Byrd's Busy Week

U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., did not limit his activities this week to threatening cuts to Iraq war funding, talking tough with Bush administration officials and kicking hecklers out of the Senate Appropriations Committee

Colleagues from both sides of the aisle were on hand as the Senate Commission on Art unveiled a new portrait of history's longest-serving U.S. senator at the Capitol.

The Charleston Gazette has a story, while C-SPAN is offering video of the unveiling ceremony.

(Update: The Charleston Daily Mail offers a slideshow from the unveiling.)
(Update II: About a minute into the C-SPAN video is where Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., refers to Byrd's accomplishments "for the state of Virginia." Grrr.)

The 89-year-old also saw the new Public Higher Education Center in his home county of Raleigh named the Erma Byrd Center to honor his late wife, the Register-Herald of Beckley reports.

And earlier this month, Wheeling Jesuit University awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters to his late wife, who died in 2006 just months shy of their 69th wedding anniversary. The Gazette reported on that event as well.