Nashville is launching a Community Safety Task Force that will focus on gun violence and other crime, though officials want to go beyond police patrols and arrests to address issues such as mental health resources. Davidson County Juvenile Court Clerk Lonnell Matthews will co-chair the 29-member committee selected by Mayor Freddie O'Connell. According to WSMV, Matthews said the task force will bring Metro agencies and nonprofit leaders together to work towards a common goal of improving safety. “How can we do that in a very strategic, coordinated way to where we don’t have agencies or different groups working in silos,” Matthews asked. Answering his own question, he said, “Make sure that the entire city, the entire county feels like it has the resources, the programs and the individuals necessary to keep those communities safe.” The task force will hold its first meeting Jan. 15, from 4-6 p.m. CST at the Lentz Public Health Center, 2500 Charlotte Ave., Nashville 37209.

Longtime Oracle Corp. executive Rick Ewing will run on the Democratic ticket to represent state House District 59, the South Nashville seat being vacated by fellow Democrat Caleb Hemmer. In an interview with the Nashville Business Journal, Ewing said he wants to run as "an extension of the community work I've already been doing, that already excites me. In my family, that's just sort of what is asked and demand of you, and has been for generations. ... I like talking to people about what Nashville needs, what the state needs." Ewing is a manager of customer success for Oracle's health sciences clients. He joins retired state Highway Patrol Lt. Col. Mark Proctor in the Democratic primary. On the Republican side, Bill Hancock, an accounts executive with health care company Clinisys Inc. and an affiliate broker with Benchmark Realty, has indicated his intent to run.

A bipartisan funding deal would provide $9.2 billion for the federal judiciary in Fiscal Year 2026, boosting spending on court security and federal public defenders despite falling short of the judiciary’s overall request. Reuters reports that the bill fully funds requested increases for security, including $892 million for courthouse protection — a 19% increase — as judges face rising threats nationwide. It also provides $1.766 billion for defender services, a 22% increase aimed at easing a funding crisis that previously left thousands of court-appointed attorneys unpaid. Lawmakers say the funding is essential to address security risks, staffing shortages and constitutional obligations to provide legal counsel. The federal judiciary has been working to increase security for its personnel. In March 2025, it launched the Judicial Security and Independence Task Force and continues to operate the Vulnerability Management Program to protect judges’ personal information, among other measures.

BLOOMEKATZ, Circuit Judge. This appeal arises out of debtor MTG’s decades-long Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings. The original trustee, Charles Taunt, failed to disclose a conflict of interest involving the largest secured creditor, Comerica Bank. The successor trustee, Guy Vining, now seeks to unwind various actions taken during Taunt’s tenure. He alleges that Comerica committed, or is vicariously liable for, fraud on the court based on Taunt’s nondisclosure; that several post-petition transfers of estate property are avoidable under 11 U.S.C. § 549(a); and that Taunt, Taunt’s former law firm Plunkett Cooney, and Comerica, are liable for conversion of estate assets. The bankruptcy court granted summary judgment to the defendants on nearly all these claims, and the district court affirmed. We do the same.

A Kentucky high school planned to administer a mental-health survey to its students. When a student’s mother made a state public-records request for a copy of the survey, the school permitted her to see the survey but refused to make a copy of it, claiming that the public-records law did not extend to copyrighted materials. The mother declined to pursue state remedies. She instead sought a declaratory judgment in federal district court that the fair-use exception in copyright law covered her request. The district court dismissed the lawsuit for lack of jurisdiction. We agree and affirm.

CLAY, Circuit Judge. Plaintiffs Stacy Cales and Road to Recovery, LLC appeal the district court’s grant of summary judgment to Defendants Kristopher Justice and Theisen Brock, LPA, based on the finding that the statute of limitations barred Plaintiffs’ legal malpractice claim against Defendant Kristopher Justice, and as a result, their vicarious liability claim against Defendant Theisen Brock, LPA. For the reasons set forth below, we REVERSE and REMAND.

MURPHY, Circuit Judge. This case’s tragic facts raise questions under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. After Dustin Booth began to suffer from mental illness, his wife called the police for help. But Booth ended up barricading himself in his house. And when the police later stopped a truck in which Booth was traveling, he brandished a firearm. That action led to his fatal shooting. Booth’s wife now argues that the police violated the ADA because they did not accommodate his disability when trying to detain him. And she argues that they violated the Fourth Amendment because they unreasonably stopped the truck and unreasonably used a police dog and takedown maneuver. But the district court found that Mrs. Booth’s proposed ADA accommodation was not reasonable because of the safety risks that Booth posed. And it held that the police actions were reasonable for the same reason. The court thus rejected these claims at the summary-judgment stage. We agree and affirm.

Question 1: Under the Tennessee Constitution, may a county be split into two separate judicial districts?

Opinion 1: Yes. The General Assembly has the authority to establish inferior courts, determine their jurisdiction, and allocate judicial power among them. We discern no constitutional bar to establishing separate judicial districts within a single county.

Question 2: If a county can be split into two separate judicial districts, can the districts share the same infrastructure such as a courthouse or jail?

Opinion 2: It might be possible for multiple judicial districts in the same county to share a courthouse, but doing so would involve a number of jurisdictional and logistical wrinkles that would have to be carefully negotiated. We do not perceive any limitation on two districts in the same county
sharing a jail.

Question 1: Is a municipality’s levying of an occupancy tax subject to the caps set out in Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-4-1402(a)(2) if the municipality collects the occupancy tax pursuant to a private act that existed on or before July 1, 2021, and authorizes the municipality to “levy and collect” an
occupancy tax “in an amount not to exceed 5%,” but the municipality’s governing body did not vote to levy the full 5% until after July 1, 2021?

Opinion 1: No.

Question 2: If the answer to Question 1 is yes, does Tenn. Code Ann. § 67-4-1402(a)(3) exempt the municipality from the caps in subdivision (a)(2) if the municipality’s private act, effective before May 1, 2025, authorizes the municipality to “levy and collect” an occupancy tax “in an amount
not to exceed 5%,” but the municipality’s governing body did not vote to levy the full 5% until after May 1, 2025?

Opinion 2: Because of the answer to Question 1, the question as posed is moot.

The petitioner, Benjamin Hartshaw, appeals the denial of his petition for post-conviction relief, arguing the post-conviction court erred in finding he received the effective assistance of counsel. Following our review, we affirm the denial of the petition.