Former Senator Stevens dies in plane crash

Former Sen. Ted Stevens, an uncompromising advocate for Alaska for four decades and the longest-serving Republican senator ever, has died in a plane crash at the age of 86.

Former Sen. Ted Stevens, an uncompromising advocate for Alaska for four decades and the longest-serving Republican senator ever, has died in a plane crash at the age of 86.

HT Image

Family spokesman Mitch Rose says Stevens was among five people killed in the crash about 325 miles (525 kilometers) southwest of Anchorage.

Stevens began his career in the days before Alaska statehood and did not leave politics until 2008, when he was convicted on corruption charges weeks before Election Day. But a federal judge threw out the verdict because of misconduct by federal prosecutors. Stevens, a moderate Republican, was appointed in December 1968 and became the longest-serving Republican in Senate history.