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 :
City Hall says a redeveloped Tom Lee Park can be done in coexistence with the Memphis In May International Festival and that the festival will likely have to move out of the park temporarily in 2020.
Gov. Bill Lee is scheduled to be in Memphis Tuesday, Feb. 12, for what's expected to be his first economic development announcement in the city.
The only contender so far for the leadership of the Shelby County Republican Party said the local party needs candidates who are more representative and the party needs to seek out African-American and Hispanic voters.
Memphis City Council members are reviewing changes to their rules after the two-month stalemate in filling three open council seats. And some of the proposed changes are prompting renewed debate.
More than 50,000 used tires were recycled over two days last month in a $100,000 city-county tire drive.
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland says a month ago, Electrolux executives assured him their Memphis plant would stay open and even expand to include new product lines. With word of the plant closing in 2021, he told The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast the city, county and state "overpaid" in terms of incentives.
Putting together the comprehensive 20-year Memphis 3.0 development plan required trying to change some ideas about what it means to encourage development in very different parts of a diverse city.
With just enough votes, the Memphis City Council approved a resolution that will post the financial disclosure reports of each council member next to his or her bio on the city's website.
A new "People's Convention" is being organized to run a slate of candidates in the 2019 Memphis elections. It shares some features of the 1991 gathering that backed Willie Herenton's historic bid for mayor, but there are some significant differences as well.
A city council resolution on the financing of a second convention center hotel added to Tuesday's agenda is an answer to changes in a lawsuit filed by the owners of the city's original convention center hotel recently.
Memphis city council members again delayed approval of Memphis Light, Gas and Water rate increases Tuesday, instead urging the utility to make its case to the public for an infrastructure overhaul before the council tries again later this month.
The Shelby County results in the special primary elections for state Sen. District 32 are certified and dates for early voting in the special general election are set.
Memphis City Council members are expected to vote Tuesday on a set of gas, electric and water rate hikes that would raise the average residential utility bill 10.5 percent over a five-year period with no rate hike until January 2020.
Memphis Light Gas and Water Division president and CEO J.T. Young said the utility will move ahead with a more detailed “integrated resources plan,” following Friday's presentation of the results of a study conducted by GDS Associates Inc.
The MLGW board gets its first look at a report on possibly buying electricity from someone other than TVA at a special meeting Friday.
Breaking the city's development boom outside of Downtown and Midtown is the goal Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland outlined Monday in his election year state of the city address -- a difficult goal shared by Strickland's predecessor in the mayor's office.
More than 50 years since City Hall opened for business, the marble slabs that define its seven-story exterior are again a problem. It's just one of the challenges facing the aging building that houses city government.
The start of a Memphis Public Libraries lecture series on the city's bicentennial draws a standing-room-only crowd, while the Memphis Pink Palace museum prepares for a March opening of its own bicentennial exhibit.
The rhetoric of the city's four elected representatives in Washington reflected their parties. But one voted with the other side on the last vote before President Trump announced Friday the end of the federal government shutdown.
The Greater Memphis Chamber and the Economic Development Growth Engine organization are expected to roll out their new economic development strategy next month.
Covington businessman Paul Rose bested three rivals from Shelby County to take the Republican primary in the special primary election for state Senate District 32 Thursday.
The Memphis Branch NAACP called Thursday for the Shelby County Commission to approve funding to begin planning and design of a new juvenile detention center. The leader of the civil rights organization is a former county commissioner who clashed with the court in the past over some of the issues giving current commissioners pause.