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 4043 articles by Bill Dries :
City Council budget committee chairman Chase Carlisle plans to push for votes on proposed amendments in a Wednesday, June 12, committee session. The fiscal year begins July 1. Final budget votes by are scheduled for June 25.
Last month, MATA acknowledged it has a $60 million deficit. A City Councilwoman tried to talk specifics, but the discussion was abruptly halted after the head of the council staff talked with her privately during a public meeting.
The five ballot questions to go on the Aug. 1 ballot didn’t make the deadline for public notice. There was no City Council vote to move them to November.
The Shelby County commissioner sued the state after learning, at age 72, that she was among the children adopted through the old Tennessee Children’s Home Society led by Georgia Tann.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem is coming for the GOP’s Lincoln Day Gala. She was booked when it looked like she might be Donald Trump’s running mate, but much changed between the booking and the announcement.
The known and unknown about Elon Musk’s xAI supercomputer in Southwest Memphis dominated the conversation in a reporters roundtable on “Behind The Headlines.”
The flyway is a boardwalk that will lead to a view of the Mississippi River from an overlook where Tom Lee Park becomes Ashburn-Coppock Park.
Shelby County Budget Director Michael Thompson talks about the 2024 budget season — and the savings found in vacant county positions — on The Daily Memphian’s “On The Record” podcast.
Reaction to word of an AI supercomputer coming to southwest Memphis drew bipartisan support from elected and other officials in the city and the region.
In addition to delaying the budget, Memphis City Council approved the sale of the Crosstown Mound. And it approved a management agreement for four city museums.
The County Commission delayed final votes Monday on every part of the budget process including setting the tax rate. Several commissioners are saying the three big capital projects in the budget might have to be prioritized. Commission votes down call for mediation in juvenile detention center disputeRelated story:
The council will take a final vote on increasing the solid-waste fee by nearly $7 a month — and it will vote on management for four Memphis museums, including the Pink Palace.
Commissioner Mick Wright said the sheriff and Juvenile Court judge need to talk about who will run the juvenile detention center. But his nonbinding resolution suggesting arbitration got voted down Monday.
The Shelby County Commission is unlikely to wrap up its budget season Monday, June 3, despite having an agenda with final votes scheduled on the budget and the property tax rate.
Justin J. Pearson opens his third campaign for the state House in a year and a half. State Senator Brent Taylor reacts to the Trump conviction, and Natalie McKinney opens her challenge of MSCS board chairman Althea Greene.
A judge set a trial date for Wanda Halbert during the first court appearance in her ouster suit. She’ll also be back in court in June for a hearing on whether she should be suspended pending the outcome of the August trial.
The city’s two U.S. senators and two congressmen had very different reactions to the former president’s conviction Thursday, May 30, in New York on all counts of falsifying business records. New York jury finds Donald Trump guilty on all 34 felony countsRelated content:
Most of the amendments to the budget approved in committees would be funded out of the county’s general fund and throw Mayor Lee Harris’ proposal out of balance if the full commission approves them.
Amid an ethics complaint into her employment, Memphis City Councilwoman Michalyn Easter-Thomas has resigned from her job at Memphis River Parks Partnership.
The Riverview Community Center got a $2.3 million renovation that includes more natural light in the gym and rooms for exercise, games and computers along with a new exterior.
Paul Young said the city’s strategy for crime suppression includes “criminal activity disruption” along with focusing police and city blight efforts in high-crime areas.
The attempt to oust Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert from office is in Circuit Court for a preliminary hearing May 31. The arguments filed by both sides in the suit show the case will be about legal definitions of willful neglect.
Here’s a history of previous local ouster cases including the one that ousted E.H. Crump from the mayor’s office in 1916, a Shelby County Sheriff shortly after that and a Shelby County commissioner in the 1960s.
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Gloria Johnson campaigns in Memphis over the long holiday weekend and hopes Democrats throw national support behind her effort to upset incumbent Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn.
Church Health founder Dr. Scott Morris talks on “Behind The Headlines” about the 37-year-old institution he founded and how complex it has become in an era of big medicine and big health-care institutions.