false alarm

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Senior 'Skip Day' at Beach Marred by Gunfire
'Looks Like a
Scene Out of Jaws'
Apr 8, 2023 7:45 AM CDT

'Looks Like a Scene Out of Jaws'

6 injured after gunfire rings out during senior 'skip day' at South Carolina beach

(Newser) - A senior "skip day" turned chaotic at a South Carolina beach when gunfire broke out, injuring six beachgoers. Kevin Cornett, chief of police in the seaside city of Isle of Palms, says the shooting took place around 5:20pm on Friday, among "a large crowd of individuals" believed...

Her Story Illustrates Risks of Reporting Sexual Assault

Rachel Aviv examines the use of false alarm laws against those who make the accusation

(Newser) - Arica Waters never said she was raped. She never even denied that she had consensual sex with Jeremy Berman. She later told a police investigator that she was drunk and didn’t really know what happened, but she felt “totally taken advantage of.” Ultimately, Waters wound up facing...

'Stray Lion' in Bushes Was Just a Shopping Bag
'Stray Lion' Alert Leads to
Much More Innocuous Find
in case you missed it
May 8, 2022 11:35 AM CDT

'Stray Lion' Alert Leads to Much More Innocuous Find

It was a shopping bag with a lion's face on it in the bushes outside a Kenyan home

(Newser) - A farmhand in Kenya may be feeling a little foolish today, but also pretty lucky: His anxiety-ridden "stray lion" sighting turned out not to be a lion after all. The BBC reports on the incident that took place in Kinyana, a village not far from Mount Kenya National Park,...

DC Jitters: Inauguration Rehearsal Is Evacuated

Smoke from a nearby homeless encampment caused a scare

(Newser) - The US Capitol complex temporarily locked down Monday during a rehearsal for President-elect Biden's inauguration after a fire in a homeless encampment about a mile away sent a plume of smoke into the air and caused security concerns, per the AP . But law enforcement officials said there was no...

Eric Idle Gets Mail, Then a Hazmat Response

Anthrax scare after powder came out of envelope has since been deemed a false alarm

(Newser) - Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition , nor an anthrax scare—but it was the latter that brought emergency workers to the Los Angeles residence of a Monty Python alum Monday evening. The LAPD reports the Hollywood Hills home of Eric Idle and his wife, Tania Kosevich, was evacuated after someone...

Another Alert Misfire: Alaska Warned of Tsunami

State officials are trying to figure out what went wrong

(Newser) - It's not as bad as what happened to people in Hawaii , but it wasn't too pleasant, either. Residents of Alaska got an alert Friday morning on their TVs and radios that a tsunami threatened pretty much the entire state. As it turns out, the alert went out in...

Worker Who Sent False Missile Alert Is Refusing to Cooperate

'We hope that person will reconsider,' FCC says

(Newser) - The Hawaii Emergency Management Agency worker who caused panic by accidentally sending an incoming missile alert earlier this month has clammed up, officials say. Lisa Fowlkes, the chief of the Federal Communication Commission's Homeland Security Bureau, told a Senate hearing Thursday that the "button pusher" responsible is no...

Where There's Smoke, There's ... Pregnant Women?

Women participating in incense therapy accidentally trigger emergency call

(Newser) - A reported fire in a Hamburg basement turned out to be a false alarm after firefighters determined that the smell of burning came from an alternative therapy being used at a neighboring gynecological clinic. The fire department said Thursday they received a call at lunchtime Wednesday about a strong burning...

False Nuclear Emergency Warning Issued in New Jersey

Not something you want to see while trying to watch TV

(Newser) - Residents in two New Jersey counties were watching television Tuesday night only to suddenly be warned of an emergency at the nation's second-largest nuclear generating facility. The warning, sent out via the state's emergency broadcast system, was a false alarm, albeit one that was—in the words of...

'Gunshots' at Airport May Have Been Noise From Olympics Fans

Report of shots fired caused chaos at JFK

(Newser) - These are tense times, so it's no surprise that reports of shots fired at New York City's JFK Airport caused chaos Sunday night: Two terminals were evacuated, an NYPD anti-terror unit rushed to the airport, and flights were stopped on the ground or diverted after shots were reported...

Mistaken Reports of Gunfire Set Off Chaos at LAX

It was actually a car crash; police also got false report of gunman

(Newser) - A sign of just how on edge people at LAX airport remain three weeks after a gunman went on a shooting spree there: A car crash last night led to reports of shots fired and the evacuation of two terminals, reports NBC Los Angeles . Someone also phoned in a false...

Verizon 'Emergency' Text Spooks New Jersey

Customers ordered to 'take shelter now,' but it's just a test

(Newser) - Verizon sparked panic in central New Jersey yesterday by sending thousands of customers a text message reading: "Civil Emergency in this area until 1:24 PM EST Take Shelter Now US Govern." Verizon says the message, which caused 911 dispatchers to be swamped with calls, was part of...

Latest Airplane Terror Scare May Be False Alarm

Feds don't think Yemeni men were planning an attack

(Newser) - It looks like that supposed dry run for a terror attack can be chalked up to a series of harmless coincidences, federal sources tell the Washington Post . The two Yemeni men who flew from Chicago to Amsterdam before being arrested didn't even know each other before the flight. "It...

'Suspicious' Honey Closes Calif. Airport
 'Suspicious' Honey 
 Closes Calif. Airport 
HONEY, I SHUT DOWN THE AIRPORT
Jan 6, 2010 2:36 AM CST

'Suspicious' Honey Closes Calif. Airport

Airport evacuated after 'amber substance' found in bag

(Newser) - California's Bakersfield airport was evacuated and shut down for hours yesterday after security staff became suspicious of honey in a man's luggage. The passenger, a gardener who had been carrying the honey in Gatorade bottles, was released after questioning, Reuters reports. Authorities trying to figure out why the honey made...

Titans QB in Danger? Only If the Wings Were Really Hot

Cops track down 'unreachable' Young, who was watching TV and chowing down

(Newser) - Titans quarterback Vince Young went missing last night in Nashville—sort of. Worried about his "state of mind," coach Jeff Fisher asked the police to be on the lookout for the third-year veteran, who has a sprained left knee. After Young got in touch, it became clear that...

15 Stories