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 4215 articles by Bill Dries :
The withdrawal deadline for the Aug. 6 ballot passed Thursday with several withdrawals from races on the Shelby County ballot. But much of the attention is on the decision the day before by the Tennessee Democratic Party to remove four contenders from the party primaries in Shelby County.
The recommendation from the Shelby County Health Department to keep precautions in place until the end of May remains despite some modeling showing an earlier date for the peak of the pandemic.
The immediate goal is to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus. But the elected leaders and health experts who are working toward that goal come from different experiences with different responsibilities beyond dealing with a pandemic.
The incomplete Shelby County Health Department analysis shows two-thirds of the confirmed COVID cases with detailed information were among African Americans and more than 70% of the deaths examined were among African Americans.
Former City Council member Florence Leffler died this week, ending a life as an educator, actress and politician and sometimes a blend of all three.
Shelby County has 19 fatalities compared to 9 in Davidson County.
“The goal isn’t so much to expand the volume of testing but the equity of testing, both demographically and geographically,” said Jenny Bartlett-Prescott, chief operating officer of Church Health who is leading the task force’s testing subgroup.
The council's second online meeting includes a pared-down agenda of 17 items and a committee discussion on changes to the city's upcoming budget season that means no council community grants.
Mayor Jim Strickland plans to keep his April 21 date to present his budget proposal for the new fiscal year to the city council as his administration evaluates the impact of the COVID-19 virus on sales tax revenues that finance some of the city's biggest construction projects.
The city's chief operating officer says the model assumes 100% compliance, and that is "not realistic." Meanwhile, racial demographics are missing from local data on the virus as some are concerned areas historically underserved by health care may need more attention in the city's response to the virus.
During a conference call with reporters Tuesday, Cohen said a fourth aid package of federal funding will likely deal with more funding for unemployment compensation and forgivable loans to small businesses instead of infrastructure money.
The number of coronavirus cases in Shelby County currently stands at 789, according to the Shelby County Health Department.
The mayor extended the Memphis' state of emergency through April 21 and said the city is preparing for a second emergency field hospital, also arranging for housing and testing of the homeless population .
The funding comes from the Federal Transit Administration through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act that became law.
The Thursday filing deadline also saw 14 confirmed candidates in the statewide Republican primary for U.S. Senate and five in the companion Democratic primary for the open seat.
On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, SCS board member Kevin Woods says Shelby County Schools face a possible $130 million hole in its budget from the loss of sales tax revenue.
Shelby County Schools board member Kevin Woods talks about his decision to run for re-election and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on public education.
The state plans to build a temporary hospital of non-acute care beds at the Gateway Shopping Center on Jackson Avenue. Other sites are being evaluated.
A recap of the fields in the five Shelby County Schools board races and 16 races for the Tennessee Legislature.
The head of Memphis Tourism said on "Behind The Headlines" that the recovery of the tourism sector in the city could stretch into 2022. Kevin Kane was appointed recently to a state task force on the economic recovery from COVID-19.
Governor Bill Lee will sign Executive Order 23 requiring that Tennesseans stay home unless they are carrying out essential activities as data shows an increase in citizen movement across the state.
City braces for surge in COVID-19 cases. An announcement is expected Friday, April 3, on the site of a 1,000-bed temporary hospital to accommodate the coming surge, local leaders announced Thursday.
Five incumbents could effectively win re-election at Thursday's noon deadline, but that's not a sure thing for most of them. And eight of the 16 seats in the Shelby County delegation to Nashville on the Aug. 6 ballot will likely be decided with the primaries as the winners run unopposed in the November general election.