Shelby County Democratic Party elects leader
A grassroots organizer emerged as the winner over a retired businessman and party activist.
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 4211 articles by Bill Dries :
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May 2025
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Shelby County -
Behind The Headlines Memphis Zoo’s evolving role in conservation comes at a cost
Memphis Zoo CEO Matt Thompson talks on “Behind The Headlines” about rising costs and lower attendance figures as well as how the zoo’s focus on elephants in an upcoming exhibit.
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North MemphisOld Manassas High to become ‘cottages’ for homeless families
“It’s about the mother of the child who is going to school with your child,” Hospitality Hub Executive Director Kelcey Johnson said. “After school you take your child home. The other mother is taking her child to truck stops.”
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City of Memphis Rising from the ashes: Clayborn Temple resurrection gets $1.5M grant
The announcement was the kickoff of rebuilding efforts for the historic church.
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Shelby CountyCounty budget proposal $9.5M short, according to trustee
In an “apples and oranges” comparison, the Shelby County Trustee said her office and the mayor’s administration don’t project county revenue the same way.
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Real EstateThe story about housing in Memphis ‘has not been a positive one’
A new coalition is hoping to jump-start the development of both rented and owned homes.
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MetroPolitical Roundup: ‘Move 201 Poplar’ and then ‘put a major hotel there’
Memphis City Council member Dr. Jeff Warren dipped his toe across the city-county dividing line when he waded into a discussion about building a new jail instead of a new Regional One Health campus.
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Behind The Headlines Will city stay committed to police reforms after DOJ changes position?
Following the U.S. Department of Justice’s scathing report highlighting police abuses of power, Memphis Mayor Paul Young said the city would not enter into any federal consent decree with the DOJ.
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Metro D.C. Scorecard: How Memphis’ reps voted on Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’
The scorecard tracks how the city’s representatives voted in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill now goes to the U.S. Senate where the state’s two U.S. senators have already indicated they favor it.
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City of Memphis Historic Clayborn Temple director’s home caught fire weeks before church blaze
Before the April 28 fire at the Downtown church, there were fires at the Memphis home of the nonprofit’s leader and another in East Tennessee at a property owned by her family.
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State GovernmentD.C. Scorecard: FBI director’s 43 words about murders in Memphis
“I didn’t know this until my confirmation process, but Memphis, Tennessee, is the homicide capital of America per capita, didn’t know that,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”
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Shelby County County Commission braces for another budget battle
Shelby County commissioners drew battle lines at their Monday, May 19, session as they go into the home stretch of their budget season.
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City of Memphis City Council clears agenda for budget season
The council also decided Tuesday, May 20, an appeal of a two-lot subdivision planned by one of its members in East Memphis and rejected a truck lot at Shelby Drive and Tchulahoma Road.
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City of Memphis City Council takes final vote on blight fee, first votes on new city division
The Tuesday council day at City Hall also features a full briefing on a 120-year old brick culvert beneath the fire department’s maintenance shop that is at risk of “catastrophic failure.”
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City of Memphis Paul Chandler named Memphis River Parks Partnership CEO
Chandler announced last week that he was leaving his position as executive director of the Germantown Performing Arts Center.
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Shelby County County Commission moves into budget season
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris has proposed a property tax rate for the new fiscal year that starts July 1 but the commission may leave the ordinance setting the new tax rate blank for now.
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Metro Political Roundup: ‘Some of these devils want me to be gone,’ Ford Jr. said
Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. calls out political rivals, campaigning for 2026 has already started and county budget hearings will be missing a lot of key people.
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Behind The Headlines Federal funding cuts accelerate uncertainty for Memphis nonprofits
The leaders of two local safety-net nonprofits are watching Washington as closely these days as they watch a long list of clients and the bank balance of their organizations.
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South Memphis Southwest Twin Drive-In redevelopment breaks ground
The old drive-in movie site in Southwest Memphis will have a police precinct and a public library with plans for private development modeled on the 5-year-old Raleigh Springs Town Centre.
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North Memphis With new library, ‘Frayser’s got it going on’
The new Frayser branch library opened Thursday, May 15, to a standing-room-only crowd of more than 100 people at 2220 James Road, replacing the city’s smallest branch library farther north in Frayser.
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City of Memphis National Response Team heading to Clayborn Temple on Thursday
The Memphis Fire Department said it and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have been conducting “extensive off-site work, including detailed witness interviews and thorough video analysis.”
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Shelby County County Ethics Commission reactivation dies quick, quiet death
Commissioner Michael Whaley withdrew an ordinance that would have downsized the Ethics Commission in order to get the group to meet — something it hasn’t done in years.
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Shelby County Harris proposes lower property tax rate, $5 wheel tax hike
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris says his budget proposal for the new fiscal year will reduce the county property tax rate by 20% and raise the county wheel tax by another $5.
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Shelby CountyFractured ties between Shelby County mayor, Commission could make budget season bumpy
The Shelby County government budget season opens Wednesday, May 14, in County Commission committee sessions. There is more than dollar figures and the county property tax rate at stake.
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MetroOn Tom Lee Day, poets embody his spirit and his home becomes historic
A century to the day that Tom Lee rescued 32 people from the Mississippi River, the Memphis hero was honored across the city. “To see a man that did so much so long ago still be recognized today — It’s awesome.”
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