Oscar Accident Injures Five

Five workers were injured, one of them seriously, when scaffolding being erected outside the Shrine Auditorium, venue for this Sunday's 73rd Academy Awards ceremony, collapsed at around 3:00PM on Thursday. Police brought traffic to a standstill by cordoning off the main road outside the auditorium to allow emergency vehicles access to the scene. The scaffolding formed the support structure of a large sunscreen put up behind the bleacher seats from which press and public view the stars arriving for the event. Thankfully, early reports that someone had died in the incident proved unfounded. However, fire department officials confirmed that at least one person had received serious injuries to his neck and back. According to John Pavlik, a spokesman for the Academy Awards, the incident will not affect the Oscar ceremony. "We actually were a little bit ahead of schedule today, so we are not terribly concerned about getting back on schedule,'' said Pavlik at a hastily convened press conference at the Radisson Mid-Town Hotel across the road from the Shrine Auditorium and location of the Academy Awards press center. The hotel was swarming with journalists picking up press credentials when the incident occurred. Work on the outdoor seating area resumed later in the day, although members of the crew involved in the scaffolding were sent home for the day.