Hoax

A Los Angeles school police officer who was wounded last week in a shooting that prompted authorities to shut down a large swath of Woodland Hills concocted a story that he was the victim of the shooting, authorities said Thursday night. The startling revelation came at a hastily called news conference by Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck, who said detectives became suspicious about the officer's story as they investigated the case. Police earlier had said that Los Angeles Unified School District Officer Jeff Stenroos was shot in the chest after he was confronted by a man Jan. 19 as he was attempting to break into vehicles in Woodland Hills, near the eastern boundary of the El Camino Real High School campus.

Gov.'s budget stand Re "Brown veto dismays Democrats," June 17 I want to publicly thank Gov. Jerry Brown for vetoing the sham budget adopted by the Democratic majority in the state Legislature. I also want to acknowledge the minority party's complicity in the budget stalemate. California has been living in a financial house of cards for decades. We need to build a new house on a firm and sustainable foundation. The state's budget crisis can be solved with both spending cuts and revenue increases.

The Cinderella story of Notre Dame's college football season ended in defeat in the BCS national championship game. The story that fueled Manti Te'o's emotional play, the loss of his girlfriend Lennay Kekua, however, ends in a lie, according to a report by Deadspin.com .It's not clear when Te'o became aware of the hoax, or if he was involved in its perpetuation, but according to Notre Dame spokesman and assistant vice president Dennis Brown, the...

LONDON --Two Australian disc jockeys who called a London hospital impersonating members of the royal family as a hoax three days before a nurse's suicide will not face any charges, British prosecutors said Friday. Prosecutors said there were no grounds for charges of manslaughter against Mel Greig and Michael Christian in the death of nurse Jacintha Saldanha, who was found hanged Dec. 7. The Crown Prosecution Service said in a statement “that there is no evidence to support a charge of manslaughter and that although there is some evidence to warrant further investigation under the Data Protection Act and the Malicious Communications Act ... any potential prosecution would not be in the public interest.” The CPS said there was no possibility of extradition from Australia for the potential offenses and that the original intent of the call was “a harmless prank” even though “the consequences were very sad.” Greig and Christian phoned the King Edward VII hospital Dec. 4 asking about the pregnant Catherine, the duchess of Cambridge.

Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick held a news conference about the Manti Te'o controversy Wednesday night. You can watch the entire news conference above. Some highlights: Question: You said this is an online relationship, yet Manti has talked about speaking with a person he thought was Lennay. Did a person, in effect, take her position and talk to Manti as if she were his girlfriend? Swarbrick: Yeah, online and telephonic. There were lengthy, long telephone conversations.

LONDON -- A nurse who took a prank call from a pair of Australian radio hosts pretending to be British royalty was found hanging in her room and left three notes behind in a suspected suicide, authorities said Thursday. Jacintha Saldanha died Dec. 7, three days after the hoax call from disc jockeys who posed as Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles in order to obtain information about the pregnant Duchess of Cambridge at the hospital where Saldanha worked. The stunt made international headlines.

If you were among those who didn't believe the Pirate Bay actually moved to North Korea, give yourself a pat on the back. The controversial file-sharing website now says its move to North Korea, announced in a news release Monday, was all a hoax. "You can't seriously cheer the 'fact' that we moved our servers to bloody North Korea," the Pirate Bay posted on its Facebook page. "Always stay critical. Towards everyone!" Photos: 10 tech companies to watch in 2013 The Pirate Bay claimed to have moved to North Korea after mounting legal pressures recently forced it out of Sweden.

Times art critic Christopher Knight's review "Conceptual Art Thrives in 'Presence' " (Jan. 7) had an accompanying photo describing an artist's "deceptively simple piece of wallboard." Is it just us, or are the modern art critics becoming more and more simple-minded? Is there a lack of oxygen in the high-society circles that these art critics travel in, or is it just plain brain-damage from looking at too many images? Our modern-day art critics have become the ultimate "enablers" in foisting art hoaxes onto the public.

Clay Matthews does not have two broken legs. Or even one for that matter. As far as we know, that is. Since when is it news when someone is not horribly injured? Ever since some sicko created a website that claims to allow other sickos to concoct fake news reports about "any player, any team, two broken legs in glorious traffic accident!" How nice. Apparently just one broken leg isn't quite horrific enough. Anyway, the alleged purpose of this site is to help fantasy football owners get a competitive advantage over everyone else in their league (a.k.a., cheat)

Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, the man who says he pretended to be Lennay Kekua, Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o's girlfriend (who turned out not to exist), told Dr. Phil McGraw that the scheme had “everything to do” with escaping from real life because he had been molested as a child. The comments were broadcast Friday during an airing of McGraw's "Dr. Phil" television show. Tuiasosopo told McGraw he was repeatedly molested by a family friend beginning at age 12. Tuiasosopo did not name his alleged attacker and did not say whether he had told police about his claim.