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Richard Azar passed away Jan. 13, 2025.
Azar was a skilled reporter and editor, working at several southwestern Indiana newspapers, including The Sullivan Daily Times, The Vincennes Sun-Commercial, The Princeton Daily Clarion, and The Evansville Press. His investigative journalism garnered international headlines in many prominent publications, such as The New York Times.
Azar was known for his 1989 expose of BASF's secret plan to operate a toxic waste incinerator and landfill in his hometown, and for momentous reporting on the Oklahoma City terrorist bombing.
Olivia Clarke passed away Jan. 15, 2025, at the age of 46.
Clarke was a Chicago-area journalist and publicist who, after being diagnosed with breast cancer, started a nonprofit called Humor Beats Cancer meant to help lift the spirits of cancer patients. She began her career as an intern at the Chicago Tribune before taking a job as an education reporter with the Times of Northwest Indiana. She moved to work as an editor for the Chicago Lawyer and the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin newspaper.
In 2013, Clarke went into public relations at Greentarget Global Group, then two years later joined the PR team at Kirkland & Ellis. She headed the Chicago chapter of IU's Alumni Association from 2013-2015 and created an art mentorship program at Augustus Tolton Academy in 2017.
Anna Darling joined the FOX59/CBS4 morning shows as the developing news anchor in October 2024, focused on reporting content on the local, national, and international level. She previously worked in northwest Arkansas as an anchor at FOX24, where she received three Arkansas SPJ Diamond Journalism awards. Darling was nominated for the 2020 Indiana Broadcaster's Association Spectrum News award for a story she did on the pandemic during her time as an anchor and multimedia journalist at WLFI News 18 in Lafayette, Indiana. (January 2025)
Faith Delp joined the WAFF news team in February as a multimedia journalist/reporter. (February 2025)
Josh Eastern is a play-by-play announcer for MLS Season Pass. Originally from Seattle, he started his broadcasting career at VISTA Worldlink. He also served as the voice of Phoenix Rising FC in the USL Championship. Eastern has been a fixture on MLS Next Pro and NWSL matches, as well as international competitions for CONCACAF. (February 2025)
Jack Evans joined Asheville Watchdog as an investigative reporter. He was previously with the Tampa Bay Times for nearly seven years, where he was a criminal justice reporter focused on police accountability and stories about victims of law enforcement misconduct. As a health equity reporter, he also reported on the gaps in medical coverage for marginalized communities.
Evans won the Florida Bar Association's 2020 Parker Thompson Award for Outstanding Legal Journalism and honorable mention in the Best American Sportswriting 2020 and The Year's Best Sportswriting 2021anthologies. He was the 2018 winner of the Hearst National Writing Championship for collegiate journalism (February 2025)
Earleen Fisher died Jan. 29, 2025, at the age of 78.
Fisher's career as a journalist spanned over five decades, including pivotal roles in global journalism, and began when she was a sophomore in high school. She spent over 30 years with The Associated Press, a pursuit that took her from Indiana to New York, Egypt, Israel, India, and more. In 1992, Fisher became chief of the AP's Middle East Services, where she directed news coverage for 16 countries.
Fisher covered major stories in some of the world's most volatile political regions and interviewed subjects such as former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and the Dalai Lama. She also covered the rise of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, the signing of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, and the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Fisher retired to Indiana in 2007. She is a member of the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame and received a Media School Distinguished Alumni Award in 2012.
Sierra Hignite is a broadcast journalist at CBS4 News in Indianapolis. She previously worked at WTWO/WAWV in Terre Haute. Now, Hignite lives in her hometown of Greenwood with her husband, their two sons, and their dog Louis. (February 2025)
Derek Hoffman is the new vice president of development for Lucasfilm. Hoffman has worked in the film, video game, and comic book industry for the last 24 years, starting with The Donners' Company, where he worked on "Timeline" and "16 Blocks." He became a development executive and later vice president for the company where he worked on each film in the "X-Men" franchise. Hoffman was involved in the "X-Men" franchise's move into television and was executive producer for the series "Legion" and "The Gifted." (February 2025)
Kelly Short began teaching English at Salem High School, her alma mater. Short's teaching career has spanned 30 years, during which she spent 17 years at Jeffersonville High School and 13 years at Clarksville. (February 2025)
