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CAPITOL HILL (AP) — Police have closed off entries and exits to the U.S. Senate's Dirksen Office Building. The Dirksen building itself was not evacuated. Police have also announced that people should avoid a sub-basement level where a subway connects the building to the Capitol. Fire trucks and ambulances are positioned between the Capitol grounds and the office building. Some firefighters have put on white hazardous material outfits.

16 Staffers Known Exposed, No One Reported Ill By Lauran Neergaard The Associated Press Published: Feb 3, 2004 WASHINGTON (AP) - Sixteen Senate staffers underwent decontamination - basically a fancy word for showering - for exposure to the deadly poison ricin, and so far no one has turned up ill. That reassures health officials, who note that enough people were around the ricin-containing powder that if anyone were going to be ill, symptoms should have begun by now. "As each minute ticks by, we are less and less concerned about the health effects," said Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the...

The US Senate office buildings in Washington have been shut down, after the deadly poison ricin was discovered in a Republican senator's mailroom. Tests on a suspicious white powder, found in the Dirksen building, strongly suggest it is the deadly poison ricin. That and the other two Hart and Russell buildings were closed on Tuesday, and Capitol tours were suspended. Senate Majority leader Bill Frist, whose staff found the powder, said no one appeared to have been poisoned. "Nobody's been hurt and everybody is fine. There've been absolutely no injuries whatsoever," said Mr Frist. "There is no cause for alarm,"...

Senate Powder Tests Positive for Ricin February 3, 2004 12:20 AM EST WASHINGTON - Preliminary tests of a white powder discovered in a Senate office building Monday were positive for the potentially deadly poison ricin, the U.S. Capitol Police chief said. Two out of three tests indicate ricin, Chief Terrance Gainer said at a late-evening news conference. The third test came out negative, and a fourth, more definitive test was under way, with results expected Tuesday. Sixteen people who were on the floor where the white powder was discovered on mail were being decontaminated and would be allowed to go...

Hazardous Substance Suspicious Powder Empties Some Offices at Senate Building Feb. 2— Some workers in a Senate office building were told to leave their offices today after preliminary testing indicated the presence of a hazardous substance. The U.S. Capitol Police said a suspicious powder substance was found at 3 p.m. in a room in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, located northeast of the Capitol. A preliminary test found that the substance was hazardous, the police said. Around 7:20 p.m. a message on the Senate's internal telephone alert system instructed employees in several offices on the south side of the building's...