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Yeah, I saw stories about that too. Someone suggested the other day that these incidents might be "test runs" to see who, what, and how local officials respond to events like this. Below I've listed a few of the articles I ran across today alone. There were others, but one was a pair of boots (San Jose), and another was a transient's black briefcase (Bremertown/Seattle).

1.) (The LA incident) Suspicious Package Found at California Commuter Rail Station, Snarling Traffic on Nearby Freeways
(No info on what it turned out to be in this AP story at least...)

2.) GA: Carroll County Courthouse evacuated, suspicious package found
Courthouse was evacuated Friday morning and blocks of downtown Carrollton sealed off after authorities received a bomb threat and found three suspicious devices. (FBI says road flares with timers.)

3.)NE: Robot removes suspicious package in Bellevue bomb scare
"A person attending a garage sale before 11 a.m. spotted the package and called 911 immediately, Miller said. The package appeared to have fireworks in it and Omaha Police used a robot to remove it."

4.) PA: Suspicious Package Prompts Evacuation
Bomb Squad, Hazmat Respond
"Police, firefighters, hazmat crews and a bomb squad responded to the Dauphin County Administration Building Friday morning after an object was spotted on a park bench outside the building.
Two floors of the administration building were evacuated and authorities removed the item. Authorities said later that it was a bleach bottle with a rag stuffed in it."

http://www.reflector.com/local/content/news/stories/2005/10/15/20051015GDRbombscare.html

ECU police probe bomb scare

By Corey G. Johnson The Daily Reflector

Saturday, October 15, 2005

ECU police are investigating a construction worker who left a backpack filled with copper piping unattended, causing a bomb scare, officials said Friday.

Although no evidence of explosive materials were found, the incident caused East Carolina University officials to empty buildings and evacuate students, facility and staff.

The man, whose name was not released, works for D.F. Simmons, Maj. Frank Knight of the ECU Police Department said.

No charges have been filed against the man, who admitted to owning the backpack and denied wrongdoing, Knight said.

"We're currently investigating how the copper got into the backpack," Knight said.

Police were called at 10:55 a.m. when another construction employee discovered a red backpack in bushes near the Mamie E. Jenkins Building, also known as the alumni building.

In response, campus officials evacuated the building and nearby Irwin, Jenkins Fine Arts and Old Cafeteria buildings, ECU spokeswoman Nancy McGillicuddy said.

The Greenville Police Department, Pitt County Sheriff's Office, Greenville Fire-Rescue Department and Greenville utilities were called for assistance.

"This is definitely an example of an event (where) we didn't want to take any chances with," McGillicuddy said.

"We hold safety at the utmost importance."

Brenda – the sheriff's office bomb-sniffing dog – indicated the possibility of a bomb, a Marine explosive ordinance team from U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point was called in for assistance.

"We took the extra security and safety measure of calling on the bomb dog and the Cherry Point team partly because of the current world conditions and the recent incident at Georgia Tech," Knight said.

Monday, three explosive devices were found between two Georgia Tech dormitories. One device exploded, injuring a custodian.

The local military bomb squad found no evidence of explosive materials.