Most of Metro Nashville's chosen members reacquainted themselves with the Nashville Airport Authority at a special-called meeting on Monday, according to the Nashville Business Journal. The locally appointed board was reinstated by the courts at the end of October. Members, under the leadership of Nashville attorney Joycelyn Stevenson, re-examined nearly 20 votes that the state board took during its four months in power but did not make any final decisions to ratify or undo any of them. The board will meet again on Nov. 15 for its regularly scheduled meeting. Stevenson, former executive director at the Tennessee Bar Association, is managing shareholder for the Nashville office of Littler Mendelson.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general have joined the United States’ civil antitrust lawsuit against Agri Stats Inc. for organizing and managing anticompetitive information exchanges among broiler chicken, pork and turkey processors. The suit alleges that Agri Stats collected and distributed competitively sensitive information related to price, cost and output among competing meat processors, which resulted in higher prices for American consumers. Read more in a news release.

The city of Chattanooga has entered into a three-year consent decree with the federal government following allegations that public officials discriminated against people with disabilities, and violated federal civil rights law and the federal Fair Housing Act. Under the agreement, city staff will undergo training and the city will pay a penalty and a payout to a nonprofit that sought to open a house for four individuals with disabilities, Tennessee Lookout reports. The city denied it discriminated against the individuals or violated laws, but agreed to the consent decree to avoid litigation. A judge still must approve the agreement.

For the first time since 1986, Knoxville will have a new municipal judge with the election of Tyler Caviness, KnoxNew reports. Incumbent John Rosson, age 76, ran on his record of experience. Caviness, a 32-year-old attorney, advocated for change throughout the campaign. He won 61.5% of the vote, promising to update the city court website and offer more accessibility in the courtroom. “I believe that treating people equally matters, and that we should prioritize that in our government offices. That is really what started this campaign,” Caviness said in his victory speech. Caviness served as a Knox County public defender before moving to the private sector and eventually starting his own practice. In a statement after conceding, Rosson said he would return to representing personal injury clients in his law practice.

Nashville Chief of Police John Drake yesterday confirmed the authenticity of documents purporting to be the writings of the Covenant School shooter, the AP reports. Drake said he was “greatly disturbed” by the unauthorized release of three pages from the shooter who killed six people at The Covenant School in March. He also announced that the department “is extremely serious about the investigation to identify the person responsible." Early yesterday, conservative commentator Steven Crowder released three images of Audrey Hale’s writings. Lawsuits are ongoing as to whether Hale’s writings should be released. In other news, Crowder said yesterday that he did not pay for the documents. WKRN reports on that development.

Officials from the U.S. Department of Education declined to participate in a meeting of a state legislative working group tasked with determining whether Tennessee can reject federal education funding and replace it with state dollars, the Tennessean reports. According to the news source, federal education officials were scheduled to testify before the working group this morning, but did not attend. “The Federal Department of Education has informed us they are unable to attend our task force meeting. They can only offer ... ‘technical assistance’ to the committee, and they have stated that if members wish to submit questions, they will do their best to get them answered,” working group co-chair Sen. Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol, told panel members at a hearing today.

The Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security has awarded 19 grants statewide this year to improve security at religious institutions, including four recent grants for Jewish centers in Knoxville, WBIR reports. The funds are part of a $750,000 budget appropriation for the Houses of Worship Security Grant Program. Applicants are required to demonstrate the threat and vulnerability to their organization as well as how funding would address gaps and deficiencies in current programs and capabilities. The move comes as a number of governors are calling on Congress to increase funding for security at places of worship, the Associated Press reports. The governors say the funding is needed to address growing concerns about the safety of Jewish and Muslim communities amidst the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

The TBA’s Tort & Insurance Section will hold a webcast on Best Practices in Premises Liability next month. The program, set for Dec. 19 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. CST, will focus on Tennessee and federal court opinions. While many equate premises liability with “slip, dip and trip" accident claims, case law on the issue goes beyond this stereotype. Join Holland Matthews with The Matthews Firm in Columbia and Parke Morris with Parke Morris & Associates in Memphis to learn more about these cases.

The Arts & Business Council's Volunteer Lawyers and Professionals for the Arts is joining the law firm of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings to provide free legal services for nonprofits and Black-owned small businesses in Nashville on Nov. 16. Advice will cover business formation, corporate governance, contracts and navigating local ordinances and state regulations. Eligible entities may receive up to one hour of assistance. Clients should sign up online. Attorneys should email vlpa@abcnashville.org to volunteer.

TBA member benefit partner Fastcase, now operating as vLex Fastcase, has rolled out a new citation tool. According to the company, the new service, known as Cert, brings together “more than 100 years of collective editorial expertise with intelligent technology” to ensure lawyers can “identify cited cases with confidence, ensuring they are indeed good law.” Lawyers who utilize Fastcase through their TBA membership can start accessing Cert for federal circuit court and U.S. Supreme Court cases. State cases are limited to Alabama, Florida and Georgia supreme court and district court of appeal decisions, but additional state courts will be added eventually. Sign in to Fastcase through the TBA to start using Cert.