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August 20th 2007
ORLANDO, Fla. -- A State Farm claims office off of Quadrangle Boulevard near the University of Central Florida was evacuated when employees found what fire rescue is calling a suspicious unknown substance. An employee opened a piece of mail and a powdery substance fell out.
Three State Farm employees are being decontaminated.
A worker opened an envelope and came in contact with the substance.
Twenty-five to 30 people were evacuated from the business.
The decontamination team is testing the substance to see what it is.
The employees will not be allowed back in the building until teams decide what the substance is.
August 20, 2007
Suspicious Powder Discovered Outside Courthouse
By CHRISTINE DEMPSEY | The Hartford Courant
DANIELSON - A preliminary test of a white, powder-like substance discovered outside the criminal courthouse Monday morning showed that it was not a biohazardous material, police said.
The substance, which delayed the opening of the Superior Court building at 120 School St. until 10:25 a.m. Monday, was shipped to a lab for thorough analysis, said Lt. J. Paul Vance of the state police.
A judge ordered that the courthouse remain closed after the substance was spotted shortly before 7:30 a.m., Vance said. Two ball-shaped, duct-taped packages of the white substance appeared to have been hurled against the courthouse wall, he said.
Troopers with biohazard training removed the packages, Vance said. The case is being investigated by state police at the Troop D barracks.
New York Police Probe Suspicious Packages at Financial Firms
August 21st 2007 By Reuters | | 04:45 PM ET
New York police said on Tuesday they were investigating suspicious mailings of white powdery substances received by several financial companies in the New York City, a police spokesman said.
"None of the material tested so far has tested positive for any dangerous substance, and was found in some instances to be flour or corn starch," said police spokesman Paul Browne.
He said envelopes containing Zip-lock bags with the powder inside and greeting cards without a message and postmarked from Hartford, Connecticut were sent to the companies on Monday and Tuesday. He did not name the companies that received the mailings.
In 2001, powdery anthrax sent in letters to news organizations and government offices in New York, Florida, Washington and elsewhere killed five people and made at least 17 people ill.
Suspicious white powders were found in buildings occupied by the Daily News, the Associated Press and The New York Times last year but in each case were found not to be hazardous.
August 24th 2007
Two suspicious packages caused the evacuation of three buildings over a six-hour period today, two of them at St. Luke's Hospital in Fountain Hill and one in a business park in Hanover Township, Northampton County.
And late tonight police were gathered at a fourth location, Ninth and Lehigh streets in Bethlehem, though there was no information on its connection to the earlier events.
Fountain Hill Police Chief Tim Stephens said the first package was delivered around noon to the Estes Building on the southeast corner of Ostrum Street and St. Luke's Place. He said five people were sickened by exposure to the box.
FBI agents from the Allentown satellite office were leading the investigation, said Stephens and hospital administrators.
"The FBI is just there to cover all the bases," said bureau spokeswoman Jerri Williams. "We have no reason to believe there is a threat or a connection to terrorism."
Williams confirmed that five people had complaints of sore throats or eyes after exposure to the first package, but their symptoms disappeared when they left the area of the box. No more information on what happened to the five was available.
The second item was delivered to the Doctor's Pavilion at 701 Ostrum St. later Friday. That building was evacuated around 4 p.m., said hospital spokeswoman Denise Rader. She did not know if anyone was affected by the second box.
The third building to be evacuated was a FedEx distribution facility at 126 N. Commerce Way in Hanover Township that handled both packages. FedEx spokeswoman Sally Davenport said the building was shut down around 6 p.m.
Carmen Morales, a medical assistant who works in an oncology office in the Estes Building, said she saw the box that caused the first evacuation. Morales said the FedEx package contained chemotherapy supplies and was wet and leaking. She said the box was checked to see if any of the containers in it were damaged, but none were. Morales said employees then noticed a very bad smell, similar to that of rotten eggs.
FedEx's Sally Davenport confirmed the company delivered materials "related to chemotherapy" to St. Luke's Friday. She would not say where the packages came from.
ORLANDO, Fla. -- A State Farm claims office off of Quadrangle Boulevard near the University of Central Florida was evacuated when employees found what fire rescue is calling a suspicious unknown substance. An employee opened a piece of mail and a powdery substance fell out.
Three State Farm employees are being decontaminated.
A worker opened an envelope and came in contact with the substance.
Twenty-five to 30 people were evacuated from the business.
The decontamination team is testing the substance to see what it is.
The employees will not be allowed back in the building until teams decide what the substance is.
August 20, 2007
Suspicious Powder Discovered Outside Courthouse
By CHRISTINE DEMPSEY | The Hartford Courant
DANIELSON - A preliminary test of a white, powder-like substance discovered outside the criminal courthouse Monday morning showed that it was not a biohazardous material, police said.
The substance, which delayed the opening of the Superior Court building at 120 School St. until 10:25 a.m. Monday, was shipped to a lab for thorough analysis, said Lt. J. Paul Vance of the state police.
A judge ordered that the courthouse remain closed after the substance was spotted shortly before 7:30 a.m., Vance said. Two ball-shaped, duct-taped packages of the white substance appeared to have been hurled against the courthouse wall, he said.
Troopers with biohazard training removed the packages, Vance said. The case is being investigated by state police at the Troop D barracks.
New York Police Probe Suspicious Packages at Financial Firms
August 21st 2007 By Reuters | | 04:45 PM ET
New York police said on Tuesday they were investigating suspicious mailings of white powdery substances received by several financial companies in the New York City, a police spokesman said.
"None of the material tested so far has tested positive for any dangerous substance, and was found in some instances to be flour or corn starch," said police spokesman Paul Browne.
He said envelopes containing Zip-lock bags with the powder inside and greeting cards without a message and postmarked from Hartford, Connecticut were sent to the companies on Monday and Tuesday. He did not name the companies that received the mailings.
In 2001, powdery anthrax sent in letters to news organizations and government offices in New York, Florida, Washington and elsewhere killed five people and made at least 17 people ill.
Suspicious white powders were found in buildings occupied by the Daily News, the Associated Press and The New York Times last year but in each case were found not to be hazardous.
August 24th 2007
Two suspicious packages caused the evacuation of three buildings over a six-hour period today, two of them at St. Luke's Hospital in Fountain Hill and one in a business park in Hanover Township, Northampton County.
And late tonight police were gathered at a fourth location, Ninth and Lehigh streets in Bethlehem, though there was no information on its connection to the earlier events.
Fountain Hill Police Chief Tim Stephens said the first package was delivered around noon to the Estes Building on the southeast corner of Ostrum Street and St. Luke's Place. He said five people were sickened by exposure to the box.
FBI agents from the Allentown satellite office were leading the investigation, said Stephens and hospital administrators.
"The FBI is just there to cover all the bases," said bureau spokeswoman Jerri Williams. "We have no reason to believe there is a threat or a connection to terrorism."
Williams confirmed that five people had complaints of sore throats or eyes after exposure to the first package, but their symptoms disappeared when they left the area of the box. No more information on what happened to the five was available.
The second item was delivered to the Doctor's Pavilion at 701 Ostrum St. later Friday. That building was evacuated around 4 p.m., said hospital spokeswoman Denise Rader. She did not know if anyone was affected by the second box.
The third building to be evacuated was a FedEx distribution facility at 126 N. Commerce Way in Hanover Township that handled both packages. FedEx spokeswoman Sally Davenport said the building was shut down around 6 p.m.
Carmen Morales, a medical assistant who works in an oncology office in the Estes Building, said she saw the box that caused the first evacuation. Morales said the FedEx package contained chemotherapy supplies and was wet and leaking. She said the box was checked to see if any of the containers in it were damaged, but none were. Morales said employees then noticed a very bad smell, similar to that of rotten eggs.
FedEx's Sally Davenport confirmed the company delivered materials "related to chemotherapy" to St. Luke's Friday. She would not say where the packages came from.
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