Bill Dries
Reporter
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 3666 articles by Bill Dries :
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October 2018
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City of Memphis When Jess Gaughan spoke last month at the start of an aborted debate that became a forum for Democratic Senate nominee Phil Bredesen at Rhodes College, the leader of Rhodes' Democrats didn’t get the same attention she might have. -
City of Memphis November ballot questions join long line in last decade
Voters in Shelby County have decided 52 referendums in the last decade of elections, from wine sales in food stores to the formation of suburban school systems to amendments to the Tennessee Constitution. -
City of Memphis Memphis firehouses start pilot foster dog program
Two Memphis fire stations are fostering dogs in a pilot program with Memphis Animal Services that is drawing inquiries from other fire departments and requests from other firehouses in the city. The stay at the fire stations could be two to three weeks before the dogs are transported to other cities for adoption there. -
Breaking News
State GovernmentSenate confirms Norris as federal judge
Tennessee state Senate Republican leader Mark Norris of Collierville was confirmed Thursday, Oct. 11, as a federal judge for the Western District of Tennessee. -
City of Memphis Sierra Club rips Bellefonte Nuclear proposal
The Tennessee chapter of the Sierra Club says a proposal to end Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division’s ties to the Tennessee Valley Authority and instead buy electricity from a renovated Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in Alabama is “pie in the sky.” -
City of Memphis Kyle rules charter referendums stay on November ballot
Questions on three city charter changes will stay on the Nov. 6 ballot. Shelby County Chancellor Jim Kyle denied Thursday a legal motion by critics of the referendums to remove them from the ballot as misleading and in violation of state law. -
City of Memphis Bellefonte plan swims in political currents
Memphis City Council members never got a chance to see the video made by backers of a move to make a renewed Bellefonte Nuclear Plant the major supplier of electrical power to Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division. -
City of Memphis Bellefonte-powered MLGW pitch generates doubts, questions
The former chief operating officer of the Tennessee Valley Authority wants Memphis Light Gas and Water Division to drop TVA as its electrical power supplier in five years. -
City of Memphis City Council approves New Bellevue development by Hein Park
Memphis City Council members approved a New Bellevue Baptist Church sanctuary and set of 17 single-family homes Tuesday, Oct. 9, on 4.6 acres of land on the border of the Hein Park subdivision. -
City of Memphis Kavanaugh protest mirrors ongoing national debate
A group of 50 protesters and a few dissenters outside the Peabody Place office building Downtown Monday evening played out the ongoing national debate over the Senate confirmation of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. And it came with a brief tug of war over a megaphone at the rally organized by Ama Ehrmann that drew leaders of the Indivisible Memphis organization. -
City of Memphis Council to discuss pending vacancies, rapid bus route, TBI investigations
Memphis City Council members could discuss the process of filling three upcoming vacancies on the body when they meet Tuesday, Oct. 9. -
City of Memphis Figures mark county’s voting population on eve of registration deadline
Shelby County registered 5,768 new voters from December 2017 to May 2018, according to the most current Shelby County Election Commission numbers. -
City of Memphis Arkansas levee trail open for October
The 73-mile Big River Levee Trail that runs between West Memphis and Marianna, Arkansas, is open to bikers and hikers for the month of October, the St. Francis Levee Board announced this week. -
City of Memphis Convention Center rebid benefits from more labor, different details
The city has changed some materials for interior and exterior renovations of the Memphis Cook Convention Center and is benefiting from a slower pace of construction that had put a higher labor cost on the $175 million project. -
City of Memphis Chancery lawsuit challenges Nov. 6 ballot referendums
A group of citizens and an organization trying to preserve instant-runoff or ranked-choice voting in city elections filed a Chancery Court lawsuit Friday, Oct. 5, against the Shelby County Election Commission and the city of Memphis seeking to take a repeal of IRV off the Nov. 6 ballot. -
City of Memphis Morrison gives notice of council resignation
Memphis City Council member and Shelby County Probate Court Clerk Bill Morrison will resign his seat on the council effective Nov. 1. -
City of Memphis Convention center rebid one piece in Downtown changes
Construction contractors get a detailed look Friday, Oct. 5, at changes to the $175 million renovation of the Memphis Cook Convention Center. -
City of Memphis Mississippi River Park nears November re-opening
Treehouses taking shape in Mississippi River Park by the Wolf River Harbor will get signs before the park’s Nov. 9 opening saying they are suitable for children ages 5-12. -
City of Memphis Kennedy Park segment of Wolf River Greenway opens
Most Memphians who use Kennedy Park know it primarily for its softball and baseball fields. That changed Wednesday, Oct. 3, as the latest stretch of the Wolf River Greenway opened where an almost impenetrable combination of undergrowth and dredge material once hid the Wolf River there. -
City of Memphis SafeWays partners with MHA
The crime prevention nonprofit group SafeWays is partnering with the Memphis Housing Authority to work in eight public housing high rises and communities as well as mixed-income communities on what were once MHA developments.
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September 2018
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City of Memphis Foote Homes to South City continues story of change
The path to end the city’s large public housing projects was a 20-year journey that brought city leaders to a tent last week near the corner of Vance and Lauderdale. -
City of Memphis Report finds broader economic development plan needed
The city-county Economic Development Growth Engine organization known primarily for granting tax incentives to businesses coming to or expanding in Memphis should be empowered to pursue a broader economic development strategy, according to a new report that compares EDGE to efforts in four other cities. -
City of Memphis Police shooting reaction goes beyond call for TBI investigations
Memphis police brass were about four minutes into Power Point slides at a Tuesday, Sept. 25, City Council committee session before council members shut down the presentation that tallied the hours of police camera recordings and number of cameras in patrol cars. -
City of Memphis Dulberger says EDGE small part of economic development
The leader of the city-county Economic Development Growth Engine says EDGE is willing to change, but Reid Dulberger was quick to add that changes to the formal approach to growing the Memphis economy won’t address the dominant challenges. -
Metro Early-voting sites, hours set
All of Shelby County’s 27 early-voting sites will open on Oct. 17, the first day of the early-voting period before the Nov. 6 election. Early voting runs through Nov. 1.
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