Longest-serving US Senator Byrd dies at 92

ROBERT BYRD, the longest-serving member of Congress in US history, died at the age of 92 after almost six decades in office, his office announced yesterday.

Byrd grew up in dirt-poor coal country and rose to the heights of power in the Senate where he doled out billions in federal money to his home state of West Virginia.

The vehement defender of the US Constitution – and a former member of the secretive and racist Ku Klux Klan who enthusiastically supported Barack Obama’s successful 2008 White House bid – died after falling seriously ill last week following years of health problems.