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 4333 articles by Bill Dries :
If a tax-sharing bill pending in the Tennessee General Assembly is approved in Nashville and signed by Gov. Bill Lee, it could mean an additional $12 million in revenue to the city, Mayor Jim Strickland says.
Four of the six applicants have pulled and/or filed petitions to run for a full 4-year term in the Senate seat. In other action, the commission approved funding for juvenile counselors in police precincts.
The commission delayed votes to receive and file two financial reports from Memphis Shelby County Schools until it gets dollar figures on the rebrand.Related story:
The county commission Republican primary between incumbent Brandon Morrison and challenger Jordan Carpenter is the only contested GOP primary on the May ballot.
Janika White opened her campaign for District Attorney General Saturday while federal legislators from Tennessee weighed in on the Ukraine situation.
Planners hope the transformation of the old Northside High School building into a mixed-use development will rekindle a sense of community in the Klondike section of North Memphis.
The commission won’t fill the vacancy until next month but most if not all of the names on the list are expected to be those running in the August primaries for a full four-year term in Nashville.
There’s a new contender for an open school board seat while more incumbent judges file for re-election.
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis had a front-row seat Thursday, Feb. 24, for Russia’s political defense of its invasion of Ukraine.
During an hour-long online town hall Wednesday, Feb. 23, City Council member Worth Morgan and MLGW leaders fielded questions about recent increases in utility bills and the ice storm repairs.
The commission set the schedules Wednesday, Feb. 23, for taking applications, interviewing candidates and making the picks.
The county administration is working with a national coalition of local elected leaders to question the efficacy fines and fees in the local criminal justice system. Among the first changes, was dropping a fee for medical services at the county corrections center.
The commission could set dates Wednesday for interviewing applicants for the state Senate District 33 seat and the Memphis Shelby County Schools board seat.
The former director of youth basketball programming for the Memphis Grizzlies will lead the Memphis Sports & Events Center, which is under construction at Liberty Park.
The winner between Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris and challenger Ken Moody will face Republican nominee and Memphis City Council member Worth Morgan on the August ballot.
At the noon Thursday, Feb. 17, filing deadline to get on the county primary ballot, there was only one contested Republican primary. But every incumbent Democratic official holding countywide office had challengers in the May primaries.
Election Commission Chairman Brent Taylor and Shelby County Commissioner Van Turner spoke on this week’s “Behind The Headlines.”
Memphis and Southaven have been in court over Mayor Jim Strickland’s plan to end any new sewer connections to North Mississippi in 2023.
Speaking Thursday, Feb. 17, at the Frayser Exchange Club, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said the city’s chronic power outages during frequent storms is mostly about the trees that dominate the city’s landscape. Strickland says any solution to the continuing outages will be expensive.
The deadline to get on the ballot is noon, Thursday, Feb. 17, and there were a lot of political moves up to the 24-hour mark for candidates to file their qualifying petitions with the Shelby County Election Commission.
The city is forming a citizens group to review the ice storm response and how recent power outages have been handled by Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division.
On the way to the deadline for the May county primaries, the race for a new Cordova County Commission seat has grown and there are early moves by state Rep. London Lamar on the August ballot.
The vote for cashless payments to get cars impounded by towing companies was unanimous.
The council debate was underway as state legislators were debating in Nashville. The common factor in both discussions was Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis, who backed the bill in Nashville while outlining strategies to hire more officers who live in Memphis.
Also Tuesday, the council will consider opposing a bill in the Tennessee General Assembly that would outlaw any kind of residency requirement for police and firefighters.