As we mentioned yesterday, the Craigslist posting regarding a Bronx Zoo zoologist and her alligator was a hoax, and now the person behind it has stepped forward for his/her prize: attention. The hoaxer wrote in to The Boken Online, saying: more ›

How much longer can Chris Christie sheepishly deny the siren song of destiny? Roger Ailes had diamond-encrusted kneepads made to beg the New Jersey governor to run, and accordingly The Post reported that Barry is taking him serious enough to call a few IHOPs in Jersey to ask how many sides of bacon he eats with his Cinnastack Pancakes. Now, as Christie pulls his state out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI, or "Reggie") it seems he's attempting to solidify his right-wing bonafides, but at what cost? more ›

Where to start with this one? In a truly bizarre and disturbing sequence of events related to the alleged "Botox Mom" who supposedly injected her 8-year-old daughter, ABC and Good Morning America are getting caught up in a checkbook journalism scandal for agreeing to pay $10,000 for photos of the mom and her child. more ›

Yesterday, newly sworn-in Governor Andrew Cuomo's twitter account was mysteriously deleted "due to strange activity." Shortly afterwards, a new account was linked on Cuomo's website, called "NYGovernor." And his initial bio for the twitter was: "First elected Governor of the State of New York since the Luv Guv. @shellysilver calls me Mario's Kid. I live with @sandrashm and like classic cars." Does Andrew Cuomo have a better sense of humor than any of us realized? more ›

About that Rangers fan you felt bad for because his would-be-fiance ran out of MSG when he proposed via the scoreboard... yeah, that was fake. And not only was it a fake, but it was Rangers-sanctioned, and "Nick" and "Melissa" were hired actors! Reportedly they were "hired through an agency and designed to be part of the in-game entertainment." So it wasn't even a real-life couple trying to get their 15 minutes of viral fame through the YouTubes... in which case, we have to ask again, why was this pre-meditated prank so lame? Here's a better one. more ›

Twitter is being flooded with frantic news of Grand Central Terminal being evacuated. Business Insider reports via the Twitter updates that subways are skipping the stop, the SWAT team has flooded the platforms and the building has been evacuated. We got word over the newswire this afternoon that a suspicious package was spotted at East 42nd and Park Avenue. Is this chaos real? A hoax? We've contacted the NYCT and MTA and will update when there is more info. more ›

Someone attempted to convince Brooklyn Tech students, parents, and teachers that the school was closed until further notice by sending a spoof email using the assistant principal's account. The phony email claimed that a construction accident in the basement had caused "a serious safety hazard for anyone that comes near or inside the school," according to the Times. more ›

The Colorado parents who apparently orchestrated a massive hoax involving a runaway helium balloon and their young son last month will plead guilty to charges, according to their lawyer. A statement from lawyer David Lane said, "Richard and Mayumi Heene will enter pleas of guilty in Larimer County Court.... Mayumi Heene will plead guilty to False Reporting to Authorities, a class 3 misdemeanor (the lowest level misdemeanor in Colorado law) with a stipulated sentence of probation. Richard Heene will plead guilty to Attempting to Influence a Public Servant, a class 4 felony. The prosecutor has stipulated to a sentence of probation." more ›

Aha! The AP reports, "According to documents released today by Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden, the boy's mother, Mayumi Heene, told authorities two days after the balloon flight that she and her husband knew all along that their son Falcon was hiding in the residence and was not in the balloon." Also, she allegedly said that the balloon was made for the hoax and that they were trying to get a reality show deal. Her husband's lawyer dismissed the news, "Her English is not that great, first of all." more ›

Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden told reporters that the "Balloon" Boy incident of October 15, 2009 that riveted the world was a just a big ploy for attention (mission accomplished!), "It has been determined that this is a hoax, that it was a publicity stunt and we believe we have evidence at this point to indicate that this was a publicity stunt in hopes to better market themselves for a reality show." He also said Richard and Mayumi Heene "put on a very good show for us, and we bought it." more ›

The Larimer County Sheriff's Department will investigate the family suspected of falsely claiming that a 6-year-old boy was trapped inside a runaway helium balloon yesterday. Sources tell TMZ that officials have not decided if it's a criminal investigation, but detectives will interview each family member starting tomorrow. (The family's presumably all booked up with interviews today.) The investigation will try to determine whether the parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene, filed a false report, perhaps motivated by an insatiable lust for fame—TLC confirms the family did pitch a reality TV show earlier this year. more ›

Is the media frenzy over the balloon boy stunt making you sick? You're not the only one! Parents Richard and Mayumi Heene are very busy pimping themselves out to the networks, and they're not about to let their li'l star's stomach virus stand in the way of their precious 15 minutes. This morning Falcon—the six-year-old boy who was hiding in the attic while America was voyeuristically titillated worried sick that he was in a runaway helium balloon—vomited twice on two different talk shows this morning, just like a pussified wus. Here's the Today Show spew, at 5:50 in: more ›

Yes Men co-founder Andy Bichlbaum was arrested this morning while demonstrating one of the group's post-apocalyptic SurvivaBalls, described as "a self-contained living system—truly, a gated community for one. If you have a SurvivaBall, even if everyone else is dying, at least you can weather all storms." A spokesperson tells us that Bichlbaum was at Stuy Cove Park, just north of East 20th Street on the East River, wearing a SurvivaBall along with twenty others similarly ensconced. There were about 40 spectators, and so the NYPD, acting on NYC's unconstitutional parade permit law, arrived to break up the citizens' peaceful assembly. more ›

Two men who released helium balloons with flares attached into the night sky above Morris County, NJ say they were "on a mission to help people think rationally and question the credibility of so-called UFO 'professionals.' " But professionals in the field of law-enforcement have some questions of their own, and local prosecutor Robert Bianchi has filed disorderly person charges against Chris Russo, 29, and Joe Rudy, 28. Speaking to reporters yesterday, Bianchi said, "If there is a single word to describe this... it is in essence stupidity." more ›

Remember how last month we all had fun hating that "support group" Dating a Banker Anonymous [DABA], created by and for materialistic ladies freaking out about their suddenly penurious boyfriends? And then, after a NY Times article about the women led to an immediate book deal for the DABA co-founders—swiftly followed by talk of a movie and TV deal—we all gagged on our own bile? Well, as previously suspected, the whole thing was just a satirical put-on—there never was any support group, just a blog—and the Paper of Record has just issued a mea culpa, almost four weeks after the article was originally published:

An article on Jan. 28 about women who commiserated over dating Wall Street bankers caught in the financial crisis described a group they had formed, Dating a Banker Anonymous, as a support group. That is the name of their blog. Its creators originally told The Times that about 30 women had participated, but since publication, they have said that all involved were friends. Laney Crowell, one of the women who started the blog, said in the article that it was “very tongue in cheek;” she has since described it as a satire that embellishes true experiences for effect. Had the nature of the blog been made clear at the outset, the article would have described it accordingly, not as a support group.

If some faint writing on a subway seat, plus some apparently used condoms, is any indication, then someone got lucky on the G. Bitchcakes Commutes ran across this littered find on Thursday and acknowledges it could be an "elaborate display to make it appear they had sex, and quite possibly lost their virginity, on this seat of the G Train," but appreciates the effort--and is "considering never EVER sitting on a subway seat again." But we wonder if it was really an elaborate display, wouldn't they use the city's official condom? [Via New York Shitty] more ›

Newsday and Gawker, the first sources to publish the two original photos of the Montauk Monster, are now a little suspect of the ongoing "buzz" this creature is maintaining. As such, they did a little digging and end up back at one of the first theories: could it be a viral marketing scheme? Their dissection of the creature results in more confusion--albeit organized, bullet-pointed confusion--and raises points for each case (it's real, and it's fake). In the end, there are some "untied loose ends" in the hoax theory...but there's also this Splinterheads movie site. Oh, and that shifty-eyed girl behind the first photo, who may or may not be related to the filmmaker. UPDATE: The movie site has taken down the photo--see their original posting here. more ›

It's one thing to believe the the supernatural. It's another to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to a storefront psychic. But that's what happened to a stock trader when he came into contact with Tammy Mitchell, who ran a fortune telling business in Midtown. more ›