Originally posted by the Voice of America. Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America, a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in the public domain. Long-Time Alaska Senator Ted Stevens Dies in Plane Crash VOA News 10 August 2010 U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, left, and former NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe (file photos) Photo: AP U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, left, and former NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe (file photos) Former U.S. Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska died in a plane crash in his home state Tuesday. He was 86-years-old. Stevens, who was born in the midwest state of Indiana, represented Alaska for 40 years, making him the longest-serving Republican in the history of the U.S. Senate. He sought a seventh term in office in 2008, but lost an election after being convicted of corruption charges for lying about gifts he received from an oil contractor. That conviction was later thrown out because of what the court said was prosecutorial misconduct. Stevens was known for channeling billions of dollars in federal money to help develop Alaska. The large northwestern enclave bordering Canada only became a state in 1959, less than 10 years before Stevens first took office. While widely praised in Alaska, he was frequently criticized by those who accused him of wasting federal money on local projects. One of his most controversial initiatives was the so-called "Bridge to Nowhere," a $400-million project to link a mostly uninhabited Alaskan island to a regional airport. The spending was never approved. Stevens survived an airplane crash in 1978 in Anchorage, Alaska, but his first wife, Ann, was killed in the crash. IFRAME: [1]http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=59.040201,-158.457184&spn=0.2296 03,0.433273&t=h&z=11&output=embed  References 1. http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=59.040201,-158.457184&spn=0.229603,0.433273&t=h&z=11&output=embed .