Nashville personal injury attorney John L. Lowery, who is currently under investigation on suspicion of theft and forgery, faces 16 felony charges that he stole his clients’ settlement checks, The Tennessean reports. The settlement checks range from $6,000 to $95,000. Police served a search warrant at Lowery’s house last week and seized computers, hard drives and boxes of paperwork. The Tennessee Supreme Court temporarily suspended Lowery on May 28 from the practice of law. 

Gov. Bill Haslam said Tennessee’s conservative identity should not play a factor in determining long-term transportation funding, The Commercial Appeal reports. "We take great pride in Tennessee in being a conservative state ... But I know this one thing: it is not conservative to pass on something in worse shape than you got it," Haslam said today while addressing government officials and road contractors in Murfreesboro. The Republican governor remains undecided on whether he will ask lawmakers for an increased fuel tax when the General Assembly returns in January.

Memphis Area Legal Services continues to host its free Thursday afternoon legal clinic throughout Celebrate Pro Bono Month. The clinic is held every Thursday from 1:30 – 4 p.m. at the D’Army Bailey Civil Court House, Room 140, 140 Adams Ave., in Memphis. Contact Cindy Ettingoff for more information.

The Memphis Bar Association, along with Memphis Mayor A.C. Wharton and Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell, will proclaim October as Pro Bono Month on Monday at 10:30 a.m. in the City Hall of Memphis, 125 N Main St. Contact Ann Fritz for more information. Later next week, Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey S. Bivins will be featured at the Pro Bono Attorneys Hall of Fame Reception in Chattanooga, hosted by Legal Aid of East Tennessee. The event is planned for Oct. 15, 5 p.m. at 535 Chestnut St., Suite 360. For more information, contact Charlie McDaniel.

The Justice Department will hold the largest one-time release of federal prisoners – about 6,000 inmates – between Oct. 30 and Nov. 2 in an effort to reduce overcrowding and free drug offenders who now qualify for early release, The Washington Post reports. The announcement follows a U.S. Sentencing Commission ruling that reduced the potential punishment for future drug offenders last year and made the change retroactive. The commission estimates the change could eventually result in 46,000 of the country’s drug offenders qualifying for early release.

The Tennessee Supreme Court disbarred Carrie Watson Gasaway on Oct. 5 from the practice of law. Gasaway was suspended in May of 2015 after being convicted of extortion. She also engaged in theft of client money from trust, charged unreasonable fees, provided incompetent representation and more. Gasaway is the wife of Circuit Court Judge John Gasaway, who announced his retirement effective Dec. 1. The couple filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 13 in 2014. Mr. Gasaway has blamed the debt on his wife’s extortion charge and her former legal partners.

Following the deadly shootings at an Oregon community college, WKRN reports that Sen. Mae Beavers, R-Mt. Juliet, plans to re-introduce to the Tennessee General Assembly a re-worked measure of the Constitution Carry Bill. The legislation would allow those with handgun permits to take their weapons openly anywhere. “Would I mind teachers being armed in school? No. I think we need the protection nowadays. They have got to have the back-up in case something like this happens,” she said.

DraftKings and FanDuel, two major fantasy sports companies in which players assemble fantasy teams with real athletes, are defending themselves against allegations of insider trading, The New York Times reports. The unregulated businesses are now being questioned about who has access to valuable data and how it is protected after employees of both companies won jackpots playing at each other’s fantasy sites. “The single greatest threat to the daily fantasy sports industry is the misuse of insider information,” Daniel Wallach, a sports and gambling attorney, said. “It could imperil this nascent industry unless real, immediate and meaningful safeguards are put in place.”

Davidson County Chancery Court Judge Ellen Lyle said Metro’s director of schools has the power to dismiss non-teaching staffers without giving them an appeals hearing, The Tennessean reports. Lyle said in her ruling that state law “supersedes the Metro Charter’ and allows for a board to create policies detailing the process in which the director hires and fires personnel.

The Department of Children’s Services (DCS) could be out from under federal court oversight by 2017 if the agency can continue to make progress in its care of foster kids, The Tennessean reports. DCS has been under court oversight since 2001 after New York city-based Children’s Rights filed suit over mismanagement. "We've done a lot of hard work in recent years, and we think we are very close to meeting court orders,” DCS commissioner Bonnie Hommrich said.