>U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg taken to area hospital after fall
U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg was taken by ambulance tonight from his Cliffside Park home after suffering a fall, his spokesman said. The 86-year-old Democrat was conscious when he was taken to the hospital “as a precautionary measure,” said the spokesman, Caley Grey. Grey said he did not know if Lautenberg had fallen inside the Bergen County condominium or whether he had suffered any injuries. Lautenberg was elected to his fifth term in the Senate in 2008, defeating former U.S. Rep. Richard Zimmer with roughly 55 percent of the vote.
He was thrust back into the political spotlight in recent months as his name became synonymous with two major political storylines in the state — the security breach at Newark Liberty International Airport and the Sean Goldman custody case. The Paterson-born Lautenberg was one of the most outspoken critics of the Transportation Security Administration after Haisong Jiang, a Rutgers graduate student, wandered beyond a security checkpoint last month to steal a kiss from his girlfriend, shutting down Terminal C for nearly six hours and accidentally exposing security flaws at one of the nation’s largest airports. Just a week before the airport incident, Lautenberg claimed he “used the hammer” of senatorial power to help Tinton Falls resident David Goldman regain custody of his son, Sean, ending an international custody dispute between the Monmouth County man and the Brazilian government which had dragged on for years.
Lautenberg returned Friday night from a whirlwind 11-hour trip to Haiti with a congressional delegation that included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He was scheduled to have a news conference today in Newark to discuss the trip and state efforts providing relief. (Queally/Jackson, Star Ledger/The Record)
https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/us_senator_frank_lautenberg_ta.html