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 :
The only countywide general election race on the Aug. 6 ballot pits a former City Council member against a former Probate Court clerk for a complex but often forgotten office. Early voting starts Friday, July 17.
Our scorecard tracks what could a close final vote to come on the ban the box ordinance after it was amended. We also detail the three budget amendments that got through before the commission approved a hiring freeze.
The spending plan or budget was reconstructed several times in bargaining and changes in federal rules for how the grants could be used. Along the way, there was talk of animals moving out of the zoo and how to fund laptops and tablets for Shelby County Schools students.
Though it’s expected to be amended, Shelby County Commissioners approved Monday, July 13, a ban on alcoholic beverages being served at county facilities.
A majority of the seats on the nine-member Shelby County Schools board are on the August election ballot. As voters make those choices, starting with early voting later this week, parents are making other choices around the new school year.
The proposal comes as County Mayor Lee Harris has 46 requests from other countywide elected officials to add positions two weeks into the new fiscal year. Harris also served notice Monday that next budget season he will be back with some kind of proposal to raise revenues to avoid layoffs and cuts in services that are a real possibility this fiscal year.
Some significant amendments to apply the program to private contractors pushed a final vote to July 21.
Early voting in advance of the Aug. 6 election day begins Friday in Shelby County.
The proposal would remove from county government employment applications the check box or question that asks whether the applicant has been convicted of a criminal offense.
The annual fundraiser of the Memphis Branch NAACP was held online Saturday and featured appearances by the national president and CEO of the nation's oldest civil rights organization as well as recent Democratic presidential contender Julian Castro.
On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, City Council member Worth Morgan talks about his possible move to take police out of the city's civil service system and calls a move to cancel the November referendum allowing the city to hire police from outside Shelby County "the ultimate hypocrisy."
The proposed discount would be in "Area E" – parts of Cordova and Hickory Hill where Waste Pro, the contractor for the city, has been falling behind in garbage collection.
The Wednesday committee sessions drew most of the 13 commissioners, with the remainder attending online. Also debuting was a partitioned commission chambers with glass barriers between the elected officials and masks worn in the booths created for them.
Mayor Jim Strickland’s reform discussions are continuing, he said Wednesday, but critics of the belief that more cops means less crime have become more vocal since the death in Minneapolis of George Floyd on Memorial Day.
Memphis City Council members also got their first look Tuesday at how much police have spent in the past four years on overtime and riot gear as well as other preparations to handle protests.
The offer by CEO Jeff Lyash at a Tuesday City Council presentation includes investments and money over a 20-year period. Meanwhile, there was more reaction from other parts of the issue on a final version of the Integrated Resource Plan on the matter commissioned by MLGW.
The deadline is the end of the business day Tuesday for those not already registered. But 83% of the county's voting age population is already on the voting rolls. Meanwhile, about 7,500 Shelby Countians already registered to vote have requested absentee ballots — far above the usual number of requests for the mail-in ballots.
While critical of the first draft of the IRP by Siemens consulting, the environmental group says it still makes a case for more renewable energy to generate electric power. The Sierra Club response also stops short of recommending cutting ties to TVA, saying the cost of transmission lines to rival MISO should be fully explored.
Memphis City Council members to discuss removing police from the city’s civil service system.
The Cordova headquarters opening spotlighted the only countywide race on the August ballot – the race for General Sessions Court Clerk between Democrat Joe Brown and Republican Paul Boyd.
The public comment period on the first draft of the study that plays a crucial role in whether the city-owned utility stays with the federal agency ends Monday.
The ordinance to be discussed is aimed at cases in which police leadership have moved to fire officers they found had used excessive force or deadly force improperly only to have those officers reinstated on appeal. The appeal is part of the city's civil service system.
U.S. District Judge Sheryl Lipman says the case isn't about her ordering changes at Shelby County Jail, but about whether vulnerable prisoners should be ordered released.