The Crossville Chronicle reports Congress is moving toward an overhaul of the country’s foster-care system and bi-partisan legislation could be presented this fall. Advocates say foster care funds should be going to help biological parents learn to care for children properly, including paying for psychotherapy or treatment for a parent’s addiction issues. "When you ask a child who has been in foster care how we can best improve the current foster-care system, often the answer will be: You could have helped my mom so that I did not have to go into foster care in the first place," Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said.

Robert Etheridge “Jack” Irvin Jr. of Crossville died Aug. 18. He was 88. Irvin graduated from Vanderbilt Law School in 1969 and was a senior counselor member with the TBA. Memorial donations may be made to the Cumberland County Playhouse, 221 Tennessee Ave., Crossville, TN 38555, one of many places Irvin performed.

Damascus Road Residential Center in Memphis is being criticized for doing little to help teenage boys, despite its president and CEO Sharon Paige requesting $550,000 in grants from local governments. The Commercial Appeal reports that no children have been admitted to the facility, which Paige said is equipped to handle 100 boys ages 12-17 as an alternative to juvenile detention. Juvenile court officials say the facility has more beds than necessary for the area and security concerns could keep the court from partnering with the facility. 

U.S. District Judge David Bunning ordered Kentucky clerk Kim Davis to jail after Davis refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples based on religious objections, WDRB reports. Bunning said allowing an individual’s beliefs to supersede the court’s authority would set a dangerous precedent. "I myself have genuinely held religious beliefs, but I took an oath," Bunning said. Davis’ deputies also face fines or jail time if they do not issue marriage licenses to all applicants while Davis is held in contempt. An attorney with Liberty Counsel, a religious freedom group representing Davis and other officials refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses, argued that the deputy clerks cannot issue licenses against Davis' authority. Bunning overruled the objection.

University of Tennessee Knoxville service workers are concerned Gov. Bill Haslam’s idea to privatize state jobs could could take away jobs from hundreds of university employees, WBIR reports. UT is participating in the review process but no decisions have been made. "While we have agreed, along with (the Tennessee Board of Regents), to be a part of the review process, be assured that we will remain committed to what is in the best interest of the University of Tennessee community and our effective and efficient operation," UT President Dr. Joe DiPietro said. 

A ruling is expected this week on whether class-action certification will be granted on a lawsuit filed by Hamilton County and six other area school boards over education funding, according to Davidson County Chancellor Claudia Bonnyman. The Times Free Press reports awarding the class-action status would allow other local school systems to benefit from Hamilton County’s original suit. "We're all receiving less money than the Supreme Court has said we need. This underfunding is a problem that belongs to every school system in the state,” Hamilton County Board of Education attorney Scott Bennett said. 

Body language expert Scott Rouse will share what to look for when you suspect your client is not being truthful. Rouse will discuss eye movement, nonverbal cues and micro-expressions in this one-hour webcast scheduled for Sept. 16 at noon CDT. The video can be viewed online after that date. The course is worth one hour of CLE credit.

Audio recorders have been removed from security lines at Knoxville’s City County Building and Knox County Courthouse after attorneys complained that they didn't know their conversations were being recorded, WVLT reports. The Public Building Authority (PBA) installed the recorders less than a month ago to monitor complaints they received about security officers. Stickers located on the entrances were intended to notify the public of the devices, but Knox County attorney Terry Adams said he and his colleagues were never notified. "When we walk in a lot of times at that main entrance, a lot of people have private serious conversations about their case… things they wouldn't want to be recorded.”

A divorce order from Chattanooga Chancellor Jeffrey Atherton is drawing national attention in the Above the Law blog. Atherton denied a heterosexual couple’s mutual wish to get divorced, stating in the opinion, “With the U.S. Supreme Court having defined what must be recognized as a marriage, it would appear that Tennessee’s judiciary must now await the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court as to what is not a marriage, or better stated, when a marriage is no longer a marriage.”  Atherton's full opinion is included in the post.

Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, who continues to deny all marriage licenses following the legalization of same-sex marriage, should resign from her position, Vanderbilt University Law School professor Suzanna Sherry tells WMC Action News 5. "She should simply say, 'If this is what the job requires of me, my religious beliefs will not allow me do this job, so I have to resign.'" U.S. Distrcit Judge David Bunning ordered Davis to appear in his courtroom Thursday in Ashland, where Davis could face fines or jail time if found in contempt.