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 3973 articles by Bill Dries :
The $78 million redevelopment of the old Northside High School comes with an ambitious plan to bring back the surrounding Klondike subdivision from decades of blight.
Shelby County Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr.’s request for a temporary order of protection from fellow commissioner Mickell Lowery has been denied — at least for now.
“We’ve had a number of dialogues over the past couple of months, and I feel confident that she can and will be able to lead us into a better space with regards to public safety.”
The March 5 primary is Shelby County’s first election of 2024 and is topped by Tennessee’s presidential primary. The race for General Sessions Court clerk is the only countywide position on the ballot in 2024.
Memphis wasn’t part of original expansion plans for passenger-rail service in and through Tennessee. But connecting Memphis to Nashville would also give travelers New Orleans and Chicago.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and state House Speaker Cameron Sexton say the fine print of a new, expanded school-voucher bill will include accountability standards for private schools and home-schooled students.
The new community center, scheduled to open in 2025, is just yards away from the existing community center, which is one of the most used in the Memphis Parks system.
The music festival by Mempho Presents is May 3-5, 2024, with a lineup expected early next year.
The fellowships come with a $65,000 stipend for each of the three recipients funded by federal community grants.
County Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. is seeking a court order of protection against fellow commissioner Mickell Lowery after the two exchanged words in August. Attorneys are seeking to seal the order and the details of Ford’s legal motion.
“Once this service is in operation, much of the country will be accessible by rail from Memphis,” said U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn. “This is a very big deal.”
The final approval of the August 2024 referendum for city voters came Tuesday, Dec. 5, in a chaotic roll call. The council has another ballot question on the way to allow it to set its own pay.
The Memphis City Council will also tackle moving state funding for the Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium renovations and a resolution to give Mayor-elect Paul Young a raise.
A vote on a construction contract for a rugby field was delayed Monday, Dec. 4, amid an ongoing commission debate about whether programs in one area are a start or are a limit that doesn’t benefit other areas.
Funding for a Whitehaven High School STEM Center is among the votes Shelby County commissioners are expected to take Monday.
The Downtown Memphis crime plan surfaced in October. It could face its first test this holiday season. Officials involved in putting it together talked on “Behind The Headlines” about the plan and the reality it is built to confront.
Holt has been leader of the 46-year-old festival for more than 25 years. His retirement, effective at the end of January, comes after a series of fundamental changes to the set of month-long events.
With the last election of an unusually busy election year in the books, there may be some changes in 2024 to where you vote and what you encounter when you get there.
What was once Melrose High School will reopen in the fall as both a public library and senior housing. On Monday, Orange Mound community leaders got a sneak peek.
In the second part of his end-of-term interview on “Behind The Headlines,” Mayor Jim Strickland also talked about the upcoming transition to Mayor-elect Paul Young and why he is fond of asphalt.
The producers planning a May music festival in Tom Lee Park announced they are planning a barbecue contest there the same month — and at the same time as Memphis in May’s barbecue contest at Liberty Park.
A delayed grant for Tom Lee Park’s redesign, the Beale Street Landing dock expansion and a pool of money cobbled together years ago to jumpstart a renovation of Mud Island led to a City Council showdown.
Some City Council members say crime data spotlighting those arrested several times could help Memphians better assess their risks. Others say the lack of data isn’t what’s driving fear of crime in the city.
JB Smiley is the new council chairman for 2024. And the council approved a $20 million loan to MATA as its federal funding is delaying by short-term funding resolutions in Washington, D.C.
The newest ballot questions would allow the City Council to set its own pay, allow partisan primary city elections and bringing back a runoff requirement. There are already three other charter change referendums on the 2024 ballot.