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NASHVILLE – Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam today appointed Jody S. Pickens of Jackson as district attorney general for the 26th Judicial District, replacing retiring District Attorney General Jerry Woodall, effective August 1. The position will be up for election in 2018. Pickens has been assistant district attorney general in the district since 1996. He was a special assistant in the U.S. attorney general’s office for the Western District of Tennessee from 2010-2012. He has received honors in the community as a leader on victims’ rights, including the Champion of Victims’ Rights Award from Union University, Friend of the Family Award from the American Family Association and for outstanding service to victims of violent crime from West Tennessee Legal Services.

NASHVILLE – Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and Department of Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner Burns Phillips today announced Tennessee’s unemployment rate for June 2017 was 3.6 percent, the lowest in Tennessee recorded history. The June 2017 preliminary seasonally adjusted rate surpasses the previous low of 3.7 percent from March 2000. The state has not experienced an unemployment rate below 4.0 percent since it was 3.9 percent in February 2001.

NASHVILLE – Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam today announced the state has set a new record and for the third year in a row has led the nation in the number of students filing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Nearly three quarters of all Tennessee high school seniors—73.5 percent—filed the FAFSA for the 2017-18 academic year, a requirement for Tennessee students to be eligible for both federal and state aid, including Tennessee Promise and the HOPE Lottery Scholarship.

JONESBOROUGH - The Special Investigations Section of the Tennessee Department of Revenue conducted the investigation that led to the indictment and arrest of Nellis Randolph Medley for tax evasion and related charges. Department of Revenue special agents arrested Medley, 52, at his business and transported him to the Washington County Detention Center on Tuesday.

RIPLEY – Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam today awarded state workforce development grants to two Tennessee College of Applied Technology (TCAT) institutions in West Tennessee to expand higher education opportunities and support the Drive to 55 goal to increase the number of Tennesseans with a degree or certificate to 55 percent by 2025. The Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) will expand current programs and develop new training programs at TCAT-Ripley and TCAT-Covington in communities with limited higher education options.

NASHVILLE – Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and Commissioner Bonnie Hommrich today announced that after more than 16 years of system-wide reform and a massive turnaround, Tennessee Department of Children’s Services (DCS) is now free of federal court oversight. U.S. District Court Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw has approved the historic agreement between the state and Children’s Rights, the New York-based advocacy group that in 2000 filed litigation known as the Brian A. lawsuit that charged that Tennessee youth in foster care suffered in an overburdened system, describing children in crowded congregate care shelters and social workers with overwhelming caseloads.

Commissioner David W. Purkey of the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security along with Colonel Tracy Trott of the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) announced the promotion of Chris Ray to Captain over the Inspectional Services Bureau.