Coronavirus Cases Skyrocket; Let’s Hope They’re Backlogged. Yesterday, while you were stressing over the future of our nation, Dallas County announced 789 new coronavirus cases. That’s the most in months. Of those, two-thirds came from the state’s reporting lab. And it’s the last day of the month. “Keep in mind that this is the next to the last day of the month of September and we have no way of knowing whether these cases were from the last two weeks or from early September,” Jenkins said in a written statement. Our seven day rolling average is up to 307, up from about 240 the week before. Labor Day was about three weeks ago, so let’s hope this was a reporting problem and not a jump in cases like we saw during Memorial Day. I’ve seen a lot of loosened behavior out in public, so let’s wear the masks and stay away from indoor settings as much as possible.

Jean Family Not Invited to Be Like Bo Day. An invitation to Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson’s Be Like Bo Day proclamation press conference never made it to the Jean family. September 29 should’ve been Botham Jean’s 29th birthday; he was killed two years ago by a Dallas police officer who entered his apartment thinking it was her own and believed Jean to be an intruder. Johnson’s office told NBC 5 that attendance was limited due to the pandemic and that Jean’s pastor had been notified and was in attendance. The Jean family happened to be in Dallas this week, reflecting on the work done by Botham’s eponymous foundation and celebrating his birthday. Here is a quote from Allison Jean, Botham’s mother: “I don’t know what you want to call it but I see it as gross disrespect. I hate to see people use my son’s name, just for the publicity, just for the optics — that disrespects his family.”

Shelley Luther Makes the Runoff. Luther, who rose to prominence for violating a public health order during the height of the pandemic, earned 32 percent of the vote. She’ll face fellow Republican Drew Springer in the runoff for state Sen. Pat Fallon’s seat, which he vacated to run for congress.

Carpenter Park Groundbreaking is Today. The 5.6-acre park should take about 18 months to build. It’ll be near Live Oak and Pacific and will house the first basketball court in downtown Dallas. And Robert Irwin’s landmark Portal Park Piece (Slice) sculpture will return to its home.