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 4395 articles by Bill Dries :
County Commissioner Tami Sawyer announced Monday she will not seek a second term in the 2022 county elections. Her decision means six new faces on the commission in the next election.
Commissioners made changes Monday to the blue ribbon ethics panel it created despite a veto by county Mayor Lee Harris. The changes didn’t go down well with those who wanted the group to report directly to the commission and not the county Ethics Commission.
The state’s executive order banning mask mandates is taking fire from President Joe Biden as well as Biden’s education secretary Miguel Cardona, who this past week specifically questioned the legality of the executive order.
A proposed ordinance establishing setback requirements for oil pipelines will advance to a final Shelby County Commission vote next month despite getting only five “yes” votes from commissioners this week.
The Shelby County Commission asked Gov. Bill Lee to rescind his executive order allowing parents to opt-out of school mask mandates. It also passed resolutions supporting a countywide mask mandate and spending funds on masks for all county public school systems.
During the spring budget season, the commission opted for the one-time bonuses over a pay raise proposed by County Mayor Lee Harris. But after the fiscal year started, the move began to grant the pay raises as well as bonuses.
The county-owned hospital is hiring to reopen 21 beds with $2 million in city funding approved last week. The county funding will also help over the next 13 weeks as Regional One competes with other hospital systems across the country to hire skilled health care workers to meet the demand from the latest COVID surge.
The Monday, Aug. 23, county commission meeting also includes a resolution calling for a countywide mask mandate and another resolution calling on Tenn. Gov. Bill Lee to rescind his executive order that outlaws mask mandates in schools.
The commission scorecard focuses on a rare veto by the county mayor and the County Commission’s vote earlier this month to override that veto. It’s another chapter in a contentious political saga as the commission enters the last year of its current four-year term of office.
Three leaders of the federally-funded effort to help pay overdue rent and utility bills talked on “Behind The Headlines” about what the new market reality means for the city’s growth with a shortage of quality affordable housing.
U.S. Census figures show some County Commission districts have grown in population while others have lost population since a decade ago.
The CEO of the region’s trauma center and safety net hospital said national competition among hospitals for the skilled specialists needed to put 21 beds back in use at Regional One is intense and costly.
“We must have a universal mask mandate in Shelby County and it needs to happen quickly,” Health Department director Dr. Michelle Taylor told the County Commission Wednesday. Related story:
Most — but not all — county commissioners support return to masks
There are also questions about whether the move back to masks is legal, given the governor’s recent executive order. Related story:
Health Dept. Director: Shelby County mask mandate ‘needs to happen quickly'
The letter circulating Tuesday warns of “catastrophic” effects that could “affect health care at every level.” Meanwhile, the city council is urging Gov. Bill Lee to rescind his executive order to allow parents to opt out of school mask mandates.
Shelby County Schools leaders, however, say the school system’s mask mandate remains in place despite the executive order that also includes mask mandates by school systems. Shelby County Commissioner Van Turner is suggesting the county should take the issue to court.
The second council meeting of September could see final votes on all three of the ordinances. The council also made some key amendments to two of the proposals that impose local regulations on crude oil pipelines proposed for the city.
The earliest the City Council could vote on setting up a charter commission is its Sept. 7 meeting.
Forming a charter commission to look at consolidated government could move from discussions to a vote later on Tuesday depending on how the discussion goes and whether it shows there are seven votes supporting it.
Leaders of a political action committee pushing for a metro charter commission say such a group is necessary to explore a more efficient local government.
Tennessee’s two Republican U.S. senators were highly critical of President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw U.S. military forces before his speech Monday, Aug. 16. They were more critical after the speech.
One of the county’s most vocal advocates for a new voting system with hand-marked paper ballots says the push for such a system isn’t part of the national political movement that contends Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election.
Greater Memphis Chamber chief public policy officer Bobby White said planning construction could take a decade or more, most likely across the administrations of several presidents, governors and mayors.
The data will help determine how districts are drawn for the Tennessee General Assembly and Congressional districts as well as the Shelby County Commission and the Memphis City Council.
The first step toward consolidation shows up on the City Council’s committee list for next week.