The Hamilton County Commission is getting closer to picking the interim Juvenile Court Judge.    The cut off for applications was last Wednesday and there are 10 applicants for the position.    Applicants include Curtis Bowe, Lisa Bowman, John Brooks, Blair Cannon, Bob Davis, Christy Jindra, Troy McDougal, Robert Philyaw, Ron Powers, and Rachel Wright.

Curtis Bowe practices at Juvenile Court and was a Magistrate/Referee for several years.     Troy McDougal is a current Juvenile Court Magistrate and has been so for many years.      Of the other candidates, John Brooks, Lisa Bowman, and Rachel Wright practice at Juvenile Court on a regular basis.    

I definitely hope that the Commission chooses someone with experience in Juvenile Law.     The Juvenile Court Judge is a very important position in Hamilton County.    I practice there a lot and am a little apprehensive about the changes that may be coming.

Southeast Tennessee Legal Services is having a fundraiser on Thursday, March 14th from 5:30-7:30PM at O'Heiney's Pub.      Tickets are $25 and are tax deductible.  With a ticket, you get 2 free beers, food and a live band.

Southeast Tennessee Legal Services is a public interest law firm and nonprofit.       The primary types of cases handled by the firm involve domestic violence and consumer actions.      The firm represents clients in 11 counties and has no income restrictions.

This event promises to be a lot of fun.

DCS has recently provided a 113-page response to questions from the House Democratic Caucus prior to hearings in front of the state legislature next week.     Interim Commissioner Jim Henry and other top DCS officials are set to testify in front of the House Government Operations Committee on Tuesday, the Senate Health Committee on Wednesday, and the House Finance, Ways and Means Committee on Thursday.

The response provides a lot more details about the 25 children who died in state custody in 2011 and 2012, but has not addressed the number of children that have died in cases in which DCS had an open investigation of abuse or neglect, but had not yet placed the children in state custody.

The Interim Commissioner of DCS, Jim Henry, has announced that the $27 million dollar TFACTS system installed by former Commissioner Viola Miller, has finally been, mostly fixed.       A list of 1,700 defects identified a year ago have been reduced to around 383.    Jim Henry claims that the new data reveals that 14 children died in DCS custody in 2011 and 11 more died in 2012.   This number does not include children who died while part of open DCS investigations, but were not yet in the legal custody of DCS.

Nashville U.S. District Court Judge Todd Campbell suggested that DCS should compare its files to obituaries to figure out the names of deceased children and ordered DCS to report back to the Court in April.

The Urban League of Greater Chattanooga is having its First Annual Entrepreneur's Power Luncheon.     The luncheon features Daymond John, CEO and creator of FUBU and shark on ABC's shark tank, who will be doing motivational speaking that applies to women and minority-owned businesses as well as larger companies.    Tickets cost $50 and the event will be held on Tuesday, March 26 from 11:30AM to 1:00PM.       This sounds like a fun networking event and I love the Sharks.

The Taste of Chattanooga is coming up on March 7 at Stratton Hall, and benefits the Kidney Foundation.     Ticket holders will be entitled to free samplings of food from local restaurants and a drink ticket for a local beer, wine or non-alcoholic beverage.     The event includes live, local music, and a competition between 4 local chefs, who willc be provided a mystery ingredient by Whole Foods.     Sounds like Iron Chef to me.