Update: It has now been confirmed. Senator Stevens was on the plane and is confirmed to have died in the crash. More information here.

Dave Dittman, a former aide and longtime family friend of former Sen. Ted Stevens, says Stevens was killed in a plane crash near Dillingham Monday night. Dittman says he received a call overnight Monday that said the former senator was dead. Nine people were on board, including former NASA Chief Sean O'Keefe. Five people were killed in the crash, but other identities were not known, nor are the conditions of the survivors.

Update #2: Former NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe and his son were also on board the plane. MSNBC reports:

Nine people were on board, including Stevens and former NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe and his son Kevin, officials said. Sources close to the family told NBC News that Sean O’Keefe suffered a broken pelvis and other bones and was expected to survive, as was his son.

Update #3: White House statement on Sen. Stevens' death

Please be respectful with your comments. Thank you.

Alaska reporter Shannyn Moore has been sending information via Twitter regarding a crash in Dillingham, Alaska carrying 8 passengers. According to reports, Ted Stevens may have been one of those on board.

Via ADN.com:

Severe weather has hampered the rescue operation for eight people believed to be on board a GCI-owned aircraft that crashed near Dillingham on Monday night with possible fatalities, according to state and federal officials.

The Alaska Air National Guard was called to the area about 20 miles north of Dillingham at about 7 p.m. after a passing aircraft saw the wreckage, spokesman Maj. Guy Hayes said. Eight people were reported to be on board the aircraft, though their status wasn't immediately known, he said. There were possible fatalities, he said.

The story on ADN has been updated with this information about Sen. Ted Stevens:

The aircraft, which was reported overdue, bears the tail number N455A, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. That aircraft is a 1957 DeHavilland DHC-3 Otter registered to GCI, according to FAA records. The FAA did not immediately provide other information about how it knows that this is the aircraft.

Friends of former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens said he was traveling Monday to the GCI-owned Agulowak Lodge near Lake Aleknagik, and they were concerned for him.

A woman who answered the phone at the Anchorage home of retired Air Force Gen. Joe Ralston, a good friend of Stevens, said Ralston was with Stevens' wife, Catherine, comforting her and trying to find out what was going on.

No one answered the phone at the homes of Stevens' daughter, Susan Covich, in Kenai, or his son, Ben, in Anchorage.

This photo matches the number of the airplane mentioned in the article.

Also, Todd Walker of KTUU Channel 2 reports:

Just spoke to Ben Stevens' family, they have no comment right now

The Air National Guard just released this statement:

The Alaska Air National Guard is responding to a plane crash 17-miles north of Dillingham that occurred Monday night.

The Air Force 11th Rescue Coordination Center, manned by Alaska National Guardsmen, was contacted by Dillingham Flight Service after a Good Samaritan spotted a downed aircraft around 7 p.m.

The Alaska Air National Guard's 210th, 211th and 212th Rescue Squadrons were alerted and are currently battling inclement weather en-route to the scene. They are expected to arrive at the plane crash site sometime after midnight.

The plane was reportedly carrying eight passengers and there are potential fatalities.

According to the RCC, there are five Good Samaritan medical personnel on scene assisting the plane crash victims.

More as it develops.

Much of my family still lives in Idaho, and my dad is fond of hanging at the gun range. He says he hears guys talking casually about how easy it would be to shoot President Obama with a long-range rifle. And how they'd really like to do it. Jokes like that are becoming common there, too.

So it really didn't surprise me when one of the wingnuttiest wingnuts in Idaho (this is really saying something) joked about how he'd happily buy a hunting tag for shooting President Obama:

Rex Rammell, a long-shot gubernatorial candidate seeking the Republican nomination, criticized Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter on Wednesday for not making good on a promise to buy the first wolf tag. Tags for hunting the gray wolf went on sale Monday.

Rammell's remarks on Otter came in an interview Wednesday after the Times-News asked about comments Rammell made Tuesday night at a local Republican party event.

After an audience member shouted a question about "Obama tags" during a discussion on wolves, Rammell responded, "The Obama tags? We'd buy some of those."

Rammell, a veterinarian and former elk rancher from Idaho Falls, said his comment was a joke and he would never seriously talk about President Obama that way, although he doesn't support anything Obama's done as president.

"I was just being sarcastic. That was just a joke," Rammell said. "I would never support him being assassinated.

"She kind of caught me off guard, to be honest with you."

Sure, just a joke. Except that to find it funny, you'd actually have to harbor that wish.

Rammell, as we said, is something of a wingnut's wingnut. He got into politics when the state shut down his elk-ranching operation for his disastrous mismanagement of the facility. So he ran as an Independent in last year's Senate campaign in Idaho, won by James Risch (Rammell finished a distant third, with 5.4% of the vote).

Just a few months ago, Rammell announced he was running for a House seat as a Republican. Then he shifted gears and is now running for Idaho governor as a Republican.

He's also written a wingnut tome that, as Randy Stapilus explored recently, is a real piece of work. Just like its author.

[H/t Julie F.]

Although I have yet to embrace the Harry Potter phenomenon -- almost 400 million books in print! -- I figured I would mark the occasion of the final book's release with this classic clip of the crazy lady from Jesus Camp.

And while I'm on the subject, let me say something about Harry Potter: Warlocks are enemies of God. And I don't care what kind of hero they are, they're an enemy of God. And had it been in the Old Testament, Harry Potter would have been put to death! You don't make heroes out of warlocks!

How this doesn't qualify as psychological child abuse is beyond me. Poor kids.

World O' Crap has the latest from the Agape Press: "What a great idea -- instead of giving the trick-or-treaters tooth-rotting candy, I can give them Christian-based comic books that warn them about the dangers of the Harry Potter books. Nobody will egg my house after that!...read on"

(Update): Can you imagine being a cute little kid dressed up like Spider-man or a Princess, going from block to block waiting for someone to give you an Almond Joy or a Snickers Bar-only to see that you got this.

Last night, the General stood in line at his local purveyor of heretical literature to buy the latest Harry Potter book. I thought I should read that satanic text so that I could better understand our enemy...read on

I have to ask JC what happened after he opened the first page of the satanist The Da Vinci Code.