Tennessee’s attorney general says the state needs to pay attention to concerns of East Tennesseans about Ballad Health, a state-approved hospital monopoly, Tennessee Lookout reports. In an interview with the news source, Jonathan Skrmetti said there “has to be a lot of thought given to where things are moving,” noting that “people in upper East Tennessee are not happy with the current situation.” Ballad operates without the fear of competition pursuant to an agreement with Skrmetti and the state Department of Health. In exchange, the company pledged to meet various charitable obligations and quality of health care requirements. Recent documents, however, show that Ballad fell short of charity care obligations by $148 million over four years and failed to meet 80% of the requirements to bolster care. Community complaints also have centered on staff shortages. Skrmetti declined to say whether his office would take any action against the company.

Wayne County General Sessions & Juvenile Court Judge James Y. Ross was recently installed as president of the Tennessee General Sessions Judges Conference, the Administrative Office of the Courts reports. Ross, who replaces Shelby County General Sessions Judge Deborah Henderson, says he will work to get all municipal judges involved in the conference and hopes to use his term in office to address issues affecting part-time judges and issues coming through the General Assembly. Ross earned his law degree from the Samford University Cumberland School of Law in 1987. In 1998, he began serving as a part-time judge for two cities, and then he was elected to the general sessions court. During his tenure on the bench, he also has continued to serve as judge for the cities of Clifton and Collinwood. Prior to assuming this new role, Ross served as president of the Tennessee Municipal Judges Conference.

A legislative study committee kicked off a series of hearings this week designed to examine the feasibility of rejecting federal money for education, the Nashville Banner reports. The Joint Working Group on Federal Education Funding will hold five sessions over the next week and a half to hear from seven panels. The first presentation was from the Office of Research and Education Accountability, which focused on the federal funding formula that determines how much education aid each county in the state receives. Today, lawmakers were set to hear from The Sycamore Institute and local education leaders from across the state. Tennessee Lookout has the full schedule.

The Tennessee Municipal Judges Conference awarded the 2023 Judge Sharon Lee Award for Judicial Excellence to retired Chattanooga City Court Judge Russell Bean as its conference in Franklin. Retired Supreme Court Justice Lee, who once served as a municipal judge, was on hand to present the award. Bean was recognized for 22 years of service to the state. Chattanoogan.com reports on the award.

The Tennessee Supreme Court on Tuesday welcomed a new group of lawyers to the practice of law in Nashville. TBA President-elect Ed Lanquist, a shareholder with Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, was on hand to introduce candidates to the court, while members of the TBA Young Lawyers Division greeted new admittees and talked with them about the benefits of TBA membership. TBA Executive Director Sheree Wright and former President Jason Pannu also were in attendance to represent the TBA. Ceremonies will continue next week on Nov. 14 in Memphis at Memphis City Hall and Jackson at the Jackson Supreme Court Building. See photos from today's ceremony or from the ceremonies in Knoxville.

Make plans now to attend the Appellate Section’s one-hour webcast “The Ins and Outs and Do’s and Don’ts of Appellate Work” on Nov. 29 from noon to 1 p.m. CST. The program will feature a panel of judges who will offer tips about practicing in appellate court, including how to develop and present persuasive arguments, the do's and don'ts of oral arguments, characteristics of a strong brief, and missteps to avoid. Judges confirmed include Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Bivins, Court of Appeals judges Kristi Davis and W. Neal McBrayer and Court of Criminal Appeals Judge John Campbell.

Belmont University College of Law, Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services (TALS), and TBA's Young Lawyers Division partnered to hold an Essential Documents for Essential Workers Clinics for veterans at Operation Stand Down in Nashville this month. At this clinic, attorneys and students provided wills, powers of attorney and advanced health care directives. Thank you to our partners and everyone who participated.

TBA YLD, in partnership with Belmont University College of Law and the Administrative Office of the Courts Access to Justice Initiative, launched its first Essential Documents for Essential Workers clinic on Saturday. Volunteer attorneys met with officers from the Williamson County Police Department to draft and execute wills, powers of attorney and advanced healthcare directives. Nineteen attorneys and eight law students assisted 28 families during the clinic and provided $21,000 in free legal services. Special thank you to coordinator Charles Ferguson and to Thomas Reuters and Chambliss for their sponsorship. To volunteer at an Essential Documents for Essential Workers clinic in your area, contact YLD Public Service Chair Alix Rogers.

Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell has ordered an investigation after media personality Steven Crowder released what he said were documents from the Covenant School shooter online today, reports the Tennessean. The Metro Nashville Police Department issued a statement late Monday afternoon, saying the images were not affiliated with its investigation and confirmed it is cooperating with Metro legal's investigation. There is an ongoing legal case involving the release of the writings and other documents. This is a developing story.

CHAD A. READLER, Circuit Judge. William Rogers has a history of drug offenses. He challenges the way that history was treated in calculating his most recent criminal sentence.

Six years ago, Rogers was caught in a motel room with methamphetamine. A year later, he was found in possession of the same drug during a traffic stop. For these two incidents, Rogers was indicted for violating Kentucky drug trafficking laws, eventually receiving separate, concurrent sentences for each offense. More recently, Rogers pleaded guilty to possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute the drug in violation of federal law. Based on Rogers’s two prior offenses, the district court classified Rogers as a career offender, which raised his sentencing range and, with it, his ultimate sentence.

Rogers believes that his earlier offenses should be treated as a single prior sentence, rendering the career offender enhancement inapplicable. On this point, all agree that, in the Guidelines context, prior offenses separated by an “intervening arrest” result in distinct sentences for purposes of career offender status. See U.S.S.G. §§ 4A1.2(a)(2), 4B1.2(c). And because Rogers was arrested (as the term is used in the Guidelines) after the motel incident but before the traffic stop, we affirm.