The U.S. House of Representatives plans to consider border security measures next week as former President Donald Trump's Title 42 order is set to expire on Thursday, Reuters reports. The last significant immigration reform was enacted in 1986, but a predicted high volume of migrants following Title 42's expiration, the continued influx of illegal drug imports, and an acute labor shortage have spurred lawmakers to act. The House bill would deal with some of the five "buckets" in the Senate measure sponsored by U.S. Sens. Thom Tillis, R-NC, and Kyrsten Sinema, I-AZ, including modernizing the asylum system, improving how visas are granted and more effectively authorizing immigrants to fill jobs in the United States.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced the opening of the Humanitarian, Adjustment, Removing Conditions, and Travel Documents (HART) Service Center, the first of the organization's service centers to focus on humanitarian and other workload cases. After reviewing processing times, USCIS decided to place a greater focus on humanitarian-based benefits, which led to the creation of the HART Service Center. The center will start as a hybrid operation and ultimately transition to an entirely virtual service with no physical location. It will initially focus on the following case types: Form I-601A, Bona Fide Determination (BFD) for Form I-918, Form I-730, and VAWA-based Form I-360. Read the full press release here.

In Tennessee, recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program cannot apply for financial aid, scholarships or bank loans to pay for college, but many are arguing for change. The nonprofit organization Equal Chance for Education held a fundraiser last month to send prospective students to college. At the event, former U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, D-TN, University of Tennessee-Knoxville President Randy Boyd and former Washington Post publisher Don Graham all spoke in favor of allowing DACA recipients to access financial aid to provide a boost to the state's economy and fill thousands of jobs in critical fields like nursing and education. Read more at The Tennessean.

No charges will be filed against former Memphis police officer Preston Hemphill for his role in pulling Tyre Nichols over on the evening of Jan. 7, Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy said yesterday. Hemphill, who was fired from the police department after Nichols died, was seen firing his taser at a fleeing Nichols. Hemphill's body camera footage showed him running after Nichols for a short distance before stopping. He was not seen at the second confrontation where five former MPD officers took turns delivering blows to Nichols, the Commercial Appeal reports.

The online version of the  May/June issue of the Tennessee Bar Journal inadvertently omitted two standing columnists when it launched on Monday: Eddy Smith, author of “Where There’s a Will,” and Marlene Eskind Moses, author of “Family Matters.” The page has now been updated.

Shelby County lawyer Mary Margaret Cross was reinstated to the practice of law after being on inactive status since March 24, 1999. The Tennessee Supreme Court issued the reinstatement order today but made it effective as of April 14.

Knox County lawyer James Kidwell Scott received a public censure from the Tennessee Supreme Court on April 27. The court found that Scott did not (1) provide his client with a copy of the discovery propounded to the client for four months, (2) inform the client when two separate motions to compel discovery were filed, (3) comply with court deadlines for the production of discovery and (4) inform his client of deadlines and other court orders. In a second suit filed for the client, Scott failed to provide a copy of the discovery propounded to the client. His actions were determined to violate Rules of Professional Conduct 1.2 , 1.3, 1.4, 3.2, 3.4 and 8.4(d).

The court received a petition for rehearing en banc. The original panel has reviewed the petition for rehearing and concludes that the issues raised in the petition were fully considered upon the original submission and decision. The petition then was circulated to the full court. Less than a majority of the judges voted in favor of rehearing en banc.

Therefore, the petition is denied.

The petitioner, Harry Clint Weaver, Jr., appeals the denial of his petition for postconviction relief, which petition challenged his 2019 Sullivan County Criminal Court guilty-pleaded convictions of first degree premeditated murder, felony murder, three counts of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, and aggravated domestic assault, for which he received an effective sentence of life imprisonment. On appeal, the petitioner argues that the post-conviction court erred in allowing trial counsel to remain in the courtroom while the petitioner testified during the evidentiary hearing and that he was deprived of the effective assistance of counsel. Discerning no error, we affirm.

The Appellant, Christopher Ray Smith, entered a guilty plea to three counts of misdemeanor failure to appear, see Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-16-609, with the length and manner of service to be determined by the trial court. Following a sentencing hearing, the trial court imposed a sentence of eleven months and twenty-nine days’ imprisonment for each count, with counts two and three to be served concurrently to a consecutive term in count one. The trial court suspended the sentence to supervised probation following service of six months’ imprisonment. On appeal, the Appellant argues the trial court abused its discretion by imposing an excessive sentence. Upon review, we modify the sentence in count one and remand for entry of corrected judgment form as to that count. In all other respects, we affirm.