"As you point out in your article, lawyer mental health is still taboo, and I’m not sure anyone has written about it so nakedly before," a lawyer wrote in response to Kent Halkett's recent Tennessee Bar Journal article. "We can tell our firms when we need parental leave or medical leave, or even when we have a body ailment. No one feels like we can tell our firm(s) that the pressure of the job is affecting our mental health." This letter and many more were sent to Halkett about his article, “Mental Health in the Legal Profession: A Crisis, a Case Study and a Call to Action." The publication Above the Law covered the article, which urged "the profession take mental health seriously, particularly in the wake of COVID-19. It’s a sensitive subject and Halkett’s article’s had a tremendous impact, not just because mental health has historically been verboten, particularly at high-powered law firms, but because of the death by suicide of Sidley partner Gabe MacConaill." Above the Law then followed up by writing about the responses the Journal received. Read all of the personal and sometimes gut-wrenching letters here. 

A Nashville court created to resolve evictions before the national moratorium ends in June has settled more than 100 eviction cases, WPLN reports. The housing court was established in February and overseen by Judge Rachel Bell in partnership with the Metropolitan Action Commission and Davidson County Circuit Court Clerk Richard Rooker. The Nashville Conflict Resolution Center provided additional mediation work for the project. The goal of the court is to mediate eviction claims and use federal money to pay late rent bills. Those who have had their cases resolved have benefitted by avoiding an eviction on their record and their landlords have gotten paid. Part of the challenge with resolving so many cases is that landlords must agree to participate and the court is trying to work through a large backlog of cases.

Four people have been indicted on misdemeanor charges stemming from a July 4 protest at the home of Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich, the Daily Memphian reports. All four have been charged with disorderly conduct and two with vandalism. They are accused of joining a crowd of roughly 40 others last summer in a protest outside Weirich’s East Memphis home, where they called for her to be fired, for release of jail detainees during the COVID-19 pandemic and for an end to cash bail. A video from the incident showed Roman Candles being fired toward Weirich's roof, which did not catch fire, removing flags from Weirch's yard, crossing a physical property line and subsequently setting those flags and another, larger flag, on fire. District Attorney General Kim Helper of the 21st Judicial District was appointed to investigate the incident. A court date has not been set in the cases and it is unclear if more will be charged.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today extended a moratorium on evictions through the end of June due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Associated Press reports. The ban was set to expire Wednesday. Initially put in place last year, the ban provides protection for renters out of concern that having families move into shelters or share crowded conditions with relatives or friends during the pandemic would further spread the highly contagious virus. To be eligible, renters must meet an income test, show they have sought government help to pay the rent, declare they can’t pay because of COVID-19 hardships, and affirm they are likely to become homeless if evicted. Use of the moratorium in Tennessee may be in doubt, though, after a federal judge in Memphis struck down the ban as unconstitutional earlier this month. The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals today denied a stay in the ruling saying it was unlikely an appeal would be successful.

The U.S. Department of Justice has charged 474 people over the past year with trying to steal more than $569 million through criminal fraud schemes connected to the coronavirus pandemic, the Washington Post reports. The department said it has seen fraud attempts connected to several government aid programs including the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loans program. Schemes include inflating payroll expenses to get larger loans than what otherwise would have been approved and reviving defunct corporations or purchasing shell companies to apply for large loans. Most of those charged, the department said, spent the government aid on houses, cars, jewelry and other luxury items.

The Tennessee legislature will not be banning requirements for workers to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, at least during this session, WPLN reports. Yesterday, Rep. Rusty Grills, R-Newbern, took his bill, HB1147, off notice. The measure would have made it illegal to require employees to take the vaccine. Ultimately, the interests of “corporate freedom” won out against “individual liberty,” as one lawmaker put it. Grills also said that after talking to other members, he was concerned the proposal would conflict with the state’s “right-to-work” policies. Currently, federal law prohibits employers from forcing workers to get the vaccine because it has only been approved for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration.

Tennessee has “soft-launched” a new phase of COVID vaccination, beginning to offer doses to anyone 55 and up and anyone in “critical infrastructure” jobs, WPLN reports. Critical jobs include social services, commercial agriculture and food production, public transportation, public infrastructure and utilities. Then in April, the state plans to offer vaccinations to all adults over the age of 16. A formal announcement is planned for Monday. Yesterday, Shelby County asked the state if it could open vaccinations to “anyone who wants a shot.” Today, the state Department of Health said counties that want to move forward more quickly can do so as long as they have enough doses, the Tennessean reports.

Tennessee state officials say the investigation into Shelby County's wasted COVID-19 vaccine doses is now finished, and that no one was given a vaccine dose that had expired, the Commercial Appeal reports. Tennessee State Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey said in a statement that, "Vaccine stability remained intact for the days in question.” Last week, state investigators found data allowing them to verify the cold chain stability of the vaccine doses given. The investigation into the county’s handling of its vaccine supply was triggered after it was discovered that the local health department wasted thousands of doses.

President Joe Biden today signed his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 rescue package into law, The Hill reports. The bill includes funding for $1,400 direct payments to most Americans, vaccine distribution efforts, school reopenings, enhanced unemployment benefits through September and state and local governments, along with an expansion of the child tax credit and an expansion of ObamaCare, among other provisions. The White House says it expects many Americans to receive their direct payments by the end of March. Biden will deliver a prime-time address later this evening about the administration's pandemic response.

State officials have announced that thousands of Tennessee prisoners are now eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, WPLN reports. The news comes days after an Associated Press investigation found that officials debated when to vaccinate prisoners, fearing that any decision could be deemed a “public relations nightmare.” State prisoners were among one of the last groups eligible to get the vaccine and, despite some becoming eligible earlier based on factors like pre-existing conditions and age, the Tennessee Department of Correction said last month that everyone housed in a state prison would be inoculated at the same time. State Health Commissioner Lisa Piercy refuted that claim and says any prisoner who fits the current requirements for phase 1c of the state’s vaccination rollout plan is now eligible for the shots.