Police reforms on City Council agenda Tuesday
The Memphis City Council has three resolutions on its Tuesday, June 16, agenda dealing with law enforcement.
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 4420 articles by Bill Dries :
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June 2020
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City of Memphis -
Shelby County County Commission appears to balance budget with $16.5 million use of reserves
The six-hour special meeting Monday sets the stage for a final budget vote in a week. But there are questions about the dollar figures approved by the Commission and how much red ink there is to be dealt with after the moves. Two social media posts during the meeting by County Mayor Lee Harris also complained that there would be layoffs and cutbacks in critical county programs.
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Coronavirus Shelby County not moving to Phase 3 as cases, hospitalizations rise
Shelby County will not move to the third phase of reopening in the COVID-19 pandemic right now.
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Public Safety More than 100 nonprofits say city is ‘set up’ for oppression
The open letter issued Monday calls for police reforms and anti-poverty initiatives. It also accuses Memphis Police of an "egregious" response to peaceful protest in the city. The black-led coalition includes a diverse group of many of the city's nonprofits, from community development corporations to arts groups to housing initiative leaders as well as social justice groups.
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City of Memphis Fisher: What’s next isn’t just about protests
A critic of the Strickland administration, the Rev. Earle Fisher, says on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast that he hopes Mayor Jim Strickland's talks with religious leaders produce solutions. But he also expressed skepticism, as some of those in the group have accused police of using excessive force in the city's first George Floyd protest.
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Podcast
On the RecordThe People’s Convention one year later
One of the organizers of the 2019 People’s Convention says while a lot has happened since the gathering ahead of the 2019 city elections, not a lot has changed including calls in June of 2019 for a change in police policies.
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Public SafetyWhat ‘Defund the police’ really means from those who use the phrase
The call to "defund" police during three weeks of daily protests in Memphis has grown as action moves from marches to specific issues. The terms doesn't always mean the same thing to everyone, however.
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Shelby County Sheriff to address County Commission amid budget work
The sheriff's appearance comes a week after a clash on the commission over two attempts to cut funding in his budget and reallocate it. The commission appears to be about $5 million away from balancing the budget. But there are lots of questions about whether the movement of line items can be applied to the red ink.
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City of MemphisCity Council Scorecard: End of the budget season, impasses, bridges and absentee voting
The latest edition of our City Council Scorecard, going back to the start of May, gets the council votes on the record for the end of the budget season and other issues that will endure beyond the first budget season for six of the 13 council members.
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Public Safety Religious leaders: Police handling of Memphis protests ‘excessive’
The ministers who signed the letter include two who have been meeting with Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland in a review of police procedures. They specifically questioned the law enforcement response to the first local protest over the death of George Floyd that ended with five arrests.
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City of Memphis Civil rights experts explain why Floyd protests are ‘something different’
Faith Morris of the National Civil Rights Museum and Archie Willis of ComCap Partners talk on "Behind The Headlines" about two and a half weeks of protest in Memphis and the difference it represents in the city's history of protest.
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Coronavirus Phase 3 reopening to see partial restart of Riverside Drive traffic
Health Department Director Alisa Haushalter says despite the recent spike in daily confirmed cases, she sees little reason to put off a move to Phase 3 on Monday.
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Coronavirus Shelby County Health Dept. gives details on Phase 3
Shelby County Health Dept. director Alisa Haushalter opened Thursday’s briefing with some thoughts on Phase 3.
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Public Safety Gibbons says violent protests shouldn’t distract pursuit of police misconduct
Memphis-Shelby Crime Commission president also talked about calls to defund police departments, the difficulty in prosecuting police officers and the new requirement for police to intervene when another officer is abusing his or her power.
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City of Memphis Strickland: MPD funding should not be cut
The Memphis City Council is considering four proposals in response to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody and calls for law enforcement reform nationally since Floyd’s death.
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Coronavirus Health Dept.: Most coronavirus deaths locally from nursing home clusters
Shelby County Health Department Director Alisa Haushalter said most of the 133 deaths in Shelby County are from nursing home clusters and outbreaks.
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Shelby County County Commission Scorecard: Sheriff’s Office defunding and health insurance turmoil
We start an ongoing scorecard of Shelby County Commission votes with a pair of budget season amendments and the latest incursion into a seven-year controversy about who gets the health insurance contract for 5,000 county employees.
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City of Memphis Introduction of police reforms encounters little resistance
The first reception to the council resolutions presented Tuesday comes with a record of past resistance that indicates it probably won't be as easy as a council vote. The resolutions are advisory.
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City of Memphis City Council concerned about rise in COVID cases, could call early vote on mask requirement
Council members expressed alarm at the rise in the daily COVID-19 case count locally and are prepared to call a special meeting Friday to enact a mask requirement in public places within Memphis.
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Public Safety New Democratic policing reform bill echoes earlier bill by Cohen
The “Justice in Policing Act” was introduced in the House Monday. Hearings before the House Judiciary Committee, including U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, begin Wednesday.
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Shelby County County Commission’s path to balancing budget goes off the rails
The plan to balance the county budget came apart when the commission put too much weight on the idea that federal reimbursements for county dollars spent on the pandemic freed up about $4.8 million. It didn't. Then a move to cut the sheriff's department budget brought two weeks of protest over the George Floyd incident into the discussion.
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Public Safety Civic memorial for George Floyd includes police and mothers
The chief of staff to Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris talks about her son's coming transition as a young black man and worries about what will happen when he encounters police. The city's police director says his officers are not the enemy.
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City of Memphis Strickland lifts curfew
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland has lifted the citywide curfew.
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Metro Protest blog, Day 12: Individuals’ stories add meaning to rally
A grieving mother's account, and a man who says he participated in the 1968 I Am A Man march add poignancy to Sunday evening demonstrations.
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Podcast
On the RecordBeyond protest and within leadership: next steps from the George Floyd protests in Memphis
Bobby White, a native Memphian with experience behind the scenes in local government and politics, talks about what more than a week of daily protests in the city means for future decisions on how the police do their jobs.
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