(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Four GOP lawmakers get threatening letters, white powder; substance in one tests as flour – Daily Montanan [1] ['Nicole Girten', 'More From Author', '- June'] Date: 2023-06-26 The Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office told House Majority Leader Sue Vinton the white powder contained in a suspicious letter she received Monday tested as flour. The Billings representative was the fourth Republican Montana legislator to receive a letter containing white powder since Friday, according to a press release from Senate Republicans, with lawmakers in Kansas and Tennessee reportedly receiving similar packages in recent days. “While I’m hopeful that the other letters received by Montana Republican legislators are also benign, I want to encourage all lawmakers to continue exercising extreme caution and work with their local law enforcement to handle any suspicious mail that they receive,” Vinton said in the release. A spokesperson for the District of Montana U.S. Attorney’s Office confirmed Monday an FBI investigation into the letters is underway. House Speaker Matt Regier of Kalispell was sent the same letter addressed to his office at the Capitol, featuring a local Helena return address but stamped with Kansas City post markings, using the same kind of stamp as the letters sent to Reps. Rhonda Knudsen of Culbertson and Neil Duram of Eureka last week. Capitol staff flagged the letter sent to Regier as suspicious Saturday after it was delivered and stored in House leadership offices for several days. Montana Highway Patrol then took over possession of the letter, a Sunday press release said. No Montana lawmakers reported any symptoms after receiving the suspicious letters. The timeline for test results for the other three letters was unclear Monday. Saturday, a spokesperson for the state DOJ said federal agencies have jurisdiction. “At this time, it does not appear that the state crime lab will do the testing,” Kyler Nerison of the DOJ said in an email Saturday. “Because the suspicious envelopes were delivered by U.S. Mail, the FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspectors Office have primary jurisdiction on the matter.” More than 100 letters containing white powder were sent to legislators in Kansas, the Kansas Reflector reported last week. In Tennessee, a legislative office building was put on temporary lockdown after receiving similar letters on Thursday, according to the Associated Press. Vinton turned over the suspicious letter to the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office without opening it and said she was thankful to them and the Billings Fire Department’s Hazmat Team for their work investigating the powder. She shared a post on her Facebook page from Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen where he shared the news she and Regier received suspicious letters and urged lawmakers to continue to be cautious. “We will not be intimidated by nameless, faceless cowards. Rest assured we will continue to serve the people of Montana,” Vinton said. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2023/06/26/four-gop-lawmakers-get-threatening-letters-white-powder-substance-in-one-tests-as-flour/ Published and (C) by Daily Montanan Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/