County Commission to vote on putting all MSCS seats on ballot
The ordinance is possible because of a state law passed in the Tennessee Legislature this year that enabled local legislative bodies to do that in Shelby and Knox counties.
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 3895 articles by Bill Dries :
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May 2025
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MetroThe Making of a Hero: The bend that took down the M.E. Norman riverboat
The series of turns in the Mississippi River just south of Memphis has claimed boats before and was known for strong currents. It has changed in the century since the M.E. Norman capsized and sank to the river’s muddy bottom.
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MetroThe Making of a Hero: After fading, Tom Lee’s story resurfaces
Forty years after he died, a group of descendants and others began to reassemble the scattered puzzle pieces of Tom Lee’s heroism.
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The Making of a Hero: The bend that took down the M.E. Norman riverboat
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Metro Noisy debate doesn’t deter County Commission from ethics vote
The vote brought to the surface deep differences the body has with Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris, and one commissioner brought a plastic bag filled with house shoes.
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MetroThe Making of a Hero: Tom Lee, E. H. Crump and race
The civic praise and pride in Tom Lee had its roots in political manipulation by white leaders. But Lee’s place in Memphis history has endured despite the daunting racism of the times in which he lived.
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City of Memphis City Council takes first step to rein in Downtown parking garages
The City Council tries to regulate Downtown parking garages and short-term rentals.
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Metro The Making of a Hero: Overview of The Daily Memphian’s series on Tom Lee and the M.E. Norman
100 years after the M.E. Norman capsized and Tom Lee rescued 32 people, The Daily Memphian tells the story of the disaster, Tom Lee and how the story has faded and returned to prominence in recent years.
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MetroThe Making of a Hero: Tom Lee’s legacy
Tom Lee’s story endures because it has avoided the racial trip wires and political calculations of his time. It appeals to Memphians as part of a larger undercurrent in the city’s history.
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City of MemphisI-55 roundabout partially opens to traffic, new bridge next
The $111 million roundabout near Downtown separates Interstate 55 traffic from local traffic and has been discussed for more than 15 years.
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North Memphis Tom Lee Centennial concludes with pop-up museum in Klondike
The museum on the larger history of the Klondike area is in an old bank building on Jackson Avenue, about a block from the house where Tom Lee lived the last 27 years of his life.
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MetroCory Booker visits Memphis
The U.S. senator from New Jersey sat down for an exclusive interview with The Daily Memphian before delivering the commencement address to the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law graduating class.
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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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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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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 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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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 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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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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