Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti today announced the national Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force is enforcing investigations into two voice service providers over alleged involvement in illegal robocalls. The targets of the investigation are Michael Lansky LLC — doing business as Avid Telecom — and One Eye LLC. The national task force is enforcing civil investigative demands (CIDs) against each entity. Fifty-one attorneys general participate in the national task force, which Indiana co-leads with North Carolina and Ohio. Read the full press release here.

The Associated Press reports that some Tennessee voters have cast ballots in the wrong congressional district. Davidson County Election Administrator Jeff Roberts says that at least one precinct has been affected. In that precinct, there is conflicting information between the legislature’s and the secretary of state’s maps, leading to some residents casting their ballots in the 6th district when they should be in the 7th district. Republican Congressman Mark Green is running against Democrat Odessa Kelly for that seat. During the redistricting process a few months ago, Republicans split the city of Nashville into three new districts.

The November/December issue of the Tennessee Bar Journal is live online and will arrive in mailboxes this week! Our cover story from Josh Mullen and Clare Magee lays out strategies for what to do if you've lost a bid on a government contract and want to appeal. Samuel Gowin tells the interesting and sad story of Grandison Grandberry and the Heirs Property Act, and Clint Kelly walks readers through the three types of notice for tortfeasors in health care liability. Our columnists cover a wide range of topics in this issue, and you can catch up on legal news, passages and licensure and discipline updates in The Legal Life. Finally, we say farewell to Executive Director Joycelyn Stevenson.

The Associated Press reports that Albuquerque Cosper Head, a Tennessee man who dragged Capitol Police Officer Michael Fanone into a mob of rioters on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced on Thursday to more than seven years in prison. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson sentenced Head to seven years and six months of imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release. Read the full AP report here.

Gov. Bill Lee on Thursday launched the new School Safety Toolkit for Tennessee Families, a practical resource to help parents prepare and engage in their child’s school safety plan. This follows Executive Order 97, which directed state agencies to equip and engage parents, increase transparency and collaborate with local law enforcement and school districts. “As we continue our work to protect Tennessee children, the new School Safety Toolkit will provide parents with helpful resources and greater transparency to feel confident their child is safe at school,” said Gov. Lee. “I encourage every Tennessee family to prepare and engage in school safety by utilizing this Toolkit and downloading the SafeTN app.” Read more about the toolkit here.

Montgomery County Commissioner Lisa Prichard says the commission will be asking the state for help in bringing a Regional Juvenile Resource and Justice Center to the Clarksville area. Montgomery County has sent juveniles to counties as far as Bedford, Williamson and Putnam, which makes it harder for families to travel to see their children. Prichard has inside knowledge on the issue as she was a deputy for the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office and took in troubled youth over the years. "We've been farming our children out to various counties for various reasons because we have no place to put them," said Prichard. She is part of a new ad hoc committee to address the issue.

The U.S. Sentencing Commission today held its first public meeting in nearly four years after the Senate in August confirmed seven new members, reinvigorating a panel unable to adopt new policies since losing a quorum in early 2019. The agenda included a vote to finalize the commission's priorities for 2022-2023, which include implementing the First Step Act. That bipartisan legislation is aimed at easing harsh sentencing for nonviolent offenders and at reducing recidivism. Watch the meeting here.

Butler Snow LLP announces that former Tennessee Chancellor Gadson William "Will" Perry has rejoined the firm in its Memphis office and will practice with the Commercial Litigation and Appellate practice groups. Perry will also focus his practice on alternative dispute resolution. Perry previously served on the 30th Judicial District Chancery Court, which covers Memphis and Shelby County, after being appointed by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to finish the term of a retired chancellor. He became, at 38, the youngest African-American judge and second youngest judge in Tennessee's largest county. Perry presided over a civil docket of more than 2,000 business, governmental, tax, divorce and child custody cases, reviewed civil service and state agency appeals and mediated commercial cases referred by other judges.

Sumner County Commissioners voted 20-4 to include language affirming "Judeo-Christian values" in their Standing Rules and Procedures, a document that governs how they conduct their meetings. NewsChannel5 reports that "among the changes, the commission added a preamble, saying the commission is adopting the rules 'to ensure that [the county government] is ... most importantly, reflective of the Judeo-Christian values inherent in our nation's founding,' among other reasons." Interim Law Director Ben Allen warned the group that they could be setting the county up for discrimination lawsuits. Nashville attorney David Raybin says that the inclusion of the language is a clear violation of the First Amendment's ban against the government endorsing religion.

The Times News reports that the Tennessee State Building Commission has approved a plan to lease the now-closed Northeast Correctional Complex annex in Carter County to a group developing the Northeast Tennessee Regional Recovery Center. The facility will have 45 beds ready to begin treating state inmates for addiction by March. First Judicial District Criminal Court Judges Stacy Street and Lisa Nidiffer Rice have raised more than $10.4 million for the facility, which will serve a nine-county region stretching from Mountain City to Morristown, and its operations will be managed by judges from the first, second and third judicial districts. The judges say the inpatient program is modeled on their current drug-free Recovery Court structure and will rely on Families Free to provide intensive counseling and treatment services.