Police find nothing hazardous after part of U.S. Capitol complex evacuated

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Authorities found nothing hazardous in two U.S. Senate office buildings after investigating reports of suspicious packages and a telephoned bomb threat, U.S. Capitol Police said on Tuesday. Spokeswoman Kimberly Schneider said police cleared a room in the Dirksen building and the courtyard of the Russell building, both near the U.S. Capitol, and found nothing problematic. Part of Dirksen was evacuated after Capitol Police received a bomb threat by phone call, and police investigated a report of a suspicious package in that building. People were not cleared from Russell, where an unattended lunch cooler was reported as a possible suspicious package, Schneider said. The two buildings house various offices for U.S. senators and their staff as well as hearing rooms. The Dirksen building evacuation interrupted a Senate hearing on the Transportation Security Administration, which is responsible for security at airports. "The threat was determined false," said Republican Senator Ron Johnson, who came back after the all-clear to close the hearing he chaired. (This story corrects typographical error in last paragraph) (Reporting by Susan Cornwell and Richard Cowan; Writing by Susan Heavey and Emily Stephenson; Editing by Mohammad Zargham and Will Dunham)