(Note: shortly after 4:30 this afternoon, the FBI announced that there was no longer any fear of a threat to the general public, and that no items of concern were found in the car. The Bureau also reported that the suspect they’ve been questioning did not make a bomb threat, but agents with a bomb-sniffing dog did register a “hit” on the man’s car. We expect more information from the FBI shortly. Refresh this post for the latest. The FBI says the man sought to find out if he was the subject of a federal investigation.)

Downtown Kansas City, Missouri was thrown into turmoil Friday after a bomb threat at the federal building at 13th Street and Holmes appears to have had some merit.

Kansas City reported throngs of people outside, while the Kansas City Police Department’s bomb squad investigated a vehicle that a police dog confirmed contained some kind of explosive. There were multiple reports that the bomb-squad did find a handgun.

The state office building was evacuated as a precaution.  Some workers in the federal building were given the option of leaving early for the day.  The Jackson County Jail was placed in lockdown.  The Jackson County Courthouse was not evacuated.  Many other businesses in the southeastern sections of downtown Kansas City shut down and were evacuated, as officials created a wide perimeter around the scene.

Officers on foot and on horseback were patrolling the area.

It’s does not appear the bomb threat in Kansas City is related to two other bomb threats reported Friday on university campuses in Texas and North Dakota.

North Dakota State University President Dean Bresciani said 20,000 people also were evacuated from his school’s main and downtown campuses in Fargo after the school received a threat by telephone Friday morning. No bomb was found.

The University of Texas received a call about 8:35 a.m. from a man claiming to be with al-Qaida who said he had placed bombs all over the Austin campus. A spokeswoman said the caller claimed the bombs would go off in 90 minutes and all buildings were evacuated at 9:50 a.m. as a precaution.

The deadline passed without incident, and the university later announced all buildings has been cleared and were reopening.