Bob Mondello, who jokes that he was a jinx at the beginning of his critical career — hired to write for every small paper that ever folded in Washington, just as it was about to collapse — saw that jinx broken in 1984 when he came to NPR.
The state's $20.3 billion budget has been finalized. The measure passed out of its last committee late Thursday night. It will next go for a final vote before both the full House and Senate.