If you missed the TBA's Business Education Webinar Series this past summer, you can now catch a replay of the webcast Make Meetings Meaningful on Nov. 29. Join Jeff Schoenberger with Affinity Consulting to get sample agendas for effective meetings, facilitation tips, and insights for how to prepare for and run meetings that achieve your goals. The virtual program will run from noon to 1 p.m. CDT and offer one hour of dual CLE credit.

Lebanon-based Wilson Bank & Trust has announced the addition of Price Thompson as its first in-house general counsel, the Nashville Post reports. Thompson will provide legal advice on laws, regulations and standards that affect consumers and small businesses. He also will carry the title of senior vice president. Thompson joins the bank after serving with Rochelle McCulloch & Aulds in Lebanon and Kay, Griffin, Enkema & Brothers in Nashville. He earned his law degree from Vanderbilt University Law School and served two years as law clerk to Magistrate Judge E. Clifton Knowles of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee before entering private practice.

Blount County General Session judges William Brewer, Kenlyn Foster, Mike Gallegos and Robert Headrick, and Circuit Court judges David Duggan and Tammy Harrington recently announced their candidacies for re-election in 2022. All are Republicans and will run in the May Republican primary. In a joint statement, the judges stated they are proud to serve the people of Blount County and endorse each other’s campaigns.

The Tennessee Justice Center (TJC) held its 25th Anniversary Gala over the weekend, raising $173,725 for its work. The group also recognized five new Hall of Fame members at the event: former board member Marvin Berry Jr., Tennessee Court of Appeals Judge Richard Dinkins, donors Frank and Amy Garrison, and board member Dr. Bob Miller. Videos from the event are on Youtube. Send a congratulatory message to Berry, Dinkins, the Garrisons or Miller.

Tennessee State Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, the owner of a private Nashville social club, and other unnamed co-conspirators were indicted today by a federal grand jury, the Tennessean reports. Kelsey and Joshua Smith, owner of The Standard, were charged with five counts of violating multiple campaign finance laws as part of a conspiracy to benefit Kelsey’s 2016 campaign for Congress. The pair are accused of secretly and illegally funneling "soft money" from Kelsey's state campaign committee to his federal campaign committee via the D.C.-based American Conservative Union (ACU). Kelsey is also accused of making and accepting excessive contributions to his federal campaign. While only Kelsey and Smith are named in the indictment, several others are described by their jobs and relationships to the two, including former Rep. Jeremy Durham and Kelsey's wife, who worked at ACU from 2015 to 2017. At a news conference today, Kelsey called the charges "a political witch hunt.” Smith said a political action committee created in the club’s name gave $60,000 to “a political organization” but the PAC was dissolved in 2018. He also said he is cooperating with the investigation. Both men must surrender to the U.S. Marshals by Nov. 5 at 10 a.m. CDT.

The Biden administration recently notified the federal courts that it plans to re-implement the Trump-era "Remain in Mexico" policy in mid-November if the Mexican government agrees to the arrangement, The Hill reports. The move comes after an initial victory by Texas and Missouri in a suit that argued the administration too hastily withdrew the policy. The administration has appealed the decision and is working to rescind the program through normal rulemaking but believes it is required to reimplement the policy until those efforts have been completed. In related news, the Department of Homeland Security says it is committed to resolving new asylum claims within six month by constructing “tent courts” on the border. It also says it plans to expand the types of asylum-seekers who are not subject to the program.

The Tennessee Public Defenders Conference recently held its annual training conference, during which it presented the inaugural “Mike Carter Award” to Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Bivins, Chattanoogan.com reports. The award, previously known as the “Friend of the Public Defender Award” was recently renamed for former state Rep. Mike Carter, whose widow was on hand to present the award to Bivins for courageous leadership as chief justice during the COVID-19 pandemic. Carter previously served as a Hamilton County General Sessions Court judge from 1997 to 2005, and as a legislator, championed legislation to create the Public Defenders Conference. He represented the Chattanooga area in the state House for nine years. He died from pancreatic cancer in May. Read more in a press release from the conference.

A federal judge has ruled in favor of Williamson County parents opposed to the governor’s executive order requiring school districts to offer parents an opt-out of mask mandates, the Tennessean reports. The families had sued under the Americans with Disabilities Act arguing that the opt-out endangered the health and safety of their children (a seventh-grader with Down syndrome and a second grader with diabetes). U.S. District Court Judge Waverly Crenshaw first blocked the governor's order on Sept. 24 and extended it on Oct. 6. The governor’s order is in effect through Nov. 5.

The U.S. Justice Department has accused Trustmark National Bank of redlining predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in Memphis in a lawsuit and proposed consent order, the Commercial Appeal reports. The suit alleges that from 2014 to 2018, the bank discriminated in its mortgage lending services. During that time, 21 of Trustmark's 25 offices were located in majority-white neighborhoods. The suit also alleges the bank had inadequate policies to make sure it provided equal access to all neighborhoods. Under the proposed consent order, Trustmark would spend at least $4.4 million to increase credit opportunities in Black and Hispanic neighborhoods, open new offices, develop community partnerships and pay $5 million in federal penalties. According to the Nashville Ledger, the bank says it fully cooperated with the investigation and supports the proposed settlement.

Former U.S. Rep. Phil Roe, who represented the First District of Tennessee for 12 years, was honored recently with a portrait unveiling in the U.S. House of Representatives’ Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing room. Roe served on the committee for his entire tenure in Congress and as chair for two years and ranking member for two years. "From the minute I stepped into office, I knew I wanted to serve on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee,” Roe said at the ceremony. “As a veteran myself, I experienced the faults of the VA and believed that with reform, we could improve the services for every man and woman that served our nation so bravely.” Read more in the Citizen Tribune.