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 :
Mayor Jim Strickland says city's challenges are the reason for his re-election bid. Challenger Tami Sawyer said white supremacist threats won't stop her campaign and the race for City Court Clerk grows.
The Raleigh segment of the Wolf River Greenway formally opened Saturday as the nearby estate house that once looked out on 200 acres of land that went all the way to the Wolf River is about to be demolished.
Making his second bid for elected office in a year, J.B. Smiley Jr. says his city council campaign this year is a mix of millennials and local political veterans.
Verizon announced Thursday Memphis is one of 20 cities across the country that will receive 5G Ultra Wideband service this year. Mayor Jim Strickland has been hinting at the announcement for several months as he’s talked about road and utility work underway across the city.
The city of Memphis has hired Extreme Networks Inc. of San Jose, California, to provide support for city government’s use of cameras and routing systems for transportation and logistics as well as the security of the city’s digital and computer network.
District 1 City Councilman Sherman Greer comes from a political background of detailed constituent services and keeping an eye on the Tennessee Legislature as he prepares to run for a full four-year term on the council.
A letter of intent signed Tuesday replaces one being pursued for a joint development by Loews and THM. THM wants to build the second convention center hotel at a restored 100 North Main Building.
The Memphis Branch NAACP honored three leaders of the efforts to remove Confederate monuments from two local parks and in the process Saturday reflected the balancing act that is a feature of the race for Memphis mayor.
Shelby County Elections Administrator Linda Phillips says some changes in voter registration rules are necessary after her experience with organized registration drives in the 2018 midterm elections.
Mayor Jim Strickland said Memphis 3.0 is "where it needs to be" a day after a showdown in North Memphis between planning and development leaders and critics of the 20-year land use plan.
Gov. Bill Lee is putting $10 million of his $66.8 million supplemental budget into a Memphis riverfront development grant, though the scope of the funding is unclear. Mayor Jim Strickland said the money is specifically for Tom Lee Park.
City council members start budget hearings next month and there are still a few more details to come about how much revenue the council will have as it considers amendments or changes in Mayor Jim Strickland's proposal.
The latest meeting on the Memphis 3.0 plan demonstrated the lingering confusion – and some suspicion – about what the long-range development plan recommends and how it works.
A new kayak and paddle board rental service in the Memphis harbor opens for business May 4, the Memphis River Parks Partnership announced Wednesday.
Veteran Shelby County Election Commissioner Steve Stamson is the new chairman of the five-member body.
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland’s fourth budget proposal, totaling $709 million, includes an Affordable Housing Trust Fund to accelerate the development of new and rehabbed multifamily and single-family housing.
A new 20-member citizens panel named by Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division Tuesday is the next step in a detailed examination of changing the utility's 80-year relationship with the Tennessee Valley Authority. MLGW president J.T. Young says the process will keep moving until there is a recommendation.
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland takes a budget proposal to the City Council Tuesday that has a stable city property tax rate and pay raises for city employees. Council members also will consider a development agreement between the city and Graceland as part of a busy agenda.
The first campaign finance filings of the 2019 Memphis election season show incumbent Mayor Jim Strickland with a sizable fundraising advantage. But for the first quarter, three City Council contenders each raised six figures on the way to the Oct. 3 elections.
Some of the 109 BSA members arrested in the University of Memphis administration building 50 years ago this month returned Friday as a plaque noting the sit-in protest was unveiled where they were handcuffed in 1969.
University of Tennessee interim president Randy Boyd talks with The Daily Memphian about UT Health Science Center, increased communication among UT campuses, and whether he is a politician after one failed run for governor.
The new Shelby County Democratic Party chairman says he is attempting to move beyond the controversy to bring new and established Democrats together after Democrats swept every countywide office on the ballot in 2018.
A $43 million streetscape project on Elvis Presley Boulevard between Brooks Road and Shelby Drive features all LED lighting and hopes for new business along Whitehaven's main street.
City leaders will gather Thursday near the intersection of Elvis Presley Boulevard and Brooks Road to mark the beginning of construction on a $44 million streetscape improvement project that kicked off six years ago.
TVA CEO and president Jeff Lyash said during a Memphis visit on his third day on the job that the power industry will see as much change in the next 20 years as it did in the last half-century.