Earlier this month, The Houston Chronicle published an investigation that mapped all 601,187 fatal roadway accidents in the country from 2001 through 2016. It found more vehicle-related fatalities in Houston than any other city. Dallas trailed at No. 2. We lead the country in fatalities involving speeding or traffic backups as well as those that happen on interstates. We also have the most pedestrians killed on freeways. Dallas ranks in the nation’s top three for alcohol and drug-involved deaths, truck-involved fatalities, and road rage fatalities.

The Chronicle took all the data and compared deaths per capita based on population for each year. For speeding, Dallas counted 1.57 speeding fatalities per 100,000 people, the most in the U.S. It pins a lot of the problem on a lack of policing. “Drivers likely speed, at least in part, because they believe no one with authority is paying attention,” reads the report.

Pulling municipal court records, the newspaper found that Dallas police officers issued 13 percent fewer tickets in 2017 than in 2015. Only 62 of the department’s 3,000 or so officers work the traffic beat. Of those 62, 18 were devoted to enforcement, about half of what it had it in 2015.

A few months ago — wow, yeah, that was a few months ago — we published our second collection of microfiction, which, as D Magazine’s fiction editor, was very satisfying to me personally. It was well received. I know this because I received many complimentary (and, to be honest, correct) emails and messages and also because I heard from many people at the reading we did at the Wild Detectives. One attendee was local author Sanderia Faye, who contributed to the first microfiction package a wonderful story titled “Deep Ellum Blues.” Sanderia asked if we could do another reading at the Lit Night event she had started at Expo Park’s Sandaga 813. I said of course — or, really, more like “Of course!” — and so last Wednesday we did. Harry Hunsicker and Will Clarke read their stories and Sanderia arranged for some people to read a few of the others. There was also an open mic segment, and that was particularly fantastic. Stay tuned, because we very well might be doing something there again soon.

ANYWAY, an SMU student named Micah Flores was also there, and wrote about it (and Sanderia and Sandaga 813) here. At the very end is the aforementioned photo of me, Zac Crain, looking quite tall.

OK cool. How are you guys? Let me know in the comments.

This morning, the Dallas City Council voted to approve the budget for the next fiscal year. It was an action that, outside of a few wonky details surrounding housing, civil service benefits, and arcane state rules about what exactly constitutes a tax increase, shouldn’t draw much outside interest. But it was the inclusion of a pay increase for Dallas police officers, as well as the executive staff of the Dallas Police Department, that promised another round anti-police brutality protests like the one that shut down last week’s council meeting.

Yesterday evening, word began to appear on social media that some kind of action or protest was being planned for today’s meeting. Last night, the mayor chose to change the agenda, moving what was supposed to be an afternoon budget discussion to the morning, before the much-anticipated briefing on the Fair Park privatization plan. As park board members and community advocates streamed in this morning to talk about Fair Park, they were confused to find not only heightened police presence at City Hall, but a council that was hashing out the minutia of budgetary concerns. Council is still in session and so the mayor couldn’t be reached to explain the rationale for changing the timing of the agenda. His spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry. (UPDATE: According to the mayor’s spokesperson, the mayor changed the agenda in order to get the action items out of the way before what is expected to be a long Fair Park discussion)

At issue wasn’t so much the police pay increase in general, but its timing.

Irving ISD Superintendent Quits. Jose Parra resigned without explanation yesterday after four years of running the district. Irving ISD issued a statement saying that his departure was in the board’s and Parra’s “respective best interests.”

Love Field to Get More Eats and Drinks. Speaking of everyone’s best interest, there are plans in the works to add more bars and a restaurant to deal with long lines and insufficient seats at the airport. Is the new restaurant Off-Site Kitchen? No. Is it a Dot’s Hop House? No, ma’am. Is it Twisted Root? Nope. It’ll be a Maggiano’s. Well, at least it’s not a Cheesecake Factory.

Mesquite Daycare Owner Endangers Children. A suspicious father rigged his kiddo’s carseat with a hidden camera and caught Rebecca Anderson, of Becky’s Child Day Care, yanking a baby around by his ankle, keeping kids strapped in their carseats (some by their necks), and giving them Tylenol to make her job easier. Anderson has been charged with nine counts of endangering a child.

And, Oh Yeah, It’s Gonna Be Hot Today. Enjoy the fall weather.

“When people in our community get killed from police brutality, the first thing they have to deal with is the media discrediting their character.”

That comment was made to me about a month before Botham Jean was shot to death by an off-duty Dallas police officer inside his own apartment in the Cedars. I thought of it immediately after unidentified Dallas police officers leaked to the press certain details about the investigation into the murder in an attempt to smear Botham’s reputation. The comment was made by Christopher Daniels, a young Dallas activist who is the subject of my feature story in the October edition of D Magazine. We are publishing it online early, and you can read it today.

Daniels, who now goes by the name Rakem Balogun, was arrested by the FBI this past January and charged with illegal possession of a firearm. The judge denied Balogun bail, and he spent six months in a federal penitentiary awaiting trial. While he was in jail, Balogun lost his job and his apartment, and his children had to move out of Dallas to be near other family members for support. Then, in May, the judge dismissed the firearm charge and Balogun was released.

1. Jury duty is important. When you get that summons, you really should do the right thing.

2. My summons today was for duty at the George L. Allen Sr. Courts Building. That’s where your civil stuff goes down, not your criminal trials. So, frankly, it’s nicer than the digs you’ll find at the Lew Sterrett Justice Center but maybe a step down from what you’ll see at the Earle Cabell Federal Building. That’s my impression anyway.