Gov. Bill Lee announced three judicial appointments for newly created state courts, appointing Shawn Fry to the 13th Judicial District Criminal Court, Ashleigh Travis to the 19th Judicial District Circuit Court and Julie Heffington to the 22nd Judicial District Circuit Court. Fry currently serves as an attorney at Fry, Fry, Knight & Looper. The 13th Judicial District includes Clay, Cumberland, Dekalb, Overton, Pickett, Putnam and White counties. Travis currently serves as a magistrate judge in the 19th Judicial District, which covers Montgomery and Robertson counties. Heffington currently serves as an attorney at Middle Tennessee Law Group. The 22nd Judicial District includes Giles, Lawrence, Maury and Wayne counties. Read the full announcement from the Administrative Office of the Courts.

FEMA announced the availability of federal disaster assistance to Tennessee to supplement recovery efforts in the areas affected by severe storms, straight-line winds and tornadoes on Aug. 7. The action makes public assistance federal funding available to affected state and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of disaster-damaged facilities in Bledsoe, Coffee, Cumberland, Jefferson, Knox, Loudon, Meigs, Rhea, Roane and Van Buren counties. Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide. Yolanda J. Jackson has been named the federal coordinating officer for federal recovery operations in the affected areas. Additional designations may be made at a later date if warranted by the results of further damage assessments.

Michigan has become the first state to require judges to refer to attorneys by their preferred pronouns, reports Reuters. The Michigan Supreme Court approved 5-2 yesterday a rule that allows attorneys to include their preferred forms of address or pronouns in the captions of court documents and requires judges to use those terms “or other respectful means” when referring to those attorneys either in court or in documents. The rule goes into effect Jan. 1, 2024. Justice Kyra Bolden wrote in her concurrence that the new rule sends a message that Michigan courts are welcoming and inclusive.

Yelp Inc., the online business review site, filed a complaint yesterday in federal court seeking to stop Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton from suing the site over informing its users that crisis pregnancy centers do not provide abortions or referrals for abortions, reports Reuters. Paxton told the company last week that he intended to bring a lawsuit under Texas's unfair business practices law. The company said in the complaint that it posted the notices to prevent users from being misled by crisis pregnancy centers that deliberately targeted women seeking abortions. Yelp said in its filing that its notices are true, not misleading and are protected free speech under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment. 

Former Chancery Judge Ellen Hobbs Lyle along with attorneys D. Billye Sanders and Byron Trauger have been named as recipients of the 31st Annual Sage Awards. The awards will be presented Oct. 30 at the Sage Awards Ceremony & Fundraiser at the Franklin Marriott Cool Springs, 700 Cool Springs Blvd., Franklin 37067. The event is sponsored by AgeWell Middle Tennessee, a nonprofit resource for older adults and family caregivers. The Sage Awards honor lifelong leaders who improve our communities and organizations that significantly impact the lives of older adults across the region.

The White House announced Monday that a potential government shutdown starting Oct. 1 would likely cut off food assistance for seven million women and children, including 133,284 recipients in Tennessee, the Tennessean reports. Publicly funded agencies would close and four million federal employees would not be paid. In addition, a variety of veteran benefit services would be unavailable. If a shutdown occurs, active service members will remain at their posts but nearly half of the nation’s civilian workforce will be furloughed. Active-duty troops would not receive paychecks during their furlough, but would be repaid once the government reopens. Tennessee has over 2,348 active-duty military personnel.

Bar Buzz is back with a new episode featuring Linda Warren Seely, pro bono counsel for Butler Snow LLP, interviewed by TBA's Executive Director Sheree Wright. BarBuzz is a monthly show from the TBA Podcast Network that recaps legal happenings from across Tennessee, upcoming events at the bar, attorney shout outs and more. Check out the September episode and discover past shows in the Bar Buzz archive.

Three lawyers at Southwest Airlines have received a reprieve from a judge's order requiring them to take "religious-liberty training" from the Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, Reuters reports. The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently put on hold Dallas-based U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr’s order directing the lawyers to attend the training. The order has drawn a judicial misconduct complaint from a reform advocacy group Fix the Court.

Funding that would have been given to the state of Tennessee for low-income family planning services will now be given to Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi to serve Tennessee residents, the Commercial Appeal reports. The state was disqualified from receiving federal Title X funding in April after an audit revealed that service providers were not in compliance with federal guidelines that stipulate patients must be informed of all options available to them, including abortion. The state condemned the decision at the time, arguing it was counseling patients on all options legal in the state. Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi is receiving the funds as a subgrant from the Virginia League for Planned Parenthood and Converge Inc., a Mississippi group that focuses on reproductive health in the south.

The Shelby County District Attorney's Office said yesterday that it will not charge the Memphis police officer who fatally shot Jaylin McKenzie. Others involved in the pursuit of McKenzie also will not be charged. The Commercial Appeal reports that District Attorney Steve Mulroy said there were concerns about the incident, but no evidence suggested that police shot at McKenzie for reasons other than self-defense. The officers involved in the pursuit were given "refresher training" for the various violations, which included not having body camera turned on, not notifying a supervisor about the pursuit, not turning on lights and siren during the high-speed chase, and failing to separate officers after the shooting.