Free Speech Week is a nonpartisan, national celebration of the value of freedom of speech, co-sponsored by the American Bar Association. Held Oct. 20-26, this year's event kicks off with a photo contest showing how citizens use the right to free speech everyday. Upload or tweet photos with #FreeSpeech365 by Oct. 20 for a chance to win cash and more. Multiple entries are encouraged. Visit www.freespeechweek.org for more information. 

The City of Clarksville is receiving over $1.7 million dollars in grant funds from the U.S. Department of Justice’s COPS Hiring Program according to an announcement by Mayor Kim McMillan. The grant funds may be used over a three-year period and will be used to hire 14 new police officers by June 2015. Business & Heritage Clarksville has more.

Plans for a mental health court in Hamilton County are finally are gaining traction, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports. Last winter, a Hamilton County grand jury called for the creation of a mental health court, and other local grand juries since have followed suit. Advocates say they hope to see one in place as early as next year. Such a court could help ease overcrowding in the jails by keeping offenders with mental health concerns out. It would provide alternative sentencing, mental health support and close monitoring of each defendant’s case.

A federal judge yesterday rejected a request by the Obama administration to close a hearing into the force-feeding of a Guantanamo Bay prisoner who has gone on a hunger strike, WKRN reports from the Associated Press. The Obama administration has sought to keep the hearing closed on grounds that much of the information about the man is classified. U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler rejected the government's motion to close the hearing in its entirety, however, the judge wrote that the hearing can be held in open and closed sessions to accommodate the government's concerns.

Former University of Tennessee media director Debby Jennings has reached a $320,000 settlement in her lawsuit against the university and athletic director Dave Hart, alleging “unlawful discrimination and retaliation” after Jennings’ abrupt departure from the athletic department in May of 2012. “I am hopeful my lawsuit has cast some light on some of the inequities that I and others experienced in the combined UT Athletics Department,” Jennings, a UT alum, said in a statement. “My sincere desire is that my University will strive to bridge the gap in the disparity of the number of women and minorities in leadership roles within the UTAD.” Knoxnews has more.

Memphis Area Legal Services will host a ribbon cutting ceremony and open house on Oct. 30 from 5- 7 p.m. to celebrate the recent move to the Falls Building located at 22 N. Front St., Memphis. For more information, contact LaSandra A. Brown at (901) 255-3452.

Tennessee has been chosen as one of seven states to receive just over $5 million to identify, track, and prevent misuse of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits by program recipients, Agriculture Undersecretary Kevin Concannon announced yesterday. These grants will particularly help state agencies reduce SNAP trafficking, primarily the exchange of benefits for cash or other goods or services. “USDA is committed to ensuring that SNAP benefits are used as intended, helping families put food on the table,” Concannon said in a press release. 

Campaign spending is heating up for three of the four Tennessee constitutional amendments proposed on the November ballot, Knoxnews reports. Citing reports filed with the Registry of Election Finance in July, Knoxnews says that the Yes on 1 Ballot committee had collected about $300,000 and spent about $100,000. The Vote No on One Tennessee campaign committee had reported contributions totaling more than $350,000 as of July 1 with only about $10,000 in spending. The Vote Yes on 2 campaign committee reported in July that it had raised more than $400,000 and spent about $50,000. The opposing Vote No on 2 committee, reported zero contributions and expenditures at the time. Yes on 3 PAC reported $10,000 in donations and $1,649 in spending, although last week it began a statewide promotional effort that indicates more money is in the pipeline. Citizens for Fiscal Sanity, the campaign committee opposing Amendment 3, reported less than $2,000 in contributions and $85 in expenditures. No campaign organizations have registered to either support or oppose the proposed Amendment 4.

Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and House Speaker Beth Harwell responded to criticism last week by a Davidson County grand jury that the two top Republicans did not properly seat the board that reviewed Tennessee Supreme Court justices and appellate judges, WSMV reports. Harwell said that she complied with the law in her House appointments by choosing two females, two males, one African-American and one Hispanic. Ramsey blamed politics. "It's a political action taken by a political activist, John Jay Hooker, trying to achieve headlines," Ramsey said.

The Obama administration is spending $4 million on lawyers for unaccompanied immigrant children in deportation proceedings, a move an influential Republican lawmaker says is illegal and will fuel an increase in illegal immigration. Kenneth Wolfe, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families, said Tuesday that it is the first time the office that oversees programs for unaccompanied immigrant children will provide money for direct legal representation. The grants to two organizations are part of a bigger $9 million project that aims to provide lawyers to 2,600 children. WRCB has more from the Associated Press.