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 3904 articles by Bill Dries :
The city administration has declined to take a side on whether it believes the five-year residency requirement is in effect. That puts the city between the Election Commission, which wants some kind of court ruling on what the requirement is, and two mayoral candidates whose attorneys say they will pursue who raised the residency issue in the first place.
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris takes a proposal to the County Commission next week to fund the county’s share of the $700-million capital project. Commissioner Mick Wright says he hopes that can be coupled with a property tax reduction.
The bill requires trial court and general sessions court judges to set bail for certain violent felonies.
Nine years ago this month all trolleys stopped running following a fire on the Madison line. Nine years later, the Riverfront loop and Madison Avenue line are still down.
MATA president and CEO Gary Rosenfeld called for a regional transit authority that could raise its own funding across a larger area and possibly move into street repairs and other “mobility” issues. Trolleys missing from two Downtown lines for nearly a decadeRelated story:
The commission took action on the two project as part of a light agenda Monday, April 17. Meanwhile, the county continues to search for another fire station site in southeast Shelby County.
The Shelby County Commission votes Monday, April 17, on a contract for a new county fire house in a part of Corova de-annexed by the city of Memphis in 2021.
"$450 Million for Memphis" wants Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division to end its ties with TVA and start the move with a specific look at how much it would cost to sign on with the MISO network, the best known competitor for the city-owned utility that is TVA's biggest customer.
Two leaders of the civic group backing an end to TVA ties say on "Behind The Headlines" that they want to hear more about how much it would cost MLGW to go with another electric power supplier without having to generate its own power as well.
The civic group calling for MLGW to cut ties with TVA says TVA's estimate this week of hundreds of millions of dollars in expenses in the switch is wrong. And it says the draft report's recommendation of local power generation by MLGW is wrong too.
The group “$450 Million For Memphis” says the bids from rival power suppliers should be redone to include proposals that are outside the basic requirements set up by MLGW management.
The leaders of the group “$450M For Memphis” talk on Behind The Headlines about their problems with the ongoing RFP process and why they are phasing out the group.
“I’ve got more influence than I’ve ever had,” said Steve Cohen, who says he will seek reelection in 2024.
Mayoral contender Paul Young has the largest campaign war chest across the last six months of campaigning. He also raised the most money in campaign finance reports covering the first three months of 2023.
The commission voted to return Pearson to the District 86 state House seat at a special meeting Wednesday, April 12.Related story:
The new special adviser to Shelby County Clerk Wanda Halbert says she has some “concrete ideas” about how to end lines outside the office locations.
The march from the National Civil Rights Museum to the county building comes ahead of the Wednesday, April 12, county commission vote to appoint Justin J. Pearson to his District 86 seat in the state House of Representatives.
The council vote was chaotic as activists pushing for the passage of the measure complained about the council banning those who spoke at previous council sessions for using profanity.
City Council members got their first look Tuesday, April 11, at the city’s ground lease with Capstone for the commercial and multi-family frontage along Central Avenue. The council votes on the 30-year lease in two weeks.
City solid waste services are projected to be about $7 million in the red for the fiscal year that ends June 30.
The long wait ends with more than 10,000 books, an upstairs performance space, digital studios for podcasts and a cafe.
Under an amendment, the consolidated police reform ordinance on the Tuesday, April 11, agenda would stand alongside separate ordinances on the same general reforms.
“I have heard from my constituents, people across the county, and state as well as Republicans and Democrats, so I will be voting to reappoint Justin Pearson,” said one member of the County Commission.
Attorneys for the Shelby County Election Commission also renewed a motion to dismiss the residency lawsuit. And a notice that the commission would enforce a five-year residency requirement has been removed from its website.
The Shelby County Commission has filled two vacant seats in the Tennessee General Assembly from Shelby County in the past year — one following an expulsion and the other resulting from the death of a legislator. Here is how the process works.