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 3943 articles by Bill Dries :
Commissioners could also have more to say about the forensic audit of Memphis-Shelby County Schools they approved last month. Plus, the body will vote on several millions of dollars for the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office.
The affordable housing market in Memphis continues to show investors competing with first-time homebuyers for starter homes.
Also, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn goes to the White House with the new FBI director, U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen tracks Trump and the City Council walks the line with Elon Musk.
“... They are not committing any other crime,” Worth Morgan said. “But they are being exploited and they are taking a job away from somebody here in Memphis that would want that job.”
The Memphis City Council addressed MATA funding, Uptown parking, the Cleveland TIF, a blight fee and whether or not the Mud Island amphitheater is safe to use.
The Memphis City Council will return to the proposed city sale of land to a subsidiary of xAI, and up for a vote Tuesday, Feb. 18, is a $10.5 million budget amendment, including $5 million in emergency funding for MATA.
County officials aren’t putting any dollar figures to the deficit they expect when County Mayor Lee Harris presents his budget proposal in late April. But it’s the talk of the County Commission’s early budget hearings.
Also, the TacoNGanas raid is felt in the nation’s capital, Tennessee U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty pushes back on “Face the Nation,” Mississippi U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker says Secretary Pete Hegseth made a “rookie mistake” and more.
The TacoNGanas incident and what it means for the immigration effort President Donald Trump promised during his 2024 campaign is among the topics discussed on “Behind The Headlines.”
The current U.S. Attorney, several judicial commissioners and more current and former assistant district attorneys filed applications by the Wednesday, Feb. 12, deadline set by the Shelby County Commission.
Hagerty’s decision to seek another six-year term in 2026 is the first move in a political puzzle that will determine what the 2026 ballot looks like in other races, including the race for Tennessee governor.
The resolution approved Monday, Feb. 10, calls for $50,000 in funding for the audit from the County Commission’s contingency fund.
A group of countywide office holders was frustrated when the Shelby County Commission again delayed a vote on changes to hiring and funding they wanted. They were told that County Clerk Wanda Halbert needed to be included in the discussions.
In a new world, Democrats are deciding how to climb back after last year’s defeat while Republicans are making their next moves across Tennessee.
The commission also votes Monday on a set of three resolutions buying four more parcels on land on the new site for a rebuilt Regional One Health campus.
Shelby County Commissioners Mickell Lowery and Britney Thornton talked on “Behind The Headlines” about the political boundary between the commission and the MSCS board.
The Shelby County Board of Commissioners will vote on the resolution at its Monday, Feb. 10, meeting, authorizing $50,000 from the commission’s contingency fund to pay for the audit.
City Council members said Tuesday they still need a financial accounting of how MATA spent past city funding before a new board was installed in October.
The return of the Shelby Farm Parkway proposal comes two years after it was removed from the city’s list of road projects. The Greater Memphis Chamber is pushing for its return.
As the end of Lee Harris’ tenure as Shelby County mayor nears, potential successors start laying the groundwork for their campaigns.
Most of the budget amendment would come from city reserves and includes $5 million for the Memphis Area Transit Authority.
A series of changes in the leadership of Memphis-Shelby County Schools may be giving way to a more gradual but no less profound series of changes within the district.
Memphis Mayor Paul Young discussed crime, blight and debt, but also called on Memphians to “say yes” to promoting the city and working toward goals of economic growth for all.
Shelby County Commissioner Mickell Lowery said on “Behind The Headlines” that he would like to see the commission have line-item control of MSCS spending.
There is a new plan for the construction of a new Regional One Health hospital at a site on Union near South Lauderdale. County plans to fill General Sessions judicial vacancy by March 1Related content: