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 4086 articles by Bill Dries :
Business leader and developer J.W. Gibson talks about the South Memphis TIF taking in Soulsville, LeMoyne-Owen College and the old Metro Plaza on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast.
Monday afternoon is the deadline to register to vote in the presidential general election if you aren’t already registered. Here is a look at the demographics of the Shelby County voter base.
Voter registration drives are busy on the last weekend before the registration deadline. But more than 80% of Shelby County’s voting age population is already registered. The tale of the 2020 presidential election in Shelby County will be told by the voters on the rolls who show up.
Shelby County Commissioner Mick Wright said Friday he’d recently tested positive for the coronavirus and had just completed an isolation period. His wife was the only person exposed and has since tested negative for the virus.
The Arlington and Collierville school systems are using a similar mix of hybrid online and in person classes along with virtual options for elementary school students. The superintendents of the two suburban systems talked on “Behind The Headlines” about prospects for more change.
The set of four ordinances cleared second reading this week on the Shelby County Commission with some shifts in votes and declarations since first reading. The third and final vote is in two weeks.
The County Commission Scorecard sorts out a quartet of items from this week’s session — some that have been on the commission’s plate for some time.
Under a compromise, Mayor Lee Harris and other county leaders will be allowed to fill positions in their budgets after a committee review.
A set of four ordinances affecting the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office and the county corrections division advanced through second reading Monday, Sept. 28, at the Shelby County Commission. And the use of electric shields by deputies at a Downtown demonstration last week was part of the commission’s discussion. Final votes are scheduled for Oct. 12.
Shelby County commissioners put off a vote Monday, Sept. 28, on $5.8 million to buy a new voting system, a move that election officials say could mean it will take days to count all the votes in the presidential general election.
The city’s mix of housing has flipped in recent years, with renters now making up the majority as investors continue to buy single-family homes.
During an appearance on “Behind The Headlines,” Shelby County Schools Superintendent Joris Ray also pushed back against the narrative that no high school football games for the state’s largest school system could limit the path to higher education for student athletes.
Martavius Jones, the Memphis City Council budget committee chairman who oversaw pitches by more than 150 nonprofits seeking a share of $1.95 million, has problems with the way grants are awarded.
Tennessee’s senior Senator ended a Sunday of speculation about where he would stand on the move to fill the vacancy with a written statement Sunday afternoon.
Three police reform measures cleared the Shelby County Commission on the first of three readings this week. But it amounted to a test vote with more votes in play than were committed. Our commission scorecard shows where the division is on the specific issues.
On “Behind The Headlines,” Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. also said he sees an “appetite” for reform among law enforcement in general but has some hesitation about trying to codify reform measures he’s taken to apply to future sheriffs.
Tentative plans for a 2-mile stretch between Front and Cleveland include better pedestrian crossings, protected bike lanes and landscaping. A public meeting Thursday resumes a process that was paused in March for the pandemic.
GDS Associates, a Georgia company whose report in February 2019 kicked off MLGW’s examination of cutting ties to the Tennessee Valley Authority, is recommended for the $520,000 contract.
MLGW branch offices remain closed to the public, but have drive-thru service to pay bills. But the drive-thru service doesn’t include working out a payment plan.
MLGW declared a moratorium on utility cutoffs in mid-March as the worldwide pandemic was declared. This month, when the moratorium was lifted, the utility received an overwhelming number of calls to work out payment plans and avoid cutoffs.
The trio of ordinances affecting the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office and corrections officers advanced automatically in Monday’s first of three votes on the measures. A second reading will be held in two weeks and a third is tentatively set in October.
A total of 78 positions in various parts of county government are the latest exceptions to a hiring freeze. But as they approved the waivers Monday, county commissioners signaled they are about to make a decision on the hiring freeze’s viability possibly by the end of this month.
The payday loan resolution is not binding on the Tennessee Legislature and is the latest discussion by a local elected body about the impact such businesses have on citizens’ financial health.
Shelby County Commissioner Van Turner has seen first hand the impact of violent crime on his commission district which includes Hickory Hill. But Turner says it’s possible to back law enforcement and be opposed to a militarization of the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office and Memphis Police Department.