WASHINGTON – Congressional leaders and colleagues remembered Rep. Alcee Hastings on Wednesday as a straight-talking, tenacious champion for the disadvantaged who overcame hurdles in his own life to forge a near three-decade career in the House.
In a socially distanced ceremony in the Capitol's Statuary Hall, a few steps from the House chamber, fellow lawmakers recalled the professional and social bonds they'd formed with the Florida Democrat.
Hastings died early this month at 84, two years after revealing he was battling pancreatic cancer. No. 3 House Democratic leader James Clyburn of South Carolina said he first met Hastings as a college student and called him “the consoler and counselor, the friend when needed, the foe when