The Politics of Garbage: A backlog of leaves bumps into complex past
The city's response to a backlog in picking up leaves reveals just how politically volatile the city's most basic service can be -- and has been -- for decades.
Bill Dries
Reporter
Bill Dries covers city and county government and politics. He is a native Memphian and has been a reporter for more than 40 years.
There are 3660 articles by Bill Dries :
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February 2020
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City of Memphis -
Elections Monday marks busy day on local political calendar
As the Iowa presidential caucuses get underway Monday, it also marks the last day to register to vote in the March 3 Tennessee presidential primaries and the first day for candidates in the August state and federal primaries to pull and file their paperwork to get on the ballot.
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City of Memphis U.S. Census mounts campaign-like effort in Memphis
The recent formal opening of the local U.S. Census office came as new immigration restrictions are finding a place in presidential campaign rhetoric.
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City of Memphis Sawyer and Wright call for cleaner, more direct route to MATA funding
The Shelby County commissioners chairing the ad hoc committee sorting out county funding for city buses talked on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast about eliminating some of the bells and whistles that have emerged to get to the funding.
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January 2020
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Podcasts Politics Podcast: Hitting the reset button on the transit issue
Shelby County Commissioners Tami Sawyer and Mick Wright talk about the effort to get some kind of county funding for the city bus system back on the road and what that means in terms of accountability and what taxpayers can afford.
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Elections Alexander reveals how he plans to vote on Trump impeachment witnesses
U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee revealed his decision Thursday night on calling witnesses as part of the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.
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Shelby County Bonner offers alternative on residency requirement for deputies
The Shelby County sheriff is suggesting a more specific residency requirement, with limits, than the one that failed on first reading Monday before the Shelby County Commission.
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Premium
Spirit of MemphisLost Coliseum files reveal Prince, Queen and an entire era of music history
A team from the Memphis Public Libraries has digitized some of the trove of files they found last year in the mothballed Mid-South Coliseum.
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Elections Bipartisan division, frustration simmer beneath county’s blue surface
The jury is still out on whether Memphis will see much of the presidential campaigns a week away from the Iowa caucuses. But the divide over impeachment and social issues in a divided America is still evident in a blue county within a red state.
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City of Memphis Council moves on MLGW reflect skepticism utility is moving fast enough
The city council voted last week to seek a legal opinion key to the question of Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division cutting ties with the Tennessee Valley Authority.
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Podcasts Politics Podcast: MLGW rate hike, and a possible post-TVA utility
Council members J.B. Smiley Jr. and Dr. Jeff Warren talk about the legal opinion they are seeking on a way to finance MLGW infrastructure with projected savings from leaving the Tennessee Valley Authority.
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Podcasts Behind the Headlines Podcast: Memphis International Airport
CEO of Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority Scott Brockman discusses how airports are changing and how the Memphis airport is modernizing, including undergoing renovations and changes in the operations. In addition, Brockman talks about the technical issues behind Boeing 737 MAX and the effects it has had on both the Memphis airport and airlines.
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Metro City solid waste employees deny strike call
A group of city solid waste division employees denied Friday, Jan. 24, that they called for a wildcat strike. -
Metro Sixth Circuit affirms dismissal of voting machine lawsuit
A federal appeals court has agreed with a Memphis federal court decision tossing out a case seeking to do away with the touchscreen voting machines used in Shelby County elections. -
City of Memphis Reconfigured airport terminal will be tight fit for airlines
The CEO of the Airport Authority says when the new concourse B opens in about a year, it will require a concourse manager to work with the air carriers. And the construction of six new gates will probably follow in the next phase, Scott Brockman said.
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Metro City Council raises electric rates, looks at cutting ties with TVA
The rate hike marks a breakthrough for MLGW, which has had two other multi-year rate-hike proposals rejected by the Council in the past two years. The legal opinion on bonds backed by projected post-TVA savings was part of the compromise.
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Elections New Shelby election machinery debate heightens fraud claims on all sides
Shelby County Commissioner Michael Whaley may have framed the debate on a new voting system that is about to land at the county building.
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Metro Public Service Corps funding waits for budget season
The first infusion of cash for the city’s Public Service Corps will probably have to wait until the city’s budget season in the spring and the new fiscal year. -
City of Memphis City braces for possible wildcat solid waste strike
The dispute involves the city's effort to catch up on a backlog of autumn leaves that include weekend work and the use of private contractors to clear the backlog by the end of the month.
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City of Memphis Council approves MLGW electric rate hike and mayor’s slate of directors
The Daily Memphian City Council Scorecard is updated to include Tuesday, Jan. 21, votes on the MLGW rate hike and a vote on approving Mayor Jim Strickland’s slate of second-term directors.
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Metro Most of Strickland second-term team approved by council
A slate of 15 city division directors and chiefs were approved Tuesday, Jan. 21, by the Memphis City Council after a two-week delay and several attempts by some on the council to further delay the vote Tuesday. -
Metro Civil Service Commission decisions in Kelly case being reviewed
City Council member Worth Morgan and the city administration are reviewing the decisions of the Memphis Civil Service Commission -- specifically, how it made the decision to return retired Memphis Police detective Eric Kelly to work after he was fired three years ago for roughing up a suspect. -
City of Memphis Jones to attempt removing residency referendum from November ballot
The ballot question on broader residency for Memphis fire and police officers was approved by the council that left office at the end of December. During council committee discussions Tuesday, some of the six new members who joined the council this month had a chance to weigh in on the matter.
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Spirit of Memphis Memphis King Day comes with cold crowds, hot talk about King’s legacy
Thousands lined up to tour the National Civil Rights Museum Monday and at a Midtown forum, there was new reaction to Sunday's tour of the museum by Vice President Mike Pence. The reactions 52 years after Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination show his legacy and what it means today remains a volatile topic.
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City of Memphis Council to discuss pulling residency referendum from November ballot
The discussion over the residency item is another indication of new thoughts on a city council with six new members. The second council meeting of the year also features more discussion and a possible vote on an electric rate increase from Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division and possible funding for Mayor Jim Strickland's Public Service Corps.
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