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 :
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.
The two-pronged effort comes as two criminal justice consultants instrumental in the Blue Crush police strategy are again working with the city and recommending a police force larger than the goal of 2,300 officers by the end of this year.
The Congressman faces former Shelby County Democratic Party chairman Corey Strong in the Aug. 6 primary. Strong is critical of Cohen’s style; Cohen says Strong and past challengers don’t understand the job.
Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division won't be cutting off utilities for those late on their bills. Customers now have until Aug. 24 to pay their bills or work out a payment plan with MLGW.
The Memphis Congressman said calls at the Atlanta funeral to continue the struggle for voting rights are appropriate in the current political environment.
The state's highest court heard the state's appeal of the recent expansion of mail-in absentee voting ordered last month by a Nashville Chancery Court. The state says absentee ballots are a privilege and not a right. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit argue that in the current pandemic, in-person voting is a choice for voters between their health and their right to vote.
By the 4:30 p.m. Thursday deadline to apply, the Shelby County Election Commission could process 20,000 requests for mail-in ballots that could be a major factor in the August elections.
Through seven Congressional campaigns, incumbent 9th District Democrat Steve Cohen has posted some impressive percentages in the primary that counts in the majority Democratic district within Shelby County.
First-term Republican Commissioner Brandon Morrison became chairman pro tempore of the commission with the votes of six of the eight Democratic commissioners and none of the votes of her four Republican colleagues on the body. While it's controversial, the political move is also a common feature of commission politics.
Authorities are investigating after, police say, vandals targeted the homes of Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner and County Commissioners Mark Billingsley and Amber Mills Tuesday, July 28.
Shelby County posted the second highest county total for the state through the first six days of early voting. Davidson County, including Nashville, has the highest turnout and, at least for now, is the bluest county in terms of early voters' choices of primaries. Of the state's 95 counties, 92 show Republican majorities in their turnout.
Gov. Bill Lee outlined the contingency plan the day after Shelby County Schools Superintendent Joris Ray said a safe reopening of in-person classes was "largely a myth" with the number of COVID-19 virus cases growing. The Memphis and Nashville school systems are the only two in the state starting the school year with online classes only.
The state appeals court late last year upheld the dismissal of one in a series of lawsuits by Graceland challenging the FedExForum contract. The lawsuits specifically challenged the clause that forbids public financing of arenas that would compete with the Forum. The appeal to the state Supreme Court could revive the lawsuit.
Statewide races in Tennessee are daunting tasks requiring millions of dollars to credibly campaign in a state with 95 counties and two time zones. Here are the major contenders by those fundraising standards and the other contenders in each primary.
The Nashville attorney is back two years after bowing out of another Senate bid. This time, James Mackler says his campaign will be “laser focused.”
The three-way race is a skirmish between two to show who is closer to President Donald Trump and a different strategy by a third candidate, seen before in the 2018 GOP primary for Tennessee governor.
It's been a month since a county government budget was approved for the fiscal year that began July 1. But until that detailed budget is printed in black and white, there is still some wrangling underway, some distrust and the hiring freeze the county imposed may be melting.
Taking a question about past criminal convictions off the county's job application involves a set of complex rules for hiring those with a criminal past. The new ordinance pushes the consideration to later in the hiring process.
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.
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.