Former Chattanooga City Councilman and City Administrator Moses Freeman died Aug. 3 at age 86. He represented Chattanooga's District 8 from 2013-2017 and he dedicated himself to improving the city's Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Fox Chattanooga has remembrances of Freeman from city leaders. Visitation will be Aug. 11 from 2-6 p.m. EDT at John P. Franklin Funeral Home, 1101 Dodds Ave., Chattanooga 37404. Services are scheduled for Aug. 12 at 11 a.m. EDT at Second Missionary Baptist Church, 2305 E. Third St., Chattanooga 37404.

Jonathan Cole, a lawyer with Baker Donelson in Nashville, became chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) House of Delegates at the conclusion of the 2024 ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago. As chair of the House of Delegates, the ABA’s policymaking body, Cole will serve for two years in the second-highest office in the association. Action taken by the House of Delegates on specific issues becomes official policy of the ABA. Cole has been a member of the House of Delegates since 2009 and currently serves as one of Tennessee's state delegates. Cole received his law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1994. Read more in a press release from the ABA and see a photo from the event.

Schools across the state are opening this week and school nurses are learning about a new "consent to treat" law that went into effect July 1. School nurses will no longer be able to provide non-emergency care without a signed parental consent form on file. Emergencies are the exception to the new requirements. The Nashville Banner reports that alleged violations of the law could result in the nurse losing her license or facing a civil lawsuit. Sen. Ferrell Haile, R-Gallatin, sponsored the Families’ Rights and Responsibilities Act and said that the intent of the bill was “not to change current practice” but instead to recognize the rights of parents to control the education and medical treatment of their children.

Several judicial seats were decided in yesterday's election. In the votes to retain their seats, both Supreme Court Justice Dwight Tarwater and Court of Criminal Appeals — Western Division Judge Matthew Wilson were successful. In a contested race, TBA Young Lawyers Division (YLD) President-elect Alex McVeagh prevailed over Kisha Cheeks in the Hamilton County Circuit Court judge seat in District 3. McVeagh will replace Judge Marie Williams, who stepped down six years before her term was set to expire. TBA Board of Governors member David Veile ran unopposed for District 21 Circuit Court judge. Rhea Clift won the election in the Germantown Municipal Court judgeship race, defeating Justin Gee. She will succeed her father, Ray Clift, who served as judge for many years. Former Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer bested Lisa Arnold in the contest for Shelby County General Sessions Court clerk. In Knox County, incumbent law director David Buuck defeated challenger Jackson Fenner and Judge Hector Sanchez ran unopposed for Criminal Court judge in District 6. The Times Free Press, Daily Memphian and Knox News report on the races.

In the Tennessee State Senate, 16 districts held primary elections yesterday. Highlights include two upsets: incumbent John Lundberg, R-Bristol, lost to challenger Bobby Harshbarger, R-Kingsport, in District 4, and Frank Niceley, R-Strawberry Plains, lost to challenger Jessie Seal, R-Claiborne County, in District 8. Harshbarger will face Independent Dalia Price of Rogersville in November; Seal will face Democrat R.E. Ellison of Seymour. In the Tennessee House of Representatives, 17 incumbents held off primary challengers; nine of them are unopposed in the general election. In District 4, Republican Renea Jones of Unicoi defeated Curt Alexander; in District 96, Gabby Salinas beat four other Democratic challengers. Both Jones and Salinas will be unopposed in November. In District 27, Republican Patsy Hazelwood lost her primary reelection bid to Michele Reneau, both of Signal Mountain. Reneau will face Democrat Kathy Lennon of Red Bank. District 33 Rep. John Ragan, R-Oak Ridge, also lost his reelection bid to challenger Rick Scarbrough of Clinton, who will face Anne Backus, D-Oak Ridge. Read more in-depth coverage here.

In the challenge for one of two U.S. Senate seats, current state Rep. Gloria Johnson of Knoxville won yesterday's Democratic primary against three other contenders, including Marquita Bradshaw, who was the Democratic nominee for the seat in 2020. Johnson will face incumbent Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn in the November election. The Tennessean reports on the race. Read more here about the primary results in the Tennessee delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Memphis City Council on Tuesday approved three ballot questions that could establish local gun control legislation. If it passes, the referendum would amend the city's charter. The Commercial Appeal reports that the first question is about handguns, carry permits and storage. Question two focuses on assault weapons and carry permits, and question three would create an extreme order of protection — often referred to as a red flag law — in the city charter.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently filed a lawsuit against Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga alleging that it violated the Stark Law, a federal anti-kickback statute that also prevents giving favored treatment to physicians. Two former Erlanger executives, Chief Compliance Officer Alana Sullivan and Chief Financial Officer Britt Tabor, filed a whistleblower lawsuit in April 2021, which was unsealed earlier this year, accusing Erlanger of filing false insurance claims using the illegal self-referral process to government payers, including Medicare and Medicaid. News Channel 9 has the story.

Stephen Ross Johnson, a criminal defense trial and appellate attorney with Ritchie, Davies, Johnson & Stovall in Knoxville, was sworn in as second vice president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) at the group's annual meeting held Saturday in Seattle. Johnson is a past president of the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, past chair of the TBA's Criminal Justice Section and former associate general counsel for the TBA. He also served on the board of the Knoxville Bar Association. Johnson is the founding past president of the Tennessee Innocence Project, and was involved in the drafting process and policy advocacy resulting in the passage of Tennessee’s Post-Conviction DNA Analysis Act of 2001 and Post-Conviction Fingerprint Analysis Act of 2021. Read more a press release from the NACDL.

A three judge panel on Monday ruled that a new law, which would cut Nashville's Metro Council in half, is unconstitutional. Axios Nashville reports that a majority of the judges agreed with the city's argument that the law violated a provision of the Tennessee Constitution that protects local governments from laws that single them out. In a statement following the court win, Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell highlighted a 2015 vote in which voters rejected a proposal to reduce the size of the council. The city sued over the law in March 2023 while another group sued soon thereafter. A temporary injunction on implementation of the cut was approved in April 2023.