City Council District 5 race is the most expensive of the 13 matchups
Council District 5 is one of five seats on the council with no incumbent seeking reelection. Two of the three contenders have raised more money than any other council candidate.
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 3841 articles by Bill Dries :
-
September 2023
-
Elections -
Council seeks to codify sewer cutoff policy, federal funds for Cobblestones dock
The sewer ordinance would solidify a policy of not extending services outside of city borders. The Memphis City Council also votes on $4 million in funds for a floating dock near the riverfront’s cobblestones for restaurants and shops.
-
Shelby County Three police reform measures advance at County Commission, but only one with majority vote
All three of the ordinances are requests of Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. and are not binding on the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office.
-
free to all
ElectionsCouncil District 7 race crowded with Easter-Thomas challengers
Four years after upsetting incumbent council member Berlin Boyd, Michalyn Easter-Thomas faces six challengers for the District 7 council seat. If the recent past is any indication, it could be bound for a November runoff.
-
City of Memphis City Council weighs partisan primaries ballot question or move to court for runoffs
Memphis City Council has seven more meetings to take a final vote on a ballot question to allow partisan primaries in city elections. Some argue it would be better to go to court and get a runoff provision reinstated for all city offices.
-
free to all
ElectionsTwo of three seats in council Super District 8 to change hands
City Council Super District 8 covers half of the city’s population. All three Super District seats are on the October Memphis ballot, and two of the races are contested in the upcoming city elections.
-
Elections Early voting in Memphis city election begins Friday
Early voting begins Friday, Sept. 15, with a large field of 17 mayoral candidates.
Related story:
-
Elections Herenton says city lacks ‘transformational’ mayor
Former Mayor Willie Herenton talks on “Behind The Headlines” about his bid to return as mayor, a recent discussion he had with millennials and his leadership of MPD.
-
City of Memphis Political Roundup: Early voting, a blue wave strategy and a sign removal blitz
The opening day of early voting in Memphis elections posts numbers closer to opening day in 2015 than 2019. Also in the round up, trying to apply a “blue wave” strategy to nonpartisan city elections.
-
Elections 2020 letter feeds Kiel-Spinosa clash in District 5 council race
A 2020 open letter signed by more than 100 leaders of local nonprofits has become a flashpoint in the most expensive race for a city council seat on the Oct. 5 ballot.
-
fifth anniversary
MetroThe Daily Memphian writers share their favorite stories
The Daily Memphian celebrates its fifth anniversary by asking long-term writers to share a few of their favorite stories. Here are those stories and why the authors chose them, in their own words.
-
Public Safety Bonner claims Freeman video release was illegal and politically motivated
“That video should not have been released,” Bonner said in an interview on the WKNO-TV program “Behind The Headlines.”
-
Premium
NeighborhoodsWhitehaven Cold War relic gets historical marker
The underground fall-out shelter in the gated Lion’s Gate community was built in the early 1960s by Memphis radio and television pioneer Hoyt Wooten.
-
Behind The Headlines Mayoral candidate Bonner says he’d ‘bring a unique perspective’ to managing the police
The full “Behind The Headlines” interview with Shelby County Sheriff and mayoral contender Floyd Bonner Jr. includes the candidate saying his law enforcement background will directly affect his relationship with whoever he would appoint as police director.
-
Downtown ‘Fishing for lives': Tom Lee’s story told by Grammy-winning poet J. Ivy
J. Ivy has written and performed a new piece about Tom Lee to mark the opening of the redesigned riverfront park named in Lee’s honor. The work is the first in a series commissioned by the Mellon Foundation.
-
City of Memphis Strickland to propose new police review board, broadband plan
The proposals both go to Memphis City Council members Tuesday, Sept. 26, for discussion and could be added to the afternoon agenda for the first of three votes. The proposals come as Strickland has three months left in office.
-
Premium
Education50 years after busing began, the area’s early school integration efforts are still shaping modern Memphis
Half a century ago this month, 39,000 Memphis children — about a third of the then-Memphis City Schools system — were told to board school buses and continue their education at new schools in an effort to racially integrate them.
Related story:
-
Premium
EducationChapter Two: Busing begins
This second part of The Daily Memphian’s oral history series marking the 50th anniversary of Plan Z begins with prophetic words from McRae’s December 1971 ruling that set the stage for Plan A’s implementation.
-
Premium
EducationChapter Three: Plan Z busing begins
The third chapter of The Daily Memphian’s oral history marking the 50th anniversary of busing in Memphis City Schools covers the arrival of Plan Z, the comprehensive plan to bus 39,000 children to racially integrate most of the city’s public schools.
-
Premium
EducationChapter Four: Busing’s turbulent first year comes to a close
Memories of that first year under Plan Z still linger for those who lived through it.
-
City of Memphis Memphis unveils $750 million fiber plan with goal of covering low-income areas
City would chip in $7 million to help low-income residents afford fiber — plus $15 million over 40 years to own part of the fiber’s capacity.
-
Elections Political Roundup: Early voting is up, as heat rises in mayoral, council races
More than 31,000 Memphians had voted early through Tuesday, Sept. 26, passing the totals for the same period during 2015 and 2019 city elections.
-
Premium
EducationChapter Five: The effects of Plan Z busing roll across Memphis
The latest chapter in The Daily Memphian’s oral history on the 50th anniversary of busing in Memphis City Schools moves into the years of the late 1970s and early 80s.
-
Premium
EducationChapter Six: The legacy of Plan Z busing that integrated Memphis schools
The sixth and final chapter of The Daily Memphian’s series on the 50th anniversary of court-ordered busing within Memphis City Schools looks at the end of busing for integration, the legacy of Plan Z and its impact on Memphis in the 21st century.
-
Downtown Memphis 1968 glows in stained glass at Clayborn Temple
An ongoing renovation of the historic church was paused Thursday, Sept. 28, for a look at new stained-glass images of the city’s turmoil in the 1968 sanitation workers’ strike.
-