Reporter
Bill Dries covers city and county government and politics. He is a native Memphian and has been a reporter for almost 50 years covering a wide variety of stories from the 1977 death of Elvis Presley and the 1978 police and fire strikes to numerous political campaigns, every county mayor and every Memphis Mayor starting with Wyeth Chandler.
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Council chairwoman Jamita Swearengen and council member Worth Morgan are running for county positions. The possibility of either or both winning is behind a scramble by the council to draw new district lines.
MISO CEO John Bear says savings for MLGW from switching its electric power supplier from TVA to the rival power network are at least $100 million a year, which is nearly double the estimate of the power consultant MLGW is using.
“In the four years that we have been here, something suddenly happened in May,” Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert said during a Thursday press conference.
Almost 65,000 had voted early or absentee through Thursday according to the latest figures from the state. The next-to-last day of the voting period on Fridays is usually the highest.
Ritz’s nomination by President Joe Biden goes to the U.S. Senate for confirmation.
Lee said Friday, July 29, at Knowledge Quest’s Teen Tech Center that more than 2,000 families in Memphis and Nashville have applied for school vouchers and 40 schools have expressed interest in accepting those vouchers.
Numbers for Saturday’s final day of early voting aren’t out yet. But turnout is expected to top 80,000 for the two-week period. The final day also saw nonpartisan poll parties in two parts of town to boost overall turnout. Election Day is Aug. 4.
General Sessions Court Judge Tim Dwyer is not seeking another term in the Aug. 4 election ending a family journey in politics that began in the early 1950s.
The 86,637 early voters for the 14-day period ending Saturday, July 30, turned out in force for the last two days.
Reaction to a third term bid by Mayor Jim Strickland was muted Wednesday, with a lot of questions about whether Strickland will even get the chance to run.
Also Friday, the Memphis Area Transit Authority will offer free service on all fixed routes to encourage early voting ahead of the Aug. 4 election day.
All 77,330 of the city’s high-pressure sodium streetlights will be replaced with LED lighting in a project that includes an automated management system that notifies MLGW when the lights are out.
Here is everything you need to know about voting on Election Day in Shelby County. Shelby County’s ‘big ballot' Election Day arrives with theme of changeRelated stories:
Polls across Shelby County open Thursday, Aug. 4, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The major races on county general election ballot reflect calls for change in several areas — at times, competing calls for change.Related stories:
While most people will be watching who won and who lost the evening of Thursday, Aug. 4, politicos will be viewing the numbers as the first indication of what could happen in the next election and the elections to follow. Shelby County’s ‘big ballot’ Election Day arrives with theme of changeRelated stories:
Final early voting turnout numbers should be released Monday, and politicos on both sides of the partisan divide will study the numbers for hints at Thursday’s election results.
The early and absentee votes are the first to be counted once the polls are closed. The numbers here are the early vote only with separate totals not posted yet on absentee votes.
Voting for one of the more heated local elections in recent history closed shortly after 7 p.m. and after a delay results were finally announced. Shelby County’s ‘big ballot’ Election Day arrives with theme of changeRelated stories:
Despite vocal complaints about her office’s delays in processing car tag and license plate renewals, County Clerk Wanda Halbert won re-election Thursday, Aug. 4. Here’s a rundown of the other clerk’s races on the ballot that saw a repeat of 2018’s Democratic sweep of the same offices.
The new commission appeared to have a nine-vote Democratic majority with some votes still to be counted into Friday morning in one of the closest races on the entire big ballot.
The idea of a three-term limit for city council members and the Memphis mayor went down hard for the second time in four years.
Harris, who campaigned as part of a “New Era” slate of Democratic candidates, led a Democratic sweep of countywide offices.
Several other judges, including two in General Sessions Criminal Court, were either upset in the incomplete results or were in danger of being upset. Meanwhile, voters filled eight court seats to which incumbents did not seek reelection this year, including four divisions of Criminal Court.
The unofficial voter turnout in Shelby County for the August 2022 election was the lowest for the election cycle since partisan county primaries began.
Jennifer Collins said the pandemic forced some changes in higher education and exacerbated the need for mental health services already surfacing on college campuses.