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Ex-Homeland Security Secretary Ridge Hospitalized In Texas

AUSTIN (AP) - A spokesman says former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge is in critical condition after undergoing an emergency heart procedure at a hospital in Austin.

Tom Ridge
Former United States Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge attends the Federal Enforcement Homeland Security Foundation 2016 Ridge Awards at Sheraton Times Square on May 19, 2016 in New York City. (credit: Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for FEHSF)

Ridge spokesman Steve Aaron says the 72-year-old Ridge, Pennsylvania's Republican governor from 1995 to 2001, was attending the Republican Governors Association conference when he called for help at his hotel about 7 a.m.

The spokesman says Ridge underwent a cardiac catheterization at Dell Seton Medical Center at the University of Texas.

Aaron says Ridge has been responsive to physicians.

He was the first homeland security secretary, serving under President George W. Bush until 2005.

(© Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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