe to assume that there are still iPhone thieves at large, though, so avoid fiddling on yours—especially when seated next to Metrorail car doors. +2

Rhee-Dux: Former D.C. Public Schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, currently head of the non-profit Students First organization, appears to never not be under scrutiny. This time, a former D.C. math teacher is alleging that Rhee “lied repeatedly” about the gains made in her time at Baltimore’s Harlem Park Elementary School in the 1990s. It’s hard to discern whether the uneven gains of Rhee’s classes are fraudulent or not, but the issue certainly has public school circles buzzing. -1

Groceries Galore: The Southwest Waterfront Safeway is changing its guard: Rather than uniformed security officers, plainclothes greeters will be hanging out at the store’s front doors, welcoming shoppers and inspecting receipts as they leave. (This seems to be the grocery store equivalent of removing the bulletproof glass barrier from liquor store and carry-out clerks.) And, things at the O Street Market site in Shaw, the future home of a brand-new Giant, are finally on the move—with some fancy renderings. +3

Super Hyper Local: The Washington Post is launching Trove, a free news aggregation website, reports The Wall Street Journal. Trove will enable users to set preferences that determine and influence algorithms that then determine and influence the news that they read—as you might expect, since this isn’t exactly a new way of accessing news. In fact, it reminds us of a certain six-month-old site that allows readers to specify ZIP codes they’re interested in for location-based news. Well, as they say, “Content is king.” -1

Yesterday’s Needle rating: 46 Today’s score: +3 Friday Bonus Points: +2 Today’s Needle rating: 51