Politics Podcast: Charter Schools and their place in Memphis education
Aspire Public Schools superintendent Nick Manning talks about Aspire’s new local control model and the relationship between charter school operators and Shelby County Schools.
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 3899 articles by Bill Dries :
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December 2019
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Metro Bethel Labelle Community Center to close temporarily
Bethel Labelle Community Center closed Wednesday, Dec. 11, as the city replaces the heating and air system of the center at 2698 Larose Avenue.
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Metro Local Biden supporters court undecideds in city’s Democratic base
Biden partisans locally are pushing the narrative that the former vice president is the only Democrat in a large pack of contenders who can beat President Donald Trump in the November general election.
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City of Memphis Tom Lee Park plan designs begin redraft next month
The Studio Gang design firm talked by video conference Tuesday with the board of the Memphis River Parks Partnership about meeting the specific terms of a mediated agreement announced last week. Among the results is more space for the 2006 Tom Lee Memorial in the park.
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Metro Memphis representatives in D.C. take starkly different positions on impeachment
The city’s two Congressmen, David Kustoff and Steve Cohen, have long had different views on removing President Donald Trump. Republican U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn is a vocal opponent of the process while fellow Republican U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander has avoided comment.
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Podcasts Behind the Headlines Podcast: FedEx Express’ Richard W. Smith
Richard W. Smith talks about his role at the Greater Memphis Chamber, the Memphis economy and job market, and his various roles at FedEx Express with Bill Dries, reporter for The Daily Memphian, and host Eric Barnes.
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City of Memphis Strickland signals solid waste cuts early in new year unless council reconsiders rejection of fee hike
Mayor Jim Strickland has raised the possibility of layoffs and garbage service cutbacks six days into the new year if the Memphis City Council doesn’t reconsider its decision to reject a solid waste fee hike.
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City of Memphis Orange Mound comeback won’t be easy, Burgess says
The Shelby County Assessor and his director of residential appraisal, on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, pointed to bringing back commercial development first in Orange Mound and working on seeding infrastructure for a later residential revival.
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Metro Barksdale Police Station and Wooten Shelter make National Register
The Barksdale Mounted Police Station in Midtown and the Whitehaven fallout shelter of broadcasting pioneer Hoyt Wooten have been added to the National Register of Historic Places.
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City of Memphis City Council addresses length of sanitation employees’ work day
The city administration lost the vote on a solid waste fee hike, but it has taken one issue with sanitation services off the table as fewer routes mean longer routes and close to an eight-hour work day for sanitation workers.
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City of Memphis City releases mediation agreement with Tom Lee Park overhaul specifics
The mediation between the Memphis River Parks Partnership and the Memphis In May International Festival ends months of mediation between the two with a detailed agreement, down to square footage and feet between stages.
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Metro Fairgrounds redevelopment plan wins council OK
City Council members, without debate, approved Tuesday, Dec. 3, the plan for redevelopment of the Fairgrounds.
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Metro Politics Podcast: Bringing back Orange Mound
Shelby County Property Assessor Melvin Burgess and Ken Washington, deputy administrator over residential appraisal in the assessor’s office, discuss the Orange Mound Initiative.
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Metro City Council approves Memphis 3.0 plan
The City Council gave final approval Tuesday, Dec. 3, to the Memphis 3.0 land use and development guidelines on which the council had delayed action numerous times since the spring.
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Elections Fields set for March Tennessee presidential primaries
Two Republican challengers to President Donald Trump and 16 Democrats have made the ballot for the March 3 Tennessee presidential primaries.
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Metro Council votes down solid waste fee hikes, delays MLGW rate hike vote
A solid waste fee rate hike was voted down by the City Council Tuesday in its next to last session of the year and of the current council's term.
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Metro City Council gives nod to Loews, Union Row and Pinch moves
City Council members approved development milestones Tuesday, Dec. 3, in three major Downtown development projects.
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Metro Council approves convenience store, delays car wash
Plans for a Frayser convenience store with gas pumps drew opposition at the Tuesday, Dec. 3, City Council session from the owner of a Valero convenience store on an opposing corner.
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City of Memphis Smith talks poverty, equity and ‘scope creep’ at Chamber as he exits
Richard W. Smith, the outgoing chamber board chairman and FedEx Express vice president, defended the use of tax incentives for economic development gains during an extended "Behind The Headlines" interview.
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City of Memphis City gets $5.6 million federal grant for lead paint abatement program
The City of Memphis has $5.6 million, most of it in federal funding, to test for and remove lead paint from up to 350 single-family homes and multi-family housing units in the city and county built before 1978.
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City of Memphis Council takes final vote on solid waste fee hike, Fairgrounds development
The decisions at Tuesday’s council session would remove two items from the agenda of the council that leaves office at the end of the month. Other items are straddling the New Year’s line between the council leaving office and the new council that takes office in January.
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Metro Lee says no final decisions yet on how to use $732M buildup of funds for needy
During a visit to Memphis Sunday for a Rosa Parks Day proclamation, Gov. Bill Lee said he is willing to work with legislators on the best use of federal TANF funding that will likely include some kind of reserve funding level.
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Metro The Memphis 200 Chapter 3: Alice Mitchell, Overton Square, Piomingo and the Memphis Chicks
The third of our four-part survey of the 200 people, places and events that have made Memphis what is was, what it is and what it could be.
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November 2019
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City of Memphis Southwest president says failure of Early College program requires rigor to try again
Southwest Tennessee Community College is willing to try again when it comes to hosting an early college high school after it and Shelby County Schools pulled the plug on a charter school approach.
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Podcasts Politics Podcast: City Council member-elect J.B. Smiley Jr.
The new City Council that takes office in January and the transition from candidate to elected official, along with Smiley’s views on residency requirements, MLGW rate hikes and “scare tactics.”
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