Suspicious White Powder Sent to 3 U.N. Missions

Decontamination centers have been set up outside the French And Austrian Missions, as well as the Uzbekistan Consulate near the United Nations in response to the discovery of  letters containing a suspicious white powder at each location.

Authorities are investigating some suspicious letters containing white powder that were sent to three foreign-government missions to the United Nations in Manhattan.Letters arrived at the missions of Uzbekistan, Austria, and France Monday, police said.At the Uzbekistan mission, on 2nd Avenue, two people were decontaminated as a precaution.

Eight people at the Austrian mission, on 3rd Avenue, were decontaminated. Meantime, at the French mission, on 2nd Avenue, 15 people were decontaminated, the NYPD said.Preliminary tests on the powder sent to the Uzbekistan mission came back negative for anthrax or any other dangerous substance, the NYPD said.All three envelopes had Dallas postmarks, the AP reported.No one was hurt, police said, and the missions weren’t evacuated. The NYPD and the FBI are investigating.

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30 Quarantined In Possible Anthrax Attack – Pomona

30 quarantined due to suspicious powder A suspicious package, containing an unidentified, yellow powder, opened Thursday at a college in Pomona left one student exposed and 30 other people quarantined for their protection as hazardous materials teams and the FBI investigated the possible attack.

A “possible anthrax in an envelope” call was reported at 2:07 p.m. to the Student Services office at Western University of Health Sciences, 309 E. Second St., said Inspector Mathew Levesque of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

“One student was exposed but is showing no symptoms at this time,” Levesque said. “And 30 other people have been quarantined to defend them from an exposure.”

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3 Kentucky Congressmen Receive Suspicious Letters

The United States Capitol Police are investigating suspicious letters sent Monday to the district offices of three Republican congressmen from Kentucky

The letters were sent to the offices of Reps. Ed Whitfield of the 1st District, Brett Guthrie of the 2nd District and Geoff Davis of the 4th District.

At least two of the letters claimed — falsely — to contain anthrax, spokesmen for the congressmen said.

Capitol Police Sgt. Kimberly Schneider confirmed that her agency was conducting an investigation but declined to offer details.

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Man Arrested In Suspicious Powder Mailings

A man apparently upset about losing more than $60,000 when the government took over a failed bank has been arrested on charges alleging he mailed threatening letters containing suspicious powder to banks and federal offices, authorities said Tuesday.

Richard Leon Goyette, who also goes by the name Michael Jurek, was arrested Monday at the Albuquerque airport and is scheduled to make a preliminary court appearance later today. He is charged with a single count of knowingly and intentionally conveying false and misleading information.

The letters, mailed to Chase Bank branches, FDIC offices and the Office of Thrift Supervision, contained white powder and threats warning that whoever opened the letters would die within 10 days, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Orr. Field tests on the letters proved the powder to be non-hazardous.

“Mr. Goyette’s alleged criminal actions caused emergency responders and hazardous response teams immense unnecessary labor and expense, diverted personnel from actual emergencies, completely disrupted business at these financial institutions, and caused untold emotional distress to those who received letters,” said James T. Jacks, acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas.

Goyette is accused of mailing 65 threatening letters in October to financial institutions and federal regulatory offices in 12 states. Sixty-four of the letters contained an unidentified white powder. Officials said Tuesday that the powder was calcium carbonate, a major component of blackboard chalk.

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Suspicious Letters Containing White Powder Forces Evacuation of WSJ Offices

Two floors of the Manhattan offices of The Wall Street Journal were evacuated Wednesday after the

The suspicious mails, in identical, white envelopes with Tennessee postmarks, were addressed to several New York-based WSJ executives, the paper said in a story on its website.

The two evacuated floors housed news, editorial and executive personnel, the paper said, adding that only a core group of editors remained in the building to ensure production of newspaper for Thursday and that others were sent home or to back-up facilities.

Officials from the New York City Police Department and Department of Environmental Protection are on the scene.

The suspicious envelopes, addressed by hand in pen, arrived with different return addresses in Tennessee. One envelope was addressed to Robert Thomson, the paper’s managing editor. It was opened by one of his assistants.

The Wall Street Journal is published by News Corp.’s Dow Jones &Co.

An executive of Dow Jones emailed the paper’s New York City-based employees, cautioning them not to open any mail.

“While we don’t think there is cause for alarm at this time, we are asking everyone not to open any mail while we investigate,” Dow Jones vice president of communications Howard Hoffman said in the email.

Last October, the New York offices of the New York Times and Reuters had to be evacuated for several hours after receiving letters with suspicious white powder.

Suspicious Letters SentTo At Least 6 Governors

Suspicious letters containing powdery substances addressed to governors were intercepted in at least six states on Monday, but no injuries were immediately reported.

The letters were reported in Alabama, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana and Rhode Island. They disrupted state governments in a few of the states, forcing some evacuations and testing for workers who might have been exposed.

Preliminary tests found the powders sent to Alabama, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana and Rhode Island were not harmful. The Missouri letter never made it to state offices.

Alabama officials said the FBI was working with police agencies in each state to investigate the letters. An FBI spokeswoman in Washington referred questions about the investigation to the bureau’s offices in each state.

Alabama’s public safety director, Christopher Murphy, said “my gut is there may be more” letters still moving through the mail system.

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