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.
There are 3981 articles by Bill Dries :
A group of two dozen business owners were critical of the new restrictions, telling county commissioners they will destroy businesses already on the edge. Some argued they are worse than the problems posed by the virus. Meanwhile, the first vaccine shipments could arrive in mid-December.
The Monday, Nov. 23 appeal to Trump is Alexander’s second in four days and came hours before the Trump administration signaled it will begin work on the transition with President-elect Joe Biden and his team.
The Monday commission session also features a move toward a new disparity study in awarding county government contracts and a decision on increasing county funding to the conservancy that operates and maintains Shelby Farms Park on county land.
The Shelby County Voter Alliance is working after its debut effort in the presidential general election cycle to hold the interest of voters through 2021.
No location has been decided on for the re-interment, according to SCV leader Lee Millar. But court documents suggest the remains and equestrian statue of Forrest removed from Health Sciences Park could be bound for a new National Confederate Museum in Columbia, Tn.
The U.S. Senator from Tennessee says there’s a “good chance” Biden is the next president.
The mayors of Bartlett and Germantown are pushing Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee for a statewide mask mandate. Short of that, they’re working to create a county-by-county mandate among West Tennessee mayors.
Mayors from the West Tennessee counties outside Shelby County heard a pitch from Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris and others Thursday for a regional mask mandate. Harris says Gov. Bill Lee is unlikely to order a statewide mask requirement. The regional effort will move to one-on-one talks.
Increased restrictions designed to curb the rising COVID-19 numbers are likely coming soon, mayors were told Thursday.
Council member JB Smiley is also seeking a change in council rules that would allow the chairman of the body to bar a council member who does what Ford did twice during Tuesday’s council meetings.
The Council Scorecard dives deeper into the political winds blowing in what turned into a race for council chairman and the mixed results in a set of proposed convenience stores with gas pumps.
With $500,000 in federal grant money, the small-scale pilot includes electric vehicle chargers as well as a broader reconsideration of how county government makes the decision of which vehicles to purchase.
The task force is among the recommendations in a violent crime blueprint touted by council member Jeff Warren for the past year. Meanwhile, the city should have a new police director by the spring and the head of the MPD is a key player in such a task force.
Frank Colvett won election as City Council chairman Tuesday over Martavius Jones. But Colvett’s selection did not come without some controversy.
Council members set votes for Dec. 1 after getting answers to questions about both proposals.
A new Shelby County Election Commission report shows nearly 15,000 more voters on the rolls counytwide in the last two months leading up to the Nov. 3 Election Day. Meanwhile, the Shelby County Voter Alliance says its effort got 2,500 of those voters on the rolls. The alliance of 18 organizations has now set its sights on the 2022 countywide ballot.
The Shelby County Election Commission says its hand was forced by having to keep voting machines used in the November elections sealed until all results from that election are certified next week. Early voting in the two Collierville runoff elections starts Wednesday.
The Memphis City Council agenda Tuesday also includes a new violent crime task force, a ban on bottled water at all city facilities post pandemic and the election of a new chairman for 2021.
A variety of community voices spoke out on police reform during two discussions last week.
Two conversations about police reform show the more detailed the proposed reforms become, the more differences they reveal.
Memphis is ahead of the curve in reversing the results of old rules and regulations that encouraged segregation and created pockets of poverty. So changes in the federal fair housing policy have had little impact.
The chairman of the Shelby County legislative delegation to the Tennessee General Assembly talked about the issue on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast.
The effort short of a statewide mask mandate includes a coalition of local leaders across West Tennessee. Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris said he is also working on a long-term plan for the county to continue to deal with the pandemic through 2021 and after federal CARES Act funding runs out at the end of December.
Health department director Alisa Haushalter and Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris react to the wave of confirmed COVID-19 cases, and a bill that could usurp local authority.