District 4 Republican primary skirmish survives challenge
The county commission Republican primary between incumbent Brandon Morrison and challenger Jordan Carpenter is the only contested GOP primary on the May ballot.
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 3905 articles by Bill Dries :
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February 2022
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Elections -
Elections Political Roundup: From local elections to international events
Janika White opened her campaign for District Attorney General Saturday while federal legislators from Tennessee weighed in on the Ukraine situation.
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North Memphis Watch: Remake of Northside High seeks broader impact for Klondike
Planners hope the transformation of the old Northside High School building into a mixed-use development will rekindle a sense of community in the Klondike section of North Memphis.
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Shelby County County Commission to get final list for Senate vacancy
The commission won’t fill the vacancy until next month but most if not all of the names on the list are expected to be those running in the August primaries for a full four-year term in Nashville.
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Elections Nonprofit leader joins Democratic primary for open state Senate seat
There’s a new contender for an open school board seat while more incumbent judges file for re-election.
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Metro Rep. Steve Cohen near Ukraine as Sen. Marsha Blackburn meets with Trump
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis had a front-row seat Thursday, Feb. 24, for Russia’s political defense of its invasion of Ukraine.
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City of Memphis Morgan at town hall: Selling MLGW ‘almost a political impossibility’
During an hour-long online town hall Wednesday, Feb. 23, City Council member Worth Morgan and MLGW leaders fielded questions about recent increases in utility bills and the ice storm repairs.
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Metro County Commission to fill school board, state Senate vacancies next month
The commission set the schedules Wednesday, Feb. 23, for taking applications, interviewing candidates and making the picks.
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Metro County government reviews criminal justice fines and fees as part of national effort
The county administration is working with a national coalition of local elected leaders to question the efficacy fines and fees in the local criminal justice system. Among the first changes, was dropping a fee for medical services at the county corrections center.
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Elections State Senate, MSCS board vacancies on County Commission’s agenda
The commission could set dates Wednesday for interviewing applicants for the state Senate District 33 seat and the Memphis Shelby County Schools board seat.
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Metro Liberty Park Sports & Event Center hires former Memphis Grizzlies employee
The former director of youth basketball programming for the Memphis Grizzlies will lead the Memphis Sports & Events Center, which is under construction at Liberty Park.
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Elections Harris, Moody remain after Democratic challenger in mayor race disqualified
The winner between Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris and challenger Ken Moody will face Republican nominee and Memphis City Council member Worth Morgan on the August ballot.
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Elections Three County Commission incumbents appear to win second terms at May filing deadline
At the noon Thursday, Feb. 17, filing deadline to get on the county primary ballot, there was only one contested Republican primary. But every incumbent Democratic official holding countywide office had challengers in the May primaries.
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Elections Watch: Taylor and Turner differ on post-pandemic return to voting laws
Election Commission Chairman Brent Taylor and Shelby County Commissioner Van Turner spoke on this week’s “Behind The Headlines.”
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City of Memphis Southaven mayor challenges Strickland to look for third revenue source for sewer issues
Memphis and Southaven have been in court over Mayor Jim Strickland’s plan to end any new sewer connections to North Mississippi in 2023.
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City of Memphis Next steps after ice storm recovery include increasing focus on trees
Speaking Thursday, Feb. 17, at the Frayser Exchange Club, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said the city’s chronic power outages during frequent storms is mostly about the trees that dominate the city’s landscape. Strickland says any solution to the continuing outages will be expensive.
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Premium
ElectionsMore hopefuls file petitions as deadline nears for May county primary
The deadline to get on the ballot is noon, Thursday, Feb. 17, and there were a lot of political moves up to the 24-hour mark for candidates to file their qualifying petitions with the Shelby County Election Commission.
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Update
MetroCouncil’s ice storm review points to broader infrastructure changes
The city is forming a citizens group to review the ice storm response and how recent power outages have been handled by Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division.
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Elections Democratic DA’s field firms up ahead of Thursday filing deadline
On the way to the deadline for the May county primaries, the race for a new Cordova County Commission seat has grown and there are early moves by state Rep. London Lamar on the August ballot.
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City of Memphis Council gives final approval to cashless payments for towed cars
The vote for cashless payments to get cars impounded by towing companies was unanimous.
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Elections Council opposes state bills dropping police residency requirements
The council debate was underway as state legislators were debating in Nashville. The common factor in both discussions was Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis, who backed the bill in Nashville while outlining strategies to hire more officers who live in Memphis.
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City of Memphis City Council to review MLGW’s handling of ice storm
Also Tuesday, the council will consider opposing a bill in the Tennessee General Assembly that would outlaw any kind of residency requirement for police and firefighters.
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Elections Sculptor relieved Tom Lee bronze will remain a focal point
“The river is a remarkable, remarkable sight right there at Tom Lee Park ... like the surface of a muscular dragon,” said David Alan Clark, who created the monument that was put in place 16 years ago.
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Elections Political Roundup: Avant may file; ‘pink wave’ thoughts, and ‘ghettoizing’
Meanwhile, Jason Martin slams Gov. Bill Lee’s state of the state address and calls for the legalization of pot in all forms. And a look at the May and August ballots ahead of Thursday’s deadline to get on the May county primary ballot.
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City of Memphis Strickland raises possibility of selling MLGW to take utilities underground
In his weekly email, Strickland said he isn’t recommending action at this point, but all options should be explored to cure how the city has been crippled by 14 major storms over the past 19 years, not counting the 1994 ice storm.
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