Gov. Charlie Baker is a fiscal conservative, there is no doubt, preaching that the state has to live within its means like all the families that have to pay taxes.

The latest “pay your own way” approach is his administration’s push to allow the MBTA to hike fares an average of 7 percent every two years. In other words, some fares, such as commuter rail and ferry service, can rise above that level while others, say, bus and subway, could be hiked less than that as long as the average for all increases is 7 percent.

The Legislature said, basically, “Sorry, Charlie,” and sent his budget amendment back to him with a hard cap of 7 percent across the board for every type of service and not a penny more. Of course, this is in the wake of the T hiking fares nearly 10 percent at the beginning of the month, so you look for your victories where you can get them.

Baker – the nation’s most popular governor, in case you hadn’t heard – and his administration were the force behind the 10 percent hike after lawmakers thought they passed a bill limiting fare increases to 5 percent over two years. The administration, with some backing by the House, determined that meant a total of 10 percent. To ensure they got their word across this time, the bill the Legislature sent back to his desk makes it clear the fare increase cannot exceed 7 percent in two years, no doubling.

Now, no one will argue the T doesn’t need more money. The aging, decaying system is sputtering along deep in debt and with little money to upgrade infrastructure. But an increase in fares on the backs of people who most rely on the system is an affront to many who think the state spends a disproportionate amount on roads and highways and lets the public transportation infrastructure go to hell in a handbasket.

A large part of Baker’s appeal has been his gospel of fiscal restraint. Baker’s decision to back fare hikes is based in large part on his aversion to higher taxes, a conservative stance that aligned him with the anti-gas tax indexing crowd that successfully pushed a ballot question to rollback the Legislature’s passage of the levy that would have pumped hundreds of millions into the MBTA for upgrades and equipment. Without that increase, the T continues to chug along.

Baker’s tax-resistant positions, though, do appear fluid. Both House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Stan Rosenberg declared there will be no sales tax holiday this year because the state can’t afford to lose the estimated $26 million in revenue it would cost. While Baker said the decision is out of his hands, he agreed that eliminating the tax holiday was a wise choice, given the budget gap facing state officials.

Baker has also been silent on some recent Senate decisions that could make it to his desk soon that include other tax hikes. The Senate placed a change in the economic development bill that would increase the earned income tax credit for low-wage workers, a Baker favorite, but pay for it by extending the state and local room taxes to so-called transient accommodations such as Airbnb and HomeAway. The measure would raise an estimated $20 million a year and while senators claim it merely closes a loophole, a tax by any other name…

Also coming soon to a gubernatorial desk near you is the transportation network bill, which started in Baker’s office. The  version likely to reach his desk will contain a 10-cent a ride surcharge paid by the companies such as Uber and Lyft, which will bring millions to cities and towns for their infrastructure trust funds. Or whatever.

Baker is learning what his mentor, Bill Weld, learned when he first took office 25 years ago: Preach the anti-tax belt-tightening all you want, but revenue is the mother’s milk of governing.

JACK SULLIVAN

BEACON HILL

A group opposed to the transgender legislation that recently won approval on Beacon Hill says it plans to lead a repeal effort in 2018. (Gloucester Times)

Attorney General Maura Healey, in a Globe op-ed, says we need to close a loophole in the state’s assault weapons ban.

An Eagle-Tribune editorial calls for changes in the way beer is distributed in Massachusetts.

A bill setting sex ed curricula for every Massachusetts community is stirring controversy on Beacon Hill. (Lowell Sun)

MUNICIPAL MATTERS

Brockton Mayor Bill Carpenter, who is pushing the City Council to increase the police overtime budget by more than 30 percent, came under fire for his use of a taxpayer-funded police driver to take him to bars and the airport for personal trips. (The Enterprise)

A Lowell Sun editorial says programs that discourage people from giving money to panhandlers and instead focus on the root causes of why begging is taking place are having an impact in Fitchburg and Leominster. CommonWealth recently examined why Gateway Cities are so alarmed at panhandling.

Springfield lands a team in the American Basketball Association.

Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll says Hampton Inn plans to build a $50 million hotel at the southern end of Washington Street. (Salem News)

Boston is preparing to unveil a new municipal website, the first overhaul of the city’s online portal in a decade. (Boston Herald)

Former Haverhill city councilor Robert Scatamacchia pleaded guilty on Tuesday to stealing $270,000 from his funeral home clients, but is still remembered as a friend by his colleagues. (Eagle-Tribune)

An town-commissioned investigation determined the Ashland health agent did not commit fraud by serving as a part-time health agent in two other towns as alleged by the state Inspector General. (MetroWest Daily News)

ELECTIONS

ICYMI: Donald Trump is officially the Republican nominee. (New York Times)

The Times explains how Melania Trump’s campaign speech ended up borrowing from an earlier convention speech by Michelle Obama. (New York Times)

The Globe profiles Trump running mate Mike Pence.

Kevin Peterson and Darnell Williams say Gov. Charlie Baker’s decision to skip the Republican National Convention reflects understandable abhorrence at the divisiveness sown by the party’s nominee. (CommonWealth)

A new poll shows just over half of Massachusetts voters oppose the marijuana legalization ballot question, with only 41 percent in favor (9 percent were undecided). (Boston Globe)

Education writer Richard Whitmire does a deep dive on the Massachusetts charter school ballot question fight, which he says will have national repercussions. (The74)

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Herb Chambers says he wants to build an 80,000-square-foot Jaguar and Land Rover dealership on a parcel he owns adjacent to the current Boston Globe property on Morrissey Boulevard in Dorchester. (Dorchester Reporter)

Unilever buys Dollar Shave Club for $1 billion. (Fortune)

A traveling sea lion show at the Barnstable County Fair is drawing opposition after the act was cited by federal officials for violating the Animal Welfare Act. (Cape Cod Times)

EDUCATION

Hillary Clinton got a friendly reception yesterday from the American Federation of Teachers, delivering a speech very similar to the one she gave two weeks ago to the National Education Association, with an even milder nod this time to the role of charter schools, which unions oppose. (Education Week) CommonWealth wrote last week about the pivot Clinton is making and changes in the Democratic Party platform that signal a move away from the reform agenda of the Obama administration.

Phillips Exeter admits it mishandled sexual abuse matters on the campus of the tony New Hampshire prep school. (Boston Globe)

HEALTH/HEALTH CARE

Sturbridge selectmen voted to back a medical marijuana dispensary then rescinded that vote after hearing concerns the company could launch retail marijuana sales if a ballot question legalizing recreational marijuana is approved. The dispensary’s lawyers now say their client has been financially harmed by the selectmen’s flip-flop, and offer not to engage in any recreational sales for five years if the ballot question passes. (Telegram & Gazette)

A survey by biologists concludes that a potentially deadly tick-borne virus from the Great Lakes region has found its way to Cape Cod. (Cape Cod Times)

TRANSPORTATION

One year into their work, the MBTA control board is getting credit for trying to tackle long-festering problems but an incomplete grade on results. (Boston Globe) A Herald editorial applauds the fact that things are at least “inching ahead” at the T, and cites approvingly a recent move to outsource the T police dispatch services, which will enable more officers to be on patrol throughout the system.

Shirley Leung decries the ban on standard UberX service for those arriving at Logan Airport. (Boston Globe) While Leung lays the blame on Massport chief Tom Glynn, CommonWealth wrote about it last August and found the policy dates back at least a half-century.

The Natick Cab Co. closes, in part because of competition from Uber and part because of a shortage of drivers. (MetroWest Daily News)

CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS

A Department of Public Health report has cleared Morton Hospital in Taunton of wrongdoing when an uncredentialed social worker in the emergency room cleared a patient for release after a mental health exam. Hours later the patient went on a stabbing rampage that killed one person and wounded several others. (Herald News)

A North Shore duo were found guilty of kidnapping and attempted rape in the so-called Snapchat case. (Boston Herald)

Two state troopers, one from New Hampshire and one from Massachusetts, are arrested and charged with assault in the beating of a suspect who led police on a chase in the two states. (Masslive)

For the second time in six years, Westport police found hundreds of animals dead or abused on a decrepit property in town that officials described as “a Third World country.” (Standard-Times)

A Canton man was charged with setting up a shell corporation and embezzling more than $400,000 from his East Boston employer and failing to pay taxes on more than $2 million in income. (Patriot Ledger)

MEDIA

The Boston Business Journal reports that John Henry has agreed to sell the Boston Globe’s Morrissey Boulevard property to a New York developer for $80 million. Henry bought the Globe and the Telegram & Gazette from the New York Times for $70 million in 2013, and he’s already sold the T&G for $17.5 million. So Henry is coming out ahead. As super-lawyer Michael Angelini told CommonWealth back in 2014: “He got something for nothing.”

Megyn Kelly’s decision to go public with charges that she, too, was subject to sexual harassment by Fox News executive Roger Ailes may be the tipping point that costs him his job, says Joan Vennochi. (Boston Globe)