Shelby County
County Commissioner calls for resignation of General Sessions judge
Shelby County Commissioner Mick Wright criticized General Session Judge Bill Anderson’s push for more defendants to be released on their own recognizance.
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 3805 articles by Bill Dries :
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April 2024
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Shelby County -
Metro D.C. Scorecard: U.S. aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan votes reveal bipartisanship limits
The D.C. Scorecard finds some bipartisanship among the state’s House delegation to Washington. The city’s two Congressmen — one Democratic and the other Republican — voted for aid packages to Taiwan, Ukraine and Israel — although for different reasons. The state’s two Republican Senators voted against the aid.
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Arts & Culture MIM Barbecue Contest to feature Marcy Playground, Ingram Hill
The Memphis in May event at Liberty Park will also have celebrity pitmasters doing cooking demonstrations and 129 teams from 22 states and four foreign countries competing for barbecue honors.
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Public Safety Chief Davis says federal charges possible in Orange Mound shooting
The Saturday shooting that killed two and wounded seven came up in Tuesday, April 23, City Council committee sessions where Interim MPD Chief C.J. Davis talked about federal charges and a shift in strategy.
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City of Memphis Memphis Mayor Paul Young proposes 75-cent city property-tax hike
Young presented his budget propsosal including the first tax hike in more than nine years for the city Tuesday, April 23, at the top of Tuesday’s Memphis City Council meeting. Council budget deliberations begin next month.
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City of Memphis City Council votes to hire consultant for new public safety foundation
The council also passed a resolution opposing the state legislation that allows teachers to go armed on school property after the bill cleared the House earlier Tuesday in Nashville.
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Shelby County County Commission asks county clerk for corrective action plan
The call for a corrective action plan isn’t binding on County Clerk Wanda Halbert, who is an elected official outside the county administration. The sponsor of the resolution says he doesn’t expect Halbert to submit the plan.
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Shelby County New rules for solar farms get rewrite by County Commission
The commission also killed an appeal by an Eads developer seeking to start on a multi-phase project and a tie-in to the City of Memphis sewer system.
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City of MemphisYoung to take property-tax hike to City Council Tuesday
In addition to a property-tax hike, Mayor Paul Young is also expected to rearrange some city priorities in his first budget as mayor.
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Elections Political Roundup: Who’s running for school board and a colorful school voucher map
U.S. Rep. David Kustoff, R-Germantown, is also running unopposed in his August primary after the state GOP kicked perennial contender George Flinn out of the primary.
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Downtown Riverside Drive closes in preparation for Riverbeat
Tom Lee Park is expected to welcome its 500,000th visitor this month, eight months after its formal opening on the Labor Day weekend. The park closes next Sunday for the Riverbeat load-in, but will reopen partially between the music festival and the SmokeSlam barbecue contest.
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Shelby County County Commission to vote on holding Halbert to corrective action plan
While past votes on County Clerk Wanda Halbert’s office and its problems have been unanimous, Monday’s vote may not be. The commission also tries to take a final vote on changes to Shelby County Land Bank after delays.
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Visual Arts Memphis sanitation-strike scenes seen through stained glass
Lonnie Robinson, one of the artists who worked on new stained-glass images for Historic Clayborn Temple, talks on the “On The Record” podcast about bringing images of the 1968 sanitation-workers strike to the landmark’s windows.
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Behind The Headlines Reporters address what elements might add up to property-tax hike
A reporters roundtable on “Behind The Headlines” talks about Mayor Paul Young’s property tax hike proposal, new figures showing a drop in crime and first moves by the new MSCS superintendent.
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Transportation & Logistics TDOT asks for public input on new I-55 bridge
The separate I-55-Crump Boulevard roundabout currently under construction just east of the old Memphis-Arkansas Bridge got a lot of attention at the first public hearing on the new bridge, planned for just south of the existing one.
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EducationChronic absenteeism: Counting missing students in the Memphis area
The percentage of students who are chronically absent from schools jumped dramatically in Memphis from the 2018-19 school year to the 2022-23 school year. It’s a national trend that’s also seen in the area’s suburban schools.
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Chronic absenteeism: Myriad of issues keep MSCS students home
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EducationChronic absenteeism: Myriad of issues keep MSCS students home
Memphis-Shelby County Schools saw the percentage of its students considered “chronically absent” jump from 18.4% in the school year before the COVID-19 pandemic to 28.9% in the school year after the pandemic.
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City of Memphis Mayor Young to propose property-tax hike, says city faces $30M shortfall
“I think it’s time for us to step into a new reality,” he told a crowd of several hundred at Mount Vernon Baptist Church. “I’m going to ask for a tax increase.”
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Public Safety Leaders react to death of Memphis police officer Joseph McKinney
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and others respond to the death of the Memphis police officer slain Friday, April 12 in the line of duty.
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Memphis Police officer killed in the line of duty: What we know
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Downtown SmokeSlam barbecue contest announces music lineup, opens ticket sales
St. Paul and the Broken Bones will headline the inaugural SmokeSlam barbecue contest. The lineup also includes rap, rock and funk.
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Downtown Riverside Drive to close — but Tom Lee Park will stay open — during most of May
Riverside Drive closes, as it has for decades, on April 22. But Tom Lee Park will be partially open between the Riverbeat and SmokeSlam events in May.
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City of MemphisLichterman Nature Center moves to private control with ‘Discovery Forest’
The East Memphis nature center’s new area is designed for unstructured play. Meanwhile the museum system overseeing Lichterman and several other several other city-owned attractions continues to move toward a private board and day-to-day control.
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Shelby County County Commission approves funding for mental health diversion center, jail study
County commissioners approved $18.6 million in funding to plan and build the diversion center. The jail study was an easier call at $250,000. The separate votes on the two projects came with very different timelines and expectations.
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City of Memphis Proposed public-safety foundation gets support from Young, Davis
Mayor Paul Young and Interim Chief C.J. Davis support a Memphis City Council ordinance to create a philanthropic and research foundation that would take private donations and put them toward the city’s public safety efforts.
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Public Safety Memphis looks to mirror Atlanta public safety office
The council move comes as Mayor Paul Young prepares to fill the newly created position of city public safety director. Meanwhile, Young takes some changes in the current city budget to the council Tuesday, April 9, which may be clues to his budget for the new fiscal year.
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