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 3909 articles by Bill Dries :
On "Behind The Headlines," Jim Strickland says the city should be able to fund the restoration of benefits with the recently approved half cent sales tax hike for several years. Beyond that, expenses will probably exceed revenues, which is something he and the city council will discuss Tuesday.
The five early voting sites opening Friday join a single early voting site Downtown that was open for the first week of the voting period.
Nigerian activist Hafsat Abiola, entertainer John Legend and feminist icon Gloria Steinem talked of past struggles and present challenges and the ties between them as they were Wednesday in Memphis.
The Election Commission considered changing the hours for early voting to open all six sites in the city council runoff races ahead of Friday. But the commission decided instead to set a policy on the issue in future elections.
A letter from eight commissioners is the latest entry in a long-running debate about voting locations. Through Monday, Oct. 28, 84 early votes had been cast in the two council district contests. Early voting continues through Nov. 9 and election day in Districts 1 and 7 is Nov. 14.
Republican U.S. Senate contender Bill Hagerty was among those pushing the president's re-election campaign. Gov. Bill Lee talked about criminal justice reform and education reform as efforts that are beyond ideology. Lee also never mentioned President Donald Trump during his remarks at the Tuesday gathering.
Authors Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate, whose recent book "Before and After" tells the story of children adopted through the Tennessee Children’s Home Society, drew a crowd over the weekend, including many whose lives were affected by the home.
Rev. Earle Fisher and Sijuwola Crawford talked about the blue wave of the 2018 county elections and the money that fueled a different outcome in the 2019 nonpartisan city elections on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast.
The District 1 and District 7 council runoff elections are each a matchup between an incumbent and a challenger. The two runoffs end the city's election year and set the mix of new and returning council members on the 13-member body.
Early voting in the two Memphis City Council runoff races opens Friday and runs through Nov. 9. Election day is Nov. 14 in the last election of 2019 in Memphis and Shelby County.
Sijuwola Crawford and Earle Fisher of Up The Vote 901 and the People's Convention talk about what voters were saying in city elections, voices outside the polling places and the return of the People’s Convention.
Ibram X. Kendi, the author of "How to be an Antiracist," says it's harder to prove intent and consciousness in racism and that's why politicians have defined racism that way for generations. The concept came into play in the recent race for Memphis mayor. Kendi didn't comment on that controversy but says the idea has become part of the nation's political discourse.
Two Memphis city council members say they have doubts about restoring city pension and health benefits to police officers and firefighters with a half-cent sales tax hike approved by city voters earlier this month.
The new scooters that debuted Wednesday in Crosstown with seats and bigger tires use a network of Bike Share stations around the city and are part of the move to keep more scooters in bike lanes and off sidewalks.
The Shelby County Election Commission is working to add voters to the rolls in time for the Nov. 14 runoff elections as the result of a last-minute bump in online registration thanks to a national Facebook effort.
Former Congressman Harold Ford Jr. returned to his hometown and the city he represented for a decade in Washington to talk about national politics, President Trump and the city’s edge.
None of the new vote totals in the certified and audited count changed the outcome of any races for 18 offices and a sales tax hike referendum. Most of the additional votes appeared to be the result of provisional ballots counted after the Oct. 3 election night.
Blake Owens, the son of one-time topless nightclub kingpin Danny Owens and owner of O's Realty Inc., has been indicted by a federal grand jury on drug conspiracy charges along with four others.
Trump supporters who oppose the House impeachment inquiry gathered in the Civic Center Plaza Thursday in what organizer Charlotte Bergmann said is the first of several rallies attempting to change the county’s identity as a Democratic stronghold.
Memphis City Council chairman Kemp Conrad says the Memphis in May International Festival should focus on honoring a rotating set of countries instead of the broad range of countries the festival has honored over more than 40 years.
The third quarter campaign finance reports show the campaign for a city sales tax hike raised more money than any candidate on the Oct. 3 ballot. The campaign was second only to Mayor Jim Strickland in spending. The reports cover the critical run-up to the city elections, including the first part of the early voting period.
There is no dispute about the results of who won and who lost in the Oct. 3 city elections. The direction the city takes from the election and what voters were saying about stark differences on issues between some of the contenders are still being sorted out. Meanwhile, four new council members are getting their first up-close look at how City Hall does business.
Without comment in a one-sentence court order, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that it will not hear an appeal of the removal of Confederate monuments from two city parks in 2017. The city says the decision sets the stage for the sale of the monuments. The leader of Memphis Greenspace says permanent changes to Memphis Park are poised to begin.
Memphis City Council members appear divided on the idea of hiring police officers and firefighters from outside Shelby County.
The city council delayed final votes Tuesday on two measures.