JUNEAU -- Rep. Harriet Drummond, D-Anchorage, will miss the next two to three weeks of the legislative session to help her husband recover from heart surgery, her staff said Friday.
Drummond's husband, Elstun Lauesen, underwent open heart surgery Thursday at Alaska Regional Hospital. His recovery is expected to take several weeks. Drummond will stay in Anchorage to help with his recuperation, her office said.
Drummond plans to call in to committee meetings and stay involved with the Legislature but she won't be able to vote, her office said. Her Juneau office remains staffed.
She has been excused from the House floor sessions since Feb. 21, first for a legislative caucus meeting in Anchorage and then for her husband's surgery. The surgery had been scheduled for last week but was postponed.
Drummond's office said she'd return if she's needed on a key vote.
By LISA DEMER