Politics Podcast: Climate change in Memphis
Planning and Development director John Zeanah talks about carbon emissions goals for the city, why the bus rapid transit corridor to come will be a different kind of bus ride and the climate change debate.
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 3898 articles by Bill Dries :
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November 2019
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Public Safety Citizens question city’s bid to modify police consent decree during public hearing
A Thursday forum on a consent decree forbidding political surveillance by Memphis police, and the city's request to modify it, drew plenty of concerns.
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City of Memphis Lee Harris against taking part of city sales tax hike revenue
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris said on "Behind The Headlines" he would veto an attempt by the county to take a share of the revenue from a city sales tax hike approved by voters to restore fire and police benefits.
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Elections Eddie Jones files for General Sessions Court Clerk on 2020 ballot
Within days of General Sessions Court Clerk Ed Stanton telling his staff he would not seek re-election, one county commissioner has filed a petition for the clerk’s job.
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Metro Memphis Data Hub offers datasets, analysis of city government tasks
A new interactive city website offers a deeper dive into city government data.
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City of Memphis Council trying to check off various items as terms approach end
With three meetings left in the four-year term of office of city council members, and at least four new council members coming January, the council is lining up several items for action by the end of 2019.
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Metro Third attempt at multi-year MLGW rate hikes prompts questions
City council members got their first look at not only the MLGW budget that includes rate hikes but the efficiency study that is being used to leaven the impact of the rate hikes. The council reviews all of it again in two weeks and could also vote at the Nov. 19 council session.
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City of Memphis City Council weighs end-of-term decisions versus matters for new council
The City Council gets its first detailed look Tuesday at a Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division rate hike proposal and talks with Mayor Jim Strickland about next steps in restoring benefits to police and firefighters.
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Elections Stanton reportedly passes on court clerk re-election bid
The only countywide elected office on the ballot in 2020 will be a race without an incumbent if Shelby County General Sessions Court Clerk Ed Stanton does not seek re-election.
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Metro Former city analyst indicted on federal charges in lawn mowing scam
Leon Blackmon, a former analyst with Housing and Community Development, allegedly steered $1.6 million in contracts to mow vacant lots to family and friends over a seven-year period. Half of the lots were being mowed by the city or next-door neighbors.
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Elections How the 2019 elections gauged Memphis’ state of change
The race for mayor in particular highlighted different kinds of change at work in the city's politics, from cutting edge to much more gradual changes begun 12 years ago. With the winners and losers decided, the different kinds of change remain in play.
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City of Memphis Young takes mixture of MLGW rate hikes, infrastructure plan to City Hall
The plan goes to a tough audience of City Council members Tuesday for a first look. The council has twice in the past two years rejected such rate hike requests from MLGW after debating the right balance between rate hikes in a poor city and the need to update the utility's infrastructure for one of the city's most basic services.
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Podcasts Behind the Headlines Podcast: Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland
Newly re-elected Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland joins reporter Bill Dries and host Eric Barnes to talk about his second term, tax incentives, Tom Lee Park and more.
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Metro Politics Podcast: MLGW rate hike proposal and a cost-cutting plan
Memphis Light Gas and Water Division president CEO J.T. Young talks about the report recommending a cut in more than 300 employees, other savings and the rate hike proposal he is about to take to City Hall.
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City of Memphis Strickland examining logistics of restoring police, fire benefits
On "Behind The Headlines," Jim Strickland says the city should be able to fund the restoration of benefits with the recently approved half cent sales tax hike for several years. Beyond that, expenses will probably exceed revenues, which is something he and the city council will discuss Tuesday.
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October 2019
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Elections Early voting expands to five sites in council districts 1 and 7
The five early voting sites opening Friday join a single early voting site Downtown that was open for the first week of the voting period.
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Metro Freedom Award winners mix optimism with reality of barriers to change
Nigerian activist Hafsat Abiola, entertainer John Legend and feminist icon Gloria Steinem talked of past struggles and present challenges and the ties between them as they were Wednesday in Memphis.
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Elections Election Commission to draft policy on early voting hours for future elections
The Election Commission considered changing the hours for early voting to open all six sites in the city council runoff races ahead of Friday. But the commission decided instead to set a policy on the issue in future elections.
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Elections Democratic county commissioners complain about early voting sites, hours
A letter from eight commissioners is the latest entry in a long-running debate about voting locations. Through Monday, Oct. 28, 84 early votes had been cast in the two council district contests. Early voting continues through Nov. 9 and election day in Districts 1 and 7 is Nov. 14.
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State Government CPAC Memphis gathering touts Trump re-election
Republican U.S. Senate contender Bill Hagerty was among those pushing the president's re-election campaign. Gov. Bill Lee talked about criminal justice reform and education reform as efforts that are beyond ideology. Lee also never mentioned President Donald Trump during his remarks at the Tuesday gathering.
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Arts & Culture Book tells story of Georgia Tann and Tennessee Children’s Home scandal
Authors Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate, whose recent book "Before and After" tells the story of children adopted through the Tennessee Children’s Home Society, drew a crowd over the weekend, including many whose lives were affected by the home.
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Elections Peoples Convention organizers see longer road for building progressive voting base
Rev. Earle Fisher and Sijuwola Crawford talked about the blue wave of the 2018 county elections and the money that fueled a different outcome in the 2019 nonpartisan city elections on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast.
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Elections Runoff elections will determine balance on City Council
The District 1 and District 7 council runoff elections are each a matchup between an incumbent and a challenger. The two runoffs end the city's election year and set the mix of new and returning council members on the 13-member body.
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Metro Ballot Basics: Runoff early voting
Early voting in the two Memphis City Council runoff races opens Friday and runs through Nov. 9. Election day is Nov. 14 in the last election of 2019 in Memphis and Shelby County.
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Podcasts Politics Podcast: Interpreting the October Memphis elections
Sijuwola Crawford and Earle Fisher of Up The Vote 901 and the People's Convention talk about what voters were saying in city elections, voices outside the polling places and the return of the People’s Convention.
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