With Tennessee set to receive up to 415 refugees from Afghanistan, Gov. Bill Lee is calling for “full transparency” from the Biden administration, Mainstreet Nashville reports. Lee’s office received initial information about resettlement plans last week, including news that refugees will be referred to local resettlement agencies in Chattanooga, Knoxville, Memphis and Nashville. Lee supports welcoming Afghan refugees but said, “Significant details are still outstanding, and as I’ve said before, the federal government owes Tennesseans full transparency into their plan and vetting process.” House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, has said he does not support accepting Afghan refugees because he does not have confidence in the administration’s vetting process.

The Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands will conduct two clinics this week for those with questions about housing and renters’ rights, bankruptcy, medical bills, debt collection, domestic violence, SNAP benefits and unemployment benefits. Tomorrow, the group will hold a phone clinic at 2 p.m. CDT. The first 15 callers will be accepted. Then on Wednesday, the group will hold a clinic for veterans from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. CDT at Operation Stand Down, 1125 12th Ave. S. Nashville 37203. To volunteer, contact Andrae Crismon or Kendra Cheek or call 615-780-7131. See the list of all September clinics.

A story in yesterday’s issue of TBA Today incorrectly identified the hometown of attorney Thomas Tansil. Though the Board of Professional Responsibility lists his address as Paris, Tennessee, it is now not clear exactly where he lives. He was convicted in Carroll County Circuit Court.

Shelby County lawyer Kevin Glenn Patterson recently received a censure from the Tennessee Supreme Court. The court found that Patterson failed to retain client funds in his IOLTA account after a client did not cash a check for a year and did not respond to various attempts to reach her. More than four years later, the client cashed the check which caused an overdraft in Patterson’s client trust account. Patterson immediately corrected the overdraft, disclosed the overdraft and cooperated with the Board of Professional Responsibility. He agreed to a conditional guilty plea that his actions violated Rules of Professional Conduct 1.15.

Constitution Day and Citizenship Day are celebrated every Sept. 17 as a way to commemorate the formation and signing of the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787. This week is also recognized as Constitution Week. Many resources are available online for those who want to learn more about the Constitution, including constitutionday.com. For this year’s celebration, President Joe Biden’s presidential proclamation is also available.

National law firm Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani has moved to a larger office in Williamson County, the Nashville Post reports. The firm opened in downtown Nashville in late 2018 but later relocated to Franklin. Now it is moving to larger space at McEwen Northside. “We outgrew our current space more quickly than anticipated and began looking for a location that could support our current and long-term growth strategies and client priorities,” said Tennessee managing partner Heather Gwinn Pabon. The firm’s new address is 4031 Aspen Grove Dr., Ste. 290, Franklin, TN 37067. The office can be reached at 615-772-9000.

Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, has named a special committee to oversee the ongoing redistricting process ahead of 2022 elections, Nashville Post reports. The committee will be chaired by Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, R-Franklin, with vice chairs Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, and Senate Minority Caucus Chair Raumesh Akbari, D-Memphis. The committee also includes Speaker Pro Tempore Ferrell Haile, R-Gallatin, Majority Caucus Chair Ken Yager, R-Kingston, Minority Leader Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, and Sen. John Stevens, R-Huntingdon. In related news, the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office has launched a new online dashboard that gives county government officials and residents a better understanding of how county commission districts must change in response to the 2020 U.S. Census. Mainstreet Nashville has more about that resource.

Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich’s office announced yesterday that officers were justified in the 2019 deadly shooting of Willie Hudson Jr., the Commercial Appeal reports. The office found that Hudson fired at officers who were trying to arrest him on warrants for attempted first degree murder and being a felon in possession of a handgun. When officers discovered Hudson hiding in a compartment behind a bookcase, they attempted to move the bookcase. It was then that Hudson began shooting at officers, seriously wounding one of them.

The Sumner County Youth Empowerment (SCYE) program is Tennessee’s first juvenile mental health court, and it welcomed its first case recently, the Administrative Office of the Courts reports. The intensive probation and treatment program is designed to help vulnerable youth avoid the adult court system. General Sessions and Juvenile Court Judge David R. Howard, who oversees the new court, said the idea came from a conversation with Judge Mike Carter, who started the county’s adult mental health court. Ultimately, the program was modeled after a juvenile drug court program in Texas. SCYE requires a nine to 12-month commitment from participants and their families. 

A federal judge has approved a bankruptcy settlement for OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma that will shield members of the Sackler family, who own the company, from future opioid-related claims, The Hill reports. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain signed off on the settlement plan during a six-hour bench ruling, setting the stage for the dissolution of the company. Its assets will be transferred to a new firm owned by a trust and run to combat the opioid crisis. The settlement money will go to government entities, which have agreed to use it to address the opioid crisis, along with individual victims and their families. Purdue, the maker of OxyContin, filed for bankruptcy in 2019 in an attempt to settle about 3,000 lawsuits that its aggressive opioid marketing contributed to the opioid crisis that has killed nearly 500,000 people over the past 20 years.