Bill Dries
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 :
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December 2018
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City of Memphis Ten citizens have applied for one of the two latest vacancies on the Memphis City Council, and 16 have applied for the other. -
City of Memphis NAACP concerned about ‘attempt to racially gerrymander’ council
The Memphis Branch of the NAACP says the Memphis City Council should have consistent rules for filling vacancies on the body and suggests a special election if the council remains at an impasse in filling the three open seats at its Tuesday meeting. -
City of Memphis Nonprofits see conflicting dynamics in city’s need
For the last 20 years, First Baptist Church on Broad has celebrated Thanksgiving with a dinner at the church that includes the homeless. A group of men from the church deliver hot Thanksgiving meals to around 1,000 more people that day as well. -
City of Memphis Council contenders: Who’s in the mix for three open city council seats
All three open positions on the Memphis City Council are in play starting Thursday at noon, the deadline for those interested in the District 6 seat and the Super District 8 Position 2 seat to file their applications with the council office. -
Education Ray named interim Shelby County Schools superintendent
Joris Ray, Shelby County Schools' chief of academic operations and school support, is the school system’s interim superintendent starting with the departure of SCS superintendent Dorsey Hopson next month. -
City of Memphis Lamar to lead new city solid waste division
A former joint staff doctrine planner at the Pentagon and Williams Sonoma executive will run the city’s newly formed Solid Waste Division and carry out Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland’s bid to improve the city’s garbage pickup services. -
State Government Memphis attorney named chief deputy of Tennessee attorney general’s office
Jonathan Skrmetti, a partner at the Butler Snow LLP law firm and former federal prosecutor in the Memphis office of the U.S. Attorney for the Western Division of Tennessee, is the new chief deputy of the Tennessee attorney general’s office. -
City of Memphis City Council calls six a quorum, as four hire attorney
Six Memphis City Council members on Tuesday, Dec. 11, approved 39 resolutions from the delayed Dec. 4 agenda as the four members not present sent their lawyer to the special session at City Hall. -
City of Memphis Pleasant led Election Commission through changes, challenges
In three decades on the Shelby County Election Commission, 24 of them as chairman, O.C. Pleasant oversaw changes from lever voting machines to electronic machines to touch-screen machines and dodged an attempt to introduce punch-card voting in local elections. -
City of Memphis Ballot Basics: The Elections of 2018
The last vote count of a busy election year is certified and in the books. -
City of Memphis City Council gives quorum call another try Tuesday
Within minutes of each other and just a few yards apart at City Hall last week, council members Joe Brown and Berlin Boyd each told reporters the vacant and hotly contested council District 1 seat is “the people’s seat.” -
Education Hopson says still too many older schools at his exit from SCS
Before he leaves his position as superintendent of Shelby County Schools at the end of January, Dorsey Hopson said he will have some “food for thought” for the SCS board on the size of the school system – the number of schools in the city of Memphis and unincorporated Shelby County, including charter schools and schools run by the state through the Achievement School District. -
City of Memphis Week ends without City Council quorum as District 1 stalemate continues
On the fourth consecutive day of what Memphis City Council chairman Berlin Boyd calls “the situation,” the council again could not muster a quorum of seven members to transact business. -
State Government The Daily Memphian Conversation: Tennessee Gov.-Elect Bill Lee
Tennessee Gov.-elect Bill Lee talked with The Daily Memphian at Muddy’s Bake Shop + Coffee in Cooper-Young before he spoke at the Greater Memphis Chamber’s annual luncheon Thursday, Dec. 6. Here is a transcript of the conversation, edited for clarity. -
State Government Lee points to criminal justice reform, shift of public education as budget priorities
Tennessee Gov.-elect Bill Lee says his first budget proposal will focus on capping growth in state government and shifting funds toward criminal justice reform and to more vocational, technical and agricultural education in public schools. -
City of Memphis No quorum on third day of city council stalemate
Memphis City Council members assembled at City Hall for about 10 minutes Thursday in an attempt to get a quorum of seven members to transact business. -
City of Memphis Pink Palace mansion reopens with new outlook on Memphis history
The polar bear, shrunken head and miniature circus are back in the Pink Palace mansion as it prepares to reopen to the public Sunday, Dec. 8. The reopening follows a five-year rethinking of space at the mansion, which closed for two years for the physical transformation. -
City of Memphis Treadaway out of City Council appointment standoff
One of the contenders for the appointment to the open District 1 Memphis City Council seat withdrew from consideration Wednesday, opening the possibility for a compromise among council members on the deadlocked appointment process and a return of a quorum for the council to transact other city business. -
City of Memphis Council Chronicle
Since the turnover of nine of the 13 Memphis City Council seats in the 2007 elections, the council has charted a new path at City Hall. The largest change on the body in the 50-year history of the mayor-council form of government was followed by the largest return of incumbents four years later and changes in the mayor’s office. -
City of Memphis City Council standoff continues with walkout, potential lawsuit
The Memphis City Council’s impasse over appointing a new member is on its way to Chancery Court after four of the 10 council members walked out of Tuesday's meeting, leaving the body without the necessary quorum to vote on anything. -
Germantown Barzizza contests Germantown mayor’s race results
Germantown alderman John Barzizza is contesting the results of the Germantown mayoral race he lost to incumbent Mike Palazzolo by 120 votes in the certified election results the Shelby County Election Commission approved last week. -
Metro City Council tries again to break appointment deadlock
Memphis City Council members resume Tuesday their attempt to fill one of three vacancies on the 13-member body. -
City of Memphis Council Confidential
Just before his last meeting on Nov. 20 as a Memphis City Council member, Edmund Ford Jr. was feeling good about his 11-year tenure at City Hall. -
Metro Bush remembered locally for start of ‘thousand points of light’ effort
Former president George H.W. Bush was a frequent point man in Memphis for Reagan administration policies during his two terms as Ronald Reagan’s vice president. Bush began his “thousand points of light” volunteerism initiative in Memphis less than a year into his presidency. -
Business TVA says Bellefonte purchase misses closing date
Tennessee Valley Authority officials have called off the sale of the Bellefonte Plant in northeastern Alabama at Friday’s deadline for Nuclear Development LLC to close on the purchase. TVA officials confirmed they called off the sale of the mothballed electricity-producing plant because Nuclear Development, owned by Chattanooga developer Franklin Haney, did not have the necessary approval from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission to transfer construction permits.
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