Dallas, TX
Dallas real estate icon Virginia Cook dies at 84
Virginia Cook, co-founder of Virginia Cook Realtors, died Saturday afternoon, her former business partner confirmed. She was 84.
Cook worked in Dallas real estate for over 50 years, starting her own firm in 1999 with business partner Sheila Rice. They grew to six offices across the region — in North Dallas, Uptown, the Park Cities, Sherman, Fort Worth and Plano — before closing their doors in 2019. Virginia Cook Realtors was one of the largest independent North Texas real estate sales firms at the time of its closing.
Described in this 2018 Dallas Morning News article as a “5-foot-2-inch powerhouse,” Cook was known for her determination, wit and energy; even in the face of immense challenges. The News wrote in 2019 that Cook was “as well known in local real estate circles as other industry icons including Allie Beth Allman and the late Ebby Halliday.”
Cook had a stroke in 2015, resulting in paralysis of her right side and difficulty speaking. She had to take time off from the company and spent two years in rehab at Presbyterian Village North, but was determined to get involved again.
Cook went to one of the company’s six offices every day in her motorized wheelchair once she recovered, hiring a driver to get her there and back. Her Highland Park home, which she had for more than three decades, was retrofitted for her accommodations.
Rice said at the time that Cook could always understand what others were saying, she just couldn’t always fully respond. Her employees and colleagues called the loss of her voice a great injustice.
“If I’d ever met a leader who was just superb with words and the way she could motivate people with a great sense of humor, it’s Virginia,” David Griffin, a colleague of Cook’s, told The News in 2018.
It was a different world in 1960 when Cook decided to get her real estate license.
Cook, then a 20-year-old student at Southern Methodist University, needed legal permission from her husband to pursue the license, per Texas law. She’d work for Judge Fite, Paula Stringer Realtors and Henry S. Miller Co., where she built Miller’s residential real estate arm into a national player before launching her firm near the turn of the century.
In her later years, she enjoyed reading cookbooks and eating at Al Biernat’s Steakhouse or Pacific Cafe. She practiced speech and physical therapy. Her willpower pushed her to try to learn to write with her left hand and use an iPad at almost 80 years old.
“Virginia’s not like anybody I’ve ever known,” Rice said in 2018, as her longtime partner battled through physical troubles. “She so smart. She’s so clever. She’s so witty. And she is so absolutely going to do it her way on things like this. That bullheadedness has helped her begin to rebuild her life.
“I do know this: Her spirit is very strong. You saw her, so you know. The girl is still there.”
Funeral services for Cook have not yet been announced.
Breaking news editor Tyler J. Davis contributed to this article.
How much do you earn? And how far does that paycheck really go?
In Dallas, a $100,000 salary is a figure that’s more than double the area’s individual median income, but nevertheless a useful benchmark for the region’s burgeoning business community. However — once taxes and the local cost of living is factored in — it has the effective purchasing power of around $80,000 according to a new financial report.
Consumer-focused fintech site SmartAsset worked the numbers on the country’s 69 largest cities, determining the “estimated true value of $100,000 in annual income” in each location by measuring federal, state and local taxes as well as local cost of living data, including on housing, groceries and utilities.
It used its own proprietary figures, as well as information from the Council for Community and Economic Research.
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Despite recent research suggesting North Texas has lately been losing some of its famous economic advantage — a major factor behind the region’s explosive growth — Dallas actually fared relatively well in SmartAsset’s analysis. Of the 69 cities, Dallas’ effective purchasing power, of $80,103 on the $100,000 salary, tied with Nashville to rank 22nd highest.
Like many cities in the report, Dallas also actually saw a year-over-year effective salary bump, likely because of slightly lower effective tax rates and living costs that have hewed closer to the national average. In 2024, the value of a $100,000 salary in Dallas came out to $77,197.
Other large Texas cities fared even better than Dallas. El Paso, where SmartAsset calculated the effective value of the $100,000 salary at nearly $90,300, ranked third highest overall.
San Antonio, where the effective value was around $86,400, ranked eighth. Houston, where the figure was around $84,800, ranked 10th, and Austin, where the figure was $82,400, ranked 17th.
Oklahoma City topped SmartAsset’s value ranking, with an effective salary of around $91,900, and Manhattan, which the website considered as its own city, came in with the lowest value, at around $29,400.
Dallas’ relatively strong effective value score won’t necessarily translate to the good life: Another financial report, published in November by the website Upgraded Points, determined that even a single adult with no kids needs a pre-tax salary of at least $107,000 to live “comfortably” in the Metroplex.
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Cardi B, one of hip-hop’s most outsize personalities — and one of its most reliable hitmakers — is coming to Dallas.
The New York City-born rapper broke through in 2017 with the hit single “Bodak Yellow,” launching a chart-topping run that soon included “I Like It” and the blockbuster hit “WAP.” Her Grammy-winning debut album, Invasion of Privacy, cemented her as a defining voice in contemporary rap, blending brash humor, confessional storytelling and club-ready production.
The 33-year-old’s success helped boost the profile of women in a genre long dominated by men, encouraging record labels to sign more female rappers. She has frequently teamed up with rising female artists, including GloRilla, FendiDa Rappa and “WAP” collaborator Megan Thee Stallion.
Cardi’s stop at American Airlines Center is part of the arena run supporting her second studio album, 2025’s Am I the Drama? Recent shows in the “Little Miss Drama Tour” have leaned into spectacle, with elaborate staging, surprise guest appearances and a set list that spans her entire career.
Fans can expect a high-energy performance built around booming trap beats, pop hooks and Cardi’s signature unfiltered banter — the same mix that has helped her sell out dates across the tour and turn concerts into party-like events.
DETAILS: March 7 at 7:30 p.m. at American Airlines Center in Dallas. Tickets start at $334.10, but some verified resale tickets are cheaper. ticketmaster.com.
Pop legend Diana Ross performs March 7 at the WinStar World Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma.
Sarah Hepola
OTHER CONCERTS
Bluesy psychedelic rock band All Them Witches performs March 7 at House of Blues Dallas.
Travis Pinson
ALL THEM WITCHES March 7 at 8 p.m. at House of Blues Dallas. ticketmaster.com.
DIANA ROSS March 7 at 8 p.m. at WinStar World Casino in Thackerville, Okla. winstar.com.
RICH BRIAN March 7 at 8 p.m. at The Bomb Factory in Deep Ellum. axs.com.
TRACE ADKINS March 7 at 10 p.m. at Billy Bob’s Texas in Fort Worth. billybobstexas.com.
AFROJACK March 8 at 3 p.m. at It’ll Do Club in Deep Ellum. eventbrite.com.
LITHE March 8 at 8 p.m. at House of Blues Dallas. ticketmaster.com.
CONAN GRAY March 10 at 8 p.m. at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth. ticketmaster.com.
MATISYAHU March 10 at 8 p.m. at the Granada Theater in Dallas. prekindle.com.
OUR LADY PEACE, WITH THE VERVE PIPE March 12 at 8 p.m. at Tannahill’s Tavern and Music Hall in Fort Worth. ticketmaster.com.
PAUL WALL March 12 at 9 p.m. and March 13 at 10 p.m. at Billy Bob’s Texas in Fort Worth. billybobstexas.com.
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