The Nashville Building and Construction Trades Council yesterday endorsed Jeff Yarbro for District 21 in one of the most highly anticipated state Senate races, Nashville Public Radio reports. The union represents 17 trade councils including roofers, carpenters and cement masons. Last month, Yarbro’s opponent Mary Mancini received the backing of the Service Employees International Union. Observers say progressive activist Mancini and attorney Yarbro have both been working hard to court the union vote in the district, which includes West End, Sylvan Park and 12 South.

Roane County resident Lakesia Morrison was asked to contribute to Plumhoff v. Richard after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. Morrison is a law clerk at the Arkansas Municipal League and a University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law student. Municipal League Attorney Michael Mosley said her help in the case has been instrumental in crafting arguments and helping him prepare for oral argument, Knoxnews reports.

The Tennessee Supreme Court has agreed to hear two cases regarding a charge of whistleblower retaliation and the contiguous state requirements for a testifying expert witness. The Raybin Perky Hot List has a summary and forecast of each case.

The law license of Penny Jo Mills was transferred to disability inactive status on March 12. Mills may return to the practice of law after reinstatement by the Tennessee Supreme Court upon showing clear and convincing evidence that the disability has been removed and she is fit to resume practice. Download the BPR notice.

Davidson County Assistant District Attorney Sara Beth Myers recently founded Advocates for Women’s and Kids’ Equality (AWAKE), which works to foster public policy to “improve the wellness, safety, opportunity and equality for women and children in Tennessee.” Since its inception in November, the group has worked to build a base in Nashville and establish itself within the state. Myers and her team have worked on mandatory sentencing laws for domestic violence offenders, but in an interview with the Nashville Scene, she said she does not want AWAKE to be pigeonholed as strictly a domestic violence organization, and plans to work on other issues such as improving state children’s services and pay equity.

The face of missing nursing student Holly Bobo might not be shown in the courtroom during the potential murder trial of Zachary Adams due to a prior Tennessee Supreme Court ruling that said photographs of murder victims, "have the potential to undermine and place in jeopardy the outcome of the entire judicial proceedings.” The state legislature next week is set to consider a bill that would allow victim’s photos to be shown in murder trials, WMCTV reports.

Don Arnold announced Wednesday that he will run for a full term as General Sessions Court Judge, Part III, for Washington County. Arnold has held the position since Jan. 3, 2013, when he was appointed to serve by the Washington County Commission until the next election. Arnold has been instrumental in the formation of the new Drug Court and serves as presiding judge. WJHL News Channel 11 has more.

Kingston attorney Terry L. Stevens II picked up a petition on Monday to run for public defender for the 9th Judicial District. Roane County News suggests that the move may create a potential conflict of interest because Stevens currently works as a prosecutor for the 9th Judicial District Attorney General’s Office. District Attorney General Russell Johnson said Stevens has contacted the U.S. General Counsel for the federal Hatch Act to request a formal opinion on the issue.

Gordon Ball, a class action lawyer and former federal prosecutor announced today that he is running for the U.S. Senate from Tennessee, the Chattanoogan reports. Ball is known nationally for standing up to polluters, price-fixers, insurance companies and other big corporations to fight for landowners and ordinary people. “My reason for running is straightforward,” Ball said in his announcement. “Poor and middle class Tennessee families have been victimized far too long by professional politicians and Washington insiders.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 7-1 yesterday evening to pass Gov. Bill Haslam’s plan to combat meth labs by capping pseudoephedrine purchases at two 20-tablet boxes a month and six boxes a year, the Tennessean reports. That measure is competing with several others in both the House and Senate, where some members favor making pseudoephedrine available only by prescription. Many see that as the harshest proposal to regulate the drug, which is found in many cold and allergy medicines but also is essential to making methamphetamine.