Habitat for Humanity of Greater Nashville and the Nashville School of Law are among the Excellence in Partnership nominees at the upcoming Tennessee Governor's Housing Conference, the Chattanoogan reports. The award will be presented Oct. 7-8 at the Music City Center in Nashville.

The Tennessee Supreme Court suspended the law license of Maryville attorney Cynthia Lee Costner-Sexton on Sept. 18. Costner-Sexton failed to reasonably communicate with her client, failed to provide professional services after accepting a retainer and failed to refund unearned fees. Read the BPR release.

Tenth Judicial District Attorney General Steve Crump said the Cold Case Task Force is in the process of compiling files on all of unsolved homicides across the district in hopes of determining cases that can be realistically solved, the Advocate and Democrat reports. The Judicial Task Force is made up of Monroe, McMinn, Polk and Bradley counties. 

Public defender Steve Smith said that his office's future efforts will include how the state might better address the bonding process, The Chattanoogan reports. “I think that if we took a look at the bond numbers, we would be shocked by the number of people who don’t need to be there,” Smith said in speech to the Hamilton County Pachyderm Club. 

Gov. Bill Haslam said he believes the state is fulfilling its legal funding obligations to Shelby County Schools, despite a school board lawsuit claiming otherwise. Chalkbeat Tennessee reports that Haslam said he was “surprised” and “disappointed” over the lawsuit filed last month, but the governor said he is moving forward with plans to increase teacher pay. Hamilton County and six other southeast Tennessee districts have also filed lawsuits over a lack of education funding.

Gov. Bill Haslam said he believes the state is fulfilling its legal funding obligations to Shelby County Schools, despite a school board lawsuit claiming otherwise. Chalkbeat Tennessee reports that Haslam said he was “surprised” and “disappointed” over the lawsuit filed last month, but the governor said he is moving forward with plans to increase teacher pay. Hamilton County and six other southeast Tennessee districts have also filed lawsuits over a lack of education funding.

The Advocate and Democrat reports that a case involving a Monroe County sheriff’s election could head to the Tennessee Supreme Court. Attorney Charles Burks said he is “mulling that very option” after the Tennessee Court of Appeals upheld the Chancery Court’s ruling that voided the 2014 election in which the winner did not have the required experience.

Gay couples in Kentucky have joined deputy clerk Brian Mason in questioning the validity of marriage licenses issued without Kim Davis’ signature, the Associated Press reports. Davis replaced licenses issued while she was in jail with new licenses stating they were issued “pursuant to federal court order.” "The adulterated marriage licenses received by Rowan County couples will effectively feature a stamp of animus against the LGBT community, signaling that, in Rowan County, the government's position is that LGBT couples are second-class citizens unworthy of official recognition and authorization of their marriage licenses but for this Court's intervention and Order," lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union said.

Washington County Assistant District Attorney Julie Hays, who had been missing since a Saturday hike in North Carolina, was found by a search team Monday evening, WBIR reports. Hays was found injured, but the condition or nature of her injury are unknown.

A search is underway in the Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina to find upper East Tennessee assistant district attorney Julie Hays, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports. According to Haywood County Sheriff’s Office in Waynesville, North Carolina, Hays left her Jonesborough home around 7 a.m. Saturday to hike alone. Her husband reported her missing Saturday evening.