MLGW adjusts budget, tracks ‘customer minutes interrupted’
The political battle over MLGW rates and calls for upgrades in the utility's infrastructure shows every sign of returning for another budget 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 4048 articles by Bill Dries :
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March 2019
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City of Memphis -
City of Memphis River forecast to drop at Memphis despite Midwest flooding
The Mississippi River is forecast to rise slightly this week before beginning a drop to below flood stage by the end of the month. But the agencies that watch the flow of the river remain in "flood fight" status, given historic flooding to the north.
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Metro Memphis singer, songwriter John Kilzer dies
Memphis singer/songwriter-turned-pastor John Kilzer has died. He was 62.
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City of Memphis Council delays Graceland development plan, first reading of 3.0 plan
The council also delayed the first of three votes on the Memphis 3.0 land use and development guidelines and approved the Poplar Arts Lofts project. And the council got a first hand look at the FedEx "same day bot" to be tested on Memphis streets this summer.
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City of Memphis Council to vote on Graceland development plan
A Graceland master plan that does not include an arena tops Tuesday's Memphis City Council agenda. Also on the agenda is the Poplar Arts Lofts project and a discussion about urban art.
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City of Memphis Boyd disclosure form on council website updated as other members post theirs
Memphis City Council member Berlin Boyd has amended his disclosure to include his job with FedEx Logistics on a form dated last week on the council's website.
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City of Memphis Jeff Warren seeks council seat after time of historic change on school board
Former Memphis City Schools board member Jeff Warren is running for a super district council seat, citing his experience as a family physician and as a school board member as terms were set for the merger of public education in Shelby County.
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Metro U.S. Sen. Warren touts ‘different kind of campaign', ‘big systemic change’ in Douglass High campaign stop
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren drew a crowd of more than 400 in North Memphis for the first Memphis appearance by a presidential hopeful in advance of the Tennessee presidential primaries of March 2020.
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City of Memphis Magevney House opens Fridays during Lent, prepares for city’s bicentennial
The circa-1836 home of Irish immigrant Eugene Magevney is open for tours Fridays through April 12 and has plans as well as a wish list for a more active future.
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Shelby County Local Democrats to elect new party chair
After a party reorganization in 2017 and a Democratic sweep of countywide offices in the 2018 elections, Shelby County Democratic Party chairman Corey Strong says it is time for another leader of the local party.
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City of Memphis Blight fight moves from single lot to bigger market-based view
The $11 million renovation of a Frayser apartment complex owned by The Works, a South Memphis community development corporation, is an indication that the coordinated fight against blight in the city has moved beyond one single-family home at a time.
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Metro Alexander, Blackburn split in Senate vote on border wall emergency order
Tennessee’s two Republican U.S. senators split Thursday in the chamber’s vote on a resolution blocking President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency to fund a border wall with Mexico.
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City of Memphis City Hall’s 2018 minority spend miscalculated, lower than 2017
Mayor Jim Strickland's administration conceded a "clerical error" in its minority spending numbers Thursday, saying the city actually spent 17.7 percent of its money in 2018 with women- and minority-owned businesses rather than the 24 percent previously touted by Strickland.
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Metro Warren makes early campaign stop in Memphis Sunday
Democratic presidential contender Elizabeth Warren will make an early campaign stop in Memphis Sunday at Douglass High School.
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Shelby County Rose takes state Senate District 32 seat by wide margin
Covington business owner Paul Rose claimed the district seat on both sides of the Tipton-Shelby county line with nearly 90 percent of the district-wide vote.
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City of Memphis City sues big pharma companies over opioid addiction
The city of Memphis is suing 21 opioid manufacturers and distributors in a federal lawsuit claiming “opioid addiction is ravaging Memphis.”
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Metro Memphis mayor’s race begins to solidify ahead of spring and summer campaigns
The race for Memphis Mayor has three front-line contenders on the way to the spring and summer heart of the 2019 campaign. And the trio of Sawyer, Herenton and Strickland shows some differences that reflect divergent views of the city's future beyond who wins and who loses.
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City of Memphis Memphis’ 311 call center gives look behind the scenes
Monday was “311 Day” at City Hall, and the city’s 311 operation and call center was open to the media to draw awareness to the call and app service that began in 2013.
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State Government State Senate District 32 voters go to polls Tuesday
Voters in eastern Shelby County and Tipton County go to the polls Tuesday to decide who will take the state Senate District 32 seat formerly held by Mark Norris.
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City of Memphis Sales tax petition drive check turning up lots of invalid signatures
Almost half the signatures processed so far to put a city sales tax hike on the ballot this year have been judged invalid, according to the Shelby County Election Commission.
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State Government Lee maps challenge of ‘status quo’ in first State of West Tennessee address
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee's remarks at the University of Memphis Thursday went short on budget specifics for local projects and longer on his conservative philosophy for state government, but he stopped short of saying he would sign the "fetal heartbeat" abortion bill that cleared the state House earlier in the day.
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City of Memphis Mississippi River sitting above 40 feet on gauge
The Mississippi River at Memphis is past its crest as of Monday, but the level is still over 40 feet on the river gauge.
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Shelby County Last day of early voting in state Senate District 32 election is Thursday
The last day of early voting in state Senate District 32 is followed by the March 12 election day for the seat covering eastern Shelby County and all of Tipton County. Early voter turnout appears to be about where it was in the January special primary elections.
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City of Memphis Memphis 3.0 plan draws more questions than reviews in first council discussion
Memphis City Council members looked for a quick bottom line in the Memphis 3.0 plan during their first discussion of the 400-page proposal Tuesday.
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City of Memphis City and Graceland break standoff over Whitehaven expansion minus arena
The city and Graceland appear to have an agreement that allows the Graceland master plan to move ahead in some form beyond litigation over an arena that has been a part of the plan.
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