Governor Bill Haslam said he will decide by Monday whether or not to veto the “Ag Gag” bill that requires people who document animal abuse to turn over their recordings to police within 48 hours. According to Nashville Public Radio, Haslam said he is expecting to hear soon whether Tennessee Attorney General Robert Cooper thinks the bill is constitutional. After that, he will decide whether to veto the bill, sign it into law, or let it become law without his signature. More than 33,000 people nationwide have signed an American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee petition urging Haslam to veto the bill.

Pilot J has hired former top U.S. Justice Department official Reid Weingarten and newly appointed University of Memphis interim president Brad Martin to oversee an internal investigation into allegations of fraudulent business practices. The company announced Weingarten will “lead, oversee and validate an internal investigation of recent federal allegations that Pilot Flying J underpaid rebates on diesel fuel purchases.” Martin will head a special committee of Pilot’s board to work with Weingarten and eventually receive his report, the Tennessean reports. The Memphis Daily News notes that Martin hired Gov. Bill Haslam as an executive at Saks Inc. while Haslam was president of Pilot in 1999.

The parents of murder victims Channon Christian and Christopher Newsome filed two legal petitions seeking to unseal the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation file of its probe of disgraced former Knox County Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner, Knoxnews reports. One petition seeks to have a law exempting TBI files from the Tennessee Open Records Act declared unconstitutional. The second is asking that the parents be allowed to intervene in the case of torture-slaying defendants Letalvis Cobbins, Lemaricus Davidson, George Thomas and Vanessa Coleman in Knox County for the purpose of getting the entire TBI file unsealed.

U.S. Attorney for East Tennessee Bill Killian addressed the Bradley County Bar Association’s Law Day celebration Wednesday, speaking on the topic “Federal Laws Under the United States Constitution.” Killian discussed the importance of equality and justice. “We could not secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity because we would have nothing to secure nor pass down to our descendants,” he told a crowd of about 60. “So the next time that you say the pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, don't just repeat the words but know that when we say, ‘One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all’ — we mean it.” The Cleveland Banner has more.

The state Department of Children’ Services has disciplined three high-ranking employees on the Child Fatality Review Team for deleting child death records and leaving out “significant portions” of the team’s meeting minutes in records provided to media, the Memphis Daily News Reports. The Tennessean and other news organizations sued for the child fatality records to be released but found that the redacted records also had information removed which should have been made public.

A free training seminar for criminal justice practitioners, victim advocates, mental health therapists and other allied professionals on “Civil Justice for Victims of Crime in Tennessee” will be held in Memphis on Tuesday. The seminar will explore how victims of crimes such as sexual assault, domestic, child, or elder abuse, and identity theft can use civil lawsuits to obtain justice, hold responsible parties accountable, prevent future crimes, and obtain the financial resources victims need to rebuild their lives.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling that police officers need a search warrant to obtain blood tests for a DUI arrest will have an impact on DUI enforcement in Tennessee, WATE reports. During times such as “No Refusal Weekends,” in which suspected drunk drivers cannot refuse sobriety tests, blood alcohol tests are a major tool for Tennessee Highway Patrol. "So that adds an extra step for them. They'll have to articulate fully the circumstances which made it necessary for them to get a blood draw," said Knox County Assistant District Attorney Sarah Keith. “It can be lengthy to get these search warrants."

A new law school ranking by Above the Law ranks schools on the quality of jobs graduates attain, alumni satisfaction and education costs. The ABA Journal notes that the ATL ranking does not differ significantly from the traditional U.S. News ranking. On both lists, Vanderbilt ranks highest among Tennessee schools at number 15.

Clergy for Justice Tennessee, a new statewide organization of religious leaders, delivered to Gov. Bill Haslam’s office a letter signed by 370 people urging him to veto Senate Bill 1248. Dubbed the “Ag Gag” bill, by the Humane Society of the United States, opponents say it is designed to prevent exposure of animal abuse by making it a crime to withhold from law enforcement any “photograph, digital image, video or similar medium” documenting cruelty to livestock within 48 hours. Haslam has 10 days to act on the bill or it becomes law without his signature. The Commercial Appeal has the story.

Funeral services have been set for attorney Susan McEwen Clark who died April 30 in Memphis. Visitation will begin at 2 p.m. Tuesday with the memorial service following at 3:30 p.m., both at St. John's United Methodist Church, on the corner of Peabody and Bellevue. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorials be made to St. John's United Methodist Church.