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Bill Dries covers city and county government and politics. He is a native Memphian and has been a reporter for more than 40 years.
There are 3663 articles by Bill Dries :
President Donald Trump called earlier this month for changes at the top of TVA including Lyash. But after Thursday's board meeting in Knoxville, new board chairman John Ryder of Memphis said there are no plans to oust Lyash.
West qualified for the Tennessee presidential ballot this week with two members of the Ford family among those who signed from Memphis. The effort also included signatures from the Nashville and Clarksville areas.
Thousands of people began to contact MLGW Friday and Monday to work out payment plans, overwhelming the utility's phone bank and creating long lines outside branch offices.
The latest edition of our scorecard looks at several moves in the hiring freeze and what the rejection of a convenience store on East Holmes Road could mean for similar businesses in the rest of the county.
The voter turnout totals certified Monday by the Shelby County Election Commission show a larger than normal number of provisional ballots.
Shelby County commissioners approved a waiver to the freeze Monday for county firefighters but put off another waiver for 78 more positions in other departments.
General Sessions Court Clerk-elect Joe Brown, the former Memphis City Council member who won the clerk’s position in the August elections, said he is recovering from coronavirus.
Milton's argument comes as the head of information services for county government says his lean budget could exacerbate problems hiring tech employees. The commission votes Monday on a set of exceptions to the county's hiring freeze totaling 104 positions and nearly $7 million.
Nick Walker, who recently went from interim to permanent director of the city’s division of parks and neighborhoods, talked about the change and the move to a parks master plan on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast.
Memphis and Shelby County will sacrifice hundreds of millions of dollars worth of support in economic development if Memphis Light, Gas & Water Division splits from TVA, chief executive Jeffrey Lyash tells the EDGE Board.
The son of onetime topless nightclub kingpin Danny Owens is one of five people charged last year with running a heroin and fentanyl dealing operation in the city as Owens allegedly was planning to open a Memphis nightclub.
Council members Michalyn Easter-Thomas and Chase Carlisle were on opposite sides of the council's veto override vote on police residency this week. On "Behind The Headlines" they talked about how many police are enough and how to get to the bigger issues beyond the numbers in the ranks.
The City Council Scorecard also looks at a police reform measure that fell short of seven votes and failure of Graceland's plan to open a manufacturing plant with a vocational school in Whitehaven.
As expected, the utility is moving to a request-for-proposal process that would seek specific proposals from electric power suppliers that could replace the Tennessee Valley Authority.
The Shelby County Health Department is not tracking the number of COVID-19 cases in the schools nor is it requiring schools to report cases. Related: Like Shelby County, COVID-19 reporting among schools statewide is random
The veto and override came on a full day of council discussion and debate about police reform in general, including a vote on a resolution opposing the presence of the federal Operation LeGend in the city and U.S. Attorney Michael Dunavant's meeting with the council.
The MLGW board meets Wednesday and is likely to get a recommendation from its CEO to find a firm to field price quotes and other specific options toward either staying with TVA or what life after TVA looks like.
The Memphis City Council voted down plans Tuesday, Aug. 18, for a manufacturing facility and vocational school at the old Graves Elementary School site in Whitehaven. The project was the latest stage of an expansion of Graceland's presence in Whitehaven that includes a hotel-resort and an entertainment complex.
The board heard Monday from a coalition of groups pushing for cutting ties to TVA and other electric power suppliers that could replace TVA.
Meanwhile, Mayor Jim Strickland says public sentiment will probably have to resolve the differing views on what police reform in Memphis means two week after the council took a residency referendum off the November ballot. The proposed amendment was part of a push to increase the size of the police force.
Finances for The Walk, a vote on a controversial plan to convert a vacant Whitehaven school into a manufacturing plant and vocational school are candidates for Tuesday's council agenda.
Mayors Strickland and Harris and U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen were quick Monday to draw parallels to the national debate about various forms of voting and problems with the U.S. Postal Service when it comes to mailing in votes or Census forms.
The claim by a Missouri "photo historian" is being opposed by Elmwood Cemetery, which counters that the relative of J. Sam Morton included as a plaintiff is too distant to exhume the body to get a DNA sample. The case is built on alleged resemblances in old photos and the legend of Etta Place, the outlaw's companion.