Student lender Sallie Mae has agreed to pay $60 million to resolve allegations that it charged military service members excessive interest rates on their student loans, the Justice Department announced today. Federal officials estimate that roughly 60,000 service members will be eligible for compensation as part of the settlement. An independent administrator will be assigned to distribute the reimbursements. As part of the deal, Sallie Mae also will ask the three major credit bureaus to delete negative credit histories resulting from the overcharges, WRCB News 3 reports.

Former “American Idol” entertainer Clay Aiken has been declared the winner of the hotly contested Democratic primary race for the 2nd Congressional District in North Carolina. Second-place finisher Keith Crisco died yesterday. His campaign manager, Christine Botta, says Crisco had decided just before he died to concede to Aiken, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports.

Eight judges were appointed today to the recently formed Workers’ Compensation Court by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development. The court was created by the comprehensive workers’ compensation law passed by the General Assembly in 2013. Brian Addington of Kingsport, Joshua Baker of Nashville, Lisa Knott of Knoxville, Pamela Johnson of Knoxville, Allen Phillips of Jackson, Jim Umstead of Memphis, Thomas Wyatt of Chattanooga and Ken Switzer of Nashville will begin work prior to July 1, when the law goes into effect. Switzer will be the court’s chief judge, the Nashville Business Journal reports.

An election worker has been dismissed after six people voted twice in Davidson County last week, the Tennessean reports. Staffers blame a clerical error for letting half a dozen people vote twice, once during early voting and again on Election Day. Commissioner Tricia Herzfeld, an attorney with Ozment Law, says that mistake — and potentially others — are serious enough that she may not agree to certify the results at the commission's next meeting on May 19. Nashville Public Radio reports Davidson County Election Administrator Kent Wall said five of the people voted early in the same precinct. Although he wouldn’t pinpoint the exact precinct, he said “we know who they are. We know how they voted.” Mark Goins, the state’s election administrator, said he’s recommended the six voters be turned over to the District Attorney’s office for possible prosecution.

U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker today joined Sen. Orrin Hatch at Nashville's Bluebird Cafe to introduce the Senate version of the Songwriters Equity Act, which seeks to increase royalty payments to songwriters and music publishers, the Tennessean reports. The legislation is viewed by professional songwriters as critical to updating the copyright law they say is outdated. Resistance is expected to come from digital radio service providers, such as Pandora. U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Brentwood, and U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Nashville, have also signed on as co-sponsors of the legislation.

Former Franklin County Circuit Court deputy clerk Jennifer K. Hopkins is free on $5,000 bond, following her arrest last week on theft charges stemming from a State Comptroller investigation. The Comptroller’s Division of Investigations released findings on Dec. 19 that showed a Franklin County deputy court clerk had failed to deposit $3,046.25 in a local bank and allegedly diverted cash collections. The Herald Chronicle has more.

Tennessee could be facing the costliest state Supreme Court election in its history now that conservatives have targeted three sitting justices on the state's highest court, Knoxnews reports from the Associated Press. While Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey has been meeting with business leaders, victims' rights groups and others to make the case that all three should go, supporters of the justices are already trying to raise money to counter the outside money they expect to be coming in to influence the race.

The American Bar Association is coming under fire for allegedly rating women and minority judicial candidates lower than white men, MSNBC reports. Maya Sen, a professor of political science at the University of Rochester, recently published a study finding that even when women and minority candidates have similar qualifications to their white male peers, the ABA committee gives them lower ratings. ABA President James R. Silkenat disputed Sen's findings, writing in a letter to the New York Times that Sen "dusted off Mad Men-era data” and "wrongly places blame for this serious problem with the American Bar Association’s nonpartisan process to evaluate the professional qualifications of potential judicial nominees."

Attorney General Bob Cooper responded to attacks from Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey with an email noting that the multistate lawsuit settlements cited by Ramsey as anti-business were all supported by elected Republican attorney generals in other states and show that “we take seriously our duty to protect Tennessee taxpayers, consumers and businesses," Knoxnews reports. Ramsey has been showing a PowerPoint presentation that labels Cooper an “enemy of job creators,” noting that the multistate lawsuits cost the defendant companies millions of dollars when they were settled. The presentation also cites two Supreme Court decisions to depict Supreme Court Justices Connie Clark, Sharon Lee and Gary Wade as “soft on crime."

A Sixth Circuit Merit Selection Panel has recommended five candidates for a bankruptcy judge vacancy in the Eastern District of Tennessee. The opening was created by the retirement of Judge Richard Stair. The candidates are Suzanne H. Bauknight, Mark S. Dessauer, Thomas H. Dickenson and Michael W. Ewell of Knoxville, and TBA President Cynthia R. Wyrick of Sevierville.  The Sixth Circuit Judicial Council must now narrow the list down to three and submit those names to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which will make a final selection.