Nashville Police are seeking information about a shooting that occurred last Friday, which is being described as a random act of road rage, the Tennessean reports. Davidson County Chancellor I'Ashea Myles was driving west on Interstate 440 at about 8:50 p.m. when a suspect fired at her vehicle. Myles was struck by broken glass from the shooting, but was not injured, according to police. A passenger in the car sustained non-life threatening gunshot wounds to her hand and leg. Investigators said the suspect vehicle involved in the case was a white, late model sedan with glossy paint and a temporary tag. Nashville Crime Stoppers is offering $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and indictment of those responsible.

Three Tennessee women and two doctors have filed a lawsuit in Davidson County Chancery Court claiming the state's abortion law is too restrictive and vague about when doctors can legally terminate a pregnancy with serious complications, reports the Tennessean. The Center for Reproductive Rights, a New York-based legal firm, is representing the women. The firm has made similar legal filings in Oklahoma and Idaho and is looking to build on a recent decision in a Texas lawsuit that temporarily ruled the state's abortion law is too restrictive.

The U.S. Justice Department has filed criminal charges against five former Memphis police officers for violating the civil rights of Tyre Nichols in addition to conspiracy and obstruction charges, reports the Commercial Appeal. Nichols was pulled over by the officers for reckless driving on Jan. 7 and was subsequently tased and beaten. He died three days later due to blunt-force trauma. The former officers face one count of excessive force and failure to intervene under the color of law, one count of deliberate indifference under the color of law, one count of conspiracy to witness tamper and obstruction of justice through witness tampering in federal court. The officers already face murder charges. Read the full indictment and press release. A civil lawsuit filed on behalf of the Nichols family's attorneys is seeking $550 million in damages.

OpenAI and partner Microsoft are facing a new round of class action lawsuits in federal court for allegedly breaking privacy laws in developing OpenAI's popular ChatGPT and other generative artificial intelligence systems, reports Reuters. The complaint, filed last week on behalf of two unnamed software engineers, accuses the companies of using stolen personal information from hundreds of millions of internet users to train their fast-growing AI technology. The two engineers who brought the lawsuit are concerned that the companies have incorporated their "skills and expertise" into products that could "someday result in [their] professional obsolescence."

The Tennessee Opioid Abatement Council is now accepting applications for community grants, reports the Nashville Post. Proposed projects must fit into approved remediation strategies organized into six categories: research/evaluation of abatement strategy efficacy, primary prevention, education, treatment, harm reduction and recovery support. Applications close Oct. 9. The council is set to receive more than $600 million over the next 18 years to distribute from various lawsuits against companies that made, distributed, or sold opioid painkillers, including Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson and Walmart. Learn more about the community grants.

A Tennessee appeals court recently ruled that a Jewish couple’s lawsuit challenging a 2020 law that allowed private adoption agencies to reject placement on religious beliefs can continue, reports Associated Press. The ruling overturns a lower court’s decision that the couple had no legal standing. The law has been criticized for shielding adoption agencies that refuse to serve prospective LGBTQ parents. 

A new report released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the U.S. legal services sector lost 4,200 jobs in August, reaching its lowest level so far this year, Reuters reports. Legal sector jobs totaled 1,175,700 last month, according to preliminary seasonally adjusted data. Though the count includes a range of legal workers such as paralegals and assistants, the majority of jobs lost were lawyers. The report also adjusted downward initial projections for legal sector employment in June and July.

The Biden administration formally asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to overturn a ruling from a federal appeals court that would limit the availability of the abortion pill mifepristone, The Hill reports. The manufacturer of the brand name pill, Danco Laboratories, also filed an appeal with the court. In August, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the drug could stay on the market in states where abortion is legal, but struck down changes made in 2016 to expand access. The appeals court said those changes did not follow proper procedure. Its decision, however, remains on hold while the Supreme Court decides whether to take up the case.

Eric Munchel, the Nashville man known as "zip-tie guy," has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison for his role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol — one of the longest sentences imposed for activities that day, the Tennessean reports. Munchel was sentenced to 57 months of incarceration and three years of supervised release. His mother, Lisa Eisenhart, received 30 months of incarceration with three years of supervised release. Both also were ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution. Munchel is one of 26 Tennesseans charged or sentenced. Read about the other cases here.

A national prisoner advocacy group is urging the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate alleged civil rights abuses at Trousdale Turner Correctional Center in Hartsville, the Tennessean reports. Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) says it has heard reports of sexual and physical assault; use of force, threats and retaliation by staff; neglect of medical and physical needs; unsanitary conditions; and gang activity. Private prison company CoreCivic, which runs the facility, says there are staffing issues but that the claims raised by FAMM "don't reflect the facts."