Reporter
Bill Dries covers city government and politics. He is a native Memphian and has been a reporter for more than 40 years.
754 articles by Bill Dries :
Thousands lined up to tour the National Civil Rights Museum Monday and at a Midtown forum, there was new reaction to Sunday's tour of the museum by Vice President Mike Pence. The reactions 52 years after Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination show his legacy and what it means today remains a volatile topic.
The discussion over the residency item is another indication of new thoughts on a city council with six new members. The second council meeting of the year also features more discussion and a possible vote on an electric rate increase from Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division and possible funding for Mayor Jim Strickland's Public Service Corps.
The vice president talked of Trump administration gains during a speech at Holy City Church of God In Christ in Raleigh after touring the National Civil Rights Museum.
The fourth march drew a crowd of 250 who marched from Clayborn Temple to the National Civil Rights Museum and reflected a variety of causes and identities.
Commissioners talk about new voting machines next week, and the election commission plans to buy and begin using new voting machines this election year – but so far the focus has been on paper trails and not paper ballots to mark.
Robert Donati of Future901 says the local PAC has a long-term strategy to do for Democrats what money from statewide campaigns has long been expected to do for down-ballot races. On the Daily Memphian Politics Podcast he talked about growing the pool or regular campaign contributors.
The marker unveiled late last year offers a more detailed view of the 1830s relocation of five southwest Native American groups by treaty and by force. Most of those groups used a route that took them through Memphis, to the river's edge and west to exile.
Robert Donati of the political action committee Future901 talks about the local PAC’s effort to raise money for state House races and get it to key races that can make a difference in 2020.
The city's elected representatives in Washington reacted in different ways to the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump set to begin next week. Meanwhile, they have found rare common ground on the passage of the USMCA trade agreement.
Just City executive director Josh Spickler said on the WKNO program “Behind The Headlines” that Juvenile Court needs more resources for children in detention. But he said the question of which children and how many wind up in detention or tried as adults should take priority over the details of the bricks and mortar.
2020 Campaign Round Up: Bill Hagerty has the president’s backing while Dr. Manny Sethi says Hagerty is a “Washington insider.”
The court fight over Memphis City Hall’s plan to cut off sewage treatment for Horn Lake and Southaven, Mississippi, in 2023 is so far playing out on both sides of the state line.
The $10 million sought over several years by Epicenter didn't have enough support on the city council despite a guaranteed return. The pitch is part of a "movement" to encourage more sources of local capital for made-in-Memphis ventures. But the use of pension money hit a barrier with many on the council.
The utility expected all power to be restored to customers by midnight Monday. Presidents Island had the most sustained damage, with numerous power poles broken or uprooted by straight-line winds.
The Daily Memphian introduces a new feature in our coverage of city government -- a scorecard of critical city council votes, tracking how each of the 13 members vote. We begin with a procedural vote at the Jan. 7 council session with some important implications for the relationship between the council and the mayor.
Republican Charlotte Bergmann, who is seeking to once again challenge Democratic Cong. Steven Cohen this election year, kicked off her campaign this weekend at a gun-shooting range. Other contenders in other primary races on the August 6 ballot are making their moves as well.
Chase Carlisle, one of six new City Council members, talked on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast about the differences of opinion at the first council session of the new term.
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris discusses MATA funding, the refugee resettlement plan and more with Bill Dries, reporter for The Daily Memphian, and host Eric Barnes.
City council member Chase Carlisle talks about the start of the new council’s four-year term of office and the Downtown-Midtown development boom and what that could mean for areas of disinvestment.
On Behind The Headlines, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris said if the County Commission approves a wheel tax hike for the city's bus system, he would like to see a renewal provision requiring the commission to vote on whether to continue it every decade.
The original electric rate hike proposal voted down by the City Council last month was replaced Jan. 8 with a Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division proposal that is two cents lower on the average monthly residential bill.
The second-term slate of 13 Jim Strickland administration directors and chiefs drew some resistance from several council members in committee sessions Tuesday at City Hall. The decision to delay the vote on the slate for two weeks saw some of the new council members on different sides of the question at their first council meeting.
Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division is proposing a new electric rate hike that would be less steep than an earlier proposal in the first of three years, but about the same overall. Meanwhile, some city council members want to pair the rate hike decision with whether MLGW cuts its ties with the Tennessee Valley Authority.
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