Envelopes containing powder come weeks before midterms as federal agents try to identify who is behind campaign

More than three dozen members of US Congress have had their offices targeted with envelopes containing white powder, less than three weeks before the 3 November midterms, as federal agents try to identify who is behind the campaign.

The latest is the Virginia Democrat Suhas Subramanyam, whose Leesburg district office was evacuated on Monday after an envelope containing a suspicious substance arrived. He said the office was cleared quickly, adding that “acts of political intimidation have no place in our country”.

One of the factors that led Greg Pirio to buy his house in Loudoun County, in northern Virginia, 14 years ago, was the nature surrounding it. A historian specializing in Africa, he loved to take long walks with his dog and listen to the birds. Three years ago, a large data center was installed just a hundred meters from his door. Since it began operating a year and a half ago, the birdsong has been replaced by a constant buzzing together with fumes that cause headaches, conjunctivitis and respiratory problems.

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