What didn’t happen last week

Associated Press

A roundup of some of the most popular, but completely untrue, headlines of last week. None of these stories are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked these out; here are the real facts:

Not real: “What’s this? Congress has paid out $15 million from ‘sexual-harassment slush fund’ to ‘quiet’ victims!”

The facts: A Congress-administered fund does exist to settle harassment and other disputes with lawmakers, but all of its actions are public. Multiple sites posted stories after several politicians were publicly accused of sexual misconduct identified the Office of Compliance as a “slush fund.” While that term describes an off-the-books operation often used for criminal purposes, all the office’s settlement data is publicly available .

Not real: “Woman fired for flipping off Trump’s motorcade receives 453,673 job offers”

The facts: Juli Briskman said she got new interest in her career, but not the number of job offers specified in an extranewsfeed piece tagged as satire about the Virginia bicyclist who was fired after raising her middle finger at President Donald Trump’s motorcade.

Not real: “Virginia DOT to ban vehicles valued under $60,000 from driving on interstate 66”

The facts: This account has been circulating on the realnewsrightnow hoax site since the state’s transportation department launched its “Express Lanes” concept that raises tolls to more than $30 on a nine-mile stretch of highway near Washington, D.C. Virginia Department of Transportation spokeswoman Michelle Holland says the story that the state has banned cars valued under $60,000 is “not true.”