President Joe Biden signed a proclamation yesterday to establish the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument, the Associated Press reports. The monument will cover three sites in two states. The first of the sites will be at the Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in Chicago, where Till’s open-casket funeral took place. The other two will be in Mississippi: one at Graball Landing, where Till’s body was believed to be pulled from the Tallahatchie River, and one at the Tallahatchie County Second District Courthouse, where Till’s killers were acquitted. Till, who would have turned 82 yesterday, was killed in 1955 after a 21-year-old woman accused him of whistling at her. The killing, and the acquittal of the killers, helped galvanize the Civil Rights Movement.

State health officials recently disqualified Nashville CARES — a nonprofit sexual health clinic that connects low-income HIV-positive individuals with federally subsidized medical care — from receiving grant funds under the federal Ryan White Insurance Assistance Program, Tennessee Lookout reports. Nashville CARES is now suing, alleging that decision was “illegal" and "arbitrary" and involved an "unlawful procedure.” The nonprofit’s lawyers are asking that state officials be ordered to restart the process of vetting organizations for the funding. The state argues that the nonprofit is effectively a pass-through to a for-profit subcontractor that provides the bulk of the service. Nashville CARES disputes that characterization.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s strike against affirmative action is expected to be a boon for U.S. law firms as they respond to a rise in demand for advice about how to comply and guard against new legal challenges, Reuters reports. Firms with higher education, anti-discrimination and employment practices tell the news source they have seen an uptick in business since the court ended consideration of race in college admissions. While the case had no direct effect on employers, attorneys told Reuters that corporations also have been seeking advice on diversity policies given their concerns about lawsuits being filed in the wake of the ruling.

The Tennessee Education Association (TEA), the state’s largest teachers union, is suing in federal court to block the “prohibited concept” law of 2021, the Tennessee Journal reports. The suit, brought against the state education commissioner and members of the state board of education, challenges the constitutionality of the law for its vague language and subjective enforcement. The suit also claims the law interferes with “instruction on difficult but important topics” included in state standards, which were “developed and approved by Tennesseans.” The TEA is asking the court to issue a permanent injunction against enforcement of the law and declare the law unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment.

A federal judge in California has blocked a new Biden administration rule limiting access to asylum, reports WKRN-Nashville. The decision will take effect in two weeks. In his ruling, U.S. District Court Justice Jon Tigar referenced U.S. asylum law, writing that the new policy undermines the clear intent of Congress in establishing a safe haven for those fleeing persecution and danger. The ruling is a loss for the Biden administration, which had required that asylum-seekers must first seek the protections of another country along their route to the U.S.

President Joe Biden says his administration is moving forward with new regulations meant to push insurance companies to increase their coverage of mental health treatments, the Associated Press reports. The new rules would require insurers to study patient outcomes to ensure mental and physical health benefits are administered equally. The proposed regulations still need to go through a public comment period,

The attorney general’s office of consumer protection is advising student loan borrowers that due to a Department of Education announcement on June 14 automatically discharging certain qualifying student loans, borrowers should be on the look out for companies offering relief that they cannot provide. For information about your federal student loan or to learn if you qualify for the Department of Education’s loan programs, visit the Federal Student Aid website.

Two transgender patients whose medical records were acquired as part of an investigation into potential billing fraud at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) have filed a class-action suit against the hospital in chancery court, reports the Nashville Scene. The suit alleges the medical center shared the patient’s medical information in violation of hospital privacy policies and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). In addition, the suit alleges, “VUMC knew about the State’s active targeting of the transgender community.” The suit goes on to claim some of the patient records that were disclosed were not patients of the VUMC Transgender Health Clinic; that patient’s personal information was not protected; and that patients were not informed their records had been acquired by the Tennessee attorney general’s office.

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis has asked Gov. Bill Lee to make a disaster declaration for Shelby County, after severe thunderstorms last week damaged businesses, homes and utilities, Action News 5 reports. Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris declared a local state of emergency on July 21. In his letter to the governor, Cohen noted that the West Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) has estimated that damage from high winds will exceed $11 million. In addition, a diesel fuel leak from a generator in Germantown has affected approximately 4.5 million gallons of water. Germantown Mayor Mike Palazzolo told a press conference that the diesel-contaminated water will be "pumped away" from homes into the stormwater conveyance system that leads to the Wolf River, reports the Commercial Appeal.

Tennessee Attorney Jonathan Skrmetti on Friday released a statement intended to clarify his opposition to a proposed U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ privacy rule under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). Skrmetti recently joined with 18 other state attorneys general in opposing the rule and said that some commentators have equated this opposition to asserting a right to prosecute women who go out of state for abortions. “This is simply not true,” he said Friday. “Tennessee’s abortion law does not apply to women who seek abortions, I have no enforcement authority with respect to Tennessee’s abortion law, and I am the attorney general of Tennessee and not some other state.” He said he opposed the rule because it is “a hastily-assembled mess that is bad for Tennessee and bad for America.” Read the full statement.