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 4052 articles by Bill Dries :
The approval of the spending, which includes $19.1 million for Regional One Health and $4.4 milion to expand health care access to uninsured Shelby Countians, is county general fund money available as the federal ARPA money goes to account for lost county revenues in the pandemic.
In October 1971, three Orange Mound teenagers went for a ride that ended with law enforcement officers beating one of them to death in a ditch off Lamar Avenue. Fifty years later, no one has been convicted in the killing.
Fifty years after the death of Elton Hayes, a journey to his grave tells the story of the differences between Black and white in the Memphis of 1971 and the Memphis of today.
Mathilde Crosby is leaving county government to return to the private financial sector.
Meanwhile, the Shelby County Election Commission has underlined with a resolution that it needs to have redistricting maps for the school board and the Shelby County Commission no later than Nov. 8 to be ready for the 2022 county elections.
A reporters roundtable on the WKNO program “Behind The Headlines” looks at the most recent chapter in a long-running civic discussion about tax break incentives for economic growth.
Former First Lady Michelle Obama was joined by Poor People’s Campaign founders Rev. William Barber and Liz Theoharis in an awards ceremony that was for the most part conducted live in an Orpheum theater without an audience.
Numbers are moving downward in every age group, Shelby County Health Department Director Dr. Michelle Taylor said.
The leaders of the two housing and community groups talked on “Behind The Headlines” about a larger scope and plan for affordable housing in a city that needs about 40,000 new units of the housing.
The Council Scorecard looks at a lopsided council committee vote earlier this month on a new minimum wage for EDGE incentives and the outside events influencing it.
The state Board of Equalization approved Wednesday, Oct. 13, keeping the four-year cycle after Shelby County Assessor Melvin Burgess Jr. changed his recommendation for a two-year cycle late last week to whichever one the state board preferred.
In a statement released Tuesday, Oct. 12, by Smiley’s campaign, Cohen touted Smiley’s connection to the state’s major cities.
Memphis River Parks Partnership President Carol Coletta called the riverfront path “one of the most important parts of the park.”
Memphis Parks Director Nick Walker discusses rebranding and a website that emphasizes programming in city parks, as well as plans for a return to amateur sports leagues.
The second-term Memphis City Council member declared his candidacy Monday, Oct. 11. In his interview with The Daily Memphian, Morgan talked about what to expect from his campaign.
The two-term City Council member began an exploratory campaign earlier this year and formally launched his bid on Monday, Oct. 11.
Artist Theaster Gates talked Thursday about the installation having the same impact “The Bean” and the Tamir Rice Pavilion – both in Chicago – have had with the public finding the ultimate uses for them to make them destinations.
A veteran Public Defender is seeking to become the first Indian-American to serve as a judge in Shelby County. But Sanjeev Memula is considering which of the nine criminal divisions of General Sessions Court he will seek.
The county clerk is appealing for a county audit of how her office is funded a week after the Tennessee Comptroller ended a similar investigation, saying he found no evidence of fraud and that revenue in Halbert’s office was going where it was supposed to go.
The County Commission Scorecard highlights the commission’s choice of a new judicial commissioner and a call for U.S. Justice Department review of Juvenile Court and possibly a return to the federal oversight of the court that ended three years ago.
The council also delayed action on several resolutions awarding federal American Rescue Plan Act funding allocated for the council’s uses.
The City Council approved the pipeline right-of-way ordinance on the first of three votes Tuesday, Oct. 5. It covers the entire city, requiring a permitting process for any work done beneath or across city streets.
City Council members took a test vote of sorts in committee sessions on a proposal to make pay of $21 an hour the minimum for getting tax breaks from EDGE. The new Ford plant in Haywood County came up in the discussion.
City Chief Operating Officer Doug McGowen talked with The Daily Memphian about the factors that led the city and zoo to return to a parking plan that would take some of the Overton Park greensward and several trees. Listen to the interview.
The council is on record opposing TVA’s plan to truck coal ash from the old Allen Fossil Plant to a landfill in Capleville. The Tuesday council committee discussion also ventured into TVA’s role in the Blue Oval City Ford battery plant.