INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - The Latest on the funeral of Sen. Richard Lugar (all times local):
2:50 p.m.
Vice President Mike Pence says Sen. Richard Lugar made the world a more peaceful place with freedom on the rise.
Pence told the several hundred people at Lugar’s funeral Wednesday in Indianapolis that he’ll be remembered as a senator who gained bipartisan respect for his influence in foreign affairs.
Former Georgia Democratic Sen. Sam Nunn worked with the Republican Lugar to start a program under which the U.S. paid for the dismantling of thousands of former Soviet nuclear weapons after the Cold War ended. Nunn says the country was fortunate to have Lugar as a public servant and that he made the world a better and safer place.
Lugar served 36 years in the Senate and died last month at age 87.
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1:30 p.m.
Numerous national leaders are among several hundred mourners who have gathered for the funeral of longtime U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar.
Vice President Mike Pence, Chief Justice John Roberts and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell all stood Wednesday as Lugar’s casket was carried into St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Indianapolis.
Former Indiana Gov. Pence is expected to give a eulogy at the service, as is former Sen. Sam Nunn, the Georgia Democrat with whom Lugar spearheaded a program that dismantled thousands of former Soviet nuclear weapons after the Cold War.
Lugar served 36 years in the Senate and died last month at age 87.
The funeral procession paused outside the Indianapolis City-County Building where he was the city’s mayor for eight years, and his alma mater Shortridge High School, where students lined the street.
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12:30 p.m.
A procession is taking the casket of former Sen. Richard Lugar through the streets of Indianapolis on the way to his funeral.
A military honor guard took Lugar’s flag-draped coffin from the Indiana Statehouse Rotunda where he laid in repose since Tuesday.
The procession Wednesday passed the Indianapolis City-County Building, where it paused beneath a large garrison flag suspended between two firetruck ladders in recognition of his eight years as the city’s mayor before his first election to the Senate in 1976.
Lugar served for 36 years in the Senate and led efforts to help the former Soviet states dismantle thousands of nuclear weapons after the Cold War ended. He died April 28 at age 87.
Vice President Mike Pence and Chief Justice John Roberts are among those expected to attend Lugar’s funeral Wednesday afternoon.
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11:20 a.m.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are among the national leaders traveling to the funeral of longtime Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar.
Vice President Mike Pence is expected to give one of the eulogies during Wednesday’s funeral. Pence’s office says Roberts, McConnell and several other senators are flying with the vice president from Washington, D.C., to Indianapolis.
Lugar was a highly regarded Republican foreign policy expert who served in the Senate from 1977 until 2013. Hailed as a statesman and peacemaker, the senator died April 28 at age 87.
Two days of tributes began Tuesday with Lugar lying in repose in the Indiana Statehouse Rotunda. His funeral scheduled for Wednesday afternoon at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church on the north side of Indianapolis.
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12:05 a.m.
Hundreds of mourners are expected at the funeral for Richard Lugar, the longtime U.S. senator from Indiana known for leading efforts to help the former Soviet states dismantle thousands of nuclear weapons.
Vice President Mike Pence says he’ll give a eulogy during Wednesday’s funeral for “an American statesman whose contributions to our nation are countless.”
Lugar was mayor of Indianapolis before beginning a 36-year Senate career with his first election victory in 1976. He left the Senate following a 2012 Republican primary loss and died April 28 at age 87.
Lugar was hailed as a peacemaker during a Tuesday ceremony in the Indiana Statehouse Rotunda, where he was to lie in repose for 24 hours before his funeral. President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013.
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