County Court Judge James G. Kube has announced his retirement after 16 years on the bench.

Kube serves the seventh district in Nebraska, covering Antelope, Cuming, Knox, Madison, Pierce, Stanton, and Wayne counties.

Since his appointment in 2009, Kube has been a member of the Northeast Nebraska Adult Drug Court which helps people with substance abuse disorders.

His retirement will be effective October 31.

"The first step in replacing Judge Kube will be for the Judicial Resources Commission to call a meeting to determine whether, based on judicial workload statistics, his retirement creates a judicial vacancy on the county court for the 7th Judicial District," the State of Nebraska Judicial Branch said in a news release.