A Bakersfield Californian employee found what she thought to be a powdery substance when she opened an envelope around 3 p.m. Tuesday, resulting in the closure of the downtown building for about two hours , according to Californian Executive Editor Mike Jenner.

The employee then notified The Californian’s human resources department, which alerted authorites.

“The fire, police and environmental health came and closed off the building and a couple of officers came in hazmat suits and removed the envelopes. They took them out to analyze them but they couldn’t find anything to analyze,” said Jenner.

The Californian was given the all clear by authorities around 5 p.m.

Jenner said Tuesday that The Californian has a policy of not playing up bomb scares or threats. Since the television stations have led their newscasts with five-minute reports about the matter, The Californian planned to have a “very modest” story, inside the Local section, he said.

“This one wasn’t even intended to be a scare. I think this was somebody paying their bill or something,” said Jenner.
The incident was more of a distraction than anything else.
“Until they figured out what it was, we just kept on working in here,” said Jenner.
“It did not impede the production of the newspaper.”