Bill Dries
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 3960 articles by Bill Dries :
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July 2020
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Metro Shelby County Commissioner Eddie Jones will move from the number two spot on the commission to the chairman’s job next month. -
Metro County Commission delays vote on new public health board
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Elections Election Commission caught up on nearly 17,000 absentee ballot applications
Officials hope to process absentee voting applications the same day they arrive up to Thursday's deadline to apply. Meanwhile, in-person early voting continues through Saturday, Aug. 1, at 26 locations. Election day is Aug. 6.
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Shelby County County Commission to take final vote on ‘Ban the Box’ initiative
Also on the agenda for Monday, July 27, is a vote on creating a county health board that commission Chairman Mark Billingsley is seeking to delay. And the commission elects a new chair for the next year as it nears the two-year mark of its current four-year term.
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Shelby County Move to revive local health board after more than a century draws concerns
Shelby County Health Department Director Alisa Haushalter's county health board proposal is drawing some resistance from suburban leaders who want to know more about its powers. The last county health board was abolished in 1909 and was no stranger to controversy.
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Podcast
Shelby CountyBillingsley says Ford-Ray dueling letters ‘pretty antagonistic’
On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, the County Commission chairman says the differences between the two don't appear to extend to the rest of the commission. Mark Billingsley also said he hopes to move to lift the county hiring budget freeze once there is a reconciliation of the budget approved by the commission last month after rejecting Mayor Lee Harris's original proposal.
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Video
City of MemphisPandemic planning looks ahead to winter and traditional flu season
Two local leaders in the pandemic fight said on "Behind The Headlines" there would be a stronger-than-usual push for flu vaccinations. Shelby County Health Department Director Alisa Haushalter also said the role of schools in the pandemic makes reopening them – virtually or in person – an important part of battling the virus.
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City of Memphis City Council Scorecard: A cell tower falls and a shift on Black Lives Matter Avenue
The council's Glenview cell tower vote and a series of Black Lives Matter proposals setting the stage for some renamings of public places are the latest entries in our ongoing scorecard of council roll call votes.
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Elections Early voting through five days tops 22,000
The turnout totals from the Shelby County Election Commission also show the first indications of a massive absentee voter turnout as election officials expect to catch up to a backlog of absentee applications by Friday.
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State Government Hargett draws fire in U.S. Senate committee on state’s resistance to expanded absentee voting
Hargett called for more federal funding for election procedures in the pandemic without Washington putting any conditions on state election officials in the process. Lawmakers questioned him closely on the state's opposition to expanded absentee balloting even after it was ordered by a state court.
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Metro Riverside Drive to reopen next month to weekday auto traffic
The reopening is one of several measures the city is announcing or considering this week in what looks like a new round of measures in the four-month-old pandemic
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Election 2020
ElectionsAbsentee ballot count stands at about 11,000, Phillips says
So far, the return by voters of the unusually high number of the mail-in ballots hasn't shown up in the early voting turnout figures. Shelby County Elections Administrator Linda Phillips told county commissioners Wednesday, July 22, that some absentee voters may not complete their ballots because they are expecting to see the presidential general election that is on the November ballot.
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Metro Council scraps Glenview cell tower, delays vote on Balmoral office space
Memphis City Council members voted down a new cell tower in the Glenview Historic District Tuesday, July 21, after objections from homeowners, including three council members.
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City of Memphis Renaming commission approved by City Council, Poplar renaming sidelined
The Poplar Avenue name change to Black Lives Matter Avenue will be among the items the renaming commission considers. The trio of related measures met with mixed results at Tuesday's Memphis City Council session. An ordinance to give the council final approval of any names changes of streets, parks and public places may get some legal rewording before its first of three votes next months.
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election 2020
ElectionsAbout 8,000 of 15,000 requested absentee ballots mailed so far
The deadline to request an absentee ballot is July 30, so more ballot requests are on the way. Meanwhile, a total of 12,314 Shelby County voters have cast their ballots -- absentee and through in-person early voting -- in the first three days of the period that runs through Aug. 1. Election day is Aug. 6.
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City of Memphis Council proposals call for examination of street, park and public place names
Two proposals on the city council agenda Tuesday would change the rules for naming and renaming streets, parks and other places. It's part of a slate of council proposals that has grown larger than police reform to include changing city government priorities. The effort is being led by a renaming of one of the most well-known addresses in the city.
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Education Shelby County Schools board contenders discuss pandemic, state testing and ASD transition
The responses from candidates in the five school board races on the Aug. 6 ballot got lively during two forums sponsored by Chalkbeat Tennessee and the social justice organization MICAH.
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Election 2020
ElectionsCalvo withdraws from SCS race, backs Harris in challenge of McCormick
Mauricio Calvo’s withdrawal accented the opening day of early voting in Memphis. Preliminary numbers show more than 5,000 people voted early Friday. In getting out of the District 5 school board race, Calvo cited his duties as executive director of Latino Memphis and the disproportionate impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on Latino Memphians.
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Election 2020
ElectionsHagerty praises federal response in Portland in joint online appearance with Trump
During the half-hour online event Friday evening, Trump called Tennessee's Republican Senate primary "a real primary" -- an apparent reference to the tightening race between the former U.S. ambassador to Japan and Dr. Manny Sethi of Nashville.
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Election 2020
ElectionsBallot Basics: Early voting July 17-Aug. 1
Here are the basics you need to know in order to vote early and make sure your ballot has all of the races it is supposed to have, including district races.
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Election 2020
ElectionsEarly voting opens in first Shelby County election during pandemic
More than 13,000 Shelby Countians had requested absentee ballots through Wednesday.
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Election 2020
ElectionsNearly 8,000 cast ballots in first 2 days of early voting
Early voting across Shelby County in advance of the Aug. 6 election date resumes Monday, July 20, after the first two days drew nearly 8,000 voters.
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Premium
City of MemphisVictorian Village ‘outcast’ makes a comeback
The restored columns of the circa 1840s Pillow-McIntyre House at Adams and Orleans were reinstalled last week, signalling at turn in fortunes for a sometimes forgotten house with some secrets.
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Public Safety Forrest slave market historic marker damaged, to be repaired
It is the second historical marker to be snapped in two from its base in the past month. The rector of Calvary Episcopal Church says the marker, noting the location of Nathan Bedford Forrest's slave market, will be repaired and reinstalled as soon as possible.
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Public Safety Stretch of Poplar may be renamed Black Lives Matter Avenue
The avenue between Front and Danny Thomas Boulevard to be renamed includes the county’s criminal justice center. A majority of the council is sponsoring the resolution, to be voted on at Tuesday’s council meeting.
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