Staff opened mail with suspicious substances in the Milwaukee district office of Gwen Moore (Rep-D Wisconsin) and the Grand Rapids office of Hillary Scholten (Rep-D Michigan), the Times reported Friday, Oct. 16. Moore said her staff used proper protocols and the office will stop sorting mail on site; Scholten described an "unidentified white powder." Senate and elections officials told the Times the letters have so far tested negative for hazardous substances. NBC News, via Latin Times, reported that confirmatory testing was still under way. The FBI, Postal Inspection Service and Capitol Police are investigating, and the FBI has named no suspects. Separately, a Louisiana election employee who opened a letter on Tuesday, Oct. 13 went to the emergency room as a precaution and was not injured, NPR reported Oct. 15.
What we’re less sure of2 of 3 claims
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The Times report does not say which offices received the letters.
This is the desk's characterization of a named document (the NYT report) and cannot be checked from the list. It is also misleading by omission: Roll Call names Sen. Ricketts' office, FOX 5 names Rep. Subramanyam's Leesburg office, Los Gatan names Rep. Panetta's Santa Cruz office, and KION names Roc
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The incident was reported on or around Oct. 16, 2026.
The date is inferred from the NYT URL. NPR and Politico reported suspicious mailings on Oct. 15, and FOX 5 reports a further Leesburg evacuation on Oct. 19, so the story's framing as a single-day event understates its span.