Memphis sets up focus groups to ‘reimagine policing’
The “reimagine policing” group is to make recommendations by the start of the new year.
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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October 2020
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Public Safety -
Elections Shelby election officials get new ballot scanners for absentee vote count
It’s the second consecutive election the Tennessee Secretary of State’s office has come up with federal funding to buy the updated scanners for Shelby County.
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Elections Presidential campaigns have distinctly Memphis flavor
Tennessee may not be a battleground state in the presidential general election, but the absence of the Trump or Biden national campaigns in Memphis leaves a race for president on uniquely local terms.
Related story: A local history of tumult and change at the polls
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Education County budget season blueprint gets closer look
Budget committee chairman Edmund Ford Jr. amended his resolution to stick with the county’s policy of keeping its financial reserves at 20% of general fund revenues. He has suggested a 15% to 20% guideline.
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Elections More than 28,000 request absentee ballots as of a day before deadline
Applications can be made online and are due by the end of the business day at the election commission. Completed absentee ballots are due at the election commission by the time the Election Day polls close at 7 p.m. Nov. 3 and cannot be hand-delivered.
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Elections A local history of tumult and change at the polls
Here are a few changes in how elections are conducted in Memphis, close elections and even a belated admission that a pivotal mayor’s race was rigged.
Related story: Presidential campaigns have distinctly Memphis flavor
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Shelby County Reducing county reserve fund has risks, commission is warned
The commission will vote Oct. 26 on setting new parameters for the spring budget season. And the county’s CFO says it could be dangerous to lower the percentage of reserves on hand.
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Podcast
On the RecordGrowth in voters and voter turnout comes with questions
The founder of one of the get out the vote groups working locally says on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast that higher turnout is part of a national trend. But detailed numbers also show ongoing problems in access to the vote.
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City of Memphis Strickland trying to get process back on track for possible MLGW exit from TVA
The mayor says taking bids from possible rivals to TVA should include transmission costs to get the cost estimates needed to make a decision about MLGW leaving the federal agency.
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VIDEO
City of MemphisStrickland says rebuilding MPD will cost more money
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland also said on the WKNO program “Behind The Headlines” that police reform still means hiring more officers.
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City of Memphis Elvis Presley Enterprises’ lawsuit against city of Memphis dismissed
The federal lawsuit claimed the city interfered with Graceland’s plans for a Whitehaven arena.
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Elections Early voting near 200,000 mark with one week in pre-election day period
Thursday marks one week to the end of early voting in the presidential general election. While turnout has slipped a bit after the weekend, it is still ahead of the early voting count at this point for the three previous elections in the cycle.
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City of Memphis New try at larger MPD is among task force goals
The violent crime task force is forming as Police Director Michael Rallings told City Council members Tuesday that more officers means less crime. The city has already this year set a record for the number of annual homicides.
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City of Memphis Council considers broadening COVID business grants
The Memphis City Council is considering dropping the city residency requirement for business owners seeking COVID-related grants who live outside Memphis but have businesses inside the city.
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City of Memphis Pinch District tower developers meet council skepticism
Developers of a $180 million commercial mixed-use tower of hotel rooms and condos on the western edge of the Pinch District encountered some skepticism as they pitched the project to the Memphis City Council.
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Elections Local leaders plan for election surprises beyond ‘incivility’
For two weeks, the state’s Emergency Management agency has been walking local leaders, including law enforcement, through such election surprises as voter intimidation, disruptions and even civil disorder in the event no one concedes in the contentious presidential race atop the ballot.
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City of Memphis City Council talks riverfront tower project and record homicide count
The Tuesday city council session will also include a call for more information about the percentage of city contracts that minority-owned businesses get.
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Elections More than 111,000 cast ballots in first 4 days of early voting
The total is inexact but ahead of the pace for early voting in the last three presidential elections in Shelby County. Data includes details of who the early voters and absentee voters are and a batch of new voters registered in recent months.
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Elections North Memphis poll worker fired for turning away voters
The firing was confirmed by an election commission spokesperson after state Rep. Antonio Parkinson posted about the change in personnel Sunday on social media.
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PODCAST
ElectionsAbsentee votes will complicate election night returns
Shelby County Elections Administrator Linda Phillips, on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, says the unofficial vote count may be tallied by midnight Nov. 3. But counting absentee ballots is a complex process.
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Elections Federal appeals court upholds signature verification law for absentee ballots
The ruling is in one of five federal court challenges to state laws governing Tennessee’s absentee ballot process underway as absentee voters are completing their ballots and mailing them back to election commissions across the state.
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Shelby County County Commission Scorecard: Police reform bundle, voting machine contract
The County Commission Scorecard tracks the final stand of a set of four police reforms applying to county law enforcement and what may be the last stand of the $5.8 million contract to buy a new voting system for the county.
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Video
Public SafetyPolice reform discussion focuses on questions of what is real change
Former Memphis City Council member Harold Collins and Just City Director Josh Spickler said on “Behind The Headlines” that for all of the talk of changing police, MPD is still policing the way it has for decades.
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Elections Nearly 27,000 cast ballots in bold opening day of early vote
Voters lined up before the doors opened Wednesday at 26 early-voting sites across Shelby County and kept coming through the morning. Early voting continues through Oct. 29. Election Day is Nov. 3.
Related Story: Ballot Basics: Voting Absentee and Lessons from August
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Elections Ballot Basics: Voting Absentee and Lessons from August
Here are the basics of the absentee ballot process -- applying for a ballot and what to do when you get it. We also outline some important lessons about the process learned in the August elections.
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