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 :
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.
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.
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.
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.
Shelby County Commissioner Michael Whaley may have framed the debate on a new voting system that is about to land at the county building.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The vice president talked of Trump administration gains during a speech at Holy City Church of God In Christ in Raleigh after touring the National Civil Rights Museum.
The fourth march drew a crowd of 250 who marched from Clayborn Temple to the National Civil Rights Museum and reflected a variety of causes and identities.
Commissioners talk about new voting machines next week, and the election commission plans to buy and begin using new voting machines this election year – but so far the focus has been on paper trails and not paper ballots to mark.
Robert Donati of Future901 says the local PAC has a long-term strategy to do for Democrats what money from statewide campaigns has long been expected to do for down-ballot races. On the Daily Memphian Politics Podcast he talked about growing the pool or regular campaign contributors.
The marker unveiled late last year offers a more detailed view of the 1830s relocation of five southwest Native American groups by treaty and by force. Most of those groups used a route that took them through Memphis, to the river's edge and west to exile.
Robert Donati of the political action committee Future901 talks about the local PAC’s effort to raise money for state House races and get it to key races that can make a difference in 2020.
The city's elected representatives in Washington reacted in different ways to the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump set to begin next week. Meanwhile, they have found rare common ground on the passage of the USMCA trade agreement.
Just City executive director Josh Spickler said on the WKNO program “Behind The Headlines” that Juvenile Court needs more resources for children in detention. But he said the question of which children and how many wind up in detention or tried as adults should take priority over the details of the bricks and mortar.
2020 Campaign Round Up: Bill Hagerty has the president’s backing while Dr. Manny Sethi says Hagerty is a “Washington insider.”
The court fight over Memphis City Hall’s plan to cut off sewage treatment for Horn Lake and Southaven, Mississippi, in 2023 is so far playing out on both sides of the state line.