Levin reopens Saginaw office after scare, suspicious letter given all-clear

GlobalPost

Michigan Senator Carl Levin on Thursday reopened his Saginaw office a day after a package scare closed the building, reported Michigan Live, authorities responding quickly amid reports that US President Barack Obama and a fellow lawmaker had been sent poison-laced correspondence.

"I have been advised by the F[ederal] B[ureau of] I[nvestigation (FBI)] that preliminary testing by the Michigan Department of Community Health, Micro-Biology Laboratory in Lansing showed negative results in the suspicious letter received by my Saginaw office," Levin said in a statement carried by Michigan Live.

More from GlobalPost: Obama, Senators sent poisonous letters as authorities clear Senate buildings: FBI

The letter was presumably being checked for the deadly poison ricin, the substance found in initial testing of Obama's letter and the one received by Senator Roger Wicker, who serves alongside Levin on the Armed Services Committee. 

Levin was not in Saginew when the letter arrived. He was in Washington DC, where several other package scares were reported at Senate buildings on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear what made the Levin mailing suspect, reported the Detroit Free Press.

Levin's Saginaw office was cleared on Wednesday and one person taken to a medical facility for testing, said Michigan Live

"I want to express my appreciation to the local, state and federal authorities who responded to this incident so quickly and professionally," Levin said. 

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