The Brief

Jan. 1 marks the dawn of a new era for Popeye and Tintin. It's the day the nonagenarian cartoon characters officially enter the U.S. public domain along with a treasure trove of other iconic works.

The copyrights of thousands of films, songs and books expire in 2025, making them instantly available for people to use, share and adapt. The list includes classics like Virginia Woolf's book A Room of One's Own, the Fats Waller song "Ain't Misbehavin'" and the Marx Brothers' first feature film, The Cocoanuts.

The main thing they have in common is their age — under U.S. copyright law, their terms all expire after 95 years. All of the works entering the public domain next year are from 1929, except for sound recordings, which (because they are covered by a different law) come from 1924.

"Copyright's awesome … but the fact that rights eventually expire, that's a good thing, too, because that's the wellspring for creativity," says Jennifer Jenkins, the director of Duke's Center for the Study of the Public Domain, which spends months poring over records to compile the most famous examples.

Once in the public domain, these works become fodder for remakes, spinoffs and other adaptations.

That explains the recent wave of horror films starring Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh, characters that entered the public domain in 2024 and 2023 respectively. The trend seems poised to continue: Jenkins says there are already three Popeye slasher flicks in the works.

"They're capitalizing on the incongruity of this comic book character in a different genre and they get a lot of buzz," she adds. "[But] when I sit back and look at the universe of remakes of public domain characters or works … the things that we still talk about that stand the test of time don't tend to be these buzzworthy, kind of ew, grossed-out features."

More enduring examples include West Side Story drawn from Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet, screen adaptations of Jane Austen's Emma, Percival Everett's 2024 book James (a retelling of Huckleberry Finn) and Wicked, the musical-turned-movie prequel to L. Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz. 

But these artifacts don't only become fodder for big-name directors and authors — they're available for anyone who wants to use them, from artists to high school orchestra directors.

Jenkins says she gets "adorable emails" from people who are drawing their own little Winnie the Pooh cartoons, and parents whose kids are talented musicians, eager to finally be able to perform certain compositions publicly and post them online.

In other words, the impact of public domain works extends far beyond the box office and Billboard charts.

"I'm excited about those things that not everybody's going to notice — people really re-discovering some of these older works and engaging with them and appreciating them and making them their own," she adds.

Here's a look at some of the works that are just days away from the public domain:

The characters

A helium-filled Popeye balloon participates in the 33rd Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York in 1959, three decades after his comic strip debut.

(

AP

/

AP

)

Tintin the brave cub reporter — and his dog, Snowy — will enter the public domain in the U.S. well before they will in the European Union, where they are copyrighted until 2054. That's because EU copyright terms extend 70 years past creators' deaths, and Belgian cartoonist Hergé died in 1983.

Closer to home there's E.C. Segar's Popeye, who made his debut in a January 1929 Thimble Theatre cartoon strip. He sports his signature pipe, sailor outfit, anchor tattoo and sense of humor, responding when asked if he's a sailor: "Ja think I'm a cowboy?"

He could have a whole new set of adventures starting in 2025. But there's a catch: Popeye didn't start deriving his strength from spinach until 1932.

As Jenkins explains, many cartoon characters develop over time and have been in copyrighted works year after year, meaning certain aspects of them may come into the public domain in different years. So only the original 1929 versions of Popeye and Tintin are fair game, at least for now.

"Definitely the Popeye from 1929 and everything that he says, all of his characteristics, his personality, his sarcasm … that's public domain," she says. "The spinach, if you want to be on the safe side, you might want to wait."

The films

<em>The Wild Party</em>, Clara Bow's first talkie, was released in 1929, making it public domain in 2025.

(

LMPC via Getty Images

)

Similarly, the original Steamboat Willie version of Mickey Mouse arrived in the public domain with much fanfare in 2024. In 2025, a dozen more Mickey animations will follow suit — including The Karnival Kid, in which he speaks for the first time.

"His very first words are 'Hot dogs! Hot dogs!' — so I guess that's kind of cute," Jenkins says. "And then he didn't wear the white gloves in 1928, but next year, in 2025, we get the version of Mickey Mouse with the signature white gloves in the public domain."

Sound is a big theme across the films making their public domain debut next year, since 1929 marked the end of the silent film era and the dawn of the sound film age.

The list includes the first sound films from major directors like Alfred Hitchcock (Blackmail), John Ford (The Black Watch) and Cecil B. DeMille (Dynamite), as well as Clara Bow's first talkie, The Wild Party, and The Broadway Melody, the first sound film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture.

Other notables include Walt Disney's The Skeleton Dance (the first of the Silly Symphony shorts); King Vidor's Hallelujah, the first major studio film with an all-Black cast; and Alan Crosland's On With the Show, the first all-talking, all-color, feature-length film.

The books

From left: Ernest Hemingway in 1950, William Faulkner in 1950, and John Steinbeck in 1962.

(

AP

/

AP

)

Among the many literary works entering the public domain next year are two of the most acclaimed books about World War I: Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, and the first English translation of Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front — both authors served in the war themselves.

The list includes several detective mysteries: Red Harvest and The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett, Ellery Queen's The Roman Hat Mystery, and Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie.

There are also some literary debuts, including John Steinbeck's first novel, Cup of Gold, and Richard Hughes' first novel A High Wind in Jamaica.

Musical compositions

George Gershwin's "An American in Paris" is among the musical compositions entering the public domain in 2025.

(

PALM/RSCH /Redferns

)

The latest crop of compositions spans the era's jazz standards, show tunes, pop music and more.

They include: Arthur Freed's Singin' in the Rain (which was featured in the film The Hollywood Revue of 1929, also entering public domain), George Gershwin's An American in Paris, Maurice Ravel's Bolero, Jack Yellen's Happy Days Are Here Again (the campaign song for FDR's 1932 presidential run), Cole Porter's What Is This Thing Called Love? and Tiptoe Through the Tulips (the Joseph Burke version, not the 1968 Tiny Tim one).

"But if you felt like singing like Tiny Tim for some reason, and you could, you can record your own version of Tiptoe Through the Tulips next year because that song's going to be public domain," Jenkins says.

The Center for the Study of Public Domain specifies that musical compositions refer to "the music and lyrics that you might see on a piece of sheet music, not the recordings of those songs." Those are covered by a separate copyright.

Sound recordings

Marian Anderson became the first Black singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York in 1955. One of her early recordings from 1924 will enter the public domain next year.

(

London Express

/

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

)

Under the 2018 Music Modernization Act, sound recordings are protected by copyright for 100 years. It's the particular recordings that eventually enter the public domain, not the song's music or lyrics or later recordings from those artists.

These are some of the 1924 performances that will become available for legal reuse in January: Marian Anderson's "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen," George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," Jelly Roll Morton's "Shreveport Stomp," "Deep Blue Sea Blues" by Clara Smith, and "Everybody Loves My Baby (But My Baby Don't Love Nobody But Me)" recorded by Louis Armstrong and Clarence Williams' Blue Five.
Copyright 2024 NPR

Hiring remained anemic in December, closing out the weakest year for job growth since the beginning of the pandemic.

U.S. employers added just 50,000 jobs last month, according to a report Friday from the Labor Department. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate dipped to 4.4%, from 4.5% in November, while job gains for October and November were also revised down by a total of 76,000 jobs.

For all of 2025, employers added 584,000 jobs — compared to 2 million new jobs in 2024. That meant that last year was the worst for employment growth since 2020.

Health care and hospitality were among the few industries adding jobs in December. Health care employment is generally immune from ups and downs in the business cycle.

Manufacturing continues to lose workers, cutting 8,000 jobs in December. Factories have been in a slump for the last 10 months, according to an index of manufacturing activity compiled by the Institute for Supply Management. The sector has been hit hard by President Trump's tariffs, since many domestic manufacturers rely on some foreign components.

"Morale is very low across manufacturing in general," said an unnamed factory manager quoted in this week's ISM report. "The cost of living is very high, and component costs are increasing with folks citing tariffs and other price increases."

The federal government added 2,000 jobs in December, but is still down 277,000 jobs from the beginning of the year. The government recorded big job losses earlier in the fall, when workers who accepted buyouts officially dropped off the government's payroll.

While unemployment remains low by historical standards, workers are increasingly nervous about job security. A survey last month by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found workers slightly more worried about losing their job in the coming year, and less confident about finding a new job if they are laid off.

The slowdown in hiring makes people who already have jobs reluctant to give them up. The resulting lack of turnover means fewer job openings for young people and others trying to get a foot in the door.

Concern about the weakening job market prompted the Federal Reserve to cut its benchmark interest rate in December for the third time since September.
Copyright 2026 NPR

Producer and engineer Rich Mouser built his recording studio, The Mouse House, more than two decades ago — it was part of his home in the Altadena hills. The space featured 35-foot ceilings, soundproofed isolation rooms and a library of vintage recording gear that the 63-year-old musician had been collecting since he was a teenager. A year ago, the Mouse House burned to the ground in the Eaton fire.

"I went through and started making a list and adding it up. It's got to be close to half a million [dollars] in lost equipment," Mouser tells NPR. "In hindsight, if I had known the house was going to burn down like that, I would have gone to great more lengths to get stuff out."

The Los Angeles wildfires destroyed more than 16,000 homes and businesses. Mouser, who has worked with bands including Weezer, Dream Theater and Spock's Beard, is one of countless musicians doubly impacted by the natural disaster. He not only lost the house for which he'd finished paying off the mortgage and everything inside it; suddenly, a large chunk of his livelihood also vanished.

"Three days after the fire, I went to London to run sound for some live shows. A lot of people were like, 'Are you really going to go? You have to cancel,'" Mouser remembers. "I thought, 'This might be the only work I have for who knows how long, so I'm going to go do it.'"

Adron McCann, a singer-songwriter, visual artist and audio producer who performs as Adron, was facing a similar uncertainty. She'd been renting half of a duplex in Altadena with her partner, who is also a working musician, for two years when the Eaton fire tore through their home. Overnight, the couple lost virtually all their personal belongings — including McCann's three treasured aquariums — as well as their at-home studio setup. A lifetime's worth of gear, instruments, paintings, vinyl albums and a collection of vintage synthesizers disappeared.

"I'm still working on just the personal grief of it, the whole story," McCann says. "And so trying to put the pieces back together professionally — it's just really, really blended with our personal lives."

Starting to piece things back together

Immediately, friends and family for both Mouser and McCann sprung into action, setting up GoFundMe pages that raised tens of thousands of dollars. Mouser says he initially purchased core items needed to get back to work: a graphic equalizer, Neve microphone preamps, a portion of the same model of mixing board he lost in the fire. Fellow musicians loaned him studio spaces, equipment and helped him scour the internet for gear. Much of what he lost is irreplaceable, he says, or has significantly gone up in value since he bought it decades ago.

McCann says her community has majorly stepped up, too. Through the generosity of friends and strangers — including comedian Fred Armisen, who donated a couple of his guitars — McCann and her partner have been able to continue playing gigs. Artists share resources about grants and other rebuilding efforts, leaning on one another to find housing, work opportunities and instrument replacements. None of this, McCann says, would be possible without being plugged into their local music scene.

"I'm really aware of the trade-offs that we make as musicians," McCann says. "We trade off stability and security, but we gain friendship and community and the care and concern of people very far away who we don't even necessarily know in person, but they are moved by the art we make, and so they come to us when we're hurting."

Adrienne McCann in her original home studio before the fires.

(

Adrienne McCann

)

Both McCann and Mouser say they've received support from a wide patchwork of colleagues, mutual aid networks and official relief organizations, all working together to address the ongoing needs of wildfire survivors as time passes. That includes government agencies like FEMA and Los Angeles County, nonprofits like Guitar Center Music Foundation and MusiCares, and more grassroots collectives like Altadena Musicians, an instrument-giving network started by composer Brandon Jay.

Myka Miller, the executive director of Guitar Center Music Foundation, says that for the first six months of 2025, the organization fulfilled grants for over 700 people to replace lost or damaged equipment, in addition to supplying instruments to 15 affected schools and community organizations. Miller says it's the largest natural disaster relief effort the nonprofit has tackled in recent history. "What was surprising to me was that a lot of people were asking for studio gear overwhelmingly," Miller tells NPR. "Studio monitors and microphones were one of the top things — DJ equipment, that kind of stuff."

One of Guitar Center's partners has been MusiCares, the nonprofit founded by the Recording Academy to support the financial, mental and physical wellbeing of people in the music industry. The organization says that since the wildfires broke out last year, it's provided more than $15 million in assistance to over 3,200 music professionals. In December, the nonprofit hosted a health and wellness clinic in Altadena for industry professionals impacted by the fires. The event offered physical therapy, vision and hearing screenings and opportunities for survivors to connect with one another over the ongoing challenges of finding a new normal. Executive director Theresa Wolters says these kinds of spaces — and a focus on mental health specifically — will be a big part of the work going forward, along with ongoing financial help.

"It is not too late to access support. We are still here," Wolters tells NPR. "We know that so many people are just now starting to come up for air through this disaster. They're just now starting to figure out what they need and what kind of assistance they might benefit from."

Looking ahead

As the anniversary of the fires passes, Wolters emphasizes that recovery is a long and nonlinear process. While some artists have made significant progress, others are still operating on survival mode.

Today, Rich Mouser and his wife are renting a house with a converted garage that doubles as Mouser's temporary studio. He's been able to continue his work mixing albums, touring with bands and is getting used to the newer equipment.

He's also working with an architect and sound engineer on rebuilding plans for his permanent home and studio in Altadena. They'll be prioritizing concrete over wood in case of future fires, he says, and are planning on a few improvements, like building a separate entry for The Mouse House so musicians don't have to walk through his kitchen to enter the studio. Mouser hopes building can begin within several months so the project is completed by summer or fall of 2027.

Insurance and relief aid are currently covering his rent, but he's worried that won't last all the way until the new house and studio are ready. Finding and applying for grants, he half-jokes, is a full-time job of its own. "We need this place because it's got this back house where I can work," Mouser says. "If we didn't have this situation, we could move into a smaller apartment, but I'm able to work out here and generate income."

McCann and her partner, on the other hand, are still taking things day by day. They are no longer living in their dream neighborhood of Altadena, but they're settled into a new rental home for now. Due to federal funding cuts to public radio, she recently lost a significant portion of her income as a producer for WABE, leading to more fear and uncertainty. Songwriting, she says, has taken a backseat for now.

"We're still not done recovering in the immediate sense. We're still not done trying to figure out home and gear and recording and our basic building blocks of our life we're still working on," McCann says. "I'm just going to keep trying to get a more stable foundation under my feet. But as an artist, that's a surprisingly comfortable place for me."
Copyright 2026 NPR

Maria Silva works at the El Super off Century Boulevard in Inglewood, in the same sprawling parking lot as a Home Depot.

She's been on the job for 17 years. The work is hard, and her wages are low. But since summer, her role as a supervisor at the grocery store chain has included a new challenge: co-workers and customers are worried about ICE.

Her customers come in talking about recent sightings, or asking if federal agents have been in the area. After a regular stopped coming into the store, Silva said she heard through the grapevine that he'd been picked up by federal agents.

" It's somebody that I would interact with almost every single day, because he would come and get his coffee and bread," she said, holding back tears. "It upsets me. It makes me feel like I can't do anything about it."

Silva is among the workers at seven unionized El Super locations in Southern California, including the store in Inglewood, who are asking their employer to implement more protocols to protect them and shoppers at their stores from federal agents.

Around 700 workers are currently negotiating a new contract with the grocery store chain. Their union, United Food and Commercial Workers, says the supermarket's owner, Chedraui USA, which also owns Smart & Final, is refusing their demands, including substantial wage increases.

Chedraui USA declined to comment on the specifics of ongoing negotiations.

"We value our team members and the communities we serve, and remain committed to bargaining in good faith, following all labor laws, and creating a safe and respectful workplace for every associate while continuing to provide affordable food for our customers," the company said in a statement.

What are they asking for?

Maricruz Ceceña, the organizing director for UFCW local 770, said the El Super workers want the company to agree to establish certain safety protocols in the contract, such as not allowing federal agents into non-public areas without a signed judicial warrant and establishing private areas in stores.

She said they also want the employer to re-affirm compliance with certain laws, such as a requirement that federal officials give three-day notice before inspecting I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification forms.

According to UFCW, other major grocery chains, including Ralphs, Super A, Vons, Pavilions, Gelson's and Albertsons, have agreed to similar protections in contracts with workers represented by the union.

"That Chedraui or El Super is still refusing to put basic language in that would protect its customers and its workers when other companies have already done so?" Ceceña told LAist. "I think workers just find that baffling and insulting."

Why workers are pushing for this

The grocery store workers are part of a broader effort to win immigration protections through labor negotiations. Victor Narro, an expert on workplace rights for immigrant workers and a lecturer at UCLA Law School, said more and more unions have been adding the type of language El Super workers want to their contracts in recent years.

"Especially unions that have a large immigrant workforce as members," he said. "One of the misconceptions is that the unions are then trying to circumvent immigration laws in the union contract. But that's not the case. What they're trying to do is get the employer to do what they are able to do under the law."

The first push for these types of union protections dates back to the 90s, Narro said, in the wake of a Reagan-era immigration law that established penalties for employers who knowingly hired unauthorized workers.

Narro said contract language can help add a layer of protection for some workers, but pointed out that the vast majority of private-sector workers in the U.S. have no union representation. He said policy change is needed to keep all workers safe.

" So what unions have been doing for the majority of workers who are not unionized is doing the policy work," he said.

'Customers, they're scared'

El Super markets itself to a Spanish-speaking clientele. Its website states "El Super is at the heart of your cocina." The union says most customers and workers are Latino.

Araceli Ortiz has worked at a unionized El Super store in Pico Rivera for eight years. She said after immigration sweeps ramped up in June, her store was quieter than usual, and she saw customers buying groceries for multiple families who were too afraid to do their grocery shopping in person.

She had one customer burst into tears at the checkout counter, saying her husband had recently been detained by ICE.

" We get customers, they're scared," Ortiz said. "Mostly every day they mention ICE, immigration and their surroundings. And they ask us, 'Have they come around here?' And what can I say? They're everywhere."

Ortiz is on a team of El Super workers who are bargaining with their employer over the new contract. She said that the grocery chain has said verbally that it will follow the law.

" But you know, we want them to put it in the contract," she said. "Because if there's signs right there [saying] it's only for employees only, the employees are gonna feel a little bit safer."

An upgrade to the website used to make camping reservations within California State Parks may have you locked out of your account — just as highly-sought-after campsites are being released for the summer. 

The overhaul, which happened in late October of last year, requires anyone who had a ReserveCalifornia account before the change to reauthenticate their account before making any camping reservations.

That means if you’re planning on logging on at 8 a.m. to snag a campsite for a busy summer weekend, you may get caught in login troubles while other people are snapping up your top choice.

If you have a ReserveCalifornia account, keep reading for step-by-step instructions on what to do now — so you’ll be ready when summer reservations become available.

Jump straight to:

• What should people with existing ReserveCalifornia accounts do?
• What about those who never had an account?

What happened to the California State Parks reservation website?

On Oct. 29, 2025, the ReserveCalifornia website, which California State Parks uses to help visitors book campsites and other park amenities, underwent a system upgrade, said Adeline Yee, a spokesperson for the agency.

That upgrade helped improve the system’s operations and incorporated multi-factor authentication for users, requiring anyone trying to log into an account to provide a code sent to their email address to improve system security.

A public campground near Camp Richardson is shown on Aug. 4, 2013, in South Lake Tahoe, California. 

(

George Rose

/

Getty Images

)

An email about the changes was sent to ReserveCalifornia account holders in advance of the Oct. 29 switchover, Yee said — but the initial instructions it contained for reauthenticating accounts, encouraging users to use a “Forgot Password?” link, didn’t actually work on the version of the website that went live on that date.

The day after the update went live, Yee said, state parks added a banner alert to ReserveCalifornia with updated login directions – which now required even existing account-holders to hit “Create Account” to reauthenticate their details.

Yee said while the update affected all 1.2 million ReserveCalifornia accounts, only around 400,000 of those accounts have been active in the past two years. During the first five days after the update, the ReserveCalifornia customer service line saw a 30% increase in calls and emails, Yee said — around 300 more inquiries per day than normal.

“State Parks apologizes for the confusion and inconvenience and will work with ReserveCalifornia so future website updates and account enhancements go smoother,” Yee said.

I have a ReserveCalifornia account, and I want to reserve a state parks campsite soon. What should I do?

First, don’t panic. Your account is still active, and your reservation and account history haven’t been lost — so if you were signed up for the lottery of a must-have spot like the Steep Ravine Cabins, you’re still on the list.

But you will have to go through a couple of steps to log back in – and it may take a few minutes, so it’s best to do it before you’re racing others to get a prime camping spot this summer.

Campsites are filled at Half Moon Bay State Beach in Half Moon Bay, California, on June 29, 2010. How to reauthenticate and reactivate your ReserveCalifornia account:

(

Paul Chinn

/

The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

)

How to reauthenticate and reactivate your ReserveCalifornia account:

Go to “Log In/Sign Up” on the top right of ReserveCalifornia.com, and click the “Create an Account” link.

Then, use the same email address of your existing account, and re-set up your profile. You can use the password you previously used for your ReserveCalifornia account, or create a new one.

Once you do so, your new ReserveCalifornia account should be automatically linked to your old one, Yee said — and you’ll be immediately able to make campsite reservations once more.

If you got an email or searched the web and got different instructions, like those saying to hit the “Forgot Password” button — ignore those.

And if you’re still having trouble or are stuck in password reset purgatory, try refreshing the page and starting over — or call ReserveCalifornia between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. PST at 800-444-7275.

I’m new to ReserveCalifornia. What should I know?

New account users shouldn’t have any issues. Simply go to ReserveCalifornia.com, hit the “Sign Up” button in the top right corner and create a new account.

Make sure you know the reservation policies at state parks, as they’ve just changed this year — and make canceling campsites more costly in an effort to keep more reservations open.

And you should know that campsite and cabin reservations open up to six months in advance at 8 a.m., so if you have big summer plans to get out into the wilderness, you may want to check now for availability. Read our full guide on how to snag desirable California campsites for summer 2026.