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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On “Behind the Headlines,” the president of the University of Memphis says some students have been living on campus through the pandemic, in part because of the digital divide and because some students will have the flexibility to remain off campus after the return with hybrid classes.
It's Hagerty versus Bradshaw in the November general election Senate race on the statewide ballot. And the winners of Thursday's Republican and Democratic primaries came with some surprises for pollsters on the Republican side and for Democrats looking at the primaries campaign bank accounts.
The unofficial results arrived relatively late in Shelby County compared to the rest of the state and reflected statewide results in the Senate primary and a good night for all but one incumbent on the ballot. The number of absentee ballots also reflected some didn't make it to the Election Commission or that those voters may have abandoned the mail-in ballots to vote provisional ballots.
A year out of the City Council, Joe Brown returns to elected office as General Sessions Court Clerk over Paul Boyd, who left the Probate Court Clerk's office two years ago.
Polls opened in Shelby County at 7 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 6, and close at 7 p.m. The ballot is a mix of state and federal primary and local races for a clerk's position and five school board seats. Early voter turnout was almost as high as the total turnout in the same election cycle four years ago but low through the morning rush hour.
Here’s what to expect if you are voting today, from pandemic preparations to what to do if your absentee ballot didn't arrive. And what to expect on your ballot.
The scorecard highlights a pivotal vote in the police reform debate and why both sides in the discussion still have separate paths to pursue.
On the eve of election day, the state's highest court rules the expanded access to absentee ballots for the August elections means all of those votes will be counted. But for November, absentee ballots will not be open to all who have general concerns for their health if they vote in person instead of by mail. There was a dissenting opinion on the court.
Memphis Police Director Michael Rallings says the City Council decision to take residency off the Nov. 3 ballot leaves voters out of a critical decision. The vote is a challenge to Mayor Jim Strickland’s core philosophy on fighting crime after he dramatically upped the number of new officers he believes is necessary.
Two proposals with common political ground were before the council Tuesday.
President Trump's shake-up of the Tennessee Valley Authority board appears to have nothing to do with the coming decision by Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division on whether to stay with or leave the federal agency.
Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division is “too large” to depend exclusively on the most-often mentioned source of power should MLGW leave the Tennessee Valley Authority, but the city-owned utility still could save up to $122 million a year under certain options recommended in the final version of a consultant’s report.
The competing items are both up for discussion at an afternoon council committee session with a final vote by the council later Tuesday on doing away with the November ballot question that would allow police officers to live outside Shelby County.
Republican Senate contender Dr. Manny Sethi and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas portrayed rival candidate Bill Hagerty as a political insider despite having President Donald Trump’s endorsement.
The early voting period ended Saturday afternoon and includes a larger than usual absentee ballot count. Election day is Thursday with polling places open until 7 p.m.
The recent indictment of state Sen. Katrina Robinson isn't a first for local members of the state legislative delegation, though it is different in that the charges are not connected to her duties as a state senator.
Phyllis Betts and Richard Janikowski have set a new bar for growing the Memphis Police Department ranks to 2,800. They talked on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast about calls for more police amid calls locally for changing the fundamentals of policing and even the share of government funds devoted to policing.
Meanwhile, the hard-fought statewide Republican primary race for the U.S. Senate is being seen by partisans on both sides of the close race as about the conservative movement in the state.
If approved, it would call on Mayor Jim Strickland to submit a plan by Oct. 6 for getting to 2,800 police officers by the end of 2023.
On "Behind The Headlines," Shelby County Elections Administrator Linda Phillips says some upgraded digital scanners that are part of the new system will be used in the August vote count and again in November. She expects the November presidential general election Shelby County to be a record-setter in terms of turnout.