City News

Bird casualties downtown make this a somber edition of Dallas news

These guys are not just sleeping.

Photo by Ben Jones

This week's roundup of Dallas city news is heavy on transportation, with lots of news about DART and some news about Dallas Love Field. Also some sad news about birds.

Here's what happened in Dallas this week:

Second airport entry
Dallas Love Field will host a virtual public meeting on Tuesday September 22, and it's open to anyone who'd like to try and pepper Mr. LoveFieldCEO with questions about the airport's Alternate Entry Analysis.

The airport is pushing the idea that having only one entry is "risky." But the options for where a second entry might go are limited.

They presented 11 options to the Park Board, but five were bogus and tossed out immediately. A preliminary plan by Dallas Love Field seems to show that a connector would run from Northwest Highway riiight across Bachman Lake. The plan depicts a possible exit but doesn't show what happens beyond airport property.

The meeting will be from 6-7:30 pm and you can register here.

Downtown DART line
Also on September 22 at 6:30 pm, the DART Board of Directors will conduct a virtual public hearing to receive comments on the proposed D2 Subway line, including alignment, grade separations, and station locations.

The project starts near Victory Park and travels through downtown to reconnect with the Green Line near Deep Ellum. It'll go underground between Woodall Rogers Freeway and I-345 on the east, running under Commerce Street.

Five new stations would be built: three subway and two at street level. The Deep Ellum station, currently at Good Latimer and Swiss, will be repositioned to Good Latimer and Live Oak Street.

The Orange and Green lines would shift to D2, leaving the Red and Blue on the original track, to allow room for the system to grow. Right now, trains are limited to stops every 15 minutes and during rush hour and events, a higher frequency is needed.

Written comments and emails received any time before the hearing is adjourned will become part of the official record. Submit via email to dartpublichearingcomments@dart.org prior to the public hearing, or snail-mail to DART Community Engagement - 7232, D2 Subway Service Plan Amendment Public Hearing, P.O. Box 660163, Dallas, TX 75266.

DART service is back on
Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) is restoring 90 percent of pre-pandemic service levels beginning October 19. They cut back both bus and rail service on April 6, reflecting a decrease in ridership due to COVID-19.

Service restoration includes 65 bus routes being restored to pre-pandemic service levels. A total of 7 core frequent bus routes, as well as all light rail train operation service, will move to 20-minute frequency until 7 pm on weekdays.

More information on the anticipated service change is on dart.org.

Dead birds
GreenSourceDFW is documenting dead birds in downtown Dallas that died during migration. The birds become disoriented by the city's bright lights and fly straight into buildings to their deaths.

In the past week, two dozen volunteers with Texas Conservation Alliance, a nonprofit wildlife advocacy group, have collected about 30 dead birds including warblers, hummingbirds, and orioles.

The group is part of the Lights Out Texas campaign, which aims to protect migrating birds by reducing light pollution.

The migration will last through the end of October. What would it take for downtown buildings to turn off their lights at night for 45 days?

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Money Matters

This is the salary you need to live comfortably in Texas in 2026

Photo by Alexander Mils on Unsplash

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A new national report looking at the income it takes to live comfortably in each of the 50 states has revealed Texans need to earn slightly less now than a year ago.

SmartAsset analyzed what a single individual, as well as family of four, must earn to cover minimum basic needs adjusted using the 50/30/20 budgeting rule. The resulting estimate represents the annual, pre-tax income needed to live comfortably in every U.S. state.

A single, full-time worker needs to make $90,563 to live comfortably in the Lone Star State, the report found, which is down a meager 0.2 percent from last year ($90,771).

Under the 50/30/20 budgeting strategy, that means a single Texas earner would have $45,282 to spend on necessities like housing and utilities, $27,169 for discretionary spending, and $18,113 for emergencies or retirement savings.

Texas ranked 34th nationally in SmartAsset's list of states with the highest income needed for a single adult to live "in sustainable comfort" in 2026. Only five other states — Tennessee, Maryland, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Mississippi — saw a decline in the income needed to live comfortably this year.

For a family of four to live comfortably in Texas, income requirements change significantly, according to the findings. To support a two-child household, a family needs $203,424 in combined total household income to be considered financially stable. This is down slightly from 2025, when SmartAsset reported a family of four in needed $204,922 to live comfortably in Texas.

This is a comfortable lifestyle for a family of four in Texas, according to the report:

$101,712 dedicated to necessities and living expenses
$61,027 dedicated to discretionary spending
$40,685 dedicated to emergencies, savings, or debt repaymen

According to the report, a family of four now needs to make at least $200,000 to live comfortably in 40 U.S. states, a figure that is far out of reach for many American families.

"As housing, grocery, transportation and other essential costs pressure household budgets, earning a six-figure salary no longer guarantees financial comfort in much of the U.S.," the report said. "A single adult now needs at least $80,000 a year to live comfortably in every state, while the threshold exceeds $100,000 in nearly half of states. For a family of four, the income needed to live comfortably is as much as $329,000."

Still, earning the minimum income to live comfortably in Texas doesn't guarantee financial stability in the Lone Star State's major cities. Earlier this year, SmartAsset determined single residents in Dallas need to make nearly $97,000 to qualify as financially stable, while families of four need about $214,500.

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