LOS ANGELES – Whitney Houston, who reigned as pop music’s queen until her majestic voice and regal image were ravaged by drug use, erratic behavior and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown, has died. She was 48.WASHINGTON – Ted Stevens' roots are in Indiana and involve his parents' divorce, hard financial times and family tragedy.
He didn't trumpet his Hoosier background, but he didn't hide it, either.
"Once when Sen. Quayle's office had a reception-area display of famous Hoosiers, Sen. Stevens, our across-the-hall neighbor, came in and added his picture when no one was looking," said Les Novitsky, a member of Dan Quayle's Senate staff in the 1980s.
Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., who served in the Senate with Stevens for 32 years, said he was saddened by the death of "my friend."
"He was a successful long-time champion of the state of Alaska, but he was also a proud Hoosier. Born in Indianapolis, he attended Public School No. 84, as I did a few years later," Lugar said in a statement.
"In addition to our mutual support for the growth and prosperity of Alaska and Indiana, I appreciated Ted Stevens’ consistent support of the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program and a host of vital military preparedness programs. His vision led to greater economic growth and prosperity in our nation combined with greater American strength in the world," he said.
The Nunn-Lugar program funds efforts to reduce unsecured nuclear, chemical and biological weapons around the world.
A 1994 profile in the Anchorage Daily News described Stevens' early years: After being born in Indianapolis in 1923, young Ted's family moved to Chicago, where his parents divorced when he was 6.
Stevens' father lost his job in the Depression, and the family's four children returned to Indianapolis to live with their grandparents, David Whitney wrote in the profile. The senior Stevens, who went blind for several years, eventually returned to Indiana; his former wife moved to California.
The other children moved to California, but "Stevens said he stayed behind to help care for his blind father and a mentally retarded cousin who also lived with his grandparents," the article said.
Stevens helped the family's finances with his income from a newspaper route.
"I remember selling lots of newspapers on the day of the Lindbergh kidnapping," Stevens told the Alaska newspaper. Charles Lindbergh Jr., the son of the famous aviator, was kidnapped in 1932 when Stevens was 8 years old.
"In 1934, Stevens' grandfather, the only one in the house with a job, tumbled down a flight of stairs and punctured a lung. He contracted pneumonia and died," the article said.
"Stevens stayed in the house until 1938, when his grandmother could no longer afford the bills. Stevens, then 15, moved with his retarded cousin, Patricia Acker, to Manhattan Beach to live with her mother, Gladys Swindells."
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