County clerk’s data processing fee could go up
The commission is trying to come up with $659,000 in funding for salaries and wages in the clerk’s office without taking the money from county reserves.
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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May 2021
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Shelby County -
Shelby County Budget Basics: A few numbers from Shelby County government’s budget season
Here’s a look at some terms to know as county commissioners begin discussing the proposed budget for the coming fiscal year.
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Shelby County County Commission to consider pipeline ordinance
Commissioners may decide if they want to stand down as the City Council has on changes to the Unified Development Code that would involve a setback for oil pipelines. The council delayed action on the same measure as the Byhalia Connection Pipeline companies agreed to drop lawsuits for rights of way in southwest Memphis.
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Arts & Culture Tom Lee anniversary reflects larger changes after hero’s life
The 2006 sculpture honoring Tom Lee’s 1925 rescue of 32 people from the Mississippi River is a prominent part of plans to remake the popular park. But the fate of a 1954 monument that refers to Lee as a “very worthy Negro” is uncertain.
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Elections PAC, Salinas to bring ‘Fuerza’ to state’s Latino Democrats
On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, the two-time Democratic nominee for the Tennessee General Assembly talks about the new Latino Democratic political action committee Fuerza, for which she serves on the board.
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City of Memphis Mayor Strickland proposes police, fire retention bonuses
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland announced Friday, May 7, that he is proposing bonus pay for police and firefighters over the next three fiscal years.
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City of Memphis Emhoff, Walsh push for Biden White House jobs and infrastructure plan
The Second Gentleman and the U.S. Labor Secretary pushed Thursday, May 6, for support of the American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan proposal in Whitehaven and Downtown. They offered different definitions of infrastructure and what is necessary beyond the pandemic for economic recovery than the state’s two Republican U.S. Senators.
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City of MemphisShort-term Audubon Park golf course plans could get longer look by city
The temporary fix of cart paths on the golf course could wait to get a feel for what a larger makeover similar to that underway on the Overton Park golf course might involve.
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City of Memphis Slate of improvements — including new sign — planned for Mud Island
Memphis could soon have a daily reminder that we don’t have “time for things with no soul.”
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City of Memphis City shuffles mix of bonds for Accelerate Memphis slate
The council also approved a new seven-year lease between the city and the Withers Collection Inc., which has been behind on its rent.
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Real Estate Landmarks Commission won’t control Crosstown Mound for five years
The council approved the larger Crosstown overlay district without the 9-acre mound Tuesday, May 4, in the first of several votes on the blueprint for control of design standards by the Memphis Landmarks Commission.
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Update
Public SafetyDavis confirmed as new Memphis Police chief
Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis became the new leader of the Memphis Police Department Tuesday, May 4, in a council vote that was almost unanimous.
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City of Memphis City Council, pipeline companies working out terms of truce
On Tuesday, both sides in the pipeline dispute agreed to put their actions on hold until July.
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City of Memphis Byhalia Pipeline project reaches key City Council vote
What began as a more general ban of underground pipelines in the city is now a specific ordinance that allows existing underground infrastructure to be grandfathered in. It also allows companies to seek exceptions from the council to the ban.
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City of Memphis Council will talk to police chief nominee, revisit 16-year old evictions ordinance
The Tuesday, May 4, council day includes a possible vote on the nomination of C.J. Davis to be the new police chief. And the council has a proposal to change eviction set-outs 16 years after its last attempt to bring some order to the process.
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City of Memphis Masked City Council members meet warily in person for budget talks
A budget committee meeting Monday, May 3, drew 12 of the 13 council members together at City Hall for the first time since mid-March of 2020. The in-person meetings continue Tuesday with a full slate of committee meetings before the 3:30 p.m. session of the council.
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City of Memphis Second Gentleman visiting Memphis to push Biden’s infrastructure plan
Douglas Emhoff and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh are among a blitz by the administration to promote President Joe Biden’s $4 trillion “American Jobs Plan.”
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City of Memphis City Council starts budget ‘Super Bowl’ at convention center
The retreat Saturday, May 1, marks the first in-person council meeting in more than a year. It included new details of $16 million in bonuses to city employees in Mayor Jim Strickland’s $716 million budget proposal and a flap over whether team-building exercises and a tour of the Renasant Convention Center were open to reporters.
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City of MemphisMorgan says resetting local property tax rate could spawn tax hike move
City Council budget committee Chairman Worth Morgan said that the drop of the city property tax rate below $3 as appraised values have increased could set the stage for a tax rate hike.
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April 2021
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City of Memphis Memphis Police Chief nominee talks protest and policing in online forum
Memphis Police Chief nominee Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis met the public on a limited basis Friday, April 30, during a one-hour online Q&A session with screened written questions.
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City of MemphisDowntown Tourism Development Zone lost $5M in sales tax
On “Behind The Headlines,” the incoming CEO of the Downtown Memphis Commission says federal pandemic relief funding due the city will likely make up the loss. The drop in sales tax revenue for the TDZ comes as sales tax revenues across the city have exceeded bleak projections at the outset of the pandemic.
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City of Memphis City Council to gather in person for first time in more than a year
Members to meet Downtown for budget retreat.
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Metro City’s national representatives react to Biden’s ‘American Families Plan’
With much of the plan already outlined well before Wednesday’s speech, reaction from the city’s two congressmen and the state’s two U.S. senators was set along partisan lines. There was a social media blitz by all during President Joe Biden’s remarks.
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City of Memphis Byhalia Pipeline spokesman says group interested in talking
The offer to talk came Tuesday, April 27, at a Memphis Rotary forum at which the pipeline companies and the most visible pipeline critic each spoke. Proposals are pending before the council that would require more local approval.
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Shelby County County Commission approves $2.45M settlement in jail tracking glitch lawsuit
The federal class action lawsuit was filed in 2016, a month after a new computer system was installed by the county to track the movement of pre-trial detainees through the criminal justice system.
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