Ted Stevens, the temperamental, powerful politician who helped secure statehood for Alaska and won billions of dollars in federal largesse for the region in 40 years as its U.S. senator, died in a small-plane crash in the rugged, fog-shrouded hills above Bristol Bay in Alaska, authorities said Tuesday.
Rescuers held back overnight by high winds and low clouds managed on Tuesday to reach a downed plane in southwest Alaska that had been carrying former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens and former NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe.