April Rebecca Mims has been temporarily suspended from the practice of law for failing to substantially comply with a monitoring agreement with the Tennessee Lawyers Assistance Program. Download the BPR notice.

Middle Tennessee journalists will tackle the topic of the media and the courts at a program sponsored by the Middle Tennessee Chapter of the Society for Professional Journalists. The event will be on Jan. 16 at Waller Law Offices in Nashville from 6 p.m to 8 p.m. Following a reception, there will be a panel discussion featuring journalists and judges.

Rep. Eric Watson represented Tennessee in a discussion on drug policy issues facing the nation, the Chattanoogan reports. Topics at the Washington, D.C. conference included opioid abuse and diversion, “smart on crime” initiatives, and intergovernmental strategies for states to partner with the Office of National Drug Control Policy. As chairman of the House Criminal Practice Committee, Rep. Watson oversees efforts to prevent illegal drug use in Tennessee communities, strengthen drug treatment services, disrupt domestic drug production and trafficking, and improve drug-related information systems.

House Speaker Beth Harwell says she expects the House in 2014 to revisit proposals requiring a prescription for pseudoephedrine, a cold drug also used to make methamphetamine. Police say past efforts to control the sale of the medicine through electronic systems in pharmacies haven’t done enough. According to Nashville Public Radio, House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick is in favor of the proposal, pointing to a Vanderbilt poll out last week saying two-thirds of Tennesseans favor requiring a prescription to get pseudoephedrine.

Bede O. M. Anyanwu on Dec. 18 received a public censure from the Board of Professional Responsibility. Although his wife was to be the buyer in a real estate transaction, Anyanwu represented the seller in matters related to the transaction, and drafted documents that were misleading as to the true sales price of the property. Download the BPR notice.

A Shelbyville resident filed a formal complaint against State Sen. Jim Tracy, alleging he broke Tennessee campaign laws and reporting procedures by holding a pancake breakfast for constituents in Murfreesboro shortly before he launched his bid for Congress last December. According to the Tennessean, state filings show that Jim Tracy for State Senate spent more than $40,000 on the event, billed as an opportunity to meet the Shelbyville Republican and make donations to Toys for Tots. The complaint was filed with the state’s Registry of Election Finance on Nov. 27 and will be taken up at a meeting in January.

A day earlier Tracy had received a big endorsement from the Citizens United Political Victory Fund in his GOP challenge to Fourth Congressional District Congressman Scott DesJarlais. The conservative group formerly supported DesJarlais but said in a statement that it “can no longer do so because he does not share our conservative values." The Chattanooga Times Free Press has more.

A new report shows that a shortage of lethal injection chemicals has contributed to declining use of capital punishment in the United States. With 39 executions this year, it is only the second time in the past two decades the annual number of inmates put to death has dropped below 40, WCYB reports. Active death-penalty states have been scrambling to find new lethal injection protocols after European-based manufacturers banned U.S. prisons from using their drugs in executions. Various state and federal courts, including those in Tennessee, have postponed some planned executions until issues surrounding the new protocols are resolved.

James J. McMahon died Tuesday (Dec. 17) in Memphis. He was 72. A graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law, McMahon practiced as an IRS estate and gift tax attorney for several years, and began private practice in 1978. McMahon served as past president of the Federal Bar Association in Memphis and as chairman of the Tax, Probate and Trust Section of the Tennessee Bar Association. Visitation will be held Saturday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Memphis Funeral Home, with services immediately following. Burial will follow in Edmondson Cemetery in Southaven, Miss.

A pipe burst in the intake area of the Davidson County Criminal Justice Center early Tuesday morning. Spokeswoman Karla West says the flooding was contained to the intake area and operations were not interrupted. Authorities brought in a mobile booking unit so that newly arrested inmates could still be entered into the system. The Tennessean has more.

Speaker of the House Beth Harwell predicts that the bill to allow wine in grocery stores will pass in 2014. The bill to let supermarkets, pharmacies, convenience stores and other retailers with beer licenses place wine on their shelves — provided voters agree through local referendums — was sent to the Senate, but got tied up in a House committee during the 2013 legislative session by a single vote.