Coronavirus live blog, April 15: County approves $2.5M for virus expenses
Shelby County Commission has approved spending $2.5 million for coronavirus testing and other expenses related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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 3900 articles by Bill Dries :
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May 2020
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Coronavirus -
Coronavirus Coronavirus live blog, April 22: Tenn. adds 448 cases, largest daily increase so far
Tennessee adds 448 cases, 9 deaths. The increase from yesterday is the state's largest daily rise in cases to date.
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April 2020
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Shelby County Harris extends county emergency order a week as 44% of county cases considered recovered
The county order covers unincorporated Shelby County and follows an extension of the Memphis emergency order earlier in the week with some first steps toward an economic reopening.
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Elections Election commissioners get voting machine proposals, public doesn’t
The Shelby County Election Commission delayed a decision Thursday on a new voting system. The commission will hold an in-person meeting sometime next week. The commission also certified the ballot for the Aug. 6 elections in Shelby County.
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Coronavirus Phase 2 of local pandemic: moving from stabilization to containment
The infectious diseases expert advising the local COVID-19 task force says on "Behind The Headlines" that a ramp up in testing should extend to more work between public health agencies and private health care corporations on contact tracing.
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City of Memphis Extended ‘Safer at Home’ order inches city, county toward cautious re-opening
The extension of the order first issued more than a month ago was expected. The order has evolved since last month and there could be more changes to its conditions.
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City of Memphis Strickland presents three possible budgets as city projects $80 million COVID hit on revenues
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland says the city faces an $80 million loss of revenues from the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in a worst-case scenario and a “status quo” budget with no growth is the most optimistic forecast of federal and state government relief.
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Coronavirus Coronavirus live blog, April 21: Lee reiterates cooperation with urban mayors
The governor reiterates his cooperation with mayors of Tennessee's major cities.
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Coronavirus Cohen complains of ‘rush’ to reopen state’s economy
Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen and the city's other Congressman, Republican David Kustoff, return to D.C. later this week to vote on another installment of the CARES Act from very different political perspectives.
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City of Memphis Budget Basics: Numbers to remember as another city budget season begins
Once Mayor Jim Strickland presents his budget proposal to the Memphis City Council Tuesday, here are some dollar figures and percentages from the current fiscal year with which to make some comparisons.
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City of Memphis Strickland kicks off ‘oddest ever’ budget season with tight rein and pandemic uncertainties
Strickland's Tuesday budget address to the Memphis City Council reflects some uncertainties about the financial hit city revenues have taken in the pandemic. It was already going to be a difficult budget year by Strickland's estimate before the arrival of COVID-19.
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Coronavirus Harris wants tighter nursing home regulation as facilities’ COVID toll rises to 9
The first two COVID outbreaks at nursing homes in Shelby County have now taken eight lives – four each as confirmed cases of the virus have spread to a total of nine assisted living facilities countywide.
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Elections Pandemic Politics: From voting machines to handshakes, it’s changed things
The pandemic has led to mail-in voting a third choice for a new voting system, and it has possibly made the hand shake a relic. And it could make the presidential race even closer than one nationally known analyst thought it was going to be.
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Coronavirus Small Memphis protest mirrors state, national unrest over COVID restrictions
A small group gathered outside City Hall Sunday afternoon to protest COVID-19 restrictions, mirroring state and national unrest over forced limitations.
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Demonstration outside City Hall
The press and Memphis Police outnumbered a small group of protesters Sunday, April 19, outside City Hall at one of a set of demonstrations in the state’s major cities against stay at home or “safer at home” orders. -
Podcasts Politics Podcast: DeBerry’s fall, Lee’s call and is the public invited to the decision on new voting machines?
The Daily Memphian talks with Deborah Fisher of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government about the prospect of an Election Commission vote on new voting machines without the public being able to see bids for the contract.
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Business Local leaders face ‘challenge’ of how and when to reopen economy
Behind the Saturday trial opening of the city-owned Links at Whitehaven course is a lot of jockeying for positions by local businesses that want to be in the first wave of reopenings — from elective medical procedures by doctors to car washes and barber shops and nail salons to restaurants.
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Elections Open records leader says new voting machine selection should be open
On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, Deborah Fisher of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government says the current idea that election commissioners and the public can't see proposals for a new voting system before the commission makes a decision in public is "bad government."
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City of Memphis Whitehaven golf course reopening Saturday to ‘test’ loosening of restrictions
The Links at Whitehaven city golf course will reopen Saturday, April 18, in the first loosening of restrictions in the city’s state of civil emergency.
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Metro Pandemic parallels to yellow fever ask whether aftermath sees permanent changes
The author of the book “Beale Street Dynasty” joined the civic discussion about parallels between the current pandemic and the city’s worst health crisis that nearly destroyed the city. Instead the result was a comeback on different terms. Some are questioning whether the current pandemic and the city's measures could point to similar permanent changes for Memphis.
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Metro Federal judge in Stone case says no evidence of bias and deception by Hart
The 81-page memorandum opinion accompanied a court order denying the Trump associate's legal motion for a new trial based on what he claimed was bias by the former Memphis City Schools board member. Judge Amy Berman Jackson called the request a "tower of indignation" with "little of substance holding it up."
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City of Memphis COVID’s outsize impact on African Americans becoming more apparent
The disparate impact of COVID-19 infection on the African American community is becoming more obvious as information becomes increasingly available, Shelby County Health Department chief epidemiologist David Sweat said Thursday, April 16.
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City of Memphis COVID testing set to expand into more areas of city Friday
COVID-19 testing will ramp up Friday, April 17, as the city moves into more areas with mobile testing, Mayor Jim Strickland said Wednesday, April 15.
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