Howell was born in San Antonio, Texas, where her father worked as a journalist at the "San Antonio Express-News" and was a well-known broadcaster and meteorologist at WOAI Radio and TV. Howell entered journalism by working on her high school paper and then, as a journalism student, on "The Daily Texan", the student newspaper for The University of Texas at Austin. After graduation, Howell had difficulty finding a job other than on old-time women's pages and instead took a job at a local TV and radio station. Later, she was hired to work on the copy desk of the "Corpus Christi Caller-Times", before moving to the "Minneapolis Star" as a reporter, then city editor and assistant managing editor. She was hired at the "St. Paul Pioneer Press" as senior vice president and editor before becoming the Washington bureau chief and editor of Newhouse News Service from 1990 until 2005.