Tennessee lawmakers are getting close to a final vote on a plan to do away with the state’s gun permit requirement, WPLN reports. The House Finance Committee approved the measure today, putting it on track for a floor vote possibly as soon as week. HB786/SB765 has already cleared the state Senate and is being championed by Gov. Bill Lee. Past attempts to delete the gun permit requirement have stalled amid opposition from police, gun control groups and past governors. But Lee has put his full weight behind the proposal, the news station says.

Sequatchie County lawyer Philip Andes Condra was reinstated to the practice of law today after being placed on inactive status May 28, 2014. Condra filed a petition for reinstatement, which the Board of Professional Responsibility found to be satisfactory.

Loneliness can affect anyone, at any age, and the isolating nature of lockdown has meant more and more people are struggling with it. But the good news is that a new study by the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas has found that brief phone calls multiple times a week can reduce loneliness. Chats were just 10 minutes long several times a week for a month. So next time instead of texting a friend, why not pick up the phone and call. It could make a real difference for the person on the other end of the line. Read more about the findings from verywellhealth.com.

A new initiative in Tennessee aims to engage the faith-based community to help find foster care and adoptive parents for children, WKRN reports. At a news conference Monday, Gov. Bill Lee announced the “TN Fosters Hope” program, which will pair the state Department of Children’s Services with two private organizations: Tennessee Kids Belong and Show Hope. The goal of the program is to establish a network of churches to support foster care and adoption needs, recruit families who can care for foster children, and help children find permanent placement through adoption. The governor’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives will lead the collaboration. According to Tennessee Kids Belong, the state has 8,000 children in the foster care system with nearly 350 eligible for adoption.

The Tennessee Supreme Court reinstated McNairy County lawyer Bobby Gene Gray to the practice of law yesterday. Gray was suspended on Jan. 7 for three years, with eight months to be served on active suspension and the remainder on probation, but the  suspension was ordered to be retroactive to May 1, 2020.

An attorney for Shelby County Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. says an ethics probe against the commissioner is a politically motivated attack on his client, and that defamation lawsuits are being considered, the Commercial Appeal reports. In a letter to the Shelby County Commission, Ford's attorney Allan Wade says the probe is a political attack by county Mayor Lee Harris’s administration and he is investigating the mayor's use of the "power of his office to attack his political adversaries.” Wade also takes the Commercial Appeal and Daily Memphian to task for “biased and sloppy reporting” of the situation. News broke earlier this week that Ford is being investigated to determine if he acted improperly when he allegedly proposed a grant for Junior Achievement of Memphis & the Mid-South in 2019. Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich has recused herself from the case. District Attorney Robert Carter of the 17th Judicial District is serving as special prosecutor.

A bill that would strike the name of the late Clifford Davis from Memphis's downtown federal building passed the U.S. House of Representatives’ Transportation Committee today, the Commercial Appeal reports. The bill, sponsored by Memphis Democrat Rep. Steve Cohen, would keep the other name on the building, that of Odell Horton, the state’s first Black federal judge following the Reconstruction Era. Cohen spoke to the committee about Davis's racist past, noting that had been a strong proponent of Jim Crow laws and a member of the Ku Klux Klan. The bill now goes to the House floor for a vote.

The TBA’s 2021 Business Law Forum is set for May 20 and 21. This year’s program will focus on valuation considerations for the Tennessee business lawyer with sessions from 9 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. CDT each day. Watch for registration information in the coming weeks. 

The Nashville YWCA will host Stand Against Racism: Legacies of Injustice in Sports on Thursday from noon until 1 p.m. CDT. The virtual program will include a panel discussion on the intersection of sports, racism and sexism, featuring leaders and experts from the community. The event is free and open to the public.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has been asked to assist prosecutors who are reviewing allegations of misconduct against Davidson County Circuit Court Judge Kelvin Jones, NewsChannel5 Nashville reports. Jones allegedly made several admissions of potentially illegal behavior during a sworn deposition last year as part of his divorce proceedings. A complaint against Jones was filed with the Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct and Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk. After Funk recused himself from the case in January, 17th Judicial District Attorney General Robert Carter was assigned to the case as a special prosecutor.