GERING, Neb. (AP) — Gov. Pete Ricketts has appointed a Scottsbluff attorney to fill a western Nebraska district judgeship left vacant by the retiring of longtime District Judge Randall Lippstreu earlier this year.

Andrea Miller, of Bayard, has been named the new district judge for the 12th Judicial District of Nebraska.

Miller is currently an attorney at Simmons Olsen Law Firm in Scottsbluff. She holds a bachelor of science in political science from the University of Nebraska at Kearney and received her law degree from the University of Nebraska.

Her primary office will be in Gering in Scotts Bluff County. The district also includes Banner, Box Butte, Cheyenne, Dawes, Deuel, Garden, Grant, Kimball, Morrill, Sheridan and Sioux counties.