Memphis-Nashville passenger-rail line gets $500K federal grant
“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.”
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 4088 articles by Bill Dries :
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December 2023
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Metro -
City of Memphis City Council puts mayoral runoff referendum on August 2024 ballot
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.
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City of Memphis City Council to vote on 12% MLGW rate hike
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.
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Shelby County Shelby County Commission wrestles with rugby, reentry programs
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.
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Shelby County County Commission takes up funding for Whitehaven High
Funding for a Whitehaven High School STEM Center is among the votes Shelby County commissioners are expected to take Monday.
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Behind The Headlines Downtown Public Safety Plan emerges amid holiday season
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.
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November 2023
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City of Memphis Memphis in May CEO Jim Holt to retire
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.
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Elections City council runoff vote certified, changes ahead in 2024
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.
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South Memphis Old Melrose High School shows signs of its upcoming second life
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.
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Behind The Headlines Strickland talks pandemic, reviews two terms as mayor
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.
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Food News Mempho challenges Memphis in May with rival barbecue contest
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.
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City of Memphis How a $3M budget line item for Mud Island prompted an attempt to oust the city council chairman
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.
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City of Memphis MPD’s aggressive approach to crime stats will focus on re-offenders
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.
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City of Memphis City Council rewrites broadband rules, Davis gets ‘aggressive’ on data, more
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.
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City of Memphis City Council referendum votes are a mixed bag, but the mayoral pay raise advances
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.
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City of Memphis City Council puts up flurry of new ballot questions as term nears end
The council also takes a final vote Tuesday, Nov. 21, on a fiber broadband initiative and sets a December vote on a proposed MLGW rate hike.
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City of Memphis The new Memphis City Council: What each member brings in 2024
Here’s a look at all 13 members of the Memphis City Council that takes office in January.
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Behind The Headlines Mayor Jim Strickland doubles down on ‘broken’ criminal justice system on WKNO
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland talks about coming to the end of his 8-year tenure as mayor in the first part of a two-part interview on “Behind The Headlines.”
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City of Memphis City Council to consider pay raise for Mayor-elect Paul Young
Memphis City Council Chairman Martavius Jones is proposing a pay raise from the current $170,817 Mayor Jim Strickland makes to $210,000 a year starting Jan. 1 when Mayor-elect Paul Young takes office.
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Elections Green, Walker and Easter-Thomas win council runoff races in historic shift
The winners of the three races make a majority of seven women on the city council that takes office in January — the first majority of women on the 13-member body in the 55-year history of the mayor-council form of government.
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Elections Ballot Basics: Runoff Election Day Nov. 16, 2023
Here is everything you need to know about voting in Thursday’s Memphis City Council runoff races.
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Elections Three city council runoff races close out Memphis election year
The last local elections of 2023 will determine who the Memphis City Council representatives from Districts 2, 3 and 7 will be. The runoffs will complete the new council that takes office Jan. 1 with Mayor-elect Paul Young.
Related story:
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City of Memphis Tami Sawyer to run for General Sessions Court Clerk
The clerk’s office is the only countwide office on the March 5 primary ballot and with Sawyer’s entry the Democratic primary has three candidates. The filing deadline for the Democratic and Republican primaries is Dec. 14.
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City of MemphisA timeline of the twists and turns in the race for Memphis mayor
Follow the story of the Memphis mayor campaign: the moves and issues that found their way into the political arena in this timeline of a campaign that began more than a year before ballots were cast.
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Shelby County County Commission wants ‘status update’ from Wanda Halbert prosecutor
New documents show Halbert’s office owes more than $9,800 in rent on the Poplar Plaza location she vacated last week. She hasn’t turned in a monthly report on time for revenues collected by her office since July 2021, and the commission is asking questions.
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