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 4392 articles by Bill Dries :
Half a century ago this month, 39,000 Memphis children — about a third of the then-Memphis City Schools system — were told to board school buses and continue their education at new schools in an effort to racially integrate them.Related story:
The proposals both go to Memphis City Council members Tuesday, Sept. 26, for discussion and could be added to the afternoon agenda for the first of three votes. The proposals come as Strickland has three months left in office.
J. Ivy has written and performed a new piece about Tom Lee to mark the opening of the redesigned riverfront park named in Lee’s honor. The work is the first in a series commissioned by the Mellon Foundation.
The full “Behind The Headlines” interview with Shelby County Sheriff and mayoral contender Floyd Bonner Jr. includes the candidate saying his law enforcement background will directly affect his relationship with whoever he would appoint as police director.
The underground fall-out shelter in the gated Lion’s Gate community was built in the early 1960s by Memphis radio and television pioneer Hoyt Wooten.
“That video should not have been released,” Bonner said in an interview on the WKNO-TV program “Behind The Headlines.”
The Daily Memphian celebrates its fifth anniversary by asking long-term writers to share a few of their favorite stories. Here are those stories and why the authors chose them, in their own words.
A 2020 open letter signed by more than 100 leaders of local nonprofits has become a flashpoint in the most expensive race for a city council seat on the Oct. 5 ballot.
The opening day of early voting in Memphis elections posts numbers closer to opening day in 2015 than 2019. Also in the round up, trying to apply a “blue wave” strategy to nonpartisan city elections.
Former Mayor Willie Herenton talks on “Behind The Headlines” about his bid to return as mayor, a recent discussion he had with millennials and his leadership of MPD.
Early voting begins Friday, Sept. 15, with a large field of 17 mayoral candidates.Related story:
City Council Super District 8 covers half of the city’s population. All three Super District seats are on the October Memphis ballot, and two of the races are contested in the upcoming city elections.
Memphis City Council has seven more meetings to take a final vote on a ballot question to allow partisan primaries in city elections. Some argue it would be better to go to court and get a runoff provision reinstated for all city offices.
Four years after upsetting incumbent council member Berlin Boyd, Michalyn Easter-Thomas faces six challengers for the District 7 council seat. If the recent past is any indication, it could be bound for a November runoff.
All three of the ordinances are requests of Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. and are not binding on the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office.
The sewer ordinance would solidify a policy of not extending services outside of city borders. The Memphis City Council also votes on $4 million in funds for a floating dock near the riverfront’s cobblestones for restaurants and shops.
Council District 5 is one of five seats on the council with no incumbent seeking reelection. Two of the three contenders have raised more money than any other council candidate.
The moratorium is to consider requiring county commission approval of solar farms. Also on the Monday, Sept. 11, agenda is the second of three votes on a set of three police reform ordinances.
This roundup looks at the latest report on voter registration, checks in with Election Commission officials ahead of Friday’s opening of early voting in Memphis and replays the Republican debate that ended with no school-board primaries.
With less than a week before early voting begins in the 2023 Memphis elections, a reporters roundtable on “Behind The Headlines” looks at what is at stake.
The lawsuit over damages to Tom Lee Park seeks $675,000 on a $1.425 million bill due in mid-August. The other $750,000 is covered by a damage deposit paid by the city and the festival.
The decision came during a secret-ballot vote of the local Republican Party’s executive committee Thursday, Sept. 7, in Germantown.
The lawsuit, due for its first hearing later this month, is a deep dive into past disputes about how to use the “public promenade” the city’s founders created more than 200 years ago.
Memphis was the third of three stops Tuesday, Sept. 5, kicking off what Johnson says will be an “uphill battle” to win the August primary and take down Marsha Blackburn in next year’s November general election.
Van Turner and Paul Young started their mayoral campaigns a year ago on 901 Day. A year later, they talk about what separates each in a pack of 17 candidates.