Knoxville attorney Dwight E. Tarwater on Monday will become general counsel to Gov. Bill Haslam, who he knew on a personal level from living in the Westmoreland neighborhood before Knoxville’s former mayor moved to Nashville. Tarwater told Knoxnews he “had to do some soul searching” after Herbert Slatery, who formerly was Haslam’s general counsel and now is the state attorney general, contacted him about the job. His daughter, Katherine Tarwater Freeman, said he ought to follow the advice he always gave her and his two sons: “Go climb the next mountain,” which has led him to Nashville.

Gov. Bill Haslam is holding four days of budget hearings this week as his administration prepares its annual spending proposal to be delivered to Tennessee lawmakers in January. The hearings will be held Tuesday through Friday, and kicked off yesterday with presentations from state agencies responsible for human resources, safety, intellectual and developmental disabilities and commerce. The Memphis Daily News has more.

The Tennessee Supreme Court has determined that Tennessee Human Rights Act claims against local governmental entities are not governed by the Governmental Tort Liability Act (GTLA) and claims filed in Chancery Court include a statutory right to trial by jury. The ruling pertains to the 2010 case of Larry Sneed, who was fired from his job as chief of police for the City of Red Bank. Sneed filed suit against the city in the Chancery Court for Hamilton County, alleging numerous claims, including a Rights Act claim against the city and a claim under the Tennessee Public Protection Act. Prior to trial, Red Bank filed a motion to transfer the case from Chancery Court to Circuit Court, alleging that the GTLA applied, which requires claims to be filed in Circuit Court and tried without a jury. The Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals decision and held that the GTLA does not control Rights Act claims because the Rights Act is an independent and specific statute, which itself removes governmental immunity and authorizes claims against governmental entities. Visit the AOC website for more.

Complete your 2014 CLE requirements with a variety of live CLE programs. Courses coming this month cover a variety of topics, including ethics, criminal law, juvenile law and more geared toward  general practitioners. Need a specific topic? View the TBA CLE online offerings for the topics you need.

The Tennessean has asked the state Supreme Court to review a decision blocking the release of records related to the alleged rape of a woman at Vanderbilt University by four former university football players. Attorneys for nine media organizations and the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government today filed paperwork for the appeal. Last fall, the media coalition sued Metro and state government and the district attorney for access to records created by nongovernmental entities. In September, the appeals court said records should not be released because they were part of an ongoing police investigation. Open records advocates said the decision gave too much leeway for police to withhold records, possibly setting a precedent in other cases.

The Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar unanimously agreed to provide Kristin Pagano stop-the-clock breaks to pump breast milk during the state bar exam, the ABA Journal reports. Pagano, who expects to give birth to her first child in January and take the bar exam in February, will be allowed a break of up to 30 minutes during each three-hour segment of the test, which will not be counted against the time she is given to complete the bar exam. A female proctor and access to an appropriate area in which to pump breast milk will also be provided.

Problems at the Juvenile Justice Center in Memphis are causing big safety issues for law-enforcement, WREG reports. The secure elevator used to bring detainees up from the garage area hasn’t been working for months so law enforcement officers have to walk them up two flights of stairs, which means a need for added security. Detainees with handicaps or injuries who cannot take the stairs now have to be taken up on the public elevator, adding even more safety concerns. The hydraulic system, which was put in during the 1983 construction phase, will cost the center about $60,000 to fix.

Nashville District Attorney General Glenn Funk he said was glued to the TV Monday night when the district attorney in Ferguson, Missouri, announced that a grand jury there would not charge a police officer who shot and killed a black teen. Ferguson is four hours away, but “a million miles away as far as the way government leaders have been trying to interact with the community,” Funk told the Tennessean. He said he has made efforts to improve diversity in his office since he was elected in August. About 10 percent of his assistant prosecutors are minorities, and he said he encourages them to get involved in the community. “We’re trying to get it to where it’s not that ‘us against them’ mentality.”

A federal judge struck down Arkansas' voter-approved gay marriage ban yesterday but stopped any rush to the altar by putting her order on hold so the state can consider an appeal. Judges across the country have ruled against similar bans since the U.S. Supreme Court struck part of a federal anti-gay marriage law in June 2013, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports. Just 15 states still enforce bans on same-sex marriage, a fact the New York Times indicates may play a role in the Supreme Court’s calculations. “Historically, there seems to be a tipping point at which the justices seem more comfortable setting aside state practices,” said Walter Dellinger, an acting solicitor general in the Clinton administration. “When only a third of the states still retain a practice, the court seems ready to act.”

The Tennessee Bar Association will be closed on Thursday and Friday for the Thanksgiving holiday. We will open again at 8 a.m. on Monday.