Photo courtesy https://www.flickr.com/photos/donkeyhotey/
Photo courtesy https://www.flickr.com/photos/donkeyhotey/

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. (AP) — A longtime top assistant has been named acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois.

Sixty-three-year-old Jim Porter of Millstadt told The (Belleville) News-Democrat on Monday that he hopes to be appointed to the position permanently.

Porter temporarily replaces U.S. Attorney Steve Wigginton who left the job earlier this month for a job at a private law firm in St. Louis. Wigginton had held the job since 2010.

Porter has worked for the southern district for nearly thirty years.

The U.S. Department of Justice has more than six months under the law to name a permanent replacement.

 

 

 

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.