Defendant, Byron Becton, appeals the summary dismissal of his motion to correct an illegal sentence pursuant to Tennessee Rule of Criminal Procedure 36.1. After review, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The juvenile court magistrate denied Appellant/Father’s petition for custody of the minor child on its finding that Tennessee was not the child’s home state under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act. Father filed a timely request for review by the juvenile court judge under Tennessee Code Annotated section 37-1-107(d)(1)(A). Because the trial court’s order denying review fails to comply with section 37-1-107(d)(1)(E), it is vacated.

In this interlocutory appeal, the employer asserts the trial court erred in denying its motion for summary judgment. The employee reported falling while walking down a concrete step at a jobsite, resulting in left elbow and wrist fractures. Thereafter, the employee alleged that he suffered from various other injuries and medical conditions that arose from the work accident. In its motion for summary judgment, the employer acknowledged the compensability of the employee’s left wrist and elbow injuries but asserted that the employee has not come forward with any evidence that any other medical diagnoses arose primarily from the work accident. It supported its dispositive motion with a statement of undisputed material facts and two physicians’ written reports and/or causation opinions. The trial court determined that the employer failed to meet its burden of production and denied its dispositive motion, and the employer has appealed. Having carefully reviewed the record, we affirm the trial court’s order and remand the case.

This is an appeal from an interpleader action filed by a trustee of a trust who held funds that were to be distributed to a beneficiary but were subject to claims by other parties. The trial court granted the trustee permission to deposit the funds, discharged him from liability, and ordered some of the funds to be disbursed in accordance with settlement agreements the beneficiary had entered into in other litigation involving his children. The trial court proceeded to consider the claims of various other parties to determine who was entitled to the remainder of the interpleaded funds. Law firms who had represented the beneficiary in separate litigation filed an answer and claimed that they had an attorney charging lien against the trust distributions. After an evidentiary hearing, the trial court determined that the law firms presented no proof of an attorney lien against the trust distributions. As such, the trial court ordered the remaining funds to be distributed to other parties. After an additional hearing on motions to revise, the trial court again found that no attorney lien existed. The law firms appealed. For the following reasons, the decision of the trial court is hereby affirmed and remanded.

February 23, 2026 - February 27, 2026.

The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) is planning to step away from court battles with four major law firms that previously won rulings blocking President Donald Trump’s executive orders against them, Bloomberg Law reports. The decision to drop appeals of the rulings would end litigation over the orders, which four federal judges struck down as unconstitutional in separate decisions last year. The decision is a win for the four firms challenging the orders: WilmerHale, Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block and Susman Godfrey. Trump’s orders had, among other impacts, revoked lawyers’ security clearances and barred them from entering federal buildings. At the time the executive orders were imposed, the president said he was fighting back against law firms that had “weaponized” the justice system.

Former U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander is using a new book to make a closing argument for the value of public service. According to WBIR, in “The Education of a Senator: From JFK to Trump,” Alexander will reflect on more than 50 years in politics and encourages Americans who want change to seek elected office themselves. Alexander spoke on the campus of Maryville College and said those who want to create meaningful change should seek elected office or work for an elected official. Alexander, a former Tennessee governor, U.S. education secretary and three-term U.S. senator, reportedly will recount encounters with presidents from John F. Kennedy to Donald Trump and offer candid assessments of their leadership. The book is scheduled for release in May.

U.S. Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn,  and state Sen. Brent Taylor, R-Memphis, have released a letter on social media asking Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy for more information about a recent report from a local court-watch group. According to The Daily Memphian, Memphis Crime Beat alleged that three out of four felony cases prosecuted by the District Attorney General’s Office in December ended without prison time. The group analyzed 514 felony cases resolved in Shelby County Criminal Court that month, reporting that 144 were dismissed and 370 resulted in some type of sentence. In their letter, Blackburn and Taylor asked how many cases involved arrests by the Memphis Safe Task Force and why relatively few defendants received prison time. They asked Mulroy to respond by March 6. Mulroy said many of the cases involved nonviolent offenses or defendants without significant criminal histories and noted that some sentencing decisions were made by judges without his office’s agreement.

Nearly 120 years after a mob lynched Ed Johnson, he and other lynching victims have been memorialized with a historic marker in front of the Bessie Smith Cultural Center, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press. In 1906, Johnson, a Black man, was lynched on the Walnut Street Bridge before a crowd of about 100 people after being falsely accused of rape and sentenced to death despite testimony supporting his innocence. The case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which issued a stay of execution, but Johnson was killed before it could be enforced. His conviction was posthumously overturned in 2000, and a memorial was installed on the bridge property in 2021. The new marker recounts Johnson’s story and the broader history of lynching in America, noting at least five documented lynching victims in Hamilton County and more than 375 in Tennessee between 1865 and 1950.

The Shelby County Election Commission approved a list of candidates for the May 5 Democratic and Republican county primary elections during its meeting last week with several key court clerk races drawing multiple contenders. Jamita E. Swearengen, the current circuit court clerk, is running unopposed for reelection. Juvenile Court Clerk Janeen Gordon, a Democrat, faces two challengers in the primary, with no Republican candidate qualifying. Criminal Court Clerk Heidi Kuhn is not eligible for reelection due to term limits and instead is seeking the county mayor’s office, leaving a field of five Democrats — Rheunte E. Benson, Lawrence Denton Jr., Wanda Halbert, Carla Stotts and Joe Towns Jr. — and one Republican, Edquardo Jamison, to compete for her seat. Probate Court Clerk Eddie Jones, also a Democrat, is up for reelection and faces challenger William Chism Jr. No Republican entered that race. Read more about the candidates in the Commercial Appeal.