Suspicious Package Outside Oprah's Harpo Studios

CHICAGO — Bomb and arson detectives say a suspicious package discovered outside Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Studios in Chicago is harmless.

Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Laura Kubiak says security personnel found a dark backpack with wires hanging out of it early Friday in a flower bed near the studios.

Police blocked off nearby streets as bomb and arson detectives investigated early Friday.

Police say the investigation using "remote diagnostics" determined there was no bomb. But police will not say what was in the backpack.

The investigation was completed and the streets reopened a few hours later. The building was not evacuated.

Comments

[AceInTheHole]

04:40 PM on 08/28/2009

STOP THE DUMB CRAP. THIS SHOULD BE A WAKE UP CALL TO OPRAH AND HER SECURITY STAFF, TO TIGHTEN UP THEIR ACT AND PLACE A COUPLE OF OUTSIDE BUILDING GUARDS ON THE PREMISES. IT SEEMS LIKE BOTH Os, OPRAH AND OBAMA , ARE TO NAIVE AND LAX , WHEN IT COMES TO SECURITY. THEY HAVE THAT FEARLESS CHICAGO MENTALITY. THAT SOMETIMES SERVE THEM WELL BUT IS NOT ALWAYS VERY PRUDENT.

[SaraNader]

07:08 PM on 08/02/2009

Did it weigh 427 pounds? It was either her lunch or her make-up satchel.

[gtalkspolitics]

11:07 PM on 07/31/2009

That was just a excuse to search her place, PLEASE

[johnnynyc]

06:52 PM on 07/31/2009

She ate it, right?

[bmedich]

05:51 PM on 07/31/2009

Do they ship talent via FedEx?

[generationyes]

05:34 PM on 07/31/2009

What the heck is a "suspicious" package? Was it wearing dark glasses, a fedora and a trench coat?

[LWilkinson315]

12:46 PM on 07/31/2009

Scary! With all the crazies running around these days its better safe than sorry-- thank goodness it was not a bomb. I wonder why the cops wont reveal what was inside the backpack. Strange that somone would *lose* a backpack with wires hanging out of it.... a awful hoax, maybe a threatening letter/warning?

[Bobby Baker]

11:44 AM on 07/31/2009

It's a BIG MAC!!!

[madmatt]

10:54 AM on 07/31/2009

Its steadmans testicles!

[hjo4]

10:38 AM on 07/31/2009

It was Professor Gates backpack. I knew it would turn up somewhere. Whadda ya know? Damn Airlines.