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 4212 articles by Bill Dries :
More than 800 attorneys participated in the ranking of candidates as best qualified for the judicial races. In the race for city court clerk, the largest response to the field of nine contenders was "no opinion."
The eight-acre site in Binghampton was one of the first blight emergencies faced by the administration of Mayor Jim Strickland, sitting vacant for three years. Once the brick single-story units are demolished, Elmington Capital of Nashville will build new, affordable housing.
The "Pledge for Progress" is a promise on the priorities five council contenders would have if elected to the body, including a possible change to 13 single-member districts. Meanwhile, council Chairman Kemp Conrad and county commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. are the first public opponents of the sales tax hike ballot question on the Oct. 3 ballot.
The plaintiffs in a federal court case over voting machines are calling for election officials to conduct forensic audits of the touch-screen voting machines used in Shelby County.
Mayor Jim Strickland opens his Whitehaven campaign headquarters, challenger Willie Herenton readies the "Herenton Express" and fellow challenger Tami Sawyer focuses on millenial hopes and goals.
In the "Behind The Headlines" interview, the University of Memphis president also talked about his plan to up hourly wages to at least $15 an hour and the unpredictability of a new athletic conference affiliation.
On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, 2015 mayoral contender Harold Collins also talked about the claim of vote-splitting in Memphis mayoral races and the difference between the current mayor's race and the 2015 contest.
With challengers for every incumbent seeking re-election, Tuesday's council session was short and punchy. Meanwhile, the Central Library remains ground zero for multiple candidate forums – one Tuesday evening for seven of the 11 candidates for mayor on the Oct. 3 ballot.
After a year-long moratorium on car lots, tire shops and gas stations on Lamar Avenue, Memphis City Council members extended it Tuesday by an additional six months.
Memphis City Council members approved Tuesday a pair of resolutions and the first of three readings of an ordinance that expands the boundaries of the Uptown tax increment financing -- or TIF -- district.
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland is running for re-election on a record of basics in a campaign that emphasizes consistency and separates him from past mayors who have emphasized their vision for the city. It's a different political path that has its challenges.
The Memphis campaign season is now at the stage when there are numerous campaign forums that bring together rivals, incumbents and their challengers. And the forums can be a mixed bag for the candidates and the voters they hope to persuade.
City Council member Gerre Currie has had an unexpected path to the council starting with her appointment to the District 6 seat in January. On The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, she discusses her decision to run for a full term in an open Super District seat instead of District 6.
In a “Behind The Headlines” interview, Mayor Jim Strickland defended his record of racial equity. His comments were his most pointed about Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer of the campaign, covering several issues.
The Arlington ballot is topped by a challenge of Mayor Mike Wissman's bid for a third term. It includes three races for aldermen and two for the Arlington school board.
Former state Senate Majority Leader and Shelby County commissioner Mark Norris said Tuesday he finds some parts of his work as a judge idyllic. Other parts make him question whether the solutions legislators attempt are working on a large scale.
The Tennessee Valley Authority is proposing to build 2.7 miles of new transmission line on the Memphis side of the Mississippi state line.
Former mayor Willie Herenton is the city's longest-serving mayor and its first elected African-American mayor, with a colorful legacy. His bid to return after a decade away is the next chapter in that legacy.
The local Republican party will win elections again, the chairman of the Shelby County GOP vowed Friday at the party’s annual Lincoln Day Gala.
Former Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton told a women's rally that he wants to guard against election fraud. Meanwhile, contender Tami Sawyer rips Herenton and Mayor Jim Strickland for attending the local GOP's Lincoln Day Gala.
Mauricio Calvo, on the Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, said last year's council deadlock on filling a council vacancy prompted him to run on the Oct. 3 ballot. J.B. Smiley Jr. is making his bid for a different council seat after a bid last year for the Shelby County Commission.
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland has a full calendar of groundbreakings and openings as an incumbent campaigning on his record. Challenger Tami Sawyer, meanwhile, is appealing to fellow millennials to resist the call of other cities as well as the momentum Strickland is claiming.
Work on the Prentiss Place parking lot is the first of three phases and sets the stage for the next two phases starting this fall or winter. The work also begins as the new president of the zoo talks about a change in the zoo's direction.
City council members Tuesday approved the city's $3 million portion of the $19 million Leftwich Tennis Center expansion project.
The city council Tuesday approved expanding a program to pay fines and fees to restore driver's licenses to include criminal court. And the city is checking on the status of 14 works of public art at the city's old Cordova auto inspection station before the council votes on selling the station.