The Brief

Fans tired of waiting for the next Frozen sequel or the next chapter in the Star Wars saga may soon have new ways to engage with those worlds — by creating their own content using Disney's IP.

That was the tantalizing hint Disney CEO Bob Iger dropped during an earnings call Thursday, as he described how the company is exploring ways to make the Disney+ subscription-based streaming service more interactive, and customizable for users.

While Iger stopped short of making any formal announcements, he suggested Disney is in discussions with artificial intelligence companies about tools that could allow subscribers to generate and share their own content built from Disney-owned stories.

"AI is going to give us the ability to provide users of Disney+ with a much more engaged experience, including the ability for them to create user-generated content," Iger said.

Disney+ declined to offer additional details about what form these new creative tools might take or which tech companies were involved in the negotiations. Meanwhile, AI remains a concern in many parts of the entertainment industry, with many companies including Disney engaged in lawsuits against AI players for copyright infringement.

Iger acknowledged this tension. On the earnings call, the CEO said the company's conversations with potential AI partners are focused on enabling new forms of fan engagement and guarding against uses that could dilute or misuse Disney IP.

"It's obviously imperative for us to protect our IP with this new technology," Iger said.

The trend towards increased interactivity 

Disney isn't alone in trying to rethink the boundaries between audiences and the entertainment they consume.

At the recent TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco, Netflix's chief technology officer, Elizabeth Stone, offered her own look at a future shaped by deeper user engagement.

"The future of entertainment is likely to be even more personalized, even more interactive, even more immersive," Stone said during an on-stage conversation with TechCrunch editor-in-chief Connie Loizos.

In addition to games and social media videos, one of Netflix's most talked-about experiments in this direction arrives next year: Stone said viewers of the classic talent competition Star Search reboot will be able to cast votes directly from their TVs or phones, influencing which contestants advance – or do not.

Younger audiences and deal-making climate drive quest for interactivity

This engagement layer sits on top of Netflix's vast library of films and TV series. But platform leaders increasingly see passive watching as only part of the picture.

Younger audiences, especially Gen Z, are gravitating toward spaces where they can participate, remix and respond rather than simply watch. According to Deloitte's 2025 Digital Media Trends survey , more than half of Gen Z respondents say social media content feels more relevant to them than traditional TV shows and movies. The research also points to the growing popularity of indie creators, and a change in consumer expectations around quality: Content doesn't always have to be polished to be extremely popular, as some of the most-watched feeds on YouTube and TikTok prove.

At the same time, despite ongoing litigation, entertainment corporations are starting to get comfortable with the idea of licensing content to AI companies. One of the most high-profile in recent weeks is the licensing partnership between Universal Music Group and the AI music creation platform Udio.

"It shows that the AI companies can work with the creative community to come up with models that work for both of them," Copyright Alliance CEO Keith Kupferschmid told NPR regarding this particular deal. "And I think we're going to start seeing more and more deals come through because they realize they can do this and do it the right way."

Copyright 2025 NPR

The Trump administration is upending its homelessness policy, with deep cuts to funding for long-term housing. Instead, it will shift money toward transitional housing that requires work and addiction treatment.

In a statement, the Department of Housing and Urban Development said the new policies will "restore accountability" and promote "self-sufficiency" by addressing the "root causes of homelessness, including illicit drugs and mental illness."

Critics warn the major overhaul could put 170,000 people at risk of losing their housing again. And they say the timing of this major overhaul is terrible. Normally, funding notices go out in August, but now programs around the country will have little time to start applying for new funding in January. And in many places, it will leave a months-long gap after current funding runs out and before new money flows.

In another change, HUD will no longer automatically renew existing programs — creating the possibility that formerly homeless people who've lived in subsidized housing for years will be forced out. The agency is also opening up more funding for faith-based groups.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness says the new policies could upend life for many people who've found stability in permanent housing programs. "HUD's new funding priorities slam the door on them, their providers, and their communities. Make no mistake: homelessness will only increase because of this reckless and irresponsible decision," CEO Ann Oliva said in a statement.

The funding shift reflects a conservative backlash to longstanding policies

For two decades, federal funding has prioritized getting people into permanent housing and then offering them treatment. That policy is called Housing First and has long had bipartisan support. Backers say the approach has a proven track record of keeping people off the streets.

But critics counter that it has failed to stem the steady rise of homelessness to what are now historic levels.

Those critics include President Donald Trump, who has long pushed cities to clear homeless encampments from streets and parks. The new funding shift reflects an executive order he signed in July , which also sought to make it easier to confine unhoused people in mental institutions against their will.

"The influence of Housing First just became too powerful," says Stephen Eide, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think-tank. He calls it a top-down approach, and says for years it was hard to get funding unless a program followed that policy. Eide says that left out a large group of people who may not need permanent housing or who may want the enforced sobriety it does not offer.

"I think what we're going to be looking for is a reinvestment in transitional housing," he says. That means places people can stay for 18 months or so to get sober or recover in other ways, and then — ideally — move out and succeed on their own.

There's broad agreement that the U.S. needs more of every kind of support for homeless people: permanent housing, rehab and mental illness treatment. But critics of HUD's shift fear this may make it harder for some to get help.

"It is moving away from trauma-informed care, and that's problematic," says Stephanie Klasky-Gamer, president and CEO of LA Family Housing in Los Angeles.

For example, she thinks this will lead more shelters to bar people unless they're already sober or enrolled in recovery or mental health care. But that's a high bar for many people, she says, and it could backfire.
Copyright 2025 NPR

President Donald Trump says he is going to "make America affordable again." It's a pledge he made frequently during the campaign. And now, after dropping it from his lexicon for more than eight months, he's saying it again as polls show voters rank the economy and cost of living as their top concern and blame Trump's policies for making things worse.

A senior administration official tells NPR Trump will soon travel around the country with a message that while some things have improved, there is more work to do to help people feeling economic strain. The official, who was not authorized to speak on the record, added that when it comes to affordability, "there's no finish line."

Thus far, Trump has spent far more time boasting about how great the economy and stock market are doing than acknowledging any economic anxiety.

"Record high, record high, record high," Trump said of the stock market last week at a business event in Florida.

"Costs are way down," Trump said at a late night signing ceremony in the Oval Office Wednesday. "My administration and our partners in Congress will continue our work to lower the cost of living, restore public safety, grow our economy and make America affordable again for all Americans."

Trump's affordability challenge marks a dramatic reversal of fortune for a president who returned to office on a promise to bring costs down and whose greatest political strength was on the economy. Now his approval rating on the economy is severely underwater.

After sweeping wins by Democrats in last week's elections where the cost-of-living was a key issue, Trump suddenly had a lot to say about "affordability." But he has frequently come across as dismissive and defensive.

"The affordability is much better with the Republicans," Trump said last week. "The only problem is the Republicans don't talk about it, and Republicans should start talking about it and use their heads."

But earlier this week when Fox News' Laura Ingraham pressed Trump on rising costs of things like coffee and ground beef, he called it a "con job by the Democrats."

Asked why people are anxious about the economy, Trump responded by questioning whether people really are saying that.

"I think polls are fake," Trump said. "We have the greatest economy we've ever had."

To support his positive outlook, Trump points to the booming stock market, his tariff policy and pledges by companies and countries to invest in the U.S.

Inflation this year has been persistent but not dramatic, at about 3%. Eggs have gotten cheaper since Trump took office, but other staples like ground beef and coffee are up. According to Gas Buddy , the average price of gasoline in the U.S. is $3.09 per gallon, slightly higher than this time last year.

"Consumer confidence is the lowest it's ever been," said Jason Furman, a professor of economics at Harvard. "People are really negative about inflation."

It's a political truth — and a pitfall for presidents — that people don't want to hear that everything is awesome if they are struggling.

Furman, who served in the Obama administration, says the messaging team in that White House was very cautious not to brag about the economy, as the nation emerged from the Great Recession.

"Because they thought anything we said positive about the economy risked people thinking President Obama was out of touch," said Furman. "I didn't see that type of reserve when Biden was president. He bragged about it quite a lot, and I think that [rang] hollow with a lot of people. And President Trump is even less reserved about his bragging."

Trump's insistence that the economy is great earned him a rebuke from Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. Appearing on the Sean Spicer Show on YouTube , Greene said she gives Trump credit for holding inflation steady.

"But that doesn't bring prices down," said Greene. "And so gaslighting the people and trying to tell them that prices have come down is not helping. It's actually infuriating people because people know what they are paying at the grocery store, they know what they're paying for their kid's clothes and school supplies. They know what they're paying for their electricity bills."

She called for compassion rather than lecturing.

Former Trump economic adviser Stephen Moore says there are three major cost issues that have to be addressed: grocery prices, home prices and health care costs.

"It is true factually that the average family has more purchasing power today than they did when Biden left office," said Moore. "And yet people don't feel it. You know, they're not feeling the love. And I can't explain why that is except that people tend to focus on things where their prices are rising."

In fact, purchasing power also grew during the Biden administration, because wages rose faster than costs. But voters didn't want to hear it then, and they are in no mood to hear it now.

"People are kind of in a crabby mood right now when it comes to the economy," said Moore.
Copyright 2025 NPR

I am standing in front of a homespun food cart on a dusty side street next to a strip mall in Rowland Heights, the sun beating down from high up, watching as the proprietor makes circles with a millet and mung bean batter on a big round griddle.

“We got everything from China,” says Cong cong Li, referring to that heavy duty piece of cookware, with two gas-powered burners running underneath. Way back in the day, Li says, people used wood fire to make the street snack she's making now.

Yu Ji Stone Mill Chinese Crepes, selling $10 made-to-order street snack in Rowland Heights.

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She cracks a couple of eggs over the thin, now crispy layer of batter, which Li says they grind with a stone mill themselves at home. Then a sprinkle of black sesames. Next come the scallions. Then the deep-fried dumpling skin. Li finishes my order off with the requisite sweet bean sauce.

She scoops the scalding hot Chinese crepe right off the griddle into a bag – so fresh it burns to the touch – just like the very first time I had jianbing guozi.

The first bite

It isn’t everyday I get to see this traditional Chinese snack made right in front of me. In fact, the first – and last – time was some 20 years ago when I was leaving Beijing.

Literally, leaving after spending months in the country. To mark the occasion, I decided to take a series of public buses to the airport, an idea that quickly became less cute when I got off at the final stop – and the airport was nowhere in sight.

I dragged my luggage and sheepishly followed the handful of people also hauling bags on a long, long trek to close that last stretch, the sun beating down from high up.

That was when I spotted a homemade food cart selling a kind of a wrap I'd never had before on the side of the road.

Hungry, tired and feeling more than a little lost, I watched as the proprietor made circles with the batter, cracked eggs over it, then drowned it in sauces and herbs.

One bite – a mouthful of soft, crispy, earthy flavors – was all it took. I am no foodie but it was the best food I had ever had in my life.

Ever since, I have been searching for that same taste in the San Gabriel Valley.

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Crepe-making, Chinese street food style, in Rowland Heights

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The SGV crepe cart

Li and her husband have operated their Yu Ji Stone Mill Chinese Crepes cart near the intersection of Jellick Avenue and Colima Road in Rowland Heights for more than two years, working daily from 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Before, Li said they were making Chinese crepes at different night markets and festivals around the San Gabriel Valley. Eventually, they struck out on their own for a simple reason.

“We have to feed our family,” Li says, laughing, in Mandarin.

The crepe, jianbing guozi (煎饼果子) in Chinese, is a common street food in the couple’s hometown of Shandong Province. The traditional breakfast snack is said to hail from the city of Tianjin, a little further north. An exact date isn’t known; many sources cite the year 1933 as the first time it was mentioned in a newspaper, but its existence most likely predated that reference by centuries.

Li says jianbing guozi is common now in many areas across China – customized according to local taste – and of course the snack inevitably travelled well beyond the country.

Cong cong Li at the Chinese crepe food cart she and her husband started in Rowland Heights.

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The search

I didn’t learn its Chinese name until several years after I returned to L.A. and that knowledge set me off on a quest of sorts. The San Gabriel Valley, I figured, has got to have it, right?

It wasn’t one of those epic, exhaustive, obsessive searches , but I always did keep an eye out. Internet searches turned up nothing for many years, and friends also drew blanks.

But by the late 2000s, I noticed the snack creeping up in reviews at this or that restaurant. Now it’s found in many more places. There’s even an entire shop, Me + Crêpe , dedicated to that single dish in Pasadena. Last time I had it was at Tai Chi Cuisine in Irvine, recommended by a Chinese foodie. It was great, but the decorum of being served at a restaurant was ... different.

The discovery

The finished product.

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Fast forward to a week ago. I spotted on Instagram a food cart with a big griddle, tossing me back to that fuzzy, serendipitous day in Beijing. I had to go check it out.

And on this weekday early afternoon in Rowland Heights, the vibe is right — pure street food culture. Customers drive up or dash from their parked cars to put in an order – some biting into the steaming hot wrap right away. When their stand first opened, Li says the majority of their customers were Chinese. Now it's more evened out, as word spreads.

Which is how Angel Cueva found the spot, driving from Whittier after seeing a video on social spotlighting the operation.

“ I don't know, maybe just the cart, the preparation, just looked like it had a lot of good stuff in it, Cueva says. “ When I seen this, I was like, I got to try this.”

Cueva was on the go and said he’d eat it in his car. He texted me later to say he loved the crepe. I took that message to Li.

She says when her family first came to the U.S. more than a decade ago, it was impossible to find authentic jianbing – the way it was made in their hometown. That prompted her husband to come up with a recipe, which he taught Li.

“While supporting our family, we want to promote Chinese food culture,” Li says. “The delicacy has hundreds of years of history. It’s a testament to the wisdom of our ancestors.”

A list of ingredients for the Chinese crepes sold at Yu Ji Stone Mill Chinese Crepes in Rowland Heights.

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