New York Times Receives Envelope Containing White Powder

The New York Times received an envelope containing white powder. Emergency crews have responded.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The New York Times said on Friday it had received in its mailroom an envelope containing white powder, raising fears of a possible recurrence of anthrax-tainted letters sent to newsrooms and other offices in late 2001.

"At about 12:30 p.m. (1630 GMT) this afternoon … an employee opened an envelope that contained a white powdery substance. The envelope was handwritten and addressed to the New York Times, not to any individual. The postmark was from Philadelphia with no return address," said Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis.

Emergency vehicles and an ambulance were parked outside the newspaper's offices on 43rd Street. The New York Police Department confirmed it was investigating the incident.

The Post report then has a frankly jarring series of paragraphs:

Conservatives have criticized the Times in recent weeks for writing about the Bush administration's covert efforts to stamp out terrorism financing.

This week protesters rallied outside the newspaper to object to its decision to publish details about terrorism financing and secret government programs to monitor phone conversations of U.S. citizens.

Now, is it just me, or does the insertion of these paragraphs seek to point a finger? This is some appalling behavior by the Post. It is completely irresponsible and totally out of place to put something like that into the story. It has no bearing whatsoever to the factual reporting of the story. None.

UPDATE: The New York Times is reporting that the powder is not anthrax.

Police and environmental workers responded to The New York Times offices today after an employee in the postal services department opened a letter addressed to the newspaper and saw a powdery substance he believed to be suspicious, the police said.

The incident unfolded at about 12:35 p.m. on the eighth floor of the newspaper’s West 43rd Street offices as the mailroom worker opened the white, business-sized envelope with no return address and saw what he later described as a white powder, the police said.

The letter had a postmark from Philadelphia, the police said, and contained an editorial published by The New York Times on June 28 titled “Patriotism and the Press,” with a red “X” written across it, said Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman. Mr. Browne said the substance had yet to be identified but that it was later deemed to be beige in color, not white.

Shortly before 5 p.m. an announcement was made over the Times public address system saying that the powder had been found to be “nonthreatening and nonhazardous.” No specific identification of the substance was announced.

Following procedures established by the newspaper, the employee, a 54-year-old man from Brooklyn, immediately placed the letter in a plastic bag and alerted his supervisor, who dialed 911, the police said.

“He followed exactly the procedure we had established after the anthrax hoaxes that came about in the wake of 9/11,” said Catherine J. Mathis, a spokeswoman for the newspaper.