By AP/KWMU
Carbondale, Ill. – The think-tank that the late Senator Paul Simon ran in Carbondale, Ill. has a temporary director.
Mike Lawrence, who was a long time newspaper reporter-turned press secretary and aide to former Governor Jim Edgar, will run Simon's Public Policy Institute until a national search finds a new director. Lawrence has worked as the Institute's number two man since it opened in 1997.
Simon died last month after heart surgery.
Lawrence said he'll try to help the institute grow the way Paul Simon wanted.