Clifford Leon Houston (“Appellant”) filed a motion to stay foreclosure proceedings in 2010 in the Chancery Court for Roane County (the “trial court”). In September of 2022, Appellant filed a motion to recuse the new Roane County Chancellor. The trial court denied the motion to recuse and dismissed Appellant’s action for failure to prosecute. Appellant appealed to this Court. Because his brief fails to comply with Tennessee Rule of Appellate Procedure 27, Appellant’s issues are waived, and the trial court’s ruling is affirmed.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Ludington of the Eastern District of Michigan on Monday dismissed a lawsuit from two conservative groups seeking to halt the Biden administration’s latest plan to cancel student loan debt. Ludington said the groups did not have standing to bring a complaint, and even if they did, their alleged injuries were not sufficient, The Hill reports. The administration announced a plan to provide $39 billion in student debt relief for 804,000 borrowers in July after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a larger effort to forgive $400 billion in loans.

Memphis Area Legal Services (MALS) is partnering with The Hub, which provides services and resources to Memphians experiencing homelessness, to host a free legal clinic next Wednesday from 1-3 p.m. CDT. The clinic, which will be held monthly on the fourth Wednesday, will take place at 590 Washington Ave., Memphis 38105. Sign up to volunteer here or contact Heather Staggs, 901-255-3421 with any questions.

For the fourth time in 2023, a Memphis-area family has retained the legal services of civil rights attorney Ben Crump, a lawyer who routinely represents families of victims who have died in interactions with law enforcement, the Commercial Appeal reports. The family of Courtney Ross, a 19-year-old who died in Memphis police custody on Friday, has retained Crump as an investigation into the teen's death begins. Crump also represents the surviving family members of Tyre Nichols, Jarveon Hudspeth and Gershun Freeman. All three men died in the custody of or during interactions with local law enforcement agencies or the county's corrections department.

The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) announced today that is awarding $19.8 million to 14 legal services organizations to support the delivery of legal services to low-income people impacted by hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, floods and severe storms that occurred in 2022. Among the recipients is West Tennessee Legal Services (WTLS), which will use $849,009 to provide legal services to those impacted by severe winter weather in 2022, including two storms that were FEMA-declared disasters. WTLS also may use the funds to hire additional staff to educate affected populations on disaster-related issues and strengthen disaster-response networks.The money was made available by Congress in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023.

The abortion pill mifepristone will remain available to patients but with restrictions, a three judge panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today. By a vote of 3-0, the panel blocked changes made by the Food and Drug Administration in 2016 to make the drug more accessible, but noted that its decision is subject to a prior U.S. Supreme Court order, which “stayed the district court’s order pending resolution of this appeal.” In addition, it ruled 2-1 to overturn a lower court ruling that suspended overall approval of the drug. Read more from Reuters or read the ruling.

Make plans now to attend the annual TBA Health Law Primer and Health Law Forum CLE programs to be held in Nashville in November. The primer will take place Nov. 1 followed by the forum on Nov. 2-3. Designed for those new to health practice, the primer will provide an introduction to the U.S. health care system, issues of fraud and abuse, provider licensing and employment and contracting. The two-day forum will dig deeper into topics such as The False Claims Act, telehealth, antitrust, artificial intelligence and legislative developments. A block of hotel rooms is reserved for those traveling to the event. Get details at the links above.

KETHLEDGE, Circuit Judge. In January 1994, the state of Ohio indicted Kevin Keith—along with his cousin and uncle—on cocaine-trafficking charges based on information provided by Rudel Chatman. Less than a month later, someone shot six of Chatman’s relatives, killing three of them. A survivor identified Kevin Keith as his attacker, and an Ohio jury convicted Keith of triple homicide and sentenced him to death.

Keith has since filed four federal habeas petitions. Three of those—including this one—argued that the prosecution failed to turn over exculpatory evidence before trial, in violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963). The federal habeas statute bars consideration of these claims unless Keith can show that no reasonable juror today would convict him in light of the “evidence as a whole.” We agree with the district court that Keith cannot make that showing, and affirm.

KAREN NELSON MOORE, Circuit Judge. Scott Chappelle pleaded guilty to tax evasion and was sentenced to 38 months’ imprisonment. On appeal, Chappelle argues that the district court erred in two respects when computing his offense level under the Sentencing Guidelines. First, he asserts that the district court miscalculated his tax loss under U.S.S.G. §§ 2T1.1 and 2T4.1. Second, he contends that the district court erroneously found that his offense involved sophisticated means under U.S.S.G. § 2T1.1(b)(2). We AFFIRM.

Petitioner, Donald Ray Pennington, Jr., appeals as of right from the Bradley County Criminal Court’s denial of his petition for post-conviction relief, wherein he challenged his convictions for rape of a child and aggravated sexual battery for which he received an effective forty-year sentence. On appeal, Petitioner asserts that he received ineffective assistance of counsel based upon trial counsel’s failure to (1) provide Petitioner with the discovery materials until after trial; (2) investigate the victim’s school records; and (3) call two witnesses to impeach the credibility of the victim’s mother. Following our review, we affirm.