The Metro Council gave final approval to a buyout program for city workers, proposed last month by Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, the Nashville City Paper reports. Nearly 2,600 employees will be offered $700 for each year of credited service with the city, meaning a 25-year employee would receive $17,500. The program is billed as a chance for department heads to “reassess personnel needs and look for savings” in an effort toward a streamlined, more efficient government, Dean stated.

Tennessee legislators are considering proposals for trumping local school boards who resist the formation of charter schools in their districts. The proposals come in response to Metro’s repeated resistance to approve Great Hearts Academies, House Speaker Beth Harwell told the Tennessean. Harwell said it is likely there will be two versions of bills involving charter authorization drafted during the next legislative session, one allowing charter operators to apply directly to a panel created solely to review and grant charters instead of  the Tennessee Board of Education.

Federal Judge Robert Bork died early Wednesday in Arlington, Va., from complications from heart disease at the age of 85, the Washington Post reports. Known as a conservative icon, Bork was famously known for firing Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox during the “Saturday Night Massacre” of 1973, and whose failed nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1987 sparked an enduring political schism.

Health care law expert Scott Noonan of Bass Berry & Sims has resigned in order to assume the role of vice president and operations counsel at HCA on Jan. 7, the Nashville Post reports. Noonan replaces Steve Clifton who occupied the chief legal position for more than 18 years.

Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis in Nashville recently announced the appointment of five new attorneys from diverse practice backgrounds as partners. They are R. Steven Conner, John “Jeb” E.B. Gerth, Justin F. McNaughton, John Park, and Keith E. Thompson. The Nashville Post has the story.

The Tennessean and a coalition of the state’s newspapers, television stations and other media organizations filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Davidson County Chancery Court against the Department of Children’s Services (DCS), alleging the agency is violating the law by refusing to make public the records of children who died after being brought to the agency for attention. According to Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis attorney Robb Harvey, who represents the Tennessean, this is the largest coalition of Tennessee media organizations in terms of number, geographic scope, readership and viewership ever to file a public records lawsuit.

Republican Speaker Beth Harwell today announced a proposal to overhaul and restructure the House committee system in order to streamline the process and save money, she says. State House members would be limited to introducing 10 bills per legislative session and could no longer be able to vote on legislation for colleagues away from their seats. Additionally, the Judiciary Committee would be split into civil and criminal justice panels, and the State and Local Government Committee split into one panel dealing with state legislation and the other regarding local laws. The proposal faces review by the House Rules Committee.

In the aftermath of the horrific mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., last Friday, President Barack Obama is pressing for “concrete proposals” to curb gun violence, the Chattanooga Free Press reports. Obama asked Vice-President Joe Biden, a longtime gun control advocate, to lead the group that will include members of Obama’s administration and outside groups. The president said once he receives recommendations from the group, he will push legislation “without delay.”

The  Tennessee Supreme Court  upheld the conviction of a man known as the “Wooded Rapist” in a unanimous opinion authored by Chief Justice Gary R. Wade. The opinion maintains that the state can prosecute an unknown suspect by issuing a John Doe warrant that identifies them by gender and/or unique DNA profile if that criminal prosecution is properly and timely commenced within the statute of limitations.

Parham Williams Jr. will serve as interim dean of Lincoln University's John J. Duncan School of Law while the school goes through the accreditation process and conducts a nation search for a permanent dean, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports. Wiliams served as law dean at the University of Mississippi, Samford University, and Chapman University for a combined 35 years. He is a gradate of Ole Miss and earned his law degree from Yale University.