The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) is using phone-hacking technology to unlock and extract data from smartphones, according to the Nashville Scene. Digital investigation software provider Magnet Forensics said last year that the department uses a suite of its products, including GrayKey, to access data from suspects’ devices. GrayKey can retrieve text messages, call logs, app data, location history and even deleted files. Murfreesboro, Smyrna and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation also have licenses with Magnet Forensics. An MNPD spokesperson said about 90% of all department investigations now involve digital evidence. Digital privacy advocates warn the technology allows law enforcement to access more data than necessary for an investigation and could be abused without proper oversight.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti recently announced the launch of Operation Robocall Roundup, a bipartisan, multistate effort by the Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force to crack down on robocalls nationwide. Skrmetti and 50 attorneys general are sending warning letters to 37 telecommunications companies demanding they stop routing illegal robocalls through their networks. “These companies failed to meet the most basic requirements to prevent illegal robocalls, essentially rolling out the red carpet for bad actors. Our bipartisan coalition is demanding that they clean up their networks and stop facilitating these scams,” Skrmetti said in a news release. The task force also is notifying 99 other telecommunications companies that accept call traffic from the 37 noncompliant companies, alerting them they are doing business with bad actors unwilling to follow federal anti-robocall rules.

A man accused of carrying out a 2022 shooting spree in Memphis pleaded guilty Wednesday, concluding the case. Ezekiel Kelly pleaded guilty to all 28 charges he faced, including three counts of first-degree murder and commission of an act of terrorism. Shelby County Criminal Court Judge James Jones Jr. sentenced Kelly to three consecutive life sentences without parole for the murder charges, plus an additional 221 years for the other charges, The Daily Memphian reports. Kelly had been facing the death penalty and was set to go to trial Feb. 9, 2026. Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said Kelly’s plea spares the victims and their families from waiting years for closure.

Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) and the Ross Early Learning Center have agreed to settle allegations that they violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by refusing to allow certain communications related to continuous glucose monitoring on behalf of a three-year-old student with Type 1 Diabetes. The agreement was announced by Robert E. McGuire, acting U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee. According to the complaint, the child was prescribed a continuous glucose monitor, which would transmit an alarm if blood sugar dropped or spiked. The parents asked the learning center to monitor the device, which it agreed to do only until the school nurse left the property each afternoon. It also said it could not communicate with the parents about the device except by phone or email. Under the agreement, MNPS will modify its policies to provide monitoring devices, dedicated mobile devices to interface with the monitors and training to help staff manage alerts. It also will pay the family $1,000. Read more in a release from the U.S. attorney’s office.

A statue of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall will be unveiled on Oct. 3 at 5 p.m. CDT in downtown Columbia. News Channel 5 reports that the statue will mark the role Marshall played representing 25 Black men charged in what is now called the Columbia Race Riot of 1946. The incident stemmed from an argument between a white shop worker and a Black man, James Stephenson, who had brought in a radio to be repaired. The confrontation turned violent. After Stephenson was charged with attempted murder, a mob sought Stephenson for what the Black community believed to be a lynching. The Black residents resisted the mob but then were criminally charged. Marshall — who later would become the U.S. Supreme Court's first Black justice — was the lead attorney defending Stephenson and the others. They were acquitted. The bronze statue will stand at the center of a new roundabout in downtown Columbia.

U.S. District Judge Sheryl Lipman has reset the trial date for a lawsuit stemming from the death of Tyré Nichols. The trial now will begin on Nov. 9, 2026, according to the Daily Memphian. It previously was set to begin on July 13, 2026. Monday’s hearing also marked the first time the attorneys in the lawsuit appeared before Lipman, who assumed control of the case after U.S. District Judge Mark Norris recused himself. Attorneys representing Nichols’ family and estate asked for the delay citing a large amount of evidence provided by the city of Memphis that requires a considerable amount of work to organize.

The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed sentences in two gun possessions arising from cases in Memphis. In the first ruling, the court upheld a 108-month federal sentence for a Memphis man convicted of possessing a machine gun. In 2024, Senior U.S. District Judge John T. Fowlkes sentenced Jaquan Bridges to 108 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Bridges appealed the judgment, arguing that the prosecution violated his Second Amendment right to bear arms. The appeals court upheld the sentence and the constitutionality of the federal statute regulating the possession of machine guns. In the second case, the appeals court upheld a 50-year federal prison sentence handed down to Louis Holloway, who was convicted in 2022 for the attempted robbery and death of University of Memphis student John Stambaugh. Holloway originally was sentenced to life in prison but due to changes in the law, that sentence was vacated. At a resentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Samuel H. Mays sentenced Holloway to 50 years in federal prison, the statutory maximum, followed by three years of supervised release. The appeals court affirmed that sentence, holding it was reasonable considering the horrific nature of the offense and Holloway’s serious criminal history. Read more about these cases from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced Friday that the state will seek federal waivers to update its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to promote healthier eating, improve health outcomes and reduce chronic conditions for low-income families. According to a press release, the proposal would allow recipients to purchase certain hot prepared foods, such as rotisserie or grilled chicken, and would exclude processed foods listing sugar or similar sweeteners as the primary ingredient and carbonated beverages where sugar or similar sweeteners are among the first two ingredients. "I’m grateful to the Trump Administration for its leadership to Make America Healthy Again, and thank our grocery retailers, convenience stores, food producers, and beverage manufacturers for working to ensure that healthier choices reach every community across our state,” Lee said.

A Middle Tennessee man returned to prison Friday after an appeals court reversed a 2023 decision that had overturned his murder conviction and freed him after 17 years behind bars. Thomas Clardy was convicted in 2007 for a 2005 shooting at a Madison auto repair shop that killed a man and injured two, NewsChannel 5 reports. He received a life sentence. But he was released in 2023 and has been living free for two years. His lawyers have long argued that no physical evidence ties Clardy to the crime and prosecutors presented no motive at trial. They also say he was at home with his pregnant wife at the time of the shooting. The state appeals court decision now requires Clardy to complete his life sentence. Clardy’s attorneys have filed two clemency petitions, one for exoneration and another for commutation. He also made a direct appeal to the governor for release before returning to prison.

President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order requiring colleges to submit data proving they do not consider race in admissions, the White House said Thursday. In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the use of affirmative action in admissions but said colleges may still consider how race has shaped students’ lives if applicants share that information in their essays. According to reporting from the Associated Press, Trump’s administration accuses colleges of using personal statements and other proxies to consider race. The order is similar to parts of recent settlement agreements the administration reached with Brown University and Columbia University, restoring their federal research funding after they agreed to provide the government with data on the race, grade point average and standardized test scores of applicants, admitted students and enrolled students. The order would require universities to share that information, undergo audits and release admissions statistics publicly.