If you’re $600M in the hole and have a persistent problem making budget, how do you fix your money problems?

If you’re Governor Maura Healey’s new transportation task force, you hire a team of consultants who charge as much as $610 *an hour*. bostonglobe.com/2024/05/10/met…

Welcome to my No Stupid Questions era.

This is a The Boston Globe series by and for the clueless Bostonian (hi!) If you want how-to guides on navigating adult life here — from taxes to traffic — this series is for you.

Launching May 13. 🥳bostonglobe.com/2024/05/10/bus…

After months of preaching fiscal restraint, the MA House’s most powerful Dems quietly slipped millions into sweeping budget amendments.

And it all happened in secret.

Matt Stout + I pulled these amendments apart, thread by thread. This is what we found:bostonglobe.com/2024/05/09/met…

NEW: MA Senate leaders released a budget today that hews closely to the package the House passed last month, while taking some big swings on their priorities including covering regional transit fares and making community college free.bostonglobe.com/2024/05/07/met… #mapoli w/ Matt Stout

NEW: Every resident could attend a Massachusetts community college tuition-free under a $118 million plan state Senate leaders unveiled Monday, promising to expand efforts to slash costs for those seeking 2-year degrees or certifications. bostonglobe.com/2024/05/06/met… via The Boston Globe

In a good surprise for once, Massachusetts collected $1 billion more in tax revenue than it projected in April. But state officials say they don't plan to reverse a raft of spending cuts, nor will the haul translate to a major budget surplus bostonglobe.com/2024/05/03/met… The Boston Globe

NEW: Mass. raked in $1 billion more in tax revenue than it projected in April. But it comes w/ caveats: Officials believe most of the extra $$$ was generated by the millionaires tax and excess capital gains, money that can't be used to balance the budget as a whole. Story tk

Inbox: Maura Healey signed a supplemental budget that limits emergency shelter stays to 9 months, pumps $251M into the system. Per spox, she signed in full without vetoes.

Bill also makes outdoor dining and to-go cocktails permanent. bostonglobe.com/2024/04/24/met…

INBOX: Maura Healey has signed a spending bill that pours another $251 million into the state's emergency shelter program, allows for another $175 million transfer next fiscal year, and limits some families to 9 months in the system, which she calls a 'responsible step.'

Breaking: Our mighty State House bureau is growing by one!!

Come work with me, Matt Stout, and Victoria McGrane 💪
…stonglobemediapartners.applytojob.com/apply/qTYBW8of…

The Mass. House passed a measure Thursday that would require political candidates, super PACs, and others to disclose whether they use AI-generated material in ads, marking one of the Legislature’s first efforts to target “deepfakes” in campaigns. bostonglobe.com/2024/04/25/met…

Mass. legislative leaders say they have a deal on a long-debated spending package that could limit how long homeless and migrant families can stay in the state’s emergency shelter system while pumping millions into the program. bostonglobe.com/2024/04/24/met… w/ Samantha J. Gross

INBOX: Mass. legislative leaders say they've reached a deal on a spending bill that would pump hundreds of millions more dollars into the state's strained emergency shelter system. Details unclear at moment, but they expect to pass it tomorrow. Story tk #mapoli

More than a half-dozen greater Boston communities have passed bans or begun considering them just weeks after the Supreme Judicial Court upheld Brookline’s groundbreaking bylaw that banned the sale of tobacco to anyone born this century.
bostonglobe.com/2024/04/23/met… via The Boston Globe

NEW: Because of the actions taken by Florida officials in September 2022, some of the 49 migrants flown from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard are on the path to securing legal status. bostonglobe.com/2024/04/22/met… #mapoli

In our age of rapidly shrinking local news coverage, the passing of reporters like Fred Hanson of the Patriot Ledger, who died this week, are also a loss for the communities they served. I wrote about Fred's decades-long career covering the South Shore bostonglobe.com/2024/04/11/bus…

Members of a Black-led running group who said they were racially profiled during last year’s Boston Marathon sued the race organizer, the city of Newton, and Newton’s police chief days ahead of this year's race. bostonglobe.com/2024/04/12/met… The Boston Globe

NEW: The MA House unveiled a nearly $58B state budget proposal that would dedicate $500M to the state’s strained emergency shelter system — roughly half of what the Healey admin says the program will actually need to stay afloat.
bostonglobe.com/2024/04/10/met… w/ Matt Stout #mapoli