KETHLEDGE, Circuit Judge. Najean Lucky sued Landmark Medical of Michigan, P.C., asserting a claim of religious discrimination under Title VII. The district court dismissed her complaint for failure to state a claim. We reverse.

The Defendant, Anthony Jared Ross, pled guilty to one count of carjacking, and after a sentencing hearing, the trial court sentenced him to serve a term of nine years and to pay restitution. On appeal, the Defendant argues that the trial court erred in imposing a sentence without having or considering the results of a validated risk and needs assessment as required by Tennessee Code Annotated section 40-35-210(b). Our review reveals that the General Assembly has mandated that a sentence must be based, in part, upon the risk and needs assessment. Because this required sentencing information was never prepared, and consequently not considered by the court and the parties, we respectfully remand this case for resentencing. We also remand the case for entry of a judgment reflecting the appropriate disposition of other charges.

A Maury County jury found Defendant, Talvin D. Armstrong, guilty of one count of possession of 0.5 grams or more of cocaine with intent to sell and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia. The trial court imposed an effective sentence of fifteen years in the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC). On appeal, Defendant argues that: (1) he was coerced into waiving his confrontation rights as to two witnesses who contracted COVID-19 and were permitted to testify at trial remotely; (2) the trial court erred in introducing the affidavit of complaint supporting the search warrant for the house where the drugs and paraphernalia were found; and (3) he was entitled to a mistrial based on a witness’s reference to the Department of Probation and Parole.1 After review, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

Civil Rights activist and pioneer in nonviolent protest, James Lawson, died June 9 at the age of 95, according to the Tennessean. Lawson inspired a generation of activists in the earliest days of the Civil Rights Movement, including helping to organize the movement to desegregate lunch counters in Nashville. Imprisoned as a conscientious objector during the Korean War in the early 1950s, Lawson was also kicked out of Vanderbilt University and arrested for organizing student demonstrations. During his incarceration, he said he learned about the nonviolent protests led by Mohandas Ghandi in India. In 1960, Lawson drafted the first purpose statement for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), an organization led by Nashville students. In 1961, he was arrested during a freedom ride and held in a Mississippi prison for weeks. Lawson was working on the sanitation strike in Memphis in 1968 and called Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to participate, then leading marches in the wake of King’s death. In 2006, Vanderbilt invited Lawson back to the school as a divinity professor. The university later purchased his writings and photographs, and in 2021, launched the James Lawson Institute for the Research and Study of Nonviolent Movements.

The Tennessee Bar Foundation has announced that Nashville lawyer John Murphy will serve as its new executive director beginning July 1. Murphy will replace longtime director Barri Bernstein, who announced in January she would retire. Bernstein will continue on as a consultant for the next year to ensure continuity of programs. Murphy brings a diverse professional background to the position, including legal practice, nonprofit management and public service. He most recently served as senior advisor for economic inclusion at the Metropolitan Government of Nashville & Davidson County. He has been an active member of the TBA, serving on the Young Lawyers Division Board as sponsorship chair.

The University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law will host the eighth annual Strategic Code Enforcement Management Academy (SCEMA) this Wednesday through Friday. The two-day SCEMA program focuses local teams of government managers, attorneys and community partners on the core principles and practices of strategic code enforcement tailored to the priorities and challenges confronting each team's community. This year, a record 11 cities will take part in the law school-hosted academy, with teams from Memphis; St. Louis, Missouri; Dallas, Texas; Rockford, Illinois; Syracuse, New York; Baltimore, Maryland; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Chandler, Arizona; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and Washington, D.C.

Belmont’s College of Law classes 2024 and 2025 received back-to-back 100% pass rates for the fall and spring administration of the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination, known as the MPRE. Required by the American Bar Association and administered three times a year by the National Conference of Bar Examiners, the MPRE measures a candidate’s knowledge and understanding of established standards related to the professional conduct of lawyers. The exam covers a variety of topics including conflicts of interest, how to handle clients’ money, keeping a client’s confidence and other subjects meant to indicate an individual’s knowledge of rules that govern the profession. Read more in a release from the law school.

A Meigs County woman has filed a federal lawsuit against Judge Casey Stokes, Sheriff Jackie Melton, Probation Officer Carol Petitt and Deputy Ben Christian, reports Chattanoogan.com. The complaint alleges that Stokes saw the woman, Hannah Ashbrook, in the hallway of the Meigs County Courthouse and ordered a drug test without probable cause. Ashbrook's suit says she was taken into a bathroom and given 30 seconds to give a urine sample and the sample was then tossed. According to the complaint, Stokes then entered a judgment that she be held in the jail for 10 days for "contempt" and denied her the right to counsel.

Defendant, Rickey Na’Tarius Porter, appeals the consecutive six-year sentences he received after pleading guilty to one count of aggravated burglary, two counts of aggravated assault, and one count of employment of a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony. Because the trial court improperly sentenced Defendant to the maximum sentence in the range on each offense as an especially mitigated offender, we reverse the judgments of the trial court and remand for resentencing.

A homeowner’s association sought to enforce a recorded declaration of restrictive covenants against a property owner in a subdivision. The property owner moved to dismiss on the basis that the declaration did not appear in her chain of title and did not expressly apply to her property. The HOA contended that language in the property owner’s chain of title was sufficient to make the property subject to the restrictive covenants. And if not, the restrictive covenants were enforceable as equitable servitudes. Without notice to the parties, the trial court dismissed the action on an unasserted basis. We reverse.