Laurel: To a strange story. OK, we have to admit right up front that, sometimes, it’s hard to decide exactly whether a story should be a laurel or a lance. Sometimes, it could be both, depending on how you look at it. Sometimes, it could be neither but is just too, well, odd not to be singled out in some way.

And that is how we get to the headline “Police: Jeannette man gambled away cash informant provided to buy meth.”

Seriously, that’s a lot of really interesting information packed into an 11-word sentence. At the same time, it’s hard to nail down whether that’s something that we give a thumbs up or a thumbs down.

For one thing, we try to avoid weighing in on the early days of a crime story as we don’t want to take sides. At this point, Craig M. Stout Jr., 48, is not guilty of anything. He has only been charged, and the court is obligated to consider him innocent.

On the other hand, the account reads like a pitch for a Hollywood screenplay. Greensburg police were working with a confidential informant to set up a controlled buy of Adderall and methamphetamine. They say Stout took $200, gave the informant the prescription drug and said he’d be back in 30 minutes with the meth.

Police then followed him to Live! Casino Pittsburgh in Hempfield. Records show he fed $173 into the slot machines and won nothing.

The “news of the weird” nature of this story alone is what earns it a laurel. If “Cocaine Bear” could make it to the big screen, maybe this can, too.

Lance: To a high-flying problem. It really shouldn’t surprise anyone that drones shouldn’t be used at the airport — at least not without approval.

After all, airports are pretty big on security. You have to take off your shoes. You can’t bring a gun — although plenty of people “forget” that requirement, too. There’s “airplane mode” — an entire category of use put in place for your phone to restrict any potential interference regarding aircraft.

And yet that did not stop someone from flying an unauthorized drone at Pittsburgh International Airport on Monday.

That meant, for 30 minutes, a temporary stop was issued by the air traffic control tower.

“Drones can pose safety risks to aviation and unauthorized operators in protected airspace can be fined or face charges,” airport spokesman Bob Kerlik said.

No one should have to have this spelled out.

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