Sen. Byrd Released From Hospital

(AP)

West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd has been released from the hospital, the Associated Press is reporting. The 91-year-old Democrat had been hospitalized after a fall that resulted from standing up too quickly.

Byrd was in the hospital for two days after doctors discovered that he had an elevated white-blood cell count and worried about a possible infection. The Democrat, who holds the record for longest Senate tenure, was hospitalized over the summer with a staph infection and has been absent from the Senate for most of the year.

First elected in 1958, Byrd is the president pro tempore of the Senate, which puts him third in line in presidential succession. His office said he will take antibiotics and recuperate at home before returning to the chamber.