Reporter
Bill Dries covers city government and politics. He is a native Memphian and has been a reporter for more than 40 years.
949 articles by Bill Dries :
The council's second online meeting includes a pared-down agenda of 17 items and a committee discussion on changes to the city's upcoming budget season that means no council community grants.
The number of coronavirus cases in Shelby County currently stands at 789, according to the Shelby County Health Department.
The mayor extended the Memphis' state of emergency through April 21 and said the city is preparing for a second emergency field hospital, also arranging for housing and testing of the homeless population .
The funding comes from the Federal Transit Administration through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act that became law.
The Thursday filing deadline also saw 14 confirmed candidates in the statewide Republican primary for U.S. Senate and five in the companion Democratic primary for the open seat.
On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, SCS board member Kevin Woods says Shelby County Schools face a possible $130 million hole in its budget from the loss of sales tax revenue.
Shelby County Schools board member Kevin Woods talks about his decision to run for re-election and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on public education.
The state plans to build a temporary hospital of non-acute care beds at the Gateway Shopping Center on Jackson Avenue. Other sites are being evaluated.
A recap of the fields in the five Shelby County Schools board races and 16 races for the Tennessee Legislature.
The head of Memphis Tourism said on "Behind The Headlines" that the recovery of the tourism sector in the city could stretch into 2022. Kevin Kane was appointed recently to a state task force on the economic recovery from COVID-19.
Governor Bill Lee will sign Executive Order 23 requiring that Tennesseans stay home unless they are carrying out essential activities as data shows an increase in citizen movement across the state.
City braces for surge in COVID-19 cases. An announcement is expected Friday, April 3, on the site of a 1,000-bed temporary hospital to accommodate the coming surge, local leaders announced Thursday.
Health Department medical director Dr. Bruce Randolph said 5,506 have been tested, with 9% positive.
Five incumbents could effectively win re-election at Thursday's noon deadline, but that's not a sure thing for most of them. And eight of the 16 seats in the Shelby County delegation to Nashville on the Aug. 6 ballot will likely be decided with the primaries as the winners run unopposed in the November general election.
County purchasing officials won’t make bid documents on a new voting system public until after the Election Commission makes a final decision.
Rain Tuesday morning helped decrease the crowds in some parks after the city also closed some roads into and through city parks. The parks remain open but are battling sunshine and pandemic cabin fever to moderate the crowds. And planners are working on life after COVID-19 at Tom Lee Park.
Gov. Bill Lee has ordered all nonessential businesses to close and Mayor Jim Strickland announces access to Memphis parks will be limited, starting Tuesday.
The Memphis mayor also announced he is closing access roads to and in city parks, including Riverside Drive by Tom Lee Park, to discourage large crowds like those that gathered last week during two sunny days. The move stops short of closing city parks outright, but Strickland said he is willing to consider that too.
In an online press conference Monday, Cohen says matching state standards for gatherings and travel already adopted in Shelby County could ease the strain on Memphis hospitals from the surrounding region once the pandemic reaches its peak here.
Lee commented as he moved the state's daily briefing on the pandemic to Memphis and met with local leaders. State officials announced the death toll from the virus in the state has now risen to six.
The number of 2,218 tested in Shelby County comes with no details unlike state numbers that reveal testing by types of labs and age ranges. And because it's a total over a period of time in which the response and other measure to the virus have changed, it is still difficult to tell what the number means.
Shelby County Election Commissioners will meet electronically Wednesday, April 1, to discuss a new voting system for county elections.
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