From the Associated PressIndiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has appointed his former official counsel to a vacancy on the state Supreme Court. Daniels named 50-year-old Mark Massa to fill the seat left vacant by the retirement of Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard. Massa is a former newspaper reporter who currently serves as executive director of the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute. He was Daniels' chief counsel from 2006 to 2010 and also worked as an assistant U.S. attorney and as a Marion County deputy prosecutor. Shepard is retiring after 27 years on the court. The judicial commission will select the new chief justice from among the Supreme Court's five justices. Massa was chosen from three finalists for the vacancy.
Rick Howlett was midday host and the host of LPM's weekly talk show, "In Conversation." He was with LPM from 2001-2023 and held many different titles, including Morning Edition host, Assignment Editor and Interim News Director. He died in August 2023. Read a remembrance of Rick here.