Jim Babbitt, a retired prosecutor and former Barron County judge, has joined The Chetek Alert as contributing editor, the newspaper announced Wednesday.
Babbitt fills the role vacated by Carl Cooley, who is now news director for the WJMC, WKFX and WAQE radio stations in Rice Lake. As contributing editor, Babbitt will write weekly feature stories for The Alert.
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A UW-Milwaukee graduate in 1977, Babbitt studied mass communication and wrote for the UWM Post student newspaper during his undergraduate years. He went on to earn his law degree from UW-Madison in 1979.
Babbitt spent more than 30 years of his career as an assistant district attorney for several Wisconsin counties, including Rusk and Barron counties. He also served as a circuit court judge in Barron County from August 2008 to October 2013.