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.
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As the Shelby County Commission nears a final vote on a new set of district lines, here is how to find out what commission district you live in, who is your commissioner and whose district you might be in depending on which map the commission approves at its Monday, Nov. 1, session.
On the WKNO program “Behind The Headlines,” Natalie McKinney and Terence Patterson also called for a move away from the idea that school choice for parents involves getting students to schools in other parts of the city.
It might be a long day at the county building Monday, Nov. 1, when Shelby County commissioners are scheduled for the final vote on the once-a-decade process of drawing new district lines.
As more candidates open their campaigns for next year’s ballot, they’re discussing issues such as criminal justice reform and why some areas of the city are seeing an economic boom while others are not.
The council has final votes scheduled Tuesday, Nov. 2, on two pipeline-related ordinances. Also on the agenda are a contract to manage a North Memphis community center and a second look at a minimum wage for EDGE tax breaks.
Democrats voted for it and Republicans voted against it. But the party line was not enough to make it the final vote on the redistricting plan that creates a new commission district built around Cordova, where most of the growth was in the 2020 Census.
Shelby County Commissioners also reacted Monday to the pandemic legislation that came out of a special session of the Tennessee General Assembly.
The percentage is a calculation that excludes the city’s spend in areas where it is determined there are no local minority businesses.
Shelby County government employees would have until April to get vaccinated or pay a $25 per pay period surcharge starting in July under the notice sent to county employees Tuesday, Nov. 2.
The Murray Farms Planned Development, a $60-million, three-building distribution center on the corner of Appling City Cove and Murray Farms Road, near the I-40 exit, was approved by the Memphis City Council.
The Memphis City Council will take up the pipeline ordinances in two weeks after legalese and other factors led to to raucous environment at City Hall.
The new rules for gas stations are in the first of two City Council measures that include a downzoning of 20 areas of the city to limit the spread of auto-related businesses.
Plans call for mixed-use commercial development with $31.8 million in construction for retail, office and hotel spaces.
The joint meeting Wed., Nov. 10, is a tentative first step toward consolidating the two governments.
City Council member Jeff Warren is leading the talks that hope to raise additional money for a parking solution that leaves the Overton Park greensward as it is.
The commissioner’s attempt to reopen the county’s ARPA budget ran aground when Chairman Willie Brooks and others said he is abusing the process.
The Black-owned multi-family developer who partnered with Carlisle Development on part of the One Beale project and the nearby 7 Vance mixed-use development is taking Carlisle to court as the issue of minority participation in general moves back to the front burner.
The Monday, Nov. 8, special meeting of the Shelby County Commission comes after a party-line 8-5 vote a week ago to approve a plan that creates a Cordova district.
More Tennessee Highway Patrol officers are on the way to Shelby County as Memphis seeks to turn over patrols of the city’s interstate system to the state, including combatting gun violence.
The redistricting map approved Monday keeps a new Cordova-based district, restores the Collierville 7 precinct to District 2 and Germantown 4 to District 4. It also separates two incumbents expected to run again.
The last 330 miles of the gas line was beneath North McLean Boulevard in front of Compass Community Schools’ Midtown campus.
The City of Memphis is using $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding over the next three years to increase the incentives for employers hiring those coming out of prison.
Shelby County had announced plans to assess a $25 per pay period surcharge against county employees who did not get vaccinated for COVID by a July deadline.
Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich talked on “Behind The Headlines” of her concerns about guidelines judicial commissioners use in determining who should be released while they await trial and the second take on a juvenile assessment center.
A precinct-by-precinct look at the recent redrawing of County Commission district lines, how the Cordova district was created and what the data says about the county’s politics — past and present.