KTUU Channel 2 is reporting that former Sen. Ted Stevens was killed in a plane crash last night, but the station's source on the story said it's not confirmed.

The report on the television station's Web site cites Dave Dittman, an Anchorage pollster and friend of Stevens, as saying that he received a call overnight that Stevens was dead. But Dittman told the Daily News this morning he's not sure.

"That's what I heard last night, but it's not been confirmed," Dittman said. "I've talked to family members this morning and people with the family who said it hasn't been confirmed to them either."

Dittman declined to say who told him last night. "I'm trying to get in touch with that person to have them confirm it and just refer all the calls to them," he said.

Dittman said the family would know if anyone would, so "I don't know."

Family spokesman Mitch Rose, a former Stevens aide, said this morning that he could not confirm Dittman's remarks that the ex-senator was killed in the crash.

Find Sean Cockerham online at adn.com/contact/scockerham or call him at 257-4344.