County commissioners to consider $1.4M for COVID testing kits
Shelby County commissioners meet in special session Wednesday, Jan. 19, to approve $1.4 million in funding to buy 15,000 COVID self-test kits at a unit price that comes to 180,000 tests.
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 4334 articles by Bill Dries :
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January 2022
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Shelby County -
City of Memphis Ida B. Wells to be honored with Downtown street
The name change approved Tuesday changes the street’s name on city maps and as a mailing address.
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crime crisis
Public SafetyWhat happens with most local drag racing charges? They’re dismissed
Calling it a “terrible reality,” Memphis City Councilman Worth Morgan said that “people are not being held accountable for fleeing from police.”
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City of Memphis State change in discount rate to cost city $500,000 in next fiscal year
The state has lowered the percentage it expects to make on investments that finance pension funds. By state law, the city of Memphis must lower its discount rate as well in the spring budget season.
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City of Memphis Political Roundup: Sugarmon opens for Juvenile Court Judge as races heat up
Candidates who won’t be on the ballot until August are actively campaigning along with those in partisan races whose first hurdle is the May county primaries.
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Metro City council goes further down the road in reckless driving review
On Tuesday, Jan. 18, District Attorney General Amy Weirich will talk about how her office prosecutes reckless driving and drag racing cases.
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Financial Services Pay raises for corrections workers part of crime fight, Lee Harris says
Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris said the raises approved this month for 200 corrections center guards are being funded in part by fees the Justice Department is paying the county as it closes down a privately run federal prison. And he said more raises and bonuses are coming for others.
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City of Memphis WATCH: Conversation about violent crime about to heat up
Josh Spickler, of the criminal justice reform group Just City, said on WKNO’s Behind The Headlines that there is another side to allegations the county’s criminal justice system is a ‘revolving door.’
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Business House committee questions TVA power rates
A nine-page letter from Capitol Hill questions a central tenet of TVA’s pitch for Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division to remain the federal agency’s largest customer for electric power.
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Metro Blackburn grills federal appeals court nominee Mathis over ‘rap sheet’ for traffic tickets
The Judiciary Committee scrap over Mathis’ nomination was part of a larger issue about blue slips used to express support or opposition by Senators on federal appeals court nominees when the home-state Senators are not of the president’s party.
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Elections Henri Brooks seeks return to county government in 2022 primaries
The former county commissioner has pulled petitions to seek a return to the County Commission or to run for Juvenile Court Clerk.
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Shelby County As criminal investigation continues, Ford challenges journalists, commission chair
Edmund Ford Jr. said he was “sort of offended” after an executive from The Commercial Appeal complained to the commission over Ford’s treatment of a reporter.
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Shelby County Half of county is COVID vaxxed, only 17% have booster shot
Shelby County Health Department director Dr. Michelle Taylor also complained about employers requiring a test for workers who have quarantined for the recommended five days to return to work after initially testing positive for COVID.
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City of Memphis City Council Scorecard: How to lose an appointment
The first Council Scorecard of the new year chronicles a rare defeat of an appointment from the city court clerk’s office and a few notes about the start of the second half of the current council’s four-year term.
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Shelby County County Commission approves corrections officer pay raises
The money will mean raises of up to 20% for guards working at prisons run by the county administration.
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State Government Federal ARPA funds for past-due mortgage payments coming from state
The Tennessee Housing Development Agency begins taking applications online Monday, Jan. 10, for $168 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding for those behind on their mortgage payments specifically because of the pandemic.
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City of Memphis Political roundup: Morgan talks differences with Harris; 3 Democratic DA contenders pledge changes
Republican mayoral contender Worth Morgan emphasized his differences on crime with Democratic incumbent Lee Harris. The three Democrats seeking to challenge Republican District Attorney Amy Weirich in August said the prosecutors office would change profoundly if any of them upset Weirich.
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Shelby County First County Commission meeting of year focuses on Omicron spike
County commissioners will get their second briefing from the Health Department in a week about the effect the new Omicron variant is having on local hospital capacity.
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Crime Crisis
City of MemphisPaying The Police: Comparing area officers’ salaries
The Daily Memphian compares top pay and pay ranges for the county’s six law enforcement agencies and finds that the area’s smaller police departments pay more.
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City of Memphis City Council Scorecard: The five most critical decisions of 2021
The top five votes by the Memphis City Council include what happened after a crude oil pipeline plan was withdrawn and the council’s do-over on the work toward a possible MLGW split from TVA.
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Memphis' Crime Crisis
Public SafetyEfforts to bolster police force face tall obstacles
The MPD has gone from 2,449 officers a decade ago to slightly more than 1,900 today. The problem is national but also unique to Memphis in some ways.
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Behind The Headlines Watch: Pandemic’s long shadow dominates review of 2021’s major local events
“Behind The Headlines” features a discussion of the year’s major events. The reporters’ roundtable found the long shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic crossed even those events that seemed unconnected to the global public health crisis.
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Elections Miska Clay Bibbs, Willie Brooks target new jobs
Shelby County Schools board member Bibbs is seeking a County Commission seat. Meanwhile Commission Chairman Brooks is aiming for the Shelby County Register’s job.
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City of Memphis Strickland asks Lee to make new bridge ‘long-term’ priority
Strickland asked Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, in a letter dated Thursday, to list the bridge project as one of the state’s long-term infrastructure priorities. He cited the three-month shutdown last year of the Hernando DeSoto Bridge as well as the advanced age of other bridges at Memphis across the Mississippi River.
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Shelby County County Commission Scorecard: Top 5 Votes of 2021
The top five include property taxes, redistricting, pay raises, a takeback on critical race theory and the strategic battle for a new commission chairman.
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