Is the Maryland General Assembly "about to vote" on a controversial pregnancy "freedom" bill? Not exactly: Maryland legislators proposed the Pregnant Person's Freedom Act of 2022, which is in committee, but at the time of writing the bill is not undergoing a final vote, as implied by a social media post. The claim was implied in a Facebook post (archived…

Is this meme correct in saying COVID-19 is less deadly than what was known as Spanish flu a century ago, or current variants of seasonal flu? No, that is misleading: COVID-19 is killing more people annually than the seasonal flu did in the years prior to COVID and the CDC has declared COVID more deadly. A meme from mid-2020 going…

Did the head of a German hospital who committed suicide describe the COVID-19 vaccine as genocide and a crime against humanity? No, that's not true: Online publications reported unsubstantiated claims of a suicide note from the physician that said those things, but the claims were dismissed by German authorities, who investigated the death, and by municipal officials. The claims appeared…

Did Dr. Dan Stock present well-reasoned arguments to the Mt. Vernon, Indiana, school board against masking and vaccination as means to mitigate the spread and harm of COVID-19, and should his arguments apply universally as public health measures? No, that's not true: The arguments made by this doctor are a mixture of true, false and irrelevant and contradict the evolving…

Did six people in Pennsylvania die and then register and vote in the 2020 election? No evidence has been provided to back up that claim: Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who was quoted in the article as making the claim, did not respond to Lead Stories' request for evidence. The communications director with the Pennsylvania Department of State told Lead Stories…

Was corrupted voting system software used in Michigan to steal 6,000 votes from President Donald Trump and was that software also used in seven U.S. swing states? No, there is no evidence for the first claim, the second claim is false, while the third is true: According to the Michigan Department of State, there was no equipment or software malfunction.…

Are "murder hornets" the same insects as cicada killers and native to the United States? No, that's not true: murder hornets are Asian giant hornets and are new to North America. These newcomers apparently have not traveled beyond Washington state and Canada. A post (archived here) published on Facebook on Tuesday, May 5, 2020, correctly pointed out that there is…

Is it true that "thousands of doctors" say hydroxychloroquine "cures" COVID-19 patients," but the cure won't be valid until a major study is done? And is it true that once a vaccination against the novel coronavirus is manufactured, it will be quickly dispersed to health professionals for "immediate human injection" while studies about its safety and risks will come later.…

Is the U.S. government using the cover of the coronavirus pandemic to remove end-to-end encryption so officials would be able to listen to everyone's calls and see everyone's private messages? No, that does not appear to be the case: A controversial bill -- one that has been made public and is the subject of much attention and debate -- has…

Was President Trump correct in stating on Twitter that 17,000 people died during the swine flu, or H1N1, pandemic during 2009-2010? And does a second claim in the post -- that the Obamacare website cost $5 billion -- hold up to scrutiny? No, both allegations are misleading. Official government figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put the…

Important Update: On April 13, 2020 Sanders formally endorsed Joe Biden. The below fact check was about a tweet sent on April 8, 2020 when no endorsement had been made yet. Has Bernie Sanders, who suspended his presidential campaign, already endorsed Joe Biden? No, as of early afternoon ET on April 8, 2020, this was not the case. Sanders, the…

(Editor's Note: This story has taken off the label "Fact Check" because there continues to be disagreement in the medical, scientific and political fields about the safety and wisdom of lifting lockdowns and restrictions.) Would allowing everyone, except the most vulnerable, to go on with their lives and forget about the lockdown put an end to the COVID-19 outbreak? No,…

Did film director John Singleton die after suffering a major stroke? No, that's not true: It is another celebrity death hoax taking advantage of a serious health crisis to generate web traffic. John Singleton, 51, is in a coma after suffering a stroke, but not dead, a source close to his family told Lead Stories Thursday night. (A family representative…

UPDATE: Joe Jackson passed away on June 27, 2018, four days after a hoax article prematurely announced his death. Joe Jackson Dead at 89 Joe Jackson -- the patriarch of the Jackson family -- has died ... TMZ has learned. Family sources tell TMZ, Joe passed away at 3:30 AM Wednesday in L.A. We broke the story ... Joe was…

Correction: A ballot measure "D" was actually passed with 75.94% in Oakland but it had nothing to do with hate crimes or undocumented persons. It read: Shall the measure, to protect and improve library services throughout Oakland, including: providing safe places for youth after school; preventing library closures; providing youth reading and senior programs, evening/weekend hours for students/families and adult…

Update: George H.W. Bush eventually did die at the age of 94 on December 1, 2018. Is former President George H.W. Bush dead again at 93? Nope, that's just a repeat from an older hoax run by a Ghana-based fake news network that was recently shut down after an investigation by Lead Stories. The new version of the hoax comes…

UPDATE: Barbara Bush did now pass away on April 17, 2018 as reported by the NY Times: Barbara Bush, Wife of 41st President and Mother of 43rd, Dies at 92 As the wife of the 41st president and the mother of the 43rd, George W. Bush, Mrs. Bush was only the second woman in American history to see a son…

Was the board game "Settlers of Catan" renamed just to "Catan" because the word "settlers" offended certain people? Several reports in Dutch and Belgian newspapers claimed this was the main reason on April 4, 2018 quoting a spokesperson for 999 Games, the company distributing the game. Correction: In an earlier version of the headline above this article we said this…

Rumors that Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is dead are not true. (UPDATE: They are now true, Tsvangirai passed away on February 14th 2018) The origin of the rumor is the website "All Africa" or allafricanews.co.za which posted an article (archived here) titled "BREAKING: Zim's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai dies" somewhere in January 2018 that opened: JOHANNESBURG - Zimbabwe's main…

Note: David Cassidy passed away on November 22nd 2017, see the update below this article. Fake news website city-herald.com published an article on November 19th 2017 (archived here) titled "BREAKING: David Cassidy dies of organ failure after brief hospitalization aged 67". The story opened: Pop star David Cassidy has died in Florida after suffering from organ failure, according to his…