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 :
Mayor Lee Harris is proposing dropping the rate, but the votes weren’t there. Meanwhile, another effort to take a possible step toward ouster proceedings against County Clerk Wanda Halbert came up short.
The City Council has two very different options for redrawing its district lines for the October city ballot. Both plans are on the Tuesday, May 2, agenda for the first of three votes.
The plan approved Tuesday would create a Cordova council district. A second plan didn’t make it onto the Tuesday, May 2, agenda but will be back for a first vote in two weeks.
During a visit to Memphis, Gov. Bill Lee said a special legislative session, likely this summer, will consider several options from him and legislators of both parties.
On WKNO-TV’s “Behind The Headlines,” Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said he is still working through details of the Downtown juvenile curfew, is worried about a new ordinance limiting traffic stops, and will not weigh in on residency.
The deadline for candidates to file in the special election was noon Thursday, May 4. Justin J. Pearson and David Page are in the June Democratic primary.
County Commission Budget Committee Chairman Michael Whaley talks about the proposed doubling of the county’s capital budget on The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast.
The recipients of the second annual poetry and spoken word competition continued the theme set by last year’s winner of a broader interpretation of Tom Lee’s heroism.
The City Council has two ongoing political potboilers: the residency requirement to seek a citywide office and moving City Council district lines.
The Memphis City Council filed a lawsuit against the Shelby County Election Commission and Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland to stop a five-year residency requirement for elected officials from being enforced.
A lawsuit filed on behalf of the Memphis City Council, though without explicit council approval, about residency requirements for those candidates running for mayor raises questions about the charter. City Council chair says body did not vote to file residency lawsuitRelated story:
The Shelby County Election Commission is about to be dropped entirely from the lawsuits over how long mayoral candidates have to live in the city.
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris pushed for the wheel-tax hike to help rebuild Regional One during Memphis Rotary Tuesday. The Shelby County Commission will take its first look at the proposal today.
During Wednesday committee sessions, Shelby County commissioners set up later votes on a property rate that would remain the same while a commissioner’s resolution to do away with the wheel tax altogether waits in the wings.
The commission scorecard tracks critical votes so far to fill in the blanks on a resolution that could raise the county’s wheel tax and an ordinance that could drop the county’s property tax rate.
The doubling of the $50 annual wheel tax is integral to County Mayor Lee Harris’ plan to expand the county’s capital budget from $75 million annually to $150 million.
A city ordinance that could prompt a court fight with the state over gun control has morphed into a potential ballot question for voters. The sponsors of the measure talk about it on “Behind The Headlines.”
Some council members claim they came to a “consensus” about entering the lawsuit at a closed May 2 meeting with their attorney without taking a formal vote on it.
The delay in the vote came after it became apparent the nine-vote two-thirds majority wasn’t there in the first of two votes. County Commission calls on judges to enact new release restrictions earlyRelated story:
The new state law requiring elected judges to make decisions about releasing defendants accused of violent felonies takes effect July 1. The County Commission is asking General Sessions judges to start doing that immediately.
The ordinance to eliminate the elected clerk’s office and take it off the October ballot could come up for the first of three votes tomorrow.Related story:
A resolution to back a five-year requirement for those running for Memphis mayor and Memphis City Council was tabled Tuesday.
A year ago, council members spoke privately with their attorney about an issue in the city charter. The resulting step to change the clerk’s office only surfaced the day before Tuesday’s council session. City Council isn’t taking a stand on residency in mayoral raceRelated story:
Council attorney Allan Wade says the council can put gun control measures on the ballot. He expects they’ll be “inundated” with challenges. He wouldn’t rule out a court fight over whether they could override state law.
The two mayoral candidates, neither of whom have lived in Memphis for two years, and the City Council argued that a 1996 referendum repealed residency requirements.