Dr. Ralph Alvarado stepped down as commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health on Friday after nearly three years in the role. According to the Daily Memphian, Gov. Bill Lee has appointed Tennessee State Epidemiologist John Dunn as interim commissioner, effective immediately. Nashville native Dunn joined the department in 2005 and previously served as deputy state epidemiologist and state public health veterinarian. He has been the state epidemiologist since 2019. He also is an adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. “John is a committed public servant with decades of service to Tennesseans,” Lee said. “I appreciate his leadership during this time of transition and am confident he will serve with integrity.”

The attorneys representing Tyré Nichols’ family and estate want the trial over their civil rights lawsuit against the city of Memphis pushed to late 2026, the Daily Memphian reports. On Friday, the attorneys filed a late-night motion for miscellaneous relief. The filing included a new proposed scheduling order that would move the potential trial date for the case to November 2026. According to the plaintiffs, the proposed change is due to the city releasing reams of evidence near the end of the deadline for them to do so. They claim the documents and videos are not labeled and that a team of 10 staffers has to search through each video and match it to an incident description. U.S. District Judge Sheryl Lipman has been assigned to the case after Judge Mark Norris recused himself. Lipman set a status conference for July 23.

A recently released report finds Tennessee is among the states where unemployment claims have grown the most — almost a 100% increase in recent weeks, according to Knox News. WalletHub released its findings on unemployment claims in each state over the past year, and Tennessee was among the 24 states that saw more unemployment claims week over week when compared with last year. The study used data from the U.S. Department of Labor. While full unemployment rates for June will not be released until later this month, Tennessee has shown a decline in its unemployment rate so far in 2025, dropping from 3.7% in January to 3.5% in May, significantly lower than the national rate of 4.2%. The recent uptick in week-over-week claims could point to more changes to come in the unemployment rate, according to the paper.

The country music singer who was driving when attorney Dorothy “Dot” Dobbins was struck and killed in the Nashville neighborhood of Germantown has been charged with a misdemeanor. According to WKRN, Conner Smith has been charged with failure to yield the right of way resulting in death, a Class A misdemeanor. The Metro Police Department Traffic Division issued the citation last Thursday night. Authorities said officers did not find any evidence of impairment or distracted driving by Smith. He is scheduled to be booked on Aug. 7. Dobbins was remembered at a celebration of life on June 18. Memorial donations may be made to The Alternatives To Violence Project Inc. (AVP-USA), 2136 Ford Parkway, Saint Paul, MN 55116. 

In this month’s episode of BarBuzz, TBA staff sit down with Brant Harrell, Zac Oswald, Kyle Stack and Anne-Louise Wirthlin to dive deeper into “Access to Justice in the Age of AI,” the cover story in the May/June Tennessee Bar Journal. Each guest contributed insights and experiences for the article, including how they’re using technology — from AI tools to the Justice Bus — to expand legal access, bridge rural gaps and keep client data secure. Join TBA’s Communications Coordinator Azya Thornton and Access to Justice Director Liz Slagle Todaro for the July podcast to learn more. Missed a past episode? Check them out in the BarBuzz archive.

The CLE Performer Stuart Teicher is back with four ethics webcast replays this month. On July 17, Shakira, Secrets and Scandals: Attorney Ethics and the World of Offshore Deals begins at 9 a.m. CDT, followed by Five Ways to Use Chat GPT Safely in the Practice of Law at 10:15, and The Office: What Michael Scott Teaches About Lawyer Professionalism at 11:30. Then on July 18, tune in for Wedded Bliss and Attorney Ethics at noon CDT. Can't make these times? The sessions also are available on demand. Check out all options being offered during TBA's Summer CLE Event.

Former Tennessee state Rep. Steve Bivens, who represented District 24 in the Tennessee House of Representatives for 14 years, died last month at age 78, the Cleveland Daily Banner reports. Bivens, a former educator, was elected to the House in 1978 and served as House majority from 1981 to 1984. He was also speaker pro tempore during the 94th General Assembly and chaired the House Select Committee on Education, the “Sudden Impact” Subcommittee and the K-12 Subcommittee. He also served as vice chair of the House Commerce Committee. After leaving office, he founded Bivens and Associates, a lobbying firm that represented industries across Tennessee. Funeral arrangements are pending. 

SUTTON, Chief Judge. In the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress created the Paycheck Protection Program to keep American workers employed. The program promised forgivable loans to small businesses that maintained their payrolls during the crisis. One such business, Veltor Underground LLC, claimed that it had six employees when it applied for and received a $125,000 loan. But the Small Business Administration declined to forgive the loan when it discovered that Veltor’s six employees were in fact independent contractors. Veltor sued. The district court sided with the government. Because Veltor’s payments to independent contractors do not qualify as “payroll costs” under the statute, we affirm.

Christopher Terrell Shipp, Petitioner, was convicted of one count of criminally negligent homicide, one count of felony murder, two counts of attempted aggravated robbery, and one count of attempted second degree murder after a jury trial. He was sentenced to an effective sentence of life in prison. On direct appeal, Petitioner challenged the sufficiency of the evidence and the admission of the preliminary hearing testimony of one of the victims in the home invasion. State v. Shipp, No. M2016-01397-CCA-R3-CD, 2017 WL 4457595, at *1-2 (Tenn. Crim. App. Oct. 5, 2017), perm. app. denied (Tenn. Feb. 14, 2018). Petitioner filed a pro se petition for post-conviction relief seeking post-conviction relief on the basis of ineffective assistance of counsel. An amended petition filed after counsel was appointed raised additional claims, including a Brady claim based on the State’s withholding of a witness statement before the preliminary hearing. After an evidentiary hearing, Petitioner sought removal of his appointed counsel. This Court denied Petitioner’s application for an extraordinary appeal and the post-conviction court denied the petition for post-conviction relief. Eventually, Petitioner was allowed to proceed pro se on appeal. Because Petitioner has either waived his issues or failed to prove his allegations by clear and convincing evidence, we affirm the judgment of the post- conviction court.

Movant, Antonio K. Champion, appeals from the trial court’s denial of his motion to correct an illegal sentence related to his guilty-pleaded convictions in Madison County Circuit Court case numbers 22-488 and 22-489.1 On appeal, he argues that the trial court erred by denying his motion because he was improperly sentenced as a Range II offender based upon several prior convictions, which he asserts also involved “illegal” sentences. After a thorough review of the record, we affirm.