Planning and Zoning 101 reveals code quirks
Josh Whitehead discusses the evolution of planning and development in Memphis on The Daily Memphian Politics podcast.
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 3981 articles by Bill Dries :
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February 2019
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City of Memphis -
City of Memphis Strickland, Herenton campaigns come to life with sparks
Former Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton takes a few jabs at current Mayor Jim Strickland, who says he loves the smell of freshly poured asphalt, as both hold campaign events on the same night. Meanwhile, developer Chase Carlisle says he will make a bid for a super district council seat as District 6 council contender Davin Clemons opens his campaign.
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City of Memphis Cohen urges Lee to remove Forrest bust in capitol
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis says despite differences over the capitol's Forrest bust, he has a better relationship so far with Republican Gov. Bill Lee than Lee's predecessor, Bill Haslam.
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Business MLGW to talk with other electric providers as it weighs long-term future with TVA
MLGW president and CEO J.T. Young says the utility will talk with some alternate electric providers as it weighs a long-range examination of ending or altering its 80-year relationship with TVA.
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City of Memphis New round of anti-blight lawsuits by city lists addresses as defendants
The city is taking 29 blighted properties to Environmental Court, and in some cases the defendant is the address of the property as the city seeks to find the real owner. The new provision in the state law allows the move, which sets the stage for the appointment of a receiver by the court.
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City of Memphis Tom Lee Park plans get close look from council
The Memphis River Parks Partnership plan for a redevelopment of Tom Lee Park got a close look and lots of questions as well as a few suggestions from city council members this week.
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Shelby County Early voting opens in state Senate District 32
Early voting is underway in the special general election for state Senate District 32. The district covers eastern Shelby County and all of Tipton County.
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Shelby County Election Commission will not appeal state ban on IRV
The Shelby County Election Commission will not appeal a state order barring the use of instant-runoff voting in the 2019 city elections. It is the last major decision of an election commission that is getting three new members.
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City of Memphis MLGW water rates go up 3 percent, gas and electric hikes rejected
The plan for multiyear MLGW gas, electric and water rate hikes was rejected Tuesday by the Memphis City Council. It's the second year the council has gone instead for smaller one-year rate hikes – this time a 3 percent hike in water rates starting next month.
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City of Memphis City Council gives final OK to South Cordova de-annexation
The Memphis City Council gave final approval to the de-annexation of South Cordova Tuesday.
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City of Memphis Sugarmon was part of political vanguard, legal challenge to segregation
Russell Sugarmon, civil rights icon, political strategist and retired judge who fought racial injustice in his hometown of Memphis, dies at 89.
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City of Memphis Council expected to take final vote on South Cordova de-annexation
The last in a set of five de-annexations, South Cordova, goes to the Memphis City Council Tuesday for a final vote and probably more debate than the council had with the four other de-annexations.
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City of Memphis Vote on MLGW rate hike mixes with talk of TVA split
Memphis City Council members will try again Tuesday to make a final decision on Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division's rate hikes in an atmosphere that has come to also include questions about the future of the utility’s 80-year relationship with the Tennessee Valley Authority.
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City of Memphis New study lays out path to MLGW cutting historic ties to TVA
A study commissioned by the environmental group Friends of the Earth charts a course for MLGW to sever its historic ties with TVA in five years without the cost of building new transmission lines for electric power from new sources.
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Metro New discussions of old Memphis narratives challenge views of Memphis history
The city’s image and its reality, 200 years after its founding sometimes part company in how the narrative of Memphis is told. -
Shelby County Dozier named in Richmond list of priests accused of child sexual abuse
The late Carroll T. Dozier, the first bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Memphis, is among 42 priests named this week by the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, Virginia, as having a "credible and substantiated" allegation of child sexual abuse against him.
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City of Memphis Tennessee elections coordinator rules out instant-runoff voting for 2019 Memphis elections
Tennessee Elections Coordinator Mark Goins ruled Friday the Shelby County Election Commission cannot use instant-runoff voting in this October's city of Memphis elections. -
Education Schwinn tours Douglass and Millington Central
Tennessee education commissioner Penny Schwinn makes stops at two Shelby County High Schools just days after taking the state's top education post.
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City of Memphis HUD wants Memphis to return or ‘de-obligate’ $17M in affordable-housing funds
The federal Housing and Urban Development wants Memphis to pay back millions spent in one of the biggest take-backs ever proposed by HUD.
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City of Memphis Essays on Memphis ‘Black Struggle’ offer counter-narrative
A collection of essays on the African-American struggle in Memphis by 17 historians is seen by its editors as a “powerful counter-narrative” to a more compressed history of the city.
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Real Estate Extended tax freeze, reimbursable grant sought for FedEx Logistics’ Downtown Memphis HQ
The first of what is expected to be a multifaceted incentive package for FedEx Logistics' planned Downtown Memphis headquarters is a $2 million reimbursable grant.
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City of Memphis City Hall pushes coexistence of Tom Lee Park redevelopment and Memphis In May festival
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.
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Governor’s first Memphis economic development announcement expected Tuesday
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.
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Shelby County Local Republican Party leadership changes, looks for bigger tent after disastrous 2018 county elections
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.
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City of Memphis Council rules change draft ruffles feathers anew
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.
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