Stanton reportedly passes on court clerk re-election bid
The only countywide elected office on the ballot in 2020 will be a race without an incumbent if Shelby County General Sessions Court Clerk Ed Stanton does not seek re-election.
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 4390 articles by Bill Dries :
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November 2019
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Elections -
Metro Former city analyst indicted on federal charges in lawn mowing scam
Leon Blackmon, a former analyst with Housing and Community Development, allegedly steered $1.6 million in contracts to mow vacant lots to family and friends over a seven-year period. Half of the lots were being mowed by the city or next-door neighbors.
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Elections How the 2019 elections gauged Memphis’ state of change
The race for mayor in particular highlighted different kinds of change at work in the city's politics, from cutting edge to much more gradual changes begun 12 years ago. With the winners and losers decided, the different kinds of change remain in play.
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City of Memphis Young takes mixture of MLGW rate hikes, infrastructure plan to City Hall
The plan goes to a tough audience of City Council members Tuesday for a first look. The council has twice in the past two years rejected such rate hike requests from MLGW after debating the right balance between rate hikes in a poor city and the need to update the utility's infrastructure for one of the city's most basic services.
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Podcasts Behind the Headlines Podcast: Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland
Newly re-elected Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland joins reporter Bill Dries and host Eric Barnes to talk about his second term, tax incentives, Tom Lee Park and more.
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Metro Politics Podcast: MLGW rate hike proposal and a cost-cutting plan
Memphis Light Gas and Water Division president CEO J.T. Young talks about the report recommending a cut in more than 300 employees, other savings and the rate hike proposal he is about to take to City Hall.
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City of Memphis Strickland examining logistics of restoring police, fire benefits
On "Behind The Headlines," Jim Strickland says the city should be able to fund the restoration of benefits with the recently approved half cent sales tax hike for several years. Beyond that, expenses will probably exceed revenues, which is something he and the city council will discuss Tuesday.
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October 2019
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Elections Early voting expands to five sites in council districts 1 and 7
The five early voting sites opening Friday join a single early voting site Downtown that was open for the first week of the voting period.
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Metro Freedom Award winners mix optimism with reality of barriers to change
Nigerian activist Hafsat Abiola, entertainer John Legend and feminist icon Gloria Steinem talked of past struggles and present challenges and the ties between them as they were Wednesday in Memphis.
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Elections Election Commission to draft policy on early voting hours for future elections
The Election Commission considered changing the hours for early voting to open all six sites in the city council runoff races ahead of Friday. But the commission decided instead to set a policy on the issue in future elections.
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Elections Democratic county commissioners complain about early voting sites, hours
A letter from eight commissioners is the latest entry in a long-running debate about voting locations. Through Monday, Oct. 28, 84 early votes had been cast in the two council district contests. Early voting continues through Nov. 9 and election day in Districts 1 and 7 is Nov. 14.
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State Government CPAC Memphis gathering touts Trump re-election
Republican U.S. Senate contender Bill Hagerty was among those pushing the president's re-election campaign. Gov. Bill Lee talked about criminal justice reform and education reform as efforts that are beyond ideology. Lee also never mentioned President Donald Trump during his remarks at the Tuesday gathering.
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Arts & Culture Book tells story of Georgia Tann and Tennessee Children’s Home scandal
Authors Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate, whose recent book "Before and After" tells the story of children adopted through the Tennessee Children’s Home Society, drew a crowd over the weekend, including many whose lives were affected by the home.
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Elections Peoples Convention organizers see longer road for building progressive voting base
Rev. Earle Fisher and Sijuwola Crawford talked about the blue wave of the 2018 county elections and the money that fueled a different outcome in the 2019 nonpartisan city elections on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast.
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Elections Runoff elections will determine balance on City Council
The District 1 and District 7 council runoff elections are each a matchup between an incumbent and a challenger. The two runoffs end the city's election year and set the mix of new and returning council members on the 13-member body.
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Metro Ballot Basics: Runoff early voting
Early voting in the two Memphis City Council runoff races opens Friday and runs through Nov. 9. Election day is Nov. 14 in the last election of 2019 in Memphis and Shelby County.
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Podcasts Politics Podcast: Interpreting the October Memphis elections
Sijuwola Crawford and Earle Fisher of Up The Vote 901 and the People's Convention talk about what voters were saying in city elections, voices outside the polling places and the return of the People’s Convention.
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City of Memphis ‘How to be an Antiracist’ author discusses book, politicians
Ibram X. Kendi, the author of "How to be an Antiracist," says it's harder to prove intent and consciousness in racism and that's why politicians have defined racism that way for generations. The concept came into play in the recent race for Memphis mayor. Kendi didn't comment on that controversy but says the idea has become part of the nation's political discourse.
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City of Memphis Jones and Currie say restoration of fire and police benefits is iffy, could involve property tax hike
Two Memphis city council members say they have doubts about restoring city pension and health benefits to police officers and firefighters with a half-cent sales tax hike approved by city voters earlier this month.
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City of Memphis OjO arrival on city streets takes Explore Bike Share beyond business of bikes
The new scooters that debuted Wednesday in Crosstown with seats and bigger tires use a network of Bike Share stations around the city and are part of the move to keep more scooters in bike lanes and off sidewalks.
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Elections Last-minute bump in registrations for runoff elections adds to crunch of activity
The Shelby County Election Commission is working to add voters to the rolls in time for the Nov. 14 runoff elections as the result of a last-minute bump in online registration thanks to a national Facebook effort.
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City of Memphis Ford Jr. offers nuanced view of partisan politics and Trump
Former Congressman Harold Ford Jr. returned to his hometown and the city he represented for a decade in Washington to talk about national politics, President Trump and the city’s edge.
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City of Memphis October Memphis elections go in the books with tweaks to the vote totals
None of the new vote totals in the certified and audited count changed the outcome of any races for 18 offices and a sales tax hike referendum. Most of the additional votes appeared to be the result of provisional ballots counted after the Oct. 3 election night.
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Metro Blake Owens indicted in federal heroin and fentanyl case
Blake Owens, the son of one-time topless nightclub kingpin Danny Owens and owner of O's Realty Inc., has been indicted by a federal grand jury on drug conspiracy charges along with four others.
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City of Memphis Bergmann rallies Trump supporters Downtown as first step in Democratic county
Trump supporters who oppose the House impeachment inquiry gathered in the Civic Center Plaza Thursday in what organizer Charlotte Bergmann said is the first of several rallies attempting to change the county’s identity as a Democratic stronghold.
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