An updated special edition of Gavel to Gavel again reviews the eight states now confirmed to have 2014 ballot items substantially affecting the courts. The publication notes that Tennessee’s case is interesting in that there is no back up system in place in case the quasi-federal system SJR 2 is rejected by voters and there is no longer merit selection in place.

The CPS Investigations Academy is a new joint venture between the Department of Children’s Services and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation intended to increase the level of instruction for child protective services workers. Taught by TBI agents and national child abuse investigation experts, the three-week program will graduate its first class in December. “In many cases, DCS makes the determination whether a crime has been committed,” said TBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Margie Quinn, who oversees TBI investigations into sex trafficking. “But in some cases, you may not have a worker trained well enough to make that determination,” the Tennessean reports.

The Tennessee Supreme Court has added a provision to Rule 13 that will permit the Board of Professional Responsibility to deduct unpaid costs from attorneys’ entitlement to compensation for indigent defense. Under the new provision to the rule, effective Jan 1., the Administrative Office of the Court’s audit process for such fee claims will take into consideration any unpaid amounts due the BPR.

In a Question and Answer released by truck-stop chain Flying Pilot J, James A. Haslam II —- the founder of Pilot and father of current CEO Jimmy Haslam and Gov. Bill Haslam -— gives his first detailed remarks about the events surrounding the government raid of the Knoxville-based company. "It was the second worst day of my life," he said. "When Jimmy, Bill and Ann’s mother died that was obviously the worst day of my life, but this was a very difficult day for me as well." He added, "I’ve spent my life building this company with a pristine reputation of people doing the right thing, supporting our community, being a good corporate citizen, taking care of our customers and our team members, and I’m going to spend the rest of my life rebuilding that reputation." Knoxnews has more.

Kevin Kookogey announced today that he will not challenge Sen. Lamar Alexander for a Senate seat next August, scrapping three months of preparation for a campaign. According to the Tennessean, the former Williamson County Republican Party chairman hopes to avoid “infighting” among tea party activists, who already have one candidate running against the incumbent senator. “What became apparent to me was that there was going to be divided loyalties,” Kookogey said. “Both sides appeared to have their supporters, and it didn’t appear they were going to yield to each other.”

The West Tennessee Drug Task Force may be forced to close next year because fines designated to fund the task force are not being assessed or collected, the task force's former head says. Donny Blackwell, who retired as special agent in charge of the task force on Aug. 31, told the Jackson Sun that 28th Judicial District Circuit Court Judge Clayburn Peebles has declared drug offenders indigent and waived the fines that would fund the task force. Blackwell said other fees that cover court costs are rarely waived. “I have not seen many drug dealers over the years that had a legitimate job,” Blackwell said. “On paper they are indigent because they do not have a legitimate job. But I have seen these same indigent drug offenders make multiple bonds for thousands of dollars to get out of jail and then hire and pay a private attorney thousands of dollars to represent them.”

Federal prosecutors won't know until next spring if a massive whistle-blower Medicare fraud lawsuit against Life Care Centers of America can proceed to trial. The case was filed in 2008 and merged with a similar 2012 lawsuit, which involves allegations that the company provided unnecessary, often harmful, therapies to patients in its assisted living facilities to maximize Medicare billings. The Chattanooga Times Free Press has more about the case and the Cleveland, Tenn., based company.

The Obama Administration announced yesterday that it will stop enforcing a law that blocks benefits to partners of military veterans in same-sex marriage, the Times News reports. In a letter to congressional leaders, Attorney General Eric Holder said that a provision in federal law on benefits to veterans and their families defines "spouse" to mean a person of the opposite sex. He says that definition leaves out legally married same-sex couples, and runs afoul of the June Supreme Court ruling striking down the Defense of Marriage Act. "Decisions by the Executive not to enforce federal laws are appropriately rare," Holder told Congress. "Nevertheless, the unique circumstances presented here warrant non-enforcement."

Nobel-prize winning attorney Ronald Coase died Monday (Sept. 2) at the age of 102, the ABA Journal reports. The University of Chicago law professor and economist wrote the most-cited law review article of all time. In addition, the New Yorker's blog Rational Irrationality wrote that Coase “was transformed into an icon of the political right. His famous ‘Coase theorem’ was used to justify a hands-off approach to big business on the part of politicians, regulatory agencies, and judges, leaving pollution and other economic problems to the corrective powers of the free market.”

The Memphis-based law firm Martin, Tate, Morrow & Marston PC has opened an office in Lawrenceberg, its first foray into Middle Tennessee, the Memphis Business Journal reports.  “For the past five years, the number of Martin Tate’s clients in the Middle Tennessee/Nashville area has increased substantially. We’re opening this office to make the law firm more accessible to them,” Lee Piovarcy, the new office’s resident partner, said in a news release.