In 2009, Richard Miles was released from prison. It would be 2012 before the state of Texas deemed him actually innocent, clearing his name from a mid-1990s murder and attempted murder. Soon after, he lopped off a sizable chunk of his compensation check from the state and started the nonprofit Miles of Freedom, based at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center in South Dallas.

Having gone through the difficult transition back to a life outside the bars, Miles wanted to help others in similar situations thrive. And he didn’t forget about those who had committed actual crimes, choosing to aim his work at all inmates re-entering society. Seven years later, his organization continues to provide re-entry resources and equip the formerly incarcerated with steady jobs. Miles, who I wrote about in 2016 for Longreads, remains one of the most inspiring people I’ve had the honor of talking to.

Which is why I was thrilled to see he received a CNN Heroes award last night. He gave a heck of a speech, as well. That and CNN’s telling of his story embedded below, a good way to start the week:

About 25 years ago, I worked in Deep Ellum, directly across Elm Street from where the enormous Epic development now stands. I have my doubts about whether Uber will ever put 3,000 people in the place, but someone will. That sort of change can be dizzying. Our own Peter Simek has a good story about a radical shift underway in Deep Ellum that you should read if you haven’t.

But one thing Peter didn’t address—and you can bet this will come up in his annual review—is the giant robot head that was recently painted on the 17-story Case Building, on the other side of Deep Ellum from The Epic. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the robot head is dumb. I sometimes commute on a bicycle through Deep Ellum. In September, when the robot head appeared, as I was pedaling east on Main Street, I stopped at the light at Hall Street, looked up, and thought, “Why did they paint a 17-story robot head on The Case Building? That looks dumb.”

Actually, no, I take that back. The first time I saw it, I thought, “What is that yellow thing with all the green creepers painted on the building? That looks dumb.” I took a picture and showed it to a co-worker the next day. She said, “That’s obviously a robot. Why do you hate it so much?”

Mavs Almost Win After Being Down 24. They didn’t lose it on Luka Doncic’s last shot — some truly awful defense for at least the first half did most of the work — but put me in the camp that Luka was clearly hit on the elbow and should have had a chance to tie the game at the free throw line at the very least. Anyway, good fourth quarter effort. Last season, they would have lost by 36 points.

Cold Front Coming. As someone who is juuuuust sort of getting over being sick, I’m definitely looking forward to [scans story] a 40-degree temperature change.

Michael Bloomberg Was in Town. The late entry into the Democratic presidential field got off one good joke: “Do we really want a general election between two New York billionaires to which I say… ‘Who’s the other one?’” But I don’t think he would be a great president.

The city of Dallas has filed a lawsuit against the state’s Office of the Attorney General to keep the mayor’s public calendar out of public view. The three-page petition was submitted November 25 in Travis County. You’ll find it here, but there’s not much to it.

This stems from an open records request I submitted August 21, wanting to fact check Mayor Eric Johnson’s claim that he hadn’t talked to the chief of police while she abruptly left her post on medical leave. A few days later, Johnson announced his new gig as a partner at Locke Lord.

The city has released the calendars of public officials before. Interim City Attorney Christopher Caso’s 2019 slate went to a journalist just last month, for instance. But when I requested the mayor’s calendar, the city asked the Attorney General for an opinion on whether they had to give it up, sending a representative sample of the calendar to the state.

In asserting that it should be private, the City Attorney’s Office cited a previous open records ruling that said information can be withheld when it “would endanger the personal safety of public employees.” The office asked for the mayor’s calendar to be withheld in its entirety, including past events.

As a working media professional and someone responsible for producing a lot of display copy, I woke up this morning excited to see what the headline writers at the Dallas Morning News came up with after yet another dispiriting Cowboys loss. I know it was probably a tight turn, since it was a night game and all, but deadlines are the nature of the business. On the front of the sports page, they went with “Indefensible” in a very serious point size — not quite “we’re at war!” but not something you’d run above a Rangers game story in May either. On the front page, however, we got what you see pictured here. If for whatever reason you can’t see that, it says “A third straight loss,” and that is absolutely what you’d see above a Rangers game story in May.

I’m not asking for poetry, just a little hustle. In other words: this is the equivalent of the Cowboys game last night, so I guess in that way it is fitting. But — and not just because I’m avoiding a deadline — I can’t leave it at that. Here are some options and only most of them are puns:

• Chicago Bares ‘Boys
• Can’t Bear It
• Time to Panic
• Another Chicago Fire
• ‘Boys Down
• Falling Stars
• A Star is Mourned
• Garrett Must Go
• Maher Must Go
• Give Him the Boot (photo of either Garrett or Maher or maybe both)
• Bear Trap
• BEAR TRAP
• BEAR TRAP!
• BEAR TRAP!

OK, lemme hear yours.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: On Wednesday, November 6, Amazon 4-star opened at the Stonebriar Centre in Frisco, Texas—our first Amazon 4-star in the greater Dallas region and sixth Amazon 4-star location nationwide.

Southwest Center Mall loses once again. Sorry, they changed it back to Red Bird Mall, didn’t they? Oh, it’s actually The Shops at RedBird? How fancy! In any case, Frisco, true to its slogan, is “progress in motion.” For example, there are four Walmarts in Frisco already.

Amazon 4-star is a new physical store that makes it fun and easy for customers to shop and discover products they’ll love.

Let me see if I understand. You create a company so efficient and so enormous that it now accounts for about half of all online sales in the United States, driving some physical retailers out of business. R.I.P., Forever 21. Then, having freed up some physical space, you physically move into it. Jeff Bezos, you are a genius. Except for the part where you cheated on your wife and, after “a long period of loving exploration and trial separation,” had to pay her $38 billion to be physically divorced. Apologies for the ad hominem attack. That was uncalled for. Love your Fire TV!