A new bill from Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, and the lobbying arm of the Beacon Center of Tennessee would limit cities and counties to a 5% annual tax rate increase, without the need for voter approval, the Tennessean reports. If passed, the legislation would potentially curb the efforts of some Nashville council members who are pushing for a property tax hike. Those efforts have been narrowly voted down two years in a row, with last year’s proposed 15.8% increase falling one vote short of approval.

Nicholas Todd Sutton has chosen to die by electric chair for his Feb. 20 execution, the Tennessean reports. If his execution goes forward as scheduled, Sutton will be the fifth death row inmate to choose the electric chair in Tennessee since 2018. The choice to die by electrocution stems from a battle over Tennessee’s lethal injection drugs, which other inmates have described as state-sanctioned torture. Inmates who received a death sentence for a crime committed prior to 1999 are allowed by state law to choose between electrocution and the default execution method of lethal injection. Sutton was sentenced to death for the killing of a fellow inmate in 1985 and had previously been convicted in three other murders.

The University of Memphis Research Foundation (UMRF) Research Park is partnering with immigration firm Siskind Susser to attract more international companies to Memphis, the Memphis Business Journal reports. The collaboration will make it easier for international companies to relocate to Memphis by helping them obtain visas and approval for extended stays. UMRF was one of seven institutions chosen last fall for the U.S. Department of State’s Global Innovation through Science and Technology Initiative (GIST), which placed international startups at the university for networking, skill-building, mentoring and financing opportunities. Siskind Susser advised those companies on immigration laws and work visa options. The GIST program ended last month, but UMRF and Siskind Susser will continue working together to attract businesses from across the world.

Shelby County Juvenile Court Judge Dan Michael has announced that he will address “the events and successes of the past year and discuss his plans for Juvenile Court in 2020” at the fourth-annual State of the Court address, the Daily Memphian reports. The U.S. Department of Justice ended its six-year supervision of the court in 2018, despite a DOJ monitor calling the court “deeply flawed” against African American children. The event will take place on Jan. 24 at 9 a.m. in the main auditorium of the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission, 600 Jefferson Avenue. The address will also be livestreamed on the Juvenile Court website.

A new report from the Knoxville News Sentinel gives a detailed account of the role Tennessee’s pharmacies have played in the opioid epidemic. The report pulls from a lawsuit against AmerisourceBergen brought by Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III, which alleges the Pennsylvania opioid distributor took part in deliberate drug trafficking and racketeering by shipping unreasonable amounts of opioids to distributors. According to the report, the lawsuit identifies Walgreens and Food City pharmacies for helping flood the black market with opiates and fueling a deadly epidemic. The suit was filed in Knox County Circuit Court on Oct. 3 and made public last month after the Knoxville News Sentinel’s lawsuit to release the records.

The Supreme Court of Tennessee today temporarily suspended Sullivan County lawyer Kyle Douglas Vaughan from the practice of law upon finding that he misappropriated funds for his own use and poses a threat of substantial harm to the public. Section 12.3 of Supreme Court Rule 9 provides for the immediate summary suspension of an attorney’s license to practice law in cases where an attorney misappropriated funds or poses a threat of substantial harm to the public. Vaughan is immediately precluded from accepting any new cases, and he must cease representing existing clients by Feb. 21. This suspension remains in effect until dissolution or modification by the Supreme Court.

Legal Aid of East Tennessee will host two client intake interview sessions this week in Jasper and Pikeville. These clinics are available to low income and senior Tennesseans with civil legal problems in the areas of consumer, housing and veteran’s and government benefit issues with food stamps, unemployment and TennCare. The Jasper clinic will take place Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Marion County Justice Center. The Pikeville clinic will take place on Thursday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Bledsoe County Courthouse. For more information on either clinic, call 423-756-4013.

The University of Tennessee College of Law will hold a special ceremony later this month to commemorate student Joseph Aaron Moore, who passed away unexpectedly on Jan. 1. Moore, 38, began law school at UT in the fall of 2016 and was employed as a law clerk at Shepherd & Associates in Maryville. He also worked in the College of Law Legal Clinic. Moore earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin and worked as a lecturer prior to entering law school. The service will be held at 3 p.m. on Jan. 31 in the College of Law Rotunda. Read more on the College of Law’s website.

Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, and Rep. Antonio Parkinson, D-Memphis, have introduced legislation that would allow Tennessee college athletes to financially benefit from the use of their names, images and likenesses, the Commercial Appeal reports. If the bill passes, athletes would be able to sign contracts to advertise for local businesses or other companies. It would also prohibit schools from “discriminating against players based on donations by coaches to universities." Kelsey sponsored a resolution in May calling on public universities to oppose the NCAA prohibition on compensation for college athletes and added the provision about donations by coaches after the NCAA suspended University of Memphis basketball player James Wiseman over questions about his eligibility.

A new law has secured long-term funding for the state’s historically black colleges and universities, the Commercial Appeal reports. Through a bill championed by Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, the Future Act was signed into effect last month and provides $255 million in annual federal funding to minority institutions. The Republican senator called the effort a bipartisan effort of legislators "working together to get results for Americans, and for Tennesseans.” It also simplifies the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) by eliminating up to 22 questions from the application.