BREAKING NEWS: Powder Found in Letter Sent to New York Times; Follows Suspicious Items At Obama Campaign Office and JPMorganChase Offices

Developing story:

NEW YORK (AP) -- The New York Police Department is investigating a suspicious white powder sent to the offices of The New York Times.

The newspaper told employees that the substance was found Wednesday morning when an employee opened a letter on the 13th floor of company headquarters in midtown Manhattan. Police were called to the scene and are investigating to determine if the substance is harmful.

The newspaper closed one lobby to the building, but said it was still allowing people to come and go through other exits after the discovery.

The discovery comes after more than 30 letters containing a suspicious powder were mailed to Chase bank branches and federal banking regulators' offices in nine cities.

In the past, these have usually been proven to be a hoax. Stay tuned for more details.

From Abovethelaw.com:

We've received reports that the New York Times building has received some sort of terrorist threat. Apparently a white powder has been sent to somebody at the Time's editorial desk.

The building houses the firms of Covington & Burling and Goodwin Procter, among others.

One tipster reports that the place is crawling with police officers.

Building security just sent around an email informing workers that they can leave via the freight elevator, but cannot come back if they do. While the email told people "there is no need to panic," that has predictably caused some amount of panic.

Safety first people. The powdered substance could be talcum, but why take the risk?

We hope everybody is safe.

UPDATE [lawhawk]:
This follows a series of suspicious packages sent to JP Morgan Chase in Jersey City and elsewhere in the state that were ruled harmless. There's also a report that a suspicious package with a powdery substance was sent to an Obama campaign office in Chase City.

The Chase City Police Department received a call at 10:58 a.m. from the Obama office at 317 N. Main St., Chief Jay Jordan said. Sgt. R. McCall and Patrolman T. Holtz responded, along with members of the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office.

At the scene, a campaign worker told the officers that they had been instructed by the campaign to report any suspicious mail or packages. Based on those concerns, the officers contacted the Virginia State Police, Jordan said.

The State Police bomb disposal unit arrived at the scene, as did the Chase City Volunteer Fire Department and the Chase City Rescue Squad. The building was evacuated, along with several adjoining buildings, Jordan said.

The item was determined to be campaign materials.

With the way the world is these days, no one can take the safety issue for granted, which is why companies and campaigns are taking suspicious items seriously and reporting them to law enforcement for handling.

UPDATE [Legalbgl]:

1010 Wins Radio is now reporting that the white powder was determined to be harmless and a hoax.