Bill Ketron, former state senator and Rutherford County mayor, has been hired as legislative liaison for Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU). According to a statement from MTSU, Ketron was hired for his “unique expertise and knowledge acquired from legislative service and deep ties to the university.” Tennessee Lookout reports that the position was not advertised and MTSU President Sidney McPhee hired Ketron under a little-known university policy permitting appointments, other than those requiring board approval, to be authorized by the president or his designee. The Tennessee Registry of Election Finance last year assessed a $135,000 civil penalty on Ketron for campaign finance violations, possibly affecting his eligibility to run for elected office. Ketron is replacing former state Rep. John Hood, who served as MTSU’s legislative liaison from 2008 until his retirement this year.

Young lawyers from across the southeast are gathering in Orlando, Florida, this weekend for the first Southeastern States Young Lawyers Regional Summit. Tennessee is one of three host states of the event. Today’s programming featured five educational sessions, including a panel on young lawyers seeking judgeships, which included Tennessee’s youngest and newly elected Eighth Judicial District Criminal Court Judge Zack Walden; a session on diversity, featuring TBA Young Lawyers Division President-Elect Quinton Thompson of Memphis; a discussion of trust accounting with Jackson lawyer Kortney Simmons; and a session on managing non-attorney staff with Chattanooga attorney Claire Tuley. The TBA Young Lawyers Division is holding its Fall Board Meeting sessions tomorrow. See photos from the event.

Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett issued a warning about an official-looking mailer that falsely suggests businesses or individuals need to obtain a copy of a certain financial statement filed against them. The scam mailer, “Tennessee UCC Statement Request Form,” tries to get Tennesseans to pay $107 for a copy of a UCC-1 financing statement. The scam, according to Hargett, “tries to trick borrowers into paying an excessive amount for a document they will most likely never need.” Read more at localmemphis.com.

A Middle Tennessee State University professor is suing state Rep. Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby, after Faison blocked him on Facebook, WPLN reports. MTSU adjunct professor Dean Fox argues that being denied access from an elected official’s account violates his First Amendment right to speak freely in a public forum. Fox and Faison earlier this month exchanged words on the social media platform, resulting in the lawmaker deleting comments he had written to Fox and blocking the professor from his page. His attorneys are asking that Faison unblock Fox and stop him from deleting Fox's comments. 

Nashville-based private prison contractor CoreCivic faces two new lawsuits from the parents of inmates who died behind bars, Tennessee Lookout reports. The parents accuse the company of intentionally understaffing the four prisons it runs in Tennessee to boost profits for shareholders, holding costs at bay by refusing to seek outside medical care for ailing inmates, ignoring drug smuggling by its own guards, and failing to keep inmates safe. “CoreCivic needs to be held accountable, and the [parents] intend to do just that,” attorney Janet Goode wrote in one of two wrongful death lawsuits filed recently in U.S. District Court.

Former Administrative Office of the Courts Director Deborah Taylor Tate was recently honored with the 2022 Friend of the Conference Award from the Tennessee General Sessions Judges Conference. Hamilton County Judge Alex McVeagh presented Tate with the award, commending her “passion and care” for the work she has done to help those with mental illness and substance abuse issues in the state. Tate expressed how much the award meant to her and turned praise back on the event’s attendees for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic. The AOC has more on the story.  

In a first step to remove Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert, State Rep. Mark White, R-Memphis, says he will soon file a bill that would make it easier to trigger a recall election, the Commercial Appeal reports. Halbert, who was elected in August with 49% of the vote, has recently been criticized for a months-long backlog in the mailing of license plates, which she now says has been resolved. To deal with that backlog, Halbert closed the clerk’s office for two weeks. She faced further backlash after making a trip to Jamiaca during the first week’s closure. “Citizens of all community deserve the best from their elected officials,” White said in a news release. “The issues that have plagued the Shelby County Clerk’s Office are simply unacceptable. The bill would reduce the number of signatures needed for a recall election and would require a county legislative body to pass a resolution of no confidence of the officer at center of the recall election. According to the Daily Memphian, Halbert says she shouldn’t be subject to a modified state recall election bill because she is a whistleblower.

Conservative activist Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has agreed to participate in a voluntary interview with the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, the Associated Press reports. Thomas' lawyer said she is “eager to answer the committee’s questions to clear up any misconceptions about her work relating to the 2020 election.” The panel announced Wednesday that it will reconvene for a hearing on Sept. 28, likely the last in a series of hearings that began this summer.

The Rogersville Review reports that Coffee County Mayor Judd Matheny has chosen long time Coffee County resident and attorney Ed North as the temporary part-time Coffee County attorney, effective Oct. 1. North received his law degree from the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law in 2003. He has practiced continuously as an associate and partner of the Manchester-based law firm of Rogers, Duncan and North, and he is the owner and operator of North Properties and North Farms. North has served on the Tennessee Bar Association's House of Delegates since 2009, representing the 14th district.

Democratic lawmakers want to add 51 judges to the country's federal appeals courts, a move they say is necessary to reduce case backlogs but that would also give President Joe Biden a chance to appoint more judges, Reuters reports,. U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson of Georgia on Wednesday led a group of seven Democrats in introducing the Circuit Court Judgeships Act of 2022, which they said would address understaffed appellate courts nationally. Under the bill, eight circuits would gain judges including the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit, which would get 10 more, and the conservative-leaning New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, with 13 new ones for 30 total. Despite growing caseloads, the appeals courts have not gained any new judges in over three decades.