Police: 'Suspicious' package outside Northwest Herald harmless

The Northwest Herald headquarters on Route 31 in Crystal Lake briefly closed Monday morning due to concerns over a "suspicious" package that turned out to be benign, police said.

Herald employees called police around 8 a.m. reporting a "suspicious looking package right outside the building," said Derek Hyrkas, Crystal Lake Police deputy chief of operations.

"It looked a little weird to us," Hyrkas said.

Police kept employees away from the building and parking lot while a bomb squad checked out the package and determined it to be harmless within an hour.

"(The package) was something the Herald was expecting. Just by the looks of it from a distance, they couldn't tell," Hyrkas said.

The newspaper office reopened shortly thereafter.