What’s in Lee Harris’ ‘lean and mean’ county budget proposal?
Lowering the property-tax rate a few cents and another proposed school, the third of his tenure, highlighted Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris’ final budget proposal.
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 4390 articles by Bill Dries :
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May 2026
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Shelby County -
City of Memphis Mayor Young vetoes council rewrite of impasse ordinance
In a three-page letter, Young writes that the ordinance “seeks to enlarge the Council’s authority in direct contravention of the charter.”
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Premium
Shelby CountyA quick history of Tennessee redistricting and a closer look at unofficial vote totals
This political roundup dives into the surprising number of write-ins in the Shelby County primary races, a short — and litigious — history of redistricting in Tennessee and more.
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Spirit of Memphis Tom Lee Day will move to October, but poetry honored today
The Memphis River Parks Partnership announced the change Friday, May 8, as it honored recipients in the 5th annual Tom Lee Poetry and Spoken Word competition.
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City of Memphis Affordable housing wins come a few lots at a time
Habitat for Humanity recently hit a milestone in Uptown: Two homes it finished building in February had their appraisals match their costs, which isn’t a given when talking about affordable housing in Memphis.
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State Government Leaders react to Memphis redistricting
“We have specific needs, and we need a representative in Congress that can speak to those needs,” Memphis Mayor Paul Young told The Daily Memphian Thursday.
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State Government G.A. Hardaway’s son appointed to his state House seat
TJ Hardaway heads to Nashville to take his seat in the state House for an anticipated Thursday vote on a Republican plan to redraw the boundaries of the state’s nine Congressional districts.
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2026 Elections
ElectionsPrimary voter turnout healthy — but not high
Primary elections in Shelby County draw the lowest voter turnout. Considering that, overall turnout in Tuesday’s election was higher than expected.
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2026 elections
ElectionsMickell Lowery wins Democratic county mayoral primary
The winner of the Democratic primary will meet former state Rep. John DeBerry, the Republican nominee, in the August general election race to succeed outgoing Mayor Lee Harris.
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2026 elections
ElectionsWon at the primary: The 3 County Commission seats that stay in the Democratic column
Shante Avant, Karen Streeter and Lashanta Rudd won seats on the County Commission with their win in Tuesday’s Democratic primaries.
Related content:
Which County Commission races were set or decided before the first vote was cast?
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2026 elections
ElectionsLaSonya Hall will run to replace Wanda Halbert in August
Most in the 11-candidate field talked about specific changes to the office that issues new vehicle tags, car titles and collects registration fees in addition to issuing marriage licenses and business permits.
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2026 elections
ElectionsWhich County Commission races were set or decided before the first vote was cast?
Six of the Shelby County Commission races were either decided or their general election match-ups were already set prior to Election Day.
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2026 elections
ElectionsEarly vote results show Lowery leading Democratic primary for county mayor
There were 57,164 early and absentee ballots in Shelby County prior to Tuesday’s Election Day. That batch of votes is the first counted by the election commission.
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2026 elections
ElectionsPolls close on Election Day
Follow The Daily Memphian’s election coverage for regular updates throughout the evening.
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Shelby County County Commission approves $200K in funding for MSCS takeover lawsuit
Shelby County commissioners voted to take money from county reserve funds to pay the possible cost of suing the state over a pending state takeover of Memphis-Shelby County Schools.
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2026 elections
ElectionsPrimary election set stage for two more elections, bigger political questions
Here’s what is at stake and what to look for in the vote totals Tuesday evening.
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2026 elections
ElectionsMissed early voting? Election Day awaits
Here’s everything you need to know about voting in Shelby County on the May 5 election day and a look at what is at stake in this election along with some trends in voter turnout.
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2026 Elections
ElectionsSpecial session bid to ‘Flip Memphis’ becomes tip of political iceberg
The political roundup connects the dots on the call to redraw U.S. House district lines ahead of August Congressional primaries to the broader call by Republicans for more state control of the city.
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2026 elections
ElectionsEarly-voter turnout spikes in last days
More than 57,000 early votes were cast in the 14-day period ahead in the Shelby County primaries. Here’s how that compares to past turnout in the same election cycle and what it could say about Election Day.
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Behind The Headlines Congressional redistricting joins busy political horizon
A landmark Supreme Court ruling has put the boundaries for Tennessee’s nine congressional districts in play, especially the Memphis-centric district now represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen.
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Education County Commission to meet on funding for MSCS lawsuit against takeover
The commission will try again on a resolution to provide county funding for a legal challenge of the state’s pending takeover of Memphis-Shelby County Schools.
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Premium
Downtown‘An alternate Memphis’: Baron Von Opperbean opens the multiverse at Mud Island
The immersive experience “Baron Von Opperbean and The River of Time” opens Friday, May 1, in the old River Museum at Mud Island River Park.
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April 2026
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2026 elections
ElectionsEarly voting’s last day could see higher turnout than 2022
Thursday is the final day to vote early in the Shelby County primaries ahead of the May 5 Election Day.
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City of Memphis Council hangs up over length of leases for city-owned properties
The sticking point is language that encouraged the administration to try to negotiate leases for terms of five years for projects like the Children’s Museum of Memphis and the new Metal Museum.
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City of Memphis City Council goes behind closed doors to talk MPD’s No Kings response
Council member Jerri Green said she wasn’t told why the items were removed from discussion but said an outside investigation of MPD may be needed.
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