Gov. Bill Haslam has asked the top executive at the Department of Children's Services for a report on the violence at Woodland Hills Youth Development Center, the Tennessean reports. Officials handcuffed 24 teenagers early this morning after a riot broke out at Woodland Hills, the site of an escape that drew national headlines earlier this week. Six of those escapees remained at large as of last night. It is unclear when Commissioner Jim Henry will complete the report.

The argument over President Barack Obama's legal authority to defer deportations begins 42 years ago with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, WSMV reports from the Associated Press. In 1968, Lennon was convicted of possession of "cannabis resin" in London and faced deportation in New York by the Nixon administration. In time, the effort to extend Lennon's stay in the United States would become an integral part of the legal foundation the Obama administration relied on in 2012 to set up a program that has deferred the deportation of more than 580,000 immigrants who entered the country without documents as children. The extent of Obama's legal authority is now central to the White House deliberations over what else Obama can do — and when — without congressional action to reduce deportations and give many of the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States the ability to stay and work without fear of being removed.

The American Bar Association’s Section of Litigation Legal Services Access to Justice Committee has awarded Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands a $5,000 Justice Assistance Fund Grant. The money will be used to expand and deepen relationships with rural attorneys, private law firms, government agencies and private businesses for Legal Aid Society’s Volunteer Lawyers Program as well as to expand its Campaign for Equal Justice.

Leticia Alexander was fired Tuesday morning, the latest of six prosecutors let go by new Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk. She isn’t going quietly, however. Alexander tells WSMV she believes that she and several others were terminated for political reasons. She was featured in an advertisement supporting Funk's opponent. "I don't think the prosecutor's office should ever be used as political animals," Alexander said. "I mean, we don't work there for political purposes. We work there to serve the community." When asked why he terminated six attorneys, Funk responded, "Out of consideration for the people who have left the office, I'm not going to make any comments."

An East Tennessee woman convicted of child neglect in her teenage daughter's cancer death is asking the state Supreme Court to declare that she is innocent because she relied on prayer to heal the girl. Jacqueline Crank was sentenced to unsupervised probation after her 15-year-old daughter died of Ewing's Sarcoma in 2002. State law makes it a crime to fail to provide medical care to children, but there is an exception for those who rely on prayer alone for healing. However, the Spiritual Treatment Exemption Act applies only to faith healing performed by an accredited practitioner of a recognized church or religious denomination. The court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the case in Knoxville today. Knoxnews has more.

Nine losing candidates from the August election are contesting results in a Shelby County Chancery Court lawsuit, the Memphis Daily News reports. The lawsuit was filed Sept. 2 by Criminal Court candidates Kenya Brooks, Alicia Howard and Mozella Ross; General Sessions Court candidates Kim Sims and J. Nathan Toney; District Attorney candidate Joe Brown; Juvenile Court clerk candidate Henri Brooks; Criminal Court clerk candidate Wanda Halbert; and Doris Deberry-Bradshaw, who ran in a state House Democratic primary. The lawsuit — originally filed in General Sessions Court — seeks “a vote recount and/or the setting aside of the election results as they are individually affected and a declaration declaring them to have won the election.” The action also seeks an open inspection of records from the election, including computer records.

Sharon Lee, the new Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice, said there will be no partisan politics involved when the court selects a new state attorney general, Gavel Grab reports. “I think the voters rejected partisan politics in our judiciary with the election,” Justice Lee said this week, according to a blog of the Knoxville News Sentinel. ”And they certainly will not have any place in the selection of the attorney general, or how we do the rest of our jobs.” The court will conduct public interviews of eight candidates Monday.

After 28 years as 12th Judicial District Court judge, Buddy Perry stepped down from the bench, the Herald Chronicle reports. Opting not to seek re-election, Perry is being replaced? by Justin C. Angel, a Republican who defeated Democrat Steve Blount in the Franklin County general election on Aug. 7. Perry, a Winchester native and a Democrat, was first elected in May 1986 as a 12th Judicial District candidate? with no Republican opposition. Perry said he plans to return to school and is venturing ?back into private practice in a new area of law now that his term is expired

The Monroe County Commission voted 8-1 Tuesday morning to purchase land for a new jail. The county’s need for a new jail may have been given an extra impetus after newly-elected 10th Judicial District Attorney General Steve Crump announced it would be the policy of his office for a first-time parole violator to receive a 30-day sentence, while a second-time parole offender would have to serve their entire sentence. County officials also said last week they had been told by two state officials the county would have to show progress or risk losing its jail certification this month. The county will buy 20 acres on New Highway 68 just down from Warren Street in Madisonville for of $450,000. Estimates on how much it will cost to build a jail have varied anywhere from $15 million to $30 million, The Advocate and Democrat reports.

Six counties in Tennessee have been chosen to take part in a pilot project that gives drug court judges access to information in the Controlled Substance Monitoring Database to help ensure the success of program participants, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports. Cocke, Grainger, Hamilton, Jefferson, Sevier and Sullivan counties were selected to represent rural, semi-urban and urban areas. “This program is designed to give judges more tools in their tool box to assist those persons who suffer from addiction and who are in drug court treatment programs,” said Sen. Doug Overbey, R-Maryville, a co-sponsor of the legislation allowing the program. If successful, the legislation sponsors believe the pilot program could be extended statewide.