Dashboard Indicator widget: Adding a $ causing a failure to save

[brumm1dj]

Our Portal Dashboards are failing to save when we add a $ to an indicator widget ${value}. This is new behavior, within the last month and we are not sure what is causing it.  Adding the $ through the Prefix works as expected and we can save the changes. Its only when we add the $ manually does it bomb out on save. This behavior is the same with new and existing dashboards. I have tried different browsers, machines, accounts, reboots, checked for patches. The errors only appear in the browser. There is nothing in the Portal logs which are set at DEBUG. 

###ERROR MESSAGE  IN BROWSER####

SyntaxError: Unexpected token < in JSON at position 0 SyntaxError: Unexpected token < in JSON at position 0
at JSON.parse (<anonymous>)

[JayantaPoddar]

Instead of adding the $ sign as Text, add it as a prefix (Value Formatting > Prefix).

[brumm1dj]

The prefix works as expected and we can save our changes. its only when we manually add the $ sign into the Text boxes is there an issue. The real mystery is what changed to make this an issue. It was working fine for the last 3 years and continues to work in our other environments.