With wealthy homeowners also battling big hotels and businesses for cleaners' services, the typical pay for housekeepers in the Sunshine State has soared from around $25 an hour in 2020 to $45 or $50 an hour in 2024, some agencies said, per CNBC.
Many are also getting health care, 401(k) plans, and benefits, the report said.
"I have been placing staff for 30 years, and I've never seen anything like this," April Berube, the founder of The Wellington Agency, a household staffing agency, told the outlet.
"We've seen such a boom from people relocating, especially Palm Beach and Miami," she said. "For housekeepers it's wonderful. For us it's extremely difficult. It's a severe shortage."
Demand has also surged for other roles, including butlers, drivers, and chefs, per CNBC.
The influx of wealthy homeowners has also seen house prices rocket in South Florida, with the average sale price of a home in Palm Beach exceeding $20 million in the third quarter of 2023.
Some of the big names to have made the move include Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who purchased a $173 million estate in Manalapan, a town near Palm Beach, in 2022, and Jeff Bezos, Florida's richest billionaire, who owns three properties on South Florida's Indian Creek Island.
Donald Trump also has his infamous Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach.
The former president moved his primary residence from New York City to Florida in 2019.
Presidential nominees generally drive voter turnout for their respective parties.
But with many Democrats boasting higher favorability numbers than Biden, their popularity could boost his campaign.
Swing-state Senate candidates like Bob Casey Jr. and Tammy Baldwin could be Biden's biggest assets.
In most presidential elections, the top-of-the-ticket candidates are the top draws for their respective parties, amassing votes that often help down-ballot candidates win close races.
But for several popular swing-state Democrats, their popularity could actually help drive turnout in support of President Joe Biden's reelection bid — a reversal of the usual presidential coattail effect.
Casey, an ex-state auditor general and one-time state treasurer who is seeking a fourth term, has held statewide office in Pennsylvania for decades. Such a track record gives him a connection with many voters that Biden may lack, especially in an era where ticket-splitting has become less commonplace in federal races. (One notable advantage for Biden: his decadeslong political career in Delaware made him a familiar face in the Philadelphia media market.)
"The way I see it, my race is different than the president's because my opponent is not as well known as his opponent," he told the newspaper. "I think in the end we'll probably see similar numbers in both races."
Sen. Bob Casey Jr. of Pennsylvania.
AP Photo/Marc Levy
Casey's race is poised to be a major draw, especially for Democratic voters who want to see the party continue controlling the US Senate. McCormick, who ran for the GOP Senate nomination in 2022, is a top recruit for the party this cycle.
And in Pennsylvania, which Biden won by one point over Trump in the 2020 election, the race could be decided by a few thousand — or a few hundred — votes.
Democratic Rep. Susan Wild, who has represented a Lehigh Valley swing district since 2018, told the Post that a solid victory in a seat like hers will be critical for the president's chances this November.
"I truly believe that Biden only wins Pennsylvania if the down-ballot people, like me, win. I strongly believe that we push him," she said.
The Wisconsin election
In Wisconsin, where he narrowly won in 2020, Biden is locked in a tight race with Trump: the RealClearPolling average in the Badger State has Trump leading the president by less than half a percentage point.
However, in two major surveys of the state's US Senate race, Democratic incumbent Tammy Baldwin boasted wide leads over her likely GOP opponent, Eric Hovde. A recent Quinnipiac University poll had Baldwin ahead of Hovde by 12 points, while a New York Times/Siena College poll conducted from late April through early May showed the senator up by nine points.
Baldwin's popularity in Wisconsin could also give Biden a significant lift in the state, especially with renewed enthusiasm among Democratic voters over redrawn state legislative maps, which are poised to afford the party significant gains in the upcoming election.
Of all the glitzy projects Saudi Arabia is embarking on, perhaps the most eccentric is Neom. The kingdom plans to spend over half a trillion dollars transforming the desert into 10 futuristic regions, including a floating port city and a yachting hub.
The most famous of them is The Line, a 0.12-mile-wide and 105-mile-long city with a mirrored facade. Saudi Arabia hopes Neom will become home to nine million people in a "vertical garden city" with daily essentials within a five-minute walk.
It says high-speed rail will take citizens from one end to the other in 20 minutes. It plans to have no roads, traffic, or pollution, with everything powered by renewable energy. And it aims to gather much more data about residents and services than other so-called smart cities do.
A design for The Line.
Neom
It plans to have four airports to connect it internationally. Only one, Neom Bay Airport, is currently operating. London Heathrow is its only destination outside the Middle East.
The route is run by Saudia, the kingdom's flag carrier, which on Monday announced the largest aviation order in Saudi history, to the tune of 105 Airbus narrowbody jets.
The kingdom hopes more investment in aviation — including the launch of a new airline, Riyadh Air — will help promote it as a tourist destination.
Boom Supersonic, an American startup designing an airliner that could cross the Atlantic in 3.5 hours and use only sustainable aviation fuel, announced last November an investment from Neom. It didn't disclose the size of the investment.
Since 2021, Neom has worked on a joint venture with Volocopter, a German company designing electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft, better known as eVTOLs or flying taxis. Powered by batteries, they wouldn't emit any carbon.
Neom, which has ordered 15 of its aircraft, invested $175 million in Volocopter's Series E funding round in November 2022.
Borja Blond, the CEO of the Neom-Volocopter joint venture, described its ambitions last November during a presentation at the Dubai Air Show, which Business Insider attended.
The plan is for Neom to operate three kinds of Volocopter's eVTOLs: the VoloCity, the VoloRegion, and the VoloDrone. Neom aims to have a fleet by 2025, though it's not clear how many aircraft that would entail.
"We really believe that Volocopter is close to getting their aircraft certified," Blond said.
Volocopter is aiming to be certified by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency in time for the Olympics next summer in Paris, where it plans to run its first service.
Volocopter's VoloCity in flight.
ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP via Getty Images
The drone, designed to carry up to 330 pounds, would be used for some cargo.
Since the VoloCity is designed to travel only 35 kilometers, or about 22 miles, at a time, it'd function as a flying taxi to take people around a region like The Line.
Neom plans to use the VoloRegion, with its top speed of 137 mph and range of 220 kilometers, to take passengers between regions, though the presentation said it could also work intraregionally.
"We need to think about connecting all those regions within a seamless manner and being very well aligned with the vision that we have here," Blond said. "Basically we want to operate with 100% renewable energy."
Neom plans to leave 95% of the region untouched, serving as one of the world's largest nature reserves. The Line is designed with huge mirrors partly to reflect the vast natural landscape.
Blond said Neom does not "have the opportunity to build big runways, a lot of airports," adding that that makes eVTOLs a good solution for Neom's transportation needs.
He said the goal is to create safe flight routes for the VoloRegion aircraft over less populated areas.
"We want to bring a blueprint to the rest of the world: This is what we have done. This is how we can progress to future cities," Blond said.
Saudi Arabia won't phase down fossil fuels
But while the country is pushing renewable energy at home, it's pushing for huge profits from fossil fuels abroad.
Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 plan — which includes Neom and The Line — aims to make its economy less reliant on oil, but the kingdom recently suggested it won't decrease its exports of the fossil fuel.
Asked at December's COP28 summit whether he'd agree to phasing down fossil fuels, the country's energy minister said, "Absolutely not," Bloomberg reported.
An investigation by Channel 4 and the Centre for Climate Reporting published last November said officials from Saudi Arabia's Oil Sustainability Program acknowledged the country had a state-backed plan to target Africa and Asia with oil products.
Speaking about the dissonance between Saudi Arabia's green-energy plans and its status as the top oil exporter, Jim Krane, an energy-geopolitics expert at Rice University, told Time last year: "They like to have their cake and eat it.
"The Saudis' ambition is to be the last man standing in the global oil market," he added. "They want the last drop of oil drilled to come from a Saudi field."
Political researchers say some voters are worried Trump would not leave the White House if reelected.
The thought is pushing some voters toward President Joe Biden, Bloomberg reported.
That's despite concerns over Biden's age, inflation, and continued US support for Israel.
President Joe Biden has consistently claimed that Donald Trump is "determined to destroy American democracy," and it appears that such a fear is slowly spreading among some voters in crucial swing states.
They are worried that the former president would refuse to leave office at the end of a second term if he were reelected to the White House in November, Bloomberg reported, citing political researchers.
Anxiety appears to be building over the former president's often charged, authoritarian rhetoric and incidents such as the January 6, 2021 riot, when Trump supporters — with his encouragement — stormed the Capitol building in an attempt to keep him in office following his defeat in the 2020 election.
Russell Wheeler, a nonresident senior fellow in the Brookings Institution's Governance Studies program, told Business Insider that it seemed unlikely Trump would be able to get a repeal of the 22nd Amendment if he's in office — which would require either a two-thirds majority vote in the House and Senate or legislatures of two-thirds of the states to call for a convention.
He said that the "greater worry" was Trump "declaring a national emergency and refusing to allow the transition," particularly if the Democrats were to win the 2028 presidential election.
Trump has toyed with the idea of a three-term presidency
Jacob Chansley.
Brent Stirton/Getty Images
In a quip on Fox News in December 2023, Trump said he wouldn't be a dictator "except for day one" of his presidency.
"I want to close the border, and I want to drill, drill, drill," Trump said, before characteristcally later claiming in an interview with Time that the comment "was said in fun, in jest, sarcastically."
The former president has also continually made inflammatory comments over extending his presidency past two terms, a move prohibited by the 22nd Amendment stipulating that "no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice."
In 2020, Trump told a rally in Oshkosh, Wisconsin: "We are going to win four more years. And then after that, we'll go for another four years because they spied on my campaign. We should get a redo of four years."
Despite seemingly dialing back such aspirations last month, when he told Time he intended to serve just the four years, Trump again hinted that he might take a different approach at the National Rifle Association's annual meeting last week: "You know, FDR 16 years — almost 16 years — he was four terms. I don't know, are we going to be considered three-term? Or two-term?"
Concerns over the possibility that he could violate the 22nd Amendment appear to be very real, leading some toward the idea of voting for Biden despite of significant apprehension about his age, rampant inflation, and the US's continued support for Israel in the Gaza conflict, the Bloomberg report said.
Sarah Longwell, a Republican political strategist and CEO of the communications firm Longwell Partners, told the outlet that her company had come across such worries in focus groups.
In a video shared by Longwell, Bloomberg said a moderator asked a group of undecided swing-state voters: "Does anybody think he may not abide by the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution and leave office after the 2028 election? Anyone worried about that?"
Seven of the eight participants are said to have raised a hand, per the report.
Seiji Carpenter, a vice president at David Binder Research with 10 years of experience running Democrat focus groups, also told Bloomberg that his firm had seen the issue cropping up: "We were talking to Latino men and Asian American-Pacific Islander women in battleground states, and they went straight to the issue of, what if Trump won't give up power?"
"What we've seen so far indicates a real concern there," he added.
Despite such concerns, a swing-state poll last week from The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Siena College showed that Trump led Biden in five of six states polled from April 28 to May 9, 2024.
It's not the first time the 22nd Amendment has been an issue in this election cycle.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis previously used the amendment to attack Trump, saying that it takes "two terms as president to be able to finish this job."
"And I don't think he could fix it in one single four-year term," he added.
The first "Big Mac" sold for 45 cents and was named by a 21-year-old secretary.
The first Happy Meal was called a "Menu Ronald."
The first McDonald's franchise opened in 1955, and the chain has since become one of the most iconic food brands in history.
While McDonald's does have a varied menu, the chain is arguably most famous for its burgers. The Big Mac, which was introduced in 1967 and originally sold for just 45 cents, is so iconic that casual-dining chains like Chili's are now attempting to piggyback off its success with a similar burger.
From who invented the Big Mac to how many McDonald's burgers are sold every second, these facts about McDonald's burgers might surprise you.
The first McDonald's restaurant, before it became the chain it is today, wasn't primarily a burger restaurant.
Founder and chairman of McDonald's Corporation, Ray Kroc, stands outside one of his franchises, holding a hamburger and a drink.
Bettman/Getty Images
According to the McDonald's website, in 1954, a Multimixer milkshake machine salesman by the name of Ray Kroc came across a small restaurant in San Bernardino, California, run by the McDonald brothers.
They opened the location in 1940, according to McDonald's. The very first McDonald's Bar-B-Q menu was large and its most famous offering was hot dogs. However, in 1948, the McDonald brothers switched the concept to become a burger restaurant and reduced the restaurant's offerings to just nine items: hamburgers, cheeseburgers, soft drinks, milk, coffee, potato chips, and a slice of pie.
In 1949, potato chips were swapped with french fries and McDonald's began selling milkshakes.
Due to the restaurant's self-service counter, there was no need for waiters or waitresses. Burgers were cooked ahead of time, wrapped in paper, and kept warm under a heat lamp, which meant customers received their food in record time.
Amazed by the efficiency of the restaurant, Kroc wanted in. He went on to become the first McDonald's franchise agent and the founder of the McDonald's Corporation.
In 1948, you could get a McDonald's burger for just 15 cents.
On the sign is "Speedee" McDonald's original chef logo.
David McNew/Getty Images
At the original McDonald's locations, before Ray Kroc revolutionized the company, a burger cost just 15 cents, according to the company.
McDonald's has reportedly sold hundreds of billions of burgers during its years in operation.
A McDonald's employee preparing burgers.
Nir Elias / Reuters
From the beginning, McDonald's has touted its burger sales in its advertising. Mother Jones reported that in 1955, McDonald's claimed it had sold over 15 million burgers — this was just seven years after the McDonald brothers closed their barbecue stand and reopened it as a burger joint.
Today, it's estimated that McDonald's has served billions and billions of burgers, with the Wall Street Journal estimating the chain sold its 300 billionth burger around 2013.
The first Big Mac sold for 45 cents.
Product shot of a McDonald's Big Mac hamburger in 1977.
Henry Groskinsky/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
According to McDonald's, the first Big Mac-esque sandwich was created by owner and operator Jim Delligatti of Pittsburgh in 1967, but it wouldn't be released nationwide until 1968.
It included two beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, and onions on a sesame-seed bun.
Esther Glickstein Rose, a 21-year-old secretary for the company's advertising department in 1967, came up with the "Big Mac" name.
McDonald's Big Mac.
AP Photo/Diether Endlicher
The Associated Press reported she came up with the name on the fly when an executive running to a board meeting asked for a name nomination for the company's new burger. The name "Big Mac" stuck and went on to become one of the best-known product names of all time.
McDonald's sells roughly 75 hamburgers every second.
A McDonald's employee handing a customer their bag of food.
Liam McBurney/PA Images via Getty Images
USA Today reported that the company sold roughly 75 burgers every second in 2013, or 4,500 burgers every minute.
A simple hamburger from McDonald's can be a good source of protein.
McDonald's hamburger.
Andrew LaSane
According to the nutritional info listed for a McDonald's hamburger, it contains 25% of your daily value of protein. While McDonald's food in general may not be healthy for you in excess, there are some menu items that are healthier than others in moderation.
"The plain burger is only 250 calories," dietitian Bonnie Taub-Dix told Taste of Home in 2019. "Plus, in comparison to other menu items, the sodium here is relatively reasonable."
The first Happy Meal, which included a hamburger, small fries, and a small sundae, was called a "Menu Ronald."
This October 13, 2010 photo shows a McDonald's Happy Meal complete with a "Star Wars" toy.
KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images
The original idea for the Happy Meal is said to have come from a McDonald's employee in Guatemala named Yolanda Fernández de Cofiño. Fernández de Cofiño developed the meal deal to cater to kids visiting her restaurant.
In 1979, McDonald's rolled out its first Happy Meal nationwide. The first one was circus-themed. McDonald's advertising executive Bob Bernstein introduced the idea of swapping the small sundae for a plastic toy.
In 2021, McDonald's announced the chain would begin phasing out plastic toys from its Happy Meals in an effort to be more environmentally conscious.
"Making our toys out of renewable, recycled, or certified materials will result in about a 90% reduction of fossil fuel-based plastic in Happy Meal toys [compared with 2018]," McDonald's said in a statement to NPR.
Cassindy Chao (pictured above) says she chose family over money and she's richer because of it.
Courtesy of Cassindy Chao
Cassindy Chao, 55, is a former finance executive turned matchmaker.
After six years at Goldman Sachs, Chao decided to quit her job to take care of her ill mother.
She said the decision allowed her to spend time with family, marry, and have children.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Cassindy Chao, a 55–year-old matchmaker from Oakland, California, about quitting her dream job as a finance executive. It's been edited for length and clarity.
I'm a 55-year-old matchmaker who used to live the "Crazy Rich Asians" lifestyle, working in finance.
I went into that line of work because I knew it was lucrative and felt like a responsible choice. After graduating from Wellesley College, majoring in Chinese studies and economics, I worked at a couple of finance jobs before being poached by Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong.
At Goldman Sachs, I made over $376,000 annually. I was on top of the world, traveling and buying myself jewelry and designer clothes. It was a very luxurious lifestyle. My co-workers and I would fly to Thailand, Japan, or Vietnam on weekends. I was in the center of it all.
Years after starting the new job in 1993, my mom got sick with ovarian cancer, and it was devastating. I quit Goldman Sachs in 1999 and moved back home to the Bay Area, where I became lonely and incredibly sad.
It was tough, at first, but now I can say leaving my dream job was all worth it.
I went from international jet setter to a stay-at-home caregiver
When my mom got sick, I tried to fly back and forth from Hong Kong to the Bay Area to care for her, but it was unmanageable. After about three months of traveling back and forth, I quit Goldman Sachs. It was awful. I went from an international jet setter with a beautiful showpiece duplex apartment and maid to living in an old four-bedroom home.
Instead of jewelry and expensive dinners, my days were filled with brewing tea and soup for my mom and driving her to doctor's appointments.
Over time, I watched people who worked below me at the company do incredibly well. I visited friends with many Hermès bags in their closets. They'd call me and chat about their far-flung excursions and show off their homes filled with priceless art. I initially felt sorry for myself, watching them lead my formerly fabulous life.
It was hard to come to terms with my new reality
I wanted to balance both careers, but being my mom's caregiver was practically a full-time effort — chemo, blood tests, tumor assays, finding alternative medicines, getting second opinions, driving, managing her records, bill payments, and insurance negotiations. I didn't want to hire a caretaker for my mom.
All of a sudden I had to budget and save money. But over time, I felt bad for feeling sorry for myself and realized the simple things are what truly matter.
I loved my family and the priceless time I got to spend with my mother. At Goldman, it was frenetic — deals, reports, deadlines, meetings, conferences, presentations. Back in the States, there was still plenty to do, but life slowed down significantly, and I could actually relax.
My mom said I'd never get married and have a family if I stayed at Goldman Sachs
Before quitting, I worked crazy hours, traveled constantly, and chased after Ivy League banker men out of my league. I ignored my mom's advice, as I enjoyed my life.
I was dating several other finance guys when I met my now-husband Fred, an engineer, at a party in Hong Kong. He seemed friendly and happy but wore a Jackie Chan T-shirt, shorts, and Teva sandals. My first thought was, "Oh, yuck."
We instantly clicked, but I saw him more as a friend.
However, during the first year of caring for my mom, Fred showed up where the other men didn't. He was solid and always there, making me realize he was a real keeper. When I decided to move back to the US permanently, Fred packed up all my stuff and brought it back for me. We started dating seriously, and he grew to have a tremendous bond with my mom. That same year he proposed, we married, and he moved to California to be with me.
He's a goofy engineer, not a slick, rich finance guy, different from the other men I dated. If I stayed in Hong Kong, I would probably have chased after unavailable men for years. Instead, we've been happily married for over 20 years.
Was it worth it to leave Goldman Sachs?
Now, I can say yes. My mom lived for 10 years as an end-stage ovarian/liver cancer survivor before passing. I mourned her and my former high-flying life when she died, but she taught me how to thrive in any situation.
My mom's ability to make the best of any situation inspired me. She made friends with her medical team, buying gifts and knitting hats. During chemo, she would say, "I'm going to be out of it for 14 days, but afterward, let's schedule seven days of fun." We'd spend days exploring the city, eating delicious treats, and socializing with friends.
Chao with her mother Cecilia and her first grandchild.
Courtesy of Cassindy Chao
I'm not rich, but I'm wealthy in happiness. I have a great marriage and three terrific kids who are now young adults. Although not everyone wants marriage and kids, I'd always assumed I'd have it.
Now that I'm older, I've found a new career I love as a matchmaker. It's not work; I love meeting so many interesting people all the time and nudging them to find someone super special.
I chose family over money, and I'm richer because of it.
If you quit a six-figure dream job and want to share your story, email Manseen Logan at mlogan@businessinsider.com.
You can shop at Costco without a membership, but it doesn't really make sense to.
Gary Hershorn/Getty Images
Costco has been clamping down shoppers using membership cards that don't belong to them.
There are still ways to shop without a membership: online, with a gift card, or as a member's guest.
The extra charges and hassle of workarounds can quickly add up to more than the annual fee, though.
Costco's Netflix-style crackdown on unauthorized membership sharing over the past year raises a perennial question about how to access the jumbo packs of toilet paper, tubs of peanut-butter pretzels, 40-pound bags of dog food, and other staples without signing up for a membership.
Access to the warehouse club and its bulk-price deals is primarily reserved for card-carrying shoppers with Gold Star, Executive, or Business memberships, which start at $60 per year and include two access for two shoppers who live in the same household (or work for the same business).
Still, there are a few ways to shop Costco's selection without paying the fee. Here are three:
1. Shop online without a Costco membership
While some of Costco.com is reserved for members, non-members are able to buy items through the site's Same-Day option, on Instacart, or with a brand new partnership with Uber Eats, where about 2,000 fresh, frozen, grocery, and household items are available for delivery.
The best prices on those platforms are reserved for members only, so the savings compared to another retailer, like Walmart or Amazon, might not be as substantial for non-members. Uber says members will pay 15% to 20% less than non-members, and non-members may be assessed a 5% surcharge on some orders processed through Instacart.
Analysis from Insider's Reviews team found the best prices on Costco items are found in-person at a warehouse, while online member pricing was slightly higher, and non-member prices were higher still.
For example, a 30-roll pack of toilet paper was available in-store for $19.99, but on Instacart cost $21.85 for members and $24.87 for non-members.
The Insider team created a sample shopping cart of popular items that totaled $131.10 for a non-member shopping via Instacart, but just $96.60 for a member shopping in-store, a savings of $34.50. In that scenario, the $60 membership fee basically pays for itself after just two trips to a warehouse.
2. Use a Costco gift card without a membership
Another popular workaround is to use a Costco gift card, known as a Shop Card, which allows shoppers to access the warehouse to use the funds.
The hitch with this approach is that Shop Cards are only available for members to purchase and have a minimum value of $25.
That $25 would quickly be used up in one visit, and could be a useful hack for helping friends and family stock up on back-to-school supplies, though you might catch some pushback trying to buy $200 more stuff than your gift card is loaded for.
It's an easy a way to let someone explore the club on their own, without the commitment of a membership, and if they do decide to sign up, the Shop Card funds are redeemable toward the annual fee.
3. Visit the Costco warehouse as the guest of a member
Costco's policy allows members to bring two guests with them to the warehouse, but once again there is a hitch: technically only the member is allowed to pay for purchases.
As with the Shop Card hack, this approach depends on a fair amount of trust between the member and the non-member, not to mention coordinating schedules to make a trip to the warehouse and sort everything out on Venmo afterward.
Bottom line: It probably makes sense to just pay the fee — it's refundable anyway
Given the costs and complications of trying to avoid shelling out the $60 membership fee, it actually makes financial sense to just pay the charge for shoppers who will make more than a couple Costco trips per year.
An Insider's Reviews team found, the prices of bulk-size items can add up quickly, and shaving a few percent off in fees means the breakeven point comes after just a few trips.
As the company puts it, "rest assured that the cost of membership can be recovered quickly thanks to massive price savings once you start shopping."
The math starts to get even more interesting when considering whether to upgrade to the $120 Executive level.
Either way, the real kicker is even simpler: if you don't think the membership is worth it, you can get a refund.
And it'll all be paid for by the state's millionaire residents.
In 2022, Massachusetts placed a 4% tax on residents earning $1 million or more a year. In its last fiscal budget, the state set aside $1 billion — collected through the tax — to provide free school lunches to all children in public schools.
The 2025 budget would fund MassEducate, a state-sponsored program that will cover the cost of community college tuition and fees, all paid for by the state's tax on millionaires. The budget now goes to the state House of Representatives, which has to vote before the fiscal year begins in July.
If passed, MassEducate will invest $75.5 million of state money to cover tuition and fees.
State Sen. Michael J. Rodrigues, chair of the Senate's Ways and Means Committee, said the community college program will "bolster our educated workforce and lay the foundation for generations to come."
"Tuition-free community college impacts individuals most in need and who otherwise would not be afforded this opportunity," Rodrigues said in a statement. "It will greatly help to keep our workforce graduates stand ready to meet the challenges of a global economy."
The state's community college program will offer additional assistance to low-income students. The program will also offer stipends of up to $1,200 for books, supplies, and other costs to students who make 125% or less of the state's median income, according to a statement announcing the program.
The initiative also includes a $10 million "student persistence fund" that aims to help community college students with financial struggles so great they jeopardize their studies.
North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
VLADIMIR SMIRNOV/ Getty Images
US officials fear North Korean military action ahead of the US election, NBC News reported.
Senior officials told the outlet that such a move could be encouraged by Vladimir Putin.
North Korea and Russia have formed close military ties in recent years.
US officials are preparing for potential North Korean military action — possibly encouraged by Russian President Vladimir Putin — in the run-up to the US election in November, NBC News reported, citing six senior US officials.
Such a move could be designed to create chaos in another part of the world as the election process ramps up, they said.
"We have no doubt that North Korea will be provocative this year. It's just a matter of how escalatory it is," one US intelligence official added.
Following the NBC News report, a campaign spokesperson for Donald Trump said, "The only 'October surprise' will be the look of shock" among reporters when Trump is reelected.
The officials' warning comes ahead of a likely meeting between North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un and Putin, which the Kremlin announced earlier this week was "being prepared."
"President Putin has an active invitation for an official visit to North Korea. The visit is being prepared. We will announce the dates of the trip in due course," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday, French news agency AFP reported.
Russia and North Korea have developed closer relations since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
For its part, North Korea has sent munitions to Moscow, ostensibly to help Putin's forces in their war against Ukraine, but also to take advantage of the opportunity to test its equipment on the battlefield, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.
In return, North Korea "expects Russia to provide advanced weapons systems and technological know-how to significantly strengthen its defense, nuclear, and space programs," the think tank said.
The six US officials also told NBC News that the Biden administration was concerned that the relationship could lead to significant developments in Pyongyang's nuclear capabilities, increasing tensions in the Asia-Pacific region.
However, one official said that China likely does not want instability in the region, and Russia might, therefore, hesitate to get involved ahead of the US election.
Nevertheless, Rachel Minyoung Lee, a Senior Fellow with the 38 North Program at the Stimson Center, expressed concern that North Korea's strengthening ties with Russia could "embolden" Kim to conduct more aggressive military or diplomatic action in the coming years.
North Korea's new "tactical nuclear attack submarine" at its launch ceremony in 2023.
KCNA via REUTERS
North Korea has already sent a significant amount of military aid to Russia.
But earlier this month, the office of Ukraine's top prosecutor, Andriy Kostin, told Reuters that North Korean-supplied weapons appeared to have a high failure rate.
"About half of the North Korean missiles lost their programmed trajectories and exploded in the air; in such cases the debris was not recovered," Kostin's office said, citing their examination of debris from 21 of around 50 North Korean-supplied ballistic missiles launched by Russia between late December and late February.
Jeffery Sonnenfeld and Steven Tian have landed themselves on a list of sanctioned individuals for their work shining a light on Russia's economic situation.
Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik AFP
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Steven Tian, two Yale researchers, have issued dire predictions for Russia's economy.
Their work has landed them on a list of sanctioned individuals in Russia.
In their view, the country's economy is in shambles, and Putin could end up losing support of the people.
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Steven Tian, two researchers at the Yale School of Management, have been targeted for their views on Russia's economy since the war in Ukraine began.
Over the last few years, they've found themselves on Vladimir Putin's watch list for stating what they see as a simple truth: the Russian economy is in trouble, and there's only so much cherry-picking of the data that can obscure that fact.
Moscow has fiercely defended its vision of a prospering economy, but the evidence speaks for itself, Sonnenfeld and Tian say. Soaring prices and ailing consumer sentiment have hit key sectors in Russia's economy, and Moscow is paying a huge cost to keep its war machine running.
The nation is in such dire straits that citizens could even start turning on Putin later this year, they predicted, assuming the West continues to supply military and financial aid to Ukraine.
"We can list for you what Putin has concealed – suddenly – the past three years. If his economy was performing at the level he claims, he'd provide the data ad not hide those facts," Sonnenfeld told Business Insider in an interview. "Putin survives only by cannibalizing Russian businesses – throwing the living room furniture into the furnace to keep the fire burning."
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld
Courtesy of Jeffrey Sonnenfeld
The researchers, who met as a professor-student pair at Yale, have received a lot of criticism for their work on Russia, much of it in the form of hate mail and threatening phone calls.
"I've had a lot of threats on the phone, and my home has been vandalized," Sonnenfeld told BI last summer. "Now we have so many security cameras I can't even have my shirt tails untucked, let alone walk around in my shorts at home."
Both are barred from entering Russia and were put on the nation's sanctioned US citizens list in 2022.
Still, neither of them regrets their work.
"We're pretty excited about it," they said of their research. "Any of the threats only motivate us to work down much harder."
Putin's top critics
Sonnenfeld, 70, and Tian, 25, didn't plan on getting their names added to a list of Putin's critics.
Neither are technically economists, but they began researching Russia's economy while compiling a list of companies that exited or scaled back their operations in Russia in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.
That list went viral online, and was instrumental in getting more than 1,000 companies to scale back their business in the country, the Yale School of Management says on its website.
Steven Tian
Courtesy of Steven Tian
At that time, Tian and Sonnenfeld began noticing cracks forming in Russia's economy. Putin has claimed Russia is becoming the new "growth hub" of the world, and the IMF says Russia's economy is on track to grow over 3% this year, more than any other OECD economy, including the US. But that doesn't square with data Sonnenfeld and Tian are seeing, with some pockets of the country's economy in dire shape.
Among their biggest predictions is that the situation in Russia is so bad that the country could eventually turn on Putin, with a shift in the domestic temperament coming as soon as the November US presidential election this year.
That's because if Biden is re-elected, the US will likely continue supplying aid to Ukraine, forcing Russia to continue spending money and lives to keep waging war on Ukraine.
"Putin has no grand strategy other than to hope Trump wins and cuts a favorable deal with Russia," Tian said. "Russia is in for a world of economic pain for a long time to come."
Positive forecasts on Russia's economy are based on a lack of visibility, Sonnenfeld and Tian say.
The pair began working together when Tian was an undergraduate at Yale, chasing Sonnenfeld around lecture halls. Eventually, Sonnenfeld became Tian's advisor and has mentored Tian for over eight years.
The two researchers are still working on ways to urge the West to tighten and enforce sanctions on Russia. They also continue to update their list of companies that have exited the country in the hope that it will encourage more firms to do the same.
Colleagues describe Sonnenfeld as opinionated but generous and charismatic. Tian, meanwhile, has a near-photographic memory and is a highly analytical thinker, colleagues mentioned.
"Steven does a lot of the analytic heavy lifting, and I do the flamboyant color," Sonnenfeld said of their work together.
People who have worked with them also say the pair is extremely passionate about their work, and both are often known to answer emails at all hours of the night and early morning.
"We don't believe in regular sleep patterns," Sonnenfeld added. "Actually, we know it's very important, but sometimes when there's a sense of urgency, we do seriously dive into the crisis du jour. We just don't like bullies, whether or not it's Putin or some other bravado."