Ryder confirmed by Senate for TVA board
John Ryder's confirmation by the Senate came on a busy Thursday in D.C. that included U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander calling from the Senate floor for an alternative to President Donald Trump's national emergency.
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 4015 articles by Bill Dries :
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February 2019
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State Government -
Metro Cohen testimony draws no reaction from three of Memphis’ four Congress members
As President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen testified on Capitol Hill Wednesday, Memphis' congressional representatives were each doing other things in the course of their duties – and three of the four were saying nothing about Cohen’s testimony.
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City of Memphis Old Forest, Shelby Forest prepare for spring with AmeriCorps team
An AmeriCorps team of eight is at Overton Park and Shelby Forest for a month to go after invasive plants just before spring arrives. Meanwhile, the Overton Park Conservancy has drawn some attention for some seasonal changes in the Old Forest after the recent rains.
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Shelby County Shelby County GOP leader: No ‘ideological litmus test’ as party rebuilds
Shelby County Republican Party chairman Chris Tutor says his conservative views expressed at a party convention Sunday are his own beliefs but don't reflect the platform of the local party as it rebuilds.
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Business Logistics makes a comeback in economic development boom
Logistics has been making a comeback recently after some have questioned whether the mainstay of the Memphis economy needs incentives or extra attention in the city’s ongoing bid to create good-paying jobs. -
Real Estate JNJ Logistics to create 610 jobs in HQ move to Parkway Village
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee made his second trip to the city in as many weeks to announce Tuesday JNJ Logistics will move its headquarters and expand in Parkway Village at the site of the old Delta Square shopping center.
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City of Memphis Fourth Strickland budget plan marks shift in recovery of city finances
An early look at Mayor Jim Strickland's still forming budget proposal to come in April shows in 2026 the city will be paying $40 million less in debt. Meanwhile, the budget plan will mark the city's final of five installments toward an annual pension liability payment estimated at around $78 million going forward.
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City of Memphis Mississippi River at Memphis moves to 41-foot crest in a week
The Mississippi River at Memphis is expected to crest at 41 feet next week, the fourth-highest level ever recorded on the Memphis gauge. Flood control measures move to checking levees starting Tuesday, with the river level well below the record 1937 flood and the 2011 flood.
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Shelby County Tutor vows ‘big tent’ local Republican Party rebuilding effort
Chris Tutor, the new chairman of the Shelby County Republican Party, says it will be hard to rebuild the local party after a Democratic sweep of county elections last year.
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City of Memphis Planning and Zoning 101 reveals code quirks
Josh Whitehead discusses the evolution of planning and development in Memphis on The Daily Memphian Politics podcast.
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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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