DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – An assistant federal prosecutor in Iowa has been named a district court judge to fill a vacancy left by a retirement.  Gov. Terry Branstad says he has appointed Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger to the bench in the Fifth Judicial District, a position which presides over cases primarily in Polk County.  The 37-year-old Ebinger will fill the vacancy left by Judge Artis Reis, who has retired.  Reis, of West Des Moines, became a district associate judge in 1995 and a district judge in 1998.

Ebinger, who has worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Iowa in Des Moines, received her law degree from Yale Law School.  Fourteen attorneys and magistrates had applied for the district court judge’s position, which pays $137,700 a year.

Among the counties included in the Fifth District are Adair, Adams, Dallas, Guthrie,  Madison, Ringgold, Taylor andUnion.