UPDATE (2:37 p.m.): It is now confirmed: Stevens was killed in the plane crash.

UPDATE: The CBS/AP report which we linked to has been updated — Stevens’ death has, in fact, not been confirmed. The original version of the report we linked to was based on a report from a local NBC affiliate which had quoted a former Stevens aide and family friend. CBS/AP is now calling Stevens’ status “unclear.”

It is also worth noting that former NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe was also on the flight which crashed earlier today.

ORIGINAL POST: CBS News and the Associated Press are reporting that Ted Stevens, the former Senator from Alaska who remains the longest-serving Republican senator in history, died early this morning after a small plane crash in southwest Alaska. He was 86. Four other people were killed in the accident. Renowned for his legendary reputation in his home state, “Uncle Ted’s” forty-year service in the Senate contained several memorable moments, including his struggle with the “Bridge to Nowhere,” and his “series of tubes” net neutrality analogy. A corruption scandal in 2008 saw him voted out of office, though Stevens was later cleared of wrongdoing. Stevens had a cursed history with aircraft — in 1978, he survived a Learjet crash outside of Anchorage which claimed the lives of five others, including his then-wife.