Suspicious packages sent to election officials in at least 6 states

Suspicious packages were sent to election officials in at least six states on Monday, but there were no reports that any of the packages contained hazardous material.

Powder-containing packages were sent to secretaries of state and state election offices in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Tennessee, Wyoming and Oklahoma, officials in those states confirmed. The FBI and U.S. Postal Service were investigating. It marked the second time in the past year that suspicious packages were mailed to election officials in multiple state offices.

The latest scare comes as early voting has begun in several states less than two months ahead of the high-stakes elections for president, Senate, Congress and key statehouse offices around the nation, causing disruption in what is already a tense voting season.

Several of the states reported a white powder substance found in envelopes sent to election officials. In most cases, the material was found to be harmless. Oklahoma officials said the material sent to the election office there contained flour. Wyoming officials have not yet said if the material sent there was hazardous.

The packages forced an evacuation in Iowa. Hazmat crews in several states quickly determined the material was harmless.

“We have specific protocols in place for situations such as this,” Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate said in a statement after the evacuation of the six-story Lucas State Office Building in Des Moines. “We immediately reported the incident per our protocols."

A state office building in Topeka, Kansas, was also evacuated due to suspicious mail sent to both the secretary of state and attorney general, Kansas Highway Patrol spokesperson April M. McCollum said in a statement.

Topeka Fire Department crews found several pieces of mail with an unknown substance on them, though a field test found no hazardous materials, spokesperson Rosie Nichols said. Several employees in both offices had been exposed to it and had their health monitored, she said.

In Oklahoma, the State Election Board received a suspicious envelope in the mail containing a multi-page document and a white, powdery substance, agency spokesperson Misha Mohr said in an email to The Associated Press. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol, which oversees security for the Capitol, secured the envelope. Testing determined the substance was flour, Mohr said.

State workers in an office building next to the Wyoming Capitol in Cheyenne were sent home for the day pending testing of a white substance mailed to the secretary of state’s office.

Suspicious letters were sent to election offices and government buildings in at least six states last November, including the same building in Kansas that received suspicious mail Monday. While some of the letters contained fentanyl, even the suspicious mail that was not toxic delayed the counting of ballots in some local elections.

One of the targeted offices was in Fulton County, Georgia, the largest voting jurisdiction in one of the nation’s most important swing states. Four county election offices in Washington state had to be evacuated as election workers were processing ballots cast, delaying vote-counting.

The letters caused election workers around the country to stock up the overdose reversal medication naloxone.

Election offices across the United States have taken steps to increase the security of their buildings and boost protections for workers amid an onslaught of harassment and threats following the 2020 election and the false claims that it was rigged.

Salter reported from O'Fallon, Missouri. Volmert reported from Lansing, Michigan. Mead Gruver in Cheyenne, Wyoming; Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee; Summer Ballentine in Columbia, Missouri; Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City and John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed to this report.

FILE - William R. Snodgrass Tennessee Tower stands June 22, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)

The Oklahoma State Election Board Office inside the state Capitol in Oklahoma City, was one of at least five states in the U.S. which election officials received suspicious packages on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Sean Murphy)

The Oklahoma State Election Board Office inside the state Capitol in Oklahoma City, was one of at least five states in the U.S. which election officials received suspicious packages on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Sean Murphy)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — John David “JD” Souther, a prolific songwriter and musician who helped shape the country-rock sound that took root in Southern California in the 1970s with his collaborations with the Eagles and Linda Ronstadt, has died at the age of 78.

Souther, who collaborated on some of the Eagles' biggest hits, such as “Best of My Love," “James Dean,” "New Kid in Town," and “Heartache Tonight,” died Tuesday at his home in New Mexico, according to an announcement on his website.

He also worked with James Taylor, Bob Seger, Bonnie Raitt and many more, and also found success as a solo artist. He was about to start a tour with Karla Bonoff on Sept. 24 in Phoenix, now canceled.

When he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2013, Souther was described as “a principal architect of the Southern California sound and a major influence on a generation of songwriters.” He was also at the heart of the social scene, his girlfriends including Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell and Stevie Nicks, who in a 1982 interview with High Times magazine remembered him as “very, very, very male chauvinistic and very sweet and cute and wonderful but very Texas.”

Souther was born in Detroit and grew up in Amarillo, Texas. He moved to Los Angeles in the late 1960s, where he met fellow Michigan native Glenn Frey, a founding member and guitarist of the Eagles. The two began a longtime partnership, starting with a band called Longbranch Pennywhistle. Frey would credit Souther with introducing him to country music.

“Our first year together will always seem like yesterday to me,” Souther said in a statement after Frey died in 2016. “His amazing capacity for the big joke and that brilliant groove that lived inside him are with me, even now, in this loss and sorrow. ... The music and the love are indestructible.”

Souther was so close to the Eagles, he even appeared on the back cover of their 1973 album, “Desperado,” with Souther and others reenacting the capture of the legendary Dalton Gang. He described his start with Frey at The Troubadaour, the popular West Hollywood music club, as “the best study in songwriting I can imagine.”

“So many great songwriters came through — Laura Nyro, Kris Kristofferson, Randy Newman, Elton John, James Taylor, Tim Hardin, Carole King, Rick Nelson, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Waylon Jennings, Tim Buckley, Gordon Lightfoot, Taj Mahal and more,” he said in a statement on his website. "It seems impossible now to imagine that much music in a year and a half or so, but that was my life and the Troubadour was our university.

"It’s also where I met Linda Ronstadt and where Don Henley and Glenn Frey met to form this little country rock band called Eagles that would go on to make musical history,” Souther wrote.

On his own, Souther recorded his self-titled debut in 1972 before forming The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band with former Byrds member Chris Hillman and Poco’s Richie Furay. A second solo effort in 1976, Black Rose, included a duet with Ronstadt, his one-time girlfriend, “If You Have Crying Eyes.” Other duets he had recorded with her include “Prisoner in Disguise,” “Sometimes You Can’t Win” and “Hearts Against the Wind,” the latter featured in the 1980 film “Urban Cowboy.”

His biggest hit as a solo artist was “You’re Only Lonely,” from the 1979 album of the same name.

Other songs he wrote include “Run Like a Thief,” for Bonnie Raitt, and “Faithless Love” and “White Rhythm and Blues" for Ronstadt. He collaborated and sang with James Taylor on “Her Town Too."

Among other artists he worked with as a singer were Don Henley, Christopher Cross, Dan Fogelberg and Roy Orbison.

He appeared as an actor on television in “thirtysomething,” “Nashville” and “Purgatory” and in the films “Postcards from the Edge,” “My Girl 2,” and “Deadline.”

FILE - Inductee JD Souther and Alison Krauss attend the Songwriters Hall of Fame 44th annual induction and awards gala on Thursday, June 13, 2013 in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)