Jennings Bryant (J.B.) Loring Sr. died Saturday after almost three years of battling lung cancer. He was 84. Loring served in the Air Force during the Korean War. He studied pre-law at the University of Tennessee and received a Bachelors of Law and J.D. from the Nashville School of Law. Visitation will be held at the Phillips-Robinson Funeral Home, 2707 Gallatin Rd. in Nashville, 12-8 p.m. Wednesday, and Thursday from 10 a.m. until services start at 11:30 a.m. In lieu of flowers, memorials in Loring’s name may be made to the Shriner's Childrens Hospital, the Wounded Warrior Project or the American Legion Boys State.

A project to replace the Rutherford County Circuit Court clerk’s computer system to improve efficiency and save money has instead turned in to a big problem, the Murfreesboro Post reports. The project has taken six months longer than expected and is posing challenges for clerks, who are working with a system that is still being brought online and loaded with information. “This has been the most complex software migration the technology office has been involved with since the department was started in 1996,” said Brian Robertson, director of Rutherford County’s Office of Information and Technology.

After 101 years of operation, the American Judicature Society (AJS) is dissolving, the ABA Journal reports. The AJS Board of Directors voted yesterday to dissolve the fair-courts organization and wind up its affairs. The group’s president, Tom Leighton, cited a challenging “membership model” for nonprofits, including AJS, in the press release. The National Center for State Courts is expected to take over the AJS Center for Judicial Ethics, and homes are being sought for the group’s peer-reviewed journal Judicature and its Internet resource on judicial selection in the states. 

The Tennessee Court of Appeals has denied access to records related to a Vanderbilt University rape case in which four former football players await a November trial, the Tennessean reports. At issue during oral arguments in June was how the state's laws on open records, fair trials and victims' privacy rights intersect as cases move through the courts. The three-judge panel ruled Tuesday that records sought by The Tennessean and a media coalition should not be made public because they are part of a continuing police investigation. The publication’s news director said they are considering an appeal.

Gov. Bill Haslam has ordered state agencies to slash discretionary spending by up to 7 percent as his administration builds the new budget it will present to legislators early next year, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports. The move comes with the state’s general fund, which pays for most functions of government including education, showing a $302.4 million revenue shortfall for the fiscal year 2013-2014 budget that ended June 30.

Former TBA President and Memphis attorney Bill Haltom will speak about his new book “The Other Fellow May Be Right: The Civility of Howard Baker” during a luncheon hosted the University of Tennessee Baker Center Friday at 11:30 a.m. in the Toyota Auditorium. The book pays tribute to the late senator for whom the center is named. Tickets are $15. For more information, call (865) 974-0931. 

Herbert H. Slatery III today took the oath of office to become Tennessee's 27th Attorney General. The oath was administered by Gov. Bill Haslam and Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice Sharon Lee during ceremonies in the Old Supreme Court Chambers of the Tennessee State Capitol. Slatery's wife Cary held the Bible while he was sworn in. View photos from the event.

Herbert H. Slatery III today took the oath of office to become Tennessee's 27th Attorney General. Gov. Bill Haslam and Chief Justice Sharon Lee administered the oath of office during ceremonies in the Old Supreme Court Chambers of the Tennessee State Capitol. Photos by TBA Executive DIrector Allan Ramsaur. 

New Attorney General Herbert Slatery takes the oath of office from Gov. Bill Haslam and Tennessee Surpeme Court Chief Justice Sharon Lee during ceremonies today in Nashville. His wife, Cary Slatery, holds the Bible while he is sworn in.

Newly appointed Attorney General Herbert Slatery once belonged to a country club that excluded racial minorities, the Tennessean reports. On his application to become the state's top attorney, Slatery listed his membership in the Cherokee Country Club, a private club that admitted its first black member in what was then its 95-year history in 2002 after intense scrutiny. However, he responded "not applicable" to a question about whether he ever belonged to a club that limited membership based on race or gender. Slatery's application did not say when he joined the club.

Seventeen members of the reality television show Duggar family visited legislative plaza in Nashville on Monday in a show of support for a ballot initiative that would give Tennessee lawmakers more power to enact abortion restrictions, the Tennessean reports. Amendment 1 seeks to overturn a 2000 Tennessee Supreme Court ruling which held the state constitution provides a greater right to privacy and thus to obtain an abortion than the U.S. Constitution. The Duggars cited a recently commissioned poll by Family Research Council Action, a Washington, D.C.-based group, that found 50 percent of likely voters in Tennessee — when read the full text of the proposed amendment — said they supported it. The campaign to defeat the proposed Amendment 1 on abortion begins airing its first television ad in the Nashville market today. Vote No on One Tennessee officials say it's only the "first step" in a statewide media strategy including television, radio and direct mail about what the group calls the "dangerous consequences" if Amendment 1 passes. The Chattanooga Times Free Press has the story.