Hazmat response at Cook County treasurer’s office in the Loop

Let's get back to that breaking news happening right now. Hazmat crews are at the Cook County Treasurer's Office for reports of powder found in her office. And we have Maria Pappas joining us now. Thanks for jumping on. First, I got to ask, how are you doing? How is your staff doing? You know, one-tenth of 1% of the population is actually nutjobs. And that's what this is. This is some goofball. who's making 99% of the population suffer because they decide to put baking soda in an envelope and send it to our office. There are people there with families, their kids and they immediately become paralyzed. But that unfortunately is the world that we're living in. We've got crazy people running around shooting, abusing, killing, attacking, you name it. Anything that can go bad, that one tenth of 1% of the population is making 99% of the population fearful. And that's what happened here. Fortunately, the Chicago Police Department, the fire department has stepped up to the plate immediately had it solved within an hour. So I you know what, I'm on law enforcement side. I'm grateful for them. I'm grateful for every time that we have an incident, they jump up, they step up and they get the job done immediately. So we're back in business, and whoever did this, you know, God help you. You're an idiot, and you need to, like, get your act together. So everyone is okay, shaken up a bit, I imagine? Yeah. Everyone's okay, except the guy who did it, who's not all there. So we do know it was baking soda? You heard that from- It was baking soda. Yeah, but you know, I mean, in this day and age, you don't know what it is. Very true. Very true. So it came in the regular mail. how what was it in yeah it just comes in a regular envelope you know there are a million envelopes that come in there a year and this one you know the poor guy in the mail room that opens it up opens it up with an envelope opener and looks at it and there's nothing in it except white powder so i mean here's an average worker who's making you know 60 70 000 a year has a family three kids comes to work every day, nine to five, and he's opening an envelope with some idiot trying to terrorize him. I mean, it's ridiculous. Do we know if this is related to the other three found across the country? I don't know. I don't know if it's the same goof sending them all over the place. What time about did the staff ever find it? Early this morning, yeah. And police got there right away? Yeah, I mean, you call them, you 911, and there's 20 people in the office. with all the equipment necessary to decipher what it is. There were no words written in the envelope, no letter, anything inside? Nothing, nothing, nothing. If they write words, then their signatures and words and all kinds of fingerprints are transferable. What do you wanna say to that person that sent this to your office? You need to get your life together and you need to figure out who you are Instead of figuring out how to terrorize 99% of the hardworking, decent, good people in this city. Because most people have their heads on straight. And the guy that sent this envelope obviously doesn't. So I would tell him, get a life. Wow, sounds like you're standing firm as you often always do or are known to do. What do you want your staff to hear from you today? You know, my staff is competent. They stand steadfast. They get in early. They leave late. and they don't need this kind of grief because most of them have kids and family and they don't need to be terrorized by some nut job so i'm really proud of the people that work for me and they're back in there and they're working and they'll probably stay over time tonight to make up for the hour that we lost yeah understood you're on the ballot this november 2 this is something like this changed how you feel about your work or your safety no you know this we have a file called nut jobs so we get letters and we get you know all kinds of just you can't avoid i don't care if you're a public servant or if you're in private practice or you're an accountant or a lawyer or a doctor you cannot avoid one-tenth of one percent of the population being crazy it's just a given do you do you receive threats often or like how often i would say once a month We get a letter saying something about something about something, and we always just turn it over to the police. We have a nut job file, literally. Yeah, that says it all. That says it all right there. We know Hazmat crews are still out there. The police are out there as well. I think we still have that live picture. Do we know how much longer they plan to be out there? I know you said the office is back open now? It's back open. They're just on the second floor analyzing. I mean, when something like this happens, these are really sophisticated people who handle this. So now they've got to deal with the envelope and the fingerprints on the envelope and all those sorts of things. The postmark, get it to the FBI, see if this is traceable, you know? Yeah, minutes matter. I mean, think about this. I mean, whoever sent that, there's probably DNA evidence on it. Law enforcement doesn't take an envelope with powder in it lightly. because that person could escalate his you know crazy activity look what happened yesterday they picked this kid up who was going to go and you know create a mass shooting out of nowhere i mean it's and then somebody throws somebody in front of a train i mean just you know or somebody's abusing a spouse it's it's a sad commentary on what's going on in the world yeah we were talking to Congressman Rajiv Krishnamurthy his family was there at that temple Sunday I mean, that's pathetic, think about it, and a young kid, and a young kid, and a very young kid. Yeah. Who's been radicalized. I mean, you wonder what are his parents thinking, you know? Maria, thank you again for your time, thank you for jumping in here on this breaking situation. I'm glad everyone is safe, I'm glad you're safe, that your staff is safe, and glad police and hazmat got there as quickly as they did. Go pray for these nutjobs. Get yourself in a church, a synagogue or a mosque and hope that they like figure their lives out instead of terrorizing most of the people who live in this city, county and state and the country for that matter. You take care of yourself. Okay. Thanks. All right.