Latest Stories By Samantha Putterman

Two years into the coronavirus pandemic, people are continuing to look for new prevention and treatment options. The latest combo getting attraction on social media involves Benadryl and a protein found in milk. But don’t open your fridge quite yet. There’s more to the headlines that you need to know. WND.com, a conservative news website, […]

Soon after positive omicron COVID-19 cases exploded across the U.S., hospitalizations followed.  Many states are seeing their highest levels of COVID-19-related hospitalizations since the start of the pandemic nearly two years ago.  But unlike with earlier surges, new data show that large numbers of patients with COVID-19 are coming to the hospital for other reasons […]

Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has been the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, has been a frequent target of misinformation throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.  A Dec. 20 article by the Gateway Pundit repeats rumors that Fauci funded experiments through the National Institutes of Health that resulted in the deaths […]

In 2020, words like lockdown, quarantine and herd immunity entered the world lexicon. The massive rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in 2021 ushered in a new set of buzzwords that are often misunderstood or willfully misinterpreted. As families convene for the holidays, we expect a lot of unfamiliar words and ideas are going to be passed […]

We’ve seen several attempts at rewriting the events of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.  In one version, the breach resembled “an ordinary tourist visit.” We rated that Pants on Fire. In another, left-wing anti-fascists were to blame. That was baseless, too. Now comes the latest deflection, one that focuses on the federal government, and includes […]

Just in time for Halloween, claims about what’s lurking in the COVID-19 vaccines are getting wilder and spookier. There’s the “transhumanism nanotechnology” ingredient that will apparently turn all of us into copies of the Terminator. There’s also “graphene oxide,” a material that some claimed will straight up kill you. Why didn’t Michael Myers think of […]

Editor’s Note: PolitiFact has reviewed court filings and other information for hundreds of defendants facing charges related to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol in an ongoing effort to document what role misinformation played. This report reflects some of our findings about the way that hundreds of false claims about the 2020 election […]

A concerning statistic about teenagers and COVID-19 vaccines is making the rounds on social media and eliciting anxiety from parents considering whether to vaccinate their children. “A new study from University of California found that teenage boys are more at risk from vaccines than covid; SIX times more likely to suffer from heart problems from […]

As President Joe Biden stuck to a deadline for pulling U.S. forces out of Afghanistan, he was criticized for leaving some Americans and thousands of Afghan allies behind and for not responding fast enough to the Taliban’s takeover. Biden was also lashed over several things he didn’t do or that just didn’t happen.  Influential GOP […]

An image of dog crates sitting in front of a battered helicopter spread quickly online during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, drawing the ire of fans of dogs and the U.S. military. “Our helpless service dogs, caged and abandoned at the Kabul airport, left to starve to death,” tweeted actor James Woods.  “Infuriating,” said Sen. […]

It’s been almost six months since hundreds of pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 in a brazen attempt to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.  Since then, some have tried to pass the blame onto others, like antifa. Others tried to claim that it was just […]

Are lawmakers trying to pass a bill in Pennsylvania that would fine women for miscarrying? That’s what several viral social media posts are claiming after the bill, HB 118, was advanced by the state’s House Health Committee in late May. Here’s what one Instagram post, shared on May 27, said: “The Pennsylvania state legislature today […]