Bill Dries
Reporter
Bill Dries covers city government and politics. He is a native Memphian and has been a reporter for more than 40 years.
There are 1883 articles by Bill Dries :
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October 2018
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City of Memphis 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. -
Downtown 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. -
City of Memphis City working group looks for direction on EDGE
The city’s working group on economic development is about to compare notes on the attributes of a “perfect” economic development organization. -
City of Memphis Council approves de-annexations of Rocky Point, Southwind/Windyke
The Memphis City Council gave final approval Tuesday, Sept. 25, to the de-annexations of the Rocky Point and Southwind/Windyke areas of the city. -
Education Burt named new SCS chief academic officer
Antonio Burt, principal at one of Shelby County Schools’ first Innovation Zone schools and leader of priority and I-Zone schools, is the new chief academic officer for SCS. -
City of Memphis New South City homes begin rising on site of Foote Homes
The last of the brick two-story apartment buildings that were the Foote Homes public housing development are down to a few slabs of concrete overgrown by grass and bushes. And new wooden frames are starting to rise near the corner of Lauderdale Street and Vance Avenue. -
City of Memphis City Council to discuss bus lanes on Second and B.B. King, vote on de-annexations
Second Street and B.B. King Boulevard between Union Avenue and A.W. Willis Boulevard would each have a lane just for buses and other mass transit under a proposal to be discussed by a Memphis City Council committee Tuesday, Sept. 25. -
City of Memphis Facebook finds, removes more fake Memphis Police Department accounts
Facebook has deactivated six fake accounts connected to the Memphis Police Department, according to the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation, and sent a letter to police brass last week warning them that the fake accounts violate Facebook's terms of service. -
City of Memphis City ready to re-institute Beale Street Bucks cover charge for security
The first weekend the Downtown Memphis Commission and Memphis Police Department considered reinstituting a cover charge on Beale Street did not occur. -
Shelby County Four potential new voting systems for Shelby County get road test
Three of the four voting systems certified by the state of Tennessee for use in elections would enable voters to get a printed copy of their choices and then complete the voting process by running that printed copy through a scanner. -
Second convention hotel set for Civic Center Plaza
The city’s second convention center hotel will be constructed on Civic Center Plaza across from City Hall and next to the Downtown Memphis Commission offices, Jonathan Tisch, the chairman and CEO of Loews Hotel & Co., said Friday.
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