Seven hotels near the New Jersey stadium hosting the Super Bowl received envelopes containing a suspicious white powder, but the letters appeared to be part of a hoax after early tests showed the substance at some locations was cornstarch, NBC 4 New York has learned. Michael George reports. (Published Saturday, Feb. 1, 2014) 
 
 Seven hotels near the New Jersey stadium hosting the Super Bowl received envelopes containing a suspicious white powder, but the letters appeared to be part of a hoax after early tests showed the substance at some locations was cornstarch, NBC 4 New York has learned. 
 
 A law enforcement source tells NBC 4 New York that the hotels, none of which are housing the teams playing at MetLife Stadium, received the envelopes Friday. 
 
 Powder Sent to NJ Hotels Was Cornstarch: Source 
 
 Seven hotels near the New Jersey stadium hosting the Super Bowl received envelopes containing a suspicious white powder, but the letters appeared to be part of a hoax after early tests showed the substance at some locations was cornstarch, NBC 4 New York has learned. Rob Schmitt reports. (Published Friday, Jan. 31, 2014) 
 
 The substance at five locations was cornstarch, the source said. The others were still being tested, but the FBI in New York said all the letters were deemed "non-hazardous." 
 
 That includes several other suspicious envelopes discovered at nearby post offices, and a location in Manhattan. 
 
 Letters Containing Suspicious Powder Sent to Hotels 
 
 The Postal Service was able to intercept two of the letters sent to six Super Bowl hotels and say that the powder is not harmful. (Published Friday, Jan. 31, 2014) 
 
 The message in all the envelopes was similar, the source said. 
 
 The FBI in Newark said the Joint Terrorism Task Force and hazmat units responded. No injuries were reported. 
 
 The Super Bowl is Sunday. ||||| NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A suspicious powder mailed to several locations in New York and New Jersey, including at least five hotels near the site of Sunday's Super Bowl, appears not to be dangerous, the FBI said Friday. 
 
 Law enforcement and other personnel gather Friday, Jan. 31, 2014, outside a post office in Rutherford, N.J. White powder was mailed to businesses near the site of Sunday's Super Bowl, prompting an investigation... (Associated Press) 
 
 Emergency vehicles gather at the Quality Inn near the site of NFL Super Bowl XLVIII, Friday, Jan. 31, 2014, in Lyndhurst, N.J. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum) (Associated Press) 
 
 An emergency personnel walks towards vehicles gathered at the Quality Inn near the site of NFL Super Bowl XLVIII, Friday, Jan. 31, 2014, in Lyndhurst, N.J. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum) (Associated Press) 
 
 Police officers stand guard outside the closed post office in Wood-Ridge, N.J., Friday, Jan. 31, 2014. The FBI says a powder mailed to several locations in New York and New Jersey, including at least... (Associated Press) 
 
 Police officers stand guard outside the closed post office in Wood-Ridge, N.J., Friday, Jan. 31, 2014. The FBI says a powder mailed to several locations in New York and New Jersey, including at least... (Associated Press) 
 
 The agency said further testing was being conducted on the substance, but it is "within normal values." 
 
 White powder also was found in a letter sent to former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's business in New York City, where police said preliminary tests showed it posed no threat. 
 
 A federal law enforcement official, who wasn't authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said powder from one envelope tested positive for baking soda. It's not clear where that letter was sent. 
 
 Hackensack University Medical Center received a number of people for evaluation because they came in contact with the letters, but a hospital spokeswoman said there were no reported illnesses or injuries. 
 
 In New Jersey, the suspicious mailings went to at least five hotels, Carlstadt Police Detective John Cleary said. 
 
 The mailings arrived at an Econo Lodge in Carlstadt, a Homestead Suites hotel in East Rutherford and a Renaissance Inn in Rutherford, Cleary said. Investigators intercepted additional envelopes from a mail truck before they reached a Holiday Inn Express and Hampton Inn in Carlstadt, he said. 
 
 At the Homewood Suites, General Manager Thomas Martucci said the letter sent to his motel contained yellow powder and a typed letter inside referencing al-Qaida and the Dallas FBI. 
 
 "It was nonsense," he said. 
 
 Lauren Wallace, a jet company employee from Los Angeles staying at the Homewood Suites, said she saw hazardous-material trucks outside and was shooed back from the lobby to her room around 11:15 a.m. by a hotel employee. She said she was allowed out of her room about 40 minutes later. 
 
 Police were called to Giuliani's firm near Rockefeller Center after a worker opened the suspicious letter addressed to Giuliani around 10:30 a.m. Friday, police said. Eight mailroom workers underwent decontamination as a precaution. 
 
 A representative for Giuliani's firm said the substance was found to be nonhazardous. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writers Alicia A. Caldwell in Washington and Geoff Mulvihill in Trenton contributed to this report.
– Authorities in New Jersey today had to deal with a Super Bowl security scare that now appears to be a hoax. Envelopes with white powder turned up at several hotels near MetLife stadium and at other sites, but the powder appears to be cornstarch, reports NBC New York and the Star-Ledger. At least one envelope appeared to have baking soda, reports AP. The investigation and testing are continuing, but nobody who came in contact with the letters has fallen ill. All the envelopes contained a similar message, and one of the hotel managers described it as "nonsense," with references to al-Qaeda and the Dallas FBI. One letter got mailed to Rudy Giuliani's Manhattan office, but it, too, was deemed harmless.