Shelby Republicans open campaign headquarters
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.
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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Podcast
City of MemphisMLGW-TVA decision enters critical phase
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.
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Public Safety City Council to discuss removing police from civil service system
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.
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Public Safety Judge in jail lawsuit urges both sides to talk
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.
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Video
City of MemphisSmiley says look for more City Council moves on police reform
On “Behind The Headlines,” the first-term council member said the proposals to come will push further on changing the Memphis Police Department beyond nonbinding resolutions approved last month.
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Shelby County Shelby County Commission Scorecard: Ending the Budget Season
The commission scorecard includes votes on a property tax hike, a Juneteenth holiday and a resolution recognizing racism as a pandemic.
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June 2020
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Shelby County Harris issues virus measures in county prisons, detention centers
The measures, effective immediately, include no out-of-county prisoners into the four facilities and more access to visitation and prison programs by video livestream. They follow a testing surge for prisoners and staff earlier in June.
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Metro Alexander says statues, monuments should be reviewed, rotated
Speaking to an online meeting of the Memphis Rotary Club, the U.S. senator from Tennessee said efforts to take down the statue of Andrew Jackson in Washington D.C. show "a terrible misunderstanding of history." Alexander also said the lawsuit seeking to do away with the Affordable Care Act is "flimsy."
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Public Safety Strickland, Rallings make new overture on police reform
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and Memphis Police Director Michael Rallings talked about further police reform efforts at a Tuesday briefing that was partially an answer to critics of Strickland's first set of reforms.
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Podcast
Public SafetyBlack Lives Matter sees a positive shift in support
Black Lives Matter is a seven-year-old movement with an ambitious platform beyond the protests of police abuses with which it has been most associated. And in the past month of protests, activists and academics locally have seen reaction to it shift — a shift explored on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast and a recent Hooks Institute forum.
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City of Memphis City Council Scorecard: The return of the residency issue
The scorecard also tracks votes on paid sick leave laws at the state level and council action on a restaurant accused of racial discrimination.
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Public Safety Nonprofit leaders press demands for change in policing and priorities
The coalition of 150 local nonprofits issued a call for change two weeks ago. But they say they have seen little indication of movement and will continue to press their demands.
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Premium
MetroCohen pushes for Barr impeachment, sees partisan divide in police reform calls
The city's top elected Democrat talked about Barr's coming appearance before the House next month and the police reform debate in Washington and in the streets of Memphis.
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Shelby County County Clerk’s offices to reopen after a COVID case shut them down
Clerk Wanda Halbert says the seven locations will operate differently. They'll have appointments, and people will wait in their cars before being called into the office. Halbert warns there could be long lines and few employees at the counter until social distancing partitions are installed. The one-week shutdown was the second for the office since the global pandemic was declared in mid-March.
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Public Safety Nine religious leaders reject Strickland police reform effort
Nine ministers – who were all involved in the set of private meetings with the mayor that lead up to his City Hall announcement Thursday regarding moves toward police reform – put out a letter Friday critical of the reforms Strickland had announced.
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City of Memphis Strickland signs mask ordinance
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland has signed the ordinance that requires masks or face coverings inside public places within the city.
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Shelby County Harris: New budget means layoffs, cuts in vital services likely
The county mayor also said in a "Behind The Headlines" interview that he has no regrets about his budget proposal that the commission rejected, which included a wheel tax hike with some budget cuts and an ambitious five-year plan to fund new school construction.
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Metro City Council, County Commission return to in-person meetings after 4th
The Shelby County Commission is planning to install plexiglass barriers when it returns to its chambers next month. The Memphis City Council is making arrangements to find a new temporary meeting place. Its City Hall chambers are still undergoing a renovation that began before the pandemic.
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Public Safety Strickland outlines MPD changes including seeking subpoena power for CLERB
The press conference comes after a month of private discussions with community and religious leaders and a move toward police reforms by the Memphis City Council as well as the Shelby County Commission.
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Elections Early voting sites are set, with one change
Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova is replaced by Briarwood Church among the 26 locations that open for July 17 for the early voting period in advance of the Aug. 6 election day. State and federal primaries as well as county general elections are on the ballot. And more than 5,000 citizens have applied so far to vote by absentee ballots in the election.
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Shelby County Burgess knocks ‘Bluff City Law’ tax incentive
Shelby County Property Assessor Melvin Burgess Jr. said the $1.4 million tax abatement Comcast received wasn't what such incentives were intended for. It’s the second time Burgess has criticized EDGE tax incentives.
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City of Memphis TVA says savings estimates off in MLGW Integrated Resource Plan
The federal agency’s formal response to the draft report released last month says Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division could lose $260 million a year if it drops TVA to go with another electric power supplier.
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Shelby County County Commission passes first police reform resolutions
The nonbinding resolutions approved by the Shelby County Commission call for adoption of “8 Can’t Wait” use of force measures for law enforcement and call racism a pandemic with associated health issues for people of color.
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Shelby County County Commission cuts use of reserves in approving budget and stable tax rate
What was already a challenging budget year was complicated in county government by the pandemic's economic damage and a decision by the County Commission to reject the budget proposal by County Mayor Lee Harris. The commission rejected a proposed 8-cent property tax rate hike.
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Coronavirus Mayors: Return to Phase 1 of ‘Back to Business’ plan can be avoided
In Whitehaven to launch a mask distribution effort and social media campaign, Mayors Harris and Strickland said the local effort has waned since Memorial Day. Harris says possibly going back to Phase 1 is about more than "raw numbers." Strickland says despite an increase in hospitalizations, a field hospital is a long way from being activated.
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