Los Angeles News

LOS ANGELES A threatening letter containing a powdery substance that was sent to the Los Angeles Times and a Palm Desert theater, where irreverent comedian Bill Maher is to perform Saturday, will not stop the show, according to a theater spokesman.

Early field testing indicated the powder was not harmful, said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller. However, the substance is being tested further at a lab in Los Angeles, she said.

"The show will go on as planned," Mitchell Gershenfeld, director of presentations and theater operations at the McCallum Theatre, said Saturday afternoon. "We will have security, as we do at all our shows at the McCallum Theatre."

The show is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m.

However, because of the letters, which were received by the newspaper and the theater on Friday, that night's concert by musician Boz Scaggs was canceled, and several people at the theater were treated as a precaution for possible contamination, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.

The Sheriff's Department was told about the letter at the theater at 73000 Fred Waring Drive around 11:40 a.m., said sheriff's Deputy Herlinda Valenzuela.

Riverside County sheriff's Cpl. Matt Spain said the letter was addressed to Maher, the host of HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher," whose documentary "Religulous," which skewers organized religion, recently opened in movie theaters.

"It contained specific threats made against Bill Maher," said Spain, who did not provide details and did not say whether the threats mentioned the movie.

A deputy sent to investigate the discovery was not able to identify the substance inside the letter, but did determine that it was not a controlled substance, Valenzuela said.

County firefighters, along with personnel from the county's Environmental Health Department, later arrived at the theater to assist Palm Desert police with evacuating employees inside the venue as a precaution, Valenzuela said.

Four people who came into contact with the powder inside the theater were decontaminated, Valenzuela said.

The building was shut down for more than five hours and Friday night's concert featuring Scaggs was canceled.

A Hazmat team collected and secured the letter and the substance was
forwarded to the FBI for testing and disposition, Valenzuela said.

The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force is continuing to investigate the incident, Eimiller said.

The letter received by The Times mail room on Friday was addressed to two reporters and had no return address, according to the Times.

"Save the Babies" was handwritten on the front of the envelope and "Kill All Obama Supporters" was written on the back, The Times reported.

Inside the envelope was a one-page letter and a light brown granular substance, The Times reported. FBI officials said the letter was similar to one delivered Thursday to an Obama campaign office in the Los Angeles community of Palms, according to the newspaper.

Authorities did not say how similar the letter sent to The Times was to the letter sent to the McCallum Theatre, or whether either letter made reference to the recently released Maher documentary "Religulous," a combination of the words "religion" and "ridiculous."

On HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher," the humorist has expressed his disdain for everything from religion to children and has made no secret that he prefers presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., over Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, whom he has called a "bimbo."

(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)