Reporter
Bill Dries covers city and county government and politics. He is a native Memphian and has been a reporter for more than 40 years.
There are 3665 articles by Bill Dries :
Here are the moves the city’s four representatives in Washington, D.C. have made in the historic gap between certifying the Electoral College vote and Wednesday’s inauguration, with a Capitol insurrection in between and plenty of political volatility still around. Related story: Cohen draws fire for National Guard questions and Boebert sighting
The criminal complaint alleges Robinson and two others swindled money from someone who thought he was paying tuition to attend Robinson’s health care school.
In a brief special meeting Wednesday, Jan. 20, Shelby County commissioners approved a $300,000 transfer of funds to pay legal expenses in a wrongful death lawsuit.
Sawyer wants to examine the ground rules for awarding the most-used tax incentive in Memphis economic development and the results of past or ongoing PILOTs.
The resolutions were discussed as commissioners watched the presidential inauguration while working through committee agendas. The full commission votes on the matters Monday.
The plan was outlined in a Thursday State of the City speech by Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland. Strickland also outlined two violent crime intervention programs.
On “Behind The Headlines,” Doug McGowen, the city’s chief operating officer, and Dr. Jon McCullers of UTHSC said multiple plans to vaccinate more than 600,000 people in Shelby County are ready to be used and adjusted to roll with the circumstances.
The new Tennessee Democratic Party chairman says on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast that challenging Republican majorities in the Tennessee Legislature will take longer.
University of Memphis historian Beverly Bond says there are important differences between the contested presidential election of 1876 that ended Reconstruction and the contested 2020 election. But there are some broader connections between the reactions then and now.
The Monday County Commission meeting includes a possible six-month moratorium on new PILOTs. And there is a compromise with Sheriff Floyd Bonner that would rewrite the ordinance requiring him to get approval from the commission to acquire surplus military hardware from the federal government.
The week featured some social media sniping, a MLK Day rebuke and a video plea from Shelby County Schools Superintendent Joris Ray.
The ordinance allows the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office and Emergency and Homeland Security to acquire some surplus military hardware for protection and natural disasters. But most military hardware offered by the federal government requires a majority vote of the commission.
Shelby County commissioners agree that the tax incentives, the most potent part of the local economic development arsenal, need to be discussed. The conversation Monday was about how to shape the discussion so that it doesn’t go the way of past conversations about PILOTs.
With no discussion, Shelby County commissioners approved Monday, Jan. 25, a resolution that forbids the county from renaming any of its property, roads, bridges or buildings in honor of former President Donald Trump.
City Council members Tuesday will consider banning puppy sales as the only national pet store chain that sells puppies is readying a Wolfchase store. The council also gets an update on the vacant 100 North Main Building and talks over the latest changes to the city’s sewer system.
The dashboard was called for by City Council members this past December and will be added to three city websites. No date was given for when the information will go live, but it will data back to 2016.
The council Tuesday voted unanimously to join a call by leaders in 22 of the nation’s largest cities to ask President Joe Biden to send vaccine directly to the cities and bypass state governments.
The council delayed a vote on getting the program started for a week. Council members generally back the idea of trying to intervene with those of both sides of violent crimes. But some saw too many law enforcement agencies involved in the initial pitch despite assurances it will instead be aimed at prevention.
City Council members got their first look at the details of Accelerate Memphis on Tuesday, Jan. 26.
The County Commission Scorecard tracks how a seven-month-old police reform proposal moved from being one vote short of the seven necessary for final approval to 10 votes across party lines this week.
The Memphis City Council votes next week on the first of three readings of an ordinance that would bar retail pet stores from selling dogs and cats.
On “Behind The Headlines,” the Republican and Democratic legislators from the Shelby County delegation to Nashville also agreed on mandatory summer school or tutoring to help students who have slipped academically during the pandemic.
Before Shelby County Commissioners and Memphis City Council members get together to talk about changing the most used tax incentive in local economic development, they want to do more than watch PowerPoint presentations on PILOTs – payments in lieu of taxes.
The City Council’s most recent session featured a rare motion to table an item that didn’t have seven votes to pass, at least for now, and a vote to close a street even though the council could very well vote down the development that will follow the street closure.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee denies that Shelby County is getting less than its share of COVID-19 vaccine, and he sent a letter to Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland Wednesday, Jan. 27, saying so.