BREAKING: Balloon Shuts Down Independence Hall

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ASSOCIATED PRESS: Investigators are trying to identify a white powder found inside a balloon at the downtown Philadelphia building that houses the historic Liberty Bell, a symbol of American independence. The Liberty Bell Center and part of a street next to it have been evacuated. A guard found the balloon inside the visitors entrance to the Liberty Bell Center on Thursday afternoon. FBI spokesman J.J. Klaver says testing is being done on the substance. He says it’s not explosive or radioactive but is what he calls a “biological substance.” Klaver says one type of biological substance is anthrax, an infectious disease. But he stresses investigators don’t know what the substance is. MORE

UPDATE: A white powder found inside a balloon near the Liberty Bell prompted the evacuation of the area for a few hours Thursday before tests showed it was flour.

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