Early voting in Tennessee for the March 1 presidential preference primary ends tomorrow. You can find your early voting and Election Day polling locations online. 

The New York Times asserts that the recent death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia highlights the Republican-led Senate’s refusal to sign off on judicial nominees for vacancies on 12 regional federal courts of appeals. Traditionally, Senate members sign off on nominees in their home states prior to nomination by the president. The author says the move is “payback” for a 2013 decision by Democrats to alter Senate rules and eliminate the ability of lawmakers in the minority to block confirmation votes with a filibuster. 

An editorial in The Commercial Appeal supports Gov. Bill Haslam’s 2016-2018 Public Safety Action Plan, which supports tougher penalties against serial domestic-violence offenders. The editorial says that the plan also offers a “common sense” approach for altered sanctions for parole and probation violators that would help reduce the state’s 48 percent recidivism rate.

President Barack Obama signed Sen. Bob Corker’s Electrify Africa Act of 2015 (S.2152) into law earlier this week, Nooga reports. The bill will promote access to power services for 50 million people in sub-Saharan by 2020. “With limited foreign assistance dollars, we need to focus on projects like energy that can be a catalyst for long-term growth throughout the region and reduce poverty,” Corker, R-Tenn., said.

Four of the five candidates for circuit court judge say they will not stand around Veterans Plaza in Clarksville during early voting, The Leaf-Chronicle reports. "As voters ourselves, we felt uncomfortable when we went to cast our ballots at Veterans Plaza and had to run a gauntlet to do so,” stated a joint release from Jill Ayers and Robert Bateman, candidates for Circuit Court Judge Part IV, and Ted Crozier Jr. and Roger Nell, candidates for Circuit Court Judge Part III. 

Former Metro Nashville Councilman Loniel Greene was indicted Friday on a felony charge of coercion of a witness, The Tennessean reports. Greene admitted last week he phoned a jail to speak with his cousin, Travis Buchanan, and said he would “work on” the woman Buchanan was accused of assaulting. Last week, Nashville prosecutors announced Greene would not face charges for lying in court.

The Tennessean complied a list of 10 state officials who have resigned over the past few weeks. Rep. Jeremey Durham, who resigned as House Majority Whip, along with resignations from Davidson County Election Administrator Kent Wall and Tennessee Rehabilitative Initiative in Correction (TRICOR) CEO Patricia Weiland are included.

Nashville’s Metro Council has asked the Davidson County state delegation to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex marriage and to oppose any bills that are anti-gay marriage. The council yesterday unanimously approved the resolution, The Tennessean reports. “This is letting folks know on the Hill that we request that they simply confer with the Supreme Court ruling on this matter,” said Nancy VanReece, one of the bill’s sponsors.

The Tennessean reports former Metro Nashville Councilman Loniel Greene will not be prosecuted after admitting that he lied in court last month when he said the $10,000 he paid to get his cousin out of jail was his own money. Greene said Nashville prosecutors granted him immunity from prosecution on charges of money laundering and perjury in exchange for his testimony and resignation from Metro Council.

The Tennessean reports Metro Nashville Councilman Loniel Greene resigned last Friday following allegations that he lied in court. “This was a difficult decision, but I believe it is the correct course,” Greene said in a statement. His resignation comes less than five months on the job.