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 resolution to form a commission to draft a consolidation charter showed up in Wednesday committee sessions without notice. Like the City Council, county commissioners amended it to stop short of beginning to draft a charter and to include looking at changes to local government short of consolidation.
The measure is one of three proposals to limit and require local government approval and regulation of new oil pipeline projects. It’s broader than the other two measures delayed Tuesday over lingering legal questions.
A low vaccination rate is just one of the problems the city faces as it wrestles with chronic problems surrounding solid waste disposal.
Also on the Tuesday, Sept. 21, Memphis City Council agenda is more discussion of how to spend the council’s $20 million share of the city’s federal ARPA funds and a minimum wage for getting EDGE tax incentives.
A Juvenile Justice Consortium says the U.S. Justice Department should at least take another look at Memphis-Shelby County Juvenile Court and consider returning to some form of federal oversight of the court.
Strickland said he had been experiencing mild symptoms including congestion that prompted him to get tested with the results being positive Friday.
The Commission Scorecard recaps critical votes at the Aug. 23 meeting and an overtime vote at a special Aug. 30 session. The special meeting may have been the last word on bonuses for county employees. But it is far from the last word on the underlying issue that drew out the final vote across two meetings in one week.
Most of the refugees arriving in Memphis are allowed to enter the country because they fear persecution under Taliban rule. Others aided the U.S. military in Afghanistan.
The County Commission’s working group on the once-a-decade redrawing of district lines got down to business Wednesday, Sept. 8, to set not only commission district lines but those of the Shelby County Schools board.
The special assistant to Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland talked about his exploratory campaign for mayor Wednesday, Sept. 8, and sounded very much like he is in the race while taking a few jabs at incumbent Mayor Lee Harris.
The first-term City Council member claims the numbers are there to first win the August statewide primary and then the November general election. That’s despite no Democrat winning statewide office in Tennessee in 15 years.
The Greater Memphis Chamber backs forming a commission to explore city-county consolidation but doesn’t have a position yet on whether consolidation would be a good idea.
Memphis Councilman JB Smiley Jr. plans to run for governor of Tennessee.
The council votes to appoint a study committee to weigh whether the city should pursue drafting a charter that would consolidate city and county governments if approved by voters.
The council delayed a decision on a retail strip center including gas pumps at 2977 Broad Ave. at Tillman in Binghampton.
Council members put ARPA spending plans on hold to talk about a compromise that could increase the council’s share of ARPA funding from $13 million to around $20 million.
The Tuesday, Sept. 7, committee discussion is the second for the Memphis City Council.
The two leading proponents of forming a consolidation charter commission talked on “Behind The Headlines” about the opposition and hesitancy they are encountering.
Hagerty spoke Wednesday, Sept. 1, at an East Memphis political fundraiser just before leaving for a tour of Europe to meet with government leaders and NATO allies.
The event will also include special recognition of the teenager who recorded the last moments of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020.
During an online speech to the Memphis Rotary Club, Worth Morgan also was asked about a possible run for Shelby County mayor next year.
Shelby County commissioners gave final approval Monday, Aug. 30, to $26 million worth of bonuses to full- and part-time county employees.
Shelby County commissioners have inaugural session of their ad hoc redistricting group.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves talked about the pandemic Thursday, Aug. 26, at a re-election fundraiser in Shelby County held at a replica of the Mississippi governor’s mansion.
MLGW and Memphis Public Works crews are prepared to work overtime if the hurricane still has a lot of wind and rain left on its path north.